[JPRT 110-40]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





110th Congress                                                   S. Prt.
 2d Session              JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT                   110-40               
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     


                    COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
                           PRACTICES FOR 2006

                                VOLUME I

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                            SUBMITTED TO THE

                     COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

                               US SENATE

                                AND THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                      US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                 BY THE

                          DEPARTMENT OF STATE

     IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTIONS 116(d) AND 502B(b) OF THE FOREIGN 
                   ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961, AS AMENDED

                                     
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                              APRIL 2008

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S.
  Senate and Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives 
  respectively
  
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                     COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

                JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut     RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts         CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin       NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
BARBARA BOXER, California            BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BILL NELSON, Florida                 GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois               LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey          JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland         JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania   DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
JIM WEBB, Virginia                   JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
                   Antony J. Blinken, Staff Director
            Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director



                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                 HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York           ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American      CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
    Samoa                            DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey          ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California             DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida               DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York             EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts         STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York           THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
DIANE E. WATSON, California          RON PAUL, Texas
ADAM SMITH, Washington               JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri              MIKE PENCE, Indiana
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee            JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GENE GREEN, Texas                    JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California          J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            CONNIE MACK, Florida
RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas                JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York             MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
DAVID WU, Oregon                     TED POE, Texas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina          BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California         LUIS G. FORTUNO, Puerto Rico
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia                 GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
JIM COSTA, California                VACANT
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
BARBARA LEE, California
                     Robert R. King, Staff Director
                Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director

                                  (ii)

  

























































                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Foreword.........................................................   vii

Letter of Transmittal............................................    ix

Preface..........................................................    xi

Overview and Acknowledgments.....................................  xiii

Introduction.....................................................  xvii

                                Volume I

Africa:

    Angola.......................................................     1
    Benin........................................................    15
    Botswana.....................................................    25
    Burkina Faso.................................................    34
    Burundi......................................................    44
    Cameroon.....................................................    67
    Cape Verde...................................................    91
    Central African Republic.....................................    97
    Chad.........................................................   123
    Comoros......................................................   137
    Congo, Democratic Republic of the............................   142
    Congo, Republic of...........................................   167
    Cote d'Ivoire................................................   176
    Djibouti.....................................................   200
    Equatorial Guinea............................................   207
    Eritrea......................................................   223
    Ethiopia.....................................................   235
    Gabon........................................................   259
    Gambia, The..................................................   267
    Ghana........................................................   279
    Guinea.......................................................   300
    Guinea-Bissau................................................   317
    Kenya........................................................   322
    Lesotho......................................................   343
    Liberia......................................................   352
    Madagascar...................................................   363
    Malawi.......................................................   375
    Mali.........................................................   389
    Mauritania...................................................   397
    Mauritius....................................................   408
    Mozambique...................................................   415
    Namibia......................................................   432
    Niger........................................................   441
    Nigeria......................................................   455
    Rwanda.......................................................   481
    Sao Tome and Principe........................................   507
    Senegal......................................................   512
    Seychelles...................................................   529
    Sierra Leone.................................................   534
    Somalia......................................................   551
    South Africa.................................................   565
    Sudan........................................................   580
    Swaziland....................................................   603
    Tanzania.....................................................   616
    Togo.........................................................   641
    Uganda.......................................................   652
    Zambia.......................................................   678
    Zimbabwe.....................................................   692

East Asia and the Pacific:

    Australia....................................................   717
    Brunei.......................................................   729
    Burma........................................................   737
    Cambodia.....................................................   763
    China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau)..................   787
      Tibet......................................................   825
      Hong Kong..................................................   834
      Macau......................................................   845
    China (Taiwan only)..........................................   852
    East Timor...................................................   866
    Fiji.........................................................   882
    Indonesia....................................................   892
    Japan........................................................   923
    Kiribati.....................................................   931
    Korea, Democratic People's Republic of.......................   936
    Korea, Republic of...........................................   947
    Laos.........................................................   956
    Malaysia.....................................................   971
    Marshall Islands.............................................   996
    Micronesia, Federated States of..............................  1001
    Mongolia.....................................................  1006
    Nauru........................................................  1016
    New Zealand..................................................  1021
    Palau........................................................  1028
    Papua New Guinea.............................................  1033
    Philippines..................................................  1041
    Samoa........................................................  1059
    Singapore....................................................  1064
    Solomon Islands..............................................  1080
    Thailand.....................................................  1085
    Tonga........................................................  1112
    Tuvalu.......................................................  1119
    Vanuatu......................................................  1124
    Vietnam......................................................  1129

Europe and Eurasia:

    Albania......................................................  1155
    Andorra......................................................  1171
    Armenia......................................................  1175
    Austria......................................................  1189
    Azerbaijan...................................................  1198
    Belarus......................................................  1219
    Belgium......................................................  1255
    Bosnia and Herzegovina.......................................  1263
    Bulgaria.....................................................  1281
    Croatia......................................................  1298
    Cyprus, Republic of..........................................  1321
    Czech Republic...............................................  1341
    Denmark......................................................  1358
    Estonia......................................................  1364
    Finland......................................................  1371
    France.......................................................  1380
    Georgia......................................................  1396
    Germany......................................................  1422
    Greece.......................................................  1433
    Hungary......................................................  1452
    Iceland......................................................  1464
    Ireland......................................................  1472
    Italy........................................................  1480
    Latvia.......................................................  1492
    Liechtenstein................................................  1502
    Lithuania....................................................  1507
    Luxembourg...................................................  1518
    Macedonia....................................................  1522
    Malta........................................................  1539
    Moldova......................................................  1545
    Monaco.......................................................  1563
    Montenegro...................................................  1566
    Netherlands, The.............................................  1575
    Norway.......................................................  1585
    Poland.......................................................  1591
    Portugal.....................................................  1605
    Romania......................................................  1612
    Russia.......................................................  1641
    San Marino...................................................  1707
    Serbia.......................................................  1711
      Kosovo.....................................................  1727
    Slovak Republic..............................................  1752
    Slovenia.....................................................  1767
    Spain........................................................  1777
    Sweden.......................................................  1788
    Switzerland..................................................  1798
    Turkey.......................................................  1807
    Ukraine......................................................  1833
    United Kingdom...............................................  1863


                               Volume II

Near East and North Africa:

    Algeria......................................................  1877
    Bahrain......................................................  1892
    Egypt........................................................  1910
    Iran.........................................................  1941
    Iraq.........................................................  1969
    Israel (and the occupied territories)........................  1990
      The Occupied Territories...................................  2011
    Jordan.......................................................  2033
    Kuwait.......................................................  2051
    Lebanon......................................................  2070
    Libya........................................................  2086
    Morocco......................................................  2095
      Western Sahara.............................................  2110
    Oman.........................................................  2115
    Qatar........................................................  2125
    Saudi Arabia.................................................  2137
    Syria........................................................  2158
    Tunisia......................................................  2181
    United Arab Emirates.........................................  2202
    Yemen........................................................  2220

South Central Asia:

    Afghanistan..................................................  2241
    Bangladesh...................................................  2268
    Bhutan.......................................................  2289
    India........................................................  2297
    Kazakhstan...................................................  2344
    Kyrgyz Republic..............................................  2367
    Maldives.....................................................  2390
    Nepal........................................................  2400
    Pakistan.....................................................  2418
    Sri Lanka....................................................  2447
    Tajikistan...................................................  2462
    Turkmenistan.................................................  2479
    Uzbekistan...................................................  2494
Western Hemisphere:

    Antigua and Barbuda..........................................  2525
    Argentina....................................................  2529
    Bahamas......................................................  2543
    Barbados.....................................................  2552
    Belize.......................................................  2558
    Bolivia......................................................  2567
    Brazil.......................................................  2581
    Canada.......................................................  2604
    Chile........................................................  2613
    Colombia.....................................................  2623
    Costa Rica...................................................  2647
    Cuba.........................................................  2657
    Dominica.....................................................  2677
    Dominican Republic...........................................  2682
    Ecuador......................................................  2701
    El Salvador..................................................  2715
    Grenada......................................................  2731
    Guatemala....................................................  2735
    Guyana.......................................................  2751
    Haiti........................................................  2762
    Honduras.....................................................  2772
    Jamaica......................................................  2787
    Mexico.......................................................  2796
    Nicaragua....................................................  2813
    Panama.......................................................  2826
    Paraguay.....................................................  2839
    Peru.........................................................  2853
    Saint Kitts and Nevis........................................  2867
    Saint Lucia..................................................  2872
    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.............................  2878
    Suriname.....................................................  2884
    Trinidad and Tobago..........................................  2894
    Uruguay......................................................  2903
    Venezuela....................................................  2909


                              Appendixes:

A. Notes on Preparation of the Reports...........................  2927

B. Reporting on Worker Rights....................................  2933

C. Selected International Human Rights Conventions...............  2935

D. Description of International Human Rights Conventions in 
  Appendix C.....................................................  2943

E. Country Assistance FY 2006....................................  2945

F. UN General Assembly's Third Committee Country Resolution Votes 
  2006...........................................................  2959

G. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights..........  2965

                                FOREWORD

                              ----------                              

    The country reports on human rights practices contained 
herein were prepared by the Department of State in accordance 
with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961, as amended. They also fulfill the legislative 
requirements of section 505(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as 
amended.
    The reports cover the human rights practices of all nations 
that are members of the United Nations and a few that are not. 
They are printed to assist Members of Congress in the 
consideration of legislation, particularly foreign assistance 
legislation.

                              Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
                          Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations.

                                  Howard L. Berman,
                            Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs.

                                 (vii)

                                     
                         LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                                       Department of State,
                                     Washington, DC, March 6, 2006.
Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: On behalf of the Secretary of State, I 
am transmitting to you the Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices for 2006, prepared in compliance with sections 
116(d)(1) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as 
amended, and section 505(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as 
amended.
    We hope this report is helpful. Please let us know if we 
can provide any further information.
            Sincerely,
                                Jeffrey T. Bergner,
                          Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.
    Enclosure.

                                  (ix)

                                     
                                PREFACE

                              ----------                              


                          Human Rights Reports

                              ----------                              

    Across the globe, men and women are pushing for greater 
personal and political freedom and for the adoption of 
democratic institutions. They are striving to secure what 
President Bush calls ``the non-negotiable demands of human 
dignity.''
    Despite personal risk and against great odds, courageous 
individuals and nongovernmental groups expose human rights 
abuses. They seek to protect the rights of ethnic and religious 
minorities, workers, and women, and to stop the trafficking in 
human beings. They work to build vibrant civil societies, 
ensure free and fair elections, and establish accountable, law-
based democracies.
    These impatient patriots are redefining the limitations of 
what was previously thought to be possible. Indeed, in the span 
of a few generations freedom has spread across the developing 
world, communist dictatorships have collapsed, and new 
democracies have risen. The rights enshrined in the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights are protected more fully and by 
more countries than ever before.
    This noble work continues--but it is not yet complete and 
it faces determined opponents. Not surprisingly, those who feel 
threatened by democratic change resist those who advocate and 
act for reform. Over the past year, we have seen attempts to 
harass and intimidate human rights defenders and civil society 
organizations and to restrict or shut down their activities. 
Unjust laws have been wielded as political weapons against 
those with independent views. There also have been attempts to 
silence dissenting voices by extralegal means.
    Whenever non-governmental organizations and other human 
rights defenders are under siege, freedom and democracy are 
undermined. The world's democracies must defend the defenders. 
That is one of the primary missions of our diplomacy today, and 
we hope that the Department of State's County Reports on Human 
Rights Practices for 2006 will help to further this effort. 
With these thoughts, I hereby submit these reports to the 
United States Congress.
                                  Condoleezza Rice,
                                                Secretary of State.
                      OVERVIEW AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

                              ----------                              


                          Human Rights Reports

                              ----------                              


                      WHY THE REPORTS ARE PREPARED

    This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department 
of State in compliance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA),as amended. The law 
provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate by February 25 ``a full and 
complete report regarding the status of internationally 
recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) 
in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) 
in all other foreign countries which are members of the United 
Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human 
rights report under this Act.'' We have also included reports 
on several countries that do not fall into the categories 
established by these statutes and that thus are not covered by 
the congressional requirement.
    The responsibility of the United States to speak out on 
behalf of international human rights standards was formalized 
in the early 1970s. In 1976 Congress enacted legislation 
creating a Coordinator of Human Rights in the Department of 
State, a position later upgraded to Assistant Secretary. In 
1994 the Congress created a position of Senior Advisor for 
Women's Rights. Congress has also written into law formal 
requirements that U.S. foreign and trade policy take into 
account countries' human rights and worker rights performance 
and that country reports be submitted to the Congress on an 
annual basis. The first reports, in 1977, covered only the 82 
countries receiving U.S. aid; this year 196 reports are 
submitted.

                      HOW THE REPORTS ARE PREPARED

    In 1993, the Secretary of State strengthened further the 
human rights efforts of our embassies. All sections in each 
embassy were asked to contribute information and to corroborate 
reports of human rights violations, and new efforts were made 
to link mission programming to the advancement of human rights 
and democracy. In 1994 the Bureau of Human Rights and 
Humanitarian Affairs was reorganized and renamed as the Bureau 
of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, reflecting both a broader 
sweep and a more focused approach to the interlocking issues of 
human rights, worker rights and democracy. The 2006 Country 
Reports on Human Rights Practices reflect a year of dedicated 
effort by hundreds of State Department, Foreign Service, and 
other U.S. Government employees.
    Our embassies, which prepared the initial drafts of the 
reports, gathered information throughout the year from a 
variety of sources across the political spectrum, including 
government officials, jurists, armed forces sources, 
journalists, human rights monitors, academics, and labor 
activists. This information-gathering can be hazardous, and 
U.S. Foreign Service Officers regularly go to great lengths, 
under trying and sometimes dangerous conditions, to investigate 
reports of human rights abuse, monitor elections, and come to 
the aid of individuals at risk, such as political dissidents 
and human rights defenders whose rights are threatened by their 
governments.
    After the embassies completed their drafts, the texts were 
sent to Washington for careful review by the Bureau of 
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, in cooperation with other 
State Department offices. As they worked to corroborate, 
analyze, and edit the reports, Department officers drew on 
their own sources of information. These included reports 
provided by U.S. and other human rights groups, foreign 
government officials, representatives from the United Nations 
and other international and regional organizations and 
institutions, experts from academia, and the media. Officers 
also consulted with experts on worker rights, refugee issues, 
military and police topics, women's issues, and legal matters. 
The guiding principle was to ensure that all relevant 
information was assessed as objectively, thoroughly, and fairly 
as possible.
    The reports in this volume will be used as a resource for 
shaping policy, conducting diplomacy, and making assistance, 
training, and other resource allocations. They also will serve 
as a basis for the U.S. Government's cooperation with private 
groups to promote the observance of internationally recognized 
human rights.
    The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices cover 
internationally recognized individual, civil, political and 
worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. These rights include freedom from torture or 
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, from 
prolonged detention without charges, from disappearance or 
clandestine detention, and from other flagrant violations of 
the right to life, liberty and the security of the person.
    Universal human rights seek to incorporate respect for 
human dignity into the processes of government and law. All 
persons have the inalienable right to change their government 
by peaceful means and to enjoy basic freedoms, such as freedom 
of expression, association, assembly, movement, and religion, 
without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national 
origin, or sex. The right to join a free trade union is a 
necessary condition of a free society and economy. Thus the 
reports assess key internationally recognized worker rights, 
including the right of association, the right to organize and 
bargain collectively, the prohibition of forced or compulsory 
labor, the status of child labor practices, the minimum age for 
employment of children, and acceptable work conditions.
    Within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the 
editorial staff of the Country Reports Team consists of: 
Editor-in-Chief--Stephen Eisenbraun; Office Directors--Bruce 
Connuck, Nadia Tongour, and Francisco Palmieri; Senior 
Editors--Jonathan Bemis, Daniel Dolan, Stephen Eisenbraun, 
Jerome L. Hoganson, Sandra Murphy, Elizabeth Ramborger, and 
Julie Turner; Editors--Kulsum Ali, Joseph S. Barghout, Kate 
Berglund, Sarah Buckley, Laura Carey, Elise Carlson, Ryan J. 
Casteel, Cheryl Clayton, Sharon C. Cooke, Susan Corke, Stuart 
Crampton, Tamara Crouse, Frank B. Crump, Mollie Davis, Douglas 
B. Dearborn, Cortney Dell, Lauren DiSilvio, Joan Garner, Saba 
Ghori, Karen Gilbride, Elliott Gillerman, Lisa Heller, Victor 
Huser, Stan Ifshin, David T. Jones, Simone Joseph, Salman Khan, 
Anne Knight, Catherine Kuchta-Holbling, Lawrence Lesser, 
Jessica Lieberman, Gregory Maggio, Michael Michener, Jennie 
Munoz, Daniel L. Nadel, Catherine Newling, Emily Oswell, Peter 
Sawchyn, Amy Schmisseur, Patricia Meeks Schnell, Sonam Shah, 
Wendy Silverman, Melissa Sims, James Todd, Terry Tracy, Nicole 
Willett, Whitney Wilson, Suzanne Yountchi, and Robert Zuehlke; 
Contributing Editor--Lynne Davidson; Editorial Assistants--
Elyse Bauer, Adrienne Bory, Karen Chen, Carol Finerty, Maureen 
Gaffney, Sylvia Hammond, Noel Hartley, Laura Jordan, David 
Perez, Lindsay Robinson, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Julie Short, 
Nora Vacariu, Emily Weaver, Eva Weigold, and Melike Yetken; 
Technical Support--Linda C. Hayes, Paul Skoczylas, and Tanika 
N. Willis.
 INTRODUCTION TO THE COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR THE 
                               YEAR 2006

                              ----------                              

    These reports describe the performance of governments in 
putting into practice their international commitments on human 
rights. These fundamental rights, reflected in the United 
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, constitute what 
President Bush calls the ``non-negotiable demands of human 
dignity.'' As Secretary Rice has said, the full promise of the 
UN Universal Declaration cannot be realized overnight, but it 
is urgent work that cannot be delayed.
    The Universal Declaration calls upon ``every individual and 
every organ of society . to promote respect for these rights 
and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and 
international, to secure their universal and effective 
recognition and observance.''
    The United States takes its human rights commitments 
seriously. We recognize that we are writing this report at a 
time when our own record, and actions we have taken to respond 
to the terrorist attacks against us, have been questioned. The 
United States will continue to respond forthrightly to the good 
faith concerns of others, including by means of the reports we 
submit periodically in accordance with our obligations under 
various human rights treaties to which we are a party. We are 
also committed to continual improvement. U.S. laws, policies, 
and practices governing the detention, treatment, and trial of 
terrorist suspects have evolved considerably over the last five 
years. Our democratic system of government is not infallible, 
but it is accountable--our robust civil society, our vibrant 
free media, our independent branches of government, and a well 
established rule of law work as correctives.
    The congressionally mandated country reports on human 
rights practices that follow are an essential element of the 
United States' effort to promote respect for human rights 
worldwide. For three decades, these annual reports have been 
used widely here and abroad as a reference document for 
assessing the progress made and the challenges that remain. 
They also have served as a foundation for cooperative action 
among governments, organizations, and individuals seeking to 
end abuses and strengthen the capacity of countries to protect 
the fundamental rights of all.
    The reports review each country's performance in 2006. Each 
report speaks for itself. Yet, broad patterns are discernible 
and are described below, supported by country-specific 
examples. The examples we cite are illustrative, not 
exhaustive.

                 HOPEFUL TRENDS, YET SOBERING REALITIES

    As a review of these reports shows, across the globe in 
2006, men and women continued to press for their rights to be 
respected and their governments to be responsive, for their 
voices to be heard and their votes to count, for just laws and 
justice for all. There also was a growing recognition that 
democracy is the form of government that can best meet the 
demands of citizens for dignity, liberty, and equality. These 
are hopeful trends indeed, yet the reports also reflect 
sobering realities:
    First, the advances made in human rights and democracy were 
hard won and challenging to sustain. While some countries made 
significant progress, some lagged and others regressed.
    As the range of examples below demonstrates, the 
performance of countries varied greatly, depending on factors 
such as the degree of governmental commitment, institutional 
capacity, the extent of corruption, and the strength of civil 
society.
    In January 2006 Liberia's democratically elected Unity 
Party Government, led by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first 
female head of state in Africa, replaced the National 
Transitional Government of Liberia, which had served as the 
interim government since the end of a ruinous 14-year civil war 
in 2003. The Government took significant steps to correct past 
human rights deficiencies, including working with international 
partners to rehabilitate the country's justice sector and 
establishing a public defender's office in the capital. The 
president dismissed or suspended a number of corrupt government 
officials. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established 
in 2005 to investigate human rights violations and war crimes 
committed during the civil war, began taking statements from 
witnesses. Despite this progress, Liberia continued to face 
serious human rights challenges, including a still weak 
judiciary, official corruption and impunity, gender-based 
violence, and extreme poverty that led to child labor.
    Substantial reductions in killings by the armed forces and 
the police in politically sensitive areas of Indonesia 
continued during the year. Fifty-four generally free and fair 
elections were held at the provincial, regency, district, and 
municipal levels, most notably in December in Aceh, where a 
former rebel field commander won the governorship. Although 
inter-communal religious violence generally abated, it 
nonetheless persisted in some areas. The Government and the 
courts were unable to confront past human rights abuses and 
atrocities both in Indonesia and in East Timor.
    Morocco's human rights record showed notable progress, 
although problems remained. The Government began to address 
past human rights abuses by providing compensation through the 
Consultative Council on Human Rights for specific cases of 
arrest, disappearance, and abuse during the period between 1956 
and 1999. In March the Government enacted an antitorture law, 
although reports of torture by various branches of the security 
forces persisted. There was extensive and largely open debate 
in public and in the press, despite continuing restrictions on 
freedom of the press and speech. During the year the Government 
punished some journalists who violated limitations on free 
speech, and many journalists practiced self-censorship. 
Trafficking in persons, particularly for sexual exploitation, 
and child labor remained issues of concern; however, both the 
Government and civil society were increasingly active in 
addressing them.
    The Democratic Republic of the Congo held its first 
democratic presidential and legislative elections in more than 
45 years, putting an end to a three-year post-civil war 
transitional period. A new constitution went into force. Yet, 
the human rights record remained poor. In addition to simmering 
conflict in the east, where government control remained weak 
and armed groups continued to commit serious abuses, government 
security forces across the country also committed serious 
abuses with impunity.
    In Haiti, citizens demonstrated their commitment to 
democracy by going to the polls three times in 2006. More than 
3.5 million citizens registered to vote, and an impressive 
turnout estimated at more than 70 percent of registered voters 
participated in the first round of presidential and 
parliamentary elections in February. After a relatively stable 
and violence-free election process, voters selected President 
Rene Preval and filled 129 parliamentary seats. In December, 
Haiti held its first municipal elections in more than a decade. 
Yet much remains to be done to restore fully the rule of law, 
including an overhaul of Haiti's dysfunctional judicial system 
and the continued retraining and vetting of the Haitian 
National Police.
    In Ukraine, notable post-Orange Revolution progress in 
human rights performance continued to be made. The March 2006 
parliamentary elections were the freest in 15 years of 
independence. The country continued to make improvements in 
press freedom, freedom of association, and the development of 
civil society. Despite these gains, a number of serious 
problems remained, including corruption in all branches of 
government.
    Although Kyrgyzstan's human rights record had improved 
considerably following the change to democratically elected 
leadership in 2005, during 2006 a week of mass yet peaceful 
protests culminated in the hasty adoption of an amended 
constitution that offered the possibility for genuine checks 
and balances. At the end of December, however, parliament 
passed another constitution negating many key checks and 
balances. The Government also harassed foreign-funded 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
    Despite President Musharraf's stated commitment to 
democratic transition and ``enlightened moderation,'' 
Pakistan's human rights record continued to be poor. 
Restrictions remained on freedom of movement, expression, 
association, and religion. Disappearances of provincial 
activists and political opponents continued, especially in 
provinces experiencing internal turmoil and insurgencies. The 
security forces continued to commit extrajudicial killings. 
Arbitrary arrest and torture remained common. Corruption was 
pervasive throughout the Government and police forces. On a 
positive note, in December the National Assembly passed and 
President Musharraf signed the Women's Protection Bill--marking 
the first time in three decades that a Pakistan Government 
successfully rolled back laws detrimental to women's rights. 
The law amends the 1979 rape and adultery provision of the 
Hudood Ordinance by transferring the offense of rape from 
Pakistan Sharia law to the Pakistan Penal Code. The law also 
eliminates the requirement for rape victims to present four 
male witnesses to press charges.
    Though Egypt held a first-ever, multi-party presidential 
election in 2005, in 2006 public calls for greater 
democratization and accountability sometimes met with strong 
government reaction. The continued imprisonment of former 
presidential candidate Ayman Nour raised serious concerns about 
the path of political reform and democracy in the country. 
Continuing a trend begun in 2005, the Government arrested and 
detained hundreds of activists affiliated with the banned-but-
tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, generally for periods lasting 
several weeks. Two senior judges were brought in for 
questioning in February for publicly calling for an independent 
judiciary. Egyptian police arrested and detained over 500 
activists for participating in demonstrations in support of 
judicial independence. In addition, severe cases of torture by 
authorities were documented. The Government also arrested, 
detained, and abused several Internet bloggers.
    In Kazakhstan, the Government restricted the functioning of 
the political opposition by enforcing onerous registration 
requirements and hindering or denying political party 
registration. The merging of progovernment parties consolidated 
the firm leadership of President Nazarbayev's Otan Party and 
left less political space to express alternative views and 
advocate for reform. The Government harassed the political 
opposition via politically motivated charges and restrictions 
on freedom of assembly, passed laws restricting press freedom, 
and harassed NGOs.
    Russia experienced continuing centralization of power in 
the executive branch, including amendments to election laws and 
new legislation for political parties that grants the 
Government broad powers to regulate, investigate, limit, and 
even close down parties. Taken together with a compliant State 
Duma, corruption and selectivity in law enforcement, political 
pressure on the judiciary, and restrictions on the NGOs and the 
media, these trends resulted in the further erosion of 
government accountability. In Chechnya and other areas of the 
North Caucasus, serious human rights violations continued, 
including unlawful killings and abuses of civilians by both 
federal and Chechen Republic security forces. Rebel fighters 
committed terrorist bombings and politically motivated 
disappearances in the region. In a growing number of cases, the 
European Court of Human Rights held Russia responsible for 
these abuses.
    In Venezuela, the Chavez Government continued to 
consolidate power in the executive branch. The Government 
continued to harass the opposition and NGOs and to weaken 
judicial independence. International observers judged generally 
free and fair the December presidential elections, in which 
President Chavez won re-election with 63 percent of the vote. 
In his inaugural address, President Chavez asked the National 
Assembly, in which his parties control 100 percent of the 
seats, to grant him power to rule by executive decree.
    In Fiji and Thailand, militaries overthrew democratically 
elected governments.
    A second sobering reality is that insecurity due to 
internal and/or cross-border conflict can threaten or thwart 
advancements in human rights and democratic government.
    Despite the Iraqi Government's continuing commitment to 
foster national reconciliation and reconstruction, keep to an 
electoral course, and establish the rule of law, both deepening 
sectarian violence and acts of terrorism seriously undercut 
human rights and democratic progress during 2006. Although the 
Iraqi constitution and law provide a strong framework for the 
protection of human rights, armed groups attacked human rights 
from two different directions: those proclaiming their 
hostility to the Government--Al-Qa'ida terrorists, 
irreconcilable remnants of the Ba'athist regime, and insurgents 
waging guerrilla warfare; and members of Shi'a militias and 
individual ministries' security forces--nominally allied with 
the Government--who committed torture and other abuses.
    Although Afghanistan made important human rights progress 
since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, its human rights record 
remained poor. This was mainly due to weak central institutions 
and a deadly insurgency: the Taliban, Al-Qa'ida, and other 
extremist groups stepped up attacks against government 
officials, security forces, NGOs and other aid personnel, and 
unarmed civilians; and the number of suicide bombings rose 
dramatically during the year, as did attacks on schools and 
teachers. There were continued reports of cases of arbitrary 
arrests and detention, extrajudicial killings, torture, and 
poor prison conditions. In December President Karzai launched a 
Transitional Justice Action Plan designed to address past 
violations of human rights and improve the institutional 
capacity of the justice system.
    Lebanon's significant steps toward reform following the 
2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 
the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops after nearly three 
decades of occupation have been hampered since the July-August 
2006 conflict between Hizballah and Israel. Before the 
conflict, the Lebanese Government had started to remove many of 
the obstacles that barred political associations and parties. 
After Hizballah entered Israel from Lebanese territory and 
kidnapped and killed several Israeli soldiers, Israeli military 
forces responded by entering Lebanese territory. The conflict 
ended with an UN-sponsored cessation of hostilities. Despite 
the cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanon 
Armed Forces and UN Interim Forces in the south, Lebanese 
militias and Hizballah retained significant influence over 
parts of the country.
    In East Timor, a series of deadly clashes between the 
national defense force and a variety of dissident military, 
police, and civilian forces led to widespread mob and gang 
violence in the capital. At the request of the Government, 
forces from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Portugal 
assumed responsibility for security in the capital. On August 
25, the UN Integrated Mission for East Timor took over policing 
responsibilities. This internal conflict resulted in the 
displacement of approximately 150,000 people, more than 15 
percent of the country's population.
    Third, despite gains for human rights and democratic 
principles in every region of the world, much of humanity still 
lives in fear yet dreams of freedom.
    Countries in which power remained concentrated in the hands 
of unaccountable rulers--whether totalitarian or 
authoritarian--continued to be the world's most systematic 
human rights violators.
    In 2006 North Korea remained one of the world's most 
isolated and repressive regimes. The regime controls almost all 
aspects of citizens' lives, denying freedom of speech, press, 
assembly, and association, and restricts freedom of movement 
and worker rights. The constitution provides for ``freedom of 
religious belief,'' but genuine religious freedom does not 
exist. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people, including 
political prisoners, were held in detention camps, and many 
prisoners died from torture, starvation, disease, and exposure.
    The military Government in Burma extensively used 
executions, rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced 
relocation of entire villages, particularly of ethnic 
minorities, to maintain its grip on power. Prisoners and 
detainees were subjected to abuse and held in harsh, life-
threatening conditions. Surveillance, harassment, and 
imprisonment of political activists continued; Nobel Laureate 
and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained incommunicado 
under house arrest, and over 1,100 political prisoners 
languished in prison. The use of forced labor, trafficking in 
persons, conscription of child soldiers, and religious 
discrimination remained widespread. The Government reconvened 
the sham National Convention, handpicking delegates and 
prohibiting free debate. Touted as part of a ``democracy road 
map,'' the convention was designed to nullify the results of 
the 1990 election and adopt a new, regime-friendly 
constitution. The regime's cruel and destructive misrule also 
resulted in refugee outflows, the spread of infectious 
diseases, and the trafficking of drugs and human beings into 
neighboring countries.
    The Iranian Government flagrantly violated freedom of 
speech and assembly, intensifying its crackdown against 
dissidents, journalists, and reformers--a crackdown 
characterized by arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, 
disappearances, the use of excessive force, and the widespread 
denial of fair public trials. The Government continued to 
detain and abuse Baha'is and other religious minorities and 
hosted a widely condemned conference denying the existence of 
the Holocaust. In the lead-up to the December 15 Assembly of 
Experts elections in Iran, more than two-thirds of those who 
had applied to run--including all female candidates--were 
disqualified, leaving many seats uncontested. Hundreds of 
candidates in nationwide municipal elections also were 
disqualified. The Government continued to flout domestic and 
international calls for responsible government in 2006 by 
supporting terrorist movements in Syria and Lebanon as well as 
calling for the destruction of a UN member state.
    In Zimbabwe, the Mugabe Government continued across-the-
board violations of human rights. Official corruption and 
impunity were widespread. The 2002 Official Secrets Act and 
Public Order and Security Act remained in effect, severely 
restricting civil liberties. In the 2006 parliamentary by-
elections and rural district council elections, the 
Government's manipulation of the electoral process 
disenfranchised voters and skewed elections in favor of ruling 
party candidates. The ruling party's dominance permitted 
constitutional changes without wide consultation. Security 
forces harassed, beat, and arbitrarily arrested critics and 
opposition supporters. Disruptions at farms and seizures of 
property continued and were sometimes violent. The campaign of 
forced evictions, which left 700,000 people homeless during 
Operation Restore Order in 2005, continued on a lesser scale. 
The Government interfered with humanitarian organizations' 
efforts to provide assistance. In December Mugabe and his 
loyalists proposed extending his term for two years by 
deferring presidential elections to 2010.
    In Cuba, the Government, temporarily headed by Raul Castro 
due to Fidel Castro's illness, continued to violate virtually 
all the rights of its citizens, including the fundamental right 
to change their Government peacefully or criticize the 
revolution or its leaders. In 2006 the Government increased its 
harassment of dissidents and other citizens viewed as threats 
to the Government, often through mob actions called ``acts of 
repudiation'' involving verbal abuse and physical attacks. 
Beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners also were carried 
out with impunity. Although token releases of prisoners 
occurred during the year, at least 283 political prisoners and 
detainees were held at year's end, including 59 of 75 
prodemocracy and human rights activists imprisoned in a March 
2003 crackdown.
    The Chinese Government's human rights record deteriorated 
in some areas in 2006. There was an increased number of high-
profile cases involving the monitoring, harassment, detention, 
and imprisonment of political and religious activists, 
journalists, and writers as well as defense lawyers seeking to 
exercise their rights under the law. Some of their family 
members also were harassed and detained. Large numbers of mass 
demonstrations and protests calling for redress of grievances 
continued and in some cases were violently suppressed. New 
government controls were imposed on: NGOs; the media, including 
the Internet; and courts and judges. Repression of unregistered 
religious groups and of minority groups, in particular Uighurs 
and Tibetans, remained a serious concern.
    In Belarus, the Lukashenko Government continued and 
intensified its repressive policies. The March presidential 
election was severely flawed. Up to 1,000 people were arrested 
in an ensuing crackdown on public protests against the results 
and many were sentenced to short jail terms. More activists and 
opposition members, including Aleksander Kozulin, who ran 
against Lukashenko in the presidential race, were sentenced to 
jail terms ranging from 2 to 5 + years.
    The Eritrean Government continued to be one of the most 
repressive in Sub-Saharan Africa, and its human rights record 
worsened in 2006. Government security forces committed 
extrajudicial killings; there were credible reports that 
security forces shot on sight individuals trying to cross the 
border into Ethiopia. The Government escalated its campaign of 
arresting national service evaders as well as their relatives, 
and there also were credible reports indicating that some of 
those arrested were tortured. As it did in 2005, the Government 
ordered several international humanitarian NGOs to leave the 
country, despite a severe drought in the Horn of Africa. There 
were continued severe restrictions on religious freedom.
    The fourth sobering reality is that as the worldwide push 
for greater personal and political freedom grows stronger, it 
is being met with increasing resistance from those who feel 
threatened by political and societal change.
    Human rights defenders and nongovernmental organizations 
are essential to a nation's success. In today's world, the 
problems confronting states are too complex even for the most 
powerful to tackle alone. The contributions of civil society 
and the free flow of ideas and information are crucial in 
addressing a host of domestic and international challenges. 
Restricting the political space of NGOs and public debate only 
limits a society's own growth.
    In every region of the globe in 2006, there were 
governments that responded to the growing demands for personal 
and political freedom not by accepting their obligations to 
their people but by oppressing those who advocated for human 
rights and who exposed abuses, such as nongovernmental 
organizations and independent media, including the Internet. A 
disturbing number of countries passed or selectively applied 
laws and regulations against NGOs and journalists. NGOs and 
journalists also were subjected to extralegal measures, often 
by unknown assailants. For example:
    In Russia in 2006, a new NGO law entered into force in 
April imposing more stringent registration requirements for 
NGOs, strict monitoring of organizations, extensive and onerous 
reporting requirements on programming and activities, and 
empowering the Federal Registration Service to deny 
registration or to shut down an organization based on vague and 
subjective criteria. Freedom of expression and media 
independence declined due to government pressure and 
restrictions. In October unknown persons murdered human rights 
defender Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent journalist known for 
her critical writing on human rights abuses in Chechnya. The 
Government used its controlling ownership of all national 
television and radio stations, as well as of the majority of 
influential regional ones, to restrict access to information 
deemed sensitive.
    In Belarus, onerous tax inspections and NGO registration 
requirements made it difficult for civil society organizations 
to operate, and attacks against members of the independent 
media continued. In November prodemocracy activist Dmitriy 
Dashkevich was sentenced to 18 months in prison for operating 
an unregistered NGO.
    The Government of Kazakhstan registered the opposition True 
Ak Zhol party after one of its co-chairmen, Sarsenbaiuly, was 
killed and restrictively interpreted Article 5 of the 
constitution to suspend foreign-funded, nonpartisan political 
party training activities, asserting that providing information 
is tantamount to financing political parties. In July President 
Nazarbayev signed into law restrictive media amendments deemed 
a step backward by the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe's Freedom of Media Representative. The 
Government continued to use restrictive libel laws to fine, 
convict, and suspend media outlets, journalists, and critics. 
In April a member of a suspended media outlet was brutally 
beaten.
    Freedom of expression, association and assembly are tightly 
restricted in Turkmenistan, and the Government sought to 
control all NGO activity. Foreign-origin satellite television 
is accessible throughout the country, but the Government 
controlled all domestic media, and local journalists were 
prohibited from all contact with foreigners unless specifically 
permitted. Very limited Internet access was provided through 
government-owned Turkmen Telecom; no new accounts were allowed 
in the capital since September 2002. In August the Government 
arrested journalists Ogulspapar Myradova, Annakurban 
Amanklichev, and Sapardurdy Hajiyev and sentenced them to six 
to seven years of imprisonment for weapons possession in a 
closed, summary trial. In September Myradova, a Radio Free 
Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent, died in prison under 
suspicious circumstances. NGOs have reported that she and her 
two colleagues were tortured during detention in the summer to 
extract confessions of weapons possession. OnDecember 21, 
President Saparmurat Niyazov died.
    The Government of Uzbekistan sought to control most NGO 
activity and closed down over 200 civil society organizations, 
including international NGOs operating in the country, citing 
alleged violations of the law. Independent journalists and 
human rights activists continued to be persecuted.
    The Syrian Government strictly controlled the dissemination 
of information and prohibited criticism of the Government and 
discussion of sectarian issues, including religious and 
minority rights. There were detentions and beatings for 
individual expressions of opinion that violated these 
restrictions, for example the February arrest of journalist 
Adel Mahfouz after he called for interfaith dialogue following 
the controversy surrounding the depiction of the Prophet 
Muhammed in cartoons. The Government relied on its press and 
publication laws, the penal code, and the Emergency Law to 
censor access to the Internet, and it restricted electronic 
media. Harassment of domestic human rights activists also 
occurred, including regular close surveillance and the 
imposition of travel bans when they sought to attend workshops 
and conferences outside the country.
    Press freedom was at an all-time low in Iran, as the 
Government closed independent newspapers Shargh and Iran, 
blocked access to Internet news sites--including the New York 
Times and BBC Farsi--and jailed journalists and bloggers. The 
authorities used bans against leaving the country as a weapon 
against journalists.
    In Burundi, there was an increase in the arrest, detention, 
and intimidation of journalists and human rights activists by 
the Government; among many other individuals, police arrested 
and detained for several months the president of the country's 
leading anticorruption NGO. A governor of one province 
reportedly called the country's leading human rights NGO, 
League Iteka, an enemy of peace, and in November a government 
official announced that 32 registered international NGOs in the 
country could face expulsion for failure to submit mandatory 
annual reports to the Government.
    In Rwanda, there was a restrictive atmosphere for the 
functioning of civil society. Domestic and international NGOs 
are required by law to register each year and to provide 
reports to the Government on their activities. Authorities 
reportedly required some NGOs to obtain government 
authorization for some projects before being allowed to access 
international donor funds. In addition, all NGOs were expected 
to join a collective intended to manage their activities.
    The Venezuelan Government continued to harass and 
intimidate civil society groups, most notably the leaders of 
the electoral watchdog NGO Sumate, whose trial for conspiracy 
and treason for accepting a foreign grant was indefinitely 
postponed but continues to hang over their heads. At year's end 
a draft law was under consideration in the National Assembly 
which, if implemented, would increase government control over 
NGOs' financing and restrict NGOs from working in the areas of 
human rights or democracy promotion. Amendments to the penal 
code that impose prison sentences for insulting public 
officials and violent attacks on journalists contributed to a 
climate of self-censorship. The Government stepped up its 
harassment of independent and opposition news outlets. In 
December President Chavez announced that the Government would 
not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, 
the country's oldest commercial television network. The 
Government accused the network owners of being ``coup-mongers'' 
and of violating the public trust.
    In China, NGOs, both domestic and international, continued 
to face increased scrutiny and restrictions. By the end of 
2006, Reporters without Borders reported that 31 journalists 
and 52 Internet writers were in jail. While the Government 
encouraged use of the Internet, it also took steps to monitor 
its use, control content, restrict information, and punish 
those who violated regulations. The Government imposed stricter 
website registration requirements, enhanced official control of 
online content, and expanded the definition of illegal online 
content. The Government consistently blocked access to sites it 
deemed controversial, and the authorities reportedly began to 
employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective 
blocking of specific content rather than entire websites.
    Vietnam continued to monitor and restrict the Internet, 
blocking international human rights and news websites. Laws 
allow citizens to complain openly about inefficient government 
and corruption, but the Government continued to prohibit the 
press from drafting articles that questioned the role of the 
Communist Party, promoted pluralism or multiparty democracy, or 
questioned human rights policy. The Government forbids direct 
access to the Internet through Independent Service Providers 
and requires cybercafe owners to register the personal 
information of their customers and the sites visited. The 
Government released several high-profile political and 
religious dissidents, including Dr. Pham Hong Son, who was 
imprisoned for translating articles on democracy and 
disseminating them over the Internet.
    Genocide was the most sobering reality of all.
    Almost 60 years after the adoption of the UN Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights--an expression of the outraged 
conscience of mankind to the enormity of the Holocaust and the 
cataclysm of the Second World War--genocide continued to ravage 
the Darfur region of Sudan.
    Despite the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement 
ending the 22-year civil war between the north and south, and 
the establishment of a unity government that year, ethnic 
conflict continued in Sudan, most catastrophically in Darfur. 
The Sudanese Government and government-backed Janjaweed militia 
bear responsibility for the genocide in Darfur, and all parties 
to the conflagration committed serious abuses, including the 
widespread killing of civilians, rape as a tool of war, 
systematic torture, robbery, and recruitment of child soldiers. 
By the end of 2006, the Darfur conflict had resulted in at 
least 200,000 civilian deaths and two million displaced by the 
fighting. Over 234,000 refugees had fled to neighboring Chad, 
and both Chad and the Central African Republic experienced 
violent ethnic conflict along their borders with Sudan.
    In spite of indicating its support for the Addis Ababa 
framework, the Sudanese Government publicly rejected 
international forces for Darfur and renewed its military 
offensive during the latter half of 2006. The deteriorating 
security conditions forced some international NGOs and 
humanitarian organizations to scale back or suspend operations.

                          DEFEND THE DEFENDERS

    If the great promise of the UN Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights is to be fulfilled, the international community--
and especially the world's democracies--cannot accept that 
today's sobering realities are impervious to change. Indeed, 
they compel us to align ourselves with those who work for human 
dignity and political reform.
    In 2006 the courageous efforts of human rights defenders 
were highlighted by democratic governments:
    Country resolutions passed by the United Nations General 
Assembly in 2006 emphasized the need to protect human rights 
defenders in Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and Burma.
    The UN Democracy Fund, growing out of an idea presented to 
the General Assembly by President Bush in 2004 and established 
in 2005, completed its first year successfully. Its board 
agreed to fund 125 projects out of more than 1,300 proposals 
submitted by over 100 countries--a disbursal of more than $35 
million in grants mostly to prodemocracy civil society 
organizations.
    At the regional level, in June 2006 the General Assembly of 
the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the 
Declaration of Santo Domingo, a groundbreaking multilateral 
commitment by the countries of the region to ``guarantee the 
liberty of every person to enjoy freedom of expression, 
including access to uncensored political debate and the free 
exchange of ideas through all forms of mass media, including 
the Internet.'' The Foreign Ministers also declared their 
resolve to develop and encourage strategies and best practices 
to that effect.
    The OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' Unit for 
Human Rights Defenders issued a report on the serious problems 
they face in some countries, emphasizing the need for 
governments to support their work.
    In advance of the July African Union Assembly of the Heads 
of State, civil society organizations from 19 African countries 
met in Banjul, The Gambia, to develop recommendations for 
summit leaders regarding civil society's role in the African 
Peer Review Mechanism on countries' compliance with treaty 
obligations, ways to improve access to information by civil 
society, and citizenship laws that entrench discrimination. 
These recommendations were adopted at the summit.
    In the Broader Middle East and North Africa region the 
Forum for the Future brought together government officials and 
civil society representatives from the region, along with G-8 
partners, at the Dead Sea in Jordan. Nearly 50 civil society 
leaders representing hundreds of organizations from 16 
countries of the region participated in discussions on the rule 
of law, transparency, women's and youth empowerment, and the 
legal environment for civil society organizations. They also 
discussed how to strengthen reform by establishing mechanisms 
to follow up on recommendations. Though the hardest part lies 
ahead--adoption and implementation of recommendations put 
forward by civil society--the Forum helped to open political 
space that did not before exist for civil society organizations 
to form and interact with governments in the region.
    Marking International Human Rights Day in December 2006, 
Secretary Rice launched two important U.S. initiatives in 
support of human rights and democracy defenders:
    She announced the creation of a Human Rights Defenders Fund 
to be administered by the State Department that will quickly 
disburse small grants to help human rights defenders facing 
extraordinary needs as a result of government repression. This 
funding could go to cover legal defense, medical costs, or the 
pressing needs of activists' families.
    Secretary Rice also issued ten guiding NGO principles 
(http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/77771.htm) regarding the 
treatment by governments of nongovernmental organizations. 
These core principles will guide U.S. treatment of NGOs, and we 
also will use them to assess the actions of other governments. 
The principles are meant to complement lengthier, more detailed 
United Nations and other international documents addressing 
human rights defenders and can help to rally worldwide support 
for embattled NGOs by serving as a handy resource for 
governments, international organizations, civil society groups, 
and journalists.
    When democracies support the work of human rights advocates 
and civil society organizations, we are helping men and women 
in countries across the globe shape their own destinies in 
freedom. And by so doing, we are helping to build a safer, 
better world for all.
    We must defend the defenders, for they are the agents of 
peaceful, democratic change.





                                 AFRICA

                              ----------                              


                                 ANGOLA

    Angola is a constitutional republic in transition since its 27-year 
civil war ended in 2002. Legislation provides for decentralization; 
however, the Government remained highly centralized and dominated by 
the presidency. UN observers considered the 1992 Presidential and 
legislative elections to have been generally free and fair. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor and serious 
problems remained, although there were improvements in a few areas. 
Human rights abuses included: the abridgement of citizens' right to 
elect officials at all levels; unlawful killings by police, military, 
and private security forces; torture, beatings, and harsh and life-
threatening prison conditions; corruption and impunity; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; an inefficient and overburdened judicial system; 
lengthy pretrial detention; lack of due process; restrictions on 
freedom of speech, the press, including self-censorship, and assembly; 
forced evictions without compensation; and discrimination and domestic 
violence and abuse against women and children.
    The Government increased investigation and prosecution of human 
rights violations, training, and partnerships with human rights 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in an effort to curb abuses by the 
National Police and Armed Forces of Angola (FAA).
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit politically motivated killings during the 
year. Government security forces killed an unknown number of persons, 
although reports of such killings decreased significantly from past 
years. Impunity remained a problem, but the Government was increasingly 
willing to prosecute human rights violators.
    Domestic media and local human rights activists reported cases of 
police resorting to excessive force, including unlawful killings. In 
February the independent press reported that a youth suspected of gang 
activity was killed in a Luanda precinct. Police largely viewed 
extrajudicial killings as an alternative to relying on the country's 
ineffective judicial system. In May citizens reported that the body of 
a pregnant woman was discovered after her arrest by national police in 
Luanda Norte. These cases were reportedly still under investigation at 
year's end; however, national authorities were generally reluctant to 
disclose investigation results. In June human rights activists reported 
that police ``accidentally killed'' a disabled man during an abusive 
interrogation; the responsible officers were dismissed from the 
national police the same month.
    A Memorandum of Understanding for Peace and Reconciliation for 
Cabinda province, signed on August 1, largely brought an end to the 
insurgency in the province. As a result of this and an FAA policy of 
cooperation rather than repression, there was only one report during 
the year, in November, of an unlawful killing in Cabinda that may be 
linked to FAA soldiers. The case remained under investigation by both 
military and civil authorities. There were also confirmed reports of 12 
small clashes in the enclave between the FAA and the Front for the 
Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) in the period immediately 
surrounding the signing of the memorandum. Four civilians were 
reportedly killed in these clashes between FLEC soldiers and FAA 
forces. Since early September there were no confirmed reports of armed 
conflict.
    A human rights activist reported that private security companies 
hired to protect diamond concessions in the Cuango municipality of 
Lunda Norte province killed 10 persons between January and June. Other 
activists in the province also reported killings by private security 
companies outside of Cuango municipality; however, no arrests or 
investigations were reported.
    On August 8, at the end of a five-month trial, a member of the 
National Police, Olivio Bernardino Ismael Fraga, was sentenced to 17 
years' imprisonment and ordered to pay $6,250 (480,000 kwanza) to the 
victim's family for the January 2005 killing of Antoninho Tchiswungo, 
also known as ``Toi.'' There were no further developments in the 
numerous alleged 2005 or 2004 unlawful killings by police.
    Early in the year six men were arrested and charged in the 2004 
death of Mfulumpinga Landu Victor, leader of the Democratic Party for 
Congress. Five of the men were later killed while allegedly trying to 
escape police custody; the last man, Paulino Antonio ``Tchiriri,'' 
received a 40-year prison sentence.
    There were anecdotal and unconfirmed reports of vigilante violence.
    Landmines placed during the long civil war were a continuing 
threat. Eight provinces, encompassing approximately 50 percent of the 
country, contained heavily mined areas. The UN Development Program 
estimated that there were two million unexploded munitions; however, 
international NGOs conducting landmine clearance operations in the 
country estimated the number of landmines at 500,000 to one million. 
During the year the Government, working with international NGOs, 
increased its capacity to clear landmines. An estimated 80,000 landmine 
victims with injury-related disabilities were living in the country.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that 
persons taken into police or military custody disappeared.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 case in which police 
reportedly arrested eight young persons in the Vila Alice neighborhood 
of Luanda who subsequently disappeared.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
government security forces tortured, beat, and otherwise abused 
persons. Abuses in police stations during interrogations were common. 
Police and other security forces were rarely held accountable, although 
the Government punished some violators administratively or by public 
prosecution.
    Abuses by the army continued, but decreased in comparison with 
previous years. The human rights situation in Cabinda continued to 
improve; however, there were isolated reports of violence by FAA 
troops, including beatings and other forms of intimidation, against the 
civilian population. The International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) noted that the attention of Cabindan military commanders and FAA 
officials to human rights issues had substantially improved since high-
level command changes were effected in 2004. The ICRC stated that 
internal investigative and judicial bodies were functioning and that a 
large number of FAA officials were held accountable for their actions. 
Soldiers accused of unlawful behavior faced prosecution in civilian 
criminal courts. Three soldiers were convicted in the 2005 killing of a 
village administrator and sentenced to 16-year prison terms.
    While abuses by public security forces declined, reports of abuses 
by private security forces increased, particularly in the diamond-rich 
provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul. In the past national police and 
immigration officers were responsible for most of the human rights 
abuses perpetrated against Congolese and West African migrant miners, 
but the large scale deportations and violence associated with Operacao 
Brilhante, a government operation to stem illegal migration, declined 
after the operation ended in February 2005. The detention and expulsion 
of illegal miners continued, but private security contractors hired by 
diamond companies to protect their concessions from illegal 
exploitation were responsible for most of the violence. Operation 
Kissonde: The Diamonds of Humiliation and Misery, a report by local 
human rights activist Rafael Marques, documented 66 cases of abuse of 
civilians, most of whom were illegal miners, by private security 
companies in the Lunda Norte municipality of Cuango during the year.
    Police continued to intimidate, rob, harass, and kill citizens (see 
Sections 1.a. and 1.f.). Opposition party members complained that 
police did not have the capacity to protect them or their facilities 
(see Section 3).
    Police and immigration officials at provincial airports extorted 
money from travelers and harassed returnees and refugees (see Sections 
2.d. and 4).
    There were no developments in the 2005 and 2004 cases of police 
torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by security 
forces.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that police 
assaulted prostitutes (see Section 5).
    Landmines continued to result in injuries (see Section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh and life-threatening. Human rights activists reported that prison 
officials routinely beat and tortured detainees; however, the number of 
reports continued to decrease during the year. The national prison 
system continued to hold approximately five times the number of 
prisoners for which it was designed. With the exception of two new 
facilities, prisons were severely overcrowded, particularly outside of 
Luanda. In some provinces warehouses and other industrial buildings 
were used as prison facilities.
    Many prisons did not supply prisoners with basic sanitary 
facilities, adequate food, and health care. Prisoners depended on 
families, friends, or international relief organizations for basic 
support. Prison officials, who were chronically underpaid, supported 
themselves by stealing from prisoners and extorting money from family 
members. For example, prison guards continued to demand that prisoners 
pay for weekend passes to which they were entitled. There were reports 
of prison officials operating an informal bail system, releasing 
prisoners until their trial dates for fees ranging from $300 to $1,500 
(24,000 to 120,000 kwanza).
    There were reports that prisoners died of disease, especially in 
provincial prisons. Many serious illnesses were improperly diagnosed, 
delaying proper treatment. Prison conditions varied widely between 
provinces and municipalities.
    Females were generally detained separately from male inmates, even 
in provincial prisons. Unlike in previous years there were no reports 
that prison guards sexually abused female prisoners. In June a new 
prison opened in Viana; it included a female-only wing staffed by 
female guards.
    Juveniles, often incarcerated for petty theft, were frequently 
housed with adults and subject to abuse by guards and inmates in 
provincial prisons, but were increasingly separated from the main 
population in larger urban prisons to reduce such abuses. Juvenile 
detention centers were present in Luanda but were severely overcrowded.
    Pretrial detainees were a major cause of overcrowding. Pretrial 
detainees were frequently housed with sentenced inmates, and prisoners 
serving short-term sentences often were held with those serving long-
term sentences for violent crimes, especially in provincial prisons. 
There were no developments in the 2005 incident in which a man died in 
pretrial custody.
    The Government permitted foreign diplomatic personnel and local and 
international human rights observers to visit prisons during the year.
    Two new prisons, in Luanda and Benguela provinces, opened during 
the year. The Luanda prison offered professional training programs to 
male and female inmates in areas such as sewing, agricultural 
production, welding, carpentry, and auto repair, and psychological care 
was available from local churches.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, security forces did not always respect 
these prohibitions in practice. The national police were the primary 
perpetrators of abuses. It was reported that national police held 
family members of wanted individuals (see Section 1.f.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are 
under the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and are responsible for 
internal security and law enforcement. The internal intelligence 
service reports to the Office of the Presidency, and is mainly utilized 
to investigate sensitive state security matters. The FAA is responsible 
for external security but also has domestic responsibilities; the FAA 
reportedly conducted small-scale counterinsurgency operations against 
the FLEC in Cabinda prior to the August signing of the Memorandum of 
Understanding for Peace and Reconciliation in Cabinda.
    Other than personnel assigned to elite units, police were poorly 
paid, and the practice of supplementing income through extortion of 
civilians was widespread. Corruption and impunity remained serious 
problems; however, some officials were charged with crimes stemming 
from abuse of power during 2005, and this trend continued during the 
reporting period. Most complaints were handled within the national 
police via internal disciplinary procedures which could lead to formal 
punishment, including dismissal.
    In February the independent press reported that an ongoing internal 
investigation had targeted senior national police officials for drug 
and protection racketeering. On June 14, 10 national police officers 
were dismissed for their involvement in human rights abuses.
    During the year various government ministries, the Association for 
Justice, Peace, and Democracy (AJPD), the UN Human Rights Office 
(UNHRO), and other NGOs expanded programs to provide human rights and 
professional training to the police and the military. The Joint 
Training Team, made up of the Central Police Command, NGO 
representatives, and the UNHRO, worked to expand police training on 
human rights from provincial capitals to the municipal level. The 
prosecutor's office also collaborated with the UNHRO to deliver several 
workshops on human rights monitoring. As in 2005, police participated 
in professional training with foreign law enforcement officials from 
several countries in the region.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law states that an arrest requires a 
judge or a provincial magistrate to issue an arrest warrant; however, a 
person caught committing a crime may be immediately arrested without a 
warrant. Arrest warrants also may be signed by members of the judicial 
police and confirmed within five days by a magistrate. However, 
security forces did not always procure an arrest warrant before 
detaining persons. The constitution provides for the right to prompt 
judicial determination of the legality of a detention, but authorities 
did not respect this right in practice. A person generally may not be 
held for more than 135 days without trial; however, he may be detained 
for up to 180 days if caught committing a crime punishable by a prison 
sentence. However, in practice these limits were commonly exceeded. 
There was a functioning bail system that was widely used for minor 
crimes. The law permits detainees access to legal counsel, and states 
that indigent detainees should be provided a lawyer by the state; 
however, these rights usually were not respected. The law also allows 
detainees prompt access to family members; however, this was sometimes 
ignored or made conditional upon payment of a bribe.
    Although improper detention continued to be a problem, government 
and NGO attention increased, and NGOs were given increased access to 
information within the judicial system. Human rights organizations, 
such as the local NGO AJPD, continued efforts to secure the release of 
illegally detained persons. During the year AJPD worked on more than 
400 cases of illegal detention and secured the release of approximately 
30 persons. Unlike in previous years, public security forces did not 
routinely detain persons in Cabinda suspected of collaboration with 
FLEC, and in mining regions, expelled miners and their families were 
not unlawfully detained by the police or immigration services in 
transit centers. Detention of expelled miners by private security 
forces, however, increased during the year.
    Police arrested demonstrators during the year (see Section 2.b.).
    An inadequate number of judges and poor communication among 
authorities led to prolonged pretrial detention. Police often beat and 
then released detainees rather than prepare a formal court case. During 
the year government media frequently discussed pretrial detention. The 
Government reported it had released an estimated 2,000 pretrial 
detainees, who had been held beyond the legal time limit, during the 
first trimester of the year. In other cases, inmates commonly were held 
in the prison system for up to two years before their trials began.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient, corrupt, 
and subject to executive influence. The judiciary functioned poorly at 
the provincial and municipal levels and did not ensure due process for 
criminal or civil cases. The court system lacked the financial means 
and political support to assure its independence. During the year the 
Government continued to rebuild courts and train new magistrates and 
prosecutors; on September 26, the Supreme Court appointed 34 new 
provincial court judges. However, staffing shortfalls remained a 
problem in provincial courts, and there was often only one judge to 
cover all cases in a province. Judicial corruption, especially at the 
administrative level, was a problem; however, recent changes, such as 
the implementation of a new court case filing system and the random 
assignment of judges, improved transparency and efficiency in the 
judicial system in Luanda and some other provinces.
    The court system consists of the Supreme Court as well as municipal 
and provincial courts of first instance under the authority of the 
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court serves as the appellate court for 
questions of law and fact. The President has the power to appoint 
Supreme Court justices without confirmation by the parliament. The law 
provides for judicial review of constitutional issues by the Supreme 
Court until a Constitutional Court is established.
    There were long trial delays at the Supreme Court level. A case 
brought by the opposition party UNITA, challenging the 
constitutionality of the electoral law, was pending since the law's 
passage in August 2005. Trials for political and security crimes are 
handled exclusively by the Supreme Court; however, there were no such 
trials during the year. The criminal courts had a large backlog of 
cases that caused major delays in hearings.
    A number of criminal laws and judicial system regulations underwent 
review during the year in an effort to update legislation dating back 
to the colonial era. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) continued efforts to 
update case management systems, train law clerks, increase the number 
of municipal courts in 14 major population centers, and develop a 
mediation system.
    Due to the lack of judicial infrastructure and the continuing 
authority of traditional leaders, informal or traditional courts 
remained the principal institutions through which citizens resolved 
conflicts in rural areas. Traditional leaders (sobas) heard and decided 
local cases. They did not provide citizens with the same rights to a 
fair trial as the formal legal system; instead each community in which 
they were located established local rules.
    Both the National Police and the FAA have internal court systems 
that generally remained closed to outside scrutiny. While members of 
these organizations can be tried under their internal regulations, 
cases that include violations of criminal or civil laws, that is, in 
cases where there is a civilian victim or plaintiff, can also fall 
under the jurisdiction of provincial courts.

    Trial Procedures.--By law trials are usually public, but each court 
has the right to close proceedings. Juries are not used. Defendants 
have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a 
timely manner. The law requires that an attorney be provided at public 
expense if an indigent defendant faces serious criminal charges, but 
outside of Luanda the public defender was possibly not a trained 
attorney. Defendants do not have the right to confront their accusers; 
however, they may question witnesses against them and present witnesses 
and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases; however, 
the Government did not always respect these rights in practice. 
Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal.
    A court for children's affairs, under the MOJ, functions as part of 
Luanda's provincial court system (see Section 5).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A relatively independent 
and impartial judiciary existed for civil matters in some areas. Civil 
courts functioned in Luanda and Benguela, and their efficiency improved 
due to training and consultative services provided by the Commercial 
Law Development Program (CLDP). The CLDP and the MOJ expanded the 
training of court clerks to improve administration in the provincial 
and municipal courts of Benguela, Lobito Huila, Cabinda, and Luanda. 
This training provided technical skills to ensure random assignment of 
judges and helped establish a system for tracking of cases and the 
continuous accountability of documents. During the year the MOJ worked 
with CLDP and other partners to provide the hardware, software, and 
training necessary to computerize the case management system in 
Luanda's Palacio D. Ana Joaquina criminal court building.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, the Government did not always respect citizens' privacy 
rights. The legal requirement for search warrants occasionally was 
disregarded, most often in police searches for illegal vendors and 
periodic sweeps of public markets.
    Citizens widely believed that the Government maintained 
surveillance of certain groups, including opposition party leaders and 
journalists.
    The security situation in Cabinda improved markedly as the peace 
process progressed. Incidents were reported, but at a much reduced 
level. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that government 
forces in Cabinda attacked women in their homes, while they were 
working in the fields, near military camps, or during searches of 
homes.
    The Government continued to demolish informal squatter housing in 
Luanda and large provincial cities. In March government and private 
security personnel forcibly removed an estimated 600 families--mainly 
women, children, and the elderly--remaining in the Luandan 
neighborhoods of Cambamba I and II and Banga We, and destroyed their 
homes due to the continued expansion of the Nova Vida housing project; 
Nova Vida had reportedly been granted the land without prior 
consultation with residents or due legal process. Excessive force was 
used during the expulsions, including discharging of firearms into the 
air and ground to force the retreat of families and allow bulldozers to 
advance. One boy was wounded by a stray bullet. According to Amnesty 
International (AI), police and private security guards beat and kicked 
residents, including a pregnant woman and a woman carrying a baby on 
her back, and a youth was beaten by seven police officers and a private 
security guard. Police interrogated and threatened members of the 
international organization OXFAM who were present. The private security 
guard who wounded the boy was reportedly arrested.
    The Government claimed that legitimate residents of the 
neighborhoods had been compensated and relocated long before, and that 
the individuals expelled had deliberately moved to that land in an 
attempt to unlawfully reap the benefits of government resettlement. 
Authorities stated that they had repeatedly warned of impending 
evictions, but the final eviction notice was issued only two days 
before residents were evicted. However, AI stated that the evictions 
were apparently carried out without procedural protection, due process, 
or prior consultation, and evictees were given only one day's notice.
    In April 104 families were removed from their apartment building 
near Kinaxixi circle in downtown Luanda. All families were assigned new 
homes in the Zango and Sapu neighborhoods, about six miles east of 
Luanda. In June in the Luandan municipality of Cacuaco 15 families were 
removed from their homes. In July and August an unknown number of 
families were moved from Boa Vista, a shantytown in Luanda, to new 
homes in Zango. Throughout the year, families living near the 
construction site for the new international airport outside of Viana, 
approximately six miles east of Luanda, were removed from their homes. 
Some of these families received new residences or land on which to 
build, but many were unwilling to move to the selected locations due to 
the distance from economic centers that provided employment 
opportunities and markets.
    There were anecdotal reports that national police held family 
members of wanted individuals until the individuals reported to the 
police.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, government regulations 
and a lack of independent media outside of Luanda limited this right. 
Journalists practiced self-censorship.
    On May 26, President Dos Santos promulgated a new press law. The 
law ended the state monopoly on television, partially opened the FM 
bandwidth to independent broadcasters, and rescinded travel 
restrictions on journalists. Groups such as the Media Institute of 
Southern Africa and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Angola and Sao 
Tome publicly called for amendments to the new law, including removing 
statutes that make journalists liable to criminal charges and statutes 
which prevent independent radio from broadcasting nationwide.
    Government and independent media paid increased attention to the 
electoral process, corruption, economic mismanagement, social 
conditions, and human rights issues such as domestic abuse and 
treatment of illegal miners. While the Government continued to give 
preferential treatment to state media organizations, during the year 
independent journalists received increased access in some provinces, 
including Luanda, Benguela, and Huila. Opposition parties, however, 
were at times denied broadcast time on Angola Public Television (TPA), 
the state television network, and in the Government daily newspaper, 
the Jornal de Angola (JA). UNITA claimed that it paid both TPA and JA 
for television and print advertising that was never aired or published.
    Both independent radio and print media criticized the Government 
openly and at times harshly. The Government tolerated this criticism of 
its policies and actions in the independent media; however, local 
journalists practiced self-censorship, especially at the provincial 
level.
    The government-owned and -operated Jornal de Angola was the only 
national daily newspaper. There were 12 private weekly publications, 
some of which were distributed in the provinces several days after 
publication in Luanda. There were also four smaller weeklies in the 
southern provinces. There were five provincially-based commercial radio 
stations that openly criticized government policies and highlighted 
poor socioeconomic conditions; however, the five stations were only 
allowed to broadcast within their respective provinces, including the 
Catholic Church's Radio Ecclesia and Radio Lac Luanda. Government-owned 
and -operated Angolan National Radio was the only radio station with 
the capacity to broadcast nationally other than over short wave. The 
only television stations were the Government's two TPA stations, which 
broadcast from Luanda and most provincial capitals. Satellite 
television was available, but beyond the financial means of most 
citizens.
    The largest media outlets were state-operated and carried little 
criticism of government officials or positive coverage of opposition 
party political activities, beyond reports on statements in the 
national assembly or during meetings with government officials. 
Government-run media, however, often reported on government program 
deficiencies. The government-owned press often criticized independent 
journalists and opposition leaders, but independent journalists were 
free to respond to these criticisms.
    As a result of the May 26 press law, foreign journalists no longer 
needed authorization from the Ministry of Interior to meet government 
officials or to travel within the country. Foreign journalists, 
however, must obtain work visas issued in their home country or in 
their country of residence to enter and report on the country. This 
process could be time-consuming.
    There were no developments in the August 2005 case in which police 
reportedly confiscated and deleted images from a camera taken from a 
local independent photojournalist who was photographing a Luanda 
neighborhood.
    Depending on the issue, the minister of social communication, the 
spokesman of the presidency, the national director of information, and 
the directors of state-run media organizations had policy and 
censorship authority.
    Defamation of the President or his representatives is a crime, 
punishable by imprisonment or fine. Factuality is not an acceptable 
defense against defamation charges; the only allowable defense is for 
the accused to show that he did not produce the actual material alleged 
to have caused harm. No persons have been charged under this law.
    The law permits the Government to classify information.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Although access was limited to an estimated 1.3 percent of the 
population, availability was increasing, and the number of Internet 
cafes steadily expanded.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for the right of assembly; 
however, the Government at times restricted this right.
    The law requires written notification to the local administrator 
three days before public or private assemblies are to be held; however, 
the Government prohibited events based on perceived security 
considerations. Participants were potentially liable for ``offenses 
against the honor and consideration due to persons and to organs of 
sovereignty.'' Applications for progovernment gatherings routinely were 
granted without delay; however, applications for protest or opposition 
party assemblies sometimes were denied, usually based on government 
claims that the timing or venue requested was problematic.
    In January the Government denied a permit to Mpalabanda, a Cabindan 
civic association, to hold an event marking the 121st anniversary of 
the Treaty of Simulambuco. Portugal granted protectorate status to 
Cabinda under the treaty, and it symbolized Cabinda's status as 
distinct from the then-colony of Angola. When some persons went ahead 
with the protest, police detained them roughly and held them for 
several hours before releasing them.
    In September members of the Angolan Party for Democratic Support 
and Progress (PADEPA) were arrested for allegedly instigating 
disobedience and rebellion as they distributed pamphlets protesting the 
planned closure of Luanda's Roque Santeiro market.
    In November authorities denied PADEPA a permit to demonstrate in 
front of the French embassy to call for the return of what it 
considered to be public funds siphoned off for private interests and 
allegedly deposited in French banks or invested in France toward the 
end of the country's civil war. On November 9, 26 members were arrested 
and sentenced to one month's imprisonment for disturbing the peace as 
they approached the embassy with the intent to demonstrate without a 
permit. The sentences were converted into fines of approximately $2,000 
(160,000 kwanza). At year's end the case was on appeal to the Supreme 
Court.
    There were no developments in the 2005 or 2004 cases in which 
government authorities used excessive force to disperse demonstrations 
in Luanda.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the 
right of association, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. The Government may deny registration to private 
associations on security grounds. Although the Government approved most 
applications, including those for political parties, the MOJ continued 
to deny registration to the local human rights group AJPD (see Section 
4). Even without such a certificate, the Government did not prevent 
AJPD and other NGOs from conducting activities, including programs in 
official buildings or financed by government entities.
    Unlike in past years, the Government did not arbitrarily restrict 
associations that it considered subversive by refusing to grant permits 
for organized activities, or through official harassment. During the 
year opposition parties were permitted to organize and hold meetings; 
however, they reported occasional event-specific harassment by local 
officials.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Religious groups must register with the MOJ and the Ministry of 
Culture. Colonial-era statutes ban non-Christian religious groups; 
however, during the year they were not enforced. In 2004 the 
legislature approved a law establishing stricter criteria for the 
registration of religious groups to curb the growth of ``cults.''
    A total of 17 religious groups remained banned in Cabinda on 
charges of practicing harmful exorcism rituals on adults and children 
accused of witchcraft, illegally holding religious services in 
residences, and not being registered.
    In February three mosques were closed on grounds that they lacked 
authorization to open and were holding services that authorities 
claimed disrupted public order by impeding the flow of traffic. By 
year's end the Islamic Community of Angola received authorization to 
reopen the mosques. Public attitudes toward Islam were generally 
negative, and such sentiments were evident in statements by government 
officials opposing Muslim proselytizing and in commentaries by citizens 
in the local media.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts. The Jewish community was estimated at 300 persons.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government at times restricted them in 
practice. Extortion and harassment at government checkpoints in rural 
and border areas interfered with the right to travel. Police harassed 
returning refugees at border checkpoints. The Government had restricted 
access to areas of Cabinda that it deemed insecure; however, following 
the signing of the Cabindan peace accord in August, complete freedom of 
movement was allowed. The Government restricted access to areas 
designated as diamond concessions. Citizens in Lunda Norte and Lunda 
Sul provinces, both containing large diamond concessions, were 
regularly denied access to the concession areas for any purpose, 
including obtaining water.
    Extortion by police was routine in Luanda, other cities, and towns 
and pervasive on major commercial routes. Reports that security forces 
harassed expelled miners and their families as they crossed the border 
into the Democratic Republic of the Congo declined significantly during 
the year (see Section 1.c.).
    Landmines remaining from the civil war were a major impediment to 
freedom of movement (see Section 1.a.).
    Unlike in previous years, foreign journalists did not require 
authorization from the MOI to travel within the country, but border 
checkpoints remained between provinces.
    Immigration officials harassed and extorted money from travelers.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Between 2002 and year's end, 
an estimated 385,000 refugees had returned. A joint assessment by the 
Government, UN, and a foreign government estimated that 100,000 
internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained unsettled. Some of those 
yet to return to their homes stated that a lack of physical 
infrastructure, the presence of landmines, and the absence of 
government services such as medical care were major deterrents to their 
return. Others have settled in third countries.
    The Ministry of Assistance and Social Reinsertion (MINARS) has 
primary responsibility for returnees and remaining IDPs, as well as 
housing and resettlement programs; however, its efforts remained 
inadequate. Provincial governments have primary responsibility for 
ensuring safe, voluntary resettlement in areas cleared of mines and 
with access to water, arable land, markets, and adequate state 
administration. While areas of return were still given extra resources, 
conditions in these areas mirrored the difficult situation throughout 
the country. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of forced 
relocation of IDPs (see Section 1.f.).
    There were continuing reports that border officials harassed and 
charged refugees and returnees illegal taxes at border posts, but such 
reports continued to diminish and, unlike in 2005, there were no 
reports of sexual abuse by border officials. However, the UN Office of 
the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported mistreatment of old 
and new refugees in Lunda Norte province.

    Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provide for the 
granting of refugee status and asylum to persons in accordance with the 
1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 
Protocol, and the Government has established in principal the framework 
necessary to provide protection to refugees. However, in practice the 
Government has committed to fund only administrative costs for refugee 
protection. The Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; it also granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully; however, in practice citizens could not elect officials at 
any level of government.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 1992 the first 
multiparty Presidential and legislative elections were held. Popular 
Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) President Jose Eduardo dos 
Santos won a plurality of votes cast, and the MPLA also won a majority 
of seats in the parliament. Local and international observers declared 
the election to be generally free and fair, but civil war resumed when 
UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results. In 2005 the parliament 
passed electoral law revisions. The first post-civil war elections were 
expected during the year, but the Government postponed them. The 
Government claimed that complications in the registration process and 
the need for extensive infrastructure development required the delay. 
Delayed legislative elections were planned for 2008 and Presidential 
elections for 2009; however, firm dates were not announced.
    The Government established the National Electoral Commission (CNE) 
in June 2005 as the supervisory body to monitor elections. The 11 
members of the CNE represent the political parties with seats in 
parliament (six members), the Office of the President, the Government, 
the Supreme Court, and civil society. The President appoints two 
members, and the other bodies each nominate their representative(s) to 
participate.
    On November 15, the voter registration campaign commenced, and 
almost one million persons registered to vote in the first month. 
Opposition party leaders initially complained that delays in announcing 
the electoral registration timeline made it difficult to hire, train, 
and fund the opposition supervisors, or fiscais, that are required by 
electoral law to monitor the registration process for irregularities. 
By the end of the first phase of registration, however, opposition 
parties, NGOs, and government leaders called the registration efforts a 
success despite earlier problems. In response to civil society 
concerns, the Government also developed a system to accredit civil 
society observers for registration stations.
    Political power is concentrated in the President and the Council of 
Ministers, through which the President exercises executive power. The 
council can enact laws, decrees, and resolutions; it can therefore 
assume most functions normally associated with the legislative branch.
    The National Assembly comprises 220 deputies elected by 
proportional vote in the 1992 elections; however, it has little power 
relative to the President and Council of Ministers. This body has the 
authority to debate and pass all major legislation, including the 
national budget. While opposition deputies held 43 percent of 
parliamentary seats and substantive debates sometimes took place, 
including the frequent calling of government officials to question-and-
answer sessions, few mechanisms existed to check the power of the MPLA 
majority or defeat legislation supported by the executive branch.
    There were more than 120 registered opposition parties, and 11 of 
these received public subsidies based on their representation in the 
parliament. During the year all others received one-time public 
subsidies. The majority of opposition parties had limited national 
constituencies.
    Political parties, including the MPLA, UNITA, the Social Renovation 
Party (PRS), and the Party of the Alliance of Youth, Workers and 
Farmers of Angola, complained that political activists and militants 
physically attacked competing party members.
    There were 35 women in the 220-seat parliament, and 10 women in the 
41-member cabinet, including two ministers and eight vice-ministers.
    The country has three dominant ethno-linguistic groups: the 
Ovimbundu, the Mbundu, and the Bakongo, who together comprised an 
estimated 77 percent of the population. However, other groups were also 
represented in government. There were six members of such smaller 
ethnic groups in the parliament and one minority member in the cabinet, 
who represented the Chokwe group. All political parties made concerted 
efforts to expand into all provinces and attract members of all ethnic 
groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was 
widespread and accountability was limited, although the Government took 
steps to increase transparency and reduce state expenditures not 
reflected in the official budget. Government efforts to increase 
accountability reduced discrepancies in reported and actually received 
oil revenues. To better monitor and control expenditures, the Ministry 
of Finance (MOF) continued implementation of the Integrated Financial 
System (SIGFE), a monitoring system that was designed to record all 
central government expenditures. During the year SIGFE was extended to 
all central government ministries, and the detailed map of the Public 
Administrative Accounts it generated last year enabled the MOF to 
reduce discrepancies in fiscal accounts by 3 to 5 percent for the 2006 
Fiscal Balance report. State-owned companies were required to conduct 
internal audits and submit the results to the Government for review. In 
February the parliament approved the UN and African Union 
anticorruption conventions; in June ratification of the UN convention 
was officially promulgated. The Government also published oil revenue 
data on the MOF's Web site and conducted some oil licensing rounds 
widely recognized for their transparency. It was the first time bids 
were publicly opened and signing bonuses announced. However, some 
smaller oil concessions were sold to local companies associated with 
high-level government officials in the petroleum sector without public 
disclosure of the bid process, if there was one.
    Parastatals, most notably the state oil company SONANGOL, were 
required to report revenues to the central bank and the MOF, but did 
not consistently do so; inconsistent accounting practices also remained 
problematic. SONANGOL and ENDIAMA, the state diamond marketing company, 
were regularly audited by international accounting firms; however, the 
International Monetary Fund, which sent a consultation mission to the 
country, was denied access to SONANGOL audits. SONANGOL's dual role as 
governmental regulator and national oil company hindered transparency 
in the petroleum sector. ENDIAMA's audits were likewise not made 
public. Serious transparency problems remained in the diamond industry, 
particularly regarding allocation of exploration, production, and 
purchasing rights. However, the Government stepped up its participation 
in the Kimberly Process during the reporting period, including 
participating in peer reviews of other countries and chairing a 
subcommittee of a Kimberly Process Working Group.
    Business practices continued to favor those connected to the 
Government; government ministers and other high-level officials 
commonly and openly owned interests in companies regulated by their 
respective ministries. Petty corruption among police, teachers, and 
other government employees was widespread. There was no update 
available on the December 2005 conviction of five high-level officials 
from the Ministry of External Relations, including the secretary 
general and the director of administration and budget management, for 
the embezzlement of more than $9 million (720 million kwanza) from the 
ministry.
    The law provides for public access to government information; 
however, the Government was selective in providing it. Access to these 
resources increased during the year; however, the Government's limited 
technical capabilities restricted its ability to provide information. 
The MOF published some oil revenue information online and released 
details of the national budget in the state newspaper.
    In June the parliament rejected a bill, proposed by the opposition 
PRS party, which would have targeted crimes committed by high-level 
government officials. The parliament, however, passed a law that would 
revoke immunity from criminal investigation of Presidential appointees 
and allow their prosecution, but only if the President gave his assent.
Section 4. Governmental Attitudes Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Various domestic and international human rights groups operated 
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were more 
cooperative and responsive to the views of those organizations than in 
past years.
    There were more than 100 international NGOs operating in the 
country and approximately 350 domestic NGOs. An estimated 100 NGOs 
worked on human rights issues, although only a few were considered 
effective. Local NGOs actively promoted human rights during the year by 
documenting prison conditions, providing free legal counsel, lobbying 
government officials, and publishing investigative reports.
    As outlined in previous years' reports, the local NGO AJPD 
continued its efforts to obtain a formal certificate of registration 
from the MOJ. AJPD had registered under a clause in the registration 
law that gives legal status if authorities do not reject a group's 
application within 80 days. At year's end AJPD's request to obtain a 
certificate remained with the Supreme Court. Despite the lack of 
certification, AJPD continued to provide human rights training to 
police through officially approved programs.
    In June 2005 the parliament confirmed Paulo Tjipilica as the 
country's first human rights ombudsman, although NGOs had criticized 
the lack of civil society involvement in his selection. In February the 
Government published two laws that provided the framework for the 
Office of the Ombudsman to commence operations and gave the ombudsman 
the status of a government minister. Under the laws, the human rights 
ombudsman is an independent public entity charged with defending the 
rights, liberties, and privileges of citizens, either individually or 
collectively, in relation to public administration, public 
institutions, or the public domain. However, the mandate of the 
ombudsman is limited; he cannot take matters directly to court, and can 
only address some issues with the President's approval. In addition the 
ombudsman is authorized to respond only to officially submitted 
complaints, except in cases of flagrant human rights violations, in 
which case no official complaint would be required. The ombudsman has 
the authority to make recommendations and suggest corrective measures, 
but he does not have the power to ``annul, revoke or modify'' the 
powers of any public entity. His reports are to be presented to the 
parliament. The parliament elected a Deputy Ombudsman, Maria de 
Conceicao de Almeida Sango, in December and approved a budget for 56 
personnel. The ombudsman spent the year assembling his staff, educating 
the public in provincial meetings on the ombudsman's role, and began 
reviewing and investigating complaints.
    The Government criticized and restricted some NGO activities during 
the year. On May 22, a high-level government official denounced the 
housing initiatives of local NGO SOS-Habitat for allegedly ``fulfilling 
an agenda, with a view to tarnishing the image of the Government, by 
constantly and permanently creating difficulties to its performance.'' 
SOS-Habitat continued its activities and public advocacy despite this 
criticism.
    On July 20, the Government rescinded the legal civil association 
status of Mpalabanda after it joined the Cabindan Forum for Dialogue, 
the group that worked to negotiate peace with the Government. The 
Government claimed that Mpalabanda was acting as a political entity, 
outside of its mandate as a civil society organization. Shortly 
thereafter, police surrounded the house of Mpalabanda President 
Agostinho Chicaia and requested him to accompany them to police 
headquarters. He declined and went the next day with an attorney, and 
was questioned and released. On October 2, police again arrested 
Chicaia and interrogated him for over 10 hours. The military also 
raided Mpalabanda headquarters. In September former Mpalabanda vice-
President Raul Danda was arrested in a Cabindan airport for carrying 
what was described as subversive material with intent to distribute. He 
spent a month in jail but was never formally charged. Danda later 
continued to distribute press and policy statements through the 
Internet and to attend public forums.
    There are laws that, if implemented, could restrict NGOs, since 
they allow the Government to determine where and what projects an NGO 
may implement and require NGOs to provide financial details. However, 
during the year the Government did not exercise this authority.
    Several international human rights organizations had a permanent 
presence in the country, including the ICRC and UNHRO. The UNHRO 
continued joint efforts with the Government to strengthen the MOJ's 
provincial offices of human rights. In training sessions in the 
provinces, government officials, UN staff, human rights activists, and 
citizens met to address the need for human rights protections in their 
communities. The UNHRO conducted programs with the Office of the Human 
Rights Ombudsman and worked with the Ministry of External Relations to 
collect information to fulfill the Government's international treaty 
obligations.
    In March the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing issued a 
public statement criticizing forced evictions and denial of the right 
to adequate housing in the country (see Section 1.c.); the Government 
contested the report's findings.
    During the year UN humanitarian agencies maintained large-scale 
food security programs, repatriation and reintegration activities, and 
development projects. The Government provided the UN with some funding 
for these activities.
    The parliament's committee on human rights visited prisons, held 
hearings on human rights issues, and visited areas of concern 
throughout the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the 
Government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. Violence and 
discrimination against women, child abuse, child prostitution, 
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against persons with 
disabilities and indigenous people were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women was widespread. Such violence, 
including spousal abuse, is not specifically illegal; however, the 
Government occasionally prosecuted it under rape, assault, and battery 
laws. There were no prosecutions for violence against women under these 
laws during the year. Police were likely to view such abuse as a family 
matter, not a violation of law; however, increased training on the 
rights of women and several high-profile abuse cases, including the 
murder of a close friend and staffer of the President's wife by a 
jealous husband, worked to change this view. A significant proportion 
of homicides were perpetrated against women, usually by spouses. The 
Ministry of Women and Family Affairs (MWFA) reported receiving an 
average of 20 domestic violence cases a month. However, many such cases 
likely were unreported. The Government continued its efforts to reduce 
violence against women and to raise their status. The MWFA operated a 
program with the Angolan Bar Association to give free legal assistance 
to abused women; the ministry also opened counseling centers to help 
families cope with domestic abuse. During September and October the 
Government undertook an information campaign on domestic abuse and 
hosted several high-profile roundtables on women's rights in 
coordination with Human Rights Day. This campaign included full-page 
articles in the Jornal de Angola and radio announcements on public 
radio.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by up to 
eight years' imprisonment; however, limited investigative resources and 
an ineffective judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases. 
During the year there were no known prosecutions. Police were reluctant 
to prosecute such cases. They have a low level of forensic 
capabilities. The Organization of the Angolan Woman operated a shelter 
that offered special services for rape victims. The MOJ worked with the 
MOI to increase the number of women police officers and train police 
officers to improve police response to rape allegations.
    Prostitution is illegal, but the prohibition was not consistently 
enforced. Due to poverty, many women engaged in prostitution. Unlike in 
the previous year, there were no reports that police sexually abused 
prostitutes after detaining them. The MWFA maintained a shelter that 
was open to former prostitutes.
    Sexual harassment was common. Sexual harassment is not specifically 
illegal; however, such cases may be prosecuted under assault and 
battery and defamation statutes.
    Under the constitution and law women enjoy the same rights as men; 
however, societal discrimination against women remained a serious 
problem, particularly in rural areas. There were no effective 
mechanisms to enforce child support laws, and women, whether or not 
heads of household, bear the major responsibility for raising children. 
The MWFA has a National Office for the Rights of Women focused on 
ensuring that the country is in compliance with its international 
treaty obligations.
    The law provides for equal pay for equal work; however, women 
generally held low-level positions in state-run industries and in the 
private sector. However, a few ministries, political parties, and 
businesses were led by women. As in 2005 the MWFA conducted skills 
training programs and workshops for women.

    Children.--The Government was committed to the protection of 
children's rights and welfare, but lacked the human and logistical 
resources required to provide necessary programs. The National 
Institute for Children (INAC) had primary responsibility for 
coordinating government action concerning children's affairs.
    Education is free and compulsory until the sixth grade, but 
students often had significant additional expenses, including books and 
supplies. The Ministry of Education suffered from a lack of resources 
and during the war most of the educational infrastructure was damaged. 
There were not enough schools to provide universal primary education. 
The net enrollment rate at primary schools climbed from an estimated 55 
percent in 2002 to 89 percent during the year. A total of 30 percent of 
all eligible children were enrolled at the secondary level. According 
to the UN Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization, there was a 
gender gap in enrollment rates favoring boys over girls.
    The Government provided free medical care for children with 
identity documents at pediatric hospitals and health posts throughout 
the country; however, in many areas, health care was limited or 
nonexistent. Where medical care was available, boys and girls were 
provided equal access. Several vaccination campaigns inoculated more 
than four million children against measles and polio.
    Child abuse was widespread. Physical abuse was commonplace within 
the family and was largely tolerated by local officials. In June an 
Interministerial Commission, with representatives from the ministries 
of interior; social assistance and reintegration; health; education; 
public administration, employment, and social security; justice; 
tourism; and family and the promotion of women, was formed with the 
mandate to create a national plan to combat and prevent violence 
against children, to include unlawful child labor, trafficking, and 
sexual exploitation.
    The legal age for marriage, with parental consent, is 15. This law 
was not effectively enforced, and the traditional age of marriage in 
lower income groups coincided with the onset of puberty.
    During the year human rights abuses, due to accusations of 
witchcraft especially against children, continued to be a major 
problem. In August INAC, MINARS, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
released a report and held a workshop on this problem. The report noted 
that most cases occurred in Luanda, Uige, and Zaire provinces, and 
vulnerable children, such as orphans or those without access to health 
care or education, were more likely to be accused of witchcraft. 
Following an accusation, children were often turned over to religious 
leaders to be ``cured.'' ``Treatment methods'' included isolation, 
withholding of food and water, ritualistic cuttings, and the placing of 
various caustic oils or peppers on the eyes and ears of the children. 
Reportedly children were sometimes killed during these ``exorcism'' 
rituals. During the year the Government worked through INAC and 
international NGOs to assist child protection networks in Luanda, Uige, 
and Zaire provinces to support children accused of witchcraft, and to 
report to authorities those religious organizations carrying out 
abusive treatments. Government and religious leaders called for an end 
to these practices, but were unable to reduce the influence of these 
traditional beliefs. There were no updates on the police investigations 
of such cases reported in the media in 2005.
    Children were reportedly trafficked for sexual exploitation and 
child prostitution (see Section 5).
    Child prostitution is illegal; however, there were unconfirmed 
reports of child prostitution in Santa Clara, in Cunene province on the 
border with Namibia. Children reportedly were crossing into Namibia to 
engage in prostitution for survival with local truck drivers, without 
third party involvement.
    Sexual relations with a child under 12 are considered rape. Sexual 
relations with a child between the ages of 12 and 15 may be considered 
sexual abuse, with convicted offenders liable for sentences of up to 
eight years in prison; however, limited investigative resources and an 
inadequate judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases.
    The Government, assisted by the World Bank and UNICEF, continued to 
implement its post-conflict child soldier protection strategy. Under 
the strategy, those designated as child soldiers were given access to 
special resources, including skills training, assistance with civil 
registration, and access to special social assistance.
    Child labor occurred, mostly in the informal sector (see Section 
6.d.).
    The INAC is responsible for child protection, but it lacked the 
technical capacity to work without the assistance of international NGOs 
and donors. The Government had registered 1,500 homeless children in 
Luanda, but other estimates of their number were much higher. An 
estimated 10,000 children worked in the streets of Luanda, but returned 
to some form of dwelling during the evening. Most of these children 
shined shoes, washed cars, carried water, or engaged in other informal 
labor, but some resorted to petty crime, begging, and prostitution.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit slavery; 
however, there are no specific laws against trafficking in persons. 
There were unconfirmed reports that persons were trafficked from and 
within the country.
    The extent of trafficking in persons was unknown, but was not 
believed to be significant. During the year there were unconfirmed 
reports that a small number of children were trafficked out of the 
country to South Africa or Namibia. Homeless and orphaned children were 
most vulnerable to trafficking.
    Methods used by traffickers to obtain and transport victims were 
unknown. The small number of traffickers working in the country was not 
thought to be organized.
    Laws criminalizing forced or bonded labor, prostitution, 
pornography, rape, kidnapping, and illegal entry are used to prosecute 
trafficking cases. The minimum sentence for rape is eight years' 
imprisonment, and sentences for related offenses carry a maximum of 
life imprisonment. The number of prosecutions directly related to 
trafficking during the year was not available.
    Immigration services and INAC played significant roles in 
antitrafficking efforts, including implementing provincial-level 
training which also focused on child prostitution and helped strengthen 
provincial and municipal child protection networks. However, no single 
ministry has direct responsibility for combating trafficking.
    In August the National Police and the International Organization 
for Migration held a training session on trafficking. Approximately 80 
participants attended, including high-level national police and 
immigration officials. In November a second roundtable took place.
    The Government operated facilities throughout the country for 
abandoned and abducted children; however, in many cases the facilities 
were underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded. A Catholic-affiliated 
center in Namacumbe, near the Namibian border, assisted victims of 
trafficking to find and reintegrate with their families.
    The Government provided basic assistance to trafficking victims on 
an ad hoc basis, especially in the capital. Local social welfare 
agencies provided basic necessities. This type of program did not exist 
outside of Luanda, nor did the Government operate shelters specifically 
for trafficking victims.
    The Government attempted to monitor its borders, but lacked 
resources to do so effectively. Efforts by UNICEF, supported by the 
Government, strengthened immigration controls at airports and border 
checkpoints. Immigration services at the international airport in 
Luanda were more effective than provincial border posts and required 
proper documentation for children seeking to fly internationally. In 
July the Government signed a joint Economic Community of West African 
States and Economic Community of Central African States counter-
trafficking accord.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or other state services, but the Government did not 
effectively enforce these prohibitions. The number of persons with 
disabilities included more than 80,000 landmine victims. Albinos were 
commonly discriminated against, although church groups worked to 
eliminate the abuse. The NGO Handicap International estimated that 
persons with disabilities constituted 10 percent of the population. 
There is no legislation mandating accessibility for persons with 
disabilities to public or private facilities, and it was difficult for 
such persons to find employment or participate in the education system. 
The MINARS had an office to address problems facing persons with 
disabilities; however, given the large number of landmine victims, 
several government entities supported programs to assist individuals 
disabled by mine accidents. In June the Government created a high-level 
commission to oversee implementation of projects to assist the 
reintegration of veterans with disabilities.

    Indigenous People.--An estimated 3,400 Khoisan people lived in 
small, dispersed communities in Huila, Cunene, and Kuando Kubango 
provinces. The Khoisan are traditional hunter-gatherers who are 
linguistically and ethnically distinct from their Bantu fellow 
citizens. Their very limited participation in political life has 
increased, and Ocadec, a local NGO advocate for the Khoisan, has worked 
with provincial governments to increase services to Khoisan communities 
and to improve communication between these communities and the 
Government. Adequate protection for the property rights of traditional 
pastoral communities was a concern; however, in August the Council of 
Ministers approved land reform regulations to allow groups to apply for 
land tenure. In October a group of Khoisan, near Quipungo, Huila 
Province, was granted a provisional land title.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes 
sodomy. HIV/AIDS was openly discussed. In December 2005 President Dos 
Santos inaugurated a new building for the National Institute for HIV/
AIDS and was supportive of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns. 
However, discrimination against homosexuals and those with HIV/AIDS 
occurred. The Government promulgated a law that criminalizes 
discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS, but lack of enforcement 
allowed employers to discriminate against and treat unfairly those with 
the condition. There were no reports of violence against those with 
HIV/AIDS. Local NGOs had been established to combat stigmatization and 
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. The FAA implemented 
educational programs to discourage discrimination against HIV-positive 
military personnel and prevent the spread of the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
the right of workers to form and join unions without previous 
government authorization or excessive requirements. These laws were 
enforced. Labor unions independent of the government-run unions worked 
to increase their influence, but the ruling MPLA still dominated the 
labor movement due to historical connections between the party and 
labor.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and stipulates that 
worker complaints be adjudicated in regular civil courts. Under the 
law, employers are required to reinstate workers who have been 
dismissed for union activities; however, the judicial system did not 
enforce these provisions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 
constitution and law provide for the right of unions to conduct their 
activities without interference, but the Government did not always 
protect this right. The law provides for collective bargaining and the 
right to strike, and workers exercised these rights in practice. There 
were no export processing zones.
    There are no restrictions on collective bargaining.
    The constitution grants the right to engage in union activities, 
but the Government may intervene in labor disputes that affect national 
security, particularly strikes in the oil sector. The law prohibits 
lockouts and worker occupation of places of employment and provides 
protection for nonstriking workers. It prohibits strikes by armed 
forces personnel, police, prison workers, and fire fighters. The 
Ministry of Labor has a hot line for workers who feel their rights are 
being violated. The law does not effectively prohibit employer 
retribution against strikers, and it also permits the Government to 
force workers back to work for ``breaches of worker discipline'' and 
participation in unauthorized strikes. Workers, including government-
employed teachers and nurses, exercised their right to strike during 
the year. The number of strikes and industries affected continued to 
increase.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
unconfirmed reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The 
MOJ has effective enforcement mechanisms for the formal economic 
sector; however, most labor law violations occurred outside the 
official labor market and were not subject to legal enforcement.

    d. Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment.--Child 
labor in the formal sector was restricted under the law; however, child 
labor, especially in the informal sector, remained a problem. The legal 
minimum age for apprenticeship is 14 years, and 18 for full employment. 
Children between the ages of 14 and 18 may not work at night, in 
dangerous conditions, or in occupations requiring great physical 
effort, and children younger than 16 are prohibited from doing factory 
work; however, these provisions were rarely enforced. Most work done by 
children was in the informal sector. Children worked on family farms, 
as domestic servants, and as street vendors. Family-based child labor 
in subsistence agriculture was common.
    The Inspector General of the Ministry of Public Administration, 
Employment, and Social Security (MAPESS) is ultimately responsible for 
enforcing all labor laws; however, the MFWA also plays a significant 
role in investigating complaints of child labor.
    The Children's Affairs Court under the MOJ had assumed jurisdiction 
over general child protection in Luanda and was expected to assume 
jurisdiction in the other provinces once provincial courts became 
operational. In the meantime child labor cases continued to be 
adjudicated by the provincial criminal courts for minors aged 16 to 18 
or the MFWA's Family Courts for children under age 16. Child labor 
violations are punishable by fines.
    In practice neither the Labor Code nor the judicial system was 
capable of ensuring labor rights. The court system was overextended; 
few resources were available for family or children affairs courts or 
child labor investigations. Moreover, while mechanisms were in place to 
investigate and prosecute child labor violations in the formal sector, 
the Government lacked the capacity to oversee the much larger informal 
sector. There was no formal procedure for inspections and 
investigations of child labor abuses outside of the family law system, 
although private persons can file accusations of violations of child 
labor laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year MAPESS raised 
the minimum wage in the formal sector to approximately $65 (5,200 
kwanza) per month, which did not provide a decent standard of living 
for a worker and family. As a result, most wage earners held second 
jobs or depended on the informal sector, including subsistence 
agriculture, or support from abroad to augment their incomes.
    The standard workweek is 40 hours with at least one unbroken period 
of 26 hours of rest per week. There is a limit on work of 80 hours per 
week. Required premium pay for overtime is time and a half for up to 30 
hours of overtime, and 1.75 from 30 to 40 hours. In the formal sector 
there is a prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime, defined as 
more than two hours a day, 40 hours a week, or 200 hours a year. These 
standards were not effectively enforced, unless employees requested it.
    The Government has set occupational health and safety standards; 
however, the Ministry of Labor's Office of the Inspector General did 
not enforce these standards effectively. Nonetheless, the inspector 
general greatly increased the number of workplace inspections; 2,038 
employers were inspected in the first half of the year, compared with 
2,776 inspections in all of 2005. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without 
jeopardy to their employment, but it was not exercised in practice.

                               __________

                                 BENIN

    The Republic of Benin is a constitutional democracy with a 
population of 7.9 million. On March 19, President Boni Yayi was elected 
to a five-year term in multiparty elections that observers generally 
viewed as free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and in contrast with 2005, there were no reports the 
Government forcibly dispersed demonstrations. However, there were 
problems in several areas. Police occasional use of excessive force and 
vigilante violence resulted in deaths. Impunity was a problem. Harsh 
prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention with prolonged 
pretrial detention, and judicial corruption continued. Women were 
victims of violence and societal discrimination, and female genital 
mutilation (FGM) was common. There also were reports of trafficking and 
abuse of children, including infanticide and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
on May 19, police killed one person and wounded several others when an 
operation to prevent a group of illegal butchers from selling meat from 
uninspected animals turned into a violent confrontation. In an attempt 
to keep police and veterinary inspection service agents from 
confiscating the meat, the butchers threw stones, and one butcher swung 
a cleaver at a policeman. Another policeman fatally shot the butcher 
wielding the cleaver. There was no investigation of the shooting, which 
the police claimed was self-defense.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 police killing of 
two persons suspected of illegally occupying a building or in the 
September 2005 killing of an inmate by guards during an attempted 
prison break.
    During the year incidents of traditional mob justice continued to 
occur, in part due to the perceived failure of local courts to 
adequately punish criminals. Such cases generally involved mobs killing 
or severely injuring suspected criminals, particularly thieves caught 
in the act. On September 4, a mob intercepted two men attempting to 
snatch a woman's handbag. The mob burned one of the men to death and 
beat the second to death. Although some of these incidents occurred in 
urban areas and were publicized in the press, the Government made no 
concerted attempt to investigate or prosecute those involved, and 
police generally ignored vigilante attacks.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances; however, some trafficked children were kidnapped by 
force during the year (see Section 5).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
the Government did not always respect these prohibitions.
    On September 6, witnesses observed gendarmes in Ouidah beating two 
suspected thieves with clubs on the back, hands, feet, and buttocks. 
Such beatings in custody were commonplace, but no statistics are 
available.
    There were no reports of the police forcibly dispersing 
demonstrations.
    A violent confrontation in May between police and illegal butchers 
resulted in injuries and one death (see Section 1.a.).
    Security forces entered private homes and beat the occupants during 
the year (see Section 1.f.).
    The Government continued to make payments to victims of torture 
under the former military regime.
    Mob justice resulted in deaths and injuries (see Section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
continued to be extremely harsh. Overcrowding and lack of proper 
sanitation and medical facilities posed a risk to prisoners' health. 
According to the Ministry of Justice, the country's eight civil prisons 
at times were filled to more than three times their capacity. The 
prison diet was inadequate, and malnutrition and disease were common. 
Family members were expected to provide food for inmates to supplement 
prison rations. There were deaths in prison due to malnutrition, 
disease, and neglect; however, statistics are not available.
    Juveniles at times were housed with adults. Pretrial detainees were 
held with convicted prisoners; however, they were not held with the 
most violent convicts or those subject to the death penalty.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors; 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other agencies and religious 
groups continued to visit prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, at times the 
authorities did not respect these prohibitions in practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the 
Ministry of Interior, have primary responsibility for enforcing law and 
maintaining order in urban areas; the gendarmerie, under the Ministry 
of Defense, performs the same function in rural areas. The police were 
inadequately equipped, poorly trained, and ineffective, particularly in 
their failure to prevent or respond to mob justice. The Government 
continued to address these problems by recruiting more officers, 
building more stations, and modernizing equipment; however, serious 
problems remained, including widespread corruption and impunity.
    On February 22, following an investigation, four high-ranking 
police officials were arrested for embezzlement of public funds, 
mismanagement of public property, and illegal awarding of contracts. On 
June 9, a fifth high-ranking police official was arrested and detained 
on the same charges. By year's end the judge had released three of the 
officials on bail.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution requires arrest warrants 
and prohibits detention for more than 48 hours without a hearing by a 
magistrate, who must authorize continued detention. Detainees must be 
brought before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. After examining a 
detainee, the judge has 24 hours to decide whether to continue the 
detention or release the individual. Defendants awaiting a verdict may 
request release on bail; however, the Attorney General must agree to 
the request. Suspects have the right to an attorney, but only after 
being brought before a judge. Warrants authorizing pretrial detention 
were effective for six months and could be renewed every six months 
until the suspect was brought to trial. The Government provided counsel 
in criminal cases only.
    On February 22, 12 police officers from a specialized police unit 
(Compagnie Republicaine de Securite) broke into a couple's home and 
took the couple to the Cotonou central police station for allegedly 
failing to repay a personal debt to their landlord. The police detained 
the husband and told his spouse to get money to reimburse the debt. 
When the police released the man after holding him for nine hours, the 
couple lodged a complaint against the police for unlawful arrest and 
detention. On August 11, the constitutional court ruled that the arrest 
and detention of the two individuals at the police station was 
arbitrary and constituted a violation of the constitution since failure 
to repay a personal debt is not an offense punishable by incarceration. 
At year's end no action had been taken against the responsible 
officers.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
arrested demonstrators; however, police arrested a union leader and 
union members (see Section 6.a.).
    There were credible reports that authorities exceeded the legal 
limit of 48 hours of detention in many cases, sometimes by as much as a 
week. Authorities often used the practice of holding a person 
indefinitely ``at the disposition of'' the public prosecutor's office 
before presenting the case to a magistrate. Approximately 75 percent of 
persons in prison were pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, but the Government did not always respect 
this provision in practice. The judiciary remained inefficient in some 
respects and susceptible to corruption at all levels. Unlike in 
previous years, no action was taken against corrupt judicial employees.
    The President appoints career magistrates as judges in civil 
courts, and the constitution gives the Ministry of Justice 
administrative authority over judges, including the power to transfer 
them. Inadequate facilities, poorly trained staff, and overcrowded 
dockets delayed the administration of justice.
    Civilian courts operate on national and provincial levels, and 
there are two courts of appeals. The Supreme Court is the court of last 
resort in all administrative and judicial matters. The Constitutional 
Court determines the constitutionality of laws, adjudicates disputes 
between the President and the National Assembly, and rules on disputes 
regarding Presidential and legislative elections. It also has 
jurisdiction in human rights cases. There is also a High Court of 
Justice to try the President and ministers for crimes related to their 
professional responsibilities.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial; however, judicial inefficiency and corruption impeded this 
right. The understaffed judicial system created delays in judicial 
processing that resulted in longer pre-trial detention periods.
    The legal system is based on French civil law and local customary 
law. A defendant is presumed innocent and has the right to be present 
at trial and to representation by an attorney at public expense if 
necessary. In practice the court provided indigent defendants with 
court-appointed counsel upon request. A defendant also has the right to 
confront witnesses and to have access to government-held evidence. 
Defendants can appeal criminal convictions to the court of appeals and 
the Supreme Court, after which they may appeal to the President for a 
pardon. Trials were open to the public, but in exceptional 
circumstances the President of the court may decide to restrict access 
to preserve public order or to protect the parties.
    Military disciplinary councils deal with minor offenses by members 
of the military services but have no jurisdiction over civilians.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Any citizen may file a 
complaint concerning an alleged human rights violation with the 
constitutional court.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The 
law requires police to obtain a judicial warrant before entering a 
private home, and they generally observed this requirement in practice 
with one known exception (see Section 1.d.).
    There were no developments in the June 2005 case of soldiers who 
entered homes in Fidjrosse, Cotonou, without search warrants and beat 
the occupants.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not 
always respect these rights in practice. Security forces arrested, 
detained, and harassed journalists during the year. The law 
criminalizes libel, and members of the press were imprisoned for libel 
during the year. The law prevents private citizens and the press from 
declaring or predicting election results.
    The constitution provides for prison sentences involving compulsory 
labor for certain activities related to the exercise of the right of 
free expression; this law is directed against threats to public order 
or calls to violence but is vaguely worded and susceptible to abuse.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. These publications criticized the Government 
freely and frequently, but the effect on public opinion was limited due 
to the urban concentration of publications and widespread illiteracy. A 
nongovernmental media ethics commission (ODEM) continued to censure 
some journalists during the year for unethical conduct, such as 
reporting falsehoods or inaccuracies or releasing information that was 
still under embargo. ODEM criticized 17 newspapers and television and 
radio stations for violating professional and ethical standards during 
the February-April electoral period.
    The Government continued to own and operate the most influential 
media by controlling broadcast range and infrastructure. The majority 
of citizens were illiterate, lived in rural areas, and generally 
received their news via radio. The Governmental Office of Radio and 
Television (ORTB) broadcast in French and local languages. Fifteen 
rural radio stations, which were governed by local committees and 
received support from the ORTB, broadcast several hours a day 
exclusively in local languages. Radio France International and the BBC 
broadcast in Cotonou.
    Two national and several private television stations broadcast. 
Although none of the television stations broadcast partisan programs, 
the vast majority of news programming centered on government officials' 
activities, government-sponsored conferences, and international stories 
provided by French television or other foreign sources.
    On December 1, an editor and a reporter were sentenced to six 
months' imprisonment for libel for an article alleging that a bailiff 
had defrauded a widow and then raped her to shame her into silence. Two 
media associations publicly appealed the sentence, calling it 
excessive.
    On September 15, police arrested and detained a copy editor and a 
journalist of a private newspaper on libel charges for publishing an 
article about the alleged mental instability of one of the President's 
children; the public prosecutor questioned the two individuals and 
ordered their release on September 17.
    On September 18, police arrested and detained the editor of a 
private newspaper for alleged libel against the police, although no 
charges were filed. The following day the public prosecutor ordered his 
release.
    The Government penalized journalists who published items counter to 
government guidelines. On March 6, Communications Minister Frederic 
Dohou fired the ORTB director general and secretary general for 
``insubordination to a superior authority'' after ORTB declined to 
broadcast a videotape from President Kerekou's media office, purporting 
to show electoral fraud involving the registration of foreigners, 
primarily Togolese refugees, as voters. ORTB reportedly had consulted 
the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HAAC), which had 
advised against broadcasting the tape because its authenticity had not 
been verified. On April 26, the new minister of communications 
reinstated the ORTB officials.
    Police also prevented journalists from attending an election-
related press conference in a private home (see Section 2.b.).
    The HAAC oversaw media operations and required broadcasters to 
submit weekly lists of planned programs and publishers to submit copies 
of all publications; however, the media did not comply with these 
requirements in practice. The information was used for administrative 
purposes; however, journalists often complained that it was an attempt 
at censorship.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
    Internet access was widely available in cities, primarily in 
Internet cafes, but for many the cost of using the Internet was 
prohibitive. Due to a lack of infrastructure, Internet access was not 
available in most rural areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected these rights in practice. In 
contrast with 2005, there were no reports that the Government forcibly 
dispersed demonstrations. The Government requires permits for use of 
public places for demonstrations and generally granted such permits, 
but the Government sometimes used ``public order'' to deny legitimate 
requests for permits from opposition groups, civil society 
organizations, and labor unions.
    No action was taken against the security forces that violently 
dispersed demonstrations in 2005, resulting in the death of one person 
and injuries to numerous others.
    On March 7, after the first round of the Presidential election, 
police prevented journalists from entering the residence of a political 
leader to attend a press conference to which they were invited. After 
the incident, authorities claimed they acted out of a concern for 
``state security.''

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. The Government requires associations to register and 
routinely granted registrations.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Persons who wish to form a religious group must register with the 
Ministry of the Interior. There were no reports that any group was 
refused permission to register or was subjected to unusual delays or 
obstacles in the registration process.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuses or discrimination against members of religious groups. 
There is no known Jewish community in the country, and there were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice; 
however, the presence of police, gendarmes, and illegal roadblocks 
impeded domestic movement. Although ostensibly meant to enforce 
automotive safety and customs regulations, many of these checkpoints 
served as a means for officials to exact bribes from travelers. The 
Government maintained previously implemented measures to combat such 
corruption at roadblocks, but they were not always effective, and 
extortion occurred.
    The Government maintained documentary requirements for minors 
traveling abroad as part of its continuing campaign against trafficking 
in persons (see Section 5).
    The Government's policy toward the seasonal movement of livestock 
allowed migratory Fulani herdsmen from other countries to enter freely; 
the Government did not enforce designated entry points. Disputes arose 
between the herdsmen and local landowners over grazing rights.
    The law prohibits the forced exile of citizens, and the Government 
did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The 
Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and 
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum 
seekers.
    The Government did not always provide adequate security at refugee 
camps. On the night of February 15, a violent clash occurred between 
Togolese refugees resident at the Agame refugee camp and local Beninese 
villagers. Two refugees were severely wounded by gunfire and one 
villager was seriously injured. The violence and a fire also caused 
severe damage to the camp's infrastructure, cutting off electricity and 
impairing the sanitation system. More than 9,000 refugees were forced 
to abandon the camp and take temporary shelter in a nearby elementary 
school and a police office.
    Despite the violence, the Government continued to permit Togolese 
refugees residing in local communities and in refugee camps to 
participate in most economic activities and to enroll their children in 
local schools. At year's end approximately 6,500 Togolese refugees 
remained in Benin; over 3,000 returned voluntarily to Togo.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and generally fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--International observers 
viewed the March Presidential election as generally free and fair. On 
March 29, after two rounds of voting, the constitutional court declared 
independent Thomas Boni Yayi President. The voting on March 5 and 19 
was orderly and well organized despite organizational difficulties 
created by the Government's last-minute announcement of the date of the 
second round and financial difficulties faced by the National 
Independent Electoral Commission during election preparations. On March 
5, the mayor of Abomey was arrested and questioned over allegations of 
possible tampering with ballot materials; however, the charges were 
dropped on March 14. The law prevented private citizens and the press 
from declaring or predicting election results (see Section 2.a.).
    In June the National Assembly passed a bill to extend members' 
terms from four to five years; however, the constitutional court ruled 
the amendment unconstitutional on July 9.
    Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election. There were no government restrictions on political 
opponents. No single party or group has dominated politics. In the wake 
of the landslide victory of Boni Yayi, new political parties formed to 
support the new President and his program.
    There were six women in the 83-seat National Assembly and five 
female ministers in the 23-member cabinet. Two of seven justices on the 
constitutional court were women, including the President. The President 
of the high court of justice also was a woman. Two of six appointed 
departmental prefects were women, as well as two of 77 indirectly 
elected mayors.
    Minority ethnic groups were well represented in government 
agencies, civil service, and the armed forces. In the National 
Assembly, 19 members were from the Goun-Nago-Yoruba ethnic group, 15 
from the Bariba, and 10 from the Somba-Dendi and other smaller groups. 
Seven cabinet ministers are from the Bariba-Somba and Dendi ethnic 
groups and 16 are from the Fon, Goun-Nago-Yoruba, and smaller ethnic 
groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was 
widespread. President Boni Yayi committed himself to combating 
corruption in the country and advancing good governance in the 
management of public affairs. He initiated financial audits in 
government ministries and state-owned enterprises to identify 
perpetrators and assess the scope of public embezzlement. On December 
7, the minister of finance released an overview of the results of the 
audits and announced that approximately 300 individuals were 
responsible for embezzling $46 million. At year's end the names of the 
individuals had not been released.
    Police and government officials investigated allegations that 
Rogatien Biaou, former minister of foreign affairs, and Thomas 
Guedegbe, former director of administration at the foreign ministry, 
were involved in the unauthorized sale of land adjacent to the UN 
permanent representative's residence in New York in 2005. The public 
prosecutor of the court of Cotonou claimed he could not prosecute a 
case against ex-Minister Biaou, but that only the high court of justice 
could do so, and Biaou was released on February 22 after spending 48 
hours in police custody. At year's end Guedegbe remained in pre-trial 
detention with criminal charges against him pending.
    On April 18, a parliamentary investigative committee issued a 
report concluding involvement of three former government ministers in 
the embezzlement of two million dollars (one billion francs) budgeted 
for the design and creation of a national computerized voter registry. 
On July 18, the National Assembly voted to bring Alain Adihou, minister 
of institutional relations in the former government, before the High 
Court of Justice. In addition, Adihou was accused of not returning an 
official four-wheel drive vehicle purchased for his use while in 
office. Adihou was arrested on October 25 and was in pre-trial 
detention at year's end. On December 21, a committee of the National 
Assembly recommended that Cosme Sehlin, former finance minister, and 
Valentin Houde, Adihou's predecessor as minister of institutional 
relations, also be brought before the court. The full assembly had not 
voted on this recommendation at year's end.
    On June 4, Sefou Fagbohoun, a wealthy businessman and President of 
the political party African Movement for Democracy and Progress was 
arrested for his alleged involvement in the mismanagement of, and 
embezzlement of funds from, former fuel distribution parastatal 
SONACOP. At year's end Fagbohoun remained in pre-trial detention.
    There were no laws that provided for public access to government 
information, and it was unclear whether requests for such access were 
granted.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    Local human rights NGOs include the League for the Protection of 
Human Rights in Benin, the National Christian Youth Association for 
Awareness and Development, Association for the Support of Development 
and Peace, Solidarity for Behavioral Change, Benin Prison Fellowship, 
Children's Rights Social Organizations' Network, and others. Local NGOs 
are independent. Some local NGOs have formed networks for more 
efficient implementation of their programs and to pool resources.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race and gender; 
however, societal discrimination against women continued. Persons with 
disabilities were disadvantaged.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was common. The penal code 
prohibits domestic violence, and the penalty ranged from six to 36 
months' imprisonment. However, NGO observers believed that women 
remained reluctant to report cases. Judges and police also were 
reluctant to intervene in domestic disputes; society and law 
enforcement considered such cases to be an internal family matter. The 
local chapter of a regional NGO, Women in Law and Development-Benin, 
offered social, legal, medical, and psychological assistance to victims 
of domestic violence.
    The law prohibits rape, but enforcement was weak due to police 
ineffectiveness and corruption. Sentences for rape ranged from one to 
five years' imprisonment.
    FGM was practiced on females ranging from infancy through 30 years 
of age and generally took the form of excision. Approximately 17 
percent of women in the country have undergone FGM, although the figure 
was higher in certain regions, like Atacora (45 percent) and Borgou (57 
percent), and among certain ethnic groups. For example, more than 70 
percent of the women in the Bariba, Yoa-Lokpa, and Peul ethnic groups 
have undergone FGM. Younger women were less likely to be excised than 
their older counterparts. The law prohibits FGM and provides for 
penalties for performing the procedure, including jail sentences of up 
to 10 years and fines of up to $12,000 (six million francs); however, 
the Government generally was unsuccessful in preventing the practice. 
Individuals who were aware of an incident of FGM but did not report it 
faced fines ranging from $100 (50,000 francs) to $200 (100,000 francs). 
Those who performed the procedure, usually older women, profited from 
it. NGOs and others continued to educate rural communities about the 
dangers of FGM and to retrain FGM practitioners in other activities. A 
prominent NGO, the local chapter of the Inter-African Committee, made 
progress in raising public awareness of the dangers of the practice, 
and the Government cooperated with these efforts. The Ministry of 
Family continued an education campaign that included conferences in 
schools and villages, discussions with religious and traditional 
authorities, and banners. NGOs also addressed this issue in local 
languages on local radio stations.
    Prostitution, especially child prostitution, was a problem even 
though the law prohibits it. Penalties for prostitution included 
imprisonment of six months to two years and fines of $800 (400,000 
francs) to $8,000 (4 million francs).
    Sexual harassment was very common. Until recently, sexual 
harassment was not explicitly prohibited; however, on July 17, the 
National Assembly passed a law prohibiting sexual harassment and 
offering protection for victims of sexual harassment. Under the law, 
which was promulgated on September 5, persons convicted of sexual 
harassment faced sentences of one to two years in prison and fines 
ranging from $200 (100,000 francs) to $2,000 (one million francs). The 
law also provides for penalties for persons who are aware of sexual 
harassment offenses and do not report them.
    Although the constitution provides for equality for women in the 
political, economic, and social spheres, women experienced extensive 
societal discrimination, especially in rural areas where they occupied 
a subordinate role and were responsible for much of the hard labor on 
subsistence farms. In urban areas women dominated the trading sector in 
the open-air markets. During the year the Government and NGO community 
continued to educate the public on the 2004 family code, which provides 
women with inheritance and property rights and significantly increases 
their rights in marriage, including prohibitions on forced marriage, 
child marriage, and polygamy. In practice women experienced 
discrimination in accessing employment, credit, and equal pay.

    Children.--The Government has stated publicly its commitment to 
children's rights and welfare, but it lacked the resources to 
demonstrate that commitment. The Ministry of Family was responsible for 
the protection of children's rights, primarily in the areas of 
education and health. The National Commission for Children's Rights and 
the Ministry of Family had oversight roles in the promotion of human 
rights issues with regard to children and their welfare.
    Primary education was compulsory for all and tuition-free for 
girls; however, in some parts of the country, girls received no formal 
education, and parents paid tuition for both boys and girls because 
many schools had insufficient funds. The Government offered books at 
reduced prices to promote children's access to primary schools and to 
enhance the quality and relevance of schooling received. According to 
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), primary school enrollment was 
approximately 90 percent of boys and approximately 60 percent of girls 
nationwide; only 26 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls were 
enrolled in secondary school. Girls did not have the same educational 
opportunities as boys, and female literacy was approximately 18 
percent, compared with 50 percent for men. However, recent elementary 
school pass rates for girls have increased.
    FGM was performed commonly on girls (see Section 5, Women).
    The 2004 family code prohibits marriage under 14 years of age; 
however, the practice continued in rural areas, and underage (under 18 
years of age) marriage was permitted with parental consent. There also 
was a tradition in which a groom abducts and rapes his prospective 
child bride. The practice was widespread in rural areas, despite 
government and NGO efforts to end it through information sessions on 
the rights of women and children.
    Despite widespread NGO campaigns, the traditional practice of 
killing deformed babies, breech babies, babies whose mothers died in 
childbirth, and one of two newborn twins (all of whom were considered 
sorcerers) continued in some rural areas, and practitioners operated 
with impunity.
    Criminal courts meted out stiff sentences to criminals convicted of 
crimes against children, but many such crimes never reached the courts 
due to lack of education and access to the courts or fear of police 
involvement in the problem.
    The penal code prohibits child prostitution; however, enforcement 
was frequently lax, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children 
was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking). Some street children became 
prostitutes to support themselves.
    Trafficking in children also remained a problem. Some trafficking 
of children occurred in connection with the forced servitude practice 
called vidomegon, in which children worked in a voluntary arrangement 
between two families (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor, although illegal, remained a problem (see Section 
6.d.).
    There were numerous street children, most of whom did not attend 
school and had limited access to government resources.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children. 
There are also laws that prohibit human smuggling that the Government 
has used to prosecute traffickers. However, there is no law prohibiting 
trafficking in adult persons. There were widespread reports that 
persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
    The country was a source, transit point, and destination for 
trafficked persons, primarily children for forced labor and sexual 
exploitation. The majority of trafficking occurred internally within 
the extended family or community; however, organized criminal networks 
were also active. According to a 2000 UNICEF study, four distinct forms 
of child trafficking occurred in the country: trafic-don, the transfer 
of a child to a migrant family member or stranger, who turned them over 
to another stranger for vocational training or education; trafic-gage, 
indentured servitude in which a child was forced to work off a debt; 
trafic-ouvrier, child labor, the most common form of trafficking, 
involving children working as artisans, construction laborers, or 
agricultural or domestic workers; and trafic-vente, the outright sale 
of children.
    Through the traditional practice of vidomegon, poor, often rural, 
families placed a child in the home of a more wealthy family. The child 
received living accommodations, while the child's parents and the urban 
family that raised the child split the income generated from the 
child's activities; however, the child often faced forced labor, long 
hours, inadequate food, and sexual exploitation. Vidomegon was 
traditionally intended to enable children of poor families to receive 
educational opportunities and a higher standard of living; however, 
this practice has become corrupted to facilitate the trafficking of 
children for forced labor. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the 
children in vidomegon were young girls.
    Children were trafficked to Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, 
and the Central African Republic for indentured or domestic servitude, 
farm labor, labor in stone quarries, and prostitution. In addition, 
children were taken across the border to Togo and Cote d'Ivoire to work 
on plantations. Children from Niger, Togo, and Burkina Faso were 
trafficked to the country for indentured or domestic servitude. 
Trafficked children generally came from poor rural areas and were 
promised educational opportunities or other incentives.
    Child prostitution often involved girls whose poor families urged 
them to become prostitutes to provide income. Other children were lured 
to exchange sex for money by older men, often traffickers, who acted as 
their ``protectors.'' Some children were abused sexually by teachers 
who sought sex for better grades. NGOs and international organizations 
organized assistance to child prostitution victims and worked on 
prevention programs.
    The penal code prohibits kidnapping and prostitution. Penalties for 
traffickers involved in ``labor exploitation'' ranged from fines to 
prison terms, forced labor, or the death penalty, depending on the 
severity of the crime and the length of time over which the 
exploitation occurred.
    On January 30, the National Assembly passed a law against child 
trafficking; President Boni Yayi promulgated the law on April 5. The 
new law provides for increased penalties for the trafficking of minors, 
including imprisonment from six months to life, depending on the 
severity of the crime, and fines from $100 (50,000 francs) to $10,000 
(five million francs). The law states that individuals who are aware of 
child trafficking offenses and do not report them shall face fines of 
$20 (10,000 francs) to $100 (50,000 francs).
    On July 9, along with 23 other West and Central African countries, 
the Government signed an agreement and adopted an action plan to combat 
trafficking. Regional efforts also continued between heads of state of 
concerned countries to cooperate to identify, investigate, and 
prosecute agents and traffickers, and to protect and repatriate 
trafficking victims.
    During the year the Government augmented its efforts to arrest and 
prosecute traffickers. From January 2005 to October 2005, the 
Government prosecuted 83 trafficking cases, 20 of which resulted in 
convictions and prison terms of three months to one year.
    UNICEF and other donors have supported the Ministry of Family to 
establish, equip and train more than 1,100 local committees since 1999 
to combat child trafficking through community surveillance and 
monitoring. The Brigade for the Protection of Minors, under the 
jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, fought crimes against 
children. The Government worked with NGOs to combat child trafficking, 
using media campaigns and greater border surveillance; however, police 
complained that they lacked equipment to monitor trafficking 
adequately. Due to resource constraints, prevailing cultural attitudes, 
and a lack of interagency coordination, the Government failed to meet 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, although they 
made significant efforts to do so.
    During the year the Ministry of Family, international NGOs, and the 
donor community assisted numerous children who had been trafficked to 
other countries to work in mines, quarries, and farms. Efforts included 
the provision of food, shelter, medical treatment, and subsequent 
placement in educational and vocational programs. The Ministry of 
Family also cooperated with partners to operate centers in urban areas 
to provide education and vocational training to victims of child 
trafficking. Government efforts to reunite trafficked children with 
their families continued during the year; however, no statistics were 
available.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law that prohibits 
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities; 
however, the law provides that the Government should care for persons 
with disabilities. There were no legal requirements for the 
construction or alteration of buildings to permit access for persons 
with disabilities. The Government operated few institutions to assist 
persons with disabilities, and many such individuals were forced to beg 
to support themselves.
    The labor code includes provisions to protect the rights of workers 
with disabilities, which were enforced with modest effectiveness during 
the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
freedom to form and join unions, and the Government generally respected 
these rights in practice. However, unions must register with the 
Ministry of Interior, a three-month process, or risk a fine. The labor 
force of approximately 3.2 million was engaged primarily in 
subsistence, with only a small percentage of the population engaged in 
the formal (wage) sector. Although approximately 75 percent of 
government workers belonged to labor unions, a much smaller percentage 
of workers in the private sector were union members.
    Police arrested the secretary general of a stevedores' union on 
September 15 and three union members posting strike notices on walls on 
September 16 for disturbing the peace. After holding the individuals in 
police custody for two days, the public prosecutor questioned them and 
ordered their release. No charges were filed.
    The labor code prohibits antiunion discrimination. Employers may 
not take union membership or activity into account regarding hiring, 
work distribution, professional or vocational training, or dismissal; 
however, the Government did not always enforce these provisions, and 
there were reports that employers threatened individuals with dismissal 
for union activity.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor code 
generally allows unions to conduct their activities without 
interference, and the Government generally protected this right in 
practice. The labor code provides for collective bargaining, and 
workers freely exercised these rights. The Government sets wages in the 
public sector by law and regulation.
    Workers must provide three days advance notice before striking; 
however, authorities can declare strikes illegal for a variety of 
causes, such as threatening to disrupt social peace and order, and can 
requisition striking workers to maintain minimum services. Workers 
exercised their right to strike during the year. The Government may not 
prohibit any strike on the grounds that it threatens the economy or the 
national interest. Laws prohibit employer retaliation against strikers, 
except a company may withhold part of a worker's pay following a 
strike. The Government enforced these laws effectively.
    The law does not grant seafarers the right to organize or to 
strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were reports that such practices occurred, and trafficking was a 
problem (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). The law provides for imprisonment 
involving compulsory labor, and judges sentenced convicts to compulsory 
labor for various crimes during the year.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor code prohibits the employment or apprenticeship of children under 
14 years of age in any enterprise; however, child labor remained a 
problem due in part to limited government enforcement of the law. To 
help support their families, children of both sexes--including those as 
young as seven--continued to work on rural family farms, in small 
businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets as 
street vendors, and as domestic servants under the practice of 
vidomegon (see Section 5). A majority of children working as 
apprentices were under the legal age of 14 for apprenticeship.
    Some parents indentured their children to ``agents'' recruiting 
farm hands or domestic workers, often on the understanding that the 
children's wages would be sent to the parents (see Section 5). In some 
cases these agents took the children to neighboring countries for labor 
(see Section 5). Many rural parents sent their children to cities to 
live with relatives or family friends to perform domestic chores in 
return for receiving an education. Host families did not always honor 
their part of the bargain, and the abuse of child domestic servants 
occurred.
    The Ministry of Labor enforced the labor code in a limited manner 
and only in the formal sector due to the lack of inspectors. The 
Government took steps to educate parents and to prevent compulsory 
labor by children, including media campaigns, regional workshops, and 
public pronouncements on child labor problems. The Government also 
worked with a network of NGOs and journalists to educate the population 
about child labor and child trafficking.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government administratively 
set minimum wage scales for a number of occupations. The minimum wage 
was approximately $60 (30,000 francs) per month; however, the minimum 
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. Many workers had to supplement their wages by subsistence 
farming or informal sector trade. Most workers in the wage sector 
earned more than the minimum wage, although many domestics and other 
laborers in the informal sector earned less.
    The labor code establishes a workweek of between 40 and 46 hours, 
depending on the type of work, and provides for at least one 24-hour 
rest period per week. Domestic and agricultural workers frequently 
worked 70 hours or more per week, above the maximum provided for under 
the labor code of 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week. The labor code 
also mandates premium pay for overtime. The authorities generally 
enforced legal limits on workweeks in the formal sector.
    The code establishes health and safety standards, but the Ministry 
of Labor and Public Service did not enforce them effectively. The law 
does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. The 
ministry has the authority to require employers to remedy dangerous 
work conditions but did not effectively enforce this.

                               __________

                                BOTSWANA

    Botswana, with a population of 1.76 million, has been a multiparty 
democracy since its independence in 1966. Its constitution provides for 
indirect election of a President and popular election of a national 
assembly. In 2004 the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), led by President 
Festus G. Mogae, returned to power in elections generally deemed free 
and fair. The BDP has held a majority of national assembly seats since 
independence. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The following human rights problems were reported during the year: 
poor prison conditions, lengthy delays in the judicial process, 
restrictions on press freedom, violence against women, child abuse, 
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDs, and 
restrictions on trade unions. In December the High Court ruled broadly 
in favor of 189 San (an indigenous ethnic minority) who had sued the 
Government over their forced relocation from the Central Kalahari Game 
Reserve (CKGR), and concluded that the Government had acted wrongly in 
several regards.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
police shot and killed six individuals in three separate incidents. In 
July four persons died in an exchange of gunfire with police during an 
attempted robbery in Gaborone. In August one person died after being 
shot by police in Gaborone while fleeing a crime scene with burgled 
goods. In December a fugitive wanted on multiple counts of attempted 
murder and rape was shot and killed by police in the village of 
Lotlhakane.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law explicitly prohibit such 
practices; however, there were reports that security forces 
occasionally beat and abused suspects to obtain evidence or elicit 
confessions. Coerced confessions and evidence gathered through coercion 
or abuse were inadmissible in court.
    Early in the year five soldiers and two police special constables 
were arrested for allegedly forcing several Zimbabwean detainees to 
perform sex acts on one another in November 2005. The accused were 
released on bail pending trial and suspended from duty.
    In August two police special constables were charged with beating a 
Zimbabwean prisoner. They were convicted, fined, and dismissed from the 
police service.
    There were no further developments in the June 2005 case in which 
five residents of Kaudwane charged that officers of the Department of 
Wildlife and National Parks had beaten them during questioning about 
poaching. The Government denied the accusations, but had not released 
details of its investigation by year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
harassed human rights activists or forcibly dispersed demonstrators.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor; however, prison deaths decreased during the year, primarily due 
to the introduction of anti-retroviral (ARV) drug treatment in prisons. 
As of early September the prison system, which had an authorized 
capacity of 3,910, held 5,969 prisoners, a 12 percent reduction in 
overcrowding since September 2005. Overcrowding was worst in men's 
prisons and constituted a serious health threat because of the 
country's high incidence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Rape between 
inmates occurred. Conditions in the less-crowded Center for Illegal 
Immigrants, a detention facility, were adequate (see Section 2.d.).
    Voluntary and free HIV testing, peer counseling, and anti-
retroviral drug treatment were available to prisoners. In September, 
434 prisoners were receiving ARV treatment, and three HIV-positive 
pregnant prisoners began participating in a ``prevention of mother-to-
child transmission'' program. The Government did not provide ARV 
treatment to noncitizens in detention, but those in long-term detention 
could receive such treatment free from a local nongovernmental 
organization (NGO). The prison commissioner had the authority to 
release terminally ill prisoners in the last 12 months of their 
sentences and to allow citizen prisoners with sentences of 12 months or 
less to perform ``extramural'' labor. As of September the Government 
had released 371 prisoners under the extramural labor program.
    Mistreatment of prisoners is illegal; however, the Department of 
Prisons received three complaints that guards mistreated inmates. Four 
officers were given administrative discipline in one case; the other 
two complaints were still being investigated at year's end.
    By September 1, 33 prisoners had died in custody, primarily from 
HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, fewer than half the number at the same 
point in 2005. Although the Department of Prisons routinely 
investigated deaths in custody, the results of those inquests were not 
made public.
    Because of overcrowding, juveniles occasionally were held with 
adults. Some parents requested that their incarcerated children be 
transferred to facilities nearer to their homes, which also resulted in 
the detention of juveniles with adults. Pretrial detainees and convicts 
were held together.
    Committees appointed by the minister of labor and home affairs 
visited each prison facility quarterly. Although the committees 
documented their findings, their reports were not made public. By 
September no NGOs had requested to visit a prison. The Government 
permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the 
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit facilities and 
prisoners during the year, and to conduct those visits according to 
those organizations' standard modalities.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Botswana Police 
Service (BPS), under the Ministry for Presidential Affairs and Public 
Administration, has primary responsibility for internal security. 
Customary or local police under the Ministry of Local government have 
law enforcement responsibility in some rural areas. The army is 
responsible for external security and has some domestic security 
responsibilities.
    There were 6,668 BPS officers and approximately 1,060 special 
constables; the latter had limited authority and were considerably less 
highly trained than BPS officers. There were approximately 1,800 local 
police, with authority limited to specified tribal areas, who also were 
not as highly trained as BPS officers.
    The security forces did not operate with impunity, and the 
Government investigated and took steps to punish abuses committed by 
police and military personnel. In January charges were brought against 
two special constables and five soldiers accused of abusing a group of 
Zimbabwean illegal immigrants in December 2005 (see Section 1.c). In 
August two special constables were arrested and accused of 
collaborating with civilian burglars; at year's end their trial was 
pending.
    Corruption was not considered a major problem, but respondents to a 
2005 survey listed the police among the Government agencies most prone 
to corruption.
    During the year approximately 95 police officers received human 
rights training at the International Law Enforcement Academy located in 
the country.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police officers must produce an arrest 
warrant except in certain cases, such as when an officer witnesses a 
crime being committed or discovers that a suspect is in possession of a 
controlled substance. Suspects must be informed of their rights upon 
arrest, including the right to remain silent, and must be charged 
before a magistrate within 48 hours; authorities respected these rights 
in practice. A magistrate may order a suspect held for 14 days through 
a writ of detention, which may be renewed every 14 days. There was a 
functioning bail system, and detention without bail was unusual except 
in murder cases, where it is mandatory. Detainees have the right to 
contact a family member and to hire attorneys of their choice; in 
practice, most could not afford legal counsel. The Government provides 
counsel for the indigent only in capital cases, although attorneys are 
required to accept pro bono clients.
    Pretrial detainees waited from several weeks to several months 
between the filing of charges and the start of their trials. Pretrial 
detention in murder cases sometimes lasted beyond one year. Such delays 
were largely due to judicial staffing shortages.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and while the judiciary was independent, 
the civil courts remained unable to provide timely, fair trials due to 
severe staffing shortages and a backlog of pending cases. A 2005 report 
by the Office of the Ombudsman characterized the ``delays in the 
finalization of criminal matters in all courts'' as a ``serious 
concern,'' particularly the delays in processing appeals. In a survey 
conducted during 2005, 31 percent of respondents cited inefficiencies 
in the justice system as a reason for the perceived increase in fraud 
in the country.
    The judiciary consists of both a civil court--including 
magistrates' courts, an industrial court, a court of appeal, and the 
High Court--and a customary or traditional court system.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials in the regular courts were public, 
although trials under the National Security Act could be held in 
secret. There was no jury system. Defendants have the right to be 
present and consult with an attorney in a timely manner, but the state 
provides an attorney only in capital cases. Those charged with non-
capital crimes were tried without legal representation if they could 
not afford an attorney. As a result, many defendants were not informed 
of their rights in pretrial or trial proceedings. Defendants can 
question witnesses against them and have access to government-held 
evidence relevant to their cases. There is a presumption of innocence, 
and defendants have the right to appeal. The Botswana Center for Human 
Rights provided free legal services but had limited capacity. The 
University of Botswana Legal Assistance Center provided free legal 
services in civil, but not criminal, matters.
    Foreigners as well as citizens may be tried in customary courts. In 
customary courts the defendant does not have legal counsel, and there 
are no standardized rules of evidence. Tribal judges, appointed by the 
tribal leader or elected by the community, determine sentences, which 
may be appealed through the civil court system. The quality of 
decisions reached in the customary courts varied considerably. In some 
cases tribal judges may issue sentences that include corporal 
punishment such as lashings on the buttocks.
    There is a separate military court system; civilians are not tried 
in military courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which includes a separate 
industrial court for most labor-related cases. Administrative remedies 
are not widely available.
    Most civil cases were tried in customary courts under the authority 
of a traditional leader. These courts handled land, marital, and 
property disputes.

    f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. 
However, in 2002 the Government forcibly resettled most of the 
indigenous San and other minority members living in the CKGR to 
resettlement sites outside the perimeter of the reserve. Government 
officials maintained that the resettlement program was voluntary and 
necessary to facilitate the delivery of public services, to provide 
socio-economic development opportunities to the San, and to minimize 
human impact on wildlife. In December the High Court rejected most of 
these government positions (see Section 5).
    In September 2005 the Government closed the reserve to control a 
disease outbreak, but reopened it on May 22. Despite the closure and 
earlier relocations, some San never moved outside the CKGR, and 
remained in the reserve at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected freedom of speech in practice; however, the Government 
attempted to limit freedom of the press and continued to dominate 
domestic broadcasting. The Government occasionally censored stories or 
news sources that it deemed undesirable, and government journalists 
often practiced self-censorship.
    The Botswana Press Agency, owned and operated by the Government, 
provided most of the information found in the media through the Daily 
News newspaper, distributed nationwide at no cost, and two FM radio 
stations. State-owned media generally featured uncritical reporting on 
the Government and were susceptible to political interference. For 
example, on September 25, a senior officer of the Ministry of 
Communications, Science and Technology instructed government 
journalists to request and use government statements to counter 
negative reporting on the CKGR issue appearing in other media.
    The independent media were active and generally expressed a wide 
variety of views; however, the Government placed strict controls on 
their access to information.
    Radio continued to be the most broadly accessible medium. 
Government-owned Radio Botswana and Radio Botswana 2 covered most of 
the country. Privately owned Yarona FM and Gabz FM broadcast in five of 
the country's 10 largest towns. They produced news and current affairs 
programs without government interference.
    In 2005 the Government stopped renewing radio licenses held by the 
NGO First People of the Kalahari (FPK), charging that the vehicle-
mounted and hand-held radios were being used by poachers to help avoid 
wildlife patrols in the CKGR (see Section 4). The FPK said that the 
radios were vital for the safety of widely scattered families living in 
the reserve.
    State-owned Botswana Television was the primary source of televised 
news and current affairs programs. The privately owned Gaborone 
Broadcasting Corporation broadcast mostly foreign programs. 
International television channels were available by satellite.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not deport any 
foreign journalists who criticized its policies. During 2005 the 
Government deported at least two foreign journalists whose reporting 
was critical of the Government. In each case, the Government exercised 
its right not to specify reasons for the deportations other than to 
cite national security concerns. Government officials sometimes 
complained of bias in the private press; however, government officials 
and other public figures have recourse to the courts if they believe 
they have been libeled. Libel is a civil matter.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was typically limited to urban areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in the previous year, 
there were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural 
events. Citing national security concerns, the Government deported 
Kenneth Good, an Australian professor at the University of Botswana, in 
May 2005 after he had written papers critical of the Government. During 
the year Good continued his criticisms of the Government from abroad.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice. Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that police forcibly dispersed 
demonstrators.
    There were no further developments concerning the September 2005 
incident in which police forcibly dispersed and shot rubber bullets 
into a demonstration led by San leaders Roy Sesana and Jumanda 
Gakelebone, after the demonstrators attempted to force their way into 
the closed CKGR. One person was injured and 21 were arrested and later 
released. Trials were pending at year's end. There was a chance that 
the charges would be dropped in light of the High Court's December 
ruling that the San had the legal right to enter the CKGR.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Government policy and practice 
contributed to the generally free practice of religion. There was no 
known Jewish community in the country, and no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    In 2002 the Government required the San to relocate from the CKGR 
to one of three designated settlements outside of the reserve (see 
Section 5). Visitors to the reserve, including relocated former 
residents, had to register with Department of Wildlife officials to 
obtain a permit to enter the CKGR. A few San remained in the reserve, 
and some San moved back to the CKGR during the year. Unlike in the 
previous year, the Government did not deny NGO entry into the CKGR.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they fear 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The 
Government's system for granting refugee status was accessible but 
slow. During the year the Government also provided temporary protection 
to approximately 470 individuals who did not qualify as refugees under 
the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol. The Government generally 
cooperated with the office of the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government held newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers, 
primarily from Zimbabwe, in the Center for Illegal Immigrants in 
Francistown until the Refugee Advisory Committee (RAC), a governmental 
body whose chairperson is the district commissioner of Francistown, 
made a status recommendation; the UNHCR was present at RAC meetings in 
the status of observer and technical advisor. Once persons were granted 
refugee status, the Government transferred them to the Dukwe Refugee 
Camp, home to some 3,000 refugees, until their resettlement or 
voluntary repatriation. Refugee applicants who were unsuccessful in 
obtaining asylum were nonetheless allowed to remain at Dukwe if they 
wished, while the Government referred their cases to the UNHCR for 
possible resettlement. The UNHCR criticized the detention of asylum 
seekers at the Center for Illegal Immigrants on the grounds that asylum 
seekers should not be held in detention facilities. Conditions at the 
center were generally adequate, but refugee children in the center did 
not have adequate access to education or recreation for the duration of 
their detention, which in some cases lasted for many months.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prison 
guards beat refugees at the center or did not allow them to see their 
families.
    Eleven alleged Caprivi secession leaders remained in detention 
while the UNHCR reviewed their refugee claims. These individuals faced 
criminal charges in Namibia and thus did not wish to be repatriated, 
but no other country agreed to accept them for resettlement. The 
Government allowed them to remain in detention while UNHCR attempted to 
resolve their cases.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through 
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The country held 
parliamentary elections in October 2004. The BDP, led by President 
Mogae, won 44 of 57 competitive seats; the Botswana National Front won 
12; and the Botswana Congress Party won one. The BDP has won a majority 
of seats in the National Assembly in every election since independence. 
Domestic and international observers characterized the elections as 
generally free and fair; however, BDP candidates had preferential 
access to state-owned television during much of the campaign.
    Although women accounted for approximately 57 percent of voters in 
the October 2004 election, they stood for office much less frequently. 
There were seven women in the 61-seat parliament, five women in the 20-
seat cabinet, three female justices on the 13-seat High Court, and two 
women in the 15-seat House of Chiefs.
    The law recognizes only the eight principal ethnic groups of the 
Tswana nation; however, members of ethnic groups not recognized by the 
law participated actively in the Government, particularly members of 
the Kalanga and Bakalagadi ethnic groups. There were 23 members of 
minorities in the 61-seat parliament, 10 in the 20-seat cabinet, and 
five on the High Court.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year. A corruption 
perception survey conducted in July 2005 in the business sector found 
that 74 percent of respondents believed that corruption was increasing 
in the country, though Transparency International's 2006 surveys and 
rankings indicated that corruption levels are still perceived as 
relatively low.
    During the year the Government took steps to curb corruption. The 
Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) investigated 
allegations of corruption, and in July launched two separate bribery 
prosecutions, one against a government official and the other against a 
police officer. In November the DCEC arrested and held an immigration 
officer on the charge of accepting bribes. The DCEC promoted public 
awareness and education, and worked to prepare codes of ethical 
conduct.
    The law does not provide public access to government information, 
and the Government generally restricted such access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views on most 
subjects, but were far less open to the involvement of some 
international NGOs on the issue of the CKGR relocations. Unlike in the 
previous year, government officials did not harass or arrest human 
rights activists or NGO members.
    Independent local human rights groups included the Botswana Centre 
for Human Rights; Childline, a child welfare NGO; Emang Basadi, a 
women's rights group; and the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law, and HIV/
AIDS. The Government interacted with and provided financial support to 
some of these organizations.
    During the year the Government continued its refusal to renew 
licenses for the NGO First People of the Kalahari to operate two-way 
radios within the CKGR, charging that FPK had used the radios to 
encourage and facilitate illegal activities; the FPK represented the 
San in their legal challenge against the Government (see Sections 2.a. 
and 5). In July 2005 the Government had denied the FPK entry to the 
CKGR, charging that the group intended to encourage illegal 
resettlement in the reserve and to help poachers.
    During the year the Government organized several visits to the CKGR 
for foreign diplomats and journalists, as well as for representatives 
of opposition political parties. The Government also permitted visits 
by the ICRC and UNHCR during the year.
    An independent, autonomous ombudsman handled human rights and other 
issues in the country, and the Government generally cooperated with the 
ombudsman.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit governmental discrimination on 
the basis of ethnicity, race, nationality, creed, sex, or social 
status, and the Government generally respected these provisions in 
practice. However, the law does not prohibit discrimination by private 
persons or entities, and there was societal discrimination against 
women, persons with disabilities, persons with HIV/AIDS, and minority 
ethnic groups, particularly the San.

    Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence 
against women, and it remained a serious problem. Under customary law 
and in common rural practice, men have the right to ``chastise'' their 
wives. Greater public awareness and improved legal protection resulted 
in increased reporting of domestic violence and sexual assault; 
however, police rarely were called to intervene in such cases.
    The law prohibits rape but does not recognize the concept of 
spousal rape. During the year 1,544 incidents of rape were reported to 
the police. By law the minimum sentence for rape is 10 years, 
increasing to 15 years with corporal punishment if the offender is HIV-
positive, and to 20 years with corporal punishment if the offender knew 
his HIV-positive status. A person convicted of rape is required to 
undergo an HIV test before being sentenced. Police lacked basic 
investigative techniques in rape cases.
    Prostitution is illegal but was widespread. Enforcement was 
sporadic and complicated by vague laws that made it easier to charge 
violators with offenses such as unruly conduct or loitering than for 
prostitution. Most police enforcement took the form of periodic sweeps 
to clean out areas used for solicitation.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, although the amended 
Public Service Act recognizes sexual harassment as misconduct 
punishable under the terms of that act. Sexual harassment continued to 
be a problem, particularly with men in positions of authority, 
including teachers, supervisors, and older male relatives who pressured 
women and girls to provide sexual favors.
    Women legally have the same civil rights as men, but in practice 
societal discrimination persisted. A number of traditional laws 
enforced by tribal structures and customary courts restricted women's 
property rights and economic opportunities, particularly in rural 
areas. Marriages can occur under one of three systems, each with its 
own implications for women's property rights. A woman married under 
traditional law or in ``common property'' was held to be a legal minor 
and required her husband's consent to buy or sell property, apply for 
credit, and enter into legally binding contracts. Under an intermediate 
system referred to as ``in community of property,'' married women are 
permitted to own immovable property in their own names, and the law 
stipulates that neither spouse can dispose of joint property without 
the written consent of the other. Women increasingly exercised the 
right to marriage ``out of common property,'' in which case they 
retained their full legal rights as adults. Polygyny is legal under 
traditional law with the consent of the first wife, but it was not 
common.
    Highly skilled urban women had growing access to entry- and mid-
level white collar jobs. Although women occupied many senior level 
positions in government agencies, such as governor of the Bank of 
Botswana, attorney general, minister of communication, and director of 
public prosecution, their counterparts in the private sector seldom 
held such positions.
    The Women's Affairs Department in the Ministry of Labor and Home 
Affairs had responsibility for promoting and protecting women's rights 
and welfare. During the year it provided approximately $216,000 (1.3 
million pula) to NGOs working on such issues.

    Children.--The law provides for the rights and welfare of children, 
and the Government continued to allocate the largest portion of its 
budget to the Ministry of Education and the second largest portion to 
the Ministry of Local government, which distributed books, food, and 
materials for primary education. The country also has a court system 
and social service apparatus designed solely for juveniles.
    Following extensive public debate, the Government introduced a 
system of school fees during the year. The fees were waived for 
children whose family income fell below a certain amount. The state 
also provided uniforms, books, and development fees for students whose 
parents were destitute. Education was not compulsory. According to the 
most recent government statistics, approximately 88 percent of children 
attended school, and approximately 30 percent of children completed 
secondary school. Girls and boys attended school at similar rates. 
School attendance and completion rates were highest in urban areas, 
where transportation was readily available, and lowest in rural areas, 
where children lived far from schools and often assisted their families 
as cattle tenders, domestic laborers, and child care providers.
    The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that there were 160,000 
orphans in the country, of whom approximately 120,000 had lost their 
parents due to HIV/AIDS. As of September the Government had registered 
53,198 children as orphans. Once registered, these children received 
clothes, shelter, a monthly food basket worth between $36 (216 pula) 
and $92 (550 pula) depending upon location, and counseling as needed. 
Some relatives continued to deny inheritance rights to orphans.
    Boys and girls had equal access to government healthcare centers 
for $0.33 (2 pula) per visit, and students in remote areas received two 
free meals a day at school. Approximately 28 percent of babies born to 
HIV-positive mothers were protected from the virus, largely as a result 
of the Government's Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Program.
    Although the law prohibits defilement (sex with a child below the 
age of 16), no law specifically prohibits child abuse. Sexual abuse of 
students by teachers was a problem, and there were frequent media 
reports of rape, sexual assault, incest, and defilement. The increasing 
number of HIV/AIDS orphans contributed to an increase in incest. The 
law considers incest a punishable act only if it occurs between blood 
relatives, leaving children unprotected from incestuous acts performed 
by step parents, caregivers, and the extended family. The issues of 
intergenerational sex between girls and older men and the resulting 
teenage pregnancies generated extensive media coverage and public 
discussion.
    Child marriage occurred infrequently and was largely limited to 
certain ethnic groups.
    Child prostitution and pornography were criminal offenses; the law 
stipulates a 10-year minimum sentence for defilement. Media and NGO 
reports indicated that child prostitution catering to truck drivers 
existed along the main road linking the country with South Africa, and 
that many of the girls were thought to be orphans.
    There were reports of child labor (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, although penal code provisions cover related offenses such as 
abduction and kidnapping, slave trafficking, and procuring women and 
girls for the purpose of prostitution. There were unconfirmed reports 
that women and children from eastern Africa were trafficked through the 
country to South Africa. Traffickers charged with kidnapping or 
abduction could be sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. The BPS and 
the local police shared responsibility for combating trafficking-
related crimes.
    The Government worked with NGOs to assist potential trafficking 
victims by hosting workshops on trafficking issues and by making grants 
to shelters that provided short- and long-term care for street 
children.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in education, 
employment, access to health care, or the provision of other state 
services. The Government has a national policy that provides for 
integrating the needs of persons with disabilities into all aspects of 
government policymaking; however, the Government did not mandate access 
to public buildings or transportation for persons with disabilities. 
There was some discrimination against persons with disabilities, and 
employment opportunities remained limited. The Government funded NGOs 
that provided rehabilitation services and supported small-scale work 
projects for workers with disabilities.

    Indigenous People.--Although the Government officially considers 
all of the country's ethnic groups to be equally ``indigenous,'' the 
earliest known inhabitants of the country, the San, were 
linguistically, culturally, and often by physical appearance distinct 
from the rest of the population. The San traditionally were hunter-
gatherers. They were not, however, a homogeneous group. The estimated 
50	60,000 San in the country represented approximately 3 percent of the 
country's population. The San remained economically and politically 
marginalized, have generally lost access to their traditional land in 
fertile regions of the country, and were vulnerable to exploitation by 
their non-San neighbors. Their isolation, limited access to education, 
ignorance of civil rights, and lack of political representation stymied 
their progress. After independence a substantial proportion of San 
resided in government-created Remote Area Dweller settlements and 
subsisted on government welfare benefits, supplemented by herding, 
hunting, and gathering. Most employed San worked as agricultural 
laborers on cattle ranches owned by individuals of other ethnic groups.
    The colonial government established the 20,000 square mile CKGR in 
1963 to protect the area's ecosystem and to allow some San groups to 
continue to pursue a subsistence hunter-gatherer livelihood within the 
reserve. By 1997 the Government had concluded that San settlements 
within the CKGR were incompatible with wildlife protection and social 
development, and most San were relocated from the CKGR under an 
arrangement that included government transportation and a modest, 
government-set compensation, usually in the form of livestock. More 
than 700 residents did not accept the Government's relocation 
inducements, and remained in the reserve. In January 2002 the 
Government delivered an ultimatum to the remaining CKGR residents 
declaring that public services within the reserve, most significantly 
provision of water, would cease and that all residents would be 
relocated outside the reserve. In April 2002 the Government forcibly 
resettled most San from the CKGR to the settlement areas of Kaudwane, 
New Xade, and Xere. Between 20 and 50 San stayed on inside the reserve, 
despite the closure of the wells and the end of other services.
    The sustainability of the new settlements was threatened by poor 
employment opportunities, rampant alcohol abuse, limited hunting and 
grazing options, and the high cost of providing public services. The 
San continued to struggle with the lack of economic opportunities in 
the relocation areas and with a general yearning to return to their 
homes within the CKGR.
    Until May 22, the CKGR was closed due to an outbreak of a 
contagious animal disease. Although the few San still residing inside 
the reserve were allowed to remain, the Government removed their 
domestic livestock as part of the quarantine process. The Government 
also barred the delivery of drinking water to the remaining residents 
by donkey cart, but allowed water deliveries by motor vehicle. The 
death of an elderly San woman inside the CKGR late in 2005 briefly 
raised tensions when the Government initially refused to allow anyone 
other than her immediate family into the reserve to attend the funeral. 
The issue dissipated after the Government relented and provided 
transport for the 100 people who attended the funeral. In contrast to 
2005, there were no significant further clashes between the authorities 
and the San, and tensions over the relocation issue were generally more 
subdued.
    On December 13, the High Court announced its rulings in the case 
that had been brought against the Government in 2004 by First People of 
the Kalahari challenging the legality of the relocations. One hundred 
eighty-nine San were signed as applicants in the suit against the 
Government. The court ruled that although the Government had acted 
legally in terminating services inside the CKGR, it had acted 
``forcibly or wrongly and without their consent'' in its relocation of 
the San people. The court declared that the applicants were entitled to 
return to the reserve without the need for entry permits, and were also 
entitled to be issued permits to hunt inside the reserve. The 
Government is not obligated to resume the provision of services within 
the CKGR.
    The Government announced that it would accept and carry out the 
court's rulings, but only with respect to the 189 actual applicants and 
their minor children, rather than for all of the San affected by the 
relocations. Many of the San and their supporters objected to this 
interpretation of the scope of the rulings. President Mogae held a 
``town hall-style'' discussion with the San in the largest resettlement 
village over implementation of the court rulings, but the issue had not 
been resolved at year's end.
    A number of NGOs have made efforts to promote the rights of 
indigenous people or to help provide economic opportunities. However, 
the programs have had limited impact. In May all major domestic NGOs 
working on San-related issues, including the FPK and the Botswana 
Center for Human Rights, entered into a coalition effort to support the 
rights and aspirations of the San more effectively. In November, 
however, the FPK indicated that it intended to pull out of the 
coalition, though no public announcement was made.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against 
persons with HIV/AIDS continued to be a problem, including in the 
workplace. The Government funded community organizations that ran 
programs to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS.
    The law prohibits homosexuality, but there were no reports of 
enforcement action by the authorities. There were, however, reports of 
societal discrimination and harassment of homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and join 
unions of their choice without excessive requirements, and workers 
exercised this right in practice. Public sector employees, who were 
extended the right to organize in 2004, were still in the process of 
establishing unions. The industrial or wage economy was small, and 
unions were concentrated largely in mineral extraction and to a lesser 
extent in the railway and banking sectors.
    Workers may not be fired for legal union-related activities. 
Dismissals on other grounds may be appealed to civil courts or labor 
officers, which rarely ordered more than two months' severance pay. The 
law severely restricts the right to strike, and virtually all strikes 
are ruled illegal, leaving striking workers at risk of dismissal. Legal 
strikes theoretically are possible only after an exhaustive arbitration 
process. Sympathy strikes are prohibited.
    As reported in the semi-official Daily News, in September the BCL 
copper mine in Selebi-Phikwe dismissed 178 workers for engaging in an 
August strike that the High Court declared illegal. The Botswana Mine 
Workers Union (BMWU) protested the dismissals and announced it would 
conduct its own investigation into the circumstances and legality of 
the strike.
    Also in September the BMWU appealed an industrial court ruling that 
a 2004 strike against Debswana, the government-DeBeers joint venture 
that runs the country's diamond mines, was illegal. That ruling led to 
Debswana's dismissal in 2005 of 461 workers, including several union 
leaders who did not participate in the strike. The court had not ruled 
on the appeal at year's end.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining for unions that have enrolled 25 percent of a 
labor force; however, only the mineworker and diamond sorter unions had 
the organizational strength to engage in collective bargaining during 
the year.
    The country's export processing zone (EPZ) exists on paper only. No 
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws apply to the EPZ.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
laws prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by children.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although child labor is addressed in the Children's Act, some child 
labor occurred. Only an immediate family member may employ a child age 
13 or younger, and no juvenile under age 14 may be employed in any 
industry without permission from the commissioner of labor. No 
organization has petitioned the commissioner for such permission. Only 
persons over age 16 may be hired to perform night work, and no person 
under age 16 is allowed to perform hazardous labor, including mining.
    District and municipal councils have child welfare divisions, which 
are responsible for enforcing child labor laws; however, no systematic 
investigation has occurred. The labor commissioner, UNICEF, and 
officials of the Ministry of Local government, Lands, and Housing 
agreed that child labor was generally limited to young children in 
remote areas who worked as cattle tenders, domestic laborers, and child 
care providers. Childline, an independent child welfare organization, 
received two reports of illegal child labor from January to August; 12 
reports were filed the previous year.
    The law provides that adopted children may not be exploited for 
labor, and protects orphans from exploitation or coercion into 
prostitution. HIV/AIDS has resulted in numerous orphans, many of whom 
left school to care for sick relatives and became vulnerable to such 
exploitation.
    The Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs was responsible for 
enforcing child labor laws and policies, and it was generally 
effective, despite limited resources for oversight of remote areas of 
the country. Other involved government entities included offices with 
the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Local government. 
Oversight of child labor issues was facilitated through the Advisory 
Committee on Child Labor, which included representatives of various 
NGOs, government agencies, workers' federations, and employers' 
organizations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum hourly wage for most 
full-time labor in the private sector was $0.56 (3.35 pula), which did 
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The 
cabinet determined wage policy based on recommendations from the 
National Economic, Manpower, and Incomes Committee, which consists of 
representatives of the Government, private sector, and the Botswana 
Federation of Trade Unions. The Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs was 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, and each of the country's 
districts had at least one labor inspector. Civil service disputes were 
referred to an ombudsman for resolution. Private labor disputes were 
mediated by labor commissioners; however, an insufficient number of 
commissioners resulted in one- to two-year backlogs in resolving such 
disputes.
    Formal sector jobs generally paid well above minimum wage levels. 
Informal sector employment, particularly in the agricultural and 
domestic service sectors, where housing and food were included, 
frequently paid below the minimum wage. There was no mandatory minimum 
wage for domestic workers, and the Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs 
did not recommend a minimum wage for them.
    The law permits a maximum 48-hour workweek, exclusive of overtime, 
which is payable at time-and-a-half. Most modern private sector jobs 
had a 40-hour workweek; the public sector, however, had a 48-hour 
workweek.
    The law provides that workers who complain about hazardous 
conditions may not be fired, and authorities in the Ministry of Labor 
and Home Affairs effectively enforced this right. The Government's 
ability to enforce its workplace safety legislation remained limited by 
inadequate staffing and unclear jurisdictions among different 
ministries. Nevertheless, employers in the formal sector generally 
provided for worker safety.

                               __________

                              BURKINA FASO

    Burkina Faso is a parliamentary republic with a population of 
approximately 13.9 million. In November 2005 President Blaise Compaore 
was reelected to a third term with 80 percent of the vote. Observers 
considered the election to be generally free, despite minor 
irregularities, but not entirely fair due to the ruling party's control 
of official resources. Some in the opposition also contested the 
legality of the President's candidacy. President Compaore, assisted by 
members of his party, the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), 
continued to dominate the Government. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, but there were 
improvements in some areas. The following human rights problems were 
reported: use of excessive force against civilians, criminal suspects, 
and detainees by security forces, resulting in deaths and injuries; 
societal violence; abuse of prisoners and harsh prison conditions; 
arbitrary arrest and detention; official impunity; occasional 
restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of assembly; violence 
and discrimination against women and children, including female genital 
mutilation (FGM); trafficking in persons, including children; 
discrimination against persons with disabilities; and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any known politically motivated killings; 
however, security forces killed civilians, criminal suspects, and 
detainees. There were approximately 12 killings.
    On February 17, Fousseni Traore, a soldier, killed his girlfriend, 
Alima Sakande, in Tampouy, Ouagadougou City. On February 22, police 
arrested Traore in Leraba Province and transferred him to military 
custody soon thereafter. No further information was available.
    On April 7, suspected gang member Salam Sawadogo died in detention 
at Meguet police station in Ganzourgou. Police, who claimed that 
Sawadogo died of heat stroke in his cell, buried his body without the 
family's consent. No investigation was conducted by year's end. The 
family did not file a report against the police. Human rights 
associations suspected that Sawadogo died under police torture (see 
Section 1.c.).
    On May 3, a gendarme killed Michel Bakouan in Didyr, Sanguie, 
reportedly for attempting to escape from custody. Bakouan, who had been 
detained at the Didyr gendarmerie for several hours, was accused of 
assaulting a cattle farmer and stealing his cattle grazing and 
transportation permit. An investigation was reportedly conducted but no 
results were released. No action was taken against the responsible 
gendarme by year's end.
    On October 28, police summarily executed Djolgou Yarga, Dayamba 
Hamsoaguini, and Bandambe Lankouande from Piela, Gnagna Province. 
Police suspected them of being highway bandits. A group of 
parliamentarians and human rights associations expressed their shock 
and indignation at the killings. Human rights groups, families, and 
friends of the victims denied police allegations that the victims were 
armed and killed in a fire fight. They argued that the three men were 
unarmed, taken to the police station for questioning, and then 
summarily executed without trial. The parliamentarians and human rights 
associations demanded an independent investigation of the case; 
however, no investigation was conducted by year's end.
    On December 20, a fight between a group of soldiers and police in 
Ouagadougou resulted in the killings of four soldiers--Adi Kabore, Ben 
Isidine Simpore, Issouf Nacanabo, and Batiebe Ouedraogo, two 
policemen--Sayouba Ouedraogo and Laurent Tiendrebeogo, and an unknown 
number of civilians whose names were not published. There were also 
more than 10 injured, including civilians. Damage to police property 
was significant. In their attack on police targets, demonstrating 
soldiers broke into Ouagadougou Central Prison and approximately 614 
prisoners escaped. Prison security guards killed one prisoner trying to 
escape and wounded five others. Less than one hundred of the prisoners 
returned or were recaptured by year's end. There had been long-standing 
tension between the military and police. This specific conflict 
resulted from Ouagadougou police having beaten and held in detention a 
young military recruit for illegally having taken a seat at a concert 
without paying the appropriate ticket price.
    There were no further developments in the February 2005 prison 
death of Karim Bikienga.
    No action was taken against the gendarmes who in March 2005 killed 
three residents--Prissare Hien, Tiadouane Hien, and Tikpare Hien--
injured several others, and destroyed property during a raid on 
Bossoura village, Poni. The raid was an attempt to recapture a prisoner 
freed by a Bossoura mob, which had broken into the local gendarmerie 
station. In 2005 the Burkinabe Movement for Human Rights (MBDHP), the 
country's largest human rights organization and a vocal critic of the 
Government, demanded that the minister of security take action against 
the responsible gendarmes; however, no action was taken by year's end.
    In December 2005 police killed four persons, Abdoul Aziz Ouedraogo, 
Adama Sawadogo, Jean-Baptiste Nacanabo, and Jean-Raphael Ouedraogo, who 
reportedly attempted to flee a checkpoint set up to stop highway 
bandits. In response to complaints by human rights nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs), the Ministry of Security conducted an 
investigation, but no results were released by year's end.
    There were no known instances of societal violence that resulted in 
deaths and injuries during the year; however, such incidents occur at 
times without being widely known. In September 2005 the body of an 
unidentified man was found along the roadside in Ouagadougou. Witnesses 
alleged that an angry mob had killed the man after he attempted to 
break into a store. A 2005 investigation did not produce any results.
    The results of the investigation into the alleged September 2005 
killing of a suspected thief had not been released by year's end.
    The Government continued to distribute money from the approximately 
$9.5 million (five billion CFA francs) fund set up to compensate the 
families of victims of incidents of political violence that occurred 
between 1960 and 2001; however, the actual amount disbursed during the 
year was unclear.
    In 2005 the 19 Kassena farmers accused of killing herders in land 
use conflicts in 2004 were released without any trial having been held.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
members of the security forces continued to abuse persons with 
impunity, and suspects were frequently subjected to beatings, threats, 
and occasionally torture to extract confessions. Abuse by security 
forces resulted in deaths (see Section 1.a.).
    Security force use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators 
during the year resulted in injuries (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    On May 4, after a series of escalating conflicts with residents, 
police cadets used clubs and belts to beat civilians in Ouidi, a 
neighborhood in Ouagadougou; 10 persons were injured and several small 
businesses were damaged. The conflict reportedly began when a police 
cadet beat a young boy accused of theft, a civilian beat the cadet in 
retaliation, and police cadets attacked civilians in response. Police 
provided medical care to the injured persons. Unspecified disciplinary 
measures reportedly were taken against the responsible cadets.
    There were no further developments in the following 2005 cases: the 
February beating of a high school teacher by two army recruits in 
Ouahigouya, Yatenga; the June beating of Jonathan Bonkian by six 
soldiers in Bobo-Dioulasso; and the August beating by police of Desire 
Sanou, whose family filed a case in court in 2005.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators during the year (see 
Sections 1.d., 2.a., and 2.b.).
    The September 2005 witchcraft case involving Noufou Bance was 
resolved out of court.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh and could be life threatening. Prisons were overcrowded, and 
medical care and sanitation were poor. Prison diet was inadequate, and 
inmates often relied on supplemental food from relatives. Pretrial 
detainees usually were held with convicted prisoners.
    There were no confirmed reports of deaths from prison conditions or 
neglect during the year; however, human rights associations argued that 
such occurrences were not uncommon.
    Prison authorities granted prison visits at their discretion. 
Permission generally was granted, and advance permission was not 
required. There were no reports of prison visits by international 
organizations during the year; however, during the year local NGOs 
visited prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did 
not consistently observe these prohibitions in practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police, 
under the Ministry of Security, and the municipal police, under the 
Ministry of Territorial Administration, are responsible for public 
security. Gendarmes report to the Ministry of Defense and are 
responsible for some aspects of public security. Human rights 
associations questioned the effectiveness of security forces. They 
believed that security forces were less effective than before in 
ensuring protection for the population, based on perceived growing 
insecurity in the country. Corruption was widespread, particularly 
among lower levels of the police and gendarmerie. The 2006 report by 
the anticorruption NGO National Network to Fight Against Corruption 
(RENLAC) stated that the police and gendarmerie were among the most 
corrupt institutions in the country. Impunity was a serious problem. 
The gendarmerie is responsible for investigating police and gendarme 
abuse; however, the Government took no known disciplinary action 
against those responsible for abuses, and the climate of impunity 
created by the Government's failure to prosecute abusers remained the 
largest obstacle to reducing abuses.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no strikes by police cadets 
to protest conditions of employment.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for the right to 
expeditious arraignment, bail, access to legal counsel after a detainee 
has been charged before a judge, and, if indigent, access to a lawyer 
provided by the state. Police have to possess a warrant to legally 
search or arrest. However, authorities did not ensure due process.
    Police arbitrarily arrested demonstrators and a journalist during 
the year (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    The law limits detention without charge for investigative purposes 
to a maximum of 72 hours, renewable for a single 48-hour period, 
although police rarely observed these restrictions in practice. 
Detainees were promptly informed of charges against them. The average 
time of detention without charge (preventive detention) was one week, 
and the law permits judges to impose an unlimited number of six-month 
preventive detention periods. Defendants without access to legal 
counsel were often detained for weeks or months before appearing before 
a magistrate. An estimated 48 percent of detainees nationwide were in 
pretrial status. Approximately 52 percent of those held in Ouagadougou 
Prison were pretrial detainees. In some cases prisoners were held 
without charge or trial for longer periods than the maximum sentence 
they would have received if convicted of the alleged offense. There was 
a pretrial release (release on bail) system; however, the extent of its 
use was unknown.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was subject to 
executive influence, and was corrupt and inefficient. The President has 
extensive appointment and other judicial powers. Constitutionally, the 
head of state also serves as President of the Superior Council of the 
Magistrature, which nominates and removes senior magistrates and 
examines the performance of individual magistrates. Systemic weaknesses 
in the justice system included the removability of judges, corruption 
of magistrates, outdated legal codes, an insufficient number of courts, 
a lack of financial and human resources, and excessive legal costs.
    There are four operational higher courts: the Supreme Court of 
Appeal; the Council of State; the Audit Court and Office; and the 
Constitutional Council. Beneath these higher courts are two courts of 
appeal and 25 provincial courts. There is a High Court of Justice with 
jurisdiction over the President and other senior government officials. 
In addition there is a tribunal to try juveniles under 18.
    Customary or traditional courts presided over by village chiefs 
previously handled many family problems, but such courts ceased to 
exist in 1984.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public but do not use juries. 
Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to consult with and 
be represented by an attorney. Defendants have the right to be present 
at their trials, to be informed promptly of charges against them, to 
provide their own evidence, and to access government-held evidence. 
Defendants can challenge and present witnesses and have the right of 
appeal, and, if indigent, access to a lawyer provided by the state. 
While these rights were generally respected, citizens' ignorance of the 
law and a continuing shortage of magistrates limited the right to a 
fair trial.
    Military courts tried only military cases; they were subject to 
executive influence.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was 
subject to executive influence. Citizens criticized the judiciary for 
being corrupt and inefficient. At times people relied on the ombudsman 
to settle disputes with the Government.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. In 
national security cases, a law permits surveillance, searches, and 
monitoring of telephones and private correspondence without a warrant. 
By law and under normal circumstances, homes may be searched only if 
the Attorney General issues a warrant.
    During the year there were reports that customs officers searched 
the private mail of author Vincent Ouattara, who had written a book 
that criticized President Compaore's regime.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at 
times restricted these rights and intimidated journalists into 
practicing self-censorship. The President and his government remained 
sensitive to criticism.
    The official media, including the daily newspaper, Sidwaya, and the 
government-controlled radio and television, displayed a progovernment 
bias. There were numerous independent papers, and radio and television 
stations, some of which were critical of the Government. Foreign radio 
stations broadcast without government interference.
    All media were under the administrative and technical supervision 
of the Ministry of Information. The Superior Council of Communication, 
which was under the Presidential office and had limited independence, 
regulated the media.
    During a January 16 demonstration, police confiscated the camera of 
Lierme Some, director of publication of the investigative paper 
L'Independant, who was covering the incident. After protests by 
journalists' associations, police returned the camera; however, the 
film was not in it.
    On July 18, the judge investigating the 1998 killing of journalist 
Norbert Zongo dismissed charges against the sole suspect, warrant 
officer Marcel Kafando, former head of the Presidential guard, claiming 
there was insufficient evidence. Media entities, human rights 
organizations, the donor community, and unions denounced the decision 
and called for an immediate reopening of the case.
    No action was taken against the six police officers responsible for 
the 2005 beating of journalist Urbain Kabore.
    Journalists charged with libel may defend themselves in court by 
presenting evidence to support their allegations, but the burden of 
proof rests on journalists.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
However, dire poverty and the high rate of illiteracy limited public 
access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of 
assembly, the Government at times restricted this right in practice.
    Political parties and labor unions are allowed to hold meetings and 
rallies without requesting government permission; however, advance 
notification is required for planned demonstrations that might threaten 
public peace. Penalties for violation of the advance notification 
requirement include two to five years' imprisonment. Denials or imposed 
modifications of a proposed march route or schedule may be appealed to 
the courts.
    On January 16, security forces used teargas and batons to disperse 
a demonstration against mayoral mismanagement in Diebougou, Bougouriba 
Province; 30 persons were injured. In response protestors destroyed a 
police vehicle and wounded a police officer. Security forces detained 
33 persons and wounded 20 demonstrators. The police released 19 
detainees three days later; the other 14 were charged with 
participation in an illegal demonstration, violence, and arson. On 
January 31, the 14 detainees were tried, fined approximately $760 
(397,000 CFA francs) each, and given suspended sentences of 10 months' 
imprisonment; the 14 were released soon thereafter.
    On April 12, police in Koudougou, Boulkiembe, used teargas and 
rubber batons to disperse high school students protesting the last-
minute cancellation of an exam. Police detained three students for 
questioning for several hours.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. Political parties and labor unions were permitted to 
organize without government permission.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Religious groups must register with the Ministry of Territorial 
Administration, and failure to register may result in a fine of 
approximately $95 to $287 (50,000 to 150,000 CFA francs). All groups 
were given equal access to permits, and the Government approved 
registrations in a routine fashion.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
discrimination against members of religious groups or anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the 
Government used it during the year.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they faced 
persecution, and granted refugee or asylum status. The Government 
cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers. The Government also provided temporary protection to 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
or 1967 Protocol. There were 522 persons with refugee status and 609 
persons who had requested refugee status residing in the country. Most 
were nationals of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of Congo; others were from Chad 
and Liberia. Almost all the refugees and applicants lived in 
Ouagadougou.
    During the year the Government's national refugee committee and 
UNHCR continued their efforts to respond to the needs of refugees.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no official reports of 
citizens returning from Cote d'Ivoire during the year, since conditions 
of security in Cote d'Ivoire had improved, although it is likely that 
individual and small scale cross-border movements continued during the 
year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully through multiparty elections; however, in 
practice citizens were unable to exercise this right fully due to the 
continued dominance of the President and his ruling party.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In November 2005 President 
Blaise Compaore won the Presidential election with 80 percent of the 
vote, with a turnout of 57.5 percent. Opposition candidate Benewende 
Sankara, the closest runner-up, received 5 percent of the vote. Despite 
some irregularities, international observers considered the elections 
generally free but not entirely fair, due to the resource advantage 
held by the President.
    On April 23, there were local elections in 351 communes; 10 
communes held repeat elections on July 9 due to irregularities. A total 
of 318 of the 351 new mayors were members of the ruling CDP party. Only 
five of the new mayors represented opposition parties. The remaining 28 
mayors belonged to parties allied with President Compaore. Despite 
minor irregularities, international observers considered the local 
elections generally free but not entirely fair, due to the resource 
advantage held by the ruling party.
    CDP membership conferred advantages, particularly for businessmen 
and traders seeking ostensibly open bidding contracts.
    Individuals and parties can freely declare their candidacies and 
stand for election in Presidential elections; however, individuals must 
be members of a political party to run in legislative or municipal 
elections.
    There were 12 women in the 111-seat National Assembly and five 
women in the 35-member cabinet. One of the three higher courts was led 
by a woman, 18 of the elected mayors were women, and an estimated 40 to 
45 percent of new communal councilors were women.
    The cabinet included 20 minority members; the National Assembly 
included 61 minority representatives.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was a 
serious problem, especially in the police, gendarmerie, and customs 
services. Unlike reports from the audit courts (responsible for 
auditing the Government's accounts), which are published, reports from 
the Government's High Authority to Fight Against Corruption (HACLC) 
were not published; however, contents were sometimes ``leaked.'' It was 
rumored that the HACLC report was critical of the extent of official 
corruption. The anticorruption NGO RENLAC noted an increase in levels 
of corruption in the country.
    On May 24, under pressure from RENLAC, local media, and unions, the 
Government removed Idrissa Zampaligre, director general of the social 
security office. Under Zampaligre, an estimated $9.7 million (five 
billion CFA francs) were invested in overseas financial markets; RENLAC 
suspected that funds had been diverted.
    Despite numerous instances of high-level corruption during the year 
and in 2005, no senior officials were prosecuted for corruption.
    There were no laws that provided for public access to government 
information; however, government ministries generally released 
nonsensitive documents to citizens and noncitizens, including foreign 
media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
    During the year there were no reports that the Government met with 
domestic NGO monitors, responded to any inquiries, or took action in 
response to any reports or recommendations. Despite human rights NGOs' 
criticism of the Government's human rights policies, it was generally 
believed that they operated without government interference. A Bobo-
Dioulasso-based NGO, however, denounced the government-controlled 
media's censoring its views critical of government policies during the 
year.
    The Government permitted international human rights groups to visit 
and operate in the country; however, there were no reported visits 
during the year by UN or other international organizations. The MBDHP 
was affiliated with the Inter-African Human Rights Union.
    On March 28, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 
notified the Government that it had violated Articles 7 and 9 of the 
International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights in connection with 
the 1987 assassination of former President Thomas Sankara. In its 
response the Government concurred with the UNHRC's observations and 
agreed to act on its recommendations. In April the Government posted 
the UNHRC observations on its Web site and distributed copies to the 
media, rewrote Sankara's death certificate to show the actual cause of 
death, and undertook actions to pay Sankara's military pension to his 
family. It also agreed to pay his family more than $82,000 (43 million 
CFA francs) from a family compensation fund established in 2001. 
However, no pension or compensation monies had been paid; Sankara's 
family demanded that the case be investigated and the perpetrators 
punished prior to accepting any financial compensation.
    In June the Government ombudsman, Amina Ouedraogo, submitted an 
activity report for the two-year period 2004	05. According to the 
report, the office handled 500 cases, primarily regarding 
administrative matters, such as civil servants' pension benefits or 
land disputes; the ombudsman's duties also include handling human 
rights cases. Approximately 30 percent of cases handled were resolved. 
The ombudsman's limited resources did not permit fully effective 
implementation of its mandate. The ombudsman is appointed by the 
President for a nonrenewable five-year term; the ombudsman cannot be 
removed during the term.
    The National Commission on Human Rights serves as a permanent 
framework for dialogue on human rights concerns and included 
representatives of human rights NGOs, unions, professional 
associations, and the Government. The MBDHP did not participate on the 
commission and continued to charge that the commission was subject to 
government influence.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
race, ethnic origin, gender, disability, and social status; however, 
the Government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. 
Discrimination against women and persons with disabilities remained a 
problem.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating, 
occurred frequently. No law specifically protects women from domestic 
violence, and cases of wife beating usually were handled out of court. 
There were no available statistics on how many persons were prosecuted, 
convicted, or punished for domestic violence; however, it was believed 
such legal actions were infrequent because women were reluctant or 
ashamed to take their spouses to court. Cases that involved severe 
injury usually were handled through the legal system. The ministries 
for women's promotion, and social action and national solidarity, and 
several NGOs have cooperated to protect women's rights.
    Childless old women with no support, particularly if their husbands 
had died, were usually accused of witchcraft. They were often banned 
from living in their villages, since they often were accused of eating 
the soul of a relative or a child who died. These women sought refuge 
at centers run by charitable organizations in big cities like 
Ouagadougou.
    Rape was a crime and occurred frequently. There is no explicit 
discussion of spousal rape in the law, and there have been no recent 
court cases. There were organizations that counseled rape victims, 
including Catholic and Protestant missions, the Association of Women 
Jurists in Burkina, the MBDHP, the Association of Women, and 
Promofemmes--a regional network that works to combat violence against 
women. The Government continued media campaigns to change attitudes 
that viewed women as inferior.
    FGM was practiced widely, especially in rural areas, and usually 
was performed at an early age. According to a 2006 report by the 
National Committee for the Fight Against Excision (CNLPE), up to 81 
percent of women aged 25 and older, and approximately 34 percent of 
girls and women under 25, have undergone FGM. The Government 
demonstrated its commitment to eradicate FGM through education and law 
enforcement. The report also indicated that the incidence of excision 
had decreased by approximately 49.5 percent since 1990. The adoption by 
the parliament of the 1996 anti-FGM legislation was credited with 
helping to decrease the occurrence of FGM. Perpetrators were subject to 
a significant fine and imprisonment of six months to three years, or up 
to 10 years if the victim died. More than 77 persons were sentenced 
during the year for perpetrating FGM. ``Operation Hotline,'' 
established by the CNLPE to provide citizens with a fast and anonymous 
way to report violations, received approximately 32 calls during the 
year. The 700 percent drop in calls received compared to the previous 
year was due to limited anti-FGM campaigning. Another reason was that 
the Government reportedly failed, due to limited resources, to take 
immediate action or promptly investigate many suspected cases.
    On January 26, police in Pouytenga, Boulgou, arrested seven persons 
for having practiced FGM on four girls aged two years. The detainees 
remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
    During the year suspected FGM practitioners Kadisso Ouedraogo, 
Azeta Ouedraogo, and Yiere Berte, who had been arrested in 2005 and 
2004, were released without trial.
    In December 2005 the tribunal of Kaya, Sanmatenga, sentenced six 
women to three months' imprisonment for performing FGM on nine young 
girls. The women were released after completing their prison terms.
    The law does not specifically prohibit prostitution; however, 
pimping and soliciting are illegal. Prostitution was widespread and 
tolerated by security forces.
    There were occasional reports of trafficking in women (see Section 
5, Trafficking).
    The labor code explicitly prohibits sexual harassment, but such 
harassment was common. The law prescribes fines from approximately $100 
to $1,203 (50,000 to 600,000 CFA francs) and prison terms varying from 
one month to five years.
    The law prohibits forced marriage, and prescribes penalties from 
six months to two years in prison. The prison term may increase to 
three years if the victim is under 13; however, there were no reports 
of any prosecutions of violators. Polygyny was permitted, but both 
parties must agree to it prior to a marriage. A wife could oppose 
further marriages by her husband if she provided evidence that he had 
abandoned her and her children. Either spouse could petition for 
divorce; the law provided that custody of a child be granted to either 
parent, based on the child's best interests.
    Women continued to occupy a subordinate position and experienced 
discrimination in education, jobs, property, and family rights. 
Although the law provides equal property rights for women and 
inheritance benefits depending on other family relationships, in 
practice traditional law denied women the right to own property, 
particularly real estate. In rural areas, land belonged to the family 
of a woman's husband. Women still did much of the subsistence farming 
work. Traditional law does not recognize inheritance rights for women 
and regards a woman as property that can be inherited upon her 
husband's death.
    Overall, women represented 45 percent of the workforce. In the 
modern sector, women comprised one-fourth of the Government workforce, 
primarily in lower paying positions.
    The Ministry for Women's Promotion actively promoted women's rights 
during the year, and the minister was a woman. During the year the 
Government continued to establish income-generating activities for 
women, including market gardening and the production of fabric, shea 
butter, and soap.

    Children.--The constitution nominally protects children's rights. 
The Government demonstrated its commitment to improving the condition 
of children by continuing efforts, in cooperation with donors, to 
revitalize primary health care by including care for nursing mothers 
and infants; vaccination campaigns against measles, meningitis, and 
other illnesses; and health education.
    The Government allotted approximately $182 million (95 billion CFA 
francs) of the national budget to education, and the law provides for 
free, compulsory, and universal primary education until the age of 16; 
however, the Government lacked the means to provide it fully. If a 
child qualified on the basis of grades and social condition (that is, 
the family was very poor), tuition-free education could continue 
through junior high and high school. Children still were responsible 
for paying for school supplies, which often cost significantly more 
than tuition. Many parents could not afford to lose a child's labor in 
the fields or at other remunerative jobs; as a result, overall school 
enrollment was approximately 57 percent (51 percent for girls.) The 
highest grade level achieved by most children was sixth grade.
    The Government promoted primary education for girls through 
encouragement of donor scholarships, school feeding programs, and 
information campaigns to change societal attitudes toward educating 
girls. In the primary school system, girls constituted slightly more 
than one-third of pupils. Schools in rural areas had even lower 
percentages of female students, and illiteracy among girls in rural 
areas was as high as 95 percent. The rate of male literacy was 
approximately 32 percent, and female literacy was 15 percent. The law 
prohibits the abuse of children under 15 and provides for the 
punishment of abusers. The penal code mandates a one- to three-year 
prison sentence and fines ranging from approximately $601 to $1,804 
(300,000 to 900,000 CFA francs) for proven inhumane treatment or 
mistreatment of children; however, light corporal punishment was 
tolerated and widely practiced in society, although the Government 
conducted seminars and education campaigns against child abuse.
    Scarification of the faces of boys and girls of certain ethnic 
groups continued but was gradually disappearing.
    FGM was performed commonly on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Several NGOs believed that child marriage was a problem in the 
provinces of Senou, Soum, Fada, Pama, and Diapaga; however, there were 
no reliable statistics. The legal age for marriage is 17.
    Trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children; 
however, the law does not prohibit trafficking in adults. The country 
was a source, transit point, and destination country for 
internationally trafficked persons, mostly children. The law prohibits 
slavery, inhumane treatment, mistreatment of children and adults, 
kidnapping, and violence. The penalty for child trafficking is one to 
10 years' imprisonment and fines of approximately $601 to $3,012 
(299,250 to 1.5 million CFA francs). Sexual exploitation of children 
was a problem.
    In 2005 and during the reporting period police arrested a total of 
44 child traffickers and intercepted 1,253 trafficked children. At 
year's end six traffickers had been sentenced to prison, and two were 
in detention awaiting trial in trafficking cases which began during the 
year.
    The Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity and that of 
Labor and Social Security were responsible for enforcing trafficking 
and child labor laws and regulations; however, the Government had 
limited resources to combat trafficking. The national plan of action, 
drafted in 2004, has not been approved by the Council of Ministers. The 
plan was being redeveloped to take into account regional and 
international agreements that the Government had signed but which were 
not included in the earlier version.
    The Government cooperated with Cote d'Ivoire in several trafficking 
cases and signed a cooperative agreement with the Government of Mali to 
combat cross-border child trafficking. On July 6, central African 
countries and members of the Economic Community of West African States, 
including Burkina Faso, signed a multilateral antitrafficking 
cooperation agreement.
    The country was an occasional source country for women trafficked 
to Europe for sexual exploitation. The country was a transit point for 
trafficked children, notably from Mali, who often were trafficked to 
Cote d'Ivoire. Malian and Nigerian children also were trafficked into 
the country. Destinations for trafficked children from the country 
included Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, and Togo.
    Child traffickers typically acted as intermediaries for poor 
families, promising to place a child in a decent work situation. Once 
the child was in the hands of traffickers, these promises were often 
disregarded. Some traffickers were distant relatives, often referred to 
as ``aunts.'' Traffickers occasionally kidnapped children. Once placed 
in a work situation, whether in the country or beyond its borders, 
children were often not free to leave and were forced to work without 
pay and under very bad conditions.
    Trafficked children were subject to violence, sexual abuse, forced 
prostitution, and deprivation of food, shelter, schooling, and medical 
care. Organized child trafficking networks existed throughout the 
country, and in 2005 security forces dismantled four such networks; 
however, none were dismantled during the reporting period. Child 
trafficking networks cooperated with regional smuggling rings.
    According to the 2005	06 report by the Protection of Infants and 
Adolescents Office, security forces intercepted 1,253 trafficked 
children, more than half of whom were girls; 525 were destined for 
international trafficking.
    The Government worked with international donors and the 
International Labor Organization to address child trafficking, in part 
by organizing seminars against child trafficking for customs officers. 
In 2005 and during the reporting period, security services and civil 
society groups organized similar workshops and seminars. Over the 
course of several years, the Government has established 128 watch 
committees, including 27 during the year, in 12 of the 13 regions in 
which child trafficking and child labor were problems. The watch 
committees included representatives of industries usually implicated in 
child labor (cotton growers, for example), the police, NGOs, and social 
welfare agencies. The Government also worked with international and 
domestic NGOs in the fight against trafficking.
    The Government, in collaboration with the UN Children's Fund, 
operated transit centers for destitute children, including trafficked 
children, where food and basic medical care were provided. It also 
helped children return to their families. Most reintegration programs 
for trafficked children were run by NGOs.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, the provision of other state 
services, or other areas; however, the Government did not effectively 
enforce these provisions. There was no government mandate or 
legislation concerning accessibility for persons with disabilities. 
Advocates reported that persons with disabilities often faced social 
and economic discrimination. Such persons who were willing and able to 
work frequently found it difficult to find employment, including in 
government service, because of deeply entrenched societal attitudes 
that persons with disabilities should be under the care of their 
families and not in the workforce.
    Programs to aid persons with disabilities were limited. In 2005 the 
Government established a national committee for the reintegration of 
persons with disabilities. During the year the committee implemented 
reintegration programs, capacity-building programs to better manage 
income generating activities, and conducted sensitizing campaigns.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination 
against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS were problems. Persons 
who tested positive for HIV/AIDS were sometimes shunned by their 
families, and HIV/AIDS positive wives were sometimes evicted from their 
homes. In addition there were reports that some house owners refused to 
rent lodgings to persons with HIV/AIDS.
    Homosexuals were discriminated against and were at times victims of 
verbal and physical abuse. Both religious and traditional beliefs were 
intolerant of homosexuality.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, including 
civil servants, the right of association, and workers exercised this 
right. However, ``essential'' workers such as police could not join 
unions. Approximately 85 percent of the workforce was engaged in 
subsistence agriculture and did not belong to unions. Of the remainder, 
an estimated 50 percent of private sector employees and 60 percent of 
public sector workers were union members.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government respected this right in practice. Unions have the right to 
bargain directly with employers and industry associations for wages and 
other benefits, and there was extensive collective bargaining in the 
modern wage sector; however, this sector included only a small 
percentage of workers. The law provides for the right to strike, and 
workers exercised this right. Major trade union federations and unions 
called multiple strikes during the year. Unions and government 
officials met during the year to discuss union grievances.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, children 
were trafficked and used for informal labor outside their own families, 
sometimes without pay (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years; however, child 
labor was a problem. The minimum age for employment was inconsistent 
with the age for completing educational requirements, which generally 
was 16. In the domestic and agricultural sectors, the law permits 
children under the age of 14 to perform limited activities for up to 
four and one-half hours per day; however, many children under the age 
of 14 worked longer hours. An estimated 51 percent of children worked, 
largely as domestic servants or in the agricultural or mining sectors, 
where working conditions were harsh. Children commonly worked with 
their parents in rural areas or in family-owned small businesses in 
villages and cities. There were no reports of children under the age of 
14 employed in either state-owned or large private companies.
    Trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which oversees labor 
standards, lacked the means to adequately enforce work safety and age 
limit legislation, even in the small business sector. Punishments for 
violating child labor laws included prison terms of up to five years 
and fines of up to approximately $1,149 (600,000 CFA francs).
    The Government organized workshops during the year, and in 
cooperation with donors undertook sensitization programs to inform 
children and parents of the dangers of sending children away from home 
to work.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law mandates a minimum 
monthly wage of approximately $55 (28,811 CFA francs) in the formal 
sector; the minimum wage does not apply to subsistence agriculture or 
other informal occupations. The minimum wage did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Employers often paid less 
than the minimum wage. Wage earners usually supplemented their income 
through reliance on the extended family, subsistence agriculture, or 
trading in the informal sector. The law also mandates a standard 
workweek of 40 hours for nondomestic workers and a 60-hour workweek for 
household workers, provides for overtime pay, and establishes safety 
and health provisions.
    A system of government inspectors under the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Security and the labor tribunals was responsible for overseeing 
occupational health and safety standards in the small industrial and 
commercial sectors, but these standards did not apply in the 
subsistence agricultural and other informal sectors. The Government's 
Labor Inspector Corps did not have sufficient resources to adequately 
fulfill its duties. Every company was required to have a work safety 
committee. If the Government's Labor Inspection Office declared a 
workplace unsafe for any reason, workers had the right to remove 
themselves without jeopardy to continued employment. There were 
indications that this right was respected in practice, although such 
declarations by the Labor Inspection Office were rare.

                               __________

                                BURUNDI

    Burundi is a constitutional republic with an elected government and 
a population of 6.8 million. In February 2005, 90 percent of citizens 
voted by referendum to adopt a new constitution. Following local and 
parliamentary elections in June and July 2005, the country's two houses 
of parliament indirectly elected as President Pierre Nkurunziza, a 
member of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for 
the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) political party, in August 2005. 
International observers reported that the elections, which ended a 
four-year transitional process under the Arusha Peace and 
Reconciliation Agreement, were generally free and fair. Although the 
CNDD-FDD party dominated parliament and government, other major 
parties, notably the Burundian Front for Democracy (FRODEBU) and the 
Union for National Progress (UPRONA), were also represented. While 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security services, there were several instances in which elements of 
the security forces acted independently of government authority.
    Throughout much of the year, the country remained engaged in an 
armed conflict between the Government and the Party for the Liberation 
of the Hutu People/National Liberation Front (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), led by 
Agathon Rwasa. Although the security situation remained calm in most of 
the country, fighting continued in Bujumbura Rural Province, which 
surrounds the capital and was the traditional stronghold of the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL. During the year fighting between the National Defense 
Forces (FDN) and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL also occurred in the neighboring 
provinces of Bubanza, Kayanza, Muramvya, and Cibitoke. On September 7 
the Government concluded a cease-fire agreement with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL 
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In late September the Government began 
preparations for the demobilization of an estimated 3,000 former 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants.
    During the year the Government continued to integrate members of 
former rebel groups, including the CNDD-FDD, into the FDN. Members of 
former rebel groups who were not integrated into the FDN were 
demobilized; between 2004 and August the Government had demobilized 
more than 20,000 former combatants, including some former rebels.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor; despite 
improvements in some areas, government security forces continued to 
commit numerous serious human rights abuses. In November UN officials 
and local and international human rights groups said the human rights 
situation had not improved since the Nkurunziza government took office 
in late 2005. Cases of human rights abuses were particularly prevalent 
in the western provinces. Many were related to the ongoing conflict 
with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
    The UN and human rights organizations reported that members of the 
FDN, the police, and the National Intelligence Service (SNR) were 
responsible for summary executions, torture, and beatings of civilians 
and detainees, including suspected PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters. There 
were reports that security forces raped women and young girls. Impunity 
and harsh and life-threatening prison and detention center conditions 
remained problems, and reports of arbitrary arrest and detention 
increased. Prolonged pretrial detention, lack of judicial independence 
and efficiency, and rampant judicial corruption continued. The 
Government released thousands of individuals whom it deemed to be 
political prisoners during the year; however, it continued to hold 
numerous political prisoners and political detainees, including former 
President Domitien Ndayizeye, former vice President Alphonse Kadege, 
and four other individuals who continued to be held on charges of 
threatening state security, despite a Supreme Court order in October 
that they be freed. Fighting between government and rebel forces 
continued during the year.
    Restrictions on freedom of the press increased during the year, and 
the Government continued to restrict freedoms of assembly and 
association. Security forces' harassment of political opponents 
remained a problem. Societal violence and discrimination against women, 
trafficking in persons, and the use of child labor continued.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to commit numerous serious human 
rights abuses against civilians, including killings, indiscriminate 
shelling of civilian areas, kidnappings, rapes, theft, extortion, the 
forcible recruitment and employment of children as soldiers, and the 
use of forced labor.
    The Government continued to make significant progress in 
demobilizing child soldiers and reintegrating them into society, 
although challenges remained. Unlike in the previous year, the 
Government did not forcibly repatriate refugees and asylum seekers. The 
Government cooperated to a greater extent with UN agencies and 
international organizations aiding them. Trade unions had greater 
freedom to assemble and demonstrate peacefully.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that security forces committed political killings; however, 
security forces committed, often with impunity, summary executions and 
other unlawful killings of civilians during the year. These killings 
often followed fighting with rebels, in reprisal for rebel attacks, and 
for suspected collaboration with rebels (see Section 1.g.).
    According to a report released in October by Human Rights Watch 
(HRW), the country's intelligence service had executed 38 individuals 
since the Nkurunziza government took office in late 2005 and had failed 
to prosecute those accused of extrajudicial killings.
    Suspects reportedly were killed while in the custody of security 
forces. For example on February 20, police officers arrested a man 
outside of Bujumbura for theft. While in police custody, the man was 
severely beaten and transferred to Mpimba prison, where he later died; 
the cause of death was not clear.
    On August 15, the bodies of four individuals who had been in police 
custody in Kinama, north of Bujumbura, were found on the roadside. Both 
the minister of the interior and a police spokesperson announced that 
an immediate investigation was underway. A police spokesperson later 
told journalists that none of the actions could be traced back to the 
police. A member of the SNR, Zabulon Nduwimana, and a police officer, 
Reverien Hicintuka, were later arrested on charges of murder or being 
an accessory to murder. Both suspects remained in custody awaiting 
trial at year's end.
    On July 7, in the Mutakura area of Cibitoke Province, police forces 
from a nearby military post killed five persons and wounded 40 others. 
According to witnesses, a group of jubilant soccer fans returned to 
their homes shouting and dancing following the conclusion of the 
telecast of the World Cup soccer final. The sub-lieutenant in charge of 
the police brigade ordered his men first to throw a grenade into the 
crowd and later to open fire. Authorities arrested the sub-lieutenant, 
Felix Bigiri, as well as a policeman, Clovis Ndimurwonko, and at year's 
end both remained in custody, awaiting trial.
    There were no developments regarding killings reportedly committed 
by security forces in 2005: the May death of Mwafrica Masema following 
a police beating in a Rugombo commune jail in Cibitoke Province; the 
May beating by soldiers in Gatumba of a man who subsequently died of 
his injuries; the June beating by security forces of a man suspected of 
supporting the PALIPEHUTU-FNL who subsequently died of his injuries; 
and the August killing of an unidentified man by military soldiers in 
the Nyarabira commune in Bujumbura Rural Province.
    Civilians were killed during fighting between government and rebel 
forces (see Section 1.g.).
    There continued to be reports of deaths and injuries caused by 
unexploded ordnance and landmines laid in previous years by both 
government and rebel forces (see Section 1.g.). A national mine survey, 
established in 2005, was completed in May. The UN and two 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also did limited de-mining and 
educational activities.
    There were no developments in any of the politically motivated 
killings committed in 2005 by unidentified assailants.
    During the year there continued to be numerous deaths attributed to 
the use of grenades and mortars by unidentified persons. While the 
majority of these incidents occurred in bars or public gathering 
places, some appeared to target individuals. For example, on May 30, 
five bombs exploded in the Gihosha and Mutanga Nord districts of 
Bujumbura, close to the residence of former second vice President Alice 
Nzomukunda.
    On September 3, in the Nyakabiga Commune, almost 40 persons were 
injured when an unidentified individual or individuals threw three 
grenades into a local bar.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebels killed numerous persons during the year 
and committed serious abuses against the civilian population (see 
Section 1.g.).
    Killings by bandits continued to be a serious problem during the 
year. For example, according to UN reports, there were approximately 19 
deaths attributed to bandits and armed individuals in February. In 
several of these cases, the killings were often accompanied by property 
destruction and looting. In one case a man died after bandits raided 
his house and burned it.
    There continued to be reports during the year of mob violence, 
lynchings, and the killing of suspected witches, although such reports 
were fewer than in the previous year. Unlike in the previous year, 
there were no reports that local officials were complicit in the 
killing of suspected witches. The President announced during the year 
that local authorities would be held accountable for such killings. By 
year's end authorities had made no arrests in connection with the cases 
below.
    On June 7, in the Murwi Commune of Cibitoke Province, unidentified 
armed individuals killed a woman accused of sorcery.
    On August 2, in the Busoni Commune of Kirundo Province, a group of 
individuals lynched and killed a woman accused of sorcery.
    On August 21, unidentified persons in Kirundo threw a grenade into 
a home, killing a woman who had been accused of sorcery by her 
neighbors, and wounding her husband. Authorities had made no arrests in 
connection with the case by year's end.
    There were no reports of action taken by authorities in the killing 
of suspected witches by mobs in 2005.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically 
motivated disappearances; although there were several kidnappings, 
there were fewer than in the previous year.
    According to a UN report, on April 24, SNR agents abducted a man in 
the Buyenzi quarter of the Bujumbura Mairie Province. His whereabouts 
were not known by year's end.
    On May 2, in the Kinindo Commune, police detained a high-ranking 
member of the CNDD-FDD after he accused another senior CNDD-FDD member 
of corruption. He was released a month later.
    The Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained 
Persons (APRODH) reported 10 detainees missing from communal lockups 
during the year.
    There were no developments in the July 2005 incident in which a 
group of armed men, believed to be members of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, 
kidnapped a communal official in the Isale Commune of Bujumbura Rural 
Province.
    There were no developments in the 2004 kidnapping of four persons 
by members of the CNDD-FDD in the Kanyosha commune of Bujumbura Rural 
Province. The six persons who were kidnapped in 2004 in the Ndava 
commune of Mwaro Province were freed; no additional information was 
available at year's end.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
members of the security forces continued to torture and otherwise abuse 
persons, which reportedly resulted in several deaths.
    Throughout the year multiple credible sources reported that the 
security forces maintained illegal detention and torture centers across 
the country.
    On March 24, President Nkurunziza met with SNR personnel and 
verbally reprimanded those responsible for the reported ill treatment 
and torture of detainees. The meeting resulted in a commitment to stop 
the use of one SNR facility as a detention center; however, by year's 
end authorities had not closed the facility.
    The UN, HRW, and domestic NGOs League Iteka and APRODH reported 
that members of the security forces beat and tortured civilians and 
detainees throughout the year.
    Multiple credible sources reported that SNR agents arbitrarily 
detained and tortured people thought to be members and supporters of 
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).
    In August the minister of national solidarity and human rights 
visited former vice President Kadege and other detainees who were 
accused of conspiring against the Government at SNR headquarters where 
they were being held. Following the visit, the minister publicly 
acknowledged that SNR officers physically abused Kadege and some other 
detainees (see Section 1.d.).
    There were no developments and actions taken against the FDN 
regarding the January 2005 beating of a man by the FDN while he was in 
detention, or the April 2005 incident in which FDN members beat five 
brick masons during their detention.
    Despite the lack of precise numbers, there was a slight decrease in 
the reports of conflict-related rape committed by security forces and 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL members (see Section 1.g.). However, there were several 
reports of rape, including gang rape, committed by members of the 
security forces that were unrelated to the conflict with the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL. For example, according to the UN peacekeeping mission 
in Burundi (ONUB), an FDN soldier reportedly raped two minors in April, 
and in May FDN soldiers reportedly raped a woman and two children, one 
of whom was gang-raped by off-duty soldiers. By year's end it was not 
known whether authorities had investigated or taken any action against 
the soldiers allegedly responsible.
    There were no developments regarding the May 2005 rape of a woman 
by two men, one of whom was an FDN soldier, in Bujumbura; or the 
September 2005 rape of a woman by a uniformed police officer in the 
Gihanga commune of Bubanza Province.
    Government troops used excessive force in areas where there were 
civilians (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
    Several persons were injured during the year by unexploded ordnance 
and landmines laid in previous years by government and rebel forces 
(see Section 1.g.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and sometimes life threatening. Severe overcrowding persisted. 
According to government officials and human rights observers, prisoners 
suffered from digestive illnesses, dysentery, and malaria, and 
prisoners died as a result of disease. According to APRODH, while there 
were no reports that prison guards beat prisoners in the country's 11 
main prisons, there were reports that members of security forces beat 
detainees in the country's smaller jails and at the main detention 
center used by the SNR (commonly known as la Documentation); and during 
the year there was an increase in the number of beatings in the smaller 
jails at the commune level. ONUB reported that detainees and prisoners 
were tortured and abused. Each prison had one qualified nurse and at 
least a weekly doctor's visit; however, prisoners did not always 
receive prompt access to medical care. Serious cases were sent to local 
hospitals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the 
primary provider of medicines; the Government provided insufficient 
food in the main prisons and did not provide food for persons held in 
communal lockups. Detainees and prisoners who were not held in communal 
lockups received 450 grams of food per day from the Government, and 
families often had to supplement prisoner rations.
    According to the Ministry of Justice, during the year 7,242 persons 
were held throughout the country in facilities built to accommodate 
4,050 persons.
    Conditions in detention centers and communal lockups were generally 
worse than prison conditions. Police personnel tortured and otherwise 
abused detainees, which resulted in death in several instances (see 
Section 1.a.). According to APRODH, 15 individuals were killed in 
communal lockups, or small detention centers, and another 10 were 
missing (see Section 1.b.). Minors were not always separated from adult 
detainees, and ONUB documented some cases of sexual abuse. There were 
400 communal lockups where those who were arrested were supposed to be 
held no longer than one week; however, in practice detainees were 
regularly kept in these facilities for much longer periods of time. 
Family members were required to provide all food for detainees in 
communal lockups. Once detainees were transferred to larger detention 
facilities, the Government provided food. Communal lockups and other, 
larger detention centers were severely overcrowded, with limited or no 
provisions for medical care and no sanitation.
    According to the Ministry of Justice, during the year there were 
334 children in prisons, of whom 54 accompanied their convicted 
mothers. Juvenile prisoners were held with and often treated as adults. 
Political prisoners often were held with convicted prisoners. Pretrial 
detainees were held in communal lockups, but some were also 
incarcerated with convicted prisoners.
    During the year dozens of former child soldiers associated with the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL remained in government custody--in prisons, jails, and a 
newly opened welcome center for former PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants--
without any clarity on their legal status or knowledge of when they 
might be returned to their families. Some were as young as 13 years of 
age. According to a study released by HRW during the year, former 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL child soldiers detained in prisons lived in overcrowded 
cells, ate once a day, and were accused of participating in the 
rebellion. In contrast, children in the welcome center lived in better 
conditions and were not facing prosecution, although they were held 
with adult combatants.
    During the year the Government permitted some visits by 
international and local human rights monitors, including the ICRC; 
however, municipal police commissioners and other authorities were slow 
to grant ONUB human rights officers access to detainees following 
accounts of illegal detentions and torture, and access was sometimes 
denied. Authorities also sometimes denied HRW, ICRC, and local NGOs 
access to detainees thought to have been tortured or illegally 
detained, who were accused of belonging to PALIPEHUTU-FNL. NGOs 
continued their efforts to monitor and improve sanitation, hygiene, 
medical care, food, and water.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but security forces 
arbitrarily arrested and detained persons.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are 
responsible for internal security, while the FDN may assume such 
responsibilities only in times of war. The police deal with criminal 
matters and the FDN fulfills external security and counterinsurgency 
roles. In practice the FDN also arrested and detained criminals. The 
Ministry of Defense oversees the FDN, and the Ministry of the Interior 
oversees the national police, including the gendarmerie. The SNR, 
commonly known as the Documentation Nationale, is a special police 
agency that reports directly to the President. The SNR's role consists 
of intelligence gathering, but it also has authority to arrest and 
interrogate suspects. According to a UN official, there was a 
significant increase in human rights abuses committed by the SNR during 
the year, including arbitrary arrests and torture of suspected FNL 
members.
    Members of the security forces were poorly trained. Corruption, 
disregard for legal standards on the duration of detention, and 
mistreatment of prisoners remained problems. An internal affairs unit 
within the police force investigated crimes committed by other police 
units. ONUB and various NGOs provided human rights training to the 
police. Impunity for members of the security forces who committed 
serious human rights abuses and the continuing lack of accountability 
for those who committed past abuses remained key problems. During the 
year, however, the Government made progress in combating impunity among 
the security forces.
    In September authorities in Muyinga Province arrested a policeman 
who was working for SNR and charged him with kidnapping and killing 
more than 10 persons who were suspected of collaborating with the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants in most 
cases, and presiding magistrates are authorized to issue them; however, 
police and the FDN can make arrests without a warrant but are required 
to submit a written report to a magistrate within 48 hours. These 
provisions were not always respected in practice. The requirement that 
detainees be charged and appear in court within seven days of their 
arrest was routinely violated. A magistrate can order the release of 
suspects or confirm charges and continue detention, initially for seven 
days, then subsequently for one additional period of seven days, as 
necessary to prepare the case for trial. Police are authorized to 
release suspects on bail, but this provision was rarely exercised. 
Police regularly detained suspects for extended periods without 
announcing charges, certifying the detention before a judge, or 
advising the Ministry of Justice within 48 hours as required. Suspects 
are permitted lawyers in criminal cases at their own expense, but the 
law does not require and the Government did not provide an attorney to 
indigents at government expense. Multiple sources reported that 
incommunicado detention existed, although the law prohibits it.
    Authorities sometimes denied prisoners prompt access to family 
members or to their lawyer. For example, former vice President Kadege's 
wife stated in August that officials did not allow her to visit her 
detained husband for two days immediately following his detention.
    During the year there were reports of politically motivated arrests 
and numerous reports of arbitrary arrests. For example, in July and 
August, the police arrested former President Ndayizeye, former vice 
President Alphonse Kadege, and six other individuals accused of 
planning a coup d'etat against the Government. The Government later 
accused the men of threatening state security. Police released two of 
the detainees after they reportedly confessed their roles in the 
affair. A judicially authorized 30-day detention period for the 
remaining six expired on September 27 without being extended. In a 
detention hearing on October 6, the Supreme Court ordered that the 
detainees be freed. The public prosecutor countermanded this order and 
instructed the prison not to release the detainees. At year's end the 
six remaining detainees in this case, including former President 
Ndayizeye and former vice President Kadege, remained in custody.
    The Government acknowledged in August that officers of the SNR 
physically abused several of these detainees, including former vice 
President Kadege. Several local and international organizations, 
including HRW, jointly issued a declaration condemning the beatings 
during interrogations and calling on the Government to open 
investigations and bring to justice those responsible for abuses.
    The Government repeatedly stated that it had sufficient proof of an 
attempted coup to justify the detentions. However, it maintained that 
it could not make details public until the judicial system completed 
its deliberations. The continuing controversy surrounding the case 
increased tensions between the Government and opposition parties and 
drew widespread criticism from human rights organizations. On September 
29, the foreign minister told the diplomatic corps that the judicial 
system had thus far met all relevant legal requirements concerning the 
handling of the case. In December, government officials said the 
suspects had met with foreigners to plot the overthrow of the 
Government; however, officials did not present evidence publicly that 
supported this claim, and the country's defense minister subsequently 
told reporters that the military had no indication that a coup plot 
existed, and that there were ``incoherent and unreliable'' aspects to 
the case.
    On August 16, police arrested Gabriel Rufyiri, President of the 
domestic NGO Observatory for the Struggle against Economic Corruption 
and Embezzlement (OLUCOME), on charges of defamation after he publicly 
denounced the degree of corruption in the Government. In December, 
after detaining Rufyiri for four months, authorities provisionally 
released him after a court acquitted him.
    According to HRW, the country's intelligence service arbitrary 
detained 200 individuals since the Nkurunziza government took office in 
late 2005. Furthermore, according to a UN report released in September, 
during the first half of the year there was a steady increase in 
arrests of individuals--including men, women, and school children--
particularly those suspected of being PALIPEHUTU-FNL members, and 
particularly in the provinces of Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza, 
and Cibitoke. The report also noted reports of security forces 
detaining citizens in illegal places or facilities, including three 
school children reportedly detained in a military camp in Bujumbura. In 
addition the report cited 800 reported cases of arbitrary arrest during 
the year in which individuals were detained on minor charges upon 
instruction from administrative authorities, mostly commune 
administrators.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security 
forces arrested elected officials from the FRODEBU party on suspicion 
of supporting or belonging to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, or for any other 
reason. Nephtalie Ndikumana, a FRODEBU official who was arrested in 
2005 and who remained in detention at the end of 2005, was released 
during the year.
    The SNR on occasion carried out mass arbitrary arrests of suspected 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters. According to an HRW report, on January 25, 
government forces ordered PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants whom the security 
forces had captured to identify PALIPEHUTU-FNL collaborators in the 
Muyira zone in Kanyosha Commune. Authorities subsequently detained 
approximately 100 individuals whom the combatants had identified as 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL collaborators and sent them to the Interior Security 
Police's detention facility in Kigobe, Bujumbura. By year's end most 
had been released, but a few were still waiting to be brought before a 
magistrate.
    During the year the Government arrested journalists, an NGO leader, 
and a labor unionist (see Sections 2.a., 4, and 6.a.).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of police 
officers arbitrarily detaining or fining individuals for ``moral 
offenses'' such as wearing ``inappropriate clothing.''
    Most of the persons arrested on criminal charges since 1993 
remained in pretrial custody. According to the Ministry of Justice, 
5,443 persons, or 65 percent of the country's prison population, had 
not been convicted and were awaiting trial at year's end. Lengthy jail 
procedures, a large backlog in pending cases, judicial inefficiency, 
corruption, and financial constraints often caused trial delays. 
Irregularities in the detention of individuals, including holding them 
beyond the statutory limit, also continued. On several occasions 
individuals held illegally were released following intervention by 
ONUB. Human rights NGOs lobbied the Government for the release of 
prisoners who were held for long periods of time without charge.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was not independent 
of the executive branch. The judicial system was inefficient and 
subject to bribes and other forms of corruption; many citizens had no 
confidence in its ability to provide even basic protection, although 
judicial reform was a priority of the Arusha Accord.
    According to information contained in a UN report released in 
September, there were reports of magistrates being instructed by 
authorities not to investigate cases concerning suspected FNL members 
submitted to them by police; magistrates were reportedly instructed to 
confirm the arrest and commit the concerned individuals to prison.
    During the year the Government made significant strides in 
resolving the problems of ethnic balance in the judiciary, which was 
traditionally dominated by the members of the Tutsi minority.
    Citizens generally did not have regular access to court proceedings 
and often had to travel more than 30 miles to reach a court.
    A UN report, which resulted from a 2005 assessment mission focusing 
on the country's primary judicial challenges, criticized the country's 
judicial reforms as ``incomplete and carried out too late,'' and it 
singled out lack of required materials, logistics, and infrastructure. 
The public viewed the judiciary, according to the report, as flawed and 
``ethnically prejudiced and client to political powers'' in the 
executive and legislative branches of government. In addition to 
asserting that magistrates' low salaries contributed to corruption, the 
report noted that there was no institution to provide judges with 
needed skills, and that laws were published in French while most 
citizens speak the national language of Kirundi.
    The judicial system consists of civil and criminal courts with the 
Supreme Court and Constitutional Court at the apex. In all cases the 
Constitutional Court has the ultimate appellate authority, but few 
cases of lower-ranking offenders reached this level.
    The law provides for an independent military court system, which in 
practice was influenced by the executive and higher-ranking military 
officers. Courts of original jurisdiction for lower-ranking military 
offenders were called ``War Councils,'' and one existed in each of the 
country's five military districts. A court martial tribunal of appeals 
hears appeals of War Council decisions and also has trial jurisdiction 
for mid-ranking military offenders up to the rank of colonel. Military 
courts have jurisdiction over military offenders and civilians accused 
of offenses implicating members of the military.
    The Government officially recognizes the traditional system of 
informal community arbitration, known as Ubashingantahe, which 
functions under the guidance of community members recognized for their 
conflict resolution skills and which facilitates the settlement and 
reconciliation of disputes. The opinion of a Mushingantahe, or 
community arbitrator, often is necessary before access is granted to 
the formal civil court system. The Ubashingantahe system is limited to 
civil and minor criminal matters and has no jurisdiction over serious 
criminal matters. Traditionally, persons recognized by the community 
preside over deliberations, and no lawyers are involved under this 
system. During the year some members of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, 
composed of membership that continued to be predominately Hutu, looked 
unfavorably on the institution of the Ubashingantahe because some Hutus 
historically perceived it as a tool of Tutsi domination.

    Trial Procedures.--With the exception of capital punishment cases, 
all trials are conducted by panels of judges. Capital punishment cases 
are decided by a seven-person panel: four citizens and three magistrate 
judges. Defendants, in theory, are presumed innocent and have a right 
to counsel but not at the Government's expense, even for those who face 
serious criminal charges. Defendants have a right to defend themselves; 
however, in practice, few had legal representation since there were 
only 89 registered lawyers in the entire country and since most persons 
could not afford a lawyer and had to plead their own cases. Authorities 
sometimes were unable to carry out their investigations or transport 
suspects and witnesses to the appropriate court because of lack of 
resources. All defendants, except those in military courts, have the 
right to appeal their cases up to the Supreme Court, and in capital 
cases, to the President for clemency. In practice the inefficiency of 
the court system extended the duration of the appeals process, 
effectively limiting the possibility of appeals, even by defendants 
accused of the most serious crimes.
    Procedures for civilian and military courts are similar, but 
military courts typically reached decisions more quickly. Military 
trials, like civilian trials, generally failed to meet internationally 
accepted standards for fair trials. Defendants are not provided 
attorneys to assist in their defense, although NGOs provided some 
defendants with attorneys in cases involving serious charges. Trials 
generally are open to the public but can be closed for compelling 
reasons, including for national security or in cases in which publicity 
can do harm to the victim or a third party, such as in cases involving 
rape or child abuse. Defendants in military courts are allowed only one 
appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The incarceration of political 
prisoners and detainees remained a problem during the year. There were 
an estimated 500 political prisoners at year's end. Charges against 
individuals convicted for nonpolitical crimes, as well as defendants 
awaiting trial for nonpolitical crimes, sometimes were politically 
motivated (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.). International organizations and 
local human rights NGOs were generally afforded access to political 
prisoners.
    In December 2005, following the appointment of a Commission on 
Political Prisoners, President Nkurunziza announced the conditional 
release of all political prisoners detained for more than two years 
without charge. Justice Minister Clotilde Niragira said that all of 
those who were temporarily freed would be required to stand before the 
truth and reconciliation commission once it was formed; she added that 
the provisional release was for prisoners who had been incarcerated in 
connection with the killing of former President Melchior Ndadaye in 
1993 and the violence that followed. A series of four ministerial 
decrees granted provisional immunity to all political prisoners 
identified by the commission, based on the penal code's description of 
political crimes. The Government also released prisoners who had served 
at least one-quarter of their sentence, with the exception of those who 
had committed serious crimes. However, some organizations questioned 
the Government's definition of political prisoners and claimed that the 
process was illegal insofar as it resulted in the release of 
perpetrators of serious crimes, including detainees who had been 
sentenced to death. According to the Ministry of Justice, the 
Government released 3,614 political prisoners during the year. The 
former chairman of the Commission on Political Prisoners said that 
there remained approximately 100 prisoners who may qualify as 
``political'' prisoners.
    Political and civil society leaders remained divided over the 
definition of a political prisoner, and human rights organizations 
raised serious concerns over the lack of transparency in the 
commission's work. They noted that the commission never publicly 
explained the criteria on which the decisions were based. Three NGOs 
brought a case before the Constitutional Court, stating that the 
decision to release the prisoners violated the constitution and should 
have been based on an act of parliament rather than on an executive 
decree.
    Human rights organizations also expressed concern over the lack of 
preparation in the communities to which the detainees would return. In 
response, the Government launched a sensitization campaign to explain 
its decision on political prisoners and to promote reconciliation in 
their communities.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary's conduct of 
trials regarding civil matters was well regarded by observers, but 
execution of courts' decisions, including payment of damages, could be 
very slow, sometimes taking years. Some citizens and other observers 
perceived many judges to be susceptible to pressure and corrupt.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for the right to 
privacy, but the Government did not respect this right in practice. 
Authorities rarely respected the law requiring search warrants. It was 
widely believed that security forces monitored telephones. There also 
were numerous reports during the year that security forces looted and 
destroyed houses whose occupants were accused of harboring and aiding 
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).
    Families of former President Ndayizeye and the five other persons 
arrested and detained in late July and early August on suspicion of 
threatening state security complained that SNR personnel followed the 
detainees' children and kept them under observation while at school, 
and that the families received threatening phone calls (see Section 
1.d.).
    There were numerous reports of looting by the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see 
Section 1.g.).

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Although the Government finalized a cease-fire agreement with the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL on September 7, there were still numerous incidents of 
violence due to the ongoing conflict. These incidents resulted in 
serious abuses against the civilian population by government and rebel 
forces; generally no actions were taken against perpetrators. The 
security forces killed numerous civilians following fighting with the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL, in reprisal for PALIPEHUTU-FNL attacks, and for 
suspected collaboration with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. Abuses included the 
killing of civilians, the looting and burning of houses, attacks on 
noncombatants, the displacement of large numbers of civilians, and the 
rape of women.
    While no definitive countrywide casualty figures were available, 
reports from media and NGOs estimated that more than 250,000, mostly 
civilians, had been killed in conflict-related violence since 1993. 
Much unlawful killing and property destruction during the year were 
concentrated in Bujumbura Rural Province, which was the scene of the 
majority of the fighting between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
    According to a UN report released in September, during the first 
half of the year, security forces killed 34 civilians--27 by the FDN, 
five by the police, and two by the SNR; the majority of the killings 
occurred in the provinces of Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rural, and Cibitoke. 
None of the alleged perpetrators were prosecuted for the killings, 
which included some summary executions of suspected FNL members or 
sympathizers; in some instances the perpetrators were simply shifted to 
other military positions.
    For example, in February the FDN killed approximately 12 civilians, 
eight of whom reportedly had connections to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. On 
February 22, in the commune of Kabezi, FDN soldiers executed six 
persons, all of whom were presumed to be PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters.
    According to a May UN incident report, the FDN killed 21 
individuals, 10 of whom were suspected to be members of the PALIPEHUTU-
FNL or to have collaborated with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The report offered 
no reasons for detainment or death.
    A September UN report also reported that during the first half of 
the year SNR agents in Bujumbura tortured a suspected FNL member to 
death by mutilating his genitals and drilling his skull with a sharp 
object; by year's end there were no reports of an investigation 
regarding this killing.
    On July 17, the bodies of 16 persons believed to have been in 
police custody were found in the Ruvubu River, in the northeastern 
province of Muyinga. Between May and July, police had reportedly 
arrested the men, accused them of supporting the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, 
transferred them to the Mukoni military camp in Muyinga Province, and 
executed them, according to Amnesty International (AI). In September 
the Government appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the 
killings, and shortly thereafter authorities arrested three middle-
ranking members of the security forces, including the head of the 
intelligence service in Muyinga. On October 14, the public prosecutor 
of Ngozi issued an arrest warrant for the head of the fourth military 
region, but by year's end the warrant had not been executed. On October 
26, the prosecutor of Muyinga, a member of the commission who was 
reportedly committed to investigate the killings, was informed by his 
supervisors that he was to be transferred to Rutana Province, 
ostensibly for his personal security. AI called on the Government to 
appoint an independent body to fully investigate theses deaths and 
bring to justice all those responsible, including senior military 
officials.
    Although not as frequent as in past years, there continued to be 
reports of indiscriminate, conflict-related civilian deaths attributed 
to the FDN. These incidents were often a result of fights between 
soldiers and civilians, or civilian refusal to comply with threats of 
extortion. There were also a number of deaths related to cases of 
theft, looting or property damage.
    On September 13, in the province of Muyinga, an officer of the SNR, 
Dominique Surwavuba, was arrested on suspicion of killing 15 persons 
thought to be PALIPEHUTU-FNL sympathizers. He remained in custody at 
year's end.
    Multiple credible sources reported that SNR agents arbitrarily 
detained and tortured persons thought to be members and supporters of 
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. According to these sources, SNR agents tortured 
these individuals by beating them with batons, breaking their feet, 
tying them or chaining them, using clamps on their genitals, using 
needles on their feet, rubbing chili oil and salt into wounds, placing 
them in isolation chambers without food for prolonged periods of time, 
and repeatedly threatening to execute them. There were reports that 
suspected FNL members were tortured to death (see Section 1.a.). These 
sources also reported that SNR Chief Major General Adolphe Nshimirimana 
was sometimes present while detainees were tortured. League Iteka and 
APRODH frequently reported that prison authorities tortured detainees 
and prisoners using methods similar to those described above.
    During investigations in May, police in the Kanga quarter of the 
Kinama Commune beat three men accused of being PALIPEHUTU-FNL 
collaborators and subsequently held them at Socarti camp. No additional 
information was available by year's end.
    Members of security forces and rebels continued to rape civilians. 
For example, on February 5, in the Kanyosha Commune of Bujumbura Rural 
Province, a member of the FDN raped a young girl. During the week of 
July 31 through August 5, FDN soldiers allegedly raped two women, one 
of whom was a minor. By year's end there were no reports of authorities 
taking action against the soldiers allegedly responsible.
    There were no developments in the September 2005 incident in which 
a uniformed police officer in the Gihanga Commune of Bubanza Province 
raped a woman after forcing her husband to the ground at gunpoint.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of widespread 
looting of homes by the FDN.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to kill, beat, kidnap, steal from, and 
rape civilians. During the year League Iteka and the UN reported 
numerous incidents in which the PALIPEHUTU-FNL killed civilians for 
supposedly cooperating with the FDN or for ceasing to cooperate with 
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
    For example, on February 3, in the Kanyosha Commune of Bujumbura 
Rural Province, approximately 20 members of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL abducted 
a woman and her daughter from their home. According to a member of the 
community, the woman had provided food to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL until FDN 
soldiers at a newly-constructed military post near her home ordered her 
to stop providing such assistance. The woman's badly mutilated body was 
found on February 4; her daughter managed to escape from her captors.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL and armed bandits killed civilians who refused 
to comply with extortion, although there were fewer reports than in the 
previous year.
    No actions were taken against members of the security forces or 
CNDD-FDD responsible for killings, rapes, lootings, or other abuses 
committed in the context of conflict that were reported in 2005 or 
2004. There were no reports that rebel forces punished members who were 
responsible for abuses.
    Unexploded ordnance and landmines laid in previous years by both 
government and rebel forces resulted in deaths and injuries during the 
year. In May seven civilians, including four children, were injured in 
separate explosions of land mines in Gitega Province. In August a 
landmine uncovered near military barracks in Gatete seriously injured 
two children.
    In May the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action conducted a general 
survey on mines and explosive remnants of war. As of June 15, 57 
explosive ordnance disposal tasks had been completed in rural areas, 
accounting for the clearance of 40 percent of the agricultural land 
along the border with Tanzania. ONUB has provided mine risk education 
to 25,000 people living primarily in the high mine-affected southern 
provinces.
    Under the law the country's minimum age for military recruitment is 
16, although the Government stated that no one under 18 was recruited. 
A project sponsored by the Government and the UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) demobilized approximately 3,000 child soldiers from the 
Government security forces as well as from former rebel groups during 
the year. According to UNICEF, security forces no longer used children 
as soldiers for combat, although other sources reported that children 
continued to serve in the security forces as spies and porters and to 
perform other menial tasks. According to HRW, security forces required 
children who were child soldiers with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL to carry 
munitions for the military and assist in locating PALIPEHUTU-FNL 
combatants and supporters.
    During the year the Ministry of Defense instructed military 
officers to punish soldiers found to be forcing children to perform 
menial tasks; punishments included the performance of extra duties, 
docking of pay, and confinement to quarters or the brig for up to one 
week. The Ministry of Defense confirmed that soldiers with such 
discipline problems would be among the first to leave during 
``downsizing'' of security forces over the next year.
    With support from ONUB and UNICEF, a government-established child 
protection network became active during the year, monitoring and 
reporting on human rights violations committed against children in 
armed conflict.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to use and recruit child soldiers, 
although in fewer numbers than in previous years.
    In May HRW conducted interviews with detained children. HRW 
reported that approximately 65 children, alleged PALIPEHUTU-FNL 
combatants or supporters of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, were in government 
custody. Some of them had deserted the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and turned 
themselves in, hoping to be released into society. Others were captured 
by government soldiers or were arrested by police officers during 
searches for PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants. In June HRW estimated that 
there could be up to hundreds of children still actively engaged with 
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL in need of demobilization and reintegration (see 
Section 4).
    In early January police officers at the Butara prison in Cibitoke 
province beat four PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants who had turned themselves 
in to an army post at Ndora in Cibitoke. Two of the four were under the 
age of 18. Also in Butura, the police beat two other youths suspected 
of PALIPEHUTU-FNL involvement.
    During the year civilians continued to be displaced by fighting, 
although there were fewer reports of such displacement than during 
2005.
    In August in Muhuta Commune in Bujumbura Rural Province, the 
population fled a PALIPEHUTU-FNL attack, but returned within two days. 
On September 5, in Gatumba, also in the province of Bujumbura Rural, 
civilians fled the area following a PALIPEHUTU-FNL attack before 
returning two days later.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
restricted these freedoms in practice, and freedom of the press 
deteriorated during the year. The Government continued to arrest, 
harass, and detain journalists. The Government periodically forced some 
media to suspend operations. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship, although the media sometimes expressed diverse political 
views.
    The Government restricted freedom of speech through arrests, 
harassment, and intimidation (see Sections 2.b. and 4).
    The Government controlled many of the major media outlets. The 
Government owned Le Renouveau, the only daily newspaper, as well as the 
country's only television station. The Government exercised strong 
editorial control of these media.
    There were six private weekly publications, including the private 
French-language Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow), and 11 private Internet and fax-
based news sheets. The number of copies printed by independent 
publications was small, and readership was limited by low literacy 
levels. Newspaper circulation was generally limited to Bujumbura or 
other urban centers. Ownership of private newspapers was concentrated, 
but there was a wide range of political opinion among the press.
    Radio remained the most important medium of public information. The 
government-owned radio station broadcast in Kirundi, French, and 
Kiswahili and offered limited English programming. There were eight 
privately owned radio stations, including Radio Isanganiro, Bonesha FM, 
and African Public Radio (RPA), all of which broadcast news in French, 
Kirundi, and Kiswahili. Some stations received funding from 
international donors. Listeners could receive transmissions of foreign 
news organizations.
    The law criminalizes offenses, including defamation, committed by 
the media and provides for fines and criminal penalties of six months' 
to five years' imprisonment for the dissemination of insults directed 
at the President, as well as writings that are defamatory, injurious, 
or offensive to public or private individuals.
    During the year the Government arrested, detained, harassed, and 
intimidated journalists. On April 17, police detained approximately 30 
journalists reporting on a news conference at the residence of a former 
parliamentarian, Mathias Basabose. Police beat several of the 
journalists, who were confined at Basabose's residence for several 
hours before being released. Officials instructed the journalists to 
hand over their records of the press conference to security services 
before they left the premises.
    On June 1, police arrested Aloys Kabura, a journalist with the 
Burundian Press Association, and accused him of rebellion and 
defamation after he reportedly made critical comments about the police 
following the detention of journalists at an April 17 press conference. 
Kabura was initially detained on the basis of article 273 of the 
Burundi penal code, which in his case, did not allow for pretrial 
detention. When the public prosecutor was questioned on this potential 
violation of the penal code, he issued a new, backdated arrest warrant, 
detailing additional offenses to warrant the pretrial detention. On 
June 29, the judges stated that he found no irregularities in the 
procedure. After a month's detention, Kabura developed a severe medical 
condition in his legs and was unable to walk. Prison officials 
initially did not respond to his request to consult a doctor. On 
September 19, Aloys Kabura was sentenced to five months in prison in 
Kayanza, and after he had served his sentence, authorities released 
him.
    On August 17, the Communication and Telecommunication Regulation 
Agency (ARCT) closed RPA's office in Ngozi. ARCT maintained that the 
station had not paid its broadcasting fees in a timely manner and was 
broadcasting illegally. RPA, which produced receipts to demonstrate 
that it had paid its broadcast fees on August 15, resumed broadcasting 
on August 24.
    During the second half of the year Gabriel Nikundana, news editor 
of the independent radio station Radio Isanganiro, told AI that CNDD-
FDD party members harassed him after Radio Isanganiro broadcast on 
August 24 an interview with opposition leader Alain Mugabarabona, who 
was detained on suspicion of threatening state security. During the 
interview Mugabarabona asserted that security forces beat and tortured 
him and the other detainees. Mugabarabona also claimed that the CNDD-
FDD devised the alleged coup attempt to distract public attention from 
other issues.
    Between October 2 and October 10, the Attorney General of Bujumbura 
convoked journalists, editors, and directors of three radio stations 
for questioning and pressed them to reveal the sources of an August 29 
story; according to the story members of the police and demobilized 
military were planning a mock attack on the home of the President and 
of the CNDD-FDD party chief to fabricate evidence of a coup plot. The 
journalists declined to reveal their sources.
    On November 22, authorities arrested editor Serge Nibizi and 
journalist Domitile Kiramvu of independent radio station RPA in 
connection with a story they published about the alleged coup plot that 
resulted in the arrest of the former President, among other 
individuals. Authorities charged them with violating judicial secrecy 
laws in a November news item that discussed a claim in the 
progovernment newspaper Intumwa that investigators had uncovered 
evidence of the alleged plot. (Authorities took no action against 
Intumwa.) In addition, on November 29, authorities arrested Matthias 
Manirakiza, the director of Radio Isanganiro, and charged him--as well 
as Nibizi--with threatening state security and public safety in an 
August story aired on three independent stations, including RPA; the 
story cited police sources as saying that authorities planned to stage 
fake attacks on the homes of government officials to bolster their 
claims of a coup plot. The prosecutor's office summoned Corneille 
Nibaruta, director of independent station Radio Bonesha, to testify, 
but Nibaruta did not respond to the summons and reportedly went into 
hiding. In December the executive director of the international NGO 
Committee to Protect Journalists said the prosecution was politically 
motivated. All three journalists remained in jail at year's end.
    During the year the country's media associations and press freedom 
advocates accused the Ministry of Communication's National 
Communications Council, the regulatory body for news media, of 
preferring to punish journalists rather than promote press freedom.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government used direct censorship or that it suspended operations by 
independent media.
    Media outlets complained about having to pay licensing fees, which 
some said were an unnecessarily heavy financial burden; it was not 
clear whether these fees weakened the independent media.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no reports of government restrictions 
on access to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-
mail or Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. However, poverty and a lack of infrastructure prevented 
widespread public access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government at times restricted this right. The law 
requires permits for public meetings and demonstrations, and 
applications were sometimes denied to groups, including those that 
criticized or opposed the Government.
    On May 21, police arrested three members of Action Against Genocide 
(AC-Genocide)--Tatien Sibomana, Popon Mudugu, and their attorney 
Gabriel Sinarinzi--in the province of Gitega. The three had planned to 
participate in an AC-Genocide meeting. Authorities did not charge them 
and released them on May 31.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government 
security forces dispersing demonstrations by the government-sponsored 
militia group Guardians of the Peace (GP).
    During the year authorities had released the 10 youths arrested in 
November 2005 in Musaga, Bujumbura, for attending a meeting of PA-
Amasekanya, a militant pro-Tutsi group.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice. 
There were occasional reports that police arrested persons due to their 
membership in associations. Registration was required for private 
organizations and political parties. Private organizations were 
required to present their articles of association to the Ministry of 
Interior for approval. There were no reports that the Government failed 
to complete the approval process for private organizations whose 
purposes the Government opposed.
    On June 18, Radio Bonesha reported that 14 members of the FRODEBU 
party were arrested in the province of Makamba. Local administration 
officials accused them of destabilizing the commune. No additional 
information was available by year's end.
    Authorities harassed some FRODEBU members after they spoke out in 
defense of individuals accused of plotting a coup or journalists who 
had been arrested by authorities.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The Government required religious groups to register with the 
Ministry of Interior, which kept track of their leadership and 
activities. Registration was granted routinely. The Government required 
religious groups to maintain a headquarters in the country.
    In July the President signed a decree that announced the addition 
of the two most important Muslim holy days to the list of official 
national holidays.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--On September 19, unidentified 
persons burned two Roman Catholic churches in Bubanza.
    There were no new developments in the 2004 shooting of Catholic 
priest Gerard Nzeyimana by individuals who reportedly belonged to the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
    There were no developments in the June 2005 killing by the 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL of five civilians in Bujumbura Rural Province.
    There were no new developments in the investigation of the 2003 
killing of Papal Nuncio Michael Courtney, although President 
Nkurunziza's government pledged to pursue the case actively.
    The Jewish population was very small, and there were no reports of 
anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Immigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government restricted them in practice. On 
April 14, the Government lifted a curfew that had been in place since 
1972. Nevertheless, the Government still restricted access into and out 
of Bujumbura at night. During the year local populations frequently 
fled fighting between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, and citizens' 
movements were restricted by checkpoints, violence, and the threat of 
violence. In addition the Government denied human rights observers 
access to some areas, such as some military camps and some facilities 
controlled by the SNR (see Section 4).
    The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did 
not use it; however, many persons remained in self-imposed exile in 
Belgium, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 
and elsewhere.
    In September, a FRODEBU member of the National Assembly, Jean-Marie 
Ntukamazina, fled the country because he was suspected by authorities 
of being a PALIPEHUTU-FLN sympathizer. No additional information was 
available at year's end.
    By year's end the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) facilitated the voluntary repatriation of approximately 44,900 
Burundian refugees who had previously fled to neighboring countries, 
primarily Tanzania. This figure represented a decline from 2005, when 
approximately 65,000 Burundians were repatriated, and 2004, when 
approximately 90,000 were repatriated. The repatriates, who returned 
mostly to the eastern provinces, often returned to find their homes 
destroyed, their land occupied by others, and/or their livestock 
stolen. Poor living conditions and a lack of food and shelter were 
problems for returnees during the year, although returnees did receive 
a three-month food ration and other forms of assistance from UNHCR 
during the repatriation process. During the year the UNHCR and the 
National Commission for Rehabilitation of War Victims assisted in the 
resettlement and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced 
persons (IDPs). According to the UNHCR, as of October, approximately 
400,000 Burundian refugees remained outside the country.

    Internally Displaced Persons.--Civilians regularly were displaced 
as a result of fighting in Bubanza, Cibitoke, and Bujumbura Rural 
provinces between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, although on a much 
smaller scale than in previous years. Displacements stemming from 
clashes between the PALIPEHUTU(FNL and the armed forces were temporary, 
generally lasting from several hours to several days.
    Timely relief was not denied to IDPs or other populations in need 
due to security conditions or security forces restrictions.
    There were no reports that the Government attacked IDPS or forcibly 
resettled them under dangerous conditions.
    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs (UNOCHA), as of July there were approximately 120,000 long-term 
IDPs living in 160 sites nationwide, the majority in Kayanza, Ngozi, 
Kirundo, Muyinga, and Gitega provinces. The majority were Tutsis who 
were displaced by violence in 1993 and never returned home. Soldiers 
and police provided a measure of protection to the camps, which in many 
cases had taken on the characteristics of permanent towns and villages. 
According to UNOCHA, 91 percent of the IDPs were able to participate in 
agricultural activities and, of these, 78 percent had access to their 
lands of origin. In the south and east, 18.5 percent of the IDPs were 
former refugees. According to the UNHCR, IDP camp inhabitants sometimes 
were required to perform labor for soldiers without compensation.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government used bulldozers to destroy IDPs' houses in a Bujumbura 
neighborhood. By year's end the IDPs who protested in Bujumbura in 2005 
had not received a letter documenting ownership of land that the 
Government agreed to give them in the Kinama neighborhood of Bujumbura; 
the Government was attempting to resettle them elsewhere.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The country 
is also a party to the Organization of African Unity Convention 
Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. The 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees and granted refugee status and asylum to some persons during 
the year. In practice, the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. Some NGOs and humanitarian organizations expressed concern 
over the low percentage of applicants to whom the Government granted 
asylum; however, according to the UNHCR, the Government fulfilled all 
of its obligations to provide asylum and refugee protections and 
cooperated with all international organizations involved in refugee 
issues.
    In 2005 the transitional government failed in thousands of cases to 
provide protection against refoulement. In early June 2005 the 
transitional government declared that approximately 7,000 Rwandan 
asylum seekers were ``illegal immigrants,'' following a joint decision 
by the Governments of Burundi and Rwanda. In June and July of 2005 the 
two governments conducted a forced repatriation of the asylum seekers 
from temporary sites in Burundi without an assessment of their claims. 
By the end of August 2005 Burundi's government had forcibly repatriated 
at least 6,500 Rwandan asylum seekers from camps in northern Burundi, 
in cooperation with Rwandan authorities.
    After taking office in August 2005, the Government of President 
Nkurunziza sought to address the problem of refoulement more in 
accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention than did the transitional 
government; in late 2005 and during the year, the Government cooperated 
closely with the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations assisting 
refugees.
    In August 2005 the Governments of Rwanda and Burundi signed an 
agreement with the UNHCR that laid the ground rules for the voluntary 
repatriation of a group of approximately 4,000 Burundian refugees from 
Rwanda. As of October an estimated 1,300 had voluntarily returned to 
Burundi and approximately 2,700 remained in Rwanda.
    In December 2005 the Norwegian Refugee Council began constructing a 
transit site in the Ngozi Province town of Musasa for the 6,000 Rwandan 
asylum seekers who resided in Burundi at the end of 2005. Many had fled 
Rwanda for a second time since having been forcibly repatriated from 
Burundi to Rwanda in June. The Government allowed the UNHCR to provide 
relief aid to these Rwandans, whom the UNHCR classified as asylum 
seekers.
    Beginning in December 2005 and continuing during the year, the 
UNHCR brought in experts in refugee status determination to work with 
jurists to assess the validity of the Rwandan asylum seekers' claims on 
a case-by-case basis. The assessment officers made recommendations 
based on ``international criteria'' to an Eligibility Commission formed 
under the auspices of a border police unit in the Ministry of the 
Interior, which delivered its decision to each claimant. Those rejected 
were given seven days to appeal to a separate appeals commission, which 
reviewed the paperwork from the original hearing and took evidence from 
appellants, who could be assisted by UNHCR staff and human rights 
groups, including League Iteka.
    By the end of March, the number of Rwandan asylum seekers in the 
country had surged to approximately 20,000. Assisted by the UNHCR, they 
were quartered at the Musasa and Sangore camps in Ngozi Province as 
well as at informal sites at Rwisuri in Kirundo Province. The number of 
asylum seekers began to decline significantly in April, at the same 
time as drought-related food shortfalls in southern Rwanda began to 
ease. By mid-September 13,870 Rwandan asylum seekers had voluntarily 
repatriated to Rwanda, while almost 5,000 remained in the Musasa camp. 
By year's end all Rwandan asylum seekers remaining in the country had 
been interviewed, and their asylum cases had been referred to the 
Eligibility Commission.
    Of the 2,770 case decisions (representing thousands of Rwandans) 
made public by the authorities as of the end of the year, authorities 
had approved only 26 cases (representing 72 Rwandans). Appeals had been 
made in more than 600 cases, but authorities had reversed only eight 
decisions. Of more than 4,600 persons whose cases had been processed as 
of the end of the year, the commission approved and granted asylum to a 
total of 206, or 4.4 percent. These persons had been transferred to the 
Jiharo transit center in Rutana by year's end.
    In mid-September, according to the UNHCR, there were approximately 
30,000 Congolese refugees residing in the country, in addition to the 
5,000 Rwandan asylum seekers. Of the Congolese, more than 11,000 were 
sheltered in three UNHCR-run refugee camps: Gihinga in Mwaro Province, 
Gasorwe in Muyinga, and Gihar in Rutana. In addition to the camp-based 
refugees, there were more than 20,000 locally integrated into urban 
centers. Approximately 23,500 receive UNHCR assistance.
    During the year the Government provided protection to certain 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN 
convention and the 1967 Protocol. These individuals included the 
Rwandan asylum seekers as well as some Congolese in the process of 
undergoing refugee status determinations.
    Unlike in the previous year, authorities generally did not employ 
acts of intimidation, harassment, or violence to hasten the return of 
Rwandan asylum seekers. Rwandan authorities continued to express 
concerns that the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and the Rwandan rebel group Democratic 
Front for the Liberation of Rwanda recruited Rwandan asylum seekers in 
Burundi and took them to training centers, including centers in the 
Kibira Forest.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that members of 
Rwandan security forces entered the country to intimidate Rwandan 
asylum seekers.
    ONUB and the UN Organization Mission in the DRC continued their 
follow-up to the joint investigation into the Gatumba massacre of 152 
Congolese Tutsi refugees in 2004. The minister of justice told ONUB in 
April 2005 that a report by a national commission of inquiry had been 
completed and would be released in the near future; however, by year's 
end the Government had not published the results of its investigation.
    In July the Government appointed a commission to resolve land and 
property disputes resulting from the approximately 320,000 Burundian 
refugees who have repatriated since 2002, including some who have been 
in exile in Tanzania since 1972. In addressing the increasing number of 
land disputes, the country has relied on a mixture of customary law and 
legislation, but few citizens were aware of their legal rights, and 
most remained too poor to afford legal representation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law and constitution provide the right for citizens to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In August 2005, through an 
indirect ballot, citizens chose their first democratically elected 
President in more than 12 years, marking the end of the four-year 
transition under the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. The 
legislature elected the sole candidate, Pierre Nkurunziza of the 
CNDD(FDD, and he was sworn in as President in August 2005.
    President Nkurunziza's election followed communal and legislative 
elections in June and July 2005, which independent electoral observers 
judged to be generally free and fair, although the campaign prior to 
the National Assembly elections was tense and significantly marred by 
violence and intimidation.
    During the year there were 35 recognized political parties. The 
CNDD-FDD, FRODEBU, and UPRONA were the largest political parties. The 
CNDD-FDD, which held majorities in both chambers of the legislature, 
controlled most government positions.
    According to a September UN report, during the first half of the 
year there were noticeable ongoing tensions between the Government and 
some opposition parties, and there was ``constant harassment by members 
of the security forces of political opponents and critics of the 
Government.'' On March 24, the President of FRODEBU announced that the 
party would pull out of the Government; shortly thereafter FRODEBU 
officially withdrew to protest the Government's lack of consultation 
and transparency on several key issues affecting the country. While 
several ministers affiliated with the party elected to remain in their 
positions, even though FRODEBU asked that they withdraw their party 
membership, the official withdrawal ``confirms a worrying trend of 
growing intolerance toward the views of the opposition'' which could 
provoke internal conflict, according to the UN report.
    The arrest and detainment of the former President and vice 
President on charges of threatening state security exacerbated tensions 
between the majority party and the opposition. Critics of the 
Government asserted that leaders within the ruling party fabricated 
allegations of a coup plot in order to weaken the opposition's chances 
in the 2010 elections. Some opposition leaders reported increased 
harassment and expressed fears that other key opposition leaders were 
also under suspicion (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
    The constitution reserves 30 percent of National Assembly seats and 
30 percent of Senate seats for women. There were 37 women in the 118-
seat National Assembly, including Immaculee Nahayo, who was elected 
speaker. There were 17 women in the 49-seat Senate. Women held seven of 
20 ministerial seats. The constitution requires that 30 percent of 
seats in the cabinet, as well as in other government bodies, be filled 
by women.
    The law stipulates quotas to maintain ethnic balance in the 
Government. The constitution provides that 60 percent of seats in the 
National Assembly be filled by Hutus, the majority ethnic group in the 
country, and 40 percent be filled by Tutsis, who constitute about 15 
percent of the citizenry. In addition military posts are divided 
equally between Hutus and Tutsis. Three members of the Batwa ethnic 
group, which makes up less than 1 percent of the population, were 
appointed to the Government body.
    The National Assembly continued to refuse the demands of human 
rights groups that have called for the repeal of a provisional immunity 
law that the assembly approved in 2003. The law grants provisional 
immunity to political leaders who return from exile to take part in 
government institutions. The law covers ``crimes with a political aim'' 
committed from 1962 to the date of the law's promulgation. During the 
year the National Assembly extended the scope of the law to cover 
PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government remained 
subject to a culture of impunity, and widespread corruption remained a 
problem. Corruption was prevalent in the public and private sectors and 
affected numerous public services, including procurement, the granting 
of land use concessions, public health, and the assignment of school 
grades. Several respected private sector representatives and trade 
association officials reported that corruption remained a major 
impediment to commercial and economic development in the country. 
According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption 
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was 
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,'' 
which is the most severe assessment designation used by TI. In December 
OLUCOME said the state had lost an estimated $133 million (138.7 
billion Burundian francs) to corruption and embezzlement since 2000.
    During the year the Government made significant progress in 
eliminating off-budget accounts. However, in July the Government 
ordered the local brewery to pay a special off-budget ``tax'' for each 
bottled beverage it produced. The Government stipulated that this 
requirement would be applied retroactively to February. The Government 
established an off-budget bank account to receive the proceeds of this 
``tax.''
    Despite numerous allegations of corruption during the year, no 
parliamentary commissions of inquiry were launched. According to some 
observers, the lack of inquiry was due to the fact that the CNDD-FDD 
dominated the legislature and chaired all eight of the parliament's 
commissions. In September Second Vice President Alice Nzomukunda 
resigned her position following disagreements with CNDD-FDD party 
leaders. She stated that she could no longer effectively function in 
her position, accusing party leadership of interfering in state affairs 
and citing allegations of embezzlement and corruption.
    The second vice President, the Ministry of Good Governance, and the 
National Auditing Agency were responsible for fighting corruption. The 
National Auditing Agency published a report in August 2005 which 
incriminated some former officials in a case of alleged corruption 
concerning the payment of approximately four million dollars (4.4 
billion Burundian francs) government debt to the heirs of Belgian 
businessman Mojzesz Lubelski. The Constitutional Court subsequently 
determined in March that the National Auditing Agency did not have the 
authority to rule on such issues, only to give non-binding 
recommendations. There were no further developments in the case by 
year's end.
    Early in the year, the Government replaced the Ministry of Good 
Governance's Inspector General for Finance (IGF) with an Inspector 
General of the State (IGE), ostensibly to yield more autonomous 
oversight of anti-corruption programs. However, a legal dispute 
concerning the integration of the former staff of the IGF into the IGE 
resulted in an impasse, preventing the highly trained IGF staff from 
undertaking its functions. By year's end the impasse had not been 
resolved, and the IGE remained severely understaffed.
    During the year the Government acknowledged irregularities in 
procedures related to the request for bids in the June sale of the 
President's private jet. The Government ultimately sold the plane to a 
low bidder, and one of the losing bidders subsequently entered legal 
proceedings against the Government. The World Bank conditioned 
disbursement of funds to the Government on the conclusion of an 
independent audit that would investigate the bidding procedures. The 
Ministry of Finance engaged an auditing company to investigate 
procurement procedures surrounding the sale of the plane. The firm had 
not completed its investigation by year's end.
    The law does not provide for access to government information, and 
in practice information was difficult to obtain. The law does not allow 
the media to broadcast or publish information in certain cases relating 
to national defense, state security, and secret judicial inquiries. 
Human rights observers criticized the law for its application of poorly 
defined restrictions on the right to access and disseminate 
information; they said that vague prohibitions regarding official 
secrets could easily be used as a broad shield to hide corruption or 
other human rights abuses.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of local and international NGOs, including human rights 
groups, generally operated without government restrictions; however, 
human rights observers were not allowed to visit some government 
facilities, such as some military bases and prisons run by the 
Government's intelligence service. Government officials cooperated with 
these groups by providing limited access to information and other 
resources.
    Domestic human rights groups received varying degrees of 
cooperation from government ministries; at times the ministries 
provided them with information and facilitated visits to areas of 
interest. Although the Government did not directly take action based on 
local NGO recommendations, local NGOs continued to engage in advocacy. 
The most prominent local human rights group, League Iteka, continued to 
operate and publish a newsletter. While well-established groups with 
international linkages and a presence in Bujumbura had a measure of 
protection from government harassment, indigenous NGOs, particularly 
those in the countryside, were more vulnerable to pressure from the 
local authorities.
    For example, on May 10, police detained Terence Nahimana, a former 
parliamentarian and the head of a local NGO. According to AI, 
authorities arrested Nahimana after he wrote a letter to President 
Nkurunziza that questioned why the Government was reluctant to begin 
peace negotiations with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. He also accused the 
Government of delaying talks with the UN on establishing a truth and 
reconciliation commission. On May 15, the prosecutor formally charged 
Nahimana with ``threatening state security.'' A court acquitted 
Nahimana on December 22, and authorities released him on December 27.
    On August 16, authorities imprisoned the chairman of OLUCOME, 
Gabriel Rufyiri, on accusations of giving false reports asserting that 
the Government was involved in embezzlement. A court acquitted him on 
December 13, and authorities released him the following day.
    During the second half of the year, according to a UN report 
released in September, the Ngozi regional commissioner reportedly 
threatened a human rights activist belonging to League Iteka. The 
activist had written an article in which he had reported the presence 
of Rwandan spies among asylum seekers at a camp in Ngozi Province (see 
Section 2.d.). The commissioner denied making the threat and said no 
harm would be done to the activist.
    In a November 27 article published by a UN news agency, Jean-Pierre 
Kisamare of League Iteka noted that the governor of one province said 
the NGO was an enemy of peace and had arrested some of its staff 
members. While League Iteka staff members were arrested during the 
year, all were released after a few days for lack of evidence.
    Although the process of registering domestic NGOs remained lengthy 
and time-consuming, it was not overly burdensome or overtly 
discriminatory.
    During the year there were reports by employees of human rights 
organizations that, due to the employees' work on human rights reports, 
unidentified persons issued threats of violence against them and their 
families.
    The Government did not always cooperate with the UN and 
international NGOs. Unlike in the previous year, the President did not 
threaten to expel the UNHCR or the ICRC; however, in August, the 
Government asked that the UN recall its special representative. The UN 
declined to honor the Government's request, and the special 
representative remained in his position until the end of his term in 
December.
    In November the Government's director of the National Office for 
the Coordination of International NGOs announced that 32 of the 95 
registered international NGOs in the country could face expulsion for 
failing to abide by government regulations, namely the requirement to 
submit mandatory annual reports to the Government. Some in-country 
employees and directors of international NGOs said the country's 
regulations, introduced by the new government, needed to be streamlined 
to reduce the tendency of different ministries to demand reports in 
different formats; others said the regulations bordered on 
interference, as some government officials demanded influence over 
NGOs' recruitment and training processes.
    According to a report released in October by the ONUB Human Rights 
section, although there was a slight improvement in ONUB's access to 
detainees, various authorities frequently denied ONUB human rights 
officers access to detainees (see Section 1.c).
    HRW published a report in June on PALIPEHUTU-FNL child soldiers, 
describing the situation of at least 65 former PALIPEHUTU-FNL child 
soldiers held in government custody. According to the report 
approximately 25 were being treated as combatants and housed at a 
``welcome center'' in Randa, Bubanza Province, and at least 40 others 
were being held in prisons on charges of participation in rebel groups. 
HRW urged the Government to clarify the status of former child soldiers 
to facilitate their reintegration into civilian society (see Section 
1.g.).
    On August 4, HRW released a joint letter of appeal to the 
Government condemning the beating of former vice President Alphonse 
Kadege and others during interrogation. The letter called on the 
Government to open investigations and bring those responsible for 
torture to justice. The UN High Commission for Human Rights in Burundi, 
Lawyers without Borders, and six local human rights and good governance 
NGOs signed the letter (see Section 1.d.).
    A September HRW report highlighted the practice of detaining 
patients in hospitals for nonpayment of medical bills. Many of these 
individuals required surgery or treatment following accidents, as well 
as complications from childbirth. The report stated that hospitals 
justified the detentions by saying that they would be forced to close 
if they could not use such methods to oblige patients to pay their 
bills. HRW noted that because the Government did not consider the 
detentions a human rights violation, it took no actions to prevent 
them. The report noted the President's May 1 announcement of free 
maternal care and healthcare for children under the age of five, and 
suggested that this policy shift in healthcare should have prompted the 
Government to end the detention of some women and small children. 
However, HRW added that the change in healthcare policy would provide 
no relief for other patients unable to pay their bills.
    The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights maintained a 
two-person observer team in Ngozi to deliver and explain decisions of 
the Eligibility Commission regarding refugee and asylum status. The 
Commission's purpose was to determine eligibility for those who entered 
the country and requested refugee and asylum status (see Section 2.d.).
    In December 2005 ONUB began to withdraw its peacekeeping forces and 
continued to draw down its forces throughout the year. ONUB expected to 
conclude troop withdrawals by year's end. The UN Secretary General 
published two special reports on ONUB and on the human rights, 
humanitarian, and security situation in the country--one in March and 
one in June. The March report commended the Government for its efforts 
to facilitate demobilization and disarmament and to address socio-
economic problems. It expressed concern about continuing insecurity and 
stressed the need for security sector reform. The UN reported that 
early in the year the human rights situation deteriorated noticeably in 
the western provinces as a result of the Government's intensified 
military campaign against the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The UN Secretary 
General's June report noted an overall reduction in the number of 
reported human rights abuses but expressed concern about continued 
violations, primarily attributed to government forces engaged in 
operations against the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The UN noted that no 
prosecutions of members of government security forces were reported, 
although the Government initiated investigations in some cases. The UN 
also noted that President Nkurunziza met with security forces and 
reprimanded those responsible for ill treatment of detainees.
    During the year the UN called on the Government to utilize regional 
mechanisms to pursue a lasting solution to the conflict and praised the 
decision to resume peace talks with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. It commended 
the Government's efforts to effect justice sector reform, reduce 
numbers of small arms and light weapons, consolidate peace, and to take 
steps towards institution building.
    Though the Arusha Agreement called for the formation of a human 
rights commission, the Government had created no such commission by 
year's end.
    In February the Government informed ONUB that a committee appointed 
to study the creation of an International Commission of Judicial 
Inquiry and a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission had 
completed preparatory work and provided recommendations for the 
commission's establishment. The proposed commission would bring to 
justice persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and 
war crimes committed in the country since it gained its independence in 
1962. A UN delegation met with government representatives in March to 
discuss the Government's recommendations, as well as a legal framework 
for these bodies. By year's end, neither the truth commission nor the 
judicial body had been established. On September 29, the foreign 
minister announced that the two bodies would not need to be created 
simultaneously, adding that the conclusion of a cease fire agreement 
with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL offered an opportunity to move forward 
expeditiously with the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation 
Commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides equal status and protection for all 
citizens, without distinction based on sex, origin, ethnicity, or 
opinion; however, the Government failed to implement these provisions 
effectively, and discrimination and societal abuses persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, although no 
credible statistics were available. Wives had the right to charge their 
husbands with physical abuse but rarely did so. The law does not 
specifically prohibit domestic violence; however, persons accused of 
domestic violence could be tried under assault provisions of the law. 
By year's end no known court cases had dealt with domestic abuse. 
Citizens traditionally did not seek police assistance in domestic 
dispute cases, but police intervened on occasion and upon request. 
Police occasionally arrested persons accused of domestic violence but 
released suspects within a few days, with no further investigation. 
According to League Iteka, husbands beat their wives, forced them out 
of their homes, denied them basic food necessities, and denied them 
freedom of movement.
    The law prohibits rape, which is punishable by up to 20 years' 
imprisonment, but does not specifically prohibit spousal rape. The FDN 
and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL raped women during the year (see Section 1.g.). 
Doctors without Borders (MSF) received an average of 125 rape victims 
each month at its center for rape victims in Bujumbura; however, MSF 
said the number of rapes was likely much higher. As of the end of 
August, MSF reported 1,683 cases of sexual violence, with children less 
than five years of age comprising 14 percent of the total. According to 
ONUB, over 60 percent of reported rapes were of children aged 17 and 
under. A UN agency reported that many rapes were committed with the 
belief that they would prevent or cure sexually transmitted diseases, 
including HIV/AIDS. Information on rape has only recently begun to be 
recorded.
    Many women remained reluctant to report rape due to cultural 
reasons and fear of reprisals. According to ONUB's human rights 
department, during the year only one out of every three women raped 
lodged a complaint. According to a field officer at a MSF center in 
Bujumbura, only 10 to 15 percent of rape victims actually initiated 
legal proceedings.
    Many rape victims did not receive medical care due to the 
intimidation caused by cultural attitudes. Men often abandoned their 
wives following acts of rape, and women and girls were ostracized. In 
some instances police and magistrates reportedly ridiculed and 
humiliated women who alleged that they were raped; according to a UN 
agency, there were reports that some police required that victims 
provide food for and pay the costs for incarceration of those they 
accused of rape. Many of those who sought judicial redress faced the 
weaknesses of the judicial system, including many judges who did not 
regard rape as a serious crime, and a lack of medical facilities for 
gathering important medical evidence. In the limited number of cases 
that were investigated, successful prosecutions of rapists were rare.
    Civil society and religious communities attacked the stigma of rape 
to help victims reintegrate into families that had rejected them. 
League Iteka, APRODH, and ONUB continued to encourage women to press 
charges and seek medical care, and international NGOs provided free 
medical care in certain areas. The Government also raised awareness of 
the problem's extent through seminars and local initiatives describing 
the kinds of medical care available. Although no precise statistics 
were available, a UN report stated in June that during the year more 
victims filed complaints, obtained urgent medical assistance, and 
received briefings on their legal rights. The UN attributed the change 
to increased sensitization of the population on issues related to 
sexual violence.
    In the first eight months of the year, a project sponsored by a 
foreign government to help victims of torture provided assistance to 
1,055 rape victims.
    The law prohibits prostitution; however, it continued to be a 
problem. There were reports that soldiers and rebels sexually exploited 
women and young girls residing near military installations and rebel 
camps. However, there was no evidence that they trafficked women for 
prostitution.
    The law did not prohibit sexual harassment, but it could be 
prosecuted under public morality laws. There were no known prosecutions 
during the year.
    Women faced legal and societal discrimination. Discriminatory 
inheritance laws, marital property laws, and credit practices 
continued. By law women must receive the same pay as men for the same 
work, but in practice they did not, and some enterprises cut salaries 
of women when they went on maternity leave. Women were far less likely 
to hold mid-level or high-level positions. In rural areas women 
performed most of the farm work, married and had children at early 
ages, and had fewer opportunities for education than men.
    Enrollment of girls in elementary education increased by over 11 
percent in the first school year following the President's August 2005 
abolishment of all school fees (see Section 5, Children).
    Several local groups worked in support of women's rights, including 
the Collective of Women's Organizations and NGOs of Burundi, and Women 
United for Development.

    Children.--The law provides for children's health and welfare, but 
the Government could not adequately satisfy the needs of children, 
particularly the large population of children orphaned by violence 
since 1993 and by HIV/AIDS.
    According to the Ministry of Education, the Government provided 
public schooling up to a maximum age of 22. Schooling was compulsory up 
to age 12; however, in practice this was not enforced. Sixth grade was 
the highest level of education attained by most children, with 
approximately 9 percent of girls and 12 percent of boys of secondary 
school age attending school, according to UNICEF.
    The NGO Maison Shalom, which ran several centers for orphaned and 
other vulnerable children in different parts of the country, estimated 
that 60 percent of the country's school-age children were illiterate. 
Female illiteracy remained a particular problem. Approximately 40 
percent of women were literate compared with 56 percent of men.
    At his August 2005 inauguration, incoming President Nkurunziza 
abolished all school fees. However, students still had to pay for 
uniforms, textbooks, and other school materials. While this initiative 
made schooling available to hundreds of thousands of new students, it 
also led to an educational emergency involving overcrowded classrooms 
and teachers teaching multiple shifts. More than 25 percent of primary 
schools were destroyed in the war, and many teachers were killed. At 
the commencement of the school year in September, the Primary School 
Teacher's Union said the school system was still unprepared, and it 
complained of the continued shortage of faculty and classrooms. Some 
schools reported difficulties in paying for some services, such as 
guards, which they previously funded with school fees.
    Despite these problems, a recent survey reported an increase in 
primary school attendance of 11.3 percent for girls and 15.3 percent 
for boys.
    In April in cooperation with the Government, UN agencies launched a 
project intended to provide 300,000 children in the country with a new 
vaccine to protect them against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, 
measles, and tuberculosis; in 2005 the project was piloted in Makamba, 
Kirundo, and Muyinga provinces, and according to UNICEF it was expanded 
during the year to cover the entire country for children less than a 
year old
    According to UNICEF, 30,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS. 
Anti-retroviral treatment for children was available via a UNICEF-
funded program in the context of a program to prevent HIV transmission 
from mother to infant. UNICEF estimated that there were over 240,000 
children orphaned by AIDS.
    In June the World Health Organization launched its road map for the 
prevention of HIV/AIDS infection. The program was designed to increase 
HIV/AIDS prevention awareness, increase distribution of condoms, and 
improve the availability of reactive treatments and drugs for sexually 
transmitted diseases.
    Child abuse occurred but was not reported to be a widespread 
problem, apart from rape of minors (see Section 5, Women).
    The percentage of women between the ages of 20 and 24 who had been 
married or in a union before 18 years of age was 17 percent, according 
to UNICEF statistics.
    Trafficking of children was a problem. Under the law the country's 
minimum age for military recruitment is 16, although the Government 
stated that no one under 18 was recruited. According to UNICEF, 
security forces no longer used children as soldiers for combat, 
although other sources reported that children continued to serve in the 
security forces as spies and porters and to perform other menial tasks. 
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to use and recruit child soldiers, 
although in fewer numbers than in previous years (see Section 1.g.).
    Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    The ongoing conflict and increasing prevalence of HIV/AIDS has 
increased the number of orphans, which has resulted in an increase in 
the number of street children. The total number of orphans in the 
country, including children who were orphaned by causes other than HIV/
AIDS, was more than 837,000, according to the National Council for the 
Fight Against HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry for National 
Solidarity, Human Rights, and Gender, there were approximately 5,000 
street children in the country. According to UNICEF, an estimated 
18,363 children were heads of household, mostly in rural areas. A group 
of approximately 15 NGOs working with street children developed an 
action plan and met monthly to coordinate intervention activities in 
this area.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons, and there were reports of trafficking. 
Traffickers could be prosecuted under existing laws against assault, 
kidnapping, rape, prostitution, slavery, and fraud, but among police 
this was not widely understood.
    During the year the country was a source and transit country for 
children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and child 
soldiering. The trafficking of child soldiers by the PALIPEHUTU-FNL 
within the country remained a problem (see Section 1.g.).
    During the year there were arrests of alleged traffickers but no 
reports of prosecutions or convictions. Allegations of trafficking 
during the year were made by women, who alleged that they had been 
promised jobs elsewhere, taken against their will, and sexually abused. 
The Ministry for National Solidarity, Human Rights, and Gender was 
responsible for combating trafficking. According to the new criminal 
code, those charged with crimes related to trafficking can receive up 
to 20 years in prison. There were no cases during the year in which the 
Government was requested to participate in international investigations 
of trafficking.
    In January police arrested a man in Cibitoke Province for 
attempting to sell his seven-year-old son. In Bujumbura a Congolese 
national was arrested under suspicion of trafficking three young girls 
who disappeared in August.
    In December, in the Makamba Province town of Vugizo, police 
arrested a mother for selling her five-year-old daughter. She told 
police she had already sold five of her 11 children. The buyer was also 
arrested, but police released both the buyer and the seller on October 
2 because the country had no law specifically prohibiting trafficking 
in persons.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government 
soldiers or rebel combatants coercing sexual exploitation of women.
    The Government supported public awareness campaigns and programs to 
prevent trafficking and continued to demobilize and provide assistance 
to former child soldiers from the FDN, GP, and six former rebel groups 
(see Section 1.g.).

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits 
discrimination against those with physical or mental disabilities and 
there were no reports that the Government failed to enforce this 
provision regarding employment, education, or access to healthcare. The 
Government had not enacted legislation or otherwise mandated access to 
buildings or government services such as education for persons with 
disabilities, and this was partly due to a lack of government resources 
to ensure access to buildings and services. Unlike in the previous 
year, there were no reports that discrimination against persons with 
disabilities was a problem, or that there were few job opportunities 
for persons with physical disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Tutsis, particularly 
southern Tutsis from Bururi Province, historically have held power, 
dominated the economy, and controlled the security forces.
    Discrimination against Hutus, who constituted an estimated 85 
percent of the population, occurred less frequently during the year. 
The new constitution, adopted in 2005, requires ethnic quotas on 
representation within the Government and in the military. Hutus 
significantly increased their presence and power in the Government 
following the 2005 elections.

    Indigenous People.--The Batwa (Pygmies), who were believed to be 
the country's earliest inhabitants, comprised approximately 1 percent 
of the population and generally remained economically, socially, and 
politically marginalized. Unlike in the previous year, there were no 
reports of Hutus threatening members of the Batwa and causing scores of 
them to flee the country. Most Batwa lived in isolation, without formal 
education and without access to government services, including health 
care and the judicial system. Refugees International has reported that 
the popular perception of the Batwa as barbaric, savage, and subhuman 
had seemingly legitimized their exclusion from mainstream society.
    There were occasional reports that private individuals burned Batwa 
homes during the year.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The constitution 
specifically outlaws any discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS or 
other incurable illnesses. There were no reports of government-
sponsored discrimination against such individuals, although some 
observers suggested that the Government was not actively involved in 
preventing societal discrimination.
    The constitution bans marriage between individuals of the same sex. 
According to a local law professor, this same-sex marriage ban, given 
cultural attitudes, constitutes a legal prohibition of homosexuality. 
Societal discrimination against homosexuals was widespread, although 
they maintained a very low profile.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law protects the right of workers 
to form and join unions without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and although most workers exercised this right in 
practice, the army, gendarmerie, and foreigners working in the public 
sector were prohibited from union participation. The law does not 
address the rights of state employees and magistrates. The law 
prevented workers under the age of 18 from joining unions without the 
consent of their parents or guardians. According to the Confederation 
of Burundian Labor Unions (COSYBU), many private sector employers 
systematically worked to prevent the creation of trade unions, and the 
Government failed to protect private sector workers' rights in 
practice. Union representatives indicated, however, that relations with 
the Government improved during the year. Unlike in past years, the 
Government permitted unions to choose their own representatives to the 
tripartite National Labor Council. However, according to the 
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in order for persons to 
stand for union office they must work in the sector for one year.
    According to COSYBU, less than 10 percent of the formal private 
sector workforce was unionized, and roughly 50 percent of the public 
sector was unionized. Most citizens worked in the unregulated informal 
economy, in which workers had little or no legal protection of their 
labor rights.
    From January 2005 until July, the Government withdrew union dues 
from employee salaries but withheld payment of those dues to COSYBU. 
The International Labor Organization stated that the delayed payments 
hampered COSYBU's operations.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government 
security agents preventing COSYBU's leadership from traveling to an 
international labor conference, and no reports of a member of COSYBU's 
leadership going into hiding due to such government harassment.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and aside from some 
exceptions, the Government generally respected this right in practice 
in the public sector. However, according to the ITUC, the Government 
often failed to protect workers in the private sector from 
discrimination by employers. This failure was due to a lack of 
resources, labor inspectors, and labor courts rather than a government 
policy. In cases where employers dismiss employees because of their 
union affiliation, the Ministry of Labor can order an employee 
reinstated. If the employer fails to comply, the ministry refers the 
case to the labor court, which makes a determination of the severance 
pay and indemnification that the employer must pay.
    The Textile Company of Burundi (COTEBU) dismissed Raphael 
Horumoende, the vice President of COTEBU's employees' union, and three 
other employees after they protested COTEBU management's interference 
in union activities. COSYBU and human rights organizations interceded 
with COTEBU to ensure that it reinstated the four employees. The 
Ministry of Labor reinstated the workers in December.
    In July police in the province of Muyinga imprisoned the President 
of the Interprofessional Provincial Committee, a labor rights advocacy 
group, after he asked authorities to provide all civil servants the 
same housing benefits that teachers received. COSYBU intervened to 
secure his release within a week. Unlike in the previous year, there 
were no reports of the Government firing a union leader or suspending 
union members due to an impending strike.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law recognizes the 
right to collective bargaining; however, wages are excluded from the 
scope of collective bargaining in the public sector. In practice 
collective bargaining was freely practiced. In the public sector, wages 
were set according to fixed scales, following consultation with unions. 
There are no export processing zones.
    Since most salaried workers were civil servants, government 
entities were involved in almost every phase of labor negotiations. 
Both COSYBU and the Confederation of Free Unions in Burundi represented 
labor interests in collective bargaining negotiations, in cooperation 
with individual labor unions.
    The law provides workers with a conditional right to strike; 
although the law bans solidarity strikes and permits requisition orders 
in the event of strike action, workers exercised this right in 
practice. For a strike to be legal, the law requires workers to obtain 
authorization in advance from their employer and to inform the Ministry 
of Labor prior to the strike. All other peaceful means of resolution 
must be exhausted prior to the strike action; negotiations must 
continue during the action, mediated by a mutually agreed upon party or 
by the Government; and six days' notice must be given. The Ministry of 
Labor must determine if strike conditions have been met before a strike 
can legally take place, which gives the ministry the power to veto all 
strikes, according to the ITUC. The labor code prohibits retribution 
against workers participating in a legal strike.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there 
continued to be reports that it occurred (see Sections 1.g. and 2.d.). 
During the year there were reports that security forces continued to 
use persons, including children, to perform menial tasks without 
compensation. A 2003 UNICEF survey found that 640,000 children in the 
country had been forced to work.
    The PALIPEHUTU-FNL forced rural populations to perform 
uncompensated labor, such as the transport of supplies and weapons, and 
recruited children for labor, although to a lesser extent than in 
previous years (see Section 1.g.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Labor Code states that children under the age of 18 cannot be employed 
by ``an enterprise,'' except for the types of labor the Ministry of 
Labor determines to be acceptable, which include light work or 
apprenticeships that do not damage children's health, interfere with 
their normal development, or prejudice their schooling. However, the 
Government did not effectively enforce these laws, and child labor 
remained a problem. The legal age for labor for most types of non-
dangerous labor is the age of 18. Children under the age of 16 in rural 
areas regularly performed heavy manual labor in the daytime during the 
school year. According to the ITUC, the vast majority of children in 
the country worked during the year.
    Children were legally prohibited from working at night, although 
many did so in the informal sector. Most of the population lived by 
subsistence agriculture, and children were obliged by custom and 
economic necessity to participate in subsistence agriculture, family-
based enterprises, and the informal sector. Child labor also existed in 
the mining and brick-making industries. UNICEF estimated that 
approximately 600,000 children worked in these areas.
    There continued to be reports of children engaging in forced or 
compulsory labor, and that children were trafficked (see Section 5). 
The use of child soldiers and child prostitution continued to be 
problems (see Sections 1.g. and 5).
    The Ministry of Labor enforced labor laws only when a complaint was 
filed, at least in part due to a lack of labor inspectors.
    During the year international organizations, a few NGOs, and labor 
unions engaged in efforts to combat child labor; efforts included the 
campaign to demobilize child soldiers and changing the law during the 
year to raise the minimum age for workers from 16 to 18.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for 
unskilled workers continued to be $0.15 (160 Burundian francs) per day. 
However in practice, most employers paid their unskilled laborers a 
minimum of roughly $1.40 (1,500 Burundian francs) per day. Such an 
income does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. Most families relied on second incomes and subsistence 
agriculture to supplement their earnings.
    The labor code stipulates an eight-hour workday and a 45-hour 
workweek, except where workers were involved in activities related to 
national security; however, this stipulation was not always enforced in 
practice. Supplements must be paid for overtime. Alternative work 
schedules were negotiable.
    The labor code establishes health and safety standards that require 
safe workplaces. Enforcement responsibility rests with the minister of 
labor, who was responsible for acting upon complaints; however, there 
were no reports of complaints filed with the ministry during the year. 
Workers did not have the right to remove themselves from situations 
that endangered health and safety without jeopardizing their 
employment.

                               __________

                                CAMEROON

    Cameroon, with a population of approximately 17.3 million, is a 
republic dominated by a strong presidency. Despite the country's 
multiparty system of government, the Cameroon People's Democratic 
Movement (CPDM) has remained in power since it was created in 1985. In 
October 2004 CPDM leader Paul Biya won re-election as President. The 
election was flawed by irregularities, particularly in the voter 
registration process, but observers believed the election results 
represented the will of the voters. The President retains the power to 
control legislation or to rule by decree. He has used his legislative 
control to change the constitution and extend the term lengths of the 
presidency. Although civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces, security forces sometimes 
acted independently of government authority.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it 
continued to commit numerous human rights abuses. Security forces 
committed numerous unlawful killings; they regularly engaged in 
torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and 
prisoners. Impunity was a problem in the security forces. Prison 
conditions were harsh and life-threatening. Authorities arbitrarily 
arrested and detained anglophone citizens advocating secession, local 
human rights monitors and activists, and other citizens. The law 
provides for the arrest of homosexuals and persons not carrying 
identification cards. There were reports of prolonged and sometimes 
incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy 
rights. The Government restricted citizens' freedoms of speech, press, 
assembly, association, and harassed journalists. The Government also 
impeded citizens' freedom of movement. The public perceived government 
corruption to be a serious problem. Societal violence and 
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons, primarily 
children; discrimination against indigenous Pygmies and ethnic 
minorities; and discrimination against homosexuals were problems. The 
Government restricted worker rights and the activities of independent 
labor organizations, and child labor, slavery, and forced labor, 
including forced child labor, were reported to be problems.
    Poor understanding of human rights has contributed to abuses in the 
country. The Government took significant steps during the year to 
improve citizen's understanding of their specific human rights and 
protection through publication of its own human rights report. The 
Government also conducted training sessions throughout the country on 
the provisions of the penal code scheduled for implementation in 2007.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous 
years, there were no reports that government agents committed 
politically motivated killings; however, throughout the year security 
forces continued to commit unlawful killings, including killings 
resulting from beatings and other use of excessive force.
    There were new developments in the 2004 killing of John Khontem. On 
April 12, the Ngoketunjia High Instance Court sentenced National 
Assembly member Doh Gah Gwanyin III and each of nine codefendants to 15 
years in prison and a $1,000 fine (500,000 CFA francs). Gwanyin filed a 
motion for bail because of poor health, and, on August 18, the Bamenda 
Court of Appeals granted him bail.
    On November 29, security forces mistakenly shot and killed a man 
while trying to arrest another person who allegedly participated in a 
violent demonstration the day before in Maga, Far North Province.
    There were reports that police used excessive force to disperse 
demonstrators, resulting in the deaths of several of them (see Section 
2.b.).
    Prisoners reportedly died in custody during the year due to 
beatings and abuse by security forces.
    There were new developments in the February 2005 torture case of 
banker Emmanuel Moutombi. The Douala Military Tribunal's investigation 
yielded the names of those involved in Moutombi's death. On March 21, 
the tribunal sentenced gendarmerie officers Athanase Domo, Pierre 
Minkeng Ndjemba, and Jean Mbiakop to 10, nine, and eight years in jail, 
respectively, on charges of torture that resulted in death. Two other 
officers, Anatole Clement Banem and Jean-Claude Menanga Ahanda, 
received 10 and six month sentences, respectively, on violation of 
instructions charges. The court released two of the codefendants due to 
lack of evidence. The court also ordered the Government to pay $90,000 
(44 million CFA francs) in damages to Moutombi's family.
    There were new developments in the March 2005 shooting death of 
Jean-Pierre Mpohede. On October 27, the Kribi High Court sentenced 
Police Commissioner Japhet Bello Miagougoudom to 15 years in prison and 
awarded $40,000 (20 million CFA francs) in damages to the victim's 
family. The court also sentenced Police Inspector Aboubakari Modibo to 
10 years in jail but acquitted the seven other codefendants.
    There were no new developments in the 2005 police killings of Denis 
Serge Etoundi, Aurelien Mayouga Noundou, Elvis Sigala Tasama, or Claude 
Obam Ndoum.
    There were no new developments in the 2004 beating death of 
Emmanuel Song Bahanag or the torture death of Laurent Gougang.
    There were no new developments in the 2004 police killings of 
Justin Abena Ngono or Desire Etoundi.
    There were new developments in the 2000 high-profile case of the 
shooting death of Luc Benoit Bassilekin. On April 27, after a two year 
suspension, the Douala Military Tribunal resumed hearings on the case. 
The trial was ongoing at year's end.
    There were fewer reports that police used excessive, including 
deadly, force than in the previous year.
    There were fewer incidents where police beat or shot suspects. The 
Government took more steps to investigate and prosecute officers who 
used excessive force (see Section 1.d.).
    On February 23, police officer Daniel Ayissi Fouda of the Mbengwi 
police station in the Northwest Province allegedly shot and killed 
Elvis Ndengue, a motorcycle taxi driver, after Ndengue refused to 
transport a young woman who Ayissi Fouda had just arrested to the 
police station. Ayissi Fouda fled the crime scene. The investigation 
was ongoing at year's end.
    On August 22, the Yaounde district attorney charged Ni John Fru 
Ndi, chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), with the murder of 
Gregoire Diboule. Fru Ndi was accused of being responsible for violence 
that resulted in the death. On May 28, SDF vanguards from Bamenda 
stormed the party's head office in order to prevent the party's 
dissenting faction from holding a congress (see Section 3). The charges 
against Fru Ndi were still under investigation at year's end.
    During the year mob violence and summary justice against persons 
suspected of theft and the practice of witchcraft continued to result 
in deaths and serious injuries. The press reported 43 deaths from 
beatings and burning, the most ever reported.
    Douala, the economic capital, had the highest number of mob 
``justice'' incidents. The mob violence was attributed in part to 
public frustration over police ineffectiveness and the release without 
charge of many individuals arrested for serious crimes (see Section 
1.d.). During the year there was a notable rise in crime, and 
authorities responded by purchasing 60 vehicles to increase police 
efficacy. The country has a functional police academy and engaged in 
training police for neighboring countries.
    On January 19, former subjects of Fon Vugah Simon II, the former 
traditional ruler of Kedjom Keku, a village of Mezam Division in the 
Northwest Province, beat him to death and then burned his body upon his 
return to the village after having been deposed two years earlier. They 
accused him of immorality and destroying their tradition. Shortly after 
the killing, the gendarmerie arrested 59 persons. Approximately 20 were 
released and the rest remained in pretrial detention. Hearings began on 
June 28 and were still ongoing at year's end.
    On March 4, a mob burned to death Jean-Pierre Onguene, Serge 
Toussaint Awa Amougou, and Joseph Cyrille Meba'a, whom they caught 
stealing in the Yaounde neighborhood of Nsimeyong-Damase. The police 
initially caught and held the suspects, until a large mob broke into 
the police station, pulled out the three, and killed them. An 
investigation was still ongoing at year's end.
    On June 2, an angry crowd burned to death Jean Bape, Daniel Fotie, 
and Clovis Koagne on allegations of theft in various houses of 
Tchokaong, a village of Mifi Division in the West Province. The 
gendarmerie was still investigating the case at year's end.
    In October 2005 the Meme High Court (Southwest Province) sentenced 
Police Inspector Stephen Ngu to eight years in prison for beating and 
burning to death Afuh Bernard Weriwo.
    There were no new developments in the 2005 burning deaths of Papi 
Gosse, Jonas Benang, and an unknown individual in Douala.
    There were no new developments in any of the killings by mobs in 
2004. There were no new developments in the 2003 appeal of the 
acquittal of six army officers who were charged with executing nine 
youths in Bepanda.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of 20 citizens 
reportedly captured by agents of Equatorial Guinea's government and 
taken to Equatorial Guinea for alleged crimes.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were credible reports that security forces continued to torture, 
beat, and otherwise abuse prisoners and detainees.
    In the majority of cases of torture or abuse, the Government rarely 
investigated or punished any of the officials involved; however, in at 
least one case during the year, gendarmerie officers accused of 
torturing a citizen to death in 2005 were detained and investigated 
(see Section 1.a.).
    During the year there were no reports that persons in police and 
gendarmerie custody died as a result of torture.
    There were reports that security forces detained persons at 
specific sites where they tortured and beat detainees. Security forces 
also reportedly subjected women, children, and elderly persons to 
abuse.
    Numerous international human rights organizations and some prison 
personnel reported that torture was widespread; however, most reports 
did not identify the victim because of fear of government retaliation 
against either the victim or the victim's family. Most victims did not 
report torture for fear of government reprisal or because of ignorance 
of, or lack of confidence in, the judicial system.
    In Douala's New Bell Prison and other nonmaximum security penal 
detention centers, prison guards inflicted beatings, and prisoners were 
reportedly chained or at times flogged in their cells. Authorities 
administered beatings in temporary holding cells within police or 
gendarme facilities.
    Two forms of physical abuse commonly reported by male detainees 
were the ``bastonnade,'' where authorities beat the victim on the soles 
of the feet, and the ``balancoire,'' during which authorities hung 
victims from a rod with their hands tied behind their backs and beat 
them, often on the genitals.
    Security forces reportedly continued to subject prisoners and 
detainees to degrading treatment, including stripping them, confining 
them in severely overcrowded cells, denying them access to toilets or 
other sanitation facilities, and beating detainees to extract 
confessions or information about alleged criminals. Pretrial detainees 
reported that they were sometimes required, under threat of abuse, to 
pay ``cell fees,'' a bribe paid to prison guards to prevent further 
abuse.
    On June 13, Yaounde police stormed a gathering of students from the 
University of Yaounde II, who were protesting an unannounced hike in 
taxi fares. Police, who arrived to disperse the spontaneous 
demonstration, violently beat and seriously injured many students. They 
also arrested 50 students, who were later released.
    In June officers from the Yaounde antiriot squad beat Wackenhut 
guard service employee Felix Ahanda and many of his colleagues, who 
were demonstrating to demand payment of money they alleged the firm 
owed them. The beating left Ahanda with damaged testes.
    According to the French-language news site Afrique Centrale, in 
August soldiers severely injured and wounded five policemen while 
trying to free a fellow soldier from police custody by force.
    There were no new developments in the 2005 police beatings of 
Genevieve Toupouwou, Gregoire Angotchou, or Nelson Ndi Nagyinkfu.
    There were also no developments in the 2005 incident in which 
security forces beat and arrested 50 students in Bafoussam, West 
Province, for participating in an illegal demonstration.
    There were no new developments in the 2004 beating of a man named 
Bikele by police officers, or the 2004 assault and arrest of Epie 
Nzounkwelle by a local government official.
    Security forces physically abused and harassed journalists during 
the year (see Section 2.a.).
    There were no reports that security forces sexually abused 
individuals during the year.
    There were no new developments in the 2004 case of sexual abuse of 
Biloa Ndongo by a gendarmerie mobile unit in the Melen neighborhood of 
Yaounde.
    Illegal immigrants from Nigeria and Chad reported that they were 
subjected to harsh treatment and imprisonment (see Section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life threatening. Prisons were seriously overcrowded, 
unsanitary, and inadequate, especially outside major urban areas. The 
Government did not provide funds to cover serious deficiencies in food, 
health care, and sanitation, which were common in almost all prisons, 
including ``private prisons'' operated by traditional rulers in the 
north. Prisoners were kept in dilapidated, colonial-era prisons, where 
the number of inmates was four to five times the intended capacity. 
According to a 2004 report by the International Center for Prison 
Studies, published by the Catholic newspaper La Croix, there were 67 
prisons for the country's approximately 20,000 detainees.
    Overcrowding was exacerbated by the large number of long pretrial 
detentions.
    In 2005, 800 persons were hired and trained to work in the prison 
system. In 2004 the Government shifted responsibility for administering 
prisons and detention centers and all individuals arrested by security 
forces from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and 
Decentralization to the Ministry of Justice. In addition the Government 
created a human rights body within the Ministry of Justice to monitor 
abuses in prisons and jails (see Section 4).
    There were reports that prisoners died due to a lack of medical 
care.
    There were no developments in the March 2005 case of Djabba Bouba, 
a prisoner in the Douala prison who reportedly starved to death in a 
Douala prison.
    Health and medical care were almost nonexistent in the country's 
prisons and in its detention cells, which were housed in gendarmeries 
and police stations. However, while some prisons had medical 
facilities, they lacked the funds and personnel to administer 
assistance. Between August 5 and 7, three inmates died at the Kumba 
prison in the Southwest Province, reportedly from untreated 
tuberculosis.
    Prisoners' families were expected to provide food for their 
relatives in prison. Douala's New Bell Prison contained seven water 
taps for a reported 3,500 prisoners, contributing to poor hygiene, 
illness, and death.
    Prison officials reportedly tortured, beat, and otherwise abused 
prisoners with impunity. Corruption among prison personnel was 
widespread.
    Prisoners sometimes could bribe wardens for special favors or 
treatment, including temporary freedom. Prisoners in New Bell Prison 
could pay bribes for more comfortable sleeping arrangements and to 
avoid doing prison chores.
    There were two separate prisons for women.
    There were also a few pretrial detention centers for women; 
however, women routinely were held in police and gendarmerie complexes 
with men, occasionally in the same cells. The secretary of state in 
charge of penitentiary administration acknowledged this was a serious 
problem. Mothers sometimes chose to be incarcerated with their children 
or babies while their children were very young or if they had no other 
child care option.
    Juvenile prisoners were often incarcerated with adults, 
occasionally in the same cells or wards. There were credible reports 
that adult inmates sexually abused juvenile prisoners.
    Pretrial detainees routinely were held in cells with convicted 
criminals.
    Some high-profile prisoners were separated from other prisoners and 
enjoyed relatively lenient treatment.
    Authorities held adults, juveniles, and women together in temporary 
detention centers. Detainees usually received no food, water, or 
medical care. Detention center guards at times resorted to corruption, 
accepting bribes from detainees in return for access to better 
conditions, including permission to stay in an office instead of a 
cell. Detainees whose families were informed of their incarceration 
relied on their relatives for food and medical care. Overcrowding was 
common in the detention centers and was often aggravated by the 
practice of ``Friday arrests'' (see Section 1.d.).
    In the North and Extreme North provinces, the Government continued 
to permit traditional chiefs, or Lamibe, to detain persons outside the 
Government penitentiary system, in effect creating private prisons. 
Traditional rulers throughout the country derive support and legitimacy 
from their subjects, many of whom turn to the Lamibe for dispute 
resolution. Within the palaces of the traditional chiefdoms of Rey 
Bouba, Gashiga, Bibemi, and Tcheboa there were private prisons that had 
a reputation for serious abuse. Prior to the destruction of the palace 
prison in 2005 in Garoua, in the North Province, palace staff estimated 
that a total of 50 prisoners were held in the palace prison annually, 
normally for one to two weeks.
    Individuals who were found guilty in Garoua were reportedly often 
beaten or subject to other forms of physical abuse. According to 
members of all the chiefdoms' palace staffs, individuals accused of 
serious crimes such as murder were turned over to local police.
    The Government permitted international humanitarian organizations 
access to prisoners. Both the local Red Cross and the National 
Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) made infrequent, 
unannounced prison visits during the year. The Government continued to 
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit 
prisons. In 2005 the ICRC stated that the Government allowed 
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increased access to 
prisons.
    In July 2005, during a visit by diplomatic observers to the Douala 
New Bell Prison, the prison administrator said that the prison, built 
to hold 700 inmates, held 3,194. Of these, 2,300 were pretrial 
detainees, who were not held separate from convicted prisoners. In 
August 2005, during a similar visit to the Yaounde Kondengui Prison, 
the same observers learned that the prison, built for 800 inmates, held 
3,521 of whom were awaiting trial. In May 2004 a senior official 
estimated that 1,600 out of 1,800 inmates in Bafoussam Prison were 
pretrial detainees.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces 
continued to arrest and detain citizens arbitrarily.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police, 
the National Intelligence Service (DGRE), the gendarmerie, the Ministry 
of Territorial Administration, the army's military security department, 
the army, the minister of defense, and, to a lesser extent, the 
Presidential Guard are responsible for internal security; the national 
police and gendarmerie have primary responsibility for law enforcement. 
The Ministry of Defense, including the gendarmerie, national police, 
and DGRE, are under an office of the presidency, resulting in strong 
Presidential control of security forces. The national police includes 
the public security force, judicial police, territorial security 
forces, and frontier police. In rural areas, where there is little or 
no police presence, the primary law enforcement body is the 
gendarmerie.
    Citizens viewed police as ineffective, which frequently resulted in 
mob ``justice'' (see Section 1.a.). It was widely believed that 
individuals paid bribes to law enforcement and the judiciary to secure 
their freedom. Police officers and members of the gendarmerie were 
widely viewed as corrupt officials who frequently and arbitrarily 
arrested and detained citizens. Police demanded bribes at checkpoints, 
and influential citizens reportedly paid police to make arrests or 
abuse individuals involved in personal disputes. Private disputes, such 
as feuds between business partners, frequently resulted in one party 
making allegations of impropriety or homosexuality about the other and 
involving the security forces.
    According to Transparency International's 2005 Global Corruption 
Barometer, citizens viewed the police as extremely corrupt. Impunity 
remained a problem but was less severe than in previous years. 
Insufficient funding and inadequate training contributed to a lack of 
professionalism in the national police. The Center Province purchased 
150 police vehicles to improve police effectiveness.
    Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, who in 2004 was appointed the general 
delegate for national security, took significant steps during the year 
to investigate, suspend, and prosecute security forces accused of 
abuses.
    In 2005 Mebe Ngo'o rehabilitated the ``police of the police,'' an 
internal affairs unit of undercover agents that had been dormant for 
many years. By year's end the unit was functioning and had received 
funding, although there were no public reports of any cases 
investigated by this unit.
    During the year Mebe Ngo'o also sanctioned at least 17 police 
officials who violated laws and regulations, including those on 
corruption and extortion. Seven others were also sanctioned by the 
courts.
    For example, on March 2, pending legal action, Mebe Ngo'o suspended 
three police commissioners for three months without pay for 
intimidation and aggravated corruption. On September 4, the President 
signed decrees terminating them from the police force, and revoking 
their pension rights. On August 21, Mebe Ngo'o suspended eight police 
officers for three months without pay who were involved in the 
trafficking of ordinary passports.
    In March 2005 Mebe Ngo'o suspended a Douala police officer and a 
Yaounde police inspector for three months for behavior that ``tarnished 
the image of the police.'' He suspended another Yaounde-based police 
inspector for two weeks for keeping a citizen's driving license 
unnecessarily.
    During the year courts convicted at least seven police and 
gendarmerie officers for human rights abuses.
    On May 15, the Douala prosecutor detained four police officers from 
the Douala Central Police Station No. 2 for the theft of $2,000 (one 
million CFA francs) seized from a thief who had stolen the money from a 
shop. In June the Bafoussam tribunal sentenced a police inspector from 
the Foumban police station to one year in jail, a $400 fine (200,000 
CFA francs), and $300 in damages (150,000 CFA francs) to be paid to 
Raoul Noka for the 2003 suit that his lawyer filed against him for the 
nonpayment of his legal fees. On August 4, the Yaounde High Court 
sentenced a gendarmerie commissioned officer to 18 months in jail for 
the 2005 murder of his young neighbor.
    On August 23, the Bamenda Court sentenced the Bamenda judicial 
police commissioner to pay damages of $1,200 (600,000 CFA francs) to 
Edwin Nkwain Mbang for arbitrarily arresting and detaining him for 18 
days in 2001.
    In May 2005 the Douala Military Tribunal sentenced two police 
inspectors from the Douala Central Police Station No. 1 to six months 
in jail for the 2001 armed assault and robbery of three Nigerian 
citizens.
    The Government also took actions to reform security forces 
including the police and gendarmerie. On June 22, several gendarmerie 
and police officers completed a four-week training seminar on order 
preservation, with an emphasis on citizens' rights, human rights, and 
individual freedoms. The Government also sent candidates to attend the 
International Law Enforcement Academy police training.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain an arrest 
warrant except when a person is caught in the act of committing a 
crime. Police legally may detain a person in connection with a common 
crime for up to 24 hours and may renew the detention three times before 
bringing charges. While this provision was generally respected, there 
were unverifiable reports that police occasionally violated it.
    The law provides for the right to judicial review of the legality 
of detention only in the country's two anglophone provinces, and this 
provision was respected in practice. In the francophone provinces, 
French legal tradition applies, precluding judicial authorities from 
acting on a case until the authority that ordered the detention turns 
the case over to a prosecutor. In practice these processes took between 
15 days to a month. In francophone provinces, after a magistrate has 
issued a warrant to bring a case to trial he may hold the detainee in 
administrative or pretrial detention indefinitely, pending court 
action. During the year such detention often was prolonge, due to the 
understaffed and mismanaged court system. The law permits detention 
without charge by administrative authorities such as governors and 
senior divisional officers for renewable periods of 15 days, ostensibly 
to combat banditry and maintain public order. Persons taken into 
detention frequently were denied access to both legal counsel and 
family members. The law permits release on bail only in the anglophone 
provinces; bail was granted infrequently.
    To prepare for the new Code on Criminal Procedure scheduled to 
enter into force in January 2007, the Ministry of Justice organized 
training sessions on the code in each of the country's 10 provinces. 
The code extends the right of individuals to be released on bail to the 
whole country. It also allows those arrested and held in police and 
gendarmerie facilities for investigation to be assisted by a lawyer 
from the beginning of their detention.
    Police and gendarmes often arrested persons on spurious charges on 
Fridays at mid-day or in the afternoon. While the law in the anglophone 
provinces provides for judicial review of an arrest within 24 hours, 
the courts did not convene on weekends, so individuals arrested on a 
Friday typically remained in detention until Monday at the earliest. 
Police and gendarmes made such ``Friday arrests'' after accepting 
bribes from persons who had private grievances. There were no known 
cases of policemen or gendarmes being sanctioned or punished for this 
practice.
    Security forces and government authorities reportedly continued to 
arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, often holding them for prolonged 
periods without charges or trial and, at times, incommunicado.
    There were reports of political detainees, including anglophone 
citizens advocating secession, local human rights monitors or 
activists, journalists, and other critics of the Government (see 
Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    Police also arrested persons during unauthorized demonstrations, 
invariably releasing them within a few hours unless they engaged in 
violence (see Section 2.b.).
    During the year security forces preemptively arrested approximately 
70 leaders, members, and supporters of the Southern Cameroons National 
Council (SCNC), an anglophone secessionist group (see Section 3).
    There were no developments in the 2005 trial of three SCNC members 
charged with disturbing the public order.
    On April 2, gendarmes of the Center Province town of Bokito 
arrested and detained Suzanne Binyom and Felicite Atchang for 24 hours 
at the request of Ernest Oloume, the ruling party deputy from the 
locality. The women had come to pay a courtesy call on their 
parliamentarian. Olouma told the gendarmes that the women looked 
suspicious; they in turn filed a complaint for arbitrary arrest and 
detention.
    On April 17, gendarmes from the Yaounde-Kondengui brigade arrested 
and briefly detained Alice Nkom, a prominent Douala-based lawyer. She 
was visiting her clients, alleged homosexuals who had been awaiting 
trial for several months, in the Yaounde central prison. Nkom took some 
pictures of her clients but was prevented from continuing by prison 
wardens, who claimed she had no right to take pictures. Nkom told them 
that there was no law prohibiting her actions. Unable to cite a law 
backing their claim, prison officials called the gendarmes to have Nkom 
removed.
    On September 15, Police Commissioner Mve of the Douala judicial 
police office ordered the arrest and detention of Conrad Mongue-Din, a 
Douala-based lawyer. Mongue-Din went to the judicial police office to 
assist a client. The police commissioner denied his request for access. 
When Mongue-Din insisted, Commissioner Mve ordered Monque-Din detained, 
claiming he created a disturbance. Mongue-Din filed a complaint through 
the Douala branch of the Cameroon Bar Association.
    There were no developments in the 2005 arrest of a labor leader 
during a sit-in (see Section 6.a.).
    There were no developments in the 2004 arrest of a Human Rights 
Defense Group member by a Northwest Province chief.
    Police frequently arrested persons without identification during 
sweeps (see Section 1.f.). Citizens are required to carry 
identification with them at all times.
    The law provides that detainees must be brought promptly before a 
magistrate; however, bureaucratic inefficiency and, at times, arbitrary 
actions led to prolonged pretrial detention, and sometimes persons were 
held incommunicado for months or even years (see Section 1.c.). For 
example, in 2005, in Douala's New Bell Prison and Yaounde's Kondengui 
Prison, 5,300 of the 6,715 persons incarcerated were in pretrial 
detention. This high number was due to many factors, including the 
complexity of cases, staff shortages, and corruption. The average 
pretrial detention period ranged from one to five years. Longer 
detention periods were often linked to the loss of a file and the 
absence of a lawyer to follow up on the case. In January 2005 the Union 
of Northwest Human Rights Organizations stated it had visited 20 
detainees in the Bamenda Prison who had each been awaiting trial for 10 
years.
    In 2003 the Ministry of Justice and the European Union launched an 
assistance program to examine cases of prolonged pretrial detention and 
resolve them. The program was still ongoing at year's end; however, the 
lack of personnel impeded its effectiveness.
    There was no information available on Barnabe Atangana or Beniot 
Bilongo, who remained in pretrial detention at the end of the year 
after 22 years and nine years, respectively.
    The law specifies that, after an investigation has concluded, 
juveniles should not be detained without trial for longer than three 
months; however, in practice the Government detained juveniles for 
longer periods of time. For example, at the end of 2004, Michel 
Sighanou, a juvenile who was transferred from the Yabassi prison to 
another prison in 1996, had been awaiting trial for more than seven 
years. No additional information was available at year's end.
    In recent years there have been reports that some prisoners were 
kept in prison after completing their sentences or having been released 
under a court ruling. During a July visit to Douala, a Catholic prison 
chaplain told diplomatic observers that there were still many such 
cases. Authorities kept more than 100 prisoners in jail past their 
release dates due to the prisonere's inability to pay court fees or 
damages.
    The Government took steps to implement a tracking system that would 
permit authorities to locate released prisoners and collect fines or 
damages.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained highly 
subject to executive influence, and corruption and inefficiency 
remained serious problems. The court system was subordinate to the 
Ministry of Justice, which was part of the presidency. A constitutional 
anomaly names the President as ``first magistrate,'' thus ``chief'' of 
the judiciary and the theoretical arbiter of any sanctions against the 
judiciary, which could influence judicial action. In practice, however, 
the President has not filled this role. The constitution specifies that 
the President is the guarantor of the legal system's independence. He 
also appoints all judges with the advice of the Supreme Council of the 
Magistrature. Some politically sensitive cases were never heard by the 
courts. However, the judiciary showed modest signs of growing 
independence. During the year the courts found the Government liable 
for damages in a few human rights cases involving abuses by security 
officers. For example, in the Miagougoudom case, the Government awarded 
the victim's family $40,000 (20 million CFA francs) in damages (see 
Section 1.a.).
    The court system includes the Supreme Court, a court of appeals in 
each of the 10 provinces, and courts of first instance in each of the 
country's 58 divisions.
    The legal system includes both national and customary law, and many 
criminal and civil cases can be tried using either one. However, 
criminal cases are generally tried in statutory courts, and customary 
court convictions involving witchcraft automatically are transferred to 
the statutory courts, which act as the Court of First Instance. 
Customary law, which is used most frequently in rural areas, is based 
upon the traditions of the ethnic group predominant in the region and 
is adjudicated by traditional authorities of that group. Customary law 
is deemed valid only when it is not ``repugnant to natural justice, 
equity, and good conscience.'' However, many citizens in rural areas 
remained unaware of their rights under civil law and were taught that 
they must abide by customary laws. Customary law ostensibly provides 
for equal rights and status; however, men may limit women's rights 
regarding inheritance and employment, and some traditional legal 
systems treat wives as the legal property of their husbands.
    Customary courts served as a primary means for settling civil 
disputes in rural areas, primarily in family-related civil cases, such 
as in matters of succession, inheritance, and child custody. Divorce 
cases can be brought to customary courts only if the Government has not 
sanctioned the marriage through an official license. Customary courts 
may exercise jurisdiction in a civil case only with the consent of both 
parties. Either party has the right to have a case heard by a statutory 
court and to appeal an adverse decision by a customary court to the 
statutory courts. Most traditional courts also permitted appeal of 
their decisions to traditional authorities of higher rank.
    The legal structure is strongly influenced by the French legal 
system, although in the two anglophone provinces certain aspects of the 
Anglo-Saxon tradition apply. In the past this mixed legal tradition led 
to conflicting court action in cases handled in both francophone and 
anglophone jurisdictions.
    During the year the Government approved a new Criminal Procedure 
Code and conducted training on the code throughout the country, in 
anticipation of its implementation in 2007.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair public hearing in 
which the defendant is presumed innocent. However, this provision often 
was not respected. There is no jury system. Defendants have the right 
to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. 
Defendants generally were allowed to question witnesses and to present 
witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants also had access 
to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Because appointed 
attorneys received little compensation, the quality of legal 
representation for indigent clients often was poor. The bar association 
and some voluntary organizations, such as the Cameroonian Association 
of Female Jurists, offered free assistance in some cases. The Project 
for the Improvement of Conditions of Detention continued to engage 
lawyers to work on prison cases. Trials normally were public, except in 
cases judged by the Ministry of Justice to have political overtones or 
to be disruptive to social peace. In practice defendants enjoyed a 
presumption of innocence and exercised their right to appeal their 
cases.
    There were reports that officials continued to hold individuals in 
prison beyond the jail terms set by the courts. In 2005 the general 
prosecutor of the Yaounde Superior Court reviewed the files of 
approximately 150 prisoners at the Kondengui Prison to check their 
judicial status.
    Political bias by judges (often instructed by the Government) often 
stopped trials or resulted in an extremely long process with extended 
court recesses. Powerful political or business interests enjoyed 
virtual immunity from prosecution; some politically sensitive cases 
were settled through bribes.
    Military tribunals may exercise jurisdiction over civilians when 
the President declares martial law and in cases involving civil unrest 
or organized armed violence. Military tribunals also have jurisdiction 
over gang crimes, banditry, and highway robbery. The Government 
interpreted these guidelines broadly and sometimes used military courts 
to try matters concerning dissident groups.
    Military trials were subject to irregularities and political 
influence.

    Political Prisoners.--During the year authorities continued to hold 
two groups of prisoners who could be considered political prisoners.
    There were no developments in the case of 15 members of the 
secessionist group SCNC serving long prison sentences following their 
1999 convictions in military trials. Their trials and convictions did 
not meet international or national legal standards; Amnesty 
International and other international human rights NGOs criticized the 
trials as unfair. In addition the military tribunal admitted into 
evidence confessions that were credibly alleged in court to have been 
exacted under torture.
    The prisoners maintained they were political prisoners convicted 
for supporting a political belief; however, the Government claimed they 
were imprisoned for acts of violence against government offices and 
officers. The Government permitted access to the prisoners on a regular 
basis by international humanitarian organizations.
    Because it advocates succession the Government considered the SCNC 
an illegal organization and refused to register it as a political 
organization.
    During the year the Government continued to hold two individuals 
widely considered by human rights NGOs to be political prisoners 
because of irregularities in their trials and restricted access to 
counsel. Titus Edzoa, former minister of health and long-time aide to 
President Biya, and Michel Thierry Atangana, Edzoa's 1997 campaign 
manager, were arrested in 1997, three months after Edzoa resigned from 
government and launched his candidacy for President. They were 
convicted on charges of embezzling public funds and sentenced to 15 
years in prison.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, these rights were subject to the ``higher interests of the 
state,'' and there were numerous, credible reports that police and 
gendarmes harassed citizens, conducted searches without warrants, and 
opened or seized mail with impunity. The Government continued to keep 
some opposition activists and dissidents under surveillance. Police 
sometimes punished family members and neighbors of criminal suspects.
    The law permits a police officer to enter a private home during 
daylight hours without a warrant if he is pursuing an inquiry and has 
reason to suspect that a crime has been committed. The officer must 
have a warrant to make such a search after dark; however, a police 
officer may enter a private home at any time in pursuit of a criminal 
observed committing a crime.
    During the year police put the houses of SCNC officials and 
activists under surveillance, searched the houses of some SCNC leaders, 
and disrupted SCNC meetings in private residences (see Section 3).
    An administrative authority may authorize police to conduct 
neighborhood sweeps without warrants. Such sweeps at times involved 
forced entry into homes in search of suspected criminals or stolen or 
illegal goods. Security forces sometimes sealed off a neighborhood, 
systematically searched homes, arrested persons, sometimes arbitrarily, 
and seized suspicious or illegal articles.
    In 2005 there were credible reports that security forces in Douala 
and Yaounde used such sweeps as a pretext to loot homes and arbitrarily 
arrest persons for minor offenses, such as not possessing identity 
cards. For example, in June 2005 the Douala police, accompanied by 
gendarmes and soldiers, conducted a sweep in the Douala neighborhoods 
of Bonakuamouang, Bessengue Valley, and Bessengue, and arrested 
approximately 100 individuals, mostly young men and women. Police held 
them in a Douala police station until their identity was established, a 
process that took 24 hours.
    Citizens without ID cards were detained until their identity could 
be established and then released. Several complained of the police's 
arbitrary seizure (theft) of electronic devices and cell phones, and 
registered their complaints at the police station.
    There continued to be accusations, particularly in the North and 
Far North provinces, that traditional chiefs arbitrarily evicted 
persons from their land.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and while the Government continued to restrict 
these rights in practice, media groups were vibrant and active.
    The Government sometimes invoked strong libel laws to silence 
criticism of the Government and officials. Journalists, particularly 
broadcast journalists, often practiced self-censorship as a result of 
real or expected government intimidation, harassment, and criminal 
penalties for speech-related offenses.
    Individuals generally were able to criticize the Government 
publicly and privately without being subjected to government reprisal, 
although the country's strict libel law resulted in self-censorship. 
However, the Government prohibited discussion or advocacy of secession, 
which resulted in numerous arrests of SCNC members during the year (see 
Section 3).
    On May 12, the Yaounde administrative authorities pressured the 
Cameroon Episcopal Conference to cancel a press conference where it was 
to present its final report for the 2004 Presidential election. The 
Justice and Peace Committee, which organized the conference, finally 
cancelled it.
    On September 1, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde I banned opposition 
leader Woungly Massaga's press conference on an electoral reform plan 
based on a project by the Catholic Church. The Sous-prefet asserted 
that Woungly Massaga could not hold the conference because he failed to 
demonstrate that the Catholic Church authorized him to endorse its 
project. A week later, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde III banned a press 
conference by Massaga in that locale on the same grounds.
    On September 19, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde I banned a meeting that 
Nouveaux Droits de l'Homme, a democracy and human rights NGO, organized 
at the Chamber of Agriculture. Droits de l'Homme wanted to launch a 
``National Forum of Civil Society on Elections,'' to discuss electoral 
reform and the creation of an independent electoral body that would 
govern all elections. In his ban order, the Sous-prefet asserted that 
he did not understand the real purpose of the meeting.
    The Government published one of the country's few daily newspapers, 
the Cameroon Tribune. The newspaper did not report extensively on 
protests or political parties critical of the Government, overtly 
criticize the ruling party, or portray government programs in an 
unfavorable light.
    During the year approximately 200 privately owned newspapers were 
published; however, only an estimated 25 were published on a regular 
basis, primarily for lack of funding. Mutations, La Nouvelle 
Expression, and Le Messager were the only privately owned daily 
newspapers. Newspapers were distributed primarily in urban areas, and 
most continued to criticize the Government and report on controversial 
issues, including corruption, human rights abuses, homosexuality, and 
economic policies. However, the Government used criminal libel laws to 
inhibit the press by criminalizing the propagation of false 
information.
    Despite the large number of private newspapers in the country, the 
influence of print media was minimal. Distribution was problematic 
outside of major towns, and prices of independent newspapers were high, 
due largely to high government taxes on newsprint.
    In 2004 the Government established a special fund to support the 
development of the press, particularly newspapers, and funds were 
disbursed to some private newspapers and radio stations. The Government 
continued to disburse such funds during the year. According to media 
reports, funding was awarded very selectively, and some media outlets, 
such as Mutations and Radio Reine, refused to apply for funds. The 
Government exerted control over some newspaper warehouses and seized 
editions of controversial newspaper editions prior to distribution or 
after they were released.
    The Government tightly controlled the broadcast media. Radio 
remained the most important medium reaching most citizens. There were 
approximately 20 privately owned radio stations operating in the 
country. Approximately 75 percent of private radio stations were 
concentrated in Yaounde and Douala. Ownership of the private radio 
stations was very diverse, with only one owner having more than one 
station. The state-owned CRTV broadcast on both television and radio 
and was the only officially recognized and fully licensed broadcaster 
in the country. The Government levied taxes on all registered taxpaying 
citizens to finance CRTV programming, which allowed CRTV a distinct 
advantage over independent broadcasters.
    Nonprofit rural radio stations were required to submit an 
application to broadcast but were exempt from paying licensing fees. 
Potential commercial radio and television broadcasters must submit a 
licensing application and pay an application fee when the application 
is submitted. Once the license is issued, stations must then pay an 
annual licensing fee, which can be expensive. Although the Government 
had not issued new broadcast licenses in many years, companies operated 
without them.
    During the year the National Communications Council (NCC), whose 
members were appointed by the President, continued to review all 
broadcasting license applications, the first step in issuing licenses. 
In addition a technical committee composed of government-appointed 
members--including government officials, journalists, and jurists--
continued to review the NCC's decisions.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of the closure of Lake 
Side Independent Radio for broadcasting without a license.
    There were several low-power, rural community radio stations with 
extremely limited broadcast range that were funded by the UN 
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and foreign 
countries. The Government prohibited these stations--which broadcast 
programs on education, health, the environment, and development to 
small audiences--from discussing politics.
    The law permits broadcasting by foreign news services but requires 
them to partner with a national station. The BBC, Radio France 
International, and other foreign services broadcast in partnership with 
state-owned CRTV.
    Television was less pervasive but more influential than print 
media. The five independent television stations largely avoided 
criticizing the Government, although their news broadcasts sometimes 
focused on poverty, unemployment, poor education, and government 
neglect, and corruption which the broadcasts said had caused these 
problems.
    Like the Cameroon Tribune, CRTV provided broad reporting of CPDM 
activities, while giving relatively little attention to the political 
opposition. During the year CRTV management continued to instruct staff 
repeatedly to ensure that government views prevailed at all times.
    Security forces, usually acting under the command of local 
provincial government officials, reportedly continued to restrict press 
freedom by arresting, detaining, physically abusing, threatening, and 
otherwise harassing journalists.
    On January 3, gendarmes from the Douala neighborhood of Bonaberi 
attacked Pius Njawe, a journalist and the publisher of Le Messager 
newspaper. Njawe was driving his car on the Wouri bridge in Douala when 
he witnessed a car accident. He stopped to take pictures, but the 
investigating gendarmes barred him from doing so. When Njawe insisted, 
the gendarmes beat and kicked him, finally pushing him back into his 
car. Njawe did not file a complaint against the gendarme officers.
    On September 3, officers from the Yaounde military security agency 
(Semil) arrested and detained Duke Atangana Etotogo, publisher of the 
monthly L'Afrique Centrale, without a warrant and seized magazine 
copies that were on sale. Etotogo published a series of analytical 
reports on the armed forces and their leadership. The purpose of the 
arrest was to force him to reveal his sources. Semil released Etotogo 
after five days of intensive interrogation. Before his release on 
September 7, the military security agency demanded that Etotogo write a 
letter of apology to the President, who is the supreme chief of the 
armed forces, which he did.
    According to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists in April Eric 
Motomu, editor of The Chronicle, was beaten unconscious by the 
bodyguard and driver of opposition leader John Fru Ndi. Motomu said he 
was treated for head and chest injuries. Earlier, Motomu had been 
summoned by police in Bamenda in connection with a defamation case 
brought against him by Fru Ndi. However, Motomu was not formally 
charged.
    On November 6, Sweet FM radio presenter Agnes Taile was attacked by 
three hooded intruders, who forced their way into Taile's home in 
Douala, dragged her outside, beat her, and tried to strangle her. She 
was hospitalized with multiple injuries. Authorities had not made any 
arrests by year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 police beatings of 
journalists Philip Njaru and Innocent Yuh, who were hospitalized from 
their wounds. There were also no developments in the 2005 case of 
broadcasters Freedom FM and Radio Oku, which were both closed by 
government officials.
    There were no reports that the Government indirectly censored the 
media by controlling advertising revenues. Since the Government was the 
largest advertiser in the country, however, and could choose which 
media outlets to pay to place advertising, it continued to have a 
certain degree of influence over media outlets.
    The Government prosecuted its critics in the print media through 
criminal libel laws. These laws authorize the Government, at its 
discretion and the request of the plaintiff, to criminalize a civil 
libel suit or to initiate a criminal libel suit in cases of alleged 
libel against the President and other high government officials; such 
crimes are punishable by prison terms and heavy fines. The libel law 
places the burden of proof on the defendant. Local leaders in 
particular abused this law to keep local reporters from reporting on 
corruption and abusive behavior. Various government members and senior 
government officials filed nine libel suits against journalists.
    On March 3, a Yaounde court sentenced Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, 
publisher of the Yaounde-based weekly L'Anecdote, to four months in 
jail on defamation charges. In February Belinga published a list of 
alleged homosexuals, which included Gregoire Owona, a government 
member, who filed a libel suit. The court ruling found only that the 
publisher could not substantiate his claim. The court fined Belinga 
$2,000 (one million CFA francs) and ordered him to pay symbolic damages 
to the plaintiff and publish the ruling in several newspapers. Similar 
suits were filed by Owona and by Jean-Pierre Mayo, the general manager 
of the Yaounde-based National Social Insurance Fund hospital, against 
Biloa Ayissi, publisher of the Yaounde-based weekly Nouvelle Afrique. 
In the Owona case, the court sentenced Ayissi on March 24 to six months 
in jail for defamation, fined him $2,000 (one million CFA francs), 
ordered him to pay symbolic damages to the plaintiff and to publish the 
ruling in several newspapers and some electronic media. In the Mayo 
case, the court ordered Ayissi to pay $6,000 (three million CFA francs) 
in damages.
    The other journalists whom courts convicted on defamation charges 
in private cases included Dieudonne Mveng, publisher of the weekly 
newspaper La Meteo, Socrate Dipanda, publisher of the weekly Le 
Constat, Peter William Mandio, publisher of the weekly Le Front, 
Henriette Ekwe, columnist with Le Front, and Georges Gilbert Baongla, 
publisher of the weekly Le Dementi. Most received suspended prison 
sentences. None of the journalists sentenced to prison terms were sent 
to prison.
    There were no developments in the April 2005 defamation case 
against Guibai Gatema and Abdoulaye Oumate.
    There were no developments in the 2005 libel case against Le Jeune 
Observateur publisher Jules Koum Koum.
    There were no developments in the 2004 case of Eric Wirkwa Tayu, 
convicted of defamation.
    In March 2005 the Union of Cameroonian Journalists created the 
Cameroon Media Council (CMC), an independent, self-regulating body of 
journalists aiming to promote press freedom, access to information, 
professionalism, and ethical reporting. The CMC, supported by the 
minister of communication, also had as part of its mission the goal of 
reviewing and disciplining media professionals and arbitrating 
complaints against journalists. Complaints included ethical breeches, 
such as the common practice for newspaper reporters and editors of 
accepting payments from politicians and businessmen to write articles 
containing unsubstantiated allegations against the opponents and 
competitors of their benefactors.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no reports that the Government 
attempted to monitor the Internet. There were also no reports that the 
Government restricted access to the Internet. The Internet was 
available and used by citizens, although access was limited by cost and 
slow connections.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Although there were no legal 
restrictions on academic freedom, state security informants reportedly 
operated on university campuses. Professors said that participation in 
opposition political parties could adversely affect their professional 
opportunities and advancement. During the year strikes in the state 
universities of Yaounde I, Yaounde II, and Douala deteriorated and 
resulted in violent confrontations between students and security forces 
(see Section 2.b.).

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the 
Government restricted this right in practice.
    The law requires organizers of public meetings, demonstrations, or 
processions to notify officials in advance but does not require prior 
government approval of public assemblies and does not authorize the 
Government to suppress public assemblies that it has not approved in 
advance. However, officials routinely have asserted that the law 
implicitly authorized the Government to grant or deny permission for 
public assembly. Consequently, the Government often did not grant 
permits for assemblies organized by persons or groups critical of the 
Government and repeatedly used force to suppress public assemblies for 
which it had not issued permits.
    Security forces forcibly disrupted the demonstrations, meetings, 
and rallies of citizens, trade unions, and groups of political 
activists throughout the year.
    On numerous occasions throughout the year, authorities refused to 
grant the SCNC, an unregistered political group the Government deemed 
illegal because it advocated secession, permission to hold rallies and 
meetings, and security forces arrested and detained some activists (see 
Section 3).
    On March 9, Douala gendarmes disrupted a gathering of Manifeste 
Africain pour la Nouvelle Independence et la Democratie (MANIDEM), an 
opposition party, although the party claimed it had received tacit 
approval for the meeting from the competent administrative authority. 
Some benches were broken in the altercation, but MANIDEM resumed its 
meeting after the gendarmerie group commander intervened and called his 
subordinates to order.
    Police forcibly dispersed student demonstrators during the year, 
which resulted in deaths and injuries. For example, on June 13, Yaounde 
police dispersed a gathering from the University of Yaounde II and 
arrested 50 students (see Section 1.c.). The rector filed suits against 
some of the students.
    On August 4, the Yaounde First Instance Court began hearings on the 
cases of four leaders of the Association for the Defense of Students' 
Interests (ADDEC)--Ibrahim Mohaman, Rodrigue Batogna, Messi Bela, and 
Tememou--in connection with charges of rebellion and disturbance of 
public order. The trial was ongoing at year's end.
    On November 29, the Buea antiriot police shot and killed two 
students, Ufeanei Ivo Abiandong and Bennett Moma Kenyufon, while 
dispersing a demonstration at the University of Buea. The students were 
protesting those admitted to the faculty of medicine because the 
protesters believed the minister of higher education had tampered with 
the names on the admission's list. An investigation was ongoing at 
year's end.
    On December 21, Foumban gendarmes shot and killed Issah Njifouh, a 
night watchman, during a demonstration in Njinka Chiefdom in Foumban. 
The demonstrators were protesting the Government's decision to replace 
Adamou Ndam Njoya, an opposition leader and traditional ruler of their 
chiefdom, with another person. An investigation was still ongoing at 
year's end.
    The Yaounde First Instance Court sentenced students to prison terms 
during the year in connection with events that occurred in 2005.
    On April 11, the Yaounde First Instance Court sentenced Thierry 
Okala Ebode, a leader of the ADDEC, to a suspended six month jail term 
(which could be imposed at any time over the next three years if 
arrested on similar charges) on charges of rebellion and disturbance of 
public order. In November 2005 ADDEC had organized a meeting on the 
campus of the University of Yaounde I to discuss issues that made 
students' lives difficult. The university rector reportedly called the 
gendarmes to break up the meeting. This resulted in clashes between the 
gerndarmes and the students, of whom many were arrested. There were no 
developments in the 2005 killing of two University of Buea students by 
security forces.
    There were no reports that security forces broke up or disrupted 
gatherings of the SDF during the year. However, administrative 
authorities banned marches and meetings that the SDF wanted to conduct 
in Douala and Limbe. For example, on July 4, the Sous-prefet of Douala 
I banned a march organized by the SDF to protest the pauperization of 
citizens. The Sous-prefet justified the ban by claiming the march might 
disturb public order. On October 13, the Sous-prefet of Limbe banned a 
meeting of the National Executive Committee of the SDF on the grounds 
that internal fighting might disrupt public order.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, but the Government limited this right in practice.
    The conditions for government recognition of a political party, a 
prerequisite for many political activities, precluded peaceful advocacy 
of secession. While more than 180 political parties, together with a 
large and growing number of civic associations, operated legally, the 
Government continued to refuse to register the SCNC as a political 
party and harassed and arrested its leaders and members (see Section 
3).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, 
there were a few exceptions.
    Religious groups must be approved and registered with the Ministry 
of Territorial Administration and Decentralization to function legally. 
Although there were no reports that the Government refused to register 
any group, the process usually took several years, due primarily to 
administrative delays. The Government did not register traditional 
religious groups on the grounds that the practice of traditional 
religion was a private concern observed by members of a particular 
ethnic or kinship group or the residents of a particular locality.
    There were no further developments in the January 2004 arrest and 
detention of Michel Atanga Effa and Gervais Balla for the 2003 murder 
of a priest or in the May 2004 beating of Pastor Alombah Godlove by the 
traditional ruler of his village.
    The practice of witchcraft is a criminal offense under the law; 
however, individuals generally were prosecuted for this offense only in 
conjunction with another offense, such as murder. Witchcraft 
traditionally has been a common explanation for diseases of unknown 
cause.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasionally 
reports of discrimination in the northern provinces, particularly in 
rural areas, by Muslims against Christians and persons who practiced 
traditional indigenous religions. However, the overall amicable 
relationship among religious groups in society contributed to religious 
freedom.
    The size of the Jewish community was very small, and there were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, security forces routinely impeded domestic 
travel during the year.
    Roadblocks and checkpoints manned by security forces proliferated 
in cities and on most highways, making road travel both time-consuming 
and costly. Extortion of small bribes was commonplace at these 
checkpoints. Police frequently stopped travelers to check 
identification documents, vehicle registrations, and tax receipts as 
security and immigration control measures. There were no reports that 
security forces killed individuals suspected of evading checkpoints. 
However, there were credible reports that police arrested and beat 
individuals who failed to carry their identification cards as required 
by law.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it; 
however, some human rights monitors or political opponents who 
considered themselves threatened by the Government left the country 
voluntarily and declared themselves to be in political exile.
    In 2005 the Government, the Nigerian High Commission to Cameroon, 
and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed 
a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of 10,000 of the 
17,000 Nigerian Fulani cattle breeders who fled their homes in 2001 to 
escape ethnic fighting. During the year a large number of Nigerians 
returned home.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In March 2005 between 10,000 
and 15,000 citizens in and around the Adamawa Province villages of 
Djohong and Ngaoui were displaced following attacks and looting by 
unidentified armed groups from the Central African Republic (CAR).
    According to the Adamawa Province's governor, the groups targeted 
cattle herders of the M'bororo ethnic group, kidnapping them and 
demanding ransom due to the group's perceived wealth. The Government 
reportedly sent troops in 2005 to restore order in the border area, and 
during the year a rapid intervention unit operated in the area.
    During the year the Government worked with the UNHCR to protect and 
assist IDPs.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system of providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. In 2005 the National 
Assembly passed legislation that formally established the status of 
refugees, and the President signed it into law in July 2005.
    The Government also provided protection to certain individuals who 
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 
Protocol. At year's end the UNHCR estimated that the country provided 
temporary protection to approximately 17,500 refugees, the majority of 
whom were Chadian and Nigerian, in addition to 5,300 asylum seekers, 
some of whom were economic refugees presenting themselves as political 
victims.
    During the year, as a result of numerous attacks and kidnappings by 
unidentified armed groups in the CAR, approximately 20,000 members of 
the M'bororo ethnic group reportedly fled to the country, according to 
UN agencies and local human rights groups, bringing the total number of 
refugees to 35,083. In June the UNHCR reported that 20,383 M'bororos 
from CAR settled near the CAR border, with approximately 13,000 in the 
East Province and 7,000 in Adamoua. There were also 2,948 Nigerian 
refugees in Banyo (Adamaoua and Northwest provinces) and 11,752 urban 
refugees in Yaounde and Douala.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government 
has been tolerant and understanding of CAR and Chadian citizens coming 
across the borders to flee their countries, facilitating their entry 
and providing assistance.
    A special task force, including troops from the Economic and 
Monetary Community of Central Africa (comprised of Cameroon, Gabon, 
CAR, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, and Chad), regularly 
launched joint operations, with logistical support from the French 
army, against CAR and Chadian rebels.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides that citizens have the right to change their 
government peacefully; however, dominance of the political process by 
the President and his party and electoral intimidation, manipulation, 
and fraud limited the ability of citizens to exercise this right in 
past elections.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In October 2004 President 
Biya, who has controlled the Government since 1982, was re-elected with 
approximately 70 percent of the vote in an election widely viewed as 
freer and fairer than previous elections, and in which opposition 
parties fielded candidates. However, the election was poorly managed 
and marred by irregularities, in particular in the voting registration 
process, but most international observers deemed that the 
irregularities did not prevent the elections from expressing the will 
of the voters.
    Some observers said progress had been made and called the election 
transparent; others, such as the Commonwealth Observer Group, stated 
that the election lacked credibility. Some opposition parties alleged 
that there was multiple voting by individuals close to President Biya's 
party and massive vote rigging. One domestic group described the 
election as a masquerade. The 2002 legislative elections, which were 
dominated by the CPDM, largely reflected the will of the people; 
however, there were widespread irregularities.
    In December the National Elections Observatory published its 
assessment of the 2004 elections; the assessment cited electoral 
weakness in voter registration and report collection, recommended that 
the observatory assume control of voter registration, and called for an 
increased responsibility for the observatory in organizing elections. 
The Government also established an independent electoral commission.
    Since 1991 only government bills proposed by the presidency have 
been enacted by the National Assembly. However, in March the National 
Assembly agreed to consider a private member's bill on the funding of 
political parties and electoral campaigns that an opposition party 
tabled at the session opening. This consideration followed another one 
that took place in 2004. Only parties with representatives in the 
National Assembly can submit bills for consideration. During its June 
2005 session, the National Assembly refused to consider a bill on 
electoral reform tabled by the SDF, the leading parliamentary 
opposition party.
    Members of the Beti ethnic group, including the Bulu subgroup to 
which the President belongs, figured prominently in the Government, 
civil service, and management of state-owned businesses.
    The President's control over the country's administrative apparatus 
was extensive. The President appoints all ministers, including the 
Prime Minister, and also directly appoints the governors of each of the 
10 provinces. The President also has the power to appoint important 
lower level members of the 58 provincial administrative structures.
    The right of citizens to choose their local governments remained 
circumscribed. The Government increased greatly the number of 
municipalities run by Presidentially appointed delegates, who have 
authority over elected mayors. Delegate-run cities included most of the 
provincial capitals and some division capitals in pro-opposition 
provinces; however, this practice was almost nonexistent in the 
southern provinces, which tended to support the ruling CPDM party. In 
municipalities with elected mayors, local autonomy was limited since 
elected local governments relied on the central government for most of 
their revenue and administrative personnel.
    There were more than 180 registered political parties in the 
country. Fewer than 10, however, had significant levels of support, and 
only five had seats in the National Assembly. The ruling CPDM held an 
absolute majority in the National Assembly; opposition parties included 
the SDF, based in the anglophone provinces and some major cities. The 
largest of the opposition parties were the National Union for Democracy 
and Progress, the Cameroon Democratic Union, and the Union of the 
Peoples of Cameroon.
    The Government considered one unregistered anglophone political 
group, the SCNC, illegal, because it advocated secession from the 
country and authorities refused to register it as a political 
organization. During the year security forces preemptively arrested 
approximately 70 leaders, members, and supporters of the SCNC; such 
arrests were conducted to prevent persons from participating in 
political meetings.
    On numerous occasions throughout the year, authorities refused to 
grant the SCNC permission to hold rallies and meetings. Security forces 
disrupted SCNC meetings, including in private residences, arresting 
SCNC activists and releasing them a couple of days later. For example, 
on April 27, gendarmes arrested 65 SCNC activists in Oku, in the 
Northwest Province, while they were holding a meeting in a private 
residence. They were not charged and were released four days later. On 
May 7, the Bamenda police broke up Hitler Mbinglo Humphrey's press 
conference in the Musang-Rendez-vous neighborhood, arresting Mbinglo 
Humphrey and three others. The police subsequently arrested 17 other 
activists who protested the arrest of their leaders. They were released 
after a brief detention.
    In August SDF Chairman Fru Ndi was accused of being responsible for 
violence that resulted in the death (see Section 1.a.).
    On September 16, gendarmes from the Bamenda gendarmerie legion in 
the Northwest Province arrested five SCNC activists in their office: 
Fidelis Tchenkwo, Emmanuel Enu, Prescilla Khan, Elvis Bandzeka, and 
Cletus She. They were released after a brief detention. The SCNC 
claimed that the arrests were to prevent the activists from preparing 
and holding a meeting of the ``Northern Zone.''
    On September 19, the Prefect of Mezam Division in the Northwest 
Province signed an order banning all public meetings, rallies, or 
gatherings of more than four persons and prohibiting access to 
electronic media for any SCNC official or sympathizer.
    On October 1, security forces arrested and detained some activists 
in the Northwest and Southwest provinces for activities such as raising 
an SCNC flag in a public market place. They were released after a few 
days' detention.
    On October 1, the Bamenda police blocked access to radio and 
television stations, put the houses of SCNC officials and activists 
under surveillance, and searched the houses of some SCNC leaders, 
including Chief Ayamba Ette, the SCNC chairman, Nfor Ngalla Nfor, the 
vice President, and Binlo Hitler, the President of the Northern Zone.
    In advance of the annual celebration of Southern Cameroon 
``independence'' on October 1, the Government engaged in a campaign of 
closing down SCNC rallies and meetings.
    There were no developments in the 2005 arrests of three SCNC 
members charged with disturbing the public order.
    The Government also continued to hold some SCNC activists in 
temporary detention pending trials.
    Women held 18 of 180 seats in the National Assembly, six of 61 
cabinet posts, and a few of the higher offices within the major 
political parties, including the ruling CPDM.
    Many of the key members of the Government were drawn from the 
President's Beti/Bulu ethnic group, as were disproportionately large 
numbers of military officers and CPDM officials. Pygmies were not 
represented in the National Assembly or the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a 
serious problem in all branches of government. The public perception 
was that judicial and administrative officials were open to bribes in 
almost all situations. According to a Transparency International survey 
published in December 2005, an average household paid $205 (113,000 CFA 
francs) each year in bribes, or more than 20 percent of the average 
person's annual income; the average annual income per person was 
approximately $800 (440,000 CFA francs).
    According to Transparency International's 2006 Corruption 
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was 
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,'' 
which was the most severe assessment designation used by Transparency 
International.
    Unlike in the previous year, international activists did not 
criticize the Government's lack of transparency in managing revenues 
from an international oil pipeline.
    During the year the Government also took some steps to fight 
corruption. For example, on January 25, the Government officially 
launched the activities of the National Agency for the Investigation of 
Financial Crimes (ANIF). Part of its mission is to fight money 
laundering, corruption-related enrichment, and the embezzlement of 
public funds.
    On February 3, ANIF conducted a working session with the managers 
of the financial institutions to train them on effectively 
participating in the fight against corruption.
    On March 11, the President signed a decree repealing the order that 
created the National Corruption Observatory and a decree creating the 
National Anticorruption Commission, which replaced the observatory. The 
commission is under the President's authority. Its leading mission was 
to monitor and evaluate the effective implementation of the 
Government's anticorruption plan. It also gathered, centralized, and 
analyzed allegations and information regarding corrupt practices. 
Findings of the investigations conducted by the commission could lead 
to disciplinary or legal proceedings.
    During the year the Government sanctioned approximately 45 
government employees and senior officials on corruption and 
embezzlement charges. Sanctions ranged from suspensions to dismissals.
    On April 6, the National Assembly passed legislation requiring 
senior state administrators and managers to declare their assets after 
their appointment and again when they leave office.
    On October 5, the National Assembly lifted the parliamentary 
immunity of Edouard Etonde Ekoto, the former board chairman of the 
Douala Port Authority, and Andre Boto'o a Ngon, the former board 
chairman of the Cameroon Real Estate Corporation, in connection with 
the high profile arrests of Ndong, Belinga, and Edou. Prosecutors 
interrogated them and while they were formally charged with embezzling 
public funds, Ekoto and Ngon were not arrested. Interrogations 
continued at year's end.
    There were publicized prosecutions of government officials accused 
of corruption during the year.
    The Government began legal proceedings against the general managers 
of three government-owned corporations and some of their close 
collaborators. On February 21, police arrested Emmanuel Ondo Ndong, 
general manager of FEICOM, the financial institution that funds 
councils; Gilles Roger Belinga, the general manager of the Cameroon 
Real Estate Corporation; and Joseph Edou, the general manager of Credit 
Foncier, a real estate funding company. In connection with these cases, 
the prosecutor ordered the arrest and detention of 52 persons who were 
already under pretrial detention. The trials, which began in December, 
were still ongoing at year's end.
    On February 24, Minister of Energy and Water Resources Alphonse 
Siyan Siwe was arrested, and dismissed from his job, on corruption 
charges stemming from his tenure as the director of the Douala Port 
before he joined the Government in December 2004. The investigation was 
still ongoing at year's end.
    On May 23, the prosecutor of Mbalmayo (Center Province) ordered the 
arrest and detention of Dieudonne Zang Mba Obele, for embezzlement of 
public funds. Hearings were held in June and Obele was ultimately 
released for lack of evidence.
    There were no developments in the 2005 government corruption case 
in which three postal service officers were accused of embezzling $2 
million (101 million CFA francs) in public funds in 2002.
    In March 2005 the Government installed a new computer program to 
detect fraud by government employees and to better control the number 
of its civil servants and employees. By year's end the system revealed 
at least 3,000 ``ghost'' employees who did not exist or who were 
fraudulently drawing salaries. From the end of 2005 to March, the 
Government sanctioned scores of fraudulent employees.
    In June and August 2005, the Government hired 22 potential 
candidates for the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court. In August 2005 the 
candidates started a two-month training program at the National School 
of Administration and Magistracy. In December 2005 the President 
appointed them Audit Bench Magistrates and they became fully active 
during the year.
    There were no laws providing citizens with access to government 
information, and in practice such access was difficult to obtain. Most 
government documents, such as statistics, letters exchanged between 
various administrations, draft legislation, and investigation reports, 
were not available to the public or the media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing findings on human rights cases; however, government 
officials repeatedly impeded the effectiveness of local human rights 
NGOs during the year by harassing members of human rights groups, 
limiting access to prisoners, refusing to share information, and 
threatening and using violence against personnel. Philip Njaru, a human 
rights activist and executive director of the Kumba-based Friends of 
the Press Network, a human rights organization in Southwest Province, 
reported that police continued to harass him throughout the year.
    Access to prisons by international NGOs reportedly improved during 
the year (see Section 1.c.).
    The activities of virtually all of these groups were limited by a 
shortage of funds and trained personnel. Observers criticized the 
country's NGO laws for giving the Government the power to deny NGOs 
authorization to operate and to eliminate them by decree.
    Numerous domestic human rights NGOs operated in the country, 
including, among others, the National League for Human Rights, the 
Organization for Human Rights and Freedoms, the Association of Women 
against Violence, the Movement for the Defense of Human Rights and 
Freedoms, and the Cameroonian Association of Female Jurists.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government arrested NGO members.
    In September 2005 Amnesty International released a report, 
Contracting Out of Human Rights: The Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project, 
that criticized the Government for placing financial interests above 
the concerns of citizens. Citing claims that the 2003 construction of 
an oil pipeline running from Douba in southern Chad to the port city of 
Kribi in the southwest of the country had damaged the livelihoods of 
fishermen, Amnesty International called on the Government to offer 
recourse to the fishermen and to amend the agreements with oil 
companies to safeguard human rights. The Government continued to work 
with the conglomerate running the pipeline to identify communities 
affected by the pipeline and to offer remuneration and other self-help 
projects.
    The Government cooperated with international governmental 
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other 
organizations such as the ICRC.
    The NCHRF, instituted in the 1990s, has the authority to summon 
witnesses and publish reports and the findings of its investigations. 
In July 2005 the President signed the implementing decree for a law 
passed by the National Assembly in 2004 that expanded the powers of the 
NCHRF and authorized it to summon witnesses and publish reports and 
investigative findings. It also created a permanent secretariat and a 
division in charge of the protection and promotion of human rights and 
freedoms. While the NCHRF remained hampered by a shortage of funds, 
during the year it conducted a number of investigations into human 
rights abuses, visited prisons, and organized several human rights 
seminars aimed at judicial officials, security personnel, and other 
government officers. Although the commission infrequently criticized 
the Government's human rights abuses publicly, its staff intervened 
with government officials in specific cases of human rights abuses by 
security forces, attempted to stop ``Friday arrests'' (see Section 
1.d.), and sought to obtain medical attention for jailed suspects in 
specific cases. In September the President signed a decree appointing 
members to the commission and dismissing all incumbents but the 
chairman. The incumbents were appointed 15 years ago.
    In February 2005 the Government created a division of human rights 
in the Ministry of Justice to investigate and report on all cases of 
human rights abuses in the areas under the ministry's responsibility, 
including prisons, jails, and courtrooms.
    During the year the Government published its own human rights 
report, which included a complete list of all the legal rights and 
protections afforded to citizens.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law does not explicitly forbid discrimination based on race, 
language, or social status, but does prohibit discrimination based on 
gender and mandates that ``everyone has equal rights and obligations.'' 
The Government, however, did not enforce these provisions effectively. 
Violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, 
discrimination against ethnic minorities, and discrimination against 
homosexuals were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was common. While there 
were no reliable statistics, a large number of newspaper reports 
indicated that the problem was widespread. The law does not 
specifically prohibit domestic violence. While assault is prohibited 
and is punishable by prison terms and fines, the Government did not 
effectively enforce it in cases of assault on women. Women's rights 
advocates asserted that the law does not impose effective penalties 
against men who commit acts of domestic violence. There are no gender-
specific assault laws, even though women were the predominant victims 
of domestic violence. Spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce. 
In cases of sexual assault, a victim's family or village often imposed 
direct, summary punishment on the suspected perpetrator through 
extralegal means, ranging from destruction of property to beating. 
During the year there were no reports of any convictions or of any 
action by the Government to combat domestic violence.
    The law prohibits rape; although rape occurred, police and the 
courts rarely investigated and prosecuted rape cases, which resulted in 
some convictions during the year. Official and private media regularly 
covered rape cases handled by the courts. During the year newspapers 
covered nine high profile rape cases which resulted in the arrest and 
detention of the perpetrators, whose pending trials were ongoing. In 
2005 a couple of newspapers released special issues on the problem of 
rape, which was becoming acute, particularly in Douala and Yaounde. 
According to one of the reports, the Douala Courts heard approximately 
40 cases per month.
    The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), and FGM 
was not practiced widely; however, it continued to be practiced in 
isolated areas in three of the 10 provinces, including some areas of 
Far North, Eastern, and Southwest provinces.
    Internal migration contributed to the spread of FGM to different 
parts of the country. The majority of FGM procedures were 
clitorectomies. The severest form of FGM, infibulation, was performed 
in the Kajifu region of the Southwest Province. FGM usually was 
practiced on infants and preadolescent girls. Public health centers in 
areas where FGM is frequently practiced counseled women about the 
harmful consequences of FGM; however, the Government did not prosecute 
any persons charged with performing FGM. The Association of Women 
Against Violence continued to conduct a program in Maroua to assist 
victims of FGM and their families and to educate local populations.
    During the year breast ironing emerged as another form of violence 
against women, practiced in an effort to protect prematurely well-
developed young girls from predatory older men. NGOs were leading 
public awareness campaigns to combat this practice.
    While the law prohibits prostitution, it was tolerated. 
Prostitution was practiced predominantly in urban areas and places 
frequented by tourists. Trafficking for the purposes of commercial 
sexual exploitation occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of a foreign 
pharmaceutical company that had conducted a clinical study of a drug 
intended to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among 400 female 
prostitutes, none of whom had HIV at the beginning of the trial. Local 
and international NGOs criticized the company and the Ministry of 
Health for lack of transparency and negligence, asserting that the 
Government and the company did not sufficiently inform the prostitutes 
of the risks involved with taking part in the trials. In response to 
the allegations of misconduct, the Ministry of Health suspended the 
clinical tests in 2005, citing ``dysfunctions'' and saying that 
``certain corrective measures'' needed to be taken by the research 
team. The minister also set up an independent inquiry, which reported 
that although allegations about safety made by certain NGOs were not 
true, new procedures needed to be instituted to ensure more regular 
reporting and study site accreditation before the trials could resume.
    While the law prohibits sexual harassment, very few cases were 
reported or prosecuted during the year. The Government did not conduct 
any public education campaigns on the subject and there were no 
statistics available on its occurrence.
    Despite constitutional provisions recognizing women's rights, women 
did not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men. Some points of 
civil law were prejudicial to women.
    The law allows a husband to oppose his wife's right to work in a 
separate profession if the protest is made in the interest of the 
household and the family; a husband may also end his wife's commercial 
activity by notifying the clerk of the commerce tribunal of his 
opposition based upon the family's interest. Partly for this reason, 
some employers required a husband's permission before hiring female 
employees.
    Customary law is far more discriminatory against women, since in 
many regions a woman traditionally was regarded as the property of her 
husband. Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions, 
civil laws protecting women often are not respected. In the customary 
law of some ethnic groups, husbands not only maintain complete control 
over family property, but also can divorce their wives in a traditional 
court without being required to provide either verifiable justification 
or alimony. Polygamy is permitted by law and tradition. In cases of 
divorce, the husband's wishes determine the custody of children over 
the age of six. While a man may be convicted of adultery only if the 
sexual act takes place in his home, a woman may be convicted without 
respect to venue.
    Traditional law normally governs the extent to which a woman may 
inherit from her husband in the absence of a will, and traditions 
varied from group to group. In many traditional societies, customs 
grant greater authority and benefit to male heirs than to female heirs. 
Women were also forced to marry and in some regions parents could, and 
did, give girls away in marriage without the bride's consent. Often the 
husband, who could be many years older than his bride, paid his wife's 
parents a ``bride price.'' Once a price had been paid, the girl was 
considered the husband's property. When a married man died, his widow 
often was unable to collect any inheritance, since she herself was 
considered part of the man's property. Often the widow was forced to 
marry one of the deceased husband's brothers. If she refused, she had 
to repay the bride price in full and leave the family compound. In the 
northern provinces, some Lamibe reportedly prevented their wives and 
concubines from leaving the palace. The lack of a national legal code 
covering such family issues often left women defenseless against these 
male-oriented customs.
    In 2004 religious leaders, including Catholics, Protestants, and 
Muslims, launched a nationwide program to fight violence against women.

    Children.--During the year the Government made some efforts to 
protect children's rights and welfare, including participation in 
seminars on children's rights.
    The law provides for a child's right to education, and schooling 
was mandatory through the age of 14 and free in public primary schools. 
Since parents had to pay uniform and book fees for primary school, and 
because tuition and other fees for secondary education remained costly, 
education was largely unaffordable for many children. The Government 
took measures during the year to improve access to schools, such as the 
construction of new classrooms, recruitment of new teachers, and 
provision of water fountains.
    According to 2005 government statistics, 72.2 percent of girls 
between the ages of six and 14 were enrolled in school, compared to 
81.3 percent of boys in the same age group. According to the UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the secondary school enrollment ratio (gross) 
was 36 percent for boys and 29 percent for girls. The low education 
rate continued to be attributed to socio-cultural prejudices, early 
marriage, sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancy, and domestic chores.
    A 2004 government study found there is a large gap between the 
capacity of the schools and the number of potential students. According 
to the study, preschools served only 16 percent of the potential 
student population. Within the school system, the northern provinces 
were the most underprivileged, with only 5.7 percent of all teachers 
working in the Adamawa, North, and Extreme North provinces combined. 
The study showed that elementary schools only had enough seats for 1.8 
million students, although 2.9 million attended school.
    The Government provided limited and basic medical care through 
local clinics and hospitals as well as through a limited number of 
school doctors. Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided 
medical care.
    The exact extent of familial child abuse was not known, although 
children's rights organizations targeted the problem. Newspaper reports 
often cited children as victims of kidnapping, mutilation, and even 
infanticide. There were several credible stories of mothers (usually 
young, unemployed, and unmarried) abandoning their newborns in streets, 
garbage cans, and pit toilets.
    FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    While the minimum legal age for a woman to marry is 15, many 
families facilitated the marriage of young girls by the age of 12. 
Early marriage was prevalent in the northern provinces of Adamawa and 
North, but was particularly characteristic of the remote Far North 
Province, where many women as young as 13 faced severe health risks 
from pregnancies. There were no statistics on the prevalence of child 
marriage. Anecdotal evidence indicates that some parents might have 
promised a female baby to an older male in order to begin receiving 
dowry payments.
    There were reports of child prostitution and trafficking in 
children during the year (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    Although exact numbers were unavailable, the country had a 
significant number of displaced or street children, most of whom 
resided in urban areas such as Yaounde and Douala.
    On July 24, the Douala gendarmerie legion deported approximately 30 
street children from the Akwa neighborhood to a suburb 18 miles from 
the city. The gendarmes' operation followed a series of aggravated 
thefts, allegedly perpetrated by the street children. The children were 
reportedly left along the road because there was no facility to harbor 
them, and they subsequently returned to Douala by their own means.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons, but the law does prohibit slavery, 
prostitution, forced labor, and other crimes related to trafficking in 
persons and establishes minimum age requirements for workers. 
Trafficking remained a problem. Courts prosecuted traffickers using 
various provisions of the Penal Code that address related crimes. The 
country was a source, transit, and destination point for 
internationally trafficked persons; trafficking also occurred within 
the country. The Anti-Child Trafficking law, drafted by the Government 
in cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO), took 
effect in December 2005.
    The law provides that any person who engages in crimes often 
associated with trafficking in persons shall be punished by prison 
terms of between six months and 20 years.
    The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Insurance was 
primarily responsible for fighting trafficking; however, the ministry 
was severely underfunded. It was believed that authorities prosecuted 
several trafficking cases during the year, but actual rates were 
difficult to determine since traffickers could be prosecuted under 
various sections of the penal code; there was no system for tracking 
outcomes.
    In February 2005 a Yaounde court sentenced an individual named 
Nkodo to three years in jail and ordered her to pay damages of $2,000 
(one million CFA francs) to her victim, a 19-year-old girl who worked 
for her as a prostitute.
    In May 2005 gendarmes in Yaounde dismantled a prostitution ring 
which exploited young boys. The boys were lured into the ring with 
promises of being hired by prestigious soccer clubs in a foreign 
country. Police arrested three of the organization's five members, who 
were in detention and awaiting trial at year's end; the other two were 
still in hiding. The boys were returned home.
    In May 2005 police arrested three members of a homosexual and 
pedophile network of child traffickers. The three were formally charged 
and put under detention in the Yaounde central prison pending trial.
    In June 2005 police arrested three individuals, including a local 
woman and two Gabonese men, in the South Province close to the Gabonese 
border. The three individuals were arrested while trying to smuggle two 
13-year-old girls, who were kidnapped in the Boyo Division of the 
Northwest Province, into Gabon. The three were put under detention 
pending trial. During the investigation, South Province police 
officials said it was the third time that they had arrested traffickers 
at the country's borders with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
    The Government continued to fight trafficking through the use of an 
interagency committee and a program to find and return trafficked 
children. In addition the Government cooperated with Gabon, Nigeria, 
Togo, and Benin in fighting trafficking through the exchange of 
information and preparation of common legislation on trafficking. In 
2005 the ILO and some local NGOs briefed parliamentarians on the 
problem of trafficking in persons.
    Women and children traditionally have faced the greatest risk of 
trafficking and have been trafficked most often for the purposes of 
sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most trafficking in children 
occurred within the country's borders, while most trafficked women were 
transported out of the country. According to anecdotal evidence from 
the NCHRF, women often were ``hired'' into hubs of prostitution, often 
in Europe. The method for trafficking women usually involved a marriage 
proposition by a foreign businessman. The woman was inducted into 
servitude upon arrival at a foreign destination. Girls were internally 
trafficked from the Adamawa, North, Far North, and Northwest provinces 
to Douala and Yaounde to work as domestic servants, street vendors, or 
prostitutes. Children were also internally trafficked to work on cocoa 
bean plantations. There have been credible reports of slavery, 
especially in some chiefdoms in the North Province (see Section 6.c.). 
For example, there were reports that the Lamido (the traditional Muslim 
chief) of Rey Bouba in the Northern Province held slaves inside his 
compound. Although he was replaced by his son in 2004, there was no 
indication that the slaves were released.
    According to a 2005 study by the International Circle for the 
Promotion of Creation and the Cameroon Society for Prevention of Child 
Abuse and Neglect, of 722 young girls between nine and 20 years old 
interviewed in the cities of Yaounde, Douala, Bamenda, and Bafoussam, 
291 were the victims of sexual exploitation.
    There were no reports of radio advertisements offering to take 
adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 17 to Yaounde and Douala 
for domestic labor; however, there continued to be flyer 
advertisements.
    A 2000 ILO study conducted in Yaounde, Douala, and Bamenda, 
reported that trafficking accounted for 84 percent of child laborers in 
those three cities. Local NGOs believed this statistic was still 
accurate. In most cases, intermediaries presented themselves as 
businessmen, approaching parents with large families or custodians of 
orphans and promising to assist the child with education or 
professional training. The intermediary paid parents an average of $12 
(6,000 CFA francs) before transporting the child to a city where the 
intermediary would subject the child to forced labor with little 
remuneration. In four out of 10 cases, the child was a foreigner 
transported to the country for labor. The report also indicated that 
the country was a transit country for regional traffickers, who 
transported children between Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Chad, Togo, the 
Republic of the Congo, and the CAR for indentured or domestic 
servitude, farm labor, and sexual exploitation. Citizens also were 
trafficked to South Africa.
    During the year the ILO and the Government continued to support an 
awareness campaign to eradicate child trafficking in airports. Special 
antitrafficking embarkation and disembarkation cards continued to be 
designed and distributed. The cards described the dangers of 
trafficking and how to recognize the phenomenon.
    The Government continued to work with local and international NGOs 
to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of trafficking. 
In August 2005 a local NGO graduated 70 trafficking victims from its 
rehabilitation and reintegration program. The Catholic Relief Service 
worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child 
prostitution. UNICEF was also actively engaged in combating girls' 
prostitution throughout the year.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides certain rights to 
persons with disabilities, including access to public institutions, 
medical treatment, and education, and the Government was obliged to 
bear part of the educational expense of persons with disabilities, to 
employ them where possible, and to provide them with public assistance 
when necessary. On August 2, the minister of secondary education and 
the minister of social affairs signed an order that made access to 
public secondary education free for persons with disabilities and 
children born of poor parents with disabilities. There were few 
facilities for persons with disabilities and little public assistance; 
lack of facilities and care for persons with mental disabilities was 
particularly acute. Society largely tended to treat those with 
disabilities as outcasts, and many felt that providing assistance was 
the responsibility of churches or foreign NGOs. The law does not 
mandate special access provisions to private buildings and facilities 
for persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population consists of more 
than 200 ethnic groups, among which there were frequent and credible 
allegations of discrimination. Ethnic groups commonly gave preferential 
treatment to fellow ethnic group members in business and social 
practices. Members of the President's Beti/Bulu ethnic group from 
southern parts of the country held key positions and were 
disproportionately represented in government, state-owned businesses, 
the security forces, and the ruling CPDM party.
    There were no developments in the 2005 M'Bororo case against 
Alhadji Baba Ahmadou Danpullo. Since 1986 the M'Bororo have claimed 
that Danpullo kidnapped M'Bororo women, forcibly displaced the M'Bororo 
and seized their land and cattle, and used his money and influence with 
the Government to order the beating and false imprisonment of members 
of the M'Bororo.
    Northern areas of the country continued to suffer from ethnic 
tensions between the Fulani (or Peuhl) and the Kirdi. The Kirdi 
remained socially, educationally, and economically disadvantaged 
relative to the Fulani in the three northern provinces. Traditional 
Fulani rulers, called Lamibe, continued to wield great power over their 
subjects, often including Kirdi, sometimes subjecting them to tithing 
and forced labor. Isolated cases of slavery were reported, largely 
Fulani enslavement of Kirdi.
    Natives of the Northwest and Southwest provinces tended to support 
the opposition party SDF and consequently suffered disproportionately 
from human rights abuses committed by the Government and its security 
forces. The anglophone community was underrepresented in the public 
sector. Although citizens in certain francophone areas--the East, Far 
North, North, and Adamawa provinces--voiced similar complaints about 
under-representation and government neglect, anglophones said they 
generally believed that they had not received a fair share of public 
sector goods and services within their two provinces. Some residents of 
the anglophone region sought greater freedom, equality of opportunity, 
and better government by regaining regional autonomy rather than 
through national political reform and have formed several quasi-
political organizations in pursuit of their goals.
    Police and gendarmes subjected illegal immigrants from Nigeria and 
Chad to harsh treatment and imprisonment and often targeted Nigerian 
and Chadian communities when seeking to identify illegal immigrants. 
During raids, members of the security forces extorted money from those 
who did not have regular residence permits or those who did not have 
valid receipts for store merchandise. Some members of the country's 
large community of Nigerian immigrants complained of discrimination and 
abuse by government officials. Authorities repeatedly announced 
crackdowns on undocumented Nigerian immigrants, and illegal immigrants 
were subject to harassment on some occasions, although at a lower level 
than in previous years.

    Indigenous People.--Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Baka, Bakola, 
and Bagyeli (Pygmies) primarily reside (and were the earliest known 
inhabitants) in the forested areas of the South and East provinces. 
While no legal discrimination exists, other groups often treated the 
Baka as inferior and sometimes subjected them to unfair and 
exploitative labor practices. Baka reportedly continued to complain 
that the forests they inhabit were being logged without fair 
compensation. Some observers believed that sustained logging was 
destroying the Baka's unique, forest-oriented belief system, forcing 
them to adapt their traditional social and economic systems to a more 
rigid modern society similar to their Bantu neighbors.
    Local Baka along the path of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline continued 
to complain that they were not compensated fairly for their land. 
Others alleged that they had been cheated of their compensation by 
persons posing as Baka representatives. On June 22, the committee in 
charge of the follow-up on the pipeline organized an evaluation seminar 
to determine compensation for the Bakola and Bagyeli. The committee 
agreed that despite improved access to education and healthcare, much 
remained to be done to improve living conditions for the pygmies.
    An estimated 95 percent of Baka did not have national identity 
cards; most Baka could not afford to provide the necessary 
documentation to obtain national identity cards, which were required to 
vote in national elections. In 2004 Plan International and another NGO 
launched a program to educate Bakas about their political rights, which 
included the construction of a communal radio in the region of Abong-
Mbang (Upper Nyong Division, East Province).
    In August 2005 the Ministry of Social Affairs launched the Project 
to Support the Economic and Social Development of Bakas in South 
Province. The mission of the three-year project was to allow the 
issuance of birth certificates and national identity cards to 2,300 
Bakas, as well as to help register hundreds of students in school.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexual activity is 
illegal, with a possible prison sentence of six months to five years 
and a possible fine ranging from approximately $40 to $400 (20,000 to 
200,000 CFA francs). While prosecution under this law was rare, 
homosexuals suffered from harassment and extortion by law enforcement 
officials. In addition, false allegations of homosexuality were used to 
harass enemies or to extort money.
    There were new developments in the May 2005 arrest of 17 suspected 
homosexuals; five of whom were released shortly after their arrest for 
lack of evidence. On June 12, the Yaounde First Instance Court found 
the remaining men guilty of sodomy and sentenced them to 10 months in 
jail, although they were subsequently released for time served.
    In June the administration of the Douala-based Eyengue Nkongo 
College, a private high school, expelled 34 students (including 12 
females), alleging they were homosexuals. One female student was 
arrested upon her expulsion. One woman who lived near the school and 
two former schoolmates were also arrested. On July 7, the Douala First 
Instance Court released them after giving them a suspended three-year 
prison term and a fine of $50 (25,000 CFA francs) on homosexuality 
charges.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join trade unions. However, the Government imposed numerous 
restrictions. The law does not permit the creation of a union that 
includes both public and private sector workers, or the creation of a 
union that includes different, even closely related, sectors.
    The law requires that unions register with the Government, 
permitting groups of no less than 20 workers to organize a union by 
submitting a constitution, internal regulations, and nonconviction 
certifications for each founding member. The law provides for prison 
sentences and fines for workers who form a union and carry out union 
activities without registration. Government officials said that the 
Government provided union certification within one month of 
application. However, independent unions, especially in the public 
sector, have found it difficult to register.
    Registered unions were subject to government interference. The 
Government chose the unions with which it would bargain; some 
independent unions accused the Government of creating small 
nonrepresentative unions amenable to government positions and with 
which it could ``negotiate'' more easily. Some sections of labor law 
have no force or effect because the presidency had not issued 
implementing decrees.
    In January and February 2005, the Ministry of Labor, with the 
assistance of experts from the ILO, held discussions with all trade 
unions in an effort to put in place a system for tracking and 
recognizing unions that would meet international criteria. The initial 
focus of this effort was on determining the actual, paid membership of 
each union to determine the size and importance of each group.
    In 2005 the Government restricted the civil rights of union 
leaders. For example, in 2005, police arrested and detained Alain 
Marcellin Mibo (for one hour), the leader of the Primary Education 
Teachers Association. For several weeks Mibo and his colleagues had 
been holding sit-ins in front of the Prime Minister's office to demand 
that they be given full-time civil servant status, instead of the part-
time or temporary status they were employed under.
    The constitution and law prohibit antiunion discrimination and 
employers guilty of such discrimination were subject to fines of up to 
approximately $2,000 (one million CFA francs). However, employers found 
guilty were not required to compensate the workers for discrimination 
or to reinstate fired workers. The Ministry of Labor did not report any 
complaints of antiunion discrimination during the year, although there 
were credible press reports of union leader harassment.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 
constitution and law provide for collective bargaining between workers 
and management as well as between labor federations and business 
associations in each sector of the economy. Two formal collective 
bargaining negotiations took place during the year, one with truck 
drivers and one in the tourism sector, including hotels, bars, 
restaurants, and night clubs.
    There were no developments in the 2005 media sector collective 
bargaining dispute.
    When labor disputes arose, the Government chose the labor union 
with which it would negotiate, selectively excluding some labor 
representatives. Once agreements were negotiated, there was no 
mechanism to enforce implementation; some agreements between the 
Government and labor unions were ignored by the Government.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 case involving workers 
from AES-Sonel who, through the Confederation of Free Cameroon Trade 
Unions, sought to annul a March 2005 collective bargaining agreement.
    The Labor Code explicitly recognizes workers' right to strike but 
only after mandatory arbitration, and workers exercised this right 
during the year. Arbitration decisions are legally binding, but often 
unenforceable because the parties refuse to cooperate. It is not 
uncommon for such decisions to be overturned or simply ignored by the 
Government or employers. The provision of the law allowing persons to 
strike does not apply to civil servants, employees of the penitentiary 
system, or workers responsible for national security. Instead of 
strikes, civil servants were required to negotiate grievances directly 
with the minister of the appropriate department in addition to the 
minister of labor.
    In June there were five separate strikes, although some of them 
were related.
    There were no developments in the 2004 case involving workers from 
the National Agency for Support to Forestry Development.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports 
that such practices occurred. Authorities continued to allow prison 
inmates to be contracted out to private employers or used as communal 
labor for municipal public works. Money generated from these activities 
was usually pocketed by prison administrators and not given to 
detainees.
    The ILO confirmed that there was an increase during the year in 
serious trafficking issues, and slavery situations have been identified 
in the northern provinces (see Section 5). NGOs and religious 
associations reported that children were kidnapped, sold, or ``lent'' 
by their parents to individuals claiming to look after their interests 
and sent to Yaounde or Douala to work in child beggar networks and, in 
some cases, prostitution rings. Some children were sent to neighboring 
countries to work. These victims were generally of both sexes and 
between the ages of six and 14 years old. According to a local human 
rights monitor the majority of parents implicated in this practice were 
naive, thinking only of the money to be earned and failing to imagine 
the conditions in to which their children would be placed.
    In the South and East provinces, some Baka, including children, 
continued to be subjected to unfair and exploitative labor practices by 
landowners, including work on the landowners' farms during harvest 
seasons without payment (see Section 5).
    The Government expressly prohibits forced and compulsory labor by 
children, but these practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law generally protects children from exploitation in the workplace and 
specifies penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment for 
infringement; however, child labor remained a problem. The Government 
specifically prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, but 
there were reports that it occurred in practice.
    The law sets a minimum age of 14 for child employment, which is 
inconsistent with the age for completing educational requirements (see 
Section 5).
    The law also bans night work and enumerates tasks that children 
under the age of 18 cannot legally perform. These included moving heavy 
objects, dangerous and unhealthy tasks, working in confined areas, and 
prostitution. The law also states that a child's workday cannot exceed 
eight hours. Employers were required to train children between the ages 
of 14 and 18, and work contracts must contain a training provision for 
minors. The prohibition against night work was not effectively 
enforced.
    Information on child labor was difficult to obtain. However, 
according to a 2000 study by the ILO and Ministry of Labor, child labor 
existed chiefly in urban areas and in the informal sector such as 
street vending, car washing, agricultural work, and domestic service. 
Many urban street vendors were less than 14 years of age. An increasing 
number of children worked as household help, and some children were 
involved in prostitution. In the north there were credible reports that 
children from needy homes were placed with other families to do 
household work for pay. In the nation's major cities of Yaounde, 
Douala, and Bamenda, the ILO estimated that 40 percent of employed 
children were girls, of whom 7 percent were less than 12 years of age, 
and 60 percent had dropped out of primary school.
    Parents viewed child labor as both a tradition and a rite of 
passage. Relatives often employed rural youth, especially girls, as 
domestic helpers, and these jobs seldom allowed time for the children 
to attend school. In rural areas, many children began work at an early 
age on family farms. The cocoa industry also employed child laborers. 
According to estimates, up to 8,000 underaged children (between the 
ages of five and 17) were working in the cocoa industry at year's end. 
These children originated, for the most part, from the Northern and 
Northwestern provinces.
    In March 2005 the ILO presented the preliminary draft of the ILO 
West Africa Cocoa/Agriculture Program to eliminate child labor. The 
program was started in the country in 2003 and ended in April. The 
program met its goal by removing approximately 1,300 children from 
hazardous work and forced labor conditions in the cocoa sector by 
March. Lack of additional funding for the program, however, raised 
concerns about what will happen to these rescued children.
    The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Labor were 
responsible for enforcing existing child labor laws through site 
inspections of registered businesses; however, the Government did not 
allocate sufficient resources to support an effective inspection 
program. Moreover, the legal prohibitions do not include family chores, 
which in many instances were beyond a child's capacity. In 2005 the 
Government employed 58 general labor inspectors to investigate child 
labor cases.
    During the year foreign government officials visited the Cameroon 
Development Cooperation's (CDC) Del Monte banana and rubber 
plantations. They found children as young as six and seven working in 
the Tiko banana plantation, carrying heavy banana bunches on their 
heads, carting water to the fields, working around the nurseries, or 
harvesting rubber from the trees. Officials denied that children under 
21 were hired on the plantation. Foreign observers, having met with 
both CDC and Del Monte officials, were satisfied that the companies 
neither recruited nor condoned child labor (and had systems in place to 
prevent this), and that the children observed at the Tiko project were 
primarily ``free lancers,'' village children delivering water or 
collecting discarded bananas. There were fewer controls at the rubber 
plantation, where officials admitted that children often collected 
rubber in the mornings and evenings, mostly to help their family 
members working on the plantation.
    The ILO continued to work with specific contact persons in various 
ministries and agencies involved in antitrafficking activities; it also 
conducted nationwide investigations and cooperated with local 
organizations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was 
approximately $47 (23,514 CFA francs) per month and was applicable in 
all sectors. The minimum wage did not provide for a decent standard of 
living for an average worker and family. The Ministry of Labor was 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage nationally.
    The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours in public and 
private nonagricultural firms and 48 hours in agricultural and related 
activities. There are exceptions for guards and firemen (56 hours a 
week), service sector staff (45 hours a week), and household and 
restaurant staff (54 hours a week). The law mandates at least 24 
consecutive hours of weekly rest. Premium pay for overtime ranges from 
120 to 150 percent of the hourly pay depending on amount and whether it 
is for weekend or late-night overtime. There is a prohibition on 
excessive compulsory service. Ministry of Labor inspectors were 
responsible for monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the 
resources for a comprehensive inspection program.
    The Government sets health and safety standards. Ministry of Labor 
inspectors and occupational health physicians were responsible for 
monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the resources for a 
comprehensive inspection program. The law does not provide workers with 
the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or 
safety without jeopardizing their continued employment.

                               __________

                               CAPE VERDE

    Cape Verde, with a population of approximately 460,000, is a 
multiparty parliamentary democracy in which constitutional powers are 
shared among the elected head of state, President Pedro Verona 
Rodrigues Pires, and Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves. Pires was 
reelected for a second five-year term on February 12 in generally free 
and fair elections. Nationwide legislative elections held on January 22 
also were declared generally free and fair. Civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The human rights 
problems reported were police abuse of detainees, poor prison 
conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, excessive trial delays, media 
self-censorship, violence and discrimination against women, child 
abuse, child labor, and juvenile crime.Persons under the age of 16, who 
are not legally accountable, committed murder and other serious crimes 
which violated other persons' human rights.
    The Government approved a project to improve prison conditions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were credible reports that police continued to beat persons in 
custody and in detention.
    In October 2005 Corporal Sandro Santos was struck 25 times with a 
baton as punishment ordered by his company commander, Domingos Lima 
Rocha. Rocha was not reprimanded or prosecuted during the year. Santos' 
family filed a criminal suit against the army, and the case was still 
pending at year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
poor, and facilities were severely overcrowded. Sanitation and medical 
assistance were poor; however, a doctor and nurse were available, and 
prisoners were taken to public hospitals for serious medical problems. 
Psychological problems among prisoners were common.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners 
were killed.
    In December 2005 one prisoner was killed and three persons injured, 
including one guard, in a riot at the Sao Martinho Prison. Prisoners 
attacked the police during the riot, and the police reportedly shot one 
prisoner. There were allegations of abuse by prison guards following 
the riot, and after a judiciary police investigation, the case was 
awaiting trial at year's end.
    Juveniles were held together with adults, and pretrial detainees 
were held together with convicted prisoners.
    The Government permitted formal visits by international human 
rights monitors to prisons and visits to individual prisoners; however, 
there were no such visits during the year. Local nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) and media representatives frequently visited the 
prisons and reported on prison conditions.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is 
organized nationally under the Ministry of Internal Administration and 
is made up of the public order police who are responsible for law 
enforcement and the judicial police who are responsible for 
investigations. Logistical constraints, including lack of vehicles, 
limited communications equipment, and poor forensic capacity, limited 
police effectiveness. Corruption was not a significant problem.
    Impunity was a problem. Police action was in many instances 
curtailed by the Penal Proceedings Code. Police abuses were 
investigated internally; these investigations resulted occasionally in 
legal action against the perpetrators. During the year the Government 
trained police to address more effectively issues related to illegal 
immigration, drug trafficking, and terrorism.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may not make arrests without a 
warrant issued by an authorized official, unless a person is caught in 
the act of committing a felony. The law stipulates that a suspect must 
be brought before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. The law provides a 
detainee with the right to a prompt judicial determination of the 
legality of the detention, and the authorities respected this right in 
practice. Attorneys inform detainees of the charges against them. There 
was a functioning bail system. Detainees were allowed prompt access to 
family members and to a lawyer of their choice and, if indigent, to one 
provided by the Government.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem, and detainees 
often remained in jail without charge for more than a year. The 
judicial system was overburdened and understaffed, and the dropping of 
charges without a court judgment was a frequent means for terminating 
criminal cases.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice; however, the judiciary was understaffed and 
inefficient.
    The judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court of Justice 
(SCJ) and the regional courts. Of the five Supreme Court judges, one is 
appointed by the President, one by the National Assembly, and three by 
the Superior Judiciary Council. Judges are independent and cannot 
belong to a political party. Regional courts adjudicate minor disputes 
on the local level in rural areas. The civilian courts have 
jurisdiction over state security cases. There are penal courts to 
handle criminal cases, including violations of the electoral laws, 
civil courts to handle civil and commercial suits, and one military 
court. The SCJ is the highest appellate court, and also handles 
administrative cases. The military court can not try civilians.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair and 
public nonjury trial. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney in a timely manner; free counsel is provided 
for the indigent. Defendants have the right to confront or question 
witnesses against them and to present witnesses. Defendants and their 
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their 
cases. Defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and 
can appeal regional court decisions to the SCJ. The law extends the 
above rights to all citizens.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The ordinary courts handle 
civil matters and lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a 
human rights violation.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice; however, there continued to be 
reports of media self-censorship.
    There were three independent newspapers and one state-owned 
newspaper; six independent radio stations and one state-owned radio 
station; and one state-owned television station and two foreign-owned 
stations. Foreign broadcasts were permitted. The independent media were 
active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction. 
Journalists were independent of government control and were not 
required to reveal their sources.
    The law requires a formal licensing mechanism for mass media, 
including government authorization to broadcast; however, there were no 
reports that licenses were denied or revoked or that the Government 
refused to authorize broadcasts during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The Catholic majority enjoyed a privileged status in national life. 
For example, the Government provided the Catholic Church with free 
television broadcast time for religious services and observed its holy 
days as official holidays.
    To be recognized as legal entities by the Government, religious 
groups must register with the Ministry of Justice; however, failure to 
do so did not result in any restriction on religious practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The case before the SCJ of 
four Seventh-day Adventists who were accused of desecrating a Catholic 
church on Boa Vista Island was pending at year's end.
    There was no Jewish community. There were no reports of 
discrimination against member of religious groups of acts of anti-
Semitism.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol; and provided it to approximately 455 persons during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In the January 22 
legislative elections individuals and parties were free to declare 
their candidacies. The ruling African Party for the Independence of 
Cape Verde (PAICV) won with 52 percent of the vote and 41 seats in the 
National Assembly. The main opposition party, Movement for Democracy 
(MPD), won 44 percent and 29 seats. The Union for a Democratic and 
Independent Cape Verde (UCID) won 2 percent and the remaining two 
seats. The MPD contested the results with allegations of fraud and 
filed for an annulment of the elections with the SCJ. On February 24, 
the SCJ rejected the annulment request.
    The country received representatives from a joint delegation of the 
International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the Nigerian 
National Electoral Commission (INEC), the West African Civil Society 
Organization Forum (FOSFAO), and Global Rights. IFES and INEC were 
satisfied with the elections, which they deemed free and fair. FOSFAO 
praised the population for its maturity and civic education, but 
highlighted some negative aspects such as the location of polling 
stations and delays in the opening of polling stations.
    The Presidential elections were held on February 12, and 
individuals and parties were free to declare their candidacies. 
International observers were present and satisfied with the election. 
The incumbent President Pires of the PAICV received a second term with 
51 percent of the vote. The MPD Presidential candidate, Carlos Veiga, 
won 49 percent of the vote. On February 21, Veiga petitioned the SCJ to 
annul the Presidential election results; he stated the elections were 
not free or transparent. On March 11, the SCJ ruled there were no legal 
grounds for annulment and confirmed President Pires as the winner.
    Although the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and the SCJ 
declared the legislative and Presidential elections generally free and 
fair, they also recognized that there were some irregularities in both 
elections. The CNE noted that the electoral code needed to be amended 
to provide greater security and transparency. It also cited a need for 
stricter, more consistent voter identification and registration 
processes, and the adoption of indelible ink on ballots.
    There were 11 women in the 72-seat National Assembly. There were 
seven women in the 21-member cabinet, and one woman on the SCJ.
    There were no members of minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for freedom of access to governmental information 
without restriction, provided that privacy rights are respected; 
however, there were no requests for such information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International 
        andNongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic human rights groups generally operated without 
government restriction and investigated and published their findings on 
human rights cases. Government officials generally were cooperative and 
responsive to their views.
    There were three private human rights groups: the National 
Commission of the Rights of Man, the Ze Moniz Association, and the 
Alcides Barros Association.
    The powers of the independent ombudsman, who would serve a five-
year term, were defined in 2003; however, no ombudsman had been elected 
by year's end.
    In January Amnesty International (AI) visited the country; AI did 
not release a report on the visit during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion, 
disability, language, or social status; however, the Government did not 
enforce these provisions effectively, and violence and discrimination 
against women and abuse of children were serious problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including wife beating, 
was widespread. The Government and civil society encouraged women to 
report criminal offenses such as spousal abuse, which is punishable by 
2 to 13 years' imprisonment; however, longstanding social and cultural 
values inhibited victims from doing so. The law protects certain rights 
of the victims of sexual, mental, and verbal abuse; however, it does 
not ensure compensation.While there were mechanisms to deal with 
spousal abuse, these mechanisms neither ensured the punishment of those 
responsible nor effectively prevented future violence. Nevertheless, 
reports to police of domestic violence continued to increase during the 
year. There were police and judicial delays in acting on abuse cases. 
Violence against women was the subject of extensive public service 
media coverage in both government- and opposition-controlled media.
    Women's organizations, such as the Women Jurists' Association, 
continued to seek legislation to establish a special family court to 
address crimes of domestic violence and abuse; however, there was no 
such legislation by year's end.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, but the 
Government generally did not effectively enforce the law. The law 
protects certain rights of rape victims; however, it does not ensure 
compensation. The penalties for rape were 8 to 16 years' imprisonment. 
NGOs such as The Association in Support of Women's Self-Promotion in 
Development and The Cape Verdean Women's Organization held campaigns 
against rape.
    Prostitution of minors is forbidden by law, but the Government 
generally did not enforce it. Sex tourism was a growing problem, but 
there are no laws to address it.
    Sexual harassment was very common, but not culturally perceived as 
a crime. It is prohibited by law with a penalty of one year in prison, 
but the Government did not effectively enforce this.
    Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
    Women were frequently neglected by the police when they filed legal 
complaints against their husbands.
    Despite legal prohibitions against sex discrimination and 
provisions for full equality, including equal pay for equal work, 
discrimination against women continued. Although they often were paid 
less than men for comparable work, women were making inroads in various 
professions, especially in the private sector.
    The Women Jurists' Association provided free legal assistance to 
women throughout the country suffering from discrimination, violence, 
and spousal abuse.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare. The Government provided free and universal education for all 
children aged 6 to 12. Education was compulsory until age 11; however, 
secondary education was free only for children whose families had an 
annual income below approximately $1,951 (160,000 escudos). There was a 
100 percent basic education enrollment rate for all children; the 
enrollment rate in secondary school for all children was 70 percent.
    The Government provided free primary health care for children, and 
boys and girls had equal access.
    Child abuse and mistreatment and sexual violence against children 
were serious problems. The media reported cases of sexual abuse against 
children and adolescents. Government efforts to address these problems 
were inadequate.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in minors, 
but not adults, and there were reports that persons were trafficked to 
and from the country. Police reports alleged that the country was a 
transit point for trafficking in persons from West African countries to 
the Canary Islands and to Europe. However, there was no concrete data 
to support this information.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of trafficking 
in children. Sentences for trafficking in children range from 12 to 16 
years' imprisonment. There were no prosecutions during the year. The 
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Administration are 
responsible for combating trafficking. The Government did not extradite 
citizens who were accused of trafficking in other countries.
    In 2005 the Government assisted the Spanish government with 
international investigation of eight female citizens involved in 
trafficking 179 adolescents from the country to Europe. In February the 
case was tried in Spain, and the women were sentenced to eight years' 
imprisonment for illegal emigration.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The Government did 
not effectively implement laws and programs to ensure access to 
buildings for persons with disabilities. Several NGOs, including an 
association for the blind, were active.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and to 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Approximately 22 percent of workers were unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right of workers to bargain collectively; however, there was very 
little collective bargaining, and no collective bargaining agreements 
during the year. Workers and management in the small private sector, as 
well as in the public sector, normally reached an agreement through 
negotiations. Although there were no collective labor contracts, 
workers succeeded in negotiating important issues such as salary 
increases; however, as the country's largest employer, the Government 
continued to play the dominant role in setting wages. It did not fix 
wages for the private sector, but salary levels for civil servants 
provided the basis for wage negotiations in the private sector.
    The law provides union members with the right to strike, but the 
Government at times limited this right. When workers attempted to 
strike, the Government invoked a ``civil request'' under which it had 
the power, in an emergency or if a strike threatened coverage of basic 
needs, to list minimum services that a union must continue to provide 
during any strike.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the one export processing zone, which encompasses the whole country.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace, but the Government did not effectively implement them in 
practice. The law prohibits children under the age of 16 from working 
at night, more than seven hours per day, or in establishments where 
toxic products were produced; however, the Government rarely enforced 
the law.
    Child labor was a problem. Child labor was identified mostly in the 
cities, where children work independently washing cars on the streets, 
and in the countryside, within low income families where children do 
domestic work. The legal minimum age for employment was 16 years, which 
was inconsistent with the age for completing educational requirements 
(see Section 5).
    The ministries of justice and labor were responsible for enforcing 
child labor laws; however, such laws were seldom enforced.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There were no established 
minimum wage rates in the private sector. Large urban private employers 
linked their minimum wages to those paid to civil servants. For an 
entry-level worker, this wage was approximately $146 (12,000 escudos) 
per month. The majority of jobs paid wages that did not provide a 
worker and family with a decent standard of living; most workers relied 
on second jobs and extended family support.
    The law provides for a maximum workweek for adults of 44 hours, 
prohibits excessive compulsory overtime, and requires that a premium be 
paid for hours beyond the standard workweek. There is a required rest 
period of 12 consecutive hours per week. While large employers 
generally respected these regulations, many domestic servants and 
agricultural laborers worked longer hours.
    The director general of labor conducted sporadic inspections to 
enforce the labor code and imposed fines on private enterprises that 
were not in conformity with the law; however, the Government did not 
enforce labor laws systematically, and much of the labor force did not 
enjoy legal protection. The Government has not set occupational health 
and safety standards; however, there is a general provision in the law 
that requires employers to provide a healthy and safe work environment. 
Few industries employed heavy or dangerous equipment. The law does 
provide workers with the right to remove themselves from situations 
that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their continued 
employment.

                               __________

                        CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

    The Central African Republic (CAR) is a constitutional republic 
whose population of approximately 4.1 million is governed by a strong 
executive branch and weak legislative and judicial branches. In March 
and May of 2005, the country held two rounds of multiparty Presidential 
and legislative elections that resulted in the election of General 
Francois Bozize, the country's former armed forces chief of staff, as 
President; in 2003 Bozize seized power in a military coup, declared 
himself President, and headed a transitional government until the 2005 
elections. National and international observers judged the elections to 
be generally free and fair and representative of the people's will, 
despite irregularities and accusations of fraud by candidates running 
against Bozize.
    Fighting between rebels and government security forces contributed 
significantly to a ``political and military crisis,'' according to a UN 
report released in December. The fighting resulted in numerous civilian 
killings and, along with widespread banditry and kidnappings by 
unidentified groups, caused the displacement during the year of 
approximately 185,000 persons, almost 5 percent of the population. The 
sharp deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the 
country was compounded by regional instability and arms proliferation. 
Despite the presence of almost 400 peacekeeping soldiers from 
neighboring member countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of 
Central Africa (CEMAC), lawlessness persisted in large swaths of the 
country, particularly in the north, and analysts estimated that only 2 
percent of the country's territory was under state authority. Civilian 
authorities did not maintain effective control of security forces.
    Many observers said the Government's counteroffensive against 
rebels in the northwest targeted the population of the region--a 
traditional stronghold of the opposition party--which made it difficult 
for the Government to collect intelligence about the rebel movement and 
further alienated communities already suffering from socio-economic 
marginalization due to long-term insecurity.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there 
were improvements in some areas, the Government's respect for human 
rights deteriorated overall, and serious problems remained. Reports of 
extrajudicial killings by the Central Office for the Repression of 
Banditry (OCRB) decreased, but reports of the military killing 
civilians increased sharply due to government counteroffensive 
operations against rebels in the north. Acts of torture, beatings, 
rape, and other abuses of suspects and prisoners by security forces 
continued to be a problem. Impunity, particularly military impunity, 
worsened. Conditions in prisons and detention centers remained harsh 
and life threatening. The Government's use of arbitrary arrest and 
detention increased significantly, particularly following fighting in 
the north between rebels and the military, which contributed to an 
increase in political detainees. Prolonged pretrial detention, denial 
of a fair trial, and judicial corruption continued to be problems. The 
Government restricted freedom of the press, although to a lesser extent 
than in the previous year. Freedom of movement deteriorated greatly 
because of actions by security forces, armed bandits, and rebels. 
Government corruption and lack of access to government-held 
information--particularly information related to the security 
situation--remained serious problems. In addition societal violence, 
including female genital mutilation (FGM), discrimination against 
women, and societal discrimination against indigenous people (Pygmies) 
also remained problems. Restrictions on workers' rights, child labor, 
and forced labor--including forced child labor--also were serious 
challenges facing the country.
    Unidentified armed groups--thought to be common criminals and 
remnants of insurgency groups from previous conflicts, including former 
pro-Bozize combatants from Chad--continued to attack, kill, rob, beat, 
and rape civilians and loot and burn villages in the north. Kidnappings 
by unidentified armed groups increased during the year, contributing 
significantly to the country's massive population displacement.
    In addition several politically motivated rebel groups in the 
northwest and northeast--including the Restoration of the Republic and 
Democracy (APRD) and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR)--
emerged during the year and resulted in an increase in attacks on 
civilians across the country, including counteroffensive attacks by the 
military, which accused some civilians of supporting the rebels. Rebels 
of the APRD partly controlled areas in the northwest, allegedly with 
support from Chadian rebels. Well-armed members of the UFDR in the 
northeastern region bordering Sudan and Chad attacked and overran the 
Gordil military camp in Vakaga Prefecture in June, resulting in 
casualties among the military and the multinational CEMAC peacekeeping 
force. Between October and December, the UFDR seized control of four 
towns in the northeast and demanded that the Government agree to 
negotiations on sharing political power with the rebel front, which by 
November had nominally united the country's various rebel groups under 
the name of the UFDR. The Government, which accused the Sudanese 
government of supporting the rebellion in the northeast, refused. With 
French military assistance, government security forces regained control 
of these towns by year's end; however, many feared that the rebels 
would relaunch their offensive.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically 
motivated killings; however, security forces continued to commit 
executions and other extrajudicial killings with impunity throughout 
the year. In addition the security forces, particularly the 
Presidential security forces (commonly known as the Presidential 
guard), killed numerous civilians suspected of supporting rebels.
    The OCRB, a special antibanditry police squad, continued to 
arbitrarily execute suspected bandits without respecting the basic due 
process rights of the accused, and was responsible for other 
extrajudicial killings and deaths resulting from torture. However, it 
killed fewer individuals during the year, according to local 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The OCRB, which normally operated 
only in and around Bangui, committed such abuses with tacit government 
support and popular approval, partly because the OCRB's actions were 
seen as an effective means of reducing crime.
    The OCRB often apprehended suspected armed robbers, bandits, and 
thieves after conducting informal, undocumented investigations; 
transported them to Cattin, a town three miles southwest of Bangui; 
shot and killed them; and then used open-air jeeps to drive the dead 
bodies through town in broad daylight (to exhibit the dead as a 
deterrent to crime) before depositing the bodies at a morgue. The 
director of the OCRB, however, claimed he was not aware of any 
extrajudicial executions. In 2005 the minister of the interior, who 
oversees the OCRB, and the minister of justice stated that while the 
OCRB killed suspects during the year, they believed that these killings 
occurred only after OCRB members were shot at by suspects attempting to 
evade apprehension.
    There were no developments in the March 17 killing of Yacoub 
Ibrahim by members of the OCRB in the Bangui neighborhood of Kilometre 
5.
    The Government generally did not prosecute OCRB members responsible 
for killings committed during the year. The minister of justice said 
that most parents of suspected criminals killed by the OCRB did not 
file complaints with the judicial system because of the social stigma 
associated with being related to accused criminals. The public 
prosecutor and UN officials, however, said they believed that many 
victims' families did not file complaints against the OCRB because of 
fear of retribution and the widespread belief that the OCRB enjoyed 
almost total impunity.
    During the year there were credible reports that security forces 
committed other unlawful killings, including during the apprehension of 
suspects, as well as killings allegedly in connection with personal 
disputes or rivalries. For example, on January 2, following a dispute 
that began at a bar in Bangui between two members of the security 
forces, Staff Sergeant Jean-Claude Sanze shot and killed Lieutenant 
Wilfrid Yango Kapita, a member of the Presidential guard, in Boy-Rabe, 
a Bangui neighborhood. After the killing Sanze took refuge at the 
headquarters of the country's UN Peacebuilding Support Office (BONUCA), 
where he was allowed to spend the night. The following morning, at the 
request of the public prosecutor, a criminal investigations officer 
took custody of Sanze and the public prosecutor assured BONUCA that 
Sanze would be protected until his trial. That same day, while Sanze 
was incarcerated in the Research and Investigation Section of the 
National Gendarmerie, Presidential guard members who had been close to 
Kapita forcibly removed Sanze from his prison cell, tortured him, shot 
and killed him on the premises of the gendarmerie, and disfigured and 
exposed his remains to the public. On the same day, Presidential guard 
members also ransacked and looted the residence of Nicolas Tiangaye, a 
lawyer and former President of the country's National Transition 
Council, to whom Sanze had periodically provided security. Although the 
Government informed BONUCA that an investigation had been launched, by 
year's end the Government had not take any judicial or disciplinary 
action against the Presidential guard members responsible for the 
killing.
    On January 5, following the funeral for Sanze, members of security 
forces reportedly shot and killed two mourners. By year's end 
authorities had made no arrests in connection with the killings.
    On August 28, Sergeant Adomi Wilibona, a Presidential guard member, 
reportedly shot two young street vendors at a coffee bar near the 
Central Market in Bangui. At year's end the case was pending before the 
Permanent Military Tribunal.
    On September 21, Captain Achille Lakouama, a military surgeon and 
assistant doctor of President Bozize, shot and killed Pascal Bembe, 
director of the Presidential Protocol Office, outside Bembe's house 
during the negotiation of a loan repayment. After the alleged killing, 
Lakouama reportedly took refuge in the residence of an absent President 
Bozize, who later granted him special protection and confinement. After 
protests by the archbishop of Bangui and local human rights NGOs, 
authorities arrested Lakouama and said he would be brought before the 
Permanent Military Tribunal during its December session; however, the 
tribunal canceled this session due to lack of available funds. At 
year's end Lakouama remained in detention at a military camp, according 
to his lawyer.
    In December, in an incident that further highlighted the tension 
between Chadian members of the Presidential guard (some of whom helped 
President Bozize seize power in 2003) and CAR members of the security 
forces, Chadian members of the Presidential guard attacked a military 
police station in Bangui, abducted a gendarme and a youth, and 
reportedly killed them by slitting their throats. The incident occurred 
after a group of youths stoned to death a Chadian member of the 
Presidential guard, who had stabbed a CAR police officer in an attempt 
to steal his car, according to press reports. By year's end, the police 
officer had recovered in the hospital, and there were no reports of any 
legal or disciplinary action taken against anyone involved in the 
incident.
    During the year there were numerous instances in which the security 
forces, particularly the Presidential guard, killed civilians suspected 
of supporting rebels. For example, following attacks by APRD rebels on 
military targets in the northwest, security forces led by Lieutenant 
Eugene Ngaikoisse, a member of the Presidential guard, reportedly 
conducted reprisal attacks on numerous villages near the Chadian border 
between January 29 and 31, on February 11 and 18, and on March 22. 
According to credible reports, during the reprisal attacks, 
Presidential guards indiscriminately killed up to 100 civilians in the 
northwestern prefectures of Ouham Pende and Ouham. While the Government 
said that insurgents were dressed in plain clothes and difficult to 
identify, victims of the security forces' attacks reportedly included 
several school children (some as young as 10 years old), as well as 
teachers, a village chief, and a municipal police officer. Ngaikoisse's 
counteroffensive campaign forced at least at least 7,000 residents to 
flee to southern Chad and several thousand others to abandon their 
villages and take refuge in the bush.
    According to multiple credible sources--including Bangui-based 
journalists who were allowed limited access to Paoua and Markounda in 
March, Amnesty International (AI), the International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC), and interviews by foreign diplomats with CAR refugees 
who fled to southern Chad during the year--in the Ouham Pende 
prefecture town of Paoua alone, security forces killed at least 35 
civilians in late January. Soldiers executed three students for failing 
to lead them to insurgents and arms caches, and four unidentified 
bodies were burned in the local gendarmerie. Ngaikoisse's forces 
accused youths of being traitors and rebel sympathizers before 
torturing and summarily executing some of them, including 17 students 
from Paoua College. Among the 50 civilians killed by security forces on 
February 11 were seven students who were beaten to death; that same day 
government forces burned or destroyed more than 10 villages near Paoua. 
AI, local journalists, and local NGOs called on the Government to 
establish an independent commission to investigate the killings and 
punish members of security forces responsible for the attacks; however, 
by year's end no such commission had been formed. No action was taken 
against Ngaikoisse. The public prosecutor said authorities arrested 
some members of security forces responsible for killings and other 
abuses during the year and that they were scheduled to be tried by a 
court in 2007; however, it was unclear whether any of these arrests 
were in connection with the alleged killings and other abuses mentioned 
above.
    In late September and early October, government forces killed, 
tortured, and raped an undetermined number of residents during fighting 
between security forces and APRD rebels in and around the Gribingui 
prefecture village of Wandago, near the city of Kaga-Bandoro.
    During November and December, humanitarian groups, which could not 
access the northeast due to insecurity, received phone calls from 
residents in Birao, the capital of Vakaga Prefecture, alleging that the 
military had committed executions and rape there during a 
counteroffensive mission against UFDR rebels. By year's end there was 
no confirmation of these reports and no additional information.
    In early December during a counteroffensive campaign against APRD 
rebels, security forces reportedly accused the residents of Zoumbeti, a 
Gribingui prefecture village (30 miles south of Kaga-Bandoro), of 
collaborating with the rebels and looted and burned down their village; 
two elderly men were burned to death in their homes, according to the 
village's deputy chief.
    The Government arrested some members of the military who allegedly 
killed persons during the year. However, by year's end the Permanent 
Military Tribunal, which was normally charged with handling such cases, 
had held no trials due to constraints on funding, according to 
officials. Approximately 50 cases, including 18 killings, remained 
pending.
    During the first part of the year, the public prosecutor continued 
to conduct a criminal investigation of Lieutenant Jean-Celestine Dogo 
regarding his role in the alleged torture and killing of two men in 
2004. Although President Bozize had officially dismissed Dogo from the 
security forces in 2004 (following Dogo's temporary arrest in 
connection with the killings), there were numerous credible reports 
during the first five months of the year that Dogo continued to serve 
in the security forces and commit violations against civilians (see 
Section 2.a.); the Government, however, denied these reports. In late 
May Dogo was killed by a rebel ambush during a military mission in 
Vakaga Prefecture. After President Bozize attended Dogo's funeral, some 
observers criticized the Government for failing to ensure that Dogo no 
longer operated in the security forces and for failing to combat 
impunity in the security forces.
    There were no arrests in the case of a man who died from severe 
injuries--allegedly inflicted by Dogo and other Presidential guard 
members--shortly after being found in a bag in September 2005.
    While unidentified armed bandits had contributed to the country's 
instability for many years, during the year they demonstrated a growing 
willingness to kill civilians. For example, on March 7, unidentified 
armed men shot and killed the mayor of Bossangoa, Jean Brice Guenefei; 
rebels of the Patriotic Movement for the Restoration of the CAR later 
claimed responsibility, although some observers were doubtful of the 
veracity of this claim. In addition, on March 15, unidentified armed 
individuals shot and killed another mayor, Kossi Augustin, and his son, 
in their home in the Ouham prefecture village of Korom-Mpoko. By year's 
end there were no reports of authorities making arrests in connection 
with these killings.
    On April 9, unidentified armed men in uniform attacked a vehicle 
clearly marked as UN property near Yaloke in Ombella Mpoko Prefecture, 
killing two doctors on a World Heath Organization (WHO) mission, Eric 
Kelembho and Joachim Kaba Mebri. By year's end authorities had made no 
arrests in connection with the killings.
    During the year there were weekly reports of unidentified armed men 
in uniform forcibly entering personal residences at night in and around 
Bangui to kill and harass civilians and to loot personal belongings.
    Although information about these armed groups and highway bandits 
was difficult to obtain, aid workers and UN officials said they 
believed the armed groups were a mix of common criminals and remnants 
of insurgent groups from recurring conflicts in the region. Some human 
rights observers said they believed that many of the armed groups were 
comprised of the same rebels and mercenaries, including Chadian former 
combatants, who helped Bozize seize power in the 2003 coup, and that 
since Bozize had been unable to pay them what they considered a proper 
compensation after he seized power, the former combatants were exacting 
payments from civilians by force.
    Civilians continued to take vigilante action against presumed 
thieves, poachers, and some persons believed to be Chadian combatants.
    Mobs reportedly continued to kill and injure suspected sorcerers or 
witches during the year. For example, on October 23, local media 
reported the killing of a nine-year-old girl who was seriously burned 
and subsequently died after she was accused of being a sorcerer. 
Authorities arrested two members of her family and detained them at the 
women's prison in Bangui. The case was pending before a court at year's 
end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year.
    During the year unidentified armed groups conducted kidnappings of 
M'bororo children for ransom (see Section 5).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the law and the constitution prohibit torture and 
specify sanctions for those found guilty of physical abuse, police, 
including the OCRB, continued to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse 
criminal suspects, detainees, and prisoners, according to local human 
rights groups such as the Association Against Torture (ACAT) and the 
Central African Human Rights League (LCDH). The Government did not take 
effective action to punish police who tortured suspects, and impunity 
remained a problem. Family members of victims and human rights groups, 
including the LCDH, pursued court complaints filed since 2003 with the 
prosecutor regarding the deaths of several prisoners due to police 
abuse; however, authorities did not take action on any of the cases by 
year's end. The LCDH reported the abuse of civilians by the 
Presidential security forces and filed court complaints of police 
abuse.
    Police most commonly employed a form of torture known as le cafe, 
the repeated beating of the sole of an individual's feet with a baton 
or stick. Immediately after administering le cafe, police would 
sometimes force the individual to walk on badly bruised feet, and if 
the individual was unable to do so, police would further beat the 
individual.
    During the Criminal Court's session in September, many prisoners, 
including 14 people arrested for endangering the security of state, 
testified before the court regarding the cruel and inhuman treatment 
they received from security forces during their detention. Some said 
that they were beaten and frequently tortured, and some of them had 
serious injuries, including broken legs or arms.
    On October 23, members of the OCRB seriously beat and tortured 
National Assembly member Ali Kassala and placed him in a jail cell 
following a dispute in Bangui. Kassala had gone to the OCRB 
headquarters to demand the release of his relatives, who had been 
arrested and detained by the OCRB. Kassala was brought before a 
prosecutor and released a few hours later. Several parliamentarians 
noted Kassala's parliamentary immunity and criticized the police's 
mistreatment of their colleague. They requested an investigation and 
called on the Government to take action against the OCRB members 
responsible for the abuses. At year's end no additional information was 
available.
    In late September and early October, government forces tortured and 
raped an undetermined number of residents during fighting between 
security forces and rebels (see Section 1.a.).
    In December security forces beat the deacon of a Bangui church (see 
Section 1.f.).
    Security forces rarely were punished for committing acts of 
violence against civilians. However, in September authorities arrested 
Commandant Ambroise Azoukateme, a member of the OCRB and the chief of 
an anti-narcotics police squad, for abuses committed against detainees 
including torture, inhuman treatment, beatings, arbitrary arrest, and 
fraud. During the last quarter of the year, a court sentenced him to 
two years in prison.
    According to the magistrate of the Permanent Military Tribunal, 32 
members of the military arrested during the year on charges of 
committing beatings, torture, and killings were scheduled to be brought 
before the court by the year's end; however, the tribunal postponed its 
December session and had heard no cases by year's end due to what 
officials said was a lack of available funding. Among those arrested 
was Lieutenant Grepe, who was arrested in September for committing 
abuses against detainees.
    By year's end, there were no reports that the Government had taken 
action against members of security forces responsible for the following 
acts of torture and beatings committed in 2005: the January beating of 
Rufin Louango, an employee of a foreign embassy, by Lieutenant Dogo in 
Bangui; the March beating of three young individuals after an arbitrary 
search of their Bangui home by former Lieutenant Dogo, Presidential 
security forces member Lieutenant Olivier Koudemon (alias Gbangouma), 
and a member of the armed forces named Aziz; the allegedly ethnically 
motivated beating in March of Sergeant Marcel Kila, a Yakoma, by two 
unidentified military officers of the Gbaya ethnicity, near the Berengo 
military training center; the June beating of a taxi driver in the 
Kilometre 5 neighborhood of Bangui; or the October beating of 
Jean(Michel Mandaba, deputy secretary of former President Patasse's 
Central African People's Liberation Movement (MLPC), and Joseph 
Tchendo, President of the country's media regulatory body, in Bangui.
    Members of the armed forces often committed other abuses against 
civilians, including armed robbery and racketeering. No action 
generally was taken against these soldiers.
    Members of security forces, particularly members of the military, 
raped civilians during the year. There were reports that security 
forces continued to commit rape, including collective rape, often in 
school buildings at night; however, there were fewer reports that 
security forces raped women than in the previous year. Security forces 
rarely were punished for raping civilians; for the most part, 
perpetrators either escaped police custody or were released by fellow 
soldiers and other security agents.
    In October human rights observers reported that a member of the 
army attempted to rape a 15-year-old girl and seriously injured her in 
the Gribingui prefecture town of Kaga-Bandoro. The girl's parents filed 
a complaint before the Permanent Military Tribunal, and at year's end 
an investigation was underway.
    There were no reports that the Government had taken action against 
the five uniformed military officers responsible for the April 2005 
rape of a young girl near the central market of Bangui, or the 
September 2005 rape of a 16-year-old girl in a Bangui neighborhood by a 
police officer.
    During the year unidentified armed groups continued to attack, rob, 
beat, and rape civilians in villages and those traveling on main 
routes, mostly in the countryside.
    The International Criminal Court (ICC) continued to consider 
whether it would investigate a complaint filed by the Government in 
2005 against former President Patasse, Jean-Pierre Bemba, the vice 
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a former 
rebel leader, and others for crimes against humanity committed prior to 
and during the 2003 coup (see Section 4).
    During the year a combination of rebels, bands of unidentified 
armed men, and government soldiers attacked civilians in the northwest 
and northeast. During these attacks, the perpetrators tortured, beat, 
and raped civilians; burned and looted homes; and forced more than 
35,000 civilians to flee the country (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 
2.d.). For example, in late September and early October, members of the 
Presidential guard reportedly burned or destroyed 10 villages around 
the Ouham-Pende prefecture town of Paoua, including Botona and Kebe. 
The Presidential guard denied involvement in the arson attacks.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
extremely harsh and well below international standards; prison 
conditions outside Bangui generally were worse. There were reports that 
guards tortured prisoners. There were an estimated 1,000 prisoners in 
the country. Most of the prisons outside of Bangui were completely 
destroyed during the 2003 fighting. Prison cells were overcrowded, and 
basic necessities, including food, clothing, and medicine were 
inadequate and often confiscated by prison officials. Prisoners 
depended on family members to supplement inadequate prison meals and 
were sometimes allowed to forage for food near the prison. Prisoners 
frequently were forced to perform uncompensated labor. Unlike in the 
previous year, this work involved public works projects rather than 
work at the residences of government officials and magistrates.
    There were two prisons in Bangui: Ngaragba central prison for men 
and Bimbo central prison for women. Inmates with infectious diseases 
lived among healthy inmates, and medicine was either unavailable or too 
expensive. Detainees and inmates at both prisons received one meal per 
day; meals were insufficient and consisted of cassava, rice, and either 
green beans, fish, or (occasionally) meat, depending on the day of the 
week. Inmates slept on the floor or on thin matting provided by their 
families or charities. A few shower stalls, interior open-air 
courtyards, and weekly visiting hours were available to all detainees 
and prisoners at both prisons.
    On October 20, Ngaragba held 350 individuals, including 180 
pretrial detainees. Several detainees had been detained for seven 
months and had not yet appeared before a judge. On average, there were 
10 individuals in each common room. In the prison section reserved 
primarily for former government officials suspected or convicted of 
financial crimes, common rooms held four persons on average.
    Bimbo's population consisted primarily of pretrial detainees, most 
of whom were women accused of sorcery. Several individuals had been 
detained for four months and had not appeared before a judge; few had 
lawyers. Prison officials allowed detainees and prisoners to be sent to 
a nearby hospital when they became ill. Overcrowding was reportedly not 
a problem, and children younger than five years old were allowed to 
stay with their mothers at the prison. There were no reports of rapes 
or sexual harassment by the all-male prison guard staff.
    Male and female prisoners were held in separate facilities in 
Bangui but housed together elsewhere. Pretrial detainees were not held 
separately from convicted prisoners.
    Conditions in detention centers were worse than those in prisons 
and in some cases were life-threatening. Bangui's detention centers 
consisted of overcrowded cells with very little light and leaky buckets 
for toilets. According to the local human rights groups, lack of 
training and poor supervision at detention centers were serious 
problems and continued to result in torture and beatings. Suspects in 
police and gendarmerie cells had to depend on family, friends, 
religious groups, and NGOs for food. Several detainees complained that 
they had not eaten in two days, had not been allowed to bathe or shower 
in two weeks, and had lice. Detainees with infectious diseases lived 
among healthy prisoners, and medicine was not available. Suspects 
generally slept on bare cement or dirt floors. Corruption among guards, 
who had not been paid in months, was rife. Guards often demanded 
between $0.37 (200 CFA francs) and $0.55 (300 CFA francs) to permit 
showers, allow for the delivery of food and water, or permit family 
visits.
    During visits in May by AI delegates and a foreign diplomat to 
several detention centers in Bangui, a single five-square-meter cell at 
the National Gendarmerie's Research and Investigation Department (SRI) 
housed 12 detained soldiers accused of desertion (see Section 1.d.). 
The cell was dirty, had no toilet, and smelled of human waste. 
Detainees noted that during storms, which were frequent in the rainy 
season, the cell was flooded, subjecting the soldiers to illnesses. At 
the Port Police Station, the cell also smelled of human waste and had 
no sleeping facilities. One of the detainees whom AI encountered, 
Mohammed Diakite, a Malian, had been detained there for two months, 
appeared to be approximately 16 years old, and was virtually unable to 
communicate due to mental illness. He was being held for alleged 
illegal entry into the country but had not been seen by a judge.
    In Bangui, male and female detainees were separated; however, they 
reportedly were not separated in detention facilities in the 
countryside. There were no separate detention facilities for juvenile 
prisoners, who routinely were housed with adults and often subjected to 
physical abuse.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers. 
The ICRC and religious groups routinely provided supplies, food, and 
clothes to prisoners. The ICRC and the human rights unit of BONUCA had 
unrestricted access to prisoners. In May AI delegates visited several 
detention centers in Bangui.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides protection 
against arbitrary arrest and detention and accords the right to a 
judicial determination of the legality of detention; however, security 
forces frequently ignored such provisions, and there was a significant 
increase in the use of arbitrary arrest and detention during the year.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, 
including the OCRB, are under the director general of police, who is 
under the Ministry of Interior and Public Security. The military 
forces, including the Presidential guard and the National Gendarmerie 
are under the Ministry of Defense. Both the police and military share 
responsibility for internal security.
    As part of its efforts to protect citizens and safeguard property, 
the Government continued to support joint security operations in the 
capital conducted by the armed forces, CEMAC peacekeepers, and French 
forces.
    Police were not effective, partly as a result of salary arrears 
owed by the Government and a severe lack of resources. Many citizens 
lacked faith in the police; consequently, mob violence against persons 
suspected of theft and other offences remained a problem (see Section 
1.a.). Corruption in the police, including the use of illegal 
roadblocks to commit extortion, remained a serious problem (see 
Sections 2.d. and 3). During the year the LCDH accused the security 
forces of terrorizing the population, killing civilians, and committing 
armed robbery with impunity. Despite being criticized by local human 
rights groups and the media for committing numerous, serious human 
rights abuses, the OCRB continued to expand its mission, which local 
NGOs said was cause for concern. Although the OCRB was created to 
function only in Bangui and to focus on combating violent banditry, the 
OCRB increasingly investigated, detained, and abused persons accused of 
lesser crimes such as embezzlement and petty theft; it also conducted 
some operations outside Bangui.
    There were mechanisms available to investigate police abuses. 
Citizens could and did file complaints of police abuse with the public 
prosecutor of the republic. The most common complaints involved thefts, 
rape, brutality, and embezzlement. With the assistance of BONUCA and 
the high commissioner of human rights and good governance, the 
prosecutor actively investigated numerous complaints of police abuse, 
including reported killings; however, impunity remained a severe 
problem. The prosecutor had the authority to order the arrest of police 
officers suspected of committing abuses and exercised that authority 
during the year; however, the prosecutor's staff was small, had only 
one computer (a gift from an NGO), and was severely lacking in other 
resources.
    The public prosecutor said the Government prosecuted three OCRB 
members for abuses committed against civilians during the year. For 
example, in September the public prosecutor arrested a prominent member 
of the OCRB, the head of the anti-narcotics police squad, for serious 
abuses committed against detainees and other civilians (see Section 
1.c.). In addition a court convicted and sentenced two police 
superintendents for use of arbitrary detention and torture; no 
additional information was available by year's end.
    BONUCA continued to provide security forces agents, including 
police officers, with human rights training.

    Arrest and Detention.--Judicial warrants are not required for 
arrest. The law stipulates that persons detained in cases other than 
those involving national security must be brought before a magistrate 
within 48 hours, although this period is renewable once, for a total of 
96 hours. In practice authorities often did not respect this deadline, 
in part due to inefficient judicial procedures and a lack of judges. By 
law national security detainees are defined as those held for crimes 
against the security of the state. National security detainees may be 
held without charge for up to eight days, and this period can be 
renewed once, for a total of 16 days. However, in practice persons were 
held without charge for long periods. The law allows detainees to have 
access to their family and to legal counsel. Indigent detainees may 
request a lawyer provided by the Government. Detainees are allowed to 
post bail or have family members post bail for them. Lawyers and 
families generally had free access to detainees.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained numerous persons, 
and the Government's use of arbitrary arrest and detention increased 
during the year.
    Between February and May the Government arrested more than 40 
individuals suspected of supporting or engaging with several armed 
political groups seeking to overthrow the Government of President 
Bozize. Many of the detainees claimed to have been arrested solely 
because of their known or suspected family connections with opponents 
of the Government (see Section 1.e.).
    In May authorities arrested approximately 50 soldiers after they 
allegedly refused to fight against rebels in the northeast. Authorities 
accused them of desertion, but the soldiers said they had come to 
Bangui to collect their allowances, which they had not received for 
several months. In May approximately 15 were being held in harsh 
conditions at the SRI in Bangui, and according to local human rights 
defenders, 40 other soldiers reportedly were held at the Kassai 
barracks on the outskirts of Bangui. By year's end authorities had 
released all soldiers accused of desertion.
    By year's end authorities had released the following persons: high 
school student Guy Aime Nzawouin, whom police had arrested in March 
2005 on charges of selling voter registration cards; Joseph Clotaire 
Abanda-Kaya, the country's charge d'affaires in the DRC, whom 
authorities had arrested in April on charges of preparing a coup 
d'etat; and MLPC member Marcel Bagaza and three other men--Kalme 
Djakobaye Sindo, Alexandre Marboua, and Edourd Beroge--who were 
acquitted by a court during the year following their arrests in August 
2005 on charges of fraud.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security 
forces arrested or detained a journalist; however, authorities arrested 
and briefly detained a labor leader (see Section 6.a.).
    During the year individuals, particularly women, continued to be 
arrested and charged with the practice of witchcraft, or sorcery, which 
was punishable by execution, although no one received the death penalty 
during the year (see Section 1.e.). Prison officials at Bangui's Bimbo 
central prison for women said that persons accused of sorcery were 
arrested and detained or imprisoned for their own safety since village 
mobs sometimes killed suspected sorcerers or witches (see Section 
1.a.). In late 2005 Bangui prison officials estimated that 50 to 60 
percent of female detainees were arrested in connection with charges of 
sorcery or witchcraft. Human rights observers said the belief in 
sorcery was so entrenched in the country that attempts to abolish legal 
recognition of the crime would be very difficult; however, observers 
said they were continuing to push for fair trials of those accused of 
the crime (see Section 1.e.).
    Prolonged pretrial detention was a serious problem. At year's end 
pretrial detainees in Bangui comprised 52 percent of Ngaragba's prison 
population and an estimated 50 percent of Bimbo's prison population. 
Detainees usually were informed of the charges levied against them; 
however, many waited in prison for several months before seeing a 
judge. Judicial inefficiency, corruption, severe financial restraints 
on the judicial system, and a lack of judges contributed to pretrial 
delays. Some detainees remained in prison for years because of lost 
files and bureaucratic obstacles.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained subject to the 
influence of the executive branch. Judges are appointed by the 
President after being nominated by the Superior Council of Magistrates. 
The courts barely functioned due to inefficient administration of the 
courts, a shortage of trained personnel, growing salary arrears, and a 
lack of material resources. For example, the Ministry of Justice had 
only one computer and one printer to serve the entire country. In 
addition, many citizens did not have access to the judicial system. The 
Ministry of Justice occasionally had sufficient funds to send judges to 
geographically isolated communities located great distances from the 
nearest courthouse, but the average citizen had to travel at least 31 
miles to reach one of the country's 25 courthouses. More courts were 
being established beyond the capital; however, traditional justice 
ordered by the head of a family or a village retained a preponderate 
role in settling conflicts and administering punishments. Furthermore, 
for the entire population, there were fewer than 150 judges, many of 
whom were not intimately familiar with the national laws. The 
overwhelming majority of citizens did not have the opportunity to be 
defended by a barrister, as there were fewer than 40 practicing lawyers 
in the country, almost exclusively in Bangui.
    Judicial corruption remained a serious impediment to citizens' 
right to receive a fair trial. According to the LCDH, the judicial 
system was ``rotten,'' from the judges down to the bailiffs. Many 
lawyers would pay judges to receive verdicts favorable to their 
clients. There were, however, some efforts to combat judicial 
corruption. The Ministry of Justice continued to implement a 
zero(tolerance policy; although the ministry suspended four judges 
suspected of engaging in corruption in 2005, it was not known whether 
the special disciplinary council reviewing their conduct had taken any 
action, or whether other judges were suspended during the year. During 
the year the Ministry of Justice continued to conduct a standard 
ministry(wide review every two months to identify areas where lack of 
efficiency might be hindering the judicial process. There was no 
additional information on these reviews at year's end.
    The judiciary consists of a tribunal of first instance, the court 
of appeal, the cassation court, the high court of justice, the Supreme 
Court, commercial and administrative courts, a military court, and the 
Constitutional Court. The highest court is the Constitutional Court, 
which determines whether laws passed by the National Assembly conform 
to the constitution. The Constitutional Court also receives appeals 
challenging the constitutionality of a law. Lower courts hear criminal 
and civil cases and send appeals to the court of appeals.
    The Permanent Military Tribunal judges only members of the 
military.
    There were numerous reports that, due to judicial inefficiency, 
citizens in a number of cities established their own courts to deal 
with cases through parallel justice, especially in cases of suspected 
witchcraft; however, the minister of justice disputed the existence of 
such alternative courts.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are held publicly, and defendants have 
the right to be present and to consult a public defender. Juries are 
used in the penal court for criminal trials. If an individual is 
accused of a serious crime and cannot afford a lawyer, the Government 
has an obligation to provide one. Defendants also have the right to 
question witnesses, to present witnesses and evidence on their own 
behalf, and to have access to government-held evidence relevant to 
their case. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and 
if convicted, defendants have the right to appeal. The Government 
generally complied with these legal requirements; however, the 
judiciary did not enforce consistently the right to a fair trial, and 
there were many credible reports of corruption within the court system. 
According to the minister of justice, there continued to be a grave 
lack of neutrality among judges, many of whom were significantly 
influenced by politics in their rulings. One ethnic group in particular 
was reportedly subject to legal discrimination and unfair trials (see 
Section 5).
    During the year the OCRB continued to commit extrajudicial killings 
of persons suspected of being violent recidivists. The Government and, 
to some degree, the citizenry tolerated these acts, in part because of 
a general lack of faith in the judicial system (see Section 1.a.).
    Witchcraft or sorcery is a crime punishable by execution, although 
no one accused of witchcraft received the death penalty during the 
year. Most individuals convicted of sorcery received sentences of one 
to five years in prison; they can also be fined up to $1,500 (817,800 
CFA francs). During a typical trial of someone accused of sorcery, 
traditional doctors were called to give their opinion of the suspect's 
ties to sorcery. ``Truth herbs'' were used to make a suspect 
``confess.'' Neighbors were called as witnesses and, because spells 
were believed to involve burying bits of clothing, sample cuttings of 
clothes were brought before the jury as evidence. Police and gendarmes 
conducted investigations into witchcraft.
    The Permanent Military Tribunal, which judged only members of the 
military accused of crimes, held no sessions during the year due to 
what officials said was a lack of available funding, and several cases 
involving human rights abuses against civilians remained pending at 
year's end (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c.).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of the 
Government holding political prisoners during the year; however, there 
were several reports of the Government detaining persons for political 
reasons and holding at least some of them for most of the year. 
Authorities granted BONUCA's human rights unit and human rights NGOs 
access to many of these detainees during the year, although some of the 
detainees were held incommunicado initially and again later before 
their release.
    Between February and May authorities arrested more than 40 persons 
accused of supporting rebel groups; authorities had reportedly released 
all of them by year's end. The series of arrests followed two key 
events: the January 29 attack by rebels on security forces in the 
northwestern town of Paoua, and the February arrest near Bangui of 
former army lieutenant Jean-Jacques Larmassoum. After being arrested, 
Larmassoum reportedly told authorities that he had been conspiring with 
former President Patasse to overthrow the Government, that he was the 
leader of the APRD rebels in the northwest, that the APRD had been 
responsible for attacks on security forces, and that he had been in 
Bangui to collect financial assistance from his supporters. Some of 
those arrested were relatives or personal friends of government 
opponents living abroad.
    Many of those arrested were members of former President Patasse's 
ethnic group or his political party, the MLPC; among those arrested 
were a former prefect, Raymond Behourou, a former member of parliament, 
Mamadou Raikina, and a chief of police, Clotilde Gamo. In May 
authorities arrested Claude Yabanda, a member of the executive bureau 
of the opposition Patriotic Front for Progress for endangering state 
security. Yabanda, who denied having any connection with the MLPC as 
well as the Government's charge that he supported rebel groups, 
remained in prison until authorities, under pressure from human rights 
NGOs, released him in December.
    Initially, authorities refused to allow the detainees to have 
access to legal counsel. Legal experts in the country expressed serious 
concern that the overwhelming majority of the detainees were not being 
held on grounds established by law or according to procedures 
established by law. For example, judicial officials failed to formally 
charge most of the detainees within the time frame of 48 hours as 
stipulated by the law.
    Several weeks after their arrest, many of the detainees were still 
being held incommunicado, without charge, and without access to their 
families, lawyers, and doctors. According to AI, they had not appeared 
before an independent and impartial judge to challenge the basis for 
their arrest and continued detention. By June, after several weeks in 
detention, some of the detainees had been charged with endangering the 
internal security of the state and were transferred to Ngaragba and 
Bimbo prisons. However, according to AI, the majority of the detainees 
remained held without charge or trial at the SRI and other detention 
centers, such as the Camp de Roux military barracks in Bangui, where 
they were reportedly denied visits by their relatives and access to 
legal counsel. In September a court acquitted some of the defendants, 
but security forces refused to release them for several days (see 
Section 1.e.). In a report published in November, AI criticized the 
Government for arbitrarily arresting individuals, detaining them for 
several months without charge or trial, failing to respect a court's 
decision, and holding detainees in harsh and sometimes life-threatening 
conditions (see Sections 1.c., 1.e., and 4).
    According to local human rights defenders, some detainees were 
apparently detained simply because they were related to leaders of 
armed groups, strongly suggesting that they were political detainees. 
For example one of those detained was Nelson N'Djader, the 17-year-old 
brother of Florian N'Djader, the leader of the northwestern rebel group 
Union of Republican Forces (Florian had claimed responsibility for 
attacks on security forces in January and was sentenced by a court to 
10 year's imprisonment in September). Nelson, who was taken into 
custody on May 18 after applying for a visa at the embassy of the DRC 
(his mother's country of origin), told AI that prior to his arrest he 
had received numerous death threats by telephone and in person from 
members of security forces, who accused him of collaborating with his 
brother. AI concluded that ``it appears [Nelson] was detained solely on 
account of his brother being a leader of an armed group, rather than 
[any] involvement [of his own] in armed insurrection.'' In October AI 
was informed that Nelson had been released on an unspecified date, 
although he was required to report regularly to authorities.
    On September 12, the Criminal Court acquitted 14 persons accused of 
supporting rebels. Among those acquitted were Lydie Florence Ndouba, 
sister of former President Patasse's spokesperson, former member of 
parliament Mamadou Raikina, former prefect Raymond Behourou, and Marcel 
Bagaza. The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to produce 
sufficient evidence against them and freed them on September 13. 
However, at the end of the trial, Presidential guard forces were sent 
to the court to prevent the detainees' release. The Presidential guard 
took the detainees illegally to the Ngaragba prison in Bangui and later 
in the evening, to Bossembele prison in the prefecture of Ombella-
Mpoko. They were detained illegally for several days, including three 
days of incommunicado detention without food and in the same cell. 
Following protests from several civil society groups, including a 
strike by Members of the CAR Bar Association, the detainees were 
returned to Bangui and released on September 25. While the Government 
permitted BONUCA access to the detainees on a regular basis, many 
observers interpreted the Government's refusal to accept the acquittal 
as further evidence that the detentions had been politically motivated.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides 
for an independent judiciary in civil matters, and citizens had access 
to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damage for abuses; however, there 
was a widespread perception that judges were easily bribed and that 
litigants could not rely on courts to render impartial judgments. Many 
courts were understaffed and personnel were paid poorly.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits invasion of homes without a warrant 
in civil and criminal cases; however, police sometimes used provisions 
of the penal code governing certain political and security cases that 
allow them to search private property without a warrant. Security 
forces continued to carry out warrantless searches for guns and 
ammunition in private homes.
    During the year fighting between government forces and rebels 
resulted in the destruction of at least 1,700 homes, and aid agencies 
said they believed many thousands more had been destroyed, particularly 
in the northwestern provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pende. The fighting, 
in addition to banditry and kidnappings by unidentified groups, forced 
approximately 185,000 residents to abandon their villages during the 
year to seek refuge in Chad (15,000) or Cameroon (20,000), or to live 
in the bush (150,000) (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.d.).
    In January, following a dispute between two members of the security 
forces, members of the Presidential guard forcibly entered, ransacked, 
and looted the home of lawyer and prominent human rights defender 
Tiangaye (see Section 1.a).
    In February gendarmes searched for guns in the home of Christophe 
Douba, a member of the National Assembly belonging to the opposition 
party MLPC, without a warrant and without respect of his 
parliamentarian immunity.
    In December President Bozize announced that he had ordered security 
forces to burn several houses belonging to deacons of Kina Baptist 
Church. President Bozize gave the order, which provoked widespread 
criticism from domestic independent media, after the deacons had burned 
down a pastor's house following an interpersonal dispute. In addition, 
security forces arrested two deacons and beat one of them; authorities 
had released the two deacons by year's end. The President said the 
order to burn the houses was intended to deter parties in the dispute 
from committing additional acts of arson.
    The Government continued to engage in wiretapping without judicial 
authority.
    During the year there were weekly reports of unidentified armed men 
in uniform forcibly entering personal residences at night (see Section 
1.a.).
    There was no additional information on the July 2005 arrest by the 
OCRB of Gilbert Bissidi Beodo, President of a local Bangui chapter of 
the opposition party MLPC.
    During the year unidentified armed groups attacked, looted, and 
burned homes in rural areas in the northern part of the country (see 
Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and the Press.--The constitution and law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, despite the 
implementation of an almost completely decriminalized press law in 
2005, the Government employed threats and intimidation to limit 
criticism of the Government, although there were fewer instances than 
in the previous year. On the whole, local media observers said there 
was greater press freedom during the year and attributed the increase 
to the new press law and the creation in February 2005 of the High 
Council of Communications (HCC), an independent institution composed of 
nine members, including journalists, charged with promoting press 
freedom and assisting the Government with media licensing and 
regulation. In addition the Central African Journalists' Union (UJCA) 
and the Central African Association of Private and Independent 
Newspaper Publishers, both of which campaigned vigorously for the 
adoption of the new press law, continued to advocate greater press 
freedom during the year. Journalists who worked for state-owned media 
reportedly practiced self-censorship.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly without 
reprisal.
    Throughout the year, more than 30 newspapers, many of which were 
privately owned, published at varying intervals and often criticized 
the President, the Government's economic policies, and official 
corruption. While five independent dailies--including Le Citoyen, Le 
Confident, and Le Democrate--were available in Bangui, they were not 
distributed outside of the Bangui area, and the absence of a 
functioning postal service continued to hinder newspaper distribution. 
Financial problems prevented many other private newspapers from 
publishing regularly, and the average price of a newspaper, 
approximately $0.55 (300 CFA francs), was more than most citizens could 
afford.
    Radio was the most important medium of mass communication, in part 
because the literacy rate was low. The Government owned and operated a 
radio station and the country's only television station.
    The private radio station Radio Ndeke Luka continued to provide a 
popular and independent alternative to the state-owned Radio 
Centrafrique, although the reach of Ndeke Luka was limited; outside 
Bangui, it was available for only one hour daily, via shortwave. Ndeke 
Luka broadcast domestically produced national news and political 
commentary and rebroadcast international news throughout the country, 
with assistance from a foreign media development organization and the 
UN Development Program. Radio Notre Dame, which was owned and operated 
by the Catholic Church, broadcast national news, debates, legal 
counseling, and human rights education. International broadcasters, 
including Radio France Internationale, continued to operate during the 
year.
    The Government continued to monopolize domestic television 
broadcasting, although at least one application to establish a private 
television station was pending at year's end.
    Journalists continued to face many challenges, including chronic 
financial problems, a serious deficiency of professional skills, the 
absence of an independent printing press, and a severe lack of access 
to information held by the Government (see Section 3). The UJCA 
continued to lobby the Government for the creation of a national press 
center where journalists could receive professional training.
    During the year security forces often harassed journalists and 
sometimes physically and verbally threatened them; there were also 
reports near the end of the year of government ministers and other 
high-level officials threatening journalists who were critical of the 
Government. For example, according to Reporters without Borders, in 
early January Lieutenant Dogo, a Presidential guard member who had 
recently been dismissed from the military, called Le Citoyen managing 
editor Maka Gbossokotto, insulted him, and ended the conversation by 
saying ``we will meet and see,'' which Gbossokotto interpreted as a 
threat. Dogo was reportedly angry over the newspaper's publication of 
an article detailing a fatal dispute among members of security forces 
that resulted in two killings (see Section 1.a.).
    In February the acting minister of communication threatened to 
suspend the broadcasting operations of Radio Ndeke Luka following 
broadcasts that were critical of the Government.
    According to reports during the year, security forces often 
threatened Ndeke Luka journalist Zephirin Kaya for his criticism of 
security forces who committed abuses against civilians. On August 25, 
Kaya reported that a security forces member threatened him and 
attempted to shoot him while he covered an official ceremony honoring 
high school graduates.
    In December government ministers and high-level officials in the 
presidency reportedly made a series of threats against the director of 
Radio Ndeke Luka. The officials made the threats after the station 
broadcast comments critical of the Government, including criticism of 
the President's decision to appoint what some media outlets considered 
unqualified officials to the country's media oversight body.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of security 
forces arresting, detaining, issuing death threats to, or attempting to 
abduct journalists.
    In early 2005 the President signed a law passed by the transitional 
legislative body in December 2004 that precludes the imprisonment of 
journalists for defaming a third party in a published story; instead, a 
right of reply or compensation must be accorded to the plaintiff. 
However, the law still provides for terms of imprisonment and fines of 
up to $1,823 (one million CFA francs) for journalists who incite 
disobedience among security forces or incite persons to violence, 
hatred, or discrimination through publication in a newspaper or a 
broadcast. In addition the law provides for terms of imprisonment of 
between six months and two years and fines of up to $1,823 (one million 
CFA francs) for the publication or broadcast of false or fabricated 
information that ``would disturb the peace.'' Although defamation is no 
longer punishable by imprisonment under the law, journalists found 
guilty of libel or slander faced fines of between $182 and $1,823 
(100,000 and one million CFA francs).
    Other provisions in the new press law that concerned local press 
observers included a requirement that local press organs submit copies 
of their next publications to four government entities and the HCC 
prior to distribution and the requirement that foreign press organs 
submit copies of publications to two government ministries and the HCC 
at least four hours before distribution.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of local 
administrators in or near Bouar and Berberati confiscating editions of 
publications.
    The Ministry of Communication maintained a ban on the diffusion by 
media of songs, programs, or articles deemed to have a ``misogynist 
character'' or to disrespect women.
    Unlike in the previous year, officials did not use libel laws to 
suppress criticism of political leaders. The libel suit filed in 2005 
against Gbossokotto by a government prosecutor was dropped.
    Local journalists and the HCC reported that violence perpetrated by 
former pro-Bozize rebel fighters, forces loyal to former President 
Patasse, and armed bandits prevented Bangui-based reporters from 
venturing outside the capital and severely limited the availability of 
information about several rural prefectures, particularly in the 
northern and western regions of the country. However, in March a group 
of journalists traveled to the northwest and reported on abuses 
allegedly committed by security forces against civilians suspected of 
supporting rebels, as well as on the displacement of large numbers of 
civilians and the harsh conditions in which they lived following the 
outbreak of fighting between rebels and the military (see Section 
1.a.).

    Internet Freedom.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no 
reports of the Government limiting or blocking access to the Internet 
for certain journalists. There were no reports of the Government 
monitoring e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Although less than 1 percent 
of the population had access to the Internet, individuals and groups 
could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, 
including by e-mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no reports that 
the Government restricted academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for the right of assembly; 
however, although the Government afforded more respect to this right 
than during the previous year, the Government restricted this right on 
a few occasions. Organizers of demonstrations and public meetings were 
required to register with the minister of the interior 48 hours in 
advance, and political meetings in schools or churches were prohibited. 
The law required any association intending to hold a meeting to write a 
letter to the Ministry of Interior to obtain the ministry's approval 
prior to any meeting. In some cases when associations asked for such 
approval, the ministry refused ``for security reasons.''
    In September security forces invaded the customs union's 
headquarters and prevented a meeting called by the union after the 
Government dissolved the customs administration.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right. All 
associations, including political parties, must register with the 
Ministry of Interior, and the Government usually granted registration 
expeditiously. The Government normally allowed associations and 
political parties to hold congresses, elect officials, and publicly 
debate policy issues without interference, except when they advocated 
sectarianism or tribalism.
    The law prohibiting nonpolitical organizations from uniting for 
political purposes remained in place; however, there were no reports 
that this law was enforced during the year.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, although it prohibits what the Government considers to be 
religious fundamentalism or intolerance and establishes fixed legal 
conditions based on group registration with the Ministry of Interior. 
The Government generally respected the right to religious freedom 
during the year. The constitutional provision prohibiting religious 
fundamentalism was understood widely to be aimed at Muslims, who made 
up between 15 and 20 percent of the population; however, this provision 
was not supported by any additional legislation.
    In May OCRB Director Yves Gbeyero reportedly severely assaulted a 
pastor who had asked for the release of a detainee who had been 
arrested after the pastor accused him of stealing a camera. There were 
no reports of disciplinary action against Gbeyero.
    In December President Bozize ordered security forces to burn down 
several homes belonging to Baptist deacons; security forces carrying 
out the order beat one deacon and arrested another (see Section 1.f.).
    Religious groups (except for traditional indigenous religious 
groups) were required by law to register with the Ministry of Interior. 
The ministry's administrative police monitored groups that failed to 
register; however, the police did not attempt to impose any penalty on 
such groups. The ministry could decline to register, suspend the 
operations of, or ban any organization that it deemed offensive to 
public morals or likely to disturb the peace. Any religious or 
nonreligious group that the Government considered subversive was 
subject to sanctions. The Ministry of Interior also could intervene to 
resolve internal conflicts about property, finances, or leadership 
within religious groups. Under this framework, the Ministry of the 
Interior indefinitely closed a Protestant church in Bangui at the end 
of March after authorities were notified that two factions within the 
church were planning to fight each other with knives. Government 
authorities declared the closure was necessary to prevent violence 
until tensions subsided. Police made no arrests, and the church 
remained closed at the end of the year.
    During the year the Government continued to ban the Unification 
Church, claiming that it was a subversive organization likely to 
disturb the peace because of its alleged training of younger church 
members as paramilitaries.
    According to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, several of 
the 34 Protestant churches whose activities were suspended by the 
Government in 2003 (for supposedly being created without regard for 
official rules and regulations) had fulfilled government requirements 
to reopen and had resumed their activities by year's end. To reopen, 
these religious institutions had to prove they had a minimum of 1,000 
members. Additionally, church leaders had to present evidence that they 
graduated from what the Government considered high caliber religious 
schools and provide documentation proving that the church was created 
with respect to local law. A few of these churches did not reopen for 
failure to meet these requirements. Some observers perceived this 
decree as an attempt by the Government to regulate the proliferation of 
places of worship, which had become a trend in the country and a source 
of concern for the Government over recent years.
    Police often arrested and detained persons accused of witchcraft or 
sorcery (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
    On September 27, approximately 30 unidentified armed men reportedly 
attacked a theological college in Bata, near Bozoum in Ouham Pende 
Prefecture. No additional information was available.
    Mobs reportedly continued to kill and injure suspected sorcerers or 
witches during the year (see Section 1.a.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for the right 
to move freely throughout the country; however, the Government 
restricted this right during the year. Security forces, customs 
officers, and other officials harassed travelers unwilling or unable to 
pay bribes or ``taxes'' at checkpoints along major intercity roads and 
at major intersections in Bangui.
    During the year police increased the number of vehicles that it 
stopped and searched, particularly in Bangui. In addition local human 
rights organizations and UN officials said the problem of illegal road 
barriers constructed by members of the military was widespread and that 
travelers regularly encountered extortion at these barriers. Members of 
the military did not allow road travelers to pass without paying a fee. 
For example, merchants and traders traveling more than 350 miles on the 
main route from Bangui to Bangassou encountered an average of 25 
military barriers; at each road block, a motorist paid an average fee 
of $16 (8,781 CFA francs), which amounted to $410 (225,000 CFA francs) 
for the entire trip. This type of extortion greatly discouraged trade 
and road travel and severely crippled the country's economy. Following 
protests from National Assembly deputies and human rights 
organizations, the Government ordered the demolition of illegal 
barriers on the road but took no disciplinary actions against security 
forces who beat travelers to extort money. Despite these measures, 
security forces continued to block the roads to extort money.
    Significant numbers of unidentified bandits and rebels, including 
former combatants that helped President Bozize come to power in 2003, 
continued to severely impede freedom of movement--including that of 
traders and delivery trucks--particularly in northern and northwestern 
zones of the country that the Government effectively did not control. 
The Government also was unable to control highway bandits operating in 
the eastern prefectures of Ouaka and Haute-Kotto. The highway bandits, 
or coupeurs de routes, often constructed road barriers to stop drivers, 
robbed them, and sometimes killed them if they refused to pay (see 
Section 1.a.). Because many travelers ceased carrying large sums of 
money with them, many highway bandits in the northern and northwestern 
areas of the country reportedly turned to the more lucrative business 
of kidnapping and targeted the children of a traditionally wealthy 
ethnic group (see Section 5).
    With the exception of diplomats, the Government required that all 
foreigners obtain an exit visa. Travelers intending to exit the country 
could be required to obtain affidavits to prove that they owed no money 
to the Government or to parastatal companies.
    The constitution does not permit the use of exile, and the 
Government did not employ it in practice. Former President Patasse 
remained in self-imposed exile during the year.
    During the year unidentified armed groups committed violations 
against cattle herders--primarily members of the M'bororo ethnic 
group--due to their relative wealth, causing more than 20,000 cattle 
herders to flee the Ouham-Pende and Nana-Mambere prefectures in the 
northwest and to take refuge in Cameroon (see Section 5).
    Some observers continued to criticize the Government for failing to 
restore order to the north and charged that the Government had made the 
situation worse after security forces, which were deployed in the north 
to engage armed rebels, killed civilians and committed other abuses 
against persons suspected of supporting rebels (see Sections 1.a. and 
1.c.).

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the year there was a 
threefold increase in the number of IDPs--from approximately 50,000 to 
an estimated 150,000 (almost 4 percent of the population)--due to 
fighting between government security forces and rebel groups, as well 
as attacks on civilians by rebels, armed bandits, and government 
soldiers. These attacks reportedly resulted in the killing and rape of 
civilians, the burning of villages, and looting (see Sections 1.a. and 
1.c.). Displacement occurred throughout the year, and the overwhelming 
majority of IDPs were in the northwestern prefectures of Ouham 
(bordering Chad) and Ouham Pende (bordering Chad and Cameroon), where 
civilians abandoned their villages out of fear and lived in the bush 
for much of the year, surviving on little more than roots and wild 
food. Starting in October, thousands of individuals fled their homes 
due to fighting in the north-central prefectures of Gribingui and 
Bamingui-Bangoran (both of which border Chad) and the northeastern 
prefecture of Vakaga (which borders Sudan and Chad). By October the UN 
estimated that one million citizens, particularly IDPs, had been 
affected by ``severe levels of violence'' during the year. In addition 
to hygiene-related illness, chronic malnutrition increased as 
insecurity prevented many subsistence farmers from planting crops, and 
the majority of livestock was either looted or migrated to safety in 
neighboring Cameroon. The absence of security also rendered the 
northwestern region largely inaccessible to humanitarian organizations, 
contributing to the lack of proper medical care, food security, and 
school facilities.
    CEMAC peacekeepers conducted joint security operations in an effort 
to secure the northern region of CAR and control the proliferation of 
small arms. Despite these operations, however, the Government was not 
able to provide a sufficient degree of security or protection for IDPs 
in the northern part of the country.
    In June Prime Minister Elie Dote led a ``peace mission'' to the 
northwestern subprefecture of Paoua, the site of retribution attacks on 
civilians by security forces early in the year (see Section 1.a.), and 
made an appeal for IDPs to return to their homes and help build a 
stable region. However, many critics argued that the Government needed 
to make more efforts to provide security and key infrastructure and 
services.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to countries where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status and asylum. The Government 
accepted refugees prima facie.
    The Government continued to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner 
for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
the country's approximately 20,000 refugees, as well as asylum seekers. 
According to the UNHCR, during a voluntary repatriation effort in 
April, 10,000 southern Sudanese refugees were ``stranded'' in the Mboki 
camp of the southeastern prefecture of Haut-Mbomou when the Government 
closed the country's border with Sudan due to insecurity and constant 
border crossings by Chadian rebels based in Sudan. However, following 
an agreement it reached with the Government, the UNHCR announced on 
December 8 that it planned to resume the voluntary repatriation of 
almost 8,000 southern Sudanese, as well as approximately 900 refugees 
from the DRC.
    During the year security forces subjected refugees to the same 
types of arbitrarily arrest and detention as citizens; however, 
refugees were especially vulnerable to such human rights violations. 
The Government allowed refugees freedom of movement; however, they were 
subject to the same roadside stops and harassment by security forces 
and unidentified armed groups as citizens were.
    Several international organizations worked with the Government and 
UNHCR to assist refugees during the year. They included the ICRC, 
Doctors without Borders, an international confederation of Catholic 
organizations called Caritas, and the international NGO International 
Cooperation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to 
        Change their government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
Presidential and legislative elections in 2005, which election 
observers considered to be generally free and fair, despite some 
problems. During the year the Government failed to hold previously 
scheduled municipal elections.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In March and May 2005 the 
country held two rounds of multiparty Presidential and legislative 
elections that resulted in the election of General Bozize as President; 
Bozize had seized power in a 2003 military coup, declared himself 
President, and headed a transitional government until the 2005 
elections. Domestic and international election observers judged the 
elections to be generally free and fair and representative of the 
voters' will, despite irregularities and accusations of fraud made by 
candidates running against Bozize.
    The campaign prior to the first-round elections was tense. The 
independent press reported isolated incidents of clashes between rival 
groups of supporters, particularly the supporters of Bozize and former 
President Kolingba, who was one of 11 Presidential candidates; there 
also were allegations of fraud involving voter registration documents.
    The opposition Union of Active Forces of the Nation (UFVN), a 
grouping of Bozize's rivals, denounced the elections for alleged fraud 
and irregularities involving voting and vote counting and called for 
the elections to be voided. Former President Kolingba said the election 
was completely rigged, and his supporters claimed that militants armed 
by supporters of Bozize threatened them. The Joint Independent 
Electoral Commission (CEMI) chairman acknowledged there had been cases 
in which there were more votes than registered voters but said he 
believed the election reflected the will of the people.
    In March 2005, before election officials had tallied the results of 
the first round of Presidential elections, armed individuals exchanged 
gunfire outside the Bangui house of former President Kolingba. The 
minister of the interior said the exchange of gunfire, which resulted 
in the wounding of one military soldier in the head, was a 
``misunderstanding'' between members of the military. However, 
according to a spokesman for Kolingba, unidentified gunmen attacked the 
residence in an attempt to kill Kolingba. The incident occurred on the 
same day that Kolingba and other Presidential candidates belonging to 
the UFVN called for the annulment of Presidential elections due to 
fraud and irregularities.
    During the 2005 electoral campaign security forces sometimes beat, 
threatened, and intimidated individuals.
    Following elections, Presidential candidate Ziguele attempted to 
have Bozize's victory invalidated, claiming that soldiers had forced or 
intimidated citizens into voting for Bozize, but the Constitutional 
Court rejected this assertion.
    During the year authorities held an election for a parliamentary 
seat that the CEMI canceled in 2005 due to fraud. NGOs and other 
observers considered the election, which took place in the southern 
administrative division of Boganangone, credible and fair.
    The National Convergence Movement, a grouping of smaller parties, 
military officials, and political leaders supporting General Bozize, 
held 42 of the National Assembly's 105 seats, which represented the 
largest number of any party; the MLPC held the second highest number of 
seats, 11. Presidential candidate Kolingba's party, the Central African 
Democratic Rally, held eight seats.
    On March 31, the law that allowed President Bozize to rule by 
decree for three months, which was adopted by the National Assembly in 
December 2005, expired. The law provided that all Presidential decrees 
would require the advice of the Constitutional Court, be effective 
until March 31, and be subject to ratification by the National Assembly 
at the end of that period. The Prime Minister said the law allowed the 
Government to take ``emergency measures'' to fight corruption and 
improve the civil service; measures taken included the removal of three 
ministers for fraud, the harmonization of civil service salaries, and 
the establishment of a new retirement age. The law, which was passed 
after cabinet meetings and consultations with the country's 
Constitutional Court, reportedly was intended to quicken the adoption 
of political and economic reforms by bypassing parliamentary debates 
and votes. Several local human rights NGOs criticized the National 
Assembly's decision to give additional power to the President and 
accused President Bozize of attempting to establish a ``dictatorship.'' 
According to the minister for parliamentary affairs, rule by decree was 
in accordance with article 29 of the constitution. In October the 
National Assembly passed a law that effectively approved civil service-
related measures that the Government had adopted during the three 
months of Bozize's rule by decree.
    During the year there were several indications of the legislature's 
weakness and lack of independence. For example, in August, on the day 
that the National Assembly's 105 deputies were scheduled to vote on 
proposed legislation regulating radioactive minerals, a larger-than-
usual number of security forces members surrounded the National 
Assembly building, roughly frisking and questioning parliamentarians as 
advocates of the bill reportedly offered bribes for the deputies to 
approve it. Following the bill's adoption, independent newspapers and 
NGOs criticized the deputies for their lack of independence.
    The state remained highly centralized. The President appointed all 
regional government officials--who ran the country's 16 prefectures and 
60 subprefectures--and regional government entities had no significant 
fiscal autonomy. Provisions in the constitution provide for municipal 
elections; however, by year's end they had not been held, and towns 
continued to be led by mayors appointed by the President.
    During the year the LCDH criticized President Bozize for holding 
the position of minister of defense, saying that article 23 of the 
constitution prohibits the President from holding ``any other political 
function or electoral mandate,'' under penalty of dismissal; however, 
government officials said this criticism was based on a 
misinterpretation of the constitution.
    According to recommendations from a 2003 government-sponsored 
national dialogue, women were supposed to make up 35 percent of posts 
in government ministries and political parties; however, this provision 
was not respected during the year. Ten women held seats in the 105-seat 
National Assembly, and there were three women in the President's 
cabinet.
    There were two members of the M'bororo ethnic group and 
approximately 13 Muslims in the 105-seat National Assembly.Pygmies 
(Batwa or Ba'Aka), the indigenous inhabitants of the southern part of 
the country, represented between 1 and 2 percent of the population; 
they were not represented in the Government and continued to have 
little political power or influence (see Section 5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Misappropriation of public 
funds and corruption in the Government remained widespread. Corruption 
continued to contribute to the country's incapacity to pay 40 months of 
government salary arrears, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
and local human rights activists said was a major threat to the 
country's security, stability, and advancement of human rights. The 
country's tax collection and public expenditure management systems were 
extremely weak by international standards, and the lack of transparency 
and accountability in the use of public resources was a serious 
problem. Corruption was prevalent in almost every sector, from 
education and health to customs and law enforcement. Civil service 
salary fraud drained 10 percent of the country's monthly budget, 
according to public statements by the Prime Minister in October 2005. 
According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption 
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was 
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,'' 
which is the most severe assessment designation used by TI.
    Corruption was particularly rife in the management and oversight of 
three of the country's key exports, timber, gold, and diamonds. In 2005 
experts said that the quantity of diamonds exported illegally from the 
country--an estimated 500,000 carats--was equal to the quantity that 
was exported legally and that the value of legally exported diamonds 
was often understated. According to an interview during 2005 with an 
IMF official, there was a particular need for the Government to 
increase transparency in the allocation of mining permits and the 
regulation of enterprises active in the mining sector. In September 
2005 the minister of mines indefinitely suspended the granting of 
mining permits for gold and diamonds and prohibited foreign nationals 
from traveling in mining zones. The prohibition followed the 
Government's discovery of numerous irregularities in mining zones, as 
well as the presence of numerous foreigners, many of whom did not have 
mining permits.
    In the health sector, before providing treatment or medicine, many 
doctors and nurses demanded bribes of at least $2 (1,000 CFA francs) 
from even the poorest patients. In recent years, in the education 
sector, so many students paid teachers or administrators for a passing 
score on their baccalaureates, or national high school exit exams, that 
the exam scores lost their value. The inflation of exam scores was so 
egregious that it led many higher learning institutions in other 
countries, such as France, to evaluate CAR students with suspicion or 
disregard their applications altogether, effectively reducing a CAR 
student's educational opportunities, according to the LCDH.
    During the year several local human rights observers accused mid- 
and high-level government officials of profiting from the extortion 
that members of security forces committed on a monthly or weekly basis 
at roadside checkpoints and illegal roadblocks (see Section 2.d.).
    The Government took some significant steps to combat corruption. 
For example, in August the Government dissolved the customs service in 
an effort to combat corruption and the misappropriation of public 
taxes. Reform of the customs administration was underway at year's end. 
The decision to reform the collection of customs revenues reportedly 
yielded sufficient funds to pay civil servants two sets of salary 
arrears toward the end of the year; however, some observers argued that 
too much of the new collection process was not transparent.
    The September session of the Criminal Court sentenced former 
President Patasse, who remained in exile, and Luis Sanchez, a French 
citizen, to 20 years' imprisonment with hard labor and ordered them to 
pay part of a fine of $10 million (five billion CFA francs) for 
embezzling $136 million (70 billion CFA francs) of public funds during 
Patasse's presidency.
    The Government continued to conduct a targeted campaign against 
embezzlement, money laundering, and other forms of financial fraud.
    During the year the Government stopped publishing periodic 
declarations by government officials of their personal assets and 
wealth; the declarations, which the Government had begun publishing in 
August 2005, were intended to prevent embezzlement and other forms of 
government corruption. According to the constitution, the President, 
government ministers, members of the National Assembly, and judges are 
required to declare publicly their personal assets.
    During the year the Government removed from office three ministers 
accused of fraud related to the payment of civil servants. In addition, 
by verifying diplomas and other documents, the Government continued to 
combat the existence of ``ghost workers'' in the civil service who 
attempted to receive salaries fraudulently.
    The case of three public treasury employees accused of embezzling 
$95,500 (52 million CFA francs) in 2005 was pending before a court at 
year's end. In October 2005 the Government suspended them for three 
months without pay.
    The law provides for access by journalists to ``all sources of 
information, within the limits of the law''; however, it does not 
specifically mention government documents or government information, 
and no mention is made of access by the general public. The Government 
was often unable or unwilling to provide information, and lack of 
access to information continued to be a problem for journalists and the 
general public. Furthermore, several years of political and economic 
instability and conflict made information difficult to collect, even 
for the Government, particularly in the countryside. Information on the 
humanitarian situation, for example, was difficult to obtain and 
sometimes contradictory.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International 
        andNongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations ofHuman 
        Rights
    Several domestic and international human rights groups generally 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
in press releases their findings on human rights cases. Government 
officials were somewhat responsive to their views but increasingly 
criticized them publicly for their reports of human rights violations 
committed by security forces. In general, local NGOs were weak, 
although there were a few that were active and had a sizable impact on 
the promotion of human rights. Some local NGOs, including the LCDH, the 
Human Rights Observatory, the anti-torture NGO ACAT, and the 
Association of Women Jurists actively monitored human rights problems; 
worked with journalists to draw attention to human rights violations, 
including those allegedly committed by the army; pleaded individual 
cases of human rights abuses before the courts; and engaged in efforts 
to raise the public's awareness of citizens' legal rights. The 
destruction or loss of scarce resources, such as automobiles and 
computers, during fighting and looting in 2002 and 2003 limited local 
human rights NGOs, although they continued gradually to rebuild their 
capacity during the year. The potential impact of local human rights 
NGOs continued to be weakened by the failure of most members to pay 
membership dues and the noticeable dearth of international development 
organizations and foreign diplomatic missions, which once provided them 
with training and some financial support. For these reasons, the 
activities of local human rights NGOs were quite modest in scope and 
limited almost exclusively to Bangui.
    During the last quarter of the year, defense lawyers and human 
rights activists who opposed the continued detention of 15 defendants 
acquitted by a court in September reportedly received threats from 
members of the security forces (see Section 1.e.).
    During the last quarter of the year the military instructed the few 
aid organizations and NGOs operating in Paoua, a provincial town in the 
northwestern prefecture of Ouham Pende, to suspend their activities for 
security reasons. As a result, organizations such as Doctors without 
Borders, the ICRC, and the World Food Program were unable to deliver to 
IDPs more than 50 tons (45,000 kilograms) of food, which remained in a 
warehouse. However, by year's end these organizations had reportedly 
resumed their activities.
    During the year human rights activists, including the President of 
ACAT, reported receiving anonymous death threats following their 
criticism of government tolerance of impunity and their public 
denunciation of abuses committed by security forces.
    According to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), 
during the year the Government undertook a campaign to publicly defame 
and threaten domestic human rights NGOs. During an August meeting with 
members of the opposition MLPC, President Bozize reportedly spoke of a 
meeting he had in June with the FIDH and LCHD and said that he had 
``wanted to stab'' the President of the LCDH during the meeting, 
accompanying his words with a stabbing gesture. In December President 
Bozize delivered a speech in which he accused magistrates, human rights 
defenders, journalists, and members of the political opposition of 
``blocking the development of the CAR'' and charged that domestic human 
rights defenders had reported falsehoods and insulted their country and 
President. In a speech delivered in March, the President accused human 
rights defenders of protecting ``criminals.''
    Until the military instructed aid organizations in November to stop 
their activities, international human rights NGOs and international 
organizations operated in the country without interference from the 
Government; however, there were very few operating in the country. Due 
to insecurity caused by unidentified armed groups in many parts of the 
country, the activities of international groups were limited to Bangui 
and sometimes a few other locations. During the year armed groups 
reportedly targeted the small number of humanitarian workers who were 
operating in the northwest, stopping their vehicles and robbing them. 
The northwest, including Vakaga Prefecture, was inaccessible to NGOs 
due to instability and fighting between rebels and the military.
    In June UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported to the UN Security 
Council that the country's humanitarian situation, particularly in the 
northwest, had deteriorated sharply during the first half of the year, 
during which thousands of civilians abandoned their villages as a 
result of armed rebel movements, attacks by bandits, and reprisals by 
the armed forces against rebels and civilians suspected of aiding the 
rebels. Annan highlighted ``many reports of arbitrary or summary 
execution; torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; violation of time limits on police custody; and 
restriction of the freedom of movement.''
    In June several local human rights organizations issued a joint 
public statement protesting ``appalling'' detention conditions in the 
country, as well as long-term detention without trial after arbitrary 
arrests. Instead of responding to the concerns highlighted by the 
organizations, the Bangui High Court procurator accused the 
organizations of making false allegations and indulging in 
sensationalism.
    In November AI released a report charging that the Government 
violated its own laws and international human rights by arbitrarily 
arresting individuals, detaining many of them for several months 
without charge, and detaining them for up to six or more months without 
trial. The report detailed the arrest and detention between February 
and May of more than 40 persons accused by the Government of supporting 
armed groups and endangering national security. The report highlighted 
harsh and sometimes life-threatening detention conditions, the 
Government's refusal to release 15 defendants after a court had 
acquitted them, and the Government's denial of basic medical care to 
detainees (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., and 1.e.). AI urged the Government 
to respect its own laws and international human rights standards, 
including detainees' rights to a fair trial, to be informed promptly of 
charges, and to be tried in a reasonable amount of time (see Sections 
1.d. and 1.e.).
    In November a UN delegation completed a fact-finding mission to the 
Vakaga Prefecture bordering Sudan and Chad. The delegation--composed of 
political, security, and humanitarian experts--was later expected to 
present its findings to the UN Secretary General. A week prior to the 
completion of the delegation's mission, the UN Security Council decided 
to extend the mandate of BONUCA until the end of 2007 and expressed its 
deep concern about the country's security situation.
    In a report presented to the UN Security Council on December 28, 
the UN Secretary General noted that security had deteriorated during 
November and December, especially in the north and along the borders 
with Chad and Sudan, which negatively impacted the overall human rights 
situation. In the conflict zones security forces, rebel groups, and 
armed bandits committed ``abuses of all kinds,'' including killings. 
Impunity, particularly among members of the Presidential guard, 
continued to hinder the administration of justice. The report 
recommended that the Government make greater efforts to restructure the 
security forces and underlined the importance of strengthening national 
democratic institutions and promoting an inclusive national dialogue 
involving all political stakeholders to relieve tensions and resolve 
the country's ongoing ``political and military crisis.''
    During the year BONUCA's human rights section continued to actively 
monitor human rights practices, assist the Government in capacity 
building, sensitize the public to human rights, conduct visits to 
prisons and detention centers, and conduct human rights training for 
hundreds of government security agents. Although based in Bangui, 
BONUCA had two field offices in the countryside throughout the year, 
one in the Nana-Mambere prefecture town of Bouar and one in the Ouham 
prefecture town of Bossangoa. In October it opened a third field office 
in the Ouaka province town of Bambari, in the south-central part of the 
country. BONUCA continued to receive complaints of killings and other 
violations committed by security forces, which it researched and 
documented. It worked very closely with the Ministry of Justice, often 
visiting the public prosecutor of the republic to submit for judicial 
investigation complaints it received about security agents. BONUCA also 
worked with the Ministry of Communications, National Reconciliation, 
and the Promotion of Human Rights.
    UN Development Program and government officials continued 
collecting weapons from former combatants and reintegrating thousands 
of them into civilian life. By year's end the disarmament, 
demobilization, and reintegration program had demobilized more than 
5,100 former combatants, and of that number, more than 1,700 had been 
reintegrated. The program had collected hundreds of small arms, as well 
as numerous munitions, rocket launchers, grenades, and land mines. 
Although the exact number of small arms in the country remained 
unknown, the Government's estimate of 50,000 small arms circulating 
nationally, beyond its control, could have underestimated the scale of 
the problem, according to a small arms survey published in 2005 by the 
Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
    The High Commission of Human Rights and Good Governance, which is 
attached to the presidency, conducted human rights training for members 
of the security forces. Each week, the commission received and 
investigated an average of 10 citizen complaints of human rights 
violations committed by members of the Government, and it sometimes 
forwarded cases to the Ministry of Justice. In addition, during the 
year it conducted several investigations of government ministries to 
combat human rights violations, including corruption. Having 
approximately 30 persons employed in its Bangui headquarters and 100 in 
the countryside, the commission did not have adequate resources and 
lacked the means to conduct proper training of its investigators. Some 
human rights observers criticized the commission for its lack of 
independence and its lack of effectiveness in reducing impunity in the 
security forces.
    The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in the National Assembly sought 
to strengthen the capacity of the legislature and other government 
institutions to advance human rights. Among their human rights 
priorities, HRC members said they aimed to stop extrajudicial killings 
by the OCRB, improve conditions in detention centers, reduce prolonged 
detentions without trial, fight corruption, expand women's and 
minorities' rights, and combat the worst forms of child labor. The 
commission said it suffered from a severe lack of resources.
    On November 30, the pretrial chamber of the ICC noted that almost 
two years had passed since the ICC prosecutor received the referral 
from the Government regarding the situation of crimes within the 
jurisdiction of the ICC, including crimes committed in the country 
since 2002. The ICC's pretrial chamber requested that the ICC 
prosecutor provide information on the alleged failure to decide within 
a reasonable time whether or not to initiate an investigation, and that 
it take measures to preserve evidence and protect victims. In April the 
cassation court, the country's highest criminal court, held that only 
the ICC was capable of trying the serious crimes committed in the 
country since July 2002 by persons who remained outside of the national 
territory during the year, including former President Patasse, DRC Vice 
President Jean-Pierre Bemba and combatants under his command, and 
others. In 2005 the ICC prosecutor said an analysis would be carried 
out to determine whether to initiate an investigation; however, no 
decision had been made by year's end.
    Domestic and international NGOs, including the FIDH and the LCDH, 
continued to accuse the Government of failing to cooperate fully with 
the ICC's prosecutor and criticized the Government for failing to 
conduct an exhaustive and independent investigation of the alleged war 
crimes and crimes against humanity committed by pro-Bozize rebels and 
soldiers and rebels loyal to then President Patasse during 2002 and 
2003, including summary executions, systematic rape, and widespread 
looting. Government officials said an investigation had been made 
difficult by the insecurity still present in the north.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution stipulates that all persons are equal before the 
law without regard to wealth, race, or sex; however, the Government did 
not enforce these provisions effectively, and significant 
discrimination existed.

    Women.--Although the law does not specifically mention spousal 
abuse, it prohibits violence against any person and provides for 
penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment; however, domestic violence 
against women, including wife beating, reportedly was common. 
Inadequate data made it impossible to quantify the extent of domestic 
violence. Spousal abuse was considered a civil matter unless the injury 
was severe. According to the Association of Women Jurists, a Bangui-
based NGO specializing in the defense of women's and children's rights, 
victims of domestic abuse seldom reported incidents to authorities, and 
when incidents were addressed, it was done within the family or local 
community. The courts tried very few cases of spousal abuse, although 
litigants cited these abuses during divorce trials and civil suits. 
Some women reportedly tolerated abuse to retain financial security for 
themselves and their children.
    The law prohibits rape; however, rape remained a problem. The law 
does not specifically prohibit spousal rape. Rape is punishable by 
imprisonment with hard labor, although the law does not specify a 
minimum sentence. Police sometimes arrested men on charges of rape; 
however, the social stigma induced many families to avoid formal court 
action.
    Although the law prohibits FGM, which is punishable by up to 10 
years' imprisonment, girls continued to be subjected to this 
traditional practice in certain rural areas and, to a lesser degree, in 
Bangui. According to the WHO, FGM affected more than 40 percent of 
girls. In addition, according to data collected by the UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF) between 1998 and 2005, an estimated 36 percent of females 
between the ages of 15 and 49 had undergone FGM. According to the 
Association of Women Jurists, anecdotal evidence suggested that fewer 
girls and women had undergone FGM as a result of efforts to sensitize 
women to the dangers of the practice.
    Although the law does not prohibit prostitution, it prohibits the 
incitement of someone to prostitution and the act of profiting from an 
individual's prostitution; however, prostitution existed during the 
year. The law designates a fine and imprisonment for three months to 
one year for those found guilty of procurement of individuals for 
sexual purposes (including assisting in prostitution). For cases 
involving a minor, the penalty of imprisonment is between one and five 
years. Some young girls reportedly engaged in prostitution for economic 
reasons, particularly in urban centers. The practice had reportedly 
grown more common since 2002.
    Trafficking in persons occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government did 
not effectively enforce the law, and sexual harassment was a problem.
    The law does not discriminate against women in inheritance and 
property rights, but a number of discriminatory customary laws often 
prevailed, and women's statutory inheritance rights often were not 
respected, particularly in rural areas. The family code further 
strengthened women's rights, particularly in the courts; however, 
access to the judicial system remained very limited throughout the 
country.
    Women were treated as inferior to men both economically and 
socially. Single, divorced, or widowed women, including those with 
children, were not considered to be heads of households. Only men were 
entitled to family subsidies from the Government. Women in rural areas 
generally suffered more discrimination than women in urban areas. There 
were no accurate statistics on the percentage of female wage earners. 
Women's access to educational opportunities and to jobs, particularly 
at higher levels in their professions or in government service, was 
limited.
    Polygyny is legal, although this practice faced growing resistance 
among educated women. The law allows a man to take up to four wives, 
but a prospective husband must indicate at the time of the first 
marriage contract whether he intends to take additional wives. In 
practice many couples never married formally because men could not 
afford the traditional bride payment. The family code authorizes the 
use of bride payments, but it neither requires them nor sets a minimum 
payment amount. Women who were educated and financially independent 
tended to seek monogamous marriages. Divorce is legal and can be 
initiated by either partner.
    The Association of Women Jurists advised women of their legal 
rights and how best to defend them and filed complaints with the 
Government regarding human rights violations. During the year several 
active women's groups solicited guidance from the Association of Women 
Jurists and organized workshops and seminars to promote women's and 
children's rights, including seminars to encourage women to participate 
fully in the political process.

    Children.--The Government spent little money on programs for 
children, and churches and NGOs had relatively few programs for youths. 
In addition instability had a disproportionate effect on children, who 
accounted for almost 50 percent of all IDPs during the year. 
Humanitarian organizations reported in June that in the northwestern 
prefectures of Ouham and Ouham Pende only 9 percent of school-age 
children attended school due to lack of security.
    Furthermore, following the 2003 coup, approximately three(quarters 
of the country's schools were destroyed, although UNICEF has since 
assisted the Government in rebuilding some primary schools in the 
southwest region of the country. The failure of the education system, 
caused by a meager budget and salary arrears, resulted in a shortage of 
teachers and an increase in the number of street children.
    Education is compulsory from ages six to 14, although parents 
rarely were prosecuted for their children's nonattendance. Students 
must pay for their own books, supplies, transportation, and insurance. 
At the primary level (ages six to 11), approximately 60 percent of 
children did not attend school, according to a national census 
conducted by the Government in 2003 and published in June 2005. Primary 
school enrolment rates for all prefectures were on average less than 
half that of Bangui commune, and in practice, children in rural areas 
often started school two to three years later than children in urban 
areas. Girls did not have equal access to primary education, as 36.9 
percent of girls of primary school age were enrolled in school compared 
with 44.3 percent of boys. There were extremely few, if any, Pygmies 
enrolled in primary school during the year. The census indicated that 
10.8 percent of children of secondary school age were enrolled in 
school. The majority of young women dropped out of school at age 14 or 
15 due to societal pressure to marry and bear children. In addition, 
the census indicated that, of persons 10 years and older, 32 percent of 
the country's women were literate compared with 53.8 percent of men.
    In recent years communities have taken initiatives to fill the void 
in cases where the public education system was lacking or in areas 
where there were no schools. As a result, the majority of teachers at 
the primary level were parents, and according to the UN Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, three(quarters of all teachers 
had no formal training, a problem that continued to hinder the 
effectiveness of public schooling.
    During the year UNICEF continued to conduct a campaign to raise 
awareness of the importance of child education, with a particular focus 
on the need to increase the literacy rate among girls. In addition, in 
recent years the Government, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and other 
donors have developed an action plan to address the need for more 
complete birth registration to improve children's access to education 
and other social services. There were no reliable statistics on birth 
registration; however, in September UNICEF began conducting a 
five(month study to determine the percentage of births that were 
registered.
    Corruption in the education system continued to be a problem. 
According to numerous credible reports, male teachers in primary and 
secondary schools and at the university level routinely pressured their 
female students into having sexual relationships in exchange for 
passing grades; the spread of HIV/AIDS was extremely prevalent between 
teachers and their female students.
    The Government's incapacity to pay salary arrears to teachers and 
scholarship arrears to students at the university level continued to be 
a serious problem. For example in September primary and high school 
teachers threatened to go on strike if the Government did not pay them 
three months of salary arrears. After negotiation between the 
Government and the teachers' union, they resumed activities at the 
beginning of the academic year.
    The Government did not provide medical coverage for uninsured 
children. Most children's families could not afford access to the 
fee(based health care system. Health officials cited evidence during 
the year that diseases previously brought under control, such as human 
sleeping sickness and river blindness, were now spreading again. 
According to UNICEF, the country's main health indicators, including 
child mortality under age five, maternal mortality, and malnutrition, 
continued to deteriorate markedly in recent years. For example 
approximately 30 percent of children died before the age of five. 
During the year, in response to the deteriorating healthcare situation, 
the Government continued working with UN agencies to implement a plan 
to reduce maternal and infant mortality by 2015.
    The penal code forbids parental abuse of children under the age of 
15 years, and child abuse was not widespread. A juvenile court tried 
cases involving children and provided counseling services to parents 
and juveniles during the year.In February a court sentenced two parents 
to four years' imprisonment for abusing their five-year-old girl.
    In September a local private newspaper reported that a member of 
parliament had raped his 14-year-old daughter. Although authorities did 
not arrest the parliamentarian, the case was pending before a court at 
year's end.
    In October police arrested the parents of a nine-year-old girl who 
had suffered serious burns after her parents had allegedly accused her 
of being a sorcerer. At year's end an investigation was ongoing and the 
parents remained in custody.
    FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    The law establishes 18 as the minimum age for marriage. However, an 
estimated 57 percent of children had entered into marriage before the 
age of 18, according to data collected between 1987 and 2005 by UNICEF.
    Trafficking of children and child prostitution occurred (see 
Section 5, Trafficking).
    During the year unidentified armed groups in the northwest of the 
country kidnapped numerous children, reportedly often keeping them in 
chains and depriving them of food (see Section 5, National/Racial/
Ethnic Minorities).
    Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    There were more than 6,000 street children between the ages of five 
and 18 residing in the country, including 3,000 in Bangui. Many experts 
believed that HIV/AIDS and a belief in sorcery, particularly in rural 
areas, contributed to the large number of street children. An estimated 
110,000 children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS, and 
children accused of sorcery (often reportedly in relation to HIV/
AIDS(related deaths in their neighborhoods) were often expelled from 
their households. Many street children begged and stole; several 
charitable organizations provided them with humanitarian assistance.
    There were NGOs specifically promoting children's rights, including 
some, such as Voix du Coeur, which assisted street children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, and there were reports of persons being trafficked, although 
NGOs and government officials said that trafficking in persons was not 
widespread. The country was a source and destination country for 
children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. While the 
majority of child victims were trafficked within the country, some were 
also trafficked to and from Cameroon and Nigeria. Children were 
trafficked for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced 
labor in shops and commercial labor activities. According to NGOs, 
orphaned boys and girls were particularly at risk of being trafficked.
    Trafficking was confined primarily to children, both girls and 
boys, who primarily were orphans. During the year there were reports 
that these children were forced into domestic servitude and commercial 
labor activities, such as street vending and agricultural work. In 
recent years there were reports that children were brought in by 
members of the foreign Muslim community from Nigeria, Sudan, and Chad 
and that merchants, herders, and other foreigners doing business in and 
transiting the country brought girls and boys into the country. Child 
trafficking victims were not afforded the benefit of a formal 
education, despite the mandatory school age, and worked without 
remuneration for their labor. There were a few anecdotal reports of 
children being trafficked to Nigeria and several other nearby countries 
for use as agricultural workers. There was also anecdotal evidence of 
sexual exploitation of girls in Bangui, and there were reports that 
children were publicly beaten.
    Some girls entered prostitution to earn money for their families.
    Traffickers can be prosecuted under laws against slavery and sexual 
exploitation, labor code violations, and mandatory school age laws. 
Specific laws that address the crime of prostitution have been used in 
recent years to punish those who trafficked women for the purposes of 
prostitution.
    During the year the Government did not receive or investigate any 
cases of trafficking, nor did it use or have access to special 
investigative techniques in trafficking investigations. By year's end 
no government agency had been assigned to study, combat, or raise 
awareness of trafficking. The head of the High Commission of Human 
Rights and Good Governance, located in the President's office, said 
that because the Government believed that trafficking was not a problem 
in the country, it had not set up shelters for trafficking victims and 
had not incorporated a trafficking component in its human rights 
training seminars for security forces and other officials.
    There were no known NGOs specifically working to combat 
trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There was no codified or societal 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. However, there were 
no legislated or mandated accessibility provisions for persons with 
disabilities, and such access was not provided in practice. The 
Government had not developed a national policy or strategy to provide 
assistance to persons with disabilities. Approximately 10 percent of 
the country's population had disabilities, mostly due to polio. There 
were several government- and NGO-initiated programs designed to assist 
persons with disabilities, including handicraft training for the blind 
and the distribution of wheelchairs and carts by the Ministry of Social 
Affairs.
    The Ministry of Social Affairs continued to work with the NGO 
Handicap International during the year to provide treatment, surgeons, 
and prostheses to persons with disabilities. For example a $24,660 
(12.7 million CFA francs) physiotherapy center for persons with 
disabilities continued to operate in Dekoa, 160 miles northeast of 
Bangui.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population included more 
than 80 ethnic groups; many of these groups spoke distinct primary 
languages and were concentrated regionally outside urban areas. The 
largest ethnic groups were the Baya (33 percent of the population), the 
Banda (27 percent), the Mandja (13 percent), and the Sara (10 percent). 
The nomadic and semi-nomadic M'bororo, also known as Bush Fulanis or 
Peulhs, comprised approximately 7 percent of the population but played 
a preponderant role in the economy; they were involved in mining 
development and remained the most important cattle breeders in the 
country.
    Between January 1 and November 30, as a result of an increase in 
attacks and kidnappings for ransom by unidentified armed groups, more 
than 20,000 cattle herders--primarily M'bororos--reportedly fled to 
Cameroon from the northwest, primarily from Nana-Mambere and Ouham-
Pende prefectures, according to UN agencies and local human rights 
groups. In 2005 an estimated 10,000 M'bororos fled to Cameroon for the 
same reasons. According to reports received by the UNHCR, the 
perpetrators were a combination of security forces, rebel soldiers, and 
bandits, and Chadian soldiers who targeted the M'bororo due to their 
perceived wealth (the size of their cattle herd). UNICEF said that, 
according to its NGO partners in the affected region, the attackers 
often were themselves members of the M'bororo ethnic group.
    In December the UNHCR said that the perpetrators often kidnapped 
women and children and held them for ransoms of between $2,000 and 
$4,000 (one million and two million CFA francs); in addition, in 
certain areas of the northwest, such as Bawa, perpetrators attacked and 
burned entire villages. Although there were no details available on the 
number of persons abducted during the year, kidnappings in 2005 
involved an estimated 1,000 M'bororo children, and parents often could 
only finance the ransoms by selling their entire cattle herds, 
according to the Germany(based NGO Society for Threatened Peoples. 
Parents of the kidnapped children reportedly often did not contact 
security forces for fear that the kidnappers would retaliate by killing 
the abducted children. During the year, despite the Cameroonian 
government's deployment of elite security forces on the Cameroon-CAR 
border, armed groups in the CAR continued to conduct frequent attacks 
on the M'bororo population on the Cameroonian side of the border.
    The ongoing displacement of cattle herders, particularly M'bororos, 
resulted in beef shortages during the year, making meat unaffordable 
for much of the population and significantly affecting the country's 
food security.
    The country's major political parties continued to have readily 
identifiable ethnic or ethnic-regional bases.
    During the year there was occasional violence involving Chadian 
members of the Presidential guard and other members of the security 
forces (see Section 1.a.). However, relative to previous years, 
tensions between the Chadian community, whose members number in the 
thousands and have resided in the country for generations, and those 
who considered themselves to be native to the country were not as 
apparent.

    Indigenous People.--Despite constitutional protection, there was 
societal discrimination against Pygmies (Batwa or Ba'Aka), the earliest 
known inhabitants of the rain forest in the southern part of the 
country, predominately in Lobaye, Ombella-Mpoko, and Sangha 
prefectures. Pygmies comprised approximately 1 to 2 percent of the 
country's population. In general Pygmies had little input in decisions 
affecting their lands, culture, traditions, and the allocation of 
natural resources. Indigenous forest-dwelling Pygmies, in particular, 
were subject to social and economic discrimination and exploitation, 
which the Government has done little to prevent. The Government 
continued to fail to issue and deliver identity cards to Pygmies, 
which, according to many human rights groups, effectively denied them 
access to greater civil rights.
    Pygmies, including children, often were coerced into agricultural, 
domestic, and other types of labor within the country. Pygmies often 
were considered to be the slaves of other local ethnic groups, and when 
they were remunerated for performing labor, their wages were far below 
those prescribed by the labor code and lower than those paid to members 
of other groups.
    During the year the international NGO International Cooperation 
continued to promote the rights of Pygmies, monitor discrimination, and 
gain access to public services through the obtainment of birth 
certificates. Refugees International has reported in recent years that 
Pygmies were effectively ``second-class citizens'' and that the popular 
perception of Pygmies as barbaric, savage, and subhuman had seemingly 
legitimized their exclusion from mainstream society.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The penal code 
criminalizes homosexual behavior; however, there were no reports that 
police arrested or detained persons they believed to be homosexual. 
Societal discrimination against homosexuals existed during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all workers to form or 
join unions without prior authorization, and a relatively small part of 
the workforce, primarily civil servants, exercised this right. Police 
forces and judges are allowed to form unions; however, security forces, 
including the military and gendarmes, are prohibited from forming 
unions.
    A person who loses the status of worker, either through 
unemployment or retirement, can belong to a trade union and participate 
in its administration. The labor code requires that union officials be 
full-time wage-earning employees in their occupation, and that they may 
conduct union business during working hours as long as the employer is 
informed 48 hours in advance and provides authorization.
    In March security forces arrested Noel Ramadan, the deputy 
secretary general of the Syndicated Union of CAR Workers, for allegedly 
receiving undue salary benefits; they detained him for at least one day 
before releasing him.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
closed a trade union's headquarters to prevent a rally.
    The law expressly forbids antiunion discrimination; however, during 
the year there were some reports of antiunion discrimination directed 
toward employees who participated in strikes. Employees can have their 
cases heard in the labor court. The law does not state whether 
employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination were required to 
reinstate workers fired for union activities, although employers found 
guilty of such discrimination legally were required to pay damages, 
including back pay and lost wages.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor code 
provides for the right of workers to organize and administer trade 
unions without employer interference and grants trade unions full legal 
status, including the right to file lawsuits, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice. The code provides that 
unions may bargain collectively and provides workers protection from 
employer interference in the administration of a union. Collective 
bargaining occurred in the private sector during the year. The 
Government generally was not involved if the two parties were able to 
reach an agreement.
    The country's largest single employer was the Government, and 
government employee trade unions were especially active. In the civil 
service, the Government set wages after consultation, but not 
negotiation, with the unions; wage levels have remained unchanged for 
more than two decades. Salary arrears continued to be a severe problem 
during the year for military personnel and the country's 24,000 civil 
servants. The Government owed government employees up to 40 months of 
salary arrears, and the arrears continued to be a major complaint of 
the unions. Civil servants continued to demand the payment of salary 
arrears and to hold strikes throughout the year. During the year the 
Government continued efforts to identify fraudulent ``ghost workers'' 
in the civil service to help reduce budgetary problems and pay salary 
arrears (see Section 3).
    Unions have the right to strike in both the public and private 
sectors, and workers exercised this right during the year; however, 
security forces, including the military and gendarmes, are prohibited 
from striking. To be legal, strikes must be preceded by the union's 
presentation of demands, the employer's response to these demands, a 
conciliation meeting between labor and management, and a finding by an 
arbitration council that union and employer failed to reach agreement 
on valid demands. The union must provide eight days' advance written 
notification of a planned strike. The law states that if employers 
initiate a lockout that is not in accordance with the code, the 
employer is required to pay workers for all days of the lockout. 
However, the Government has the authority to end strikes because of 
public interest. The code makes no other provisions regarding sanctions 
on employers for acting against strikers.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the labor 
code specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). 
Prisoners reportedly were forced to work on public works projects 
without compensation for government officials or magistrates; the 
prisoners often received shortened sentences for doing so. Pygmies, 
including children, often were coerced into labor within the country 
and often treated as slaves (see Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor code forbids the employment of children under 14 years of age; 
however, the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service did not enforce the 
provision, and child labor was common in many sectors of the economy, 
especially in rural areas. In some cases, the labor code provides that 
the minimum age for employment could be reduced to 12 years for some 
types of light work in traditional agricultural activities or home 
services. The law prohibits children under 18 from performing hazardous 
work or working at night; however, children continued to perform 
hazardous work during the year. The labor code does not define the 
worst forms of child labor.
    Reliable statistics on child labor were not available; however, 
according to data collected by UNICEF between 1999 and 2005, an 
estimated 57 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were 
involved in child labor activities at the time of the survey. UNICEF 
considered a child to be involved in labor activities according to the 
following classification: children five to 11 years old who, during the 
week preceding the survey, did at least one hour of economic activity 
or at least 28 hours of domestic work; and children 12 to 14 years old 
who, during the week preceding the survey, performed at least 14 hours 
of economic activity, or at least 42 hours of economic activity and 
domestic work combined.
    Throughout the country, children as young as seven years old 
frequently performed agricultural work, often with their parents, 
during the year. In addition children often worked as domestic workers, 
fishermen, and in mines (often in dangerous conditions). An 
international agency reported that children worked in the diamond 
fields alongside adult relatives. In Bangui, many of the city's 3,000 
street children worked as street vendors.
    In some rural areas, teachers or principals used school children as 
occasional or part-time labor on farms, ostensibly to teach them how to 
work the land and raise chickens since many students did not attend 
school beyond the primary level (see Section 5). The schools used the 
proceeds from the sale of farm produce to purchase school supplies and 
equipment and to fund school-related activities.
    The labor code prohibition of forced or compulsory labor applies to 
children, although they are not mentioned specifically; however, forced 
child labor occurred.
    The Government had extremely few resources to enforce the 
prohibition against forced labor or child labor laws effectively. The 
Ministry of Labor and Civil Service had approximately 30 labor 
inspectors and two vehicles to cover the entire country. Salary arrears 
and the lack of personnel training severely impeded its enforcement 
capacity.
    The country had only two centers--both located in Bangui--that 
worked to rehabilitate former child laborers and street children and 
facilitate their reinsertion into the education system. UNICEF, local 
NGOs, and labor unions continued to call for the allocation of 
government resources toward the creation of rehabilitation centers and 
special schools for former child laborers. Labor unions continued to 
highlight the absence of an inspection regime to prevent child labor 
and called on the Government to launch an awareness campaign to 
sensitize parents to the risks of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code states that the 
minister of labor must set minimum wages in the public sector by 
decree. The minimum wage varies by sector and by kind of work. For 
example the monthly minimum wage was equivalent to approximately $17 
(8,500 CFA francs) for agricultural workers but approximately $52 
(26,000 CFA francs) for office workers. The minimum wage did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, and wage 
levels had not changed in more than 20 years. Most labor was performed 
outside the wage and social security system (in the vast informal 
sector), especially by farmers in the large subsistence agricultural 
sector.
    The law sets a standard workweek of 40 hours for government 
employees and most private sector employees. Household employees may 
work up to 52 hours per week. The law also requires a minimum rest 
period of 48 hours per week.
    There are general laws on health and safety standards in the 
workplace, but the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service neither 
precisely defined nor actively enforced them. The labor code states 
that a labor inspector may force an employer to correct unsafe or 
unhealthy work conditions, but it does not provide the right for 
workers to remove themselves from such conditions without risk of loss 
of employment.

                               __________

                                  CHAD

    Chad is a centralized republic with a population of approximately 
10 million. On May 3, citizens reelected President Idriss Deby, leader 
of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), to a third term in what 
unofficial observers characterized as an orderly, but seriously flawed, 
election boycotted by the opposition. Deby has ruled the country since 
taking power in a 1990 rebellion. Political power remained concentrated 
in the hands of a northern oligarchy composed of the President's 
Zaghawa ethnic group and its allies. The executive branch effectively 
dominated the legislature and judiciary, thereby eliminating potential 
challenges to a culture of impunity for the ruling minority. Civilian 
authorities did not maintain effective control of the security forces, 
elements of which frequently acted independently of government control.
    During the year the security situation sharply deteriorated as a 
result of fighting that involved rebel groups, government forces, armed 
militias, and civilians. Fighting occurred between government forces 
and antigovernment rebel groups along the eastern border with Sudan and 
the southern border with the Central African Republic (CAR). There was 
some thawing of relations between Chad and Sudan by mid-year, but by 
the end of the year Sudan's continued support for Chadian rebels 
prompted the Government to accuse Khartoum of seeking to replace the 
Deby government with an ``Arab regime.'' Violence between competing 
ethnic groups and bandit attacks on civilians occurred throughout the 
country. By year's end hundreds of persons were killed and injured, 
tens of thousands were displaced, and numerous villages in the east and 
southeast of the country were destroyed. Up to 110,000 internally 
displaced persons (IDPs) and an estimated 230,000 Sudanese refugees 
lived in the eastern part of the country after fleeing the violence in 
Darfur. The deteriorating security environment, characterized by 
threats of rebel attacks, harassment of humanitarian workers, and 
dramatically increased vehicle theft, led to the withdrawal of all but 
essential UN and humanitarian nongovernmental organization (NGO) 
employees from the country and aggravated the already precarious 
security situation in the area.
    The Government's poor human rights record deteriorated further 
during the year; security forces committed numerous serious human 
rights abuses. The following human rights abuses were reported: 
limitation of citizens' right to change their government; extrajudicial 
killings, torture, beatings, and rapes by security forces; impunity for 
human rights abuses committed by members of the security forces; 
politically motivated disappearances; arbitrary arrest and detention by 
security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions and 
lengthy pretrial and post-sentence detention; executive interference in 
the judiciary and lack of judicial effectiveness; official infringement 
of privacy rights including illegal searches, confiscation, and 
wiretaps; limits on freedom of speech and the press and freedom of 
assembly, including harassment and detention of journalists; widespread 
official corruption; violence and societal discrimination against 
women, including the widespread practice of female genital mutilation 
(FGM); child abuse; slavery; trafficking in persons; and forced labor, 
including the use of child soldiers and other types of forced and 
abusive child labor.
    Armed civilian militias were responsible for interethnic killings, 
abuse, and torture of civilians and humanitarian aid workers, unlawful 
arrest and detention, burning of villages, displacement of thousands of 
persons, and the destruction of civilian property in areas where they 
operated. Rebel groups seeking to overthrow the regime engaged 
government armed forces repeatedly, and attacked the capital in April. 
Antigovernment rebel groups directed their activities against 
government targets while militias generally engaged in banditry and, if 
ethnically based (as was usually the case), in violence against other 
ethnic groups.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Government agents 
committed politically motivated killings, and officially sanctioned 
extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals by security forces 
continued. Arbitrary and unlawful killings by security forces were 
widespread during the year. For example, in September, in the district 
of Beboto prefecture of Yamodo, a commandant of the gendarmerie killed 
two citizens who he suspected of being bandits. There were numerous 
incidents in which security forces fired on persons without sufficient 
cause, whether or not there was loss of life. The Government did not 
prosecute or punish members of the security forces who committed 
killings.
    During the year security forces killed a number of civilians who 
were suspected of collaboration with rebel forces (see Section 1.g.).
    Security forces were believed to have committed numerous killings 
during apprehensions or in custody.
    Police use of excessive force resulted in the killing of at least 
one demonstrator (see Section 2.b.).
    On April 29, unidentified armed men in military uniform killed 
Mahamat Moussa, a government employee on duty in Ati. At year's end 
there had been no investigation of the case.
    On May 11, in Mongo, gendarme Almardi Ahmat killed the governor's 
driver in the presence of several witnesses in the center of town. No 
official action was taken against the gendarme.
    There were no developments in any of the 2005 killings by security 
forces.
    Unexploded ordinance and landmines laid by government, rebel, and 
foreign forces resulted in deaths (see Section 1.g.)
    Armed militias killed scores of civilians during the year (see 
Section 1.g.).
    Unidentified assailants and armed bandits attacked a number of NGO 
employees during the year, resulting in one death (see Section 4).
    Armed bandits continued to operate on many roads, assaulting, 
robbing, and killing travelers; some perpetrators were identified as 
active duty soldiers or deserters. Their motive generally appeared to 
be robbery, and some of their targets were employees of foreign 
assistance organizations or NGOs (see Section 4). In June, for example, 
a group of armed assailants kidnapped four persons in Zabi village, 
near Pala. The attackers demanded $7500 to release the victims. When 
family members were unable to respond to the demands, armed bandits 
killed two of the hostages, both young boys. No investigation had been 
conducted on the case by year's end.
    No action was taken against the perpetrators of numerous 2005 
attacks and killings by bandits, including the killings of two NGO 
employees.
    Interethnic fighting resulted in numerous deaths (see Section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There continued to be reports of politically 
motivated disappearances during the year. The NGO Human Rights Without 
Borders reported that secret detention centers were created after the 
April 13 attacks and that at least 16 high-ranking army officers were 
being kept in these centers (see Section 1.e, Political Prisoners and 
Detainees).
    There were no developments in numerous politically motivated 
disappearances that occurred between September and December 2005 in 
connection with alleged mutiny attempts, military desertions, political 
defections, and rebel attacks carried out on two military 
installations. There also was no information on the June 2005 military 
arrest and disappearance of Naguili Delphine.
    In September 2005 authorities released and reportedly returned to 
service 46 air force officers who had been arrested in May 2005 and 
sent to the northern part of the country. Similarly, 13 to 15 army 
colonels who were arrested in August 2005 were released in October 
2005. The Ministry of Defense announced through media that the officers 
had not been detained on political grounds; in the air force case the 
stated reason was insubordination.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
members of the security forces tortured, beat, abused, and raped 
citizens. Impunity for those who committed human rights abuses remained 
widespread. Security forces arrested and beat journalists and a human 
rights worker during the year.
    On April 15, security forces detained BBC correspondent Dillah 
Yombirim while he was interviewing residents in N'Djamena. Yombirim was 
subsequently taken to a military camp, where he was detained for two 
hours and badly beaten before being released without charge.
    On April 24, gendarmes arrested and allegedly beat Monodji Mingar 
Fidel, President of the Chadian League for Human Rights (LTDH). No 
charges were filed against him and he was released after 24 hours.
    On May 9, police allegedly tortured and beat Mahamat Bichara, a 
payroll officer in the Ministry of Finance, who had been arrested and 
accused of falsifying and then removing administrative documents. 
Bichara was provisionally released in July pending further 
investigation of the case. No charges had been filed by year's end.
    Also in May the chief army commandant in the southern town of Sarh 
arrested, detained, and allegedly tortured Brahim Kaba, Mahamat Adoum 
Kanassam, Kadi Saleh Togbao, and Abderahim Brahim. The traders 
reportedly refused to pay a bribe supplemental to commercial taxes 
already collected. They were not charged with any offense and were 
released in June.
    There were no developments in the numerous 2005 cases of torture or 
mistreatment by security forces.
    During the year human rights organizations continued to receive 
reports of police and gendarmes raping women in custody.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life threatening. Prisons were seriously overcrowded, had 
poor sanitation, and provided inadequate food, shelter, and medical 
facilities. As a result of inadequate record-keeping and management, 
many individuals remained in prison after completing their sentences or 
after courts had ordered their release.
    Local human rights organizations continued to report on the 
existence of military prisons and prisons run by the immigration 
service, to which access was prohibited. It was unknown who was 
detained in these prisons and for what reasons they were held.
    While the law provides that a doctor must visit each prison three 
times a week, this provision was not respected. The law authorizes 
forced labor in prison, but human rights organizations reported that 
generally it did not occur.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners 
died from negligence.
    Juvenile males were not always separated from adult male prisoners 
and in some cases children were held with their prisoner mothers. 
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    The Government permitted the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) to visit most civil prisons on a regular basis, and the 
ICRC conducted such visits during the year. The ICRC confirmed the 
existence of illegal prisons run by the gendarmerie, the ANS, and the 
police, and requested access to them; however, no access was granted. 
The Government provided the NGO Chadian Association for the Promotion 
of Human Rights (ATPDH) with a permanent authorization notice to visit 
civil prisons at any time, without need to provide advance notice. 
Other NGOs, including human rights groups, were required to obtain 
authorization from a court or from the director of prisons; such 
authorizations depended largely on the personal inclinations of those 
with authority to grant permission. Prisoners were also secretly kept 
in regular jails. NGOs were not allowed access to military prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although prohibited by the 
constitution and law, arbitrary arrest and detention were serious 
problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Army 
(ANT), Republican Guard, gendarmerie (military police force), national 
police, nomadic guard (GNNT), and National Security Agency (ANS) are 
responsible for internal security. The ANT, gendarmerie, and GNNT 
report to the Ministry of Defense; the national police report to the 
Ministry of Public Security and Immigration; and the Republican Guard 
and ANS report to the President. The Ministry of Defense is under the 
direction of the presidency. Officers from President Deby's ethnic 
group and closely allied ethnic groups dominated the ANS and Republican 
Guard.
    The police force was centrally controlled, but exercising 
oversight, particularly outside of N'Djamena, was difficult. Police 
officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed impunity. 
Government officials publicly acknowledged the country's growing 
internal security problems, which resulted in part from the inability 
of the national police in N'Djamena and in the regions to counter 
widespread banditry, particularly outside of N'Djamena, and the 
proliferation of arms resulting from a succession of civil wars. The 
Government continued to allow months to pass before it paid police 
force members, and corruption was widespread.
    The defection of government troops to rebel groups was reportedly 
widespread, but no data or estimates of their numbers were available. 
Retribution against the families and villages of defectors included the 
burning of homes, arrest and torture of family members, and destruction 
of crops and other property.

    Arrest and Detention.--While a judicial official is required by the 
constitution and law to sign arrest warrants, the Government often did 
not respect this requirement, and secret arrests occurred. The law 
requires both access to bail and access to counsel, but neither was 
regularly provided. Few detainees had the means to pay for private 
counsel, and incommunicado detention was a problem.Detainees were not 
promptly informed of charges, and judicial determinations were not made 
promptly, which contributed to widespread prison overcrowding. The 
constitution and law state that legal counsel should be provided for 
indigent defendants and defendants should be allowed prompt access to 
family members and counsel; however, in practice this usually did not 
occur.
    During the year security forces arbitrarily arrested and reportedly 
tortured persons, particularly those suspected of collaborating with 
rebels (see Sections 1.c. and 1.g.).
    Police continued to arrest journalists and NGO officials who 
criticized the Government (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
    The Government also arrested numerous military defectors and 
members of their families (see Section 1.g.).
    On May 9, gendarmes arrested 12 farmers from the town of Guite on 
suspicion of being rebel sympathizers and subsequently killed one of 
the farmers (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
    On May 13, the chief commandant of the ANS in the southern town of 
Koumogo arrested Mahmat Bouba, Elhadj Mbonou, and several herders; the 
commandant seized the money and property of the detainees. No 
investigation of the case had been conducted by year's end.
    In April 2005 the chief police commandant arrested Ahmat 
Nagrtoloum, an employee of the Ministry of Finance in N'Djamena. Human 
rights groups were denied access. He was charged with embezzlement in 
July 2005 and released pending trial. The case had not gone to trial by 
year's end.
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. Persons accused of 
crimes could be imprisoned for several years before being charged or 
tried, particularly those who were arrested in the provinces for 
felonies and transferred to the overcrowded prison in N'Djamena. Of the 
3,416 inmates held in the country's prisons as of August 2005 (the most 
recent data available), 1,980 were pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was ineffective, 
underfunded, overburdened, vulnerable to intimidation and violence, and 
subject to executive interference. In practice government officials and 
other influential persons often enjoyed impunity from judicial 
sanction. Members of the military, in which the President's Zaghawa 
ethnic group figured prominently, continued to enjoy a particularly 
high degree of impunity from prosecution. During the year members of 
the judiciary received death threats or faced demotion or removal from 
their positions for not acquiescing to pressure from corrupt officials. 
The two lawyers representing employees of an ESSO (Exxon) subcontractor 
who were demanding back wages had their licenses temporarily revoked. 
The lawyers were charged with inciting the workers to occupy Ministry 
of Justice offices in protest, including confining the minister of 
justice in his office for one day.
    At the national level, a Supreme Court, constitutional court, and 
court of appeals exist; some of their members were appointed by the 
Government rather than elected by citizens as required by law, which 
weakened judicial independence. The constitutionally mandated high 
court of justice can try high-ranking government officials whose cases 
are submitted by the National Assembly. In December 2005 the Ministry 
of Morality brought charges of mismanagement (embezzlement) of official 
funds against three former ministers of livestock. At year's end the 
National Assembly had not acted on these cases.
    At the provincial level there are appeals courts in N'Djamena, 
Moundou, and Abeche.
    The constitution and law mandate that the Superior Council of 
Magistrates recommend judicial nominations and sanction judges who 
commit improprieties; however, continuing problems between the 
Government and magistrates prevented any sanctions from being 
considered or carried out. In 2005 a five-judge judicial oversight 
commission, similar in function to the Superior Council, began 
conducting investigations of judicial decisions and addressing 
suspected miscarriages of justice. However, in contrast to the Superior 
Council, the President appointed members of the commission, which 
increased executive control over the judiciary and diminished the 
authority of the Superior Council. Parties to judicial cases could 
appeal to the commission.

    Trial Procedures.--Applicable law was sometimes confusing, as 
courts tended to blend the formal French-derived legal code with 
traditional practices, and customary law often continued in practice to 
supersede Napoleonic law. Residents of rural areas often lacked access 
to formal judicial institutions, and legal reference texts were not 
available outside the capital. In most civil cases, the population 
relied on traditional courts presided over by village chiefs, canton 
chiefs, or sultans. However, decisions could be appealed to a formal 
court.
    Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but in 
practice many judges assumed a suspect's guilt, particularly in crimes 
involving rape or theft. Cases are heard as public trials, and 
defendants have the right to appeal any decision. Defendants, their 
lawyers, and judges are permitted by law to question witnesses.
    The law states that indigents should be provided promptly with 
legal counsel; in practice, this seldom occurred. Human rights groups 
sought to improve this situation, and sometimes provided free counsel 
themselves.
    The Muslim concept of dia, which involves a payment, based on the 
decision of local leaders, to the family of a murder victim or other 
victim of a crime, was practiced widely in northern Muslim areas. Non-
Muslim groups, who supported implementation of a civil code, continued 
to challenge the use of the dia system, arguing that it was 
incompatible with the constitution. Such groups further accused the 
Government of supporting dia practices by permitting the existence of 
local tribunals. A technical committee chaired by a former foreign 
minister was formed to identify a solution but had not come up with any 
proposal by year's end.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Human rights organizations 
reported that the Government held political prisoners and detainees in 
military and immigration prisons, and that they were denied access to 
such prisons (see Section 1.g.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but 
the Government conducted illegal searches and wiretaps, monitored 
private mail through the postal service, and monitored private e-mail 
through the main post office server. Security forces also regularly 
stopped citizens and extorted money or confiscated belongings. For 
example, on February 24, the Government summarily destroyed the 
residence and seized the family goods of former army general Seby 
Aguid, who had joined a rebel group operating outside of the country.
    During the year the Government ordered the temporary closure of 
cellular telephone networks. The military and police officials 
conducted searches and confiscations of satellite telephones, including 
those of NGOs, international organizations, and diplomatic vehicles.
    There were occasions when police officers arrested family members 
of suspects (see Section 1.d.).

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year the country was engulfed by fighting that involved 
rebel groups, government forces, armed militias, and civilians. Rebel 
attacks and government counterattacks resulted in hundreds of deaths, 
thousands of injuries, the displacement of some 110,000 IDPs, and 
widespread destruction of homes and property during the year. Following 
a series of attacks by rebels and armed militia, the Government in 
November declared a state of emergency in three eastern provinces that 
was ongoing at year's end.
    Massacres occurred in the Salamat and Goz-Beida regions. The 
Government, Chadian Red Cross, and human rights NGOs reported that 260 
people were killed in Salamat in mid-October and 140 in Goz-Beida from 
November 4 to 7, and that thousands were injured in these episodes. 
They were committed by armed civilian militias suspected of being made 
up of Chadian Arabs.
    Sudanese militiamen abducted approximately 4,700 refugees from 
refugee camps in the east on March 17	19 (see Section 2.d.).
    Security forces killed numerous citizens suspected of collaborating 
with rebel forces. For example, on March 16, in Bebo, Pen Brahim Moussa 
Arssimi, the chief commandant of the gendarmerie, killed Sayam N'demra, 
a farmer, after accusing him of having connections with rebels. There 
was no action from the Government by year's end, although the LTDH 
reported on the case.
    Security force members killed other security force members during 
the year. For example, in March the remains of Nandigar Mbaiossoumta, a 
gendarme in the eastern border town of Adre, were found thrown in a 
well. Mbaiossoumta had been accused by other gendarmes of being a rebel 
sympathizer. The prime suspect, Idriss Adoum Idriss, a chief commandant 
of the gendarmerie, had not been arrested by year's end.
    On April 2, the LTDH reported that soldiers killed seven civilians 
in Beboro and three civilians in Bandouda, both eastern towns. On April 
6, in the eastern town of Betogo, two soldiers reportedly killed Andre 
Tomboi and Louis Mbatel. The Government took no action in either case.
    On April 25, security forces arrested, detained without charge, and 
allegedly tortured Nourene Fadoul, a 17-year-old student from the Tama 
ethnic group, as a result of an altercation with Zaghawa students at 
his high school. The other students had accused Fadoul of supporting 
rebel leader Mahamat Nour, whose United Front for Change is 
predominantly Tama. There were no charges in the case.
    On May 9, gendarmes arrested 12 farmers from the town of Guite who 
were suspected of being rebel sympathizers. One of the farmers was 
killed; the others were released in June, according to the Chadian 
Human Rights League.
    Rebel attacks and government counterattacks occurred throughout the 
year, primarily along the eastern border with Sudan, but also along the 
southern border with CAR. Interethnic attacks on villages in the 
eastern part of the country started in late 2005. After a December 2005 
attack on Adre by antigovernment rebels--described as equipped and 
armed by the Sudanese government--the army pulled back to reinforce key 
border towns, leaving vast areas along the border with Sudan 
unprotected. Militias burned houses and stole the cattle of unprotected 
villages, resulting in numerous deaths and the displacement of 
thousands of persons, including more than 20,000 in Koloy. In April 
more than 12,000 IDPs arrived at a refugee camp near the town of Goz-
Beida.
    On April 13, rebels attacked N'Djamena, where they were defeated by 
government soldiers. The fighting resulted in hundreds of civilian 
deaths, in addition to injuries, extensive damage to homes and 
property, and the temporary displacement of hundreds of families. One 
local hospital reported treating 45 wounded civilians, some as young as 
five years old.
    During November an armed force on horseback--most likely a mixture 
of Sudanese and Chadian militiamen, or Janjaweed--attacked 23 villages 
in the southeast, resulting in the deaths of 200 persons and the 
displacement of 10,000 persons. The attackers reportedly gouged out the 
eyes of some of the residents, while others were trapped and died after 
their homes were set on fire.
    Militias also attacked and killed humanitarian workers during the 
year. In November, near the southeastern town of Koloy, armed men on 
horseback killed an employee of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), wounded 
a second MSF employee, and destroyed the MSF clinic and its water 
supply. Seven captured MSF employees were later released and returned 
to work in a different location in the country. Several thousand IDPs 
who had been resident in Koloy were relocated to Adde in the eastern 
part of the country.
    Landmines laid by government, rebel, and foreign forces reportedly 
resulted in 26 deaths and 60 injuries. A large number of these 
incidents took place in N'Djamena, most likely the result of unexploded 
ordinance from the April 13 attack on the city. According to the 
Government's High Commission for Demining, between January and August 
2.5 million square meters were cleared and 224 anti-personnel and anti-
tank mines and 6,900 pieces of unexploded ordinance were destroyed.
    Security forces arrested and detained numerous persons suspected of 
rebel activity or collaboration with rebels; some were held 
incommunicado in secret prisons at year's end. The Government also 
arrested military defectors, some of whom had joined rebel groups, and 
members of their families during the year.
    For example, following the April 13 rebel attack on N'Djamena, the 
Government arrested at least 16 high-ranking army officers who 
reportedly were being held in secret prisons without trial at year's 
end. Among those detained was Colonel Ismat, the ANS director of 
analysis. He was released without being charged in October and returned 
to service. The NGO Human Rights Without Borders, which reported that 
secret detention centers had been created, appealed to the Government 
to release information on the detainees, but was unable to obtain 
further information. The NGO held three press conferences to publicize 
the names of the detainees and draw attention to their arbitrary 
arrest.
    In March soldiers from the Republican Guard arrested and detained 
Nodjitel Modard, a resident of a suburb of N'Djamena, and accused him 
of protecting rebels in his house. During the same month the ANS 
arrested and detained El Hadj Abba Zene, also a civilian resident of an 
N'Djamena suburb, on the same charge. They were subsequently released 
without being formally charged.
    According to LTDH, on April 14, gendarmes arrested and tortured 
Brahim Almardi and Bechir Zam-Zam for allegedly collaborating with 
rebels.
    On April 20, the police commandant of Batha arrested and detained 
Al Hadj Annakour, Mahamat Zeine, Sakaheir, Chous Youssouf, and Bachar 
Djibrine. They were suspected rebel sympathizers, but were released 
without being charged.
    In May the ANS arrested eight persons suspected of supporting the 
rebels, including Tadjo Hamad Adano, Pierre Marabeye, Todje Issi 
Albert, Mbainaissem Sylvain, Adoum Bloh Mersia, Ali Amat Mahamat, 
Djimta Joseph, and Hassan Moksia. All were later released without being 
charged.
    On May 26 police agent Ahamat Moussa Alguisseir arrested, detained, 
and allegedly tortured Ahmat Mahamat, a trader living in Ati. A 
businessman, Mahamat was alleged to have provided funds to the rebels. 
He was subsequently released without being charged.
    A number of persons arrested and detained in 2005 were released 
during the year.
    The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were 
unconfirmed reports that young males were recruited by security forces 
during the year. In October the independent press accused the 
Government of using child soldiers and published photos of youths 
engaged in a military campaign in the southern town of Am Timan. In 
December 2005 unconfirmed reports of the forced recruitment of male 
youths circulated after the Government began enforcing a curfew during 
the holidays, in particular of forced recruitment in N'Djamena and 
Abeche.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, the Government limited 
these freedoms in practice and intimidated journalists and publishers, 
who practiced self-censorship.
    Individuals who publicly criticized the Government often faced 
official reprisal. There were reports that the Government attempted to 
control criticism by monitoring meetings of the political opposition, 
and there were reports that the Government attempted to intimidate its 
critics.
    The Government owned the newspaper Info Tchad and influenced 
another, Le Progres, but it did not dominate the press. A number of 
private newspapers, many of which were critical of government policies 
and leaders, were published and circulated freely in the capital. In 
November, however, the Government instituted a state of emergency which 
included strict press censorship provisions against reporting on the 
rebels, interethnic conflict, and criticism of the Government relative 
to its handling of internal security.
    Due to widespread illiteracy and the relatively high cost of 
newspapers and television, radio remained the most important medium of 
mass communication. The government-owned Radiodiffusion Nationale 
Tchadienne had branches in N'Djamena, Abeche, Moundou, Sahr, and Taya. 
There were numerous private radio stations that broadcast throughout 
the country, many of them owned by religious organizations. A new 
privately owned commercial radio station, Radio N'Gato, began 
broadcasting in July.
    The licensing fee set by the Government's High Council for 
Communications (HCC) for a commercial radio station remained 
prohibitively high at approximately $10,000 (five million FCFA) per 
year, 10 times the fee for radio stations owned by nonprofit NGOs. The 
HCC monitored and censored the content of radio station programming.
    The Government owned and operated Teletchad, the only domestic 
television station, but did not interfere with private channels 
originating outside the country.
    During the year the Government harassed and detained journalists. 
For example, on April 28, security forces arrested radio journalist 
Tchanguis Vatankah after he signed a press release calling for the 
postponement of the May 3 election to allow more room for political 
dialogue (see Section 3). Vatankah went on a hunger strike, was held 
incommunicado until May 16, and was released on May 19. An Iranian 
citizen, Vatankah said authorities lifted an expulsion threat against 
him only after he pledged to keep out of politics and to step down as 
head of the Chadian Union of Private Radios.
    On October 27, security forces arrested Notre Temps reporter 
Evariste Ngaralbaye after he published an article that accused the army 
of using child soldiers (see Section 1.g.). Ngaralbaye was released 
after four days imprisonment.
    In September 2005 an appeals court dismissed the charges against 
Michael Didama, the editor of independent newspaper Le Temps, Sy Koumbo 
Singa Gali, the editor of l'Observateur, and Caronde Djamra, a 
freelance journalist; the three journalists had been arrested earlier 
in the year for jeopardizing national security and defamation.
    In December most independent newspapers began a 15-day strike to 
protest censorship measures introduced by the Government as part of 
emergency measures imposed after the November rebel attacks in the 
east. Some radio stations joined the media protest and did not 
broadcast for three days. The emergency measures included a requirement 
that all news items be submitted for approval to the HCC before 
publication or broadcast to prevent interethnic violence. Journalists 
called the move an over-reaction.
    Some journalists in rural provinces reported that government 
officials warned them not to engage in any contentious political 
reporting. In addition some domestic journalists claimed that the 
Government restricted their ability to cover some events or visit 
certain locations and limited their access to high-ranking officials, 
restrictions that the Government did not impose on foreign journalists.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government issued warnings but did 
not close radio stations.
    Government controlled media were subject to censorship; however, at 
times they were critical of the Government.
    During the year rebel fighters abducted journalists. For example, 
on April 11, United Front for Change rebels in Mongo seized Eliakim 
Vanambyl, the editor of radio station FM Liberte. The reasons for the 
abduction of Vanambyl, who was released on April 17, were unknown.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government did not restrict access to the 
Internet but reportedly monitored e-mail through the main post office 
server (see Section 1.f.). Although increasingly available to the 
public at Internet cafes, the growth of Internet access was almost 
entirely through the Government telecommunications company.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no reports that 
the Government restricted academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of 
assembly, the Government limited this right in practice. Authorities 
banned demonstrations they expected would be critical of the 
Government, despite being notified five days in advance as required by 
law; however, they permitted demonstrations they presumed would support 
the Government and its policies.
    Throughout the year the police regularly disrupted student 
gatherings, and police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators 
resulted in at least one death.
    During a February 4 student demonstration against the lack of 
teachers in Pala, gendarmes shot and killed 15-year-old Issa Wardougou, 
who was marching with the other demonstrators toward the governor's 
office. No action was taken against the security forces involved.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. In February the Government approved the 
reestablishment of the Chadian Association of Students, an organization 
that had been banned since 2004.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--While the law provides for religious 
freedom, at times the Government limited this right. The law also 
provides for a secular state. Senior government officials were 
predominantly Muslim, and some policies favored Islam in practice. For 
example, the Government continued to sponsor annual haj trips to Mecca 
for certain government officials.
    The Islamic religious group Faid al-Djaria remained banned on the 
grounds that its religious customs, including singing and dancing 
together by men and women in religious ceremonies, were un-Islamic.
    Although the different religious communities generally coexisted 
without problems, there were reports of tensions within the Muslim 
community between the High Council for Islamic Affairs (a government-
sanctioned, nongovernmental body) and radical elements within the 
community. During the year there were regular meetings between key 
religious leaders to discuss peaceful collaboration among groups.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--February demonstrations by 
Muslims expressing concerns about the depictions of Muhammad in a 
Danish newspaper resulted in damage to several Christian properties.
    There was no known Jewish community and no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these 
rights, in practice the Government imposed some limits. The Ministry of 
Territorial Administration required an ``authorization for 
circulation'' for foreign travelers, including humanitarian agency 
personnel intending to visit the eastern part of the country, due to 
insecurity in the region.
    In 2005 the minister of territorial administration banned 
roadblocks throughout the country; however, elements of the security 
forces, rebels, and bandits continued to maintain roadblocks, extorting 
money from travelers, and often beating and in some cases killing them.
    Tension along the border with CAR continued to hinder free movement 
in the region. During the year bandits from CAR continued to enter the 
country and attack citizens, despite an agreement by government 
officials of both countries to stem insecurity along the border and 
seize weapons held illegally by militias, herders, and other 
individuals.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--By year's end there were an 
estimated 70	110,000 IDPs in the region along the Sudanese border (and 
more than 230,000 Sudanese refugees). The IDPs were largely the former 
residents of villages along the eastern border with Sudan, particularly 
in the southeastern region in the vicinity of Goz-Beida.
    In April attacks on the town of Koloy, which was home to 
approximately 20,000 IDPs, resulted in their displacement to 
neighboring villages, which sometimes quadrupled the villages' 
populations overnight. At a refugee camp near the town of Goz- Beida, 
more than 12,000 persons arrived in April. Some IDPs were forcibly 
displaced two or three times.
    Interethnic violence created additional IDPs. From December 15 to 
17, militia on horseback attacked civilians of the Dadjo ethnic group 
in the southern portion of the border with Sudan. These so-called 
Janjaweed attacks were widespread throughout the year, but especially 
in November and December. The victims were mostly non-Arabs of the 
Dadjo tribe in the southeast, but other non-Arab groups were targeted 
as well. The armed militia subsequently attacked government officials 
investigating the situation and refugees from the nearby Goz Amer 
refugee camp. Violence between Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups spread 
to the neighboring towns of Habile and Aradif, resulting in as many as 
50 deaths. The burning of Dadjo villages near the Goz Amer camp 
resulted in approximately 600 to 700 new IDPs in the region.
    The Government publicly acknowledged that its resources were 
directed toward fighting rebel groups and armed militia and that it 
could not protect or provide for the growing number of IDPs and 
refugees in the country. By year's end the UN had withdrawn all but 
essential employees in the country due to threats of rebel and militia 
attacks in the east, aggravating the already precarious situation for 
IDPs and refugees in the country.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status and consequently is not in compliance with 
the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 
Protocol, but the Government has established a system for providing 
protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The 
Government also provided protection to certain individuals who may not 
qualify as refugees under the convention or its protocol. An official 
national structure, the National Committee for Welcoming and 
Reinsertion of Refugees, handled foreign refugee matters and returning 
citizens who had been refugees in other countries.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR and the Government 
worked together to identify safer sites for refugees from the Darfur 
region along the Sudanese border. According to the UNHCR, the country 
hosted approximately 220,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur, 200,000 of 
whom were located in 12 camps along the eastern border with Sudan. By 
the end of the year there were an estimated 48,000 refugees from CAR, 
including some 18,000 who arrived during the second half of the year. 
There were also small numbers from the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo.
    Most of the refugees in the south were living in three camps. As in 
the east, UNHCR and its UN and NGO partners provided food, shelter, 
health, educational, agricultural (vegetable gardening), and security 
support for these refugees. The camps faced serious water and 
sanitation challenges that were only slowly being addressed because of 
the limited humanitarian NGO presence.
    The Government was unable to protect the refugee camps in the east, 
and there were threats of attacks on camps and relief agencies during 
the year (see Section 4). Refugees from Darfur were regularly targeted 
throughout the year.
    According to an investigation by the NGO Human Rights Watch, SLA 
commander Khamis Abdullah, a Masalit, gained access to the 
predominantly Masalit camps of Bredjing and Treguine, facilitated by 
the Chad National Refugee Commission. He recruited an estimated 4,700 
refugees, some voluntarily but most coercively. They were marched to an 
SLA training camp near the town of Arkoum. NGO observers considered it 
likely that the Government was complicit in this event. There were 
Janjaweed attacks near Koukou-Angarana camp in May and on the nearby 
Goz Amer camp in December.
    On November 25, rebels briefly held the eastern town of Abeche. In 
the absence of local authorities, residents attacked the humanitarian 
infrastructure in Abeche and looted World Food Program and UNHCR 
warehouses. Rebels took fuel and arms from government deposits. An 
early December attack on Guereda further north also affected the 
humanitarian community serving three camps in that area, although 
humanitarian workers were not directly targeted. These two events were 
decisive in the UN decision to declare security phase IV in Eastern 
Chad and remove all but the most essential expatriate and local staff.
    Anti-refugee sentiment among citizens living in refugee-affected 
areas was high due to competition for such local resources as wood, 
water, and grazing land--and the provision of goods and services to 
Sudanese refugees that was not available to the local population. There 
continued to be reports that citizens attacked refugees and destroyed 
their wells out of frustration and fear of resource shortages.
    The UNHCR and its partner organizations expressed concern about the 
possibility of the militarization of the refugee camps by Sudanese and 
Chadian rebels, particularly those located close to the border. As a 
result, the Government agreed to move Oure Cassoni and Am Nabak camps 
to safer locations. However, proposed alternate locations were both 
insecure and lacking water sources. The Government, UNHCR, and NGOs 
were still looking for suitable relocation sites at year's end. 
Refugees in at least one of the camps, however, adamantly opposed 
relocation, preferring to remain close to the border of their 
traditional homeland.
    At year's end UN agencies were still operating in the country's 
eastern region, although their personnel numbers were greatly reduced. 
Expatriate staff presence was particularly low, and many functions were 
being covered by less experienced local staff, especially for UNHCR and 
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) programs in more remote areas.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Although the constitution and law provide citizens with the right 
to change their government, the Government continued to limit this 
right in practice. The executive branch dominated the other branches of 
government.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On May 3, President Deby, 
leader of the ruling MPS, was reelected to a third term in what 
unofficial observers characterized as an orderly, but seriously flawed 
election that was boycotted by the opposition. The Government had 
dismissed appeals from the opposition, civil society, religious groups, 
and some members of the international community to postpone elections 
and organize a national dialogue. Observers noted low voter 
participation, underage voting, multiple voting, and other 
irregularities.
    Communal elections and legislative elections, originally scheduled 
for 2005, again were postponed by the Government during the year.
    There were approximately 78 registered political parties in the 
country. Parties allied with the Government generally received 
favorable treatment. Opposition political leaders accused the 
Government of co-opting their most popular local politicians to run as 
MPS members in local elections and alleged intimidation by the military 
of party members who refused to cooperate. Northerners, particularly 
members of the Zaghawa ethnic group, including the Bideyat subclan to 
which the President belongs, continued to dominate the public sector 
and were overrepresented in key institutions of state power, including 
the military officer corps, elite military units, and the Presidential 
staff.
    There were six women among 39 ministers in the cabinet. There were 
10 women in the 155-seat National Assembly, and two women in the 25-
member national election commission.
    Both the cabinet and the National Assembly had diverse ethnic 
representation.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be 
a serious problem. According to Transparency International's corruption 
perceptions index for the year, corruption was characterized as 
``rampant.''
    In July two cabinet ministers were removed from their positions for 
misappropriation of government funds after the Ministry of Morality 
conducted an investigation. It was unclear whether the ministers would 
go to trial since ministers and members of government are immune from 
criminal trial unless the National Assembly suspends their immunity, 
which has never previously occurred (see Section 1.e.).
    In September the College for the Monitoring and Control of Oil 
Resources (CCRSP) issued its second report on poverty reduction 
projects funded with oil revenues. It identified many deficiencies in 
the execution of projects, including contract delays, nondelivery of 
goods, poor quality of projects, lack of communication between priority 
sector ministries and local authorities, and corrupt practices such as 
double-charging for services. The Government had not taken action on 
deficiencies identified in the CCRSP's first report in 2005.
    The law does not provide for public access to government 
information. The Government provided such access to government-employed 
journalists, but independent media journalists complained that they 
were not given sufficient access to government information. In June 
2005 the Government mandated that the proceedings of some ministerial 
meetings be broadcast on the radio or published in Info Tchad, a 
government newspaper. The Government's low capacity to store and 
retrieve information continued to be a problem.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government obstructed the work of domestic human rights 
organizations during the year through arrest, detention, and 
intimidation; nevertheless, such groups were able to investigate and 
publish their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were accessible to human rights advocates but were often 
unresponsive or hostile to their findings.
    There were two principal local human rights organizations: the 
ATPDH and the LTDH. These and smaller human rights organizations worked 
together through an umbrella organization, the Association for Human 
Rights. Their activities included observing government detention 
practices, assisting individuals who suffered human rights abuses, and 
holding public conferences and seminars addressing press freedom and 
arrests of journalists, relocation of residents of local neighborhoods, 
transparency of oil revenues, disappearances of individuals, and the 
socio-political situation and its impact on human rights.
    Despite pressure from the Government, human rights groups were 
outspoken in publicizing abuses through reports, press releases, and 
the print media, but only occasionally were they able to intervene 
successfully with authorities. There was a perception on the part of 
government officials that most local human rights groups were composed 
mainly of political opponents, which weakened their credibility with 
the Government and some international organizations.
    Gendarmes arrested and allegedly beat a human rights worker during 
the year (see Section 1.c.).
    Unidentified assailants and armed bandits attacked numerous NGO 
employees during the year, resulting in one death. For example, on 
January 12, armed bandits attacked the Catholic NGO SECADEV in the 
eastern part of the country and stole a vehicle. In March unidentified 
assailants in military uniform shot and injured Sylvia Gaya, a foreign 
employee of UNICEF in Abeche, during a carjacking. A November rebel 
attack on relief agencies in Abeche resulted in the killing of an 
employee of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
    Hundreds of aid workers were evacuated from the eastern part of the 
country due to increased hostilities between military forces and 
antigovernment rebel groups. Beginning in late November, nearly 500 aid 
workers were relocated from Abeche, the eastern city that served as a 
hub for relief agencies in the region, to N'Djamena.
    The Government allowed access to the eastern region for employees 
of the International Criminal Court who were investigating charges of 
war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan; however, the 
Government continued to obstruct the work of international human rights 
organizations, such as Amnesty International.
    Belgian courts continued their investigation of crimes against 
humanity allegedly committed by former President Hissein Habre during 
his rule from 1982 to 1990. In September 2005 a Belgian court announced 
an indictment of Habre, who was living in self-imposed exile in 
Senegal. Although the Government of Senegal had agreed to an African 
Union request to prosecute Habre, no action had been taken in the case 
by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    While the constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on 
origin, race, gender, religion, political opinion, or social status, 
the Government did not effectively enforce these provisions. The 
Government favored its ethnic supporters and allies.

    Women.--Although the law prohibits violence against women, domestic 
violence, including spousal abuse, was common. Wives traditionally were 
subject to the authority of their husbands, and they had limited legal 
recourse against abuse. Although family or traditional authorities 
could provide assistance in such cases, police rarely intervened.
    The law prohibits rape, prostitution, and spousal abuse, but all 
were problems, although no reliable quantitative data was available.
    There were reports that family members killed women for breaking 
social taboos. For example, in some places girls and women may not 
visit the site where an initiation ceremony is to take place. If a 
female violates this prohibition, the village leaders can kill her.
    The law prohibits the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM); 
however, FGM was widespread and deeply rooted in tradition. According 
to a 2004 government report by the National Institute of Statistics, 
Economic and Demographic Studies, 45 percent of local women had 
undergone excision. The highest rates of FGM--90 percent or more--were 
among Arabs, Hadjarai, and Ouaddai. Lower percentages were reported 
among the Sara (38 percent) and Gorane (2 percent). According to the 
survey, 70 percent of Muslim females and 30 percent of Christian 
females were subjected to FGM. The practice was prevalent especially 
among ethnic groups in the east and south. All three types of FGM were 
practiced. The least common but most dangerous and severe form of FGM, 
infibulation, was confined largely to the region on the eastern border 
with Sudan. FGM usually was performed prior to puberty as a rite of 
passage.
    FGM could be prosecuted as a form of assault, and charges could be 
brought against the parents of FGM victims, medical practitioners, or 
others involved in the action, but prosecution was hindered by the lack 
of specific penalty provisions in the penal code. There were no reports 
that any such suits were brought during the year. The Ministry of 
Social Action and Family was responsible for coordinating activities to 
combat FGM, and sponsored a public awareness campaign during the year 
in the south (where FGM is widely practiced) on the health risks of FGM 
and the fact that the practice is contrary to law.
    Although the law prohibits prostitution, pimping, and owning a 
brothel, prostitution was a problem, particularly in the southern oil-
producing region. The law provides for prison terms of two months to 
two years and a fine of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000 FCFA) for 
violations. There were no reported prosecutions during the year.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment.
    Discrimination against women remained widespread. In practice women 
did not have equal opportunities for education and training, making it 
difficult for them to compete for the relatively few formal-sector 
jobs. Although property and inheritance laws based on the French code 
do not discriminate against women, local leaders adjudicated most 
inheritance cases in favor of men, according to traditional practice.
    The exploitation of women was pervasive, especially in rural areas, 
where women did most of the agricultural labor and were discouraged 
from seeking formal schooling. Illiteracy was estimated at 66 percent 
for women, compared to 48 percent for men.
    While no law addresses polygamy, husbands may opt at any time to 
declare a marriage polygynous. If a husband takes a second wife, the 
first wife has the right to request that the marriage be dissolved; 
however, she must repay the bride price and other expenses related to 
the marriage. In 2005 polygyny became a controversial issue between 
Muslim and Christian communities during debate over revision of the 
family code, which remained pending. Issues involved in code revision 
were contentious; as a result, the Council of Ministers created a 
committee to propose compromises on controversial issues, such as 
polygyny and inheritance.

    Children.--The Government generally supported the activities of 
NGOs and international donors to improve children's rights and welfare, 
but the Government had few resources to organize its own activities. 
Although the Government increased its assistance to the education 
sector, it was unable to fund public education beyond the primary level 
and medical care adequately. Government education policy for children 
and youth focused on improving classroom facilities and infrastructure.
    By law education is universal, compulsory, and free from ages five 
through 12; parents were required to pay tuition to public schools 
beyond the primary level. During the year free primary school education 
was offered for the first time since 1973; however, except in some 
rural schools, parents were required to pay for textbooks. 
Approximately half of teachers were hired and paid by parent-teacher 
associations, without government reimbursement. UNICEF reported in 2005 
that 46 percent of school-age boys and 33 percent of girls attended 
primary school. Educational opportunities for girls were limited mainly 
because of the traditional role of young girls in doing household tasks 
such as obtaining water and wood. The percentage of girls enrolled in 
secondary school was extremely low compared with that of boys, 
primarily because of early marriage.
    Child abuse, including abuse of child herders, remained a problem 
(see Section 6.d.).
    FGM was commonly practiced on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Although the law prohibits sexual relations with a girl under the 
age of 14, even if married, the ban was rarely enforced. Families 
arranged marriages for girls as young as 12 or 13; the minimum legal 
age for engagements was 11. The law prohibits forced marriages of 
minors (defined as anyone under 18) and provides for imprisonment of 
six months to two years and a fine of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000 
FCFA). There were some forced marriages, and the custom of buying and 
selling child brides continued to be widespread. Many young wives were 
forced to work long hours of physical labor for their husbands in 
fields or homes.
    Several human rights organizations reported on the problem of the 
mahadjir, children who attended certain Islamic schools and were forced 
by their teachers to beg for food and money. There was no reliable 
estimate of the number of mahadjir children.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were 
reports that young males were recruited by security forces during the 
year (see Section 1.g.).
    Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, traffickers could be prosecuted under 
statutes prohibiting kidnapping, sale of children, and child labor. 
Persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. Cross-border 
trafficking was not widespread, and internal trafficking was largely 
restricted to children.
    Children were trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. 
The majority of victims were trafficked within the country to work as 
involuntary domestic servants, herders, or beggars (see Section 6.d.). 
A 2004 NGO survey of child herders who had been returned to their 
parents indicated that between 1,500 and 2,000 children between six and 
17 years of age may have been trafficked. Children from Cameroon and 
CAR were trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to the country's 
oil-producing regions. Children from the country were trafficked to 
Cameroon, CAR, and Nigeria.
    The law provides penalties of between 10 months' and life 
imprisonment with hard labor for trafficking violations, and between 10 
and 20 years of hard labor in prison for the trafficking of children. 
No economic or financial aid for victims was available unless a court 
awarded damages. The Ministry of Justice's child protection department 
continued to cooperate with UNICEF and NGOs to combat trafficking.
    UNICEF reported that 360 child herders were rescued and returned to 
their communities during the year.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against such persons; however, in practice the Government operated few 
education, employment, or therapy programs for such persons, and no 
laws mandate that buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities. 
Several local NGOs provided skills training to persons with hearing or 
visual impairment. The Government, in conjunction with NGOs, continued 
to sponsor an annual day of activities to raise awareness of persons 
with disabilities. The Ministry of Social Action and Family is 
responsible for the rights of the disabled.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There are approximately 200 
ethnic groups, many of which are concentrated regionally. They speak 
128 distinct primary languages. Although most ethnic groups were 
affiliated with one of two regional and cultural traditions--Arab and 
Saharan/Sahelian-zone Muslims in the North, Center, and East; and 
Sudanian-zone Christian or animist groups in the South--internal 
migrations in response to urbanization and desertification resulted in 
the integration of these groups in some areas.
    Societal discrimination continued to be practiced routinely by 
members of virtually all ethnic groups and was evident in patterns of 
employment, especially across the North-South divide. The law prohibits 
government discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, although in 
practice it continued to influence government appointments and 
political alliances (see Section 3). Political parties and groups 
generally had readily identifiable regional or ethnic bases.
    In the east, interethnic violence occurred in Guereda, Goz-Beida, 
and Oum Hadjer during the second half of the year. These clashes were 
mainly between nomadic and semi-nomadic groups and local sedentary 
populations. The total number of persons killed and injured in this 
violence was estimated by the Government and by ATPDH as approaching 
400 persons.
    Clashes between herders and sedentary populations and other 
interethnic violence, often concerning land use, continued to be a 
serious problem.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination 
continued to be practiced against homosexuals and those afflicted with 
HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all employees except 
members of the armed forces to join or form unions of their choice 
without excessive requirements, and the Government generally respected 
this right; however, the authorization of the Ministry of the Interior 
is required. The ministry can also authorize the immediate 
administrative dissolution of an association and permit authorities to 
monitor association funds.
    An ordinance requires prior authorization from the Ministry of the 
Interior before an association, including a labor union, may be formed; 
however, there were no reports that the ordinance was used. The 
ordinance also allows for the immediate administrative dissolution of 
an association and permits authorities to monitor association funds.
    In the formal sector, more than 90 percent of employees belonged to 
unions; however, the great majority of workers were nonunionized, 
unpaid subsistence cultivators or herders. The Government, which owned 
businesses that dominated many sectors of the formal economy, remained 
the largest employer.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government 
protected these rights. Although there are no restrictions on 
collective bargaining, the law authorizes the Government to intervene 
under certain circumstances. For example, workers for a private 
cellular telephone company were prevented by the Government from 
starting their strike on the day they had chosen because it coincided 
with the President's inauguration. There are no export processing 
zones.
    The law recognizes the right to strike, and workers exercised this 
right in practice. The right to strike is limited in the public sector 
by a decree requiring minimum service to be maintained. While the law 
permits imprisonment with forced labor as punishment for participation 
in illegal strikes, no such punishment was imposed during the year.
    In June the Union Syndicat du Travail (UST), the leading labor 
union, organized strikes in response to the Government's failure to 
implement a 5 percent increase in civil servant salaries provided for 
in the 2005 national budget. Local media reported that the strikes were 
paralyzing basic public services, particularly access to medical care. 
In mid-June the minister of labor charged that the strikes were a 
destabilizing influence and called for the U.S. to reconsider its 
position. During a July 13 address to the National Assembly, the Prime 
Minister stated that the salary increase was a government priority, but 
that budgetary constraints resulting from military actions against 
rebels in April and May prevented the Government from satisfying U.S. 
demands. Following another week of strikes, the U.S. and the Government 
negotiated a temporary resolution, in which the U.S. agreed to suspend 
its activities for two months to allow the Government to implement the 
5 percent salary increase retroactive to January. The Government 
implemented the 5 percent increase in November, but declined to make it 
retroactive to January.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, during the 
year there continued to be reports of forced labor practices in the 
formal economy and isolated instances of local authorities demanding 
forced labor by both children and adults in the rural sector (see 
Section 6.d.). There were also reports that prisoners were required to 
work to pay back taxes they allegedly owed.
    The law permits imprisonment with forced labor for participation in 
illegal strikes.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the labor code stipulates that the minimum age for employment 
in the formal sector is 14, the Government did not enforce the law. The 
law prohibits children under the age of 18 from undertaking ``any work 
which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it was carried out, 
was likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children''; 
however, in practice child labor, including forced child labor, was a 
serious problem. According to a 2000 UNICEF study (the most recent 
available), 65.5 percent of minors worked, including those performing 
domestic chores for more than four hours per day, those working within 
the family (herding, microcommerce, etc.), and those who were underage 
and working for someone outside the family.
    An estimated 20 percent of children between the ages of six and 18 
worked in abusive, exploitive labor in the urban informal sector, 
according to a study published by Human Rights Without Borders. 
Children throughout the country worked in agriculture and herding. They 
also were employed in the commercial sector, particularly in the 
capital, as street vendors, manual laborers, and helpers in small 
shops. Young girls worked as domestic servants, mainly in N'Djamena. A 
2005 UNICEF-government survey of child domestics in N'Djamena noted 
that 62 percent were boys; 24 percent were between eight and 14 years 
of age, 68 percent were between 15 and 17; and 86 percent were 
illiterate.
    There were also credible reports that children were forced into 
slavery. According to a 2004 UN news service report, aid workers in the 
country estimated that families had sold as many as 2,000 children--
some as young as eight--into a system in which they worked as child 
cattle herders. In some areas local authorities fined parents caught 
selling their children into forced labor. To avoid detection, some 
families worked with intermediaries to pass children from families to 
the farm owners.
    Some children worked as domestic servants in the households of 
relatives for little compensation. Some young girls were forced into 
marriages by their families and then compelled to work in their 
husbands' fields or homes and to bear children while they were still 
too young to do so safely (see Section 5).
    The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were 
reports during the year that it occurred (see Section 1.g.).
    The Office of Labor Inspection is responsible for enforcement of 
child labor laws and policies. That office had approximately 16 labor 
inspectors to cover the entire country. Reportedly they had no funding 
during the year to carry out field work and investigations.
    The Government did not have a comprehensive plan to eliminate the 
worst forms of child labor; however, the Government worked with UNICEF 
and other NGOs to increase public awareness of child labor. During the 
year UNICEF organized workshops in regional towns to share information 
on the dangers of forced child labor and the benefits of education. The 
training provided each town with one individual charged with overseeing 
the continuing sensitization campaign. In 2005 UNICEF developed a 
program to reduce the prevalence of young girls serving as household 
domestics. In addition the campaign to educate parents and civil 
society on the dangers of child labor, particularly for child herders, 
continued.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code requires the 
Government to set minimum wages, and the minimum wage at year's end was 
$56 (28,000 FCFA) per month. Most wages, including the minimum wage, 
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. 
Nearly all private sector and state-owned firms paid at least the 
minimum wage, but it was largely ignored in the vast informal sector. 
In 2005 the Government began for the first time to pay all its 
employees at least the minimum wage, and government salaries increased 
overall by 5 percent. However, in some areas there were long delays in 
the payment of those salaries. Salary arrears remained a problem, 
although less so than in previous years. Low wages among customs, 
police, and military officials contributed to almost daily extortion of 
the civilian population along all major roads (see Section 2.d.).
    The law limits most employment to 39 hours per week, with overtime 
paid for supplementary hours. Agricultural work was limited to 2,400 
hours per year, an average of 46 hours per week. All workers were 
entitled to an unbroken 48-hour rest period per week; however, these 
rights rarely were enforced.
    During the year oil pipeline workers in the south protested that 
they had not been properly compensated for overtime work. Their case 
was adjudicated by the Ministry of Justice, which ruled in their favor 
in October. The consortium of companies responsible for construction of 
the pipeline accepted the Ministry of Justice decision and began 
retroactive payments of more than $12 million (six billion FCFA).
    The labor code mandates occupational health and safety standards 
and gives inspectors the authority to enforce them; however, these 
standards were generally ignored in the private sector and in the civil 
service.
    Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous working 
conditions; however, in practice they could not leave without 
jeopardizing their employment. The labor code explicitly protects all 
workers, including foreign and illegal workers, but the protections 
provided were not always respected in practice.

                               __________

                                COMOROS

    The Union of the Comoros is a constitutional, multiparty republic 
of approximately 690,000 citizens. The country consists of three 
islands--Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli--and claims a fourth, 
Mayotte, which France governs. In May citizens elected President Ahmed 
Abdallah Mohamed Sambi in polling that international observers 
described as free and fair; Sambi's May 26 inauguration was the first 
peaceful and democratic transfer of power in the country's history. 
Disputes continued over the division of responsibilities between union 
and island governments and the union government's nonpayment of salary 
to its employees, including teachers and doctors. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, although there were some areas of concern. The following 
human rights problems were reported: poor prison conditions, 
restrictions on freedom of religion, official corruption, 
discrimination against women, child abuse, and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor; common problems included improper sanitation, overcrowding, 
inadequate medical facilities, and poor diet. Authorities held pretrial 
detainees with convicted prisoners. The Government permitted visits by 
independent human rights observers, as well as the UN Development 
Program and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Six separate security 
forces report to four different authorities. A union military and a 
union gendarmerie handle defense and local policing on Grand Comore and 
Moheli; Anjouan maintains its own gendarmerie. The union police force 
handles immigration and some local policing in Grand Comore. Each of 
the three islands also has its own local police force.
    There was continued corruption in the police force. Citizens paid 
bribes to evade customs regulations, avoid arrest, falsify police 
reports or, for police personnel, to receive promotion within the 
force. Impunity was a problem, as there was no mechanism to investigate 
police abuses. Union police took part in international training to 
become more professional.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests and 
provides that detainees may be held for 24 hours, although these 
provisions were not always respected in practice. The procurer general 
must approve continued detention. A tribunal informs detainees of their 
rights, including the right to legal representation. According to the 
law, public attorneys are available to indigent individuals, but in 
practice there was a dearth of legal representation. There is a bail 
system under which the individual is not permitted to leave the 
country.
    After taking office in May, President Sambi granted amnesty to 
hundreds of ``short term'' prisoners, including those held for 
proselytizing, to alleviate prison crowding.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice. The head of state appoints magistrates by 
decree.
    The seven-member Constitutional Court includes a member appointed 
by the President of the Union, a member appointed by each of the two 
union vice Presidents, a member appointed by each of the three island 
government Presidents, and a member appointed by the President of the 
National Assembly. Minor disputes can be reviewed by the civilian court 
of first instance, but in practice they are often settled by village 
elders outside of the formal structure. Juries decide criminal cases, 
which can be reviewed before the appellate court.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are 
mostly open to the public. Juries deliberate criminal cases, and there 
is an appeal process. The legal system incorporates French legal codes 
and Islamic Shari'a law. In practice village elders decided most 
disputes without using the formal legal system.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--By law there is an 
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters. In practice 
formal courts have insufficient resources and are rife with corruption. 
Most civil disputes are settled outside the formal court system, either 
directly between the parties or via informal community arbitration by 
respected elders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
partially limited press freedom.
    Paramilitary police detained Aboubacar M'changama, director of the 
independent weekly l'Archipel, from March 25 to 27 for ``divulging 
military secrets.'' Aboubacar had published an article about discontent 
in the military.
    There was a government-supported newspaper, Al-Watwan, and four 
independent papers, Kashkazi, Le Canal, La Gazette des Comores, and 
l'Archipel. The Anjouan island government intimidated journalists to 
deter them from writing articles critical of the Government. (No 
newspapers were printed in Anjouan, but the papers listed above were 
available there.)
    There is independent radio on all three islands. One government 
radio station operated on a regular schedule. Local community radio 
stations operated in very narrow transmission areas. Citizens who lived 
overseas primarily funded these stations, which were staffed by 
volunteers and were allowed to operate without government interference 
or regulation. Mayotte Radio and French television also broadcast 
without government interference. Several small, community-based 
television stations operated without government interference; local 
residents and their relatives overseas provided funds for their 
operation.
    Prior to the Presidential election in May, the union military 
temporarily confiscated the equipment of Radio Moheli, because the 
station's broadcasts were controversial. In May persons not in uniform 
vandalized radio equipment at Radio Ngazidja and Moroni FM in Grand 
Comore. While never proven, press reports suggested the attacks were 
politically motivated.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Illiteracy and shortages of electricity and phone lines limited 
Internet use to the small, relatively wealthy and educated minority of 
Comorans. Several Internet cafes and the Internet stations at the 
American Corner in Moroni have expanded usage in and near cities.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and 
association; however, in practice the Government did not always respect 
this right. Unlike in the previous year, however, no deaths or injuries 
resulted from excessive use of force by security forces.
    No action was taken by authorities concerning the killing by 
soldiers of one civilian, and wounding of 16 others, in connection with 
a massive protest against a fuel price hike in September 2005.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion; however, the Government restricted this right in 
practice. The constitution does not declare Islam the official religion 
but declares that the laws must draw inspiration from Islam. The great 
majority of the population was Sunni Muslim. Proselytizing for any 
religion except Islam was illegal.
    On May 29, four men were sentenced to three months in prison for 
``evangelizing Muslims.'' One woman was also convicted and received a 
three-month suspended sentence. They had been arrested one week earlier 
for hosting Christian religious debates in a private residence. After 
40 days, all four were released in the Presidential amnesty.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Christians continued to face 
intense social pressure, including restricting the use of the few 
Christian churches to noncitizens. Family and community members were 
likely to harass those who join non-Muslim faiths.
    There was no known Jewish population and no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    In June Le Canal reported that police conducted late night home 
inspections in search of ``illegal immigrants.''
    Intervillage conflicts sometimes restricted movement of citizens 
within the country's borders. There were cases of individuals from 
Grand Comore being refused entry into Moheli and Anjouan; this was not, 
however, by central government policy.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not 
use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, but it did not grant refugee or asylum status routinely.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provides citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The constitution provides 
for a ``rotating'' presidency in which each island takes a turn at 
holding a primary for Presidential candidates. Former President Azali, 
a native of Grand Comore, was the first to hold office in this system. 
During the year the turn passed to Anjouan; all 12 Presidential 
candidates had to be natives of Anjouan to run in the primary. From the 
12, Anjouan voters selected three to run in the May national election 
that led to the election of President Sambi. International observers 
considered the elections free and fair. The May 26 inauguration of 
President Sambi was the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power 
in the country's history. The constitution thus restricts, by island, 
who can run for the presidency, but aside from the rotation principle, 
anyone is free to run.
    Unelected elders leading traditional social, religious, and 
economic institutions filled voids in communities where the formal 
government was ineffectual or nonexistent.
    There was one woman in the 33-member National Assembly. There was 
one female minister and two female vice Presidents in the union 
government. There were no minorities in high-level offices.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Resident diplomatic, UN, 
and humanitarian agency workers reported that petty corruption is 
commonplace at all levels of the civil service. The new Sambi 
government launched a highly-publicized campaign against embezzlement 
by senior officials, bribery by customs and immigration officers, and 
unfair or non-transparent practices for offering government contracts 
and procurement. The few private sector operators in the country 
reported that corruption and lack of transparency were the norm.
    In June the Government arrested several officials of the former 
regime on charges of corruption. Former government ministers Rehema and 
Sitti and former Colonel Abdallah of the union police were tried for 
stealing administrative property, convicted, sentenced to eight months 
in prison, and fined $360 (147,000 Comoran Francs). Former secretary 
general Abdou was convicted on the same charge and sentenced to four 
months' imprisonment and fined $480 (196,000 Comoran Francs).
    In 2005 there were allegations that private firms such as Comoros 
Hydrocarbure and Comoros Telecom partially financed the predecessor 
Azali government by providing funds for official travel. However, there 
were no reports that the newly installed Sambi government continued the 
practice.
    Investigations continued into the 2005 award of government 
contracts to a firm with ties to former President Azali.
    There are no laws providing for public access to government 
information. Those who have personal or working relationships with 
government officials can generally access government information, but 
not members of the general public. To encourage greater transparency, 
President Sambi published his own salary in August.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    One domestic and some international nongovernmental organizations 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
    In June the National Assembly passed a law establishing a human 
rights commission, which had not yet convened by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, disability, 
language, or social status; however, there was discrimination against 
women.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence. Although the 
Government did not take any action to combat violence against women, 
police and human rights groups believe it to be rare. Women could seek 
protection through the courts in such cases, but in practice the 
extended family or village elders customarily addressed such problems.
    Rape is illegal, punishable by imprisonment of five to 10 years or 
up to 15 years if the victim is younger than 15 years of age. The 
Government did not enforce the laws on rape effectively. The law does 
not specifically address spousal rape.
    Prostitution is illegal, arrests for prostitution are rare, and 
there were no reports of harassment of prostitutes.
    Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years' 
imprisonment. Although rarely reported due to societal pressure, such 
harassment was nevertheless a common problem.
    The law provides for equality of persons, and in general, 
inheritance and property rights do not discriminate against women. Men 
retained the dominant role in society, although the matriarchal 
tradition afforded women some rights, especially in terms of 
landholding. Societal discrimination against women was most apparent in 
rural areas where women had farming and childrearing duties and fewer 
opportunities for education and wage employment. In urban areas growing 
numbers of women were employed and generally earned wages comparable to 
those of men engaged in similar work; however, few women held positions 
of responsibility in business. The law does not require women to wear 
head coverings, but many women faced societal pressure to do so.

    Children.--The Government has not taken any specific action to 
protect or promote children's welfare. Because of a lack of inspectors, 
the Government does not enforce legal provisions that address the 
rights and welfare of children.
    Education is free and compulsory for children below the age of 16, 
but the Government rarely provided public school education for children 
past the age of 14. According to UNICEF, 31 percent of children 
attended elementary school between 1996 and 2004. During the school 
year, teacher strikes over nonpayment of salaries interrupted school 
several times. Boys generally had greater access to schools than did 
girls.
    Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided medical care, 
which was limited.
    Although there are no official statistics on child abuse, it was 
common, and often occurred when impoverished families sent their 
children to work for wealthier families. A 2002 UNICEF study found that 
child abuse, including sexual abuse, was widespread and often occurred 
at home. There also were reports that teachers raped students. In 
December 2005, for example, the newspaper Kashkazi reported the death 
of an 11-year-old girl who had been raped by her teacher and 
subsequently died in childbirth. The teacher was suspended from his 
position, but no arrests were made.
    Child prostitution and child pornography are illegal. The law 
considers unmarried children under the age of 18 as minors, and they 
are protected legally from sexual exploitation, prostitution, and 
pornography. There were no statistics regarding these matters, but they 
were not considered serious problems.
    Child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that mandate access 
to buildings for persons with disabilities or that prohibit 
discrimination in employment and public services. In general, persons 
with disabilities were likely to face discrimination, but specific 
reports were not available relating to employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services.
    In April the country's first handicapped center opened in Ikoni, 
Grand Comore.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and many of those in the wage labor force did so in 
practice. The wage labor force, however, was less than 7,000 persons, 
of whom approximately 5,000 were government employees. Teachers, civil 
servants, taxi drivers, and dockworkers were unionized. Approximately 
80 percent of the population engaged in farming on small land holdings, 
subsistence fishing, and local commerce.
    The labor code, which was rarely enforced, does not include a 
system for resolving labor disputes.
    The law does not prohibit anti-union discrimination by employers in 
hiring practices.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
protects workers from employer interference in their right to organize 
and administer their unions, and the Government protected this right in 
practice. Unions have the right to bargain collectively, although 
employers set wages in the small private sector, and the Government, 
especially the ministries of finance and labor, set them in the larger 
public sector. There are no export processing zones.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and government employees 
exercised this right to protest non-payment of salaries. There are no 
laws protecting strikers from retribution, but there were no reported 
instances of retribution.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor by adults but not by children. There were 
some reports that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law defines 15 as the minimum age for employment, but the Government 
did not always enforce this law. Children usually worked in subsistence 
farming and fishing. Some families placed their children in the homes 
of wealthier families where they worked in exchange for food, shelter, 
or educational opportunities. Other forms of child labor generally were 
not a problem due to the lack of wage employment opportunities. A 2000 
UNICEF study found that approximately 15 percent of children were not 
paid for their work. The actual number was likely higher. The 
Government did not actively enforce child labor laws nor did it seek to 
prevent illegal child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage. At 
various times during the year, the Government did not pay civil servant 
salaries (see Section 6.b.). Despite strikes and other protests, the 
union government was unable to pay government employees, including low-
level government officials, teachers, and medical workers, for several 
months due to budgetary difficulties.
    The law specifies a workweek of 37 hours, one day off per week, and 
one month of paid vacation per year. According to the law, workers 
receive time-and-a-half for overtime. These laws, like many others, 
were not enforced. Employers, particularly the Government, were often 
remiss in paying salaries.
    No safety or health standards have been established for work sites. 
Workers generally could not remove themselves from an unsafe or 
unhealthful situation without risking their employment.

                               __________

                    DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

    The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a nominally 
centralized republic with a population of approximately 60 million. 
President Joseph Kabila, who came to power in 2001 after the 
assassination of his father, Laurent Desire Kabila, headed a 
transitional government for most of the year. It was formed in June 
2003 to end five years of civil war and was composed of former 
belligerent factions, including the previous government, rebel groups, 
civil society, and political opposition. A new constitution, passed by 
referendum in December 2005, entered into force February 18. The three-
year transitional period drew to a close with multiparty Presidential 
and National Assembly elections July 30, and Presidential runoff and 
provincial assembly elections October 29. Voters elected Kabila 
President and gave his Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP) 
coalition a majority of legislative seats in elections that 
international observers considered credible; there had not been 
democratic elections in more than 40 years. Kabila was inaugurated on 
December 6, and nominated Antoine Gizenga as prime minister on December 
30.
    At year's end government control of certain areas of the country 
remained weak, particularly in remote areas of the east, including 
North and South Kivu provinces, the Ituri District of Orientale 
Province, and northern Katanga Province, where a number of armed groups 
continued to operate. More than 17,000 peacekeeping soldiers of the 
United Nations Mission in the Congo (MONUC) continued to work in 
coordination with the Congolese national army (FARDC) to limit areas of 
armed group activity.
    During the year the transitional government made progress 
integrating control of key institutions such as the army, police, and 
local administration; however, different elements of the transitional 
government sometimes acted independently of, or contrary to, the 
interests of others. Civilian authorities generally did not maintain 
effective control of the security forces, which were poorly trained, 
poorly paid, undisciplined, and committed numerous and serious human 
rights abuses with impunity.
    In all areas of the country, the human rights record remained poor, 
and numerous serious abuses were committed. Unlawful killings, 
disappearances, torture, rape, and arbitrary arrest and detention by 
security forces increased during the year, and the transitional 
government took few actions to punish violators. Harsh and life-
threatening conditions in prison and detention facilities; prolonged 
pretrial detention; lack of an independent and effective judiciary; and 
arbitrary interference with privacy, family, and home also remained 
serious problems. Security forces continued to recruit and retain child 
soldiers and to compel forced labor by adults and children. They also 
continued to abuse press freedom, particularly during the election 
campaign. Also during the campaign, broadcast stations owned by Vice 
President Jean-Pierre Bemba promoted ethnic hatred. The transitional 
government continued to restrict freedoms of assembly and movement; 
government corruption remained pervasive; and security forces 
restricted nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In addition, societal 
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, trafficking in 
persons, child labor, and lack of protection for workers' rights 
continued to be pervasive throughout the country.
    Armed groups continued to commit numerous, serious abuses--some of 
which may constitute war crimes--including unlawful killings, 
disappearances, and torture. They also recruited and retained child 
soldiers, compelled forced labor, and committed serious sexual abuses 
and other possible war crimes.
    There was major improvement in one area: the country held its first 
democratic national elections in more than 40 years. More than 70 
percent of registered voters participated in the first round of 
elections, and more than 65 percent participated in the second round. A 
freely elected National Assembly took office September 24. In addition, 
during the year the transitional government supported prosecution of 
serious human rights abuses. It transferred a former militia leader to 
the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of recruitment 
of child soldiers, and a military court sentenced seven soldiers to 
life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Transitional 
government security forces committed numerous unlawful killings with 
impunity. According to MONUC, the FARDC and the national police (PNC) 
committed two-thirds of all unlawful killings in the country. During 
the first six months of the year, members of the FARDC allegedly killed 
more than 50 civilians, and PNC officers allegedly killed at least 10.
    Transitional government security forces arbitrarily and summarily 
executed civilians, often for failing to surrender their possessions or 
to submit to rape.
    On January 22, in Kagaba, Ituri District, FARDC soldiers of the 
Fourth and Sixth Integrated Brigades allegedly shot several civilians, 
killing 13, including four women and two children, and wounding two 
others as they attended Sunday mass. No action was taken against the 
soldiers.
    On June 26, a FARDC commandant in Kongolo, Katanga Province, 
allegedly killed a member of the Federation of Congolese Enterprises 
after the victim refused to pay money demanded by the commandant to buy 
a motorbike.
    In Butembo, North Kivu Province, on July 18, FARDC soldiers of the 
Second Integrated Brigade allegedly killed a civilian who attempted, 
with others, to stop soldiers from extorting money from them.
    In Fataki, Ituri District, a drunken FARDC soldier shot and killed 
two election workers during vote counting on October 30. The families 
of the victims destroyed part of nine polling centers in retribution. A 
military court sentenced the soldier to death.
    Transitional government security forces killed suspects during 
apprehension or while holding them in custody.
    For example, a FARDC commander in the Ituri District town of Dii 
arrested 19 suspects in a murder case and detained them at a military 
camp on January 22. One detainee allegedly died of severe mistreatment 
while in detention.
    An elderly man in the North Kivu Province town of Kilindera died in 
custody on March 22, one day after military prosecutors arrested him in 
an attempt to force him to pay a fine. The soldiers in charge of the 
jail allegedly kicked him, beat him with truncheons and ropes, and 
forced him to march 32 miles until he died.
    On September 26, guards at Kinshasa's main prison allegedly opened 
fire on prisoners while attempting to force them to return to their 
cells, killing five and wounding several others. The prisoners had 
rioted in reaction to a prohibition on visits by family members. There 
were no reports of authorities taking action against the guards 
involved.
    Transitional government security forces killed demonstrators while 
attempting to disperse them (see Section 2.b.).
    Transitional government security forces committed other killings, 
including some involving beatings and excessive force, killings during 
election-related clashes, and accidental killings.
    For example, in the South Kivu Province town of Panzi, three FARDC 
soldiers allegedly attempting to intimidate a civilian by firing into 
the air accidentally shot him in the chest, killing him on June 8.
    In the Equateur Province town of Bumba, a mob burned 32 polling 
stations on October 29 after bullets fired by security forces 
attempting to restore order accidentally killed a 15-year-old boy and 
wounded another person. The incident occurred after security forces 
responded to a crowd beating the President of a voting center, who they 
believed had stuffed ballot boxes. There were no reports of authorities 
taking action against the security personnel involved.
    From August 19	22, fighting in Kinshasa between guard forces loyal 
to Vice President Bemba and security forces loyal to President Kabila 
resulted in the deaths of 23 people, including several civilians. 
Renewed clashes on November 11 resulted in the deaths of four people, 
including three civilians.
    Fighting in the east between armed groups and the army displaced 
thousands of civilians, limited humanitarian access to vulnerable 
populations, and resulted in or contributed to hundreds of civilian 
deaths, many from illness and starvation (see Section 1.g.).
    Colonel Simba Hussein, who was sentenced to death for killing a 
civilian who refused to change the colonel's tire in July 2005, was 
transferred to a prison in another province, from which he was paroled 
during the year. There were unconfirmed reports that he had returned to 
active service by year's end.
    Unidentified armed men killed a journalist and may have been 
politically motivated (see Section 2.a).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that 
unidentified armed men in uniform forcibly entered personal residences 
in Kinshasa at night to harass civilians, loot personal belongings, or 
kill persons involved in personal feuds.
    Armed groups operating outside government control committed 
killings of civilians, and summary executions (see Section 1.g.).
    During the year mob violence resulted in deaths; crowds that 
gathered in public places killed civilians and soldiers.
    For example, on July 27, participants in a Kinshasa campaign rally 
for Vice President and Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) 
Presidential candidate Bemba killed a civilian, two soldiers, and three 
police officers, including one by burning him alive. The mob injured 20 
other police officers, looted the offices of the High Authority for 
Media (HAM) and the National Observatory for Human Rights (ONDH), gang 
raped at least one woman, and destroyed two churches and several 
houses. Subsequent investigation by the ONDH assigned full blame to the 
MLC for the incident. An MLC spokesman alleged the police victims had 
died in a car accident.
    Civilians killed members of the security forces for allegedly 
committing serious crimes during the year. A mob in Mbuji Mayi, in 
Eastern Kasai Province, burned a policeman to death on March 21 for 
allegedly shooting and stabbing a civilian while attempting to rob the 
civilian as part of an armed gang.
    On August 2, a mob of 2,000 persons in the North Kivu Province town 
of Katwiguru burned alive a police officer who allegedly killed a 
civilian while attempting to extort money from him.
    During the year parents and relatives, as well as other adults, 
killed children accused of sorcery.
    A father in the Equateur Province town of Zongo threw his five-
month-old baby into a river in September for alleged sorcery. Days 
earlier adults in the provincial capital of Mbandaka threw a 15-year-
old boy in the river for sorcery. Police made arrests in both cases.
    By year's end no prosecutions had taken place against individuals 
who burned to death children accused of sorcery in Mbuji Mayi, Eastern 
Kasai Province in 2005.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically 
motivated disappearances by government forces; however, security forces 
allegedly abducted civilians during the year. For example, according to 
MONUC, FARDC soldiers abducted four civilians from Kagaba, Ituri 
District in early March and later killed them. The soldiers also raped 
several women and dragged a 74-year-old woman more than 100 yards along 
the ground. There were no reports of authorities taking action against 
the soldiers involved.
    Armed groups operating outside government control kidnapped 
numerous persons, often for forced labor, military service, or sexual 
services. Many of the victims disappeared (see Section 1.g.).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--On June 12, the transitional government promulgated a new 
law criminalizing torture; however, during the year security services 
continued to torture civilians, particularly detainees and prisoners. 
There were unconfirmed reports that members of the security services 
tortured or abused civilians to settle personal disputes. Authorities 
had taken no known action against the soldiers who committed the abuses 
described below by year's end.
    FARDC soldiers allegedly tortured a diamond digger in Mbuji Mayi, 
Eastern Kasai Province on March 13. Three soldiers took the digger to a 
cell, suspended him upside down from an electrified post, and beat him 
for two hours to extract the names of ex-military groups illegally 
working in the concession of the Mine of Bakwanga (MIBA) diamond 
parastatal.
    Republican Guard (GR) troops arbitrarily arrested and tortured 84 
fishermen in Equateur Province on August 24. The soldiers allegedly 
stripped, trampled, and beat the men before locking them in an 
underground cell in inhuman conditions for three days. They also 
confiscated the fishermen's voting cards.
    In Kahorohoro, South Kivu Province, FARDC soldiers under the 
command of Lieutenant Colonel Mutupeke allegedly arrested, beat, 
whipped 60 times, and tortured an 18-year-old boy on September 1 to 
extract confession of a crime.
    Security services employed cruel, inhuman, and degrading 
punishment.
    On March 28, GR Lieutenant Mukalayi accused a man in Kinshasa of 
denouncing the head of state and demanded $50 (26,500 Congolese francs) 
as a ``fine.'' When the man failed to pay, soldiers took him to a 
military camp, demanded to know if he supported opposition groups, and 
reportedly struck him 50 times until he began to hemorrhage internally.
    On May 21, a police officer in Kindu, Maniema Province arbitrarily 
arrested a civilian working on the political campaign of the minister 
of the interior. They allegedly beat the civilian seriously on his face 
and genitals. The officer worked for the governor, a political opponent 
of the minister. No known action had been taken against the soldiers by 
year's end.
    In June GR soldiers reportedly arrested and beat a journalist in 
Kinshasa (see Section 2.a.)
    During the year security forces killed some demonstrators and 
injured others while attempting to disperse them (see Section 2.b.).
    Human rights organizations reported that police and soldiers 
commonly abused homeless children, stole their possessions, and paid 
for sex or raped them. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), police 
extorted bribes from gangs of street youths to prevent harassment and 
colluded with them in crime and prostitution. Political groups 
encouraged and paid homeless children and youth gangs to disrupt public 
order.
    At year's end there were no reports of any action taken against a 
FARDC officer responsible for the November 2005 arrest, whipping, and 
beating of a woman in Kambabma-Kaboneke.
    Members of transitional government security forces raped civilians 
with impunity.
    Members of the naval and police forces committed mass rape in the 
Equateur province towns of Ganda, Likako, and Likundju on March 18. 
They allegedly raped 34 women and three girls, attempted to rape nine 
others, tortured 50 civilians, and looted 120 houses.
    PNC agents in the Equateur Province town of Bolongo committed mass 
rape during the night of August 5	6 allegedly in retaliation for 
opposition by the town's residents to enforcement of an arrest warrant. 
The agents raped 60 women, including two girls, and looted houses and 
buildings.
    Members of transitional government security forces and of armed 
groups operating outside government control committed torture, rape, 
and otherwise physically abused numerous persons as a consequence of 
conflict during the year (see Section 1.g.).

    Prison and Other Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in most 
large prisons were harsh and life threatening. During the year an 
unknown number of persons died in prisons due to neglect; MONUC reports 
indicated that at least one person died each month in prisons in the 
country. The penal system continued to suffer from severe shortages of 
funds, and most prisons were severely overcrowded, in poor a state of 
repair, lacked sanitation facilities, or were not designed to be used 
as detention facilities. Health care and medical attention remained 
inadequate and infectious diseases were rampant. In rare cases, prison 
doctors provided care; however, they often lacked medicines and 
supplies.
    In several prisons, the Government has not provided food for many 
years. Many prisoners starved to death; food remained inadequate and 
malnutrition widespread. In general, prisoners' families and friends 
were the only source of food and other necessities. Prisoners with no 
one to provide food were particularly at risk. Local NGOs reported that 
authorities sometimes moved prisoners without telling families, making 
the provision of food difficult or impossible. Prison staff often 
forced family members to pay bribes to bring food to prisoners.
    According to MONUC, two civilian detainees charged with armed 
robbery died in April from infected foot wounds caused by leg irons in 
Kongolo prison, Katanga Province.
    Larger prisons sometimes had separate facilities for women and 
juveniles, but others generally did not. Male prisoners raped other 
prisoners, including men, women, and children, according to numerous 
credible reports. Prison officials held pretrial detainees together 
with convicted prisoners and treated both groups the same. They 
generally held individuals detained on state security grounds in 
special sections. Government security services often clandestinely 
transferred such prisoners to secret prisons. Civilian and military 
prisons and detention facilities held soldiers and civilians alike.
    Harsher conditions existed in small detention facilities. These 
facilities were overcrowded and generally intended for short-term 
pretrial detention; in practice they were often used for lengthy stays. 
Detention center authorities often arbitrarily beat or tortured 
detainees. These facilities usually had no toilets, mattresses, or 
medical care, and detainees often received insufficient amounts of 
light, air, and water. The centers generally operated without dedicated 
funding and with minimal regulation or oversight. Detention center 
authorities or influential individuals frequently barred visitors or 
severely mistreated detainees. Guards frequently extorted bribes from 
family members and NGOs to visit detainees or provide food and other 
necessities.
    The security services, particularly the intelligence services and 
the GR, continued to operate numerous illegal detention facilities 
characterized by extremely harsh and life-threatening conditions. 
Members of government security services regularly abused, beat, and 
tortured detainees incarcerated there, sometimes fatally (see Sections 
1.a and 1.g). Authorities routinely denied access to family members, 
friends, and lawyers.
    According to MONUC, military jails had makeshift cells, including 
some that were located underground, that held military and sometimes 
civilian detainees. MONUC confirmed multiple cases of torture in 
detention centers run by security services. These facilities lacked 
adequate food and water, toilets, mattresses, and medical care, and 
authorities routinely denied prisoners access to their families, 
friends, and lawyers.
    According to a March 16 MONUC report on arrests and detentions in 
prisons, government security forces and prison officials routinely 
violated prisoners' and detainees' rights. Security forces lacking 
legal detention authority often arrested and detained individuals. 
Despite a Presidential decision to close illegal jails operated by the 
military or other security forces, none were closed during the year. 
The report found that 70 to 80 percent of detained persons did not see 
a judge for months or years, if ever.
    According to the law, minors should be detained only as a last 
resort; however, in part due to the absence of juvenile justice or 
education centers, detention of minors was common. Many children 
endured pretrial detention as delinquents without seeing a judge, 
lawyer, or social worker; for orphaned children, pretrial detention 
often continued for months or years.
    In March Amnesty International (AI) visited the Provincial 
Inspectorship of Kinshasa, one of the main police detention centers in 
the city. Out of 100 prisoners visited by AI, more than 20 showed signs 
of ill-treatment, including open--and sometimes fresh--wounds on legs, 
arms, and heads; cigarette burns; and friction burns on wrists. These 
prisoners had received no medical care. They allegedly were daily tied 
to pillars, beaten with sticks and bricks, and kicked. Those inflicting 
the abuse regularly demanded money. Prison officials refused AI access 
to the room where the abuses allegedly occurred. The deputy commander 
of the prison claimed no knowledge of the abuse.
    Armed groups sometimes detained civilians, often for ransom (see 
Section 1.d.), but little information was available concerning the 
conditions of detention.
    In general, the Government allowed the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC), MONUC, and some NGOs access to all official 
detention facilities; however, it did not allow these organizations 
access to illegal detention facilities.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, government security forces arbitrarily 
arrested and detained persons, including journalists (see Section 
2.a.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces 
consist of the PNC, including the Rapid Intervention Police unit and 
the Integrated Police Unit, which has primary responsibility for law 
enforcement and maintaining public order and is part of the Ministry of 
Interior; the immigration service, also in the Ministry of the 
Interior; the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), which is overseen by 
the President's national security advisor and is responsible for 
internal and external security; the military intelligence service of 
the Ministry of Defense; the director general of migrations, 
responsible for border control; the GR, which reports directly to the 
presidency; and the FARDC, which is part of the Ministry of Defense and 
is generally responsible for external security, but also has limited 
internal security responsibilities.
    The overall level of police professionalism increased noticeably 
during the year; for example, recently trained police showed 
considerable restraint during the July 27 violence in Kinshasa that 
resulted in the death of several members of the security forces (see 
Section 1.a). However, military forces generally remained ineffective, 
lacked training, received little pay, and were vulnerable to 
corruption.
    During the year members of the police, military, and other security 
forces attacked, detained, robbed, and extorted money from civilians. 
According to HRW, some police officers colluded with petty criminals 
and prostitutes for a share of their earnings. The transitional 
government prosecuted and disciplined some violators; however, the vast 
majority acted with impunity. Although mechanisms existed to 
investigate violations by police, the police used them only 
sporadically.
    There continued to be instances where police failed to prevent or 
respond to societal violence (see Section 1.a.); however, during the 
year the transitional government continued to cooperate with MONUC and 
members of the international community on police training programs.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the law, certain police officers and 
senior security officers are authorized to order arrests. Offenses 
punishable by more than six months' imprisonment require warrants. 
Detainees must appear before a magistrate within 48 hours. Those 
arrested must be informed of their rights, must be told why they were 
arrested, and must not be arrested in place of a family member. They 
may not be arrested for nonpenal offenses, such as debt and civil 
offenses. Arrested individuals must also be allowed to contact their 
families and consult with attorneys. In practice, security officials 
routinely violated all of these requirements.
    Police often arbitrarily arrested and detained persons without 
filing charges, often to extort money from family members. Authorities 
rarely pressed charges in a timely manner and often created contrived 
or overly vague charges. No functioning bail system existed, and 
detainees had little access to legal counsel if unable to pay. 
Incommunicado detention was common; security forces regularly held 
suspects before acknowledging their detention or allowing them contact 
with family or counsel.
    Police arrested persons during the year for criticizing the 
Government (see Section 2.a.).
    Government security forces used the pretext of state security to 
arbitrarily arrest individuals. They arrested and detained individuals 
in the name of state security and frequently held them without charge, 
presentation of evidence, access to a lawyer, or due process.
    A March 16 MONUC report found widespread illegal arrest and 
detention of minors, particularly street children and children 
associated with armed groups. Although the recruitment or retention of 
child soldiers is illegal, military authorities sometimes arrested 
demobilized child soldiers on charges of desertion and tried them in 
military courts. Civilian courts on occasion tried child soldiers for 
possessing illegal arms, even though they had been illegally recruited 
as combatants.
    In June security forces in Mbuji Mayi, Eastern Kasai Province 
arrested for arms possession and arbitrarily detained 12 supporters of 
the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) political party (see 
Section 3).
    PNC agents in Equateur Province allegedly arrested, beat, and 
wounded a civilian found with ripped up posters of the President on 
July 15.
    GR soldiers arrested two aides to Presidential candidate Mbuyi 
Kalala Alfuele on July 30. The soldiers allegedly blindfolded, 
handcuffed, and detained the aides at an unknown location until 
releasing them without charge the following day.
    On September 20, police apprehended 600 adults whom they accused of 
participating in politically inspired gang violence in Kinshasa. They 
also detained 180 minors, including 20 younger than five years old 
apprehended with their mothers. According to MONUC, the police held 
them without adequate shelter, food, or water. Human rights 
organizations arranged for children under 15 to be released to their 
parents. At least 130 people, including women and children, remained in 
custody for more than a month without charge. Authorities released all 
the remaining detainees by year's end on the order of a Kinshasa judge.
    On November 12, police in Kinshasa detained without charge 250 
homeless adults and 87 minors, all alleged street gang members, 
following a gun battle between security forces and Vice President 
Bemba's troops the day before. The adults were transported to rural 
areas for forced agricultural work under a national service program; 
the children were released to local NGOs.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested union leaders (see Section 
6.a.).
    Many individuals arrested experienced prolonged pretrial detention, 
often ranging from months to years. MONUC reported that 70 to 80 
percent of detainees nationwide were in pretrial detention. Prison 
officials often held individuals long after their sentences had expired 
due to disorganization, judicial inefficiency, or corruption. In 
several instances when NGOs or MONUC brought cases to the attention of 
the Government, prison officials released them. Armed groups operating 
outside government control in parts of the east sometimes detained 
civilians, often for ransom.

    Amnesty.--In November 2005 the National Assembly passed a law 
granting amnesty to individuals accused of war crimes and political 
offenses committed between August 1996 and June 2003. A December 2005 
Supreme Court ruling excluded amnesty for individuals allegedly 
involved in the assassination of then President Laurent Kabila, which 
the ruling identified as a criminal, rather than political, act.
    Annie Kalumbu, jailed since 2001 for allegedly plotting against 
Laurent Kabila, left prison under amnesty February 15. According to 
African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO), she began 
receiving death threats February 22 and went into hiding. Her 
whereabouts were unknown. MONUC and the local NGO VSV alleged that at 
least one other individual accused of plotting against Laurent Kabila 
long before his assassination continued in detention.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary remained 
poorly paid, ineffective, subject to influence by government officials, 
and corrupt.
    The civilian judicial system, including lower courts, appellate 
courts, the Supreme Court, and the Court of State Security, continued 
to be largely dysfunctional. Corruption remained pervasive, 
particularly among magistrates, who were paid poorly and 
intermittently.
    Military courts, which had broad discretion in sentencing and no 
appeal process, tried military as well as civilian defendants during 
the year. Although the Government permitted, and in some cases 
provided, legal counsel, lawyers often did not have free access to 
defendants. The public could attend trials only at the discretion of 
the presiding judge.

    Trial Procedures.--Civil and criminal legal codes, based on Belgian 
and customary law, provide for the right to a speedy public trial, the 
presumption of innocence, and legal counsel. However, these rights were 
not respected in practice. While some judges allowed public access to 
trials, other judges, notably those presiding in rape trials, did not. 
There are no juries. Defendants have the right to appeal most cases 
except those involving national security, armed robbery, and smuggling, 
which the Court of State Security generally adjudicates. In some 
instances special military tribunals, whose jurisdiction is ill 
defined, adjudicate national security cases. The law provides for 
court-appointed counsel at state expense in certain cases, but the 
Government often did not provide such counsel.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of political 
prisoners and detainees but no reliable estimates of the number. The 
Government sometimes permitted access to political prisoners by 
international groups.
    According to AI, on June 16, a military tribunal sentenced Fernando 
Kutino and two colleagues to 20 years following a brief trial. Kutino 
was originally charged with incitement to hatred after a May speech 
critical of the President; following the speech, broadcast by a radio 
station owned by Kutino's church, armed assailants in civilian clothes 
destroyed and looted the station's equipment on May 22, forcing it off 
the air. Press freedom NGO Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 
alleged that the assailants were police officers. The court changed the 
charge to illegal possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy, and 
attempted murder (although the alleged victim refused to implicate 
Kutino). AI claimed that the court used evidence extracted from 
Kutino's codefendants under torture, and defense lawyers walked out 
nine days before the guilty verdict to protest the conduct of the 
trial. Kutino remained incarcerated at the end of the year.
    On February 1, the Court of State Security sentenced Jeannete 
Abidje to 12 months in prison for offenses against the head of state. 
She claimed the President fathered her five-year-old daughter by raping 
her during his time as a soldier. Abidje remained in prison at year's 
end.

    Civil Judicial Procedures.--Civil courts exist for lawsuits and 
other disputes, but the public widely viewed them as corrupt. 
Magistrates were poorly paid, and the party willing to pay them the 
most money was generally believed to receive decisions in its favor. 
Most individuals could not afford the often prohibitive fees associated 
with filing a civil case. No civil court exists to address human rights 
violations. Military courts had effective jurisdiction over most human 
rights violations, since government security forces were the primary 
violators.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, 
family, home, or correspondence; however, security forces routinely 
ignored these provisions. Soldiers, deserters, and police continued to 
harass and rob civilians. Security forces routinely ignored legal 
requirements for search warrants and entered and searched homes or 
vehicles at will. In general those responsible for such acts remained 
unidentified and unpunished. Police sometimes looted homes, businesses, 
and schools.
    FARDC soldiers occupied a school in Bulungera, North Kivu Province 
following a February campaign against the Allied Democratic Forces-
National Army for the Liberation of Uganda. They remained at the school 
for three months before a visiting minister negotiated with the 
regional military commander to have them relocated to an integration 
center.
    FARDC 891st Battalion soldiers who were allied with renegade 
General Laurent Nkunda and not under central command authority occupied 
a primary school, which had served 1,388 pupils in the North Kivu 
Province town of Mbau, on March 30 and made it their military camp. 
They used doors and desks as firewood, converted classrooms to toilets, 
and looted the school's supplies. Military authorities did not 
investigate. A new regional military commander promised to remove the 
soldiers, but they remained in place at year's end.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that ANR security agents 
monitored mail passing through private express delivery companies and 
the state mail service. The Government was widely believed to monitor 
some telephone communications.
    Throughout the country authorities sometimes arrested or beat a 
relative or associate of a person they were seeking to arrest.
    For example, on April 1, in the South Kivu Province town of Uvira, 
PNC officers searching unsuccessfully for a man apprehended his wife 
and their infant child instead. The woman claimed the officers beat her 
with a club. No known action was taken against the officers.
    On August 12, ANR agents in Lubumbashi, Katanga Province arrested 
two civilians in place of their employer who was accused of theft. The 
agents allegedly tied up and beat one of them before a senior officer 
intervened.
    The officer who ordered the 2005 beating by Lubumbashi police of 
Mimi Mbayo in place of her husband remained unpunished.
    Armed groups operating outside government control in the east 
routinely subjected civilians to arbitrary interference with privacy, 
family, home, and correspondence (see Section 1.g.).

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Internal conflict continued in rural and mineral-rich parts of the 
east, particularly in Ituri District, northern Katanga province, and 
the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Unlike in the previous 
year, there was no confirmation of reports of Rwanda or Uganda 
providing material support to armed groups that operated and committed 
human rights abuses in the country, or of the presence of Rwandan 
soldiers in the country.
    Security forces and numerous armed groups continued to kill abduct, 
torture, and rape civilians, and burn and destroy villages. The 
security forces and armed groups continued to use mass rape and sexual 
violence with impunity as weapons of war and to humiliate and punish 
victims, families, and communities. There were also sporadic reports of 
death or injury from landmines laid during the 1998	2003 war.
    Fighting between the FARDC and armed groups continued to cause 
population displacements and limited access to conflict areas by 
humanitarian groups. According to the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), fighting between armed groups and 
the FARDC displaced more than 100,000 civilians in Katanga Province and 
at least 37,000 civilians in North Kivu Province during the year.
    Security forces and armed groups continued to recruit and maintain 
child soldiers in their ranks. A June 13 report of the UN Secretary 
General on children and armed conflict in the country, which covered 
the period July 2005 to May, found continued recruitment and use of 
children in security forces and armed groups. Perpetrators included 
transitional government security forces, FARDC forces allied with 
renegade General Nkunda and not under central command authority, Mai 
Mai militia, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda 
(FDLR).
    At year's end more than 20,000 children, including nearly 3,000 
girls, had been demobilized from government security services and armed 
groups. NGOs estimated that as many as 30,000 children were once 
associated with armed groups. Although there were no reliable 
statistics, most credible sources, including the UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF), estimated that at least 3,000 children had yet to be 
demobilized and remained in the ranks of or held by armed groups. 
According to an October AI report, girls accounted for 15 to 40 percent 
of the child soldiers, but in some areas they constituted less that 2 
percent of child soldiers demobilized. AI attributed the discrepancy to 
a belief by NGOs working with child soldiers that girls among armed 
groups were either dependents or ``wives'' of adult fighters.
    Recruitment of children began as young as age six, according to AI. 
Some children were forcibly recruited, while others enrolled for food, 
protection, or to escape poverty. Child soldiers faced violence from 
older soldiers and armed conflict. They were also exploited as porters 
or sex slaves.
    At times, verification of reported abuses in the east was difficult 
due to geographical remoteness and hazardous security conditions; 
however, MONUC's presence allowed observers to gather more information 
than would have otherwise been possible, and according to local NGOs, 
helped decrease human rights violations by armed groups during the 
year.

    Abuses by Transitional Government Security Forces.--Government 
forces arbitrarily arrested, raped, tortured, and summarily executed or 
otherwise killed civilians and looted villages during military actions 
against armed groups during the year. During the year the Government 
conducted some trials for abuses committed in the context of internal 
conflicts in the east. In general, the trials were flawed, and 
sentences were not always enforced.
    Clashes between FARDC troops and the FDLR in Nyamilima, North Kivu 
Province in June resulted in the deaths of eight civilians. FARDC 
soldiers allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central 
command authority allegedly shot and killed three children at close 
range.
    On November 4, a military court sentenced a FARDC army captain to 
20 years in prison for ordering the killing of five children in Ituri 
District in 2005. According to MONUC he and his officers had ordered 
the children to carry goods looted from their village after the FARDC 
conducted an operation against Ituri militia. The captain then claimed 
the children were militiamen and ordered his men to kill them.
    Rape by security forces remained a serious problem. Civilian 
officials prosecuted rape more frequently than military justice courts; 
military perpetrators enjoyed almost total impunity. Police, army and 
navy personnel, and ex-soldiers allegedly raped 32 women and two girls 
and systematically looted 120 homesteads in Waka, Equateur Province on 
March 19. Three suspects were arrested in June; the rest remained at 
large.
    During the year MONUC reported increased sexual violence by FARDC 
soldiers near Uvira, South Kivu Province against girls as young as 10 
years old. The commanding officer of the battalion refused to hand over 
accused soldiers, although judicial authorities had issued warrants for 
their arrest.
    On April 12 a military court in Songo Mboyo, Equateur Province 
sentenced seven former MLC militia members to life in prison for crimes 
against humanity, including the December 2003 mass rape of more than 
119 women. This ruling was the first judicial action against military 
personnel accused of crimes against humanity. The judge also found the 
transitional government responsible for the acts of the MLC soldiers. 
He ordered it to pay $10,000 (5.3 million Congolese francs) to the 
family of each woman who died as a result of the sexual assaults, 
$5,000 (2.65 million Congolese francs) to each survivor of sexual 
assault, and $3,000 (1.59 million Congolese francs) to each business 
owner whose shop was looted. On October 21, five of the former militia 
members escaped from Mbandaka military prison and had not been found by 
year's end.
    On June 20, a military court in Mbandaka, Equateur Province 
convicted 42 FARDC soldiers for murders and rapes committed in 2005, 
which it considered crimes against humanity.
    Security forces recruited children and used them as soldiers during 
the year although the exact number was not known. In March MONUC 
identified 22 children among soldiers of the Fifth Integrated FARDC 
Brigade in Katanga Province. It found that FARDC Captain Mulenga in 
South Kivu Province had eight children in his ranks. He and his troops 
had also allegedly abducted five girls that month. Authorities later 
replaced the brigade's commanding officer.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that local authorities 
attempted to recruit child soldiers for armed groups.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested former (demobilized) child 
soldiers (see Section 1.d.).

    Abuses by FARDC Forces Allied With Renegade General Nkunda and Not 
Under Central Command Authority.--Renegade General Nkunda, a former 
officer of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebel group and 
later of the FARDC, remained subject to a September 2005 international 
arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity 
committed since 2002. Based in a location in North Kivu Province well 
known to and monitored by the transitional government security forces 
and MONUC, General Nkunda continued to control an estimated 1,500 to 
2,000 FARDC soldiers who operated outside the transitional government's 
central command authority, although the Government continued to pay 
their salaries, at least periodically.
    FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under 
central command authority killed civilians during the year. Three 
soldiers of the FARDC 811th Battalion, under the command of Major 
Claude in Kauma, North Kivu Province, attacked and looted a farm and 
forced the residents to transport the looted possessions. The soldiers 
summarily executed a civilian who refused to comply.
    FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under 
central command authority killed demobilized soldiers during the year. 
Soldiers of the 83rd Brigade beat a demobilized soldier to death on 
January 25 and then crucified him on a tree, allegedly for deserting 
the army and leaving the RCD political party.
    In Bwiza, North Kivu Province, 20 demobilized soldiers died in an 
underground holding cell in April and May after allegedly suffering 
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by soldiers of the 83rd Brigade 
allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central command 
authority.
    FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under 
central command authority raped civilians during the year. Soldiers of 
the Nkunda-allied FARDC 83rd Brigade raped up to 90 women during a 
conflict in Kibirizi, North Kivu Province in January. MONUC interviewed 
victims who claimed to have been raped by three or four soldiers, often 
in front of family members, including children.
    FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under 
central command authority recruited children into the military.
    FARDC brigades not under central command authority recruited 
children for General Nkunda in North Kivu Province during the year. 
Soldiers ordered new child recruits to recruit other children, 
sometimes at gunpoint. At least 70 children were recruited in this way. 
MONUC reported an additional 170 children present in the 84th Brigade 
under Colonel Akilimali and the 85th Brigade under Colonel Samy.
    FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under 
central command authority also re-recruited children. For example, 
according to MONUC, soldiers of the 835th Battalion abducted 13 
demobilized children near Kitchange in Masisi (North Kivu Province) on 
June 22. On July 30, these soldiers traced two ex-child soldiers to 
their homes and tried to persuade them to return. Child protection NGOs 
stopped reunifying children with families in Masisi due to the risk of 
re-recruitment.

    Abuses by Armed Groups Outside Government Control.--Armed groups 
outside government control committed numerous serious abuses, 
especially in rural areas of North and South Kivu provinces, northern 
Katanga Province, and Ituri District.
    During the year armed groups raped, tortured, and killed civilians 
often as retribution for alleged collaboration with government forces. 
They sometimes threatened and harassed humanitarian workers. Armed 
groups killed nine UN peacekeepers during the year. Unlike in 2005, 
there were no reports of armed groups imposing travel restrictions on 
humanitarian aid organizations, human rights NGOs, or journalists. 
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of armed groups killing or 
kidnapping humanitarian workers.
    Armed groups continued to use mass rape and sexual violence as 
weapons of war. Gang rapes were common and were often committed in 
front of victims' families. Rapes were often extremely violent and were 
generally accompanied by threats and beatings. These rapes sometimes 
resulted in vaginal fistula, a rupture of vaginal tissue that left 
women unable to control bodily functions and vulnerable to ostracism.
    In some cases sexual abuses committed by various armed groups in 
the east were limited in time or perpetrated sporadically, by multiple 
individuals. Other girls and women were subjected to repeated rape over 
longer periods by a single perpetrator; some were forcibly abducted. 
These girls and women were commonly referred to as war wives, who often 
served both as fighters and sex slaves for their commanders.
    Armed groups, including Mai Mai, continued to abduct and forcibly 
recruit children to serve as forced laborers, porters, combatants, war 
wives, and sex slaves. Credible estimates of the total number of 
children associated with armed groups, many of whom were between the 
ages of 14 and 16, varied widely from 15,000 to 30,000 in 2005. 
Credible sources estimated that at least 3,000 child soldiers had not 
yet been demobilized countrywide by year's end.
    Girls associated with armed groups were often assaulted, raped, and 
infected with HIV/AIDS.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of uniformed 
armed men recruiting Congolese children in two Rwandan refugee camps 
for use as soldiers.
    Armed groups continued to loot, extort, and illegally tax civilians 
in areas they occupied.
    There were no credible attempts by armed groups to investigate 
abuses allegedly committed by their fighters since 2003 or to punish 
those responsible.

    The FDLR.--The FDLR, largely made up of Rwandan Hutus who fled to 
the DRC in 1994 after the Rwandan genocide, continued to be led by 
individuals responsible for executing and fomenting the genocide. 
Between 8,000 and 10,000 FDLR fighters and their families remained in 
the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. Several hundred opted to 
voluntarily demobilize and return to Rwanda during the year.
    FDLR fighters continued to commit abuses against civilians, 
including killings, abductions, rapes, and recruitment of child 
soldiers.
    On January 19, MONUC issued a report on the July 2005 attack on the 
South Kivu Province village of Kabingu by FDLR fighters under Commander 
Kyombe in reprisal for alleged collaboration by residents with the 
FARDC and MONUC. The report concluded that the troops killed more than 
50 civilians, including more than 40 women and children burned alive or 
hacked to death. The troops raped 11 women and abducted four girls, 
killing three and compelling the fourth to become a ``war wife.'' More 
than 10,000 civilians were displaced as a result of the action.
    A group of FDLR fighters allegedly killed a civilian in Burugoya, 
South Kivu Province on May 3 and forced five local boys to transport 
the stolen items from his house. Only one boy returned to the village; 
the whereabouts of the others were unknown at year's end.
    According to the Congolese Initiative for Justice and Peace, on 
July 23 in South Kivu Province, unidentified armed men believed to be 
FDLR killed and cannibalized the body of Alphonsine Nahabatabunga, one 
of several abductees.
    The FDLR forcibly recruited children in North Kivu Province in 
April and allegedly gave them weapons to forcibly recruit others. One 
15-year-old boy recruited in Masisi said he had recruited 20 children, 
and claimed 70 children already belonged to the FDLR when he joined it.
    The FDLR took no known credible action to investigate or address 
human rights abuses by its members.

    Ituri Militia Groups.--Militias in the Ituri District of Orientale 
Province, notably the Front for National Integration (FNI), the 
Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC), and the Front for Patriotic 
Resistance in Ituri (FPRI) continued to commit abuses against 
civilians, including killings, abductions, rapes, and child soldier 
recruitment.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that the Lendu-
dominated FNI and other Lendu groups in Ituri District committed 
killings or rapes against civilians.
    During the year more than 4,800 former combatants in Ituri District 
voluntarily disarmed and joined the UN demobilization process. The 
National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reinsertion 
(CONADER), set up several transit sites in Ituri but was able to fund 
reintegration programs for only a small number of those who had 
disarmed.
    According to MONUC, there were reports through August that the FNI, 
MRC, and FPRI were continuing to recruit new militia fighters by force. 
On October 10, the FARDC offered colonels' commissions to militia 
leaders Peter Karim (FNI) and Mathieu Ngonjolo (MRC) after their 
surrender in July; the transitional government promised to grant their 
fighters amnesty, except for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 
and promised military command positions to Karim and Ngonjolo. On 
November 28, ``Cobra'' Matata (FPRI) signed a similar disarmament 
agreement in exchange for amnesty.
    There were no reports of Ituri militia taking any credible actions 
to investigate or address human rights abuses by its members.
    On March 17, the transitional government transferred custody of 
Thomas Lubanga of the Ituri militia Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) 
to the ICC, which had indicted him in February for war crimes and 
crimes against humanity for conscription and recruitment of child 
soldiers. It did not indict him for massacres, tortures, and rapes that 
human rights groups alleged he ordered.
    In August a military tribunal in Ituri convicted Yves Kawa Panga 
Mandro of the UPC for crimes against humanity committed in November 
2002. These included setting fire to clinics, schools, and churches, 
many of which were occupied.

    Mai Mai.--Mai Mai militia groups in the provinces of Katanga, South 
Kivu, and North Kivu continued to commit abuses against civilians, 
including killings, abductions, rapes, and child soldier recruitment.
    On May 12, Kyungu Mutanga Gedeon, a Mai Mai militia leader, 
surrendered to MONUC in Katanga with 150 combatants, mostly child 
soldiers. According to MONUC, the transitional government offered 
Gedeon a command position and officer's rank with integration into the 
army. He and his forces stood accused of at least a dozen summary 
executions of civilians and the destruction of numerous electoral 
identification cards, but at year's end he remained in Lubumbashi, 
Katanga Province and neither he nor his forces had been charged with 
any crime.
    On July 6, MONUC issued a special report on human rights abuses 
committed in the territory of Mitwaba, Katanga Province during fighting 
between the FARDC and Mai Mai militia. MONUC found that between January 
2005 and March, the FARDC summarily executed 33 civilians, and Mai Mai 
militia summarily executed 31. At least 15 civilians suspected of being 
Mai Mai disappeared and were allegedly executed by the FARDC after 
detention in Mitwaba Prison in March 2005. Between 2003 and the end of 
December, Mai Mai militia and the FARDC had looted and burned 24 
villages in the area.
    According to MONUC, Mai Mai-FARDC conflicts led to the displacement 
of more than 150,000 persons in Katanga during the year.
    Mai Mai militias took no known credible actions to investigate or 
address human rights abuses by their members.

    Abuses by UN Peacekeepers.--During the year there were a few 
allegations of sexual abuse committed by MONUC's civilian and military 
personnel. MONUC reported that less that 0.1 percent of all military 
and fewer than 2 percent of all civilian personnel were accused of 
sexual exploitation and abuse during the year.
    There was only one serious incident potentially involving MONUC 
peacekeepers during the year. In August media outlets reported the 
existence of a child prostitution ring in South Kivu Province involving 
peacekeepers and FARDC soldiers. Investigations by MONUC found that 
most patrons were Congolese soldiers. The MONUC force commander 
declared brothels off-limits and reinforced military police. The 
allegations were referred to the UN Office of Internal Oversight 
Services, and investigations were ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the transitional government 
restricted these rights in practice and continued to violate press 
freedom during the year. There were several reports of security forces 
attacking, arresting, detaining, threatening, or harassing journalists. 
Authorities ordered several radio and television stations to 
temporarily cease operations for violating the media code of conduct, 
particularly during the election campaign.
    Individuals could privately criticize the transitional government, 
its officials, and private citizens without being subject to official 
reprisals, and during the year such criticism frequently appeared in 
the media; however, security forces arrested, detained, and harassed 
politicians and other high-profile figures for criticizing the 
President or other members of the transitional government (see Sections 
1.d., 3, and 6.a.).
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports of human rights activists 
self-censoring their reports of human rights abuses because of fear of 
arrest.
    On September 25, the Kindu ANR arrested Shakodi Fazili, President 
of a civil society organization in Maniema Province, on the order of 
the province's governor, Koloso Sumaili. Sumaili had accused Fazili of 
exhorting the population to withhold taxes after Vice Governor Boniface 
Yemba claimed the governor was stealing from the provincial treasury. 
The ANR released Fazili 12 hours later following the personal 
intervention of the President.
    Theodore Ngoy, charged with insulting the head of state in December 
2005, remained in detention until March, when he escaped from a court 
hearing and found refuge in the South African Embassy. The court in 
which he was charged became defunct with the promulgation of the new 
constitution on February 18, and all charges against him were dropped 
by July 30. He remained free at year's end.
    A large and active private press functioned throughout the country, 
and a large number of daily newspapers were licensed to publish. The 
transitional government required every newspaper to pay a $500 (265,000 
Congolese francs) license fee and complete several administrative 
requirements before publishing. Many journalists lacked professional 
training, received little if any salary, and were vulnerable to 
manipulation by wealthy individuals, government officials, and 
politicians who provided cash or other benefits to encourage certain 
types of articles. While many newspapers remained critical of the 
transitional government, many showed bias toward it or particular 
political parties. Although there was no official newspaper, the 
Government press agency published the Daily Bulletin, which included 
news reports, decrees, and official statements.
    Radio remained the most important medium of public information due 
to limited literacy and the relatively high cost of newspapers and 
television. Numerous privately owned radio and television stations 
operated, in addition to two state-owned radio stations and one state-
owned television station. The President's family and one vice President 
owned and operated their own television stations. Political parties 
represented in the transitional government could generally gain access 
to state radio and television.
    Foreign journalists sometimes could not operate freely in the 
country due to actions by security forces or other individuals.
    Security forces arrested, harassed, intimidated, and beat 
journalists because of their reporting. Unlike in the previous year, 
there were no reports of security forces killing or kidnapping 
journalists.
    The GR in Kisangani assaulted and beat Anselme Masua of MONUC's 
Radio Okapi after he entered an army camp on April 24, although he had 
clearly identified himself as a journalist before doing so. By year's 
end there were no reports of authorities taking action against the GR 
soldiers responsible for the beating.
    On June 10, a FARDC officer in the eastern town of Kabambare, 
Captain Kengo Lengo, destroyed the broadcast equipment of Tujenge 
Kabambare, a community radio station, temporarily knocking it off the 
air after it had alleged abuses by the FARDC. The officer later 
defended his action by claiming that the station's director had failed 
to answer a summons.
    According to MONUC and Voice of the Voiceless (VSV), GR soldiers 
arrested a journalist in Kinshasa on June 25 and handcuffed him, beat 
him with cords, and subjected him to cruel, inhuman, and degrading 
treatment for five hours. They then detained him for three days at a 
military camp, Camp Tshatshi, and accused him of possessing an 
inflammatory photo showing President Kabila with Rwandan President 
Kagame. There were no reports of authorities taking any action against 
the soldiers.
    On July 3, the transitional government expelled from the country 
Radio France International journalist Ghislaine Dupont. According to 
CPJ, Dupont was known to be critical of the President.
    PNC officers detained two foreign journalists, Arnaud Zajtman of 
the BBC and Marlene Rabaud of Reuters, pointed a machine gun at them, 
and held them in a police car for three hours and then in a jail 
overnight on October 26 before releasing them. The journalists were 
covering a prison riot in Kinshasa.
    Police arrested two journalists in Kinshasa between November 21 and 
25 following the destruction of the Supreme Court building by a pro-
Bemba mob: Clement Nku, a cameraman for Vice President Bemba's Canal 
Congo Television (CCTV), and Mbaka Bosange, a reporter for the weekly 
newspaper Mambenga. Police arrested Nku after he filmed police officers 
abandoning their uniforms and equipment to flee the mob. By year's end, 
Nku was released but Bosange remained in jail.
    The trial of three FARDC soldiers accused of committing the 
November 2005 killings of journalist Frank Ngyke and his wife in 
Kinshasa was repeatedly postponed on technical grounds, and no verdict 
had been delivered by year's end. Two members of press freedom NGO 
Journalist in Danger (JED) claimed they received death threats in 
January after publishing the results of their investigation of the 
killings.
    The 2005 robbing and attempted killing of Radio Okapi journalist 
Jean Ngandu by uniformed soldiers remained under investigation at 
year's end.
    There was no additional information available on Jean-Marie Kanku, 
who was released on bail in 2005 after being charged with disseminating 
false information.
    No action was taken against security forces who beat or harassed 
journalists in 2005, including the PNC officers who beat radio editor 
Kawanda Bakiman Nkorabishen, or in 2004.
    The HAM, a quasi-governmental organization mandated by the 
transitional constitution, imposed sanctions on both privately owned 
and state-owned media during the year, particularly during the election 
campaign, for inciting ethnic hatred or violence and for violating 
media regulations intended to ensure balanced electoral reporting. The 
sanctions included broadcast suspensions of several days or weeks.
    On July 19, the HAM suspended six television stations, including 
government-owned outlets, for 72 hours for violating regulations on 
electoral reporting.
    On August 16, the HAM placed 24-hour sanctions on Vice President 
Bemba's CCTV, state-owned National Radio-Television (RTNC-1), and the 
pro-Kabila Radio TV Armee de l'Eternel (RTAE) for inciting violence. 
The suspensions were a result of RTAE's presentation of footage of the 
lynching and torture of police officers at a July 27 campaign rally for 
Vice President Bemba in Kinshasa (see Section 1.a.); RTNC-1's extensive 
coverage of the police officers' funeral, during which the minister of 
the interior blamed the killings on Vice President Bemba's MLC party; 
and CCTV's presentation of footage of a 1998 bombing by then President 
Laurent Kabila's forces in Equateur Province.
    The HAM limited the number of print and broadcast media that could 
cover the official electoral campaign to those specifically accredited 
to do so by the HAM.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of police 
seizing newspapers from street vendors.
    The transitional government used criminal libel laws to suppress 
criticism of political leaders, usually the head of state, and limit 
press freedom.
    On June 8, authorities in Tshikapa, Western Kasai Province arrested 
Pierre-Sosthene Kambidi, a journalist for radio station Concorde FM, 
after he allegedly defamed a police commander during a June 7 broadcast 
by accusing him of committing police brutality. On June 10, a court 
convicted Kambidi of defamation and sentenced him to three months in 
jail. Pending appeal of his conviction, the court released Kambidi on 
June 14 after he posted $50 (26,500 Congolese francs) bail. Community 
radio stations throughout the country stopped broadcasting on June 17 
to protest the conviction and other press freedom cases. No further 
information was available at year's end.
    On May 30, the Court of State Security found Patrice Booto, the 
editor of Le Journal arrested in November 2005, guilty of insulting the 
head of state and sentenced him to six months in prison and a $500 
(265,000 Congolese francs) fine. The charge stemmed from an article 
that Booto published claiming--without evidence--that the President 
gave $30 million to Tanzania for its education budget while the 
transitional government remained in a payment dispute with teachers. On 
July 27, after Booto paid the fine and spent nine months in jail, an 
appeals court found him guilty of reporting false information but 
acquitted him of insulting the head of state, resulting in his release 
on August 3.
    During the year there were reports of unidentified persons killing 
a journalist; kidnapping, beating, threatening, and harassing other 
journalists; and forcing at least one radio station to temporarily 
close.
    For example, Kabeya Pindi Pasi, a television journalist and 
President of the Congolese National Press Union, received anonymous 
death threats on May 16 after he reported alleged human rights abuses 
by Vice President Bemba and the MLC. He fled the country but returned 
shortly thereafter.
    On July 8, unidentified armed persons killed freelance newspaper 
journalist Louis Bapuwa Mwamba after forcibly entering his Kinshasa 
home. The day before his death, daily newspaper Le Phare had published 
a commentary by Mwamba criticizing authorities and the international 
community for what he deemed to be the failure of the country's 
political transition. It was not clear whether the killing was 
politically motivated; local sources said the attackers took only 
Mwamba's cell phone. On July 25, authorities in the southwestern port 
city of Matadi arrested and detained a former soldier, Vungu Mbembe, 
and two civilians, Mangenele Lowawi and Kunku Makwala Sekula, and 
charged them with Mwamba's murder. No trial date had been set by year's 
end.
    On October 12, unidentified armed men destroyed broadcast antennas 
at a private television station owned by Vice President Bemba in the 
Katanga province town of Lubumbashi, according to JED.

    Internet Freedom.--The transitional government did not restrict 
access to the Internet or monitor e-mail or Internet chat rooms. 
Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views 
via the Internet, including by e-mail. Private entrepreneurs made 
Internet access available at moderate prices through Internet cafes in 
large cities throughout the country. Poor infrastructure and high 
prices limited the ability of all but the wealthiest to have Internet 
access in their homes.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in the previous year, 
the transitional government did not restrict academic freedom or 
cultural events.
    In October the HAM ordered radio stations not to broadcast campaign 
songs that called for violence; no stations were sanctioned during the 
year.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for the right of freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the 
transitional government restricted this right in practice. The 
transitional government treated the right to assemble as subordinate to 
maintenance of public order and continued to require all organizers of 
public events to inform local authorities before holding a public 
event. According to the law, organizers are authorized to hold an event 
unless the local government denies authorization in writing within five 
days of notification. Security forces often dispersed unregistered 
protests, marches, or meetings and sometimes dispersed authorized 
protests and marches.
    Security forces restricted the rights of several political party 
members to organize, hold protests, campaign, and publicize their views 
(see Section 3). Some domestic human rights NGOs claimed to have been 
harassed and monitored by members of the security forces (see Section 
4).
    During the year transitional government security forces killed 
demonstrators while dispersing crowds. There were no reports of 
authorities taking action to address these killings.
    On May 4, FARDC soldiers in Bukavu, South Kivu Province fired on a 
crowd protesting insecurity in the city. A child, Noelle Buhendwa, was 
killed by shots fired by a FARDC captain.
    On July 11, police dispersed a peaceful demonstration in Kinshasa. 
Although organizers had informed local authorities as required, the 
governor of Kinshasa had not authorized the demonstration and ordered 
police to halt it. One civilian lost most of his fingers to a tear gas 
canister explosion, and another fell into a coma after breathing tear 
gas.
    On June 30, heavily armed FARDC soldiers in the Bas-Congo Province 
town of Matadi fired indiscriminately at a demonstration by Bundu Dia 
Kongo (BDK) separatists after a BDK member attacked and killed a 
soldier. The soldiers killed 13 civilians and injured 20. The ONDH 
issued a report assigning responsibility for the deaths to the 
commander of the Second Military Region who, believing the protesters 
were armed, had deployed FARDC troops. ONDH also blamed the BDK for 
violating the law requiring advance notification of rallies.
    The transitional government took no known action against security 
forces responsible for using excessive force against demonstrators in 
2005.
    During the year police occasionally arrested demonstrators.
    On September 11, police arrested 10 civilians in Tshikapa, Western 
Kasai Province, during a peaceful demonstration about which they had 
informed the local administration 48 hours before. Authorities detained 
the 10 for 24 hours and released them the next day.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association; however, in practice the transitional government sometimes 
restricted this right. During the year the transitional government 
sometimes harassed political parties, including party leaders, and 
restricted the registration of at least one political party (see 
Section 3).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice, provided that worshipers did not disturb public order or 
contradict commonly held morals.
    The law provides for the establishment and operation of religious 
institutions and requires practicing religious groups to register with 
the Government; registration requirements were simple and implemented 
in a nondiscriminatory manner. In practice unregistered religious 
groups operated unhindered.
    In June FARDC soldiers fired on a demonstration by the separatist 
group BDK after adherents attacked and killed a soldier (see Section 
2.b.). The BDK, an ethnically based spiritual and political movement 
that continued to call for the establishment of an ``ethnically pure'' 
kingdom of the Bakongo people, remained outlawed for its separatist, 
political goals and its implication in acts of violence.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of violence against 
missionaries.
    During the year the Government banned all religious radio and 
television stations from broadcasting political and news programs 
because these were not consistent with their licenses. In practice the 
stations did not comply with the ban and were not sanctioned.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of the HAM 
suspending a religious broadcast station.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has a very small 
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for freedom of movement 
within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation; 
however, the transitional government occasionally restricted these 
rights.
    Security forces established barriers and checkpoints on roads, at 
ports, airports, and markets, ostensibly for security reasons, and 
routinely harassed and extorted money from civilians for supposed 
violations, sometimes detaining them until a relative paid. The 
transitional government forced travelers to pass through immigration 
procedures during domestic travel at airports, lake ports, and when 
entering and leaving towns.
    Local authorities in North and South Kivu Provinces routinely 
required travelers to present official travel orders from an employer 
or transitional government official.
    The significant risk of rape perpetrated by uniformed men 
restricted freedom of movement by women in many areas.
    Armed groups in the east restricted or prevented freedom of 
movement during the year. They also harassed travelers and often raped 
women.
    Passport issuance was irregular and often required payment of 
significant bribes. The law requires married women to have their 
husband's permission in order to travel outside the country; however, 
there were no reports that the transitional government prevented 
particular groups from acquiring passports.
    Dissident politician Joseph Olenghankoy, whose passport was 
temporarily confiscated in 2005 and who subsequently left the country, 
returned and ran for President and subsequently managed Vice President 
Bemba's second-round Presidential campaign.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the 
transitional government used forced exile.
    The Government did not restrict emigration or prohibit the return 
of citizens who had left the country.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of mistreatment 
of repatriated asylum seekers.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--As of June 30, MONUC 
estimated there were approximately 1.1 million IDPs, concentrated in 
the east, particularly in North Kivu Province (see Section 1.g.).
    Military operations conducted by the FARDC with MONUC support 
against armed groups outside government control led to internal 
displacement of many persons during the year. Attacks on local 
populations by armed groups also caused significant displacements (see 
Section 1.g).
    The transitional government did not provide protection or 
assistance to IDPs, who continued to rely exclusively on humanitarian 
organizations for assistance. The transitional government generally 
allowed domestic and international humanitarian organizations to 
provide assistance to IDPs. Fighting between the FARDC and armed groups 
sometimes restricted the ability of humanitarian organizations to 
assist IDPs (see Section 1.g.). The transitional government did not 
attack or target IDPs, nor did it forcibly return or resettle IDPs 
under dangerous conditions. However, in April MONUC reported that FARDC 
soldiers had subjected numerous IDPs to forced labor in cassiterite 
mines in Mitwaba, Katanga Province.
    On several occasions, armed groups denied access to IDPs by 
humanitarian organizations or obstructed their ability to deliver 
supplies (see Section 1.g.).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
transitional government had established a rudimentary system for 
providing protection to refugees. In practice, it granted refugee and 
asylum status and provided protection against refoulement, the return 
to a country where individuals feared persecution.
    The transitional government provided temporary protection to an 
undetermined number of individuals who may not have qualified as 
refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
    The transitional government cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    Two Sudanese claiming to be refugees accused the border patrol of 
arbitrarily detaining them. They were released the same day. A MONUC 
investigation was unable to verify their status as refugees.
    Transitional government authorities did not provide adequate 
security to refugees.
    Unlike in the previous year there were no reports that uniformed 
armed men recruited children in refugee camps for use as soldiers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change their government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through credible Presidential, parliamentary, and provincial elections 
based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Nearly 18 million of 25 
million registered voters participated in the July 30 Presidential and 
parliamentary elections. More than 15 million voters participated in 
the October 29 Presidential run-off and provincial elections. Voters 
elected Kabila President on October 29 with 58 percent of the run-off 
vote; his opponent, Vice President Bemba, received 42 percent. The top 
three vote-receiving parties in the national legislative elections were 
the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, allied with 
President Kabila; Vice President Bemba's MLC party; and Gizenga's 
United Lumumbist Party, which subsequently entered into coalition with 
the AMP. Parties affiliated with President Kabila's AMP coalition won 
majorities in eight of the 11 provincial assemblies.
    The Carter Center and the European Union (EU) Observer Mission both 
judged the July 30 and October 29 votes credible. The Carter Center 
said the elections were ``very well executed'' and expressed confidence 
that the results announced by the country's Independent Electoral 
Commission (CEI) were ``consistent with the results obtained in the 
polling stations.'' However, both organizations reported some 
irregularities in the July 30 and October 29 votes related to the 
campaign period, voting procedures, and the collection of election 
materials. The Carter Center noted instances of disruption or attempted 
manipulation of the electoral process but said that they appeared 
``isolated and unlikely to affect the overall success of the vote.''
    The Carter Center identified deficiencies in voting and ballot 
collection procedures in the first round of voting. The Carter Center 
and the EU noted substantial progress in correcting these deficiencies 
prior to the second round.
    The Supreme Court dismissed claims by Vice President Bemba that 
massive fraud had occurred during the October 29 vote and subsequent 
count. Both the Carter Center and the EU confirmed that irregularities 
had occurred and involved both sides but that those irregularities were 
not of a magnitude to change the Presidential election's outcome.
    African election observers also judged the July 30 and October 29 
elections credible. The African Union found that any irregularities 
were not serious enough to undermine the credibility of the elections. 
The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum said the 
elections conformed to regional electoral norms and standards. The 
Electoral Institute of Southern Africa and the Common Market for 
Eastern and Southern Africa both stated that voters were able to 
express their democratic choices without hindrance.
    There were reports of isolated cases of violence, including two 
accidental killings by security forces, but there was no evidence to 
suggest that the violence was intended to prevent, or that it 
prevented, citizens from voting. However, there were also reports of 
interference with voting rights. For example, some members of the 
security forces in the provinces of Katanga and North Kivu allegedly 
confiscated electoral cards and demanded cash for their return before 
the July 30 elections.
    In July participants in a Kinshasa campaign rally for MLC 
Presidential candidate Bemba killed a civilian and members of security 
forces, destroyed property, and committed rape (see Section 1.a.).
    On October 29, a crowd burned down several polling stations in 
Equateur Province after security forces accidentally killed a bystander 
(see Section 1.a.).
    MONUC reported that on October 29, FARDC soldiers stopped a group 
of more than 200 citizens on their way to vote and subjected them to 
physical abuse in Aveba, Ituri District. In Nizi, also in Ituri 
District, FARDC soldiers established a checkpoint and demanded money 
from travelers, including citizens on their way to vote. In both cases, 
the FARDC regional military commander arrested several soldiers for 
their actions. No additional information was available at year's end.
    On November 21, after Vice President Bemba's attorneys formally 
contested the provisional election results, Bemba's supporters set the 
Supreme Court building on fire. UN forces restored order after riot 
police fled the scene. Bemba supporters beat one police officer. The 
Supreme Court confirmed the election results on November 27, and Vice 
President Bemba agreed to abide by the results.
    Some privately owned and state broadcast stations provided overtly 
biased, unbalanced, or false election coverage favoring certain 
candidates. The HAM sanctioned state and privately owned broadcast 
stations during the campaign for inciting ethnic hatred or violence and 
for violating media regulations intended to ensure balanced electoral 
reporting. The HAM sanctioned stations favoring Vice President Bemba 
more frequently than stations favoring President Kabila, and most 
observers said they believed that pro-Kabila stations also violated the 
media code of conduct and were sanctioned, but they did not commit as 
many infractions as pro-Bemba stations did (see Section 2.a.). On 
numerous occasions during the campaign, broadcast stations owned by 
Bemba or his supporters promoted ethnic hatred. Vice President Bemba's 
campaign used ethnic slurs in reference to President Kabila and alleged 
that Kabila, who spent part of his youth outside the country, was a 
foreigner.
    Candidates standing for election who already held positions in the 
transitional government--particularly those who owned private broadcast 
stations--had considerably more access to media than those who did not.

    Political Parties.--Individuals could freely declare their 
candidacies and stand for election as long as they legally registered. 
During the year the CEI disallowed the registration of five political 
parties for technical reasons, but registered more than 200 other 
political parties.
    Unlike in previous years, the Government did not require political 
parties to apply for permits to hold press conferences.
    Security forces restricted the rights of several politicians, 
including members of the transitional government, to organize, protest, 
campaign, and publicize their views.
    On May 24, security forces surrounded the homes of 11 Presidential 
candidates prior to a planned protest, allegedly for their security. 
Security forces denied entry and exit of all persons throughout the 
day.
    On June 27, the ANR arrested 12 UDPS party members for arms 
possession and arbitrarily detained them in a military camp in Mbuji 
Mayi, Eastern Kasai Province. Four were released on June 29, four on 
July 1, and four on July 29. No charges were ever brought against those 
arrested. The UDPS boycotted the electoral process and some of its 
members initiated and threatened violence against would-be voters in 
the Kasai provinces before and during the first round of voting.
    MONUC reported that ANR officers in Kalemie and Lubumbashi, Katanga 
Province, and Uvira, South Kivu Province, made more than 30 arrests for 
political reasons and mistreated and tortured some of the detainees who 
were members or supporters of political parties. There were no reports 
of authorities taking action against those responsible for these 
actions.
    A North Kivu local administrator and PNC officers allegedly 
prevented a delegation of the Christian Federalist Democracy-Convention 
of Federalists for Christian Democracy alliance from campaigning after 
6 p.m. on July 18. The officers allegedly tried to extort money from 
the delegation and banned them from campaigning in the area of Luofu, 
North Kivu Province.
    AMP candidates and campaigners alleged that the FARDC 83rd Brigade, 
which was allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central 
command authority, threatened them with violence and prevented them 
from campaigning on July 18. A later agreement between Nkunda, MONUC, 
and the CEI to allow AMP campaigning for the second round of 
Presidential elections was not consistently respected by Nkunda's 
forces (see Section 1.g).
    On July 30, GR soldiers reportedly arrested two aides to a 
Presidential candidate and kept them blindfolded at an unknown location 
for a day (see Section 1.d.).
    Five of 36 appointed cabinet ministers and three of 24 appointed 
vice ministers in the transitional government were women. Women held 60 
of the 620 appointed seats in the transitional parliament and 42 of 500 
seats in the newly elected National Assembly.
    During the year one Tutsi, from North Kivu Province, was elected to 
the National Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained 
endemic throughout the transitional government and security forces. The 
public perceived the transitional government to be widely corrupt at 
all levels. According to NGO Transparency International (TI), both 
resident and nonresident experts perceived corruption among the 
country's public officials to be ``rampant,'' the most severe 
assessment designation used by TI.
    Weak financial controls and lack of a functioning judicial system 
encouraged officials to engage in corruption with impunity. Many civil 
servants, police, and soldiers had not been paid in years, received 
irregular salaries, or did not earn enough to support their families, 
all of which encouraged corruption. For example, local authorities 
continued to extort ``taxes'' and ``fees'' from boats traveling on many 
parts of the Congo River.
    The mining sector lost millions of dollars to widespread theft, 
corruption, and fraud involving government officials. According to a 
July report by Global Witness, transitional government officials 
actively colluded with trading companies to circumvent control 
procedures and payment of taxes, extorting large sums of money in a 
system of institutionalized corruption. HRW reported that armed groups, 
government officials and, increasingly, military officers continued to 
profit from the illegal exploitation of the country's mineral 
resources, often in collusion with foreign interests.
    The Government took some steps to combat corruption. For example, 
in February, the National Assembly's Lutundula Commission, named for 
its chairman, released a report detailing corruption in the awarding of 
60 wartime mining and business contracts. The report implicated many 
senior politicians, some of whom were fired from high-ranking positions 
as a result. The report was funded by the World Bank and was widely 
available on the Internet, but its findings and recommendations were 
not debated by the Assembly. According to HRW, some commission members 
said they received death threats.
    The law requires the post-transition President and ministers to 
disclose their assets. The President did so following his December 
inauguration.
    There continued to be an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, but 
it had little impact during the year and lacked resources, 
independence, and credibility.
    Through the use of defamation laws that carry criminal punishments, 
transitional government authorities and wealthy individuals sometimes 
restricted the freedom of press and speech on occasions when the media 
investigated or made accusations of government corruption.
    The law does not provide for public access to government-held 
information, and in practice the Government did not grant access to 
government documents for citizens or noncitizens, including foreign 
media, although there were no reports of requests for access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights 
organizations investigated and published findings on human rights 
cases. The Human Rights Ministry and the ONDH worked with NGOs and 
MONUC during the year and responded to their requests and 
recommendations. However, security forces harassed and arrested 
domestic human rights advocates, and prison officials sometimes 
obstructed NGO access to detainees.
    The main Kinshasa-based domestic human rights organizations 
included ASADHO, VSV, Groupe Jeremie, the Committee of Human Rights 
Observers, and the Christian Network of Human Rights and Civic 
Education Organizations. Prominent organizations operating in areas 
outside Kinshasa included Heirs of Justice in Bukavu, South Kivu 
Province; Lotus Group and Justice and Liberation in Kisangani, 
Orientale Province; and Justice Plus in Bunia, Ituri District. The 
transitional government's human rights bodies met with domestic NGOs 
and sometimes responded to their inquiries but took no known actions.
    For example, according to MONUC, armed men, who were believed to be 
soldiers of the FARDC 813th battalion allied with renegade General 
Nkunda and not under central command authority, abducted and killed a 
local NGO member in the North Kivu Province town of Masisi; the person 
was reportedly killed for calling on soldiers to join the 
demobilization process.
    VSV President Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and Vice President Dolly 
Mbunga alleged that the ANR placed them under continuous surveillance 
after they disseminated a posters intended to persuade citizens not to 
vote in the general elections. VSV alleged that the ANR monitored 
visitors and members at the VSV office. On July 26, VSV closed its 
Kinshasa office, and both leaders went into hiding. By year's end, they 
had resumed their positions.
    The case of two FARDC soldiers arrested for killing human rights 
activist Pascal Kabungula Kibembi in Bukavu, South Kivu Province in 
July 2005 remained unresolved, and neither soldier remained in custody.
    There were reports that local NGOs which did not pay bribes to 
local officials were subjected to lengthy registration requirements.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of domestic NGOs censoring 
their own reports about human rights abuses or corruption by 
authorities.
    During the year unidentified armed men threatened and harassed NGO 
members, particularly in the east.
    For example, according to HRW, two domestic human rights activists 
in the North Kivu town of Goma, Richard Bayunda and Sheldon Hangi, 
received threatening telephone calls in January and February. 
Unidentified armed men also came to their homes at night on one 
occasion in February but were unable to gain entry. The two activists 
had returned after fleeing the country in 2005 following death threats.
    On March 18, a member of the National Union of Federalists of the 
Congo political party threatened Hubert Tshiswaka, director of Action 
against Impunity for Human Rights, after he issued a press release 
calling on citizens not to vote for human rights violators. On April 1, 
he received a death threat via an anonymous phone call, according to 
AI.
    According to MONUC, a domestic human rights activist in Ituri 
District received anonymous death threats between July 5 and July 10, 
allegedly because of his cooperation with MONUC and the ICC in the 
Thomas Lubanga case.
    The transitional government generally cooperated with international 
NGOs, which published several reports on human rights and humanitarian 
issues, and permitted them access to conflict areas. However, there 
were some exceptions.
    For example, in September the ANR detained the head of the Bukavu 
office of the International Rescue Committee, Sylvie Louchez, and 
demanded to see several identification and registration papers before 
releasing her. In October the ANR detained the head of the Bukavu 
office of the NGO War Child for seven hours. The NGO paid a bribe to 
secure her release.
    During the year unidentified persons threatened members of 
international NGOs. For example, a senior researcher for HRW reported 
that she and other staff members regularly received anonymous death 
threats following the publication of reports on human rights violations 
during the year.
    The transitional government cooperated with multilateral 
organizations and permitted international humanitarian agencies access 
to conflict areas. A number of senior UN officials visited the country 
during the year, including Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping 
Jean-Marie Guehenno and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs 
Ibrahim Gambari.
    On June 13, the UN Security Council received a report of the UN 
Secretary General on children and armed conflict in the country (see 
Section 1.g.).
    On March 16, MONUC issued reports on the detention of children and 
justice for minors (see Section 5) and on arrests and detentions in 
prisons (see Section 1.d.).
    MONUC also issued special reports on human rights violations and 
abuses committed in the territory of Mitwaba, Katanga in 2005 and on 
the attack on Kabingu village in South Kivu Province in July 2005 (see 
Section 1.g).
    UN officials freely criticized actions by the transitional 
government during the year.
    Armed groups killed nine UN peacekeepers during the year (see 
Section 1.g.).
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of armed groups in the east 
imposing travel restrictions on humanitarian aid workers or local NGOs.
    The transitional constitution mandated an independent ONDH and a 
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Both entities lacked resources and 
were generally regarded as ineffective. Although the transitional 
government did not actively interfere with their investigations, 
neither did it cooperate with them.
    On August 8, the ONDH reported its findings on two incidents: the 
transitional government's use of force against BDK adherents in June 
(see Section 2.b.) and mob violence associated with an election rally 
in Kinshasa on July 27 (see Section 1.a.).
    During the year, the transitional government cooperated with the 
ICC, which continued conducting investigations into war crimes and 
crimes against humanity committed in the country since July 2002. In 
March the Government transferred to the ICC custody of an Ituri militia 
leader indicted for recruitment of child soldiers (see Section 1.g.).
    The Government continued to cooperate with the International 
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). ICTR investigators operated freely 
in areas under government control, seeking a number of individuals 
indicted for involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide whom they 
believed might be in the DRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, sex, 
or religious affiliation; however, the Government did not enforce these 
prohibitions effectively, in part because it lacked appropriate 
institutions.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women occurred throughout the 
country; however, there were no statistics available regarding its 
extent. Although the law considers assault a crime, it does not 
specifically address spousal abuse, and police rarely intervened in 
domestic disputes. Judges set the penalties for those convicted of 
assault, and the laws establish minimum penalties. There were no 
reports of judicial authorities taking action in cases of domestic or 
spousal abuse.
    The law criminalizes rape, but the Government did not effectively 
enforce this law. On June 22, the transitional parliament approved a 
new sexual violence law, which broadened the definition of rape to 
include male victims, and which addressed sexual slavery, sexual 
harassment, forced pregnancy, and other sexual crimes not previously 
covered by law. It also increased penalties for sexual violence, 
prohibited compromise fines, allowed victims of sexual violence to 
waive appearance in court, and permitted closed hearings to protect 
confidentiality. The law neither mentions sexual violence in marriage 
nor prohibits spousal rape.
    Rape was common throughout the country; however, there were no 
available statistics regarding its prevalence. The minimum penalty 
prescribed for rape was a prison sentence of five to 12 years. 
Prosecutions for rape and other types of sexual violence remained rare. 
It was common for family members to instruct a rape victim to keep 
quiet about the incident, even to health care professionals, to 
safeguard the reputations of the victim and her family. The press 
rarely reported incidents of violence against women or children; press 
reports of rape generally appeared only if it occurred in conjunction 
with another crime, or if NGOs reported on the subject.
    Girls and women who had been raped often found it difficult to find 
husbands, and married women who were raped were often abandoned by 
their husbands.
    Some families forced rape victims to marry the men who raped them 
or to forego prosecution in exchange for money or goods from the 
rapist.
    Transitional government security forces, armed groups, and 
civilians perpetrated widespread rape against women and girls (see 
Section 1.g).
    Victims and experts cited widespread impunity as the main reason 
sexual violence continued. A small number of sexual violence cases, 
mostly committed by civilians, have been brought to court. In general, 
however, most victims did not have sufficient confidence in the justice 
system to pursue formal legal action for fear of subjecting themselves 
to further humiliation and possible reprisal.
    The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), and FGM 
was rarely practiced.
    The constitution prohibits forced prostitution and bans 
prostitution of children under age 18. Although there were no available 
statistics regarding its prevalence, adult and child prostitution 
occurred throughout the country, and there were reports of women and 
girls pressured or forced to engage in prostitution by their families. 
Security forces encouraged prostitution and used prostitutes, and there 
were unconfirmed reports that security forces harassed and raped 
prostitutes.
    There were reports that women were trafficked (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment occurred throughout the country; however, no 
statistics existed regarding its prevalence. The new sexual violence 
law prohibits sexual harassment, and the minimum penalty prescribed by 
law is a prison sentence of one to 20 years; however, by year's end 
judicial authorities had yet to bring charges in a single case.
    Women did not possess the same rights as men. The law requires a 
married woman to obtain her husband's consent before engaging in legal 
transactions, including selling or renting real estate, opening a bank 
account, and applying for a passport. Under the law women who committed 
adultery may be sentenced to up to one year in prison; male adultery is 
punishable only if judged to have ``an injurious quality.''
    Women experienced economic discrimination. The law forbids women 
from working at night or accepting employment without their husband's 
consent. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women 
often received less pay in the private sector than men doing the same 
job and rarely occupied positions of authority or high responsibility.

    Children.--The Government budgeted little for children's welfare 
and did not make it a priority. Primary school education was not 
compulsory, free, or universal, and very few functioning government-
funded schools existed. Most schooling was provided by religious 
organizations. Public and private schools expected--but did not 
require--parents to pay fees as contributions to teachers' salaries. In 
practice, parents funded 80 to 90 percent of school expenses. These 
expected contributions, plus the loss of labor while the child was in 
school, meant that many parents could not afford to enroll their 
children. According to the United Nations Development Program, 
approximately 3.5 million primary school-age children and more than six 
million adolescents did not attend school during the year. Attendance 
rates for girls were lower because many parents with meager financial 
resources preferred to send their sons to school. Barely half of all 
children reached grade five, and less than 1 percent of primary school 
children went on to complete secondary education.
    The law prohibits all forms of child abuse. Its extent was unknown 
and had not been investigated. The constitution prohibits parental 
abandonment of children due to the children's alleged practice of 
sorcery; such accusations led to cases of child abandonment, child 
abuse, and killings (see Section 1.a.). Although authorities made a few 
arrests related to child abandonment and abuse during the year, no 
cases had been prosecuted by year's end. NGOs concluded that that 60 to 
70 percent of the country's more than 50,000 homeless children were 
abandoned by their families after being accused of sorcery. Many 
churches in the capital, Kinshasa, conducted exorcisms of children 
involving isolation, beating and whipping, starvation, and forced 
ingestion of purgatives.
    FGM was rarely practiced.
    The law prohibits marriage of girls under age 15 and boys under 18; 
however, marriages of girls younger than 15 sometimes took place, some 
involving girls under 13. Dowry payments greatly contributed to 
underage marriage. In some cases parents married off a daughter against 
her will to collect a dowry or to finance a dowry for a son to give to 
his future wife. The newly enacted sexual violence law criminalizes 
forced marriage. It subjects parents to up to 12 years' hard labor and 
a fine of $185 (98,050 Congolese francs) for forcing children to marry. 
The penalty doubles when the victim is a minor. There were no reports 
of convictions for forced marriage by year's end.
    Child prostitution occurred throughout the country; however, there 
were no statistics available regarding its prevalence. Many homeless 
children engaged in prostitution without third-party involvement, 
although some were forced to do so (see Sections 1.g. and 5, 
Trafficking). In Kinshasa, police allegedly extorted sexual services 
from child prostitutes. Security forces and armed groups trafficked 
children as soldiers, porters, and for sexual services (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Security forces and armed groups continued to maintain child 
soldiers in their ranks (see Section 1.g.).
    Child labor, including forced labor, was widespread throughout the 
country (see Sections 1.g. and 6.d.).
    The country's more than 50,000 street children included many 
accused of sorcery, child refugees, and war orphans, although some 
would return to their families at day's end. The transitional 
government was ill-equipped to deal with large numbers of homeless 
youth and children. Citizens generally regarded them as thugs engaged 
in petty crime, begging, and prostitution and tolerated their 
marginalization. Security forces abused and arbitrarily arrested street 
children (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
    There were numerous reports of collusion between police and street 
children, including street children paying police officers to allow 
them to sleep in vacant buildings, and others turning over to police a 
percentage of goods they stole from large markets. In addition, there 
were reports that different groups and individuals regularly paid 
groups of homeless youths to disrupt public order.
    There were several active and effective local and international NGO 
groups working with MONUC and UNICEF to promote children's rights 
throughout the country, and with CONADER, the national disarmament 
agency.

    Trafficking in Persons.--No specific laws prohibited trafficking in 
persons, and trafficking occurred, particularly in the east. Laws that 
could be used by the Government to prosecute cases against traffickers 
include the newly enacted law on sexual violence, which includes 
prohibitions against forced prostitution and sexual slavery, as well as 
other laws prohibiting slavery, rape, and child prostitution.
    The country is a source and destination country for men, women, and 
children trafficked internally for forced labor and sexual 
exploitation.
    Domestic and foreign armed groups operating outside government 
control in the east were responsible for the majority of reported cases 
of trafficking. Armed groups, and to a lesser extent transitional 
government security forces, continued to kidnap men, women, and 
children and force them to serve as porters, domestic laborers, and sex 
slaves (see Section 1.g.). In addition, armed groups and security 
forces abducted children to serve as combatants in areas under their 
control (see Section 1.g.).
    There were reports of child prostitutes working in brothels. No 
statistical information existed on the extent of adult or child 
prostitution in the country. Some families pressured or forced girls to 
engage in prostitution.
    The Ministry of Justice was primarily responsible for combating 
trafficking. Local law enforcement authorities were rarely able to 
enforce existing laws due to lack of personnel, funding, and the 
inaccessibility of eastern areas of the country; however, during the 
year the Government prosecuted and cooperated in at least three cases 
against traffickers.
    For example, in March judicial authorities sentenced Jean Pierre 
Biyoyo, a FARDC soldier not under central command authority, to five 
years' imprisonment for war crimes, including the recruitment and use 
of child soldiers, committed in South Kivu Province in April 2004.
    Also in March the Government gave the ICC custody of a former Ituri 
militia leader accused of recruiting and using children under the age 
of 15 as combatants (see Section 1.g.).
    The Government operated several programs to prevent trafficking. 
CONADER used media, posters, and brochures to campaign against child 
soldiering. The transitional government coordinated with other 
countries on trafficking issues and attended regional meetings on 
trafficking. However, government efforts to combat trafficking were 
limited by a lack of resources and information. The Government had few 
resources for training, although it permitted training of officials by 
foreign governments and NGOs. It provided no funding for protection 
services.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities; however, persons with disabilities 
experienced discrimination in employment, education, and the provision 
of other government services.
    The law does not mandate accessibility to buildings or government 
services for persons with disabilities. Some schools for persons with 
disabilities used private funds and limited public support to provide 
education and vocational training, including for blind students.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination on the 
basis of ethnicity was practiced by members of virtually all of the 
country's approximately 400 ethnic groups and was evident in hiring 
patterns in some cities. There were no reports of government efforts 
intended to address this discrimination.
    The constitution allows citizens to hold only Congolese 
nationality. The President of the Tutsi community in Goma, North Kivu 
Province, Dunia Bakarani, claimed this provision was biased and 
discriminated against the Tutsi ethnic group, some of whom held Rwandan 
citizenship. However, many citizens, including senior government 
officials, were widely believed to hold dual nationality.
    The FARDC and other security forces sometimes harassed, arbitrarily 
arrested, and threatened Tutsis--including the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi 
subgroup--in North and South Kivu provinces.

    Indigenous People.--The country had a population of fewer than 
10,000 Pygmies (Batwa), who were believed to have been the country's 
original inhabitants; during the year societal discrimination against 
them continued. Although they were citizens, most Pygmies took no part 
in the political process as they continued to live in remote areas. 
During the year fighting between armed groups and government security 
forces in North Kivu Province caused significant population 
displacement of Pygmies.
    Judicial authorities did not file charges in the 2005 case of a 
Katanga provincial leader attempting via local media to incite 
discrimination against the Luba ethnic group from Western and Eastern 
Kasai.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--During the election 
campaign, broadcast stations owned by Vice President Bemba or his 
supporters promoted ethnic hatred and suggested that President Kabila 
was not sufficiently ``Congolese'' (see Sections 2.a. and 3).
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides all 
workers--except for magistrates, high-ranking government officials, 
private sector managers, and members of the security forces--the right 
to form and join trade unions without prior authorization. Workers 
formed unions in practice; however, the Ministry of Labor, which had 
responsibility for ensuring the right of association, conducted no 
inspections and exercised no oversight during the year. Of an estimated 
24 million adults of working age, 128,000 (0.5 percent) belonged to 
unions, according to the American Center for International Labor 
Solidarity (Solidarity Center). The informal sector, including 
subsistence agriculture, constituted at least 90 percent of the 
economy.
    The law provides for union elections every five years; however, the 
transitional government did not allow them in the public sector, with 
the exception of parastatal industries.
    According to MONUC, security forces arbitrarily arrested and 
detained the head of the trade union Prosperity on January 27 following 
a meeting in which he denounced irregularities in public sector salary 
payments. No additional information was available by year's end.
    The law prohibits discrimination against unions, although this 
regulation was not enforced effectively. The law also requires 
employers to reinstate workers fired for union activities. The 
Interunion Committee, composed of public and private sector unions, is 
not legally mandated. However, it was generally recognized by the 
transitional government to negotiate with it and employers on labor 
issues of policy and law, although the transitional government did not 
meet with it during the year.
    Private companies often registered bogus unions to discourage real 
ones from organizing and create confusion among workers. According to 
the Solidarity Center, many of the nearly 400 unions in the private 
sector had no membership and had been established by management, 
particularly in the natural resources sector.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right of unions to conduct activities without 
interference and the right to bargain collectively. However, in 
practice the transitional government did not protect these rights.
    Collective bargaining was ineffective in practice. In the public 
sector, the Government set wages by decree, and unions were permitted 
by law to act only in an advisory capacity. Most unions in the private 
sector collected dues from workers but did not succeed in engaging in 
collective bargaining on their behalf.
    The constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers 
sometimes exercised it. In small and medium-sized businesses, workers 
effectively did not have the ability to strike. With an enormous 
unemployed labor pool, companies could immediately replace any workers 
attempting to unionize, collectively bargain, or strike, and companies 
reportedly did so during the year. The law requires unions to have 
prior consent and to adhere to lengthy mandatory arbitration and appeal 
procedures before striking. The law prohibits employers and the 
Government from retaliating against strikers; however, the transitional 
government did not enforce this law in practice and sometimes jailed 
striking public sector employees.
    During the year union leaders attempted to organize a strike at the 
diamond concession MIBA in Eastern Kasai Province; they were all fired, 
according to the Solidarity Center.
    There were no export processing zones in the country.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
both were practiced throughout the country, although no statistics were 
available.
    Security forces used forced labor during the year, including forced 
labor by IDPs (see Sections 2.d. and 5).
    According to MONUC, in February FARDC soldiers in North Kivu 
Province allegedly detained five civilians at a military camp in 
Muhangi and forced them to build shelters, clean the camp, transport 
water, and cook. No additional information was available by year's end.
    On August 11, FARDC soldiers abducted 20 civilians from Gethy, 
Ituri District, and forced them to harvest and transport manioc, 
according to HRW. No additional information was available by year's 
end.
    Armed groups, and to a lesser extent transitional government 
security forces, continued to kidnap men, women, and children and force 
them to serve as porters, domestic laborers, and sex slaves. For 
example, HRW reported multiple incidents in August and September of 
soldiers in Ituri District abducting civilians for forced labor, 
including as personal attendants, miners, and crop harvesters and 
transporters.
    In the mining sector, dealers who purchased raw ore from unlicensed 
miners provided them with tools, food, and other products in exchange 
for a certain amount of ore. Miners who failed to provide ore, however, 
accumulated significant debts and became debt slaves, forced to 
continue working to pay off their debts. The transitional government 
did not attempt to regulate this practice.
    Armed groups operating outside government control subjected 
civilians to forced labor. Many armed groups routinely forced civilians 
to transport looted goods for long distances without pay, and abducted 
men, women, and children for forced labor. On occasion, armed groups 
also forced civilians to mine, particularly in Ituri District. Armed 
groups forced women and children to provide household labor or sexual 
services for periods ranging from several days to several months (see 
Section 1.g.).
    On July 4, Rwandan Hutu militia in the South Kivu Province town of 
Tshifunzi allegedly abducted four men and three children. The attackers 
stole livestock, utensils, and clothes and forced the men to carry the 
looted goods. No additional information was available at year's end.
    Forced or compulsory labor by children occurred (see Sections 1.g. 
and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace; 
however, neither the Ministry of Labor, responsible for enforcement, 
nor labor unions effectively enforced child labor laws. Child labor was 
a problem throughout the country and was common in the informal sector, 
particularly in mining and subsistence agriculture, and was often the 
only way for a child or family to earn money.
    Although the minimum age for full-time employment without parental 
consent is 18 years, employers may legally hire minors between the ages 
of 15 and 18 with the consent of a parent or guardian. Those under age 
16 may work a maximum of four hours per day. All minors are restricted 
from transporting heavy items. There were no reports of large 
enterprises using child labor.
    An ILO report released during the year estimated that nearly 40 
percent of boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were working in 
the informal sector.
    There continued to be reports of forced child labor. There were 
credible reports that security forces and armed groups used forced 
child labor in Ituri District and South Kivu Province, including the 
use of girls for sexual slavery and boys and girls as soldiers (see 
Section 1.g.). Security forces and armed groups also used children, 
including re-recruited child soldiers, as forced mine workers.
    Some parents forced their children to leave school and beg in the 
streets, hunt or fish, or engage in prostitution to earn money for 
their families.
    FDLR soldiers forced children to perform labor after the soldiers 
killed a civilian (see Section 1.g.).
    Prostitution, including forced child prostitution, was practiced 
throughout the country (see Section 1.g. and 5, Trafficking).
    In several mining regions, including the provinces of Katanga, 
Western and Eastern Kasai, and North and South Kivu, children performed 
dangerous, often underground, mine work. Children in the mining sector 
often received less than 10 percent of the pay adults received for the 
same production, according to the Solidarity Center.
    Parents often used children for dangerous and difficult 
agricultural labor. Children sent to relatives by parents who could not 
feed them sometimes effectively became the property of those families, 
who subjected them to physical and sexual abuse and required them to 
perform household labor.
    Transitional government agencies assigned to prevent child labor 
included the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Women and Youth, and 
the Ministry of Social Affairs. These agencies had no budgets for 
inspections and conducted no investigations during the year.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Employers often did not respect 
the minimum wage law of $1.00 per day. The average monthly wage did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family in the 
formal economy. Government salaries remained low, ranging from $50 to 
$110 (26,500 to 58,300 Congolese francs) per month, and salary arrears 
were common throughout the public sector. More than 90 percent of 
laborers worked in subsistence agriculture or informal commerce. Many 
relied on extended family for support. The Ministry of Labor was 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage but did not do so 
effectively.
    The law defines different standard workweeks for different jobs, 
ranging from 45 to 72 hours per week. The law also prescribed rest 
periods and premium pay for overtime, but this was often not respected 
in practice. The law established no monitoring or enforcement 
mechanism, and businesses often ignored these standards in practice.
    The law specifies health and safety standards; however, the 
Ministry of Labor did not effectively enforce them. No provisions of 
the law enable workers to remove themselves from dangerous work 
situations without jeopardizing their employment.
    According to Global Witness, workers in the formal mining sector, 
as well as illegal diggers, faced particular risks. Most worked with no 
protective clothing, equipment, or training. Scores died during the 
year, usually in mineshaft collapses, and companies provided no 
compensation upon death. It is estimated that there were more than one 
million miners working outside the formal sector nationwide. Many 
suffered violence from guards and security forces for illegally 
entering mining concessions.

                               __________

                           REPUBLIC OF CONGO

    The Republic of Congo, with a population of approximately 3.8 
million, is a parliamentary republic in which most of the decision-
making authority and political power is vested directly in the 
President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and his administration. Independent 
monitors determined that the 2002 Presidential and parliamentary 
elections for the Senate and National Assembly did not ``contradict the 
will of the people''; however, there were some irregularities and 
manipulation in the administration of the elections. While the civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of security forces, 
there were instances in which members of the security forces acted 
independently of government authority.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there 
were some improvements, serious problems remained. The following 
serious human rights problems were reported: mob violence, including 
killing of suspected criminals; security force beatings, physical abuse 
of detainees, rapes, looting, solicitation of bribes, and theft; 
harassment and extortion of civilians by uncontrolled and unidentified 
armed elements; poor prison conditions; impunity; arbitrary arrest; 
lengthy pretrial detention; a corrupt and ineffective judiciary; 
infringement on citizens' privacy rights; limits on freedom of the 
press; restrictions on freedom of movement; official corruption and 
lack of transparency; domestic violence and societal discrimination 
against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination on the basis of 
ethnicity, particularly against Pygmies; and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings; however, there were a few reports that security 
forces killed civilians.
    There were reports that security forces killed persons during 
apprehension and while in police custody. For example, in September 
police shot and killed a Malian businessman for refusing to stop after 
reportedly running a red light. By year's end there was no reported 
investigation or action taken against the police involved.
    There continued to be occasional deaths due to mob violence, as 
civilians took vigilante action against presumed criminals or settled 
private disputes. Police at times intervened to stop mob violence.
    The three villagers arrested after they killed an Italian 
missionary in 2005 remained in prison awaiting trial. One of the 
vehicles in the missionary's convoy had struck and killed a child.
    Local inhabitants frequently took the law into their own hands to 
punish persons presumed or known to be police or military personnel who 
looted civilian residences, resulting in death or serious injury. Such 
incidents were most common in remote areas.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    There were unconfirmed reports that members of Presidential 
security forces kidnapped children in and around the capital city of 
Brazzaville. In May police foiled such a kidnapping attempt; however, 
by year's end the kidnappers had not been arrested, and there had been 
no investigation.
    By year's end the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of 
family members stemming from the 2005``Beach'' trial acquittals; in 
August 2005 the lower court had acquitted high-ranking military and 
police officials who were accused of involvement in the disappearance 
and presumed deaths of 353 persons who were separated from their 
families by security forces in 1999 upon returning to Brazzaville from 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At year's end the claimants 
were searching for other legal avenues to pursue their claims of 
criminal wrongdoing by individuals and the Government.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such actions, 
security forces frequently used beatings to coerce confessions or to 
punish detainees. During the year there were reports that abuses 
continued in the jail and prison systems.
    During the year there were reports by nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) that female detainees were raped, and that members of the 
security forces beat citizens.
    In certain areas of the Pool region, unidentified armed elements, 
some of whom were thought to be uncontrolled government security forces 
or former Ninja rebels, continued to rob trains, harass citizens and 
NGO workers, and extort bribes. The Government stated it could not 
determine the identity of the perpetrators.
    There was no reported action in the August 2005 case of a police 
officer who reportedly beat a man for arguing with him.
    During the year unorganized mobs often assisted property owners in 
beating and sometimes killing suspected thieves in the southern sector 
of Brazzaville (see section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention 
center/jail conditions were poor. Prisons were overcrowded and food and 
health care were poor. The Ministry of Justice continued to repair some 
prisons during the year; however, lack of funds hindered efforts to 
improve facilities and to provide food and medicine.
    During the year there continued to be credible reports that 
detainees held at police stations often were subjected to beatings, 
rapes, overcrowding, and extortion.
    Women were incarcerated with men, except in the city of 
Brazzaville, where separate facilities were maintained. Juveniles were 
held with adults, and pretrial detainees were held with convicted 
prisoners.
    There were six prisons and numerous police jails throughout the 
country. The prison population was estimated at 900 for the country; 
400 of these were in Brazzaville's prison. An estimate of the number of 
persons held in police jails was not available.
    The Government continued to grant access to prisons and detention 
centers to domestic and international human rights groups. During the 
year local human rights groups, including the Congolese Observatory for 
Human Rights, the Association for the Human Rights of the Incarcerated, 
the National Council for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of 
Detained Persons, and a Catholic Church organization, visited prisons 
and detention centers/jails. The International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) continued regular visits to prisons and detention centers 
in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire and reported that it had received 
appropriate cooperation from the Government on its visits during the 
year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, members of the 
security forces committed such acts. There were somewhat fewer reports 
of arbitrary arrest and detention than in previous years. Local and 
international NGOs reported that members of the security forces 
commonly used arbitrary arrest and detention to extort funds from 
citizens.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces 
include the police, gendarmerie, and military. The police and the 
gendarmerie are responsible for maintaining internal order, the police 
primarily inside cities and the gendarmerie mainly outside. The 
military forces are responsible for external security, but also have 
domestic security responsibilities, such as protecting the President. 
The minister of defense oversees the military forces and gendarmerie, 
and the minister of security oversees the police. In practice police, 
gendarmerie, and military operations often overlapped and were poorly 
coordinated. Although improved compared to previous years, the 
Government did not always have full control over some members or units 
of the security forces. The more professional security forces tended to 
operate only in urban areas.
    The security forces were not generally considered effective, and 
corruption was a significant problem. During the year there were 
frequent reports of arrested individuals whose families bribed police 
to secure a release. Traffic police extorted bribes from taxi drivers 
under threat of impoundment of their vehicles. Although the Human 
Rights Commission (HRC) was established for the public to report 
security force abuses (see section 4), impunity for members of the 
security forces was a widespread problem.
    The police at times failed to prevent or to respond to societal 
violence (see section 1.a.).

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law require that 
warrants be issued by a duly authorized official before arrests are 
made, that a person be apprehended openly, that a lawyer be present 
during initial questioning, and that detainees be brought before a 
judge within three days and either charged or released within four 
months; however, the Government frequently violated these provisions. 
There is a system of bail, but more than 70 percent of the population 
had an income below the poverty level--defined as income of less than 
$1 (500 CFA francs) a day--and could not afford to pay bail. Detainees 
generally were informed of the charges against them at the time of 
arrest, but formal charges often took at least a week to be filed; 
police at times held persons for six months or longer due to 
administrative errors or delays in processing detainees. Lawyers and 
family members usually were given prompt access to detainees, and 
indigent detainees were provided lawyers at government expense. In 
those cases where indigent detainees were detained outside a major 
city, they were often transferred to the closest town or city where an 
attorney was available.
    Arbitrary arrest was a problem. The most common cases were threats 
of arrest to extort bribes. These were perpetrated most often against 
vehicle operators (mainly taxi drivers) by police, gendarmes, or 
soldiers. Immigration officials also routinely stopped people and 
threatened them with arrest, claiming they lacked some required 
document, were committing espionage, or on some other pretext to extort 
funds. Most often, these incidents resulted in the bribe being paid; if 
not, the person was detained at a police station (or the airport) until 
either a bribe was paid or pressure was brought to bear to get the 
person released.
    In May five individuals were detained for suspected gun trafficking 
near the interior city of Dolisie and then transferred to Brazzaville 
where, by year's end, there had been no known formal charges or 
progress in their cases.
    In August there was an unconfirmed report that police visited a 
local Nigerian businessman's home, accused him of drug dealing, 
confiscated all his household belongings, and detained him at the local 
jail. After the Nigerian embassy intervened, the man was released 
without charge; however, when he requested return of his property, he 
received everything back except for approximately $4,000 (two million 
CFA francs) that the police refused to return. The embassy and 
individual dropped the matter after it became clear that the police 
were threatening anyone who might step forward as a witness.
    Lengthy pretrial detention due to judicial backlogs was a problem. 
An estimated 40 percent of the prison population were pretrial 
detainees. On average detainees would wait six months or longer before 
going to trial. They were occasionally held awaiting trial for periods 
longer than the sentence associated with the crime. Reportedly, bribes 
generally determined the length of a detention.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary continued to be 
overburdened, underfunded, and subject to political influence, bribery, 
and corruption.
    The judicial system consists of traditional and local courts, 
courts of appeal, a Court of Accounts, the High Court of Justice, the 
Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court. In rural areas, 
traditional courts continued to handle many local disputes, 
particularly property and inheritance cases, and domestic conflicts 
that could not be resolved within the family. The Court of Accounts' 
function is to hear cases related to mismanagement of government funds. 
The Constitutional Court's responsibility is to adjudicate the 
constitutionality of laws and judicial decisions. The High Court of 
Justice's function is to review judicial decisions or crimes involving 
the President and other high-ranking authorities in the conduct of 
their official duties. Members of the High Court of Justice were 
appointed in 2004, but due to lack of funds the court was still not 
functioning by year's end. Local courts dealt with criminal and civil 
complaints. The Supreme Court met regularly and primarily heard cases 
related to the legality of land seizures by the Government during the 
civil war. It also reviewed administrative and penal cases from lower 
courts.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial presided over by an independent judiciary; however, the 
legal caseload far exceeded the capacity of the judiciary to ensure 
fair and timely trials, and some cases never reached the court system. 
In general defendants were tried in a public court of law presided over 
by a state-appointed magistrate. Juries are used. Defendants have the 
right to be present at their trial and to consult with an attorney in a 
timely manner. An attorney is provided at public expense if an indigent 
defendant faces serious criminal charges. Defendants can confront or 
question accusers and witnesses against them and present witnesses and 
evidence on their own behalf. The defense has access to prosecution 
evidence. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right of 
appeal. The law extends the above rights to all citizens.
    The military has a tribunal system to try criminal cases involving 
military members, gendarmerie, or police; however, this body was 
thought to function poorly and was subject to influence and corruption. 
Civilians are not tried under this system.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were some political 
prisoners and detainees. During the year the ICRC reported that it 
continued to monitor the condition of approximately 10 political 
prisoners.
    In February 2005 security forces reportedly detained between 20 and 
30 persons, including police, gendarmes, and civilians; in September 
2005 they were charged with the alleged theft of weapons from a 
gendarmerie camp and ``plotting against the Government.'' Four were 
granted provisional release in September 2005. Since then, the other 
individuals have not been accorded due process under the law. The 
remaining detainees were being held without charge at year's end. 
During the year there were extended periods when they were not 
permitted visits by their families or NGOs.
    Three exiled Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) military 
officers have remained in pretrial detention in military headquarters 
since March 2004, when they were arrested for political reasons 
following disturbances in Kinshasa; they were reportedly being held 
pending extradition, although an effective extradition policy between 
the two countries does not exist.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a civil court 
system. However, due to government influence it was not fully impartial 
or independent.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, security forces at times illegally entered, searched, and 
looted private homes (see section 1.d.). For example, in May soldiers 
attempted to loot commercial establishments in downtown Brazzaville 
because they reportedly were upset about pay discrepancies; military 
police intervened to prevent the looting.
    In some areas of the Pool region, intimidation and harassment by 
uncontrolled and unidentified armed elements continued, according to 
reports from international NGOs and civilians (see section 1.c.).
    Citizens generally believed the Government monitored telephone and 
mail communications of individuals it had an interest in.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, but it also criminalizes 
certain types of speech, such as incitement of ethnic hatred, violence, 
or civil war. The Government at times limited these rights. Broadcast 
journalists and government print media journalists practiced self-
censorship for fear of reprisals. In contrast, the nongovernment print 
media felt fewer constraints, as long as its reporting stayed only in 
print form and was not broadcast.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal on relatively minor issues. However, persons feared 
reprisal if they criticized government policies or high-level 
officials. The Government generally did not proactively attempt to 
impede criticism by, for example, monitoring political meetings, but 
sometimes punished critics after the fact.
    There was one state-owned newspaper, La Nouvelle Republique, and 
several publications which were closely allied with the Government. 
There were 15 to 20 private weekly newspapers in Brazzaville that 
criticized the Government. Newspapers occasionally published open 
letters written by government opponents. The print media did not 
circulate widely beyond Brazzaville and the commercial center of Pointe 
Noire, although it reached approximately one-third of the population.
    Most citizens obtained their news from the radio or television, and 
primarily from government-controlled radio in rural areas. There were 
three privately owned radio stations, all progovernment. There were 
three government-owned radio stations--Radio Congo, Radio Brazzaville, 
and Radio FM--and one government-owned television station, Tele Congo. 
An individual with close government ties owned three of the four 
privately owned television stations; none were critical of the 
Government. Several satellite television connections were available and 
permitted viewing of a range of news and entertainment programs by the 
relative few who could afford it.
    Most journalists worked in various government ministries as press 
attaches or worked for the newspaper La Nouvelle Republique or the 
Congolese Information Agency, both government-owned. News coverage and 
editorial positions of the Government owned media reflected government 
priorities and views. Government journalists were not independent and 
were expected to report positively on government activities. There was 
evidence that when government journalists deviated from this guidance 
there were adverse consequences, especially if they were critical of 
the President.
    A number of Brazzaville-based journalists represented international 
media, including the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France 
Presse, Voice of America, Canal France International, and TV5. The 
Government continued to revoke journalists' accreditations if their 
reporting reflected adversely on the country's image. This policy 
affected journalists employed with both international and government 
controlled media.
    The press law provides for monetary penalties for defamation and 
incitement to violence.
    On April 20, security forces arrested a print journalist, Ghys 
Fortune Dombe Bemba, for allegedly defaming the President. In an 
article, he had accused the President of poisoning a high-ranking army 
officer. Bemba was released the following day; however, his newspaper, 
Thalassa, was fined and in June compelled to suspend publication for 
six months.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Estimates from 2005 indicated that only 1 percent of the population had 
access to the Internet, due to the lack of infrastructure, reliable 
power, and telephone or satellite services.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    Groups that wished to hold public assemblies were required to 
inform the Ministry of Territorial Administration and appropriate local 
officials, who could withhold authorization for meetings that they 
claimed might threaten public order.In advance of a July visit by 
foreign dignitaries, security forces forcibly dispersed a demonstration 
by former public workers who had been gathering almost daily for 
several months at a prominent downtown Brazzaville intersection to 
protest salary arrears (see section 6.a.).

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. Groups or associations--political, social, or 
economic were generally required to register with the Ministry of 
Territorial Administration. Although registration could sometimes be 
subject to political influence, during the year there were no reports 
that this occurred.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    All organizations, including religious organizations, are required 
to register with and be approved by the Government. There were no 
reports of discrimination against any religious group in this process, 
although it was lengthy. Penalties for failure to register could 
include fines, confiscation of goods, invalidation of contracts, and 
deportation of foreigners, but no criminal penalties are applicable.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
discrimination against members of religious groups. There were small 
communities of several dozen Jews in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. 
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, in practice, the Government at times imposed 
limitations. Unlike in previous years, checkpoints were rare and 
generally only established in response to short-term security concerns.
    International NGOs reported serious incidents of harassment and 
intimidation by unidentified armed elements, which resulted in the 
curtailment of NGO movement in certain areas of the Pool region (see 
section 4).
    The law prohibits forced exile. Unlike in previous years, the 
Government did not prevent the return of citizens, including political 
opponents of the President.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--NGOs working in the Pool 
region reported that by the end of 2005 the vast majority of the 
estimated 150,000 persons internally displaced by the civil war had 
either returned to their home areas or had chosen to resettle in other 
regions of the country. The Ministry of Social Affairs reported that 
all IDPs who wished to return to their villages had done so by the end 
of 2005.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution and granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government also provides temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 
Protocol; however, the Government was not generally effective in 
dealing with such cases. During the previous year, 557 of an estimated 
800 to 900 Mobutu-era soldiers were repatriated to the DRC. The 
remaining soldiers remained in an indeterminate status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to 
peacefully change their government; however, during the 2002 elections 
significant irregularities occurred, and the entire Pool region was 
unable to vote.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Independent observers 
determined that the national elections in 2002 did ``not contradict the 
will of the people''; however, they noted obvious flaws such as 
insufficient ballots at certain polling stations, confusion over voting 
locations, and the boycott by some opposition members who claimed the 
elections were biased. The European Union and other observers stated 
that the electoral process was manipulated. Most key Presidential 
candidates were banned or withdrew at the last minute, and the 
legislative elections were almost totally boycotted by the opposition. 
In addition some international NGOs and foreign observers viewed the 
constitution and the electoral system as designed to protect the status 
quo. The 2002 elections remained incomplete at year's end because of 
continued lack of security in some areas of the Pool region, causing 
eight of the region's 12 parliamentary seats to remain vacant. There is 
no independent national electoral commission.
    Major political parties included the ruling Congolese Labor Party, 
the Pan-African Union for Social Development, the Congolese Movement 
for Democracy and Integrated Development, the Union for Democracy and 
the Republic, the Rally for Democracy and Social Progress, and the 
Union for Progress. Some opposition party leaders remained in exile. 
There was no cohesive opposition, and many of the smaller political 
parties were more personality centered than representative of a 
significant constituency. Northern ethnic groups, such as the 
President's Mbochi group and related clans, dominated the political 
system.
    There were eight women in the 66-seat Senate and 11 women in the 
136-seat National Assembly (although only 128 seats were filled, since 
eight seats from areas of the Pool region remained vacant). There were 
five women in the 35-member cabinet.
    There were 14 members in the 66-seat senate, 36 in the 136-seat 
National Assembly, and 11 in the 35-member cabinet who were not members 
of the dominant northern tribes. Pygmies were excluded from the 
political process, due to their isolation in remote forested areas, 
their culture, and their stigmatization by the majority Bantu 
population. However, during the year a law was passed reaffirming the 
Pygmies' right to vote.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
perception of corruption throughout government, including misuse of 
revenues from the oil and forestry sectors. According to the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and local and 
international NGOs, official corruption was widespread; the most 
serious was reflected in the mismanagement of natural resources. The 
IMF and World Bank expressed concern about problems with governance and 
lack of financial transparency, inadequate internal controls and 
accounting systems, and conflicts of interest in the marketing of oil 
by the state-owned oil company. Government officials, through bribes or 
fraud, regularly siphoned off the bulk of revenues from these 
industries into private overseas accounts. Pervasive lower-level 
corruption included security personnel and customs and immigrations 
officials demanding bribes.
    On April 6, two prominent anticorruption activists investigating 
the lack of transparency in the petroleum sector, Christian Mounzeo and 
Brice Mackosso, were arrested on charges of embezzlement, and later 
released to stand trial. During the year both were illegally detained 
at various times. After an eight-month trial, on December 27 a court 
sentenced the two to 12-month suspended prison sentences and ordered 
each to pay fines of approximately $600 (300,000 CFA francs) on charges 
of forgery and breaching public trust (misappropriating funds belonging 
to their human rights NGO). At year's end the two were appealing their 
convictions. International supporters of the activists' NGO denied the 
two had engaged in any mismanagement of funds, and they helped to fund 
their legal defense. Several international organizations and foreign 
governments criticized the trial for systematic violations of due 
process and blatant political interference. They called the trial an 
attempt by the Government to silence critics of widespread official 
corruption and lack of transparent management of the country's oil 
wealth. Mounzeo was also a member of the Extractive Industries 
Transparency Initiative's board. Formal charges were not filed by 
year's end regarding November charges against Mounzeo of defaming the 
President when he was abroad.
    The law provides for public access to government information for 
citizens, noncitizens, and the foreign media; however, in practice 
there were lengthy delays before the Government released information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated, with some exceptions, without government 
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human 
rights cases. Government officials generally were uncooperative and 
unresponsive to local human rights groups; however, they were generally 
cooperative and responsive to international organizations.
    During the year unidentified armed groups harassed and intimidated 
members of humanitarian organizations, which resulted in the 
curtailment of their activities. Between January and March the ICRC and 
the NGO Doctors Without Borders-Holland froze staff movement in the 
Pool region due to incidents during which bandits robbed NGO vehicles 
at gunpoint. In one incident the lead gunman put a grenade in one of 
the NGO member's hands while the gunmen robbed the organization's 
members and looted their vehicle. Movement gradually resumed when 
attacks ceased (see section 1.c.).
    The government-sponsored Human Rights Commission is charged with 
acting as a government watchdog and addressing public concerns on human 
rights issues. Observers claimed that the commission was completely 
ineffective and was not independent. The President appointed most, if 
not all, of its members. The commission had not met or taken any 
significant action since its creation in August 2003.
    The ICRC maintained an office in Brazzaville. During the year 
access to government officials and to detainees remained good for 
international humanitarian officials; however, local NGOs had poor 
access.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law and constitution prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
race, gender, language, or social status; however, the Government did 
not effectively enforce these prohibitions. Societal discrimination and 
violence against women, trafficking in persons, regional ethnic 
discrimination, and discrimination against indigenous people were 
problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including rape and 
beatings, was widespread but rarely reported. There were no specific 
provisions under the law outlawing spousal battery, other than general 
statutes prohibiting assault. Domestic violence usually was handled 
within the extended family, and only the more extreme incidents were 
reported to the police. This was primarily due to the social stigma for 
the victim, and because such matters traditionally were dealt with in 
the family or village. According to a local NGO, the Congolese 
Association to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls, there were no 
official statistics on domestic violence against women; however, during 
2005 more than 500 women and children who were victims of sexual 
violence sought its medical assistance. The NGO reported it provided 
hundreds of HIV tests. The NGO also organized public awareness 
workshops and offered training for community chiefs, police officers, 
health workers, magistrates, journalists, and others from the public 
and private sectors. NGOs, such as the local Human Rights Center, the 
Congolese Association to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls, the 
International Rescue Committee, and Doctors Without Borders continued 
to draw attention to the issue and provided counseling and assistance 
to victims.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, the Government 
did not effectively enforce the law. The law prescribes five to 10 
years in prison for violators. Rape was common, although the extent of 
rape was unknown because the crime was seldom reported. Depending on 
the severity of the circumstances, the penalties for rape, despite what 
the law requires, in practice could be as few as several months but 
rarely more than three years' imprisonment. There were no statistics 
available on the incidence of rape.
    Female genital mutilation (FGM) was not practiced indigenously and 
is against the law; however, it may have occurred in some of the 
immigrant communities from West African countries where it was common. 
There were no known government or other efforts to investigate or 
combat FGM.
    Prostitution is illegal, but the Government did not effectively 
enforce this prohibition. Prostitution was common, and police often 
accepted services in lieu of arresting prostitutes.
    Sexual harassment is illegal. Generally the penalty would be two to 
five years in prison. In particularly egregious cases, the penalties 
would equal those for rape--five to 10 years in prison. However, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Sexual harassment was 
very common but rarely reported; there were no available statistics on 
its incidence. Successful prosecutions were only achieved when a victim 
with good legal representation or connections actively pursued a case; 
however, during the year no such cases were reported.
    Marriage and family laws overtly discriminate against women. 
Adultery is illegal for women but not for men. Polygyny is legal; 
polyandry (having multiple husbands) is not. The law provides that a 
wife shall inherit 30 percent of her husband's estate; however, in 
practice the wife often lost all inheritance upon the death of her 
spouse, particularly under traditional or common-law marriage. The 
symbolic nature of the dowry is set in the law; however, this often was 
not respected, and men were forced to pay excessive bride prices to the 
woman's family. As a result, the right to divorce was circumscribed for 
some women because they lacked the means to reimburse the bride price 
to the husband and his family. This problem was more prevalent in rural 
areas than in urban centers. The Ministry of Social Affairs was in 
charge of protecting and promoting the legal rights of women; however, 
it did not effectively perform its function.
    The law prohibits discrimination based on gender and stipulates 
that women have the right to equal pay for equal work; however, women 
were underrepresented in the formal sector. Women experienced economic 
discrimination in access to employment, credit, pay for similar work, 
and owning or managing businesses. Most women worked in the informal 
sector and thus had little or no access to employment benefits. Women 
in rural areas were especially disadvantaged in terms of education and 
wage employment and were confined largely to family farming, petty 
commerce, and child-rearing responsibilities. Many local and 
international NGOs have developed micro-credit programs to address this 
problem, and government ministries such as those of social affairs and 
agriculture were also active in addressing them. For example, women 
received assistance to set up dressmaking and beauty salons as well as 
in gardening and manioc flour-making to provide income for their 
families.

    Children.--The Government was committed to protecting the rights 
and welfare of children. Education was compulsory, tuition-free, and 
universal until the age of 16, but families were required to pay for 
books, uniforms, and school fees. In the cities, approximately 95 
percent of school-age children attended school, and in rural areas an 
estimated 90 percent attended. Girls and boys attended primary school 
in equal numbers; however, the proportion of girls who continued on to 
the high school and university levels was significantly lower. Girls 
generally quit school by age 15 or 16. In addition teenage girls often 
were pressured to exchange sex for better grades, which resulted in 
both the spread of HIV/AIDS and unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.
    Child abuse was not common and was predominantly found among the 
West African communities.
    FGM may have been performed on girls in some West African immigrant 
communities (see section 5, Women).
    There were isolated cases of child prostitution among street 
children. The prevalence of the problem remained unclear. According to 
reports from international and local NGOs and other observers, these 
cases were not linked to trafficking but were efforts by some street 
children to survive. International organizations assisted with programs 
to feed and shelter street children.
    There continued to be a few unconfirmed reports that children were 
trafficked for labor (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
    During the year the number of street children remained 
approximately the same. In 2004 the United Nations Children's Fund 
estimated that most of the street children in Brazzaville were from the 
DRC, as were some of those in Pointe Noire. Street children were not 
known to suffer from targeted abuse by government authorities or 
vigilante groups, but they were vulnerable to sexual exploitation and 
often fell prey to criminal elements such as drug smugglers. Many 
street children begged or sold cheap or stolen goods to support 
themselves.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons, and there were unconfirmed reports of 
trafficking of children by West African immigrants living in the 
country. Trafficking could be prosecuted under existing laws against 
slavery, prostitution, rape, illegal immigration, forced labor, and 
regulations regarding employer employee relations; however, there were 
no known cases of the Government prosecuting any trafficker under these 
laws. The ministries of security, labor, and social affairs, as well as 
the gendarmerie, have responsibility for trafficking issues.
    There were unconfirmed reports that the country was a country of 
destination for trafficked persons. It was not known to be a country of 
transit or origin. There were unconfirmed reports that minor relatives 
of immigrants from West Africa could be victims of trafficking. There 
was no evidence of trafficking in adults. Children from West Africa 
worked as fishermen, shop workers, street sellers, or domestic 
servants. There were reports that some were physically abused. There 
were reports of isolated cases of child prostitution, which according 
to international and local NGOs were not linked to trafficking or 
forced labor (see section 5, Children).
    There were no known cases of the Government assisting with 
international investigations or extraditing citizens who were accused 
of trafficking in other countries.
    There was no evidence of involvement of government officials in 
trafficking, although bribery and corruption were problems.
    The Government did not provide any protection or assistance to 
trafficking victims since there were no confirmed cases of trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, although the 
Government generally did not enforce the law. There were no laws 
mandating access for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Social 
Affairs is the lead ministry responsible for these issues.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits 
discrimination based on ethnicity; however, the Government did not 
effectively enforce this prohibition.
    Regional ethnic discrimination was prevalent among all ethnic 
groups, was evident in government and private sector hiring and buying 
patterns, and apparent in the effective ``north-south'' regional 
segregation of many urban neighborhoods. The relationship between 
ethnic, regional, and political cleavages was inexact; however, 
supporters of the Government included persons mostly from northern 
ethnic groups, such as the President's Mbochi group and related clans.

    Indigenous People.--The indigenous Pygmy ethnic group, who numbered 
in the tens of thousands and lived primarily in forest regions, did not 
enjoy equal treatment in the predominantly Bantu society. The 
Government did not effectively protect their civil and political 
rights. Pygmies were severely marginalized in regard to employment, 
health services, and education, in part due to their isolation in 
remote forested areas of the country and their different cultural 
norms. Pygmies usually were considered socially inferior and had little 
political voice; however, in recent years several Pygmy rights groups 
have developed programs and were actively focusing on these issues. 
Many Pygmies were not aware of the concept of voting and had minimal 
ability to influence government decisions affecting their interests. In 
August a law was passed affirming the right of Pygmies to vote.
    Bantu ethnic groups have exploited Pygmies, possibly including 
children, as cheap labor; however, there was little information 
regarding the extent of the problem.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The social stigma 
associated with homosexuality was significant. There was no open 
homosexuality in the country.
    In contrast, persons with HIV/AIDS were fairly well-organized and 
sought fair treatment, especially regarding employment. NGOs worked 
widely on HIV/AIDS issues, including raising public awareness that 
those living with HIV/AIDS were still able to contribute to society. 
The law provides avenues for wronged persons to file lawsuits if they 
were, for example, terminated from employment due to their HIV/AIDS 
status.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right; however, members of the 
security forces and other essential services do not have this right. 
Almost 100 percent of workers in the public sector and approximately 25 
percent of workers in the formal private sector were union members. The 
law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, there were a few 
reports that it occurred.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law also provides for 
the right to bargain collectively, and workers freely exercised this 
right, although collective bargaining was not widespread due to severe 
economic conditions. In the 1980s the Government established wage 
floors on a sector-by-sector basis (and within them, according to job 
category). These wage floors have remained largely unchanged for the 
past 20 years; as a result they are not now relevant, since wages are 
paid above the minimum levels.
    The law provides for the right to strike, except by public sector 
unions, subject to conditions established by law. Workers exercised 
this right by conducting legal strikes. Unions were free to strike 
after filing a letter of intent with the Ministry of Labor, which began 
a process of nonbinding arbitration under the auspices of a regional 
labor inspector from the ministry. The letter of intent had to include 
the planned strike date, at which time the strike legally could begin, 
even if arbitration was not complete. Employers have the right to fire 
workers if they do not give advance notice of a strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
unconfirmed reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
    According to the International Labor Organization, by year's end 
the Government had not repealed a 1960 law which allows persons to be 
requisitioned for work of public interest and provides for their 
possible imprisonment if they refuse.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although there are laws and policies designed to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace, child labor was a problem. Under the 
law, children under age 16 are not permitted to work, but this law 
generally was not enforced, particularly in rural areas and in the 
informal sector. Children worked with their families on farms or in 
small businesses in the informal sector without government monitoring.
    There were unconfirmed reports that children were trafficked for 
labor, and child prostitution occurred (see section 5, Children).
    The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for enforcing child 
labor laws, concentrated its limited resources on the formal wage 
sector, where its efforts generally were effective. Only two inspection 
trips were made during the year, due to limited resources.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage, which 
was approximately $100 (54,000 CFA francs) per month in the formal 
sector, did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. In practice none of the minimum wages, including the minimum 
wages for the various sectors' wage ladders (see section 6.b.) were 
controlling, since wages paid in the formal sector were all higher than 
the minimum, although often not by much. There was no official minimum 
wage for the informal and agricultural sectors. High urban prices and 
dependent extended families obliged many workers, including teachers 
and health workers, to seek secondary employment, mainly in the 
informal sector. During the year the Government paid three months of 
back pay to government workers, leaving 19 months of back salary (from 
the late 1990s civil conflict period) unpaid at year's end.
    The law provides for a standard workweek of seven hours per day, 
six days a week with a one-hour lunch break. There was no legal limit 
on the number of hours worked per week. The law stipulates that 
overtime must be paid for all work in excess of 42 hours per week; 
however, there is no legal prohibition against excessive compulsory 
overtime. Overtime was subject to agreement between employer and 
employee.
    Although health and safety regulations require biannual visits by 
inspectors from the Ministry of Labor, such visits occurred much less 
frequently. Unions generally were vigilant in calling attention to 
dangerous working conditions; however, the observance of safety 
standards often was lax. Workers have no specific right to remove 
themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without 
jeopardy to their continued employment.

                             COTE D'IVOIRE

    Cote d'Ivoire is a democratic republic with an estimated population 
of 18 million. Laurent Gbagbo, candidate of the Ivorian People's Front 
(FPI), became the country's third elected President in 2000. The 
election, which excluded two of the major parties, the Democratic Party 
of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) and the Rally for Republicans (RDR), was marred 
by significant violence and irregularities. In 2000 the Supreme Court 
declared Gbagbo the victor with 53 percent of the vote. In 2002 exiled 
military members and coconspirators simultaneously attacked government 
ministers and military and security facilities in Abidjan, Bouake, and 
Korhogo. The failed coup attempt evolved into a rebellion and split the 
country in two. Rebel ``New Forces'' (NF) retained control of the 
northern 60 percent of the country, while the Government controlled the 
slightly smaller but more populous south.
    In 2003 the political parties signed the French-brokered Linas-
Marcoussis Accord (Marcoussis Accord), agreeing to a power-sharing 
government with rebel representatives. The Government made little 
progress on the implementation of the Marcoussis Accord, and in March 
2004 the NF suspended its participation in the Disarmament, 
Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program. In February 2004 UN 
Resolution 1528 approved the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI) 
deployment of 6,000 peacekeeping troops, joining the 4,000-member 
French Operation Licorne peacekeeping force. ONUCI was created from an 
existing force of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 
troops that had been deployed since 2003 to separate the combatants in 
conjunction with Licorne. President Gbagbo and opposition political 
leaders signed subsequent peace accords, including Accra III (July 
2004), the Pretoria Agreement (April 2005), and Pretoria II (June 
2005), but the political process remained stalled. Neither Presidential 
elections (scheduled for no later than October 31, 2005) nor 
parliamentary elections (scheduled for December 2005) were held due to 
the lack of political reconciliation and progress in the DDR program. 
UN Security Council (US) resolution 1633, passed in October 2005, 
endorsed a proposal by the African Union (AU) to extend Gbagbo's term 
in office for up to one year and to appoint a new prime minister with 
enhanced executive powers. On December 4, the AU and ECOWAS designated 
Charles Konan Banny, a PDCI member and governor of the West African 
Central Bank, as the new prime minister.
    Since October 2005 very little progress has been made toward 
holding elections or disarming and reunifying the country. On September 
20, a meeting chaired by the UN Secretary General and attended by 
regional African leaders and all principal Ivorian political leaders 
except President Gbagbo resulted in a formal declaration that 
Presidential elections could not be held before the end of the one-year 
extension of Gbagbo's mandate. Both ECOWAS and AU leaders met in 
October to discuss how to put the peace process on track. Their 
recommendations were closely followed by the U.S. which adopted 
Resolution 1721 on November 1 to extend the mandates of President 
Gbagbo and Prime Minister Banny until October 31, 2007 and to enhance 
the authorities of both the Prime Minister's office and that of the UN 
High Representative for Elections.
    Civilian authorities in government- and NF-controlled zones 
generally did not maintain effective control of the security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor. Continuing 
political instability and uncertainty kept tensions high throughout the 
country. The following human rights abuses were reported: restriction 
of citizens' right to change their government; arbitrary and unlawful 
killings, including summary executions, by security forces, 
progovernment militias, and student groups; disappearances; torture and 
other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and punishment by security 
forces, progovernment militias, and a student group; deplorable prison 
and detention center conditions; security force impunity; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; denial of a fair public trial; arbitrary 
interference with privacy, family, home, and correspondence; police 
harassment and abuse of noncitizen Africans; use of excessive force and 
other abuses in internal conflicts; restrictions on freedoms of speech, 
press, peaceful assembly, association, and movement; corruption; 
discrimination and violence against women; female genital mutilation 
(FGM); child abuse and exploitation; trafficking in persons; forced 
labor, including by children; and child labor, including hazardous 
labor.
    The NF's human rights record continued to be poor. ONUCI reported 
the killing and disappearance of civilians in NF-held territories. The 
NF arbitrarily arrested and detained persons and conducted arbitrary ad 
hoc justice. ONUCI's human rights office reported fewer child soldiers 
in NF ranks and the release of many during the year.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Security forces 
continued to commit extrajudicial killings with impunity, and 
progovernment militia groups were responsible for harassment, killings, 
and disappearances. These crimes often went unreported or underreported 
due to fear of reprisals.Unlike in the previous year, there were no 
reports that government-linked ``death squads'' and irregular forces 
(Liberian fighters, Liberian refugees, and civilians with ethnic ties 
to Liberia) committed extrajudicial killings. Security forces 
frequently resorted to lethal force to combat widespread crime and 
often committed crimes themselves with impunity. Rebel forces in the 
north also committed extrajudicial killings (see Section 1.g.).
    There continued to be credible reports of numerous cases in which 
the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in deaths. Such 
cases often occurred when security forces apprehended suspects or tried 
to extort money from taxi drivers and merchants. For example, the UN 
reported that on January 2, several summary executions were committed 
by security forces and Jeunes Patriotes (Young Patriots), a youth group 
with close ties to the ruling FPI Party.
    On the same day, an unidentified armed group attacked the military 
camp of Akouedo, located on the outskirts of Abidjan. According to an 
Ivorian military communique, two Akouedo camps were simultaneously 
attacked with light and heavy weaponry, and ten persons were killed 
during the attack, including three government soldiers and seven 
attackers. Paramilitary gendarmes subsequently detained between 15 and 
30 Burkinabe men alleged to be responsible for the January 2 attack in 
a barracks in Abidjan. On January 6, the bodies of three of the 
Burkinabe detainees were found shot dead; observers suspected the 
involvement of persons working for the Security Operations Command 
Center (CECOS), an anticrime organization formed in July 2005 and 
staffed by police, gendarmerie, and National Armed Forces (FANCI) 
officers. Newspapers printed photographs of the detainees, most of whom 
were naked and bloodied.
    Also on January 2, Kone Basseriba, a 46-year-old security guard at 
the Cocody headquarters of the opposition party Rally of Republicans 
(RDR), was detained by a group of persons armed with machetes in the 
Riviera section of Abidjan. Accusing Basseriba of involvement in the 
attack in Akouedo, the group beat him so severely that he later died 
from his injuries. The RDR accused the military of summarily executing 
Basseriba.
    Of the 60 persons arrested during the attacks on the two Akouedo 
military camps on January 2, 21 were indicted by the military 
investigating judge on February 1 on charges including assassination 
and breach of state security. Those indicted included nine soldiers and 
12 civilians who admitted their involvement in the Akouedo attacks 
before the military prosecutor. In December a military court discharged 
two soldiers from the army and sentenced them to five years' 
imprisonment for their role in the deaths. The remaining investigations 
were ongoing at year's end.
    In July the military prosecutor launched an investigation into the 
June 2005 death of Major Colonel Bakassa Traore, who died after 
security forces arrested and beat him, Colonel Jules Yao Yao, and 
retired General Laurent M'Bahia Kouadio after they attended a dinner 
hosted by the French Ambassador. FANCI's chief of staff claimed that 
Traore died as a result of a preexisting medical condition, while 
relatives and colleagues alleged that his death was the result of his 
injuries. The results of the investigation had not been made public by 
year's end.
    There were no developments in the January 2005 case in which 
security forces shot and killed two taxi drivers in Adjame for refusing 
to stop at a roadblock.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 case in which the 
Government brought 32 officials before judicial authorities for their 
role in a violent effort to evict persons illegally occupying the 
National Marahoue Park in Bouafle. More than 100 villagers were 
arrested with excessive force. Thirteen persons died from their 
injuries. No trial was held, and no sanctions were imposed on forestry 
officials involved in the incident.
    During the year there were a number of killings attributed to 
members of CECOS, whose personnel also were accused of human rights 
violations, racketeering, extortion, and harassment. There continued to 
be reports that members of CECOS carried out summary executions of 
thieves in Abidjan, although the interior minister said all victims 
were criminals killed in the course of police anticrime activities.
    For example, during the nights of February 10 and 11, in the 
Koumassi Bia Sud district in Abidjan, CECOS members shot and killed two 
cell phone vendors (see Section 2.b.).
    In April a CECOS member shot at a car in the Riviera district in 
Abidjan and killed one of the passengers, a local singer known as Dally 
Luc. CECOS authorities admitted that the killing had been unjustified, 
and the CECOS member implicated was arrested and jailed. A trial had 
not been initiated by year's end.
    At year's end 17 of the 61 persons arrested for attacking 
gendarmerie and police in Anyama in July 2005 had been released, and 36 
of the 44 who stood trial received heavy sentences.
    In late August a violent confrontation broke out between the police 
and members of the progovernment and pro-FPI Union of Secondary School 
and University Students (FESCI) at the Cocody campus of the University 
of Cote d'Ivoire. The clash erupted in the aftermath of an August 28 
incident in which FESCI members at a bus station in the Adjame district 
of Abidjan beat a police cadet, reportedly for refusing to pay FESCI a 
bribe to be allowed to board a bus. On August 31, several police cadets 
attempted to confront FESCI members at a different bus stop in front of 
the Cocody campus. The cadets were restrained by regular police forces, 
but FESCI members then reportedly attacked those police forces. The 
police cadets opened fire, killing between one and three FESCI members, 
then entered the campus, and sought out and beat suspected FESCI 
members. On September 2, the Government suspended the director of the 
National Police Academy, Bernard Lago Daleba, in response to the Cocody 
campus incident. The Government opened an inquiry into the clashes, but 
a military trial of the police cadets had not begun by year's end.
    There were no known developments in the parliamentary committee 
investigation into the 2004 killing by security forces of more than 100 
demonstrators.
    There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 security force 
killings.
    The collaboration of government forces and irregular forces created 
a climate of fear and impunity. There also were credible reports of 
serious abuses committed by armed forces working in complicity or in 
coordination with youth groups in the central and western parts of the 
country. As in the previous year, local villagers from ethnic groups 
close to the Government allegedly provided the names of foreigners, RDR 
members, northerners, and other suspected rebel supporters to security 
forces. There continued to be reports that the Government recruited 
Liberian mercenaries in the west.
    Abidjan police and security forces in search of rebel sympathizers, 
infiltrators, and arms caches continued to use lethal force in 
neighborhood sweeps against citizens with northern origins and African 
immigrants (see Section 1.f.). Progovernment militias and rebels 
continued to use child soldiers, although to a lesser degree than in 
previous years (see Section 5).
    Rebel groups were also responsible for indiscriminate killings. 
ONUCI's human rights division described numerous extrajudicial killings 
by rebels, although fewer than in the previous year. The rebels in the 
west targeted, beat, and sometimes killed gendarmes, government 
officials, and suspected FPI sympathizers. They also committed sexual 
violence against girls and women, including rape and sexual slavery. 
The NF and their allies, the dozos (traditional hunters that maintain 
an informal militia), were responsible for killings and disappearances. 
There were fewer reports of such incidents than in the previous year, 
although rebel arrests of suspected loyalist infiltrators continued 
during the year.
    On June 29, seven persons were killed in Dieouzon Region, located 
in the ``Zone of Confidence,'' the area separating FANCI and NF troops 
in which ONUCI troops maintain peace. Similar to earlier attacks, local 
authorities accused the dozos of the killings. As in the past, the 
killings reportedly resulted from tensions over control of land.
    In July there were credible reports of repeated attacks by members 
of the progovernment militia Groupe de Patriotes pour la Paix (GPP) on 
residents of Yopougon, resulting in the death of at least one civilian 
and the injury of several others. Despite the Government's 2003 
announcement that the GPP had disbanded, FPI members readily 
acknowledged the group's continued existence and operations. In 
response to the attacks, the Government offered GPP members food, 
lodging, and medical care.
    There were no known developments in the case of the rebel soldier 
accused of killing a French peacekeeper in 2004. The office of the 
military prosecutor stated that the soldier remained in detention 
awaiting trial.
    No investigations were conducted into numerous abuses committed by 
rebels in previous years, including summary executions, killings, rape, 
beatings, and looting.
    Neither ONUCI nor French forces publicly released the results of 
their investigations into the killings of an undetermined number of 
Ivorian progovernment demonstrators by French forces during 2004 riots. 
The riots broke out following France's destruction of the Ivorian air 
force after FANCI bombed a Licorne base in Bouake. Radio France 
International (RFI) announced in January that the Government had issued 
a warrant for the arrest of French General Henri Poncet for his role in 
the killings of the rioters, but the Ivorian minister of justice and 
the minister of defense denied this report. In September Amnesty 
International (AI) published a report criticizing French forces for 
using excessive force in 2004, specifically noting their lack of non-
lethal weapons for crowd control. AI's report noted that the French 
acknowledged that most demonstrators had not been armed.
    In Abidjan and the western part of the country, there were reports 
of atrocities including killings, rapes, and looting, by progovernment 
militias and others.
    There were numerous reports of conflict between the local 
population and Burkinabe and Lobi farmers, whom the locals expelled 
from their farms (see Section 5). Dozens of persons were reportedly 
killed in the clashes.
    There were numerous incidents of ethnic violence that resulted in 
deaths (see Section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were reports of disappearances, although 
fewer than in the previous year. Several members of the opposition 
(particularly the RDR), journalists, and ordinary citizens remained 
missing at year's end. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports 
that security forces abducted citizens and foreigners and forced them 
to work.
    In January two men disappeared following their arrest by NF units 
in Korhogo. The two men were still missing at year's end. No charges 
were filed in the disappearances by year's end (see Section 1.d.).
    In February nearly two years after the 2004 disappearance of Guy 
Andre Kieffer, a Franco-Canadian freelance journalist, an Ivorian 
officer, Tony Oulai, was placed under formal investigation and remanded 
in custody to Paris to be prosecuted by French authorities for 
abduction and illegal detention. The trial had not begun by year's end.
    On March 1, ONUCI received credible information that Kone Lacina 
Nanourougou, who disappeared in 2004 following his arrest by the NF, 
had been moved to Korhogo and handed over to Commander Martin Fofie 
Kouakou. Despite NF claims that Kone was released on June 25, his 
whereabouts were unknown at year's end.
    There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 disappearances.
    Most of the persons reported missing in previous years remained 
missing at year's end.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
security forces beat and abused detainees and prisoners to punish them 
or to extract confessions. There also were reports of rape and torture. 
Police officers forced detainees to perform degrading tasks under 
threat of physical harm. Police often detained persons overnight in 
police stations where they beat them and forced them to pay bribes (see 
Sections 1.d., 1.f., and 2.d.). Police also harassed and extorted 
bribes from persons of northern origin or with northern names (see 
Section 1.f.).
    On February 13, ONUCI reported that the gendarmerie commander in 
the western town of Zuenola ordered his forces to detain and beat at 
least 16 persons employed by local bakeries to compel them to continue 
contributing bread to the ``war effort.'' The victims were taken to the 
gendarmerie headquarters, forced to lie down, and then flogged with 
sticks. Officers reportedly forced the detainees to eat mud and perform 
manual labor before releasing them four hours later. As a result of the 
beatings of the 16 employees, the bakeries in Zuenoula were closed for 
three days.
    There were credible reports that on January 21, members of CECOS 
arrested Malian immigrants Daouda Diallo and his nephew, Ouateni 
Diallo. CECOS accused Diallo of financing the rebellion and mobilizing 
local youth to oppose the establishment of barricades by the Young 
Patriots. Diallo was released on January 26, but his nephew reportedly 
died as a result of torture at the Gendarmerie Academy.
    Violent actions and threats against political opposition figures 
and human rights activists continued during the year. There were 
numerous reports that opposition leaders received death threats over 
the telephone and from armed men dressed in fatigues, and that armed 
men harassed family members.
    For example, on August 11, gendarmes allegedly attempted to extort 
bribes from taxi trade union activists in the Cocody district of 
Abidjan. When the Ivorian Movement for Human Rights (MIDH) used a hot 
line established by the military prosecutor for citizens to report such 
incidents, the gendarmes reportedly threatened to kill MIDH-member 
workers.
    In September the President of the Rally for Young Republicans, 
Karamoko Yayoro, claimed that Republican Guard Commander Brunot Ble 
Dogbo threatened him with death if he organized street demonstrations 
against President Gbagbo's government. When the story made the 
headlines of several opposition newspapers, Yayoro filed a complaint 
against Ble Dogbo with ONUCI's Human Rights Division, which was 
reviewing the case at year's end.
    Police and security forces used excessive or lethal force to 
disperse demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).
    Members of the security forces continued to harass journalists (see 
Section 2.a.).
    There were credible reports that members of the security forces 
raped women and girls.
    On March 5, members of the CECOS in Alepe allegedly raped a 15-
year-old secondary school student after encouraging her to drink 
heavily with them at a local bar. A doctor at a local hospital found 
evidence of trauma when he conducted a physical examination of the girl 
the next day, and the girl's family lodged a complaint at the Alepe 
gendarmerie. Despite student demonstrations demanding that members of 
CECOS leave Alepe, the CECOS chief commander eventually claimed that 
his men were not at fault and that a physical examination of the girl 
did not indicate that a rape had occurred.
    On September 13, Sergeant Gbessi Bah Melain was jailed for rape at 
the military prison in Abidjan.
    There were no known developments in the June 2005 case in which a 
lance corporal was charged with raping a secondary school girl.
    There were fewer reports than in the previous year that security 
forces conducted widespread neighborhood searches during which they 
beat and robbed residents (see Section 1.f.).
    Security forces remained on heightened alert for potential rebel 
infiltrators or active sympathizers, erected numerous roadblocks, and 
searched Abidjan neighborhoods. Individuals who were associated with 
opposition parties or rebellion leaders or believed to be sympathizers 
were subjected to increased harassment and abuse (see Sections 1.d. and 
1.g.).
    Noncitizen Africans, mostly from neighboring countries, continued 
to complain that they were subject to harassment by security forces and 
``self-defense'' committees, including repeated document checks, 
security force extortion and racketeering, violence, and frequent 
neighborhood searches (see Sections 1.f. and 2.d.).
    There were no developments in cases dating to 2005.
    Loyalists of President Gbagbo's FPI party organized youth patriot 
groups with thousands of members in Abidjan neighborhoods and in towns 
and cities throughout southern, central, and western regions. 
Gendarmerie and army officers led some groups in physical training. 
Belligerent patriot groups aligned with the ruling FPI rallied in 
neighborhoods, called for armed resistance, and harassed and 
intimidated residents and merchants. Youth groups who supported 
President Gbagbo attacked opposition newspapers, several ONUCI convoys, 
and persons under ONUCI protection during the year (see Sections 2.a 
and 4).
    There were persistent reports that some patriot groups had arms or 
had ready access to arms supplied by the Government. The presidency 
sponsored some of these groups and tolerated others, but it did not 
have complete control over them.
    There continued to be reports that progovernment militias harassed 
and assaulted farmers, many of whom were migrants from other West 
African countries.
    In November the Republican Guard prevented ONUCI guards protecting 
NF Minister Louis-Andre Dacoury-Tabley from entering the Prime 
Minister's headquarters. The action prompted ONUCI to draft a written 
complaint to the U.S.
    There were no known developments in the September 2005 case in 
which NF Minister of Territorial Administration Colonel Issa Diakite, 
then under the protection of ONUCI, was attacked at the home of an 
associate by FESCI-aligned groups in Cocody.
    The GPP, which was banned in 2003, continued to exist and carry out 
attacks despite a March 2005 announcement by FANCI Chief of Staff 
Mangou and the DDR commission that the group would be disbanded. The 
group was tolerated and tacitly encouraged by members of the ruling 
party elite, who argued that the GPP defended the country.
    For example, on July 31, several persons were injured when the GPP 
attacked naval police agents who were organizing a peaceful 
demonstration in Plateau to demand the payment of bonuses and the 
dismissal of their director. Defense and security forces finally drove 
out the militiamen.
    In the NF-held part of the country, rebel military police operated 
with impunity in administering justice without legally constituted 
executive or judicial oversight (see Section 1.g.). Rebels often 
harassed and abused local citizens, often on the basis of ethnic or 
political background. There continued to be reports that rebel forces 
beat persons who supported President Gbagbo and the ruling FPI. During 
the year the NF reportedly beat a journalist (see Section 1.a.). There 
were reports that NF members raped women and girls in the north and 
that rebel soldiers arrested, tortured, or killed suspected government 
loyalists or allies of rival rebel leader Ibrahim Coulibaly in the 
zones under their control, regardless of their ethnic background (see 
Section 1.g.).
    On January 13, NF member Toure Aboubacar Sidik was reportedly 
subjected to a mock execution by other members of the NF after he 
requested ONUCI protection from those forces. He was later released and 
accompanied back to the Guepard Camp in Bouake.
    Incidents of ethnic violence resulted in injuries, especially in 
the west and the southwest (see Section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions were poor and 
in some cases life threatening in the country's 33 prisons. In the 22 
prisons located in the area under control of the Government, this 
situation was primarily due to inadequate budgets and overcrowding. For 
example, the country's main prison, MACA, was built for 1,500 persons 
but held 4,034 detainees as of September 30; the other 21 prisons in 
the government-controlled area collectively held 9,351 detainees 
despite their 3,371-person capacity. Conditions in MACA were 
notoriously bad, especially for the poor. Wealthy prisoners reportedly 
could ``buy'' extra cell space, food, and even staff to wash and iron 
their clothes. The Government spent $0.24 (120 FCFA) per prisoner on 
the daily food ration, which was not sufficient to prevent cases of 
severe malnutrition in prisoners whose families did not bring them 
additional food. Inmates at some prisons grew vegetables to feed 
themselves. ONUCI reported that most deaths in prison were due to 
malnutrition. There were credible reports that prisoners frequently 
brutalized other prisoners for sleeping space and rations. There were 
press reports of prostitution and a flourishing drug trade in MACA. Due 
to the worsening security situation, in December 2005, Doctors Without 
Borders discontinued supplementing the prison system's inadequate 
medical facilities and contributing to the prison budget. Several small 
national and international charities such as the Ivorian Islamic 
Medical Rescue Association continued to provide food, clothing, legal 
and medical assistance to prisoners. The International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC) helped feed prisoners with no family in the towns of 
Bondoukou, Bouafle, Dimbokro, Sassandra, and Divo.
    Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    Male minors were held separately from adult men, but the physical 
barriers at the main MACA prison were inadequate to enforce complete 
separation. Minors were not held separately in detention centers. The 
International Catholic Office for Children continued its efforts to 
assist imprisoned children by helping to locate their families and by 
maintaining a separate facility for them at the Divo prison.
    Prison conditions for women remained particularly difficult, and 
their children often lived with them in prison. Female prisoners at 
MACA were segregated in a separate building under female guard. There 
were continued reports that female prisoners engaged in sexual 
relations with wardens to get food and privileges. There also were 
reports that female prisoners engaged in sexual relationships with male 
prisoners. There continued to be inadequate healthcare facilities for 
women. Pregnant prisoners went to hospitals to give birth and then 
returned to prison with their babies. The penitentiary accepted no 
responsibility for the care or feeding of the infants, although the 
inmate mothers received help from local nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs).
    In September, following the dumping of toxic wastes in several 
parts of Abidjan, which caused the death of 10 persons in Abidjan and 
which reportedly affected MACA, the Prison Administration belatedly 
acted to transfer 150 prisoners (minors, pregnant women and women 
living with their babies in jail) from MACA to various prisons. In 
spite of those measures, a 15-year-old prisoner died at MACA allegedly 
due to exposure to toxic waste fumes.
    The Government permitted access to prisons by local and 
international NGOs including the ICRC, World Doctors, International 
Prisons' Friendship, Love Amour, and the Ivorian Islamic Medical Rescue 
Association.
    The NF maintained detention centers, and during the year the ICRC 
and ONUCI human rights division local teams were granted full access. 
ONUCI reported that the NF was detaining 295 persons, usually without 
due process. The NF allegedly freed prisoners to serve as combatants 
against the Government.
    There were credible reports that rebels killed prisoners or that 
prisoners died in jail, although less frequently due to improved 
conditions.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of New Zealander Brian 
Sands, who died from asphyxiation in NF custody in April 2005.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, both occurred 
frequently.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces under 
the ministries of defense and territorial administration include the 
army, navy, air force, republican guard, Presidential security force, 
and the gendarmerie, a branch of the armed forces with responsibility 
for general law enforcement. The police forces are under the 
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior. There were reportedly major 
divisions within the military based on ethnic and political loyalties. 
Police forces include paramilitary rapid intervention units such as the 
Anti-Riot Brigade and the Republican Security Company, and the plain-
clothes investigating unit, Directorate for Territorial Security (DST). 
In July 2005 the Government formed CECOS to combat rising crime in 
Abidjan (see Section 1.a.). A central security staff collected and 
distributed information regarding crime and coordinated the activities 
of the security forces. Security forces frequently resorted to 
excessive force (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.b.).
    Poor training and supervision of security forces, corruption, the 
public's fear of pressing charges, and investigations conducted by 
security forces who themselves were abusers contributed to widespread 
impunity and lawlessness in the country. Racketeering at roadblocks was 
a serious problem, and security forces often were seen forcing persons 
stopped at roadblocks to do push-ups while being beaten or subjected to 
other abuses. Police solicited sexual favors from prostitutes in 
exchange for not being arrested. There also were credible reports that 
police kidnapped private citizens and either killed them or released 
them, sometimes demanding a bribe for their release. Security forces 
often were accused of causing rising crime in Abidjan, and there were 
credible reports that security forces rented their uniforms and weapons 
to persons wanting to engage in criminal activity. Security forces on 
occasion also failed to prevent violence (see Section 2.b.). Security 
forces faced no sanctions for confiscating or destroying noncitizens' 
identification papers.
    The Government sometimes took action against police officers who 
committed abuses; however, it generally did not investigate or punish 
effectively those who committed abuses, nor did it prosecute persons 
responsible in previous years for unlawful killings and disappearances. 
During the year the military prosecutor established a telephone help 
line to report racketeering incidents.
    The Government took steps to combat malfeasance in the ranks of the 
security forces. In January security minister Joseph Dja Ble visited 
the police academy, where he pledged to fight racketeering.
    On August 23, police officer Zie Guillaume was arrested when he 
attempted to bribe the minister of security with $240,000 (117 million 
FCFA) after allegedly attempting to enroll Police Academy candidates 
who had not completed the required exam. While awaiting trial in jail, 
Zie allegedly tried to bribe the military prosecutor to be granted 
bail. Prosecution of the case was ongoing at year's end, and Zie 
remained in detention at the Military Prison of Abidjan (MAMA).
    During the year the Government launched a television campaign 
urging citizens not to pay bribes to security forces at checkpoints. 
However, citizens who did not pay bribes continued to face the 
confiscation of their official documents, harassment, intimidation, or 
physical abuse.
    In March the Abidjan military tribunal sentenced three gendarmes 
charged with racketeering to fines and prison sentences of up to one 
year.
    In April CECOS Chief Commander Colonel Guiai Bi Poin reported that 
heavy punishments had been meted out to 19 CECOS members, eight of whom 
had participated in robberies. The officers were dismissed from the 
security forces.
    The military tribunal reported that as of October, 56 members of 
the defense and security forces, including police officers, gendarmes, 
and military personnel, were being held at MAMA. Thirty-six of the 56 
were arrested during the year and transferred to jail for murder, rape, 
corruption, violation of orders, theft, embezzlement, and other abuses. 
In March six of these persons were convicted of theft of citizens' 
money and were sentenced to five years in prison at MAMA.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the law officials must have warrants 
to conduct searches, although police sometimes used a general search 
warrant without a name or address. A bail system existed solely at the 
discretion of the judge trying the case. Detainees were generally 
allowed access to lawyers; however, in cases of accusations of 
complicity with the rebels or other matters of national security, 
detainees were frequently denied access to their lawyers and family 
members. For more serious crimes, those who could not afford to pay for 
lawyers were given lawyers by the state, but less serious alleged 
offenders were often without representation. A public prosecutor may 
order the detention of a suspect for 48 hours without bringing charges, 
and in special cases such as suspected actions against state security, 
the law permits an additional 48-hour period. According to members of 
the jurists' union, police often held persons for more than the 48-hour 
legal limit without bringing charges, and magistrates often were unable 
to verify that detainees who were not charged were released. Defendants 
do not have the right to a judicial determination of the legality of 
their detention. A magistrate could order pretrial detention for up to 
four months but also had to provide the minister of justice with a 
written justification on a monthly basis for continued detention.
    DST was charged with collecting and analyzing information relating 
to national security. DST has the authority to hold persons for up to 
four days without charges; however, human rights groups stated there 
were numerous cases of detentions exceeding the statutory limit.
    There were many instances during the year in which gendarmes or 
other security forces arbitrarily arrested persons. According to ONUCI, 
forest rangers continued to detain villagers and demand up to $200 
(100,000 FCFA) for their release (see Section 1.a.). However, unlike in 
the previous year, there were no reports that forest rangers tortured 
villagers.
    Security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest merchants and 
transporters, often in conjunction with harassment and requests for 
bribes.
    Police also detained journalists during the year (see Section 
2.a.).
    During the year security forces continued to arrest and usually 
release RDR party members and officials and persons of northern origins 
thought to be close to the rebellion (see Section 2.b.).
    Local and international human rights organizations continued to 
report that security forces frequently made arrests without warrants 
and frequently held persons beyond the statutory limits without 
bringing charges. There were credible reports that the police and 
gendarmes detained persons in various military camps in Abidjan. Few of 
these detainees entered the civil justice system. For example, security 
forces arrested and detained several hundred RDR members in the wake of 
the July 2005 violence in Anyama and Agboville; however, according to 
an RDR lawyer, only 61 of these persons were charged (see Section 
1.e.).
    On February 21, several persons affiliated with General Mathias 
Doue, the former chief of the General Staff of the FANCI, including his 
nephew, two bodyguards, and the wife of a former bodyguard, were 
arrested and detained in the DST jail for allegedly having committed a 
breach of state security by recruiting assailants to attack the 
republic and being the organizers of the attack on the Akouedo camp on 
January 15. The arrests were widely believed to be a politically 
motivated attempt to intimidate the general's supporters into 
disclosing his whereabouts.
    Many inmates continued to suffer long detention periods in MACA and 
other prisons while awaiting trial. Despite the legal limit of 10 
months of pretrial detention in civil cases and 22 months in criminal 
cases, some pretrial detainees were held in detention for years.
    In September the National Prison Administration reported that 26 
percent of the 9,351 prisoners held in the 22 government-controlled 
prisons were pretrial detainees.
    ONUCI, AI, and other human rights organizations reported that in 
rebel-controlled territory, the NF also arbitrarily arrested, 
mistreated, ransomed, and detained many persons thought to be loyal to 
President Gbagbo or Sergeant Ibrahim Coulibaly. For example, on March 
20, FANCI Sergeant Moussa Guire was arrested and accused of being a spy 
by the NF in Dioulabougou. Guire remained in detention in Bouake at 
year's end.
    In January NF units in Korhogo arrested Ibrahim Kalil Coulibaly and 
his driver. The two men disappeared following the arrest and were still 
missing at year's end. No charges were filed regarding the 
disappearances by year's end.
    On May 22, NF arrested 16 FPI officials on allegations of 
trafficking arms from the government-controlled zone. The prisoners 
were released following visits by the ICRC and ONUCI.
    In July, 11 persons in Bouna, an NF-held city in the north, were 
arrested for inquiring into the cause of the lack of electricity supply 
in their areas. They were arrested, beaten, and detained before being 
released without charge several days later.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary was 
subject to influence from the executive branch, the military, and other 
outside forces. Although the judiciary was independent in ordinary 
criminal cases, it followed the lead of the executive in national 
security or politically sensitive cases. There also were credible 
reports that judges were subject to corruption. The judiciary was slow 
and inefficient.
    The formal judicial system is headed by a Supreme Court and 
includes the court of appeals, lower courts, and a constitutional 
council. The law grants the President the power to replace the head of 
the Supreme Court after a new parliament is convened. In 2003 President 
Gbagbo appointed the seven members of the Constitutional Council, 
without consultation with the Government. President Gbagbo tasked the 
council with, among other things, the determination of candidate 
eligibility in Presidential and legislative elections, the announcement 
of final election results, the conduct of a referendum, and the 
constitutionality of legislation. President Gbagbo named three advisors 
to the Constitutional Council for three-year terms, three other 
advisors to six-year terms, and a President. On September 27, three new 
advisors were sworn into the Constitutional Council for six-year terms, 
replacing the three members whose original three-year terms had 
expired. The council did not issue any significant rulings during the 
year.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to public trial, 
although key evidence sometimes was given secretly. The Government did 
not always respect the presumption of innocence. Those convicted have 
the right of appeal, although higher courts rarely overturned verdicts 
and did not do so during the year. Defendants accused of felonies or 
capital crimes have the right to legal counsel. The judicial system 
provides for court-appointed attorneys; however, no free legal 
assistance was available, aside from infrequent instances in which 
members of the bar provided pro bono advice to defendants for limited 
periods.
    In rural areas traditional institutions often administered justice 
at the village level, handling domestic disputes and minor land 
questions in accordance with customary law. Dispute resolution was by 
extended debate, with no known instance of resort to physical 
punishment. The formal court system increasingly was superseding these 
traditional mechanisms. The law specifically provides for a grand 
mediator, appointed by the President, to bridge traditional and modern 
methods of dispute resolution.
    Military courts did not try civilians. Although there were no 
appellate courts within the military court system, persons convicted by 
a military tribunal may petition the Supreme Court to set aside the 
tribunal's verdict and order a retrial.
    There was little available information on the judicial system used 
by the NF in the northern and western regions; however, there continued 
to be credible reports of summary executions for various crimes in the 
NF-controlled zone.
    Of the 61 persons arrested for attacking gendarmerie and police in 
Anyama and Agboville in July 2005, 17 were released and 44 were tried; 
36 of the 44 were sentenced to between two and 15 years' imprisonment. 
Appeals submitted by defense attorneys and the NGO Lawyers Without 
Borders had not been heard by year's end.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters; however, the 
judiciary was subject to corruption, outside influence, and favoritism 
based on family and ethnic ties. Citizens did not often access the 
court system to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a 
human rights violation. The judiciary was slow and inefficient, and 
there were problems enforcing domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for these rights; 
however, the events of 2002 triggered a widespread suspension of 
privacy rights. Officials must have warrants to conduct searches, must 
have the prosecutor's agreement to retain any evidence seized in the 
search, and are required to have witnesses to the search, which may 
take place at any time; however, in practice police sometimes used a 
general search warrant without a name or address. Police frequently 
entered the homes of northern citizens and noncitizen Africans (or 
apprehended them at large), took them to local police stations, and 
extorted small amounts of money for alleged minor offenses.
    There were credible reports that security forces conducted 
warrantless searches of opposition party officials' residences, 
allegedly in search of weapons. During the year security forces 
continued to conduct neighborhood searches in which they entered 
several homes at the same time, usually at night looking for arms. 
There continued to be reports that security forces harassed opposition 
forces.
    For example, on May 5, three police officers arrested Mariam 
Sangare-Traore, the wife of an RDR local leader for the district of 
Yopougon in Abidjan, alleging that she held forged Ivorian identity 
papers. Police released Traore later that day after verifying her 
parents' national identity papers.
    On May 8, security forces in the district of Yopougon Niangon 
entered the homes of RDR members to search for weapons that the RDR had 
allegedly distributed to its followers. When no weapons were found, the 
security forces went to the neighborhood mosque, where they arrested 
and questioned eight men for 14 hours before releasing them without 
charge.
    On July 19, a gendarmerie commando unit reportedly conducted an 
illegal search of the Abobo mayor's office at city hall, which was the 
officially designated site for the public identification hearings 
(audiences foraines) being held as part of the voter registration 
effort. The gendarmes were reportedly searching for illicit arms.
    No action was taken against security forces that forcibly entered 
residences in previous years.
    Security forces monitored private telephone conversations, but the 
extent of the practice was unknown. The Government admitted that it 
listened to fixed line and cellular telephone calls. Authorities 
monitored letters and parcels at the post office for potential criminal 
activity, and they were believed to monitor private correspondence, 
although there was no evidence of this. Members of the Government 
reportedly continued to use students as informants.
    The NF continued to confiscate the property and vehicles of civil 
servants and those believed to be loyal to President Gbagbo or of 
persons who had abandoned their houses following the rebellion. 
However, the minister of solidarity and war victims, who was also the 
deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire, 
the principal political arm of the NF, created a commission in charge 
of returning confiscated properties to those who could prove ownership. 
The minister also urged victims to return to their homes.
    Rebels in the northern towns of Bouake and Katiola continued to 
monitor mail, looking for potential government loyalist infiltrators.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and the press, but the Government restricted 
these rights in practice. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship for fear of retribution. Government officials aggressively 
used the court system to punish critics.
    At year's end the trial had not yet begun in the defamation 
complaint brought by President Gbagbo in July 2005 against PDCI-
affiliated former minister of animal production and fisheries, Kobenan 
Adjoumani, who in June 2005 accused the President of masterminding the 
2002 rebellion.
    The only remaining government-owned daily newspaper, Fraternite 
Matin, which had the greatest circulation of any daily, rarely 
criticized government policy. There were a number of private newspapers 
that frequently criticized government policy, the President, and the 
ruling party. Newspapers often ceased publication and were supplanted 
by others due to strong competition, a limited audience, and financial 
constraints. Most newspapers were politicized and sometimes resorted to 
fabricated stories to defame political opponents. The law requires the 
``right of response'' in the same newspaper, thus newspapers often 
printed responses in opposition to earlier articles, although often not 
with the prominence accorded to the original story.
    Because of low literacy rates, radio was the most important medium 
of mass communication. Newspapers and television were relatively 
expensive. The government-owned broadcast media company, Ivorian Radio 
and Television (RTI) owned two major radio stations; only the primary 
government radio station broadcast nationwide. Neither station 
criticized the Government.
    The private radio stations did not have complete control over their 
editorial content. The Government used the Audiovisual Communication 
Council (CNCA), which was controlled by the ruling party, to closely 
monitor Radio Nostalgie because the major shareholders of the company 
were close to RDR President Alassane Ouattara. National broadcast 
regulations prohibit the transmission of any political commentary.
    Since the 2002 rebellion, the Government continued to reduce press 
freedoms in the name of patriotism and national unity. The Government 
and the ruling FPI continued to exercise considerable influence over 
the official media's program content and news coverage, using them to 
promote government policies and criticize the opposition. NF leader and 
then Minister of Communications Guillaume Soro frequently complained 
that the official media did not fairly accord television airtime to 
opposition party members.
    In November a series of events contributed to the development of an 
environment hostile to media. On November 26, President Gbagbo signed a 
decree to dismiss the director of Fraternite Matin and replaced him 
with a known supporter after the newspaper reported on a meeting 
between the President and prime minister regarding the implementation 
of U.S. Resolution 1721. On November 27, government soldiers reportedly 
accompanied by members of President Gbagbo's entourage went to the RTI 
station to order that a ``seditious'' statement by the Prime Minister 
that had been broadcast earlier that evening not be rebroadcast and 
that further messages contradicting the President be banned. The army 
seized the tape of the broadcast. On November 28, the President fired 
the director of RTI and dissolved its entire board of directors, which 
had been appointed by NF leader and current Minister of State for 
Reconstruction and Reintegration Guillaume Soro when he was Minister of 
Communication, for broadcasting Prime Minister Banny's statement.
    The media played a critical role in inflaming tensions, and 
newspapers backed by political parties published inflammatory 
editorials and created a climate of hostility toward perceived 
political opponents. The Ivorian Observatory on Press Freedom and 
Ethics and the National Press Commission, which enforced regulations 
regarding creation, ownership, and freedom of the press, regularly 
published press releases urging journalists to be more moderate.
    Members of the security forces continued to harass and beat 
journalists. Outspoken members of the press received death threats and 
suffered physical intimidation from groups aligned with the ruling FPI 
party.
    For example, on January 14, a group of Young Patriots attacked 
Frank Konate and Basile Zoma, a reporter and cameraman for opposition 
daily newspaper 24 Heures, who were forced to stop at a roadblock 
erected by the group. A leading member of the Young Patriots prevented 
the group from carrying out their threats to douse the car with petrol 
and set it ablaze.
    On January 16, members of Young Patriots who were invading the RTI 
in Abidjan attacked journalist David Mobio as he was presenting the 
1:00 pm news. Mobio did not require hospitalization and did not file 
charges.
    On January 16, Young Patriots and FESCI students, led by the army 
chief of staff General Philippe Mangou, forcefully took control of the 
RTI television studio and installed journalist Ben Zahui to manage the 
television station. On January 19, Minister Delegate of Communications 
Martine Studer-Coffi reported being assaulted by Young Patriots and 
Zahui at RTI headquarters. She later lodged a complaint with RTI 
against Zahui. In February the RTI internal trial committee found Zahui 
guilty of verbal, but not physical, assault and ruled that he be 
suspended without pay for three months and that he apologize publicly 
to Studer-Coffi. On January 24, the CNCA strongly condemned the events 
at RTI headquarters.
    On December 21, the managing director of opposition newpaper Le 
Nouveau Reveil, Denis Kah Zion, issued a public statement describing 
repeated death threats against his family and colleagues. Kah Zion 
reported that the police station in Cocody provided four officers to 
protect his family for several days in December.
    There also continued to be reports that foreign journalists were 
subjected to government harassment and intimidation.
    There were no developments in the 2005 cases of Honore Sepe, a 
journalist for the opposition newspaper Le Front who was briefly 
detained and interrogated regarding his association with the NF, or of 
Brahima Golle, a journalist for the opposition newspaper Dernieres 
Nouvelles, who was beaten by uniformed men.
    On some occasions, the opposition also attacked journalists whom 
they accused of spying on them on behalf of the FPI. For example, on 
October 15, a journalist working for pro-Gbagbo newspaper Le Verdict 
Populaire was attacked by participants in a rally held by the 
opposition political party Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and for 
Peace (RHDP).
    The Young Patriots continued to attack journalists, destroy issues 
of independent and opposition newspapers, and to threaten newspaper 
vendors.
    No action was taken against progovernment youth groups who 
attacked, threatened, arrested, or harassed journalists in previous 
years.
    On May 12, the CNCA authorized RFI to resume FM and satellite 
broadcasting following its July 2005 suspension, in which the CNCA 
alleged that the station had been unprofessional in its coverage of 
Colonel Bakassa Traore's death.
    The law authorizes the Government to initiate criminal libel 
prosecutions against officials. In addition the state may criminalize a 
civil libel suit at its discretion or at the request of the plaintiff. 
Criminal libel was punishable by three months to two years in prison.
    While there was self-censorship in the press, independent daily 
newspapers and opposition party dailies often examined and called into 
question the Government's policies and decisions.
    In NF-held territory rebels broadcast their own programming from 
Bouake, which included radio and television shows that were heard in 
towns and villages around Bouake and, according to some reports, in the 
political capital, Yamoussoukro. In the western part of the country, 
rebels also broadcast on a local radio station around Man. The NF 
continued to allow broadcast of government television or radio programs 
in their zones. The NF also allowed distribution of all progovernment 
newspapers and most independent newspapers in their territory. However, 
at checkpoints in Yamoussoukro, FANCI soldiers frequently prevented 
opposition newspapers from entering the NF zone.
    In the rebel-held zones, rebel forces also beat and harassed 
journalists.
    For example, on February 9, an independent journalist alleged he 
was beaten by NF security personnel after leaving an interview with the 
NF spokesman in the compound of the NF general secretariat in Bouake.
    No action was taken against rebel forces who beat, harassed, and 
killed journalists in previous years.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored email or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Citizens had access to the Internet at Internet cafes, but home access 
was prohibitively expensive for most persons.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom. FESCI, the pro-Gbagbo student group created in the 
early 1990's, generated a climate of fear and intimidation at the 
universities and regularly stopped classes, forced students to attend 
meetings, and threatened professors who interfered in their activities. 
The Government controlled most educational facilities, even at the 
post-secondary level, and a Presidential decree required authorization 
for all meetings on campuses.
    Many prominent scholars active in opposition politics retained 
their positions at state educational facilities; however, some teachers 
and professors suggested that they had been transferred, or feared that 
they could be transferred, to less desirable positions because of their 
political activities. According to student union statements, security 
forces continued to use students as informants to monitor political 
activities at the University of Abidjan.
    FESCI continued to use violent tactics to maintain its hold on 
student government, disrupt the work of officials appointed by 
opposition ministers, and intimidate other students. For example, on 
April 27, members of FESCI disrupted exams at the Catholic University 
of West Africa (UCAO) in Abidjan, resulting in the injury of several 
UCAO students.
    On July 14, FESCI members stormed the RTI television station 
following the broadcast of a statement by the Collective of Teachers' 
Unions concerning the boycott of the school examinations at the end of 
the academic year. Several RTI employees were injured, the 
administrative building was ransacked, and six vehicles were damaged.
    FESCI members continued to target the General Association of 
Students of Cote d'Ivoire, a rival student group founded in 2004 as an 
alternative form of student governance.
    No action was taken against FESCI members responsible for an 
alleged incident of kidnapping and rape in 2005 or for similar 
incidents reported in previous years.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law allows for freedom of assembly; however, the 
Government sometimes restricted this right in practice. Groups that 
wished to hold demonstrations or rallies in stadiums or other enclosed 
spaces were required by law to submit a written notice of their intent 
to the Ministry of Security or the Ministry of Interior three days 
before the proposed event. No law expressly authorizes the Government 
to ban public meetings or events for which advance notice has been 
given in the required manner, but the Government prohibited specific 
events deemed prejudicial to the public order. Even if authorization 
for an event was granted, the Government could later revoke it. On 
December 13, President Gbagbo renewed a ban on all forms of outdoor 
public demonstrations in Abidjan until June 15, 2007.
    RDR members occasionally had difficulties associating freely, and 
there were reports that security forces harassed and detained RDR 
members who tried to meet.
    On July 2, members of the Young Patriots attacked a delegation of 
RDR activists in Blolequin as they prepared to hold a meeting on mobile 
courts, and several RDR members were injured. Although the activists 
had informed the prefect and military authorities of the meeting and 
requested protection, authorities did not attempt to assist or protect 
them.
    Police forcibly dispersed antigovernment demonstrations, which 
resulted in injuries.
    On February 12, youths erected roadblocks at the Giscard d'Estaing 
Boulevard to protest the killings of Arthur Vincent Dahie and Moustapha 
Tounkara, two cellular phone vendors. Dahie and Tounkara, were 
reportedly killed by a brigade of CECOS on patrol. The police used tear 
gas to disperse the protesters. CECOS Chief Commander, Colonel Guai Bi 
Poin, declined to investigate the matter.
    On June 2, police allegedly used belts and tear gas to disperse 
members of the Union for Democracy and Peace youth wing associated with 
the late General Robert Guei who had gathered at the general's house.
    On July 15, FESCI staged a violent protest in front of RTI 
headquarters to demand that their message be broadcast live. Three of 
the approximately 200 protestors were injured when security forces 
opened fire.
    There were no known developments in the July 2005 case in which 
progovernment supporters and FESCI students attacked participants in a 
press conference organized by youth opposition leaders at the PDCI 
headquarters.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right; 
however, the law prohibits the formation of political parties along 
ethnic or religious lines, both of which were key factors in some 
parties' membership (see Sections 2.c. and 5).
    The GPP, which was banned in 2003, continued to exist and attack 
government installations and personnel (see Section 1.c.).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right. 
However, after 2002 the Government targeted persons perceived to be 
perpetrators or supporters of the rebellion, many of whom were Muslim 
and from the north. Strong efforts by religious and civil society 
groups have helped prevent the crisis from becoming a religious 
conflict. The targeting of Muslims suspected of rebel ties continued to 
diminish during the year.
    There was no state religion; however, for historical as well as 
ethnic reasons, government officials informally favored Christianity, 
in particular the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic schools received 
government subsidies, and Catholic Church leaders had a stronger voice 
in government affairs than their Islamic counterparts, which resulted 
in feelings of disenfranchisement among some Muslims.
    The law requires religious groups desiring to operate in the 
country to register; however, registration was granted routinely.
    Although nontraditional religious groups, like all public secular 
associations, were required to register with the Government, no 
penalties were imposed on groups that failed to register.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of the country's 
largely Christian or Islamic urban elites, who effectively controlled 
the Government, generally were disinclined to accord to traditional 
indigenous religions the same social status as accorded to Christianity 
and Islam.
    Some Muslims believed that their religious or ethnic affiliation 
made them targets of discrimination by the Government with regard to 
both employment and the renewal of national identity cards. As northern 
Muslims shared names, style of dress, and customs with several 
predominantly Muslim neighboring countries, they sometimes were accused 
wrongly of attempting to obtain nationality cards illegally to vote or 
otherwise take advantage of citizenship (see Section 5). This created a 
hardship for a disproportionate number of Muslim citizens.
    Government officials, including the President and his religious 
advisers, appeared at major religious celebrations and events organized 
by a wide variety of faiths and groups. The Government often invited 
leaders of various religious communities, including the Mediation 
Committee for National Reconciliation, to attend official ceremonies 
and to sit on deliberative and advisory committees.
    There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law do not provide 
specifically for these rights, and the Government restricted freedom of 
movement during the year. There were frequent restrictions on internal 
travel. A curfew remained in place prohibiting citizens from entering 
and leaving Yamoussoukro and Abidjan city limits between 11:00 p.m. and 
6:00 a.m. Security forces, local civilian ``self-defense'' committees, 
and water, forestry, and customs officials frequently erected and 
operated roadblocks on major roads, where they demanded that motorists 
or passengers produce identity and vehicle papers and regularly 
extorted travelers, commercial traffic and truckers, foreigners, 
refugees, and others (see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.).
    From January 16 to 20, pro-Gbagbo youth militias erected roadblocks 
throughout Abidjan and attacked UN installations in Abidjan and in 
other parts of the government-controlled zone in protest against an 
International Working Group (IWG) announcement that the mandate of the 
National Assembly had expired. Security forces took no action to remove 
the roadblocks or to protect UN installations.
    On August 21, the Young Patriots blocked the vehicle of NF Minister 
of Solidarity and War Victims Louis-Andre Dacoury-Tabley, who was 
traveling to Daloa on ministry business. The NF issued a statement 
protesting the incident and accusing the Government's defense and 
security forces of failing to perform their duties.
    Police harassed opposition members at the airport and sometimes 
prevented foreigners from traveling overland between the north and the 
south.
    Persons living under NF authority regularly faced harassment and 
extortion when trying to travel between towns and to the government-
controlled south. Local military authorities regularly sold passes 
required of travelers. Security and defense forces also victimized 
northerners when they tried to cross into the zone under government 
control. Due to the closure of banks in the north at the onset of the 
crisis, northerners were forced to cross into the south and back to 
conduct all banking business, including collecting remittances (upon 
which many northerners depend). Government workers in the north also 
had to travel into the south to collect their salaries. The cost of 
either paying their way through the various barricades or hiring a 
money runner to do so was substantial. Government officials reported 
the roundtrip cost for citizens in the north to travel from Bouake and 
other cities to Yamoussoukro to cash paychecks to be between $40 and 
$60 (20,000 to 30,000 FCFA). A money courier or informal banking 
service cost either $10 (5000 FCFA) to a flat percentage of the amount 
transferred.
    On March 16, the NF cited security concerns when it prevented 
Laurent Dono Fologo, President of the Social and Economic Council, and 
his entourage of over 300 persons from driving through the NF-
controlled zone to attend the funeral of Fologo's brother in Korhogo.
    The law specifically prohibits forced exile, and no persons were 
exiled forcibly during the year. However, due to numerous death 
threats, a number of persons remained in self-imposed exile, including 
several members of the RDR, members of other opposition parties, and 
senior army officers such as General Mathias Doue and Colonel Jules Yao 
Yao.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the year there were 
large numbers of IDPs in the country as a result of the 2002 crisis. 
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated 
that as many as one million persons were displaced at the beginning of 
the crisis, of whom perhaps half (300,000 Burkinabe, 150,000 Malians, 
and 50,000 Guineans) were foreign nationals. The UN Population Fund 
(UNPFA) conducted a survey in late 2005 that estimated the total number 
of IDPs in five government-held areas to be 750,000. The survey 
concluded that more than 90 percent of IDPs lived with host families, 
and almost 70 percent were located in Abidjan. However, other 
humanitarian organizations and donors noted that these statistics 
included IDPs who maintained access to their government salaries even 
after their displacement.
    Progovernment and rebel forces did not generally target civilians, 
but ethnic conflict and fighting forced many persons to flee the zones 
of conflict, and others simply felt uncomfortable in the side of the 
divided country that they found themselves in initially. Roadblocks and 
toll collection points made it difficult for civilians to move in both 
sides of the country. These IDPs were invisible but placed heavy 
burdens on host communities, especially given the prolonged nature of 
the crisis. Government assistance, especially in the north where civil 
servants and infrastructure were not in place, did not meet the needs 
of these IDPs. International and local NGOs were working to fill the 
gap.
    In October 2005 the Government appointed a point of contact within 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address IDP problems; however, the 
Government did not provide funding for the appointee's office and 
abolished the position during the year. In the middle of the year, the 
Ministry of Solidarity and War Victims took the lead on IDP issues at 
the national level. The ministry drafted an IDP return program that was 
presented at a roundtable with international humanitarian agencies at 
the end of August. Observers noted that the ministry did not have 
either the funding or the expertise to carry out the proposed plan, 
which consisted of projects to raise awareness of problems facing IDPs, 
to analyze conditions for returning IDPs to their place of origin, and 
to reintegrate returned IDPs. Most humanitarian agencies agreed during 
a protection conference in October that the situation remained too 
precarious to promote the safe return of displaced populations.
    The ministries of foreign affairs and solidarity and war victims 
worked closely with UN agencies on IDP issues. In December the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
signed agreements to cooperate on IDP issues.
    In August the UN established an IDP protection cluster, a working 
group led by the UNHCR to address IDP protection issues. In December 
the IDP Protection Cluster initiated a profiling operation in Abidjan 
and Grand-Bassam to complement the 2005 UNFPA survey and to develop 
durable solutions for displaced communities.
    During the year an estimated 40,000 IDPs returned to their areas of 
origin, some without external assistance. UN agencies and local 
authorities also facilitated the small-scale return of IDPs to several 
locations in the west of the country with varying degrees of success. 
The displacement patterns often complicated the return of IDPs. For 
example, the displaced Burkinabe and other settlers living in the 
Guiglo IDP camp said that their plantations around the western town of 
Blolequin, south of the Zone of Confidence, were being occupied by 
indigenous Guere populations, who themselves had been displaced from 
their land in the Zone of Confidence at the beginning of the crisis. 
The Government had not addressed this situation by year's end.
    In January groups from the north conducted a series of attacks on 
several small villages in the region of Tabou, the traditional home of 
the Kroumen. The third attack resulted in the displacement of 153 
persons and the deaths of between nine and 13 persons, most of whom 
were Koulango and Baoule. In February these IDPs returned to their 
villages but found them occupied by armed men reportedly from the Lobi 
ethnic group. In February the minister of national reconciliation and 
relations with institutions visited the Tabou area and gave 
approximately $2,000 (1 million FCFA) to the Kroumen community and 
approximately $800 (400,000 FCFA) to the 153 persons who fled.
    New population displacements continued on a regular basis in the 
western region, particularly in the area around Guiglo and in the Zone 
of Confidence, although on a much smaller scale than had occurred in 
previous years. Although the origin of most disputes appeared to be 
economic, generally resulting from issues of land tenure and access to 
arable farmland, most of these conflicts also cut along ethnic lines.
    In late 2005 the Government attempted to forcibly expel 
approximately 200 IDPs from a Catholic mission in the western town of 
Duekoue to compel them to return to their villages. Some of the IDPs 
cited security concerns and refused to return. The subprefect of 
Guehiebly, located in the Zone of Confidence, used limited local funds 
to rent private homes for the IDP families, and families were forced to 
share overcrowded houses or take up residence in abandoned houses. The 
Catholic Mission permitted a number of IDPs to remain until alternative 
arrangements were made.

    Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provides for the 
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protections 
to refugees. The Government is signatory to the 1969 Organization of 
African Unity Convention governing specific aspects of refugee problems 
in Africa, and the law provides for asylum status to be granted in 
accordance with this convention.
    In practice the Government provided protection against refoulement, 
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government granted refugee status and asylum. A law that went into 
effect in 2004 provides refugees with legal status, including the right 
to work. The Government also cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and maintained an 
office charged with aiding refugees and other stateless persons.
    The Government also provided temporary protection for individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967 
Protocol.
    Various West African governments complained that their citizens 
were harassed in the country. The UN and other international 
organizations documented such abuses against foreigners, which included 
arbitrary arrest, beating, and theft (see Sections 1.a, 1.c., 1.d., and 
1.f.). These complaints diminished somewhat during the year, and there 
were no large-scale departures by foreigners due to harassment.
    Individual security officers occasionally did not honor identity 
documents issued to refugees either by the Government or by the UNHCR. 
There were fewer reports than in the previous year that security forces 
destroyed refugees' identity documents, arbitrarily detained, verbally 
harassed, and beat refugees at checkpoints. During the year the 
national agency in charge of refugees and stateless persons conducted a 
series of information sessions on refugee identification papers for 
members of the armed forces. The identity card law includes a provision 
for identity cards to be issued to non-Liberian individuals over 14 
years of age whose refugee status has been granted by the National 
Eligibility Commission. Liberians who arrived in the country before the 
2003 peace agreement in Liberia benefited from prima facie (group 
determination) and received temporary refugee cards. Liberians who 
arrived in the country after the peace agreement did not receive 
temporary cards. Under certain circumstances, some asylum seekers who 
were not granted refugee status by the Government were provided refugee 
certificates by the UNHCR.
    During the year the UNHCR assisted the voluntary repatriation of 
refugees at the Guiglo camp, which was scheduled to remain open until 
June 2007. The UNHCR closed the transit center for Liberian refugees in 
Tabou in preparation to end its official repatriation process in June 
2007.
    There were reports that refugees were raped, but little additional 
information was available.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide for the right of citizens to 
change their government peacefully through democratic means. However, 
significant violence and irregularities marred the last Presidential 
and legislative elections held in 2000.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The 2000 Presidential 
elections followed several postponements and a controversial Supreme 
Court decision disqualifying 14 of the 19 candidates, including PDCI 
and RDR candidates. RDR leader Ouattara was excluded from running in 
the Presidential and legislative elections following the Supreme 
Court's ruling that he had not demonstrated conclusively that he was of 
Ivorian parentage. The court also disqualified former President Bedie, 
President of the PDCI party, because he did not submit the required 
medical certificate.
    As a result of the Supreme Court rulings, most international 
election observers declined to monitor the election. The nationwide 
participation rate was 37 percent, and some polling places, especially 
in the north, closed early because of the lack of voters. Preliminary 
results showed that Gbagbo was leading by a significant margin. 
However, in October 2000, Daniel Cheick Bamba, an interior ministry and 
national elections commission (CNE) official, announced on national 
radio and television that the CNE had been dissolved and declared 
General Guei the victor with 56 percent of the vote. Thousands of 
Gbagbo supporters protested, demanding a full vote count. Mass 
demonstrations resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, and the next 
day, national radio and television reported that General Guei had 
stepped down and that Laurent Gbagbo had assumed the presidency.
    The 2000 National Assembly election was marred by violence, 
irregularities, and a very low participation rate. Largely because of 
the RDR boycott of the elections to protest the invalidation of 
Ouattara's candidacy, the participation rate in the legislative 
election was only 33 percent. In addition the election could not take 
place in 26 electoral districts in the north because RDR activists 
disrupted polling places, burned ballots, and threatened the security 
of election officials. Following the legislative by-elections in 2001, 
223 of the 225 seats of the National Assembly were filled: the FPI won 
96 seats, the PDCI 94 seats, the Ivorian Worker's Party 4 seats, very 
small parties 2 seats, independent candidates 22 seats, and the RDR 5 
seats, in spite of its boycott of all of the legislative elections. The 
two seats from Kong, where Ouattara planned to run, remained unfilled 
as the RDR, the only party running in that electoral district, 
boycotted the elections.Citizens' ability to elect subnational 
governments was limited.
    The country remained divided at year's end. Despite the numerous 
peace accords signed since 2003, little progress was made towards 
either elections or disarmament and reunification of the country. 
President Gbagbo remained in office despite the expiration of his term 
in October, and Charles Konan Banny remained as interim prime minister 
after having been designated by the AU and ECOWAS in December 2005.
    The youth wings of political parties were allowed to organize and 
were active. Activity of the Young FPI (JFPI) was ongoing; however, 
youth patriot groups who were not formally affiliated with the FPI 
conducted most activities during the year (see Section 2.b.). Many of 
the members of the JFPI were likely members of some of these patriot 
groups. During the year militia groups such as the Young Patriots drew 
smaller crowds at demonstrations in Abidjan and elsewhere than when the 
rebellion broke out (see Section 2.b.). For the first time since March 
2004, when security forces violently repressed a demonstration by the 
unarmed opposition, the youth wings of the PDCI and RDR became more 
active.
    On January 17, Young Patriots, FESCI students, and FPI members 
attacked the UN camp in Guiglo to protest the declaration by the IWG 
that the mandate of the National Assembly would expire in December. 
Besieged peacekeepers were forced to flee. Four to five protesters were 
killed, and the camp was looted and destroyed. The protests continued 
for four days during which protesters attacked UN headquarters in the 
Sebroko area of Abidjan, as well as offices, camps, and personnel in 
Daloa and San Pedro. On January 20, after a request from their leaders 
to leave the streets, the Young Patriots dismantled the roadblocks.
    On October 15, the RHDP opposition alliance held a rally at an 
Abidjan stadium that reportedly drew between 5,000 and 10,000 persons.
    In December youth members of the opposition held demonstrations in 
Abidjan and other parts of the country to protest the President's 
decree replacing the managing directors of RTI and Fraternite Matin and 
reinstating the managing directors of the port and the customs service 
and the governor of the district of Abidjan. Three members of the 
opposition were killed and several injured by security forces.
    Women held 19 of 225 seats in the last elected National Assembly, 
which was suspended at the end of 2005. The first vice President of the 
National Assembly was a woman. Women held five of the 36 ministerial 
positions in Prime Minister Banny's cabinet. Of the 41 Supreme Court 
justices, four were women. Henriette Dagri Diabate served as Secretary 
General of the RDR, the party's second ranking position.
    In the last elected National Assembly, 44 out of 223 members of 
parliament were Muslim.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption and 
lack of transparency remained a serious problem during the year. It was 
common for judges open to bribery to distort the merits of a case. 
Corruption had the greatest impact on judicial proceedings, contract 
awards, customs, and tax issues, and accountability of the security 
forces.
    On August 23, police officer Zie Guillaume was arrested when he 
attempted to bribe the minister of security with $240,000 (117 million 
FCFA) after allegedly attempting to enroll Police Academy candidates 
who had not completed the required exam (see Section 1.d.).
    The Prime Minister dissolved the cabinet following reports that 
corruption and mismanagement within the port authorities and customs 
agency had contributed to the dumping of toxic wastes in several areas 
of Abidjan, resulting in the deaths of 10 persons. When he formed a new 
cabinet in September, he replaced the transportation minister and 
created a new Ministry of Good Governance to address corruption issues.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups, 
including the Ivorian League for Human Rights (LIDHO) and MIDH, 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. The Government 
occasionally met with some of these groups.
    The Government took no action against Young Patriots leader Charles 
Ble Goude when the U.S. sanctioned him in February for his role in 
promoting ongoing tensions in the country. The Government also took no 
action against prominent loyalist leaders in Abidjan such as Women 
Patriots leader Genevieve Bro Grebe and others who in 2004 helped 
orchestrate attacks on unarmed UN personnel and vehicles, opposition 
newspapers, opposition party headquarters, the homes of opposition 
party members, and the homes, businesses, and schools of French 
citizens and other expatriates. The violence, which was triggered in 
part by the retaliation of French Operation Licorne peacekeeping troops 
for the Government's bombing of the French military base in Bouake, 
resulted in numerous civilian deaths and injuries.
    During the year ONUCI, LIDHO, MIDH, Action for the Defense of Human 
Rights, and other human rights groups gathered evidence and testimony, 
published in independent local daily newspapers, and often criticized 
government security forces.
    During the year members of MIDH continued to receive death threats, 
and progovernment militia groups targeted and harassed ONUCI.
    No investigations were conducted into incidents from previous years 
of threats and harassment of MIDH members.
    During the year progovernment militia, unhindered by government 
security forces, frequently blocked UN and French peacekeeping forces 
from conducting activities in government-controlled areas. The IWG 
frequently protested such interference, which did not abate.
    For example, during demonstrations in January against the IWG (see 
Section 2.a), progovernment demonstrators attacked the vehicle of Prime 
Minister Banny, smashing several windows. A French Embassy official 
reported being attacked in his vehicle in the same vicinity during that 
incident. In a related incident, demonstrators destroyed a UN vehicle 
in the parking lot of the Hotel Ivoire. Pierre Schori, the UN Secretary 
General's Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, protested the 
attacks on ONUCI staff, buildings, and vehicles, and deplored the 
restrictions on the freedom of movement of UN employees.
    Beginning in October, UN troops operated patrols to reinforce 
security along the country's border with Liberia.
    There were no reports that the Government suppressed international 
human rights groups or denied them visas; however, the Government on 
occasion restricted their access to certain areas deemed sensitive and 
often denigrated their work.
    During the year the Government regularly permitted the World Food 
Program (WFP), the ICRC, and other international organizations to 
conduct humanitarian operations. Eleven UN agencies, including the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Health 
Organization, were resident and active throughout the year.Local 
newspapers covered reports by several international human rights 
organizations that were critical of both the Government's and the 
rebels' human rights records.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national 
origin, sex, or religion; however, the Government did not effectively 
enforce the law.

    Women.--The law does not define domestic violence, which was a 
serious problem. Female victims of domestic violence suffered severe 
social stigma and as a result often did not report or discuss domestic 
violence. The courts and police viewed domestic violence as a problem 
to be addressed within the family unless serious bodily harm was 
inflicted or the victim lodged a complaint, in which case criminal 
proceedings could be initiated. However, a victim's own parents often 
urged withdrawal of a complaint because of the effect of social stigma 
on the entire family.
    The law prohibits rape and provides for prison terms of five to 10 
years, and the Government enforced this law. Claims were most 
frequently brought against child rapists. A life sentence can be 
imposed in cases of gang rape if the rapists are related to or hold 
positions of authority over the victim, or if the victim is under 15 
years of age. The law does not specifically penalize spousal rape. Rape 
was a problem, although its extent was unknown because the Government 
did not collect statistics on rape or other physical abuse of women. 
Women's advocacy groups continued to protest the indifference of 
authorities to female victims of violence; however, women who reported 
rape or domestic violence to the police were often ignored. Many female 
victims were convinced by their relatives and police to seek an 
amicable resolution with the rapist rather than pursue a legal case. 
The Ministry of Human Rights, the Association of Women Lawyers, and 
MIDH continued to seek justice on behalf of rape victims but had not 
made much progress by year's end because of the reluctance of victims 
to file formal complaints. During the year the MIDH conducted a project 
called SOS Rape to provide rape victims with legal, social, 
psychological, and medical assistance.
    During the year the Ministry of Women, Family, and Children's 
Affairs continued to provide limited assistance to victims of domestic 
violence. The ministry's support included providing government-run 
counseling centers with computers, printers, and other equipment for 
record-keeping and visiting a few victims in their homes to attempt to 
reconcile troubled couples and to remove domestic servants from homes 
in which they had been sexually abused.
    The National Committee in Charge of Fighting against Violence 
against Women and Children, under the Ministry of Women, Family and 
Children's Affairs, maintained a hot line for abused women, helped 
provide shelters for victims of abuse, and counseled abusive husbands. 
The committee also monitored abusive situations through frequent home 
visits. Young girls who feared becoming victims of abuse, FGM, or 
forced marriage could appeal to the committee, which arranged for 
shelter in facilities run by the Government or NGOs. The committee 
often stopped abuse by threatening legal action against offending 
parents or husbands.
    FGM was a serious problem. The law specifically forbids FGM and 
provides penalties for practitioners of up to five years' imprisonment 
and fines of approximately $720 to $4,000 (360,000 to two million 
FCFA). Double penalties apply to medical practitioners. The incidence 
of FGM did not continue to decrease from the previous year, and an 
estimated 60 percent of women had undergone the procedure. FGM was 
practiced most frequently among rural populations in the north and west 
and to a lesser extent in the center and south. FGM usually was 
performed on girls before or at puberty as a rite of passage, with 
techniques and hygiene that did not meet modern medical standards. 
Local NGOs, such as the Djigui Foundation, Animation Rurale de Korhogo, 
and the National Organization for Child, Woman, and Family, continued 
to work to persuade FGM practitioners to turn in their instruments. 
Unlike in the previous year, arrests related to FGM were made. For 
example, on March 8, a three-year-old girl required medical attention 
after undergoing FGM. The NF arrested and detained the girl's mother 
and the FGM practitioners at the police station in Marabadiassa. They 
were later released without charge.
    Prostitution is not illegal as long as it occurs between consenting 
adults in private, and the practice appeared to be increasing due to 
economic difficulty. Soliciting and pandering are illegal, and the 
police sometimes enforced the law. Women from nearby countries 
sometimes were trafficked into the country, including for forced 
prostitution (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, such harassment was 
widespread and routinely accepted as a cultural norm. The Government 
did not initiate any investigations or prosecutions during the year. 
The penalties for sexual harassment are between one and three years' 
imprisonment and a fine ranging between $720 and $2,000 (360,000 and 
one million CFA).
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender; however, 
women occupied a subordinate role in society. Government policy 
encouraged full participation by women in social and economic life; 
however, there was considerable resistance among employers in the 
formal sector to hiring women, who were considered less dependable 
because of their potential for pregnancy. Some women also encountered 
difficulty in obtaining loans, as they could not meet the lending 
criteria established by banks, such as a title to a house and 
production of a profitable cash crop. NGOs supervised efforts to create 
economic cooperatives to provide poor women access to small loans from 
the Government or private microfinance banks. Women in the formal 
sector usually were paid at the same rate as men (see Section 6.e.); 
however, because the tax code did not recognize women as heads of 
households, female workers frequently were required to pay income tax 
at a higher rate than their male counterparts when they could not prove 
that they were family heads. Women's organizations began a campaign 
against the practice during the year, but the Government had not 
revised the tax code by year's end. Inheritance law also discriminated 
against women.
    Women's advocacy organizations continued to sponsor campaigns 
against forced marriage, marriage of minors, patterns of inheritance 
that excluded women, and other practices considered harmful to women 
and girls. Women's organizations also campaigned against the legal 
texts and procedures that discriminated against women. The Coalition of 
Women Leaders continued its efforts to promote greater participation of 
women in political decision-making and in presenting themselves as 
candidates in legislative and municipal elections.

    Children.--The ministries of public health and of employment, 
public service, and social security sought to safeguard the welfare of 
children, and the Government also encouraged the formation of NGOs to 
promote children's interests, such as the National Organization for 
Children and Family.
    The Government strongly encouraged children to attend school in the 
government-controlled south; however, primary education was not 
compulsory. Primary education was tuition-free but usually ended at age 
13. In principle students did not have to pay for books or fees; 
however, some still did so or rented books from stalls on the street 
because the Government did not provide for school fees and books for 
every school. Poverty led many children between the ages of 12 and 14 
to leave school. Research in 2002 showed that 67 percent of children 
six to 17 years old attended school, including 73 percent of boys and 
61 percent of girls. However, Ministry of Education statistics for the 
2004	2005 school year indicated that the de facto partition of the 
country had resulted in a drop in the schooling rate to 54.3 percent in 
primary school, with 52.1 percent of boys and 43.5 percent of girls 
attending school.
    The schooling rate was much lower in the zone controlled by the NF. 
According to the NGO Ecole pour Tous, the lower enrollment rate was due 
both to lack of government teachers working in NF-controlled zones and 
to the migration of families out of these areas.
    The WFP continued to work with the Government to establish a 
countrywide system of school canteens that provided subsidized lunches 
for $.05 (25 FCFA).
    Students who failed the secondary school entrance exams did not 
qualify for free secondary education, and many families could not 
afford to pay for schooling. Parental preference for educating boys 
rather than girls persisted, particularly in rural areas. The minister 
of national education stated in 2005 that almost one-third of the 
female primary and secondary school dropout rate of 66 percent was 
attributable to pregnancies. For the first time since 2004, the 
Government allowed exams to be administered in September in the rebel-
controlled north, thereby permitting thousands of students in that 
region to seek advanced study.
    Teachers sometimes gave good grades and money to students in 
exchange for sexual favors. The penalty for statutory rape or attempted 
rape of either a child aged 15 years or younger was a prison sentence 
of one to three years and a fine of $200 to $2,000 (100,000 to one 
million FCFA).
    The Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene continued to operate a 
nationwide network of clinics for children, infants, and prenatal care 
staffed with nurses and doctors who served the local residents, whether 
citizens or non-citizens, free or at low cost; however, many doctors 
and nurses left the zones under control of the NF after September 2002. 
Girls and boys had equal access to health care.
    A 2004 NGO survey of 500 schoolchildren in Abidjan and its suburbs 
found that 27 percent of children had been victims of sexual abuse; 74 
percent of the victims were girls and 26 percent boys. Approximately 33 
percent had been raped, 15 percent had been the victims of attempted 
rape; 42 percent had been fondled, and 11 percent were victims of 
sexual harassment. When the sexual abuse occurred in the family, 54 
percent of the assailants were male cousins, 11 percent were female 
cousins, five percent were guardians, and three percent were brothers 
and sisters.
    FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
    The law prohibits and provides criminal penalties for forced or 
early marriage; however, it occurred throughout the country, 
particularly in rural areas. The law prohibits the marriage of men 
under the age of 20, women under the age of 18, and persons under the 
age of 21 without the consent of their parents. However, traditional 
marriages were commonly performed with girls as young as 14 in the 
conservative communities in the north. The law specifically penalizes 
anyone who forces a minor under 18 years if age to enter a religious or 
customary matrimonial union. There is no data on child marriage because 
these marriages are done traditionally and are not registered.
    There were reports of trafficking in children (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Both progovernment militias and rebel forces continued to recruit 
and use children as soldiers, both on a voluntary and a forced basis.
    Child labor remained a problem (see Sections 5, Trafficking, and 
6.d.).
    There were many thousands of street children in the country, 
including approximately 5,000 in Abidjan; even NGOs dedicated to the 
problem found it difficult to estimate its extent. Some children were 
employed as domestics and were subject to sexual abuse, harassment, and 
other mistreatment by their employers (see Section 6.d.). Because of 
the political-military crisis, many families, including displaced 
families, relied on their children to work as street vendors and bring 
money home. A forum of 15 NGOs worked with street children in training 
centers that were similar to halfway houses. The NGOs paid the children 
a small subsistence sum while teaching them vocational and budgeting 
skills. Many street children, however, were reluctant to stay in 
training centers where they earned no money and were subject to strict 
discipline.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit 
trafficking in persons, and although the Government continued its 
antitrafficking efforts, trafficking in persons remained a problem. 
With the continuing crisis and the difficulty in identifying trafficked 
children, UN agencies and international humanitarian agencies such as 
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) concentrated on child soldiers and 
children displaced because of the war. The Government, other UN and 
international agencies such as ILO, International Cocoa Foundation 
(ICI), and the German Cooperation Agency (GTZ) continued efforts to 
combat trafficking in persons.
    The country was a source and destination country for trafficking in 
women and children. Women and children were trafficked from Mali, 
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Benin for the purposes of prostitution, 
sexual exploitation, and forced commercial, agricultural, and domestic 
servitude. The full extent and nature of the problem was unknown 
despite efforts to document the trafficking of persons in the country. 
There was no reliable estimate on the number of children intercepted or 
repatriated during the year. Trafficking in persons appeared to 
decrease during the year due to increased police checkpoints and fewer 
economic opportunities in the country. Unlike in the previous year, 
officials at the country's border with Ghana near Aboisso did not 
report an increase in the number of unaccompanied child travelers.
    The country's cities and farms provided ample opportunities for 
traffickers, especially of children and women. The informal labor 
sectors were not regulated under existing labor laws; as a result 
domestics, most nonindustrial farm laborers, and those who worked in 
the country's broad range of street shops and restaurants remained 
outside formal government protection. Internal trafficking of girls 
ages nine to 15 to work as household domestics in Abidjan, and 
elsewhere in the more prosperous south, remained a problem. Traffickers 
of local children often were relatives or friends of the victim's 
parents. Traffickers sometimes promised parents that the children would 
learn a trade, but they often ended up on the streets as vendors or 
working as domestic servants. Due to the economic crisis, many parents 
allowed their children to be exploited to minimize the financial burden 
on the family. Because security forces were trained to search buses for 
trafficked children, traffickers changed their methods during the year. 
Instead of moving large groups of children into the country by bus, 
traffickers relocated between one and three children at a time by 
bicycle or train or on foot.
    Women principally were trafficked to the country from Nigeria and 
Ghana. A local NGO estimated during the year that 58 percent of the 
female prostitutes in Abidjan were not citizens. Organized trafficking 
rings promised Nigerian women and girls that they would have jobs in 
restaurants and beauty salons in Abidjan; however, many ended up in 
brothels.
    Women and children were trafficked from the country to African, 
European, and Middle Eastern countries for prostitution and sexual 
exploitation, and agricultural and domestic labor.
    The regular trafficking of children into the country from 
neighboring countries to work in the informal sector in exchange for 
finder's fees generally was accepted. Children were trafficked into the 
country from Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Mauritania for 
indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, and sexual exploitation.
    The controversy over child labor in the local cocoa sector 
continued, and the Government, the ILO, the Institute of Tropical 
Agriculture, and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association continued to 
document the problem and search for ways to handle the issue. A 2002 
survey conducted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture 
revealed that most children in the cocoa sector worked on the family's 
farm (approximately 70 percent) or beside their parents. Of the 625,000 
working children, 96.7 percent had a kinship relation to the farmer. 
Others, most frequently the children of extended family members or 
persons well known to them, cited their or their family's agreement to 
leave their respective countries to work on farms in the country to 
earn money or to pursue a better life.
    The research suggested that perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 children were 
trafficked to or within the country to work full- or part-time in the 
cocoa sector. It also showed an estimated 5,100 children employed as 
full-time permanent workers, approximately 3,000 of whom were from 
Burkina Faso. The survey found another 12,000 children working part-
time on cocoa farms who had no family ties with the farmer. The 
research showed that approximately 109,000 child laborers worked in 
hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in the country in what the study 
described as the worst forms of child labor. The studies estimated that 
59 percent were from Burkina Faso, 24 percent were citizens, and the 
others were from Mali or other countries to the north. Compared with 
previous years, there were significantly fewer reports of children from 
neighboring countries being imported for fieldwork on plantations under 
abusive conditions.
    Traffickers can be prosecuted under laws prohibiting kidnapping, 
forced labor, and mistreatment; however, there was minimal law 
enforcement in government-held territories, and only five traffickers 
were arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to prison terms during the 
year. The National Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking and 
Child Exploitation coordinated the Government's antitrafficking 
efforts; it included representatives from the ministries of family and 
social affairs, security, labor, foreign affairs, economy and finance, 
and health and public hygiene.
    The Government cooperated with international investigations of 
trafficking. The ministries of employment and of family and social 
affairs continued to work with authorities in neighboring countries to 
prevent cross-border child trafficking and to repatriate children. In 
July 2005 the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs held a ministerial 
meeting on trafficking in persons that was attended by 10 West African 
countries that signed a multilateral accord to fight trafficking 
collectively. In July the Government set up a committee with national 
reach to coordinate its implementation of the multilateral cooperative 
agreement, which includes a provision to establish a child trafficking 
monitoring system.
    The Government worked with NGOs and international organizations to 
combat trafficking in persons. The National Committee for the Fight 
Against Child Trafficking continued its work during the year and 
included representatives from numerous government ministries; 
representatives from several national and international organizations 
and NGOs, such as UNICEF, ILO, Save the Children, and the Network of 
African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians--Cote d'Ivoire (REFAMP-
CI); and the BICE. In Abgoville, in the heart of the cocoa-producing 
zone, Winrock International continued its project Alternatives to Child 
Labor through Improved Education. The project offers agricultural 
classes for farmers' children to provide them with practical cocoa-
farming skills in the context of their continuing education. The 
development agencies of two foreign governments, in cooperation with 
NGOs and industry-sponsored consortiums, continued a campaign against 
the worst forms of child labor in cocoa-growing belts.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the Government to 
educate and train persons with physical, mental, visual, auditory, and 
cerebral motor disabilities, to hire them or help them find jobs, to 
design houses and public facilities for wheelchair access, and to adapt 
machines, tools, and work spaces for access and use by persons with 
disabilities; however, wheelchair accessible facilities for persons 
with disabilities were not common, and there were few training and job 
assistance programs for persons with disabilities. The law also 
prohibits acts of violence against persons with disabilities and the 
abandonment of such persons; however, there were no reports that the 
Government enforced these laws during the year.
    There were no developments during the year in the November 2005 
case in which more than 200 members of the National Federation of the 
Handicapped of Cote d'Ivoire (FAH-CI) organized a sit-in in front of 
the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Security, and the Handicapped to 
protest the Government's failure to recruit persons with disabilities 
during the last three years. The head of FAH-CI was subsequently fired. 
Although the Government in 1996 announced a program to recruit persons 
with disabilities for government service, FAH-CI announced in December 
that only 435 persons with disabilities had been recruited into the 
civil service since the program began.
    Adults with disabilities were not specific targets of abuse, but 
they encountered serious discrimination in employment and education. 
The Government financially supported special schools, associations, and 
artisans' cooperatives for persons with disabilities, but many persons 
with physical disabilities begged on urban streets and in commercial 
zones for lack of other economic opportunities. Persons with mental 
disabilities often lived on the street.
    Traditional practices, beliefs, and superstitions varied, but 
infanticide in cases of serious birth defects continued to decline from 
the previous year. Many parents no longer believed that children with 
disabilities were sorcerers or the signs of a curse.
    The Ministry of Family and Social Affairs and the Federation of the 
Handicapped were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities.
    One person with disabilities, the vice President of the Movement of 
Forces of the Future, was appointed minister of human rights in 
September.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was 
ethnically diverse. Citizens born in the country derived from five 
major families of ethnic groups: the Akan; the northern Mande; the 
Krou; the Voltaic; and the southern Mande. Major ethnic groups 
generally had their own primary languages, and their nonurban 
populations tended to be concentrated regionally.
    All ethnic groups sometimes practiced societal discrimination on 
the basis of ethnicity. Urban neighborhoods had identifiable ethnic 
characteristics, and major political parties tended to have 
identifiable ethnic and regional bases, although interethnic marriage 
increasingly was common in urban areas.
    At least one-quarter of the population was foreign, and of that 
group, 95 percent were other Africans. There were more than five 
million West African immigrants living in the country. Most of the 
Africans were from neighboring countries, with half from Burkina Faso. 
Birth in the country did not automatically confer citizenship. Outdated 
or inadequate land ownership laws resulted in conflicts with ethnic and 
xenophobic overtones.
    National identification remained at the heart of the ongoing 
political crisis. In May Prime Minister Banny initiated a program to 
register the approximately 2.5 to three million undocumented Ivorians 
and foreigners born in the country. However, this effort aroused fierce 
protests by pro-Gbagbo militias and President Gbagbo's FPI party, which 
alleged that the procedures being used were vulnerable to fraud. The 
Prime Minister's office amended the procedures by adopting guidelines 
to separate the registration of birth certificates from the 
registration of certificates of nationality. Only the birth 
certificates continued to be delivered on the spot during the mobile 
court fairs.
    In 2004 the National Assembly made changes to the nationality code 
and adopted a Special Law on Naturalization, legislation that was 
envisioned by the Linas-Marcoussis Accord to resolve the dispute over 
which persons born of foreign parents before 1972 should be entitled to 
citizenship and to simplify procedures to obtain citizenship for this 
group and for foreigners married to citizens. The legislation that was 
eventually passed resolved the citizenship question for those born 
before 1960 but not for those born between 1960 and 1972. In July and 
August 2005 the President signed new drafts of laws on nationality and 
naturalization in an effort to address the concerns of the opposition 
parties; however, nationality and citizenship remained contentious 
issues.
    Some resident ethnic groups included many noncitizens, while others 
included few noncitizens. Societal and political tensions between these 
two sets of ethnic groups resulted in a cleavage corresponding to some 
extent to regional differences. Members of northern ethnic groups that 
were found both domestically and in neighboring countries often were 
required to document their citizenship, whereas members of formerly or 
presently politically powerful ethnic groups of the west, south, and 
center reportedly were not required to do so.
    Police routinely abused and harassed noncitizen Africans residing 
in the country (see Section 1.f.). Harassment by officials reflected 
the common belief that foreigners were responsible for high crime rates 
and instances of identity card fraud. Harassment of northerners, which 
increased markedly after the 2002 rebellion, declined from 2005 levels.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
bulldozed the homes of persons living in shantytowns in Abidjan.
    The French and the Burkinabe continued to minimize their public 
exposure as harassment against them by security forces at checkpoints 
continued during the year (see Section 2.d.).
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reported clashes between 
the native Guere populations and the Burkinabe; however, there were 
clashes between the Guere and other groups.
    Ethnic tensions led to fighting and deaths, especially in Alepe, in 
the southeast, and in the western areas of the country. Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that fighting continued between 
the We and Yacouba ethnic groups in the west. In the west, and in 
Duekoue and Bangolo in particular, there continued to be violent 
clashes between the native We population and members of the foreign 
community, particularly Burkinabe farmers.
    At year's end the Government had taken no action against 
perpetrators of violent clashes in 2005.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law did not provide 
for the protection of homosexuals or persons living with HIV/AIDS from 
societal and other forms of discrimination. Societal stigmatization of 
these groups was widespread, and the Government did not act to counter 
it during the year.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Progovernment newspapers, 
militias, and youth groups, often encouraged by leaders of the Young 
Patriots and FESCI, continued to use the media, including radio 
programs and newspaper columns, to promote hatred against northerners, 
loosely described as ``assailants,'' the French, and foreigners, 
especially those from Mali and Burkina Faso. Charles Ble Goude, leader 
of the Young Patriots, used less violent rhetoric after sanctions were 
imposed on him in February.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all citizens, except 
members of the police and military services, to form or join unions of 
their choice without excessive requirements, and workers exercised 
these rights in practice. Registration of a new union required three 
months and was granted routinely.
    Only a small percentage of the workforce was organized, and most 
laborers worked in the informal sector, which included small farms, 
small roadside and street side shops, and urban workshops. However, 
large industrial farms and some trades were organized, and there was an 
agricultural workers union. Of the 15 percent of workers in the formal 
sector, approximately 60 percent were unionized.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers or 
others against union members or organizers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions in the formal sector, which comprised approximately 1.5 million 
workers or 15 percent of the workforce, to conduct their activities 
without interference, and the Government protected this right in 
practice. The law provides for collective bargaining and grants all 
citizens, except members of the police and military services, the right 
to bargain collectively. Collective bargaining agreements were in 
effect in many major business enterprises and sectors of the civil 
service. The law provides for the right to strike, and workers 
generally exercised this right. During 2005 and 2006, cocoa farmers, 
police trainees, customs workers, bank employees, air traffic 
controllers, and teachers at both the primary and higher education 
levels conducted strikes against a variety of grievances. However, the 
law requires a protracted series of negotiations and a six-day 
notification period before a strike may take place, making legal 
strikes difficult to organize and maintain.
    In August the medical corps of the Cocody University Teaching 
Hospital began a three-day strike after a gendarme used his gun to 
threaten the hospital staff to treat his family member before patients 
who had been waiting longer. During the strike, which was considered 
illegal because the staff did not provide six days' prior notice, the 
hospital maintained a skeleton staff and asked the Government to ensure 
their protection. The Ministry of Health negotiated with employees to 
convince them to return to work. However, the Government did not 
provide physical protection to the staff as it had agreed, and no 
action was taken against the gendarme.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the Government 
made efforts to enforce the law during the year. However, there were 
reports such practices occurred (see Section 5).
    Compulsory labor by children occurred (see Section 6.d.)

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws against forced labor and the exploitation of children 
in the workplace; however, child labor remained a problem. In most 
instances the legal minimum working age is 14; however, the Ministry of 
Civil Service, Employment, and Administrative Reform enforced this 
provision effectively only in the civil service and in large 
multinational companies. The law limits the hours worked by young 
workers, defined as those younger than 18 years old. However, children 
often worked on family farms, and some children routinely acted as 
vendors, shoe shiners, errand boys, domestic helpers, street restaurant 
vendors, and car watchers and washers in the informal sector in cities. 
Some girls as young as nine years old began work as domestics, often 
within their extended family networks. There were reliable reports of 
children laboring in ``sweatshop'' conditions in small workshops. 
Children also worked in family-operated, small-scale gold and diamond 
mines.
    According to a 2003 study, 28 percent of all children worked, with 
20 percent working full-time. About 23 percent of the children ages 10 
to 14 and 55 percent of the children ages five to 17 carried out an 
economic activity. According to a 2002 study conducted by the 
Sustainable Tree Crop Program and the International Institute of 
Tropical Agriculture, approximately 109,000 child laborers worked in 
hazardous conditions on cocoa farms (see Section 5); some of these 
children were forced or indentured workers, but 70 percent worked on 
family farms or with their parents. Government militias and rebels 
continued to use child soldiers (see Section 5.)
    The Government continued its 2004 pilot program to certify that 
cocoa was produced free of child labor and that children in cocoa 
producing areas attended school. The Ministry of Labor also continued 
the work of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Child Labor and worked 
in conjunction with the World Chocolate Foundation to develop a list of 
benchmarks and deadlines to be achieved by 2008.
    As part of a national action plan adopted in 2005 to eliminate 
child labor and trafficking, the Ministry of Civil Service, Employment, 
and Administrative Reform, in coordination with other ministries, 
developed a list of prohibited worst forms of child labor, which was 
published in the official registry in March 2005. During the year NGOs 
used this list in ongoing campaigns to sensitize farm families about 
the worst forms of child labor.
    The Association of Domestic Worker Placement in Cote d'Ivoire 
worked to prevent the exploitation of children in domestic work. Other 
NGOs campaigned against child trafficking, child labor, and the sexual 
abuse of children.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages varied according 
to occupation, with the lowest set at approximately $73 (36,607 FCFA) 
per month for the industrial sector; this wage did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. A slightly higher minimum 
wage rate applied for construction workers. The Government enforced the 
minimum wage rates only for salaried workers employed by the Government 
or registered with the social security office.
    Labor federations attempted to fight for just treatment under the 
law for workers when companies failed to meet minimum salary 
requirements or discriminated among classes of workers, such as local 
and foreign workers. For example, the sanitary services company Ash 
International continued to pay wages as low as $24 (12,000 FCFA) per 
month to female employees who swept the streets of Abidjan. According 
to their labor federation, labor inspectors continued to ignore this 
violation of the law.
    The shipbuilding company Carena continued to discriminate between 
European engineers who were paid on average $15,600 (eight million 
FCFA) a month and their African colleagues who received approximately 
$1,500 (800,000 FCFA) a month. Government labor and employment 
authorities did not take action in these cases.
    The standard legal workweek was 40 hours. The law requires overtime 
pay for additional hours and provides for at least one 24-hour rest 
period per week. The law did not prohibit compulsory overtime. The 
Government did not actively enforce the law during the year.
    The law provides for occupational safety and health standards in 
the formal sector; however, in the large informal sector of the 
economy, the Government enforced occupational health and safety 
regulations erratically, if at all. Labor inspectors frequently 
accepted bribes. Workers in the formal sector had the right to remove 
themselves from dangerous work without jeopardy to continued employment 
by utilizing the Ministry of Labor's inspection system to document 
dangerous working conditions. However, workers in both the formal and 
informal sectors could not absent themselves from such labor without 
risking the loss of their employment.
    Several million foreign workers, mostly from neighboring countries, 
typically worked in the informal labor sector, where labor laws were 
not enforced.

                               __________

                                DJIBOUTI

    Djibouti is a republic with a strong presidency and a weak 
legislature. It has an estimated population of 660,000. In April 2005 
President Ismail Omar Guelleh, candidate of the ruling People's Rally 
for Progress (RPP), won reelection unopposed amid an opposition 
boycott. International observers considered the election generally free 
and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained control of the 
security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it 
continued to commit serious abuses. Human rights problems included the 
abridgement of citizens' rights to change their government; abuse of 
prisoners and detainees; harsh prison conditions; official impunity; 
arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; 
interference with privacy rights and restrictions on freedoms of press, 
assembly, and association. Other abuses included the use of force to 
disperse demonstrators and strikers, violence and discrimination 
against women, female genital mutilation (FGM), discrimination on the 
basis of ethnicity, nationality, and clan background, and restrictions 
on unions and harassment of union leaders were also observed.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and the law prohibit such practices; 
however, there continued to be reports that police and gendarmes beat 
and physically abused prisoners and detainees.
    On September 12, police beat and arrested protesters demonstrating 
against power shortages (see Section 2.b.).
    Members of police vice squads targeted prostitutes on the streets 
and reportedly raped them as a precondition for their release. During 
the year government officials acknowledged this problem but took no 
action.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh, and overcrowding was a serious problem. Conditions at Nagad 
detention center, where foreigners were held prior to deportation, were 
unsanitary, and detainees often were not fed for several days before 
their deportation. Medical care was inadequate, and several prisoners 
reportedly suffered from untreated illnesses or injuries received 
during arrest.
    In principle juveniles were held separately from adult prisoners; 
however, this was not always the case. Children under the age of five 
sometimes were allowed to stay with their mothers. Pretrial detainees 
usually were not held separately from convicted prisoners due to the 
lack of facilities.
    The Government granted prison access to the International Committee 
of the Red Cross (ICRC) for annual inspections.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not respect these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces include 
the National Police Force (FNP) under the Ministry of Interior, the 
army and Gendarmerie Nationale under the Ministry of Defense, and an 
elite Republican Guard under the presidency. The FNP is responsible for 
internal security, border control, and prisons. The Gendarmerie 
Nationale is responsible for external security but also has some 
domestic security responsibilities. The Republican Guard is responsible 
for the protection of the President.
    Police were generally effective; however, there were reports of 
corruption, particularly in the lower ranks where wages were low. 
Official impunity was a problem. There is no mechanism available to 
investigate police abuses.
    On May 12, large-scale military operations were undertaken in the 
northern part of the country by the armed forces with police forces and 
gendarmerie. The Government claimed that these operations were meant to 
deal with bandits and criminals that have been terrorizing the northern 
populations. According to opposition parties and the Human Rights 
League, these operations were conducted against an armed splinter group 
of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, a party that 
is now a member of the ruling coalition.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants and 
stipulates that the Government may not detain a person beyond 48 hours 
without an examining magistrate's formal charge; however, the law was 
not always enforced in practice. Detainees may be held another 24 hours 
with the prior approval of the public prosecutor. All persons, 
including those accused of political or national security offenses, 
must be tried within eight months of arraignment. The law also provides 
for bail and expeditious trial; however, police occasionally 
disregarded these procedures. Detainees have the right to prompt access 
to an attorney of their choice; in criminal cases, the state provides 
attorneys for detainees without legal representation.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained numerous persons, 
some of whom were beaten (see Section 1.c.). Security forces also 
arrested demonstrators and strikers during the year (see Sections 2.b. 
and 6.b.).
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem; however, no statistics 
were available.

    Amnesty.--On June 26, the Government released or reduced sentences 
of prisoners as part of the annual Independence Day amnesty. Prisoners 
serving one year or less were released; prisoners with longer terms 
received reductions in their sentences. The amnesty excluded drug 
dealers, those held for misuse of public funds, those who committed 
violence against their families, and rapists. In celebration of the Eid 
al-Adha holiday, another amnesty decree was signed on December 29 
releasing 113 prisoners from jail.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary was 
not independent of the executive. Constitutional provisions for a fair 
trial were not universally respected. The judiciary was subject to 
inefficiency and corruption.
    The judiciary, based on the French Napoleonic code, was composed of 
a lower court, an appeals court, and a Supreme Court. The Supreme Court 
may overrule lower court decisions. Magistrates are appointed for life 
terms. The constitutional council rules on the constitutionality of 
laws, including those related to the protection of human rights and 
civil liberties; however, its rulings did not always protect these 
rights.
    The legal system is based on legislation and executive decrees, 
French codified law adopted at independence, Islamic law (Shari'a), and 
nomadic traditions. Urban crime was dealt with in the regular courts in 
accordance with French-inspired law and judicial practice. Civil 
actions may be brought in regular or traditional courts. In 2004 the 
Government published and began implementing the 2002 Family Code, which 
replaces Shari'a in governing the majority of laws pertaining to family 
and personal matters, including marriage, divorce, child custody, and 
inheritance matters. Issues that fall under the Family Code are brought 
to civil court, and both parties can present their case to a judge; the 
court then tries to reach a reconciliation agreement between the two 
parties. If no solution can be found, the judge decides the case based 
on the appropriate statutes in the Family Code.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials generally were public, except in 
politically sensitive cases when security measures effectively 
prevented public access. Legal counsel was supposed to be available to 
the indigent in criminal and civil matters, but defendants often did 
not have legal representation. The law states that the accused is 
innocent until proven guilty; however, defendants were not always 
presumed innocent. A presiding judge and two accompanying judges heard 
court cases. The latter received assistance from two lay assessors who 
were not members of the bench but who were considered to possess 
sufficient legal knowledge to comprehend court proceedings. The 
Government chose lay assessors from the public, but reports indicated 
that political and ethnic affiliations played a role in the selection. 
Defendants have the right to be present, confront witnesses, have 
access to government-held evidence, have a right of appeal, and enjoy a 
presumption of innocence.
    Traditional law often applied in conflict resolution and victim 
compensation. For example, traditional law often stipulated that a 
price be paid to the victim's clan for crimes such as murder and rape.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A civil court deals with 
all matters related to the Civil Code. The Administrative Chamber does 
exist, but does not function. Court decisions are not always enforced.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions; 
however, the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. 
The law requires that authorities obtain a warrant before conducting 
searches on private property, but in practice the Government did not 
always obtain such warrants. The Government reportedly monitored and 
sometimes disrupted the communications of government opponents by 
cutting their telephone or electricity service. Police reportedly 
frequently followed persons who attended opposition rallies.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
restricted these rights in practice. The Government intimidated 
journalists into practicing self-censorship.
    On May 30, the Government suspended Kaltoum Ali, a journalist for 
the Radio and Television of Djibouti and correspondent of BBC Somali, 
for broadcasting an antigovernment report on BBC Somali. Ali had 
interviewed the mother of an eight-year-old child suspected of avian 
influenza who denied her daughter's illness and accused the Ministry of 
Health of inventing the disease to obtain foreign aid. One case of 
avian influenza was confirmed in the country in 2006. After a three 
month suspension, Kaltoum Ali resumed work in September.
    The law prohibits the dissemination of false information and 
regulates the publication of newspapers. The Government owned the 
principal newspaper, La Nation, which published three times a week. In 
addition each registered political party is permitted to publish a 
public journal. There were several opposition-run weekly and monthly 
publications that circulated freely and openly criticized the 
Government.
    The Government also owned the radio and television stations. The 
official media generally did not criticize government leaders and 
government policy. Radio-Television Djibouti, the official government 
station, broadcast 24 hours a day in four languages on the radio. 
Foreign media also broadcast throughout the country.
    The Government used several tactics to intimidate journalists, 
including surveillance and the removal from newsstands of publications 
that criticized the Government. In January 2005 officials cut off Radio 
France Internationale's FM broadcasts in the country because of its 
reporting of an on-going French legal inquiry into the 1995 death of 
Bernard Borrel, a French judge. The broadcasts remained off the air 
during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government did not monitor e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms.In January government authorities blocked the Web 
site of the Association for Respect of Human Rights in Djibouti 
(ARDHD), an association that is often critical of the Government. 
Access to ARDHD's website was blocked by the local Internet provider, 
although surfers with satellite connections were able to enter the 
site. The Government denied that it was blocking the site.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did 
not restrict academic freedom, and teachers could speak and conduct 
research without restriction, provided that they did not violate 
sedition laws.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the constitution and the law provide for freedom of 
assembly, the Government limited this right in practice. The Ministry 
of Interior requires permits for peaceful assembly and monitors 
opposition activities. Some opposition leaders effectively practiced 
self-censorship and refrained from organizing popular demonstrations to 
avoid provoking a government crackdown.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year, resulting 
in several injuries.
    On September 12, police beat and arrested demonstrators, mainly 
teenagers and women, who had burned tires and blocked roads to protest 
power shortages. Those arrested were detained for several weeks and 
released.
    No action was taken against police officers responsible for the 
following 2005 cases of forcible dispersion of demonstrators: the April 
firing of tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators, resulting in several 
injuries and the November shooting of demonstrators, resulting in four 
deaths and numerous injuries.
    In the case of an October 2005 incident in which shots were fired 
into a violent crowd of demonstrators killing one person, the director 
general of police was dismissed due to his refusal to acknowledge any 
responsibility by his men in the killing.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
forcibly dispersed violent labor demonstrations during the year.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association provided that certain legal requirements are met; however, 
the Government restricted this right in practice. The Government 
continued to harass and intimidate members of opposition groups (see 
Section 1.f.).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution, while declaring Islam to 
be the state religion, provides for freedom of religion, and the 
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government 
did not sanction those who ignored Islamic teachings or practiced other 
faiths. More than 99 percent of the population was Sunni Muslim.
    The Government requires that religious groups register. Unlike in 
previous years, there were no reports that groups were denied the right 
to register.
    There is no legal prohibition against proselytizing; however, it 
was discouraged.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no known Jewish 
community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and the law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government at times limited them in 
practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In practice 
the Government provided some protection against refoulement, the return 
of persons to a country where they feared persecution, however, there 
were unconfirmed reports during the year of refoulement specifically to 
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
    The Government did not routinely grant refugee or asylum status, 
and the Government did not accept refugees for resettlement during the 
year. The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in providing assistance to refugees 
and asylum seekers.
    In June 2005 two of three Ethiopian Air Force personnel who flew an 
Ethiopian military helicopter into Djibouti reportedly requested 
asylum. The Government contacted Ethiopia and an Ethiopian military 
delegation came and reportedly convinced the three men to return to 
Ethiopia. Amnesty International and the UNHCR were not granted access 
to the men. Family members told the local press in 2005 that the pilots 
were being held incommunicado at an air force base in Ethiopia. At 
year's end, there were no updates on their case.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and the law provide citizens with the right to 
change their government; however, the Government limited this right in 
practice.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In April 2005 President 
Guelleh of the RPP, which has ruled the country since independence, won 
reelection with 95 percent of the vote. Guelleh ran unopposed as the 
opposition boycotted the election, charging that the Government ignored 
its demands for electoral reform. International observers considered 
the election generally free and fair; however, there were 
irregularities, including double voting, the presence of campaigners in 
and around polling stations, and the absence of blank ballots for those 
who did not want to vote for President Guelleh. The opposition again 
boycotted local elections held on March 10.
    There were seven women in the 65-seat legislature; these seats were 
reserved for women by Presidential decree. In July 2005 the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs promoted Hawa Ahmed Youssouf to delegate minister of 
international cooperation. Aicha Mohamed Robleh replaced Youssouf as 
minister of state for the promotion of women, family, and social 
affairs. Khadija Abeba is President of the Supreme Court and the 
highest-ranking female official.
    There were nine members of minorities--non-Issa Somali clans 
(Issaks, Gadaboursis, and Darood) and Arabs--in the 65-seat 
legislature. There were three members of minorities in the 20-seat 
cabinet. The President's subclan, the Issa Mamassans, wielded 
disproportionate power in affairs of state. Afars held a number of 
senior ministerial posts, but they were not well represented at lower 
levels. Somali clans other than the Issa, and citizens of Yemeni 
origin, were limited unofficially to one ministerial post each. There 
also were informal limits on the number of seats for each group to 
preserve balance in the parliament.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued 
to take significant steps to combat corruption, which was a problem. In 
2005 the Ministry of Finance arrested two officials suspected of 
corruption and suspended several others while their cases were under 
investigation. In December 2005 the two officials were released, but 
were still under judicial control and banned from traveling outside the 
country at year's end. The director of Gabode Prison was arrested in 
2005 for alleged corruption.
    There were no laws to provide public access to government 
information, and it was unclear whether persons would be granted such 
access if they asked. During the year the Chamber of Public Accounts 
and Fiscal Discipline, a public expenditures audit board established to 
fight corruption and promote transparency, released the results of its 
second annual report on government expenditures to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A few domestic human rights groups generally operated without 
serious government restriction, conducting limited investigations and 
sometimes publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government 
officials generally disregarded their views. The local human rights 
group Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits de l'Homme operated without 
government interference during the year. The Union of Djiboutian Women 
and the Djiboutian Association for the Promotion of the Family promoted 
the rights of women and children.
    The ICRC maintained a small office staffed with locally hired 
personnel. The ICRC regional representative, based in Nairobi, visited 
the country monthly.
    There was a government ombudsman, who also served as a legislator 
in the parliament and whose specific responsibilities included 
mediation between the Government and NGOs. According to the 2004 
ombudsman report (most recent available), less than half the cases 
submitted were successfully mediated.
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination on the basis 
of language, race, or sex; however, discrimination against women and 
ethnic minorities persisted. The Government's enforcement of laws to 
protect women and children was ineffective.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women existed, but few cases were 
reported. The law prohibits ``torture and barbaric acts against a 
spouse,'' which are punishable by 20 years' imprisonment. Violence 
against women generally was addressed within the family or clan 
structure rather than in the courts. Police rarely intervened in 
domestic violence incidents, and the media reported only the most 
extreme examples, such as murder. The law includes sentences of up to 
20 years' imprisonment for rapists. The number of such cases prosecuted 
during the year was unknown. There is no law against spousal rape.
    An estimated 98 percent of females in the country have undergone 
FGM, which traditionally was performed on girls between the ages of 
seven and 10. During 2005 the Government launched a campaign against 
FGM, which culminated with the country's ratification of the Maputo 
Protocol outlawing FGM. The efforts of the Union of Djiboutian Women 
and other groups to educate women against the practice were having some 
effect in the capital city; however, infibulation, the most extreme 
form of FGM, continued to be widely practiced in rural areas. The law 
states that ``violence causing genital mutilation'' is punishable by 
five years' imprisonment and a fine of $5,650 (one million DF); the 
Government had not yet convicted anyone under this statute.
    Prostitution is illegal, but it was a significant problem. In 
general there were two categories of prostitutes: those with apartments 
and those on the streets. The first group was largely tolerated and 
catered to the foreign (particularly military) community, while police 
sometimes targeted and raped those on the streets. Refugees and girls 
from poor families were at greater risk of becoming street prostitutes.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem.
    Women legally possess full civil rights; however, custom and 
traditional societal discrimination in education resulted in a 
secondary role for women in public life and fewer employment 
opportunities. Women largely were confined to trade and secretarial 
fields. In 2004 the Government began implementing the 2002 Family Code, 
which replaces Shari'a in governing the majority of laws pertaining to 
family and personal matters (see Section 1.e.). Male children inherited 
larger percentages of estates than did female children. The few women 
who were educated increasingly turned to the regular courts to defend 
their interests.

    Children.--The Government devoted almost no public funds to the 
advancement of children's rights and welfare. A few charitable 
organizations worked with children.
    Primary education was compulsory; however, the Government did not 
monitor compliance. The highest level of education reached by most 
students was completion of primary school. The Government provided 
tuition-free public education, but extra expenses, such as 
transportation, book fees, and chalk, could be prohibitive to poorer 
families. School facilities continued to be inadequate. Teacher 
salaries continued to be in arrears, and a large percentage of highly 
qualified teachers have left the profession (see Section 6.e.). 
Approximately 20 percent of children who started secondary school 
completed their education.
    The educational system did not discriminate against girls, but 
societal attitudes resulted in differences in the attendance and 
treatment of girls in school. Girls' enrollments were rising. According 
to the Ministry of Education, 52 percent of girls were enrolled in 
primary school during the year, compared with 61 percent of boys; 
during the previous year primary school enrollment rates were 43 
percent for girls and 59 percent for boys. In rural areas limited 
access to schools, a shortage of educational materials, and cultural 
attitudes led to significantly lower enrollment and greater disparities 
in enrollment between boys and girls. Boys and girls had equal access 
to state medical care, however medical care in rural areas was poor.
    Child abuse existed; however, the Government has not used existing 
provisions of the law to deal seriously with child abuse, and 
punishments generally were light. For example, perpetrators of rape or 
abuse generally were fined only an amount sufficient to cover the 
child's medical care.
    FGM was performed on as many as 98 percent of young girls (see 
Section 5, Women).
    Child marriage occurred in rural areas and among some tribal 
groups; however, it was not considered a significant problem. The 
Government worked together with several NGOs to increase school 
enrollment for girls, in part to reduce the likelihood that parents 
would force their young girls into marriage. The Ministry for the 
Promotion of Women, Family Well-Being/Welfare, and Social Affairs also 
worked actively with women's groups throughout the country to protect 
the rights of girls, including the right to decide when and whom to 
marry.
    Child prostitution occurred on the streets and in brothels. 
Individuals acting as pimps or protectors frequently set up 
transactions; older children reportedly forced younger children to 
engage in prostitution and then collected the earnings.
    Child labor existed (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons in general, but does prohibit trafficking for the purpose of 
prostitution. The Penal Code states that increased penalties apply in 
cases of trafficking ``with respect to a person who is enticed to 
engage in prostitution either outside the territory of the Republic of 
Djibouti upon the person's arrival within the territory of the 
Republic.'' Despite that prohibition, there were credible reports of 
child prostitution during the year and some of those involved 
reportedly came from neighboring countries including Ethiopia. Although 
there were no known other reports of persons being trafficked to, from, 
or within the country, there was continued speculation that the country 
was a destination and transit country for small numbers of individuals 
trafficked from Ethiopia and Somalia to the Middle East.
    In February 2005 the Government ratified the UN Convention Against 
Corruption and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 
including antitrafficking protocols.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although persons with disabilities have 
access to education and public health facilities, there is no specific 
law that addresses the needs of persons with disabilities, and there 
are no laws or regulations that prevent job discrimination against 
persons with disabilities. There was societal discrimination against 
persons with disabilities. The Government did not mandate accessibility 
to buildings or government services for persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government continued to 
discriminate against citizens on the basis of ethnicity in employment 
and job advancement. Somali Issas were the majority ethnic group and 
controlled the ruling party, civil and security services, and military 
forces. Discrimination based on ethnicity and clan affiliation limited 
the role of members of minority groups and clans in government and 
politics.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law and the constitution provide 
for the right to join unions; however, the Government restricted these 
rights. Under the Labor Code, a union must have government sanction to 
exist. The Government continued to suppress independent, representative 
unions by firing their leaders, preventing them from holding 
congresses, and creating government sponsored shadow unions to replace 
them.
    During the year the Government arbitrarily arrested union leaders. 
On March 8, Aden Mohamed Abdou and Hassan cher Hared, respectively 
President and vice-President of the Djiboutian workers' Union, were 
arrested for facilitating the departure for Israel of two of their 
colleagues. On February 20, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed and Djibril Ismail 
Egueh were charged with sharing classified information with a foreign 
government during their January 23-Feb 16 visit to Israel. They 
participated in a conference sponsored by Mashav (the Center for 
International Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs). 
After their return they were sentenced to one-month's imprisonment and 
released on April 4. The Government confiscated their passports and 
required that they report to the police every Monday. That same month 
the Government also refused to allow entry to three International Labor 
Organization representatives who tried to visit the country to 
investigate the incident.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers found 
guilty of discrimination were required to reinstate workers fired for 
union activities; however, the Government neither enforced nor complied 
with the law.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the 
law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, the 
Government did not protect this right in practice. Collective 
bargaining did not occur.
    Relations between employers and workers were informal and 
paternalistic. The Government could and did select labor 
representatives. Employers generally established wage rates based on 
labor ministry guidelines. In disputes over wages or health and safety 
problems, the Ministry of Labor encouraged direct resolution by labor 
representatives and employers. Workers or employers may request formal 
administrative hearings before the ministry's inspection service. 
Critics claimed that inspection and dispute settlement suffered from 
poor enforcement due to their low priority and inadequate funding.
    The law provides for the right to strike and requires 
representatives of employees who plan to strike to notify the Ministry 
of Interior 48 hours in advance; workers exercised this right in 
practice. However, several union members were jailed and fired 
following a strike at the port of Djibouti in September 2005.
    The law confers upon the President broad powers to requisition 
public servants who are considered indispensable to the operation of 
essential public services.
    A special labor law, which is reportedly more flexible, applies in 
the export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits all labor by children under the age of 16, but the 
Government did not always enforce this prohibition effectively, and 
child labor, although not common, existed. Children generally were not 
employed in hazardous work but worked in family-owned businesses, such 
as restaurants and small shops, at all hours of the day and night. 
Children were also involved in a variety of informal activities, such 
as shining shoes, washing and guarding cars, and selling items. 
Children also work as domestic servants, and work in agriculture and 
with livestock. A shortage of labor inspectors reduced the likelihood 
that reports of child labor would be investigated.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Only a small minority of the 
population was engaged in wage employment. The Labor Code, ratified by 
the National Assembly in January, canceled the minimum wage rates for 
occupational categories and provides that wages be set after common 
agreement between employers and employees. The former national minimum 
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family and it was unlikely that such common agreements would provide a 
minimum standard of living. The Government still owed three months of 
salary arrears from 1995 and 1997 to teachers, security forces, and 
civil servants. Teachers were also not paid their salaries in June and 
July. However, in August the Government paid both months' salaries in 
full.
    By law the workweek has been augmented to 48 hours, normally spread 
over six days. The law mandates a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive 
hours and the provision of overtime pay. The Ministry of Labor is 
responsible for enforcing occupational health and safety standards, 
wages, and work hours. Because enforcement was ineffective, workers 
sometimes faced hazardous working conditions. Workers rarely protested, 
mainly due to fear that others willing to accept the risks would 
replace them. There were no laws or regulations permitting workers to 
refuse to carry out dangerous work assignments without jeopardizing 
their continued employment.
    Foreign workers in the country illegally were not protected under 
the law.

                               __________

                           EQUATORIAL GUINEA

    Equatorial Guinea is nominally a multiparty constitutional 
republic, with a population estimated at between 540,000 and over one 
million. All branches of government are dominated by President Teodoro 
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and his inner circle, mostly of the Fang ethnic 
group. The international community judged the most recent elections, in 
2002 (Presidential) and 2004 (parliamentary), to be seriously flawed. 
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
security forces, there were instances in which elements of the security 
forces acted independently of government authority. The Government's 
human rights record remained poor, and the Government continued to 
commit and condone serious abuses.
    The following human rights problems were reported: abridgement of 
citizens' right to change their government; torture, beating, and other 
physical abuse of prisoners and detainees by security forces; harsh and 
life-threatening prison conditions; impunity; arbitrary arrest, 
detention, and incommunicado detention; harassment and deportation of 
foreign residents; judicial corruption and lack of due process; 
restrictions on the right to privacy; severe restrictions on freedom of 
speech and of the press; restrictions on the right of assembly, 
association, and movement; government corruption; violence and 
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination 
against ethnic minorities; restrictions on labor rights and child 
labor; and forced child labor.
    Improvements were noted in some areas. A law criminalizing torture 
was passed, and reports of abuses decreased compared to previous years. 
In addition the first groups of mid-level police officers were trained 
on professional subjects, including human rights.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There was some 
evidence that the Government or its agents may have committed arbitrary 
or unlawful killings.
    On February 4, unknown assailants near Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire 
abducted and killed Laesa Atanasio Bita Rope, leader of the Movement 
for the Self-determination of Bioko Island (MAIB). MAIB members claimed 
that Ivoirian government security agents collaborated with officials in 
Equatorial Guinea to kill Bita Rope. Ivoirian authorities denied 
involvement, and no arrests were made.
    An inmate in the Cogo jail, Jose Meviane Ngua, died on August 18, 
and officials reported the death as a suicide by hanging. Undocumented 
reports appearing on foreign Web sites stated that his body showed 
hematomas (bruised swellings), either from the hanging or possibly 
caused by strangling and blows to the back. A police team reportedly 
investigated, but results were not made public, and there were no 
reported actions taken against the gendarmes on duty.
    During April and May authorities found at least six mutilated 
bodies in the Malabo area; the killings were attributed to a group 
called the Plateados. The bodies showed signs of having been victims of 
ritual practices. On May 25, security forces arrested approximately 20 
persons, including some members of the security forces, reportedly 
among them Jose Ela Ebang, brother of a former ambassador to Spain. In 
November the prosecution of those arrested began in a military 
tribunal, but by year's end the Government had not announced any 
verdicts.
    The opposition in exile continued to accuse the Government of 
attempted assassinations. Spanish prosecutors of individuals accused of 
the attempted killing in Madrid in June 2005 of Manuel Moto Tomo, 
brother of exiled Republican Democratic Forces (FDR) party activist 
German Pedro Tomo Mangue, stated that the motivation was commercial, 
not political, but some FDR activists believed that Mangue was the 
intended target.
    A soldier convicted of negligent homicide in the death of a Spanish 
worker at a checkpoint in 2003 (allegedly by mistake, but perhaps 
because of family influence) was among those pardoned by President 
Obiang in June.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of new politically 
motivated disappearances during the year.
    There were no developments in the early 2005 disappearances of Juan 
Ondo Abaga, Florencio Ela Bibang, Antimo Edu Nchama, and Felipe Esono 
Ntutumu. They reportedly had been forcibly repatriated from Benin and 
Nigeria and incarcerated in Black Beach prison without charge, severely 
tortured, and not allowed a lawyer, outside communication, or family 
notification. There was no government confirmation of their presence, 
and when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the 
National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) visited Black Beach prison, 
these inmates reportedly were moved to other locations so the 
representatives could not see or talk to them.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--On November 2, a law criminalizing torture and other 
cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts went into effect, in compliance with 
the Government's obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against 
Torture. The law was publicized, and ``sensitization'' sessions began 
in November for security forces.
    However, during the year torture and cruel treatment continued in 
the country's jails and prisons. Beatings and threats with loaded 
weapons were most frequently reported. In addition to the incident in 
Cogo (see Section 1.a.), there were numerous reports that security 
forces beat opposition party activists, often on the orders of local 
officials, who apparently had support at higher levels and acted with 
impunity.
    On October 5 in Bata, police arrested Florencio Ondo, Jose Antonio 
Mguema, Filemon Ondo, and Bacilio Meye, who were associated with the 
banned Popular Party (PP). Foreign governments and the nongovernmental 
organization (NGO) Amnesty International (AI) appealed to the 
Government on their behalf. The four were released more than a month 
later after beatings, deprivation of food and water for several days, 
and threats to their lives if they would not confess to illegal 
association and possession of documents ``harmful to the state'' (e-
mails, brochures, and pictures of PP leader Severo Moto). They did not 
confess and the charges were conditionally dropped. Possessions taken 
by police were not returned.
    Foreigners, especially West Africans, continued to experience 
harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest. Due to government 
corruption and concern over potential mercenaries, securing residence 
and work permits was difficult, time consuming, and very expensive. 
Police periodically raided immigrant ghettoes and used excessive force, 
including beatings. They also looted property, set up roadblocks to 
check documents, and visited homes to inspect identity cards and 
residence documents. Some claimed these were extortion attempts.
    No persons responsible for widely occurring torture in prior years 
or during the reporting period were charged with a crime. In September 
2005 AI reported that torture was widespread in places of detention. In 
2004 senior government officials told foreign diplomats that human 
rights did not apply to criminals and claimed that torture of known 
criminals was not a human rights abuse. Current officials state that 
whoever said this was not representing government policy.
    The South African prisoners convicted of a 2004 coup attempt were 
still forced to wear ankle shackles 24 hours a day, restricting even 
simple movements such as proper bathing. They reportedly were not 
allowed to appeal their convictions or to read letters from their 
families. As part of the President's June birthday pardons, one South 
African was released to his country's authorities for critical medical 
treatment after local authorities had refused for months to acknowledge 
the seriousness of his condition.
    In May 2005 police attacked 15 members of the opposition party 
Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) at the Malabo airport, causing 
substantial injury to several, and forcibly disrobed some girls in 
public. At least 10 persons were detained, including one who suffered 
serious injuries and was given no medical treatment; they were released 
a week later.
    In September 2005 authorities reportedly tortured approximately 70 
persons charged with offenses related to an alleged coup attempt in 
October 2004, before and during their secret military trial. The group 
consisted of former military officers and relatives of the alleged 
leader of the attempted coup, Lieutenant Colonel Cipriano Nguema Mba. 
All but two reportedly stated they had been tortured and some bore 
visible marks of abuse. AI reported that authorities extracted 
statements using torture during incommunicado detention and used them 
as evidence (see Section 1.d.). The alleged coup plotters remained 
incarcerated at year's end.
    No action was taken against those responsible for the following 
2004 cases: the torture of five persons arrested on Corisco Island; the 
shooting of PP leader Marcelino Manuel Nguema Esono; the torture of 
Weja Chicampo; and the torture of Lieutenant Colonel Maximiliano Owono 
Nguema. Marcelino Esono was released in the June amnesty. Maximiliano 
Nguema (aka Maximo Ovono Nguema) remained incarcerated at year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The conditions of many 
jails and prisons in the country remained harsh and life threatening; 
inmates frequently were not provided with sufficient food, potable 
water, or sufficient clean living space. During the year, however, 
inmates at Black Beach prison occupied new facilities that reportedly 
met acceptable international standards. A new prison in Bata was under 
construction. Training for guards remained deficient.
    There were credible reports that jail and prison authorities 
tortured prisoners (see Section 1.c.).
    Medical attention was often denied or unavailable to prisoners with 
gangrene, broken bones, infections, and potentially fatal but curable 
illnesses. Some prisoners received medical treatment, but this was 
irregular and undependable. Prisoners needing medication almost never 
received it, unless family members had connections, or there was 
international attention regarding a case. Rehabilitation was 
nonexistent. In December diplomats inquired about the health of 
prisoner Donato Ondo Ondo, who was reported by citizens in exile and AI 
to be very ill; the Government provided no response.
    In April 2005 AI charged that Black Beach prison officials had 
stopped providing at least 70 prisoners with meals and blocked all 
contact with their families, lawyers, and consular officials, and that 
the prisoners were in danger of death from starvation and torture. AI 
also reported that all prisoners were kept in their cells 24 hours a 
day. Prisoners frequently were not allowed to communicate with lawyers 
or relatives. However, foreign diplomats who visited the facility in 
the second half of 2005 found improvements regarding contact with 
outsiders, permission for prisoners to be outside most of the day, 
reduced reports of torture, and provision of minimal food. 
Nevertheless, families were still the main source of food for inmates.
    Male and female prisoners were not held in separate facilities. 
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of prison authorities 
and male prisoners sexually assaulting female prisoners, nor were there 
credible reports that police gang-raped female prisoners in Malabo.
    Juveniles were not held separately from adult prisoners. According 
to available information, juveniles generally were not sent to prisons 
during the year, an acknowledgment that they could not be adequately 
protected. Rather, they were held in local jails, watched, and sent 
home with warnings.
    Unlike in previous years, no reports were received that prisoners 
habitually were used as workers on construction projects for some 
officials, without pay or other compensation, nor that judges used 
prisoners as domestic workers.
    Prisons were under military management, although the Ministry of 
Justice, Religion, and Penal Institutions was legally responsible for 
them. Military personnel who worked in prisons had no special training.
    The Government permitted limited independent monitoring of prison 
conditions. There were three prisons and approximately 12 jails and 
holding cells in smaller localities. The ICRC was permitted to make 
periodic visits to all jails and prisons, and it met privately with 
prisoners. ICRC visits during the year were conducted according to 
standard ICRC procedures. However, it was reported in messages from 
former prisoners and relatives of prisoners that several political 
prisoners did not show up on prison rosters, that they had been 
detained without hearings, and that the ICRC representatives were 
prevented from seeing them (see Section 1.b.). These prisoners included 
Florencio Ela Bibang, Antimo Edu Nchama, Felipe Esono Ntutumu, and Juan 
Ondo Abaha, among others. The Government also refused diplomatic 
mission requests to resume prison visits.
    The UN Development Program (UNDP) and the National Commission on 
Human Rights (CNDH) reported after short visits during the year that 
they found significant improvements in jails and prisons, particularly 
at the infamous Black Beach prison that occupied a new building. The 
NCHR, however, is government-controlled, not independent, and does not 
investigate or report human rights violations.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, but the Government did not enforce these 
prohibitions. There were nominal procedural safeguards for the 
protection of citizens' rights, including provisions concerning 
detention and the requirement for search warrants; however, security 
forces systematically ignored these safeguards and continued to arrest 
and detain persons arbitrarily and with impunity. Security forces often 
detained individuals ``on orders from superiors'' without any further 
formality. Many times charges were filed only after intervention by the 
international community, and political activists frequently continued 
to be held in preventive detention, which meant their cases were 
indefinitely under investigation. Government figures and some of their 
business partners involved in arranging illicit detentions enjoyed 
total impunity for such actions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police were 
responsible for security in the cities, and the gendarmes responsible 
outside the cities and for special events. Both reported to the 
civilian minister of national security. Division of authority between 
the two-year-old Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of 
National Defense was still being clarified. Previously, both internal 
and external security were military responsibilities.
    Impunity for police officers and gendarmes was a serious problem. 
There were no known mechanisms to investigate allegations of abuse. The 
police were misused by other ministries and local officials to harass 
and threaten persons and to confiscate property.
    Corruption was endemic within the security forces. Officers who 
extorted money from citizens were not punished.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that citizens who 
were not police officers were allowed to arrest persons suspected of 
being illegal residents, increasing the frequency of arbitrary arrests.
    The Government recognized the need for professional improvement of 
the police and began funding corrective training. A contracted private 
foreign group trained the first cohort of mid-level police officers on 
professional subjects including human rights of citizens, particularly 
of those arrested.

    Arrest and Detention.--Many persons were taken into custody on the 
verbal orders of officials. Arrest warrants are not required. Within 72 
hours, excluding weekends and holidays, a detainee has the right to a 
judicial determination of the legality of the detention; however, in 
practice the length of such detentions was usually much longer, even 
years. Although a bail system and public defenders were available upon 
request, this was not known by the general public, and these systems 
did not operate in practice. The percentage of those incarcerated who 
were pretrial detainees was estimated to be at least 80 percent. When 
cases of arbitrarily lengthy pretrial detention were brought to the 
attention of high-level authorities, some action generally was taken. 
Trial delays were also caused by inefficient judicial procedures, 
corruption, lack of monitoring, and staffing constraints.
    Defense lawyers did not receive a full list of indictments against 
their clients. Detainees were not promptly informed of charges against 
them. Legal access depended on the nature of the crime and bribes. Some 
limited visitation by family members was permitted at all jails and 
prisons.
    Unlike in previous years, police did not routinely hold detainees 
incommunicado, although this sometimes occurred, especially with 
political prisoners (see Section 1.c.). Reliable files were not kept on 
those imprisoned.
    In 2005 the Government provided responses on the status of 39 
persons previously detained for ``crimes against the state.'' Several 
had been detained for months or years without being brought to trial. 
Seventeen were brought before a judge in December 2005 for brief 
hearings and remanded to prison for unspecified ``crimes against the 
state,'' rebellion, or terrorism, and ordered to be held in 
``preventive detention'' until trial. In at least three other cases, a 
previous judgment of completion of sentence was overruled by the 
Government's fiscal (attorney general) for unexplained reasons. For 20 
persons, the Government said that it had no information, although many 
sources have reported their continuing detention.
    The Government used arrest, beatings, and various forms of 
harassment to intimidate opposition party officials and members.
    Arbitrary arrest was a serious problem. Local authorities singled 
out foreigners for arbitrary arrest, harassment, and deportation (see 
Section 1.c.). Security forces detained relatives of prisoners and 
criminal suspects in an attempt to force the prisoners or suspects to 
cooperate (see Section 1.f.).
    AI and other observers reported that the secret September 2005 
trial of approximately 70 military officers, former military officers, 
and relatives of the alleged leader of the October 2004 attempted coup 
did not conform to international legal standards for fair trials. A 
military court sentenced 22 men and a woman to lengthy prison terms. At 
least six persons were tried without being present, in contravention of 
national law. In all cases defense lawyers did not have access to 
government-held evidence and only had their clients' statements. The 
court denied defense attorneys' requests to cross-examine accusers. 
Those convicted had no right of appeal. The court ignored allegations 
and evidence of torture in the course of the trial and did not conduct 
an investigation (see Section 1.c.).
    Nine persons, including those tried without being present, were 
sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges of undermining the security 
of the state and attempting to overthrow the Government. The court 
convicted 11 others, including Florencia Nchama Mba, of the same 
offenses as accessories and sentenced them to 21 years' imprisonment. 
The court convicted Francisco Mba Mendama (who was also convicted of 
undermining the security of the state and received a 30-year prison 
sentence) and two others of treason; they received 25-year sentences. 
One person received a 12-year prison sentence. Statements obtained 
under torture during incommunicado detention were used as evidence.

    Amnesty.--On his birthday in June, President Obiang issued a 
conditional pardon to youth, women, and approximately 40 others. Many--
at least 12, possibly as many as 32--had been detained, but not 
prosecuted, for ``crimes against the state''; they were generally 
prisoners of conscience. Weja Chicampo, a former leader of the MAIB, 
was one of the high-profile cases. Chicampo was released but was 
immediately forced to fly to Madrid in exile, without being allowed to 
notify his family.
    Immediately prior to the President's official visit to Spain in 
November, the four former members of the banned PP party detained in 
October were conditionally released in Bata (see Section 1.c.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the Government did not respect 
this provision in practice. All branches of government are dominated by 
the executive. Judges served at the pleasure of the President, and they 
were appointed, transferred, and dismissed for political as well as 
competency reasons. Judicial corruption was widespread.
    During the year the Government codified laws for the first time and 
taught them as part of an ongoing judicial reform effort.
    The court system is composed of lower provincial courts, two 
appeals courts, a military tribunal, and the Supreme Court. The 
President appoints members of the Supreme Court, who reportedly took 
instructions from him. One general, not a lawyer, served on the Supreme 
Court to advise on military-related cases. The Supreme Council of the 
Judicial Power appoints and controls judges. President Obiang is 
President of that entity, and the President of the Supreme Court is its 
vice President. In late 2004 the President of the Supreme Court began a 
mandatory training system and program to replace incompetent judges. Of 
approximately 60 judges, only an estimated 12 were lawyers.

    Trial Procedures.--Many trials for ordinary crimes are public, but 
juries are not used. Law is based on the colonial Spanish system. 
Defendants have the right to be present at their trials but rarely were 
able to consult promptly with attorneys. If an accused cannot afford 
his own lawyer, he is entitled to ask for one from the Government; 
unfortunately, defendants are not routinely advised of this right. 
Defendants can confront and question witnesses, and they can present 
their own witnesses and evidence, although in practice this was rarely 
done. There is limited access to evidence. By law the accused has the 
presumption of innocence and the right to appeal; however, legal 
appeals are rarely allowed in practice. By law the above-listed rights 
are extended to all groups. Experience at defense is limited, and it 
was reported that defense lawyers do not necessarily represent the 
wishes of the person being defended.
    The code of military justice states that people who disobey a 
military authority, or allegedly commit an offense considered to be a 
``crime against the state,'' should be judged by a military tribunal, 
with no due process or procedural guarantees, regardless of whether the 
accused is civilian or military. Some military cases were essentially 
political in nature. A defendant may be tried without being present, 
and the defense does not have a guaranteed right to cross-examine an 
accuser. Such proceedings are not public.
    Tribal elders adjudicated civil claims and minor criminal matters 
in traditional courts in the countryside.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Approximately 60 identified 
``prisoners of conscience,'' or political prisoners, remained detained 
at year's end, many without having been tried; others had been 
convicted of ``crimes against the state'' without adequate 
representation or right to appeal (see Section 1.c.). These prisoners 
were all members of opposition parties or persons the Government 
accused of involvement in coup attempts. During 2005 the ICRC and some 
foreign diplomats were permitted to visit them, but individual visits 
during the year were restricted to the ICRC.
    Prominent members of the ``illegal'' opposition Republican 
Democratic Forces (FDR), the PP, and the NPU remained detained at Black 
Beach prison for their political activities. FDR leader Felipe Ondo 
Obiang, arrested in March 2002 in connection with an alleged coup plot, 
was reportedly tortured and remained in Evinayong Prison at year's end. 
He was chained to the wall by his leg and held in solitary confinement 
for several months. Six of the 30 other prisoners arrested with Ondo 
Obiang were reportedly released with others in the June amnesty. FDR 
leader Guillermo Nguema Ela remained in prison, despite having been 
granted partial amnesty. The Government restricted access to political 
detainees to the ICRC, spouses, and occasionally lawyers.
    In 2004 police arrested Air Force Captain Felipe Obama. There were 
no reports that charges had been filed against him or that he had been 
released.
    According to the CPDS, in connection with the November 2004 arrest 
of 50 military officers, in January 2005 the Government arrested 100 
additional persons. It appeared that these were the same individuals 
tried in a secret military court in September 2005. All received long 
sentences and had no access to a defense attorney.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Matters can be settled out 
of court, but there is no known official arbitration or mediation. 
Civil cases rarely came to trial, reportedly because of lack of faith 
that judgment would be fair and transparent.

    Property Restitution--The law provides for restitution or 
compensation for the taking of private property, but in practice people 
forced from their homes or land seldom received adequate compensation, 
if any. The civil code Law of State Patrimony, Law of the Soil, states 
that all land ultimately belongs to the state, thus, the Government 
could take possession when it determined it was ``in the state's 
interest.'' Individuals may hold property title to pieces of land, but 
the state in the last instance is owner.
    During the year the Government leveled many residential areas, 
ostensibly in the interest of urban renewal; however, government 
officials reportedly had personal financial interests in the 
redevelopment. According to AI, officials often stated the seized land 
was for public utility development, but the land was not used for that 
purpose; instead, the land was usurped by the President, his family, 
and other members of the Government to build luxury homes, 
supermarkets, or other businesses for themselves.
    New social housing projects were underway, but they did not benefit 
the poor. High government officials and their relatives reportedly 
bought new social housing that was completed in ``Bata 2'' (a suburb of 
Bata).
    According to AI, typically the Government allowed no consultation 
with the communities affected, provided little or no prior notice, and 
allowed no right to contest the evictions. Hundreds of homes and 
businesses were destroyed; many were solid structures in well-
established neighborhoods, and residents had no other place to go and 
no money to relocate. For example, more than 600 persons were made 
homeless in Malabo's Atepa district on July 22 when the Government 
destroyed their homes without warning. The next day homes were 
similarly demolished in Malabo's Camaremy district. In both cases 
soldiers shoved, slapped, and intimidated residents who protested.
    The Government sometimes offered partial payment to those who 
proved title and expenses of purchase or construction. In many cases 
written title was nonexistent, although land had been in the hands of a 
family for generations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but 
the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. Security 
forces violated homes and arrested suspected dissidents, criminals, 
foreign nationals, and others, often without judicial orders, and 
confiscated their property with impunity. When prisoners were released, 
their property was not returned. Family members were intimidated, 
sometimes detained, or evicted. After their release, arrested persons 
had no recourse for recovery of property and were often blacklisted for 
employment, reportedly under orders from members of the President's 
family.
    Informers reportedly monitored opposition members, NGOs, 
journalists, and foreign diplomats. Most residents and journalists 
believed that the Government monitored telephone calls and Internet use 
(see Section 2.a.).
    Security forces detained relatives of prisoners and criminal 
suspects to force the prisoners or suspects to cooperate (see Section 
1.c.).
    The Government pressured its employees to join the ruling 
Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE). Reportedly they were 
forced to allow automatic deductions from their paychecks with proceeds 
going to the party whether or not they were members. Opposition party 
members were discriminated against in hiring, job retention, 
scholarships, and obtaining business licenses. A business found to have 
hired someone on a political blacklist had to dismiss the person or 
face the threat of closure (see Section 3).
    Authorities harassed, arrested, deported, and robbed foreign 
nationals, particularly west Africans (see Section 1.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and press; however, the Government severely 
restricted these rights. During the year the Government monitored 
journalists; the media remained firmly under government control; and 
journalists practiced self censorship.
    Criticism of the President, his family, or the security forces was 
considered ``attacks against the nation.'' Recently some officials 
began to discuss societal problems in the media--public corruption, 
trafficked children, rioting by students, excessive drinking, absent 
teachers, government revenues, and demands for transparency in public 
administration; however, only government-approved messages on these 
themes were broadcast. Citizens believed that if they called in to the 
rare talk-show and criticized the Government, security forces would 
find them and demand bribes or detain them for ``crimes against the 
state.''
    Even so, citizens reported that, compared to past decades, there 
was more freedom to talk openly about the society's problems.
    The law authorizes government censorship of all publications.
    Seven periodicals with varying degrees of government involvement 
were published irregularly (Ebano, Bantu Africa, El Correo, La Opinion, 
Realite, Horizontes, Ecos de Mongomo), and also one monthly, La Gaceta. 
All practiced self-censorship. International newspapers or news 
magazines could not be sold or distributed without government 
permission. Political party publications could not be distributed to 
the general public. News kiosks did not exist, and the only bookstores 
were affiliated with religious congregations. Starting a new 
publication was governed by a very complicated and ambiguous law.
    Local journalists often suspected each other of being government 
informants. The press association (ASOPGE) and a diplomatic mission 
planned to bring an international journalist to conduct a workshop in 
July; however, government officials denied permission because the 
Government had not been directly involved in the planning. The program 
was finally permitted, and the Government sent a representative.
    International media did not try to operate in the country; only one 
international news agency had a regular stringer present. Unlike in the 
past, there were no known cases of foreign journalists deported or 
directly harassed during the year, although some were followed and 
intimidated.
    The Government generally withheld access to domestic broadcast 
facilities from opposition parties and rarely referred to the 
opposition in anything but negative terms when broadcasting the news.
    On radio and television there was no analysis of issues and no 
expression of differing views. Previously available live coverage of 
parliament was censored before broadcast during the spring session, and 
the fall session only had rare, selective recorded coverage. The 
President's eldest son owned the only private broadcast media.
    International electronic media was available and included Radio 
France International, which broadcast from Malabo, and Radio Exterior, 
the international short-wave service from Spain.
    Satellite broadcasts increasingly were available. Foreign channels 
that reported news were broadcast and were not censored.
    Although satellite or cable programming was too expensive for the 
average citizen to subscribe, cable television expanded greatly. 
Television Asonga, operated by the President's son, was broadcast only 
in Bata. Foreign cable television was available and provided news in 
French, Spanish, and English. Spanish TVE, an official Spanish 
government broadcaster, had a large audience in the country. After it 
broadcast a clandestinely filmed documentary, El Mundo a Cada Rato, 
showing a baby dying in its mother's arms in a Malabo public hospital, 
the Prime Minister reportedly visited the hospital, criticized 
unprofessional attitudes, and forced some changes in hospital 
procedure.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or verifiable reports that the Government monitored e-
mails or Internet chat rooms. Residents, however, believed that the 
Government monitored Internet use, including e-mails, which were 
channeled through the parastatal telephone company or a wireless 
connector (see Section 1.f.). E-mail users therefore generally 
practiced self-censorship. Most overt criticism of the Government came 
from the country's community in exile, and the Internet had replaced 
broadcast media as the primary way opposition views were expressed and 
disseminated. Exiled citizens' sites were not blocked. Internet use 
grew, but cost was prohibitive for most citizens. Some remote areas 
including smaller islands were still lacking in telephone service, 
further limiting Internet use.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no official 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; however, in past 
years some qualified professionals were moved out of teaching positions 
because of their political affiliation or critical statements reported 
to government officials by persons in their classes. Therefore, most 
professors practiced self-censorship in order to avoid problems. Very 
infrequent cultural events took place, and all required approval from 
the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for the right of assembly; 
however, the Government restricted this right. Government authorization 
must be obtained for private home meetings of more than 10 persons. 
Although the Government formally abolished permit requirements for 
political party meetings within party buildings, in practice opposition 
parties were expected to inform authorities if they wished to hold 
gatherings of any kind, regardless of location. Security agents 
generally monitored gatherings in public places. The Government 
required notification for public events such as meetings or marches.
    On October 12, security forces arrested three district leaders of 
the Convergence Party for Social Democracy (CPDS), a legal party, who 
were preparing to hold a meeting in their headquarters in Acurenam. 
They were released a few hours later, but prohibited from celebrating 
National Day inside CPDS offices.
    Other incidents of detention and beatings occurred during the year, 
when party activists tried to meet or travel to other districts, 
although government officials were notified ahead of time. Examples 
included arrests of a dozen CPDS activists in Rebola on April 8 when 
they tried to convene an approved party meeting. Executive Committee 
members Carlos Ona Boriesa and Carmelo Iridi were given 50 blows during 
their detention. The two were transferred to the Baney military camp 
when the other CPDS members were released several hours later. The two 
were released later that evening and taken back to Rebola. Reportedly a 
higher authority intervened. On April 9, police disrupted a CPDS 
meeting in Ebebiyin, after government delegate Florentino Edu Enama 
revoked permission for the meeting and expelled party officials from 
the city.
    When such incidents were brought to the attention of the President 
by foreign diplomats or CPDS activists, he professed to know nothing 
about them and claimed he would order such incidents of repression to 
cease. Opposition figures state, however, that such incidents would not 
occur without the President endorsing them.
    The CPDS was allowed to hold its annual civic education program for 
party youth during the year without major harassment, and the Popular 
Action of Equatorial Guinea (APGE) party held its convention without 
problems.
    In June the Olaf Palme Foundation tried to hold a conference on 
peace and democracy in partnership with the opposition CPDS party. The 
Government refused permission and denied visas, reportedly because it 
was not involved in planning and in charge of content. Months later a 
foreign government invited the Government to be a partner in a 
rescheduled seminar. The original agenda included participation of the 
opposition, in addition to high-level government officials, as 
panelists. The Government reportedly insisted that no CPDS members 
could make presentations. The organizers succumbed to government 
pressure, and the conference finally took place in December.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, but the Government restricted this in practice. 
The law establishes what types of NGOs can register, and human rights 
associations were added in January 2005 to the list; however, no human 
rights associations tried to organize and register. The law prohibits 
the formation of political parties along ethnic lines and prohibits 
coalitions between political parties; however, six opposition groups 
continued to be part of a coalition, which during the year allied 
itself with the ruling party. Opposition party members complained that 
their meetings were disrupted or monitored.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right; 
however, religious leaders avoided criticizing the Government in their 
sermons, and government officials sometimes monitored services.
    The law gives official preference to the Catholic Church and the 
Reform Church of Equatorial Guinea, due to their traditional roots and 
historical influence in social and cultural life. A Roman Catholic Mass 
was normally part of any major ceremonial function or holiday. Catholic 
schools received the same benefits from the state as public schools.
    A religious organization must be formally registered with the 
Ministry of Justice, Religion, and Penal Institutions to operate. There 
were no reports during the year that the Government refused to register 
any group. Approval may take several years, due primarily to 
bureaucratic slowness rather than policy; however, the lack of clearly 
written registration procedures could be used against a church when a 
political figure did not like its pastor or a member.
    Traditional African religions were practiced in private, even by 
many who belonged to other religious groups.
    The Government continued to restrict the clergy, particularly 
regarding criticism of the Government. During the year church 
representatives reported that they practiced self-censorship. The 
Government required permission for any religious activity outside a 
church building, but this requirement did not appear to hinder 
organized religious groups.
    Religious study was required in public and parochial schools and 
was usually, but not exclusively, Catholic.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Non-Catholics occasionally 
faced discrimination in school enrollment or for expression of personal 
beliefs within religion classes.
    The Jewish community was extremely small, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government limited them in practice. Police 
at roadblocks routinely subjected citizens to searches, harassment, and 
extortion; however, this occurred less frequently than previously. The 
Government attempted to justify roadblocks as controls to prevent 
illegal immigration, possible mercenary activities, or potential coups 
d'etat. However, the checkpoints effectively restricted freedom of 
movement by opposition members. Police and soldiers continued to harass 
foreigners, mainly because they were perceived to be wealthier than 
most citizens (see Section 1.c.).
    The military harassed and intimidated members of the Bubi ethnic 
group on Bioko Island. Security officials reportedly beat and shot 
Bubis for not surrendering their farm produce, sufficient money, and 
even land. The military were generally seen as an occupation army that 
prevented free movement of people in their traditional land.
    The law prohibits forced internal or external exile; however, the 
Government did not respect this in practice. For example, on June 5, 
the Government forced Weja Chicampo into external exile (see Section 
1.d.). In September the Government reportedly sentenced former general 
Agustin Ndong Ona to internal exile. Some persons have fled the country 
for political reasons.
    Government officials and members of parliament were supposed to 
receive permission from their superiors before traveling abroad. This 
effectively acted as a control on ruling and allied party members.
    Government security agents working in other countries reported on 
movements and activities of travelers from the country.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government also provided temporary protection 
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 
Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
    There were no recent cases of the Government cooperating with the 
UNHCR or other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers. There is no local UNHCR office.
    The police reportedly continued to harass individual asylum 
seekers, often for bribes.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully; however, in practice citizens could not freely 
change the laws and officials governing them.

    Elections and Political Participation.--There have been no free, 
fair, and transparent elections since independence.
    The country gained independence from Spain in 1968, and in 1979 the 
military, led by Brigadier General Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago, 
overthrew its first President, after years of disastrous and cruel 
rule. In 1989, as the sole candidate, Obiang was elected to a seven-
year term and has remained in power since then. In 1986 he founded the 
PDGE, for years the only legal party, which established an overwhelming 
dominance before other parties were permitted. The party rules with the 
concurrence of an oligarchic alliance based on clan and ethnic 
loyalties. There is no Presidential term limit.
    Membership in the ruling party generally was a great advantage for 
hiring and promotion, both in the public and private sectors. 
Membership in another political organization was reportedly grounds for 
dismissal from any position, public or private. Opposition politicians 
often claimed to have been dismissed from their jobs after joining 
other political groups, with no possibility of legal redress.
    The international community criticized the most recent 
parliamentary elections in 2004 as seriously flawed. Opposition 
candidates were subjected to harassment, arbitrary detention, 
restrictions on movement, and denial of equal access to the media. All 
state events were publicized in connection with the ruling PDGE party. 
Because of mandatory collection of dues and other contributions 
(reportedly including donations from other governments), the ruling 
party had hugely disproportionate funding available to spend, including 
on gifts to potential voters.
    PDGE members went door-to-door before the election, threatening and 
harassing opposition supporters and subjecting them to arbitrary 
arrest. On voting day there were widespread reports of intimidation and 
other irregularities. Voters were discouraged from voting in secret, 
ballots were opened illegally, and ruling party representatives 
reportedly cast votes of children and deceased persons as well as their 
own. Security forces intimidated voters in polling booths. There were 
few nonpartisan observers in rural areas, and discrepancies were 
reported between local vote counts and what later were released as 
official tallies. For example, although international observers 
estimated that the opposition CPDS party received 12 percent of the 
vote, the final tabulation did not show this, and the ruling party 
offered the CPDS only two seats in the 100-seat parliament. Some seats 
were given to opposition parties that had pledged cooperation with the 
PDGE.
    The President exercised strong powers as head of state, commander 
of the armed forces, and founder and head of the ruling party. In 
general leadership positions within government were restricted to the 
President's party or the coalition of ``loyal opposition'' parties. 
Because the ruling party overwhelmingly dominated the commissions 
established to review electoral practices and recommend reforms, no 
changes were made. The minister of the interior acted as President of 
the national electoral board. There was no independent electoral 
commission.
    The process to register a political party was not transparent. Some 
political parties, popular prior to the 1992 law that established 
procedures for political parties to become legal, remained banned, 
generally under the excuse that they were ``supporting terrorism'' or 
seeking to overthrow the Government.
    There were 13 registered political parties, 12 of which the 
Government called ``opposition parties''; however, six of these aligned 
themselves with the PDGE, and others (e.g. CPDS) were called 
``radical'' by the Government, meaning ``confrontational'' and willing 
to vote against the President's position. The Government claimed that 
these putative opposition parties were examples of ``multiparty 
democracy''; however, the Government prohibited real debates between 
parties and public criticism of government policies and practices, 
except within the parliament.
    Government officials routinely referred to any politicians from 
opposition parties deemed illegal as ``terrorists.'' The Government 
generally withheld access to domestic broadcasting from opposition 
parties and referred to the opposition negatively when broadcasting. 
Reportedly the Government bribed members of the opposition to join the 
PDGE; if they refused, they found themselves out of work and their 
family members denied opportunities for employment.
    There were 20 women in the 100-member parliament, and six women, 
including two ministers (labor, and women's issues), in the cabinet.
    A new government was named in August, led by a new prime minister 
who was not a member of the minority Bubi ethnic group, which had been 
the tradition for decades. Additional appointed cabinet and subcabinet 
positions, bringing the total to 59, were established. A total of 49 
appointees were from the majority Fang ethnic group, and at least 40 
were from just two of the seven provinces. Almost 30 were from the 
President's home province.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption in all 
branches of the Government remained a serious problem, but in August 
the President appointed a new prime minister who declared that 
elimination of corruption was his primary objective, and the subject 
received more public attention.
    The country's newfound oil wealth had become a magnet for many 
seeking financial opportunities, including those willing to use corrupt 
means to obtain a share of the revenues. Wealthy individuals were able 
to buy the licenses needed to operate and had the influence to squeeze 
out competitors.
    Military and other security personnel and civil servants earned low 
wages and in the past were told to ``make their own raise,'' which 
implied government approval to demand bribes.
    Some officials have been removed from office for corruption, but 
many persons believed they were scapegoats for higher-level and former 
officials. Officials by law must declare their assets, but there were 
no reports that they ever complied. There was no requirement for an 
official to divest himself of business interests that were in areas 
that his agency oversaw. When that was ostensibly done, under 
international pressure, the divestment generally was only a facade; 
another family member or associate nominally took over, or a business 
group was formed that appeared, falsely, to have no connection to the 
official.
    In September the Prime Minister established a hot line, ostensibly 
for oil companies to use if they had evidence of corruption or were 
asked to participate in something they viewed as corrupt. It was 
reportedly used at least twice; however, there were no known 
investigations of those allegedly seeking to employ illegal practices.
    The Government removed some officials from office for misuse of 
public trust (corruption), but none were prosecuted and some were moved 
to other government positions.
    In 2004 an investigation by the legislature of a foreign country 
determined that at least $35 million (17.5 billion CFA francs) of 
revenues from foreign oil companies had been misappropriated by the 
President, his family, and other senior government officials over the 
previous few years. The investigators concluded that, in many cases, 
the money went directly into foreign bank accounts controlled by the 
President and close associates.
    The Government released a report in an effort to refute the 
allegations. The Government claimed that the foreign accounts were 
intended to meet ``needs in the country,'' despite the private nature 
of the accounts, and were established to earn interest ``for future 
generations,'' which funds deposited in the Central African Bank did 
not. The Government purported to detail where hundreds of millions of 
dollars (billions of CFA francs) had been spent on capital construction 
projects underway in the country, and it claimed that funds from these 
oil revenue accounts were withdrawn by the President to pay for the 
projects. When those foreign accounts were closed in late 2004, most of 
the funds were transferred to the Central African Bank.
    In 2005 the Government expressed interest in joining the Extractive 
Industries Transparency Initiative, a multinational civil society 
initiative to encourage transparency and accountability in extractive 
industries. However, it made little progress on meeting requirements to 
join because it passed no implementing regulations.
    The law did not provide for public access to government 
information, and citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media, 
were generally unable to access government information. A lack of 
organized recordkeeping, archiving, and public libraries also limited 
access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no domestic human rights NGOs. The law restricts NGOs 
and identifies specific areas in which they may operate; human rights 
were added in January 2005 to those types of NGOs that may organize; 
however, having long been banned, none existed.
    The primary organization with some responsibility for human rights, 
the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH), was controlled by the 
Government and suffered serious funding, staff, and institutional 
limitations. It did not investigate human rights complaints or keep 
statistics on them. The President appointed the members of the CNDH.
    The Center for Human Rights and Democracy, although organized as a 
quasi-independent body, had no independent source of funding or 
authority but that given by the Government. It received minimal support 
and at the end of 2005 lost its office space, and was relocated inside 
the Ministry of Justice building. Its role had been primarily advocacy 
and public sensitization, not investigation or reporting of violations.
    Neither the CNDH nor the Center for Human Rights and Democracy were 
considered effective. Their mandates were not clear, except that the 
center previously prepared the annual report to the UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights presented in Geneva and hosted numerous 
workshops on human rights and trafficking.
    The Government elevated the human rights portfolio to the first 
vice prime minister with the reorganization of government in August, 
but by year's end no impact was seen from this move.
    During the year the Government collaborated with the ICRC and other 
organizations to train local and regional security personnel, 
government officials, students, and others in human rights subjects. At 
various times during the year, UNICEF, UNDP, the ICRC, the European 
Development Fund, and contracted private organizations carried out 
activities in the areas of human rights protection and training.
    No international human rights NGOs were resident in the country. 
There have been allegations from Catholic Relief Services, Reporters 
Without Borders, and the Center for Rural Development that NGO 
representatives visiting Malabo had their movements, telephone calls, 
e-mails, and faxes monitored.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the 
Government did not enforce these provisions effectively. Violence and 
discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, discrimination 
against ethnic minorities, and discrimination against HIV/AIDS victims 
were problems.
    During the year the Government staged public campaigns to combat 
child labor and discrimination and violence against women and persons 
with HIV/AIDS. Discrimination was based more on ethnicity and party 
affiliation than other factors.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, is 
illegal, but the Government did not enforce the law effectively. The 
traditional perception that women were sold to men by their families, 
and therefore were property to be controlled by whatever means 
necessary short of death, was widespread. The public beating of wives 
is illegal; however, violence in the home generally was tolerated. The 
police and judiciary were reluctant to prosecute domestic violence 
cases; some police and judicial officials stated that gender violence 
should be resolved at home, not prosecuted by the Government. The 
Government did not have a hot line, shelter, or other services for 
domestic violence victims. The number of prosecutions during the year 
was not known; however, the Government generally did not prosecute 
perpetrators of domestic violence, and such violence, particularly wife 
beating, was common.
    Rape is illegal, but spousal rape is not specified in the law. The 
Government did not enforce the law effectively. Reporting rape was 
considered shameful to families involved. The number of prosecutions 
during the year was not known.
    Prostitution is illegal but was generally tolerated. Women's 
poverty and demand from the increasing number of resident foreign 
workers fostered it. The Government's response was to close some local 
bars (which reopened a few days later). Police occasionally detained 
prostitutes, abusing and sometimes subjecting them to extortion; 
patrons were not arrested.
    Trafficking in persons for prostitution was possibly increasing 
(see Section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
    Sexual harassment was not illegal, and its extent was unknown.
    The law provides for equal rights for women and men, including 
rights under family law, property law, and in the judicial system; 
however, rights of women were limited in practice. Because women become 
members of their husbands' families upon marriage, they usually were 
not accorded inheritance rights. Tradition also dictated that if a 
girl's family accepted a dowry from a man, she must then marry him, 
regardless of her wishes; if a marriage dissolved, the husband also 
automatically received custody of all children born during the 
marriage.
    A foreign development fund, as part of its program to support civil 
society, dedicated one of its forums to the rights of women. The 
dominant topics were polygyny and traditional attitudes that make women 
vulnerable. Polygyny, which was widespread (although it had no legal 
basis), contributed to women's secondary status, as did limited 
educational opportunities.
    The Ministry of Women's Affairs was responsible for women's issues.
    Women largely were confined by custom to traditional roles, 
particularly in agriculture. Women experienced economic discrimination 
in access to employment, credit, pay for substantially similar work, 
and business ownership or management. Despite this, there were a few 
successful women entrepreneurs.

    Children.--The Government devoted little attention to children's 
rights or their welfare and had few policies in this area, although 
during the year it sponsored several seminars, media programs, and 
announcements on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2004 the 
parliament passed a trafficking-in-persons law, focused almost 
exclusively on trafficked children (see Section 5, Trafficking); 
however, other than prohibitions against child labor, no other 
provisions for the welfare of children were included.
    By law education is compulsory, free, and universal through primary 
school, but the law was not enforced. Fees and requirements such as 
uniforms made it difficult for many families to afford to enroll their 
children. Boys were generally expected by their families either to 
complete an additional seven years of secondary school or to finish a 
program of vocational study after primary education. For many girls, 
pregnancy or the need to assist at home made acquiring even a primary 
education impossible. Women generally attained only one-fifth the 
educational level of men. According to UNICEF, from 1992 to 2002 net 
primary school attendance was 60 percent for boys and 61 percent for 
girls, and from 1997 to 2000, the secondary school enrollment ratio was 
43 percent for boys and 19 percent for girls.
    Teachers were sometimes political appointees with no training.
    The Government continued to cooperate with a foreign government to 
provide textbooks to schools.
    In September, in cooperation with an extractive industry company, 
the Government began setting up programs for teacher training; it 
identified a foreign NGO to implement the programs, relocated experts 
to Malabo and Bata, and imported educational materials. Under the 
program each party would contribute $20 million (10 billion CFA francs) 
to the program over a five-year period.
    The government-funded Social Action Program, working with a foreign 
official coordinator, also began to establish operating procedures, did 
an initial assessment, and designated counterparts in government 
ministries to coordinate priority projects to address shortcomings in 
education, health care, child protection, water, and sanitation.
    Children suffered poor health and had a high mortality rate. The 
Government provided very little health care, but boys and girls had 
equal access to what was offered. Treatment for malaria, the largest 
killer of children, was supposedly free for pregnant women and children 
to age five.
    Abuse of minors is illegal; however, the Government did not enforce 
the law effectively, and child abuse occurred. Physical punishment was 
the culturally accepted method of discipline. No prosecutions for child 
abuse were reported.
    Children were often pawns in demonstrations of support for the 
President and his policies. On December 1, some students rioted in 
Malabo after hours of walking to participate in an HIV/AIDS march, in 
reaction to a road accident that killed at least one student and 
severely injured others. Government officials partially blamed the 
rioting on teachers, parents, and principals having become ``too lax in 
disciplining'' children. They implied support for corporal punishment 
to reinstitute respect.
    Child prostitution may exist, but there were no statistics 
available (see Section 6.d.).
    Child labor by law is punishable by a fine from $100 to $500 
(50,000 to 250,000 CFA francs); however, child labor occurred, 
generally in agriculture, selling of small items on the street or in 
markets, or domestic work. Its extent was unknown (see Section 6.d.).
    Trafficking is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of 
approximately $100,000 (50 million CFA francs); however, trafficking of 
children to the country was a growing problem (see Section 5, 
Trafficking in Persons).
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of street children 
living in the country.
    The Government, through the National Action Plan to Fight Against 
Trafficking in Persons and Child Labor, funded a program to educate the 
public against these practices, assist victims, and punish offenders. 
However, most training of investigators and child service workers had 
not begun by year's end, since sensitization and education on the 
subject was still continuing. The Government entered into an agreement 
with Gabon and Cameroon to analyze cross-border trafficking, and in 
July it signed a Multilateral Cooperation Agreement to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, in West and 
Central Africa.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, persons were trafficked through and to the country. The 
penalties for trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation or other 
exploitation are imprisonment for 10 to 15 years and a fine of not less 
than approximately $100,000 (50 million CFA francs).
    The Government did not actively investigate trafficking cases. The 
Ministry of Justice is responsible for combating trafficking in 
persons, and the minister of justice is President of the 
interinstitutional commission on illegal trafficking of migrants and 
trafficking of persons.
    Reliable figures on the number of trafficking victims were not 
available, but anecdotal evidence indicated the numbers were small. The 
country was a transit point and destination for trafficked persons. 
Although less prevalent than transit trafficking, trafficking into the 
country was reportedly a problem. Children, mostly from Benin and 
Nigeria, primarily were trafficked into the commercial sectors in 
Malabo and Bata. Nigerian boys worked in market stalls in Bata, often 
without pay or personal freedom. The country was both a destination and 
a transit point for trafficked girls and boys, mostly from Cameroon, 
Benin, and Nigeria. Women were reportedly trafficked for sexual 
exploitation, especially to Malabo. Some Nigerian girls were reportedly 
trafficked onward to Spain for prostitution.
    The Government, in collaboration with UNICEF and foreign 
governments, implemented the first phase of a national action plan to 
prevent trafficking, punish offenders, and protect victims. The plan 
involved 11 ministries, religious communities, and nongovernmental and 
international organizations. During the year the Government conducted 
four seminars, with wide participation. Public service announcements on 
the problem of trafficking were widely disseminated.
    There was one unconfirmed report of a government official involved 
in the trafficking of a Nigerian infant, reportedly for an illegal 
adoption. This was privately resolved between the two countries, and it 
was unknown if any action was taken against those involved. Lower-level 
law enforcement officials, such as border guards and immigration 
officers, were suspected of facilitating trafficking in exchange for 
bribes.
    Traffickers generally crossed the border with false documents and 
children they falsely claimed were their own. These children reportedly 
worked without pay and were not allowed to attend school. Organized 
criminal networks in Benin and possibly Nigeria were thought to be 
involved in trafficking persons to and through the country. Fishing 
boats also were probably employed to transport children to avoid formal 
entry procedures.
    During the year the Government was not asked by other governments 
to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. 
Authorities did not encourage victims to file complaints against 
traffickers. During the year there were no reports of prosecutions 
under the 2004 law.
    The Government did not provide protection or assistance to victims 
or witnesses. Embassies of victims' countries of origin, if present, 
were expected to take care of victims until they were returned to their 
home countries. There were no NGOs in the country to assist victims. 
The only victims identified were repatriated.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not provide protection for 
persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, 
or the provision of other state services. Educational services for the 
mentally or physically handicapped were minimal. They were usually 
provided, if at all, by churches or NGOs.
    There was no institutional care or treatment for the mentally ill, 
a small but growing problem.
    The law does not mandate access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities, and there was societal discrimination against such 
persons.
    The ministries of education and health had primary responsibility 
for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. Some public 
service announcements regarding rights of the disabled were broadcast.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Discrimination against ethnic 
or racial minorities was illegal, and the Government did not overtly 
limit participation of minorities in politics; however, the near 
monopolization of political and economic power by the Fang ethnic 
group, particularly its Mongomo subclan, continued (see Section 3).
    Of 59 persons appointed to cabinet and subcabinet positions, 49 
were Fang, seven were Bubi, two were Bisio, and one was Ndowe.
    Tensions existed in part because the dominant group controlled most 
property, which afforded it greater economic prosperity and prevented 
economic competition from minorities. Minorities felt discriminated 
against in regard to expropriation of property, reimbursement for their 
seized homes or land, ability to obtain loans, compete for 
scholarships, and obtain and keep jobs.
    The number of residents from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Togo, 
and other African countries grew, despite increasing roundups by police 
of persons without valid visas and permits. Foreigners were subject to 
harassment and extortion by security forces.
    Differences among subclans of the Fang, especially resentment of 
the political dominance of the Mongomo subclan, were also sources of 
political tension. In practice some members of ethnic minorities, 
particularly of the Bubi ethnic group, faced discrimination, especially 
when they were not members of the dominant party.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination 
against homosexuals was strong, and the Government made no effort to 
combat it.
    Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to be victims of societal 
discrimination and often kept their illnesses hidden. Radio campaigns 
and public statements advocating nondiscrimination toward persons with 
HIV/AIDS were frequent. The Government promulgated a decree that 
provides for free HIV/AIDS testing and treatment.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to 
establish unions and affiliate with unions of their choice, without 
previous authorization or excessive requirements; however, the 
Government placed practical obstacles before groups wishing to 
organize. The Union Organization of Small Farmers continued to be the 
only legal, operational labor union. According to the International 
Trade Union Confederation, the authorities continued to refuse to 
register the Equatorial Guinea Trade Union. The law stipulates that a 
union must have at least 50 members who are from a specific workplace 
to register; this rule effectively blocked union formation. Authorities 
refused to legalize the public sector union, the Independent Syndicated 
Services, despite it having met the requirements of the law.
    According to regional representatives of the International Labor 
Organization, the Government continued to influence employment in all 
sectors. Requirements to utilize employment and security agencies 
controlled largely by the President's relatives continued.
    There was no law prohibiting antiunion discrimination. However, 
unlike in 2005, there were no reports that workers tried to form 
unions, or that police visited their homes and threatened them if they 
persisted.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct activities without interference, but the Government 
did not protect this right in practice. Workers were effectively 
prohibited from striking. On rare occasions workers engaged in 
temporary protests or ``go slows'' (work slowdowns and planned 
absences). In one case workers protested poor conditions and pay at a 
construction site at the port of Malabo, threatening the foreign 
contractor. The Prime Minister intervened and promised action on worker 
complaints if they would return to their jobs.
    There were no reports of collective bargaining by any group; 
however, the Ministry of Labor sometimes mediated labor disputes. 
Dismissed workers, for example, could appeal to the ministry, first 
through their regional delegate; however, there was little trust in the 
fairness of the system. Citizens had a right to appeal decisions that 
the labor ministry had made to a special standing committee of 
parliament established to hear citizen complaints regarding decisions 
by any government agency. The Government and employers set wages with 
little or no participation by workers.
    Workers believed that actions such as strikes would result in loss 
of their jobs and possibly harm to themselves or their families.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor and slavery, including by children, but 
there were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 
6.d.). Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that detainees 
and convicted felons were forced to perform labor outside prison, nor 
for government officials, without compensation (see Section 1.c.).
    In 2004 the Government enforced for the first time existing laws on 
forced labor and convicted a Beninese woman of holding a Beninese girl 
of 14 as an indentured servant. The woman was ordered to pay back 
wages, fined, and sentenced to serve a prison term.
    The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children; however, 
there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are no comprehensive laws or policies to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace, and the Government did not effectively 
implement the few that existed. The 2004 law against trafficking 
provides that persons found guilty of illegally forcing a minor to work 
should be punished with a fine from approximately $100 to $500 (50,000 
to 250,000 CFA francs). Radio news reported that some parents of 
working children were forced to pay this fine as examples.
    The legal minimum age for employment is 14 years, but the 
Government did not enforce this law, and child labor was common. In 
most cases children also went to school, girls through primary school 
and boys through middle school. In June 2005 the Government issued a 
decree forbidding the employment of children in street vending, car-
washing, or in bars and restaurants, but this law was rarely enforced. 
According to a 2001 UNICEF child labor study, the most recent 
information available, child labor existed primarily in the form of 
children working as farmhands and market vendors in family businesses. 
During the year there were unconfirmed reports that foreign children 
were used as market vendors by nonrelatives and had no access to 
schooling.
    The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor 
laws; however, it did not do so effectively.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Enforcement of labor laws and 
ratified international labor agreements was not effective, resulting in 
poor working conditions. Construction safety codes, for example, were 
not enforced. Most petroleum companies, on the other hand, exceeded 
international safety standards.
    By law employers must pay the minimum wage set by the Government. 
Minimum wages were set for all sectors of the formal economy; however, 
the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family in Malabo or Bata. In the rest of the country, the 
minimum wage would provide a minimally adequate income. Many formal 
sector companies paid more than this, but most workers (farmers, etc.) 
were not covered under the minimum wage law. By law, hydrocarbon 
industry workers received salaries many times higher than those in 
other sectors, which fueled inflation and disadvantaged those who did 
not have those jobs. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing 
the minimum wage, but because of high unemployment, workers with any 
job rarely complained to authorities about wage rule violations.
    The law prescribes a standard 35-hour work week and a 48-hour 
weekly rest period, requirements that generally were observed in 
practice in the formal economy. Exceptions were made for some jobs, 
such as those in offshore oil industry work. Premium pay for overtime 
was required, but the requirement was not enforced.
    The law provides for protection for workers from occupational 
hazards, but the Government did not enforce this. The Government had an 
insufficient number of labor inspectors to oversee industry. The law 
does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their 
continued employment.
    Although payment of a high percentage of salary into the social 
security and health system is mandatory, workers rarely received health 
care, workers' compensation, or retirement benefits from the system 
after contributing. Employment agencies that were supposed to pass on 
payments for social security benefits for workers were notorious for 
closing without meeting their obligations.

                               __________

                                ERITREA

    Eritrea, with a population of approximately 3.6 million, is a one-
party state that became independent in 1993 when citizens voted for 
independence from Ethiopia. The People's Front for Democracy and 
Justice (PFDJ), previously known as the Eritrean People's Liberation 
Front, is the sole political party and has controlled the country since 
1991. The country's President, Isaias Afwerki, heads the PFDJ, the 
national legislature, and the military. The Government continuously 
postponed Presidential and national legislative elections; national 
elections have never been held. Despite international efforts to 
resolve the situation, an ongoing border dispute with Ethiopia 
seriously hindered international trade, affected the Government's 
external relations, and was used by the Government to justify severe 
restrictions on civil liberties. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government's human rights record worsened, and it continued to 
commit numerous serious abuses, including: abridgement of citizens' 
rights to change their government through a democratic process; 
unlawful killings by security forces; torture and beatings of 
prisoners, some resulting in death; harsh and life threatening prison 
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; executive interference in 
the judiciary and the use of a special court system to limit due 
process; government infringement on privacy rights; government roundups 
of young men and women for national service; arrest, incarceration, and 
torture of family members of national service evaders, some of whom 
reportedly died of unknown causes while in detention; severe 
restrictions on basic civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, 
press, assembly, association, and religion, particularly for religious 
groups not approved by the Government; restrictions on freedom of 
movement and travel for diplomats, humanitarian and development 
agencies, and UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) personnel; 
government circumscription of nongovernmental organization (NGO) 
activities; violence and societal discrimination against women and the 
widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM); governmental 
and societal discrimination against members of the Kunama ethnic group 
and homosexuals; and limitations on workers' rights.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings; however, the Government continued to authorize the 
use of deadly force against anyone resisting or attempting to flee 
during military searches for deserters and draft evaders, and deaths 
reportedly occurred during the year. Several persons detained for 
evading national service died after harsh treatment by security forces 
(see Section 1.c.). There were reports of summary executions and of 
individuals shot on sight near the Ethiopian border, allegedly for 
attempting to cross the border. There were reports that individuals 
were severely beaten and killed during government roundups of young men 
and women for national service (see Section 1.c.).
    Persons arrested and detained because of their religious 
affiliation died from security force abuses (see Section 2.c.).
    There was no additional information regarding action taken against 
military personnel who shot and killed 161 youths who were trying to 
escape from Wia Military Camp in June 2005 as reported by the London-
based NGO, Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights.
    According to the Government Commission for Coordination with the UN 
Peacekeeping Mission, there were an estimated three million landmines 
and unexploded ordnance in the country left over from the country's 30-
year war of independence and the 1998	2000 conflict with Ethiopia. The 
Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and others laid some new mines during 
the year. The UN reported three deaths and eight injuries from landmine 
incidents during the year; at least two of the deaths and seven of the 
injuries involved newly laid landmines. It was probable that there were 
additional, unreported deaths in remote areas. The Government's 
demining program continued; however, statistics from this program were 
unavailable at year's end. The UN demining programs continued 
throughout the year, although their effectiveness was limited by a 
government order in October 2005 grounding all UN helicopters (see 
Section 2.d.). As a result, UNMEE transferred most of the demining 
activities to Ethiopia.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year; however, there were unresolved 
disappearances from previous years.
    The whereabouts of an unknown number of Kunama, members of an 
ethnic group residing predominantly along the border with Ethiopia who 
were detained in 2005 because of their association with other captured 
or killed Kunama insurgents, remained unknown.
    At year's end, the whereabouts of 11 senior PFDJ and National 
Assembly members and several journalists and employees of diplomatic 
missions arrested by the Government in 2001 remained unknown; however, 
there were unconfirmed reports during the year that several had died in 
detention and the rest were being held in solitary confinement.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit torture; 
however, there were numerous reports that security forces resorted to 
torture and physical beatings of prisoners, particularly during 
interrogations. There were credible reports that several individuals, 
including young men and women rounded up for national service, died 
following torture or severe beatings by security forces. During the 
year security forces severely mistreated and beat army deserters, draft 
evaders, and members of particular religious groups (see Section 2.c.). 
Security forces subjected deserters and draft evaders to various 
disciplinary actions that included prolonged sun exposure in 
temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or the binding of hands, 
elbows, and feet for extended periods.
    There were reliable reports that torture was widespread in an 
unknown number of detention facilities. In addition to psychological 
abuse, escapees reported the use of physical torture and abuse at a few 
prisons. Authorities suspended prisoners from trees with their arms 
tied behind their backs, a technique known as almaz (diamond). 
Authorities also placed prisoners face down with their hands tied to 
their feet, a technique known as the ``helicopter.''
    There were reports that, on October 17, two men detained in a 
military camp for holding religious services in a private home died as 
a result of injuries sustained during torture (see Section 2.c.).
    There were reports that some women drafted to the national service 
were subjected to sexual harassment and abuse. There were unconfirmed 
reports that instructors raped female students at Sawa Military Camp.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions for the 
general prison population were harsh and life threatening. There were 
reports that prisoners were held in underground cells or in shipping 
containers with little or no ventilation in extreme temperatures. The 
shipping containers were reportedly not large enough to allow all those 
incarcerated to lie down at the same time.
    There were substantive reports that the detention center conditions 
for persons temporarily held for evading military service were also 
harsh and life threatening. Unconfirmed reports suggested there may be 
hundreds of such detainees. Draft evaders were typically held for one 
to 12 weeks before being reassigned to their units, although some were 
held for as long as two years. At one detention facility outside 
Asmara, detainees reportedly were held in an underground hall with no 
access to light or ventilation and sometimes in very crowded 
conditions. Some detainees reportedly suffered from severe mental and 
physical stress due to these conditions.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reported deaths from 
adverse conditions.
    Women and their young children were held separately from men. There 
is no juvenile detention center in Asmara, and juvenile offenders often 
were incarcerated with adults. There were reports that juveniles held 
in adult facilities were sodomized. Pretrial detainees generally were 
not held separately from convicted prisoners; however, in some cases 
detainees were held separately. Visitors were allowed sometimes, and 
prison authorities permitted family members to leave food and supplies 
for detainees at jails, prisons, and detention centers; released 
detainees reported that they received these items even if they were 
unable to meet with visitors.
    Local groups and human rights organizations were not allowed to 
monitor prison conditions. The Government prohibited the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting the unknown number of 
Ethiopian soldiers, who the Government claimed were deserters from the 
Ethiopian army, or any Eritrean detainees or prisoners, although the 
ICRC was allowed to visit and register Ethiopian civilian detainees in 
police stations and prisons. Authorities generally permitted three 
visits per week by family members, except for detainees arrested for 
reasons of national security or for evading national service.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law and unimplemented 
constitution prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, 
arbitrary arrest and detention were serious problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are officially 
responsible for maintaining internal security, and the army is 
responsible for external security; however, the Government can call on 
the armed forces, the reserves, and demobilized soldiers in response to 
both domestic and external security requirements. Agents of the 
National Security Office, which reports to the Office of the President, 
are responsible for detaining persons suspected of threatening national 
security. The military has the power to arrest and detain persons.
    Active duty police officers were in charge of key police divisions. 
The police force was adequate in enforcing traffic laws and combating 
petty crime. Generally the police did not have a role in cases 
involving national security, but beginning in 2005 the police became 
involved in the rounding up of individuals evading national service. 
During the year the police, the military, and internal security forces 
engaged in arrests and detentions. Police and security forces 
frequently used violent tactics, such as beating and shooting in the 
air to control crowds in social settings and during roundups.
    Corruption was not prevalent; however, there were reports that 
police demanded bribes to release detainees and that military forces 
accepted money to smuggle citizens out of the country. There were no 
mechanisms to address allegations of abuse among the police, internal 
security, or military forces, and impunity was a problem.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law stipulates that detainees must be 
brought before a judge within 48 hours and may be held for a maximum of 
28 days without being charged with a crime. In practice authorities 
often detained persons suspected of crimes for much longer periods. The 
law stipulates that, unless there is a ``crime-in-process,'' police 
must conduct an investigation and obtain a warrant prior to an arrest. 
In cases of national security, this process may be waived. In practice 
very few individuals were arrested with a warrant. Authorities often 
did not promptly inform detainees of the charges against them. Often 
detainees did not have access to legal counsel (see Section 1.e.) or 
appear before a judge, and incommunicado detention was widespread. 
There was a functioning bail system, except for cases involving 
national security or for which capital punishment might be handed down.
    Arbitrary arrest and detention were serious problems. For example, 
on September 16	17, police reportedly arrested more than 2,000 persons 
at several nightclubs in Asmara. In one of the nightclubs, police 
reportedly surrounded the club, entered, and began to check the 
identification cards of those inside. After initially arresting only 
specific individuals, police changed their approach and arrested 
without charge everyone inside the club--approximately 250 persons--
using sticks and threats to control the crowd. Most of those detained 
were subsequently released after posting bail. No trials were held in 
connection with the incident.
    Security forces continued the practice begun in 2005 of detaining 
and arresting parents of individuals who had evaded national service 
duties or fled the country, although there is nothing in the legal code 
to warrant such arrests (see Section 1.f.). In December security forces 
in Asmara and surrounding areas arrested over 500 family members and 
spouses of national service evaders. Those who were arrested continued 
to be detained, reportedly under harsh conditions, at year's end.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested dual nationals and foreigners 
and detained at least two foreign diplomats during the year, often 
under the guise of national security. There were reports that 
plainclothes agents of the National Security Office entered homes and 
arrested occupants. There also were reports that individuals were 
threatened by security forces over extended periods of time.
    Security forces detained, generally for less than three days, many 
persons during searches for evaders of national service, even if they 
had valid papers showing that they had completed or were exempt from 
national service (see Section 1.c.). There were reports that 
individuals who spoke out against the Government or publicly questioned 
government actions were arrested and detained without due process.
    The Government continued to arrest and detain members of 
nonregistered religious groups. Some members of nonregistered religious 
groups have been detained for more than 11 years (see Section 2.c.).
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested journalists during the year 
(see Section 2.a.). The Government continued to detain journalists it 
took into custody in 2001 (see Section 2.a.).
    Ethiopian nationals reportedly were singled out for arrest because 
they were unable to pay the necessary fees to renew their residency 
permits every 12 months (see Section 2.d.).
    The Government detained without charge an UNMEE official, who was 
released in October. (see Section 4).
    The three union leaders arrested in March 2005 reportedly were 
being held incommunicado at year's end.
    There were no further reports about the several hundred politically 
motivated detentions in 2005 of persons who were seen as critical of 
the Government, and many of those detained remained in prison at year's 
end. Many were perceived to have ties to political dissidents or were 
believed to have spoken against government actions. Most of these 
detainees had not been tried and did not have access to legal counsel. 
The ICRC was not authorized to visit these detainees.
    There were no developments in the 2002 arrests of individuals 
associated with the 11 PFDJ National Assembly members who were detained 
in 2001 and of Eritrean diplomats who were recalled from their posts. 
At least four of these detainees, in addition to many detained in 
previous years, remained in prison without charge at year's end. Among 
the detainees were former ambassador to China Ermias Debessai (Papayo) 
and Aster Yohannes, wife of former foreign minister Petros Solomon.
    Two citizens who worked for a foreign embassy have remained in 
detention without charge since 2001. Two additional citizens who worked 
for a foreign embassy, who were arrested in 2005 and 2006, 
respectively, also remained in detention at year's end.
    There were reports that the Government continued to hold without 
charge numerous members of the Eritrean Liberation Front, an armed 
opposition group that fought against Ethiopia during the struggle for 
independence.
    The Government held numerous pretrial detainees during the year; 
however, there were widespread reports that the Government released an 
unknown number of detainees held without charge during the year. An 
unknown number of persons suspected of antigovernment speech, 
association with the 11 former PFDJ members arrested in 2001, Islamic 
elements considered radical, or suspected terrorist organizations 
continued to remain in detention without charge, some of whom have been 
detained for more than 10 years. These detainees reportedly did not 
have access to legal counsel and were not brought before a judge.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and unimplemented 
constitution provide for an independent judiciary; however, the 
judiciary was weak and subject to executive control. Public trials 
generally were perceived as fair, but virtually all cases involving 
individuals detained for national security or political reasons were 
not brought to trial. The drafting into national service of many 
civilians, including court administrators, defendants, judges, lawyers, 
and others involved in the legal system, continued to have a 
significant negative impact on the judiciary. The Government has not 
issued licenses to lawyers wishing to enter private practice for seven 
years.
    The judicial system has two parts: civilian and special courts. The 
civilian court system consists of community courts, regional courts, 
and the High Court, which also serves as an appellate court. Appeals 
can be made in the civilian courts up to the High Court. The High Court 
took an average of four to six months to decide if it would hear an 
appeal and, at year's end, had a backlog of approximately 400 cases. 
Minor infractions involving sums of less than approximately $7,300 
(110,000 nakfa) are brought to community courts. More serious offenses 
are argued before regional courts, but a significant proportion of 
cases involving murder, rape, and other felonies are heard by the High 
Court. A single judge hears all cases, except those argued before the 
High Court, where panels of three judges hear cases. A panel of five 
judges hears cases in which the High Court serves as the court of final 
appeal.
    The executive-controlled special courts issue directives to other 
courts regarding administrative matters, although their domain was 
supposed to be restricted to criminal cases involving capital offenses, 
theft, embezzlement, and corruption. The Office of the Attorney General 
decides which cases are to be tried by a special court. No lawyers 
practice in the special courts. The judges serve as the prosecutors and 
may request that individuals involved in the cases present their 
positions. The special courts, which do not permit defense counsel or 
the right of appeal, allowed the executive branch to mete out 
punishment without respect for due process.
    The judges in the special court in both branches are senior 
military officers, with no formal legal training. They generally based 
their decisions on ``conscience,'' without reference to the law. There 
is no limitation on punishment, although the special courts did not 
hand down capital punishment sentences during the year. The Attorney 
General also allowed special courts to retry civilian court cases, 
including those decided by the High Court, thereby subjecting 
defendants to double jeopardy. In rare instances, appeals made to the 
Office of the President reportedly resulted in special courts rehearing 
certain cases.
    Most citizens only had contact with the legal system through the 
traditional community courts. Judges heard civil cases, while 
magistrates versed in criminal law heard criminal cases. Customary 
tribunals were sometimes used to adjudicate local civil and criminal 
cases. The Ministry of Justice offered training in alternative dispute 
resolution to handle some civil and criminal cases.
    Shari'a law for family and succession cases could be applied when 
both litigants in civil cases were Muslims. In these cases, the 
sentences imposed cannot involve physical punishment.

    Trial Procedures.--The judicial system suffered from a lack of 
trained personnel, inadequate funding, and poor infrastructure that in 
practice limited the Government's ability to grant accused persons a 
speedy and fair trial.
    Unlike in the special court system, the law and unimplemented 
constitution provide specific rights to defendants in the regular court 
system. Although defendants could hire a legal representative at their 
own expense, most detainees could not afford to do so and consequently 
did not have access to legal counsel. The Government frequently 
assigned attorneys to represent defendants accused of serious crimes 
punishable by more than 10 years in prison and who could not afford 
legal counsel. In the High Court, defendants have the right to confront 
and question witnesses, present evidence, gain access to government-
held evidence, appeal a decision, and are presumed innocent; these 
rights were upheld in practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no confirmed reports 
of new political prisoners; however, there were numerous reports of 
persons detained for political reasons (see Section 1.d.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civilian court system 
consists of community courts, regional courts, and the High Court, 
which also serves as an appellate court. Individuals with civil cases 
can also request their case be considered by the special courts. Most 
civil law relies on the Ethiopian legal code of 1957, as well as 
proclamations issued by the Government. The judiciary purports to be 
independent and impartial.

    Property Restitution.--There were reports that the Government 
seized property without restitution. The Government failed to 
compensate foreigners for property taken by preindependence governments 
or to restore the property to them. There were no reports of the 
seizure of the private property of foreign nationals. Upon the ordered 
closure of several NGOs, the Government required that all property be 
turned over to it, including items such as computers, printers, and 
vehicles.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit such 
actions; however, the Government infringed on the right to privacy.
    The Government deployed military and police throughout the country 
using roadblocks, street sweeps, and house-to-house searches to find 
deserters and draft evaders as well as parents of deserters and draft 
evaders. There were reports that security forces targeted gatherings of 
unregistered religious groups and searched the homes of foreigners.
    The Government monitored mail, e-mail, and telephone calls without 
obtaining warrants as required under the law. Government informers were 
believed to be present throughout the country.
    There were reports that military officials and government officials 
seized residences and businesses belonging to private citizens. There 
were reports they rented the property, used it as housing for senior 
military officers' and government officials' families, or occupied the 
property for government and military use.
    There were reports that the Government forced the resettlement of 
individuals residing in Massawa in preparation for the construction of 
a new duty-free zone.
    Security forces continued the practice begun in June 2005 of 
detaining and arresting parents of individuals who had evaded national 
service duties or fled the country (see Section 1.d.). They required 
the parents to pay a fine of $3,300 (50,000 nakfa) per child and bring 
their children back before they would release them. During the year the 
Government began to allow families to pay the fine in installments as 
opposed to all at once. During the year the Government also detained 
spouses of individuals who had evaded national service or fled the 
country, and the Government prevented spouses of such individuals from 
departing the country.
    While membership in the PFDJ, the Government's only sanctioned 
political party, was not mandatory for all citizens, the Government 
coerced membership in the PFDJ, particularly for individuals working in 
government positions or assigned through national service to serve in 
government institutions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law and unimplemented 
constitution provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, 
the Government severely restricted these rights in practice. Citizens 
did not have the right to criticize their government in public or in 
private. The private press remained banned, and most independent 
journalists remained in detention or had fled the country, which 
effectively prevented any public criticism of the Government. The 
Government intimidated remaining journalists into self-censorship.
    The Government controlled all media, including three newspapers, 
two magazines, one radio station, and one television station. The law 
does not allow private ownership of broadcast media or foreign 
influence or ownership of media, and there was no private media in the 
country. The Government banned the import of foreign publications; 
however, individuals were permitted to purchase satellites and 
subscribe to international media. The Government had to approve 
publications distributed by religious or international organizations 
before their release, and the Government continued to restrict the 
right of the religious media to comment on politics or government 
policies. The press law forbids reprinting of articles from banned 
publications. The Government also required diplomatic missions to 
submit all releases for approval before their publication in the 
Government media.
    The Government permitted two reporters representing foreign news 
organizations to operate in the country; however, it frequently 
prevented them from filing stories with their news organizations. Both 
reporters departed the country in June, and the Government delayed the 
arrival of their designated replacements for several months. The 
Swedish reporter who was held by the Government for nearly four years, 
released for medical treatment in November 2005 and then detained again 
a few days later, remained in detention without charge at year's end. 
There are two international reporters operating in Eritrea.
    In November the Government arrested nine state journalists employed 
by the Ministry of Information; these individuals continued to be 
detained at year's end.
    The Government continued to refuse to issue exit visas to the four 
Oromo journalists who came to the country in 2005 at the invitation of 
the Government to seek refuge from Ethiopia. The four have an agreement 
with a foreign country to be repatriated.
    At least 15 local journalists who were arrested in 2001 remained in 
government custody at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no official government restrictions 
on the use of the Internet; however, all Internet service providers 
were required to use government-controlled Internet infrastructure to 
provide service. The Government owned a significant percentage of the 
three Internet service providers. In September the police closed one of 
the Internet service providers for unknown reasons, although there were 
reports they had reopened by year's end. There were reports that the 
Government severely restricted the bandwidth available to private 
Internet service providers, thus interfering with their ability to 
provide services.
    There were reports that the Government monitored Internet 
communications. In urban areas, individuals were able to access the 
Internet through Internet cafes for a fee or through an at-home service 
provider.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom; freedom of speech, movement of students, and the 
right to assemble were not respected in the academic context. The 
Government issued a directive in 2002 reconfiguring the University of 
Asmara, which effectively shut down the university's undergraduate 
programs. As a result, prospective students have not been allowed to 
enroll in the university and instead were directed by the Government to 
attend the Mai Nafhi Technical Institute (see Section 5). During the 
summer the Government transferred most of the university's 
undergraduate programs to vocational training schools spread throughout 
the country. Only the medical training programs remained in Asmara. 
Students finishing high school were not permitted to choose their next 
course of study and were assigned to specific vocational programs based 
on their performance on the matriculation exam. A few graduate level 
programs remained at the university; however, the law school was 
effectively closed, as new students were not permitted to enroll.
    The Government did not provide exit visas to some students who 
wanted to study abroad. University academics who wished to travel 
abroad for further study or training were required to seek permission 
from the university President and from the Government prior to travel.
    The Government monitored and controlled which films were shown at 
the cinema. International film festivals were closely monitored, and 
all films had to be approved by the Government.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law and 
unimplemented constitution provide for freedom of assembly and 
association; however, the Government did not permit freedom of assembly 
or association. For gatherings of more than three persons, the 
Government requires those assembling to obtain a permit.
    The Government did not allow the formation of any political parties 
other than the PFDJ.
    On May 30, approximately 40 women and elders from the Debub region 
gathered at the Presidential Palace of Asmara to ask for information 
about their husbands, who had been detained in retribution for their 
children fleeing the country to evade national service; security forces 
arrested the women and elders for not having a permit to assemble. 
There was no information on the status of their cases at year's end.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law and unimplemented constitution 
provide for freedom of religion; however, the Government restricted 
this right in practice. Only four religious groups whose registrations 
had been approved by the Government were allowed to meet legally during 
the year. These were: Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Catholics, and 
members of the Evangelical Church of Eritrea, an umbrella group of 
several Protestant churches affiliated with the Lutheran World 
Federation. Members of the nonregistered churches continued to be 
arbitrarily arrested throughout the year. Security forces continued to 
abuse, arrest, and detain members of nonregistered churches; sometimes 
such abuse resulted in death.
    Compass Direct reported that, on October 17, Immanuel Andegergesh 
and Kibrom Firemichel died from injuries and severe dehydration in a 
military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala according to credible 
reports. The two men were arrested two days earlier for holding a 
religious service in a private home.
    There were reports that three members of nonregistered churches 
received a two-year sentence for violation of the Government 
restriction on belonging to an unregistered religious group. During the 
year there continued to be reports that security forces used extreme 
physical abuse such as bondage, heat exposure, and beatings to punish 
those detained for their religious beliefs, and that numerous detainees 
were required to sign statements repudiating their faith or agreeing 
not to practice it as a condition for release. There also continued to 
be reports that relatives were asked to sign for detainees who refused 
to sign such documents.
    During the year there were reports that hundreds of followers of 
various unregistered churches (mostly Protestant) were detained, 
harassed, and abused. While some were detained for short periods of 
time and released, approximately 2,000 individuals remained in 
detention at year's end because of their religious affiliation, 
according to the NGO Compass Direct.
    Many of those detained were held in military prisons for not having 
performed required national military service, and many belonged to 
unregistered religious groups. Several pastors and dozens of women were 
among the imprisoned. Several were released after recanting their 
faith; however, many refused to recant their faith and continued to be 
detained in civilian and military detention facilities across the 
country.
    There were no developments in the continued detention of 13 members 
of the Rema Church detained in 2004 or the detention of 11 members of 
unregistered churches in May 2005; it was believed that all of these 
individuals remained incarcerated at year's end.
    In January there were reports that the Holy Synod, under pressure 
from the Government, deposed Patriarch Abune Antonios of the Eritrean 
Orthodox Church on putative charges that he had committed heresy and 
was no longer following church doctrine. The synod selected a new 
patriarch, Dioscoros. Deposed Patriarch Antonios remained under house 
arrest and continued to challenge the circumstances of Patriarch 
Dioscoros's selection at year's end. The lay administrator appointed by 
the Government in August 2005 remained the head of church; the 
administrator was neither a member of the clergy nor an appointee of 
the patriarch as required by the constitution of the Eritrean Orthodox 
Church. This effectively put the Government in control of the Orthodox 
Church. The Government also continued to monitor, harass, threaten, and 
arrest members of the Orthodox Medhane Alem group, whose religious 
services it had not approved. The three ministers who led Medhane Alem 
and who were arrested in October 2004 remained imprisoned without 
charge at year's end.
    In December the Government established the practice of taking 
possession of the weekly offerings given by parishioners to the 
Orthodox Church. The government-appointed lay administrator of the 
Orthodox Church claimed that the Government used the money from the 
offerings to pay priests and provide alms for the poor.
    There were reports that in September the Government ordered the 
Kale Hiwot church to surrender all church property to the Government.
    The Government prohibited political activity by religious groups 
and faith-based NGOs. The Government's Office of Religious Affairs 
monitored religious compliance with this proscription.
    The Government does not excuse individuals who object to national 
service for religious reasons or reasons of conscience, nor does the 
Government allow for alternative service. In November the Government 
decreed that church leaders from the four state-sanctioned religions 
were required to perform military and national service; previously, 
religious leaders such as priests and clerics were exempt from military 
and national service. The Government continued to harass, detain, and 
discriminate against the small community of members of Jehovah's 
Witnesses because of their refusal, on religious grounds, to vote in 
the independence referendum and the refusal of some to perform national 
service. Although members of several religious groups, including 
Muslims, reportedly have been imprisoned in past years for failure to 
participate in national military service, the Government singled out 
Jehovah's Witnesses for harsher treatment than that received by 
followers of other faiths for similar actions. In the past, the 
Government dismissed members of Jehovah's Witnesses from the civil 
service, and many were evicted from or not allowed to occupy 
government-owned housing. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses frequently 
were denied passports and exit visas, and some had their identity cards 
revoked or were not issued them at all.
    According to the Office of General Counsel for the Jehovah's 
Witnesses, 27 Jehovah's Witnesses remained imprisoned without charge. 
Although the maximum penalty for refusing to perform national service 
is three years' imprisonment, three of the individuals have been 
detained for more than 11 years. Of the members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
detained, 12 were reportedly held at Sawa Military Camp and one was in 
prison in Asmara. At year's end, eight of the 40 Jehovah's Witnesses 
arrested during a home prayer meeting in 2004 remained incarcerated.
    The army resorted to various forms of extreme physical punishment 
to force objectors, including some members of Jehovah's Witnesses, to 
perform military service (see Section 1.c.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were negative societal 
attitudes toward members of some religious denominations other than the 
four sanctioned ones. Some citizens approved of the strict measures 
levied against unsanctioned churches, especially the Pentecostal groups 
and Jehovah's Witnesses.
    There was a very small Jewish population in the country; there were 
no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law and unimplemented constitution 
provide for these rights; however, the Government restricted some of 
them in practice. While citizens could generally travel freely within 
the country and change their place of residence, the Government 
restricted travel to some areas within the country, particularly along 
the border with Sudan and Ethiopia. Military police periodically set up 
roadblocks in Asmara and on roads between other cities to find draft 
evaders and deserters (see Section 1.d.).
    In October 2005 the Government ordered the grounding of all UN 
helicopters. The order continued to constrain UNMEE's ability to supply 
troops in the field, monitor the temporary security zone area, and 
support medical evacuations. On March 1, a UNMEE soldier died from 
heart failure; the ban on helicopter flights was believed to have 
contributed to his death as his access to medical treatment was 
significantly delayed.
    In June the Government further tightened restrictions on travel for 
all noncitizens. All diplomats, humanitarian organization and UN staff, 
and foreign tourists were required to obtain advance permission from 
the Government in order to leave Asmara. Travel restrictions were 
enforced by the use of military checkpoints. The granting of permission 
to travel was not a transparent process. While some foreign nationals 
obtained permission to travel to certain locations, the Government 
refused to issue travel permits to others traveling to the same place. 
The Government often failed to respond to requests for travel.
    There were reports that Ethiopians who remained in the country were 
not allowed to live in the Debub Province bordering Ethiopia.
    Citizens and foreign nationals were required to obtain exit visas 
to depart the country. There were numerous cases where foreign 
nationals were delayed in leaving for up to two months or initially 
denied permission to leave when they applied for an exit visa. Persons 
routinely denied exit visas included men under the age of 50, 
regardless of whether they had completed national service, women age 18 
to 27, members of Jehovah's Witnesses (see Section 2.c.), and other 
persons out of favor with or seen as critical of the Government. During 
the year the Government began refusing to issue exit visas to children 
11 years and older. The Government also refused to issue exit visas to 
children, some as young as five years of age, either on the grounds 
that they were approaching the age of eligibility for national service 
or because their diasporal parents had not paid the 2 percent income 
tax required of all citizens residing abroad. Some citizens were given 
exit visas only after posting bonds of approximately $6,600 (100,000 
nakfa).
    The law has no provisions concerning exile, and the Government 
generally did not use exile.
    In general citizens had the right to return; however, citizens had 
to show proof that they paid the 2 percent tax on their income to the 
Government while living abroad to be eligible for some government 
services, including exit visas, upon their return to the country. 
Applications to return filed by citizens living abroad who had broken 
the law, contracted a serious contagious disease, or had been declared 
ineligible for political asylum by other governments were considered on 
a case-by-case basis.
    During the year, in conjunction with the ICRC, the Government 
repatriated approximately 988 Ethiopians to Ethiopia.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Approximately 20,000 IDPs 
from the conflict with Ethiopia were permanently resettled during the 
year. Approximately 22,000 IDPs remained in seven camps in the Debub 
and Gash Barka zones at year's end. Camp facilities were rudimentary, 
but conditions generally were adequate. There also was a large but 
unknown number of IDPs residing outside camps during the year. The 
Government allowed UN organizations to provide assistance to IDPS. In 
May 2005 the Government seized approximately 45 vehicles of the Office 
of the UN Human Rights Commissioner (UNHCR), which seriously impacted 
their ability to monitor programs and provide follow-up. The vehicles 
were not returned by year's end.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law and unimplemented constitution do 
not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance 
with the definition in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of 
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has not established 
a system for providing protection to refugees. As a result the 
Government cannot issue legal refugee or asylum status. However, in 
practice the Government provided some protection against refoulement, 
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and 
provided temporary protection to approximately 4,000 persons from Sudan 
and Somalia on a prima facie basis. The Government granted 19 
Ethiopians who had deserted the Ethiopian army residency status. 
Another 100 Ethiopians sought asylum with the UNHCR; however, the 
determination of their status has not yet been made. Approximately 20 
Ethiopians who had received permission to resettle to a third country 
were unable to obtain exist visas to depart Eritrea. Approximately 
16,000 Ethiopians had temporary residence in the country. The 
Government cooperated with the UNHCR in assisting refugees who were not 
from Ethiopia.
    There were 720 Sudanese refugees at Elit camp in the West and 3,780 
Somali refugees at Emkulu camp, near Massawa. There were also up to 
30,000 Beja Sudanese and approximately 600 Ethiopians in the Gash Barka 
region to which the UNHCR had no access or responsibility. The UNHCR 
was accommodating approximately 1,900 Ethiopians in urban areas whose 
status has not yet been determined, an increase from only 100 cases in 
2005. The Government issued residency permits to Ethiopians living in 
the country for a fee; however, it did not issue them exit visas. 
Ethiopians unable to pay the residency permit fee were not legally 
eligible for employment. The Government prohibited the ICRC from 
continuing its program of purchasing residency permits for Ethiopians 
unable to afford the annual fee.
    The UNHCR reported that, although it ended organized repatriation 
of refugees from Sudan in 2004, 18 refugees returned to the country 
spontaneously during the year.
    There were reports during the year that the Government continued to 
refuse to allow the UNHCR to resettle several ethnic Oromo journalists 
from Ethiopia (see Section 2.a.).
    The ICRC repatriated 988 Ethiopians from Eritrea back to Ethiopia 
and 83 Eritreans from Ethiopia to Eritrea during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law and unimplemented constitution provide citizens with the 
right to change their government peacefully; however, citizens were not 
allowed to exercise this right in practice.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Government came to 
power in a 1993 popular referendum in which voters chose to have an 
independent country managed by a transitional government run by the 
PFDJ. The PFDJ has not allowed for a democratically elected government, 
and national elections, originally scheduled for 1997, were never held. 
The only authorized political party is the PFDJ; the Government coerced 
membership in the PFDJ (see Section 1.f.).
    There were three women on the PFDJ's 19-member Executive Council, 
and 11 women served on the 75-member Central Council. Women 
participated in the constitutional commission, occupying almost half of 
the positions on the 50-person committee. They also served in several 
senior government positions, including those of the ministers of 
justice, tourism, labor, and welfare.
    There was no information on whether members of ethnic minorities 
were on PFDJ's 19-member Executive Council, served on the 75-member 
Central Council, or participated in the constitutional commission.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of 
petty corruption within the executive branch, largely based on family 
connections. There were unconfirmed reports of more serious corruption 
among military leaders involving illicit trade and the appropriation of 
houses. There were reports that individuals requesting exit visas or 
passports had to pay bribes.
    Although the law and unimplemented constitution provide for public 
access to government information, the Government did not provide 
information to either citizens or noncitizens, including foreign media.
    Operations in the economy mirrored this practice. The Government or 
the PFDJ own most of the major industries in the country. In the past 
the Government has reclaimed successful privately held companies and 
turned them over to the party or to the Government to operate.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government allowed one domestic human rights NGO--Citizens for 
Peace in Eritrea (CPE)--to operate, although the NGO was basically 
nonfunctioning during the year.
    The Government permitted only one international human rights 
organization, the ICRC, to operate within the country and the 
Government strictly limited the ICRC to operations such as 
repatriation, providing shelter to approximately 1,000 persons who were 
displaced by the conflict with Ethiopia (see Section 2.d.), visiting 
prisons and detention centers where Ethiopians were held (see Section 
1.c.), and providing assistance to approximately 50,000 citizens 
through projects in water supply, health structure rehabilitation, and 
housing
    All NGOs, regardless of their scope of work, were required to 
register with the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare. In May 2005 the 
Government issued a law that requires all NGOs to register with the 
Government for permission to continue operations in the country. It 
also requires international NGOs to have two million dollars in the 
local bank. Many NGOs failed to receive government approval under the 
registration process and were required to leave the country. As of 
year's end, there were 11 registered NGOs. During the year the 
Government asked five NGOs, Mercy Corps, ACCORD, Samaritan's Purse, 
International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Concern, to close operations 
and depart the country, which they did. Both IRC and Samaritan's Purse 
operated extensive projects in Eastern Sudan from their offices in 
Asmara. Following the signing of the Eastern Front Peace Agreement 
between the Eastern Front and the Sudanese government in September, the 
Government determined that IRC and Samaritan's Purse no longer needed 
to base their operations in Eritrea, despite the fact that IRC also 
operated Eritrea-specific programs. Neither IRC nor Samaritan's Purse 
had operations in the country at year's end.
    In April the Government announced a change in humanitarian aid 
policy and decreed that all food assistance be provided through a cash-
for-work program. Simultaneously, the Government redirected over 80,000 
metric tons of food belonging to the World Food Program (WFP) and other 
donors to its own programs. It prevented NGOs and the WFP from entering 
into the storehouses. This food aid later appeared on the local market. 
The Government had not provided to any donors, including WFP, an 
accounting of how the 80,000 metric tons were distributed by year's 
end. By year's end, general food distributions had ceased, and all food 
assistance was reportedly provided through a government-operated cash-
for-work program, in which participants earned less than one dollar per 
day.
    The Government also did not permit general humanitarian food 
distribution by NGOs or by the WFP, although it allowed the UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) to continue its supplemental feeding programs. 
Supplemental feeding and hospital feeding programs continued under the 
supervision of the Ministry of Health. By requiring NGOs and UN 
organizations to have travel permits to depart the capital, the 
Government effectively controlled access by relief organizations to the 
rural areas. The status of school feeding programs was unknown (see 
Section 2.d.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit discrimination 
against women and persons with disabilities; while the Government 
generally enforced these provisions, violence against women and 
discrimination against minority ethnic groups continued.

    Women.--Violence against women was pervasive. Domestic violence is 
a crime; however, domestic violence, especially wife beating, was 
widespread. Women seldom openly discussed domestic violence because of 
societal pressures. Although the law prohibits domestic violence, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Such incidents were 
more commonly addressed, if at all, within families or by religious 
clergy. The Government's response to domestic violence was hindered by 
a lack of training, inadequate funding, and societal attitudes.
    Rape is a crime; however, it was unclear whether spousal rape is 
illegal. There was no specific information available on the prevalence 
of rape in the country. The Government responded to reports of rape by 
encouraging the perpetrator to marry the victim.
    FGM was widespread, with some estimates as high as 89 percent 
frequency among girls. Almost all ethnic and religious groups in the 
country practiced FGM. In the lowlands, infibulation--the most severe 
form of FGM--was practiced. There is no law prohibiting FGM; however, 
the Government worked to combat the practice. The Government and other 
organizations, including the National Union of Eritrean Women and the 
National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students, sponsored education 
programs that discouraged the practice.
    Prostitution is illegal but was a serious problem. Security forces, 
who regularly patrolled the city at night, occasionally followed 
prostitutes and arrested those who had spent the night with a 
foreigner.
    Laws exist prohibiting sexual harassment; however, cultural norms 
prevented women from reporting these types of incidents, and no one was 
charged or prosecuted for sexual harassment.
    Women have a legal right to equal educational opportunities, equal 
pay for equal work, and equal property rights; however, in practice men 
retained privileged access to education, employment, and control of 
economic resources, with greater disparities in rural areas than in 
cities. Women generally did not enjoy a social status equal to men.
    The law requires that women ages 18 to 27 participate in national 
service (see Section 6.c.). During the year the Government continued 
efforts to detain female draft evaders and deserters. According to 
reports, some women drafted for national service were subject to sexual 
harassment and abuse.

    Children.--Although the Government was generally committed to 
children's rights and welfare, its programs were limited by resource 
constraints. The Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare is responsible for 
policies concerning children rights and welfare. The Children's Affairs 
Division in the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare covered childcare, 
counseling, and probation.
    Education through grade seven is compulsory and tuition-free; 
however, students were responsible for uniforms, supplies, and 
transportation, which was prohibitively expensive for many families. 
Education above grade seven requires a nominal fee and is not 
compulsory. There was a shortage of schools and teachers at all levels, 
remedied in part by holding morning and afternoon shifts at schools. 
According to Ministry of Education estimates, the net enrollment rate 
of school-age children in the 2003	4 school year was approximately 43 
percent. In 2003 the gross elementary (grades one to five) enrollment 
rate was 71.7 percent For the 2003-4 school year, the Ministry of 
Education reported that 374,997 students were enrolled in elementary 
school and 122,966 students were enrolled in middle school. For middle 
school (grades six and seven), the gross enrollment rate was 44.87 
percent. As of 2001, 86 percent of children who started primary school 
were likely to reach grade five. Approximately 75 percent of the 
population was illiterate. In rural areas young girls usually left 
school early to work at home.
    The Government required that all students attend their final year 
of secondary school at a location adjacent to the Sawa military 
training facility in the western section of the country. Students who 
did not attend this final year did not graduate and could not sit for 
examinations to be eligible for advanced education. The remote location 
of this boarding school, security concerns, and societal attitudes 
resulted in few female students enrolling for their final year; 
however, women could earn an alternative secondary school certificate 
by attending night school after completing national service. Many 
students elected to repeat grades to avoid completing the 11th grade 
and being forced to go to Sawa. There were unconfirmed reports that the 
military conducted a roundup of these students in Keren in the spring.
    The Government operated Mai Nafhi Technical Institute, where 
students who scored well on university exams were admitted, on the 
outskirts of Asmara. Mai Nafhi offered a wide variety of classes, 
ranging from the sciences to business and technology. No new students 
were accepted at the University of Asmara in the last three years (see 
Section 2.a.).
    Although the Government did not provide medical care for children, 
it operated an extensive vaccination program.
    There are no laws against child abuse, but child abuse was not 
common.
    FGM was performed on an estimated 89 percent of young girls (see 
Section 5, Women).
    The minimum age for marriage for both men and women is 18, although 
religious entities may bless marriages at younger ages. UNICEF reported 
that in the west and in costal areas child marriage occurred. According 
to a 2002 Demographic and Health Survey, 28.2 percent of the female 
population between 15 and 19 were married, and 1.5 percent of the male 
population between 15 and 19 were married. Within the Tigrinya and 
Tigre ethnic groups, underage marriage was relatively rare.
    The law criminalizes child prostitution, pornography, and sexual 
exploitation; however, some children were involved in prostitution.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law and unimplemented constitution 
prohibit trafficking in persons, and there were no reports that persons 
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law and unimplemented constitution 
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
employment, education, or in the provision of other state services, and 
there were no reports of discrimination in practice. The Government 
dedicated substantial resources to support and train the thousands of 
men and women with physical disabilities that resulted from the war for 
independence and the conflict with Ethiopia. There are no laws 
mandating access for persons with disabilities to public thoroughfares 
or public or private buildings, but many newly constructed buildings 
provided such access.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of 
government and societal discrimination against the Kunama, one of nine 
ethnic groups residing primarily in the west.
    Societal abuse of Ethiopians occurred, but there were fewer reports 
of such abuse than in the previous year.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is 
illegal, and homosexuals faced severe societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
legal right to form unions to protect their interests; however, some 
government policies restricted free association or prevented the 
formation of unions, including within the civil service, military, 
police, and other essential services. The Ministry of Labor and Human 
Welfare must grant special approval for groups of 20 or more persons 
seeking to form a union. There were no reports that the Government 
opposed the formation of labor associations during the year; however, 
the Government did not approve the formation of any unions. All unions, 
including the Teacher's Union, Women's Union, Youth's Union, and 
Worker's Union, were run by the Government. Membership in these unions 
was required, and since most businesses were also government-owned, 
these unions did not experience antiunion discrimination. The 
Government did not encourage the formation of independent unions by 
employees of private businesses. Union leaders were typically 
government employees, and union activities were generally government 
sanctioned.
    The three union leaders arrested without charge in March 2005 were 
reportedly in a secret detention center controlled by security forces 
at year's end.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, 
employees of the military, police, and other members of the essential 
services do not participate in union activity. The Government 
determines the wage scale for government employees in a nontransparent 
manner. In the small private sector, the wages are set independently.
    The law allows strikes; however, workers did not exercise this 
right in practice. In January the Government officially declared the 
establishment of free zones to attract foreign and local investors.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
unconfirmed reports that it occurred during the year. The Government 
required all men between the ages of 18 and 45 and women between the 
ages of 18 and 27 to participate in the national service program, which 
included military training and civilian work programs. Some citizens 
reported enlistment in the national service for many years with no 
prospective end date. The Government justifies its open-ended draft on 
the basis of the unresolved border dispute with Ethiopia. In addition, 
some national service members were assigned to return to their civilian 
jobs while nominally kept in the military because their skills were 
deemed critical to the functioning of the Government or the economy. 
These individuals continued to receive only their national service 
salary. The Government required them to forfeit to the Government any 
money they earned above and beyond that salary. Government employees 
generally were unable to leave their jobs or take new employment. Draft 
evaders often were used as laborers on government development projects.
    Forced child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the Government has a national plan of action to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace, it was not enforced 
effectively, and child labor occurred. The legal minimum age for 
employment is 18 years, although apprentices may be hired at age 14. 
The law prohibits children, young workers, and apprentices under age 18 
from performing certain dangerous or unhealthy labor, including working 
in transport industries, working in jobs involving toxic chemicals or 
dangerous machines, and working underground, such as in mines and 
sewers. It was common for rural children who did not attend school to 
work on family farms, fetching firewood and water and herding 
livestock, among other activities. In urban areas, some children worked 
as street vendors of cigarettes, newspapers, or chewing gum.
    Labor inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare are 
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but inspections were 
infrequent.
    Some of the major programs implemented to prevent child labor 
include government preschool services in rural and urban areas and 
academic and vocational training.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage in the civil 
service sector of $24 (360 nakfa) per month did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Most people in national 
service and the service industry made less than the minimum wage. The 
Government did not enforce the minimum wage law. There is no legally 
mandated minimum wage in the private sector.
    The standard workweek is 44.5 hours, but many persons worked fewer 
hours. Workers are entitled to one rest day per week; most workers were 
allowed 1 to 1.5 days off per week. There are no prohibitions against 
excessive overtime. The Government has instituted occupational health 
and safety standards, but inspection and enforcement varied widely 
among factories. In practice some workers were permitted to remove 
themselves from dangerous work sites without retaliation.

                               __________

                                ETHIOPIA

    Ethiopia is a federal republic under the leadership of Prime 
Minister Meles Zenawi and the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary 
Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. The country's population was 
approximately 77 million. In the May 2005 parliamentary elections, the 
EPRDF won a third consecutive five-year term. Domestic and 
international observers reported that polling throughout the country 
was generally credible, although irregularities and intimidation of 
voters and election observers marred polling in many areas. Political 
parties predominantly were ethnically based, but opposition parties 
engaged in a steady process of consolidation. While civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces, there were instances in which elements within those forces 
acted independently of government authority.
    Human rights abuses reported during the year included: limitation 
on citizens' right to change their government during the most recent 
elections; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse, and mistreatment of 
detainees and opposition supporters by security forces; poor prison 
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly those 
suspected of sympathizing with or being members of the opposition; 
detention of thousands without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; 
infringement on citizens' privacy rights and frequent refusal to follow 
the law regarding search warrants; restrictions on freedom of the 
press; arrest, detention, and harassment of journalists for publishing 
articles critical of the Government; restrictions on freedom of 
assembly; limitations on freedom of association; violence and societal 
discrimination against women and abuse of children; female genital 
mutilation (FGM); exploitation of children for economic and sexual 
purposes; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against 
persons with disabilities and religious and ethnic minorities; and 
government interference in union activities.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports of political killings; however, 
federal and local police forces committed unlawful killings during the 
year.
    On January 23, federal police shot and killed 15 demonstrators and 
injured 19 others in the East Wallega zone, Guduru District. The 
shootings occurred during a demonstration by residents against local 
government forces. No investigation was conducted into the incident.
    On February 6, off-duty federal police officer Alemu Dariba, along 
with other unidentified persons, killed four youths in Gondar. Dariba 
allegedly approached 17-year-old Berket Fantahu; 18-year-old Abebe 
Wondem-Agegn; 18-year-old Sentayhu Worknehand; and 19-year-old Dawit 
Tesfaye and ordered them to raise their hands. He then marched them to 
a stream 30 yards away, forced them to the ground, and shot each of 
them in the head. Dariba was arrested shortly after the incident and 
remained in custody without charge at year's end.
    The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) reported that on May 27, 
in a violent conflict between local store owners in Nazret, Oromiya 
Region, police shot and killed Alemu Tesfaye, Tariku Yakiso, and Mensur 
Musema. Police had attempted to evict the store owners, and the owners 
and their employees responded by throwing rocks at the police. No 
investigation was conducted into the incident.
    During the year reports were received of the August 2005 killing of 
Elias Molago, of Gibe District, by army troops. After Molago was 
killed, his body was publicly displayed in the town of Hosana, the 
district capital. Molago, an election observer in the 2000 
parliamentary elections, had disputed the official results that gave 
the ruling party victory in the area. No investigation was conducted 
into Molago's killing.
    There were no developments in the early 2005 political killings of 
opposition All-Ethiopia Unity Party/Coalition for Unity and Democracy 
(AEUP/CUD) party members Anley Adis, Eyilegne Wendimneh, Tilahun 
Kerebe, and Alamir Aemero. At the end of 2005 police had arrested two 
suspects in the killing of Tilahun Kerebe, but no further information 
was available.
    There were no developments in the 2005 political killings by 
police, militia, and kebele (local administration) officials of 24 
Oromo National Congress (ONC) members, including Ahmed Adem and 
parliamentarian-elect Tesfaye Adane. At year's end, three police 
officers suspected of involvement in Adane's killing were detained at 
Zway prison as their case remained under investigation.
    There were no further developments in the 2005 political killing of 
CUD coordinator Hassan Endris in Amhara Region or the May killing of 
Sheikh Osman Haji Abdella in Oromo Region. Both killings were committed 
by kebele officials.
    There were no developments in the August 2005 political killing of 
Bezela Lombiso and the rape of his wife by army troops. Bezela had been 
accused of killing a policeman during the 2000 national and regional 
elections.
    There were no developments in the September 2005 killing of CUD 
member Asefa Getahun, the October 2005 political killing of Girma Biru, 
or the extrajudicial killings of Mosse Wasse and Tila Tsega.
    There were no significant developments in the following cases of 
persons killed by security forces in 2004: the killing of Kebede Uzo in 
the Somali region, the killing of ninth-grade student Alemu Tesfaye in 
Oromiya region; the killing of high school student Amelework Buli of 
Oromiya region; the killings of various AEUP supporters; the killing of 
10 persons in Gode town; the killing of Geletaw Mamo of Amhara region 
and Efrem Alemayehu of Addis Ababa.
    There were no new developments reported in the following 2005 
police killings of demonstrators: the June killings of 42 unarmed 
demonstrators in Addis Ababa; the November killings of 46 rioters; the 
killings of student Shibre Desalegn, 16-year-old student Nebiy 
Alemayehu, Zulufa Surur (a mother of seven children), or 16-year-old 
brothers Fekadu Negash and Abraham Yilma. Seven police officers were 
also killed during the November riots, and no individuals were charged 
in these cases.
    In late October the commission of inquiry established by the 
Government to investigate the alleged use of excessive force by 
security forces in violent 2005 antigovernment demonstrations released 
its report. The commission found that 193 civilians--nearly four times 
the number originally reported by the Government--and 6 members of the 
security forces were killed, while 763 civilians and 71 members of the 
security forces were injured, many seriously.
    The commission also found that security forces did not use 
excessive force, given demonstration violence; however, prior to the 
release of the report, the chairman and deputy chairman of the 
commission fled the country, allegedly in response to threats made 
against them by government forces. After fleeing, both stated publicly 
and showed video evidence that at an official meeting in June, the 
commission had originally decided, by a vote of eight to two, that 
excessive force was used and that the total number of killed and 
injured was the same as eventually reported. Following this vote, 
government officials allegedly urged commission members to change their 
votes to indicate that excessive force was not used.
    At year's end the criminal trial of government soldiers who were 
charged with the killing, rape, and torture of hundreds of Anuaks 
during the December 2003 to May 2004 violence in the Gambella region 
remained ongoing. In 2004 an independent inquiry commission was 
established to investigate this case. As a result of the commission's 
findings, six members of the army were arrested and placed on trial for 
their involvement in the killings.
    At year's end there were approximately two million landmines in the 
country, many dating from the 1998	2000 war with Eritrea. During the 
year landmines killed five and injured 20 civilians in districts 
bordering Eritrea. The Government demining unit continued to make 
limited progress in its survey and demining of border areas. United 
Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) officials reported that 
new landmines were planted on both sides of the border with Eritrea 
during the year. The Government and UNMEE engaged in demining 
activities in selected areas along the border and disseminated 
information on the whereabouts of suspected mined areas to local 
residents.
    Armed elements of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden 
National Liberation Front (ONLF) continued to operate within the 
country. Clashes with government forces on numerous occasions resulted 
in the death of an unknown number of civilians, government security 
forces, and OLF and ONLF troops and members.
    On April 15, a blast in the central market place in the town of 
Gedo, Oromiya region killed 15 persons and injured 37 others. The 
Government accused dissident Oromo groups of involvement, but all 
denied responsibility. A number of individuals, including alleged ONC 
supporters, were arrested in connection with the bombing, although at 
year's end there were no reports of legal proceedings.
    During the year several bomb explosions were reported in Addis 
Ababa and other parts of the country. On May 12, four persons were 
killed and 42 were injured in nine separate bombings in Addis Ababa. 
Security forces blamed the OLF and accused it of operating in 
cooperation with the Eritrean government; the OLF denied 
responsibility. There were no arrests in this case.
    In late May, 42 persons were injured in three simultaneous bomb 
blasts at a hotel and two restaurants in Jijiga, Somali region.
    Violent clashes between different ethnic clans during the year 
resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries and displaced tens of 
thousands (see Section 5).
    On June 11, a group of armed men attacked a bus en route from Addis 
Ababa to Gambella, near the town of Bonga, Gambella region. At least 14 
persons were killed and several others injured. Reports indicated that 
the assailants may have been ethnic Anuak dissidents. Several people 
were arrested in connection with this event and charged with murder. At 
year's end their case was ongoing.
    On September 3, a hand grenade was thrown into the Wendimamchoch 
Hotel in the town of Jijiga, killing the owner and injuring seven 
others. The Government had not identified suspects or made any arrests 
by year's end.
    On September 15, an explosion in Addis Ababa killed three persons. 
The Government reported that those killed were OLF members attempting 
to construct a bomb, using materials supplied by Eritrea. However, many 
believed that government security forces may have been involved in the 
bombing.
    A series of clashes between Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox 
Christians during the year resulted in numerous deaths and injuries 
(see Section 2.c.).
    There were no further developments in the 2005 hand grenade attacks 
on four hotels and a residence in Jijiga, which resulted in five deaths 
and 31 injuries.
    No further information was available on the trials of suspects 
arrested in connection with the 2004 hand grenade attack on a 
television room at Addis Ababa University.
    There were no developments in the 2004 hand grenade attack on a 
Tigrayan-owned shop in Debre Zeit, Oromiya region. Police blamed the 
OLF for the attack.
    The federal high court in Addis Ababa continued to arraign and 
prosecute those formally charged with committing genocide and other war 
crimes, including extrajudicial killings, under the 1975	91 Derg regime 
(see Section 1.e.).

    b. Disappearance.--The politically motivated disappearances of tens 
of thousands of civilian protestors following the November 2005 
political demonstrations persisted into the current reporting period. 
The independent commission of inquiry into the alleged use of force by 
security forces in June and November 2005 found that security officials 
held over 30,000 civilians incommunicado for up to three months in 
detention centers located in remote areas following the November 2005 
demonstrations. Other estimates placed the number of such detainees at 
over 50,000. By year's end, all but a few hundred of these prisoners 
were released and those who remained in custody currently were facing 
trial.
    In January EHRCO reported the December 2005 disappearances of six 
persons. On December 2, security forces abducted Lt. Abebe Alemu of 
Lafto Subcity, Addis Ababa; Heletework Zewdu of Akaki Subcity, Addis 
Ababa; and Wondimagegene Gedefaw of Kolfe Subcity, Addis Ababa. On 
December 21 and 22, security forces abducted Tadesse Zelelam, Ayana 
Chindessa, and Legesse Tolera at Nekemt High School in Nekemt, Oromiya 
region.
    There were no developments in the June 2005 abduction by security 
forces of Addis Ababa residents Ashenafi Berhanu, Tsegaye Neguse, 
Daniel Worku, Adem Hussien, Jelalu Temam, Girum Seifu, Mekonnen Seifu, 
Endeshaw Terefe, Daniel Abera, Tesfaye Bacha, Tesfaye Jemena, Bonsa 
Beyene, Getu Begi, Solomon Bekele, Amanuel Asrat, Mesfin Mergia, or 
Dawit Demerew. The whereabouts of these individuals remained unknown.
    There were no new developments in the May detention of Jigsa 
Soressa, a guard at the Mecha and Tulema Association (MTA), an Oromo 
nongovernmental organization (NGO), who reportedly continued to be 
detained at Addis Ababa prison.
    In June 2005 three Ethiopian air force personnel landed a military 
helicopter at Ambouli, Djibouti; two of them reportedly requested 
asylum, but an Ethiopian military delegation reportedly convinced them 
to return to Ethiopia the next day. Amnesty International (AI) and the 
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) attempted to visit them in 
Djibouti but were refused. At year's end, family members told local 
press that the pilots were detained at an air force base and were 
restricted from seeing visitors.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit the use of 
torture and mistreatment, there were numerous credible reports that 
security officials often beat or mistreated detainees. Opposition 
political parties reported frequent and systematic abuse of their 
supporters by police and regional militias.
    On February 28, the opposition ONC reported that security forces 
beat and intimidated regional parliamentarian Wegayehu Dejene of Me-ea 
District, Oromiya region following a regional council meeting. At 
year's end no one had been charged.
    The EHRCO reported that on July 30, security forces detained and 
beat one Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and five ONC regional 
parliamentarians after their attendance in a court case involving Mecha 
and Tulema Association members. At year's end no one had been charged.
    The ONC reported that on January 23, several armed soldiers raped 
seven female residents of Guduru District, Oromiya region. The victims 
ranged in age from 18 to 37. At year's end there were no arrests.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 of beating and 
subsequent suicide death of Abdeta Dita Entele, a member of the 
opposition coalition Oromo National Congress/United Ethiopian 
Democratic Forces of Siraro District in the Oromo region.
    There were no developments in the October 2005 reported attack on 
Daniel Bekele, a policy advocate for the NGO ActionAid Ethiopia and a 
member of the executive committee of the Network of Ethiopian 
Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations, which 
monitored the May 2005 elections. At year's end Bekele remained in 
police detention on trial for treason and genocide.
    Authorities took no action against police responsible for the 2004 
beatings of students, teachers, and parents at Oromiya region high 
schools and universities or against militia responsible for 2004 
attacks on its members reported by the opposition All-Ethiopia Unity 
Party.
    Security forces beat persons during demonstrations (see Section 
2.b.).
    There were no developments in the 2005 report of two former senior 
government officials--former national and public security minister 
Tesfaye Woldeselase and Leggesse Belayneh, former head of criminal 
investigations--who were given death sentences by the federal high 
court for torturing political opponents during the former Mengistu 
regime. At year's end, the death sentences had not been carried out.
    During the year ethnic clashes resulted in hundreds of injuries and 
deaths (see Section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and pretrial 
detention center conditions remained very poor, and overcrowding 
continued to be a serious problem. Prisoners often were allocated fewer 
than 21.5 square feet of sleeping space each in a room that could 
contain up to 200 persons. The daily meal budget was approximately 
$0.35 (3 birr) per prisoner, and many prisoners had family members 
deliver food daily or used personal funds to purchase food from local 
vendors. Prison conditions were unsanitary, and access to medical care 
was unreliable. There was no budget for prison maintenance.
    In detention centers police often physically abused detainees. 
Authorities generally permitted visitors but sometimes denied them 
access to detainees. For example, the detained leaders of the CUD party 
had their visitation rights limited to immediate family members for a 
portion of the year.
    While statistics were unavailable, there were some deaths in prison 
due to illness and poor health care. Prison officials were not 
forthcoming with reports of such deaths. The commission of inquiry into 
the 2005 post-election violence found at least 17 arrested protestors 
died in detention.
    Authorities sometimes incarcerated juveniles with adults if they 
could not be accommodated at the juvenile remand home. There was only 
one juvenile remand home for children under age 15, with the capacity 
to hold 150 children.
    Human rights organizations reported that in 2005 the Government had 
transported 10,000 to 18,000 individuals (mostly youths ages 18 to 23 
detained during the November 2005 mass house-to-house searches in Addis 
Ababa) to Dedessa, a military camp formerly used by the Derg regime 
located 375 kilometers west of the capital. During the year most of the 
prisoners were released, although a few hundred remained in custody, 
facing charges for alleged crimes related to the November 2005 
searches.
    In July a new 90 bed facility for women was inaugurated at Kaliti. 
The separate building on the compound was constructed by Justice for 
All--Prison Fellowship, with funding from foreign governments. The 
facility improved sanitary conditions, provided greater privacy to 
female inmates, and was expected to help reduce overcrowding. The 
construction of a new prison for men near Kaliti was underway at year's 
end.
    During the year the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
visited regional prisons, civilian detention facilities, and police 
stations throughout the country and conducted hundreds of visits 
involving thousands of detainees. However, they were restricted from 
visiting federal prisons, including those where senior opposition, 
civil society, and media leaders were being held. The Prison Fellowship 
Ethiopia, a local NGO, was granted access to various prison and 
detention facilities, including federal prisons. The Government also 
periodically granted diplomatic missions access to regional prisons and 
prison officials, subject to advanced notification. Authorities allowed 
the ICRC to meet regularly with prisoners without third parties being 
present. The ICRC received permission to visit military detention 
facilities where the Government detained suspected OLF fighters. The 
ICRC also continued to visit civilian Eritrean nationals and local 
citizens of Eritrean origin detained on alleged national security 
grounds.
    Government authorities continued to permit diplomats to visit 
prominent detainees held by the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) for 
alleged involvement in war crimes and terrorist activities. However, 
the Government limited access of representatives of the international 
community access to leaders of the CUD opposition party, members of 
civil society groups, and journalists detained in November 2005 for 
alleged involvement in antigovernment demonstrations in Addis Ababa, 
who remained in federal police custody at Addis Ababa's Kaliti prison 
at year's end. The Government also permitted Prison Fellowship 
Association and local religious leaders to visit these detainees.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution and 
law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, the Government frequently 
did not observe these provisions in practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Federal Police 
Commission reports to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, which in turn is 
subordinate to the parliament. Local government militias also operated 
as local security forces largely independent of the police and the 
military. Petty corruption remained a problem in the police force, 
particularly among traffic policemen who solicited bribes from 
motorists. Impunity also remained a serious problem. The Government 
rarely publicly disclosed the results of investigations into such types 
of abuses. The federal police acknowledged that many members of its 
police force as well as regional police lacked professionalism.
    The Government continued its efforts to train police and army 
recruits in human rights. During the year the Government continued to 
seek assistance from the ICRC, Prison Fellowship Association and the 
EHRCO to improve and professionalize its human rights training and 
curriculum to include more material on the constitution and 
international human rights treaties and conventions.
    In November the commission investigating the alleged use of 
excessive force by security forces in violent antigovernment 
demonstrations of June and November 2005 delivered its report (see 
Section 1.a.).

    Arrest and Detention.--Authorities regularly detained persons 
without warrants and denied access to counsel and family members, 
particularly in outlying regions. Although the law requires detainees 
to be informed of the charges against them within 48 hours, this 
generally was not respected in practice. While there was a functioning 
bail system, it was not available for some offenses, including murder, 
treason, and corruption. In most cases authorities set bail between 
$115 and $1,150 (1,000 to 10,000 birr), which was too costly for most 
citizens. In addition police officials did not always respect court 
orders to release suspects on bail. With court approval, persons 
suspected of serious offenses can be detained for 14 days while police 
conduct an investigation, and for additional 14-day periods while the 
investigation continues. The law prohibits detention in any facilities 
other than an official detention center; however, there were dozens of 
crude, unofficial local detention centers used by local government 
militia.
    The Government provided public defenders for detainees unable to 
afford private legal counsel, but only when their cases went to court. 
While in pretrial detention, authorities allowed such detainees little 
or no contact with legal counsel.
    There were many reports from opposition party members that in small 
towns authorities detained persons in police stations for long periods 
without access to a judge, and that sometimes these persons' 
whereabouts were unknown for several months. Opposition parties 
registered many complaints during the year that government militias 
beat and detained their supporters without charge for participating in 
opposition political rallies (see Section 1.c.).
    The Government continued its harassment of teachers, particularly 
in Oromiya region. The independent Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) 
reported that authorities detained numerous teachers and accused them 
of being OLF sympathizers, many of whom remained in prison at year's 
end. For example, in December prominent union members Tilahun Ayalew, 
Anteneh Getnet and Meqcha Mengistu were taken into police custody. Some 
of the teachers had been in detention for several years without 
charges. Human rights observers suspected several of the prolonged 
detentions were politically motivated.
    Police continued to enter private residences and arrest individuals 
without warrants (see Section 1.f.).
    Police detained journalists during the year (see Section 2.a.).
    On May 27, following clashes between local police and store owners, 
180 persons were detained by security forces in the town of Nazret, 
Oromiya region, and charged with inciting uprising and destruction of 
property (see Section 1.a.). At year's end most of those arrested had 
charges dismissed and were released; however, there was no information 
available on those still detained.
    On August 30, security forces rounded up 250 persons in the town of 
Tikur Inchini, Oromiya region, following an uprising by local ONC 
activists. At year's end 81 persons remained in prison facing charges 
of treason.
    Authorities took no action against Amhara region government 
militia, district officials, and police who arbitrarily detained AEUP 
members in 2004. ONC member Olbana Lelisa, who was arbitrarily detained 
in 2004, was released in 2005.
    Due to the fact that demonstrations were banned in November 2005, 
there were no reports that police detained persons for holding meetings 
and demonstrations. Opposition groups alleged that some of the persons 
detained by the SPO were held for political reasons, an allegation that 
the Government denied (see Section 1.e.).
    In January international media reported that more than 11,000 
persons detained in November 2005 following large-scale antigovernment 
demonstrations had been released. However, the commission of inquiry 
into post-election political violence found that over 30,000 
individuals had been detained, while other reports placed the number at 
over 50,000. More than 2,200 of the prisoners were released without 
charge. An additional 734 persons detained during violence in Addis 
Ababa were released on January 6. More than 650 prisoners related to 
the protests were still being held at the Ziway detention camp in 
January, and the exact number of persons who remained in custody at 
year's end was not known.
    In early February AI alleged that the Government was still holding 
thousands of students under arrest in Oromiya region. The Government 
denied the accusation, and claimed that only 86 students were under 
arrest for offenses including violence, property destruction, and 
``disrupting the teaching and learning process.''
    Alemayu Fantu, a prominent retailer, was arrested in October for 
allegedly being in possession of CUD civil disobedience calendars. He 
was released on bail after several weeks.
    At year's end scores of CUD leaders, several members of NGOs active 
in civic education, and independent journalists detained in November 
2005 remained in detention (see Section 1.e.).
    All of the OFDM members detained following the May 2005 
parliamentary elections had been released by the end of the year.
    In response to attacks by armed opposition groups operating out of 
Somalia and Kenya, the military continued to conduct operations, which 
included occasional arbitrary detentions, in the Southern, Somali, and 
Oromiya regions.
    Authorities took no action against Amhara region government 
militia, district officials, and police who arbitrarily detained AEUP 
and ONC members in 2004. Authorities also took no action against police 
who in 2004 detained hundreds of Oromo students and teachers for 
several weeks in detention centers on suspicion of being supporters of 
the OLF.
    Thousands of criminal suspects reportedly remained in pretrial 
detention, some for years. Some of the detainees were teachers and 
students from the Oromiya region accused of involvement in OLF 
activities or arrested after student unrest broke out in Oromiya in 
2004.
    The Government continued to detain several persons without charge 
at the Gondar prison, some of whom had been in custody for years, while 
the police investigated their cases.

    Amnesty.--On September 10, the Government granted its first amnesty 
in 30 years. This decision by the federal and regional pardon boards 
secured the release of nearly 10,000 prisoners, which represented 
approximately 15 percent of the total prison population. In total 237 
prisoners were freed from federal prisons, and 26 others, including 11 
death row inmates, were given reduced sentences. The remaining were 
released from regional prisons: 3,995 from Amhara; 2,435 from Oromo; 
1,100 from Tigray; 2,400 (approximately) from the Southern National and 
Nationalities Region; and 43 from Gambella. Convicted rapists and those 
jailed for corruption were not included in the amnesty.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the law provides for an 
independent judiciary, the judiciary remained weak and overburdened. 
The judiciary was perceived to be subject to significant political 
intervention.
    The Government continued to decentralize and restructure the 
judiciary along federal lines with the establishment of courts at the 
district, zonal, and regional levels. The federal high court and the 
federal Supreme Court heard and adjudicated original and appeal cases 
involving federal law, transregional issues, and national security. The 
regional judiciary was increasingly autonomous and often heard regional 
cases.
    Regional offices of the federal Ministry of Justice monitored local 
judicial developments. Some regional courts had jurisdiction over both 
local and federal matters, as the federal courts in those jurisdictions 
had not begun operation; overall, the federal judicial presence in the 
regions was limited. Anecdotal evidence suggested that some local 
officials believed they were not accountable to a higher authority. 
Pending the passage of regional legislation, federal procedural and 
substantive codes guide all judges.
    To remedy the severe lack of experienced staff in the judicial 
system, the Government continued to identify and train lower court 
judges and prosecutors, although officials acknowledged that salaries 
did not attract the desired number of competent professionals.

    Trial Procedures.--According to the law, accused persons have the 
right to a fair public trial by a court of law within a ``reasonable 
time,'' the right to a presumption of innocence, the right to be 
represented by legal counsel of their choice, and the right to appeal. 
Despite these protections, closed proceedings occurred, at times 
authorities allowed detainees little or no contact with their legal 
counsel (see Section 1.d.), and detainees usually were not presumed 
innocent. The Public Defender's Office provides legal counsel to 
indigent defendants, although its scope remained severely limited, 
particularly with respect to SPO trials. Although the law explicitly 
stipulates that persons charged with corruption are to be shown the 
body of evidence against them prior to their trials, authorities 
routinely denied defense counsel access to such evidence before trial.
    The law provides legal standing to some pre-existing religious and 
customary courts and allows federal and regional legislatures to 
recognize other courts. By law, all parties to a dispute must agree 
that a customary or religious court will be used before it may hear a 
case. Shari'a (Islamic) courts may hear religious and family cases 
involving Muslims. In addition, other traditional systems of justice, 
such as councils of elders, continued to function. Although not 
sanctioned by law, these traditional courts resolved disputes for the 
majority of citizens who lived in rural areas and generally had little 
access to formal judicial systems.
    The federal first instance court's seventh criminal branch handled 
cases of sexual abuse against women and children.
    Three federal judges sat on one bench to hear all cases involving 
juvenile offenses. There was a large backlog of juvenile cases, and 
accused children often remained in detention with adults until 
officials heard their cases.
    The military justice system lacked adequately trained staff to 
handle a growing caseload. Foreign assistance to train military justice 
officials resumed during the year.
    On December 12, following a 12-year trial, 57 top officials from 
the former Derg regime, including former communist dictator Colonel 
Mengistu Hailemariam, were found guilty of genocide, treason and murder 
for crimes committed during their 17 years of rule. Twenty-seven of 
those convicted, including Colonel Mengistu, were tried in absentia, as 
they had fled the country. Their sentencing was pending at year's end. 
By the end of the reporting period, courts had convicted 1,018 persons 
involved with the Derg regime of crimes related to their role in 
atrocities, while 5,000 to 6,000 others remained on trial in other 
cases.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The total number of political 
prisoners and detainees during the year was estimated to be in the 
hundreds.
    The CUD leadership, civil society members, human rights defenders, 
and journalists arrested following the demonstrations in November 2005 
remained on trial at year's end, facing charges of treason, attempted 
genocide, and ``outrages against the constitution,'' among other 
serious charges carrying potential punishments of life in prison or 
death. Those on trial included Addis Ababa mayor-elect Berhanu Nega, 
former UN Rwanda Tribunal prosecutor Yacob Hailemariam, human rights 
activist Mesfin Woldemariam, ActionAid representative Daniel Bekele, 
Netsanet Demissie, and federal parliamentarian Kifle Tigneh, among 
other prominent individuals. Nearly 200 defendants, ranging in age from 
18 to 76, were being prosecuted in four separate cases in Addis Ababa. 
Five Voice of America (VOA) journalists were among those initially 
charged, although their cases were dropped following international 
pressure.
    The 200 political prisoners on trial in the Addis Ababa federal 
system were held in two separate prisons, Kaliti and Kerchele, often 
under harsh conditions. In March CUD Secretary General Muluheh Eyoel 
was placed in solitary confinement at Kerchele prison. In August fellow 
CUD member Andualem Arage, along with journalists Sisay Agena and 
Eskinder Nega, were placed in solitary confinement.
    During their incarceration, several political prisoners experienced 
serious health problems. Some were taken to a special prison hospital, 
where they were treated and returned to detention facilities, while 
others complained of not having received any treatment. During the year 
pregnant journalist Serkalem Fassil prematurely gave birth while in 
detention at Kaliti. She was refused permission to remain in the 
hospital to nurse. The baby's father, fellow journalist Eskinder Nega, 
was kept in solitary confinement and was not allowed to see his child.
    Family members reported that the political prisoners were denied 
proper light, mattresses and, adequate bathroom facilities. Several 
defendants and families complained of having their visitation rights 
restricted on a number of occasions during the year. The visitation 
rules for political prisoners were more restrictive than the rules for 
other prisoners held in the same facilities. The ICRC was not permitted 
regular access to political prisoners (see Section 1.d).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides citizens 
the right to appeal human rights violations in civil court; however, no 
such cases were filed during the year. Additionally, the Human Rights 
Commission, an office established by parliament to record human rights 
violations, was intended to act as a clearinghouse for human rights 
complaints from individual citizens. The commission had not yet 
established this capacity by year's end.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law requires authorities to obtain judicial search 
warrants to search private property; however, in practice, particularly 
outside Addis Ababa, police often searched property without obtaining 
warrants (see Section 1.d.). Opposition party representatives claimed 
that police sometimes used fraudulent warrants to enter homes and 
commit criminal acts, including extorting money. There were reports 
that members of the federal police robbed persons during the year, 
including through the use of false warrants.
    There continued to be reports of police forcibly entering civilian 
homes. During and following antigovernment demonstrations in June and 
November 2005, security forces entered homes and searched premises 
without warrants, took thousands of persons from their homes in the 
middle of the night without warrants, and often detained family members 
or other residents.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports from oppositon 
party members that authorities burned down their homes and looted their 
offices.
    All electronic communications facilities were state-owned. 
Political party leaders reported incidents of phone-tapping and other 
electronic eavesdropping.
    The Government used a widespread system of paid informants to 
report on the activities of particular individuals.
    There were reports during the year of the forced displacement of 
families in rural areas. The Government stated that its resettlement 
program, which moved families from drought-prone areas to more fertile 
lands, was entirely voluntary, but opposition parties accused local 
authorities in some rural areas of targeting opposition supporters for 
resettlement by manipulating resettlement rosters. Media reports 
indicated that in several instances, the Government resettled persons 
in areas with no existing infrastructure or clean water supply, 
resulting in unusually high rates of infant mortality.
    During the year there continued to be credible reports from EHRCO 
and opposition parties that in certain rural areas in the Oromiya 
region; Amhara region; and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and 
Peoples region; local officials used threats of land redistribution and 
withholding of food aid and fertilizer to garner support for the ruling 
coalition. There were many reports of ruling party or government 
harassment intended to prevent individuals from joining opposition 
parties or from renting property to them. There were numerous reports 
of more serious forms of harassment and violence directed against 
members of opposition parties in many areas of the country, including 
beatings, house burnings, and killings (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., 3, and 
5).
    There also were credible reports that teachers and other government 
workers had their employment terminated if they belonged to opposition 
political parties. According to the opposition Southern Ethiopian 
Peoples' Democratic Coalition (SEPDC), the regional government 
continued to dismiss SEPDC members--particularly teachers--from their 
jobs.
    The law imposes a six-month waiting period on anyone seeking to 
remarry following a divorce or the death of one's spouse (see Section 
5). The Government maintained that this waiting period was necessary to 
determine whether a woman may still be carrying the child of her former 
spouse. In practice this was not enforced, although the official 
overseeing such weddings may request a pregnancy test to show the woman 
was not pregnant from a previous marriage. Any interested party may 
request a written official explanation of why a wedding was allowed to 
occur within the waiting period.
    Security forces continued to detain family members of persons 
sought for questioning by the Government.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--While the constitution and law 
provide for freedom of speech and press, the Government restricted 
these rights in practice. The Government continued to harass and 
prosecute journalists, publishers, and editors for publishing allegedly 
fabricated information and for other violations of the press law. The 
Government continued to control all broadcast media. Private and 
government journalists routinely practiced self-censorship.
    Government-controlled media reflected mostly the views of the 
Government and the ruling EPRDF coalition. However, live radio and 
television broadcasts at times included televised parliamentary debate 
and broadcast the views of opposition parliamentarians, as did 
government newspapers. Relations between the private press and the 
Government were not as strained as in the period immediately following 
the elections and the disturbances of June and November 2005, but the 
majority of private media existing in 2005 was effectively silenced by 
the closures of several publications and self-censorship following 
arrests and indictments of journalists.
    Government actions against the private press that began during the 
May 2005 elections effectively silenced most private newspapers. Local 
journalists complained of constant government harassment as well as 
more subtle forms of censorship, including pressure on printers not to 
print the newspapers. As a result, the number of private newspapers 
available in Addis Ababa decreased dramatically from the period prior 
to the election to the end of the year. Eight newspapers were banned 
after their publishers and editors-in-chief were arrested. Six others 
newspapers ceased publication directly as a result of the Government's 
crackdown or the government-owned printing presses refusal to print the 
papers. The closed papers had a combined total weekly circulation of 
approximately 400,000. Following the crackdown, only approximately 
40,000 copies of the six remaining private Amharic language political 
papers were in circulation.
    Foreign journalists at times published articles critical of the 
Government but were subjected to government pressure to self-censor 
their coverage. During the year some reporters were expelled from the 
country for publishing articles critical of the Government.
    On January 21, Associated Press correspondent Anthony Mitchell was 
given 24 hours to leave the country a day after reporting on renewed 
clashes between police and protesters in Addis Ababa. The state-owned 
Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said the Government had decided to expel 
Mitchell for ``tarnishing the image of the nation repeatedly, 
contravening journalism ethics,'' and ``disseminating information far 
from the truth about Ethiopia.'' Mitchell, a foreign citizen who also 
worked for the UN news agency IRIN had worked in the country for more 
than five years.
    On February 21, foreign journalist Inigo Gilmore was denied press 
accreditation by the Ministry of Information. In December 2005 Gilmore 
had published an article in the British newspaper The Observer 
headlined ``Ethiopian leader accused over human rights,'' which 
included accounts of alleged human rights abuses in the wake of 
election protests.
    On June 23, the Ministry of Information suspended publication of 
the English-language weekly The Sub-Saharan Informer on the pretext 
that the paper had not informed the Ministry of Information of its 
change of office address, which it had done twice in writing. The paper 
was granted permission to resume publication on August 18.
    On February 10, the Government issued the first broadcasting 
licenses allowing two private radio stations to operate in the country. 
By year's end neither of the two stations was operational. The 
Ethiopian Broadcasting Agency (EBA) said it had selected the two 
stations, Zami Public Connections and Tensae Fine Arts, from among 12 
contenders on the basis of their financial status and proposed program 
content.
    In August the Southern Regional State announced plans to begin 
radio broadcasts by launching six FM stations. Also in August, EBA 
issued a license for a community radio station, the Kori Community 
Radio, in the Southern Regional State.
    On August 25, EBA issued a commercial license to the ruling EPRDF 
party-affiliated Radio Fana. Radio Ethiopia sold broadcasting time to 
private groups and individuals who wanted to air programs and 
commercials.
    The Addis Ababa City Administration Mass Media Agency continued its 
five-hour Amharic FM broadcast as well as a three-hour local television 
program broadcast twice daily from the capital city.
    The Government operated the sole television station and tightly 
controlled news broadcasts. The broadcasting law prohibits political 
and religious organizations from owning broadcast stations. The law 
also prohibits foreign ownership.
    There were restrictions on access to international news broadcasts 
during the year. VOA broadcast signals were subject to intentional 
jamming. The Government permitted ownership of private satellite 
receiving dishes; however, high costs and the limited capacity of the 
sole telecommunications entity, the Ethiopian Telecommunications 
Corporation, effectively restricted access to this technology.
    The Government continued to use statutory provisions on the 
publication of false information, incitement of ethnic hatred and libel 
to justify the arrest and detention of journalists. Along with 
opposition party members, 16 journalists were charged with treason, 
genocide, and attempts to subvert the constitution, charges which carry 
maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty.
    In November 2005 five VOA journalists were included in a group of 
CUD leaders, members of civil society, and journalists charged with 
treason and attempting to subvert the constitution. On March 23, 
following pressure from foreign governments, the federal high court 
dropped the charges of treason and genocide against the VOA journalists 
and 13 others.
    Between December 2005 and May, several journalists were convicted 
on charges stemming from news stories published as long ago as 1998, 
including libel, publishing false news, failing to print the name of 
the deputy editor in the newspaper, defaming the Government, and 
misinformation. Prison sentences ranged from three months to 18 months. 
Some of the sentenced journalists were released from jail on bail after 
being detained for a few weeks or months. Bail amounts ranged from $56 
to $1,260 (487 to 10,962 birr). The journalists released on bail 
earlier in the year had court appearances in October and November.
    On November 10, Getachew Sime, former editor-in-chief of the 
defunct Amharic language weekly, Agere, appeared in court to appeal his 
December 2005 defamation conviction and three-month prison sentence. 
The Federal Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
    Leykun Engeda, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Anharic 
language weekly Dagim Wonchif, was granted $116 (1,000 birr) bail on 
January 5, after he appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. In November 
his appeal was rejected and he was sent to Kaliti Prison. The case 
against Engeda stemmed from a 1999 article in Dagim Wonchif about a 
rebel organization known as the Ethiopian Patriotic Front, alleging 
that the rebels had won a military victory against government soldiers. 
Dagim Wonchif went out of business, ostensibly due to problems 
encountered in obtaining newsprint.
    On February 21, Arega Wolde Kirkos, editor-in-chief of the private 
Amharic language weekly, Tobia, was arrested on defamation charges. 
After appealing to the Federal Supreme Court for the charges against 
him to be dropped, he was released on bail of approximately $110 (1,000 
birr). Arega appeared in court in November and the charges against him 
were dropped.
    On March 8, Abraham Gebre Kidan, editor of the now-defunct Amharic-
language weekly, Politika, was sentenced to one year in prison for 
publishing ``false news'' in a 2002 report attributed to the BBC, which 
claimed that the Government was training rebels in neighboring Eritrea. 
Kidan was subsequently released on bail of approximately $110 (1,000 
birr). He appeared in court in November, at which time the charge 
against him was dropped and he was released.
    Two journalists indicted on old charges, Wossonseged Gebrekidan and 
Tesehalene Mengesha, remained in prison at year's end. On April 18, 
Wossonseged Gebrekidan, editor-in-chief of the now banned Addis Zena, 
was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for defamation stemming from a 
2002 article that allegedly defamed the editor of Abiotawi Democracy, a 
publication of the ruling EPRDF. At the time of his sentencing, 
Gebrekidan was already in jail on anti-government charges as one of 
fourteen journalists on trial along with opposition leaders and members 
of civil society for allegedly trying to overthrow the constitutional 
order.
    On April 25, Abraham Retta, a journalist who freelanced for a 
number of different Amharic-language newspapers, and worked as a 
columnist for the private Amharic weekly Addis Admas, was sentenced on 
April 25 to one year and jailed the same day. Retta was charged for an 
article in the now-defunct private Amharic newspaper, Ruh, reporting 
that government officials had embezzled World Bank assistance funds in 
2002. Retta appealed his sentence to the Federal Supreme Court; he 
appeared in court in November and his case was postponed and remained 
pending at year's end.
    On May 4, Tesehalene Mengesha, former editor of the defunct 
Amharic-language weekly, Mebruk, was convicted of criminal defamation 
and sentenced to 16 months in prison. Mengesha also faced additional 
pending charges for ``spreading false information'' related to a report 
in the then private Amharic-language weekly, Mebrek, on the 
assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when he 
arrived in Addis Ababa in 1995 to attend a summit of the Organization 
of African Unity.
    On February 19, Goshu Moges, journalist and manager of the 
opposition private Amharic-language weekly newspaper Lissane Hizb was 
arrested in what police described as a ``crackdown on terrorists linked 
to Ethiopia's opposition parties.'' Moges was charged with seeking to 
``overthrow, modify, or suspend the constitution.'' He was denied bail 
and remained in custody at year's end. Lissane Hizb was not explicitly 
banned by the Government but remained unable to publish since November 
2005, due to arrests of the paper's leadership and fear of arrest on 
the part of the remaining staff.
    On May 4, Tesehalene Mengesha, former editor of the defunct 
Amharic-language weekly, Mebruk, was convicted of criminal defamation 
and sentenced to 16 months in prison. The case stemmed from an article 
published in Mebruk during the 1998	2000 Ethiopian-Eritrean border war. 
Mengesha had previously been jailed at least three times between 1997 
and 2000 in connection with his work for Mebruk.
    Eskinder Nega, editor of the newspaper Satenaw and one of the 16 
journalists being tried with the CUD leadership, was kept in a separate 
prison in solitary confinement. Nega's partner, journalist Serkalem 
Fassil, was also arrested and detained at Kaliti prison. Another of the 
16 journalists imprisoned on treason charges, Sisay Agena, publisher of 
the weekly newspaper Ethiop, was also moved to Kerchele prison in 
August and kept in a dark cell (see Section 1.d.).
    In January 2005 authorities arrested Shiferaw Insermu, a journalist 
with the Oromo-language service of the state-owned Ethiopian Television 
(ETV), for the third time, at the central criminal investigation office 
prison in Addis Ababa. Insermu and fellow ETV journalist Dhabassa 
Wakjira, who was arrested in April 2004, remained in detention on 
several charges, including passing government information to the OLF 
leadership. Prison authorities ignored various court orders to free 
them.
    Police asked Addis Zena editor-in-chief Fassil Yenealem to disclose 
his sources for two stories, including a May 2005 article reporting 
that the ruling EPRDF had established a special intelligence force to 
arrest and assassinate CUD leaders, and had recruited 11 Tigrayan women 
to poison CUD leaders. Yenealem did not reveal his sources and was 
subsequently arrested for publishing a story that could not be 
corroborated. Yenealem was released on bail later in 2005 but was one 
of the journalists detained along with the CUD leadership on anti-state 
crimes. He remained in prison at year's end.
    In June 2005 government security forces detained Addis Ababa 
newspaper distributor Fikre Gudu and held him for one month. After his 
release, he gave an interview to the private Amharic-language weekly 
Asqual discussing his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in a detention 
center outside the capital. He described poor prison conditions and 
criticized the Government for jailing him. Authorities detained him 
again in August 2005; they released him on bail after four days in 
police detention. During his latest detention, police accused Gudu of 
using the interview to spread false information and to defame the 
police and prison system. No information was available on whether the 
case against Gudu was still pending.
    All official media received government subsidies; however, the 
official media were legally autonomous and responsible for their own 
management and partial revenue generation. The minister of information 
was the Government's official spokesperson, and the ministry managed 
contacts between the Government, the press, and the public; however, 
the Government routinely refused to respond to queries from the private 
press and often limited its cooperation with the press to the 
government-run Ethiopian News Agency, the EPRDF-controlled Walta news 
agency, and correspondents of international news organizations.
    Unlike in previous years, the Prime Minister's office allowed some 
members of the independent press limited access to official events. On 
April 30, for only the second time in 14 years, members of the 
independent press were invited to join state media and foreign 
correspondents in covering a press conference given by the Prime 
Minister. Later in the year, journalists from local English-language 
independent newspapers were invited to a press conference that had been 
opened to foreign correspondents. Independent journalists were also 
invited along with foreign correspondents to attend a press conference 
by the prime minster on Somalia in December.
    The Ministry of Information required that newspapers maintain a 
bank balance of $1,150 (10,000 birr) when annually registering for a 
publishing license. This sum effectively precluded some smaller 
publications from registering. Authorities also required permanent 
residency for publishers to establish and operate a newspaper. The 
Government did not require residency for other business owners, and 
some independent journalists maintained that the Government used the 
residency requirement as a form of intimidation. The press law requires 
all publishers to provide free copies of their publications to the 
Ministry of Information on the day of publication.
    The majority of private newspapers as well as government newspapers 
printed their publications on government-owned presses. Following the 
unrest in November 2005, presses frequently refused to print some 
papers, citing Ministry of Justice statements indicating that presses 
would be held responsible for content they printed. Police had the 
authority to shut down any printing press without a court order but 
during the year did not exercise that power.
    The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA) remained in 
disarray following the crackdown on the private press. Several 
journalists remained in exile, including EFJA President Kifle Mulat. 
His name was on the list of journalists being sought by the Government 
for their involvement in what the Government called treason and 
attempted genocide. The detention of most of its members effectively 
halted the EFJA's operation. Another association, the Ethiopian 
National Union of Journalists, established with the support of the 
Government, was inactive during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--Beginning in mid-May, several ``blogs'' 
(Internet journals) and media watchdog groups alleged that the 
Government had begun blocking various websites that displayed content 
critical of the Government. This was corroborated by members of the 
general public in Addis Ababa. Blocked websites included the site of 
the Oromo Liberation Front and several news blogs and sites run by the 
Ethiopian diaspora, including the Ethiopian Review, CyberEthiopia.com, 
Quatero Amharic Magazine, Tensae Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Media 
Forum. The Committee to Protect Journalists and others called upon the 
Government to stop blocking these sites. Officials at the Ministry of 
Information claimed that they had no explanation or information about 
the sudden inaccessibility of the blogs, and denied that the Government 
was responsible.
    In December 2005 Elias Kifle, the publisher of web-based Ethiopian 
Review, was charged in absentia with treason. Frezer Negash, an Addis 
Ababa-based correspondent for the website, was imprisoned without 
charge from January 27 to March 8.
    CPJ noted that the Government's crackdown on the traditional print 
media and the resulting widespread self-censorship in the press had 
spurred many local journalists and social and political activists to 
use the Internet.
    On December 24, Capital, a private English-language newsweekly 
reported that the Ethiopian Telecommunications Agency was distributing 
forms for Internet cafes in the country and requiring them to register 
their internet users. Sources told Capital that the telecomunications 
agency was working with the federal police to distribute the forms to 
all Internet cafes in Addis Ababa and other major towns in order to 
identify illegal users. Sources said that if an Internet cafe was found 
serving unregistered customers its owners would be jailed.
    Media reported that citizens used the Internet frequently and 
consistently and that access had increased through the proliferation of 
Internet cafes. Voice-over-Internet-Protocol technology also became 
increasingly popular for communicating with family and friends 
overseas. Capital reported that the number of Internet users in Addis 
Ababa in late 2004 was estimated at 100,000. Approximately 94 percent 
of the country's Internet users lived in Addis Ababa; this was an 
indication of the relative lack of telecommunications infrastructure 
outside of the capital. Capital also reported that the 
telecommunications corporation has made it easier and more affordable 
for home users to subscribe to dial-up Internet service. By year's end 
the country had 40,000 home-based Internet subscribers.
    Mobile phone text messaging remained blocked by the state 
telecommunications monopoly following claims that the opposition CUD 
had used text messaging to call for and coordinate antigovernment 
actions.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom during the year, maintaining that professors could not 
espouse political sentiments. Authorities did not permit teachers at 
any level to deviate from official lesson plans and discouraged 
political activity and association of any kind on university campuses. 
Reports continued throughout the year of both uniformed and 
plainclothes police officers being present on and around university and 
high school campuses. The Government arrested students and teachers 
during the year. Professors and students were discouraged from taking 
positions not in accordance with government beliefs or practices. There 
was a lack of transparency in academic decisions, with numerous 
complaints from individuals in the academic community of bias based on 
ethnicity and/or religion. The freedoms of speech, expression, and 
assembly were frequently restricted on university and high school 
campuses.
    In September the Ministry of Culture and Tourism banned performance 
of a musical drama entitled ``WAI ADDIS ABABA,'' at the Ethiopian 
National Theatre. The script was written by playwright Getenet Eneyew. 
Officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism attended a technical 
rehearsal before the play opened and informed the theater company that 
the play was to be canceled.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly. 
Prior to the May 2005 national elections, there were numerous 
opposition rallies, including one that occurred in Addis Ababa that was 
attended by nearly one million persons the weekend prior to the 
elections. However, immediately following the elections and throughout 
the year, the Government restricted this right in practice. From May 
2005 to year's end, the Government granted only one permit allowing a 
public demonstration to take place.
    Organizers of large public meetings or demonstrations must notify 
the Government 72 hours in advance and obtain a permit.
    Opposition political parties reported that during the year their 
supporters were targets of frequent and systematic harassment and 
violence by government security forces, often after leaving meetings. 
EHRCO reported that regional governments, including the Addis Ababa 
regional administration, infringed on the right of peaceful assembly 
and association.
    The OFDM reported that cadres seized and destroyed membership cards 
of OFDM supporters, disrupted OFDM political meetings, and detained 
OFDM members in police stations and army camps.
    No actions were taken against police who in 2004 reportedly beat 
demonstrators protesting the Government's decision to transfer the 
capital of Oromiya from Addis Ababa to Adama or against police who 
forced hundreds of detained student protestors in 2004 to kneel and run 
barefoot on gravel for hours (see Section 1.c.). It was unknown at 
year's end whether any persons detained in previous years for holding 
illegal meetings remained in detention.
    During the year attacks by police, the army, and militia against 
members of the opposition and the general public decreased, largely due 
to the fact that no public assembly permits were issued and illegal 
demonstrations were limited.

    Freedom of Association.--Although the law provides for freedom of 
association and the right to engage in unrestricted peaceful political 
activity, the Government in practice limited this right. The Ministry 
of Justice registers and licenses NGOs, and there was some improvement 
in transparency of the NGO registration process. The Government 
continued to deny registration to the Human Rights League (see Section 
4).
    As provided by law, the Government required political parties to 
register with the National Election Board (NEB). In 2005 the NEB's 
independence was called into question when it made a series of 
decisions limiting the political activity of opposition parties, 
including the rejection of the CUD merger and unwillingness to 
recognize the CUD coalition after the elections. However, during the 
year, the NEB permitted the registration of the Coalition for Unity and 
Democracy Party (CUDP), a party made up of former CUD members who 
joined parliament. The NEB continued to limit political activity of the 
ONC by not recognizing a change in the party leadership.
    During the year the UEDF, CUD, and ONC reported arrests of their 
members and the forced closure of most political party offices 
throughout the country (see Section 1.d.). There were credible reports 
that the Government used legal means to harass leadership from an 
influential opposition political party, utilizing government agencies 
to restrict party control and membership.
    During the year political leaders, including members of federal and 
regional parliaments, were prevented from traveling to their 
constituencies and meeting with supporters. The President of the OFDM, 
who was also a member of the federal parliament, was prevented from 
visiting his home town of Bogi Dirmeji, Oromiya region, and threatened 
by local police when attempting to do so. In addition, of 42 ONC 
federal parliamentarians, only three were able to meet with their 
constituents during the year. The three reported that following 
meetings with local representatives, party members were harassed and 
detained by local security forces.
    There were no developments in the 2004 suspension of the MTA and 
arrests of its members. Some arrests appeared to have been made without 
warrants, and some detentions continued despite court orders to release 
suspects (see Section 1.d.).
    The ETA continued to encounter government restrictions when 
attempting to hold meetings. On August 30, police interrupted a 
national assembly of ETA leadership and seized documents and other 
materials. Local police occupied and sealed the conference room where 
the meetings were held. However, police returned most of the seized 
items.
    This incident followed a series of attempts by the Government to 
limit the activity of the ETA. The ETA had operated since 1967, but in 
1993, when the EPRDF took power, an alternate, pro-EPRDF ETA was 
established. In 1993 the original ETA and the government-supported ETA 
began prolonged legal battles over the organization name and property 
rights. Although the original ETA received favorable judgments in lower 
courts, the newly formed ETA appealed to the Supreme Court. In the 
meantime, security forces closed the original ETA offices and continued 
to harass its members.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice; however, local authorities occasionally infringed on this 
right. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) and Islam are the dominant 
religions; nearly 90 percent of the population adhered to one or the 
other faith.
    While the Government required that religious institutions annually 
register with the Ministry of Justice, there were no reports of 
government action against institutions that chose not to register. 
Under the law, a religious organization that undertakes development 
activities must register its development wing separately as an NGO. The 
Government did not issue work visas to foreign religious workers unless 
they were associated with the development wing of a religious 
organization.
    Some religious property confiscated under the Mengistu (Derg) 
regime had not been returned by year's end.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religious groups 
reported discrimination in the allocation of government land for 
religious sites. Authorities banned a traditional animist Oromo 
religious group because it suspected that the group's leaders had close 
links to the OLF and MTA. Protestant groups occasionally reported that 
local officials discriminated against them when they sought land for 
churches and cemeteries. Evangelical leaders stated that because 
authorities perceived them as ``newcomers,'' they were at a 
disadvantage compared with the EOC and the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs 
Supreme Council (EIASC) in the allocation of land. The EIASC reported 
that it faced more difficulty obtaining land from the Government than 
did the EOC, while others believed that the Government favored the 
EIASC. Officials targeted for demolition many mosques that squatters 
had built without city government approval.
    In late September and early October, a series of clashes between 
Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians near the city of Jima left 12 
dead and numerous churches and homes burned. The disturbances began on 
September 26 on the eve of the Meskel holiday, when smoke from a 
holiday bonfire set by Christians entered a nearby mosque. This led to 
violent fighting between large groups of Muslims and Christians, 
leading to eight deaths, the burning of churches and homes, and 
subsequent mass arrests of Muslims by local police. On October 4, four 
more persons were killed in a nearby village, when Muslims stormed an 
Ethiopian Orthodox church, setting it on fire and attacking churchgoers 
with machetes. Police made several arrests, but at year's end courts 
had not yet sentenced anyone arrested in connection with either 
incident.
    On July 24, due to a lack of proper construction permits, the city 
administration dismantled a converted mosque in Addis Ababa. On the 
subsequent three Fridays, local Muslims demonstrated in Addis Ababa to 
protest, resulting in clashes with security forces and arrests and 
minor injuries of protestors. The situation was resolved when the Addis 
Ababa city administration granted land to the Muslim community for the 
construction of a new mosque on an alternate site.
    The Jewish community numbered approximately 2,000. There were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these 
rights, the Government restricted some of these rights in practice.
    Throughout the year in the Gambella region, the Government 
continued to monitor and sometimes control the passage of relief 
supplies and access by humanitarian organizations, explaining that it 
was doing so as a matter of security for those traveling in the region.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not force 
any citizens into exile. A number of persons remained abroad in self-
imposed exile, including 54 journalists (see Section 2.a.).
    During the year the ICRC repatriated 988 Ethiopians from Eritrea 
and repatriated 83 Eritreans. Most Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean 
origin registered with the Government and received identity cards and 
six-month renewable residence permits that allowed them to gain access 
to hospitals and other public services. However, there were anecdotal 
reports that local government officials denied indigent Eritreans the 
right to free medical services.
    During the year the UNHCR processed 680 cases for resettlement in 
third countries, totaling 1,800 individuals, mainly from Sudan and 
Eritrea.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The 1998	2000 war with 
Eritrea produced approximately 350,000 IDPs. Of these, humanitarian 
agencies resettled an estimated 225,000. The UNHCR estimated there were 
approximately 200,000 IDPs in the country, including approximately 
62,000 in Tigray region, 44,700 in Gambella region, approximately 
30,000 in the Borena area of the Oromiya region, and 50,000 on the 
border of the Oromiya and Somali regions.
    Violent clashes between different ethnic groups during the year 
internally displaced thousands of persons and resulted in deaths and 
injuries (see Section 5).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and returning citizens.
    The Government, in cooperation with UNHCR, also continued to 
provide temporary protection to individuals from Sudan, Eritrea, and 
Somalia who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 
the 1967 Protocol.
    At year's end the country hosted approximately 97,300 refugees. 
This number did not reflect a significant change from the end of 2005; 
an increase in the numbers of asylum seekers from Eritrea was offset by 
the repatriation of approximately 5,000 refugees to South Sudan.
    During the year the Government and UNHCR sought to open a new camp 
in Tigray region in order to accommodate the increasing number of 
Eritrean asylum seekers residing in the Shimelba camp. After one 
potential site was abandoned due to the lack of potable water, the 
Government and UNHCR agreed to continue to transfer newly arriving 
Eritrean refugees to Shimelba camp, and use some of the money set aside 
for the construction of the new camp for health, education, and 
sanitation projects for the host community near the camp, since this 
population had expressed their displeasure with the number of asylum 
seekers living in the area.
    The conflict between ethnic groups in the Gambella region 
complicated UNHCR refugee protection efforts (see Section 5). Food 
deliveries to refugees continued in spite of the crisis in the West; 
however, humanitarian organizations at times were unable to adequately 
monitor deliveries due to travel restrictions.
    The Government required that all refugees reside and remain at 
designated camps, most of which were located near the Eritrean, 
Somaliland, and Sudanese borders, unless granted permission to live 
elsewhere in the country. Such permission was given primarily to attend 
higher education institutions, undergo medical treatment, or avoid 
security threats at the camps.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through generally free and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage; however, irregularities and intimidation of voters 
and election observers marred polling in many areas in the 2005 
election. In practice the EPRDF ruling party dominated the Government.
    The Government policy of ethnic federalism led to the creation of 
individual constituencies to ensure representation of all major ethnic 
groups in the House of Peoples' Representatives. Nevertheless, small 
ethnic groups lacked representation in the legislature. There were 23 
nationality groups in six regional states that did not have a 
sufficient population to qualify for constituency seats; however, in 
the May 2005 elections, individuals from these nationality groups 
competed for 23 special seats in the 547-seat House of Peoples' 
Representatives.

    Elections and Political Participation.--According to domestic and 
international observers, the May 2005 national elections, in which the 
EPRDF coalition won 372 of 547 seats, generally reflected the will of 
the people. Opposition parties made an unexpectedly strong showing, 
increasing their parliamentary representation from 12 seats to 172.
    Irregularities, including intimidation of voters and election 
observers, marred polling in many areas. The Government and EPRDF also 
announced the ``final'' election results before the NEB released them. 
Observers reported killings, disappearances, voter intimidation and 
harassment, and unlawful detentions of opposition party supporters, 
particularly in the Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations, 
Nationalities, and Peoples regions (see Sections 1.a., 1.b., and 1.d.). 
The Carter Center expressed concern over reports of improper vote 
counting and tabulation, stating that its observer teams had ``found 
evidence that ballot boxes have been moved improperly, were improperly 
secured, or that party agents were barred from polling stations or were 
not allowed to watch the entire count.'' It also reported ``election 
day and postelection intimidation and harassment.'' The head of the 
European Union's Electoral Observation Mission issued a preliminary 
report stating that the post-election complaint review process ``did 
not live up to international standards,'' citing irregularities in key 
areas. In spite of these criticisms, international observers noted that 
the elections were an important step forward in the country's 
democratization efforts.
    Following the election, opposition parties accused the NEB of being 
an instrument of the ruling party and of failing to act when informed 
of electoral irregularities, including ballot stuffing, vote count 
fraud, bribery, killings, beatings, and widespread intimidation and 
harassment by ruling party supporters during the national elections.
    In June 2005 negotiations between the ruling and major opposition 
parties over election complaints resulted in an agreement to adopt an 
ad hoc complaints resolution process to deal with the large number of 
unresolved electoral complaints. According to the Carter Center, 44 
different complaints investigation panels conducted formal 
investigations and hearings in 178 constituencies across the country, 
resulting in a decision by the NEB to hold new elections in 31 
constituencies. New elections were held in those constituencies in 
August 2005.
    In September and October 2005 the Government and opposition leaders 
participated in discussions on the opposition's participation in the 
House of People's Representatives. While most UEDF members decided to 
take their seats in the house, some CUD leaders announced they would 
boycott the federal parliament, as well as regional parliaments and the 
Addis Ababa City Council. However, by year's end most elected CUD 
members had joined parliament. In late October the CUD called for civil 
disobedience measures, such as horn-honking, boycotting EPRDF-owned 
business, and ostracizing alleged government supporters, which the 
Government publicly declared illegal.
    Beginning on November 1, 2005, violent antigovernment protests 
allegedly organized by the opposition occurred in Addis Ababa, and the 
Government arrested several dozen opposition leaders, as well as 
members of the independent media and civil society groups, for alleged 
participation in unlawful activities. Security forces also detained 
between 30,000 and 50,000 demonstrators without charge. Military 
intervention led to widespread abuses such as arbitrary detention and 
killings. Security forces arrested at least 12 of the 20 CUD party 
executive committee members, including party President Hailu Shawel, 
vice chairman Bertukan Mideksa, secretary-general Muluneh Eyoel, and 
Addis Ababa mayor-elect Dr. Berhanu Nega, on charges of treason and 
genocide, among others (see Section 1.e.).
    The EPRDF, its affiliates, and EPRDF supporters controlled all 
seats in the 108-member House of Federation, whose members were 
appointed by regional governments and by the federal government. 
Membership in the EPRDF conferred advantages upon its members, and the 
party owned many businesses and awarded jobs to loyal supporters.
    The largest opposition party in the House of Peoples 
Representatives was the newly formed CUDP, composed of former CUD 
coalition members, which held 61 seats.
    Registered political parties must receive permission from regional 
governments to open local offices. Opposition parties, such as the 
CUDP, the UEDF, and the OFDM, claimed that the pattern of widespread 
intimidation and violence directed against members of opposition 
political parties by local government officials continued throughout 
the year. Opposition parties and the press reported hundreds of such 
cases, including killings, beatings, arrests, house burnings, and 
property confiscation.
    During the year there were many cases reported of authorities 
allegedly telling opposition members that they had to renounce their 
party membership if they wanted access to fertilizer, other 
agricultural services, health care, or other benefits controlled by the 
Government. Authorities often disrupted or unlawfully banned opposition 
party meetings.
    There were no new developments in the EPRDF's dissolution in late 
2003 and early 2004 of offices of the Konso People's Democratic Union 
(KPDU) and the KPDU-dominated Abaroba and Jarsso local councils, or in 
the arrest and beatings of KPDU members. Authorities took no actions 
against those responsible for the 2004 stoning of AEUP member Bekele 
Tadesse, or for the March 2005 bombing of the home of Zemedkun Gebre 
Kidane, chairman of the AEUP organizing committee in Ankober District.
    Of the 19 members of the Council of Ministers, two were women, and 
a number of women held senior positions. There were 116 women in the 
547-seat House of Peoples' Representatives, a gain from 14 in the 
previous parliament, and 21 women in the 113-member House of 
Federation. Of the 14 members of the Supreme Court, three were women. 
During the May 2005 national elections women constituted nearly half of 
the community observers, party workers, and election officials at 
polling stations.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Ministry of Justice 
has primary responsibility for combating corruption. A combination of 
social pressure, cultural norms, and legal restrictions limited 
corruption. However, government officials appeared to manipulate the 
privatization process, as state- and party-owned businesses received 
preferential access to land leases and credit. The Government's 
decision to grant MIDROC, the country's largest foreign investor, 
exclusive license to import cement was perceived as favoritism toward a 
government ally.
    The law provides for public access to government information, but 
access was largely restricted in practice.
    The Government publishes its laws and regulations in the national 
gazette prior to their taking effect. The Ministry of Information 
managed contacts between the Government, the press, and the public; 
however, the Government routinely refused to respond to queries from 
the private press (see Section 2.a.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated with limited government restriction, investigating 
and publishing their findings on human rights cases. The Government 
generally was distrustful and wary of domestic human rights groups and 
some international observers. NGOs continued to complain of 
restrictions on their importation of published materials and complained 
that they were prevented from bringing foreigner visitors into the 
country. In April 2005 the Government expelled representatives of 
several foreign-based NGOs conducting electoral work and at year's end 
had not allowed them to return.
    Two of the most prominent domestic human rights organizations were 
EHRCO and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA). The 
Government routinely discounted EHRCO's reports and labeled it a 
political organization. In December 2005 two of EHRCO's chief 
investigators, Cherinet Tadesse and Yared Hailemariam, were arrested 
and placed on trial with 111 others including the CUD leadership (see 
Section 1.e.).
    The EWLA's primary function was to legally represent women. These 
and numerous other groups primarily engaged in civic and human rights 
education, legal assistance, and trial monitoring. However, the 
Government neither shared information nor acknowledged the existence of 
human rights abuses with members of the domestic NGO community.
    The Government continued to investigate the Human Rights League for 
alleged ties to the OLF. The league's offices remained closed, and the 
Government had not responded to its 1997 registration request by year's 
end, despite a court order to do so.
    The Government sometimes cooperated with international 
organizations such as the UN and ICRC; however, ICRC lacked full access 
to federal prisons and to political prisoners (see Sections 1.c. and 
1.d.).
    The Government is required by law to establish a human rights 
commission and an Office of the Ombudsman with the authority to receive 
and investigate complaints with respect to misadministration by 
executive branch offices. Both of these entities had been established, 
but neither organization was fully operational by year's end.
    The Ministry of Justice continued to implement a three-year program 
of human rights training workshops for judges, prosecutors, police, and 
community members around the country. Election-related violence, 
however, severely curtailed program activities.
    A parliamentary commission released its report on government human 
rights abuses alleged to have occurred in conjunction with ethnic 
violence in the Gambella region in late 2003 and 2004 (see Section 5). 
Human Rights Watch reported in March 2005 that the commission grossly 
underestimated the number of deaths associated with the ethnic 
violence. During the year six members of the army were charged with 
taking part in the 2003 killing of civilians. Their trials remained 
ongoing at year's end.
    In September two ICRC employees were kidnapped in Somali region by 
the United Western Somali Liberation Front. The two were released 
unharmed five days later.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, gender, 
language, national origin, political or other opinion, or social 
status; however, in practice the Government did not effectively enforce 
these prohibitions.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse and rape, was a 
pervasive social problem. A July 2005 World Bank study concluded that 
88 percent of rural women and 69 percent of urban women believed their 
husbands had the right to beat them. While women had recourse to the 
police and the courts, societal norms and limited infrastructure 
prevented many women from seeking legal redress, particularly in rural 
areas. The Government prosecuted offenders on a limited scale.
    In October 2005 the Government upgraded the Women's Affairs Office 
to a Women's Affairs Ministry, an independent office with increased 
staff. Two other important offices were filled in 2005--a Commissioner 
for Women and Children, with the rank of Deputy Minister, was named in 
the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and an Ombudsperson for Women 
and Children was also named in the Office of the Ombudsman.
    The penal code criminalizes rape but does not specifically address 
spousal rape. The Government did not fully enforce the code due to lack 
of awareness of the law by the public, especially women, and a lack of 
capacity training, and funds. Social mores continued to be a key 
constraint, particularly in the rural areas.
    Social mores obstructed investigations and prosecutions in rape 
cases, and many women were not aware of their rights under the law, 
which led to widespread underreporting. Observers estimated that at 
least 1,000 rapes occurred annually in Addis Ababa, but data based on 
official police reports counted only approximately 400 cases per year. 
The press continued to report regularly on rape cases, particularly 
when injury to minors resulted. Courts sentenced convicted rapists to 
10 to 15 years' imprisonment, as prescribed by law.
    Although illegal, the abduction of women and girls as a form of 
marriage continued to be a widespread practice in several regions, 
including the Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and 
Peoples regions, despite the Government's attempts to combat the 
practice. Forced sexual relationships accompanied most marriages by 
abduction, and women often experienced physical abuse during the 
abduction. Abductions led to conflicts among families, communities, and 
ethnic groups. In cases of marriage by abduction, the perpetrator did 
not face punishment if the victim agreed to marry him (unless 
authorities annulled the marriage); even after the conviction of a 
perpetrator, authorities often commuted the sentence if the victim 
married him. Early/child marriage was also a problem, particularly in 
Amhara and Tigray regions, where girls were routinely married as early 
as age seven, despite the legal minimum age of 18 for marriage. There 
were some signs of growing public awareness of the problem of abuse of 
women and girls, including early marriage.
    The majority of girls and women in the country had undergone some 
form of FGM. Girls typically experienced clitoridectomies seven days 
after birth (consisting of an excision of the clitoris, often with 
partial labial excision, and faced infibulation (the most extreme and 
dangerous form of FGM) at the onset of puberty. According to a Ministry 
of Health Demographic and Health survey released in 2005, the practice 
of FGM among all women had decreased from 80 to 74 percent, while 
support for the practice among women had dropped from 60 to 29 percent. 
The penal code criminalizes the circumcision of any female by 
imprisonment of not less than three months or a fine of not less than 
$58 (500 birr). Likewise, infibulation of the genitals is punishable 
with imprisonment of five to 10 years. However, no criminal 
prosecutions have ever been brought for FGM.
    The Government took some measures to help eradicate FGM, 
discouraged the practice through education in public schools, and 
broader mass media campaigns.
    The combination of pregnancy at an early age, chronic maternal 
malnutrition, and a lack of skilled care at delivery often led to 
obstetric fistulae and permanent incontinence. Approximately 8,700 
women developed obstetric fistulae annually, and 27,000 women with 
untreated fistulae were estimated to be living in rural areas. 
Treatment for fistulae was available at only one hospital, the Addis 
Ababa Fistula Hospital, which annually performed over 1,000 fistula 
operations. It estimated that for every successful operation performed, 
10 other young women needed the treatment but did not receive it. The 
maternal mortality rate was extremely high, partly due to food taboos 
for pregnant women, poverty, early marriage, and birth complications 
related to FGM, particularly infibulation.
    Prostitution was legal for persons over age 18 and was commonly 
practiced around the country; however, the law prohibits pimping and 
benefiting from prostitution. Persons exploited in prostitution 
routinely reported that poverty was the principal underlying cause.
    The EWLA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 
reported that many female workers who traveled to the Middle East as 
industrial and domestic workers faced abuse (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was widespread. The penal code prescribes 18 to 
24 months imprisonment; however, sexual harassment-related laws were 
not enforced.
    Although the law provides for equality of all persons, the 
Government did not effectively enforce these protections. The law sets 
the legal marriage age for girls and boys at 18, elevates civil law 
above customary and religious law; allows for the legal sharing of 
property by unmarried couples who live together for at least five 
years, eliminates family arbitrators as a means of settling marital 
disputes in lieu of the court system, allows for the joint 
administration of common marital property, requires the courts to take 
into account the situation of children or the weakest member of the 
family in the event of divorce or separation, and imposes a six-month 
waiting period on women seeking to remarry following divorce or the 
death of a spouse. However, regional councils had authority to 
determine family law for their respective regions. Four regions 
maintained their own family law: Amhara, Tigray, Oromiya, and Addis 
Ababa; however, regional laws were not uniformly enforced. By law, such 
regional regulations could not conflict with the national constitution.
    During the 2005 elections, EPRDF stipulated that 30 percent of its 
party candidates be women. Dozens of women successfully ran for 
election throughout the country, mostly on the EPRDF ticket.
    Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where 
85 percent of the population was located. The law contains 
discriminatory regulations, such as the recognition of the husband as 
the legal head of the family and the sole guardian of children over 
five years old. Authorities did not consider domestic violence a 
serious justification for granting a divorce. There was limited legal 
recognition of common-law marriage. Irrespective of the number of years 
the marriage existed, the number of children raised, and joint 
property, the law entitled women to only three months' financial 
support if the common-law relationship ended. A husband had no 
obligation to provide financial assistance to his family and, as a 
result, women and children sometimes faced abandonment. The law states 
that any property owned before marriage belongs to the spouse that 
previously owned it. Any property gained during marriage is shared 
equally, although a wife does not have the right to inherit her 
deceased husband's share. Even with stronger formal laws, most rural 
residents continued to apply customary law in economic and social 
relationships.
    All land belongs to the Government. Although women could obtain 
government leases to land, and the Government had an explicit policy to 
provide equal access for women to land, rural communities rarely 
enforced this policy. In nearly all regions women did not have access 
to land, except through marriage. In practice, when a husband died, 
other family members often took the land from his widow.
    In urban areas, women had fewer employment opportunities than men, 
and the jobs available did not provide equal pay for equal work.

    Children.--The Government supported efforts by domestic and 
international NGOs that focused on children's social, health, and legal 
issues, despite its limited ability to provide improved health care, 
basic education, or child protection.
    In 2005 31.5 percent of school-age children did not attend school. 
As a policy, primary education was tuition free. There were not enough 
schools to accommodate the country's youth, particularly in rural 
areas, and the cost of school supplies was prohibitive for many 
families. In 2005 73.2 percent of male primary-school-age children and 
63.6 percent of female primary-school-age children attended school; in 
Addis Ababa girls' attendance was significantly higher. Government 
reports indicated that 22.4 percent of the children who attended school 
left the system before they reached the second grade, and only 34.9 
percent of children who began first grade completed eighth grade.
    Child abuse was a problem. Members of an NGO staffed 10 child 
protection units in Addis Ababa's police stations to protect the rights 
of juvenile delinquents and juvenile victims of crime. Some police 
officers completed training on procedures for handling cases of child 
abuse and juvenile delinquency.
    Societal abuse of young girls continued to be a problem. FGM was 
performed on the majority of girls (see Section 5, Women). Other 
harmful traditional practices included uvulectomy, milk-teeth 
extraction, early marriage, marriage by abduction, and food and work 
prohibitions.
    In the Afar region older men continued to marry young girls, but 
media accounts suggested that this traditional practice continued to 
face greater scrutiny and criticism. Local NGOs, such as the Kembatta 
Women's Self-Help Center and the Tigray Women's Association, also 
influenced societal attitudes toward harmful traditional practices and 
early marriage in their areas by raising awareness of the problems. 
During the year regional governments in Amhara and Tigray instituted 
programs to educate young women on the issues of early marriage.
    According to international NGOs, child prostitution was a growing 
problem, particularly in urban areas. According to an NGO report, 60 
percent of persons exploited in prostitution were between the ages of 
16 and 25. Underage girls worked as hotel workers, barmaids, and 
prostitutes in resort towns and rural truck stops. Pervasive poverty, 
migration to urban centers, early marriage, HIV/AIDS and other sexually 
transmitted diseases, and limited educational and job opportunities 
aggravated the sexual exploitation of children. A few NGOs aided child 
victims, including the Forum on Street Children-Ethiopia, which 
provided children forced into prostitution or sexual exploitation with 
shelter, protection, and return to their families.
    NGOs reported that houses of prostitution recruited impoverished 
girls as young as age 11 and kept them uninformed of the risks of HIV/
AIDS infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. A 2003 Family 
Health International Report indicated that customers particularly 
sought younger girls because customers believed they were free of 
sexually transmitted diseases.
    There were occasional reports that children were trafficked out of 
the country, including unconfirmed reports that children from the south 
were transported into Kenya by traffickers operating adoption rings and 
adopted as other nationalities (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).
    The Government estimated the number of street children totaled 
150,000 to 200,000, with approximately 50,000 to 60,000 street children 
in Addis Ababa. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated there were 
600,000 street children in the country and more than 100,000 in the 
capital. UNICEF believed the problem was exacerbated because of 
families' inability to support children due to parental illness and 
decreased household income. These children begged, sometimes as part of 
a gang, or worked in the informal sector (see Section 6.d.). Government 
and privately run orphanages were unable to handle the number of street 
children, and older children often abused younger ones. Due to severe 
resource constraints, hospitals and orphanages often overlooked or 
neglected abandoned infants. ``Handlers'' sometimes maimed or blinded 
children to raise their earnings from begging.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from and 
within the country. The country was a source country for men, women, 
and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Young 
women were trafficked to Djibouti and the Middle East, particularly 
Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain for 
involuntary domestic labor. Some women were trafficked for sexual 
exploitation to Europe via Lebanon. Small numbers of men were 
trafficked to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states for exploitation as low-
skilled laborers. Both children and adults were trafficked internally 
from rural to urban areas for domestic labor and, to a lesser extent, 
for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, such as street 
vending and weaving. NGOs estimated that international trafficking 
annually involved between 20,000 and 25,000 victims.
    The IOM reported in 2004 that trafficking was ``increasing at an 
alarming rate.'' A 2003 study by a foreign government on the problem of 
internal trafficking of women and children confirmed that the problem 
was pervasive. The overwhelming majority of respondents confirmed that 
traffickers, typically unorganized petty criminals, lured women and 
children from rural areas to Addis Ababa and other urban centers with 
false promises of employment. Of the 459 respondents, 46 percent were 
illiterate and 49 percent had completed no more than an eighth-grade 
education. Upon arrival at their new destinations, 54 percent worked as 
domestic servants, but that number dropped to 9 percent as the 
trafficked women and children took jobs in bars, became prostitutes, or 
begged on the street.
    Private entities arranged for overseas work and, as a result, 
traffickers sent women to Middle Eastern countries--particularly 
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates--as 
domestic or industrial workers. These women typically were trafficked 
through Djibouti, Yemen, and Syria. They were trafficked out of the 
country either through the international airport in Addis Ababa, to 
Djibouti, or through the country's porous border with Somalia. The 
chief of the investigation and detention center in Lebanon reported in 
October 2005 that 30,000 Ethiopian women worked in Beirut, the vast 
majority of whom were trafficked. The Government also continued 
registering persons seeking employment overseas.
    The law provides penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment and a 
fine of $1,150 (10,000 birr) for trafficking of women and children. 
Despite recent arrests of suspected traffickers, there were few 
successful prosecutions of traffickers. Arrested traffickers were often 
released without charge. However, in July a trafficker was convicted 
and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment and fined $575 (5,000 birr). 
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in concert with local police, 
was responsible for monitoring trafficking in persons, while the 
Ministry of Justice was responsible for enforcing antitrafficking laws. 
These entities remained generally ineffective. The Government assisted 
with international trafficking investigations.
    There were no reports that government officials participated in, 
facilitated, or condoned trafficking. However, border guards did not 
treat human trafficking as a high priority.
    The Government provided little assistance to trafficked victims who 
returned to the country. EWLA provided limited legal assistance to such 
victims. The federal police's Women's Affairs Bureau, in collaboration 
with the media, continued to implement a public awareness program on 
the dangers of migrating to Middle Eastern countries. There were some 
government initiatives during the year to combat trafficking, including 
government consultation with IOM. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs continued to review the contracts of prospective domestic 
workers planning to work overseas and rejected contracts that did not 
appear satisfactory. Immigration officials at the airport also 
continued to inspect the employment contracts of prospective workers 
traveling to the Middle East. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs 
had limited success in regulating employment agencies that sent migrant 
workers to Middle Eastern countries. Some illegal employment agencies 
escaped government scrutiny and continued to operate. The country's 
consulates in Beirut and Dubai continued to assist Ethiopian women 
trafficked to Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
    IOM delivered training programs for judges, prosecutors, and police 
officers on the criminal aspects of trafficking during the year. These 
institutions had limited resources and jurisdiction to protect or 
intervene in cases of prosecution of offending employers.

    Persons With Disabilities.--While the law mandates equal rights for 
persons with disabilities, the Government had no established mechanisms 
to enforce these rights. Persons with disabilities sometimes complained 
of job discrimination. The Government did not mandate access to 
buildings or provide services for persons with disabilities. Although 
the law provides for rehabilitation and assistance to persons with 
physical and mental disabilities, the Government devoted few resources 
to these purposes.
    There were approximately seven million persons with disabilities, 
according to the Ethiopian National Association for the Disabled. 
Although there were an estimated 800,000 persons with mental 
disabilities, there was only one mental hospital and only an estimated 
10 psychiatrists in the country. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs was responsible for protecting the rights of the disabled. 
Under funding from the ministry, prosthetic and orthopedic centers were 
established in five of the nine regional states over the past three 
years, albeit with limited capacity.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were more than 80 ethnic 
groups living in the country, of which the Oromo was the largest, at 40 
percent of the population. Although many groups influenced the 
political and cultural life of the country, Amharas and Tigrayans from 
the northern highlands played a dominant role. The federal system drew 
boundaries roughly along major ethnic group lines, and regional states 
had much greater control over their affairs than previously. Most 
political parties remained primarily ethnically based.
    The military remained an ethnically diverse organization; however, 
Tigrayans dominated the senior officer corps. During the May 2005 
elections and subsequent demonstrations there were many reports of 
Tigrayan or Gambellan troops being used in Addis Ababa and other urban 
centers where the opposition was strong and where officials did not 
consider Amhara members of the armed forces sufficiently reliable.
    There were occasional reports that officials terminated the 
employment of teachers and other government workers if they were not of 
the dominant ethnic group in the region.
    There were continued incidents of ethnic conflict during the year, 
particularly in the western, southern, and eastern areas. The OLF and 
the Government engaged in many clashes. There were also clashes among 
ethnic groups in the Gambella, Somali, and Southern Nations, 
Nationalities, and Peoples regions.
    Interethnic clashes resulted in hundreds of deaths during the year. 
In late May and early June, at least 39 persons were killed and 34 
injured in Daroor, Somali region, in a dispute between two Garhaajis 
subclans, the Habar Yonis and Idagaale, over construction of a water 
reservoir.
    In June following changes by the Government to zonal borderlines 
separating clan territories, there were violent clashes between the 
Guji and Borena clans in southern parts of the country, resulting in up 
to 150 deaths. The conflict also forced up to 120,000 persons from 
their homes. Ultimately, regional and local officials, in collaboration 
with clan elders, brokered a ceasefire and a resource-sharing agreement 
in July.
    In September media reported that approximately 45,000 persons had 
been displaced from their homes in the Gambella region due to continued 
fighting between the region's three largest indigenous groups, the 
Anuak, Nuer, and Mazinger.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is illegal 
and punishable by imprisonment. Instances of homosexual activity 
determined to be cruel, involving coercion, or involving a minor (age 
13 to 16) are punishable by not less than three months or more than 
five years in prison. Where children under 13 years of age are 
involved, the law provides for imprisonment of five to 25 years. While 
society did not widely accept homosexuality, there were no reports of 
violence against homosexuals.
    Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS continued 
during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides most workers with 
the right to form and join unions, and the Government allowed this in 
practice. However, the law specifically excludes teachers and civil 
servants (including judges, prosecutors, and security service workers) 
from organizing unions. There was government interference in trade 
union activities during the year. According to the International 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, many trade union leaders were 
removed from their posts and/or forced to leave the country, while 
others were sent to prison.
    A minimum of 10 workers were required to form a union. While the 
law provides all unions with the right to register, the Government may 
refuse to register trade unions that do not meet its registration 
requirements. The Government retained the authority to cancel the 
registration of a union after consulting the appropriate courts. There 
were no reports that the Government used this authority during the 
year. The law stipulates that a trade organization may not act in an 
overtly political manner. Approximately 300,000 workers were union 
members.
    Seasonal and part-time agricultural workers did not organize into 
labor unions. Compensation, benefits, and working conditions of 
seasonal workers were far below those of unionized permanent plantation 
employees.
    Despite government recognition of the independent ETA, authorities 
required all public school teachers to subsidize a separate government-
created and controlled teacher's union (also called ETA) through 
mandatory withholding of $0.23 (2 birr) from their monthly salaries.
    In late 2003 the federal high court ruled that the Government's ETA 
had no legal standing or claim on the property of the independent ETA, 
and that authorities should return the assets of the independent ETA 
and allow its offices to reopen. The government-controlled ETA appealed 
to the Supreme Court, which instructed the federal high court to 
reinvestigate the case. That investigation continued at year's end, and 
the high court's decision to recognize the independent ETA had not been 
implemented.
    Complete government control of the government-sponsored 
Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions executive committee continued 
throughout the year, as it had since its inception.
    Although the law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers 
against union members and organizers, unions reported that employers 
frequently fired union activists. Lawsuits alleging unlawful dismissal 
often took years to resolve because of case backlogs in the labor 
courts. According to labor leaders, a number of court cases in which 
workers were terminated for union activities were pending after four or 
five years. Employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination were 
required to reinstate workers fired for union activities and generally 
did so in practice.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
protects the right of collective bargaining for most workers, and in 
practice the Government allowed citizens to exercise this right freely. 
Labor experts estimated that collective bargaining agreements covered 
more than 90 percent of unionized workers. Representatives negotiated 
wages at the plant level. Unions in the formal industrial sector made 
some efforts to enforce labor regulations.
    There are no export processing zones.
    Although the constitution and law provide workers with the right to 
strike to protect their interests, it contains detailed provisions that 
make legal strike actions difficult to carry out, such as a minimum of 
30 days' advance notice before striking. The law requires aggrieved 
workers to attempt reconciliation with employers before striking and 
includes a lengthy dispute settlement process. These applied equally to 
an employer's right to lock out workers. A majority of the workers 
involved must support a strike for it to occur.
    During the year there were several minor strikes by construction 
workers who protested low wages and instances of arbitrary dismissal 
from work. Some of their demands were resolved through negotiation, 
while others remained unaddressed.
    Workers nonetheless retain the right to strike without resorting to 
either of these options, provided they give at least 10 days' notice to 
the other party and to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, make 
efforts at reconciliation, and provide at least a 30-day warning in 
cases already before a court or labor relations board.
    The law also prohibits strikes by workers who provide essential 
services, including air transport and urban bus service workers, 
electric power suppliers, gas station personnel, hospital and pharmacy 
personnel, firefighters, telecommunications personnel, and urban 
sanitary workers.
    The law prohibits retribution against strikers, but labor leaders 
stated that most workers were not convinced that the Government would 
enforce this protection. Labor officials reported that, due to high 
unemployment and long delays in the hearing of labor cases, some 
workers were afraid to participate in strikes or other labor actions.
    The labor law allows one or more permanent labor relations boards 
in the regional states to decide on cases involving enterprises owned 
by the federal government. The amendment also allows ad hoc labor 
relations boards in the regions to fulfill the same purpose.
    In June the Government further amended the labor law to provide 
severance pay for workers on additional grounds that were not 
previously provided for, such as discrimination against persons with 
HIV/AIDS and payment of severance to those without pension plan.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were 
reports such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). Courts could 
order forced labor as a punitive measure.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws against child labor; however, the Government did not 
effectively implement these laws in practice, and child labor remained 
a serious problem, both in urban and rural areas. Under the law, the 
minimum age for wage or salary employment is 14 years, which was 
consistent with the age for completing primary school; however, the 
minimum age for employment was not effectively enforced. Special 
provisions cover children between the ages of 14 and 18, including the 
prohibition of hazardous or night work. By law, children between the 
ages of 14 and 18 were not permitted to work more than seven hours per 
day, work between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., work on public 
holidays or rest days, or perform overtime work. The Government defined 
hazardous work as work in factories or involving machinery with moving 
parts, or any work that could jeopardize a child's health.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for 
enforcing child labor laws, but it did not provide adequate resources 
and oversight. While the Government made some effort to enforce these 
regulations within the formal industrial sector, social welfare 
activists, civic organizers, government officials, and employers agreed 
that child labor was pervasive throughout the country, particularly in 
agrarian areas and in the informal sector. In urban areas, many 
children worked in a variety of jobs, including shining shoes, weaving 
clothes, hustling passengers into cabs, working as porters, selling 
lottery tickets and other small items, and herding animals. In rural 
areas, children worked on family and commercial farms and as domestic 
laborers.
    A 2001 ILO-funded survey on child labor found that 40 percent of 
children began working before the age of six. It also found the average 
number of hours worked in a week by children ages 5 to 17 was 32.8 
hours. Approximately 13 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 
five and nine worked from 58 to 74 hours a week. More than two-thirds 
of all children surveyed were giving either all or part of their 
earnings to their parents or guardians. Reduced household income from 
poor crop harvests and children dropping out of school were two factors 
contributing to the increased incidence of child labor.
    Child laborers often faced abuse. A 1999 study concluded that 
compared to nonworking children, child workers faced twice as much 
physical and emotional abuse, five times as much sexual abuse, and 
eight times as much neglect. Among child workers surveyed, rapes 
occurred exclusively among child domestic laborers.
    The Government's definition of worst forms of child labor included 
prostitution and bonded labor. During the year there were reports of 
forced or bonded labor of children who had been trafficked from the 
Oromiya region and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples 
region to other regions of the country to work as domestic servants 
(see Section 5). Family members reportedly forced young girls into 
prostitution (see Section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum 
wage. However, some government institutions and public enterprises set 
their own minimum wages. Public sector employees, the largest group of 
wage earners, earned a monthly minimum wage of approximately $23 (200 
birr); employees in the banking and insurance sector had a minimum 
monthly wage of $27 (230 birr). According to the Office of the Study of 
Wages and Other Remuneration, these wages did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Consequently, most families 
in the wage sector required at least two wage earners to survive, which 
forced many children to leave school early. Only a small percentage of 
the population was involved in wage labor employment, which was 
concentrated largely in urban areas.
    The law provides for a 48-hour legal workweek (with a 24-hour rest 
period), premium pay for overtime, and prohibition of excessive, 
compulsory overtime. Although the Government did little to enforce the 
law, in practice most employees in the formal sector worked a 40-hour 
workweek.
    The Government, industry, and unions negotiated to set occupational 
health and safety standards; however, the inspection department of the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs did not effectively enforce these 
standards, due to a lack of resources. A lack of detailed, sector-
specific health and safety guidelines also inhibited enforcement. 
Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous situations 
without jeopardizing their employment; however, most workers feared 
losing their jobs if they were to do so.

                               __________

                                 GABON

    Gabon is a republic dominated by a strong presidency and the 
Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which has remained in power since 
1968. The population was approximately 1.4 million. Legislative 
elections in December resulted in continued dominance by President El 
Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba's PDG, which won more than two-thirds of the 
seats in a generally free and fair election. All parties participated 
in the election after the Government met several opposition electoral 
reform demands. In November 2005 PDG leader Bongo, President since 
1967, was reelected for a seven-year term in an election marred by 
irregularities. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The country's human rights record remained poor, although there 
were improvements in several areas. The following human rights problems 
were reported: limited ability of citizens to change their government; 
use of excessive force, including torture, on prisoners and detainees; 
harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; an inefficient 
judiciary susceptible to government influence; restrictions on the 
right of privacy; restrictions on freedom of the press, association, 
and movement; harassment of refugees by security forces; widespread 
government corruption; violence and societal discrimination against 
women and noncitizen Africans; trafficking in persons, particularly 
children; and forced labor and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents 
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
    In August in Libreville a private security force, allegedly with 
close ties to local government officials, reportedly beat to death a 
Nigerian market vendor. Subsequent demonstrations by market vendors 
against the private security force resulted in numerous arrests (see 
Section 1.d.). At year's end no action had been taken against those 
responsible for the killing.
    No arrests were made in the 2005 killing of Gildas Mbina Boulingui 
or in the 2005 drowning of a taxi driver. No further information was 
available about the trials of police responsible for killing two men in 
2005. Security forces were implicated in all three cases.
    Ritualistic killings occurred. The authorities did not criticize 
the practice. The body of Mathieu Moundounga, bearing signs of a ritual 
killing, was found on December 15. There were no arrests in the case by 
year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
security forces sometimes beat or tortured prisoners and detainees to 
extract confessions. Unconfirmed reports from the African immigrant 
community asserted that police and soldiers occasionally beat 
noncitizen Africans during operations to round up and deport illegal 
immigrants. As in previous years, refugees complained of harassment and 
extortion by security forces. Unlike in previous years, there were no 
reports that practitioners of certain traditional indigenous religions 
inflicted bodily harm on other persons.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons were overcrowded 
and conditions were harsh. Food, sanitation, and ventilation were poor, 
and medical care was almost nonexistent. Juveniles were held with 
adults and pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    As in 2005, there were no known visits by human rights monitors to 
prisons; however, there also were no reports that the Government 
impeded such visits.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but the Government did not 
always observe these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police, 
under the Ministry of the Interior, and the gendarmerie, under the 
Ministry of Defense, were responsible for domestic law enforcement and 
public security; the gendarmerie was also responsible for setting up 
checkpoints. Elements of the armed forces and the Republican Guard, a 
heavily armed unit that protects the President, sometimes performed 
internal security functions; both were subordinate to the defense 
ministry. The police were inefficient, and corruption was a serious 
problem. Security forces often used bribes at checkpoints to supplement 
their salaries. The inspector general's office was responsible for 
investigating police abuse. In August the commander of the gendarmerie 
issued a communique promising to take action against officers who 
practiced extortion. He said that he had recently taken disciplinary 
action against approximately 100 gendarmes, and that nine were 
imprisoned, 15 fired, and 13 suspended.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants based on 
sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized official; however, 
security forces frequently disregarded this provision. The law provides 
up to 48 hours for initial detention, during which police must charge a 
detainee before a judge, but police rarely respected this timetable. 
Charges often were not filed expeditiously, and persons were detained 
arbitrarily, sometimes for long periods. Bail could be set at 
arraignment if further investigation was required. Detainees were 
allowed prompt access to a lawyer and, if indigent, to one provided by 
the state.
    Police arbitrarily arrested market vendors during the year (see 
Sections 1.e. and 2.d.). In September police raided Libreville's 
largest market and arrested numerous vendors for a variety of 
infractions. The vendors had protested against the activities of a 
newly-established private security firm which levied mandatory fees on 
all vendors in the market and beat one market vendor to death in August 
(see Section 1.a.). The private security force was reported to have 
close ties with local government officials.
    Members of the security forces frequently detained individuals at 
roadblocks under the guise of checking vehicle registration and 
identity papers. Security forces frequently used such operations to 
extort money.
    Pretrial detention, limited to six months for a misdemeanor and to 
one year for a felony charge, may be extended for six months by the 
examining magistrate. Pretrial detainees have the right of free access 
to their attorneys; this right was generally respected. Detainees also 
have the right to an expeditious trial, but overburdened dockets 
resulted in prolonged pretrial detention. Approximately 40 percent of 
persons in custody were pretrial detainees.
    A February census of Libreville's prison population, conducted by 
the country's Justice Ministry, revealed that 277 out of 1,100 
prisoners in pretrial detention had been held more than two years. 
Journalists uncovered 16 cases of prisoners held more than five years 
without trial, including one who had been in prison for 11 years 
because the magistrate lost his file. Following public disclosure of 
the situation, the lower court in Libreville reviewed the cases of 
long-stay detainees and released 40 prisoners. Most of them had been 
held for as long as their potential terms would have been if they had 
been tried and convicted.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an 
independent judiciary, the judiciary was inefficient and remained 
susceptible to government influence. The President appoints and can 
dismiss judges through the Ministry of Justice, to which the judiciary 
is responsible. Corruption was a problem.
    The judicial system includes regular courts, a military tribunal, 
and a civilian High Court of Justice. The regular court system includes 
trial courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The 
Constitutional Court is a separate body charged with examining 
constitutional questions, including the certification of elections. The 
High Court of Justice is constituted by the Government as required to 
consider matters of security.
    Systemic resource and personnel shortages in the judiciary often 
contributed to prolonged pretrial detention (see Section 1.d.).

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides the right to a public 
trial and to legal counsel, and the Government generally respected 
these rights. Nevertheless, a judge may deliver an immediate verdict of 
guilty at the initial hearing in a state security trial if the 
Government presents sufficient evidence. Defendants are presumed 
innocent and have the right to be present, to confront witnesses 
against them, to present witnesses or evidence on their behalf, and to 
appeal; the Government generally respected these rights.
    Minor disputes may be taken to a local chief, particularly in rural 
areas, but the Government did not recognize such decisions.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--On March 21, security forces 
arrested 15 opposition members during a sweep on the compound of the 
Union of Gabonese Patriots (UPG) leader Pierre Mamboundou. All were 
believed to have been released by May after charges were dropped by the 
authorities.
    Opposition members arrested in December 2005 were released between 
January and March. They had participated in a demonstration to protest 
the reelection of President Bongo.
    Herve Patrick Opiangah, arrested in 2004 when he led a protest 
demanding that the Government recognize his political party, was 
released in March on humanitarian grounds after reports that his health 
was impaired.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent 
civil judiciary, but it was susceptible to government influence and 
corruption. Corruption was also a problem in the enforcement of 
domestic court orders. Administrative remedies were not generally 
available.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. 
As part of criminal investigations, police may request search warrants 
from judges, which they obtained easily, sometimes after the fact. 
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not use search warrants 
to gain access to the homes of opposition figures and their families.
    Security forces conducted warrantless searches for illegal 
immigrants and criminals, using street stops and identity checks. 
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that security forces 
entered homes and arrested and detained refugees.
    Authorities reportedly routinely monitored private telephone 
conversations, personal mail, and the movement of citizens.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
generally did not respect these rights in practice. Few citizens 
criticized the Government for fear of losing their jobs, and only a few 
opposition legislators in the National Assembly openly criticized the 
Government. In September 2005 the President announced that the 
Government would revoke the passport of anyone who criticized the 
Government in press conferences abroad; no such revocations occurred 
through year's end.
    The only daily newspaper was the government-affiliated L'Union. 
Approximately nine privately owned weekly or monthly newspapers 
represented independent views and those of various political parties, 
but most appeared irregularly due to financial constraints, or in some 
cases, government suspension of their publication licenses. All 
newspapers, including L'Union, criticized the Government and political 
leaders of all parties, but not the President. Foreign newspapers and 
magazines were widely available.
    The Government owned and operated two radio stations that broadcast 
throughout the country. Much of their news coverage concerned the 
activities of government officials, although editorials sometimes 
criticized specific government policies or ministers. Seven privately 
owned radio stations were operating at year's end; most were 
apolitical. International radio stations broadcast locally.
    The Government owned and operated two television stations. Four 
privately owned television stations transmitted 24 hours per day. 
Satellite television reception was available.
    On June 22, the National Communication Council (NCC) re-authorized 
publication of L'Autre Journal, which had been banned since 2003 for 
reporting that was deemed a threat to public order.
    On September 29, the NCC suspended publication for three months of 
the independent weekly Echos du Nord for ``unethical'' reporting in a 
column critical of government infighting. The editor of the paper 
launched a hunger strike on October 3 to protest the council's action. 
The council cut the suspension to one month, and the editor ended his 
hunger strike, with no permanent ill effects.
    On August 8, the Government spokesman and government-affiliated 
media harshly criticized foreign reporters for reporting on the health 
of the country's First Lady, which they considered inappropriate. Local 
journalists practiced self-censorship.
    The law stipulates that penalties for libel and other offenses 
include a one- to three-month publishing suspension for a first offense 
and a three- to six-month suspension for repeat offenses. Editors and 
authors of libelous articles can be jailed for two to six months and 
fined $1,000 to $10,000 (500,000 to five million CFA francs). Libel can 
be either a criminal offense or a civil matter. The law authorizes the 
Government to initiate criminal libel prosecution against persons for 
libeling elected government officials; it also authorizes the state to 
criminalize civil libel suits. The Government did not use the libel 
laws during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Surveys indicated that about 5 percent of the population were using the 
Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law 
requires that groups obtain permits for public gatherings in advance. 
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of forced 
dispersions.
    No action was taken against security forces that forcibly dispersed 
demonstrations in 2004 and 2005.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not ban marches by 
political groups.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and unlike in the previous year, the Government 
generally respected this right in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for religious 
freedom, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The Ministry of the Interior maintained an official registry of 
religious groups but did not register small indigenous religious 
groups. The Government did not require religious groups to register but 
recommended that they do so to assemble with full constitutional 
protection.
    The Government refused to register approximately 10 religious 
groups. Nevertheless, in practice the Government allows members of 
these groups to assemble, practice their religion, and to proselytize.
    In recent years, some Protestant denominations have alleged that 
the Government television station accorded free broadcast time to the 
Catholic Church but not to minority religious groups. Others alleged 
that the armed forces favored Roman Catholics and Muslims in hiring and 
promotions.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no notable Jewish 
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for these rights, the Government frequently restricted them in 
practice. There were no legally mandated restrictions on internal 
movement, but police and gendarmes continued to stop travelers 
frequently to check identity, residence, registration documents, or to 
demand bribes (see Section 1.d.). Members of the security forces 
harassed expatriate Africans working legally as merchants, service 
sector employees, and manual laborers. Some members of the security 
forces extorted bribes with threats of confiscation of residency 
documents or imprisonment. Residency permits cost $200 (100,000 CFA 
francs) per year, and first-time applicants were required to provide 
the cost of a one-way air ticket to their country of origin. In 
principle, but usually not in practice, the Government refunded the 
cost of the air ticket when the individual departed the country 
permanently.
    There were reports that, without explanation, authorities denied 
passport applications for travel abroad. There also were reports of 
unreasonable delays in obtaining passports, despite a government 
commitment to process passport applications within three days. The 
Government intermittently enforced a regulation requiring married women 
to obtain their husbands' permission to travel abroad.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government generally provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum and 
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. 
However, refugees complained about widespread harassment, extortion, 
and detentions by security forces.
    In September the Government announced that it had obtained 
equipment that would permit it to provide identity cards for all 
refugees in the country. By replacing UNHCR-issued identity cards, the 
Government sought to reduce mistreatment of refugees, placing them on 
the same footing as all other immigrants.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not try to forcibly 
repatriate refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic elections. In April and May, parties from the 
coalition supporting the Government and from the opposition began a 
dialogue on electoral reform. Although the two sides initially were 
unable to reach agreement, President Bongo mediated their differences 
and ultimately the Government agreed to meet key opposition demands, 
including the creation of a permanent electoral commission, the end of 
separate military voting, and the provision of official copies of 
polling place results to opposition parties. These concessions 
persuaded opposition parties to participate in the December legislative 
elections, which observers considered generally free and fair, although 
they suffered from administrative weaknesses. Overall, it was an 
improvement over the flawed 2005 Presidential election. A single party, 
the PDG, has remained in power since its creation by President Bongo in 
1968, and political choice remained limited.
    The Government was dominated by a strong presidency. When the 
legislature is not in session the President can veto legislation, 
dissolve the national legislature, call new elections, and issue 
decrees that have the force of law. The legislature generally approved 
legislation presented to it by the President. The President appoints 
ministers of government and heads of parastatals.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In December elections were 
held to fill the 120 seats of the National Assembly. President Bongo's 
party, the PDG, won 81 seats. Other parties allied with the PDG won 16 
seats. Opposition parties won 17 seats, led by the UPG with eight 
seats; UPG leader Pierre Mamboundou was among those elected. Four seats 
were won by independent candidates and one by a party that identified 
with neither government nor opposition. The results for one seat were 
declared null by the Constitutional Court, and that race was to be 
rerun.
    In November 2005 President Bongo Ondimba was re-elected for another 
seven-year term in an election marred by irregularities, including 
incomplete and inaccurate electoral lists, abuse of government 
resources, and unequal access to the media. Opposition candidates also 
charged that the ruling party engaged in vote buying, multiple voting, 
and ballot stuffing. According to the National Electoral Commission, 
Bongo received approximately 79 percent of the vote, and Pierre 
Mamboundou of the UPG party received approximately 14 percent.
    Opposition parties included the UPG, the Gabonese Progressive 
Party, and the newly-recognized Gabonese Union for Democracy and 
Development.
    There were 16 women in the 120-member National Assembly and 12 
women in the 48-member cabinet.
    Members of all major ethnic groups continued to occupy prominent 
government positions; however, members of the President's Bateke ethnic 
group and other ethnic southerners held a disproportionately large 
number of key positions in the military and security forces. The 
general chief of staff, the minister of defense, and the chief of the 
republican guard were from the same region or ethnic group as the 
President.
    Indigenous Pygmies rarely participated in the political process, 
and the Government made only limited efforts to include them (see 
Section 5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was 
widespread, and there was extensive media coverage of police abuses, 
particularly at checkpoints; however, the anticorruption commission 
issued no reports and took no action against corrupt officials during 
the year. The commander of the gendarmerie stated that he would punish 
officers under his command who engaged in corruption, and that he had 
sanctioned more than 100 officers already (see Section 1.d.).
    In May senior officials of the Fund for the Expansion and 
Development of Small and Medium Enterprise were arrested for fraud. 
They were released on bail and awaited trial at year's end.
    The law does not provide for public access to government 
information, and the Government did not allow such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A few local human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and 
human rights activists operated in the country without government 
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings. Government 
officials took no actions on their recommendations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    Although the constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on 
national origin, race, gender, or opinion, the Government did not 
enforce these provisions uniformly. There was considerable 
discrimination against women, especially in domestic affairs. Security 
forces also discriminated against noncitizens. The Government provided 
a lower level of health care and educational services to children of 
other African nationalities than it provided to citizens.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, it was 
believed to be common, especially in rural areas. Police rarely 
intervened in such incidents, and women virtually never filed 
complaints with civil authorities.
    Rape is against the law and carries a penalty of between five and 
10 years' imprisonment; however, rape cases were seldom prosecuted. 
Only limited medical and legal assistance for rape victims was 
available.
    Although illegal, female genital mutilation (FGM) was believed to 
occur among the resident population of noncitizen Africans; however, 
there were no specific reports of such practices during the year.
    Although the law prohibits prostitution, it was a problem. 
Enforcement was rare, as the police considered prostitution to be a low 
priority.
    There is no law that prohibits sexual harassment, and it was a 
problem. The Government and NGOs reported cases of female domestic 
workers (often victims of child trafficking) who were sexually molested 
by employers.
    The law provides that women have rights to equal access in 
education, business, and investment, but women continued to face 
considerable societal and legal discrimination, especially in rural 
areas. While poor women frequently suffered discrimination, women among 
the educated urban population were treated more equally. Women owned 
businesses and property, participated in politics, and worked 
throughout the Government and in the private sector.
    By law, couples must stipulate at the time of marriage whether they 
intend to adhere to a monogamous or a polygynous relationship; 
polygynous marriages were more common. For monogamous married couples, 
a common property law provides for the equal distribution of assets 
after divorce. In a polygynous marriage, a husband is obligated to give 
all wives the same level of financial support, although he may marry 
additional wives without permission from his existing wives. Wives who 
leave polygynous husbands receive half of their existing support as a 
one-time payment.
    In inheritance cases, the husband's family must issue a written 
authorization before his widow can inherit property.
    Common law marriage, which was accepted socially and practiced 
widely, afforded women no property rights.
    A regulation requires that a woman obtain her husband's permission 
to travel abroad; this requirement was not enforced consistently.

    Children.--The Government publicly expressed its commitment to 
youth, provided 4,000 academic scholarships during the year, and used 
oil revenues to build schools, pay teacher salaries, and promote 
education, including in rural areas. Education is compulsory until age 
16 and was generally available through sixth grade. Approximately 78 
percent of primary school-age children, and less than half of secondary 
school-age children, attended school. Secondary school attendance rates 
for immigrant children were lower, although public schools accepted 
immigrant children and the Government encouraged them to attend. The 
Government provided a family allowance to the parents of 
schoolchildren; however, students were required to pay for books, 
uniforms, and other school supplies, which precluded numerous children 
from attending school. A UN agency estimated that 64 percent of women 
and 78 percent of men were literate. Boys and girls had equal 
attendance rates in primary school, but more boys than girls were 
enrolled in secondary school.
    There was little evidence of physical abuse of children, although 
there were occasional reports that family members sexually abused girls 
who had passed puberty. When such reports surfaced, the accused abusers 
were arrested and tried.
    FGM was believed to occur among the resident population of 
noncitizen Africans (see Section 5, Women).
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).
    Concerns about the problems faced by the large community of 
children of noncitizen Africans persisted. Almost all enjoyed far less 
access to education and health care than did citizen children; some 
were victims of child trafficking and abuses.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons, particularly women and 
children, were trafficked to the country. The antitrafficking law 
provides for prison sentences for traffickers of five to 15 years' 
imprisonment and fines from $20,000 to $40,000 (10 million to 20 
million CFA francs). During the year police conducted periodic raids at 
which suspected traffickers were identified and turned over to 
prosecutors. Government agencies, in cooperation with the UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF), provided care for victims, in some cases through NGOs. 
No information was available on the disposition of these cases at 
year's end, and there were reports that frustration over lack of 
prosecutorial action led police to conduct these raids less frequently 
as the year progressed.
    The police and an interministerial committee composed of 
representatives from the labor, justice, foreign affairs, and family 
ministries, were responsible for combating trafficking. The Government 
also cooperated with UNICEF and the International Labor Organization 
(ILO).
    Children (especially girls), primarily from Benin and Togo, worked 
as domestic servants or in the informal commercial sector. Nigerian 
children, also victims of trafficking, worked in the informal 
commercial sector as mechanics. Trafficked children generally worked 
long hours, were subjected to physical abuse, received inadequate food, 
and received no wages or schooling. No statistics were available on the 
number of trafficking victims in the country, but estimates ranged from 
3,000 to 25,000.
    There continued to be unconfirmed reports that some government 
officials employed trafficked foreign children as domestic workers, and 
that individual police and immigration officers were involved in 
facilitating child trafficking.
    UNICEF and the Government sponsored a toll-free assistance hot line 
for child trafficking victims that provided 24-hour response assistance 
and arranged free transport to a victims' shelter. The hot line 
reported that the number of calls declined from 50 per week the 
previous year to about 20; about 20 percent of them were found on 
investigation to involve trafficking. A government-funded reception 
center offered protection for trafficking victims, including food, 
education, medical care, and repatriation assistance. A second center 
run by Carmelite nuns provided similar services for older girls and 
young women.
    In May Libreville hosted a conference sponsored by UNICEF, the ILO, 
and the Economic Community of Central African States to coordinate 
efforts to prevent trafficking. The country also participated in a July 
summit in Nigeria to discuss the issue with neighboring countries. 
Together with other countries from west and central Africa, the 
Government signed an agreement on the fight against trafficking in 
persons and adopted a common action plan.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities or provide for access 
to buildings or services; however, there were no reports of official 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. There was some 
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities, and 
employment opportunities and treatment facilities were limited.

    Indigenous People.--The Baka (Pygmies) are the earliest known 
inhabitants of the country. Small numbers of Pygmies continued to live 
as they have for hundreds of years in large tracts of rain forest in 
the northeast. Most Pygmies, however, were relocated to communities 
along the major roads during the late colonial and early 
postindependence period, together with other residents of remote 
communities. The law grants them the same civil rights as other 
citizens, but Pygmies remained largely outside of formal authority, 
keeping their own traditions, independent communities, and local 
decision-making structures. Pygmies suffered societal discrimination, 
often lived in extreme poverty, and did not have easy access to public 
services. Their Bantu neighbors often exploited their labor, paying 
much less than minimum wage. Despite their equal status under the law, 
Pygmies generally felt they had little recourse if mistreated by Bantu. 
There were no specific government programs or policies to assist 
Pygmies.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law places no restrictions on the 
right of association and recognizes the right of citizens to form trade 
and labor unions; workers exercised this right in practice. The small 
private sector workforce was unionized. Unions must register with the 
Government to be recognized officially, and registration was granted 
routinely.
    Discrimination on the basis of union membership is illegal. 
Employers who are found guilty by civil courts of having engaged in 
such discrimination may be required to compensate employees. There were 
no reports of any such cases during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without government interference, and 
the Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining by industry, not by firm, and collectively 
bargained agreements set wages for whole industries. Labor and 
management met to negotiate differences, with observers from the 
Ministry of Labor. Agreements negotiated by unions also applied to 
nonunion workers.
    The law provides workers the right to strike; however, they may do 
so only with eight days advance notification and also only after 
arbitration fails. Public sector employees' right to strike is limited 
if a strike could jeopardize public safety. The law prohibits 
government action against individual strikers who abide by the 
notification and arbitration provisions. In practice, the Government 
sometimes weighed in on labor disputes. For example, in November the 
President told oil companies to make concessions to striking workers. 
Although the President had no formal authority in the matter, the 
companies reluctantly complied.
    Workers from the national post office went on strike October 31 
demanding an additional 40 months' salary as severance payment in 
connection with reorganization of the post office. The strike was still 
under way at year's end, although minimum staffing was restored on 
December 8 and the post office reopened. Teachers at several public 
schools went on strike November 16. Although education officials called 
the strike illegal, the strikers suffered no punishment after returning 
to work the following week.
    Charges were dropped in the 2005 case against taxi union leader 
Jean-Robert Menie.
    There are no export processing zones, although there were plans to 
establish one.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such 
practices occurred, including by children (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    Some Pygmies reportedly were employed under conditions tantamount 
to slavery and without effective recourse to the judicial system (see 
Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although children below the age of 16 may not work without the express 
consent of the ministries of labor, education, and public health, child 
labor was a serious problem. The law stipulates fines and prison 
sentences for violations of the minimum age for work. The ministries 
rigorously enforced this law in urban areas with respect to citizen 
children, and few citizens under the age of 18 worked in the formal 
wage sector; however, child labor occurred in rural areas, where the 
law was seldom enforced.
    An unknown number of children--primarily foreign--worked in 
marketplaces or performed domestic duties; many of these children were 
reportedly the victims of child trafficking (see Section 5). Such 
children generally did not attend school, received only limited medical 
attention, and often were exploited by employers or foster families. 
Laws forbidding child labor theoretically extended protection to these 
children, but abuses often were not reported. A 2001 ILO study 
estimated that 20,000 children between 10 and 14 years old were 
economically active, but the actual number was probably considerably 
higher since most children worked in the informal sector.
    The constitution and labor code protect children against 
exploitation. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for implementing 
and enforcing child labor laws and regulations. Inspectors from the 
Ministry of Labor are responsible for receiving, investigating, and 
addressing child labor complaints. However, violations were not 
systematically addressed because the inspection force was inadequate 
and complaints were not investigated routinely. The Government viewed 
child labor and child trafficking as closely linked; the only available 
survey of children in the labor force found that 97 percent were 
noncitizens. As a matter of policy, therefore, prevention of child 
labor was to begin with prevention of trafficking.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In September the President 
announced an increase in the monthly minimum wage from $85 to $155 
(44,000 to 80,000 CFA francs); government workers received an 
additional monthly allowance of $40 (20,000 CFA francs) per child. 
Government workers also received transportation, housing, and family 
benefits. The law does not mandate housing or family benefits for 
private sector workers. The minimum wage did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family.
    The labor code governs working conditions and benefits for all 
sectors and theoretically provides a broad range of protection to 
workers; however, the Government sometimes did not respect these 
protections. According to the law, representatives of labor, 
management, and the Government are required to meet annually to examine 
economic and labor conditions and to recommend a minimum wage rate to 
the President, who then issues an annual decree. This procedure has not 
been followed since 1994, in part because the Government was following 
a policy of wage austerity recommended by international financial 
institutions.
    The labor code stipulates a 40-hour workweek with a minimum rest 
period of 48 consecutive hours. Employers must compensate workers for 
overtime work. Companies in the formal sector generally paid 
competitive wages and granted the fringe benefits required by law, 
including maternity leave and six weeks annual paid vacation.
    The Ministry of Health established occupational health and safety 
standards but did not enforce or regulate them. The application of 
labor standards varied from company to company and between industries. 
In the formal sector, workers may remove themselves from dangerous work 
situations without fear of retribution.
    The Government reportedly did not enforce labor code provisions in 
sectors where the majority of the labor force was foreign. Foreign 
workers, both documented and undocumented, were obliged to work under 
substandard conditions; were dismissed without notice or recourse; or 
were mistreated physically, especially in the case of illegal 
immigrants. Employers frequently paid noncitizens less and required 
them to work longer hours, often hiring them on a short-term, casual 
basis to avoid paying taxes, social security contributions, and other 
benefits.

                               __________

                               THE GAMBIA

    The Gambia is a multiparty, democratic republic with a population 
of 1.5 million. On September 22, President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh was re-
elected for a third five-year term in an election considered partially 
free and fair. President Jammeh's party, the Alliance for Patriotic 
Reorientation and Construction (APRC), dominated the National Assembly. 
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces, there were frequent instances in which elements of 
the security forces acted independently of government authority. On 
March 21, a coup attempt was uncovered and approximately 50 suspects 
were detained, 21 of whom remained in detention awaiting or on trial at 
year's end.
    The foiled coup plot resulted in a more restrictive environment, 
and the Government's respect for the human rights of its citizens 
declined during the year. Although the constitution and law provide for 
protection of most human rights, there were problems in many areas. 
Arbitrary arrests and detentions increased, particularly after the 
discovery of the coup plot. Security forces harassed and mistreated 
detainees, prisoners, opposition members, journalists, and civilians 
with impunity. Prisoners were held incommunicado, faced prolonged 
pretrial detention, and were denied due process. The Government 
infringed on privacy rights and restricted freedom of speech and press. 
Women experienced violence and discrimination, and female genital 
mutilation (FGM) remained a problem. Child labor and trafficking in 
persons also were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary 
or unlawful killings. However, in April there were allegations that the 
Government had executed five detainees in connection with the March 
coup plot after the Government announced that they had escaped while 
being transferred to a minimum security prison. The Government denied 
the reports, but none of the escapees were seen or heard from during 
the year. Similarly, the Government denied allegations of involvement 
in the July 2005 case of eight men found dead in the coastal town of 
Brufut, near Banjul. The victims were later identified as migrant 
workers from Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo who were trying to make their way 
to Europe. Government authorities announced that an investigation into 
the deaths was continuing, although nothing was reported by years end.
    There were no developments in the case of the 2004 killing of 
journalist Deyda Hydara (see Section 2.a.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year.
    The whereabouts of five men detained in connection with the March 
coup attempt remained unknown at year's end; the Government claimed 
that they had escaped custody. (see Section 1.a.).
    On July 11, police reportedly detained Ebrima Manneh, a journalist 
for the pro-government Daily Observer, at Sibanor police station; 
Manneh was not seen again during the year. The Government denied that 
he was being held in custody during the year.
    On September 13, Tamba Fofana, a schoolteacher and opposition 
supporter, reportedly was picked up by soldiers and taken to the police 
on accusations of ``anti-state'' activities. He had not been seen again 
by the end of the year, and the police denied knowledge of his 
whereabouts. On September 18, security forces allegedly arrested 
Kanyiba Kanyi, a social worker and supporter of the opposition United 
Democratic Party (UDP). On October 18, the courts ordered his release, 
but his whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were reports that security forces beat and mistreated persons in 
custody. Following the foiled March coup plot and throughout the year, 
there were credible reports of torture of detained suspects, including 
journalists. For example, according to press reports, three military 
officers detained in connection with the plot, Captain Yaya Darboe, 
Captain Bunja Darboe, and 2nd Lieutenant Pharing Sanyang, claimed at 
their court martial hearings that they had been tortured under 
interrogation to force their televised confessions. The Government did 
not respond to these allegations.
    The Indemnity Act continued to prevent victims from seeking redress 
in torture cases. The army requested that victims file formal 
complaints so that cases could be investigated; however, there were no 
known prosecutions in civil courts of soldiers or security officials 
accused of beating or otherwise mistreating individuals during the 
year.
    There were no developments in the October 2005 case in which the 
Police Intervention Unit--a paramilitary wing of the police--severely 
beat workers at a hotel construction site for obstructing a police 
officer and allegedly helping to free a prisoner. Police arrested seven 
of the workers and released them on bail 24 hours later.
    There were unsubstantiated claims by opposition members that the 
Government continued to conduct training for vigilante groups. These 
groups, also known as ``green boys,'' were suspected of involvement in 
past human rights offenses.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions at Mile 
2, Janjanbureh, and Jeshwang prisons generally met international 
standards. The Government permitted some visits by independent human 
rights observers, but they were not allowed to visit detained suspects 
connected to the foiled coup plot. Local jails were overcrowded, and 
inmates, including detainees awaiting trial, occasionally slept on the 
floor. Prison guards were reluctant to intervene in fights between 
prisoners, which resulted in injuries.
    Political prisoners were not held separately from other prisoners.
    The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by some local and international human rights groups; 
however, neither the media nor the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) was granted access to detainees or prisoners during the 
year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were instances 
of police and security forces arbitrarily arresting and detaining 
citizens, especially following the failed coup plot.

    Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces are 
responsible for external defense and report to the secretary of state 
(minister) for defense, a position held by the President. The police, 
under the secretary of state for the interior, are responsible for 
public security. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA), responsible 
for protecting state security, collecting intelligence, and conducting 
covert investigations, reports directly to the President. During the 
year the NIA often assumed police functions such as detaining and 
questioning criminal suspects. The police generally were corrupt and 
ineffective. On occasion police acted with impunity and defied court 
orders.
    Many members of the security forces were held without charge in 
connection to the March coup plot, often beyond the legal 72-hour limit 
for detention.
    In May the police established a human rights and complaints unit 
tasked with teaching basic human rights knowledge to police and other 
law enforcement officers and sensitizing them to the need to respect 
the rights of prisoners and detainees. The unit also receives and 
addresses complaints of human rights abuses committed by police 
officers from both civilians and other police officers. During the year 
the unit received several complaints, and some police officers faced 
disciplinary actions as a result. The NIA is also authorized to 
investigate police abuses, although it was not reported that the NIA 
conducted any such investigations during the year.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that authorities obtain a 
warrant before arresting a person; in practice individuals often were 
arrested without a warrant. Periods of detention generally ranged from 
a few hours to 72 hours, the legal limit after which detainees must be 
charged or released; however, there were numerous instances of 
detentions surpassing the limit, particularly in cases related to the 
March coup plot. There was a functioning bail system; however, on 
occasion, the courts released accused offenders on bail, while the 
police or other law enforcement agencies rearrested offenders upon 
their leaving the court.
    Many detainees, particularly those connected to the failed coup 
plot, were held incommunicado for extended periods during the year. 
According to an August report by the International Bar Association 
(IBA), prisoners frequently were not permitted to meet privately with 
their attorneys. For example, Tamsir Jasseh, who was arrested without 
charge on April 6 in connection with the March coup attempt, was not 
provided access to legal counsel for several months, although he had 
legal representation at his trial by year's end. In addition to the 
specific concerns raised about these instances of incommunicado 
detention, the IBA report expressed general concern about the country's 
judicial environment (see Section 1.e.).
    The Government did not formally revoke military decrees enacted 
prior to the constitution that give the NIA and the secretary of state 
for the interior broad power to detain individuals indefinitely without 
charge ``in the interest of national security.'' These detention 
decrees are inconsistent with the constitution, but they have not been 
subject to judicial challenge. The Government claimed that it no longer 
enforced these decrees; however, there continued to be numerous cases 
of detentions that exceeded the 72-hour limit beyond which detainees 
must be charged or released.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested numerous persons for political 
reasons, and the whereabouts of some of these political detainees, 
including a journalist and an opposition supporter, were unknown at 
year's end (see Sections 1.b. and 1.e.). The Government also arrested 
and detained opposition members who publicly criticized or who 
expressed views in disagreement with the Government (see Section 2.a.). 
Security officials arbitrarily detained and abused journalists during 
the year (see Section 2.a.).
    Security forces arrested approximately 50 persons in connection 
with the March 21 coup attempt; 24 were released during the year, five 
allegedly escaped during a prison transfer, and 21 remained in 
detention at year's end. All but one of the suspects were arrested on 
March 22 on charges of treason and or concealment of treason; an army 
officer was arrested on April 14 and was not charged by year's end. 
Trials of 15 of the 21 detainees, 10 soldiers, and five civilians were 
ongoing at year's end (see Section 1.e.).
    On December 8, former deputy director-general of the NIA, Alieu 
Singhateh, and former director of external relations of the NIA, Kemo 
Balajo, were released after prolonged detention on charges of 
concealment of treason in relation to the March 21 coup plot. The two 
were denied access to lawyers for several months.
    In several instances security forces forcibly entered homes without 
warrants to arrest citizens. For example, on April 6, Sheriff Mustapha 
Dibba, the speaker of the National Assembly, and Mariam Denton, a 
prominent lawyer and UDP supporter who was representing coup suspect 
Tamsir Jasseh, were arrested without warrant. Dibba was accused of 
involvement in the coup plot but was released without charge on April 
15 after being held for several days beyond the 72-hour limit. Denton 
was held for 111 days and was denied access to legal counsel for 
several weeks. In July a court order was issued for her release. The 
Government tried unsuccessfully to subvert the court order by charging 
her with concealment of treason; but on July 25, the charges were 
dropped and she was released.
    Colonel Ndure Cham, former chief of defense staff who was the 
alleged mastermind of the March 21 coup plot, remained at large at 
year's end. Two of the five accused civilians, Alieu Jobe and Tamsir 
Jasseh, were charged with aiding and abetting Cham's escape in addition 
to charges of concealment of treason. They remained in detention, and 
their trial was ongoing at year's end.
    Security forces also detained the family members of suspected coup 
plotters (see Section 1.f.).
    On August 2, the former chairman of the Independent Electoral 
Commission, Ndondi Njie, and two commissioners, Sulayman Sait Mboob and 
Ebrima Silla Sanneh, were detained on charges of financial malpractice. 
On August 7, Mboob and Sanneh were released on bail without being 
formally charged. On September 5, Njie was released without charge. No 
proof of financial malpractice was produced.
    On June 2, the NIA detained Duta Kamaso, a former member of the 
National Assembly, on ``political and economic grounds; Kamaso was 
released without charge on October 9. No explanation had been given for 
her arrest by year's end. Kamaso reportedly had to report to the NIA on 
a weekly basis during the year.
    On November 10, two NIA officers, Nuru Secka and Bamba Manneh, were 
released on bail after spending several months in detention for failing 
to arrest a fugitive, former state guard commander major Kalipha 
Bajinka.
    In early February, the Government withdrew charges against the 
three National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) leaders 
detained in November 2005 for sedition and unauthorized possession of a 
diplomatic passport.
    Backlogs and inefficiency in the justice system resulted in lengthy 
pretrial detentions. Approximately 40 of Mile 2 Prison's 230 inmates 
were in pretrial detention, and some had been incarcerated for several 
years while awaiting trial. On December 19, 20, and 21, the NIA freed a 
total of 26 people held in connection with minor offenses. The length 
of their detention was not disclosed.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the courts, 
especially at the lower levels, were corrupt and subject to executive 
pressure at times. Nevertheless, the courts demonstrated independence 
on several occasions, including in the high-profile cases of Malick 
Mboob and Duta Kamaso (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.). However, there were 
instances of the Government and security forces disregarding court 
orders. For example, on March 30, the Government charged Pa Sallah 
Jeng, the mayor of Banjul, with the same allegations of corruption, 
abuse of office, and unauthorized spending for which he had been 
acquitted in December 2005; the trial was ongoing at year's end.
    The judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court, the court of 
appeal, high courts, and eight magistrate courts. Cadi courts have 
jurisdiction over Islamic matters of marriage, divorce, land disputes, 
and inheritance where Muslim parties are involved. District chiefs 
preside over local tribunals that administer customary law at the 
district level. Cadi courts and district tribunals do not offer 
standard legal representation to the parties involved, since lawyers 
are not trained in Islamic or customary law. Military tribunals cannot 
try civilians.
    An August report by the IBA expressed concern over the judicial 
environment, citing instances of lack of compliance with court orders, 
detainees held incommunicado and without access to lawyers, and a 
climate of fear for the safety and reputation of lawyers and their 
families when accepting politically related cases. The report also 
stated that some legal practitioners were reluctant to engage in cases 
involving human rights or public interest due to fear of harassment.

    Trial Procedures.--Both civilian trials and courts martial are held 
in public. No juries are used in the civilian courts, but in the 
courts- martial the proceedings are presided over by a judge advocate 
assisted by a panel of senior military officers. The constitution and 
law provide for a fair and public trial, and the judiciary generally 
enforced this right, although frequent delays and missing witnesses and 
lawyers often impeded the process. Many cases were also delayed because 
of adjournments designed to allow the police or NIA time to continue 
their investigations.
    Indigent defendants charged with murder or manslaughter have a 
right to an attorney provided at public expense. The prosecution 
prepares a case file, including testimonies and evidence, and provides 
a copy for the defense. Defendants are presumed innocent, have the 
right to confront witnesses and evidence against them, present 
witnesses on their own behalf, have the right to an attorney, and 
appeal judgment to a higher court. The law extends the above rights to 
all citizens, and there were no groups that were denied these rights 
based on race.
    The judicial system suffered from corruption, particularly at the 
lower levels, and from inefficiency at all levels. Cases continued to 
be delayed because the court system was overburdened. To alleviate the 
backlog and reduce the possibility of undue influence and corruption, 
the Government continued to recruit judges and magistrates from other 
Commonwealth countries that have a similar legal system. The Attorney 
General oversees the hiring of foreign judges on contract. The 
Government reserves the right not to renew a judge's contract. Foreign 
judges were generally less susceptible to corruption and executive 
branch pressure. Despite these steps, corruption in the legal system 
persisted.
    The judicial system recognizes customary, Shari'a (Islamic law), 
and general law. Customary law covers marriage and divorce for non-
Muslims, inheritance, land tenure, tribal and clan leadership, and 
other traditional and social relations. Shari'a was observed primarily 
in Muslim marriage and divorce matters; it favored men in its 
provisions (see Section 5). General law, following the British model, 
applied to felonies and misdemeanors in urban areas and to the formal 
business sector.
    On January 20 the Gambia Bar Association (GBA) accused the former 
chief justice, Stephen Allan Brobbey, of partiality in the assignment 
of cases, and lawyers boycotted one justice, M.A. Paul, for his alleged 
mishandling of trials, by refusing to appear before his court. The 
chief justice rejected the accusations but immediately effected changes 
in the courts and assigned Justice Paul to the civil division.
    The trials of 15 of the 21 suspects detained in connection with the 
March 21 coup plot were ongoing at year's end (see Section 1.d.). Of 
the six NIA agents charged with concealment of treason, two, Alieu 
Singhateh and Kemo Balajo, were released on December 8, while Abdoulie 
Kujabi, Ngor Secka, Foday Barry, and Baba Saho, had not been tried by 
year's end. Retired Colonel Vincent Jatta, also charged with 
concealment of treason, was also awaiting trial at year's end. One 
detainee, Sergeant Buba Mendy, was arrested on April 14 and had not 
been charged at year's end. The trial of the five civilians charged 
with concealment of treason--Tamsir Jasseh, Alieu Jobe, Omar Faal 
Keita, Demba Dem, and Hamadi Sowe--was ongoing at year's end; two of 
the men, Alieu Jobe and Tamsir Jasseh, were also charged with aiding 
and abetting the escape of Colonel Ndure Cham, the alleged mastermind 
of the coup who remained at large at year's end.
    The trial of the 10 soldiers was scheduled to resume in October; 
however, the defendants were brought before a court-martial at Yundum 
Army Barracks on October 11. No official reason was given for 
transferring the case to the court martial. Four soldiers, Captain 
Bunja Darboe, Captain Yaya Darboe, Captain Wassa Camara, and 2nd 
Lieutenant Pharing Sanyang, were charged with treason; six others, 
Captain Abdourahman Jah, Captain Pierre Mendy, Lieutenant Momodou Alieu 
Bah, Corporal Samba Bah, Lance Corporal Babou Janha, and Private Alhaji 
Nying, were charged with concealment of treason.
    All of the detainees faced extended pre-trial detention and were 
denied access to legal counsel for several months during the year. Two 
suspects in the coup plot were released after testifying against the 
defendants as state witnesses; Mustapha Lowe was released on November 
20, and Ousman Sey was released on December 29. There were no reports 
that Lowe and Sey were coerced into testifying against the other 
suspects; however, their charges were dropped once they agreed to 
testify as prosecution witnesses.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year there were 
credible reports that the Government held civilians as political 
detainees based on their political views or associations, and many were 
held incommunicado for prolonged periods. For example, on April 6, the 
Government detained without charge Mariam Denton, a prominent lawyer 
and UDP supporter who was representing coup suspect Tamsir Jasseh (see 
Section 1.d.). Until her release on July 25, Denton was denied access 
to her attorney despite an April 25 high court order granting the 
attorney unrestricted access to her. On June 2, the NIA detained Duta 
Kamaso, a former member of the National Assembly, on ``political and 
economic'' grounds, and accused her of being an informant for the 
antigovernment Freedom newspaper; Kamaso was released without charge on 
October 9 but must report to the NIA on a weekly basis. From August 26 
to September 5, the Government detained Buba Sanyang, a NADD supporter, 
on accusations of impersonating a member of the IEC (see Section 3). 
Sanyang read a televised confession statement alleging he was assigned 
by NADD leader Halifa Sallah to impersonate an IEC officer and collect 
voter registration cards. He was released later on bail after being 
held at NIA headquarters for several days beyond the 72-hour limit; no 
charges were ever brought against him and his case did not go to trial.
    During the year the Government arrested and detained opposition 
members who publicly criticized or who expressed views in disagreement 
with the Government (see Section 2.a.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The high court has 
jurisdiction to hear cases for civil and human rights violations, 
although it may decline to exercise its powers if it is satisfied that 
adequate means of redress are available under other laws. The Indemnity 
Act continued to prevent victims from seeking redress in some cases 
(see Section 1.c.). The army continued to encourage victims to file 
formal complaints so that old cases would be investigated; however, no 
such cases were filed during the year.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but 
the Government did not always respect these prohibitions in practice. 
Decree 45, which abrogates constitutional safeguards against arbitrary 
searches and the seizure of property without due process remained in 
effect; however, in practice the Government did not use it. In several 
instances security forces forcibly entered homes without warrants to 
arrest citizens (see Section 1.d.). For example, on April 6, Sheriff 
Mustapha Dibba, speaker of the National Assembly, and Mariam Denton, a 
prominent lawyer representing a coup plot suspect, were arrested 
without warrants (see Section 1.d.).
    Several family members of suspected coup plotters were detained. On 
March 25, Awa Darboe Cham, wife of Colonel Ndure Cham, the suspected 
mastermind of the coup plot, was arrested and questioned about her 
husband's whereabouts. She was held beyond the 72-hour limit and then 
released on April 4 without charge. During the last week of March the 
wife of National Assembly Member Omar Camara was detained and held 
beyond the legal limit; on April 3, she was released without charge 
along with her husband.
    Observers believed the Government monitored citizens engaged in 
activities that it deemed objectionable.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and the press; however, the Government limited 
these rights by intimidation, detention, and restrictive legislation. 
Although the independent press practiced a degree of self-censorship, 
opposition views regularly appeared in the independent press, and there 
was frequent criticism of the Government.
    During the year the Government arrested and detained opposition 
members who publicly criticized or who expressed views in disagreement 
with the Government. On June 27 an elected local official from the UDP, 
Ousman ``Rambo'' Jatta, was arrested on charges of ``behaving in a 
manner conducive to a breach of the peace.'' On July 10, the case was 
discontinued and Jatta was granted bail; however, on September 23, 
security agents rearrested him, reportedly without charge. On October 
17, a court ordered his release, but he remained in detention at year's 
end.
    The NADD leaders detained in November 2005 were released in 
December 2005 (see Section 1.d.).
    The Government published one newspaper, The Gambia Daily. The Daily 
Observer, although privately owned, tended to favor the Government in 
its coverage. There were three other independent newspapers, including 
one published by an opposition political party. There was one 
independent bi-weekly magazine.
    During the year one government-owned and four private radio 
stations broadcast throughout the country. During most of the year 
government-owned television and radio gave very limited coverage to 
opposition activities. Local television stations rebroadcast the BBC, 
Radio France Internationale, the Voice of America, and other foreign 
news reports, and all were available via short-wave radio. The 
government-owned Gambian Radio and Television Service (GRTS) 
television, foreign cable, and satellite television channels were 
available in many parts of the country. The Senegalese-owned radio 
station SUD FM remained closed during the year; in 2005 the Government 
revoked its operating license for allegedly broadcasting derogatory 
remarks about the Government and the Senegalese government.
    The Government allowed unrestricted access to satellite television, 
and residents who could afford it received independent news coverage by 
satellite dish or antenna.
    The deterioration of the country's media environment continued 
during the year. The Government harassed journalists and editors of 
newspapers that published articles it considered inaccurate or 
sensitive.
    On March 28, police arrested Madi Ceesay, the managing director, 
and Musa Saidykhan, the editor-in-chief of The Independent newspaper 
after it published two articles critical of the President. Ceesay and 
Saidykhan were released without charge on April 20. The Independent 
remained closed at year's end.
    On April 10 Lamin Fatty, journalist for The Independent, was 
charged with publishing an article the state considered to be ``false 
and malicious.'' Fatty's trial began on June 12 but was postponed 
numerous times. His trial was suspended indefinitely at year's end, 
meaning the trial will not continue unless assigned to a new 
magistrate.
    On May 24, The Daily Observer published a letter reportedly from 
the editor of The Freedom Newspaper, an online newspaper critical of 
the Government, pledging his allegiance to the APRC, along with a list 
of the paper's supposed informants. On May 30, the NGO Reporters 
Without Borders reported that this was false information and the 
Government had attempted to hack into the Website of The Freedom 
Newspaper, smear the name of its editor, and publicize the names of its 
subscribers.
    Also on May 24, the NIA detained Malick Mboob, a former journalist, 
for allegedly being an informant for The Freedom Newspaper. Mboob was 
released without charge on October 9.
    On August 29, the NIA reportedly detained Amie Sillah, a NADD 
activist and journalist for the opposition Foroyaa newspaper. No reason 
for her arrest was given, and Sillah was released without charge on the 
same day.
    On September 8, the NIA detained GRTS reporter and producer Dodou 
Sanneh, who was assigned to cover the opposition's Presidential 
campaign. On September 13, he was fired from GRTS and released from 
custody. Although the Government later ordered the director general of 
GRTS to reinstate him, Sanneh was dismissed again on November 20.
    At a September 24 press conference after his election victory, 
President Jammeh claimed he would ban any newspaper deemed to threaten 
the country's peace and security through ``irresponsible reporting.''
    In some cases journalists from certain independent newspapers were 
denied access to public events due to official disapproval of their 
editorial stance.
    The Senegalese-owned radio station SUD FM remained closed during 
the year. The Government revoked its operating license in October 2005 
for allegedly broadcasting derogatory remarks regarding both the 
Government and Senegalese government.
    During the three-week campaign period before the September 
Presidential election, opposition parties were allotted television time 
slots, but coverage of opposition rallies was limited. Contrary to the 
code of conduct created by journalists and adopted by the media for 
coverage of the election, the ruling APRC party received more coverage 
than the opposition.

    Internet Freedom.--Although there were no reports that the 
Government monitored e-mail or Internet chatrooms, the Government on 
one occasion restricted access to the Internet. In late May the 
Government reportedly blocked access to The Freedom Newspaper, and the 
site remained blocked at the end of the year. Individuals and groups 
could generally engage in the peaceful expression of views via the 
Internet, including by electronic mail. Although many citizens were 
illiterate and most did not have computers or Internet connections at 
home, Internet cafes were popular in urban areas. Internet access was 
limited by slow connection speeds and was frequently interrupted by 
power outages. On November 6, the Gambia Press Union opened an Internet 
cafe offering free access to journalists.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government did not always respect this right in practice.
    In June the Government denied a request by the Association of 
Nongovernmental Organizations to hold a civil society forum on freedom 
of expression in association with the African Union Summit.
    On September 20, police reportedly sprayed teargas on participants 
in a UDP rally; 12 UDP supporters were briefly detained.
    In December 2005 an armed police riot squad blocked friends and 
family of slain journalist Deyda Hydara from accessing the site of his 
death on the anniversary of his murder. The second anniversary was 
commemorated without obstruction on December 16.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council's Decree 
81 requires NGOs to register with the National Advisory Council, which 
has the authority to deny, suspend, or cancel the right of any NGO to 
operate, including that of international NGOs. There were no reports of 
NGOs being denied the right to operate during the year.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no reported societal 
violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of religious 
groups. There was no known Jewish community, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights but allow for ``reasonable restrictions.'' Restrictions 
were made on foreign travel for many people released from detention, 
often because their travel documents were confiscated at the time of 
their arrest or soon afterwards. These documents were eventually 
returned during the year.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--Neither the constitution nor the law 
provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with 
the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 
Protocol, but the Government has established a system for providing 
such protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or 
asylum. The Government provided temporary protection through the 
registration of refugees with the Department of Immigration.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR coordinated government 
efforts with the International Organization for Migration, the Gambia 
Red Cross Society and other agencies to provide assistance to refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, partially free and fair elections held on 
the basis of universal suffrage. The constitution provides for 
democratic elections of the President and National Assembly every five 
years. The APRC remained the dominant political party.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On September 22, President 
Jammeh was re-elected for a third term, winning approximately 67 
percent of the vote. The main opposition political party, the UDP, 
challenged the election; however, on October 20, the courts upheld the 
election results.
    The Commonwealth Observer Group reported that the election result 
represented an ``expression of the will of the people''''; other 
international observers declared the election partially free and fair, 
but noted under-age voting, voting by non-nationals, and biased media 
coverage in favor of President Jammeh. Opposition parties criticized 
these irregularities and stated that the APRC did not adhere to the 
code of conduct in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) brokered by 
the Commonwealth in September 2005. The opposition political parties 
signed the MOU in September 2005, but the APRC refused to sign until 
February.
    In January 2005 five opposition parties formed the NADD alliance to 
contest the Presidential election and the 2007 National Assembly 
elections. Leaders of the National Democratic Action Movement, the 
National Reconciliation Party (NRP), the People's Democratic 
Organization for Independence and Socialism, the People's Progressive 
Party, and the UDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding that 
established NADD; however, the UDP and NRP withdrew from NADD before 
the Presidential election and ran as a separate alliance.
    In July 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the four members of the 
National Assembly who fell under the newly-formed NADD coalition to 
vacate their seats and run in a special election. In September 2005 
three of the four opponents regained their seats in a special election; 
the member who lost contested the vote in court, but at year's end the 
case had still not been heard.
    Individuals representing political parties or running as 
independents could freely declare their candidacy if their nomination 
was approved according to the rules of the IEC.
    On July 17, President Jammeh named a new chairman for the IEC after 
former chairman Ndondi Njie was removed on charges of financial 
malpractice (see Section 1.d.); however, the replacement process was 
not in accordance with the rules of the constitution, which states that 
prior to removing an IEC commissioner for misconduct, the President 
must appoint a tribunal of three judges to make an inquiry and report 
on the facts. The accused member of the IEC is entitled to appear and 
be legally represented before the tribunal.
    The Government arrested members of the opposition during the year 
(see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.).
    There were five women in the 53-seat National Assembly; two were 
elected and three were nominated by the President. After a cabinet 
reshuffle, at year's end there were five women in the 15-member 
cabinet, including the vice President.
    There were no statistics available on the percentage of minorities 
who compose the legislature or the cabinet. President Jammeh and some 
members of his administration were from the previously marginalized 
minority Jola ethnic group.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption 
remained a serious problem, although there were some government efforts 
to curb it during the year. The President often spoke out against 
corruption, and leading political and administrative figures, including 
a close ally of the President, faced harsh sentences on charges of 
corruption.
    The findings of the 2005 Commission of Inquiry into official 
corruption, commonly known as the ``Paul Commission,'' were not made 
public by year's end. In January the high court ordered a stay of 
execution on the commission's eviction orders against 20 former senior 
civil servants and ordered that the properties in question be restored 
to their owners. However, the stay of execution was ignored, and a few 
days later security forces evicted the former officials from their 
homes. In June a separate court reversed the recommendations for one 
member of the group, former Justice Minister Pap Cheyassin Secka. The 
GBA accused Justice Paul of lacking impartiality, and the high court 
dismissed the recommendations, charging that they were biased.
    The constitution and law do not provide for public access to 
government information. Under the Official Secrets Act, civil servants 
are not allowed to divulge information about their department or to 
speak to the press without prior clearance with their head of 
department.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views, although some 
members of domestic human rights groups reportedly practiced self-
censorship in matters related to the Government. Amnesty International 
expressed concern over the situation of detainees held incommunicado 
and issued periodic updates on their status. The Government did not 
respond to these reports. The Government allowed visits by the UN and 
other international governmental organizations, such as the 
Commonwealth Secretariat, but offered no response to reports issued 
after the visits.
    In December 2005 the Office of the Ombudsman established the 
National Human Rights Unit (NHRU) to promote and protect human rights 
and to support vulnerable groups. During the year the unit's reports 
focused on social and economic issues, such as gender, welfare, and 
child labor, and were not critical of the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, 
sex, disability, language, or social status, and the Government 
generally enforced these prohibitions.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a common 
problem. Police considered reported incidents to be domestic issues 
outside of their jurisdiction. There was no law prohibiting domestic 
violence; however, cases of domestic violence could be prosecuted under 
laws prohibiting rape, spousal rape, and assault. The penalty for rape 
is life in prison, and it was enforced. The law against spousal rape 
was difficult to enforce effectively, as many did not consider spousal 
rape a crime and failed to report it.
    The law does not prohibit FGM. The Government publicly supported 
efforts to eradicate FGM and discouraged it through health education; 
however, the practice remained widespread and entrenched. Between 60 
and 90 percent of women have undergone FGM. Approximately seven of the 
nine major ethnic groups practiced FGM at ages varying from shortly 
after birth until age 16. FGM was less frequent among the educated and 
urban segments of those groups. There were unconfirmed reports of 
incidences of health-related complications, including deaths, 
associated with the practice of FGM; however, no accurate statistics 
were available. Several NGOs conducted public education programs to 
discourage the practice and spoke out against FGM and harmful 
traditional practices in the media. During the year the National 
Assembly Select Committee on Women and Children continued its campaign 
against FGM and other harmful traditional practices affecting the lives 
of women and children.
    Prostitution is illegal but was a problem, especially in the 
tourist areas. The Government expelled numerous foreign prostitutes. 
The Tourism Offences Act deals with increasing incidents of tourism-
related offenses, including sex tourism. The act prohibits child 
prostitution, trafficking, and pornography. No prosecutions or 
convictions were made under the Act during the year.
    There are no laws against sexual harassment. Although individual 
instances have been noted, sexual harassment was not believed to be 
widespread.
    Traditional views of women's roles resulted in extensive societal 
discrimination in education and employment. Employment in the formal 
sector was open to women at the same salary rates as men. No statutory 
discrimination existed in other kinds of employment; however, women 
generally were employed in such pursuits as food vending or subsistence 
farming.
    Shari'a law is applied in divorce and inheritance matters for 
Muslims, who make up more than 90 percent of the population. Women 
normally received a lower proportion of assets distributed through 
inheritance than did males. The appropriate church and the Office of 
the Attorney General settled Christian and civil marriage and divorce 
matters.
    Marriages often were arranged and, depending on the ethnic group, 
polygamy was practiced. Women in polygamous unions had property and 
other rights arising from the marriage. They also had the option to 
divorce but no legal right to approve or be notified in advance of 
subsequent marriages. The Women's Bureau, which is under the Office of 
the Vice President, oversees programs to ensure the legal rights of 
women. Active women's rights groups existed.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare. 
Although the Department of Education and the Department of Health and 
Social Welfare were the most generously funded government departments, 
lack of resources limited state provision of education, health, and 
social services. The Department of Education financed teachers' 
salaries and the construction of schools but was unable to properly 
equip the schools. The Social Welfare Unit of the Department of State 
for Health and Social Welfare received a very small allocation, as most 
of the department's money went towards salaries for health care 
professionals and the operation of hospitals and health centers across 
the country. These budgetary constraints limited the resources 
available to support children's welfare.
    The constitution and law mandate free, compulsory primary education 
up to eight years of age, but the inadequate educational infrastructure 
prevented effective compulsory education, and children still must pay 
school fees. During the year the Government estimated that 75 percent 
of children were enrolled in primary schools. Another 15 percent were 
enrolled in the Islamic schools called ``madrassas.'' Girls constituted 
approximately 51 percent of primary school students and roughly one-
third of high school students. The enrollment of girls was low, 
particularly in rural areas where a combination of poverty and 
sociocultural factors influenced parents' decisions not to send girls 
to school. As part of the Government's ongoing initiative to get girls 
to go to school, the Government continued to implement a countrywide 
program to pay basic school fees for all girls, a Scholarship Trust 
Fund scheme that began in two regions 1998 and reached all six regions 
nationwide in 2003; however, in two urban regions, girls still were 
required to pay for books, school fund contributions, and exam fees.
    In June 2005 the Government passed the Children's Act, which is 
designed to protect and promote the welfare of children and to curb 
abuses against children, including trafficking in persons. In February 
the first of five regional children's courts was established under the 
Act and held its first session on March 2. The court met in camera on a 
weekly basis throughout the year. The court has jurisdiction to hear 
all adoption, custody, maintenance, parentage, special, and criminal 
cases affecting children, except for the offense of treason where the 
child is jointly charged with adults. Although several criminal cases 
were heard regarding rape and abuse, no convictions occurred under the 
Children's Act during the year.
    Authorities generally intervened when cases of child abuse or 
mistreatment were brought to their attention; however, there was no 
societal pattern of abuse against children. Any person who has carnal 
knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 is guilty of a felony (except 
in the case of marriage, which can be as early as 12 years of age). 
Incest also is illegal. These laws generally were enforced. Serious 
cases of abuse and violence against children were subject to criminal 
penalties.
    On July 23, a government shelter for children, including victims of 
trafficking, began operating in the Greater Banjul Area. The Department 
of Social Welfare indicated they were able to admit only around 100 
children to the shelter at a time, and that several children had to be 
turned away due to funding constraints.
    Trafficking of children for prostitution was a problem (see Section 
5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    The Child Protection Alliance (CPA), a consortium of national and 
international organizations that promote the protection of children 
from abuse, conducted countrywide awareness campaigns for community and 
religious leaders on children's rights. Throughout the year, the CPA 
organized sensitization conferences and workshops for various groups 
such as lawyers, teachers, parents, media practitioners, and religious 
leaders around the country.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The 2005 Children's Act prohibits 
trafficking in children; however, no law protects persons over the age 
of 18 from trafficking. Trafficking occurred, and the Government 
considered it a serious problem.
    The country was a source, transit point, and destination for 
trafficked persons. The number of persons, mostly children, trafficked 
for commercial sexual exploitation was small but growing.
    The penalty for trafficking in children (anyone under the age of 
18) is life in prison, along with a substantial monetary fine. 
Enforcement of the act is primarily the responsibility of the Tourism 
Security Unit, a unit of the national army created specifically to 
enhance security in the tourism sector and keep minors out of the 
resort areas. There were no prosecutions under this law during the 
year.
    In 2004 a joint UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)-government study 
reported that children engaged in prostitution in the main tourist 
resort areas were predominantly underage, some as young as 12. The 
report stated that the country attracted suspected or convicted 
European pedophiles who entered the country as tourists and committed 
their crimes against children with impunity. Victims of trafficking 
were children of both sexes, normally under 18 years of age. 
Trafficking victims mostly came from conflict-ravaged countries, such 
as Liberia and Sierra Leone. Victims from Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and 
Sierra Leone told CPA that foreign residents obtained permission from 
their home country families to employ them as bar waitresses or 
domestic maids. After their arrival the local employers informed the 
victims that their duties entailed commercial sex work.
    Some child prostitution victims stated they worked to support their 
families, or because they were orphans and their guardian/procurer 
supported them. The guardian/procurer often assumed the role of the 
``African uncle,'' allowing the children to live in his compound with 
their younger siblings or paying school fees on their behalf in return 
for their servitude.
    There was no evidence of government involvement at any level in 
trafficking in persons.
    While the Government had no established victim care and health 
facilities for trafficked persons, it provided temporary shelter and 
access to medical and psychological services to reported victims of 
trafficking.
    The Government's multi-agency trafficking in persons taskforce, 
which also included representatives from UNICEF, the National Assembly, 
and the CPA, met throughout the year. On August 25, the CPA began 
broadcasting public awareness messages about child trafficking on radio 
and television as part of an outreach campaign. On December 19, the 
Child Rights Unit of the Department of State for Justice held a UNICEF-
funded conference and workshop on trafficking for officers from the 
police and security and intelligence services.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution protects 
persons with disabilities against exploitation and discrimination, no 
government agency is directly responsible for protecting persons with 
disabilities. The Department of State for Social Welfare dealt mainly 
with supplying some persons with disabilities with wheelchairs received 
from international donors. No legal discrimination against persons with 
physical disabilities existed in employment, education, or other state 
services; however, some societal discrimination existed towards persons 
with disabilities. Persons with severe disabilities subsisted primarily 
through private charity. Persons with less severe disabilities were 
accepted fully in society, and they encountered little discrimination 
in employment for which they physically were capable. There were no 
laws to ensure access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and 
very few buildings in the country were specifically accessible to 
persons with disabilities.
    During the year a government attempt to remove beggars, many of 
whom have disabilities, from the streets had adverse effects on these 
persons. The NHRU specifically sought to promote the rights of women 
with disabilities. The issue of the rights of persons with disabilities 
attracted press coverage throughout the year, and several NGOs sought 
to improve awareness of these rights, including encouraging the 
participation of persons with disabilities in sports and physical 
activities. Persons with disabilities were given priority access to 
polling booths on voting day.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was evidence of 
societal discrimination against persons infected with the HIV/AIDS 
virus. Stigma and discrimination hindered disclosure and led to 
rejection from partners and relatives. In some cases persons infected 
with HIV/AIDS were prevented from meeting visitors. The Government took 
a multi-sectoral approach to fighting HIV/AIDS and updated the National 
Strategic Plan, which provides for care, treatment, and support to 
persons living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS, and the protection of 
the rights of those at risk of infection. The National AIDS Secretariat 
(NAS), whose goal is to promote public awareness of HIV/AIDS, sponsored 
a television sensitization campaign during the year to educate people 
about HIV/AIDS and prevent discrimination. Also, from October 2	6, NAS 
and the local UN Development Program jointly held the second annual 
partnership conference on HIV/AIDS, which focused on the education 
sector response to HIV/AIDS.
    There were no discriminatory laws based on sexual orientation; 
however, there was societal discrimination based on sexual orientation, 
which remained a social taboo.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The Labor Act, which applies to all 
workers, including foreign or migrant workers, except civil servants, 
specifies that workers are free to form associations, including trade 
unions, and workers exercised this right in practice. Unions must 
register to be recognized, and there were no cases where registration 
was denied to a union that applied for it. The act specifically 
prohibits police officers and military personnel, as well as other 
civil service employees, from forming unions. Approximately 20 percent 
of the work force was employed in the modern wage sector, where unions 
were most active.
    Employers may not fire or discriminate against members of 
registered unions for engaging in legal union activities, and the 
Government intervened to assist workers who were fired or discriminated 
against by employers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, it 
was widely felt that the Government would not tolerate industrial 
action. Unions were able to negotiate without government interference; 
however, in practice the unions lacked experience, organization, and 
professionalism, and often turned to the Government for assistance in 
negotiations. The law allows workers to organize and bargain 
collectively, and although trade unions were small and fragmented, 
collective bargaining took place. Union members' wages, which generally 
exceeded legal minimums, were determined by collective bargaining, 
arbitration, or agreements reached between unions and management. The 
Labor Act also sets minimum contract standards for hiring, training, 
and terms of employment and provides that contracts may not prohibit 
union membership.
    The law authorizes strikes but also places restrictions on strikes 
by requiring unions to give the commissioner of labor 14 days' written 
notice before beginning an industrial action (28 days for essential 
services); no strikes occurred during the year. The law specifically 
prohibits police officers and military personnel, as well as other 
civil service employees, from striking. The police and military had 
access to a complaints unit, and civil servants could take their 
complaints to the Public Service Commission or the Personnel Management 
Office.
    Upon application by an employer to a court, the court may prohibit 
industrial action that is ruled to be in pursuit of a political 
objective. The court also may forbid action judged to be in breach of a 
collectively agreed procedure for settlement of industrial disputes. It 
prohibits retribution against strikers who comply with the law 
regulating strikes.
    There is a government-established export-processing zone (EPZ) at 
the port of Banjul and the adjacent bonded warehouses. The labor code 
covers workers in the EPZs, and they were afforded the same rights as 
workers elsewhere in the economy.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children; 
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section 
5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a problem, although the constitution protects children 
less than 16 years of age from economic exploitation, and the 
Children's Act protects children, defined as those under the age of 18, 
from exploitative labor or hazardous employment. The Act also sets the 
minimum age of 12 years for engaging in apprenticeships in the informal 
sector. There was no effective compulsory education, and because of 
limited secondary school openings, most children completed formal 
education by the age of 14 and then began work. Child labor protection 
does not extend to youth performing customary chores on family farms or 
engaged in petty trading, as child labor in informal sectors is 
difficult to regulate and laws implicitly apply only to the formal 
sector. In rural areas most children assisted their families in farming 
and housework. In urban areas many children worked as street vendors or 
taxi and bus assistants. There were a few instances of children begging 
on the street. The tourist industry stimulated a low, but growing, 
level of child prostitution (see Section 5). Employee labor cards, 
which include a person's age, were registered with the labor 
commissioner, who was authorized to enforce child labor laws; however, 
enforcement inspections rarely took place. The Department of Labor 
under the Department of State for Trade and Employment was responsible 
for implementing the provisions of the International Labor Organization 
(ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. The 2003 
Tourism Offences Act incorporates ILO provisions outlawing child 
prostitution and pornography; however, the Government generally was 
ineffective in enforcing those provisions.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages and working hours 
are established by law through six joint industrial councils, 
comprising representatives from labor, management, and the Government. 
The lowest minimum wage according to law was approximately $0.70 (19.55 
dalasi) per day for unskilled labor, but in practice the minimum wage 
was approximately $1.79 (50 dalasi). The national minimum wage did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The 
minimum wage law covered only 20 percent of the labor force, 
essentially those workers in the formal economic sector. A majority of 
workers were employed privately or were self-employed, often in 
agriculture. Most citizens did not live on a single worker's earnings 
and shared resources within extended families. The Department of Labor 
is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage and it did so when cases 
of underpayment were brought to its attention.
    The basic legal workweek is 48 hours within a period not to exceed 
six consecutive days. Nationwide, the workweek included four eight-hour 
workdays and two four-hour workdays (Friday and Saturday). There are no 
limits on hours worked per week and no prohibition on excessive 
compulsory overtime. A 30-minute lunch break is mandated. Government 
employees are entitled to one month of paid annual leave after one year 
of service. Most government employees were not paid overtime. However, 
government workers holding temporary positions and private sector 
workers received overtime calculated per hour. Private sector employees 
received between 14 and 30 days of paid annual leave, depending on 
length of service.
    The law specifies safety equipment that an employer must provide to 
employees working in designated occupations. The law also authorizes 
the Department of Labor to regulate factory health and safety, accident 
prevention, and dangerous trades, and to appoint inspectors to ensure 
compliance with safety standards. Enforcement was inconsistent due to 
insufficient and inadequately trained staff. Workers may demand 
protective equipment and clothing for hazardous workplaces and have 
recourse to the labor department. The law provides that workers may 
refuse to work in dangerous situations without risking loss of 
employment; however, in practice authorities did not effectively 
enforce this right.
    The law protects foreign workers employed by the Government; 
however, it only provides protection for privately employed foreigners 
if they have a current valid work permit.

                               __________

                                 GHANA

    Ghana is a constitutional democracy with a strong presidency and a 
unicameral 230-seat parliament. The country's population is 
approximately 21 million. In 2004 eight political parties contested 
parliamentary elections, and four parties, including the ruling New 
Patriotic Party (NPP), contested Presidential elections. NPP candidate 
John Agyekum Kufuor was reelected President with 52.45 percent of the 
vote. Despite a few incidents of intimidation and minor irregularities, 
domestic and international observers judged the elections generally 
free and fair. While civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control over security forces, there were some instances in 
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government 
authorities.
    The Government generally respected human rights and made 
significant improvements during the year; however, there were problems 
in several areas, including incidents of vigilante justice. Human 
rights problems included deaths resulting from the excessive use of 
force by police; vigilante justice; harsh and life-threatening prison 
conditions; police corruption and impunity; arbitrary arrest and 
detention; prolonged pretrial detention; infringement on citizens' 
privacy rights; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; forced evictions; 
corruption in all branches of government; violence against women and 
children; female genital mutilation (FGM); societal discrimination 
against women, persons with disabilities, homosexuals, and persons with 
HIV/AIDS; trafficking in women and children; ethnic discrimination and 
politically and ethnically motivated violence; and child labor, 
including forced child labor.
    During the year the Government took significant steps to improve 
the protection of human rights, including passage of separate pieces of 
legislation to protect the rights of whistleblowers and persons with 
disabilities.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed political killings; 
however, the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in the 
deaths of several criminal suspects and other persons during the year.
    There were no developments in the ongoing trial of three security 
officers charged with the 2004 suspected political killing of Issa 
Mobilla, the regional chairman of the opposition Convention People's 
Party (CPP).
    Security forces were responsible for several deaths during the 
year. For example, on April 21, four persons were shot and killed by 
police officers at Dansoman Estates in Accra. The police had been 
pursuing a taxi that was similar to the one the four victims were 
occupying. Police opened fire on the taxi and killed all four 
occupants. The five police officers involved in the shooting were 
suspended pending trial. In December an official investigation into the 
shooting concluded. The Government accepted the findings and 
recommendations of the investigating committee and forwarded them to 
the Attorney General and the Police Council for action. At year's end, 
the Attorney General was considering the committee's nine 
recommendations, which included government compensation of the victims' 
families.
    On May 19, police shot and killed a 26-year-old man after mistaking 
him for one of the robbers they were seeking. In December the 
Government accepted the report prepared by the investigating committee, 
which recommended that the Government pay for the victim's funeral 
expenses and compensate the family of the victim.
    Government forces beat and forcibly evicted hundreds of illegal 
residents, which resulted in deaths (see Section 2.d.).
    Forcible dispersion of demonstrators by security forces resulted in 
injuries and deaths during the year (see Section 2.b.).
    There were no developments in the May 2005 death of an elderly 
woman in Dormaa, Brong Ahafo Region, after a police officer struck her 
in the chest. The military police publicly sought information or 
evidence regarding the October 2005 death of an accused thief whom 
soldiers allegedly burned and beat to death at the El-Wak Barracks in 
Accra, but no one had come forward with any new information by year's 
end. The case remained open, and the investigation will continue once 
new evidence is received.
    There were no developments in the 2004 case in which seaman Philip 
Kuekebey died after allegedly being beaten by fellow seamen on the 
orders of their superiors.
    During the year, chieftaincy disputes continued to result in 
deaths, injuries, and destruction of property (see Section 5).
    As in previous years, there were a number of killings that resulted 
from disputes between indigenous locals and migrant herdsmen. In Volta, 
Eastern, and Upper West regions, joint military and police teams 
disarmed and removed Fulani herdsmen, who occasionally set up camp on 
private property without the consent of the owners.
    Numerous deaths resulted during the year from vigilante-style 
justice on suspected criminals by angry citizens and mobs. Security 
forces sometimes intervened to save the lives of the intended victims. 
In August the police issued a statement urging the public not to engage 
in vigilante justice, emphasizing that such actions were illegal and 
punishable by law.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that some 
members of the security forces appeared to sanction violence.
    On April 24, a mob in Kumasi lynched a man mistakenly identified as 
a thief. The man was delivering a letter to his landlady, who allegedly 
recognized him but called for help anyway because she harbored a grudge 
against him. Police arrested the woman, as well as two men who 
allegedly stabbed the victim to death.
    On May 23, a mob in Accra beat to death three men suspected of 
stealing goats. Police publicly deplored the action taken by the mob, 
and the case remained open at year's end.
    According to news reports, on September 14, a mob beat a man to 
death in Kumasi after he allegedly snatched a woman's bag. Police in 
Kumasi said that the incident was not reported to them.
    In December two alleged gang members suspected of burglary were 
beaten to death by neighbors of the homeowner. An investigation was 
ongoing at year's end.
    The trial of four men who in 2005 allegedly beat to death a 16-
year-old student mistaken for a bag-snatcher was ongoing at year's end.
    There were no conclusive results of an investigation into the 2005 
beating death of a 38-year-old man by a mob after he allegedly shot a 
former girlfriend and her female friend.
    The police legal directorate did not issue an opinion on the 2004 
death of a 16-year-old from Nsuaem, Western Region, whose father 
petitioned the inspector general of police in 2005 for an investigation 
after the police denied killing the boy during a mob attack.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there continued to be credible reports that police beat and abused 
suspects, prisoners, demonstrators, and other citizens. Severe beatings 
of suspects in police custody reportedly occurred throughout the 
country but largely went unreported in official channels. In many 
cases, police denied allegations or claimed that force was justified by 
the circumstances.
    In April government forces beat and forcibly evicted hundreds of 
illegal residents (see Section 2.d.).
    On June 3, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) ordered an 
investigation into the case in which a five-month-old baby became ill 
after being forced to spend the night in a Kumasi jail with her parents 
and aunt. The initial arrest warrant for theft was issued for the 
baby's mother, but the other two family members were also arrested when 
they attempted to prevent police from arresting the mother.
    In November a nursing mother, who had given birth during her third 
week of serving a six-month prison sentence, was released from the 
Sunyani Prison following the intervention of the Commission on Human 
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), a government body charged 
with investigating allegations of human rights abuse. The CHRAJ 
regional director was touring the prison facility when she saw the 
mother nursing her child.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of inter- or 
intra-party clashes. There also were no reports that political party 
supporters beat journalists.
    There were no developments in the case of the March 2005 alleged 
police beating of the traditional chieftain of the Mfantsiman District.
    In August the police regional disciplinary board conducted the 
trial of a police officer in Sunyani, who stood accused of shooting a 
bystander in October 2005. The board's decision was then sent to the 
national disciplinary board, which had not reviewed the case by year's 
end; the police officer remained on suspension.
    In January 2005 the police officer who shot a taxi driver in 2004 
for failing to stop was suspended from his job. By year's end the 
police homicide unit concluded its investigation and forwarded the case 
to the Attorney General's office for a recommendation regarding 
disciplinary measures for the police officer.
    The Government did not continue its investigations into the June 
2004 beatings of political party activists.
    ``Macho men'' (political party thugs) and ``land guards'' (private 
security enforcers hired by citizens to settle private disputes and 
vendettas) caused injury and property damage during the year. The macho 
men were organized privately and operated outside the law. There were 
some allegations of police complicity with these extra-legal security 
agents, although police denied any involvement. During the year the 
police Land and Property Fraud Unit arrested, prosecuted, and convicted 
a number of land guards in the Greater Accra Region.
    Vigilante-style justice conducted by angry citizens and mobs 
against suspected criminals and witches resulted in deaths and injuries 
(see Section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions in most 
cases were harsh and sometimes life-threatening, despite government 
efforts to improve them. Much of the prison population was held in 
buildings that were originally old colonial forts or abandoned public 
or military buildings, with poor ventilation and sanitation, 
dilapidated construction, and limited space.
    According to the 2004 Prisons Service Annual Report, approximately 
11,700 prisoners were held in prisons designed to hold 6,500. During a 
visit to Winneba Central Prison in 2005, CHRAJ found 45 prisoners 
occupying a room designed for three. Medical facilities were 
inadequate, and the prisons supplied only the most basic medicines. 
Prisoners relied on families or outside organizations for additional 
food, medicine, and other necessities. A shortage of food, bedding and 
clothing for prisoners continued. Overcrowding contributed to a high 
prevalence of communicable diseases. Some detainees facing short 
sentences allegedly pled guilty in order to be sent to prison, where 
conditions were somewhat better than in the overcrowded and unsanitary 
police detention centers that also lacked windows and ventilation 
systems.
    In August President Kufuor asked the Prisons Service Council to 
make prisons more humane by improving prison conditions, observing that 
the prisons were outdated and did not distinguish among different 
categories of prisoners, including first-time offenders, juveniles, and 
those convicted of serious crimes. The Government had not acted on his 
directives by year's end.
    In December the Prisons Service set up a unit at the Nsawam Medium 
Security prison to care for babies whose mothers are in prison. At 
year's end, the unit had seven babies.
    On June 7, a suspect in custody at the Tesano Police Station in 
Accra was killed by a fellow detainee during a fight between the two in 
which each accused the other of implicating him in a robbery.
    On September 7, an inmate at the Bibiani Prison was found hanging 
in his cell, allegedly killed by his cellmates. Police had put him in 
the same cell as two of his alleged accomplices in a robbery after the 
inmate agreed to testify against the other two. The investigation was 
ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments in the March 2005 death of a prisoner in 
Kumasi who died after fellow inmates tied him up.
    In certain facilities female prisoners in police cells were 
separated from male prisoners by only a few feet. In the Accra Central 
Police cells, female prisoners were kept in a small vestibule, 
separated from men by only a gate. The law stipulates that female 
convicts be tested for pregnancy upon incarceration, regardless of the 
offense, and that pregnant convicts be held in a facility where their 
health needs can be met. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) that 
worked with prisoners reported that many female convicts were not 
tested unless they began to show signs of pregnancy. In September the 
Minister for Women and Children's Affairs called on judges to avoid 
giving custodial sentences to pregnant women and proposed alternative 
sentences such as community work, suspended sentences, probation, and 
fines.
    Some juveniles inflated their ages to avoid lengthy rehabilitation 
sentences in the Borstal Institute, a juvenile detention center that 
the Government operated like a prison. In response, the Department of 
Social Welfare and the Prison Service collaborated to transfer any 
known juveniles in adult prisons to juvenile correction centers.
    Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    During the year CHRAJ, the NGO Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare 
Action (PRAWA), and the Prisons Service all visited prisons and 
detention centers to monitor conditions. CHRAJ and PRAWA were required 
to give at least 10 days notice before any prison inspections.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law provide 
for protection against arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the 
Government did not always observe these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the 
jurisdiction of a 10-member Police Council, are responsible for 
maintaining law and order. The military continued to participate in law 
enforcement activities during the year. A separate entity, the Bureau 
of National Investigations, handles cases considered critical to state 
security and answers directly to the Ministry of National Security. The 
police maintained specialized units in Accra for homicide, forensics, 
domestic violence, visa fraud, narcotics, and cyber-crimes. However, 
there were significant barriers to extending such services nationwide, 
including a lack of office accommodation, police vehicles, and 
equipment outside of Accra.
    The police service came under repeated criticism following 
incidents of police brutality, corruption, and negligence. Impunity 
remained a problem. Delays in prosecuting suspects, rumors of police 
collaboration with criminals, and the widespread perception of police 
ineptitude contributed to a continued increase in vigilante justice 
during the year. There were also credible reports that police extorted 
money by acting as private debt collectors, by setting up illegal 
checkpoints, and by arresting citizens in exchange for bribes from the 
detainees' disgruntled business associates.
    Government officials publicly stated that the Government's policy 
of zero tolerance for corruption applied to police and other security 
officials; however, a 2005 public opinion survey by the Ghana Integrity 
Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, found the 
police to be the public institution most frequently perceived as 
corrupt (77 percent of respondents).
    The 33-person Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Unit 
(PIPS) investigated human rights abuses and police misconduct. During 
the year PIPS received 522 complaints and petitions, compared with 247 
in 2005. There were 70 complaints related to harassment, unlawful 
arrest, and detention with human rights violations, compared with 48 in 
2005 and 79 in 2004. Of the 522 complaints received, 212 had been 
investigated by year's end.
    As a result of PIPS investigations, the Inspector General of Police 
in 2005 warned police officials that incidents of misconduct would be 
punished, and he took steps to punish some offenders. Over the 18-month 
period between January 2005 and July, 80 police officers of varying 
rank were dismissed for various offenses, and 92 others were demoted. 
No disciplinary action was taken against police officers between July 
and year's end.
    From January to May, the Government allowed 64 senior police 
officers to participate in two eight-week basic police skills courses, 
which included modules on appropriate use of force, international human 
rights standards, trafficking in persons, and domestic violence.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution provides that an individual 
detained should be informed immediately, in a language that the 
detained person understands, of the reasons for the detention and of 
his or her right to a lawyer and an interpreter at state expense. The 
law requires judicial warrants for arrest and provides for arraignment 
within 48 hours. The law requires that a detainee who has not been 
tried within a ``reasonable time'' as determined by the court be 
released either unconditionally or subject to conditions necessary to 
ensure that the person appear in court at a later date. The law also 
provides for bail. In practice, however, many abuses of these rights 
occurred, including detention without charge for periods longer than 48 
hours, failure to obtain a warrant for arrest, and remand of prisoners 
into custody for indefinite periods while an investigation is conducted 
by renewing warrants or by simply allowing them to lapse.
    In 2005 the NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) 
criticized the police for routinely detaining persons for more than 48 
hours without a warrant signed by a magistrate. A 2003 Center for 
Democratic Development (CDD) survey found that 46 percent of the 
persons arrested were not informed of the charges against them, 51 
percent were not read their rights, 67 percent reported they were not 
given the opportunity to contact a lawyer, and 44 percent believed they 
were presumed guilty from the onset.
    Persons were occasionally detained for trivial offenses or on the 
basis of unsubstantiated accusations, such as insulting behavior, petty 
stealing, and disturbing the public peace. Authorities routinely failed 
to notify prisoners' families of their incarceration; such information 
often was obtained only by chance. The court has unlimited discretion 
to set bail, which was often prohibitively high. The court may refuse 
to release prisoners on bail and instead remand them without charge for 
an indefinite period, subject to weekly review by judicial authorities. 
On occasion, police also demanded money from suspects as a precondition 
for their release on bail.
    Security forces used checkpoints and conducted mass arrests while 
searching for criminals (see Section 2.d.).
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. The Prisons 
Service's 2004 Annual Report reported that of 18,866 admissions, 10,709 
(57 percent) were on remand and the remaining 8,157 were convicted. In 
2004 the Attorney General announced a nationwide review of all cases on 
remand; however, no progress was made in reducing that number during 
the year. The chief justice and appellate judges characterized the 
situation as a grave injustice, particularly since some detainees had 
been remanded for traffic and other minor offenses. Detainees sometimes 
served more time in detention awaiting trial than the sentence for the 
crime required. During 2004 inspections of prison facilities, the 
Director General of Prisons met numerous remand prisoners who had been 
detained for up to 10 years without trial.
    In June a parliamentary team visited the Nsawam Prison, where the 
Deputy Director General of the Prisons Service, who accompanied the 
group, told them that the numbers of prisoners on remand was putting 
pressure on the already overcrowded facilities. According to the Deputy 
Director General, some prisoners had been on remand for more than five 
years without being charged or having their cases called for trial. He 
said that the number of remand prisoners at Nsawam Prison had increased 
from 202 in 2002 to 847 by the end of June.
    CHRAJ officials in the Volta Region echoed these concerns, noting 
instances of prisoners on remand for three to five years for petty 
theft. As of March, there were 36 prisoners in the Ho Central Male 
Prison who were being held on expired warrants.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient 
and subject to influence and corruption.
    The law establishes two basic levels of courts: the lower courts 
and the superior courts. The lower courts consist of the circuit and 
district courts, which serve as juvenile courts and family tribunals. 
These courts try civil cases involving $5,429 (50 million cedis) or 
less; and criminal cases for offenses punishable by a fine not 
exceeding $1,086 (10 million cedis), imprisonment for a term not 
exceeding two years, or both. The superior courts consist of the 
Supreme Court, the appeals court, the high court, the commercial court, 
regional tribunals, and fast-track courts. Fast-track courts hear cases 
to conclusion within six months. The majority of cases filed before the 
fast-track court involved banking and commercial matters, human rights, 
and defamation. In November the Attorney General brought a narcotics 
trafficking case before the fast-track court for the first time.
    Members of the military are tried under the criminal code in a 
military court.
    The Chieftaincy Act gives village and other traditional chiefs the 
power to mediate local matters and enforce customary tribal laws 
dealing with such matters as divorce, child custody, and property 
disputes. However, the authority of traditional rulers has steadily 
eroded because of a commensurate increase in the power of civil 
institutions, such as courts and district assemblies. In 2004 chiefs in 
Tema participated in an alternate dispute resolution (ADR) training 
program, which resulted in the recommendation that traditional councils 
have their own constitutions, apart from the Chieftaincy Act, to help 
institutionalize the role of local leaders in settling cases. The 
recommendation had not been implemented by year's end.
    In 2005 the chief justice noted, with respect to judicial 
inefficiency, that one judge had adjourned three cases 96, 120, and 127 
times, respectively. In 2004 the chief justice noted that some judges 
had not heard a single case or written a decision all year.
    The Government took steps in 2005 to address these problems. New 
high court rules to shorten trials, which included the establishment of 
a commercial court, were effective in concluding trials more quickly 
during the year. The chief justice inaugurated a National Center for 
Arbitrators to train judges and other officials in ADR procedures to 
reduce court backlogs. Improved information technology resulted in an 
increase in cases handled by the fast-track high courts from 7,378 in 
2004 to 10,111 during the year. The chief justice also adopted a code 
of ethics in 2005 and issued a third annual report during the year in 
his continuing campaign to increase transparency, curb corruption, and 
improve efficiency.
    In 2005 the chief justice identified implementation of an ADR 
scheme as a key strategy for reforming the judicial service. He 
designated the first week of every legal term as ``ADR week'' to focus 
on settling cases suited for ADR and thereby reduce the backlog of 
court cases.
    A judicial complaints unit, headed by a retired Supreme Court 
judge, addressed public complaints. During the year the unit received 
632 complaints, of which 107 were resolved, 186 were under 
investigation, and 339 were pending.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and the judiciary generally enforced this right. 
Defendants are presumed innocent, trials are public, and defendants 
have a right to be present, to be represented by an attorney (at public 
expense if necessary), and to cross-examine witnesses. Defendants and 
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to 
their cases and have a right to appeal. Juries are used in murder 
trials. In practice, authorities generally respected these safeguards.
    The trial of retired military personnel arrested in 2004 for 
allegedly plotting a coup against the Government was ongoing at year's 
end. The trial of two suspects accused of plotting a coup in 2005 also 
remained inconclusive at year's end.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens had access to a 
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human 
rights violation. At the end of July, there were 44 human rights cases 
before the fast-track courts.
    During the year judicial officials continued to implement 
procedures for voluntary, court-facilitated ADR for settling civil 
disputes. Trained ADR judges and lawyers mediated some cases pending 
before the fast-track courts in July; however, most cases were still 
pending resolution at year's end.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, in practice the Government sometimes infringed on privacy 
rights. Although the law requires judicial search warrants, police 
seldom obtained them in practice.
    Opposition party activists claimed the Government engaged in 
surveillance and harassment of those it perceived to be opposed to the 
ruling party. Some civil society organizations expressed concerns that 
the Government used surveillance, free of any oversight or regulation.
    In April the Government carried out forced evictions of hundreds of 
illegal residents from Dudzorme Island within Digya National Park on 
Lake Volta, where approximately 7,000 persons lived. The residents were 
given less than a month's notice, and there was no resettlement plan 
formulated for them prior to their eviction. The evictees had been 
living illegally for 30 years on land set aside as forest reserve. The 
evictees were reportedly beaten and forcibly put on an overloaded ferry 
that subsequently capsized in Lake Volta. Although NGOs reported that 
at least 100 persons drowned as a result, only 10 bodies were 
recovered. The Government stopped the evictions immediately and 
initiated a commission of inquiry to investigate the disaster. The 
commission had yet to publish its findings by the end of the year. In 
July the squatters initiated legal proceedings at the Accra Fast Track 
High Court requesting an order to prohibit the Forestry Commission from 
carrying out the rest of the planned evictions. At year's end the 
Government had no plans to continue the evictions and had not offered 
any resources to assist the evicted persons in resettling elsewhere.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. However, opposition parties 
occasionally complained that state-owned media outlets minimized media 
coverage of opposition politicians. Individuals criticized the 
Government publicly without reprisal.
    More than 135 newspapers, including two state-owned dailies, and 
two state-owned weeklies, existed in the country. The two state-owned 
dailies had national circulation. Most newspapers circulated only in 
regional capitals, and many of the smaller privately owned newspapers 
were available only in Accra.
    Accra and Tema had two state-owned and 18 privately owned FM radio 
stations, and there were approximately 11 state-owned and 100 privately 
owned FM stations across the country. Most stations were independent 
and aired a wide range of viewpoints. There was one state-owned 
television station that broadcast nationwide; three semi-privately 
owned television stations that broadcast in the Greater Accra, Eastern, 
Ashanti and Northern regions; and three cable networks broadcasting in 
the Greater Accra Region, two of which also broadcast in Kumasi. There 
was also one cable network broadcasting in Sekondi-Takoradi.
    Foreign media operated freely in the country, including the BBC, 
Radio France International, and Voice of America. Foreign periodicals 
were available in major cities and circulated freely, even when they 
contained articles critical of the Government.
    There were reports that police arrested, detained, and used 
excessive force against members of the media. For example on September 
28, a police officer in Accra physically attacked a radio journalist 
who requested a fact sheet about an incident. The reporter was verbally 
abused, punched and had his head banged against the wall of the police 
station.
    In November policemen from Tema, Ada and Kisseih allegedly used 
excessive force to prevent members of the media from covering a press 
conference held at Kportsum, near Ada. The Ghana Journalist Association 
(GJA) condemned the attack, claiming that police ``brutalized'' members 
of the press. Police sources contended that the press conference was 
not properly cleared with authorities and that they dispersed attendees 
and the press with minimal force.
    Journalists were subjected to physical and verbal harassment as a 
result of their reporting. For example on August 15, a photojournalist 
covering the proceedings of a narcotics smuggling trial was attacked by 
a group of persons supporting the defendants. The journalist was 
photographing one of the defendants when the group pushed and struck 
him in an apparent attempt to prevent him from taking the photograph.
    In September supporters of the former Minister of Road 
Transportation attacked a photographer and two journalists working for 
the Enquirer newspaper who were covering the minister's indictment by 
CHRAJ for perjury and abuse of office. Subsequently, the editor of the 
Enquirer was attacked by the same persons when he went to the police 
station to cover the story. The Government did not respond to the 
incident.
    In December two journalists were barred from a press conference 
held by the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA). This was 
allegedly done in retaliation for an article run by the journalists' 
newspaper. The GPHA later apologized to the newspaper.
    The state-owned media reported extensively on charges of corruption 
or mismanagement by both current and past government officials. During 
the year the state-owned media gave some coverage to opposition 
politicians and printed occasional editorials critical of government 
policies. The opposition claimed that government media denied it equal 
access and coverage on numerous occasions. In practice the state-
controlled media gave greater exposure to government officials.
    Government officials, including the President, called upon media to 
be more disciplined in their reporting but did not censor or abridge 
media output. Several cases of libel filed by government officials were 
settled to the agreement of all parties by the National Media 
Commission, a constitutionally mandated independent government body.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. The Internet was accessible in Accra and large cities, but there 
was limited access in other parts of the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of peaceful 
assembly; however, at times the Government restricted this right. The 
Government does not require permits for demonstrations, but police can 
deny use of a particular route.
    In July the Government denied an application from the Gays and 
Lesbians Association of Ghana to host a proposed international 
conference in Accra in September. The Association was uniformly 
condemned by all religious organizations as well as government 
officials as being unconstitutional and immoral. Government officials 
maintained that because homosexuality is illegal in the country, 
granting a permit to hold the conference would be in contravention of 
the law (see Section 5.)
    During the year police arbitrarily and forcibly dispersed 
demonstrations, which resulted in injuries.
    On September 9, eight persons were injured when police opened fire 
during a demonstration by students of the Institute of Professional 
Studies in Accra. Police reportedly fired indiscriminately into the 
crowd, used tear gas to break up the demonstration, and beat student 
demonstrators.
    On April 26, anti-riot police fired tear gas to disperse students 
at the Legon University who had started a riot to protest the results 
of student government elections.
    On February 21, approximately 20 persons were injured when police 
used tear gas and water cannons to disperse participants in a major 
opposition demonstration against the Representation of the People 
(Amendment) Bill (ROPAB), a bill that parliament passed two days later 
to extend voting rights to citizens residing abroad.
    Neither the police nor government ministries responded to requests 
for an investigation into the June 2005 case in which a joint team of 
military and police shot and wounded at least seven persons who were 
protesting surface mining in Prestea in the Western Region.
    No action was taken against police and soldiers who assaulted and 
beat supporters of the ruling party for failing to obtain permission to 
demonstrate in the capital in 2004.
    There were no developments in the 2004 beatings of individuals by 
NPP party thugs.
    Unlike in the previous year, no bans were imposed on outdoor 
political activities or demonstrations; however, the ban on campus 
demonstrations remained in effect during the year, although it has 
never been challenged or enforced.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. Members of security forces are prohibited from 
joining political assemblies or groups within the security services, 
but they are allowed to participate outside police or military 
compounds.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Religious institutions that wanted formal recognition were required 
to register with the Registrar General's Department; however, there 
were no reports that the Government denied registration to any group. 
Most traditional religions, with the exception of the Afrikania 
Mission, did not register.
    Some Muslims continued to feel a sense of political and social 
exclusion because of the continued pervasiveness of Christianity in 
many aspects of society. Factors such as the token representation of 
Muslims in national leadership positions, the frequency of Christian-
oriented prayers in public settings, and the ubiquity of Christian 
slogans contributed to this perception of marginalization and 
discrimination among some members of the Muslim community.
    Despite official policies promoting free religious practice in 
schools, Muslim and Seventh-day Adventist students continued to 
complain that school administrators occasionally failed to accommodate 
students' religious obligations when regulating school attire or 
scheduling examinations on holy days, for example. The Seventh-day 
Adventists failed in a 2005 court case challenging the exam-scheduling 
policies of the University of Ghana.
    Human rights activists continued to express concerns about prayer 
camps in which individuals believed to be possessed by evil spirits 
were chained up for weeks, physically assaulted, and denied food and 
water. The camps targeted in particular persons with mental illness. 
Camp supervisors diagnosed mental illness as a demonic affliction and 
prevented them from consuming food or water, often for seven 
consecutive days, as a method of cleansing victims of their evil 
spirits. Other victims were estimated to be as young as six years old. 
Families sent these victims to be exorcised of evil spirits or cured of 
their physical or mental illness. Victims were held at the camps until 
they were deemed to be healed. Reports indicated that these practices 
extend to the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central, Western, Ashanti, and 
Brong Ahafo regions. Camp leaders prevented CHRAJ from investigating 
the allegations. In recent visits to prayer camps, foreign embassy 
observers witnessed over 100 persons who were forcibly chained to beds 
or posts and one windowless cell designed for persons with mental 
illness. The country's psychiatric community was aware of this issue 
and was pushing for an updated mental health law that protected the 
rights of the mentally ill.
    Trokosi, a religious practice indigenous to the southern Volta 
region, involves pledging family members, most commonly teenagers but 
sometimes children under the age of 10, to extended service at a shrine 
to atone for another family member's sins. Trokosis help with the 
upkeep of these shrines and pour libations during prayers. Trokosis 
sometimes live near shrines, often with extended family members, during 
their period of service, which lasts from a few months to three years. 
Government agencies, such as CHRAJ, have at times actively campaigned 
against Trokosi, although local officials portray it as a traditional 
practice that is not abusive. Some NGOs maintain that Trokosis are 
subject to sexual exploitation and forced labor, while supporters of 
traditional African religions, such as the Afrikania Renaissance 
Mission, have said these NGOs misrepresent their beliefs and regard 
their campaigns against Trokosi as religious persecution.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasional reports 
of interreligious and intrareligious friction during the year.
    In June the media reported a physical confrontation between members 
of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and the Ga traditional authority, 
a chieftaincy group for the ethnic Ga people in the Accra area. Police 
did not make any arrests. The incident was precipitated by the CAC's 
violation of an annual one-month-long ban on drumming imposed by the Ga 
Traditional Council in Accra, which is granted legal authority over 
traditional practices by the Chieftaincy Act. For years CAC's use of 
drums and other musical instruments in its services has been a source 
of tension between it and the Ga traditional authority, which resulted 
in violence in 2001.
    The Jewish community had a few hundred members. There were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts. Unlike in previous years when anti-
Semitic statements were published in two of the country's weekly 
newspapers, no anti-Semitic statements were known to be reported 
throughout the country.
    The Government often took steps to promote interfaith understanding 
during the year. For example, official meetings and receptions were 
typically opened with a multidenominational invocation led by religious 
leaders from various faiths.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Security officers manned checkpoints nationwide to prevent 
smuggling, seize illegal weapons, and catch criminals, although many 
were unmanned during daylight hours; however, the police acknowledged 
that some officers occasionally erected illegal barriers to solicit 
bribes from motorists. In serious cases, these officers were 
disciplined with a reduction in rank and salary or dismissal from the 
police force. The police continued to erect security checkpoints and 
conduct highway patrols in response to a continuing upsurge in highway 
robberies. Police roadblocks and car searches were a normal part of 
nighttime travel in larger cities. The regional police commanders 
monitored the activities of police personnel working at the 
checkpoints.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The 
Government has established a refugee board to adjudicate claims for 
refugee status and to ensure that refugees receive all appropriate 
protections. The Government provided protection against refoulement, 
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government also granted refugee status or asylum. The law also 
incorporates the broadened refugee definition under the African Union 
Convention Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. 
The country cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees and asylum seekers. The country generally had a liberal policy 
of accepting refugees from other West African nations, although this 
did not generally extend to granting work permits or permanent 
residence. The law accords the right of protection even to those 
refugees who entered the country without being documented.
    The majority of the country's estimated 50,000 refugees were 
Liberians living in the Budumburam settlement on the western outskirts 
of Accra. Ten other nationalities were represented in the refugee 
population, including approximately 10,000 Togolese and 700 Sudanese.
    At year's end the Government had not released the report of an 
investigation into a November 2005 incident in which police fired tear 
gas and warning shots and beat refugees at Krisan refugee camp in the 
Southwestern Region to control a riot that left buildings and a vehicle 
burned. Following the outbreak of violence, the Government restricted 
refugees' freedom of movement at this camp, gradually reinstating full 
freedom to enter or leave the settlement during the year.
    Few refugees succeeded in overcoming the significant bureaucratic 
hurdles for obtaining work permits that would allow them to work 
legally in the formal sector. Most Ghanaian employers were not willing 
to wait the requisite three months for processing. Refugees in two 
locations complained that female market vendors resisted their attempts 
to set up alongside them. Nonetheless, many refugees secured employment 
within the informal sector as masons, carpenters, fishermen's 
assistants, tailors, small shopkeepers, and farmers.
    In the Volta Region, Togolese refugees were allowed to use 
government-run clinics and hospitals at no charge.
    Sexual and gender-based violence remained a problem among refugee 
populations. The physical insecurity of refugees living in the camps 
contributed to their vulnerability. The number of teenage pregnancies 
rose after police officers began guarding the camp and Liberian male 
teenagers arrived. At Budumburam camp, refugees alleged that they were 
coerced into having sex, usually with other refugees, in return for 
favors. In many cases victims were threatened with expulsion from their 
homes and pressured into having sex in exchange for money. Three cases 
of sexual assault were prosecuted, resulting in a six-month sentence 
for one perpetrator. Although there were reports of refugees being 
raped, officials at Krisan Camp were unable to determine whether the 
perpetrators were police or others due to lack of lights at the camp at 
night. In the other two cases, one victim was voluntarily resettled to 
a third country and one alleged perpetrator escaped and was never 
sentenced.
    In August the Government granted refugee status to approximately 
270 Sudanese refugees who had been living in the country since January 
2005. The refugees were subsequently relocated to Krisan Camp.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Presidential and 
parliamentary elections were held nationwide. John Agyekum Kufuor of 
the NPP was reelected with 52.45 percent of the vote. Despite some 
irregularities, domestic and international observers characterized the 
elections as generally free and fair. There were reports of a shortage 
of ballots at some polls and minor problems with the voter register, 
such as misspelled names or photos not matching names. In the 
parliamentary elections the NPP won 128 seats; the National Democratic 
Congress (NDC), 94; the Convention People's Party, three; the Peoples' 
National Convention (PNC), four; and one independent candidate won a 
seat.
    The country continued its transition from a one-party state to a 
more established multiparty constitutional system. The political system 
includes recognized opposition parties, which expressed their views 
freely within parliament and won a near majority of the parliamentary 
seats. Registered political parties, including two new parties 
registered this year, operated freely within the country; however, 
opposition parties and persons in private business continued to allege 
that government contracts were often awarded on the basis of ruling 
party membership.
    Women held 25 of 230 parliamentary seats, and there were four 
female ministers, 14 deputy ministers, and three female council of 
state members out of 112 such positions. Significantly more women 
presented themselves as candidates in the district assembly elections 
than in previous elections, and the percentage of female representation 
in the assemblies increased to 10 percent in 2006 from seven percent in 
2002.
    In addition to members of all of the country's six major ethnic 
groups and members of the Christian majority, the 230-seat parliament 
included members of several smaller ethnic groups, Muslims, and 
followers of traditional African religions. The NPP strongly favored 
members of the Ashanti ethnic group for high-level appointed positions.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the 
executive and legislative branches continued to be a problem. CHRAJ 
vindicated President Kufuor in its report on allegations that he had 
purchased a hotel with wrongfully obtained funds. The opposition NDC 
issued credible accusations that the Government used anticorruption 
investigations to intimidate and harass its members. Opposition parties 
charged that corruption continued unabated and that the Government 
failed to use the institutions and mechanisms at its disposal to 
address the problem. There were reports that government officials 
pressured businesses to steer contracts toward favored companies and 
individuals.
    On April 12, the wife of former President Jerry Rawlings, Nana 
Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and seven top-ranking members and sympathizers 
who served in the NDC administration were brought before an Accra fast-
track court on charges of ``willfully causing financial loss to the 
state'' in connection with the purchase of a Ghana Industrial Holding 
Corporation (GIHOC) cannery in Nsawam by CARIDEM Development Company. 
CARIDEM is a limited liability company owned by the 31st December 
Women's Movement, an NGO of which Mrs. Rawlings is the President. The 
Government alleged that Mrs. Rawlings and others acted together to 
falsify records on the outstanding balance CARIDEM owed the state on 
the purchase of the company, with the intent to deceive the Government. 
The directors of CARIDEM argued that they had fulfilled the terms of 
the agreement and that the ruling NPP was working against them for 
political reasons. Charges were withdrawn against three of CARIDEM's 
directors who were alleged to be connected to persons in high places 
within the ruling government. The case was ongoing at year's end.
    The trial of the former head of the Ghana National Petroleum 
Corporation on charges of causing financial loss to the state was 
ongoing at year's end.
    In July a national scandal erupted following allegations of 
complicity by police and other government officials in narcotics 
trafficking. During an investigation into the disappearance from police 
custody of five kilograms of cocaine from a 30-kilogram seizure, a tape 
recording surfaced of a meeting between a senior police official and 
drug traffickers. In a separate case, a woman alleged that a different 
senior police official requested a $200,000 bribe to drop a case 
against her boyfriend, a foreign cocaine trafficker. Both the NPP and 
the opposition NDC used the scandal to accuse the other of allowing the 
country to become a transshipment point for cocaine and heroin bound 
for other countries.
    On September 22, an independent commission submitted its report on 
these cases of alleged corruption in illicit drug trafficking. The 
report recommended that all persons present at the meeting between the 
police official and drug traffickers be charged with crimes. In the 
bribery case, the report recommended exoneration of the police official 
and censure of the IGP for meeting with a woman who claimed she had 
been asked for a bribe. The Minister of Interior stated publicly he 
would not follow the report's recommendations regarding the IGP in the 
bribery case. In December the Government accepted the proposal of the 
police council to disregard the commission's recommendation to censure 
the IGP.
    In September CHRAJ found Minister of Road Transportation Richard 
Anane guilty of abuse of office, conflict of interest, and perjury and 
recommended to President Kufour that the minister be relieved of his 
official duties. In October Anane resigned his ministry position under 
pressure following allegations of corruption and conflict of interest 
related to an extramarital affair. He remained a Member of Parliament 
and at year's end was seeking a court review of the CHRAJ report and 
its recommendations.
    In a report on political party financing released in 2004, the 
Center for Democratic Development found that 42 percent of those 
surveyed cited kickbacks as the most prevalent manifestation of 
political corruption, followed by political appointment and extortion.
    In August parliament passed a whistleblower bill establishing a 
procedure for individuals to disclose information on illegal conduct or 
practice. The law provides legal protection for whistleblowers against 
retribution from employers, and CHRAJ can order that the person be 
reinstated or receive monetary damages if they are fired. The law also 
provides for a fund to be created to compensate whistleblowers who make 
a disclosure that leads to an arrest and conviction can be rewarded 
with money from the fund; in cases in which money is recovered, the 
whistleblower can be rewarded with a percentage.
    In December CHRAJ issued conflict of interest guidelines for all 
public servants.
    Although the constitution provides for public access to government 
information, parliament had not passed implementing legislation by 
year's end.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    At least 20 domestic and international human rights NGOs generally 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials generally 
were responsive to their views. International organizations and NGOs 
that operated in the country included the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM), Abantu for Development, Amnesty International, the Commonwealth 
Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), and the International Federation of 
Women Lawyers (FIDA).
    The Government body CHRAJ was charged with investigating alleged 
violations of human rights, including corruption of public officials, 
and taking action to remedy proven violations. CHRAJ continued to hold 
workshops to educate the public, traditional leaders, police, and the 
military on human rights issues. It mediated and settled cases brought 
by individuals with grievances against government agencies or private 
companies. CHRAJ received an average of 10,000 complaints annually. The 
bulk of these were family-related issues, although the commission 
investigated some corruption cases, specifically those involving 
conflict of interest. Since its inception in 1993, CHRAJ has received 
over 78,000 petitions and successfully resolved 64,024.
    CHRAJ operated with no overt interference from the Government; 
however, some critics questioned its ability to independently 
investigate high-level corruption within the Kufuor administration. Its 
biggest obstacle was a lack of adequate funding and resources, which 
resulted in low salaries, poor working conditions, and the loss of many 
of its staff to other government and nongovernmental agencies. Public 
confidence in CHRAJ was high, resulting in an increased workload for 
its overstretched staff, some of whom went unpaid for months due to a 
chronic lack of resources.
    During the year the Government allocated $1,465,798 (13.5 billion 
cedis) as compensation for victims of human rights abuses that occurred 
during the various periods of military rule that the country endured 
between 1957 and 1993. The victims were identified by the National 
Reconciliation Commission (NRC), which was set up by the 2001 National 
Reconciliation Act to investigate and document cases of human rights 
violations during this specific period. During the year the commission 
completed its review of reported cases and recommended reparations for 
2,511 individuals. In addition confiscated properties were to be 
returned to their rightful owners. On October 13, the Government began 
issuing reparations ranging between $108 and $3257 (one million cedis 
and 30 million cedis, respectively). By year's end the Government had 
provided over $542,888 (five billion cedis) in reparations to 850 
persons.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, 
sex, disability, language, or social status; however, enforcement by 
authorities was generally inadequate. Limited financial resources and a 
generally permissive societal attitude toward such discrimination 
contributed to its perpetuation. The courts were empowered to 
specifically order enforcement of these prohibitions.

    Women.--Violence against women, including rape and domestic 
violence, remained a significant problem. The law does not prohibit 
domestic violence, and the criminal code grants husbands spousal 
immunity from any charges of assault against their wives. According to 
FIDA, one in three women experienced domestic violence, and most abuses 
went unreported. The police service's Domestic Violence Victim Support 
Unit (DOVVSU), formerly the Women and Juvenile Unit, handled cases of 
domestic violence and child abuse, as well as juvenile offenses. During 
the year DOVVSU investigated 5,835 cases, the majority of which 
entailed allegations of assault (1,932) or failure to provide 
necessities of life (1,493). There were also 536 defilement cases. 
DOVVSU worked closely with the Department of Social Welfare, FIDA, the 
Legal Aid Board, and several human rights NGOs to combat domestic 
violence.
    Prosecution of domestic violence cases remained difficult. Of 
11,335 cases reported to DOVVSU's Accra branch between 1998 and 2004, 
only 19 percent led to a court appearance and less than 3 percent 
resulted in convictions from charges of assault. In many cases, victims 
were discouraged from reporting abuse and from cooperating with 
prosecutors because of long delays in bringing such cases to trial. 
Victims frequently did not complete their formal complaints because 
they could not afford the fees that doctors charged to document the 
abuse in police medical forms.
    Unless specifically called upon by DOVVSU, police seldom intervened 
in cases of domestic violence, in part due to a lack of counseling 
skills, shelter, and other resources to assist victims. In the Eastern 
Region, an NGO operated a single shelter that housed 18 women at year's 
end, with victims using the facility for periods of time ranging from 
several hours to nearly a year. This NGO received over 500 women in its 
crisis center and offered 171 women legal aid during the year. A second 
NGO offered legal aid to 800 women during the year.
    The criminal code outlaws rape, and perpetrators were arrested and 
prosecuted for this crime. However, husbands have immunity from such 
charges.
    Belief in witchcraft remained strong in many areas. In a practice 
prevalent mainly in the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions of 
the country, rural women continued to be banished by traditional 
village authorities or their families for suspected witchcraft. Most 
accused witches were older women, often widows, who were identified by 
fellow villagers as the cause of difficulties, such as illness, crop 
failure, or financial misfortune. The banished women went to live in 
``witch camps,'' villages in the north of the country populated by 
suspected witches, some of whom were accompanied by their families. 
Various organizations, including Catholic Relief Services, provided 
food, medical care, and other support to residents of the witch camps. 
According to a local NGO in the Northern Region, the number of women in 
the witch camps was close to 3,000 and had been decreasing slowly in 
recent years. The women would not face formal legal sanction if they 
were to return home; however, most feared that they would be beaten or 
lynched if they returned to their villages and consequently did not 
pursue legal action to challenge charges against them and return to 
their communities. Outreach and community sensitization by various NGOs 
has made considerable progress in reintegrating the accused women into 
their communities.
    There were several cases of lynching and assault of accused witches 
during the year. A local NGO reported that police refused to take the 
statement of a woman who had been assaulted by a group of villagers for 
fear that she would cast a spell on them. The NGO observed that such 
cases are not uncommon.
    The Government, under the auspices of the DOVVSU, continued to 
charge and investigate persons who committed acts of violence against 
suspected witches and refrained from charging people based solely on 
allegations of witchcraft.
    In March six female students of a senior secondary school were 
dismissed after they were found to be pregnant after being forced to 
submit to pregnancy tests. This action was endorsed by both the 
Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service. Human rights 
activists raised the concerns that the girls' rights had been violated 
by forcibly testing them and then dismissing them from school, and that 
the children's fathers were not similarly identified and punished.
    The law prohibits FGM, but it remained a serious problem in the 
northern regions of the country. Type II FGM was more commonly 
performed than any other type. The typical age at which a girl was 
excised was 15, although it was often performed on younger girls. 
According to a 2005 study conducted by the Ministry of Health, 
approximately 15 percent of women between 12 and 19 in the three 
northern regions had undergone FGM, although some observers believed 
that NGO- and government-sponsored awareness campaigns regarding the 
illegality of FGM had driven the practice underground and that the real 
rate in these regions was as high as 30 percent. Such intervention 
programs have been somewhat successful in reducing the prevalence, 
although it was difficult to estimate their effectiveness precisely. 
Officials at all levels, including traditional chiefs, have spoken out 
against the practice, and local NGOs continued their educational 
campaigns to encourage abandonment of FGM and to train practitioners in 
new skills so that they could seek alternate sources of income. There 
were no prosecutions of practitioners during the year. In some cases 
women and girls preparing for marriage actively sought out FGM 
practitioners, sometimes without their parents' knowledge, because of a 
cultural belief that brides should be excised. One NGO in the Northern 
Region reported that mothers frequently failed to return to the 
hospitals where they delivered their babies for immunizations and 
postnatal clinics, allegedly because they did not want the hospitals to 
discover that they were having their daughters excised.
    The law imposes punishments for the sexual exploitation of 
children; however, such exploitation occurred (see Section 5, 
Children).
    Trafficking of women and children for prostitution occurred (see 
Section 5, Trafficking).
    There were no laws to specifically protect women from sexual 
harassment; however, some sexual harassment cases were prosecuted under 
the existing criminal code. Women's advocacy groups reported that 
sexual harassment was a problem. A 2005 survey by the African Women 
Lawyers Association found that 63 percent of the 789 female 
professionals in the country who responded had experienced some form of 
sexual harassment in the workplace and at educational institutions.
    Women continued to experience discrimination in access to 
employment. Women in urban centers and those with skills and training 
encountered little overt bias, but resistance to women entering 
nontraditional fields persisted. Women, especially in rural areas, 
remained subject to burdensome labor conditions and traditional male 
dominance. Traditional practices and social norms often denied women 
their statutory entitlements to inheritance and property, a legally 
registered marriage (and with it, certain legal rights), and the 
maintenance and custody of children. There were a number of female 
entrepreneurs, but poor access to credit remained a serious barrier for 
women who wanted to start or expand a business.
    Women's rights groups were active in educational campaigns and in 
programs to provide vocational training, legal aid, and other support 
to women. In 2005 the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) 
began developing plans to include women's concerns in government 
policies and to increase the hiring of women in civil service 
positions. The Government was active in educational programs, and many 
officials were active, outspoken advocates of women's rights.
    During the year MOWAC launched the Women in Local Governance Fund 
(WiLGF), to help female candidates mount competitive campaigns during 
the District Assembly Elections in September and in the 2008 national 
elections. WiLGF organized seminars for women on campaign strategies, 
capacity building, and public speaking.

    Children.--Within the limits of its resources, the Government was 
committed to protecting the rights and welfare of children, although 
its efforts were constrained by its limited financial and logistical 
resources. The Government continued to implement the Education Sector 
Plan (ESP) 2003	2015, which provides for free universal primary school 
education until 2015. The Ghana Education Service (GES) reported that 
its Capitation Grant scheme led to a 16.6 percent overall increase in 
enrollment from 2004	2005 to 2005	2006.
    Education is compulsory through primary and junior secondary school 
(the equivalent of grades 1 through 9). Despite the constitutional 
provision for ``free compulsory and universal basic education,'' 
parents were required to purchase uniforms and books.
    According to the Ministry of Education, the gross enrollment rate 
during the year was 92.7 percent at the primary level with 95 girls 
enrolled for every 100 boys, an increase from 93 in the 2004-2005 
school year. At the junior secondary school (JSS) level, 76.1 percent 
of eligible children were enrolled, with 90 girls enrolled for every 
100 boys, an increase from 88 in the 2004	2005 school year. Some 
children did not attend school because they worked to supplement their 
family's income (see Section 6.d.) or lived at great distance from the 
closest school. Many children, particularly in rural areas, were 
affected by insufficient teachers and other resources at local schools. 
The economic cost associated with enrollment was a significant obstacle 
for many children's families. In addition authorities did not regularly 
enforce children's attendance at school, and parents were rarely 
sanctioned for keeping their children out of school.
    To increase access to basic education and lower the student drop-
out rates, the Government introduced the Capitation Grant program 
during the 2005-2006 academic year. As part of this program, the 
Government paid schools $3.26 (30,000 cedis) for every child enrolled. 
This payment was intended to eliminate the extra levies of up to $489 
(4.5 million cedis) that schools had imposed on students in addition to 
the tuition costs that were met by the Government. The Government also 
piloted a school lunch program in 690 schools, with plans to expand it 
if the pilot program proves successful. The Government also provided 
free books to schools in 138 districts in September. As a result of 
these initiatives, there was an 11.3 percent increase in enrollment, 
from 83.3 percent in 2004	2005 to 92.7 percent in 2005-2006.
    The Government strongly supported the UN's Education for All goals. 
During the year GES actively campaigned to expand education for girls 
by providing scholarships at the JSS and Senior Secondary School levels 
and by offering financial incentives and free housing to female 
teachers to work in rural areas. The GES placed girls' education 
officers at regional and district levels, and there were community 
participation coordinators in every district office to mobilize 
communities to increase school enrollments for girls. The Government 
continued sponsoring science and math clinics at the JSS level to 
encourage more girls to pursue careers in science and technology.
    These efforts have been accompanied by increased government support 
of informal schools, which target children who must work to help 
support their families. With funding from several foreign governments, 
NGOs organized and ran these informal schools, which taught basic 
numerical, literacy, and life skills at no charge. During the year the 
Government also increased educational opportunities for students with 
disabilities by increasing grants to primary schools serving these 
students so that 100 percent of the enrolled population received 
assistance.
    Children under five years of age, regardless of gender, had access 
to free health care at public hospitals and clinics.
    The law prohibits defilement, incest, and sexual abuse against 
minors, but such abuse remained a serious problem. There were frequent 
reports that male teachers sexually assaulted and harassed female 
students. The girls often were reluctant to report these incidents to 
their parents, and social pressure often prevented parents from going 
to authorities. Approximately 40 percent of female students reported 
being sexually harassed at school often or very often, according to a 
2005 study conducted in upper primary and junior secondary schools. 
During the year there continued to be press reports of teachers and 
headmasters/headmistresses either arrested for sexual harassment of 
female students or dismissed for ignoring reported problems.
    DOVVSU announced in 2005 that between January 1999 and May 2004, 
there were 1,756 cases reported in which men victimized children 
between the ages of two and 15, 397 cases in which girls over the age 
of 16 had been raped, and 44 cases of reported incest. DOVVSU further 
advised that during the year 536 cases of defilement, eight cases of 
causing harm to a child, and 1,493 cases of child neglect were 
reported. Severe resource constraints prevented DOVVSU from following 
up on individual cases, and DOVVSU did not maintain records on the 
disposition of cases.
    Reports were received during the year of the use of corporal 
punishment, including the caning of students.
    Local authorities estimated there were fewer than 50 Trokosis, who 
are members of the Ewe ethnic group sent as teenagers or children to 
live at a shrine for up to three years in atonement for an allegedly 
heinous crime committed by a family member. Most Trokosis were 
children, although some were adults who had been brought to the shrines 
as children. While instances of sexual abuse may occur, there was no 
evidence that sexual or physical abuse was an ingrained or systematic 
part of the practice. The practice explicitly forbids a Trokosi to 
engage in sexual activity or contact during the atonement period. After 
a ritual, the Trokosi returns to his or her family. In the vast 
majority of cases, there is no particular stigma attached to one's 
status as a former Trokosi shrine participant. Multiple investigations 
by foreign embassy representatives have turned up no credible evidence 
of systematic or widespread abuses (see Section 2.c.)
    FGM was performed primarily on girls rather than adult women (see 
Section 5, Women).
    Forced child marriage, which is illegal, remained a problem. CHRAJ 
and NGOs reported that the problem had not improved during the year. In 
2004 the Acting Commissioner for CHRAJ declared forced marriage the 
major human rights abuse issue in the Northern Region, which was more 
socially conservative and economically depressed than other regions. In 
2004 a 16-year-old girl committed suicide to protest an abusive 
marriage into which she had been forced. Schoolteachers reported two 
other cases of forced marriages in 2004.
    There were reports that trafficking in children occurred for the 
purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation, including children 
being sold into various forms of involuntary servitude (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Child labor was a serious problem (see Section 6.d).
    The migration of children to urban areas increased due to economic 
hardship in rural areas. Children were often forced to fend for 
themselves to survive, increasing both the occurrence of child labor 
and the school dropout rate (see Section 6.d). In 2005 MOWAC officials 
estimated that as many as 40,000 porters (children who carry loads on 
their heads), most of whom were girls under 18, lived on the streets in 
major cities, including Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. These girls were 
among the most vulnerable child laborers, as many also engaged in 
prostitution or were sexually exploited in exchange for protection 
while living on the streets. In 2003 the Ghana Statistical Service and 
the International Labor Organization's International Program to 
Eliminate Child Labor (ILO/IPEC) surveyed 2,314 street children 
throughout the country, most of whom lived in the urban areas of the 
Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions and had migrated from northern rural 
areas. Of those surveyed, 45.7 percent had never attended school, 98.1 
percent were engaged in economic activity within the last 12 months, 
and 80 percent stated the work was demanding. Over three-quarters of 
street children surveyed reported that both parents were alive, 
indicating poverty was the main cause of the problem.
    Local and international NGOs worked with the Government to promote 
children's rights and were somewhat successful in sensitizing 
communities about protecting the welfare of children.
    In November the media reported that young girls were being raped by 
older boys at a government-run orphanage in Accra and that orphanage 
officials were aware of the problem but did not intervene. Girls at the 
orphanage were also encouraged to prostitute themselves to earn money 
while still at the orphanage. The director of the orphanage denied 
these allegations, and the Government did not respond to the media 
report.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The Human Trafficking Act, which President 
Kufuor signed in December 2005, prohibits trafficking in persons and 
provides for a minimum prison sentence of five years for convicted 
traffickers. Although four persons were arrested and charged under the 
new law, there were no prosecutions by year's end. The country was a 
source, transit, and destination country for women and children 
trafficked for the purpose of forced domestic and commercial labor and 
sexual exploitation.
    There was no reliable estimate of the number of internally or 
externally trafficked victims, although both NGOs and IOM thought this 
number to be in the thousands. From January to September, four cases of 
child trafficking and seven cases of child labor exploitation were 
reported to DOVVSU.
    Trafficking was both internal and international, with the majority 
of trafficking in the country involving children from impoverished 
rural backgrounds. The most common forms of internal trafficking 
involved boys from the Northern Region going to work in the fishing 
communities along the Volta Lake or in small mines in the west, and 
girls from the north and east going to Accra and Kumasi to work as 
domestic helpers, porters paid to transport various items, and 
assistants to local traders (see Section 6.d.). Local NGOs reported 
these children were often subjected to dangerous working conditions and 
were sometimes injured or killed as a result of the labor they 
performed. Local authorities supported projects sponsored by IOM and 
other organizations to decrease the incidence of such trafficking. IOM 
and various NGOs offered micro-credit assistance and education to 
families who agreed not to provide their children to traffickers and to 
those whose children had been trafficked.
    Children between the ages of seven and 17 also were trafficked to 
and from the neighboring countries of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, the Gambia, 
Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea to work as farm workers, laborers, 
divers, street hawkers, or domestics. Benin and Burkina Faso were also 
destination countries for trafficked children.
    Much of the recruitment of children was done with the consent of 
the parents, who sometimes were given an advance payment or promised 
regular stipends from the recruiter and were told the children would 
receive food, shelter, and often some sort of training or education. 
Some parents sent their children to work for extended family members in 
urban areas. Treatment of children sent to work in relatives' homes 
varied. Many children were given to professional recruiters, usually 
women, who placed the children with employers in cities. A child in 
these circumstances usually was paid between $2.17 and $3.26 (20,000 to 
30,000 cedis) per month. In many cases the children never received the 
education or vocational training the recruiters promised. Girls were at 
particular risk of being forced into prostitution or being sexually 
abused by their employers.
    Women also were trafficked to Western Europe, mostly to Italy, 
Germany, and the Netherlands. International traffickers promised the 
women legitimate jobs; however, the women often were forced into 
prostitution once they reached their destination. The women were 
sometimes sent directly to Europe while others were trafficked through 
third countries. Some young women were trafficked to the Middle East, 
particularly Lebanon, where they worked in menial jobs or as domestic 
help. There also was a trade in Nigerian women transiting the country 
on their way to Western Europe or the Middle East to work in the 
commercial sex industry. Traffickers from other countries reportedly 
used Accra as a transit point to Europe and the Middle East. 
Reportedly, there was some trafficking in persons from Burkina Faso, 
mostly transiting through the country on the way to Cote d'Ivoire.
    Authorities were unaware of any organized crime syndicates involved 
in human trafficking in the country.
    Under the new antitrafficking law, DOVVSU has responsibility for 
enforcement, and the Department of Social Welfare within the Ministry 
of Manpower, Development and Employment has responsibility for victim 
assistance, including locating family members and providing temporary 
shelter, counseling, and job skills training. Local police and social 
welfare officials reported insufficient resources to implement the new 
law, particularly in rural areas without police stations. In some cases 
police and community leaders simply ignored NGO education and 
sensitization efforts due to strong cultural norms that condoned 
trafficking.
    The new law also establishes a 17-member Human Trafficking Board 
composed of all relevant ministries, the security services, the private 
sector, and other stakeholders. At year's end, MOWAC had identified a 
coordinator and the board's prospective membership, and had discussed a 
date for inaugurating the board, which was intended to oversee the 
Government's antitrafficking activities. However, at year's end the 
President had not yet signed the order approving the proposed 
membership, which was required for the board to be formally 
established.
    In August police intercepted a truckload of 46 children being 
trafficked from the Upper West Region to Kumasi and the southern parts 
of the country. The children ranged from nine to 19 years old. Police 
arrested the driver under the new trafficking law, and his trial was 
ongoing at year's end. The children were sent back to their parents, 
who were not charged with a crime.
    Also in August police arrested the driver of a bus carrying 40 
children from the Upper West Region to Techiman. The driver's trial was 
ongoing at year's end.
    In July 2005 a 25-year-old Ivorian man was remanded in custody in 
Sekondi for attempting to sell his 21-year-old male friend for $2,714 
(25 million cedis). There were no known developments during the year.
    In September 2005 the Immigration Service reported its largest 
interception of traffickers to date when Kulungugu border officials 
arrested a woman for attempting to traffic 17 children, ages five to 
17, to Burkina Faso. The children reportedly believed that they would 
be visiting Burkina Faso. The woman was released due to a lack of 
evidence, and the children were returned to their communities.
    The Government generally assisted with international investigations 
of trafficking; however, during the year the Government continued to 
refuse to extradite a Member of Parliament to face a 2003 indictment 
for trafficking charges.
    The Government, the ILO, and NGOs trained security forces, 
immigration authorities, customs officials, and police on the new 
trafficking law. Each group was taught methods of identifying victims, 
and police were trained on the new law, whom to charge, and which 
violations to cite in charging suspected perpetrators. Since July 2005 
more than 200 senior officers, cadets, and recruits from the police 
service participated in a Trafficking in Persons training. Participants 
were trained in recognizing trafficking victims and securing evidence 
against trafficking criminals. TIP training is now a standard module in 
the curriculum of the Police Training Academy in Tesano, Accra.
    In August the Government established a Border Patrol Unit under the 
Immigration Service to monitor the flow of travelers in and out of the 
country. The Minister of Interior committed $214,984 (1.98 billion 
cedis) in start-up funds to the program. By year's end, 150 officers 
had completed an eight-week course of training in paramilitary 
operations and light weaponry as well as the standard six months of 
training at the Ghana Immigration Service camp in Assin Foso.
    Various ministries worked with ILO/IPEC, the IOM, and NGOs to 
address trafficking. The Ministry of Manpower, Development and 
Employment, in conjunction with ILO/IPEC, continued to implement a 
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labor (see Section 
6.d). The IOM, the African Center for Human Development, and MOWAC 
worked to identify and return children trafficked to fishing villages, 
and to support the fishermen's transition to alternate forms of income 
generation. Since 2002 587 trafficked children have been rescued from 
fishing villages; IOM helped with the rescue of 50 children during the 
year.
    In a July meeting of the Economic Community of West African States 
(ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), 
Ghana signed an ECOWAS/ECCAS agreement among 24 countries to combat 
trafficking by establishing a Human Trafficking Board to develop a plan 
of action to combat domestic trafficking. The Government is also a 
signatory to a 2005 nine-country multilateral protocol for 
international cooperation on child trafficking.
    Authorities made efforts to shelter and reintegrate trafficking 
victims from the country and other West African countries. In 2005 the 
Department of Social Welfare opened its second shelter, capable of 
accommodating 30	55 child trafficking victims, in Medina near Accra. 
The Government devoted little attention to rehabilitating traumatized 
child trafficking victims, some of whose parents rejected their 
children so that they would not be asked to refund money they had 
received from traffickers.
    Several NGOs, both local and international, worked with trafficking 
victims. These organizations, as well as the University of Ghana's 
Center for Social Policy Studies, conducted studies of trafficking as 
part of their broader agenda, performed a few rescue operations for 
street children, provided training and education for victims of 
trafficking and abuse, and in some cases, assisted with family 
reunification. Friends of Human Development, a local NGO, met regularly 
with community and opinion leaders to educate them about the dangers of 
trafficking and the penalties imposed by the new antitrafficking law.
    The ILO/IPEC conducted workshops and other activities throughout 
the year to combat the problem of increased child sexual exploitation 
in the tourism industry. In 2005 a minister ordered hotel 
administrators to prevent adults from bringing children to hotels for 
sexual exploitation.
    During the year the Government conducted community meetings and 
workshops for media and police to raise awareness of the trafficking 
law. There was a trafficking officer assigned to organize such 
workshops.

    Persons With Disabilities.--In July parliament passed legislation 
that specifically provides for the rights of persons with disabilities, 
including protection against exploitation and discrimination in 
employment, health care, and other domains. While the Government did 
not systematically or overtly discriminate against persons with 
disabilities, such persons often experienced societal discrimination in 
practice. The law provides persons with disabilities access to public 
buildings as far as is practical. In 2003 officials in the department 
of social welfare estimated that 10 percent of the population had some 
form of physical disability.
    In 1999 the Government established a policy whereby blind and 
wheelchair-bound persons would receive a nominal annual disability 
allowance of $16.61 (153,000 cedis). In June 2004 the interim chairman 
of the Ghana Union of Physically Disabled Workers accused the Ghana 
Education Service (GES) of not paying workers with disabilities the 
allowance to which they are entitled. According to the Ghana Union of 
Physically Disabled Workers, approximately 60 persons with disabilities 
were denied this allowance during 2005, with GES the main offender.
    Persons with both mental and physical disabilities were frequently 
subjected to abuse and intolerance. Some religious sects believed that 
persons with mental disabilities were afflicted by demons and should be 
exorcised (see Section 2.c.). The abuse of children with disabilities 
was common. There were reports that children with disabilities were 
tied to trees or under market stalls and caned regularly. There also 
were reports of family members killing children with disabilities.
    In September the media carried reports of a four-year-old boy whose 
family confined him to their house, allegedly to spare him public 
ridicule of a congenital lump on the back of his waist. The boy was not 
permitted to interact with persons outside his immediate family. The 
Government did not respond by year's end.
    There were multiple government agencies and NGOs involved in 
addressing discrimination against persons with disabilities, including 
the Ministry of Health, the Department of Social Welfare in the 
Ministry of Manpower, Development and Employment, the Ministry of 
Education, and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD). The NGO 
Parents Association of Children with Intellectual Disability and Autism 
conducted outreach and awareness-raising efforts during the year.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the Government 
deemphasized the relevance of ethnic differences, its opponents 
complained that appointed senior government positions were dominated by 
Ashantis and other Akans at the expense of Ewes and northerners. The 
President and some of his ministers and close advisors were Ashanti, 
but the vice President and many ministers were of other ethnic origins.
    There were numerous small-scale conflicts within ethnic groups 
during the year, most of which related to chieftaincy and land use 
issues. Efforts by NGOs to encourage reconciliation continued during 
the year.
    The Dagbon conflict, also known as the Yendi conflict, was the most 
prominent and frequently discussed intraethnic conflict. Two branches 
of the same family, the Andanis and the Abudus, traditionally 
alternated in supplying the Ya Na (paramount chief of the Dagomba 
ethnic group) but recently became embroiled in a dispute over which 
family would supply the next Ya Na. By blocking some aspect of the 
burial rites, as both sides did following the deaths of previous Ya 
Nas, the families prevented the appointment of a Regent, who 
traditionally was installed until a new chief was selected or came of 
age. In April traditional leaders helped broker an agreement to bury Ya 
Na Yakubu Andani II and install a Regent in his place. The Ya Na's 
murder in 2002 and the tension over his burial has been a significant 
source of conflict in the northern part of the country. In May the 
President and vice President visited Yendi for the first time in four 
years to encourage the peace process. Nonetheless, in August security 
forces resisted an attempt by youths from the Abudu ``gate'' (line of 
succession) to forcefully enter the Ya Na's former palace, resulting in 
the deaths of a number of youth. The Government announced that three 
deaths resulted, but credible local sources reported more.
    During the year chieftaincy issues, particularly those involving 
succession and land, sparked several violent confrontations within 
ethnic groups. In 2005 a chieftaincy conflict between two factions at 
Tetegu, a suburb of Accra resulted in gunshot injuries, the 
displacement of more than 2,000 persons, and the destruction of 
approximately 120 houses belonging to members of feuding factions. 
There were no known developments in the conflict, which remained 
unresolved at year's end.
    In April at Bortianor, near Kokrobite in Accra, two persons 
belonging to different chieftaincy factions were fatally shot, and 
eight others were seriously injured. The Criminal Investigations 
Division of the Police announced a reward of $2,172 (20 million cedis) 
for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the culprits.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes 
homosexuality, and lesbians and gays face widespread discrimination, as 
well as police harassment and extortion attempts. There is a minimum 
misdemeanor charge for homosexual activity, and homosexual men in 
prison often were subjected to sexual and other physical abuse.
    There was widespread public outcry during the year against an 
international lesbian and gay conference scheduled to take place in 
Accra in September. Strong public opposition to the event and to 
homosexuals more generally was reflected in vehement letters to the 
editor, radio call-in shows, comments posted on the Internet, and in 
public speeches given by government officials. The Government banned 
the conference after local religious leaders united to protest the 
planned event.
    Discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS was a problem, and the 
fear of being stigmatized continued to discourage persons from being 
tested. In April 2004 the inspector general of police publicly urged 
all officers to be tested voluntarily through a free service available 
to the police. During the year several key government representatives, 
including the Presidential Advisor for HIV/AIDS, publicly denounced 
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. In 2004 the cabinet 
approved a policy to protect the rights of persons living with HIV/
AIDS. In August a judge ordered sex workers standing trial on charges 
of prostitution to get tested for HIV and publicly disclose their HIV 
status. The Office of the President sent a letter of protest to the 
chief justice on this incident but had not received a reply by year's 
end.
    The Government subsidized many centers that provided free HIV 
testing to citizens, although there were reports that confidentiality 
was not consistently respected and preserved.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. While 
unions no longer must seek the approval of the Government before 
registering, the 2003 Labor Act requires that trade unions or 
employers' organizations must register and be authorized by the Chief 
Labor Officer to attain a certificate of registration and be considered 
legal. The percentage of workers belonging to unions appeared to be 
decreasing as more of the workforce entered the informal sector, where 
there was no union activity. The Ministry of Manpower, Development and 
Employment estimated in 2005 that 80 percent of the work force was 
employed in the informal sector.
    The law prohibits acts of anti-unions discrimination; however, in 
practice, unions have reported that anti-union discrimination occurred.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides a 
framework for collective bargaining, and trade unions engaged in 
collective bargaining for wages and benefits with both private and 
state-owned enterprises without government interference. However, only 
unions that represented the majority of workers in a given company can 
obtain a Collective Bargaining Certificate, which is required to engage 
in collective bargaining.
    The law recognizes the right to strike but restricts that right for 
workers who provide essential services, including ``areas in an 
establishment where an action could result in a particular or total 
loss of life or pose a danger to public health and safety and such 
other services as the Minister may by legislative instrument 
determine.'' However, the Minister of Manpower, Development and 
Employment had not formally designated the list of essential services 
by year's end. The right to strike can also be restricted for workers 
in private enterprise whose services were deemed essential to the 
survival of the enterprise by a union and an employer. A union may call 
a legal strike if the parties fail to agree to refer the dispute to 
voluntary arbitration or if the dispute remains unresolved at the end 
of arbitration proceedings. No union has ever gone through the complete 
dispute resolution process, and there were numerous unsanctioned strike 
actions during the year. There have been no legal strikes since 
independence.
    In September the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) 
went on strike to protest issues related to salary and conditions of 
service. The Ghana Education Service (GES) refused to negotiate with 
NAGRAT on the grounds that the organization has no collective 
bargaining agreement certificate. NAGRAT has been denied a certificate 
because the GES argues it should be part of the Ghana National 
Association of Teachers.
    Existing labor law applies in export processing zones, including 
the right to organize.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    The law provides for employers found guilty of using forced labor 
to be fined no more than 250 penalty units (each unit of which was 
assigned a monetary value to adjust for the fluctuating exchange rate); 
however, limited resources inhibited the Government's implementation of 
the law, and no fines were levied during the year. During the year the 
ILO continued to urge the Government to revise various legal provisions 
that permit imprisonment with an obligation to perform labor.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law sets a minimum employment age of 15 years, prohibits night work and 
certain types of hazardous labor for those under 18, and provides for 
fines and imprisonment for violators; however, child labor remained a 
serious problem in the informal sector. The law allows for children age 
15 and above to have an apprenticeship under which craftsmen and 
employers have the obligation to provide a safe and healthy work 
environment along with training and tools. However, child labor laws 
were not enforced effectively or consistently, and law enforcement 
officials, including judges, police, and labor officials, were often 
unfamiliar with the provisions of the law that protected children. The 
2003 Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy acknowledged that child labor was 
a problem that required government intervention. During the year the 
Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs conducted seminars on child 
labor to educate the media, police, civil servants, and the general 
public. Local custom and poverty encouraged children to work to help 
support their families and eroded societal observance of minimum age 
laws.
    An ILO/IPEC-Ghana Statistical Service survey of child labor 
released in 2003 found that 2.47 million children were engaged in some 
economic activity and 64.3 percent of those children attended school. 
Of those children engaged in economic activity, 1.27 million children 
were found to be engaged in child labor as defined by age and hazardous 
working conditions. Children as young as seven worked in agriculture 
and as domestic laborers, porters, hawkers, miners, quarry workers, and 
fare collectors. The fishing industry on Lake Volta had a particularly 
high number of child laborers engaged in potentially hazardous work, 
such as diving into deep waters to untangle fishing nets caught on 
submerged tree roots. An ILO representative reported in 2005 that child 
labor in the tourism industry had increased. Child laborers were poorly 
paid and subjected to physical abuse; they received little or no health 
care and generally did not attend school. According to government labor 
officials and the Ghana Employers Association, child labor problems 
were infrequent in the formal labor sector.
    The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children; however, 
during the year children were reportedly sold, leased, or given away by 
parents to work in agriculture, fishing villages, quarry mines, shops, 
or homes. It was difficult to determine the extent to which forced and 
bonded labor by children was practiced (see Section 5).
    There were newspaper reports of children being sold into various 
forms of involuntary servitude for either sexual exploitation or labor, 
such as 10- to 12-year-old boys working for fisherman in exchange for a 
yearly remittance to their families. The practice often involved the 
consent of their generally impoverished parents. Reliable data was not 
available on the number of children who were working in fishing 
villages along Lake Volta; nevertheless, NGOs who worked on this issue 
estimated the number to be well into the thousands (see Section 5).
    The extent of child labor in the cocoa industry was unknown. In 
January the Government signed a National Plan of Action calling for the 
implementation of a child labor certification process in the cocoa 
industry. International chocolate manufacturers and the Ministry of 
Manpower, Development and Employment signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding in September to pursue the development of an initial 
survey of child labor in the cocoa industry. During the year, the 
Ministry of Manpower worked with foreign chocolate manufacturers to 
conduct a pilot survey of child labor in the cocoa industry. The 
survey, which the Government intended to expand into a larger survey in 
2007, was completed in December.
    In April police arrested two senior secondary school students for 
attempting to sell three of their younger classmates for $10,858 (100 
million cedis) to a buyer in Bibiani. No trial date had been set by 
year's end, and the students remained in custody.
    In July police rescued a 14-year-old girl who had been used as 
collateral for a loan of $597 (5.5 million cedis) in the Brong-Ahafo 
Region. The girl's uncle took her from her parents in the Volta Region 
when she was 11 years old and gave her to a businessman who kept her in 
bondage for three years. Police had not made any arrests in the case, 
and referred the matter to CHRAJ, which was investigating the case at 
year's end.
    Inspectors from the Labor Department of the Ministry of Manpower, 
Development and Employment are responsible for enforcement of child 
labor regulations, and district labor officers and the social services 
sub-committees of district assemblies are charged with seeing that the 
relevant provisions of the law are observed by annually visiting each 
workplace and making spot checks whenever they receive allegations of 
violations. Inspectors are required to provide employers with 
information about child labor violations and effective means to comply 
with provisions of the Labor Act. However, law enforcement and judicial 
authorities in the country were hampered by severe resource constraints 
and a lack of public awareness about the problem.
    During the year there were no prosecutions for child labor 
resulting from these inspections. Officials only occasionally punished 
violators of regulations that prohibit heavy labor and night work for 
children. In addition the inspectors' efforts were concentrated only in 
the formal sector, rather than in the informal sector where most child 
labor was performed.
    ILO/IPEC, government representatives, the Trade Union Congress, the 
media, international organizations, and NGOs continued to build upon 
the 2001	02 National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labor 
in Ghana by increasing institutional capacity to combat child labor. 
With the support of the Government, NGOs and foreign countries funded 
more recent programs to combat child labor. Education and sensitization 
workshops were conducted with police, labor inspectors, local 
governments, and communities. Forums were held throughout the country 
to develop and implement an ILO/IPEC Time-Bound Program, which aimed to 
eliminate all forms of child labor under specified time periods and 
benchmarks.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A National Tripartite Committee 
composed of representatives of the Government, labor, and employers set 
daily minimum wages. In February, after lobbying by trade unions, the 
Tripartite Committee raised the daily minimum wage to $1.74 (16,000 
cedis), which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family. Furthermore, there was widespread violation of the minimum 
wage law in the formal sector, and the growing informal labor force 
remained unprotected. In most cases households had multiple wage 
earners, and family members engaged in some family farming or other 
family-based commercial activities. The Ministry of Manpower, 
Development and Employment was unable to credibly enforce this law.
    The law sets the maximum workweek at 40 hours, with a break of at 
least 48 consecutive hours every seven days. The Government compensated 
extra duty hours only for overtime actually worked, in accordance with 
labor equity, rather than as an automatic salary supplement. Workers 
were also entitled to at least 15 working days' leave with full pay in 
a calendar year of continuous service or after having worked at least 
200 days in a particular year. However, such provisions do not apply to 
task workers or domestic workers in private homes.
    Occupational safety and health regulations exist, and the Factories 
Department within the Ministry of Manpower, Development and Employment 
was responsible for imposing sanctions on violators; employers who 
failed to comply were liable to a fine not exceeding 1000 penalty 
units, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to 
both. The law requires that employers report, no later than seven days 
from the date of occurrence, occupational accidents and diseases which 
occur in the workplace. In practice, safety inspectors were few and 
poorly trained, and they lacked the resources to effectively respond to 
violations. Inspectors did not impose sanctions or otherwise respond to 
violations during the year.

                               __________

                                 GUINEA

    Guinea is a constitutional republic in which effective power is 
concentrated in a strong presidency. President Lansana Conte has ruled 
this country of approximately 9.2 million persons since 1984, first as 
head of a military junta and, since 1994, as a civilian President. 
President Conte won reelection in December 2003 in an election 
boycotted by the opposition and criticized by international observers 
as neither free nor fair. The civilian authorities generally did not 
maintain effective control of the security forces.
    The Government continued to implement political and macroeconomic 
reforms begun in 2004, but serious human rights abuses occurred during 
the year. There were restrictions on the right of citizens to change 
their government. Security forces unlawfully killed, beat, and abused 
civilians, particularly detainees. Prison conditions were inhumane and 
life-threatening. Impunity of alleged perpetrators of killings and 
abuse remained a problem. There were arbitrary arrests, prolonged 
pretrial detention, and incommunicado detention. The judiciary was 
subject to corruption and executive influence. The Government infringed 
on citizens' privacy rights and restricted freedoms of speech, press, 
assembly, association, and freedom of movement. Violence and societal 
discrimination against women, prostitution of young girls, and female 
genital mutilation (FGM) were problems. Progress was made in combating 
trafficking of persons, but the practice continued, as did ethnic 
discrimination, antiunion discrimination, and child labor.
    The Government took significant steps to improve freedom of the 
press by implementing a 2005 media liberalization decree and granting 
broadcast licenses to eight private radio stations. The Government 
agreed to some electoral reforms proposed by political parties.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed political killings; 
however, security forces killed at least 15 persons during the year, 
and there were reports of deaths in custody due to torture, abuse, and 
neglect (see Section 1.c.).
    Police use of excessive force to control demonstrations and strikes 
resulted in deaths during the year (see Sections 2.b. and 6.b.).
    The Government often considered killings by security forces to be 
``professional accidents,'' and instead of prosecution or sanction, 
transferred the perpetrator to another district. No legal or 
disciplinary action was taken against security force members 
responsible for killings during the year.
    There were no developments in the following 2005 reported killings 
by security forces: the three killings by police during a student 
demonstration in Telimele in November or the July killing of a 19-year-
old student in Conakry.
    There were no developments in the reported 2004 killings by police.
    Government authorities continued to block efforts by human rights 
groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to investigate 
political killings that took place in the 1970s under then President 
Sekou Toure.
    Many victims of crime feared that they might never receive justice 
because of judicial corruption and at times resorted to vigilante 
violence. In March, in the Enta neighborhood of Conakry, the screams of 
a victim of attempted rape alarmed her neighbors, who caught the 
perpetrator and beat him to death. In late July residents in N'Zerekore 
beat, burned and stoned suspected criminals, killing between nine and 
12. Several of the victims had been released from prison prior to 
serving their full sentences, while others had never been prosecuted; 
in both cases, the local community was frustrated by perceived 
corruption of local officials (see Section 1.d.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
both civilian and military security forces beat and otherwise abused 
civilians. There also were reports that security forces used torture 
and beatings to extract confessions and employed other forms of 
brutality, including holding prisoners incommunicado without charges 
under inhumane conditions.
    An investigation by an international NGO in Conakry's main prison 
revealed patterns of torture. Prisoners, including children, bore 
similar wounds and shared common stories. One prisoner lost his sight 
due to beatings. A student imprisoned on assault and battery charges 
was paralyzed due to beatings by security forces. Prison guards were 
suspected of torture in both incidents; however, no investigation took 
place by year's end. In September the Minister of Security issued a 
circular to all officers under his jurisdiction condemning torture and 
abuse, and announcing punitive measures against any persons found 
guilty of engaging in these practices. The Government had not launched 
an investigation into police torture or prosecuted individuals 
allegedly involved by year's end.
    During the June general strike, police went door-to-door and 
detained private citizens on suspicion of strike involvement. In at 
least one instance, a gendarme raped a woman after entering the home. 
The officer was never arrested and the case was not prosecuted. The 
victim gave several media interviews and although the story was in the 
local news, the Government did not address the crime.
    Police injured several persons while using force to disperse 
demonstrations during the year (see Section 2.b.).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police beat 
journalists.
    In January a newspaper reported the October 11, 2005 rape of 
Paulette Keita by a lieutenant in the gendarmerie. At year's end, the 
officer was not arrested or charged with any crime.
    No action was taken against security forces responsible for 
reported abuses in 2005 and 2004.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
inhumane and life threatening. Prisoners reported that guards 
threatened, beat, and harassed them. There were credible reports from 
prisoners that guards harassed and sexually assaulted female inmates. 
Toilets did not function, and prisoners slept and ate in the same space 
where they relieved themselves. Neglect, mismanagement, and lack of 
resources were prevalent. The basic diet for prisoners was inadequate, 
and most inmates relied on supplemental assistance from families or 
friends to maintain their health. Guards often demanded bribes in 
exchange for delivering food to those incarcerated and routinely 
confiscated food, which was seldom delivered to the intended 
beneficiary.
    In Kankan, a woman sentenced to death was raped by the prison 
administrator and became pregnant. The woman remained in jail with the 
baby at year's end. In Mamou, a woman was raped by another prison 
administrator. She was transferred to the maximum security prison in 
Kindia. Neither of these administrators was punished. There are many 
reported cases where insufficient facilities for female prisoners 
prompted administrators to send women to work at the houses of prison 
or judicial officials where they were not paid for their work and were 
sexually exploited.
    Standards of sanitation remained poor, which resulted in several 
dozen deaths due to malnutrition, disease, lack of medical attention, 
and poor conditions. Since January 1, 98 persons died in Conakry's 
prison, many as a result of malnutrition, poor medical treatment, and 
dangerous and unsanitary conditions. There was a decline in the number 
of deaths in prison from the previous year. The mortality rate 
nationwide of prisoners is approximately 20 percent.
    Some prisoners exercised more power than the guards by controlling 
conditions and cell assignments, giving better conditions to prisoners 
who were able to pay.
    The prisons remained severely overcrowded. Some prisoners reported 
sleeping on their knees because their cells were so small. The facility 
in downtown Conakry was built in 1950 to hold 200 prisoners but 
routinely held 1,000 prisoners or more. During the year, the prison 
held up to 1,280 prisoners. At year's end, there were 989 prisoners in 
this facility.
    Although the Ministry of Justice administers the prisons, the 
facilities were managed and staffed by military officers and guards. 
There were reports that some prison administrators followed directives 
from their military superiors, even when they were in conflict with 
orders from the Ministry of Justice. Due to limited funds and personnel 
shortages, prisons were largely staffed by untrained ``volunteers'' who 
hope for permanent entry into the military. This system was difficult 
to manage and particularly vulnerable to corruption and abuse.
    There were reports of prison escapes in Kankan, Labe, and 
N'Zerekore. Most prisoners were apprehended, but others remained at 
large. At least two prisoners who escaped in 2005 remained at large.
    In most prisons, men and women were held separately, but juveniles 
generally were held with adults. There were 380 children below the age 
of 18 incarcerated. There were approximately 16 children who either 
were born in prison and lived permanently in the jails with their 
mothers or who had no alternative means of care. No provisions were 
made for children's food, clothing, education, or medical care in 
prison. The Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the NGO 
Association for the Support for Refugees and Displaced Persons in 
Detention (ASWAR-Guinea) constructed a new juvenile wing including 
recreational facilities housing 69 minors in Conakry's main prison.
    At year's end, there were three boys below the age of 14 who were 
held in the Conakry prison with no legal representation. One boy had 
been detained for eight years on a petty shoplifting charge. An 
international NGO reported the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among 
incarcerated minor boys to be as high as 50 percent, suggesting sexual 
abuse. Local and international NGOs were providing some food and legal 
representation to these boys.
    First-time offenders were not separated from common criminals, 
pretrial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners, and the 
prison system often was unable to track pretrial detainees after 
arrest. Prisoners of political importance usually were held in the main 
prison in Conakry with the general prison population but were held in 
separate cells.
    In practice political detentions rarely exceeded a few days, and 
these persons were generally extended more protections than other 
detainees because of the attention to their cases by NGOs and the 
media. In high profile detentions, the persons were often held 
separately from other detainees and prisoners, and access to them was 
unrestricted.
    The Government stated its commitment to address prison conditions 
and used public funds to initiate certain reforms. The minister of 
justice announced a new policy that allows suspects and detainees to 
have access to legal representation. The ministry made recommendations 
for improvements in prison infrastructure, but at year's end none have 
been implemented. National and international NGOs continued programs to 
improve the health of critically malnourished inmates.
    The Government permitted prison visits by Human Rights Watch (HRW) 
and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and other 
local humanitarian and religious organizations, which offered medical 
care and food for those in severe need. A former prisoner reported that 
without this assistance, those who did not have families or friends 
would have starved to death. The ICRC reported that it was allowed 
regular access to all 33 official detention facilities and 2,500 
prisoners during the year. The ICRC continued to initiate partnership 
programs with prison and security authorities to improve prison 
conditions. In the overcrowded N'Zerekore prison, the ICRC established 
access to clean water and constructed a secured area to allow prisoners 
to go outside. In April and June, HRW conducted investigations of the 
country's prisons.
    The Government provided open access to prisoners and allowed 
interviews to be conducted outside the presence of prison guards or 
other government authorities. After the HRW report was published in 
August, the ministries of justice and security responded positively by 
addressing specific problems and proposing general reforms.
    In July and August the minister of justice, himself a prisoner 
during the Sekou Toure regime, visited several of the prisons and 
pledged to improve prison conditions.
    The Government cooperated in the April and June visit by Human 
Rights Watch (HRW) to monitor the country's prisons. In its subsequent 
report, HRW noted that security forces routinely violated the inherent 
right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of expression and 
assembly, and the right to trial within a reasonable period. Security 
forces committed many of these violations, particularly in police 
stations, detention facilities, and prisons. HRW concluded that 
security forces used excessive and lethal force on unarmed 
demonstrators, killing at least thirteen. HRW emphasized the sense of 
impunity that exists, emboldening perpetrators and sustaining abuses.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces 
regularly used arbitrary arrest and detention.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The gendarmerie, a part 
of the Ministry of Defense, and the National Police, under the Ministry 
of Security, share responsibility for internal security and sometimes 
played an oppressive role in the daily lives of citizens. The Code of 
Penal Procedure permits only the gendarmerie to make arrests, but the 
army, the Presidential Guard (Red Berets), and the state police often 
detained persons as well. A quasi-police unit called the Anticrime 
Brigade (BAC), created to fight criminal gangs and bandits, operated in 
Conakry and in most major regions and prefectures. Administrative 
controls over the police were ineffective, and security forces rarely 
followed the penal code. Many citizens viewed the security forces as 
corrupt, ineffective, and even dangerous. Police ignored legal 
procedures and extorted money from citizens at roadblocks (see Section 
2.d.). There were no reported judicial proceedings against officers 
suspected of committing abuses. National and international NGOs 
conducted seminars to train security forces on human rights issues and 
conflict resolution techniques.
    In September the Ministry of Justice initiated a five-day national 
seminar that brought together judicial, prison, and security officials 
to address issues and make specific resolutions related to detention, 
proper procedures for arrest, the expanded role of defense attorneys, 
prison administration, and particular measures to fight against 
livestock theft.

    Arrest and Detention.--The penal code stipulates that the arrest of 
persons in their home is illegal between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.; 
nevertheless, midnight arrests took place. The penal code also requires 
that the Government issue a warrant before an arrest can be made and 
that detainees be charged before a magistrate within 72 hours; however, 
many detainees were incarcerated for longer periods before being 
charged. After being charged, the accused may be held until the 
conclusion of the case, including a period of appeal. Authorities 
frequently did not respect the provision of the law that provides for 
access by attorneys to their clients. Although the law proscribes 
incommunicado detention, it occurred in practice. Release on bail was 
at the discretion of the magistrate who had jurisdiction.
    On January 19, police arrested and beat a school boy in Conakry for 
not stopping while the country's flag was being raised.
    In February and June security forces detained hundreds of persons 
in connection with unruly protests during the two general strikes that 
effectively shut down the country. The large majority were almost 
immediately released. None of these persons remain in detention; the 
majority were released in two to three days (see Section 2.b.).
    On June 13, police raided the homes of several supporters of Sidya 
Toure's Union of Republican Forces (UFR) party on suspicion of inciting 
violence during the general strike. They detained at least nine UFR 
members for a week to 10 days. These individuals were not allowed 
access to attorneys and were released without being charged with any 
crime. Several report that after their release, they were repeatedly 
harassed by security officers and threatened in anonymous phone calls.
    There were no further developments in the 2005 cases of the 
individuals who were suspected for involvement in the January 2005 
assassination attempt on President Conte. Antoine G'Bokolon Soromou and 
Mohamed Lamine Diallo remained in self-imposed exile. Approximately 60 
individuals were detained and then released.
    Gendarmes detained an unknown number of active and former military 
personnel for unspecified reasons. Credible human rights sources 
reported that the treatment of these detainees was not monitored by 
independent agents. In violation of the law, an unknown number of 
prisoners were held on army bases where virtually all contact was 
forbidden.
    Prolonged pretrial detention was a serious problem. A prisoner 
advocacy organization estimated that approximately 80 percent of the 
prisoners in Conakry were awaiting trial. Based on the information of a 
prisoner advocacy group, only approximately 10 percent of the prisoners 
at Conakry central prison had been tried, while all others were in 
investigative detention. At times detainees remained in prison for more 
than 10 years without trial.
    Seven military offers who were arrested in December 2003 for 
suspected coup plotting were still in prison awaiting trial at year's 
end. In January they were transferred from the central prison, where 
their families were able to visit regularly, to the maximum security 
prison in Kindia. Two prisoners, Abdoulaye Camara and Mohamed Diasy, 
reportedly served 10 years at the central prison without judgment or 
sentencing. The men were held in a cramped section of the prison where 
they were prevented from moving freely. At least one of them has 
suffered permanent paralysis as a result of prison conditions. Police 
arrested the men in March 1996 in connection with a burglary. One of 
them, Thierno Barry, has been in the Conakry central prison, without 
judgment or sentencing, since his arrest in 1991.
    There were reports of a parallel and covert system of justice run 
by unidentified uniformed personnel who conducted midnight arrests, 
detained suspects, and used torture to obtain confessions before 
transferring detainees to prosecutors or in some cases, directly into 
prisons that were not under the jurisdiction of the Government.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for the judiciary's independence, judicial authorities 
routinely deferred to executive authorities in politically sensitive 
cases. In routine cases, there were reports that authorities accepted 
bribes in exchange for a specific outcome. Magistrates were civil 
servants with no assurance of tenure. Because of corruption and 
nepotism in the judiciary, relatives of influential members of the 
Government often were, in effect, above the law. Judges often did not 
act independently, and their verdicts were subject to outside 
interference. The judicial system was plagued by numerous problems, 
including a shortage of qualified lawyers and magistrates and an 
outdated and restrictive penal code. In September, to spearhead a 
national effort to improve the administration of justice, the Ministry 
of Justice held a national seminar on detention and a training 
conference for bailiffs (see Section 1.d.).
    The judiciary includes courts of first instance, two courts of 
appeal, and the Supreme Court, which is the court of final appeal. The 
law provides for a parallel structure for juveniles. In practice the 
two courts of appeal for Kankan and Conakry that handle serious crimes 
barely functioned due to lack of resources and organizational problems, 
and many prisoners were detained for lengthy periods without trial (see 
Section 1.d.). By law, the courts of appeal are supposed to hold a 
session once every four months. In practice, there were only two 
sessions held since 2000. On August 2, the appeals court met for the 
first time since 2003 and scheduled hearings for 171 cases. During the 
year, the juvenile appeals court convened for the first time since 
1998. Prior to the September session, all minors who had gone to trial 
had done so within the adult system.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and juries are used for 
criminal cases. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult 
with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants have the right to 
confront and question prosecution witnesses and present witnesses on 
their behalf. The prosecution prepares a case file, including 
testimonies and evidence, and provides a copy for the defense.
    The penal code provides for the presumption of innocence of accused 
persons, the independence of judges, the equality of citizens before 
the law, the right of the accused to counsel, and the right to appeal a 
judicial decision; however, these rights were not consistently observed 
in practice.
    On October 10, Sekhounah Soumah, the elected Rural Development 
Community President of Tanene, interrupted trial proceedings at the 
court of first instance of Dubreka. He assaulted the judge and ordered 
the judge to stop the trial that was in session. On October 15, the 
minister of justice, Guinea's Association of Magistrates, and the 
Guinea Bar Association protested the interference in judicial 
proceedings. At year's end, Soumah, who has family ties to President 
Conte, was not punished for his actions and remained in office.
    Although in principle the Government is responsible for funding 
legal defense costs in serious criminal cases, in practice it rarely 
disbursed funds for this purpose. The attorney for the defense 
frequently received no payment.
    Many citizens wary of judicial corruption preferred to rely on 
traditional systems of justice at the village or urban neighborhood 
level. Litigants presented their civil cases before a village chief, a 
neighborhood leader, or a council of ``wise men.'' The dividing line 
between the formal and informal justice systems was vague, and 
authorities sometimes referred a case from the formal to the 
traditional system to ensure compliance by all parties. Similarly, if a 
case was not resolved to the satisfaction of all parties in the 
traditional system, it could be referred to the formal system for 
adjudication. The traditional system discriminated against women in 
that evidence given by women carried less weight (see Section 5).
    A military tribunal prepares and adjudicates charges against 
accused military personnel, to whom the penal code does not apply. 
Civilians were not subject to military tribunals.
    The state security court is composed of magistrates directly 
appointed by the President, and the verdict is open to appeal only on a 
point of law, not for the re-examination of evidence.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners; however, police detained members of political 
opposition parties during the year. The Government acknowledged the 
existence of several temporary political detainees. Opposition parties 
estimated that there were over 50 temporary political detainees, and 
the majority of their arrests occurred during the June national strike.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Under the law, there is a 
judicial procedure for civil matters. In practice, the judiciary was 
neither independent nor impartial, and decisions were often influenced 
by bribes and based on political and social status. There were no 
lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations. In practice, 
domestic court orders were not enforced.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for the inviolability 
of the home and require judicial search warrants; however, police and 
paramilitary police often ignored legal procedures in the pursuit of 
criminals. For example, during the June general strike, police went 
door-to-door in neighborhoods throughout Conakry, searching homes and 
private vehicles, and detaining private citizens on suspicion of 
involvement (see Section 1.d.). In at least one instance, a gendarme 
raped a woman (see Section 1.c.).
    Although the belief that security forces monitored the mail no 
longer existed, many believed that they monitored electronic 
communications. Local businesses, including foreign companies, often 
complained that public officials and authorities intimidated and 
harassed them.
    In some instances the Government coerced membership in political 
organizations by conferring preferential treatment on those who were 
members of the majority Party of Unity and Progress (PUP). For example, 
the Government has sometimes demoted or reassigned government employees 
who were known to be members of opposition parties because of their 
active political affiliation.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of expression, and there were fewer arrests and detentions 
of journalists than in previous years; however, the Government 
suspended four newspapers during the year.
    The Government prohibited talk or chants in public that it 
considered seditious, established defamation and slander as criminal 
offenses, and prohibited communications that insulted the President; 
incited violence, discrimination, or hatred; or disturbed the public 
peace or security. Sanctions included fines, revocation of press cards, 
imprisonment, and banishment.
    In June, in the Nongo section of Conakry, security forces destroyed 
the market stalls of people who insulted the President when his 
motorcade passed.
    The Government published an official daily newspaper, the Horoya, 
and continued to operate official television and radio stations. The 
state-owned media provided extensive and mostly favorable coverage of 
the Government and ruling party; however, government media increased 
coverage of opposition activities and was more critical of the 
Government officials on the local level.
    In October the minister of information indefinitely suspended 
Ibrahima Sory Dieng, Horoya managing director, and Alhassane Souare, 
Horoya editor-in-chief, for not publishing President Conte's picture 
alongside the copy of his Independence Day speech. To date, the 
journalists have not regained their positions. Also in October the 
Director of Guinea's state-owned and operated Guinean Radio and 
Television suspended Ibrahima Ahmed Barry, a news producer, for failing 
to show images of key ministers engaging with the public. Barry 
remained suspended at year's end.
    Private newspapers openly criticized the President and the 
Government. There were 10 private newspapers published weekly in 
Conakry, and up to 10 other publications appeared sporadically, 
although technical difficulties and high operating costs impeded 
regular publication. One newspaper, L'Espoir, was affiliated with the 
governing political party, and several other newspapers openly 
supported opposition parties. Other newspapers offered news and 
criticism of both the Government and the opposition.
    In September the National Communications Council (CNC) announced 
financial subsidies of approximately $71,000 (400 million Guinea 
francs) to 37 of 58 registered private newspapers, purportedly to 
encourage private media. Some observers believed it also was meant to 
encourage progovernment reporting.
    Foreign publications, some of which criticized the Government on a 
regular basis, were available both in print and electronic format. 
Despite the limited reach of the print media due to low literary rates 
and high prices of newspapers, the Government continued occasionally to 
criticize and harass print journalists.
    The Government does not permit media ownership by political parties 
and religious institutions but did not restrict programming on 
political and religious subjects.
    The CNC suspended three newspapers for articles published that were 
considered libelous or nonfactual.
    In August, for the first time in the country's history, private 
radio stations began broadcasting. With various formats initially 
focusing on music, commercial operators competed for listeners in this 
key sector. Radio remained the most important source of information for 
the public. During the year 12 rural and community radio stations 
continued operating. At year's end the Government had accepted eight 
license applications for private radio stations; five were operational. 
Many citizens listened regularly to foreign-origin short wave radio. At 
year's end the Government continued to own and operate the only 
domestic television broadcast station. The Government did not restrict 
access to or distribution of foreign television programming via 
satellite or cable; however, relatively few citizens could afford these 
services.
    Boubacar Yacine Diallo, an independent journalist and newspaper 
editor, was chairman of the CNC until December. On December 22, Diallo 
was appointed as minister of information. The CNC played a pivotal 
oversight role in the new privately owned broadcast media. Each of the 
applications for radio operators was thoroughly reviewed by the CNC 
before being sent to the Ministry of Information for final approval. 
While at the CNC, Diallo initiated programs to increase professionalism 
in journalistic practice and implemented a requirement that journalists 
must meet higher professional standards to obtain press credentials.
    Journalists were subject to arrest, detention, and harassment; 
however, there were fewer such reports than in previous years.
    For example, in March Almamy Kalla Conte, a journalist at the Lynx-
Lance newspaper was detained by police for three hours while he was 
investigating thefts of steel railway lines.
    The CNC suspended newspaper activities during the year. In February 
the newspaper Les Echos was suspended for two months after printing an 
article critical of the former minister of territorial administration 
and decentralization.
    In March the Government refused to allow the magazine Jeune Afrique 
L'intelligent permission to distribute a weekly edition that featured a 
story reporting on President Conte's ill health and medical evacuation. 
The ban was temporary, and the magazine became freely available again 
later on. Until the ban was lifted, photocopies of the article, printed 
from the Internet, were available through street vendors.
    In April the CNC suspended the journal L'Enqueteur for two months 
for publishing nonfactual information. On August 22, the CNC suspended 
the newspaper Liberation for three months for its publication of 
``nonfactual information, biased reporting, and an article that was 
racist and discriminatory.'' All of these articles were critical of 
prominent persons in politics and business. On November 27, the CNC 
suspended the weekly newspaper Kaloum Express for two months for the 
publication of ``words that damage the reputation of the Guinean 
State.''

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. The Internet was available for use by all citizens, but only a 
small minority of the population used the technology. Cost, literacy, 
and availability remained major constraints to use by a broad range of 
citizens.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Ministry of National 
Education and Scientific Research exercised limited control over 
academic freedom through its influence on faculty hiring and control 
over the curriculum; however, teachers generally were not subject to 
classroom censorship.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law restricts freedom of assembly, and while the 
Government generally allowed opposition meetings, it did not approve 
any applications for marches during the year. The penal code bans any 
meeting that has an ethnic or racial character or any gathering ``whose 
nature threatens national unity.'' The Government requires a 72-
working-hour advance notification of public gatherings; otherwise the 
events are considered illegal. The law permits local authorities to 
cancel a demonstration or meeting if they believe it poses a threat to 
public order. They may hold event organizers criminally liable if 
violence or destruction of property ensues. Police use of excessive 
force during the year resulted in the deaths of numerous demonstrators, 
including women and children. Police arrested numerous other 
demonstrators. No action generally was taken against the responsible 
police.
    In January a celebration turned violent after the victory of the 
country's national football team. Youth clashed with police, and one 
person was killed when security forces fired into the crowd. Several 
persons were arrested and later released. No action was taken against 
the officer who fired the fatal shot.
    On February 2, several students were arrested in Labe during a 
protest against poor living conditions. No injuries were reported. The 
students were released after being detained for a few days.
    On February 21, riots erupted after the announcement of the new 
mayor of Gueckedou. During the demonstrations security forces fired 
into the crowd killing Yawa Suzanne Tolno, a mother of two, and Robert 
Millimono, a high-school student.
    Police forcibly dispersed two nationwide general labor strikes, 
resulting in deaths and injuries; the strikes were organized in 
accordance with law. In February a five-day strike called by the 
interunion coalition of the National Federation of Guinean Workers 
(CNTG) and the Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG) effectively shut down 
the country after most workers in the formal and informal sectors 
stayed at home. The strike was relatively peaceful, although in at 
least two instances in Conakry security forces fired on demonstrators; 
following one of the two instances, Bangaly Sidibe was killed after 
being shot in the stomach. In another area of Conakry, at least one 
other person was shot and numerous other persons were seriously 
injured.
    The June general strike was marked by significant violence. On June 
12, when students learned they were unable to take their final exams 
and feared that they would not gain credit for the school year, they 
joined other persons who threw rocks, burned tires and cars, and 
destroyed property. Security forces responded with lethal force and 
tear gas to control demonstrators. The Government reported that at 
least 11 persons were killed; however, local NGOs claimed that up to 21 
persons were killed. There were at least 100 persons injured and 
hundreds more arrested, although most arrestees were released almost 
immediately and none remain in detention. On June 16, the Government 
released a formal statement to the international community, listing the 
victims of June 12.
    Two persons, Aly Camara, a 29-year-old mason, and Seydouba Camara, 
a 26-year-old driver, were killed in the Matoto area of Conakry. In the 
Dixinn area of Conakry, Mamadou Bailo Barry, a 17-year-old electrician, 
Mamady Camara, a 15-year-old driver, and an unidentified person were 
killed by security forces. There were four killings in the region of 
Labe. Mamadou Oury Balde, a 20-year-old student, Boubacar Barry, a 25-
year-old baker, Boubacar Diallo, a 16-year-old driver, and Djibril 
Sylla, a 21-year-old driver, were all killed in clashes with police. In 
N'Zerekore, Moussa Toure, a 16-year-old student, and Bangaly Keita, a 
27-year-old driver, were killed.
    Investigations by journalists and human rights organizations 
identified two additional victims not included in the official 
government statement. Ousmane Kaba, an 18-year-old student, was killed 
in Conakry. Amadou Sow, a 14-year-old student in Labe, was killed in 
clashes with police.
    The Government promised thorough investigations into the killings; 
however, a formal report had not been released by year's end. No 
security officers were arrested or charged for their actions during the 
strike. NGOs reported that during their independent investigations, 
witnesses refused to disclose information, fearing government reprisal.
    On December 3 and 4, at least 69 persons, including one woman and 
two imams, were arrested in Fria during protests about road conditions. 
Several of those arrested were local employees of the Russian company 
RUSSIAL, the aluminum corporation with mining and refinery operations 
in Fria. On December 7, many of the detainees were transferred to 
facilities in Conakry, and some were beaten while being interrogated. 
On December 14, the imams were released and on December 15, 10 RUSSIAL 
employees were released in Fria. On December 27 President Conte 
reportedly summoned the persons who were being detained in Conakry and 
instructed them never again to engage in violence and destruction of 
property. They were released the same day. At year's end, no persons 
remained in prison in connection with the incidents in Fria.
    There were several protests during the year prompted by company 
cuts to family benefits by residents in the mining town of Kamsar. Many 
of the protestors were wives and family members of miners working for 
the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG). In December the protests 
became violent and on December 28, when the demonstrators clashed with 
police, one 12-year-old girl was killed by a stray police bullet. 
During this incident at least five women were injured. At year's end, 
at least 18 persons, mostly women, remained detained in connection with 
the incident.
    The Government reported ongoing investigations into the December 
2005 incident in Kouroussa when security forces fired on a crowd, 
wounding three persons. No report was released. There were no 
investigations or arrests in the incidents reported last year in 
Kissidougou, Siguiri, Mandiana, Kerouane, Beyla, or Conakry during the 
December 2005 local elections.
    There was no active investigation of the November 2005 killings in 
Telimele, the September 2005 injuries by military guards in Kouroussa, 
or any of the other forcible dispersions that resulted in deaths or 
injuries.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association; however, the Government infringed on this right 
in practice. The Government imposed cumbersome requirements to obtain 
official recognition for public, social, cultural, religious, or 
political associations. Most of the restrictions focused on political 
associations as opposed to nonpolitical associations. For example, 
political parties had to provide information on their founding members 
and produce internal statutes and political platforms consistent with 
the constitution before the Government recognized them.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    As part of an October 14 cabinet change, the Government issued a 
Presidential decree that changed the Ministry of the Islamic League to 
the General Secretariat of the National Islamic League. The General 
Secretariat continued to represent the 85 percent of the country 
practicing Islam. Most of the Muslim population adhered to Sunni 
teachings and practices. Government support of the powerful general 
secretariat led some non-Muslims to complain that the Government used 
its influence to favor Muslims over non-Muslims, although non-Muslims 
were represented in the cabinet, administrative bureaucracy, and the 
armed forces. The General Secretariat oversees the choice of imams and 
prevented certain individuals who they believed were extremists or who 
did not support the General Secretariat's positions from becoming 
imams. The General Secretariat also monitored the messages broadcast in 
Friday prayer services by drafting and distributing the weekly sermons. 
The Government refrained from appointing non-Muslims to important 
administrative positions in certain parts of the country in deference 
to the particularly strong social dominance of Islam in these regions.

    Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--Relations 
among the various religions generally were amicable; however, in some 
parts of the country, Islam's dominance created strong societal 
pressure that discouraged conversion from Islam or land acquisition for 
non-Islamic religious use.
    There were few Jewish persons in the country, and there were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, authorities at times infringed on them. The 
Government requires all citizens to carry national identification 
cards, which they must present on demand at security checkpoints.
    Police and security forces continued to detain persons at military 
roadblocks to extort money; however, there were fewer such reports than 
in previous years.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not 
use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization of 
Migration, and the Government reported that all IDPs were reintegrated, 
a 2005 Norwegian Refugee Council report indicated many IDPs had not 
returned to their former homes. Unlike last year, the IDP Consultative 
Forum was no longer active. Many IDPs, particularly those who have been 
deported from other countries, are reintegrated directly to their 
former homes without assistance packages.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system of providing protection to 
refugees through an advisor on territorial issues within the Ministry 
of Territorial Administration. In practice, the Government provided 
some protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution. The Government cooperated with the 
office of the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees and asylum seekers.
    Many positive developments in the area of refugee repatriation 
continued to occur during the year. The UNHCR accommodated all refugees 
desiring voluntary return to other countries from Guinea. The UNHCR and 
other international organizations also offered financial support for 
the rehabilitation of communities severely affected after 17 years of 
hosting refugees.
    The country has been a place of refuge for asylum seekers from 
neighboring countries in conflict, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, 
Cote d'Ivoire, and Guinea Bissau. At year's end, UNHCR and the National 
Bureau for Refugee Coordination estimated that the total refugee 
population left in the country was 31,450 persons, of whom 
approximately 70 percent were Liberians. With the success of assisted 
and voluntary repatriation, several refugee camps closed during the 
year. The Government agreed to facilitate the integration of 
approximately 2,000 citizens of Sierra Leone who had chosen to remain 
in the country. By year's end, approximately 500 families received the 
proper documentation to complete this process.
    During the year, the Government also provided temporary protection 
to approximately 45 individuals of different West African nationalities 
during the year who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN 
convention or its 1967 Protocol.
    Like in previous years, there were reports of rape, assaults, and 
forced prostitution. The Government reports these crimes are committed 
within the refugee population, generally by other refugees. Gender-
based violence remained a problem. Tension continued between host 
communities and refugee populations because of disparities in living 
standards. Economic decline in the country exacerbated situations where 
refugees received basic services and opportunities unavailable to 
citizens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide for a popularly elected President 
and national assembly; however, the Government restricted citizens' 
ability to exercise this right. Political reforms resulted in some 
improvements during the year.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Despite openly acknowledged 
health problems, the President ran for reelection in December 2003, 
winning against a candidate who was virtually unknown. All major 
opposition parties boycotted the election, criticized by international 
observers as neither free nor fair. In December 2005 the Government 
held nationwide elections, and 16 of 46 registered political parties, 
including all the major opposition parties, participated. According to 
official results, President Conte's ruling PUP garnered approximately 
80 percent of the vote with certified victories in 31 of 38 
municipalities and 241 of 303 local councils. The PUP and associated 
parties held 91 of the 114 seats in the National Assembly.
    The local electoral process was characterized by both improvements 
over past practice as well as serious flaws. Positive developments 
included freer campaigning, a single ballot listing all parties, 
transparent ballot boxes, political parties represented at the polling 
stations, media coverage of events, and free access for national 
observers. However, the turnout was low, and there were significant 
irregularities and bias by officials towards the ruling party before 
and during the vote. These included government revision of voter rolls 
with limited oversight, exclusion of up to 50 percent of the opposition 
candidate lists, unequal provision and distribution of voter 
registration cards and identity documents, and susceptibility to 
cheating in the district-level vote consolidations.
    The Government invited participation by the electoral commission, 
opposition parties, and civil society in the electoral process. In 
practice it retained control of most registration and election 
procedures, including the casting and counting of votes. Despite 
pressure from opposition parties to change the constitution to enable 
an independent electoral commission to have full responsibility for 
organizing all aspects of elections and reporting the results of the 
vote, the Government retained responsibility for organizing the 
elections, with the electoral commission validating the final results.
    With few local exceptions, the National Autonomous Electoral 
Commission was ineffective. Political parties were unsuccessful in 
gaining judicial relief in some cases of alleged malfeasance.
    In July the Government initiated a joint committee, comprised of 
majority and opposition political parties, to draft legislation for a 
new electoral commission, define the status of opposition parties, and 
establish procedures for party financing.
    The law allows the President to run for an unlimited number of 
seven-year terms. There were 46 legally recognized political parties; 
deputies of five different parties were represented in the National 
Assembly. Only one opposition political party, the Union for Progress 
and Renewal (UPR), which had 20 seats, participated in the 114-member 
National Assembly. All of the other parties represented in the National 
Assembly joined the PUP government party alliance. Legislative 
elections are scheduled for June 2007. Government employees are 
required to campaign for the ruling party in each election.
    The President continued to hold the power to appoint governors, 
prefects, and subprefects to administer regions, prefectures, and 
subprefectures, respectively. Most of these officials were members of 
the PUP or parties allied with it. Local governments generally had 
limited autonomy. Although they had some financial resources with which 
to fund local programs, most of their funds were controlled by the 
central government.
    Prefects and other local officials who were members of opposition 
parties found that higher-level officials effectively blocked their 
authority. In some cases they were forced to join the ruling PUP party 
or lose their jobs. Those who continued their allegiance to opposition 
parties were relocated to different prefectures far from their home 
communities. To prevent risking their livelihood, others chose to 
remain uninvolved in politics.
    Elected and appointed government officials continued to be 
disproportionately male. There were 20 female deputies in the 114-
member National Assembly. There were five women in the 26-member 
Supreme Court. Four women held seats in the 30-member cabinet appointed 
in May. There were few women at senior levels below minister, and there 
were no women in the senior ranks of the armed forces. Women generally 
played a minor role in the leadership of the major political parties; 
however, Assiatou Bah was vice President of the UPR. The RPG named 
Fatou Bangoura to the post of political secretary.
    Members of the three main ethnic groups (Soussou, Malinke, and 
Peuhl) as well as all smaller groups in the country (Gerze, Toma, 
Kisse, Koniake, and Mano) served in the National Assembly. The Supreme 
Court, cabinet, and armed forces leadership included representatives of 
all major ethnic groups. However, a disproportionate number of senior 
military officers were Soussou, the President's ethnic group.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained 
widespread throughout all branches of government. The President can 
overrule legislative decisions and did so in practice. Connection to 
the President or his powerful associates sometimes conferred exemptions 
from taxes and other fiscal obligations. Public funds were diverted for 
private use or for illegitimate public uses, such as buying expensive 
vehicles for government workers. Land sales and business contracts 
lacked transparency.
    During the year a committee was established to follow-up on a 2005 
World Bank report on corruption. Each ministry was tasked with creating 
an internal office to identify and address corruption as related to its 
duties. Using polling data gathered in 2003, the report identified 
government agencies widely viewed as corrupt by citizens. It also 
identified how corruption affected everything from commercial 
transactions to judicial decisions to civil service promotions. The 
report was released as part of a two-day conference on corruption and 
was then presented during similar meetings throughout the country. 
Businessmen, government workers, and average citizens were among the 
hundreds of persons surveyed in the study.
    The Commission to Combat Corruption within the Ministry of Economic 
and Financial Control is located within the Office of the President. A 
public complaints bureau to report corruption was located within the 
commission in Conakry, but communication and coordination between the 
commission and the Ministry of Justice remained weak. There was much 
discussion of corruption in the media, but little action was taken 
during the year. In November a delegation of government, civil society, 
and media representatives attended the annual conference of 
Transparency International.
    During the year there was continued media attention on prominent 
businessman Mamadou Sylla and allegations that he had defrauded the 
Government over a period of several years through business transactions 
between his company, Futurlec, and the Government. In 2005 the Prime 
Minister ordered an audit into those transactions, which revealed Sylla 
owed millions of dollars to the Government because of over-billing, 
double-billing, and other suspect accounting procedures. Sylla refused 
to open his company's books to the auditor, and he denounced the audit. 
Before any action could be taken, political allies of Sylla ordered a 
second audit, which found that it was the Government that owed Sylla 
several million dollars. The IMF added the resolution of this issue as 
one of the conditions of the country regaining a formally funded 
program. In July the Government ordered a third audit to reconcile the 
two previous findings. In November the findings were released, but were 
inconclusive. Also in November, the Government began legal proceedings 
against Sylla and others who were accused of embezzling state funds. In 
December Sylla and another former minister, Fode Soumah, were jailed 
for violation of court orders. After approximately one week in prison, 
they were released, apparently due to extra-judicial influence by 
President Conte; however, the legal proceedings against them continue.
    For the first time in the country's history, the national budget 
included line items for every expenditure during the year. Each 
ministry was required to submit justifications for projected spending. 
The draft budgets were presented to the National Assembly which used 
its discretionary powers to determine the various funding levels. This 
budget exercise was designed to increase transparency in government 
processes.
    There is no law providing free access to government information. 
Most government information is not available to the public, and there 
is no mechanism to request it formally. The Government did provide free 
official information in the government-run press and through limited 
publications.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of local and international NGOs generally operated without 
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on 
human rights cases. Government officials generally were cooperative and 
responsive to their views; however, some local organizations alleged 
that government officials tried to intimidate them and that they often 
met resistance when trying to investigate abuses or engage in civil 
education.
    Various government officials continued to block private efforts to 
memorialize victims of the Sekou Toure regime that ruled the country 
from independence until 1984. The Association of Victims of Camp Boiro 
was forbidden to establish a museum focusing on human rights in the 
former location of the prison where political detainees were tortured 
and killed.
    The Government facilitated visits by international human rights 
organizations and fully cooperated with prison monitoring by the ICRC 
and HRW during the year.
    In 2004 the National Directorate for Human Rights and Fundamental 
Liberties was created within the Ministry of Justice; no personnel have 
yet been appointed. A human rights office also exists within the 
Ministry of Defense. Although in previous years, the Office of 
International Humanitarian Rights, in conjunction with the ICRC, 
conducted human rights seminars during the year to teach military and 
security personnel about human rights recognized by international and 
regional agreements, there were no reports of activities during the 
year. A similar office related to human rights exists within the 
Ministry of Security, but it remained relatively inactive during the 
year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law states that all persons are equal before the law regardless 
of gender, race, ethnicity, language, beliefs, political opinions, 
philosophy, or creed; however, the Government did not enforce these 
provisions uniformly. Violence and discrimination against women, FGM, 
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against ethnic minorities 
were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, although 
estimates differed as to the extent of the problem. Due to fear of 
stigmatization and reprisal, women rarely reported abuse except at the 
point of divorce. Wife beating is not addressed specifically within the 
law. Assault in general carries a penalty of up to two years in prison 
and a fine from $9 to $36 (50,000 to 200,000 francs). If the assault is 
premeditated, the prison time increases from two to five years in 
prison and a fine of $18 to $54 (100,000 to 300,000 francs) and 
constitutes grounds for divorce under civil law; however, police rarely 
intervened in domestic disputes, and few perpetrators were punished.
    Although rape is a criminal offense, in practice spousal rape is 
neither punished nor regarded as a criminal offense. Social beliefs 
prevented most rape victims from reporting incidents of rape. Local 
NGOs and government representatives reported that sexual assault 
increased during the year. According to a doctor at the central public 
hospital in Conakry, victims of sexual assault constituted 20 percent 
of all cases in the hospital. Many of these assaults were perpetrated 
by a person the victim knew and often took place at school; more than 
half the victims were young girls. Several local NGOs worked to 
increase public awareness of the nature of these crimes and promote 
increased reporting. The authorities were reluctant to pursue criminal 
investigations of alleged sexual crimes.
    FGM was practiced widely in all regions and among all religious and 
ethnic groups, and the country had one of the highest rates of FGM in 
the world. FGM is illegal and carries a penalty of three months in 
prison and a fine of approximately $18 (100,000 francs), although there 
were no prosecutions during the year. Senior officials and both the 
official and private press spoke against the practice. FGM was 
performed on girls between the ages of four and 17, but exact figures 
on this procedure were difficult to establish. The Coordinating 
Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting Women's and Children's 
Health (CPTAFE), a local NGO dedicated to eradicating FGM and ritual 
scarring, cited a continuing decline in the percentage of women and 
girls subjected to the worst forms of FGM. The CPTAFE estimated between 
60 and 65 percent of girls were subjected to FGM. Another international 
NGO, TOSTAN, estimated 95 percent of girls were subjected to FGM.
    Infibulation, the most dangerous form of FGM, was still performed 
in the Forest Region but less frequently than in previous years. 
Despite diseases resulting from crude and unsanitary surgical 
instruments and deaths resulting from the practice, the tradition 
continued, seriously affecting many women's lives. FGM also increased 
the risk of HIV infection, since unsterilized instruments were shared 
among participants.
    The Government continued efforts to educate health workers on the 
dangers of this procedure, and it supported the CPTAFE's efforts. The 
CPTAFE reported high rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality 
due to FGM. The Government continued its plan to eradicate FGM, and 
government ministers, health officials, and the media discussed FGM 
more frequently, but there were no statistics evaluating the success of 
the program.
    A growing number of men and women opposed FGM. Urban, educated 
families increasingly opted to perform only a slight, symbolic incision 
on a girl's genitals rather than the complete procedure. During the 
year the CPTAFE held large public ceremonies celebrating the ``laying 
down of the excision knife,'' in which some traditional practitioners 
of FGM pledged to discontinue the practice; however, most of those who 
performed FGM opposed its eradication since the practice was lucrative. 
CPTAFE stressed the health consequences of excision while supporting 
the customary observance of the transition to womanhood through 
traditional dances and songs.
    TOSTAN was successful in bringing together communities that 
traditionally intermarry to combat FGM. Recognizing traditional 
practices that encouraged FGM, the NGO helped establish binding social 
contracts where families agreed that they would accept a woman who had 
not undergone this procedure as an acceptable wife for one of their 
sons. This coordinated approach made it possible for thousands of 
families to immediately end this practice. In December over 150 
communities in the center of the country made a public declaration to 
end FGM and underage marriage.
    Although the Government made regular statements in the media 
against sexual harassment, it is not against the law. Women working in 
the formal sector in urban areas complained of frequent sexual 
harassment, and it was not penalized by employers.
    The law provides for equal treatment of men and women. The Ministry 
of Social Affairs and Women's Promotion worked to advance such 
equality; however, women faced discrimination throughout society. Women 
faced discrimination particularly in rural areas where opportunities 
were limited by custom and the demands of childrearing and subsistence 
farming. Women were not denied access to land, credit, or businesses, 
but inheritance laws favor male heirs over female heirs. Government 
officials acknowledged that polygyny was a common practice. Divorce 
laws generally tend to favor men in awarding custody and dividing 
communal assets. Legal evidence given by women carried less weight than 
testimony by men, in accordance with Islamic precepts and customary 
law. The Government affirmed the principle of equal pay for equal work, 
although in practice women received lower pay than men.
    In August, to commemorate National Women's Day, the Government 
unveiled its strategy to implement its 2007 to 2011 action plan to 
institutionalize women's empowerment.

    Children.--The law provides that the Government should support 
children's rights and welfare, and the Government allocated and spent a 
significant percentage of the budget on primary education. The minister 
of youth and the Ministry of Social Affairs were tasked by the 
President to defend women's and children's rights, and a permanent 
committee dedicated to defending the rights of the child, with members 
chosen from different ministries, NGOs, and other sectors, continued to 
work.
    Government policy provides for tuition-free, compulsory primary 
school education for six years, but enrollment rates were low due to 
additional school fees and lax enforcement of laws mandating school 
attendance. The net primary enrollment rate (NER) was the ratio of 
official school-age children enrolled in primary school to the total 
population of children of official primary school age, as defined by 
the national education system. The total NER for the 2005	06 school 
year was 63 percent; for girls, the NER was 57 percent. In rural areas, 
the total NER for the 2005	06 school year was 49 percent; for girls it 
was 42 percent. Gender equity was one of the main goals of the 
Government plan, Education for All. Girls had equal access to education 
and the increase in girls' school enrollment was a result of several 
government programs to increase access to school and to promote girls' 
education.
    Child abuse, particularly sexual assault, was a problem. Girls 
between the age of 11 and 15 years were most vulnerable and represented 
55 percent of the victims. During the year, a pastor in Conakry 
reportedly raped at least eight girls. He was arrested and charged with 
rape and assault. The pastor reportedly paid officers of the court as 
well as security officials to influence the process. He was found not 
guilty and released from police custody. At year's end, the pastor 
remains in his position. In 2005 a teacher raped a nine-year-old girl 
in Sangoyah. The teacher's salary was reduced by 20 percent with this 
amount being paid to care for the victim. The perpetrator pled guilty, 
was released from prison, and returned to his teaching job.
    FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
    The legal age for marriage is 21 years for men and 17 years for 
women. Although there were no official reports of underage marriage, it 
allegedly was a problem. Parents contracted marriages for girls as 
young as 11 years of age in the Fouta and Forest Regions. The CPTAFE, 
in conjunction with the Government, local journalists, and 
international NGOs, continued to run an education campaign to 
discourage underage marriage and reported lower rates than in previous 
years. According to CPTAFE, some families that sanctioned early 
marriages nevertheless kept their married daughters in the family home 
until they had at least completed secondary school.
    There were reports that girls were trafficked for prostitution and 
boys and girls for other labor (see Section 5, Trafficking and section 
6.d.).
    The International Rescue Committee and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
reported that children living in foster families often did not receive 
adequate food, shelter, and clothing and were compelled to work in the 
streets, sometimes as prostitutes, for their subsistence.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in 
persons, the country was a source, transit point, and destination point 
for trafficking. The law carries a penalty of five to 10 years' 
imprisonment and confiscation of any money or property received as a 
result of trafficking activities.
    Some NGOs reported that women, men, and children were trafficked 
within the country, as well as internationally, for the sex trade and 
illegal labor. Trafficking in persons from rural areas, mainly from the 
poorest areas in upper Guinea, to urban centers was more common than 
international trafficking. As NGOs and the Government increasingly 
recognized trafficking within the country, more emphasis was placed on 
this practice in the national awareness campaign by UNICEF to combat 
trafficking. Accurate statistics were difficult to obtain because 
victims did not report the crime.
    Some children were trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and 
diamond mining camps and for household work in Conakry. NGOs claimed 
that the country was frequently a transit route for a West African 
trafficking network because fraudulent passports can be easily obtained 
and no visas are required for local nationals to travel to certain 
North Africa countries. From these nations, children were then sent to 
destinations in Europe.
    Girls under the age of 14 were involved in prostitution. The 
Government did not take action when prostitution of minors was brought 
to its attention, and it did not actively monitor child or adult 
prostitution.
    The ICRC reported that trafficking of children was a problem among 
repatriates from Sierra Leone and Liberia, some of whom hoped to gain 
advantage from reunification projects intended to reconstitute families 
separated through war (see Section 2.d. Refugees).
    In July a girl was kidnapped and trafficked to a village in Macenta 
Region to be exploited as a domestic servant. The police returned the 
seven-year-old girl to her grandmother. The perpetrator was identified, 
arrested, and the case turned over to the Ministry of Justice.
    In November police rescued 14 Sierra Leonean women and their babies 
in Conakry and placed them in a safe house run by a local NGO. They 
were victims of a trafficking network that was planning to send them to 
Holland. At year's end, no suspects were arrested.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of the Malian woman 
accused of trafficking; she was turned over to the Ministry of Justice 
but deported rather than prosecuted. There were no developments in the 
2004 case of a Sierra Leonean child trafficking ring.
    The Interministerial Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons was 
created by the Government to better coordinate their antitrafficking 
efforts. In February this committee was expanded to include 
representatives from other ministries and national and international 
NGOs working to combat trafficking. The new structure, the National 
Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, has 30 members, including 
representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Promotion 
of Women and Children, and the ministries of cooperation, justice, 
security, foreign affairs, education, youth, fishing, health, 
information, and tourism. The committee held educational seminars 
during the year, including a July 24 workshop to evaluate the 
conformity of the country's action plan with the Economic Community of 
West African States (ECOWAS) standards. The committee concluded that 
because there is a national action plan, the country was in compliance 
with its adoption of ECOWAS standards and that significant progress had 
been made in prevention and awareness. Efforts to draft and ratify 
antitrafficking legislation were underway along with programs to 
strengthen law enforcement capacity. However, while certain projects 
focused on victim protection, lack of funding prevented more effective 
work, particularly repatriation, accompaniment, and case follow-up. The 
committee emphasized the need to focus on prosecution of traffickers.
    In June 2005 the Government signed a bilateral agreement with Mali 
to combat child trafficking. In July 2005 the Government signed a 
multilateral agreement with nine nations in the region to increase 
cooperation, harmonize antitrafficking legislation, and exchange 
information.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state 
services. In practice there were no official reports of societal or 
governmental discrimination against person with disabilities. The 
Government had not mandated accessibility for persons with 
disabilities, and buildings and vehicles remained inaccessible. Few 
persons with disabilities worked in the formal sector; some worked in 
the informal sector in small family-run businesses, and many lived by 
begging on the streets.
    In 2005 the Government, in cooperation with an international donor, 
launched a national civic education program that included persons with 
disabilities as well as persons with HIV/AIDS. One of the programs for 
persons with disabilities was staged at the School for the Deaf of 
Conakry. The program, in American Sign Language, explained concepts of 
citizenship, nationality, and equal participation.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was 
ethnically and regionally diverse. The Peuhls were the largest ethnic 
groups (approximately 40 percent of the population), followed by the 
Malinke (approximately 30 percent), and the Soussou (approximately 20 
percent). There were several smaller ethnic groups in the Forest 
Region. Each group spoke a distinct primary language and was 
concentrated in a distinct region: the Soussou in lower Guinea, the 
Peuhl in middle Guinea, and the Malinke in upper Guinea. Conakry and 
other large urban areas such as Kankan and the Forest Region were 
ethnically heterogeneous.
    While the law prohibits racial or ethnic discrimination, ethnic 
identification was strong.
    Mutual suspicion, both inside and outside the Government, affected 
relations across ethnic lines. Widespread societal ethnic 
discrimination by members of all major ethnic groups was evident in 
private sector hiring patterns, in the ethnic segregation of urban 
neighborhoods, and in the relatively low levels of interethnic 
marriage. The proportion of public sector positions occupied by 
Soussous, particularly at senior levels, was widely perceived as 
exceeding their share of the national population.
    The ruling PUP party, although generally supported by Soussous, 
transcended ethnic boundaries more effectively than the major 
opposition parties, which have readily identifiable ethnic and regional 
bases. The UPR's main base was the Peuhls, while the RPG's main base 
was the Malinke. Soussou preeminence in the public sector and Malinke 
migration into the traditional homelands of smaller ethnic groups in 
the Forest Region were sources of local political tensions that 
sometimes erupted into violence.
    Unlike last year, there were no reported cases of interethnic 
conflict or violence.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against 
homosexuals is not prohibited by law, but there are no discriminatory 
laws based on sexual orientation. Although there were deep social, 
religious, and cultural taboos against homosexuality, there were no 
official reports of discrimination against homosexuals.
    There have been reports that various hospitals in the country have 
refused to treat patients with AIDS; hospital workers feared 
contracting the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law and constitution provide for 
the right of employees, except for military and paramilitary personnel, 
to form and join independent labor unions, and this right was respected 
in practice. The labor code requires elected worker representatives for 
any enterprise employing 25 or more salaried workers. Although labor 
statistics were inadequate, approximately 160,000 workers were 
reportedly unionized, including approximately 65,000 government workers 
and members of the National Federation of Guinean Workers (CNTG), the 
Government union. CNTG reports they also have identified over 40,000 
sympathizers who have not paid dues. The largest independent union, 
Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG), claimed 69,500 members, including 
over 20,000 women. During the year five unions remained active.
    During the year, for the first time in the country's history, 
unions formed a joint coalition to fight for workers' rights. The 
leaders of the two largest unions coordinated their efforts in planning 
the two general strikes that were observed by the majority of the 
country's population. Both strikes were undertaken in compliance with 
the law, with the unions providing adequate notice of their intention 
to strike. Police use of excessive force to control demonstrators in 
favor of the strike resulted in numerous deaths and injuries (see 
Section 2.b.)
    The CNTG-USTG labor coalition succeeded in forcing several 
government concessions for union members, including higher salaries and 
increased benefits for government employees, formalizing the employment 
of contract teachers, and allowing union representatives to take part 
in government decisions on fiscal and monetary issues. The unions also 
secured benefits for workers in the informal economy, including a 
reduction in the fixed price of rice and an agreement that any increase 
in fuel prices must be accompanied by other measures to provide a 
safety net for all citizens. On March 3, the Government and unions 
signed a protocol of agreement that ended the first national strike.
    The union coalition called for the second strike after the 
Government did not comply with the terms of the protocol. The June 
strike was suspended with the June 16 signature of a memorandum of 
understanding establishing new criteria and deadlines for the 
Government to meet. To date, the Government has not complied with its 
terms.
    In August the union of builders of public works secured a 120 
percent salary increase after a successful collective negotiation. In 
the private sector, employees of gold and bauxite mining companies 
obtained significant increases in salary and benefits after the 
employers implemented similar measures adopted in the agreement between 
unions and the Government.
    During the year the Government targeted labor leaders. On May 26, 
an armed person affiliated with the security apparatus was detained 
after a reported assassination attempt on U.S. G President Ibrahima 
Fofana. He was detained a short time and released.
    In Boke, during the June national strike, the prefectoral director 
of education was threatened with professional sanction for his 
leadership of striking teachers.
    There were reports that police clashed with workers demanding 
benefits and that the Government pressured teachers to resign.
    Although the law and constitution prohibit antiunion 
discrimination, in practice, particularly at regional and prefecture 
levels, unionized labor at times faced strong opposition from 
government officials. Government officials were often selected on the 
basis of nepotism and patronage; these individuals were not sensitized 
to the rights of workers and often viewed unions as an enemy of the 
Government. As a result union members in the interior of the country 
faced harassment and interference from many governors and prefects. 
Union activities in Conakry faced less harassment and interference. 
Individual workers threatened with dismissal or other sanctions have 
the right to a hearing before management with a union representative 
present and, if necessary, to take the complaint to the Conakry Labor 
Court. In practice this court did not convene during the year and any 
cases were referred to the Ministry of Labor for arbitration. In the 
interior, civil courts heard labor cases.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Under the labor 
code, representative workers' unions or union groups may organize in 
the workplace and negotiate with employers or employer organizations, 
and workers exercised this right in practice. The law protects the 
right to bargain collectively concerning wages and salaries without 
government interference, and employers established rules and hours of 
work in consultation with union delegates. There are no export 
processing zones.
    The law grants salaried workers, including public sector civilian 
employees, the right to strike 10 days after their representative union 
makes known its intention to strike, but strikes were sometimes met 
with intimidation from security forces and, as a result, often did not 
take place. By law, arbitration is by consensus and is executed through 
the Office of the Inspector General of Work within the Ministry of 
Labor. In practice, however, employers can impose binding arbitration. 
The law prohibits strikes in essential services, including hospitals, 
police, the military, transport, radio and television, and 
communications. There were reports that government officials offered 
better positions and political posts to members of labor unions in 
exchange for ceasing strike activities.
    Some internationally funded NGOs experienced labor disputes with 
local employees that were often contrived. There were documented 
accounts of government officials who sought bribes from, harassed, or 
otherwise threatened expatriate officials for these alleged labor 
infractions.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law 
specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by 
children, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 
5 and 6.d.).
    The law prohibits the exploitation of vulnerable persons for unpaid 
or underpaid labor. Violations carried a penalty of six months' to five 
years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately nine dollars to $67 
(50,000 to 382,500 francs). The Government did not enforce this 
provision in practice.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
general labor code has specific provisions that pertain to child labor; 
however, child labor was a serious problem. By law the minimum age for 
employment is 16 years. Apprentices may start to work at 14 years of 
age. Workers and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to 
work at night, for more than 10 consecutive hours, or on Sundays. The 
labor code also stipulates that the Minister of Labor and Social 
Affairs maintain a list of occupations in which women and youth under 
the age of 18 cannot be employed. In practice enforcement by ministry 
inspectors was limited to large firms in the modern sector of the 
economy.
    Overall, approximately 48 percent of children under age 15 were 
employed, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the total working 
population and 26 percent of agricultural workers. Child labor in 
factories was not prevalent because of the low level of manufacturing. 
Working children were mostly in the informal sector areas of 
subsistence farming, small-scale commerce, and mining.
    Girls as young as age 14 engaged in prostitution (see Section 5). 
The worst forms of child labor were found in the artisanal mining 
sector, where children hauled granite and sand for little or no money.
    Many young Muslim children sent to live with a Koranic master 
(marabout) for instruction in Arabic, Islam, and the Koran worked for 
the teacher as payment. Children often were sent from rural areas to 
Conakry to live with family members while they attended school. If the 
host family was unwilling or unable to pay school fees, the children 
sold water or shined shoes on the streets, and the host family took the 
money in exchange for their room and board or simply used the child as 
a cheap source of domestic labor (see Section 5).
    There were reports that forced and compulsory child labor occurred 
(see Section 5).
    The Government has spoken out against child labor but lacked the 
resources, enforcement mechanisms, and legislative will to combat the 
problem. As a result child laborers did not have access to education or 
health care and suffered from chronic malnutrition, traumatic stress, 
and depression.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code allows the 
Government to set a minimum hourly wage; however, the Government has 
not exercised this provision nor does it promote a standard wage. 
Prevailing wages often did not provide a decent standard of living for 
a worker and family.
    The labor code mandates that regular work should not exceed 10-hour 
days or 48-hour weeks, and it also mandates a period of at least 24 
consecutive hours of rest each week, usually on Sunday. Every salaried 
worker has the legal right to an annual paid vacation, accumulated at 
the rate of at least two workdays per month of work. There also were 
provisions in the law for overtime and night wages, which were fixed 
percentages of the regular wage. In practice the authorities enforced 
these rules only in the relatively small, modern, urban sector. Little 
evidence showed that the Government monitored employers' work practices 
or sanctioned them for failure to follow the law.
    Working conditions were worse in the private sector, excluding 
banking, insurance, and other similar institutions. Employees often 
were fired if they joined a union (see Section 6.a.).
    The teachers' union reported that working conditions were 
deplorable. Teachers' wages were extremely low and not always paid on 
time, if they were paid at all. In some cases teachers went six months 
or more without salaries. Local Ministry of Finance employees charged 
with administering teacher pay allegedly withheld the salaries and used 
the funds for personal business. Some teachers lived in abject poverty, 
reporting to work without shoes and even the minimum requirements to do 
their jobs. These conditions were a major factor in the strike. On June 
28, an agreement on teachers' compensation was signed by President 
Conte. To date, negotiations continue on the implementing regulations.
    The labor code contains general provisions regarding occupational 
safety and health, but the Government has not elaborated a set of 
practical workplace health and safety standards. Moreover, it has not 
issued any ministerial orders laying out the specific requirements for 
certain occupations and for certain methods of work that are called for 
in the labor code. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is 
responsible for enforcing labor standards, and its inspectors are 
empowered to suspend work immediately in situations hazardous to 
health. Enforcement efforts were sporadic. Labor inspectors 
acknowledged that they did not have adequate resources to cover even 
Conakry, much less the entire country.
    Under the labor code, workers have the right to refuse to work in 
unsafe conditions without penalty; however, many workers feared 
retaliation should they refuse to work in unsafe conditions.

                               __________

                             GUINEA-BISSAU

    Guinea-Bissau\1\ is a multiparty republic with a population of 
approximately 1.6 million. In July 2005 Joao Bernardo ``Nino'' Vieira 
was elected President after defeating the candidate of the ruling 
African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde 
(PAIGC). The Presidential election, which international observers 
characterized as free and fair, represented another milestone in the 
country's return to constitutional government. During March and April 
government forces launched a military campaign to remove a Movement of 
Democratic Forces of the Casamance (MFDC) faction from the north, which 
resulted in civilian casualties and the displacement of thousands of 
families. The country has remained stable since the military action. 
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     \1\In June 1998, the U.S. Embassy suspended operations in the 
midst of heavy fighting in Guinea-Bissau and evacuated all official 
personnel in the country. This report is based on information obtained 
by U.S. embassies in neighboring countries, especially Senegal, from 
other independent sources, and from regular visits to Guinea-Bissau by 
U.S. officials assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Dakar. The U.S. 
Ambassador to Senegal, resident in Dakar, is also accredited to Guinea-
Bissau.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, problems occurred in some areas. Poor prison 
conditions existed. Arbitrary arrest and detention and restrictions on 
freedom of speech occurred. There were violent dispersals of 
demonstrations. Lack of judicial independence and official corruption 
and impunity were problems. There were violence and discrimination 
against women. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was widespread. Child 
trafficking and child labor, including some forced labor, were 
problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    No arrests were made in the 2005 attack on the Interior Ministry in 
which approximately 20 soldiers believed to be loyal to former 
President Kumba Yala killed two security guards and injured a third.
    There were no developments in the 2004 killing of former defense 
chief General Verissimo Correia Seabra and Colonel Domingos de Barros 
by military mutineers.
    Demining operations continued during the year, and the city of 
Bissau was declared mine-free. On March 16, a passenger bus hit a 
rebel-placed landmine on the road between Sao Domingos and Varela, 
resulting in 12 civilian deaths.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them. The 
Government rarely punished members of the security forces who committed 
abuses.
    Landmines and unexploded ordinance resulted in some injuries.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor. There were no formal prisons, and the Government detained most 
prisoners in makeshift detention facilities on military bases in Bissau 
and neighboring cities. Detention facilities generally lacked running 
water and adequate sanitation. Detainees' diets were poor, and medical 
care was virtually nonexistent. Pretrial detainees were not held 
separately from convicted prisoners. Juveniles were not held separately 
from adults.
    The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by local and international human rights groups. During the 
year representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) and the Office of the Representative of the UN Secretary General 
visited prisoners.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions. Unlike in the previous year, police did 
not arbitrarily arrest or detain demonstrators; however, security 
forces detained persons for exercising their right to free speech (see 
Section 2.a.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the 
direction of the Ministry of the Interior, have primary responsibility 
for the country's internal security. The armed forces are responsible 
for external security and can be called upon to assist the police in 
internal emergencies.
    The country is divided into 37 police districts; there were an 
estimated 600 police in the country. Impunity and corruption were 
rampant, and police generally were ineffective. Transit police were 
particularly corrupt and demanded bribes from vehicle drivers whether 
their documents and vehicles were in order or not. Police were poorly 
and irregularly paid, and there was a severe lack of resources and 
training. The Attorney General was responsible for investigating police 
abuses, and three investigations were conducted during the year. Two 
cases involved allegations of theft against the judicial police and the 
third case involved allegations against members of the military who had 
confiscated fishing equipment during a dispute. All three cases were 
pending at year's end.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants and 
provides for the right to counsel, and, if indigent, to counsel 
provided by the state. Pretrial detainees were allowed prompt access to 
family members. The law also provides for the right to release if no 
timely indictment is brought, and the right to a speedy trial. However, 
authorities did not always respect these rights in practice. There was 
a functioning bail system.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, but, in practice, there was little 
independence. Judges were poorly trained and paid and sometimes were 
subject to corruption. The Attorney General had little protection from 
political pressure since the President has sole authority to appoint or 
replace the Attorney General.
    Civilian courts conduct trials involving state security. Under the 
Code of Military Justice, military courts only try crimes committed by 
armed forces personnel. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal 
for both military and civilian cases. The President has the authority 
to grant pardons and reduce sentences.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and the judiciary generally enforced this right. There is no trial by 
jury. The law provides for a presumption of innocence, the right to 
timely access to an attorney, to question witnesses, to have access to 
evidence held by the Government, and the right to appeal. Citizens who 
cannot afford an attorney have the right to a court-appointed lawyer.
    Traditional practices still prevailed in most rural areas, and 
persons who lived in urban areas often brought judicial disputes to 
traditional counselors to avoid the costs and bureaucratic impediments 
of the official system. The police often resolved disputes.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary system 
handles civil and criminal matters; however, there is no administrative 
mechanism to address human rights violations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; 
however, on April 21, security forces cut the phone and electricity of 
Luis Nancassa (see Section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not 
always respect these rights in practice. During the year security 
forces detained persons for exercising their right to free speech and 
threatened and harassed journalists. Some journalists practiced self-
censorship.
    On March 9, Luis Nancassa, President of the Teacher's Union, was 
detained for four hours after criticizing President Vieira on a radio 
program.
    There also were reports that former defense minister Marcelino 
Cabral was detained on April 2 and held for one week for criticizing 
the military over its efforts to remove the MFDC from the north of the 
country. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Batista Tagme Na 
Waie claimed Cabral was aiding rebels. Tagme also publicly threatened 
to arrest Deputy Laberana Djalo for the same reason, but did not do so 
due to Djalo's parliamentary immunity.
    In addition to the government-owned newspaper No Pintcha, several 
private newspapers published without restriction. All newspapers 
published sporadically during the year due to financial constraints and 
dependence on the state-owned printing house. The national printing 
press often lacked raw materials.
    There were several independent radio stations, a national radio 
station, and a national television station. International radio 
broadcasts operated without restriction.
    There were some reports of harassment of journalists. On June 23, 
police accused Augusto Queba Barbosa of Radio Pindjiguiti of 
disseminating false information for reporting police abuse.
    During the weekend of March 25	26, three armed soldiers broke into 
the hotel room of Radio France International correspondent Allen Yoro 
Embalo and threatened him with military arrest for reporting on the 
conflict with MFDC rebels.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet including by electronic 
mail. Lack of infrastructure, equipment, and education severely limited 
access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government did not always respect this right in practice. 
Permits were required for all assemblies and demonstrations.
    On September 8, violence erupted when police attempted to detain 
protest leaders, and police used clubs to break up a peaceful 
demonstration by approximately 400 nurses and other health 
professionals. The demonstrators were requesting pay raises and the 
provision of promised benefits.
    No action was taken against police who fired into a crowd of 
demonstrators walking to the National Elections Commission to demand 
the results of the 2005 Presidential election. Three protesters were 
killed, and a fourth subsequently died of injuries inflicted by the 
police.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the 
right of association, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. However, during the year the Government continued its 2005 
ban on activity by the Islamic religious group Ahmadiyya, contending 
that some activities, including the group's practice of paying locals 
to attend services, were disruptive.
    Although the Government must license religious groups, there were 
no reports that any applications were refused.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no developments in 
the February 2005 mob beating of four Ahmadiyya believers or in the 
attack against police who were trying to control a demonstration 
outside a courthouse in Gabu.
    There was no Jewish community. There were no reports of 
discrimination against members of religious groups or of acts of anti-
Semitism.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law did not specifically prohibit forced exile; however, the 
Government did not use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In March and April a military 
campaign to oust MFDC rebels in the north uprooted approximately 10,000 
persons who fled to safe havens in the country or to Senegal. With 
tribal and family ties on both sides of the poorly marked border, the 
nationality of the IDPs was not always clear. Once the military 
campaign ended, most IDPs returned to their homes. The Government 
allowed access to IDPs by domestic and international humanitarian 
organizations.
    The Government worked with the World Food Program (WFP), the ICRC, 
and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to coordinate assistance 
to IDPs. The Government also provided rice after WFP stocks were 
temporarily depleted.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum 
during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR reported that the 
Government was tolerant of refugees and permitted them to engage in 
economic activities to support themselves.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through 
free and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In July 2005 Joao Bernardo 
Vieira, the country's former military ruler, defeated ruling PAIGC 
candidate Malam Bacai Sanha in a run-off Presidential election. The 
election, which international observers declared free and fair, 
constituted a major step in the country's return to constitutional 
government that began with the 2003 removal of former President Kumba 
Yala, who had ruled by decree and undermined democratic institutions.
    In March 2004 legislative elections were held for the 100-seat 
National Popular Assembly (ANP). Despite the PAIGC plurality of 45 
seats, President Vieira replaced Prime Minister Carlos Domingos Gomes 
Junior in 2005 with Aristides Gomes, who like the President, had been 
suspended from the PAIGC party. In late January the Supreme Court 
upheld the constitutionality of the replacement, which the PAIGC had 
challenged.
    There were 14 women in the 100-seat ANP. The Supreme Court 
President, two of the country's 19 government ministers, and one of 
nine state secretaries also were women.
    All ethnic groups were represented in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption and 
lack of transparency were endemic at all levels of government. Customs 
officers frequently accepted bribes for not collecting import taxes, 
which greatly reduced government revenues.
    The law provides that ``everyone has the right to information and 
judicial protection''; however, such access was seldom provided.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. The Government 
permitted visits by UN representatives and the ICRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and race; 
however, the Government did not enforce these provisions effectively.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including wife beating, was an accepted 
means of settling domestic disputes. There is no law that prohibits 
domestic violence, and politicians were reportedly reluctant to address 
the subject for fear of alienating more traditional voters or 
particular ethnic groups. Although police intervened in domestic 
disputes if requested, the Government had not undertaken specific 
measures to counter social pressure against reporting domestic 
violence, rape, incest, and other mistreatment of women.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, but government 
enforcement was limited, in large part because of lack of resources.
    Certain ethnic groups, especially the Fulas and the Mandinkas, 
practiced FGM. The practice has increased as the Muslim population has 
grown and FGM was performed not only on adolescent girls, but also on 
babies as young as four months old. The Government has not outlawed the 
practice; however, a national committee and international and domestic 
NGOs continued to conduct a nationwide education campaign to discourage 
FGM.
    The law prohibits prostitution, but enforcement was weak.
    There is no law prohibiting sexual harassment, and sexual 
harassment was a problem.
    The law treats men and women equally and prohibits discrimination; 
however, discrimination against women was a problem, particularly in 
rural areas where traditional and Islamic law were dominant. Women were 
responsible for most work on subsistence farms and had limited access 
to education, especially in rural areas. Women did not have equal 
access to employment. Among certain ethnic groups, women cannot own or 
manage land or inherit property.

    Children.--The Government allocated limited resources for 
children's welfare and education. Public schooling was universal. 
However, attendance and quality of education were low due to lack of 
resources. Teachers were poorly trained and paid, sometimes not 
receiving salaries for months at a time. For economic reasons, children 
often were required to help families in the fields which often 
conflicted with schooling.
    FGM was performed commonly on young girls and sometimes even 
infants (see Section 5, Women).
    Child marriage occurred among all ethnic groups, but no reliable 
data existed to quantify the problem. Girls who fled arranged marriages 
often were forced into prostitution to support themselves. Local NGOs 
worked to protect the rights of women and children, and operated 
programs to fight child marriage and to protect the victims of child 
marriage. Ironically, observers noted during the year that NGO efforts 
to enroll more girls in school had a negative side effect on child 
marriages: more girls were forced to marry at a younger age because 
parents feared the social opportunities of school would increase the 
risk of their daughters losing their virginity before marriage.
    Child trafficking occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    There were street children in Bissau. The Child Protection Office 
of the Bissau Police Department estimated that approximately 1,000 
children were living on the streets, with a growing number of boys 
engaged in petty crime and forming gangs.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, and there were reports that children were trafficked from and 
within the country. Some boys sent from rural areas to attend Koranic 
schools in neighboring countries, primarily Senegal, were exploited, 
abused, and forced to beg to meet daily monetary quotas for their 
Koranic teachers known as marabouts. Girls were sometimes exploited as 
prostitutes; however, the extent of this problem was unknown.
    The Ministry of Interior has responsibility for antitrafficking 
efforts; however, the Government had no national plan to combat 
trafficking or the capability to monitor, interdict, or prosecute 
traffickers. The Government investigated at least two cases of child 
trafficking during the year, but did not prosecute anyone.
    The practice of buying and selling child brides also reportedly 
occurred on occasion.
    There were reports that customs, border guards, immigration 
officials, labor inspectors, or local police may have been bribed to 
facilitate such trafficking; however, no specific information was 
available. Other government officials, including police and border 
guards, worked closely with the Association of the Friends of Children 
and the UN Children's Fund to prevent trafficking, raise awareness, and 
repatriate victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities, nor mandate building 
access for them, nor provide for equal access to employment and 
education. However, there were no reports of overt societal 
discrimination. The Government made some efforts to assist military 
veterans with disabilities through pension programs, but these programs 
did not adequately address health, housing, and food needs.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all civilian workers 
with the freedom to form and join independent trade unions without 
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and all workers 
exercised this right in practice. A significant majority of the 
population worked in subsistence agriculture; only a small percentage 
of workers were in the wage sector and organized. Approximately 85 
percent of union members were government or parastatal employees, and 
they primarily belonged to independent unions.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, no 
workers alleged antiunion discrimination, and the practice was not 
believed to be widespread.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, but the 
Government did not always protect this right (see Section 2.b.).
    The law does not provide for or protect the right to bargain 
collectively; however, the tripartite National Council for Social 
Consultation conducted collective consultations on salary issues. Most 
wages were established in bilateral negotiations between workers and 
employers. There are no export processing zones.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right during the year. The law also prohibits retaliation against 
strikers. The only legal restriction on strike activity was a prior 
notice requirement.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were no specific laws that protected children from exploitation 
in the workplace, and child labor occurred. The legal minimum age is 14 
years for general factory labor and 18 years for heavy or dangerous 
labor, including all labor in mines. The small formal sector generally 
adhered to these minimum age requirements; however, the Ministry of 
Justice and the Ministry of Civil Service and Labor did not enforce 
these requirements in other sectors.
    Most child labor occurs in the informal sector. Children in cities 
often worked in street trading, and those in rural communities did 
domestic and field work without pay; children generally performed such 
labor to support families or because of a lack of educational 
opportunities. Some children were partially or completely withdrawn 
from school to work in the fields during the annual cashew harvest. The 
Government had not taken action to combat such practices by year's end. 
The Institute of Women and Children and the Ministries of Labor and 
Justice are responsible for protecting children from labor 
exploitation; however, there was no effective enforcement due to lack 
of a legal structure.
    Children were trafficked for purposes of labor exploitation (see 
Section 5, Trafficking).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Council of Ministers 
annually establishes minimum wage rates for all categories of work, but 
it did not enforce them. The lowest monthly wage was approximately $38 
(19,030 CFA) per month plus a bag of rice. This wage did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family, and workers had to 
supplement their incomes through other work, reliance on the extended 
family, and subsistence agriculture.
    The Government, which relies heavily on support from international 
donors for basic budget support, regularly fails to pay public servants 
in a timely manner, often with delays of several months.
    The law provides for a maximum 45-hour workweek, but the Government 
did not enforce this provision. The law also provides for overtime pay, 
provided that it does not exceed 200 hours per year, and a mandatory 
12-hour rest period between workdays.
    With the cooperation of the unions, the Ministries of Justice and 
Labor establish legal health and safety standards for workers, which 
the ANP then adopts into law; however, these standards were not 
enforced, and many persons worked under conditions that endangered 
their health and safety. Workers, including foreign workers, do not 
have the right to remove themselves from unsafe working conditions 
without losing their jobs.

                               __________

                                 KENYA

    Kenya, with a population of 34 million, is a republic dominated by 
a strong presidency. The President is both the chief of state and head 
of government. In 2002 citizens elected Mwai Kibaki of the opposition 
National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) as the country's third President. 
Kibaki succeeded Daniel Arap Moi, who led the former ruling party, the 
Kenya African National Union (KANU), and who served as President from 
1978 to 2002. During the 2002 general elections, KANU, which had 
controlled both the presidency and the parliament continuously since 
1963, lost its parliamentary majority to NARC, a coalition of more than 
a dozen political parties. Observers concluded that the elections 
reflected the popular will and were free and fair. While civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces, there were some instances in which the security forces, 
particularly the police, acted independently of government authority.
    The Government in many areas respected the human rights of its 
citizens or attempted to institute reforms to address deficiencies. 
However, serious problems remained, particularly with regard to abuses 
by the police. The following human rights problems were reported: 
unlawful killings, torture and use of excessive force by police; police 
impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; executive influence 
on the judiciary; incidents of disrespect for freedom of speech and the 
press; government corruption; abuse of and discrimination against 
women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child prostitution and labor; 
trafficking in persons; vigilante justice; interethnic violence; lack 
of enforcement of workers' rights.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically 
motivated killings during the year; however, security forces did commit 
arbitrary or unlawful killings. A High Court judge noted in a September 
report that the Government had not demonstrated a commitment to 
adequate investigation of cases of extrajudicial deaths.
    By year's end, a special committee of parliament had not yet 
released its May 2005 report implicating a former minister and several 
government officials in the 1990 murder of then foreign minister Robert 
Ouko.
    The Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU), a leading human rights 
nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported that 287 extrajudicial 
killings occurred during the year. The IMLU attributed the increase in 
killings to the Government's March 2005 ``shoot-to-kill'' directive. 
During the year 380 cases of torture were reported; 13 torture cases 
during the year resulted in death (see Section 1.c.). In addition, 19 
extrajudicial killings showed signs of torture.
    In June police killed two persons suspected of involvement in an 
attempted mugging. Police subsequently arrested a third person who fled 
the scene, named Odongo. Witnesses reported that Odongo, whose body was 
found at the city mortuary a month later, was uninjured when arrested. 
According to a postmortem done by IMLU, the cause of Odongo's death was 
two gunshots to the head. No action was taken against the perpetrators 
of the three killings.
    In September Pius Kiare was shot and killed by police at Kiambu 
police station after being arrested for possessing a gun. The IMLU 
concluded that Kiare also suffered injuries including a broken back and 
pelvic bone.
    Police continued their 2005 ``shoot-to-kill'' policy, and there 
were reports of summary police executions. In March 2005 the minister 
of internal security issued a ``shoot-to-kill'' order against anyone 
found in possession of an illegal firearm; later that month, the 
minister explained that he meant for officers only to defend themselves 
if fired upon. During the year security forces continued to assert that 
the ``shoot to kill'' policy was necessary because of the large number 
of firearms in the hands of criminals. Police claimed that criminals' 
frequent use of sophisticated weapons had increased the risks faced by 
police in performing their duties.
    In June 2005 the Parliamentary Committee on National Security 
summoned the commissioner of police to explain why the police had 
recently killed so many individuals. No reports had been published by 
year's end, and none were expected.
    There were many reports of police being killed and injured by armed 
criminals, but statistics were unavailable.
    Police killed numerous criminal suspects during the year. For 
example, on February 12, police in Kiambu shot and killed a suspected 
mugger. On March 14, police in Kisumu shot and killed seven would-be 
mattress thieves. On December 21, police shot and killed five suspected 
bank robbers in Nairobi. No action was taken against the perpetrators 
in any of the cases.
    There were no reported developments in the March 2005 case in which 
Nairobi police officers executed three robbery suspects, or in the May 
2005 killings by police of five unarmed men in separate incidents 
across the country.
    Police also killed civilians at checkpoints. For example, on July 
25, Nairobi police stopped three men at a checkpoint, ordered them from 
their vehicles, then shot and killed them while they knelt by the 
roadside.
    There were reports that persons died while in police custody or 
shortly thereafter, occasionally as a result of torture (see Section 
1.c.). For example, on January 30, the media reported that the families 
of two men had accused police in Mombasa of drowning the men after 
arresting them in connection with a drug investigation. Police 
officials stated they would open an inquest to investigate the deaths.
    According to a January 26 media report, murder suspect Wycliffe 
Ngare Onyancha died while in detention at the Nyamira police station. A 
doctor's examination determined the cause of death to be beatings to 
the chest, abdomen, and limbs. Although Onyancha's family petitioned 
the police to take action against the officers who interrogated him, no 
action had been taken against the police officers involved by year's 
end.
    Also in January a local member of parliament urged police to 
investigate the deaths of two robbery suspects. Local residents claimed 
the suspects died while in police custody; however, police claimed the 
suspects died while being transported to the hospital.
    The IMLU investigated the deaths during the year of at least three 
persons at the Sultan Hamud police station in Machakos District. The 
postmortem examinations found evidence of torture. The IMLU reported 
its results to the police commissioner; however, no action was taken 
against the officers.
    On March 17, two suspects were charged in the December 2005 killing 
of Hassan Ahmed Abdillahi, the Kenya Ports Authority District 
Investigation Officer. Abdillahi had been involved in the investigation 
of governmental corruption linked to international trafficking of 
narcotics and other contraband through the port.
    The 2004 murder trial of six prison guards accused of the 2000 
killings of six prisoners was ongoing. Press reports indicated that the 
trial had been adjourned nearly 20 times for a variety of reasons, 
including the transfer of the presiding judge.
    The trial of several wardens for their roles in the suspicious 
deaths of seven death row inmates in 2000 had been partly heard during 
the year and was scheduled to resume in January 2007.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that excessive 
force by the police to disperse demonstrations and strikes resulted in 
deaths.
    There were numerous instances of mob violence and vigilante 
justice. The great majority of victims killed by mobs were suspected of 
criminal activities, including robbery, killings, cattle rustling, and 
membership in terror gangs. The Government rarely made arrests or 
prosecuted the perpetrators of these acts.
    For example, the media reported in June that residents of Kisii had 
killed at least 20 persons over a three-month period during the year.
    On January 10, a mob in Nakuru beat to death two suspected 
carjackers.
    On January 12, passengers traveling on a mini bus near Nyeri beat 
to death a man who was allegedly attempting to rob them.
    On March 11, villagers in Karatina killed two alleged robbers by 
slitting their throats.
    There were no reports that official action was taken during the 
year against the perpetrators of the following 2005 cases of mob 
violence: the stoning death in Nairobi of a man caught sodomizing a 
minor and the killing of a man caught stealing in January; the April 
incident in which villagers in the Kiambu District killed a 17-year-
old-boy who was allegedly stealing household goods; the beating death 
of a man in Meru District who allegedly had sodomized a 13-year-old boy 
in April; the stoning death of a gang member in Kisumu in June; or the 
killing in Molo of a man who had burned his parents to death in August.
    Human rights observers attributed this vigilante violence to a lack 
of public confidence in police and the judicial process. In September 
the IMLU reported that community policing also contributed to the high 
incidence of mob violence. The social acceptability of mob violence 
also sometimes provided cover for personal vengeance and the settling 
of land disputes.
    Mob violence against individuals suspected of witchcraft was a 
problem, particularly in Kisii, Nyanza, and the Western Province. Human 
rights NGOs noted a reluctance among the public to report such cases 
due to fear of retribution. On June 26, a man and a woman who were 
suspected practitioners of witchcraft were killed by a mob in Kisii.
    Interethnic violence continued to cause numerous deaths (see 
Section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and the 
Government took steps to eliminate prisoner abuse. There continued to 
be documented instances of police using violence and torture during 
interrogations and as punishment of both pretrial detainees and 
convicted prisoners. According to the IMLU's 2005	2006 annual report, 
common methods of torture involved the use of whips, burning with 
cigarettes, and beatings by blunt force including gun butts and wooden 
clubs.
    Detainees frequently claimed that they had been tortured or abused, 
making it difficult to separate real from fabricated incidents. Human 
rights organizations, churches, and the press highlighted and 
criticized numerous cases of torture and several cases of 
indiscriminate police beatings. During the year the IMLU received 380 
cases alleging torture by security officers, compared to 397 
allegations received in 2005, although they noted this number was below 
the actual incidence. The IMLU reported that 13 torture cases resulted 
in death (see Section 1.a.).
    Because the police themselves were responsible for investigating 
and prosecuting most crimes, reports from the IMLU and other human 
rights organizations that provided evidence of torture by security 
forces were routinely ignored.
    A January media report stated that in December 2005 two men in 
Nyamira District were apprehended by police officers for murder. The 
two later died in police custody. Police officials charged that the men 
fainted during interrogation and died at the hospital where they were 
taken for treatment. A January 26 media report indicated that a post-
mortem examination of one of the men showed evidence of torture. There 
were no reports of action taken against the police.
    In February an inmate at Shimo la Tewa Prison in Mombasa was 
allegedly beaten by an officer. Although the inmate reported the case 
to the senior officers, no action was taken against the prison 
official. The IMLU intervened and the inmate was released.
    On June 20, municipal guards arrested Michael Okumu Kasera, a pro 
bono lawyer with the IMLU, accusing him of being a street hawker. The 
guards attempted to extort a bribe, which Kasera refused, and then 
proceeded to beat him, breaking his arm in the process. He was then 
taken to the Central Police Station. There were no reports of action 
taken against the guards or police.
    According to an April 6 media report, a police officer suspected of 
a July 2005 murder alleged during his murder trial that he had been 
tortured by 10 other policemen while in custody. There was no report of 
a separate investigation into the torture claims.
    On September 6, a human rights tribunal ordered the Government to 
pay journalist Peter Makori approximately $70,190 (5,053,671 shillings) 
for torture and illegal detention by the police in 2003 (see Section 
4).
    The IMLU's investigation into the case of Salim Elijah Masinde 
failed to find evidence of torture. Masinde, an inmate since 1988 in 
Kamiti Prison, reported in February 2005 that he had been severely 
beaten while in custody.
    Police occasionally used excessive force to disperse demonstrations 
and strikes, which resulted in injuries (see Section 2.b.).
    Police occasionally abused street children (see Section 5). The 
Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) issued a report 
during the year that noted that street children formed cooperatives in 
which each member contributed regularly to a fund to bribe police.
    There were allegations of rape by security forces, including the 
rapes of women in prisons and refugee camps. There were no known 
investigations conducted during the year regarding the June 2005 
complaints that soldiers raped women as they were evicting them from 
illegal settlements in the Mau forest earlier in the month.
    On January 6, villagers beat a man and woman in Taita-Taveta for 
allegedly having practiced witchcraft. The victims were reportedly 
hired to use witchcraft to ``cleanse'' the village, but residents 
eventually accused the couple of using sorcery against the villagers 
instead. Police responded and saved the couple from further injury.
    There were no further developments in the March 2005 case in which 
a couple in Kakamega District was arrested for possessing traditional 
charms and subsequently released on bond or in the December 2005 case 
in which two persons appeared in court for allegedly killing two family 
members whom they suspected of practicing witchcraft.
    Societal acts of violence, including rape, banditry, and shootings, 
occurred frequently near refugee camps (see Section 2.d.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
continued to be harsh and life-threatening, although the Government 
attempted to make some improvements. Most prisons, particularly the 
men's facilities, continued to be severely overcrowded. In March 93 
prisons housed more than 50,000 inmates, more than three times their 
intended capacity of 16,000. Meru prison had three times more inmates 
than its intended capacity. As of February, Thika prison, built for a 
population of 300, housed 966 inmates. A backlog of cases in the 
judicial system also contributed to prison overcrowding (see Section 
1.d.). On August 4, Vice President Moody Awori announced the 
Government's plan to hire more judges and magistrates to expedite 
cases, and to expand the community service order program used to 
sentence petty offenders to community service, rather than confinement. 
Implementation of this program was too slow to effectively address 
overcrowding, although Awori stated on July 31 that 56,000 offenders 
had benefited from it.
    Reforms improved conditions in some prisons. In early September the 
prisons department established a health unit to improve the delivery of 
health services to inmates. Some facilities offered access to academic 
classes, enabling a number of prisoners to sit for national exams, or 
vocational training, such as carpentry or tailoring. Charitable 
associations organized occasional medical clinics for inmates.
    Prisoners generally received three meals per day, but portions were 
inadequate, and prisoners were sometimes given half rations as 
punishment. Water shortages continued to be a problem.
    Civil society organizations began visiting prisons in 2003, and 
these visits continued to reveal harsh conditions as well as 
allegations by prisoners of inhumane treatment and torture. Such 
treatment, perpetrated by police, prison guards, and inmates at times 
resulted in deaths (see Section 1.d.).
    Prison personnel stated that rapes of both male and female inmates, 
primarily by fellow inmates, continued to be a problem. A June 26 media 
report indicated that it was not uncommon for prison officials to rape 
female inmates. Experts believed the incidence of HIV infection to be 
increasing among the prison population, although statistics were 
difficult to obtain because there were no voluntary counseling or 
testing services in most prisons. Hundreds of prisoners died annually 
from infectious diseases caused by overcrowding and inadequate medical 
treatment. For example, on July 21, a court ruled that the 2004 deaths 
of five prisoners at Meru G. K. Prison were a result of prison 
overcrowding, that prison conditions had been inhumane, and that the 
Government should expand the prison.
    Prisoners sometimes were kept in solitary confinement far longer 
than the legal maximum of 90 days. Prisoners and detainees sometimes 
were denied the right to contact relatives or lawyers. Family members 
who visited prisoners faced numerous bureaucratic and physical 
obstacles, each often requiring a bribe to overcome. An NGO reported 
that citizens were more likely to face extortion attempts by members of 
the prison service than by employees of any other government agency. On 
May 29, Vice President Moody Awori, who was responsible for the prison 
system in his capacity as minister for home affairs, acknowledged that 
bribery occurred throughout the country's jails and prisons.
    There were no developments in the ongoing trial of three prison 
guards charged with helping 28 pretrial detainees escape from Naivasha 
prison.
    There were no separate facilities for minors in pretrial detention. 
At year's end, there were no known developments in the August 2005 
petition by 31 pretrial detainees in Embu prison to separate young boys 
from their adult counterparts because of allegations of sodomy in the 
cells. A February 2005 media report noted that High Court judges 
touring King'ong'o maximum security prison discovered several minors, 
one only 15 years old, serving long sentences among adult prisoners. 
The judges ordered the prison to provide information on the minors' 
convictions and imprisonment in order to conduct a review, but there 
were no known developments in the review during the year. In January a 
judiciary subcommittee report recommended that judges and magistrates 
visit prisons regularly to ensure that children are not confined with 
adult inmates.
    A number of children under the age of four lived with their mothers 
in the 14 prisons for women. Nationwide data were unavailable, but two 
prisons, Nyeri and Thika, housed 27 and 12 children, respectively.
    The KNCHR, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC), had the authority to inspect prison facilities on demand at any 
time, but the Government did not permit consistent independent 
monitoring of prison conditions. During the year the KNCHR conducted 19 
visits, the IMLU conducted five visits, and the Oscar Foundation Free 
Legal Aid Clinic Kenya conducted one visit; there were no ICRC visits. 
Members of the media were selectively allowed visits.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arrest or 
detention absent a court order unless there is reasonable suspicion of 
a suspect having committed, or being about to commit, a criminal 
offense under the law; however, police occasionally arrested and 
detained citizens arbitrarily.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There was a large 
internal security apparatus that included the police's Criminal 
Investigation Department (CID), the National Security Intelligence 
Service (NSIS), the national police, the administration police, and the 
paramilitary General Services Unit. The CID investigates criminal 
activity, and the NSIS collects intelligence and monitors persons 
considered subversive. These security forces are under the authority of 
the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and National 
Security in the Office of the President. There was a public perception 
that police often were involved or complicit in criminal activity.
    The results of a public perception survey released July 5 and 
conducted by the Kenya Anticorruption Commission (KACC) found that 86.3 
percent of citizens considered the police the most corrupt government 
institution. The NGO Transparency International (TI) reported the same 
finding in its Kenya Bribery Index 2006, which stated that extortion by 
police increased in 2005, in contrast with the improvements reported 
from 2003 to 2004. The average bribe amount, however, decreased 
dramatically from approximately $152 (10,831 shillings) in 2004 to $20 
(1,465 shillings) in 2005, a decrease which TI attributed to reforms in 
the public transportation sector.
    On August 15, The Nation reported that 19 traffic police officers 
had been arrested for accepting bribes.
    On September 5, a policeman in Nakuru was sentenced to four years 
in prison for taking a bribe of approximately $70 (5,000 shillings) to 
terminate a criminal case. On November 7, his appeal was denied.
    Police, in collusion with prosecutors, resorted to unexplained 
illegal confinements, extortion, torture, and highly questionable and 
fabricated charges as a cover-up for malpractice.
    Impunity was a problem. Police officers were only occasionally 
arrested and prosecuted for corruption or for using excessive force. 
Authorities sometimes attributed the absence of an investigation into 
corruption or an unlawful killing to the failure of citizens to file 
official complaints. However, the required complaint form was available 
only at police stations, and there was considerable public skepticism 
of a process that assigned the investigation of police abuse to the 
police themselves.
    During the year the Government took some steps to curb abuses of 
authority by police. In August the police commissioner inaugurated and 
deployed a special police squad that included undercover detectives 
whose mandate was to combat corruption in the police force during 
traffic stops. The Government arrested and charged some police officers 
for various offenses, including corruption, although the Government did 
not provide details on how many of these indicted police officers were 
tried, acquitted, convicted, or imprisoned.

    Arrest and Detention.--Individuals may be apprehended on suspicion 
since police may make arrests without a warrant. By law, detainees must 
be brought before a court within 24 hours in noncapital offenses and 
within 14 days in capital cases; the penal code specifically excludes 
weekends and holidays from this 14-day period. While persons who are 
charged may be released on bail with a bond or other assurance of the 
suspect's return, many indigent pretrial detainees could not afford 
bail.
    Although the law provides families and attorneys access to pretrial 
detainees, security forces rarely allowed access in practice (see 
Section 1.c.).
    The law does not stipulate the period within which the trial of a 
charged suspect must begin. Police from the arresting location are 
responsible for serving court summons and for picking up detainees from 
the prison each time the courts hear their cases. Police often failed 
to show up or lacked the means to transport the detainees, who then 
were forced to await the next hearing of their case.
    Arbitrary arrest was a problem. Police often arrested citizens with 
the sole purpose of extorting bribes.
    On January 13, the internal security minister stated that the 
Government would continue operations to arrest and crack down on 
members of the Mungiki, a banned cultural, religious, and political 
movement and criminal protection racket based in part on Kikuyu 
religious traditions. Police arrested more than 250 suspected members 
on January 30, approximately 100 on February 3, and approximately 800 
in December.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
arbitrarily arrested persons demonstrating against the parliament.
    Lengthy pretrial detention continued to be a serious problem that 
contributed to overcrowding in prisons. In February, 65 percent of 
inmates in Thika prison were in remand. In 2005 the backlog of judicial 
cases resulted in a daily average of 21,474 pretrial detainees being 
held, constituting nearly 45 percent of the total prison population. 
The Government claimed the average time spent by suspects in pretrial 
detention on capital charges was approximately 16 months; however, many 
detainees spent more than three years in prison before their trials 
were completed. Very few could afford attorneys. The Government 
acknowledged cases in which persons were held in pretrial detention for 
several years.
    On April 19, four men who had been in remand for 11 years were 
released after being acquitted of murder charges.

    Amnesty.--In July the Government released nearly 8,000 prisoners to 
ease prison congestion.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the executive branch often 
influenced the judiciary. In December the African Peer Review Mechanism 
reported a ``visible lack of independence of the judiciary'' in the 
country.
    The President has extensive powers over appointments, including 
those of the Attorney General, the chief justice, and appeal and High 
Court judges. The President also can dismiss judges and the Attorney 
General upon the recommendation of a special tribunal appointed by the 
President. Although judges have life tenure (except for a very few 
foreign judges hired by contract), the President has extensive 
authority over transfers. In January a judiciary subcommittee 
recommended increased transparency in the process of filling judges' 
positions.
    Reforms begun in 2003 reduced corruption in the judiciary to some 
extent, but were criticized for coming up short. Of 23 judges suspended 
in 2003, 16 took early retirement. Of seven who were to face tribunals, 
one was cleared of any wrongdoing, one was awaiting a verdict, one was 
reinstated by the President, and four had yet to begin proceedings. In 
March 2005 the chief justice formed a committee to probe complaints 
against the judiciary. There were reports during the year that the 
committee was investigating members of the judiciary for unethical 
conduct, but the results of these investigations were not made public. 
In August the Ministry of Justice announced it would form a public 
complaints unit, noting that corruption had contributed to the 
judiciary's inability to adequately protect human rights. By year's end 
the unit was holding weekly sessions during which the public could file 
complaints with the ministry's director of human rights affairs.
    The Government occasionally used the legal system to harass 
government critics; some civil society organizations reported that the 
anticorruption commission was used for this purpose.
    The court system consists of a Court of Appeals, a High Court, and 
two levels of magistrate courts, where most criminal and civil cases 
originated. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. The 
chief justice is a member of both the Court of Appeals and the High 
Court. All judges in the Court of Appeals and the High Court are 
appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Judicial Service 
Commission; magistrates are hired by the commission. Criminal law 
trials are conducted by magistrate courts, while the High Court and 
Court of Appeals hear appeals. Civil cases may be heard by any of the 
courts, depending on the nature of the case.

    Trial Procedures.--Civilians are tried publicly, although some 
testimony may be given in closed session. The law provides for a 
presumption of innocence, and defendants have the right to attend their 
trials, to confront witnesses, and to present witnesses and evidence. 
Civilians also can appeal a verdict to the High Court and ultimately to 
the Court of Appeals. Judges hear all cases. In treason and murder 
cases, the deputy registrar of the High Court can appoint three 
assessors to sit with the High Court judge. The assessors are taken 
from all walks of life and receive a sitting allowance for the case. 
Although the assessors render verdicts, their judgments are not 
binding. Defendants' lawyers can object to the appointments of specific 
assessors.
    Defendants do not have the right to government-provided legal 
counsel except in capital cases. For lesser charges free legal aid 
rarely was available and then only in Nairobi and other major cities 
where some human rights organizations, notably the Federation of Women 
Lawyers, assured that it was provided. As a result, poor persons may be 
convicted for lack of an adequate defense. Defense lawyers do not 
always have access to government-held evidence in advance of a trial. 
The Government may plead the State Security Secrets Law as a basis for 
withholding evidence, and local officials sometimes classified 
documents to hide the guilt of government officials. Court fees for 
filing and hearing cases were high for ordinary citizens. The daily 
rate of at least $28 (2,040 shillings) for arguing a civil case before 
a judge was beyond the reach of most citizens.
    The law provides for Islamic courts that use Shari'a (Islamic law) 
and states that the ``jurisdiction of a Kadhi's court shall extend to 
the determination of questions of Muslim law relating to personal 
status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance in proceedings in which all 
the parties profess the Muslim religion.'' There are no other 
traditional courts in the country. The national courts used the law of 
an ethnic group as a guide in civil matters as long as it did not 
conflict with statutory law. This occurred most often in cases that 
involved marriage, death, and inheritance issues and in which there was 
an original contract founded in traditional law. Citizens may choose 
between national and traditional law when they enter into marriage or 
other contracts; however, thereafter the courts determine which kind of 
law governs the enforcement of the contract. Some women's organizations 
sought to eliminate traditional law, arguing that it was biased in 
favor of men (see Section 5).
    Military personnel are tried by military court-martial, and 
verdicts may be appealed through military court channels. The chief 
justice appoints attorneys for military personnel on a case-by-case 
basis.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Kenya National 
Commission on Human Rights has the power of a court. It can issue 
summonses or other orders. If satisfied that an infringement on human 
rights has taken place, it can order the release of a prisoner or 
detainee, payment of compensation, or other lawful remedy.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, except 
``to promote public benefit''; however, authorities sometimes infringed 
on citizens' privacy rights. The law permits police to enter a home 
forcibly if the time required to obtain a search warrant would 
prejudice the investigation. Although security officers generally 
obtained search warrants, they occasionally conducted searches without 
warrants to apprehend suspected criminals or to seize property believed 
stolen. Police and the intelligence service continued to 
professionalize and modernize and to limit actions that could qualify 
as interference.
    On January 4, the Government completed the eviction from the Mau 
forest of approximately 600 squatters who had returned to the area 
after the Government evicted approximately 10,200 of them in June 2005 
for living illegally on protected lands. Unlike in the previous year, 
there were no reports that security forces raped some of the evictees. 
Although some of the 2005 evictees had title deeds, the Government 
claimed that the deeds were issued years ago as political patronage in 
violation of the law. The Government's resettlement plan had not been 
implemented by year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government sometimes 
restricted these rights in practice. Security forces harassed, beat, or 
arrested members of the media during the year. There were credible 
reports that journalists practiced self-censorship.
    The Government occasionally interpreted existing laws to restrict 
freedom of expression. The legal prohibition of debates on issues under 
court consideration and a parliamentary ruling against debates on 
certain aspects of Presidential conduct limited the scope of 
deliberation on a number of political issues. The Government monitors 
many types of civil meetings that would be considered outside the 
purview of more open societies and individuals were not always allowed 
to criticize the Government publicly without reprisal.
    The media remained independent despite both verbal and physical 
attacks on it by members of the Government and security forces. The 
mainstream print media included four daily newspapers that reported on 
national politics and occasionally criticized the Government. There 
also were numerous independent tabloid periodicals that appeared 
irregularly and were highly critical of the Government. Reporting in 
these tabloids ranged from revealing insider reports to unsubstantiated 
rumor mongering.
    Of the several television stations operating in Nairobi, the 
government-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) was the only 
station with a national network of broadcast and cable television, AM 
and FM radio, and short-wave broadcasts. Although KBC coverage 
continued to become more balanced, its monopoly on national 
broadcasting continued to limit the ability of opposition leaders and 
other critics of the Government to communicate with the electorate 
outside the capital. Stations owned by other media companies, including 
12 radio stations, operated primarily along the country's central 
corridor and more densely populated adjacent regions.
    The international media remained free to operate; 120 international 
correspondents worked in the country, and approximately 100 media 
organizations reported out of Nairobi. There were three international 
FM broadcasters in Nairobi: Radio France International, Voice of 
America, and the BBC.
    On April 22, a cabinet subcommittee proposed limits on individual 
shares in media houses, which media outlets viewed as an attempt by the 
Government to deal with a hostile press.
    During the year government officials repeatedly accused local media 
of being irresponsible and disseminating misinformation. Journalists 
continued to be susceptible to harassment, intimidation, and arrest. 
For example, in late February two journalists worked for the Standard 
were arrested for writing an allegedly false story about a meeting 
between President Kibaki and opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka. On 
February 28, the Government demanded a retraction of the story. On 
September 29, the case against the journalists was dismissed.
    On March 2, two days after the two Standard journalists were 
arrested, security forces raided the Standard newspaper and its sister 
television station, Kenyan Television Network, destroying equipment, 
confiscating computers, and burning copies of the next day's paper. Two 
Standard staff members were taken into custody but later released 
without charge. The minister for provincial administration and national 
security stated that the attack had been warranted on security grounds 
and would be repeated if necessary. At year's end, the Government had 
held no one responsible for the raid, which sparked widespread public 
condemnation of the Government's attack on media freedom. Experts 
reported that the attack did not appear to intimidate the media, which 
continued to criticize the Government.
    On February 22, 11 persons associated with the Weekly Citizen were 
charged with publishing an alarming story. They were released on bond 
and their cases were pending at year's end.
    On April 26, the speaker of the house banned Royal Media House from 
covering parliament's proceedings after Citizen Radio (part of Royal 
Media) broadcast a program that unfavorably depicted members of 
parliament.
    On August 16, the Government withdrew its case against a Kenya 
Times writer and editor who had been arrested in September 2005 for 
publishing an opinion piece that officials considered inflammatory.
    In a November 17 ruling, the court upheld the dismissal of a 2005 
suit filed by a journalist from the Nation against First Lady Lucy 
Kibaki; in May 2005 Kibaki forcibly entered the Nation media house to 
protest negative press coverage and assaulted a television journalist 
and damaged his camera.
    On February 17, a journalist with the People Daily newspaper was 
sentenced to six months in prison for ``publishing an ``alarming 
story'' in 1999 about militiamen robbing elite guards. The judge ruled 
the article could have caused fear among the people.
    The media bill requires publishers to purchase a bond of $12,800 
(one million shillings) before printing any publication and to deposit 
copies of their newspapers and books with a registrar within two weeks 
of publication. The law criminalizes the sale or distribution of 
publications not deposited or bonded, under penalty of a fine of $256 
(21,000 shillings) or six months' imprisonment. Some members of the 
media were concerned that the Government would use this law, as well as 
the Books and Newspapers Act and the Official Secrets Act, to stifle 
freedom of expression; however, the law was not strictly enforced.
    The regulatory framework for broadcast media continued to allow 
abuse and manipulation in the issuance, withholding, and revoking of 
broadcast permits and frequencies.
    On March 10, a court ruled that the frequency assigned to the East 
African Television Network had been blocked unfairly by the Government 
in an effort to deny the station a broadcasting license.
    Individual journalists practiced self-censorship due to both 
pressure and bribes from government officials and other influential 
persons to avoid reporting on issues that could harm the interests of 
these persons or expose their alleged wrongdoings. There also were 
credible reports that journalists accepted payments to report certain 
stories, some of which were fabricated.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that individuals 
associated with government officials used criminal libel laws to 
intimidate journalists and publications.
    Sedition was not grounds for censorship of publications; however, 
the Prohibited Publications Review Board reviewed publication bans. A 
number of publications remained banned, including such works as the 
Quotations of Chairman Mao Zedong and Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Public access to the Internet was limited in rural areas with a less 
developed infrastructure. During the year the Ministry of 
Communications estimated that 1.5 million citizens used the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and there were fewer reports than in the previous year that the 
Government restricted this right. Organizers must notify the local 
police in advance of planned public meetings, and authorities may 
cancel such gatherings only if there are simultaneous meetings 
previously scheduled for the same venue or if there are specific 
security threats.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, although there were fewer 
such reports than in the previous year. For example, on December 5, 
police used tear gas to disperse a demonstration of opposition leaders.
    On May 18, police freed 38 persons charged with incitement 
following clashes during an October 2005 rally in Kisumu that resulted 
in the deaths of four persons.
    At year's end, the Government had not prosecuted any police 
officers for four deaths that occurred at a November 2005 rally in 
Kisumu after police disrupted the rally for being held without 
permission. Police did not publicly respond to a KNCHR report alleging 
their responsibility.
    No action was taken against security forces that used excessive 
force to disperse demonstrations in 2005 and 2004.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. The Societies Act requires that every association be 
registered or exempted from registration by the registrar of societies. 
Approximately 40 political parties were registered. There were reports 
that new parties encountered difficulties in registering during the 
year.
    The 2002 ban on membership in Mungiki remained in effect. In 
previous years the Mungiki espoused political views and cultural 
practices that were controversial in mainstream society; many of its 
members engaged in criminal activities, particularly in the public 
transportation sector, and harassed and intimidated residents in areas 
where the group was active. The number of Mungiki members was unknown, 
but the group had a significant following among the unemployed and 
other marginalized segments of society. Other groups that remained 
banned included the Kamjesh, Chinnololo, Sanina Youth, Baghdad Boys, 
Jehila Embakai, Jeshi la Mzee, Nmachuma, and the Taliban.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. There was considerable tolerance among religious groups; 
however, some Muslims believed they were treated as second-class 
citizens in the predominantly Christian country. In a 2004 human rights 
survey, only 7percent of citizens listed limited freedom of worship as 
a problem; however, in the majority Muslim Coast Province, 31 percent 
perceived freedom of religion to be insufficiently protected.
    The Government required religious organizations to register with 
the registrar of societies. The Government allowed traditional 
indigenous religious organizations to register, although many chose not 
to do so. Religious organizations generally received equal treatment 
from the Government; however, some small splinter groups found it 
difficult to register due to their inability to define their status as 
more than an offshoot of a larger religious organization.
    According to Muslim leaders, authorities rigorously scrutinized the 
identification cards of persons with Muslim surnames, particularly 
ethnic Somalis, and sometimes required additional documentation of 
citizenship, such as birth certificates of parents and even 
grandparents. The Government stated that the heightened scrutiny was an 
attempt to deter illegal immigration rather than to discriminate 
against ethnic Somalis or their religious affiliation.
    Witchcraft was illegal but still practiced (see Section 1.c.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of 
religious groups. The Jewish community constituted less than 1 percent 
of the population, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Police routinely stopped vehicles and checked vehicle safety and 
driver documents on roads throughout the country. Police often 
committed extortion at such checkpoints. Ethnic Somalis were required 
to provide additional identification (see Section 2.c.).
    Civil servants and members of parliament must obtain government 
permission for international travel, which generally was granted.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it 
in practice. However, John Githongo, who resigned in 2005 as the 
Government's highest anticorruption official (see Section 3), remained 
in self-imposed exile outside of the country out of fear for his 
safety.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--An unknown proportion of the 
several thousand persons displaced by ethnic clashes from the 1990s to 
the present had not returned to their homes due to fear of renewed 
violence. The Government provided shelter, food, and transport to IDPs, 
and coordinated support services with NGOs, particularly the Kenya Red 
Cross (KRC) and church charities. The Government resettled some IDPs in 
land formerly belonging to the state in Rift Valley and Coast 
Provinces. There are no reliable figures for the number of IDPs 
assisted or resettled, but the KRC provided assistance of emergency 
shelter and to roughly 7,000 persons fleeing the Turbi massacre in 
Marsabit. In addition, victims of the November/December floods received 
shelter, food, and other assistance from the KRC.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government had not established a legal system for providing protection 
to refugees. The Government generally provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government also voluntarily hosted approximately 
240,000 refugees in cooperation with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and recognized UNHCR refugee status 
determinations. Unlike in the previous year, no refugees were deported. 
In July 2005 approximately 17,000 Somalis fled temporarily to El Wak in 
the northeast, escaping an outbreak of clan violence in Gedo, Somalia; 
no members of the group were granted refugee status. Most returned 
voluntarily to Somalia.
    The Government did not accept refugees for resettlement in the 
country. The Government worked closely with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugee resettlement to other 
countries. The Government adheres to the 1951 Convention; however, it 
does not offer any prospects of local integration.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 
Protocol. UNHCR did not seek temporary protection for such individuals 
in 2006; however, there were some residual cases remaining from the 
Gatumba massacre survivors, who traveled on Burundi travel documents 
for medical and other--mostly resettlement--assistance.
    The Government required that all refugees reside and remain at 
designated UNHCR camps, most of which were located near the Somali and 
Sudanese borders, unless granted permission to live elsewhere in the 
country. Such permission was given primarily to attend higher education 
institutions, undergo medical treatment, or avoid security threats at 
the camps.
    Security at refugee camps, which markedly improved due to increased 
police presence during the year, remained a problem, particularly at 
the Kakuma camp, where rape was among the most frequently reported 
crimes. Rapes occurred when women and girls left the camps to herd 
goats and collect water or firewood. Most rapes were perpetrated by 
other refugees and some by members of the local community. Security 
forces were also responsible for a small number of the rapes.
    Security problems in refugee camps also resulted from persecution 
of Muslim converts to Christianity, community pressure regarding 
opposition to FGM, forced marriages particularly of young Sudanese 
girls, and family objections to out-of-clan marriage, which often 
resulted in the kidnapping of spouses and children. The UNHCR requested 
increased police presence in the identified troubled areas.
    According to the UNHCR, the incidence of rape in two camps 
sheltering 240,000 Somali, Sudanese, and other refugees had declined 
from 94 in 2000 to 19 in 2004, a rate of .08 per thousand persons. At 
some camps, such as Dadaab, refugees formed committees to combat such 
abuse with some success, although women and children remained 
vulnerable to rape, abuse, and exploitation.
    To further reduce incidences of sexual abuse in these camps, in 
2005 15 relief agencies began implementing the provisions of a 2004 
code of conduct for humanitarian workers in refugee programs. Incidents 
of reported rapes and gender-based violence continued to decrease 
during the year.
    Acts of violence, including banditry and shootings, occurred 
frequently near the camps, as well as elsewhere in the weapons-rich, 
resource-poor provinces where the camps were located. Refugees were 
mistreated and abused by citizens and by residents of other refugee 
camps because of ethnic and religious differences. Interclan violence 
occasionally erupted among rival Somali clans at the camps; Somali 
refugees who married non-Muslims or openly espoused religions other 
than Islam were subject to abuse.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government through free and fair multiparty elections, and citizens 
exercised this right through periodic, free, and fair elections held on 
the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Since independence in 1963, 
KANU had continuously controlled both the presidency and the 
parliament. The 2002 elections were the country's third multiparty 
elections for Presidential, parliamentary, and civic seats. Five 
Presidential candidates contested the elections, with the main 
contestants being KANU candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and NARC candidate Mwai 
Kibaki. NARC was a coalition of more than a dozen political parties, 
including former members of KANU, who formed a united front to contest 
the December general elections. Kibaki won 61.9 percent of the vote, 
and international observers determined the elections were peaceful, 
free, and fair.
    In the 2002 elections, 210 members of the 222-member parliament 
were elected, and 12 were appointed.
    Five by-elections were held on July 24. Observers concluded that 
the by-elections were carried out methodically and transparently, 
without instances of violence or intimidation on election day. There 
were, however, credible reports that government officials misused state 
resources for partisan campaigning and that political party 
representatives on all sides attempted to bribe voters.
    On March 21, parliament convened for the first time since President 
Kibaki suspended it in November 2005, citing his legal authority to do 
so. Parliament's suspension was followed by the December 2005 
reconstitution of the cabinet, which excluded a number of former 
ministers who had opposed him during the legal referendum.
    In June 2005 KANU filed a lawsuit alleging that the President 
violated the law by naming ministers without the parties' consent. The 
lawsuit was pending at year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 and 2004 cases of criminal 
youth gangs who attacked political figures.
    There were 15 women in the 222-seat parliament and eight female 
ministers and assistant ministers in the 83-member cabinet.
    There were 189 members of the country's five largest ethnic groups 
in the 222-seat parliament. There were 18 minority ministers and 
assistant ministers in the expanded December 2005 cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Incidents of government 
corruption and frequent press reports fueled a widespread public 
perception that large-scale corruption at the highest levels of 
government and in parliament persisted and that little official action 
had been taken against the most corrupt.
    In January John Githongo, the former permanent secretary for 
governance and ethics known as the anticorruption czar, released a 
report providing details of a massive corruption scandal, Anglo 
Leasing, which took place during the current administration. The 
Githongo report was followed by the February publication of a report on 
the Goldenberg scandal under the Moi government. Both reports 
implicated a number of former and current government officials, 
renewing public frustration that little progress had been made to 
improve the country's record on corruption. Although three sitting 
ministers resigned following their inclusion in the reports, the High 
Court subsequently declared one minister immune from prosecution due to 
protection from double jeopardy. Githongo abruptly resigned in February 
2005 while on an official overseas trip. In December 2005 President 
Kibaki eliminated the position of permanent secretary for ethics and 
governance during restructuring of the cabinet.
    The Government created the KACC in 2003 and appointed a chairman 
and other staff in 2004. In March, 100 officers who had been suspended 
in December 2005 for taking bribes during a police recruitment program 
were reinstated. According to a media report, the police commissioner 
announced on March 15 that the matter had been dealt with internally.
    In October 2005 the Government enacted the Public Procurement and 
Disposal Act, which provides for a procurement oversight board. The 
board was not operational by year's end.
    Despite laws and institutions intended to fight corruption, no 
ministers or assistant ministers were arrested or suspended from office 
by year's end. In February the KNCHR and TI published a report, 
``Living Large,'' that detailed instances of wasteful government 
expenditures, focusing on the purchase of luxury vehicles by officials 
in the current government. In response the finance minister announced 
in his annual budget speech that the Government would adopt the 
report's recommendations and prohibit almost all private use of 
official vehicles. Top officials of ministries and parastatal 
organizations were required to surrender all official vehicles in 
excess of one. At year's end only a few vehicles had been turned in.
    On July 7, KACC issued a report on public perception that noted 
that citizens believed graft was rampant and entrenched in government 
culture.
    Although the law does not provide for it, access to government 
information, particularly through the Internet, improved during the 
year. The Government spokesman's briefings were televised and updates 
to many government websites were prompt. A promised biographic database 
of all members of parliament, however, remained stalled.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. With the exception of 
the police, government officials were usually cooperative and 
responsive to the queries of these groups. However, there were some 
reports that government officials intimidated and threatened to disrupt 
NGO activities, and that less-established NGOs (particularly those in 
rural areas) were subjected to interference from provincial 
administrators and security forces.
    Approximately 15 domestic organizations actively advocated for 
human rights in the country; 14 were independent of the Government. 
Several NGOs maintained comprehensive files on local human rights 
abuses. A number of attorneys represented the indigent and human rights 
advocates without compensation, although they could handle only a small 
percentage of those who needed assistance and were concentrated chiefly 
in Nairobi and other large cities. The Government allowed human rights 
organizations to witness autopsies of persons who died in police 
custody.
    The Institute for Education in Democracy and other NGOs monitored 
the July by-elections in cooperation with the Electoral Commission, the 
KNCHR, and diplomatic missions.
    A number of human rights organizations, including the Kenya Human 
Rights Commission (KHRC), the MLU, and the KNCHR, produced both regular 
reports cataloguing the human rights situation in the country and 
special reports on pressing human rights problems.
    In April and May 2005, several peaceful assemblies organized by the 
KHRC were violently disrupted in spite of the KHRC having informed the 
police in advance as required by the Public Order Act. Several staff 
members were arrested and charged with participating in unlawful 
assemblies. The cases were pending at year's end.
    The KNCHR has the status of an appeals court and can issue summons, 
order the release of prisoners, and require compensation for human 
rights abuses. On September 6, the organization's first human rights 
tribunal ordered the Government to pay journalist Peter Makori 
approximately $70,190 (5,053,671 shillings) for torture and illegal 
detention by the police in 2003.
    During the year there were reports that the Government intended to 
restrict the freedom of civil society and other watchdog organizations. 
In September the KNCHR came under investigation by the KACC for alleged 
financial irregularities. The KNCHR attributed the crackdown to the 
Government's discomfort with the organization's watchdog role. In April 
media reported that a cabinet subcommittee recommended placing NGOs 
under closer supervision to safeguard the Government's public image. 
The Nation reported in July that the finance minister proposed to bring 
three independent government commissions, including the KNCHR, under 
closer control to protect the public from ``rogue organizations.'' In 
September 40 civil society organizations accused the Government of 
using anticorruption mechanisms to silence critics.
    On March 13, the Government published the Parliamentary Human 
Rights Handbook to help members of parliament better fulfill their role 
as protectors of human rights. The Kenya Chapter of the International 
Commission of Jurists prepared the book.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the basis of a 
person's ``race, tribe, place of origin or residence, or other local 
connection, political opinions, color, or creed''; however, government 
authorities did not enforce effectively many of these provisions. There 
was also evidence that some government officials at least tolerated and 
in some instances instigated ethnic violence.

    Women.--Although all forms of violence against women are 
prohibited, domestic violence against women was a serious and 
widespread problem. The penal code does not contain specific provisions 
against domestic violence, but treats it as an assault. Police 
generally would not investigate in cases of domestic violence, which 
they considered private family matters. The 2004 Kenya Demographic and 
Health Survey revealed that more than half of women had experienced 
domestic violence after the age of 15 years. Wife beating was prevalent 
and largely condoned by much of society. NGOs, including the Law 
Society of Kenya, provided free legal assistance to victims of domestic 
violence.
    On July 14, President Kibaki signed into law the Sexual Offenses 
Act, which criminalized rape, defilement, child pornography and sex 
tourism, and sexual harassment; the law had not been implemented by 
year's end.
    The new law maintained the existing penalty of up to life 
imprisonment for rape, although actual sentences usually were no longer 
than 10 years. The law established minimum sentences for both rape and 
defilement, with higher penalties for the latter. The rate of 
prosecution remained low because of cultural inhibitions against 
publicly discussing sex, a fear of retribution against victims, the 
disinclination of police to intervene in domestic disputes, and the 
unavailability of doctors who otherwise might provide the necessary 
evidence for conviction. Moreover, traditional culture permitted a 
husband to discipline his wife by physical means. Neither the new law 
nor previously existing laws specifically prohibit spousal rape.
    According to police statistics, there were 2,736 rapes nationwide 
during the year compared with 2,867 reported in 2005. Available 
statistics underreported the problem, since social mores discouraged 
women from going outside their families or ethnic groups to report 
sexual abuse. Human rights groups estimated that over 16,000 rapes were 
perpetrated annually.
    The law prohibits FGM, but is still practiced, particularly in 
rural areas. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 32 percent 
of women had undergone FGM. In 2004 an international conference on FGM 
in Nairobi reported that of the country's 42 ethnic groups, only four 
(the Luo, Luhya, Teso, and Turkana, comprising 25 percent of the 
country's population) did not traditionally practice FGM. According to 
the NGO Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (Development of Women), the percentage of 
girls undergoing the procedure was 80 to 90 percent in some districts 
of the Eastern, Nyanza, and Rift Valley provinces. There were more 
public awareness and programs to stop the practice in which government 
officials often participated. For example, in December a Methodist and 
a Presbyterian church group conducted alternative ceremonies for 500 
girls and boys.
    FGM usually was performed at an early age. Some churches and NGOs 
provided shelter to girls who fled their homes to avoid the practice, 
but community elders frequently interfered with attempts to stop the 
practice.
    A January media report noted that the frequency had dropped in one 
district to 54 percent compared to 93 percent in 1999 before awareness 
campaigns began targeting FGM. Despite anti-FGM programs, which 
increasingly focused on young men to convince them to marry women who 
had not undergone FGM, women and children who had not undergone FGM 
faced social stigma.
    In December 2005 there were a number of arrests of individuals 
accused of applying forced FGM. For example, four parents were arrested 
along with a man who performed FGM. In mid-December 2005 a woman in 
Nyandarua District plead guilty in court for subjecting four girls to 
FGM. During the same month, the Kuria district commissioner called for 
police to arrest parents who forced their daughters to undergo the 
procedure. In April 2005 17 girls in Marakwet District fled to avoid 
FGM and were given shelter in Eldoret by the NGO Center for Human 
Rights and Democracy. In April 2005 police forcibly removed the girls 
from the shelter and returned them to their villages. According to a 
media report, 20 girls were still in hiding with the aid of a church in 
Marakwet District three years after they fled their homes to avoid FGM.
    Government officials continued to attempt to stem FGM. In December, 
the provincial commissioner of the Rift Valley Province was quoted as 
having declared that any civil servant condoning or supporting FGM 
(such as nurses or local chiefs) would be fired. He added that the 
parents of girls subjected to the practice would be arrested.
    In December 2005 rescuers hid 140 girls in a school in Meru North 
District and planned to engage them in an alternative rite ceremony, 
while another 330 completed a ``no cut'' initiation rite in Marakwet 
District.
    In January a couple was arrested for compelling their 10-year-old 
daughter to undergo FGM in preparation for her marriage. There were no 
further developments by year's end.
    The Nation reported on June 23 that a 15-year-old girl died after 
performing FGM on herself.
    Various communities have instituted ``no cut'' initiation rites for 
girls as an alternative to FGM. According to The Family Planning 
Association of Kenya, its ``no cut'' program called Ntanira na Kithomo 
(Initiate Me through Education) contributed to a 13 percent decline in 
the prevalence of FGM in Meru North District through 2005.
    Prostitution is illegal but was a problem perpetuated by poverty. 
On May 19, Minister of Tourism Morris Dzoro supervised a police raid of 
a hotel on the coast where child prostitution was allegedly taking 
place. In May 2005 Minister of Immigration Linah Kilimo accompanied a 
police raid on a nightclub where illegal immigrants were allegedly 
forced to work as prostitutes. A number of the illegal immigrants were 
subsequently repatriated. Despite the high profile of these incidents, 
they did not prompt specific government action against prostitution.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, sexual harassment in 
export processing zones (EPZs) was a problem (see Section 6.e.).
    The law provides equal rights to men and women and specifically 
prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender; however, women 
experienced a wide range of discriminatory practices, limiting their 
political and economic rights and relegating them to second-class 
citizenship. For example, the law allows only males to transmit 
citizenship automatically to their wives and children.
    Women continued to face both legal and de facto discrimination in 
other areas. According to UNICEF, gross and net enrolment in primary 
and secondary schools were balanced; however, a January government 
report indicated that in universities only 36.3 percent of students 
were women. Women constituted 70 percent of the country's illiterate 
population.
    The Law of Succession, which governs inheritance rights, provides 
for equal consideration of male and female children but terminates the 
inheritance rights of widows if they remarry. Moreover a widow cannot 
be the sole administrator of her husband's estate unless she has her 
children's consent. The law also allows the Ministry of Justice to 
exempt certain communities from the law in deference to tradition, 
which provides for equal distribution of a man's property only among 
his sons.
    Wife inheritance, in which a man inherits the widow of his brother 
or other close relative, was commonly practiced in certain communities. 
On January 15, the Nation reported that men felt it was their 
responsibility to marry HIV-positive widows to spare other men from 
being infected. Although poor and uneducated women were more likely to 
be inherited or suffer from property and inheritance discrimination, 
prominent and educated women sometimes were victims. Forced marriages 
were also common.
    Women made up approximately 75 percent of the agricultural work 
force and were active in urban small businesses. Nonetheless the 
average monthly income of women was approximately two-thirds that of 
men, and women held only 6 percent of land titles. Under traditional 
law women in many ethnic groups cannot own land. Women had difficulty 
moving into nontraditional fields, were promoted more slowly than men, 
and were more likely to be laid off than men. Societal discrimination 
was most apparent in rural areas.

    Children.--The Government was generally committed to the rights and 
welfare of children, and there was legislation and developed policies 
to promote education and protect children's rights; however, the 
Government did not implement its policies fully.
    According to the Government's economic survey during the year, the 
Government's Free Universal Primary Education Program raised primary 
school enrollment from 7.4 million in 2004 (approximately 81.1 percent 
of the primary school age group) to 7.6 million in 2005 (approximately 
83.2 percent).
    Most citizens welcomed tuition-free education; however, the program 
also resulted in overcrowded classes due to insufficient teachers and 
an inadequate budget. To enhance access to free primary education, the 
Government continued to support informal schools to cater particularly 
to children in urban slums. About 79.9 percent of enrolled children 
completed the eight-year primary school education cycle in 2005 
compared to 76.2 percent in 2004. Approximately 64 percent of primary 
school graduates went on to secondary school in 2005, up from less than 
50 percent in 2004. The law mandates compulsory schooling for all 
children through grade 12, but in 2005 the enrolment in secondary 
school was only 29.3 percent. Although this enrolment rate represented 
an increase over the 2004 rate of 22.2 percent, UNICEF reported that 
secondary school continuing net attendance based on household surveys 
was approximately 11 percent.
    Although the number of boys and girls in school was approximately 
equal at the primary level, boys substantially outnumbered girls in 
higher education. Rural families were more reluctant to invest in 
educating girls than in educating boys, particularly at the higher 
levels. According to Federation of Women Lawyers, 8,000 to 13,000 girls 
annually dropped out of school due to pregnancy.
    Child rape and molestation continued to be serious problems. In 
2004 the People Daily reported that 38 percent of children under 18 
were sexually abused. Newspapers contained frequent reports of 
molestation or rape of children by teachers, police, clergy, and 
others. In July 2005 the Chamber of Justice and the NGOs Care Kenya and 
Cradle issued a report entitled The Defilement Index that indicated 
that incestuous defilement accounted for approximately 75 percent of 
abuse against young girls in urban areas. The report showed that six 
out of 10 persons working with abused children agreed that the most 
vulnerable girls were those in nursery to class four (one to 10 years 
old).
    Legally, a person is not considered to have raped a girl younger 
than 14 if he had sexual intercourse with her against her will; 
instead, he commits the lesser offense of defilement. The unimplemented 
2006 Sexual Offenses Act defined minimum sentences for both rape and 
defilement with harsher penalties for defilement.
    On March 8, a court in Eldoret sentenced a man to seven years in 
prison with hard labor for raping a six-year-old girl. On June 12, a 
man was sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly raping his 13-year-
old daughter in Kajiado District. In July a man who had been sentenced 
to 40 years in prison for raping a four-year-old girl was freed when 
the court decided that insufficient evidence had been provided during 
his trial. On August 10, a court in Kisii sentenced a man to 14 years 
in prison with hard labor for attempting to rape his mentally 
handicapped niece (age unknown) on February 19. On December 22, a 25-
year-old man was sentenced to life in prison for defiling a 10-year-old 
girl in Laikipia District.
    Certain ethnic groups commonly practiced FGM on young girls, 
particularly in rural areas (see Section 5, Women).
    Newspapers frequently highlighted the problem of child marriages, 
which the public perceived to be a commonly practiced tradition among 
certain ethnic groups. According to UNICEF, 25 percent of young women 
had been married as children. The Marriage Act forbids marriage under 
the age of 16, but the Mohammedan Marriage and Divorce Act allows 
Muslim girls to marry at puberty.
    On January 3, police arrested the parents and husband of a 12-year-
old girl whose parents forced her to marry a 20-year-old man.
    A January 27 report highlighted the case of a 15-year-old girl in 
Wajir who was chained to a bed and starved for a week for refusing to 
marry a 50-year-old man. The girl escaped and went to police. Police 
arrested both the would-be husband and the girl's brother.
    In early December police rescued a 15-year-old girl who escaped 
from a forced marriage to an older businessman on the coast. Police 
were investigating who arranged the marriage by year's end.
    There were reports that infertile married women in the Kuria 
community sometimes used girls to bear children for the married couple. 
In February a 10-year-old girl who was thus ``married'' to a 50-year-
old infertile woman escaped in Kuria District.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking), 
as was child prostitution, although the new Sexual Offenses Bill 
outlaws both. The minimum sentence for child trafficking is 10 years in 
prison and a fine of approximately $27,400 (approximately two million 
shillings).
    On August 14, the assistant education minister announced the 
Government would build shelters around the country for sexually abused 
children. On June 15, the Government's director of children's services 
announced that through a justice sector reform program, children's 
officers, probation officers, and provincial administrators had 
received training on children's rights. On the same day, the Government 
reported that 80 more chief children's officers had been appointed to 
the Department of Children's Services.
    Child prostitution increased considerably in recent years due to 
both poverty and the increase in the number of children orphaned 
because of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Strong growth in the tourism 
industry led to an increasingly severe problem of foreign and domestic 
tourists seeking sex with underage girls and boys (see Section 6). 
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), approximately 
30,000 girls under the age of 19 years were engaged in prostitution in 
the country.
    Approximately 1.9 million children were still engaged in child 
labor (see Section 6). UNICEF reported that 26 percent of children were 
involved in child labor activities and that approximately 30 percent of 
girls from 12 to 18 years of age who were living in coastal cities 
studied were either part-time informal sex workers or were engaged in 
sex work as a full-time income generating activity.
    Difficult economic conditions and the spread of HIV/AIDS continued 
to intensify the problem of homeless street children. During the year 
the children's rights NGO ANPPCANN estimated that approximately 750,000 
children lived on the streets. Street children faced harassment as well 
as physical and sexual abuse from police and society, and within the 
juvenile justice system. For example, in January street children who 
had allegedly stabbed a bus driver were beaten by residents in Eldoret 
who argued that the children posed a security threat in the community.
    The Government provided programs to place street children in 
shelters and assisted NGOs in providing education, skills training, 
counseling, legal advice, and shelter for girls abused by their 
employers. By November 2005, 231 of 300 street children in the National 
Youth Service had graduated from vocational courses. The Government's 
program to remove children from the street and provide them with 
education and vocational training continued. The Government also 
provided shelter and medical care to street children exploited in the 
commercial sex industry.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not explicitly prohibit all 
forms of trafficking in persons, although the new Sexual Offenses Act 
criminalizes trafficking of children and trafficking in persons for the 
purpose of sexual exploitation. There were reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, and within the country. Laws prohibiting the 
forcible detention of women for the purposes of prostitution as well as 
child labor, the transportation of children for sale, and the 
commercial sexual exploitation of children can also be used to 
prosecute trafficking-related offenses.
    The country was a source, transit, and destination country for 
trafficking in persons. Victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation 
through the country from South and East Asian countries and the Middle 
East en route to European destinations. Boys between the ages of 15 and 
18 were also trafficked for labor to the Middle East. Women and girls 
were trafficked to the Middle East, other African nations, Western 
Europe, and North America for domestic servitude, manual labor, and 
forced work in massage parlors and brothels. Asian nationals, 
principally Indians, Bangladeshis, and Nepalese, were trafficked into 
the country and coerced into bonded labor in the construction and 
garment industries. There was a report of six Sri Lankan young men who 
were lured with promises of hotel jobs in Cyprus, but ended up in a 
remote part of western Nairobi. Police apprehended the trafficker but 
no formal charges had been filed.
    In August two police officers based at the Endebess police station 
in Tranz-Nzoia were suspended from duty for allegedly helping a 
suspected member of a child trafficking syndicate escape from custody. 
The accused trafficker was arrested for attempting to traffic an 
allegedly abducted child from the country to Uganda. However, the 
officers were subsequently reinstated to active duty pending 
disciplinary action from police headquarters and were believed to have 
been reassigned.
    Police reportedly also investigated trafficking cases in the 
coastal and Rift Valley regions; no further information regarding 
resulting arrests or prosecutions was made available. The Government 
was unable to provide concrete statistics on trafficking-related 
investigations, arrests, and prosecutions during the past year.
    Kenyan victims trafficked abroad were generally recruited through 
employment agencies under false pretenses. Domestic trafficking victims 
were often lured by friends and relatives who offered them promises of 
employment or access to education. Children from poor families were the 
most vulnerable, as their families were misled into believing that 
their child was gaining the opportunity for a better life.
    The minimum term in prison for trafficking for the purpose of 
sexual exploitation is 15 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to 
approximately $27,400 (1.918 million shillings), or both. However, 
fines were limited, and jail time was rarely enforced. There were no 
investigations into trafficking cases by December 2006. The Government 
was unable to provide concrete statistics on trafficking-related 
arrests and convictions during the past year because it does not track 
trafficking cases separately or specifically.
    The police antitrafficking unit has primary responsibility for 
combating trafficking but was not effective. In December the Ministry 
of Home Affairs collaborated with the Office of the President and the 
ministries of labor, education, and tourism, to establish a National 
Steering Committee to address the problem with the support of the vice 
President. The ministries of labor, home affairs, and foreign affairs 
continued a program of trafficking education, awareness, and inspection 
for all 68 foreign employment agencies.
    Although many observers believed some government officials were 
involved in trafficking in persons, no additional specific cases of 
corruption were identified during the year.
    Government assistance to NGOs to combat human trafficking continued 
to be minimal. However, awareness among government departments grew 
during the year largely due to NGOs' successful efforts to study the 
issue, educate the media, and inform the public about the problem.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The 2004 Persons with Disabilities Act 
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of 
other state services, and the Government effectively enforced its 
provisions during the year. Although implementation has been slow due 
to the ongoing process of harmonizing the Act with existing laws, the 
Government has equipped some public buildings with wheelchair ramps, 
lifts, and sanitary facilities. Also, each region has been assigned a 
sign-language interpreter for court proceedings. The Ministry of Health 
is the lead ministry for responsible for seeing that the law is 
implemented and is working to harmonize the law with existing laws.
    A January 3 Standard report highlighted the case of a visually 
impaired woman, educated through the masters' level, who had been 
unable to find a job teaching above the primary level because of her 
disability.
    The Ministry of Health acknowledged societal bias against persons 
with disabilities. The law covers both physical and mental 
disabilities. The ministry worked in partnership with NGOs and faith-
based organizations by providing staff for facilities. Persons with 
both physical and mental disabilities were treated in the same 
facilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was 
divided into more than 40 ethnic groups from three major 
sociolinguistic families. There were frequent allegations of 
discrimination and occasional violence among some of these groups. 
Unofficial results of the 1999 census indicated that the Bantu ethnic 
groups comprised about 67 percent of the population, which included the 
Kikuyu and closely related Embu and Meru at about 32 percent, the Kamba 
at about 10 percent, and the Luhya at about 16 percent. Nilotic ethnic 
groups comprised about 30 percent of the population, which included the 
Kalenjin at about 12 percent and the Luo at about 11 percent. Cushitic 
ethnic groups comprised about 3 percent of the population, including 
the Somalis at about 2 percent. The Kikuyu and related groups dominated 
much of private commerce and industry and often purchased land outside 
their home province, which sometimes resulted in fierce antagonism and 
resentment from other ethnic groups. The numerically small and 
shrinking South Asian community controlled a disproportionate share of 
the country's commerce.
    In private business and in the public sector, members of virtually 
all ethnic groups commonly discriminated in favor of other members of 
the same group. Some neighborhoods, particularly in the slum areas of 
the capital, tended to be segregated ethnically, although interethnic 
marriage has become fairly common in urban areas. With the 2007 general 
election approaching, some political leaders made blatant appeals to 
traditional ethnic animosities and resentments for the purposes of 
political mobilization. In the run up to past elections, such appeals 
resulted in intimidation of voters from targeted ethnic groups and 
violent communal clashes.
    Clashes occurred between various ethnic groups and clans. The 
ongoing conflict between two Cushitic ethnic groups inhabiting the far 
north continued, with each group accusing the other of maintaining 
militias and receiving armed support from their ethnic fellows across 
the border in Ethiopia to harass, intimidate, and kill the other. There 
were reports of several violent clashes during the year. The Government 
reacted swiftly by sending a police force supported by the army to stop 
the attacks. It also arranged for public reconciliation meetings 
between elders of the two communities and involved local politicians in 
the endeavor.
    Early in the year, communal violence around Likia in Rift Valley 
Province resulted in eight persons being killed and 10 injured. On 
February 23, the provincial commissioner suspended six police chiefs 
for failing to notify the Government of the escalating tension in the 
area.
    On September 20, four persons were killed and 12 injured in 
interethnic clashes near Nakuru. After approximately 500 persons fled 
their homes, the Government assisted their return a week later.
    Through the provincial administrations, the Government held a 
number of public meetings in regions plagued by ethnic violence to 
promote dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflict. The Government 
also dispatched regular police and a paramilitary force to patrol 
affected areas and prevent recurrence of violence. During the year, in 
Coast Province, the Government distributed land titles to landless 
persons long engaged in challenging the legality of their dispossession 
to eliminate one source of interethnic conflict in that region.
    In June ethnic violence erupted in the region of Western Province 
bordering Uganda and continued for the next six months. Competition 
over land exacerbated by rivalries among political leaders representing 
contending ethnic communities were at the root of the conflict. The 
Government deployed security forces to the area to stop the violence.
    Other notable conflicts included that between the Maasai and Kuria 
in southern Rift Valley province and between rival Kikuyu and Luo 
criminal gangs in a major slum in Nairobi. Both conflicts were quickly 
suppressed by government security forces.
    Many factors contributed to interethnic conflicts, including the 
proliferation of guns, the commercialization of traditional cattle 
rustling, the growth of a modern warrior/bandit culture (distinct from 
the traditional culture), unresponsive political leadership at the 
local level, diminished economic prospects for groups affected by a 
severe regional drought, and the inability of security forces to 
adequately quell the violence. Land owner/squatter conflict was 
particularly severe in Rift Valley and Coast provinces, while 
competition for resources such as water and pasturage was particularly 
severe in the northern districts of Eastern Province and in North 
Eastern Province.
    During the year members of coastal ethnic groups attempted to seize 
land they claimed had been given away unfairly decades before to 
individuals from outside the province in an alleged attempt to change 
the region's demography for political purposes. The Government 
recognized that some illegal land deals had taken place in the past, 
but insisted that those seeking to challenge past land deals follow the 
rule of law through the courts and not simply squat on disputed land.
    There were no developments in the 2004 petition to the High Court 
by members of the predominantly Muslim Nubian community, who claimed 
that the Government discriminated against them by trying to eliminate 
their ethnic identity. At year's end, the High Court had not rendered a 
judgment on their petition for redress of grievances related to their 
rights as citizens.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was societal 
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS. A 
lingering stigma toward persons with HIV/AIDS made it difficult for 
many families to admit that their members were HIV-positive.
    There were occasional reports of violence against persons with HIV/
AIDS. For example, on April 15, a 15-year-old boy was killed by his 
uncle, allegedly because of his HIV status. The uncle was still at 
large at year's end. An April 26 media report noted that military 
members with HIV/AIDS were ostracized by their colleagues.
    The Department of Defense provided for uniformed personnel and 
their families and some members of the community to have access to HIV 
counseling and testing, prevention programming, and antiretroviral 
treatment.
    The Government worked in cooperation with international donors on 
programs of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers, 
including those in the EPZs, are free to join unions of their choice, 
and workers exercised this right. Workers numbering seven or more in an 
enterprise have the right to form a union by registering with the Trade 
Union Registrar. If the Registrar denies registration, the union may 
appeal to the courts. The Police Act prohibits members of the national 
police force from joining unions. Some unions complained that employers 
resisted efforts to establish unions in factories in which at least 80 
percent of workers indicated a desire for union membership and 
representation. Unlike in the previous year, unions did not report 
difficulty registering with the registrar of unions or the Ministry of 
Labor. The armed forces, police, prisons service, and the 
administration police force are specifically not covered by the 
Employment Act.
    There were 42 unions representing approximately 600,000 workers, 
approximately one-third of the country's formal-sector work force. All 
but five of these unions, representing approximately 300,000 workers, 
were affiliated with the one approved national federation, the Central 
Organization of Trade Unions (COTU). The two largest non-COTU unions 
were the 240,000-member Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Union 
of Kenya Civil Servants, with approximately 60,000 registered members.
    There were no human rights abuses of union leaders reported by the 
Government.
    The law prohibits employers from intimidating workers; however, 
some antiunion discrimination still existed, specifically in the EPZs 
in Mombasa. Employees wrongfully dismissed for union activities were 
able to take their cases to the industrial court, a body of up to five 
judges appointed by the President, and many were awarded damages in the 
form of back pay. Union leaders reported that the industrial court 
still ordered reinstatement, but employers often did not comply, and 
workers often accepted payment in lieu of reinstatement. Reinstatement 
was not a common remedy; more often aggrieved workers found alternative 
employment in the lengthy period prior to the hearing of their cases. 
The Government voiced its support for union freedom but did not protect 
it fully.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While not 
having the force of law, the Industrial Relations Charter (IRC), 
executed by the Government, COTU, and the Federation of Kenya 
Employers, gives workers the right to engage in legitimate trade union 
organizational activities, and the Government protected these rights in 
practice. Both the Trade Disputes Act and the IRC authorize collective 
bargaining between unions and employers, and wages and conditions of 
employment were established in negotiations between unions and 
management. The Government permits wage increases of up to 100 percent 
and renegotiation of collective agreements; however, the law allows 
employers in ailing industries to dismiss workers regardless of the 
provisions of their collective bargaining agreements. Collective 
bargaining agreements must be registered with the industrial court to 
ensure adherence to these guidelines. The security forces cannot 
bargain collectively but have an internal board which reviews salaries. 
Other groups that cannot bargain collectively, such as the health 
sector workers, have associations, not unions, which negotiate their 
wages and conditions that match the Government's minimum wage 
guidelines, although these agreements were not legally enforceable.
    The law, with some restrictions, permits workers to strike, and 
workers exercised this right in practice. Workers must submit a letter 
to the Ministry of Labor and Human Resource Development and wait 21 
days before a strike can occur. Members of the military services, 
police, prison guards, and the National Youth Service are prohibited 
from striking. Other civil servants can strike following the 21-day 
notice period (28 days for essential service workers, such as water, 
health, education, or air traffic control workers). During this interim 
period, the minister may mediate the dispute, nominate an arbitrator, 
or refer the matter to the industrial court for binding arbitration. 
Once a dispute is referred for mediation, fact-finding, or arbitration, 
any subsequent strike is illegal.
    The Government resumed deducting and remitting member dues to the 
Civil Servants Union (CVU) after the CVU held a special election in 
December 2005 for the Board of Directors. The registrar-general had 
ordered the election after the union's June 2005 strike. During the 
year some public employees threatened to strike over wage issues. 
Government agencies threatened to fire strikers and replace them, but 
discussions continued, and agreements were reached in most cases.
    Although the law prohibits retaliation against strikers, employers 
have fired strikers without redress. The University Academic Staff 
Union officials were contesting the dismissal of union officials 
participating in a strike demanding better salaries. The law prohibits 
employers working in sectors such as water and sewerage, health, and 
law enforcement to go on strike.
    With the exception of the Factories Act, all labor laws apply in 
the EPZs (see Section 6.e.); however, the EPZ Authority and the 
Government granted many exemptions to applicable laws. For example, the 
Government waived a provision of the law that prevents women from 
working in industrial activities at night. There were reports that 
persons lost their jobs in EPZs because of their refusal to work on 
Saturdays. Union leaders claimed that a number of textile and garment 
firms in EPZs employing about 3,000 workers have refused to sign 
collective bargaining agreements. Seven garment producers in the Athi 
River EPZ near Nairobi signed collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) 
in 2003, but negotiations on the next CBA have dragged out and no 
agreement on a new CBA had been reached by year's end. Two garment 
producers in Mombasa have recognized the textile union, but have not 
completed CBA negotiations. Union leaders claimed that a number of 
other garment producers in EPZs have refused to recognize the Tailors 
and Textiles Workers Union and resisted efforts to unionize their 
workers.
    On May 1, the Government ordered a crackdown on firms employing 
casual workers over an extended period of time without changing their 
terms of employment to regular status. The Ministry of Labor and Human 
Resource Development also stated it would close down those businesses 
whose workers were denied the right to join trade unions. Under the 
Employment Act, no employer is allowed to employ a casual worker longer 
than three months. However, employers normally relieved casual 
employees after two months and rehired them to circumvent the law. No 
action was taken by the ministry during the year against employers that 
engaged in such practices.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
slavery, servitude, and forced and bonded labor, including by children; 
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section 
5). Under the Chiefs' Authority Act, a local authority can require 
persons to perform community services in an emergency; there was no 
attempt to use the law during the year.
    There were reports of forced or compulsory labor by children (see 
Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
2001 Children's Act prohibits all forms of child labor that are 
exploitative or hazardous, or would prevent children under age 16 from 
attending school; however, child labor was a problem, particularly in 
the informal sector. An estimated 1.9 million children between the five 
and 17 years of age were working, with the majority being between 13 
and 17 years of age. While children under 16 years of age are 
prohibited from working and the employment of children in the 
industrial sector is illegal, the law does not apply the minimum age 
restriction to the agricultural sector, where approximately 70 percent 
of the labor force was employed. The minimum age law also does not 
apply to children serving as apprentices under the terms of the 
Industrial Training Act.
    The Ministry of Labor and Human Resources Development officers 
nominally enforced the minimum age statute, and the Government worked 
closely with COTU and the ILO's International Program for the 
Elimination of Child Labor to eliminate child labor. By 2005 the 
Government's Free Universal Primary Education Program resulted in the 
return to school of more than 1.5 million children who had been 
working. Termination of school fees made primary school affordable for 
many more families, but the continuing expenses of uniforms, textbooks, 
and exam fees kept primary education out of reach for the poorest 
families and some orphans.
    Children worked primarily in the informal sector, mostly in family 
businesses and on family plots where they assisted their parents. A 
significant number of children worked in family units on tea, coffee, 
sugar, and rice plantations. Children also worked in mining, small 
quarries, and abandoned gold mines. Children often worked as domestic 
servants in private homes, and during the year there were reports of 
abuse of children serving as domestic employees. Poverty and the 
growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans led to an increase in child labor in 
the informal sector, which was difficult to monitor and control. In 
addition a large number of children were exploited in the sex industry 
(see Section 5). The employment of children in the formal industrial 
wage sector in violation of the Employment Act was less common.
    The law establishes definitions of child labor, and the worst forms 
of child labor can be prosecuted under the Children's Act, which 
prohibits child sexual exploitation, and the Penal Code, which 
prohibits procurement of a girl under 21 for the purpose of unlawful 
sexual relations and criminalizes child commercial sexual exploitation, 
child labor, and the transportation of children for sale (see Section 
5).
    In June 2004 the Government prepared a National Plan of Action to 
Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. A practical guide to labor 
inspection was developed, and the Government trained labor inspectors 
and occupational health and safety officers to report on child labor. 
In February the Government renewed the three-year mandate for the 
National Steering Committee on the Elimination of Child Labor. Members 
include the Attorney General, eight ministries, representatives of 
children welfare organizations, and non-governmental organizations, 
unions and employers. An Interministerial Coordination Committee on 
Child Labor, chaired by the vice President, was responsible for setting 
general policy. The country's National Policy on Child Labor aims at 
strengthening the framework for coordination, monitoring and initiating 
realistic strategies for preventing, protecting, rehabilitating and 
reintegrating children from child labor, particularly in its worst 
forms, and providing access to alternative forms of education and 
skills training for sustainable livelihoods. The National Steering 
Committee met with stakeholders to review the updated policy and 
discuss the National Plan of Action in September, and the 
Interministerial Coordinating Committee is reviewing the 
recommendations from the Steering Committee.
    On July 28, Vice President Awori presided at the launching of a 
national campaign to stop violence against children and address child 
labor and trafficking issues. The campaign is supported by UNICEF and 
NGOs, and caravans visited five locations this year to hold events to 
raise local awareness of child protection issues.
    Many NGOs also were active in child labor issues and assisted in 
the return to school of child laborers. In the past several years, the 
Government has implemented 73 programs on the elimination of child 
labor with 25 partner agencies. These programs removed 50,000 children, 
half of them girls, from child labor. The partners placed the children 
in schools, vocational training institutions and apprenticeships, and 
supported income-generating activities for 10,000 parents. Partners 
also provided support to schools to initiate income-generating 
activities to help keep children from poor families in school.
    UNICEF, the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, the World Tourism 
Organization, and the NGOs End Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 
and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) continued to 
work with hotels and tour operators to increase their awareness of 
child prostitution and sex tourism. ECPAT also worked with the other 
groups to develop a code of conduct. Beginning in 2005 the Ministry of 
Tourism mounted a campaign to register villas and cottages, putting 
them under the same strictures and requirements as hotels, and 
encouraging them to participate in the ECPAT code of conduct. In 
February 30 hotels on the Coast signed the ECPAT Code of Conduct. By 
August about 1,200 were registered. The Ministry of Tourism and 
Wildlife and the Kenya Association of Hoteliers and Caterers intend to 
see all hotel operators and other tourism and hospitality firms sign 
and implement the code, but there were no further signups during the 
year. The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has made implementation of 
the code a condition for annual licensing of hotels, lodges and 
restaurants by the Hotel and Restaurant Authority.
    The vice President and minister of home affairs publicly accepted 
the UNICEF report on child sex tourism, urged wider hospitality 
industry participation in the ECPAT code, and pledged the Government 
would work with UNICEF to develop long-term strategies for child 
protection and social/behavioral changes. The Government increased the 
budget, permitting the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Child 
Protection Department to hire an additional 160 children's officers.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for blue-
collar workers in the wage sector has 12 separate scales, varying by 
location, age, and skill level. In many industries, the legal minimum 
wage equaled the maximum wage. In May 2005 the Government increased the 
legal minimum wages for workers by 12 percent in both urban and rural 
areas: the lowest minimum wage in large urban areas was approximately 
$72.70 (5,346 shillings) per month. The minimum wage did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most workers relied 
on second jobs, subsistence farming, informal sector opportunities, or 
the extended family for additional support.
    Workers covered by a CBA generally received a better wage and 
benefit package than other workers. For instance the average covered 
worker received $100 (8,170 shillings) per month in addition to a 
housing and transport allowance, which often constituted 25 to 50 
percent of a worker's compensation package.
    The law limits the normal workweek to 52 hours, although employees 
who work at night may work up to 60 hours per week. Some categories of 
workers had lower maximum limits on workweek hours. As is the case with 
respect to minimum wage limitations, the law specifically excludes 
agricultural workers. An employee in the nonagricultural sector is 
entitled to one rest day per week and there are provisions for 21 days 
of annual leave and sick leave. The law also provides that the total 
hours worked (regular time plus overtime) in any two-week period not 
exceed 120 hours (144 hours for night workers). The Ministry of Labor 
and Human Resources Development was responsible for enforcing these 
regulations; however, violations were reported during the year. Workers 
in some enterprises, particularly in the EPZs and road construction, 
claimed that employers forced them to work extra hours without overtime 
pay to meet production targets. In addition, the employers often did 
not provide nighttime transport, leaving workers vulnerable to assault 
and robbery, including sexual harassment.
    Although the law sets forth detailed environmental, health, and 
safety standards, the Government did not enforce the law. Fines 
generally were too low to serve as a deterrent to unsafe practices. 
EPZs are excluded from these legal provisions (see Section 6.b.). The 
Ministry of Labor's Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety 
Services (DOHSS) has the authority to inspect factories and work sites, 
but lacked statutory authority to inspect factories in the EPZs. DOHSS 
had only 52 inspectors instead of the 168 expected to cover the entire 
country. During the year DOHSS carried out some inspection visits 
although no action was taken after the inspections nor did it provide 
information on the findings. Labor unions and NGOs continued to 
criticize health and safety conditions in the EPZs and other sectors, 
such as small horticulture producers.
    DOHSS developed a program in which factories with more than 20 
employees establish internal safety committees that are trained to 
conduct safety audits and submit compliance reports to DOHSS. DOHSS 
claimed that in 2005 it organized the training of 2,393 workers in 
occupational safety and health services in various companies in the 
formal sector.
    DOHSS health and safety inspectors can issue notices against 
employers for practices or activities that involved a risk of serious 
personal injury. Such notices can be appealed to the factories appeals 
court, a body of four members, one of whom must be a High Court judge. 
The law stipulates that factories employing at least 20 persons have a 
health and safety committee with representation from workers; however, 
according to the Government, fewer than half of the very largest 
factories had instituted health and safety committees. Workers, 
including foreign or migrants, can refuse to remain in hazardous 
conditions, but many were reluctant to risk losing their jobs.

                               __________

                                LESOTHO

    Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy with a population of 
approximately two million. Under the constitution, the King is head of 
state, fills a ceremonial role, has no executive authority, and does 
not actively take part in political initiatives. In 2002 Prime Minister 
Pakalitha Mosisili, the leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy 
(LCD) party, won reelection, and the LCD won 79 of 80 constituency-
based seats. Domestic and international observers concluded that the 
elections were generally free and fair. In October 18 members of 
parliament (MPs), including one cabinet minister, resigned from the LCD 
and formed a new opposition party, leaving the LCD with only 61 seats 
in the 120-member body. In November the Government dissolved 
parliament, and the Independent Electoral Commission set February 17, 
2007, as the date for national elections. While civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, some 
members of those forces committed human rights abuses.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, major human rights problems included: unlawful 
deprivation of life; security force abuse and use of torture; excessive 
force employed against detainees; official impunity; poor prison 
conditions; lengthy pretrial detention and long delays in trials; 
widespread domestic violence; severe restrictions on women's rights; 
societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities or 
HIV/AIDS; and child labor in the agricultural and other informal 
sectors.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
in August Maseru City Council (MCC) security guards Thabo Lets'ela and 
Tebello Mahlomola shot three pedestrians, killing two, on Kingsway Road 
in downtown Maseru. One victim died on the spot, and a second died 
later in a hospital. The third victim, a high school girl, received 
only minor injuries. The event was ignited by a confrontation between 
street vendors and MCC security personnel. According to private radio 
station MoAfrika, MCC security personnel had begun removing street 
vendors in an effort to clean the streets ahead of a Southern African 
Development Community summit. The security guards were charged with 
murder and attempted murder; at year's end they were in pretrial 
detention.
    In June unknown persons killed Bereng Sekhonyana, an MP from the 
opposition Basotho National Party (BNP). By year's end there were no 
arrests in the case.
    There were two deaths in custody reported during the year (see 
Section 1.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law expressly prohibit such 
practices; however, there were allegations that security forces 
tortured persons and credible reports that the police at times used 
excessive force. According to the Human Rights Unit in the Ministry of 
Justice and Human Rights, in 2005 citizens filed 17 complaints of human 
rights abuses by the police. These complaints were referred to police 
authorities, and 15 of the 2005 cases were resolved, while the other 
two were withdrawn and referred to the Police Complaints and Discipline 
Division.
    Following an alleged assassination attempt on the foreign minister 
in January, two of his bodyguards, Private Taole Mokhesuoe and Private 
Phetetso Motsehli, filed a torture complaint against the police 
investigating the incident. The Office of the Director for Civil 
Litigation in the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs stated 
that the case against the police was before the High Court, where 
charges were pending at year's end. The two bodyguards were court-
martialed and given a severe reprimand for dereliction of duty.
    Following the June assassination of Bereng Sekhonyana, an MP from 
the opposition BNP, the weekly newspaper Mopheme reported that three 
female BNP members, Mapelesa Mosetse, Karabelo Ratlali, and Mafauli 
Fauli, claimed that they were physically tortured and verbally abused 
by male policemen investigating the case. The BNP later repeated the 
charge at a press conference held by the party's leadership. Lawyers 
for the BNP filed charges against the police, and the case was pending 
in court at year's end.
    No action was taken against police officers who allegedly abused 
suspects in connection with the July 2005 killing of a police officer 
in the Sehlabathebe district. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Public 
Safety referred the case to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), and 
discussions reportedly continued between the police and the PCA at 
year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
poor, and facilities were overcrowded and in disrepair. Women, men, and 
juveniles were housed separately. After inspecting 51 prisons, the 
Office of the Ombudsman, an independent statutory body, released a 
report in August 2005 that criticized conditions including 
overcrowding, lack of bedding, poor sanitation, and poor nutrition. The 
report also included recommendations for extensive physical 
improvements to facilities, more frequent inspections, and separate 
areas within prisons for ill inmates. Authorities improved nutrition 
during the year, but no action was taken to address the other problems.
    In 2004 the Office of the Ombudsman recommended disciplinary action 
against the warden of Mohale's Hoek Prison after two prisoners killed 
themselves following abuse by prison guards; however, no action had 
been taken by year's end.
    The law provides that pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners be 
held in separate prisons; however, pretrial detainees were held with 
convicted prisoners. Security and military prisoners were held in a 
separate facility.
    Prison regulations provide for visiting committees made up of 
principal chiefs, church ministers, representatives of the business 
community, advocates of the High Court, and other citizens. These 
committees are authorized to visit any prison without the prior 
knowledge of the prison director, and generally were allowed to do so. 
The committees reported their findings to the prison director as well 
as the general public. International human rights groups were permitted 
to monitor prison conditions. The British Department for International 
Development's (DFID) Justice Development Sector's program personnel 
worked in prisons and conducted regular inspections. After receipt of 
DFID's recommendations, the nutritional standards and living conditions 
of prisoners improved.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces 
consist of the Lesotho Defense Force (LDF), the Lesotho Mounted Police 
Service (LMPS), and the National Security Service (NSS). The Prime 
Minister is the minister of defense and national security, with direct 
authority over the LDF and the NSS. The police force is under the 
minister of home affairs and public safety.
    The LMPS is nationally managed, with the country divided into three 
police regions, which are further divided into districts. An assistant 
commissioner of police heads each region; senior superintendents head 
the districts. The LMPS suffered from a significant shortage of 
resources, which limited its effectiveness.
    Corruption was a problem; however, the Government continued its 
reform efforts. Police authorities confirmed allegations that some 
police officers solicited bribes to overlook traffic and other 
offenses. Police authorities and media reported that police and army 
personnel may have been involved in a spate of armed robberies during 
the year. In January a court sentenced a police officer to eight years' 
imprisonment for involvement in armed robberies in 2005.
    The process of carrying out justice was slow, but members of the 
security and police forces were prosecuted and sentenced. Impunity is a 
problem, but to a limited extent.
    The PCA is an independent oversight body that monitors questionable 
behavior by police officers and addresses public grievances against the 
police; the Police Act does not accord the body powers of search and 
seizure or the power to summon police officers. PCA commissioners have 
requested that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety pursue 
amendments to the act to enhance PCA powers, but no amendments were 
passed by year's end.
    From January to August, the PCA received 50 complaints involving 
assault, poor service, extortion, and unfair dismissal from the LMPS. 
Ten cases were opened, and 32 referred to the ombudsman, Legal Aid, and 
the police. Five were advisory matters and were referred to the 
relevant organs of state, while three were settled to the satisfaction 
of the complainant and officially closed.
    The LMPS Inspectorate, Complaints and Discipline Unit reported that 
it was investigating 25 complaints of unlawful detention, assault, 
corruption, failure to investigate cases, and abusive language and 
intimidation filed against the police between January and August. The 
nine complaints filed in 2005 also continued under investigation. Of 
the 48 complaints received in 2005 and referred to the minister of home 
affairs and public safety, 26 cases were closed; the remainder were 
still under investigation at year's end. Disciplinary action was taken 
against certain police officers on the basis of these proceedings.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain a warrant 
prior to making an arrest. Suspects must be informed of charges within 
48 hours, and their families must be notified of any imprisonment. The 
law also allows family members to visit inmates. However, in practice 
the police did not always comply with these provisions. The law 
provides for granting bail, which the authorities granted regularly and 
in general fairly. Persons detained or arrested in criminal cases and 
defendants in civil cases had the right to legal counsel. The Legal Aid 
Division, under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, offered free 
legal assistance, but a severe lack of resources hampered the 
division's ability to be effective. Nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) maintained a few legal aid clinics.
    Pretrial detainees constituted approximately 16 percent of the 
prison population, and pretrial detention could last months or even 
years. The backlog was due to lack of resources, delay tactics by 
defense counsel, and unavailability of legal counsel. In November 2005 
The Mirror newspaper published an article reporting that judges granted 
postponement of cases without proper cause, and attorneys failed to 
appear without explanation. The article also reported that 6,000 cases 
were pending in magistrates' courts.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the judiciary was generally 
independent in practice.
    The judiciary consists of the Court of Appeal (which meets 
semiannually), the High Court, magistrates' courts, and traditional 
courts, which exist chiefly in rural areas to administer customary law. 
The High Court also provides procedural and substantive guidance on 
matters of law and procedure to military tribunals; however, it does 
not participate in adjudication.
    A single high court judge normally adjudicates criminal trials with 
two assessors who serve in an advisory capacity. The authorities 
generally respected court decisions and rulings.

    Trial Procedures.--There is no trial by jury. Trials are public, 
but in civil cases judges normally hear cases alone. There was a large 
case backlog, which led to lengthy delays in trials (see Section 1.d.). 
Defendants have the right to legal counsel; however, government sources 
stated that in the magistrates' courts, some accused persons were not 
advised of their right to legal representation, and some cases 
proceeded without representation for the accused. Free legal counsel 
was available, either from the state or a legal NGO. A defendant may be 
either held or released on bail until a sentence is passed. Defendants 
are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal. Defendants have the 
right to access nonconfidential government information during a trial.
    In civil and criminal courts, women and men are accorded equal 
rights. However, in traditional (customary) courts, certain rights and 
privileges were denied to women, and they were greatly disadvantaged 
(see Section 5). However, in October the parliament passed the Legal 
Capacity of Married Persons Act, which effectively eliminated de jure 
discrimination against women in the customary law system.
    When traditional law and custom were invoked in a court case, a 
male plaintiff could opt for customary judgment by a principal chief 
rather than a civil court, and the judgment would be legally binding.
    Military tribunals have jurisdiction over military cases only. 
Decisions by military tribunals can be appealed only to a special 
court-martial appeal court, which is composed of two judges from the 
High Court--one retired military officer with a legal background and 
the registrar of the High Court.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary with jurisdiction over civil matters. Citizens 
can freely access the court system to file lawsuits seeking cessation 
of human rights violations or a recovery of damages resulting from such 
acts. Some administrative remedies are available from the Labor Court, 
as stipulated by the Public Services Act. Judicial remedies for such 
wrongs are addressed in the constitution. However, a failure by the 
state to produce exhibits in court and to sequester witnesses, 
especially in high-profile cases, were substantial obstacles to the 
enforcement of domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law do not fully protect 
citizens' privacy rights; however, the constitution contains a section 
on the ``Right to respect for private and family life,'' which states 
that ``Every person shall be entitled to respect for his private and 
family life and his home.'' During the year there were no reports that 
authorities infringed on those rights. Although search warrants were 
required under normal circumstances, the law provides police with wide 
powers to stop and search persons and vehicles and to enter homes and 
other places without a warrant.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. However, many journalists admitted 
to practicing self-censorship to avoid libel suits as well as problems 
from their editors.
    Citizens and residents enjoy broad rights of freedom of speech, 
which in general the Government respects.
    Several independent newspapers routinely criticized the Government. 
There were seven private radio stations but no private television 
station. The media was free to criticize the Government, but risked 
being sued for slander or libel. The official state-owned or state-
controlled media consisted of two radio stations, a television station 
which broadcast a two-hour daily newscast, and two weekly newspapers. 
All reflected official positions of the ruling party. South African and 
global satellite television and radio broadcasts were widely available.
    Government ministers and other officials initiated a number of 
libel and defamation suits against members of the independent media, 
some of which led to out-of-court settlements.
    In one of them, an English-language weekly newspaper, The Mirror, 
succumbed to financial pressure as a result of libel suits and closed 
in May.
    In September the High Court summoned the chief reporter of Public 
Eye to appear on contempt charges following his newspaper's reports on 
a controversial scheme through which high-level government officials 
and judges obtained luxury cars at a fraction of their market value. In 
its report the newspaper had criticized the participation of members of 
the judiciary in the scheme, suggesting that it could cloud their 
impartiality in judging cases. The editors of Public Eye refused to 
accept an official reprimand and print a retraction as suggested by the 
court, and the case remained open at year's end.
    In February the Prime Minister and two other cabinet ministers 
filed a case against three former members of their party for crimea 
injuria, defined as impairing someone's dignity (it is a criminal 
offense, while defamation is a civil offense). The Government officials 
accused the three former party members of distributing leaflets 
accusing the Prime Minister of despotic tendencies and stating that he 
and the foreign minister were involved in adulterous relationships. 
Hearings began on October 16, but were later postponed until March 
2007.
    The defamation suit filed in November 2005 by retired Major General 
Thibeli against the Catholic newspaper Moeletsi a Basotho was still 
pending at year's end.
    At year's end the 2004 case in which an MP sued the newspaper 
Mololi for libel was still pending.
    In November the acting minister of communications directed state-
owned broadcast media to cease playing the music of traditional artists 
who had participated in opposition political party rallies.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals or groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
Internet was not widely available, due to a lack of information 
infrastructure, the Government's position as monopoly carrier from 
which any other Internet service provider would have to purchase 
bandwidth, and the high cost of access. Access was almost nonexistent 
in rural areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of 
religious groups.
    There was a very small Jewish community, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system to provide protection to refugees. 
In practice the Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and 
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government continued to cooperate 
with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. There were reportedly 
an estimated 60 refugees resident in the country from Sudan, Uganda, 
Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. 
Other refugees have sought relocation from the country to South Africa 
to take advantage of better living conditions and opportunities there. 
There is a commissioner for refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs 
and Public Safety.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2002 elections the 
LCD party won 79 of the 80 constituency-based seats; the opposition 
Lesotho People's Congress party won the remaining constituency seat; 
and the 40 proportionally elected seats were divided among nine 
opposition parties. Prime Minister Mosisili, the leader of the LCD 
party, won reelection. Domestic and international observers concluded 
that the elections were generally free, fair, peaceful, lawful, and 
transparent. International observers characterized the first post 
independence local government elections, held in April 2005, as 
generally free and fair.
    There were 15 women in the 120-member National Assembly and 12 
women in the 33-member Senate. The speaker of the National Assembly, 
five government ministers, one assistant minister, four judges of the 
High Court, and the commissioner of police were women. Female 
candidates captured 53 percent of seats in the April 2005 local 
elections.
    Approximately 98.5 percent of the population was Basotho. There 
were no members of minorities in the National Assembly, the Senate, or 
the cabinet.
    A provision in the constitution requires that members of parliament 
possess the physical faculty of speech; however, this provision was not 
enforced.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year. The World Bank 
Institute gave the Government an above-average rating for control of 
corruption. However, according to the NGO Transparency International, 
corruption was a serious problem.
    In September the High Court fined the Impregilo Company 
approximately two million dollars (15 million maloti), after the 
construction company admitted use of bribery to influence a government 
investigation. In a February 2005 case brought before the High Court, 
Impregilo was charged with bribing a former chief executive of the 
Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP); the chief executive continued 
to serve a 15-year sentence for a separate LHWP-connected bribe.
    Although there are no laws providing for access to government 
information, and access to government information was incomplete, Web 
sites of government ministries, parastatal companies, and private 
organizations provided significant information on governmental 
activities.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    An independent Office of the Ombudsman exists to protect citizens 
against infringement of their rights by public and private sector 
organizations. The Office of the Ombudsman appears to function without 
undue governmental or political interference. The ombudsman was 
constrained by a shortage of staff, financing, and equipment. The 
ombudsman intervened in issues such as requests for release of 
unlawfully withheld salaries; reinstatement of employees illegally 
suspended from their jobs; compensation for persons relocated to new 
areas in connection with LHWP activities; and compensation for and 
repair of houses in communities close to large-scale development 
projects. Some of the ombudsman's reports, which were publicly 
released, were successful in bringing attention to various issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
color, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social 
origin, birth, or other status; however, the constitution also 
recognizes customary law as a parallel legal system, and women's 
inheritance and property rights were severely restricted under this 
system.

    Women.--Although dependable statistics were not available, domestic 
violence against women was believed to be widespread. Traditionally, a 
wife may return to her ``maiden home'' if physically abused by her 
husband. Under common law (the formal legal system), domestic violence 
or spousal abuse is a criminal offense and defined as assault; however, 
few domestic violence cases were brought to trial. The law does not 
mandate specific penalties; however, an offender can be cautioned and 
released; given a suspended sentence; fined; or imprisoned. Punishment 
depends on the severity of the assault, and judges have a wide degree 
of discretion in sentencing. Such behavior was increasingly considered 
socially unacceptable due to advocacy and awareness programs of the 
Gender and Child Protection Unit (GCPU) of the LMPS, the Federation of 
Women Lawyers, the NGO Lesotho Child Counseling Unit (LCCU), other 
NGOs, and broadcast and print media campaigns.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and mandates a 
minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment, with no option for a 
fine. The rape of young children, older girls, and women was common. 
Courts heard a number of rape and attempted rape cases, and sentences 
were imposed and carried out. There were numerous cases of rape 
involving very young girls, as a result of the ill-informed belief 
among some men that such intercourse could cure HIV infections. 
Although there were convictions in several cases, sentences tended to 
be minimal. The organizations involved in combating the problem 
included the GCPU, the LCCU, and other NGOs. Their activities included 
teaching young persons and parents about the Sexual Offenses Act of 
2003, in schools, churches, and in village gatherings; and teaching 
persons how to report such offenses and how to access victims' 
services.
    The law does not address prostitution, and it was a problem (see 
Section 5, Children). Prostitution was driven by poverty, and anecdotal 
evidence indicated that it was a growing problem. No accurate 
statistics on prostitution were available.
    The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, which was 
believed to be widespread.
    Traditional law and custom severely limited the rights of women in 
areas such as property rights, inheritance, and contracts. Women have 
the legal and customary right to make a will and sue for divorce; 
however, under customary (traditional) law, a married woman was 
considered a minor during the lifetime of her husband, and she could 
not enter into legally binding contracts without her husband's consent. 
However, in October parliament passed the Legal Capacity of Married 
Persons Act, which effectively eliminated de jure discrimination 
against married women in the customary law system. A woman married 
under customary law has no standing in civil court. Under the country's 
dual legal system, marriages which occur under customary law must be 
legalized in the civil system to have legal standing. Government 
officials publicly criticized customary practice regarding marriage.
    The tradition of paying a bride price (lobola) was frequent. There 
was no evidence that lobola contributed to abuses against women's 
rights. Lobola, if not paid to the bride's family, allows the family 
the right to end a marriage and the right to challenge custody of any 
offspring. Polygamy was practiced by a very small percentage of the 
population. Women were not discriminated against in access to 
employment, credit, or pay for substantially similar work.
    Women's rights organizations took a leading role in educating women 
about their rights under customary (traditional) and formal law, 
highlighting the importance of women participating in the democratic 
process. The Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation funded 
efforts by women's groups to sensitize society to respect the status 
and rights of women.

    Children.--The Child Protection Act (CPA) and the Sexual Offenses 
Act provide for the protection of children; however, limited resources 
hampered the Government's ability to fully enforce these laws.
    The Government devoted substantial resources to primary and 
secondary education. Education by law was universal; however, it was 
not compulsory, even at the primary levels. Tuition-free primary 
education, which was introduced in 1999, has been extended to one 
additional grade annually. The seventh and last class was made tuition-
free during the year, and the Government inaugurated 17 new primary 
schools to accommodate increased pupil intake.
    A substantial number of children did not attend school, 
particularly in rural areas where there were few schools, where 
children were involved in subsistence activities to help support their 
families, or where families could not afford fees for the purchase of 
uniforms, books, and school materials. In 2002 the United Nations 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 62 percent of boys and 68 
percent of girls attended primary school. During the year, according to 
UNICEF, these figures had increased to 80.6 percent of boys and 85.7 
percent of girls. More boys failed to attend school than girls, due to 
the tradition of livestock herding by young boys (see Section 6.d.).
    Boys and girls had equal access to government-provided health care.
    Child abuse was a common problem, especially for children made 
vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. There were few official reports or statistics. 
During the year the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation 
stated on a number of occasions that there was a need to fight child 
abuse.
    Child prostitution was also a problem. According to media reports, 
young girls and boys, many of whom were orphans, moved to urban areas 
to work as prostitutes. A 2001 UNICEF assessment concluded that child 
prostitution in the country was a poverty-driven phenomenon rather than 
a commercial enterprise, and that the financial arrangements were 
casual and not the product of organized criminal syndicates. However, 
UNICEF and the Government agreed that while the numbers remained small, 
the more recent trend toward commercial prostitution by children was a 
growing problem. There was little capability within either the police 
force or the Department of Social Welfare to address the needs of 
children likely to engage in prostitution.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d).
    Familial stress, poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS, and divorce led 
to a rise in child homelessness and abandonment, creating a growing 
number of street children and families headed by children; their number 
totaled an estimated 100,000 to 200,000. Street children were hampered 
by lack of access to government services, such as medical care and 
schooling, and were not informed about their rights to such services. 
There were no reports of abuse of street children by security forces.
    The GCPU within the LMPS had branches in all 10 districts, but lack 
of resources restricted their ability to be effective. The GCPU dealt 
with sexual and physical abuse, neglected and abandoned children, and 
protection of property rights for orphaned children. The GCPU also has 
a mandate to address child labor issues, although it has stated that it 
has not dealt with such cases.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Neither formal nor traditional law 
addresses trafficking in persons. There were reports that people were 
trafficked to, from, and within the country; however, official 
statistics were lacking. In 2005 the minister of gender and the 
assistant minister of education publicly stated their concern over six 
cases of child trafficking and the possible increase of trafficking-
related activities; however, there were no known developments in the 
six cases by year's end. There were no official statistics on 
trafficking, since it is not a specific category of crime. Police can 
charge persons suspected of trafficking under the labor code, the CPA, 
and kidnapping statutes contained in the constitution. The Ministry of 
Home Affairs and Public Safety and the GCPU are responsible for 
monitoring trafficking. Although there is no specific legislation on 
trafficking, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, some NGOs, and 
the police continue to offer assistance to suspected victims of 
trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical disabilities in 
employment, education, or provision of other government services, and 
the Government enforced these laws within its limited ability. Although 
societal discrimination was common, the tradition of hiding disabled 
children from the public was no longer commonly accepted. The 
Association of the Disabled actively promoted the rights and needs of 
disabled persons.
    Laws and regulations stipulate that persons with disabilities have 
access to public buildings, and such buildings completed after 1995 
generally complied with the law. The election law provides for assisted 
voting for persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities constituted less 
than 2 percent of the population. There were small groups of ethnic 
Indians, Europeans, Chinese, and mixed-race persons. Economic and 
racial tension between the Chinese business community and the Basotho 
remained a problem.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There continued to be 
reports that children orphaned by AIDS, persons with AIDS, and their 
immediate families were ostracized.
    In 2004 the Prime Minister took an HIV/AIDS test and started an 
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.
    In June parliament amended the labor code to include an HIV/AIDS 
workplace policy. On July 17, King Letsie III recognized the work of an 
HIV/AIDS activist with an award. Each government ministry or department 
provided subsidized medicine and food to its employees with HIV/AIDS 
(such assistance was available to all citizens at subsidized prices at 
all government hospitals).
    LDF policy states if a soldier is found to be HIV positive after 
induction, he is not retired or separated. The soldier is provided 
counseling and testing, and his duties are adapted as appropriate.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Under the law, workers have the right 
to join and form trade unions without prior government authorization 
and without excessive bureaucratic requirements, and workers exercised 
this right in practice; however, some employers in the textile sector 
did not observe trade union rights. Both locally and foreign-owned 
businesses displayed a lack of full understanding of the labor code's 
provisions regarding the right to form labor unions. During the year 
there were six reported cases of unfair labor practices. The labor code 
prohibits civil servants from joining or forming unions but allows them 
to form staff associations. The Mounted Police Service Act also 
specifically prohibits members of the police from belonging to trade 
unions but allows them to establish a staff association charged with 
promoting professional efficiency and the interests of its members, and 
they have done so.
    The Government regarded all civil servants as essential employees; 
therefore, they did not enjoy general labor rights, such as the rights 
to strike or negotiate collectively. In 2004 civil servants established 
a professional association.
    The Ministry of Employment and Labor stated there were 13 
functional trade unions with a combined membership of 25,411. The 
ministry indicated that 25 trade unions had been deregistered as a 
result of their failure to submit annual reports. Women were dominant 
in textile union employment.
    A majority of Basotho mineworkers were members of the South African 
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). While the NUM, as a foreign 
organization, was not allowed to engage in most union activities in the 
country, it provided training, developed agricultural projects, and 
performed other social services for retrenched mine workers and 
families of deceased miners.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and in practice the 
Government generally enforced this prohibition; however, there were 
reports that some employers harassed union organizers, intimidated 
members, and fired union activists, particularly in locally owned 
companies.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and in 
practice the Government generally protected this right; however, some 
private sector employers tried to restrict these rights (see Section 
6.a.). Collective bargaining is protected by law and freely practiced. 
The law provides for a limited right to strike; however, civil servants 
were not allowed to strike, and, by definition, all public sector 
industrial actions were unauthorized. In the private sector, the Labor 
Code requires an escalating series of procedures to be followed by 
workers and employers before strike action is authorized.
    There are no export processing zones.
    The commissioner of labor was authorized to order the reinstatement 
of wrongfully dismissed employees and the payment of back wages but did 
not have the authority to impose criminal fines.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred. The Government effectively 
enforced this prohibition.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor code contains statutory prohibitions against the employment of 
minors in commercial, industrial, or other nonfamily enterprises 
involving hazardous or dangerous working conditions. The Government 
effectively enforced these statutes. However, child labor was a problem 
in the informal and agricultural sectors, which child labor laws do not 
cover, and the Government had no mechanism for inspection of those 
sectors. The legal minimum age for employment in commercial or 
industrial enterprises is 15 years or 18 years for hazardous 
employment; however, children under 14 years old reportedly were 
employed in family-owned businesses. Children under 18 may not be 
recruited for employment outside the country. Many urban street 
children worked in the informal sector. Most jobs performed by children 
were often gender-specific: boys as young as four were livestock 
herders, carried packages for shoppers, washed cars, and collected 
fares for minibus taxis; girls were domestic servants; teenage girls 
(and a few boys) were involved in prostitution (see Section 5); and 
both boys and girls worked as street vendors.
    In traditional society rigorous and occasionally dangerous working 
conditions for young herdboys were considered a prerequisite to 
manhood, essential to the livelihood of families, and a fundamental 
feature of local culture beyond the reach of labor laws. Reportedly the 
age of initiation into herding continued to drop. The emphasis on 
traditional socialization methods to the exclusion of formal education 
continued the cycle of poverty for most youth.
    The Ministry of Employment and Labor is responsible for 
investigating child labor allegations; however, inspections were 
minimal.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A national minimum wage is 
determined annually by the Wage Advisory Board, a tripartite entity 
consisting of representatives of the Government, trade unions 
(employees), and employers. In 2004 the Government introduced a 
schedule of basic minimum wages for different sectors, such as 
manufacturing, construction, retail, service, and mortuary services. 
For example, authorities set the minimum wage for a beginning machinist 
in the textile industry at approximately $87 (643 maloti). During the 
year textile workers earned an average of $95 (660 maloti) per month, 
and machine operators received an average of $110 (770 maloti) per 
month. The national minimum wage for workers in lower-skilled jobs did 
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
    Most wage earners supplemented their income through subsistence 
agriculture or remittances from relatives in South Africa.
    The labor code provides for basic worker rights, including a 
maximum 45-hour workweek, a weekly rest period of at least 24 hours, 12 
days of paid leave per year, and paid sick leave and public holidays; 
however, these regulations exclude the informal and agricultural 
sectors. Employers did not always respect these rights in practice. 
Required overtime was legal as long as overtime wages were paid for 
work in excess of the standard 45-hour workweek. According to the 
commissioner of labor, employers in the security sector were the worst 
violators of the labor code. They regularly worked employees beyond the 
statutory hours, did not insure their workers against injury or death, 
and paid them less than the minimum wage. In October the labor code was 
amended to give workers in the security sector permission to work 60 
hours per week. Work beyond 60 hours per week constitutes overtime.
    The labor code requires employers to provide adequate light, 
ventilation, and sanitary facilities for employees and to install and 
maintain machinery in a manner to minimize the risk of injury; 
employers generally followed these regulations. The labor code also 
empowers the Ministry of Employment and Labor to issue regulations 
pertaining to work safety in specific areas, and the ministry has 
exercised this right. There were no known instances of the ministry 
ineffectively or improperly enforcing health and safety standards. The 
labor code does not protect explicitly the right of workers to remove 
themselves from hazardous situations without prejudice to employment; 
however, sections of the code on safety in the workplace and dismissal 
implied that such a dismissal would be illegal.
    The law also provides for a compensation system for industrial 
injuries and diseases related to employment. The commissioner of labor, 
who functions as part of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, was 
charged with investigating allegations of labor law violations. Labor 
inspectors generally conducted unannounced inspections of a random 
sample of employers each quarter.
    The Government and private sector implemented voluntary HIV/AIDS 
counseling and testing programs in line with Labor Code Act Number 5, 
passed in June, which strengthened existing programs.

                               __________

                                LIBERIA

    Liberia is a constitutional republic with a population of 
approximately 3.5 million. In November 2005 Unity Party candidate Ellen 
Johnson-Sirleaf was declared the winner of multiparty Presidential 
elections, which domestic and international observers considered free 
and fair. President Johnson-Sirleaf replaced Chairman Charles Gyude 
Bryant, who led the interim National Transitional government of Liberia 
(NTGL) since October 2003. Since the 2003 signing of the Comprehensive 
Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the 1999	2003 civil war between the 
former government and the country's two rebel groups--Liberians United 
for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy 
in Liberia (MODEL)--approximately 15,000 peacekeepers deployed by the 
UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and 1,100 UN international police (UNPOL) 
had primary responsibility for maintaining security. Efforts to retire 
and retrain the Liberian National Police (LNP) which maintained arrest 
authority continued. The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) were completely 
demobilized and retired during the year. While civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there 
were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted 
independently of government authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, problems persisted in some areas. Deaths from mob 
violence increased. Police abused, harassed, and intimidated detainees 
and citizens. Prison conditions remained harsh and incidents of 
arbitrary arrest and detention occurred. Lengthy pretrial detention and 
denial of due process and fair public trial were problems. LNP officers 
on several occasions assaulted journalists and a human rights worker. 
Some incidences of trial-by-ordeal were reported. Corruption and 
impunity continued in many levels of the Government. There was violence 
against women, especially reports of rape. The practice of female 
genital mutilation (FGM) remained widespread. Child abuse, trafficking 
in persons, and racial and ethnic discrimination were problems. 
Instances of child labor were reported, especially in the informal 
sector. Child neglect and child abuse continued to be problems. There 
were some instances of ethnic tensions during the year, but none that 
resulted in violence.
    The Government took significant steps during the year to correct 
past human rights deficiencies. The Government worked with numerous 
international partners to rehabilitate the country's justice sector and 
established a public defender's office in the capital. The President 
dismissed or suspended a number of government officials for corruption, 
and the Government tightened contracting practices and financial 
controls through the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Plan 
(GEMAP). During the year the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 
which was established in 2005 to investigate human rights violations 
and war crimes committed during the 14-year civil war, began taking 
statements from witnesses.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
on August 3, a Special Security Service (SSS) officer killed another 
SSS officer in a private dispute. The investigation was completed on 
November 22, but no action was taken by year's end.
    General Benjamin Yeaten was still a wanted man in the country, and 
remained in self-imposed exile during the year. Yeaten remained a 
suspect in the 2003 execution of former deputy national security 
minister John Yormie and former deputy public works minister Isaac 
Vaye.
    There were allegations that ex-combatants, both from former 
government and rebel security forces, were involved in killings, theft, 
and other crimes against workers at rubber plantations, notably the 
Guthrie Rubber Plantation and the Firestone Rubber Plantation.
    Ritualistic killings, in which body parts used in traditional 
indigenous rituals were removed from the victim, reportedly occurred 
during the year. The number of such killings was difficult to ascertain 
since police often described deaths as accidents or suicides, even when 
body parts were removed. No one was prosecuted for such killings during 
the year.
    On July 6, the Government arrested five ``heartmen'' suspected of 
committing ritualistic killings in Ganta, Nimba County. On July 18, the 
Nimba County superintendent urged residents to oppose ritualistic 
killings of any kind.
    There were increased reports of mob violence during the year. On 
August 7 and 8 and on September 6, angry mobs killed three persons 
suspected of theft. Numerous others incidents were reported.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances. The welfare and whereabouts of former Chief of 
Intelligence Peterson Marbiah, who disappeared when John Yormie and 
Isaac Vaye were arrested in 2003, remained unknown at year's end.
    The UNMIL investigation into the 2003 disappearance of foreign 
citizen Nabil Hage, who was believed to have been abducted by LURD, was 
ongoing at year's end.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, but there were 
reports that police officials employed them.
    For example, on February 15, a corrections officer trainee was 
suspended for allegedly ordering five prisoners to beat three other 
prisoners and force them to drink muddy water.
    On June 9, the National Human Rights Center of Liberia reported 
that the Government arrested approximately 20 associates of former 
President Taylor on suspicion of plotting against the Government and 
held them at the National Security Agency (NSA), where some were 
severely beaten. The Government denied that any beatings took place.
    During the year LNP officers sometimes abused, harassed, 
intimidated, and extorted bribes from persons, particularly at 
checkpoints. For example, on September 20, two legislators reported 
being assaulted by LNP officers in two separate incidents, one at a 
checkpoint and one in a courthouse. On September 26, the LNP inspector 
general formally apologized to the legislators in question and to the 
legislature as a whole, citing inadequate training as the reason for 
the assaults. The police officers were reprimanded, but not formally 
punished or suspended.
    On October 3, a local newspaper reported that police forced a false 
confession from a robbery suspect by placing a lighter under his 
genitals until he confessed. The Government had not responded to the 
incident by year's end.
    LNP officers assaulted journalists and a human rights worker during 
the year (see Section 2.a. and section 4).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political 
party members harassed and beat journalists or that former combatants 
were responsible for civilian injuries.
    During the year the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) 
investigated reports of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN 
peacekeepers, UNMIL staff, UN private contractors and implementing 
partners. On November 30, the BBC reported that a UN officer had 
allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl on November 15. UNMIL 
had not received a report, and requested details regarding the incident 
from the BBC in order to initiate an investigation; there were no 
reported developments in this case by year's end. The UNMIL Conduct and 
Discipline Unit was investigating six cases by year's end, while the 
OIOS was investigating 24 cases.
    In November 2005 an UNMIL peacekeeper was arrested for raping a 
nine-year-old girl. An UNMIL investigation confirmed the rape occurred, 
and UNMIL repatriated the peacekeeper in March.
    The law of the hinterland prohibits trial-by-ordeal, such as the 
placement of a heated metal object on a suspect's body or the insertion 
of an extremity into hot oil to determine whether the defendant is 
telling the truth. However, the law permits ordeals of ``a minor nature 
and which do not endanger the life of the individual.'' The use of 
trial-by-ordeal reportedly continued in rural areas. For example, on 
June 12, the Government arrested five persons in Grand Gedeh County for 
committing an illegal trial-by-ordeal in which they reportedly forced 
seven persons, who were allegedly involved in drowning another person, 
to drink a liquid made from poisonous tree bark.
    Lack of confidence in the police and judicial system resulted in 
mob violence and vigilantism (see Section 1.a.). For example, on July 
27, a vigilante group forcefully arrested and injured a thief in 
Monrovia and interrogated him before turning him over to the LNP. On 
September 4, the minister of justice announced that citizens should 
organize themselves in ``vigilante groups'' or ``community watch 
teams'' to protect neighborhoods from growing crime. On September 6, 
the inspector general of police clarified that such groups should 
register with the police, should not carry weapons, and should not 
include minors or those with criminal records.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh and in some cases life threatening. Monrovia Central Prison held 
almost four times its capacity during the year due to the large number 
of pretrial detainees (see Section 1.d.). The Government relied on the 
World Food Program and various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to 
provide food to the prisons. The UN and NGOs continued to provide 
medical services. During the year both the Government and international 
partners continued renovations at prisons in Voinjama, Gbarnga, 
Buchanan, Kakata, Zwedru, and Monrovia. A private company financed 
construction on the prison in Harbel city. In some counties the 
structure that served as a jail was a container with bars at one end. 
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that local officials 
forced prisoners to work for them.
    In February, July, and August, prisoners caused disturbances at 
Buchanan and Gbarnga prisons, overpowered unarmed guards, and caused 
damage to the Gbarnga prison in protests over conditions and trial 
delays. In each instance, the guards fled. On October 12, approximately 
30 prisoners escaped from Buchanan prison; only a few were apprehended 
by year's end.
    In some locations there were no separate facilities for juvenile 
offenders, and convicted prisoners and detainees awaiting trial were 
held together. Women and juveniles were subject to abuse by guards or 
other inmates. Men and women were held together in some counties or 
cities with only one prison cell. In the nine UNMIL-monitored prisons, 
men and women were not held together.
    The Government permitted the independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by local human rights groups, the media, and the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Some human rights 
groups, including national and international organizations, made 
regular visits to detainees held in police headquarters and prisoners 
in Monrovia Central Prison.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces continued to 
arrest and detain persons arbitrarily, although less frequently than in 
the previous year.

    Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Justice has 
responsibility for enforcing laws and maintaining order within the 
country and oversees the LNP and the National Bureau of Investigation 
(NBI). Approximately 15,000 UNMIL peacekeepers and 1,100 UNPOL officers 
had primary responsibility for maintaining security. Efforts to retire 
and retrain members of the LNP continued during the year. The AFL was 
completely demobilized and retired during the year. Approximately 600 
UNPOL officers assisted with restructuring, recruiting, training, and 
equipping the LNP, which was composed of new recruits and those who 
served under the former administrations. By year's end UNPOL had 
recruited, trained, and deployed more than 2,030 LNP officers to 
Monrovia and 14 surrounding counties. In September 2005 the LNP opened 
a Women's and Children's Protection Section (WCPS), and 50 officers had 
completed training to staff the unit. While WCPS was generally 
effective in addressing the growing number of women and children's 
protection issues, it was understaffed and had limited resources.
    The LNP operated independently and retained arrest authority; 
however, UNPOL and armed UN Formed Police Units accompanied LNP 
officers in joint patrols around Monrovia.
    LNP officers, who were unarmed, were slow to respond to criminal 
activities and often ineffective, which resulted in an increase in 
armed robberies during the year. Corruption and impunity were problems, 
and police officers were not paid for up to three months at a time. 
Police had limited logistics, communication, and forensic capabilities 
and did not have the capacity to adequately investigate many crimes, 
including murders.
    The LNP investigated reports of police misconduct or corruption, 
and several LNP officers were suspended or dismissed for misconduct or 
corruption. On March 13, the deputy director of police was suspended 
and subsequently dismissed for stealing $4,000 (240,000 LD) worth of 
gas coupons. Also in March, four LNP officers were suspended for 
assaulting a journalist. On June 5, the Bureau of Immigration and 
Naturalization dismissed seven police officers for misconduct. On July 
4, eight LNP officers were suspended for financial corruption. Some 
demobilized LNP officers continued to wear old uniforms to extort money 
from citizens during the year. Newly trained LNP officers, who were not 
paid for months at a time, also extorted money from citizens.
    Public confidence in the police remained low, and citizens 
occasionally continued to use mob justice to protect persons and 
property. UNPOL, with the LNP, set up a system of community policing 
forums.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution requires warrants to make 
arrests and provides that detainees either be charged or released 
within 48 hours; however, warrants were not always based on sufficient 
evidence, and detainees, particularly those without the means to hire a 
lawyer, often were held for more than 48 hours without charge. The law 
provides for bail for all offenses except rape and treason. Detainees 
have the right to prompt access to counsel and, if indigent, to have an 
attorney provided by the state, but the Government did not ensure such 
access for all detainees.
    Both LNP officers and other government officials were responsible 
for the arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens during the year. For 
example, on June 12, the chief justice of the Supreme Court ordered the 
arrest of the manager of Bellview Airlines over a personal dispute; the 
manager was released without charge later that day. On April 19, the 
legislature ordered the arrests of Economic and Legal Affairs Minister 
Morris Saytumah, and Deputy Minister of Finance for Administration 
Francis Karpeh for deducting taxes from legislators' allowances; the 
ministers were released after 72 hours without charge. On October 18, 
in Grand Bassa County, Justice of the Peace Wusus Konneh constructed 
his own detention cell, although he had no legal authority to detain 
individuals. While Konneh did hold persons in the detention cell, the 
Ministry of Justice demolished it by year's end. No further information 
was available on this case by year's end. On September 16, the 
Government arrested without warrant a prominent local businessman of 
Lebanese descent in Monrovia for economic sabotage. The case was 
ongoing at year's end.
    Although the law provides for the right of a person who is charged 
to receive an expeditious trial, lengthy pretrial and prearraignment 
detention remained serious problems. Approximately 90 percent of 
prisoners at Monrovia Central Prison were pretrial detainees. Trial 
delays were caused by judicial inefficiency, lack of court facilities 
and qualified judges, and corruption. In some cases the length of 
pretrial detention equaled or exceeded the length of sentence that 
could be imposed for the crime. On May 17, the director for the Center 
for the Protection of Human Rights, T. Dempster Brown, filed a lawsuit 
to dismiss 300 pretrial detainees from Monrovia Central Prison. Several 
persons were released, and Brown dropped the case. On May 24, the judge 
of Criminal Circuit Court A released 27 of the 300 detainees who had 
been held in pretrial detention for an excessive period of time. The 
newly formed Public Defenders Office was instrumental in obtaining the 
dismissal of approximately 50 cases from 2004 and 2005 due to lack of 
judiciary action.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, judges were subject to political, 
social, familial, and financial pressures, and corruption persisted in 
the judiciary. There were reports of executive branch influence over 
the judiciary. Judges regularly received bribes or other illegal gifts 
from damages that they awarded in civil cases. Judges sometimes 
requested bribes to try cases, release detainees from prison, or find 
defendants not guilty in criminal cases. Defense attorneys sometimes 
suggested that their clients pay a gratuity to appease or secure 
favorable rulings from judges, prosecutors, jurors, and police 
officers. By statute members of the bar must be graduates of a law 
school; however, some judges and magistrates were not lawyers.
    In September 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the closure of all 
noncommissioned justice-of-the-peace courts; however, some courts still 
operated during the year. No replacement courts were in place at year's 
end.
    The judiciary is divided into four levels, including justices of 
the peace, courts of no record (magistrate courts), courts of first 
instance (circuit and specialty courts), and the Supreme Court. The 
Supreme Court appointed judges to counties outside of Montserrado, but 
judges and magistrates continued to abandon their posts to opt for 
living in Monrovia. On May 2, the Supreme Court chief justice dismissed 
34 magistrates for abandoning their posts.
    Some judges assigned throughout the country were unable to hold 
court due to lack of security, supplies, equipment, or a courthouse. 
International donors supported additional prosecutors and defenders, 
resulting in approximately 15 qualified prosecutors and 19 public 
defenders in the country. Uneven application of the law remained a 
problem throughout the judicial system.
    Traditional forms of justice administered by clan chieftains 
remained prevalent in some localities (see Section 1.c.).

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are used in circuit 
court trials but not at the magistrate level. Under the constitution, 
defendants have the right to be present, to consult with an attorney in 
a timely manner, and to have access to government-held evidence 
relevant to their case; however, these rights were not always observed. 
Defendants in criminal trials enjoy a presumption of innocence and have 
the right to an attorney, to confront witnesses in a public trial, and 
to appeal adverse decisions, but many of these protections were not 
available to defendants who could not pay bribes. There was no 
effective system to provide public defenders in rural areas, but by 
June four full-time public defenders were responsible for cases in 
Montserrado County. Some local NGOs continued to provide legal services 
to indigents and others who had no representation. There continued to 
be long delays in deciding cases.
    On August 22, a jury acquitted nine persons including Orishall 
Gould, former managing director of the National Social Security and 
Welfare Corporation, for embezzlement of more than $600,000 (32.4 
million LD). On September 18, the Government filed a motion to set 
aside the verdict and was awarded a new trial. The defendants appealed 
that decision to the Supreme Court, where the case was pending at 
year's end.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
civil law court in Monrovia, but circuit courts in each county function 
as both criminal and civil courts. Specialty courts, such as the tax 
court, probate court, and labor court, also address civil matters. As 
with criminal courts, specialized courts were weak. Administrative and 
judicial remedies were available to settle alleged wrongs. NGOs and the 
Government established mediation centers throughout the year.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The 
constitution provides for the right of privacy and the sanctity of the 
home and requires that police obtain a warrant or have a reasonable 
belief that a crime is in progress, or is about to be committed, before 
entering a private dwelling.
    During the year the Government ordered members of the Gio and Mano 
ethnic groups to leave the homes they occupied in Nimba and Lofa 
counties and return them to their Mandingo owners, who had fled the 
country during the civil war. The Gios and Manos refused to leave the 
homes, and the Government did not forcibly restitute the properties to 
their Mandingo owners. A court case was ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. However, on September 19, National 
Security Advisor H. Boima Fanbulleh warned the public against making 
``reckless statements'' that threatened the country's security.
    The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction.
    In Monrovia there were approximately a dozen newspapers that 
published during the year with varying degrees of regularity; six were 
independent dailies, and five were independent biweekly papers. The 
Government published the New Liberian newspaper.
    Due to the price of newspapers and transportation, the estimated 75 
percent illiteracy rate, and road conditions elsewhere in the country, 
newspaper distribution generally was limited to the Monrovia region. As 
a result, radio remained the primary means of mass communication. There 
were 15 independent radio stations that regularly broadcast in 
Monrovia, approximately 24 local stations, one UNMIL radio station, and 
one government-operated station. Radio stations operated without 
government restrictions.
    There were three local television stations; however, television was 
limited to those who could afford to purchase sets, generators, and 
fuel to provide electricity. For those persons and businesses with 
satellite capability, CNN, BBC, Skynews, and SABC Africa generally were 
available.
    During the year the police harassed and assaulted journalists. For 
example, on April 24, LNP officers reportedly beat two reporters during 
a demonstration. Four LNP officials were suspended because of the 
incident. On May 24, Executive Mansion SSS officers reportedly harassed 
and intimidated journalists for not maintaining enough distance between 
themselves and the President during a public event. The report of a 
committee established by the President to investigate the May 24 
incident resulted in the Government's decision to replace damaged 
camera equipment. On October 13, LNP officers beat a radio journalist 
who was covering the arrest of rioters. The Government investigated the 
incident and promised to avoid such incidents in the future. No further 
information was available on this case by year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political 
party members attacked journalists at political rallies.
    On May 17, the state-owned Liberian Broadcasting System warned 
journalists to seek clearance prior to broadcasting corruption 
allegations against government officials. On April 25, three 
newspapers, the New Democrat, the Daily Observer, and the Analyst 
published information accusing senators of receiving exorbitant 
salaries. The senators characterized the accusations as ``false and 
misleading,'' and ordered the three newspaper editors to appear before 
the Senate. The editors appeared and apologized to the Senate for not 
writing a balanced story; there were no further actions against them 
during the year.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political 
party members attacked journalists at political rallies.
    Journalists commonly accepted payments to publish articles. At a 
university commencement ceremony on August 23, the President spoke out 
against ``pocketbook journalism,'' and asked the media to be more 
responsible in publishing articles. At year's end the Press Union of 
Liberia accused the President of putting checks in Christmas cards sent 
out to all media outlets as an attempt to influence the press. Only 
three media outlets returned the checks, and the President responded 
that the gesture was not meant to influence the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was not widely available due to lack of infrastructure. 
High illiteracy also limited public exposure to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly and 
association, and the Government generally respected these rights in 
practice.
    The constitution provides for the right of peaceful assembly, and 
the Government generally respected this right.
    LNP officers beat journalists covering demonstrations during the 
year (see Section 1.a.). Demonstrations occurred throughout the year in 
which both protestors and police sustained minor injuries.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. There were 30 registered political parties. Dozens of civil 
society organizations, organized around themes such as human rights, 
women's issues, development objectives, poverty alleviation, health 
concerns, and worker's associations, were active.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. Christianity was the dominant religion and most meetings, 
including official government meetings, began and ended with Christian 
prayers. Islamic leaders complained of some discrimination against 
Muslims. On June 8, some Muslim groups criticized the President for not 
including more Muslims in her cabinet. Some Muslim leaders complained 
that the budget did not allocate enough money for Islamic schools.
    All organizations, including religious groups, were required to 
register with the Government; however, traditional indigenous religious 
groups were not required to register and generally did not do so.
    On July 20, the LNP director warned Muslim women not to wear veils 
in public but did not prohibit the use of headscarves. Islamic 
religious leaders objected, but there were no reports that Muslim women 
were discriminated against or arrested for wearing veils during the 
year.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some tensions existed between 
the major religious communities. The private sector in urban areas, 
particularly in the capital, gave preference to Christianity in civic 
ceremonies and observances. Throughout the year the Interreligious 
Council and other religious organizations promoted dialogue between 
religious groups. However, ethnic tensions existed in Nimba County 
between the Mandingo and Mano and Gio ethnic groups, mainly over 
property. On July 31, the Government established a commission to 
recommend a solution to these disputes. The commission had not 
completed its work by year's end.
    Incidents of ritualistic killings occurred during the year (see 
Section 1.a.).
    There was no notable Jewish community in the country, and there 
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. LNP 
officers occasionally subjected travelers to arbitrary searches and 
petty extortion at checkpoints in and around Monrovia (see Section 
1.d.).
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--As of May, the Office of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which had 
assisted IDP returns, declared that all IDP camps were officially 
closed. Some IDPs remained in the closed camp areas even though 
assistance was no longer provided. By December UNHCR had provided 
return assistance to 326,824 persons since the return operation began 
in November 2004.
    An environmental NGO was responsible for addressing environmental 
hazards in former IDP camps including the filling of pit latrines and 
garbage pits, safe disposal of toxic materials, and demolition of 
abandoned shelters.
    On May 8, the NGO Save The Children reported that young women and 
girls in IDP camps and in return communities were sexually exploited as 
they sought food or money for their families.
    On August 15, the Government changed management at Guthrie Rubber 
Plantation due to growing insecurity in the plantation and offered 
return assistance to IDPs and former combatants illegally operating the 
plantation. At year's end, approximately 200 former combatants 
registered for government and UN return assistance benefits.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government 
also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify 
as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol.
    During the year the UNHCR assisted the repatriation of 
approximately 80,000 Liberian refugees to country. International NGOs 
estimated that thousands of other refugees returned to the country 
without assistance during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In November 2005 Ellen 
Johnson-Sirleaf won the national Presidential elections with 59.4 
percent of the vote in a runoff election. In the same elections voters 
selected 30 senators and 64 representatives; one was subsequently 
disqualified. Domestic and international observers considered the 
elections generally free and fair. Individuals and parties freely 
declared their candidacies, and membership in the dominant parties did 
not confer any formal advantage. In preparation for the elections, the 
National Elections Commission (NEC) registered 30 political parties; 22 
parties contested the Presidential election results.
    The state is highly centralized. The law provides that the head of 
state appoint county superintendents, and the President appointed all 
15 superintendents during the year. Local governments had no 
independent revenue base and relied entirely on the central government 
for funds. As a result, there was very limited government functioning 
outside of Monrovia, and civil servants often waited for months to 
receive salaries. Local officials served mainly to lobby the central 
government.
    On September 12, the President requested permission from the 
legislature to appoint city mayors because the NEC lacked sufficient 
funds to carry out mayoral elections. The issue was not resolved at 
year's end.
    There were five female ministers, a number of female deputy 
ministers, five women in the Senate, nine women in the House of 
Representatives, and four female county superintendents. There was one 
female Supreme Court judge and one female Supreme Court justice 
nominee. Women constituted 33 percent of local government officials and 
31 percent of senior and junior ministers. Only a few Muslims held 
senior government positions, including one ministerial post.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained 
endemic at middle and lower levels of government due to low civil 
servant salaries, a culture of impunity, and long delays in payment of 
wages. Financial mismanagement decreased considerably at a macro level, 
but was still a serious problem along with lack of accountability 
within government agencies. There was a widespread public perception of 
corruption in all branches of government. Some high-level government 
officials, including the President, were publicly committed to fighting 
corruption. All political appointees were supposed to publicly declare 
their assets upon confirmation, but only some appointees complied.
    The Government dismissed or suspended a number of high-level 
officials for corruption. For example, on May 28, the Ministry of 
Public Works dismissed its comptroller for stealing ministry funds to 
pay for a personal generator. On June 8, Head Postmaster Wleh Freeman, 
Director General of Post Joseph S. Gbemelen, Jr., and Assistant 
Director General for Expedited Mail Services Emmanuel Z. Browne were 
suspended for three months for administrative malfeasance. On June 10, 
the President dismissed Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Minister for 
Health and Social Welfare Benson Barh, Assistant Minister for Commerce 
and Industry Aaron Mathies, and Director of the Civil Aviation 
Authority James Attoh. A number of lower level Ministry of Finance 
employees also were dismissed the same day. On June 12, eight postal 
employees faced prosecution for mail theft. On July 30, Deputy Police 
Director Al Karley was dismissed for misappropriating 2,495 gallons of 
gasoline.
    Beginning in February, international financial controllers were 
placed under GEMAP in key ministries and state-owned enterprises. 
Controllers helped change financial management, purchasing, and 
contracting practices, and instituted financial controls that increased 
government revenues and helped to curb corrupt practices. However, 
single-source procurement and suspect concessions and contracts 
remained a serious concern.
    By year's end the Government had announced publicly investigations 
against former high-ranking members of the National Transitional 
government of Liberia (NTGL), who were in power from 2003	2005. On 
September 18, the Government filed a motion and was awarded a new trial 
in the 2005 corruption case involving the management from the National 
Social Security and Welfare Corporation (see Section 1.e.). The 
defendants appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, where it was 
pending at year's end. On December 17, NTGL Comptroller Emmanuel 
Erskine pleaded guilty to charges of economic sabotage, including the 
misappropriation of $62,714 (3,762,840 LD). Other investigations and 
trials were reportedly ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 corruption case against J.D. 
Slanger, former head of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, or Alphonso 
Gaye, managing director of the National Port Authority.
    In 2004 the Government suspended Police Director Chris Massaquoi 
and Customs and Excise Commissioner Charles Bennie on charges of 
corruption; however, neither case was prosecuted during the year.
    On February 2, Massaquoi was appointed Commissioner of Immigration 
until being named SSS director on August 1. On August 26, Bennie was 
appointed director of price analysis at the Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry.
    The law provides for ``no limitation on the public right to be 
informed about the Government and its functionaries,'' but little 
government information was available, and there were few procedures for 
obtaining it. However, during the year, the Government took steps to 
increase transparency. The Ministry of Finance published the national 
budget and quarterly financial results, and state-owned enterprises 
published financial statements. On July 21, the Public Procurement and 
Concessions Commission launched a Web site and published its first 
report monitoring some government expenditures.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated 
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
    There were three coalitions of human rights groups: the National 
Human Rights Center of Liberia with nine member organizations; the 
Network of Human Rights Chapters with eight groups; and the Human 
Rights and Protection Forum, an umbrella organization of 70 to 80 
groups. Approximately 40 groups formed a civil society collective 
called the National Civil Society Organization. These coalitions sought 
to increase public discussion of human rights problems. Civil society 
NGOs continued to develop.
    During the year the Government worked to facilitate the free and 
safe passage of relief supplies by international NGOs and permitted 
visits by a UN panel of experts, the ICRC, and various UN agencies.
    On September 19, the Forum for Human Rights and Democracy, a human 
rights organization, reported that LNP officers assaulted one of its 
employees and confiscated her camera while she was taking pictures of 
the police beating a theft suspect. An investigation was ongoing at 
year's end.
    In September 2005, the Government's Independent National Commission 
on Human Rights (INCHR), established in 2004, was dissolved upon the 
adoption of a new act regarding the INCHR; its reconstitution was 
ongoing at year's end.
    On February 16, the House of Representatives formed a committee on 
human and civil rights; no reports or recommendations were published 
during the year.
    On March 29, the Government transferred former President Charles 
Taylor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone to face war crimes charges 
in connection with the civil conflict in Sierra Leone.
    On February 20, the President officially commissioned members of 
the TRC, which was established in June 2005, to investigate human 
rights violations during the 1979	2003 civil war. During the year the 
TRC held activities to sensitize the public to their work and began 
taking statements on past human rights abuses. The TRC experienced 
problems during the year due to mismanagement and disharmony among 
commissioners. This hindered its effectiveness and raised doubts about 
its ability to accomplish all its stated goals in a two-year period.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnic 
background, race, sex, creed, place of origin, or political opinion; 
however, the Government did not enforce effectively all these 
provisions.
    The constitution enshrines discrimination on the basis of race; and 
only persons who are ``Negroes'' or of ``Negro descent'' can become 
citizens or own land. Differences involving ethnic groups, notably the 
Krahn, Mano, Gio, Lorma and Mandingo ethnic groups, continued to 
contribute to social and political tensions.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, it was 
widespread and not seriously addressed by the Government, the courts, 
or the media. Several NGOs continued programs to treat abused women and 
girls and to increase awareness of their rights. The most severe 
penalty for domestic violence is six months imprisonment. LNP officers 
received training on sexual offenses as part of their initial training.
    The law provides sentences for rapists ranging from seven years' to 
life imprisonment; accused rapists are ineligible for bail. However, 
the Government did not effectively enforce the law. The law does not 
specifically criminalize spousal rape. The number of reported rapes 
increased during the year; however, the stigma of rape contributed to 
the pervasiveness of out-of-court settlements and obstructed 
prosecution of cases. Inefficiency in the justice system also 
prohibited timely prosecution of cases.
    Some local NGOs pushed for prosecution of rape cases or provided 
lawyers to indigent victims. On September 27, the WCPS reported that of 
the approximately 600 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse it 
received during the year, 10 were prosecuted and few resulted in 
convictions.
    The law does not specifically prohibit FGM, and the Government took 
no action against FGM during the year. FGM traditionally was performed 
on young girls in northern, western, and central ethnic groups, 
particularly in rural areas. The most extreme form of FGM, 
infibulation, was not practiced. Social structures and traditional 
institutions, such as secret societies, often performed FGM as an 
initiation rite, making it difficult to ascertain the number of cases. 
At least one case was reported during the year. On February 9, the 
minister of internal affairs condoned FGM at his confirmation hearing 
by arguing that it was a cultural practice that should be respected.
    Although prostitution is illegal, it was widespread.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem, 
including in schools and places of work.
    Women have not recovered from the setbacks caused by the war, when 
many schools were closed, and they were prevented from maintaining 
their traditional roles in the production, allocation, and sale of 
food. Thousands of women remained displaced, preventing them from 
pursuing livelihoods or education.
    Under the law, women and men enjoy the same legal status. Women can 
inherit land and property, receive equal pay for equal work, and were 
allowed to own and manage businesses. A number of businesses were 
female owned or operated. The Government prohibits polygamy; however, 
traditional laws permit men to have more than one wife. No specific 
office existed to ensure the legal rights of women, but the Ministry of 
Gender and Development was generally responsible for promoting women's 
rights.
    During the year professional women's groups--including lawyers, 
market women, and businesswomen--vocally expressed concern regarding 
government corruption, the economy, security abuses, rape, domestic 
violence, and children's rights.

    Children.--The Government generally did not provide for the 
education and health of children. Due to the poor condition of 
government schools, many children who attended school, particularly in 
Monrovia, attended private institutions. Education was compulsory until 
students reached 16 years of age; however, school fees remained 
relatively high, thereby making education unattainable for 50 percent 
of all school-age children. In both public and private schools, 
families of children often were asked to provide their own uniforms, 
books, pencils, paper, and even desks. Most schools had more male 
students than female students.
    Medical care was poor, but boys and girls generally had equal 
access where medical care was accessible.
    Widespread child abuse continued, and reports of sexual violence 
against children increased during the year. Civil society organizations 
reported increased incidences of rapes against young girls under 12.
    On July 3, Musa Solomon Fallah received a life sentence for raping 
a nine-year old girl. On May 22, Mulbah Brown received a life sentence 
for raping a 13-year old girl.
    FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Child prostitution and trafficking were problems (see Section 5, 
Trafficking). During the year, there were reports that young women and 
girls engaged in prostitution for money, food, and school fees.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    Despite international and government attempts to reunite children 
separated from their families during the war, there were still many 
children who lived on the streets in Monrovia. It was difficult to tell 
who were street children, former combatants, or IDPs. Nearly all 
children had witnessed atrocities during the 14-year civil war, and 
some children had committed atrocities. There were more than 100 
registered orphanages; however, the Government closed 70 during the 
year due to substandard conditions. Many unofficial orphanages also 
served as transit points or informal group homes for children. 
Orphanages were under funded and had difficulty providing basic 
sanitation, adequate medical care, and appropriate diet; they relied 
primarily on private donations and support from international 
organizations, such as the UN Children's Fund and the World Fodd 
Program, which provided food and care throughout the year. Many orphans 
lived outside these institutions.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were police reports that persons were trafficked within 
the country. Victims were trafficked within the country for domestic 
work, labor, and prostitution. Enforcement efforts were weak.
    Young children were at a particularly high risk for trafficking, 
especially orphans or children from extremely poor families. 
Trafficking victims often were subjected to harsh living and working 
conditions.
    On December 26, a Guinean woman was arrested in Ganta, Nimba County 
for attempting to sell a Guinean child in the country. She and the 
child were returned to Guinean border authorities.
    Traffickers enticed their victims with promises of a better life. 
Parents of trafficking victims were persuaded that their children would 
have better food and educational opportunities and that they would 
eventually return home.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of forced labor 
or of the recruitment of child soldiers. Under the 2005 Anti-Human 
Trafficking Act, penalties for trafficking range from one year to life 
imprisonment. Monetary restitution to victims is also provided for in 
the law. The law was not widely disseminated among law enforcement, 
lawyers, and judges, and there were no prosecutions of trafficking 
cases during the year. The ministries of justice and labor have primary 
responsibility for combating trafficking.
    The international NGO AG Charities worked with the Government, 
local NGOs, and churches to raise awareness about trafficking, and the 
WCPS continued to address trafficking issues. The Government had 
limited capacity to provide services to victims; however, a local NGO 
provided shelter for abused women and girls, including trafficking 
victims.
    Under the 2005 antitrafficking law, the President must appoint an 
anti-trafficking task force, chaired by the ministries of labor and 
justice. During the year an ad hoc antitrafficking task force composed 
of government representatives, international organizations, foreign 
governments, and local NGOs continued work to develop a national 
antitrafficking action plan. In October the President appointed a 
national antitrafficking task force chaired by the minister of labor.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although it is illegal to discriminate 
against persons with disabilities, in practice they did not enjoy equal 
access to public buildings or government services. No laws mandate 
access to public buildings. Streets, schools, public buildings, and 
other facilities were generally in poor condition and inaccessible to 
persons with disabilities. As a result of the civil wars, a large 
number of persons had permanent disabilities, in addition to those 
disabled by accident or illness. Persons with disabilities faced 
discrimination, particularly in rural areas. They were reports that 
some babies with deformities were abandoned. Some NGOs provided 
services to persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the law prohibits 
ethnic discrimination, racial discrimination is enshrined in the 
constitution which provides that only ``persons who are Negroes or of 
Negro descent'' may be citizens or own land. Many persons of Lebanese 
and Asian descent who were born or lived most of their lives in the 
country were denied full rights as a result of this racial 
discrimination. Differences involving ethnic groups continued to 
contribute to social and political tensions.
    The country has 16 indigenous ethnic groups; each spoke a distinct 
primary language and was concentrated regionally. No ethnic group 
constituted a majority of the population.
    During the year ethnic, religious, and other differences between 
Mandingos and non-Mandingos continued, but unlike in the previous year, 
such differences did not result in violence.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, except 
members of the military and police, the right to associate in trade 
unions, and workers exercised this right in practice. The law also 
prohibits unions from engaging in partisan political activity. There 
were no reports of government interference in union activities.
    Union power increased during the year; however, the country's 
largely illiterate workforce engaged in few economic activities beyond 
subsistence level.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but there were 
no reports of such discrimination during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. With the exception of 
civil servants, workers have the right to organize and bargain 
collectively. There are no export processing zones.
    On October 3, the legislature repealed the 1984 People's Redemption 
Council Decree 12, which nullified labor laws that provided for the 
right to strike. However, by year's end the President had not signed 
the repeal legislation because the legislature had not properly 
transmitted it to the President for her signature. Several unions held 
strikes during the year, including the Firestone labor union and the 
University of Liberia Teacher's Union. The Civil Servants Association 
also held a strike on July 3.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). There 
were reports that child labor continued. Unlike in the previous year, 
there were no reports that local officials forced convicts to work for 
them.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 16 during 
school hours; however, the Government did not effectively enforce the 
law. Due to extreme poverty, child labor was a serious and widespread 
problem, particularly in the informal sector. The Ministry of Labor 
lacked the resources to carry out its mandate to monitor child labor. 
Throughout rural areas, particularly where there were no schools, small 
children continued to take care of younger brothers and sisters and to 
work on family subsistence farms. In urban areas children assisted 
their parents as vendors in markets or they hawked goods on the 
streets.
    During the year there were reports that several rubber plantations 
employed children. There were also reports that children were forced to 
work in conditions that were likely to harm their health and safety, 
such as stone cutting or work that required carrying heavy loads.
    An international NGO worked to eliminate the worst forms of child 
labor by putting at-risk children back into school. Other local and 
international NGOs worked to raise awareness about the worst forms of 
child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires a minimum wage 
of approximately $0.25 (15 LD) per hour not exceeding 8 hours per day, 
excluding benefits, for unskilled laborers. The law also requires that 
agricultural workers be paid $0.25 per hour (15 LD), excluding 
benefits. Skilled labor has no minimum fixed wage. The highly 
competitive minimum wage jobs did not provide a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family. Families dependent on minimum wage 
incomes also engaged in subsistence farming, small-scale marketing, and 
begging. The Government generally paid civil servant salaries and while 
payment arrears grew between July and October, the arrears were paid by 
December. The Government downsized and deleted ghost names from the 
civil service payroll for more efficiency and transparency.
    The law provides for a 48-hour, six-day regular workweek with a 30-
minute rest period per five hours of work. The six-day workweek may be 
extended to 56 hours for service occupations and to 72 hours for 
miners, with overtime pay beyond 48 hours.
    The law provides for paid leave, severance benefits, and safety 
standards, but enforcement was targeted solely at foreign-owned firms 
that generally observed these standards. The Ministry of Labor lacked 
the ability to enforce government-established health and safety 
standards. The law does not give workers the right to remove themselves 
from dangerous situations without risking loss of employment.
    Due to the country's continued severe economic problems, most 
citizens were forced to accept any work they could find regardless of 
wages or working conditions. The Ministry of Labor lacked the resources 
to monitor compliance with labor laws.

                               __________

                               MADAGASCAR

    The Republic of Madagascar is a multiparty democracy with a 
population of approximately 18 million. President Marc Ravalomanana, 
who was elected to a second term in December, and his party, Tiako-I-
Madagasikara (TIM), dominated political life. The Presidential election 
was generally free and fair, although international and domestic 
observers noted the need for a number of electoral reforms. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The following serious human rights problems were reported: use of 
excessive force by security forces to disperse demonstrators, resulting 
in death and injuries; harsh prison conditions, which resulted in 
deaths; arbitrary arrest of demonstrators; lengthy pretrial detention; 
restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press; official 
corruption; restrictions on freedom of religion; societal 
discrimination and violence against women; trafficking of women and 
girls; and child labor, including forced labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
there was one report that a person may have died as the result of blows 
inflicted on him during his arrest at a political rally. He was 
released the same day, but died several days later. After a brief 
investigation, the minister of public security stated that the 
demonstrator's death was not the result of wounds inflicted on him by 
the arresting security forces (see Section 2.b.).
    On May 15, a woman was killed in a hit-and-run accident by a 
speeding police car on a road in Antananarivo, according to media 
reports. The victim's family took the case to court; it was still under 
investigation at year's end.
    During the year several persons were arrested and placed under 
pretrial detention for their alleged involvement in the 2005 case in 
which a gendarme in Ikelihorombe killed 10 persons accused of cattle 
theft.
    No investigation had been conducted by year's end into the May 2005 
death in police custody of Jone Yvon Hajaniaina Rafanomezantsoa.
    On August 11, squatters in the village of Ankorondrano Ampefy 
lynched two police officers with machetes, knives, and cinder blocks. A 
small force of national police and gendarmes had arrived to enforce a 
local tribunal's eviction notice in a land dispute case that had gone 
on for 30 years. One female member of the mob was also killed in the 
conflict.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances or widespread criminal kidnappings for ransom.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law provide for the inviolability of 
the person; however, security forces subjected prisoners to physical 
abuse, including rape.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, which resulted in injuries 
(see Section 2.b.). Unlike in the previous year, no injuries resulted 
from grenades tossed to intimidate strikers.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh and life threatening. The country's 99 facilities, which were 
designed for approximately 13,000 prisoners, held approximately 17,427 
in December, according to the Ministry of Justice. Most prison cells 
averaged less than one square yard of space per inmate. The most 
crowded prisons, such as Tsiafahy and Moromanga, forced prisoners to 
share cramped quarters in stacked bunk beds resulting in sleeping 
spaces shared by as many as three to four detainees to one square yard. 
An August report by the Government's National Observatory for Integrity 
found that inmates in Antanimora prison were exchanging food and other 
supplies for a place to sleep, while inmates in Fianarantsoa had to 
take turns sleeping throughout the night for lack of space to lie down. 
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) estimated that more than half of 
the prisoners were being held in non-prison facilities, including 
production camps, storage warehouses, and slaughterhouses. The severe 
overcrowding was due in part to pervasive pretrial detention (see 
Section 2.d.), and because some defendants, unable to pay the court fee 
required before receiving their judgment, were returned to jail.
    Chronic malnutrition--which affected up to two-thirds of the 
detainees in some prisons--was the most common cause of death. 
Prisoners typically survived on 100	250 grams of dry manioc, rice, or 
cassava per day, which provided less than half of the Ministry of 
Justice's recommended daily intake for detainees. Families and NGOs, 
including the Catholic Prison Chaplains, supplemented the daily rations 
of some prisoners. NGOs claimed that hundreds died from malnutrition, 
most because they were transferred or detained in a remote location and 
did not receive visits by family members. Since its inception in 
October 2005, the Ministry of Justice's ``Tefaka'' program has 
transferred more than 100 dangerous detainees to prisons far from their 
zone of origin to prevent unrest among their accomplices at home, which 
has further hindered family access. Tsiafahy maximum-security prison, 
where the majority of these prisoners were sent, had evacuated more 
than 100 detainees by October for treatment of advanced medical 
conditions, usually malnutrition. At least nine of the prisoners 
transferred from Tsiafahy to Antanimora prison died in October.
    Malnutrition, combined with a lack of hygiene, made detainees 
especially vulnerable to disease and epidemics. Deteriorating prison 
infrastructure--including a lack of sanitary facilities or potable 
water--resulted in skin disease, insect infestation, and other health 
risks; access to medical care was limited. In October a prisoner 
starved to death in Antanimora prison, reportedly from a combination of 
malnutrition and tuberculosis. There were media reports of four other 
deaths and at least 20 cases of tuberculosis at Antanimora.
    During the year the Government took steps to address the prison 
situation. In June the Presidential Prison Task Force proposed 
increased funding to raise nutritional standards for prisoners, and the 
Ministry of Justice's budget was augmented by $470,000 (one billion 
ariary) to improve nutrition for prisoners through March 2007. There 
were minor infrastructure improvements, such as the construction of 
brick walls to separate children from adults in Morondava prisons and 
additional prison buildings in Betroka. According to some NGOs, these 
improvements have helped to prevent a higher incidence of prison 
deaths.
    Church leaders and some NGOs reported that rape was commonplace in 
the prisons and often used by prison guards and other inmates to 
humiliate prisoners. Other organizations pointed out that while rape 
cases are the exception, prisoners often prostituted themselves in jail 
for food. Prisoners could be used as forced labor (see Section 6.c.).
    Juveniles were not always held separately from the adult prison 
population, and some preschool-age children shared cells with their 
incarcerated mothers. Approximately 455 of the country's 20,106 
prisoners were under 18. Pretrial detainees were not always kept 
separate from the general prison population.
    The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and 
some NGOs, and such visits occurred during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law provide 
for due process for persons accused of crimes and prohibit arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not always respect 
these provisions in practice.
    The minister for public security heads the national police and is 
responsible for law and order in urban areas. The Gendarmerie 
Nationale, overseen by the Ministry of National Defense, is responsible 
for security in all other areas of the island.
    Lack of training and equipment, low salaries, and rampant 
corruption were problems in the national police and gendarmerie. During 
the year the Government prosecuted a number of security force members 
for corruption.
    In October, 16 non-commissioned military officers and gendarmes 
were arrested for involvement in trafficking of handguns, grenades, and 
AK-47s in Diego Suarez. At year's end the case was under investigation 
and those arrested were awaiting trial.
    Although the law provides that arrest warrants must be obtained in 
all cases except those involving hot pursuit, often persons were 
detained and jailed on no more than an accusation by another. 
Defendants have a general right to counsel and the right to be informed 
of the charges against them, but the Government was only required to 
provide counsel in cases in which indigent defendants faced charges 
carrying sentences greater than five years. A system of bail exists, 
but was not available to many defendants in practice. Magistrates often 
resorted to an instrument known as a mandat de depot (retaining writ) 
by which defendants were held in detention for the entire pretrial 
period. Prisoners generally were allowed prompt access by family 
members; however, certain prisoners, such as those in solitary 
confinement, had more limited access.
    During the year security forces arrested student demonstrators and 
opposition politicians (see Sections 2.b. and 3).
    Long pretrial detention was a serious problem. The law mandates 
that a criminal suspect is to be charged or released within 48 hours of 
arrest; however, during the year the Government detained individuals 
for significantly longer periods of time before charging or releasing 
them. According to the minister of justice, the law places no limits on 
the duration of pretrial detention for specific felonies including 
cattle theft; the latter can only be tried by a special criminal court, 
which in certain jurisdictions meets only once a year. In February the 
Ministry of Justice ordered the release of a pretrial detainee who had 
been held without charge for 19 years in Tsiafahy prison. Accused of 
cattle theft, his file had gone missing for years, preventing both his 
sentencing and release.
    The Ministry of Justice reported that approximately 65 percent of 
the entire prison population was in pretrial detention. Trial delays 
were caused by poor record keeping, an outdated judicial system that 
keeps the accused in detention until their trial regardless of the 
severity of the offense, an insufficient number of magistrates per 
capita, a lack of resources, and the difficulty of access to remote 
parts of the country. Despite legal protections, investigative 
detentions often exceeded one year. Many detainees spent a longer 
period in investigative detention than they would have spent 
incarcerated following a maximum sentence on the charges faced.
    The Government took significant steps to address the pervasive 
pretrial detention problem. A law passed in January providing 
``conditional liberty'' granted eligible detainees the right to be 
released on parole for good behavior after serving half of their 
sentences. The minister of justice announced in April that henceforth 
the mandat de depot would only be used for serious cases. The Ministry 
of Justice began assessing the efficiency of magistrates and set a goal 
to try all 2004 cases by year's end, and the Government started 
implementing nationwide assessments of tribunals and human rights 
training for magistrates.

    Amnesty.--The Government granted 7,279 pardons during the year, in 
part to reduce prison overcrowding and the judicial backlog. On June 
26, President Ravalomanana ordered 1,572 of these pardons, together 
with a 12-month sentence reduction for 5,707 other convicted prisoners. 
Most pardons were granted to those who had been incarcerated for 
nonviolent crimes and had served at least 15 years or were over 70 
years of age.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was susceptible to 
executive influence at all levels and at times was corrupt. A 
magistrate strike initiated in 2005 concluded in January with the 
parliament's ratification of a statute prohibiting magistrates from 
going on strike, together with an increase in magistrates' salaries.
    At year's end one judge was under investigation for corruption by 
the internal disciplinary committee.
    The judiciary is under the Ministry of Justice and has four levels. 
Courts of first instance hear civil cases and criminal cases carrying 
limited fines and sentences. The Court of Appeals includes a criminal 
court of first instance for cases carrying sentences greater than five 
years. The Supreme Court of Appeals hears appeals of cases from the 
Court of Appeals. The High Constitutional Court reviews the 
constitutionality of laws, decrees, ordinances, and electoral disputes. 
The judiciary also includes specialized courts designed to handle 
matters such as cattle theft.
    Military courts are reserved for the trial of military personnel 
and generally follow the procedures of the civil judicial system, 
except that military officers are included on jury panels. Defendants 
in military cases have access to an appeals process. A civilian 
magistrate, usually joined by a panel of military officers, presides 
over military trials.
    The law provides traditional village institutions with the right to 
protect property and public order. An informal, community-organized 
judicial system called dina was used in some rural areas to resolve 
civil disputes between villagers over such issues as cattle rustling. 
The law limits dina remedies to monetary damages. The dina process does 
not ensure internationally recognized standards of due process; 
however, there were no reports that dina resulted in sentences 
involving corporal punishment. Dina decisions may be appealed through 
formal judicial channels to a court of general jurisdiction or to the 
Office of the Mediator, which investigates and can seek redress through 
formal judicial authorities.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide defendants with 
the right to a full defense at every stage of the proceedings, and 
trials are public. Defendants have the right to be present at their 
trials, to be informed of the charges against them, to confront 
witnesses, to present evidence, and to appeal convictions. The law 
extends these rights to all citizens without exception.
    The Government is required to provide counsel in cases in which 
defendants face charges carrying sentences greater than five years; the 
Ministry of Justice was conducting a study to determine whether to 
extend this right to all other detainees, particularly those who cannot 
afford their own counsel. Attorneys have access to government-held 
evidence; however, this right does not extend to defendants without 
attorneys. The law provides for a presumption of innocence; however, 
the presumption of innocence was often overlooked. While the law 
provides that juries can be used in all cases, in practice, juries were 
used only in labor dispute cases.
    In 2003 and 2006, former exiled political leader Pierrot 
Rajaonarivelo was sentenced in absentia for complicity, abuse of power, 
and embezzlement. While Rajaonarivelo alleged that the Government used 
these convictions--which he is appealing--to impede his human and 
political rights to run for President, the Government maintained that 
these were strictly criminal cases and that he must comply with 
domestic court decisions and electoral law. He was prevented from 
entering the country in the run-up to the election period in order to 
maintain peace and security, and continued to appeal his conviction 
from abroad (see Section 3).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year opposition 
leader and National Assembly member Jean Eugene Voninahitsy 
unsuccessfully appealed his December 2005 conviction for ``trafficking 
influence.'' Observers suspected that the charge and conviction were 
politically motivated, noting that such a charge normally should have 
involved the Independent Anticorruption Bureau (BIANCO), which played 
no role in the case (see Section 3).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and 
impartial judiciary deals with all civil matters, including human 
rights cases. However, the courts often encountered difficulty in 
enforcing judgments in civil cases.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and unlike in the 
previous year there were no reports of arbitrary government 
interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence without 
legal process.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, the Government limited 
these rights in practice. There were reports that some government 
officials pressured the media to curb its critical coverage of alleged 
government malfeasance and intimidated journalists. Journalists 
practiced self-censorship.
    There were 14 privately owned major daily newspapers and many other 
privately owned national and local news publications that published 
less frequently. Le Quotidien, which is owned by the President, was the 
newspaper most heavily influenced by the state. Widespread illiteracy 
and a poorly developed system for distributing publications printed in 
the capital limited the influence of print media.
    The Government owned nationwide television and radio networks. 
However, the President's privately-owned television and radio station, 
MBS, also had national coverage, which in some cases extended to areas 
not covered by the public networks. Applications from other private 
television stations for nationwide coverage were suspended by the 
Ministry of Telecommunications, Post, and Communications at year's end 
while the ministry was completing technical tests for a nationwide 
broadcast via satellite. In addition, there were approximately 232 
radio stations, 137 of which were legally licensed, and 29 television 
stations, 20 of which were legally licensed. International media were 
allowed to operate freely.
    Reporters Sans Frontieres' annual world press freedom report 
indicated that the country's performance improved substantially during 
the year due to a generally calm year. Nevertheless, there were 
occasional reports that journalists were subject to arrest and 
harassment.
    Following the failed coup attempt by General Andrianafidisoa 
(``General Fidy'') On November 17, journalists from Radio Don Bosco and 
TV Plus complained that government officials warned them to stop 
reporting on General Fidy's actions to avoid inflaming the security 
situation, or risk being shut down. Additionally, in response to 
allegedly inaccurate coverage of the coup attempt, President 
Ravalomanana issued a strong public warning to all journalists and 
media outlet owners not to publish unchecked news, lest he take action 
against them. The minister of telecommunications subsequently met with 
journalists from the Crisis Committee for the Defense of the Press to 
assure them that they were under no threat from the Government. One 
journalist from a private radio station in Antananarivo was barred by 
his concerned station chief from reporting until further notice.
    On October 7, police reportedly arrested and mistreated Eloi 
Ravelonjato, despite his journalist badge, in Tamatave at the welcome 
rally for exiled AREMA leader Pierrot Rajaonarivelo (AREMA is an 
opposition political party.) Security forces reportedly seized his 
camera and hit him on the head and neck before taking him away in a 
truck for questioning. He was released later the same night
    Radio Say in Toliara, shut down by the Government in 2004, remained 
closed.
    In general media were active and expressed a wide variety of views. 
However, some journalists working for public media refrained from 
criticizing the Government, and others working for private media were 
expected to follow the political line of the station owner. There were 
reports that one journalist working for a privately-owned radio station 
in Fort Dauphin was not permitted to criticize the Government, as the 
station owner supported the administration.
    Government agencies, private companies, and political parties 
sometimes bribed journalists, who generally received minimum or below 
minimum wages, to ensure positive coverage of certain events.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government detained journalists on libel charges.
    The Government continued to deny a resident visa to Radio France 
International correspondent Olivier Peguy, who had criticized the 
Ravalomanana government's actions during the 2002 political crisis. In 
June 2005 the international NGO Committee to Protect Journalists sent 
an open letter to President Ravalomanana urging the Government to 
reissue Peguy's visa, with no response. Radio France International 
assigned another correspondent to the country.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Public access to the Internet was limited mainly to urban areas; modern 
technology and the necessary infrastructure were generally absent in 
rural areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
but the Government at times limited this right. There were reports from 
different parts of the country that opposition members could not obtain 
permits to hold public rallies in specific locations, such as stadiums. 
The mayor of Antananarivo banned all political street demonstrations, 
citing the need to preserve the city's infrastructure. Police forcibly 
dispersed several demonstrations during the year, which resulted in one 
death, several injuries, and numerous arrests.
    In the run-up to the Presidential election, there were media 
reports from opposition candidates that their attempts to organize 
public meetings were sometimes impeded. On May 21, opposition member 
Herizo Razafimahaleo reported that local government officials 
indirectly impeded his ability to gather his supporters by closing the 
pre-designated meeting location, even after he had obtained official 
permission to hold the meeting there. On the same day, the television 
program at which he was slated to speak was reportedly cancelled 
because of ``technical problems.''
    On October 7, police and gendarmes beat and arrested demonstrators 
rallying at the Tamatave airport for the return of exiled political 
leader Pierrot Rajanarivelo. Nirilala Antonio Rakotondralambo, who was 
among six demonstrators arrested at the protests, died several days 
later. According to some reports, his death resulted from security 
force blows sustained during his arrest. In response to this 
allegation, the minister of public security conceded that 
Rakotondralambo may have sustained ``some minor blows'' when security 
forces were trying to contain the protesters, but stated that 
Rakotondralambo had signed a statement upon his release affirming that 
he had not been tortured during his detention, and he had returned to 
work for the two days prior to his death. Local observers considered it 
likely that the release statement was probably obtained without 
coercion.
    In February at the University of Antsiranana (also known as Diego 
Suarez), police used force to disperse student demonstrators protesting 
for improved university conditions. One student was injured with a 
broken arm and 104 students were arrested; they were all released by 
year's end.
    No action was taken during the year against security forces 
responsible for injuring demonstrators in 2005 and 2004.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the 
right of association and permit citizens to organize political parties 
and associations; however, the constitution also explicitly forbids 
associations that ``call into question the unity of the nation, and 
those that advocate totalitarianism or ethnic, tribal, or religious 
segregation.'' There were numerous political parties.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice; however, the Government continued to ban the New 
Protestant Church in Madagascar (FVPM) (which had broken away from the 
mainstream Reformed Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar 
(FJKM)), on the grounds that the breakaway church was illegally 
occupying property assigned to the FJKM. In April the administrative 
chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the Government to provide 
compelling evidence for the need to ban FVPM. The case was still 
pending at year's end. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God also 
remained banned based on the threat to law and order.
    The law mandates that religious organizations register with the 
Ministry of Interior. Religious organizations that fail to meet the 
ministry's registration requirements are free to register as simple 
associations, which do not have the right to receive gifts or hold 
religious services. Ministry of Interior officials estimated there were 
more than one thousand religious organizations in the country operating 
without official state recognition, either as associations or as 
unregistered organizations.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has a very small 
Jewish population; there were no reports of anti-Semitic incidents 
during the year.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice; 
however, during the year the Government continued to prevent the return 
of self-exiled political leader Pierrot Rajaonarivelo (see Section 3).
    The constitution does not explicitly prohibit forced exile; 
however, the Government did not use it. Former President Ratsiraka and 
other members of his administration remained in self-imposed exile at 
year's end.
    The law does not include provisions for the granting of asylum or 
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to 
the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has 
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, 
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of 
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government 
granted refugee status or asylum and cooperated with the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting the small number of refugees in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice by 
voting in Presidential elections. However, some degree of turmoil has 
accompanied the three changes of government that have occurred over the 
last 14 years.
    The country held a calm and relatively orderly Presidential 
election in December with a 61.45 percent voter turnout. A number of 
domestic and international observer teams deemed the election generally 
free and fair. Opposition candidates were free to organize meetings and 
press conferences to publicize their platforms and criticisms of the 
Government; observers had free access to polling stations during voting 
and ballot counting; voters cast their ballots without interference; 
and voting station officials were competent. Contrary to opposition 
claims, a media observation study by the international NGO PACT showed 
that state media provided airtime gratis and equally to the 14 
Presidential candidates. International observers noted numerous 
procedural shortcomings but did not consider them to be indications of 
any systematic effort to disadvantage particular candidates. Still, 
they called for electoral reforms before the 2007 legislative 
elections.
    While government forces did not engage in intimidation or violence, 
on election day a group of approximately ten persons set fire to ballot 
boxes in three polling stations in the Tulear region. Former AREMA 
opposition parliamentarian Eloi Valoserana was arrested for this crime, 
and his case was under investigation at year's end. Former AREMA 
parliamentarian Eric Lemalade was also arrested for throwing Molotov 
cocktails at a polling station in Tamatave; that case also was under 
investigation.
    In the run-up to the December election, opposition parties, civil 
society, and members of the international community began calling for 
reforms in electoral mechanisms and institutions, namely: replacing the 
multiple ballot system with a single ballot; creating a more 
independent national electoral commission; revising the electoral code 
to include more sanctions against fraud and to incorporate other 
changes to the electoral machinery; and establishing an electronic 
voter registration list. Of those requests, the only one undertaken by 
the Government was the electronic voter registration list. The 
Government also made efforts to provide identity cards to facilitate 
voter registration for the approximately 1.5 million citizens with no 
form of documentation. While administrative delays and material errors 
in both of these initiatives generated allegations of fraud from 
opposition groups and some members of civil society, the Government 
improvised last-minute solutions that did not have a significant impact 
on the conduct or outcome of the election.
    President Didier Ratsiraka and his AREMA party dominated the 
country's political scene from 1974 through 2001, largely by imposing 
government restrictions on the political opposition. The Presidential 
elections of 2001 marked a change in the political landscape with the 
contested victory of President Marc Ravalomanana and his TIM party. In 
subsequent elections individuals and parties have been free to declare 
their candidacy and stand for election with few restrictions. The sole 
exception is the case of Pierrot Rajaonarivelo, a former senior 
official of the Ratsiraka regime who fled to Paris in exile following 
the 2002 election crisis. Sentenced in absentia for complicity in abuse 
of power and embezzlement, Rajaonarivelo alleged that the Government 
used these convictions to impede his human and political rights to run 
for President. In response to Rajaonarivelo's claims that he would 
return to the country in October to register his candidacy, President 
Ravalomanana publicly declared that all citizens are free to return to 
the country but must abide by domestic court decisions and electoral 
law, which prohibits convicted criminals from running for the 
presidency. Nonetheless, government officials repeatedly blocked 
Rajaonarivelo's efforts to return to the country, citing security 
concerns.
    A series of grenade attacks during the year appeared politically 
motivated. In August and September police arrested seven people in 
connection with simultaneous grenade attacks on the High Constitutional 
Court and the homes of Interior Minister Charles Rabemananjara and 
General Bertini Rajoelson. At least three of those arrested were former 
``reservists,'' a term used during the 2002 political crisis for 
unofficial Ravalomanana security forces, many of whom have since grown 
disenchanted with Ravalomanana. Except for the non-lethal shooting of 
one of the attackers by guards, the grenade attacks resulted in no 
injuries. At year's end those arrested were under preventive detention, 
and the investigation was proceeding.
    There was one woman in the cabinet, eight women in the 160-member 
National Assembly, and 10 women in the 90-member Senate. One of the 22 
appointed regional administrators was a woman.
    There were 12 Muslims, one Hindu, and two Chinese-Malagasy members 
in the National Assembly, and eight Muslims in the Senate. Chinese 
Malagasy and Muslims also held civil service positions. Residents of 
Indo-Pakistani origin were not represented in the Government because 
few had citizenship (see Section 5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a 
serious problem throughout the Government, but Transparency 
International noted that the country improved its performance from the 
previous year on the corruption perception index.
    The Government's first national action plan and new anticorruption 
laws were adopted in 2004, including the establishment of BIANCO--the 
Independent Anticorruption Bureau--as an independent agency responsible 
for anticorruption education, prevention, and investigation. The 
strategy initially targeted 10 key sectors including justice, customs, 
and the police, and called for the creation of a new court called the 
Chaine Penale, the establishment of anticorruption cells within each 
ministry, and a network of drop boxes for public complaints on 
corruption in each of the country's 111 districts. A follow-on strategy 
covering the 2005	07 period emphasized reducing corruption in the key 
economic sectors of tourism, mining, and industry.
    For Antananarivo, from January through November, BIANCO received 
5,815 complaints. Of those, BIANCO investigated the 640 complaints that 
were corruption-related, resulting in 137 cases being sent to court and 
201 persons being arrested, 56 of whom were placed in preventive 
detention; the remainder were released on bail.
    In March BIANCO opened an office in the regional capital of 
Fianarantsoa that received 1,081 complaints by the end of the year. 
BIANCO investigated 327 cases, which led to 63 arrests. Ten of those 
resulted in preventive detention, and 53 were released on bail.
    BIANCO monitored a network of drop boxes for public complaints in 
each of the country's 111 districts. During the year BIANCO officials 
continued to visit the regions on a regular basis to publicize its 
mission and to conduct investigations. BIANCO's public awareness and 
civic education outreach included radio and television programs; press 
releases and interviews; posters at airports, public offices, and 
throughout each city; exhibits; and film screenings. BIANCO developed 
five types of anticorruption training manuals, and distributed 90,000 
of the manuals to students and teachers. BIANCO conducted training for 
local government officials, journalists, gendarmes and national police, 
as well as Girl and Boy Scouts. BIANCO also held ethics seminars for 
magistrates in Mahajunga, Fianarantsoa, and Tamatave. To combat 
pervasive low-level corruption within the traffic police, BIANCO 
created reader-friendly educational handbooks for training sessions of 
local police.
    There are no laws providing for public access to government 
information. Educational material on anticorruption--including 
statistics updated every trimester--was available to citizens and non-
citizens, including foreign media, while cases under investigation were 
considered confidential. Persons requesting public documents endured a 
lengthy bureaucratic process, in part due to a lack of standardized 
record system.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The constitution and law require the Government to create 
apolitical organizations that promote and protect human rights. 
However, the Governmental National Commission for Human Rights has been 
inactive since 2002, when its members' terms expired. The Government 
has offered no explanation for the delay in naming replacements.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit all forms of discrimination; 
however, no specific government institutions are designated to enforce 
these provisions.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, but domestic violence 
against women was a problem. Police and legal authorities generally 
intervened when physical abuse was reported. According to media 
reports, a large proportion of women experienced domestic abuse, 
although most cases went unreported. In one of the few government 
programs to address domestic violence, the Ministry of Population 
worked with NGOs in Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa to provide victims 
with legal advice. The Ministry of Justice had no statistics on the 
number of domestic abusers prosecuted, convicted, or punished.
    The law prohibits rape in general, but does not specifically refer 
to spousal rape. Penalties ranged from three years to life in prison, 
depending on factors such as the victim's age, the rapist's 
relationship to the victim, and whether the rapist's occupation puts 
him or her in contact with children. Rapes committed against children 
and pregnant women were punishable by hard labor. An additional two to 
five years' imprisonment could be added in the case of assault and 
battery. The Government generally enforced these penalties for reported 
and convicted cases of rape.
    Prostitution is not a crime, but related activities, such as 
pandering and incitement of minors to debauchery, are criminal. 
Prostitution was pervasive and particularly visible in areas frequented 
by tourists.
    Sex tourism was a growing problem with the growth of the tourism 
industry. In September 2005 President Ravalomanana warned foreigners 
not to visit for sexual tourism. The Government continued with its 
national awareness campaign by posting signs throughout airports and 
hotels, and including a full-page warning in the customs booklet given 
to arriving international passengers. Sex tourism is generally covered 
under sexual harassment laws.
    There were reports of trafficking in women (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is against the law, but the practice was 
widespread, particularly in export processing zone (EPZ) factories. The 
Government enforced sexual harassment laws when brought to court; 
however, cases were rarely reported. Early in the year a female 
employee of the Columbia Clothing Company factory in Antsirabe filed a 
sexual harassment suit. Seven employees-two Sri Lankan and five 
Malagasy--were convicted of sexual harassment, fined, and received 
suspended jail sentences of two years.
    Women generally enjoy the same legal status as men. Under the law, 
wives have an equal voice in selecting the location of the couple's 
residence and generally received half the couple's assets if the 
marriage was dissolved. Widows with children inherit half of joint 
marital property; widows without children take priority only after the 
husband's surviving kin. In practice these requirements were not always 
observed. A tradition known as ``the customary third,'' which provided 
the wife with the right to only one-third of a couple's joint holdings, 
was occasionally observed. Although the country is party to the 
International Convention on the Protection of Women, there was no 
special government office to ensure the legal rights of women.
    There was relatively little societal discrimination against women 
in urban areas, where many women owned or managed businesses and held 
management positions in private businesses and state-owned companies. 
In 2003 (the most recent data available), the Ministry of Civil 
Services and Labor reported that women owned 30 percent of formal 
sector companies and 53 percent of informal sector companies. Women are 
not permitted to work in positions that might endanger their health, 
safety, and morals.
    A number of NGOs focused on the civic education of women and girls, 
and publicized and explained their specific legal protections; however, 
due to illiteracy, cultural traditions, societal intimidation, and a 
lack of knowledge about their rights, few women lodged official 
complaints or sought redress when their legal rights were compromised.

    Children.--The ministries of health, education, and population are 
responsible for various aspects of child welfare, but a lack of funding 
resulted in inadequate services and precluded the compilation of 
reliable statistics.
    The constitution provides for tuition-free public education for all 
citizen children and makes primary education until age 14 compulsory. 
According to a 2004 World Bank study, 68 percent of primary school-age 
children were enrolled (see Section 6.d.). Children in rural areas 
generally studied through middle school, whereas children in urban 
areas commonly finished the baccalaureat examination process for 
entrance into university. Girls and boys had the same access to 
education and medical care.
    In 2004 the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Government launched 
a three-year campaign to improve birth registration rates. The country 
has no uniform birth registration system, and unregistered children 
were not eligible to attend school or obtain health care services. 
According to a 2003	04 study by INSTAT, the Government's office of 
statistical studies, 25 percent of children in the country under the 
age of five are not registered.
    The legal age for marriage without parental authorization is 18 for 
both boys and girls. The law allows the marriage of girls at 14 and 
boys at 17 with parental authorization. Courts may approve marriages at 
even earlier ages with parental authorization for ``serious reasons'' 
such as pregnancy.
    In rural areas most couples were united in traditional local 
ceremonies, outside the legal system and often at an early age. Some of 
these unions were subsequently formalized in civil ceremonies when the 
couple had sufficient money or needed evidence of marriage for other 
purposes. In a small number of rural areas young girls were pressured 
to move out and marry soon after puberty to test their ability to 
become pregnant, a virtual prerequisite for marriage. Parents built 
one-room ``homes'' for their daughters to begin ``courting,'' and the 
daughters entered into informal traditional unions soon thereafter.
    In major cities underage marriage existed but was far less 
prevalent. Urban girls tended to stay in school longer than their rural 
counterparts. There were anecdotal reports that parents arranged 
marriages for their underage daughters with more affluent older men in 
exchange for money.
    Child prostitution was a problem and constituted one of the primary 
forms of child labor. According to a continuing study conducted by the 
International Labor Organization's (ILO) International Program for the 
Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), there were approximately 700 to 800 
child prostitutes in the city of Nosy Be and more than 2,000 in 
Tamatave. Some child prostitutes reported earning several times the 
average per capita monthly income. The Bara Iatsanta clan in Ivohibe 
practiced a tradition called ``tsenan'ampela''--or ``girls market''--
where adolescent girls go to the local cattle market, either of their 
own will or sent by their parents, to be ``purchased'' for the night by 
wealthy cattle owners.
    There were reports of child trafficking (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Child labor, including forced labor, was a problem (see Section 
6.d.).
    Although child abandonment is against the law, it was an increasing 
problem due to acute poverty and lack of family support. There were few 
safe shelters for street children, and government agencies generally 
tried to place abandoned children with parents or other relatives 
first; orphanages and adoption generally were a last resort. To address 
child abandonment, the multisector network for the rights and 
protection of children established by the Ministry of Population in 
2002 operated in 11 cities throughout the six provinces. In Diego 
Suarez the network brought together 22 entities from the Government, 
law enforcement, private, and nonprofit sectors to handle individual 
cases of child abuse and abandonment from the initial complaint through 
the trial, including medical assistance and legal advice for victims.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons were 
trafficked. The vast majority of trafficking cases were internal, 
namely children being trafficked from rural areas to work as 
prostitutes and domestic workers in urban centers. International 
trafficking was rare, with reports of a limited number of women and 
girls trafficked for prostitution between the country and the 
neighboring islands of Mauritius and Reunion. Many trafficking victims 
were subjected to physical and mental abuse.
    The principal traffickers ranged from organized criminals to 
``friends'' to distant family members. Traffickers generally took 
advantage of young girls and boys in rural areas by promising 
employment opportunities in urban areas. Victims were generally 
transported using public taxi-brousses. Traffickers around the Ilakaka 
area in the south forced children--sometimes their own--from the urban 
center of Tulear to move to remote areas to work in mines.
    Traffickers may be prosecuted under provisions of the penal and 
labor codes that prohibit pedophilia and sexual tourism. The Ministry 
of Justice is responsible for enforcement; however, there were no 
reports during the year of arrests for trafficking.
    The Government listed the fight against trafficking as one of its 
key objectives for the year and continued its strategy to address child 
labor and trafficking throughout the country. To raise public awareness 
about the nature of trafficking and worst forms of child labor, the 
Ministry of Education conducted training sessions in more than 100 
schools and parent associations throughout the country. The Ministry of 
Tourism and Culture conducted training for 250 tourist industry 
personnel to raise awareness of the problem of sex tourism, and also 
conducted outreach directly to individuals at risk of being trafficked. 
The Ministry of Youth and Sports trained its regional staff who work 
with youth to be vigilant in the prevention of trafficking. The 
Ministry of Telecommunications and Communication put up posters with 
messages against sex tourism and distributed a UNICEF film countrywide 
on sexual exploitation. The Ministry of Population undertook a massive 
campaign to issue birth certificates to help prevent possible smuggling 
of babies. The State Secretary of Public Security conducted educational 
programs on child exploitation for schools, hotel managers, ``red 
light'' districts, police, and gendarmes. In terms of protection and 
assistance to victims, 36 child workers taken into the country's three 
welcome centers were either given vocational training or placed back in 
school; 20 additional child workers were identified for vocational 
training and 20 others for remedial education.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, and there were 
no reports of official discrimination against persons with disabilities 
in employment, education, or in access to state services. The law 
broadly defines the rights of persons with disabilities and provides 
for a national commission and regional subcommissions to promote the 
rights of persons with disabilities. The Government established a 
national commission and regional subcommissions that worked to develop 
identity cards for people with disabilities to assure them a certain 
level of treatment in public places. International NGOs and numerous 
local associations, including the Collective of Organizations 
Advocating for Persons with Disabilities, advocated for legislation 
mandating equal access for persons with disabilities.
    There were more than 30 educational facilities in the country for 
persons with disabilities. There were reports of mainstream schools 
rejecting students with disabilities on the basis of inadequate 
facilities.
    The Government continued the effort launched in 2004 to employ 
persons with disabilities at national and regional levels of government 
and ordered that persons with disabilities be provided with medical 
treatment in public and private medical centers; employment without 
discrimination; eligibility for civil service vacancies; and education 
at public schools and vocational training centers, which were 
responsible for ensuring accessibility. Insufficient budgets continued 
to hamper support for these initiatives during the year. A study 
conducted in 2005 by Handicap International found that persons with 
disabilities seldom had access to health care or received professional 
training and were often the victims of physical violence, particularly 
women and girls.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Malagasy, of mixed Malay-
Polynesian, African, and Arab descent, are divided into 18 tribes, a 
term without pejorative overtones in the country. None of the 18 tribes 
constituted a majority. The vast majority of Malagasy spoke a single 
Malagasy language. There also were minorities of Indo-Pakistani, 
Comoran, and Chinese heritage in the country.
    A long history of military conquest has resulted in the political 
dominance of highland ethnic groups of Asian origin, particularly the 
Merina, over coastal groups of African ancestry. This imbalance has 
fueled an undercurrent of tension between citizens of highland and 
coastal descent. Ethnicity, caste, and regional solidarity often were 
factors in hiring practices.
    An economically significant Indo-Pakistani community, commonly 
referred to as Karana, has been present for over a century. 
Traditionally engaged in commerce, the Karana numbered approximately 
20,000. Few held citizenship, which must be acquired through a native-
born Malagasy mother, and many believed they were denied full 
participation in society and subject to discrimination.
Section 6. Workers Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that public and 
private sector workers may establish and join labor unions of their 
choice without prior authorization or excessive requirements, and 
workers did so in practice. However, essential workers, including 
police and military personnel, may not form unions. Unions were 
required to register with the Government, and registration was granted 
routinely. Ministry of Civil Services and Labor statistics indicate 
that 14 percent of workers in EPZ companies and 10 percent of all 
workers were unionized. According to the same ministry, approximately 
73 percent of the workforce was engaged in agriculture. The Government 
had no reliable statistics on the number of public employees 
participating in unions, but it was generally believed that few public 
employees were union members despite the existence of several public 
employees' unions.
    The law prohibits discrimination by employers against labor 
organizers, union members, and unions; however, the Ministry of Civil 
Services and Labor indicated that some employees did not join unions 
due to fear of reprisal. In the event of antiunion activity, unions or 
their members may file suit against the employer in civil court.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for unions to conduct their activities without interference, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law 
also provides workers in the private sector the right to bargain 
collectively, and the country has 34 contracts based on collective 
bargaining agreements. Civil servants, including workers in essential 
services, do not use collective bargaining agreements. The Government 
set civil servant wages and endorsed minimum wages proposed by the 
private sector (see Section 6.e.).
    The law provides most workers with the right to strike, including 
in EPZs, and workers exercised this right. Civil servants and maritime 
workers, however, each have their own labor code, and workers in other 
essential services--such as magistrates--have a recognized but more 
restricted right to strike. Before resorting to a strike, the law calls 
for workers to exhaust all options through conciliation, mediation, and 
arbitration. During the year there were at least five strikes.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but at 
times the Government did not respect this prohibition, specifically 
with respect to prison labor. In January the Ministry of Justice 
decreed that prisoners and pretrial detainees can no longer be forcibly 
hired out to government officials for private use, unless the prisoner 
agrees to the terms of employment and monetary compensation as 
stipulated in the labor code. Prisoners can still be hired out for 
public use by government offices and, except for those condemned to 
forced labor, are entitled to receive a salary. A 2004 interior 
ministry study highlighted cases of forced labor among pousse-pousse 
(rickshaw) drivers, petty merchants, and apprentices.
    Forced labor by children occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
minimum age for employment was 15 years of age and consistent with 
educational requirements (see Section 5). The law prohibits persons 
under the age of 18 from working at night and at sites where there is 
an imminent danger to health, safety, or morals; however, child labor 
was a problem. The law allows children to work a maximum of eight hours 
per day and 40 hours per week with no overtime. Employers must observe 
a mandatory 12-hour period between shifts. Occupational health and 
safety restrictions include parental authorization and a medical visit 
before hiring.
    The majority of child workers worked in the agricultural and mining 
industries and as domestic workers (see Section 5). According to the 
Ministry of Civil Services and Labor, nearly 13 percent of urban 
children and 36 percent of rural children between the ages of 10 and 14 
were intermittently employed, the vast majority on family farms. In 
addition, 8 percent of urban children and 22 percent of rural children 
between the ages of six and nine also were employed. Many children in 
rural areas dropped out of school to help on family farms, and urban 
children often worked as domestic laborers and servants. In the 
agricultural sector, children on family subsistence farms may begin 
work at an even younger age. In cities many children worked in 
occupations such as transport of goods by rickshaw, petty trading, and 
begging. Conditions often were harsh. The Ministry of Civil Services 
and Labor estimated that more than 19,000 children were working in the 
mines of Ilakaka in the south, both in the formal and informal sector. 
In 2003 IPEC reported that children as young as eight years of age were 
being used in mines because they could maneuver in cramped spaces more 
easily than adults. Children were also exploited as commercial sex 
workers (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor is responsible for 
enforcing child labor laws and policies in the formal sector, and 
conducted 397 general workplace inspections during the year in response 
to a range of complaints, not all related to child labor. The ministry 
had only 77 inspectors to carry out its responsibilities, making it 
difficult to monitor and enforce child labor provisions effectively. 
Enforcement in the much larger informal sector remained a serious 
problem. Sanctions against violators of child labor laws were 
significantly increased during the year to include fines between $500 
and $1,500 (between 1.05 and 3.15 million ariary) and prison sentences 
of one to three years.
    During the year the Government continued its efforts to combat 
forced child labor and trafficking (see Section 5). Early in the year, 
with ILO assistance, the Government launched the ``red card'' campaign, 
in which thousands of red cards signaling the negative impact of child 
labor and trafficking were distributed to school officials, students, 
and the general public. Printed in a number of Malagasy dialects, the 
red cards raised public awareness about children's rights and the 
protection of minors. The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor 
continued with its 15-year national plan to combat the worst forms of 
child labor, namely child prostitution, stone quarry work, salt marsh 
work, domestic labor, gemstone mining, agriculture, and commercial 
fishing, as areas of particular concern. A national committee made up 
of high-level government, donor, civil society, and religious group 
representatives met during the year to raise public awareness and 
coordinate the national campaign. The Government's welcome centers in 
Antananarivo, Tamatave, and Tulear continued to rescue victims of 
trafficking and forced labor. The country joined with others in 
establishing a regional observation committee to create databases for 
analyses of the worst forms of child labor in the region.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code and its 
implementing legislation prescribe working conditions and minimum 
wages, which were enforced by the Ministry of Civil Services and Labor. 
The law has separate provisions for agricultural and nonagricultural 
work.
    The monthly minimum wage was $27.30 (56,713 ariary) for 
nonagricultural workers and $27.58 (57,520 ariary) for agricultural 
workers. This did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family, particularly in urban areas. Although most employees knew 
what the legal minimum wages were, those rates were not always paid. 
High unemployment and widespread poverty led workers to accept lower 
wages.
    The standard workweek was 40 hours in nonagricultural and service 
industries and 42+ hours in the agricultural sector. Legislation 
limited workers to 20 hours of overtime per week, but employees often 
were required to work until production targets were met. A 2004 
Catholic Relief Services report on working conditions in the EPZs 
indicated that 86 percent of employees surveyed regularly worked more 
than 40 hours per week. In some cases this overtime was unrecorded and 
unpaid.
    The Government sets occupational health and safety standards for 
workers and workplaces. CNAPS, the country's equivalent of the Social 
Security Administration, conducted inspections and published reports on 
workplace conditions, occupational health hazards, and workplace 
accident trends. The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor's 77 labor 
inspectors were sufficient to cover only child and adult workers for 
the capital city effectively. If violators do not remedy cited 
violations within the time allowed, they may be sanctioned legally or 
assessed administrative penalties. Workers have an explicit right to 
leave a dangerous workplace without jeopardizing their employment as 
long as they inform their supervisor. These standards applied equally 
to foreign and migrant workers. Sanctions from the 397 workplace 
inspections during the year ranged from warnings to orders that the 
company resolve the problem. No workplaces were shut down as a result 
of workplace complaints.

                               __________

                                 MALAWI

    Malawi is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately 
12 million. In 2004 citizens elected Bingu wa Mutharika of the ruling 
United Democratic Party (UDF) as President, and the UDF won a majority 
in the parliament. Constitutional power is shared between the President 
and the 193 National Assembly members, of whom 187 were elected in 
2004. International observers noted substantial shortcomings in the 
elections, including inequitable access to the state-owned media, the 
ruling party's use of state resources to campaign, and poor planning 
and administration by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC). In 2005 
President Mutharika resigned from the UDF to form the Democratic 
Progressive Party (DPP). During the year there was a failed attempt to 
impeach the President for alleged legal violations, and he was widely 
criticized for failing to observe constitutional procedures in his 
efforts to remove high-ranking officials, including the vice President. 
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces, there were some instances in which elements of the 
security forces acted independently of government authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police use of 
excessive force, occasional mob violence, and harsh and life-
threatening prison conditions continued. Arbitrary arrest and 
detention, including an upsurge in politically motivated arrests, and 
lengthy pretrial detention were problems. The Government restricted 
freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. Societal violence against 
women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, restricted worker rights, 
and forced child labor also existed.
    During the year the Government took significant steps to punish 
human rights abusers and investigate corruption; however, these efforts 
stopped after the President dismissed the country's two top 
prosecutors, and it had just resumed at year's end. Parliament passed 
domestic violence legislation to address the rising incidence of 
gender-based violence in the country.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government 
or its agents; however, police use of excessive force resulted in at 
least one death. For example, on January 10, a policeman in Thyolo shot 
and killed a man suspected of stealing cattle and other property.
    There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which a 12-
year-old boy arrested on suspicion of stealing money from a fellow bus 
passenger died in police custody in Ngabu. The boy's mother, whom 
police subsequently beat during interrogation, claimed that he had been 
tortured and assaulted by police (see Section 1.c.). An autopsy 
indicated the boy had ingested cypermethyrine. Police charged that the 
boy had died as a result of the pesticide, which they claimed he had 
ingested at his mother's house while accompanying police on a search of 
the premises five days after his arrest. The police officer charged 
with the killing remained in custody awaiting trial at year's end; an 
investigation was ongoing.
    There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which police 
shot and killed a 16-year-old boy at a demonstration in Ngabu (see 
Section 2.b.). The Government promised to conduct an investigation of 
the incident but had taken no action by year's end.
    The investigation was ongoing into the August 2005 case in which 
police allegedly shot and killed a 28-year-old man in Machingi while he 
was cutting trees for firewood. The police claimed that the man was 
struck by a stray bullet fired by police to disperse an angry mob of 
illegal loggers.
    In November the President's Office called on former President 
Muluzi to explain his role in the 2003 death of Kalonga Stambuli, a 
former private business advisor to Muluzi who died of poisoning and 
strangulation; Muluzi declined to respond. There were allegations that 
Stambuli may have had potentially damaging information about the 
business activities of the former President.
    Mobs sometimes resorted to vigilante justice, and beat, stoned, or 
burned suspected criminals. For example, in December a mob beat to 
death two foreigners who reportedly had robbed a man at gunpoint.
    Police continued to investigate the July 2005 case in which a mob 
beat a mentally ill man to death in Chitipa after he reportedly killed 
another man with a pounding stick.
    No trial date had been set in the November 2005 case in which a man 
was beaten to death in Kasungu by villagers protesting the appointment 
of a village headman; 11 persons were arrested.
    Police took no action in any of the 2004 cases of mob killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    An investigation was ongoing into the 2004 disappearance of Peter 
Mulamba, a key witness in a high-level corruption case; some reports 
indicated he committed suicide, while others stated he was out of the 
country.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
police used excessive force and other unlawful techniques in handling 
criminal suspects. While higher-ranking officials demonstrated 
familiarity with standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and 
publicly condemned prisoner mistreatment, their subordinates continued 
to employ unacceptable techniques. A study released during the year by 
the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) found that police frequently 
subjected suspects to torture and other serious abuse when conducting 
investigations. Some police mistakenly believed that the law required 
them to present a case (not just charges) to the court within 48 hours 
of arrest, and resorted to beatings to obtain information within that 
time limit. Lack of financial resources for appropriate equipment, 
facilities, and training contributed to mistreatment. In 2005 the MHRC 
called for the introduction of a compensation fund to assist victims of 
police abuse and relatives or persons who died in police custody; 
however, no such fund had been established by year's end.
    On January 11, in Blantyre, a policeman named Nchingula forced a 
29-year-old man out of a pub and shot him in the legs after discovering 
that both men were dating the same barmaid. The policeman was 
reassigned, but no further action was taken.
    On May 12, police reportedly harassed, beat, and barred entry to 17 
UDF members attempting to attend the bail hearing for Vice President 
Cassim Chilumpha (see Sections 1.d. and 3). No action was taken against 
police, who denied the allegations.
    On June 10, a policeman named Kasinja allegedly assaulted a 
pregnant woman in her home and later at the police station for 
frustrating the officer's attempts to make advances on her friend. The 
woman later miscarried. The policeman was arrested and awaiting trial 
at year's end.
    On September 28, four policemen allegedly entered the house of a 
man suspected of selling fuel illegally, beat his wife, and then shot 
the man six times as he fled the scene. The man sustained injuries in 
both legs, and threatened to take the police to court after his 
discharge from the hospital.
    The MHRC reported several instances of police torture, including a 
case in which two policemen in Lilongwe broke a suspect's leg and 
tortured several other persons with a machete, club, and hammer to 
obtain confessions during interrogations. The man whose leg was broken 
claimed that police did not take him to a hospital until five days 
after the injury.
    There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which the 
mother of a 12-year-old boy who died in police custody that month (see 
Section 1.a.) alleged that police brutally beat her and two of her 
children during interrogation. James Kachala, the police inspector who 
was charged with assaulting and wounding the mother, remained in police 
custody at year's end.
    Police beat refugees during the year (see Section 2.d.).
    Police violently dispersed demonstrations during the year; however, 
unlike in the previous year, no deaths resulted (see Section 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, 
substandard sanitation, and poor health facilities remained serious 
problems. The prison system, which was meant to accommodate 
approximately 7,000 inmates, held approximately 11,000 prisoners. 
Inmates were encouraged to grow vegetables and raise livestock; 
however, they complained that they did not receive enough food. 
Construction of a new prison was completed in November; the main Mzuzu 
Prison was subsequently designated as a remand center. Community 
service programs were available as alternatives to prison terms.
    During the year an average of 20 inmates died in prison each month, 
mostly due to HIV/AIDS. There were no available statistics on prison 
deaths at year's end.
    In October the press reported that Justice Mbekeani, a prisoner 
serving an eight-year sentence for robbery, had sued the Attorney 
General, the minister for home affairs, the minister for internal 
security, and the commissioner of prisons, claiming that he and fellow 
prisoners had been subjected to torture and cruel, inhumane, and 
degrading treatment contrary to the constitution. The case was 
discontinued during the year.
    Although women were not kept in separate facilities, they were 
segregated within the prison compound and monitored by female guards. 
In the four maximum-security prisons, there were separate facilities 
for juveniles; however, the separation was inadequate, and there were 
reports of sexual and physical abuse of juvenile prisoners. In the 
other prisons, juveniles were routinely incarcerated with adults. The 
law requires pretrial detainees to be held separately from convicted 
prisoners; however, many prisons did not comply with this law due to 
lack of space and inadequate facilities.
    The Government permitted the Inspectorate of Prisons, domestic 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international NGOs to visit 
and monitor prison conditions and to donate basic supplies during the 
year. The Prison Reform Committee worked in collaboration with the 
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Inspectorate of Prisons to visit 
prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did 
not observe these prohibitions in practice, and there was a growing 
trend toward politically motivated arrests and prosecutions.

    Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, 
controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, has 
responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the 
country. Police occasionally called on the army for support.
    The country's police force was inefficient and poorly trained due 
to inadequate funding. Corruption was widespread, and impunity was a 
problem. Police continued efforts to improve investigative skills and 
to introduce the concept of victims' rights through workshops and other 
training exercises, particularly in the areas of sexual abuse, domestic 
violence, and trafficking in persons (see Section 5). The Government 
continued to seek community involvement in its comprehensive reform of 
the police, and civil society groups conducted workshops for the police 
on crowd control. The country also received foreign assistance to train 
officials and procure equipment.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides the accused the right to 
challenge the legality of detention, to have access to legal counsel, 
and to be released on bail or informed of charges by a court of law 
within 48 hours; however, these rights were seldom respected in 
practice. The use of temporary remand warrants to circumvent the 48-
hour rule was widespread (see Section 1.c.). The Government provided 
legal services to indigent detainees; however, access was often delayed 
since there were only seven public defenders. Detainees were allowed 
access to relatives. Bail frequently was granted to reduce prison 
overcrowding rather than on the merits of an individual case. In 2005 
the MHRC received 663 complaints of arbitrary detention; most related 
to overstay of remand, denial of bail, and unheard appeals.
    During the year security forces arrested a number of opposition 
politicians, primarily from the UDF, on a range of charges. While 
government actions generally were legal in the strictest sense, courts 
dismissed or suspended by injunction the majority of these cases. Many 
of those arrested were charged under antiquated dictator-era laws such 
as criminal libel and the Protected Names, Flags and Emblems Act, which 
local legal scholars viewed as unconstitutional.
    In January security forces arrested and charged two UDF activists 
with treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Government. The 
court dismissed the treason charges, but the Government filed sedition 
charges against one defendant, McDonald Symon, who was later convicted 
and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.
    On April 15, three senior UDF leaders were arrested for insulting 
the President during a rally. The men were denied bail and remained on 
remand at Zomba Prison awaiting trial at year's end.
    Between April 28 and May 3, security forces arrested Vice President 
Chilumpha and 13 other opposition leaders for allegedly plotting to 
assassinate President Mutharika (see Section 3). Chilumpha's lawyers 
asserted that the case should be dismissed since the Government failed 
to identify the alleged assassins or provide any evidence to the 
defense. Nevertheless, Chilumpha was held under house arrest in 
Blantyre until November 21, when his bail terms were relaxed, allowing 
him to travel within the country (provided he informed authorities of 
his plans) and abroad (provided he obtained permission from the High 
Court). The arrest and detention of Chilumpha's codefendants coincided 
with the controversial four-day visit of Zimbabwean President Robert 
Mugabe and was widely perceived as an effort to prevent the group from 
protesting the visit. Within hours of Mugabe's departure, 11 of the 
suspects were released for lack of evidence. Chilumpha and the two 
other defendants were released on bail on May 15 and remained suspects 
at year's end.
    Also in May security forces arrested Malawi Democratic Party 
President Kamlepo Kalua and seven others who had threatened to protest 
during Mugabe's visit. No charges were filed. The men were released 
after seven days and told they had ``no case to answer.''
    Police arrested journalists, demonstrators, and Muslim leaders 
during the year (see Sections 2.a., 2.b., and 2.c.).
    Twenty-three percent of the prison population were pretrial 
detainees. Pretrial homicide suspects were typically held in detention 
for two to three years. Other suspects were held an average of two to 
three months pending trial.
    The Center for Legal Assistance continued to provide free legal 
assistance to expedite the trials of detainees, with priority given to 
the sick and young and those subjected to trial delays.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice. However, the judicial system was 
inefficient and handicapped by serious weaknesses, including poor 
record keeping, a shortage of attorneys and trained personnel, heavy 
caseloads, and lack of resources.
    The law provides for a High Court, a Supreme Court of Appeal, and 
subordinate magistrate courts. A Constitutional Court (a panel 
consisting of three High Court judges with jurisdiction over 
constitutional matters) also existed. The chief justice is appointed by 
the President and confirmed by the National Assembly. The President 
appoints other justices, following a recommendation by the Judicial 
Service Commission. All justices are appointed to serve until the age 
of 65 and may be removed only for reasons of incompetence or 
misbehavior, as determined by the President and a majority of the 
National Assembly.

    Trial Procedures.--By law, defendants have the right to a public 
trial but not to a trial by jury; however, in murder cases, the High 
Court uses a jury of 12 persons from the defendant's home district. 
Defendants also are entitled to an attorney, and if indigent, to an 
attorney provided at state expense. Defendants also have the right to 
present and challenge evidence and witnesses, the right of appeal, and 
the presumption of innocence.
    The judiciary's budgetary and administrative problems effectively 
denied expeditious trials for most defendants. The Department of Public 
Prosecutions had eight prosecuting attorneys and four paralegals. The 
paralegals served as lay prosecutors and prosecuted minor cases in the 
magistrate courts. Lack of funding and a shortage of attorneys created 
a backlog, mainly in murder cases.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Vice President Chilumpha was 
held under house arrest following his April 28 arrest on treason 
charges although no evidence was presented in the case (see Sections 
1.d. and 3). At year's end, Chilumpha was challenging a High Court 
ruling that blocked him from traveling to the United Kingdom for 
medical care. There were no other reports of political prisoners or 
detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens have access to a 
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human 
rights violations. The law provides for administrative remedies as well 
as judicial remedies for alleged wrongs; however, a paucity of 
resources and legal professionals restricted the number of cases 
pursued and resulted in a large backlog. During the year the MHRC 
received 146 complaints related to limited access to justice and 34 
complaints related to unfair administrative justice. Resource 
limitations also restricted the Government's ability to enforce 
domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; 
however, there was one case in September in which four policemen 
allegedly entered the house of a man suspected of selling fuel 
illegally and beat his wife (see Section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, at times the Government limited this 
right. Journalists and government critics were arrested, and one 
reporter was convicted of criminal libel for writing a derogatory 
article concerning a high-ranking politician. These government actions 
prompted self-censorship on the part of journalists. Private 
individuals were generally free to criticize the Government without 
fear of reprisal.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of the man arrested for 
making derogatory comments about the President at a gas station in 
Blantyre.
    The 2005 case of former DPP vice President Gwanda Chakuamba, whom 
the Government arrested, charged with insulting the President, and 
released on bail, remained pending at year's end; Chakuamba had 
referred to the President as a ``brute'' and a ``drunkard.'' 
Chakuamba's arrest occurred two weeks after he was dismissed from the 
cabinet.
    The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of 
views. A broad spectrum of political and ideological opinion was 
available in the country's newspapers. Ten independent newspapers were 
available, including two independent dailies, four biweeklies, and four 
independent weekly papers.
    The Government restricted press freedoms during the year, 
particularly before and during the controversial May visit of 
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
    Government press officers barred The Chronicle newspaper from 
covering Mugabe's May 2 arrival ceremony, presumably out of fear that 
the paper's coverage would be negative.
    On May 9, the press reported that Ministry of Information officials 
held a closed-door meeting to decide the fate of Don Napuwa, acting 
managing editor for the Malawi News Agency, and Thom Khanje, reporter 
for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation's (MBC) Lilongwe Bureau, who 
were reported to have asked Mugabe ``sensitive'' questions during a May 
6 press conference. According to press reports, Khanje was subsequently 
barred from covering Presidential functions and Napuwa was demoted and 
threatened with dismissal.
    On May 8, security forces arrested The Chronicle editor-in-chief 
Robert Jamieson, editor Dickson Kashoti, and reporter Arnold Mnelemba 
and charged them with criminal libel for publishing a May 2 story that 
accused former attorney general Ralph Kasambara of theft; The Chronicle 
frequently criticized President Mutharika and his administration. The 
three journalists were detained overnight and released on bail. In 
November staff of The Chronicle began operating in hiding after hearing 
reports that the Government intended to confiscate the newspaper's 
computers. The Chronicle closed the following week after senior staff 
members were offered positions that quadrupled their salaries at The 
Guardian, which was managed by Duwa Mutharika, the President's 
daughter. The Chronicle editor Jamieson charged that Duwa had 
deliberately poached key staff--including Mnelemba, who still had 
criminal libel charges pending at year's end--to squelch The Chronicle. 
The media sector viewed these actions against The Chronicle as an 
attack on press freedom.
    In May former attorney general Ralph Kasambara threatened to sue 
Mabvuto Banda, a reporter for the independent newspaper The Nation, if 
he did not reveal his sources for a story linking three cabinet members 
to an alleged assassination plot for which Vice President Chilumpha and 
13 others were arrested (see Sections 1.d. and 3). The President fired 
Kasambara a few days later.
    On May 29, Health Minister Hetherwick Ntaba sued Jika Nkolokosa, 
the general manager of Blantyre Newspapers Limited, and one of his 
reporters, Maxwell Ng'ambi, for publishing an article that alleged that 
Ntaba was being investigated for failing to account for public funds. 
On September 3, Ng'ambi was convicted of criminal libel and required to 
pay a fine; Nkolokosa was acquitted. The State House subsequently 
barred Ng'ambi from interviewing the President or attending any state 
functions, saying that it felt ``unprotected to have Ng'ambi covering 
the state President and other senior officials.''
    There had been no court action by year's end against The Nation 
journalists Raphael Tenthani and Mabvuto Banda, who in 2005 were 
arrested and detained for 24 hours after they published articles 
alleging that the President had moved out of his residence for fear 
that ghosts haunted the building. By year's end neither journalist had 
complied with the President's demand that they apologize and retract 
the story.
    During the year former attorney general Ralph Kasambara obtained 
several court injunctions against The Nation to prevent it from 
publishing antigovernment stories. One such story involved a married 
woman who claimed that Kasambara had impregnated her and failed to 
support her financially.
    There were 15 private radio stations with limited coverage and 
broadcasting only in urban areas. MBC dominated the radio market with 
its two stations, transmitting in major population centers throughout 
the country. Government-owned Television Malawi (TVM) was the sole 
television broadcaster. News coverage and editorial content of MBC and 
TVM clearly favored the President and his party, while coverage of 
other political parties was more critical and received less airtime.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
Internet was accessed by less than 15 percent of the population via a 
few Internet cafes and offices in the major cities; few individuals 
could afford Internet access in their homes.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, there were instances in which police limited this right. 
Authorities at times interfered with opposition party political 
functions or used violence to disperse crowds. Police were routinely 
criticized for failing to act impartially with regard to political 
demonstrations.
    On February 7, a man sustained minor injuries when he was 
accidentally shot by police who fired live ammunition into the air to 
subdue hundreds of street vendors protesting government orders to move 
into organized fee-charging market areas; several civilians, including 
two small children, were injured when they were trampled. The vendors 
also assaulted a police officer.
    On February 24, in Lilongwe, police shot at Muslim demonstrators 
protesting cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. A 16-year-old boy 
was injured, but no responsibility was assigned to police.
    In March security forces arrested and briefly detained several 
Muslim leaders sympathetic to Vice President Chilumpha on charges of 
unlawful assembly.
    On May 12, police reportedly harassed, beat, and barred entry to 17 
UDF members attempting to attend the bail hearing for Vice President 
Chilumpha (see Section 1.d.).
    No investigation or trial was conducted during the year into the 
June 2005 killing of a 16-year-old boy; police had fired live 
ammunition at unarmed villagers who were protesting the death in police 
custody of another boy (see Section 1.a.).
    An investigation continued into the December 2005 case in which 
Lenjasani Medison, a security guard, opened fire on a crowd at a 
government food distribution center, injuring a man and a 13-year-old 
boy. Medison was on bail awaiting trial at year's end.
    There were no developments in the any of the 2004 cases in which 
police used of excessive force to disperse demonstrations.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. The Government required all organizations, including 
political parties, to register with the Ministry of Justice, and 
registration was routinely granted.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. Churches continued to be a significant source of political 
influence, particularly in rural areas.
    There are no separate requirements for the recognition of 
religions, but religious groups must register with the Government. 
Foreign Christian missionaries experienced occasional delays in 
renewing employment permits; however, this appeared to be the result of 
bureaucratic inefficiency rather than a deliberate government policy. 
Missionaries and charitable workers paid lower fees for employment 
permits than did other professionals.
    In March security forces arrested several Muslim leaders 
sympathetic to Vice President Chilumpha on charges of unlawful assembly 
(see Section 2.b.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were generally amicable 
relations among the various religious communities.
    There were no reports of societal religious discrimination or of 
anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community was very small.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits the use of forced exile, and the Government did 
not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; however, there was one case in which the Government 
mistreated a group of refugees and forcibly deported them. The 
Government granted refugee status or asylum; however, there were long 
delays in the process. By law, the Government does not accept refugees 
for permanent resettlement. The Government generally cooperated with 
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers, but restricted refugees' ability 
to move freely and work outside of refugee camps.
    On April 22, security forces raided a UNHCR safe house in Mangochi, 
beat the 15 refugees residing there, and forcibly deported them for a 
second time to the Mozambican border. The group included 11 Congolese, 
three Burundians, and one Rwandan, all of whom had previously lived in 
the Dzaleka refugee camp and had accused the refugee camp 
administrator, other government representatives, and the UNHCR of 
corruption in 2001. Mozambican authorities denied the refugees entry 
and returned them to the Mangochi police station, where police 
rearrested and allegedly beat the men. UNHCR staff were allowed to 
visit the group at Maula Prison, where they were later held, and were 
permitted to provide food and medical assistance; however, the 
Government denied a UNHCR request to transfer the group to a safe 
house, claiming they posed a threat to national security. The men 
remained in prison until resettlement; between July and October, a 
total of 80 persons, including the 15 imprisoned refugees and their 
dependents, were resettled in Sweden.
    In November 2005 the Government revoked the refugee status of these 
same men, claiming they had written a letter threatening the lives of 
the President and the refugee commissioner, a claim that police 
investigators determined to be unfounded in 2003. Authorities raided 
the camp, beat the men, and detained them at Maula Prison for 10 days 
before forcibly deporting them to the Mozambican border. The men 
managed to return to the country, where they obtained a High Court 
order restraining the Government from deporting them and granting them 
the right to apply for judicial review of the refugee committee's 
decision to revoke their refugee status. Fearing for their safety, the 
group went into hiding in the ``no man's land'' along the border with 
Mozambique in February and later stayed in a UNHCR safe house in 
Mangochi until the April 22 raid.
    Although largely peaceful, there were some reports of ethnic 
clashes among asylum seekers.
    The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may 
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol.
    While no legal framework existed, the Government allowed refugees 
to seek both employment and educational opportunities, although it 
restricted these activities outside of the camps. The UNHCR, NGOs, and 
the Government collaborated to provide education to children in refugee 
camps.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage for citizens 18 years of age and older.

    Elections and Political Participation.--International election 
observers found the May 2004 Presidential and parliamentary elections 
to have substantial shortcomings, including inequitable access to the 
state-owned media and poor planning by the MEC. The ruling party 
frequently monopolized resources and used public funds for campaign 
purposes. Voter turnout was low compared with the two previous 
Presidential elections. With approximately 36 percent of the popular 
vote, President Mutharika, chosen by former President Muluzi as the UDF 
candidate, was elected to serve a five-year term. Election 
discrepancies prevented parliamentary candidates from taking seats in 
six constituencies. By-elections for these vacancies took place in 
January 2005. Observers declared them free and fair and better 
organized than the national elections. The President and vice President 
hold parliamentary seats but are constitutionally barred from holding 
other public office.
    The executive branch exerted considerable influence over the 
unicameral National Assembly, which followed a hybrid parliamentary 
system loosely based on the British model but which operated in the 
context of a Presidential-parliamentary model; a number of cabinet 
ministers also were members of the National Assembly. Although the 
constitution calls for an 80-member senate as part of a bicameral 
legislature, the Government has yet to establish a senate.
    Although the Government did not prevent the activities of 
opposition political parties, the parties alleged that the Government 
used bribery, other inducements, and violence to encourage opposition 
party divisions. Sporadic minor violence was common between supporters 
of rival political parties.
    In May 2005 President Mutharika dissolved district and municipal 
assemblies in anticipation of constitutionally-mandated local 
government elections that were due that same month; however, the 
Government failed to actually hold elections, citing a budgetary 
shortfall related to the food crisis. Civil society and the donor 
community have criticized the Government for delaying the staging of 
these elections, which had not been held by year's end, and expressed 
concern that lack of political will was the primary cause for delay.
    On February 9, President Mutharika announced his intention to 
accept Vice President Chilumpha's ``constructive resignation,'' 
claiming that Chilumpha had essentially tendered his resignation by 
skipping cabinet meetings and avoiding most government functions. The 
action was widely viewed as unconstitutional since the vice President, 
as an elected official, cannot be dismissed from his position except 
through impeachment. On December 21, the Constitutional Court ruled 
that the vice President could not constructively resign. Following the 
ruling, President Mutharika publicly recognized Chilumpha as vice 
President for the first time since February in a media broadcast. 
Chilumpha remained on bail for alleged treason at year's end (see 
Section 1.d.).
    There were 27 women in the 193-seat National Assembly and five 
women in the 30-member cabinet. Women comprised approximately 25 
percent of the civil service. There were two female justices among the 
23 Supreme and High Court justices, and a woman was appointed as 
inspector general of police, the highest position in law enforcement.
    There were three members of minorities in the National Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread 
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative 
branches. President Mutharika continued his reform program, which 
included passage of anti-money laundering legislation in August; 
however, these efforts were overshadowed by an increase in politically 
motivated arrests and prosecutions (see Sections 1.d., 2.a., and 2.b.), 
controversy over Mutharika's dismissal of senior prosecutors, and the 
discontinuance of the corruption case against former President Bakili 
Muluzi.
    The Anticorruption Bureau (ACB) continued to launch investigations 
and indict former high-level government officials. For example, on 
February 14, former education minister Yusuf Mwawa was sentenced to 
five years in prison with hard labor for theft by a public servant, 
abuse of public office, and forgery; however, in September he was 
granted ``bail'' on health grounds and released. On June 1, a court 
sentenced Member of Parliament (MP) Maxwell Milanzi to nine months' 
imprisonment on embezzlement charges, later commuted to a two-year 
suspended sentence. In August MP Lucius Banda was convicted of forgery 
and sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment; however, in November, after 
serving just two months, Banda was released and his status as an MP 
restored following a High Court acquittal on the basis that the 
original verdict was harsh and excessive for a first-time offender. The 
state was challenging the acquittal at year's end. The arrests of Banda 
and Milanzi occurred shortly after Banda spearheaded the introduction 
of parliamentary procedures for impeaching the President, and Milanzi 
moved an impeachment motion against the President.
    On August 2, Sam Safuli, the former principal secretary for 
education, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for corruption.
    ACB efforts were hampered by increasing interference by President 
Mutharika. In August the President fired the country's two senior 
prosecutors, ACB Director Gustav Kaliwo and Director of Public 
Prosecutions Ismael Wadi, over the handling of the corruption case 
against Muluzi. Legal professionals, civil society, and the 
international community sharply criticized the President for 
compromising the independence of prosecutors and for failing to observe 
constitutional procedures in the dismissals. A September report on the 
justice sector jointly published by the Africa Governance Monitoring 
and Advocacy project and the Open Society Initiative for Southern 
Africa charged that executive interference with the ACB and the 
director of public prosecutions had undermined both offices. The Public 
Appointments Committee stated that the President had breached the 
Corrupt Practices Act by dismissing Kaliwo. With the two top prosecutor 
positions vacant for several months, the ACB was unable to investigate 
and prosecute existing cases during the second half of the year and 
accumulated a backlog of more than 200 new cases. The courts ruled that 
some cases be discontinued since the state had failed to provide timely 
trials or made other procedural mistakes. For example, the corruption 
case against John Chikago, the country's former ambassador to Japan, 
was dismissed because the ACB had not obtained the consent of the 
Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute. Corruption charges 
against Ziliro Chibambo, the country's former ambassador to Mozambique, 
were dismissed due to the ACB's failure to provide evidence.
    On July 27, former President Muluzi was arrested on corruption and 
theft charges and released the same day. On July 31, the former 
director of public prosecutions, Ismael Wadi, filed a motion for 
dismissal, noting that with both the director and deputy director 
positions of the ACB vacant, the case could not continue legally since 
no prosecutor was present. The President subsequently demanded Wadi's 
resignation. In late December the press reported that acting ACB 
director Tumalisye Ndovi had resumed the investigation and traveled to 
London and Washington, D.C. to investigate whether embassy accounts had 
been abused under Mulazi.
    The Public Accounts Committee summoned officers from various 
ministries and departments to answer questions raised in a 2005 auditor 
general's report reviewing compliance with fiscal rules and 
regulations; however, many failed to appear.
    In September a court acquitted Chief Immigration Officer David 
Kambilonje of corruption and abuse-of-office charges brought against 
him by the ACB in 2005, stating that the state failed to provide 
sufficient evidence. The ACB appealed the acquittal.
    The trial was still pending for Secretary of the Treasury Milton 
Kutengule, who was arrested by the ACB in October 2005 on corruption 
charges. Kutengule asked the High Court to dismiss the charges against 
him, since the case had yet to be heard at year's end. The case 
remained pending.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government granted access for citizens and non-citizens, including 
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
operated without government restriction, training civic educators, 
advocating changes to existing laws and cultural practices, and 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Government officials generally were cooperative and responsive to their 
views.
    The MHRC was charged with monitoring, auditing, and promoting human 
rights and conducting investigations regarding violations of human 
rights; however, a shortage of resources resulted in a backlog of 
cases, delayed production of reports, and failure to expand human 
rights monitoring. While complete statistics had not been published by 
year's end, the MHRC reported that it had received 867 complaints of 
human rights violations during the year; most were related to labor 
issues, inadequate access to the judiciary, violations of children's 
rights, restrictions on property rights and economic activity, and 
rights of prisoners. The Government cooperated with international 
governmental organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives 
and other organizations.
    Ombudsman Enock Chibwana was mandated by the law to investigate and 
take legal action against government officials responsible for human 
rights violations and other abuses. The ombudsman's freedom of action 
was circumscribed by legislation that requires a warrant and a three-
day waiting period to gain access to certain government records. The 
activities of the ombudsman were subject to judicial review.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law specifically provides for equal rights for women, forbids 
discrimination based on language or culture, and provides for equality 
and recognition before the law for every citizen. However, the capacity 
of government institutions to assure equal rights for all citizens was 
limited.

    Women.--Domestic violence, especially wife beating, was common, 
although women seldom discussed the problem openly and victims rarely 
sought legal recourse. Legal experts and human rights workers 
attributed victims' reluctance to report their abusers to lack of 
awareness of their legal rights and fear of retribution and ostracism. 
In August parliament passed a domestic violence bill that provides a 
maximum penalty of life imprisonment for domestic violence. The law 
also recognizes that both men and women can be perpetrators as well as 
victims of domestic violence. Police regularly investigated cases of 
rape and sexual assault but did not normally intervene in domestic 
disputes. The press published frequent accounts of rape and abuse, and 
the judiciary continued to impose heavier penalties on those convicted 
of rape--including up to 14-year prison sentences for child rape--and 
assault.
    In February a man was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for 
wounding his pregnant wife's genitals, and in September another man was 
sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for cutting off his wife's hands. 
During the year the Government announced plans to establish shelters to 
support abuse victims, and the police service began a sensitization 
campaign on the dangers of domestic violence.
    The law does not specifically prohibit female genital mutilation 
(FGM), and there were anecdotal reports that a few small ethnic groups 
practiced it.
    Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits living off the 
wages earned through prostitution, owning a brothel, or forcing another 
person into prostitution. On February 26, prostitutes found loitering 
in Kasungu were charged with living on earnings from prostitution and 
ordered to pay a small fine or face three months' imprisonment. In 
August eight prostitutes in Lilongwe were ordered to pay a small fine 
for loitering at night. In July 2005, bar and hotel owners, 
participating in a 4-day workshop to brainstorm on commercial sex 
activities and the spread of HIV/AIDS, called on the Government to 
criminalize prostitution. There was no government action during the 
year.
    Sexual harassment is prohibited by law. In December a man who 
fondled a woman in Mponda village without her consent was found guilty 
of indecent assault and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
    State House Press Officer Chikumbotsu Mtumodzi was accused of 
indecently assaulting a journalist at her workplace on December 18; the 
trial was ongoing at year's end.
    Women have the right to full and equal protection under the law and 
may not be discriminated against on the basis of gender or marital 
status; however, discrimination against women was pervasive, and women 
did not have opportunities equal to those available to men. Women had 
significantly lower levels of literacy, education, formal and 
nontraditional employment opportunities, and access to resources to 
increase agricultural productivity.
    Women often had less access to legal and financial assistance, and 
widows often were victims of discriminatory and illegal inheritance 
practices in which the majority of the estate was taken by the deceased 
husband's family. Women usually were at a disadvantage in marriage, 
family, and property rights; however, awareness of women's legal rights 
continued to increase, and women began to speak out against abuse and 
discrimination. Households headed by women were represented 
disproportionately in the lowest quarter of income distribution; 52 
percent of the country's full-time farmers were women. Women also had 
limited access to agricultural extension services, training, and 
credit. Gender training for agricultural extension workers and the 
gradual introduction of rural credit programs for women have increased; 
however, few women participated in the limited formal labor market, 
where they constituted less than 5 percent of managerial and 
administrative staff. In 2005 the National Association of Businesswomen 
supported working women by making small loans to 300 women who 
successfully completed business management training.
    The law provides for a minimum level of child support, widows' 
rights, and the rights to maternity leave; however, only individuals 
who utilized the formal legal system benefited from these legal 
protections. In a few isolated areas, a widow was sometimes forced to 
have sex with in-laws as part of a culturally-mandated ``sexual 
cleansing'' ritual following the death of her husband. In some cases, 
she was ``inherited'' by a brother-in-law or other male relative. 
Although there were no laws specifically prohibiting these practices, 
the Government and civil society made efforts to abolish them by 
raising awareness concerning the inherent dangers of such behavior, 
including the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission.
    The Government addressed women's concerns through the Ministry of 
Women and Child Development.

    Children.--The constitution protects children from any treatment 
that is harmful to their physical or mental development or may 
interfere with their education, and the Government continued a high 
level of spending on children's health and welfare.
    The Government provided free primary education for all children, 
although education was not compulsory. A 2005 government study found 
that 80 percent of children attended primary school, although only 12 
percent attended secondary school. Families were responsible for book 
fees and purchasing uniforms. Students from very poor families had 
access to a public book fund. Girls, especially in rural areas, have 
historically been unable to complete even a primary education and 
therefore were at a serious disadvantage in finding employment.
    In 2004 the University of Malawi released a report on the status of 
free primary education since its inception in 1994. The report noted 
that, over the preceding decade, annual budgetary increases for 
education had not kept pace with increasing student enrollment. Student 
dropout rates marginally decreased each year since free education was 
introduced, but the study concluded that rates remained high. The 2002 
Malawi Demographic Household and Education Data Survey's report 
indicated that gender gaps in primary school attendance were small but 
that boys were much more likely to attend secondary school than girls. 
There also were large gaps in achievement levels between girls and 
boys.
    The Government took steps to respond to a March 2004 UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF) study that showed a number of girls entered into sexual 
relationships with teachers for money, became pregnant, and 
subsequently left school. The study also found that many girls left 
school because of violent behavior by some teachers. In response the 
Government expanded legal protection of students subjected to 
exploitation and inappropriate relationships at school. In November 
2005 the Lilongwe magistrate court sentenced a male teacher to six 
years' imprisonment for defiling a 10-year-old girl in a classroom.
    More than half of the country's children lived in poverty, mostly 
in rural areas. Children in rural households headed by women were among 
the poorest. Only one-third of children had ready access to safe 
drinking water, infant mortality was high, and child malnutrition was a 
serious problem. In June 2005 the Government launched a National Plan 
of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children to mitigate the impact of 
poverty and HIV/AIDS on the country's estimated one million orphans.
    Child abuse was a problem. The press reported several cases of 
sexual abuse of children, including arrests for rape, incest, sodomy, 
and defilement. On February 18, a man was sentenced to nine years' 
imprisonment with hard labor for indecent assault of his 16-month-old 
daughter in 2004. In June a man was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment 
with hard labor for defiling his 12-year-old niece. In July an HIV-
positive man was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment with hard labor 
for defiling two girls in Mulanje and infecting them with gonorrhea. 
During the year the press reported a few alleged rape cases involving 
female perpetrators who went unpunished since the relevant law only 
recognizes male rapists.
    Abusive practices, including the secret initiation of girls into 
their future adult roles, were widespread. In a few traditional 
communities, girls averaging 12 years old were forced to have sex with 
older men as part of such initiation rites. There was a re-emergence of 
the Kupimbira, a practice that allows a poor family to receive a loan 
in exchange for daughters of any age. FGM was performed in some cases 
(see Section 5, Women).
    A local NGO reported an increase in fathers marrying their own 
daughters in Mangochi District, and the organization urged women to 
report husbands who slept with their daughters. The MHRC expressed 
concern over reports of parents forcing their daughters into marriages 
for food.
    The Ministry of Women and Child Development undertook various 
activities to enhance protection and support of victims. In March a 
workshop was held in Mangochi to enable stakeholders to develop 
strategies to combat child abuse. In November 2005 the ministry 
announced a plan to introduce a child abuse hotline during the year; 
however, the hotline had not been installed by year's end. The ministry 
continued its efforts to convert its former regional offices into 
rehabilitation centers.
    In August the National Police conducted a two-day child protection 
orientation for district police commanders and a two-week training-of-
trainers workshop for 16 child protection officers from police units.
    Investigations continued into the April 2005 cases in which a boy's 
genitals were cut off in Chinsapo and another boy's ears were cut off 
in Mchinji. The Ministry of Women and Child Development provided access 
to medical care and rehabilitation in these cases.
    In 2004 the Government worked with UNICEF, international donors, 
and various NGOs to create and implement a Child Justice Act to ensure 
juveniles suitable access to the justice system. During the year some 
components of the act were implemented, although the bill remained with 
the cabinet at year's end.
    The trafficking of children for sexual purposes was a problem (see 
Section 5, Trafficking), and child prostitution also occurred. The 
belief that children were unlikely to be HIV positive and the 
widespread belief that sexual intercourse with virgins can cleanse an 
individual of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, 
contributed to the sexual exploitation of minors.
    Child labor, including instances of forced child labor, was a 
problem (see Section 6.d.).
    A few charitable organizations attempted to reduce the number of 
child beggars in urban areas; however, the problem of street children 
worsened as the number of orphans whose parents died from HIV/AIDS 
increased. Extended family members normally cared for such children and 
other orphans.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons specifically, and persons were trafficked from and within the 
country. Although the extent of human trafficking was undocumented, the 
Government made efforts to combat trafficking and used existing laws to 
prosecute cases of child trafficking for agricultural labor 
exploitation. Although the age of sexual consent is 14, there was no 
age specified for the protection of minors from sexual exploitation, 
child prostitution, or child pornography. The Government worked with 
UNICEF and NGOs to refine child protection laws (see Section 5, 
Children).
    The country is a source and transit point for women and children 
trafficked for sexual purposes locally and to brothels abroad, 
particularly in South Africa. Victims trafficked to South Africa were 
typically between 14 and 24 years old, and were recruited with offers 
of marriage, study, or employment. According to the International 
Organization for Migration, sex tourists, primarily from Germany, the 
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, lured children into sexual 
relationships while in the country. Poverty and low educational levels 
contributed to such exploitation. Traffickers involved in land border 
trafficking to South Africa were typically long-distance truck drivers 
and local businesswomen.
    The penal code contains several provisions relating to prostitution 
and indecency that the Government has used to prosecute traffickers. 
During the year the Government prosecuted 10 child traffickers; most of 
the cases involved trafficking of children for agricultural labor 
exploitation and cattle herding; the cases were reported to authorities 
by community labor committees and labor inspectors. A Mozambican man 
was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for attempting to sell two 
youths to businessmen. In July a farmer was arrested in Mchinji for 
allegedly abducting three boys for child labor, and in early August a 
man was arrested in Dedza for allegedly abducting six young boys to 
work on tobacco farms as herders. Some convicted child traffickers were 
required to pay fines; however, some who claimed ignorance of the law 
were merely warned and released. The Ministry of Women and Child 
Development repatriated the victims to their home villages.
    Police and the Ministry of Women and Child Development handled 
cases brought to the attention of authorities and provided services for 
victims, including counseling and reintegration assistance.
    The Government continued to implement a multiyear strategy to 
protect vulnerable children from exploitation and to develop a 
nationwide, interministerial plan to identify the extent of the problem 
and possible solutions.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for the support of 
persons with disabilities through greater access to public places, fair 
opportunities in employment, and full participation in all spheres of 
society; however, extremely limited resources prevented the Government 
from protecting these rights in practice. Reported violations were 
taken seriously, and the President publicly declared that students with 
disabilities should have equal access to education and other government 
services. The Government has not mandated accessibility to buildings 
and services for persons with disabilities.
    There were both public and privately supported schools and training 
centers that assisted persons with disabilities. There also were 
several self-supporting businesses run by and for persons with 
disabilities. The Malawi Rural Development Fund provided loans to 
persons with disabilities to support these activities.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is 
illegal, although there were no prosecutions for homosexuality during 
the year.
    Societal discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS was 
widespread and inhibited access to treatment; many individuals 
preferred to keep silent about their health rather than seek help and 
risk being ostracized. In June 2005 the industrial relations court in 
Lilongwe ruled that an employer had discriminated against an HIV-
positive worker, whom he fired after learning of her illness. The 
employer complied with the court decision to award eight months' 
compensation to the worker. The Ministry of Labor and Vocational 
Training (MOLVT) conducted a public relations program to reduce the 
stigma associated with having HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join trade unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice; 
however, union membership was low due to the small percentage of the 
workforce in the formal sector, the lack of awareness of worker rights 
and benefits, and a resistance on the part of many employees to join 
unions. Army personnel and police could not belong to trade unions, but 
other civil servants were allowed to form unions. Union leaders 
estimated that 12 percent of the formal sector workforce belonged to 
unions; however, accurate statistics on the numbers of union members 
were not available. Employers, labor unions, and the Government lacked 
sufficient knowledge of their legitimate roles in labor relations and 
disputes, which limited their effectiveness in the implementation and 
enforcement of the law.
    Unions must register with the Registrar of Trade Unions and 
Employers' Organizations in the MOLVT, and registration was routinely 
granted.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers and 
requires that employers reinstate workers dismissed because of union 
activities. There were no reports of persons who were fired for their 
membership in unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have the 
right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government 
protected this right in practice. The law requires that at least 20 
percent of employees (excluding senior managerial staff) belong to a 
union before such a union can engage in collective bargaining at the 
enterprise level, and at least 15 percent union membership for 
collective bargaining at the sector level. The law provides for the 
establishment of industrial councils in the absence of collective 
agreements for sector-level bargaining. Industrial council functions 
included wage negotiation, dispute resolution, and industry-specific 
labor policy development. In practice the law was not effectively 
implemented due to lack of human and financial resources.
    The law allows members of a registered union to strike or go 
through a formal mediation process overseen by the MOLVT, and workers 
exercised this right in practice. A strike can only occur after all 
settlement procedures established in a collective agreement (an 
understanding, not necessarily signed, reached by both parties to 
attempt mediation) and conciliation efforts have failed. Laws do not 
specifically prohibit retaliation against strikers. There was no 
prohibition on actions against unions that were not registered legally. 
Members of a registered union in ``essential services'' have a limited 
right to strike. Essential services were specified as services whose 
interruption would endanger the life, health, or personal safety of the 
whole or part of the population, as determined by the Industrial 
Relations Court (IRC).
    Arbitration rulings were legally enforceable; however, in practice, 
due to the lack of funding and heavy case backlog, the IRC could not 
monitor cases or adequately enforce the laws.
    At year's end, 16 firms held licenses to operate under export 
processing zone (EPZ) status, and 15 were operational. The full range 
of labor regulations applied to the EPZs; however, union organizers 
stated they had little access to workers in the EPZs.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, such labor 
occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). According to the International 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, bonded labor involving entire 
families was widespread on tobacco plantations. Tobacco tenants have 
exclusive arrangements, often unwritten, with the estate owners to sell 
their crop and to buy inputs such as fertilizer, seed, and often food. 
These costs, in addition to rent charges, often were greater than the 
artificially low price received for the tobacco crop, leading to a 
situation of debt and bonded labor to repay the input and other costs.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law defines children as persons under 16 years of age, and the law 
prohibits the employment of persons under 14; nevertheless, child labor 
was a problem. The law also prohibits the employment of children under 
18 in work that is hazardous, harmful, or interferes with their 
education. In 2004 the Government published a National Code of Conduct 
on Child Labor, which defines guiding principles for combating all 
forms of child labor.
    There was significant child labor on tobacco farms, subsistence 
farms, and in domestic service, largely as a result of extreme poverty 
and longstanding cultural traditions. Child traffickers attempting to 
smuggle children for agricultural labor exploitation were occasionally 
caught and successfully prosecuted and convicted (see Section 5).
    A local NGO reported that young girls in urban areas often worked 
outside of their families as domestic servants, receiving little or no 
wages. School-age children often worked as vendors. According to a 2002 
MOLVT study on child labor released in 2004, 80 percent of children 
were working either in or outside of their homes. In addition, 
approximately 38 percent of children five to 14 years of age worked 
more than seven hours per week.
    Police and the MOLVT were responsible for enforcing child labor 
laws and policies. During the year the MOLVT increased inspections, 
particularly on agricultural estates, and hired and trained 40 
additional labor inspectors. In August the MOLVT conducted a workshop 
for district labor officers on the roles of the judiciary, NGOs, 
police, and labor officers in child trafficking. During the year an 
additional 55 youth activists received training on countering child 
labor using the 2004 child labor code of conduct. The Government 
continued to participate in a three-year International Labor 
Organization project to withdraw and prevent children from engaging in 
hazardous work on tobacco farms and domestic service. The MOLVT also 
established 60 additional community child labor committees in six 
districts. The MOLVT conducted child labor ``open days'' in six 
districts and conducted six sensitization workshops for school teachers 
and estate owners during the year. With support from UNICEF, the 
Ministry of Women and Child Development also trained 240 child 
protection workers throughout the country. The MOLVT youth committees 
in rural areas monitored and reported on child labor. Despite these 
efforts, enforcement by police and MOLVT inspectors of child labor laws 
was hindered by budgetary constraints.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The MOLVT sets separate urban 
and rural minimum wage rates based on recommendations of the Tripartite 
Wage Advisory Board (TWAB), composed of representatives of labor, 
government, and the private sector. However, poor functioning of the 
TWAB resulted in delayed and inadequate wage rate revisions. The urban 
minimum wage amounted to approximately $0.71 (MK 97) per day; in all 
other areas, it was approximately $0.54 (MK 74) per day. Minimum wage 
rates, which were last revised in January 2005, did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Wage earners often 
supplemented their incomes through farming activities. The MOLVT lacked 
the resources to effectively enforce the minimum wage. However, the 
minimum wage largely was irrelevant for the great majority of citizens, 
who earned their livelihood outside the formal wage sector.
    The maximum legal workweek was 48 hours, with a mandatory weekly 
24-hour rest period. The laws require payment for overtime work and 
prohibit compulsory overtime. In practice employers frequently violated 
statutory time restrictions.
    The law includes extensive occupational health and safety 
standards; however, MOLVT enforcement of these standards was erratic. 
Workers--particularly in industrial jobs--often worked without basic 
safety clothing and equipment. Workers dismissed for filing complaints 
about workplace conditions have the right to file a complaint at the 
labor office or sue the employer for wrongful dismissal. Workers have 
the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without 
jeopardy to continued employment; however, given the low level of 
education of most workers and the high level of unemployment, workers 
were unlikely to exercise this right.
    The law protects foreign workers in correct legal status. Illegal 
foreign workers were subject to deportation.

                               __________

                                  MALI

    Mali, with a population of approximately 12 million, is a 
constitutional democracy that continued to implement a decentralized 
form of government. International and domestic observers characterized 
the 2002 Presidential and legislative elections as generally free and 
fair; however, there were some administrative irregularities. On May 
23, Tuareg rebels attacked government military bases in the town of 
Kidal and Menaka. On July 4, the Government signed a peace agreement 
with rebel forces. While civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces, there were isolated instances 
in which elements of the security forces acted independently of 
government authority.
    The Government generally respected its citizens' human rights; 
however, poor prison conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, prolonged 
trial delays, domestic violence and discrimination against women, 
female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking in children, hereditary 
servitude relationships between different ethnic groups, child labor, 
and forced labor, including by children, were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    On September 1, November 23, and November 28, mob killings occurred 
in Bamako. In each case local citizens beat and killed suspected 
thieves.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reported 
kidnappings.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were occasional reports that police abused civilians.
    There were reports that police arrested and abused student 
demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overall prison conditions 
remained poor. Prisons continued to be overcrowded, medical facilities 
and access were inadequate, and food supplies were insufficient.
    Men and women were separated in Bamako prisons; however, outside 
the capital, men and women were held in the same building but in 
separate cells. In Bamako juvenile offenders usually were held in the 
same prison as adult offenders, but they were kept in separate cells. 
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors; 
however, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other monitors were 
required to submit a request to the prison director, who then forwarded 
it to the Ministry of Justice. Approvals, which took up to one week, 
were routinely granted, but the week delay hindered the ability of 
monitors to ascertain if there were human rights violations, according 
to one NGO. Several NGOs, including the Malian Association of Human 
Rights and the Malian Association of Women Lawyers, visited prisoners 
and worked with female and juvenile prisoners to improve their 
conditions.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions; however, on occasion, police arrested and 
detained persons arbitrarily.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces include 
the army, air force, gendarmerie, national guard, and police. The army 
and air force are under the control of the civilian minister of 
defense. The national guard is administratively under the minister of 
defense; however, it is effectively under the command and control of 
the minister of internal security and civil protection. The police and 
gendarmerie are under the Ministry of Internal Security and Civil 
Protection. The police have responsibility for law enforcement and 
maintaining order in urban areas, while gendarmes have that 
responsibility in rural areas.
    The national police force is organized into various districts. Each 
district has a commissioner who reports to the regional director at 
national headquarters. The police force was moderately effective but 
lacked resources and training. Corruption was a problem, and some 
police and gendarmes extorted bribes (see Section 2.d.). Impunity was 
not a problem, and individual police were charged and convicted of 
abuses. The gendarmerie conducted investigations of police officers.
    During the year police officer Daba Djire was suspended for 
involvement in a case involving three Lebanese nationals accused of 
tapping into a local telephone network; the officer was awaiting trial 
at year's end.

    Arrest and Detention.--Judicial warrants are required for arrest. 
Normally complainants deliver warrants, which stipulate when a person 
is scheduled to appear at a police station. However, police sometimes 
served warrants, generally in response to an influential relative of 
the complainant or if they received a bribe. In cases involving a 
monetary debt, the arrested person frequently resolved the case at the 
police precinct, and the police received a portion of the recovered 
money. The law provides that suspects must be charged or released 
within 48 hours and that they are entitled to counsel; however, in 
practice, detainees were not always charged within the 48-hour period. 
Limited rights of bail or the granting of conditional liberty exist, 
particularly for minor crimes and civil matters. On occasion the 
authorities released defendants on their own recognizance. Detainees 
have the right to a lawyer of their choice or a state-provided lawyer, 
but administrative backlogs and an insufficient number of lawyers often 
prevented prompt access. Detainees were allowed prompt access to family 
members.
    Police arrested demonstrators during the year, and the Presidential 
palace's security force briefly detained a journalist (see Sections 
2.a. and 2.b.).
    Pretrial detention was a problem. In extreme cases, individuals 
remained in prison for several years before coming to trial. 
Approximately 77 percent of imprisoned persons were awaiting trial.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the executive branch continued 
to exert influence over the judicial system, and corruption and limited 
resources affected the fairness of some trials. Domestic human rights 
groups alleged that there were instances of bribery and influence 
peddling in the courts. The minister of justice appoints and may 
suspend judges, and the Justice Ministry supervises both law 
enforcement and judicial functions. The President heads the Council of 
Magistrates, which oversees judicial activity.
    During the year the Council of Magistrates temporarily suspended 
Judge Sidi Keita for the attempted murder of a court clerk in the town 
of Mopti. No charges were filed against the judge, who was transferred 
to another district. The council charged and suspended a second judge 
in Bamako for accepting a bribe in connection with a case involving 
three Lebanese nationals accused of tapping into a local telephone 
network; the judge subsequently died.
    The deputy public prosecutor, senior magistrate, and judge 
investigated in 2005 on charges of corruption were suspended and 
awaiting trial at year's end.
    The country has a lower Circuit Court and a Supreme Court with both 
judicial and administrative powers and a Constitutional Court that 
oversees constitutional issues and acts as an election arbiter. The 
constitution also provides for the convening of a high court of justice 
to try senior government officials in cases of treason.

    Trial Procedures.--Except in the case of minors, trials are public, 
and defendants have the right to be present and have an attorney of 
their choice. Court-appointed attorneys are provided for the indigent 
without charge. Defendants have the right to consult with their 
attorney, but administrative backlogs and an insufficient number of 
lawyers often prevented prompt access. Defendants and attorneys have 
access to government evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants are 
presumed innocent and have the right to confront witnesses and to 
appeal decisions to the Supreme Court. These rights extend to all 
citizens and all groups.
    Village chiefs, in consultation with the elders, decided the 
majority of disputes in rural areas. If these decisions were challenged 
in court, only those found to have legal merit were upheld.

    Political Prisoners--There were no reports of political prisoners 
or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.
    Individuals criticized the Government publicly and privately, 
generally without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to 
impede this criticism.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction.
    On June 8, the Presidential palace's security force beat and jailed 
a journalist, who had argued with security officials over the placement 
of a security cordon. A few hours later the Government apologized, and 
the journalist was released.
    No charges were filed in connection with the July 2005 kidnapping 
and beating of a private radio talk show host; the investigation was 
ongoing at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. There were numerous Internet cafes in Bamako, although home 
access in the capital was limited to those able to pay the high 
installation and monthly fees. Outside of Bamako, there were a few 
sites where the Internet was available for public use, but many towns 
in the country had no Internet access.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    On November 13, police fired tear gas into a demonstration of 
medical students seeking higher stipends from the Government. The 
students blocked access to one of Bamako's main hospitals during the 
protest and injected police with an unknown red liquid, later 
identified as juice. Police and protesters were injured by rocks and 
other projectiles. Five students were arrested, charged with damaging 
property, and held for six days before being released. The students' 
union claimed that the five, including one woman, were physically and 
sexually abused while in police custody. Their trials were pending at 
year's end.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice; however, the law prohibits association deemed 
immoral. In June 2005 the governor of the District of Bamako cited this 
law to refuse official recognition of a gay rights association.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The Government required that all public associations, including 
religious associations, register; the process was routine and not 
burdensome. Traditional indigenous religious groups were not required 
to register.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population was 
estimated at less than 50, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. 
Police routinely stopped and checked both citizens and foreigners to 
restrict the movement of contraband and to verify vehicle 
registrations. Some police and gendarmes extorted bribes.
    The constitution and law specifically prohibit forced exile; the 
Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. A national committee 
in charge of refugees operated with institutional assistance from the 
office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 390 persons during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and 
legislative elections were last held in 2002; domestic and 
international observers characterized both elections as generally free, 
fair, and without evident fraud, but there were administrative 
irregularities.
    There were 15 women in the 147-member National Assembly, five women 
in the 28-seat cabinet, five women on the 33-member Supreme Court, and 
three women on the nine-member Constitutional Court; a woman chaired 
the Supreme Court.
    The National Assembly had 14 members of historically marginalized 
pastoralist and nomadic ethnic minorities representing the northern and 
eastern regions of Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal. The cabinet also had two 
representatives of the northern regions: the minister of health and the 
minister of state reforms and institutional relations.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued 
its campaign to curb corruption; however, corruption hindered 
development and governmental efforts to improve human rights. On May 
30, the auditor general's office released its first annual report, 
which charged widespread tax evasion and customs duty fraud by private 
telecommunications companies, the mayor of Bamako's office, and fuel 
importation officials. No action had been taken against responsible 
officials by year's end.
    On August 15, the auditor general announced that approximately one 
million dollars (500 million CFA) had disappeared during the last three 
years from the Office du Niger, which manages the country's rice-
growing region. The director of the Office du Niger was subsequently 
removed, and three mid-level employees were arrested. In November the 
three mid-level employees were released.
    No verdict was reached during the year in the February 2005 case in 
which employees of the textile parastatal Compagnie Malienne pour le 
Development des Textiles were charged with illegally importing cotton.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government granted such access. If an information request is 
refused, the person inquiring can appeal to an administrative court, 
which must handle the appeal within three months.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. These groups 
included the Malian Association for Human Rights, a smaller Malian 
League of Human Rights, and a local chapter of Amnesty International. 
The International Committee for the Red Cross had offices in Bamako, 
Timbuktu, and Gao.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on social 
origin, color, language, sex, or race, and the Government generally 
enforced these provisions effectively; however, violence and 
discrimination against women, FGM, and trafficking in children were 
problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
was tolerated and common. Spousal abuse is a crime, but police were 
reluctant to enforce laws against or intervene in cases of domestic 
violence. Assault is punishable by prison terms of one to five years 
and fines of up to $1,000 (500,000 CFA francs) or if premeditated, up 
to 10 years' imprisonment. Many women were reluctant to file complaints 
against their husbands because they were unable to support themselves 
financially. The Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the 
Family produced a guide on violence against women for use by health 
care providers, police, lawyers, and judges. The guide provides 
definitions of the types of violence and guidelines on how each should 
be handled. The ministry has also begun surveys to assess the frequency 
of violence, but no results were available at year's end. Action for 
the Defense and Promotion of Women Rights and Action for the Promotion 
of Household Maids operated shelters.
    The law criminalizes rape, but spousal rape is not illegal. Reports 
of rape were rare, and most cases went unreported.
    FGM was common, particularly in rural areas, and was performed on 
girls between the ages of six months to six years. According to 
domestic NGOs, approximately 95 percent of adult women had undergone 
FGM. The practice was widespread in most regions and among most ethnic 
groups, was not subject to class boundaries, and was not religiously 
based. There were no laws against FGM, but a government decree 
prohibits FGM in government-funded health centers.
    The Government continued its two-phased plan aimed at eliminating 
all forms of FGM by 2008. According to the local human rights 
organizations fighting FGM, the educational phase (workshops, videos, 
and theater) continued in cities, and FGM reportedly decreased 
substantially among children of educated parents. In many instances FGM 
practitioners agreed to stop the practice in exchange for other income-
generating activity. The National Committee Against Violence Towards 
Women linked all the NGOs active in FGM.
    Prostitution is legal and common in cities. Sex tourism was not 
known to be a problem. There were no confirmed reports of prostitutes 
targeted for abuse by local authorities.
    The law does not specifically address sexual harassment.
    Family law favored men, and women were particularly vulnerable in 
cases of divorce, child custody, and inheritance rights, as well as in 
the general protection of civil rights. Women had very limited access 
to legal services due to their lack of education and information, as 
well as the prohibitive cost. For example, if a woman wanted a divorce, 
she had to pay approximately $60 (30,000 CFA francs) to start the 
process, a prohibitive amount for most women.
    While the law gives women equal property rights, traditional 
practice and ignorance of the law prevented women, even educated women, 
from taking full advantage of their rights. A community property 
marriage had to be specified in the marriage contract. In addition if 
the type of marriage was not specified on the marriage certificate, 
judges presumed the marriage was polygynous. Traditional practice 
discriminated against women in inheritance matters, and men inherited 
most of the family wealth.
    Women's access to employment and to economic and educational 
opportunities was limited. Women constituted approximately 15 percent 
of the labor force, and the Government, the country's major employer, 
paid women the same as men for similar work. Women often lived under 
harsh conditions, particularly in rural areas, where they performed 
difficult farm work and did most of the childrearing. The Ministry for 
the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family was charged with 
ensuring the legal rights of women.
    Under a four-year (2004	2008) national plan of action to promote 
the status of women, the Government continued efforts to reduce 
inequalities between men and women and to create links between women 
within the Economic Community of West African States and throughout 
Africa.
    Several women's rights groups, such as the Association of Malian 
Women Lawyers, the Association of Women in Law and Development, the 
Collective of Women's Associations, and the Association for the Defense 
of Women's Rights, worked to highlight legal inequities, primarily in 
the family code, through debates, conferences, and women's rights 
training. These groups also provided legal assistance to women and 
targeted magistrates, police officers, and religious and traditional 
leaders in educational outreach to promote women's rights.

    Children.--The Government was committed to providing for children's 
welfare and rights. Several laws protect children and provide for their 
welfare, including an ordinance that provides for regional positions as 
``child delegates'' to safeguard the rights and interests of children.
    Education was tuition free and, in principle, open to all; however, 
students were required to provide their own uniforms and supplies. 
Primary school was compulsory up to the age of 12, but only 56.6 
percent of children from seven to 12 years old (49.3 percent of girls 
and 64.1 percent of boys) received a primary education during the 2005	
06 school year. Girls' enrollment in school was lower than boys' at all 
levels due to poverty, cultural tendencies to emphasize boys' 
education, and early marriages. Other factors affecting school 
enrollment in general included distance to the nearest school, lack of 
transportation, and shortages of teachers and instructional materials.
    Members of the black Tamachek community reported that Tamachek 
children were denied educational opportunities because their masters 
would not allow their children to attend school (see Section 5, 
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities).
    Approximately 11 percent of students attended private Arabic-
language schools, or Medersas. Medersas were encouraged to follow the 
Government curriculum, and most taught core subjects including math, 
science, and foreign languages; however, few Medersas fully adhered to 
the Government's curriculum due to a lack of teacher training and 
instructional materials.
    An unknown number of primary school aged children throughout the 
country attended part-time Koranic schools; most students were under 
the age of 10. Koranic schools taught only the Koran and were partially 
funded by students, known as garibouts, who were required by 
schoolmasters to beg for money on the streets as part of their 
religious instruction. A 2005 UNICEF study of Koranic schools in Mopti 
found that children who attended these schools spent the majority of 
their time begging on the streets or working in fields.
    The Government provided subsidized medical care to children as well 
as adults, but the care was limited in quality and availability. Boys 
and girls had equal access to medical care.
    Statistics on child abuse were unreliable, and reported cases of 
abuse were rare, according to local human rights organizations. The 
social services department investigated and intervened in cases of 
child abuse or neglect.
    FGM was commonly performed on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Women may legally marry at age 18 and men at age 21. The marriage 
code allows girls under age 15 to marry with parental consent or 
special permission from a judge. Women's rights organizations opposed 
this provision as contradicting international conventions that protect 
children through the age of 18. Underage marriage was known to be a 
problem in the regions of Kayes, Sikasso, Timbuktu, and Mopti. Parents 
contracted marriage for girls as young as age 11 in the Fulani, 
Minianka, and Soninke ethnic groups, even though the practice is 
illegal.
    Local women's rights NGOs, such as Action for the Promotion and 
Development of Women, the Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights, 
and the Women's and Children's Rights Watch, educated local populations 
about the negative consequences of underage marriage. The Government 
also helped to enable girls married at an early age to continue in 
school.
    Trafficking in children (see Section 5, Trafficking) and child 
labor (see Section 6.d.) were problems.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons in adults but does prohibit trafficking in children; however, 
there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within 
the country.
    Most trafficking occurred within the country during the year. 
Children were trafficked to rice fields in the central regions; boys 
were trafficked to mines in the south; and girls were trafficked for 
involuntary domestic servitude in Bamako. Victims were generally 
trafficked for agricultural work, domestic servitude, and to a lesser 
extent into begging, gold mining, and prostitution. The victims were 
usually from the central regions of the country and not a specific 
ethnic group. Women and girls were trafficked from Nigeria for sexual 
exploitation, mainly by Nigerian traffickers.
    Child trafficking is punishable by five to 20 years' imprisonment. 
The law also prohibits the contractual use of persons without their 
consent. Penalties increase if a minor is involved and range from five 
to 20 years' imprisonment. Although legal protections and measures are 
in place, parents of child victims were reluctant to file charges, and 
cases often languished within the justice system.
    During the year there also were reports of trafficking in persons 
between the country and its neighbors, primarily Guinea and Burkina 
Faso.
    During the year a local court convicted Moussa Traore, a citizen of 
the country, for trafficking two children, ages 13 and 14, to work on 
his cotton farm in Cote d'Ivoire. Traore was sentenced to one year's 
imprisonment, but released because he had already served the length of 
the sentence awaiting trial.
    On October 12, gendarmes in the town of Niono discovered 24 
citizens of Burkina Faso, including 20 minors, in a minibus driven by 
Zakaria Ouedrago. According to the police, Ouedrago and Dramane Konta, 
a citizen of the country, had trafficked the 24 for work in Konta's 
fields. The children were turned over to a local NGO that cares for 
victims of child trafficking, and were subsequently repatriated to 
Burkina Faso. Ouedrago was arrested and awaiting trial at year's end. 
Konta remained at large.
    The Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family 
and the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service shared responsibility for 
combating trafficking. The two ministries, in cooperation with the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Territorial 
Administration, developed a program to identify and rehabilitate 
victims, educate the population, and strengthen the legal system with 
regard to the movement and trafficking of minors.
    In July the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the 
Family released the results of a 2004 study on the sexual exploitation 
of minors in the regions of Sikasso, Kayes, and Bamako. The study, 
which involved 450 interviews, found that the children most at risk for 
sexual exploitation were girls between the ages of 12 and 18 who worked 
as street vendors or domestic servants, or who were homeless children 
or the victims of child trafficking. Such exploitation was most 
prevalent in areas in which the population and economy were in flux, 
such as border zones or towns on transportation routes or in mining 
areas. The study noted that most cases of sexual exploitation went 
unreported and recommended that the country strengthen its laws to 
protect children.
    The Government assists with international trafficking 
investigations and the extradition of citizens accused of trafficking 
in other countries, but there were no such cases during the year.
    The Government worked closely with international organizations and 
NGOs to coordinate the repatriation and reintegration of trafficking 
victims. Three children were repatriated during the year from Cote 
d'Ivoire.
    Welcome centers in Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Bamako assisted in 
returning trafficked children to their families. The Government 
provided temporary shelter and protection for victims at these centers.
    Parents were required to carry travel passes for children, a 
measure intended to curb child trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There was no specific law protecting 
the rights of persons with disabilities in employment, education, 
access to health care, or in the provision of other state services; 
however, the Government did not discriminate against persons with 
disabilities.
    There is no law mandating accessibility to public buildings. There 
were no reports of societal discrimination against persons with 
disabilities. The Ministry of Social Affairs is charged with the 
protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against 
``black'' Tamacheks and hereditary servitude relationships between 
Tamacheks and other groups continued during the year (see Section 
6.c.). Members of the Tamachek community reported that they did not 
benefit from equal education opportunities because their masters would 
not allow their children to attend school. Tamacheks reported they were 
deprived of civil liberties by other ethnic groups. On November 15, a 
Tamachek group, known by the acronym TEMEDT, called for an end to all 
slavery-related practices in the country (see Section 6.c.).
    The 2004 case concerning the killing of a customs officer during a 
confrontation between two Tuareg communities in Kidal was still pending 
at year's end.

    Other Social Abuses and Discrimination.--In June 2005 the governor 
of Bamako refused to grant official recognition to a gay rights 
association (see Section 2.b.).
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for workers to form 
or join unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice. 
Only the military, the gendarmerie, and the national guard were 
excluded from forming unions. An estimated 95 percent of salaried 
employees were organized, including teachers, magistrates, health 
workers, and senior civil servants.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but there were 
no reports of antiunion behavior or activities during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government respected these rights in practice. The law provides for the 
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right 
freely. Unions have the right to strike, and workers exercised this 
right. There are no export processing zones.
    The growth of independent unions led to more direct bargaining 
between unions and their employers. Wages and salaries for workers 
belonging to the National Union of Malian Workers Federation (UNTM) and 
the Syndicated Confederation of Malian Workers were set by tripartite 
negotiations between the Ministry of Labor, labor unions, and 
representatives of the National Council of Employers of the sector to 
which the wages applied. These negotiations usually set the pattern for 
unions outside the UNTM. Civil service salary levels were pegged 
nationally to an index established by the Government.
    The law provides for the right to strike; however, there were 
restrictions in some areas. For example, civil servants and workers in 
state-owned enterprises were required to give two weeks' notice of a 
planned strike and to enter into mediation and negotiations with the 
employer and a third party, usually the Ministry of Labor and State 
Reforms. The labor code prohibits retribution against strikers, and the 
Government generally effectively enforced these laws.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    The law prohibits the contractual use of persons without their 
consent, and penalties include a fine and hard labor. Penalties 
increase significantly if a minor, defined as someone less than 15 
years of age, is involved.
    Hereditary servitude relationships continued to informally link 
different ethnic groups, particularly in the north. There was evidence 
that members of the Tamachek community continued to live in forced 
servitude and were deprived of civil liberties by members of other 
ethnic groups. During the year members of the black Tamachek community, 
often referred to by the pejorative label bellah, reported on the 
continued existence of feudal slave-related practices in the country.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor code has specific policies that pertain to child labor; however, 
these regulations often were ignored in practice, and child labor was a 
problem. The labor code permits children between the ages of 12 and 14 
to work up to two hours per day during school vacations with parental 
approval. Children 14 to 16 may work up to 4 hours per day with the 
permission of a labor inspector, but not during nights, on Sundays, or 
on holidays. Children 16 to 18 could work in jobs that were not 
physically demanding; boys could work up to eight hours per day, and 
girls up to six hours per day.
    Child labor predominated in the agricultural, mining, and domestic 
help sectors and, to a lesser degree, in craft and trade 
apprenticeships and cottage industries.
    Laws against unjust compensation, excessive hours, or capricious 
discharge did not apply to the vast number of children who worked in 
rural areas helping with family farms, household chores and herds, 
apprenticing in trades, or working in the informal sector, such as 
street vendors.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5).
    The authorities enforced labor code provisions through inspectors 
from the Ministry of Labor and State Reforms, which conducted surprise 
inspections and complaint-based inspections; however, resource 
limitations restricted the frequency and effectiveness of oversight by 
the Labor Inspection Service, which operated only in the formal sector.
    The National Campaign Against Child Labor, led by the International 
Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC)-Mali, was responsible 
for investigating abusive forms of child labor. IPEC relied on labor 
inspectors appointed by the Government in Bamako and in regional labor 
offices throughout the country. IPEC investigated cases when NGOs or 
the media provided information that there was abusive child labor. 
There were no such reports during the year.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage rate, 
set during the year, was approximately $53 (28,000 CFA francs) per 
month, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family. The minimum wage was supplemented by a required package of 
benefits, including social security and health care. While this total 
package could provide a minimum standard of living for one person, most 
wage earners supported large extended families and supplemented their 
income by subsistence farming or employment in the informal sector. The 
labor code specifies conditions of employment, including hours, wages, 
and social security; however, many employers either ignored or did not 
comply completely with the regulations.
    The legal workweek was 40 hours (45 hours for agricultural 
employees), with a requirement for a 24-hour rest period. Workers had 
to be paid overtime for additional hours.
    The law provides a broad range of legal protections against hazards 
in the workplace, and workers' groups brought pressure on employers to 
respect parts of the regulations, particularly those affecting personal 
hygiene. With high unemployment, however, workers often were reluctant 
to report violations of occupational safety regulations. The Labor 
Inspection Service oversees these standards but limited enforcement to 
the modern, formal sector. It was not effective in investigating and 
enforcing workers' safety and was insufficiently funded for its 
responsibilities. Workers had the right to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations and to request an investigation by the Social 
Security Department, which is responsible for recommending remedial 
action where deemed necessary; it was not known if any worker had done 
so.

                               __________

                               MAURITANIA

    Mauritania, with an estimated population of three million, is a 
highly centralized Islamic republic ruled by a military junta led by 
Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed Vall. On November 19 and December 13, voters 
turned out in large numbers to elect legislative and municipal 
representatives; international and domestic observers deemed the 
elections credible. In August 2005 the military overthrew former 
President Taya in a bloodless coup and established the ruling Military 
Council for Justice and Democracy (CMJD), which dissolved the 
parliament and appointed a transitional government; Taya was reelected 
in 2003 amid opposition charges of fraud. In October 2005 the junta and 
transitional government released an election timeline that scheduled 
Presidential elections in March 2007 and a return to civilian rule by 
May 2007. The August 2005 coup ended civilian control of the security 
forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor; however, there 
were some significant improvements. At year's end the military 
continued to control the Government, limiting citizens' ability to 
change their government. Other abuses included harsh prison conditions, 
official impunity, arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention, 
executive influence on the judiciary, and restrictions on freedoms of 
speech, press, assembly, association, and religion. There was a 
widespread public perception of governmental corruption and a lack of 
access to government information. Discrimination against women and 
female genital mutilation (FGM) continued. Trafficking in persons, 
ethnic and racial tensions, and the political marginalization of 
largely southern-based ethnic groups were problems. Involuntary 
servitude, particularly in remote regions of the country, and child 
labor in the informal sector occurred.
    Significant milestones in the country's return to democratic rule 
included successful legislative and municipal elections in November and 
December, a June 24 constitutional referendum to limit Presidential 
power, and the creation of the country's first National Commission for 
Human Rights.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents 
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no deaths resulting from 
police action against demonstrators.
    There were no developments in the 2005 killing of Mamadou Salui 
Diallo, who died from injuries incurred while in police custody.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
there were reports that police beat and tortured suspects in custody, 
and there were instances of torture in prisons. Alleged police torture 
techniques included beating, hanging, burning with cigarettes, electric 
shock, and cutting. According to reports, those who lacked money or 
influential family or tribal ties were the most likely to be tortured. 
Authorities rarely took action against those responsible for such 
abuse.
    The Mauritanian National Lawyers Association, along with various 
human rights organizations, alleged in June and July that various 
terrorist suspects had been beaten and tortured while in police 
custody.
    Police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators resulted in 
injuries (see section 2.b.).
    Ismael Issa, an Islamist who reportedly was tortured while in 
custody in 2005, remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh, although some facilities improved food and reduced overcrowding 
during the year. Serious overcrowding and inadequate sanitation 
facilities in some prisons reportedly contributed to diseases such as 
tuberculosis, diarrhea, and dermatological ailments. Medical supplies, 
mainly provided by an international nongovernmental organization (NGO), 
remained insufficient in all prisons. Budget allocations to improve 
prison conditions remained insufficient in all prisons. Prisoners with 
high-level connections and with families to bring them food, medicines, 
and reading material fared better than the less privileged or citizens 
from other countries. Construction of a new central prison was 
completed in November.
    Guard force management generally enforced regulations against 
beatings and torture; however, there continued to be credible reports 
of beatings and torture in police detention centers and several prisons 
throughout the country.
    Women and minors were held in two separate facilities. Women's 
prisons employed both male and female guards. Children of female 
prisoners remained with their mothers, or the Ministry of Justice gave 
temporary custody of the children to another family member. The Noura 
Foundation, an NGO working in the women's prison, provided education 
and vocational training to female prisoners and partnered with the 
Catholic charity CARITAS to provide education, sports, and vocational 
services in the juvenile detention center. Pretrial detainees in all 
detention facilities were frequently held with convicted prisoners as a 
result of overcrowding. Pretrial terrorist suspects were held in 
separate areas from the general prison population in Nouakchott's 
central prison.
    The transitional government permitted prison visits by NGOs, 
diplomats, and international human rights observers. The International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had access to prisons and conducted 
multiple prison visits in accordance with its standard modalities.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports 
that the police arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, 
under the Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for law enforcement 
and maintaining order in urban areas. The National Guard, under the 
Ministry of Interior, performs police functions throughout the country 
in areas in which city police are not present. The gendarmerie, a 
specialized paramilitary group under the Ministry of Defense, is 
responsible for maintaining civil order in and outside metropolitan 
areas.
    The police were unprofessional, unresponsive, and lacked equipment 
and training. Corruption was a problem. Police in some regions arrested 
former criminals and demanded bribes for their release, and some 
indicted detainees were released before trial without explanation. The 
transitional government often did not hold security officials 
accountable or prosecute security officials for abuses. There were no 
prosecutions of police during the year.
    During the year the transitional government conducted programs to 
train police on procedures for applying the country's laws, 
particularly those laws concerning human rights and trafficking in 
persons.

    Arrest and Detention.--The application of constitutional safeguards 
continued to vary widely from case to case. The law requires duly 
authorized arrest warrants, but they were not commonly used. The law 
requires that courts review the legality of a person's detention within 
48 hours of arrest; however, the police can extend the period for 
another 48 hours, and a prosecutor or court can detain persons for up 
to 30 days in national security cases. Only after the prosecutor 
submits charges does a suspect have the right to contact an attorney. 
Attorneys for the indigent are provided at state expense. While one 
article of the law provides detainees with the right to prompt judicial 
determination of the charges against them, an older law allows the 
Government to detain persons for up to 30 days without a judicial 
determination. The transitional government frequently adhered to the 
older law. There was no functional bail system.
    On June 20, security forces arrested without charge five persons, 
including high-ranking military officers and civilians associated with 
former President Taya. The Government claimed that the detainees were 
planning to disrupt the June 25 referendum; the detainees claimed they 
were arrested for their outspoken views of the junta. The five 
detainees were released during a November 28 amnesty to celebrate the 
country's national day.
    On December 26, police arrested and detained numerous student 
demonstrators (see section 2.b.).
    The transitional government arrested or detained journalists, 
Protestant pastors, and members of Protestant groups during the year 
(see sections 2.a. and 2.c.).
    Of the 21 Islamist detainees with suspected links to terrorist 
organizations held in custody at the beginning of the year, three 
escaped on April 26, and eight others were released with charges still 
pending. Between May and August the Government arrested approximately 
10 other persons it claimed had links to terrorist groups, bringing the 
total in custody to approximately 20.
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. There were credible 
reports of persons remaining in pretrial detention for months or, in 
some cases, years.

    Amnesty.--A November 28 amnesty resulted in the release of five 
prisoners.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for judicial independence, the executive branch exercised 
significant influence over the judiciary through its ability to appoint 
and pressure judges. In addition poorly educated and poorly trained 
judges who were susceptible to social, financial, and tribal pressures 
limited the judicial system's fairness. The Government provided 
training for prosecutors and judges during the year to increase 
judicial efficiency.
    The transitional government continued to work on judicial reform, 
including training judges, prosecutors, and police on procedures for 
applying the country's laws, particularly those laws concerning human 
rights and trafficking in persons. The Government also worked to 
professionalize its pool of judges by calling for the hiring of judges 
from academic circles.
    There is a single system of courts consistent with modified 
principles of Shari'a (Islamic law). Departmental, regional, and labor 
tribunals are the courts of first instance at the lower level. The 53 
departmental tribunals, composed of a President and magistrates with 
traditional Islamic legal training, heard civil cases involving sums 
less than $37 (10,000 ouguiya) and family issues, including domestic, 
divorce, and inheritance cases. A total of 13 regional tribunals 
accepted appeals in commercial and civil matters from the departmental 
tribunals and heard misdemeanors cases. At the middle level, three 
courts of appeal, each with seven chambers (civil, commercial, 
administrative, and penal chambers, as well as criminal, minors, and 
labor courts) heard appeals from the regional courts and have original 
jurisdiction for felonies.
    The Supreme Court was nominally independent and was headed by a 
representative appointed by Colonel Vall. The Supreme Court reviewed 
decisions and rulings made by the courts of appeal to determine their 
compliance with law and procedure. Constitutional review was within the 
purview of a six-member Constitutional Council, composed of three 
members named by former President Taya, two by the former National 
Assembly President, and one by the former senate President. The Supreme 
Council of Magistrates, over which Colonel Vall presided, undertook the 
annual review of judicial decisions; the President and senior vice 
President of the Supreme Court, the minister of justice, three 
magistrates, and representatives from the Senate and National Assembly 
were members of this council. The annual review was intended to 
determine whether courts applied the law correctly and followed proper 
procedures. Reviews also served as a basis for evaluating the reform 
process and reassigning judges based on their qualifications.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for due process. Defendants 
have a right to a public trial, but juries are not used. All 
defendants, regardless of the court or their ability to pay, have the 
legal right to representation by counsel during the proceedings. If 
defendants lacked the ability to pay for counsel, the court appointed 
an attorney from a list prepared by the National Order of Lawyers, 
which provided a defense free of charge. There is a presumption of 
innocence and the right to appeal. The foregoing rights generally were 
observed in practice.
    Shari'a provides the legal principles upon which the law and legal 
procedure are based; the courts did not treat women as the equals of 
men in all cases (see section 5).
    A special court hears the cases of children under the age of 18. 
Children who appeared before the court received more lenient sentences 
than adults, and extenuating circumstances received greater 
consideration in juvenile cases. The minimum age for children to be 
tried was 12. Those between the ages of 12 and 18 were tried and, if 
convicted, sentenced to the juvenile detention center.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees during the year.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no independent 
judiciary in civil matters to address lawsuits seeking damages for, or 
a cessation of, a human rights violation.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the transitional 
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
    There were occasional reports that the Government surveilled 
opposition political activities.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, but the transitional government 
partially restricted these rights through the domination of broadcast 
media and the occasional harassment of journalists. Individuals 
generally could criticize the Government publicly or privately; 
however, five military officers claimed their arrest during the year 
was a result of their outspoken views against the Government (see 
section 1.d.). There were occasional reports of media groups being 
refused access to public fora. Some journalists practiced self 
censorship.
    On October 24, Reporters without Borders noted in its annual report 
on press freedom that the country had made notable progress in lifting 
press restrictions during the year.
    On July 12, a new press law went into effect transferring the 
responsibility for press registration from the Ministry of Interior to 
the Ministry of Justice. The new law stipulates that newspapers may 
begin distribution immediately after depositing one copy of their paper 
at the office of the Attorney General, eliminating the previous 
requirement for prepublication governmental approval. The law allows 
journalists to protect their sources and streamlines the process for 
officially registering new newspapers.
    Two daily newspapers, Horizons and Chaab, were government owned. 
There were approximately 40 privately owned newspapers that published 
on a regular basis, in both French and Arabic. NGOs and the privately 
owned press openly criticized the Government and its leaders. 
Newspapers, journals, and privately published books were exempt from 
all taxes on materials used to produce them.
    Radio was the most important medium for reaching the public. Except 
for Radio France International, all broadcast media (radio and 
television) were government owned and operated, and their content 
remained tightly controlled.
    On October 20, the transitional government created the High 
Authority for Press and Broadcast Media to examine the current media 
system and propose ways to improve public access to information, 
including through the licensing of private broadcast media. During the 
year the Government referred applications to establish domestic radio 
stations over to the high authority, which did not take action on any 
applications during the year; in 2005 the transitional government 
failed to respond to such applications.
    Using satellite receivers and dish antennas, citizens could receive 
worldwide television broadcasts.
    During the year there were occasional reports of journalists being 
detained. Deddah Ould Abdellah, a correspondent with the Al Hurra 
television channel, described being temporarily detained on three 
separate occasions. There also were occasional reports that police 
mistreated journalists. On May 2, the Arabic language Internet site 
Ebbarb reported that two journalists from the weekly newspaper Ahira 
complained of inappropriate and harsh treatment by police while they 
were covering Colonel Vall's April 26 visit to the town of Laayoune.
    The two newspaper employees arrested in October 2005 for publishing 
a story on a pornographic film reportedly made in Nouakchott's central 
prison were referred to a regional criminal court in May. Their trial 
was pending at year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
transitional government censored or delayed the publication of 
newspapers.
    The Arab-language private newspaper, Al Jawahir, closed by the 
former government in 2004 as a result of its alleged financial links to 
Libya, remained closed during the year.
    There were reports that the transitional government occasionally 
restricted opposition access to government radio and television 
broadcasts.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was available in urban areas throughout the country, 
with home access common among the affluent, and cyber cafes serving the 
remainder of the population.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the 
transitional government generally respected this right; however, police 
forcibly dispersed at least one demonstration during the year. The law 
requires that organizers apply to the local prefect for permission to 
hold large meetings or assemblies, and permission was generally 
approved.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations; however, unlike in the 
previous year, no deaths resulted. On July 4, police used force and 
tear gas to disperse relatives demonstrating against the June arrest of 
five military officers (see section 1.d.). The police claimed that the 
demonstrators, who were protesting in front of the central prison, did 
not have permits.
    On December 26, police used tear gas and batons to disperse a 
student demonstration at the University of Nouakchott; the students 
were demanding more financial support from the Government and that 
teachers appear at a majority of their classes. When the demonstrations 
continued the following day, police beat and arrested other students, 
all of whom were released by year's end. Some students detained by 
police claimed that they had been tortured, and several journals 
featured photos showing injured and bleeding demonstrators. The 
university remained closed at year's end (see section 6.a.).
    The transitional government briefly detained six Christian pastors 
and closed their churches during the year (see section 2.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the transitional government generally respected this 
right; however, the Government continued to use laws that prohibit the 
formation of racially or religious-based organizations to ban Islamist 
political parties (see section 3). Nevertheless, Islamists were allowed 
to run for election as independent candidates.
    All political parties must register with the Ministry of the 
Interior.
    During the year the Government recognized several human rights 
organizations (see section 4).
    The transitional government also recognized five new political 
parties during the year, bringing to 35 the total number of licensed 
political parties. These political parties and numerous NGOs functioned 
openly, issued public statements, and chose their own leadership. The 
transitional government did not prevent unrecognized political parties 
or NGOs from functioning.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution establishes the country 
as an Islamic republic and decrees that Islam is the religion of its 
citizens and the state; the transitional government limited freedom of 
religion. The transitional government did not register religious 
groups, although NGOs--including humanitarian and development NGOs 
affiliated with religious groups--had to register with the Ministry of 
the Interior (see section 2.b.).
    In May the transitional government arrested six West African 
Protestant pastors, seized their religious materials, and padlocked 
their churches. The pastors were released within 24 hours and told by 
police that their churches were illegal and would remain closed. They 
were ordered to cease all future religious meetings. Several weeks 
previously security forces briefly detained three Christian citizens 
for allegedly proselytizing. The compound of the Catholic Church, where 
the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church held regular meetings, 
remained open during the year.
    Although there is no specific legal prohibition against 
proselytizing by non-Muslims, the transitional government continued to 
prohibit such proselytizing. The former government restricted 
proselytizing through Article 11 of the Press Act, which was suspended 
in April. However, the transitional government continued to prohibit 
proselytizing and the distribution of any material that is against 
Islam or contradicts or otherwise threatens Islam. Bibles were neither 
printed nor publicly sold in the country; however, the possession of 
Bibles and other Christian religious materials in private homes was not 
illegal, and Bibles and other religious publications were available 
among the small Christian community.
    Unlike in the previous year, the interim government did not arrest 
suspected Islamists and released those who were arrested under the Taya 
government; however, the Government continued to detain Islamists 
suspected of links to terrorist groups (see section 1.d.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--A very small number of 
expatriates practiced Judaism. In July and August citizens conducted 
several public protests against Israel's involvement in Gaza and 
Lebanon. On July 4, thousands of persons gathered to criticize the 
Government's continued recognition of Israel. The press occasionally 
criticized Israeli policies and made anti-Semitic statements.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
while the transitional government generally respected them, persons 
lacking identity cards could not travel freely in some regions. The 
Government set up roadblocks where gendarmerie, police, or customs 
officials checked the papers of travelers and often demanded bribes. 
During the year the transitional government generally maintained fewer 
roadblocks and reduced the time taken in questioning and conducting 
vehicle searches; however, there were periodic reports of more 
stringent searches in the southern border areas.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but there were no reports 
that the transitional government used it.
    The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 Mauritanian refugees from the 
1989	91 crisis remained in Senegal, although refugees continued to 
return independently in small numbers and have benefited from small-
scale agro-forestry, health, and sanitation projects continued by NGOs 
and humanitarian workers. Cooperation by local authorities in 
addressing restitution and citizenship matters varied greatly, 
depending on individual officials and the returnee's region. Many 
returnees received their original homes, some property, and all or a 
portion of their land. Throughout the Chemama or the Senegal River 
valley region, returnee communities were reestablishing their 
agricultural production; however, recovery of land titles remained the 
primary issue. Timely restoration of identity papers varied, and some 
of those who returned in 1995 have not yet received identification 
cards.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, or the 1967 
African Union Convention on the Status of Refugees, but the former 
government established a system for providing such protection. In 
practice the transitional government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government continued to provide temporary protection to 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and the 1967 Protocol and during the year provided it to approximately 
630 persons.
    The transitional government cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees or asylum seekers. The 
former government accepted the UNHCR's registration of approximately 
600 asylum seekers, mostly from Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the 
transitional government worked with the UNHCR during the year to 
provide continued assistance for these individuals.
    During the year the transitional government worked actively to 
assist the UNHCR, the European Commission, and the Government of Spain 
in returning migrants attempting to enter the Canary Islands by sea to 
their countries of origin. The Spanish Technical Corporation 
constructed a migrant reception center in the north of the country to 
process returned migrants and to ensure that they received needed 
nutritional and medical care. The Government gave the UNHCR access to 
returned migrants to determine if they were eligible for refugee 
status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government; however, this right was abridged during the year due 
to the military's continued control of the Government. Consistent with 
its 2005 timeline for democratic transition that called for 
parliamentary and Presidential elections no later than March 2007, the 
transitional government held a constitutional referendum in June and 
legislative and municipal elections in November.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On November 19 and December 
3, citizens returned to the polls to elect their municipal and 
legislative representatives in elections deemed credible by 
international and domestic observers, including political parties, 
NGOs, and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI). While 
there were continued problems with the inconsistent application of 
electoral procedures by poll workers (including CENI representatives), 
and a high rate of invalidated ballots resulting from electoral 
complexities (each voter was required to complete three separate 
ballots), the Government maintained its commitment of neutrality, and 
the vast majority of citizens accepted the election results.
    On June 25, more than 96 percent of voters cast ballots in support 
of a national constitutional referendum, which, among other changes, 
limits the President to two, five-year terms in office. The election 
was deemed credible by the international community, including the 
African Union, Arab League, and the UN, as well as by CENI; however, 
some irregularities were reported, including the inconsistent 
application of electoral procedures by poll workers (including CENI 
representatives), the lack of neutrality by the transitional 
government, which ran a strong ``vote yes'' campaign, and indications 
that the electoral lists (which were established from February to 
April) excluded many citizens who lacked the required national 
identification cards.
    Following the June referendum, the transitional government and CENI 
provided training for poll workers, accredited national election 
observers for the November elections, and worked to clarify electoral 
procedures. In September the Government reopened electoral lists, 
allowing for an additional 85,000 voters.
    In August 2005 President Taya, who had ruled the country for 21 
years, was deposed in a bloodless coup. Military and other security 
officers, led by the chief of the national police, Colonel Ely Ould 
Mohammed Vall, seized power while Taya was abroad. Colonel Vall 
established the ruling CMJD to run the country and assumed the position 
of CMJD President. The CMJD dissolved the parliament, suspended parts 
of the constitution, adopted a constitutional charter allowing it to 
rule by decree, and appointed a transitional government to replace the 
Taya government.
    In October 2005 the transitional government and the junta held 
national consultations with over 500 political parties, NGOs, and 
public figures to debate the roadmap to democracy. Following the 
consultations, the transitional government released a timeline for a 
transition to democracy culminating in Presidential elections in March 
2007.
    The transitional government recognized five new political parties 
during the year, bringing to 35 the total number of licensed political 
parties; however, the Government continued to restrict Islamist 
political parties. On July 8, for example, the Government refused to 
license the Direct Democracy Movement. The Government did allow 
Islamist groups, however, to submit legislative and municipal 
candidates on independent lists. In 2005 The Party of Democratic 
Convergence, Action for Change, Union of Democratic Forces-New Era, An-
Nouhoud, and Taliaa (Vanguard), were banned; none applied for a license 
during the year.
    Women's political participation in government remained poor; 
however, on July 6, the Government passed a decree requiring all 
political parties to reserve 20 percent of positions on their 
legislative and municipal candidate lists for women. As a result of the 
decree and government efforts to educate voters, women held more than 
30 percent of municipal seats and 18 percent of national Assembly 
seats. Women occupied some senior government positions, including the 
minister of labor, two secretaries of state, the deputy director of the 
President's cabinet, and the President's minister-counselor.
    While minorities enjoyed greater participation in government and 
politics than women, their influence remained limited. Minority 
political participation--particularly among southern minority groups--
was weakened by the difficulties in obtaining national identification 
cards, which were required for voter registration. The inconsistent 
issuance by police of these identification cards effectively 
disenfranchised numerous members of southern minority groups, 
particularly Moors and Afro-Mauritanians. The 30-member cabinet, 
including secretaries of state and the governor of the Central Bank, 
had three Black Moors, four Halpulaars, and one Soninke. Of the 19 
members of the CMJD, there were two Haratines and three Pulars.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corrupt practices were 
widely believed to exist at all levels of government, although the 
transitional government was seen as less corrupt than its predecessor. 
Government officials reportedly received frequent favors from 
authorities, such as unauthorized exemption from taxes, special grants 
of land, and favorable treatment during bidding on government projects. 
Corruption was most pervasive in government procurement, bank loans, 
fishing license distribution, land distribution, and tax payments.
    The transitional government continued to take steps to curb 
corruption. In an April 20 speech, Colonel Vall cited anti-corruption 
measures taken during the year, including the creation of inspectors 
general in each ministry, the use of a merit-based system for 
government appointments, and the recovery of more than 100 government 
cars that were being used illegally. The transitional government also 
renegotiated its contracts with Woodside, a foreign oil company, under 
the assumption that corruption had resulted in the existing contracts. 
During the year the Central Bank also implemented several transparency 
measures to qualify for debt cancellation, and the transitional 
government began publishing a quarterly report of its financial 
operations.
    The Government arrested and later released for lack of evidence 
Zeidane Ould H'meyda, the former minister of energy and petroleum; he 
was charged with corruption.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Several domestic and international human rights groups generally 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were 
somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
    During the year the transitional government officially recognized 
The Forum of Human Rights Organizations (FONADH), a leading coalition 
of 17 human rights NGOs, including GERDDES and SOS Esclaves. The 
Government's recognition of this coalition, which the previous 
government refused to recognize, was seen as a significant positive 
step. The transitional government also inaugurated the Mauritanian 
Observatory for the Promotion of the Rule of Law and Democracy, an NGO 
responsible for monitoring the executive branch and defending the 
constitution. Other human rights NGOs operating in the country included 
the Mauritanian League for Human Rights, the Mauritanian Association 
for Human Rights, the International Study and Research Group on 
Democracy and Economic and Social Development in Africa, and SOS-
Esclaves. International NGOs included Noura Foundation, Caritas, and 
World Vision.
    On May 17, the transitional government's cabinet adopted a bill 
establishing the National Human Rights Commission, an independent 
organization with administrative and financial autonomy. The commission 
is charged with making proposals on human rights legislation and 
tracking the conditions of individuals held in detention.
    The transitional government cooperated with international 
governmental organizations and permitted visits by the ICRC on various 
issues, including prison conditions and refugee services.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law provide for equality for all citizens 
regardless of race, national origin, sex, or social status, and 
prohibits racial or ethnic propaganda; however, the transitional 
government often favored individuals on the basis of racial and tribal 
affiliation, social status, and political ties. Societal discrimination 
against women, trafficking in persons, and racial and ethnic 
discrimination were problems.

    Women.--Human rights monitors and female lawyers reported that 
domestic violence was rare, particularly among the Moor population. 
Abuse and domestic violence are illegal; however, the transitional 
government did not always enforce the law effectively. Penalties 
included imprisonment, but convictions were very rare. The police and 
judiciary occasionally intervened in domestic abuse cases, but women in 
traditional society rarely sought legal redress, relying instead upon 
family and ethnic group members to resolve domestic disputes.
    According to NGO reporting, the incidence of unreported rape was 
high. Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, the 
transitional government did not enforce the law effectively. Penalties 
included imprisonment, but convictions were very rare, and there were 
no known convictions under this law during the year.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that female 
slaves were raped during the year.
    There was no new information concerning Sghaira Mint Tesh, a woman 
who claimed to have been beaten, raped, and underfed by her master; in 
2005 Tesh stated she intended to bring charges against her former 
master and to pursue the release of her enslaved mother and siblings, 
but she had not done so by year's end.
    The trial into the alleged rape of M'barka, who was forced into 
domestic servitude and charged with sexual misconduct for being 
pregnant and unwed after she was allegedly raped by a member of the 
household, had not begun by year's end.
    FGM was practiced among all ethnic groups, most often on young 
girls, often on the seventh day after birth and almost always before 
the age of six months. There is no law explicitly prohibiting FGM; 
however, there is a law that ``prohibits acts that could harm 
children,'' and some legal scholars believed this could be interpreted 
to outlaw FGM; however, it had not yet been so used by year's end. 
According to the most recent internationally sponsored study in 2001, 
three-fourths of all women between the ages of 15 and 49 had been 
subjected to FGM. Local experts agreed that the least severe form of 
excision was practiced and not infibulation, the most severe form. The 
practice of FGM has decreased in the modern urban sector.
    The transitional government and international NGOs continued to 
coordinate anti-FGM efforts. These efforts focused on eradicating the 
practice in hospitals, discouraging midwives from practicing FGM, and 
educating populations. The High Islamic Council of Mauritania, the 
Islamic Scholar Association, and the National Forum for Women's Rights 
continued to emphasize the serious health risks of FGM and that FGM was 
not a religious requirement. Government hospitals and licensed medical 
practitioners were barred from performing FGM, and several government 
agencies worked to prevent others from carrying on this practice. 
According to several women's rights experts, the campaign against FGM 
appeared to be changing attitudes towards the practice. Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports during the year that midwives 
performed FGM in local hospitals in violation of the former 
government's ban.
    Traditional forms of mistreatment of women continued, mostly in 
isolated rural communities, but these practices appeared to be 
declining. One form of such mistreatment was the forced feeding of 
adolescent girls (gavage) prior to marriage, which was practiced only 
among White Moor tribal groups. While there was no law prohibiting 
gavage, the transitional government continued its efforts to end the 
practice. Reports during the year indicated that very few women were 
currently subjected to gavage.
    Although prostitution is illegal, NGO reporting indicated that it 
was a growing problem in some urban areas, particularly among Afro-
Mauritanian and Black Moor women.
    Women have legal rights to property and child custody, and, among 
the more modern and urbanized population, these rights were recognized. 
By local tradition, a woman's first marriage requires parental consent. 
In accordance with Shari'a as applied in the country, marriage and 
divorce do not require the woman's consent, polygyny is allowed, and a 
woman does not have the right to refuse her husband's wish to marry 
additional wives. In practice, polygyny was very rare among Moors but 
was common among other ethnic groups. It was common in Moor society for 
a woman to obtain at the time of marriage a contractual agreement that 
stipulated that her husband must agree to end their marriage if he 
chooses an additional wife. Arranged marriages were increasingly rare, 
particularly among the Moor population. Women frequently initiated the 
termination of a marriage, which most often was done by repudiation of 
husband or wife rather than divorce. In July 2004 the National Assembly 
voted against a proposal to provide women the same rights for a divorce 
that are available to men.
    Women still faced legal discrimination. The testimony of two women 
was necessary to equal that of one man. The courts grant only half the 
amount of an indemnity to the family of a woman who has been killed 
that they award for a man's death. Formulas applied to property 
distribution varied widely from case to case. In addition the validity 
of and right to establish prenuptial agreements was not always 
respected. The personal status code provides a framework for the 
consistent application of secular law and Shari'a-based family law, but 
the code has yet to be implemented.
    Women did not face legal discrimination in areas not addressed 
specifically by Shari'a. The law provides that men and women should 
receive equal pay for equal work. While not applied universally in 
practice, the two largest employers, the civil service and the state 
mining company, observed this law. In the modern wage sector, women 
also received family benefits, including three months of maternity 
leave.
    The transitional government sought to open new employment 
opportunities for women in areas that were traditionally filled by men, 
such as health care, communications, police, and customs services. 
Women became more involved in the fishing industry and established 
several women's fishing cooperatives.
    The Secretariat for Women's Affairs worked with many NGOs and 
cooperatives to improve the status of women. The transitional 
government, women's groups, and national and international NGOs 
organized meetings, seminars, and workshops throughout the year to 
publicize women's rights.

    Children.--The law makes special provision for the protection of 
children's welfare, and there were government programs to care for 
abandoned children; however, inadequate funding hampered these 
programs. The national budget nearly doubled during the year, but the 
percentage of the budget allocated to education dropped from 19 percent 
in 2005 to 10 percent.
    School attendance is mandatory for six years, but full 
implementation of universal primary education was not scheduled until 
at least 2007, primarily due to lack of financial resources for 
facilities and teachers, particularly in remote areas. The 2005	06 
official primary school attendance rate was 92 percent. Education was 
free through university level. Classes were fully integrated, including 
boys and girls from all social and ethnic groups. Children of slave 
families were allowed to attend school. There were no legal 
restrictions on the education of girls. During the 2002	03 academic 
year, female students made up 21.5 percent of university enrollment, up 
slightly from 21.2 percent in 2001	02. Female technical student 
enrollment rose to 31.1 percent in 2002-03 from 30.5 percent in 2001-
02. Almost all children, regardless of gender or ethnic group, attended 
Koranic school between the ages of five and seven and gained at least 
rudimentary skills in reading and writing Arabic.
    Boys and girls have equal access to state-provided medical care. 
The transitional government relied on foreign donors in such areas as 
child immunization.
    FGM was commonly performed on young girls (see section 5, Women).
    Trafficking in children occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem, particularly in the informal sector (see 
section 6.d.).
    Local NGOs estimated that there were approximately 400 street 
children, largely as a result of poverty and the urbanization of 
formerly nomadic families. The transitional government and at least one 
NGO worked to assist families with street children and to encourage 
their school attendance.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking 
in persons; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, and within the country. The transitional government did not 
prosecute or sentence anyone for trafficking during the year.
    The country was a source and destination for men, women, and 
children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. Multiple NGO 
reports suggested that forced labor took several forms (see section 
6.c.). Slavery-related practices, and possibly slavery itself, 
persisted in isolated areas of the country where a barter economy still 
prevailed. Several reports suggested that young girls from remote 
regions, and possibly from western Mali, worked as unpaid housemaids in 
some wealthy urban homes. An unknown number of young boys (talibes), 
nearly all from Pulaar tribes, begged in the streets as part of a 
``work-study'' arrangement with some ``marabouts,'' or religious 
teachers, for receiving religious instruction. There were reliable 
reports that a small number of marabouts forced their talibes to beg 
for over 12 hours a day and provided them with insufficient food and 
shelter.
    The Ministry of Justice and the Commissariat for Human Rights, 
Poverty Alleviation, and Integration were responsible for dealing with 
trafficking.
    The transitional government continued a program to reduce the 
number of talibes and partnered with several NGOs to provide needy 
talibes with basic medical and nutritional care. However, government 
assistance and protection services for trafficking victims remained 
limited, with most resources going towards prevention, in the form of 
training for police, gendarmes, and legal officials to better identify, 
investigate, and convict alleged traffickers. One NGO provided limited 
assistance to talibes.
    During the year the transitional government created the National 
Commission for Human Rights, which was responsible for coordinating 
government efforts to prevent trafficking and other human rights abuses 
and to care for trafficking victims (see section 4). The Government 
also provided antitrafficking training to security forces and allocated 
funds to enhance border control. Although no traffickers were 
apprehended, these measures resulted in arrests for alien smuggling.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in education, employment, or the 
provision of other state services, and there were no reports of 
governmental or societal discrimination against persons with 
disabilities. The Government did not mandate preference in employment 
or education or public accessibility for persons with disabilities 
although it did provide some rehabilitation and other assistance for 
such persons. In October the Government passed a law to increase 
protections and benefits for persons with disabilities. NGOs have 
become increasingly active in raising public awareness of issues 
affecting persons with disabilities. The school for the deaf and the 
blind in Nouakchott operated 10 classrooms and enrolled 116 students 
during the year, up from 67 students in 2004. The school lacked 
sufficient trained staff, having only two permanent and three part-time 
teachers.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Racial and ethnic minorities 
faced governmental discrimination. The inconsistent issuance of 
national identification cards, which were required for voting, 
effectively disenfranchised numerous members of southern minority 
groups (see section 3). Racial and cultural tension and discrimination 
also arose from the geographic and cultural divides between Moors and 
Afro Mauritanians. The Moors were divided among numerous ethno 
linguistic tribal and clan groups and further distinguished racially as 
either White Moor or Black Moor, although it often was difficult to 
distinguish between the two by skin color. White Moor tribes and clans, 
many of whom were dark-skinned after centuries of intermarriage with 
Berbers and sub-Saharan African groups, dominated positions in 
government and business. The Black Moor subgroup (also called Haratines 
or freed slaves) remained politically and economically weaker than the 
White Moor subgroup. Afro-Mauritanian ethnic groups, comprising the 
Halpulaar (the largest non-Moor group), the Wolof, and the Soninke 
ethnic groups, were concentrated in the south and in urban areas. Afro-
Mauritanians were underrepresented in the military and security 
sectors.
    The constitution designates Arabic as the official language and 
Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke, and Wolof as the country's national languages; 
however, successive governments--both civil and military--have pursued 
various policies of ``Arabization'' in the schools and in the 
workplace.
    Ethnic rivalry significantly contributed to political divisions and 
tensions. Some political parties tended to have readily identifiable 
ethnic bases, although political coalitions among them were 
increasingly important. Black Moors and Afro Mauritanians were 
underrepresented in mid- to high-level public and private sector jobs.
    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no evidence of 
either societal violence or systematic transitional government 
discrimination directed at practicing homosexuals. Although Shari'a 
outlaws homosexuality under certain conditions, secular laws did not.
    There was no evidence of systematic discrimination by either 
society or government against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, taboos 
and beliefs associated with the disease caused victims in some areas to 
face isolation or exclusion.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right. The law also provides 
for freedom of association, and workers exercised this right in 
practice. All workers except members of the military and police were 
free to associate in and establish unions at the local and national 
levels. The majority of the labor force was in the informal sector, 
with most workers engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal 
husbandry; only 25 percent were employed in regularly paid positions. 
Nearly 90 percent of industrial and commercial workers, however, were 
unionized.
    To be legally recognized, a union must have the authorization of 
the public prosecutor who can provisionally suspend a trade union at 
the request of the Ministry of the Interior if it believes that the 
union has not complied with the law. The Government, however, has the 
power to decide whether to recognize a trade union (see section 6.b.).
    Laws provide workers with protection against antiunion 
discrimination; however, the transitional government did not generally 
enforce these laws.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides that unions may organize workers freely without government or 
employer interference, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers 
exercised this right during the year. The Government can dissolve a 
union for what it considered an illegal or politically motivated 
strike; however, no unions were disbanded during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but the law only 
applies to relations between employers and workers; there were credible 
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.). Slavery 
is illegal although there were still areas where slavery-related 
practices continued and the attitude of master and slave prevailed. The 
labor code includes criminal penalties for human trafficking in all of 
its recognized forms and includes increased criminal penalties for 
contracting to benefit from forced labor and for exploiting forced 
labor as part of an organized criminal network.
    In May 2005 the International Labor Organization issued a report 
from their May 2004 country visit to investigate allegations of forced 
labor. The report concluded that the country continued to face 
challenges in combating forced labor and recommended that the 
Government allow an independent investigation into forced labor; 
reinforce the Ministry of Public Records and Labor; and give labor 
inspectors greater resources and autonomy. No known action had been 
taken on these recommendations by year's end.
    Slavery-related practices, typically flowing from ancestral master-
slave relationships, continued in isolated parts of the country where a 
barter economy existed, education levels were generally low, and a need 
existed for herding livestock, tending fields, and other manual labor. 
Some individuals considered themselves either slaves or masters and 
were unaware that slavery had been abolished. For example, on March 28, 
SOS Esclaves reported that Sidi Ould El Mijriya, a Black Moor living in 
the province of Tagant, bought his ``freedom'' from N'Dahid Ould 
Mohamed Dahid for one heifer, five goats, and one billy-goat. When told 
that he was free without the exchange of animals, Mijriya said he had 
already made the deal and expressed reluctance to change the 
arrangement. The gendarmie arrested both Mijriya and Dahid, who was 
ultimately forced to return the animals.
    SOS Esclaves publicized several accounts of recently escaped slaves 
during the year. These reports strongly suggested that slavery and 
related practices persisted mainly among a few nomadic groups and small 
villages in remote rural regions.
    Voluntary servitude also persisted, with some former slaves and 
descendents of slaves continuing to work for former masters in exchange 
for some combination of money, lodging, food, or medical care. The 
reasons for the persistence of such practices varied widely among the 
different ethnic groups; however, a barter economy, poverty, and 
persistent drought provided few economic alternatives for many and left 
some former slaves and descendents of slaves vulnerable to exploitation 
by former masters. Adult females with children faced greater 
difficulties and could be compelled to remain in a condition of 
servitude.
    There were reports that some former slaves continued to work for 
their former masters or others without remuneration to retain access to 
land they traditionally farmed. Although the law provides for 
distribution of land to the landless, including to former slaves, this 
law has been enforced in only a few cases. Deeply embedded 
psychological and tribal bonds also made it difficult for many 
individuals who had generations of forebears who were slaves to break 
their bonds with former masters or their tribes. Some persons continued 
to link themselves to former masters because they believed their slave 
status had been religiously ordained and they feared religious sanction 
if that bond were broken.
    The Commissariat for Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and 
Integration focused on addressing the consequences of slavery. The 
transitional government focused on education, literacy, and agrarian 
reform to remedy the economic consequences of slavery-related 
practices. The transitional government took a more proactive approach 
than in previous years to investigating alleged trafficking cases; 
however, prosecutors remained reluctant to bring these cases to trial.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law provides that children cannot be employed before the age of 14 in 
the nonagricultural sector or under age 13 in the agricultural sector 
unless the minister of labor grants an exception due to local 
circumstances; however, child labor in some parts of the informal 
sector was common and a significant problem, particularly within poorer 
inner-city areas. The law states that employed children between the 
ages of 14 and 16 should receive 70 percent of the minimum wage and 
that those between the ages of 17 and 18 should receive 90 percent of 
the minimum wage.
    The law prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons; however, 
there were reports that children were trafficked to, from, and within 
the country (see section 5).
    Young children in the countryside were commonly employed in 
herding, cultivation, fishing, and other significant labor in support 
of their families' activities. Young children in urban areas often 
drove donkey carts and delivered water and building materials. In 
keeping with longstanding tradition, many children served 
apprenticeships in small industries and in the informal sector. 
Reporting by some human-rights NGOs, including SOS Esclaves, strongly 
suggested that domestic employment, often unpaid, of girls as young as 
seven in wealthier homes was a growing problem. There was no child 
labor in the modern industrial sector.
    There was a labor inspectorate with the authority to refer 
violations directly to the appropriate judicial authorities but the 
eight regional inspectors and 30 inspector/controllers lacked the basic 
resources, such as transport and office equipment, needed to enforce 
existing child labor and other labor laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The nationally mandated minimum 
monthly wage for adults, which was not enforced, was $77 (21,000 
ouguiya), which did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family.
    The standard, legal, nonagricultural workweek could not exceed 
either 40 hours or six days without overtime compensation, which was 
paid at rates that were graduated according to the number of 
supplemental hours worked. Domestic workers and certain other 
categories could work 56 hours per week. Employees must be given at 
least one 24-hour period of rest per week. The Labor Directorate of the 
Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of the labor laws, but 
in practice inadequate funding limited the effectiveness of the 
directorate's enforcement.
    The Government set health and safety standards, and the Ministry of 
Labor was responsible for enforcing these standards, but did so 
inconsistently due to inadequate funding. In principle workers could 
remove themselves from hazardous conditions without risking loss of 
employment, but in practice they could not.

                               __________

                               MAURITIUS

    The Republic of Mauritius is a constitutional, parliamentary 
democracy of approximately 1.2 million citizens governed by a prime 
minister, a council of ministers, and a national assembly. In July 2005 
the Social Alliance, led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, defeated 
the coalition between the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) and the 
Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) in national elections judged by 
international and local observers to be free and fair. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. The following human rights problems were reported: police 
abuse of suspects and detainees; prison overcrowding; violence and 
discrimination against women; abuse of children; children in 
prostitution and child labor; some restrictions on workers in the 
Export Processing Zone (EPZ).
    The most serious human rights challenge facing the country was 
police abuse of detainees and suspects.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces killed one detainee in police custody. On January 14, 
Rajesh Ramlogun died while in custody of officers of the Major Crime 
Investigation Unit (MCIU). The Deputy Commissioner of Police 
investigated the case and reported that the cause of death included 
violent actions by the MCIT. Charges against three of the seven MCIT 
officers involved were dropped; the case against the remaining four was 
still pending at year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there continued to be reports of police abuses.
    On September 15, local media reported that a 16-year-old detainee 
at the Correctional Youth Center was placed in solitary confinement and 
forced to sleep naked on the floor for 48 hours. One detainee died in 
the custody of MCIT officers on January 14 (see Section 1.a.).
    Disciplinary actions have not yet been taken against three police 
officers who in 2005 assaulted a man accused of being a drug addict. 
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) established that there was 
a case for a breach of the Code of Discipline. The NHRC recommended 
that an outside officer hear the case rather than a police officer from 
the Office of the Commissioner of Police.
    Out of the 179 complaints received by the NHRC, 116 were complaints 
against police officers for physical brutality, verbal abuse, and other 
offenses. Ten reports were sent to the Office of the Minister of Human 
Rights for appropriate action. Five reports were referred to the 
director of public prosecutions (DPP). The other cases were still under 
investigation. The Complaints Investigation Bureau received 108 
complaints against police officers for assault and one complaint for 
corruption. Ten cases were referred to the authorities for follow-up 
measures and the remaining cases were still under investigation.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, although there were reports of 
drug abuse, commercial sexual activity, and overcrowding. The Central 
Prison, which has a capacity of 677, held more than 1,000 prisoners.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of death due to 
riots. According to the Commission of Prisons, 10 detainees died from 
natural causes during the year.
    Authorities separated prisoners deemed to be dangerous to the 
prison population and placed them in a high-security prison. Behavior 
of the prisoner rather than a conviction or a sentence determined 
prisoner placement.
    The Government permitted visits by independent observers including 
the press, the NHRC, diplomats, and the UN. One nongovernmental 
organization (NGO), actively involved in rehabilitating prisoners, was 
among the 18 NGOs given permission to visit prisoners. The Government 
permitted Red Cross Mauritius to hold regular training programs in the 
prisons. For example, 25 prisoners from the Richelieu prison received 
first-aid training on a part-time basis for six weeks. No prison 
personnel have been trained thus far.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Mauritius Police 
Force is a national force headed by a commissioner of police who has 
authority over all security and police forces, including the Special 
Mobile Forces, a paramilitary unit that shares responsibility with 
police for internal security. The National Human Rights Commission 
(NHRC), an independent organization, investigates allegations of police 
abuses and may report such cases to the DPP, an independent entity.
    There were reports of police corruption in the forms of bribery and 
internal corruption within the force. Complaints could be filed either 
directly through the Complaints Investigation Bureau or to the 
Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC). In June a police 
officer was arrested and formally charged after he was accused of 
accepting a bribe. In September he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 
months in prison.
    The orientation training for all new police recruits includes a 
segment on human rights. A refresher training course is required of all 
lower and middle management officers who have completed five or 15 
years of service. The two-week refresher course is carried out several 
times every year.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law stipulate that 
warrants be obtained for arrests; that the accused be read their 
rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to an 
attorney; and that the accused be brought before the local district 
magistrate within 48 hours. Police generally respected these rights; 
however, in some cases police delayed suspects' access to defense 
counsel. Minors and those who did not know their rights were less 
likely to be provided prompt access. Indigent detainees were provided 
an attorney at state expense. A suspect can be detained for up to a 
week, after which the issue of bail is brought before a magistrate. 
Alternatively, if police concur, the accused may be released on bail 
the same day as the arrest. Individuals charged with drug trafficking 
may be detained for up to 36 hours without access to legal counsel or 
bail.
    In September Ras Natty Baby (Joseph Nicolas Emilien), a popular 
seggae artist who was known for critical social commentary in his 
music, was released after having been detained for three years.
    Due to a backlogged court system, authorities occasionally held 
prisoners in remand up to four years before they were tried. Time 
served in remand did not apply to subsequent sentences. Approximately 
22 percent of the prison population were pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice.
    The country's judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, which 
has appellate powers, and a series of lower courts. The Supreme Court 
has a chief justice and six other judges who also serve on the court of 
criminal appeal, the court of civil appeal, the intermediate court, the 
industrial court, and 10 district courts. Final appeal may be made to 
the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
    The DPP determines which court hears particular cases based on the 
severity of the crime and anticipated punishment. All crimes carrying 
the death penalty or life imprisonment are sent to the Supreme Court, 
crimes of a medium level of severity are sent to the intermediate 
courts, and lesser crimes are heard before district courts.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are only used in 
murder trials. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult 
an attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is provided at public 
expense when indigent defendants face serious criminal charges. 
Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them or present 
witnesses and evidence on their behalf in the district courts. 
Defendants and attorneys have access to government-held evidence 
relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence 
and right of appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary for civil matters. The constitution provides 
for an ombudsman to investigate complaints from the public and members 
of the parliament against government institutions and to seek redress 
for injustices committed by a public officer or authority in official 
duties.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. There were four daily and 12 weekly 
newspapers and three private radio stations that offered diverse 
political viewpoints and expressed partisan views freely. The 
Government owned and regulated the domestic television network, but 
international networks were available by subscription or via a cable 
box.
    The Government has the ability to counter press criticism by using 
libel laws but did not use these measures.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was readily available and widely used by citizens.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    Religious organizations that were present prior to independence, 
such as the Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Presbyterian 
Church, the Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and Muslims, are recognized 
in a parliamentary decree. These groups also receive an annual lump-sum 
payment from the Ministry of Finance based upon the number of adherents 
as determined by the census. Newer religious organizations (which must 
have a minimum of seven members) were registered by the Registrar of 
Associations and were recognized as legal entities with tax-exempt 
privileges, following application with the Ministry of Finance and 
Economic Development to be recognized as a charitable institution. The 
Government was not known to have refused registration to any group.
    Foreign missionary groups were allowed to operate on a case-by-case 
basis. Although there are no government regulations restricting their 
presence or limiting their proselytizing activities, groups must obtain 
both a resident permit and a work permit for each missionary. The Prime 
Minister's office is the final authority on issuance of these required 
documents to missionaries. While there are no limits on the ability of 
missionaries to operate in the country, there are limits on the number 
of missionaries permitted to obtain the requisite visas and work 
permits. During the reporting period, the Government refused to grant 
work and residency permits to two Mormon missionaries; however, at 
least one other Mormon missionary received a work and residency permit.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Underlying tensions between 
various ethnic and religious groups persisted, but there were no 
violent confrontations during the year.
    There were approximately 50 resident Jews, most expatriates, and 
there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government had no need to provide protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or 
asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seekers by 
donating money.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--According to international 
and local observers, the July 2005 national elections were free and 
fair, with the opposition Social Alliance defeating the ruling MMM-MSM 
alliance.
    There were 12 women in the 70-seat National Assembly, and there 
were two female ministers in the 20-member cabinet.
    Although historically the Hindu majority dominated politics, no 
groups were excluded from the political system. Authorities required 
candidates for the National Assembly to identify themselves with one of 
four distinct ethnic groupings: Hindu, Muslim, Sino-Mauritian, or 
general population. For these purposes, ``general population'' 
described primarily the Creole and Franco-Mauritian communities. Based 
on these four categories, the 70-seat National Assembly had 42 Hindus, 
19 members of the general population, eight Muslims, and one Sino-
Mauritian. Among the 20 members of the cabinet, there were 13 Hindus, 
three Muslims, three members of the general population, and one Sino-
Mauritian.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread 
public perception of corruption in the legislative and executive 
branches. The ICAC and the media were the primary outlets to report 
acts of corruption. The Prevention of Corruption Act regulated such 
complaints. The ICAC reported 33 complaints filed against police 
officers: 16 investigations remained under way and 17 were discontinued 
due to lack of substantiation. Of the three complaints of corruption 
filed against immigration officials, one investigation was discontinued 
for lack of substantiation.
    The law provides for access to government information, and the 
Government generally complied with requests.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were often cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The NHRC is authorized to investigate abuses by any public servant 
who was not already the subject of an inquiry by the DPP, the Public 
Service Commission, or the Disciplined Forces Service Commission. The 
NHRC had the authority to visit detention centers or prisons and to 
assess and make recommendations on conditions. The NHRC tried to 
resolve complaints through conciliation, but if that was unsuccessful, 
it could forward cases to the DPP (if criminal in nature), to the 
service commissions, or to the responsible authority in question. The 
NHRC is composed of a commissioner, who must be a former judge of the 
Supreme Court, and three other members.
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported no international 
organization or international NGO requests to access prisons. A large 
number of domestic NGOs visited the prisons.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law specifically prohibit discrimination on 
the basis of race, caste, place of origin, political opinion, color, or 
sex, and the Government generally enforced these provisions. Some 
societal discrimination occurred.

    Women.--The law criminalizes domestic violence and provides the 
judicial system with power to combat this problem; however, in practice 
domestic violence against women, particularly spousal abuse, was a 
major problem. Anyone found guilty of violating a Protection Order is 
fined $833 (25,000 rupees) or faces a maximum of two years' 
imprisonment. Many victims chose not to prosecute or report their 
attacker, presumably due to cultural pressures. The law also 
criminalizes the abandonment of one's family or pregnant spouse for 
more than two months, the nonpayment of court-ordered food support, and 
sexual harassment, although many women remained in abusive situations 
for fear of losing spousal financial support. A magistrate has the 
authority to order a spouse to pay child support, but there were 
reports that some spouses stopped working to avoid payment.
    The Sex Discrimination Division of the National Human Rights 
Commission received 52 complaints, of which six related to sex 
discrimination and seven related to sexual harassment. The cases 
remained under investigation.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the police and 
judicial system enforced the laws. Rape is punishable by up to eight 
years' imprisonment.
    Prostitution is illegal, but there were reports of prostitution. 
There were no reports of the country as a destination for sex tourism; 
however, there were instances of prostitutes targeting tourists in 
addition to wealthy citizens.
    Women played subordinate roles in society, and societal 
discrimination continued; however, women had equal access to education, 
employment, and government services. The Government had three times as 
many women in parliament and twice as many female ministers than had 
its predecessor.
    The Sex and Discrimination Act affords women broadly defined wage 
protections, and authorities generally respected the law in practice.
    In the agricultural sector, the law protects women from being 
forced to carry loads above certain weight limits; however, managers 
determined remuneration by the amount that one was able to carry during 
a period of time. As a result, women working in agriculture were often 
paid less than men because they carried loads that weighed less.

    Children.--The Government placed strong emphasis on the health and 
welfare of children and displayed a commitment to expand educational 
opportunities for children. The ombudsman for children's issues ensured 
that the rights, needs, and interests of children were given full 
consideration by government, private authorities, individuals, and 
associations. The Child Development Unit of the Ministry of Women's 
Rights was established in 1995 to enforce the Child Protection Act and 
implement policies and programs with regard to the welfare and 
development of children. The National Children's Council served as a 
platform where government institutions and NGOs can work together.
    The 2005 Education Act increased the age of free, universal, and 
compulsory education from 12 years to 16 years. Authorities treated 
girls and boys equally at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary 
levels. Most children finished secondary education. More than 90 
percent of primary students attended school.
    The Government provided full medical care for both boys and girls.
    The law criminalizes certain acts compromising the health, 
security, or morality of a child, although the Government was unable to 
enforce complete compliance with the law. Private voluntary 
organizations claimed that child abuse was more widespread than was 
acknowledged publicly. The state-funded National Children's Council and 
the Ministry of Women's Rights, Family Welfare, and Child Development 
administered most government programs. Both provided counseling, 
investigated reports of child abuse, and took remedial action to 
protect affected children.
    Child prostitution was a problem, and the Government targeted the 
practice as a law enforcement and prevention priority. There were 
reports that some schoolgirls, independent of third party involvement, 
engaged in prostitution for spending money (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to and from the 
country; however, there were reports of children in prostitution within 
the country. The Child Protection Act provides for up to 15 years' 
imprisonment for trafficking in persons. The law defines child as under 
age 18. There were reports that some schoolgirls voluntarily worked in 
conjunction with prostitution rings and others were forced into 
prostitution by family members. The Ministry of Women, Child 
Development, and Family Welfare ran a hot line for reporting cases of 
children in prostitution. Government officials and agencies in the 
Ministry of Women's Rights, in the Attorney General's office, and in 
the police department sought ways to prevent child prostitution and 
prosecute cases. NGOs and the Government drop-in center provided 
shelters, counseling, and education for victims of children in 
prostitution.
    In November the Center for Education and Development of Mauritian 
Children, a local NGO, launched a booklet as part of its outreach and 
awareness campaign. Since the December 2005 amendment of the Child 
Protection Act to include a section on child trafficking, the Ministry 
of Women's Rights, Child Development, and Family Welfare carried out 
information campaigns for NGOs, high School students, women, and other 
community leaders. In addition, three officers of the Ministry of 
Women's Rights were trained in India on human trafficking in June. The 
Police Unit for the Protection of Minors also carried out talks on 
sexual abuse of minors and risk behaviors in high Schools and upper 
primary schools. In November police officers who received training from 
the International Law Enforcement Academy conducted a class at the 
Police Training School on trafficking in persons.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against people with disabilities, and the Training and Employment of 
Disabled Persons Board effectively enforced it; however, the law does 
not require that work sites be accessible to persons with disabilities, 
making it difficult for persons with disabilities to fill many jobs. 
There is no law mandating access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities. The law requires organizations that employ more than 35 
persons to set aside at least 3 percent of their positions for persons 
with disabilities. There were no reports of overt discrimination in 
employment, education, or in the provision of other state services 
against persons with disabilities, including mental disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law explicitly protects the right 
of workers to associate in trade unions, and workers exercised this 
right in practice. With the exception of police, the Special Mobile 
Force, and persons in government services who were not public officers, 
workers were free to form and join unions and to organize in all 
sectors, including in the EPZ (see Section 6.b.); however, the law does 
give the authorities the right to cancel a union's registration if it 
fails to comply with certain legal obligations. Approximately 350 
unions represented 115,000 workers, and 13 major labor federations 
served as umbrella organizations for smaller unions. The law prohibits 
anti-union discrimination.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--According to 
the Mauritius Labor Congress (MLC), labor unions are free to conduct 
their activities without interference, and the Government protected 
this right. The law protects collective bargaining, and workers 
exercised this right. The National Remuneration Board (NRB), whose 
chairman was appointed by the minister of labor, set minimum wages for 
nonmanagerial workers, although most unions negotiated wages higher 
than those set by the NRB. There were no cases in which union 
activities were prohibited or limited by the Government.
    The law provides for the right to strike, but the Industrial 
Relations Act (IRA) requires a 21-day cooling-off period followed by 
binding arbitration; in practice, this made most strikes illegal. The 
Government has 21 days to respond to any labor dispute and refer it to 
either the Permanent Arbitrary Tribunal or to the Industrial Relations 
Commission. If the Government does not respond within 21 days, the 
proposed strike can be carried out. The IRA states that worker 
participation in an unlawful strike is sufficient grounds for 
dismissal, but workers may seek remedy in court if they believe that 
their dismissals are unjustified. The IRA grants the Prime Minister the 
prerogative to declare any strike illegal if he considers that it 
``imperils the economy.''
    Foreign workers are covered equally by labor laws but language 
problems interfered with exercising their rights. Those who 
participated in strikes faced the possibility of deportation. 
Authorities deported illegal foreign workers when they could be 
identified.
    National labor laws cover EPZ workers, although unions had 
organized only 10 percent of EPZ workers. There are some EPZ-specific 
labor laws, including the provision for 10 hours per week of mandatory 
paid overtime at a higher wage than for ordinary working hours. Some 
employers reportedly established employer-controlled work councils for 
EPZ workers, effectively blocking union efforts to organize at the 
enterprise level. Approximately 65,000 persons worked in the EPZ.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In 
August the Government amended the Labor Act to raise the minimum 
employment age from 15 to 16, eliminating the inconsistency with the 
compulsory educational requirement through 16 years of age. The law 
prohibits the employment of children between the ages of 16 and 18 from 
work which is dangerous, unhealthful, or otherwise unsuitable for young 
persons. While the Government generally respected this law, child labor 
occurred. According to the law, the penalties for employing a child are 
a fine of no more than approximately $72 (2,200 rupees) and a term of 
imprisonment not to exceed one year.
    Child labor occurred, as children were found working in the 
informal sector as street traders, in small businesses, in restaurants, 
and in agriculture. No cases of child labor were reported in the formal 
sector of the textile or apparel industries. However, there are still 
cases of children working in small apparel workshops (generally in 
neighborhood or family businesses).
    The Ministry of Labor is responsible for the enforcement of child 
labor laws and conducted frequent inspections. The ministry employed 45 
inspectors to investigate all reports of labor abuses, including those 
of child labor. The ministry's inspections during the year identified 
no cases of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government established 
minimum wages, which varied by sector, and mandated that the minimum 
wage rise each year based on the inflation rate. The minimum wage for 
an unskilled worker in the EPZ was approximately $16 (517 rupees) per 
week, while the minimum wage for an unskilled factory worker outside 
the EPZ was approximately $21 (675 rupees) per week. Although these 
wages did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family, the actual market wage for most workers was much higher due to 
a labor shortage and collective bargaining.
    The standard legal workweek in the industrial sector was 45 hours. 
According to the MLC, 10 hours of overtime a week is mandatory at 
certain textile factories in the EPZ (see Section 6.b.). In accordance 
with the Labor Act, no worker is bound to work more than eight hours a 
day, six days a week. Those who work more than their stipulated hours 
must be remunerated at one and a half times the normal salary. Those 
who work during their stipulated hours on public holidays are 
remunerated at double their normal salary. For industrial positions, 
workers are not permitted to work more than 10 hours a day. If the 
worker has worked up to or past 10 p.m., the employer cannot require 
work to resume until at least 11 hours have lapsed. These standards 
were generally enforced. Unions have reported cases of underpayment for 
overtime in the textile or apparel industries due to differences in 
existing legislations and remuneration orders for the calculation of 
overtime hours.
    The Government set health and safety standards, and Ministry of 
Labor officials inspected working conditions; however, the small number 
of inspectors limited the Government's enforcement ability. Voluntary 
employer compliance with safety regulations helped reduce the number of 
occupational accidents, with the ministry reporting a general trend 
downward in the number of industrial accidents over the past 10 years. 
Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous situations 
without jeopardizing their continued employment, and they did so in 
practice.

                               __________

                               MOZAMBIQUE

    The Republic of Mozambique is a constitutional democracy with an 
estimated population of 19.9 million. President Armando Guebuza was 
elected in December 2004 in what national and international observers 
judged to be generally free and fair elections, despite some 
irregularities. The Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) 
has been the ruling political party since independence in 1975, heavily 
influencing both policymaking and implementation. While civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces, there were some instances in which elements of the security 
forces acted independently of government authority.
    Although there were improvements in a few areas during the year, 
serious human rights and societal problems remained, including: police 
use of excessive force resulting in unlawful killings and injuries; 
lynchings and mob violence; extremely harsh and life-threatening prison 
conditions, leading to several deaths; arbitrary arrest and detention; 
lengthy pretrial detention; police harassment and arbitrary detention 
of journalists; widespread domestic violence and discrimination against 
women; abuse and criminal exploitation of children, including child 
prostitution; trafficking in women and children; discrimination against 
persons with disabilities and HIV/AIDS; child labor in the informal 
sector and forced child labor; and poor enforcement of labor 
legislation.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the 
Government or its agents did not commit any political killings during 
the year, security forces committed unlawful killings. Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports of deaths due to torture by 
security forces.
    Excessive use of force and abuse by police remained problems. 
Authorities often failed to take appropriate action to investigate 
police violence and bring the perpetrators to justice. However, 
authorities expelled and, in some cases, brought criminal charges 
against dozens of officers for disciplinary offenses during the year.
    On January 15, in Matola, policeman Antonio Alvaro shot and killed 
unarmed civilian Julencio Gove, who was trying to persuade a group of 
policemen to stop beating a young woman. Neighborhood residents who 
witnessed the shooting demonstrated in front of the police station for 
three days following the killing, complaining of frequent violence and 
drunkenness among police. On January 19, the Ministry of the Interior's 
(MOI) director of public order and security met with the residents and 
announced that measures would be taken to clean up the Matola police 
force. On January 20, authorities arrested Alvaro and announced that he 
would be prosecuted for murder and expelled from the police force, and 
that six policemen, including the station chief, had been transferred 
to low-level jobs elsewhere in Maputo Province. There was no further 
information available by year's end.
    During the year police committed killings of suspects during 
apprehension and of detainees in custody. On January 9, in Maputo, 
police reportedly killed five members of a gang during a warehouse 
raid. The gang had stolen money and goods from the warehouse. A sixth 
member escaped. There was no further information available by year's 
end. On March 17, in Maxaquene, police shot and killed Aguilas Nguila, 
Samuel Nhambe, and Candido and Francisco Chimedza, who had escaped a 
high security prison in Maputo, where they were being held for 
suspected armed robbery. Police spokesperson Abilio Quive told 
reporters that the police unit acted in self defense after the men 
opened fire on them with guns hidden by an accomplice in an escape car.
    On May 7, during an escape of more than 40 inmates from the Machava 
Prison in Maputo city, police killed at least two prisoners. Despite 
repeated attempts by the NGO Human Rights League (LDH) to visit the 
prison, the MOI did not allow an independent investigation until nearly 
two weeks after the escape. There was no further information available 
by year's end.
    On June 6, in Nampula, military police officer Artur Sitoe shot and 
killed secondary student Silvino Lanquistone. The officer reportedly 
detained Lanquistone because he was wearing boots that the soldier 
believed belonged to another military officer. He opened fire at point 
blank range after Lanquistone refused to go with him. Sitoe and three 
policemen who allegedly did nothing to stop the shooting were arrested 
and the case was sent to the Provincial Military Prosecutor. In October 
a court sentenced Sitoe to 10 years' imprisonment. The case against the 
remaining three policemen was ongoing at year's end.
    On June 24, three members of the Presidential Guard, the police 
unit charged with protecting the President, allegedly beat and shot to 
death unarmed citizen Abdul Faruk Monteiro Daude after he disobeyed 
orders to stop after hitting a Presidential Guard vehicle as he was 
exiting a Maputo nightclub. Monteiro was reportedly pulled over and 
handcuffed after voluntarily exiting his vehicle. The deputy minister 
of the interior stated that the guards did not intend to kill Monteiro, 
but that the case was under investigation by the Criminal Investigation 
Police (PIC). On July 3, the PIC reported that one of the suspects, 
Joaquim Rafael Mungamela, had been arrested for shooting Monteiro. 
Mungamela remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end. It was 
unclear whether any action was taken against the other officers 
allegedly involved in the incident.
    In September the murder trial of police who shot six gang members 
in Matsinho, Manica in April 2005 began, according to the LDH. There 
was no further update at year's end.
    In October a judge in Manica Province sentenced eight policemen to 
between three and 10 years' imprisonment for killing eight prisoners 
between 2001 and 2005. Testimony given during the trial indicated that 
the motive for the killings was to conceal information linking police 
members to corruption, which was being investigated by the PIC and the 
provincial ombudsman of Manica. Several of the convicted policemen 
stated they had been ordered to kill the prisoners.
    There were no developments in the 2005 police killings by alleged 
torture of Joaquim Magaia, Antonio Tamale, and Pedro Chmabo. There were 
no developments in the September 2005 police killing of a fleeing man 
in Maputo.
    Police authorities continued to withhold information as to whether 
they were investigating the March 2004 incident in which police in 
Matola shot and killed two suspected car thieves.
    There continued to be reports of abuse by members of the Community 
Policing Councils (CPC), nonstatutory bodies set up by the Mozambican 
National Police (PRM) in many districts to prevent crime; however, 
unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of killings.
    The National De-mining Institute (IND) reported 7 mine-related 
accidents, 8 injuries, and 6 deaths in the first five months of the 
year. IND reported 23 mine-related accidents, 34 injuries, and 23 
deaths in 2005. Of those killed, 10 were children. The Government 
continued to cooperate with international organizations and donors as 
well as commercial firms to clear suspected land mine areas, destroying 
36,613 mines and 299 unexploded devices in 2005.
    IND continued to train mine risk education agents, with the goal of 
reducing the number of mine accidents and fatalities. In November 2005 
IND trained 81 public administrators, teachers, nurses, community 
authorities, traditional chiefs, rural extensionists, forestry 
inspectors, policemen and officers, Social Welfare and Red Cross staff. 
Through mine awareness lectures, IND reached 12,100 people.
    During the year there was one high-profile killing by unknown 
actors. On March 6, the body of Jose Gaspar Mascarenhas, an opposition 
party deputy in the National Assembly, was found naked with several 
gunshot wounds, including a shot in the forehead, near the beach in 
Beira, Sofala Province. It was not clear whether the murder was 
politically motivated. There were no further updates by year's end.
    There were no developments in the October 2005 killing of the 
director of the Maputo Central Prison in Boane District by unknown 
assailants.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of deaths resulting 
from clashes between political party supporters.
    Lynchings and other killings by vigilante groups were widespread 
during the year and represented a growing problem. The LDH linked the 
increase in lynchings to the populace's belief that the justice system 
cannot protect them and that the resulting mob justice is the only way 
to reduce crime. On May 1, in the T3 neighborhood of Maputo, a mob 
killed a suspected rapist by beating him and then placing a rubber tire 
on top of him and setting it on fire. By the end of July, the newspaper 
Noticias reported at least four other lynchings in T3. In August in the 
Sao Damanso neighborhood of Maputo, a mob lynched two persons suspected 
of witchcraft. Witnesses interviewed by television stations indicated 
that some of the victims were immigrants of West African origin who had 
been accused of using witchcraft to break into homes unnoticed to rape 
women (see Section 5); however, the LDH could not confirm that victims 
were immigrants. The LDH also reported incidents of mob justice in Gaza 
Province. In one incident a cow thief was buried alive, while in 
another village a suspected witch doctor was buried alive. While 
nationwide statistics were not available, police officials estimated 
that 18 lynchings occurred in October and November in and around Maputo 
city.
    There were no developments in the July 2005 attacks by a mob of 
Wackenhut security guards on other guards.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--While the constitution and law prohibit such practices, 
police continued to commit abuses. During the year human rights 
advocates and media outlets reported complaints of torture and other 
cruel treatment, including several instances involving the sexual abuse 
of women, beatings, and prolonged detention. However, unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports of deaths resulting from police 
torture.
    The LDH reported eight cases of torture in prisons during the first 
six months of the year, a significant reduction compared with previous 
years; however, in April, there were reports that recaptured escapees 
from Maputo's Central Prison were tortured; one hung himself.
    Torture and other abusive treatment continued at the police 
squadrons, particularly at Maputo's 13th Squadron, according to LDH. 
During the year police detained seven persons from Swaziland and 
confiscated necessary antiretroviral medicine to fight HIV from two of 
the detainees; the police only returned the medicine following 
intervention by LDH. There were no further updates in the case by 
year's end.
    In April security forces beat a foreign citizen for trespassing on 
the grounds of a monument to Mozambican heroes. The monument area was 
reportedly poorly marked. Security officials released the individual 
when they realized he was an American.
    In May Alexandre Emilio reported that police from Maputo's 12th 
Squadron tortured him and several others to force their confessions. 
The same month, in Gaza Province, the press reported that three police 
officers at the Macuacua Administrative Post beat Generosa Anselmo 
Cossa, a delegate of the leading opposition party Mozambican National 
Resistance (RENAMO), with a stick. According to Cossa, the beating was 
politically motivated and the perpetrators acted on the orders of the 
chief of the administrative post and the chief of the police post.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that police 
extorted Zimbabwean citizens who entered the country to sell goods 
informally or sexually assaulted Zimbabwean women who did not have 
money to pay bribes.
    There continued to be reports of abuse and violence by members of 
the CPC. In a May speech to the CPCs, the deputy minister of the 
interior emphasized that they were not authorized to use force except 
in self defense.
    In June a group of security guards at Maputo's Central Hospital 
denounced the hospital's administrator, Joao Tembe, to the Tribuna Fax. 
They alleged that Tembe tortured them and incarcerated them in a 
private cell inside the hospital. The newspaper reported the case of 
Sergio Judas, who was allegedly handcuffed and spent the night in the 
cell naked on Tembe's orders.
    There were no developments in the other 2005 cases of torture by 
security forces.
    There were reports of violence between FRELIMO and RENAMO (see 
Section 3).
    There were reports of torture by vigilante groups during the year. 
In July residents in Mavalane, Maputo Province, tortured and then 
turned over to the police two members of the CPC, Aurelio Marcos and 
Cremildo Mucavele, who had assaulted Deolinda Tamele, according to 
press reports.
    Unlike last year, there were no reports that police abused 
prostitutes and street children.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
extremely harsh and life threatening.
    Two National Directorates of Prisons, one under the Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ) and the other under the MOI, operated prisons in all 10 
provinces. In March the Council of Ministers approved a decree creating 
a national Administration for Prison Services, which on May 17 subsumed 
the 197 prisons under the MOI and the 14 prisons under the MOJ. The 
Administration for Prison Services is under the MOJ, leaving the MOI 
and the police responsible for the jails at police stations. The 
restructuring was designed to improve prisoner rehabilitation.
    Overcrowding of MOJ prisons remained a serious problem. LDH noted 
that prisons habitually held three times the number of prisoners for 
which they were built, and that in many prisons prisoners slept in 
bathrooms, standing up, or in shifts. For example, the Central Prison 
in Beira held 611 prisoners in a facility designed to hold 150. During 
the first half of the year, LDH visited 104 prisons and detention 
facilities, which held 10,376 inmates in facilities designed to hold 
5,506 persons. During the year the Government invested $480,000 (12 
million meticais) to improve infrastructure and living conditions at 
the Nampula industrial penitentiary, which held approximately 500 
prisoners. Following the renovations most prisoners, for the first 
time, slept in beds with mattresses.
    LDH found that more than 500 detainees in the Maputo Central Prison 
(Machava) had been held beyond the 90-day preventive detention period. 
In addition 120 prisoners remained in jail after the end of their 
sentences. Of the facilities visited, six offered no medical care or 
assistance. LDH described 35 facilities as ``physically inadequate.'' 
In detention facilities (previously managed by MOI) overcrowding did 
not appear to be a serious problem. During the first half of the year, 
LDH visited several police station detention facilities under MOI 
control and noted that some detainees continued to be held beyond the 
maximum police station preventive detention period of 48 hours.
    Reports continued that most prisoners received only one meal per 
day. Although by law prisoners were supposed to receive 500 grams of 
food per meal, at the Brigada Operativa in Inhambane Province they only 
received 250 grams of food per day. In Matola and Pemba, although there 
were open jails where prisoners worked to grow food crops, prisoners 
were not given the food they grew to eat. LDH reported that in Machava, 
prisoners' meals consisted of peas and water, and that guards stole 
rice, flour, oil, and soap intended for the prisoners, selling it 
outside the prison. The press reported similar circumstances in Nampula 
Province's Ribaue district. As a result, authorities suspended eight 
employees from Maputo's Central Prison and the Ribaue prison's director 
during the year. It was customary for families to bring food to 
prisoners; however, there continued to be occasional reports that 
guards demanded bribes in exchange for delivering food to the 
prisoners. In 2005 the LDH identified five facilities where prisoners 
relied entirely on outsiders for food: Ilha de Mocambique, Monapo, 
Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia, and Palma.
    There continued to be many reported deaths in prison, the vast 
majority due to illness. A senior prison official of the Brigada 
Operativa told the press that overcrowding was the main cause of 
sickness and death among inmates. In many facilities, lack of 
sanitation, potable water, and sufficient food also led to sickness. In 
October four prisoners (some of whom were detainees awaiting trial) in 
Manica Province were killed in a mudslide while performing prison labor 
in a gold mine. Officials ordered an inquiry as to why detainees were 
performing prison labor.
    In July the press reported that Hamid Mateus Mikissene, who was 
arrested and shot in June 2005 while both his feet and hands were bound 
while at the Macate Administrative Post in Manica Province, was 
crippled as a result of receiving no medical treatment during the 
duration of his six months in prison.
    There were no developments in the 2005 cases of prisoner deaths due 
to neglect and beatings by prison wardens.
    In a series of prison visits conducted during the first half of the 
year, LDH found malaria, scabies, and tuberculosis to be frequent among 
prisoners in nearly all of the country's prisons. LDH also found other 
illnesses caused by malnutrition, including paralysis and blindness. 
During the first half of the year, LDH found 47 persons with paralysis 
at Machava Prison. Both healthy and sick prisoners regularly were kept 
in the same cells. The spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually 
transmitted diseases was a serious problem for the prison population.
    In 2005 LDH reported a lower number of minors under the age of 16 
held with adults from the general prison population than in 2004, the 
result of action by child rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). 
However, according to a UN report, juveniles continued to be held with 
adults during the year.Women were held in separate facilities from men.
    In MOI facilities, detainees not charged continued to be held with 
prisoners sentenced for ``maximum security'' offenses. In MOJ 
facilities, detainees who had been charged but not tried continued to 
be held with prisoners sentenced for ``moderate security'' offenses.
    International and domestic human rights groups had access to 
prisoners, although at the discretion of MOJ and MOI, and such visits 
took place during the year. LDH noted continued improvement in the 
MOI's openness to their prison visits, although following the 
unification of the prison system, the MOJ had not responded to numerous 
LDH requests for visits. The MOJ required LDH to provide it with the 
date and agenda for intended prison visits in advance, especially in 
Nampula. Exceptions were the Agricultural Penitentiary of Nampula, 
where LDH was refused entry, and at the Maputo Central Prison after the 
2005 murder and subsequent replacement of its former director. The LDH 
noted a general improvement in prison officials' willingness to allow 
LDH visitors to talk freely with prisoners without the presence of 
prison wardens.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--While the constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, in actuality both practices 
continued to occur.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Forces under the MOI, 
including the PIC, the PRM, and the Rapid Intervention Force are 
responsible for internal security. An additional security body, the 
State Information and Security Service, reported directly to the 
President. The armed forces are responsible for external security, but 
in practice hold domestic security responsibilities as well.
    The police continued to be poorly paid, despite an increase in pay 
during the year. Trainee-level officers reportedly received 
approximately $80 (2,000 meticais) a month, while those at higher rank 
received approximately $100 (2,500 meticais) a month. Corruption and 
extortion by police were widespread. Authorities often used violence 
and arbitrary detention as a means of intimidation to keep persons from 
reporting abuses. Police impunity remained a problem. The PIC was 
criticized for being ineffective and, according to press reports, at 
times PIC officers may have been transferred to prevent them from 
making progress on some investigations.
    Police regularly detained persons for arbitrary reasons and 
demanded identification documents solely to extort payments. Many crime 
victims reportedly avoided police assistance because of expected 
demands for bribes and a lack of confidence that the police would help. 
During the 12 months preceding April, the Maputo City Police Command 
initiated disciplinary and criminal proceedings against 113 Maputo 
policemen, expelling 28 of these from the force. The most common 
reasons for disciplinary action, according to Maputo's police chief, 
were collaboration with criminals, extortion of goods and money, 
excessive alcohol consumption, and abandonment of post. During the year 
the MOI expelled at least 160 police. However, the vast majority of 
police who committed infractions were ``recycled,'' sent back to 
school, and then transferred to a new unit. In the three months 
preceding March, the MOI recycled 178 police. These police included 
suspected criminals, thieves, and agents suspected of collaborating 
with criminals. In August President Guebuza dismissed both the chief of 
police and the chief of the Casa Militar (the Presidential security 
detail). An August 2005 government-sponsored survey ranked the traffic 
police and the police force as the country's most dishonest public 
institutions.
    Professional training for police officers continued during the 
year; police officers formally trained at the police academy assumed 
command of several police stations in Maputo from less trained 
officers.
    A strategic plan of action and modernization for the PRM, covering 
the years 2003 to 2012, continued. Seven of its nine ``guiding 
principles'' reflected respect for human rights. While the plan 
acknowledged the problem of abuse of police powers, it made no specific 
provision for ensuring greater accountability for such abuses.

    Arrest and Detention.--Although the law provides that persons must 
be arrested openly with warrants issued by a judge or prosecutor 
(except persons caught in the act of committing a crime), police 
continued arbitrarily to arrest and detain citizens. By law the maximum 
length of investigative detention without a warrant is 48 hours, during 
which time a detainee has the right to a judicial review of the case. 
The individual may be detained another 90 days while the PIC continues 
its investigation. When a person is accused of a crime carrying a 
sentence of more than eight years, the individual may be detained up to 
84 days without being charged formally. With court approval, such 
detainees may be held for two more periods of 84 days each without 
charge while the police complete the investigative process. The law 
provides that when the prescribed period for investigation has been 
completed and no charges have been brought, the detainee must be 
released. In many cases the authorities either were unaware of these 
regulations or ignored them, often also ignoring a detainee's 
constitutional right to counsel and to contact relatives or friends. 
The law provides that citizens have access to the courts as well as the 
right to representation, regardless of ability to pay for such 
services. However, due to a shortage of legal professionals, indigent 
defendants frequently had no legal representation.
    The bail system remained poorly defined. Prisoners, their families, 
and NGOs continued to complain that police and prison officials 
demanded bribes for releasing prisoners. The Government's Commission 
for Strengthening the Law continued to attempt to address the problem 
of overcrowding of jails and prisons by proposing a series of measures, 
including converting sentences to fines, creating open prisons, and 
suspending sentences for those sentenced to less than two years in 
prison. Neither the National Assembly nor the Attorney General's office 
publicly considered the commission's recommendations during year, and 
none were implemented by year's end. During the year the press reported 
on various alternative actions taken by the Government to reduce 
overcrowding, including work brigades, conditional release for 
prisoners who have completed half of their sentence, and traveling 
tribunals.
    There were reports that police harassed and arbitrarily detained 
persons, including journalists, during the year (see Section 2.a.).
    Government statistics indicated that 53 percent of inmates were 
still awaiting trial. In addition, there continued to be reports of 
detainees who spent longer in pretrial detention than the period of the 
sentence they eventually received. By law a judge has 48 hours to 
validate a detention in any proceeding; however, this statute often was 
not enforced. For example, in January the publication Mediafax reported 
that in the 8th and 10th sections of the Maputo Judicial Court there 
were at least six persons being held beyond the preventive detention 
period stipulated by law, including Henriques Banze and Ben Magaia, 
both held since 2004; Alberto Curva, held since 2003; and Ramos Manamo 
and Luis Ngovene, held since 2001. The publication indicated that the 
problem was widespread in the judicial system.
    In June 2005 the Commission for the Strengthening of the Law 
ordered expedited trials for the estimated 755 prisoners in Sofala 
Province, many of whom had been detained past their preventive 
detention period.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the executive branch and the 
ruling FRELIMO party heavily influenced an understaffed and 
inadequately trained judiciary, particularly in the lower tiers. The 
judicial system continued to suffer from a lack of transparency and 
often did not comply with the principles of promotion and protection of 
human rights. Approximately 112 of the country's 128 judicial districts 
had functioning courts. A shortage of judges and qualified staff was a 
major problem. In August Chief Justice Mario Mangaze told the media 
that the country had only 36 percent of the judges and prosecutors 
needed to administer justice effectively. There were 204 judges (or 
approximately one per 100,000 inhabitants), 116 of whom held law 
degrees as required by law for all judges appointed after 2000. By the 
end of 2005, 3 percent of the 1,065 staff employed by the courts held 
university degrees; 53 percent did not have secondary school diplomas. 
Continuing problems included chronic absenteeism, unequal treatment, 
low salaries, corruption, deliberate delays, and omissions in handling 
cases.
    he press reported that nine legal proceedings against judges and 
MOJ officials took place during the year, which resulted in the 
expulsion of two officials by year's end. Observers believed the 
problem of unprofessional magistrate behavior was more severe than 
reported. In December a survey of the judicial sector indicated that 10 
percent of judges admitted that corruption existed in the judicial 
system.
    The President appoints both the Supreme Court President and vice 
President. The Higher Judicial Magistrates' Council (CSMJ) prepares 
Supreme Court nominations and submits a list of qualified potential 
Supreme Court nominees to the President. Members of the CSMJ tended to 
be either FRELIMO members or FRELIMO-affiliated. The President makes 
all other judicial appointments.
    There are two complementary formal justice systems: the civil 
justice system and the military justice system. The Supreme Court 
administers the civil system, and the Ministry of National Defense 
administers military courts. Under the Supreme Court there are 
province- and district-level courts, and each province has a Court of 
Appeal. Cases in military courts may be appealed to the Supreme Court. 
Civilians are not under the jurisdiction of, or tried in, the military 
courts.
    There also are courts that exercise limited, specialized 
jurisdiction, such as the Administrative Court, the Customs Court, and 
the Maritime Court. The Constitutional Council is charged with 
determining the constitutionality of laws and decrees, supervising the 
electoral process, declaring and validating electoral results, and 
ruling on electoral disputes. A separate court system exists for minors 
16 years of age and younger. The Government may send minors to 
correctional, educational, or other institutions.

    Trial Procedures.--Persons accused of crimes against the Government 
are tried publicly in regular civilian courts under standard criminal 
judicial procedures. Members of the media may attend trials, although 
space limitations prevented the general public from attending. A judge 
may order a trial closed to the media in the interest of national 
security or to protect the privacy of the plaintiff in a sexual assault 
case. There is no trial by jury.
    In regular courts all accused persons, in principle, are presumed 
innocent and have the right to legal counsel and appeal; however, 
authorities did not always respect these rights. Although the law 
specifically provides for public defenders for the accused, such 
assistance generally was not available in practice, particularly in 
rural areas. In 2005 LDH reported that most citizens remained unaware 
of this right, and many had no access to legal counsel. Some NGOs 
continued to offer limited legal counsel at little or no cost to both 
defendants and prisoners. Only judges or lawyers may confront or 
question witnesses.
    In June the revised civil code took effect, aimed at improving the 
efficiency and efficacy of judicial processes. The code reformed the 
ability of the Supreme Court to handle appeals against verdicts given 
by lower courts, allowing the Supreme Court to throw out frivolous 
appeals as soon as they are received. The code also includes provisions 
for judges to issue a sentence orally at a trial rather than in 
writing, ends the requirement for the Attorney General's office to 
comment on every sentence, allows testimony to be recorded, and permits 
videoconferencing.
    Outside the formal court system, local customary courts and 
traditional authority figures often adjudicated matters such as estate 
and divorce cases. Respected local arbiters with no formal training 
staffed customary courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no confirmed reports 
of political prisoners; however, on May 9, RENAMO alleged that 10 of 
its party members were being held as political prisoners in Mutarara 
District in Tete Province. The detentions followed a May 31 clash 
between RENAMO and FRELIMO supporters during a visit to Mutarara by 
RENAMO Secretary General Ossufo Momade (see Section 3).
    RENAMO continued to claim that all persons convicted and sentenced 
in connection with the 2000 nationwide demonstrations alleging fraud in 
the 1999 national elections were political prisoners.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the law provides 
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, in 
practice the judiciary was subject to political interference.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. 
However, opposition party members alleged that government intelligence 
services and ruling party activists continued without warrants to 
monitor telephone calls, conduct surveillance of their offices, follow 
opposition members, use informants, and disrupt party activities in 
certain areas of the country, including in Cabo Delgado and Nampula 
Provinces. By law police require a warrant to enter homes and 
businesses and also to monitor telephone calls.
    Although there were no national restrictions on the right to marry, 
according to a press report school administrators in Muecate district 
in Nampula Province forced single male teachers to marry during the 
year, reportedly to mitigate the number of sexual assaults of female 
students by teachers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, in practice there were 
restrictions on these rights. Police continued to harass journalists, 
and journalists admitted that self-censorship was common. However, 
according to the NGOs Reporters without Borders and Media Institute of 
Southern Africa (MISA), press freedom continued to improve. During the 
year, fewer journalists were detained, public functionaries were more 
open with journalists, and the Government made greater efforts to 
divulge information to the public than in previous years.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views. The Government maintained majority ownership in Noticias, the 
main newspaper and the only daily with nationwide distribution. 
Noticias, the daily Diario de Mocambique, and the weekly Domingo 
largely reflected the views of the Government but also demonstrated a 
willingness to critically examine government actions. The government-
run news agency, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, often printed 
stories critical of the performance of government ministries or 
agencies.
    There were numerous private radio stations that operated throughout 
the country. Radio Mocambique, which receives 60 percent of its 
operating budget from the Government, was the most influential media 
service with the largest audience in the country. While broadcasting 
debates on important issues of the country, Radio Mocambique tended to 
invite participants that were not critical of the Government.
    MISA noted that the process for obtaining a radio operating license 
was often long, convoluted, and politically biased. According to MISA, 
the country required a new law clearly delineating the difference 
between commercial and public radio.
    The Government supplied 80 percent of the operating budget for 
Televisao de Mocambique (TVM), the television station that broadcasts 
to the largest percentage of the population. While TVM provided more 
balanced news coverage than in previous years, it retained a strong 
government and FRELIMO party bias.
    On December 29, law enforcement officers with a warrant from the 
Maputo City Court related to a $20,000 (500,000 meticais) severance pay 
dispute seized an estimated $66,000 (1.6 million meticais) worth of 
equipment from the private television station STV. NGOs, journalists, 
and other civil society groups expressed suspicion that the seizure was 
an attempt by the Government to crack down on the country's main 
independent television station, which frequently criticized the 
Government.
    The international media were allowed to operate freely.
    Police harassed and arbitrarily detained local journalists during 
the year. On May 3, police in Manica Province under orders from Deputy 
Prosecutor Jose Abede detained without charge journalists Sebastao 
Canjera, Joao Mascarenhas, and Patreque Francisco of the privately-
owned newspaper Mabarwe. Abede ordered the arrest after an influential 
local businessman accused the Mabarwe of libel. On May 10, local 
authorities released the three journalists without charge. MISA 
reported that the detentions were unlawful because the law does not 
allow pretrial detention of individuals accused of libel.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
manhandled and threatened reporters. There were no developments in the 
2005 harassment by police of reporters covering the return to the 
country of Anibal dos Santos Junior. In January dos Santos Junior was 
convicted in a retrial of the 2000 murder of investigative journalist 
Carlos Cardoso and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. In May the 
public prosecutor's office charged businessman Nyimpine Chissano, 
oldest son of former President Joaquim Chissano, with ``joint moral 
authorship'' in the killing of Cardoso. The trial had not begun by 
year's end.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 detention of 
journalists by police or the April 2005 assault of journalists by STV 
security guards.
    While defamation of the President is prohibited, it was not invoked 
during the year.
    According to MISA, there were four libel suits brought against 
newspapers during the year. There were no updates concerning the seven 
suits for defamation and libel against newspapers in 2005.
    Newsprint and other printing supplies must be imported from South 
Africa and the Government does not exempt these supplies from import 
duties. Some newspapers found it more cost-effective to print in South 
Africa and import the final product. Other journals are only published 
in electronic versions, severely limiting their readership. Journals 
printed on paper have limited readership beyond Maputo, due to high 
transportation costs.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
While public access to the Internet continued to expand, particularly 
in the larger cities, lack of infrastructure in the rural parts of the 
country and installation costs limited overall use.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--While the Government 
generally did not restrict academic freedom, there were reports that 
teachers at the university, secondary, and primary school level felt 
pressure to align themselves with FRELIMO, particularly in the central 
and northern provinces. According to a press report, FRELIMO pressured 
school teachers in Sofala Province to join the party during the year.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of 
assembly, there was at least one instance of authorities using force to 
disperse a demonstration and another instance of authorities preventing 
a demonstration during the year. While the law regulates public 
demonstrations, it does not apply to private gatherings held indoors 
and by individual invitation, nor does it affect religious gatherings 
or election campaigning.
    On February 7, riot police dispersed a peaceful strike in Maputo by 
an estimated 150 employees of the Delta private security company. 
Several arrests of protesters were reported.
    On November 9, on orders from the Maputo City Council, police 
prevented a group of RENAMO members from holding a legal demonstration 
to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the 2000 asphyxiation deaths of 
84 RENAMO members imprisoned following a demonstration about the 1999 
elections. Press reports indicated that organizers submitted their 
intention to hold the demonstration on October 31.
    By year's end the Government had not followed through on its 
December 2005 announcement to pay $48.2 million (1.2 billion meticais) 
to the madjermanes, a group of approximately 15,000 citizens who worked 
in the former East Germany until the early 1990s. The madjermanes 
staged protests in 2003 and occupied the German Embassy in Maputo in 
2004 demanding payment of benefits for their past work. Since 2004, 
local authorities in Maputo city have prevented a group of madjermanes 
from holding weekly marches in central Maputo.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 investigation of 
police beating of students during a peaceful demonstration in Nampula.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law generally provide 
for freedom of association, although the Government imposed some limits 
on this right. According to the law a political party is required to 
demonstrate that it has no regional, racial, ethnic, or religious 
exclusiveness and must secure at least 2,000 signatures to be 
recognized (see Section 3). There were approximately 47 registered 
political parties. A government decree regulates the registration and 
activities of foreign NGOs. Nonpolitical foreign NGOs and religious 
groups must register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Cooperation and are required to provide significant details on their 
organization's projects, staffing, and finances. Domestic NGOs must 
register with the MOJ. The registration process for foreign NGOs and 
religious groups reportedly involved significant discretion on the part 
of government officials and regularly took several months.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. The law requires local religious institutions and 
missionary organizations to register with the MOJ, reveal their 
principal source of funds, and provide the names of at least 500 
followers in good standing. The MOJ routinely granted registration to 
applicants. The Christian Council of Mozambique, an umbrella 
organization for several Protestant churches, reported that not all 
religious groups registered but that unregistered groups worshipped 
unhindered by the Government.
    The constitution and the law governing political parties 
specifically forbids religious groups from organizing political parties 
and any political party from sponsoring religious propaganda as threats 
to national unity.
    The Catholic Church and some Muslim communities continued to 
request the return of certain properties nationalized by the Government 
in the years immediately following independence, including schools, 
health centers, shops, and residences. According to the Office of the 
Archbishop of Maputo, the Catholic Church sought the return of 
approximately 100 facilities throughout the country and awaited an 
agreement between the Vatican and the Government intended to regulate 
the return of such properties.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among 
religions were generally amicable. There were no reports of societal 
abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts, reported during 
the year. There was a very small Jewish population.
    On February 17, the independent weekly newspaper Savana reprinted 
eight of the 12 Danish cartoons that had sparked world controversy and 
widespread condemnation by Islamic groups. In a violent protest staged 
by approximately 120 Muslims in front of the newspaper's office 
building that afternoon, protesters damaged property, and a Muslim 
journalist reported that the mob attacked black Muslims advocating for 
peaceful demonstrations and dialogue. The Government issued a statement 
condemning the paper's decision to reprint the cartoons and underscored 
the state's commitment to secular principles and religious freedom. On 
February 19, the Savana editor-in-chief issued an apology on television 
and stated that the publication of the cartoons was aimed only at 
showing people the object of the controversy. Subsequent marches of 
approximately 2,000 Muslims in Maputo on February 25 and March 4 were 
peaceful.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--While the law provide for these rights, 
the Government sometimes infringed upon them.
    Traffic checkpoints are legal and under the jurisdiction of traffic 
police. Checkpoints occasionally affected freedom of movement, and 
according to press reports, authorities sometimes abused and demanded 
bribes from citizens at checkpoints. In a speech to the public, the 
general commander of the police recognized that some police stop and 
charge motorists, in violation of the law, for personal gain. Police 
sometimes stopped foreigners and ordered them to present original 
passports or resident papers, refused to accept notarized copies, and 
fined or detained those who failed to show proper documents. Police, 
including members of CPCs, also routinely harassed, detained, and 
extorted bribes from local citizens for failure to carry identity 
papers.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protections to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum to 
applicants from many countries in Africa, along with several from 
outside the continent. The Government cooperated with the office of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government continued to limit refugee movement within the 
country. Refugees must request authorization to move outside the 
geographic region in which they have been registered. In addition 
refugees residing within the Marratane camp in Nampula Province must 
request authorization to leave its boundaries, which has perpetuated 
the extracting of bribes by officials.
    By October the Government processed 254 cases for refugee status 
determination (RSD) and retained a backlog in excess of 4,000 cases; in 
2005 the Government processed only 150 cases. The backlog was primarily 
caused by the requirement that the minister of the interior personally 
approve every case and staffing shortages in the Institute of Refugee 
Assistance.
    Refugee camp conditions met minimal standards. Unlike in the 
previous year, UNHCR reported no violent conflicts among rival 
Congolese groups and between Rwandans and Congolese. In response to the 
violence in 2005, UNHCR and a partner NGO conducted peace and 
reconciliation activities to bring the communities closer together. 
While the Government provided police security in the camp, UNHCR 
recruited additional persons from within the camp to supplement the 
generally ineffective government police force.
    UNHCR focused its efforts during the year on assisting the 
Government to improve efficiency in the RSD process by providing 
training to government officials, financial aid to relevant ministries, 
and a protection officer to work with the Government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 citizens elected 
Armando Guebuza of the ruling FRELIMO party as President in the 
country's third multiparty general elections. While domestic and 
international observers noted that voting day procedures generally 
followed international norms, they also documented irregularities in 
parts of the country during the campaign season and in the subsequent 
vote count. FRELIMO used significant state funds and resources for 
campaign purposes, in violation of election law. RENAMO issued 
complaints of election fraud to several agencies, including the 
Constitutional Council. In January 2005 the Constitutional Council 
affirmed Guebuza as the winner.
    The Constitutional Council issued a series of nonbinding 
recommendations for future elections, including the establishment of a 
single, consolidated voter registration list (there were three in the 
2004 election). Other remedies tracked closely with advice given by 
national and international election observation groups, including the 
European Union and Carter Center. On May 4, the FRELIMO majority in the 
National Assembly moved to dissolve the ad-hoc committee established in 
March 2005 to revise the country's electoral legislation. The decision 
was made after the committee chair, Alfredo Camito, declared that the 
group was at an impasse on the composition of the National Elections 
Commission (CNE), one of numerous elections processes under review by 
the committee. Responsibility for revising electoral legislation was 
then charged to the Committee on Agriculture, Regional Development, 
Public Administration, and Local Power in the National Assembly.
    On December 20, the FRELIMO majority in the National Assembly 
passed three new elections laws dealing with the CNE, voter 
registration, and procedures for provincial and national elections. 
RENAMO boycotted the vote in protest. The new CNE will have 13 members 
(three from FRELIMO, two from RENAMO, and eight from civil society), 
down from 19 during the 2004 national elections. The main task of the 
CNE is to formulate a new voter registration roll in time for 
provincial elections in 2007. The new voter registration law requires 
voters to reregister once every five years and eliminates the 
multiplicity of voter registers that characterized the 2004 elections. 
The third law sets guidelines for provincial elections in 2007, 
municipal elections in 2008, and national elections in 2009.
    There were reports of violence between FRELIMO and RENAMO 
supporters during the year. On June 9, RENAMO alleged that 10 of its 
party members were being held as political prisoners in Mutarara 
District in Tete Province following a May 31 clash between FRELIMO 
supporters during a visit to Mutarara by RENAMO Secretary General 
Ossuto Momade. According to a RENAMO spokesperson, a RENAMO convoy came 
under attack by FRELIMO supporters carrying sticks and stones, and in 
the ensuing clash one RENAMO supporter and eight FRELIMO supports were 
injured; offices and homes of party officials were allegedly burned and 
looted following the incident.
    In October local authorities in Pemba, Cabo Delgado Province 
conditionally released, without charge, 19 of the 21 RENAMO members who 
had been detained illegally since September 2005 following riots 
stemming from a disputed mayoral election in Mocimboa da Praia. Two of 
the RENAMO members arrested following the riots reportedly died in 
prison. In November, RENAMO leaders threatened to sue the Government 
for detaining its members without charge or trial, but there were no 
further updates by year's end.
    There were 92 women in the 250-seat National Assembly. Women held 
seven of the 24 ministerial positions and four of the 18 vice 
ministerial positions. Luisa Diogo retained her role as prime minister. 
Women held 30 percent of the seats on FRELIMO's 160-member Central 
Committee and six seats on the 17-member Political Commission.
    Members of many ethnic groups held key positions in both the 
legislative and executive branches. There was no evidence that specific 
ethnic groups were excluded.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was widely 
perceived to be endemic. Low-level government officials used corrupt 
practices to supplement low incomes, while high-level elites were 
believed to employ corrupt practices to enhance their wealth, 
consolidate their positions, and prevent competition. Corruption 
largely resulted from a lack of checks and balances among the three 
branches of government, minimal accountability of elected officials, 
and a culture of impunity. In the 2005 government-sponsored Governance 
and Corruption Survey, most respondents cited their unwillingness to 
report corruption was because ``there is no protection'' for persons 
who stand up to corrupt practices.
    While the Government continued its strong anticorruption rhetoric, 
and some mid-level officials were dismissed for alleged corruption, the 
NGO Transparency International noted that corruption was perceived as 
``rampant.'' In addition local NGOs and media groups observed that no 
corruption cases involving high-profile individuals have been brought 
to trial during the Guebuza administration. A study undertaken by the 
anticorruption NGO Center for Public Policy indicated that customs 
reforms undertaken since 1995 had reduced the levels of corruption in 
the customs service.
    In April the Government launched a National Anticorruption 
Strategy; however, a September report submitted following a six-month 
review of the strategy by 18 donor nations stated that there had been 
``no progress on implementing the Government's anticorruption 
strategy.'' The Central Office for the Combat of Corruption (GCCC) 
functions as an autonomous unit under the Attorney General's office 
with its own state budget and authority to hire additional permanent 
full-time staff. Some observers continued to blame the judiciary for 
hampering efforts by the Attorney General's office to fight corruption, 
citing the low number of cases accepted by the court system.
    According to the GCCC, from March to September prosecutors brought 
charges in 17 cases of corruption, in which the state was robbed of 
more than one million dollars (25 million meticais). In December the 
National Civil Service Authority reported that from January to October 
authorities expelled 191 public servants for various irregularities.
    According to the Attorney General's annual report, between 2002 and 
June 2005 the anticorruption unit (the predecessor to the GCCC) 
received 128 corruption cases: 70 remained under investigation, 30 
cases were in court, 15 were dropped, nine were sent to other 
institutions for consideration, and four were appended to other cases. 
Of those cases in court, none resulted in convictions by year's end.
    There were several new cases of corruption reported during the 
year. For example, in July, authorities under orders from the GCCC 
detained a former senior official of the Bank of Mozambique, Adelino 
Pimpao, and accused him of stealing $50,000 (1.2 million meticais) in 
2004 and using the money to make payments to a fictitious institution. 
There was no further update at year's end.
    In October a court in Tete Province sentenced local treasurer Jose 
Manjolo to 12 years' imprisonment for the theft of approximately 
$10,000 (250,000 meticais) intended to provide food to people in the 
province affected by the 2004	05 drought; the judge also ordered 
Manjolo to repay the money.
    In December police arrested Vasco Raiva, head of the Administration 
and Finance Department of the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sport 
in Niassa Province, on suspicion that Raiva stole $32,000 (800,000 
meticais). The stolen money was part of a larger sum intended to 
rehabilitate a sports stadium in the capital of Niassa.
    During the year, the CSMJ continued its investigations of Cabo 
Delgado judges Carlos Niquice and Hirondina Pumule for the alleged 
extortion of one million dollars (25 million meticais) in exchange for 
releasing from prison Portuguese businessman Amadeu Costa Oliveira in 
September 2005.
    There were no further developments in the 2005 investigations into 
alleged corruption by government officials.
    The NGO Etica Mozambique operated corruption reporting centers in 
major cities to provide citizens a mechanism to anonymously report 
incidences of corruption. However, management and resource constraints 
severely limited their capacity to receive reports. From June to 
December, Etica Mozambique received information on 28 cases of 
corruption and transferred the cases to the MOJ. Only one of the 28 
cases had gone to trial by year's end. Etica Mozambique also operated a 
civic education campaign to help citizens identify and protect 
themselves against corrupt officials or activities. The media continued 
to be one of the main forces fighting corruption, reporting and 
investigating numerous corruption cases.
    There were no laws providing for the right of public access to 
information, and in practice the Government restricted citizens' access 
to public information.
    The law requires that all members of the Government declare and 
deposit their assets to the Constitutional Council, but does not 
require that such information be made available to the general public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Domestic and international human rights groups operated without 
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on 
human rights cases. Although at times slow, government officials often 
were cooperative and responsive. Registration procedures for NGOs often 
were lengthy (see Section 2.b.).
    While an independent ombudsman position to investigate allegations 
of abuses, including human rights violations, by state officials was 
created by constitutional amendment in 2005, an ombudsman had not been 
named by year's end
Section 5. Discrimination, Social Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status, but in practice 
discrimination persisted against women, persons with disabilities, and 
persons with HIV/AIDS.

    Women.--Although official statistics were not kept, reports 
indicated that domestic violence against women, particularly spousal 
rape and beatings, was widespread. The PRM received 5,042 reports of 
violence against women during the year. In many circles women believed 
it was acceptable for their husbands to beat them. Cultural pressures 
discouraged women from taking legal action against abusive spouses. 
There is no law that defines domestic violence as a crime, but laws 
prohibiting rape, battery, and assault could be used to prosecute 
domestic violence. During the year some NGOs called for a draft law on 
domestic violence.
    In August a 15-month survey on violence against women, conducted by 
the Government, the UN, and several NGOs beginning in June 2005 in 
Maputo city and the provinces of Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Zambezia, and 
Nampula, was released. The report revealed that 54 percent of women who 
responded admitted suffering an act of physical or sexual violence by a 
man at some point in their lives, 37 percent in the last five years and 
21 percent during the past year.
    On December 9, police in Tete Province arrested Antineco Chibewa 
for the murder of his 36-year old wife. According to press reports, 
Chibewa confessed that he killed his wife because she was too old and 
might interfere with his relationship with a younger woman. The case 
was pending at year's end.
    A 2005 survey by Project Hope of 255 women in Zambezia Province 
found that 61 percent of women identified more than one justification 
for a husband to hit his wife. Many of those surveyed agreed that a man 
was justified in hitting his wife if she goes out without telling him 
(48 percent), if she neglects the children (47 percent), if she argues 
with her husband (36 percent), if she refuses sex (30 percent), and if 
she burns the food (24 percent).
    The Government and NGOs worked together to promote women's rights. 
Women and children's units in the police force were expressly concerned 
with the issue of domestic violence. Of the 18 police squadrons in 
Maputo, 16 had Women and Children's Centers, which provided assistance 
in cases of physical and sexual assault, including domestic abuse.
    The law prohibits rape but not spousal rape. Penalties ranged from 
two to eight years if the victim is 12 years of age or older, and eight 
to 12 years if the victim is under the age of 12. While there were no 
official estimates as to the extent of spousal rape, it commonly was 
regarded as a problem. The rape law was not effectively enforced, and 
trials rarely occurred. According to NGO reports, many families 
preferred to settle such matters privately through financial 
remuneration rather than through the formal judicial system.
    Kukuyana, a national network of women living with HIV/AIDS, 
reported that many women were expelled from their houses and/or 
abandoned by their husbands and relatives because they were HIV 
positive. They also reported that some women who were widowed by HIV/
AIDS were accused of being witches who purposefully killed their 
husbands to acquire their belongings, and for this reason these women 
were deprived of all of their belongings.
    Prostitution is legal, although several laws against indecency and 
immoral behavior govern prostitution and restrict it to certain areas. 
The practice was widespread and particularly prevalent along major 
transportation corridors and in border towns where long-distance 
truckers stayed overnight. Young women without means of support were at 
the greatest risk for being drawn into prostitution.
    Sexual harassment is illegal; however, it is considered pervasive 
in business, government, and the education sector. Although no formal 
data existed, the media reported numerous instances of harassment 
during the year.
    Forced marriage of girls and women was a problem.
    With the exception of some ethnic and religious groups, the groom's 
family provided a dowry to the bride's family, usually in the form of 
livestock, money, or other goods. For Muslims, the bride's family 
usually paid for the marriage and provided gifts. These exchanges 
contributed to violence and other inequalities, due to the perception 
that the women subsequently were ``owned'' by the husband.
    The Family Law, which took effect in 2005, raises the age of 
marriage to 18 for both sexes, eliminates husbands' de facto status as 
heads of families, and legalizes civil, religious, and common law 
unions. While the law does not recognize new cases of polygyny, it 
grants women already in polygynous marriages full marital and 
inheritance rights. The law more precisely defines women's legal rights 
with regard to property, child custody, and other issues. However, over 
a year after the law went into effect, the majority of women remained 
uninformed about it.
    Customary law was still practiced in many parts of the country. In 
some regions, particularly the northern provinces, women had limited 
access to the formal judicial system for enforcement of rights provided 
under the civil code and instead relied on customary law to settle 
disputes. Under customary law, women have no rights to the disposition 
of land.
    The law grants citizenship to the foreign-born wife of a male 
citizen but not to the foreign-born husband of a female citizen.
    Women continued to experience economic discrimination, and women in 
the workplace often received lower pay than men for the same work.

    Children.--The Government's focus on children's rights and welfare 
increased during the year, but significant problems remained.
    Education is compulsory through the age of 12, but enforcement of 
compulsory education laws was inconsistent due to the lack of resources 
and the need for additional schools. Public education is free, but most 
families paid enrollment fees for each child and purchased books, 
uniforms, and other school supplies. Children who have a certificate 
that testifies that their parents' incomes are below a certain poverty 
level are exempt from fees, but for most families, fees and associated 
costs remained a significant financial burden.
    During the year, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 83 
percent of children were enrolled in school, primary school enrollment 
reached 3.8 million, and secondary school enrollment increased from 
45,000 to approximately 245,000 since 1992. However, at least 650,000 
children remained out of school, and completion rates for primary 
school students were below 50 percent for boys and 30 percent for 
girls. A report released by the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy 
for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa in December found that nearly 
25 percent of children between the ages of seven and 18 either have 
never been to school or did not currently attend. Although joint 
government/NGO initiatives worked in specific localities and districts 
to improve girls' school attendance, it remained lower than that of 
boys. Primary schools remained overcrowded, and approximately 70 
percent of them lacked adequate sanitation.
    Sexual abuse in schools remained a serious and common problem. 
According to the Center for Public Integrity, secondary school students 
often paid teachers in exchange for a spot in a class or better grades; 
boys paid with money and girls with money or sex. The press continued 
to report on sexual abuse of female students in schools, primarily by 
teachers. Over a ten-week period from the beginning of June to mid-
August, Save the Children and Actionaid registered 30 cases in which 
girls or their family members reported sexual abuse. In August the 
education administrators of one municipal district in Maputo, together 
with the NGO IBIS, launched a campaign against sexual abuse of minors 
in schools. In the same month, the National Teachers' Organization 
began a campaign against sexual abuse in schools.
    There continued to be reports in newspapers of physical abuse of 
students by teachers during the year.
    During the year, students at a public boarding school in Inhambane 
reportedly abused incoming students by forcing them to bathe in feces 
and urine and to have homosexual relations with each other.
    Several cases of fathers sexually abusing their daughters were 
reported during the year.
    The Government took steps to address the problems facing HIV/AIDS 
orphans in the country. In 2005 it was estimated that one in every five 
households cared for at least one orphan. UNICEF estimated that of the 
country's 1.6 million orphans, more than 380,000 lost either one or 
both parents to HIV/AIDS. Several government agencies, including the 
Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women and Social Action, 
implemented programs to provide health assistance and vocational 
education for HIV/AIDS orphans.
    The Family Law sets the minimum age for civil marriage at 21 years, 
although persons between the ages of 18 and 20 could marry with 
parental consent. Despite the law, local customs, primarily in the 
northern provinces and in Muslim and South Asian communities, created a 
pattern of marriage below the legal age. The NGO Mulheid and others 
worked to combat this custom through education campaigns on the dangers 
of the practice, including the spread of HIV/AIDS.
    Exploitation of children below the age of 15 continued, and child 
prostitution remained a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking). The law 
prohibits pornography, child prostitution, and sexual abuse of children 
under 16. Persons engaged in child prostitution, use of children for 
illicit activities, child pornography, child trafficking, or forced or 
bonded child labor could be punished by prison sentences and fines. In 
practice perpetrators of these crimes rarely were identified and 
prosecuted, and punishment was not commensurate with that of the crime.
    While the law prohibits the access of minors to bars and clubs, the 
Government did not have adequate resources to enforce the law 
effectively.
    The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation and labor 
remained a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor remained a problem, principally in the rural areas (see 
Section 6.d.).
    The country continued to have a problem with street children, but 
no nationwide figures were available. In 2004 the NGO Rede de Crianca, 
comprised of 33 community organizations that work with youth in Maputo, 
identified 3,419 street children in their programs.
    Zimbabwean children, many of whom entered the country alone, were 
particularly vulnerable to abuse. Due to their illegal status, they 
faced labor exploitation and discrimination and were harassed by 
authorities on both sides of the border. They lacked protection due to 
inadequate documentation and had limited access to schools and other 
social welfare institutions. Coercion of girls into the sex industry 
was common.
    The Maputo City Office of Women and Social Action continued its 
program of rescuing abandoned orphans and assisting single mothers who 
headed families of three or more persons. They also offered special 
classes to children of broken homes in local schools. NGO groups 
sponsored food, shelter, and education programs in all major cities.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There were numerous reports of persons 
trafficked from and within the country. Although the law does not 
prohibit trafficking in persons, traffickers could be prosecuted using 
13 related articles of the penal code on sexual assault, rape, 
abduction, and child abuse.
    Persons were trafficked both internally and to South Africa. A 
local NGO reported that each month up to 100 Mozambican and Swazi 
children were trafficked along the tri-border area to Johannesburg. The 
head of the PRM's Department of Women and Children reported 68 
registered cases of trafficked children during the first six months of 
the year. The majority of victims were women and children, and they 
were trafficked for both sexual exploitation and forced labor. Boys 
were trafficked as laborers on South African farms. Trafficking victims 
came from both urban and rural backgrounds. Poverty, a history of child 
migration, and weak border controls all contributed to trafficking.
    In April 2005 the International Organization for Migration 
conducted an inquiry that indicated women continued to be trafficked 
from the country and sold to mine workers at a mining district west of 
Johannesburg, known as the West Rand. Taxi drivers commuting between 
the two countries recruited young women from rural areas such as Macia 
and Chokwe in Gaza Province, as well as Maputo. The highway running 
through Maputo was another major recruiting ground for traffickers.
    Child prostitution appeared to be most prevalent in Maputo, 
Nampula, Beira, and at border towns and overnight stopping points along 
key transportation routes. Child prostitution reportedly was growing in 
the Maputo, Beira, and Nacala areas, which had highly mobile 
populations and a large number of transport workers. Child prostitution 
was reported in Sofala and Zambezia Provinces. Some NGOs were working 
with prostituted children by providing health care, counseling, and 
training in other vocations.
    Traffickers were principally citizens or South African, but 
involvement of Chinese and Nigerian syndicates was also reported. 
Trafficking groups included small networks of citizens based in Maputo 
and Nampula, and there were reports that organized crime groups were 
involved. Traffickers often lured victims by promising better jobs in 
South Africa. Once there, they were threatened with exposure of their 
illegal status and forced to work for little or no pay. Often women 
were sexually assaulted en route to their destination or once they 
arrived in South Africa.
    The Government's law enforcement efforts increased over the 
previous year, though a paucity of training resources hindered greater 
efforts. In March the MOJ signed an agreement with an NGO to jointly 
draft anti-trafficking legislation. During the year the MOI conducted 
anti-trafficking training for almost 90 police officers in three 
provinces, after which the officers conducted public awareness 
campaigns for community police and school leaders; however, such 
training has not been extended force-wide. Many lower-ranking police 
and border control agents were suspected of accepting bribes from 
traffickers.
    During the year police broke up several trafficking schemes, 
apprehending at least nine traffickers and rescuing more than 90 
victims. For example, in February police arrested six men attempting to 
traffic 43 people across the South African border. In March the 
country's first trafficking case was prosecuted, resulting in the 
conviction of Jose Vasco Ngulele and Armando Rafael for kidnapping and 
attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy; the two were sentenced to eight 
and nine months in prison respectively.
    In November 2005 police in Manica Province arrested Antonio Joao 
Catine for selling 35 children as farm laborers; 18 of the children 
have been recovered, and police investigations were ongoing at year's 
end.
    There were no developments in other 2005 trafficking cases.
    The Government's efforts to protect victims of trafficking 
continued to suffer from a lack of resources, and government officials 
regularly called on NGOs for assistance in the provision of shelter, 
food, counseling, and rehabilitation. In 2005 the MOI expanded the 
number of Offices for Attending to Women and Child Victims of Violence 
from 84 to 96, and provided victims' assistance training for police 
officers who dealt with such cases; some of these offices provided 
emergency shelter and food for trafficking victims.
    On May 2, the civil society organization Civic Education Forum 
(FECIV) opened the country's first permanent shelter for trafficking 
victims in Moamba. The Moamba District government donated 20 hectares 
of land to be used to grow food for the shelter. During the ceremony 
FECIV announced it would start screening for victims of trafficking 
among the 800 to 1,000 illegal immigrants repatriated by South African 
immigration authorities, on average, every two weeks.
    The Kulaya Healing Center in the Maputo Central Hospital assisted a 
small number of trafficking victims with medical care and counseling 
for up to three months each.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution and law 
stipulate that citizens with disabilities shall fully enjoy the same 
rights as all other citizens, the Government provided few resources to 
implement this provision. Discrimination was common against persons 
with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and 
in the provision of other state services. The law does not mandate 
access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of 
Public Works and Habitation worked to ensure that public buildings in 
Maputo city provided access to persons with disabilities, although 
enforcement was lacking in the provinces. Electoral law provides for 
the needs of voters with disabilities in the polling booths.
    Concerns of persons with disabilities included lack of access to 
socioeconomic opportunities and employment, limited accessibility to 
buildings and transportation, and a lack of wheelchairs. Special access 
facilities were rare. There were few job opportunities for persons with 
disabilities in the formal sector.
    A Ministry of Women and Social Action (MWSA) representative 
emphasized that persons with disabilities often were victimized by 
their own families, who hid disabled family members in their homes and 
kept them from going to school. The Association of Parents and Friends 
of Mentally Disabled Children reported that families sometimes hid 
their mentally disabled children, and that during visits the 
organization found two families in Mossuril kept their mentally 
disabled children chained.
    The head of the Ministry of Health's Mental Health Program 
recognized that the Government had a responsibility for the mentally 
ill, but stated that the psychiatric hospital lacked the means to 
guarantee even basic nutrition, medicine, or shelter. Disabled veterans 
continued to complain about not receiving their pensions.
    MWSA is responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities. In April MWSA hosted the second National Conference on 
Disabilities in coordination with the Forum of Associations of Disabled 
Mozambicans. At this conference, MWSA announced a four-year National 
Action Plan in the Area of Disabilities, which was approved by the 
Council of Ministers on April 18.
    Public transportation authorities in Maputo began offering free bus 
passes persons with disabilities during the year.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of tension 
between newly arrived Chinese guest workers, often used in 
construction, and citizens in Maputo city and Beira, Sofala Province.
    There were reports of violence and discrimination by police against 
Zimbabwean immigrants during the year (see Section 1.c.).
    There were reports of mob lynchings of West African immigrants 
during the year (see Section 1.a.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS, and the Ministry of Labor 
intervened in cases of perceived discrimination by employers. The NGO 
Pfunani reported that although the law protects citizens with HIV/AIDS 
from discrimination in the workplace, persons infected with HIV/AIDS 
suffered discrimination at home, in their communities, and in the 
workplace, and that many workers preferred to keep their diagnosis a 
secret and not seek treatment to avoid risking losing their jobs. In 
November the news daily Canal de Mocambique reported that some 
businesses obliged workers to take HIV/AIDS tests twice a year and, in 
most cases, publicly revealed test results. The report also noted that 
individuals who tested positive often were fired.
    The law does not specifically address discrimination against 
homosexuals, and there were occasional reports of discrimination. 
Actions were taken by media and civil society groups during the year to 
promote the rights of homosexuals. In July a major newspaper published, 
for the first time, an article arguing in favor of homosexual rights. 
In the article, prominent journalist Emilio Manhique editorialized that 
homosexuals ``have a right to be different.'' In October the LDH 
organized the country's first seminar on homosexual rights. The two-day 
event proposed the creation of an official homosexual rights 
association, recommended the inclusion of information on sexuality in 
the school system, and criticized the censorship of homosexual issues 
in the media.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide that 
all workers are free to join a trade union of their choice without 
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised 
these rights in practice. Labor laws guaranteeing the right of 
association do not cover government employees. As of December the 
Mozambican Workers' Association (OTM) estimated that of the 
approximately 500,000 workers in the formal sector 103,000 were 
unionized. Some unions alleged that the OTM was under the influence of 
FRELIMO.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, there were 
reports that many companies continued to engage in antiunion 
discrimination by replacing persons at the end of contracts, dismissing 
workers for going on strike, and not abiding by collective bargaining 
agreements.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the 
law provides for the right of workers to organize and engage in 
collective bargaining, collective bargaining contracts covered less 
than 2 percent of the work force. The Government did not set private 
sector salaries. Unions were responsible for negotiating wage 
increases.
    The law explicitly provides for the right to strike, and workers 
exercised this right in practice; however, civil servants, police, 
military personnel, and workers in other essential services (including 
sanitation, firefighting, and health care) do not have the right to 
strike. Repeated government promises to amend the law to provide full 
organizing and collective bargaining rights to public officials 
remained unfulfilled. There were 15 registered labor strikes from 
January to October. The law specifies that strikers must notify police, 
the Government, union, and employers 48 hours in advance of intended 
strikes. The law forbids retribution against strikers, the hiring of 
substitute workers, and lockouts by employers.
    Workers in the small number of export processing zones were subject 
to the same labor regulations as other workers, and worker rights in 
these zones generally were respected in practice.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children, and while there 
were few reports that such practices occurred in the formal economy, 
forced and bonded labor, particularly by children, was common in rural 
areas (see Sections 5, 6.d., and 6.e.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law prohibits child labor, it remained a problem. In the 
formal economy, the minimum working age without restrictions is 18 
years of age. The law permits children between 15 and 18 to work, but 
the employer is required to provide for their education and 
professional training and ensure conditions of work are not damaging to 
their physical and moral development. Children between the ages of 12 
and 15 are permitted to work under special conditions authorized 
jointly by the ministries of labor, health, and education. For children 
under the age of 18, the maximum workweek is 38 hours, the maximum 
workday is seven hours, and they are not permitted to work in unhealthy 
or dangerous occupations or those requiring significant physical 
effort. Children must undergo a medical examination before beginning 
work. By law children must be paid at least the minimum wage or a 
minimum of two-thirds of the adult salary, whichever is higher.
    Although the law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, a 
2004	05 survey by the National Statistics Institute showed that 32 
percent of children between the ages of seven and 17 were involved in 
some form of economic activity. Many children in rural areas were 
forced to work, particularly in commercial agriculture, as domestics, 
and in prostitution. The major factors contributing to the worst forms 
of child labor were chronic family poverty, lack of employment for 
adults, breakdown of family support mechanisms, the changing economic 
environment, lack of education opportunities, gender inequality, and 
the impact of HIV/AIDS. Children, including those under the age of 15, 
commonly worked on family farms independently in seasonal harvests or 
commercial plantations, where they were paid on a piecework basis and 
picked cotton or tea leaves. During the year the Eliminating Child 
Labor in Tobacco Foundation issued the results of a study conducted 
during the latter months of 2005 to measure the incidence of child 
labor in the tobacco growing industry in Tete and Niassa provinces. The 
study found that 80 percent of tobacco farms employed children, and the 
majority of these children were under age 15. In the urban informal 
sector children performed such tasks as guarding cars, collecting scrap 
metal, working as vendors, and selling trinkets and food in the 
streets.
    Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS often were forced to work because 
they were left without family support.
    The Ministry of Labor regulates child labor in both the informal 
and formal sectors. Labor inspectors may obtain court orders and use 
police to enforce compliance with child labor provisions. Violations of 
child labor provisions are punishable with fines ranging from one to 40 
monthly salaries at minimum wage. Enforcement mechanisms generally were 
adequate in the formal sector but remained poor in the informal sector. 
The Labor Inspectorate and police forces lacked adequate staff, funds, 
and training to investigate child labor cases, especially in areas 
outside of the capital where a majority of the abuses occurred. 
Although the Government provided training for police on child 
prostitution and abuse (including pornography), there was no 
specialized child labor training for the Labor Inspectorate. The 
Government disseminated information and provided education about the 
dangers of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In June the Government granted a 
13 percent increase in the statutory minimum wage for industry and 
services bringing it to approximately $58 (1,440 meticais) per month. 
The Government granted an 11.5 percent increase in the minimum wage in 
the agricultural sector bringing the monthly total to $40 (1,020 
meticais). Despite the increase, which was slightly above the 9.4 
percent inflation rate reported during the year, neither minimum wage 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Although 
the industrial sector frequently paid above minimum wage, there was 
little industry outside of the Maputo area. In addition less than 10 
percent of workers held salaried positions, and the majority of the 
labor force worked in subsistence farming. Many workers used a variety 
of strategies to survive, including finding a second job, maintaining 
their own gardens, or depending on the income of other family members.
    The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage 
rates in the private sector and the Ministry of Planning and Finance in 
the public sector. Violations of minimum wage rates usually were 
investigated only after workers registered a complaint. Workers 
generally received benefits, such as transportation and food, in 
addition to wages.
    The standard legal workweek is 40 hours but can be extended to 48 
hours. After 48 hours, overtime must be paid at 50 percent over the 
base hourly salary. Overtime is limited by law to two hours per day and 
100 hours per year. Foreign workers are protected under the law.
    Worker complaints continued during the year concerning: employers 
deducting social security contributions from wages but failing to pay 
them into accounts; lack of access to the social security system; not 
adhering to the law concerning firings; and intimidation of union 
members.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 investigation in Nampula 
into worker complaints of beatings, arbitrary firings, forced labor 
while sick or injured, and extremely low wages in several private 
companies, particularly the Ramiane Sisal Company.
    In the small formal sector, health and environmental laws were in 
place to protect workers; however, the Ministry of Labor did not 
effectively enforce these laws, and the Government only occasionally 
closed firms for noncompliance. There continued to be significant 
violations of labor legislation in many companies and services. Workers 
have the right to remove themselves from work situations that endanger 
their health or safety without jeopardy to their continued employment; 
in practice threats of dismissal and peer pressure restricted this 
right.
    As of mid-September, the Ministry of Labor reported 62 labor 
accident victims, 40 of whom were temporarily incapacitated and 22 were 
permanently incapacitated. While the law imposes fines for recurring 
accidents, no fines were imposed during the year. The law also requires 
that companies insure workers, but Ministry of Labor estimates 
indicated that only between 50 and 60 percent of companies actually 
provided coverage.

                               __________

                                NAMIBIA

    Namibia is a multiparty, multiracial democracy with a population of 
2,030,000. On March 21, Hifikepunye Pohamba became the country's second 
democratically elected President; Pohamba was elected in November 2004 
and replaced Sam Nujoma, the country's first President and leader of 
the ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). 
International and domestic observers agreed the 2004 general elections, 
in which SWAPO won three-quarters of the national assembly seats, were 
generally free and reflected the will of the electorate despite some 
irregularities. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. Human rights 
problems included: unlawful killings, torture, beatings, and abuse of 
criminal suspects and detainees by security forces; overcrowded 
prisons; prolonged pretrial detention and long delays in trials; 
government attempts to curb media and nongovernmental (NGO) criticism; 
violence against women and children, including rape and child abuse; 
discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, and indigenous 
peoples; and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces killed persons during the year. The Government took 
action against some perpetrators.
    On January 21, police shot and killed Collen Goliath after he was 
caught trying to break into the offices of the Ministry of Labor. 
Goliath and an unidentified accomplice fled the scene and police fired 
several warning shots, one of which ricocheted off a burglar bar and 
struck Goliath in the chest. The police officer was under investigation 
at year's end.
    On January 30, seven police officers from the southern town of 
Keetmanshoop allegedly beat five men suspected of theft. One of the 
suspects, Makarius Iikali, died from injuries; another suspect, Ben 
Basson, jumped from the first floor of the police building during 
interrogation but survived with serious injuries and was treated at a 
local hospital. The surviving suspects alleged that police assaulted 
them with batons and used an electric device to shock them. On February 
23 and 24, police officers Marthinus Punye, Johannes Mushelenga, 
Niklaas Hoaseb, Heidi Dean, Jacobus Otto, Cyroll Serogwe, and Daniel 
Nicodemus were charged with murder. The trial was ongoing at year's 
end.
    On May 27, in Okakarara, Linus Muhimba died while in police custody 
awaiting trial. Local police claimed that Muhimba fell from the ceiling 
through which he was trying to escape; however, representatives from 
the National Police Force (NAMPOL) discovered extensive bruising on 
Muhimba and cellmate John Muhenje and begun investigation into the 
death.
    There were no developments in the 2005 police killings of Hilda 
Tjitana and her grandmother, Albertina Tjitana by Constable ``Kalisto'' 
Mukeve; and of Marvin Tseib by Detective Ferdinand Jacobs.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no deaths that resulted from 
unexploded ordnances; however, persons were injured by them (see 
Section 1.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
police frequently used excessive force, including torture, when 
apprehending, interrogating, and detaining criminal suspects. Despite a 
police directive that prohibited the use of sjamboks (heavy leather 
whips), security forces continued to use them. The Government took 
action against some perpetrators.
    Suspects in the Caprivi treason trial complained of intimidation 
and humiliation while in detention.
    On February 17, two off-duty members of the Okahao Police's Special 
Field Force (SFF) constables Amadhila and Kamanya allegedly led a mob 
in the assault of two women accused of witchcraft, Nashipolo Agashe and 
Rachel Kapolo. On March 29, Constable Amadhila and four others 
implicated in the attack were arrested; Kamanya was not arrested 
because her involvement was being investigated. The case was ongoing at 
year's end.
    On May 2, police sergeant Sakeus Amuele and three civilians 
Mutilifia Keeleleni, Andreas Nghiwhekwa, and Nakanyala Akuunda were 
arrested and charged with assault and kidnapping after they allegedly 
chained and beat Hofenie Angomo Ikolola with sjamboks at a village near 
Ondangwa to force him to confess to housebreaking and theft. The case 
was ongoing at year's end.
    There were reports that the SFF paramilitary units used excessive 
force. On March 2, members of the SFF police unit and the Namibian 
Defense Force (NDF), who were sent to Mariental to maintain law and 
order after a flood, randomly assaulted residents of the town. 
Residents filed charges; an investigation was pending at year's end.
    During the year two ethnic Mafwe claimed that their testimony in 
the Caprivi treason trial was made under duress (see below and section 
1.e.).
    On February 24, the court postponed the case against police 
officers Geoffrey Scott, Willem Dax, and Dawid Fy, who in July 2005 
allegedly tortured Ralph Cloete, a suspected thief.
    There were no developments in the January 2005 cases of Elihana 
Nghimwenas and Pakratius Kawana, who respectively filed civil 
complaints against the police for torture.
    Human rights groups continued to report on ongoing civil court 
cases filed by individuals against the Government as a result of 
alleged security force abuses during the 1999 secessionist attacks (see 
Sections 1.d. and 1.e.). During the year five of the 120 previously 
reported civil cases were settled out of court and 115 were pending at 
year's end.
    Unlike in previous years there were no reports of sexual misconduct 
by its peacekeepers on UN missions.
    Mob violence occurred; however, unlike in the previous year, no 
deaths resulted (see above).
    During the year civilians were injured as a result of contact with 
unexploded ordnances. For example, on January 4, two men were injured 
by a hand grenade while herding goats near Otjiu village.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons and detention 
centers were overcrowded and poorly maintained. During the year the 
ombudsman conducted a review of police holding cells and noted poor 
sanitary conditions, overcrowding, insufficient food supplies, unsafe 
infrastructure, stagnant water, lack of access to medical care 
facilities and potable water, and insufficient bathroom and shower 
facilities. The ombudsman also noted police stations were understaffed 
and that officers could not tend to detainees in addition to their 
regular police duties. Victims of prison abuse were able to pursue 
legal remedies.
    Some detainees were held with convicted prisoners. In many rural 
areas juveniles continued to be held with adults. There were several 
pilot programs that provided alternatives to incarceration for juvenile 
offenders, such as placing youths in homes. The NGO Criminals Return 
into Society also offered a number of rehabilitation programs to build 
vocational skills. The Polytechnic of Namibia also conducted an 
entrepreneurship training program at most prisons in the country.
    Although the Government continued to grant NGOs regular access to 
prisons and prisoners, during the year there was no published review of 
prison conditions in the country. In May the International Committee 
for the Red Cross (ICRC) closed its local office and responsibility was 
transferred to the ICRC Regional Delegation Headquarters in Harare, 
Zimbabwe.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest or detention; however, security forces did 
not observe these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, including 
the paramilitary SFF, are under the Ministry of Safety and Security, 
and the NDF is under the Ministry of Defense. All are responsible for 
internal security. NAMPOL has 10,000 members and is highly centralized 
with regional commands responsible to the inspector general of police, 
who reports to the minister of safety and security. Approximately half 
of NAMPOL's overall complement is assigned to the SFF, a paramilitary 
unit made up primarily of combatants from the former People's 
Liberation Army of Namibia. SFF members were assigned to guard duty, 
checkpoints, and the maintenance of public order. NAMPOL lacked the 
resources, training, and personnel to deter or investigate street crime 
consistently.
    During the year the police received human rights training designed 
by the Legal Assistance Center (LAC) and some officers attended 
training programs with human rights components at the International Law 
Enforcement Academy in Gaborone, Botswana. Although some security force 
members accused of abuse and corruption were arrested and tried in 
military courts or the civilian criminal justice system, the Government 
took no action against others.
    During the year the Government took action against corrupt 
officials. The police's Special Branch Commanding Officer Lottinelomba 
Uusiku and Finance Division Commanding Officer Joseph Kamati were 
investigated for fiscal impropriety. During the year the two officers 
were suspended pending the verdict of their corruption trial. Their 
docket was delivered to the prosecutor general, and by year's end the 
two officers remained on suspension.

    Arrest and Detention.--Persons arrested must be informed of the 
reason for their arrest and brought before a magistrate within 48 hours 
of their detention, but the Government did not always respect these 
provisions in practice. Arrest warrants were not required in all cases, 
such as if a suspect was apprehended during the commission of a crime. 
Those accused are entitled to defense by the legal counsel of their 
choice, and those who cannot afford a lawyer are entitled to state-
provided counsel. In practice many accused persons in remote and rural 
areas were not represented by counsel, primarily due to lack of 
resources. Prisoners generally had access to legal counsel and family 
during regular visiting hours. Detainees had access to their lawyers 
prior to trial. There is a functioning bail system, and the LAC 
reported that it generally was observed except in rural areas, where 
persons often were unaware of their legal rights. Under a state of 
emergency, the constitution permits detention without trial, although 
the names of detainees must be published in the Government's gazette 
within 14 days, and an advisory board appointed by the President must 
review their cases.
    On occasion authorities held detainees incommunicado.
    During the year there were reports that family members were denied 
access to detainees. For example, the relatives of the two witnesses 
forced to testify in the Caprivi trial claimed they were denied access; 
the Government stated that it had sequestered the individuals for their 
security.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of arbitrary 
arrest and detention.
    During the 1999 state of emergency declared in response to Caprivi 
Liberation Army (CLA) attacks in Katima Mulilo, security forces 
detained several hundred suspected CLA members and sympathizers, most 
of whom were released after two weeks. Trial proceedings began in 2003 
in Grootfontein and were moved to Windhoek in 2005, where they resumed 
and continued during the year. At year's end 131 suspects remained in 
detention in Windhoek, 12 of whom were extradited from Botswana and 
Zambia in 2002 and 2003. All were charged with treason.
    The Government remunerated persons who were arbitrarily arrested in 
the past. For example, on June 14, the High Court awarded $10,000 
(N$65,000) in damages to Ethiopian national Dereje Demmse Getachew, who 
was illegally arrested in 2004 and held in detention for three months.
    A trial must take place within ``a reasonable time,'' or the 
accused must be released; however, lengthy pretrial detention was a 
problem. The lack of qualified magistrates and other court officials, 
the high cost of legal aid, and slow or incomplete police 
investigations resulted in a serious backlog of criminal cases, which 
often translated into delays of up to one year or more between arrest 
and trial. Human rights organizations have criticized lengthy pretrial 
detentions. At the time of the Ombudsman's visit to police holding 
cells nationwide during August and September, there were 2,950 
detainees awaiting trial.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and while the courts continued to act 
independently and at times made judgments and rulings critical of the 
Government, the judicial system was hampered by inefficiency and a lack 
of resources. In September nearly all of the country's magistrates 
received human rights training in a week-long seminar conducted by the 
University of Namibia.
    The formal court system has three levels: 30 magistrate courts; the 
High Court; and the Supreme Court. The latter served as a court of 
appeals and constitutional review court. Customary courts heard most 
civil and petty criminal cases in rural areas. The law delineates which 
offenses may be dealt with under the traditional system.
    Most rural citizens first encountered the legal system through the 
traditional courts, which deal with minor criminal offenses such as 
petty theft and infractions of local customs among members of the same 
ethnic group. The law delineates role, duties, and powers of 
traditional leaders and provides that customary law is invalid if it is 
inconsistent with provisions of the constitution.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, with a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, 
but this right was limited by long delays in hearing cases in the 
regular courts and the uneven application of constitutional protections 
in the traditional system (see Section 1.d.). The law provides for 
public trials, but not juries. Defendants are presumed innocent, can 
confront witnesses, and have the right of appeal. The state provides 
attorneys for indigent defendants.
    During the year procedural problems continued to dominate the high 
treason trials of detainees arrested in connection with the 1999 
attacks on government institutions at Katima Mulilo (see Section 1.d.). 
For example, the defendants contested the legitimacy of any local court 
to try them, contending that Caprivi is not part of the country.
    On July 31, two ethnic Mafwe witnesses, Harrison Muleta Kwala and 
Gabriel Matengu Sakutiya, appeared in court on charges of perjury and 
obstruction of justice for denying statements they had made to 
investigators in the Caprivi treason trial. The two claimed their 
statements were obtained under duress inflicted by security forces.
    Several state witnesses in the Caprivi treason trial were allegedly 
kept at two guesthouses in Windhoek for four months during the trial. 
Human rights activists charged that the men were not allowed to move 
around freely and that the prolonged sequestering amounted to 
intimidation of the witnesses; however, the Government claimed it had 
sequestered the witnesses for their safety. Their relatives complained 
to a local human rights body that they were denied access to the 
detainees.
    In response to a UN investigation into sexual misconduct by 
peacekeeping troops in Liberia, the Government recalled three 
peacekeepers in 2005 and launched its own inquiry. During the year the 
soldiers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees; however, numerous persons were held 
on treason charges.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution provides all citizens with the right 
to privacy and requires arresting officers to secure a judicial warrant 
before conducting a search; government authorities generally respected 
these rights in practice. Violators were subject to legal action.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and while the Government generally 
respected these rights, high-level government officials sometimes 
responded to criticism of the Government and ruling party with verbal 
abuse. Journalists working for the government-affiliated media 
practiced self-censorship, although reporters for independent 
newspapers continued to criticize the Government openly.
    There were four daily national newspapers, three of which were 
independent, and two weekly newspapers, both of which were independent. 
The Government contributed financially to the New Era newspaper and the 
Namibia Press Agency, both parastatals. The ruling SWAPO party owned 
one publication, Namibia Today.
    The Government owned and operated the Namibian Broadcasting 
Corporation (NBC) Radio and Television. NBC television and nine radio 
services, that broadcast in English and indigenous languages, were the 
most widely heard and influential media in the country. During the year 
there were reports of government influence on NBC operations and 
editorial content as well as self-censorship by the staff. There were 
11 private radio stations. There were two private television networks, 
One Africa TV and MultiChoice Direct Satellite TV, and a private cable 
and satellite television service that broadcast international news and 
entertainment programs. The ruling SWAPO party owned 51 percent of this 
direct satellite television service.
    During the year Minister of Information Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah 
reprimanded the media for publishing a letter that criticized former 
President Nujoma. The minister also called on NBC to control the 
content of talk shows in which callers criticized former President 
Nujoma, the ruling party, and the Government.
    During the year former President Nujoma filed a libel suit against 
The Namibian newspaper for a series of articles that characterized 
Nujoma as corrupt.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail and 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
While Internet access was unrestricted, usage was limited in rural 
areas due to poverty.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a very small Jewish 
community; there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally enforced these rights in 
practice; however, the Government reportedly has a bilateral agreement 
with Cuba that limits the freedom of travel of Cuban assistance 
professionals working in the country through Cuban bilateral 
assistance. These Cubans are not allowed to travel within or from the 
country without consent from the Cuban Embassy, which holds the 
passports of these professionals.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees, although the country is not a 
signatory to its 1967 Protocol; the Government has established a system 
for providing protection to refugees. In practice the Government 
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a 
country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee status or 
asylum. The Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees. The Government also provided temporary protection to certain 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and 1967 Protocol.
    Approximately 6,000 refugees resided in Osire Refugee Camp and 
another 500 lived outside the camp among the general population. 
Approximately 4,500 of the refugees were from Angola; the others 
primarily were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and 
Rwanda. The Government generally did not permit refugees and asylum 
seekers to work or live outside the Osire refugee camp. Education 
through grade 10 was available to all refugees at the camp, and the 
Government facilitated further secondary education for students with 
financial sponsorship at schools outside the camp. Some tension with 
local farmers persisted, fueled by frequent intrusion of refugees into 
farmers' properties. On March 30, the Government launched an initiative 
to provide antiretroviral therapy to refugees infected with HIV/AIDS.
    The Government continued to maintain strict control over civilian 
access to the Osire refugee camp; however, the ICRC, the UNHCR, and the 
UNHCR's NGO partners had regular and unrestricted access to the camp.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and 
parliamentary elections were held in November 2004. SWAPO candidate 
Hifikepunye Pohamba was elected President with 76.4 percent of the 
vote; SWAPO won 55 of 72 elected National Assembly seats. International 
and domestic observers characterized both elections as free and 
reflecting the will of the electorate despite some irregularities. 
Observers criticized the inefficient vote tabulation system and the 
unequal access to media coverage and campaign financing. In the 
National Assembly, six opposition parties won a total of 17 seats.
    During 2005 opposition parties challenged the results of the 2004 
parliamentary elections, which resulted in a court-ordered recount. The 
recount produced the same parliamentary seats for all parties but 
failed to allay some opposition concerns regarding irregularities. The 
Republican Party subsequently launched another court challenge of the 
recount, which remained pending before the high court at year's end.
    Women held 20 seats in the 78-seat National Assembly. There were 
six female ministers, including the deputy prime minister, and five 
female deputy ministers among the 45 ministerial and deputy ministerial 
positions.
    Historic economic and educational disadvantages limited the 
participation of the indigenous San ethnic group in politics; however, 
a member of the San community represented the SWAPO party in the 
National Assembly. Virtually all of the country's other ethnic 
minorities were represented in parliament and in senior positions in 
the cabinet. Members of smaller ethnic groups held the offices of 
deputy prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The law prohibits 
corruption; however, it was a problem. Government institutions 
including the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman, 
and the Office of the Auditor General were in place to combat public 
corruption. President Pohamba continued to encourage the nation to be 
vigilant against corruption and to report financial impropriety to the 
authorities. The President often publicly reiterated his support for 
the Anti-Corruption Commission.
    During the year the Government took action against corrupt 
officials. For example, on September 17, police working with the Anti-
Corruption Commission arrested Deputy Director of Wildlife Management 
Sackey Namugongo, who faced charges of issuing fraudulent gambling 
licenses.
    There were notable cases of malfeasance in several of the country's 
parastatals. Reports of corruption in the Roads Contractor Company, the 
National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia, Game Management Division of 
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and the Ministry of Health and 
Social Services received widespread media coverage and were being 
investigated by government agencies at year's end.
    Gerry Munyama, the former director general of NBC who was suspended 
in November 2005 for alleged embezzlement, was released on bail during 
the year and his case remained pending.
    No laws provided for public access to government information, but 
the Government generally provided such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases; however, government 
officials continued to disapprove publicly of NGO criticism of the 
ruling party and government policies. NGOs continued to criticize 
government policies freely. During the year human rights organizations 
noted greater openness by the Government to opposing viewpoints. For 
example, President Pohamba met with civil society and NGO leaders 
during the year, including some deemed to be antigovernment.
    During the year the ICRC closed its local offices, however visits 
by the ICRC and other international NGOs occurred during the year.
    There was an autonomous ombudsman, with whom the Government 
cooperated; he was considered effective in addressing some corruption 
and human rights problems.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
creed, gender, or religion, and specifically prohibits ``the practice 
and ideology of apartheid''; however, the Government did not 
effectively enforce these prohibitions.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including beating and 
rape, was widespread. Traditional attitudes regarding the subordination 
of women exacerbated problems of sexual and domestic violence. Domestic 
violence is against the law, and the law defines rape in broad terms 
and allows for the prosecution, of spousal rape. The penalties for rape 
ranged from five years to 45 years imprisonment, and the Government 
generally enforced the law. Numerous rapists were prosecuted during the 
year. In some magistrates' courts, there were special courtrooms to 
protect vulnerable witnesses from open testimony; the courtrooms 
featured a cubicle made of one-way glass and child-friendly waiting 
rooms.
    There were 15 women and children protection units staffed with 
police officers trained to assist victims of sexual assault. During the 
year the People's Education, Assistance, and Counseling for Empowerment 
Center and other NGOs continued to provide training to these units. The 
media continued to report on rape and domestic violence.
    The law does not prohibit prostitution, and it occurred.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was a problem.
    The law prohibits discrimination against women, including 
employment discrimination; however, men dominated positions in upper 
management. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the Employment 
Equity Commission, which report to the minister of labor, were 
responsible for problems involving discrimination in employment; 
however, neither was effective due to the backlog of cases. The law 
prohibits discriminatory practices against women married under civil 
law, but women who married under customary (traditional) law continued 
to face legal and cultural discrimination. Traditional practices that 
permitted family members to confiscate the property of deceased men 
from their widows and children still existed. During the year the Legal 
Assistance Center successfully litigated on behalf of several widows 
and orphans who were victims of property grabbing; most cases were 
settled out of court.
    The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare was responsible 
for advocating for women's rights. The Ministry of Justice's Law Reform 
and Development Commission advocated for women's rights in legislation.

    Children.--The law enumerates children's rights, including those in 
the area of education and health, and the Government dedicated 
approximately 21 percent of its budget for education and 9 percent for 
health care. However, resource constraints and untrained support staff 
resulted in inadequate attention to child welfare. During the year the 
Government passed the Children Status Bill that provides for equal 
treatment of children born outside marriage, and regulates custody, 
guardianship, and inheritance. This legislation for the first time 
grants children born outside marriage the right to inherit from their 
parents. Civil society opposed a provision in the act whereby if 
parents of a child born outside of marriage cannot agree on the primary 
custodian of the child, the child would be without a legal custodian 
and guardian. At year's end the court was ruling on the matter.
    Although the constitution provides children with the right to 
primary and junior secondary education (grades one to 10), the numerous 
fees, which included fees for uniforms, books, boarding costs, and 
school improvement, placed a heavy burden on students' families and 
precluded some children from attending school. Education was compulsory 
until the age of 16. The country has a net school enrollment rate of 94 
percent for grades one through seven and of 93 percent for grades one 
through 10. In general, more girls than boys were enrolled in secondary 
schools. Many San children did not attend school.
    During the year the Government took several steps to provide 
medical care and other assistance to the approximately 108,500 HIV/AIDS 
orphans and other vulnerable children. For example, the Government 
reduced or eliminated school fees and provided social grants.
    Child abuse was a serious problem, and authorities vigorously 
prosecuted crimes against children, particularly rape and incest. The 
law protects children under 18 years of age by criminalizing sexual 
exploitation, child pornography, and child prostitution. The age of 
sexual consent is 16 years. During the year the Government continued to 
provide training for police officials to improve the handling of child 
sex abuse cases. Centers for abused women and children worked actively 
to reduce the trauma suffered by abused children.
    During the year Supreme Court Judge of Appeal Pio Teek was 
acquitted on charges of attempted child molestation. In 2005 Teek was 
forced to resign to face the charges.
    Child prostitution occurred, and parents as well as perpetrators 
were liable in such cases. The growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans 
increased the vulnerability of children to sexual abuse and 
exploitation.
    Numerous children orphaned by HIV/AIDS engaged in prostitution as a 
means of survival.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking 
in persons, and there were no reports of persons being trafficked to, 
from, or within the country; however, child prostitution occurred. The 
law also prohibits slavery, kidnapping, and forced labor, including 
forced prostitution, child labor, and alien smuggling. Traffickers were 
subject to fines of up to $166,000 (N$ one million) or up to 50 years' 
imprisonment.
    Child prostitution occurred (see Section 5 children).

    Persons With Disabilities.--While discrimination on the basis of 
disability is not addressed in the constitution, the law prohibits 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment. 
Enforcement in this area was ineffective. Societal discrimination also 
persisted. The Government does not legally require special access to 
public buildings for persons with disabilities, and some ministries 
remained inaccessible to them. Although some municipal governments have 
installed ramps and special curbing for persons with disabilities at 
street crossings, physical access for those with disabilities remained 
a problem. Disability concerns continued to receive greater public 
attention than in previous years, with wider press coverage of the 
human rights problems that confront persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Despite constitutional 
prohibitions, societal, racial, and ethnic discrimination persisted. 
Many citizens continued to complain that the Government was not moving 
quickly enough to provide education, health, housing, employment, and 
access to land. Some citizens continued to accuse the Government of 
providing more development assistance and professional opportunities to 
the majority Ovambo ethnic group. There also were reported cases of 
black farm workers suffering discrimination in remote areas at the 
hands of white farm owners.
    On January 12, the High Court found unconstitutional the Walvis Bay 
Municipality exclusion of white persons from bidding for open plots 
during a municipal property auction in 2003.

    Indigenous People.--The San, the country's earliest known 
inhabitants, historically have been exploited by other ethnic groups. 
By law all indigenous groups participate equally in decisions affecting 
their lands, cultures, traditions, and allocations of natural 
resources; however, the San and other indigenous citizens have been 
unable to exercise these rights fully as a result of minimal access to 
education, limited economic opportunities, and their relative 
isolation. The Government took measures to end societal discrimination 
against the San, including seeking their advice about proposed 
legislation on communally held lands and increasing their access to 
education. During the year the deputy prime minister repeatedly sought 
to raise awareness about the needs of the San. Despite these measures, 
many San children did not attend school. In 2004 the LAC filed charges 
on behalf of 18 members of the San community against more than 20 
communal farmers who allegedly beat them after accusing the San of 
stock theft. After the case had been postponed for lack of evidence on 
numerous occasions, in May the LAC abandoned the civil case and opened 
several criminal cases. NGOs reported a decrease in complaints that the 
San were unable to obtain proper identification documents; however, 
problems continued due to lack of birth records and lack of government 
officials with the necessary language skills.
    The Government has authority to confer recognition or withhold it 
from traditional leaders, even in opposition to local preference. This 
authority was controversial because of the local leaders' influence on 
local events, including local police powers. In some cases the 
Government withheld recognition from genuine traditional leaders for 
political reasons. For example, the Government recognized traditional 
leaders from the Mafwe community, reportedly because their leaders were 
close to SWAPO; however, the Government had not recognized leaders of 
the Khwe in West Caprivi or the Herero in several other regions 
throughout the country.
    During the year 40 Herero chiefs, who were not officially 
recognized by the Government as traditional authorities, sent a 
petition to the UN and several western governments to protest what they 
viewed as ongoing marginalization by the Government.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination of 
homosexuals occurred. During the year senior government officials 
continued to make disparaging public remarks about homosexuals or used 
the word ``homosexual'' as an epithet. For example, Sam Nujoma the 
SWAPO President and former President of the country, reportedly called 
the director of the National Society for Human Rights and members of 
the Shabeen Owners Association ``homosexuals'' for criticizing 
government action on the closure of illegal shebeens. His remarks 
sparked wide criticism in the media and by human rights groups. 
Observers believed the slur generated greater societal pressure on 
homosexuals and undermined the human rights organization.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the 
freedom to form and join trade unions without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
The law provides a process for employer recognition of trade unions and 
protection for members and organizers.
    Farm workers and domestic servants working on rural and remote 
farms often did not know their rights, and unions experienced obstacles 
in attempting to organize these workers. As a result, farm workers 
reportedly suffered abuse by employers. They also had poor access to 
health care. During the year the Government continued efforts to train 
labor inspectors and educate workers on their rights.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination. There were no instances 
of companies failing to reinstate workers who were fired for union 
activities.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides employees 
with the right to bargain individually or collectively and to recognize 
the exclusive collective bargaining power of the union when a majority 
of the workers were members of that union; workers exercised these 
rights in practice. Collective bargaining was not practiced widely 
outside the mining, construction, agriculture, and public service 
sectors. Almost all collective bargaining was at the workplace and 
company level. The Ministry of Labor cited lack of information and 
basic negotiation skills as factors hampering workers' ability to 
bargain with employers successfully.
    Except for workers providing essential services, such as jobs 
related to public health and safety, workers have the right to strike 
once conciliation procedures are exhausted and 48-hour notice has been 
given to the employer and labor commissioner. Legal strikes were 
conducted during the year. Under the law, strike action can be used 
only in disputes involving specific worker interests, such as pay 
raises. Disputes over worker rights, including dismissals, must be 
referred to a labor court for arbitration. The law protects workers 
engaged in legal strikes from unfair dismissal. The law also 
specifically protects both union organizers and striking workers from 
employer retaliation; however, the scarcity of judges and lack of 
expertise in labor law caused lengthy and unnecessary delays in such 
cases. Legal strikes were conducted during the year.
    There are export processing zones (EPZs) at the Walvis Bay and 
Oshikango industrial parks and a number of single-factory EPZs outside 
of these parks. The law applies to EPZs, and unions have been active in 
the EPZs since their establishment.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there 
continued to be media reports that farm workers, including some 
children on communal farms, and domestic workers often received 
inadequate compensation for their labor and were subject to strict 
control by employers. Given the ministry of labor's resource 
constraints, labor inspectors sometimes encountered problems in gaining 
access to the country's large communal and family-owned commercial 
farms to investigate possible labor code violations.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace; 
however, child labor continued to be a problem. Criminal penalties and 
court orders were available to the Government to enforce child labor 
laws, but such action involved a complicated legal procedure. Under the 
law, the minimum age for employment is 14 years, with higher age 
requirements for night work and in certain sectors such as mining and 
construction. The minimum age was inconsistent with the age for 
completing education requirements (see Section 5). Children below the 
age of 14 often worked on family-owned commercial farms and in the 
informal sector, and some also worked in communal areas.
    Child prostitution occurred (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws 
and investigates child labor as part of its regular labor inspections. 
Approximately five complaints of child labor were lodged with the 
ministry during the year.
    The Ministry of Labor's National Initiative to Eliminate the Worst 
Forms of Child Labor continued its baseline study of the extent of 
child labor in the country. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child 
Welfare conducted several programs aimed at encouraging parents and 
guardians to allow children to attend school.
    The Government has introduced several programs aimed at supporting 
children to stay in school and away from the labor market. The Ministry 
of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, and the Ministry of Health and 
Social Services coordinated welfare programs for orphans, including 
those affected by HIV/AIDS, by providing grants and scholarships to 
keep them in school. Additionally, the Government also collaborated 
with the Namibia Agricultural Union and the Namibia Farm Workers Union 
in efforts to eliminate child labor through awareness campaigns. The 
Government also continued to work with NGOs such as Project Hope to 
assist the victims of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no statutory minimum 
wage law, but the mining, construction, and agricultural sectors set 
basic levels of pay through collective bargaining. Average wages for 
unskilled workers did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family, especially since the average wage earner supported 
the extended family. Wage levels for the less educated majority 
remained very low.
    The standard legal workweek is 45 hours with at least one 36-hour 
rest period per week. An employer may require no more than 10 hours per 
week of overtime. The law mandates 24 workdays of annual leave per 
year, at least 30 workdays of sick leave over a three-year period, and 
three months of maternity leave paid in part by the Social Security 
Commission. The Ministry of Labor did not always enforce these 
provisions.
    During the year government officials and the media criticized 
Chinese firms for allegedly not adhering to the country's labor code, 
including claims of hiring and firing workers at will, failure to pay 
established minimum wages and benefits in certain industries, and 
failing to respect work-hour regulations for public holidays and 
Sundays.
    The ministries of labor and social welfare mandate occupational 
health and safety standards, and the Labor Act empowers the President 
to enforce these standards through inspections and criminal penalties. 
Labor laws generally were implemented efficiently, but the Ministry of 
Labor lacked an adequate number of trained inspectors to monitor 
adherence to such labor regulations as providing overtime pay and 
social security by some companies, especially small, family-owned 
operations. The law requires employers to ensure the health, safety, 
and welfare of their employees. It provides employees with the right to 
remove themselves from dangerous work situations; however, some workers 
did not have this right in practice. The Government has not fully 
implemented the 2004 Labor Act. In September the Government submitted 
to parliament a new draft bill that would eventually replace the 
previous labor act; however, it has been tabled for future action.
    The law accords the same rights to legal foreign workers as to 
citizens.

                               __________

                                 NIGER

    Niger is a multiparty republic that returned to democracy in 1999 
following coups in 1996 and 1999; it has a population estimated at 14 
million. In 2004 Mamadou Tandja was elected to his second five-year 
Presidential term in an election that international observers deemed 
generally free and fair. Four parties joined the ruling coalition of 
the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) and the 
Democratic and Social Convention (CDS) to win a majority of national 
assembly seats. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    Human rights abuses included: alleged extrajudicial killings; use 
of excessive force by police and security forces; poor jail and prison 
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial 
detention; executive interference in the judiciary; forcible dispersal 
of demonstrators; interference with press freedoms; official 
corruption; societal discrimination and violence against women and 
children; female genital mutilation (FGM); trafficking in persons; the 
practice of slavery by some groups; and forced child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year the 
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated 
killings; however, security forces were allegedly responsible for 
detainee deaths during the year.
    On May 28, the gendarmerie reported the death of Alpha Harouna 
Hinsa, a used car parts dealer, who was under their custody and died at 
the Niamey general hospital, after suffering what the gendarmes 
described as ``a health problem.'' After conducting their own 
investigations, human rights associations, including the 
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Nigerien Association for the Defense 
of Human Rights, and Hinsa's family charged that Hinsa had died before 
his hospital admission, after being tortured by gendarmes, and 
requested an independent investigation. An autopsy was commissioned by 
the victim's family, but no results were released by year's end. The 
Niamey prosecutor reportedly was investigating the case (see Section 
1.c.).
    On July 30, Moussa Douka died while in police custody in Agadez, 
after being arrested on charges of stealing a cell phone and gold 
jewelry from his employer, a local businessman. At year's end the 
Procurator General (prosecutor) of the Appeals Court of Zinder 
reportedly was investigating the case (see Section 1.c.).
    On March 16, the court of appeals of Niamey reviewed the case of a 
customs officer killed by police in 2003. The court ordered the 
Government to pay $48,000 (26 million CFA francs) in damages to the 
victim's family. The customs union considered the judgment insufficient 
and appealed the case to the Supreme Court, where it was pending at 
year's end.
    During the year bandits set up roadblocks along highways and 
attacked and robbed persons (see Section 2.d.). On August 11, bandits 
attacked a convoy of cigarette trucks in the northern region, killing 
one of the soldiers escorting the convoy and injuring several others. 
Another soldier was reported missing.
    At year's end the two bandits arrested for killing a French tourist 
in December 2005 were still in prison awaiting trial.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no disputes between herders 
and farmers that resulted in deaths. A court case against the alleged 
instigator, who remains incarcerated, of a May 2005 incident in which 
11 persons were killed and 12 injured, was still pending at year's end.
    There were no further developments regarding a 2005 riot over 
subsidized food distribution that resulted in one death; at year's end 
one of three suspects detained in the case remained in detention.
    There were no further developments in the case of the 2004 killing 
of local political leader Adam Amenge. Of the 23 persons arrested in 
connection with the killing, four--Amadou Ibrahim, aka ``Bambino,'' 
Attaher Rhissa, Boubacar Ando, and Alhassane Adam Ibrahim--remained in 
pretrial detention at year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of kidnappings 
and violence between Malian and Nigerien herders along the border 
between the two countries.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were reports that security forces beat and abused persons in 
Niamey and Agadez.
    Security force use of excessive force resulted in deaths and 
injuries (see Section 1.a.).
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations, which resulted in 
injuries (see Section 2.b.).
    No action was taken against members of security forces who arrested 
and beat a health worker for having refused medical treatment to the 
child of a Republican Guard in 2005.
    The investigation into the 2004 abuse by security forces of 
civilians in Tesker remained open at year's end, although the 
investigation was no longer being actively pursued; during the year a 
reconciliation forum had brought affected families together with 
government officials.
    On August 21, armed persons claiming to represent the Revolutionary 
Armed Forces of the Sahara, a former rebel group, abducted and robbed a 
group of 22 Italian tourists in the country's northeastern desert. The 
following day the assailants released all but two of the tourists. The 
remaining two were released on October 14, after reported Libyan 
mediation.
    Unlike in the previous year, disputes between farmers and herders 
in western Dosso region did not result in reported deaths or injuries.
    During the year authorities held a series of meetings with their 
Malian counterparts to address cross-border kidnappings, banditry, and 
cattle rustling that had occurred in 2005. From March 7 to 9, elected 
officials from both countries held a forum in Meneka, Mali, to exchange 
views on cross-border security and decentralized cooperation and 
prepare for another meeting in Niger to develop strategies to address 
the frontier security situation.
    On May 28, the gendarmerie reported the death of Alpha Harouna 
Hinsa, who was under their custody. According to the gendarmerie, Hinsa 
passed away at the Niamey general hospital, where he was taken after 
suffering what the gendarmerie described as ``a health problem.'' After 
conducting their own investigations, human rights associations 
dismissed the gendarmerie's claim that Hinsa died in the hospital, 
contending that he died before his admission, after being tortured by 
gendarmes. Hinsa's family and human rights groups condemned the alleged 
torture and requested an independent investigation. A forensic report 
was commissioned, but results had not been released. The case was under 
investigation at year's end (see Section 1.a.).
    On July 30, Moussa Douka died while in police custody in Agadez, 
after being arrested on charges of stealing a cell phone and gold 
jewelry from his employer, a local businessman. His death was under 
investigation at year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in all 35 of 
the country's prisons were poor and life threatening. Prisons were 
underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded. For example, in Niamey's 
civil prison, there were approximately 720 prisoners in a facility 
built for 350; at year's end an estimated 550 of them were awaiting 
trial. Family visits were allowed, and prisoners could receive 
supplemental food, medicine, and other necessities from their families; 
however, nutrition, sanitation, and health conditions were poor, and 
deaths occurred from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
    Corruption among prison staff was rampant. Prisoners could bribe 
officials to leave prison for the day and serve their sentences in the 
evenings. Some prisoners bribed officials to serve their sentences in 
the national hospital in Niamey.
    Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
    Human rights observers, including the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC), the National Human Rights and Fundamental 
Liberties Commission, and various NGOs, were granted unrestricted 
access to prisons and detention centers and conducted visits during the 
year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the law prohibits 
detention without charge in excess of 48 hours; however, police at 
times violated these provisions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces, under 
the Defense Ministry, were responsible for internal and external 
security. The gendarmerie, also under the Defense Ministry, had primary 
responsibility for rural security. The national forces for intervention 
and security, under the Interior Ministry, were responsible for 
domestic security and the protection of high-level officials and 
government buildings, and the national police, also under the Interior 
Ministry, were charged with urban law enforcement.
    The police were ineffective, primarily because of inadequate 
resources. Basic supplies such as vehicle fuel, radios, uniforms, 
handcuffs, batons, and badges were scarce. Patrols were sporadic, and 
emergency response time in Niamey could take 45 minutes. Police 
training was minimal, and only specialized police units had basic 
weapons-handling skills. Corruption remained pervasive. Citizens 
complained that security forces did not adequately police border 
regions. The gendarmerie is responsible for investigation of police 
abuse; however, impunity was often a problem.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law require a warrant 
for an arrest and provide for a 48-hour investigative detention period. 
If police fail to gather sufficient evidence within that period, the 
prosecutor can give the case to another officer, and a new 48-hour 
investigative detention period begins. Poor communication hindered 
accurate identification of detainees and could result in prolonging the 
48-hour detention period. A defendant has the right to a lawyer 
immediately upon detention, and bail is available for crimes carrying a 
penalty of less than 10 years' imprisonment. Widespread ignorance of 
the law and lack of financial means prevented many of the accused from 
taking full advantage of these rights. Detainees are brought before an 
independent judiciary. They have a right to prompt judicial 
determination. They were promptly informed of charges against them. 
Indigents are provided a lawyer by the Government.
    There were no further developments in the arbitrary arrests in 
March 2005 of five civil society leaders. The men were released in 
April 2005; however, charges were still technically pending, although 
no further move to prosecute the five had been taken by year's end.
    Security forces arrested journalists and numerous demonstrators 
during the year (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    Police occasionally conducted sweeps to detain suspected criminals.
    There were serious backlogs in the judicial system. Despite legal 
limits on the pretrial confinement period of indicted persons, pretrial 
detention frequently lasted months or years; some persons had been 
waiting as long as six years to be tried. Approximately 76 percent of 
those incarcerated were pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the executive branch sometimes 
interfered with the judicial process. Judges sometimes feared 
reassignment or having their financial benefits reduced if they 
rendered a decision unfavorable to the Government. In civil matters 
there were credible reports that family and business ties influenced 
lower court decisions. In some instances judges granted provisional 
release pending trial to high-profile defendants. Persons in such 
status had complete freedom of movement and could leave the country, 
but the charges against them remained pending, and the courts could 
recall them at any point. However, such persons were seldom called back 
for trial, and some observers charged that provisional release amounted 
to a denial of fair public trial.
    The Court of Appeals reviews questions of fact and law, while the 
Supreme Court reviews only application of the law and constitutional 
questions. The High Court of Justice deals with cases involving senior 
government officials. There also were customary courts and a military 
court. The military court provides the same rights as civil criminal 
courts; however, customary courts do not. The military court cannot try 
civilians.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials were public, and juries were used. 
Defendants have the right to counsel; the right to counsel at public 
expense for minors and indigent defendants charged with crimes carrying 
a sentence of 10 years or more; to be present at trial; to confront 
witnesses; and to present witnesses on their own behalf. Defendants 
have access to government-held evidence, and the Government has a legal 
obligation to inform defendants of all evidence against them. 
Defendants may appeal verdicts, first to the court of appeals, then to 
the Supreme Court. The law affirms the presumption of innocence. The 
above rights extended to all citizens, but widespread ignorance of the 
law prevented many accused from taking full advantage of these rights.
    Although lawyers complied with government requests to provide 
counsel, the Government generally did not remunerate them. There were 
no defense attorneys outside of the capital, although lawyers traveled 
to other locations to provide legal assistance as requested.
    On March 9, the military court sentenced six of 70 soldiers from 
Niamey charged with high treason in 2002 to jail terms of three to 
seven years for ``illegally breaking into an armory, failure to observe 
hierarchy, and mutiny.'' A total of 63 soldiers were released without 
charge, and six others originally charged in the case were sentenced in 
absentia to prison terms of three to seven years.
    On September 30, the military court sentenced 47 of 113 soldiers 
charged with high treason in 2002 to prison terms. The 66 others were 
convicted on the same charges, but were released because their time 
already spent in preventive detention (2002	06) exceeded their 
sentences.
    On October 16, the tribunal heard the cases of one active duty 
soldier, one retired officer, and one civilian accused of coup plotting 
in 2002. The men had been imprisoned awaiting trial for approximately 
four years. The court discharged the case against the active duty 
soldier, but sentenced the officer to two years imprisonment and the 
civilian to four years. The officer was released, since he had been 
under preventive detention for more than three years.
    Traditional chiefs could act as mediators and counselors and had 
authority in customary law cases as well as status under national law, 
where they were designated as auxiliaries to local officials. Chiefs 
received government stipends but had no police or judicial powers and 
could only mediate, not arbitrate, customary law disputes. Customary 
courts, located only in large towns and cities, try cases involving 
divorce or inheritance. They are headed by a legal practitioner with 
basic legal training who is advised by an assessor knowledgeable in the 
society's traditions. The judicial actions of chiefs and customary 
courts are not regulated by law, and defendants could appeal a verdict 
in the formal court system. Women did not have equal legal status with 
men in the traditional and customary courts and did not enjoy the same 
access to legal redress (see Section 5).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Courts of civil procedure 
(tribunals civils) exist in each major city. These courts hear lawsuits 
related to civil matters and can apply judicial remedies, while a 
single appellate entity--the Conseil d'Etat--is responsible for 
administrative remedies.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions. Under the state 
security law, police may conduct searches without warrants when they 
have strong suspicion that a house shelters criminals or stolen 
property.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
restricted these rights in sentencing several journalists to jail terms 
and intimidating others into practicing self-censorship.
    The Government published a French-language daily newspaper, Le 
Sahel, and its weekend edition. There were approximately 15 private 
French-language weekly or monthly newspapers, some of which were 
affiliated loosely with political parties. The private press criticized 
government actions.
    Since literacy and personal incomes were both very low, radio was 
the most important medium of public communication. The government-owned 
radio station La Voix du Sahel provided news and other programs in 
French and several local languages. There were several private radio 
stations; eight were owned locally and featured popular news programs 
in local languages. The private radio stations generally were less 
critical of the Government than were the private newspapers. The 
government-operated multilingual national radio service generally 
provided equitable broadcasting time for all political parties; 
however, opposition parties complained of unequal coverage of their 
activities by government-owned media.
    Television was a far less important medium than radio. The 
government-owned Tele-Sahel and TAL-TV broadcast programming in French 
and other major national languages. A private television station, TV 
Tenere, also broadcast local and foreign programming. The director of a 
private radio station operated a wireless cable television service in 
the capital, offering access to international channels.
    International media were usually allowed to operate freely. Radio 
France International operated FM relays in Niamey and in Maradi and 
Zinder provinces. BBC World Service was available on FM in Niamey and 
Zinder. Local private radio stations also carried Voice of America and 
Deutsche Welle.
    During the year the Government closed a private newspaper, imposed 
a three-month ban on a radio talk show, and brought criminal libel 
charges against journalists who alleged corruption in its management of 
a donor-funded public education initiative.
    On February 2, Ibrahim Manzo, editor of L'Autre Observateur, was 
imprisoned following a lawsuit for defamation by a politically well-
connected businessman, Moussa Dan Foulani. The newspaper had alleged 
that Dan Foulani had sold a weapon to a carjacker in a criminal case. 
Manzo was incarcerated for 10 days. He was released following the 
February 13 signature of a code of conduct by politicians and 
journalists.
    On February 13, political parties and journalists signed a code of 
conduct that called for general forgiveness of defamation charges. As a 
result, all defamation suits, including government-initiated ones, 
filed prior to that date were withdrawn.
    On April 3, authorities expelled a three-person BBC crew that was 
investigating hunger and malnutrition in the country, although the crew 
had all required accreditations and authorizations. It was apparently 
expelled by the governor of Maradi because he opposed reporting on the 
food crisis. The governor almost certainly acted with the consent of 
superiors at the national level. The Government banned media 
organizations from reporting on the humanitarian crisis in the country. 
Other officials also said international and local media would not be 
allowed to do stories about the food situation, as they did not want 
the subject touched.
    On June 28, the High Council of Communication (CSC), the Government 
organ charged with regulation of the media, closed the private weekly 
L'Opinion for ``insults and defamatory language toward the President of 
Niger and his family; inciting revolt; and immoral offense.'' On June 
21, the newspaper had published an article entitled L'Imposture 
(deception) in which it called the President a ``wretched lieutenant'' 
and a ``dormouse.'' The same article also called for regime change in 
the form of a transition government--supposedly a vague allusion to a 
coup d'etat. On April 25 in another article, the newspaper had 
published a list of houses that the President allegedly purchased for 
his seven children for an amount that exceeded his declared legal 
earnings.
    On July 18, the CSC issued a ``last warning'' to the Tenere FM 
private radio station for hosting talk shows in which insults had 
allegedly been made. The show had a reputation as a forum for harsh 
critics of the Government.
    On July 21, the CSC banned Fati, a talk show on the Horizon FM 
private radio station, for three months because the host of the show 
allegedly broadcast ``insults, propaganda, incitement to violence and 
insurgency, and violation of ethics.'' The show reportedly featured 
inflammatory political commentary with ethnic overtones. Its criticism 
tended to be directed toward civil society, the political opposition, 
and other presumed opponents of the Prime Minister and his political 
party.
    On August 4, Mamane Abou and Oumarou Keita, respectively director 
and editor of Le Republicain newspaper, were arrested and placed in 
police custody on charges of disseminating false news and defamation of 
the Government. This stemmed from a July 27 article alleging that Prime 
Minister Hama Amadou was attempting to shift the country's foreign 
policy emphasis toward non-Western countries. The case was also linked 
to public concerns over corruption. Many civil society critics and 
opposition politicians stated that the two men were targeted for 
earlier articles relating to corruption in the Government's management 
of a donor funded public education program. On August 8, Abou and Keita 
appeared before the Regional Court of Niamey and were then transferred 
to separate prisons outside the capital. The trial began on August 14. 
On September 1, the two men were convicted. Abou and Keita were 
sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, a $573 (300,000 CFA francs) fine, 
and $9,560 (five million CFA francs) in damages. Their lawyers appealed 
the case; however, on September 25, the court of appeals confirmed the 
lower court's verdict. On November 27, the Niamey court of appeals 
reviewed the judgment. The court granted provisional release to the 
journalists, adjourned the judgment for further consultation, and 
announced that its verdict would be delivered on December 11. At the 
court's request, the delivery of the verdict was again postponed until 
2007. The journalists remained on provisional release at year's end.
    On August 28, Salif Dago, editor of L'Enqueteur newspaper, was 
placed in police custody on charges of disseminating false news 
following an article alleging the ritual killing of a baby in a Niamey 
cemetery by a high profile person. On September 25, Dago was sentenced 
to six months' imprisonment and a $600 (300,000 CFA francs) fine. 
However, on November 27, the Niamey court of appeals ruled that Dago 
was not guilty of the charges against him.
    In December Amadou Issoufou, a journalist for the national 
television network, was suspended for one month after he included in 
the evening news an international television brief on Abou and Keita's 
release.
    On April 4, the Government submitted a bill to amend the 
prerogatives, composition, and functioning of the CSC. Under the bill, 
the Government would select seven of the 11 CSC members to be 
appointed. The bill would extend the powers of the CSC President to 
include the authority to close press agencies without notice and 
without consulting other CSC members, and to nominate directors for 
public media organs. It would subject all CSC members to a religious 
oath when taking office, subject all CSC decisions to the approval of 
the council of ministers, and provide that journalist members of the 
CSC should have a minimum of 15 years of experience. Media associations 
and civil society groups charged that the proposed law did not comply 
with the spirit of the constitution. They argued that the proposed bill 
infringed on the independence of the CSC and would give the Government 
full control over the press.
    Civil society organizations convinced the National Assembly to make 
substantial amendments to the bill before passing it unanimously on May 
22. Of the controversial measures, only the religious oath was 
maintained, despite strong opposition from a number of deputies. Under 
the new law, the CSC is to be composed of 11 members--four appointed by 
the Government and seven by media, communication, and civil society 
groups.
    On January 27, Abdoulkarim Salifou, an independent journalist, was 
released from prison after serving a two-month sentence for criminal 
libel. In 2005 Salifou had accused the national treasurer of embezzling 
funds.
    On May 5, the court of appeals of Zinder dismissed as groundless 
defamation cases filed against two journalists--Raliou Hamed Assalek 
and Abdoulaye Harouna--by the governor of Agadez in 2005.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet availability was limited by a lack of infrastructure, a single 
Internet service provider, and limited personal computer ownership, 
although all cities offered Internet cafes that were heavily utilized. 
Niamey boasted a steadily expanding wi-fi network, and some public 
libraries offered patrons Internet access. While the Internet was not 
part of most citizens' daily lives (1.8 users per 1,000 people in 2004, 
according to the World Bank) it was available in Internet cafes at 
moderate rates.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and while the Government generally respected this right, during the 
year police forcibly dispersed demonstrators. The Government retained 
the authority to prohibit gatherings either under tense social 
conditions or if 48-hour advance notice was not provided.
    On February 3, police used force to disperse violent student 
demonstrators. Police arrested 17 students; they were all released on 
March 3. On July 28, police used force to disperse an unauthorized 
protest march relating to events in Lebanon. Several persons sustained 
minor injuries in these incidents.
    No action was taken against security forces responsible for 
injuries that resulted from the violent dispersal of demonstrators in 
2005 and 2004.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association; however, citizens may not form political parties based on 
ethnicity, religion, or region.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    Islam was the dominant religion and the Islamic Association, which 
acted as an official advisory committee to the Government on religious 
matters, broadcast biweekly on the government-controlled television 
station. On government-controlled media, Christian programs generally 
were broadcast only on special occasions, such as Christmas and Easter, 
although the independent media regularly broadcast such programs.
    Religious organizations must register with the Interior Ministry. 
Registration was a formality, and there were no reports that the 
Government refused to register a religious organization.
    On February 10, the Government established an Islamic Council 
composed of 10 leaders drawn from Islamic associations including the 
Islamic Association of Niger and other NGOs, and 10 members from 
various government agencies. The Islamic Council advised the Government 
on Islamic issues including preaching, mosque construction, payment of 
zakat, etc. The council's avowed goals were to ``work toward promoting 
a culture of tolerance and social peace and encourage Nigeriens to 
participate in the country's economic, social, and cultural 
development.'' During the installation of the council, the Prime 
Minister said that the purpose of the council was in part ``to address 
behaviors and practices inspired by foreign countries,'' a remark 
widely interpreted to mean Nigerian and middle-eastern-inspired 
theological change and mosque construction projects.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no significant 
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of movement, and the Government generally respected this right. 
Security forces at checkpoints monitored the travel of persons and the 
circulation of goods, particularly near major population centers, and 
sometimes demanded bribes. During the year transportation unions and 
civil society groups criticized such practices, and the Anticorruption 
Commission called for an investigation into checkpoint corruption; 
however, no investigation had been conducted by year's end. There were 
reports during the year that bandits set up roadblocks along highways 
and robbed persons, although, unlike in 2005, no deaths occurred. The 
December 2005 case of three armed bandits who attacked persons 
returning from a regional market near the border with Mali, stole their 
camels, cash, and other valuables, and fled, remained under 
investigation at year's end.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the 
Government used it.
    On October 23, the Government announced it would expel a group of 
nomadic Arabs of Chadian origin who had settled in the eastern Diffa 
region in the 1970s and 1980s. Known as Mahamid Arabs, the community 
(which numbered between 17,000 and 50,000 persons) had neither refugee 
status nor, in most cases, Nigerien citizenship. On October 27, after 
protests from leaders of the Mahamid community, the Government 
rescinded the order, and stated that it would establish a commission to 
study land use and conflict issues between the Mahamids and Diffa's 
indigenous population. At year's end no Mahamid Arabs had been forced 
to move, and the Government reportedly was contemplating moving at 
least some community members to adjoining regions of Niger. The Mahamid 
Arabs had moved into the country from Chad in the 1970s and 1980s to 
escape drought (1968	73) and then armed conflict (early 1980s). The 
vast majority had settled in the arid eastern region of Diffa, where 
disputes over land use, access to wells, and animal grazing rights had 
reportedly been simmering for several years.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, although the 
country is a signatory to the convention. The Government has not 
established a system for providing protection to refugees, but in 
practice provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons 
to a country where they feared persecution. The Government did not 
routinely grant refugee or asylum status, although it cooperated with 
the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. 
The UNHCR's regional office in Benin was responsible for refugee 
assistance and protection in the country; the Government's 
interministerial National Refugee Eligibility Committee performed 
refugee prescreening duties. The Government also provided temporary 
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 
1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol and has offered asylum to several 
thousand persons, primarily from Mali and Chad. Approximately 500 
refugees from Chad and other neighboring countries remained in the 
country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through 
periodic and generally free and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In December 2004 Mamadou 
Tandja was elected to his second five-year Presidential term with 65 
percent of the vote in an election that international observers 
described as generally free and fair, despite some irregularities on 
election day. A coalition composed of the MNSD, CDS, the Rally for 
Social Democracy, the Rally for Democracy and Progress, the Nigerien 
Alliance for Democracy and Progress, and the Social-Democratic Party of 
Niger backed Tandja and, in legislative elections held at the same 
time, won 88 of the 113 seats in the National Assembly. The opposition 
Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism won 25 seats. Tandja 
reappointed MNSD party President Hama Amadou as prime minister.
    Individuals and political parties can freely declare candidacies 
and stand for election.
    Women traditionally have played a subordinate role in politics. The 
societal practice of husbands voting their wives' proxy ballots 
effectively disenfranchised many women in the 1999 elections; however, 
female voter turnout substantially increased during the local, 
legislative, and Presidential elections held in 2004. There were 14 
women in the National Assembly and six female ministers in the cabinet; 
six of the country's 20 ambassadors were women. The law mandates that 
women receive 25 percent of senior government positions and fill 10 
percent of elected seats; women held at least 10 percent of the 3,747 
local council positions.
    All major ethnic groups were represented at all levels of 
government. There were eight seats in the National Assembly designated 
for representatives of ``special constituencies,'' specifically ethnic 
minorities and nomadic populations. President Tandja, who reportedly is 
half Peul (Fulani) and half Kanouri, is the country's first President 
who is not from either the Hausa or the Djerma ethnic groups, which 
make up approximately 56 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of the 
country's population.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government publicly 
acknowledged that corruption was a problem and prosecuted numerous 
officials for corruption during the year. There was a widespread public 
perception that corruption was a problem in the executive and 
legislative branches.
    Corruption was prevalent within government and the informal sector 
of the economy. The political turbulence of the 1990s--a period of weak 
democratic governments and military coups--rendered the Government 
increasingly dysfunctional. Civil service salaries went unpaid for 
months at a time, and the morale and resources of the public service 
declined rapidly. Since the return of stable, democratic government in 
1999, public administration has improved, and salaries have been paid 
on time, but corrupt practices and expectations that took root during 
the period of turmoil remained prevalent. Citizens sometimes paid 
bribes to civil servants to circumvent bureaucratic obstacles and 
obtain advantageous treatment. The problem of corruption is compounded 
by a poorly financed and trained law enforcement system and weak 
administrative controls. Other major underlying causes of corruption 
were rampant poverty, low salaries, the politicization of the public 
service, the influence of traditional kinship, ethnic, and family ties 
on decision-making, a culture of impunity, and a lack of civic 
education. Nevertheless, during the year mounting pressure from foreign 
donors and many citizens led to some progress in the fight against 
corruption.
    On June 27, the President replaced Minister of Basic Education 
Hamani Harouna and his predecessor in that position, Minister of Public 
Health Ary Ibrahim. The two were dismissed to prepare their defense in 
a case stemming from allegations of corruption in their management of a 
World Bank-led, multi-donor, 10-year educational development program. 
On October 1 and 2, the National Assembly voted to waive both former 
ministers' immunity from prosecution. They were charged with infringing 
on bidders' equal opportunity to seek government contracts; 
embezzlement of public funds; and aiding and abetting forgery. The two 
former ministers and several civil servants from the Ministry of Basic 
Education were jailed, and at year's end remained in prison awaiting 
trial. The ministers were likely to stand trial before the High Court 
of Justice, established to deal with cases involving senior government 
officials. Their case would be the first to be tried before the High 
Court since its creation. At year's end, no action had been taken 
against three National Assembly deputies--Bonkano Maifada, Intarou 
Hassane, and Raja Chaibou--who were also allegedly involved in the 
scandal. Donors suspended payments to the fund in June, after an audit 
revealed a pattern of overbilling and unjustifiable expenses.
    On July 14, the Council of Ministers terminated 19 teachers who had 
initially been suspended without pay on January 18 for fraud, forgery, 
and influence peddling in connection with public school exams.
    On August 5, three school principals and two teachers were arrested 
in Agadez and charged with committing fraud during the middle school 
leaving exams in June. The principals were granted provisional release. 
No trial date had been announced by year's end.
    The 15 civil servants sentenced to five months' imprisonment for 
corruption in 2005 were all released during the year. Some served their 
full sentences, while others benefited from a Presidential pardon on 
the country's Independence Day.
    The corruption case against Almoustapha Soumaila, the country's 
former Francophone Games director general, continued during the year. 
On July 27, the Supreme Court annulled a court of appeals judgment from 
April, citing faulty procedure. The Supreme Court ordered another trial 
before the court of appeals. On October 5, the court of appeals 
reclassified the charges against Almoustapha from abusing public 
property to embezzlement of $271,510 (142 million CFA francs), a 
criminal offense. Almoustapha remained in prison, and his case was 
pending at year's end.
    The Ministry of Finance deputy director, who was arrested for fraud 
in July 2005, was still in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
    The National Commission on Corruption selected priority sectors for 
investigating corruption: justice, health care, education, and 
transportation. While the commission obtained office space and a modest 
budget of $76,000 (40 million CFA francs), its ability to investigate 
corruption remained limited.
    There were no laws that provided for public access to government 
information; however, many documents could be obtained from individual 
ministries and the National Archives. The Government granted access to 
government information to both citizens and noncitizens, including 
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The government-established National Commission on Human Rights and 
Fundamental Liberties, a majority of whose commissioners were drawn 
from the private sector and NGOs, operated without government or party 
interference; however, it often lacked the resources necessary to 
conduct its work, was generally considered ineffective, and issued 
little in the way of reports or recommendations.
    In 2005 a coalition of human rights NGOs sued the Government to 
reverse a Presidential decree that had named new members to the 
commission. The Supreme Court annulled the Presidential decree late in 
2005. During the year new elections were held but controversy over the 
selection process continued, with representatives of two human rights 
associations contesting each other's participation. The controversy 
continued at year's end, with the Government attempting to mediate 
between the two groups.
    There were no further developments in the case of Nouhou Arzika, a 
civil society activist who in 2005 was attacked and severely beaten by 
bodyguards of politically well-connected businessman Moussa Dan 
Foulani.
    The Government cooperated with international organizations and 
permitted visits by UN representatives and other organizations such as 
the ICRC. The ICRC visited during the year. Also during the year the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a report on forced labor 
practices in the country. The Government officially accepted the report 
in November, which led to the establishment of a joint ILO-government-
civil society working group on forced labor (see Section 6.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    Although the law prohibits discrimination based on sex, social 
origin, race, ethnicity, or religion, societal discrimination against 
women, children, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities was 
widespread.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was widespread, although 
reliable statistics were not available. Wife beating reportedly was 
common. The law does not explicitly prohibit domestic violence; 
however, a woman can sue her husband or lodge criminal charges for 
battery, penalties for which ranged from two months in prison and a $19 
(10,000 CFA francs) fine to 30 years' imprisonment. The Government 
tried with limited success to enforce these laws. There was no data 
available on how many abusers were prosecuted or convicted during the 
year. Charges stemming from family disputes were often dropped in favor 
of traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Families often intervened 
to prevent the worst abuses, and women may (and did) divorce because of 
physical abuse. While women have the right to seek redress for violence 
in the customary or modern courts, few did so due to ignorance of the 
legal system, fear of social stigma, or fear of repudiation. Some 
women's rights organizations reported that prostitution often was the 
only economic alternative for a woman who left her husband. Several 
women's rights organizations provided counseling and training to women 
in this situation and undertook sensitization efforts.
    Rape is a crime punishable by 10 to 30 years' imprisonment, 
depending upon the circumstances and age of the victim; authorities 
sought to enforce the law. However, in many cases, spousal rape did not 
lead to prosecution, as victims often sought to resolve the issue 
within the family, or were pressured to do so. Reliable statistics on 
its prevalence were not available. The law does not explicitly 
recognize spousal rape, but appears to cover it in practice. Women's 
rights NGOs provided counseling and training services to rape victims.
    Certain ethnic groups practiced FGM, predominantly the Peul 
(Fulani) and Zarma in the western region of the country. Approximately 
20 percent of women had undergone FGM, usually when they were girls 
between seven and 10 years of age, according to a 1999 World Health 
Organization global study. Clitoridectomy was the most common form. FGM 
is against the law, and those convicted of practicing it and their 
accomplices face prison sentences ranging from six months to three 
years. If a victim of FGM dies, the practitioner can be sentenced to 10 
to 20 years' imprisonment. There were no statistics available on the 
number of cases of FGM prosecuted during the year. The Government took 
an active role in combating FGM and worked closely with local NGOs, 
community leaders, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other donors to 
develop and distribute educational materials at government clinics and 
maternal health centers and participated in information seminars and 
dissemination of publicity (see Section 5, Children).
    Prostitution is illegal, but remained prevalent in big cities and 
near major mining and military sites.
    Women and girls were trafficked both internally and from the 
country to North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for sexual 
exploitation (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is a crime punishable by prison sentences from 
three to six months and fines from $20 to $200 (10,000 to 100,000 CFA 
francs). If the violator is in a position of authority, the prison 
sentence is from three months to one year, and the fine is increased to 
$40 to $400 (20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs). No statistics were 
available on the number of arrests or prosecutions.
    Despite the constitution's provisions for women's rights, deep-
seated traditional and religious beliefs resulted in discrimination in 
education, employment, and property rights. Discrimination was worse in 
rural areas, where women helped with subsistence farming and did most 
of the childrearing, water- and wood-gathering, and other work. Despite 
constituting 47 percent of the formal sector work force, only 26 
percent of civil service workers and 22 percent of professionals were 
female. Women do not have the same rights as men under family law. The 
country still lacks a modern family code. Family law and laws governing 
inheritance still derive largely from Islamic traditional practice. In 
matters of inheritance, this dictated that, in the absence of a formal 
will stating otherwise, women received only one-third of a deceased 
parent's property, while male siblings received two-thirds. However, 
women enjoyed the same rights as men with respect to property 
ownership.
    Legal rights as heads of household applied only to men; divorced or 
widowed women, even with children, were not considered to be heads of 
households. In the east there were reports that some women were 
cloistered and could leave their homes only if escorted by a male 
relative and usually only after dark.
    National service, which lasted from 18 months to two years, was 
mandatory for all young men and women who completed university studies 
or professional training. Men were allowed to serve in the military as 
part of their national service obligation; however, although women were 
allowed to serve in the military, they could meet their national 
service obligation only by serving as teachers, health service workers, 
or technical specialists.

    Children.--The constitution and law require that the Government 
promote children's welfare; however, financial resources for this 
purpose were extremely limited. In principle education was compulsory, 
free, and universal for a minimum period of six years, although for a 
variety of reasons only a fraction of children attended school. The 
Government's draft poverty reduction strategy paper, released in 
December, estimated that the gross national primary school enrollment 
rate was 52 percent during the year, while the net primary school 
enrollment rate was 41 percent; 60 percent of those who finished 
primary school were boys. Most young girls were kept at home to work 
and were married at a young age, rarely attending school for more than 
a few years. This resulted in estimated literacy rates of 15 percent 
for girls and 42.9 percent for boys, according to a 2006 UN Development 
Program report. Literacy rates, particularly for girls, were even lower 
in rural areas.
    FGM was performed on young girls in certain ethnic groups (see 
Section 5, Women).
    Underage marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas and in 
traditional communities. Some families entered into marriage agreements 
under which young girls from rural areas were sent by the age of 10 or 
12 and sometimes younger to join their husband's family under the 
tutelage of their mother-in-law. Since 2005 the Ministry of Women's 
Promotion and Child Protection cooperated with women's associations to 
sensitize rural communities and their traditional chiefs and religious 
leaders to the problem of underage marriage. In November the ministry 
and women's NGOs organized a three-week program of country-wide town 
hall meetings and educational caravans to address issues including 
child marriage, FGM, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence.
    On June 3, the National Assembly rejected a bill (42	31 with heavy 
absenteeism and four abstentions) for the ratification of the 
Additional Protocol to the African Human and People's Rights Charter 
relating to Women's Rights in Africa. The measure's principal effect on 
family law would have been to raise the legal marriage age to 18. Under 
existing law, a girl deemed to be ``sufficiently mature'' can marry as 
young as 15.
    Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children were 
problems (see Section 5, Trafficking). Child labor also was a problem 
(see Section 6.d.).
    Infanticide occurred, and 80 percent of the female prison 
population had been charged with the crime. According to the Ministry 
of Justice, infanticide resulted from severe economic conditions.
    There were many displaced children, mostly boys, begging on the 
streets of the larger cities. Most of these boys came from rural areas 
and were indentured to Koranic schools by their parents due to economic 
hardship (see Section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons (TIP), and persons were trafficked to, from, and 
within the country. Traffickers could be prosecuted under a 2004 
revision of the penal code that criminalizes slavery and other forms of 
coerced labor; sentences for conviction ranged from 10 to 30 years' 
imprisonment. No reliable statistics were available on the extent of 
trafficking.
    The ministries of justice, interior, and the promotion of women and 
protection of children shared responsibility for combating trafficking 
in persons. The National Commission for the Coordination of the Fight 
Against Trafficking in Persons existed on paper but had no budget. 
During the year 38 child victims of TIP were rescued and rehabilitated 
as part of a cooperative effort between UNICEF, a local NGO partner, 
and the police and court systems in the city of Agadez. Nine 
traffickers were arrested in connection with these cases. Of these, 
three were released without charge, while six were arrested and charged 
with the abduction of minors. Of the six traffickers charged, four were 
released when the Agadez Regional Court found no grounds for 
prosecution. Two remained in custody awaiting trial at year's end.
    There were no international investigations and no requests for 
extradition of persons made to the Government during the year.
    In 2005 the Government and eight neighboring countries signed a 
multilateral cooperation agreement to combat child trafficking. 
Signatories agreed to prosecute and punish traffickers, develop 
antitrafficking legislation, share information on victims and 
traffickers with international authorities, and develop partnerships 
with civil society groups and NGOs to combat child trafficking.
    The country was a transit point for persons trafficked between 
Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Mali; final destinations 
also included North African and European countries. The country was a 
destination for a small number of trafficked persons, and a source of 
persons trafficked to North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East for 
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking also 
occurred, and there was credible anecdotal evidence that clandestine 
networks victimized young girls who worked as household helpers.
    A 2005 NGO survey found that 5.8 percent of households interviewed 
claimed that at least one member of their household had been a victim 
of trafficking. Internal trafficking of young boys for labor and young 
girls for work as maids and in some cases for prostitution from rural 
to urban areas occurred. There were credible reports of underage girls 
being forced or falsely enticed into prostitution, sometimes with the 
complicity of the family. There also were reports that child 
prostitution was especially prevalent along the main East-West highway, 
particularly between the cities of Birni n'Konni and Zinder. Child 
prostitution is not criminalized specifically, and there was no precise 
age of consent; however, the law prohibits ``indecent'' acts toward 
minors. It is left to a judge to determine what constitutes an indecent 
act. Such activity and a corollary statute against ``the incitement of 
minors to wrongdoing'' were punishable by three to five years in 
prison.
    There also was internal trafficking that included the indenturing 
of boys to Koranic teachers. As a result of economic hardship, some 
rural parents sent their sons to learn the Koran in the cities where, 
in return for their education, the boys supported their teachers by 
begging on the streets or doing manual labor.
    Trafficking in persons generally was conducted by small operators 
who falsely promised well-paid employment in the country. Victims from 
neighboring countries were escorted through immigration formalities and 
found that their employment options were restricted to poorly paid 
domestic work or prostitution. Victims had to use a substantial portion 
of their small income to reimburse the persons who brought them to the 
country for the cost of the trip and to provide the traffickers' 
profit. Compliance was enforced by ``contracts'' that were signed by 
illiterate victims before they departed their countries of origin; 
traffickers also seized victims' travel documents.
    The Government provided some services for trafficking victims, 
including basic health care and assistance in returning to their home 
villages. The regional government of Agadez established a ``welcome 
committee'' to assist illegal immigrants expelled from Libya to return 
to their countries or regions of origin. During the year the committee, 
which consisted of police and local administrative officials, provided 
approximately 450 such persons with basic accommodations, food, and 
assistance in finding transportation home. While no reliable statistics 
on these persons were available, many may well have been victims of 
human trafficking. The Government also supported the efforts of NGOs 
and international organizations in providing food, temporary shelter, 
and primary health care to victims of trafficking.
    During the year the Government undertook several initiatives to 
prevent trafficking. The Government continued to sponsor public 
outreach sessions on trafficking and child abuse, while local 
authorities assisted UNICEF and a local NGO partner to identify and 
rehabilitate child victims of TIP in the Agadez region. Local police 
and prosecutors arrested and prosecuted traffickers identified by the 
project, and ensured that rescued victims were handed over to a local 
NGO for rehabilitation. The Government also worked with the Nigerian 
embassy to ensure that consular access was provided to Nigerian TIP 
victims present in Niger. During the year media coverage of trafficking 
increased, largely because of the activities undertaken by the Agadez 
project. Coverage of trafficker arrests and victim rehabilitation 
efforts stemming from this activity appeared in private and government-
affiliated newspapers and on the radio.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in 
employment, education, and access to health care and other state 
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions. The 
law mandates that the state provide for persons with disabilities, but 
implementing regulations to mandate accessibility to buildings, 
transportation, and education for those with special needs had not been 
promulgated or legislated. Limited government health care benefits were 
available to persons with disabilities, and NGOs provided many services 
and programs. Societal discrimination existed against persons with 
disabilities, particularly mental disabilities and leprosy. The 
Ministry of Population and Social Welfare was responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Hausa and Djerma ethnic 
groups made up approximately 56 percent and 22 percent, respectively, 
of the population. These two groups also dominated government and 
business, and many believed that nepotism existed along ethnic lines.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
violence against homosexuals; however, social discrimination was 
routinely practiced. Most homosexuals hid their sexual preference to 
avoid this. The Government took no action on discrimination against 
homosexuals.
    There were strong government efforts to discourage discrimination 
against persons with HIV/AIDS. Prime time radio and television skits 
were aired several times daily beginning in October to sensitize 
families of persons with HIV/AIDS and the population at large to care 
for such persons. The announcements emphasized that persons with HIV/
AIDS constituted no threat and that they needed support and 
understanding. They also stressed the availability of free drugs. 
However, societal discrimination against such persons continued.
 Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law recognize 
workers' right to establish and join trade unions without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this 
right. However, more than 85 percent of the workforce was employed in 
the nonunionized subsistence agricultural and small trading sectors.
    On February 2, the regional court of Niamey ordered the national 
power company to reinstate labor union activist Diamyo Elhadji Yacouba, 
who had been dismissed in 2004 for attempting to organize an 
alternative union within the company; Diamyo resumed his employment.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and unions 
exercised their right to bargain collectively for wages above the legal 
minimum and for more favorable work conditions. Collective bargaining 
also existed in the public sector.
    There are no export processing zones.
    The law provides for the right to strike, except by police and 
other security forces, and workers exercised this right.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, except for legally convicted 
prisoners, and prohibits slavery; however, it does not specifically 
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, and slavery occurred. 
A traditional form of caste-based servitude was still practiced by the 
Tuareg, Djerma, and Arab ethnic minorities, particularly in remote 
northern and western regions and along the border with Nigeria.
    Persons born into a traditionally subordinate caste worked without 
pay for those above them in the traditional social structure. At least 
43,000 persons worked under such conditions, according to a study 
conducted in 2003 by the NGO Anti-Slavery International (ASI) and the 
local NGO Timidria, which surveyed 11,000 persons, mostly born into 
servitude. According to the report, people were born into slavery, and 
were forced to work without pay for their masters throughout their 
lives, primarily herding cattle, working on farmland, or as domestic 
servants. Children become the property of their masters and can be 
passed from one slave owner to another as gifts or as part of a dowry. 
Girls are forced to start work as domestic servants at a very young 
age. Girls may be sexually abused by men in the household or forced to 
marry at a young age.
    Since the Government publicly banned keeping slaves in 2003, some 
former slaves have been liberated and given certificates to show that 
they are now free. Individuals had the legal right to change their 
situations, and it was illegal for their masters to retain them; 
however, in practice, most victims of slavery did not act on their 
rights. Fear and physical or social coercion likely played roles, 
although a lack of viable economic alternatives for freed slaves was 
also a factor.
    During the year Timidria used the 2003 law to initiate a case 
against a slave master, who was convicted and sentenced to prison. The 
slave was freed, and the slave owner also was obliged to pay $2,800 
(1.5 million CFA francs) to the NGO and the victim.
    On July 27, in the case of Timidria and Haoulata Ibrahim 
(plaintiffs/victim) vs. Seidimou Hiyar (defendant), the tribunal of 
Abalak convicted Seidimou Hiyar of enslavement and sentenced him to 
five years in prison and a fine of approximately $1,000 (500,000 CFA 
francs). Hiyar appealed the judgment and his appeal was pending at 
year's end.
    Three other cases were also under investigation at year's end: 
Timidria, Assibit Wanagoda, and Ilguimate Anakoye (plaintiffs) vs. 
Tafane Abouzeidi (defendant) was pending before the Abalak tribunal; 
Timidria and Maimouna Miko (plaintiffs) vs. Djamila Attawel, Attahirou 
Attawel, and Ali Mamoudou (defendants) was pending before the Konni 
tribunal; and Boudal Bologi (plaintiff) vs. Azarori chief (defendant) 
was pending before the Madaoua tribunal.
    In January the minister of culture acknowledged on television the 
existence of slavery, although on many prior occasions the Government 
had denied the problem.
    On November 15, the Government announced the creation of a joint 
working group on traditional slavery. The working group consisted of 
officials from the Ministry of Labor, the ILO, local antislavery 
activists and NGOs, labor unions, and traditional chiefs. The minister 
of labor announced the Government's support for this initiative. The 
group planned to focus its initial efforts on sensitizing former slaves 
and masters.
    The labor code does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory 
labor by children, and there were credible reports of forced child 
labor by underage girls and boys; girls were forced into prostitution 
and domestic service, and boys worked in mines, quarries, and rice 
fields (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law permits child labor in nonindustrial enterprises under 
certain conditions, the law prohibits child labor in industrial work. 
The Government effectively enforced the law in the industrial sector. 
However, child labor was a problem.
    Children under the age of 14 must obtain special authorization to 
work in the nonindustrial sector, and those 14 to 18 years of age are 
limited to a maximum of four and one-half hours per day and certain 
types of employment so schooling may continue, although most children 
by that age were no longer in school. Children under 12 are prohibited 
from working. The law requires employers to ensure minimum sanitary 
working conditions for children. Inspectors of the Ministry of Labor 
are responsible for enforcing child labor laws; however, resource 
constraints limited their ability to do so.
    Children worked in the unregulated agricultural, commercial, and 
artisanal sectors, and youths, some of them foreign, were hired in 
homes as general helpers for very low pay. The majority of rural 
children regularly worked with their families from a very early age--
helping in the fields, pounding grain, tending animals, gathering 
firewood and water, and doing similar tasks. Some children were kept 
out of school to guide a blind relative on begging rounds. Others were 
indentured to Koranic teachers to beg in the streets and for manual 
labor (see Section 5). Child labor also occurred in the largely 
unregulated gold mining sector, and also in trona (a mineral used as a 
source of sodium compounds), salt, and gypsum mines. In 2000 the ILO 
estimated that 57 percent of workers in the country's small quarries 
were children, some 250,000 in total. Children working in gold mines 
were particularly vulnerable to poor ventilation, collapse hazards, and 
insufficient lighting; they also were susceptible to alcohol and 
substance abuse.
    Trafficking in children, prostitution of children as young as 10, 
child drug trafficking, forced child labor, and involvement of children 
in traditional caste-based servitude or slavery occurred (see Sections 
5 and 6.c.).
    The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for implementing ILO 
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and for enforcing 
other child labor laws and policies, continued working with UNICEF and 
the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to 
determine the extent of child labor. A survey conducted in 2001 by 
UNICEF and the Government indicated that approximately 70 percent of 
children between the ages of 5 and 14 were economically active; 61 
percent of children between the ages of five and nine and 83 percent of 
children aged 10 to 14 worked; 40 percent of child workers were not 
paid; 70 percent of children did household work for four or fewer hours 
per day, while 17 percent worked for more than four hours per day.
    The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Basic Education and 
Literacy collaborated with international NGOs to remove children from 
exploitative work situations, encourage school attendance, and continue 
to provide vocational training for 702 at-risk children and former 
child laborers. During the year one such joint program directly 
affected 2,143 children, and created indirect benefits for 24,000 
others in the form of investments in local schools. During the year the 
project also succeeded in withdrawing 160 children from mining sites. 
The Government also worked with international partners to provide 
economically relevant education as an inducement to parents to keep 
their children in school. The Ministry of Basic Education conducted 
training sessions to help educators meet the special needs of child 
laborers. In 2005 the Government also created a special child labor 
division within the Ministry of Labor to coordinate government 
initiatives in the area.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code establishes a 
minimum wage only for salaried workers in the formal sector with fixed 
(contractual) terms of employment. Minimum wages are set for each class 
and category within the formal sector; however, minimum wages did not 
provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families. The 
lowest minimum wage was $40 (20,000 CFA francs) per month, with an 
additional $2 (1,000 CFA francs) added per month per child. Most 
households had multiple earners (largely in informal commerce and in 
subsistence agriculture) and relied on the extended family for support.
    The formal sector legal workweek was 40 hours with a minimum of one 
24-hour rest period; however, for certain occupations, such as private 
security guards, the Ministry of Labor authorized longer workweeks of 
up to 72 hours. There were no reports of violations during the year. 
Premium pay must be paid for overtime, although the rate is not set by 
law; employees of each enterprise or government agency negotiate with 
their employer to set the rate. These formal sector standards were 
effectively enforced.
    The labor code establishes occupational safety and health 
standards. The Ministry of Labor is charged with enforcing these 
standards, although due to staff shortages inspectors focused on safety 
violations only in the most dangerous industries: mining, building, and 
manufacturing. The standards were effectively enforced within those 
three industries, except that gold mining was largely unregulated. 
Although generally satisfied with the safety equipment provided by 
employers, citing in particular adequate protection from radiation in 
the uranium mines, union workers in many cases were not well informed 
of the risks posed by their jobs. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from hazardous conditions without fear of losing their jobs. 
It is not known whether authorities effectively enforced this right; no 
known instances of this occurred.

                               __________

                                NIGERIA

    Nigeria is a federal republic composed of 36 states and a capital 
territory, with a population of approximately 140 million. In April 
2003 President Olusegun Obasanjo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) 
was re-elected to a four-year term after being declared the winner in 
elections that were marred by what international and domestic observers 
characterized as fraud and serious irregularities, including political 
violence. The elections also resulted in the ruling PDP claiming 70 
percent of the seats in the national legislature and 75 percent of the 
state governorships. An extended legal challenge to the 2003 election 
verdict ended in July 2005 when the Supreme Court upheld the election 
result. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces, there were some instances in which 
elements of the security forces acted outside the law.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and government 
officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses. The most 
significant human rights problems included the abridgement of citizens' 
right to change their government; politically motivated and 
extrajudicial killings by security forces; the use of excessive force, 
including torture, by security forces; vigilante killings; impunity; 
beatings of prisoners, detainees, and suspected criminals; harsh and 
life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and prolonged 
pretrial detention; executive influence on the judiciary and judicial 
corruption; infringement on privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of 
speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; domestic violence and 
discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child 
abuse and child sexual exploitation; societal violence; ethnic, 
regional, and religious discrimination; and trafficking in persons for 
the purposes of prostitution and forced labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:
    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life There were politically 
motivated killings by the Government or its agents. National police, 
army, and other security forces committed extrajudicial killings and 
used excessive force to apprehend criminals and to disperse protesters 
during the year (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., 2.b., and 2.c.).
    Police and the armed forces were instructed to use lethal force 
against suspected criminals and suspected vandals near oil pipelines in 
the Niger Delta region. Multinational oil companies and domestic oil 
producing companies often hired private security forces and subsidized 
living expenses for police and soldiers from area units assigned to 
protect oil facilities in the volatile Niger Delta region. Freelance 
and former security forces accounted for a portion of the violent crime 
committed during the year.
    On August 20, military security forces in the Niger Delta opened 
fire on a boat conveying suspected militants. Ten persons were killed 
during the attack, including a kidnapped Nigerian employee of Royal 
Dutch Shell who was being led out of captivity by alleged members of 
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which vowed to 
avenge the killings.
    In most cases police officers were not held accountable for 
excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody. 
Police generally operated with impunity in the apprehension, illegal 
detention, and sometimes execution of criminal suspects (see Section 
1.d.).
    Abuses by poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, and poorly-managed 
police against civilians were common, and the police were rarely held 
accountable. During the year police, military, and anticrime personnel 
continued to use lethal force against suspected criminals.
    For example, on January 10, police officers killed two suspected 
thieves in the Rivers State city of Port Harcourt. A police 
spokesperson said the suspects, dressed in fake army uniforms, robbed 
several persons before they were killed by police. The Government had 
not opened an investigation into the incident by year's end.
    On February 13, military and police officers stormed the Ariaria 
market in Aba, Abia State on the pretext of preventing vigilantes from 
operating there. A firefight ensued, and four persons were reportedly 
killed. No investigation had been opened by year's end.
    In June the media reported that brothers Juth and Romanus Akpowbo 
were arrested in Kano State after having been accused of armed robbery 
of the staff quarters of Bayero University. Two weeks later, Juth 
Akpowbo died in the hospital without having been released from custody. 
Romanus Akpowbo was also in the hospital and said the two brothers had 
been severely beaten by police. The Government did not open an 
investigation into the allegations by year's end.
    In August police in Umuahia North Local government Area killed 12 
suspected robbers and left their bodies at a local mortuary. No charges 
were filed in the case.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case of the youths who were 
held incommunicado for 17 days by Rivers State police.
    One officer involved in the 2005 police shooting of Suleiyol 
Hiikyaa was charged with manslaughter, but the trial had not begun by 
year's end.
    By year's end no trial date had been set in the March 2005 case of 
the police officer accused of shooting and killing a bus driver in 
Makurdi, Benue State. The officer remained in jail while authorities 
considered which charges to file against him.
    There were no developments in the 2005 case in which Gabriel Agbane 
died after being beaten by police in Kubwa.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 deaths of six men who 
were found dead in the mortuary of the University of Nigeria Teaching 
Hospital after police presented them as robbers to the media.
    During the year the Government did not act on the recommendations 
forwarded in March 2005 by an investigative panel that determined that 
Kaduna State police in 2004 had killed and secretly buried 12 persons 
who attempted a jailbreak.
    Violence and lethal force at police and military roadblocks and 
checkpoints continued during the year, despite the January 2005 
announcement by the acting inspector-general of police that police 
roadblocks would be eliminated. Police generally ignored the order, and 
a policy of establishing roadblocks was formally reinstated in December 
after a police commissioner was killed in Abuja. Security forces 
occasionally killed persons while trying to extort money from them.
    For example, on June 13, Delta State police officers beat Peter 
Osimiri and left him for dead when he refused to pay a $156 (20,000 
naira) bribe demanded of him for carrying eight rolls of electrical 
cable they believed to be stolen. A passing motorist discovered Osimiri 
and attempted to take him for medical help, but police saw him en route 
and beat him again. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital. The 
officers involved reportedly were detained, but no information was 
available.
    On December 25, police officers in the Federal Capital Territory 
outside Abuja shot and killed a driver who refused to pay a $0.16 (20 
naira) bribe. A retaliatory mob formed and killed an assistant 
superintendent of police who was driving past the area but had not 
taken part in the attack. The mob chased police officers away from the 
checkpoint and attempted to burn down the local police station before 
being dispersed. The Government had made no arrests by year's end.
    There were no developments in the January 2005 case in which Edo 
State police stopped a taxi to demand a $0.30 (40 naira) bribe and 
killed a passenger after the driver reportedly paid only 20 naira.
    The murder trial of a Delta State police officer in October 2005 
who shot and killed a commercial bus driver who was unable to pay a 
bribe had not begun by year's end.
    The trial of six police officers from the Apo area continued, 
although with frequent and extended breaks. The officers were charged 
with murder for allegedly killing six traders at a vehicle checkpoint 
in June 2005. Two persons involved in the case were granted bail in 
August on grounds of ill health, three were granted bail without claim 
of ill health, and one suspect was denied bail after failing to prove a 
claim of poor health.
    There were no known developments in the trial of the police officer 
accused of killing taxi driver Malam Danjari in Zamfara State in May 
2005.
    The naval officer arrested in Lagos for the July 2005 shooting of a 
motorcycle taxi driver was dismissed from the navy and arraigned before 
a Lagos court during the year.
    Police and military personnel used excessive force and sometimes 
deadly force in the suppression of civil unrest, property vandalism, 
and interethnic violence (see Sections 2.b., 2.c., and 5). There were 
reports of summary executions, assaults, and other abuses carried out 
by military personnel and paramilitary mobile police across the Niger 
Delta.
    There were several killings by unknown assailants that may have 
been politically motivated. For example, on January 14, unknown gunmen 
killed Hajiya Saudatu Rimi, the wife of former Kano State Governor 
Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. Charges against Rimi's stepson, who had been 
charged with the crime, were dismissed in October, and no others were 
filed by year's end.
    Plateau State gubernatorial aspirant Jesse Aruku of the Advanced 
Congress of Democrats party was abducted on June 30 or July 1 and 
killed on July 2. Police stated that the motive was assassination 
rather than robbery and arrested several persons. The trial had not 
begun by year's end.
    On July 20, violence erupted between gangs controlled by rival 
political leaders in Rivers State, resulting in the deaths of four 
persons in Emohua and six in Gokana.
    On July 27, Lagos State gubernatorial candidate Funsho Williams, 
who had been seeking the nomination of the ruling PDP, was tied up, 
stabbed several times, and strangled to death. The two police officers 
responsible for guarding Williams' home did not report for work on July 
27. An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    In the early morning hours of August 14, Ekiti State PDP 
gubernatorial candidate Ayodeji Daramola was killed in the bedroom of 
his home by unknown assassins. On November 16, eight persons, including 
an advisor to former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose, were arraigned 
before an Ekiti high court on charges of conspiracy and the murder of 
Daramola. Their trial was ongoing at year's end.
    The five men accused of killing PDP politician Alhaji Lateef Olani-
yan in Ibadan, Oyo State in July 2005, were being detained at year's 
end, although no formal charges had been brought against them.
    There were no known developments in the case of the man in Kogi 
State who was arrested and charged with murder in 2005 after confessing 
to the March 2004 killing of Bassa Local government Area (LGA) chairman 
Luke Shigaba.
    Killings carried out by organized gangs of armed robbers remained 
common during the year. In Oshodi, Lagos State, a group of armed 
robbers, popularly known as ``area boys,'' operated illegal highway 
checkpoints at which they demanded money from motorists. When Federal 
Road Management Agency officers attempted to stop them in July, the 
robbers responded by attacking them with homemade weapons. There were 
unconfirmed reports of two deaths. Six area boys were arrested, but no 
trial had begun by year's end.
    Soldiers arrested 62 suspected area boys and remanded them to 
police for prosecution on charges related to a May 2005 clash between 
soldiers and area boys. The incident followed the killing of a soldier 
near a military command in the Ikeja suburb of Lagos. Twelve of the 
area boys were arraigned before a magistrate's court and placed in 
custody to await trial. The remaining 50 were released due to 
insufficient evidence.
    In Anambra, Abia, Imo, and Ebonyi in the southeast, state 
governments provided funding to vigilante groups, the most well-known 
of which was the ``Bakassi Boys,'' officially known as the Anambra 
State Vigilante Service. Like most vigilante groups, the Bakassi Boys 
sometimes detained and killed suspected criminals rather than turn them 
over to police. On June 30, Attorney General Bayo Ojo pledged to seek 
justice for the families of 32 persons who died in August 2005 while 
being detained by the Bakassi Boys, but no arrests were known to have 
been made.
    Other organized vigilante groups continued to detain and kill 
suspected criminals.
    Police generally did not have a significant impact upon vigilante 
groups. They sometimes detained members of these groups during the 
year, but those arrests were sporadic, and none was known to result in 
prosecution. Initiatives announced to control the vigilante groups were 
not successful during the year.There continued to be numerous reports 
of street mobs apprehending and killing suspected criminals during the 
year. There were no arrests reported from these mob actions, and there 
were no developments in cases from previous years. The practice of 
``necklacing'' suspected criminals (placing a gasoline-soaked tire 
around a victim's neck or torso and then igniting it to burn the victim 
to death) by street mobs continued.
    Lethal societal violence (including interethnic, intraethnic, and 
interreligious violence) continued (see Section 2.c.). For example, on 
February 18 and 19, riots broke out in Maiduguri and Katsina in the 
north in response to the publication of Danish cartoons depicting the 
Prophet Mohammed; in Maidugurui rioters burned churches and the homes 
and businesses of some local Christians.
    In oil-producing areas, tensions remained high between members of 
resident ethnic groups and employees and contractors of oil companies. 
Local groups frequently kidnapped oil company employees, but most of 
these kidnappings did not result in death (see Section 1.b.). However, 
on November 22, a British national was killed in crossfire between the 
military and kidnappers.
    On May 10, a foreign oil-service contractor was shot and killed by 
unknown persons in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
    There were no developments in the case of two students who died in 
April 2005 clashes between rival cult groups at the Federal University 
of Technology in Minna, Niger State.

    b. Disappearance.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no 
reports of politically motivated disappearances. The Government still 
had not responded to a court order to release a Kaduna central mosque 
imam detained since May 2003. It was not known whether the imam was 
still alive, and there were no updates on his case during the year.
    Numerous hostage situations occurred during the year. In oil-
producing areas, tensions remained high between members of resident 
ethnic groups and employees and contractors of oil companies. Local 
groups frequently kidnapped oil company employees during armed attacks 
on oil company facilities. Kidnappings generally were related to 
longstanding disputes between ethnic groups and the Government over 
resources. Some kidnappings were conducted for financial gain; others, 
perpetrated by militant groups, sought to force the Government to 
develop local economies, increase local control of oil revenues, or 
release prisoners. These kidnappings sometimes resulted in the deaths 
of oil facility guards and of military personnel. The Government 
responded to the poor security situation by implementing Operation 
Restore Hope, a military operation whose forces often used excessive 
force during the year, resulting in an escalation of violence on both 
sides and an overall degradation in security in the southern region.
    On January 10, militants kidnapped four oil workers from an 
offshore Shell Company platform. The workers were freed 20 days later. 
Bayelsa State government and the federal government were active in 
negotiating with the militants to secure the hostages' release.
    On June 2, eight foreign oil workers were kidnapped from a rig 
operated by Dolphin Oil; they were released two days later.
    On June 7, five South Koreans were abducted from a natural gas 
facility run by Shell after a gun battle between militants and the 
military in which five military personnel reportedly were killed. The 
abductors demanded the release of the jailed leader of their militant 
group, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, but released the hostages after an 
unconfirmed plea from the leader to reach their goals through peaceful 
means. Asari Dokubo was not released from prison as a condition of the 
hostage's freedom.
    On or about August 3, a group calling itself the Movement of the 
Niger Delta People kidnapped a German citizen and demanded the release 
of Alhaji Asari Dokubo and Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha in 
exchange for the hostage. Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta 
People's Volunteer Force, remained in detention at year's end following 
his October 2005 arrest on charges of treason. At year's end 
Alamieyeseigha was in detention while awaiting trial on money 
laundering charges. Dokubo released a statement saying he had no hand 
in the kidnapping and that the hostage should be released 
unconditionally. The hostage was released without incident.
    Between August 1 and 17, 16 persons representing 10 nationalities 
were abducted in six separate incidents; all were released.
    From October through year's end, there was a series of kidnappings 
of expatriate and local oil workers. Most were released by year's end. 
However, on November 22, of the seven expatriates taken hostage from an 
Agip vessel, one Briton was killed during an exchange of gunfire 
between the hostage-takers and a military patrol boat that succeeded in 
freeing the other six hostages.
    Due to limited manpower and resources, police and armed forces 
rarely were able to confront the perpetrators of these acts, especially 
in the volatile Delta region.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices 
and provide for punishment of such abuses, police, military, and 
security force officers regularly beat protesters, criminal suspects, 
detainees, and convicted prisoners. Police physically mistreated 
civilians regularly in attempts to extort money from them. The law 
prohibits the introduction into trials of evidence and confessions 
obtained through torture.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that persons 
died from torture in custody.
    Different formulations of Shari'a (Islamic law) were in place in 12 
northern states (see Section 2.c.). Shari'a courts delivered hudud 
sentences such as caning for fornication and public drunkenness, and 
death by stoning for adultery during the year, but it was unknown if 
any of the sentences was carried out by year's end. The term hudud 
refers to those crimes mentioned explicitly in the Koran, but which do 
not necessarily carry a specific punishment. Sentences of amputation 
were handed down in some cases for offenses other than theft, but no 
sentences were carried out. Several other stoning or amputation 
sentences were pending appeal or sentence implementation, but no such 
sentences were carried out during the year. Numerous sentences under 
Shari'a were not carried out by year's end because of the lengthy 
process for appeals. No death sentences were carried out in cases 
originating in earlier years. Because no applicable case had been 
appealed to the federal level, federal appellate courts had yet to 
decide whether such punishments violate the constitution (see Section 
1.e.); stoning and amputation sentences previously had been overturned 
on procedural or evidentiary grounds but had not been challenged on 
constitutional grounds. Caning is also a punishment under common law in 
the Northern Region Penal Code and had not been challenged in the 
courts as a violation of the statutory law. In some cases convicted 
persons are allowed to choose to pay a fine or go to jail instead of 
being caned. These sentences were usually carried out immediately, 
while Shari'a allows defendants 30 days to appeal sentences involving 
mutilation or death. In practice appeals often took much longer than 30 
days.
    There were no known developments in the May 2005 case in which a 
Shari'a appeals court in Kaduna overturned amputation sentences that 
had been passed in 2003 against six Zaria men who had been accused of 
stealing a cow and a motorcycle.
    There were fewer reports than in previous years that security 
forces tortured persons and used excessive force during the year. For 
example, on July 18, the newspaper Vanguard reported that on April 17, 
police in Delta State arrested Segun Pioko, tortured him, and killed 
him in May.
    On October 23, at the Durbar festival outside the Emir's Palace in 
Kano, police beat unruly youth with sticks and whips to clear the way 
for the motorcade of the governor of Kano State. Although the crowd was 
unruly, participants were peaceful and posed no serious threat to 
public order.
    In April police in the Njaba local government area of Imo State 
carried out reprisal attacks after youths rioted outside the local 
police station to protest police roadblocks in the area. Police 
arrested 50 persons, and at least four protestors died. Villagers 
reported that police were responsible for burning property in the area, 
resulting in damage estimated at over $11.7 million (1.5 billion 
naira). The Government did not announce formal prosecution proceedings 
against the arrested youths, who were believed to remain in detention 
at year's end.
    There were credible reports during the year that security forces 
carried out rape and other forms of sexual violence on women and girls 
with impunity. Police officials acknowledged that rape was a problem.
    No prosecution was expected in the November 2005 incident in which 
bodyguards for the Kebbi State governor beat and robbed a diplomat's 
driver at the Abuja airport.
    There were no developments in the November 2005 case in which Abuja 
police attacked, beat, and arrested a diplomatic driver, allegedly for 
driving his vehicle too soon after the vice President's motorcade had 
passed through the area.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security 
forces beat journalists during the year.
    There were numerous ethnic or communal clashes during the year (see 
Section 5). Police in rural areas generally lacked the resources to 
control societal violence.
    Vigilante groups such as the Bakassi Boys held detainees in 
informal detention centers, and detainees died during the year (see 
Section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention 
conditions remained harsh and life threatening. Most prisons were built 
70 to 80 years ago and lacked basic facilities. Lack of potable water, 
inadequate sewage facilities, and severe overcrowding resulted in 
unhealthy and dangerous sanitary conditions. Some prisons held 200 to 
300 percent more persons than their designed capacity. The Government 
acknowledged overcrowding as the main cause of the harsh conditions 
common in the prison system. Excessively long pretrial detention 
contributed to the overcrowding (see Section 1.d.).A working group 
assigned by the Attorney General to investigate prison conditions in 
the country released its report in March 2005. The group found that 64 
percent of inmates were detainees awaiting trial, and only 25 percent 
of those detainees had legal representation. Nearly two-thirds of the 
country's prisons were more than 50 years old. All of the prisons were 
built of mud brick, and their sewers, food, health care, education, and 
recreational facilities were well below standard. In June President 
Obasanjo appointed Olusola Adigun Ogundipe comptroller general of 
prisons. Although Ogundipe pledged to introduce reforms, improvements 
in prison conditions did not materialize by year's end. The Government 
continued interagency discussions on how to reduce prison overcrowding.
    Disease was pervasive in the cramped, poorly ventilated facilities, 
and chronic shortages of medical supplies were reported. HIV/AIDS was 
of particular concern within the prison population, and pre-existing 
infections were exacerbated by the substandard living conditions 
imposed on inmates. Prison inmates were allowed outside their cells for 
recreation or exercise only irregularly, and many inmates had to 
provide their own food. Only those with money or whose relatives 
brought food regularly had sufficient food; petty corruption among 
prison officials made it difficult for money provided for food to reach 
prisoners. Poor inmates often relied on handouts from others to 
survive. Beds or mattresses were not provided to many inmates, forcing 
them to sleep on concrete floors, often without a blanket. Prison 
officials, police, and security forces often denied inmates food and 
medical treatment as a form of punishment or to extort money from them. 
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to 
provide health and hygiene items to prisoners during the year.
    Harsh conditions and denial of proper medical treatment contributed 
to the deaths of numerous prisoners. According to the nongovernmental 
organization (NGO) Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), 
dead inmates were promptly buried on the prison compounds, usually 
without notifying their families. A nationwide estimate of the number 
of inmates who died in the country's prisons was difficult to obtain 
because of poor record-keeping by prison officials.
    In practice women and juveniles were held with male prisoners, 
especially in rural areas. The extent of abuse resulting from these 
conditions was unknown. In most cases, women accused of minor offenses 
were released on bail; however, women accused of serious offenses were 
detained. Although the law stipulates children shall not be imprisoned, 
juvenile offenders were routinely incarcerated along with adult 
criminals. The prison service officially required separation of 
detainees and convicted prisoners, but the method of confinement 
depended solely on the capacity of the facility. As a result detainees 
often were housed with convicted prisoners.
    The Government allowed international and domestic NGOs, including 
PRAWA and the ICRC, regular access to prisons. PRAWA and the ICRC 
published newsletters on their work. The Government admitted that there 
were problems with its incarceration and rehabilitation programs and 
worked with groups such as these to address those problems.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, police and security 
forces continued to employ these practices.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police 
Force (NPF) is responsible for law enforcement. Internal security is 
the duty of the State Security Service (SSS), which reports to the 
President through the national security advisor. Police were unable to 
control societal violence on numerous occasions during the year, and 
the Government continued its reliance on the army in some cases. Each 
NPF state unit was commanded by an assistant inspector general. The law 
prohibits state and local-level governments from organizing their own 
police forces. The NPF committed human rights abuses and did not 
noticeably decrease the incidence of violent crime nationwide (see 
Section 1.a.). Police generally operated with impunity in the 
apprehension, illegal detention, and sometimes execution of criminal 
suspects. The SSS also was responsible for a variety of human rights 
abuses, particularly in limiting freedom of speech and press (see 
Section 1.a.).
    Corruption was rampant, most often taking the form of bribes at 
highway checkpoints. Police in Abuja routinely stopped drivers who had 
committed no traffic infraction. The police officers typically waved 
down the motorist or stepped in front of the car to compel the driver 
to stop. Police then entered the car and did not leave until the driver 
agreed to pay a bribe. Police often worked in groups and stepped in the 
middle of a slow moving traffic flow to stop several vehicles picked at 
random.
    Although citizens could report incidents of police corruption to 
the National Human Rights Commission, this agency was not empowered to 
act in response to such complaints.
    In January Lagos State police chief Emmanuel Adebayo announced 
``Operation Keep Moving,'' a directive under which police were not to 
impede traffic flow by extorting money or making unnecessary demands of 
drivers. In early January five Lagos police officers were arrested for 
extorting money from motorists at checkpoints. Police did not release 
the names of those arrested, and it was not known whether they were 
being prosecuted.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police and security forces were empowered to 
arrest without warrant based on reasonable suspicion that a person had 
committed an offense; they often abused this power. Under the law 
police may detain persons for 24 hours before charging them with an 
offense. The law requires an arresting officer to inform the accused of 
charges at the time of arrest and to take the accused to a police 
station for processing within a reasonable amount of time. By law 
police must provide suspects with the opportunity to engage counsel and 
post bail. However, suspects were routinely detained without being 
informed of the charges, denied access to counsel and family members, 
and denied the opportunity to post bail for bailable offenses. 
Detainees often were kept incommunicado for long periods. Provision of 
bail was often arbitrary or subject to extrajudicial influence. In many 
areas there was no functioning bail system, so suspects were held in 
investigative detention for prolonged periods. Numerous suspects 
alleged that police demanded payment before they were taken to court to 
have their cases heard. If family members attended court proceedings, 
police often demanded additional payment.
    Persons who happened to be in the vicinity of a crime when it was 
committed were sometimes held for interrogation for periods ranging 
from a few hours to several months. After their release, those detained 
were frequently asked to return repeatedly for further questioning.
    Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign 
State of Biafra (MASSOB), a separatist group espousing Igbo unity and 
the secession of Igbo states as its prime tenets, initiated frequent 
violent clashes with the Government, particularly in Onitsha and 
Anambra states. Police sometimes reacted by arresting large numbers of 
MASSOB members. For example, in June police in Anambra State suspected 
MASSOB of kidnapping four police officers and responded by arresting 69 
people. Two others were killed in the arrest sweep. Formal charges 
against the 69 arrested persons were not announced by year's end.
    MASSOB leader Ralph Uwazurike and six of his deputies, who were 
arrested in October 2005 on treason charges, remained in detention as 
they awaited trial. Public pretrial hearings were conducted in the 
case, but no announcements were made about the progress of the trial, 
which had been scheduled for September. There were no reports that the 
trial had begin by year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no politically motivated 
arrests of members of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a militant 
Yoruba group operating in the southwest that claims its objective is to 
protect the collective rights of the Yoruba within the federation.
    Several OPC members continued to be detained for most of the year 
on charges stemming from October 2005 clashes between rival OPC 
factions, but OPC leader Fredrick Fasehun was released in April on bail 
for medical reasons. In December charges were dismissed against 
Fasehun, Gani Adams, and four others, and all of those who had been 
detained were released from prison.
    Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta People's 
Volunteer Force, remained in detention at year's end following his 
October 2005 arrest on treason charges.
    The treason trial against Hamza Al Mustapha and two other 
defendants did not begin by year's end, and the defendants remained in 
a military prison in Lagos. Al Mustapha was accused of plotting to 
shoot down President Obasanjo's helicopter.
    There were no developments in the pending trial of Hamza Al 
Mustapha and four codefendants charged with the 1996 attempted murder 
of Alex Ibru, the minister of internal affairs under the Abacha regime. 
One defendant, Ishaya Bamaiyi, was granted temporary bail at the end of 
the year to seek medical treatment abroad.
    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested and 
detained numerous government officials on corruption charges during the 
year, but critics charged that some arrests were politically motivated 
(see Section 3).
    Security forces detained journalists during the year (see Section 
2.a.).
    During the year police arrested numerous demonstrators (see 
Sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a serious problem. Serious 
backlogs, endemic corruption, and undue political influence continued 
to hamper the judicial system (see Section 1.e.). In March 2005 a 
working group assigned by the Attorney General to investigate prison 
conditions in the country found that 64 percent of inmates were 
detainees awaiting trial. Multiple adjournments in some cases led to 
serious delays. Police cited their inability to securely transport 
detainees to trial on their trial dates as one reason why so many were 
denied a trial. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported 
that some detainees were held because their case files had been lost. 
Some state governments released inmates detained for significant 
periods of time without trial. Although detainees had the right to 
submit complaints to the NHRC, the commission had no power to respond. 
Detainees could also complain to the courts, but they often lacked the 
means of communicating with the court. Even detainees with legal 
representation often waited for years to gain access to the courts.

    Amnesty.--Despite the federal government's announcement in early 
January that it planned to relieve prison overcrowding by granting 
amnesty to 25,000 of the country's 45,000 prisoners, little progress 
was made on implementing this plan during the year. On November 30, 
President Obasanjo again ordered an audit of the cases of all prisoners 
awaiting trial with an announced goal of releasing those who had been 
detained for long periods of time, those in ill health, or those over 
60.
    In August a judge granted 22 prisoners in Adamawa State amnesty for 
good behavior.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial .--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial branch remained 
susceptible to executive and legislative branch pressure. Political 
leaders influenced the judiciary, particularly at the state and local 
levels. Understaffing, underfunding, inefficiency, and corruption 
continued to prevent the judiciary from functioning adequately. 
Citizens encountered long delays and frequent requests from judicial 
officials for small bribes to expedite cases.
    The Ministry of Justice implemented strict requirements for levels 
of education and length of service for judges at the federal and state 
level; however, there were no requirements or monitoring body for 
judges at the local level, leading to corruption and miscarriages of 
justice.
    The regular court system is composed of federal and state trial 
courts, state appeals courts, the federal court of appeal, and the 
Supreme Court. There are Shari'a and customary (traditional) courts of 
appeal in states that use those bases for civil or criminal law, 
including in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). Courts of first 
instance include magistrate or district courts, customary or 
traditional courts, Shari'a courts, and for some specified cases, the 
state high courts. The constitution also provides that the Government 
establish a Federal Shari'a Court of Appeal and Final Court of Appeal, 
but these courts had not been established by year's end.
    The nature of the case usually determined which court had 
jurisdiction. In principle customary or Shari'a courts had jurisdiction 
only if both plaintiff and defendant agreed on this; however, delays, 
distance to alternative venues, community pressure, fear of legal 
costs, and individual preference caused many litigants to choose the 
customary and Shari'a courts over other venues. In some states, cases 
involving only Muslims must be heard by a Shari'a court. The return to 
the Shari'a courts that had existed in precolonial times in the north 
of the country stemmed at least in part from a failure of governance on 
the part of the federal government. State organs, including judicial 
bodies, were notorious for an extreme lack of responsiveness as a 
result of widespread graft and corruption.
    Other states with Shari'a law permitted Muslims to choose common 
law courts for criminal cases, but societal pressure forced most 
Muslims to use the Shari'a court system.

    Trial Procedures.--According to the constitution, persons charged 
with offenses have the right to an expeditious trial. Criminal justice 
procedures call for trial within three months of arraignment for most 
categories of crimes; however, there were considerable delays, often 
stretching to several years, in bringing suspects to trial (see Section 
1.d.). The law did not provide for juries to be used in trials. Most 
detainees were poor and could not afford to pay the informal costs 
associated with moving their trials forward, and as a result they 
remained in prison. Wealthier defendants employed numerous delay 
tactics and in many cases used bribes to persuade judges to grant 
numerous continuances. Such practices clogged the court calendar and 
prevented trials from starting or progressing.
    Trials in the regular court system were public and generally 
respected constitutionally protected individual rights in criminal 
cases, including a presumption of innocence, and the right to be 
present, to confront witnesses, to present evidence, and to be 
represented by legal counsel. Although an accused person is entitled to 
counsel of his choice, there is no law preventing a trial from going 
forward without counsel, except for certain offenses such as homicide 
or other offenses for which the penalty is death. The legal aid act 
provides for the appointment of counsel in such cases, and a trial does 
not go forward without counsel. However, there was a widespread 
perception that judges were easily bribed or ``settled,'' and that 
litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments. 
Many courts were understaffed, and personnel were paid poorly. Judges 
frequently failed to appear for trials, often because they were 
pursuing other source of income, and sometimes because of threats 
against them. In addition court officials often lacked the proper 
equipment, training, and motivation to perform their duties, with lack 
of motivation primarily due to inadequate compensation.
    In both common law and Shari'a courts, indigent persons without 
legal representation were more likely to have their sentences carried 
out immediately upon being sentenced, although all accused persons have 
the right to appeal. The federal government instituted a panel of legal 
scholars in 2003 to draft a uniform Shari'a criminal statute to replace 
divergent Shari'a statutes adopted by various northern states; however, 
the panel did not produce its report during the year, and states 
continued to apply their individual codes, as they were reluctant to 
cede legislative control.
    There were no legal provisions barring women or other groups from 
testifying in civil or criminal proceedings or giving their testimony 
less weight, but the testimony of women and non-Muslims usually was 
accorded less weight in Shari'a courts. In violation of mainstream 
Shari'a jurisprudence, some kadis (Muslim judges) subjected women to 
harsh sentences for fornication or adultery based solely upon the fact 
of pregnancy, while men were not convicted without eyewitnesses unless 
they confessed to these crimes (see Section 1.c.). However, Shari'a 
courts did provide women with some benefits, including increased access 
to divorce, child custody, and alimony, because it was significantly 
easier, faster, and cheaper to get an audience in a Shari'a court.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees; however, persons arrested in previous 
years for alleged treason remained in detention at year's end.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters; however, the 
executive and the legislature also exerted undue influence and pressure 
in civil cases. A widespread lack of will to implement court decisions 
interfered with due process even when the executive branch did not 
attempt to compel a civil court to make a particular decision. The law 
provides for access to the courts for the redress of grievances, and 
courts can award damages and issue injunctions to stop or prevent a 
human rights violation. However, the decisions of civil courts were 
extremely difficult to enforce.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, but authorities at 
times continued to infringe on these rights. Police raided homes 
without warrants during the year.
    The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) continued to 
demolish homes and businesses in the Federal Capital Territory in spite 
of multiple court injunctions prohibiting further demolitions. The 
Government typically claimed that the homes or offices that were 
demolished lacked proper permits and consequently did not provide 
compensation to the owners, who were sometimes able to produce 
paperwork indicating the structures were built legally. There was no 
transparent legal process for deciding which homes would be bulldozed, 
and those who had their homes bulldozed had no recourse to appeal and 
received no compensation. The FCDA maintained the public position that 
the homes and offices did not comply with the master plan for the city. 
Hundreds of thousands of persons had been left homeless by demolitions 
that occurred over the past two years, and estimates of the number of 
homes and offices destroyed varied widely.
    On February 14, the FDCA demolished three houses in the Asokoro 
District of Abuja. A former President of the Senate owned one of the 
houses, and the former governor of Anambra State owned another.
    Soldiers also destroyed homes to avenge killings of military 
personnel. For example, on August 24, soldiers burned a slum outside of 
Port Harcourt following the killing of an army sergeant by militants in 
the area. An estimated 3,000 persons were displaced. The military 
denied responsibility, and the Government was not expected to pay 
compensation to the victims.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no known reports that 
police and security forces continued the practice of placing relatives 
and friends of wanted suspects in detention without criminal charge to 
induce suspects to surrender to arrest.
    Purdah, the Islamic cultural practice of secluding women and 
pubescent girls from unrelated men, continued in various parts of the 
north. Although women's movement was restricted during daylight hours, 
many women pursued economic and social activities outside the home in 
the evening. As a result of decades of cultural mixing, purdah was also 
widely practiced by many non-Muslims in the north.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
sometimes restricted these rights in practice. While there were 
numerous private presses that published freely, there also were 
numerous attacks carried out by security forces during the year. Some 
journalists practiced self-censorship.
    At year's end the trial had not yet begun in the case of seven 
university students who were arrested in May 2005 and charged with 
sedition for distributing leaflets critical of Jigawa State Governor 
Saminu Turaki.
    There was a large and vibrant private domestic press that was 
frequently critical of the Government. Only one national, government-
owned daily newspaper was published. Several states owned daily or 
weekly newspapers that also were published in English. These 
publications tended to be poorly produced, had limited circulation, and 
required large state subsidies to continue operating. There are more 
than 14 major daily newspapers, six weekly newsmagazines, and several 
sensationalist evening newspapers and tabloid publications.
    Because newspapers and television were relatively expensive and 
literacy levels were low, radio remained the most important medium of 
mass communication and information. The Government owned and controlled 
much of the electronic media. The National Broadcasting Commission 
(NBC) was the body responsible for the deregulation and monitoring of 
the broadcast media.
    The national television station, Nigerian Television Authority, was 
federally owned. The law requires local television stations to limit 
programming from other countries to 40 percent and restricts the 
foreign content of satellite broadcasting to 20 percent; however, the 
Government did not restrict access to, or reception of, international 
cable or satellite television.
    International broadcasters, including Voice of America, BBC, and 
Deutsche Welle, broadcast in English and Hausa and were an important 
source of news in the country.
    The NBC's 2004 ban on live broadcast of foreign news and programs 
continued throughout the year.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no known reports that 
security forces beat journalists.
    There were no further known developments in the several instances 
in which security forces beat or detained journalists in 2005.
    Security forces detained journalists during the year. For example, 
on June 14, in a case that drew substantial nationwide attention, SSS 
officers detained journalists Gbenga Mike Aruleba of Africa Independent 
Television and Rotimi Durojaiye of the Daily Independent newspaper in 
Lagos, who had reported earlier in the month that President Obasanjo 
had purchased a secondhand airplane. The journalists were charged with 
sedition and released on bail during a June 29 hearing. Observers noted 
that attendance at a June 25 hearing was closely monitored by SSS. At 
an October 10 hearing, the charges against Aruleba were dismissed, but 
those against Durojaiye and his newspaper were not. At year's end 
Durojaiye remained free on bail while an appeals court considered the 
constitutionality of the sedition charge.
    The Government suspended radio stations or confiscated newspapers 
during the year. In March the Government restricted Freedom Radio in 
Kano from broadcasting between 5:00 and 10:00 PM for several days after 
the station aired a live call-in show in which callers criticized the 
Government.
    There were no known developments in the 2005 cases in which the 
Government suspended radio stations or confiscated newspapers.
    Editors reported that government security officers sometimes 
visited or called to demand information regarding a story or source. 
Local NGOs suggested that newspaper editors and owners underreported 
actual human rights abuses and killings due in part to selfcensorship. 
State broadcasters and journalists remained important tools for 
governors; these officials used the state-owned media to showcase the 
state's accomplishments and to promote their own political goals.
    The law criminalizes libel and requires defendants to prove the 
truth of opinion or value judgment contained in news reports or 
commentaries. This limits the circumstances in which media defendants 
can rely on the defense of ``fair comment on matters of public 
interest'' and restricts the right to freedom of expression. Penalties 
for libel ranged from one to seven years' imprisonment (seven years, if 
the libelous material was published to blackmail a person).
    There were no developments in the October 2005 case in which Chief 
Owei Sikpi, publisher of the Weekly Star newspaper, was detained for 
alleged libel against the federal government and the Rivers State 
government. At year's end Sikpi remained in custody, and no trial date 
had been announced.
    There were no developments in the December 2005 case in which an 
editor and a presenter at privately-owned radio station Rhythm FM were 
arrested and charged with intent to cause public panic and fear. They 
remained in custody at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. A 
2006 survey revealed that only 1.3 percent of households owned a 
personal computer and that 1.5 percent of households had fixed line 
telephone service. However, these limits were tied to poverty rather 
than government restriction. Cybercafes were widely available and 
unmonitored by the Government.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--State governments continued 
to restrict academic freedom by controlling curriculum at all levels, 
including mandating religious instruction. Student groups alleged that 
numerous strikes, inadequate facilities, and the rise of cultism on 
campuses, particularly in the south, continued to hamper educational 
progress.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right for progovernment 
rallies, while opposition gatherings continued to be restricted. In 
areas that experienced societal violence, police and security forces 
permitted public meetings and demonstrations on a case-by-case basis.
    Police frequently cited the 1990 Public Order Act to disband 
meetings critical of the Government, in spite of the Abuja high court's 
June 2005 decision to strike down the Act, which required a police 
permit to be issued for all public rallies and processions. Although 
the acting inspector general of police announced following the court's 
decision that the police would appeal the ruling, he also stated that 
police would respect the court's injunction prohibiting police from 
interfering with peaceful rallies.
    The Government occasionally banned gatherings whose political, 
ethnic, or religious nature might lead to unrest. Open-air religious 
services held away from places of worship remained prohibited in many 
states due to fears that they might heighten interreligious tensions. 
The Kaduna State government ban on processions, rallies, 
demonstrations, and meetings in public places still was enforced on a 
case-by-case basis. A security forces committee ban on all political, 
cultural, and religious meetings in Plateau State continued to be 
implemented on an ad hoc basis.
    Security forces forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year, 
which resulted in numerous injuries and at least one death. Police and 
army units used force to quell widespread ethnoreligious violence in 
February (see Section 2.c.).
    In January police in Oyo State used tear gas to disperse a high-
profile demonstration protesting Governor Ladoja's impeachment and 
removal from office. Police claimed to have broken up the 
demonstration, which was peaceful, because no permit had been issued.
    In the spring police disbanded meetings protesting a proposed 
constitutional amendment to allow the President a third term in office.
    There were major riots in northern states from February 18 to 19 
after police used tear gas and live ammunition to break up peaceful 
demonstrations to protest the constitutional amendment to allow the 
President to run for a third term. In Maiduguri a riot ensued after 
police fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse a demonstration 
organized ostensibly to protest Danish cartoons of the Prophet 
Mohammad. In Katsina police shot into a rally of 20,000 persons, 
reportedly shooting and killing the demonstration's leader.
    On February 21, police arrested and detained 24 civil society 
representatives protesting the President's proposed third term agenda 
during a zonal constitutional review conference held in Oshogbo, Osun 
State. Police arraigned the protestors before an Oshogbo magistrate 
court under charges of unlawful assembly. The court granted all 24 
persons bail, and the matter was pending before the court at year's 
end.
    In July SSS agents in Abuja sealed off the intended venue of a 
meeting called to protest the firing of Bukhari Bello as chair of the 
NHRC.
    On November 27, police disrupted a meeting of opposition 
politicians and activists in a multipurpose hall in Kaduna State. While 
former governor Alhaji Balarabe Musa was addressing a crowd of several 
hundred persons, police entered the building and arrested the meeting 
organizers, who were informed at police headquarters that the summit 
was ``confrontational'' and should be disbanded peacefully or the 
police would halt it by force.
    There were no developments in the 2005 cases of security forces 
using excessive force against protesters. No action was taken against 
security forces who killed or injured persons while forcibly dispersing 
protesters in 2005 or 2004.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the 
right to associate freely with other persons in political parties, 
trade unions, or special interest associations, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. The constitution and law 
allow the free formation of political parties. There were 46 parties 
registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at 
year's end, with the majority of those parties formed during the year 
to contest the 2007 elections.

     c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion; although the federal government generally 
respected religious freedom, there were instances in which limits were 
placed on religious activity to address security and public safety 
concerns.
    The law prohibits state and local governments from adopting an 
official religion. Some Christians alleged that Islam has been adopted 
as a de facto state religion in several northern states, citing 
criminal law aspects of Islamic law (Shari'a) and the continued use of 
state resources to fund the construction of mosques, the teaching of 
kadis, and pilgrimages to Mecca (hajj). However, several states, 
including northern states, used government revenues to fund Christian 
pilgrimages to Jerusalem. States, whether dominated by Christians or 
Muslims, generally favored the faith practiced by the majority of 
residents.
    The law provides that states may elect to use Islamic laws and 
courts. Twelve northern states had adopted at least parts of Shari'a-
Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi, 
Borno, Zamfara, and Gombe. Adherence to Shari'a provisions is 
compulsory for Muslims in some states and optional in others. Non-
Muslims are not required in any state to submit to Shari'a 
jurisdiction, although in some states they have the option to do so, 
which may work to a defendant's advantage when the penalty under 
Shari'a is less severe than under civil law. For example, some crimes 
carry a punishment of a fine under Shari'a but would receive a prison 
sentence under civil law.
    Although several northern state governments continued to ban public 
proselytizing to avoid ethnoreligious violence, some Christian 
proselytizing groups remained active despite these formal bans, which 
generally were enforced on a case-by-case basis.
    The law does not require students to receive instruction in a 
religion other than their own; however, the Ministry of Education 
requires public school students throughout the country to undergo 
either Islamic or Christian religious instruction. State authorities 
claimed that students were permitted not to attend classes taught in a 
religion other than their own, and that students may request a teacher 
of their own religion to provide alternative instruction. However, 
there were often no teachers of ``Christian Religious Knowledge'' in 
many northern schools nor those of ``Muslim Religious Knowledge'' in 
some southern schools.
    Although distribution of religious publications was generally 
unrestricted, the Government sporadically enforced a ban against 
broadcasting religious advertisements on state-owned radio and 
television stations.
    Although Shari'a technically does not apply to non-Muslims, the 
non-Muslim minority has been affected by certain social provisions of 
Shari'a, such as the separation of the sexes in public schools and in 
the health and transportation services. Many social provisions 
associated with Shari'a have roots in the country's pre-Islamic 
societies and were in practice before the states adopted Shari'a. 
Although most states had not criminalized alcohol consumption by non-
Muslims, in 2004 Kano State announced that non-Muslims would be fined 
approximately $380 (50,000 naira) or sentenced up to one year in prison 
for drinking or selling alcohol in certain public places. There were no 
reports of non-Muslims in Kano State being penalized under this 
restriction during the year, and alcohol was available in some 
restaurants and hotel bars. Some states continued to offer only gender-
segregated transportation (see Section 5).
    A number of states with expanded Shari'a have long sanctioned 
private vigilante Shari'a enforcement groups (hisbah); in some cases 
these groups had authority to make arrests. The hisbah groups were not 
very active during the year, although they often served as traffic 
wardens, especially in Kano.
    Unlike in the previous year, no Shari'a death sentences generated 
controversy, and there were no reports of persons being sentenced under 
Shari'a law for fornication or adultery, regardless of their religious 
affiliation.
    There were no updates in the 2005 case of Saleh Dabo, who was 
sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, even though he was not 
married. The appeal had not yet been heard by year's end.
    There were numerous Shari'a cases pending appeal or implementation 
of sentence, including pending amputation and stoning sentences in 
Jigawa, Bauchi, Niger, Kano, and Zamfara states. Many of these cases 
had been delayed continuously for various reasons.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits religious 
discrimination in employment and other practices; however, private 
businesses frequently discriminated on the basis of religion or 
ethnicity in their hiring practices and purchasing patterns. In nearly 
all states, ethnic rivalries between ``indigenous'' and ``settlers'' 
led to some societal discrimination against minority ethnic and 
religious groups.
    Religious differences often mirrored regional and ethnic 
differences. For example, persons in the North and in parts of the 
Middle Belt were overwhelmingly Muslim and from the large Hausa and 
Fulani ethnic groups that tended to dominate these areas. Many southern 
ethnic groups were predominantly Christian. In many areas of the Middle 
Belt, Muslim Fulani tended to be pastoralists, while the Muslim Hausa 
and most Christian ethnic groups tended to be farmers or to work in 
urban areas. Consequently ethnic, regional, economic, and land use 
competition and confrontations often coincided with religious 
differences between the competing groups (see Section 5). It was not 
unusual for two ethnic groups with a long history of conflict to have 
adopted different religions, with the effect of exacerbating existing 
tensions.
    Ethnoreligious violence resulted in numerous deaths and the 
displacement of thousands of persons.
    In February the Nigerian Red Cross reported that up to 50,000 
persons were displaced and approximately 150 killed by a wave of 
sectarian violence sparked by protests over caricatures of the Islamic 
Prophet Muhammed. The special assistant to the country's President of 
Migration and Humanitarian Affairs estimated that at least 500,000 
persons, and perhaps millions of persons, were displaced within the 
country. The Nigerian Red Cross reported that approximately 8,600 
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had sought protection in an army 
barracks in Anambra State, and an additional 2,000 persons remained in 
refuge in army barracks in Niger State. The majority of deaths occurred 
in the mainly Christian southeast city of Onitsha, where groups of 
armed youths attacked Muslim Hausa-speakers from the north in revenge 
for the killings of Christian Igbos several days earlier in the north 
of the country. Spiraling violence spread across at least six states, 
with thousands of IDPs taking temporary refuge in police and army 
barracks or churches. Widespread destruction of property took place, 
with numerous churches, mosques, and houses burned down. State 
governments in the affected areas dispatched police and army 
reinforcements and imposed curfews in an attempt to contain the 
situation. The curfews were later lifted.
    On February 18, rioting in Maiduguri, Borno State, left more than 
50 persons dead in six hours of attacks against Christians and their 
property. Approximately 40 churches also were destroyed.
    Also in February Muslim students at a secondary school in Bauchi 
Sate reportedly threatened a Christian teacher for handling the Koran 
when she took it from a student who was reading it during class. A 
subsequent demonstration resulted in the burning of two churches and 
the killing of approximately 20 Christians; approximately 25 persons 
reportedly were arrested. The Government handled the case as a state 
security matter and had released little information publicly by year's 
end. There were reports that some of the defendants were taken to Jos 
in Plateau State, where they were granted bail, and that others were 
taken to Abuja. Christian religious leaders in Bauchi have been unable 
to make contact with the teacher, who was reportedly transported out of 
the state for her protection.
    In February unidentified Muslim students at a nursing school in 
Sokoto threatened a female Christian student after she used 
inflammatory language denigrating the prophet Muhammed. A riot ensued, 
and the school was closed for a few weeks for security reasons. The 
female student was given refuge at a local police station. A police 
investigation had not located the perpetrators by year's end.
    On September 10, churches in Jigawa State were burned during an 
interreligious conflict that reportedly developed when a Christian 
student and a Muslim student exchanged comments denigrating each 
other's religious figures.
    During the year local authorities in Abia State were presented with 
a petition by members of Jehovah's Witnesses who were victimized in 
June 2005 when their worship center and the homes of 24 families were 
destroyed. The petition requested aid in rebuilding and the arrest of 
the perpetrators. The Government took no action on the request.
    There were no known developments in the February 2005 case in 
Numan, Adamawa State, in which police killed at least two persons and 
arrested at least 30 others who were protesting the appointment of the 
new Bachama ethnic group traditional leader.
    There were no arrests or prosecutions in the 2004 case in which 
Muslim students at a major university in Bauchi State abducted and 
killed the head of a Christian campus organization in retaliation for 
perceived insults to Islam by Christian students.
    There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and while the Government generally respected them, police 
occasionally restricted freedom of movement by enforcing curfews in 
areas experiencing ethnoreligious violence.
    Law enforcement agencies used roadblocks and checkpoints to search 
for criminals and to prevent persons traveling from areas of conflict 
to other parts of the country where their presence might instigate 
retaliatory violence. There were no reports that government officials 
restricted mass movements of individuals fleeing ethnic unrest. 
Security and law enforcement officials continued to use excessive force 
at checkpoints and roadblocks and engaged in extortion and violence 
(see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.). On some stretches of road police 
maintained checkpoints every few kilometers.
    Kano State's 2005 ban prohibiting commercial motorcycle taxis from 
taking female passengers continued during the reporting period (see 
Section 5).
    The law prohibits the expulsion of citizens, and the Government did 
not use forced exile. Ismaila Gwarzo, national security advisor to 
former President Abacha, remained restricted to his hometown in Kano 
State after President Obasanjo issued the informal injunction to 
prevent Gwarzo from allegedly plotting against him.
    The FDCA continued to demolish homes and businesses in the Federal 
Capital Territory, which left numerous persons homeless (see Section 
1.f.).

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Ethnoreligious violence in 
February resulted in numerous deaths and the displacement of thousands 
of persons during the year (see Sections 2.c. and 5).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and 
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers through the 
National Commission for Refugees, its federal commissioner, and the 
National Emergency Management Agency. The Eligibility Committee (on 
which the UNHCR had observer status), governed the granting of refugee 
status, asylum, and resettlement, and reviewed refugee and resettlement 
applications.
    Refugee camps, which housed approximately 9,000 refugees, were 
generally overcrowded, and refugees' requests for police and judicial 
assistance generally received little attention. Refugees had poor 
access to the courts, but observers noted that it was no worse than 
that of citizens.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to a small number of persons during the year.
    Government forces withdrew from the Bakassi Peninsula near the 
border with Cameroon in August after a June agreement between the 
Presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria. Cameroon was given administrative 
control of the region following an extended legal dispute that resulted 
in the 2002 decision by the International Court of Justice to award the 
Bakassi to Cameroon. Some citizens remained in what became Cameroonian 
territory, and others were offered resettlement within the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully through periodic, free, and fair elections 
held on the basis of universal suffrage; however, citizens' right to 
change their government was abridged during the most recent national 
elections in 2003. The political system remained in transition. The 
three branches of the Government acted somewhat independently, although 
the executive branch dominated the other two branches.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The 2003 legislative 
elections were marred by widespread fraud. The turnout was 
significantly low for the 2003 Presidential and gubernatorial 
elections, which were also marred by widespread fraud. A total of 31 
parties participated in the 2003 national assembly elections, and 19 
parties fielded candidates in the Presidential election. The European 
Union observer mission categorized the quality of the Presidential 
election as extremely poor, stating that in the worst six states, 
elections effectively were not held, and in the rest of the country the 
elections were seriously marred. All major independent observer groups, 
international and domestic, issued negative statements about the 
fairness of elections and cited problems throughout the country. 
Problems included ballot stuffing, intentional miscounting, underage 
voting, multiple voting, intimidation, and violence, including 
political killings. Although all parties participated in the 
misconduct, observers cited violations by the ruling PDP significantly 
more often than those other parties.
    Although in 2004 an election tribunal voided part of the 2003 
Presidential election results, including the entire result of Ogun 
State, President Obasanjo's home state, and found that there was 
significant rigging, the tribunal declined by a three-to-one vote to 
overturn the election. The opposition appealed the verdict to the 
Supreme Court, which in 2005 not only upheld the election results, 
finding that the 2003 election had been ``substantially'' in compliance 
with the election law, but also reinstated the results that had been 
voided by the tribunal. The justice delivering the dissenting opinion 
in the appeals court was dismissed from the judiciary and continued to 
live without retirement benefits in the east. On August 12, following a 
two-year court battle, the Anambra State Elections Tribunal overturned 
the 2003 gubernatorial election results and declared the All People's 
Grand Alliance candidate Peter Obi the winner. The previously-
recognized winner, Chris Ngige, who had run as a member of the ruling 
PDP but was later expelled from the party, appealed the ruling and 
refused to leave office pending his appeal.
    The Government took steps to prepare for elections scheduled to be 
held in April 2007. The slow pace of these preparations, however, 
caused widespread concern about the ability of the INEC to support the 
election. The media issued conflicting reports as to whether the INEC 
had actually received the funding allotted to it to prepare for the 
elections, though the INEC continued to insist that it had adequate 
funds to proceed. The Government did not complete voter registration by 
the December 14 deadline mandated by law when an effort to 
electronically register voters fell far short of completion. At year's 
end the Government was discussing whether to address the situation by 
continuing to register voters electronically, by substituting manual 
registration for electronic registration, or by revalidating the 2003 
voter rolls, which were widely held to be seriously flawed.
    On November 18, violence marred PDP local government congresses in 
several states. Fourteen persons were believed to have been killed in 
Rivers State, and at least five PDP members were wounded during gun 
battles in Akwa Ibom after armed police were brought to PDP 
headquarters to quell protests over allegedly doctored lists of 
delegates for the State Assembly primary election.
    From December 8 to 10, approximately six persons in Benue State 
were killed during riots that broke out after a gubernatorial primary 
was delayed and the PDP selected an unpopular candidate for the State 
House of Assembly. No prosecutions were announced in the case.
    In November there were reports that at least five persons in Enugu 
State were mutilated and killed for ritual purposes by perpetrators who 
worked for local politicians.
    Internal pressure, including threats, was exerted on members of the 
ruling PDP to limit their ability to select the party's leadership. 
Party leadership was imposed from the presidency, and Obasanjo was 
given a lifetime party leadership post. The process for selecting party 
candidates was not transparent, and rifts between President Obasanjo 
and Vice President Atiku Abubakar led to the disenfranchisement of a 
number of persons in the party's internal political processes. Most 
party candidates were pressured to step down, and those who remained 
were not allowed to campaign at the party convention in December. The 
PDP required persons interested in running for President on the party's 
ticket to pay $39,060 (five million naira) for a PDP nomination form. 
The PDP offered the forms to female candidates for an ``expression 
fee'' of $78 (10,000 naira).
    The country's electoral law allowed those who felt they had been 
disenfranchised to leave their existing party and form a new one.
    In March the SSS detained and questioned Alhaji Lawal Kaita, leader 
of the Advanced Congress of Democrats, a political party that had 
recently been formed by former members of the ruling PDP. The minister 
of information defended the SSS action and called the 74-year-old Kaita 
a threat to public safety and national security for allegedly 
recruiting thugs for political activities.
    On April 4, eight leaders of the Turaki Vanguard, a campaign group 
supporting the vice President, were charged with belonging to an 
unlawful society. No furthers hearings were announced in the case by 
year's end.
    The EFCC continued a strong anticorruption campaign during the 
year, arresting a number of federal, state, and local officials and 
seizing millions of dollars in assets. Some observers lauded the 
commission's actions as a centerpiece of the Obasanjo administration's 
war on corruption, but critics claimed that some EFCC investigations 
were politically motivated, singling out political opponents of the 
administration, and that the EFCC did not always follow proper criminal 
procedure. During the year the EFCC brought or threatened criminal 
charges against several persons intending to run as Presidential 
candidates.
    Although there were more than 500 ministerial and National Assembly 
positions, there were only eight female ministers, three female 
senators, and 12 female representatives at the end of the year.
    To promote national unity and loyalty, the law mandates that the 
composition of the federal, state, and local governments and their 
agencies, as well as the conduct of their affairs, reflect the diverse 
character of the country. The Government was an example of this 
diversity: President Obasanjo is a Yoruba from the southwest, the vice 
President is a Fulani from the northeast, and the senate President is 
an Igbo from the southeast. The Government also attempted to balance 
other key positions among the different regions and ethnic groups. The 
political parties also engaged in ``zoning,'' a practice of rotating 
positions within the party among the different regions and ethnic 
groups to ensure that each region was given adequate representation. 
Despite this effort, with more than 250 ethnic groups, it was difficult 
to ensure representation of every group in the Government (see Section 
5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was massive, 
widespread, and pervasive, at all levels of the Government and society 
(see Section 1.e.). The constitution provides immunity from civil and 
criminal prosecution to the President, vice President, governors, and 
deputy governors.
    During the spring debate over a constitutional amendment allowing a 
third term for President Obasanjo, many members of the National 
Assembly were offered bribes in return for their votes on the 
amendment. Credible reports indicated that at least some of the members 
accepted the payments.
    At year's end 31 of the country's 36 governors had been or were 
being investigated, most on suspicion of corruption. Three governors 
were impeached during the year, although the Supreme Court later ruled 
that one governor should be returned to office because of procedural 
flaws in his impeachment. Although allegations of gubernatorial 
corruption were generally credible, some observers believed that 
persons were targeted for investigation for political reasons.
    On January 12, the Oyo State House of Assembly impeached Governor 
Rasheed Ladoja on charges of corruption and abuse of office. Underlying 
the impeachment was a political feud pitting the governor against the 
state's traditional political strongman, whom the President reportedly 
supported. On December 7, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the 
Ibadan appeals court to nullify Ladoja's impeachment.
    In October the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, was impeached 
following an investigation that determined that he and others had 
embezzled $9.4 million dollars (1.2 billion naira) from the state. At 
year's end a court case was pending to prevent the EFCC from pressing 
charges against Fayose.
    In November Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye was impeached for 
corruption. Dariya skipped bail in London on money laundering charges 
and was widely reported to have embezzled money intended for the 
Plateau State treasury. Observers found the charges against him both 
credible and politically motivated.
    The EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) 
won no convictions of high-level officials during the year, although 
numerous investigations and arrests were conducted. In November 2005 
former inspector-general of police, Tafa Balogun, pled guilty to minor 
obstruction charges and received a six-month prison sentence.
    On September 26, the Senate adopted a resolution to launch an 
investigation into allegations of high-level corruption at the 
Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). In December the courts 
dismissed charges against the vice President because of his immunity 
while from prosecution while in office. The President and the vice 
President continued to publicly trade accusations of PTDF-related 
corruption against one another through the end of the year.
    Complicit prison and hospital officials reportedly forged death 
certificates for convicted drug offenders to aid their escape from 
prison. In the 18-month period between January 2005 and August, 
approximately 200 convicted drug offenders escaped in this manner. In 
some cases drug offenders paid other persons to serve their prison 
sentences. President Obasanjo reportedly ordered the Attorney General 
to form a commission to further investigate these preliminary findings.
    Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who in September 
2005 was arrested in the United Kingdom and charged with money 
laundering, had been denied bail and was in jail pending trial. At 
year's end the court was considering a motion to allow him to leave 
prison to seek medical treatment abroad. His case was adjourned until 
2007 due to his failing health.
    There were no known developments in the June 2005 arrests of Bauchi 
State government employees for their role in embezzling $2.1 million 
(281 million naira) of state government funds.
    There were no known developments in the June 2005 case in which the 
EFCC arrested five Kebbi State government employees for embezzling up 
to $22 million (three billion naira) of state government funds through 
schemes involving fake vouchers and the private sale of state bonds.
    There were no developments in the 2003 prosecution of the former 
labor minister and other senior government officials on corruption 
charges. The former officials remained free as the trial, which began 
in 2004, continued to be delayed.
    There were no laws providing for access to information, and the 
Government provided limited access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views. Criticism of 
the Government's human rights record was abundant in various media. 
Human rights activists reported that their interactions with the 
federal government were acceptable, but should be more frequent. 
However, the environment for interaction was still tense, and human 
rights groups were reluctant to form a close relationship with the 
Government.
    Numerous domestic and international NGOs were active in the 
country. Significant NGOs included Amnesty International (AI), the 
Campaign for Democracy, the Center for Law Enforcement Education 
(CLEEN), the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Global Rights, 
Human Rights Watch (HRW), Women Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication 
Foundation (WOTCLEF), and the Women's Consortium of Nigeria. The NGOs 
were generally independent of the Government although some, such as 
WOTCLEF, which the vice President's wife chaired, had close government 
ties.
    The Government met with NGOs, and civil society organizations 
facilitated government/NGO communications.
    There were no known developments in the 2004 case in which the 
customs service did not comply with a court decision against it. 
Although CLEEN won its September 2004 lawsuit against the Government 
over the 2002 seizure of its human rights reports and was awarded 
$69,230 (9 million naira), the customs service neither paid the award 
nor returned the seized books.
    International NGOs actively addressed human rights issues in the 
country during the year. The ICRC in Abuja and Lagos provided 
assistance to victims of interethnic violence in the north and 
conducted presentations and trainings on human rights for police and 
military personnel. HRW also reported on a protest against the firing 
of the executive secretary of the NHRC, Niger Delta violence and 
abuses, and discrimination against non-indigenes.
    The NHRC, which the Government tasked with monitoring and 
protecting human rights, strove to improve its credibility with the 
general public and NGO community as an independent monitoring body. The 
NHRC had zonal affiliates in each of the country's six political 
regions. Since its inception, the NHRC's operations were limited by 
insufficient funding. The commission also lacked judicial authority and 
could only make nonbinding recommendations to the Government.
    In June the Government removed NHRC Executive Secretary Bukhari 
Bello. There was widespread condemnation of the move, which observers 
believed was intended to punish the NHRC for its previous protests 
against unfair detentions.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on 
community, place of origin, ethnic group, sex, religion, or political 
opinion; however, societal and religious discrimination against women 
persisted, societal discrimination on the basis of both religion and 
ethnicity remained widespread, and ethnic and regional tensions 
continued to contribute to serious violence both between citizens and 
the security forces and between groups of citizens.

    Women.--Domestic violence was widespread and often considered 
socially acceptable. Reports of spousal abuse were common, especially 
those of wife beating. Police normally did not intervene in domestic 
disputes, which seldom were discussed publicly. The law permits 
husbands to use physical means to chastise their wives as long as it 
does not result in ``grievous harm,'' which is defined as loss of 
sight, hearing, power of speech, facial disfigurement, or life-
threatening injuries. In more rural areas, courts and police were 
reluctant to intervene to protect women who formally accused their 
husbands of abuse if the level of alleged abuse did not exceed 
customary norms in the areas. According to the 2003 Nigeria Demographic 
and Health Survey (NDHS), 64.5 percent of women and 61.3 percent of men 
agreed that a husband was justified in hitting or beating his wife for 
at least one of six specified reasons, including burning food and not 
cooking on time.
    AI estimated that two-thirds of the women in certain communities in 
Lagos State experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence in 
the family, with husbands, partners, and fathers responsible for most 
of the violence. Discriminatory laws exacerbated the problem. For 
example, the penalty for sexual assault of a man is more severe than 
the penalty for the same offense against a woman.
    The law criminalized rape and provided for substantial penalties 
for convictions, but societal pressures and the stigma associated with 
being a rape victim reduced both the percentage of rapes reported and 
the penalties imposed for conviction. The law recognizes spousal rape 
as a separate offense; however, spousal rape was difficult to prove in 
court, and no such prosecutions were reported during the year. Rape and 
sexual harassment continued to be problems. There were no statutes 
against sexual harassment, but violent forms were adjudicated under 
assault statutes. The practice of demanding sexual favors in exchange 
for employment or university grades continued to be common, and rape 
continued to be epidemic in universities. In November AI issued a 
report criticizing the judicial system for a conviction rate of only 10 
percent of the total number of rape prosecutions.
    The NDHS estimated that approximately 19 percent of the female 
population had been subjected to FGM, although the incidence had 
declined steadily in recent years. While practiced in all parts of the 
country, FGM was much more prevalent in the south. Women from northern 
states were less likely to undergo the most severe type of FGM known as 
infibulation. The age at which women and girls were subjected to the 
practice varied from the first week of life until after a woman 
delivered her first child; however, three-quarters of the NDHS 2003 
survey respondents who had undergone FGM had the procedure before their 
first birthday. According to the survey, the principal perceived 
``benefits'' of FGM included maintaining chastity/virginity before 
marriage, giving the victim better marriage prospects, providing more 
sexual pleasure for men (primarily according to male respondents), and 
aiding safe childbirth.
    The federal government publicly opposed FGM but took no legal 
action to curb the practice. Because of the considerable impediments 
that anti-FGM groups faced at the federal level, most refocused their 
energies on combating the practice at the state and local levels. 
Bayelsa, Edo, Ogun, Cross River, Osun, and Rivers states banned FGM. 
However, once a state legislature criminalized FGM, NGOs found that 
they had to convince the local government area authorities that state 
laws were applicable in their districts. The Ministry of Health, 
women's groups, and many NGOs sponsored public awareness projects to 
educate communities about the health hazards of FGM. They worked to 
eradicate the practice, but financial and logistical obstacles limited 
their contact with health care workers on the medical effects of FGM.
    During the year there were no known prosecutions resulting from a 
2005 Osun State law intended to punish persons who encourage FGM. The 
law criminalizes the removal of any part of a sexual organ from a woman 
or a girl, except for medical reasons approved by a doctor. According 
to the provisions of the law, an offender is any female who offers 
herself for FGM; any person who coerces, entices, or induces any female 
to undergo FGM; and any person who other than for medical reasons 
performs an operation removing part of a woman or girl's sexual organs. 
The law provides for a fine of $385 (50,000 naira), one year's 
imprisonment, or both for a first offense, and doubled penalties for a 
second conviction.
    Prostitution was a serious problem, particularly in urban areas. 
There are statutes at both the federal and state levels criminalizing 
prostitution. All states that had adopted Shari'a had criminalized 
prostitution, and this ban was enforced with varying degrees of 
success. The police frequently used the antiprostitution statutes as 
tools for harassment, arresting offenders and holding them until they 
paid a bribe, but rarely prosecuting the cases in court.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    In some parts of the country, women continued to be harassed for 
social and religious reasons. Purdah continued in parts of the far 
north (see Section 1.f.).
    Women also experienced considerable economic discrimination. While 
there are no laws barring women from particular fields of employment, 
women often experienced discrimination under traditional and religious 
practices. The Nigerian NGOs Coalition expressed concern regarding 
continued discrimination against women in the private sector, 
particularly in access to employment, promotion to higher professional 
positions, and salary equality. There were credible reports that 
several businesses operated with a ``get pregnant, get fired'' policy. 
Women remained underrepresented in the formal sector but played an 
active and vital role in the country's informal economy. While the 
number of women employed in the business sector increased every year, 
women did not receive equal pay for equal work and often found it 
extremely difficult to acquire commercial credit or to obtain tax 
deductions or rebates as heads of households. Unmarried women in 
particular endured many forms of discrimination.
    The NDHS survey showed that women had significant control over the 
income they generated (73.4 percent made sole decisions on how such 
income was to be used), but that men largely controlled decisions 
regarding areas such as children's and women's own health care.
    Although some women made considerable individual progress in both 
the academic and business worlds, women overall remained marginalized. 
Although women were not legally barred from owning land, under some 
customary land tenure systems only men could own land, and women could 
gain access to land only through marriage or family. In addition many 
customary practices did not recognize a woman's right to inherit her 
husband's property, and many widows were rendered destitute when their 
in-laws took virtually all of the deceased husband's property.
    In some parts of the country, widows experienced unfavorable 
conditions as a result of discriminatory traditional customs and 
economic deprivation. ``Confinement,'' which occurred predominantly in 
the east, was the most common rite of deprivation to which widows were 
subjected. Confined widows were under social restrictions for as long 
as one year and usually were expected to shave their heads and dress in 
black as part of a culturally mandated mourning period. In other areas 
a widow was considered a part of her husband's property, to be 
``inherited'' by his family. Shari'a personal law protects widows' 
property rights, and an NGO reported that many women succeeded in 
protecting their rights in Shari'a courts.
    Polygyny is legal and continued to be practiced widely among many 
ethnic and religious groups.
    Women in the 12 northern states were affected to varying degrees by 
Shari'a. In Zamfara State local governments enforced laws requiring the 
separation of Muslim men and women in transportation and health care. 
Kano State's 2005 ban prohibiting commercial motorcycle taxis from 
taking women as passengers continued during the reporting period. The 
state government did not cite any specific Koranic references in 
announcing the ban. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women were affected by 
the ban.
    The testimony of women was not given the same weight as that of men 
in many criminal courts (see Section 1.e.).

    Children.--The Government seldom enforced even the inadequate laws 
designed to protect the rights of children. Public schools continued to 
be substandard, and limited facilities precluded access to education 
for many children. The law calls for the Government, ``when 
practical,'' to provide free, compulsory, and universal primary 
education; however, compulsory primary education rarely was provided. 
The 2004 NDHS EdData survey showed primary school net attendance rates 
of 64 percent for boys and 57 percent for girls, with approximately 96 
percent of those attending completing five years of primary education. 
Secondary school net attendance was considerably lower, at 38 percent 
for males and 33 percent for females. In many parts of the country, 
girls were discriminated against in access to education for social and 
economic reasons. When economic hardship restricted families' ability 
to send girls to school, many girls were directed into activities such 
as domestic work, trading, and street vending. Many families favored 
boys over girls in deciding which children to enroll in secondary and 
elementary schools. The literacy rate was 58 percent for men but only 
41 percent for women.
    While most schools in the north traditionally separated children by 
gender, the law required this practice in Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi 
state schools (see Section 2.c.).
    The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) collaborated with the Government on 
a Strategy for Acceleration of Girls Education in the country to 
produce a smaller gap between boys' and girls' access to education. 
Donor governments undertook similar initiatives.
    Girls and boys had equal access to government health care. However, 
girls were much more likely than boys to receive complete immunizations 
from childhood diseases. Complete immunization rates were 17 percent 
for girls and 9.1 percent for boys.
    FGM was commonly performed on girls in southern areas of the 
country (see Section 5, Women).
    Cases of child abuse, abandoned infants, child prostitution, and 
physically dangerous child labor practices remained common throughout 
the country (see Sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.d.). The Government 
criticized child abuse and neglect but did not undertake any 
significant measures to stop traditional practices harmful to children, 
such as the sale of young girls into marriage. There were credible 
reports that poor families sold their daughters into marriage as a 
means to supplement their incomes. Young girls sometimes were forced 
into marriage as soon as they reached puberty, regardless of age, to 
prevent the ``indecency'' associated with premarital sex or for other 
cultural and religious reasons. Human rights groups reported sexual 
assaults and rapes of young girls, especially in the north.
    Numerous children were homeless and lived on the streets. According 
to the Consortium for Street Children, there were no known statistics 
on numbers of street children in the country. Major factors that caused 
children to turn to the streets included instability in the home, 
poverty, hunger, abuse and violence by parents, and displacement caused 
by clashes in the community. AIDS also had a tremendous impact on the 
numbers of orphaned street children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in 
persons, persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
    The country was a source, transit, and destination country for 
trafficked persons during the year. No government or NGO estimates on 
the extent of trafficking were available, but the magnitude of the 
problem was believed to be significant. This was based on several 
factors, including the number of deportees returned to the country and 
reports of Nigerians stranded along trafficking routes, particularly in 
North African countries. The majority of trafficking victims rescued by 
NAPTIP came from Akwa Ibom and Edo states. In August the executive 
director of the Women's Consortium for Nigeria stated that the country, 
and Ogun State in particular, was a strategic location for traffickers 
engaged in sourcing, transit, and exporting persons to other countries. 
In 2005 the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 40 
percent of child street peddlers were trafficking victims.
    Nigerians were trafficked to Europe, the Middle East, and other 
countries in Africa for the purposes of forced labor, domestic 
servitude, and sexual exploitation. Girls and women were trafficked for 
forced prostitution to Italy, France, Spain, Norway, Belgium, the 
Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, and Niger. Children were trafficked 
for involuntary domestic and agricultural labor and street peddling 
within the country and to countries in West and Central Africa. Both 
women and children were trafficked to Saudi Arabia for the purposes of 
prostitution, sexual exploitation, and labor. There also were reports 
that trafficked children were used as camel jockeys in the Middle East. 
The country was a destination country for children trafficked for 
forced labor from other West African countries, primarily Benin.
    Women and children were most at risk of being trafficked. Boys were 
trafficked primarily to work as forced bondage laborers, street 
peddlers, and beggars, while girls were trafficked for domestic 
service, street peddling, and commercial sexual exploitation. 
Trafficking in children, and to a lesser extent in women, occurred 
within the country's borders. Children in rural areas were trafficked 
to urban centers to work as domestics, street peddlers, merchant 
traders, and beggars.
    The UN Office of Drugs and Crime reported that individual criminals 
and organized criminal groups conducted trafficking, often involving 
relatives or other persons already known to the victims. Traffickers 
employed various methods during the year. Many were organized into 
specialties, such as document and passport forgery, recruitment, and 
transportation. To recruit young women, traffickers often made false 
promises of legitimate work outside the country. Traffickers also 
deceived child victims and their parents with promises of education, 
training, and salary payments. Once away from their families, children 
were subjected to harsh treatment and intimidation. Traffickers 
subjected victims to debt bondage, particularly victims forced into 
prostitution. In some cases traffickers employed practitioners of 
traditional magic, or juju, to threaten victims with curses to procure 
their silence. NAPTIP estimated that 90 percent of the girls trafficked 
through Benin routes were threatened by juju practitioners. Victims 
were transported by air, land, and sea. Established land routes to 
Europe transited Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, 
Niger, and Morocco.
    The law prohibits human trafficking and provides for penalties 
including monetary fines, imprisonment, deportation, forfeiture of 
assets and passport, and liability for compensation to victims in civil 
proceedings. Imprisonment terms range from 12 months to life, while 
fines range from $375 (50,000 naira) to $1,500 (200,000 naira).
    The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons 
(NAPTIP), a 200-employee agency with 60 investigators and 30 
prosecutors dedicated to trafficking, bears primary responsibility for 
combating trafficking. The NPF and the Nigerian Immigration Service 
(NIS) also have antitrafficking units. In addition the President had a 
special assistant for human trafficking and child labor.
    The Government devoted more resources to curb trafficking during 
the year and took several steps to address the problem more 
effectively. Enforcement efforts continued to improve, the number of 
trafficking cases investigated and prosecuted during the year 
increased, and record-keeping improved as NAPTIP, NPF, and NIS roles 
were more clearly defined through a series of NAPTIP-sponsored 
meetings, conferences, training sessions, and networking events.
    Preliminary data indicated that during the year NAPTIP investigated 
65 new cases and prosecuted 25 cases. At year's end, many of these 
cases were pending, and eight convicted traffickers were serving prison 
sentences. Observers attributed the low conviction rate to witnesses' 
reluctance to testify and the slow progress of cases through the 
courts.
    Charges were dismissed in the 2005 case in which an alleged 
trafficker and a truck driver were awaiting trial on charges of 
trafficking 40 children between the ages of seven and 19. Parents of 
the girls testified that they were going to Lagos to work as domestic 
employees in order to save money for their marriage ceremonies.
    The NPF Antitrafficking Task Force was established in 2005 and 
staffed 22 units in states with the worst trafficking problems. 
Officials complained of inadequate resources, citing insufficient 
funding to support investigative field work.
    The Government increased collaboration on investigations with 
concerned law enforcement agencies in France, Spain, Italy, and Benin. 
Officials attended international workshops on trafficking, and the 
Government collaborated with Benin to arrest traffickers and repatriate 
trafficking victims. In May the Government participated in a Libreville 
summit hosted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 
and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) at which a 
regional multilateral agreement and action plan to combat trafficking 
was developed. In July ECOWAS and ECCAS hosted a follow-up conference 
in Abuja at which the multilateral agreement and action plan were 
adopted by 24 countries, including Nigeria.
    At the institutional level, government authorities did not 
facilitate or condone trafficking; however, reports continued to 
surface from informants and foreign officials that law enforcement 
officers and individuals in the immigration and airport authorities 
collaborated in trafficking persons across the country's borders. On 
August 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs closed its authentication 
unit which provided falsified seals in exchange for bribes greatly 
exceeding the official rate. Credible reports indicate that much of the 
authentication was for young women who were being trafficked out of the 
country. The majority of instances were attributed to ignorance of the 
trafficking law and difficulties overcoming traditional practices. 
NAPTIP was very active in providing sensitization, including to police 
and customs in attending training. The law provides punitive measures 
for officials who aid or abet trafficking; however, NAPTIP and NPF had 
found no evidence of official complicity, and no officials were 
prosecuted, tried, or convicted of trafficking-related charges. One 
police inspector was arrested in Abuja for releasing two trafficking 
suspects after receiving specific orders to hold them. The inspector 
was not suspected of collaborating with the traffickers and their 
activities.
    The Government provided limited funding for assistance to victims. 
NAPTIP served as the point of contact for immigration and police 
officials when victims were found; 500 victims passed through the 
agency during the year. NAPTIP directly provided overnight shelter to 
victims, and agency officials connected victims to nongovernmental or 
international organizations for shelter, counseling, and reintegration 
assistance. NAPTIP established a hot line for victims and anyone 
seeking or wanting to provide information regarding trafficking. The 
hot line received an estimated 500 calls during the year. During the 
year the Government helped victims in some cases to repatriate to their 
home countries and reunited trafficked children with their families. 
NAPTIP also conducted a sensitization exercise to increase awareness of 
the risks of trafficking.
    The Ministry of Labor and Productivity, in collaboration with the 
ILO, NAPTIP, the police, and other federal agencies, provided food, 
transportation, and other logistical assistance to reunite internally 
and externally trafficked children with their families. The Government 
continued to operate the 120-bed shelter in Lagos, with involvement by 
the International Organization for Migration and the American Bar 
Association. NAPTIP also operated shelter facilities at secure 
locations in Abuja and Benin City, and in Akwa Ibom and Kano states.
    The Government provided some funding for protection activities. For 
victims serving as witnesses, divisional police officers were appointed 
to serve as witness protection officers. NAPTIP officials and the 
officer worked together to provide assistance. NAPTIP outreach efforts 
were based on a series of ``town hall'' meetings organized in 
conjunction with NGOs to bring together community leaders, traditional 
leaders, teachers, school children, and other groups to raise awareness 
of the dangers of trafficking, legal protections, and available 
resources. Several state governments in the south continued strong 
efforts to protect victims. In Edo State Idia Renaissance operated a 
youth resource center, funded by UNICEF and foreign organizations, that 
provided job-skill training and counseling to trafficking victims and 
other youths.
    The Government increased efforts and substantially increased 
funding to prevent trafficking in persons during the year. The 
stakeholder forum, established by NAPTIP in 2003, met monthly in each 
state, conducted training of security and immigration officials and 
held meetings with local government leaders to raise awareness of 
trafficking issues. NAPTIP officials met with several major traditional 
leaders to raise their awareness regarding trafficking and the 
antitrafficking law. NAPTIP also worked with the media to raise 
awareness among the public, and officials appeared on national talk 
shows and state programs. The Government continued implementing the ILO 
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) West 
Africa Cocoa Agriculture Project to prevent the trafficking or 
employment of children in commercial agriculture, especially cocoa 
production.
    NAPTIP led the establishment in 2005 of state-level antitrafficking 
committees that consisted of immigration officials, civil society 
organizations, law enforcement agents, and federal ministries in 22 
states. These groups were charged with coordinating action in 
trafficking cases among their respective organizations. During the year 
these committees were established in 11 northern states established 
such committees following the establishment of 11 committees in 11 
southern states in 2005 and 2004.
    The Government established economic and education programs to 
improve economic conditions and indirectly prevent trafficking. Despite 
these and other programs, poverty, lack of access to education, and 
lack of economic opportunities remained pervasive problems that fueled 
the trafficking problem.
    Several state governments continued to make significant prevention 
efforts during the year, including awareness campaigns among at-risk 
populations. NAPTIP's Public Enlightenment Unit also conducted several 
awareness events throughout the country.
    Nongovernmental and international organizations organized 
conferences and stakeholder meetings on trafficking and established 
prevention and awareness programs in schools. Groups also worked 
through the media. A faith-based foundation in Akwa Ibom State 
sponsored awareness programs on television and radio. The ILO continued 
a program in partnership with the News Agency of Nigeria to raise 
awareness and build media capacity to help eliminate child trafficking 
and child labor.
    International organizations worked closely with the Government and 
the community during the year to prevent child trafficking. UNICEF 
continued a children's parliament program that discussed civil rights 
and the dangers of human trafficking. A foreign government worked with 
NAPTIP on an antitrafficking program to strengthen local capacity to 
arrest and prosecute traffickers, and to provide assistance to victims 
through the Lagos shelter.
    The ILO continued to support information coordination and 
monitoring by providing internet connectivity to the national 
monitoring center. UNICEF continued to provide additional funding for 
NAPTIP zonal officers.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other 
state services. There are no laws requiring physical accessibility for 
person with disabilities.
    Children and women with disabilities faced social stigma, 
exploitation, and discrimination, and were often regarded as a source 
of shame by their own families. Children with disabilities who could 
not contribute to family income were seen as a liability, and in some 
cases were severely neglected. Significant numbers of indigent persons 
with disabilities begged on the streets. Literacy rates among various 
categories of persons with disabilities were significantly lower than 
among the general population, for both men and women.
    The federal government ran vocational training centers in Abuja to 
provide training to indigent persons with disabilities. The individual 
states also provided facilities to assist blind and physically 
incapacitated individuals to become self-supporting, and persons with 
disabilities established a growing number of self-help NGOs such as the 
Kano Polio Victims Trust Association.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was 
ethnically diverse, and consisted of more than 250 groups, many of 
which were concentrated geographically and spoke distinct primary 
languages. There was no majority ethnic group. The four largest ethnic 
groups, which comprised two-thirds of the country's population, were 
the Hausa and Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the southwest, and the 
Ibos of the southeast. The Ijaw of the South Delta were the fifth 
largest group, followed by Kanuri in the far northeast, and the Tiv in 
the Middle Belt. Societal discrimination on the basis of ethnicity was 
practiced widely by members of all ethnic groups and was evident in 
private-sector hiring patterns, de facto ethnic segregation of urban 
neighborhoods, and a low rate of intermarriage across major ethnic and 
regional lines. There was a long history of tension among some ethnic 
groups (see Section 2.c.).
    Many groups complained of insufficient representation in government 
office.
    The law prohibits ethnic discrimination by the Government, but 
claims of marginalization continued, particularly by members of 
southern groups and Igbos. In particular the ethnic groups of the Niger 
Delta continued their calls for high-level representation on petroleum 
problems and within the security forces. Middle Belt and Christian 
officers dominated the military hierarchy, and some persons in the 
North believed that the northern Hausa were underrepresented in the 
military. Northern Muslims accused the Government of favoring Yorubas 
or Christians from the Middle Belt for those positions. Traditional 
relationships continued to be used to impose considerable pressure on 
individual government officials to favor their own ethnic groups for 
important positions and patronage.
    In April HRW published a report describing discrimination against 
non-indigenes. While all citizens have the right to live in any part of 
the country, state and local governments frequently discriminated 
against those not judged to be indigenous to the area, occasionally 
compelling individuals to return to a part of the country where their 
ethnic group originated from but to which they have no personal ties. 
On different occasions, individual non-indigenes were compelled to move 
by government use of bulldozers, clubs and torches, and discrimination 
in hiring and employment. When they were allowed to stay rather than be 
removed, these persons experienced discrimination including denial of 
scholarships and exclusion from employment in the civil service, 
police, and the military.
    In Plateau State, the Hausa and Fulani, most of whom were Muslim 
and considered non-indigenes, claimed to face significant 
discrimination from the local government in scholarships and government 
representation.
    Ethnic groups claimed environmental degradation and government 
indifference to their status in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. 
Groups such as the Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, and Ogoni continued 
to express unhappiness regarding their perceived economic exploitation 
and the environmental destruction of their homelands, and incidents of 
ethnic conflict and confrontation with government officials and forces 
continued in the Delta area (see Sections 1.a. and 1.b.).
    Religious difference often mirrored regional and ethnic differences 
and resulted in numerous deaths and the displacement of thousands of 
persons during the year (see Section 2.c.). There were no developments 
in previous years' incidents of ethno-religious violence.
    Interethnic fighting has long been a problem in Warri, Delta State, 
resulting in casualties and the displacement of tens of thousands of 
local inhabitants. Despite a ceasefire in Warri that was negotiated in 
2004, fresh violence broke out during the year.
    Interethnic fighting elsewhere in the Delta also displaced tens of 
thousands of local inhabitants. In 2004 militia groups operating in 
Port Harcourt and other areas around the Delta region carried out 
violent operations that ended when officials from the presidency 
negotiated directly with militant leaders and reached a cease-fire 
agreement. Following the October 2005 arrest of Dokubo, leader of the 
Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (see Section 1.d.), tensions 
remained high for several weeks with increased threats and instances of 
crime, particularly against foreign interests, that could have been 
politically motivated. However, these threats also may have resulted 
from groups taking advantage of the heightened tensions for monetary 
gain. The situation remained largely unchanged from the previous year.
    Conflict over land rights and ownership continued among members of 
the Tiv, Kwalla, Jukun, and Azara ethnic groups; each of these groups 
resided at or near the convergence of Nassarawa, Benue, and Taraba 
States. The Tiv, who were claimed by their opponents to have migrated 
to the country later than other inhabitants of the disputed area, were 
regarded as interlopers by the other groups, which considered 
themselves ``indigenous.'' Tivs were the largest ethnic group in much 
of Benue and parts of other states.
    No charges were expected in the case of 20 persons arrested in a 
February 2005 land-use dispute between farmers and herdsmen in Demsa, 
Adamawa State.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is illegal 
under federal law; homosexual practices are punishable by prison 
sentences of up to 14 years. In the 12 northern states that have 
adopted Shari'a, adults convicted of having engaged in homosexual 
intercourse are subject to execution by stoning, although no such 
sentences were imposed during the year. Because of widespread taboos 
against homosexuality, very few persons were openly homosexual.
    During the year the National Assembly considered an antigay 
marriage bill that would duplicate existing laws on marriage and sexual 
relations while making it more difficult for advocacy groups to 
operate. The bill had not passed by the end of the year.
    There was widespread discrimination against persons living with 
HIV/AIDS, which the public considered a disease resulting from immoral 
behavior. Persons living with HIV/AIDS often lost their jobs or were 
denied health care services. However, public education campaigns were 
implemented to reduce stigma and change perceptions of the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all citizens with 
the right to form or belong to any trade union or other association for 
the protection of their interests, and while workers exercised this 
right in practice, some statutory limitations on the right of 
association and on trade unions restricted this right. Some of these 
restrictions were put in place to curb the practice of forming 
thousands of small unions with as few as three or four employees each.
    Workers, except members of the armed forces and employees 
designated as essential by the Government, may join trade unions. 
Essential workers included government employees in the police, customs, 
immigration, prisons, the federal mint, and the Central Bank. The 
Government's application of the ``essential worker'' designation was 
broad compared to the ILO definition. Employees working in a designated 
Export Processing Zone (EPZ) may not join a union until 10 years after 
the establishment of the enterprise (see Section 6.b.).
    According to figures provided by the two largest union federations, 
the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), total 
union membership totaled between 7 and 7.5 million during the year. 
Less than 10 percent of the total workforce was organized. With the 
exception of a small number of workers engaged in commercial food 
processing, the agricultural sector, which employed the majority of the 
work force, was not organized. The informal sector, and small and 
medium enterprises, remained largely unorganized.
    The March 2005 Trade Union (Amendment) Act eliminated the 
previously mandated single-labor-federation structure for workers, 
organized under the NLC. Trade union federations, now called ``central 
labor organizations,'' must be registered formally by the Government. 
Each federation must consist of 12 or more trade unions, and trade 
union membership in a federation must be exclusive. A minimum of 50 
workers per enterprise is required to form a trade union. All unions 
and federations officially recognized prior to the law's passage were 
allowed to retain their status. The Government formally recognized two 
union federations: the NLC, whose 29 formally recognized member unions 
represented lower-level and unskilled employees; and the TUC, whose 21 
formally recognized member unions represented senior staff and 
managers. The TUC also had three additional member unions that the 
Government had not recognized by year's end. The Government did not 
formally recognize the Congress of Free Trade Unions (CFTU), which 
represented senior-level employees in certain sectors, although its 
member unions were recognized. Individual member unions can participate 
in collective bargaining and represent their members.
    The TUC was recognized as a central labor organization under the 
new law, while the CFTU was not because it lacked the requisite number 
of affiliate unions. While lifting some restrictions on freedom of 
association by allowing more labor centers, the new law weakened the 
NLC, previously the country's only labor federation, by allowing the 
recognition of other labor federations representing groups of unions. 
Unlike in the previous year, abuses of labor standards did not increase 
during the year.
    On July 10, dock workers disrupted a meeting between the Nigerian 
Port Authority and the Bureau of Public Enterprises held at Apapa port 
in Lagos. The dock workers reportedly protested both employer and union 
actions in ongoing privatizations. The police, whose presence was 
requested by union leaders, used tear gas on the crowd of over 500 
persons and made several arrests.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the 
law also narrowly defines what union activity is legal. The law 
provides for the right to both organize and bargain collectively 
between management and trade unions, and collective bargaining occurred 
throughout the public sector and the organized private sector. However, 
collective bargaining in the private sector was restricted. The new law 
limits the right to strike to matters pertaining to breach of contract 
or wages and conditions of work, thereby prohibiting strikes over 
matters of national economic policy.
    Workers outside the legally defined category of ``essential'' had 
the right to strike, although they were required to provide advance 
notice of a strike. A worker under a collective bargaining agreement 
cannot participate in a strike unless his union complied with the 
requirements of the law, which included provisions for mandatory 
mediation and for referral of the dispute to the Government. Workers 
can bring labor grievances to the judicial system for review; however, 
the courts were of limited utility in ensuring due process in the 
protection of workers' rights. Workers are specifically prohibited from 
forcing persons to join a strike or from closing airports or 
obstructing public by-ways. Stiff fines and/or prison sentences are 
imposed on law-breakers. While strikes continued to occur in localized 
areas after the law passed in 2005, no national strike was called. 
Instead a new strategy of organizing peaceful protest rallies was 
implemented by the Labor and Civil Society Coalition to solicit the 
Government's response to and settlement of labor issues. A few rallies 
took place during the year and received favorable responses from the 
Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity.
    In June at least four representatives of the National Association 
of Telecommunications Employees were arrested when employees of the 
national telephone company, NITEL Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, 
went on strike because they had not been paid in months. The workers 
were later released without charge.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that unions used 
threats against members and their families to force them to stay at 
home during planned strikes.
    During the year there were no reports of deaths or injuries related 
to strikes. No action was taken against security forces who killed or 
injured strikers in 2005.
    There are no laws prohibiting retribution against strikers and 
strike leaders, but strikers who believed they were victims of unfair 
retribution could submit their cases to Industrial Arbitration Panel 
(IAP), with the approval of the labor ministry. The IAP's decisions 
were binding on parties but could be appealed to the National 
Industrial Court. In practice the decisions of these bodies 
infrequently carried the force of law. Union representatives described 
the arbitration process as cumbersome and time-consuming, and an 
ineffective deterrent to retribution against strikers.
    EPZs in Calabar, Cross River State, and Onne Port, Rivers State 
operated during the year. Workers and employers in these zones were 
subject to sections of the national labor laws pertaining to EPZs, 
which provided for a 10-year prohibition on trade unions, strikes, or 
lockouts following the commencement of operations within a zone. In 
addition the law allows the EPZ Authority, instead of workers' 
organizations or unions, to handle the resolution of disputes between 
employers and employees.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were 
reports that it occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). Enforcement of the 
law was not effective in many parts of the country. During the year the 
Government undertook training and sensitization programs in several 
regions to improve enforcement.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In 
most sectors the minimum work age is 15 years, which is consistent with 
the age for completing educational requirements; however, child labor 
remained a problem. The law prohibits employment of children less than 
15 years of age in commerce and industry and restricts other child 
labor to home-based agricultural or domestic work. The law states that 
children may not be employed in agricultural or domestic work for more 
than eight hours per day. Apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 is 
allowed under specific conditions.
    Awareness of the problem increased throughout civil society, and 
the Government demonstrated its commitment to the issue of child labor 
throughout the year. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and 
Productivity drafted a National Policy on Child Labor as well as a 
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor in Nigeria. By year's end both drafts had been submitted to the 
Federal Executive Council for approval.
    The Government's child labor policy focused on intervention, 
advocacy and sensitization, legislation, the withdrawal of children 
from improper labor situations, and rehabilitation and education for 
children following their withdrawal. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, 
and Productivity was responsible for enforcement of the law. During the 
year the ministry trained approximately 120 labor inspection officers 
on child labor laws. Eighty officers were trained to perform 
inspections in high-risk sectors such as agriculture, mining, and the 
informal sector. Approximately 20 officers were trained to perform 
rapid assessment surveys in these critical sectors; reports of the 
surveys conducted by these officers were not yet available at year's 
end. The ministry also sponsored awareness-raising and law-
familiarization training programs for local law enforcement, customs, 
and other government officials. Despite these advances, forced child 
labor and trafficking in children continued during the year (see 
Section 5).
    Economic hardship resulted in high numbers of children working to 
enhance meager family income. Children frequently were employed as 
beggars, street peddlers, bus conductors, and domestic servants in 
urban areas. Little data was available to analyze the incidence of 
child labor. The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria, which 
conducted the only survey available between 2000 and 2001, reported 
approximately 15 million children working in the country. Of these, 
more than six million were not attending school and more than two 
million were working 15 or more hours per day.
    The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity dealt 
specifically with child labor problems, and had an inspections 
department whose major responsibilities included enforcement of legal 
provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of workers. 
Although the inspectorate employed nearly 400 total inspectors for all 
business sectors, there were fewer than 50 factory inspectors for the 
entire country. The ministry conducted inspections mostly in the formal 
business sector, in which the incidence of child labor was not a 
significant problem. NAPTIP bears some responsibility for enforcing 
child labor laws, though it primarily rehabilitates trafficking victims 
and child labor victims. The agency reportedly received no complaints 
of child labor, although it did pursue cases of trafficking in children 
(see Section 5). The ministry repatriated 350 trafficked child laborers 
to their countries of origin during the year.
    Private and government initiatives to stem the incidence of child 
employment continued but were ineffective. The Government continued to 
implement the ILO/IPEC West Africa Cocoa Agriculture Project in the 
cocoa and other agricultural sub-sectors to combat hazardous child 
labor and to prevent child trafficking for labor exploitation. Several 
programs managed by NGOs and international organizations worked to 
address child labor in the country.
    UNICEF continued a program to remove young girls from the street 
peddling trade and relocate them to informal educational settings.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets a minimum wage, 
which was reviewed infrequently by a tripartite committee which 
provides recommendations to the National Assembly. Real wages greatly 
exceeded the minimum wage. The minimum wage was $41.70 (5,500 naira) 
per month (with a 13-month year as the law mandates an extra month's 
pay for the Christmas holiday). The national minimum wage did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The 
Government directed each state administration to establish its own 
salary structure based on its ability to pay, with a floor of at least 
the national minimum wage. Some federal ministries, states, and private 
sector companies raised their minimum wage to $56.70 (7500 naira) for 
all employees. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity is 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage which was strictly enforced 
for companies with more than 50 employees. When a company with fewer 
than 50 employees was found to pay less than the minimum wage, the 
ministry reviewed the company's records to determine whether it was 
capable of paying the minimum wage and then issued a ruling.
    The law mandates a 40-hour workweek, two to four weeks' annual 
leave, and overtime and holiday pay, except for agricultural and 
domestic workers. The law prohibits excessive compulsory overtime for 
civilian government employees. Labor leaders reported that the law can 
be interpreted as prohibiting some forms of excessive, compulsory 
overtime; however, workplace health and safety conditions were not 
properly patrolled, and enforcement was irregular due to insufficient 
police and the small number of factory inspectors. The law also 
establishes general health and safety provisions, some of which were 
aimed specifically at young or female workers. It requires that the 
inspectorate division of the Ministry of Employment, Labor, and 
Productivity inspect factories for compliance with health and safety 
standards. However, this agency was greatly underfunded, lacked basic 
resources and training, and consequently did not sufficiently enforce 
safety oversight at many enterprises, particularly construction sites 
and other nonfactory work locations. The law requires employers to 
compensate injured workers and dependent survivors of those killed in 
industrial accidents; however, the law was not strictly enforced. The 
Factories Law provides for the protection of employees in hazardous 
situations, including the right to remove themselves from such 
situations; however, the law did not provide similar provisions for 
other workers.
    The labor laws apply to legal foreign workers, but not all 
companies respected these laws in practice.

                               __________

                                 RWANDA

    Rwanda is a constitutional republic dominated by a strong 
presidency. The population was 8.4 million. The Rwandan Patriotic Front 
(RPF) took power in 1994 and formed a government of National Unity that 
functioned during the transitional period following the civil war and 
genocide until 2003, when President Paul Kagame was elected to a seven-
year term in largely peaceful but seriously marred elections. Some 
armed rebel groups from the country continued to operate with impunity 
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Unlike in the previous 
year, there were no reports that Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) troops 
were at times present in the eastern part of the DRC. The Democratic 
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), largely made up of Rwandan 
Hutus who fled to the DRC in 1994 after the genocide, continued to be 
led by many individuals responsible for leading the genocide, and it 
continued to actively oppose the Kagame government. While there were 
fewer disciplinary problems with security forces than in the previous 
year, there were instances in which government authorities did not 
maintain effective control of the security forces and security forces 
acted independently of government authority.
    Significant human rights abuses occurred, although there were 
important improvements in some areas. Limits on political party 
activities continued to restrict citizens' rights to peacefully change 
their government. There were reports that security forces committed 
extrajudicial killings and tortured and abused suspects with impunity. 
Prison and detention center conditions remained harsh despite positive 
measures taken by the Government. Security forces arbitrarily arrested 
and detained persons, including street children and other ``vagrants,'' 
and members of Jehovah's Witnesses. Prolonged pretrial detention, 
limits on judicial independence, unfair public trials, and the holding 
of former political figures--including former President Pasteur 
Bizimingu--remained problems. There continued to be limits on freedom 
of speech, press, and association. Government corruption and 
restrictions on civil society remained problematic. In addition, 
societal violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in 
persons, child labor, and restrictions on labor rights continued to be 
problems.
    The Government took significant steps during the year to address 
human rights deficiencies and institute reforms. For example, the 
Government formed a unit in the National Police to investigate 
citizens' reports of official abuse and corruption, and police 
authorities fired more than 70 police officers on various counts of 
indiscipline. The judiciary demonstrated increased independence in its 
growing willingness to rule against the executive branch, its release 
of some political prisoners, and in its use of the Judicial Council to 
conduct investigations into judicial corruption.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reported political killings by the Government or its agents; however, 
police officers and local defense forces (LDF) allegedly committed 
several unlawful killings during the year, and there were credible 
allegations of extrajudicial killings by police, some of which were 
still under investigation at year's end. The Government regularly 
investigated killings committed by police officers and members of the 
LDF, and reports generally indicated that the LDF members accused of 
killings were arrested and charged.
    On December 21, 2005, military police in Kigali killed at least 
three RDF soldiers and wounded between eight and 20 others who were 
being held in the Mulindi military prison; authorities did not publicly 
acknowledge the incident until mid-February. The prisoners had 
reportedly complained of ill treatment and harsh conditions in the 
overcrowded prison, which, according to Amnesty International (AI), 
held more than 2,000 prisoners despite an official capacity of 1,000 
(see Section 1.c.). Although its findings were later contradicted by 
two other investigations, an investigation by military prosecutors 
found that, following an attempt by prison officials to investigate 
marijuana trafficking at the prison, physical altercations resulted 
between guards and prisoners, and prisoners locked themselves inside 
the facility. As military police scaled the prison walls to regain 
control of the facility, prisoners attempted to disarm them. Military 
police used firearms to repel the prisoners and bring them under 
control. Although acknowledging that authorities had ``mishandled'' a 
prisoner during the drug trafficking investigation, the military 
prosecutor's office found that there had been an appropriate use of 
force by the military police in confronting violent prisoners and 
recommended that none of the military police or guards be prosecuted.
    However, according to an investigation conducted by the National 
Human Rights Commission (NHRC), military police officers involved in 
the killings had committed a ``violation of the right to life,'' and 
the NHRC recommended that military leadership and the public 
prosecutor's office pursue legal proceedings against those responsible. 
Senators also expressed concern about the killings and requested 
information from the ministers of justice and interior. According to 
AI's sources, police surrounded a prison courtyard that prisoners had 
locked; prisoners were reportedly protesting an assault by prison 
guards on a prisoner who had consumed cannabis. After prisoners refused 
to unlock the courtyard, military police fired on the prisoners with 
Kalashnikovs and machine guns, killing at least three and seriously 
wounding 20 others. Calling for an independent investigation, AI 
reported that if its sources were correct, actions by the military 
police would constitute excessive use of force and extrajudicial 
executions.
    According to local media, on December 31, 2005, police arrested 
Saidi Hakizimana, a Rastafarian for smoking marijuana at a concert. 
Police detained Hakizimana at Ramera police station in Kigali, where he 
was allegedly beaten. Hakizimana's condition worsened while in police 
detention and he later died in a Kigali hospital of unknown causes 
while still in police custody. The police denied allegations of 
misconduct but had not released the results of a police investigation 
into the matter by year's end.
    On November 24, police officers took into custody and subsequently 
killed three men--Jean Hakizamungu, John Rukundo, and Francois 
Ndagijimana--who were suspects in the November 23 killing of Egide 
Ndabakuranye, the President of one of the local jurisdictions 
comprising a community-based justice system (gacaca), in Rwamagana 
District, Eastern Province. Deputy Police Commissioner Mary Gahonzire 
stated that, according to an investigation by an internal police 
investigatory agency, police killed the suspects in self-defense while 
they were attempting to escape. However, after conducting numerous 
interviews with local residents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the 
investigation inadequate and said police may have committed 
extrajudicial killings.
    According to HRW, during a December 15 interview Gahonzire said 
that while in custody, one of the three suspects, Rukundo, confessed to 
killing Ndabakuranye with the other two suspects. The three suspects 
then offered to show police officers where other persons were hiding to 
``escape justice'' and avoid appearing before gacaca jurisdictions. 
While being escorted to this supposed destination, Rukundo grabbed the 
weapon of one of the police officers and threatened one or more of the 
other officers, who then shot all three suspects. According to HRW, 
Gahonzire, who referred several times to a document before her during 
the interview, said the incident happened in broad daylight but could 
not provide more details on the time or exact location. She said the 
three suspects outnumbered the police officers but could not say how 
many officers there were or provide information on the kind of weapons 
involved or the number of shots fired, according to HRW.
    HRW said that the information it collected from local residents did 
not support the official police investigation findings. According to a 
local resident, at dusk on November 24 a police pick-up truck carrying 
the three suspects parked on a little-used road, and an armed police 
officer in the back stood up as the three men exited the vehicle next 
to a thick clump of bamboo. A short time later, numerous residents 
heard at least three shots in close succession, and some residents 
subsequently saw the occupants of the truck retrieve the bodies before 
the truck headed toward Rwamagana (police officers reportedly did not 
visit relatives of the victims to inform them of the deaths or explain 
how they had died). HRW concluded that the reported location of the 
bullet entry wounds (each one in the front or side of the head or neck) 
and the proximity of the killings to each other seemed inconsistent 
with a situation in which officers were responding in self defense to 
escaping prisoners.
    The case of the LDF member accused of killing a suspect in November 
2005 in Cyangugu Province, Gitambi Sector was being heard in the High 
Court at year's end.
    In January a military court sentenced Corporal Gapira Ndengeye to 
15 years in prison for killing a prostitute and her two daughters in 
December 2005, in Butare. The military prosecutor has appealed, seeking 
a longer sentence.
    Two LDF members arrested and charged in 2005 with the 2004 killing 
of Jean Baptiste Nsekanabo were on trial at year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports from UN entities 
that the Government continued to maintain a ``residual presence'' in 
the DRC or that the Government continued to provide military support to 
insurgent proxy groups in the DRC that reportedly committed killings 
and other human rights abuses.
    At year's end, the Government had not opened any new inquiries into 
the abuses by its troops in previous years in the DRC.
    The appeals of RDF Sergeants Nkusi and Sebuhoro, both convicted of 
two 1998 murders by a military court in 2003, had reached the Supreme 
Court by year's end.
    According to reports, during the year unidentified individuals 
killed several witnesses to the genocide throughout the country to 
prevent testimony and undermine the rural community-based justice 
system (gacaca), which the Government established to address certain 
categories of crimes related to the 1994 genocide (see Section 1.e.). 
According to genocide survivor organizations, individuals killed 
between 12 and 20 genocide survivors during the year.
    HRW reported that, according to witnesses, in late November 
Innocent Habinshuti, who was released from prison in 2003 pending trial 
before a gacaca jurisdiction, killed genocide survivor Frederic 
Murasira, the nephew of a gacaca judge, with a machete in Ngoma 
District in the east. Genocide survivors from a nearby town then killed 
eight individuals, including children, in reprisal (the town in which 
the reprisal killings occurred was reportedly inhabited by a sizable 
number of persons awaiting trial for genocide-related crimes). By 
year's end police had arrested one suspect for the killing of Murasira 
and detained several others for the reprisal killings.
    The Government investigated and prosecuted individuals accused of 
threatening or killing genocide witnesses. At years end police were 
investigating 210 cases. A group of genocide survivors criticized the 
Government for not doing enough (see Section 1.e.). In December the 
President chaired a National Dialogue on Unity and Reconciliation, 
which included local government officials and members of the three 
branches of the national government. The meeting participants addressed 
the killings of genocide survivors, and the President and minister of 
internal security directed local officials to take increased 
responsibility for genocide survivors. The meeting outlined new 
security measures to be undertaken, including the use of enhanced 
surveillance of genocide survivors who were deemed most at risk and 
surveillance of genocide suspects considered most likely to commit 
violent attacks; increased joint patrols in rural areas by survivors 
and security personnel; the possible use of preventive detention of 
genocide suspects to prevent attacks deemed imminent by security 
officials; the expansion of hotlines by both the Gacaca Service and the 
Prosecutor General's Protective Service for Witnesses and Survivors; 
and expedited gacaca hearings for those cases deemed most likely to 
involve the risk of violence against survivors and witnesses.
    The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in 
Tanzania, continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year (see 
Section 4).
    During the year, according to its stated policy, the Government 
welcomed and repatriated hundreds of former FDLR combatants who had 
fled the tight control of the FDLR's leadership. The Government 
reiterated its policy that the FDLR members would not receive special 
treatment and would be subject to genocide trials, like the general 
population, if they were over 14 years of age at the time of the 1994 
genocide.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances within the country, and unlike in the previous year, 
there were no reports that a government official threatened a staff 
member of an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) while it 
was investigating the disappearance of individuals.
    During the year a military court sentenced Jean Leonard Kagabo to 
five years' imprisonment for attempted desertion; Kagabo, an RDF 
captain, disappeared for at least two months after police arrested him 
on charges of attempted desertion in 2004.
    Government officials continued to claim that they were unaware of 
the case of Jean Damascene Tuyizere, who disappeared after security 
forces arrested and questioned him for several days in 2004 in Gisenyi 
Province.
    Regarding the cases of Jean de Dieu Kwizera, David Habimana, Block 
Mugambira, and Jean Paul Kamondo--campaign workers of 2003 Presidential 
candidate and former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu--the 
Government stated that the four men were arrested in 2004, remained out 
on bail, and that criminal proceedings were ongoing at year's end. By 
year's end these statements had not been verified, and the whereabouts 
of the four men had not been confirmed.
    There were no developments in the 2003 disappearances of two 
prominent citizens and four high-level government officials, including 
former supreme court vice-President Lieutenant Colonel Cyiza and former 
parliamentarian Leonard Hitimana, a member of the Democratic Republican 
Movement (MDR); the MDR had been a part of the multi-party government 
but had become increasingly critical of it prior to the parliament's 
recommendation to ban the MDR in 2003--shortly before Hitimana 
disappeared--and the party's subsequent dissolution. Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that the family and friends who 
have been supporting the children of Hitimana were harassed.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit torture; however, local 
media reported allegations of torture by the LDF during the year and a 
local NGO providing assistance to victims of torture reported that it 
received between 180 and 240 clients during the year, although an 
undetermined number of these victims may have been tortured in previous 
years. In addition police on occasion abused suspects and detainees. 
During the year there were fewer reports of police officers abusing 
suspects at the time of arrest, and authorities dismissed or 
disciplined some police officers for excessive use of force.
    According to the New Times, on November 7, the LDF allegedly 
tortured a 17-year-old boy accused of theft in Muhanga District, 
Southern Province. District residents said the LDF had been involved in 
``many cases of torturing residents'' in the area, and the district's 
mayor had reportedly warned the LDF in October over their lack of 
discipline.
    There were no developments in the alleged torture of former 
parliamentarian and MDR party member Jean Leonard Kavutse. According to 
AI, Kavutse told a court in 2005 that he had only confessed to charges 
of sectarianism after having been tortured. The Government denied this 
allegation during the year and said that no torture claims were made 
during the trial. In April 2005 a court sentenced Kavutse to three 
years in prison (including a suspended prison sentence of two years), 
and authorities released him in the same month after giving him credit 
for time served.
    During the year the Senate investigated reports of secret detention 
centers allegedly run by security officials, and questioned the 
ministers of justice and internal security in an open session. During a 
February hearing senators cited repeated NHRC reports (dating back to 
2002) about the existence of government-run secret detention centers; 
the ministers claimed they were unaware of such centers. Police 
officials denied the existence of any secret detention centers.
    According to HRW, in January Kigali municipal officials who had 
just taken office learned of the existence of a government-run 
unofficial detention center in the Gikondo neighborhood of Kigali. On 
May 14 HRW reported that authorities continued to use the center to 
illegally hold hundreds of street children and other ``vagrants'' in 
``deplorable conditions,'' usually incommunicado, without charging 
them. According to HRW, in late March a Kigali police spokesman 
acknowledged the center's existence and told domestic human rights 
activists it had been used for more than a year; he said the two large 
buildings, one of which was a former warehouse, were officially meant 
to be a ``transit center'' in which persons were detained for no more 
than three days before authorities transported them back to their home 
districts. (Several thousand persons were so transported.) However, 
authorities and former detainees reportedly told HRW that some 
detainees spent weeks or months in the center before being released 
without any judicial procedure. Detainees were subject to beatings, 
guards raped women, and on April 13 a 13-year-old boy died there of 
severe malnutrition, according to accusations investigated by HRW. 
Detainees reportedly were not separated by gender or age; received 
inadequate food, water, and medical care; and often slept on the floor 
without blankets. Shortly after the HRW report was published, 
authorities closed the Gikondo center, and it remained empty at year's 
end. There were no reports of any officials being sanctioned for 
running the center. City authorities said there were no plans to open 
another center.
    There were reports that police arrested, detained, and later beat 
at least three members of Jehovah's Witnesses while they were in police 
custody because they refused--on religious grounds--to participate in 
nighttime security patrols (see Section 2.c.). Reports of prison and 
detention center beatings of Jehovah's Witnesses were less numerous 
than in the previous year.
    There were reports that unknown assailants on occasion harassed and 
threatened journalists and citizens (see Sections 2.a., 2.c., and 4).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no credible reports that 
the Government provided military supplies to combatants in the eastern 
DRC who committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.
    Mob violence during the year resulted in injuries (see Section 
1.d.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention 
center conditions were below international standards and were harsh. 
The Government remained committed to improving prison and detention 
center conditions. However, due to the large number of individuals 
newly accused of genocide since gacaca hearings began nationwide in 
July, the prison population rose 18 percent in five months, worsening 
the severe overcrowding problem.
    The Government estimated that there were more than 82,000 prisoners 
in the country's 16 central prisons (compared to 67,000 in 2005), 
including approximately 66,000 accused of genocide-related crimes and 
approximately 16,000 detained on criminal charges unrelated to the 
genocide. Sanitary conditions in prisons and detention centers were 
poor but improving at the beginning of the year; however, the rapid 
increase in the prison population beginning in August negated the prior 
improvements, and prison conditions were worse at year's end. The 
Government continued to improve prison healthcare but was unable to 
provide adequate medical treatment. Although it did not provide food to 
prisoners in smaller jails, the Government provided food to those in 
prisons, but it was not sufficient, and family members supplemented 
food provisions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) no 
longer assisted the Government by providing a percentage of food in the 
16 main prisons; however, the Government increased its food budget to 
replace the ICRC contribution. In police stations, the Government did 
not feed detainees awaiting hearings or transfers. Police regularly 
told the victims of crimes that if they did not provide food to the 
accused, then the accused would be released. In other cases, prisoners 
transferred from police jails to national prisons had not been fed for 
several days. The ICRC provided additional expertise and medical, 
logistical, and material support to improve conditions for inmates.
    There were an undetermined number of deaths in prison during the 
year, largely the result of preventable diseases and suspected cases of 
HIV/AIDS. The Government began an HIV/AIDS counseling and treatment 
program in three prisons.
    According to HRW, police and LDF abused individuals detained 
illegally in an unofficial facility; security personnel reportedly 
raped women, and adult detainees abused children (see Section 1.d.).
    National prison policy prohibits the hiring of prisoners to perform 
work at private residences and businesses. However, community service 
was often part of a prison sentence for those who confessed to 
genocide-related crimes, and prisoners may work (uncompensated) on 
community projects such as building roads and bridges (see Section 
6.c.). Prisoners charged with criminal offenses unrelated to the 
genocide were not eligible to volunteer for work details. Prisoners 
often volunteered for such details, which provided time away from 
overcrowded prisons, and in some cases extra privileges. During the 
year authorities relieved a prison director of his duties and were 
investigating him for illegally hiring out prisoners for private work.
    In August 2005 the Government released all minors who had been 
detained for genocide-related crimes in a provisional prisoner release. 
The 740 minors who remained in prison were detained for crimes not 
related to the genocide. The Government also made efforts to better 
ensure that minors were incarcerated separately from adults; 13 of 16 
prisons no longer housed minors and adults together, and work was 
underway to build facilities at the remaining three prisons for minors. 
In addition, courts continued to give minors special treatment, taking 
into consideration their ages during sentencing. Pretrial detainees 
generally were separated from convicted prisoners; however, there were 
numerous exceptions as a result of the large number of genocide 
detainees awaiting trial. Some high-profile political prisoners, such 
as former President Bizimungu, were kept in special sections of regular 
prisons (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
    Women were detained and imprisoned separately from men. In addition 
there was at least one prison (Miyove Prison in Byumba district) 
exclusively for women. At another prison (Cyangugu Prison), living 
conditions for women were better than those for men. Female prisoners 
were fewer in number and were housed in their own block with separate 
beds. (Male prisoners often shared large sleeping platforms.)
    The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions, and the ICRC, diplomats, and journalists usually had access 
to the prisons. The ICRC continued its visits to communal jails and 
military-supervised jails. After some delays, authorities granted a 
domestic human rights NGO, the Rwandan League for the Promotion and 
Defense of Human Rights (LIPRODOHR), access to prisons, and the NGO 
released a report in May. No information was available regarding the 
report's content.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
provided legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention; 
however, in many instances, security forces arrested and detained 
persons arbitrarily and without due process. Some police officers were 
disciplined and dismissed for such activities.

    Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The RDF maintains external 
security. The National Police, under the minister of internal security, 
has responsibility for internal security and is headed by a 
commissioner general and two deputy commissioners, one for operations 
and another for administration. Five assistant commissioners oversee 
the various units, such as traffic, intelligence, criminal 
investigations, protection, and the provincial areas. The police lacked 
basic resources such as handcuffs, radios, and patrol cars. However, 
they participated in extensive training programs, and the police 
academy curriculum included training on human rights, nonlethal use of 
force, and professionalism. During the year there were reports of 
corruption, arbitrary arrest, and lack of discipline within the police 
force, and the police's office of internal affairs investigated and 
addressed many of them. For example, in October authorities fired more 
than 70 police officers on various counts of indiscipline, including 
the solicitation of bribes, unlawfully beating persons, and absconding 
from duty.
    During the year the police and senators investigated reports of 
police abuse, and senators questioned the ministers of national 
security and justice about ``several arbitrary arrests and illegal 
detentions in various parts of the country,'' which had been raised as 
concerns by the NHRC (see Section 1.c.). One senator accused the 
ministers, who had been summoned to the hearing, of being evasive, and 
he criticized as improper and unlawful the police's continued practice 
of arbitrarily re-arresting and detaining persons acquitted by courts 
of law. The senator also criticized the Government for being 
``secretive,'' failing to make its activities known to the public, and 
failing to hold regular press briefings, particularly in regard to 
human rights abuses by police.
    The Government enforced ill-defined laws against vagrancy and 
illegal street vending. On several occasions police and the LDF 
detained street children, vendors, and beggars in Kigali, Butare, and 
other larger towns, charging them with illegal street vending or 
``vagrancy.'' For example, in early July, according to the New Times, 
police in Butare arrested more than 30 persons--including many street 
children--on charges of being idle, and a police spokesperson said 
police would continue to make similar arrests. The police claimed to be 
responding to local citizens' complaints that undocumented nonresidents 
were contributing to an increase in insecurity, petty crime, and gender 
violence. Authorities reportedly released adults after they produced 
identification, and authorities took street children to government 
centers or NGO-sponsored shelters (see Section 5). During the year the 
Commission of the European Union expressed concern over the 
Government's illegal detention of street children.
    An HRW report released in May profiled an unofficial government-run 
detention warehouse where police and LDF members illegally held up to 
600 vagrants at a time; the report underlined the police's common 
practice of arbitrarily arresting and detaining street children and 
other vagrants, highlighted allegations of authorities abusing and 
raping individuals detained in the warehouse, and called on the 
Government to respect due process rights (see Section 1.c.).
    During the year, although efforts were taken to professionalize the 
national police, there were some cases of beatings of suspects by 
police. The prosecutor general's office under the Ministry of Justice 
was responsible for prosecuting police abuse cases. A special internal 
affairs office that reported directly to the national police 
commissioner general conducted investigations. There were 15 internal 
investigations referred to the courts by internal affairs at year's 
end. Several cases remained under investigation by the police. The 
National Police advertised a toll free number in the local radio and 
written press encouraging citizens to report problems regarding police 
and the LDF.
    During the year there were instances of mob justice, due in part to 
a lack of police presence in most villages. For example, in Rukumberi 
District, local citizens attacked and killed eight individuals after a 
gacaca judge was killed. It was later determined that none of the eight 
victims were involved in the killing (see Section 1.a.). In another 
case, in September police arrested five persons, including a member of 
the LDF, for severely beating a 15-year-old accused of stealing 
clothes. There was no additional information on this case.
    Members of local communities chose community volunteers to serve in 
the LDF, a statutorily established law enforcement organization of 
approximately 20,000 members under the Ministry of Local government 
that assisted police. The national police exercised tactical control of 
the LDF while local appointed and elected officials had responsibility 
for operational oversight. LDF members performed basic security guard 
duties throughout the country, including maintaining a presence at 
gacaca proceedings. LDF members were ordinarily unpaid and received 
less training than the national police. They did not have powers of 
arrest, but in practice they made arrests on orders from local 
administrative officers and on their own. Among its various duties, the 
LDF chased illegal street vendors, petty criminals, and prostitutes 
away from public areas. There were reports that the LDF acted with 
impunity when dealing with street vendors. During the year the 
Government prosecuted individual LDF members who committed crimes; 
however, some human rights groups accused the Government of not taking 
sufficiently strong action against some LDF members and considered the 
organization to be abusive.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that authorities 
investigate and obtain a warrant before arresting a suspect. Police may 
detain persons for up to 72 hours without a warrant, and prosecutors 
must bring formal charges within 10 days of arrest. However, these 
provisions were often disregarded during the year. At times police used 
extrajudicial punishment when minor criminals confessed and the victims 
agreed to the police officer's recommended penalty, such as week-long 
detention or restitution. The law permits investigative detention if 
authorities believe that public safety is threatened or that the 
accused might flee. There is bail for minor crimes (with a maximum 
sentence of five years); authorities may otherwise release a suspect 
pending trial if they are satisfied that there is no risk that the 
person may flee or become a threat to public safety and order. Family 
members generally were promptly allowed to visit detained relatives; 
however, there were several reports that police used incommunicado 
detention during the year, and according to HRW police maintained one 
unofficial detention center in Gikondo, where police detained some 
suspects, including children, for up to four months. By law detainees 
are allowed access to lawyers. In practice, however, access to legal 
representation was problematic due to the scarcity of lawyers in the 
country (only 250 total, most of them in Kigali). The Government did 
not provide indigent persons with free access to lawyers, and the 
Kigali Bar Association lacked the resources to provide lawyers to every 
indigent. The law requires the Government to provide minors with legal 
representation, which judicial observers cited as a factor in juvenile 
trial delays.
    During the year security forces sometimes used arbitrary arrest and 
detention.
    Several members of Jehovah's Witnesses were arbitrarily arrested 
and detained by local authorities when their beliefs conflicted with 
national laws requiring community service. In 2005 a few judges ruled 
that the laws did not in fact require participation in nighttime 
security patrols, and that police effectively had no legal authority to 
arrest or detain persons for not participating in the patrols (see 
Section 2.c.).
    At year's end approximately 66,000 prisoners accused of genocide-
related crimes continued to be imprisoned while awaiting trial. The 
majority of those detained for genocide-related crimes were men who had 
not confessed and were accused of ``category I'' crimes (the most 
severe), which include rape, murder, genocide instigation, or playing a 
leadership role in the genocide. The law permits the continued 
detention of genocide suspects long enough to allow them to face trial 
either in a conventional court or in the gacaca system (see Section 
1.e.). Lengthy pretrial detention, including the detention of persons 
whose unresolved cases dated from 1994, was a serious problem and a 
consequence of the large number of persons suspected of committing 
genocide who continued to be held in prisons and detention centers. The 
Government did not have the capacity to process cases within a 
reasonable time. On July 15, gacaca trials began nationwide. During the 
year the lead government agency that coordinates the gacaca system, the 
National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, made a concerted effort to 
expedite genocide-related cases.
    By year's end, the number of criminal and civil cases pending in 
the regular courts had been reduced from 77,000 to approximately 
17,000, according to the Ministry of Justice. This reduction resulted 
from several factors, including culling of old and inactive cases, the 
substitution of single judge proceedings in the place of three-judge 
panels for all levels of trial courts, the establishment of monthly 
case completion targets for all courts, and streamlined case management 
practices.
    Mobile groups, whose mandate was to establish or complete files 
that indicated the basis for charges for all genocide-related 
detainees, continued to operate during the year. Approximately 90 
percent of detainees in custody during the year had files; however, the 
vast majority of those files were incomplete.

    Amnesty.--Approximately 1,000 of the 22,000 prisoners conditionally 
released by the Government in August 2005 were re-arrested and returned 
to prison after being accused of additional crimes in gacaca. The 
Government did not release or grant amnesty to prisoners during the 
year.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, there were constraints on 
judicial independence. There were some credible reports of government 
interference, mostly regarding gacaca cases. In addition, ministers in 
the executive branch continued to play important roles in defining the 
judicial budget. However, the judiciary made significant progress 
toward increased independence during the year by assuming more control 
over the judicial budget and providing continued training for new 
judges. Members of the national bar association who were interviewed 
said they believed that the judiciary was more independent during the 
year than in 2005, citing the increased willingness of judges to rule 
against the Government and a higher standard of judicial training and 
education.
    The judiciary operated in most cases without government 
interference, and there were no reports of direct pressure on judges; 
however, some members of the executive branch said they still thought 
that calling judges to discuss ongoing cases privately and express 
executive preferences was appropriate. In a few cases viewed as 
politically sensitive, including those dealing with ``genocide 
ideology'' (the promotion of the tenets of genocide), ``divisionism,'' 
and the killing of genocide survivors, indirect public pressure may 
have influenced the judiciary. While judges appeared to be more 
assertive in ruling against the executive, problems remained.
    The justice system collapsed during the war and genocide of 1994. 
With help from the international community, it continued to undergo a 
slow rebuilding process and had made significant progress over the past 
decade.
    After the Government implemented a nationwide redistricting plan in 
January, the legal system was closed from January to April to align 
court jurisdictions with the newly established government 
administrative territories. The four-month suspension resulted in a 
temporary increase in crime and complications for police as there was 
no legal apparatus to process accused criminals. However, after the 
reorganization, the Ministry of Justice and Courts significantly 
reduced the backlog of criminal and civil cases (see Section 1.d.).
    The Government did not always have the capacity to enforce the law, 
and due process protections were sometimes not respected. However, 
during the year there were cases in which judges ruled against senior 
political figures and government bodies. In addition the Justice 
Ministry continued to implement reforms and prioritized efforts to 
reduce the backlog of genocide-related and non-genocide cases. Several 
judges were dismissed during the year for abuse of office or corruption 
after investigations by the judicial council, a body charged with 
oversight and discipline of the judicial branch.
    An ombudsman was mandated to conduct investigations into judicial 
corruption; by year's end the ombudsman's office had conducted four 
such investigations and referred them to the prosecutor general's 
office.
    The constitution provides for the adoption of a system of ordinary 
and specialized courts. Ordinary courts include the Supreme Court, a 
high court, provincial courts, and district courts. Specialized courts 
include gacaca courts and military courts.
    During the year there were reports of government officials 
influencing gacaca judges.

    Trial Procedures.--In the regular court system, the law provides 
for public trials with the right to a defense (but not at public 
expense), a presumption of innocence, and a right to appeal, and these 
provisions were generally respected in practice; however, some appeals 
cases were subject to lengthy delays. Most trials were public, and, in 
the regular court system, defendants had the right to question 
witnesses used against them and present witnesses and evidence on their 
own behalf, although this right was sometimes limited. By year's end 
there were approximately 250 lawyers and 259 judges in the country, and 
the poverty of most defendants made it difficult for many of them to 
obtain legal representation. An estimated 10 percent of defendants were 
able to afford a private lawyer. Lawyers without Borders continued to 
train gacaca judges but lacked the resources to provide defense counsel 
to those in need. New court officers continued to be sworn in and 
assigned to courts across the country, but the Government did not have 
a sufficient number of prosecutors, judges, or courtrooms to hold 
trials within a reasonable period of time.
    During the year there were trials in the regular courts that did 
not meet internationally accepted standards due to factors such as the 
lack of defense counsel for many accused persons, and in one high-
profile appeals case--that of former President Bizimungu and former 
transport minister Charles Ntakirutinka--the Supreme Court based its 
verdicts of guilt on a previous trial widely criticized by observers 
for its lack of compelling evidence and limits on the right to cross-
examine witnesses and to present witnesses.
    The RDF continued to dismiss soldiers for indiscipline and criminal 
offenses. The RDF routinely tried military offenders in military 
courts, which handed down sentences of fines, imprisonment, or both 
during the year. Military courts provided defendants with an attorney 
at public expense, and defendants have the right of appeal and had 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. The law 
stipulates that civilians who were accomplices of soldiers accused of 
crimes be tried in military court. Military courts tried several dozen 
civilians during the year.
    On July 15 the gacaca courts transitioned from the pilot phase to 
nationwide hearings in order to resolve the enormous genocide caseload. 
Gacaca officials set the end of 2008 as the deadline for completing all 
gacaca hearings. Of genocide-related cases, less than 10 percent 
involved suspects in category I--those accused of the most severe 
genocide crimes--and were to be tried in conventional courts. The 
majority of individuals charged with genocide-related crimes have been 
classified as categories II or III, and their cases were handled by the 
gacaca system, either tried in gacaca courts (category II cases) or 
settled through gacaca mediation (category III cases). Between 2002, 
when the first gacaca courts began operating, and year's end, 
approximately 51,000 genocide-related cases had been completed in 
gacaca courts.
    Gacaca courts served as the Government's primary judicial process 
for adjudicating hundreds of thousands of genocide cases. The 
Government's stated goal for gacaca was to assure that those who 
participated in the genocide were brought to trial, furthering the ends 
of justice and ending impunity. Given the heavy volume of genocide-
related cases, which the Government estimated would take 100 years to 
resolve in the conventional court system, most observers agreed in 
principle with the need for gacaca courts.
    Lawyers were not permitted to participate officially in gacaca but 
could testify as private citizens. There were 169,442 gacaca judges 
(seven per gacaca court), or ``persons of integrity'' elected by the 
community and provided with gacaca law training, serving in 12,103 
gacaca courts across the country, including 1,545 appellate courts.
    During the year an increased number of gacaca judges were 
implicated in the genocide and subsequently replaced. There were 
reports that some government officials unduly influenced gacaca judges 
during the course of some hearings.
    Defendants in gacaca courts had the right to present witnesses and 
evidence on their own behalf. There was a right of appeal in gacaca 
proceedings at sector-level courts. The registration procedure for 
observing gacaca trials made it time-consuming for human rights groups 
to monitor the trials, which were public.
    The gacaca process was generally considered to be more effective at 
providing justice than at fostering reconciliation, and it was not 
always perceived as fair. For example some gacaca judges denied 
defendants the right to present witnesses and ordered the imprisonment 
of those who questioned the impartiality of gacaca judges (see Section 
2.a.). Furthermore, poorly qualified or trained judges and ill-defined 
guidelines on evidence and hearsay were problems. During the year there 
reports that local gacaca officials and citizens abused the process to 
pursue personal matters and settle grudges unrelated to the genocide, 
including making false accusations in order to acquire land.
    For example, according to the New Times, a senator and a local 
district mayor accused both local leaders and gacaca judges in Gicumbi 
District, Northern Province, of engaging in corruption, including the 
transfer of bribe money, related to gacaca trials. The governor of the 
Northern Province urged local leaders not to attempt to influence the 
outcomes of gacaca trials.
    According to local human rights groups, during the pilot phase, 
which ended in June, interference by government officials at all levels 
of gacaca was a major problem, and gacaca law did not provide 
sufficiently for fair and impartial justice. According to Lawyers 
without Borders the courts that were operating under the original pilot 
phase, which continued operating after the nationwide expansion of 
gacaca, had obtained an appreciably higher level of performance, 
compared to their opening efforts, by year's end.
    The gacaca law provides for reduced sentences including community 
service, for cooperation, and credit for time served. However, many of 
the accused have been held since 1994.
    In addition because the Government had not given the gacaca courts 
the authority to consider human rights abuses allegedly committed by 
the RPF during the 1994 genocide, some human rights groups have 
criticized the gacaca courts for representing a form of incomplete or 
one-sided justice, and for being biased against those who acted on 
behalf of the former government. The Government countered that RPF 
abuses have been addressed by requisite civil and military authorities, 
and that such abuses could not be equated with the genocide. During the 
year military courts did not hear any cases relating to abuses 
allegedly committed by the RPF during or shortly after the 1994 
genocide.
    Although the great majority of gacaca hearings are held without 
incident, there were 328 incidents of violence involving gacaca trials 
during the year, and threats against genocide witnesses hampered the 
gacaca process; persons accused of genocide-related crimes, including 
some individuals who had been released by the Government from pretrial 
detention, reportedly made these threats. The Government held local 
communities responsible for protecting witnesses, and relied on the 
LDF, local leaders, police, and community members to ensure the safety 
of witnesses. Early in the year the Government established a task force 
to review the situation of genocide survivors. Despite these efforts, 
however, unidentified individuals killed between 12 and 20 genocide 
survivors and injured 32 in attacks during the year (see Section 1.a.).
    During the year the Government continued to conduct criminal 
investigations of organized groups that targeted and killed genocide 
witnesses in certain provinces. Criminal investigations resulted in the 
prosecution of some persons.
    According to the Ministry of the Interior, at year's end 
conventional courts were handling the cases of hundreds of persons 
accused of participating in the assassination of witnesses, survivors, 
and judges. During the year, the police processed 215 cases involving 
the charge of genocide ideology, and 172 cases of divisionism. Nearly 
all cases involved gacaca proceedings; persons accused of attacking or 
abusing genocide survivors or witnesses to genocide were charged with 
genocide ideology or divisionism as well as with substantive criminal 
offenses such as attempted murder or assault.
    IBUKA, an umbrella association for genocide survivors, criticized 
the Government during the year for not doing enough to prevent the 
killings of genocide witnesses, saying the lack of adequate action 
encouraged additional killings. IBUKA also criticized the Government 
for not having provided a report promised by the Prime Minister in 
early 2004 about the situation of genocide survivors and gacaca 
witnesses; it also called for increased cooperation between gacaca 
courts, police, conventional courts, and mediators.
    In December the President presided over a meeting that addressed 
the killings of genocide survivors (see Section 1.a.).
    Some citizens were still too frightened to testify in gacaca 
courts. However, while thousands of citizens left for Burundi, 
preliminary reports indicating that their movement was partly due to 
fears of gacaca appeared to have been overstated, and the large 
majority did not claim fear of gacaca as their reason for leaving the 
country, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) (see Section 2.d.). Nevertheless there were reports of 
more than 20 suicides among genocide survivors.
    Near the end of 2005, gacaca officials reported that 69 persons 
accused of genocide-related crimes had committed suicide during the 
year out of fear of appearing before a gacaca court. Although gacaca 
officials reportedly continued to monitor suicides by genocide suspects 
during the year, no additional information was available by year's end.
    A section of the Organic Genocide Law is designed to encourage 
confessions in exchange for reduced sentences for individuals accused 
of genocide-related crimes other than category I crimes (see Section 
1.d.). Following efforts by the Government, international donors, and 
NGOs to advertise widely the confession provisions, by year's end over 
300,000 individuals had confessed to genocide-related crimes since the 
law was implemented in 1996. According to gacaca officials, 90 percent 
of the prison population had confessed to some category of genocide 
crime. Their testimony may implicate up to one million additional 
persons in the genocide who have not yet been detained by police; in 
January the Government estimated that gacaca may implicate a total of 
between 700,000 and 1 million citizens, one-eighth of the country's 
total population.
    The Government continued to implement a policy of incentives and 
disincentives to elicit more confessions from detained genocide 
suspects. Under the policy, if a genocide suspect does not confess to 
the genocide-related crime of which he is accused, then he could lose 
some of his privileges, including his right to see his family. During 
the year there were continuing concerns among observers and analysts 
over what was believed to be a sizable number of cases where persons 
had provided false testimony, despite the penalties for providing such 
testimony. In 2005, many detained genocide suspects reportedly told a 
human rights NGO they had confessed just to avoid losing their 
privileges.
    A gacaca law passed in June 2004 stipulates that anyone who is 
convicted of a Category I or II genocide-related crime is no longer 
eligible to vote. The gacaca law does not specifically prohibit those 
convicted of genocide from entering certain professions; however, the 
codes of ethics for certain professions, including that of teachers, 
doctors, lawyers, and civil servants, did not allow convicted criminals 
to enter those professions.
    During the year the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission 
(NURC) postponed until April 2007 the release of a survey on gacaca 
(relating to the status of unity and reconciliation in the country) 
that had been scheduled for June.
    The ICTR continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year 
(see Section 4).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were some short-term 
political detainees during the year. HRW reported that local officials 
briefly detained some individuals who disagreed publicly with 
government decisions or policies. Such individuals were usually not 
charged and released after a day in detention.
    Former President Bizimungu and one of his co-defendants, former 
transport minister Ntakirutinka, remained in prison after a court 
convicted them of three counts--incitement of civil disobedience, 
formation of a criminal association, and embezzlement of public funds--
in a 2004 trial that did not meet international standards. In March the 
Supreme Court upheld the sentences of 15 years for Bizimungu and 10 
years for Ntakarutinka and reversed the lower court's not-guilty 
verdict on the charge of plotting against the Government using 
violence; however, the court ruled in favor of the appeals of the six 
co-defendants in the case, who were immediately released. Prior to 
their arrest in 2002, Bizimungu and Ntakarutinka had sought to 
establish the Party for Democratic Renewal, a new opposition party; 
authorities claimed Bizimungu had used inflammatory rhetoric based on 
ethnicity, considered divisionism. The Government permitted the ICRC 
access to Bizimungu and Ntakirutinka.
    During the year local human rights NGOs criticized the trial 
privately, saying the verdicts of guilt were politically motivated, 
resulting from Bizimungu's intended candidacy for the 2003 Presidential 
election, and illustrated the Supreme Court's lack of independence. HRW 
also criticized the ruling that the Supreme Court upheld for Bizimungu 
and Ntakirutinka, stating that the lower court had committed 
``egregious errors'' in 2004 and that evidence presented by the 
prosecution was weak and contradictory. HRW added that the lower court 
had limited the defendants' rights to present a legal defense and 
refused to allow them to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses and 
to call other witnesses.
    In May authorities arrested Colonel Patrick Karegeya, former RDF 
spokesman and head of the National Security Services, and charged him 
with insubordination. Several weeks after his arrest, authorities also 
charged him with desertion. A military tribunal found him guilty in 
June and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. The defining evidence in 
the trial was the testimony by the RDF chief of general staff that 
Karegeya refused a direct order to report for duty. Local media 
reported that the army prevented friends and relatives from seeing 
Karegeya after his conviction, although authorities denied such 
reports. In April 2005, authorities arrested Karegeya and detained him 
incommunicado for six months reportedly for ``indiscipline,'' although 
authorities never charged him before releasing him in late September 
2005.
    Pierre Gakwandi and Kavutse, both former members of the MDR, were 
released from prison after completing their jail terms, Gakwindi in 
January, and Kavutse in April 2005 (see Section 1.c.). Following the 
2003 arbitrary arrest and detention of Gakwandi, then secretary general 
of the MDR, a court convicted and sentenced him to four years in 
prison.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are mechanisms for 
citizens to file lawsuits in civil matters including violations of 
their constitutional rights. There continued to be problems enforcing 
domestic court orders; however, unlike in the previous year, there were 
no reported instances of authorities refusing to release prisoners 
despite orders to do so.

    Property Restitution.--There were reports that property restitution 
was denied to individuals who had not gone through the gacaca process.

    f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
authorities generally respected these prohibitions; however, there were 
some reports that the Government monitored homes and telephone calls.
    Between 1997 and the end of 2001, more than 600,000 persons were 
relocated to government-designated resettlement sites in compliance 
with a ``villagization'' policy. While villagization remained 
government policy, the the Government did not compel these persons to 
remain in the villages; however, some individuals continued to reside 
on the settlement sites because of restrictions on where houses could 
be built.
    Unlike in the previous year there were no reports that residents in 
one province were refused land rights unless they provided a gacaca 
certificate attesting that they were not implicated in the genocide.
    Due in part to the insurgency in the late 1990s, government policy 
requires male citizens above the age of 18 to participate in night 
watch patrols. During the year the Government sometimes arrested, 
detained, and allegedly beat individuals who refused to participate 
(see Section 2.c.).
    The UNHCR reported one instance of suspected recruitment of 
children for forced labor or child soldiering from a Rwandan camp for 
Congolese refugees by a DRC-based armed group (see Section 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press ``in conditions prescribed by the 
law''; however, the Government at times restricted these rights in 
practice by enforcing overly broad and vaguely defined laws. 
International press freedom NGOs reported instances in which the 
Government harassed, convicted, fined, and intimidated independent 
journalists who expressed views that were deemed critical of the 
Government on sensitive topics, or who were believed to have violated 
journalistic standards monitored by a not-wholly independent media 
regulatory council. Some journalists practiced self-censorship.
    The law prohibits ``any propaganda of ethnic, regional, racial, or 
divisive character or based on any other form of divisionism,'' and 
public incitement to ``divisionism'' is punishable by up to five years 
in prison, heavy fines, or both. Individuals could criticize the 
Government publicly and privately on most topics; however, a law 
prohibiting the promotion of ethnic divisionism and genocide ideology 
continued to discourage citizens from expressing viewpoints 
unacceptable to the Government on sensitive subjects, such as criticism 
that might be considered to ``attack the dignity of a high authority'' 
and statements that might be considered to promote societal divisions. 
During the year the expression of such viewpoints sometimes resulted in 
the imprisonment, harassment, or intimidation of citizens by government 
authorities. For example, on October 6, a court sentenced Father Jean-
Marie Vianney Uwizeyeyezu, a Catholic priest who headed a parish in 
southern Rwanda, to 12 years in prison for ``having downplayed the 
[1994] genocide.'' Authorities arrested and detained Uwizeyeyezu in May 
after he allegedly quoted several traditional sayings during mass that 
were interpreted as a negation or denial of the genocide, which is 
prohibited by law. Unions reportedly told the International Trade Union 
Confederation (ITUC) that the Government continued to pressure them not 
to express opinions publicly.
    During the year there were positive and negative signs regarding 
the ongoing development of an independent domestic media and press 
freedom. Some international human rights NGOs perceived deterioration 
in certain areas of press freedom and freedom of speech; however, some 
domestic journalists said there was more press freedom during the year. 
Although there were still considerable constraints on press freedom, 
some Rwanda observers said the domestic press corps was more outspoken 
in its criticism of the Government on many topics. A number of domestic 
journalists spoke out freely against the Government, and articles 
critical of the Government appeared regularly. The number of 
publications reportedly increased and the Government issued new radio 
licenses; however, few domestic radio stations broadcast hard news 
programs, and there continued to be a lack of trained journalists. 
Other observers said they perceived a lack of trust between the media 
and the Government, noting that government criticism of the domestic 
media during the year may have illustrated residual concerns about the 
media stemming in part from the role the media played in provoking the 
1994 genocide.
    There were both privately and government-owned newspapers, 
published in English, French, and Kinyarwanda. The New Times, an 
English-language paper with close ties to the Government, whose 
shareholders reportedly included senior government officials, was the 
only newspaper published daily. There were 37 newspapers, journals, and 
other publications registered with the Government. The country's 
independent newspapers--including Newsline, Umuseso, Umuco (published 
twice each month), and the sporadically published Umuvugizi--regularly 
maintained positions contrary to or critical of the Government, 
although such criticism was usually limited to less sensitive topics, 
such as issues of local government and health. The New Times also 
criticized government policies and officials. Unlike in 2005, there 
were no reports that officials seized newspaper editions; however, some 
journalists said government officials pressured government institutions 
to withhold advertising from independent newspapers.
    The law authorizes private radio and TV broadcasting, subject to 
the approval of the Government; although some have complained that the 
licensing fees remained prohibitively high. Although the Government 
authorized the licensing of private TV stations, it owned and operated 
the country's only TV station. In addition to Radio Rwanda, which was 
owned and operated by the Government, there were nine independent FM 
radio stations broadcasting during the year, focused primarily on 
music. Foreign media groups, including Voice of America (VOA), BBC, and 
Deutsche Welle broadcast in Kigali throughout the year and were among 
the few stations in the country that regularly broadcast independent 
news. The Government allowed radio stations to broadcast increased 
criticism of its policies during the year, including through the use of 
popular citizen call-in shows featuring criticism of the Government on 
certain topics such as local government, health, and other less 
sensitive issues. However, the Government forced a foreign radio 
station to shut down as part of a severing of diplomatic relations with 
France.
    On several occasions the Government restricted the operations of 
international media, particularly foreign news organs that disseminated 
views critical of the Government. During a January 26 government-
sponsored conference two days after President Kagame criticized the 
media and accused some journalists of engaging in defamation and 
extortion, the head of Radio Rwanda accused two VOA and BBC 
correspondents of ``treason.'' The country's police spokesman said 
their ``ideology must be reviewed'' due to excessive coverage of 
negative press freedom assessments by international human rights 
groups. On June 8, the Government did not renew the visa of a Radio 
France Internationale (RFI) reporter, but indicated it would accept a 
new reporter. International press freedom advocacy groups such as New 
York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) criticized the 
Government's action; CPJ said it was ``a grim reminder of the 
difficulties that many journalists face'' in the country. In August, 
the Government reauthorized VOA broadcasts, despite having criticized 
VOA for what it called VOA's unbalanced reporting of Rwandan politics. 
In November, after a French judge implicated President Kagame in the 
assassination of former President Habyarimana, the Government broke off 
diplomatic links with the Government of France. As a result, all 
official French organizations in country, including RFI were ordered 
closed in country.
    During the year the Government continued to closely monitor the 
press, and police occasionally summoned journalists for questioning 
after critical articles were published in the independent press. Unlike 
in 2005, authorities did not arrest a journalist. Journalists had to 
abide by overly broad laws that governed the media. In April, the 
President publicly admonished authorities not to harass journalists and 
to investigate any such reports. However, according to local media, a 
police spokesperson reportedly threatened Radio Contact and said he 
would summon the station manager for broadcasting ``false information'' 
after the station broadcast allegations that police had beaten and 
killed Hakizimana (see Section 1.a.). It was unknown whether police had 
summoned the station manager by year's end.
    On July 28, after imprisoning him for nearly 11 months (including 
eight months for contempt of court for questioning the impartiality of 
a gacaca judge), authorities released Jean-Leonard Rugambage, an Umuco 
journalist who was arrested in September 2005 for alleged involvement 
in the 1994 genocide, due to a lack of evidence and procedural abuses 
in his case. The Gacaca Service executive secretary noted that the 
genocide-related charges should not have been filed by the local 
officials because there was no evidence to support them; the executive 
secretary, who reviewed the case, said that another court had already 
acquitted Rugambage of the same charges prior to his arrest in 2005. 
CPJ said they believed authorities had used ``abusive procedures 
designed to punish him for critical reporting.'' CPJ and other human 
rights groups called on the Government to sanction any gacaca officials 
found guilty of abuses; by year's end, authorities had not sanctioned 
any gacaca officials connected with the case.
    On August 3, the police summoned Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, chief 
editor of Umuco to appear before the police and the High Press Council 
in connection with articles deemed potentially libelous in the July 26 
edition of Umuco. Instead of responding to the summons, Bizumuremyi, 
who claimed to have received anonymous threats after the articles were 
published, went into hiding and fled the country while police sought 
him; Bizumuremyi said he did not respond to the summons because he was 
given only one hour to do so, a lawyer was not available, and he was 
afraid to go to court alone. In his absence, the council ruled that the 
four articles were ``unethical'' and needed correcting. By August 10, 
when Bizumuremyi published a letter of apology for unintentionally 
insulting President Kagame, the council's President said the matter had 
been settled. Bizumuremyi returned to Rwanda in November and resumed 
his editorial position.
    The High Press Council, which reports to the office of the 
President and has four government representatives among its nine 
members, occasionally requested clarification from journalists on 
articles that potentially violated the media law or criminal libel 
statutes. Some domestic and international press freedom advocates 
continued to criticize the High Press Council for lacking independence 
and focusing its energy and resources on monitoring the country's 
journalists while failing to defend journalists' rights or to 
investigate possible infringements of press freedom.
    By year's end no action had been taken against security force 
members responsible for the February 2004 harassment of and death 
threats against five journalists, including two Umuseso editors.
    In some cases journalists were harassed and threatened by 
unidentified individuals. For example, on January 15 four unidentified 
armed men forcibly entered the house of Umuco editor Bizumuremyi. The 
men reportedly told him to stop criticizing the Government after Umuco 
had published an article critical of the ruling party. The men 
reportedly left abruptly without harming Bizumuremyi when neighbors 
intervened. Police said they would conduct an investigation, but by 
year's end there were no reports of any arrests in connection with the 
incident.
    In August Bosco Gasasira, the editor of Umuvugizi, told 
international press freedom advocacy group Reporters without Borders 
(RSF) that he had received anonymous telephone threats and believed he 
was under constant surveillance by military intelligence agents. 
Gasasira's allegations followed the publication of an article in which 
he criticized the country's economy and finance minister for 
``influence trafficking'' and trying to control the country's economy.
    On August 14, unidentified persons in Kigali attacked and beat a 
journalist's brother, Olivier Tibasumba. Tibasumba's sister, Lucie 
Umukundwa, a VOA stringer and head of the country's VOA office, 
reported that she had received threats and, following the beating of 
her brother, left the country fearing for her safety. One of the 
assailants reportedly told Tibasumba to tell his sister to ``stop 
interfering with our work.'' The High Council of the Press conducted 
lengthy interviews with the stringer and her brother and provided 
information to the police. By year's end Umukundwa remained outside the 
country and a police investigation had not resulted in any arrests.
    Unlike in 2005, authorities did not seize any publications.
    According to some of the country's journalists, government 
officials pressured some government institutions to withhold 
advertising from independent newspapers. According to Freedom House, 
the Government continued to influence the printed press through its 
purchase of advertising space, upon which many private publications 
were financially dependent; government agencies generally did not 
advertise in independent newspapers. RSF reported in August that during 
the year only three newspapers-the New Times, Umuvugizi, and Focus-
received advertising revenues from government entities and companies 
linked to the ruling party. Print media often published abroad to avoid 
local publishing costs, which were more expensive than publishing 
abroad, and, according to Freedom House, to avoid direct government 
control of their content. However, local journalists say explicitly 
that it is done to avoid expensive publishing costs in Rwanda.
    The Government continued to use a media law that imposes criminal 
sanctions on the media for libel and other forms of defamation to 
suppress criticism and limit press freedom. In July the country's 
highest court upheld a lower court's 2005 decision to sanction Umuseso 
editor Charles Kabonero with a suspended sentence of a year in prison 
(which Kabonero had already served during the appeals process) and a 
fine of approximately $1,900 (one million Rwandan francs) in damages 
and court fees for ``public insult.'' The defamation charge resulted 
from a series of analytical articles published in 2004 that criticized 
the deputy speaker of parliament and the Government, and from 
Kabonero's refusal to publish a ``correction'' and reveal his sources.
    Unlike in previous years, the Government did not cite national 
security as grounds to suppress views that were unrelated to security 
issues but politically embarrassing or objectionable. Press freedom 
advocates attributed tensions between the Government and the media to 
the Government's reluctance or incapacity to share information. The 
Government attributed tensions to journalists' lack of experience and 
professionalism.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the 
Internet or reports that the Government monitored email or Internet 
chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Internet 
cafes were common and used regularly in the largest towns but the 
Internet was generally unavailable to the majority of people living in 
rural areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not 
restrict academic freedom or cultural events. Unlike in the previous 
year, there were no reports of authorities arresting, detaining, or 
suspending students on accusations of engaging in genocide ideology. By 
year's end authorities had released from detention all of the 60 
teachers and students whose names the Ministry of Education, Science, 
and Technology submitted in 2004 to authorities for prosecution on 
charges involving genocide ideology.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, 
there were some exceptions. Authorities legally may require advance 
notice for outdoor rallies, demonstrations, and meetings. There were no 
reports that authorities prohibited nighttime meetings, although some 
groups avoided nighttime meetings to avoid possible disruption.
    In September the governor of the Eastern Province reportedly 
cancelled a march planned by local citizens to protest the acquittal of 
a genocide suspect by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 
citing concerns that the march might become violent.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government prevented Landnet, an umbrella group of NGOs, from meeting, 
or that other civil society organizations were discouraged from meeting 
due to the Government's actions (see Section 4).
    The Government continued to limit the type of locations where 
religious groups could assemble, at times citing municipal zoning 
regulations as the reason. Unlike the previous year, there was no 
national ban on the building of structures for the meetings and worship 
services of Jehovah's Witnesses; however, there were still local 
government officials who prevented the new construction of Kingdom 
Halls (see Section 2.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association; however, the Government limited this right in practice. 
Private organizations were required to register, and in practice the 
Government generally granted licenses without undue delay; however, 
there were some exceptions.
    To obtain a provisional six-month approval, domestic NGOs must 
present their objectives, plan of action, and financial information to 
local authorities of every district in which the organizations intended 
to work. After obtaining provisional agreement, domestic NGOs must 
apply for registration (legal recognition) each year under the 
authority of the Ministry of Justice. If a local NGO is initially 
denied registration, the NGO sometimes must renew its registration 
documents. These requirements made registration extremely difficult for 
some organizations. Domestic NGOs were required to submit financial and 
activity reports each year to the national government.
    The Government also requires international organizations to 
register each year, and to obtain yearly provisional authorization from 
the local governments of every district in which the organizations 
intend to work, followed by final authorization from the requisite 
ministry. This requirement made registration difficult for some 
organizations. In addition, the Government requires international 
organizations to submit yearly reports with the relevant local 
governments and national level ministries. The paperwork involved was 
burdensome.
    According to a report released in 2005 by Frontline--International 
Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, local and 
international NGOs are required to give ``all data and documents 
concerning [their] activities'' within one month of a request by ``the 
concerned authorities.''
    Consistent with its antidivisionism policy of not acknowledging 
individual ethnic groups, the Government did not recognize the Batwa as 
an ``indigenous group.'' However, it recognized and conducted joint 
health and education projects with the Community of Indigenous Peoples 
of Rwanda (CAURWA), a Batwa advocacy organization (see Section 5).
    The constitution provides for a multiparty system of government and 
for the free operation of political organizations; however, the 
Government restricted political party activities, and all political 
organizations were constitutionally obliged to join the Forum for 
Political Organizations, an organization designed to define and 
regulate party behavior and enhance interparty communication and 
coordination (see Section 3). During the year there were no reported 
efforts to form a political party opposed to the Government, and there 
were no reports of the Government denying parties registration. The MDR 
remained inactive during the year as a result of a May 2003 
recommendation by parliament to ban the MDR shortly before Presidential 
and legislative elections. Although the Supreme Court never acted upon 
the recommendation, the MDR was dissolved shortly thereafter when all 
existing political parties were required to re-register under a new 
political party law. There were no signs during the year that the MDR 
would reconstitute itself or that authorities would allow it to do so.
    Former MDR members denied reports that the Government continued to 
harass them.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion and the Government generally respected this right in practice; 
however, there were some exceptions. The Government failed to prevent 
local authorities and security forces from arresting, detaining, 
beating, or harassing more than 50 Jehovah's Witnesses, although there 
were fewer reports of such abuses than in the previous year.
    The law requires that all nonprofit organizations, including 
churches and religious organizations, register with the Ministry of 
Local government and with the Ministry of Justice to acquire the status 
of ``legal entity.''
    During the year a foreign pastor reported difficulties registering 
his church, and there were reports that some religious organizations 
operated without legal recognition because the registration process was 
arduous, which government officials confirmed. Members of unregistered 
groups were vulnerable to censorship and possible detention. The 
Government did not deny any new applications during the year; however, 
the Government continued the 2003 suspension of two local splinter 
organizations, the United Methodist Church of Rwanda, led by Jupa 
Kaberuka, and the International Union Methodist Community, led by Louis 
Bwanakweli. Both attempted to register as the primary Methodist group 
in the country and claimed to be the regional representative of the 
World Methodist Church.
    The Government continued to suspend the registration of two 
Pentecostal churches led by foreign pastors, and one of the pastors 
left the country during the year. The suspension began in 2004 
presumably because of immigration irregularities allegedly engaged in 
by the pastor, and due to an ongoing dispute over the naming of his 
church.
    There were reports of police beating, detaining, and arresting 
members of Jehovah's Witnesses because they refused--due to religious 
beliefs--to participate in nighttime security patrols and sing the 
national anthem. In May, prison guards beat two members of Jehovah's 
Witnesses, who were detained for two weeks in Huye District and 
released without charge.
    In May a local government official, the executive secretary of 
Kirehe-Kigarame Sector (Kibungo District), severely beat a member of 
Jehovah's Witnesses who authorities detained for three weeks before 
releasing him on May 30. The Government reported that the individual 
was detained for unlawful financial practices and not because of his 
status as a member of Jehovah's Witnesses; it was not clear if 
authorities ever charged the man. The Government reported that it 
investigated the executive secretary for administering the beating and 
temporarily detained him; however, authorities later released him 
without charge.
    According to the Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of General Counsel in 
New York, between February and May, authorities in the Kibungo Province 
imprisoned 48 members of Jehovah's Witnesses for not participating in 
night patrols. At year's end three remained in prison. The Office of 
General Counsel also reported that two members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
were detained, released and fined for not participating in the national 
anthem.
    All but 11 of the 93 members of Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned or 
detained in 2005 for failure to participate in night patrols were 
released without charge; their detentions, during which police beat 12 
individuals, usually lasted between two days and three months. The 11 
whose cases went to court were sentenced from three to six months in 
prison. Another member of Jehovah's Witnesses who did not participate 
in the night patrols was accused of rebellion, sentenced to six months 
in prison, and released on January 14.
    In 2005 a few judges ruled that the charges against Jehovah's 
Witnesses were inappropriate; they held that there was no law requiring 
mandatory nighttime patrols and that the prosecutor's office had 
wrongly applied a law requiring some form of ``community work.'' 
However, at year's end three members of Jehovah's Witnesses remained in 
prison.
    There were no reports that authorities closed a Jehovah's Witnesses 
Kingdom Hall and dispersed worshippers; however, the Government did not 
allow new Kingdom Halls or churches to be built.
    In October a court sentenced a Catholic priest to 12 years in 
prison for comments made during a Mass in May that were interpreted as 
a negation of the 1994 genocide, which is against the law (see Section 
2.a.).
    The Government continued to require religious groups to hold 
services at their established places of worship and to ban the use of 
private homes for this purpose. Some small religious groups that met in 
private homes were forced to move to new locations.
    Government officials presiding over wedding ceremonies generally 
required couples to take an oath while touching the national flag, a 
practice that Jehovah's Witnesses object to on religious grounds. This 
practice made it difficult for church members to marry as they had to 
find officials willing to perform the ceremony without the flag 
requirement. In March, two couples in Bugarsera District were denied 
marriage certificates due to their refusal to take the marriage oath 
while touching the national flag. In addition, authorities in Kigali-
Muhima denied a couple marriage certificates in a public ceremony for 
refusing to take the oath with the flag.
    According to church officials, six primary student children of 
Jehovah's Witnesses were suspended from school for refusing to attend 
Christian services. Active engagement by local Jehovah's Witnesses 
leaders with government officials resulted in the resolution of the 
issue and the readmission of the students.
    During the year the Government and Jehovah's Witnesses authorities 
continued to address problems and misunderstandings through a 
collaborative mechanism begun in 2005. Jehovah's Witnesses leaders 
reported a better relationship between their church and the Government 
during the year.
    On January 1 the Government consolidated the country's territorial 
administrative structure into four provinces, 30 districts, and 416 
sectors. The subsequent change in leadership at the district and sector 
levels required the leadership of religious denominations to deal with 
new officials. During the year Jehovah's Witnesses said that 
ministerial-level decisions regarding the church were positive, but 
church leadership reported a lack of communication between the national 
government and some local leaders.
    Unlike in the preceding year, there were a few reports that 
religious groups changed their location or tailored their activities to 
avoid confrontation with authorities due to the citing of religious 
figures and groups in the 2004 parliamentary report on genocide 
ideology.
    In April authorities released and dropped the charges against the 
eight members of a dissident Catholic congregation (``Mouvement 
Marial'') in Gisenyi Province who were accused of ``subversive 
activities'' and arrested in February 2004.
    Unlike in the previous year, none of the groups cited by parliament 
in its 2004 report on genocide ideology reported difficulties 
approaching local authorities about concerns or topics that could be 
construed as ``sensitive.''

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some religious leaders were 
perpetrators of violence and discrimination during the year, and 
several clergy members of various faiths faced charges of genocide in 
the country's courts and in the ICTR (see Section 4).
    There was a very small Jewish community, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. 
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the Government 
refused to provide refugee or asylum-seeker protections.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use 
forced exile; however, some individuals remained in--or secretly left 
the country to live in--self-imposed exile because they believed their 
lives were in danger (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
    From late 2005 to February more than 19,000 Rwandans crossed into 
Burundi and requested asylum. The Government of Burundi and the UNHCR 
determined that less that 3 percent qualified for refugee status, and 
the UNHCR began transporting the denied applicants back to Rwanda. 
During the year, more than 17,000 asylum seekers returned to the 
country from Burundi. There were no reports that these repatriates were 
mistreated upon their return. The UNHCR reported that at year's end 
there were 48,400 Rwandan refugees and about 4,700 asylum seekers in 23 
other African countries, including 521 refugees and 2,320 asylum 
seekers in Burundi.
    In June the Government of Tanzania expelled approximately 800 
Rwandan nationals from Tanzania. The Rwandans had been living in 
western Tanzania for up to 40 years and accused the Tanzanian 
government of using harsh expulsion methods including rape, beatings, 
and the theft of cattle and other property. The Government of Tanzania 
claimed that the Rwandans had not applied for refugee status and 
declared them ``illegal immigrants.'' In September the Governments of 
Tanzania and Rwanda formed a high level commission to address the 
issue; however, the Tanzanian government again began to expel Rwandan 
nationals (some of whom were naturalized Tanzanians) during the same 
month, with approximately 200 persons arriving at the Rwandan border 
each day. Between March and year's end, the Tanzanian government 
expelled more that 13,000 Rwandans, most of whom were settled in their 
districts of origin. The Government worked with UNHCR and other aid 
organizations to assist the returnees who were resettled. Government 
mediators handled land disputes resulting from the large number of 
returnees.
    The Government continued to accept former combatants who returned 
to the country from the DRC as part of the ongoing peace process 
between the two countries. A total of 6,123 former combatants from 
armed groups in the DRC had been demobilized and peacefully resettled 
in Rwanda since the beginning of the disarmament, demobilization, and 
reintegration program in 2001. During the year, 1,234 RDF soldiers, 575 
adult former combatants from armed groups, and 58 children were 
demobilized. With international support, the Government's 
Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, the lead government agency 
for the reinsertion of returned former combatants, placed such persons 
in a two-month re-education program at demobilization and reintegration 
centers in the Northern Province. There also was a center solely for 
former child combatants (see Section 5) in the Eastern Province. After 
the two-month re-education period, each adult former combatant was 
given approximately $90 (50,000 Rwandan francs) and allowed to return 
to his village. Returnees who were accused of committing genocide and 
over 25 years of age (or 14 years old at the time of the genocide) were 
subject to gacaca trials, as were all citizens.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The constitution recognizes the right to asylum ``under 
conditions determined by law,'' and there was a law in place to 
recognize refugees. However, the Government was slow to implement 
refugee registration procedures, and most persons seeking asylum or 
refugee status had to seek private assistance (finding housing, food, 
and other supplies) while awaiting formal recognition by the 
Government.
    In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they fear 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum during 
the year. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government pressured the Government of Burundi to forcefully repatriate 
Rwandan asylum seekers, sent soldiers to Burundi to repatriate them, or 
denied the UNHCR access to returning asylum seekers.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government declared Burundian asylum seekers in Rwanda ``illegal 
immigrants.'' The UNHCR continued to assist refugees and asylum seekers 
and provided temporary protection to 47,170 persons, the vast majority 
of whom were refugees from the DRC. The Government generally cooperated 
with the UNHCR.
    During the year there was one report of a DRC-based armed group 
recruiting between 20 and 30 children from a Rwandan refugee camp to be 
used as combatants or forced laborers. The Government responded to the 
alleged incident by sending counselors from the National Demobilization 
and Reintegration Committee to the camp to educate the refugee 
population on the dangers of child soldiering.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the RDF was 
involved in the recruitment by Congo-based militias of children from 
Rwandan refugee camps for use as soldiers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide for the right of citizens to 
change their government peacefully; however, this right was effectively 
restricted.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 President Paul 
Kagame won a landslide victory against two independent Presidential 
candidates, receiving 95 percent of the vote. In legislative elections 
the same year, President Kagame's political party, the RPF, won the 
majority of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. 
International election observers, representing both foreign governments 
and NGOs, noted that the country's first post-genocide elections, 
though peaceful, were marred by numerous serious irregularities--
including ballot stuffing, ``guarded'' polling booths, and irregular 
ballot counting in at least two of the 12 provinces--and fraud. There 
also were numerous credible reports that during the 2003 Presidential 
and legislative campaigns, opposition candidates and their supporters 
faced widespread harassment and intimidation, including detention.
    Between February and March the country held three phases of non-
partisan local elections. In district, sector, and cell elections, the 
law prohibits candidates from making any reference to their political 
party while campaigning, and the elections held at these three levels 
during the year were conducted on a non-partisan basis, although some 
observers believed that voters were generally well aware of candidates' 
party affiliation. During elections at the lowest level (the cell), 
voters cast their votes by lining up behind candidates rather than by 
secret ballot; government officials said they used the line-up voting 
system due to significant resource constraints and the expense of 
providing ballots and ballot boxes. There were no reports of 
intimidation or of security forces pressuring citizens to vote for 
particular candidates, but some observers expressed concerns, noting 
that citizens had criticized the line-up voting system when it was 
first used in 1999 because it made voters susceptible to influence and 
possible repercussions due their votes. In elections for key district 
officials, voters used the secret ballot, while other elections were 
indirect.
    Candidates in the district level elections were legally required to 
have a minimum education level to stand for election. All the local 
elections generally were conducted efficiently and peacefully, and 
although there were some organizational problems and confusion among 
voters, voter participation rates were high, according to officials. In 
February the pro-government newspaper the New Times published at least 
six articles containing allegations of coercion of voters, a few claims 
of fraud from losing candidates, and other irregularities, as well as 
criticism from the National Electoral Commission's chairman of 
unprofessional conduct by election volunteers and observers. In 
addition, HRW said that observers reported ``numerous irregularities, 
including stuffing of ballot boxes and intimidation of candidates.'' 
The National Election Commission investigated allegations of 
irregularities, reportedly intervened to correct some during the 
elections, and said that ``despite the irregularities, the elections 
were free and fair.'' Although the elections were non-partisan, there 
were many cases of last-minute withdrawal of candidates, which led to 
considerable speculation that some candidates were favored by 
authorities and others actively discouraged from running.
    An African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) country report released 
during the year by the New Partnership for Africa's Development 
(NEPAD), a mandated initiative of the African Union (AU), recommended 
that the country's electoral commission respect the constitutional 
principle of a secret ballot in local elections to protect citizens 
from the likelihood of intimidation and other undemocratic practices. 
The report also recommended that the Government provide the electoral 
commission with more resources to undertake a needed renovation and 
modernization of the voters' register, to discharge its duties 
effectively, and to shield it from various sources of influence. The 
report noted that ``the Government faces an uncomfortable dilemma--how 
to promote political pluralism in a country where political parties 
have in the past been organized along two main ethnic lines.'' It 
stated that the country had made some positive trends but had to 
increase its efforts in areas such as political pluralism.
    The RPF continued to dominate the parliament and the political 
arena. According to the Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2006, which 
was released during the year and analyzed what it perceived as several 
countries' political strengths and weaknesses, the ``hegemonic role of 
the RPF'' and the weakness of the party system is partly due to the 
``successive abolition'' of important parties and the fact that 
``political parties do not differ in terms of proposed policy'' but 
reflect regional divisions.
    Seven other political parties were represented in the Chamber of 
Deputies and the Senate; however, most chose to associate themselves 
with the RPF rather than assert independent positions. In accordance 
with the constitution, which states that ``a political organization 
holding the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies may not exceed 
50 percent of all the members of the Cabinet,'' members of other 
political parties held key positions in government and parliament, 
including that of the Prime Minister and the speaker of the Chamber of 
Deputies. In the Chamber of Deputies, 13 of the 53 directly elected 
members belonged to parties other than the RPF. All political parties 
represented in parliament held regular meetings, and were authorized to 
recruit new members and stand for election, although recruitment 
meetings below the provincial level are not legally allowed.
    The Senate regularly called ministers and other government 
officials to testify in oversight hearings to examine use of ministry 
budgets, performance of personnel, and program efforts.
    The constitution provides for a multiparty system but provides few 
protections for parties and their candidates. According to the AU's 
APRM report, the country had made significant progress toward political 
pluralism, but parties were still ``not able to operate freely'' and 
faced legal sanctions if accused of engaging in divisive acts. The 
report also noted that the constitutional freedom to form, join, and 
belong to political parties is undermined by onerous conditions and 
other constitutional provisions, including one that prohibits parties 
from operating at the district, sector, and cell levels. The MDR, which 
by 2003 had become increasingly critical of government policies while 
holding positions in the transitional government, remained inactive 
during the year, which at least one local NGO said was a result of the 
May 2003 recommendation by parliament to ban the MDR shortly before 
national elections (see Section 2.b.). Furthermore the Government's 
continuing campaign against divisionism, and its holding of political 
detainees and prisoners (including former President Bizimungu), 
including the occasional use by local officials of illegal detention 
against those critical of the Government, discouraged open debate or 
criticism of the Government or its policies (see Sections 1.d., 1.e., 
2.a., 2.b, 2.c. and 4).
    All political organizations were constitutionally required to join 
the Forum for Political Organizations, which continued to limit 
competitive political pluralism, according to the AU's APRM report. In 
addition the law regulates the formation, structure, and functioning of 
political organizations; it also monitors their use of the media, 
management of financial assets, and relations between political 
organizations and other institutions. The law outlines a code of 
conduct for political organizations. For example the law states that 
political organizations have the ``moral obligation to condemn any 
biased ideas and behavior aimed at turning the state into a state 
governed by a cluster of politicians.'' The law also outlines the 
Government's ability to cancel an organization's mandate.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of any increase 
in the number of senior political officials implicated in the 1994 
genocide, and no members of parliament were pressured to resign during 
the year.
    The constitution requires that at least 30 percent of the seats in 
parliament be reserved for women, who won approximately 40 percent of 
the seats during the September 2003 legislative elections. At year's 
end there were eight women in the 26-seat Senate and 39 women in the 
80-seat Chamber of Deputies. In addition President Kagame appointed 
nine women to ministerial positions, representing 32 percent of the 
positions in his cabinet.
    There was one member of the Batwa ethnic group in the 26-seat 
Senate but none in the Chamber of Deputies.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption of government 
officials was a problem. During the year the Government prosecuted 
several corrupt officials, including two ministerial secretaries 
general. According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption 
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was 
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant.''
    There were reports of authorities harassing journalists who 
reported on corruption in various government sectors (see Section 
2.a.).
    The Government's Office of the Ombudsman had an active good 
governance program and several anticorruption units that worked at the 
local level. Although the office does not have the authority to 
prosecute cases, it can recommend cases to the prosecutor general's 
office, and during the year the office pursued several thousand 
corruption cases, the majority of which involved land. There were 
reports that some corruption charges and prosecutions were directed at 
political opponents of the RPF. Unlike in the previous year, there were 
no high-level officials convicted of corruption. The inspector general 
of government worked to prevent corruption. The law provides for annual 
reporting of assets by public officials, but not public disclosure of 
those assets. During the year the legislature used the auditor 
general's annual report to examine the conduct of government business 
and guard against mismanagement and corruption.
    The law does not provide for access to government information, and 
in practice it remained difficult for citizens and foreigners, 
including journalists, to obtain access to government information. 
There were no reports of the Government denying a citizens' request for 
information; however, during the year some senators criticized the 
Government for being ``secretive,'' for failing to make its activities 
known to the public, and for failing to hold regular press briefings, 
particularly in regard to the December 2005 killing of prisoners at the 
Mulindi Military Detention Facility and other alleged human rights 
abuses by security forces (see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of independent international NGOs and more than six 
increasingly independent, domestic human rights groups operated in the 
country, and some of them investigated and published their findings. 
Some domestic NGOs said the Government was intolerant of criticism and 
had a tendency to be suspicious of local and international human rights 
observers, often rejecting their criticism of its human rights 
practices as biased and uninformed. During the year some NGOs expressed 
fear of the Government and self-censored their activities and comments, 
even during private meetings, and particularly regarding sensitive 
topics such as the appeals trial of former President Bizimungu (see 
Section 1.e.).
    Most domestic NGOs that dealt with at least some human rights 
issues conducted activities such as lobbying the legislature to provide 
more protection for vulnerable groups; facilitating dialogue on the 
death penalty; observing elections; raising awareness of human rights 
among youth; and providing explanations of legislation, legal advice, 
and advocacy. One local human rights NGO, LIPRODOHR, spotlighted human 
rights abuses; it employed some of its 600 members to conduct field 
investigations of alleged abuses, published its findings and discussed 
them with government officials--including on sensitive cases--and 
raised concerns about false accusations in gacaca trials. A few 
domestic NGOs produced publications regularly on general human rights 
issues.
    There was a restricted atmosphere for the functioning of civil 
society due to the legacy of the genocide. In addition, government 
requirements made registration extremely difficult for some NGOs; 
during a discussion among domestic human rights groups on whether the 
Government was trying to control civil society, NGOs noted several 
registration requirements, including a requirement that civil society 
groups provide reports on their activities to the Ministry of Local 
government (see Section 2.b.).
    New York-based NGO Freedom House reported that because of the 
Government's ongoing campaign against divisionism, human rights NGOs 
were generally reluctant to express critical views to avoid being 
accused by the Government of engaging in divisive political activity 
and of opposing the Government. However, police statistics indicated 
that the vast majority of prosecutions involving charges of divisionism 
concerned gacaca proceedings (see Section 1.e.).
    Many government officials said they believed that the proper role 
of civil society was to support the Government, and that NGOs' work 
should be in accordance with national and local action plans. According 
to Freedom House, this belief that civil society should support the 
Government was so widespread that in recent years some NGOs have even 
criticized fellow groups for being critical of the Government.
    The President of one domestic human rights NGO said the Government 
was employing subtler and more complicated strategies than before in 
dealing with NGOs and cited the requirement that NGOs obtain 
authorization from the Government for some projects before they can 
access funds provided by international donors. The NGO President said 
this requirement could result in further government restrictions on 
domestic NGOs' access to donor funds. According to Freedom House, the 
law on nonprofit associations gives government authorities the power to 
control projects, budgets, and hiring of personnel ``so that NGOs will 
restrict themselves to supporting government efforts in development and 
service provision, not policy.''
    In January AI called on the Government to ``end the continuing 
harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights 
defenders''; however, by May some domestic NGOs noted that relations 
with the Government had generally improved and that consultations were 
positive between the Government and civil society on a proposed bill 
reforming the regulation of NGOs. Nevertheless, several domestic NGOs 
said they were disappointed that civil society's recommendations had 
not been incorporated into the draft legislation and expressed deep 
concerns about the draft law.
    On June 26, during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, the 
International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization 
Against Torture, two international NGOs that work frequently with 
domestic NGOs in the country, alleged that the Government used various 
legal restrictions to ``control'' NGOs.
    Calls by human rights groups or opposition figures for 
investigations of alleged war crimes committed by the RPF met with 
government claims that such calls equated the genocide with abuses 
committed by RPF soldiers who stopped the genocide (see Section 1.e.).
    During the year LIPRODHOR said authorities denied it access to 
prisons.
    In 2005 the Senate commissioned a study to identify divisionism and 
``genocide ideology'' (support for genocide or its principle tenets) 
among international NGOs and scholars. By year's end, the Senate had 
not yet released this report.
    In 2004 the legislature released a report prepared by the 
Commission on Genocide Ideology about the allegedly widespread 
prevalence in the country of divisionism and genocide ideology. Some 
NGOs said during the year that the report continued to have a lingering 
impact in undermining the credibility of civil society, and according 
to Freedom House, the report ``had a chilling effect on independent 
voices, compounding the self-censorship already prevalent among human 
rights defenders and others.'' The report accused 13 domestic and 
international civil society groups, including LIPRODHOR, the country's 
largest human rights NGO; religious institutions; journalists; 
allegedly corrupt leaders of local government; secondary schools; and 
the national university of engaging in divisionist activities and 
genocide ideology. The Government accepted the commission's 
recommendation to dissolve five domestic civil society groups and used 
the report in conjunction with national security laws to justify 
arbitrary arrests and the effective dismantling of the country's 
independent human rights organizations. The Government particularly 
targeted LIPRODHOR by freezing its assets, threatening its dissolution, 
and forcing its alignment with government policy. Although not 
officially dissolved, LIPRODOHR was essentially not operating for 
approximately half of 2005, and many of the NGO's key members who fled 
the country claimed that the group had been infiltrated by the 
Government. Several key LIPRODHOR staff who left the country in 2005 
continued to live abroad during the year and had reportedly sought 
asylum.
    By the end of 2005, LIPRODHOR had rebuilt its organization, rebuilt 
its relationships with local government officials, and begun to travel 
throughout the country, conduct investigations, criticize the 
Government, and seek redress for its clients. During the year LIPRODOHR 
was one of two domestic human rights NGOs that investigated violations 
by the Government and engaged in discussion and lobbying with officials 
to address abuses. LIPRODOHR's caseload by year's end had nearly 
reached pre-2004 levels.
    In response to the 2004 parliamentary report on genocide ideology, 
a group of pro-government domestic NGOs created an NGO ``platform,'' or 
collective, in 2005 to manage the activities of NGOs. During the year 
the group continued to maintain a role in managing and directing NGOs 
during the year through the use of umbrella NGOs, which theoretically 
aggregated NGOs working in particular thematic sectors; however, many 
observers believed that the Government controlled these umbrella NGOs. 
In September UN Development Program and the NHRC inaugurated a 
framework for cooperation among human rights NGOs including a permanent 
secretariat, quarterly meetings of a guiding council, and biannual 
plenary sessions to discuss and address human rights issues.
    The Government's lead agency for human rights was the NHRC. The 
NHRC released annual human rights reports for 2004 and 2005. The 2005 
report criticized government action in a number of areas including 
illegal detentions, police beatings, and prison conditions. However, 
the NHRC did not have adequate resources to investigate all reported 
cases of violations, and according to some observers, the NHRC remained 
biased towards the Government in its investigations and reporting.
    The ICTR continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year. 
Since 1994 the ICTR has delivered 23 verdicts in 29 cases. At year's 
end, there were a total of 62 detainees in the court's seat in 
Tanzania: 25 on trial, 12 awaiting trial, 12 awaiting transfer, and 
seven pending appeal. There were no reports that the Government 
prevented witnesses from attending and giving testimony, or that it 
failed to cooperate on ICTR investigations of alleged RPF war crimes. 
During the year the Government expressed strong dissatisfaction with 
the ICTR's lack of response to its indictment on genocide charges of 
Callixte Gakwaya, the lead defense counsel for genocide suspect Yusuf 
Munyakasi; in September Gakwaya resigned.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the 
law, without discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, tribe, clan, 
color, sex, region, social origin, religion or faith opinion, economic 
status, culture, language, social status, or physical or mental 
disability. The Government generally enforced these provisions; 
however, problems remained.

    Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence, 
and domestic violence against women, including wife beating, was 
common. Cases normally were handled within the context of the extended 
family.
    The law criminalizes rape, and the Government continued taking 
steps to enforce the law more effectively. The Government handled rape 
cases as priority within its courts and tribunals. In recent years 
those convicted of rape generally received sentences of between 20 and 
30 years' imprisonment. The Government recognized rape as a problem, 
and in 2005 classified rape and other crimes of sexual violence 
committed during the genocide as a category I genocide crime. It also 
improved protection at the local level for rape victims testifying at 
gacaca courts. During the year police investigated 2,476 rape cases.
    Prostitution, which is not legal, and trafficking in women for 
sexual exploitation remained problems (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Women continued to face societal discrimination, but the Government 
had multiple programs to combat these traditional practices. Women 
traditionally performed most of the subsistence farming. Since the 1994 
genocide, which left numerous women as heads of households, women 
assumed a larger role in the formal sector, and many operated their own 
businesses. Nevertheless, women continued to have limited opportunities 
for education, employment, and promotion. Government efforts to expand 
opportunities for women included a clause in the constitution providing 
that at least 30 percent of the seats in parliament be reserved for 
women (see Section 3). Other efforts included scholarships for girls in 
primary and secondary school, loans to rural women, and the appointment 
of a minister in the Prime Minister's office for family and gender 
promotion to train government officials and NGOs in methods to increase 
the role of women in the workforce. The law allows women to inherit 
property from their fathers and husbands, and it allows couples to 
choose the legal property arrangements they wish to adopt; however, in 
practice it was much more difficult for women than for men to 
successfully pursue property claims.
    The minister of gender and family promotion in the office of the 
Prime Minister was the lead government official handling problems of 
particular concern to women. A number of women's groups were active in 
promoting women's concerns, particularly those faced by widows, 
orphaned girls, and households headed by children.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare, and it took efforts to improve education and health care to 
children. Children headed at least 106,000 households. The Government 
worked closely with international NGOs to secure assistance for 
children who were heads of households and sensitized local officials to 
the needs of children in such situations.
    Education is compulsory through primary school or until age 13. 
While primary school fees were officially abolished in 2003, most 
parents still had to pay unofficial fees to support basic school 
operations. However, children were not dismissed from school for their 
parents' failure to pay such fees. A survivor's fund assisted with the 
secondary school fees for school-age genocide survivors.
    Public schools lacked essential and basic supplies and could not 
adequately accommodate all children of primary school age. Private 
primary schools often were too distant or too expensive to serve as an 
alternative for many children. According to the Ministry of Education, 
93 percent of primary school-age children were enrolled in school. 
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the net primary school 
enrolment/attendance ratio was 75 percent. Of the children who entered 
the first grade, 46 percent reached the fifth grade. Children took 
entrance exams to enter secondary school, and 17 percent of secondary 
school-age children were enrolled in school during the year.
    There were no statistics available on child abuse, however, it was 
a problem.
    According to UNICEF, 20 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 
24 had married or entered into a union before they were 18 years old. 
The legal age for marriage for both males and females is 21.
    There were some cases of trafficking and child prostitution (see 
Section 5, Trafficking).
    Due to the genocide and deaths from HIV/AIDS, there were numerous 
households headed by children, some of whom resorted to prostitution to 
survive. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government was recruiting children and training them to be combatants.
    During the year there was one report that an armed group from the 
DRC recruited children from a Rwandan refugee camp for use as 
combatants or forced laborers (see Section 2.d.).
    The Government continued to support a demobilization and 
reintegration program. During the year 58 children who had served as 
soldiers in the DRC received care and reintegration preparation from 
the Muhazi demobilization center for children in the Eastern Province.
    There were cases of child labor (see Section 6.d.).
    There were approximately 7,000 street children thr thrououghout the 
country. Local authorities rounded up street children (see Section 
1.d.) and placed them in foster homes or government-run facilities. The 
Gitagata Center housed approximately 230 children, the majority of whom 
were rounded up by authorities in 2003. The Government supported 12 
``childcare institutions'' across the country that provided shelter and 
basic needs for 2,950 street children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--While there was no specific 
antitrafficking law, laws against slavery, prostitution by coercion, 
kidnapping, rape, and defilement were available to prosecute 
traffickers. There were reports that persons were trafficked from and 
within the country during the year.
    The country was a source country for small numbers of women and 
children trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic labor, and 
soldiering. The largest trafficking problem was underage prostitution; 
small numbers of impoverished girls, typically between the ages of 14 
and 18, used prostitution as a means of survival, and some were 
exploited by loosely organized prostitution networks.
    During the year there was a report of a DRC-based armed group 
recruiting and trafficking Congolese from refugee camps for use as 
forced laborers or child soldiers in the DRC (see Sections 2.d.).
    No traffickers were prosecuted during the year. The Rwanda National 
Police, under the Ministry of Internal Security, is the lead government 
agency responsible for combating trafficking of persons. While police 
reportedly conducted regular operations against prostitution, no 
statistics were available on prosecutions of those who utilized or 
exploited children in prostitution.
    The Government made significant efforts to fight trafficking 
despite resource constraints. The Government provided training on sex 
crimes and crimes against children to police as part of the police 
training curriculum. During the year the police offered specialized 
training in recognizing trafficking, particularly trafficking involving 
children, to many police cadets. The Government also monitored 
immigration and emigration patterns, as well as border areas that were 
accessible by road.
    Due to the genocide and deaths from HIV/AIDS, there were numerous 
children who headed households, and some of these children resorted to 
prostitution or may have been trafficked into domestic servitude. 
UNICEF estimated in 2004 that there were 2,140 child prostitutes in the 
major cities and several thousand street children throughout the 
country.
    The Government made efforts to protect the rights of women and 
children. In 2005 the Government identified the worst forms of child 
labor, and in collaboration with UNICEF, identified three NGOs to help 
children working in these sectors (see Section 5, Children). When the 
Government dismantled prostitution rings, it offered women 
rehabilitation programs that included work retraining.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution provides that all 
citizens are equal before the law and prohibits discrimination on the 
basis of physical or mental disability; however, there are no laws 
specifically prohibiting discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in regard to employment, education, or access to social 
services, and few persons with disabilities had access to education or 
employment. There was no law mandating access to public facilities. The 
constitution mandates that one member of the Chamber of Deputies be 
appointed by the Federation of the Associations of Persons with 
Disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Before the 1994 genocide, an 
estimated 85 percent of citizens were Hutu, 14 percent were Tutsi, and 
1 percent were Batwa. Prior to the 1994 genocide, citizens were 
required to carry identity cards that indicated ethnicity, a practice 
that was instituted in 1931 when the country was under Belgian colonial 
administration. Following the genocide, the Government banned all 
identity card references to ethnic affiliation as divisionist or 
contributing to genocide ideology. As a result, the Batwa, purported 
descendants of Pygmy tribes of the mountainous forest areas bordering 
the DRC and numbering approximately 33,000 (less than 1 percent of the 
population), were no longer designated as an ethnic group. On this 
basis the Government no longer recognized groups advocating for Batwa 
needs. Some Batwa said their rights as an indigenous ethnic group were 
denied as a result of such government policies. The Government 
recognized CAURWA, although it was not formally acknowledged as an 
organization supporting an ``indigenous group.'' Despite the 
recognition of CAURWA and joint health and education projects with the 
Government, most Batwa continued to live on the margins of society with 
very limited access to education, and they continued to be treated as 
inferior citizens by both the Hutu and Tutsi groups.
    Large-scale interethnic violence in the country between Hutus and 
Tutsis erupted on three occasions since independence in 1962, resulting 
on each occasion in tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths. The most 
recent and severe outbreak of such violence, in 1994, involved 
genocidal killing of much of the Tutsi population under the direction 
of a Hutu-dominated government and in large part implemented by the 
Hutu-dominated national army and armed youth militia called the 
Interahamwe. The genocide ended later the same year when the 
predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Army, operating out of Uganda, 
occupied Rwandan territory, overthrew the Hutu-dominated government and 
established the Government of National Unity, which was composed of 
members of eight political parties and which ruled until the elections 
in 2003.
    Since 1994 the Government has called for national reconciliation 
and abolished policies of the former government that were perceived to 
have created and deepened ethnic cleavages. The Government eliminated 
all references to ethnicity in written and nonwritten official 
discourse, and there was no government policy of ethnic quotas for 
education, training, or government employment. The constitution 
provides for the eradication of ethnic, regional, and other divisions 
and the promotion of national unity. While some organizations and 
individuals continued to accuse the Government of favoring Tutsis--
particularly English-speaking Tutsis--in government employment, 
admission to professional schooling, recruitment into or promotion 
within the army, and other matters, the Government continued to deny 
this charge, and there was no evidence suggesting that the Government 
practiced ethnic favoritism. University admissions demonstrated that a 
substantial majority of entering students were French-speaking.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all salaried 
workers, except for civil servants, with the right to form and to join 
unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. Although 
the effects of the 1994 genocide continued to hamper unions, they 
continued to regroup and assert themselves during the year; however, 
the Government and many employers were opposed to the idea of trade 
unions operating freely, and the Government's respect for union rights 
remained poor, according to the ITUC The percentage of the total 
workforce, including agricultural workers, that was unionized was 
small. More than 85 percent of workers were engaged in small-scale 
subsistence farming in the informal sector. Approximately 7 percent of 
the work force worked in the formal (wage) sector.
    There were no restrictions on the right of association for non-
civil servants; however, the law specifically excludes civil servants 
from organizing. While all unions must register with the Ministry of 
Labor for official recognition, there were no known cases in which the 
Government denied recognition during the year. Unlike in previous 
years, the law no longer prohibits unions from having political 
affiliations and from publicly expressing their political opinions.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, but there were no 
functioning labor courts to resolve complaints involving discrimination 
against unions. According to the Central Union of Rwandan Workers 
(CESTRAR), employers frequently intimidated unionists through the use 
of transfers, demotions, and dismissals. The law requires employers to 
reinstate workers fired for union activity; however, there were no 
reports that employers had fired employees for this reason.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and while the 
Government respected this right in practice, some private sector 
employers did not and often harassed union members to discourage their 
activities. In addition, the law does not extend this right to 
agricultural workers. The law provides for collective bargaining, but 
this right was severely limited in practice; only CESTRAR had an 
established collective bargaining agreement with the Government. In 
addition there were no instruments such as a national labor council to 
promote the law's application, and the Government was heavily involved 
in the collective bargaining process since most union members were in 
the public sector.
    Participation in unauthorized demonstrations could result in 
employee dismissal, nonpayment of wages, and civil action against the 
union. Authorization was not required for union meetings.
    The law provides some workers with the right to strike, but in 
practice this right was restricted. The law does not allow civil 
servants to strike. For workers who are allowed by law to strike, a 
union's executive committee must approve any strike, and the union must 
first try to resolve its differences with management according to steps 
prescribed by the ministry of labor. This process essentially prohibits 
strikes. There were no demonstrations by union members during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally enforced this 
right; however, prisoners were assigned work details that generally 
involved uncompensated public maintenance duties. A 2001 Presidential 
decree authorized gacaca courts to sentence convicts to perform 
community service; in addition, those suspected of committing genocide 
who confessed were given sentences involving community service.
    There was one report indicating that an armed group based in the 
DRC recruited children in Rwanda (see Section 2.d.).
    Forced child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor 
by children, there are laws to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace; however, the Government did not effectively enforce 
them, and child labor, including forced prostitution, was prevalent. 
Except for subsistence agricultural workers, who account for 
approximately 90 percent of the workforce, the law prohibits children 
under the age of 16 from working without their parents' or guardians' 
permission and prohibits children under 16 from participating in night 
work or any work deemed hazardous or difficult by the minister of 
labor. Night work is defined by the Labor Code as work between 7 p.m. 
and 5 a.m. Children also must have a rest period of at least 12 hours 
between work engagements. The minimum age for full-time employment is 
18 years--14 years for apprenticeships--provided that the child has 
completed primary school. The Government indicated in August that 
approximately 300,000 children (approximately 10 percent of the 
country's four million children under 18) were engaged in child labor. 
However, a UN report released during the year suggested that child 
labor was more prevalent, indicating that 36 percent of children 
between the ages of five and 14 (approximately one million children) 
were engaged in child labor.
    The Government identified five forms of child labor as those that 
should be considered as the ``worst forms of labor,'' including 
domestic work outside the family sphere; agricultural activities on 
tea, rice, and sugar cane plantations; work in brickyards and sand 
extraction quarries; crushing stones; and prostitution. During the year 
child labor persisted in the agricultural sector (particularly on tea 
plantations), among household domestics, in small companies, and in the 
brick-making industry. Children received low wages, and abuse was 
common. In addition, child prostitution and trafficking were problems 
(see Section 5). There was one report of a DRC-based armed group 
recruiting children to be used as combatants or forced laborers (see 
Section 2.d.).
    The Government made efforts to improve its enforcement, but it did 
not have the capacity to effectively enforce laws restricting and 
regulating child labor; during the year there was an insufficient 
number of labor inspectors.
    The Government worked with NGOs to raise awareness of the problem, 
to identify children involved in child labor, and to send them to 
school or vocational training. In addition, local government officials 
organized an awareness-raising campaign for employers, and the 
Government imposed fines against those who illegally employed children 
or sent their children to work to the detriment of their education. The 
Government continued to support 12 child labor inspector offices; 
however, the Government was unable to provide them with adequate 
resources to effectively identify and prevent the use of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Public Service, 
Skills Development, and Labor set minimum wages in the small formal 
sector. The Government, the main employer, effectively set most other 
wage rates as well. According to the Ministry of Labor, there was no 
single minimum wage; minimum wages varied according to the nature of 
the job. The minimum wages for a worker in the formal economy did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and his family, 
although it did provide a higher standard of living than that of the 85 
percent of the population relying only on subsistence farming. In 
practice some workers accepted less than the minimum wage. Families 
regularly supplemented their incomes by working in small businesses or 
subsistence agriculture.
    Officially, government offices and private sector entities had a 
40-hour workweek; the maximum workweek was 45 hours. The Government 
mandated that the workday begin at 7 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., with a 
30-minute break for lunch. There was no mandated rest period. The law 
regulates hours of work and occupational health and safety standards in 
the formal wage sector, but inspectors from the Ministry of Public 
Service did not enforce these standards aggressively. Workers did not 
have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations 
without jeopardizing their jobs. The same standards applied to migrant 
and foreign workers.

                               __________

                         SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

    The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe is a multiparty 
democracy with a population of approximately 160,000. Fradique De 
Menezes was reelected President in July, and parliamentary elections 
also were held in March; international observers deemed both elections 
to have been generally free and fair. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, there were problems in some areas including: harsh 
prison conditions, prolonged pretrial detention, official corruption, 
impunity, violence and discrimination against women, child labor, and 
harsh labor conditions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces arbitrarily and unlawfully killed one citizen.
    On June 15, a police officer on traffic duty shot and killed 
Gustavo Sidonio Pinto in the village of Almas; Pinto was arguing with 
another motorist at the time. The police officer, Larry Alberto Paris, 
was arrested and remained in pretrial detention at year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but 
security forces on occasion used excessive force.
    On September 15, soldiers accompanying forestry guards shot 
Argentino dos Ramos Taty. Taty was cutting a log on private property 
when the mixed patrol approached him, and he was shot in the leg. He 
told journalists he received no warning, and the patrol left him lying 
on the ground. Police claimed to have no information on the incident. 
The public prosecutor launched an investigation, which was ongoing at 
year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
harsh but not life threatening. Facilities were overcrowded, sanitary 
and medical conditions were poor, and food was inadequate. Pretrial 
prisoners were held with convicted prisoners, and juveniles were held 
with adults. There was only one prison, and no jails or detention 
centers.
    The Government permitted human rights monitors to visit the prison; 
however, there were no visits during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
National Defense and Internal Affairs supervises and controls the 
military, national police, and immigration service. The police were 
ineffective and widely viewed as corrupt. Impunity was a problem, and 
efforts to reform the Criminal Investigation Police, a separate agency 
under the Ministry of Justice, were unsuccessful, primarily due to 
inadequate resources.
    On January 16, a group of police officers mutinied, demanding the 
dismissal of the police chief, as well as better salaries and working 
conditions. Their occupation of police headquarters led army units to 
deploy and raised tensions, but on January 20 the mutineers were 
persuaded to give up peacefully when the police chief was suspended. 
There was no action on the mutineers' demand for amnesty, but they had 
not been punished for their actions by year's end. They were briefly 
suspended, but all later returned to work.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants issued by 
an authorized official to apprehend suspects, unless the suspect is 
caught during the commission of a crime. The law requires a 
determination within 48 hours of the legality of a detention, and 
authorities generally respected this right. Detainees were promptly 
informed of charges against them, were allowed access to attorneys and 
family members, and the state provided attorneys for indigent 
detainees. There was a functioning bail system.
    Severe budgetary constraints, inadequate facilities, and a shortage 
of trained judges and lawyers resulted in lengthy pretrial detention. 
According to the director of the Sao Tome prison, 45 percent of the 
country's 160 prisoners were awaiting trial as of July, and some 
pretrial detainees had been held for more than a year. This represented 
an improvement following a concerted effort to reduce the number of 
pretrial detainees who, in October 2005, had constituted 75 percent of 
the prison population.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, at times the judicial system was 
subject to political influence or manipulation. The government-set 
judicial salaries remained low, and credible suspicions persisted that 
judges may be tempted to accept bribes. During the year the Government 
took steps to strengthen the judiciary; it created a new Constitutional 
Court, and a concerted effort to decrease docket backlogs succeeded in 
reducing the number of people in pretrial detention.
    The legal system is based on the Portuguese model. The court system 
has three levels: circuit courts, the Supreme Court, and the 
Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court was created during the 
year and is the highest judicial authority.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair public trial by a judge (juries are not used), the right of 
appeal, the right to legal representation, and, if a person is 
indigent, the right to an attorney provided by the state. Defendants 
are presumed innocent, have the right to confront their accusers, 
confront witnesses, access government evidence, and present evidence 
and witnesses on their own behalf. However, inadequate resources 
resulted in lengthy pretrial detention and greatly hindered 
investigations in criminal cases.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The same courts consider 
both criminal and civil cases, but different procedures are used in 
civil cases. Plaintiffs may bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or 
cessation of, a human rights violation as well as administrative and 
judicial remedies for alleged wrongs. Domestic court orders were 
strictly implemented.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights; however, journalists practiced self-censorship.
    Two government-run and seven independent newspapers and newsletters 
were sporadically published, usually on a monthly or biweekly basis; 
resource constraints determined publishing frequency. International 
media operated freely.
    The Government operated television and radio stations. In October 
2005 the Government authorized three new independent local radio 
stations, and two had begun broadcasting by year's end. The Voice of 
America, Radio International Portugal, and Radio France International 
were also rebroadcast locally. The law grants all opposition parties 
access to the state-run media, including a minimum of three minutes per 
month on television.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet, or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Severe lack of infrastructure, including inadequate electric and 
communications networks, limited public access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and 
the Government generally respected these rights.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
religious freedom, and the Government generally respected this right.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
discrimination against members of religious groups. There was no known 
Jewish community and no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile; however, there were no 
reports that the Government used it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not specifically provide for 
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has not established a system for providing 
protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. During the year there were no known requests for 
refugee or asylum status. In the past the Government cooperated with 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to 
peacefully change their government, and citizens exercised this right 
in practice through periodic and generally free and fair elections 
based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The March 26 legislative 
elections gave a plurality of seats in the National Assembly to a 
coalition of parties, the Democratic Movement of Forces for Change/
Party for Democratic Convergence (MDFM/PCD), supporting President De 
Menezes. The MDFM/PCD subsequently formed a government. President De 
Menezes was reelected on July 30, with 60 percent of the vote. 
International observers deemed both elections generally free and fair. 
On August 27, for the first time in over a decade, local elections were 
held; on the same date regional elections were held on Principe. The 
MDFM/PCD won control of five of the six districts in these elections; 
the principal opposition party, the Movement for the Liberation of Sao 
Tome and Principe (MLSTP/PSD) won one district; and a new party, Novo 
Rumo, won the presidency of the regional government on the island of 
Principe.
    After a 2003 failed military coup, President De Menezes signed a 
framework agreement with the perpetrators of the attempted coup, which 
included a pledge to establish a national consensus on the country's 
development priorities. The resulting plan of action recommended the 
conversion from political party-based to geographically-based 
representation in the National Assembly; improvement in living 
conditions of the army; land and agricultural reform; establishment of 
legal and regulatory measures to manage the country's potential oil 
wealth; and improvements in the education and health sectors. The 
Government enacted laws establishing measures to manage expected future 
oil revenues for the benefit of future generations; however, during the 
year there was no other action taken on the framework agreement.
    There were two women in the 55-seat National Assembly, four of the 
12 cabinet ministers were women, and the President of the three-member 
Supreme Court was a woman.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was 
widespread. In December 2005 the Attorney General presented to the 
National Assembly the results of his investigation into allegations of 
corruption in the awarding of oil blocks. The investigation had 
uncovered serious procedural deficiencies in the process, and raised 
questions about the actions of members of the current and former 
governments. Lack of cooperation from Nigerian authorities (whose 
government shares control of the oil blocks) impeded follow-up, and no 
further action was taken by year's end. Low salaries for civil servants 
contributed to public corruption (see Section 6.e.).
    There were no laws that provided for public access to government 
information; however, there were no reports that the Government 
restricted access to information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    In the past a small number of domestic human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. However, because of 
the general improvement in respect for human rights, during the year 
such groups were inactive. Government officials generally had been 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides for the equality of all citizens 
regardless of sex, race, social origin, political tendency, creed, or 
philosophic conviction; however, although the Government actively 
sought to enforce these provisions, women faced discrimination. During 
the year the Government created an Office of Women's Affairs and held 
seminars and workshops.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, and on occasion 
included rape. Although women have the right to legal recourse--
including against spouses--many were reluctant to bring legal action or 
were ignorant of their rights under the law. Tradition inhibited women 
from taking domestic disputes outside the family. The law does not 
address domestic violence as such. Penalties for assault depend on the 
severity of the injury; if the victim loses fewer than 10 days of work, 
the penalty would be six months in prison, while for 10 to 20 workdays 
lost the sentence would be one year, and so forth. The law is strictly 
enforced, including in cases of domestic violence, but there was no 
data on the number of prosecutions in cases of domestic violence. The 
newly-created Office of Women's Affairs began setting up a counseling 
center with a hot line.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by two to 
12 years' imprisonment. Rape occurs occasionally, and prosecution is 
most likely in cases where there is evidence of violent assault as well 
as rape, or if the victim is a minor. No statistics on prosecutions 
were available. Government family planning clinics and nongovernmental 
organizations sought to combat rape by raising awareness of the 
problem.
    Prostitution is illegal but did occur. Prostitution was rare in the 
past, but observers thought its prevalence was increasing with the 
growing number of foreign workers in the country.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem. 
No data was available on its extent.
    The constitution stipulates that women and men have equal 
political, economic, and social rights. While many women have access to 
opportunities in education, business, and government, women in general 
continued to encounter significant societal discrimination. Traditional 
beliefs left women with most child-rearing responsibilities and with 
less access to education or to entry into the professions; a high 
teenage pregnancy rate further reduced economic opportunities for 
women. An estimated 70 percent of households were headed by women.

    Children.--A number of government- and donor-funded programs 
operated to improve conditions for children, notably an ongoing malaria 
control project and a program for acquisition of school and medical 
equipment.
    By law, education was universal, compulsory through sixth grade, 
and tuition-free to the age of 15 or sixth grade. In practice many 
rural students stopped attending school after the fourth grade. Schools 
providing education up to sixth grade were located only in district 
capitals. Enrollment in primary school was estimated at 78 percent. 
However, average class time was severely curtailed due to lack of 
classrooms and double-shift and triple-shift (in 82 and 18 percent of 
schools, respectively) systems in primary education, with students 
effectively having only a few hours of class time per day. Students 
were responsible for buying books and uniforms, although the Government 
provided both free to children from poor families. Transportation and 
tuition costs prevented some poor or rural-based students from 
attending secondary school. There were no differences in the treatment 
of girls and boys in regard to education.
    Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided medical care.
    Mistreatment of children was not widespread; however, there were 
few protections for orphans and abandoned children.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    During the year the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity operated a 
social services program that collected street children in three centers 
where they attended classes and received training. Conditions at the 
centers were good; however, because of overcrowding some children were 
returned to their families at night, and a few of these children ran 
away.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or 
within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities; 
however, there were no reports of discrimination against such persons. 
The law does not mandate access to buildings, transportation, or 
services for persons with disabilities, and local organizations have 
criticized the Government for not implementing accessibility programs 
for such persons.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was societal 
discrimination against homosexuals.
    Persons with HIV/AIDS were often rejected by their communities and 
shunned by their families. However, the Government provided free AIDS 
testing and distributed antiretroviral drugs to some patients.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and workers generally exercised this right in 
practice. Only two unions existed in the very small formal wage sector: 
the General Union of Workers, and the National Organization of Workers 
of Sao Tome and Principe. Both represented government workers, who 
constituted the majority of formal sector wage earners, and members of 
farmers' cooperatives.
    There were no laws prohibiting antiunion discrimination; however, 
there were no reports such discrimination occurred.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 
constitution and law state that workers may organize and bargain 
collectively; however, due to its role as the principal employer in the 
formal wage sector, the Government remained the key interlocutor for 
organized labor on all matters, including wages. The constitution 
provides for the freedom to strike, including by government employees 
and other essential workers, although during the year no strikes 
occurred. There are no export processing zones.
    The law does not prohibit retaliation against strikers, but there 
were no reports of such actions during the year.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Employers in the formal wage sector generally respected the legally 
mandated minimum employment age of 18; however, child labor was a 
problem. The law prohibits minors from working more than seven hours a 
day and 35 hours a week. Children were engaged in labor in subsistence 
agriculture, on plantations, in informal commerce, and in domestic 
work. No cases of child labor abuses were prosecuted, although the law 
states that employers of underage workers can be fined.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum 
wage. The legal minimum wage for civil servants was $40 (500,000 
dobras) per month, which was insufficient to provide a decent standard 
of living for a worker and family. Working two or more jobs was common, 
and labor law specifies occupations in which civil servants may work if 
they pursue a second job. Civil servants in ``strategic sectors,'' such 
as the court system, the ministries of finance, customs, and education, 
and the Criminal Investigation Police, earned up to 400 percent more 
than other public sector employees.
    Working conditions on many of the cocoa plantations--the largest 
informal wage sector--were extremely harsh. The average salary for 
plantation workers did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family, and the real value of their pay was further eroded 
by a high rate of inflation.
    The legal workweek was 40 hours with 48 consecutive hours mandated 
for rest. Shopkeepers worked 48 hours a week. The law provides for 
compensation for overtime work. The law prescribes basic occupational 
health and safety standards; however, due to resource constraints, the 
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity's 
enforcement of these standards was not effective. Employees have the 
right to leave unsafe working conditions, but none sought to do so, and 
enforcement of the right was hypothetical.

                               __________

                                SENEGAL

    Senegal, with an estimated population of 11.9 million, is a 
moderately decentralized republic dominated by a strong presidency. In 
2000 Abdoulaye Wade, backed by a coalition of opposition parties, 
became President in an election generally viewed as free and fair. The 
National Assembly was elected in 2001 in a free and transparent 
election. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected citizens' rights; however, there 
were problems in some areas. Detention and imprisonment of political 
opposition figures occurred. Cruel and degrading treatment of detainees 
and prisoners and overcrowded prisons were problems. Questionable 
investigative detention and prolonged pretrial detention existed. 
Corruption and impunity were problems. There were limits on freedom of 
speech and of the press and restrictions on freedom of assembly. 
Domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and discrimination against 
women were serious problems. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was 
widespread. Child abuse, child marriage, infanticide, trafficking in 
persons, and child labor were reported.
    There were also reports that rebels from the Movement of Democratic 
Forces of the Casamance (MFDC) and splinter groups, including the 
Movement for the Liberation of the People of the Casamance (MLPC) and 
the Revolutionary Front for Social Equilibrium in Senegal (FPRES), 
killed two government officials and at least seven civilians, committed 
robberies, laid new landmines, and harassed local populations.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Neither the 
Government nor its agents committed any politically motivated killings; 
however, security forces killed one person during the year. In 
September the media reported that police unlawfully killed a merchant 
in Dakar. Police argued they were acting in self-defense against a 
person in the process of committing a criminal offense. The Criminal 
Investigations Division (DIC) opened an inquiry; there were no 
sanctions or prosecutions by year's end.
    The Government generally did not prosecute unlawful killings by law 
enforcement during the year.
    In March 2005 customs officers shot and killed Libasse Kane in an 
incident involving the arrest of sugar smugglers in the city of Mbour. 
Local police arrested four customs officers; they were granted 
conditional release pending completion of the investigation. There were 
no developments in the case by year's end.
    In April 2005 Amadou Moctar Beye was found dead in his jail cell in 
Dakar. Gendarmes indicated that Beye committed suicide, but the 
victim's family rejected this version. There were no developments in 
the case by year's end.
    In April 2005 gendarmes accidentally killed 13-year-old Assane Fall 
and injured Mamadou Fall, while pursuing a suspected drug trafficker in 
Mbour. An investigation was ongoing but there were no new developments 
in the case by year's end.
    In June 2005 gendarmes fired on and killed a fisherman and injured 
several others, including a 10-year-old child, in Kayar. This incident 
occurred as the gendarmes intervened to end fighting between two 
communities of fishermen. There were no new developments in the case at 
year's end.
    According to statistics from Handicap International (HI), there 
were slightly more landmine accidents in the Casamance than in the 
previous year. By May 19, there were seven reported injuries and two 
deaths. On September 1, an International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) official was killed when her car hit a landmine north of 
Ziguinchor. Two other ICRC officials suffered minor wounds in the 
incident. The Government did not conduct any anti-landmine campaigns, 
but made efforts to remove landmines and unexploded ordinance in some 
areas, especially near villages to be resettled and near main roads.
    Despite a December 2004 government and rebel-signed ceasefire, 
violence in Casamance increased during the year, particularly near the 
borders with The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. In mid-March three rival 
factions of the MFDC, two of which were supported by troops from 
Guinea-Bissau, began attacks against each other. The attacks drove 
approximately 6,000 people to cross the border into the country in 
search of refuge, and displaced others (see Section 2.d.). The troops 
from Guinea-Bissau ultimately returned to their barracks, and there was 
a lull in the conflict. However, fighting re-erupted on the Senegalese 
side of the border in August, when government troops moved into the 
area thought to be occupied by radical MFDC and MLPC rebels. 
Approximately 6,000 persons fled to The Gambia and other parts of the 
Casamance.
    On January 2, MFDC rebels killed the sub-prefect of Diouloulou near 
Bignona. On August 28, newspapers reported that the alleged mastermind 
behind the death, Bertrand Sane, was arrested in The Gambia. A human 
rights NGO stated that Sane was later seen in the Casamance during the 
year; however, there were no confirmed developments in this case by 
year's end.
    Rebel activity and armed banditry continued in the Casamance and 
resulted in seven civilian deaths. Rebels and robbers wounded 36 
civilians during the year.
    On April 19, a group of MFDC rebels robbed and killed three persons 
while hijacking a vehicle in Sedhiou. On December 4, bandits killed one 
person in attacks near Ziguinchor.
    On December 20, MFDC rebels ambushed an army vehicle near the 
village of Kagnaru and killed two soldiers.
    On December 30, armed men kidnapped and executed Mr. Oumar Lamine 
Badji, President of the Regional Council of Ziguinchor. The 
perpetrators had not been positively identified by year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year.
    Although human rights groups noted the Government took steps to 
prevent disappearances, they continued to criticize the Government for 
its unwillingness to resolve older cases of disappearances linked to 
government security forces, particularly in the Casamance.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were occasional reports that government officials employed them.
    Although human rights groups noted fewer examples of physical abuse 
committed by security forces, they claimed poor training and 
supervision led to cruel and degrading treatment in prisons and 
detention facilities. In particular they criticized strip-search and 
interrogation methods. The police DIC often required suspects to wait 
six hours or more before actually questioning them and may hold people 
up to 24 hours before releasing them. Police also reportedly forced 
detainees to sleep on the floor without any bedding, directed bright 
lights at their pupils, beat them with batons, and kept them in cells 
with minimal access to air. During the year authorities took no action 
against the police involved in these abuses.
    Human rights organizations urged the Government to incorporate into 
domestic law the provisions of the international convention against 
torture, to which the country is a signatory.
    On June 5, three gendarmes raped the wife of a soldier at a small 
barracks in Sabodala; they were immediately remanded to Dakar by the 
prosecutor and placed in detention pending investigation. On August 25, 
the gendarmes received sentences of two years in prison.
    On September 7, Ousmane Tamoura, a soldier accused of raping a 
nine-year-old girl, was released after the judge determined ``there was 
doubt'' in the case. The prosecutor had asked for the soldier's release 
based on a doctor's statement that the victim was not a virgin and that 
she had not cried out during the rape.
    On September 25, gendarmes in Dakar's Ouakam district detained 
Bineta Gueye following a protest against the mayor. She alleged that 
during her detention the gendarmes pulled her out of bed, stripped her, 
and then hit her with clubs and the butts of rifles. On September 27, 
she was released and immediately sought emergency care. The gendarmes 
conducted an internal investigation, but the case was still pending at 
year's end.
    Forced dispersals of demonstrators by police resulted in injuries 
(see Section 2.b.).
    According to local NGOs, three security force volunteers, who were 
stripped and burned with acid in November 2005 at a military camp in 
Thiaroye, accepted an out-of-court settlement instead of pressing 
charges during the year.
    On August 23, approximately a dozen armed rebels ambushed vehicles 
near Velingara, stealing $20,000 (10 million CFAF) and wounding three 
motorists. On September 7, approximately 15 rebels robbed stores and 
civilians in Bignona. On December 3, rebels wounded two civilians in a 
series of armed robberies near Ziguinchor.
    On December 20, MFDC rebels ambushed an army vehicle near the 
village of Kagnaru; 14 soldiers were injured in the incident.
    According to statistics from HI, landmine accidents in the 
Casamance increased during the year, resulting in deaths and injuries 
(see Section 1.a.).
    There was at least one reported incident of mob violence. On May 
27, a mentally ill man killed his parents and two neighbors. Young 
villagers subsequently stoned him to death.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention 
center conditions were poor. The National Organization for Human Rights 
(ONDH), a local human rights NGO, identified overcrowding as the major 
problem facing the country's prisons. At Dakar's Central Prison, which 
has a maximum capacity of 500 persons, approximately 1,500 were 
detained. At the penal camp in Dakar, approximately 800 individuals 
were held in a facility with a 400-person capacity. In Diourbel 
detainees were held outside in a former horse stable, sometimes up to 
48 hours at a time.
    The Government has not constructed a new prison since 1960. Some 
facilities were buildings that were adapted and modified to be prisons. 
Due to an old and overburdened infrastructure, prisons had drainage 
problems during the rainy season and stifling heat during the summer. 
Prisons lacked doctors and medicine to provide care for sick inmates, 
forcing them to be evacuated for treatment. One NGO reported a national 
ratio of one doctor per 5,000 inmates and said the Government spent 
only $.66 (350 CFAF) daily per inmate to cover all costs. There was 
approximately one mattress for every five detainees.
    On September 9, 52 prisoners escaped from the Thies prison; only 
three guards were keeping watch over 668 inmates at the time of the 
escape. Three of the escapees had been rearrested by year's end. 
Following this incident, the minister of justice announced that the 
Government would recruit 200 guards to improve security in prisons. No 
recruitment was made by year's end.
    There were no reported deaths in prison or detention centers during 
the year.
    Local NGOs reported that prisoner separation regulations were not 
enforced consistently. Although the law requires pretrial detainees to 
be held separately from convicted prisoners, they were occasionally 
held together due to limited space. Juveniles were occasionally held 
together with adults. Women were held separately from men under the 
supervision of female prison guards.
    The Government permits certain prison visits by independent human 
rights monitors. During the year ONDH completed its fact-finding review 
of prison conditions with the Government's consent and assistance; 
however, the ONDH findings were not published by year's end.
    As in the previous year, representatives of the Assembly for the 
Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO) were denied access to prisoners. 
RADDHO reported that the lack of adequate health care facilities meant 
that some people with mental disorders were being kept in prisons.
    The Senegalese Committee for Human Rights, Amnesty International 
(AI), and the Parliamentary Network for Human Rights conducted prison 
visits during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, authorities at times 
arbitrarily arrested and detained persons. Human rights groups saw 
arbitrary detention as a growing problem.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Both police and 
gendarmes are responsible for maintaining law and order in the country. 
The army shares that responsibility in exceptional cases, such as a 
state of emergency. The police force includes 10 departments as part of 
the Directorate General of National Safety. In each of the country's 11 
regions, police have at least one police station and at least one 
mobile safety brigade. Dakar has more than 15 police stations, which 
are spread throughout the city. The police force effectively maintained 
law and order.
    Impunity and corruption were problems. A 2005 amnesty law covers 
police and security personnel involved in ``political crimes,'' except 
those who committed assassinations ``in cold blood.'' According to 
human rights groups, attorneys, and alleged victims, security forces 
regularly and openly extorted money from detainees in exchange for 
release and from prostitutes to overlook noncompliance with the 
legalized prostitution regime and other laws (see Section 5). Human 
rights groups and the media also reported that security forces accepted 
and occasionally demanded money from persons seeking to emigrate 
illegally to Spain (see Section 5).
    The DIC is in charge of investigating police abuses.
    According to human rights groups, new members of the police force 
received training in human rights protection.
    In May a court ruled that Port of Dakar customs officers were not 
guilty in the 2004 case in which they were accused of fraudulent and 
corrupt practices in clearing incoming goods.

    Arrest and Detention.--Although the law specifies that warrants 
issued by judges are required for arrests, police often lacked warrants 
when detaining individuals in practice. The law grants police broad 
powers to detain prisoners for lengthy periods of time before filing 
formal charges. Many detainees were not promptly informed of the 
charges against them. Police officers may hold suspects as part of an 
investigation without filing formal charges for up to 48 hours. 
Investigators can request that a prosecutor double this to 96 hours. 
For cases involving threats to state security, both detention periods 
are doubled, meaning that someone accused of threatening public order 
could be held up to 192 hours. The clock on investigative detention 
does not begin until authorities formally declare that an individual is 
being detained, a practice human rights groups criticized for creating 
unreasonably long detention periods. Bail is possible but was rarely 
used. During the first 48 hours of detention, the accused has no access 
to an attorney but has the right to a medical exam and possible access 
to family. Family access was not generally allowed as police tended to 
isolate detainees during the investigation phase. If necessary, a 
prosecutor can also demand a medical examination of the accused. The 
accused has the right to an attorney after this initial period of 
detention at the accused's expense. Attorneys are provided at public 
expense to all criminal defendants when they cannot afford one. A 
number of NGOs also provided legal assistance or counseling to those 
charged with crimes.
    The Government used security forces, especially the DIC, to harass 
political opponents and journalists during the year. Authorities also 
interrogated and arbitrarily arrested a number of prominent opposition 
party leaders including Amath Dansokho, Ibrahima Sene, Jean-Paul Dias, 
and Berthelemy Dias.
    On March 24, Secretary General Amath Dansokho of the Independent 
Labor Party, was given orders to appear at the DIC to answer questions 
about a March 22 press conference (see Section 6.a.); he was 
interrogated for six hours. Dansokho was then charged with 
dissemination of false information, and given a two-month suspended 
sentence.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested labor leaders during the year 
(see Section 6.a.).
    According to the law, the accused may not be held in pretrial 
detention for more than six months for minor crimes; however, prisoners 
were routinely held in custody until a court demanded their release. 
Despite the six-month limit on detention for most crimes, the average 
time between charging and trial was two years. ONDH claimed many 
detainees were held for years awaiting trial.
    Judicial backlogs of up to 400 cases contributed to long pretrial 
detention periods. In cases involving murder, threats to state 
security, and embezzlement of public funds, there are no limits on the 
length of pretrial detention. Judges are allowed the time necessary to 
investigate these more serious cases, but may order release pending 
trial with the prosecutor's consent. If a prosecutor disagrees with a 
judge's decision to order release, the order is frozen until the 
appeals court decides to grant or deny the release. Under the law, the 
prosecutor has total discretion to deny provisional release pending 
trial for cases involving threats to state security. However, since 
judges lacked sufficient time to review all cases, orders to extend 
detention were often signed without individual consideration of the 
facts to avoid releasing potentially guilty detainees.

    Amnesty.--The International Human Rights Federation and AI 
continued to criticize the Ezzan Amnesty Law for encouraging impunity. 
The law pardons all politically motivated crimes committed between 
January 1, 1983 and December 31, 2004. Local human rights groups 
unanimously denounced the law and asked the African Human Rights 
Commission to intervene. In December the commission ruled that the case 
was not sufficiently documented to warrant a condemnation of the 
Government. The ruling indicated that victims could petition civil 
courts for reparations, and there was no evidence that such reparations 
were denied during the year.
    On February 7, former prime minister Idrissa Seck was granted 
provisional release to the August 2005 corruption case against him. He 
had been charged with embezzlement of public funds, being a threat to 
national security, and illegal correspondence.
    On March 2, Yankhoba Diattara received a Presidential pardon after 
serving only three months of a six-month sentence. He had been 
sentenced in December 2005 for compromising public security following 
his public radio announcement that led to violent protests in Thies.
    On September 16, Jean-Paul Dias received a pardon after serving one 
month of a one-year prison sentence. On November 22, Barthelemy Dias 
received a pardon after serving three months of a six-month sentence 
(see Section 1.e.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was subject to 
corruption and government influence.
    For example, on July 8 and 9, local media reported that Momar War 
Seck, a criminal defendant charged with breach of trust, obtained the 
help of Judge Aminata Mbaye to transfer $30,000 (15 million CFAF) to 
Bamba Niang, the public prosecutor handling Seck's case, and Niang's 
deputy. Niang reportedly asked the presiding judge, Malick Lamotte, and 
two assistant judges to render a favorable ruling. Judge Lamotte 
refused and revealed the story to the President of the regional 
tribunal of Dakar. The Ministry of Justice launched an investigation, 
but no one was formally charged with a crime. Judge Mbaye retired with 
full benefits, and Niang was removed from office. During the course of 
the investigation, the media uncovered recordings in which Judge Mbaye 
reportedly admitted that the court was prone to settlement of cases in 
this fashion.
    Magistrates continued to publicly criticize their working 
conditions, including overwhelming case loads, lack of equipment, and 
inadequate transportation. Magistrates also openly questioned the 
Government's commitment to protecting judicial independence. While the 
Superior Council for the Magistrate had responsibility over judicial 
assignments and promotions, several attorneys stated that the council 
did not meet regularly to take action on appointments, leaving the 
decisions to the executive branch. Even when the council met, 
magistrates stated the President could veto council decisions.
    Based on French civil law, the judiciary is composed of ordinary 
courts and several higher and special courts. There are three high 
courts with different jurisdictions: the Council of State (which has 
jurisdiction over administrative affairs); the Constitutional Council; 
and the Court of Final Appeal (which has jurisdiction over criminal and 
civil cases). A special criminal court, the ``Cour d'Assises,'' is 
attached to the Court of Final Appeal and meets once or twice a year 
for cases involving serious crimes such as murder. All of these courts 
remained understaffed during the year.
    The High Court of Justice is an exceptional court which presides 
over cases against senior government officials for acts committed in an 
official capacity. It is composed of eight national assembly deputies 
and one professional judge. Three-fifths of all deputies must vote to 
pass a resolution to permit prosecution of a head of state or minister. 
If a resolution is so passed, the high court can convene.
    The National Assembly elects the eight deputy members of the high 
court plus eight substitutes at the beginning of each session. The 
court then has the authority to convict and sentence or acquit. Many of 
the special courts, such as the high court of justice, were dormant 
during the year.
    While civil court judges are empowered to preside over civil and 
customary law cases, one option available is to turn disputes involving 
family matters over to religious judges, who act as advisors in such 
issues. Religious law has been incorporated into the country's laws 
(see Section 2.c.).
    There is a separate system of military courts for the armed forces 
and gendarmes. Military courts may try civilians only if they were 
involved with military personnel who violated military law.
    On January 24, the African Union (AU) rendered a decision against 
the Government's extradition of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre to 
a Belgian court to face charges of crimes against humanity. On July 2, 
the AU requested that the Government conduct a trial against Habre. On 
November 23, the minister of justice invoked a decree establishing a 
working group of senior judges, penitentiary managers, law professors, 
and ministry officials tasked with examining the ways and means to 
prosecute Habre. The committee started its work by year's end.

    Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a public trial, to 
be present in court, confront witnesses, present evidence, and have an 
attorney. Only defendants charged with serious crimes, such as murder, 
have the right to a jury trial. Attorneys are provided at public 
expense to all criminal defendants when they cannot afford one. 
Evidentiary hearings may be closed to the public and the press. 
Although defendant and counsel may introduce evidence before the 
investigating judge decides to refer a case for trial, they do not 
always have access to all evidence presented prior to trial. For 
example, in the case of Barthelemy Dias, the prosecutor introduced at 
trial a secret recording of which neither Dias nor his attorneys were 
aware.
    A panel of judges presides over ordinary courts in civil and 
criminal cases. Jurors also sit on the panels during special sessions 
of the criminal court. Defendants are presumed innocent. The right of 
appeal exists in all courts, except for the Cour d'Assises and the High 
Court of Justice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were several reports of 
political prisoners or detainees during the year.
    On April 14, DIC officials arrested opposition leader Jean-Paul 
Dias, questioned him for 10 hours, and charged him with ``threatening 
state security'' and ``disturbing public order.'' The charges were a 
result of his April 7 public statement in which he called for all 
opposition leaders to refuse to cooperate with the police during 
arbitrary interrogations. On May 10, Dias received provisional release, 
the equivalent of a pardon.
    On August 9, an elite police unit normally reserved for kidnappings 
and violent crimes forcefully entered the Dias' home, struck Dias' wife 
in the mouth, arrested Dias, and brought him to the DIC, where he was 
questioned for 24 hours, then placed in Rebeuss Prison. Dias, who was 
held in an airless cell with approximately 20 other prisoners, 
reportedly lost consciousness. RADDHO, a prominent local human rights 
organization, was refused access to check on his condition; after a few 
days, Dias was hospitalized. He was charged with dissemination of false 
news, making a death threat against the head of state, and contempt of 
court. During trial the Government publicly questioned Dias' 
nationality, and human rights organizations criticized this government 
action. On August 16, Dias received a one-year prison sentence with 
nine months suspended, but he was pardoned after one month.
    On August 12, the DIC summoned Jean-Paul Dias' son, Barthelemy 
Dias, and questioned him for 24 hours before placing him in detention 
with convicted prisoners. RADDHO sought access, but was refused. On 
August 14, Barthelemy Dias was formally charged with spreading false 
news, slander, and threats against a judicial official. On August 16, 
the police searched his home without a warrant and seized Barthelemy 
Dias' foreign passport and a weapons permit. On August 22, he received 
a six-month prison sentence. On November 22, he was pardoned and 
released.
    On November 21, one of Idrissa Seck's co-defendants, former 
Minister of Housing Salif Ba, was rearrested on corruption and 
embezzlement charges. He was cleared and released two weeks later.
    In December 2005 one of Seck's attorneys, Djibril Diallo, was 
arrested and charged as an accomplice on the ``illegal correspondence'' 
charge. The Government attempted to prosecute Diallo during the year, 
but abandoned the case due to pressure from the entire bar association.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens have access to 
courts for civil cases; however, corruption and lack of independence 
hampered judicial handling of these cases as with criminal cases. There 
was an increase in the filing of cases for libel and slander against 
journalists which some human rights organizations charged were used as 
a tool of repression (see Section 2.b.). At times prosecutors refused 
to prosecute security officials and violators often went unpunished.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; 
however, security forces entered and searched homes without warrants 
during the year.
    For example, on June 18, Dakar police chased fighting supporters of 
two rival athletes into a person's home and brutalized the occupants of 
the home. A police official denied these accusations, and no action was 
taken against the perpetrators during the year.
    On August 16, the DIC entered and searched the homes of Jean Paul 
Dias and Bartholemy Dias without a warrant.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government limited 
these rights in practice. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship.
    Unless they were high-profile politicians, individuals could 
generally criticize the Government publicly or privately without 
reprisal. However, journalists reported being both courted and 
threatened by politicians during the year for spreading messages 
against them or those affiliated with them.
    The public had four sources of news: print, radio, television, and, 
increasingly, the Internet. There were several dozen independent 
newspapers and three government-affiliated periodicals. Due in part to 
high adult illiteracy rates, radio was the most important medium of 
mass information and the main source of news. Approximately 70 radio 
frequencies have been assigned to community radio stations, public 
stations, and private commercial stations.
    Although an administrative law is in place to regulate radio 
frequency assignments, government officials and operators disagreed on 
its utility, and community radio operators criticized what they viewed 
as a lack of transparency in the allocation of frequencies. After the 
Ministry of Information receives a frequency request, officials decide 
whether to approve the request based on financial viability, station 
ownership information, and program content. If the ministry approves 
the request, the Agency for Regulation and Communication (ART) renders 
a technical judgment on the request based upon frequency strength and 
location. Once ART gives technical approval, the ministry grants the 
frequency.
    There was an increase in the number of persons starting radio 
stations, which were often controlled by a single religious, political, 
or ethnic group. Although their frequencies were legally obtained, 
these stations often failed to follow labor and other business 
regulations, such as the payment of taxes. In addition the Government 
effectively crowded out radio stations by reportedly granting licenses 
to approximately 50 stations sympathetic to the ruling Senegalese 
Democratic Party (PDS). This led to an increase of popular radio 
programs being interrupted by religious chants or other unexpected 
programming.
    Government failure to enforce regulations on establishing media 
outlets and government-provided media assistance resulted in a 
proliferation of unprofessional or politicized media outlets. 
Journalists and human rights groups maintained that some media outlets 
were created solely to refute anti-government criticism.
    Although the Government continued to maintain an effective monopoly 
on locally televised news and information through the parastatal 
corporation Radio Television Senegal (RTS), there were signs of 
liberalization in the television sector. The recently privatized 
television station 2STV only broadcasts cultural and entertainment 
programming, but French and South African-owned satellite television 
services offered international programming and international news. In 
July the local firm Canal Info obtained a broadcasting license, but its 
operations were still in the test phase at year's end. In December the 
local Wal Fadjri Communications Group began broadcasting via satellite 
from Paris in the absence of a license to broadcast locally.
    Under national media laws, the Government must hold a majority 
interest in RTS at all times, and the President directly or indirectly 
controlled selection of all members of the 12-person RTS executive 
staff. RTS' broadcasting fee structure left RTS officials with 
significant discretion when demanding fees for programs not financed 
through government funds (the Government paid for some broadcasts). 
Several human rights and journalist groups criticized the fact that 
some religious leaders were able to broadcast for free while other 
groups paid, and that RTS provided little coverage of opposition party 
messages and activities.
    Journalists continued to convey concern over government efforts to 
control media content by selectively granting or withholding state 
subsidies, which were given to both government-affiliated and private 
independent media. The Government frequently used subsidies or more 
direct means to pressure the media not to publicize certain issues. In 
June President Wade announced he would offer the press $600,000 to 
$800,000 (300 to 400 million CFAF) in subsidies; the Ministry of 
Information reportedly directed those subsidies to progovernment 
newspapers.
    On January 6, the Government dropped charges of jeopardizing 
national security against key managers of the Sud Communications Group 
for the October 2005 SUD FM broadcast and SUD Quotiedien publication of 
an interview with MFDC/MLPC faction leader Salif Sadio. Sadio was 
sentenced in absentia to five years in prison, and a warrant was issued 
for his arrest. He remained at large at year's end.
    On May 4, six followers of the well-known Koranic teacher Serigne 
Bethio Thioune beat journalist Pape Cheikh Fall after he questioned 
Thioune's political influence over his followers.
    On May 18, the Government dropped charges against Madiambal Diagne, 
publications director of the local daily Le Quotidien. Diagne was 
imprisoned in 2004 for ``release of secret correspondence and reports'' 
and ``dissemination of news tending to cause serious public 
disturbance.''
    Local media criticized the National Council for the Regulation of 
Audiovisual Media (CNRA), which was created in January to protect 
pluralism and ethics in the media, for not taking any action during the 
year. Critics charged that the CNRA constituted an effort to exercise 
Presidential control over the media since President Wade selects its 
members. The CNRA's members were not officially appointed until 
November, and the body had not received its budget by year's end.
    In May AI reported that the Government tried to prevent 
distribution of its annual human rights report. The Government 
discouraged bookstore managers from importing critical works published 
abroad. The Government reportedly delayed and tried to prevent the 
importation of a book on political violence in the country by 
journalist Marcel Mendy. Human rights activists indicated that similar 
pressure was exerted on local printers who feared that publication of 
works critical of the Government would lead to harassment by tax 
collectors.
    During the year the Government restricted the importation of 
critical books by Latif Coulibaly, Mamadou Seck, Mody Niang, and Pape 
Moussa Samb.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. With more 
than a dozen Internet Service Providers and an estimated 1.5 million 
subscribers, the country had excellent online access by regional 
standards. Cyber cafes were easily accessible in Dakar and often 
available in provincial urban centers. However, approximately 60 
percent of the country had no electricity, and the popularity of 
Internet-based information dissemination lagged far behind traditional 
media.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom.
    The Government restricted distribution of a film by Jo Gaye Rama Ka 
during the year.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of 
assembly, the Government interfered with this right in practice. During 
the year the Government repeatedly denied public permits for civil 
society and opposition demonstrations.
    Groups complained of undue delays when waiting for a government 
response to authorization requests and majority-organized ``counter 
demonstrations'' to show popular support for the Government. In 2005 
the Government authorized 62 percent of requests for demonstrations; in 
2006 the figure was 72 percent. Unauthorized demonstrations were always 
met with disproportionate police brutality.
    Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to control student protests 
on university campuses throughout the country. Several students were 
injured, including one whose arm had to be amputated. The Government 
accused the students of acting on behalf of opposition political 
parties and unspecified foreign powers.
    On March 30, Malick Ndiaye, a leading member of the Committee of 
Initiatives by Senegalese Intellectuals, Salif Djigo, and Secretary 
General Youssou Toure of the Organization of Senegalese Instructors, 
were arrested for attempting to organize a protest without a permit. 
The protest was intended to bring attention to frequent electricity 
outages; the Government had denied their permit request. All three men 
were released after 24 hours of detention.
    On September 7, police clubbed a group of disabled former 
servicemen who were protesting the Government's refusal to issue a 
permit to demonstrate. The former soldiers had defied the refusal by 
placing themselves in front of the responsible government office.
    There was no reported progress in the investigation of the 2004 
death of a demonstrator in Mampatim.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Any religious group seeking to form an association with legal 
status must register with the Ministry of Interior in accordance with 
the civil and commercial code. Registration was generally granted.
    Unlike other religious groups, Muslims have the right to choose 
Muslim-based laws contained in the family code for marriage and 
succession cases. Civil court judges can preside over civil and 
customary law cases, but many disputes were turned over to religious 
judges for adjudication, particularly in rural areas (see Section 
1.e.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no reported progress 
in the investigation into the 2004 death threats against the country's 
Catholic clergy.
    There were a series of anti-Semitic acts following the July-August 
conflict involving Israel and the terrorist group Hizballah. On August 
3, the Lebanese community staged one of several peaceful protests 
erecting a memorial of flags with reversed swastikas. The swastikas 
were taken down after formal protests were lodged by local embassies. 
The media gave ample voice to a range of anti-Semitic views in reaction 
to the Lebanese conflict.
    There were approximately 100 resident Jews in country.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. 
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not prevent its critics 
from leaving the country.
    Local leaders advised NGOs to consult with MFDC representatives in 
the Sindian region before undertaking projects or circulating in the 
area. Human rights organizations also reported that the army restricted 
movements of local people after 7 pm. This restriction was a result of 
the December attacks by MFDC members against the military (see Section 
1.a and 1.c.).
    Some public employees, including teachers, are required by law to 
obtain government approval before departing the country; however, human 
rights groups noted that this law was not enforced against many public 
servants.
    During the year authorities seized the passport of Barthelemy Dias 
(see Section 1.d.). During the year Idrissa Seck alleged that the 
Government refused to issue him new tourist and diplomatic passports.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not employ it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the 20-year-old 
Casamance conflict, tens of thousands of persons fled villages in the 
region due to fighting, forced removal, and landmines. In March renewed 
fighting between rival MFDC factions and Bissau-Guinean government 
soldiers resulted in approximately 6,000 persons of Senegalese and 
Bissau-Guinean origin entering the country from Guinea-Bissau. The 
total number of IDPs during the year was estimated to be 20,000.
    The Government continued to provide returning IDPs and refugees 
with roofing materials for home construction and sacks of rice. The 
Government allowed IDP access to domestic and international 
humanitarian organizations.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum.
    Since 1989 the country has offered temporary protection for 
Mauritanian refugees, who generally lived in dispersed locations in the 
river valley along the Mauritanian border and enjoyed free movement 
within the country. However, most refugees could not obtain current 
refugee documents from authorities, and sometimes encountered 
administrative difficulties when using their expired refugee 
application receipts. While no formal repatriation agreement existed 
with Mauritania, the Government continued to permit generally 
unsupervised and largely informal repatriation. The exact number of 
remaining Mauritanian refugees was unknown due to the transient 
tendency of this population, the absence of identification documents, 
and cases of fraud. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 
NGOs working with Mauritanian refugees estimated the number of refugees 
to be approximately 20,000.
    There was no further government response to the Mauritanian refugee 
community's February 2005 memorandum detailing their situation since 
deportation. Mauritanian refugees had sought a UNHCR-organized return 
to Mauritania and receipt of UNHCR-provided refugee identification 
documents. During the year representatives of the UNHCR office in Dakar 
continued to work on a solution agreeable to all parties, and some 
exiles and refugees have reportedly returned to Mauritania since the 
August coup in that country.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. However, delays 
of one to two years in granting refugee status were still a concern.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens generally exercised this 
right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on 
the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens exercised their 
right to vote during the 2000 Presidential election in which Abdoulaye 
Wade, backed by a coalition of opposition parties, defeated the 
incumbent President in what was considered to be a generally free and 
fair election. There were reports of several incidents of pre-election 
violence and minor procedural irregularities; however, the majority of 
political parties and civil society accepted the result. In the 2001 
legislative elections, characterized as generally free and transparent 
by international and national observers, President Wade's coalition won 
49.6 percent of the vote and 89 of 120 seats in the National Assembly.
    A lack of resources continued to restrict the activities of the 
Autonomous National Electoral Committee (CENA), whose members were 
sworn in in August 2005. The Government did not release any funds or 
vehicles until CENA made a number of public statements to the media 
about its resource constraints. On January 3, the Ministry of the 
Interior announced that it had permitted CENA to use some of its 
vehicles. In March CENA received 10 vehicles out of a total of 52 
promised by the Government. The Government finally provided a total of 
55 vehicles to cover all administrative departments of the country and 
a budget of about $four million (two billion CFAF).
    Opposition parties have criticized CENA's perceived lack of 
response to alleged irregularities in registering voters during the 
year. The opposition claimed some members within the PDS were purposely 
withholding voter registration cards and insisted that CENA was doing 
little to address the problem.
    Several electoral reforms occurred during the year. In November, a 
Presidential decree increased the number of National Assembly seats 
from 120 to 150. Opposition parties filed a court case accusing the 
Government of violating the law on the distribution of deputies elected 
by constituency based on a demographic criterion. The Council of State 
had not rendered a decision on the case by year's end. Also in November 
the assembly adopted a law making it possible for candidates to win in 
the first round of Presidential elections. Although the voting age is 
18, a law passed on June 30 allows the Government to register those 
under 18 who would reach that age by election day. Also on June 30, the 
parliament passed a law allowing security forces to vote in 
Presidential and legislative elections. Opposition parties questioned 
how the security forces' ballots could be safeguarded since they would 
vote one week before election day. In addition many potential 
candidates protested after an August 28 decree increased the required 
deposit to run in the Presidential elections from $12,000 to $50,000 
(six million to 25 million CFAF).
    There were numerous problems during the year that affected 
preparations for the February 2007 elections. On January 19, the 
Constitutional Council ruled it was incompetent to rule on the legality 
of the 2005 constitutional amendment which extended the parliament's 
term and allowed the legislative and Presidential elections to be held 
simultaneously in 2007.
    President Wade made several notable changes to voter registration 
procedures which human rights groups and opposition parties criticized 
as attempts to secure victory by making the rules less clear. For 
example, the President extended the deadline for registration four 
times, with the last deadline set for September 15.
    In late November the Government revised the electoral code 
governing registration and electoral procedures to bring it into 
compliance with current practice.
    Many voters had not received their voter registration cards by 
year's end. Although expected as part of the national voter 
registration campaign, the Government did not set up 500 fixed and 200 
mobile voter registration offices throughout the country, and did not 
provide electrical generators in areas with power supply problems.
    There were approximately 100 registered political parties, 
according to official government sources.
    At year's end there were 24 women in the 120-seat National Assembly 
and six women in the 43-member cabinet. Only 13 percent of locally 
elected leaders were women. Even in areas where women won local 
leadership positions, they often remained a minority in the local 
bureaucracy. For example, Rufisque-East had a female mayor, but only 27 
percent of municipal counselors were women.
    There were approximately 39 members of minorities in the 120-seat 
National Assembly and approximately 15 members in the 43-member 
cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception of government corruption, and it was a problem. The 
perception was exacerbated by salary increases over the last few years 
for National Assembly deputies and civil servants at all levels, along 
with the provision of all-terrain vehicles and land to deputies.
    In November 2005 the National Commission to Fight Non-Transparency, 
Corruption, and government Fraud officially began its activities. On 
July 7, the commission announced it was seeking authority to open 
investigations on its own without waiting for cases to be referred to 
it. It also announced it was investigating approximately five cases. 
The commission held one hearing during the year regarding an alleged 
case of public works corruption. Since the commission had no authority 
to initiate investigations or prosecutions, it was inefficient in 
fighting corruption during the year.
    On June 29, Pape Malick Ndiaye, who claimed to be a member of the 
Committee for Good Governance against Corruption, accused the Secretary 
General at the Presidency and Executive Secretary of the National 
Agency for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (ANOCI), 
Abdoulaye Balde, of having taken a kick back in connection with public 
works undertaken by ANOCI for the upcoming World Islamic Conference. On 
June 29, Ndiaye was arrested after admitting he did not have the 
evidence he claimed against Balde. Ndiaye was charged with libel and 
fraud of documents; his case was pending at year's end.
    During the year President Wade called for the reinvestigation of a 
case of mismanagement involving former prime minister and Minister of 
Foreign Affairs Mustapha Niasse. In 2002 Niasse was accused of selling 
diplomatic passports to businessmen and others from the Republic of 
China. There was no investigation or prosecution of Niasse by year's 
end.
    President Wade also threatened to reopen the case of Ousmane Tanor 
Dieng, head of the Socialist Party (PS) and cabinet director for former 
President Abdou Diouf. Dieng was allegedly involved in secretly selling 
fishing licenses to Russian ship owners to replenish PS political 
coffers. On July 11, Dieng denied the allegations indicating that 
proceeds were used by the incumbent President to replenish secret state 
funds. No further action was taken to prosecute Dieng by year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 corruption investigation of 
Pather Ndiaye, former Port of Dakar director general. Many alleged 
corruption cases involving political or judicial authorities were not 
pursued by prosecutors during the year.
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to access 
government information freely; however, the Government rarely provided 
access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. However, some 
human rights organizations reported that their telephones were 
regularly tapped during the year.
    The Government's National Committee on Human Rights had a broad 
membership, including government representatives, civil society groups, 
and independent human rights organizations. The committee, which 
receives its budget from the Government, had the authority to 
investigate abuses on its own initiative; however, the committee was 
poorly funded and ineffective in promoting human rights. It did not 
release a report during the year.
    Some members of human rights organizations, opposition parties, and 
others critical of the Government reported receiving death threats 
during the year. For example, on August 30, Jacques Habib Sy, executive 
secretary of the NGO Aid Transparency, reported to the DIC that he had 
received anonymous death threats two days earlier. No arrests were 
made. Death threats against leaders of opposition political parties, 
unions, journalists, and NGOs were common and generally believed to 
originate in circles close to the ruling party.
    Members of the Parliamentary Network on Human Rights and the Rule 
of Law visited prisons. The ONDH, the local branch of AI, and the 
Senegalese Committee on Human Rights also organized prison visits 
during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law provides that men and women are equal under the law and 
prohibits discrimination based on gender, race, class, or language; 
however, gender discrimination was widespread in practice, and 
antidiscrimination laws often were not enforced. Domestic violence, 
rape, sexual harassment, discrimination against women, FGM, child 
abuse, child marriage, and trafficking in persons were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a 
widespread problem. Several women's groups and the local NGO Committee 
to Combat Violence against Women (CLVF) reported a rise in cases of 
violence against women during the year. Violence against women is 
against the law, but the Government did not enforce the law in 
practice. The law criminalizes assaults and provides for a punishment 
of one to five years in prison and a fine. If the victim is a woman, 
the prison term and fine are both increased. Domestic violence that 
causes lasting injuries is punishable with a prison sentence of 10 to 
20 years, and if an act of domestic violence causes death, the law 
prescribes life imprisonment. There were increasing reports of violence 
between co-wives in polygamous marriages.
    Police usually did not intervene in domestic disputes, and most 
persons were reluctant to go outside the family for redress. Some 
groups felt that the harsh sentences under the law caused judges to 
require higher burdens of proof before finding potential offenders 
guilty, resulting in fewer total convictions for domestic violence. The 
CLVF criticized the failure of some judges to apply the law. There were 
no statistics available on the number of abusers prosecuted under the 
law during the year.
    Throughout the year women in several cities held rallies and 
marches to protest violence against women. For example, hundreds of 
women took to the streets in Ziguinchor to protest the August 25 
beating of Henriette Tine by her husband, a repeat offender. Tine's 
husband was charged and the case was pending at year's end.
    Also in August an influential Arabic teacher in Mbour severely beat 
his brother's pregnant wife in a succession dispute. After two weeks in 
prison, he was prosecuted and sentenced to pay a fine of $40 (20,000 
CFAF).
    While local NGOs that assisted domestic violence victims and other 
women's rights groups viewed the antiviolence laws as important, they 
criticized the Government's failure to permit associations to bring 
suit on behalf of victims. The Ministry of Women, Family, Social 
Development, and Women's Entrepreneurship worked with several NGOs in 
an attempt to curb domestic violence. In May the city of Tambacounda 
inaugurated a program to fight violence against women; however, the 
Government did not provide funding for the program during the year.
    Rape, including spousal rape, was a problem. The law prohibits 
rape, but not spousal rape; however, the Government rarely enforced the 
law. Sentences for rape range from 5 to 10 years' imprisonment, and 
rapes resulting in death qualify for life imprisonment. It was nearly 
impossible for victims to provide judges with sufficient proof to merit 
convictions. There was no government system to collect statistics on 
the extent of rape or convictions. A women's rights NGO criticized the 
country's lack of rape shield laws and the common practice of using a 
woman's sexual history to defend men accused of rape.
    On April 13, two shepherds in Gogaguene raped a mute and deaf woman 
in the bush as she was collecting fire wood. Gendarmes arrested the two 
men; no further action was taken by year's end.
    On June 5, three gendarmes were accused of raping the wife of a 
soldier. Despite witnesses testifying to having heard screams from the 
room where the rape occurred, the three defendants--El Hadji Amadou 
Sagne, Boubacar Mballo, and Auguste Dema--claimed their sex with the 
woman was consensual. Although the normal punishment for rape is 
between five and 10 years in prison, the prosecutor sought and the 
defendants received only two years. The gendarmes' superiors also 
reportedly pressured the tribunal to keep the affair quiet.
    In October 2005 a young man was arrested for attempted rape of a 
married woman; his case was ongoing at year's end.
    Due to social pressures and fear of embarrassment, incest remained 
taboo and often went unreported and unpunished. As with many of the 
difficulties facing women, the problem of incest was compounded by lack 
of public support and shelters to protect and assist vulnerable women, 
including unwed mothers and victims of domestic violence. As a result, 
many were unable to flee or remove their children from abusive family 
members (see Section 5, children).
    The NGO Tostan estimated FGM was practiced in thousands of villages 
throughout the country. In June 2004 the minister of family claimed 
that almost all women in the country's northern Fouta region were FGM 
victims, as were 60 to 70 percent of women in the south and southeast. 
Sealing, one of the most extreme and dangerous forms of FGM, was 
sometimes practiced by the Toucouleur, Mandinka, Soninke, and Bambara 
ethnicities, particularly in rural areas. Some girls were as young as 
one-year-old when FGM was performed on them.
    FGM is a criminal offense under the law, carrying a sentence of six 
months' to five years' imprisonment for those directly practicing FGM, 
or ordering it to be carried out on a third person. The Government 
prosecuted those caught engaging in the practice and fought to end FGM 
by collaborating with Tostan and other groups to educate people about 
the inherent dangers. During the year 120 villages renounced the use of 
FGM. According to the Ministry of Women, Family, Social Development, 
and Women's Entrepreneurship, 1,679 out of an estimated 5,000 
communities have formally abandoned the practice. Nevertheless, many 
people still practiced FGM openly and with impunity.
    Prostitution is legal if individuals meet certain criteria: they 
must be at least 21 years of age, register with the police, carry a 
valid sanitary card, and test negative for sexually transmitted 
infections (STIs). Pimping and soliciting customers are illegal.
    There were arrests of foreign illegal prostitutes, underage 
prostitutes, and pimps during the year. Evidence suggested foreign 
prostitutes' entry to the country was organized: groups of women often 
crossed the border together; foreign prostitutes usually lived 
together; they had a predetermined destination upon arrival; and many 
foreign women came to the country but did not stay indefinitely, 
suggesting their departures were better organized and professional.
    NGOs working with prostitutes claimed the problem was worse than 
official statistics on prostitution suggested, and that police targeted 
prostitutes for abuse and extortion.
    On May 9, police shut down a prostitution ring operating from a 
fast-food restaurant in Dakar and soliciting customers on the Internet.
    Trafficking of adult women for sexual exploitation was a problem 
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was common although prohibited by law, which 
calls for prison terms of five months to three years imprisonment and 
fines of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000 CFAF). The Government did 
not effectively enforce the law, and women's rights groups claimed 
sexual harassment victims found it difficult, if not impossible, to 
present sufficient proof to justify prosecutions.
    Women faced pervasive discrimination, especially in rural areas 
where traditional customs--including polygyny--and rules of inheritance 
were strongest. Under national law, women have the right to choose when 
and whom they marry, but traditional practices restricted a woman's 
choice. The Family Code prohibits marriage for girls younger than 16 
years and men younger than 20 years. This law was not enforced in some 
communities where marriages were arranged. Under certain conditions, a 
judge may grant a special dispensation for marriage to a person below 
the age requirement. Women typically married young, usually by the age 
of 16 in rural areas (see Section 5, Children).
    According to the law, a woman's consent is required for a 
polygynous union, but once in a polygynous union, a woman need not be 
notified nor give prior approval for the man's subsequent marriage. A 
2004 study of marriage practices indicated that approximately 50 
percent of marriages were polygynous. Although protected under the law, 
marriage rights were not enforced because of socio-cultural pressures, 
judicial reluctance to enforce the law, and a lack of information on 
marriage laws.
    The Family Code's definition of paternal rights remains an obstacle 
to equality between men and women, as men are considered the head of 
household and women cannot take legal responsibility for their 
children. Women can only become the legal head of family when the 
father formally renounces his authority before the administration. This 
makes it particularly difficult for the 20 percent of families that are 
supported and led by women. The problems with the Family Code and 
traditional practices also made it difficult for women to purchase 
property. Due to the fact that men are legally considered the head of 
household, women paid higher taxes than men for the same salary (they 
were taxed as single individuals without children), and employers paid 
child allowances to men only.
    Only an estimated 20 percent of women had paid employment. Low 
education levels, lack of information, domestic responsibilities, lack 
of access to factors and means of production, and multiple pregnancies 
were cited as barriers to economic advancement for women. According to 
statistics from the National Center to Assist and Train Women, women 
represented 52 percent of the population, but were held liable for 90 
percent of domestic responsibilities and 85 percent of agricultural 
work. Approximately 22 percent of teachers and 14 percent of lawyers 
were women.
    Women's groups campaigned to have a larger percentage of places on 
the legislative electoral ballot devoted to women, to better reflect 
the female majority of the population. On December 8, President Wade 
asked the Prime Minister to make a declaration at the national assembly 
on the issue. The PDS placed 30 women on its legislative electoral list 
for 60 seats before year's end.
    Women's groups criticized discriminatory provisions in the law, a 
problem the Government has admitted. On June 9, President Wade signed a 
decree authorizing women to join the Customs Office. In August the 
Gendarmerie also started recruiting women. The gendarmerie recruited 50 
women, but the Customs Office had not implemented the decision by 
year's end.

    Children.--The Government was somewhat committed to children's 
rights and welfare. The Ministry of Women's Affairs, Family, Social 
Development, and Women's Entrepreneurship was responsible for promoting 
children's welfare and was assisted by the health, education, and labor 
ministries.
    During the year President Wade established more ``Places for the 
Little Ones'' throughout the country to serve as pre-kindergartens for 
children. He also encouraged increased school enrollment.
    The law provides for free education, and education is compulsory 
for children ages six to 16; however, many children did not attend 
school due to lack of resources or available facilities. Students must 
pay for their own books, uniforms, and other school supplies. Due to 
the efforts of the Government, NGOs, and international donors, primary 
school enrollment reached 82.5 percent during the year.
    The highest level of education attained by most children is 
elementary school. The middle school enrollment rate was 31.9 percent, 
and the secondary school enrollment rate was 10.9 percent. In the 2005	
06 academic year, more girls than boys were enrolled in elementary 
school for the first time ever.
    The Government took steps to provide religious education classes in 
the formal school system to provide an alternative to parents sending 
their children to Koranic schools, where trafficking in the form of 
forced begging often occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking). The 
Government also established a program to provide education and social 
services to 11,000 at-risk children.
    Although girls' attendance rates continued to climb, young girls 
still encountered greater difficulties in receiving an education. For 
example, when families could not afford for all of their children to 
attend school, parents tended to remove their daughters from school, 
rather than their sons. Only 23 percent of women over 15 years of age 
were literate, compared with 43 percent of men.
    Boys and girls generally have equal access to medical care. Medical 
care was more readily available to children in urban areas than to 
those in rural areas where many villages lacked health care facilities.
    Child abuse was common. One human rights organization noted that 
during the month of May, 16 cases of child abuse were reported, 
involving children between the ages of six and 16.
    Easily observable were the many poorly dressed, barefoot young 
boys, known as talibes, begging on street corners for food or money for 
their Koranic teachers, known as marabouts. Although physical abuse of 
the talibes was widely known and discussed, only three marabouts were 
arrested for such abuse during the year. In June one talibe between the 
age of 10 and 15 committed suicide after being severely beaten by his 
marabout for having escaped and returned to his family. Also in June 
one 14-year-old talibe and two accomplices were arrested for murdering 
his marabout. The case was under investigation at year's end.
    The law punishes sexual abuse of children with five to 10 years' 
imprisonment. If the offender is a family member, the punishment is 10 
years' imprisonment. Any offense against the decency of a child is 
punishable by imprisonment for two to five years and in some aggravated 
cases up to 10 years' imprisonment. Procuring a minor for prostitution 
is punishable by imprisonment for two to five years' imprisonment and a 
fine of between $575 (300,000 CFAF) and $7,600 (four million CFAF).
    There were periodic reports of child rape and pedophilia. On 
January 27, a four-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed. 
Police arrested a suspect shortly after the girl's body was discovered, 
but released him for insufficient evidence. There were no further 
developments by year's end.
    On June 6, a French national was arrested after being caught in the 
act of committing pedophilia on a 14-year-old boy. On June 16, Mamadou 
Lamine Cissokho was arrested for having molested four girls aged four 
and five. On June 29, Abdourahmane Sall was charged with the act of 
committing pedophilia on one of his 15-year-old talibes. Sall claimed 
he was possessed by evil spirits. A judge placed Sall's other talibes 
in a reeducation center. In July Boubacar Sama was arrested for raping 
a 15-year-old girl. On August 2, Modou Fall was arrested for the rape 
of a seven-year-old girl. On August 30, a 13-year-old girl reported 
that she was raped by the marabout who owned the house in which she and 
her mother lived; the marabout denied the accusation. All of these 
cases were pending at year's end.
    In September newspapers reported the story of S.M. Ndiaye, a 
teacher who raped and impregnated his 12-year-old student. Local people 
arrested him and took him to the Gendarmerie. Ndiaye was prosecuted and 
sentenced to seven years in prison.
    The press also reported rapes of handicapped persons. On May 16, a 
teacher complained to the police of Thiaroye about the rape of his mute 
and deaf 16-year-old daughter. He discovered the crime three months 
later when the girl appeared obviously pregnant. The police arrested 
the alleged perpetrator who was a co-tenant of the family. On May 17, 
gendarmes in Yeumbeul arrested two young men for raping a 15-year old 
mentally handicapped girl. A third perpetrator escaped arrest and was 
not apprehended by year's end. Both of these cases were pending at 
year's end.
    A women's rights NGO said that of all cases of violence committed 
against girls, paternal incest cases were the fastest growing type of 
violence. For example, in July a man with multiple wives and six 
children was arrested for having sexual relations with his daughter for 
five years. He admitted to the charges after his daughter reported him; 
the case was pending at year's end.
    Family ministry officials and women's rights groups considered 
child marriage a significant problem in parts of the country, 
particularly in rural areas. Girls, sometimes as young as nine-years-
old, were married to older men due to religious, economic, and cultural 
reasons. On July 7, the regional tribunal of Velingara sentenced a 12-
year-old girl to six months imprisonment and fined her $200 (100,000 
CFAF) for abandoning her marriage to her 34-year-old husband Adji Diao. 
The girl claimed that even though her husband was both physically and 
emotionally abusive, she stayed with him until her in-laws tried to 
force her into a relationship with his younger brother. After 12 days 
in prison she was released provisionally. With the help of several 
human rights NGOs, the verdict was overturned.
    Trafficking and commercial exploitation of children were problems 
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    Women's rights groups reported a growing incidence of infanticide, 
which was usually due to poverty or embarrassment. Many domestic 
workers or women from villages working in cities who found themselves 
pregnant without family ties sometimes killed their babies since they 
could not care for them. Others who were married to men working outside 
the country disposed of their infants out of shame or to hide the 
truth. In some cases, the families of the women shamed them into 
killing their own babies. Methods ranged from burying them alive, 
putting them in septic tanks, or simply abandoning them along the road.
    When the identity of the mother is discovered, the police arrest 
and prosecute her. For example, in July, the cour d'assises sentenced a 
woman to five years of hard labor for having abandoned her newborn 
daughter in an unsheltered and isolated area in 2002. In August a 
grandfather was arrested for having thrown his three-month-old 
granddaughter into a well because she was born out of wedlock. His case 
was pending at year's end.
    Many children were displaced due to the Casamance conflict and 
often lived with extended family members, neighbors, or in children's 
homes. The Government lacked adequate resources to effectively support 
these children. According to NGOs in the Casamance, displaced children 
suffered from the psychological effects of conflict, malnutrition, and 
poor health.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were 
trafficked to, within and from the country. Laws that prohibit pimping 
and kidnapping could be used in some trafficking cases. Under the law, 
those who recruit, transport, transfer, or harbor persons, whether by 
means of violence, fraud, abuse of authority, or otherwise for the 
purposes of sexual exploitation, labor, forced servitude, or slavery 
are subject to punishment of five to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine 
of $10,000 to $40,000 (five to 20 million CFAF). When the infraction 
involves torture, barbarism, the removal of human organs, or exposing 
the victim to a risk of death or injury, jail time ranges from 10 to 30 
years' imprisonment. The human rights commissioner and the family 
ministry were the Government coordinators on human trafficking issues.
    During the year the Government arrested, prosecuted, and convicted 
traffickers; however, reliable statistics on the extent of the 
trafficking problem were unavailable. However, studies have shown the 
extent of trafficking in and through the country to be significant, 
particularly with regard to child begging and illegal emigration. 
Talibes were trafficked from surrounding nations, including The Gambia, 
Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau, and internally to participate in 
exploitive begging for some Koranic schools. According to the UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the country had an estimated 100,000 talibe 
boys and 10,000 street children.
    Young girls were trafficked from villages in the Diourbel, Fatick, 
Kaolack, Thies, and Ziguinchor regions to urban centers for work as 
underage domestics. Young girls from both urban and rural areas were 
involved in prostitution, which NGOs claimed involved an adult pimp to 
facilitate commercial sex transactions or provide shelter.
    The country was believed to be a transit point for women en route 
to Europe for sexual purposes. ENDA Sante, a local NGO, treated illegal 
prostitutes for STIs through a mobile clinic program. According to ENDA 
Sante, many women from surrounding African countries practiced 
prostitution; however, there was no proof that these foreign 
prostitutes were trafficking victims (see Section 5, Women).
    The Government prosecuted victims for violating prostitution laws, 
such as not having the proper registration or medical documentation. 
The Government also prosecuted persons for what is referred to as 
escroqueries (swindling), when people lure others into immigration 
scams.
    Most government efforts to combat trafficking in persons were 
centered in the Ministry of Women, Family, Social Development, and 
Women's Entrepreneurship. The ministry operated the Ginddi Center, a 
children's center where child trafficking victims received nutritional, 
medical, and other assistance. The center has accommodated children 
from The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. The center also 
operated a toll-free child protection hot line that fielded many calls. 
With assistance from a foreign government, the police have established 
a trafficking-in-persons database. There were no government programs to 
protect or assist trafficked women.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced it. The law also mandates accessibility 
for persons with disabilities; however, there was a lack of 
infrastructure to assist them.
    The law reserves 15 percent of new civil service positions for 
persons with disabilities. The Government operated schools for children 
with disabilities, provided grants for persons with disabilities to 
receive vocational training, and managed regional centers for persons 
with disabilities where they received training and funding for 
establishing businesses.
    Despite these efforts, the leader of a women's association for 
persons with disabilities criticized the Government's failure to 
designate a ministry responsible for persons with disabilities. She 
also questioned the lack of attention paid to persons with disabilities 
in national poverty reduction strategies. Several programs, which 
appeared to be earmarked for persons with disabilities, offered 
services to other vulnerable populations, which effectively reduced 
resources for persons with disabilities. Due to a lack of special 
education training for teachers and facilities accessible to children 
with disabilities, only 30 percent of such children were enrolled in 
school.
    On July 14, the Government officially launched a five-year national 
program for community-based rehabilitation of handicapped persons, but 
the program did not produce any effective results by year's end.
    There were at least three reported rapes of two handicapped girls 
and one handicapped woman during the year (see Section 5, Women and 
Children).

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--While the country's many ethnic 
groups have coexisted relatively peacefully, some observers have cited 
interethnic tensions between Wolofs and southern ethnic groups as 
playing a significant role in the long-running Casamance rebellion that 
was characterized by grievous human rights abuses.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced 
widespread discrimination and social intolerance, but they were not 
generally targeted for violence and harassment. However, human rights 
organizations reported that in August a social worker faced public 
humiliation and harassment upon his return to the country from the 
First World OutGames. Homosexuality is not a criminal offense; however, 
societal discrimination against homosexuals was widespread.
    As a result of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, persons with HIV or 
AIDS were increasingly accepted in society.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--By law, all workers, except security 
forces, including police and gendarmes, customs officers and judges, 
are free to form and join unions, and workers exercised this right in 
practice. The labor code requires the interior minister to give prior 
authorization before a trade union can exist legally. The Government 
can also dissolve trade unions by administrative order, but did not do 
so during the year. The labor code does not apply to the majority of 
the workforce because most persons work in agriculture or the informal 
sector. Approximately 4 percent of the total workforce was employed in 
the private industrial sector, of which 40 to 50 percent belonged to 
unions. Antiunion discrimination is prohibited by law, and the law also 
provides protection for workers' right to strike.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested labor leaders during the year. 
For example, on March 22, labor leader Ibrahima Sene was arrested and 
charged with dissemination of false information related to a press 
conference in which he claimed $88 million (440 billion CFAF) had been 
removed from the country. On April 3, he was released and the charges 
were dropped for lack of evidence.
    On August 3, an intelligence agent infiltrated a meeting of 
teachers' unions which the Government had accused of being politically 
motivated. When he was discovered, the agent provoked an altercation 
and arrested one of the union leaders. A day later, the leader was 
freed and was never charged.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right to collective bargaining, and it was freely practiced everywhere 
but in private security companies. Collective bargaining agreements 
applied to approximately 44 percent of workers.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right; however, there were significant restrictions. The law also 
states that workplaces may not be occupied during a strike. Health, 
transportation, education, ad oil workers held strikes during the year. 
Unions representing members of the civil service must notify the 
Government of their intent to strike at least one month in advance; 
private sector unions must notify the Government three days in advance.
    In May President Wade announced he was giving $1.2 million (600 
million CFAF) to unions. It was unclear for what purpose the money 
would be used or what criteria would be applied to divide the funds 
among the unions. With the multitude of unions established it was 
difficult to set up criteria for supporting them, and the Government 
had difficulty identifying the most representative unions. The money 
was not disbursed during the year.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the one export processing zone.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports such practices occurred (see Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law bans the exploitation of child labor, and there are regulations on 
child labor that set the minimum working age, working hours, working 
conditions, and barred children from performing particularly dangerous 
jobs; however, child labor was a problem. Most child labor occurred in 
the country's informal economic sector where labor regulations were not 
enforced. Economic pressures and inadequate educational opportunities 
often pushed rural families to emphasize labor over education for their 
children.
    The minimum age for employment was 15; however, children under the 
age of 15 continued to work in traditional labor sectors, particularly 
in rural areas where there was no enforcement of child labor laws. 
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 23 percent of 
children ages six- to 17-years-old were engaged in child labor, 
including primarily agriculture, fishing, and hunting, but also mining, 
construction, transportation, domestic work, commerce, restaurant and 
hotel work, and manufacturing.
    Some religious instructors in Koranic schools brought young boys 
from rural villages to urban areas and held them under conditions of 
servitude, forcing them to beg on a daily basis in unsanitary and 
dangerous conditions under the threat of physical punishment (see 
Section 5).
    One particularly egregious area of child labor was in the mining 
and rock quarry sector. Child gold washers, mostly between the ages of 
10 and 14, worked approximately eight hours per day without training or 
protective equipment. Children worked long hours in rock quarries, 
crushing rock, and carrying heavy loads--also without protection. Both 
types of work resulted in serious accidents and long-term illness.
    The labor ministry and social security inspectors were in charge of 
investigating and initiating lawsuits in child labor cases. Inspectors 
can visit any institution during work hours to verify and investigate 
compliance with labor laws and can act on tips from trade unions or 
ordinary citizens. In practice inspectors did not initiate visits 
because of a lack of resources and relied on unions to report 
violators. Labor inspectors closely monitored and enforced minimum age 
rules within the small formal-wage sector, which included state-owned 
corporations, large private enterprises, and cooperatives. However, 
there were no available statistics on the number of violations found.
    In addition to efforts to fight human trafficking for exploitive 
labor purposes, the Government attempted to raise awareness about the 
dangers of child labor through seminars and other cooperative programs 
with local government officials, NGOs, and elements of civil society. 
The Government participated in an ILO program to end the worst forms of 
child labor. A three-year project, launched in September 2003, 
established a framework to combat child labor, including a coordinating 
unit within the Ministry of Labor. The Government also worked with 
UNICEF to prevent girls from entering prostitution. The Government 
cooperated with UNICEF in 10 programs to combat child begging and the 
exploitation of female children as household domestics. The Ministry of 
Women, Family, Social Development and Women's Entrepreneurship also 
worked with other ministries to combat the worst forms of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was 
$0.42 (209 CFAF) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor was responsible 
for enforcing minimum wages. Labor unions acted also as watchdogs and 
contributed to an effective implementation of minimum wage in the 
formal sector. The minimum wage is not respected in the informal 
sector, especially for domestic workers.
    Within the formal sector, the law mandates for most occupations a 
standard workweek of 40 to 48 hours with at least one 24-hour rest 
period, one month per year of annual leave, enrollment in government 
social security and retirement plans, safety standards, and other 
measures; however, enforcement was irregular. The law does not cover 
the informal sector. Premium pay for overtime was required in the 
formal sector.
    While there are legal regulations on workplace safety, they often 
were not enforced. There is no explicit legal protection for workers 
who file complaints about unsafe working conditions. Workers, including 
foreign or migrant workers, had the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their 
employment; however, it was seldom exercised due to high unemployment 
and a slow legal system. The Ministry of Labor, through the Labor 
Inspection Office, enforced labor standards. However, labor inspectors 
had very poor working conditions and lacked transportation to conduct 
their mission effectively.

                               __________

                               SEYCHELLES

    Seychelles is a multiparty republic of approximately 81,000 
citizens. In July President James Michel, who assumed power in 2004 
when former President France Albert Rene resigned, was elected in a 
process deemed credible and organized by international observers; 
however, there were complaints of unfair campaign practices. The 
President and the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) 
dominated the country through a pervasive system of political patronage 
and control over government jobs, contracts, and resources. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, the following human rights problems were reported: 
prolonged pretrial detention; an inefficient and politically influenced 
court system; restrictions on speech, press, and assembly; official 
corruption; violence against women and children; restrictions on labor 
rights; and discrimination against foreign workers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
government officials generally did not employ them. Police forcibly 
dispersed a demonstration, which resulted in injuries (see Section 
2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Detention centers included 
the Grand Police High Security Prison for violent inmates and the Long 
Island Prison for all other prisoners and those awaiting trial or 
sentencing. Long Island prison conditions remained austere, 
particularly for those on remand. Prison officials stated that staff 
shortages forced guards to limit prisoner time outside of their cells. 
In October the Long Island facility was relocated to the main island of 
Mahe. The new facility with a maximum capacity of 400, housed regular 
security prisoners, female prisoners, and those on pretrial. The prison 
population was 142, including 28 in pretrial detention and 11 women. 
The general, pretrial, and female populations were separated in 
different wings of the building. Juveniles were held in a separate 
facility.
    The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by local and international human rights groups and 
diplomats. No request for prison visits was made by the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The President has 
complete control over the security apparatus, which includes the 
national guard, army, Presidential protection unit, coast guard, and 
police. The police commissioner, who reports to the President, commands 
the unarmed police and the armed paramilitary Police Mobile Unit, which 
together have primary responsibility for internal security. When 
necessary, the police were assisted by the army on issues of internal 
security, as police resources were limited. The Special Support Unit 
(SSU), a division of the police force, is responsible for crowd and 
riot control. Corruption remained a problem. The Enquiry Board, a 
police complaint office, existed but was rarely used. In practice 
private attorneys filed complaints or published them in Regar, the 
opposition party newspaper.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide that 
persons arrested must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours, 
with allowances made for boat travel from distant islands; however, 
police did not always uphold this requirement. The constitution and law 
also provide for detention without charge for up to seven days if 
authorized by court order, and police generally respected this 
provision. Detainees have the right to legal counsel. Free counsel is 
not a legal right, but courts usually provided it to the indigent. 
Courts provided bail for most offenses. Although warrants are required 
by law, police made some arrests and detentions without a warrant.
    Police arrested a journalist in October (see Section 2.b.).
    Prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. Prisoners often waited 
more than two years for trial or sentencing due to the inefficiency of 
the judicial system. Approximately 20 percent of the prison population 
consisted of pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient 
and subject to executive influence. Both civil and criminal court cases 
regularly lasted years.
    The judicial system includes magistrates' courts (or small-claims 
court), the Supreme (or trial) Court, the constitution and law court, 
and the court of appeal. The constitution and law court convenes weekly 
or as necessary to consider constitution and law issues. The court of 
appeal convenes three times per year for two weeks in April, August, 
and October to consider appeals from the Supreme, constitutional and 
law courts.
    One Supreme Court judge, one appeals court judge, and two 
magistrate court judges were citizens of the country by birth. All 
others were either naturalized citizens or citizens of other 
Commonwealth countries. The bar association criticized the Government 
for not advertising domestically that judicial positions were 
available. Critics widely believed that some foreign justices bent to 
the will of the executive branch due to fear of deportation. The 
chairman of the Constitutional Appointments Authority (CAA) is also a 
lawyer who appears regularly in front of judges that the CAA appoints. 
Critics suggested that an October Supreme Court ruling in favor of the 
state, which led to the closure of the opposition newspaper, was not 
independent because the chairman of the CAA acted as the state's 
attorney.
    Several justices of the peace were responsible for small-claims 
cases, and there were allegations that many of the justices were 
appointed because of their affiliation with the SPPF.
    An 18-member, part-time family tribunal heard and decided all 
matters relating to the care, custody, access, and maintenance of 
children, except paternity cases, which remained under the courts. The 
Government empowered the family tribunal to offer protection orders to 
victims of family violence. Most members of the tribunal were not 
legally trained and were affiliated with the SPPF.

    Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a fair public 
trial, and trials were public in practice. The magistrates' court or 
the Supreme Court heard criminal cases, depending on the gravity of the 
offense. Cases involving murder or treason use juries. Defendants were 
considered innocent until proven guilty. Defendants have the right to 
be present at their trial, to confront witnesses, and to appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no institution 
set up to examine cases of human rights abuses. However, citizens have 
turned to the Ombudsman Office to investigate human rights abuses and 
to seek redress for other issues.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. 
However, there remained widespread suspicion of government monitoring 
of private communication without legal process.
    Reports continued that the Government barred members of the 
opposition from receiving postings in administrative positions in the 
education sector.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not 
respect these rights in practice. The law provides restrictions ``for 
protecting the reputation, rights, and freedoms of private lives of 
persons'' and ``in the interest of defense, public safety, public 
order, public morality, or public health.'' As a result, civil lawsuits 
could easily be filed to penalize journalists for alleged libel. 
Journalists practiced self-censorship.
    The only daily newspaper was the government-owned Nation, which 
adhered closely to the Government's position on policy issues and gave 
only limited attention to the opposition and news adverse to the 
Government. There were three weekly political party newspapers; Regar, 
The People, and le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly.
    The law allows the Minister of Information Technology to prohibit 
the broadcast of any material believed to be against the ``national 
interest'' or ``objectionable.'' The law also requires 
telecommunications companies to submit subscriber information to the 
Government.
    A libel suit against Regar, based on Regar's allegations that a 
government official was fishing in protected waters, resulted in a 
$64,000 (SR 350,000) judgment. In October Regar announced that it would 
be unable to pay to the settlement and suspended operations. An appeal 
to the lawsuit was pending. No suspects were charged in the December 
2005 arson at the Regar office which Reporters Without Borders 
condemned as ``politically motivated.''
    The Government continued to own the only television station and all 
radio stations. The law allows for independent radio and television, 
but the exorbitant licensing fee of approximately $146,000 (SR 800,000) 
per year discouraged the opening of any independent outlets. Following 
the July elections, the opposition Seychelles National Party (SNP) 
collected funds for the radio licensing fee and announced plans to 
apply for a license. The National Assembly subsequently passed an 
amendment to the Broadcasting and Telecommunication Act which prevents 
political parties and religious groups from obtaining radio licenses.
    On October 3, the SNP organized a demonstration to protest the 
passed amendment. The SSU forcibly dispersed the demonstrators. The 
opposition leader and the publisher of the Regar were hospitalized from 
their injuries. Subsequent to the event, the Regar editor was arrested 
and charged with unlawful assembly (see Section 2.b.). He was later 
released on bail. The President opened an independent inquiry into the 
actions of the SSU.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups engaged in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was widely available and used by citizens.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited 
academic freedom in that persons could not reach senior positions in 
the academic bureaucracy without demonstrating at least nominal loyalty 
to the SPPF. There were no universities, and secondary school teacher 
appointments were largely apolitical. The Government controlled faculty 
appointments to the Polytechnic, the most advanced learning 
institution.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and 
association; however, the Government did not always respect it. On 
October 3, the SSU forcibly dispersed a demonstration, resulting in the 
hospitalization of the SNP leader and the Regar publisher (see Section 
1.a.). Only the Regar editor was arrested and formally charged with 
unlawful assembly.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association; however, the Government did not always respect 
this right. There were complaints that government officials intimidated 
and harassed civil servants who participated in opposition political 
parties. One former minister who resigned from the ruling party came 
out in support for the opposition before the July elections. It is 
believed that the termination of his employment from a private company 
after the elections was influenced by the Government.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were fewer than 10 
individuals in the Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. 
Although it was not used during the year, the law allows the Government 
to deny passports to any citizen if the minister of defense finds that 
such denial is ``in the national interest.''
    According to foreign exchange regulations, citizens could exchange 
only $400 (SR 2,200) worth of foreign exchange, severely hindering 
their ability to pay for travel.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provides for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum, as 
the issue did not arise.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in the 
July Presidential elections deemed credible by international observers.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In July approximately 88 
percent of eligible voters elected incumbent and SPPF Presidential 
candidate James Michel with 54 percent of the vote; SNP candidate Wavel 
Ramkalan received 45 percent; and independent candidate Philip Boulle 
received 1 percent. International observers from the Commonwealth, 
Francophonie Organization, South African Development Community, and 
resident diplomatic corp characterized the electoral process as 
credible and well-organized despite reports that campaign and electoral 
practices were not fair.
    The ruling SPPF, which assumed power in a 1977 coup, continued to 
use its political resources and those of the Government to develop and 
maintain a nationwide organization that extended to the village level. 
Opposition parties have been unable to match the SPPF's organization 
and patronage, in part because of financial limitations.
    There were reports that SPPF membership conferred advantage. Some 
members of opposition parties claimed that they lost their government 
jobs because of their political beliefs and were at a disadvantage when 
applying for government licenses and loans.
    There were 10 females in the 34-seat National Assembly, seven by 
direct election and three by proportional representation; there were 
three females in the 12-minister cabinet. There were nine female 
principal secretaries in government service.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread 
public perception of political corruption government wide. In 
particular, there were reports of rewards to SPPF supporters in the 
form of job assistance, land distribution, free building materials, and 
monetary payments. An ombudsman has legal authority to investigate and 
report on allegations of official fraud and corruption. He investigated 
70 cases during the year on issues such as labor law litigations, 
allegations of fraud and corruption, human rights abuse, and land and 
property litigations.
    There are laws allowing public access to government information, 
although the Government does not enforce them, and citizens routinely 
did not have access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A small number of international human rights NGOs and one domestic 
human rights group-the Centre for Rights and Development (CEFRAD)--
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to the views of international 
NGOs; however, government cooperation with CEFRED--which was perceived 
as being aligned with the opposition-was limited. The Government, for 
example, refused to permit CEFRAD to observe the July Presidential 
election.
    A government-run National Humanitarian Affairs Committee (NHAC) 
operated with a range of members from both civil society and the 
Government. The ICRC acted as a technical adviser to the NHAC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law affirm the right to be free from all types 
of discrimination, but do not prohibit discrimination based on specific 
factors. In practice there was no overt discrimination in housing, 
employment, education, or other social services based on race, sex, 
ethnicity, nationality, or disabilities.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, particularly wife beating, 
was a continuing problem. Police rarely intervened in domestic 
disputes, unless the dispute involved a weapon or major assault. The 
authorities often dismissed the few cases that reached a prosecutor, or 
the court gave the perpetrator a light sentence. Rape, spousal rape, 
and domestic abuse are criminal offenses, all punishable by a maximum 
20 years' imprisonment. There was growing societal concern about 
domestic violence and increased recognition of the need to address it.
    Prostitution is illegal but remained prevalent. Police generally 
did not apprehend prostitutes unless their actions involved other 
crimes.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment but was rarely enforced.
    The society largely was matriarchal. Unwed mothers were the 
societal norm, and the law required fathers to support their children. 
There was no officially sanctioned discrimination in employment, and 
women were well represented in business. Inheritance laws did not 
discriminate against women.

    Children.--The division of social affairs in the Ministry of Social 
Affairs and Manpower Development worked to protect children's rights, 
and in practice they were fairly effective.
    The Government required children to attend school through the 10th 
grade and made tuition-free public education available through the 
secondary level until age 18. Students had to buy school uniforms but 
did not have to pay for books. According to government figures, all 
children between the ages of six and 16 attended school, and the 
percentages of boys and girls enrolled were roughly equal. There was a 
noncompulsory fifth year of secondary school. After completing 
secondary school, students can attend the Polytechnic School for 
Vocational Training, travel abroad for university studies, or go to 
apprenticeship or short term work programs. Children in the 
apprenticeship or short term work programs received a training stipend, 
which was less than the minimum wage.
    Boys and girls have equal access to healthcare, which is free for 
all citizens.
    The age of consent was 15 years. Girls were not allowed to attend 
school when they were pregnant, and many did not return to school after 
the birth of a child.
    The law prohibits physical abuse of children. Sexual abuse of 
children, usually in low-income families and perpetrated by stepfathers 
and older brothers, was a problem. Rape of girls under the age of 15 
continued to be a problem, according to the Ministry of Health. 
Authorities prosecuted very few child abuse cases in court. The 
strongest public advocate for young victims was a semiautonomous 
agency, the National Council for Children. There was criticism that 
police failed to investigate charges of child abuse.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or 
within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law provide for 
the right of persons with disabilities to special protection, including 
reasonable provisions for improving the quality of life; however, there 
were no laws providing for access to public buildings, transportation, 
or state services, and the Government did not provide such access for 
persons with disabilities. There was no reported discrimination against 
persons with disabilities in housing, jobs, or education, or in the 
provision of other state services.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
right to form and join unions of their choosing; however, police, 
military, prison, and fire fighting personnel may not unionize; 
however, the law is silent regarding the rights of foreign or migrant 
workers to join a union. Some citizens were reluctant to join the non-
government-sponsored labor union due to fear of government reprisal. 
Unions organized between 15 and 20 percent of the workforce, and the 
law prohibits antiunion discrimination.
    There are two politically labeled unions, the Seychelles Federation 
of Workers Union (SFWU, SPPF-associated) and the Seychelles National 
Trade Union (SNTU, SNP-associated). Despite the legal provisions for 
workers to form and join unions, membership in the SNTU is decreasing 
because workers feared losing their jobs in the public and the private 
sector. The SNTU claimed that employers have not reinstated workers 
fired for union activity.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
for unions to organize and conduct their activities without 
interference. The law provides workers with the right to engage in 
collective bargaining, but collective bargaining seldom occurred. The 
Government has the right to review and approve all collective 
bargaining agreements in the public and private sectors. There was 
little flexibility in setting wages. In the public sector, which 
employed over 50 percent of the labor force, the Government set 
mandatory wage scales for employees. The employer generally set wages 
in the private sector with individual agreements with the employee, but 
in the few larger businesses, the Government set wage rates.
    The law authorizes the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs to 
establish and enforce employment terms, conditions, and benefits, and, 
in practice, workers frequently obtained recourse against their 
employers through the ministry.
    Unions engaged in collective bargaining in the private sector; 
however, observers noted that private sector employers were reluctant 
to engage in collective bargaining.
    Strikes are illegal without first exhausting arbitration 
procedures. Observers noted that the Industrial Relations Act 
provisions regarding the holding of strikes hinder unions' strike 
initiative. It takes six months for a union to gain permission to hold 
a strike. Dock workers seeking wage increases were not allowed to go 
forward with their strike proposal.
    There is one export processing zone, the Seychelles International 
Trade Zone (SITZ), with 25 participating companies. Only the Seychelles 
Trade Zone Act applied in the SITZ, and the Government did not require 
the SITZ to adhere to labor, property, tax, business, or immigration 
laws.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law states that the minimum age for employment is 15, ``subject to 
exceptions for children who are employed part time in light work 
prescribed by law without harm to their health, morals, or education,'' 
and, in practice, the Government followed these requirements. It is a 
criminal offense punishable by a fine of $1,113 (SR 6,000) to employ a 
child under the age of 15. The Ministry of Employment and Social 
Services enforced child labor laws. The ministry handled such 
complaints within its general budget and staffing; the ministry did not 
report any cases requiring investigation. No children were found 
working in the fishing, tourism, agricultural, boat building and 
processing industries, as the Ministry of Education carried out regular 
checks to ensure that children are actually attending school.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no official private 
sector minimum wage. The Government encouraged but did not require the 
private sector to grant the minimum public sector wage. The minimum 
public sector wage was $445 (SR 2,325) per month as of January. Even 
with free public services, primarily health care and education, a 
single salary at the low end of the pay scale did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Private employers generally 
paid higher wages than the Government to attract qualified workers.
    The legal maximum workweek varied from 45 to 55 hours, depending on 
the economic sector; in practice, some workers worked up to 60 hours 
per week. Government employees worked fewer hours. Regulations entitled 
each full-time worker to a 30-minute break per day and a minimum of 21 
days of paid annual leave. The Government permitted workers to work 
overtime up to 60 additional hours per month. The Government generally 
enforced these regulations.
    Foreign workers did not enjoy the same legal protections as 
citizens and were employed in the construction and commercial fishing 
sectors. Companies sometimes paid foreign workers lower wages, forced 
them to work longer hours, and provided them with inadequate housing.
    The Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs has formal 
responsibility for drafting the Government's comprehensive occupational 
health and safety regulations, and the Ministry of Health enforced such 
standards, although safety and health inspectors rarely visited job 
sites. Occupational injuries were most common in the construction, 
marine, and port industries. The law has been amended to allow workers 
to remove themselves from dangerous or unhealthy work situations, 
report the employer to the Health and Safety Commission and seek 
compensation without risking losing their employment. The employer 
faces the risk of being sued.

                               __________

                              SIERRA LEONE

    Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected 
President and a unicameral legislature, and a population of 
approximately five million. In 2002 the devastating 11-year civil 
conflict officially ended, and the Government, backed by a United 
Nations peacekeeping force (UNAMSIL), asserted control over the whole 
country. In 2002 Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was reelected President, and his 
Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) won a large majority in parliament. 
Many international monitors declared the elections generally free and 
fair; however, there were numerous reports of irregularities. In 2004 
UNAMSIL handed over responsibility for security countrywide to the 
Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and Sierra Leone Police 
(SLP). In 2005 UNAMSIL withdrew all remaining peacekeepers and handed 
over nonpeacekeeping responsibilities to a follow-on peacebuilding UN 
mission (UNIOSIL). During the year the Government made little progress 
in addressing the recommendations of its own June 2005 white paper 
issued in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) 
final report on the causes and effects of the 1991	2002 civil war. 
During the year civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, there were serious problems in a number of areas, 
including: security force abuse, including rape, and use of excessive 
force with detainees, including juveniles; police theft and extortion; 
poor conditions in prisons and jails; official impunity; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; prolonged detention, excessive bail, and 
insufficient legal representation; restrictions on freedom of speech 
and press, although fewer than in the previous year; government and 
chiefdom detention and harassment of journalists; harassment of 
opposition party supporters by ruling party members; widespread 
official corruption; societal discrimination and violence against 
women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse; trafficking in 
persons, including children; forced labor, including by children; and 
child labor.
    During the year the Government made progress in combating 
trafficking in persons. In October parliament appointed five 
representatives to a newly established National Commission for Human 
Rights, which has the mandate to implement recommendations of the TRC. 
On December 11, President Kabbah swore in the five members of the 
commission. UNIOSIL provided financial support for the commission, 
which by year's end had met several times to develop a plan of action.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings during the year; however, police allegedly shot a 
student demonstrator who later died from his injuries (see Section 
1.d.).
    Unlike in the previous year, no journalists were killed.
    There were no developments in the 2004 case of the suspected murder 
of a prostitute, allegedly by UNAMSIL peacekeeping soldiers.
    In December 2005 UNAMSIL concluded operations in the country.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs 
discontinued the use of a database that attempted to track children 
separated from their families during the war. The ministry stated that 
this project had been implemented as a result of the war, and that 
after the war's end, it was deemed no longer necessary to maintain the 
project.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were reports that security forces beat and raped persons, and 
that police stole, extorted, and demanded bribes. The Corporal 
Punishment Act allows boys under age 17 to receive up to 12 lashes as 
punishment. Prison guards reportedly beat prisoners, including 
juveniles, with impunity.
    During the year security forces intimidated and arrested 
journalists.
    Police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators resulted in 
one death and several injuries (see Section 1.d.).
    On January 30, a police officer in Pujehun beat his girlfriend, who 
reported the beating to the SLP's Complaints Division and Internal 
Investigation Department (CDIID). The police officer paid the cost of 
her medical care and he was put on probation for six weeks.
    In July RSLAF soldiers in Bo used sticks to beat and rob a man who 
they claim sold them contaminated fuel. The incident was reported by a 
human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) in mid-July; however, 
no action was taken by authorities.
    There were reports that security forces raped women and children 
(see Section 2.d.). In January a police officer in Kenema raped a woman 
while she was in custody. The officer was suspended from duty, but he 
fled to Liberia before he could be tried.
    In July a police officer raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee near 
the Liberian border at Zimmi. His trial was ongoing at year's end (see 
Section 2.d.).
    In 2004 a magistrate court ordered the Government to rearrest a 
soldier who had raped an eight-year-old girl; however, at year's end 
the soldier was still at large.
    In mid-May chiefdom tax collectors beat a man in Golahun Village, 
Tikonko Chiefdom, Bo District for refusing to pay local tax. The man 
suffered a broken arm and was hospitalized for three months as a result 
of the beating.
    During the year both men and women were forcibly initiated into 
tribal secret societies, a process that for women usually involved FGM. 
For example, in March and April the Poro Society in Manowa Kailahun 
District attempted to forcefully initiate a man into the society. The 
man ran away and reported the matter to the police, who deferred to the 
local paramount chief. The paramount chief then allowed Poro members to 
drag the man out of his home, beat him, and initiate him into their 
secret society.
    Vigilante justice was common in urban areas, particularly for 
suspected thieves. For example, in early August a crowd in Freetown 
beat a suspected thief and left him on the street. The man suffered 
serious cuts and bruises and was hospitalized for two weeks. There was 
no record of his name, or of any arrest or investigation.
    During the year Guinean forces continued to occupy the Yenga area 
in the eastern part of the country, contravening an agreement between 
the Presidents of Guinea and Sierra Leone acknowledging that the town 
of Yenga belongs to Sierra Leone. The Government and human rights 
groups accused Guinean troops of harassing the local population. In 
spite of sporadic negotiations between the two governments, the issue 
remained unresolved at year's end. In December Presidents Kabbah, Conte 
of Guinea, and Sirleaf of Liberia met to discuss the Yenga issue, and 
they agreed that members of parliament from the three countries should 
meet under the mediation of the Liberian foreign minister to discuss 
the Yenga issue.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--During the year prison 
conditions improved in some locations. Improvement of detention 
conditions remained a focus of the Justice Sector Development Program 
(JSDP) funded by a foreign official donor and launched in April 2005; 
however, conditions in most facilities remained poor. Prison 
overcrowding was a severe problem, including at Freetown's maximum 
security Pademba Road Prison, which was designed to house 325 prisoners 
but held an estimated 944. Human rights observers reported that 
detention conditions frequently fell below minimum international 
standards because of overcrowding, lack of access to food, unhygienic 
conditions, and insufficient medical attention. Prisons were often 
poorly ventilated. There were no reports that such conditions resulted 
in any deaths during the year.
    Few prisons had adequate medical facilities, and sick prisoners 
were treated at state hospitals. However, prisoners often received 
inferior treatment from doctors and nurses in these hospitals because 
of the social stigma associated with assisting criminals.
    Prison officers were inadequately paid, poorly trained, and in many 
prisons were not provided private quarters or uniforms. Consequently, 
guards provided only minimal security, and abuse of prisoners and 
prison breaks occurred.
    Men and women continued to share cells in Kenema's prison. During 
the year new prison facilities with separate cells for men and women 
were completed in Kailahun, Pujehun, Kabala, Moyamba, and Kambia, and 
the prison in Magburoka was rehabilitated and expanded.
    Minors were imprisoned with adult offenders, but police sometimes 
released juveniles suspected of committing crimes to avoid 
incarcerating them with adults. Juvenile detainees did not have 
adequate access to food, education, or vocational training, and 
sometimes were unable to attend court hearings due to lack of 
transportation from juvenile detention facilities. Violence was a 
problem among youth in juvenile detention homes, of which there were 
two, both in Freetown: Kingtom Remand Home, and the Approved School.
    Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners. Prison 
guards reportedly beat prisoners with impunity.
    Many problems resulted from the lack of resources and inefficiency 
of the judiciary. For instance, case backlogs in the courts, which 
often led to long pretrial detention, resulted in severe overcrowding. 
Government records indicate that there were approximately 1,610 
detainees in 12 prisons nationwide, 688 of whom had not yet been 
convicted of a crime. This figure did not include detainees in jails or 
detention centers.
    In February the JSDP hosted a workshop to launch the development of 
a Prisoner Classification and Security Assessment process--one of a 
number of initiatives to improve living conditions for prisoners and 
pretrial detainee case management. Other JSDP initiatives focused on 
pilot literacy and numeracy programs for prisoners in the Western Area 
and Moyamba District, and a prison farm project in Moyamba District.
    Conditions in holding cells in police stations were extremely poor, 
especially in small stations outside Freetown; however, overcrowding in 
police cells improved during the year as a result of the deployment of 
magistrate judges to the districts to process cases. Some police 
stations had no cells for suspect detention. In August a man hanged 
himself in the toilet while being detained at Goderich police station. 
A later inquiry by an NGO revealed that detainees were locked in the 
toilet at night and kept in open detention during the day.
    The Government permitted family visits, but for a short time only. 
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided a message 
delivery service that allowed prisoners housed in all district prisons 
to communicate with their families. ICRC officials were permitted to 
meet privately with detainees.
    International monitors, including UNIOSIL and the ICRC, had 
unrestricted access to Pademba Road Prison and other detention 
facilities, including the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) 
detention facilities. Prison Watch, a local human rights group, 
reported on detention facilities throughout the country but stated that 
during the year it had difficulty in gaining access to some detention 
sites.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, government forces 
occasionally arrested and detained persons arbitrarily.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Sierra Leone Police 
(SLP), which has primary responsibility for maintaining internal order, 
lacked investigative, forensic, and riot control capabilities. A self-
assessment by the SLP found the police to be fearful of the public and 
unequipped for beat patrols. The SLP was widely viewed as corrupt and 
incompetent. Impunity was a serious problem, although less so than in 
previous years. During the year there were reports that police officers 
took bribes at checkpoints, falsely charged motorists with violations, 
and impounded vehicles to extort money. Police also accepted bribes 
from criminal suspects in exchange for dropping charges.
    Using training and assistance from the donor community, during the 
year the SLP instituted mechanisms to improve community relations and 
held many officers accountable for misconduct.
    There were several mechanisms available to investigate police 
abuses. The Police Complaints Commission and the Complaints, Discipline 
and Internal Investigations Department (CDIID) both heard complaints 
against police officers. There was also a Police Council, composed of 
the vice President, minister of internal affairs, inspector general, 
and others who accepted written complaints against police officers. 
Disciplinary action against officers was published in an SLP 
newsletter, such as the March dismissal of eight Freetown police 
officers found guilty of stealing from residents in Kissy. Between 
January and August, CDIID received 542 complaints countrywide. Of those 
complaints, officers were dismissed or asked to resign in 24 cases, 104 
received a written letter of reprimand, 68 cases were discharged or 
dismissed for lack of evidence, and 74 were resolved informally. The 
remaining cases were at various stages of investigation or review.
    During the year police continued to receive professional, 
leadership, and human rights training, and new recruits received a six-
month introductory course before deployment. The SLP retained a full-
time UN technical advisor and a number of UN Civil Police (UNCIVPOL) 
police advisors. During the year UNIOSIL worked with the JSDP to 
implement its newly developed strategic plan and develop a training 
program to enhance the SLP's capacity to provide security during the 
scheduled 2007 Presidential and parliamentary elections.
    During the year the SLP began to establish Local Police Partnership 
Boards throughout the country to improve community relations and 
resolve minor complaints.
    On multiple occasions police were not present when crowds beat 
alleged thieves (see Section 1.c.). Police also at times were not able 
to control violence at public demonstrations, particularly in reaction 
to police activities. On February 9, for example, police arrested a 
secondary school student leader in Mile 91 for suspected assault. When 
a magistrate judge refused bail in the case, other students at the 
school protested at the police station. An advance security vehicle in 
a vice Presidential convoy that happened on the scene attempted to 
restore order by firing warning shots, one of which reportedly killed a 
demonstrating student. The students then overpowered the police, 
stormed the police station, released the student leader, and burned the 
newly refurbished police station to the ground along with several 
nearby vehicles.
    On May 29, a motorcycle driver refused to stop at a police 
checkpoint in Waterloo. Police chased the driver to a local secondary 
school, where a group of students gathered around him. Students stoned 
the police and police fired tear gas. One student was wounded and 
hospitalized. Later, an angry student mob descended on the Lumpa police 
station and burned it down. Community elders, school authorities, and 
members of the Bike Riders' Association met to discuss the incident and 
resolve ongoing disputes, such as police targeting of motorcycles at 
traffic stops; students later built a new police post to apologize.
    An investigation which had been initiated into the 2005 killings of 
a 16-year-old demonstrator was closed without reaching any conclusion.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for searches and 
arrests in many cases; however, arrest without warrant was common. The 
law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, government 
forces occasionally arrested and detained people arbitrarily. Once 
arrested, a detainee must be told the reason for arrest within 24 
hours, and a case must be charged to court within 72 hours or, in the 
case of serious crimes, within 10 days. However, detainees often were 
held without charge or trial for minor offenses for long periods. 
Detainees have the right of access to family and counsel; however, 
access to counsel was often delayed, and family visits to prisoners 
were restricted. Prison visits were allowed once every two weeks for 
four hours each time. Lawyers were allowed unrestricted access to 
detainees. Indigent detainees usually did not receive legal advice 
prior to trial.
    There were provisions for bail, and there was a functioning bail 
system; however, the TRC recommended that the law concerning bail 
provisions be revised. Bail was sometimes set at excessively high 
levels. In December 2005 a judge set bail at approximately $170,000 
(500 million leones) for the release of the leader of the People's 
Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) who had been arrested in November 
2005.
    Incommunicado detention generally was not a problem.
    Traditional justice systems supplemented the central government 
judiciary, especially in rural areas (see Section 1.e.). Paramount 
chiefs maintained their own police and courts to enforce uncodified 
local laws, which acted in parallel with the Government's own civil 
police and court system. Chieftaincy police and courts exercised the 
authority to arrest, try, and incarcerate individuals.
    There were numerous instances in which police refused to make 
arrests when warranted or arrested people without charge for strictly 
civil causes; arrests for alleged breach of contract or failure to 
satisfy debt were the most common. For example, in August, chiefdom 
police arrested a teacher in Pujehun because of his dispute with an 
RSLAF soldier over an exchange of rice and palm oil. The teacher was 
incarcerated for two days before being released on bail. No further 
information was available on this case by the end of the reporting 
period.
    During the year police arrested demonstrators (see Section 1.a.).
    Trials of former combatants who fought for the Revolutionary United 
Front (RUF) continued during the year (see Section 1.e.).
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Authorities held many 
criminal suspects for months and some for years before courts examined 
their cases or filed formal charges. According to government records, 
approximately 65 percent of the country's detainees in prison were in 
pretrial detention; this was a marked deterioration from the estimate 
of 40 percent in pretrial detention during 2005.

    Amnesty.--The law provides the President with the power to grant 
amnesty by the ``Prerogative of Mercy,'' which he traditionally 
exercised on Christmas Day (December 25) and Independence Day (April 
27). During the year President Kabbah released 27 prisoners using this 
power.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice; however, the judiciary at times was subject 
to government influence and corruption.
    The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, 
High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts. The President appoints 
and parliament approves justices for the courts. Local chieftaincy 
courts administer customary law with lay judges; appeals from these 
lower courts are heard by the superior courts.
    Judicial presence outside the capital district increased during the 
year, and magistrate judges were assigned to all provincial capitals. A 
new rotation system between wards in specific districts improved 
magistrate presence. However, with inexperienced new magistrates, high 
court fees, and fewer than 10 lawyers practicing outside of Freetown, 
access to justice remained limited for most citizens.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair trial; however, in 
practice, the lack of judicial officers and facilities often produced 
long delays in the judicial process. Trials are public. Persons accused 
of crimes have a limited right to a trial by jury in the magistrate 
courts. Juries were drawn from a list maintained by the master and 
registrar of active and retired civil servants and youth groups; 
however, the Attorney General frequently exercised his power to 
determine that cases be heard by a judge alone. Defendants have the 
right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner; 
however, access to counsel often was delayed. The law provides for 
attorneys at public expense if defendants could not afford their own; 
however, state-appointed attorneys often were overburdened and poorly 
paid, and indigent detainees usually did not receive legal advice prior 
to trial. Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them, 
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and access 
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence as well as a right to appeal. Trials were 
usually fair; however, there was credible evidence that corruption 
influenced some cases. A majority of cases on the magistrate level were 
prosecuted by police officers, many of whom had little or no formal 
legal training (see Section 3).
    Traditional justice systems continued to extensively supplement the 
central government judiciary, especially in rural areas, in cases 
involving family law, inheritance, and land tenure. However, the 
customary law guiding these courts is not codified, thus decisions in 
similar cases were often inconsistent. Local chieftains at times 
exceeded their mandates and administered harsh punishments. For 
example, there were multiple reports that paramount chiefs often judged 
criminal cases, such as rape, and that chiefs reportedly ordered rape 
victims to marry their attackers, and threatened to impose fines 
against or fired section chiefs for allowing opposition political 
parties to hold meetings in their chiefdoms (see Sections 2.b. and 5).
    The law does not limit the rights associated with a fair trial to 
any group; however, there are a number of civil laws and customary laws 
that discriminate against women (see Section 5).
    During the year cases were dismissed for 68 of 89 former combatants 
who fought for the RUF, the rebel group which started the country's 11-
year civil war; the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta; 
and the West Side Boys, a splinter group of the AFRC. Of the remaining 
defendants, nine were sentenced, and decisions on 12 were reportedly 
still pending at year's end. All combatants were represented by a legal 
assistance NGO.
    In 2004 Freetown port employees severely beat a port authority 
official who was investigating corruption. During the trial the port 
authority director allegedly bribed all 12 jurors, and the suspects who 
had been arrested for the beating were subsequently acquitted and 
released. The jurors later were arrested and charged with conspiracy to 
impede the cause of justice, but during the year the defendants again 
were acquitted, and the case was discharged. No charges were brought 
against the jurors.
    There were reports that potential witnesses in high-level 
corruption cases were intimidated or bribed (see Section 3).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners; however, a journalist was detained briefly during 
the year for political reasons (see Section 2.a.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Both the central 
government judiciary and customary law courts handled civil complaints; 
however, there was evidence that corruption influenced some cases. 
Customary law is not codified and decisions in similar cases often were 
inconsistent. Administrative and judicial remedies were available for 
alleged wrongs, but enforcement was difficult, and there are a number 
of civil laws and customary laws that discriminate against women (see 
Section 5).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; 
however, there were multiple reports of such interference, particularly 
based on political party affiliation.
    Although the ruling SLPP enjoyed broad support, the Government 
employed informer systems and tried to coerce or forbid membership in 
political organizations. There were reports that SLPP members monitored 
opposition political party meetings. Civil servants who attended such 
meetings risked losing their jobs or government housing (see Section 
2.b.). There also were reports that the Government pressured paramount 
chiefs (and paramount chiefs in turn pressured subordinate chiefs) to 
discourage the activities of opposition political parties in the 
provinces, particularly in remote areas (see Section 3).
    In March a senior mines monitoring officer in Bo who became a 
member of the newly-registered PMDC party was removed from government 
housing, which was turned over to an SLPP member. The mines monitor was 
transferred to a different office in Makeni and was not given 
government housing.
    In June the Ministry of Education removed the head teacher of a 
primary school in Pujehun from the Government payroll (the head teacher 
also was the Pujehun District Chairman for the PMDC). When the teacher 
complained, the national education secretary called him in for a 
meeting on August 25, during which the teacher claimed that he was told 
that he would not be allowed to attend the upcoming dedication ceremony 
of his recently refurbished school unless he joined the SLPP. The 
teacher, who refused to join the SLPP, had not been paid by year's end.
    In June the principal of a girls' secondary school in Bo fired a 
teacher after he joined the PMDC.
    In June the Nyawa-Leagai paramount chief fired the Nengbema town 
(Bo District) chief for attending an All People's Congress (APC) 
meeting.
    In June the Soro Gbema paramount chief in Pujehun District 
suspended four section chiefs for attending a June 10 PMDC meeting.
    There were reports that supporters of opposition political parties 
also faced other forms of discrimination. Early in the year Ministry of 
Lands officials marked a house for demolition that had been built on 
chiefdom-owned land. The church leader (a PMDC supporter) who owned the 
house claimed that he had prior permission to build on the land. The 
house was still marked for demolition at year's end.
    There were reports that membership in the ruling SLPP was required 
in order to access certain government benefits, particularly micro-
credit and other development assistance. On July 7, a paramount chief 
in Kenema district denied a woman micro-credit because she did not 
possess an SLPP party card.
    In August the chairman of the Kenema District Council denied the 
issuance of seed rice to councilors who joined the PMDC.
    There were reports that the Government punished family members for 
alleged violations by individuals. In late August a young man in Barri 
Chiefdom (Pujehun District) was summoned to the paramount chief's 
residence for wearing a PMDC tee-shirt. The paramount chief ordered the 
man to remove the shirt. When he refused, the paramount chief summoned 
the man's mother and threatened that she would be ``dealt with'' if her 
son continued to defy him.
    In April the father of a PMDC member was fired from his job at the 
Pujehun District Council office where he had worked for 26 years after 
his son joined the PMDC. The father was fired from a subsequent job at 
the Office of National Security in August.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at 
times restricted these rights in practice. The press frequently 
published stories critical of the Government; however, self-censorship 
occurred.
    More than 25 newspapers were published in Freetown during the year, 
covering a wide spectrum of interests and editorial opinion. Most of 
the newspapers were independent, and several were associated with 
opposition political parties. Reporting was often politicized and 
inaccurate, in large part because of poor journalistic skills, 
insufficient resources, and lack of professional ethics. Corruption 
among journalists was widespread. The number of newspapers fluctuated 
weekly. Newspapers openly and routinely criticized the Government and 
its officials, as well as opposition parties, but also libeled 
individuals.
    Due to the low level of literacy and the relatively high cost of 
newspapers and televisions, radio remained the most important medium 
for public dissemination of information. Several government and private 
radio and television stations broadcast, featuring domestic news 
coverage and political commentary. UN Radio provided additional 
coverage of news and other current events.
    International media could operate freely; they only needed to 
register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the 
Independent Media Commission (IMC) to obtain a license.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that journalists 
were killed; however, security forces harassed and detained 
journalists.
    In May 2005 five people beat Harry Yansaneh, the acting editor of 
the For di People newspaper, who died two and one-half months later 
from his injuries. Police detained a parliamentarian, Fatmata Hassan 
Komeh, who allegedly ordered and oversaw the beating, and two others, 
but released them on bail. Komeh's children, who also were suspects in 
the beating, returned to their residence in the United Kingdom. On 
August 4, the High Court requested the extradition of Komeh's children; 
the extraditions were pending at year's end.
    The Public Order Act of 1965 criminalizes both defamatory and 
seditious libel; however, the law was rarely applied and only in cases 
involving top officials. Punishment for first-time offenders can be up 
to three years' imprisonment, and subsequent seditious libel 
convictions are punishable by prison terms of up to seven years.
    Officials used libel laws to suppress criticism of political or 
other leaders, and during the year the Attorney General ordered 
security forces to arrest a journalist. On March 20, police detained 
for three hours the editor of the Concord Times newspaper, Sahr Musa 
Yamba, reportedly to receive a reprimand from the Attorney General.
    The IMC regulated independent media organizations; however, it did 
not demonstrate independence from government influence. During the 
year, the IMC determined that the criminal libel provisions of the 
Public Order Act should remain, although many journalists later 
complained that the IMC's assessment of public opinion used to make the 
recommendation was insufficient.
    During the year the paramount chief of Bo reportedly twice 
threatened to close a local independent radio station for airing 
programs that were critical of the ruling SLPP, although he did not 
follow through on the threats. In April the station had hosted a call-
in show to discuss a letter reportedly written by SCSL indictee Hinga 
Norman. Callers questioned the authenticity of the letter, which 
instructed former kamajor fighters to support the ruling SLPP.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
There were at least five Internet service providers in the country. In 
Freetown there were many internet cafes, but few in rural areas due to 
infrastructure constraints.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, 
there were numerous reports that the Government monitored meetings of 
opposition political parties. Civil servants who attended such meetings 
were at risk of losing their jobs or government housing (see Section 
1.f.). Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators. Opposition political 
parties also had difficulty obtaining permission from traditional 
chiefs to hold meetings, especially in remote areas.
    On September 5, the Banderu Chiefdom (Kenema District) section 
speaker fined a PMDC member approximately $67 (200,000 leones), five 
gallons of palm oil, and one goat for holding a PMDC meeting. The 
speaker also declared that the estimated 100 persons who attended the 
meeting were no longer allowed to farm or mine on chiefdom lands. 
However, the individuals challenged the orders and continued to farm 
and mine without interference.
    One student demonstrator reportedly died and other students were 
injured during a forcible dispersion of demonstrators by police (see 
Section 1.d.).
    Police were unable to control demonstration violence during the 
year, and demonstrators burned police stations (see Section 1.d.).
    The trial of 11 persons, who were arrested in November 2005 after a 
demonstration in support of Presidential hopeful Charles Margai and 
charged with violation of the Public Order Act, was ongoing at year's 
end. All those charged remained free on bail at year's end.
    There was no progress in the investigation into the death of a 16-
year-old girl who was shot in the mouth during a student protest in 
Freetown in March 2005 (see Section 1.d.).

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice; however, there were reports that civil servants, 
traditional leaders, and others who affiliated with opposition 
political parties lost jobs and faced other forms of discrimination 
(see Section 1.f.).
    The Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) became 
operational during the year, and a new political party, the PMDC, 
registered. There were reports that members of the new party were 
harassed, threatened, and lost their jobs (see Section 1.f.).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
discrimination against members of religious groups.
    There reportedly was a very small Jewish community, whose leader 
was a self-proclaimed rabbi. He reportedly died in November. He had 
claimed to have a following of about 20 persons in Makeni and had 
applied to the Inter-Religious Council for official recognition of his 
group. The application was pending at year's end because the council 
had not decided what procedure it would use to register new members.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice; 
however, there were reports that police officers who operated security 
roadblocks outside of the capital often extorted money from motorists.
    The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did 
not use it.
    The border shared with Liberia was officially open, and authorities 
generally permitted refugees, returnees, and other persons to move 
regularly between the two countries; however, there were reports that 
police, customs, and army personnel demanded bribes at border crossing 
points.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Combatants from all sides 
targeted civilians during the country's 11-year civil war. Estimates of 
the number of IDPs in past years varied from 750,000 to two million 
persons.
    No officially registered IDPs remained; however, one camp for war-
wounded persons and their families unofficially remained open in 
Grafton.
    At the end of 2005 the camp population was approximately 520; no 
update was available for the reporting period.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol; however, in 
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government granted refugee status and asylum and cooperated with the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations in 
assisting refugees.
    According to UNHCR, during the reporting period the Government did 
not provide temporary protection to certain individuals who may not 
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
    At year's end, according to UNHCR, there were 21,696 Liberian 
refugees living in refugee camps in the country and approximately 
12,000 Liberian refugees living outside of the camps. There were 5,615 
non-Liberian refugees in urban areas, and 302 asylum seekers.
    There were reports that Liberian refugees were victims of sexual 
abuse. NGO observers noted that refugees were less willing than 
previously to pursue cases in court against fellow refugees.
    In July a police officer raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee near 
the Liberian border at Zimmi. The trial was ongoing at year's end (see 
Section 1.c.).
    In February a three-year-old Liberian refugee was raped by another 
Liberian refugee in Tobanda Refugee Camp. The case was reported to the 
police's Family Support Unit (FSU), but the parties ultimately settled 
the case out of court.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through generally free and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage; however, the 2002 and 2004 elections were marred by 
numerous reports of irregularities, although many observers judged them 
to be generally free and fair. Presidential and parliamentary elections 
were scheduled for July 2007, and during the year there were multiple 
reports of harassment and intimidation of members of opposition parties 
(see Section 1.f.).

    Elections and Political Participation.--Eleven political parties 
participated in the May 2002 Presidential and parliamentary elections. 
President Kabbah of the SLPP was reelected with 70 percent of the 
popular vote. The Revolutionary United Front Party, the political 
successor to the RUF rebel forces, fielded Presidential and 
parliamentary candidates, but it won only 1.7 percent of the vote. In 
parliament the SLPP won 83 of the 112 seats; only two other parties 
also won seats. Many international monitors declared the elections to 
be generally free and fair; however, there were credible reports of 
significant abuse of incumbency, uneven voter registration, 
manipulation of vote counting, and partisan action by the National 
Electoral Commission (NEC). There also were reports of voter coercion 
by party bosses and traditional leaders.
    In May 2004 the first local elections in 32 years were held. 
International and domestic monitors judged them to be generally free 
and fair at the time; however, evidence of widespread electoral fraud 
by both the SLPP and the APC emerged after voter turnout numbers were 
analyzed and found in many districts to exceed the number of registered 
voters. A UNAMSIL electoral consultant concluded, however, that the 
fraud did not alter the outcome of the elections because it was equally 
spread across party lines.
    During the year the NEC continued to make preparations for the 
scheduled 2007 Presidential and parliamentary elections, including 
delimiting electoral boundaries for the first time since 1985. On 
November 30, parliament approved the NEC's report on the Electoral 
Constituency Boundaries Delimitation Process that stipulated that 
parliamentary elections again be constituency-based contests. However, 
its ability to restrict perceived government abuses in the election 
process was limited. On August 12, representatives from the Ministry of 
Local government conducted an election of the paramount chief of Biriwa 
chiefdom despite a public objection by the NEC, which had monitored 
chiefdom elections since 2002. The NEC objected to the conduct of the 
election because there was a dispute over the ministry's alteration of 
the register of tribal authorities and a risk of violence between the 
majority Limbas and minority Mandingos in the chiefdom. The sole 
candidate and winner of the government-run elections was an ethnic 
Mandingo, the same tribe as that of the President (see Section 5).
    Although there were no formal government restrictions on the 
political opposition, the incumbent party enjoyed significant 
advantages, and there were numerous reports that members of opposition 
parties were denied government jobs and government benefits (see 
Section 1.f.).
    The PPRC became operational during the year; however, its 
activities were severely limited by a lack of capacity. The PPRC 
chairman resigned in August after an extended medical leave. The 
President swore in a replacement and on November 23, the PPRC issued a 
code of conduct for political parties; however, by year's end, no 
political party had been sanctioned for inappropriate behavior in spite 
of widespread complaints of abuse, particularly by the ruling SLPP.
    Individuals and political parties could freely declare their 
candidacies and stand for election; however, it was sometimes difficult 
to do so in another political party's stronghold.
    A parallel unit of local government is the paramount chief, who is 
elected for a life term. Candidates for the position are limited to 
members of local ruling houses. Only tribal authorities (i.e., those 
who collected local taxes from at least 20 taxpayers) were allowed to 
vote for paramount chief, and in the north only men could be designated 
as tribal authorities. Although paramount chiefs' authority exists 
independently of the central government and local councils, they 
frequently displayed party affiliations and were influenced by the 
party in power. The election of paramount chiefs at times exacerbated 
ethnic tensions.
    There were 16 women in the 112-seat parliament, three women in the 
28-minister cabinet, three women out of 13 deputy ministers, four 
female judges out of seven judges on the High Court, and three out of 
six judges on the Court of Appeal. A significant number of women worked 
as civil servants.
    Only citizens can vote, and the Citizenship Act restricts the 
acquisition of citizenship at birth to persons of ``patrilineal Negro-
African descent.'' Legal requirements for naturalization effectively 
denied citizenship to many long-term residents, and a large number of 
persons of Lebanese ancestry, who were born and resided in the country, 
could not vote (see Section 5). While a small percentage of the 
Lebanese population was naturalized and voted, others insisted that 
naturalization implied second-class citizenship and rejected it.
    Ethnic affiliations have traditionally been a strong influence in 
political party membership for the country's two dominant ethnic 
groups, the Mende and Temne, each of which include approximately 30 
percent of the population. The Mende have traditionally supported the 
ruling SLPP and the Temne the opposition All People's Congress (APC). 
Other than ethnic Limbas, the third most populous ethnic group who have 
traditionally supported the APC, the country's other ethnic minority 
groups have no strong political party affiliations (see Section 5). 
Ethnic groups were well-represented in the SLPP government cabinet: 
seven members of the 28-minister cabinet were Mende, 12 members were 
Temne, and nine members belonged to other minorities. There were eight 
ethnic groups represented in the 112-seat parliament, 41 percent of 
whose members were Mende, 30 percent Temne, and the remainder other 
minorities.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the 
executive, legislative, and judicial branches was common. Official 
corruption was exacerbated by low salaries and a lack of 
accountability. Since the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) inception 
in July 2000, approximately 10 percent of the 560 cases investigated 
were charged to court. Of the 54 cases referred to court, 29 resulted 
in convictions. Defendants included a former minister of transport and 
communications, a former accountant general, a former permanent 
secretary for the ministry of trade, and the former Sierra Leone Ports 
Authority (SLPA) chairman and managing director.
    In the SLPA case, six of the principal local witnesses in the case 
did not testify because they had left the country, reportedly because 
they were bribed to do so. The man who sold the forklift to the 
principal accused in an allegedly fraudulent transaction never came to 
the country to testify, reportedly because he was intimidated from 
testifying. The forklift case was the only corruption case involving 
high-level officials that was prosecuted in court during the year.
    During the year the ACC continued its focus on prevention by 
sponsoring ``integrity clubs'' at 21 schools across the country, and 
anticorruption community theater performances in 64 communities to help 
citizens identify and discuss corrupt practices that prevailed in their 
communities. The ACC continued to focus on improving transparency in 
ministries where opportunities for corruption were most pronounced. The 
President continued to publicly support the ACC, but some observers 
complained that the work of the ACC's investigations department was 
politicized, ineffective, and that there was a lack of political will 
to prosecute.
    There is no provision in the law for public access to government 
information; however, the Government at times provided access to both 
citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated with few government restrictions, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The National Forum for Human Rights (NFHR) served as an umbrella 
organization for human rights groups in the country. There were 41 
human rights NGOs registered with the NFHR at the end of 2005 (the most 
recent statistic available), and all reportedly were active. Most 
domestic human rights NGOs focused on human rights education. A few 
NGOs, including the Campaign for Good Governance, the Lawyers' Center 
for Legal Assistance, and Access to Justice, actively monitored and 
reported on human rights abuses.
    Human rights monitors traveled freely throughout the country. 
Representatives of international NGOs, foreign diplomats, the ICRC, and 
UN human rights officers were able to monitor trials and to visit 
prisons and custodial facilities during the year; however, Prison 
Watch, a local human rights NGO, claimed that the director of prisons 
denied it access to some prison facilities, despite having written 
permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in part because of 
the critical nature of the NGO's previous reports.
    UNIOSIL, a UN peacebuilding mission, replaced the UNAMSIL 
peacekeeping mission at the end of 2005. According to the UN, the 
mandate of UNIOSIL's Human Rights and Rule of Law section is to assist 
the Government ``in building the capacity of state institutions to 
address the root causes of the conflict, developing a national plan for 
human rights, establishing the National Human Rights Commission, and 
strengthening the capacity of rule of law institutions through 
training.''
    The UN Secretary General's first report on UNIOSIL, issued on April 
28, criticized the Government in a number of areas, including a 
perception that the Government was taking a heavy-handed approach in 
dealing with the political opposition, and not making sufficient 
progress in anticorruption efforts. On June 21, President Kabbah issued 
a statement expressing his resolve to tackle a number of negative 
trends in the country.
    On October 3, parliament confirmed five representatives for the 
newly-established Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, who were 
sworn in on December 11. The commissioners convened several meetings to 
discuss logistical matters.
    The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee took a proactive role in 
protecting human rights during the year. It operated without government 
or party interference. The committee's resources were limited but it 
received support from the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Human Rights Committee was one 
of the most effective oversight committees in parliament, and it 
enjoyed government cooperation.
    The committee also promoted the passage of legislation on women's 
and children's rights.
    The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was established in 2002 
to try those who ``bear the greatest responsibility for the commission 
of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and serious violations of 
international humanitarian law.''
    In 2003 the SCSL indicted 13 persons, including former Liberian 
President Charles Taylor, who had accepted an offer of asylum in 
Nigeria in 2003. All of those indicted were charged with crimes against 
humanity, violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and 
of Additional Protocol II, and other serious violations of 
international humanitarian law. Specific charges included murder, rape, 
extermination, acts of terror, sexual slavery, conscription of children 
into an armed force, attacks on UN peacekeepers, and looting and 
burning of homes from 1997 to 1999.
    On March 29, four days after the Government of Nigeria declared 
that the Government of Liberia was free to take him into custody, 
Nigerian security forces arrested Taylor while he was attempting to 
flee Nigeria. Taylor was escorted to Monrovia and UN forces then 
transferred him to the SCSL in Freetown. On April 3, during his 
arraignment, Taylor pled not guilty to an amended 11-count indictment. 
On June 20, he was transferred to The Hague, The Netherlands due to 
security concerns. At year's end, the SCSL was making preparations to 
begin Taylor's trial at The Hague in June 2007.
    Trials began in March 2005 of AFRC leaders Alex Tamba Brima, Brima 
Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbor Kanu, and in June 2004 of Civil 
Defense Force (CDF) leaders Sam Hinga Norman, Moinina Fofana, and 
Allieu Kondewa. The trial phase for both the AFRC and the CDF 
concluded, and the justices were writing their verdicts at year's end. 
Trials of RUF leaders Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao, 
begun in July 2004, were ongoing at year's end. The prosecution in the 
RUF cases had concluded its case, but the defense phase had not begun 
by year's end.
    In 2004 the TRC, established in 2002 to provide a forum for 
publicly airing the grievances of victims and the confessions of 
perpetrators during the civil war, completed its activities and 
delivered its final report and recommendations to the Government. In 
August 2005 the full version of the final report was distributed to the 
public. The report contained a separate child-friendly version, since 
children played such large roles as both victims and perpetrators of 
violence during the war. The report concluded that years of bad 
governance, endemic corruption, and denial of basic human rights 
created the conditions that made the conflict inevitable. The 
commission offered a number of recommendations on legal, political, and 
administrative reforms, including elimination of the death penalty. In 
June 2005 the Government released a White Paper accepting some and 
rejecting or ignoring other recommendations. Members of civil society 
groups criticized the Government's response and called the White Paper 
too vague. UNIOSIL collaborated with district human rights committees 
to disseminate the TRC final report countrywide, but by year's end, the 
Government had made little progress in addressing any of the report's 
recommendations, claiming insufficient funds to implement them.
    The UN and numerous NGOs, both domestic and international, 
continued to educate and sensitize the population about the TRC and the 
SCSL, and the Government generally supported these efforts.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, tribe, sex, 
place of origin, political opinions, color (although citizenship is 
generally limited to persons of ``patrilineal Negro-African descent''), 
or creed; however, the Government did not effectively enforce these 
provisions, and a number of legal acts and customary law contravene 
these constitutional provisions.

    Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence, 
and the Government rarely enforced provisions in the 1861 Offenses 
Against the Persons Act, or the Public Order Offenses Act Number 32 of 
1965, the most recent relevant legislation, for violent acts against 
women. Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating and 
forced intercourse, was common. These crimes reportedly occurred more 
frequently in the northern provinces but were prevalent throughout the 
country. The police were unlikely to intervene in domestic disputes 
except in cases involving severe injury or death. No figures were 
available on prosecutions, convictions, or punishment for domestic 
violence; however, police commanders indicated that these types of 
crime were not frequently reported to the SLP. Women suspected of 
marital infidelity often were subjected to physical abuse; frequently, 
women were beaten until they divulged the names of their partners. 
Because husbands could claim monetary indemnities from their wives' 
partners, beatings often continued until the women named several men, 
even if there were no such relationships. There also were reports that 
women suspected of infidelity were required to undergo animistic 
rituals to prove their innocence.
    In 2000 the Government established the Family Support Units (FSUs) 
to deal particularly with gender-based violence. The SLP had FSU 
offices at 18 police stations around the country. Some international 
NGOs complained that the FSUs lacked basic infrastructure and 
communications support, and that FSU officers often told women victims 
simply to go back to their families, to the chief, or to simply survive 
on their own; however, the UN reported that the FSUs played a leading 
role in investigating cases of violence against women and children. 
They also engaged in community education and sensitization through 
radio and television programs.
    The law prohibits rape, which was punishable by up to 14 years' 
imprisonment; however, rape was common and viewed as a societal 
problem. The law did not specifically prohibit spousal rape. Rape cases 
frequently were settled out of court, and rape victims sometimes were 
ordered to marry their attackers. Cases of rape were underreported and 
indictments were rare, especially in rural areas; this reluctance to 
pursue justice for women, combined with a lack of income and economic 
independence, helped perpetuate a cycle of violence and a culture of 
impunity for violence against women. Since the establishment of the 
FSUs, however, reports of rapes, especially involving child victims, 
steadily increased. The FSUs reported that 65 percent of rape cases 
reported during the year involved girls under the age of 18. Rapes were 
documented of children as young as a few months old. Most perpetrators 
were known to their victims, and included teachers, family friends, 
relatives, and neighbors.
    Medical and psychological services for rape victims were very 
limited. The country has only one psychologist. Rape victims were 
required to obtain a medical report to file charges; however, 
government doctors charged $20 (approximately 50,000 leones) for such 
an exam, which was prohibitively expensive for most victims. During the 
year the Ministry of Social Welfare concluded agreements with doctors 
at some government hospitals to waive the fee. The International Rescue 
Committee (IRC) ran centers in Freetown, Kenema, and Koidu to perform 
medical examinations, provide counseling for victims of sexual assault, 
and offer legal assistance for victims who wanted to prosecute their 
cases; however, most cases did not make it to trial because of 
inefficiencies in the judicial system. During the year some 
improvements were made for the protection of victims in court. Although 
perpetrators had the opportunity to cross-examine victims directly, 
judges more frequently heard such cases privately in their chambers.
    No law prohibits FGM, and it was practiced widely. Even some 
prominent government officials continued to openly support the 
practice. The less severe form of excision was practiced. The UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other groups estimated that 80 to 90 
percent of women and girls had been victims of the practice; however, 
some local groups believed that this figure was overstated. FGM was 
practiced on girls as young as five years old.
    In December 2005 the country was one of 19 African countries to 
adopt the Dakar Declaration during the African Parliamentary Conference 
focused on ending violence against women. The declaration calls for the 
development of legislation to outlaw FGM, and a national action plan 
with sufficient resources allocated to help implement it. During the 
year the Government took no action to combat the practice.
    Although a number of NGOs worked to eradicate FGM and to inform the 
public about its harmful health effects, active resistance by women's 
secret societies, in which FGM commonly occurred as part of initiation 
rites, hindered efforts to stop the practice. However, there was 
progress in reducing the practice. An anti-FGM NGO reported that by 
year's end, 1,800 digbas (practitioners) had agreed to ``lay down their 
knives.'' The NGO found that many practitioners still engaged in the 
practice because it represented their sole source of income, so 
multiple programs were created to help former practitioners find 
alternative sources of income.
    Although police occasionally detained practitioners on accusations 
of forced mutilation or manslaughter, human rights workers reported 
that police remained hesitant to interfere in cultural practices.
    Unlike during the previous year, there were no reports that girls 
had died following circumcision ceremonies; however, no arrests were 
made by year's end in connection with such deaths reported in 2004 and 
2005.
    Prostitution was widespread and not prohibited by law; however, 
prostitutes sometimes were arrested and charged with loitering or 
vagrancy. Many women and girls, particularly those displaced from their 
homes and with few resources, resorted to prostitution to support 
themselves and their children. There were indications that the presence 
of pimps was an emerging trend. On March 25, a former combatant acting 
as a pimp beat a prostitute in Freetown. Young men in the area stopped 
the man before he stabbed her, and police arrested him. The matter was 
not referred to court in part because the prostitute intervened on his 
behalf.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is not specifically prohibited by law and it was 
widespread. In 2002 a women's parliamentary conference identified 
sexual harassment as a barrier to women standing for office.
    The law provides for equal rights for women; however, in practice 
women faced both widespread legal and societal discrimination. They 
faced discrimination in matters of marriage, divorce, property, and 
inheritance, which are guided by customary law, which applies in all 
areas except for the capital, Freetown. Chiefs sometimes colluded with 
men to forcibly evict women and children from their homes or subject 
them to arbitrary detention. In some cases chiefs imposed arbitrary and 
exorbitant fines, imprisoned women unlawfully in their homes or 
``chiefdom jails,'' and expelled them from the community. Their rights 
and status under customary law varied significantly depending upon the 
ethnic group to which they belonged, but was routinely inferior to that 
of men. Under customary law women's status in society is equal to that 
of a minor. A woman was frequently perceived to be the property of her 
husband, to be inherited on his death with his other property. In rural 
areas, polygyny was widespread. All women in the Western (Freetown) 
Area, which is governed by general law, had a statutory right to own 
property in their own names. Women in the provinces, which are governed 
by customary laws that vary from chiefdom to chiefdom, did not.
    As an example of discriminatory practices common in local courts, 
during the year a husband sued his wife in a chiefdom court after she 
had refused to have sex with him and filed for divorce. The woman was 
fined approximately $230 (685,000 leones). The woman's brother, who 
took her in after she left, was fined approximately $85 (250,000 
leones) for taking the woman in without her husband's consent (see 
Section 1.e.).
    In the Temne ethnic group, women could not become paramount chiefs, 
subordinate chiefs, or chiefdom authorities; however, in the Mende 
tribe, there were several such female leaders. Women did not have equal 
access to education, economic opportunities, health facilities, or 
social freedoms. In rural areas women performed much of the subsistence 
farming and had little opportunity for formal education.
    The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs has a 
mandate to protect the rights of women; however, the ministry was 
underfinanced and relied on the assistance of international 
organizations and NGOs to help combat women's rights violations.
    Women were active in civic and philanthropic organizations. 
Domestic NGOs, such as 50/50, the Forum for African Women 
Educationalists (FAWE), and Women's Forum raised awareness of the lack 
of gender equality and other women's issues, and they encouraged women 
to enter politics as candidates for parliament.

    Children.--The Government was committed to improving children's 
education and welfare; however, it lacked the means to provide them 
with basic education and health services.
    Public education is available up to the university level. The law 
requires school attendance through primary school. Primary school 
education is tuition-free countrywide and secondary school education is 
tuition-free for girls in the North. However, many parents are unable 
to put their children through primary school because they cannot afford 
school uniforms, books, and other fees charged by school authorities. 
Only 41 percent of primary school-aged children were enrolled in 
school, according to UNICEF, and many enrolled did not attend. Schools, 
clinics, and hospitals throughout the country were looted and destroyed 
during the 11-year insurgency, but the majority had been rebuilt. Many 
children received little or no formal education. Formal and informal 
fees largely financed schools, but many families could not afford to 
pay them. The average educational level for girls was markedly below 
that of boys, and only 20 percent of women were literate. At the one 
university, male students predominated.
    Government medical care was extremely limited throughout the 
country, but boys and girls had equal access.
    Sexual violence against children was a problem. There were reports 
that children as young as three months old were raped.
    FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Child prostitution was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor, including forced child labor, occurred. According to 
the International Trade Union Confederation, an estimated 72 percent of 
children between the ages of five and 14 were engaged in some form of 
child labor (see Section 6.d.).
    The number and plight of street children were problems.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The 2005 law prohibits trafficking in 
persons (TIP); however, there were reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, and within the country.
    A number of government agencies are responsible for combating 
trafficking, including the SLP, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and 
Children's Affairs, the Immigration Department, and the Office of 
National Security. The Government assisted in reintegrating trafficking 
victims when requested; however, there were no known requests for 
assistance with international investigations or extraditions.
    The country continued to be a source, transit point, and 
destination for internationally trafficked persons. The majority of 
victims were women and the majority of traffickers were thought to be 
family members or friends who lured victims from their home villages 
with false promises of education, caretaking, or employment. There was 
no evidence of trafficking through employment agencies, organized 
crime, or marriage brokers.
    There were no specific figures on the number of persons trafficked. 
However, anecdotal reports indicated the following: women and children 
were trafficked from the provinces to work in the capital as laborers 
and commercial sex workers and to diamond areas for labor and sex work; 
persons were trafficked from neighboring countries for domestic and 
street labor and for commercial sex work; persons were trafficked out 
of the country to destinations in west Africa, including Liberia, 
Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia for labor 
and sex work; persons were also trafficked to Lebanon, Europe, and 
North America; and the country served as a transit point for persons 
trafficked from elsewhere in west Africa and possibly the Middle East.
    A person convicted of trafficking can be sentenced to up to 10 
years in prison. During the year a woman from Goderich was convicted of 
trafficking and sentenced to five years in prison. This was the first 
conviction under the new antitrafficking law, and occurred in a 
community whose parliamentary representative--also a member of the 
Parliamentary Human Rights Committee--had hosted a training session on 
trafficking for members of the community. Concerned community members 
had reported the woman's actions to the police. During the year there 
were approximately four TIP cases charged to court.
    Document fraud was common and there were frequent reports that 
government registry officials, police, immigration officials, and 
border guards accepted bribes. Although there was no proof that forged 
documents were used to facilitate trafficking, low-level government 
officials who forged documents such as birth, marriage, and death 
certificates rarely suffered punishment.
    During the year the Government held the first meetings of the 
Inter-Ministerial Committee and the TIP (Anti-Trafficking) Task Force 
as called for by the Anti-Trafficking Act. In July the minister of 
Social Welfare signed an ECOWAS/ECCAS (the West and Central African 
regional economic groupings) plan of action and multilateral 
cooperation agreement against trafficking in persons. In August the TIP 
Task Force attended an ECOWAS-sponsored two-day session to discuss the 
creation of a national action plan.
    Government officials continued to work with NGOs on trafficking-
related issues and attended NGO training sessions on trafficking. The 
Ministry of Social Welfare and the SLP publicly supported NGOs' 
antitrafficking efforts.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities. 
No law mandates accessibility to buildings or assistance to disabled 
persons. There was no government policy or program to assist persons 
with disabilities; public facility access and discrimination against 
persons with disabilities were not considered public policy priorities. 
A few private agencies and organizations provided job training for such 
persons.
    There was no outright discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the 
provision of other state services; however, given the high rate of 
general unemployment, work opportunities for persons with disabilities 
were few.
    Despite the sizeable numbers of persons disabled by polio, there 
was little government assistance to this group. In 2004 the SLP evicted 
without notice residents at a facility for polio victims.
    Some of the many individuals maimed in the civil war, or who had 
their limbs amputated by rebel forces, received special assistance from 
local and international humanitarian organizations. Such programs 
involved reconstructive surgery, prostheses, and vocational training to 
help victims acquire new work skills; however, amputees complained that 
they did not receive sufficient assistance compared to former 
combatants, who received aid through the demobilization process. In its 
White Paper reply to the recommendations of the final TRC report, the 
Government accepted in principle the need to develop an aid program for 
war wounded, amputees, and victims of sexual violence; however, 
assistance to these groups remained limited and mostly funded by 
outside entities. An amputee representative in Kenema said that 
amputees from his region did not receive benefits commensurate with 
those received by amputees in Freetown. An amputee representative in 
Pujehun complained that the chairman of the Pujehun District Council 
refused to release a shipment of clothing and medicine meant for 
amputees, because the amputees were opposition PMDC party members (see 
Section 1.f.).

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The ethnically diverse 
population consists of about 18 ethnic groups of African origin, many 
of whom speak distinct primary languages and who were concentrated 
outside urban areas. In addition there are significant Lebanese and 
Indian minorities, and small groups of European and Pakistani origin. 
Little ethnic segregation was apparent in urban areas, where 
interethnic marriage was common. The two largest ethnic groups were the 
Temne in the North and the Mende in the South. These groups each 
constituted an estimated 30 percent of the population; however, the 
Krio, who constituted 10 percent of the population, have historically 
dominated the civil service and judiciary. Strong ethnic loyalties, 
bias, and stereotypes existed among all ethnic groups. The Temne and 
Mende have historically vied for political power, and the violence 
during the 11-year civil war had some ethnic undertones. For example, 
the Minorities At Risk Project reported that although the RUF did not 
specifically advocate for Temne issues, ethnic Temnes predominated in 
the RUF leadership and ranks. After the SLPP victory in the 1996 
elections, the RUF objected to what they claimed was Mende hegemony and 
that the Mende-dominated SLPP government used ethnic criteria in 
appointing ministers to marginalize non-Mendes. Although the SLPP 
actively worked to counter this perception (President Kabbah is 
Mandingo), most citizens viewed the SLPP as a predominantly Mende 
party. However, during the year Temne cabinet ministers outnumbered 
Mende ministers. Ethnic loyalty remained an important factor in the 
Government, armed forces, and business. Complaints of ethnic 
discrimination in government appointments, contract assignment, and 
military promotions were common.
    On August 11, as many as 14 persons were injured in a clash between 
ethnic Limbas and Mandingos in a dispute over paramount chieftaincy 
elections in Biriwa chiefdom. Prior to the election, the Ministry of 
Local government altered the voters' list to add new tribal authorities 
(all Mandingo) and removed others (nearly all Limba ceremonial chiefs). 
The Limbas protested and ultimately refused to participate in the 
election, so the sole candidate, a Mandingo, later won in an election 
run by the Ministry of Local government over the protest of the NEC. 
After the election, the Limbas selected their own alternate paramount 
chief, and the matter was still in dispute at year's end (see Section 
3).
    Residents of non-African descent faced institutionalized political 
restrictions (see Section 3). Legal requirements for naturalization, 
such as continuous residence in the country for 15 years, or the past 
12 months and 15 of the previous 20 years, effectively denied 
citizenship to many locally born residents, most notably members of the 
Lebanese community.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no official 
discrimination against HIV/AIDS positive persons; however, persons with 
HIV/AIDS were stigmatized in society.
    The law prohibits homosexual acts, and there was both official and 
societal discrimination based on sexual orientation. In November 2005 
the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs 
condemned same-sex marriage at an Inter-Religious Council meeting.
    In 2004 prominent gay activist Fannyann Eddy was killed in her 
office. The activist's recently-dismissed domestic employee was 
arrested and charged with the crime. In July 2005 the defendant, along 
with approximately 24 other prisoners, escaped custody. At year's end, 
the defendant was still at large.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to join unions 
of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements; however, police and members of the armed services are 
prohibited from joining unions. The law also allows workers to form 
unions, although restrictions exist. Approximately 30 to 60 percent of 
the workers in the formal sector in urban areas, including government 
workers, were unionized, but attempts to organize agricultural workers 
and mineworkers have met with little success. In general labor unions 
joined the Sierra Leone Labor Congress (SLLC), but membership was 
voluntary. There were no reliable statistics on union membership.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination against union 
members and does not prohibit employer interference in the 
establishment of unions; however, during the year there were no reports 
of such occurrences. Complaints of discrimination against trade unions 
could be made to a labor tribunal, for example, by an employee fired 
for union activities and seeking reinstatement; there were no reports 
of such complaints during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government generally protected this right; however, by year's end the 
Government had not granted a bargaining certificate to the Civil 
Servant's Union, whose application had been on file since 1986. The law 
provides for collective bargaining, and the Government protected this 
right in practice. Collective bargaining must take place in trade group 
negotiating councils, each of which had an equal number of employer and 
worker representatives. Collective bargaining was widespread in the 
formal sector, and most enterprises were covered by collective 
bargaining agreements on wages and working conditions. Unions have the 
right to strike, although the Government could require 21 days' notice, 
and workers exercised this right in practice. No law prohibits 
retaliation against strikers, even for a lawful strike. The Government 
did not take action against strikers during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Under the Chiefdom's 
Council Act, individual chiefs may impose forced labor as punishment 
and have done so in the past; however, there were no reported 
occurrences during the year. They also may require villagers to 
contribute to the improvement of common areas, a practice that occurred 
in rural areas. There is no penalty for noncompliance; however, in 
March approximately 30 young men from two communities in Bumpe Chiefdom 
(Bo District) were fined approximately $100 (300,000 leones) each and 
incarcerated for three days because they had not assisted with a 
community road construction project.
    There were reports of bonded labor in rural areas, and debt bondage 
was common among the thousands of alluvial diamond diggers and miners.
    Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see Section 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law, and child labor 
remained a problem due to strong tradition and high levels of extreme 
poverty--defined as income of less than $1 (3,000 leones) a day--which 
averaged 80 percent in rural areas. By year's end, the parliament had 
not passed the draft omnibus domestic legislation to combat child 
labor, modeled on the UN's International Bill of Rights for Children. 
The Ministry of Mineral Resources enforced regulatory prohibitions 
against the worst forms of child labor. The ministry also was charged 
with protecting children working in the diamond mining areas; however, 
enforcement was not effective.
    The law allows children as young as 12 to engage in ``light'' 
labor, and employers have the authority to determine working hours.
    The law does not limit working hours for children; however, it does 
set health and safety standards. The law requires school attendance 
through the age of 12, but the Government did not enforce this.
    In rural areas children worked seasonally on family subsistence 
farms. Children also routinely assisted in family businesses and worked 
as petty vendors. Adults engaged a large number of street children to 
sell, steal, and beg. Because the adult unemployment rate remained 
high, few children were involved in the industrial sector or elsewhere 
in the formal economy.
    There were reports that foreign employers hired local children to 
work as domestic laborers outside the country at extremely low wages 
and in poor conditions. The Ministry of Social Welfare was responsible 
for reviewing the issuance of passports to minors, but did not do so 
effectively, and the prevalence of document fraud made effective 
government oversight difficult.
    There were reports that children whose parents sent them to friends 
or relatives in urban areas for education were forced to work on the 
street. There also were reports that adults asked orphanages for 
children to be used as household help.
    Many girls, particularly those displaced from their homes and with 
few resources, resorted to prostitution as a means to support 
themselves (see Section 5).
    Children continued to work in alluvial diamond mining, particularly 
in areas that were less accessible to government monitors. In many 
cases, children worked alongside parents or relatives. Children who 
engaged in diamond mining often abandoned educational or vocational 
training. According to an International Rescue Committee report 
completed in 2006 entitled, ``Child Labor and Education in Sierra 
Leone: Needs and Resource Assessment in Targeted Communities,'' the 
work was inherently exploitative.
    Bonded child labor was not prevalent in alluvial diamond mining. 
Some of the children who were hired by employers outside the country 
may have been victims of trafficking (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor 
laws. Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources mine monitoring officers 
did not effectively enforce rules against child mining in diamond 
mining areas.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage, 
covering all occupations, including in the informal sector, was set at 
$14 (40,000 leones) per month, which did not provide a decent standard 
of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor is responsible 
for enforcing the minimum wage, but it lacked the resources to 
effectively do so, and compliance was very difficult to monitor in the 
informal sector. Most workers supported an extended family, often 
including relatives who had been displaced by the insurgency in the 
countryside. It was common to pool incomes and to supplement wages with 
subsistence farming and child labor (see Section 6.d.).
    Although not stipulated by law, the standard workweek was 40 hours 
(60 hours for security personnel). Employers negotiated work hours with 
employees at the time of hiring, and overtime was to be paid if an 
employee's work hours exceeded the standard workweek. There was no 
prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.
    The Ministry of Health and Sanitation was responsible for setting 
and enforcing health and safety standards. Although the Government set 
these standards, it lacked the funding to properly enforce them. Trade 
unions provided the only protection for workers who filed complaints 
about working conditions. Initially, a union could make a formal 
complaint about a hazardous working condition; if this complaint was 
rejected, the union could issue a 21-day strike notice; however, no 
such actions were reported during the year. If workers were to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations without making a formal 
complaint, they risked being fired.
    The law protects both foreign and domestic workers; however, there 
were fewer protections for illegal foreign workers.

                               __________

                                SOMALIA

    Somalia,\1\ with an estimated population of 8.5 million, has been 
without a central government since 1991. From June to December the area 
that was traditionally considered the territory of the Somali state was 
fragmented into regions in part or whole presided over by four distinct 
entities: the Transitional Federal government (TFG), centered around 
Baidoa; the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (Islamic Courts) in 
Mogadishu and the surrounding regions; the self-declared Republic of 
Somaliland in the northwest; and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland 
in the northeast. The TFG was formed in late 2004, with Abdullahi Yusuf 
Ahmed as President and Ali Mohamed Gedi as prime minister.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     \1\The United States does not have diplomatic representation in 
Somalia, nor were U.S. Government personnel permitted to travel into 
any of the territory of the former state of Somalia during the year. 
This report draws in large part on non-US Government sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Civilian authorities generally did not maintain effective control 
of the security forces in any area of the country, although elected 
civilian authorities in Somaliland and Puntland maintained some control 
over security forces in their respective regions.
    In January TFG President Yusuf and former Speaker of Parliament 
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan agreed to unite the Government by convening 
the 275-member clan-based Parliament. In February the TFG moved to 
Baidoa and the Parliament held its first session; however, TFG unity 
was short-lived due to continuing divisions within the Government and a 
subsequent military conflict with the Islamic Courts. In February a 
group of ministers of the TFG, businessmen, and faction leaders 
announced the formation of the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and 
Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) to fight terrorism and stabilize the country. 
Fighting between warlords associated with the ARPCT and the Islamic 
Courts escalated until June, when the Islamic Courts succeeded in their 
military takeover of Mogadishu. NGOs reported that more than 350 
civilians were killed in the fighting, and thousands were wounded. In 
December Ethiopian forces entered the country in support of the TFG, 
resulting in the withdrawal of the Islamic Courts from Mogadishu and 
the complete breakdown of the Islamic Courts as an entity. The TFG 
extended its territorial control to Mogadishu. Sporadic fighting 
between the Islamic Courts and Ethiopian forces supporting the TFG was 
continuing at year's end, primarily in remote areas of southern Somalia 
near the Kenyan border.
    The country's poor human rights situation deteriorated further 
during the year, exacerbated by the absence of effective governance 
institutions or the rule of law, the widespread availability of small 
arms, and ongoing conflicts. The larger clans had armed militias at 
their disposal; personal quarrels, clan disputes, and other minor 
disputes frequently escalated into killings (with impunity from legal 
accountability).
    The following human rights abuses were reported during the year: 
abridgment of citizens' right to change their government; unlawful and 
politically motivated killings; kidnapping, torture, rape, and 
beatings; harsh and life threatening prison conditions; arbitrary 
arrest and detention; impunity; denial of fair trial; limited privacy 
rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, 
association, religion, and movement; discrimination and violence 
against women, including rapes; female genital mutilation (FGM); child 
abuse; recruitment of child soldiers; trafficking in persons; abuse and 
discrimination against clan and religious minorities; restrictions on 
workers' rights; forced labor, including by children; and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Since the collapse 
of the Government in 1991, tens of thousands of persons, mostly 
noncombatants, have died in interfactional and interclan fighting. 
Incidents of arbitrary deprivation of life occurred in numerous 
contexts: factional militias fighting for political power and control 
of territory and resources, including revenge reprisals; criminal 
activities and banditry; private disputes over property and marriage; 
and revenge vendettas after such incidents as rapes, family 
disagreements, and abductions. The vast majority of killings during the 
year resulted from clashes between militias or from unlawful militia 
activities. With the breakdown of law and order, very few of these 
cases were investigated by the authorities and there were few reports 
that they resulted in formal action by the local justice system.
    In February Puntland security forces attacked the Puntland 
parliament building in Garowe in response to the seizure of the 
building by the personal militia of a cabinet member; four persons were 
killed.
    In May elders of a minority group accused the Somaliland police of 
unlawfully killing a member of their clan. In a subsequent protest, 
police allegedly used excessive force to break up the demonstration. In 
July police shot and killed a prisoner in Bossaso for allegedly 
attempting to jump bail.
    Security forces killed street children. At least two incidents were 
reported during the year of shoe-shine boys shot and killed by militia 
members or soldiers as a result of disputes over payment.
    In September forces aligned with the Islamic Courts shot and killed 
a teenage boy during a protest against the Islamic Courts following its 
takeover of the port city of Kismaayo. In October forces aligned with 
the Islamic Courts killed three wounded prisoners of war in the Buale 
District Hospital.
    Several deaths during the year were the result of random shooting 
by Islamic Courts militia as they attempted to impose strict social 
edicts, such as a ban on viewing televised soccer matches within the 
territory they controlled. In July at a cinema hall in Galgadud, shots 
fired by Islamic Courts militia killed two spectators watching a World 
Cup soccer match.
    In May Omar Hussein was publicly executed in Mogadishu by the 
Islamic Courts. Hussein was tied to a stake, hooded, and stabbed to 
death by the 16-year-old son of the man he was convicted of killing; he 
had been sentenced to death only hours earlier by one of the Islamic 
Courts.
    Excessive use of force by Islamic Courts militia resulted in the 
deaths of demonstrators during the year (see Section 2.b.).
    During the year hundreds of civilians were killed in inter- or 
intra-clan militia clashes. In January nine persons were killed in 
fighting between the Wagardha and Rer Kosheen subclans of the Marehan. 
In the same month fighting between two factions within the Warsengeli 
subclan of the Abgal resulted in 13 dead and 30 wounded in Mogadishu. 
In January fighting between the Sa'ad and Suleiman subclans of the 
Haber Gedir left 41 dead and 89 wounded. In February fighting between 
the Marehan and Reer Beidyahan, triggered by a dispute over grazing 
rights, resulted in 60 killed and 70 wounded. Also that month, in a 
dispute over water rights, fighting between the Beidyahan, a subclan of 
the Majerteen, and the Eli of the Marehan, a subclan of the Darood, was 
reported to have left approximately 70 killed and more than 100 
wounded. In March a 13-year-old boy was whipped to death by the Ifka 
Halan Islamic Court in Mogadishu for allegedly stealing from his 
employer. In April, in a dispute over control of a mobile phone 
company, seven persons were killed and four wounded in fighting between 
the Dabare and Geledle subclans of the Rahanweyn. In May three persons 
were killed and four wounded in fighting between the Hawadle and 
Murosade subclans of the Hawiye over water and grazing rights. In July 
fighting between the Walinwayne (a subclan of the Rahanweyn) and the 
Gadsan (a Dir subclan) resulted in four dead and six wounded. Repeated 
fighting throughout the year between the Bogol-Hore and Jilible 
subclans of the Rahanweyn over land rights and charcoal rights resulted 
in scores of deaths and casualties. In September, 21 persons reportedly 
died and 28 were wounded as Marehan and Suleiman subclans clashed over 
pasture and water in Galgadud region. In October six persons were 
killed and 10 wounded in fighting over camels between the Jilible and 
Bogol-Hore subclans of the Mirifle in Bakool region.
    Clan militias were also responsible for the deaths of children. For 
example, in June, in Baidoa district, three girls under the age of 18 
were killed by clan militia avenging the death of a relative.
    No action was taken against the responsible members of the security 
forces or militias who committed killings in 2005 or 2004, nor were 
there any developments in the reported killings due to inter- or intra-
clan fighting in prior years.
    Landmines throughout the country resulted in human and livestock 
casualties, denial of pastoral and cultivable land, and road closures, 
although the number of new mine or unexploded ordinance casualties 
appears to have been smaller than the 276 recorded in 2005. The 
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Landmine Monitor project reported 
that anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines were available in the 
country and could be bought at weapons markets in Mogadishu and other 
towns, and various factions used anti-personnel mines throughout the 
country. In January an explosive device at a school in Mogadishu 
reportedly killed two children and wounded five. In March one boy was 
killed and another wounded in the Bakool region while playing with 
unexploded ordinance they had found. By the end of April, centers 
supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had 
treated six persons injured by mines or unexploded ordinance. In May a 
landmine exploded in the Togdheer region injuring three children. That 
month the UN arms embargo monitoring group reported that the Government 
of Eritrea had delivered 1,000 antipersonnel mines to the Islamic 
Courts. In October 2005 the UN monitoring group reported that members 
of the TFG were involved in weapons transfers that included landmines.
    During the year one journalist was killed (see Section 2.a.).
    Attacks against humanitarian and NGO workers resulted in numerous 
deaths during the year (see Section 4). For example, in April a convoy 
hired to deliver humanitarian aid supplies was attacked in the Gedo 
region by militia from a subclan of the Marehan, resulting in the death 
of a driver and a passenger. There were many occurrences of looting, 
hijacking, and attacks on convoys of World Food Program (WFP) and other 
humanitarian relief shipments throughout the year (see Section 4).
    During the year there were a number of apparently politically 
motivated killings by unknown assailants. In January three senior 
military officers were killed in Mogadishu in separate incidents within 
24 hours of each other. In March a former senior police officer and a 
businessman were killed by unknown assailants on a bus in Mogadishu. In 
July Abdulla Derow Isaaq, the TFG minister for constitution and 
federalism, was assassinated in Baidoa shortly after mid-day prayers. 
Several arrests were made in the days immediately following, but no 
suspects had been charged by year's end. No suspects were identified in 
politically motivated killings from 2005 and 2004.
    In September an alleged suicide bomb attack occurred outside the 
parliament building in Baidoa in an apparent attempt to assassinate TFG 
President Yusuf. Reportedly 11 persons were killed and 25 injured as a 
result of the explosion and a gun battle that ensued in the chaos after 
the blast. In November, in what appeared to be another suicide bomb 
incident, six persons reportedly died and 10 were wounded when two 
vehicles exploded at a checkpoint in Baidoa. Several arrests were made; 
the motive for the bombing remained unclear.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances, although cases might be concealed among the thousands 
of refugees and displaced persons. Abduction was common and generally 
used to extort ransom money or as a tactic in clan disputes to attain 
political ends. The UN Independent Expert on Human Rights in Somalia 
(UNIE) noted in his September report that the incidence of kidnapping 
remained high.
    During the year there were numerous kidnappings by militia groups 
and armed assailants who demanded ransom for hostages. The majority of 
reported kidnappings were in the southern regions, especially in 
Mogadishu, where ransoms allegedly funded purchases of weapons and 
ammunition. In recent years UN staff or consultants have been kidnapped 
periodically in the country (see Section 4). In October a Thai national 
was kidnapped and held hostage in Puntland. Speaking to media, the 
abductors demanded the release of three Somalis jailed in Thailand for 
piracy. The hostage reportedly had not been released by year's end. 
There were no investigations or action taken against the perpetrators 
of any kidnappings during the year, nor were there any developments in 
the cases of kidnappings from previous years.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) prohibits torture. 
The Puntland Charter prohibits torture ``unless sentenced by Islamic 
Shari'a courts in accordance with Islamic law.'' However, there were 
reports of the use of torture by the Puntland and Somaliland 
administrations and warring militiamen against each other or against 
civilians. Observers believed that many incidents of torture were not 
reported. Prison guards beat inmates in prison.
    The Islamic Courts carried out public floggings that resulted in 
death, and other executions (see Section 1.a.). For example, in October 
two persons were publicly flogged in Kismaayo by the Islamic Courts for 
allegedly eating during the day and drinking alcohol during Ramadan. 
Security forces, police, and militias abused and beat persons during 
the year. During a 2005 mission to Somaliland, the UNIE noted an 
increase in police brutality in that region.
    In December Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail was sentenced to 20 years 
in prison. He had been charged in October 2005 with terrorism-related 
crimes against the state of Somaliland. Ismail (and 15 others arrested 
on the same charge) was accused of planning terrorist attacks during 
the parliamentary election campaign the previous month. His supporters 
alleged that he was tortured in detention, and circulated a video that 
purported to show him being tortured by Somaliland police. The 
Somaliland government denied the allegations of torture and called the 
video a forgery (see Section 2.b.).
    There continued to be reports of rapes committed by militia 
members. Factions used rape as a weapon of war to punish and intimidate 
rival ethnic factions.
    There were prisoners of war in Somaliland and Puntland. In December 
2005, authorities from Puntland and Somaliland exchanged 24 detainees 
from Somaliland and 12 from Puntland. The detainees had been captured a 
year earlier in clashes over the disputed Sool border area.
    No action reportedly was taken against Somaliland or Puntland 
forces, warlord supporters, or members of militias responsible for 
torturing, beating, raping, or otherwise abusing persons in 2005 or 
2004.
    Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening in all 
regions of the country. The main Somaliland prison in Hargeisa, 
designed for 150 inmates, held more than 700 prisoners. The UNIE had 
noted the previous year that in general Somaliland prisons lacked 
funding and management expertise. Overcrowding, poor sanitary 
conditions, lack of access to health care, and inadequate food and 
water supply persisted in prisons throughout the country. Tuberculosis, 
HIV/AIDS, and pneumonia were widespread. Abuse by guards reportedly was 
common in many prisons. Detainees' clans generally were expected to pay 
the costs of detention. In many areas prisoners depended on food 
received from family members or from relief agencies.
    Juveniles frequently were held with adults. The incarceration of 
juveniles at the request of families who wanted their children 
disciplined continued to be a major problem (see Section 5, Children).
    The Puntland administration permitted prison visits by independent 
monitors. An agreement between Somaliland and the UN Development 
Program (UNDP) allows for the monitoring of prison conditions. There 
were no visits by the ICRC to prisons in Somaliland during the year, 
but a Prisons Conditions Management Committee, organized by the UNDP 
and comprised of medical doctors, government officials, and civil 
society representatives, visited five out of 11 prisons in Somaliland 
during the year. The committee had not yet issued its report by year's 
end.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--In the absence of constitutional 
or other legal protections, various factions continued to engage in 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and there was no system of due process.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police were 
generally ineffective. Corruption was endemic within the various police 
forces. Members of titular police forces throughout the country were 
often direct participants in politically based conflict, and owed their 
positions to other politically active individuals. In Somaliland an 
estimated 60 percent of the budget was allocated to maintain a militia 
and police force comprised of former soldiers. Abuses by police and 
militia members were rarely investigated; impunity was a problem. 
Police generally failed to prevent or respond to societal violence. In 
December police officers, angry over lack of pay, reportedly exchanged 
gunfire with Presidential protective services during a visit of 
Puntland President Adde Musse Hirsi to the central police station in 
Garowe.

    Arrest and Detention.--Judicial systems are not well established, 
are not based upon codified law, do not function, or simply do not 
exist in most of the country. The country's previously codified law 
required warrants based on sufficient evidence issued by authorized 
officials for the apprehension of suspects; prompt judicial 
determinations; prompt access to lawyers and family members; and other 
legal protections for the detained: however, adherence to these 
procedural safeguards was rare. There was no functioning bail system or 
the equivalent.
    Arbitrary arrest was a problem. Authorities in all four separately 
governed regions arbitrarily arrested journalists during the year (see 
Section 2.a.). In September the male chairman of the Karate Club of 
Somalia and six female members of the club were arrested in Mogadishu. 
Reportedly all were imprisoned for anti-Islamic activities, and the 
chairman's head was shaved.
    Religious leaders were arbitrarily arrested during the year (see 
Section 2.c.).
    Arrested persons were sometimes held for extended periods while 
awaiting trial. Militias and factions detained persons for unduly long 
periods without trial and without charge.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The TFC provides for an 
independent judiciary, but there was no functioning judicial system for 
the TFG to administer. The TFC is intended to replace the 1990 
constitution; however, for many issues not addressed in the charter the 
former constitution still applies in principle.
    The TFC provides for a High Commission of Justice, a Supreme Court, 
a Court of Appeal, and courts of first reference; however, no such 
courts existed. Some regions established local courts that depended on 
the predominant local clan and associated factions for their authority. 
The judiciary in most areas relied on some combination of elements from 
traditional and customary law, Shari'a, and the Penal Code of the pre-
1991 government. In March, for example, an alleged killer from the 
Jeron subclan of the Rahanweyn was publicly executed by order of the 
Jeron elders in Wajid. In September Somaliland police executed three 
persons for murder after a court sentenced them to death. A fourth 
suspect in the case was released after his relatives opted to pay blood 
money in place of the death sentence. Under the system of customary 
justice, clans often held entire opposing clans or subclans responsible 
for alleged violations by individuals.
    Beginning in June the Islamic Courts began to implement public 
floggings and executions, ostensibly according to Shari'a law but 
without the due process protections afforded to an accused that would 
be considered essential elements of a fair justice system. Amnesty 
International reported that they did not meet international standards 
for fair trials.

    Trial Procedures.--The TFC provides for the right to be represented 
by counsel. That right and the right to appeal did not exist in those 
areas that applied traditional and customary practices or Shari'a. 
These rights more often were respected in Somaliland and Puntland, 
where authorities did not recognize the TFC and continued to apply the 
law of a regional constitution or charter, as well as the former 
government's laws.
    The Somaliland Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; 
the judiciary was not, however, independent in practice. Although the 
Somaliland Constitution is based on democratic principles, that region 
continued to use more restrictive laws from the pre-1991 regime. There 
was a serious lack of trained judges and of legal documentation in 
Somaliland. Untrained police and other unqualified persons reportedly 
served as judges. The UNIE reported that local officials had a tendency 
to interfere with legal matters. The UNIE also raised concerns about 
the Public Order Law in Somaliland, which reportedly was used to detain 
and imprison persons without trial.
    The Puntland Charter provides for an independent judiciary; 
however, the judiciary was not independent in practice. The charter 
also provides for a Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and courts of 
first instance. In Puntland clan elders resolved the majority of cases 
using traditional methods; those with no clan representation in 
Puntland, however, were subject to the administration's judicial 
system.
    The Islamic Courts' judicial philosophy was based on a strict 
interpretation of Shari'a. Initially each of the neighborhood courts 
was organized along clan lines to adjudicate both criminal cases and 
civil disputes. As the power base of the Islamic Courts grew, senior 
leadership tried to consolidate authority over individual clan-based 
courts, and in September courts began hearing cases regardless of 
kinship considerations.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees, although there appeared to be a 
political motivation to some arrests and detentions (see Section 1.d.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The inability of the 
judiciary to handle civil cases involving such matters as defaulted 
loans or contract disputes encouraged clans to take matters into their 
own hands and led to increased interclan conflict. With the breakdown 
of the rule of law and the lack of a coherent legal system or effective 
government, individuals were not afforded adequate protection or 
recourse.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The TFC provides for the sanctity of private property 
and privacy; however, looting, land seizure, and forced entry into 
private property continued in Mogadishu and elsewhere, with impunity. 
The Puntland Charter and the Somaliland Constitution recognize the 
right to private property; however, authorities did not generally 
respect this right in practice.
    In July it was reported that the Islamic Courts stopped a wedding 
in Mogadishu, and destroyed or confiscated the musical equipment.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The TFC and the Somaliland 
Constitution provide for freedom of speech and press. However, there 
were instances of harassment, arrest, and detention of journalists in 
all regions of the country, including Puntland and Somaliland. The 
Puntland Charter provides for press freedom ``as long as they respect 
the law''; however, this right was not respected in practice. Freedom 
House has ranked the country as ``not free'' every year from 1972 to 
the current year. Reporters Without Borders also gave the country a low 
rating for press freedom, although marginally improved from the 
previous year. Journalists engaged in rigorous self-censorship in order 
to avoid reprisals.
    In October the Islamic Courts announced a 13-point code of conduct 
for the media that effectively eliminated freedom of the press in the 
areas they controlled. Among other provisions, the code of conduct 
stipulated: media must not disseminate anything that could create 
confrontation between the people and the Islamic Courts; journalists 
are required to reveal sources; the media must not serve foreign 
interests; and journalists may not attend foreign seminars without the 
formal permission of the Islamic Courts. Later in October Abdirahim Ali 
Mudey, the Islamic Courts' head of communication and information, said 
the code of conduct for the media were only proposals and could be 
discussed. Media monitors criticized the Islamic Courts for banning 
music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, and the watching of 
international sports on satellite television. In October the 
International Federation of Journalists condemned attacks on the 
country's media, which included the forced closure of East Africa Radio 
in Mogadishu, where the Islamic Courts were in control, and the burning 
of newspapers published by Haatuf in Hargeisa, Somaliland, and the 
barring of foreign journalists from entering Somaliland.
    The print media consisted largely of short, photocopied dailies 
published in the larger cities and often affiliated with one of the 
factions. Several of these dailies were nominally independent and 
published criticism of faction leaders.
    Somaliland had two daily newspapers--one government-owned and one 
independent. There also was an English-language weekly newspaper.
    Most citizens obtained news from foreign radio broadcasts, 
primarily the BBC, which transmitted a daily Somali-language program. 
There were reportedly eight FM radio stations and one short-wave 
station operating in Mogadishu. A radio station funded by local 
businessmen operated in the south, as did several other small FM 
stations in various towns in the central and southern parts of the 
country. There was at least one FM station in both Puntland and 
Somaliland.
    Harassment of journalists continued in all regions, including 
detention without charge, assaults, and one killing. In June Martin 
Adler, a foreign journalist and photographer, was killed in Mogadishu. 
Adler was covering a demonstration organized by the Islamic Courts. 
Another international reporter covering the event witnessed a gunman 
shoot Adler in the back at close range before disappearing into the 
crowd. There have been no arrests in the case, nor were there any 
developments in the investigations of the 2005 murders of journalists 
Kate Peyton and Duniya Muhyadin Nur.
    Numerous journalists were arrested and detained during the year. In 
October TFG security forces arrested three radio journalists accused of 
spreading pro-Islamic Courts propaganda and held them for nine days at 
a Baidoa police station. In September the Islamic Courts arrested three 
journalists working for the HornAfrik radio station in Kismaayo for 
broadcasting statements critical of their presence in the city. In 
November TFG forces arrested Abdullahi Yasin Jama of privately owned 
Radio Warsan after he broadcast a report indicating that Ethiopian 
troops had entered the Bay region and might be headed to Mogadishu. He 
was held for three days. Reporters Without Borders criticized the 
arrest and claimed that Yasin Jama was physically abused while in 
detention.
    Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled was arrested December 1 by Puntland 
authorities in Bossaso. He was held for establishing and broadcasting a 
branch of the Galcayo-based Radio Voice of Peace, for which the 
authorities said he needed prior authorization. He was released 
December 17 after the International Federation of Journalists and the 
National Union of Somali Journalists appealed on his behalf.
    In September the Islamic Courts closed down a radio station in 
Kismaayo, accusing the station of broadcasting false information with 
intent to incite the public to violence. Also in September the Islamic 
Courts shut down Radio Jowhar for several days after the station 
refused to stop playing music and songs. In October the Islamic Courts 
closed East Africa Radio, owned by Bashir Raghe, a warlord and former 
member of the ARPTC. That same month the HornAfrik radio station in 
Kismaayo was shut down for five days, allegedly for incitement to 
violence.
    The Islamic Courts made many threats of violence against 
journalists and photographers during the year.
    In Baidoa the TFG issued strict orders to local and foreign 
journalists not to photograph or report on the presence of Ethiopian 
troops in the country.
    There were no further developments in the 2005 or 2004 cases in 
which journalists were harassed or arrested.
    In November journalists based in Mogadishu established the Somalia 
Association of Professional Journalists.
    While the ban on independent television and radio stations in 
Somaliland remained in effect, there were indications that the 
authorities were loosening restrictions on independent television 
stations. In March the authorities permitted Hargeisa Cable Television 
to begin independent broadcasting of news, movies, and sports.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet, but the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu were reported to 
be monitoring Internet use closely. Internet use was widespread in 
urban and town settings throughout the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were two universities 
in Mogadishu, two in Somaliland, and one in Puntland; however, there 
was no organized higher education system in most of the country. There 
were restrictions on academic freedom, and academicians practiced self-
censorship. In Puntland a government permit was required before 
conducting academic research. Unlike in the previous year, there were 
no reports that academicians were prevented from travel.
    Cultural events were restricted by the country's instability and 
security situation. In areas controlled by the Islamic Courts there 
were restrictions on the playing of music. After taking control of 
Mogadishu in June, the Islamic Courts raided, shut down, and destroyed 
or confiscated equipment from movie halls and music venues, in an 
effort to suppress any form of artistic or cultural endeavor that the 
Islamic Courts deemed contrary to the tenets of Islam. In November all 
cinemas in Hiiraan region were ordered closed by the Islamic Courts.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The TFC and the Somaliland Constitution provide for freedom 
of assembly; however, the lack of security effectively limited this 
right in many parts of the country. The ban on demonstrations 
continued; nevertheless, numerous demonstrations took place throughout 
the country during the year.
    In September the Hargeisa (Somaliland) Regional Emergency Committee 
arrested 56 demonstrators--44 women and 12 men--and sentenced them to 
three to six months in prison. The demonstrators were protesting the 
alleged torture in prison of Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail, who had been 
charged in October 2005 with terrorism-related crimes against the state 
of Somaliland (see Section 1.c.).
    The Islamic Courts did not permit demonstrations of opposition to 
court rule or edicts. In September one person was killed and three were 
wounded during demonstrations against the Islamic Courts in Kismaayo. 
The fatality reportedly occurred when Islamic Courts militia fired in 
the air to disperse the demonstrators.
    Following their takeover of Mogadishu in July, the Islamic Courts 
began to impose strict social edicts. They used violence and 
intimidation to shut down public cinemas. Soccer was declared a 
``satanic act'' and playing it or even watching it was prohibited. In 
June a young girl and the owner of a cinema were killed when Islamic 
Court militia opened fire on civilians watching a banned World Cup 
soccer match on television. In September a 13-year-old boy was shot and 
killed in another raid by Islamic Courts militia on a crowd watching a 
football match. Also in September a man was killed and four others 
wounded in a clash with Islamic Courts militia who had ordered a cinema 
closed during a soccer match. In November Islamic Courts militia 
stormed a cinema in the Hiiraan region and arrested 25 youths who were 
watching a soccer match. The youths, some reported to be as young as 
10, had their heads shaved and were jailed.

    Freedom of Association.--The TFC provides for freedom of 
association; however, the TFC was not enforced during the year.
    The Puntland Charter provides for freedom of association; however, 
the Puntland administration banned all political parties.
    The Somaliland Constitution provides for freedom of association, 
and this right was generally respected in practice. Legislation 
governing the formation of political parties limits the number of 
parties allowed to contest general elections to three. An ad hoc 
commission nominated by the President and approved by the legislature 
was responsible for considering applications. The law provides that 
approved parties obtaining 20 percent of the vote are allowed to 
operate. There were three approved political parties operating since 
the 2003 elections.
    Professional groups and local NGOs operated as security conditions 
permitted. In October the UN withdrew staff from territories occupied 
by the Islamic Courts.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--There were no legal provisions for the 
protection of religious freedom, and there were limits on religious 
freedom in practice. The TFC, Somaliland Constitution, and the Puntland 
Charter establish Islam as the official religion. The Islamic Courts 
also made Islam the official religion in the areas they controlled.
    In Puntland only Shafi'lyyah, a moderate Islamic doctrine followed 
by most citizens, is allowed. Puntland security forces closely 
monitored religious activities. Religious schools and places of worship 
must receive permission to operate from the Ministry of Justice and 
Religious Affairs, and such permission was granted routinely. In 
February there was a report that three religious leaders in Bossaso 
were arrested by the Puntland intelligence services over alleged links 
to extremist activities. The three were later released, apparently in 
response to pressure from other religious leaders.
    According to the Somaliland Constitution, Islam is the religion of 
the Somaliland nation. Religious schools and places of worship are 
required to obtain the Ministry of Religion's permission to operate. 
The ministry must approve entry visas for religious groups, and certain 
unspecified doctrines were prohibited. In October, allegedly under 
pressure from Muslim religious scholars, President Dahir Riyale Kahin 
stated that Shari'a law would be applied in Somaliland; the 
constitution says only that Shari'a should be the basis for all 
legislation.
    Proselytizing for any religion except Islam is prohibited in 
Puntland and Somaliland, and effectively blocked by informal social 
consensus elsewhere in the country. Christian-based international 
relief organizations generally operated freely, to the extent permitted 
by the general security situation, as long as they refrained from 
proselytizing.
    Non-Sunni Muslims often were viewed with suspicion by members of 
the Sunni majority. There was strong social pressure to respect Islamic 
traditions. Organized Islamic fundamentalist groups, whose goal was the 
establishment of an Islamic state, were active in business and 
political activities throughout the country.
    Islamic religious leaders in Puntland or Somaliland who publicly 
opposed government policy on Shari'a law or spoke out in favor of the 
Islamic Courts increasingly came into disfavor with government 
authorities during the year. In October a prominent cleric in 
Somaliland was arrested after speaking out against the detention and 
alleged torture of Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail (see Section 2.c.).
    In November imams and opposition figures in Somaliland protested 
the alleged firing of two women in the Ministry of Information for the 
sole reason that they wore Islamic dress to work.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In September gunmen shot and 
killed a foreign nun where she worked at a hospital in Mogadishu run by 
an international NGO. The Islamic Courts arrested two suspects; the 
motives for the killing of the nun and her bodyguard remained unclear.
    The small Christian community kept a low profile. Christians, as 
well as other non-Muslims who proclaim their religion, sometimes faced 
social harassment.
    There is no known Jewish community in the country, and there were 
no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The TFC and the Puntland Charter provide 
for freedom of movement; however, this right continued to be restricted 
in some parts of the country. Checkpoints operated by militias loyal to 
particular clans or factions inhibited passage by other groups. In the 
absence of effective governance institutions, few citizens had the 
documents needed for international travel.
    In mid-July the Islamic Courts removed many checkpoints and 
roadblocks in Mogadishu, and residents of the city reported that as a 
result transport costs dropped considerably. For the first time in 15 
years residents of Mogadishu reported that they were able to move about 
the city freely and largely without fear for their safety or security.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile; however, none of the 
authorities used forced exile during the year.
    As security conditions remained relatively stable in the northern 
parts of the country, some refugees returned to their homes. According 
to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 1,300 refugees were 
repatriated to Somaliland from Djibouti, and 300 to Puntland from Yemen 
during the year. There were no reported returnees in the south of the 
country.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Reliable figures for IDPs in 
the country were difficult to obtain, but UN agencies estimated that 
454,000 were displaced because of internal hostilities. The Somalia 
office of UNHCR, based in Kenya, estimated that by mid-December an 
additional 407,600 had been displaced by the severe flooding that 
affected the southern and central regions of the country. Many of the 
IDPs resided in public buildings and temporary settlements. An 
estimated 250,000 were in Mogadishu; 18,500 IDPs were in Kismaayo, and 
the rest were scattered around the country.
    During the year more than 30,000 persons crossed the border to 
refugee camps in the Dadaab region of eastern Kenya, or moved north 
into Puntland, from which many attempted to cross the Gulf of Aden to 
Yemen.
    UNHCR reported that monthly movements to Yemen doubled over the 
2005 figure. In November 3,617 made the crossing. An effort in 
September by the Puntland authorities to interdict human trafficking to 
Yemen resulted in the movement of many IDPs south instead from Bossaso 
to Galcayo (see Section 5, Trafficking). A substantial number of these 
people may be more accurately characterized as economic migrants than 
as refugees or victims of trafficking, but no reliable data is 
available.

    Protection of Refugees.--The 1990 constitution and TFC do not 
include provisions for the granting of asylum or refugee status in 
accordance with the definition in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to 
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and there was no official 
system for providing such protection. The authorities provided some 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution, and in practice the authorities granted 
refugee status or asylum.
    The authorities in Somaliland cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    There continued to be reports of rape of Somali women and girls in 
refugee camps in Kenya during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    In the absence of effective governance institutions, citizens could 
not exercise the right to change their government. In most regions clan 
leaders operated as de facto rulers. Although many such leaders derived 
their authority from the traditional deference given to clan elders, 
they often faced opposition from intra-clan groups and political 
factions.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Transitional Federal 
government was formed in late 2004 and early 2005 following two years 
of negotiations in Kenya, led by the Intergovernmental Authority on 
Development. The Transitional Federal Charter serves as a guiding 
framework for the transitional federal institutions of parliament and 
government, which operate under a five-year mandate that expires in 
2009. In 2004 the clan-based Transitional Federal Parliament elected 
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the former President of Puntland, as 
Transitional Federal President, and he then appointed Ali Mohammed Gedi 
as prime minister.
    Throughout most of 2005 the parliament and government failed to 
function, but in January the President and speaker of Parliament 
reached agreement on a variety of divisive issues, including the 
movement of the TFG to Baidoa, where in February the Parliament met for 
the first time. In June, however, the Prime Minister fired four 
ministers for their military involvement in the fighting against 
Islamic Courts forces in Mogadishu. By July more than 40 ministers 
resigned from the TFG, and Prime Minister Gedi narrowly survived a no-
confidence vote. In August the Prime Minister, President, and speaker 
of Parliament initialed an agreement authorizing Prime Minister Gedi to 
form a new cabinet and government with a six-month mandate. In 
November, however, frustrated by what they viewed as the TFG's lack of 
commitment to negotiate seriously with the Islamic Courts, the speaker 
of Parliament and approximately 68 members of Parliament left Baidoa 
for Mogadishu for talks with Islamic Court leaders. At year's end the 
standoff between the TFG and the dissident parliamentary faction was 
overtaken by Ethiopia's incursion into the country and the assertion of 
TFG authority over Mogadishu.
    Somaliland has a constitution and bicameral parliament with 
proportional clan representation, and an elected President and vice 
President. The Hargeisa authorities have established functioning 
administrative institutions in virtually all of the territory they 
claim, which is the same as the Somaliland state that achieved 
international recognition briefly in 1960 before entering into a union 
with the former Italian colony of Somalia. In a 2001 referendum, 97 
percent of voters supported Somaliland independence.
    Presidential elections in Somaliland were held in 2003 with 
participation by three political parties: the Democratic United 
People's Movement (UDUB), the Solidarity Party (Kulmiye), and the Party 
for Justice and Democracy. The incumbent UDUB President, Dahir Riyale 
Kahin, won the election by a very small margin. Most international 
observers considered the elections credible and sufficiently 
transparent. Parliamentary elections were held in September 2005. In 
May President Kahin postponed elections for the Parliament's House of 
Elders and initiated a process to extend the mandate of the upper house 
for four years. Opposition parties declared the process illegal. At 
year's end the Government and opposition had formed a committee to 
address the constitutional impasse.
    The Union of Islamic Courts was a heterogeneous coalition of 
largely independent clan-based Shari'a courts that represent a range of 
religious traditions and political perspectives. As a clan-based 
organization, each 'court' has three main elements: a shura, or 
council, made up of respected leaders of the clan; a chairman appointed 
by the clan; and a militia commander appointed by the chairman and 
approved by the shura. The courts' resources came from private 
contributions, revenue from ports and airports, and taxation exacted at 
militia checkpoints. In 2004 an umbrella structure for the courts was 
established in Mogadishu, called the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts 
in Somalia. By late 2005, 11 clan-based courts had been established in 
Mogadishu. The chairman of the Supreme Council was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh 
Ahmed. From June to December, the Islamic Courts, although heavily 
dominated by the Hawiye clan, became the preponderate political force 
in Mogadishu and surrounding areas through force of arms and their 
ability to articulate strong nationalist and anti-Ethiopian rhetoric 
within an Islamic framework, while appealing to aspirations for a 
``Greater Somalia'' and the population's strong desire for law and 
order and opposition to warlordism. In December the Ethiopian military, 
together with forces from the TFG, launched a counter-offensive against 
the Islamic Courts throughout much of the south. The Islamic Courts 
were defeated and most of its leadership either fled or were killed or 
injured in combat.
    In 1998 Puntland declared itself a semi-autonomous regional 
government during a consultative conference with delegates from six 
regions who included traditional community elders, the leadership of 
political organizations, members of local legislative assemblies, 
regional administrators, and civil society representatives. Puntland 
has a single-chamber quasi-legislative branch called the Council of 
Elders, which has played a largely consultative role. Political parties 
were banned. General Mohamud Muse Hersi was elected President by the 
Puntland Parliament in January 2005. In February conflict erupted over 
a cabinet change, and the personal militia of a cabinet member briefly 
occupied the parliament building. Four persons were killed and one was 
wounded when the Puntland security forces counter-attacked. Most 
Puntland cabinet ministers have their own militias, which contributed 
to a general lack of security.
    Somaliland and Puntland continued to contest portions of Sanaag 
region, as well as the Sool region and the Buhodle district of Togdheer 
region during the year. Both governments maintained elements of their 
administrations in the Sanaag and Sool regions, and both governments 
exerted influence in various communities.
    There were 23 women in the 275-seat Transitional Federal 
Parliament; the number fell short of the requirement stipulated in the 
TFC that at least 12 percent of parliamentary seats be reserved for 
women. The minister for gender and family affairs was a woman, as were 
one state minister and three deputy ministers. In the Somaliland 
government, a woman held the post of gender and family minister and two 
women were elected to the lower house of Parliament. There were four 
women in the 69-seat Puntland Council of Elders, and a woman held the 
position of minister of gender and family. There were no women in the 
governing council of the Islamic Courts.
    There were 31 members of the minority Bantu or Arab ethnic groups 
in the 275-seat Transitional Federal Parliament and four in the TFG 
cabinet. The Somaliland parliament and cabinet had no members of 
minority groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was 
endemic throughout the country. There were no laws providing for public 
access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated in areas outside the control of the Islamic Courts 
without official restriction, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Authorities were somewhat cooperative 
and responsive to their views.
    In August a senior Islamic Courts cleric stated that the Islamic 
Courts did not recognize civil society groups or NGOs. In October, 
faced with broad public opposition, the Islamic Courts agreed to an 
accommodation with civil society groups and the Islamic Courts' Office 
of Civil Affairs and Regional Cooperation issued a statement calling on 
all civil society organizations to register by the end of the month. In 
November the Islamic Courts met with NGOs to discuss registration, and 
the Islamic Courts agreed to extend the deadline. A four-member 
delegation of the Nairobi-based NGO Consortium, representing more than 
190 civil society groups, traveled to Mogadishu to present the ICRC 
Code of Conduct to the Islamic Courts and to make the case for allowing 
humanitarian NGOs to operate in the country. The consortium negotiated 
an extension with the Islamic Courts to allow registration of all NGOs 
beyond the end of the year.
    Several human rights groups were active during the year, including 
the Mogadishu-based Dr. Ismael Jumale Human Rights Center (DIJHRC), 
Isha Baidoa Human Rights Organization in the Bay and Bakol regions, and 
KISIMA in Kismaayo. The DIJHRC investigated the causes of the 
continuing conflict in the Mogadishu area, conducted effective human 
rights monitoring, and protested the treatment of prisoners before the 
Shari'a courts. The Mogadishu-based National Union of Somali 
Journalists (NUSOJ) continued to advocate for media freedom throughout 
the country. The Mogadishu-based Center for Research and Dialogue, 
women's NGOs, and other members of civil society also played a role in 
promoting dialogue between the TFG and the Islamic Courts.
    Security problems complicated the work of local and international 
organizations, especially in the south. Attacks and incidents of 
harassment against humanitarian, religious, and NGO workers resulted in 
numerous deaths. There were numerous occurrences of looting, hijacking, 
and attacks on convoys of WFP and other humanitarian relief shipments 
during the year. In January an ICRC staff member was killed at his 
residence in Mogadishu by an unidentified masked gunman. In April a 
convoy hired to deliver humanitarian aid was attacked in Gedo region by 
militia from a subclan of the Marehan, resulting in the death of a 
driver and a passenger. In June a UN driver was stabbed and wounded in 
Garowe. In August a long-serving Somali staff member of the DIJHRC was 
shot and killed and a driver wounded while driving to Burhakaba after a 
meeting with an international NGO. In November two UN vehicles were 
fired upon in Gedo region; a UN staff member was wounded. According to 
the UN, there have been no investigations or arrests in connection with 
any of these cases.
    In recent years UN staff or consultants have been kidnapped, often 
for use as leverage by former UN workers dismissed by the organization 
and seeking compensation. For example, in March a UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) official was held hostage for 24 hours by gunmen allegedly 
acting on behalf of a businessman who claimed that the UN owed him 
money. Most hostages were released unharmed after mediation by clan 
elders.
    In February demonstrations against the cartoons depicting the 
prophet Mohammed that were published by several European newspapers 
turned violent. Demonstrators in Bossaso pelted the compounds of UN 
agencies with stones. Security forces guarding the compounds reacted 
with deadly force, leaving one dead and three wounded. Also in February 
it was reported that a hand grenade was thrown into the compound of a 
local NGO in Merka; there were no casualties resulting from the 
incident. In October the President of Somaliland issued a statement 
claiming that the Islamic Courts were responsible for carrying out 
attacks against humanitarian aid workers in Somaliland. In October 
demonstrators angry over hiring policies threw stones at the offices of 
an international NGO in Wajid before being repulsed by security guards. 
In November vehicles of an international NGO were fired upon in Gedo 
region.
    Attacks on NGOs also disrupted flights and food distribution during 
the year. In January clan militia stole 11 metric tons of WFP food aid 
from the Mother and Child Hospital in Baidoa that was destined for an 
IDP camp. In April one person was killed and another was injured when 
militia attacked a building in Baidoa where humanitarian food supplies 
were stored for distribution to drought victims. In May fighting broke 
out between local militia and guards at a food distribution center in 
the Middle Juba region, leaving three dead. In July two persons were 
killed and five wounded when conflict erupted between militia escorting 
a UN food convoy and local militia. In August part of a UN food 
shipment to Galcayo was stolen. Unlike in the previous year, there were 
no reports that pirates hijacked food aid.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The TFC prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender or national 
origin; however, societal discrimination and violence against women, 
and widespread abuse of children, continued to be serious problems. The 
Somaliland Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender 
or national origin, but these rights were not respected in practice.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem. 
There are no laws specifically addressing domestic violence; however, 
both Shari'a and customary law address the resolution of family 
disputes (see Section 1.e.). No statistical information was available 
on the extent of domestic violence. Sexual violence in the home was 
reportedly a serious problem, linked to general gender discrimination. 
Women have suffered disproportionately in the country's civil war and 
inter-factional fighting.
    Laws prohibiting rape exist; however, they were not generally 
enforced. There were no laws against spousal rape. There were no 
reports that rape cases were prosecuted during the year. NGOs 
documented patterns of rape of women with impunity, particularly of 
women displaced from their homes due to civil conflict or who were 
members of minority clans. Police and militia members raped women, and 
rape was commonly practiced in inter-clan conflicts. Traditional 
approaches to dealing with rape tended to ignore the victim's situation 
and instead communalized the resolution or compensation for rape 
through a negotiation between members of the perpetrator's and victim's 
clans. Victims suffered from subsequent discrimination based on 
attributions of ``impurity.'' Women and girls in IDP camps were 
especially vulnerable to sexual violence, contributing to the spread of 
HIV/AIDS.
    In Somaliland there was an increase in incidents of gang rape in 
urban areas, primarily by youth gangs, members of police forces and 
male students. Many of these cases occurred in poorer neighborhoods and 
among immigrants, refugee returnees, and rural displaced populations. 
Many cases were not reported.
    The practice of FGM is widespread throughout the country. There 
were estimates that as many as 98 percent of women have undergone FGM; 
the majority were subjected to infibulation, the most severe form of 
FGM. In Somaliland FGM is illegal; however, the law was not enforced. 
Puntland also has legislation prohibiting FGM, but the law was not 
effectively enforced. UN agencies and NGOs have made intensive efforts 
to educate the population about the dangers of FGM; there are no 
reliable statistics to measure the success of their programs.
    Prostitution is illegal; however, it was practiced. Because it is 
culturally proscribed it was not reported, and there were no statistics 
on its prevalence.
    In the country's overwhelmingly patriarchal culture, women do not 
have the same rights as men and are systematically subordinated. 
Polygyny was permitted. Under laws issued by the former government, 
female children could inherit property, but only half the amount to 
which their brothers were legally entitled. Similarly, according to the 
Shari'a and local tradition of blood compensation, anyone found guilty 
in the death of a woman must pay just half as much to the aggrieved 
family as for the death of a male.
    Women's groups in Mogadishu, Hargeisa (Somaliland), Bossaso 
(Puntland), and other towns actively promoted equal rights for women 
and advocated the inclusion of women in responsible government 
positions, and observers reported some improvement in the profile and 
political participation of women in the country.
    Women's groups were active in efforts to promote peace and 
reconciliation between the Islamic Courts and the TFG. For example, 
women's groups were part of numerous civil society delegations that 
visited both the TFG and Islamic Courts to urge a return to the 
Khartoum talks.

    Children.--The authorities were generally not meaningfully 
committed to children's rights and welfare. An estimated 28 percent of 
the school-age population attended school, according to a recent UNICEF 
school survey: 34 percent of boys and 22 percent of girls. Overall 
enrollment rates appear to show a rising trend in recent years, with 
considerable regional variation. Since the collapse of the state in 
1991, education services have been revived in various forms: a 
traditional system of Koranic schools; public primary and secondary 
school systems financed by communities, foreign donors, and the 
administrations in Somaliland and Puntland; a system of Islamic 
charity-run schools; and a number of privately run primary and 
secondary schools, universities and vocational training institutes. Few 
children who entered primary school went on to complete secondary 
school. Schools at all levels lacked textbooks, laboratory equipment, 
toilets, and running water. Teachers were poorly qualified and poorly 
paid; many relied entirely on community support for payment. The 
literacy rate was estimated at 25 percent. There was a continued influx 
of foreign teachers into the country to teach in private Koranic and 
Madrassa schools. These schools were inexpensive and provided basic 
education; however, there were reports that they required veiling of 
small girls and other conservative Islamic practices not traditionally 
found in the local culture.
    Medical care was rudimentary; only a small percentage of children 
had access to adequate medical care. There was a chronic lack of 
qualified health professionals, weak management of health services, 
inadequate resources and infrastructure to support a public health 
system, an urban bias in provision of healthcare, and an ineffective 
drug certification regime.
    No statistics were available on the prevalence of child abuse in 
the country; however, it was a serious problem. A 2003 UNICEF report 
noted that nearly a third of all displaced children reported rape as a 
problem within their family, compared to 17 percent of children in the 
general population.
    FGM was performed on almost all girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Children remained among the chief victims of the continuing 
societal violence. From March to July in Mogadishu, more than 30 
children were reported killed as a result of the conflict between the 
ARPCT and the Islamic Courts. Boys as young as 14 or 15 participated in 
militia attacks, and many youths were members of the marauding gangs 
known as moryaan (parasites or maggots). The UN's annual report on 
Children and Armed Conflict documented grave violations against 
children in the country. The report focused on violations 
systematically committed against children: killing and maiming; 
recruitment and use of children as soldiers; attacks on schools and 
hospitals; rape and other severe sexual violence against children; 
abduction; and denial of humanitarian access.
    UNICEF reported that street children and other children employed in 
markets and other public settings were particularly vulnerable to 
violence, including from security forces. Disputes over the buying and 
selling of khat (a green leaf chewed for its narcotic effect) led to 
several killings of children during the year. In January in the Hiiran 
region, a 13-year-old boy was shot dead because of a quarrel over khat. 
In April in the Galgudud region seven children were killed by militia 
in several incidents involving procurement of khat. In September in the 
Bay region a 15-year-old boy was killed when the khat market where he 
was working was attacked by armed militia, who fired indiscriminately 
into the crowd. It could not be determined whether there were 
investigations or arrests by the authorities in any of these cases.
    The Somaliland Constitution contains no minimum age for recruitment 
into the armed forces, but there were no reports of minors in its 
forces. An inadequate system of birth registration made it difficult to 
establish the exact age of recruits.
    The recruitment and use of children in militias and other fighting 
forces is a longstanding practice in the country, and recruitment of 
children increased significantly during the year. UNICEF reported that 
children as young as 11 were found at checkpoints and in the vehicles 
of various parties to the conflict in Mogadishu. The militias of 
warlords Abdi Qeybdid and Musa Sudi Yalahow recruited children as young 
as 13. The Islamic Courts, in the name of jihad, significantly 
increased the identification and training of new recruits and publicly 
declared their intention to recruit from schools. In September 
headmasters from Mogadishu schools were summoned to meetings at which 
they were required to commit to a quota of children from each school 
for a three-to-six-month training. In October recruitment of boys and 
girls from schools in Mogadishu began. UNICEF reported that students 
would be forcibly conscripted if there were not enough volunteers.
    In his 2006 report the UNIE expressed concern about the practice of 
asi walid, a custom whereby parents place their children in prison for 
disciplinary purposes and without any legal procedure. Many of these 
juveniles were incarcerated with adults (see Section 1.c.).
    Child prostitution was practiced; however, because it is culturally 
proscribed and was not reported, no statistics were available on its 
prevalence.
    Trafficking in children for forced labor was a serious problem.
    Child labor was also a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    The pre-1991 law prohibits trafficking. The TFC does not explicitly 
prohibit trafficking. Information regarding trafficking in the 
country's territory is extremely difficult to obtain or verify; 
however, the Somali territory was known to be a source, transit, and 
possibly destination country for trafficked women and children, and 
there were reports of trafficking during the year. Ethiopian women were 
believed to be trafficked to and through the country to the Middle East 
for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Armed militias reportedly also 
trafficked Somali women and children for forced labor or sexual 
exploitation, and some of those victims also may have been trafficked 
to the Middle East and Europe. Trafficking networks were reported to be 
involved in transporting child victims to South Africa for sexual 
exploitation.
    Puntland was noted by human rights organizations as an entry point 
for trafficking. The UNIE reported that trafficking in persons remained 
rampant and that the lack of an effective authority to police the 
country's long coastline contributed to trafficking. Various forms of 
trafficking are prohibited under some interpretations of Shari'a and 
customary law, but there was no unified policing in the country to 
interdict these practices, nor any effective justice system for the 
prosecution of traffickers.
    There continued to be reports that children were sent out of the 
country to relatives and friends in western countries, where they 
worked or collected welfare and sent money back to family members in 
the country.
    At various times, political authorities in the regional 
administrations of Somaliland and Puntland expressed a commitment to 
address trafficking, but corruption and lack of resources prevented the 
development of effective policies and programs. Many of these 
individuals were known to condone human trafficking. No resources were 
devoted to trafficking prevention or to victim protection. There were 
no reports of trafficking-related arrests or prosecutions. Somaliland 
and Puntland officials were not trained to identify or assist 
trafficking victims. NGOs worked with IDPs, some of whom may have been 
trafficking victims.
    In the absence of functioning governance institutions, the needs of 
persons with disabilities were not addressed. Several local NGOs in 
Somaliland provided services for persons with disabilities. 
Associations of disabled persons reported numerous cases of 
discrimination to the UNIE.
    There was widespread abuse of persons with mental illness. It was 
common for such persons to be chained to a tree or within their homes.
    More than 85 percent of the population shared a common ethnic 
heritage, religion, and nomad-influenced culture. In most areas members 
of groups other than the predominant clan were excluded from effective 
participation in governing institutions and were subject to 
discrimination in employment, judicial proceedings, and access to 
public services.
    Minority groups and low-caste clans included the Bantu (the largest 
minority group), the Benadiri, Rer Hamar, Brawanese, Swahili, Tumal, 
Yibir, Yaxar, Madhiban, Hawrarsame, Muse Dheryo, and Faqayaqub. The 
UNIE estimated that minority groups may constitute a higher percentage 
of the population than previously thought--perhaps as many as two 
million persons (around 22 percent of the estimated population). In the 
absence of any census data for the past 30 years any demographic 
statement can only be an estimate. Intermarriage between minority 
groups and mainstream clans was restricted. Minority groups had no 
armed militias and continued to be disproportionately subject to 
killings, torture, rapes, kidnappings for ransom, and looting of land 
and property with impunity by faction militias and majority clan 
members. Many minority communities continued to live in deep poverty 
and to suffer from numerous forms of discrimination and exclusion.
    Bossaso is a primary transit point for the smuggling of humans from 
the Horn of Africa to Yemen. In April, 39 Somali and Ethiopian illegal 
migrants, some of whom are thought to have been victims of trafficking, 
died off the coast of Yemen, reportedly after being thrown overboard by 
the smugglers.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The 1990 constitution and the TFC 
provide for workers to form and join unions. The Puntland Charter and 
the Somaliland Constitution also protect workers' freedom of 
association. However, labor laws remain unenforced, resulting in an 
absence of effective protection for workers' rights because of the 
civil war and factional fighting. The government-controlled General 
Federation of Somali Trade Unions, once the country's single labor 
confederation, disintegrated in 1991, and there have been few 
functioning unions or employer organizations since. In 2002 the 
National Union of Somali Journalists was created and has been 
registered as a trade union. There were no reports of the Islamic 
Courts taking action to improve workers' rights in the areas under its 
control.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The TFC would 
allow unions to conduct their activities without interference and grant 
workers the right to strike. Wages and work conditions in the 
traditional culture were established largely on the basis of ad hoc 
arrangements based on supply, demand, and the influence of the worker's 
clan. There are no export processing zones.
    In August 2005 the Somali Journalists Network met in a general 
assembly for the first time in 15 years and amended their constitution 
to form the NUSOJ, which is a self-described trade union. In June 
Islamic Courts militia raided and shut down the NUSOJ office in 
Mogadishu, threatening members of the NUSOJ executive committee with 
death if they did not leave the office and confiscating the union's 
financial documents, archives, and union seal. The Islamic Courts later 
returned the organization's materials and NUSOJ resumed activity. In 
December NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk was arrested as he was 
trying to board an international flight. He was detained by the Islamic 
Courts for 12 hours and released. At year's end his confiscated 
passport and computer had not been returned.
    The Somaliland Trade Union Organization (SOLTUO), formed in 2004, 
claimed to have 26,000 members representing 21 individual unions. It 
has received assistance from the International Labor Organization (ILO) 
and claims to be democratic and independent. However, there were no 
reports of activities undertaken by the SOLTUO during the year.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The pre-1991 Penal 
Code and the TFC prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by 
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see 
Sections 5 and 6.d). It could not be confirmed whether it continued to 
be the case, as had been reported the previous year, that local clan 
militias forced members of minority groups to work on banana 
plantations without compensation or that in Middle and Lower Juba and 
Lower Shabelle Bantus were used as forced labor.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
pre-1991 labor code and the TFC prohibit child labor; however, child 
labor was a problem. The country is not a signatory of ILO Convention 
138 on minimum age or 182 on worst forms of child labor.
    There were reports of militias recruiting children, and reports 
that the Islamic Courts used child soldiers in recruiting efforts and 
rallies (see Section 5). Formal employment of children was rare, but 
young persons commonly were employed in herding, agriculture, and 
household labor from an early age. UNICEF estimated that from 1999 to 
2005, 36 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were in 
the workforce--31 percent of males and 41 percent of females; however, 
it was believed that the actual percentage was even higher. The lack of 
educational opportunities and severely depressed economic conditions 
contributed to the prevalence of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions for Work.--Although the TFC and the 
Somaliland Constitution both include provisions for acceptable working 
conditions, there was no organized effort by any of the factions or de 
facto regional administrations to monitor acceptable conditions of work 
during the year. There is no national minimum wage. With an estimated 
43 percent of the population living in extreme poverty, earning a per 
capita income of less than $1 (approximately 1,700 Somali shillings) 
per day, there was no mechanism to attain a decent standard of living 
for workers and their families.

                               __________

                              SOUTH AFRICA

    South Africa is a multiparty parliamentary democracy in which 
constitutional power is shared between the President and the 
parliament. The country has a population of approximately 47.4 million. 
President Thabo Mbeki led the African National Congress (ANC) party, 
which increased its seats to 279 in the 400-seat National Assembly 
after a free and fair national election in 2004. Parliament, in turn, 
elected the President. The civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, the Government, nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs), and local media reported the following serious human rights 
problems: police use of excessive force against suspects and detainees, 
which resulted in deaths and injuries; vigilante violence and mob 
justice; abuse of prisoners, including beatings and rape, and severe 
overcrowding of prisons; lengthy delays in trials and prolonged 
pretrial detention; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; pervasive 
violence against women and children and societal discrimination against 
women and persons with disabilities; trafficking in persons; violence 
resulting from racial and ethnic tensions and conflicts with 
foreigners; and child labor, including forced child labor and child 
prostitution.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents; 
however, police use of lethal force during apprehensions resulted in a 
significant number of deaths, and deaths in police custody were a 
problem. The Government investigated and punished some abusers.
    According to the Governmental Independent Complaints Directorate 
(ICD), there were 621 deaths in police custody or as a result of police 
action during the period from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2006, a 5 
percent decrease from the previous year; 267 of the deaths reported 
were identified as the result of natural causes, suicide, or from 
injuries sustained prior to detention.
    The ICD reported ``a worrying trend of on-going misuse and abuse of 
service issue firearms'' by off-duty South Africa Police Service (SAPS) 
members ``in disputes and circumstances totally unrelated to the 
business of the SAPS.'' ICD's 2006 Report also noted a number of 
incidents resulting in deaths due to ``excessive use of force by 
members of SAPS in which some of the suspects were unarmed and 
attempting to flee from arrest.''
    Political violence between ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 
supporters in KwaZulu-Natal resulted in deaths prior to the March 1 
local government elections. On March 4, newly-elected ANC councilor 
Zakhele Cele and two ANC members were shot and killed in Shobashobane. 
Three suspects, including an IFP candidate, were arrested and the 
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    On June 6, Estcourt Deputy Mayor Dolly Dladla and councilor Music 
Mchunu, both IFP members, were shot and killed. Police were still 
investigating the case and no charges had been filed at year's end. The 
investigation into the March 2005 killing of Zulu Royal Prince Thulani 
Zulu, chairman of the ANC's Nongoma branch in KwaZulu-Natal, was 
ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments during the year in the May 2005 killing 
of an IFP member who was campaigning in the party's by-election. The 
IFP had charged that the killing was politically motivated because the 
victim was hanging party posters when he was shot.
    Incidents of vigilante action and mob justice continued, 
particularly in Gauteng, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The 2004	
05 ICD Report recorded a 184 percent increase in vigilantism over the 
previous year. On March 19, a mob in Soshanguve killed a suspected 
robber and seriously injured his accomplice. No action was taken 
against the perpetrators in either case.
    There were no reports of killings by People Against Gangsterism and 
Drugs (PAGAD), an anticrime group with an antigovernment bias, but one 
ongoing court case remained from the numerous cases involving the 
group. PAGAD leader Salie Abader's suit against authorities for 
``wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution'' following his acquittal 
in 2002 for a killing was ongoing at year's end.
    There continued to be reports of violent attacks on foreigners (see 
Section 5).
    Killings and other violent crimes against farmers and, on occasion, 
their families continued in rural areas. Despite concern among white 
farmers that they were targeted for racial and political reasons, 
studies indicated that the perpetrators generally were common criminals 
motivated by financial gain. According to the 2005	06 SAPS report, 
there were 636 farm attacks and 88 farm killings in the 12 months prior 
to March 31. These figures have been similar for several years.
    In September 2005 white farmer Mark Scott-Crossley was sentenced to 
life imprisonment for throwing his black former employee, Nelson 
Chisale, into a lion's enclosure in 2004. Scott-Crossley's accomplice, 
Simon Mathebula, received a 15-year sentence for his part in the crime. 
Scott-Crossley has appealed his conviction. Mathebula cooperated with 
authorities and received a reduced sentence.
    In October 2005 Jewell Crossberg appeared in high court in 
connection with his alleged 2004 killing of a farm worker; however, the 
case was postponed until April 2007 for further investigation. 
Crossberg had told police that he had mistaken his victim for a baboon, 
but farm workers who witnessed the shooting said the killing was 
triggered by the victim's failure to report to work the day before.
    Muti killings--killing, especially of children, to obtain body 
parts for traditional healing--remained a problem. In August two men 
were arrested in Cape Town for the alleged muti-related murder and 
mutilation of 23-year-old Siyabonga Shasha. The investigation was 
ongoing at year's end. In 2005 the SAPS estimated that 150 to 300 such 
killings occurred each year.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
some police officers reportedly tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise 
abused suspects. Police torture and abuse occurred during 
interrogation, arrest, detention, and searches of persons' homes.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, resulting in numerous 
injuries (see Section 2.d.).
    Incidents of police harassment against foreigners continued, 
particularly during coordinated police raids on areas where foreign 
nationals resided. Some state hospitals reportedly routinely refused 
emergency treatment to indigent foreigners despite regulations that 
require providing such treatment.
    The press reported that many refuge seekers claimed that 
immigration personnel whipped, beat, and subjected them to other brutal 
treatment. Despite promises by the minister of home affairs to 
investigate such claims, no investigations had begun by year's end.
    As of November, 80 South African Defense Force (SANDF) personnel 
previously deployed in multilateral peace support operations faced 
criminal charges on allegations ranging from murder to sexual 
exploitation of women and girls. The Government had a ``zero tolerance 
policy'' for human rights abuses committed by SANDF members.
    The court martial of Air Force Sergeant Philippus Jacobus Venter, 
accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl while serving as a 
peacekeeper in Burundi, resumed in November but was not completed by 
year's end. The court martial had been postponed in 2005 after Venter 
allegedly shot and killed his two children, wounded his wife, and 
attempted suicide.
    There were deaths resulting from vigilante and mob action against 
suspected criminals, as well as acts of violence against suspected 
witches (see Section 1.a.). In Limpopo Province, where traditional 
beliefs regarding witchcraft remained strong, there were occasional 
reports of attacks on persons accused of witchcraft (see Section 1.f.). 
Traditional leaders cooperated with government programs and reported 
threats against persons suspected of witchcraft. In March a group of 
boys allegedly set fire to the house of a 66-year-old woman accused of 
witchcraft. At year's end the investigation was ongoing.
    There were incidents in which white employers abused their black 
South African farm laborers (see Section 1.a.). After Western Cape 
authorities refused to prosecute four white Rawsonville farmers accused 
of sexually assaulting female farm workers, the NGOs Congress of South 
African Trade Unions and the Women on Farms Project alleged a pattern 
of refusal to prosecute whites for worker abuses and demanded a senior-
level investigation. The issue was raised in the National Assembly on 
November 27, but no response had been received by year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Most prisons did not meet 
international standards, and prison conditions did not always meet the 
country's minimum legal requirements. The country had 240 prisons with 
a capacity of 114,500 prisoners; however, there were 158,501 prisoners 
in custody, according to the Governmental Judicial Inspectorate of 
Prisons (JIP). Prisons were overcrowded and understaffed, according to 
the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union. The 2005	06 JIP annual 
report noted that, with 27,992 fewer prisoners during the reporting 
period and 697 additional places, conditions in the majority of prisons 
improved. JIP indicated, however, that problems continued in some 
prisons, where severe overcrowding in some prisons led to poor health, 
with as many as 74 inmates occupying a cell designed to hold 16 people.
    According to the Judicial Inspectorate report, there were 1,554 
prison deaths in 2005, 1,507 of which resulted from natural causes, 
including HIV/AIDS. The remaining deaths were the result of suicides, 
assaults, accidents, or similar events. The Department of Correctional 
Services (DCS) estimated that nearly 6 percent of sentenced prisoners 
were HIV positive. This HIV infection rate was much lower than the rate 
in the general population and was therefore suspect. According to DCS 
reports, only 800 HIV-positive prisoners (of a total 6,400 such 
prisoners) were receiving treatment with anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy. 
In partnership with a foreign government, DCS conducted programs to 
prevent HIV/AIDS, care for victims, and treat some patients with the 
disease. In June the Durban High Court ordered the Government to 
provide ARV treatment to prisoners at the Westville Prison in KwaZulu-
Natal. In September after its appeal was dismissed, the Government 
agreed to comply with the court's ruling.
    Prison employees and other prisoners abused and assaulted prisoners 
physically and sexually. Detainees awaiting trial reportedly contracted 
HIV/AIDS through rape.
    Official corruption was a problem. There were credible reports that 
prison employees stole food and money from prisoners. According to 
NGOs, prisoners used drugs provided to them illegally by guards or 
other prisoners. In many cases offending police or correctional 
officers were suspended or expelled from their services for corruption. 
In October Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour announced 
that a total of 109 officials, including seven senior managers, had 
been investigated for corruption. Of these, 31 had been found guilty 
and fired, and in 26 cases the charges were dismissed; 52 
investigations were still in progress.
    The Jali Commission completed its investigation into allegations of 
corruption and sexual abuse in prisons in 2005 and released its final 
report in October. The 1,000-page report cited widespread 
irregularities involving prisoners leaving the premises illegally, 
nepotism, drug trafficking, irregular appointments of personnel, 
extortion, abuse of parole procedure, abuse of disciplinary inquiries 
and appeal procedures, educational qualifications fraud, and massive 
medical aid fraud.
    Human rights groups continued to raise serious concerns regarding 
C-MAX prisons, designed to hold the country's most dangerous criminals. 
Concerns included the Government's criteria for transferring prisoners 
from other prisons to a C-MAX facility and the restrictive, solitary 
conditions of these prisons.
    There were allegations of corruption and abuse of detainees by 
officials at the overcrowded Lindela Repatriation Center, the country's 
largest detention facility for undocumented immigrants. In July a riot 
erupted among Congolese nationals confined at the center to protest 
their lengthy detentions and alleged beatings by facility officers. 
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of detainee deaths 
at the center.
    Although the Government operated 13 youth detention facilities, 
juveniles sometimes were held with adults. There were credible reports 
that these youths were vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including 
rape. Pretrial detainees generally were held with convicted prisoners.
    The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions, including visits by human rights organizations. According 
to the JIP's annual report, independent prison visitors-including 
visits by prisoners' counsel as well as third-party visitors--recorded 
10,524 visits to prisons in 2005 and conducted 611,900 interviews with 
prisoners. The Judicial Inspectorate also visited all prisons 
regularly.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions; however, prolonged pretrial detention was 
a problem, and police arbitrarily arrested demonstrators (see Section 
2.b.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The SAPS, under the 
Department of Safety and Security, has primary responsibility for 
internal security. The SANDF, under the Department of Defense, is 
responsible for external security but also has domestic security 
responsibilities. The National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) 
Directorate of Special Operations--the ``Scorpions''--coordinates 
efforts against organized crime and official corruption.
    SAPS continued its major restructuring and transformation from a 
primarily public order security force to a more accountable, community 
service-oriented police force; however, it remained ill-equipped, 
overworked, and poorly trained. As of November, there were 125,521 
police officers and 32,948 civilians working in SAPS. The majority of 
police resources and law enforcement attention remained focused on 
wealthy residential and business areas.
    SAPS continued to create partnerships between local police forces 
and the communities they served. Municipalities also maintained 
metropolitan police forces in major cities under local control, such as 
in Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, and Cape Town. SAPS continued to 
have deficiencies in mid-level leadership and institutional memory that 
inhibited its overall performance.
    During the year the ICD received 1,643 allegations of criminal 
offenses committed by police and 2,855 complaints of misconduct, 
representing a 5 percent decline in allegations of criminal offenses 
and a 16 percent decline in complaints of misconduct compared to the 
previous year.
    Broad efforts to reform police practices continued; the ICD 
investigated reports of police misconduct and corruption. Reports of 
police killings, criminal offenses, and misconduct all decreased. The 
Government made efforts to address abuses with an official antitorture 
policy and training programs for police and SANDF officers that 
included a focus on human rights.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants in most 
cases and provides that every detainee is to be informed promptly of 
the reasons for detention. Detainees must be advised promptly of their 
right to remain silent and the consequences of waiving that right. 
Detainees must be charged within 48 hours of arrest, held in conditions 
of human dignity, allowed to consult with legal counsel at every stage, 
and permitted to communicate with relatives, medical practitioners, and 
religious counselors. Courts and police generally respected most of 
these rights; however, there continued to be problems with prison 
conditions and prolonged pretrial detention. Detainees must be released 
(with or without bail) unless the interests of justice require 
otherwise; however, bail for pretrial detainees often exceeded what 
suspects could pay. According to the JIP, an estimated 13,000 prisoners 
remained in detention because they were unable to post bail. Some 
school children spent more than a year in detention because their 
families could not post bail.
    Human rights groups, judges, and judicial scholars continued to 
express concern about the Criminal Procedure Second Amendment Act, 
which mandates minimum jail sentences and prohibits bail in certain 
cases.
    The Department of Justice 2005	06 annual report indicated that the 
backlog of court cases increased 11 percent over the previous year in 
district courts, and 2 percent in regional courts. As of September 30, 
43,588 of the country's 158,501 prisoners were awaiting trial. 
According to the JIP, prisoners waited an average of three months, but 
some as long as two years, for a trial.

    Amnesty.--The National Director of Public Prosecution continued to 
prepare cases against persons who were denied amnesty, failed to apply 
for amnesty, or were implicated in human rights abuses during the Truth 
and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process. In the first case, charges 
were brought against Gideon Nieuwoudt (who died of natural causes 
during the year), Johannes van Zyl, and Johannes Koole for the Pebco 
Three killing in 1985; however, the case was postponed to April 19, 
2007, by the Pretoria High Court.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and while the judiciary was generally 
independent, it was understaffed, underfunded, and overburdened.
    The Constitutional Court is the highest court for interpreting and 
deciding constitutional issues, while the Supreme Court of Appeal is 
the highest court for interpreting and deciding other legal matters. 
The lower courts include magistrates' courts, divorce courts, small 
claims courts, and courts of chiefs and headmen. Magistrates' courts--
including regional and district courts--have civil and criminal 
jurisdiction. The country also has a range of special courts, including 
the labor appeals court, labor court, land claims court, special income 
tax courts, special (consumer) court, sexual offenses court, and the 
electoral court.

    Trial Procedures.--The bill of rights provides for due process, 
including the right to a fair, public trial within a reasonable time 
after being charged, and the right to appeal to a higher court. It also 
gives detainees the right to state-funded legal counsel when 
``substantial injustice would otherwise result''; however, a general 
lack of information for accused persons regarding their rights to legal 
representation and the Government's inability to pay for these services 
remained problems.
    There is a presumption of innocence for criminal defendants. Judges 
and magistrates hear criminal cases and determine guilt or innocence. 
The law requires that a panel of lay assessors and a magistrate hear 
cases involving murder, rape, robbery, indecent assault, and assault 
leading to serious bodily harm. The two assessors may overrule 
magistrates on questions of fact. Magistrates also can use assessors in 
an advisory capacity in bail applications and sentencing.
    The Government operated 46 justice centers in the country, composed 
of the departments of justice, correctional services, welfare and 
health, and SAPS, to speed the administration of justice, reduce the 
court rolls, and alleviate overcrowding in prisons. However, serious 
delays continued to be a problem.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, there were allegations of police abuse during sweeps and home 
searches and other criticisms against government legislation and 
practice.
    During the year former National Intelligence Agency director Billy 
Masetlha was charged under the Intelligence Services Oversight Act with 
the unlawful surveillance of Saki Macozoma, and was subsequently fired 
by President Mbeki. Masetlha's appeal for reinstatement was rejected by 
the Pretoria High Court in December. The court ruled that President 
Mbeki's loss of confidence in Masetlha was a lawful reason for 
dismissing him. In April General Manager Bob Mhlanga, former counter-
intelligence chief, was also fired for his involvement with the 
unlawful surveillance of Macozoma. Deputy Director General Gibson 
Njenje, who was implicated with Masetlha, cooperated with investigators 
and was allowed to resign.
    The Regulations of Interception and Provision of the Communication-
Related Information Bill, which provides for state monitoring of all 
telecommunications systems for criminal investigations, including 
cellular telephones, the Internet, and e-mail, had not been implemented 
by year's end.
    The Promotion of Access to Information Act is intended to assist 
authorities in obtaining personal information and is used solely in 
criminal investigations; however, opposition parties and human rights 
NGOs objected to its broadly defined provision that enabled the 
Government to access an individual's personal information.
    Farmers continued to evict workers legally and illegally. During 
2005 the Land Claims Court rejected 25 percent of the 645 eviction 
orders it reviewed. The law requires that evictions be approved by a 
court; however, less than 1 percent of evictions involved a legal 
process, according to the NKUZI Development Association, a domestic 
NGO. NKUZI conducted an extensive national eviction survey which took 
more than two years to complete. The same study found that many farm 
workers were unaware of their right to legal counsel during eviction 
proceedings.
    There were reports that persons accused of witchcraft were attacked 
and driven from their villages in rural communities. The trial 
continued of the 13 suspected ringleaders in the February 2005 burnings 
in Northern Limpopo Province of 39 houses belonging to persons accused 
of being witches. Some survivors of attacks and their families took 
refuge in ``witch villages,'' without running water or electricity, in 
Limpopo Province.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights. Several apartheid-era laws that remained in 
force posed a potential threat to media independence. Individuals 
criticized the Government both publicly and privately without reprisal.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views, although some journalists expressed concern that the Government 
heavily influenced the media.
    Print media reached approximately 20 percent of the population. Due 
to socioeconomic and demographic circumstances, the majority of the 
population received news through radio broadcasts from the government-
owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and community radio 
stations.
    The SABC provided broadcasting in the country's 11 official 
languages and continued to own and control the majority of television 
and radio outlets. The SABC provided news coverage of the Government 
and the leading opposition parties; however, media commentators and 
opposition politicians continued to criticize the SABC for allegedly 
showing partiality in its coverage of government ministers or events. 
During the year the SABC was severely criticized for allegedly 
blacklisting several commentators deemed unfriendly to government 
policies, and for refusing to air a documentary considered critical of 
President Mbeki. A subsequent commission of inquiry determined that the 
managing director of the SABC News and Current Affairs Division 
excluded eight commentators for reasons that were not ``objectively 
defensible,'' but it found no ``definitively consistent pattern'' of 
exclusion based on criticism of government policy or the President.
    Low-power, nonprofit community radio stations continued to play an 
important role in informing the mostly rural public; however, they 
often had difficulty producing adequate content and maintaining staff. 
Government broadcast regulators regularly issued new community radio 
licenses and also withdrew a few for noncompliance with the terms of 
issuance. Two radio stations, Alex Radio and Radio Pretoria, were 
refused licenses in 2004, and subsequently challenged these refusals. 
At year's end Radio Pretoria was operational and on-the-air, while the 
appeal of Alex Radio was pending.
    The only independent television station, e.tv, reached 78 percent 
of the population. Satellite programming also was available.
    High-ranking government officials on occasion reacted sharply to 
media criticism and accused black journalists of disloyalty and white 
journalists of racism.
    Several laws remained in effect that permitted the Government to 
restrict the publication of information about the police, the national 
defense forces, prisons, and mental institutions. There were no 
instances in which these laws were invoked during the year; however, 
journalists and media managers considered them a threat to 
constitutional protections.
    The Foreign Publication Board reviewed written and graphic 
materials published in or imported into the country. The board had the 
power to edit or ban books, magazines, movies, and videos, and it 
regularly exercised that power, mostly regarding pornographic material. 
Journalists, media houses, and industry associations criticized efforts 
during the year to extend the board's authority to incorporate 
newspapers and broadcast media. A proposed amendment to the Films and 
Publication Act would allow for board review and classification of 
print and broadcast products, and fueled fears that the Government was 
seeking additional control over media.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic e-mail. 
Figures from Internet World Stats indicated that 7.4 percent of the 
country's population had ready access to and routinely used the 
Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, police forcibly dispersed several demonstrations during the 
year which resulted in injuries. Some of the demonstrations had turned 
destructive prior to police taking action to break them up.
    On April 13, police used rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration 
along the country's border with Swaziland, supporting human rights and 
trade union freedom in Swaziland. Seven people were injured and 25 
arrested, including five trade union leaders.
    On April 21, police in Pretoria used rubber bullets to disperse 
marchers protesting municipal boundary changes. No injuries were 
reported.
    No information was available on the outcome of the trial of three 
police officers arrested and charged in 2005 in the 2004 killing of a 
demonstrator in Johannesburg.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion; the Government generally respected this right.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasional reports 
of desecration and vandalism or verbal or written harassment directed 
against religious minorities during the year. There were approximately 
90,000 Jews in the country. While anti-Semitic acts were rare, a few 
incidents were reported during the year. For example, on January 8, 
approximately 30 gravestones were desecrated at the West Park Jewish 
cemetery in Johannesburg. The police questioned five suspects, but no 
arrests were made. In June a court convicted Gerhard Barkhuiz of a hate 
crime for painting a swastika and the phrase ``spiteful Hebrew 
bastard'' on the home of the son of a Holocaust survivor. Barkhuizen 
was ordered to remove all slogans and words from the wall and required 
to pay $285 (R2,000) to a charity of his choice.
    On May 18, the SABC ruled that Muslim radio Station 786 aired hate 
speech, including Holocaust denial programs. The station was 
reprimanded and warned of more severe consequences if it engaged in 
further such activities.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them.
    TThe law does not prohibit forced exile; however, the Government 
did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The law also provides for a broader definition of refugee 
status to be granted if a person satisfies the definition in the 1969 
Organization of African Unity's Convention Governing the Specific 
Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. In practice, the Government 
provided protection against refoulement, the forcible return of persons 
to a country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee status 
and asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Department of Home Affairs 
stated that as of June there was a backlog of more than 100,000 asylum 
requests.
    The NGO Lawyers for Human Rights criticized the Department of Home 
Affairs for allegedly not following the provisions of the Immigration 
Act and the Refugee Act. There were reports that police and immigration 
officials abused refugees and asylum seekers and that asylum seekers 
were repatriated immediately upon arrival at airports without benefit 
of formal asylum processing. Applicants for asylum and NGOs assisting 
refugees also reported that immigration authorities asked for bribes to 
process applications for permits to remain in the country. During the 
year the Government dismissed a number of immigration officials for 
corruption (see Section 3).
    Despite procedural safeguards, efforts to combat a growing illegal 
immigration problem occasionally resulted in the Government arbitrarily 
deporting illegal aliens, some with potential refugee claims. However, 
there were no reports of the forced return of persons to countries 
where they feared persecution during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through 
periodic free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The country held its third 
national election in 2004. Although largely peaceful, the election was 
marred by a few incidents of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal in the 
weeks before the election. The IFP registered a number of complaints 
with the Independent Electoral Commission, including excessive numbers 
of absentee ballots, posters being removed or defaced, individuals 
being threatened because of political affiliation, and other incidents 
of intimidation. The IFP challenged the legitimacy of the election in 
KwaZulu-Natal at the electoral court but later withdrew court action 
and accepted the election results.
    Thabo Mbeki was reelected in 2004 to a second five-year term as 
President and head of state; there is a constitutional two-term limit 
for the presidency. The ANC increased its parliamentary strength from 
266 seats to 279 out of 400 seats. The official opposition, the 
Democratic Alliance, increased from 38 to 47 seats. After the September 
2005 floor-crossing period, the ANC increased its seats to 293. Five 
new parties were formed and received enough votes to obtain seats in 
Parliament, making a total of 17 parties with parliamentary 
representation.
    Political violence between ANC and IFP supporters in KwaZulu-Natal 
resulted in deaths prior to the March 1 local elections (see Section 
1.a.).
    On March 1, local elections were held nationwide. The ANC 
maintained its majority with approximately 63 percent of the vote. The 
elections were mostly peaceful, but there were a few incidents of 
political violence (see Section 1.a.).
    In June 2005 President Mbeki named Minister of Minerals and Energy 
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as the country's first female deputy President. 
Women held 12 of 28 ministerial positions and eight of 21 deputy 
ministerial slots. There were 150 women in the 400-seat National 
Assembly and 19 women in the 54-seat National Council of Provinces 
(NCOP). In addition women occupied three of four parliamentary 
presiding officer positions, including speaker and deputy speaker of 
the National Assembly and deputy chair of the NCOP.
    There were approximately 140 members of minorities, (non-black 
citizens), in the National Assembly. There were approximately 20 
minority members among the 54 permanent members of the NCOP. The 
cabinet included six members of minority groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued 
its efforts to curb corruption, although the public perception of 
widespread official corruption, particularly in the police and the 
Department of Home Affairs, continued. The Government's anticorruption 
actions included ongoing investigations into the alleged misconduct of 
public officials, which resulted in numerous convictions during the 
year. At least 10 agencies were engaged in anticorruption efforts. 
Some, like the Public Service Commission, the Office of the Public 
Prosecutor, and the Office of the Auditor-General, are constitutionally 
mandated. The SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit and the Directorate for Special 
Operations (known as ``the Scorpions'') have dedicated units to combat 
corruption. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) under the Office of 
the President, investigated corruption in government departments and 
identified civil servants who are now repaying the Government for 
illicitly obtained income. The SIU was reportedly investigating 400,000 
citizens suspected of fraudulently obtaining social grants and pensions 
from the Government.
    The Office of the Public Protector investigated government abuse 
and mismanagement and served as the office of last resort for citizens 
reporting unfair treatment by government entities. The office handled 
an increasing number of complaints but was hampered by severe resource 
constraints.
    In March Bloemfontein's municipal manager and chief operating 
officer were found guilty of corruption charges by a disciplinary 
hearing and were fired. They appeared in court, together with former 
mayor Papi Mokoena, in October on criminal charges of corruption and 
fraud. The criminal case was ongoing at the end of the year.
    The Government continued to prosecute officials involved in 
``Travelgate,'' the ongoing scandal involving misuse of official funds 
by parliamentarians and their travel agents. Thirty-two current and 
former members of Parliament concluded plea agreements with the state. 
Five travel agents and three members of Parliament faced criminal 
charges of defrauding the Parliament and were scheduled to appear in 
court in February 2007.
    In November the full bench of the Supreme Court of Appeals 
dismissed the appeal of Schabir Shaik's conviction on two counts of 
corruption and one of fraud. He had been sentenced to 15 years in 
prison after being convicted in 2005 of seeking bribes on behalf of 
former deputy President Jacob Zuma, and for paying Zuma's expenses in 
return for Zuma's backing in business deals. Zuma was also charged, but 
the case against him was struck from the roll pending the outcome of 
the Shaik appeal. Following the dismissal of Shaik's appeal, the 
National Prosecuting Authority stated that there was ``a reasonable 
prospect'' that the charges against Zuma would be reinstated.
    In August former ANC chief whip and defense committee chairperson 
Tony Yengeni began serving his four-year prison term for defrauding the 
Parliament. Yengeni was convicted in 2003 of accepting and failing to 
declare a discount on his luxury vehicle from a domestic company 
involved in the arms procurement process.
    The Promotion of Access to Information Act provides for access to 
government information; however the Government did not always comply 
with the law. The Open Democracy Advice Center (ODAC) continued to 
report that many requests for information went unanswered or were 
answered outside the period provided for in the legislation. ODAC's 
2005 annual report noted, however, that a ``response to a request for 
information is more significantly about the requester than about the 
information or the agency'' from which the request is made. Many 
requests are unclear or poorly drafted, making a response difficult. If 
a government department refuses to provide information, however, the 
requester can launch an internal appeal. If this also fails, the 
requester may appeal a decision to the high court, a time-consuming 
process that excludes groups or individuals who cannot afford it. In 
April 2005 the Cape high court ruled that access to records of private 
donations to political parties is not reasonably required under the 
act.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. Many 
organizations participated in governmental bodies that gathered 
information and developed policies related to human rights.
    The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which was 
created by the Government but operated independently, was responsible 
for promoting the observance of fundamental human rights at all levels 
of government and throughout the general population. The SAHRC also has 
the power to conduct investigations, issue subpoenas, and hear 
testimony under oath. During 2005 the SAHRC issued reports on the 
treatment of the Khomani San-an indigenous minority ethnic group-and 
other human rights issues.
    The TRC, created to investigate apartheid-era human rights abuses 
and compensate victims, released its final report in 2003. Of the 
18,000 victims approved by the TRC for a one-time payment of $4,270 
(R30,000), 16,000 received payment in 2004, and 700 received payment 
during 2005 after door-to-door campaigns conducted by the Government. 
Remaining victims who had not received benefits by the end of 2005 had 
either not completed applications correctly or were believed to be 
dead. No further payments were expected.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the grounds of 
race, disability, ethnic or social origin, color, age, culture, 
language, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or marital status. 
However, entrenched attitudes and practices, as well as limited 
resources, restricted the practical effect of these legal protections 
in some cases. The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair 
Discrimination Act places a responsibility on the state and any person 
in the public domain to promote equality. The act addresses 
discrimination in a broad context in the workplace, health care, 
education, services, pensions, and other socioeconomic areas.

    Women.--Domestic violence was pervasive and included physical, 
sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse, as well as harassment and stalking 
by former partners. The law defines victims of domestic violence, 
facilitates the serving of protection orders on abusers, requires the 
police to take victims to a place of safety, and allows police to seize 
firearms at the scene and arrest abusers without a warrant. The law 
also applies to persons who are not in legal or common-law marriages. 
Violating a protection order is punishable by a prison sentence of up 
to five years, or 20 years if additional criminal charges are brought.
    Societal attitudes and a lack of infrastructure, resources, and 
training for law enforcement officials hampered the implementation of 
domestic violence legislation. According to NGOs, an estimated 25 
percent of women were in abusive relationships, but few reported it. 
Doctors, police officers, and judges often treated abused women poorly.
    The Government financed 25 shelters for abused women, but more were 
needed, particularly in rural areas. The SAPS has been converting Child 
Protection Units to Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual 
Offenses Units (FCS); as of March there were 66 FCSs. FCS investigating 
officers and other police officers received annual training in gender 
sensitivity. The Government continued to conduct domestic violence 
awareness campaigns.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, but remained a serious 
problem. According to the 2005	06 SAPS annual report, the incidence of 
rape decreased slightly from the previous year to 117.1 rapes per 
100,000 persons; of the 54,926 rapes reported, 31,101 were referred to 
court. A poor security climate and societal attitudes condoning sexual 
violence against women contributed to the problem. Amnesty 
International noted that the number of reported rapes was believed to 
be only one-third of the estimated number of actual rapes. Although 
judges in rape cases generally followed statutory sentencing 
guidelines, women's advocacy groups occasionally criticized judges for 
using questionable criteria such as the victim's behavior or 
relationship to the rapist as a basis for imposing lighter sentences.
    Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of black citizen and 
migrant female farm workers by farm owners, managers, and by other farm 
workers were common.
    The Government operated 61 sexual offenses courts throughout the 
country that included designated waiting rooms and counseling for 
victims. The Sexual Offenses and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA) operated 
10 centers known as Thuthuzela centers, which specialized in rape care 
management and streamlined a network of existing investigative, 
prosecutorial, and medical and psychological services in the hospitals 
where they were located.
    Exacting a bride price (``lobola'') was a traditional practice of 
some ethnic groups.
    Prostitution is illegal but was widespread and practiced openly.
    There were reports that women were trafficked to the country for 
prostitution or were trafficked to foreign territories such as Europe, 
China, and Macao (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, sexual harassment 
remained a widespread problem. In December the ANC expelled its 
parliamentary chief whip, Mbulelo Goniwe, following an investigation 
into allegations that Goniwe sexually harassed a party intern. 
According to press reports, several other women also came forward with 
similar allegations against Goniwe.
    Discrimination against women remained a serious problem despite 
equal rights under family law and property law with regard to 
inheritance, divorce, and custody of children, and equal legal rights 
under the judicial system. Women experienced economic discrimination in 
areas such as wages, extension of credit, and access to land. For 
example, township housing transfer schemes favored existing 
titleholders, who tended to be men. Many rural areas were administered 
through traditional leadership structures, often including a chief or a 
council of elders, who did not grant land tenure to women, a 
precondition for access to housing subsidies.
    Women, particularly black women, typically had lower incomes and 
less job security than men. Most women were engaged in poorly paid 
domestic labor and micro-enterprises, which did not provide job 
security or benefits. The Department of Trade and Industry provided 
incentive grants to promote the development of small and medium 
businesses and micro-enterprises for women, young persons, and persons 
with disabilities.
    According to a survey conducted by the Businesswoman's Association 
during the year, women comprised 41 percent of the working population 
but held only 16.8 percent of executive-level and 11.5 percent of 
director-level positions.
    Female farm workers often experienced discrimination, and their 
access to housing often was dependent on their relationship to male 
farm workers. Female farm workers on maternity leave who could not 
obtain timely compensation via the Unemployment Insurance Fund often 
had no choice but to return to work shortly after giving birth.
    A number of governmental bodies and NGOs monitored and promoted 
women's human rights. Numerous active women's rights groups focused on 
such areas as violence against women and the economic advancement of 
women.

    Children.--The Government was generally committed to children's 
welfare. The law provides for greater educational opportunities for 
disadvantaged children--traditionally black children--through a uniform 
system for the organization, governance, and funding of schools. It 
mandates compulsory education from ages seven to 15 and ensures that 
children cannot be refused admission to public schools due to a lack of 
funds. According to the July 2005 Statistics South Africa General 
Household Survey, 97.9 percent of children between seven and 15 years 
old were enrolled in school. Those not enrolled tended to be children 
with special needs. While there generally were comparable attendance 
numbers for boys and girls, a number of factors, including unplanned 
pregnancies, domestic responsibilities (particularly in rural areas), 
and gender stereotypes contributed to high drop-out rates and lower 
secondary school pass rates for girls.
    Each of the nine provincial departments of education had 
responsibility for the schools in their provinces, which resulted in 
the uneven distribution of educational resources. The disparity 
affected the poorer provinces of Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-
Natal most severely. The availability and quality of primary schooling 
continued to be a problem, especially in rural areas where schools 
often were not easily accessible. Farm schools, which are public 
schools on private commercial farms (13 percent of all state-funded 
schools), were among the poorest resourced. Many schools reportedly had 
problems of poorly trained teachers, inadequate teaching materials, 
long-vacant teaching posts, overcrowding, late pupil registration, and 
vacation-time vandalism.
    There continued to be reports of widespread rape, sexual abuse, 
sexual harassment, and assaults of girls at school by teachers, 
students, and other persons in the school community. The law requires 
schools to disclose sexual abuse to the authorities; however, 
administrators often concealed sexual violence or delayed disciplinary 
action. The level of sexual violence in schools also increased the risk 
for girls of contracting HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted 
diseases, as well as unwanted pregnancies. Many girls, some as young as 
four years old, were raped on school premises.
    Although the law prohibits corporal punishment in schools, there 
were reports that teachers used physical violence to discipline 
students. Student-on-student violence, including racially motivated 
violence, continued to be a major concern of educational authorities 
and parents. Teacher organizations, parents, and police worked together 
in the ``Safe Schools Program'' to address these problems. Many schools 
implemented ``Adopt-a-Cop'' programs inviting SAPS officers into their 
schools for training and security.
    HIV/AIDS activists, physicians, and opposition parties continued to 
criticize the Government for failing to provide ARV therapy to pregnant 
and breast-feeding women and thereby protect young children from HIV/
AIDS transmission. The Government responded to a 2004 constitutional 
court finding that it must provide programs to prevent the transmission 
of HIV from mothers to children by expanding the number of antenatal 
clinics providing nevirapine to HIV-positive mothers. Implementation by 
the national and provincial governments was slow, and the Government 
continued to raise concerns about the use of nevirapine mono-therapy to 
prevent transmission. The Government was unable to provide for the 
rapidly growing number of children who were affected by HIV/AIDS, 
including both infected children and AIDS orphans.
    Violence against children, including domestic violence and sexual 
abuse, remained widespread. While there was increased attention to the 
problem, a lack of coordinated and comprehensive strategies to deal 
with violent crimes continued to impede the delivery of needed services 
to young victims. According to the 2005	06 SAPS report, 23,453 children 
were raped, 1,075 were murdered, 20,879 were assaulted with intention 
to do grievous bodily harm, and 4,726 were subjected to indecent 
assault. Observers believed that these figures represented a small 
percentage of the actual incidence of child rape, because most cases 
involving family members were not reported. The country had a low 
conviction rate for rape and child abuse. The age of consent is 16 and 
the statutory sentence for rape of a child is life in prison; however, 
the law grants judges the discretion to issue more lenient sentences.
    The law prohibits virginity testing but was not always enforced. 
For example, virginity testing occurred in KwaZulu-Natal, especially 
related to the ``reed dance'' ceremony in which only ``maidens'' could 
participate.
    Despite outreach programs, adult male circumcision was still a 
prevalent initiation tradition in various parts of the country. 
Initiation practices, which included circumcisions, continued during 
the year. The House of Traditional Leaders attempted to address unsafe 
initiation practices and designed strategies to prevent deaths and the 
spread of diseases, such as HIV/AIDS. The Department of Health in the 
Eastern Cape provided 400 surgeons, 425 officials, and 80 vehicles 
during the June initiation season to monitor initiation practices. 
Nonetheless, circumcision deaths reported in the Eastern Cape during 
the year increased from 20 in 2005 to 23 during the year, according to 
press reports.
    Child prostitution continued during the year (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The Government continued to increase its social welfare programs to 
children affected by poverty and the loss of parents, and, according to 
the Ministry of Social Development, more than 5.5 million children 
received such grants during the year. Child support grants cover 
children up to the age of 14, but it was sometimes difficult for 
children, particularly those in rural areas or without documentation, 
to obtain access to health care facilities and other social welfare 
programs.
    NGOs provided shelter, medical, and legal assistance for child 
prostitutes, and a hot line for victims of child abuse. The Government 
donated land and buildings for various shelters for victims of sexual 
abuse, street children, and orphans.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--In June the President signed into law the 
Children's Act of 2005, which prohibits the trafficking of children, 
namely ``the recruitment, sale, supply, transportation, transfer, 
harboring or receipt of children, within or across the borders of the 
Republic.'' The penalty for violations of the act is up to a maximum of 
20 years in prison. However, there is no law that explicitly prohibits 
trafficking in adults. The Government used the Prevention of Organized 
Crime Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Refugee Act, the 
Aliens Control Act, and provisions of criminal law to prosecute 
traffickers. The South African Law Reform Commission conducted 
consultative workshops in all provinces in July in preparation for 
drafting a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, but no reports or drafts 
of the proposed law were issued by year's end.
    The law prohibits the commercial sexual exploitation of children, 
sexual intercourse with children under 16, or permitting a female under 
16 to stay in a brothel for the purpose of prostitution.
    The country was a destination, transit route, and point of origin 
for the trafficking of persons, including children, from other 
countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe for prostitution and forced 
labor. A substantial number of persons were believed to be trafficked 
annually. Domestic and international organized crime syndicates 
trafficked women into the country for the sex industry. Young men were 
trafficked chiefly for agricultural work.
    The extent of trafficking operations was unknown, but the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in 2003 that 12 
major routes for trafficking operations made use of the country, 
including Southern Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
    Trafficked women and children who worked in the sex industry often 
lived with other trafficked victims in segregated areas; were 
frequently under constant surveillance; usually had no money or 
identifying documents; were often in debt to the agents who arranged 
their travel; often worked long hours, in some cases up to 18 hours 
each day, and on weekends and when ill; and sometimes were fined by 
their trafficker for infractions of arbitrary rules. Young men 
trafficked for forced agricultural labor often were subjected to 
violence and food rationing.
    According to the IOM, several major criminal groups operating in 
the country trafficked women: Bulgarian and Thai syndicates, and 
Russian, Chinese, and African (mainly West African) criminal 
organizations. Traffickers also included citizens and African refugees 
resident in the country.
    In most cases traffickers lured foreign women with promises of 
employment, marriage, or educational opportunities abroad. Traffickers 
often lured the children of poor families with promises of jobs, 
education, or a better way of life. Victims, who could be kidnapped or 
forced to follow their traffickers, were subjected to threats of 
violence, withholding of documents, and debt bondage to ensure 
compliance.
    The NPA's SOCA section coordinated an interagency task force to 
develop and implement a strategy for dealing comprehensively with 
trafficking in persons. The task force included the departments of 
foreign affairs, social development, justice and constitutional 
development, health, and safety and security, as well as the NPA, SAPS, 
and local and international NGOs. In August during a workshop organized 
by NPA/SOCA, prosecutors established a rapid response team to address 
trafficking cases.
    During the year Amien Andrew was convicted for organizing 
prostitution and was sentenced to 51 years' imprisonment. In June the 
state successfully prosecuted Elizabeth Maswangane on charges of 
kidnapping and running a brothel for the purpose of luring three girls 
to work as prostitutes.
    Corruption within the police, immigration, customs, and private 
services at the airport impeded interdiction efforts. For example, 
traffickers reportedly bribed officials to help them move victims out 
of the transit area to avoid detection. The border police incorporated 
antitrafficking material into their training manuals, and both police 
and judicial officials continued to receive training in antitrafficking 
activities. However, law enforcement units handling trafficking 
problems were understaffed and sometimes corrupt. The country used its 
61 sexual offenses courts to handle trafficking cases and relied 
heavily on NGOs to provide witness protection. During the past two 
years, a few immigration officers from the Department of Home Affairs 
(DHA) were dismissed for involvement in trafficking. DHA officials 
reported that there were also dismissals for petty corruption.
    Some domestic victims of trafficking were placed in government 
facilities for the sexually abused. The government continued to fund 
private shelters that provided short- and long-term care to trafficking 
victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination on the 
basis of disability; however, government and private sector 
discrimination in employment existed. The law mandates access to 
buildings for persons with disabilities, but such regulations rarely 
were enforced, and public awareness of them remained minimal. The 
National Environmental Accessibility Program, an NGO staffed by persons 
with disabilities as well as service providers, had a presence in all 
nine provinces to lobby for compliance with the regulations and to sue 
offending property owners when necessary.
    The law provides persons with disabilities with protection from 
harassment and, in conjunction with the Employment Equity Act, also 
provides guidelines on the recruitment and selection of persons with 
disabilities, reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities, 
and guidelines on proper handling of employee medical information. 
Enforcement of this law was limited. The law also requires employers 
with more than 50 workers to create an affirmative action plan with 
provisions for achieving employment equity for persons with 
disabilities. The Black Economic Empowerment Act is law, and codes of 
good practices specifying company obligations under the act were 
approved by the cabinet, but at year's end they had yet to be published 
in the official gazette. Persons with disabilities constituted a tiny 
proportion of the public service workforce (estimated to be 0.02 
percent), compared with 5.9 percent of the general population.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law requires employers with 
50 or more employees to ensure that previously disadvantaged groups--
defined for legal purposes as ``Blacks''--including ``Africans,'' 
``Colored,'' and ``Asians''--are represented adequately at all levels 
of the workforce. According to the Department of Labor's 2005 
``Employment Equity Analysis,'' Blacks, while not a minority, remained 
underrepresented, particularly at the professional and managerial 
levels.
    Notwithstanding the country's antidiscrimination legislation, the 
2005 ``Employment Equity Analysis'' reported that racial imbalances in 
the workplace still exist and that only 28 percent of positions at the 
top management level in 2005 were held by Blacks. According to 2005 
data, approximately 53 percent of professionals were Black. The report 
makes it clear that Black women by far remained the most disadvantaged 
in terms of the number and quality of management or skilled jobs. 
Employers cited a lack of training and development, poor recruitment 
processes, and an antagonistic corporate culture as the main 
impediments to affirmative action.
    Blacks constituted 76 percent of the workforce in unskilled, low-
paid jobs. In occupations such as newspaper vendors, garage attendants, 
car washers, gardeners, and garbage collectors, Blacks accounted for 98 
percent of the workforce.
    In the armed forces, the officer corps remained predominantly 
white.
    The continued killings of mostly white farm owners by black African 
assailants created concern among white farmers that they were being 
targeted for racial and political reasons (see Section 1.a.). There 
also were reports that white employers abused and killed black African 
farm laborers, and complaints that white employers received 
preferential treatment from the authorities (see Section 1.a.).
    There were a number of attacks on foreigners, and anti-immigrant 
groups such as the Unemployed Masses of South Africa often blamed 
immigrants for job losses. In January three foreigners were killed and 
11 injured in clashes between South Africans and Mozambicans and 
Zimbabweans in Olievenhoutbosch following the alleged murder of a black 
South African boy by a foreigner. In August at least five Somali 
refugees were killed in Cape Town, bringing the number to 10 for the 
year. No arrests have been made.
    No information was available as to final disposition of the cases 
against 50 residents of Plettenberg Bay arrested in May 2005 in 
connection with an attack on foreign nationals living in informal 
settlements; one person was killed in the attack.

    Indigenous People.--The Khoikhoi, nomadic herders of cattle and 
sheep, were the original indigenous people in the country and have 
lived mainly in the southwestern Cape. In the 1970s the Khoikhoi were 
dispossessed of their native lands and dispersed throughout the 
country. Today only a few thousand Khoikhoi remain, some of whom work 
as farmers or as laborers on farms. Under the law the Khoikhoi have the 
same political and economic rights as other citizens; however, their 
participation was limited due to fewer opportunities, minimal access to 
education, and relative isolation.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The post-apartheid 
constitution outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and on 
December 1 the country legalized same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, there 
was some societal violence and discrimination against homosexuals, but 
unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of official violence 
or discrimination. Gay and lesbian rights NGOs alleged that abuse of 
gay and lesbian persons by police was still occurring.
    Although the Government conducted campaigns to reduce or eliminate 
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, the social stigma 
associated with HIV/AIDS remained a general problem. There were reports 
of the abuse of HIV-infected individuals by their families and 
communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and workers exercised this right. All workers with the 
exception of members of the National Intelligence Agency and the Secret 
Service were entitled to join a union. Union membership continued to 
decline steadily as a result of job layoffs in heavily unionized 
sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing. According to a March 
South Africa Labor Force Survey,total union membership was 
approximately 2.9 million persons, out of a total work force of 9.8 
million, or 30 percent of the total labor force.
    Although labor laws protected farm workers, some farm workers 
unions encountered difficulties trying to organize workers because 
union organizers were considered trespassers on private property. In 
addition, farm workers or farm residents who attempted to organize were 
sometimes harassed, dismissed, and evicted. The Department of Labor 
(DOL) and unions enlisted the cooperation of AgriSA, the national 
farmers' organization, to educate farmers about workers' rights and to 
improve working conditions. The DOL reported in March that 8.8 percent 
of the agricultural labor force was unionized. Labor rights are 
protected by the constitution and by statute; a labor court and labor 
appeals court enforced these rights.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law defines 
and protects the rights of workers to organize and bargain 
collectively; workers exercised these rights. There are no export 
processing zones.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right. Although members of the SANDF were allowed to join a union, 
they and other workers considered to be providing an essential service 
were prohibited from striking. Disputes between workers in essential 
services and their employers that are not resolved through collective 
bargaining, independent mediation, or conciliation are referred to 
arbitration or the labor courts.
    During the April-June strike by private security guards, more than 
50 persons reportedly were killed. Most of the victims were described 
as security guards who reported to work and were allegedly attacked by 
striking guards. In August, 36 members of the South African Transport 
and Allied Workers Union were arrested and charged with public 
violence, while another member was charged under the Regulations of 
Gatherings Act. Property damage associated with the strike was 
extensive. Those arrested were awaiting trial at year's end.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor is prohibited by law; however, child labor was widespread 
in informal and agricultural sectors, particularly in the former 
homeland areas. The Government generally enforced child labor laws in 
the formal sectors of the economy. The death of parents by HIV/AIDS has 
increased the number of children who have to support themselves and 
often younger siblings in households headed by children.
    The law prohibits employment of a child under 15 years of age, or 
under the minimum school-leaving age, or over 15 but under 18, if the 
work places at risk the child's wellbeing, education, physical or 
mental health, or spiritual, moral, or social development. Underage 
children in the performing arts were allowed to work if their employer 
received DOL permission and agreed to follow specific guidelines.
    Child laborers, including some from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, worked 
illegally in the country on commercial farms, for the taxi industry, or 
as domestic servants.
    There were reports that children were forced into prostitution and 
that some children worked under conditions that amounted to bondage 
(see Section 5).
    During the year the DOL employed approximately 1,000 labor 
inspectors to follow up on reports of violations and to enforce 
existing policies. Violation of laws regulating child employment are 
punishable by a maximum prison sentence of three years or a fine of 
$2,135 (R15,000). In some cases, DOL inspectors opted to resolve child 
labor cases through counseling of employers, parents, and children, or 
by enlisting the services of professionals in the welfare and education 
departments. There were reports that inspectors had difficulty gaining 
access to farms where child labor was reported.
    In July the DOL conducted broad-based awareness campaigns about 
child labor. Prevention activities against child labor also included a 
government-issued child support grant which was modified and expanded 
during the year to cover basic living expenses of children up to their 
14th birthday, and Regulations Relating to the Exemption of Parents 
from Payment of School Fees, issued on October 18. Child welfare 
advocates recommended that the child support grant be extended to 
children aged 15.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legally mandated 
national minimum wage, although the law gives the Ministry of Labor the 
authority to set wages by sector. Minimum wages were established for 
the retail sector, farm laborers, domestic workers, and taxi (minibus) 
drivers. As of March the minimum wage for farm workers was 
approximately $142 (R994) a month in urban areas and $126 (R885) a 
month in rural areas. The minimum hourly rates for domestics depended 
on the number of hours worked and could range from $0.59 (R4.15) to 
$0.86 (R6.04). Depending on province, compliance with the minimum wage 
rate ranged from 65 to 90 percent, according to figures published by 
the DOL in 2004. Minimum wages did not provide a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family; the Government undertook other actions 
to alleviate poverty, including annual above-inflation mandatory wage 
increases for farm workers, exemptions from school fees, and improved 
access to health care.
    Annual negotiations between employers and employee associations or 
unions set wage rates on an industry-by-industry or plant-by-plant 
basis for unionized workers in the formal economy. Such negotiated 
wages generally were sufficient to provide a decent standard of living 
for a worker and family; however, this was not the case in sectors 
where workers were not organized sufficiently to engage in collective 
bargaining. Thus many unskilled or rural workers were unable to provide 
an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families.
    The law standardizes time-and-a-half pay for overtime, establishes 
a 45-hour workweek, and authorizes four months of maternity leave for 
women. A ministerial determination exempted businesses employing fewer 
than 10 persons from certain provisions of the law concerning overtime 
and leave. Farmers and other employers could apply for variations from 
the law by showing good cause.
    The Government set occupational health and safety standards. 
Occupational health and safety issues were a top priority of trade 
unions, especially in the mining, construction, and heavy manufacturing 
industries, where processes were dangerous and sometimes deadly. The 
law provides for the right of mine employees to remove themselves from 
work deemed dangerous to health or safety. In addition, a tripartite 
mine health and safety council and an inspectorate of mine health and 
safety were responsible for enforcing the act and monitoring compliance 
with its provisions. The law explicitly prohibits discrimination 
against an employee who asserts a right granted by the law (for 
example, to leave a hazardous work site) and required mine owners to 
file annual reports providing statistics on health and safety incidents 
for each mine.
    There were no laws or regulations, other than in the mining 
industry, that permitted workers to remove themselves from work 
situations deemed dangerous to their health or safety without risking 
loss of employment; however, the law provides that employers may not 
retaliate against employees who disclose dangerous workplace 
conditions.
    In June the petrochemical company SASOL established a trust fund to 
compensate victims of a September 2004 explosion that killed 11 and 
injured 142 persons.
    Labor conditions for mostly Black farm workers were harsh. Many, 
mostly white, farmers did not accurately measure working hours and 
often required their laborers to work 11 hours per day and six days per 
week. Twelve-hour days were common during harvest time, and few farmers 
provided overtime benefits. Human Rights Watch reported low wages, a 
lack of basic services in farm workers' housing, and inadequate 
education for workers' dependents (see Section 5). Farm owners, 
predominantly whites, continued to evict workers legally and illegally. 
There was lack of compliance with labor legislation, lack of 
information on HIV/AIDS, and significant violence and crime against 
farm workers and farm owners. Health and safety regulations often were 
not observed when chemicals were used in agricultural work.

                               __________

                                 SUDAN

    Sudan, a republic with an estimated population of 41.2 million, is 
governed according to a power-sharing arrangement established by the 
January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the 22-
year civil war between the north and south and established an interim 
government of National Unity. The Government's mandate extends until 
scheduled elections in 2009. The Government of National Unity is 
composed of the National Congress Party (NCP), dominated by Islamists 
from the north and ruled by authoritarian President Omar Hassan al-
Bashir and his inner circle, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement 
(SPLM), the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army 
(SPLA), led predominantly by Christians and practitioners of 
traditional indigenous religions from the south. In 2000 Bashir was 
reelected, and his political party won 340 out of 360 seats in the 
parliament in deeply flawed elections boycotted by all major opposition 
parties. The SPLM acts as the ruling party of the autonomous government 
of Southern Sudan, established in October 2005. The autonomous 
government ratified a separate constitution in December 2005. A 
referendum to determine whether the south will become an independent 
entity is scheduled for 2011. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces and government-aligned 
militia; however, there were some instances in which elements of the 
security forces and government-aligned militia acted independently.
    The country experienced several violent ethnic conflicts during the 
year. Despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) by the 
Government and Minni Minawi's faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/
Army (SLM/A) on May 5, the ethnic conflict in Darfur continued. 
Government forces, government-aligned militia (Janjaweed), and Darfur 
rebel groups continued to commit serious abuses during the year. 
Tensions and violence persisted in the south over the implementation of 
the CPA, and in the east, where the rebel Eastern Front signed a peace 
agreement with the Government on October 14. The country experienced 
violent conflict on its western border with Chad that was, in part, a 
spillover of the conflict in Darfur and, in part, attributable to 
Chadian rebel forces based in Darfur who were opposed to the rule of 
Chadian President Idriss Deby. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a 
Ugandan rebel movement, allegedly made incursions into southern Sudan 
late in the year and attacked and killed civilians.
    In Darfur government forces, Janjaweed, and Darfur rebel groups 
committed serious abuses during the year, including the reported 
killing of at least several thousand civilians. Government and 
Janjaweed militias razed numerous villages of African tribes, and 
committed acts of torture and violence against women. Darfur rebel 
groups were also responsible for rape and attacks on humanitarian 
convoys and compounds in order to steal equipment and supplies, 
resulting in death and injury to humanitarian workers. According to the 
UN, more than 200,000 persons have died, two million civilians have 
been internally displaced, and an estimated 234,000 refugees have fled 
to neighboring Chad since the conflict began in 2003. Despite the 
presence in Darfur of the African Union-led international monitoring 
force (African Union Mission in Sudan or AMIS), security remained a 
major problem and deteriorated during the year, with reports of 
violence increasing during the latter half of the year.
    Despite the January 2005 signing of the CPA, sporadic violence 
occurred in the south. Militias aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces 
(SAF) and the SPLA, as well as non-aligned militias, continued to 
engage in violent attacks. Delays in CPA implementation, particularly 
the provisions of its security arrangements governing aligned-militia 
reintegration and disarmament, fomented many of these incidents. 
Although the SPLA successfully integrated some militias into its ranks, 
such as Paulino Matiep's faction of the South Sudan Defense Forces, a 
grouping of over 40 militias, in compliance with the CPA provision 
requiring militias to join either the SPLA or SAF by January 9, other 
militias refused to integrate into either force. In December in 
Malakal, the SPLA and SAF engaged in direct conflict, in violation of 
the CPA, when SPLA troops fired upon a SAF base where members of a 
government-aligned militia had sought refuge. Hundreds of civilians 
were wounded during the clash, and an estimated 150 civilians and 
soldiers on both sides were killed.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and there were 
numerous serious problems, including evidence of continuing genocide in 
Darfur, for which the Government and Janjaweed continued to bear 
responsibility. Abuses included: abridgement of citizens' rights to 
change their government; extrajudicial and other unlawful killings by 
government forces and other government-aligned groups throughout the 
country; torture, beatings, rape and other cruel, inhumane treatment or 
punishment by security forces; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary 
arrest and detention, including incommunicado detention of suspected 
government opponents, and prolonged pretrial detention; executive 
interference with the judiciary and denial of due process; forced 
military conscription of underage men; obstruction of the delivery of 
humanitarian assistance; infringement on citizens' right to privacy, 
freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and 
movement; the harassment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and of 
local and international human rights and humanitarian organizations; 
violence and discrimination against women, including the practice of 
female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse, including sexual violence 
and recruitment as child soldiers, particularly in Darfur; trafficking 
in persons; discrimination and violence against ethnic minorities; 
denial of workers' rights; and forced labor, including child labor, by 
security forces and both aligned and non-aligned militias in Southern 
Sudan and Darfur.
    Members of the SPLA committed serious abuses, particularly early in 
the year during forced disarmament campaigns targeting the White Army, 
a Nuer ethnic militia, which resulted in numerous killings and the 
displacement of thousands of civilians. The SPLA also continued to 
recruit child soldiers.
    Antigovernment and insurgent groups also committed numerous, 
serious abuses. Factions of the SLA, the Justice and Equality Movement 
(JEM) and other rebel groups in Darfur committed killings, beatings, 
abductions, rape, robbery, destruction of property, forcible 
conscription, and recruitment of child soldiers. They restricted 
freedom of movement of populations under their control and access of 
relief workers and supplies, and kidnapped and killed nongovernmental 
organization (NGO) workers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports 
of politically motivated killings by the Government and its agents in 
Darfur, especially connected to the conflict in Darfur. There also were 
reports of numerous extrajudicial killings. The genocide in Darfur 
determined to have occurred by the Department of State in September 
2004 continued during the year (see Section 1.g.).
    The police and army killed demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
    Members of the military also killed other members of the military. 
On October 31, at a tea shop in central Juba, a former Murle militia 
member recently integrated into the SPLA shot and killed with impunity 
a fellow Murle who had recently joined the SPLA. According to 
witnesses, two additional SPLA soldiers then arrived on the scene and 
joined the fighting; one of the two went up to the victim and shot him 
a second time in the head.
    At least one person died from tear gas inhalation during an August 
30 antigovernment protest in Khartoum.
    Police in Gezira State forcibly demolished homes at a squatter camp 
resulting in the deaths of four persons, including children (see 
Section 1.f.).
    Large-scale violence in Darfur decreased in the first half of the 
year but increased significantly during the latter half of the year. 
General lawlessness and continued attacks by government forces, 
government-aligned militias and rebel and paramilitary forces on 
villages, humanitarian aid workers, and convoys increased the degree of 
insecurity (see Section 1.g.).
    SAF and SPLA-aligned militias, as well as non-aligned militias, 
continued to use violence in the south, which resulted in an unknown 
number of deaths during the year.
    Government forces and aligned militias were responsible for attacks 
and killings in neighboring Chad (see Section 1.g.).
    Rebel groups operating throughout the country were responsible for 
killings, including the deaths of five humanitarian aid workers (see 
Sections 1.g. and 4).
    Approximately 51 civilians reportedly died due to landmines in the 
south between January and September, although some observers believed 
the number to be much higher since only a small percentage of deaths 
were actually reported to the UN (see Section 1.g.). The Government 
cooperated with the UN Mine Action Group to remove landmines in the 
south.
    Unknown assailants kidnapped and killed a prominent newspaper 
editor during the year (see Section 2.a.).
    Interethnic conflict resulted in deaths during the year (see 
Section 5).
    AMIS monitoring forces in Darfur were responsible for the deaths of 
IDPs (see Section 1.g.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were continued allegations that the 
Government was responsible for politically motivated disappearances, 
including those of persons suspected of supporting rebels, especially 
in Darfur.
    An estimated 15,000 Dinka women and children have been abducted, 
mainly from 1983 to 1999; at least 8,000 of these remained unaccounted 
for at year's end. Observers believed that some of those abducted in 
the past were sold into de facto slavery as forced laborers, while 
others were drafted into the military. In some cases the abductees 
escaped or eventually were released or ransomed; in other cases they 
were killed. Few persons who were previously abducted were returned 
during the year by the Government's Committee to Eradicate the 
Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC). The Government did not 
identify the abductors or forced-labor owners and has not prosecuted 
them.
    Rebel forces in Darfur reportedly abducted persons, including 
government officials and humanitarian aid workers (see Sections 1.g. 
and 4).
    There also were reports of periodic intertribal abductions of women 
and children in eastern Upper Nile State (see Section 5).
    The LRA kidnapped children in Uganda and brought them into the 
southern part of the country. The LRA also killed civilians in the 
south (see Section 5).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the Interim National Constitution, adopted in 
July 2005 and hereafter referred to as the ``interim constitution,'' 
prohibits such practices, government security forces continued to 
torture, beat, and harass suspected political opponents and others.
    In December 2005 the Government of Southern Sudan adopted a 
separate constitution based on common law, which prohibits torture; 
however, SPLA forces did not respect these provisions in practice.
    In accordance with Shari'a (Islamic law), the Criminal Act provides 
for physical punishments, including flogging, amputation, stoning, and 
``crucifixion''--the public display of a body after execution. Under 
the interim constitution, the Government officially exempts the 10 
southern states from Shari'a law, though some judges in the south 
reportedly still observed it. Northern courts routinely imposed 
flogging, especially for production of alcohol.
    In February National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) 
officers used tear gas and beat students with sticks to break up a 
peaceful student demonstration at Kassala University. Several students 
were hospitalized due to their injuries.
    During the year there were several reports of abuse by anti-
smuggling police. For example, on March 27 anti-smuggling police in 
Kassala State, near the border with Eritrea, assaulted several persons 
from the Rashaida tribe in Hafayer town and confiscated their goods. 
Three days later, anti-smuggling police in Hafayer arrested and 
severely beat a Rashaida leader in front of his family. On April 23, 
anti-smuggling police arrested another man near Hafayer, confiscated 
his goods and money, and burned his hands with hot coal. The following 
day, anti-smuggling police raided a shop in Hafayer, confiscated 
several goods, and shot a 17-year-old boy in the foot as he was coming 
out of the local SPLM office.
    On April 15, government soldiers arrested two men and one 13-year-
old boy near Kulbus, West Darfur, and accused them of being ``Tora 
Bora''--a slang term for Darfuri rebels. The soldiers beat the boy with 
electric wire and their rifle butts before transferring him to a 
detention cell for three days. While in detention, soldiers again beat 
the boy, threw water on him, and forced him to stand all night. On 
April 25, the boy was transferred to civilian custody and released the 
following day on orders of a judge in El Geneina.
    On June 12, NISS officers detained and tortured a male student from 
the Islamic University in Omdurman. The student had distributed flyers 
calling for the university to reinstate several students who had been 
expelled for nonpayment of fees. The officials took the student to a 
room on campus, blindfolded him, and hung him by his feet from a 
ceiling fan. They then attempted to insert a glass bottle into his 
anus, beat him with a metal bar, and shocked his hands and feet with 
electric wires. They released him after he signed documents obliging 
him to pay over $7,000 (SDD 1.5 million). The UN Mission in Sudan 
(UNMIS) later verified the victim's injuries with a medical 
certificate.
    On September 7, SPLA soldiers beat at least six university students 
in Wau after the university director asked the SPLA to intervene to 
protect the university from student agitators. UNMIS reported that the 
students were beaten without provocation, some after simply 
acknowledging that they were students at the university. On September 
19, the governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal ordered the university 
closed for one year and asked police and SPLA to remove all students 
from campus.
    In Torit in early September, fighting broke out between the SPLA 
and local police after a SPLA-Joint Integrated Unit soldier was 
arrested for rape and shot while attempting to escape from jail. SPLA 
soldiers later attacked the police station in retaliation, beat several 
police officers, and shot indiscriminately in the streets.
    There were few attempts during the year to bring to justice police, 
soldiers, and other government agents who had tortured or mistreated 
citizens in previous years.
    No action was taken against government officials responsible for 
the following abuses in 2005: the January beating of political activist 
Salah Abdelrahman, who was held without charge for eight months; the 
February detention and beating of Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel 
Jabbar; the August torturing of numerous persons in connection with the 
Khartoum riots; and the October torture of nine students on the campus 
of Islamic University in Omdurman after they attempted to form a union.
    Security forces beat and mistreated refugees and injured and killed 
persons while dispersing demonstrations (see Sections 2.b. and 2.d). 
Throughout the year police conducted sporadic raids on houses occupied 
by Ethiopian refugees or migrants; credible reports indicate that 
during the raids police at times beat the refugees and used tear gas 
against them (see Section 2.d).
    Soldiers, Popular Defense Force (PDF) members, government-aligned 
militia, and members of Darfur rebel groups raped women (see Section 
1.g.). There was a clear and documented pattern of rape and sexual 
abuse directed at IDPs of all ages in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).
    UNMIS acknowledged that four of its military and civilian personnel 
had been repatriated to their country of origin in connection with 
allegations of sexual abuse of children in the south. UNMIS 
acknowledged that 13 additional personnel were being investigated on 
similar charges.
    Government forces and aligned militias in Darfur were responsible 
for injuring many civilians during attacks on rebel forces, and during 
attacks on civilian settlements, including aerial bombardment (see 
Section 1.g.).
    SLA, JEM and other Darfur rebel groups were also responsible for 
civilian injuries in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and overcrowded. Most prisons were old and poorly maintained, and 
many lacked basic facilities such as toilets or showers. Health care 
was primitive; prisoners usually relied on family or friends for food. 
Prison officials arbitrarily denied visits to prisoners. High-ranking 
political prisoners reportedly often enjoyed better conditions than did 
other prisoners.
    The Government routinely mistreated persons in custody. There were 
credible reports that security forces held detainees incommunicado; 
beat them; deprived them of food, water, and toilets; and forced them 
to sleep on cold floors.
    Juveniles often were held with adults and in some cases subjected 
to sexual abuse by the adult inmates. In October 2005 an adult inmate 
raped a 16-year-old male in police detention in Juba.
    The Government did not permit regular visits to prisons by domestic 
human rights observers. In August 2005 the Government agreed to allow 
unfettered access to UN monitors; however, on May 3, it denied a 
request by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the NISS 
section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North (see Section 1.e.). The 
Government refused to grant the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) access to government prisons during the year.
    Detention centers operated by rebel forces were comparable to those 
operated by the Government, though some were worse. On June 19, UNMIS 
observers visited a detention facility operated by SLA forces aligned 
with Minni Minawi, hereby referred to as `` SLA (Minawi)'' in Thabit, 
North Darfur, and noted that 16 prisoners were being held in a single 
cell with no space to lie down; military and civilian detainees were 
held together. The SLA and other rebel groups allowed the ICRC access 
to some prisoners during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The interim constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention without charge; however, the 
Government continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain under the 
National Security Act.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The NISS and the 
Ministry of Interior both have security forces under their control, 
along with the police force responsible for internal security. The 
police forces include regular police units and the Popular Police 
Force, a parallel progovernment force that received higher pay than 
regular forces. The effectiveness of the Popular Police Force varied, 
depending on the strength of the local militias and security forces. 
The army is responsible for external and internal security. Police 
corruption was a problem, and police officers supplemented their 
incomes by extorting bribes from the local civilians.
    According to UNMIS, police in Southern Sudan lacked resources to 
effectively protect the local population. In Maridi, in West Equatoria 
State, police lacked uniforms, radios, sufficient vehicles, and office 
equipment. The local jail had only one cell, with no toilet. To 
compensate for the lack of resources, police required complainants to 
pay three dollars (5,000 Ugandan shillings) before they would 
investigate their cases. Ugandan shillings, Kenyan shillings, Ethiopian 
birr, and U.S. dollars all circulate as common currency in the south. 
Local judicial personnel also were inadequately trained, with only one 
judge having a law degree. Local police also complained that SPLM 
officials routinely intervened in police affairs, forcing police to 
release relatives and friends without following legal procedures.
    Impunity remained a serious problem, although on a few occasions 
during the year courts prosecuted police and other officials for abuses 
they had committed. On May 3, the Special Criminal Court for the Events 
in Darfur issued a verdict on the only case referred to it since its 
establishment in November 2005. The court acquitted two Military 
Intelligence (MI) officers and one civilian on charges of robbery and 
war crimes (pillaging), stemming from an October 2005 attack by Arab 
militia on Tama, in South Darfur. However, the court convicted the 
three men of ``criminal joint acts'' and theft, sentencing them to at 
least two years in prison. On the same day, the El Geneina General 
Court convicted a police officer from Mornei of raping a 10-year-old 
girl in 2005, and sentenced him to three years in prison and 100 
lashes.
    In other cases of police abuse, victims who complained were 
punished. For example, in June two southern IDP women in Omdurman, one 
of whom was seven months' pregnant, were severely beaten by police 
after they resisted police attempts to steal money from their home. The 
women were taken to the Thowra police station, where they were beaten 
again by a senior police officer. The following day, when the women 
were taken to court, one of the women complained about the abuse to the 
judge. Three police officers accused her of lying and defaming the 
police. The judge ruled in favor of the police, and sentenced her to 30 
lashes and a $23 (SDD 5,000) fine for defamation.

    Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are not required for an arrest. 
Under the Criminal Code, an individual may be detained for three days 
without charge, which can be extended for 30 days by order of the 
director of security and another 30 days with the approval of the 
prosecuting attorney. Under the National Security Act, which supersedes 
the Criminal Code, an individual accused of violating national security 
may be detained for three months without charge, which the director of 
security may extend for another three months. In practice, indefinite 
detentions were common. The law provides for the individual to be 
informed of the arrest charges at the time of arrest and for prompt 
judicial determination without undue delay, but these provisions were 
rarely followed.
    The law allows for bail, except for those accused of crimes 
punishable by death or life imprisonment, and there was a functioning 
bail system.
    Although the law provides for access to a lawyer, security forces 
often held persons, including criminal detainees, incommunicado for 
long periods in unknown locations without access to their lawyers or 
family members. For example, on August 9, MI officials took American 
journalist Paul Salopek and his two foreign assistants into custody 
after they crossed the border from Chad without a visa. They held 
Salopek incommunicado for nine days without notifying consular 
representatives or providing him access to a lawyer.
    Individuals were arbitrarily arrested and detained. In general the 
Government detained persons for a few days before releasing them 
without charge or trial; however, there were exceptions, particularly 
for perceived political opponents (see Section 1.e).
    On April 4, security forces in Kassala State arrested several 
members of the Beja Congress without charge; the members were 
reportedly released six months later. The Sudanese Organization Against 
Torture (SOAT) claimed the April arrests were part of a crackdown 
against the Beja Congress in several eastern states that began in March 
with numerous arrests of members of the Beja Congress.
    On November 12, police raided an IDP camp near Masteri, West 
Darfur, following an exchange of fire between militiamen and suspected 
SLA members. Two Masalit men who were gathering firewood near the camp 
disappeared during the raid. Three days later, the local police 
commissioner stated that the two men were taken into custody for 
supporting the SLA but acknowledged that he did not have evidence to 
support the charges. Despite assurances to UNMIS that the men would be 
released after several days, the men reportedly remained in detention 
at year's end.
    Journalists were arrested and detained during the year (see Section 
2.a.).
    Religious leaders were arrested and beaten (see Section 2.c.).
    Security forces often targeted southern women in IDP camps because 
they produced and sold traditional home-brewed alcohol; such women were 
arrested and imprisoned for up to six months under Shari'a. Some women 
were held in prison until they could pay the fine, regardless of time 
served in prison, thereby effectively serving indefinite sentences. 
Vagrant children accused of committing crimes were detained for 
indefinite periods (see Section 5).
    Arrests and detentions of NGO members and civil society groups also 
occurred (see Section 4).
    Arbitrarily lengthy detention before trial was common. Trial delays 
were caused by large numbers of detainees and judicial inefficiency, 
such as the failure of judges to appear for court.
    The Government routinely used house arrest without due process.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the interim constitution 
and the law provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was 
largely subservient to the President or the security forces, 
particularly in cases of crimes against the state.
    A judiciary committee recommends and the President appoints the 
chief justice and justices of the Supreme Court. The President appoints 
the constitutional court's seven members. On occasion courts displayed 
a degree of independence. For example, appeals courts sometimes 
overturned decisions by lower courts on political cases, particularly 
decisions from public order courts. However, political interference 
with the courts regularly occurred.
    The judicial system includes four types of courts: regular, 
military, special, and tribal courts. Within the regular court system, 
there are civil and criminal courts, appeals courts, and the Supreme 
Court. Military courts tried only military personnel but did not 
provide the same rights as civilian and criminal courts. Special courts 
in Darfur operated under the state of emergency to try crimes against 
the state; there were three such courts, one in each Darfur capital. 
Tribal courts functioned in rural areas to resolve disputes over land 
and water rights, and family matters. The Criminal Act governs criminal 
cases, and the Civil Transactions Act applies in most civil cases. 
Shari'a is applied in the north, but not in the south, under the 
interim constitution. However, some judges in the south reportedly 
continued to follow Shari'a legal procedures. The Government of 
Southern Sudan adopted a new penal code in October based on common law.

    Trial Procedures.--The interim constitution and law provide for 
fair and prompt trials; however, this was often not respected. Trials 
in regular courts nominally met international standards of legal 
protections.
    Trials were open to the public at the discretion of the judge. In 
cases of national security and offenses against the state, trials were 
usually closed. Juries are not used.
    The accused normally have the right to an attorney, and the courts 
are required to provide free legal counsel for indigent defendants 
accused of crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment; however, 
there were reports that defendants frequently did not receive legal 
counsel and that counsel in some cases could only advise the defendant 
and not address the court.
    There were reports that the Government sometimes denied defense 
counsel access to the courts or did not allow the calling of defense 
witnesses. For example, in May 2005 an appeals court upheld a judge's 
2004 ruling that banned lawyers from representing 28 defendants on 
trial for allegedly plotting a coup and ordered them to pick new 
counsel or accept government-appointed lawyers. Thereafter 43 
additional persons were charged. Forty-nine out of the 81 defendants 
were convicted of plotting a coup and sentenced from five to 15 years 
in prison; the others were released. However, on March 13, a special 
court in Bahri, Khartoum North, dropped charges against eight of the 49 
defendants for lack of evidence. The same court acquitted an additional 
10 defendants on April 26 because their confessions had been obtained 
under torture by NISS officers.
    According to the interim constitution and law, there is a 
presumption of innocence; however, this was not respected in practice. 
Defendants have a right to appeal, except in cases of military trials 
where the decision is final and there is no appeal.
    Military trials, which sometimes were secret and brief, did not 
provide procedural safeguards. For example, the defendant's attorney 
could advise the defendant but could not address the court. Witnesses 
may be permitted to appear at military trials.
    The Special Courts Act created special three-person security courts 
to deal with violations of constitutional decrees, emergency 
regulations, and some sections of the Penal Code, as well as with drug 
and currency offenses. Special courts, composed primarily of civilian 
judges, handled most security-related cases. Attorneys could address 
the court. Lawyers complained that they sometimes were granted access 
to court documents too late to prepare an effective defense. Sentences 
usually were severe and implemented at once; however, death sentences 
were referred to the chief justice and the head of state. Defendants 
could file appellate briefs with the chief justice. The defendant has 
seven days to appeal a decision; the decision of the appeal court is 
final. Special criminal courts operated in Darfur as authorized by 
Presidential decree.
    Lawyers wishing to practice were required to maintain membership in 
the government-controlled bar association. The Government continued to 
harass members of the legal profession whom it considered political 
opponents. In September 2005 security forces in Darfur briefly detained 
Darfur Lawyers Association director Mohamed Addoma and several fellow 
lawyers while they were attending a conference on legal aid; however, 
there were no such reports of harassment during the year.
    In the south the Government of Southern Sudan employed a judicial 
system of traditional chiefs' courts, payam (district) courts, county 
judges, regional judges, and a court of appeals. The court system did 
not function in many areas due to lack of infrastructure, 
communications, funding, and an ineffective police force. The 
Government of Southern Sudan recognized traditional courts or ``courts 
of elders,'' which applied customary law to most cases, including 
domestic matters and criminal cases. Local chiefs usually presided over 
traditional courts, but defendants have a right of appeal to a non-
customary court, although there were no reports that this has happened 
in practice. Traditional courts have now been formalized and integrated 
into the judicial system.
    In parts of the south and the Nuba Mountains, where civil 
authorities and institutions did not operate, there were no effective 
judicial procedures beyond customary courts. According to credible 
reports, military units in those areas summarily tried and punished 
those accused of crimes, especially for offenses against civil order.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners; however, the Government held an estimated 100 
political detainees, including members of opposition parties. Security 
forces reportedly detained without charge, tortured, and held 
incommunicado political opponents (see Section 1.c.). Detentions of 
such persons generally were prolonged. However, security forces 
frequently harassed political opponents by summoning them for 
questioning, forcing them to remain during the day without questioning, 
and then ordering their return the following day--a process that 
sometimes continued for weeks.
    In September the Government detained several leaders of the 
opposition Umma Party for planning protests against government-backed 
increases for the price of sugar and fuel (see Section 2.b).
    Security forces detained members of Hassan al-Turabi's Popular 
Congress Party; however, there were fewer such detentions than in 
previous years.
    Security forces arrested numerous persons suspected of supporting 
rebels in Darfur, some of whom were tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
death under special courts (see Section 1.e.). For example, on April 
19, NISS officers in Khartoum North detained the JEM's legal advisor 
and confiscated his belongings. Later in the day, officials transferred 
him to NISS headquarters, where he was held until May 2, when he was 
moved to the NISS section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North and 
charged with undermining the constitution, espionage, and obtaining 
official documents. A judge later ordered the man to be released 
because the Government had held him for too long before filing charges. 
However, the NISS later brought the man to another judge, who ordered 
him detained for another week. He was later released.
    Following the May 5 signing of the DPA, the Government began to 
release many political detainees associated with the conflict. By 
August, the Government had released 23 persons in accordance with the 
DPA, according to the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human 
rights in Sudan.
    The Government did not permit international humanitarian 
organizations to have access to political detainees. On May 3, it 
denied a request by the UN high commissioner for human rights to visit 
the NISS section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was access to court 
for lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations, but the lack 
of an independent judiciary made it unlikely that such lawsuits would 
be successful.

    Property Restitution.--There were numerous ongoing disputes between 
the Government and various churches involving confiscated church 
property. There were no reports of court ordered property restitution 
or compensation.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The interim constitution and law prohibit such 
actions, but the Government routinely violated these rights in 
practice. Security forces frequently conducted night searches without 
warrants and targeted persons suspected of political crimes.
    In Darfur throughout the year government armed forces and aligned 
militia continued to bomb and burn down villages, loot property, and 
attack IDP camps (see Section 1.g.).
    Police often entered IDP areas without a warrant in search of 
illegal alcohol brewing and often seized property unrelated to brewing. 
Police also extorted money from illegal alcohol brewers by threatening 
them with prison.
    For example, on June 11, a Dinka woman living at El Fateh 
relocation camp near Khartoum reported that police raided her house in 
May searching for illegal alcohol. When they could not find alcohol, 
they forced her to hand over all her money. One officer remained behind 
and demanded sex; when the woman resisted, the officer told her that he 
would see her again ``one of these days.''
    Police continued to raid homes at El Fateh relocation camp in 
October searching for illegal alcohol. For example, on October 26, 
police raided the home of one man but could not find any alcohol; 
nevertheless, they demanded money. According to UNMIS, police rarely 
found alcohol during these raids, and court prosecutions for illegal 
alcohol production were rarer still.
    A wide network of government informants conducted surveillance in 
schools, universities, markets, workplaces, and neighborhoods.
    In several areas the Government sought to forcibly resettle or 
displace local populations. In Northern State, nomads in the areas 
around Sani, Burti Gareb, Kurkoban, and Sherri Island complained that 
the Government's Merowe Dam Project Implementation Unit seized their 
traditional grazing land without compensation and gave it to a foreign 
construction company, denying them access to water wells in the area. 
Armed police prevented the nomads from using the land or water at 
year's end.
    As of August 12, flooding as a result of the Merowe dam project had 
forced more than 2,000 persons to leave the area, largely in the 
vicinity of the town of Amri, according to the UN special rapporteur 
for the situation of human rights in Sudan. Authorities gave residents 
six days notice to leave their homes.
    On August 16, police in Gezira State began demolishing homes at Dar 
al Salaam squatter camp to force residents to relocate. Bulldozers 
arrived at four o'clock in the morning, while police used tear gas to 
drive residents from their homes. Four persons, including children, 
were killed. The entire camp of 12,000 persons was razed within 24 
hours. In violation of a January Memorandum of Understanding that 
promised residents relocation to a new site to be agreed upon by local 
authorities and squatters, the authorities and squatters were unable to 
agree on a new site, and no alternate site had been provided by year's 
end.
    The Government continued forcibly to conscript citizens for 
military service as part of mandatory military service for male 
citizens, and government-aligned forces and rebels continued to recruit 
and accept child soldiers in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).
    A Muslim man may marry a non-Muslim, but a Muslim woman cannot 
marry a non-Muslim, unless he converts to Islam (see Section 5); 
however, this prohibition was not observed or enforced universally, 
particularly in the south or among the Nubans. Non-Muslims may adopt 
only non-Muslim children; no such restrictions apply to Muslim parents.
    The Government of Southern Sudan generally did not interfere with 
privacy, family, home, or correspondence in the south; however, 
southern militias, especially the South Sudan Independence Movement, 
continued forcibly to conscript citizens, including children of high 
school age.

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Darfur.--While all sides in Darfur violated international human rights 
and humanitarian law, the Government and the Janjaweed continued to 
bear responsibility for genocide that occurred in Darfur.
    The conflict in Darfur has roots in both government neglect of the 
region and ethnic tensions between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary 
farming communities, exacerbated by scarce resources and the 
Government's support of the nomad militias. During the year the 
Government, Arab militia forces, and Darfur rebel groups reportedly 
killed at least several thousand civilians. By year's end, there were 
more than two million IDPs in Darfur, and another 234,000 civilians had 
fled into Chad, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
coordinated a massive refugee relief effort. According to the UN, more 
than 200,000 persons have died since 2003 as a result of the violence 
and forced displacement. The Government continued to support the 
largely Arab nomad Janjaweed militia, which terrorized and killed 
civilians, raped women, and burned and pillaged the region.
    During the year the Government resumed aerial bombardment of 
civilian targets, including homes, schools, and markets.
    According to UNMIS, on April 24, government armed forces and 
government-aligned militia attacked Joghana town in South Darfur with 
Land Cruisers, helicopters, and a converted Antonov bomber. Many of the 
Land Cruisers were painted white, as was the bomber, in what observers 
believed was an attempt to disguise them as NGO or UN vehicles. Reports 
indicated that civilians were targeted during the attack, although the 
number of casualties had not been confirmed by year's end.
    Government bombing of civilian targets in North Darfur continued 
throughout the latter half of the year. On September 6, Human Rights 
Watch noted that international observers reported government Antonov 
bombers had attacked Hassan village, in North Darfur, during the last 
week of August, killing one woman and seven children. AMIS later 
confirmed that raids near Kukul had killed 20 people and displaced more 
than 1,000.
    Aerial bombardments near Tawila, North Darfur, occurred during the 
first two weeks of September. Although no one is known to have died 
during these bombings, the attacks drove an additional 400 IDPs into 
the Rwanda camp near Tawila, severely straining camp resources. 
According to UNMIS, 12 people died at the camp between from August 15 
to September 15 due to insufficient medical attention.
    In late December the Government bombed the villages of Anka and Um 
Rai, North Darfur. AMIS reported that five civilians died as a result 
of the bombings.
    Throughout the year, the Government and government-aligned militias 
attacked IDP camps, civilian facilities, and housing, killing at least 
several hundred civilians.
    On May 20, approximately 150 men on camel and horseback, many 
dressed in khaki uniforms, attacked Fuguli village in South Darfur. At 
the time of the attack, Fuguli village was controlled by Fur tribesmen 
loyal to Abdel Wahid al-Nur's faction of the SLA, hereby referred to as 
``SLA (Abdel Wahid),'' which had refused to sign the DPA. The gunmen 
began firing indiscriminately on the village, killing livestock and 
looting homes. SLA (Abdel Wahid) forces quickly retaliated, but were 
overwhelmed by government reinforcements, including two vehicles 
mounted with machine guns. UNMIS reported that 13 civilians were killed 
in the attack.
    On June 11, five police officers from the Central Reserve Police 
arrested two men from the central market in Nyala, South Darfur, and 
charged them with supporting the SLA. The officers repeatedly beat the 
men with their rifle butts and flogged them with whips. The men were 
later charged with undermining the constitutional system and waging war 
against the state. The status of their cases remained unknown at year's 
end.
    In July the Government launched a major assault on the National 
Redemption Front (NRF), a coalition of rebel groups that rejected the 
DPA, following an NRF attack on civilians in the area. The Government 
also attacked civilians in areas believed to support the NRF, and was 
responsible for numerous killings.
    From August 28 to 31, hundreds of uniformed armed militia from the 
Habania and Fellata tribes attacked 47 villages near Buram, South 
Darfur, forcing approximately 10,000 people in the area to flee. At 
least 38 persons were killed, while another 23 were injured, although 
some unconfirmed reports indicate that hundreds of civilians were 
killed during the attacks.
    On October 9, nine government soldiers severely beat a shopkeeper 
in the central market of El Fasher city and then proceeded to beat 
several neighboring shopkeepers. They called the victims ``slaves'' and 
stole several mobile phones from the shops. Other soldiers returned to 
the market on October 12, beating other shopkeepers and looting stores. 
On October 13, soldiers shot a butcher in the market four times 
following a dispute over payment. Local police later told the 
shopkeepers they had no jurisdiction against crimes committed by the 
military.
    On October 29, hundreds of armed militiamen in green uniforms 
attacked several villages and the Aro Sharow IDP camp near Jebel Moon, 
in West Darfur. At least 50 civilians were killed, including 26 
children, most of whom were under the age of 10. According to survivor 
accounts obtained by UNMIS, the attackers told residents in one village 
``We have come to destroy you,'' and shouted ``Come out, slaves!'' One 
boy was heard pleading for his life, telling his attacker, ``You have 
killed this other boy, so please let me go.'' The attacker responded, 
``If I let you go, you will grow up. I will not let you go.'' He then 
shot the boy. As many as 7,000 people in the area were displaced by the 
violence, many fleeing across the border into Chad.
    Violence in Birmaza, North Darfur in November between government 
forces, Janjaweed and rebel groups killed more than 20 civilians, 
displaced an unknown number of persons, and destroyed six UN World Food 
Programme warehouses.
    On December 1 and 2, armed men attacked the village of Abu Sakin, 
North Darfur, killing at least 11 persons, and displacing an unknown 
number of others. On December 23, a UN assessment mission to the 
village confirmed that it had been deserted and looted and that more 
than 50 houses burned.
    On December 9, Janjaweed shot and killed a shopkeeper in El 
Fasher's central market. The governor of North Darfur State and several 
members of his cabinet later attempted to visit the market to assess 
the situation, but Janjaweed fired upon their convoy, killing one 
person and injuring at least eight others.
    On December 10, protesters surrounded the AMIS camp in El Geneina, 
West Darfur, protesting that AMIS troops were not protecting them. 
According to AMIS, several protesters fired on the camp and attempted 
to enter the compound. AMIS forces responded by firing on the crowd, 
killing two protestors and injuring one.
    The UN's International Commission of Inquiry in Darfur found in 
2005 that ``rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by the 
Janjaweed and government soldiers in Darfur was widespread and 
systematic.'' This trend continued during the year. The majority of 
victims were women and girls who lived in IDP camps and were raped when 
they left their camps to gather firewood, water, or food. Women often 
described the perpetrators as ``men in uniform,'' either government or 
rebel soldiers. Rape victims were almost always beaten, threatened with 
death, and subjected to racial epithets during attacks. In some cases 
attackers killed their victims.
    For example, according to UNMIS, armed militiamen raped 25 persons, 
including five children, in conjunction with a January attack on four 
villages in West Darfur; some of the victims were gang-raped.
    On April 16, three Arab militiamen approached eight IDP women from 
Ardamata camp, two of whom were carrying their babies. According to 
UNMIS, one gunman threatened to kill the babies if they were male and 
demanded that the mothers allow him to inspect the babies to determine 
their gender. When the mothers refused, the gunmen beat them. One woman 
attempted to file a complaint with the Ardamata IDP camp police, but 
was rebuffed; another woman declined to file a report with the police, 
because ``they don't do anything.''
    On July 24, 25 armed men, some in army uniforms, attacked a group 
of 17 Fur IDP women who were collecting firewood near Kalma camp 
outside Nyala, South Darfur. The gunmen beat the women with their 
rifles before raping them. The youngest woman was 19, and the oldest 
was 42.
    According to the UN, between 120 and 300 IDP women from Kalma camp, 
near Nyala, South Darfur, were raped between mid-July and mid-August.
    Authorities, particularly the police, often obstructed access to 
justice for rape victims (see Section 5). For example, after Arab 
militia attacked Krenek village, in West Darfur, on January 20, local 
sheiks complained to police that the attackers had raped 36 women. 
Police responded by forcibly taking four of the women to a clinic for a 
medical examination and interrogated them for 10 hours; authorities 
charged the sheiks and the women with furnishing false information. A 
local court dropped the charges against the sheiks on May 27 but 
referred the cases against the women to the prosecutor in El Geneina. 
The prosecutor later told UNMIS he had no knowledge of the case.
    On August 8, four civilians and one military officer raped a 13-
year-old girl in South Darfur. Three of the civilian defendants 
confessed, while a fourth pleaded innocence; the military officer 
claimed that he only threatened to rape the girl, and helped the 
others. The prosecutor in Nyala asked the military for permission to 
prosecute the military officer in a civilian court, but the military 
had not responded to the request by year's end. According to UNMIS, 
authorities were considering dropping the charges against the military 
officer to facilitate the prosecution of the others.
    No action was taken in the following 2005 rape cases: the February 
rape of two sisters by three armed pro-government militia men in West 
Darfur State; and the February 2005 cases of two female minors who were 
raped by progovernment militiamen.
    During the year the Government continued to take small steps to 
curb violence against women in Darfur. The Government printed medical 
booklets for doctors detailing proper treatment of rape victims. The 
Government also pledged to deploy 30 female police officers in South 
Darfur (see Section 5). However, significant problems remained, 
including the harassment and intimidation by police of rape victims, 
lack of investigations into rape allegations, and the continued 
impunity of the police in Darfur.
    During the year, there was one successful prosecution for rape in 
Darfur. On September 5, a court in Kabkabiya convicted a government 
soldier of raping an 11-year-old girl and sentenced him to five years 
in prison and 100 lashes.
    Rebel groups in Darfur, including SLA (Minawi), SLA (Abdel Wahid), 
the JEM, and other groups, also committed numerous abuses during the 
year, including the killing of civilians, beatings, and rape.
    On April 21, armed men believed to be from Zaghawa supporters of 
the SLA (Minawi) severely beat a Birgit farmer near Shangil Tobayi, 
North Darfur; the man died from his wounds later in the day. On the 
same day, 50 armed men believed to be SLA (Minawi) soldiers shot and 
beat a 55-year-old Fur merchant at a roadblock in a nearby area. They 
released him the following day to report the farmer's death to his 
family.
    According to AMIS, on July 6, SLA (Minawi) forces killed a 
community leader from Birka, North Darfur, reportedly because of his 
alignment with a rival SLA faction.
    On July 7, SLA (Minawi) forces attacked several villages in the 
vicinity of Birmazaa, North Darfur, which were reportedly aligned with 
SLA (Abdel Wahid) forces, killing three civilians.
    On April 27, SLA soldiers, purportedly aligned with the SLA 
(Minawi) faction, detained a Hamad shopkeeper on the road between El 
Fasher and Nyala on suspicion that he had spied for the Government 
while serving in the army. The man was repeatedly beaten with sticks 
and rifle butts until he confessed to espionage.
    On September 3, 60 armed men on camels and horses believed to be 
SLA (Minawi) surrounded four Masalit IDP women who were collecting 
grass near Gereida, South Darfur. The men beat the women, stole their 
donkeys, and forced them to undress. Each woman was then raped by 
several men, according to UNMIS; two of the women were in advanced 
stages of pregnancy.
    On September 29, two militiamen in green uniforms abducted a Fur 
woman from her farm near Kabkabiya, wrapped her in plastic sheeting, 
and tied her to a camel. After an hour, they stopped, untied her, and 
took turns raping her. The woman declined to report the incident to the 
police.
    Despite the 2005 government announcement of a ``humanitarian 
moratorium,'' or the lifting of restrictions on the issuance of visas 
and the importation of supplies by humanitarian organizations, the 
Government continued to place restrictions on humanitarian access to 
Darfur. In some cases, the Government continued to wait several months 
to issue entry visas to humanitarian aid workers; exit visas also 
frequently took longer than two weeks to process, causing delays and 
disruptions to humanitarian programs.
    The Government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) continued to 
request that NGOs refrain from interviewing or selecting staff unless 
they used a five-person selection panel and had HAC officials present, 
significantly delaying the hiring of new staff in Darfur.
    The Government also continued to harass humanitarian workers and 
detain them on various arbitrary rules and requirements without prior 
notification. In September the Government announced new travel 
restrictions limiting the movement of U.S. citizens to a 25-mile radius 
of the Republican Palace in Khartoum; the Government lifted the 
restrictions November 30 (see Section 2.d.).
    Rebel forces attacked commerce on the roads, including humanitarian 
aid shipments, and seized goods, vehicles, and persons, including 
government officials and humanitarian aid workers.
    Rebel forces and bandits also obstructed the flow of humanitarian 
assistance to the Darfur region and were responsible for attacks on 
humanitarian workers that resulted in death and injury. In June and 
July, four local humanitarian aid workers were killed, while a fifth 
was abducted and later found dead.
    On December 18, SLA (Minawi) forces attacked three humanitarian 
compounds in Gereida, North Darfur. The forces assaulted several 
international and local humanitarian workers and stole 12 vehicles. The 
attack caused the majority of humanitarian organizations operating in 
Gereida, home to Darfur's largest IDP camp with 128,000 IDPs, to 
evacuate due to insecurity. At year's end, none of the humanitarian 
organizations that withdrew had returned.
    There were no reports that the Government prosecuted or otherwise 
penalized attacking militias or made efforts to protect civilian 
victims from attacks. Government forces provided logistic and 
transportation support, weapons, and ammunition to progovernment 
militias throughout the country.
    Recruitment of child soldiers was a serious problem in the country 
(see Section 5). On August 17, the UN issued the Report of the 
Secretary-General on children in armed conflict in the Sudan, which 
cited the recruitment of child soldiers by the SAF, SPLA, and the White 
Army. In Darfur, the UN report cited recruitment of child soldiers by 
the SLA (Minawi) and Janjaweed. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) worked 
to raise awareness of the law and of the dangers in using child 
soldiers. As a result of its awareness campaign, more than 500 child 
soldiers were released in Darfur; more than 200 of the children were 
attending UNICEF schools.

    Southern Sudan.--SAF, SPLA, and other armed groups were responsible 
for killings of numerous civilians during the year. Conscription of 
child soldiers and displacement of civilians were also problems.
    In March and April, SPLA attempts to disarm the White Army as part 
of a broader government of Southern Sudan-sponsored, CPA-mandated 
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program provoked armed 
clashes between the parties, and 99 civilians were murdered. 
International observers and humanitarian agencies repeatedly called on 
the SPLA to abandon forcible disarmament programs, and implement a more 
consultative approach to integrating other armed groups.
    In November fighting between pro-SAF and pro-SPLA militias in 
Northern Bahr el Ghazl State resulted in the displacement of 4,500 
persons.
    From November 28 to 30, SAF, SAF-aligned militia, and the SPLA 
engaged in heavy fighting in the town of Malakal, in Upper Nile State, 
Southern Sudan, resulting in injury to more than 300 civilians and 
widespread looting in the town. In November, 150 persons were reported 
killed in Malakal due to the fighting.
    There were unconfirmed reports that new landmines were laid in the 
south.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The interim constitution provides 
for freedom of thought, expression, and of the press ``as regulated by 
law''; however, the Government severely restricted these rights in 
practice. Despite lifting emergency laws in July 2005, the Government 
continued to censor print and broadcast media. Journalists also 
practiced self-censorship.
    There were many daily newspapers, mainly in urban areas, reflecting 
somewhat differing political views. Several newspapers also reprinted 
articles from the international press, some of which were critical of 
government policies. There was one formally government-controlled 
newspaper in Arabic and one in English, although security services also 
controlled other newspapers. A number of independent publications were 
under intensive scrutiny during the year and experienced intimidation, 
interruption, and arrest of their editors. The English-language press 
complained of prejudice, noting that the Arabic test required of all 
accredited journalists was much more difficult than the English test. 
Many Anglophone journalists thus could not report or had to do so 
unofficially. For example, the Khartoum Monitor employed both Arabic- 
and English-speaking journalists so that the unaccredited English-
speakers could translate articles written by their accredited Arabic-
speaking colleagues who could not write in English.
    The Government directly controlled radio and television and 
required that they reflect government policies. Television has a 
permanent military censor to ensure that the news reflected official 
views. Some foreign radio broadcasts were available in the country. A 
private FM radio station, which began broadcasting music in Khartoum in 
2004, continued to operate. Despite the Government's license 
requirement and the high price of satellite dishes, citizens had access 
to foreign electronic media; the Government did not jam foreign radio 
signals. In addition to domestic and satellite television services, 
there was a pay cable network, which directly rebroadcast uncensored 
foreign news and other programs.
    International media were not allowed to operate freely. For 
example, some foreign journalists were allowed access to Darfur, while 
others were denied visas. Several foreign journalists and photographers 
were detained for photographing slums or taking pictures without a 
license; most were quickly released, but some were prosecuted for more 
serious crimes. On August 14, the special court for North Darfur 
convicted foreign journalist and human rights activist Tomo Kriznar of 
espionage, after he entered the country without a visa from Chad. The 
court sentenced Kriznar to two years in prison, but the President 
pardoned him and ordered him deported on September 2. On August 26, 
American journalist Paul Salopek and his two foreign assistants were 
charged in El Fasher, North Darfur, with espionage, publishing false 
news, and obtaining official documents after entering the country 
without a visa from Chad. The special court for North Darfur dropped 
the charges on September 9 and ordered the three men to leave the 
country immediately. On September 7, NISS officers attacked three 
foreign journalists outside their hotel in Khartoum; the journalists 
had observed an antigovernment protest earlier in the day. One of the 
journalists was seriously injured and had to leave the country to seek 
medical treatment.
    Government security forces also harassed, intimidated, and arrested 
local journalists on numerous occasions.
    On April 13, the editor of the Khartoum Monitor was arrested after 
printing an article accusing police of beating several University of 
Juba students during a protest (see Section 1.c.). He was released the 
following day.
    On June 17, the NISS summoned the editor of Al Sudani and 
questioned him about an article the newspaper had printed on the 
alleged torture of university students by National Security forces. The 
editor was summoned again two days later and formally charged with 
publishing false statements and breaching his duties as editor. He was 
later released on bail.
    On November 22, a reporter for the independent daily newspaper Al-
Sahafa was detained and held incommunicado for 12 days without charge.
    There were no reports that the Government of Southern Sudan 
censored the press during the year; however, there were credible 
reports that various state governments in the South interfered with the 
press. The Government of the State of Bahr al-Jebel shut down the radio 
station, Liberty FM, in July following a remark critical of the 
Government by a caller during a call-in show. State government 
officials claimed the station was shut down for operating without a 
license; however, the station was fully licensed by the Government of 
Southern Sudan. In November, also in Bahr al Jebel State, a group of 
armed soldiers stormed the offices of the Juba Post and held all the 
employees for several hours, claiming they were unhappy with an article 
that included an unflattering depiction of the state's governor. The 
situation was resolved when the soldiers discovered the article never 
appeared in the Juba Post but had actually appeared in the Southern 
Eye, an unrelated newspaper published in Nairobi.
    One journalist was killed during the year. On September 5, masked 
assailants kidnapped the editor-in-chief of Al Wafaq, Mohamed Taha 
Mohamed Ahmed, from his home in Khartoum; his decapitated body was 
found the following day south of the city. The editor had faced 
criminal charges in May 2005 after republishing an article regarding 
the origins of the Prophet Mohamed, and a court had ordered Al Wafaq to 
suspend publication for three months. Following the editor's killing, a 
Khartoum court barred newspapers from reporting on the criminal 
investigation. On September 25, police arrested 16 suspects in 
connection with the murder, but did not announce any names to the 
public.
    According to Reporters without Borders, in September the Government 
ordered seven Arabic language newspapers not to print certain articles 
``out of protection for journalists,'' although many of the censored 
articles had no connection with the investigation of the editor's 
killing. Authorities confiscated all copies of the September 9 edition 
of Al Sudani immediately after it was printed, stating that its 
reporting could ``hurt the investigation.'' Police also detained a 
journalist from Al Rai Al Aam for 16 days, reportedly in connection 
with the investigation.
    The Government exercised control of news reporting through the 
National Press Council and security forces, particularly regarding 
criticism of government actions and policies in Darfur. The National 
Press Council applied the press law and licensed newspapers, set press 
policy, and responded to complaints. In the event of a complaint, it 
could warn a newspaper or suspend it indefinitely and suspend 
journalists for up to two weeks. The council consisted of 21 members: 
seven selected by the President; five from the National Assembly; seven 
directly elected by journalists from the Journalists' Union; and two 
selected by leaders of the Journalists' Union, which observers 
considered to be government-controlled.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government monitored Internet 
communications, and the NISS read e-mail messages between private 
citizens. Some Web sites deemed offensive to public morality were 
blocked by the National Telecommunications Corporation, as were most 
proxy servers, but there generally were no restrictions on access to 
news and information Web sites. Internet access was generally available 
and widely used in urban areas, but it was limited by lack of 
infrastructure outside of cities.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom. In public universities, the Government appointed the 
vice chancellors, who were responsible for administering the 
institutions. The Government also determined the curriculum. While many 
professors lectured and wrote in opposition to the Government, they 
exercised self-censorship. Private universities were not subject to 
direct government control; however, in some cases, professors also 
exercised self-censorship. Nonetheless many university professors in 
exile returned to the country.
    On February 11, students at the main campus of the University of 
Juba, in Khartoum, rioted to protest the lack of progress in returning 
the university to Juba. Students also demanded the right to re-
establish a students' union. Police arrested several students; others 
were reportedly tortured by NISS. After a second protest in late March, 
the minister of higher education and scientific research closed the 
main campus. The University had not re-opened at year's end.
    Security forces tortured students during the year (see Section 
1.c.). The Government continued to harass university student groups. 
The Government took the files of student unions, destroyed their 
computers, and arrested and detained their members (see Section 2.b.). 
In September the governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal closed the 
university in response to student agitation (see Section 1.c.).
    The Government frequently censored films, especially those imported 
from the West, if they were deemed offensive to public morality.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Although the interim constitution and law provide for 
freedom of assembly, the Government severely restricted this right in 
practice. The Government formally banned all rallies and public 
demonstrations in the country, although this was not always enforced. 
The authorities generally permitted government-authorized gatherings 
but disrupted gatherings they perceived to be politically oriented.
    Islamic orders associated with opposition political parties, 
particularly the Ansar (the Umma Party) and Khatmiya (the Democratic 
Unionist Party), continued to be denied permission to hold large public 
gatherings. Government security agents occasionally attended opposition 
political meetings or summoned participants to security headquarters 
for questioning after political meetings.
    Security forces used excessive force, including beatings, tear gas, 
and firing of live ammunition to disperse unapproved demonstrations. 
For example, according to UNMIS, on May 8, between 600 and 700 
University of Khartoum students affiliated with the SLA (Abdel Wahid) 
and the JEM protested against the signing of the DPA. Police responded 
by firing tear gas and beating the students with sticks, injuring 17 
and arresting 10 for disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance. 
The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.
    On May 13, Central Reserve police, which function as riot police, 
opened fire on a demonstration of approximately 1,000 IDPs at Kass 
camp, killing a 22-year-old man. The demonstrators responded by 
lynching a military intelligence officer who was stationed among the 
protestors. The injured were taken to a hospital, where police again 
opened fire on several of the wounded, killing at least one more 
protester in the hospital.
    On August 30, police and NISS officials violently dispersed a 
peaceful demonstration in Khartoum against rising sugar and fuel 
prices, which was organized by several opposition parties, labor 
unions, and civil society groups. Police sprayed tear gas and beat 
numerous protesters, including women and elderly men. At least one 
person died from tear gas inhalation. Police arrested at least 80 
demonstrators; credible reports indicated those arrested were released 
by year's end.
    In the wake of the protests, the Government detained several 
opposition leaders, although most were quickly released without charge.
    Authorities took no action against security forces who used 
excessive force.

    Freedom of Association.--The interim constitution and law provide 
for freedom of association, but the Government severely restricted this 
right in practice. Although there were 20 officially registered 
political parties, the law effectively prohibits traditional political 
parties linked to armed opposition to the Government. The Political 
Parties Act allows some formerly banned political parties to resume 
their activities, but the parties were required to notify the registrar 
in writing to participate in elections. Observers believed that the 
Government controlled professional associations.
    The Government continued to harass some opposition leaders who 
spoke with foreign organizations or embassies.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The interim constitution and law provide 
for freedom of worship throughout the country; however, the Government 
continued to place restrictions on non-Muslims, non-Arab Muslims, and 
Muslims from tribes or sects not affiliated with the ruling party. The 
NCP, which originally came into power with a goal of Islamization, 
treated Islam as the state religion, declaring that Islam must inspire 
the country's laws, institutions, and policies. While the Government 
generally allowed non-Muslims to worship freely in approved places of 
worship, authorities in the north continued to restrict Christian 
activities. The Government had not formally established the Commission 
for the Protection of the Rights of Non-Muslims in Khartoum State, as 
mandated by the CPA, at year's end.
    The constitution of Southern Sudan also provides for freedom of 
worship in the 10 states of southern Sudan, and the Government of 
Southern Sudan generally respected the rights of southerners to 
practice the religion of their choice.
    Religious organizations and churches were subject to the same 
restrictions placed on nonreligious corporations. Although the law 
requires religious groups to register to be recognized or to assemble 
legally, registration reportedly was no longer necessary, and churches, 
including the Catholic Church, declined to register.
    There were reports that security forces harassed and at times 
threatened to use violence against persons on the basis of religious 
beliefs and activities; it was unclear whether the harassment was for 
religious or political reasons.
    On September 8, MI officers arrested the imam of Al Medina Al 
Munawwara mosque in El Geneina, West Darfur, after he preached about 
the lack of economic opportunities for IDPs and the deployment of UN 
peacekeepers in Darfur. The imam had also criticized the Government for 
organizing protests against UN forces. He was released without charge, 
but an official from the Department of Religious Guidance and 
Endowments visited a few days later and asked him not to preach about 
controversial issues in the future.
    On December 31, police in Khartoum raided All Saints' Episcopal 
Cathedral in Khartoum during a New Year's Eve prayer service, firing 
tear gas into the congregation. Six worshippers were wounded, one 
seriously.
    The use and construction of houses of worship required government 
approval. Applications to build mosques generally were granted in 
practice, but applying to build churches was more difficult. According 
to the Sudan Inter-Religious Council, the Government issued two permits 
during the year for the construction of new churches, but church 
officials reported that they never received the permits. As a 
substitute, the construction of small churches continued with owners 
registering the land for personal rather than church use.
    In January the Government of Upper Nile State banned the use of 
public loudspeakers at mosques in Malakal and Nasir for announcing the 
call to prayer, claiming that they disturbed the public. The Upper Nile 
State Ministry of Finance closed Islamic banks in Malakal, citing the 
CPA's provisions for the establishment of a conventional banking system 
in the south.
    While the law permits non-Muslims to convert to Islam, conversion 
by a Muslim is punishable by death. In practice authorities 
occasionally subjected converts to intense scrutiny, ostracism, 
intimidation, or encouraged them to leave the country; however, there 
were no reports of conversion punished by death.
    In May there were reports that four Christian leaders, including an 
Episcopal priest and a Catholic priest, were arrested after meeting 
with a Muslim woman who wanted to convert to Christianity. All four 
leaders were denied access to legal counsel for two days; three were 
beaten by NISS officers before being released. The woman was not 
charged with apostasy.
    Although some non-Muslims converted to Islam to obtain or keep a 
job, for promotions and job advancement, or for other social services 
or benefits, there was no evidence of forced conversions during the 
year.
    PDF trainees, including non-Muslims, were indoctrinated in the 
Islamic faith. In prisons and juvenile detention facilities, government 
officials and government-supported Islamic NGOs pressured and offered 
inducements, such as early release, to non-Muslim inmates to convert. 
Some persons in government-controlled camps for IDPs reportedly were 
pressured to convert to Islam. Children, including non-Muslim children, 
in camps for vagrant minors were required to study the Koran, and there 
was pressure on non-Muslim children to convert to Islam.
    Like all visitors to the country, Christian religious workers, 
including priests and teachers, experienced lengthy delays in getting 
visas.
    Under the state-mandated curriculum, all schools in the north--
including private schools operated by Christian groups--are required to 
teach Islamic education classes from preschool through university. Some 
public schools excused non-Muslims from Islamic education classes, but 
others did not.
    Children who were abandoned or whose parentage was unknown--
regardless of presumed religious origin--were generally considered 
Muslims, at least in the north. Christian families were generally 
permitted to adopt only Christian children.
    In the south, Christians, Muslims, and followers of traditional 
indigenous beliefs generally worshiped freely; however, many of the 
region's Muslim residents had departed voluntarily over the years. 
Although the Government of Southern Sudan officially favored secular 
government, Christians dominated the bureaucracies. Local government 
authorities often had a very close relationship with local Christian 
religious authorities.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some non-Muslim businessmen 
complained of petty harassment and discrimination in awarding of 
government contracts and trade licenses. Christians reported pressure 
on their children in school; teachers and media characterized non-
Muslims as nonbelievers. There also were reports that some Muslims 
received preferential treatment regarding limited government services, 
such as access to medical care, and in court cases involving Muslim 
against non-Muslim. However, non-Arab Muslims and Muslims from tribes 
and sects not affiliated with the ruling party, such as in Darfur and 
the Nuba Mountains, stated that they were treated as second-class 
citizens and were discriminated against in government jobs and 
contracts in the north and government-controlled southern areas. For 
example, the employment application of the Ministry of Energy and 
Mining emphasizes nationality, creed, and tribe; Muslims associated 
with the NCP were given preference in government employment.
    The Jewish community remained small, and there no reports of anti-
Semitic violence during the year; however, government officials made 
anti-Semitic comments during the year. For example, in September, State 
Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Karti asserted that the idea of 
sending African Union forces to Darfur under the umbrella of the UN was 
``all part of a Zionist colonialist plot to take over Darfur and 
exploit its natural resources.''
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The interim constitution and law provide 
for these rights, but the Government restricted them in practice.
    Movement generally was unhindered for citizens outside conflict 
areas; however, at times foreigners needed government permission for 
domestic travel outside of Khartoum, which could be difficult to obtain 
and sometimes refused. Foreigners must register with the police on 
entering the country, obtain permission to move from one location to 
another, and reregister at each new location within three days of 
arrival. The Government of Southern Sudan did not restrict the movement 
of foreigners in the south, although foreigners were required to 
register upon entry.
    On September 27, the Government restricted the movement of all U.S. 
citizens visiting Sudan to within 25-miles of the Republican Palace in 
Khartoum; U.S. diplomats assigned to the country whose names appeared 
on the diplomatic list and U.S. citizens bearing UN travel documents 
were formally exempt from these restrictions. The Government lifted the 
restriction on November 30.
    Although foreign NGO staff could obtain entry visas and work or 
travel permits for Darfur, there were numerous reports of continuing 
delays and restrictions (see Section 1.g.). The Government generally 
implemented its policy of issuing humanitarian visas within 48 hours, 
but nationals of some countries encountered difficulties in obtaining 
visas to work with NGOs.
    Prior to the October 14 peace agreement signed by the Government 
and the Eastern Front, supporters and members of the Eastern Front, a 
rebel group comprising the Rashaida Free Lions, Beja Congress, and JEM 
faced increased restrictions against their movement throughout the 
eastern part of the country, and internationally.
    The Government detained persons, particularly opposition political 
figures, at the airport and prevented them from traveling due to 
``security concerns.'' For example, on August 20, the Government 
prevented the director of a local NGO working in Darfur from departing 
the country to attend a conference overseas and confiscated his 
passport.
    The Government required citizens to obtain an exit visa to depart 
the country; however, the issuance of exit visas was pro forma and 
generally not used to restrict citizens' travel.
    Women cannot travel abroad without the permission of their husbands 
or male guardians; however this prohibition was not applied in the 
south and was not strictly enforced for members of the NCP.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it. 
Opposition leaders remained in self-imposed exile in Cairo, Asmara, and 
other locations during the year.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--There were estimates that up 
to five million persons had been displaced due to the north-south civil 
war. The UN estimated that at least two million persons had been 
displaced by the conflict in Darfur and that another 234,000 had fled 
to Chad. Despite the signing of the DPA on May 5, continued attacks and 
violence in Darfur, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, 
resulted in tens of thousands of new displacements, and some existing 
IDPs were displaced for the second or third time. For example, the UN 
estimated that the number of IDPs increased by approximately 125,000 
between July and September due to increased fighting and insecurity. On 
November 23, the UN reported that renewed fighting in South Darfur 
resulted in the displacement of between 10,000 to 16,000 persons from 
the areas of Seleah, Muhajeria, Motowred, and Ngabo. Darfur IDPs did 
not return in any significant numbers to their place of origin, 
although small scale spontaneous returns to certain villages occurred. 
Hundreds of thousands of persons, largely southerners and westerners 
displaced by famine and civil war, continued to live in squatter slums 
around Khartoum.
    The Government provided little assistance or protection to IDPs. In 
Darfur, local police established checkpoints near some IDP camps, 
though police made little effort to provide security. In the south, the 
South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, an agency of the 
Government of Southern Sudan, provided protection and assistance to 
returning IDPs.
    There were numerous reports of abuses committed against IDPs, 
including rapes, beatings, and attempts by the Government to forcibly 
return persons to their homes (see Section 1.g.). There were credible 
reports that the Government harassed IDPs in Darfur who spoke with 
foreign observers, especially high-profile foreigners, demanding to 
know the content of their discussions.
    The Government occasionally blocked commercial and road access to 
IDP camps, purportedly for security reasons.
    Insecurity in Darfur, especially outside of IDP camps, restricted 
IDPs' freedom of movement; women and girls who left the town risked 
sexual violence (see Section 1.g.).
    The Government forced or coerced IDPs to return to their villages 
by promising food and money; however, most IDPs who returned to the 
villages to receive the assistance later returned to the IDP camps.
    The UNHCR reported that approximately 560,000 Sudanese refugees 
resided in neighboring countries, due to the conflicts in the south and 
Darfur. Some 234,000 of these were in Chad, and another 220,000 were in 
Uganda; the remainder were in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo, the Central African Republic, and Kenya. Improved security in 
the south increased the return of displaced populations into areas of 
origin that were severely affected by the war and lacked basic 
services. A number of refugees and displaced persons voluntarily 
returned to the country during the year, particularly to the Nuba 
Mountains region. There were no reports local militias subjected 
displaced populations who returned to the south to illegal taxation.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection 
against refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where 
they feared persecution. However, some asylees were returned to their 
home countries before a formal determination of their status could be 
made. On May 11, the NISS forced the deportation of four Ethiopians who 
were seeking asylum in the country. The four refugees were members of 
the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, an Ethiopian opposition group, 
and faced prosecution for treason and the death penalty in Ethiopia. 
Although the immigration office attempted to delay the deportation 
proceedings, the NISS proceeded with the move before the refugees could 
be interviewed by UNHCR or the Sudan Commission on Refugees.
    Throughout the year, security forces in Khartoum North targeted 
Ethiopian refugees by raiding their houses, beating them, and using 
tear gas against them. After an attack on December 11, several 
Ethiopian refugees barricaded themselves in front of the UNHCR office 
in Khartoum, where they remained at year's end (see Section 1.c.).
    The Government also granted refugee status or asylum, but there was 
no standard determination procedure, and government officials 
reportedly were unresponsive to applications for refugee status.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who might not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967 
Protocol but no statistics were available for the year.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
assistance organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    Child refugees did not receive free primary school education nor 
were they treated as citizens as required by the 1951 Convention. 
Refugees were vulnerable to arbitrary arrests, harassment, and beatings 
because applicants did not receive identification cards while awaiting 
government determination of refugee status. Refugees could not become 
resident aliens or citizens, regardless of their length of stay. 
Refugees were not entitled to work permits.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Although the interim constitution provides citizens the right to 
change their government peacefully, the CPA established an interim 
government until national elections are held; under the CPA national 
elections must take place no later than 2009. By the end of the year, a 
state of emergency existed only in the three states of Darfur.
    The interim constitution establishing the Government of National 
Unity, adopted in July 2005, provides for power sharing nationwide 
between the NCP and the SPLM. The DPA, which was incorporated into the 
interim constitution upon its signing, also contains provisions for 
power sharing and the inclusion of Darfurians at all levels of 
government, although the majority of the power-sharing provisions in 
the DPA remained unimplemented at year's end. The interim constitution 
established a three-member presidency to head the Government, 
consisting of a President, Omar Hassan El-Bashir (NCP); a first vice 
President, Salva Kiir Mayardit (SPLM); and a vice President, Ali Osman 
Taha (NCP). The DPA created a fourth ranking member in the presidency, 
a senior assistant to the President, Minni Minawi. A bicameral 
legislature is composed of the 450-member National Assembly and 52-
member Council of States. Legislative and cabinet positions are 
allocated by a CPA-specified formula that reserves 52 percent of the 
positions for the NCP, 28 percent for the SPLM, 14 percent for northern 
opposition parties, including those from Darfur, and 6 percent for 
southern opposition parties. The DPA mandates that prior to national 
elections, the Government of National Unity shall allocate not less 
than 12 seats in the National Assembly to nominees from the Darfur 
rebel groups that have signed the DPA.
    Government of National Unity members took office in September 2005, 
and in October 2005 Salva Kiir Mayardit, the country's first vice 
President and President of the Government of Southern Sudan, appointed 
the cabinet of the Government of Southern Sudan. At the same time, Kiir 
appointed governors of the 10 states of southern Sudan, and each 
southern state also formed its legislative assembly with 48 members 
allocated proportionally as stipulated in the CPA: 70 percent to the 
SPLM, 15 percent to the NCP, and 15 percent to other southern political 
forces. Southern Sudan's legislative assembly approved an interim 
constitution in October 2005, which President Kiir signed in December 
2005.
    The DPA mandates the creation of a Transitional Darfur Regional 
Authority, headed by the senior assistant to the President, and charged 
with implementing the DPA and promoting coordination and cooperation 
among the three Darfur states. The DPA also mandates that a referendum 
on the permanent status of Darfur shall be held not later than July 
2010 to determine whether the Darfur region should remain as three 
separate states or create a single region and regional government to 
administer all three states.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and 
parliamentary elections were last held in 2000; they were marked by 
serious irregularities, including official interference, electoral 
fraud, insufficient opportunities for voters to register, and 
inadequate election monitoring. All major opposition parties boycotted 
the elections.
    The law allows the existence of political parties but prohibits 
parties linked to armed opposition to the Government, and the 
Government routinely denied permission for and disrupted gatherings 
viewed as politically oriented (see Section 2.b.). Security forces 
arrested, detained, and on occasion beat political opponents (see 
Sections 1.c. and 1.d.). During the year opposition parties became more 
vocal in demanding inclusion, and the Government sought the support of 
additional parties to add legitimacy to the CPA.
    The Government continued summarily to dismiss military personnel as 
well as civilian government employees whose loyalty it considered 
suspect in a process called ``separation for public interest.'' 
Authorities fired or arrested military officers either because they 
were from Darfur or did not support the ruling party strongly enough.
    The President appointed the governors and senior officials of the 
26 states in the country's federal system. These appointees were not 
necessarily representative of their constituencies.
    Women had the right to vote. There were approximately 70 women in 
the 450-seat National Assembly, three national female state ministers 
and one female minister in the Government of National Unity. The 
Government of Southern Sudan agreed to set aside 25 percent of all 
government positions for women, although in practice representation was 
far short of that goal. The DPA also includes provisions to ensure the 
representation of women in all levels of government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The NGO Transparency 
International reported a perception of severe corruption. Relatives of 
high government officials often owned companies that did business with 
the Government; in turn they usually received kickbacks for government 
business. Bribery of police was also a concern.
    There were no laws providing for public access to government 
information, and the Government did not provide such access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Various local human rights groups were active in the country, but 
they suffered from government harassment, particularly those groups 
reporting on sexual gender-based violence. The Government was generally 
uncooperative with and unresponsive to domestic human rights groups. 
Major local NGOs included SOAT and Sudan Development Organization. In 
an effort to silence them, the Government often charged human rights 
groups with spreading false information. For instance, NGOs continued 
to be harassed in Darfur with the intimidation of national staff and 
the detention and arrests of workers treating victims of sexual 
violence. Government security forces often detained members of 
humanitarian staff under the Criminal Act, usually on charges of 
spreading false information.
    For example, on July 9, in Khartoum, three NISS officers arrested 
Nagib Nagm Eldine, the director of the Amel Center for the Treatment 
and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. After keeping Eldine in a 
holding cell for eight hours, officials interrogated him about reports 
of summary trials for hundreds of persons arrested during riots 
following the July 2005 death of former first vice President John 
Garang. Eldine was released a few hours later.
    On September 9 and 10, the National Security Bureau summoned 
Mohamed Badawi, a human rights lawyer and Coordinator of the Amel 
Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, for 
questioning related to Amel Centre activities; he was released without 
charge both days.
    On December 9, the NISS halted a NGO-sponsored training in Nyala, 
South Darfur, claiming that the NGO had not received the proper 
permission from the HAC to hold the workshop. The NISS detained and 
questioned the NGO facilitator for several days.
    The Government often resisted the heightened levels of 
international NGO scrutiny generated by events in Darfur. The 
Government continued to make it difficult for international NGOs to 
operate in Darfur by delaying visas, holding up the clearance of 
equipment and supplies at customs, denying permission to travel within 
the country, and harassing the humanitarian community (see Section 
1.g.).
    The Government's HAC, which regulates humanitarian efforts in the 
country, continued to create difficulties for NGOs operating in Darfur. 
All NGOs must register with HAC to operate in the country. In March 
2005 the HAC assumed a role in hiring NGO national staff, which caused 
major delays in hiring new staff for Darfur (see Section 1.g.). HAC 
applied rules for NGOs inconsistently, often changing them without 
prior notification. An August 2005 Presidential decree required 
international NGOs to reregister and did not permit applicants to 
appeal a denial.
    On March 16, the Government enacted the Organization of 
Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act, which requires government approval 
before NGOs can begin work on particular projects and places 
restrictions on the acceptance of foreign money by NGOs operating in 
the country. Many NGOs believed that the Government used the new law to 
curtail their work on human rights.
    Rebels and other armed bandits reportedly abducted and on occasion 
killed NGO workers and contractors, particularly in Darfur. On May 8, 
IDPs at Kalma camp near Nyala, South Darfur, lynched a Sudanese 
translator working for the African Union, accusing him of spying for 
the Government. Between June and July, four local humanitarian aid 
workers were killed, while a fifth was abducted and later found dead. 
Banditry and armed robbery of humanitarian convoys by rebel groups in 
Darfur was common (see Section 1.g.).
    The UN continued to investigate the humanitarian situation in 
Darfur. For example, the UN high commissioner for human rights, the UN 
special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, and the 
UNHCR visited the country during the year. UNMIS deployed observers to 
Darfur to monitor and investigate the human rights situation. The UN 
special rapporteur issued reports to the UN on the situation in the 
country.
    In March 2005 the UN Security Council referred Darfur to the chief 
prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC). In June 2005 the 
chief prosecutor opened an investigation into Darfur without the 
cooperation of the Government, which refused to hand over any criminals 
associated with the conflict to the ICC. The ICC's investigation into 
Darfur was ongoing at year's end.
    The Advisory Council for Human Rights, with representatives of 
human rights offices in 22 ministries and agencies, is the Government's 
major focal point for the promotion and protection of human rights. The 
council provided lists of detained individuals to the international 
community.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, or 
religious creed, but discrimination against women and ethnic minorities 
continued. Mechanisms for social redress, particularly with respect to 
violence against women and children, were ineffective.

    Women.--There were no laws specifically prohibiting domestic 
violence. Violence, including spousal abuse, against women was common, 
although there were no reliable statistics on its prevalence. Women who 
filed claims were subjected to accusations of lying or spreading false 
information, harassment, or detention, which made many women reluctant 
to file formal complaints, although such abuse constituted grounds for 
divorce. The police normally did not intervene in domestic disputes. 
The Government launched its Violence Against Women Action Plan in 
November 2005; the program included awareness posters and a media 
campaign of zero tolerance for violence against women, increased the 
number of female police officers, and expanded training for police in 
Darfur. Southern women displaced by the North/South civil war were 
vulnerable to harassment, rape, and sexual abuse, particularly during 
informal repatriation to their place of origin.
    Women in Darfur were vulnerable to abuse and rape (see Section 
1.g.). Many victims did not report their cases either to family or 
authorities for fear they would be punished or arrested for ``illegal 
pregnancy.'' Local authorities often exacerbated the problem by 
requiring rape victims to file a police report before receiving medical 
treatment, despite an October 2005 decree that waived the requirement. 
According to the UN and several international NGOs, many local police 
were unaware of the new policy and still required a formal report. Many 
women distrusted the police, and few victims actually filed reports.
    In December the Government participated in the UN's ``16 Days of 
Activism Campaign'' to combat violence against women.
    The police arrested unmarried pregnant women who claimed to have 
been raped. Unless a rape victim could provide proof of the crime, she 
could be charged with the capital offense of adultery.
    The punishment for rape under the law varies from 100 lashes to 10 
years' imprisonment to death. Spousal rape is not addressed. In most 
cases convictions were not publicized; however, observers believed that 
sentences often were less than the legal maximum (see Section 5).
    FGM remained widespread, particularly in the north, although it was 
becoming less common as a growing number of urban, educated families 
abandoned the practice. In a compromise with tradition, some families 
adopted clitoridectomy, the least severe form of FGM, as an alternative 
to infibulation. Although no form of FGM was illegal, the health law 
prohibited doctors and midwives from performing infibulation. The 
Government did not support FGM and actively campaigned against it. One 
local NGO worked to eradicate FGM.
    Prostitution is illegal but widespread throughout the country.
    Trafficking in women remained a problem (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    While no law specifically prohibits sexual harassment, the law does 
prohibit gross indecency, which is defined as any act contrary to 
another person's modesty. The penalty for gross indecency is 
imprisonment of up to one year and 40 lashes. Harassment reportedly 
occurred, although reliable statistics were not available. There were 
frequent reports of sexual harassment by police in Darfur and 
elsewhere.
    Some aspects of the law discriminated against women, including many 
traditional law practices and certain provisions of Shari'a as 
interpreted and applied by the Government. In accordance with Islamic 
law, a Muslim woman has the right to hold and dispose of her own 
property without interference, and women are entitled to inheritance 
from their parents. However, a widow inherits one-eighth of her 
husband's estate; of the remaining seven-eighths, two-thirds goes to 
the sons and one-third to the daughters. It is much easier for men than 
for women to initiate legal divorce proceedings.
    Since, under Islamic law, a non-Muslim woman takes on the religion 
of her husband at marriage, a Muslim man may marry a Christian or Jew, 
and their children will be considered Muslim. The same is not true for 
a Muslim woman, who cannot legally marry a non-Muslim unless he 
converts to Islam. This prohibition usually was neither observed nor 
enforced in areas of the south or among Nubans (most of whom were 
Muslim).
    Women cannot travel abroad without the permission of their husbands 
or male guardians; however, this prohibition was not enforced strictly 
for NCP members. To obtain an exit visa, children must receive the 
permission of their father or their paternal uncle. Women cannot apply 
for exit visas for their children.
    Although women generally were not discriminated against in the 
pursuit of employment, they were not legally permitted to work after 10 
o'clock in the evening, in theory limiting their employment 
opportunities. Nonetheless, many women did work after ten o'clock in 
the evening, including in official positions such as airport security. 
Women were accepted in professional roles; more than half the 
professors at Khartoum University were women.
    Various governmental bodies have decreed that women must dress 
modestly according to Islamic standards, including wearing a head 
covering, but police rarely enforced such decrees. Women often appeared 
in public wearing trousers or with their heads uncovered.
    A number of women's groups were active, focusing on a wide range of 
social and economic issues.

    Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and 
welfare was uneven. While education was legally compulsory through 
grade eight, UNICEF reported that only half of school-age children 
attended primary school. The law provides for free basic education, but 
students have been expelled from class for failing to pay school fees. 
In August 2005 the Government issued a decree prohibiting dismissal of 
students for nonpayment of school fees. There were wide educational 
disparities among states and sometimes between genders, particularly in 
the eastern and western regions; for example, enrollment was 78 percent 
in Khartoum State and only 30 percent in the eastern part of the 
country. In the north boys and girls generally had equal access to 
education (enrollments of 50 and 47 percent, respectively), although 
girls were more affected by early marriage and the fact that many 
families with restricted income chose to send sons and not daughters to 
school. In the urban areas of the south, fewer than 27 percent of 
primary-school-age children attended school and there was a basic 
education gender disparity of 3 boys for each girl.
    UNICEF reported that educational access for school-age IDP children 
in Darfur improved compared with the preceding year. UNICEF also 
reported an increase in nomadic group education.
    There were significant inequalities in access to health services 
for children living in different areas of the country. UNICEF reported 
an under-five mortality rate of 93 per 1,000, a low birth weight rate 
of 31 percent, and immunization rates of approximately 50 percent. In 
the south, infant mortality was 150 per thousand births, and 
approximately 21 percent of children under age five suffered severe 
malnutrition.
    A large number of children suffered abuse, including abduction, 
enslavement, and forced conscription (see Sections 1.b. and 5, 
Trafficking).
    FGM on girls was performed commonly in rural areas and less in the 
cities (see Section 5, Women).
    The law establishes the legal age of marriage as 10 for girls and 
15 or puberty for boys. There were no reliable statistics on the extent 
of child marriage.
    Child prostitution, trafficking of children, and sexual abuse of 
children remained problems, particularly in the south (see Sections 
1.c. and 5, Trafficking). Children engaged in prostitution for 
survival, usually without third-party involvement.
    Government-aligned militias and rebel forces conscripted or 
accepted young men and boys into the aligned militias in Darfur (see 
Section 1.g.).
    Child labor remained a problem mainly in the informal sector (see 
Section 6.d.). In the south children, particularly girls, often worked 
in the fields.
    The Government operated ``reformation camps'' for vagrant children. 
Police typically sent homeless children who had committed crimes to 
these camps, where they were detained for indefinite periods. Health 
care and schooling at the camps generally were poor, and basic living 
conditions often were primitive. All of the children in the camps, 
including non-Muslims, must study the Koran, and there was pressure on 
non-Muslims to convert to Islam (see Section 2.c.). In the IDP camps in 
Darfur and refugee camps in Eastern Chad, rebel groups often 
conscripted teenage males. Conscripts faced significant hardship and 
abuse in military service, often serving on the frontline. There were 
reports that abducted, homeless, and displaced children were 
discouraged from speaking languages other than Arabic or practicing 
religions other than Islam.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits slavery and 
forced labor, the law does not specifically address trafficking in 
persons, and there were reports that persons were trafficked from and 
within the country. There were some reports that the abduction of women 
and children continued in the south due to tribal clashes.
    There were no informed estimates on the extent of trafficking, 
including for camel jockeys, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, 
or other types of forced labor. There were credible reports that tribal 
leaders with government connections transported children to the Persian 
Gulf to be used as jockeys in camel races or as laborers. Despite the 
absence of a signed agreement with the Government, UNICEF cooperated 
with the Government to repatriate child camel jockeys and indicated 
that 16 children had been repatriated since May 2005. More than 300 
children were repatriated from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar 
through the combined efforts of governments and NGOs.
    There were credible reports that intertribal abductions of women 
and children continued in the south. Victims frequently became part of 
the new tribal family, with most women marrying into the new tribe; 
however, some victims were used for labor or sexual purposes. As 
intertribal fighting in the south decreased, the number of abductions 
also appeared to decline. The Government acknowledged that abductions 
occurred and that abductees were sometimes forced into domestic 
servitude and sexual exploitation. CEAWC and its 22 joint tribal 
committees investigated abduction cases and sought to facilitate the 
safe return of victims. CEAWC did not pursue legal action against 
abductors. Credible sources noted that some of the CEAWC-facilitated 
reunions were forced repatriations of persons over age 18 against the 
wishes of the abductees.
    During the past 20 years, the LRA kidnapped more than 20,000 
Ugandan children, took them back to the northern part of Uganda, and 
forced them to become sex slaves, pack animals, or soldiers. Many of 
the victims were killed. The LRA also abducted citizens while raiding 
towns in southern Sudan. The Government permitted the Ugandan army 
access to southern Sudan to pursue the LRA. Although Ugandan military 
operations have significantly reduced LRA numbers, the LRA continued to 
operate in the south and to hold child abductees; such LRA attacks 
restricted humanitarian activities. On August 26, the LRA signed a 
cessation of hostilities, pending peace talks with the Government of 
Uganda in Juba.
    Shari'a and the State of Emergency Law prohibit all forms of sexual 
exploitation, and penalties include fines and imprisonment. However, 
there were no prosecutions under these laws during the year. The 
Government's National Council of Child Welfare, working with 
immigration officials, was responsible for combating the trafficking of 
camel jockeys.
    The Government assisted some victims of trafficking; through CEAWC 
it provided clothing, food, shelter, and transportation to victims.
    The Government conducted antitrafficking public information and 
education campaigns at the national, state, and local levels.

    Persons With Disabilities.--While the law does not specifically 
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, it does 
stipulate that ``the state shall guarantee to persons with special 
needs the enjoyment of all the rights and freedoms set out in the 
constitution, access to suitable education, employment and full 
participation in society.'' The Government did not discriminate against 
persons with disabilities but has not enacted any special legislation 
for persons with disabilities, such as mandating accessibility to 
public buildings and transportation. Credible sources noted that 
prisoners with mental disabilities were chained 24 hours per day. The 
law requires equal educational opportunities for persons with 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population is a multi-
ethnic mix of more than 500 Arab and African tribes with numerous 
languages and dialects. Northern Muslims, numbering approximately 16 
million persons, traditionally dominated the Government, while southern 
ethnic groups fighting the civil war (largely followers of traditional 
indigenous religions or Christians) numbered approximately six million. 
The fighting in Darfur was between Muslims who self-identify as either 
Arab or non-Arab (see Section 1.g.).
    Northern Muslims, while southern ethnic groups fighting the civil 
war (largely followers of traditional indigenous religions or 
Christians) numbered approximately 8.2 million. The fighting in Darfur 
was between Muslims who self-identified as either Arab or non-Arab (see 
Section 1.g.).
    The Muslim majority and the Government continued to discriminate 
against ethnic minorities in almost every aspect of society in the 
north. Citizens in Arabic-speaking areas who did not speak Arabic 
experienced discrimination in education, employment, and other areas. 
There also were reports of discrimination against Arabs and Muslims by 
individuals in the Christian-dominated south.
    There were occasional reports of intertribal abductions of women 
and children in the south, primarily in the eastern Upper Nile (see 
Section 5, Trafficking). The abductions were part of traditional 
warfare in which the victor took women and children as a bounty and 
frequently tried to absorb them into their own tribe. There were 
traditional methods of negotiating and returning the women who were 
taken in these raids. Many of these women were raped and ``chose'' to 
``marry'' their abductors, rather than return home and be stigmatized.
    There were deaths in conflicts between ethnic groups, such as 
continued fighting between Dinka and Nuer or among Nuer tribes.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is a 
crime, but no one has been prosecuted on the charge; there is societal 
but not official discrimination against homosexuals.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--The Government and 
government-supported militias actively promoted hatred and 
discrimination, using standard propaganda techniques to incite tribal 
violence. Credible sources noted that the Government supported one 
tribe over another, arming certain tribal militias against other 
tribes.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides for the 
right of association for economic and trade union purposes, the 
Government denied this right in practice. The Trade Union Act 
established a trade union monopoly in the Government. Only the 
government-controlled Sudan Workers Trade Union Federation (SWTUF) 
could function legally; all other unions were banned. The International 
Labor Organization (ILO) has frequently noted that the trade union 
monopoly contravened the principles of freedom of association. The 
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions continued to recognize 
the ``legitimate'' Sudan Workers Trade Union Federation--the national 
trade union center that functioned prior to the ban--which operated in 
exile.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law denies 
trade unions autonomy to exercise their right to organize or to bargain 
collectively. The law defines the objectives, terms of office, scope of 
activities, and organizational structures and alliances for labor 
unions. The Government's auditor general supervised union funds because 
they were considered public money.
    While labor organizing committees have the right to organize and 
bargain collectively, in practice the Government dominated the process 
of setting wages and working conditions through its control of the 
steering committees. A tripartite committee comprising representatives 
of the Government, the government-controlled SWTUF, and business set 
wages. The absence of labor legislation allowing for union meetings, 
the filing of grievances, and other union activity greatly reduced the 
value of these formal rights. Local union officials raised some 
grievances with employers, although few raised them with the 
Government. There were credible reports that the Government routinely 
intervened to manipulate professional, trade union, and student union 
elections (see Sections 1.c. and 2.b.).
    Specialized labor courts adjudicated standard labor disputes, but 
the Ministry of Labor has the authority to refer a dispute to 
compulsory arbitration.
    Strikes were considered illegal unless the Government granted 
approval, which has never occurred. In most cases employees who tried 
to strike were subject to employment termination; however, workers went 
on strike during the year and were not terminated.
    There is one export processing zone located in Port Sudan, and it 
is exempt from regular labor laws.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices continued (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    Although the Government continued to deny that slavery and forced 
labor existed, CEAWC acknowledged that abductions had occurred (see 
Sections 1.b. and 5).
    Both the Government and rebel factions continued to conscript men 
and boys into the fighting forces (see Sections 1.g. and 5).
    The ILO Committee of Experts reported that abduction, forced labor, 
and sexual slavery of women and children continued.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although mandated by the interim constitution to protect children from 
exploitation, the Government did not effectively do so, and child labor 
was a serious problem. The legal minimum age for workers was 18 years, 
but the law was not enforced in practice. Young children worked in a 
number of factories, and severe poverty produced widespread child labor 
in the informal and rural farming economy.
    There were reports that government and government-aligned militias 
conscripted children and accepted children as soldiers (see Sections 
1.g. and 5). Child trafficking continued, and child prostitution was 
widespread (see Section 5).
    Child labor existed in the south, particularly in the agricultural 
sectors. Child labor in such areas was exacerbated by lack of schools, 
extreme poverty, and the lack of an effective legal minimum age for 
workers.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was $48 (SDD 
12,500) per month, which did not provide a worker and family a decent 
standard of living. The Ministry of Labor, which maintained field 
offices in most major cities, was responsible for enforcing the minimum 
wage, which employers generally respected. Workers who were denied the 
minimum wage could file a grievance with the local labor ministry field 
office, which then was required to investigate and take appropriate 
action. There were reports that some workers, including postal and 
health workers, were not paid their regular wages. Due to a lack of 
capacity and difficulties in establishing the new government in the 
south, civil service workers, including teachers, often worked for long 
periods without getting paid. The only payment many teachers received 
were informal school fees paid by the parents of the children.
    Legal foreign workers had the same labor rights as domestic 
workers. Southern IDPs generally occupied the lowest paying occupations 
and were subject to economic exploitation in rural and urban industries 
and activities.
    The law, which was generally respected, limits the workweek to 48 
hours (six eight-hour days), with a day of rest on Friday. Overtime 
should not exceed 12 hours per week or four hours per day. There was no 
prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.
    Although the laws prescribe health and safety standards, working 
conditions generally were poor, and enforcement by the Ministry of 
Labor was minimal. The right of workers to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations without loss of employment is not recognized.

                               __________

                               SWAZILAND

    Swaziland is a modified traditional monarchy with executive and 
some legislative powers vested in the King (Mswati III). The 
constitution, which went into effect on February 8 and replaced the 
1973 Decree, confirms most of the king's powers, but provides for an 
independent judiciary. The King rules in conjunction with a partially 
elected parliament and an accompanying structure of published laws and 
implementing agencies. The population was approximately 1.1 million. 
The most recent parliamentary elections, held in 2003, were not 
considered free and fair. Political power remained largely with the 
King and his circle of traditional advisors, including the queen 
mother. While the civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces, there were instances in which security 
forces committed abuses.
    The Government's human rights record was poor, and government 
agents continued to commit serious abuses, including: inability of 
citizens to change their government; arbitrary killings by security 
forces; police use of torture, beatings, and excessive force; police 
impunity; arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement 
on citizens' privacy rights; limits on freedom of speech and of the 
press; restrictions on freedom of assembly and association; 
prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political 
activists; restrictions on freedom of movement; discrimination and 
violence against women; poor enforcement of women's rights; child 
abuse; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against mixed 
race and white citizens; antiunion discrimination; and child labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government and 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
there were reports that security forces committed arbitrary killings.
    Security forces were responsible for a number of deaths during 
apprehension and in custody, some reportedly due to torture. On January 
4, Fikile Mamba, wife of member of the opposition People's United 
Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and treason suspect Mduduzi Mamba, died in 
the hospital in Siteki after she was admitted complaining of shortness 
of breath and chest pains; Fikile had been detained for two hours of 
questioning about her husband's alleged involvement in throwing petrol 
bombs. A doctor's report stated that Fikile died of abdominal trauma.
    On February 22, Mthokothoko Mamba died in Pigg's Peak government 
Hospital, 11 days after officers of the Horo Police Post arrested Mamba 
and his two brothers on suspicion of theft. The three, all of whom 
claimed to have been beaten in detention, were released on February 13. 
On February 18, Mthokothoko's relatives took him to the hospital when 
his condition worsened. The results of a February 24 postmortem were 
not made public.
    On February 23, officers from the Mdutshane Correctional Facility 
reported that Muzi Ntshalintshali had died in their custody while 
serving a nine month sentence for wounding his uncle. Journalists who 
saw the body reported that it bore injuries to the arms, chest, and 
stomach.
    On June 27, Sandile Motsa, a soldier, and Sicelo Dlamini and 
Mfankhona Hlophe, both security guards, allegedly assaulted and 
tortured a man whom they suspected of intending to break into the royal 
residence at Goje township in Ezulwini, where the three were on guard. 
The man died the same day of the injuries. On June 28, the suspects 
were arrested and brought before a magistrate; their status was unknown 
at year's end.
    On September 5, Mphikeleli Mabuzadied died in a hospital after 
police shot him at his homestead in the Mahlanya area. Police alleged 
that he was attempting to flee arrest for burglary; Mabuza's family, 
present during the incident, claimed that the police shot him in the 
back as he struggled with them.
    In January the Mabuza family filed a lawsuit against the police for 
wrongful death in the May 2005 killing of Charles and Mfanzile Mabuza, 
who were killed during a police raid at their homestead. The Mabuza 
family cited a report by an independent forensic pathologist from South 
Africa that stated that the round of ammunition which killed Charles 
was characteristic of a rifle, refuting the police report that 
Mfanzile, armed with a handgun, had accidentally shot Charles.
    There were no developments in the January 2005 beating to death of 
a South African murder suspect by members of the Umbutfo Swaziland 
Defense Force (USDF) or the April 2005 USF shooting of two suspected 
smugglers, one of whom died from his injuries.
    There were no developments in the May 2004 case of Mandla 
Mathousand Ngubeni, who died in police custody. In January 2005 an 
investigative magistrate released an inconclusive report, which stated 
that Ngubeni was subjected to ``torture of sorts, possibly suffocation 
by police'' but did not give a specific cause of death or assign 
responsibility for the death.
    There were reports of mob killings during the year. On April 13, 
residents in Ludzeludze severely beat a burglar who had stolen a cell 
phone. He died in the hospital the following day. No arrests were made 
by year's end. The August 27 issue of the Times of Swaziland reported 
that a mob beat Timothy Dlamini with bricks after he was caught 
breaking into a minibus in Manzini; he died in a hospital four days 
later of his injuries. Witnesses identified one member of the mob as an 
off-duty police officer. No arrests were made by year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 cases of vigilante or mob 
killings of suspected witches.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The new constitution prohibits such practices; however, 
the provision prohibiting law enforcement officials from engaging in 
torture is located in the ``policy'' section of the constitution and is 
not enforceable in any court or tribunal. The law does not specifically 
prohibit such practices, although under the Prisons Act correctional 
facility officers may be prosecuted if they engage in such procedures; 
however, government officials employed them. Security forces used 
torture during interrogation and abused their authority by assaulting 
citizens and using excessive force in carrying out their duties.
    There were credible reports that police beat criminal suspects and 
occasionally used the ``tube'' style of interrogation, in which police 
suffocate a suspect by using a rubber tube around a suspect's face and 
mouth. Unlike last year, there were no media reports of police using 
the ``Kentucky'' method of interrogation, in which the arms and legs of 
a suspect are tied together and then the person is beaten. The 
Government took no action against police or soldiers accused of abuse.
    Between December 2005 and February, 17 persons were arrested and 
charged with treason, sedition, and attempted murder in connection with 
the 2005 petrol bombings of government offices and residences; the 17 
were members of the political organization PUDEMO and its youth wing, 
the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), banned under the lapsed 1973 
Decree. On February 7, one of the suspects pled guilty and was fined 
and released. On March 7, during a three-day bail hearing for the 
remaining 16 suspects, the defense claimed that police and prison 
wardens had tortured nine of the suspects on January 20. On the judge's 
order, a medical exam was conducted on one of the defendants who 
claimed he was tortured; however, the report was deemed inadmissible 
due to a technical error. On March 9, prison wardens allegedly beat 16 
of the subjects after ordering them to strip naked. Also on March 9, 
one of the detainees arrived at the hearing with a bleeding ear and 
told the court that prison wardens at the Sidwashini remand center had 
assaulted him and two other suspects; the wardens claimed that they had 
only strip-searched the three detainees. The court ordered that the 
detainee be taken to a hospital, where a doctor reportedly found no 
signs of assault. On March 10, the 16 suspects were granted bail and 
subsequently released. On March 13, the Prime Minister reportedly 
informed parliament that an investigation into the claims of torture 
and mistreatment would be conducted. On October 30, the Prime Minister 
named two members of the commission; however, the members had not been 
sworn in a month later. In November the suspects told the press that 
they would not cooperate with the commission unless it expanded its 
investigation to include family members and friends also allegedly 
tortured by the police. At year's end the commission had not begun its 
investigation.
    There were no developments in the following 2005 cases of security 
force abuse: the May alleged squeezing by police of a student's 
testicles; the June attack by a USF member on Majaha Dlamini; the 
August alleged attempted suffocation by police of Stephen Thwala; or 
the September 2005 beating by community police of two suspected 
thieves.
    There were credible reports that members of the community beat 
suspects before handing them over to police.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Government prisons and 
detention centers remained overcrowded, and conditions generally were 
poor. There were reports of torture and that a lack of basic hygiene 
and unsafe sexual practices, including forced sexual intercourse 
between prisoners, were spreading HIV/AIDS among the prisoners. 
Newspapers reported in September 2005 that the Government's draft 
multisectoral HIV and AIDS policy would provide for the release of 
prisoners in the last stages of AIDS; however, when the policy was 
issued in April, it did not contain that provision.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of prison riots 
over warden negligence.
    In Mawelawela, the sole women's detention facility, detainees were 
not held separately from convicts. On August 28, the Swazi Observer 
reported that seven children under the age of two were living with 
their convict mothers in the facility.
    The Government routinely permitted prison visits by diplomats, 
journalists, human rights monitors, and representatives of 
international organizations. During the year the local Red Cross 
visited several prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and 
lengthy pretrial detention were problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police maintain 
internal security. The army is responsible for external security but 
also has domestic security responsibilities. Police are under the 
authority of the Prime Minister, while the USF reports to the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs.
    The Royal Swaziland Police Service (RSPS), a nationwide police 
force, was generally professional despite inadequate resources and 
bureaucratic inefficiency. There were credible allegations that the 
force was susceptible to political pressure. The Government generally 
failed to prosecute or otherwise discipline police officers for abuses. 
No independent body had the authority to investigate police abuses; 
however, an internal complaints and discipline unit investigated 
reports of human rights abuses by the police but did not release 
results to the public. There were no government actions, including 
training, to reform the RSPS. However, the Government provided training 
to community police in investigative skills and the appropriate use of 
force.
    Traditional chiefs had their own community police who could arrest 
suspects and bring them before an inner council within the chiefdom for 
a trial. Some community police were accused of abuses.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests except 
when police observe a crime being committed or believe that a person is 
about to commit a crime. Detainees may consult with a lawyer of their 
choice, but the Government pays for defense counsel only in cases in 
which the penalty is potentially death or life imprisonment. Detainees 
must be charged with the violation of a statute within a reasonable 
time, usually 48 hours or, in remote areas, as soon as the judicial 
officer appears. In general detainees were promptly informed of the 
charges against them, and their families had access to them. There is a 
functioning bail system and, except in cases of murder and rape, 
suspects can request bail at their first appearance in court, which by 
law must take place within 48 hours of arrest; however, arresting 
authorities did not always present detainees within that period.
    When police dispersed demonstrations that they considered 
unauthorized or politically motivated, they sometimes briefly detained 
demonstrators without charge (see Section 2.b.).
    The Government arrested opposition members during the year on 
charges arising from a series of 2005 petrol bombings. The opposition 
members alleged that they were tortured (see Section 1.c.).
    Lengthy pretrial detention was common. In July the Correctional 
Services Public Relations Office reported that 1,304 of the 2,672 
inmates in the country's 12 prisons were awaiting trial. On October 13, 
the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs announced that there 
were only 22 judges and magistrates available to try the approximately 
1,500 detainees awaiting trial. Police justified pretrial detention on 
the basis that they were collecting evidence of the crime and that 
releasing the detainee would allow the person to influence witnesses. 
In some cases these claims resulted in repeated remands that lasted for 
years. For example, on June 22, a woman in custody since September 2001 
for the murder of her child pled guilty to culpable homicide; the judge 
sentenced her to five years imprisonment with three years suspended, 
and released her.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary. The lack of an independent court budget 
and trained manpower, inadequate levels of salary remuneration, and 
poor casework management remained problems for the judiciary.
    Judicial powers are vested in a dual system, one based on Roman-
Dutch law and the other based on a system of national courts that 
follows unwritten traditional law and custom. The Roman-Dutch-type 
judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, mandated by the new 
constitution to replace the Court of Appeal as the highest judicial 
body, composed entirely of foreign, usually South African, judges; the 
High Court; and Magistrate Courts. The constitution states that the 
High Court has no jurisdiction in any matter concerning the office of 
the King or queen mother, regency, chieftancy, the Swazi National 
Council, or the traditional ``regiments'' system, as these are governed 
by national law and custom. The constitution states that the High Court 
will interpret the constitution.
    In March 2005 the Government launched a children's court to try 
cases in which children were victims of sexual abuse or other crimes. 
Children testify from a separate room, linked by closed-circuit 
television to the courtroom.
    Most citizens who encountered the legal system did so through the 
13 traditional or ``national'' courts, each with a ``President'' 
appointed by the King. Authorities may bring residents to these courts 
for minor offenses and violations of traditional law and custom. In 
October 2005 the Swazi News quoted the judicial commissioner as saying 
that some traditional court Presidents imposed fines exceeding the 
legal limit of approximately $15 (100 emalangeni).
    The public prosecutor has the legal authority to determine which 
court should hear a case, but in practice police usually made the 
determination. Persons convicted in the traditional courts may appeal 
to the High Court. Prolonged delays in trials in the Magistrate Court 
and High Court were common.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for public trials 
except when exclusion of the public is necessary in the ``interests of 
defense, public safety, public order, justice, public morality, the 
welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of 
the private lives of the persons concerned in the proceedings.'' In 
practice, cases have been closed to the public to protect child crime 
victims. Juries are not used. Court-appointed counsel is provided at 
government expense in capital cases or when the crime is punishable by 
life imprisonment. Otherwise, defendants in Superior and Magistrate 
Courts are entitled to hire counsel at their own expense. Defendants 
can question witnesses against them and present witnesses in their own 
behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to relevant 
government-held evidence, generally obtained during pretrial 
consultations with the public prosecutor's office. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence. Defendants and prosecutors have the right of 
appeal, up to the Supreme Court.
    In traditional courts defendants are not permitted formal legal 
counsel but may speak on their own behalf, call witnesses, and be 
assisted by informal advisors. Sentences are subject to review by 
traditional authorities and can be appealed to the High Court.
    The King appoints traditional chiefs. The traditional courts have 
limited civil and criminal jurisdiction and are authorized to impose 
fines up to approximately $15 (100 emalangeni) and prison sentences of 
up to 12 months. However, traditional courts are empowered to 
administer customary law only ``insofar as it is not repugnant to 
natural justice or morality'' or inconsistent with the provisions of 
any law in force.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary, which tries civil as well as criminal cases, 
including suits for damages against government agents. For example, in 
January, the family of Charles Mabuza, allegedly shot and killed by 
police in May 2005, filed suit demanding $67,000 (500,000 emalangeni) 
for wrongful death and emotional shock (see Section 1.a.). In a 
separate case, a judge in July ordered the Government to pay $27,000 
(200,000 emalangeni) to a man as compensation for unlawful detention. 
The man was arrested in October 2003 for possession of marijuana and 
posted bail, but the Government continued to hold him for 64 days.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The new constitution and law prohibit such actions 
except ``in the interest of defense, public safety, public order, 
public morality, public health, town and country planning, use of 
mineral resources, and development of land in the public benefit.'' The 
Government generally respected these provisions; however, there were 
instances of abuse.
    The law requires police to obtain a warrant from a magistrate 
before searching homes or other premises, but at times police did not 
respect this requirement. Police officers with the rank of subinspector 
or higher have the authority to conduct a search without a warrant if 
they believe that evidence might be lost through the delay in obtaining 
a warrant. Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that 
searches without warrants occurred.
    There were no developments in the October 2005 arrest of 13 persons 
in a warrantless and random raid following a series of burglaries of 
the houses of Duze primary school teachers.
    There were instances in which police conducted physical 
surveillance on members of labor unions and political groups. On 
occasion police reportedly presented themselves to the leadership of a 
union and asked to attend union meetings; the leadership frequently 
permitted them to do so.
    In November Chiefs Mliba Fakudze and Mtfuso Dlamini, whose eviction 
along with 200 other residents of two chiefdoms in 2000 sparked the 
2002 rule of law crisis, asked the King for compensation for their 
property, which had deteriorated or been stolen while the men were in 
self-imposed exile in South Africa. On November 15, the two men were 
called to the Ludzidnzini royal residence and told to ``stop 
disrespecting the late Prince Magagula's council.''
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government limited 
these rights in practice. Citizens criticized the Government without 
fear of reprisal but generally did not criticize the royal family. 
Journalists practiced self-censorship. Police monitored some meetings 
(see Section 1.f.).
    There were two daily newspapers--one independent and one owned by 
Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, the king's investment company. Both newspapers 
covered a wide variety of sensitive topics and criticized government 
corruption, inefficiency, and waste. Unlike in the previous year, the 
Government placed some advertising in the independently owned daily 
newspaper. The Prime Minister hosted monthly ``media breakfasts'' to 
which he invited journalists of both newspapers. Reporting in the 
independent paper, the Times of Swaziland, was somewhat less critical 
of the Government than in 2005, and the paper provided more coverage of 
government functions and royal events.
    There was one government-owned radio station and one independent 
radio station, which broadcast only religious programs. There was a 
privately owned television station, which was officially independent; 
however, the owner's mother was the daughter of the previous king, 
Sobhuza II, and its reporting favored the monarchy. The government-
owned television and radio stations, the most influential media in 
reaching the public, generally followed official policy positions. 
Government broadcast facilities retransmitted Voice of America and BBC 
news programs in their entirety.
    Private companies and church groups owned several newsletters and 
magazines.
    There were reports of harassment of journalists and self-censorship 
during the year. A source in the Media Institute of Southern Africa 
stated that on a few occasions journalists received anonymous telephone 
calls advising them not to continue to pursue a particular story, and 
that the journalists complied.
    On December 16, local journalists launched a Media Union to discuss 
labor issues and bargaining power.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not discourage 
critical news coverage of the royal family.
    In July the Ministry of Public Service and Information launched a 
Journalism Center of Excellence to train practitioners in the media 
industry.
    In November 2005 the cabinet approved a media policy drafted by the 
Minister of Public Information and Public Service that calls for 
reviewing outdated legislation; however, by year's end no legislation 
had been reviewed, and many government documents remained unavailable 
to the public.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could freely engage in 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. Most citizens lived in rural areas without access to the 
Internet. Internet cafes existed in larger urban areas, but bandwidth 
was limited. A single Internet provider held a government-approved 
monopoly.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The practice of self-
censorship and the prohibition on political gatherings restricted 
academic freedom by limiting academic meetings, writings, and 
discussion on political topics. There were no government restrictions 
on cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The new constitution provides for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government restricted this right in practice. The law 
requires those wishing to hold meetings of a political nature, 
processions, or demonstrations in a public place to first obtain the 
consent of the police commissioner. Authorities routinely withheld 
permission to hold most such meetings.
    On March 18, police in Manzini temporarily detained five PUDEMO 
leaders to prevent a planned demonstration.
    During the year police forcibly dispersed several demonstrations 
and meetings and arrested demonstrators.
    On August 5, police in the Msunduza neighborhood of Mbabane used 
live ammunition and teargas to disperse a demonstration by SWAYOCO; one 
demonstrator reportedly suffered a minor gunshot wound, and several 
others were treated for minor injuries.
    On September 7, students from the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) 
marched peacefully to the Ministry of Education and delivered a 
petition on scholarships. The group then proceeded to the Prime 
Minister's office, although their permit did not include a march to 
that office. When the police prevented them from approaching the Prime 
Minister's office, some persons with the students threw stones at the 
police, who detained two marchers and beat other marchers with police 
clubs (see Section 1.c.).
    On December 2, in Manzini, several PUDEMO and SWAYOCO members were 
injured in a clash with police after the two sides failed to agree on a 
march route. Police allegedly beat unconscious PUDEMO member Mphandlana 
Shongwe and dropped him at a hospital. After receiving medical 
treatment, Shongwe returned to the police station to file a complaint, 
but police refused to take his affidavit. Police charged eight PUDEMO 
members with jaywalking in connection with the clash; on December 4, 
the court found them guilty and imposed small fines.
    No action was taken against security forces who forcibly dispersed 
demonstrations in 2005.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police 
harassed and disrupted the meetings of prodemocracy activists and 
members of the opposition.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice. 
The constitution does not address political parties; however, it states 
that candidates for public office shall compete on their individual 
merit. The decree which banned political parties lapsed with the 
implementation of the constitution; however, the Government did not act 
on the requests of several groups which tried to register as political 
parties or movements (see Section 3). Some political organizations 
continued to operate without calling themselves parties.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The new constitution provides for freedom 
of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    New religious groups or churches are expected to register with the 
Government. There is no law that describes the organizational 
requirements of a religious group or church. All religions were 
recognized unofficially. Groups were registered routinely, and there 
were no reports that any groups were denied registration during the 
year.
    Government permission was required for the construction of new 
religious buildings. Non-Christian groups sometimes experienced minor 
delays in obtaining permits from the Government.
    In November 2005 the Court of Appeal ordered a chief to return five 
cows that he had seized in 2003 from a member of Jehovah's Witnesses 
who refused to allow his daughters to wear the virginity tassels 
ordered by the King. The chief returned the cows and three offspring, 
but in March he attempted unsuccessfully to seize the cattle again.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among 
religious groups were generally amicable. The Jewish community 
comprises less than 1 percent of the population, and there were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The new constitution provides for these 
rights; however, it also states that provisions of law and custom which 
impose restrictions on the freedom of any person to reside in the 
country do not contravene the freedom granted by the constitution. The 
constitution grants women equality before the law and, unlike in 
previous years, women can now obtain passports without a male 
relative's permission. Nonethnic Swazis sometimes experienced lengthy 
processing delays when seeking passports and citizenship documents, in 
part due to the prejudice that mixed-race and white persons were not 
real citizens (see Section 5).
    The Government treated several thousand ethnic Swazis living across 
the border in South Africa who were not Swazi citizens as 
indistinguishable from citizens and routinely granted them travel and 
citizenship documents.
    The Government blocked overseas employment agencies from obtaining 
or transferring foreign currency, which was necessary to make 
arrangements for jobs abroad. This effectively stopped citizens from 
being able to gain employment in another country.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers. The Government did not accept refugees for 
resettlement. On September 13, the Government began a registration of 
refugees in accordance with UNHCR Conclusion 91.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens are not able to change their government peacefully. The 
King retains ultimate executive and legislative authority, and 
parliament has no real authority. Legislation passed by parliament 
requires the king's assent to become law, which he is not obliged to 
give. Under the constitution, the King chooses the Prime Minister, the 
cabinet, two-thirds of the Senate, many senior civil servants, the 
chief justice and other justices of the Superior Courts, members of 
commissions established by the constitution, and the heads of 
government offices. On the advice of the Prime Minister, the King is to 
appoint the cabinet from among the members of the parliament; at least 
half of the ministers must be elected members of the House of Assembly. 
The King is to make other appointments on the advice of a minister, the 
Judicial Service Commission, Civil Service Commission, or other 
commissions established by the constitution. The constitution states 
that when the King is required to consult with any person or authority 
before exercising a function, he can, after the consultation, choose 
whether to exercise that function.
    On February 8, the new constitution went into effect. The 
Government declared that the 1973 Emergency Decree, under which the 
King was able to rule by decree, lapsed when the constitution took 
effect. Civic organizations criticized the Government for the way it 
drafted the constitution, specifically for not allowing groups to 
contribute to the document. In addition civic groups charged that the 
constitution would not enable citizens to change executive government 
officials peacefully. In August the National Constituency Assembly 
(NCA), a group of civic organizations, petitioned the High Court to 
declare the constitution null and void on several grounds, including 
non-compliance with the constitutional drafting process set down in the 
1973 Decree, which required extensive consultation with citizens. In a 
September hearing on the motion, the NCA demanded access to the records 
of the Constitutional Drafting Committee and the Constitutional Review 
Committee. The Government attorney replied that the decree establishing 
these two committees provided that the public would have no right of 
access to the committees' records. On November 10, the High Court 
informed the NCA that it could not muster a full bench due to the 
imminent expiration of the employment contracts of several justices, 
and that the case was postponed. The case was pending at year's end.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The 65-member House of 
Assembly is constituted according to the law that was in effect when 
its members were elected in 2003. Under this law 55 seats in the House 
are popularly contested, and the King appoints the remaining 10 
members. The next elections for the house, due in 2008, will presumably 
be held under the terms of the new constitution.
    The constitution calls for a House of Assembly composed of up to 60 
elected members to include ten members appointed by the King, of whom 
half must be women and the others representing ``interests, including 
marginalized groups not already adequately represented in the House,'' 
and one woman from each of the four regions, nominated by the elected 
house members from that region.
    The King appoints 20 members of the 30-seat Senate; the House of 
Assembly elects the other 10. The new constitution provides that eight 
of the king's nominees and five of the House of Assembly's nominees be 
women.
    The most recent parliamentary elections took place in 2003; 
however, commonwealth observers concluded they were not free and fair. 
Election procedures generally were carried out in an orderly fashion, 
but police arrested several persons for using forged voter registration 
certificates and for trying to vote more than once.
    On February 8, the new constitution took effect and the 1973 Decree 
which banned political parties lapsed. The constitution provides for 
freedom of association but does not address political parties, and the 
Government has not acted on the requests for registration by several 
self-declared political parties and movements. The African United 
Democratic Party filed a court case in June to compel the Government to 
register it as a political party; the case had not been heard by year's 
end. On August 3, at the Prime Minister's monthly meeting with 
journalists, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs stated 
that political parties could hold meetings at tinkhundla (local 
government) centers, but that they first would have to obtain the 
permission of the regional administrator, and allow a police officer to 
attend the meeting. The constitution states that candidates for public 
office must compete on their individual merit, thereby blocking 
competition based on political party affiliation.
    Chiefs are custodians of traditional law and custom and are 
responsible for the day-to-day running of their chiefdom and for 
maintaining law and order. Chiefs are an integral part of society and 
act as overseers or guardians of families within the communities and 
traditionally report directly to the King. Local custom mandates that 
chieftaincy is hereditary. However, the new constitution, while 
recognizing that chieftaincy is ``usually hereditary and is regulated 
by Swazi law and custom,'' also states that the King ``can appoint any 
person to be chief over any area.''
    Women generally had full legal rights to participate in the 
political process; however, in accordance with societal practice, 
widows in mourning (for periods that can vary from one to three years) 
are prevented from appearing in certain public places and in close 
proximity to the King. As a result, they can be excluded from voting or 
running for office. There were seven women in the 65-member House of 
Assembly, 12 women in the 30-member Senate, and three female ministers 
in the cabinet, including the deputy prime minister. Three women served 
as principal secretaries, the most senior civil service rank in the 
ministries.
    There were three members of minorities in the Senate. There were no 
minority members in the House of Assembly or cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative 
branches of government and a general consensus that the Government was 
doing too little to combat it. On July 11, the King assented to the 
Prevention of Corruption Act passed by parliament; however, by year's 
end the minister of justice and constitutional affairs had not 
published the effective date of the legislation. On July 20, Senior 
Parliamentary Counsel Sabelo Matsebula stated that passage or amendment 
of several other pieces of legislation was required before the law 
would be effective. On August 9 and 10, the Government held a National 
Anti-Corruption Summit to publicize the Prevention of Corruption Act 
and rally broad support for anti-corruption. The constitution prohibits 
government officials from assuming positions in which their personal 
interest is likely to conflict with their official duties. Such 
officials are required to declare their assets and liabilities to the 
Integrity Commission within six months of its establishment; however, 
the Integrity Commission is subsumed under the Commission on Human 
Rights and Public Administration, which had not been established by 
year's end.
    There were credible reports that unqualified businesses were 
awarded contracts due to the owners' relationship with government 
officials. In June the Prime Minister established a commission to 
investigate how the Government spent approximately $7 million (50 
million emalangeni) on a business training exercise for which it had 
allocated only $1.5 million (10 million emalamgeni). The commission's 
hearings were characterized by official assertions of ignorance, 
disappearing files, and revelations of payments to businesses, some 
with connections to government officials or civil servants, which were 
unqualified to conduct such training. The commission had not delivered 
its report to the Prime Minister by year's end.
    During the year the Government commissioned Pricewaterhouse Coopers 
to conduct a forensic investigation of the Department of Customs and 
Excise and the Department of Income Tax. The investigation report, 
parts of which were made public in October, found that the computer 
user identifications of seven customs officials had been used to 
manipulate data to undercharge importers by approximately $4 million 
(28.5 million emalangeni). The report recommended disciplinary hearings 
for several Department of Income Tax employees and the banning of 
several companies from eligibility for government tenders. No action 
had been taken on the recommendations by year's end.
    The press reported that some members of parliament (MPs) engaged in 
fraud, kickbacks, and scams. An investigation was pending at year's end 
into allegations of government corruption in the procurement of 
medicine, and MP Mfomfo Nkambule was under investigation for corruption 
relating to the employment contract of the CEO of the Swaziland 
Electricity Board while Nkambule was Minister of Natural Resources and 
Energy. Nkambule retained his seat in the House of Assembly.
    There is no law permitting public access to government documents, 
and public documents were difficult to access. For example, the 
Government argued in court that the public had no right of access to 
the records of the Constitutional Drafting Commission.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Among the active 
groups were the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), Lawyers 
for Human Rights of Swaziland, and Women and Law in Southern Africa. 
Government officials were generally receptive but unresponsive to their 
views. Human rights groups spoke out on a number of occasions, 
criticizing the lack of accountability and transparency in the 
Government.
    In July 2005 the African Commission on Human and People's Rights 
released a report stating that the 1973 decree, which outlawed 
political parties and allowed the King to intervene in the judiciary, 
violates Article 13 of the African Charter. The Government declared in 
February that the decree lapsed when the constitution went into effect 
on February 8.
    The new constitution provides for the independence of human rights 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); however, this provision falls 
within the ``policy'' section, which the constitution states is to 
guide all agencies of the Government, but cannot be enforced in any 
court or tribunal.
    The new constitution provides for the establishment of a Commission 
on Human Rights and Public Administration within a year of its 
implementation; however, the commission may not investigate ``a matter 
relating to the exercise of any royal prerogative by the Crown.'' The 
Government had not established the Commission by year's end.
    The Government permitted visits by international organizations and 
facilitated a delegation from the International Labor Organization 
(ILO) in June.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, 
disability, age, ethnicity, religion, political opinion, or social 
status; however, the Government did not enforce the law. The labor law 
forbids employers from discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or 
political affiliation.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, particularly wife beating, 
was common despite traditional restrictions against this practice. 
Women have the right to charge their husbands with assault under both 
the Roman-Dutch and the traditional legal systems, and urban women 
frequently did so, usually in extreme cases when intervention by 
extended family members failed to end such violence. Penalties for men 
found guilty of assault not involving rape depended on the court's 
discretion. Rural women often had no relief if family intervention did 
not succeed, because the traditional courts could be unsympathetic to 
``unruly'' or ``disobedient'' women and were less likely than the 
modern courts to convict men for spousal abuse. The Roman-Dutch legal 
system sometimes handed out light sentences in cases of abuse against 
women. For example, on April 11, a High Court judge sentenced a man who 
had stoned his wife to death to eight years' imprisonment, but 
suspended four years of the sentence. SWAGAA recorded an increase in 
reports of spousal abuse, including an increase in the number of men 
complaining of abuse from their wives or girlfriends.
    Rape also was common and regarded by many men as a minor offense. 
Rape is against the law; however, a sense of shame and helplessness 
often inhibited women from reporting such crimes, particularly when 
incest was involved. In the Roman-Dutch legal system, the acquittal 
rate was high and sentences were generally lenient. However, on April 
13, the acting chief justice of the Court of Appeal issued a letter 
directing all Magistrate Courts to send rape cases to the High Court 
for sentencing, since Magistrate Courts could only impose a maximum 
sentence of seven years (or nine years in a principal Magistrate's 
Court). The letter also directed magistrates to refer to the High Court 
for trial all rape cases in which the victim was 16 years old or 
younger. On September 19, a High Court judge sentenced a man to 30 
years imprisonment for raping two teenage girls, in contrast to the 
seven-year term issued by the Magistrate's Court, which the man had 
decided to appeal.
    The October 8 Times of Swaziland stated that the acting director of 
public prosecution withdrew the case against three persons suspected of 
raping and sexually assaulting a student in September 2004 for wearing 
a miniskirt, stating that the evidence was weak, and witnesses refused 
to testify.
    Prostitution is illegal, and police continued to enforce the law. 
The law provides some protection from sexual harassment, but its 
provisions were vague and largely ineffective. There were occasional 
reports of sexual harassment, most often of female students by 
teachers.
    Several NGOs provided support for victims of abuse or 
discrimination. Despite the law's requirement for equal pay for equal 
work, average wage rates for men by skill category usually exceeded 
those of women.
    Women occupied a subordinate role in society. With the 
implementation of the February 8 constitution, women are able to open 
bank accounts, obtain passports, and take jobs without the permission 
of a male relative. Women routinely executed contracts and entered into 
a variety of transactions in their own names; however, banks still 
refused personal loans to women without a male guarantor. The 
constitution provides for equal access to land; however, in practice 
this right was not enforced. On July 31, the coordinator of Women in 
Law in Southern Africa told journalists that she had been told that 
most of the constitutional benefits for women will be delayed until 
several existing acts are amended to bring them into line with the 
constitution, including the Marriage Act, the Administration of Estates 
Act, the Deeds Registry Act, and others.
    The dualistic nature of the legal system complicated the issue of 
women's rights. Since unwritten law and custom govern traditional 
marriage, women's rights often were unclear and changed according to 
where and by whom they were interpreted. Couples often married in both 
civil and traditional ceremonies, creating problems in determining 
which set of rules applied to the marriage and to subsequent questions 
of child custody and inheritance in the event of divorce or death. 
Under the constitution, children derive citizenship from the father and 
not from the mother unless the birth occurred outside marriage and the 
father does not claim the child.
    In traditional marriages a man may take more than one wife. A man 
who marries a woman under civil law legally may not have more than one 
wife, although in practice this restriction sometimes was ignored. 
Traditional marriages consider children to belong to the father and his 
family if the couple divorce. Children born out of wedlock are viewed 
as belonging to the mother. Inheritances are passed through male 
children only.
    Mourning customs resulted in inequalities for women, and the high 
incidence of HIV/AIDS exacerbated this inequality. The constitution 
states that ``a woman shall not be compelled to undergo or uphold any 
custom to which she is in conscience opposed''; however, traditional 
families may treat a woman as an outcast if she refuses to undergo the 
mourning rite. When the husband dies, his widow must remain in strict 
mourning for one month, during which she cannot leave the house, and 
the husband's family can move into the homestead and take control of 
its operations. The mourning period can extend as long as three years, 
during which the widow's actions are extremely restricted. For example, 
she cannot participate in the chief's kraal, a traditional place of 
gathering where persons take their problems(see Section 3).
    A foreign woman who marries a citizen can become a citizen by 
lodging a declaration with the proper authorities.
    The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for coordinating 
women's issues but took no notable actions during the year. The UNISWA 
Senate had a subcommittee that encouraged students and faculty to hold 
seminars and workshops on gender issues.

    Children.--The Government made efforts to protect children's rights 
and welfare, and these rights are provided for in the new constitution. 
However, the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)--
an estimated 120,000 according to the UN Children's Fund--challenged 
that commitment.
    The constitution states that within three years of the 
constitution's entering into effect, every child will have the right to 
free primary education. During the year the Government did not provide 
free, compulsory education for children; the Government paid teachers' 
salaries, while the student paid fees for books and contributed to the 
building fund. The Government set per-child and per-school limits on 
the amounts it paid for OVC tuition and school fees, but some schools 
complained of delayed payment, and expulsion of OVCs for non-payment of 
fees increased. Supplemental money sometimes had to be raised for 
building maintenance, including teachers' housing. The country had a 70 
percent primary school enrollment rate. Children were required to start 
attending school at the age of six. Most students reached grade 7, the 
last year of primary school, and many went on to finish grade 10. The 
public school system ends at grade 12. In rural areas families favor 
boys over girls if they do not have enough money to send all their 
children to school. A government task force continued to educate the 
public on children's issues.
    Medical care for children generally was inadequate and 
characterized by long waits, poor nursing care in public hospitals, and 
overcrowded and understaffed hospitals. Most prescription drugs were 
available in urban facilities, but rural clinics had inadequate 
supplies of certain drugs.
    Child abuse was a serious problem, and the Government did not make 
specific efforts to end such abuse. Rape of children was also a serious 
problem, with media reports of rapes of children one year old and 
younger. Teachers sometimes beat children. In July Machawe Malinga, a 
primary school pupil, suffered fractures in his right hand and arm when 
his teacher allegedly beat him with a stick for being a slow writer. 
There were no reports of action against the teacher by year's end.
    Abandoning newborn babies was a problem, but no official statistics 
were available.
    The legal age of marriage is 18 for both men and women. However, 
with parental consent and approval from the minister of justice, girls 
age 16 married. The Government recognized two types of marriage: civil 
marriages and marriages under law and custom. Traditional marriages 
under law and custom can be with girls as young as 14. Critics of the 
royal family said the king's many wives and young fiancees, some of 
whom were 16, set a poor example for behavior change in a country with 
the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world.
    The law prohibits prostitution and child pornography, provides 
protection to children under 16 years of age from sexual exploitation, 
and sets the age of sexual consent at 16 years. Nevertheless, female 
children sometimes suffered sexual abuse, including by family members. 
There were reports that Swazi girls worked as prostitutes in the 
country (see Section 5, Trafficking). Children, including street 
children, were increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    There were growing numbers of street children in Mbabane and 
Manzini. A large and increasing number of HIV/AIDS orphans were cared 
for by aging relatives or neighbors, or they struggled to survive in 
child-headed households. Some lost their property to adult relatives. 
The National Emergency Response Committee on HIV and AIDS, a private 
group partly funded by the Government and by international aid, and 
other NGOs assisted some AIDS orphans.
    With more than 10 percent of households headed by children, the UN 
Children's Fund supported school feeding programs, established a number 
of neighborhood care points, and provided nutritional support to 
children weakened by AIDS.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, and there were reports of trafficking, including small numbers 
of women and girls. Swazi girls reportedly worked as prostitutes in the 
country or were trafficked to South Africa for domestic servitude or 
commercial sexual exploitation. There were no known investigations or 
prosecutions of trafficking cases during the year. There is no 
government agency specifically responsible for combating trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The new constitution provides 
protection for persons with disabilities and requires parliament to 
enact implementing legislation. However, parliament had not passed laws 
prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
employment, access to health care, or in the provision of other state 
services by year's end. Persons with disabilities complained of 
government neglect. There are no laws that mandate accessibility for 
persons with disabilities to buildings, transportation, or government 
services, although government buildings under construction included 
some improvements for those with disabilities, including accessibility 
ramps.
    There was no secondary school for deaf children. In July the 
Foundation of Disabled Persons in Swaziland complained that there were 
no schools for approximately 900 visually impaired children of school 
age. In August the minister for enterprise and employment told the 
Swaziland Association of Visually Impaired People that he was shocked 
to learn that of the 10,600 visually impaired persons in the country, 
only three were employed. The minister promised to introduce a bill 
compelling employers to create specific jobs for the visually impaired; 
however, no bill had been introduced by year's end. The hospital for 
persons with mental disabilities in Manzini was overcrowded and 
understaffed, and the Government's only psychiatrist announced in April 
that he was retiring; no replacement had been named by year's end.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The new constitution forbids 
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, ethnic origin, tribe, or 
birth; however, governmental and societal discrimination was practiced 
against nonethnic Swazis, generally white persons and persons of mixed 
race. Although there were no official statistics, an estimated 2 
percent of the population was nonethnic Swazi. Nonethnic Swazis 
experienced difficulty in obtaining official documents, including 
passports (see Section 2.d.). Nonethnic Swazis also suffered from other 
forms of governmental and societal discrimination, such as needing 
special permits or stamps to buy a car or house, delays in receiving 
building permits for houses, and difficulties in applying for a bank 
loan.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination 
against homosexuals was prevalent, and homosexuals often concealed 
their sexual preferences. There was a social stigma associated with 
being HIV positive, and this discouraged persons from being tested; 
however, education was slowly eroding the cultural prejudice. The May 
19 Times of Swaziland reported that a major construction company in 
Matsapha was harassing an HIV-positive employee by denying her salary 
increments which other employees received and accusing her of gross 
incompetence.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
the right to form associations, including trade unions, and workers 
exercised this right in practice with some exceptions. Workers in 
essential services, such as security forces, may not form unions. 
Unions must represent at least 50 percent of employees in a work place 
to be automatically recognized, otherwise recognition is left to the 
discretion of employer. Approximately 80 percent of the formal private 
sector was unionized. The informal sector employed approximately 98,000 
persons.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, such 
discrimination continued to occur. In the case of unfair dismissal, the 
court can order reinstatement and compensation for the employee as well 
as fine the employer. Union leaders made credible charges that 
management in various industries dismissed workers for union activity. 
Other concerns identified were undefined hours of work and pay days, 
frequent assaults on workers by supervisors, surveillance by hired 
security officers of trade union activity both at the workplace and 
outside, and the use of workers' councils stacked with employer-picked 
representatives to prevent genuine worker representation. The 
allegations of union discrimination were most common in the garment 
sector.
    In May the Swaziland Hotel and Allied Workers Union met with hotel 
managers to discuss termination notices that had been sent to employees 
soon after they had joined the union. The hotel withdrew the notices on 
May 8. On August 15, the Zheng Yong Garment Factory fired Wonder 
Mkhonta, chairman of the Nhlangano branch of the Swaziland Processing 
and Refining Allied Workers Union, for poor performance; however, the 
union claimed that he was dismissed for engaging in union activity. 
There were no developments in the 2005 case of two employees fired by 
the Oxford Leasing Company in Manzini, allegedly for joining the 
Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied Workers Union; their case remained 
before the Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration Commission (CMAC).
    During a June visit to the country, an ILO delegation called on the 
Government expressly to repeal the 1973 State of Emergency Proclamation 
and related decrees concerning trade unions' rights, amend the 1963 
Public Order Act to prevent its use in oppressing legitimate and 
peaceful strike action, and ensure that prison staff and domestic 
workers be granted the right to organize.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The new 
constitution and law provide for the right to organize and bargain 
collectively, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. However, employer interference with representatives of 
workers' councils to negotiate terms of conditions of work for 
employees contributed to the failure of some trade unions to negotiate 
or promote collective bargaining agreements.
    The Industrial Relations Act (IRA) empowers the Government to 
mediate employment disputes and grievances through the CMAC. The IRA 
does not specifically permit strikes, but it allows employees who are 
not engaged in essential services to participate in peaceful protest 
action to promote their socioeconomic interests. However, the procedure 
for announcing a protest requires an advance notice of at least 14 
days. The IRA prohibits protest actions in ``essential services,'' 
which included police and security forces, correctional services, fire 
fighting, health, and many civil service positions. The law details the 
steps to be followed when disputes arise and provides penalties for 
employers who conduct unauthorized lockouts. When disputes arose with 
civil servant unions, the Government often intervened to reduce the 
chances of a protest action, which may not be called legally until all 
avenues of negotiation have been exhausted and a secret ballot of union 
members has been conducted.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the 
Government rarely had to enforce this prohibition. However, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The Swaziland 
Federation of Trade Unions characterized the 1998 Administrative Order 
as a form of forced labor, noting that it reinforced the tradition of 
residents performing uncompensated tasks for chiefs who could penalize 
those that did not participate.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
constitution and law prohibit child labor, but child labor was a 
problem. The 1980 Employment Act distinguishes between a ``child'' 
(under 15 years) and a ``young man'' (ages 15 to 18), but it does not 
establish a minimum age of employment. The law prohibits hiring a child 
below the age of 15 in an industrial undertaking except in cases where 
only family members were employed in the firm or in technical schools 
where children worked under supervision. The law limits conditions 
under which young people aged 14 or 15 can be employed; however, 
children were vulnerable to joining the workforce early, and the law 
does not provide for compulsory primary school education. Legislation 
limits the number of night hours that children may work on schooldays 
and also limits children's work hours overall to six per day and 33 per 
week. Employment of children in the formal sector was not common; 
however, children were found doing unpaid labor for someone other than 
a family member and often exposed to harsh conditions of work. In rural 
areas children below the minimum age frequently were employed in the 
agricultural sector, particularly in the eastern cotton-growing region, 
and were employed as domestic workers and as herd boys. Children 
reportedly worked in towns as traders, hawkers, porters, car wash 
attendants, bus drivers and conductors. Children were victims of 
prostitution and trafficking in persons (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Enterprise and Employment's Department of Labor was 
responsible for enforcement, but its effectiveness was limited by 
personnel shortages.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The constitution calls on 
parliament to enact laws to ensure equal payment for equal work without 
discrimination, and to protect employees from victimization and unfair 
dismissal or treatment; however, the parliament had not enacted any new 
laws by year's end. The Ministry of Enterprise and Employment sets wage 
scales for each industry. There was a legally mandated sliding scale of 
minimum wages depending on the type of work performed. The minimum 
monthly wage for a domestic worker was approximately $45 (300 
emalangeni), for an unskilled worker $63 (420 emalangeni), and for a 
skilled worker $90 (600 emalangeni). Minimum wages for teachers were 
raised to approximately $100 (750 emalangeni) during the year. These 
minimum wages generally did not provide a decent standard of living for 
a worker and family. Migrant workers were not covered under minimum 
wage laws. Wage arrears, particularly in the garment industry, were a 
problem. In July 40 temporary teachers marched to the Ministry of 
Education to demand salary payments that in some cases were in arrears 
to February. The Government subsequently paid teacher salaries and also 
an end-of-year bonus.
    There was a standard 48-hour work week for most workers, a maximum 
48-hour workweek in the industrial sector, and a 72-hour work week for 
security guards. The law permits all workers one day of rest per week 
and provides for premium pay for overtime. Most workers received a 
minimum of 12 days of annual leave. Workers receive 14 days of sick 
leave with full pay and 14 days with half pay after three months of 
continuous service; however, these provisions apply only once per 
calendar year. No sick leave is granted if an injury results from an 
employee's own negligence or misconduct. These standards do not apply 
to foreign and migrant workers. The labor commissioner conducted 
inspections in the formal sector; however, these inspections generally 
did not result in enforcement of the law. There were allegations that 
women who tried to take maternity leave were dismissed, that employers 
paid employees at casual or probationary wage scales regardless of 
their position or length of service, and that some supervisors 
harassed, intimidated, and physically abused employees. In January a 
former employee of the Singapore Butchery filed a complaint in the 
Industrial Court after the CMAC failed to resolve a dispute claiming 
she was illegally dismissed after becoming pregnant in 2004; the case 
was pending at year's end. A supervisor who allegedly assaulted two 
employees of Zheng Yong textile/apparel factory was arrested and was 
released on bail in July; the complainants later withdrew the case.
    The constitution calls on parliament to enact laws to protect a 
worker's right to satisfactory, safe, and healthy conditions; however, 
the parliament had not enacted any new laws by year's end. The law 
provides for protection of workers' health and safety. The Government 
set safety standards for industrial operations and encouraged private 
companies to develop accident prevention programs; however, the labor 
commissioner's office conducted few safety inspections because of 
staffing deficiencies and an alleged desire not to ``scare off foreign 
investors.'' Workers have no legal right to remove themselves from 
dangerous workplaces without jeopardizing their continued employment, 
and collective bargaining agreements do not address the matter.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 arrests of workers 
following a riot at Welcome Textile. The company later went into 
liquidation.
    There were extensive provisions allowing workers to seek redress 
for alleged wrongful dismissal, and these provisions frequently were 
invoked during the year.

                               __________

                                TANZANIA

    The United Republic of Tanzania, with a population of approximately 
37 million, is a multi-party republic consisting of the mainland and 
the Zanzibar archipelago. The Union is headed by a President, who is 
also head of government, and its unicameral legislative body is the 
National Assembly, commonly referred to as parliament. Zanzibar, 
although integrated into the country's governmental and party 
structure, has its own President, court system, and legislature, and 
continued to exercise considerable autonomy. In the December 2005 Union 
Presidential and legislative elections, Jakaya Kikwete was elected 
President, and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party made 
significant gains in parliament. Observers considered the Union 
elections on both the mainland and in Zanzibar to be largely free and 
fair. The 2005 Presidential elections in Zanzibar were more 
contentious, with serious irregularities and politically motivated 
violence; however, there were improvements in the administration of the 
elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces, there were isolated instances in which 
elements of the security forces acted independently of government 
authority.
    There were a number of continuing human rights problems. Police and 
prison guards used excessive force against inmates or suspects, at 
times resulting in death, and police impunity was a problem; there were 
continued reports of killings of elderly individuals suspected of being 
witches; prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening; police 
routinely conducted searches without warrants, were often corrupt, and 
at times failed to bring detained individuals before a judge in the 
specified period of time; the judiciary suffered from corruption in the 
lower courts; freedom of speech and press were partly limited; 
governmental corruption remained pervasive; authorities restricted the 
movement of refugees; societal violence against women persisted; and 
trafficking in persons and child labor were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents during 
the year; however, on several occasions security forces used lethal 
force against citizens, including persons in custody.
    During the year authorities accused police of killing several 
persons unlawfully. For example, in January, in the outskirts of Dar es 
Salaam, 15 police allegedly shot and killed three gemstone dealers and 
a taxi driver, claiming the four persons were robbers. The individuals 
concerned were reportedly not resisting arrest, and a special 
commission headed by a High Court judge investigated the incident and 
found that the victims had not been robbers. Authorities brought murder 
charges against all 15 police officers. The case was pending at year's 
end.
    In March, according to officials of the Legal and Human Rights 
Center, police in Mwanza tortured and killed a taxi driver named 
Christopher Samson while he was in custody after his arrest on 
allegations that he participated in an armed robbery. The Mwanza 
regional police commander questioned the policemen involved, after 
which they were arrested. There was no further information regarding 
the case at year's end.
    On June 6, six prison wardens allegedly killed a prisoner, Eladius 
Stanslaus, at Kimbiji Prison in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam. A 
magistrate of the Temeke District Court adjourned the case because 
investigations were incomplete at the time of trial. No further 
information was available at year's end.
    On July 16, authorities in Shinyanga Region discovered the body of 
a man in a police cell in the village of Kagongwa. According to press 
accounts, a prison warden beat an inmate to death in the Kisongo prison 
in the region of Arusha.
    There were no reports of active investigations of a number of 
killings or alleged killings by police and prison authorities in 2005.
    There were a number of unresolved killings from 2004. They included 
the July killing of Selemani Juma Mousi by Zanzibar police and the 
death of a minor in Zanzibar during the elections, allegedly as a 
result of police use of excessive force. In the latter case opposition 
party leaders charged that police were not investigating. There were no 
reports of progress in investigating the 2004 killing of a student, 
allegedly by a member of a paramilitary unit; authorities announced an 
inquest in August 2005, but there were reports that the suspect had 
been transferred to the mainland. Although authorities in August 2005 
announced an inquest into the suspected killing by police of a building 
inspector in Arusha, there was no further information at year's end. 
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of a nongovernmental 
(NGO) worker in Ngara district by unidentified armed assailants, and 
there were no reports that the authorities were actively pursuing the 
case (see Section 4).
    Deaths as a result of mob violence continued, including by stoning, 
beating, hacking with machetes, and burning, but they were fewer in 
number following a governmental outreach campaign begun in 2005 to 
discourage mob violence. In August a mob set afire Saidi Sudi, who 
subsequently died of his injuries. In December mobs lynched two 
unidentified burglars in Shinyanga Region. Convictions in such cases 
were rare; authorities indicated that it was often difficult to 
persuade witnesses to testify. However, in early July the High Court 
sentenced three persons to death for the 2003 mob killing of Ernest 
Kikoti in the village of Nyamvisi, Mongoro Region. The prosecution 
charged the defendants with having incited a mob to kill Kikoti.
    The killing of suspected witches continued. A widespread belief in 
witchcraft led to the killing of numerous alleged witches by those 
claiming to be their victims, by aggrieved relatives of their victims, 
or by mobs. The practice, once concentrated in Shinyanga Region, has 
spread to other regions as a result of the pastoral migrations of 
persons from Shinyanga. For example, on April 16, unknown persons in 
the village of Buhanga, Kiagera Region, killed 67-year-old Anna Maria, 
suspected of witchcraft, and her seven-year-old granddaughter 
Sicholesik.
    In December Mwema Bakari Kassan, a resident of Kiyanga village in 
Mtwara Region, was arrested by the police for alleged involvement in 
burning down five houses where he suspected that a sorcerer was hiding 
one of his relatives. At year's end the case was still under 
investigation. COEL indicated that the incidents were most common in 
Tabora, Mwanza, Shinyanga, and Kigoma regions.
    On August 28, the newspaper The African, citing statistics from the 
local NGO Concern for the Elderly (COEL), reported that in the 
preceding decade, 8,580 elderly persons within the Lake Zone had been 
killed following allegations of witchcraft.
    The Government prosecuted persons accused of killing suspected 
practitioners of witchcraft, but prosecution became more difficult as 
persons responsible for killing suspected witches learned to avoid law 
enforcement authorities.
    In two regions there were reports that individuals practicing 
witchcraft killed children and school students, allegedly to remove and 
sell body parts and skin (see Section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there continued to be reports that police officers tortured, 
threatened, and otherwise mistreated suspected criminals and prisoners 
during the year. Beatings and floggings were the methods most commonly 
used. According to press reports, fewer police were accused of abusing 
prisoners during the year, following more frequent prosecution of 
police offenders
    Efforts by city officials to evict street hawkers from central 
locations resulted in injuries. On March 9, paramilitary forces injured 
street hawkers while evicting them from the city of Mwanza. On March 
10, paramilitary forces clashed with street hawkers in Dar es Salaam, 
prompting the Prime Minister to order city officials to halt the 
evections and give the traders a six-month reprieve. In October some 
hawkers who refused to relocate to designated business premises were 
injured after clashing with paramilitary forces.
    On August 26, the Guardian newspaper reported that as a result of a 
beating by Zanzibar police, Saidi Awadhi had to have his left eye 
surgically removed. Awadhi accused a group of patrolling security 
officers in the Mpendae area of beating him without any reason. The 
regional police commander for the area stated that the matter could 
have been investigated if the alleged victim had reported the matter to 
his office; there were no indications that authorities were following 
up on the case.
    On August 27, the minister of public safety and security announced 
that the inspector general of police had begun removing offenders from 
the police force and creating better working conditions for the police. 
Injuries reportedly suffered by two local officials in the course of 
being arrested in July may have been one of the factors that 
precipitated this action.
    On February 6, Lucas Omahe Galani was sentenced to 10 years in 
prison for assaulting CCM Presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete during 
an October 2005 rally in Mwanza.
    In September 2005 the Government formed a commission to investigate 
allegations of severe mistreatment involving senior prison officers in 
the Geita district of Mwanza Region. The officers faced accusations of 
torturing, beating, and sodomizing two members of sungusungu, 
traditional local militias. At year's end the case was still pending in 
court.
    Local government officials and courts occasionally used caning as a 
punishment for both juvenile and adult offenders, and teachers and 
school administrators employed caning and other forms of corporal 
punishment on students (see Section 5). For example, in May 2005 a 
resident magistrate's court in Arusha sentenced a prominent businessman 
to prison and to receive 12 cane strokes for raping his house maid. The 
use of caning continued to decline during the year following public 
outreach efforts by the Government--particularly the Ministry of 
Education--and the press.
    There were fewer reports during the year that soldiers beat 
civilians; however, in March paramilitary soldiers and municipal 
council police, who were evicting bus touts (young men who purportedly 
steer passengers to a particular van but often extort payment from 
drivers), injured approximately 20 persons in the Mwenge, Kariakoo, and 
Tandika areas of Dar es Salaam. Police allegedly beat the touts and 
forced them to lie in dirty rain water.
    At year's end there was no further information regarding two 2005 
beating incidents in which the Tanzanian People's Defense Forces (TPDF) 
attacked street hawkers in Dar es Salaam and used iron rods against 
villagers in the Boko district.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police used excessive 
force to break up demonstrations.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police sexually abused 
individuals in detention.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life threatening. In 2005 the established maximum capacity of 
the country's prison facilities was 23,000, and the prison population 
was estimated to be 46,000. During the year local prisons held 23,968 
convicted prisoners and 21,017 pretrial detainees for a total of 44,985 
prisoners. In 2005 then minister of Home Affairs John Chiligati stated 
that the country needed 156 prison facilities, compared with the 122 
that existed. On July 9, he told parliament there was overcrowding in 
all of the prisons in the country.
    During the year the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance 
inspected more than 10 prisons for human rights violations. In October 
2005 the Government acknowledged severe problems of overcrowding, 
infectious diseases, lengthy pretrial detention of prisoners, and 
holding juveniles together with adult prisoners.
    Prisoners experienced poor living conditions and lacked access to 
basic human needs. NGOs reported that prisoners received poor diets as 
a result of substandard sanitation and hygiene. In January 2005 more 
than 15 inmates at Ukonga maximum security prison in Dar es Salaam 
complained of a poor diet and severe beatings from prison guards and 
overcrowded cells. Authorities often moved prisoners to different 
prisons without notifying prisoners' families.
    Prison dispensaries offered only limited medical treatment, and 
friends and family members of prisoners generally had to provide 
medications or the funds with which to purchase them. Diseases were 
common and resulted in numerous deaths in prisons. According to NGO 
reports, the leading causes of death were malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/
AIDS, cholera, and diseases related to poor sanitation. In February, to 
prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons, the Government established 
12 voluntary counseling and testing centers to provide services to 
penal institutions.
    There were reports that guards beat and sexually abused prisoners 
during the year.
    No investigation report was issued during the year from the 
Government commission investigating the September 2005 arrest, 
detention, and torture by a prison officer in Mwanza of two traditional 
militiamen. On the order of the prisons officer, eight inmates beat and 
sexually molested the two men, who required hospitalization after the 
detention.
    The law requires prisoners to be separated based on age and gender; 
however, in practice many overcrowded prisons lacked separate cells for 
male, female, and juvenile prisoners. There were approximately 10 
separate youth prisons throughout the country. The Government 
considered prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21 to be ``young 
prisoners'' and required prisons to separate them from the older adult 
prison population at night. Pretrial detainees were held together with 
convicted prisoners and were allowed to receive food from the outside.
    Local NGOs, international organizations, and diplomatic observers 
were permitted to monitor prison conditions during the year. For 
example, on May 8, the Tanzania Red Cross Society visited Segerea 
Prison in Dar es Salaam. The International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) visited prisoners at the International Criminal Tribunal for 
Rwanda, in Arusha. The Government permitted the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit prisons holding refugees in 
Dar es Salaam and in the west. The ICRC also visited two detention 
centers in Zanzibar in December 2005 but did not monitor facilities for 
domestic prisoners during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, both were problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
force, under the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, has primary 
responsibility for maintaining law and order. The Field Force Unit is a 
division of the police force. Sungusungu Citizens' patrols continued to 
support the police force, including in refugee camps. Police were not 
responsible for overseeing sungusungu, who worked with local government 
leaders. The TPDF, under the Ministry of Defense, is responsible for 
external security and had some domestic security responsibilities.
    The police force remained underfunded and inefficient. The use of 
excessive force, police corruption, and impunity were serious problems.
    Citizens often complained that police were slow to investigate 
crimes and prosecute criminals. Although not lawyers, police acted as 
public prosecutors in the primary courts. Many judicial experts 
criticized this arrangement, which allegedly allowed police to 
manipulate evidence in criminal cases and at times resulted in cases 
being thrown out of court. According to NGO reports, there were 
instances in which the police lost evidence, and suspects with 
sufficient means successfully avoided prosecution by bribing police 
officers. Police also used the threat of arbitrary arrest to extort 
money. Communities perceived a general lack of protection amid an 
increase in crimes committed by armed persons. Lack of trust in the 
police force and in the court system contributed to incidents of mob 
justice during the year. Internal mechanisms within the police 
hierarchy were available to investigate violations committed by police, 
but, despite improvements, continuing police misbehavior suggested that 
they were not used effectively.
    There continued to be numerous press reports and complaints from 
civil society groups and citizens about police corruption during the 
year. The Prevention of Corruption Bureau reported many public 
complaints of corruption that implicated the police force and local 
authorities. In July the Kagera Region headed the list of corruption 
complaints, with 558 complaints recorded in 2005. In November the press 
reported that drugs worth thousands of dollars were stolen from police 
custody at the Ministry of Home Affairs' antinarcotics unit in Dar es 
Salaam. The unit commander was replaced, and two policemen were 
arrested. The case was pending at year's end.
    In January President Kikwete directed the Ministry for Public 
Safety and Security and senior police officers to take disciplinary 
action against any police officer who was ``ethically not upright.'' In 
March the police force launched investigations of a police sergeant 
alleged to possess property not commensurate with his income. Regional 
Police Commander Alfred Tibaigana stated the officer would be dismissed 
if found to be at fault. During the year Tibaigana also stated that 
another police officer who allegedly collaborated with a civilian to 
rob residential property would also face dismissal if found guilty.
    During the year the police force held training seminars on 
surveillance detection, human rights, expediting investigations, 
finalizing criminal cases, and handling opposition party members and 
leaders.
    The law grants legal status to the traditional sungusungu 
neighborhood and village anticrime groups. Local governments appoint 
the members with the help of individual households who decide which 
among them will join the sungusungu watch. The sungusungu remained 
active in rural areas such as Tabora, Shinyanga, and Mwanza regions as 
well as in refugee camps, but were not present in most urban areas. 
Sungusungu have the authority to arrest persons, but they do not have 
the authority to carry firearms and instead carried wooden clubs for 
protection. Sungusungu have been criticized for using excessive force, 
including the severe beating of suspects, which on occasion resulted in 
death. It was customary for residents of a neighborhood in which 
sungusungu operated to either donate a small sum to the sungusungu for 
patrols or, if they did not have money, to provide one person from 
their household to participate in patrols. In refugee camps, in 
addition to a regular police contingent, sungusungu groups composed of 
refugees acted as quasi-official security forces.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that persons be apprehended 
openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence, and authorities 
generally complied with the law. The law also requires that a person 
arrested for a crime, other than a national security detainee (as 
defined under the Preventive Detention Act), be charged before a 
magistrate within 24 hours of arrest; however, in practice the police 
often failed to comply with this requirement. The law gives accused 
persons the right to contact a lawyer or talk with family members but 
authorities at times denied this right. Prompt access to counsel was 
also limited by the lack of lawyers in rural areas, the lack of 
communication systems and infrastructure, and the illiteracy and 
poverty of the accused. Authorities promptly informed detainees of the 
charges against them. The Government provided legal representation for 
indigent defendants as for all suspects charged with murder or treason. 
The law does not allow the possibility of bail for the offenses of 
murder or armed robbery and imposes strict conditions on freedom of 
movement and association when bail is granted in other cases. In the 
primary and district courts, bribes at times determined whether bail 
was granted.
    Under the Preventive Detention Act, the President may order the 
arrest and indefinite detention without bail of any person considered 
dangerous to the public order or national security. The act requires 
that the Government release persons detained under this act within 15 
days of detention or inform them of the reason for their detention; it 
also allows a detainee to challenge the grounds for detention at 90-day 
intervals. The Government has additional broad detention powers under 
the law, which permit regional and district commissioners to arrest and 
detain for 48 hours persons who may ``disturb public tranquility.'' The 
act was not invoked during the year.
    In July minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mary Nagu 
stated that the courts of law received 36 civil litigation cases 
alleging unlawful detention instituted by aggrieved parties in 
connection with the 2005 elections. Five of the cases were thrown out 
for failing to meet legal requirements. The remaining 31 cases were 
pending in courts at year's end.
    Unlike in 2005, a national election year, there were no reports of 
arbitrary detention of opposition leaders or supporters.
    There was no information about the case of Abdul Rashid, a resident 
of Dar es Salaam who claimed he was arbitrarily arrested in September 
2005. He was charged with destroying a CCM campaign poster. Rashid 
denied the charges.
    Police arrested refugees for leaving refugee camps without permits 
(see Section 2.d.).
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that Union security forces 
based in Zanzibar or the archipelago's own security forces, known as 
vikosi, committed human rights violations during the year, and there 
were no allegations that CCM's Zanzibar chapter worked with the vikosi 
to recruit members of the Janjaweed, an allegedly pro CCM gang, to 
intimidate the political opposition.
    Approximately 44 percent of the prison population consisted of 
pretrial detainees or remand prisoners. Detainees charged with criminal 
matters generally waited several years for trial, due to the time 
required to complete police investigations, a lack of judges to hear 
cases, and an inadequate judicial budget. Demands by police and court 
officials for bribes further delayed the trials of those who could not 
afford to pay. Pretrial detention at times exceeded the sentence of the 
crime with which detainees were charged. Observers estimated that 
approximately 5 percent of persons held in remand ultimately were 
convicted, and often those convicted already had served their full 
sentences before their trials were held. A government official 
estimated that it took up to five years for homicide cases to reach the 
high court. At year's end some suspects had spent as many as 10 years 
in prison without having their cases heard before a court. In July the 
minister for justice and constitutional affairs issued a directive 
requiring courts of law to clear all current criminal and civil cases 
within 60 days to reduce the number of cases pending in courts. There 
were no reports at year's end concerning progress toward meeting this 
objective.

    Amnesty.--In February the President of Zanzibar pardoned three 
persons convicted of burning down a hotel belonging to a businesswoman 
and former opposition candidate for President of Zanzibar.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained underfunded, 
corrupt, inefficient, and subject to executive influence. Corruption 
was particularly pervasive among lower court officials and court 
clerks.
    Independent observers questioned the system's ability to provide a 
defendant with an expeditious and fair trial. Court clerks took bribes 
to decide whether or not to open cases and to hide or misdirect the 
files of those accused of crimes. Magistrates of lower courts 
occasionally accepted bribes to determine guilt or innocence, pass 
sentences, or decide appeals of cases coming from the primary courts to 
district courts.
    The Justice Department faced a critical shortage of court 
buildings. In July the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs 
purchased court buildings for Mtwara and Songea zonal offices and new 
offices opened in Iringa and Sumbawanga. Despite these efforts, few 
courts were available to citizens, and the cost of traveling to the 
nearest court was often prohibitive.
    The Government continued its program to reform the judiciary. In 
partnership with bilateral and multilateral donors, the Government 
during the year increased expenditures on the judiciary by 
approximately 40 percent to: improve judicial access for detainees and 
for those in rural areas; and to improve the overall governance and 
administration of justice. In 2005 the Government doubled its previous 
year's judicial expenditures to address judicial inefficiency and 
corruption and to increase personnel qualifications.
    The legal system is based on British common law and recognizes 
customary and Islamic law in civil cases. In criminal matters both 
Christians and Muslims are governed by statutory or common law.
    A Judicial Service Commission, chaired by the chief justice of the 
Court of Appeal, appointed all judges except those for the Court of 
Appeal and the high courts, who were appointed by the President. All 
courts, including Islamic courts in Zanzibar, were staffed by civil 
servants.
    The country has a five-tier judicial system whose highest court is 
the Court of Appeal. In addition in Zanzibar, whose population is 95 
percent Muslim, there is a system of Islamic khadi courts, with its own 
hierarchy topped by a khadi court of appeal. These courts hear matters 
involving customary Islamic law on family and related matters. On the 
mainland, civil law essentially governs all persons involved in cases 
of child custody and divorce. Islamic and customary law govern other 
family matters for Muslims and Christians respectively. On the 
mainland, all persons, including Muslims, are subject to the Marriage 
Act of 1971, a consolidation of family law that recognizes Islamic and 
customary marriages but subjects them to state regulation and civil law 
protections for women.
    Although a majority of Zanzibar judges were Muslim, there were some 
Christian judges, and some Muslim groups complained it was 
inappropriate for Christian judges to administer Islamic law for 
Muslims in family matters without training in Islamic law. The leaders 
of BAKWATA, the council that governs matters of Islam on the mainland, 
called for the establishment of a kadhi's court for the mainland. A 
heated debate arose between Muslim leaders and Catholic bishops. The 
bishops warned the President against allowing the establishment of the 
court. The matter remained contentious at year's end.
    In family matters the content and application of some customary 
laws and Islamic law discriminated against women, both on the mainland 
and in Zanzibar.
    There was one juvenile court; however, it was overburdened and 
handled cases only for young offenders in Dar es Salaam, where it was 
located. Juvenile offenders in other regions were tried in adult 
courts.
    The law also provides for commercial courts, land courts, housing 
tribunals, and military tribunals. Military tribunals do not try 
civilians. Defendants before military tribunals may appeal to the high 
court and the Court of Appeal.

    Trial Procedures.--Criminal trials were generally open to the 
public and to the press; however, there were exceptions. Courts that 
held secret proceedings--such as in drug trafficking cases-generally 
were required to provide reasons for holding such proceedings. In cases 
involving terrorism suspects, the law provides that everyone except the 
interested parties may be excluded, and information may be suppressed, 
purportedly to protect the identity of witnesses.
    There is no trial by jury in any of the country's courts. The law 
provides for the presumption of innocence. Defendants or their lawyers 
have access to evidence held by the Government, the right to question 
witnesses, and the right to present evidence on the defendant's behalf. 
All defendants charged with civil or criminal matters--except parties 
appearing before Zanzibar's kadhi court system and cases examining the 
constitutionality of Zanzibar laws--could appeal decisions to the high 
courts and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. The law provides a right to 
defense counsel for defendants accused of murder and treason, as well 
as for indigent defendants in all other serious cases. There were only 
a few hundred practicing lawyers in the country, although the number 
continued to increase. Most indigent defendants charged with lesser 
crimes did not have legal counsel. Most defendants in urban areas who 
could not afford to hire a legal representative or lawyer represented 
themselves in court, but women and the needy were allowed legal aid. 
The Government sought to provide legal representation for 
underrepresented groups by requiring lawyers to take a specified number 
of legal aid cases with a broad geographical distribution. The law 
prohibits advocates from appearing or defending clients in primary-
level courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Civil proceedings are 
administered in the High Court or at the magistrate or district level. 
Persons may bring lawsuits seeking damages or the cessation of human 
rights violations; however, civil judicial procedures often were slow, 
inefficient, and corrupt.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law generally prohibits such actions without a 
search warrant; however, the Government did not consistently respect 
these prohibitions in practice. Only courts can issue search warrants; 
however, the law also authorizes searches of persons and premises 
without a warrant if necessary to prevent the loss or destruction of 
evidence connected with an offense, or if circumstances are serious and 
urgent. In practice members of security forces rarely sought warrants 
and often searched private homes and businesses at will. The law 
relating to terrorism permits police of a certain rank to conduct 
searches without a warrant in certain urgent cases; there were no 
reports that the act has ever been implemented in practice.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that Zanzibari paramilitary 
groups engaged in looting of houses, shops, and religious institutions.
    The security forces reportedly monitored telephones and 
correspondence of some citizens and foreign residents.
    During the year the Government forcibly evicted or displaced 
individuals and demolished or repossessed their homes in an effort to 
clean up urban areas such as Dar es Salaam and Arusha. In late 
September and early October, authorities made a large-scale effort to 
move hawkers and petty traders (machinga in Swahili) located throughout 
these cities to locations designated for business. The Government 
provided machinga with several notices of its intentions and justified 
the effort as a way to ``ensure the country's cities attracted 
investors and eliminated hiding places for thugs.''
    By year's end a case involving 135 villagers who claimed they had 
been illegally evicted from their land and homes by district-level 
officials in 2001 had not come to trial. The case was filed in June 
2005 after the Government failed to respond to a ruling by the Human 
Rights and Good Governance Commission that gave the Government 30 days 
to compensate and resettle the villagers and requested that a report be 
submitted on the matter by May 2005.
    Until March women in Zanzibar who became pregnant out of wedlock 
could be imprisoned for up to two years. In theory the law could also 
be applied to men; however, because DNA testing was not available in 
Zanzibar, only women have been sentenced under the law. During the year 
one woman was convicted under the act and served a suspended sentence. 
On March 5, President Karume signed a law that replaces prison 
penalties with community service for women convicted of this offense. 
During the year the office of Zanzibar's director of public prosecution 
published regulations that stipulate the kind of community service that 
could be imposed.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech but does not expressly provide for freedom of the 
press; in practice the Union government partially limited these rights, 
and the semi-autonomous Zanzibar government significantly limited these 
rights. Laws limiting the media's ability to function effectively and 
an inefficient judiciary limited freedom of speech and press, 
particularly on Zanzibar, which has a separate media policy from the 
mainland.
    The print media were subject to considerable government 
restriction, including the enforcement of a code of ethics. Although 
the code is described as voluntary, the Government has fined and 
suspended newspapers under this code. Journalists, intimidated by 
defamation laws that impose criminal penalties, practiced self-
censorship. However, the mainland government allowed political 
opponents unrestricted access to the media. Although the media is 
primarily government-controlled in Zanzibar, opponents of the 
Government had access to the media there as well.
    Under the administration of President Kikwete, freedom of speech 
increased. Encouraged by the President's public support of press 
freedom, the press was able to expose corrupt officials more 
forthrightly. For example, in March a private newspaper wrote about a 
high-level diplomat assigned to Italy who was accused by authorities of 
embezzling $3 million (3.8 billion shillings)
    Political parties are required by law to support the continuation 
of the Tanzanian Union, and persons using ``abusive'' language about 
the country's leadership are subject to arrest; however, these 
provisions were not applied during the year. On the mainland opposition 
political party members and others openly criticized the Government and 
ruling party. On Zanzibar the opposition frequently used media outlets 
on the mainland to criticize the Zanzibar government. Unlike in 2005 
there were no reports of restrictions on political and religious speech 
by Muslims.
    Registering newspapers remained difficult and was at the discretion 
of the registrar. During the year the number of newspapers, radio 
stations, and journalists grew. On the mainland there were more than 
785 publications, including newspapers, in-house publications, and 
periodicals, including 14 active dailies and more than 20 weeklies. 
Many of the mainland's newspapers were privately owned. There were a 
dozen periodicals in the country, some of which were owned or 
influenced by political parties, including not only the ruling CCM but 
also the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) and Chadema parties. 
Mainland publications, including one government-owned newspaper, 
regularly criticized the Government.
    Approximately 33 radio stations and nine television stations, 
including 16 cable networks, broadcast in Dar es Salaam and a few other 
urban areas on the mainland. Many radio stations and all but one 
television station were privately owned. There were some government 
restrictions. For example, radio stations could not broadcast in tribal 
languages.
    According to the Zanzibar information service, a government agency, 
one of the two newspapers in Zanzibar was privately owned, and one was 
government-owned. The Government controlled the content of radio and 
television broadcasts, including outlets that were privately owned. On 
Zanzibar there was one government-owned radio station and four private 
ones. On Pemba there were two radio stations, one of them was an 
affiliate of the Government radio station on Zanzibar and the other 
private. Many residents of Zanzibar were able to receive the less 
restricted broadcasts from the mainland.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that government officials on 
the mainland beat members of the media. An investigation was ongoing 
into the alleged September 2005 beating by prison officials and others 
of photographer Mpoki Bukuku and human rights activist and reporter 
Christopher Kidanka, who attempted to cover the eviction of families 
from houses being repossessed by the prisons department. The case was 
still pending at year's end. Both journalists were also suing the 
prisons department for damages.
    On August 21, Reporters Without Borders criticized the Government 
for threatening to deport a journalist to Kenya who appeared in the 
film Darwin's Nightmare. Officials stated that the film, which 
addresses natural resources and poverty in the Lake Victoria area, 
damaged the economy and image of the country. The film's director 
accused the Government of conducting a ``campaign of intimidation'' 
against individuals who appeared in his film, including Richard Mgamba, 
an investigative journalist for the Citizen newspaper. Mgamba fled 
Mwanza on August 4, when a demonstration against the film was organized 
by local authorities and police. Local authorities threatened Raphael 
Tukiko, a night watchman who appeared in the film, with arrest and 
ordered him to report to the police. At year's end there was no 
additional information regarding these cases.
    There was at least one report that nongovernmental actors harassed 
or used violence against members of the media during the year. In April 
unidentified persons made death threats against editors and journalists 
of the This Day newspaper, warning them against reporting on graft in 
public institutions. The editor of the newspaper told a press 
conference that someone offered the journalists approximately $20,000 
(25.5 million shillings) to stop publishing investigative stories 
against societal ills. Authorities dropped two of three charges in the 
2005 cases of CUF supporters accused of assaulting journalists in Dar 
es Salaam in November 2005. The third was out on bail awaiting trial at 
year's end.
    Authorities in Zanzibar continued to restrict the activities of 
reporters. In August the Government denied permission for an outside 
broadcasting crew of the BBC to broadcast a regional meet-the-listeners 
show from Zanzibar; the BBC had broadcast such programs from the 
mainland and neighboring countries. On September 10, authorities 
arrested three journalists on Pemba when they were leaving a village 
where they had been investigating reports of food scarcity.
    On June 26, on the mainland the inspector general of police (IGP) 
met with the editors of various private media organizations to discuss 
ways to create an environment for cooperation between the police and 
the press. Admitting the relationship had been characterized by enmity, 
mistrust, and conflict, the new IGP stated that he wanted to see the 
police and media reach an understanding and wanted to continue meeting 
with the press on a regular basis.
    Media groups in Zanzibar continued to call for the elimination of 
what they considered unnecessarily severe laws limiting press freedom. 
In addition they criticized the lack of legal protection for 
journalists' sources and whistle blowers.
    On the mainland journalists and NGOs belonging to the Media Law 
Reform Project continued to complain that the Government deliberately 
weakened press freedom and limited information to the press by means of 
a 1976 law that grants the information minister wide discretion to 
suspend or close down newspapers as well as other legislation. They 
also criticized laws that prohibit journalists from writing about 
prisons or the police without obtaining prior permission from those 
organizations.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports during the year of the 
authorities suspending newspapers, either in Zanzibar or on the 
mainland. The two newspapers suspended briefly in 2005 were fully 
operational during the year.
    There were reports of discriminatory newsprint pricing by the 
Government; however, unlike in 2005 there were no reports that the 
Government selectively advertised in favored private newspapers.
    In August several members of parliament complained to media owners 
that the owners used their media assets to promote their own interests, 
which they said was an abuse of ownership. Minister of Information, 
Culture and Sports Muhammed Seif Khatibu stated that the practice 
violated the country's information and broadcasting policy, which 
requires that the media be used in the public interest. By contrast, on 
Zanzibar, an official at the Ministry of Information stated in August 
that the purpose of the media was to keep the peace, implying that 
controversial reports were not welcome.
    The threat of application of the law on defamation, which imposes 
criminal penalties, intimidated journalists and caused many to practice 
self-censorship. While the law specifies that the plaintiff must prove 
malicious intent, many media observers criticized the courts for 
ignoring this provision and imposing heavy, politically-motivated 
penalties on the media; however there were no reports of specific 
instances of this practice during the year, according to the Media 
Council of Tanzania, which represents media houses, training 
institutions, and journalists.
    The Zanzibar government cited public security as a pretext to 
suppress views that it found politically objectionable. After closing 
the independent newspaper Dira in 2004, Zanzibar authorities continued 
to harass its editor; however, during the year the Government issued a 
passport to Nabwa (see Section 2.d.).
    Lack of media access to government information remained a serious 
problem. In a speech during the year, the President urged civil 
servants to volunteer information to the media when it is required, and 
some government institutions began to do so; however, the President did 
not acknowledge that civil service regulations prohibit government 
workers from divulging government information to the media. This 
restriction effectively allows only a handful of high-level government 
representatives to relay information to the media (see Section 3).
    In May an association of individuals with interests in the media--
academics, officials from the Ministry of Information, owners of 
private media, and representatives of civil society--urged the 
Government to revise a 1994 media policy to give the media more leeway 
in providing information to the public and to abolish restrictions that 
prohibit any privately owned radio or television station from 
broadcasting to more than 25 percent of the country. No action had been 
taken on these proposals by year's end.
    According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, freedom of the 
press continued to be threatened by lack of training, mediocrity, low 
salaries, and corruption in the profession of journalism.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
number of Internet cafes and Internet providers increased during the 
year; however, only 10 percent of citizens had access to electricity, 
severely limiting such access in general.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice during the 
year.
    The Government requires organizers of rallies to obtain police 
permission in advance. Police have the authority to deny permission on 
public safety or security grounds or if the permit seeker belongs to an 
unregistered organization or political party. During the year 
authorities arrested citizens for assembling without the appropriate 
permit. For example, according to the June 25 edition of the Msemakweli 
newspaper, policemen in Rukwa Region forcibly dispersed preachers from 
different regions for congregating and preaching without a permit.
    There were no reports that the Government prevented opposition 
parties from holding rallies during the year on the mainland; however, 
in May authorities in Zanzibar denied the CUF a permit to hold a 
demonstration and march to protest the Zanzibar speaker's demands that 
he review the questions of the opposition before they present them in 
the Zanzibar House of Representatives. Authorities did not authorize 
the march but permitted a public demonstration.
    Unlike in 2005, when security forces on several occasions 
interfered with citizens' rights to assemble peacefully, particularly 
for political rallies or demonstrations, there were no reports of such 
interference during the year.
    In October the Government removed a ban on demonstrations by Uamsho 
(also known as the Islamic Revival or Center for Islamic Propagation), 
an umbrella organization for conservative Muslim organizations. Uamsho 
asked for police protection during a demonstration to protest events in 
Iraq and the Government granted that request (see Section 2.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice, although the Government continued to impose registration 
requirements on political parties. Unregistered parties were prohibited 
from fielding candidates during the 2005 elections, but in the absence 
of elections during the year this restriction was not employed.
    The registrar of political parties has sole authority to approve or 
deny the registration of any political party and is responsible for 
enforcing regulations on registered parties. Under the law citizens may 
not form new political parties spontaneously but must comply with 
certain requirements to register them with the office of the registrar.
    Parties granted provisional registration may hold public meetings 
and recruit members. To secure full registration and to be eligible to 
field candidates for election, provisionally-registered parties have 
six months to submit lists of at least 200 members in 10 of the 
country's 26 regions, including two of the five regions of Zanzibar.
    During the year the Government continued to implement a legal 
requirement that all NGOs register with a government-appointed NGO 
Coordination Unit (see Section 4). Failure to register or meet any of 
the act's other requirements is a criminal offense.
    In May Union government authorities and Zanzibar officials agreed 
that the quasi governmental human rights commission that operated on 
the mainland would be permitted to operate in Zanzibar following 
amendments to the mainland human rights and good governance law. The 
sides agreed that the Zanzibar minister for good governance would be 
allowed to present any findings of human rights violations in Zanzibar 
to the Zanzibar House of Representatives rather than to the Union 
parliament, and that the mainland minister for human rights and good 
governance would consult with his Zanzibar counterpart before making 
any regulations that affected Zanzibar.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion; however, there were some limits on freedom of religion.
    The Government requires that religious organizations register with 
the registrar of the Ministry of Home Affairs. To register, a religious 
organization must have at least 10 followers and must present a 
constitution, the resumes of its leaders, and a letter of 
recommendation from the district commissioner of the locale where the 
organization would be based. Muslim groups on the mainland also were 
required to submit a letter of recommendation from BAKWATA, the council 
that governs matters of Islam on the mainland, and the office of the 
mufti in Zanzibar. These organizations recommend approval or 
disapproval of the registration to the chief government registrar. 
There were no reports that the Government refused to register any group 
during the year on the mainland; however, in Zanzibar the mufti 
recommended the denial of two groups, an Ahmadia group and a Baha'i 
group, because of alleged contradictions between their beliefs and 
Islamic beliefs. The Ahmadia group filed suit against the office of the 
mufti because of this recommendation and the case was pending at the 
end of the year.
    The law prohibits preaching, or distributing materials, considered 
inflammatory or a threat the public order. During the year the 
Government occasionally rejected requests from religious groups seeking 
to hold demonstrations because of the possibility that the gathering 
could become confrontational or inflame religious tensions.
    On August 22, the Kigoma District Court banned Christian minister 
Cecil Simbulanga from ``inflammatory preaching'' that insulted Islam; 
Simulanga subsequently was released on bail. On October 16, the court 
allowed Simbulanga to preach provided he make no more anti-Islamic 
statements. On December 22, Simbulanga again was arrested and taken to 
court for insulting Islam while preaching; he was denied bail and 
remained in detention at year's end.
    The media reported in June that a group of preachers from different 
regions were chased away by policemen in Rukwa Region for congregating 
and preaching without a permit (see Section 2.a.).
    There was no further information about two Christian women who were 
arrested in Dar es Salaam in August 2005 and charged with burning a 
copy of the Koran.
    In September the Zanzibar government dropped charges against two 
leaders of Uamsho who were charged in 2004 with demonstrating without a 
permit.
    A government ban, in the form of an administrative order, 
prohibiting religious organizations from engaging in politics remained 
in effect. In addition politicians were prohibited by law from using 
language intended to incite one religious group against another, or to 
encourage religious groups to vote for certain political parties. The 
law imposes fines and jail time on political parties that campaign in 
houses of worship or educational facilities. However, in 2005 several 
religious leaders sought involvement in politics, and authorities did 
not impose sanctions.
    Government policy forbids discrimination against any individual on 
the basis of religious beliefs or practices; however, Muslim groups 
continued to charge that the Government discriminated against them in 
government hiring, education, and law enforcement practices, while 
Christian groups complained that the Government gave all of the 
sensitive government positions to Muslims. On June 27, following the 
newly elected President's nomination of Muslims to many key positions, 
Catholic bishops issued a statement urging him to avoid bias in 
government appointments. Muslim representatives appealed to the 
Government to introduce kadhi courts and Shari'a law to the mainland 
for the adjudication of Islamic matters. Christian groups warned that 
such courts would violate government neutrality among religions and 
that the Union constitution did not provide for a national kadhi court. 
Muslim clerics, including the chief mufti of BAKWATA, urged Christians 
not to interfere in matters that concerned the Muslim community.
    In June Catholic bishops asked the President for government 
intervention in what they described as an infringement of the freedom 
of worship in the form of ``rampant slanderous religious public 
addresses'' that could easily spark religious tension and breach of the 
peace. The President responded that since the state was secular, the 
Government would not take sides regarding allegations of blasphemy. 
However, he also warned the public against misusing their freedom of 
worship.
    In Zanzibar a ``mufti law'' authorizes the President of Zanzibar to 
appoint an Islamic leader, or mufti, of Zanzibar, who serves as a 
public employee of the Zanzibar government. The mufti must approve the 
registration of Islamic societies and supervise Zanzibari mosques. Some 
Muslim groups asserted that the law gives the Zanzibar government undue 
influence in religious affairs.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although relations among 
religions in society remained generally amicable, there was some 
tension between Muslims and Christians and one report of religious 
societal violence. A church in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam was 
burned on February 12, a few days after robbers had ransacked it. There 
were no reports of progress in apprehending individuals who burned down 
a Catholic church in the Mikese district of Morogoro Region in April 
2005 or of young Muslim men who beat a pastor and a deacon in Dar es 
Salaam in September 2005. Also in September 2005, Muslim youths entered 
a primary school in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam and beat a 
group of religious teachers for teaching Muslim students about 
Christianity.
    In 2005 there were reports that at certain Muslim religious rallies 
in urban centers, some participants publicly criticized Christianity, 
which, on occasion, resulted in fighting.
    The Jewish population was very small, and there were no reports of 
anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them; however, 
bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption hindered compliance, and 
respect for the right of asylum continued to suffer occasional lapses.
    Police at checkpoints sometimes solicited bribes.
    Passports for foreign travel were difficult to obtain at times, 
mostly due to bureaucratic inefficiency and official demands for 
bribes; however, the waiting time averaged only three days.
    The law does not permit the forced exile of citizens, and the 
Government did not use forced exile in practice.
    After the October 2005 Presidential election in Zanzibar, 
approximately 100 Zanzibaris claiming to be members of the CUF fled to 
Kenya, reportedly for fear of persecution by pro-CCM government forces. 
The CUF denied that they were members and indicated it knew nothing of 
the fate of the Zanzibaris.
    Unlike in previous years there were no charges that the director of 
immigration used the citizenship law to reject citizenship for reasons 
of personal prejudice.
    In April the Government issued a passport to Ali Nabwa, the 
managing editor of the defunct Zanzibar newspaper, Dira; however, the 
Government did not restore his citizenship. Ali Nabwa had been deprived 
of citizenship in 2004 for publishing articles critical of government 
officials and also for exposing corruption in the Government. In August 
the Zanzibar immigration department notified Nabwa that because he was 
``not a Tanzanian citizen'' and was persona non grata in Zanzibar, he 
should pay $400 (510,000 shillings) for a temporary residence permit or 
$600 (765,000 shillings) for a permanent residence permit. Nabwa 
disregarded the Zanzibar notification, asserting that the Union-level 
Ministry of Home Affairs had the final say regarding citizenship. 
However, at year's end he had not received official notification about 
the status of his citizenship.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, however, the Government did not provide 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution. The Government deported more than 1,700 
Burundians and 15,000 Rwandans identified as illegal immigrants, and 
did not cooperate with the UNHCR to ensure that none held valid refugee 
status. On occasion the Government also failed to inform the UNHCR 
about the arrival of new asylum seekers and did not allow the UNHCR to 
be present at border screenings for refugees. During the year the 
Government occasionally refused entry to those seeking asylum or 
refugee status at the border and failed to conduct timely refugee 
status determinations.
    At year's end there were approximately 685,000 refugees in the 
country, primarily from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo (DRC), including approximately 285,000 in 14 UNHCR-assisted camps 
in the northwest. An estimated 400,000 were in self sufficient refugee 
settlements or villages. There also were approximately 2,700 Somalis 
who lived in a coastal settlement camp and received some UNHCR 
assistance.
    It remained illegal for refugees to live outside their camps or 
settlements, or to travel outside of their camps without permits, 
although they were permitted to collect firewood within two and a half 
miles of their camps. Refugees often traveled more than five miles 
outside of their camps to collect firewood because closer supplies were 
inadequate. These refugees, usually women and children, often were 
targets for theft, physical abuse, and rape. During the year such 
incidents decreased after officials urged refugees to travel in groups; 
only one rape was reported between October and December.
    Refugees apprehended outside the designated areas without permits, 
particularly in urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, were subject to 
arrest and imprisonment for up to six months or made to pay a fine of 
approximately $39 (50,000 shillings). During the year approximately 
1,000 refugees and asylum seekers found outside camps without permits 
were prosecuted for unlawful presence. The Government softened its 
approach to minor infractions by refugees, prosecuting them under the 
law dealing with refugees, which calls for up to three days' detention 
or community service, or both; the immigration law calls for two years' 
imprisonment followed by deportation to the countries from which they 
sought refuge.
    The UNHCR, with government cooperation, continued to provide 
security for refugees; however, crime--including killings, robberies, 
rapes, and domestic violence--continued to be a serious problem in and 
around the refugee camps. During the year the Government investigated, 
prosecuted, and punished perpetrators of abuses in the refugee camps 
but many cases involving crime and abuse outside the camps were 
referred to local authorities. Inhabitants of refugee camps were 
adversely affected by delays and limited access to courts, common 
problems facing citizens as well. There were reports that some refugees 
engaged in vigilante justice within camps, occasionally beating other 
refugees. Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police based in 
refugee camps sexually exploited female refugees or that women and 
children engaged in prostitution in the refugee camps.
    Burundian and Congolese refugees continued to return home, 
motivated by increased security in Burundi and the DRC as well as 
strong encouragement from the Government and UNHCR assistance. On June 
20, a tripartite commission composed of the UNHCR and the Governments 
of Tanzania and Burundi announced that beginning in September, it would 
``promote,'' rather than simply ``facilitate,'' voluntary repatriation 
to Burundi. More than 40,000 Burundian refugees returned home during 
the year. The UNHCR continued to facilitate voluntary repatriation of 
refugees to the DRC, and more than 20,000 returned during the year. The 
majority of returns were voluntary; however, some refugees returned 
under the perceived threat of refoulement or restrictions on their 
activities in Tanzania. For example, during the year the Kibondo 
district commissioner continued to visit camps and urge refugees to 
return home. The restriction of refugees to their camps also encouraged 
repatriation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in elections 
on the mainland and in Zanzibar. However, legal and financial 
provisions that favored the ruling CCM party, electoral irregularities, 
and political violence limited the effectiveness of the electoral 
process in Zanzibar.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Separate elections are held 
on the mainland and on Zanzibar, although sometimes on the same day, in 
which citizens of the two parts of the Union elect local officials, 
members of the National Parliament, and a Union (national) President. 
In addition Zanzibaris elect a President of Zanzibar and members of the 
Zanzibar House of Representatives in polls that are not open to 
mainlanders.
    In December 2005 Jakaya Kikwete, the CCM candidate, was elected 
President of the Union with 80.2 percent of the vote in an election 
widely considered by observers as more free and fair than previous 
elections; however, the campaigns preceding them were marked by 
violence in some regions. In National Assembly elections, the CCM won 
206 out of 233 elected seats in the Union parliament, while the CUF won 
19.
    In October 2005 voters in the semi-autonomous archipelago of 
Zanzibar elected a President, legislators, and local representatives 
for the archipelago. CCM candidate Amani Karume, the incumbent 
President, won the Zanzibari presidency with 53 percent of the vote in 
an election marred by irregularities and violence.
    Harassment of political parties was considerably diminished during 
the year in comparison with the election year of 2005.
    In Zanzibar, particularly on the island of Pemba, political 
opposition members claimed that the Government discriminated against 
them in hiring. The Government was the largest employer in Zanzibar.
    On February 6, Lucas Omahe Galani was sentenced to 10 years in 
prison for assaulting CCM Presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete during 
a rally in Mwanza.
    In June a court dismissed for lack of evidence the case against at 
least 46 supporters of the CUF accused in 2005 of instigating election-
related violence in the Donge constituency of the Zanzibar North 
Region.
    Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that the Government restricted 
political opponents by denying their permit requests to hold rallies or 
by harassing them and detaining them for short periods of time.
    Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election; however, there were government restrictions on 
political candidates. The law prohibits persons from running for office 
unless they are representing a registered political party; it requires 
all registered political parties to support the Union with Zanzibar, 
and it prohibits parties based on ethnic, regional, or religious 
affiliation.
    CCM's candidates have been elected repeatedly since the country's 
first multiparty election. Its political dominance has been due partly 
to government restrictions on the political opposition, and also to the 
disorganization and lack of funding of most opposition parties. In 
addition the election law provides for parliamentarians completing a 
term to receive $15,686 (20 million shillings) as a ``gratuity,'' which 
incumbents used in campaigns to facilitate their reelection. Several 
NGOs and opposition parties criticized this provision, saying that it 
made it extremely difficult for aspiring parliamentary candidates from 
the opposition parties to mount an effective and fair competition. CCM 
supporters, however, blamed opposition parties for fielding unknown 
candidates during election periods instead of building grass-root 
support and for concentrating on urban instead of rural areas where the 
majority of voters reside.
    The law requires that women occupy at least 30 percent of seats in 
parliament. Women are appointed by their respective political parties 
to serve in seats set aside for them, according to the number of seats 
their parties win. After the 2005 elections there were 75 special seats 
for women. At year's end there were 91 women in the 320-seat 
parliament. Women occupied 18 seats in the 81-seat Zanzibar House of 
Representatives and held four positions in the cabinet of the Zanzibar 
government. After taking office in December 2005, President Kikwete 
appointed seven female government ministers (compared with four in the 
former administration) and 10 female deputy ministers. Some of these 
women were appointed to head key ministries such as the ministries of 
foreign affairs, finance, and justice. During the year at least seven 
women served as judges of the High Court and one woman served as a 
justice of the Union Court of Appeal.
    There were 11 ministers of Asian origin in the 320-seat National 
Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Despite improvements in 
the past decade, corruption remained a pervasive problem throughout the 
Government. There was a strong public perception of corruption in the 
executive and legislative branches. In 2005 the Ministry of Finance 
estimated that 20 percent of the Government's budget in each fiscal 
year was lost to corruption, including theft, fraud, and fake 
purchasing transactions. Corruption was especially pervasive during the 
election campaign in 2005.
    There was little accountability in most government entities. 
According to the controller auditor general's annual report for 2004, 
the Ministry of Health could not account for more than half of its 
budget for that year.
    In April findings published by Research on Poverty Alleviation 
indicated that 62 percent of respondents felt that the Government was 
doing fairly well in handling corruption. Public perception of the 
extent of corruption among public officials, while remaining high, 
declined noticeably. For example, the percentage of police being 
perceived as involved in corrupt practices dropped from 80 percent to 
72 percent and that of elected officials from 58 percent to 38 in the 
past two years.
    Transparency International reported in its 2005 Corruption 
Perceptions Index that citizens perceived slightly less corruption than 
in 2004 but considered corruption to be a ``severe'' problem. The 
country's rating did not change from 2005. The Global Integrity Report 
issued during the year, based on the research of more than 200 
journalists, rated the country ``very weak'' overall with poor 
performance in areas ranging from anticorruption to government 
accountability.
    Under a Presidential directive, authorities took steps to improve 
accountability in government during the year. For example, the Ministry 
of Lands and Human Settlement revoked longstanding rights of occupancy 
(the nearest thing to land ownership; all land in the country is owned 
by the state) which had not been developed for a long time, including 
that of one of its own junior ministers.
    In August the President directed that a review of the financial 
rules and regulations of both central government and local authorities 
be conducted to facilitate the prosecution of officials who embezzled 
public funds. The President underscored the unacceptability of the 
common practice of charging those responsible for embezzlement of 
public funds with misdemeanor ``misconduct,'' rather than with the 
criminal offense of embezzlement.
    On April 25, the High Court outlawed the practice of takrima, the 
use of hospitality, gifts, and favors to constituents during election 
campaigns. The court issued its decision in connection with a lawsuit 
against the practice brought by the Legal and Human Rights Center, a 
local NGO. During a debate on the issue in 2005 and early in the year 
members of the political opposition, and legal experts said that the 
law authorizing takrima provided a significant ``loophole for 
corruption,'' and favored the ruling CCM, which had the greatest access 
to government subsidies.
    The Government continued to use specialized agencies to fight 
corruption during the year but their effectiveness was limited. A Good 
Governance Coordination Unit was charged with implementing 
anticorruption legislation, coordinating anticorruption efforts, and 
collecting information from all the ministries for publication in 
quarterly reports; however, this three-person unit continued to be 
severely under-resourced.
    On the mainland the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) was 
responsible for investigating cases of corruption and referring them to 
the courts for prosecution. The PCB did not operate on Zanzibar and 
remained under the authority of the office of the President, factors 
which hindered its ability to resist political pressures and prosecute 
high-level corruption cases. During the year the PCB continued to refer 
cases of major corruption to the director of public prosecution (DPP); 
however, the prosecution of corruption cases remained slow and 
inefficient. By year's end approximately 5 percent of corruption cases 
reported to the PCB's regional offices during the five years ending in 
December 2004 had been heard by a court of law. In November President 
Kikwete appointed a new director general of the PCB, who indicated that 
the DPP continued to refer approximately two cases in 10 to the court 
for prosecution.
    According to PCB most corruption-related complaints involved 
mining, land matters, energy, and investment. The director general 
indicated toward the end of the year that the PCB was investigating 20 
percent more corruption cases than during the previous year, including 
cases involving alleged corruption in the public sector.
    NGOs reported that most allegations of corruption involved the 
Tanzania Revenue Authority, local government officials, licensing 
authorities, hospital workers, and the media. There were no cases of 
prosecution of high-level government officials during the year.
    The case of a top administrator of Zanzibar's Joint Presidential 
Supervisory Commission accused of embezzling donor funding in 2004 
remained pending at year's end.
    Authorities in Zanzibar continued to resist efforts by the Union 
government to open an office of its ethics secretariat in Zanzibar to 
investigate corruption there. An office of the Commission for Human 
Rights and Good Governance did exist in Zanzibar but did not have a 
permit from the Zanzibar government to investigate corruption cases. 
The British newspaper, the Guardian, reported on December 30 that the 
Zanzibar cabinet refused to endorse a bill that would have established 
an anticorruption body, instituted a code of ethics for Zanzibar 
leaders, required leaders to declare their wealth within one month of 
being appointed or elected to office, and outlawed takrima in Zanzibar 
during elections. The article quoted the deputy attorney general of 
Zanzibar saying that the ministers had found the bill poorly drafted.
    The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance, which already 
had an office in Zanzibar, was given the right to operate there during 
the year (see Section 2.b).
    Access to government information remains very limited. A 2005 
constitutional amendment to provide public access to information has 
not apparently altered this situation--the act does not explicitly 
mention government information. Government officials estimated that 90 
percent of all government documents, including administrative forms, 
were classified. According to access-to-information advocates, laws 
relating to national security, broadcasting, newspapers, prisons, 
restricted areas, official secrets, and police blocked public access to 
government information (see Section 2.a.). There was no mechanism for 
appealing denials, and many citizens continued to call for the 
amendment of these laws.
    Parliament continued to use the Parliamentary Online Information 
System (POLIS) to increase access to government information. However, 
POLIS' reach remained limited, since only approximately 300,000 of the 
country's 37 million citizens had Internet access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to the views of NGOs; 
however, human rights organizations reported that authorities did not 
respond, or were slow to respond, to requests for information. The 
Government of Zanzibar reportedly regarded NGOs as anti-government by 
nature.
    Although many parliamentarians harbored mistrust towards NGOs and 
believed they existed solely to make money, their attitude warmed 
considerably under the administration of President Kikwete, according 
to independent observers. Female parliamentarians were particularly 
aware of NGO activities in delivering services at the grassroots level. 
The new speaker of the National Assembly gave NGOs greater access to 
parliament during the year; however, cooperation between 
parliamentarians and NGOs in policy formulation, monitoring, and 
evaluation of public policy remained weak.
    Active domestic human rights NGOs included the Center for Human 
Rights Promotion, the Legal and Human Rights Centre, Tanzania Media 
Women's Association, and Tanzania Women Lawyers' Association. There 
were also many smaller local human rights NGOs based outside of Dar es 
Salaam. The Zanzibar Legal Services Center was one of the few active 
human rights organizations in Zanzibar. All of these organizations were 
independent of the Government.
    Government representatives met with domestic human rights NGOs and 
participated in training seminars on subjects including international 
humanitarian law, female genital mutilation, child labor, trafficking 
in persons, and women's rights.
    The 2002 NGO Act, which does not apply to Zanzibar, requires all 
NGOs to register with a government-appointed NGO coordination unit 
within the vice President's office. From February 2005 through December 
2006, more than 1,000 NGOs (some new and some pre-existing) registered 
with the NGO Coordination Unit under the act.
    The Zanzibar government also supported some NGO activity, but was 
less tolerant of NGOs that criticized the Government. Despite repeated 
applications for registration, the African Human Rights and Justice 
Protection Network had not been registered by year's end.
    On the mainland, in April, the educational NGO Haki Elimu, which 
had been prohibited from publishing articles or studies on schools, 
resumed operations under new conditions set by the Ministry of 
Education and Vocational Training. Haki Elimu agreed that they would no 
longer visit schools or publish articles or studies on the country's 
education system. Haki Elimu continued its activities in such areas as 
advocacy, facilitation of investigative journalism, and community 
organizing.
    There were no developments in the 2004 killing of an NGO worker in 
Ngara district by unidentified armed assailants, and there were no 
reports that the authorities were actively pursuing the case (see 
Section 1.a.).
    Relations between the Government and the UNHCR, which maintained a 
sizable presence for the operation of the country's 13 refugee camps, 
were occasionally strained (see Section 2.d.). One difficulty that 
arose during the year was the expulsion of more than 5,000 illegal 
immigrants from the western part of the country to Rwanda. Perceptions 
among some of the press and public were that the expelled immigrants 
were refugees, causing concern on both sides of the border among relief 
agencies, including the UNHCR.
    The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance operated 
independently without government interference. It enjoyed government 
cooperation on the mainland and received the right to be active in 
Zanzibar. The commission employed more than 160 individuals and 
operated with a budget of approximately $2.4 million (3.1 billion 
shillings), an increase from its 2005 budget of approximately $2.1 
million (2.7 billion shillings) However, it remained underfunded, 
understaffed, and overburdened by a caseload of unresolved complaints. 
The commission received additional complaints as a result of awareness 
campaigns conducted through the media. Through June 20, the commission 
received 14,487 complaints and made recommendations to the Government 
regarding 8,627. The commission categorized 1.8 percent of the 
complaints as human rights violations and most of the rest as related 
to maladministration by the Government. At year's end the commission 
was in the process of introducing a computerized case management system 
to improve the process.
    In September the commission published a report on prison conditions 
and outlined recommendations for improvement by the Government (see 
Section 1.c.).
    Although the 2001 legislation that created the commission 
authorized it to operate in both the mainland and Zanzibar, Zanzibar 
authorities prevented it from doing so until a parliamentary amendment 
was enacted in October (see Section 3)
    The Union parliamentary committee for constitutional, legal, and 
public administration is responsible for reporting and making 
recommendations regarding human rights. The majority of committee 
members were from the ruling CCM party, reflecting that party's more 
than two-thirds majority. Nevertheless the committee acted 
independently of government and political party influence and many 
observers viewed it as a critic of the Government.
    The Government continued to host the International Criminal 
Tribunal for Rwanda War Crimes (ICTR) in Arusha, and the Government was 
supportive of, and cooperated with, the ICTR.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on nationality, 
ethnicity, political affiliation, race, or religion; however, the 
Government did not always effectively enforce these prohibitions. 
Discrimination based on gender, age, or disability was not prohibited 
specifically by law but was discouraged publicly in official statements 
and by government policies. Discrimination against women, refugees, 
minorities, and persons with HIV/AIDS persisted, and societal ethnic 
tensions continued to be a problem in some parts of the country.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women remained widespread. The 
law prohibits assault but does not specifically prohibit spousal 
battery. Cultural, family, and social pressures often prevented women 
from reporting abuses, and authorities rarely took action against 
physical abusers of women. Police were often unwilling to pursue 
domestic abuse cases. For example, in December Agnes Mbuyamajuu, a 
woman who endured severe beatings for more than five years from her 
husband, told reporters that the beatings endangered her life, but that 
police had not taken her complaints seriously.
    Traditional customs that subordinate women remained strong in both 
urban and rural areas, and at times magistrates in rural areas upheld 
such practices. Abuse was not limited to spousal abuse. An April survey 
by the World Health Organization reported that approximately 25 percent 
of the women interviewed had been subjected to nonpartner physical 
violence since the age of 15, and one in 10 experienced sexual violence 
since the age of 15. About one in 10 reported sexual abuse before age 
15
    Society considered wife-beating to be an acceptable practice. Some 
women were punished by their husbands for not bearing children. The 
courts recognized domestic violence as grounds for divorce, and women 
who sought advice from mainland legal aid clinics most commonly cited 
domestic abuse as the reason for wanting a divorce. Generally, women 
tolerated prolonged domestic abuse before seeking a divorce.
    In May Sooi Sadira, a 12-year-girl from Saitsambu village in 
Ngorongoro District, was killed by her father after she refused an 
arranged marriage with a 30-year-old man. Sadira stayed with her new 
husband for one night. After she was raped, she fled to her home where 
her father organized a team of youths to beat her with bundles of 
sticks. According to the Arusha regional police commander, Sooi's 
father, Sadira Ole Karenmbu, and another suspect, Basilio Matei, 
remained at large. In December two local NGOs organized a 300-person 
demonstration to condemn the killing.
    The law provides for life imprisonment for persons convicted of 
rape; however, rape continued to be a serious problem. During the year 
several persons were prosecuted and convicted for rape and battery 
under the law. Sexual and gender-based violence continued to be a 
problem in the refugee camps (see Section 2.d.).
    No information on the prevalence of rape was available, but only an 
estimated 5 percent of rape cases resulted in court proceedings. 
According to a Zanzibar high court judge, cases are at times dismissed 
due to lack of evidence. Some police reportedly advised rape victims to 
clean themselves before going to hospitals for examinations, which 
contributed to the removal of important evidence. During the year 
Zanzibar's main island, Ugunja, had only one hospital that conducted 
post-rape examinations. This hospital was private, and the law requires 
post-rape examinations to be conducted at government hospitals. In 
addition, since rape victims had to wait for as long as six days for 
examinations, much crucial evidence was lost. The only public hospital 
on Pemba Island continued its practice of conducting post-rape 
examinations only once a week. Rape and sexual abuse of girls and women 
with disabilities reportedly was prevalent during the year.
    The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as 
female circumcision; however, it was fairly widespread. The law 
provides that anyone who has custody, charge, or care of a girl under 
18 and who causes her to undergo FGM, commits the offense of cruelty to 
children.
    A Ministry of Health report released in December indicated that the 
percentage of women and girls who underwent FGM declined from 18 
percent in 1995 to 15 percent in 2005. Other data suggested that, while 
the prevalence of the procedure was declining, the average age of 
victims had decreased to less than 10 years, with some newborns 
reportedly undergoing FGM. In Singida Region FGM was often performed on 
infants when they became sick with malaria or other diseases so that 
any deleterious effects resulting from the procedure would not raise 
suspicion among neighbors and relatives. FGM was practiced by 
approximately 20 of the country's 130 tribes and was most prevalent in 
11 mainland regions, including Arusha, Singida, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro, 
and Dar es Salaam. In the rest of the country, fewer than 5 percent of 
the population practiced FGM. Most frequently employed was 
clitoridectomy, the least severe form of FGM; however, infibulation, 
the most severe form of mutilation, was also practiced, mainly in the 
northern highlands and the central zone.
    Penalties for practicing FGM on females under 18 were from five to 
15 years' imprisonment, a fine not exceeding $235 (300,000 shillings), 
or both. The law also provides for the payment of compensation by the 
perpetrator to the person against whom the offense was committed. The 
law does not establish a minimum fine and does not provide legal 
protection for women 18 years of age or older. Many observers believed 
that the law mainly targets the parents or relatives of the victim; it 
was not widely perceived to target the practitioners, or ngaribas, 
hired to perform FGM.
    There were no reports of prosecutions related to FGM during the 
year. There were no further developments in the two FGM-related arrests 
and prosecutions initiated in 2005. Enforcement of the anti-FGM law was 
difficult for a number of reasons: many police officers and many 
communities were not aware of the law; police did not have adequate 
resources to protect victims; and victims were often reluctant to 
testify against family members and neighbors who forced them to undergo 
FGM. Some witnesses feared reprisals from supporters of FGM.
    Corruption also made it difficult to enforce the anti-FGM law. Some 
villagers reportedly have given local leaders sums as great as $235 
(300,000 shillings) to be allowed to have their daughters circumcised 
without fear of arrest or prosecution. In addition courts dismissed 
most cases under the pretense of lack of evidence, often despite strong 
evidence from the victims and even confessions from their parents, 
guardians, or the FGM practitioners.
    The Government continued to implement the 2001	15 national plan of 
action for the prevention and eradication of violence against women and 
children, a strategy which included the elimination of FGM by involving 
the practitioners, community leaders, men, and women. Anti-FGM groups 
urged parliamentarians and local government officials to take a greater 
role in enforcement, although parliamentarians have no enforcement 
capabilities.
    During the year the Government and NGOs continued to make some 
progress in reducing the practice of FGM. During the year the Anti-
Female Genital Mutilation Network and a coalition of anti-FGM NGOs 
engaged in awareness-raising activities and conducted research on FGM. 
During the year anti-FGM groups continued to sensitize the ngaribas 
about the harmful effects of FGM and to train them for other 
occupations.
    Reducing the practice of FGM remained difficult because some 
regional government officials favored or profited from the practice or 
feared speaking out against it because of the perceived political 
consequences of opposing FGM and the power of traditional leaders who 
supported FGM. Some communities that were aware of the law prohibiting 
FGM viewed it as an unjust threat to a cultural tradition. A lack of 
medical information on the harmful and long-term health effects of FGM 
remained a problem. Many communities believed FGM increased fertility, 
reduced sexual desires leading to prostitution, and reduced infant 
mortality. Many fathers believed they would receive higher bride prices 
for daughters who had undergone FGM. In addition ngaribas relied on the 
practice for income.
    The law prohibits prostitution; however, prostitution, including 
child prostitution, remained common. Poor rural woman and young girls 
immigrating to urban areas were most at risk. In 2005 there were 
reports that female refugees engaged in prostitution. There were no 
reports on this problem during the year.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The 
extent of the problem was unknown.
    The law provides for equality of women; however, inheritance and 
marriage laws do not consistently provide full equality, and in 
practice women's rights often were not respected. The Ministry of 
Community Development, Women, and Children, and the Ministry of Justice 
were responsible for protecting the legal rights of women. Women 
generally were not discouraged from seeking employment outside the 
home. Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where 
women were relegated to farming and raising children and had almost no 
opportunity for wage employment.
    The country's immigration laws do not recognize that a man can be a 
dependent, making it difficult for the foreign husband of a female 
citizen to obtain a residency permit, and since the Government does not 
recognize dual citizenship, a female citizen who marries a foreign man 
may have difficulty residing legally in the country, and, in practice, 
may be forced to give up her own citizenship. This was increasingly a 
problem in the refugee camps for Tanzanian women who married Burundian 
men who did not qualify for residence permits because of their refugee 
status.
    The law gives individuals the right to use, transfer, and own land 
without distinction of gender and recognizes women's occupancy rights. 
Civil society activists reported widespread discrimination against 
women in property matters related to inheritance and divorce. This was 
particularly the case in Zanzibar and parts of the mainland where 
judges made concessions to customary and Islamic law. Women whose 
unions had not been legalized under customary, Hindu, Muslim, 
Christian, or civil marriage laws were particularly vulnerable when 
they separated from their partners or their partners died. Zawadiel 
Mchome, the Singida regional administrative secretary, stated in 2005 
that robbing widows of property left by their husbands had become 
common in the region.
    Under Zanzibar law, unmarried women under the age of 21 who become 
pregnant are subject to two years' imprisonment (see Section 1.f.).
    Several NGOs organized workshops and seminars, and some ran legal 
aid clinics, addressing a wide range of women's rights issues.

    Children.--The Government continued its commitment to children's 
rights and welfare during the year. The Government made some 
constructive efforts to address children's welfare, including close 
cooperation with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other 
international and local organizations to improve the well-being of 
neglected children and of the country's estimated two million orphans.
    The law provides for seven years of compulsory education, through 
the age of 15. Primary education was compulsory, free, and universal on 
both the mainland and Zanzibar; however, there were inadequate numbers 
of schools, teachers, books, and other educational materials to meet 
the demand.
    During the year fees continued to be charged for enrollment beyond 
form two, the equivalent of the second year of high school. As a 
result, some children were left without access to secondary education; 
however, in 2005 the Government reduced school fees by half and 
provided subsidies to cover the remaining fees through a secondary 
school development program. In many cases parents had to pay for books, 
uniforms, and school lunches, and some children were unable to attend 
school because poorly paid teachers demanded money to enroll them or 
because teachers were absent.
    The ratio of boys to girls in primary and secondary school was 
nearly equal. The net primary school enrollment rate was 86 percent, 87 
percent for boys and 85 percent for girls. In a few regions the rate of 
enrollment in school for girls generally declined with each additional 
year of schooling, largely because girls often had to care for younger 
siblings, do household work, and enter early marriages, often at the 
behest of parents. The practice of forcing pregnant girls out of school 
continued.
    Overall school completion rates were the same for boys and girls: 
56 percent for primary school and 33 percent for secondary.
    Child sexual abuse remained a problem, and there were many 
convictions during the year; most persons convicted for the sexual 
abuse of children were given the maximum sentence of 30 years' 
imprisonment.
    Corporal punishment in schools was a problem. In September a school 
teacher, Noel Namkumba of Msingi Mtonya School, was arrested and 
indicted for caning two students and kicking, beating and knocking out 
the front teeth of a third. Use of caning continued to decline during 
the year following public outreach efforts by the Government, 
particularly the Ministry of Education, and the press. However, the 
minister of education stated in May that stubborn students in primary 
and secondary schools would continue to be caned because caning was 
supported by law. The minister warned teachers not to cane students 
haphazardly or arbitrarily.
    FGM was performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
    Under the law sexual intercourse with a child under 18 years is 
considered rape regardless of consent; however, the law was not 
effectively enforced. In an apparent contradiction, family law provided 
for girls as young as 15 to be considered adults for the purposes of 
marriage and sexual intercourse. In order to marry, a girl under 18 is 
required to obtain the consent of her father, mother, or guardian. An 
orphaned girl with no guardian who desired to get married at 15, 16, or 
17 needed no consent. The courts had discretion to allow the marriages 
of parties who were 14 years old if they were satisfied that there were 
special circumstances which made the proposed marriage desirable. 
Additionally, the law allows African-Asian girls to marry as young as 
12 so long as the marriage is not consummated until the girl reaches 
the age of 15.
    During the year the Government continued its efforts to enforce the 
law penalizing any person responsible for impregnating a schoolgirl.
    The law criminalizes child prostitution; however, sexual 
exploitation and trafficking in persons, including children, were 
problems. (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    In the regions of Iringa and Mbeya, there were reports that 
individuals practicing witchcraft killed children and school students, 
allegedly to remove and sell body parts and skin. In 2005 there were at 
least three convictions related to this practice.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    Male and female infanticide continued to be a problem. In June the 
bodies of 22 infants were discovered at dumping sites in Arusha. Police 
conducted autopsy reports that revealed that the babies died of 
suffocation. The Arusha regional police commander said his office was 
committed to tracking down those responsible for infanticide. There 
were no reported prosecutions for this offense during the year.
    The large number of orphans in the country continued to be a 
problem. In 2005 UNICEF estimated there were two million orphans, most 
of them orphaned by AIDS. An International Labor Organization (ILO) 
report released during the year estimated the number at 2.5 million. In 
the refugee camps, orphans were generally absorbed into other families, 
and those who were not absorbed generally qualified as extremely 
vulnerable individuals and received additional support and counseling. 
There were significant numbers of street children in both Dar es Salaam 
and Arusha. Street children had limited access to health and education 
services because they lacked a fixed address and money to purchase 
medicines, school uniforms, and books. They were also vulnerable to 
sexual abuse by older street children and homeless persons.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit all forms of 
trafficking, and there were reports that the country was a country of 
origin, transit, and destination for women and girls trafficked for 
forced labor and sexual exploitation and, to a lesser extent, boys 
trafficked for forced labor. Victims were lured by the promise of an 
income, the opportunity to attend school and better living conditions, 
especially from rural to urban areas.
    It was impossible to quantify the incidence of trafficking during 
the year, but the practice existed in many regions of the country. Most 
victims were trafficked internally; boys were trafficked for 
exploitative work on farms, in mines, and in the large informal sector, 
while girls from rural areas were trafficked to the towns for 
involuntary domestic labor. Many of these youths fled abusive employers 
and turned to prostitution for survival. Most victims came from the 
regions of Iringa, Mwanza, Dodoma Kigoma, Dar es Salaam, and Arusha. 
Girls were reportedly trafficked to South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the 
United Kingdom, and possibly other European countries for forced 
domestic labor. Indian women--who entered the country legally to work 
as musicians, singers, and dancers in restaurants and nightclubs--were 
at times exploited as prostitutes after arrival. On September 4, 
immigration officers deported five Indian women on arrival at the Dar 
es Salaam airport on suspicion that they were destined to work as 
dancers for some Mujira clubs. On Zanzibar some hotels sponsored girls 
for hotel work who then become bar maids or prostitutes; hotels were 
used by traffickers for prostitution activities.
    Children in low-income families were at significant risk of being 
trafficked, and girls were more vulnerable than boys since girls were 
considered more of an economic burden on their families. Girls who 
completed primary school but did not enter secondary school were at 
particularly high risk. The country was also experiencing a boom in the 
number of child-headed households as more adults succumbed to HIV/AIDS-
related disease and death, leaving their dependents at very high risk 
for child labor and trafficking.
    Trafficking methods varied. Some trafficking victims left their 
homes with assistance from their family; some left on their own to 
escape life in rural areas; and some were transported by someone who 
had offered to help them find city work, legitimate or otherwise. There 
were reports that men recruited village girls who had completed primary 
school but were not entering secondary school. The men offered the 
girls money and employment and promised the girls a better life if they 
accompanied them to urban areas; however, these girls reportedly ended 
up in prostitution or domestic labor. Another method of trafficking 
involved low-income parents entrusting a child to wealthier relatives 
or respected members of the community who were charged with caring for 
the child as one of their own. Some persons took advantage of this 
traditional practice and placed the child in a situation where he or 
she was at risk of being exploited or abused. At times small-scale, 
freelance agents who recruited children from rural villages organized 
their placement and transport to households.
    The constitution and law prohibits trafficking in persons and makes 
it punishable by 10 to 20 years' imprisonment or a fine of between 
approximately $78 (100,000 shillings) and $235 (300,000 shillings). The 
ministries of public security and safety, justice and constitutional 
affairs, foreign affairs, and home affairs shared responsibility for 
combating trafficking.
    There were no reports of prosecutions for trafficking during the 
year. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, two cases of 
trafficking were reported in 2005. No further developments on these 
cases were available at year's end.
    The Government's antitrafficking enforcement efforts progressed 
during the year. More officials recognized the terms ``trafficking in 
persons'' and ``human trafficking,'' and acknowledged that trafficking 
in persons was a problem. Authorities participated in research 
conducted by Research International and sponsored by the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM). It was designed to help determine the 
extent and magnitude of the trafficking problem. A few key officials in 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Safety and 
Security continued active efforts to increase public awareness of the 
problem, encourage more effective legislation, and track prosecutions. 
Several officials gave interviews on the subject to the media.
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated an inter-ministerial 
committee on trafficking, which met three times during the year. The 
Ministry of Public Safety and Security established an anti-human-
trafficking section within the criminal investigations division during 
the year. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, with foreign 
cooperation, developed a training manual for health workers who have 
direct contact with victims of trafficking.
    There were isolated reports that some police officials accepted 
bribes to ignore commercial sexual exploitation.
    During the year the Government continued to try to protect 
trafficking victims, but resources devoted to the effort were limited. 
Local police and officials from the Social Welfare Department 
identified and informally referred child trafficking victims to NGOs 
that worked with street children and child prostitutes, provided small 
donations of food and other goods to these NGOs, and identified land 
available for building new shelters. During the year the Government and 
NGOs conducted media campaigns to inform the public about the dangers 
of trafficking, and the Government continued its nationwide awareness 
campaign on the worst forms of child labor, such as prostitution and 
forced domestic labor.
    The Government worked well with NGOs and complemented the work of 
the IOM. The IOM conducted psycho-social training on trafficking in 
June and held a two-day seminar for journalists in August on the role 
of media in preventing trafficking in persons. The IOM developed and 
distributed materials for a public campaign to raise awareness of 
trafficking throughout the country. During the year the Ministry of 
Labor conducted several seminars in different parts of the country on 
child labor.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits 
discrimination against persons with disabilities, but there is no 
specific law to implement this provision. Although there was no 
official discrimination against persons with disabilities, persons with 
physical disabilities were effectively restricted in employment, 
education, access to health care and other state services by physical 
barriers and inadequate budget resources. The Government mandates 
access to public buildings, transportation, or government services for 
persons with disabilities through several pieces of legislation, such 
as the law that precludes the issuance of building permits for 
architectural structures that do not provide access for persons with 
disabilities. However, few buildings were accessible, not all 
structures required building permits, and the majority of buildings in 
the country were constructed before 1997, when this requirement came 
into force. Funds for retrofitting existing structures were not 
provided. The ministries of education, justice, and labor were 
responsible for enforcing the protection of rights of persons with 
disabilities for education, legal claims, and labor rights, 
respectively. The Department of Social Welfare had responsibility for 
coordinating disabilities matters. A few local NGOs also tried to 
highlight the plight of persons with disabilities in society. Resources 
were allocated during the year for a review of existing laws and 
procedures in this area (see Section 1.e.).
    According to the NGO Disabled Aids and General Engineering (DAGE), 
most private commuter buses would not stop for persons with physical 
disabilities. DAGE called on the Government to look into ways of 
helping the disabled community move about safely and conveniently in 
urban centers.
    During the year the Ministry of Education continued to support the 
special fund created in 2005 to increase access to education, 
particularly by persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged 
members of the community.
    There were reports that students with disabilities dropped out of 
school that lacked inadequate facilities. For example, the families of 
blind students were not able to provide them with expensive brail paper 
and tape recorders.
    In September 2005 the Ministry of Education barred a local NGO, 
Haki Elimu, from undertaking or publishing any studies regarding 
government schools; in one of several television advertisements 
critical of the Government, the NGO highlighted the fact that 
government schools had no proper facilities for visually impaired 
students and students without limbs (see Section 4). The Government 
lifted the ban early in the year, but the NGO had to agree not to 
report on educational matters in the future.
    In 2005 the ruling party CCM amended its election manifesto to 
allocate an extra seat in parliament for persons with disabilities, 
bringing to two the number of seats allocated to persons with 
disabilities. CCM decided that one such seat should be filled from 
Zanzibar and one from the mainland.
    The law provides that a voter with a disability such as blindness 
may ask a person of his own choice--other than the poll workers--to 
assist in casting his vote.
    There were incidences of rape and sexual abuse of girls and women 
with disabilities.
    Cultural practices and beliefs in some areas contributed to 
feelings of discrimination among persons with disabilities.
    For example, the NGO TRACED revealed that a family in Mafinga 
District in Iringa Region has been hiding a girl with severe 
disabilities for 15 years.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were no laws or official 
policies that discriminated against Asians or any other race; however, 
many African citizens viewed unfavorably the approximately 1.5 million 
Asians in the country, who continued to experience some societal 
discrimination. Citizens of Asian origin occupied key positions in 
government and were elected to parliament. High-ranking government 
officials continued to publicly emphasize on many occasions that they 
would not tolerate racist sentiments or bias of any kind. However, 
public concern regarding the Asian minority's prominent economic role 
persisted. In 2005, prior to the national elections, three small 
opposition parties emphasized that, if elected, they would ``take 
back'' control of the national wealth and resources from foreign 
investors and the Asian population, and would redistribute it to 
persons of African and Arab descent who the parties considered to be 
true Tanzanians. However these parties did not win any seats, and 
authorities have not pursued discriminatory policies.
    There were isolated instances of tribal conflict over land or 
livestock. In September clashes reportedly took place between 
pastoralists and agriculturalists in Mbarali, which resulted in one 
death and left 12 injuries.

    Indigenous People.--The Barabaig and other nomadic groups in the 
north continued to seek compensation for past government 
discrimination, which included government efforts to make them adopt a 
more modern lifestyle and efforts to restrict their access to pastoral 
lands that were turned into large government wheat farms. The 
authorities provided compensation to indigenous people who were 
relocated, but problems persisted.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality and 
lesbianism are illegal in the country. The law in Zanzibar establishes 
a penalty of up to 25 years' imprisonment for men who engage in 
homosexual relationships and seven years for women in lesbian 
relationships. There were no reports that anyone was punished under the 
law during the year.
    Homosexuals faced societal discrimination, especially at the 
community level. In September Uamsho blocked a local restaurant's 
planned celebration of Freddie Mercury's birthday because the Zanzibar-
born rock star was gay. The Tanzania Parliamentarians' AIDS Coalition 
addressed discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS. 
However, there were reports that discrimination in housing, healthcare, 
and education continued to occur against the estimated 3.5 million 
persons in the country living with HIV/AIDS. There were isolated 
reports that private employers fired or did not hire persons based on 
the perception that they had HIV/AIDS. The Government, working with 
NGOs, continued to sensitize the public about HIV/AIDS-related 
discrimination and to create safeguards for HIV/AIDS patients' human 
rights. A network of lawyers, policy-makers, and doctors continued 
lobbying efforts and other activities to deal with legal, ethical, and 
human rights problem associated with HIV and AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions without prior authorization; however, in practice many 
private sector employers adopted antiunion policies or tactics that 
limited this right. Senior management employees may not belong to trade 
unions that also represent non-senior management employees.
    By year's end labor legislation passed in 2004 was partly 
operational with the Labor, Economic, and Social Council established by 
that legislation in place. Efforts to launch the Commission for 
Mediation and Arbitration and the labor court were nearly complete at 
year's end; however, implementing regulations and institutions were 
still in progress.
    The 2004 legislation, which applies to the mainland but not to 
Zanzibar, recognizes the organizational rights of trade unions and 
establishes a registration procedure for trade unions and employer 
associations. Only a trade union that has signed up more than 50 
percent of a collective bargaining unit may bargain with the employer. 
A trade union or employers' association must register within six months 
of its establishment and failure to register is a criminal offense 
subject to sanctions imposed by the lower courts.
    The 2004 laws are intended to strengthen the power of the registrar 
of organizations (appointed by the minister of labor) to regulate trade 
unions, employer organizations, and federations. It gives any 
authorized representative of a registered trade union access to 
employer's premises to recruit members, subject to any conditions that 
are reasonable and necessary to safeguard life or property or to 
prevent undue disruption of work. An employer is obliged to deduct 
union dues if the employee authorizes him to do so. If the employer 
fails to remit the dues within seven days of deducting them, he is 
liable to pay an additional 5 percent per day. A union field branch may 
be established at a work place with 10 or more trade union members, and 
an employer is obliged to grant reasonable leave for trade union 
representatives to attend training and for the reasonable activities 
and duties of trade union officers.
    The Union and Zanzibar governments do not share the same labor 
laws, and they enforced them separately. The labor law of the mainland 
applies to both public and private sector workers. The mainland's law 
requires a trade union for employees to consist of at least 20 members.
    The sole labor federation, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania 
(TUCTA), had 317,000 members in 2005--less than 2 percent of the total 
workforce of 18 million. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce that 
is engaged in paid, ``formal sector'' employment was unionized. In the 
agricultural sector, which was the country's single largest employer, 
an estimated 5 to 8 percent of the work force was unionized.
    Under the law a mainland-registered trade union is entitled to a 
number of representatives in the TUCTA based on the size of its 
membership. For organizations of 100 or more, a specified number of 
representatives, based on membership size, must be women if women are 
employed in the work unit.
    On the mainland the law prohibits discriminatory activities by an 
employer against union members; however, there were several reports of 
antiunion discrimination in the formal private sector during the year. 
Employers found guilty of antiunion activities were required under the 
law to reinstate workers; however, the 1996 Warioba Commission, which 
was established to study corruption in the country, found that bribes 
often determined whether a worker dismissed from his job was actually 
reinstated.
    Most labor unions reported that private sector employers, 
particularly those attracted to the country by privatization and 
economic reforms, practiced antiunion discrimination. Although the 2004 
law prohibited such actions, some of these investors reportedly 
threatened to terminate or lay off employees who wanted to join trade 
unions and some employers did not allow unions to call for and hold 
recruitment meetings at their workplaces.
    The labor law in Zanzibar applies only to private sector workers. 
Zanzibar workers were not allowed to join mainland-based labor unions. 
The Zanzibar labor law requires a union with 50 or more members to be 
registered and sets literacy standards for trade union officers.
    The labor law in Zanzibar does not protect trade union members from 
antiunion discrimination, and there were several reports of such 
discrimination during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for collective bargaining, and workers and employers practiced 
it freely during the year; however, the law does not apply to the 
public sector. The Government set wages administratively for employees 
of the Government and state-owned organizations, who constituted less 
than 5 percent of the work force.
    In Zanzibar the law prohibits strikes. On the mainland workers have 
the legal right to strike after complying with certain legal 
requirements and cumbersome procedures.
    On the mainland earlier legislation remained in effect pending the 
implementation of the 2004 Act. Under that legislation, a union that 
was not satisfied with a decision of the Industrial Court could conduct 
a legal strike if, in a vote taken in the presence of a government 
labor officer, a minimum of two-thirds of its members voted in favor of 
striking. Some labor rights observers said this requirement served as 
an intimidating factor to union members in the public sector. The 
mediation and conciliation procedures of the earlier legislation could 
prolong a dispute for months without resolving it.
    On the mainland there were no laws prohibiting retribution against 
legal strikers, but retribution was not a problem.
    Despite the rights conveyed in the 2004 legislation, some labor 
rights observers, such as the Legal and Human Rights Centre, raised 
concerns that language in the 2004 act may in practice make striking 
more difficult for workers in some sectors. The act restricts the right 
to strike when to do so would endanger the life and health of the 
population, a limitation that effectively increased by approximately 50 
percent the number of workers that were considered ``essential,'' and, 
therefore, not allowed to strike. Workers in certain sectors (water and 
sanitation, electricity, health services and associated laboratory 
services, firefighting, air traffic control, civil aviation 
telecommunications, and any transport services required for the 
provisions of these services) are restricted from striking and workers 
in other sectors may be deemed to be subject to this limitation either 
temporarily or permanently after a process involving investigation, 
notice, presentation, public hearing, and publication.
    There are two export processing zones (EPZs) in Zanzibar and three 
on the mainland. Labor law protections applied to EPZ workers. EPZ 
working conditions on the mainland were comparable to those in other 
areas; however, in Zanzibar there were unconfirmed reports of labor 
abuses.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, and the Employment and Labor Relations Act 
of 2004 specifically prohibits forced labor by children and closed 
loopholes in the constitutional ban on such labor. However, there 
continued to be reports that forced and compulsory labor by children 
occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    According to a 2004 survey of the Geita Gold Mine, 85 percent of 
workers interviewed reported they were forced to work overtime under 
the perceived threat of termination.
    The law allows prisoners to work without pay on projects such as 
agriculture within the prison so that the prison could be self-
sufficient. Prisoners were also used to provide forced labor on 
projects outside of the prison, such as road repair and government 
construction projects.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a problem, compounded by HIV/AIDS. Data from 2000	
01 (the latest available) indicated that 35.4 percent of children ages 
five to 14 were working. Legislation enacted in 2004 outlaws the 
exploitation of children in the workplace and prohibits forced or 
compulsory labor; however, at year's end, implementing regulations and 
institutions such as a Commission for Mediation were not in place, 
resulting in weak enforcement of child labor provisions. In 2005 the 
Government hired additional inspectors to improve enforcement once the 
law is fully operational. Nevertheless, child labor remained a problem.
    Although enforcement remained weak, the Government implemented some 
measures to ameliorate the problem, including increasing the number of 
labor inspectors, ensuring that children of school age attend school, 
imposing penalties on parents who did not enroll their children in 
school, and sensitizing employers in the formal sector against 
employing children who are below the age of eighteen.
    The law establishes the minimum age for contractual employment at 
14 and provides that children may be employed only to do light work 
that is unlikely to be harmful to their health and development and does 
not prejudice their attendance at school. The law stipulates that 
children under 18 shall not crew on a ship or be employed in a mine, 
factory, or any other worksite where working conditions may be 
hazardous, including informal settings and agriculture.
    The law establishes criminal penalties for employers of child labor 
as well as forced labor; violators can be fined an amount not exceeding 
$3,921 (5 million shillings), imprisonment for one year, or both. No 
penalties were imposed during the year.
    In 2005 the ILO and UNICEF reported that children who left home to 
work as domestic laborers in other towns or villages were often 
subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. According to the 
Conservation Hotel, Domestic, and Allied Workers Union (CHODAWU) and 
the ILO, the majority of domestic child laborers were girls, mostly 
between the ages of 13 and 15. Most of them worked between 12 and 14 
hours each day, seven days a week, without rest or extra compensation 
for the long hours worked; at times they worked under abusive 
conditions.
    The ILO estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 children were engaged in 
seasonal employment on commercial farms, at times under hazardous 
conditions. In mining regions between 1,500 and 3,000 children worked 
in unregulated gemstone mines as ``snake boys,'' who worked with 
explosives and crawled through narrow tunnels to help position mining 
equipment. Children were also found working in such occupations as 
fisherman, barmaids, street vendors, car washers, and garbage 
scavengers. They also worked in semi-skilled crafts such as carpentry 
and auto repair. Girls as young as seven years old, and increasingly 
boys, were involved in prostitution within the country and were at 
times trafficked (see Section 5). Child labor was widespread in 
Zanzibar; children were used in fishing, clove picking, domestic labor, 
petty business such as selling cakes, and commercial sexual 
exploitation near tourist attractions.
    The Ministry of Labor remained responsible for enforcement of labor 
laws along with the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration and the 
Labor Court. In 2005 an additional 40 officers and inspectors were 
recruited and trained, increasing the national labor inspection force 
to 145.
    District- or community-level child labor coordinating committees 
and subcommittees identified and monitored cases of child labor, but 
they did so with varying degrees of effectiveness. Representatives of 
the ILO, UNICEF, and local NGOs concluded that these problems were due 
to a lack of resources and not a lack of political will to fight child 
labor.
    Several government ministries, including the Ministry of Labor, 
Youth Development, and Sports, have special child labor units. The 
Government continued to implement, in collaboration with the ILO, a 
``Timebound'' program to eliminate the worst forms of child Labor. The 
program sought to eliminate child labor in commercial agriculture, 
mining, domestic work, and prostitution in 11 districts by 2010. With 
the support of the ILO, the Government under the Timebound program 
tracked the number of children prevented from entering, and the number 
withdrawn from the worst forms of child labor in eleven districts. From 
January 2002 through June 2006, over 20,000 children were prevented 
from entering, or were withdrawn from, the worst forms of child labor 
in mining (2,081 prevented/1,466 withdrawn) domestic labor (3,292/
2,701), commercial agriculture (2,813/1,408) and commercial sex (2,992/
4,045). The numbers for the mining and commercial sex sectors exceeded 
the targets established for those arenas.
    For example, the Kiota Women's Health and Development Organization 
(KIWOHEDE), an NGO working as an implementing agency under Phase I of 
the Timebound Program undertook withdrawal and prevention activities, 
targeting children in commercial sexual exploitation. From January 
through May, KIWOHEDE prevented 314 and withdrew 1,289 children, 
positively affecting a total of 1,603 children.
    Under the Timebound program, several local NGOs, including 
KIWOHEDE, continued to identify and withdraw children from exploitative 
child labor. KIWOHEDE worked to rehabilitate exploited girls who work 
as prostitutes or domestic servants. Another organization, CHODAWU, 
established village-level inspections to identify cases of exploitative 
labor. CHODAWU also coordinates with grassroots child labor committees 
to withdraw children from exploitative situations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for 
employment in the formal sector was approximately $38 (48,000 
shillings) per month. Even when supplemented with various benefits such 
as housing, transport allowances, and food subsidies, the minimum rate 
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, 
and workers depended on their extended family or on a second or third 
job. Most workers, particularly in the growing informal sector, were 
paid much less than the minimum wage. For example, domestic workers 
reportedly earned approximately $5.49 (7,000 shillings) per month.
    There were reports that to avoid legal requirements that they 
provide certain benefits and salary minimums to employees employed for 
more than three months, employers made a practice of firing employees 
before the three month period expired.
    There was no standard legal workweek for private sector workers, 
but most private employers retained a six-day, 44- to 48-hour workweek. 
A five-day, 40-hour workweek was in effect for government workers. 
Generally it was illegal to employ women to work between 10 p.m. and 6 
a.m.; however, employers frequently ignored this restriction.
    Several laws regulate safety in the workplace. The Ministry of 
Labor, Youth, and Sports Development managed an inspection system; 
however, its effectiveness was limited. Labor standards were not 
enforced in the informal sector, where a large percentage of the 
workforce was employed.
    Workers could sue an employer if their working conditions did not 
comply with the Labor Ministry's health and environmental standards. 
Through the union, a worker may file a labor complaint before a labor 
officer, who convenes a hearing where the employer and employee state 
their cases. The employee or employer may appeal that decision to the 
minister of labor. Some labor officers accepted bribes from employers 
not to accept or certify these complaints. There were no reports that 
workers who lodged and won such complaints faced retribution; however, 
workers did not have the right to remove themselves from dangerous 
situations without jeopardizing their employment if they lodged a 
complaint and lost.

                               __________

                                  TOGO

    Togo, with a population of 5.5 million, is a republic governed by 
President Faure Gnassingbe, who was declared President in April 2005 in 
an election marred by severe irregularities. President Gnassingbe 
replaced his father, former President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died in 
February 2005 after 38 years in power. Eyadema and his party Rally of 
the Togolese People (RPT), strongly backed by the armed forces, 
dominated politics and maintained firm control over all levels of the 
country's highly centralized government until his death. The civilian 
authorities generally did not maintain effective control of the 
security forces.
    The human rights situation in the country improved; however, 
serious human rights problems continued, including the inability of 
citizens to change their government; beatings and abuse of detainees; 
government impunity; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary and secret 
arrests and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; executive control of 
the judiciary; frequent infringement of citizens' privacy rights; 
restrictions on the press, including closing media outlets; 
restrictions on freedom of assembly and movement; harassment of human 
rights workers; female genital mutilation (FGM) and violence against 
women; discrimination against women and ethnic minorities; trafficking 
in persons, especially children; child labor; and lack of worker's 
rights in export processing zones (EPZs).
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents 
committed any politically motivated killings; however, security forces 
committed unlawful killings.
    For example, on May 7, the police arrested and detained Yaya 
Moussa, a cellular phone dealer whom police accused of being a gang 
member. Police subsequently beat and abused Moussa and then took him to 
a hospital, where he died of his injuries on May 10. No action had been 
taken against the responsible police by year's end.
    There were no developments in the case of the April 2005 killings 
in Sokode and Aneho by government forces.
    According to a 2005 UN Development Program (UNDP) assessment, 
approximately 100 persons died following the 2005 Presidential 
election; a September 2005 report by the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) estimated 400 to 500 deaths (see Section 4). Unlike 
during the previous year, security forces did not conduct house-by-
house campaigns of violence or target neighborhoods thought to be 
opposition strongholds, killing persons in their houses and shooting at 
those who tried to flee.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security 
forces used live ammunition to disperse demonstrators. No action was 
taken against security force members responsible for such killings in 
2005.
    No action was taken against the gendarmes who beat to death a young 
man in April 2005, the members of the Presidential Election Security 
Force who shot and killed another young man on the same day, or the 
security forces who flew over the location of a subsequent 
demonstration and shot and killed protesters.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of summary 
executions. In 2005 there were reports of mass graves, and military 
personnel reportedly transported more than 100 unidentified bodies to 
unknown destinations.
    In 2005 there were numerous reports of killings perpetrated by 
militias, both those affiliated with the ruling party and those aligned 
with the opposition; however, there were no reports of such killings 
during the year.
    No action was taken against militants who set fire to eight Malians 
suspected of practicing voodoo or mob members responsible for killing 
four persons from Niger.
    There were no developments in the April 2005 killing by unknown 
assailants of the Kpele-Adeta prefecture and the sub-brigadier of the 
Attorney General's office.
    In April 2005 the Government created the Special Independent 
Investigation Commission to probe the violence and vandalism that 
occurred before, during, and after election day. The commission held 
security forces, the ruling party, and opposition party members 
responsible for the violence and recommended that individuals involved 
be prosecuted. However, the Government held no trials during the year 
and conducted no prosecutions against the perpetrators.

    b. Disappearance.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no 
reports of politically motivated disappearances. There were no 
developments in the 2005 disappearance of Police Commissioner Emile 
Kodjovi Dadji, who was believed to have been detained in an unknown 
location.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits torture and physical abuse of 
prisoners and detainees; however, such practices continued to occur, 
although there were fewer instances than in the previous year. Some 
prisoners credibly claimed that security forces beat them during 
detention. Impunity remained a problem, and the Government did not 
publicly prosecute any officials for the 2005 abuses.
    One prisoner died during the year as a result of police abuse (see 
Section 1.a.).
    Security forces beat demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that military 
forces systematically raped women.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
very harsh, with serious overcrowding, poor sanitation, and unhealthy 
food. At year's end Lome's central prison, built to hold 500 prisoners, 
held 1,550 inmates, including 56 women. Medical facilities were 
inadequate, and disease and drug abuse were widespread. Sick prisoners 
reportedly had to pay approximately three dollars (1,500 CFA francs) to 
guards before being allowed to visit the infirmary. There were reports 
that prison security officials sometimes withheld medical treatment 
from prisoners. Lawyers and journalists reported that prison guards 
charged prisoners a small fee to shower, use the toilet, or have a 
place to sleep.
    The Government provided no statistics on the number of prison 
deaths, but it is believed prisoners died as a result of poor living 
conditions.
    The children of convicted women were often incarcerated with their 
mothers, who were held separately from male prisoners. Juvenile 
detainees were not held separately from adults. Pretrial detainees were 
not held separately from convicted prisoners.
    Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were allowed access to 
all prisons in the country. In May a delegation of the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited prisons to assess the prison 
conditions. In June a joint parliamentary mission from the African, 
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and European Union (EU) also 
visited prisons to verify the presence of political prisoners. The 
delegations were allowed to meet with certain prisoners in private to 
conduct interviews. Diplomatic representatives were given access to 
their detained citizens.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government 
generally disregarded these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces 
consist of the army, navy, air force, the national security service 
(including the national police and investigation bureau), and the 
gendarmerie. The police are under the direction of the Ministry of 
Security, while the Ministry of Defense oversees the gendarmes and 
military. By law, the police and gendarmes are responsible for law 
enforcement and maintenance of order within the country. However, the 
army, charged with external security by law, was in command of domestic 
security. Approximately 75 percent of the army's officers and soldiers 
were from the former and current President's ethnic group, the Kabye, 
which represents approximately 15 percent of the population.
    Police were generally ineffective and corrupt, and impunity was a 
problem. Police often failed to respond to societal violence (see 
Section 2.b.). The Government in general did not investigate or punish 
effectively those who committed abuses, nor did it prosecute persons 
responsible in previous years for unlawful killings and disappearances. 
During the year, the Government trained and recruited 936 new 
gendarmes; more than 50 percent of the newly recruited gendarmes were 
from Kabye. Gendarme training included respect for human rights.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law authorizes judges, senior police 
officials, prefects, and mayors to issue arrest warrants; however, 
persons were detained arbitrarily and secretly. Although detainees have 
the right to be informed of the charges against them, police sometimes 
ignored this right. The law allows authorities to hold arrested persons 
incommunicado without charge for 48 hours, with an additional 48-hour 
extension in cases deemed serious or complex. Family members and 
attorneys officially had access to a detainee after 48 or 96 hours of 
detention, but authorities often delayed, and sometimes denied, access. 
The law stipulates that a special judge conduct a pretrial 
investigation to examine the adequacy of evidence and decide on bail; 
however, in practice detainees often were held without bail for lengthy 
periods with or without the approval of a judge. Minors detained since 
the 2005 election have not had access to a lawyer.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government resorted to false charges of common crimes to arrest, 
detain, and intimidate political opponents.
    The charges against King Togbe Ahuawoto Savado Zankli Lawson VIII, 
the Guin traditional leader of Aneho, were still pending at year's end. 
The King, who had allowed a police officer seeking refuge to stay at 
his palace, had been charged with sequestering the officer, possession 
of firearms, and inciting trouble.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested demonstrators (see Section 
2.b.).
    According to the Government, the 77 persons imprisoned for their 
involvement in election violence were released in 2005.
    The Government denied the existence of political detainees; 
however, several persons arrested after the election and affiliated 
with the opposition were being held in a prison near Kara, an area of 
strong RPT support. Amnesty International (AI)reported that dozens of 
persons were in detention following the election. Security forces 
sometimes moved political detainees to informal detention centers under 
the control of the military or RPT militia. Because the Government did 
not acknowledge any political detainees, it did not permit any 
organizations access to them.
    There were no developments in the 2005 arrest and detention of two 
opposition members and four former military officers for suspected coup 
plotting. The detainees, including Kossi Tudzi of the Union of Forces 
for Change (UFC) and Hermes Wamede da Silveira of the Alliance of 
Patriots for Unity and Action, remain incarcerated with no trial 
scheduled.
    On December 13, UFC members Anate Andre Abbey, Kossi Jomo 
Azonledzi, and Koffi Akoumey were convicted for bombing a post office. 
They were sentenced to 14 months in prison (equal to the time they had 
been held in prison since September 2005) and immediately released.
    In June 2005 the UN delegation visited Lome Prison and interviewed 
a woman detained without charge since 1998 for her political 
convictions. The woman, who had no lawyer and was not provided one by 
the Government, was released in July 2005.
    A shortage of judges and other qualified personnel, as well as 
official inaction, resulted in lengthy pretrial detention--in some 
cases several years--and confinement of prisoners for periods exceeding 
the time they would have served if tried and convicted. Almost 80 
percent of inmates were pretrial detainees.

    Amnesty.--Unlike in the previous year, no prisoners were discharged 
to relieve prison overcrowding.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides 
for an independent judiciary, the executive branch continued to exert 
control over the judiciary and corruption was a problem. Lawyers often 
bribed judges to influence the outcome of cases. A judicial reform 
process started in 2005 had not yet been fully implemented at year's 
end.
    There were three associations of magistrates in the country: the 
Union of Magistrates of Togo (SMT), the National Association of 
Magistrates (ANM), and the Professional Association of Magistrates of 
Togo (APMT). A majority of the APMT members were supporters of the late 
President Eyadema. Judges who belonged to the pro-Eyadema APMT 
reportedly received the most prestigious assignments, while judges who 
advocated an independent judiciary and belonged to the ANM or SMT often 
were assigned to second-tier positions. For example, in Lome, the 
Presidents of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Court of 
Appeals, and Court of First Instance were members of the APMT as were 
the public prosecutor and the Attorney General. In Kara, the President 
of the Court of Appeals and the President of the Court of First 
Instance were members of the APMT.
    The Constitutional Court stands at the apex of the court system. 
The Constitutional Court is the highest court for constitutional issues 
while the Supreme Court is the highest court for civil judicial cases. 
The civil judiciary system includes the Supreme Court, Appeals Courts, 
and Courts of First Instance. A military tribunal exists for crimes 
committed by security forces; its proceedings are closed. The court 
system remained overburdened and understaffed.

    Trial Procedures.--The judicial system employs both traditional law 
and the Napoleonic Code in trying criminal and civil cases. Trials were 
open to the public, juries were used, and judicial procedures generally 
were respected. Defendants have the right to counsel and to appeal. The 
Bar Association provides attorneys for the indigent. Defendants may 
confront witnesses and present evidence on their own behalf.
    In rural areas, the village chief or council of elders is 
authorized to try minor criminal and civil cases. Those who reject the 
traditional authority can take their cases to the regular court system, 
which is the starting point for cases in urban areas.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees; however, the Government held numerous 
detainees and prisoners on political charges (see Section 1.d.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Both the constitution and 
the law provide for civil and administrative remedies for wrongdoing, 
but the judiciary did not respect such provisions, and most citizens 
were unaware of them.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but 
security forces often infringed on these rights. In criminal cases, a 
judge or senior police official may authorize searches of private 
residences, and in political and national security cases the security 
forces need no prior authorization. Unlike in the previous year, there 
were no reports that security forces forcibly entered houses without 
warrants and beat persons.
    From April 2005 until August 2005, security forces throughout the 
country entered houses by force, searching for opposition sympathizers 
(see Section 1.a.); no action was taken against the perpetrators during 
the year.
    Citizens believed that the Government monitored telephones and 
correspondence, although such surveillance was not confirmed.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government 
continued to restrict these rights. The Government at times interfered 
with radio stations during the year. Journalists and radio and 
television broadcasters practiced self-censorship.
    Although the Government did not censor individual expression, most 
persons practiced self-censorship because of past violent reprisals at 
the hands of government agents.
    There was a lively independent press, most of which was heavily 
politicized, and some of which was highly critical of the Government. 
More than 15 privately owned newspapers were published with some 
regularity. The only daily newspaper, Togo-Presse, was owned and 
controlled by the Government. There were several independent newspapers 
that published on weekly and bi-weekly schedules. The official media 
heavily slanted their content in favor of the Government.
    Radio remained the most important medium of mass communication. 
Some private radio stations broadcast domestic news; however, they 
offered little of the political commentary and criticism of the 
Government that was widespread in the print media.
    The station director of Radio Lumiere, who fled the country after a 
military detachment seized Radio Lumiere's transmitter and broadcasting 
equipment in 2005, remained in self-exile at year's end. Radio Lumiere 
remained closed.
    The government-owned Togo Television was the only major television 
station in the country. Four smaller television stations operated 
during the year, but their broadcasts were limited to certain 
geographic areas. TV-2, RTDS, and TV7 carried France-based TV-5's 
international news programming, and TV-Zion's content was of a 
primarily religious nature. TV7 also carried weekly political debates 
through the program Seven on Seven, a weekly political forum in which 
governing and opposition party leaders, human rights organizations, and 
other observers participated in discussions on political issues and 
expressed criticism or support for the Government.
    Unlike in the previous year, security forces did not detain 
journalists.
    Despite governmental promises to do so, no investigation was 
conducted during the year into the October 2005 beating by masked men 
of Jean-Baptiste Dzilan, also known as Dimas Dzikodo, the country's 
most outspoken journalist and publisher of the independent newspaper 
Forum de la Semaine.
    The constitution established the High Authority of Audiovisuals and 
Communications (HAAC) to provide for the freedom of the press, ensure 
ethical standards, and allocate frequencies to private television and 
radio stations. Although nominally independent, in practice the HAAC 
operated as an arm of the Government.
    On May 12, the HAAC suspended for one month Radio Nostalgie's 
special daily program on the national political dialogue, charging that 
the guests who participated in a May 9 program ``attacked and 
systematically threatened national and international personalities'' 
and ``incited the population to insurrection.'' The guests in question, 
Alex Konu of TV7 and Francis Amuzun of the Togo Ethics Media Committee, 
had criticized the presence of the Economic Community of West African 
States Special Envoy Mai Manga Boucar at the dialogue legitimizing the 
fraudulent results of the April 2005 Presidential elections.
    Unlike in the previous year, the President of the HAAC did not ban 
or threaten to ban radio programs that discussed political events. The 
2005 bans against Radio Nostalgie, Nana FM, and Kanal FM were lifted, 
and the stations broadcast live and taped political programs during the 
year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was easily available except in remote rural locations.

    Academic and Cultural Events.--The Government did not restrict 
academic freedom or cultural events, although security forces 
maintained a presence at the University of Lome. According to students 
and professors, a government informer system continued to exist and 
undercover gendarmes attended classes.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government generally restricted this right, although less 
than in previous years.
    A political party wishing to hold a demonstration or rally on 
public property is required to notify the minister of security, 
although no notification is required for rallies on private property.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not ban street 
demonstrations.
    On August 30, street protests throughout the northern city of Kara 
erupted after police failed to respond immediately to the killing of a 
motorcycle-taxi driver by a Beninese national; police claimed they were 
unable to go to the scene of the crime because they lacked transport. 
The police called for military support after the demonstrators moved to 
the police station, and soldiers used clubs and teargas to disperse 
protesters. In the following days soldiers patrolled the streets, 
detained numerous young men arbitrarily, and transported other 
detainees to outlying villages where the young men were forced to walk 
back to Kara in the middle of the night. After four days, the military 
released all the young men, the informal curfew was lifted, and people 
were allowed to circulate freely.
    No action was taken against the military personnel who in February 
2005 beat students in Lome when they walked out of classes to show 
support for an opposition-led civil boycott.
    No action was taken against security forces who beat and shot 
bullets at demonstrators in February 2005; five civilians died.
    Despite government promises to do so, no investigation was 
conducted into the use of excessive force by security forces during the 
February 2005 dispersal of a peaceful women's march; five persons were 
killed.

    Freedom of Association.--Under the constitution and law, citizens 
have the right to organize associations and political parties, and the 
Government generally respected it in practice. Unlike in previous 
years, the Government did not deny official recognition to 
associations, including human rights groups, and did not impose 
restrictions on political parties.
    There were many NGOs; they were required to register with the 
Government. The Government established requirements for recognition of 
associations and NGOs. The Ministry of Territorial Administration 
issues official recognition documents. Upon filing with the ministry, 
associations are given a receipt allowing them to begin operations. The 
Civil Security Division enforces the regulations and is the agency 
responsible for handling problems or complaints concerning an 
association or an organization. If an application provides insufficient 
information for recognition to be granted, the application remains open 
indefinitely. Members of groups that are not officially recognized 
could organize activities but do not have legal standing.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The Government recognizes three main faiths as state religions: 
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Other religions, such as 
animism, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, were required to register 
as associations. Official recognition as an association affords the 
same rights as the official religions.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these 
rights, the Government restricted them in practice. Armed security 
checkpoints and arbitrary searches of vehicles and individuals were 
common. Undisciplined acts of some security forces manning roadblocks, 
such as frequent demands for bribes, impeded free movement within the 
country.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not close land 
borders and air access to the country, as it did following former 
President Eyadema's death and prior to the elections.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it. However, several opposition and human rights workers 
remained in self-imposed exile because they feared arrest.
    An estimated 40,000 citizens fled to Ghana and Benin in 2005 as 
refugees following election-related violence. Although some refugees 
returned due to government outreach mentioned above, many did not 
return home because of fear for their security. According to UNHCR, by 
year's end approximately 6,500 refugees remained in Benin and 6,000 in 
Ghana. UNHCR is facilitating returns for Togolese refugees who express 
an interest in returning.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Almost all of the persons who 
fled their homes following former President Eyadema's death and the 
Presidential elections had returned to their homes by year's end.
    During the year, the High Commission for Repatriates and 
Humanitarian Action traveled to Ghana and Benin to assure the Togolese 
refugees that their safety would be guaranteed back home; the 
commission also organized sensitization tours throughout the country 
and donated food and clothes to returned refugees and IDPs. The 
commission issued messages in various media encouraging the population 
to welcome returned refugees and IDPs.
    There were no reports that the Government targeted the 2005 IDPs or 
forcibly returned them.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws do not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    A voluntary repatriation program for 508 Ghanaian refugees was 
still not implemented because of continuing unrest and instability in 
Ghana along the Togo-Ghana border. These refugees have been integrated 
into society and no longer receive assistance. According to the 
Government, there were approximately 800 refugees (mostly from Rwanda 
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) registered in Lome and 
approximately 1,200 additional refugees living in rural villages. 
According to the Government, there were 12,386 refugees in Togo, of 
which 1,391 (mostly from Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, 
Liberia, Nigeria, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and 
Sierra Leone) were living in Lome; 10,990 refugees fled the north of 
Ghana following the social unrest and were living in rural villages, 
especially in Dankpen and Bassar (Togo-Ghana border) areas.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 100 persons during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides for the right of citizens to change their 
government peacefully; however, the Government restricted this right in 
practice. The Government and the state remained highly centralized. The 
national government appoints officials and controls the budgets of 
government entities at all levels, including prefectures and 
municipalities, and influences the selection of traditional chiefs. The 
National Assembly exercised no real oversight of the executive branch 
of the Government.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In February 2005 the 
Government announced the death of former President Eyadema. The 
constitution prohibited any revision of the document in the case of a 
Presidential vacancy. Nevertheless, the National Assembly held an 
extraordinary session to amend the constitution and electoral code, 
dismiss Speaker Fambare Ouattara Natchaba, and elect Eyadema's son 
Faure Gnassingbe as the new speaker, allowing him constitutionally to 
step into the presidency. The Constitutional Court, vested with 
guaranteeing respect of the law, swore Faure in as President in the 
middle of the night. In response to international and internal 
pressure, Faure resigned the presidency. The National Assembly elected 
a new speaker, Abass Bonfoh, who then became interim President.
    Although the constitution required holding elections within 60 days 
of a vacancy in the presidency, the international community and local 
opposition contended that the election timeframe, culminating with 
elections in April 2005, was not sufficient to ensure a free and fair 
election. Although the interior minister publicly stated that 
conditions for a credible election had not been met, the elections were 
held as planned in April 2005. Accredited international election 
observers noted massive irregularities during the election itself.
    Four persons were killed in Mango on election day when security 
forces, who were removing ballot boxes from a polling site, opened fire 
on opposition supporters who tried to prevent them.
    The Electoral Commission announced Faure had received 60 percent of 
the vote and declared him President. An opposition candidate filed a 
complaint with the Constitutional Court based on flaws in the voting 
procedures. The court certified the results without an investigation.
    During the year there were significant developments in the 
Government's 2004 commitments to the EU to organize fair and 
transparent legislative elections, to hold local elections, and to 
organize a national dialogue with the main opposition parties. In April 
the Government organized a national dialogue with the main opposition 
parties, which resulted in a Global Political Agreement on August 20 
and the creation of a new government of national unity, including 
representation from nearly all the major political groups and a prime 
minister belonging to one of the main opposition groups. The main task 
of this new government is to organize free and fair legislative 
elections, which President Gnassingbe announced in September would be 
scheduled for June 2007.
    There were five female members in the 81-member National Assembly 
and five female ministers in the 34-member government of national unity 
Cabinet. Members of the southern ethnic groups remain underrepresented 
in both the Government and the military, relative to their percentage 
of the general population.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was a 
problem and there was widespread public perception of corruption in 
both the executive and legislative branch. The Anti-Corruption 
Commission (CAC) was generally ineffective. While it continued to 
investigate current relatively low-level and former high-level 
officials, it did not use fair and transparent procedures to deal with 
allegations of corruption. The CAC allowed most senior government 
officials accused of corruption to continue in their positions and did 
not investigate allegations made against them. For example, the CAC 
levied allegations of corruption against the director general of the 
Social Security Agency, yet he remained in his position.
    According to the Government's official poverty reduction strategic 
paper, prepared in conjunction with the World Bank and UNDP, corruption 
and lack of transparency in the management of public funds was a 
problem throughout the Government. The constitution provides for the 
creation of a court of accounts to oversee public expenditures; 
however, the Government failed to initiate its creation.
    Although the press code provides for public access to government 
information, the Government did not permit access to either citizens or 
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Government Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    There were several domestic private human rights groups, including 
the Togolese League of Human Rights (LTDH), the Center for Observation 
and Promotion of the Rule of Law, and the Togolese Association for the 
Defense and Protection of Human Rights. Years of government threats and 
intimidation of human rights leaders, combined with a lack of results 
from human rights initiatives, have led some human rights groups to 
become inactive. A few groups, such as the Togolese Movement for the 
Defense of Liberties and Human Rights, the African Committee for the 
Promotion and Support of Human Rights, and the African Center for the 
Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Repression served as 
apologists for the Government by making public statements explaining 
the behavior of the Government in a favorable way.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not restrict the 
activities of domestic NGOs or refuse accreditation. In 2005 the 
Government did not allow any domestic groups to participate as 
observers during the elections; targeted workers of independent human 
rights NGOs; and used the HAAC and the RPT youth organization to 
suppress criticism of its human rights policies.
    Unlike in the previous year, LTDH members did not receive death 
threats or experience home surveillance by unknown individuals.
    The Government met with some domestic NGOs that monitor human 
rights but took no action in response to their recommendations.
    In April AI and a group of international NGOs criticized the 
Government for failing to bring to justice those involved in election-
related violence during 2005. In July a delegation from AI visited the 
country to more formally assess the Government's actions during the 
2005 election violence. AI scheduled the release of its report for 
November 26, but postponed it at the request of the Government. In 
December the Government accused AI of provoking a ``useless and 
redundant controversy.''
    In September 2005 the UNHCR released the findings of its June 2005 
visit to the country to investigate election-related violence. The 
report revealed that approximately 500 persons died and that the 
Government was responsible for significant human rights violations (see 
Section 1.a.).
    Supporters of the President continued to dominate the National 
Commission for Human Rights. On July 31, the National Assembly elected 
16 of 17 new independent members; however, at year's end they were 
still waiting to be sworn in.
    A permanent human rights committee exists within the National 
Assembly, but it did not play any significant role in policy-making and 
was not independent of the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the 
Government did not enforce these provisions effectively. Violence and 
discrimination against women, FGM, trafficking in persons, and 
discrimination against ethnic minorities and individuals with HIV/AIDS 
were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women continued to be a problem. 
The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence. Police 
generally did not intervene in abusive situations, and women were not 
made aware of the formal judicial mechanisms that would give them 
protection. According to a local women's rights NGO, wife beating was 
estimated to affect approximately 6 percent of married women.
    The law criminalizes rape and provides for prison terms of five to 
10 years for anyone found guilty of rape. The law does not specifically 
penalize spousal rape. Although the Government was diligent in 
investigating and prosecuting instances of rape, reports were rare 
because of the social stigma associated with being raped.
    FGM continued to be practiced on approximately 12 percent of girls. 
The most commonly practiced form of FGM was excision, which usually was 
performed on girls a few months after birth. Most of the larger ethnic 
groups did not practice FGM. FGM is illegal and penalties for 
practitioners ranged from two months to five years in prison as well as 
substantial fines. The law was rarely applied because most FGM cases 
occurred in rural areas where neither the victims nor the police 
understood the law. Traditional customs often superseded the legal 
system among certain ethnic groups. The Government continued to sponsor 
seminars to educate and campaign against FGM. Several NGOs, with 
international assistance, organized educational campaigns to inform 
women of their rights and how to care for victims of FGM. Although no 
statistics were available, the Government and NGOs believed the 
practice decreased significantly in urban areas since the 1998 anti-FGM 
law but continued to occur in remote and rural villages.
    The law prohibits prostitution, including running a brothel, and 
provides for fines of up to $2,000 (1 million CFA francs) for brothel 
owners and panderers. Prostitution in Lome was fairly widespread since 
economic opportunities for women were severely limited. Several 
prostitutes in Lome reported that they had to pay security forces to 
pass through certain parts of town; this payment most often took the 
form of sex. Members of the security forces raped prostitutes who 
protested the payment. The Government has not acted to stop this 
practice.
    A Presidential decree prohibits sexual harassment and specifically 
targeted harassment of female students, although the authorities did 
not enforce the law.
    Although the law declares women equal under the law, women 
continued to experience discrimination, especially in education, 
pension benefits, and inheritance as a consequence of traditional law. 
A husband legally could restrict his wife's freedom to work or control 
her earnings. In urban areas women and girls dominated market 
activities and commerce; however, harsh economic conditions in rural 
areas, where most of the population lived, left women with little time 
for activities other than domestic tasks and agricultural fieldwork. 
The Labor Code, which regulated labor practices, requires equal pay for 
equal work, regardless of gender, but this provision generally was 
observed only in the formal sector. Under traditional law, which 
applied to the vast majority of women, a wife has no maintenance or 
child support rights in the event of divorce or separation and no 
inheritance rights upon the death of her husband. Polygamy was 
practiced. Women can own property with no special restrictions.
    The Ministry of Social Affairs and Promotion of Women, along with 
independent women's groups and related NGOs, continued to campaign 
actively during the year to inform women of their rights.

    Children.--Although the law provides for the protection of 
children's rights, government programs often suffered from a lack of 
money, materials, and enforcement. There were many practices that 
discriminated against children, especially girls.
    The Government provided education in state schools, and school 
attendance is compulsory for both boys and girls until the age of 15. 
According to the UN Children's Fund's (UNICEF), although 99 percent of 
boys and 83 percent of girls started primary school, only an estimated 
68 percent of boys and 59 percent of girls continued. For secondary 
school, the net secondary school enrollment is 36 percent for boys, 17 
percent for girls, but only 21 percent of boys and 11 percent of girls 
continued. The Ministry of Education estimated that one-third of the 
national budget was spent on education.
    Orphans and other needy children received some aid from extended 
families or private organizations but little from the Government. There 
were social programs to provide free health care for poor children.
    FGM was performed on approximately 12 percent of girls (see Section 
5, Women).
    Statutory rape is illegal and punishable by up to five years of 
imprisonment and up to 10 years if violence was involved. The prison 
term is 20 years if a victim is a child under 14, is gang-raped or if 
the rape results in pregnancy, disease, or incapacitation lasting more 
than six weeks. Although the law explicitly prohibits sexual 
exploitation of children and child prostitution, the Government did not 
effectively enforce the prohibitions (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    There were reports of trafficking in children (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children 
but not adults; however, there were reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, or within the country. The 2005 Law for the 
Repression of Child Trafficking provides for prison sentences and fines 
for anyone who recruits, transports, hosts, or receives trafficked 
children, as well as prison sentences for parents who willingly 
facilitate the trafficking of their children. The law provides for 
prison sentences from three months to 10 years and fines ranging from 
$2,000 to $20,000 (one to 10 million CFA francs) for traffickers of 
children and/or their accomplices. Anybody who assists and/or provides 
information, arms, or transportation to facilitate the trafficking is 
considered an accomplice. The Government filed a complaint against 16 
traffickers who were awaiting prosecution at year's end. The 
Government, along with international and local NGOs continued to train 
judges, security forces, and volunteer local committees on the 2005 
antitrafficking law; by year's end 36 members of the security forces 
had received training.
    Volunteer local committees investigated reports of trafficking. The 
ministries of education, interior, and social affairs worked with the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) to establish approximately 300 
committees by year's end. From 2002 through 2006, local committees had 
rescued approximately 4,000 victims of child trafficking.
    The National Committee for the Reception and Social Reinsertion of 
Trafficked Children is represented in each prefecture and works with 
local officials to reintegrate returned trafficking victims. It 
reported that 2,458 children ranging from ages five to 17 were 
repatriated to the country between 2002 and 2004. The Office of the 
Director General of Protection of the Child reported that since August 
2005, security forces intercepted a total of 101 children up to 17 
years-of-age in the process of being trafficked out of the country and 
the Government returned them to their families.
    The Government had little or no funding to investigate traffickers 
or trafficking rings. The police had limited success in intercepting 
victims of trafficking, and prosecution of traffickers was rare. Most 
persons that security forces arrested or detained for trafficking 
ultimately were released for lack of evidence.
    Government agencies involved in antitrafficking efforts included 
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Protection of Women; the Ministry of 
Health; the Ministry of Security; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry 
of Labor; and the security forces (especially police, army, and customs 
units). The Government cooperated with the Governments of Ghana, Benin, 
and Nigeria under a quadripartite law allowing for expedited 
extradition among those countries.
    The country remained a country of origin, transit, and destination 
for trafficking in persons, primarily children. More young girls than 
boys were the victims of trafficking. Trafficking in women for the 
purpose of prostitution or nonconsensual labor as domestic servants 
occurred.
    Trafficking occurred throughout the country. The majority of the 
country's trafficking victims were children from the poorest rural 
areas, particularly those of Kotocoli, Tchamba, Ewe, Kabye, and Akposso 
ethnicities and mainly from the Maritime, Plateau, and Central regions. 
Adult victims usually were lured with phony job offers. Children often 
were trafficked abroad by parents misled by false information. 
Sometimes parents sold their children to traffickers for bicycles, 
radios, or clothing, and signed parental authorizations transferring 
their children into the custody of the trafficker.
    Children were trafficked into indentured and exploitative 
servitude, which amounted at times to slavery. Most trafficking 
occurred internally, with children trafficked from rural areas to 
cities, primarily Lome, to work as domestics, produce porters, or 
roadside sellers. Victims were trafficked elsewhere in West Africa and 
to Central Africa, particularly Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, and Nigeria; in 
Europe, primarily France and Germany; and in the Middle East, including 
Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Children were trafficked to Benin for 
indentured servitude and to Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana for domestic 
servitude. Boys were trafficked for agricultural work in Cote d'Ivoire 
and domestic servitude and street labor in Gabon. They were fed poorly, 
clothed crudely, cared for inadequately, given drugs to work longer 
hours, and not educated or permitted to learn a trade. There were 
reports that young girls were trafficked to Nigeria for prostitution.
    The country was a transit point for children trafficked from 
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. There were credible 
reports that Nigerian women and children were trafficked through the 
country to Europe (particularly Italy and the Netherlands) for the 
purpose of prostitution.
    Traffickers were believed to be men and women of Togolese, 
Beninese, and Nigerian nationalities.
    There were no reports that governmental authorities or individual 
members of government forces facilitated or condoned trafficking in 
persons. There were no reports that customs, border guards, immigration 
officials, labor inspectors, or local police received bribes from 
traffickers, although it was possible given the high level of 
corruption in the country.
    The Government provided only limited assistance for victims, 
primarily because of a lack of resources. The NGO Terre des Hommes 
assisted recovered children until their parents or next-of-kin could be 
notified. Assistance was also available from the government-funded 
Social Center for Abandoned Children. CARE International-Togo worked 
with three NGOs--Terre des Hommes, La Colombe, and Ahuefa--on 
reinsertion of trafficked children, awareness campaigns for parents and 
communities, keeping children in schools, and supporting women's 
income-generating activities. During the year the ILO worked with other 
NGOs to increase awareness of the trafficking problem.
    During the year local government officials worked closely with NGOs 
Plan Togo and The World Association for Orphans-Afrique to conduct 
public awareness campaigns and training workshops. Four workshops were 
held during the year, training approximately 150 lawyers, journalists, 
judges NGO representatives, and security personnel. The ILO and UNICEF 
assisted the Government in organizing and training regional and local 
committees and in sensitizing and educating parents on the dangers of 
child trafficking and labor throughout the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--A new law enacted in November 2005 
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of 
other state services, but the Government did not effectively enforce 
these provisions. There was no overt state discrimination against 
persons with disabilities, and some held government positions; but 
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities existed. The 
Government does not mandate accessibility to public or private 
facilities for persons with disabilities. Although the law nominally 
obliged the Government to aid persons with disabilities and shelter 
them from social injustice, the Government provided only limited 
assistance.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population included members 
of approximately 40 ethnic groups that generally spoke distinct primary 
languages and were concentrated regionally in rural areas. Major ethnic 
groups included the Ewe (between 20 and 25 percent of the population), 
the Kabye (between 10 and 15 percent), the Kotokoli (between 10 and 15 
percent), the Moba (between 10 to 15 percent), and the Mina 
(approximately 5 percent). The Ewe and Mina were the largest ethnic 
groups in the southern region and the Kabye was the largest group in 
the less prosperous northern region.
    The relative predominance in private sector commerce and 
professions by members of southern ethnic groups, and the relative 
prevalence in the public sector and especially the security forces of 
members of late President Eyadema's Kabye group and other northern 
groups, were sources of political tension. Political parties tended to 
have readily identifiable ethnic and regional bases: the RPT party was 
more represented among northern ethnic groups than among southern 
groups; the reverse was true of the UFC and Action Committee for 
Renewal opposition parties.
    In addition, due to the congruence of political divisions and 
ethnic and regional divisions, human rights abuses motivated by 
politics at times had ethnic and regional overtones.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--A 2005 law prohibits 
discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS; however, such 
persons continued to face significant societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide 
workers, except security forces (including firefighters and police), 
with the right to join unions, and they exercised this right in 
practice. The Ministry of Economy and Development estimated that the 
country's total workforce was approximately 1.6 million out of an 
estimated working population of 2.3 million persons. Approximately 72 
percent of the working population was in the agriculture sector where 
employment was not stable and wages were low. The informal sector 
provided for an estimated 22 percent of total employment. Approximately 
60 to 70 percent of formal sector workers were union members or 
supporters.
    The Ministry of Labor failed to enforce the prohibition on 
antiunion discrimination.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 
constitution and the December labor code nominally provide workers with 
the right to organize and bargain collectively; however, the Government 
limited collective bargaining to producing a single nationwide 
agreement that had to be negotiated and endorsed by representatives of 
the Government, labor unions, and employers. All formal sector 
employees were covered by the collective bargaining agreement that set 
nationwide wage standards for all formal sector workers. The Government 
participated in this process both as a labor-management mediator and as 
the largest employer in the formal sector, managing numerous state-
owned firms that monopolized many sectors of the formal economy. The 
collective bargaining process did not occur for several years under the 
late President Eyadema. Individual groups in the formal sector could 
attempt to negotiate agreements more favorable to labor through sector-
specific or firm-specific collective bargaining, but this option was 
rarely used.
    The constitution and law provide most workers the right to strike, 
except for members of the security forces and government health 
workers. The new labor code of December 5 prohibits retribution against 
strikers by employers.
    The law provides exemptions from some provisions of the Labor Code, 
notably the regulations on hiring and firing for companies in the EPZs. 
Employees of EPZ firms did not enjoy the same protection against 
antiunion discrimination as did other workers. Workers in the EPZs were 
prevented from exercising their freedom of association because unions 
did not have free access to EPZs or the freedom to organize workers.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The new labor code 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were reports such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). 
Children sometimes were subjected to forced labor, primarily as 
domestic servants.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
new labor code prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15 
in any enterprise; however, child labor was a problem. According to 
UNICEF, 60 percent of children in the country were involved in child 
labor. The use of children to work on family farms was widespread. Some 
children started working as young as age five. These children routinely 
missed at least two-thirds of the school year. In some cases children 
worked in factories.
    For some types of industrial and technical employment, the minimum 
age is 18. Inspectors from the Ministry of Labor enforced these age 
requirements but only in the formal sector in urban areas. In both 
urban and rural areas, particularly in farming and small scale trading, 
very young children traditionally assisted in their families' work. In 
rural areas, parents sometimes placed young children into domestic work 
in other households in exchange for one-time fees as low as $25 to $35 
(12,500 to 17,500 CFA francs).
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5).
    The Ministry of Social Affairs and Promotion of Women was 
responsible for enforcing the prohibition of the worst forms of child 
labor. Few resources were allotted for its implementation, and 
enforcement was weak, but the ministry funded a center for abandoned 
children and worked with NGOs to combat child trafficking.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets minimum 
wages for different labor categories, ranging from unskilled through 
professional positions. In practice employers often paid less than the 
official minimum wage often, mostly to unskilled workers. Official 
monthly minimum wages ranged from approximately $20 to $33 (10,000 to 
16,000 CFA francs) and did not provide a decent standard of living for 
a worker and family. Many workers supplemented their incomes through 
second jobs or subsistence farming. The Ministry of Labor was 
responsible for enforcement of the minimum wage system but did not 
enforce the law in practice.
    Working hours of all employees in any enterprise, except for the 
agricultural sector, normally are not to exceed 40 hours per week; at 
least one 24-hour rest period per week is compulsory, and workers are 
expected to receive 30 days of paid leave each year. Working hours for 
employees in the agricultural sector are not to exceed 2400 hours per 
year (roughly 46 hours per week). The law requires overtime 
compensation, and there are restrictions on excessive overtime work; 
however, the Ministry of Labor's enforcement was weak, and employers 
often ignored these provisions.
    In November the Government responded to a threatened strike by 
unions to make good on most salary and pension payments which were in 
arrears.
    A technical consulting committee in the Ministry of Labor set 
workplace health and safety standards. It may levy penalties on 
employers who do not meet the standards, and employees have the right 
to complain to labor inspectors of unhealthy or unsafe conditions 
without penalty. In practice, the ministry's enforcement of the various 
provisions of the Labor Code was limited. Large enterprises are obliged 
by law to provide medical services for their employees and usually 
attempted to respect occupational health and safety rules, but smaller 
firms often did not. Although workers have the legal right to remove 
themselves from unsafe conditions without fear of losing their jobs, in 
practice some could not do so. Labor laws also provide protection for 
legal foreign workers.

                               __________

                                 UGANDA

    Uganda, with a population of 26.4 million, is a republic led by 
President Yoweri Museveni, who continued to dominate the Government. 
The February 23 Presidential and parliamentary elections generally 
reflected the will of the electorate; however, both were marred by 
serious irregularities. The Government and the Lord's Resistance Army 
(LRA) entered into peace talks in July to end the 20-year war in the 
north of the country. A cessation of hostilities agreement and direct 
negotiations between the LRA and the Government have improved the 
security situation. The negotiations were on-going at year's end. On 
December 16, the Government and the rebels extended a cessation of 
hostilities until February 2007. The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja 
region intensified during the year and resulted in numerous deaths and 
the displacement of thousands of civilians. While civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there 
were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted 
independently of government authority.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor. Although there 
were improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained, including: 
unlawful killings by security forces; disappearances; security forces 
use of torture and abuse of suspects; vigilante justice; harsh prison 
conditions; official impunity; arbitrary arrest; incommunicado and 
lengthy pretrial detention; restrictions on the right to a fair trial 
and on freedoms of speech, the press, and association; limited freedom 
of religion; abuse of internally displaced persons (IDPs); restrictions 
on opposition parties; electoral violence and irregularities; 
government corruption; violence and discrimination against women; 
female genital mutilation (FGM); violence and abuse of children, 
particularly sexual abuse; trafficking in persons; violence and 
discrimination against persons with disabilities; forced labor, 
including by children; and child labor.
    LRA-perpetrated violence in the north decreased significantly 
during the year as the army drove the LRA into southern Sudan and the 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the height of the war, the LRA, 
led by Joseph Kony, committed serious abuses and atrocities, including 
the abduction, rape, and killing of civilians. The LRA used children as 
soldiers, held children and others in slave-like conditions, and 
subjected female captives to rape and other forms of severe sexual 
exploitation. Thousands of children known as ``night commuters'' 
traveled from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers 
to avoid abduction by the LRA and to escape systemic social problems 
such as poverty and domestic violence, although their numbers dropped 
substantially throughout the year as regional security improved.
    The Government took steps to improve human rights during the year. 
The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) continued to professionalize 
and demonstrated a marked improvement in respect for human rights. The 
Government improved conditions in the central prisons and passed a 
comprehensive labor law to eliminate burdensome requirements to form a 
union and to improve workplace conditions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces committed numerous unlawful killings during the year 
and were responsible for deaths as a result of torture.
    On August 20, special police constables in Arua District opened 
fire in a disco and killed Pater Alida and Kennedy Amaru, both primary 
school pupils. Media reports stated that Amos O'Bani, acting area 
subcounty chief, had ordered the police to fire on the dancers for 
violating a by-law prohibiting night clubs in the area. Constables Osua 
Biazo, Tom Candia, and David Ezaruku were subsequently arrested for 
murder; the case was ongoing at year's end.
    UPDF soldiers were responsible for killings. On May 9, Ekemu Ocen 
and Odong Chamali, UPDF soldiers based in Kasese District, killed four 
civilians and three armed soldiers in Kiteso village. On May 24, Ocen 
and Chamali were arrested while trying to escape to the DRC. On May 31, 
a court martial sitting in Kasese started public hearings in which the 
two soldiers were charged with murder. On August 31, the court martial 
found Ocan guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. The case 
against Chamali, who was charged with two counts of robbery, was 
ongoing at years's end.
    On June 2, UPDF soldiers from the Pabwo detachment in Gulu District 
killed Wilfred Kinyera and Joel Oryem after they were arrested. In 
August Michael Abonga, Kinyera's brother, filed a petition with the 
Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Tribunal against three soldiers 
for allegedly murdering Kinyera and Oryem. The UPDF arrested the three 
suspects, whose trial at the fourth division court martial was ongoing 
at year's end.
    On May 24, UPDF soldiers in Gulu District killed a civilian 
identified as Dola in the Awach IDP camp. The UPDF claimed that Dola 
was a drug addict who was killed trying to enter the camp at night 
without identifying himself to the guards. No further action was taken 
by year's end.
    During the year the fifth division court martial charged Alex 
Okullo, a member of the Local Defense Unit (LDU) militia in Kitgum 
District, in the March 2005 killing of two civilians. Okullo was 
released on bail; his case was transferred to the High Court in Gulu 
and was pending at year's end.
    In 2005 the fourth division court martial convicted UPDF Private 
Tony Eremo of the March 31, 2005 killing of high school student Francis 
Ocaya Okot. Eremo was charged by the fourth division Court martial and 
convicted of manslaughter. Upon appeal, Eremo's case was transferred to 
the High Court; the case was pending at year's end. In August 2005 UPDF 
Privates Lazarus Avil Kwasigwee and Johnson Asiimwe killed businessman 
Sam Abol in an alleged attempt to rob him. The fifth division court 
martial convicted the two soldiers of robbery only and they were 
serving their sentence in Lira Prison at year's end.
    On January 2, the fourth division court martial in Gulu sentenced 
UPDF Private Joel Lubangakene to death for the December 2005 killing of 
18-year-old Ojok Ojara in Lalogi IDP Camp in Gulu District. Lubangakene 
remained in prison at year's end. There were no developments in the 
December 2005 UPDF killings case of seven civilians during a protest of 
Ojara's murder.
    Special police constables Joel Adrama and Dickson Anguyo, who beat 
to death Zacharia Ocitia in June 2005, were awaiting trial at year's 
end.
    There were no developments in the August 2005 killing of suspected 
robbers Edson Sajabi, Charles Mworozi, and Benon Kankirihoby during a 
security force crackdown on criminals.
    During the year security forces committed killings during 
apprehension. For example, on April 24, police in Mbarara killed two 
suspected armed robbers who had staged an illegal roadblock at 
Nyamityobora forest on the Mbarara-Masaka highway. There were no 
arrests made in the case by year's end.
    On April 16, Joseph Mugenyi and Muwanguwa Matayo, police constables 
at Wandegaya Police Station, were arrested for the April 15 killing of 
a suspected drug dealer in Mulago. The Director of Public Prosecutions 
(DPP) dropped charges against Mugenyi after findings by a DPP office 
investigation exonerated him. Matayo was initially released shortly 
after the arrest; however, the DPP investigation recommended that he be 
re-arrested for the killing. Matayo was on the run at year's end.
    Security forces were responsible for a number of deaths in custody, 
some due to torture. On May 4, Abdu Semugenyi, arrested in April on 
suspicion of being associated with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) 
rebels, was tortured to death in military custody in Kololo, a Kampala 
suburb, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. The UPDF denied 
that Semugenyi was tortured and stated that he escaped from his 
bodyguards and that his whereabouts were unknown.
    On August 5, police in Kampala killed Masensio Edema after he 
confessed his involvement in a July 31 bomb attack which resulted in 
two deaths and several injuries. On August 23, the police stated that 
Edema was killed while trying to escape police custody.
    The trial of police officers Stephen Kasiba, Hannington Opio, and 
Julius Oboch, who were charged with the January 2005 killing in custody 
of Noah Katungi, was ongoing at year's end.
    Investigations into the cause of the September 2005 death of John 
Atwine, a key suspect in a high-profile killing, were ongoing at year's 
end.
    Police attempts to prevent mob lynchings resulted in deaths (see 
Section 2.b.).
    Security forces committed accidental killings during the year (see 
Section 1.g.).
    There were no developments in the February 2005 killing of Abdallah 
Mumiro by police in Busia District.
    During the year security forces killed numerous civilians during 
anti-LRA operations and disarmament campaigns in the Karamoja region; 
paramilitary forces were also responsible for killings (see Section 
1.g.).
    LRA attacks continued during the year and resulted in deaths (see 
Section 1.g.).
    Raids by armed cattle rustlers in Karamoja continued during the 
year and resulted in deaths (see Section 1.g.).
    Killings by rebel and terrorist groups, including a July 31 bomb 
attack in Kampala allegedly carried out by the rebel group the People's 
Redemption Army (PRA), resulted in deaths and injuries (see Section 
1.g.).
    The war in the north and violence in Karamoja resulted in 
significant numbers of deaths due to interethnic violence (see Section 
5).
    Incidents of vigilante justice were reported frequently during the 
year. There were numerous instances in which mobs beat, stoned, or 
burned to death individuals suspected of committing crimes. On March 5, 
residents of Te-Okole in Amuca Parish, Lira District, lynched four 
robbers. No arrests were made by year's end.
    On May 3, residents of Ndongwe village in Masaka District lynched 
Herman Katende, a traditional healer over the death of Godfrey Kalanzi, 
a resident who was killed on May 2. No arrests were made by year's end.
    On June 22, the Magistrate's Court in Kampala District referred two 
businessmen to trial in the High Court for killing a suspected thief in 
2005. The suspects were awaiting trial at year's end.
    There were no developments in the following 2005 mob killings: the 
January killing of a rape suspect in Lira District, the May killing of 
a suspected cannibal in Mukono District, and the June killing of a 
thief in Kampala.
    There were reports of the ritual killings of children during the 
year (see Section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--On May 22, Robert Mugyenyi, a member of the 
opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), disappeared from 
his home in Kiwatule, Kampala District. The police opened an 
investigation; however, Mugyenyi's whereabouts remained unknown at 
year's end.
    There was no information on Otim Orach, who UPDF soldiers in Gulu 
District arrested in March 2005. Orach allegedly was told that he would 
not be released until he swore allegiance to President Museveni's 
ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). The UPDF denied 
any knowledge of Orach or the reported events.
    In May 2005 police rescued Geoffrey Mwebase and two other persons 
who were kidnapped by six armed men in military uniform. The suspects 
were charged with kidnapping and they remained on remand in Simba 
Prison, Masindi District at year's end.
    Defense lawyers for Achikulo Abuko, Amir Yahaya, Kesia Yasin, and 
Zacharia Obba, who were transferred from Luzira Prison to incommunicado 
detention in another prison after being charged along with opposition 
leader Kizza Besigye for treason in November 2005, met with their 
clients during the year.
    In July six of the 10 members of the opposition party Uganda 
People's Congress arrested by the Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI) 
in 2004 were released on bail; the remaining four were released without 
charge in 2005.
    There were no developments in the 2004 missing persons case of 
James Kashaija.
    At year's end Captain Robert Ruteinama, who was held in 
incommunicado detention by the UPDF since 2003, was released.
    According to the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the LRA and other 
rebel groups have abducted approximately 38,000 persons since 1986; 
however, LRA abductions decreased during the year after the LRA's 
leadership was driven from the north by the UPDF. An estimated 205 
persons were abducted since January. Unlike in previous years, 
abductions typically were generally temporary in nature, and abductees 
were used more frequently as porters for LRA supplies than as 
combatants. However, some abductees continued to be trained as 
guerillas (see Section 1.g.). In previous years, most victims were 
children and young adults whom the LRA forced into slavery as laborers, 
soldiers, guards, and sex slaves (see Sections 1.g. and 5).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were credible reports that security forces tortured and beat 
suspects. Detainees died as a result of torture. Many of these 
incidents occurred in unregistered detention facilities and were 
intended to force confessions. The UHRC received approximately 246 
complaints of torture during the year. The UHRC and other human rights 
organizations conducted human rights training for the police and 
military throughout the year.
    In May 2005 the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) noted its 
concern of continued allegations of torture in the country and the 
apparent impunity of its perpetrators. Reports from human rights 
organizations, including HRW and the Foundation for Human Rights 
Initiative (FHRI), cited examples of torture such as caning, severe 
beating, and inflicting pain to the genitals carried out by security 
forces in previous years. Security units involved in torture included 
the police, the UPDF, CMI, and the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU); on 
occasion, such torture resulted in death (see Section 1.a.).
    On May 4, Abdu Semugenyi, arrested in April on suspicion of being 
associated with the ADF rebels, died of injuries sustained during 
torture (see Section 1.a.).
    On January 8, Sergeant Gilbert Odong, a UPDF soldier attached to 
Lawiye Adul detachment in Gulu District, used a burning jerry can to 
inflict injuries on the breasts of Patricia Atim. No action was taken 
against Odong by year's end.
    On February 10, 12 UPDF soldiers at a security check point in 
Nzaipi, Adjumani District, beat Juma Muwonge into unconsciousness. 
Muwonge was taken to Lacor Hospital for treatment. There were no 
arrests by year's end.
    A June report by the UHRC implicated the army in acts of torture 
against Karamojong during the ongoing disarmament exercise in the 
region (see Section 1.g.).
    On August 13, police in Arua District beat Dr. Joram Ajeani, the 
country's former envoy to the DRC, during a security operation; Ajeani 
claimed he was attempting to defend youths arrested in a sweep of the 
Paradise night club in Arua town. On September 24, Ajeani filed a suit 
against the police for torture; the case was ongoing at year's end.
    Human rights groups reported that security forces and prison 
officials raped persons in detention facilities during the year. There 
were reports that UPDF soldiers raped persons, particularly in conflict 
areas and in or near IDP camps (see Section 1.g.).
    Security forces harassed, detained, and forcibly dispersed 
opposition activist and student demonstrators (see Sections 1.d. and 
2.b.).
    The UHRC Tribunal made 44 rulings on torture cases received from 
previous years. On March 14, the UHRC Tribunal District awarded 
approximately $11,891 (22 million shillings) to Leo Busoke as 
compensation for the illegal arrest and death by torture of his father, 
Gabriel Byaruhanga. In 2003 Byaruhanga was arrested on allegations that 
he was an ADF collaborator. On July 10, the UHRC Tribunal awarded 
approximately $21,622 (40 million shillings) to Paul Kalyambwa as 
compensation for having been tortured in 2003 by prison wardens while 
in custody in Kasese District.
    In August the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry reported 
that the Government had paid approximately $14,054,000 (26 billion 
shillings) to 470 individuals, but owed approximately $32,432,000 (60 
billion shillings) in compensation to other torture victims.
    There were no developments in the April 2005 case of UPDF Private 
William Bisogo, who was arrested for inflicting torture.
    The court martial of John Barigye Bakirahi and Peter Agom, UPDF 
soldiers charged with spying for the Rwandan government who claimed 
they were tortured throughout their detention in CMI custody, began in 
May 2005 and was ongoing at year's end.
    During the year civilians were killed, injured, and displaced as a 
result of security force operations against the LRA (see Section 1.g.).
    The LRA continued to commit numerous atrocities, including the 
killing, torture, sexual abuse, and kidnapping of civilians, primarily 
children. However, these abuses decreased as LRA forces moved outside 
the country during the year (see Section 1.g.).
    There were numerous instances in which mobs attacked suspected 
thieves and other persons known or suspected to have committed crimes 
(see Section 1.a). Motivated in part by distrust or misunderstanding of 
the formal judicial system, these mobs engaged in beatings, lynchings, 
and other forms of mistreatment.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and frequently life threatening, primarily as a result of the 
Government's inadequate funding of prison facilities. In addition there 
were several reports that security forces and guards tortured inmates.
    Prison conditions came closest to meeting international standards 
in Kampala, where prisons provided medical care, running water, and 
sanitation; however, these prisons also were among the most 
overcrowded. There were an estimated 18,300 inmates in the country's 
central prisons, which was approximately three times their planned 
capacity. Severe overcrowding also was a problem at juvenile detention 
facilities and in women's wings of prisons. The remand home in Kampala, 
designed for 45 persons, held 94 children. The reception center, 
designed for 30 persons, held 62 juveniles under the age of 12. The 
Community Service Act sought to reduce prison congestion by allowing 
minor offenders to do community service in lieu of imprisonment. As a 
result, 1,340 offenders were sentenced to community service during the 
year. The UHRC noted improved conditions at central prisons during the 
year, including cleaner and more structurally secure buildings, an 
increase in uniforms for inmates, and adequate food rations. Although 
the law provides for access to prisoners by their families, lack of 
understanding of this right and fear of prison authorities often 
limited family visits.
    There were an estimated 7,000 inmates in the local prisons. Serious 
concerns included incidents of torture, congestion, inadequate staff, 
and lack of food, water, medical care, and bedding. Forced labor also 
was reported in local government prisons. Security forces and prison 
officials reportedly raped detainees during the year.
    The UHRC reported allegations that prison officers sometimes 
demanded bribes to allow visits; no investigations of these allegations 
were conducted during the year. In 2005 the Government gave 59 senior 
prison officers the powers of magistrates to try inmates and prison 
staff suspected of committing offenses. No prison officials were tried 
during the year.
    Inmates at most prisons grew maize, millet, and vegetables; 
however, the UHRC accused prison farms of overworking inmates, and 
prisoners as young as 12-years-old performed manual labor from dawn 
until dusk (see Section 6.c.).
    Prisons were believed to have high mortality rates from 
overcrowding, malnutrition, diseases spread by unsanitary conditions, 
HIV/AIDS, and lack of medical care. On March 20, David Isabirye, a 
student at Bupadhengo Secondary school, was found dead in a prison cell 
in Kamuli District; the cause of death was unclear and no further 
action was taken. On May 10, inmates died in a prison in Lira District 
as a result of negligence by prison authorities; three others died of 
HIV/AIDS related diseases. The Prisons Service registered 150 deaths 
between January and June as a result of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/
AIDS.
    Female prisoners in central prisons were held in separate 
facilities; however, conditions remained poor. Services and facilities 
for female prisoners in local prisons, including separate cells, were 
lacking.
    Due to lack of space in juvenile facilities, juveniles often were 
held in prisons with adults. In Kampala jails, pretrial detainees were 
separated from convicted prisoners; however, in the rest of the 
country, pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners sometimes were held 
together.
    On May 3, parliament passed the Prisons Bill 2003, which separates 
the Prisons Service from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and provides 
it with its own budget. The bill provides the central Prisons Service 
with responsibility for local prisons, which have the harshest 
conditions; provides for inspection of prisons and conformity to 
minimum standard for treatment of prisoners; abolishes corporal 
punishment in prisons; and allows free access to prisons by human 
rights activists, magistrates, and judges.
    During the year the Government permitted access to prisons by the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); foreign diplomats; and 
local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), principally FHRI; and the 
Uganda Prisoners' Aid Foundation. The UHRC visited 136 places of 
detention including central government and local government prisons and 
police cells during the year. Prison authorities required advance 
notification of visits, a process that was sometimes subject to 
administrative delays.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit such practices; however, members of the security forces 
arrested and detained citizens arbitrarily during the year.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force, under 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has the primary responsibility for 
law enforcement and maintenance of order in the country. The UPDF is 
the key security force and has partial responsibility for maintaining 
order in the north, where it was deployed to protect civilian IDPs from 
rebel attacks. The Internal Security Organization (ISO), under the 
direct authority of the President, is a domestic intelligence-gathering 
body. ISO personnel occasionally detained civilians. The External 
Security Organization, which also reports to the President, also 
gathers intelligence and occasionally detained civilians. The CMI, 
under UPDF control, detained civilians suspected of rebel and terrorist 
activity. LDUs reinforced government efforts to protect civilians from 
LRA attacks. In some cases LDUs also participated in offensive military 
operations and carried out police functions.
    Security forces continued to be constrained by limited resources, 
including low pay and lack of vehicles, equipment, and training. 
Security forces committed numerous abuses, and impunity was a problem. 
Police officials faced charges of bribery during the year; the police 
commissioner for human resources reported that 49 members of the police 
force were discharged or dismissed for accepting bribes. In conjunction 
with the UHRC and international organizations such as the ICRC and the 
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR), the UPDF 
and the police continued a training program to educate military 
officers on internationally recognized human rights standards. In 
addition the police, UPDF, and the prisons service used human rights 
manuals in their training programs. The UPDF made attempts to improve 
relations between soldiers and civilians. The Police Human Rights Desk 
investigated police abuses during the year and reported the following 
complaints: mismanagement of case papers (205); torture and harassment 
(46); unlawful arrest and detention (34); abuse of office (30); 
irregular or discreditable conduct (30); corrupt practices (20); 
indulging in civil matters (8); and sexual harassment (3). Of these, 
176 were investigated during the year.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires search warrants be issued 
by judges or prosecutors before arrests are made; however, in practice 
suspects often were taken into custody without warrants. Despite a 
provision that suspects must be charged within 48 hours of arrest, many 
persons were detained longer without being charged. Suspects must be 
brought to trial or released on bail within 120 days (360 days for a 
capital offense); however, if the case is presented to the court before 
the expiration of this period, there is no limit on pretrial detention. 
Detainees must be informed immediately of the reasons for their 
detention, although authorities did not always enforce these procedural 
protections in practice. The law provides for bail at the discretion of 
the judge but was not generally provided in practice.
    Suspects must have access to a lawyer; however, there was no 
provision ensuring family visitation. By law, indigent suspects are 
provided a lawyer; however, this was not enforced in practice due to 
resource constraints of the Government. Incommunicado detention was a 
problem during the year.
    The Antiterrorism Act permits suspects to be held for more than 48 
hours without charge and states that persons convicted of terrorist 
acts that ``directly result in the death of any person'' shall be 
sentenced to death. In 2005 the UPDF general Court martial charged FDC 
opposition leader Kizza Besigye and 22 other FDC members with terrorism 
and possession of illegal arms under suspicion that they were members 
of the PRA. The 23 suspects were simultaneously facing similar charges 
of treason in the High Court. Besigye and five codefendants filed a 
petition with the Constitutional Court claiming the court martial was 
unconstitutional for subjecting suspects to criminal proceedings in two 
courts on similar charges. The petition also claimed that the court 
martial exceeded its powers by charging the suspects, since the court 
martial is a subordinate court to the High Court. On January 31, the 
Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the accused on the first claim 
but did not answer the second claim. The accused later filed an appeal 
with the Supreme Court to clarify a ruling on the outstanding issue of 
court powers. By year's end, the Supreme Court had not ruled on the 
appeal.
    On February 14, the court martial dropped the charges against 
Besigye; however, it defied the Constitutional Court's ruling and 
proceeded with hearings in the case against the remaining 22 suspects. 
On June 2, the court martial dropped the terrorism charges against all 
the suspects; however, the charges of unlawful possession of firearms 
were preserved. The suspects appeared in court on July 10 and remained 
in jail at year's end.
    Security forces arbitrarily arrested political activists during the 
year. On February 21, the police force's Criminal Investigations 
Department (CID) in Kampala briefly detained Yusuf Nsibambi, one of 
Besigye's lawyers, for allegedly inciting violence. On February 10, 
while addressing a press conference at FDC offices in Kampala, Nsibambi 
was reported to have told FDC supporters to ignore police summons and 
to resist arrest. He was released the same day.
    On March 16, security forces in Mbarara arrested and detained 
Private Alan Barigye, a UPDF soldier, on charges of desertion; on March 
15, Barigye signed an affidavit in defense of Besigye's Presidential 
election petition. Barigye remained in CMI custody at year's end.
    Police arrested journalists during the year (see Section 2.a.).
    On January 9, police in Kampala released Muwanga Kivumbi, the 
national coordinator of Popular Resistance Against Life Presidency, on 
bail after he was interrogated for seditious remarks he made at an 
opposition Democratic Party rally in Soroti in December 2005. Kivumbi 
was alleged to have called President Museveni a liar and a conman. The 
case was pending at year's end.
    On February 4, Joseph Agupio, a former Arua District mobilizer for 
Kizza Besigye's campaign, was released after being detained since 
February 2005.
    Otim Orach, who UPDF soldiers in Gulu District arrested in March 
2005, remained missing at year's end (see Section 1.b.).
    On January 3, the court acquitted Members of Parliament (MPs) 
Ronald Reagan Okumu and Michael Ocula, as well as Stephen Otim, for the 
2002 killing of Alfred Bongomin, a former local government chairman of 
Pabbo subcounty in Gulu District; the three were arrested in March and 
April 2005.
    On August 25, Christopher Turyarugayo, who was arrested in March 
2005 for wearing an opposition T-shirt, appeared in court. In April 
2005 Turyarugayo was accused of being a member of the PRA, charged with 
treason, and later released on bail. There were no further developments 
in the case by year's end.
    On March 7, the High Court acquitted FDC opposition leader Kizza 
Besigye of a rape charge originating in 1997. On March 20, the 
Government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the High 
Court's decision. The appeal was pending at year's end.
    Mass arrests during police sweeps for criminals remained a problem. 
On July 19, police in Mubende District arrested 110 suspected criminals 
following complaints by residents in the area. On August 6, in two 
separate operations, police in Iganga District arrested 142 persons 
suspected of robbery and prostitution.
    Prisons authorities reported that no detainees remained in prison 
from 2005 mass arrests by year's end.
    During the year the UHRC received 144 complaints from persons 
claiming to have been arbitrarily arrested. The UHRC tribunal confirmed 
that 25 of the complaints were cases of arbitrary arrest and awarded 
compensation; the Government made no disbursements during the year.
    There were reports of political detainees, and the Government 
continued to arrest persons for treason. The FDC claimed that 
approximately 29 supporters were arrested during the year for political 
reasons. In 2005 the ICRC registered approximately 200 detainees held 
for offenses against the security of the state. The Government 
permitted access to political detainees by international humanitarian 
organizations.
    The Government continued to make arrests based on treason charges. 
Treason suspects were subjected to numerous abuses, such as detention 
without charge, detention in unregistered and unofficial locations, and 
mistreatment, including torture (see Section 1.c.). The Prison Service 
held 38 pretrial treason suspects and five prisoners convicted of 
treason during the year.
    On March 20, a court in Kampala released Emmanuel Turyahikayo, a 
treason suspect, on bail; Turyahikayo was arrested in March 2005.
    On May 24, a court in Kampala charged Azia Turigye, Hassan Isigoma, 
and Bashir Mustafa with treason and remanded them to Luzira Prison. The 
prosecution alleged that the suspects plotted to overthrow the 
Government in Bugiri, Mbarara, Bundibugyo, Kasese, and Mbrarara 
districts by providing intelligence information to ADF rebels since 
January 2004.
    On June 22, a court in Kampala released Patrick Ssentongo, a 
treason suspect, on bail after he was detained for three weeks.
    On January 2, opposition leader Kizza Besigye was released on bail; 
the other 22 suspects arrested with Besigye in 2004 remained in jail. 
In November 2005 authorities charged Besigye and the 22 others with 
treason as members of the PRA. The High Court granted bail to 15 of the 
accused, including Besigye, but the military forced all of them to 
remain in prison. On February 15, the High Court ordered that the 
remaining PRA suspects should be released on bail, as the bail granted 
in November 2005 was still valid. However, prison authorities re-
arrested the suspects in defiance of the High Court. In 2005 the 
Attorney General filed a petition with the Constitutional Court 
challenging the decision to grant bail for Besigye. On September 25, 
the Constitutional Court ruled that the courts of judicature have 
discretion to grant or not to grant bail, upholding Besigye's release.
    On April 4, the treason trial of the suspects, including Besigye, 
began. On May 18, the trial was halted following a May 15 petition 
filed by defense lawyers challenging the constitutionality of the 
continued detention of the 22 PRA suspects after they had been granted 
bail. On October 17, the Constitutional Court ruled that former rebels 
were free to testify against the defendants in the case.
    On June 1, authorities released Patrick Ochola, Johnson Otim, and 
Sula Serumbi; the three, who were arrested in 2004 for allegedly 
plotting to overthrow the Government, were members of the unregistered 
political party Citizen Multiparty Democracy.
    In August 2005 the High Court granted bail to 12 persons charged 
with treason for collaborating with the PRA. The suspects had been 
detained since 2003. There were no further developments in the case.
    Legal and human rights groups criticized the excessive length of 
detention prior to trial, which in many cases amounted to several 
years; such lengthy pretrial detentions both violated the 
constitutional rights of the detainees and contributed substantially to 
prison overcrowding (see Section 1.c.). The average time in pretrial 
detention was between two and three years, but could be as long as 
seven years. The Prisons Service reported that out of 19,317 inmates 
being held during the year, 10,933 were pretrial detainees. The UHRC 
heard several cases brought by prisoners challenging the length of 
their detention.
    Human rights groups reported that civilians were detained in 
military barracks and unregistered detention facilities known as safe 
houses. There were credible allegations that the CMI ordered detainees 
held incommunicado at police stations or in so-called safe houses.
    During the year NGOs reported allegations of unlawful detentions by 
the VCCU. A June article in the Red Pepper tabloid stated that five men 
detained at VCCU headquarters since their July 2005 arrest sued the 
inspector general of police for unlawful arrest. The Attorney General's 
office stated that they had no record of the case.

    Amnesty.--The Government has offered a blanket amnesty to former 
combatants for treason charges since 2000 as a means to induce 
defection and surrender of LRA rebels and members of other rebel 
groups. In July the Amnesty Commission reported that 21,435 persons 
benefited from the amnesty law since its implementation in 2000. Of 
this number, 11,981 were from the LRA, 4,265 from the West Nile Bank 
Front, 3,111 from the Uganda National Rescue Front-II, 1,795 from the 
ADF, and 766 from other rebel groups.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice; however, the President has extensive legal 
powers of judicial appointment. The President appoints Supreme Court, 
High Court, and Court of Appeal judges with the approval of parliament. 
The President also nominates, for the approval of parliament, members 
of the Judicial Service Commission, who make recommendations on 
appointments to the judiciary. The judiciary ruled against the 
Government on several high-profile cases during the year; however, 
judicial corruption was a common problem. The lower courts remained 
understaffed, weak, and inefficient.
    The highest court is the Supreme Court, followed by the Court of 
Appeal, which also functions as the Constitutional Court; the High 
Court; the Chief Magistrate's Court; Local Council (LC) Subcounty 
Courts, LC parish courts; and LC village courts.
    The Constitutional Court ruled against the Government on several 
cases during the year, including a February 17 decision that dismissed 
a petition filed by the Attorney General to annul Kizza Besigye's 
Presidential candidacy in the February 23 elections.
    The LC Courts have the authority to settle civil disputes, 
including land ownership and debt cases, and criminal cases involving 
children. These courts, often the only ones available to villagers, 
reportedly exceeded their authority by hearing criminal cases not 
involving children. LC Court decisions can be appealed to Magistrate's 
Courts; however, there often were no records made at the village level, 
and some defendants were not aware of their right to appeal.
    On June 6, parliament passed the Local Council Courts Act 2006 to 
expand the administration of justice at the local level; to define the 
jurisdiction, powers, and procedure of the established courts; and to 
provide for other related matters.

    Trial Procedures.--An inadequate system of judicial administration 
and a lack of resources resulted in a serious backlog of cases and 
limited the right to a fair trial. All nonmilitary trials are public, 
but without juries. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney in a timely manner. The law requires that the 
Government provide an attorney for indigent defendants accused of 
capital offenses, but there rarely was enough money to retain adequate 
counsel. By law defendants can confront or question witnesses against 
them and present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants and 
their attorneys have limited access to government-held evidence 
relevant to their cases. There is a presumption of innocence, and 
defendants have the right of appeal.
    Specialized courts also exist. The Industrial Court adjudicates 
labor disputes. Commercial Courts resolve commercial disputes; they 
have significantly improved commercial justice and reduced case 
backlogs.
    The military court system often did not assure the right to a fair 
trial. Although the accused has the right to legal counsel, some 
military defense attorneys were untrained and could be assigned by the 
military command, which also appoints the prosecutor and the 
adjudicating officer. The law establishes a court martial appeals 
process; however, a sentence passed by a military court, including the 
death penalty, could be appealed only to the senior leadership of the 
UPDF. Under circumstances deemed exigent, a field court martial could 
be convened at the scene of the crime. The law does not permit appeal 
of a conviction under a field court martial. The military general court 
martial can try civilians charged with crimes listed under the UPDF 
Act.
    On August 31, Brigadier Henry Tumukunde, the former director of the 
ISO, was released from military detention but restricted to his home 
for violating army rules and regulations; in 2005 Tumukunde said he 
would not join President Museveni's political party after retirement 
and he claimed that he had been prevented from retiring from the army. 
The case was on going at year's end.
    The VCCU arrested 679 suspects on various counts during the year, 
including aggravated robbery, killing, illegal possession of firearms, 
and desertion. The VCCU referred 139 civilian suspects found in 
possession of military property to military courts for trial. In 
addition the unit referred 310 suspects to civil courts and released 
230 persons after investigations exonerated them.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of political 
prisoners and detainees during the year.
    Bright Gabula Africa, whose death sentence for treason was upheld 
by the Supreme Court in 1995, remained imprisoned pending the outcome 
of his appeal to the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, a 
largely autonomous constitutional body. Gabula Africa was visited by 
international humanitarian groups during the year.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. In the case of a human rights 
violation, there is access to the UHRC, which has the powers of a court 
under the constitution. These powers include the authority to order the 
release of detainees, payment of compensation to victims, and other 
legal remedies.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions. At times the 
police did not obtain search warrants, as required by law, to enter 
private homes and offices. There were no developments in the July 2005 
case of the illegal search and seizure of the home of Juliet Mukasa, a 
women's rights activist and chairperson of the NGO Sexual Minorities In 
Uganda, by local government officials.
    The Antiterrorism Act authorizes certain law enforcement officials 
to intercept communication to detect and prevent terrorist activities. 
There were reports of such interceptions during the year.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government punished family members of suspected criminals and political 
opposition members.

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Human rights groups reported that there was marked improvement in the 
UPDF's respect for human rights and its prosecution of violators of 
human rights during the year; however, serious problems remained, 
particularly in the LDUs. Security forces tortured and killed civilians 
suspected of collaborating with the LRA and raped women and girls.
    Security forces sometimes changed engagement tactics to reduce the 
numbers of civilian casualties incurred during operations in the 
northern and eastern parts of the country; however, security forces 
killed and injured numerous civilians, including noncombatant children 
during the year.
    On June 1, UPDF soldiers in Gulu District killed two civilians at 
Pabwo parish in Bungatira subcounty. A suspect was arrested and was 
being tried by the fourth division Court martial at year's end.
    On August 16, a UPDF patrol unit in Kitgum District killed Samuel 
Odida Opira, the LC one chairman of Paibwor East Ward, in Labuje IDP 
camp. The August 18 New Vision newspaper quoted Lieutenant Chris 
Magezi, the UPDF's spokesperson for operations in the north, as saying 
that Opira was killed when he failed to identify himself to patrolling 
forces. No further information was available at year's end.
    On May 21, eight members of the Amuka LDU militia in Lira District 
killed 12 civilians and injured 28 others in the Ogwete IDP camp. The 
UPDF initially said the civilians were killed during an exchange with 
LRA rebels and that the militia was trying to protect the camp; 
however, in June the fourth division court martial sentenced five of 
the militiamen to four years in prison and dismissed them from service. 
Sergeant Benson Opio, the LDU detachment commander, was sentenced to 
one year imprisonment. One of the militia members was killed evading 
arrest, and the whereabouts of the remaining suspect were unknown at 
year's end.
    Security forces mistakenly killed civilians believed to be LRA 
rebels during the year. On January 14, a UPDF patrol unit in Gulu 
District mistakenly killed three hunters in Lakwatomer, Omoro County; 
the unit claimed it had mistaken the hunters for LRA rebels. In January 
UPDF soldiers in Lira District killed Samuel Abor and Charles Odong, 
residents of Aromo IDP camp, after they mistook them for LRA rebels.
    The suspects in the April 2005 killings of two female residents of 
Pajule IDP camp were being tried by the fifth division Court martial at 
year's end.
    During the year the suspects in the April 2005 killings of five 
female IDPs in Kitgum District were convicted of murder, dismissed with 
disgrace from the army, and were serving their sentences at year's end.
    The UPDF continued to search for the UPDF soldier who killed Ben 
Oketta and his wife Donica Ajok as they worked in their garden at Olwal 
IDP camp in August 2005. The soldier has been at large since the 
incident.
    There were no developments in the February 2005 torture of a farmer 
by UPDF soldiers, who caned the farmer and pulled on his testicles with 
a rope; the farmer was suspected of collaborating with the LRA.
    Security forces were implicated in reports of rape and sexual 
violence against women and girls. In some instances, perpetrators were 
arrested after victims complained. However, most incidents went 
unpunished. Human rights groups reported that many cases were not filed 
due to victims' fear of repercussion, social stigma in their 
communities, and distrust of the legal process.
    The four LDU soldiers arrested and charged for the March 2005 rape 
of four women in an IDP camp in Kitgum District were serving their 
sentence at year's end.
    There were no developments in the May 2005 rape of two girls by 
four UPDF soldiers in Kumi District.
    On April 5, the High Court in Arua awarded approximately $44,000 
(82 million shillings) to two Acholi girls who were raped by UPDF 
soldiers at Awere IDP camp in 2002.
    On February 2, the army released a 2003	05 report on action taken 
against human rights violations by UPDF in the north. The report 
indicated that the army court martial tried and convicted seven 
soldiers for rape.
    On June 16, Voice of America radio quoted Radhika Coomaraswamy, the 
UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, as stating 
that an estimated 5,000 children are serving in the armed forces in 
violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The Government denied 
recruitment of children in the army.
    There were credible reports that security forces and some 
government officials provided material support to armed groups 
operating in the eastern DRC. Militia fighting resulted in the deaths 
of hundreds of civilians in the DRC.
    The UPDF drove the majority of LRA combatants out of the country 
during the year, and the security situation in the north significantly 
improved, allowing thousands of internally-displaced persons to return 
to or near their homes of origin. On August 26, the Government and the 
LRA agreed to a cessation of hostilities under which the LRA agreed to 
assemble at designated points in southern Sudan while peace 
negotiations continued. On December 16, the Government and the rebels 
extended a cessation of hostilities until February 2007. Sporadic LRA 
activity occurred during the early part of the year, including attacks 
on private homes, schools, and IDP camps in which persons were killed, 
injured, raped, or abducted. During the year LRA attacks resulted in 
the deaths of numerous persons, including children, injuries, and the 
destruction of homes and property, but at a significantly lower level 
than in previous years. There were no reported abductions since August.
    On January 7, four civilians were killed and several others injured 
when LRA rebels attacked civilians attending a disco in Nzaipi area in 
Adjumani town, Adjumani District.
    On February 13, six civilians were killed during an attack by 
suspected LRA rebels in Alito subcounty, Apac District.
    On April 5, four hunters were killed by suspected LRA rebels at 
Opijo in Okidi parish in Atiak, Gulu District.
    On April 23, LRA rebels abducted five civilians from Amwa Teduka in 
Adel parish, Apac District.
    On June 27, LRA rebels abducted three people when they raided 
Marindi parish in Adjumani District.
    On August 10, LRA rebels foraging for food abducted two people from 
Ngukedi village in Pader District. The whereabouts of the captives 
remained unknown.
    No legal action was taken against LRA rebels who were responsible 
for numerous killings in 2005 and 2004.
    During the war, the LRA abducted hundreds of civilians for training 
as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults whom the LRA 
forced into virtual slavery as laborers, soldiers, guards, and sex 
slaves (see Section 5).
    On July 24, Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness and 
Refugees and Coordinator of the Arrow Boys militia Musa Ecweru stated 
in the Weekly Message newsletter that more than 2,000 children were 
still missing from Teso region since the LRA's invasion of the area in 
2004.
    The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja region intensified during the 
year; inter-clan cattle raids between Karamojong tribes in the eastern 
subregion increased and the Government's forced disarmament campaign 
continued. Raids by armed Karamojong warriors in Katakwi, Kotido, 
Bukwa, and Kapchorwa districts and the response by the UPDF resulted in 
approximately 1,448 deaths since 2003, including an estimated 459 
during the year according to the Conflict Early Warning and Early 
Response Network (CEWARN). These exchanges caused the deaths of 
warriors, civilians, and security forces, and incidents of abuse 
resulted in the displacement of an estimated 2,425 persons to IDP 
camps. According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), the violence 
impacted food security leaving 500,000 Karamojong displaced as result 
of drought. The Government's mandatory disarmament program for Karamoja 
continued during the year along with negotiations for a Karamojong-led 
solution. The UPDF and the police continued efforts to improve security 
conditions by arresting cattle rustlers and attempting to prevent 
cross-border incursions.
    On May 4, UPDF forces in Nakapiripirit District killed four 
warriors during the ``cordon and search'' operations in the ongoing 
forceful disarmament exercise in the region. The UPDF denied the 
incident, stating that the army did not register any operation in 
Nakapiripirit. Three UPDF soldiers were reportedly killed in the 
exchange.
    Clashes between Karamojong warriors and the UPDF continued to cause 
civilians in the region to remain in and seek out IDP camps (see 
Section 2.d.). Unlike in previous years, the Karamojong IDPs received 
assistance from the Government and aid agencies including the WFP; 
however, international humanitarian organizations and human rights 
groups reported that the standard of living for these IDPs worsened 
during the year.
    Ethnic Karamojong warriors killed civilians and security forces 
during the year. On January 16, suspected Bakora Karamojong warriors in 
Nakapiripirit District killed five herdsmen and stole more than 600 
cattle and 70 goats in two raids in the district. There were no 
developments in the case at year's end.
    On March 11, ethnic Pokot warriors from Kenya killed 20 persons 
including six UPDF soldiers during a cross-border raid. The suspects 
escaped back across the Uganda-Kenya border. The Government was in 
negotiations with the Government of Kenya to pursue the suspects at 
year's end.
    On May 19, Karamojong warriors in Nakapiripirit District killed 
three UPDF soldiers and injured six people during an ambush on a 
military vehicle. There were no developments in the case at year's end.
    On July 21, suspected Karamojong warriors killed three civilians in 
Lira District. There were no developments in the case at year's end.
    There were no developments in the 2005 cases of ethnic Pokot 
warriors' killing of civilians and police officers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at 
times restricted these rights. In addition the law criminalizes 
offenses committed by the media and limited the media's ability to 
function effectively. The Government at times harassed and intimidated 
journalists. Journalists continued to practice self-censorship.
    At times the Government attempted to impede criticism through 
detention and interrogation of politicians who made public comments 
critical of the Government. For example, on January 3, police in 
Rukungiri interrogated Ingrid Turinawe, the FDC's secretary for women's 
affairs, about remarks she made against the Government on the local 
radio in November 2005.
    On January 5, Ken Lukyamuzi, President of the Conservative Party, 
was interrogated at CID for allegedly stating in December 2005 that 
there would be war if President Museveni was re-elected.
    On February 14, police in Kampala interrogated Reagan Okumu, MP for 
Aswa County in Gulu District, for stating that President Museveni 
wanted to sell land belonging to the Acholi people.
    In February 2004 the Uganda Law Council upheld the regulation 
prohibiting lawyers from making public statements on legal matters that 
were before the court; however, the ban continued to be widely 
disregarded without penalty.
    The independent media were generally active and expressed a wide 
variety of views. There were many privately owned publications and 
broadcasts. The Daily Monitor, the country's largest independent daily 
newspaper, consistently criticized the Government. The Weekly Observer, 
an independent journal, continued to publish critical pieces despite 
the Government's pursuit of a case against an Observer editor and 
reporter. The East African, a Kenya-based weekly publication that 
provided extensive reporting on the country, continued to circulate 
without government hindrance.
    The international media faced new accreditation regulations for 
foreign journalists, including vetting by the newly-established 
government Media Center; a new regulation restricting in-country travel 
by international journalists was rescinded soon after it was 
promulgated. NGOs and opposition figures claimed the regulations still 
in place delayed the process of accreditation for foreign journalists.
    The New Vision, a government-owned daily newspaper, sometimes 
included reporting that was critical of the Government.
    The Government continued to operate the only public radio and 
television stations whose reporting was not considered to be 
independent. Government-controlled media provided more coverage of 
President Museveni's reelection campaign than his opponents'. The 
Uganda Journalist Safety Committee reported that during the week of 
February 9	15, in the run-up to the elections, electronic media devoted 
43 percent of overall election coverage to President Museveni versus 
six percent to opposition candidate Kizza Besigye.
    Independent radio stations that hosted opposition political 
candidates on talk shows in which critical statements were made against 
the Government or the military were sometimes subject to government 
interference. On March 13, the Government's Broadcasting Council shut 
down Choice FM radio station in Gulu, accusing the station of 
``violating minimum broadcasting standards,'' citing a section of the 
Electronic Media Act that bars programs ``likely to cause public 
insecurity or violence.'' On March 14, Choice FM issued a press release 
alleging acts of intimidation by the police and the UPDF prior to the 
station's closure. The Broadcasting Council ordered Choice FM to pay a 
fine, and the station was reopened on July 28.
    In November 2004 Minister of Information James Nsaba Buturo 
instructed the Broadcasting Council to revoke the licenses of those 
stations that ``abuse the President or use offensive language and fail 
to correct the behavior.'' Buturo also announced that no additional 
licenses would be issued for stations seeking to broadcast in Kampala; 
in 2003 the Broadcasting Council proposed regulations that would limit 
the number of FM radio stations, allegedly to prevent overburdening the 
airwaves and adversely affecting the quality of broadcasting. Critics 
charged that the restrictions targeted independent radio, which was the 
primary news source for 80 percent of the population. While the ban on 
new radio stations, which was widely disregarded in practice without 
penalty, was lifted this year for upcountry radio stations, it still 
holds for Kampala.
    Security forces arrested and harassed journalists who criticized 
the Government during year. On February 1, police in Lira District 
arrested four journalists working with Radio Unity for allegedly airing 
programs which discouraged people in the north from attending the 
January 31 campaign rallies in support of President Museveni. The 
journalists were later released without charge.
    On March 9, Canadian freelance journalist Blake Lambert was denied 
re-entry to the country following a visit to South Africa. Lambert's 
international reporting and his domestic radio commentary included 
criticism of the Government; the Government gave no official reason for 
the entry denial.
    On March 13, police in Kampala detained Arinaitwe Rugyendo and 
Nathan Obore of the Red Pepper tabloid for publishing a leaked cabinet 
list. The two were later released without charge.
    On March 20, police raided Open Gate FM in Mbale. They subsequently 
confiscated computers and arrested David Opio and Ongole Manase for 
failure to record a March 18 talk show in which Nathan Mafabi Nandala, 
MP and senior leader of the FDC, made statements critical of the 
Government. The two employees were later released on bail, and the 
computers were returned. There were no further developments at year's 
end.
    On July 13, the Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) received a 
certificate of registration allowing it to operate as a trade union 
after more than a decade of seeking approval by the Ministry of Gender, 
Labor, and Social Development. Registration allows the UJU to advocate 
for the rights of journalists at places of work.
    There were no developments in the September 2005 incident where 
Major General Kahinda Otafiire, then minister of water, lands, and 
environment, pointed a gun at Mike Odongkara, a photojournalist with 
the Daily Monitor.
    The Government restricted media content during the year. On June 8, 
the court martial in Mbarara banned media coverage of a case in which 
Major Noel Niwe Drago, a UPDF officer, allegedly gave classified 
information about the army to the FDC during the February Presidential 
elections. On the same day, Ruth Nabasa, a magistrate in Mbarara, 
banned journalists from taking photographs in the High Court.
    The 2005 ban on media coverage of the trial of opposition leader 
Kizza Besigye continued; however in practice the ban was widely 
disregarded without penalty.
    Media laws require that journalists be licensed and meet certain 
standards, such as possessing a university degree in journalism or the 
equivalent. A 1994 law also provides for a Media Council with the power 
to suspend newspapers and deny journalists access to state information.
    Some journalists noted that government intimidation resulted in 
journalistic self-censorship.
    The Government used libel laws to suppress criticism of political 
leaders. On January 24, the Magistrate's Court in Kampala charged 
Winnie Byanyima, wife of the leader of the FDC, and Jack Sabiiti, FDC 
national treasurer, with libel and providing false information; 
Byanyima and Sabiiti had alleged in December 2005 that the Government 
paid Deputy Chief Justice Latecia Kikonyongo and Justice of the High 
Court Remmy Kasule approximately $162,150 (300 million shillings) to 
keep Besigye in prison. The libel trial began on February 14 and was 
ongoing at year's end.
    During the year the Government arrested critical journalists and 
banned newspaper content, citing national security. For example, on 
March 3, police in Gulu arrested Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, a journalist 
with Choice FM Radio, after the station broadcast a program on February 
28 that the Government deemed seditious and a threat to security. The 
journalist was later released.
    On June 23, police in Kampala interrogated Joachim Buwembo, a 
journalist with the Daily Monitor, for promoting sectarianism.
    On December 8, the Daily Monitor newspaper was served with an order 
filed by Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya and signed by the High Court 
registrar, to refrain from publishing a series of articles chronicling 
the history of the country's security services; the High Court 
temporarily permitted the paper to resume the series, allowing the 
publication of only unclassified material, until the case is heard. The 
case was ongoing at year's end.
    In August 2005 President Museveni threatened to arrest journalists 
that irresponsibly disregarded national security interests in the 
course of their reporting and close any press organization that 
threatened the country's national security. The Minister of State for 
Information, James Buturo, told journalists that even when facts were 
true, their reporting must be informed by an imperative to preserve 
national interests.
    In June 2005 the Daily Monitor's then-political editor Andrew 
Mwenda was questioned by police in connection with an article alleging 
that President Museveni had not protested comments made in his presence 
criticizing members of the Bairu ethnic group. Police said the article 
could ``create ethnic discontent,'' but did not bring further charges 
against Mwenda at that time. In August 2005, the Broadcasting Council 
closed KFM radio station on grounds that it breached a national 
security provision in the electronic media law after Mwenda, who was 
also a KFM talk show host, made comments critical of the Government and 
the President's handling of the helicopter crash that killed Sudanese 
Vice President John Garang. Mwenda was subsequently arrested and jailed 
for several days before being released on bail. The council later 
reopened the station but ordered that the producer of Mwenda's talk 
show, Angelo Izama, be fired. Mwenda later left the country and Izama 
took over as one of the hosts of the show. Mwenda was charged in the 
Magistrate's Court on 15 counts of sedition and promoting sectarianism, 
the latter referring to the 2005 Daily Monitor article. Mwenda's 
lawyers applied for a stay of execution in order to file a petition in 
the Constitutional Court, declaring that the two laws that were the 
basis for the charges were unconstitutional. While still abroad, Mwenda 
continued to await trial at year's end.
    At year's end the December 2005 government suit against the chief 
editor and a staff reporter of the independent Weekly Observer 
newspaper for publishing material of a sectarian nature was on hold 
pending the outcome of a petition entered in the Constitutional Court 
in the Mwenda case. A December 2005 article reported that FDC party 
members believed that President Museveni and a small group of army 
generals from the President's Bahima ethnic group had conspired to keep 
opposition leader Kizza Besigye in jail.
    An out of court settlement was reached in the 2005 case against the 
Weekly Observer editor and two journalists. The UPDF had sought an 
injunction against the publication of information about the existence 
of ``ghost soldiers'' in the army because it was deemed prejudicial to 
the security of the state; it was agreed that no additional stories 
would be published.

    Internet Freedom.--Individuals and groups could generally engage in 
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by 
electronic mail; however, at times the Government restricted access. On 
February 13, the Government directed Uganda Telecom to block access to 
radiokatwe.com, a website that published antigovernment gossip. NGOS 
and opposition figures alleged that the move reflected a crackdown on 
Internet freedom.
    Access to the Internet increased during the year. However, access 
for the majority of the population remained constrained due to high 
costs of equipment and subscriber fees and a lack of user education. 
Approximately 5 percent of the population used it monthly and 56 of the 
country's 80 districts were equipped with Internet capabilities after a 
public-private partnership began in September 2005.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom; however, the Government censored 
cultural events during the year.
    In May the Media Council halted a screening of a documentary about 
the play ``Vagina Monologues,'' which the Media Council banned in 
February 2005 on the grounds that it promoted ``unnatural sex acts, 
homosexuality, and prostitution.'' The cabinet also endorsed the ban 
the next day.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law restricts freedom of assembly for unregistered 
political groups and parties. For groups legally authorized to operate, 
permits were not required for public meetings; however, groups were 
required to notify the police prior to such gatherings. Police denied 
permission to hold public rallies and forcibly dispersed demonstrations 
during the year. Police attempts to prevent mob lynchings resulted in 
deaths. For example, on July 4, police in Luwero District killed a 
resident and injured several others while they were dispersing a mob 
that raided Wobulenzi police post in an effort to lynch a murder 
suspect. No arrests were made by year's end.
    On August 7, Benson Atwai, special police constable in Apac 
District, killed Jimmy Opio while attempting to disperse a crowd that 
tried to lynch a man accused of witchcraft. No arrests were made by 
year's end.
    Police forcibly dispersed student demonstrators during the year. 
For example, on November 7, police in Kampala arrested 45 students 
during a Makerere University lecturers' strike, which began on November 
4. On November 8, the students were charged with taking part in an 
illegal riot; all were released on bail on November 10. The case was 
ongoing at year's end (see Section 6.b.). On July 25, police in Pader 
District shot and injured three students of Pajule Technical College 
when they tried to disperse a student demonstration. There were no 
reports of an investigation by year's end.
    No action was taken against police responsible for injuring 
protestors during forcible dispersions of demonstrators in 2005. Trials 
were pending at year's end for demonstrators charged with illegal 
assembly in March, June, and November 2005.
    The November 2005 ban on demonstrations related to Besigye's trial 
remained in effect.
    In July 2005 the court dismissed the case against 17 activists from 
the Popular Resistance to a Life Presidency for attempting to hold an 
illegal assembly in Kyotera, Masaka District.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association and, unlike in the previous year, the Government generally 
respected these rights.
    On April 7, parliament passed the NGO Registration (Amendment) Act. 
The law requires NGOs, including religious organizations, to renew 
their registration permits annually unless they are registered under 
the Trustees Incorporation Act or the Companies Act. NGOs raised 
concerns that the new law would impede their ability to operate 
effectively.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice with some minor restrictions. The law requires religious 
groups and foreign missionaries to register with the Government; 
failure to register is a criminal offense.
    Bans against nighttime prayer meetings by evangelical churches, 
reportedly for security and noise abatement reasons, were still in 
effect in residential areas of several districts during the year.
    On August 1, the Supreme Court in Kampala dismissed an appeal filed 
in March 2005 by members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church seeking a 
ban on weekend classes at Makerere University. The seven-man panel held 
that the university's policy was ``rational, fair, and proportional.''
    During the year there were no reports of violence by the Government 
or its agents against religious groups, leaders, or individual members.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that local 
government took any new actions to restrict operation of religious 
organizations for reasons of security. National government policy did 
not include restrictions.
    The Government continued to refuse registration to the World Last 
Message Warning Church due to continuing suspicions arising from the 
killings of more than 1,000 citizens in Kanungu in 2000. There were 
some reports that the Government refused to grant registration to other 
self-proclaimed religious groups on the grounds that the groups were 
not legitimate religious organizations. Several religious groups that 
were shut down by police as suspected ``cults'' in previous years 
remained inactive at year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of religiously-
motivated arrests.
    On February 25, the six suspects charged with the March 2004 
killings of two missionaries escaped from prison and fled.
    The two Muslim religious leaders and five other suspects arrested 
on treason charges in 2004 were convicted of treason and serving their 
prison sentenced at year's end.
    Muslims occupied positions of authority in local and central 
government; however, some Muslim leaders claimed that the number of 
positions did not reflect their percentage of the population. President 
Museveni appointed six Muslim ministers to his cabinet during the year, 
in comparison to three in 2005.
    No action was taken against LRA rebels responsible for killing, 
injuring, and abducting religious workers in 2004.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were generally amicable 
relations between religions in society during the year. However, there 
were reports of evangelical Christian groups who accused each other of 
practicing witchcraft.
    The Jewish community represents less than 1 percent of the 
population. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government at times limited them in 
practice. A married woman must obtain her husband's written permission 
on her passport application if children are to be listed on her 
passport. There were reports that government agents blocked the travel 
of opposition party members. On April 22, police in Kampala stopped 
Kizza Besigye from visiting Owino Market in Kampala, citing security 
concerns. Besigye was required to seek court authorization to travel 
abroad while facing treason charges.
    There was no information on whether the law permits or prohibits 
forced exile. However, the Government did not use forced exile during 
the year.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Continued attacks by the LRA 
and Karamojong warriors caused many ethnic Acholis and Iteso to leave 
their homes for urban centers, IDP camps, and villages guarded by the 
UPDF and LDUs (see Section 1.g.). According to the UN Office of the 
Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, there were more than 1.5 million 
registered IDPs as a result of this violence. At year's end the number 
of IDPs per affected district in the north was: Amuru, 368,238; Gulu, 
320,232; Kitgum, 305,525; Pader, 415,164; Lira, 184,374; and Apac/Oyam, 
128,190. During the year, an estimated 2,425 Karamojong were displaced 
as a result of the UPDF/Karamojong clashes related to forced 
disarmament. According WFP, another 500,000 Karamojong have been 
displaced due to drought.
    UPDF soldiers reportedly raped women and girls, and security forces 
detained and mistreated suspected LRA collaborators in the camps (see 
Section 1.g). In November the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 
reported incidents of inhuman and degrading treatment during the on-
going forced disarmament exercise in Karamoja, including rape of the 
Karamojong by the UPDF.
    The Government had not clearly articulated a position on the 
movement of IDPs by year's end; however, in practice IDP movement was 
restricted. In previous years security forces severely restricted 
freedom of movement for IDPs and imposed nighttime curfews on many 
camps. Spokespersons for the Government have stated the Government's 
commitment to protecting freedom of movement and relaxed some past 
restrictions on the movement of IDPs as the security situation in the 
north improved.
    During the year, the LRA killed and injured persons during attacks 
on IDP camps (see Section 1.g.). In the north security forces continued 
their policy of maintaining UPDF detachments at IDP camps as a means of 
protecting civilians and denying support to the LRA.
    During the year there were reports of attacks by Karamojong 
warriors on IDPs in Pader and Kitgum districts.
    Although the Government and domestic and international humanitarian 
organizations provided assistance to the estimated 230 IDP camps in the 
north, health and living conditions remained precarious. A June 2 
UNICEF report stated that despite improved security in the north, most 
IDPs, particularly women and children, were deprived of access to 
education, basic health care, safe water, protection, and shelter. 
However, as the security situation in the northern districts improved 
during the year, IDPs increasingly traveled outside the camps to farm, 
hunt, and gather wood and water (see Section 1.g.). During the year the 
Government approved a plan to assist returnees and worked with the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the other international 
organizations to prepare IDPs to return to their home areas. In Lira 
District, IDPs returned to their home areas in large numbers. In other 
northern districts, IDPs said they would return once they had 
guarantees of security from the Government.
    Unlike in previous years, the Karamojong IDPs received assistance 
from the Government and humanitarian agencies including the WFP; 
however, international humanitarian organizations and human rights 
groups reported that the standard of living for these IDPs worsened 
during the year (see Section 1.g.).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the definition of the 1951 
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 
protoColonel On March 23, the parliament passed the Refugee Bill, which 
brings the country into compliance with international law and treaties 
with regard to refugee rights and obligations. On May 24, the President 
assented to the bill. In practice the Government provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. 
Approximately 80 percent of the estimates 215,328 refugees in the 
country were from southern Sudan; there also were refugees from the 
DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and other countries.
    The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may 
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol and 
also provided land for temporary resettlement to citizens from 
neighboring countries.
    The Government generally cooperated with UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. 
There were no reports of refugee abuse or discrimination by government 
authorities. Following the signing of a tripartite agreement among the 
country, Sudan, and UNHCR in March, UNHCR began facilitating small-
scale repatriation of Sudanese refugees to southern Sudan. By December 
more than 5,300 Sudanese had been safely returned to southern Sudan in 
facilitated convoys and another 16,400 had spontaneously returned. The 
Government assisted in returns as required under the tripartite 
agreement and made public statements that refugees would be permitted 
to remain in country if they were not prepared to return at this time.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government; however, the ruling party's domination of the 
Government and some restrictive constitutional and statutory provisions 
limited citizens' effective exercise of this right.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On February 23, the country 
held its first multiparty general elections since President Museveni 
came to power in 1986; a July 2005 national referendum resulted in the 
adoption of a multiparty system of government and the subsequent 
inclusion of opposition parties in elections and government. The 
election generally reflected the will of the people, although serious 
irregularities occurred. Ruling NRM candidate President Museveni was 
declared the winner with 59.26 percent of the vote, giving him a third 
term in office following the passage of a controversial amendment in 
June 2005 to eliminate Presidential term limits. Opposition FDC leader 
Kizza Besigye captured 37.39 percent of the vote, while the remaining 
contestants received less than 2 percent of the vote each, according to 
official figures from the Electoral Commission.
    On March 7, Besigye filed an election petition challenging the 
results of the elections. On April 6, the Supreme Court narrowly 
rejected the petition, ruling that although serious irregularities had 
occurred, they did not substantially affect the outcome of the race. 
The opinion acknowledged that irregularities included 
disenfranchisement of voters, particularly with regard to names missing 
from the voter roll; counting and tallying problems; bribery; 
intimidation; incidents of violence; multiple voting; and ballot 
stuffing in some areas. The international community, including the 
delegation of Commonwealth election observers, generally concurred with 
these findings.
    The police recorded 450 cases of violence during the election 
period. On February 15, Lieutenant Ramadhan Magara, a UPDF soldier, 
killed two persons and injured several others when he fired into a 
crowd gathered to see Besigye during his visit to Buganda Kingdom in 
Mengo. Mangara was arrested and the case was ongoing at year's end.
    Parliamentary contests, which included seats for 11 new districts 
approved by parliament in June 2005, resulted in the election of 309 
members, including 205 from the NRM, 37 from the FDC, nine from the 
Uganda Justice Forum (JEEMA), and 37 independent members.
    More than 100 election challenges were filed following the 
parliamentary elections. Charges included bribery, intimidation, 
incidents of violence, multiple voting, and ballot stuffing. The High 
Court nullified six election results, and special elections for the 
seats in question were scheduled during the year. The courts dismissed 
more than 20 other petitions during the year; the remaining were 
pending before the courts at year's end.
    In October 2005 FDC leader Kizza Besigye returned from self-imposed 
exile and was elected as the party's Presidential candidate. In 
November 2005 police arrested and charged Besigye and 22 other FDC 
members with treason for allegedly organizing the rebel group PRA. The 
23 suspects were also charged with terrorism and possession of illegal 
arms by the UPDF Court martial (see Section 1.d.).
    On July 11, Minister of Local government Kahinda Otafiire warned 
public servants working in local government against openly declaring 
their political affiliations, stating that it would place them at risk 
for being dismissed. He was responding to complaints from opposition 
MPs that FDC members were being discriminated against in employment.
    The ruling NRM regularly held rallies, conducted political 
activities, and in 2003 registered the National Resistance Movement 
Organization, the ruling political party that generally operated 
without restriction. Approximately 33 parties were allowed to function, 
including political parties that existed in 1986, when the NRM assumed 
power.
    Opposition parties were active during the year. On June 19, the 
leading opposition party named a 21-member shadow cabinet. During the 
year the NRM party twice invited the six main political parties to 
discuss multiparty cooperation; the meetings were attended by all the 
invited parties except FDC and JEEMA, which boycotted.
    There were 99 women in the 333-member parliament. There were seven 
female ministers and seven female junior ministers in the President's 
66-member cabinet. Female activists were concerned that the number did 
not meet the required 40 percent female representation in the cabinet. 
One woman served as deputy speaker and another as deputy chief justice 
of the Supreme Court. Women also headed the Inspectorate General of 
government and the CID.
    There were 105 members of minority groups in parliament. The law 
requires elections through electoral colleges for the seats reserved 
for special interest groups in parliament: 80 seats were reserved for 
women; five for organized labor; five for persons with disabilities; 
five for youth; and 10 for the Army, which were selected by the UPDF 
High Command and chaired by President Museveni.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be 
a major problem; however, unlike in the previous year, the Government 
took action to investigate and prosecute offenders. The law requires 
the declaration of wealth by government officials and their family 
members, and the Government enforced the law during the year. The July 
18 auditor's report presented to parliament cited several instances of 
``recklessness, carelessness, wastefulness, and negligence'' on the 
part of public officials in the State House, the Office of the 
President, and the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and 
Health. The State House reportedly failed to account for approximately 
$97,800 (181 million shillings) advanced to several officers for hotel 
accommodation, transportation and travel abroad.
    On July 6, police in Kampala arrested Chris Ongyero, a deputy 
passport officer, and Edith Manyire, an immigration officer, and 
subsequently charged them with abuse of office and irregular conduct. 
The prosecution alleged that the suspects issued passports and visas to 
suspected Congolese rebels and drug traffickers. On August 17, the 
suspects were released on bail, and the case was ongoing at year's end.
    On August 26, President Museveni suspended Justice Richard Oscar 
Okumu Wengi on allegations of gross misconduct, corruption, forgery of 
court documents, impropriety, and bias. The President appointed a 
tribunal of five judges to investigate Wengi's alleged conduct. The 
tribunal had not begun investigations at year's end.
    In an August 30 report for the President, the inspector general of 
government held two ministers responsible for problems with a multi-
billion shilling national identity card procurement. Findings of the 
report showed that Minister for Information and Communication 
Technology Ham Mulira and Minister of State for Regional Cooperation 
Isaac Musumba broke tendering laws. The report recommended that both 
ministers be prosecuted. On February 1, the Government suspended the 
project over alleged corruption in the awarding of the contract. There 
were no further developments by year's end.
    A September Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (US) land probe 
recommended that the Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje and his 
deputy, Sheikh Twaib Mukuye, be dismissed for mismanaging the council's 
affairs. The probe found that Mubajje endorsed US land transfers 
without the knowledge of the executive. The probe also recommended the 
dismissal of Vice Chair of the US Hassan Basajabalaba and US General 
Secretary Idris Kasenene.
    In August 2005 the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and 
Malaria suspended grants worth $201 million (362 billion shillings) to 
the country after an investigation uncovered evidence of serious 
mismanagement of funds. The Government suspended all officers who had 
been managing the funds, and instituted an independent probe commission 
to investigate the incident. The commission started work in September 
2005. In a report released on May 30, the commission stated that high 
level officials were implicated in mismanagement of funds and 
recommended further investigation and prosecution.
    On September 12, two officials of the National Council of Sports 
appeared before CID's Serious Crimes Office and were charged with 
fraud, forgery, and false accountability following the release of the 
commission's report. The suspects, including Assistant Secretary 
General Nicholas Muramagi and Administrative Secretary Timothy Magala, 
allegedly submitted forged applications for two nonregistered sports 
organizations to receive funds for HIV/AIDs awareness programs. 
Approximately $15,700 (29 million shillings) was received by the NGOs, 
but not accounted for. The suspects were released on bail and ordered 
to report to CID on September 18.
    During the year the 2003 court martial of army officials suspected 
of maintaining under-strength units and pocketing salary payments for 
so-called ``ghost soldiers'' continued. Three suspects were acquitted 
for lack of sufficient evidence. On July 5, the court martial acquitted 
Brigadier Stephen Kashaka of charges of causing financial loss, 
obtaining money by false pretense, and abuse of office. On July 28, the 
court acquitted Colonel Mark Kodili, formerly the UPDF's chief of 
personnel and administration, of the same charges. On August 24, the 
court also acquitted Brigadier Henry Tumukunde, but he remained under 
house arrest for violating army rules and regulations (see Section 
1.d.).
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government provided such access in practice. On April 20, the 
Access to Information Act 2005 came into effect. The law provides 
citizens with the right to access information and records of government 
ministries, statutory corporations, and other government agencies. It 
also empowers persons who are denied access to public records to take 
the matter to court.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Non-
        governmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction (see Section 2.b.), 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Government officials generally were receptive to their views. Active, 
independent domestic groups included: FHRI, Human Rights Focus, Human 
Rights Network, Human Rights and Peace Center of Makerere University, 
the International Federation of Human Rights, the Justice and Peace 
Commission, the Uganda Journalist Safety Committee, the Uganda 
Prisoner's Aid Foundation, and the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers. 
Government officials continued to attend conferences and seminars 
hosted by NGOs on social problems and cooperated with NGOs on legal and 
prison reforms.
    In response to the Government's 2003 call for a code of NGO conduct 
to minimize corruption, Minister of State Matia Kasaija launched the 
Quality Assurance Certification Mechanism on September 20, which put in 
place minimum standards for NGO activities including fighting 
corruption.
    The Government allowed visits by the ICRC, UNHCR, and several 
international human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, HRW, 
and the International Justice Mission. During the year the ICRC 
continued its visits to prisons, police stations, and military 
detention facilities. In September 2005 the ICRC signed a new agreement 
with the Government to permit ICRC visits for the next three years.
    On January 12, UNOHCHR signed a cooperation agreement with the 
Government to reinforce the mechanisms for protection of human rights 
in the north. In August officials from the African Union's Commission 
on Human and People's Rights visited the country to investigate 
allegations of human rights abuse.
    A March 16 report prepared by the Control Arms Campaign presented 
to the UN Security Council charged that the country continued to 
systematically violate the UN arms embargo with impunity, fueling human 
rights abuses in the region. A January 2005 report by a UN Security 
Council panel implicated the Government for violating an UN-imposed 
arms embargo in the DRC by funneling weapons, including land mines, and 
military support into the DRC to the Forces Armees du Peuple Congolais, 
an Ituri-based militia group. The Government denied the report's 
claims.
    The law establishes the UHRC as a permanent independent body with 
quasi-judicial powers. The President appoints the UHRC's eight-member 
board. Under the law the UHRC may subpoena information, order the 
release of detainees, and order the payment of compensation for abuses. 
In several cases during the year, the UHRC Tribunal awarded 
compensation to complainants who proved their allegations against the 
Government (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.). The UHRC continued to pursue 
suspected human rights abusers, including high-level officials in the 
Government and military, and had branches countrywide. The UHRC did not 
have adequate resources to investigate all complaints it received.
    During the year the UHRC Complaints and Investigations Department 
in Kampala received 1,141 complaints, of which 246 involved torture. 
The UHRC Tribunal received new 54 cases of alleged abuse; 184 cases, 
including those from previous years, were pending hearing by the 
Tribunal; 25 torture cases were awarded damages, seven cases were 
dismissed; and one case was resolved through mediation.
    Human rights fall under the Parliamentary Committee on Legal and 
Parliamentary Affairs. The committee handles policy related issues, 
bills, and budgets in respect to the UHRC.
    In December 2005 the International Court of Justice issued its 
judgment that the armed activities of the Government in the DRC between 
August 1998 and June 2003 violated the international prohibition 
against aggressive use of force, international human rights, and 
international humanitarian law. The ruling determined that the 
Government should pay reparations to the DRC. The Government had taken 
no action on the court's recommendations by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status; however, the Government did not enforce the 
law in matters of locally or culturally prevalent discrimination 
against women, children, persons with disabilities, or certain ethnic 
groups. Continued instability in the northern region led to violations 
of the rights of some Acholi and Lango, ethnic groups that comprise a 
significant part of the population; LRA rebels, although predominantly 
Acholi themselves, were responsible for the most serious human rights 
violations.

    Women.--Violence against women, including rape and domestic 
violence, remained common. A 2003 Johns Hopkins University study 
indicated that one in three women living in surveyed rural areas 
experienced verbal or physical threats from their partners, and 55 
percent sustained physical injuries as a result of domestic abuse. The 
law prohibits assault, battery, and rape; however, there were no laws 
that specifically protected women from spousal abuse. Many law 
enforcement officials continued to view wife beating as a husband's 
prerogative and rarely intervened in cases of domestic violence. Women 
remained more likely to sue for divorce than to file rape or assault 
charges against their husbands.
    Reports of domestic violence increased during the year. On August 
8, the Gulu police reported that from January to August 450 cases of 
domestic violence were reported compared to 512 total cases reported in 
2005. The Child and Family Protection Unit in Masaka reported that 
since January, 31 cases of domestic violence were reported as compared 
to 58 cases in 2005.
    A 2003 HRW report concluded that married women were particularly 
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection as a result of forced sex in marriage 
by husbands with multiple partners or wives. The HRW report identified 
numerous social and legal obstacles to women's ability to protect 
themselves against HIV/AIDS infection in abusive relationships.
    On May 4, the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention launched a 
public awareness week to sensitize the public on domestic violence 
issues.
    Rape is illegal. Although the Government arrested, prosecuted, and 
convicted persons for rape during the year, there were reports that 
some cases were not investigated. Incidents of rape of IDPs in the 
north by security forces remained a serious problem (see Section 1.g.). 
Women and girls continued to be victims of abduction and rape by rebel 
forces. According to a June 2005 UNICEF study on sexual-and-gender-
based violence at a northern IDP camp, 469 cases were reported to 
police in Gulu District in 2004. The study revealed that the three most 
common forms of gender-based violence were rape, child sexual abuse, 
and physical assault. Teenage girls and young women were the most 
common victims of gender-based violence.
    The law requires that bride prices be nonrefundable gifts to the 
parents of the bride. The constitutional amendments approved by 
parliament did not include a provision to abolish bride prices, despite 
2003 recommendations to do so from civil society groups.
    There was no national law against FGM, which was practiced by the 
Sabiny ethnic group located in rural Kapchorwa District, and the Pokot 
ethnic group along the northeastern border with Kenya. However, since 
January, 16 subcounties of Kapchorwa and Bukwo Districts passed bylaws 
to make the practice of FGM illegal. The Government, women's groups, 
and international organizations continued programs to combat the 
practice through education. These programs, which received some support 
from local leaders, emphasized close cooperation with traditional 
authority figures and peer counseling.
    Prostitution was illegal; however, it was common. There were no 
credible statistics available on the occurrence of prostitution, 
including child prostitution, during the year.
    There were reports of trafficking in women and girls during the 
year (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, but was a common problem, 
and the Government did not effectively enforce the law. On March 28, 
parliament passed the Employment Bill 2005 which sets the basic terms 
and conditions of work, including prohibition of forced labor, 
discrimination, and sexual harassment in employment. On August 17, the 
third division court martial in Soroti District sentenced Hassan 
Abacha, a UPDF Warrant Officer II, to six months in jail and a demotion 
for sexually harassing five foreign female soldiers during an August 
joint military training course.
    Traditional and widespread societal discrimination against women 
continued, especially in rural areas. Many customary laws discriminate 
against women in the areas of adoption, marriage, divorce, and 
inheritance. Under local customary law in many areas, women cannot own 
or inherit property or retain custody of their children. There were 
limits on a married woman's ability to travel abroad with her children 
(see Section 2.d.).
    Traditional divorce law in many areas requires women to meet 
stricter evidentiary standards than men to prove adultery. Polygamy is 
legal under both customary and Islamic law. In some ethnic groups, men 
can ``inherit'' the widows of their deceased brothers. Women did most 
of the agricultural work but owned only 7 percent of the agricultural 
land. A May 2005 World Bank report estimated that 80 percent of all 
unpaid workers were women. Employers in the private sector frequently 
failed to apply the statutory provision that provides women with 
maternity leave.
    There were several active women's rights groups in the country. On 
March 13, Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda, a women's rights 
organization, filed a petition in the Constitutional Court challenging 
the law that imposes limitations on a widow's inheritance of her 
husband's property. On October 17, the Constitutional Court heard the 
petition as well as another on criminal adultery filed by the same 
organization in September 2005. The case was ongoing at year's end.
    On April 4, a report released by the Agency for Accelerated 
Regional Development and Actionaid showed that 87.8 percent of women in 
three subcounties in Nebbi District never attained formal education and 
were not aware of their rights in society.
    A June International Crisis Group report stated that women were 
often excluded from peace agreements and conflict resolution processes, 
and were underrepresented in the security.
    The Government, in conjunction with numerous NGOs, sponsored 
workshops and trainings throughout the country to increase awareness of 
women's rights.

    Children.--The Government demonstrated a commitment to improving 
children's welfare and education received the largest percentage of the 
national budget. However, the Government did not enforce effectively 
the Children's Statute, which outlines broad protections for children, 
due to the large proportion of children in the population (56 percent 
of the population was under the age of 18), staffing and fiscal 
constraints on the judiciary, and cultural norms. The law stipulates 
parents' responsibilities and provides extensive protection for 
children in a wide variety of areas, including financial support, 
foster care placement, adoption, determination of parentage, and 
treatment of children charged with offenses. The law also prohibits 
children from taking part in any activity likely to injure the child's 
health, education, or mental, physical, and moral development; however, 
the Government often did not enforce these prohibitions.
    The Government's Universal Primary Education (UPE) program provided 
free education through the seventh grade; however, education was not 
compulsory. The UPE program made education more accessible financially; 
however, parents still had to pay for school supplies and some school 
costs. The UPE increased funding for education, provided additional 
skills training for teachers, and reduced the student to textbook 
ratio. Strained finances, corruption, instability, infrastructure 
problems, and inadequate teacher training prevented full 
implementation. Teachers were rarely paid on time, and many did not 
show up for work when the Government was late in paying their wages. In 
June the Government requested from parliament an increase in teachers' 
wages from approximately $70 (130,000 shillings) to approximately $108 
(200,000 shillings) per month.
    According to UNICEF, the country's primary school enrollment rate 
was 79 percent for both boys and girls, who theoretically had equal 
access to education in the lower grades; however, the proportion of 
girls in higher grades remained low because families traditionally 
favored boys when making educational decisions. Boys also were more 
likely to finish primary school and performed better on examinations 
for admission into secondary school. The Government continued several 
programs to promote a national plan for the education of girls. On 
October 12, the Government launched Universal Secondary Education.
    The Government provided subsidized health care through a national 
health care program, and boys and girls had equal access. However, 
health clinics did not have adequate resources to provide comprehensive 
treatment.
    Child abuse remained a serious problem, particularly rape and other 
sexual abuse of girls known as ``defilement.'' Defilement applied to 
all cases of sexual contact outside of marriage with girls younger than 
18 years of age, regardless of consent or the age of the perpetrator. 
Defilement carried a maximum sentence of death; however, in practice 
defilement cases often were settled by a payment to the girl's parents. 
The perpetrators of defilement often were family members, neighbors, or 
teachers. A 2005 Save the Children survey of 1,400 children conducted 
during the year found that 46 percent of girls were sexually abused and 
20 percent were raped. Since January police registered 97 cases in 
Kasese, 46 in Kayunga, 42 in Gulu, and 34 in Soroti. On August 28, the 
regional CID officer for the north stated that 989 girls were defiled 
in IDP camps in Lira, Kitgum, Gulu, Apac, and Pader Districts since 
January.
    On March 24, a court in Mukono referred Paddy Katongole, a primary 
school teacher, for trial in the High Court on charges of defiling a 
seven-year old pupil in September 2005. The case was ongoing at year's 
end.
    There were no developments in the 2004 or 2005 cases of defilement 
by primary school teachers.
    There were reports of child abuse. On August 3, a court in Luwero 
District charged Frederick Mbazira, a teacher at Katikamu Seventh Day 
Adventist Secondary School, with causing bodily harm to Beatrice 
Achieng, a student. On July 29, Mbazira beat Achieng into paralysis 
after she and other students failed to complete a geography assignment. 
The case was pending at year's end.
    On August 3, authorities in Arua District closed Mandela 
Comprehensive Secondary School after a group of teachers 
indiscriminately beat students, five of whom were admitted to the 
district main hospital in critical condition. There were no reports of 
action taken against the teachers.
    On August 7, the Ministry of Education banned corporal punishment 
in schools and colleges.
    There were reports of the use of children in ritual sacrifice. On 
August 16, a court in Kampala District charged a traditional doctor and 
a housewife with kidnapping a two-year-old boy with intent to kill him 
for sacrifice. The suspects were remanded to Luzira Prison, and the 
case was ongoing at year's end. On August 8, pupils from schools around 
Kampala petitioned parliament over increased cases of human sacrifice 
and asked the Government to put in place tough laws to curb the crime.
    FGM was performed on girls in the Sabiny and Pokot ethnic groups 
(see Section 5, Women).
    The legal age for marriage is 18 years, but the marriage of young 
girls by parental arrangement was common, particularly in rural areas. 
On July 16, the Kumi District Health Educator reported that 60 percent 
of girls in the district left school between the ages of 12 and 15 
years due to early marriages.
    Child prostitution and trafficking were problems (see Section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The law prohibits service in the military by persons under 18 years 
of age; however, there were reports that individuals under the age of 
18 enlisted in the army and in local militias, sometimes in collusion 
with local officials. On June 16, the UN Special Representative for 
Children and Armed Conflict stated that an estimated 5,000 children 
were serving in the country's armed forces. The UPDF denied that it had 
actively recruited child soldiers, but stated some might have joined 
through deception or oversight.
    There continued to be reports that the UPDF detained some former 
LRA child combatants for long periods, and in some cases may have used 
them in intelligence and reconnaissance missions.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    According to UNICEF the LRA has abducted approximately 12,000 
children since 2002 and continued to abduct children during the year. 
The LRA forced children into virtual slavery as laborers, soldiers, 
guards, and sex slaves. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced 
to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate 
in the killing of other children who attempted to escape. More than 85 
percent of LRA captives were made up of children whom the LRA abducted 
and forced to fight as rebels; most LRA rebels were between the ages of 
11 and 16.
    During the year the UPDF rescued 114 children from LRA captivity. 
The UPDF's Child Protection Unit provided treatment to returned 
abductees upon arrival at military facilities. The unit also escorted 
former abductees to NGO facilities, which provided assistance and 
counseling to the children and their families. The Government also 
worked closely with NGOs in the north to facilitate their assistance 
programs for amnesty seekers and rescued children; however, these 
programs were primarily financed by donors.
    Improved security in the north contributed to significant 
reductions in the number of children known as ``night commuters'' who 
traveled from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers 
to avoid abduction by the LRA. UNICEF reported that as of December 
2,700 commuters sought shelter in Kitgum and Gulu; approximately 35,000 
were regular night commuters in 2005. A June UNICEF study indicated 
that children continued to commute due to reasons other than LRA 
activity, such as endemic poverty and domestic violence. During the 
year the Government cooperated with NGOs to operate shelters for such 
children in tented dormitories and other semi-permanent structures; in 
other cases children slept under balconies or on the grounds of 
schools, churches, and hospitals. Conditions ranged from harsh to 
adequate. There were credible reports that many displaced girls became 
involved in prostitution.
    UNICEF reported in January that two million children have been 
orphaned since the beginning of the war as a result of conflict and 
instability, including population dislocation, and that 940,000 
children nationwide have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The Government 
supported programs to assist children affected by HIV/AIDS and conflict 
in the north.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, the law does prohibit trafficking-
related offenses. There were reports that persons were trafficked to, 
from, and within the country. There were no available statistics on the 
extent of trafficking in persons. The maximum penalty for the 
procurement of women for purposes of prostitution or detention with 
sexual intent is seven years' imprisonment; the maximum penalty for 
trading in slaves is 10 years' imprisonment.
    The national police force is responsible for investigating 
trafficking-related crimes and maintains a Child and Family Protection 
Unit to train local police on women and children's rights. The UPDF is 
responsible for capturing, disarming, or eliminating LRA combatants who 
perpetrate human trafficking crimes in the north.
    Adults and children also were trafficked internally for labor, 
commercial sexual exploitation, and criminal activities.
    Trafficking in persons primarily occurred internally. The LRA 
abducted children to be soldiers, sex slaves, and porters; freelance 
operators, including taxi drivers and hotel/bar operators, conducted 
the commercial sex trafficking. Children also were trafficked to 
Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
    Victims of internal trafficking were subjected to hazardous working 
conditions, and commercial sex victims were subjected to physical abuse 
and the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Victims of 
commercial sex trafficking in urban centers often came from small rural 
villages.
    The Government made arrests of suspected traffickers during the 
year. The penal code specifies penalties for several trafficking-
related offenses, such as forced labor, and there were a number of 
trafficking cases prosecuted under these laws. The Government's 
prosecution of child defilement cases included an undetermined number 
of cases involving trafficked children.
    On December 19, police in Kampala arrested Rauff Razick Mohammed, a 
Pakistani national, who was found holding five Sri Lankan men against 
their will. On December 20, a court in Kampala charged Mohammed and his 
two accomplices with unlawful confinement and demanding money with 
menace. Mohammed pled guilty to trafficking in humans and was issued 
deportation orders.
    On July 20, the Government set up a committee to investigate the 
alleged sale of girls in cattle markets in Katakwi District.
    In July police in Katakwi District arrested suspected human 
traffickers and rescued four girls.
    In July police in Kabale District arrested two Indian nationals and 
their Ugandan accomplices on suspicion of involvement in human 
trafficking at Katuna border post as they attempted to flee the county 
into Rwanda.
    A December police report stated that there were 185 recorded cases 
of child abduction and disappearance since January. Of these, 42 
children were recovered, four were killed in child sacrifice, and 139 
were unaccounted for. The report was based on cases received from the 
majority of districts throughout the country.
    The Government, through the military and civilian agencies, 
continued efforts to combat LRA trafficking in persons. The Government 
began ``Operation Iron Fist'' in 2002 to eradicate the LRA threat and 
has continued to offer amnesty to former rebels, providing resettlement 
packages with educational benefits and vocational training. The 
Government also established protected camps garrisoned by the UPDF and 
LDUs that have helped to prevent abductions (see Sections 1.b. and 
2.d.).
    In March 2005 the Government began participating in a national 
working group to combat anti-trafficking. The working group was 
mandated to support efforts to write a new anti-trafficking law, 
coordinate NGO activities to prevent trafficking, assist victims, and 
oversee an initiative to conduct pilot prosecutions of trafficking-
related crimes. No reported action was taken during the year.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides protection for persons 
with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, or the 
provision of other state services; however, the Government did not 
enforce the law effectively. There was widespread discrimination by 
society, and employers limited job and educational opportunities for 
persons with disabilities. There was no statutory requirement that 
buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities. The law requires 
that children with disabilities be given necessary special facilities; 
however, inadequate funding hampered enforcement of this provision.
    On March 27, the Uganda National Association for the Deaf (UNAD) 
protested the failure by UBC-TV to provide for a sign language 
interpreter during its news bulletins. UNAD stated that the absence of 
interpreters at UBC-TV and other public places such as courts, 
hospitals, and schools was a violation of human rights. According to 
UNAD, deaf persons represent 30 percent of the 2.5 million persons with 
disabilities in the country.
    Five seats in parliament were reserved for representatives of 
persons with disabilities. Government agencies responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities included the 
Ministry of State for Disabled Persons and the Ministry of Gender, 
Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD), but both ministries lacked 
sufficient funding to undertake or support any significant initiatives.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Civil strife in the north and 
east led to the violation of the rights of members of the Acholi, 
Langi, and Iteso ethnic groups, who primarily resided in the districts 
of Apac, Arua, Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Pader, and Soroti. LRA rebels, who 
themselves largely were Acholi, committed abuses against ethnic Acholi 
and other ethnic groups; however, attacks decreased compared to the 
previous year due to operations by the UPDF and the ongoing peace 
negotiations. The LRA was implicated in the killing and kidnapping of 
Acholi and other tribe members (see Section 1.g.). During the year the 
UPDF committed abuses against ethnic Acholi during combat operations 
against the LRA.
    The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja region intensified during the 
year and inter-clan raids by armed Karamojong warriors in Katakwi, 
Kotido, and Kapchorwa Districts in the northeast resulted in 
approximately 459 deaths according to a study conducted by CEWARN. The 
raids reportedly exacerbated ethnic tensions in the northeast (see 
Section 1.g.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced 
widespread discrimination and legal restrictions. It is illegal for 
homosexuals to engage in sexual acts, based on a legal provision that 
criminalizes ``carnal acts against the order of nature'' with a penalty 
of life imprisonment.
    On August 8, the Red Pepper tabloid published a list of 45 first 
names and professions of alleged homosexual men. HRW condemned the 
tabloid's decision to publish the list and called for the Government to 
end harassment and condemnation of homosexuals and sexual rights 
activists. There were unconfirmed reports that arrests were made 
following the publication of the article.
    On August 14, a court in Kampala charged David Kaloke with having 
``carnal sex'' in September 2005 with Michael Mukiibi, a 16-year-old 
student of Kyebando. Kaloke was released on bail and the case was 
pending at year's end.
    In July 2005 parliament amended Article 31 of the constitution to 
prohibit same sex marriage.
    Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to face discrimination among local 
communities and employers. On July 17, the director of the country's 
HRW HIV/AIDS program called for an end to abuses of persons living with 
HIV/AIDS. The NGO cited the example of Vivian Kavuma, who was 
reportedly murdered in June by her lover after she disclosed she was an 
HIV/AIDS patient. No arrests were made in the case by year's end.
    International and local NGOs, in cooperation with the Government, 
sponsored public awareness campaigns that aimed to eliminate the stigma 
of HIV/AIDS. Counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS was free and available 
at health centers and local NGOs across the country. Counselors 
encouraged patients to be tested with their partners and family so that 
they all received information about living with HIV/AIDS. Persons 
living with HIV/AIDS formed support groups to promote awareness in 
their local communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised such rights in practice, with the 
exception of many ``essential'' government employees, including police, 
army, and management-level officials. In March four labor reform bills 
were passed, including the Employment Act, the Occupational Safety and 
Health Bill, the Labor Union Bill, and the Labor Dispute Bill, which 
significantly improved labor laws concerning workers' rights. The Labor 
Unions Act repeals the 1976 Trade Unions Decree which required 51 
percent or more of the work force to support unionization and at least 
1,000 employees to join. The law also bars employers from interfering 
in the worker's rights of association and makes it a criminal offense 
for an employer to obstruct this right. However, the Government 
generally did not enforce this provision in practice. For example, 
employers in the fish industry were not penalized for prohibiting 
workers from unionizing.
    In 2005 union officials estimated that 350,000 workers were 
unionized, representing approximately 5 percent of working age 
citizens. The Government failed to enforce the rights of some employees 
to join unions in newly privatized industries and factories.
    On July 13, the UJU received a certificate of registration allowing 
it to operate as a trade union after more than a decade of seeking 
approval by the MGLSD.
    The new law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers; 
however, there were reports that incidents in the hotel and textile 
sectors went uninvestigated. There were also reports that several 
private companies in the fisheries industry urged workers not to take 
part in unionization efforts during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference and provides 
for collective bargaining; however, the Government did not protect 
these rights in practice. Some employers ignored the legal requirement 
to enter into collective bargaining agreements with registered unions.
    All public service unions, including medical staff and teachers, 
were not allowed to negotiate their salaries and employment terms. The 
Government fixed the terms and conditions for all civil service 
workers. There were also reports that workers at Steel Rolling in Jinja 
were not allowed to negotiate conditions of employment.
    On March 28, parliament passed the Labor Disputes (arbitration and 
settlement) Bill, which provides for the fast resolution of labor 
disputes and elevates the industrial court to the status of the High 
Court.
    The law provides for the right to strike and workers exercised this 
right; however, the Government did not always protect this right. 
Government policy required labor and management to make ``every effort 
to reconcile labor disputes before resorting to strike action.''
    On November 4, a strike against low wages by Makerere University 
lecturers began, resulting in the closure of the university on November 
12. On December 20, the General Assembly of Makerere University 
Academic Staff Association (MUS) voted to end the strike. Wage 
negotiations between MUS and the Government were ongoing at year's end 
(see Section 2.b.).
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Employment Act 
includes provisions prohibiting forced or compulsory labor, including 
by children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred 
(see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
    While the law does not expressly prohibit prison labor, it states 
that such labor becomes forced if the worker is ``hired out to or 
placed at the disposal of a private individual, company or 
association.'' The UHRC reported that forced labor was a serious 
problem in local government prisons during the year (see Section 1.c.). 
Prison officials hired out prisoners to work on private farms and 
construction sites, where the prisoners were often overworked. 
Throughout the country prison officials routinely supplemented their 
meager wages with cash crops grown by prisoners on the prison grounds. 
Male prisoners performed arduous physical labor while female prisoners 
produced marketable handicrafts such as woven basketry. Juvenile 
prisoners performed manual labor, often for 12 hours per day. 
Compensation, when paid, generally was very low. The law states that 
any person found using forced labor will be monetarily fined, 
imprisoned for up to two years, or to both.
    Forced labor by children occurred during the year (see Section 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits employees from hiring workers below the age of 18; 
however, statutory orders issued by the Ministry of Labor permit the 
employment of children under age 14 in ``light work,'' provided it does 
not interfere with the child's education. Children under the age of 12 
are prohibited from being employed in any business or workplace and all 
children are prohibited from being employed between the hours of 7 pm 
and 7 am. Nevertheless, child labor was common, especially in the 
informal sector. Demographics contributed to the problem of child 
labor; more than half of the population was under 18 years of age. Many 
children left school and went into agricultural or domestic work to 
help meet expenses or perform the work of absent or infirm parents, a 
situation common throughout the country (see Section 5). The problem 
was particularly acute among the large orphan population. A joint 
International Labor Organization (ILO) and MGLSD survey, released in 
2005, estimated that approximately 2.7 million children were employed 
as workers.
    In urban areas children sold small items on the street, worked in 
shops, begged for money, and were involved in the commercial sex 
industry (see Section 5). Children were also employed in the tea-
harvesting sector, sugarcane fields, and stone quarries. The MGLSD 
reported new incidents of the worst forms of child labor, including 
children involved in illicit activities such as cross border smuggling.
    The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, a 
lack of resources prevented the Government from enforcing this 
prohibition effectively. There were reports that the UPDF used former 
LRA child soldiers on reconnaissance and intelligence missions (see 
Section 5).
    The LRA often forced abducted children into virtual slavery as 
guards, laborers, soldiers, and sex slaves (see Section 5).
    National level institutions that are responsible for child labor 
and abuse issues include the National Council of Children, the police 
force's Child and Family Protection Unit, the industrial court, and the 
MGLSD; however, financial constraints limited their efforts. In June 
2005 the MGLSD launched the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Policy, 
which extended social services to children working in the worst forms 
of child labor and other target groups. The Government also coordinated 
its efforts to stop child labor through the National Steering Committee 
on Child Labor, which included representatives of the MGLSD, the 
Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Local government, the 
Federation of Uganda Employers, the National Organization of Trade 
Unions, NGOs, journalists, and academics. In 2004 the MGLSD conducted 
1,505 labor inspections, including both initial and follow up visits, 
in 16 districts nationwide. There have been no further inspections 
since that time. District officers cited a lack of logistical and 
financial support as the major impediment to adequately conducting 
inspections.
    The Government organized a number of child labor awareness 
workshops, disseminated printed information, and sponsored radio and 
television discussions to educate the public on child labor issues. The 
Government also cooperated with the ILO, foreign governments, and NGOs 
in several initiatives to combat child labor, including the education 
and reintegration of children into their communities. Several human 
rights NGOs continued programs to remove children from hazardous work 
situations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Employment Act includes 
provisions for district labor inspectors in order to ``secure the 
enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the 
protection of workers while engaged in their work''; however, no 
inspections were carried out during the year due, in part, to financial 
constraints.
    The minimum legal wage was $3.50 (6,000 shillings) per month, a 
rate set in 1984, which did not provide a decent standard of living for 
a worker and family and was not effectively enforced. The Government 
and the private sector negotiated a new rate in 2003; however, no 
minimum wage legislation had been passed by year's end.
    In industries that employed workers on an hourly basis, the normal 
workweek was 40 hours. According to the new law, the legal maximum 
workweek is 48 hours; however, exceptions can be made between the 
employer and employee. The law provides for an employee who works in 
excess of 48 hours per a week to be remunerated at the minimum rate of 
1.5 times the normal hourly rate and two times the hourly rate during 
public holidays. The law also states that working hours may not exceed 
10 hours per day or 56 hours per week; however, an employee may work in 
excess of 10 hours a day if the average number of hours over a period 
of three weeks does not exceed 10 hours per day or 56 hours per week. 
Employees are granted a 30 minute break for every eight hour work 
shift. For every four months of continuous employment, an employee is 
entitled to seven days of paid annual leave per calendar year. Many 
industries paid workers incrementally to avoid overtime and circumvent 
the prohibition on child labor.
    The Occupational Safety and Health Bill focuses on the general 
duties, obligations, and responsibilities of employers regarding the 
safety and health of workers. The Workers Compensation Act provides 
compensation based on an employee's monthly salary for injuries or 
other hazards that occur at work. Whereas in previous years women were 
entitled to six weeks of maternity leave, the Employment Act now allows 
for a minimum of 60 working days of maternity leave and four days of 
paternity leave.
    The MGLSD's Department of Occupational Health was responsible for 
enforcement of occupational safety regulations. In practice inspections 
were rare, primarily due to the lack of vehicles and funding for 
inspection trips. There were fatal accidents at several construction 
projects during the year. The new law provides workers the right to 
remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety 
without jeopardy to their employment and, unlike in previous years, 
there were no reported cases of workers being dismissed for refusal to 
perform dangerous work. Strong unions in certain dangerous industries 
protected some such workers.

                               __________

                                 ZAMBIA

    Zambia is a republic governed by a President and a unicameral 
national assembly with a population of 11.5 million. On September 28, 
President Levy Mwanawasa, candidate of the ruling Movement for Multi-
Party Democracy (MMD), was re-elected; the MMD won 72 out of 150 
elected seats in the National Assembly. On October 26, MMD candidates 
won two more seats in the National Assembly in elections that were 
delayed due to the deaths of candidates during the campaign period for 
the general elections. Domestic and international observer groups 
characterized the election as generally peaceful and transparent; 
however, they cited several irregularities. The civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there 
were improvements in a few areas. Human rights problems included: 
election irregularities; unlawful killings; torture, beatings, and 
abuse of criminal suspects and detainees by security forces; poor and 
life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and prolonged 
detention; long delays in trials; arbitrary interference with privacy; 
restrictions on freedom of speech and press, and intimidation of 
journalists; restrictions on assembly and association; government 
corruption and impunity; violence and discrimination against women; 
child abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination against persons 
with disabilities; and limited enforcement of labor rights and child 
labor laws.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any political killings; however, security 
forces committed numerous unlawful killings during the year. The Legal 
Resources Foundation (LRF), an independent human rights organization 
that counseled victims' families and represented them in actions 
against the Government, consistently investigated and publicized such 
incidents; however, the Government rarely punished perpetrators. Police 
and government officials encouraged police officers to use their 
weapons when apprehending suspects. On August 24, the permanent 
secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that officers should 
not ``keep their guns like a bunch of roses.'' In December 2005 the 
Police Inspector General was quoted in the media as saying that the 
police had a ``shoot-to-kill'' policy. On October 26, following a 
series of highly publicized police shootings, government officials 
moderated their stance on the use of police force with the release of a 
directive that restricted the use of firearms by police officers, 
required officers on general patrol be unarmed, and recalled police 
firearms into armories under strict control. On October 30, the 
minister of home affairs stated the Government would retrain police on 
the use of force.
    On February 3, police in Lusaka shot and killed three men who 
attempted to rob a shopkeeper; police stated that the men fired on them 
first. On March 19, police shot and killed Joseph Phiri as he ran from 
officers seeking to question him in connection with a theft.
    On August 28, Lucas Msuya, a Tanzanian national, died in police 
custody at the Northern Province Nakonde border crossing with Tanzania. 
Two police officers were arrested and charged with murder in connection 
with the death. The officers claimed that the suspect died as a result 
of injuries he received when he was beaten by a mob that suspected him 
of theft. A trial court acquitted the officers after witnesses 
testified that the suspect had severe injuries when police took him 
into custody. Although the officers were acquitted, police reported 
that they were subjected to administrative disciplinary measures for 
not having taken the suspect for medical attention.
    On September 9, a police officer in Lusaka shot and killed two 
teenagers and wounded another after they refused his command to leave a 
funeral home where they had been sitting by a fire; the police officer 
was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. The killings sparked 
riots (see Section 2.b.).
    On October 13, police in Kitwe were accused of causing a panic in a 
crowded nightclub that killed two high school students. Witnesses 
stated that the police locked the doors of the nightclub and whipped 
the students, who had been attending a party.
    On October 25, police shot and killed a man in Lusaka's Matero 
township. The man had been among a group of people protesting the 
detention of a minibus driver. The killing sparked riots that damaged 
vehicles and buildings.
    On November 11, police in Lufwanyama shot and wounded three 
juveniles at the Katembula Youth Training Center. Police said that they 
had fired their weapons to disperse a group of youths who were trying 
to prevent the arrest of two juveniles on assault charges. The shooting 
was under investigation at year's end.
    The case of the six Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers 
charged with the March 2005 torture and killing of a detainee for 
selling drugs in Kafue was ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments in the investigation into the April 2005 
death in police custody of Danny Phiri.
    In the July 2005 case of Joseph Nyirenda, who suspiciously died in 
police custody, a coroner's report released during the year concluded 
that Nyirenda had died of strangulation, but offered no other 
conclusions.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no deaths as a result of 
police forcibly dispersing demonstrations during the year.
    Mob violence which targeted suspected criminals, witches, persons 
suspected of sexual impropriety, or persons with mental illness 
resulted in killings during the year. For example on February 4, gunmen 
shot to death 60-year-old Benson Sikazwe in Northern Province, 
reportedly because he was suspected of being a witch. On February 6, a 
mob in Luapula Province beat to death 76-year-old Albert Jere and his 
wife, 72-year-old Tipoti Chisense, after the couple had been summoned 
to a local chief's place to answer charges that they had engaged in 
witchcraft. On April 19, a mob in North Western Province beat to death 
72-year-old Mary Lukboto because they suspected her of being a witch. 
On August 12, a mob in Eastern Province killed a man believed to be 
mentally ill after the man killed three people with an axe.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however there 
was no implementing legislation, thus police frequently used excessive 
force including torture when apprehending, interrogating, and detaining 
criminal suspects or illegal immigrants.
    During the year the Human Rights Commission (HRC), formerly the 
Permanent Human Rights Commission, reported that torture was prevalent 
in police stations, noting that ``police officers continue to rely on 
torture as an interrogation technique.'' The HRC urged the Government 
to draft and enact legislation that would criminalize torture and 
provide for compensation to victims. Authorities also detained, 
interrogated, and physically abused family members or associates of 
criminal suspects in attempts to identify or locate suspects (see 
Section 1.f.). Officers who tortured, beat, or otherwise abused 
suspects generally were not disciplined or arrested for such acts.
    On March 27 and 28, police officers in Kapiri Mposhi beat Joshua 
Nyangwali while he was in custody waiting to be transported to prison 
to serve a sentence on theft and burglary charges. As a result of the 
beating Nyangwali sustained a broken arm, for which he was denied 
medical treatment. Nyangwali's sister sought assistance from the LRF in 
filing a civil suit against the officers.
    On March 17, a court dismissed theft charges against Mike Simakusa, 
who claimed that for three days in July 2005 police put him in kampelwa 
to force a confession of theft. The kampelwa involves using ropes or 
handcuffs to bind a suspect by the hands and feet, or sometimes just 
the feet, and hanging the suspect upside down from a rod and beating 
him. Simakusa continued to seek assistance from the LRF in filing a 
civil suit against the officers.
    On May 20, two police officers in Kafue shot and wounded three men 
who refused the officers' demand to close the bar they were operating. 
The two officers were arrested and the case was ongoing at year's end.
    On June 15, Lemmy Mungochi and Allan Phiri filed a lawsuit claiming 
damages for torture and false imprisonment. The plaintiffs claimed that 
in June 2004 police in Chipata arrested them on false robbery charges. 
Police did not release Mungochi and Phiri from custody until they paid 
$1,200 (4.8 million kwacha) to the alleged victim of the robbery, who 
was later discovered to be living at the Chipata police camp. The case 
remained pending at year's end.
    The civil suit filed by Langton Sakala remained pending at year's 
end. Sakala charged that the police beat and tortured him from December 
2004 to January 2005 following his detention on theft charges.
    There were no developments in numerous other cases of police abuse 
in 2005 and 2004.
    On April 19, a court awarded $80,000 (322 million kwacha) to David 
Lungu for injuries sustained from police brutality in June 2001. Lungu 
had been among a group of students who protested a teachers' strike 
when police detained and beat him until he was unconscious, leaving him 
paralyzed from the waist down.
    According to human rights groups, police occasionally demanded sex 
from female detainees as a condition for their release. There also were 
reports that police officers raped women. In the April 2005 case where 
a police officer was charged with raping a woman in Kalomo, police 
reported that the case was dropped after their investigation revealed 
that the woman's parents pressured her to file charges after they 
discovered she was having a consensual affair with the officer.
    Victims of state-sponsored torture following the 1997 coup attempt 
were still awaiting compensation recommended in 2000 by a special 
commission appointed to investigate allegations of torture. The civil 
case against former DEC Deputy Commissioner Teddy Nondo, former 
Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Lukonde, and Minister of Justice George 
Kunda was still pending at year's end; Commissioner Lukonde died in 
2005.
    There were reports that traditional rulers employed corporal 
punishment. For example, on September 10, Chief Kazembe in Luapula 
Province whipped five women and a man who disrespected his throne. 
After whipping the subjects, Kazembe brought them to a police station 
where they were detained for one day. The subjects had upset Kazembe by 
singing campaign songs in support of the MMD party.
    The 2004 case against Chief Mushili for assaulting and extorting 
from his subjects was referred for mediation in 2005, which 
subsequently failed. The case was back in court and ongoing at year's 
end.
    Mob violence resulted in killings and injuries (see Section 1.a. 
and 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
poor and life threatening. An inefficient judiciary and two-month 
strike by government prosecutors during the year delayed court 
proceedings and exacerbated overcrowding. The country's prisons, which 
were built to hold 5,500 inmates, held nearly 15,000 prisoners. Lusaka 
Central Prison which was designed to accommodate 200 prisoners held 
more than 1,200 inmates, forcing some inmates to sleep sitting upright. 
Poor sanitation, inadequate medical facilities, meager food supplies, 
and lack of potable water resulted in serious outbreaks of dysentery, 
cholera, and tuberculosis, which were compounded by overcrowding.
    Prisoners routinely complained that authorities denied them access 
to medical care, as provided for by law. Failure to remove or 
quarantine sick prisoners and the lack of infirmaries at many prisons 
resulted in the spread of airborne illnesses such as tuberculosis, 
leading to prisoner re-infection and death. For example, in January it 
was reported that a suspected cholera outbreak killed five prisoners in 
Lusaka Central Prison. Drugs to combat tuberculosis were available but 
the supply was erratic. Many prisoners were malnourished because they 
received only one serving of corn meal and beans per day, called a 
``combined meal'' because it represented breakfast, lunch and dinner.
    In August the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the closure of 
Luwingu Prison, noting that conditions at the prison posed a risk to 
prisoners. The Zambian Prison Service was ordered to use other 
facilities to accommodate displaced prisoners pending the reopening of 
Luwingu.
    The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in prisons was estimated at 17 
percent. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) was available to some prisoners 
with HIV/AIDS; however, poor nutrition often rendered ART ineffective.
    Juveniles often were not held separately from adults. Infants and 
young children of incarcerated women were held along with their 
mothers. Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted 
prisoners. Prisoners with mental disabilities were not held separately 
from the general prison population.
    The Government permitted prison visits by both domestic and 
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and by resident 
foreign diplomats during the year. In May the HRC issued two highly 
critical reports on prisons in Lusaka and Central Provinces based on 
inspections conducted in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The HRC noted a 
number of problems including: accommodations that were ``filthy, 
congested and unfit for human habitation''; insufficient facilities to 
house juvenile detainees; poor food and nutrition; and inmates' lack of 
access to the courts. The International Committee of the Red Cross, 
provincial human rights committees, and the LRF periodically inspected 
prison conditions during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did 
not respect these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, divided 
into regular and paramilitary units under the Ministry of Home Affairs, 
have primary responsibility for maintaining law and order. The Zambia 
Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS), under the office of the 
President, is responsible for intelligence and internal security. 
Police posts in towns throughout the country reported to one of nine 
provincial police stations, which in turn reported to the central 
police command in Lusaka. Although the Government has identified a need 
for 27,000 police officers, only 14,689 were employed.
    Lack of professionalism, investigatory skills, and discipline in 
the police force remained serious problems. The NGO Institute of Human 
Rights Property and Development Trust conducted human rights training 
for senior police officers in 2005. From November 27	30, the Government 
hosted a four-day human rights workshop for police in southern Africa 
that was sponsored by the British government and the Commonwealth 
Secretariat; however, the use of excessive force continued, and 
corruption was widespread. Low salaries and substandard government 
housing exacerbated police corruption, as did poor working conditions. 
Police released prisoners for bribes, extorted money from victims, and 
required ``document processing fees'' or ``gas money'' to commence 
investigations.
    In an effort to address these issues, the Police Public Complaints 
Authority (PPCA) met eight times during the year to review complaints 
regarding police conduct that were not resolved through internal police 
channels. By year's end, the PPCA had received 269 complaints of police 
misconduct and reviewed 210 cases; it concluded on 54 cases. The PPCA 
did not recommend that any police officer be dismissed during the year 
but officers were fined and punished for offenses, including unlawful 
detention. In one case, the PPCA recommended that the director of 
public prosecutions exhume the body of a person who died several months 
after his release from police custody. The person's family alleged that 
he had died as a result of injuries sustained in police beatings. The 
investigation was ongoing at year's end. The PPCA dismissed several 
complaints against police officers, finding that the cases were already 
being tried in the courts.
    In May the Lusaka High Court ruled that the inspector general of 
police did not have the authority to terminate the employment of police 
officers, as recommended by the PPCA in 2003, and nullified the 
inspector general's decisions of termination. The court ruled the power 
to terminate employment, rests exclusively with the chairperson of the 
prison and police service commission. In addition, the court clarified 
that the PPCA did not have the statutory authority to punish police 
officers, but could only recommend disciplinary measures to the 
inspector general. The PPCA appealed the high court ruling, but was 
reviewing its procedures to comply with the court's decision.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide that 
authorities obtain a warrant before arresting a person for some 
offenses, but other offenses have no such requirement. For example, 
police are not required to obtain a warrant when they suspect that a 
person has committed offenses including treason, sedition, defamation 
of the President, unlawful assembly, or abuse of office. In practice, 
police rarely obtained warrants before making arrests (see Section 1. 
f.).
    According to the law, suspects being arrested are informed of their 
rights, including the immediate right to an attorney. The law provides 
that persons arrested must appear before a magistrate within 24 hours 
of their arrest; however, detainees were frequently held for longer 
periods because prosecutors routinely required that officers collect 
additional evidence before presenting cases to a magistrate. There was 
a functioning bail system; however, prisons were overcrowded in part 
because of the numerous offenses for which bail is not granted, 
including treason, murder, aggravated robbery, and violations of 
narcotics laws.
    In practice police generally did not respect the prisoners' right 
to apply for bail. Indigent detainees and defendants rarely had the 
means to post bail. The Government's legal aid office, responsible for 
providing representation for indigent detainees and defendants in 
criminal or civil cases, assisted very few arrestees.
    The Government's appeal of the July 2005 Lusaka High Court decision 
to grant bail to opposition leader Michael Sata on charges that he 
incited riots was still pending at year's end.
    Arbitrary arrest and detention remained a problem, although there 
were fewer reported instances than in previous years. Criminal suspects 
were arrested on the basis of insubstantial evidence, uncorroborated 
accusations, or as a pretext for extortion. For example on March 19, 
the Mumbwa police arrested Regina Lungu after an acquaintance accused 
her of theft. Police released Lungu after her husband paid $125 
(500,000 kwacha) for which he did not receive a receipt. Similarly, on 
April 12, police arrested Emmanuel Chilando at the request of his 
former employer and held him without charge for three days. Chilando 
stated that his former employer had asked the police to arrest him due 
to concerns that he was losing customers to Chilando's new employer.
    On September 10, police detained five persons, on the request of a 
traditional leader, for their support of the ruling MMD party (see 
Section 1.c.).
    Police stations frequently acted as ``debt collection centers,'' 
where police officers acting on unofficial complaints detained debtors 
without charge until they paid the complainants; in return, the police 
received a percentage of the payments. Officers found engaging in this 
practice reportedly were disciplined.
    Police arbitrarily arrested family members of criminal suspects 
(see Section 1.f.).
    Authorities detained at least two journalists during the year (see 
Section 2.a.).
    Prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. In criminal cases 
detainees must be charged and brought before a magistrate within 24 
hours; in practice, prisoners often waited more than one month from 
incarceration to the initial appearance before the magistrate. In some 
cases defendants were awaiting trial for as long as two to three years.
    Approximately one-third of the nearly 15,000 people incarcerated in 
prisons had not been convicted of a crime or received a trial date. 
Broad rules of procedure give wide latitude to prosecutors and defense 
attorneys to request delays or adjournments. Other factors contributing 
to long delays were inadequate resources, inefficiency, lack of trained 
personnel, and labor unrest (see Section 1.e.). Attorneys and family 
members were permitted access to pretrial detainees.
    On March 27, the Lusaka High Court ordered that Cosmas Tembo be 
released from custody, finding that he had been held without trial for 
more than three years after being wrongly arrested on charges of 
robbery.
    In May the LRF filed a petition for bail on behalf of John 
Chishimba Mutale, who had been held in custody without trial since he 
was arrested and charged with murder in 1994. On June 8, the Kasama 
High Court granted Mutale bail on the condition that he report to the 
police twice a month and appear in court as required.
    There were no developments in the Government's appeal of the 2004 
Lusaka High Court ruling that the Government was liable for holding 
Crispin Samulula in custody from 1996 to 2001 without trial.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judicial system was hampered 
by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of resources. Government 
officials used their offices to circumvent standard police and judicial 
procedures.
    During the year the courts continued to act independently and at 
times made judgments and rulings critical of the Government. For 
instance, the courts issued an order compelling the Government to 
submit a list of nominees for a media governing board to parliament in 
accordance with its obligations under the Independent Broadcast 
Authority (IBA) Act (see Section 2.a.). The courts also prohibited the 
ruling MMD party from running negative campaign ads against opposition 
leader Michael Sata on the state-controlled television station.
    Poor working conditions caused many magistrates to leave their 
jobs. There were 134 magistrates employed at the end of the year; fully 
qualified attorneys filled approximately 24 magistrate positions during 
the year, up from 19 in 2005; lay magistrates filled the rest. During 
the year government prosecutors went on strike for two months, delaying 
court proceedings and exacerbating prison overcrowding (see Sections 
1.c. and 1.d.). Judicial support staff went on strike in October 
leading to additional delays.
    The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction for all legal and 
constitutional disputes. The High Court, which held regular sessions in 
all nine provincial capitals, has authority to hear criminal and civil 
cases and appeals from lower courts. Magistrate courts have original 
jurisdiction in some criminal and civil cases; customary courts heard 
most civil and petty criminal cases in rural areas.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials in magistrate courts are public, and 
local courts employ the principles of customary law, which vary widely 
throughout the country. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney; however, many defendants lacked the resources 
to retain a lawyer, and government legal aid was limited. Defendants 
have the right to be present at their trial, confront witnesses, access 
government-held evidence related to their cases, and to appeal. 
Defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty.
    Courts were congested, and there were significant delays in trials 
while the accused remained in custody (see Section 1.d.). In cases 
where the magistrate's court did not have jurisdiction, at least six 
months elapsed before a magistrate committed the defendant to the High 
Court for trial. Following committal, preparation of the magistrate 
court record for transmittal to the High Court took months, or in some 
cases, as long as a year. Once a case reached the High Court for trial, 
court proceedings lasted an average of six months.
    Lawyers are barred from participating in proceedings in courts that 
apply customary law, and there are few formal rules of procedure.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. For matters concerning police 
abuse, the PPCA acted as an independent and impartial disciplinary body 
(see Section 1.d.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, the Government frequently did not respect these prohibitions 
in practice. The law requires a search or arrest warrant before police 
may enter a home, except during a state of emergency. Police routinely 
ignored this requirement and arrested suspected criminals at their 
homes without an arrest warrant.
    The law grants the DEC and the ZSIS authority to wiretap telephones 
for probable cause.
    Authorities sometimes detained, interrogated, and physically abused 
family members of criminal suspects to obtain their cooperation in 
identifying or locating suspects. For example, on June 8, 66-year-old 
Margaret Lukonto was detained by police, bound in a kampelwa and beaten 
as officers demanded that she reveal the location of her son, whom they 
wanted to question on theft charges. Lukonto was seeking the LRF's 
assistance in filing a civil suit.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at 
times restricted these rights. The law includes provisions that may be 
interpreted broadly to restrict these freedoms. Journalists in the 
government-owned media generally practiced self-censorship.
    The private print media routinely criticized the Government. A 
number of privately owned newspapers questioned government actions and 
policies, and these generally circulated without government 
interference.
    The government-controlled Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail 
were two of the most widely circulated newspapers.
    In addition to the government-controlled radio station, there were 
numerous private radio stations.
    In 2004 the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services 
(MIBS) ordered that Breeze FM, a commercial radio station in Chipata, 
stop relaying BBC broadcasts. MIBS claimed that Breeze FM's license 
permitted local and regional broadcasts only. Though the order was 
still in effect at year's end, the station remained a partner station 
of the BBC and continued to rebroadcast a selection of BBC programs.
    The government-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation 
(ZNBC) was the principal local-content television station. Opposition 
political parties and civil society groups complained that government 
control of the station and of two major newspapers limited their access 
to mass communication. In the lead-up to the September 28 Presidential 
and parliamentary elections, ZNBC offered substantially less coverage 
to opposition candidates than it did to candidates from the ruling MMD 
party (see Section 3).
    On October 11, the Supreme Court reserved ruling on the 
Government's appeal of a High Court decision compelling the minister of 
information to implement the ZNBC amendment and Independent 
Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 2002. The ZNBC Amendment Act of 
2002 was intended to transform the state-owned ZNBC into a public 
broadcaster, with an independent board of directors. The IBA Act 
provides for the establishment of an independent regulatory authority 
to govern all forms of broadcasting under the guidance of a 
transparently recruited board of directors. Under both the IBA and ZNBC 
Acts, independent media bodies recommend members to sit on the boards 
of the IBA and ZNBC, respectively. The minister of information is to 
submit the names of the recommended board members to parliament for 
ratification. To date, the minister of information has refused to 
submit the names to parliament, arguing that the names are only 
``recommendations,'' which he is free to reject.
    Several private television stations, including foreign media, 
broadcast locally. MUVI TV began broadcasting local news three times a 
day in 2005. Multichoice, a telecommunications company based in South 
Africa, and CASAT provided satellite and analog wireless subscribers 
with television services. Broadcasts of foreign news sources were 
available in the country.
    A new private TV station, MOBI TV, was by year's end conducting 
test transmissions. MOBI TV had licenses to air free and pay television 
broadcasts. CB TV also began test broadcasts in Ndola. New radio 
stations that began broadcasting during the year included Hot FM in 
Lusaka, and Zambezi FM in Southern Province. Macha Radio in Choma was 
conducting test transmissions at year's end. Two private newspapers, 
The Nation and Health Journal, also began publishing during the year.
    The police harassed and arrested journalists during the year; 
however, unlike previous years, there were no reports that the MMD 
ordered attacks on independent newspapers.
    The Government continued to pursue its appeal from a 2004 High 
Court ruling that blocked the deportation of journalist Roy Clarke. In 
a column published in the independent Post newspaper, Clarke had 
allegedly defamed the President. At a November 21 hearing, the Supreme 
Court continued the case after the Government asked for more time to 
prepare its appeal.
    On March 9, the journalists hosted a radio call-in show asking for 
comments on the ritual murder of a five-year-old boy (see Section 5)[.] 
On March 10, police arrested two radio journalists in Monze and charged 
them with libel and intent to cause public alarm and fear. A day after 
the broadcast, a mob attacked the suspects in the killing. Police 
attributed the attack to statements allegedly made by the journalists; 
a charge the journalists denied. On March 11, the journalists were 
released from custody, and the charges were subsequently dropped.
    On September 28, police attempted to close Radio Q FM in Lusaka, 
which was broadcasting live coverage of the Presidential, 
parliamentary, and local elections. Police officers visited the radio 
station and accused it of inciting the public to riot. They directed 
the station to cease live broadcasts; however, the station did not 
comply.
    Supporters of opposition leader Michael Sata attacked the offices 
of the independent Post newspaper, alleging that it had reported 
inaccurate news about their leader during the September 28 polls.
    The Government exercised considerable influence over the 
government-owned media, including reviewing articles prior to 
publication and censuring individuals responsible for published 
articles or programs deemed offensive by the Government. For example, 
on November 30, the board of the Zambia Daily Mail fired Godfrey Malama 
from his job as Managing Director of the newspaper. In a dismissal 
letter, the board said that Malama had acted unprofessionally when, on 
September 29 and 30, he published articles which reported that 
opposition leader Michael Sata was leading in the vote count following 
the September 28 Presidential elections. As a result of such pressure, 
journalists in the government-owned media generally practiced self-
censorship, and the government-owned media continued to be supportive 
of the Government.
    In response to headlines and stories alleging official corruption, 
those accused and others brought libel suits against the media. For 
example, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Robert Mataka sued the Zambian 
Watchdog newspaper and its editor for libel. He alleged that in its 
August 21	26 edition, the newspaper published a false and malicious 
story claiming that Mataka bought a house belonging to the Zambia Law 
Development Commission using questionable means. The case was pending 
at year's end.
    During the year there were defamation suits filed by political 
leaders. Michael Sata, opposition leader and President of the Patriotic 
Front (PF) party, sued state-owned Zambia Daily Mail for libel, 
claiming damages from articles that questioned his suitability as a 
candidate for the country's presidency. The articles focused on some of 
Sata's statements made at public rallies, which the newspaper 
characterized as threats to Chinese investors. The case was pending at 
year's end.
    On February 14, the Government dropped charges against the Managing 
Director of the independent Post newspaper, Fred M'membe, who was 
arrested in November 2005 and charged with defaming the President in 
connection with an editorial that questioned the President's honesty 
and integrity.
    The law provides that investigative tribunals can call journalists 
and media managers, who print allegations of parliamentary misconduct, 
as witnesses. Failure to cooperate with a tribunal can result in 
charges of contempt punishable by up to six months in jail. The media 
criticized these provisions as clear infringements of freedom of the 
press and as a means for parliamentarians to bypass the court system.
    There were no government restrictions on the Internet or academic 
freedom and cultural events. Although the law gives the University 
Council a mandate to address faculty concerns, the minister of 
education was empowered to appoint the members of the council; some 
academics criticized this provision as an infringement of academic 
freedom.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the Government restricted this right.
    During the year government officials, opposition leaders, and NGOs 
continued to criticize the Public Order Act (POA), which requires rally 
organizers to notify police seven days in advance of a rally; however, 
civil society organizations noted that the POA was administered more 
fairly than in past years, particularly in the run-up to the September 
28 general elections. Civil society organizations credited the more 
even-handed administration of the POA to better training of police 
officers and the decentralization of the decision-making process with 
regard to approving requests to demonstrate, although the POA does not 
technically require rally organizers to obtain a permit.
    In March police in Kasama refused to grant opposition leader 
Michael Sata permission to hold a political rally planned for March 17. 
Sata charged that the police offered no justification for the refusal 
given and that he had adhered to the prescribed administrative 
procedures. The rally did not occur.
    On November 20, police denied opposition leader Michael Sata 
permission to hold four political rallies in Lusaka. On November 27, 
Solicitor General Sunday Nkonde overturned the police decision and 
granted Sata permission to hold the rallies. On December 5, President 
Mwanawasa said in a public speech that he had asked the solicitor 
general to resign for interfering with the decision to deny the rally. 
The solicitor general did not resign, and Sata went forward with the 
rallies.
    Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year; however, 
unlike previous years, no deaths resulted.
    On September 9, residents in Lusaka rioted for more than 10 hours 
following the police shooting of three teenagers (see Section 1.a.). 
The rioters attacked a police substation and burned government and 
private vehicles; 20 suspects held in police cells escaped, and the 
police dispersed the crowd with teargas and arrested 48 persons.
    On September 13, police used teargas to disperse Lusaka residents 
demanding the release of the 48 persons arrested on September 9. The 48 
persons did not post bail and were still in custody at year's end.
    There were no developments in the lawsuits and appeal arising from 
the December 2004 arrest of four journalist and 11 members of 
parliament on charges that they violated the POA.
    The results of the investigation into the September 2004 shooting 
death of a high school student during a demonstration were not released 
by year's end.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, but the Government placed some limits on this right. All 
organizations must formally apply for registration to the Registrar of 
Societies. In most cases, authorities routinely approved these 
applications; however, the registration process is long and involves 
the exercise of considerable discretion on the part of the Registrar. 
During the year, there were no cases in which the Registrar refused to 
register an organization, although it did threaten to deregister 
organizations that had not paid fees or were otherwise not in 
compliance with the law.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. Although the constitution declared the country a Christian 
nation, in practice the Government generally respected the right of all 
faiths to worship freely.
    The Government required the registration of religious groups and 
approved all applications for registration from religious groups 
without discrimination; however, in March then Foreign Minister Ronnie 
Shikapwasha stated publicly that the Government would begin consulting 
with the Council of Churches before it registered church groups.
    In January the High Court overturned the Government's 2005 decision 
to deregister the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, thereby 
allowing it to continue operations pending judicial review. The church 
continued to operate and petitioned the court to find the Government in 
contempt for violating the order staying proceedings against the 
church. The court had not ruled on the church's petition by year's end.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were approximately 80 
persons in the Jewish community. There were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights; however, the Government intermittently limited them. 
Police continued to man numerous roadblocks around the country to 
control criminal activity, enforce customs and immigration regulations, 
check drivers' licenses, and inspect vehicles for safety compliance. 
Police at times extorted money and goods from motorists at these 
roadblocks.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. 
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals who 
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN convention and the 1967 
Protocol.
    The country hosts an estimated 144,500 refugees, mainly from Angola 
and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As of June 30, according to 
the UNHCR, 8,000 Angolans were repatriated. In addition eight Rwandans 
were repatriated and five were resettled in third countries. The 
Government assisted in the resettlement of 192 DR Congolese refugees to 
third countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On September 28, President 
and MMD candidate Levy Mwanawasa was re-elected with 43 percent of the 
vote; Patriotic Front (PF)candidate Michael Sata received 29 percent of 
the vote; United Democratic Party Alliance candidate Hakainde Hichilema 
received 25 percent of the vote; and 150 members of parliament (MPs) 
also were elected. On October 9, eight other MPs were appointed by the 
President.
    Five political parties contested the Presidential elections. There 
were instances of unfair campaign and electoral practices; however, 
domestic and international observers characterized the electoral 
process as transparent and peaceful. Observers gave the Electoral 
Commission of Zambia (ECZ) high marks for its role in organizing the 
elections, particularly with regard to voter registration and 
education; however, some members of the public were not able to 
register to vote because the Government did not efficiently issue 
National Registration Cards, which were required for registration. 
Civil society groups also criticized the ECZ's failure to establish a 
special vote for domestic monitors and others unable to vote at 
designated polling stations and charged that parties and candidates had 
uneven access to electronic and print media. In addition, the lack of 
regulations governing campaign finance resulted in an uneven playing 
field for contestants.
    Following the vote, there were reported problems with the counting, 
tabulation, and reconciliation of ballot that undermined confidence in 
the results of the elections. The problems were attributed to 
inadequate training for election officials, compounded by poorly 
designed and unnecessarily complicated return forms. There were also 
problems with the system for the electronic transmission of results, 
which the ECZ was forced to abandon in favor of faxing or physically 
delivering results to Lusaka. The difficulties with the management of 
election results supported suspicions that the elections were rigged, 
fueling riots by supporters of opposition candidate Michael Sata in 
Lusaka and in cities in Copperbelt Province.
    In the four by-elections held during the year, there were numerous 
reports of vote buying and misappropriation of government resources for 
unfair electoral advantage. For example, in Mporokoso, the vice-
President reportedly threatened to discipline public service workers 
who voted for the opposition. In Milanzi suspected MMD members threw a 
Molotov cocktail at the vehicle of an opposition MP.
    The constitution requires that both parents of a candidate for the 
office of President be citizens by birth or descent, effectively 
discriminating against potential candidates based on their parentage. 
The constitution also prohibits traditional chiefs from running for 
political office unless they resign from their chieftainships.
    There were 22 women elected to parliament in the September 28 
elections. On October 9, the President appointed two more women to 
parliament.
    In December 2005 the Constitution Review Commission released its 
final draft constitution. The Government had taken no steps to change 
the constitution by year's end; however, in May the President signed 
into law a new electoral act that many civil society groups 
characterized as a disappointment. The new act disregarded many of the 
recommendations contained in the 2005 report of the Electoral Reform 
Technical Committee, including a recommendation that the President be 
elected by more than 50 percent of the vote and a recommendation that 
the ECZ be given the authority to set the date for Presidential 
elections to prevent unfair advantage for the President and ruling 
party.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The anticorruption 
campaign the Government launched in 2002 continued during the year. 
Trials of former government officials charged with abuse of office and 
theft proceeded, resulting in the conviction on October 10 of Samuel 
Musonda, former managing director of the government-owned Zambia 
National Commercial Bank. The Government continued its collaboration 
with the international community to improve its capacity to investigate 
and prevent corruption. Parliamentary committees sustained their 
scrutiny of executive branch operations. The Anti-Corruption Committee 
increased its prosecution and public educational activities.
    Despite these efforts there remained a widespread public perception 
that corruption was pervasive in almost all government institutions. 
Controls over government funds and property were often weak, 
investigative units often lacked authority and personnel, and officials 
dealing with the public frequently demanded illicit payments with 
impunity. Additionally, the Government had no clear policy for the 
disposal of confiscated assets, and there was lack of transparency 
surrounding the liquidation of assets seized in the campaign against 
corruption.
    During the year the Government continued to investigate and 
prosecute senior officials allegedly involved in corruption during the 
administration of former President Chiluba. In 2004 the Government 
began its prosecution of Chiluba himself in magistrate court. The 
prosecution was ongoing at year's end, although the court was 
frequently in recess due to Chiluba's poor health.
    On October 16, the Government arrested and filed corruption charges 
against former State House press aide Richard Sakala. On October 23, 
the Government filed charges against former President Chiluba's wife, 
Regina Chiluba, for unlawfully obtaining property and other assets.
    In 2004 the Government also filed corruption charges against 
several officials of the current administration and former military 
commanders including, Lieutenant Generals Wilford Funjika, Sande 
Kayumba, and Geojago Musengule, who were charged in separate cases of 
procurement fraud. Their trials were ongoing in civilian courts in the 
country and in the United Kingdom at year's end.
    The corruption trial of Kashiwa Bulaya, a former official of the 
ministry of health, was ongoing at year's end.
    The law does not provide for public access to government 
information; however, the Government provided information to media and 
interested parties on an ad hoc basis. Information related to defense 
and security forces was withheld from public access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally cooperated with such groups.
    Domestic human rights organizations continued to press for a more 
transparent democratic electoral system. Human rights and election NGOs 
monitored by-elections during the year and organized civic education 
activities to improve voter participation and information.
    The HRC oversaw human rights committees in all provincial capitals, 
interceded on behalf of persons whose rights it believed were denied by 
the Government, and spoke on behalf of detainees and prisoners. During 
the year the HRC opened a new office in Livingstone; however, 
independent human rights groups complained that the HRC was 
understaffed, underfinanced, and lacked sufficient authority to enforce 
its recommendations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
tribe, gender, place of origin, marital status, political opinion, 
color, or creed; however, violence and discrimination against women and 
persons with disabilities remained a problem.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem, and 
wife beating and rape were widespread. There is no specific law for 
domestic violence, and cases of domestic violence were prosecuted under 
the general assault statutes. Penalties imposed for assault vary, 
depending on the severity of injury and whether a weapon is used. The 
Victim Support Unit (VSU) was responsible for handling problems of 
domestic assault, wife beating, mistreatment of widows by the deceased 
husband's relatives, and property grabbing; however, in practice, the 
police often were reluctant to pursue reports of domestic violence and 
preferred to encourage reconciliation.
    The law prohibits rape, and courts generally sentenced rapists to 
hard labor. In 2005 the VSU recorded 216 case of rape and 1,511 cases 
of defilement, which includes forced or unforced sex with a person 
under the age of 16. The penal code does not specifically prohibit 
marital rape and statutes that criminalize rape cannot be practically 
used to prosecute cases of rape in marriage. To date courts have not 
tried a case involving marital rape, although the crime was known to be 
common.
    Due to traditional and cultural inhibitions, many cases of violence 
against women and children remained unreported. The VSU reported that 
it was difficult to prosecute cases of abuse against women because 
victims often refused to cooperate, and there was a lack of forensic 
equipment needed to develop evidence. The Government and NGOs expressed 
continued concern about violence against women.
    Prostitution is illegal, and police routinely arrested street 
prostitutes for loitering. There were no reliable statistics on the 
number of prostitutes in the country.
    Trafficking in women and children was a problem (see below).
    An amendment to the penal code enacted in September 2005 prohibits 
the sexual harassment of children but there are no laws that 
specifically prohibit sexual harassment of adults, and sexual 
harassment in the workplace was common. During the year the minister of 
education warned that teachers found to have sexually harassed students 
would be dismissed immediately.
    The law entitles women to equality with men in most areas; however, 
women were severely disadvantaged in formal employment and education. 
Married women who were employed often suffered from discriminatory 
conditions of service. Women had little independent access to credit 
facilities; in most cases, they remained dependent on their husbands, 
who were required to cosign for loans. As a result few women owned 
their own homes. Some small financial institutions allowed women to 
sign independently for loans.
    Customary law and practice also place women in a subordinate status 
with respect to property, inheritance, and marriage, despite 
constitutional and legal protections. Polygyny is permitted if the 
first wife agrees to it at the time of her wedding. Under the law a 
deceased man's children equally share 50 percent of an estate; the 
widow receives 20 percent; the man's parents receive 20 percent; and 
other relatives receive 10 percent. The widow's share must be divided 
equally with any other women who can prove a marital relationship with 
the deceased man, thus granting inheritance rights to other wives, 
mistresses, and concubines. However, under the traditional customs 
prevalent in most ethnic groups, all rights to inherit property rest 
with the deceased man's family. Property grabbing by relatives of the 
deceased man remained widespread, although increased training of local 
court officials may have resulted in a slight decrease in the practice. 
Many widows were ignorant of the law, and as a result received little 
or nothing from the estate. The fines that the law mandates for 
property grabbing were extremely low. The police, through its VSU, 
treated instances of property grabbing as criminal offenses.
    The common traditional practice of ``sexual cleansing,'' in which a 
widow had sex with her late husband's relatives as part of a cleansing 
ritual, continued to occur; however, some traditional leaders have 
banned it. A September 2005 amendment to the penal code makes it 
illegal for any person to engage in a harmful cultural practice such as 
sexual cleansing or to encourage another person to engage in the 
practice.
    NGOs that predominantly represented women's interests were 
particularly active as lobbying organizations. The NGO Coordinating 
Committee, an umbrella organization for women's NGOs, was influential 
in the Oasis Forum, which continued to conduct civic education programs 
on the issue of constitutional reform.

    Children.--Although the Government sought to improve the welfare of 
children through the Ministries of Labor and Social Security, Sport 
Youth and Child Development, as well as Education, scarce resources and 
ineffective implementation of social programs continued to adversely 
affect children.
    Government policy provided for free basic education for the first 
nine years of elementary school; however, education was not compulsory, 
and many children did not attend school. The Government eliminated 
school fees and mandatory uniforms for primary education students in 
order to increase school attendance, but many teachers and school 
administrators still required students purchase uniforms or pay a fee 
before they would allow them to attend classes. The net enrollment 
ratio for children of primary school age increased from 66 percent in 
1999 to 97 percent by 2005. The large rise in the net enrollment ratio 
was due in part to a revision in the formula used to calculate the 
figure, which included 500,000 students enrolled in nongovernmental 
community schools. Inadequate educational facilities and a scarcity of 
educational materials were problems. Some areas have established 
community schools; however, these schools had fewer resources than 
public schools and required contributions from parents.
    The number of girls and boys in primary school was approximately 
equal; however, fewer girls attended secondary school. There were 
reports that teachers sexually abused female students. The UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) officials noted that sexual abuse in schools 
discouraged or prevented many girls from attending classes. The 
Government continued its collaboration with UNICEF on the Program for 
the Advancement of Girls' Education to work with families and community 
leaders to keep girls in school and to bring back those who had left.
    There were approximately one million children under the age of 15 
in the country who were orphaned, approximately 750,000 of these as a 
result of HIV/AIDS. These children faced greater risks of child abuse, 
sexual abuse, and child labor. Approximately 75 percent of all 
households were caring for at least one orphan, and children headed 
approximately 7 percent of households due to the death of both parents. 
The Government instituted programs to increase public awareness of HIV/
AIDS.
    Child abuse was a problem. Approximately 1,511 cases of child 
sexual abuse were reported in 2005, according to police statistics.
    Early marriage was a problem. Although a person must be at least 16 
years old to marry under statutory law, there is no minimum age for 
marriage under customary law. A few traditional leaders spoke against 
early marriage and took steps to discourage it, but the majority of 
traditional leaders condoned the practice. Courts intervened in cases 
of gross abuse.
    There are laws that criminalize child prostitution; however, the 
law was not enforced effectively, and child prostitution was 
widespread. Although the Government removed and rehabilitated some 
street children during the year, the presence of an estimated 20	30,000 
street child throughout the country contributed to the proliferation of 
street begging and prostitution. The laws against pornography and the 
sexual exploitation of children under the age of 21 were sporadically 
enforced.
    Trafficking of children for sexual exploitation occurred (see 
below).
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    During the year the Government continued implementation of a 
strategy to provide shelter and protection to street children, 
including prostitutes. During the year 204 street children graduated 
from two government-operated rehabilitation camps located in Chipata 
and Kitwe. After graduating from the rehabilitation camps, the children 
were placed in Youth Resource Centers located throughout the country, 
where they received specialized training in trades such as carpentry, 
tailoring, and farming.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There were reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, and within the country. The law prohibits the 
trafficking of any person for any purpose, but it does not define 
trafficking. Persons convicted of trafficking were subject to a term of 
imprisonment from 20 years to life. The law had not been used to 
prosecute a case of trafficking at year's end. Convictions of the 
crimes of abduction, assault, or seeking to have sex with a minor could 
be punished with sentences up to life imprisonment with hard labor.
    The Government did not collect or maintain data on the extent or 
nature of trafficking in the country; however, trafficking, 
particularly in the form of child prostitution was believed to be 
significant. Female citizens were trafficked within the country and to 
other parts of Africa and to Europe, and the country was used as a 
transit point for regional trafficking of women for prostitution. 
Traffickers fraudulently obtained Zambian travel documents for their 
victims before proceeding to other destinations. During the year there 
were reliable reports that women were trafficked to the country for 
commercial sex work.
    A 2004 survey of service providers, community members, and children 
located in four cities indicated that traffickers came from a variety 
of backgrounds and included family members, truck drivers, prostitutes, 
and business persons. Foreign traffickers were said to have come from 
Asia, Europe, North America, and countries in the region. During the 
year the International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a study, in 
cooperation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, to determine the nature 
and extent of trafficking in children in the country.
    In April immigration officials detained two Chinese women at Lusaka 
International Airport as they attempted to board a flight for London 
using false Hong Kong travel documents. The women were repatriated 
after officials determined that they were likely victims of human 
trafficking. No arrests were made in the case.
    In the 2004 cases against Bangu Kasenge and Delphine Bakuna 
Chibwabwa related to trafficking in persons, the Government during the 
year dropped the charges against one defendant and deported him to the 
DRC. The other defendant fled the country after he was released on 
bail.
    Traffickers often use promises of employment to entice young girls 
and women to leave their homes and families and then force them into 
prostitution.
    Through its social welfare agencies, the Government provided 
counseling, shelter, and protection to victims of child prostitution or 
referred victims to NGOs that provided such services. There was no 
formal screening or referral process. In some cases victims have been 
placed in protective custody at rehabilitation centers or victim 
support shelters operated by NGOs.
    When government officials understand that individuals are victims 
of trafficking, they do not treat victims as criminals. In identified 
cases, victims have not been detained, jailed, deported, or prosecuted 
for violations of other laws. When trafficking investigations have 
substantiated allegations, the Government has encouraged victims to 
assist with investigation and prosecution. The Government did not have 
its own means of protecting victims and witnesses; however, it arranged 
for protective custody and security protection through facilities 
operated by NGOs.
    The Government did not have programs that specifically targeted 
trafficking, although law enforcement officers attended training 
courses that raised awareness of the problem. A government interagency 
committee on human trafficking, chaired by the Ministry of Home 
Affairs, also met during the year to promote coordination and 
information sharing among agencies. Government agencies responsible for 
combating trafficking include the police, immigration authorities, and 
the ministries of justice, labor, and education.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination in 
general, but there is no law that specifically prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental health disabilities in 
employment, education, or access to health care. Persons with 
disabilities faced significant societal discrimination in employment 
and education. Public buildings, schools, and hospitals did not have 
facilities to accommodate persons with disabilities. The Government did 
not legislate or otherwise mandate accessibility to public buildings 
and services for persons with disabilities.
    A person with mental disabilities was attacked and killed during 
the year (see Section 1.a).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
``carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature,'' but it 
does not specifically outlaw homosexuality. There was societal 
discrimination against homosexuals.
    The Government actively discouraged societal discrimination against 
those living with HIV/AIDS; however, there was strong societal 
discrimination against such individuals, and much of the population 
believed that persons infected with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to 
work.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law recognizes the right of 
workers to form and belong to trade unions, and workers exercised these 
rights in practice. Police officers were not permitted to form unions 
and remained nonunionized at year's end. In 2005 only 11 percent of the 
eligible workforce was employed in the formal sector, and approximately 
60 percent of the formal sector was unionized.
    The Industrial and Labor Relations (IRA) Act establishes burdensome 
registration procedures. For example, no organization can be registered 
unless it has at least 100 members, and with some exceptions, no trade 
union can be registered if it claims to represent a class of employees 
already represented by an existing trade union. Unions may be 
deregistered under certain circumstances; however, the IRA provides for 
notice, reconsideration, and right of appeal to an industrial relations 
court.
    The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members 
and organizers; however, the law was not always enforced.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The right to collective 
bargaining, without government interference, is protected in law and 
freely practiced.
    There are no export processing zones.
    The law provides for the right to strike, except for those engaged 
in ``essential services''; however, there has not been a legal strike 
since 1993. In addition to the Zambia Defense Force, the judiciary, the 
police, the prison service, and the ZSIS, the law also defines 
essential services as any activity relating to the generation, supply, 
or distribution of electricity; the supply and distribution of water; 
sewerage; fire departments; and the maintenance of safe and sound 
conditions in underground working environments such as shafts and 
machinery in the mining sector. The law permits strikes only after all 
other legal recourse has been exhausted, which can be a cumbersome 
process. The law prohibits employers from retribution against employees 
engaged in legal union activities; however, workers engaged in illegal 
strikes did not enjoy this protection. Employers decide whether to 
retain such workers or dismiss them given there is no legal obligation; 
the Government at times intervened for political reasons when such 
dismissals occur.
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not respond to 
striking civil servants with threats of mass firing, arrests, and 
revocation of rally permits.
    There were no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The law 
authorizes the Government to call upon citizens to perform labor in 
specific instances, such as during national emergencies or disasters. 
The Government also may require citizens to perform labor that was 
associated with traditional civil or communal obligations, as when a 
traditional leader or other dignitary called upon all members of a 
village to assist in preparing for a visit; however, there were no 
reports of such activities during the year.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits employment of children in any commercial, agricultural, 
or domestic worksite and the engaging of a child in the worst forms of 
child labor as defined in international conventions. The law also 
prohibits slavery and the procurement or offering of a child for 
illicit activities.
    The minimum age for employment is 18, or, with the consent of a 
parent or guardian, a child may be employed at the age of 16. 
Nevertheless, child labor was a problem in subsistence agriculture, 
domestic service, and informal sectors, where children under the age of 
16 often were employed, and the law was not enforced. The Labor 
Commissioner effectively enforced minimum age requirements in the 
industrial sector, where there was little demand for child labor.
    Approximately 600,000 children were in the work force, of which 
approximately 87 percent worked in the agricultural sector. During the 
year children, often orphans who had lost both parents to HIV/AIDS, 
continued to migrate to urban areas where they lived as street 
children. In urban areas children commonly engaged in street vending.
    Child labor was most concentrated in the areas of construction, 
farming, transportation, prostitution, household work, quarries, and 
mines.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS) is responsible for 
the implementation and enforcement of child labor laws and regulations. 
The MLSS can bring charges that provide for penalties ranging from a 
fine to imprisonment for violations. Labor inspectors may also enter 
family homesteads and agricultural fields to check for child labor 
violations.
    During the year the Government allocated $142,500 (570 million 
kwacha) for MLSS to investigate child labor problems, almost twice the 
amount allocated in 2005. Because more than 80 percent of child labor 
in the country occurred in the agricultural sector, most often with the 
consent of families, the MLSS labor inspectors focused on counseling 
and educating families that engaged children in child labor and did not 
refer any cases for prosecution during the year. The MLSS employed 50 
child labor inspectors in 22 field stations located throughout the 
country; however, it reported that inadequate resources hampered its 
enforcement efforts. For instance, labor inspectors frequently found it 
difficult to access transportation, making it difficult to conduct 
inspections in vast rural areas. Labor inspectors also found it 
difficult to carry out inspections because the majority of child labor 
occurred in informal sectors of the economy that were difficult to 
regulate. As a result, child labor inspectors conducted fewer than 50 
formal inspections during the year, choosing instead to focus their 
efforts on raising awareness and educating the public about child labor 
issues. In cooperation with NGO partners, the Government continued its 
efforts to remove children from child labor. The children, mainly urban 
orphans, were placed in formal and transitional classes, while others 
were given vocational skills training (see Section 5).
    The Government continued to provide awareness and training 
activities for officials charged with enforcing child labor laws and 
also began to train five labor inspectors as prosecutors; however, the 
MLSS reported that resource constraints prevented it from providing all 
required training. During the year the ILO's International Program on 
the Elimination of Child Labor launched a 42-month, $3,900,000 (16 
billion kwacha) project, aimed at building the Government's capacity to 
design, implement and monitor initiatives to address the worst forms of 
child labor as defined in international conventions.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for 
nonunionized workers, whose wages and conditions of employment were not 
regulated through collective bargaining, was determined by category of 
employment. On June 2, the Government published a statutory instrument 
that raised the minimum wage to $67 per month (268,000 kwacha) based on 
a 48-hour workweek, the legal maximum for nonunionized workers. The 
minimum wage did not provide a worker and family with a decent standard 
of living; most minimum wage earners supplemented their incomes through 
second jobs, subsistence farming, or reliance on the extended family. 
The minimum wage act was criticized because it did not apply to 
domestic servants.
    For unionized workers, wage scales and maximum workweek limits were 
established through collective bargaining. In practice almost all 
unionized workers received salaries considerably higher than the 
nonunionized minimum wage. The minimum workweek for full-time 
employment was 40 hours, which was the normal workweek. The law 
requires two days of annual leave per month of service. The law 
provides for overtime pay. Employers must pay employees who work more 
than 48 hours (45 hours in some categories) in one week at a rate of 
one and a half times their hourly rate. Workers receive double the rate 
of their hourly pay for work done on a Sunday or public holiday. The 
Government effectively enforced these standards.
    The law also regulates minimum health standards in industry, and 
city and district councils were responsible for enforcement. The 
inspector of factories under the minister of labor handled factory 
safety; staffing shortages limited enforcement effectiveness. The MLSS 
continued to conduct labor inspections during the year and ordered 
businesses to close when it found significant violations of labor laws. 
The law protects the right of workers to remove themselves from work 
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their 
continued employment, but workers did not exercise this right in 
practice. The Government acted when well-known occupational health 
problems existed, such as requiring that underground mine workers 
receive annual medical examinations. For example, in November, the 
Environmental Council of Zambia ordered Chisteel Zambia Limited, a 
Chinese-owned steel company, to close its factory in Lusaka, citing the 
company's failure to install pollution abatement equipment or to 
provide workers with protective equipment.

                               __________

                                ZIMBABWE

    Zimbabwe, with a population of approximately 11.6 million, is 
constitutionally a republic, but the Government, dominated by President 
Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front 
(ZANU-PF) since independence, was not freely elected and is 
authoritarian. The last two national elections, the Presidential 
election in 2002 and the parliamentary elections in March 2005, were 
not free and fair. Although the constitution allows for multiple 
parties, the ruling party and security forces intimidated and committed 
abuses against opposition parties and their supporters and obstructed 
their activities. The divided Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is 
the country's principal opposition; despite the fraudulent elections, 
the MDC factions held 41 of 120 elected seats in the House of Assembly 
and seven of 50 elected seats in the Senate at year's end. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained control of the security forces, but 
often used them to control opposition to the ruling party.
    The Government engaged in the pervasive and systematic abuse of 
human rights. The ruling party's dominant control and manipulation of 
the political process through intimidation and corruption effectively 
negated the right of citizens to change their government. Unlawful 
killings and politically motivated kidnappings occurred. The state 
sanctioned the use of excessive force and torture, and security forces 
tortured members of the opposition, union leaders, and civil society 
activists. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening. Security 
forces arbitrarily arrested and detained journalists, demonstrators, 
and religious leaders; lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. 
Executive influence and interference in the judiciary were problems. 
The Government continued to forcibly evict citizens and to demolish 
homes. The Government continued to use repressive laws to suppress 
freedom of speech, press, assembly, movement, association, and academic 
freedom. Government corruption and impunity remained widespread. High-
ranking government officials made numerous public threats of violence 
against demonstrators. The following human rights violations also 
continued to occur: harassment of human rights and humanitarian 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and interference with their 
attempts to provide humanitarian assistance; violence and 
discrimination against women; child labor and prostitution; 
discrimination against persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities; 
an increase in the number of HIV/AIDS orphans and child-headed 
households; harassment and interference with labor organizations 
critical of government policies; and attempts to supplant legitimate 
labor leaders with hand-picked supporters.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the 
previous year, there were no reports of politically motivated killings 
by the Government or ruling party supporters; however, security forces 
killed several persons during apprehension.
    On June 29, two police officers in Bulawayo assaulted a group of 
men at a bar when they overheard one of the patrons saying that he 
wished President Mugabe had died instead of the recently deceased 
minister of information and publicity. Two of the men, Gift Jubane and 
Prince Ndebele, died a day later as a result of their injuries. The 
other victims, several of whom required hospitalization, reported that 
during the beating police accused them of working with the MDC to 
topple the Government. The two unidentified police officers were 
suspended. An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of killings by 
war veterans or ZANU-PF supporters.
    There were no developments in the following killings from 2005: the 
March killing of Gift Chimbandi, a war veteran burned to death 
reportedly as a result of a dispute with other war veterans living on a 
seized farm; the April killing of a 70-year-old grandmother, who was 
beaten to death during an assault on suspected MDC supporters; the 
April killing of Ebrahim Mofat, who was beaten to death for suspicion 
of burning houses belonging to ZANU-PF supporters; and the May killing 
of Godwin Ganda, a war veteran believed to have spearheaded the first 
farm occupation in the country in 1998.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners 
died from abuse by prison officials or guards.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of disappearances during 
the year; however, there were reports of politically motivated 
kidnappings and related torture committed by ZANU-PF supporters. 
Domestic human rights organizations believed that many such incidents 
were not reported due to fear of retribution by progovernment factions. 
The Government often did not investigate reported abductions and 
torture of MDC supporters.
    For example, on July 9, eight unidentified men reportedly abducted 
an MDC youth organizer in Chitungwiza and took him to a nearby army 
barracks where he was left with a group of soldiers. The victim, who 
was released after a few hours, claimed that his abductors told the 
soldiers he was an MDC supporter, and that the soldiers beat him during 
an interrogation to elicit the names of other soldiers who were 
assisting the MDC in organizing opposition to the Government. The 
soldiers threatened to kill the youth if he went to the authorities.
    No action was taken against ZANU-PF supporters responsible for the 
February 2005 abduction of MDC candidate Godfrey Gumboand, nor the 
April 2005 abductions of Wilson Mushonga, the son of an MDC candidate, 
and a group of his colleagues.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits torture and other 
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, security forces 
continued to engage in such practices. Police reportedly used excessive 
force in apprehending and detaining criminal suspects, as well as 
ordinary citizens, for holding meetings or participating in 
demonstrations. Government supporters continued to assault suspected 
opposition members. Violent confrontations between various youth groups 
aligned with either the Government or the opposition continued.
    Human rights groups reported that physical and psychological 
torture perpetrated by security agents and government supporters 
increased during the year. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum recorded 
337 cases of torture during the first nine months of the year. Youth 
militia forces, trained by ZANU-PF, were deployed to harass and 
intimidate suspected supporters of the MDC and Zimbabwe Congress of 
Trade Unions (ZCTU).
    There were reports of indoctrination against political opposition 
(see Section 5).
    Security forces committed political violence, including instances 
where soldiers and persons in military uniforms beat civilians, 
particularly in areas suspected of heavy support for the opposition. 
Army and police units participated in or provided logistical support to 
perpetrators of political violence and generally permitted their 
activities. Individuals targeted for harassment and torture tended to 
be active members of the opposition or high-level ZANU-PF members in 
disfavor with the ruling party. According to the Human Rights Watch 
(HRW) report You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten--The Brutal Suppression of 
Dissent in Zimbabwe, ``police have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of 
civil society activists'' for participating in ``routine meetings or 
peaceful demonstrations, often with excessive force, and in some cases 
subjected those in custody to severe beatings that amounted to 
torture.''
    No action was taken against the perpetrators of the following 2005 
abuse cases: the February abduction and torture by unidentified persons 
of a Curuve man believed to be an MDC supporter; the April arrest and 
beating by police of MDC MP-elect Nelson Chamisa; or the assaults and 
intimidation through the year of persons perceived to be supporting the 
opposition, including teachers, civil servants, health workers, and 
laborers.
    The trial of Kenny Karidza, who was arrested and tortured in 2004 
for allegedly selling state secrets to foreign governments, had not 
begun by year's end.
    On September 13, police arrested more than 100 members of the ZCTU 
to prevent the labor movement from staging nationwide marches planned 
that day. Police severely beat several of the organizers, including 
ZCTUScretary General Wellington Chibebe (see Section 6.a.). Numerous 
ZCTU members were hospitalized as a result of their injuries.
    War veterans and ZANU-PF supporters continued to harass, 
intimidate, and abuse journalists considered to be sympathetic to the 
opposition (see Section 2.a.).
    Security forces repeatedly used force to disperse nonviolent 
gatherings and demonstrations; security forces also beat participants 
and demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
    There was at least one report of a politically motivated rape 
during the year. A woman alleged that police in Harare detained her for 
three days after she attended an MDC meeting in April. Upon her 
release, she claimed that police forced her into a van and took her to 
an isolated area where a police officer raped and beat her. The victim 
reported that the police officer threatened her with death if she 
reported the incident.
    According to a Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project report 
released in December, at least 15 percent of Zimbabwean women refugees 
interviewed at a counseling center in Johannesburg, South Africa 
between February 2005 and September 2006 reported they had been raped 
in Zimbabwe; the victims most frequently named members of ZANU-PF, 
police, military, and the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) as 
the perpetrators.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life-threatening. The Government's 47 prisons were designed 
for a capacity of 16,000 prisoners but held approximately 25,000 
according to media reports. In December 2004 the Law Society of 
Zimbabwe (LSZ) conducted a prison inspection at Khami Maximum Prison in 
Bulawayo. The inspection revealed that the prison, built to accommodate 
650 prisoners, had 1,167 inmates. Poor sanitary conditions persisted, 
which aggravated outbreaks of cholera, diarrhea, measles, tuberculosis, 
and HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Human rights activists familiar with 
prison conditions reported constant shortages of food, water, 
electricity, clothing, and soap.
    Harsh prison conditions and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS were 
widely acknowledged to have contributed to a large number of deaths in 
prison. The Institute of Correctional and Securities Studies, a local 
NGO, estimated that 52 percent of the country's prisoners were HIV 
positive. One doctor who worked with former prisoners in the Harare 
area estimated that the prevalence figure was closer to 60 percent. In 
February Zimbabwe Prisons Service Commissioner General Paradzai Zimondi 
described the mortality rate in prisons as a ``cause for concern.''
    The LSZ also reported that 127 prisoners in Khami prison died in 
2004; the deaths were attributed to overcrowding and unsanitary 
conditions resulting in the spread of diseases, including tuberculosis.
    In August the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) reported 
that torture in prisons was common. IWPR quoted Roy Bennett, a former 
MDC parliamentary deputy jailed for eight months in Chikurubi prison 
beginning in 2005, as saying he saw other prisoners ``crippled'' from 
beating on the soles of their feet. Bennett added that ``if you are too 
slow in sitting down or squatting--because you can't talk to the guards 
standing up, you have to grovel on the floor to talk to them--you are 
beaten.''
    The Government did not make any efforts to improve prison 
conditions during the year.
    Juveniles were not held separately from adults. The Prison 
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, a local Christian organization working with 
former inmates, estimated that more than 200 children were living in 
the country's prison system with their detained mothers. Pretrial 
detainees generally were held in group cells until their bail hearings. 
Once charged, if detainees were refused bail, they were held in a 
separate remand prison.
    The law provides that international human rights monitors have the 
right to visit prisons, but government procedures and requirements made 
it very difficult to do so. Permission was required from the 
commissioner of prisons and the minister of justice, which sometimes 
was not granted or took a month or longer to obtain. The Government 
granted local NGOs access on a number of occasions during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, some laws effectively 
weakened this prohibition, and security forces repeatedly arbitrarily 
arrested and detained persons.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Zimbabwe Republic 
Police (ZRP) is responsible for maintaining law and order. Although the 
ZRP officially is under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 
in practice the President's office controlled some roles and missions. 
The Zimbabwe National Army and Air Force, under the Defense Ministry, 
were responsible for external security; however, there were cases in 
which the Government called upon them for domestic operations. The CIO, 
under the Ministry of State for National Security, is responsible for 
internal and external security. The police, the military, and the CIO 
became increasingly politicized as they were frequently used to 
suppress dissent and opposition to the Government.
    The police are centrally controlled, with the command center in 
Harare. The police are hierarchically divided, with provincial 
headquarters overseeing two to three district headquarters, each of 
which supervises up to seven stations. Severely depleted human and 
material resources, especially fuel, further reduced police 
effectiveness during the year. It was difficult for rank-and-file 
police to remain impartial due to continued politicization within the 
force's upper echelons, which further lowered their professionalism. 
There also were reports that untrained or unqualified personnel were 
hired into the police solely because of their support for ZANU-PF. 
Corruption increased in part due to low salaries and a worsening 
economy.

    Arrest and Detention.--Arrests require court-issued warrants. The 
law requires that police inform an arrested person of the charges 
before taking the individual into custody. Although the law requires a 
preliminary hearing before a magistrate within 48 hours of an arrest 
(or 96 hours over a weekend), authorities disregarded the law if a 
person did not have legal representation. Police typically arrested 
individuals accused of political crimes on Friday, which permitted 
legal detention until Monday. In several cases police claimed not to 
know where they were holding a detained individual, which delayed a 
hearing on bail release. There were multiple reports of security forces 
arbitrarily arresting opposition and civil society activists, 
interrogating and beating them for information about their 
organization's activities, and then releasing them the next day without 
charges. Security forces rarely were held accountable for abuses.
    Although the Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act substantially 
reduces the power of magistrates to grant bail without the consent of 
the Attorney General or his agents, in practice a circular issued by 
the Attorney General giving a general authority to grant bail lessened 
the negative effect of the law. High court judges granted bail 
independently. The Act allows police to hold persons suspected of 
committing economic crimes for up to four weeks without bail.
    Authorities often did not allow detainees prompt or regular access 
to their lawyers and often informed lawyers who attempted to visit 
their clients that detainees were ``not available'' (see Section 1.e.). 
In February, for example, police officials in Harare denied activists 
arrested during the annual Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) Valentine's 
Day march access to their attorney, Tafadzwa Mugabe, for five days. 
Family members sometimes were denied access unless accompanied by an 
attorney. Detainees, particularly those from rural areas without legal 
representation, sometimes were held incommunicado. Family members and 
attorneys often could not verify that a person had been detained until 
the detainee appeared in court.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that victims or 
witnesses of crimes were detained or charged with the crime after 
reporting it to police.
    The Official Secrets Act, Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and 
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (``the criminal code'') 
grant the Government a wide range of legal powers and give extensive 
powers to the police, the minister of home affairs, and the President 
to prosecute persons for political and security crimes that are not 
clearly defined.
    The July enactment of the amended criminal code served to repeal 
the Sexual Offenses Act (SOA) and consolidated a variety of criminal 
offenses, including crimes against public order. The Institute for 
Justice and Reconciliation and the Solidarity Peace Trust reported that 
almost all the offenses in POSA were transferred to the criminal code, 
in some cases with drastic increases in the penalties. For instance, 
making a false statement prejudicial to the state now carries a maximum 
prison sentence of up to 20 years in prison. POSA requires that an 
organizer of a meeting or demonstration give the requisite notice to 
police before holding a public event; such requests were routinely 
denied (see Section 2.b.).
    Police arbitrarily arrested journalists and religious leaders (see 
Sections 2.a. and 2.c.).
    Police arrested persons holding meetings and during forcible 
dispersal of gatherings (see Section 2.b.).
    There were no developments in the arrest cases reported in 2005 and 
2004.
    Prolonged pretrial detention remained a problem, and some detainees 
were incarcerated as long as nine years before trial or sentencing 
because of a critical shortage of magistrates and court interpreters. 
One prominent NGO estimated that in 2005 the courts would require at 
least two years to address the backlog of cases.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary; however the judiciary was under intense pressure 
to conform to government policies, and the Government repeatedly 
refused to abide by judicial decisions.
    The law provides for a unitary court system consisting of headmen's 
courts, chiefs' courts, magistrates' courts, the high court, and the 
Supreme Court. Civil and customary law cases may be heard at all levels 
of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court.
    Magistrates, who are part of the civil service rather than the 
judiciary, heard the vast majority of cases. Legal experts said that 
increasingly defendants in politically sensitive cases were more likely 
to receive a fair hearing in magistrates' lower courts than in higher 
courts where justices were more likely to make political decisions. 
Other judicial officers such as prosecutors and private attorneys also 
faced political pressure.
    The Government and police routinely failed to enforce court 
decisions that went against their interests. Furthermore, the 
Government routinely continued to delay payment of court costs or 
judgments awarded against it in civil cases.
    Judges are appointed to serve until the age of 65 and may extend 
their terms until the age of 70 if they remain in good physical and 
mental health. The constitution provides that they may be removed from 
the bench only for gross misconduct and that they cannot be discharged 
or transferred for political reasons.
    In January the high court found Justice Benjamin Paradza guilty of 
obstruction of justice for trying to influence a fellow judge in a 
murder case. Paradza, charged in 2003, maintained that consultations 
with colleagues were common among judges and were not improper. Paradza 
reportedly fled the country; the judge sentenced him in absentia.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial; however, this right frequently was compromised in practice 
due to political pressures. Trials were held by judges without juries 
and were open to the public, except in certain security cases. Every 
defendant has the right to a lawyer of his choosing, but a local 
attorney reported that most defendants in magistrates' courts did not 
have legal representation. In criminal cases an indigent defendant may 
apply to have the Government provide an attorney, but this was rarely 
granted except in capital cases where the Government provided an 
attorney for all defendants unable to afford one. Litigants in civil 
cases may request legal assistance from the NGO Legal Resources 
Foundation or Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
    Attorneys sometimes were denied access to their clients (see 
Section 1.d.). Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, the right 
to present witnesses, and the right to question witnesses against them; 
however, these rights were not always observed in practice. In 2005 a 
local NGO reported that the Government sometimes denied those rights 
for political reasons. Defendants and their attorneys generally had 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. The right 
to appeal exists in all cases and is automatic in cases in which the 
death penalty is imposed.
    The Zimbabwe Women's Lawyers Association (ZWLA) reported in 2005 
that some magistrates in the country were not aware of some of the 
contents of the SOA, that the law was in effect, or lacked complete 
understanding of how to apply it. ZWLA's research illustrated that many 
magistrates continued to make judgments based on old laws.
    There was a large volume of rape cases in the Harare victim-
friendly courts, special courts created to accommodate children and 
sexual offense victims, that had specially trained magistrates and 
prosecutors and equipment that allows the victims to testify without 
being seen. These courts were understaffed, in part because many 
magistrates left the country seeking to improve their circumstances
    Military courts deal with courts-martial and disciplinary 
proceedings only for military personnel. Police courts, which can 
sentence a police officer to confinement in a camp or demotion, handle 
disciplinary and misconduct cases. Defendants in these courts have the 
right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were numerous reports of 
political detainees throughout the year, including opposition 
officials, their supporters, and civil society activists. Most were 
held for one or two days and released. During the year police severely 
beat and tortured numerous opposition and civil society leaders while 
in detention (see Section 1.c.). At year's end there were no political 
detainees in police custody.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of political 
prisoners.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters; however, in practice the 
judiciary showed indications of being politically influenced or 
intimidated in cases involving high-ranking government officials, 
politically connected persons, or violations of human rights. There 
were systematic problems enforcing domestic court orders, as resources 
for the judiciary and police were severely strained (see Section 2.a.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but 
the Government did not respect these provisions in practice. Security 
forces searched homes and offices without warrants; the Government was 
believed to monitor some private correspondence and telephones, 
particularly international communications; and the Government forcibly 
displaced persons from their homes. The Government coerced ruling party 
support in food distribution and agricultural inputs (see Section 3).
    The law permits the Government to monitor and intercept e-mails 
entering and leaving the country. Security services reportedly 
continued to monitor e-mail and Internet activity and acquired new 
technology to do so; however, the extent of monitoring was unknown (see 
Section 2.a.).
    Failure to serve court orders was a problem (see Section 2.a.).
    In May 2005 the Government embarked on Operation Restore Order 
without prior notice, in which more than 700,000 persons lost their 
homes, their means of livelihood, or both. The Government's stated 
reason for the operation was to curb illegal economic activities and 
crime in slums and illegal settlements in several cities and towns, but 
it made no provision for the affected before beginning the operation. 
Those who returned to rural areas often faced unemployment, food 
shortages, and other economic and social stresses. An estimated 300,000 
children lost access to education as a result of displacement. The 
operation disrupted medical care, particularly for HIV/AIDS patients. 
The Government reportedly prevented or interfered with UN and other 
humanitarian organizations' efforts to provide shelter and food 
assistance. The Government's actions were widely condemned by local 
civil society organizations and the international community.
    In July 2005 the Government announced a new operation, Garikai 
(Shona for ``live well''), supposedly to provide housing plots for new 
homes and to set up new vending sites for those who lost homes or 
businesses; the program proceeded slowly.
    During the year the Government continued with a campaign of forced 
evictions and the demolition of homes and businesses in high-density 
suburbs in several cities and towns despite a court order prohibiting 
further evictions.
    On June 15, municipal police in Harare forcibly evicted a group of 
approximately 150 persons living on land previously razed during 
Operation Restore Order.
    On July 14 and 15, police demolished the Magaba informal 
marketplace in Harare's high-density suburb of Mbare, displacing 
approximately 200 vendors who made their livelihoods at the market.
    In September police in Harare evicted 20 families from the Epworth 
high-density suburb and 35 vendors from Glen View 1 high-density 
suburb.
    A September Amnesty International study confirmed that ``despite 
the Government's numerous public statements about a reconstruction 
program to address the homelessness created by Operation Restore Order, 
almost none of the victims have received any assistance from the 
Government.'' The AI study found that while authorities demolished more 
than 92,000 homes, the Government has only built approximately 3,300 
new permanent shelters for those displaced as of May. Many of the 
displaced persons were unable to afford the program application fee or 
the cost of a housing plot if one was made available to them. There 
were credible reports that civil servants, military, and ruling party 
supporters were the main beneficiaries of the plots and vending sites.
    A 2005 constitutional amendment transferred title of all land 
previously acquired to the state, prohibited court challenges to the 
acquisitions, and allowed the Government to acquire any agricultural 
land for any purpose simply by publishing a notice of acquisition.
    Disruptions at farms and seizures of property continued and were 
sometimes violent. In September the Government summoned two white 
commercial farmers in Karoi to appear in magistrates' court for failing 
to vacate their properties after receiving 90-day notices. A magistrate 
in the lower court, however, declined to hear the matter and dismissed 
the case for lack of jurisdiction. The eviction notices were also 
subject to a pending legal challenge in the high court at year's end. 
During the year, more than 80 white commercial farmers were ordered to 
surrender their land to the Government, leaving approximately 500 of an 
original 4,500 large-scale producing farmers in the country. On 
December 20, the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act passed 
into law requiring all farmers whose land was compulsorily acquired by 
the Government and who are not in possession of an official offer 
letter, permit, or lease, to cease to occupy, hold, or use that land 
within 45 days and vacate their homes within 90 days. According to a 
local NGO, only a small number of farmers had received an offer letter 
or lease. Failure to comply is a criminal offense punishable by a 
maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800.00) and a maximum prison sentence of up to 
two years.
    In 2004 the Government evicted and burned the homes of thousands of 
families accused of squatting on farms acquired by the Government in 
Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East, and Manicaland. The Government 
blocked international organizations from assisting these displaced 
farmers. Many of the affected were displaced again during Operation 
Restore Order.
    No action was taken against security officials involved in numerous 
2005 cases of land invasions, seizures of property, and attacks on farm 
owners and workers.
    No action was taken, nor was any anticipated, in the numerous other 
reported 2005 and 2004 cases of arbitrary interference with citizens' 
homes.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of expression, but legislation limits this freedom in the 
``interest of defense, public safety, public order, state economic 
interests, public morality, and public health.'' The Government 
restricted this right in practice. Journalists and publishers practiced 
self-censorhip.
    The Government continued to restrict freedom of speech, 
particularly by independent sources or those making or publicizing 
comments critical of President Mugabe. Using POSA authority, the 
Government arrested individuals for criticizing Mugabe in public; they 
were usually fined and released.
    In February Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, a local NGO, quoted 
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa as stating the authorities would 
``not relent in their determination to hound into extinction the 
country's few remaining alternative sources of information.'' SW Radio 
Africa reported that Mutasa warned journalists that ``the net will soon 
close in on them,'' stating they were ``threatening national security'' 
and accusing them of selling out the country to the ``enemy by writing 
falsehoods with the intention of agitating violence.''
    The Ministry for Information and Publicity controlled the state-run 
media while the Ministry for National Security acquired a controlling 
financial interest in the Daily Mirror, a formerly privately owned 
newspaper. Consequently, the Government controlled the only three daily 
newspapers--the Chronicle, the Herald, and the Daily Mirror. The news 
coverage in these newspapers, and in the state-controlled media as a 
whole, generally positively portrayed the activities of government 
officials, negatively portrayed opposition parties and other 
antigovernment groups, and downplayed events or information that 
reflected adversely on the Government.
    There were two independent major weekly newspapers, the Zimbabwe 
Independent and the Standard, and a semi-independent weekly paper, the 
Financial Gazette, all three of which continued to operate despite 
threats and pressure from the Government. The newspapers continued to 
criticize the Government and ruling party; however, they also continued 
to exercise some self-censorship due to government intimidation and the 
continuing prospect of prosecution under criminal libel and security 
laws.
    None of the media outlets closed in previous years were re-opened. 
The four newspapers closed by the Government in the last three years 
remained closed.
    Radio remained an important medium of public communication, 
particularly for the majority of the population living in rural areas. 
The Government controlled all domestic radio broadcasting stations 
through the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, supervised by 
the Ministry for Information and Publicity.
    There were credible reports that the deputy minister of information 
routinely reviewed ZBC news and repeatedly excised reports on the 
activities of groups and organizations opposed to or critical of the 
Government.
    The popularity of independent shortwave and medium wave radio 
broadcasts to the country continued to grow resulting in government 
jamming of news broadcasts by radio stations based in other countries. 
Voice of America (VOA) and SW Radio Africa based in the United Kingdom 
were both jammed for extended periods of time during the year.
    In December there were reports that CIO agents seized radios 
donated to teachers in the area of Gokwe. A local Gokwe magistrate 
ordered the radios returned after ZLHR successfully filed a complaint. 
Gokwe police, however, reportedly refused to serve the court order, 
leaving the ZLHR lawyers to do it themselves.
    The Government controlled the only domestically based television 
broadcasting station.
    The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has not issued licenses to 
private television and radio broadcasters since its establishment in 
2001. All televisions and radios in the country must be registered with 
the Government.
    International satellite television broadcasts were available freely 
through private firms, but were not available to most citizens due to 
their expense and the requirement for payment in foreign currency.
    Security forces arbitrarily harassed, arrested, and detained 
journalists who contributed to published stories critical of government 
policies or security force operations.
    On January 18, police in Mutare arrested Sydney Saize, an 
independent journalist, for allegedly filing a false story for VOA 
claiming that militants of the ruling ZANU-PF party had beaten teachers 
in the city. Police released Saize without charge after detaining him 
for three days.
    On April 30, police in the southwestern border town of Plumtree 
arrested Beauty Mokoba and Keketso Seofela, journalists with Botswana 
Television, for allegedly investigating an outbreak of foot-and-mouth 
disease in Botswana and the possible connection with cross-border 
cattle rustling. Police released the two journalists after two days and 
charged them under the Access to Information and Privacy Protection Act 
(AIPPA) for allegedly practicing journalism without accreditation. The 
trial of the two journalists was pending at year's end.
    On July 19, police arrested and detained Godwin Mangudya, a 
freelance journalist, and Ndamu Sandu, a journalist for the Standard, 
while covering a Combined Harare Resident's Association demonstration 
against City of Harare officials. Police released the two journalists 
after they each paid an admission of guilt fine under the Miscellaneous 
Offences Act.
    On September 13, police arrested and detained Mike Saburi, a 
freelance camera person attempting to cover the ZCTU demonstrations. 
Prosecutors withdrew charges and released Saburi from remand before he 
could enter a plea.
    Unlike in the previous year, immigration officials did not seize 
the passports of a newspaper owner; however, in December the Government 
announced a decision to strip a newspaper owner of his citizenship and 
not to renew his passport (see Section 3, Elections and Political 
Participation).
    During the year the Government failed to provide a conclusive 
resolution of investigations into the 2002 bombing of independent 
shortwave broadcast station Voice of the People's (VOP) Harare offices, 
but intensified the harassment of VOP staff and board members. In 
December 2005 police and officials from the Government appointed by the 
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe raided the VOP's offices and 
arrested three journalists and the station manager for operating 
without a license. This harassment continued during the year with legal 
measures and intimidation. On January 19, police arrested and detained 
four employees of Arnold Tsunga, one of the VOP trustees facing trial, 
for failing to disclose Tsunga's whereabouts to police. Two days later 
another set of police officers visited the house of Nhlanhla Ngwenya, 
another trustee of VOP, and threatened to take away some of his 
properties as ransom.
    On September 25, the state argued for a third postponement in the 
trial. The Harare magistrate refused to place the defendants on further 
remand, effectively dropping the charges. However, he did not rule that 
they could again operate as VOP, did not order the return of their 
seized equipment, and did not set the date of the next hearing.
    There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 cases of 
harassment, abuse, and detention of journalists.
    The Government continued to use AIPPA, signed by President Mugabe 
in February 2002, to serve as the primary justification to control 
media content. The main provisions of the law give the Government 
extensive powers to control the media and suppress free speech by 
requiring the registration of journalists and prohibiting the ``abuse 
of free expression.''
    In January the Media and Information Commission (MIC), created 
under the AIPPA, threatened to cancel the license of the Financial 
Gazette if it did not retract a story that had questioned the 
commission's independence from government. On January 29, the 
commission refused to renew the accreditation of fifteen journalists 
working for the Zimbabwe Independent, until the paper retracted a 
similar story.
    The legal wrangling between the MIC and the Associated Newspapers 
of Zimbabwe that began with the 2003 banning of the independent Daily 
News and its Sunday edition for not having registered for a license, 
continued to move from court to court.
    In February the Government passed the General Laws Amendment Act 
(GLAA), which amends sections of the POSA to allow authorities to 
monitor and censor ``the publication of false statements that will 
engender feelings of hostility towards--or cause hatred, contempt or 
ridicule of--the President or acting President.'' The GLAA recommends a 
jail term for any journalist who ``insults the President or 
communicates falsehoods.''
    The criminal code makes it an offense to publish or communicate 
false statements prejudicial to the state. Legal experts have 
criticized this section saying that it imposes limits on freedom of 
expression beyond those permitted by the constitution. An extremely 
broad Official Secrets Act makes it a crime to divulge any information 
acquired in the course of official duties. In addition, antidefamation 
laws criminalize libel of both public and private persons.
    The Broadcasting Services Act, which parliament's legal committee 
found to be unconstitutional but which was still in force, gives the 
minister of information final authority to issue and revoke 
broadcasting licenses. The act allows for one independent radio 
broadcaster and one independent television broadcaster but requires 
them to broadcast with a government-controlled signal carrier. 
Throughout the year legal rights groups criticized the act for limiting 
free speech.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the 
Internet; however, the law permits the Government to monitor all 
international e-mail messages entering and leaving the country, and 
security services reportedly continued to monitor Internet activity 
(see Section 1.f.). Internet access was available but due to a lack of 
infrastructure was not widely accessed by the public beyond commercial 
centers.
    In September parliament began consideration of an Interception of 
Communications Bill that would greatly expand the Government's ability 
to monitor internal communications and Internet usage. The proposed 
bill generated a significant amount of domestic and international 
criticism given its potential to further suppress freedom of expression 
in the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom. The University of Zimbabwe Amendment Act and the 
National Council for Higher Education Act restricted the independence 
of universities, subjecting them to government influence and extending 
the disciplinary powers of the university authorities over staff and 
students. On October 1, the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education Act 
came into effect, which mandates the establishment of a nine-member 
council made up of members of the higher educational community from 
both public and private institutions. The council advises the minister 
on matters pertaining to education, including funding for higher 
education and accreditation of higher education institutions. The 
minister of higher education and technology, however, selects and 
appoints the council members and continues to control the state 
universities and appoint their chancellors and vice chancellors; the 
minister also appoints vice chancellors and other senior members of 
university administration, the deans of faculty, and most members of 
the university council.
    CIO personnel have taken on faculty and other positions and have 
posed as students at the University of Zimbabwe and other state 
universities to intimidate and gather intelligence on faculty who speak 
out against government policies as well as on students who might 
protest government actions. In response to intense government scrutiny, 
both faculty and students often practice self-censorship in the 
classroom and academic work. According to the Zimbabwe National 
Students Union, seven students were suspended or expelled during the 
year for engaging in student activism (see Section 2.b.).
    Cont Mhlanga of Amakohosi Theatre Productions in Bulawayo was 
arrested and briefly detained in early May on the grounds that his 
plays were antigovernment and meant to incite an uprising against the 
Mugabe regime.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however, 
the Government restricted this right in practice through laws such as 
POSA, which many legal experts believed were unconstitutional. POSA 
does not require permits for meetings or processions, but it requires 
that organizers notify the police of their intentions to hold a public 
gathering seven days in advance. Failure to do so results in criminal 
prosecution as well as civil liability. Although many groups that 
conducted meetings did not seek permits, other groups informed the 
police of their planned events and were denied permission, or their 
requests went unanswered. Police insisted that their permission was 
required to hold public gatherings and sometimes approved requests; 
however, they disrupted many events whether or not permission was 
sought. Police personnel attended many political meetings without 
invitation, ostensibly to protect attendees from potential violence by 
unruly persons. The CIO also routinely sent personnel undercover to 
monitor meetings perceived to be potentially antigovernment.
    The police repeatedly used force to break up nonviolent 
demonstrations by critics of the Government and erected roadblocks in 
urban areas to prevent public gatherings from taking place. Police also 
arrested numerous demonstrators during the year. For example, in 
February police in Harare arrested 63 members of WOZA during the 
group's annual Valentine's Day demonstration. The marchers were 
released after a few days and in August a court magistrate found the 
women not guilty, ruling that the demonstration did not constitute a 
breach of public peace. In Bulawayo more than a hundred WOZA marchers 
were arrested for the Valentine's Day march, but all were released 
after a short detention without charges.
    On February 23, police arrested 62 National Constitutional Assembly 
(NCA) supporters in Harare as they protested on President Mugabe's 
birthday. The protesters were initially charged under the Miscellaneous 
Offences Act for allegedly breaching the peace, but all were released 
the next day after they paid admission of guilt fines.
    On May 4, police in Bulawayo arrested 185 WOZA supporters, 
including 73 children, who marched against escalating school fees for 
the term that began that month. The children were released the same day 
and the adults five days later. WOZA also conducted a smaller 
demonstration against school fees in Harare, but there was no police 
response.
    On August 21, WOZA supporters demonstrated against the Government's 
currency redenomination program. Police in Bulawayo arrested 183 women; 
they were detained for several days and then released.
    On September 13, police arrested, detained, and beat more than 100 
members of the ZCTU to prevent the labor movement from staging country-
wide marches planned for that day (see Section 6.a.).
    On September 20, police ordered approximately 180 demonstrating 
members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) to sit on the 
ground. Police then beat and arrested the demonstrators. Police 
released the demonstrators that evening after each paid a fine.
    On September 25, police violently disrupted a peaceful march by 
about 500 NCA members demonstrating for a new constitution and 
protesting the September 13 assaults. After ordering the demonstrators 
to sit, police beat them, triggering a stampede in which 24 persons 
were injured.
    On November 29, police in Bulawayo arrested and detained more than 
50 WOZA demonstrators, including children, marching to commemorate the 
international campaign ``16 Days of Gender Activism'' and the release 
of the group's Peoples' Charter. Numerous persons were injured in a 
stampede, including a one-year-old baby who suffered a broken leg when 
police attempted to disperse the crowd by beating the demonstrators. 
Several WOZA members also alleged that police beat them during 
detention. Police released 23 of the demonstrators that night and 
released the remaining group two days later. The demonstrators awaited 
trial at year's end. There were no reports of action taken against the 
police.
    There was no further action in the 2005 cases in which opposition 
political figures were harassed or arrested by government authorities.
    In response to growing unrest among student groups angered at 
increasing tuition, the Government stepped up its harassment of 
university student unions. For instance, on February 15, police 
arrested and quickly released 20 student protesters at Bulawayo's 
National University of Science and Technology. On September 8, police 
arrested and briefly detained 70 student leaders in Mutare.
    High-ranking government officials, including President Mugabe and 
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, used the state-controlled media 
to threaten violence against anyone who protested against the 
Government. In the weeks prior to the ZCTU protests, the state-
controlled newspaper the Sunday Mail quoted Mutasa as saying the 
protest would be a ``grave mistake,'' and that security forces would 
not hesitate to ``crush'' the protesters. On September 25, President 
Mugabe defended the September 13 assault on ZCTU protestors by telling 
a crowd of supporters that the ZCTU organizers who ``resisted police 
orders'' were inviting a violent response. According to an HRW report 
released in November, assault and arrest of peaceful demonstrators 
appeared to be intended to harass and deter activists from engaging in 
their right to assemble.
    There was no action taken against police who used excessive force 
to disperse a number of demonstrations and rallies in 2005 and 2004.

    Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution and law provide 
for freedom of association, the Government restricted this right in 
practice for many organizations. Organizations generally were free of 
governmental interference as long as the Government viewed their 
activities as nonpolitical. ZANU-PF supporters, sometimes with 
government support or acquiescence, intimidated and abused members of 
organizations perceived to be associated with the opposition (see 
Section 1.c.). The Government raided the offices and inquired into the 
activities of some NGOs it believed opposed government policies (see 
Section 4).
    The formation of political parties and unions was not restricted; 
however, the Government interfered with activities of political parties 
and unions during the year (see Sections 3, 6.a. and 6.b.).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. The Government and the religious communities historically 
have had good relations; however, the Government continued to criticize 
and harass religious leaders who spoke out against the Government's 
human rights abuses. Church leaders and members who criticized the 
Government faced arrest, detention, and, in the case of foreigners, 
possible deportation.
    In August police arrested Bishop Levee Kadenge, Reverend Pius 
Wakatama, Reverend Ancelimo Magaya, and Reverend Brian Mungwindi, four 
leaders of the Christian Alliance, after a meeting of the Christian 
Alliance leadership. Police released the group without charge after 
questioning them about the activities of their organization and plans 
to start a political party.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the 
Government forced congregants to dismantle their places of worship.
    Religious organizations that operate schools or medical facilities 
are required to register those specific institutions with the 
appropriate ministry regulating their activities.
    Traditional indigenous religions generally included or accommodated 
belief in the efficacy of witchcraft, which was viewed at times as the 
cause of unknown diseases. Harmful witchcraft was sometimes used for 
defensive or retaliatory purposes. The Government amended the widely 
criticized Witchcraft Suppression Act that identifies witchcraft 
practices as ``those commonly associated with witchcraft'' and 
criminalizes those practices only if intended to cause harm. Under this 
new framework, spoken words alone are no longer considered to be a 
witchcraft practice or evidence of illegal activity. The amendment 
criminalizes witch hunts, imposes criminal penalties for falsely 
accusing others of witchcraft, and rejects the killing of a witch as a 
defense for murder. At year's end there were no new or outstanding 
cases under the witchcraft law. Attacks on individuals in witchcraft-
related cases appear to be prosecuted under laws for assault, murder, 
or other crimes.
    Tension between government and some indigenous churches resulted 
from the latter's disdain for scientifically-based medical practices. 
Some members of indigenous churches and groups believed in healing 
through prayer only and refused to have their children vaccinated. The 
Ministry of Health had limited success in vaccinating children against 
communicable childhood diseases in these religious communities. Human 
rights activists also criticized these indigenous churches for 
sanctioning marriages for underage girls.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of Muslims being 
refused time to worship by employers.

    Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--There were no 
reports of societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against 
members of religious groups, including interreligious and 
intrareligious incidents.
    There were approximately 270 Jews in the country. There were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights; however, the Government restricted them in practice.
    During the year police continued routinely to erect roadblocks 
staffed with armed police in and around cities and rural districts, 
especially during election periods and before demonstrations and 
opposition meetings. In August when the Government issued new currency 
notes to replace old bills, police significantly increased the number 
of roadblocks and the intensity of their searches. Additionally, the 
Government deployed soldiers and youth service training center 
graduates to augment the roadblocks and border security. Police claimed 
that they were looking for criminals, smuggled goods and food, illegal 
weapons, or in the August exercise ``excessive'' amounts of cash, but 
legal rights groups asserted that the measures were designed to 
discourage or limit opposition organizing. Periodic roadblocks 
established by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority along the main highways 
from South Africa and Botswana to search for foreign currency remained 
in place. Police also searched for and confiscated smuggled maize at 
roadblocks on major roads.
    A 2005 constitutional amendment allows the Government to restrict 
foreign travel for reasons of national security and public order. Since 
the high court ruled in December 2005 that the seizure of passports 
from three regime critics was illegal and ordered their return, there 
have been no further attempts to seize passports under the amendment. 
In December, however, the Government announced a decision to strip a 
newspaper owner of his citizenship and not to renew his passport (see 
Section 3, Elections and Political Participation.).
    During the year travel bans on a variety of persons remained in 
effect, including British government officials, members of the British 
parliament, a foreign human rights activist, and journalists. Foreign 
correspondents were denied visas during the year. The Government's 
immigration authorities denied entry to a delegation of foreign labor 
unionists.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports 
that the Government employed forced exile. A number of persons, 
including former government officials, prominent businessmen, human 
rights lawyers, left the country and remained in self-imposed exile.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Following Operation Restore 
Order in May 2005, the number of internally displaced persons increased 
dramatically. According to the UN special envoy's report released in 
July 2005, an estimated 700,000 persons lost their homes or businesses 
in the operation, and approximately 2.4 million persons were directly 
affected. The Government's campaign of forced evictions and the 
demolition of homes and businesses continued during the year (see 
Section 1.f.). Meanwhile, the Government program Operation Live Well, 
purportedly launched to build housing for those displaced, primarily 
benefited government officials and the police rather than victims of 
Operation Restore Order. Many of those displaced continue to lack 
permanent shelter. Although humanitarian agencies had access to most 
displaced persons, the Government continued to interfere with some 
organizations' efforts to assist IDPs during the year. Civil society 
activists believed that residents were routinely targeted for eviction 
for political reasons.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
generally cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees and asylum seekers.
    According to the UNHCR, there were 3,200 refugees and asylum 
seekers registered in the country during the year. The largest groups 
of refugees and asylum seekers continued to be from the Democratic 
Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
    According to law, refugees must live at Tongogara refugee camp, but 
the camp only had a capacity for 2,000 persons and afforded no means to 
earn a livelihood. Most other refugees lived in urban areas without the 
permission of the Government. UNHCR reported that approximately 1,100 
refugees were living in and around Harare. In some cases, the 
Government permitted refugees with special needs to live in urban 
centers. The Government granted work permits to a few refugees, 
primarily those with special skills.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully; however, this right was restricted in practice 
because the political process continued to be tilted heavily in favor 
of ZANU-PF, which has ruled continuously since independence in 1980.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Presidential election 
in 2002 and the parliamentary elections in March 2005 resulted in the 
election and continued domination of President Robert Mugabe and the 
ruling ZANU-PF party; the elections were neither free nor fair. 
Although the constitution allows for multiple parties, the ruling party 
and security forces intimidated and committed abuses against opposition 
parties and their supporters and obstructed their activities.
    In the March 2005 parliamentary elections, ZANU-PF distorted the 
political campaign and manipulated voter registration rolls and vote 
tallies to ensure its large margin of victory. ZANU-PF captured 78 out 
of the 120 contested seats. Western observers declared the elections 
fundamentally flawed.
    Approximately 10 percent of would-be voters were turned away from 
the polls, especially in opposition areas, in the March 2005 
parliamentary elections. In all, more than 100,000 potential voters 
appear to have been turned away. Most voters were rejected because they 
tried to vote in the wrong constituency due to inadequately publicized 
redistricting, and no longer appeared on the voter roll. Rejected 
potential voters were likely to be disproportionately opposition voters 
because the demographics matched those of MDC supporters. Critics noted 
the process for registering voters was legal but confusing and some 
voters may have been excluded from the voters roll intentionally. The 
office of the registrar general, which maintains the voters roll, is 
not independent from the Government.
    Election observers also noted voter intimidation at polling 
stations. Some polling stations were located in areas regarded as 
intimidating to voters, such as at a police station or next to a local 
ZANU-PF headquarters. At some stations, police officers and other 
unidentified individuals recorded the names of those who voted, a 
procedure intimidating to some voters. Some chiefs also reportedly 
pressured villagers to vote for the ruling party. There were reports 
that voters in some districts had been told that the translucent ballot 
boxes would be used to note how individuals voted.
    On election day in March 2005, the ZANU-PF candidate for Insiza, 
Andrew Langa, threatened to shoot MDC polling agents at Silalatshani 
Business Center as they were being deployed in readiness for the 
election. The MDC polling agents reported the incident to the Gwanda 
police station, but police took no action to prevent intimidation. 
Consequently, the polling station opened without MDC polling agents.
    Observers at numerous polling stations reported that in many cases 
police, rather than election officials, communicated vote counts to the 
tabulation centers, which exceeded the role of the police to maintain 
order. Observers also reported that opposition party agents and 
observers were not allowed to witness the vote tabulation in key 
districts. Contrary to the Electoral Act, many polling stations did not 
post their results.
    These reports and conflicting election results issued by the ZEC, 
the first only hours after the poll closed and the second a few days 
later, suggested that the final toll was manipulated. Discrepancies 
heavily favored the ruling party; of the 19 constituencies where the 
final results differed by more than five thousand from the initial 
reports, ZANU-PF candidates won 18. The number of rejected potential 
voters combined with the discrepancies in the Government's announced 
tallies exceeded the candidate's margin of victory in 24 
constituencies, 20 of them won by ZANU-PF.
    In September 2005 the Government used its two-thirds majority in 
parliament to pass a constitutional amendment that established a 66-
member Senate. The Government was criticized for creating the Senate, 
which was widely seen as a vehicle for patronage and a useless and 
expensive body. It will sit for a single five-year term and has no 
independent political authority.
    The MDC's President called for a boycott of the elections. However, 
several other MDC leaders opposed the boycott decision. Twenty-six 
candidates ran under the MDC banner.
    Of the 50 elected seats, ZANU-PF won 19 unopposed and an additional 
24 on election day; MDC candidates won seven. However, the boycott 
appeared to have been successful, as turnout was historically low, at 
only 19 percent of eligible voters. In addition President Mugabe 
appointed six seats, and the ruling party-controlled council of chiefs 
appointed 10, giving ZANU-PF an overwhelming majority of seats.
    There were few regional and no international observers. 
Domestically, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) mounted a 
small observation effort. However, ZESN observed that at some polling 
stations there were much larger numbers of voters than at others, a 
possible indication of fraud, and that the circumstances remained 
heavily tilted toward the ruling party.
    The ZEC, which was created in 2005, presided over three 
parliamentary by-elections and country-wide rural council elections 
during the year. The President appointed a large majority of ZEC 
members. MDC reported that only a few of the names it submitted 
appeared on the list that went to the President.
    The Government invested immense powers in the presidency through 
the Electoral Act, enacted in 2005, including full control of the voter 
roll and registration, and the ability to change district lines without 
notice on the eve of an election. Electoral officers often did not 
operate in a fully open and transparent manner.
    In July the Supreme Court found unconstitutional the process of 
judicial appointments to the electoral court, which was established in 
2005 to resolve electoral disputes. As a result of the Supreme Court's 
decision, all pending and new complaints arising from elections must be 
heard by the already overburdened ordinary courts.
    In the by-elections and rural council elections during the year, 
the Government's manipulation of the electoral process disenfranchised 
voters and skewed elections in favor of ruling party candidates. In the 
run-up to the rural council elections in October, ZEC disqualified 
hundreds of opposition candidates for failure to meet obstructive 
registration requirements, leaving the ZANU-PF candidates to run 
unopposed in over one-third of the elections. According to the ZESN, a 
local NGO dedicated to promoting democratic elections, one thousand 
voters were excluded in Kadoma for improper registration, a sizable 
percentage of the total turnout in that district. Also, the ruling 
ZANU-PF party distorted the political campaign and manipulated voter 
registration rolls. ZANU-PF allegedly prevailed on traditional leaders 
in several rural areas to get out the vote for the ruling party. The 
chiefs and headman in turn reportedly used pressure and threats on 
voters. For example, in several districts in the Manicaland province, 
ZESN reported that leaders forced their subjects to vote for ZANU-PF by 
threatening to cut off access to government-supplied maize for those 
who did not vote for the ruling party. Pre-election violence was not 
widespread; however, in one instance ZANU-PF supporters allegedly threw 
stones at the house belonging to Jonas Ndenda, the MDC mayoral 
candidate in Kadoma, breaking windows, doors and the roof. Unlike in 
previous years, election observers did not report voter intimidation at 
polling stations.
    The MDC split in 2005, ostensibly over participation in the newly-
recreated Senate, although long-simmering leadership divisions appear 
to have been the root cause. Both factions claimed the MDC name and 
logo. One faction, conventionally called the anti-Senate faction, 
remained loyal to MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and appeared to 
maintain the bulk of grassroots support. Another faction, 
conventionally called the pro-Senate faction, emerged under the 
leadership of Arthur Mutambara. The pro-Senate faction held seven of 50 
elected seats in the Senate at year's end.
    On July 2, Member of Parliament (MP) Trudy Stevenson of the pro-
Senate faction of the MDC and four other party officials were attacked 
after holding a rally in the Harare suburb of Tafara-Mabvuku. An 
independent report commissioned by the MDC concluded that the CIO had 
infiltrated the MDC and was probably involved, although the source of 
the order and motivation for the attack remained unknown at year's end.
    There were reports that the Government's partisan disbursement of 
food and other material assistance to perpetuate public dependence on 
the ruling party further bolstered support for ZANU-PF and subverted 
electoral processes. In some areas a ZANU-PF card was required to 
obtain food and agricultural inputs. In August the Zimbabwe Peace 
Project (ZPP), a local NGO, documented 83 incidents of abuse of aid 
based on political affiliation in Manicaland Province, including denial 
of food and antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, as well as 
exclusion from the basic education assistance module (BEAM), a national 
financial assistance plan for school children (see Section 5). ZPP 
reported that most of those affected were considered to be supporters 
of the opposition.
    The opposition also noted irregularities in the Budiriro voter roll 
during the May by-elections, but these discrepancies were not enough to 
prevent an anti-Senate MDC victory.
    In 2004 the high court dismissed without explanation the first 
phase of the MDC's legal challenge seeking nullification of the results 
of the 2002 Presidential elections. The second phase, involving factual 
evidence and witness testimony regarding the election's conduct, had 
not begun by year's end. During the year the Government refused to turn 
over ballot boxes to the MDC for use in its legal challenge to the 2002 
Presidential vote.
    On February 12, the Supreme Court rejected MDC President Morgan 
Tsvangirai's application to have it take over the 2002 election 
challenge from the high court.
    The President may unilaterally declare a state of public emergency 
for a period of up to 14 days; has sole power to dissolve parliament 
and to appoint or remove a vice President and any minister or deputy 
minister; and directly appoints 20 of the 150 MPs, including 12 
nonconstituency MPs, eight provincial governors who sit in parliament, 
and six senators. The President also exerts great influence on the 
process by which the country's chiefs (traditional rulers) select 10 of 
their number to sit as MPs and 10 as senators. All 30 of the appointed 
MPs have been consistent ZANU-PF supporters. While most of the Senate 
appointments were ZANU-PF supporters, some appeared to chart relatively 
neutral positions.
    The legislature, which traditionally has been subordinate to the 
executive branch, had a viable opposition that called on the Government 
to be accountable and transparent. Some parliamentary committee 
chairpersons gradually adopted a critical view of government policies 
and criticized government mismanagement, especially in areas such as 
agriculture and communications.
    There were reports that the Government removed people from the 
civil service and the military who were perceived as opposition 
supporters. Additionally, the Government deployed soldiers and youth 
service training center graduates to roadblocks erected nationwide in 
August to enforce the currency conversion (see Section 2.d.). There 
also were reports that the Government assigned soldiers and youth 
service members to work in government ministries.
    The Government routinely interfered with MDC-led local governments. 
Commissions appointed by Minister of Local government Ignatius Chombo 
continued to run the cities of Harare, Mutare, and Chitungwiza in place 
of democratically elected MDC mayors.
    The ruling party's candidates continued to benefit from the ZANU-
PF's control of the state- and party-owned firms that dominated the 
country's economy and from its control of the state-monopolized 
broadcast media (see Section 2.a.).
    The Citizenship Act requires all citizens with a claim to dual 
citizenship to renounce their claim to foreign citizenship under the 
laws of the foreign country by January 2002 to retain their citizenship 
and the right to vote. The act also revokes the citizenship of persons 
who fail to return to the country in any five-year period. On December 
30, the state-run newspaper the Herald reported that the Government 
announced a decision to strip Trevor Ncube, owner of the local 
independent newspapers the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent, of 
his Zimbabwean citizenship and refused to renew his passport because he 
had a claim to Zambian citizenship and had not renounced it. Ncube 
challenged the decision in the high court asserting he had no 
entitlement to Zambian citizenship merely because his father was born 
there. The case was pending at year's end. Legal rights groups 
described the legislation and regulations as a government attempt to 
disenfranchise citizens of perceived opposition leanings; the more than 
200,000 commercial farm workers, many of whom have origins in 
neighboring countries; and the approximately 30,000 mostly white dual 
nationals. Persons with dual citizenship experienced difficulty 
complying with the regulations because many other countries do not 
provide procedures for renouncing citizenship. The 2003 Citizenship of 
Zimbabwe Amendment Act removes the renunciation requirement for persons 
born in the country with parents from the Southern African Development 
Community (SADC) countries or who were born in SADC countries with 
parents from Zimbabwe.
    There were 21 women in the 150-seat House of Assembly and 20 women 
in the Senate, including the President of the Senate (see Section 5, 
Women). There were seven women in the highest ranks in the executive 
branch: the vice President, three ministers, a deputy minister, and two 
governors. On July 6, President Mugabe appointed Rita Makarau as judge-
President of the Supreme Court, which is the most senior position of 
the country's highest court. Makarau is the first woman to hold the 
position. On September 25, however, the state-controlled daily 
newspaper the Herald reported that the Minister of Local government, 
Public Works and Urban Development Ignatius Chombo presented a country 
position paper at the Fourth Africities Summit that found the 
representation of women in local government was ``very low'' with no 
female executive mayors and only two women leading local government 
boards. Women participated in politics without legal restriction, 
although according to local women's groups, husbands, particularly in 
rural areas, commonly directed their wives to vote for the husband's 
preferred candidates. The ZANU-PF congress allotted women one-third of 
party positions and reserved 50 positions for women on the party's 180-
member central committee, which was one of the party's most powerful 
organizations.
    There were 10 members of minority groups in the cabinet, including 
Vice President Joseph Msika. There were 36 members of minority groups 
in the 216-seat House of Assembly, including 30 Ndebele, two whites, 
and four Tonga.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread 
corruption in government. Implementation of the Government's ongoing 
redistribution of expropriated, white-owned, commercial farms 
substantially favored the ruling party elite and continued to lack 
transparency. Top ruling party officials continued to hand-pick 
multiple farms and register them in the names of family members to 
evade the Government's one-farm policy. The Government continued to 
allow individuals aligned with top officials to seize land not 
designated for acquisition.
    Top ruling party officials and entrepreneurs supporting the ruling 
party received priority in distribution of the country's resources, 
including priority access to limited foreign exchange and fuel. The 
Government's campaign to provide housing plots and vending sites for 
victims of Operation Restore Order (see Section 1.f.) mostly benefited 
civil servants, security forces, and ruling party supporters.
    There were continuing government efforts to combat corruption, but 
they were ineffective and designed largely for show. A government-
appointed Anti-Corruption Commission was established in January 2005, 
but had yet to register any notable accomplishments.
    Prosecutions for corruption continued but were selective and 
generally seen as politically motivated. The Government targeted 
persons who had fallen out of favor with the ruling party or 
individuals without high-level political backing. Prosecutions were 
often for externalizing foreign currency, which was a common practice 
among the political and business elites (see Section 1.d.).
    The Government stated that the AIPPA was intended to improve public 
access to government information; however, the law contains provisions 
that restrict freedom of speech and press, and these elements of the 
law were the ones the Government enforced most vigorously (see Section 
2.a.). One NGO reported in 2005 that it made several information 
requests under AIPPA, but the Government had not provided any 
information. The NGO said it had taken the Government to court in 
several cases, but the courts had not ruled in its favor.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated 
in the country, investigating and publishing their findings on human 
rights cases; however, they were subject to government restrictions, 
interference, and harassment. The Government monitored their activities 
closely and was generally unresponsive to their concerns.
    Domestic NGOs worked on human rights and democracy issues, 
including lobbying for revision of POSA and AIPPA; increasing poor 
women's access to the courts; constitutional and electoral reform; 
raising awareness of the abuse of children; conducting voter education; 
preserving the independence of the judiciary; and eliminating torture, 
arbitrary detention, and restrictions on freedom of the press and 
assembly. Major local human rights NGOs included the Zimbabwe Human 
Rights NGO Forum, ZLHR, Zimbabwe Peace Project, Crisis in Zimbabwe 
Coalition, and Amani Trust.
    During the year police arrested or detained NGO members, often in 
connection with demonstrations or marches (see Section 2.b.).
    The Government harassed some NGOs it believed opposed government 
policies with raids on their offices and investigations into their 
activities. On June 8, an intelligence officer from CIO raided the 
offices of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), alleging 
staff members had kidnapped a water authority official for an hour when 
he came to the CHRA offices to disconnect the water supply for failure 
to pay. On September 20, a magistrates' court cleared the CHRA staff of 
the kidnapping charges.
    The Government continued to use the state-controlled newspaper the 
Herald to disparage and attack human rights groups. Articles typically 
dismissed the efforts and recommendations of NGOs that were considered 
critical of the Government as groups that merely did the bidding of 
``western governments.'' In March the Government announced plans to 
establish its own human rights commission, an effort designed to 
circumvent efforts by international human rights organizations to 
accurately report on the country's human rights situation.
    In October 2005 the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare announced 
new operational guidelines for NGOs. The guidelines require each NGO to 
obtain clearance in each district and province in which it operates.
    The Government continued to obstruct the activities of 
organizations involved in humanitarian activities. NGOs continued to 
report difficulties in carrying out their programs in rural areas. For 
most of the year, the Government restricted feeding programs to 
specific targets such as school feeding or home-based care programs. 
During and after Operation Restore Order, the Government blocked some 
efforts by local and international NGOs to provide humanitarian relief 
to those affected by the operation (see Section 1.f.).
    Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not threaten NGOs 
with closure.
    In February 2005 the African Union (AU) released a report by the 
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), which reports 
to the AU, based on a human rights fact-finding mission the ACHPR 
performed in the country in June 2002. The report contained allegations 
of government complicity in or acquiescence to a wide range of rights 
abuses, including torture and arbitrary arrest of opposition MPs and 
human rights lawyers. The Government initially criticized the fact-
finding mission and rejected its conclusions. The Government did not 
respond to a subsequent letter outlining remedies. After several 
efforts by the Government to suppress the report, the ACHPR passed a 
resolution in December 2005 condemning human rights abuses in the 
country, especially in connection with the May 2005 Operation Restore 
Order. During the year the Government continued to ignore the numerous 
recommendations listed in the resolution.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law provide that no person can be deprived of 
fundamental rights, such as right to life, liberty, and security of 
person, based on his race, tribe, place of origin, political opinions, 
color, creed, sex, or disability; however, the constitution allows for 
discrimination, primarily against women, on the grounds of ``customary 
law.'' Discrimination against women and persons with disabilities 
remained problems. The Government and ruling party infringed on rights 
to due process, citizenship, and property ownership in ways that 
affected the white minority disproportionately.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating, 
continued to be a serious problem and crossed racial, ethnic, and 
economic lines. No legislation specifically addresses domestic abuse. 
Musasa Project, a local NGO that works for the protection and promotion 
of women's rights, reported that approximately one-third of women in 
the country were in an abusive marital relationship. According to the 
Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender, and Community Development Oppah 
Muchinguri, approximately 60 percent of murder cases heard by the high 
court directly related to violence in the home. Most cases of domestic 
violence went unreported due to traditional sensitivities and fear of 
economic consequences for the family. There were newspaper reports of 
wife killings, and there were a few reports of prosecutions and 
convictions for such crimes. In one reported case, a man received a 15-
year jail sentence for killing his wife in a domestic dispute. Domestic 
violence legislation passed parliament and was waiting the President's 
signature at year's end.
    During the year, the Government conducted a public awareness 
campaign in the state media and through pamphlets and billboards. 
Musasa Project reported that treatment of victimized women varied 
because authorities generally considered domestic violence to be a 
private matter and usually only arrested an offender for assault if 
there was physical evidence of abuse. Several women's rights groups 
worked with law enforcement and provided training and literature on 
domestic violence as well as shelters and counseling for women.
    The criminal code defines sexual offenses as rape, sodomy, incest, 
indecent assault, or immoral or indecent acts with a child or person 
with mental disabilities. The act makes rape and nonconsensual sex 
between married partners a crime; however, few cases of rape, 
especially spousal rape, were reported to authorities because women 
were unaware spousal rape was a crime and, particularly in rural areas, 
feared losing the support of their families. The criminal code provides 
for penalties up to life in prison for sexual crimes; however, there 
were continued reports of rape, incest, and sexual abuse of women and 
young girls. In many cases the victims knew their rapist. The criminal 
code also makes it a crime to infect anyone knowingly with HIV/AIDS, 
and the Government prosecuted some individuals for the crime.
    Prostitution is illegal, and several civil society groups offered 
anecdotal evidence that the country's worsening economic problems were 
forcing more women and young girls, into prostitution for financial 
survival. During the year there were numerous media reports regarding 
concerted efforts by police to halt prostitution throughout the 
country. Police arrested both prostitutes and their clients. A local 
NGO reported that most prostitutes operated independently of pimps but 
that a growing number of minors were using pimps for protection. There 
were increasing reports that women and children were sexually exploited 
in towns along the border with South Africa and Botswana (see Section 
5, Trafficking).
    Labor legislation prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; 
however, women commonly faced workplace sexual harassment, and there 
were no reports of any prosecutions during the year.
    There are laws aimed at enhancing women's rights and countering 
certain traditional practices that discriminate against women; however, 
women remained disadvantaged in society. Economic dependency and 
prevailing social norms prevented rural women in particular from 
combating societal discrimination. Despite legal prohibitions, women 
still were vulnerable to entrenched customary practices, including the 
practice of pledging a young woman to marriage with a partner not of 
her choosing and the custom of forcing a widow to marry her late 
husband's brother.
    The law recognizes women's right to own property independently of 
their husbands or fathers. Many women, however, continued to be unaware 
of their property and inheritance rights. Divorce and maintenance laws 
were favorable to women, but women generally lacked awareness of their 
rights.
    Women and children continued to be adversely affected by the 
Government's ongoing campaign of forced evictions and the demolition of 
homes and businesses in several cities and towns (see Section 1.f.). 
Many widows who earned their income in the informal economy or by 
renting out cottages on their property lost income when their market 
stalls or cottages were destroyed.
    Widows faced particular difficulties when forced to relocate to 
rural areas. Traditionally, women joined their husband's family when 
married and were considered an unwanted burden by their childhood 
families. Likewise, they were sometimes unwelcome in their husband's 
family in rural areas where resources were already strained.
    The Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender, and Community Development 
did little to advance the cause of women beyond a public information 
campaign and lobbying for a proposed Domestic Violence Bill. The 
Government gave qualified women access to training in the military and 
national service. Although there have been advances for women within 
the armed forces, they continued to occupy primarily administrative 
positions. According to the 2004 Zimbabwe Millennium Development Goals 
Progress Report, women represented 30 percent of the civil service in 
2002. A local NGO reported that in recent years women progressed in 
health and education but in general were concentrated in the lower 
echelons of the workforce, especially in the financial industry. Women 
held positions of importance in the legislative and executive branches 
of the Government (see Section 3, Elections and Political 
Participation).
    Several active women's rights groups concentrated on improving 
women's knowledge of their legal rights, increasing their economic 
power, combating domestic violence, and protecting women against 
domestic violence and sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS.

    Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and 
welfare remained weak. Little action was taken during the year on the 
August 2005 National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children 
(NAP for OVC) designed to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children 
are able to access education, food, health services, and birth 
registration and were protected from abuse and exploitation. According 
to one prominent child welfare advocacy group, the lack of funding 
remained the primary challenge in addressing the protection and 
promotion of welfare of children. Although legislation existed to 
protect children's rights, it was difficult to administer and enforce.
    In October in collaboration with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
and other partners, the Government launched a National Girls' Education 
Strategic Plan to increase the likelihood of achieving universal 
primary education and ensuring that girls can stay in school. Education 
is compulsory and the Government placed responsibility on parents to 
enforce attendance; however, it was not free. The Central Statistical 
Office's (CSO) consumer price index statistics showed that school costs 
increased nearly 846 percent from November 2005. The Child Protection 
Society, a local NGO, reported that enrollment and attendance continued 
to decline during the year because many families could not afford to 
send all their children to school and economic hardships forced 
children to drop out to work to supplement the household income. UNICEF 
estimated 80 percent net primary school enrollment in 2004; however, 
children's welfare activists believe the number to be much lower during 
the year and in 2005 due to Operation Restore Order and the 
displacement of thousands of children from their homes and schools (see 
Section 1.f.).
    In most regions of the country, fewer girls than boys attended 
secondary schools. According to the 2004 Zimbabwe Millennium 
Development Goals Progress Report, 42 percent of secondary school-age 
boys and 40 percent of girls of the same age attended school. Of these, 
82 percent of the boys and 73 percent of the girls completed secondary 
school. The highest level achieved by most students was primary level 
education. UNICEF figures through 2004 show a net secondary school 
enrollment of 44 percent for boys and 42 percent for girls. If a family 
was unable to pay tuition costs, it most often was female children who 
left school. The Child Protection Society reported that girls were more 
likely to drop out because they were more readily employable, 
especially as domestic workers.
    Child abuse, including incest, infanticide, child abandonment, and 
rape continued to be serious problems during the year. The local NGO 
Girl Child Network reported that in 32 of the 58 districts within which 
it works, there were an average of 700 cases of child sexual abuse per 
month in 2005. Anecdotal evidence suggested that a relative or someone 
who lived with the child was the most likely abuser.
    In March a local magistrate sentenced James Sangarwe to 22 years in 
jail for the rape and sexual abuse of students at Macheke Primary 
School in 2004. The Government also charged temporary teacher Edward 
Chiripamberi and handyman Only Musengi; there was no new information 
regarding their cases.
    Girl Child Network and UNICEF reported that girls believed to be 
virgins were at risk for rape due to the belief among some that having 
sex with a virgin would cure men of HIV and AIDS.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of child deaths 
or mutilations related to witchcraft.
    The traditional practice of offering a young girl in marriage as 
compensatory payment in interfamily disputes continued during the year. 
Arranged marriage of young girls also continued. The legal age for a 
civil marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Customary marriage, 
recognized under the Customary Marriages Act, does not provide for a 
minimum marriage age for either boys or girls; however, the Criminal 
Code prohibits sexual relations with anyone younger than 16 years of 
age. According to UNICEF, 29 percent of young women married as 
children. Child welfare NGOs reported that they occasionally saw 
evidence of underage marriages, particularly in isolated religious 
communities or among HIV/AIDS orphans. The Musasa Project reported an 
increase in instances where families pledged girls and unborn babies in 
marriage in exchange for economic protection. Such girls often 
``married'' well before the age of 12.
    Local and regional NGOs reported instances of trafficking of 
children and child prostitution (see Section 5, Trafficking).
    The Government gave preference to national youth service graduates 
among those entering and those seeking employment in the civil service, 
especially in the security forces. The stated purpose of the training 
camps was to instill national pride in youth, highlight the history of 
the struggle for independence, and develop employment skills; however, 
news reports quoted deserters as saying that the camps subjected 
trainees to racist and partisan political indoctrination as well as 
military training. There were credible reports that graduates were used 
for political violence.
    Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
    There were an estimated 1.6 million HIV/AIDS orphans, and the 
number was increasing. The number of AIDS orphans (including children 
who lost one as well as both parents) was about 10 percent of the 
country's population. Many grandparents were left to care for the 
young, and, in some cases, children or adolescents headed families and 
were forced to work to survive. AIDS orphans and foster children were 
at high risk for child abuse. Some children were forced to turn to 
prostitution as a means of income. According to local custom, other 
family members inherit before children, leaving many children 
destitute. Many such children were unable to obtain birth certificates, 
which then prevented them from obtaining social services.
    During the 2005 Operation Restore Order (see Section 1.f.), the 
Government detained many street children and took them to transit camps 
or juvenile detention centers. At year's end NGOs were uncertain how 
the operation affected the number of children living on the streets, 
which in previous years had risen dramatically.
    The Government, with support from civil society, donors, and the 
private sector, has a national secretariat to implement the NAP for 
OVC. Both donors and the Government contributed to OVC activities, but 
most programs were not adequately funded to reach the large number of 
OVCs in the country. Among the projects designed to assist OVCs and 
other needy children was the BEAM program, which paid school fees, and 
the Children in Difficult Circumstances program (CDC), which paid other 
related fees. A local child welfare NGO reported that, in comparison to 
the high level of need, BEAM and other government funding only managed 
to assist a very small number of children at any given school. There 
also were reports that favoritism and corruption affected the 
beneficiary selection process.
    NGOs operated training centers and homes for street children and 
orphans, and government officials referred children to these centers.

    Trafficking in Persons.--No laws specifically or comprehensively 
address trafficking in persons, and there continued to be anecdotal 
reports that the country was a source, transit, and destination country 
for trafficking in persons. The constitution and law prohibit forced or 
compulsory labor, including by children, with the exception of working 
for parents or the national youth service; however, there were reports 
that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.). Forced labor is 
punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800.00), two years' 
imprisonment, or both. It is a crime under the Criminal Code to 
transport persons across the border for sex. The law provides for a 
maximum fine of $20.00 (Z$5,000.00) and a maximum prison sentence of 
two years (10 years if that person is under the age of sixteen) for 
procuring another person to become a prostitute and have sex whether 
inside or outside the country. Traffickers also can be prosecuted under 
other legislation such as immigration and abduction laws.
    The primary government authority to combat trafficking is the ZRP, 
which relied on NGOs to alert them to any cases. In April the 
Government formed an interministerial taskforce to coordinate efforts 
to combat trafficking, but had yet to register any notable 
accomplishments. However, several senior government officials attended 
an International Organization for Migration seminar on trafficking in 
November.
    There was little information on the extent of external trafficking 
beyond anecdotal reports of girls exchanging sex for passage across the 
South African border, women lured to other countries with false job 
promises, immigration officials of neighboring countries sexually 
abusing children during deportation, children working as domestic or 
agricultural workers, and employers requiring sex from undocumented 
Zimbabwean workers in South Africa under threat of deportation. There 
also were anecdotal reports that victims were trafficked to border 
areas, into Botswana and South Africa, and through the country to South 
Africa from Botswana, Ghana, and East Africa.
    Anecdotal information suggested that citizens who emigrated to seek 
a better life were exploited while employed illegally in a neighboring 
country after being lured there by false employment schemes. The groups 
at highest risk were HIV/AIDS orphans and displaced persons.
    There were reports of child prostitution, trafficking in children, 
and child labor. As with adults, reports suggested that those children 
in desperate economic circumstances, especially those in families 
headed by children, were most at risk. One local NGO reported that 
traffickers took girls from rural areas to work as prostitutes in 
brothels and lodges in cities under the false pretenses of job or 
marriage promises. The NGO also reported that rural girls were 
sometimes trafficked to farms as agricultural labor or to urban areas 
as domestic labor, where they were sometimes sexually abused.
    On June 4, the state-controlled newspaper the Sunday Mail reported 
that a court sentenced a woman to a 48-month jail term for contravening 
the Sexual Offenses Act when she lured a minor to the border with South 
Africa with the promise of a nursing job, only to force her into 
prostitution.
    Victims suffering from child or domestic abuse were treated with 
special procedures in victim-friendly courts, and trafficked persons 
had the option to take cases before such courts; however, there was no 
statistical tracking of trafficking prosecutions.
    Local immigration and social services officials referred 
trafficking victims to NGO-funded centers. On May 30, a center funded 
by IOM opened in the town of Beitbridge on the border with South Africa 
to provide various social and reintegration services to the large 
number of illegal migrants repatriated from South Africa. Save the 
Children Norway also offered services at the center specifically for 
unaccompanied children and trafficking victims that included shelter 
and referrals for medical attention.
    On June 13, a local NGO launched an antitrafficking prevention and 
protection project aimed at young girls, which was reported favorably 
by state-run media. Since June the project has conducted research, held 
antitrafficking workshops, distributed 2,000 brochures, and provided 
shelter and victim's services to 14 young girls who may qualify as 
trafficking victims. In August the NGO reported that many local 
authorities were not familiar with the trafficking problem and lacked 
the resources to thoroughly investigate cases, but were willing to act 
when cases were brought to their attention. Local police referred 
victims for assistance.
    The state-run media prominently featured articles about trafficking 
in persons, and the Government had prevention programs, such as BEAM 
(see Section 5, Children) to provide alternatives for children at risk.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, access 
to public places, and the provision of services; however, the lack of 
resources for training and education severely hampered the ability of 
persons with disabilities to compete for scarce jobs. The law 
stipulates that government buildings should be accessible to persons 
with disabilities, but implementation has been slow. NGOs continued to 
lobby to include albinos in the definition of ``disabled'' under the 
law. Persons with disabilities faced harsh societal discrimination. 
Traditional belief viewed persons with disabilities as bewitched, and 
children with disabilities often were hidden when visitors arrived.
    According to the National Association of Societies for the Care of 
the Handicapped, no attempts have been made to record statistics on the 
infection levels of HIV/AIDS in persons with disabilities, although 10 
percent of citizens had disabilities. The organization also charged 
that except for a short period in the 1990s, instructions on the use of 
condoms have never been distributed in Braille for the visually 
impaired, and no efforts have been made to advertise condoms in sign 
language for the deaf.
    Operation Restore Order in May 2005 (see Section 1.f.) severely 
affected persons with disabilities, and, according to the UN special 
envoy's report on the operation, the Government held approximately 50 
persons with physical and mental disabilities without care at a transit 
camp separated from the rest of the camp population.
    The Government broadcast a regular, prime-time program on state 
radio to promote awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to government 
statistics, the Shona ethnic group makes up 82 percent of the 
population, Ndebele 14 percent, whites less than 1 percent, and other 
ethnic groups 3 percent. There was some tension between the African 
majority and the white minority, between the Shona majority and the 
Ndebele minority, and among the various Shona subgroups.
    The Government attempted to attribute the country's economic and 
political problems to the white minority and western countries. On some 
occasions, President Mugabe, members of his government, and the state-
controlled media attempted to reignite resentment of the white 
minority. Ruling party supporters seldom were arrested or charged for 
infringing upon minority rights, especially those of the white 
commercial farmers targeted in the land redistribution program.
    The disproportionate number of Shona-speaking teachers and 
headmasters in Matabeleland schools remained a sensitive issue.
    In August during the currency redenomination program, ethnic 
Indian-owned businesses alleged that authorities unfairly targeted 
their shops during raids, ostensibly searching for evidence of 
involvement in speculative activities, money laundering, and hoarding 
large sums of cash. The state-controlled media reported that during the 
inspection by Reserve Bank officials of a prominent ethnic Indian 
businessman's establishment, a large sum of cash was seized. In 2005 
ZANU-PF officials reportedly demanded approximately the then equivalent 
of $170 thousand (Z$1 billion) from businesses and families from the 
minority ethnic-Indian community for the ruling party's election 
campaign, and many complied, fearing retribution.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Over a period of years, 
President Mugabe has publicly denounced homosexuals, blaming them for 
Africa's ills. Although there was no statutory law proscribing the 
activities of homosexuals, common law prevents homosexual men, and to a 
lesser extent, lesbians, from fully expressing their sexual orientation 
and, in some cases, criminalizes the display of affection between men. 
On July 2, the 2004 amended criminal code became effective and broadens 
the definition of sodomy to include ``any act involving physical 
contact between males that would be regarded by a reasonable person to 
be an indecent act.''
    On August 5, six unidentified men approached the Gays and Lesbians 
Association (GALZ) exhibit at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, 
seized GALZ literature, and forcibly removed the GALZ members from the 
event. Police officers and security guards working at the event stood 
by and watched without intervening. A nearly identical incident 
occurred at the same book fair in 2005. GALZ staff members believed 
these actions were part of an ongoing government campaign of 
discrimination and harassment against homosexuals. No action was taken 
against those who threatened the GALZ staff members in 2005 or during 
the year.
    The Government has a national HIV/AIDS policy that prohibits 
discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS, and the law aims 
to protect against discrimination of workers in the private sector and 
parastatals. Despite these provisions, societal discrimination against 
persons affected by HIV/AIDS remained a problem. Although there was an 
active information campaign by international and local NGOs, the 
Ministry of Health, and the National AIDS Council to destigmatize HIV/
AIDS, ostracism and condemnation of those affected by HIV/AIDS 
continued.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Throughout the year 
government-controlled newspapers, radio, and television stations 
continued to selectively vilify citizens of European ancestry and to 
blame them for the country's problems. In 2004 materials used at 
National Youth Service Camps identified enemies of the state in racist 
terms and demonized whites.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--While the Labor Relations Amendment 
Act (LRAA) provides private and public sector workers with the right to 
form or join unions without prior authorization, and workers exercised 
these rights, some pro-ZANU-PF employers declared their shops off-
limits to the ZCTU, the national umbrella labor confederation. 
Furthermore, the Government also restricts union activity indirectly by 
defining all senior employees as managers even though such employees do 
not enjoy benefits attached to the title. The 2005 Labor Amendment Bill 
eliminated some previous public sector employee rights and excluded 
such employees from protection under labor laws, placing them instead 
under the Public Service Act, which does not provide for the right to 
form and belong to trade unions, collective bargaining, strikes, or 
alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Employees in positions 
designated as managerial were excluded from general union membership. 
Unions must be registered with the Ministry of Public Service, Labor, 
and Social Welfare.
    During the year approximately 800,000 persons were employed in the 
formal sector, 37 percent of which belonged to the 36 unions that form 
the ZCTU; approximately 65 percent of industries were unionized.
    The Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), a government-
created alternative labor body, had few activities throughout the year. 
During the two weeks prior to the ZCTU demonstration on September 13, 
the ZFTU placed advertising in state-controlled newspapers with 
messages intended to discourage worker participation and create 
confusion about the level of support for the action. While the ZFTU 
continued to support splinter unions in each economic sector, there was 
no evidence that either employers or employees viewed the splinter 
unions as legitimate. In addition to fostering confusion among workers, 
splinter unions forced existing unions to spend scarce resources 
guarding against declining membership. The splinter unions did not 
bargain collectively, handle worker complaints, or provide worker 
education.
    During the year the Government openly targeted the ZCTU, declaring 
it aligned with the opposition MDC and arresting ZCTU leaders at 
various labor rallies. According to HRW, use of excessive force against 
peaceful demonstrations has become a ``common occurrence.''
    On September 13, police arrested more than 100 members of the ZCTU 
and detained approximately 500 people, including labor leaders, to 
prevent the labor movement from staging nationwide, nonviolent marches 
planned for that day to protest for better wages, improved government 
management of political and economic policies, and free access to HIV/
AIDS drugs. Police in Harare took 15 ZCTU leaders and activists to the 
Matapi police station in Harare, where several unidentified men wearing 
police uniforms clubbed and beat them, among the victims were 
ZCTUScretary General Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU President Lovemore 
Matombo, and ZCTU Vice President Lucia Matibenga. Chibebe suffered cuts 
to the head, three broken bones, and severe bruising all over his body. 
Matombo suffered a broken arm and bruising. Matibenga had whip marks 
all over her back, a swollen neck, and a ruptured eardrum. Police 
denied the group access to their attorney and medical treatment until 
the next day. On September 15, the ZCTU leaders were released on bail, 
and a trial was pending at year's end. On September 25, President 
Mugabe made a public statement defending police treatment of the ZCTU 
leaders, charging that the labor activists deserved the beating for 
ignoring police orders. A widely-circulated video of the beatings at 
the point of arrest clearly showed police actions were unprovoked. An 
investigation into police treatment of the ZCTU demonstrators was 
ongoing; however, none of the officers involved had been charged by 
year's end.
    In 2005 there were numerous attacks on ZCTU leaders by members of 
government-sponsored affiliates or hired assailants. Police harassed 
ZCTU leaders and raided and ransacked ZCTU offices. No action was taken 
against the perpetrators.
    Although the LRAA prohibits antiunion discrimination, in practice 
union members faced discrimination and harassment. In January 2004 ZCTU 
President Lovemore Matombo was dismissed from his job at the postal 
service for union activities. ZCTU appealed the dismissal, but Matombo 
had not been reinstated by year's end, reportedly as the consequence of 
overloaded labor courts. A labor court handled complaints of such 
discrimination under the mechanism for resolving cases involving 
``unfair labor practices.'' The determining authority may direct that 
workers fired due to antiunion discrimination be reinstated, although 
this did not happen in practice.
    The International Labor Organization (ILO) continued to criticize 
the Government for ongoing interference with the unions' freedom of 
association and abuse of labor leaders. The International Trade Union 
Confederation also criticized government harassment of unions during 
the year. The Government's immigration authorities denied entry to two 
delegations of foreign labor unionists during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The LRAA 
provides workers with the right to organize and permits unions to 
bargain collectively over wages and conditions of employment, and 
workers exercised this right in practice; however, government 
harassment of union leaders and interference by ZFTU sometimes made 
such negotiations difficult. Collective bargaining agreements applied 
to all workers in an industry, not just union members. The 2005 Labor 
Amendment Bill allows the minister of public service, labor, and social 
welfare (minister of labor) to appoint members to advisory councils, 
which resolve industrial disputes between labor and employers, without 
consulting ZCTU or the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe. The law 
also makes lower court rulings enforceable during an appeal.
    During the year the Tripartite Negotiating Forum, a consultative 
mechanism to discuss labor and social issues comprised of government, 
business, and labor representatives, continued talks but did not 
resolve any issues. ZCTU called for indexing wages according to the 
poverty datum line (PDL), which calculates the minimum required for the 
average family of five to pay basic expenses. In November, the PDL was 
approximately $912 (Z$228,133) per month. According to one prominent 
local economist, 80 percent of the country's population lived below the 
PDL.
    The minister of labor retained the power to veto agreements that he 
believed would harm the economy, but he did not involve himself 
directly in labor negotiations unless requested to do so by one of the 
parties. The Labor Amendment Bill gives the minister unlimited time to 
review lay-offs before they become effective. When no trade union 
represented a specific sector, representatives of the organized 
workers, such as the professional associations, met with the employer 
associations under the mediation of labor officers from the Ministry of 
Labor. Some employment councils had yet to reach an agreement or were 
deadlocked awaiting court-supervised arbitration at year's end. 
Employees in positions designated as managerial were excluded from the 
collective bargaining process.
    The Government continued to use POSA to limit the ZCTU and its 
affiliates' ability to meet with and consult their constituencies, 
although the law does not apply to labor unions. For example, unions 
were prevented from holding meetings with their members, sometimes by 
the police and under threat of arrest. Despite court rulings against 
them, the police continued to monitor ZCTU and other labor union 
meetings.
    Although the LRAA explicitly recognizes the right to strike, it has 
been circumscribed with procedural limits including 14-day advance 
notice requirements, mandated 30-day reconciliation periods, possible 
mandatory referral to binding arbitration, and at least 50 percent of 
the employees must vote for the strike. The act prohibits ``essential 
services'' employees from striking on the grounds that it ``endangers 
immediately the life, personal safety, or health of the whole or any 
part of the public.'' The law defines essential services broadly and 
includes: fire personnel; employees engaged in the supply and 
distribution of water; employees providing veterinary services; revenue 
agents at ports; persons in the health care field; transport and 
communications employees; railway engineers; licensed electricians; and 
broadcast personnel during a state of emergency. The law also allows 
that ``any nonessential service may be declared an essential service by 
the minister if a strike in a sector, service industry, or enterprise 
persists to the point that the lives, personal safety, or health of the 
whole or part of the population is endangered.'' Managers also were 
prohibited from striking, and, in some industries, the Government 
defined most employees as managers. In practice the Government harassed 
and arrested union leaders who called for strikes and union members who 
attempted to participate in strikes.
    Government-imposed delays prevented most employees and their unions 
from declaring legal strikes, and those who participated in strikes 
deemed illegal faced harsh sentences of up to five years in prison. On 
July 13, junior doctors at government hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo 
began a strike to demand better pay and working conditions. Deputy 
Health Minister Edwin Muguti said the strike was illegal and ordered 
the doctors back to work. The doctors returned to work in September as 
negotiations with the Government continued for a long-term solution. 
Junior doctors went on strike again in November and December, claiming 
the Government still had failed to meet their demands. Negotiations 
were ongoing at year's end.
    Workers protesting health and safety standards or lack of equipment 
may strike without the notification and arbitration procedure.
    The Export Processing Zones Act states the LRAA shall not apply to 
workers in export processing zones (EPZs); however, according to the 
ZCTU, employers generally applied the same wages and standards in the 
EPZs as in the general economy. The ZCTU has negotiated directly with 
EPZ employers to allow some unions in the EPZ, although their number 
and level of activity remained low.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, with the exceptions 
of working for parents or the national youth service; however, there 
were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). 
Forced labor is punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800), two 
years' imprisonment, or both. The traditional practice of offering a 
young girl in marriage as compensatory payment in interfamily disputes 
continued in rural areas (see Section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the LRAA, child labor is punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20 
(Z$800), 2 years' imprisonment, or both; however, child labor was 
common. Under the LRAA a child between the ages of 13 and 15 can work 
as an apprentice or if the work is an integral part of (or in 
conjunction with) ``a course of training or technical or vocational 
education.'' The law further states that no person under 18 shall 
perform any work likely to jeopardize that person's health, safety, or 
morals. The status of children between 15 and 18 years of age is not 
directly addressed, but 15 years of age is still the minimum for light 
work, work other than apprenticeship, or work associated with 
vocational education.
    The CSO released the 2004 Child Labor Report in March. According to 
the survey, approximately 46 percent of children between the ages of 
five and 17 were engaged in economic activity. The unemployment rate 
continued to grow, with some estimates as high as 80 percent, which 
decreased the number of children employed in the formal sector. 
However, the incidence of children who worked in the informal sector 
continued to increase as more children worked to fill the income gap 
left by ill, unemployed, or deceased relatives. Children often lacked 
access to necessary safety equipment and training. Children worked in 
the agricultural sector, as domestics, and as car-watchers. In addition 
there were reports of an increasing number of girls engaged in 
prostitution. Although the Government and NGOs increasingly discussed 
the problem of child labor in the agricultural, domestic, and informal 
sectors, they were unable to gather concrete data on the number of 
cases.
    Although the incidence of child labor on commercial farms decreased 
as a result of land redistribution, most economically active children 
still worked in the agriculture industry. The General Agricultural and 
Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe estimated that of the country's 
approximate 200,000 farm workers, 10 percent were children under the 
age of 16. The Employer's Confederation of Zimbabwe observed that 
poverty was the main cause of child labor in the country. The Zimbabwe 
National Council for the Welfare of Children reported that given the 
increasingly difficult economic climate, coupled with the high number 
of HIV/AIDS orphans and child-headed households, eradicating child 
labor in the country would be difficult.
    The Child Protection Society reported that new farmers used 
children as cheap labor because they could not complain about working 
conditions. UNICEF reported children working as independent contractors 
so employers could evade the appearance of employing children. Zimbabwe 
Domestic and Allied Workers Union observed employers bringing children 
from their rural homes to work as domestics with parental consent. Save 
the Children Norway-Zimbabwe reported that sugar businesses along the 
Mozambique border at Catiyo used children to sell sugar across the 
border, often with the complicity of their parents. Children in the 
sugar business were paid less than adults and did not attend school. 
Save the Children Norway-Zimbabwe also reported children working on tea 
estates, which sent children to school in the morning and to work in 
the afternoon and evening.
    Some employers did not pay wages to child domestic workers, 
believing they were assisting a child from a rural home by providing 
housing and board. In addition employers paid the parents for the 
child's work. Relatives often used AIDS-orphaned children as domestics 
without pay. There were also reports from NGOs that police rounded up 
street children and took them to work on farms without pay.
    The Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Labor is 
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but the department lacked 
the human resources to carry out inspections or any other monitoring. 
The Government implemented few new initiatives to prevent child labor.
    In 2004 the Ministry of Labor promoted its BEAM and children in CDC 
programs, which were designed to pay for school fees and other items 
such as uniforms and books for children who could not afford to go to 
school; however, fewer than 18 percent of children benefited from the 
program in 2004. Several child welfare NGOs reported that BEAM and 
other government programs focused on children were severely under 
funded. Several child welfare NGOs reported that the Government used 
access to BEAM and other humanitarian assistance as a political tool to 
reward supporters and punish persons considered to be supporters of the 
opposition (see Section 3).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum 
wage except for agricultural and domestic workers. Government 
regulations for each of the 22 industrial sectors continued to specify 
minimum wages, hours, holidays, and required safety measures. The 
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family, and approximately 80 percent of the population lived below 
the Government's poverty line. Monitoring systems were ineffective, and 
many agricultural and domestic workers were remunerated below the 
minimum wage.
    Minimum wages in the formal sector changed continuously as a result 
of the high inflation rate. Domestic worker minimum wages were 
specifically separated from others; the latest monthly minimum wages, 
established in March, were: gardener, $10.00 (Z$2,500); cook/
housekeeper, $11.00 (Z$2,656); child- or disabled-minder, $11.25 
(Z$2,812); and child- or disabled-minder with Red Cross certification, 
$12.00 (Z$2,968).
    The maximum legal workweek is 54 hours, and the law prescribes a 
minimum of one 24-hour rest period per week. No worker is allowed to 
work more than 12 continuous hours; however, there was little or no 
enforcement, particularly in the agricultural and domestic worker 
sectors. Workers were unlikely to complain to authorities about 
violations due to fear of losing their jobs. The public service 
commission sets conditions of employment in the public sector. Health 
and safety standards were determined on an industry-specific basis.
    Many of the basic legal protections did not apply to the vast 
majority of farm, mine, and domestic workers. In December the state 
media reported 74 workplace fatalities and 5,082 injuries during the 
year. As labor relations officers no longer existed in practice, the 
Ministry of Labor relied heavily on voluntary compliance and reporting 
by employers and employees to enforce applicable laws and regulations.
    The Government designated the Zimbabwe Occupational Safety Council, 
a quasi-governmental advisory body made up of six representatives each 
from the Government, employers, and trade unions, to regulate safe work 
conditions; however, budgetary constraints and staffing shortages, as 
well as its status as an advisory council, made the council 
ineffective. The NSSA continued to experience difficulty monitoring the 
thousands of work sites across the country; however, it continued to 
close shops and factories not in compliance. Workers have a legal right 
to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to 
continued employment but in practice risked the loss of their 
livelihood if they did so.

                               __________

                       EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

                              ----------                              


                               AUSTRALIA

    Australia is a constitutional democracy with a federal 
parliamentary government. Its population was approximately 20.7 
million. Citizens periodically choose their representatives in free and 
fair multiparty elections. John Howard began his fourth consecutive 
term as prime minister in October 2004; his Liberal and National Party 
coalition government held 87 of 150 seats in the lower house of the 
Federal Parliament and 39 of 76 seats in the upper house. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. Problems were reported in a 
few areas, including domestic violence against women and children, 
particularly in Aboriginal communities, and societal discrimination 
against Aboriginal people. During the year some Muslim leaders claimed 
that anti-Muslim sentiment in the country was increasing. There was 
continuing criticism by domestic labor unions and the International 
Trade Union Confederation of the 2005 WorkChoices law and the 1996 
Federal Workplace Relations Act, particularly in regard to the laws' 
curbs on trade unions, restrictions on strikes, and emphasis on 
individual employment contracts.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings. However, in September the Queensland State coroner 
found that a man detained on Palm Island in 2004 had been beaten by the 
police while in custody and had died as a result. In December, after 
the Queensland State prosecutor declined to prosecute the police 
officer involved, the Queensland premier appointed an independent 
investigator to review the prosecutor's decision (See section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice. However, there were 
occasional reports that police and prison officials mistreated suspects 
in custody. Some indigenous groups charged that police harassment of 
indigenous people was pervasive and that racial discrimination by some 
police and prison custodians persisted (see section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers.
    According to the Australian Institute of Criminology's annual 
report on prison deaths, 34 persons died in prison custody in 2005. 
Eighteen persons died of natural causes, and 16 deaths were self 
inflicted.
    Juvenile offenders under age 17 generally were incarcerated in 
youth detention or training centers but could be sentenced to custody 
in an adult prison upon conviction of a serious criminal offense such 
as homicide. Since July 2005 children in immigration detention have 
been housed in the community under ``residency determination 
arrangements'' (see section 2.d.).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Each of the country's 
six state and two territorial jurisdictions has a separate police force 
that enforces state and territorial laws. The Australian Federal Police 
(AFP) enforce commonwealth laws. The minister for justice and customs 
oversees AFP activities, while the state police forces report to the 
respective state police ministers. The police forces generally do not 
have problems with corruption and impunity. State and territorial 
police forces have internal affairs units that investigate allegations 
of misconduct and a civilian ombudsman's office that can either review 
an investigation upon request of the complainant or initiate its own 
inquiry into a complaint.
    The police forces generally were effective; however, two 
independent investigations into the assaults and rioting between white 
and ethnic Arab youths in the Sydney area in December 2005, the results 
of which were released in October, criticized the New South Wales 
police for inadequate resources, training and communication.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police officers may seek an arrest warrant 
from a magistrate when a suspect cannot be located or fails to appear; 
however, they also may arrest a person without a warrant if there are 
reasonable grounds to believe the person has committed an offense. 
Police must inform arrested persons immediately of their legal rights 
and the grounds for their arrest, and arrested persons must be brought 
before a magistrate for a bail hearing at the next sitting of the 
court. However, legislation passed in December 2005 permits the police 
to hold individuals in preventive detention for up to 24 hours without 
charge if a senior police official finds it is ``reasonably necessary 
to prevent a terrorist act or preserve evidence of such an act.'' 
Individuals may be detained for an additional 24 hours under an 
extension of the initial court order. Bail generally is available to 
persons facing criminal charges unless the person is considered to be a 
flight risk or is charged with an offense carrying a penalty of 12 
months' imprisonment or more. Attorneys and families were granted 
prompt access to detainees.
    The December 2005 antiterrorism law permits a judge to authorize 
``control orders'' on individuals suspected of involvement with 
terrorism-related activities. These orders may include a range of 
measures, such as monitoring of suspects and house arrest, and may be 
in effect for up to a year without the filing of criminal charges. If a 
control order is still warranted after one year, a new order must be 
sought from a court. Both the preventive detention and control order 
provisions of the antiterrorism legislation expire after 10 years.
    In August the Government withdrew legislation that would have 
required all unauthorized asylum seekers who arrive in the country by 
boat to be detained offshore while their asylum claims were processed 
(see section 2.d.). In 2004 the High Court ruled that the Government 
had the authority to detain asylum seekers indefinitely.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    There are federal, state, and territorial courts, which handle both 
civil and criminal matters. The highest federal court is the High 
Court, which exercises general appellate jurisdiction and advises on 
constitutional issues. State and territorial supreme, district, and 
county courts conduct most major criminal and civil trials, while the 
magistrates' and specialists' courts (such as the children's court and 
administrative tribunals) adjudicate less serious criminal and civil 
cases and conduct preliminary hearings.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. In the 
state district and county courts and the state and territorial supreme 
courts, there generally is a judge and jury. The judge conducts the 
trial, and the jury decides on the facts and on a verdict. Defendants 
have the right to an attorney, and a government-funded system of legal 
aid attorneys is available to low-income persons. The defendant's 
attorney can question witnesses, present evidence on the defendant's 
behalf, and access relevant government-held evidence. Defendants enjoy 
the presumption of innocence and have the right to appeal the court's 
decision or the sentence imposed.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is also an 
administrative process at the state and federal levels to seek redress 
for alleged wrongs.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    In October the state of Victoria supreme court ruled that it would 
pursue a case of contempt of court against Melbourne Herald Sun 
reporters Gerard McManus and Michael Harvey for refusing to reveal 
their sources for an article published in February 2004 on government 
plans to cut veterans' benefits. (Under a rule of practice called the 
``Newspaper Rule,'' courts may exercise their discretion in ruling 
whether disclosure of journalists' sources of information is necessary 
in a particular case ``in the interest of justice.'') The court was 
scheduled to hear the case in February 2007. At year's end the two 
journalists were still working as political reporters for the Herald 
Sun. In October 2005 the chief judge of the state of Victoria county 
court filed the contempt charges against the two reporters after they 
refused to give evidence or name their sources during court proceedings 
against a government employee charged with ``unauthorized communication 
of a document'' in the release of the information to the reporters.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was widely available and used by citizens.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--While the rights 
of peaceful assembly and association are not codified in law, the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--On September 29, a single 
bullet was fired from a stationary car into the window of a mosque in 
Mirrabooka, a suburb of Perth, during evening prayers. No one was 
injured, but the bullet narrowly missed some of the worshippers. 
Following the incident the state government announced that it would 
work with local officials and police to increase safety at all mosques 
in the state. At year's end the police had no suspects or leads in 
their investigation into the shooting.
    In October two Muslim schools in Perth received threatening 
telephone calls following controversial remarks by a Muslim cleric 
implying that immodestly dressed women were responsible for rape (see 
section 5). Police arrested a suspect and charged him with making the 
calls; the case was pending at year's end.
    Some Muslim leaders claimed that anti-Muslim sentiment in the 
country was increasing in the wake of public debate about the 
integration of Muslim immigrants into Australian society.
    The country's Jewish community numbered approximately 84,000 
persons. In the 12-month period ending September 30, the Executive 
Council of Australian Jewry recorded 440 anti-Semitic incidents. This 
was a 32.5 percent increase from the number recorded in the previous 12 
months and the same as the number recorded for the October 2003 to 
September 2004 period. Although the overall total was lower than the 
record set in the year ending September 2002, it was 47 percent higher 
than the average annual total since reports were first compiled in 
1989. These incidents ranged from physical assault and/or property 
damage to harassment and offensive written and electronic media. In 
November a delegation from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry 
briefed 38 university vice chancellors in Sydney as part of a 
discussion of the ongoing problem of anti-Semitism on university 
campuses.
    On October 14, a group of approximately 20 members of the 
Australian Ocean Grove Football Club in Melbourne yelled racial 
epithets at an Orthodox Jewish man as he walked by their bus with his 
two children, and punched him in the face. Witnesses surrounded the bus 
until police arrived. No charges were filed; however, the club 
subsequently apologized and agreed to visit Melbourne's Holocaust 
Museum.
    At year's end the police investigation was ongoing in a December 
2005 incident in which shots were fired at parked cars of Catholic 
parishioners attending a church service in the Sydney suburb of Auburn.
    In December the leader of a neo-Nazi group was released from 
custody after reaching a plea agreement on charges of criminal damage 
relating to, among other things, the vandalizing of a Perth synagogue 
in 2004 (see section 5). Under the agreement he pled guilty to the 
charges and agreed to leave the state of Western Australia. A 
codefendant was free on bail at year's end pending a court hearing 
scheduled for early 2007.
    At year's end the state of Victoria court of appeal had not ruled 
on an appeal by two Christian pastors of the Victoria civil and 
administrative tribunal's 2004 ruling that they publish apologies, via 
newspaper advertisements, for comments that the court held had vilified 
Muslims. The Islamic Council of Victoria filed the complaint under 
Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act in 2003.
    The Government had a number of programs to promote anti-bias and 
tolerance education, including an antiracism education campaign and 
ongoing public awareness programs conducted by HREOC. In its annual 
report the Executive Council on Australian Jewry cited these programs 
as encouraging initiatives in responding to anti-Semitism and racism. 
The Government also had a national action plan, developed in 
coordination with a Muslim advisory group, to help bring law 
enforcement agencies and Muslim communities together to resolve issues 
of conflict and discrimination.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not address forced exile, but the Government did not 
use it in practice.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees subject to certain geographic and time constraints on claims 
by those who previously sought asylum in a safe country of transit. In 
practice the Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government granted refugee status or asylum and facilitated local 
integration.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government sets an annual quota on the number of refugee and 
humanitarian visa grants it makes. In the period July 2005 through 
June, a total of 14,144 visas were granted under the country's refugee 
and humanitarian grant program. These included 12,758 visas for persons 
overseas and 1,386 visas for persons already in the country. Of the 
latter, 1,272 were initial protection visas. A further 14 temporary 
humanitarian concern visas also were granted.
    Noncitizens arriving at a national border without prior entry 
authorization automatically are detained. Legal assistance is provided 
upon request to detainees making an initial asylum claim or application 
for lawful residence. Individuals may be released pending full 
adjudication of their asylum claim only if they meet certain criteria 
such as old age, ill health, or experience of torture or other trauma. 
However, most did not meet release criteria and were detained for the 
length of the asylum adjudication process. They were either released 
upon receiving asylum and an appropriate visa or removed once it was 
determined that they did not qualify for protection. During the year 
some asylum seekers who had been intercepted at sea continued to be 
housed in offshore detention centers in Nauru. In August one of the two 
remaining detainees in Nauru was transferred to Australia for 
psychiatric evaluation. In December a third country agreed to accept 
the second of the two for resettlement. In September six additional 
asylum seekers were sent to Nauru for processing of their claims and 
remained detained there at year's end.
    As of December 15, there were 638 persons in immigration detention, 
including 62 in residence determination arrangements in the community. 
Of these 638 persons, approximately half had been detained for less 
than three months.
    Noncitizens who arrive by boat and have their asylum claims 
confirmed are granted a three-year temporary protection visa (TPV), 
which provides full access to medical and social services but does not 
authorize family reunification or allow travel abroad with reentry 
rights. A permanent protection visa, which gives authority for family 
reunification and reentry rights, may be granted to an applicant at any 
stage of the asylum adjudication process. Denials of asylum claims may 
be appealed on merit grounds to the Refugee Review Tribunal, and on 
grounds of legal error to the Federal Court of Australia and, in 
certain cases, to the High Court. The minister for immigration and 
multicultural and indigenous affairs may exercise discretion and grant 
a visa after the asylum seeker has exhausted the review process. TPV 
and temporary humanitarian visa holders may apply for permanent visas 
without leaving the country.
    Although long delays in processing asylum applications were not a 
significant problem during the year, a small number of asylum seekers 
remained in detention, some for years, despite having exhausted the 
appeal process. They could not be returned to their home country 
because they lacked travel documents or could not obtain necessary 
transit visas. In 2004 the High Court overturned the Federal Court of 
Australia's 2003 ruling that the indefinite detention of asylum seekers 
was unlawful. In May 2005 a new Removal Pending Bridging Visa (RPBV) 
came into effect that allows the minister of immigration to grant a 
visa to a person in immigration detention whose removal from the 
country is not practical at that time. Holders of RPBVs may work, 
access government services, including free medical care, and attend 
public school.
    Under a 2005 law children may be detained only as a last resort, 
and no children were held in immigration detention centers during the 
year. Instead, ``residency determination arrangements'' were made with 
NGOs to place families with children in the community and assist them 
with housing and living expenses until their immigration status was 
resolved, subject to reporting requirements and a commitment to remain 
available to the immigration department.
    The country's immigration laws and detention policy continued to be 
criticized by some human rights and refugee advocacy groups, which 
charged that the sometimes-lengthy detentions violated asylum seekers' 
human rights.
    In August the Government withdrew proposed legislation from 
Parliament that would have required all unauthorized boat arrivals in 
the country to have their asylum claims processed offshore. The UNHCR 
had expressed concern about the offshore processing proposal, noting 
that it did not provide for all the protections and benefits available 
to asylum seekers processed within the country.
    There were no reports of the forced return of persons to countries 
where they feared persecution, before their asylum claims were 
considered and rejected. However, during the year refugee, church, and 
human rights groups continued to express concern about the Government's 
practices in repatriating unsuccessful asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage and mandatory voting.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In October 2004 citizens 
elected a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party to a 
fourth three-year term of office. The opposition Australian Labor Party 
(ALP) won all six state and two territorial elections held in 2003 for 
New South Wales (NSW); 2004 for the Australian Capital Territory; 2005 
for Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory (NT); and during 
the year for Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania.
    Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election.
    There are no legal impediments to public office for women and 
indigenous people. Both the Government and the opposition have declared 
their intent to increase the numbers of women elected to public office. 
As of October there were 64 women in the 226-seat Federal Parliament, 
three female ministers in the 17-member federal government cabinet, and 
five female ministers in the 30-member federal government ministry. 
There was one woman among the eight premiers and chief ministers of the 
six states and two territories, the chief minister of the NT. In 2005 a 
woman was appointed to the High Court as one of seven justices.
    Aboriginals generally were underrepresented among the political 
leadership (see section 5). The term of the sole Aboriginal federal 
senator expired on June 30, 2005. No Aboriginals were elected to the 
Federal Parliament in 2004. There was one Aboriginal in the Tasmanian 
state parliament, one in the NSW state parliament, two in the WA state 
parliament, and four in the NT legislative assembly. The national 
President of the ALP, Warren Mundine, is an Aboriginal.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The federal, state, and territorial governments have freedom of 
information (FOI) laws, which provide the public with access to 
government information. FOI requests generally are subject to both an 
application and a processing fee. Federal law enables a person to 
access and correct inaccurate personal information held by government 
ministries and agencies and to access other government information that 
has not been exempted to protect essential public interests or the 
private or business affairs of others. An applicant, including foreign 
media, may appeal a government decision to deny a request for 
information to the quasi-legal Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), 
an executive body that reviews administrative decisions by government 
entities. An adverse AAT decision may be appealed to the federal court 
of Australia.
    The Australian Press Association and others have criticized the FOI 
application process as unduly lengthy and costly, particularly with 
regard to requests for non-personal information. In September the High 
Court upheld a 2005 federal court ruling that a government minister 
properly withheld information about application of certain tax laws, on 
the basis of the minister's certification that disclosure could 
compromise the confidentiality of government decision making. The court 
ruled that the Government need only show that the specific public 
interest ground raised for withholding information was reasonable, 
``even though there may be reasonable grounds the other way.'' The 
Australian newspaper had brought the case after the Government denied 
its request for the information. The media expressed concern that the 
decision could allow the Government to deny public access to virtually 
any information held by the executive on the basis of broad claims of 
possible harm.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on sex, disability, 
race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, marital status, or 
age. An independent judiciary and a network of federal, state, and 
territorial equal opportunity offices effectively enforced the law. The 
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) investigates 
complaints of discrimination or breaches of human rights under the 
federal laws that implement the country's human rights treaty 
obligations.

    Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, including 
domestic abuse, and the Government enforced the law. Nonetheless, 
violence against women remained a problem, particularly in Aboriginal 
communities. In October 2004 the Office for Women, which monitors 
women's rights and advises the federal government on issues affecting 
women, published a report entitled The Cost of Domestic Violence to the 
Australian Economy, which found that domestic violence cost the economy 
$6.3 billion (A$8.1 billion) in the 12-month period from July 2002 to 
June 2003. The report ranked domestic violence among the top five risks 
to women's health. The federal Department of Family and Community 
Services and the state departments of community services had programs 
to both combat domestic violence and support victims of domestic 
violence, and the federal, state, and territorial governments funded 
numerous women's shelters.
    In April there were press reports on widespread domestic violence 
and child abuse in Aboriginal communities in Western Australia (see 
section 5, Children). In May the NT state prosecutor reported hundreds 
of cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse of women and children in 
Aboriginal communities in the NT. The prosecutor noted that child 
sexual assault in central Australia was happening at much higher rates 
than was currently being reported to police, as was violence against 
Aboriginal women and children. She also noted that the NT had no 
mandatory reporting law for such crimes, and that many victims were 
frightened of retribution within their communities if they reported the 
abuse to police. Federal and territorial agencies acknowledged that 
such abuses and the failure to report them were issues that needed to 
be addressed, and they also launched investigations into specific 
allegations.
    In June the federal minister for indigenous affairs convened an 
intergovernmental summit on domestic violence and child abuse in 
indigenous communities. The summit participants agreed on the need for 
a comprehensive approach and proposed a package of measures, with 
funding of $100.8 million (A$130 million). In July the Council of 
Australian governments approved the package and funding. Key components 
of the plan included improved policing in remote areas, community legal 
education, aiding the creation of indigenous support networks, more 
alcohol and drug treatment programs, and a national unit to monitor 
school attendance records of Aboriginal children.
    The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the 
Government enforced the law effectively when cases were reported to the 
authorities.
    In October a senior Muslim cleric in Sydney made statements in a 
sermon implying that immodestly dressed women, whom he compared to 
``uncovered meat,'' invited rape. Many other Muslim leaders, as well as 
the Government, opposition politicians, and human rights advocates, 
condemned the remarks. The cleric stated that his remarks were taken 
out of context, but he issued a formal apology and stated that he did 
not condone rape.
    It is a crime in all states and territories to perform female 
genital mutilation (FGM) or to remove a child from the jurisdiction for 
the purpose of having FGM performed; maximum penalties range from seven 
to 21 years' imprisonment. There were no reports of new cases or 
prosecutions for the offense during the year.
    Prostitution is legal or decriminalized in several states and 
territories, and the Governments of Victoria, Queensland, and the 
Australian Capital Territory license brothels operating within their 
borders. However, many brothels operated illegally. In some locations 
state-funded sexual health services employees visited brothels to 
educate workers about sexual health matters and to prevent worker 
mistreatment. Local governments or prostitution licensing authorities 
inspected brothels to assure compliance with planning laws and 
licensing requirements, including health and safety regulations. 
However, government officials faced difficulties enforcing health and 
safety standards in illegal brothels. Trafficking in persons, primarily 
women from Asia, for prostitution was a limited problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The Sex Discrimination Act prohibits sexual harassment. The 
independent federal sex discrimination commissioner, which is part of 
HREOC, undertakes research, policy, and educational work designed to 
eliminate discrimination between men and women.
    The HREOC received 347 sex discrimination complaints from July 2005 
through June. Twenty percent of the complaints alleged discrimination 
based on pregnancy and 19 percent alleged sexual harassment. The 
commission resolved 314 of the complaints, 44 percent by conciliation.
    There were highly organized and effective private and public 
women's rights organizations at the federal, state, and local levels.
    Women have equal status under the law, and the law provides for pay 
equity. In August the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimated 
that women's full-time total average weekly earnings were 80.6 percent 
of those of men.

    Children.--The Government demonstrated its strong commitment to 
children's rights and welfare through its publicly funded educational 
and medical care systems. While the structure of education varied among 
states and territories, all children between six and 15 years of age 
are entitled to nine to 10 years of compulsory and free education. An 
ABS survey issued in February found that the full-time school 
participation rate for 15-year-olds as of August 2005 was 94.7 percent, 
with most children completing grade 12. The student retention rate from 
grades seven and eight to grade 12 was 81 percent for girls and 75.3 
percent for boys. The Government provided universal health insurance 
coverage to all citizens and lawful residents from birth on a co-
payment basis. The Government also provided a minimum benefit of 16.8 
percent of the cost of a first child's childcare to all parents (with a 
smaller benefit for additional children), which increased to as much as 
100 percent for the lowest income families.
    State and territorial child protection agencies investigate and 
institute prosecutions of persons for child neglect or abuse. All 
states and territories have laws or guidelines that require members of 
certain designated professions to report suspected child abuse or 
neglect. The federal government's role in child abuse prevention is 
limited to funding research and education campaigns, developing an 
action plan against the commercial exploitation of children, and 
funding community-based parenting programs. According to the Australian 
Institute of Health and Welfare, there were 46,154 substantiated cases 
of child abuse and neglect from July 2004 to June 2005, the latest 
period for which national statistics were available. These included 
physical abuse (24 percent of cases), sexual abuse (10 percent), 
emotional abuse (33 percent), and neglect (33 percent).
    In April the press reported on widespread alcoholism and physical 
and sexual abuse of children among remote indigenous communities in 
Western Australia. As a result a number of Western Australian 
Aboriginal elders supported a plan proposed by one of the elders to 
separate children from their parents and place them in hostels in an 
attempt to break the cycle of alcoholism and abuse. However, some other 
Aboriginal leaders opposed the proposal. While the state of Western 
Australia indicated tentative support for the plan, its immediate 
response was to allocate $9.3 million (A$12 million) to build new 
housing and provide more social services to the Aboriginal community.
    In May the NT state prosecutor reported many cases of domestic 
violence and child abuse in NT Aboriginal communities (see section 5, 
Women).
    In July the Attorney General of NSW released a report he had 
commissioned entitled Breaking the Silence: Creating the Future--
Addressing Child Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities in New South 
Wales. The report found that sexual assault of children was a 
significant issue in all 29 indigenous communities visited by 
researchers. The report found that in Aboriginal communities sexual 
assault was not well understood to be a criminal offense and seldom was 
reported. In response to these findings the NSW government announced it 
was implementing 88 recommendations that flowed from the report.
    The Government has enacted tough criminal laws aimed at restricting 
the trade in, and possession of, child pornography; the law allows 
suspected pedophiles to be tried in the country regardless of where the 
crime was committed. The Child Sex Tourism Act prohibits child sex 
tourism and related offenses for the country's residents and citizens 
overseas and provides for a maximum sentence of 17 years' imprisonment 
upon conviction. During the 12-month period ending June 30, the AFP 
conducted 57 investigations. There were 26 prosecutions, with 14 
convictions and five cases still pending before the courts at the end 
of the fiscal year. During the year the Government continued its 
awareness campaign to deter child sex tourism, through the distribution 
of materials to citizens and residents traveling overseas. Child 
protection NGOs raised community awareness of child trafficking. There 
were no reports of children being trafficked into the country during 
the year (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
but the country continued to be a destination for some trafficked women 
in the sex industry.
    Some women, primarily from the People's Republic of China, the 
Republic of Korea, and Southeast Asia, were brought into the country 
for the purpose of prostitution, sometimes entering with fraudulently 
obtained tourist or student visas. Many of these women traveled to the 
country voluntarily to work in both legal and illegal brothels, but 
some reportedly were deceived or coerced into debt bondage or sexual 
servitude. The Australian Crime Commission reported that deceptive 
practices in contract terms and conditions, which often masked debt 
bondage, appeared to be increasing among women in prostitution, while 
deceptive recruiting practices appeared to be decreasing. Authorities 
believed that sex trafficking networks were composed primarily of 
individual operators or small crime groups that often relied on larger 
organized crime groups to procure fraudulent documentation for the 
trafficked women.
    The Commonwealth Criminal Code comprehensively criminalizes 
``people trafficking'' offenses, including sexual servitude, slavery, 
and deceptive recruitment. These offenses carry penalties of up to 25 
years' imprisonment for slavery, 15 years for sexual servitude, and 
seven years for deceptive recruitment. Under the Child Sex Tourism Act, 
it is an offense for citizens or residents to travel abroad to engage 
in sex with minors under age 16 (see section 5, Children).
    In June 2005 the Government expanded existing antitrafficking laws 
to include new offenses for debt bondage, child trafficking, and 
domestic trafficking, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison, and 
in September 2005 ratified the UN Trafficking Protocol.
    The AFP and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs 
have lead roles in combating trafficking in persons. The AFP's 
Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Team, a 23-member 
mobile strike force, is responsible for investigating trafficking 
syndicates operating in the country and abroad. State police forces 
worked closely with the AFP to develop a comprehensive policing 
strategy to counter trafficking in persons. Since 2004 the AFP has 
opened 112 investigations and charged 22 persons for people trafficking 
offenses. During the year the courts convicted four persons of 
trafficking offenses and sentenced them to prison terms of up to 10 
years.
    An ambassador for people-smuggling issues is responsible for 
promoting a coherent and effective international approach to combating 
trafficking in persons (particularly in the Asia-Pacific region), 
assisting in the negotiation of international agreements for the return 
and resettlement of persons brought illegally into the country, and 
working for the prosecution of traffickers in persons. The ambassador 
coordinates the country's participation with Indonesia in the Bali 
Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related 
Transnational Crime. The Government has antitrafficking agreements with 
Cambodia, Burma, Laos, and Thailand designed to improve international 
cooperation and police investigations of trafficking syndicates. The 
Government also funded awareness campaigns in source countries and 
continued funding the Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People 
Trafficking project. Underway in four countries--Thailand, Laos, Burma, 
and Cambodia--the project focused on strengthening the criminal justice 
process to combat trafficking in persons.
    Within the country the Government continued an awareness campaign 
targeting the sex industry and the community at large and widely 
publicized criminal cases against traffickers. Trafficking victims 
willing to cooperate with authorities in the investigation and 
prosecution of traffickers qualify for a temporary visa and a range of 
social services. Counseling, temporary shelter, and other assistance 
were available to all trafficking victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment; education; access to 
premises; provisions of goods, services (including health services), 
and facilities; accommodation; purchase of land; activities of clubs 
and associations; sport; and the administration of federal laws and 
programs, and the Government effectively enforced the law.
    The disability discrimination commissioner, which is part of HREOC, 
promotes compliance with federal laws that prohibit discrimination 
against persons with disabilities. The commissioner also promotes 
implementation and enforcement of state laws that require equal access 
and otherwise protect the rights of persons with disabilities. The law 
also provides for mediation by HREOC of discrimination complaints, 
authorizes fines against violators, and awards damages to victims of 
discrimination.
    HREOC's July 2005 to June 2006 annual report stated that 561 
complaints of discrimination based on disability were filed during the 
reporting period. Of these, 58 percent were employment related and 17 
percent involved the provision of goods and services. The HREOC 
resolved 512 complaints, 46 percent through conciliation.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--During the year leaders in the 
ethnic and immigrant communities continued to express concern about 
incidents of vilification and discrimination directed against 
immigrants and minorities.
    In December 2005, 31 persons were injured in assaults and rioting 
between mostly white and ethnic Arab youths in the Sydney area. Two 
independent investigations released in October indicated that 
inadequate police resources, training, and communication were key 
factors in the incidents (see section 1.d.).
    In December the leader of the neo-Nazi Australian Nationalist 
Movement, Jack Van Tongeren, was released under a plea agreement after 
he agreed to plead guilty to charges of criminal damage and conspiracy 
to cause arson in connection with incidents in 2004 in which several 
Asian businesses and a synagogue in Perth were firebombed or sprayed 
with racist graffiti. Under the plea agreement he also was required to 
leave Western Australia.
    According to HREOC's July 2005 to June annual report, the number of 
racial discrimination complaints received rose to 259. Of the 259 
reported cases, 48 percent involved employment, 18 percent involved 
provision of goods and services, and 17 percent alleged ``racial 
hatred.'' Persons born outside the country filed 62 percent of the 
complaints, and Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders filed 23 
percent.

    Indigenous People.--In March 2005, after a Senate inquiry 
criticized the Government's handling of Aboriginal affairs, Parliament 
passed legislation abolishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
Commission (ATSIC) and its subordinate regional entities; the National 
Indigenous Council, a government-appointed advisory council established 
in 2004, was retained as ATSIC's successor. While some Aboriginal 
groups claimed that the Government's abolishment of ATSIC was an 
attempt to silence its indigenous critics, other Aboriginal groups 
welcomed the move as an attempt to refocus the domestic indigenous 
policy debate on improving health and social conditions and away from 
ATSIC's leadership team, which they viewed as impeding ATSIC's 
effectiveness.
    The Government's approach toward Aboriginals emphasized a 
``practical reconciliation'' aimed at raising the health, education, 
and living standards of indigenous people. A wide variety of government 
initiatives and programs sought to improve all aspects of Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander life. In 2005-06 the Government expended 
$2.4 billion (A$3.1 billion) on services to indigenous people and in 
2006-07 budgeted $2.6 billion (A$3.3 billion) for indigenous programs. 
The Government initiated 24 programs in six different program areas to 
improve the ability of indigenous people to access the same 
opportunities as other citizens. These initiatives included access to 
better food from special stores, better-quality education through 
boarding school programs, and access to telecommunication and Internet 
services.
    The Government maintained a national network of ``Link Up'' offices 
to provide family tracing, reunion, and other support to indigenous 
families separated as a result of past government practices. However, 
indigenous citizens continued to experience significantly higher rates 
of imprisonment, inferior access to medical and educational 
institutions, greatly reduced life expectancy rates, higher levels of 
unemployment, and general discrimination. Poverty and below-average 
educational achievement levels contributed significantly to Aboriginal 
underrepresentation in national, territorial, and state political 
leadership (see section 3).
    According to a government report entitled Overcoming Indigenous 
Disadvantage released in 2005, the life expectancy of an indigenous 
person remained 20 years less than that of a nonindigenous person, and 
the indigenous infant mortality rate was 2.5 times the rates found in 
nonindigenous populations. A joint study by the ABS and the Australian 
Institute of Health and Welfare, released in August 2005, reported that 
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders were twice as likely to be 
hospitalized as other citizens. Much of the difference was found to be 
a result of potentially preventable chronic conditions. On the other 
hand, the report also noted that there were steady increases in 
indigenous primary and secondary school enrollments between 1996 and 
2004. Over the same period the proportion of working-age indigenous 
people who were employed rose from 31 to 38 percent.
    Although Aboriginal adults represented only 2.2 percent of the 
adult population, according to the ABS they accounted for approximately 
21 percent of the total prison population and were imprisoned at 11 
times the rate of nonindigenous persons as of June 2004, down from 15 
times the nonindigenous rate in 2002. More than 45 percent of 
Aboriginal men between the ages of 20 and 30 years had been arrested at 
some time in their lives. In 2004 Aboriginal juveniles accounted for 
approximately 34 percent of those between the ages of 10 to 17 in 
juvenile correctional institutions. Human rights observers noted that 
socioeconomic conditions gave rise to the common precursors of 
indigenous crime, including unemployment, homelessness, and boredom.
    Indigenous groups charged that police harassment of indigenous 
people, including juveniles, was pervasive and that racial 
discrimination by police and prison custodians persisted. Human rights 
groups and indigenous people alleged a pattern of mistreatment and 
arbitrary arrests occurring against a backdrop of unofficial yet 
systemic discrimination.
    In September the Queensland State coroner found that in 2004 an 
indigenous man detained for public drunkenness on Queensland's Palm 
Island had been beaten by a police officer while in custody and had 
died as a result. The coroner reported that the police failed to 
investigate the death properly and that the man never should have been 
arrested. She referred the matter to the Queensland Department of 
Public Prosecutions (DPP) to decide whether the police officer should 
be charged in relation to the death. The DPP declined to prosecute the 
officer. In December, in response to an ensuing public outcry, the 
Queensland attorney general appointed a retired NSW chief judge to 
review the DPP's decision. The review was pending at year's end. In 
November 2004 hundreds of Palm Island residents rioted after government 
officials released the initial coroner's report in the case, which had 
cleared the police of responsibility in the man's death. The Crime and 
Misconduct Commission, requested by the Queensland State government to 
investigate the case, subsequently agreed to join the investigation by 
the Queensland State coroner.
    The National Native Title Tribunal resolves native land title 
applications through mediation and acts as an arbitrator in cases where 
the parties cannot reach agreement about proposed mining or other 
development of land. The 1993 Native Title Act removed the time limit 
previously in effect for lodging native title claims, and Aboriginal 
groups continued to express concern that the amended act limited the 
future ability of Aboriginal people to protect their property rights. 
In 2002 the High Court ruled that native title rights did not extend to 
mineral or petroleum resources and that, in cases where leasehold 
rights and native title rights were in conflict, leaseholder rights 
prevailed.
    On September 19, a federal court judge upheld a native title claim 
by the Nyoongar Aboriginal community over a large portion of the 
southwestern part of the state of Western Australia, including the 
Perth area. The ruling allows the Nyoongar people to conserve and use 
the area's natural resources but does not include land privately owned 
or leased and areas where native title had already been extinguished. 
The state of Western Australia and the federal government both appealed 
the decision; the appeal was pending at year's end.
    The one-billion-dollar (A$1.29 billion) indigenous land fund is a 
special account that provides an ongoing source of funds for indigenous 
people to purchase land for their use. It is separate from the Native 
Title Tribunal and is not for payment of compensation to indigenous 
people for loss of land or to titleholders for return of land to 
indigenous people.
    The NGO Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, which was set up in a 
small structure on public land opposite the old parliament building 
more than 30 years ago, worked to publicize Aboriginal grievances. The 
tent embassy, which also encompassed an itinerants' camp, remained in 
the same location despite continued efforts to relocate it by the 
Government and some local indigenous groups who asserted that it was 
not representative of the entire indigenous community. Other Aboriginal 
NGOs included groups working on native title issues, reconciliation, 
deaths in custody, and Aboriginal rights in general. International 
NGOs, such as Amnesty International, also monitored and reported on 
indigenous issues and rights.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In 2003 the NSW 
government released a study of violence against homosexuals, which 
found that more than half of the survey participants had experienced 
one or more forms of abuse, harassment, or violence in the previous 12 
months. The report also found that two or more persons who were unknown 
to the victim perpetrated most incidents of harassment or violence and 
that homosexuals of Middle Eastern background suffered exclusion, 
assaults, and stalking from family or community members. Although no 
more recent studies were available on the subject, there were anecdotal 
media reports that such problems continued.
    Federal and various state laws prohibit discrimination on the 
grounds of HIV positive status. In the 12 months ending June 30, there 
were 12 discrimination complaints lodged with the federal disability 
discrimination commissioner, which is part of HREOC, on the grounds of 
HIV/AIDS status. These complaints also were included in the total of 
561 disability-related complaints to HREOC.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, including 
public servants, the right of association domestically and 
internationally and protection against antiunion discrimination, and 
workers exercised these rights in practice. A 2005 ABS survey indicated 
that union membership had decreased slightly over the previous 12 
months to 22.4 percent of the workforce.
    Unions carried out their functions free from government or 
political control.
    The 1996 Federal Workplace Relations Act (WRA), which contained 
curbs on union power, restrictions on strikes (see section 6.b.), and 
limits on redress and compensation claims by dismissed employees, was 
substantially changed in December 2005 by the Workplace Relations 
Amendment Act of 2005 (known as WorkChoices), which came into effect in 
March. WorkChoices encourages the individualization of employment 
relations at the expense of trade unions and industrial tribunals and 
reduces the scope and significance of the traditional arbitration 
system. The WRA and WorkChoices state that workers are free to join or 
decline to join industrial associations and they prohibit 
discrimination against individuals for membership or nonmembership in a 
union. The umbrella trade union organization, the Australian Council of 
Trade Unions (ACTU), objected to the 1996 law and WorkChoices, alleging 
that they violate the right to assembly provided for in several 
International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions that the Government 
has signed.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Federal, state, 
and territorial laws provide workers with the right to organize and 
bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
    Under the WRA, negotiation of contracts covering wages and working 
conditions shifted from the centralized awards system of the past to 
enterprise-level agreements certified by the Australian Industrial 
Relations Commission (AIRC). The WRA also provided for the negotiation 
of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) between employers and 
individual workers, which were subject to fewer government regulations 
than awards or enterprise bargaining agreements; however, AWAs had to 
improve the basic working conditions contained in a relevant same-
sector award.
    WorkChoices substantially changed the WRA. It replaced the 
country's state labor relations systems with a single set of federal 
labor relations rules. The law provides for five minimum standards of 
employment: a minimum wage, annual leave, sick leave, unpaid parental 
leave, and maximum working hours. All other workplace conditions are 
negotiable, preferably at the workplace or enterprise level. The law 
provides for collective workplace agreements as well as AWAs, although 
by providing that an employer may require new employees to sign AWAs as 
a condition of employment, the law favors this type of employment 
agreement. Once an AWA is in force it cannot be displaced by a 
collective agreement, but a collective agreement may be overridden by 
an AWA.
    Unions criticized as adversely affecting collective bargaining 
rights Workchoices' provisions on ``prohibited content,'' which are 
matters that the law prohibits from inclusion in workplace agreements; 
such prohibitions include, for example, mandatory union involvement in 
dispute settlement and remedies for unfair dismissal. The law also 
provides for imposition of fines for violation of the ``prohibited 
content'' provisions. The Government took the position that the 
``prohibited content'' provisions were justified on the ground that 
industrial agreements should relate only to the terms and conditions of 
the employment itself. Although mandatory union involvement in dispute 
settlement is ``prohibited content,'' the law permits employees to 
appoint a bargaining agent, including a trade union representative, to 
assist them in reaching a work agreement with the employer, including 
an AWA.
    The Office of the Employment Advocate approved 96,508 AWAs during 
the three-month period ending December 31, an increase of 24 percent 
compared with the previous three months. Of the 862,800 AWAs approved 
from March 1997 through March 2006, 16 percent were in the retail 
sector, 12 percent in manufacturing, 12 percent in property and 
business services, 11 percent in accommodations, cafes and restaurants, 
and the remainder in other sectors.
    Under WorkChoices unions can enter certain workplaces to 
investigate a suspected breach of the WRA or hold discussions with 
employees. However, unions may only enter a workplace to investigate a 
breach of an award or collective agreement if a union member is 
carrying out work at the premises and the suspected breach affects a 
union member. If all employees are on AWAs or there is a collective 
agreement to which the union is not a party, a union does not have a 
right of entry for discussion purposes.
    Federal law first recognized an implicit right to strike in 1994. 
The WRA significantly restricted this right. The law, as amended by 
WorkChoices, subjects strikers to heavy fines for taking industrial 
action during the life of an agreement and contains tough secondary-
boycott provisions. The law confines strikes to the period when unions 
are negotiating a new enterprise agreement and specifies that strikes 
must concern matters under negotiation. This is known as ``protected 
action.'' Protected action provides employers, employees, and unions 
with legal immunity from claims of losses incurred by industrial 
action. WorkChoices requires industrial action to be authorized by a 
secret ballot of employees; unions complained that this requirement was 
unduly time consuming and expensive to implement. The law permits the 
Government to stop strikes if they are judged to have an ``adverse 
effect'' on the employer or damage third parties, but this provision 
was not used during the year.
    Unions, the ALP, and a number of international labor organizations 
have criticized both the 1996 WRA and WorkChoices as violating workers' 
rights. Shortly after WorkChoices was enacted in December 2005, the 
state governments and several unions filed a legal challenge to it, 
arguing that the federal government's constitutional authority to 
regulate corporations could not be used to establish a nationwide 
industrial relations policy superseding the states' labor laws. 
(Previous federal labor legislation had been based on the federal 
government's constitutional power of conciliation and arbitration.) On 
November 14, the High Court dismissed the challenge and upheld the 
federal government's claim that its constitutional power to make laws 
with respect to corporations allows it to regulate workplace relations. 
On November 30, labor unions and their supporters held a number of 
rallies around the country to protest WorkChoices.
    The Bureau of Statistics reported 352 industrial disputes for the 
12 months ending June 30, a decrease of more than 38 percent from the 
previous year; during the same period, total workdays lost due to 
strikes fell by 23 percent to 187,100.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Legislation enacted 
in 2005 explicitly prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by 
children, and there were no reports that such practices occurred. 
Trafficking in women was a limited problem (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There is no federally mandated minimum age of employment, but state-
imposed compulsory educational requirements, enforced by state 
educational authorities, effectively prevented most children from 
joining the work force full time until they were 15 or 16 years of age. 
Federal and state governments monitored and enforced a network of laws, 
which varied from state to state, governing the minimum school-leaving 
age (see section 5), the minimum age to claim unemployment benefits, 
and the minimum age to engage in specified occupations. The ACTU also 
monitored adherence to these laws. On December 19, the country ratified 
ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although a formal minimum wage 
exists, it has not been directly relevant in wage agreements since the 
1960s, since most workers received higher wages through enterprise 
agreements or individual contracts. Differing minimum wages for 
individual trades and professions covered approximately 80 percent of 
all workers; all rates provided a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family. WorkChoices created a new statutory agency, the 
Australian Fair Pay Commission (FPC), to determine future minimum wage 
increases. In October the FPC raised the federal minimum award wage to 
$396.79 (A$511.86) per week from $375.50 (A$484.40) per week. An ACTU 
spokesperson stated that they were pleased with the increase.
    Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial increase in 
the percentage of the workforce regarded as temporary workers. As of 
September 30, there were 2.9 million persons (28.5 percent of the 
workforce) employed as casual or temporary workers. Such employees were 
not entitled to certain employment benefits such as sick leave or 
annual leave but were paid at a higher hourly wage rate.
    Federal or state occupational health and safety laws apply to every 
workplace. The law provides federal employees with the right to cease 
work without endangering their future employment if they believe that 
particular work activities pose an immediate threat to individual 
health or safety. Most states and territories have laws that grant 
similar rights to their employees. At a minimum private sector 
employees have recourse to state health and safety commissions, which 
investigate complaints and demand remedial action.
    Labor law protects citizens, permanent residents, and migrant 
workers alike. Migrant worker visas require that employers respect 
these protections and provide bonds to cover health insurance, worker 
compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, and other benefits. 
However, there were reports that some employers violated these 
protections. For example, in February the Liquor, Hospitality and 
Miscellaneous Workers' Union filed three cases with HREOC involving 
migrant workers. The union alleged that some employers were exploiting 
their foreign migrant workers, underpaying them, and threatening to 
deport them if they complained. In October the immigration minister 
ordered an investigation into allegations by the Australian 
Manufacturing Workers Union that Filipino workers employed by a 
Queensland company were underpaid and charged excessive rent for their 
accommodations, and that three of the workers were dismissed after they 
joined the union and sought better working conditions.
    There were no reports of worker rights abuses in the country's 
three inhabited dependent territories of Christmas Island, Cocos 
(Keeling) Island, and Norfolk Island.

                               __________

                                 BRUNEI

    Brunei Darussalam is an Islamic country with a population of 
approximately 383,000. It has been ruled by the same family for more 
than 600 years. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah governed under emergency 
powers that place few limits on his power. The legislative council that 
was revived in 2004 met again during the year and expanded its activity 
to include a debate of the Government budget, but otherwise it had only 
a limited role in recommending and approving legislation. The sultan 
maintained control over the security forces.
    The following human rights problems were reported: inability of 
citizens to change their government; arbitrary detention; limits on 
freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association; restrictions on 
religious freedom; discrimination against women; restricted labor 
rights; and exploitation of foreign workers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits mistreatment of prisoners, and there 
were no reports of such mistreatment. Caning is mandatory for 42 
criminal offenses, and it was included as part of the sentence in 80 
percent of criminal convictions. Canings were carried out in the 
presence of a doctor, who had the authority to interrupt the punishment 
for medical reasons.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards. Juveniles typically served their 
sentences in adult detention centers but segregated from adults. 
Several young offenders were housed at a juvenile rehabilitation 
center. Conditions in detention cells at police stations were Spartan.
    There were no reports that human rights monitors requested prison 
visits, but foreign diplomats had consular access to detained 
nationals. Family members were permitted to visit prisoners and bring 
food.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides for a prompt 
judicial determination regarding the validity of an arrest. However, in 
practice the provisions, like the constitution itself, were superseded 
through invocation of the emergency powers.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force and 
the Internal Security Department are under the direct control of the 
Prime Minister's Office. Both groups were considered free of major 
corrupt practices, although there were reports of petty corruption 
among traffic police. Police statistics reported 27 arrests involving 
police and military personnel for criminal acts; one police officer was 
prosecuted and convicted for corruption.

    Arrest and Detention.--Normally a magistrate must endorse a warrant 
for arrest. On rare occasions, warrants were issued without this 
endorsement, such as when police were unable to obtain the endorsement 
in time to prevent the flight of a suspect. Police officers have broad 
powers to make arrests without warrants of persons caught in the 
physical act of committing a crime. In such arrests, police may detain 
a suspect for up to 48 hours before bringing the individual before a 
magistrate.
    The Internal Security Act (ISA) permits the Government to detain 
suspects without trial for renewable two-year periods. ISA detainees 
also were denied the right to legal counsel and were not presumed to be 
innocent. The Government regularly convened an independent advisory 
board consisting of executive and judicial branch officials to review 
individual ISA detentions and recommend whether they should be renewed 
for an additional two years. Information on some detainees was made 
public only after their release.
    The criminal procedure code allows for bail except in cases 
indicated as ``discretionary'' by law. Detainees generally had prompt 
access to lawyers and family visitations; however, police may deny 
access in exceptional cases, such as probable belief of tampering with 
a witness.
    In July the Government released three persons--Haji Muslim bin Haji 
Awang Tengah, Noordin bin Haji Ahmed Noor, and Haji Abdul Radzak bin 
Haji Awang Damit--arrested in 2004 under the ISA for treason and 
``subversive actions.''
    At year's end seven of the persons detained in 2004 under the ISA 
for involvement in a counterfeit ring remained in custody. Their 
detentions were scheduled for review by the advisory board in 2007.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not provide 
specifically for an independent judiciary, but the courts appeared to 
act independently, and there were no known instances of government 
interference with the judiciary. All higher court judges are appointed 
by and serve at the pleasure of the sultan.
    The judicial system consists of five levels of courts, with final 
recourse in civil cases available through the Privy Council in London.

    Trial Procedures.--The secular law, based on English common law, 
provides citizens with a fair and efficient judicial process. 
Procedural safeguards include the right to defense counsel, an 
interpreter, and a speedy trial, as well as the right to confront 
accusers. There is no legal provision to provide affordable legal 
counsel for poor defendants, except in capital cases. In noncapital 
cases, indigent defendants may act as their own lawyers in court.
    The law lacks provisions to allow companies or individuals to sue 
the Government, which traditionally resolves disputes with generous, 
nonnegotiable settlements or in some cases simply refuses to settle.
    Shari'a (Islamic law) supersedes secular law for Muslims in some 
areas, including divorce, inheritance, and some sexual crimes. Shari'a 
is not applied to non-Muslims.
    On January 1, a bar association began operations to promote 
lawyers' public accountability.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees; however, information was very 
difficult to obtain.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no specific 
provision of law to bring civil suit for human rights violations. In 
customary practice, individuals may present written complaints about 
rights violations to the sultan directly for review. Such complaints 
are typically handled privately, and there were no reports of civil 
remedies handled in this manner during the year. Individual government 
servants who act outside their authority resulting in a civil wrong may 
be subject to legal process for compensation. Civil courts are 
generally unbiased. In the past an individual successfully sued a 
police officer; however, during the year there were no reports of civil 
suits against government officials.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law permits government intrusion into the privacy 
of individual persons, families, and homes. Shari'a permits enforcement 
of khalwat, an Islamic prohibition on the close proximity of a Muslim 
and a member of the opposite sex other than a spouse or close male 
relative. There continued to be numerous reports that religious 
enforcement officers entered homes, buildings, and vehicles to detain 
suspects. According to religious authorities, 389 khalwat cases were 
reported between July 2005 and April.
    The Government monitored the private e-mail and Internet chatroom 
exchanges of citizens that it believed to be subversive (see section 
2.a.). The Government employed an informant system as part of its 
internal security apparatus to monitor suspected dissidents.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Under the emergency powers, the 
Government significantly restricted freedom of speech and of the press. 
Constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 allow members of the 
legislative council to ``speak their opinions freely,'' but they are 
prohibited from using language or exhibiting behavior deemed 
``irresponsible, derogatory, scandalous, or injurious,'' and they may 
be disqualified for ``disloyalty'' to the sultan among other offenses.
    Under the Sedition Act, it is an offense to ``directly or 
indirectly lower or adversely affect the rights, status position, 
discretion, powers, privileges, sovereignty, or prerogatives of the 
sultan, his spouse, successors, or other members of the royal family.'' 
The act also makes it an offense to ``directly or indirectly lower or 
adversely affect the standing or prominence of the national philosophy, 
the Malay Islamic Monarchy concept.'' This ideology permeates the 
country's life and government administration. It promotes Islam as the 
state religion and monarchical rule as the sole governing system, and 
it upholds the rights and privileges of the Brunei Malay race.
    The act also provides for the prosecution of any publisher, 
proprietor, or editor of a newspaper that publishes matter having a 
seditious intention. Publication of the newspaper may be suspended for 
up to one year, and the publisher, printer, or editor can be prohibited 
from publishing, writing for, or editing any other newspaper. Printing 
equipment used in printing the newspaper can also be seized. Persons 
convicted under the act face fines of up to $3,200 (B$5,000) and jail 
terms of up to three years.
    The law requires local newspapers to obtain operating licenses and 
prior government approval of foreign editorial staff, journalists, and 
printers. The law also gives the Government the right to bar 
distribution of foreign publications and requires distributors of 
foreign publications to obtain a government permit. The law allows the 
Government to close a newspaper without giving prior notice or showing 
cause. Journalists deemed to have published or written ``false and 
malicious'' reports may be subjected to fines or prison sentences.
    The country's largest daily newspaper in circulation, the Borneo 
Bulletin, practiced self-censorship in its choice of topics to avoid 
angering the Government. However, letters to the editor often included 
comments critical of the Government's handling of certain social, 
economic, and environmental issues. On occasion the Government 
responded to public opinion on topics concerning social or 
environmental problems and notably the delay of public services.
    In July a second English-language daily paper, the Brunei Times, 
was launched.
    Foreign newspapers are routinely available, although the Government 
must approve their distribution. Internet versions of foreign media are 
routinely available.
    Although the Government owned the country's only television 
station, three Malaysian television channels were available, in 
addition to two satellite television services, both of which offered 
more than 75 channels each. Some content is subject to censorship based 
on theme, but such censorship was not consistent.
    Since there was no organized opposition, the Government's tolerance 
of political criticism was not tested. In the past the Government 
arrested those who attempted to propagate unwelcome political views. 
Local media published limited reports on the activities of three 
political parties (see section 3).
    In June three persons--Isa bin Haji Jaya, William bin Rahman, and 
Tuah bin Sabang--pled guilty to charges under the Sedition Act for 
distributing a satirical, computer-generated video clip via mobile 
telephone depicting immediate members of the royal family. The 
individuals were sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 
$3,200 (B$5,000).

    Internet Freedom.--The Government monitored the private e-mail and 
Internet chatroom exchanges of citizens believed to be subversive. 
There was anecdotal information that fear of government surveillance 
reduced the number of visitors to the few existing Internet forums. 
Unlike in the past, there were no reports that the Government blocked 
access to forums hosted outside the country. The primary Internet 
service provider was state owned.
    In April the Attorney General's Chambers and Authority for Info-
Communications Technology Industry advised Internet service and content 
providers to monitor for content contrary to public interest, national 
harmony, and social morals. There were no reports of any government 
action to enforce this advisory.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally 
respected academic freedom; however, some researchers chose to publish 
from overseas and under a pseudonym when they perceived that subject 
matter pertaining to the country would not be well received.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Under the emergency powers, the Government significantly 
restricted the right to assemble. According to the Societies Act, 
public gatherings of 10 or more persons require a government permit. 
Freedom to assemble for political purposes was not tested during the 
year.

    Freedom of Association.--Civil servants and security force 
personnel, who together composed 60 percent of all employed citizens, 
are not permitted to join political parties (see section 3). The 
Government continued to restrict the activities of international 
service organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Lions, which 
developed out of the established business community. Religious 
regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the 
State Mufti's Office prohibited Muslims from joining these 
organizations.
    There were no politically oriented student associations.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law states, ``The religion of Brunei 
Darussalam shall be the Muslim religion according to the Shafi'i sect 
of that religion: Provided that all other religions may be practiced in 
peace and harmony by the person professing them in any part of Brunei 
Darussalam.'' The Government controlled mosques, and the Ministry of 
Religious Affairs prepared the weekly Friday sermons delivered in 
mosques countrywide. The Government restricted the practice of non-
Islamic religions and non-Shafi'i Islamic groups, and it reinforced the 
legitimacy of the observance of traditional and Islamic values through 
its national ideology.
    The Government used its internal security apparatus--including such 
measures as surveillance, investigation, and, in the past, detention--
against persons whom it considered to be purveyors of radical Islam, 
non-Muslims who attempted to proselytize, and religious groups that did 
not belong to the official religion.
    Registration is required by law for a group to worship communally. 
An organization that fails to register can face charges of unlawful 
assembly. All non-Shafi'i religious groups are required to register as 
associations. There continued to be credible reports that certain 
Christian groups were denied permission to register.
    In the past the Government routinely restricted the practice of 
non-Muslim religions by prohibiting proselytizing, occasionally denying 
entry to foreign clergy, banning the importation of religious teaching 
materials or scriptures such as the Bible, and denying requests to 
expand or build new churches, temples, and shrines. In September 2005 
the Government approved a request from the Anglican St. Andrew's Church 
to undertake a major refurbishment of its building, and the project was 
initiated during the year. However, at year's end work was halted after 
local authorities withdrew construction permits on the grounds that the 
construction work exceeded that approved in the original permit. An 
application for a revised permit was submitted, but by year's end 
authorities had not made a decision.
    Non-Muslims who proselytize may be arrested or detained and held 
without charges for an extended period of time; however, during the 
year there were no reports that persons were arrested or detained for 
proselytizing.
    Muslims who wished to change or renounce their religion faced 
considerable difficulties. Born Muslims faced both official and 
societal pressure not to leave Islam. Permission from the Ministry of 
Religious Affairs must be obtained, and there were no reports of anyone 
requesting such permission. There were instances of persons, often 
foreign women, who converted to Islam as a prelude to marrying Muslims, 
as required by the country's Islamic law. Government statistics 
reported that 8 percent of the 312 conversions to Islam during the year 
were due to marriage. After the marriages took place, women who wished 
to return to their former religion faced intense official pressure not 
to do so or encountered extraordinary delays in obtaining permission. 
Unlike in the past, there were no cases reported of divorced Muslim 
converts who, because of official and societal pressure, remained 
officially Muslim if they did not wish to do so.
    Religious authorities strongly encouraged Muslim women to wear the 
tudong, a traditional head covering, and the majority did so. Most 
government departments and the uniformed services required female 
Muslims to wear the tudong as part of their dress code. All government 
schools and other educational institutions required students to wear 
the tudong as part of their uniforms. At the national university, 
foreign, non-Muslim students were encouraged but not required to do so.
    Authorities continued to arrest Muslim persons for offenses under 
Shari'a, such as khalwat and consumption of alcohol (see section 1.f.).
    The Ministry of Education requires courses on Islam and the 
national ideology and prohibits the teaching of other religions and 
comparative religious studies. The ministry requires all students, 
including non-Muslims, to learn the Jawi, the Malay language in Arabic 
script. The International School of Brunei and the Jerudong 
International School were exempt from these requirements, but both 
offered voluntary, extracurricular Islamic instruction to Muslim 
students. Private Christian schools were not allowed to give Christian 
instruction but could offer voluntary, Islamic instruction to Muslim 
students. However, the Government did not prohibit or restrict parents 
from giving religious instruction to children at home.
    The Government routinely censored magazine articles on other faiths 
by blacking out or removing photographs of crucifixes and other 
religious symbols. In addition, government officials prevented the 
public display, distribution, and sale of items featuring non-Islamic 
religious symbols.
    The Government requires residents to carry an identity card that 
states the bearer's religion. Visitors to the country were asked to 
identify their religion on their landing cards.
    Only Islamic groups belonging to the Shafi'i school were permitted 
to organize public religious processions; however, during the year the 
Government allowed a greater number of public lion dances to celebrate 
the Chinese Lunar New Year than in the past.
    The Government sponsored the attendance of a multifaith delegation 
at the East Asian Religious Leaders Forum, held in Jakarta in February 
with officials from various religions, and also at the International 
Conference on Faith and Service, held in Manila in March.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's various 
religious groups coexisted peacefully. There were no known Jewish 
communities in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Generally the Government did not 
restrict the freedom of movement of citizens, visitors, and permanent 
residents. Government employees, both citizens and foreigners working 
on a contractual basis, must apply for approval to go abroad, which was 
granted routinely. The Government restricted the movements of former 
political prisoners during the first year following their release.
    Under the law the sultan may forcibly exile, either permanently or 
temporarily, any person deemed a threat to the safety, peace, or 
welfare of the country. However, since 1984 there have been no cases of 
banishment of citizens.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not party to the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and no legal provision exists for granting temporary refuge or refugee 
status to those seeking such refuge or asylum. Under the law persons 
arriving without valid entry documents and means of support are 
considered illegal immigrants and are refused entry. There were no 
reported cases of individuals seeking temporary refuge during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens did not have the right to change their government 
peacefully, and civil servants were not permitted to join political 
parties.
    The same family has ruled the country for more than 600 years. In 
1962 the then sultan invoked an article of the constitution that 
allowed him to assume the emergency powers for two years. Sultan Haji 
Hassanal Bolkiah renewed these powers in March. The state of emergency 
places few limits on the sultan's power. The sultan also served as 
prime minister, minister of defense, minister of finance, chancellor of 
the national university, inspector general of the Royal Brunei Police 
Force, and head of the Islamic faith.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 the sultan named an 
appointed legislative council, which he revived after a 20-year 
suspension; however, the council had no independent powers. Political 
authority and control rested entirely with the sultan, while the 
council provided a forum for public discussion of proposed government 
programs as well as administrative deficiencies. In September 2005 the 
sultan increased the membership of the legislative council to include 
several indirectly elected members, comprising district and village 
heads chosen by their peers. In March the legislative council held a 
five-day session. Government departments were instructed to submit new 
budget proposals to the council for its approval.
    The country attempted, with limited success, to institutionalize a 
form of popular representation based on a traditional system of village 
chiefs elected by secret ballot by all adults. Candidates must be 
approved by the Government and must be Malay or of a recognized 
indigenous race. These leaders are expected to communicate 
constituents' wishes through a variety of channels, including periodic 
meetings, chaired by the minister of home affairs, with several 
officials appointed by the sultan. Meetings between senior government 
officials and mukim (a group of villages) representatives allow for 
airing of local grievances and concerns; however, there were no records 
of how often such meetings took place.
    There were three registered parties in the country: the Brunei 
Solidarity National Party; the Brunei People's Awareness Party; and the 
largest, the Brunei National Development Party, founded in August 2005. 
All three parties pledged their support to the sultan and the system of 
government. Although they criticized administrative deficiencies, their 
few activities received limited publicity, and they were hindered by 
membership restrictions. However, several members and former members of 
political parties were consulted informally about the program of the 
legislative council.
    Individuals sought to express their views or influence government 
decisions and policies by posting messages to Internet discussion 
boards, writing letters to local newspapers, and petitioning the sultan 
or handing him letters when he appeared in public.
    The lack of a representative, democratic government seriously 
limited the role of both men and women in government and politics, 
although women were limited to a greater extent than men. There were no 
female ministers in the Government or the legislative council; however, 
the sultan's sister, Princess Masna, was the second-ranking official in 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and there were female ambassadors, 
judges, and other senior officials.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reliable 
reports of corruption in the Government. In accordance with its ``zero 
tolerance'' policy for corrupt practices, the Government successfully 
prosecuted a number of low-level officials. At year's end investigation 
continued in the case of a former government minister accused of 
corruption in awarding government projects.
    During the year the legislative council approved and the Government 
published a summary of the fiscal year government budget. However, the 
Government continued to restrict and classify as confidential some 
information on the financial dealings of the Government and the royal 
family.
    The government-owned Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) released 
information about Prince Jefri's noncompliance with the terms indicated 
in the out-of-court settlement over the recovery of assets taken by the 
prince. Prince Jefri--one of the sultan's younger brothers--had been 
charged by the Government with fraud, misuse, and theft of government 
property over his channeling funds through his failed Amadeo 
Development Corporation while he was BIA chairman. In May the high 
court ordered Prince Jefri to transfer all assets to BIA.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Few if any civil society organizations dealt directly with human 
rights. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) seeking to operate in the 
country is required to apply for permission under the Companies Act and 
provide a list of members. The Government may suspend the activities of 
a registered NGO if it deems such an act in the public interest.
    The 513 registered NGOs generally were professional, business, 
sports, or social associations. In the past the Consumers' Association 
of Brunei attempted to address human rights, but the Government impeded 
it from doing so. At year's end the association was still registered 
but no longer active on human rights issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law does not contain specific provisions prohibiting 
discrimination based on race, sex, disability, language, or social 
status.

    Women.--During the year there were 74 cases reported of domestic 
violence against women. The criminal penalty for a minor domestic 
assault is one to two weeks in jail and a fine. An assault resulting in 
serious injury is punishable by caning and a longer jail sentence.
    A special unit, staffed by female officers, existed within the 
police department to investigate domestic abuse and child abuse 
complaints. A hotline was available for persons to report domestic 
violence. The Ministry of Culture's Social Affairs Services (SAS) Unit 
provided counseling for women and their spouses. Based on individual 
case circumstances, some female and minor victims were placed in 
protective custody in the SAS-operated Taman Noor Hidaya shelter while 
waiting for their cases to be brought to court.
    Islamic courts, staffed by both male and female officials, offered 
counseling to married couples in domestic violence cases. Officials did 
not encourage wives to reconcile with flagrantly abusive spouses, and 
Islamic courts recognized assault as grounds for divorce.
    Female domestic servants, most of whom were foreign workers, also 
were subjected to abuse (see sections 6.c. and 6.e.) by their 
employers. While the level of violence generally was low, beating 
servants or refusing them the right to leave the house on days off was 
more prevalent. Since most foreign female domestics were highly 
dependent on their employers, those subject to abuse often were 
unwilling or unable to bring complaints, either to the authorities or 
to their governments' embassies. However, when such complaints were 
made, the Government generally was quick to investigate allegations of 
abuse and impose fines and punishment as warranted. Several workers 
settled assault cases out of court with their employers. Two foreign 
embassies maintained shelters for domestic workers involved in disputes 
with employers and were active in protecting their citizens' rights.
    The law stipulates imprisonment of up to 30 years and caning with 
not fewer than 12 strokes for rape; for the rape of a minor the penalty 
is eight to 30 years' imprisonment and caning with not fewer than 12 
strokes. The law does not criminalize spousal rape; it explicitly 
states that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, as long as she 
is not under 13 years of age, is not legally considered rape. According 
to police statistics, there were 20 reported rape cases during the 
year, 10 of which were referred to the Attorney General's Chambers. Of 
the 10 cases, at year's end one was awaiting sentencing, one was 
pending trial, two had been dropped, and the remaining were under 
review.
    Prostitution is illegal. Women who entered the country for purposes 
of prostitution generally were tried, sentenced, and deported swiftly 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    In accordance with certain local Islamic practices, women were 
denied equal status with men in a number of important areas such as 
divorce, inheritance, and custody of children. However, the law permits 
female citizens to pass their nationality to their children and to own 
property and other assets, including business properties.
    Men were eligible for permanent positions in government service 
whether or not they had university degrees, but married women without 
university degrees were eligible to hold government positions only on a 
month-to-month basis. Women in month-to-month positions cannot apply 
for travel allowances for their husband and children; however, apart 
from this, they receive allowance privileges equal to their male and 
female counterparts in permanent positions. There were no men in month-
to-month positions except for those who were reemployed by the 
Government after retirement.

    Children.--No statistics were published regarding the welfare of 
children. The strong commitment to family values within society, the 
high standard of living, and government funding for children's welfare 
provided most children a healthy and nurturing environment. Education 
is free, compulsory, and universal for the first 12 years, after which 
it is still free but no longer compulsory. The highest level of 
education achieved by most children was completion of secondary school, 
which normally consists of 12 to 14 years in school and ending at age 
16 to 18, depending on which course of study--vocational, academic, or 
arts--the student pursues. A significant percentage of students 
continued on to tertiary education.
    Medical care for all citizens, including children, was heavily 
subsidized and widely available. With a few exceptions, involving small 
villages in extremely remote areas, nutritional standards were high and 
poverty was almost unknown.

    Trafficking in Persons.--A statute outlaws trafficking and sexual 
exploitation of women and girls. In addition, a variety of other laws, 
primarily those related to prostitution and the protection of minors, 
could be applied against sex traffickers. Immigration, labor, and 
religious regulations that criminalize prostitution also served to 
deter trafficking. There were very few identifiable cases of 
trafficking; however, trafficking likely occurred in the labor context, 
since foreign workers recruited from Indonesia, the Philippines, 
Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh occasionally faced harsh, exploitative 
conditions in which their freedom of movement was restricted (see 
section 6.e.).
    Under the Trafficking and Smuggling Persons Order, a person 
convicted of trafficking persons, harboring smuggled persons, or 
endangering the lives or safety of trafficked or smuggled persons can 
be fined up to $606,060 (B$ one million), imprisoned for up to 30 
years, and caned. A person convicted of facilitating trafficking or 
smuggling persons can be fined up to $30,303 (B$50,000) and imprisoned 
for up to 10 years. Immigration and other law enforcement officials 
received training to investigate and prosecute suspected offenders and 
to deal with trafficked victims under the terms of the 2004 law. Two 
police officers participated in overseas training dealing with human 
trafficking. There were no prosecutions for human trafficking for labor 
or sexual exploitation.
    The country had limited capacity to protect foreign trafficking 
victims. There were no foreign NGOs to assist trafficking victims, and 
victims were subject to prosecution for violations of immigration and 
labor codes. There was no formal system of protection or benefits for 
foreign trafficking victims. In cases where the Government considers a 
victim to be a material witness in the prosecution of traffickers, 
police will provide temporary protection and shelter as necessary for 
prosecution. There were some protective measures for foreign workers, 
but they were not uniformly applied. Some foreign embassies provided 
protection services, including temporary shelter, for workers involved 
in labor disputes.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not mandate accessibility 
or other assistance for persons with disabilities. The Government 
provided educational services for children with disabilities; however, 
an independent review found that further coordination was needed at the 
national level to provide uniform levels of support throughout the 
country. In October the sultan announced an increase in support 
payments to persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were a sizeable number of 
``stateless'' persons and permanent residents, mostly ethnic Chinese 
and including persons born and raised in the country, who were not 
automatically accorded citizenship and its attendant rights. Since they 
did not enjoy full privileges of citizenship, these individuals 
traveled abroad as stateless persons, did not have the right to own 
land, and were not entitled to subsidized medical care.
    In May the sultan relaxed citizenship requirements, allowing the 
Government to grant citizenship to applicants born in the country who 
have resided there continuously for at least 10 years. Those born 
outside the country must have resided in the country for at least 15 
years. Other conditions include the ability to read and write in Malay 
and understand local culture. The new law also allows expedited 
citizenship for foreigners who have contributed to the nation's economy 
and development. In addition, the new regulation allows male foreign 
nationals who are married to female citizens to acquire citizenship. 
Official statistics recorded a total of 2,601 persons granted 
citizenship during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Under the Trade Unions Act, unions 
are legal and must be registered with the Government. All workers, 
including civil servants other than those serving in the military and 
those working as prison guards or police officers, may form and join 
trade unions; however, in practice there was no union activity in the 
country. The Government did not encourage unions or facilitate their 
formation, and employers in the industrial sector did not encourage 
foreign workers to form unions. The three registered trade unions were 
in the oil sector, had a total membership of less than 5 percent of 
that industry's work force, and were inactive. There were more than 
75,000 foreign workers in the country, including approximately 7,395 
garment industry workers, none of whom were members of any trade union.
    While the law permits the formation of trade union federations, it 
forbids affiliation with international labor organizations unless there 
is consent from the home affairs minister and Labor Department.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There was no 
union activity in the country; therefore, employer discrimination 
against union members did not arise. There is no legal foundation for 
collective bargaining, and strikes are illegal. Wage and benefit 
packages were based on market conditions.
    There is a free trade zone in Muara Port, known as the Muara Export 
Zone (MEZ). The labor laws are fully applicable in the MEZ.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that some foreign domestic workers worked under unacceptable 
conditions (see section 6.e.). Other workers, most notably in the 
garment industry, signed contracts with employment agents or other 
sponsors in their home countries that reduced their promised salaries 
through payments to the agencies or sponsors. The Government forbade 
wage deductions to agencies or sponsors and mandated that employees 
receive their full salaries; nevertheless, foreign workers continued to 
pay high fees to manpower agents to obtain work in the country.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Various laws prohibit the employment of children under age 16. Parental 
consent and approval by the Labor Commission is required for those 
under 18. Female workers under 18 may not work at night or on offshore 
oil platforms. The Department of Labor (DOL), which is part of the 
Ministry of Home Affairs, effectively enforced laws on the employment 
of children. There were no reports of violations of the child labor 
laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Unemployment has grown in recent 
years, primarily among younger persons. However, most employed citizens 
commanded good salaries. There is no minimum wage. The standard work 
week is Monday through Thursday and Saturday, with Friday and Sunday 
off, allowing for two rest periods of 24 hours each week. Overtime is 
paid for work in excess of 48 hours per week, and double time is paid 
for work performed on legal holidays. Occupational health and safety 
standards are established by government regulations. The DOL inspected 
working conditions on a routine basis and also in response to 
complaints. The DOL generally enforced labor regulations effectively, 
but enforcement in the unskilled labor sector was lax, especially for 
foreign laborers at construction sites. The DOL may close a workplace 
where health, safety, or working conditions are unsatisfactory. The law 
permits a worker to leave a hazardous job site without jeopardizing his 
employment, but generally this did not occur.
    According to International Monetary Fund data, approximately 75,000 
foreign persons worked in the country. There were reports of foreign 
maids and other domestic workers whose liberty was severely restricted 
while working exceptionally long hours without being granted a day for 
rest. There also were isolated reports of employers who beat domestic 
employees or did not provide them with adequate food. The Government 
prosecuted some cases; employers found guilty of abuses typically were 
fined and asked to compensate the victim.
    Government protective measures for foreign workers included arrival 
briefings for workers, inspections of facilities, and a telephone 
hotline for worker complaints. Government mediation continued to be the 
most common means used to resolve labor disputes. Abusive employers 
faced criminal and civil penalties. When grievances could not be 
resolved, repatriation of foreign workers was at the expense of the 
employer, and all outstanding wages were ordered paid. The majority of 
abuse cases were settled out of court by the employer paying financial 
compensation to the worker.
    Since February 2005 the DOL has brought cases directly against 
employers who did not pay their workers. Formerly, such cases were 
brought by the Attorney General's Chambers and took much longer to 
prosecute.
    During the year the DOL recorded 42 complaints by domestic helpers 
and 125 complaints by corporate/garment workers against employers who 
failed to pay the workers' salaries. Eighteen of the complaints by 
domestic helpers and 46 of the complaints by corporate/garment workers 
were resolved, largely through employers paying compensation. The 
remaining cases were pending administrative action at year's end.
    In November 2005 members of the board of directors of a garment 
factory were charged with 126 counts relating to unpaid salaries of 19 
workers, and during the year an additional 54 charges were brought. At 
year's end the case was awaiting trial pending resolution of legal 
issues caused by the firm going into liquidation.
    The Government also prosecuted employers who employed illegal 
immigrants or did not process workers' documents, rendering them in 
illegal status.
    Immigration laws allow for prison sentences and caning for 
overstaying workers and illegal immigrants seeking work, as well as for 
foreign workers employed by companies other than their initial sponsor. 
While the majority of prosecutions were for long-term overstayers, many 
workers maintained their illegal status owing to their former 
employers' negligence.

                               __________

                                 BURMA

    Since 1962 Burma, with an estimated population of 54 million, has 
been ruled by a succession of highly authoritarian military regimes 
dominated by the majority Burman ethnic group. The State Peace and 
Development Council (SPDC), led by Senior General Than Shwe, was the 
country's de facto government, with subordinate peace and development 
councils ruling by decree at the division, state, city, township, ward, 
and village levels. Military officers wielded the ultimate authority at 
each level of government. In 1990 prodemocracy parties won more than 80 
percent of the seats in a general parliamentary election, but the 
regime continued to ignore the results. The military government totally 
controlled the country's armed forces, excluding a few active insurgent 
groups.
    The Government's human rights record worsened during the year. The 
regime continued to abridge the right of citizens to change their 
government. The Government detained five leaders of the 88 Generation 
Students prodemocracy activists. The Government refused to allow the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisoners 
privately. The army increased attacks on ethnic minority villagers in 
Bago Division and Karen State designed to drive them from their 
traditional land. In addition, the Government continued to commit other 
serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, 
disappearances, rape, and torture. The Government abused prisoners and 
detainees, held persons in harsh and life-threatening conditions, 
routinely used incommunicado detention, and imprisoned citizens 
arbitrarily for political motives. National League for Democracy (NLD) 
General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo 
remained under house arrest. Governmental authorities routinely 
infringed on citizens' privacy and resorted more frequently to forced 
relocations. The Government restricted freedom of speech, press, 
assembly, association, religion, and movement. The Government did not 
allow domestic human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to 
function independently, and international NGOs encountered a hostile 
environment. Violence and societal discrimination against women 
continued, as did forced recruitment of child soldiers, discrimination 
against ethnic minorities, and trafficking in persons, particularly of 
women and girls. Workers rights remained restricted, and forced labor, 
including that of children, also persisted.
    Ethnic armed groups allegedly committed human rights abuses, 
including forced labor, although reportedly to a much lesser extent 
than the Government. Some cease-fire groups also reportedly committed 
abuses, including forced relocation of villagers in their home regions. 
Armed insurgent groups and cease-fire groups also practiced forced 
conscription of child soldiers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year 
there were several cases of prisoners who died while in custody, some 
under suspicious circumstances. The Government did not punish officials 
responsible for the deaths.
    On January 27, prison authorities at a labor camp in Ann, Rakhine 
State, beat a prisoner to death after he killed a prison official who 
had beat him for resting while constructing a road.
    On March 17, members of the government-affiliated ``fire brigade'' 
and two police corporals, Tin Maung Oo and Myo Min Oo, reportedly beat 
and killed former political prisoner Thet Naing Oo in public.
    On March 25, Mandalay police arrested Wai Phyo Naung, alleging that 
he was a drug trafficker. He died the next day in police custody 
following brutal interrogation. The police claimed he hanged himself in 
his cell, but the postmortem report revealed signs of torture and 
beating.
    On June 18, Lieutenant Zaw Lwin of Myo Hla Police Station, Bago 
Division, arrested Ma Nyo Kyi with her eight-month-old baby without 
filing charges. The next day police gave the baby to Ma Nyo Kyi's 
husband and informed him that his wife had died of a heart attack. The 
postmortem report revealed severe injuries caused by beating.
    On July 16, Saw Stin Pho of Ta Khun Seik Village, Einme Township, 
Ayeyarwady Division, was arrested with 17 others and taken to Pathein 
Military Headquarters on suspicion of being connected to an alleged 
sympathizer of the Karen National Union (KNU). He died on July 19 from 
torture during interrogation by Military Security Affairs (MSA), which 
reportedly gave $309 (400,000 kyats) as compensation to his wife, Naw 
Htoo Bae Sae, and their six children. MSA released the other 16 
persons, all of whom were severely traumatized by the harsh 
interrogation.
    The Government took no action to punish those responsible for 
similar custodial deaths in 2005, including the following cases: NLD 
member Aung Hlaing Win, who died in May after being arrested for 
contacting an ``illegal organization'' in Thailand five years earlier; 
labor activist Moe Naung, who reportedly died in Kawthoung in May 
shortly after being arrested; NLD member Min Htoo Wai, who died in 
Mawlamyine Prison of severe head injuries suffered on May 29 during a 
beating received from prisoners who were encouraged by jailors Tun Tun 
and Tin Maung Ohn; Saw Stanford of Tawako Village, Ayeyarwady Division, 
who died in July at an interrogation center where he was brutally 
beaten by soldiers from Light Infantry Brigade 93 in Myaung Mya 
District; Htay Lwin of Aung Myay Thazan Township, Mandalay Division, 
who died in October in police custody after a severe beating; Aung 
Myint Thein of Bago, who died in November in Insein Prison from 
undetermined causes (see sections 2.a. and 6.c.); and Ko Than Htaik, 
who died in December after a severe beating by local peace and 
development council (PDC) authorities (see section 6.c.). An NLD effort 
to prosecute officials responsible for the deaths of Aung Hlaing Win 
was rejected, and authorities did not reply to the NLD's petition 
lodged following the death of Min Htoo Wai.
    There was no report that action was taken against a Light Infantry 
Battalion 514 commander who in 2004 beat a civilian to death at a 
military checkpoint in Mong Kung Township, Shan State. Likewise, there 
were no developments in the 2004 case of Maung Aye, who died after 
being beaten while in police custody.
    The Government persisted in its refusal to investigate or take 
responsibility for the 2003 attack by government-affiliated forces on 
an NLD convoy led by party leader Aung San Suu Kyi near the village of 
Depeyin in which as many as 70 persons were killed. The fate of other 
persons, including 31 prodemocracy supporters from the convoy, remained 
unknown.
    There were unverified reports of deaths and injuries caused by 
security forces using civilians to clear landmines, particularly in 
Karen State, where the army launched widespread attacks against ethnic 
villages (see section 1.g.).
    Small bombs detonated in Rangoon and other areas but caused little 
damage. As in similar events in 2005, the Government blamed exile-based 
groups but did not substantiate the claims.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that armed ethnic 
groups committed killings.

    b. Disappearance.--Private citizens and political activists 
continued to ``disappear'' for periods ranging from several hours to 
several weeks or more, and many persons never reappeared. Such 
disappearances generally were attributed to authorities detaining 
individuals for questioning without informing family members and to the 
army's practice of seizing private citizens for portering or related 
duties, often without notifying family members (see section 6.c.). 
Little improvement was reported regarding requests for information 
directed to the military services. In many cases, individuals who were 
detained for questioning were released soon afterward and returned to 
their families.
    The whereabouts of persons seized by military units to serve as 
porters, as well as of prisoners transferred for labor or portering 
duties, often remained unknown. Family members generally learned of 
their relatives' fates only if fellow prisoners survived and later 
reported information to the families.
    In its May report ``Eight Seconds of Silence: The Death of 
Democracy Activists Behind Bars,'' the Assistance Association for 
Political Prisoners--Burma (AAPP) meticulously documented 127 death 
cases of political prisoners since 1988. Fifteen of these cases were 
persons who disappeared while in custody. AAPP estimated there were 
other death and disappearance cases about which it had no information.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--There are laws that prohibit torture; however, members of 
the security forces reportedly tortured, beat, and otherwise abused 
prisoners, detainees, and other citizens. They routinely subjected 
detainees to harsh interrogation techniques designed to intimidate and 
disorient.
    In December 2005 the AAPP released a report on the ``brutal and 
systematic'' torture that the Government inflicted on political 
prisoners. Based on the testimony of 35 former political prisoners, the 
report gave graphic details of the physical, psychological, and sexual 
abuse the Government employed on dissidents, and it identified by name 
many of the perpetrators. The report detailed the kinds of torture the 
Government used, including severe beatings, often resulting in loss of 
consciousness and sometimes death; repeated electrocution to all parts 
of the body, including genitals; rubbing iron rods on shins until the 
flesh comes off; burning with cigarettes and lighters; prolonged 
restriction of movement for up to several months using rope and 
shackles around the neck and ankles; repeatedly striking the same area 
of a person's body for several hours; forcing prisoners to walk or 
crawl on an aggregate of sharp stones, metal, and glass; using dogs to 
rape male prisoners; and threatening female prisoners with rape.
    According to the AAPP report, the ministers of home affairs, 
defense, and foreign affairs form a three-person committee that 
oversees the detention of political prisoners charged under the State 
Protection Act. The report also indicated that during initial 
interrogations torture is conducted mainly by MSA. Interrogations were 
also conducted by the Bureau of Special Investigations and the Special 
Branch (SB) of the police, which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
    During the year at least six political prisoners died while in 
custody (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
    The armed forces routinely confiscated property, cash, and food, 
and used coercive and abusive recruitment methods to procure porters. 
Persons forced into portering or other labor faced extremely difficult 
conditions, beatings, rape, lack of food, lack of clean water, and 
mistreatment that at times resulted in death.
    There were reports by NGOs and community leaders that the armed 
forces continued to commit abuses against ethnic minorities, including 
beatings, rape, forced mine clearing, and forced labor against 
villagers in Bago Division, Chin State, Karen State, Mon State, Shan 
State, and Tanintharyi Division.
    Newly arrived refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) near 
the Thai border reported that government soldiers in Shan, Kayah, and 
Karen states continued to rape ethnic women and girls. On April 17, 20 
soldiers reportedly gang-raped a woman of Kunhing Township, Shan State, 
and then killed her. A 17-year-old Shan girl from Kunhing Township 
reported that three soldiers of Battalion 527 raped her for two days on 
May 15-16. A 10-year-old Shan girl from Mong Mai reported that a 
soldier raped her in 2004 when she was eight years old. Many other 
women reported they were raped by soldiers during the year and in 
previous years.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and labor camp 
conditions generally remained harsh and life threatening. The 
Department of Prisons operated approximately 35 prisons and 70 labor 
camps (see section 6.c.). Food, clothing, and medical supplies 
reportedly were in very short supply in prisons. There were reports 
that authorities in some prisons forced prisoners to pay for their own 
food. Bedding consisted of a single mat on the floor. Prisoners were 
forced to rely on their families, who were allowed one or two visits 
per month, for basic necessities. Prisoners were held without being 
charged for weeks or months, and until a prisoner was officially 
charged with a crime, families could not visit or send critical 
supplementary food. HIV/AIDS infection rates in prisons reportedly were 
high due to communal use of syringes for injections and sexual abuse by 
other prisoners.
    The Government continued to deny prisoners adequate medical care, 
although medical services in prisons partially reflected poor health 
care services available to the general population.
    On January 24, five prisoners in Kalemyo Prison, Sagaing Division, 
reportedly took the prison director hostage. Prison guards overpowered 
the prisoners, severely beat them, and placed them in solitary 
confinement. Two died of injuries in their cells; two days later prison 
authorities took the other three for medical treatment, but they also 
died. Twenty-seven other prisoners not directly involved in the 
hostage-taking also were beaten, many severely.
    During the year the health of several political prisoners 
deteriorated, and several died while in prison. On January 10, Khin 
Maung Lwin, a member of the Democracy Party, died in Putao Prison, 
Kachin State, after eight years in various prisons. The officer in 
charge of the prison, Tun Myint Thein, rejected repeated appeals for 
medical treatment by Khin Maung Lwin's family, the ICRC, and the prison 
doctor. On March 23, Ko Oo, an NLD member from Thayet Township, died 
after six years as a political prisoner. He suffered from various 
ailments, but prison authorities would not refer him for treatment. On 
May 2, Shan political activist Myint Than died in Thandwe Prison, 
Rakhine State, while serving a 79-year sentence. He reportedly suffered 
a stroke and died after one month in a hospital. In mid-August Daw 
Nyunt Yin of Thinganggyun Township, Rangoon Division, died in Insein 
Prison, where she had been held since 1988 on charges of involvement in 
prodemocracy activities. She reportedly vomited blood before she died 
and did not receive qualified medical treatment. On October 16, student 
leader Thet Win Aung died in Mandalay Prison, after being imprisoned 
since 1998. Despite his 2002 hunger strike to protest the lack of 
adequate medical treatment and the poor prison diet, prison authorities 
continued to deny him adequate health care. On October 26, political 
prisoner Maung San died in Mawlamyine Prison minutes after a paramedic 
treated him for gastric pain. He was denied treatment by a qualified 
doctor.
    Prominent political prisoners who suffered from deteriorating 
health included NLD members of parliament-elect (MPs-elect) Than Nyein, 
May Win Myint, Naing Naing, and journalist Win Tin. The health of 
writer Than Win Hlaing, held in Thayarwady Prison in Bago Division, 
continued to deteriorate due to harsh prison conditions. He suffered 
from kidney disease and diabetes, but prison authorities rejected his 
family's appeals for medical treatment. Rohingya MP-elect Kyaw Min and 
family reportedly experienced health problems after they were 
imprisoned in 2005. The health of labor advocate Su Su Nway also 
deteriorated, and she required hospitalization during her eight-month 
imprisonment, which ended on June 6 (see section 6.c.).
    The Government claimed that political detainees were separated from 
common criminals. However, reports by prisoners indicated that 
authorities frequently placed political prisoners in communal cells 
where they were subjected to beatings and mistreatment by hard-core 
criminals. On January 2, criminal prisoners in Insein Prison severely 
beat three political prisoners--Aung San Myat, Thiha Tun, and Han Win 
Aung. Prison officer Win Maung and other prison guards reportedly 
allowed the attack and did not intervene.
    In October two political prisoners in Mawlamyine Prison staged a 
hunger strike to protest being housed with the criminal population 
rather than held separately with political prisoners. The warden 
confronted the prisoners and beat them. After other political prisoners 
heard of the beatings, they staged their own protest, refusing to 
return to their cells. Thereafter, the warden used criminal prisoners 
to beat the political prisoners housed with them.
    Women prisoners were held separately from men, and juvenile 
prisoners (16 years old and under) were held separately from adults. 
One jail existed specifically for juveniles in Meiktila, Mandalay 
Division. Juvenile courts rarely sentenced juveniles to prison, instead 
remanding them to reformatories located in Thayet, Magway Division, or 
Twante, Rangoon Division, which were jointly managed by the Prison 
Department and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW).
    Beginning in November 2005, authorities insisted that 
representatives of government-sponsored mass mobilization 
organizations, including the Union Solidarity and Development 
Association (USDA), the Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation (MWAF), and 
the Myanmar Red Cross, accompany the ICRC on all prison visits. After 
failing to obtain government permission to maintain its international 
practice of unfettered access to prisoners, the ICRC did not visit 
prisons or labor camps during the year. The ICRC terminated some of its 
traditional services, such as providing medications and soap to 
detainees, because it could not verify that these supplies reached the 
prisoners. The ICRC could no longer follow the cases of more than 4,000 
detainees, including security detainees, minors, foreigners, and 
prisoners who were especially vulnerable, such as the sick and aged. 
During the year gains achieved earlier by the ICRC on prison problems, 
including the right to talk in private with prisoners, make repeated 
visits as desired, and have full access to most prisoners, were 
suspended, as were its efforts to expand ICRC access to more detainees.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--There is no provision in the law 
for judicial determination of the legality of detention, and the 
Government routinely used arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention. 
The law allows authorities to extend sentences after prisoners have 
completed their original sentence, and the Government regularly used 
this provision (see section 1.e.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are 
auxiliary forces of the military and are under direct command of 
military officers. They primarily deal with common crimes and do not 
handle political crimes. The Myanmar Police Force falls 
administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Corruption and 
impunity were serious problems due to a government-imposed system 
whereby police were required to collect funds for their operations. 
Police typically required victims to pay substantial sums for crime 
investigations and routinely extorted money from the civilian 
population.
    MSA officers and SB police officers are responsible for detaining 
persons suspected of ``political crimes'' that are perceived to 
threaten the Government. Once a person is detained, MSA officers, or in 
some cases SB officers, take the prisoner to MSA regional interrogation 
centers, where MSA officers interrogate the individual for a period 
ranging from hours to months and can charge the person with a crime at 
any time during the interrogation. Police frequently placed a hood on 
those accused or suspected of political crimes upon arrest.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law warrants for searches and arrests are 
required; however, MSA and the police have special authority to conduct 
searches and make arrests at will. The Government continued to arrest 
and detain citizens for extended periods without charging them, often 
under the Emergency Act of 1950, which allows for indefinite detention. 
Bail is commonly offered in criminal cases, but it is rarely, if ever, 
allowed for political prisoners. The Government regularly refused 
detainees the right to consult a lawyer, denied them or their families 
the right to select independent legal representation, or forced them to 
use government-appointed lawyers.
    The Government continued to use incommunicado detention and often 
failed to inform detainees' relatives of the detentions until much 
later. Authorities used prolonged solitary confinement to punish 
prisoners.
    Authorities continued to detain private citizens and political 
activists, some of whom disappeared, at times temporarily (see section 
1.b.).
    National Democratic Party for Human Rights MP-elect Kyaw Min, 
sentenced in 2005 to 47 years' imprisonment, and his wife, two 
daughters, and a son, all sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment on 
charges of having improper house registration documents, remained in 
prison. Kyaw Min's sister-in-law, arrested in Kyaukphyu in 2005 for 
traveling without permission and for residing in her husband's 
household without authorized residential documents, was released after 
completing her sentence.

    Amnesty.--Authorities released political prisoners Su Su Nway and 
Aye Myint (see sections 4 and 6.c.). Unlike in previous years, no MPs-
elect were released from prison. Instead, early in the year authorities 
extended for another year the prison terms of NLD MPs-elect Than Nyein 
and May Win Myint of Mayangone Township, Rangoon Division.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The judiciary is not independent 
of the Government. The SPDC appoints justices to the Supreme Court who 
in turn appoint lower court judges with the approval of the SPDC. These 
courts adjudicate cases under decrees promulgated by the SPDC that 
effectively have the force of law. The court system includes courts at 
the township, district, state, and national levels.

    Trial Procedures.--The Government continued to rule by decree and 
was not bound by any constitutional provisions providing for fair 
public trials or any other rights. Although remnants of the British-era 
legal system remain formally in place, the court system and its 
operation were seriously flawed, particularly in the handling of 
political cases. The misuse of blanket laws--including the Emergency 
Provisions Act, the Unlawful Associations Act, the Habitual Offenders 
Act, and the Law on Safeguarding the State from the Danger of 
Subversive Elements--and the manipulation of the courts for political 
ends continued to deprive citizens of the right to a fair trial and 
stifle peaceful dissent. Pervasive corruption further served to 
undermine the impartiality of the justice system.
    There is a fundamental difference between criminal and political 
trial procedures. Some basic due process rights, including the right to 
be represented by a defense attorney, were generally respected in 
criminal cases but not in political cases that the Government deemed 
especially sensitive. In criminal cases, defense attorneys generally 
are permitted 15 days to prepare for trial, may call and cross-examine 
witnesses, and can be granted a 15-day delay for case preparation. 
However, their primary function is not to disprove their client's 
guilt, which is usually a foregone conclusion, but rather to bargain 
with the judge to obtain the shortest possible sentence for their 
clients. Reliable reports indicated that senior government authorities 
dictated verdicts in political cases, regardless of the evidence or the 
law. Political trials are not open to the public.
    None of the NLD members or the 153 prodemocracy supporters arrested 
in association with the 2003 Depeyin attack were given public trials.
    NLD members generally appeared to be able to retain the counsel of 
lawyers without fear that the lawyers might be imprisoned; however, 
lawyers were not always told when trials would begin. Approximately 14 
lawyers remained imprisoned at year's end. Most had been sentenced 
prior to 1998.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--At year's end there were 
approximately 1,300 ``security detainees,'' including political 
prisoners (approximately 1,150), arms merchants, violators of state 
security laws, and those accused of fostering religious disturbances. 
Because the Government usually charged political detainees for criminal 
offenses, it denied holding any political prisoners.
    On February 7, a court sentenced NLD members Ko Ko Myint and Thein 
Zaw to seven-year prison terms for opium possession, allegedly planted 
by authorities. Ko Ko Myint had completed a five-year jail sentence 
three months earlier. Authorities in Rakhine State also prosecuted NLD 
members San Shwe Tun and Aung Ban Thar, arrested in July 2005 for 
foreign currency violations after authorities allegedly planted 
Bangladeshi currency in their homes. In March the Sittwe court 
sentenced them to three years for trading in illegal currencies, after 
the district and state courts rejected a June 2005 appeal.
    On March 25, authorities arrested Aung Thein, a former NLD member 
from Thaketa Township, Rangoon Division, along with four others and 
charged them with contacting opposition figures outside the country by 
satellite telephone. Subsequently, Aung Thein was sentenced to 20 
years, Thein Oo to 25 years, Aung Moe to 15 years, Khaing Mar Soe to 15 
years, and Khin Maung Win to three years.
    On July 31, authorities in Mandalay arrested Nyein Maung, a former 
member of Madayar Township NLD Organizing Committee who had resigned 
under pressure from the USA in June, and sentenced him to one year in 
prison on charges of swearing at the husband of township judge Khin Mar 
Yi.
    On September 27, police arrested Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay 
Kywe, former political prisoners and activists in the 88 Generation 
Students group. On September 30, police arrested two more 88 Generation 
Students activists, Min Zeya and Phone Cho. Phone Cho's brother, Thet 
Win Aung, also a political prisoner, died in Mandalay Prison on October 
16 (see section 1.c.). At year's end the five activists remained in 
detention without charge. The law permits a court to detain a prisoner 
without charge for up to two weeks, with the possibility of a second 
two-week extension, and authorities continued to extend their detention 
in different courts around Rangoon without producing them before a 
judge.
    The 88 Generation Students group organized a nationwide campaign to 
collect signatures in support of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and 
all political prisoners, gathering more than half a million signatures. 
On October 5, USA members (not police) arrested NLD volunteer Win Ko in 
Letpadan Township, Bago Division, after he had gathered signatures from 
an entire village in Monyo Township. The Letpadan Township Court 
sentenced him to three years in prison on unsubstantiated charges of 
participating in an unauthorized lottery and disrupting a civil servant 
in the line of duty. On November 12, a court sentenced Win Ko and 
colleague Phyo Zaw Latt to an additional 14 years for fraud and 
conspiracy to commit fraud. Neither was permitted legal representation 
during the secret trials. At year's end Win Ko remained in Paungde 
Prison, Bago Division.
    Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin, chairman and secretary 
respectively of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and 
eight other Shan leaders arrested in February 2005 remained in remote 
prisons at the end of the year. Lawyers lodged appeals in late 
February, but the judge summarily dismissed the appeals without 
explanation. The Government conducted secret trials in Insein Prison of 
the SNLD leaders on charges of subversion and eight other counts of 
alleged political and economic misdeeds, including violating currency 
exchange regulations. Hkun Htun Oo received two life sentences plus 53 
years in prison, General Hso Ten received three life sentences plus 46 
years in prison, and Sai Nyunt Lwin received three life sentences plus 
25 years in prison.
    Kyaw Khin, NLD MP-elect from Taunggyi, arrested in February 2005 
and sentenced to 14 years for providing a list of Aung San Suu Kyi's 
awards to a fellow university student, remained in prison at year's 
end.
    Sao Oo Kya of Hsipaw, member of the Shan State Consultative Council 
sentenced in 2005 to 13 years in prison for defamation of the state and 
violating the Hotel and Tourism Act, remained in prison.
    University student Ja Naw, arrested in August 2005 in Momauk 
Township, Kachin State, remained in prison at year's end. Fellow 
students Win Moe and Bran Awng San, apprehended with Ja Naw, were 
released after two weeks' detention. When arrested, the three had in 
their possession educational compact discs on human rights issued by 
Amnesty International, books opposing the Salween hydropower project, 
and educational materials on antidrug matters.
    Other political prisoners remaining in prison included 11 members 
of the Mandalay Division NLD sentenced in 2004 to between seven and 22 
years in prison for ``illegal association'' with an exile group in 
Thailand; Than Than Htay and Tin Myint, NLD Township Executive members 
from Magway and Rangoon divisions, sentenced with another NLD member in 
2004 to seven years despite the lack of credible evidence; Ye Ye Win, 
San Ya, and Ye Htet, members of NLD in Theinzayat Township in Mon 
State, sentenced in 2004 to seven years in prison for contacting exile 
groups in Thailand; five NLD members sentenced to life imprisonment in 
2005 for possessing and distributing a leaflet titled ``An Appeal to 
the Masses''; NLD member Kyaw Swe, sentenced in 2004 to five years' 
imprisonment on charges of possessing an unregistered motorcycle and 
obstructing authorities in the line of duty.
    The Government routinely extended prison sentences under the Law 
Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements. The 
minister of home affairs has the right to extend unilaterally a prison 
sentence on six separate occasions for two months, for a total of up to 
one year. SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe can add five years to 
a sentence. Unlike in previous years, the Government did not release 
any prisoners being held under this law.
    NLD General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest 
without charge and without trial. On May 27, the anniversary of the 
NLD's victory in the 1990 national elections, the SPCD extended her 
detention for another year. Except for two live-in companions, who were 
also forbidden to leave the compound, she remained incommunicado. NLD 
Vice-Chairman Tin Oo also remained under house arrest without trial. On 
February 14, authorities extended his house arrest for one year. By 
year's end the other 151 persons arrested during and immediately 
following the 2003 Depeyin attack had been released.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil judicial procedures 
and remedies existed in principle, but in practice there was no 
assurance that a complainant would receive a fair hearing. In 2005 
lawyers filed an appeal that challenged Aung San Suu Kyi's detention 
order under a law that protects the state from persons who want to 
obstruct or destroy it. The law allows a government order to be 
appealed directly to the cabinet, but the cabinet ignored the appeal.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--Neither the abrogated 1974 constitution nor subsequent 
legal measures provided for rights to privacy, and authorities 
routinely infringed citizens' privacy. Through its intelligence network 
and administrative procedures, the Government systematically monitored 
the travel of all citizens and closely monitored the activities of many 
citizens, particularly those known to be active politically.
    Forced entry without a court order is legal. The law requires that 
any person who spends the night at a place other than his registered 
domicile must inform the police in advance. Any household that hosts a 
person not domiciled there must maintain a guest list and submit it to 
the police. While the law was selectively enforced, authorities 
continued the increased level of enforcement implemented following the 
2005 bombings in Mandalay and Rangoon. Ward-level officials stepped up 
unannounced nighttime checks of residences for unregistered visitors. 
During the year authorities in Rangoon Division began requiring 
households to have ``family photographs'' taken for government agents 
to use when conducting nighttime checks of residences. Households were 
required to pay for the cost of their photographs, usually at 
significantly higher than market rates, and permanently display in 
their homes the photographs of authorized residents.
    Security personnel regularly screened private correspondence, 
telephone calls, and e-mail.
    The authorities generally continued to discourage citizens from 
subscribing directly to foreign publications (see section 2.a.).
    The Government continued to control and monitor closely the 
licensing and procurement of all two-way electronic communication 
devices. Possession of an unregistered telephone, facsimile machine, or 
computer modem is punishable by imprisonment. Users of unregistered 
cordless telephones face up to three years in prison and a heavy fine.
    Weak private property rights and poor land ownership records 
facilitated involuntary relocations of persons by the Government. The 
law does not permit private ownership of land but recognizes only 
different categories of land-use rights, many of which are not freely 
transferable. Postcolonial land laws also revived the precolonial 
tradition that private rights to land were contingent upon the land 
being put to productive use.
    Forced relocations in rural areas increased during the year. The 
forced relocations reportedly were accompanied by rapes, executions, 
and demands for forced labor to build infrastructure for military units 
(see sections 1.c., 1.g., and 2.d.). For decades successive military 
governments have applied a strategy of forced relocation against ethnic 
minority groups in an effort to deny support to armed ethnic groups.
    Reports of forced relocation in urban areas continued to decrease; 
however, the Government reportedly continued to forcibly relocate 
households for ``security'' reasons. In Rangoon persons were forced to 
leave homes or dwellings located on property that could be used for 
commercial gain. In some cases those forced to move were poorly 
compensated. The Government in Bago forced residents to move off their 
land so that authorities could build an urban development project. The 
land was later deemed unsuitable, but the residents were not allowed to 
return. In November 2005 the Government ordered most civil servants to 
relocate without their families to its new administrative capital Nay 
Pyi Taw near Pyinmana, Mandalay Division, and would not allow them to 
resign their jobs in lieu of moving. At year's end many civil servants 
were forced to live separately from their families in Rangoon, due to 
lack of family housing and schools.
    There were numerous reports that government troops looted and 
confiscated property and possessions from forcibly relocated persons or 
from persons who were away from their homes. These materials often were 
used for military construction. Diplomatic sources reported that 
commandeering privately owned vehicles for military or VIP transport 
without compensating the vehicle owners was commonplace throughout the 
country. The practice was particularly widespread in Shan, Kayah, and 
Karen states and in areas of Mon State and Bago Division.
    In these same areas, thousands of civilians were displaced from 
their traditional villages--which often were then burned to the 
ground--and moved into settlements tightly controlled by SPDC troops in 
strategic areas. In other cases, villagers who were driven from their 
homes fled into the forest, frequently in heavily mined areas, without 
adequate food, security, or basic medical care (see section 1.g.).
    Forced relocations often generated large refugee flows to 
neighboring countries or to parts of the country not controlled by the 
Government. In some areas, the Government replaced the original 
occupants with ethnic Burmans. In Karen State, army units forced or 
attempted to force ethnic Karen to relocate to areas controlled by the 
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
    There were several credible but unverified reports that the 
Government confiscated property without paying compensation, and there 
were several reports of government mistreatment and exploitation of 
farmers. In December authorities in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, 
reportedly confiscated 5,000 acres of land from local farmers for the 
army to raise crops. Colonel Ne Win from the Western Region Command 
reportedly oversaw the land confiscation.
    Military personnel also routinely confiscated livestock, fuel, food 
supplies, fishponds, alcoholic drinks, vehicles, and money. Such abuses 
were widespread. Regional commanders forced contributions of money, 
food, labor, and building materials from civilians throughout the 
country (see sections 1.c. and 6.c.).
    Government and insurgent military units practiced forced 
conscription, including of children (see sections 1.g. and 6.c.).
    Government employees generally were prohibited from joining or 
supporting political parties; however, this proscription was applied 
selectively. The Government used coercion and intimidation to induce 
persons, including nearly all public sector employees and students, to 
join the Government's mass mobilization organizations--the USA, MWAF, 
and Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA)--and attend 
meetings in support of the regime (see section 2.a.). The Government 
also used coercion to entice or force members of the NLD and other 
opposition parties to resign, and it publicized the coerced 
resignations in government media.
    Marriages between female citizens and foreigners are banned, and 
the Government ordered local attorneys not to be witnesses to such 
marriages; however, the ban was not enforced.

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
A few ethnic insurgent groups continued to battle the Government for 
autonomy or independence, including the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), 
the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and the KNU, through its 
armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Despite a 2003 
cease-fire between the KNU and the Government, during the year fighting 
that began in September 2005 in Bago Division spread to many other 
areas of northern Karen State.
    Karen NGO sources reported that military operations increased from 
January through July, with a major influx of government forces near 
Nyaunglebin in Bago Division, Thandaung and Hpapun in northern Karen 
State, and around Mawchi in Kayah State. After a lull during the 
monsoon, the army resumed attacks on Karen civilian villages in the 
area. The military operations resulted in serious human rights abuses. 
An estimated 25,000 Karen villagers were forced to abandon their 
villages and hide in the jungle as IDPs. Approximately 3,000 found food 
and shelter in refugee camps in Thailand, while another 2,000 camped at 
an IDP settlement near the Salween River. Others reportedly sought 
shelter with relatives in government-controlled towns. The army denied 
some villagers near Thandaung and Mawchi access to markets, and they 
could not sell their farm produce or purchase rice. Credible sources 
reported that whole villages around Mawchi and Thandaung were 
desperately short of food. There were reports that government soldiers 
destroyed a Karen village of approximately 25 houses located beyond 
Thandaung at ``Mile 20'' and killed all of its inhabitants.
    The Government claimed that the KNU attacked Karen villages and 
forced them to flee in order to blame the Government for the problem. 
However, Karen refugees who fled to Thailand reported that it was 
government soldiers, not Karen forces, who shelled their villages and 
regularly made them carry heavy loads--including artillery shells--
forcing them to flee. The refugees added that after they fled, they 
learned that the soldiers burned their houses and granaries and 
confiscated their farm animals. The refugees and IDPs reported that 
after burning and pillaging the villages, the soldiers often planted 
landmines to prevent the villagers from returning. The soldiers 
sometimes shot and killed Karen villagers who attempted to return to 
their villages to retrieve personal property.
    In November government forces attacked the Karen village of Htee 
Sar Pe in Mawchi Township, Kayah State, where they killed one person, 
seriously injured another, and burned seven houses. They also burned 25 
houses in nearby He Daw Khaw village, sparing only the church. At 
year's end the villagers reportedly continued to hide in the 
surrounding forest.
    In central and southern Shan State, security forces continued to 
engage the SSA-S. The military maintained a program of forced 
relocation of villagers in the region that reportedly was accompanied 
by killings, rapes, and other abuses of civilians.
    Karen NGO sources indicated that human rights abuses increased in 
Karen State during the year, despite intermittent peace talks. There 
were reports of fighting between government soldiers and KNLA forces 
west of Taungoo Township and in Nyaunglebin Township, Bago Division. 
The highway east of Taungoo was closed past Mile 13 for several weeks 
in September. Numerous Karen villages were attacked and burned and 
hundreds of villagers fled into the jungle with limited supplies. At 
year's end the army continued to embargo food supplies moving beyond 
Mile 13.
    During the year the army reportedly forced local villagers to 
patrol railway lines near their villages at night, after explosions of 
small improvised explosive devices reportedly occurred in Taungoo Town 
and beside railway lines in Bago Division.
    There were no reports that the Government investigated or otherwise 
attempted to identify and punish those responsible for numerous acts of 
killing, injury, and destruction committed against Karen communities, 
including the July 2005 army massacre of 27 Karen villagers hiding on 
an island off the coast of Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Division; the 
December 2005 burning of 26 houses in Gee Gaw Pe Village near Mawchi, 
Kayah State, which forced the 610 residents into hiding; the 2004 army 
attacks on Karen villages in Shwegyin and Nyaunglebin townships, Bago 
Division, which permanently displaced more than 4,700 civilians; the 
2004-05 army attacks on civilians in Taungoo District, Bago Division; 
and the 2004-05 forced labor imposed by the army on villagers in Mon 
Township, northern Nyaunglebin Township, Bago Division.
    At year's end army troops reportedly continued to pursue Karen 
displaced persons who had fled to Taungoo District in Bago Division and 
Hpapun Township in northern Karen State.
    There were no reports of government investigation into past 
incidents of rape in conflict areas and other ethnic minority areas, 
including the four cases of rape in 2005 by government soldiers 
reported by Mon community leaders; the 2005 rape of a 24-year-old woman 
of Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, by Commander Shwe Aye of Kyanung 
Taung police station; the 2005 alleged rape of a primary school teacher 
from Myebon Township, Rakhine State, by Sergeant Major Thein Shwe from 
Kyaun Thaya Naval Base; the 2004 gang-rape of a Shan woman and the rape 
of an eight-year-old girl by army soldiers near the border with 
Thailand; and the 2003-04 cases of rape by elements of the army in 
southern Mon State.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law permits the Government to 
restrict freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the Government 
continued to restrict these freedoms severely and systematically. The 
Government continued to arrest, detain, convict, and imprison citizens 
for expressing political opinions critical of the Government and for 
distributing or possessing publications in which opposition opinions 
were expressed (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.). Security services also 
monitored and harassed persons believed to hold antigovernment 
opinions.
    The Government continued to use force to prohibit all public speech 
critical of the regime by all persons, including by persons elected to 
parliament in 1990 and leaders of political parties. The Government 
pursued this policy consistently with few exceptions.
    On March 29, authorities in Bago arrested four youths--Aung Than, 
Zeya Aung, Aung Aung Oo, and Sein Hlaing--for publishing a poem 
entitled ``The Strength of the Fighting Peacock,'' a symbol of the 
prodemocracy movement. On June 9, the four were sentenced to prison 
terms ranging from seven to 19 years for ``high treason.''
    The NLD continued to press for substantive dialogue on political 
reform and publicly voiced criticisms of the policies and actions of 
the Government, including the jailing of dissidents (see sections 1.a. 
and 1.d.). However, except for the 2005 case of a father and son 
sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly obstructing an official 
in the line of duty, the courts summarily dismissed all NLD legal 
appeals.
    The Government owned and controlled all domestic radio and 
television broadcasting facilities and controlled content in all print 
publications. The official media remained propaganda organs of the 
Government and did not report opposing views except to criticize them.
    Private media existed, but the Government's Press Scrutiny Board 
tightly controlled all media and publications and took action against 
any attempt to provide independent interpretation or comment on news. 
The Ministry of Information issues licenses to private media publishers 
as long as the media printed government-approved material. An estimated 
one-third of private media licenses were held by government agents or 
supporters. The remaining foreign news agencies had no expatriates 
based in the country and relied on local stringers. Their bureau chiefs 
were rarely permitted to enter on journalist visas, except when the 
Government invited them to cover the National Convention.
    On March 24, Thaung Sein and Moe Htun were sentenced to three years 
in prison for taking photographs of buildings in the new capital Nay 
Pyi Taw. No official prohibition exists against taking photographs 
there; however, they were charged with operating a video business 
without a license.
    Many prominent writers and journalists remained in prison for 
expressing their political views. Reporters Without Borders reported 
that at least seven journalists remained in prison at the end of the 
year, including Myat Swe (Sunny Swe) and his father Thein Swe, co-
owners of the English- and Burmese-language weekly newspaper Myanmar 
Times; Thaung Tun; Than Win Hlaing; Monywa Aung-Shin; and Ne Min. 
Journalist Win Tin, the former editor of the Hanthawady Daily 
newspaper, in prison since 1989, was believed to be the longest serving 
political prisoner (see section 1.c.). Government censorship boards 
prohibited publication or distribution of works authored by those in 
prison.
    There were no reports that any imprisoned journalists were released 
during the year.
    All privately owned publications remained subject to prepublication 
censorship by state censorship boards. Due in part to the time required 
to obtain the approval of the censors, private news periodicals 
generally were published weekly.
    The Government forced private periodicals to publish articles and 
photographs criticizing foreign embassies for visiting NLD headquarters 
and meeting with student leaders. Government controls encouraged self-
censorship, and publications generally did not report domestic 
political news or sensitive economic and political topics.
    Imported publications remained subject to predistribution 
censorship by state censorship boards, and possession of publications 
not approved by the state censorship boards remained a serious offense. 
Depending on the sensitivity of the material, government officials 
often accepted bribes in return for allowing the importation of certain 
books. The Government also restricted the legal importation of foreign 
news periodicals and discouraged subscriptions to foreign periodicals 
(see section 1.f.); however, foreign newspapers could be purchased in 
Rangoon. Some foreign newspapers and magazines were distributed 
uncensored, although the Government prohibited their importation 
between May and August, shortly after they printed articles critical of 
the Government.
    The Government generally issued few visas to foreign journalists; 
however, it again issued visas to foreign journalists when the National 
Convention resumed on October 10. The Government held several press 
conferences to convey its views on political problems. Representatives 
of international media organizations and diplomats were invited to 
attend.
    Due to widespread poverty, limited literacy, and poor 
infrastructure, radio remained a primary medium of mass communication. 
News periodicals rarely circulated outside urban areas. The Government 
continued to monopolize and control the content of the two domestic 
radio stations. Foreign radio broadcasts, such as those of Radio Free 
Asia, the Voice of America, the BBC, and the Democratic Voice of Burma 
(DVB), remained the principal sources of uncensored information.
    At year's end NLD member Hla Myint Than and eight others, convicted 
in 2005 for contact with an ``illegal organization,'' possession of a 
satellite telephone, and illegal travel to Thailand, remained in prison 
under sentences of eight to 25 years (see section 6.a.).
    The Government continued to monopolize and to control all domestic 
television broadcasting tightly, offering only three channels, 
including an armed forces channel. The general population was allowed 
to register satellite television receivers for an expensive fee. 
Illegal satellite television was also available, but access to 
satellite television remained far beyond the reach of the majority of 
the population.
    The law makes it a criminal offense to publish, distribute, or 
possess a videotape not approved by a state censorship board. The 
Government continued to crack down on uncensored foreign videotapes and 
DVDs, although pirated copies remained widely available on the street.

    Internet Freedom.--No laws or regulations exist regarding 
monitoring Internet communications or establishing penalties for the 
exercise of freedom of expression via Internet. However, the Government 
monitored Internet communications, and individuals could not freely 
engage in such activities.
    When Internet users spent a long time at one Web site, police 
blocked access if they discovered the site was related to national 
issues. E-mail messages sometimes took several days to arrive in the 
receiver's inbox, often with attachments deleted. Citizens believed 
this was due to the SB's censoring of incoming and outgoing e-mail.
    The Government banned all Web sites critical of the regime and its 
activities. Authorities also periodically banned all access to free e-
mail services such as Yahoo and Hotmail. After Googletalk and Skype Web 
sites became popular means of long distance communication, resulting in 
lost income for government telephone services, in June the minister of 
communications, post, and telegraphs banned Internet telephone services 
offered by Gmail, Gtalk, and Skype.
    The Government blocked most Web sites containing words that it 
considered suspicious, such as Burma, drugs, military government, 
democracy, student movement, 8888, and human rights. Users could 
sometimes reach the home pages of the DVB and BBC's Burma service, but 
they could not access articles on the sites. Occasionally the 
Government mistakenly blocked educational or other Web sites when its 
software detected censored words.
    There were no cases of arrest or punishment for the peaceful 
expression of political, religious, or dissenting views in electronic 
forums, including e-mail.
    All Internet cafes displayed a notice that forbade users to access 
political and pornographic sites but did not state a specific 
punishment.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom. University teachers and professors remained subject 
to the same restrictions on freedom of speech, political activities, 
and publications as other state employees. The Ministry of Education 
routinely warned teachers against criticizing the Government. It also 
instructed them not to discuss politics at work, prohibited them from 
joining or supporting political parties or from engaging in political 
activity, and required them to obtain advance approval for meetings 
with foreigners. Like all state employees, professors and teachers were 
required to join the USA Teachers at all levels continued to be held 
responsible for the political activities of their students. Foreigners 
were not permitted to visit university campuses without prior approval 
or attend any meetings involving students, including graduation 
ceremonies.
    In recent years the Government took a number of measures to limit 
the possibility of student unrest. Undergraduate campuses were moved to 
remote areas, teachers and students were warned that disturbances would 
be dealt with severely, and most on-campus dormitories were closed. The 
quality of education deteriorated to such an extent that many students 
opted to use self-study or private tutoring. The Government placed 
heavy security around other schools that were open, even during summer 
vacation.
    The Government tightly controlled the limited number of private 
academic institutions in the country as well as their curricula. 
Similar controls extended to Buddhist monastery-based schools, 
Christian seminaries, and Muslim madrassas. During the year the 
Government cracked down on private tuition classes and tried to ban the 
practice. Aung Pe, a private teacher and NLD supporter, remained in 
prison, reportedly in poor health, serving a three-year sentence for 
alleged violation of the Private Tuition Act.
    The Government strictly monitored and censored all cultural events. 
In May the Government banned the famous comedian Zargana, previously 
imprisoned for lampooning the regime, from giving public comedy 
performances or from promoting or screening his new film, which 
satirized Rangoon social life.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law limits freedom of assembly, and the Government 
restricted it in practice. An ordinance officially prohibits 
unauthorized outdoor assemblies of more than five persons, although the 
ordinance was not enforced consistently. All NLD offices except its 
Rangoon headquarters remained closed by government order, and the NLD 
could not conduct party activities outside its headquarters building. 
The nine other legally registered political parties were required to 
request permission from the Government to hold meetings of their 
members. Informal meetings involving NLD members occurred outside the 
NLD office, such as regular Tuesday visits by a women's group to 
Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda; however, security officials closely 
monitored these activities, and the Government prohibited those 
participating from wearing political pins, badges, jackets, and shirts 
with political pictures or slogans.
    The regime continued to bar the parliament elected in 1990 from 
convening. After recessing the National Convention (NC) on January 31, 
the regime reconvened it from October 10 to December 29, as part of its 
``democracy road map'' that would nullify the results of the 1990 
election and approve a new constitution. The regime selected all of the 
delegates and prohibited them from discussing the convention freely, 
threatening to enforce harsh laws against any who criticized the NC or 
the draft constitution. Due to the limitations on open debate, the NLD 
continued its 1995 decision to boycott the NC.
    The Government at times interfered with the assembly of religious 
groups (see section 2.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--The Government restricted freedom of 
association, particularly for NLD members, prodemocracy supporters, and 
those who contacted exile groups. On June 9, Aung Than and Zeya Aung, 
two of four persons charged for composing a poem, ``The Strength of the 
Fighting Peacock,'' (see section 2.a.) were also charged under the 1950 
Emergency Provision Act for contact with an ``illegal organization'' 
and for illegally crossing the border (to Thailand). They received 19-
year sentences and remained in Insein Prison at the end of the year.
    Throughout the year the Government continued to coerce NLD members 
to resign from the party and highlighted such resignations in 
government-controlled media.
    The Government compelled civil servants to join the USA and coerced 
secondary school and college-level students to join when registering 
for classes or just before examinations. The Government also coerced 
skilled trade workers and professional association members to join the 
USA. The MWAF and the MMCWA continued to coerce women to attend their 
meetings and join their organizations. In November, on instructions of 
township authorities, residents of each village in Shwebandaw Village 
Tract, Aunglan Township, Magway Division, had to recruit five new 
members to the USA. Similarly, Aunglan Township authorities required 
Nga Pyin Village to recruit five new USA members and five new MWFA 
members.
    In general, freedom of association existed only for government-
approved organizations, including trade associations, professional 
bodies, and the USA. Few secular, nonprofit organizations existed, and 
those that did took special care to act in accordance with government 
policy. There were 10 legally registered political parties, but most 
were moribund. Authorities harassed and intimidated three of the 
opposition parties. The seven other legal parties supported regime 
policies in return for more favorable treatment.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--Constitutional support for religious 
freedom does not exist. There is no official state religion; however, 
the Government continued to show preference for Theravada Buddhism, the 
majority religion. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has a separate 
department for the ``Promotion and Propagation of Sasana'' (Buddhist 
Religion), and the Government continued to fund two state-run Buddhist 
universities in Rangoon and Mandalay. Most registered religious 
adherents generally were free to worship as they chose; however, the 
Government imposed restrictions on certain religious activities and 
promoted Buddhism over other religions. The Government also restricted 
efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political 
freedom.
    Virtually all organizations, religious or otherwise, must register 
with the Government. Although an official directive exempted 
``genuine'' religious organizations from registration, in practice only 
registered organizations were allowed to buy or sell property or open 
bank accounts. Consequently, most religious organizations registered 
with the Government.
    There were no reported incidents of violence carried out by the 
Government or its agents against religious groups.
    The Government continued its efforts to control the Buddhist clergy 
(Sangha). It tried members of the Sangha for ``activities inconsistent 
with and detrimental to Buddhism'' and imposed on the Sangha a code of 
conduct that was enforced by criminal penalties. The AAPP estimated 
that there were 85 monks and novices in prison at the end of the year. 
The Government did not hesitate to arrest and imprison Buddhist monks 
who opposed the Government. The Government also subjected the Sangha to 
special restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of 
association. Members of the Sangha were not allowed to preach sermons 
pertaining to politics. Religious lectures may not contain any words, 
phrases, or stories reflecting political views. Sangha members must 
distance themselves from politics, political parties, or members of 
political parties. The Government prohibited any organization of the 
Sangha other than the nine state-recognized monastic orders under the 
authority of the State Clergy Coordination Committee (Sangha Maha 
Nayaka Committee). The Government prohibited all religious clergy from 
being members of a political party.
    On August 13, authorities detained 11 HIV/AIDS activists at Maggin 
Monastery near Rangoon as they prepared for a ceremony to honor HIV/
AIDS victims. Also in August local authorities pressured and 
intimidated Sayadaw Einthariya, a monk from Mahasi Yeiktha Monastery in 
Yenangyaung Township, Magway Division, to stop assisting HIV/AIDS 
victims (see section 5).
    On August 13, authorities in Toungup Township, Rakhine State, 
arrested five Buddhist monks and 15 laymen at Bu Shwe Maw village 
monastery. When the villagers reported to higher authorities about 
excessive corruption by their village leaders, the leaders took revenge 
on the villagers by claiming that the monastery allowed NLD members to 
meet in its premises. At year's end the 20 remained in prison.
    The Government continued to restrict the building of religious 
structures by minority religious groups and limited their educational 
and proselytizing activities, especially Christian and Muslim groups 
that actively proselytize among Buddhists. The Government also 
permitted the destruction of religious centers and schools.
    In August Muslim sources in Rakhine State reported that NaSaKa, the 
Government's border security force, ordered Rohingya Muslim communities 
in Rathedaung Township to close religious buildings. The closure order 
included five mosques, four madrassas, 18 premadrassas, and three Koran 
reciting centers in eight villages, but at year's end authorities 
allowed two madrassas to reopen. During the year NaSaKa conducted 
arbitrary ``inspections'' of mosques in northern Rakhine State, 
demanding that mosque officials show permits to operate the mosques. 
When mosque officials could not produce the permits, NaSaKa officials 
ordered congregation members to destroy the mosques. Congregation 
members reportedly were forced to destroy a total of seven mosques in 
Buthidaung and two mosques in Maungdaw during the year.
    During the year the Full Gospel Assembly Church in Rangoon resumed 
its activities after local ward officials briefed the leader of the 
group on its responsibilities. In September 2005 authorities had 
informed the congregation that they could no longer hold services 
because the church was located in a residential area, even though the 
mostly Chin congregation had been meeting there for more than 10 years 
without incident.
    In most regions of the country, Christian and Muslim groups that 
sought to build small churches or mosques on side streets or other 
inconspicuous locations occasionally were able to proceed, but based 
only on informal approval from local authorities. These groups reported 
that formal requests encountered long delays, generally were denied, 
and could be reversed by a more senior authority.
    The Government's pervasive internal security apparatus infiltrated 
or monitored meetings and activities of virtually all organizations, 
including religious ones. Religious activities and organizations were 
subject to restrictions on freedom of expression and association.
    The Government discriminated against non-Buddhists at the upper 
levels of the public sector. Promotions within the armed forces and the 
civil service were generally contingent on the candidates being 
followers of Buddhism. There were no non-Buddhist members in the SPDC, 
in the cabinet, or among active flag-rank officers of the armed forces. 
The Government actively discouraged Muslims from entering military 
service, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspired to 
promotion beyond the rank of major were encouraged to convert to 
Buddhism. In some ethnic minority areas, such as Chin State, there were 
reports that the SPDC offered troops financial and career incentives to 
marry Christian Chin women, teach them Burmese, and convert them to 
Buddhism.
    Although authorities appear to have moved away from a campaign of 
forced conversion, there continued to be evidence that other means were 
used to entice non-Buddhists to convert to Buddhism. Christian Chins 
were pressured to attend Buddhist seminaries and monasteries and 
encouraged to convert to Buddhism. Christian Chins reported that local 
authorities operated a high school that only Buddhist students could 
attend and promised government jobs to the graduates. Christians had to 
convert to Buddhism to attend. An exile Chin human rights group claimed 
that local government officials placed the children of Chin Christians 
in Buddhist monasteries in which they were given religious instruction 
and converted to Buddhism without their parents' knowledge or consent. 
Reports suggested that the Government sought to induce members of the 
Naga ethnic group in Sagaing Division to convert to Buddhism by similar 
means.
    The Government discouraged proselytizing by all clergy. 
Evangelizing religions, including some Christian denominations and 
Islam, were most affected by these restrictions. In general the 
Government has not allowed permanent foreign religious missions to 
operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when it expelled nearly all 
foreign missionaries and nationalized almost all private schools and 
hospitals.
    Buddhist doctrine remained part of the state-mandated curriculum in 
all government elementary schools. Students could opt out of 
instruction in Buddhism, and some did, but students of government 
schools were required to recite a Buddhist prayer daily. Some Muslim 
students were allowed to leave the room during this act, while at some 
schools non-Buddhists were forced to recite the prayer.
    Citizens and permanent residents of the country were required to 
carry government-issued national registration cards that often 
indicated religious affiliation and ethnicity. There appeared to be no 
consistent criteria governing whether a person's religion was indicated 
on his or her identification card. Citizens also were required to 
indicate their religion on some official application forms, such as for 
passports.
    The Government allowed Muslims to go on the annual Hajj and 
Buddhists to go on pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, India, although it limited 
the number of pilgrims. An estimated 4,000 Muslims applied to go on the 
Hajj, but by the end of November only 3,000 had received visas, due to 
a more complicated process resulting from the relocation of government 
offices to Nay Pyi Taw. An estimated 2,000 to 2,500 Buddhists made 
pilgrimages to Bodhgaya.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In February violent clashes 
broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in Magway Division. Responding 
to rumors that Muslim men had raped a Burman woman near Sinbyukyun 
Town, ethnic Burmans attacked and burned Muslim and ethnic Indian 
homes, shops, and mosques. Rioting and looting spread to surrounding 
towns in Chauk and Salin townships. Local security forces did not 
intervene at first but later imposed a strict curfew in several towns 
to prevent the violence from spreading further. Reliable sources said 
authorities arrested 17 persons in Sinbyukyun and another 55 persons in 
Chauk, mostly Muslims. Unofficial sources claimed that three persons 
died and another 10 were injured in the riots. Three mosques in 
Yenangyaung, Chauk, and Sagu were reportedly destroyed in the violence. 
Authorities sealed off the mosques and did not permit Muslims to 
rebuild them by the end of the period of this report. Authorities did 
not conduct any official inquiries into the attacks.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of clashes between 
Muslims and Buddhist monks in Rangoon and Arakan State.
    There was one synagogue in Rangoon, which served a Jewish 
congregation of eight local families. There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the Government restricted 
freedom of movement, most citizens were able to travel within the 
country. Exceptions included Muslims traveling to, from, and within 
Rakhine State and some opposition political party members. However, 
citizens' movements were closely monitored, and all were required to 
notify local officials of their whereabouts (see section 1.f.). 
Movement was restricted in areas of armed conflict. Citizens were 
subjected to arbitrary relocation. Authorities prohibited NLD members 
who traveled to Rangoon to attend party functions from lodging in the 
city overnight.
    The Government continued to hold NLD leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and 
Tin Oo under house arrest and rigorously curtailed the freedom of 
movement of other opposition political leaders (see section 1.d.). The 
Government maintained close control over most ethnic leaders' 
movements, requiring them to seek permission from the Government before 
making any domestic trips.
    Ethnic minority areas previously affected by conflict, such as the 
large Karen areas of Ayeyarwady Division, continued to experience tight 
controls on personal movement, including frequent military checkpoints 
and monitoring by MSA. Bribes were extracted at checkpoints in border 
areas. In Rakhine State many controls and checkpoints applied only to 
the Muslim population (see section 5).
    The Government tightly controlled the movement of Muslim Rohingyas, 
who are not considered citizens, particularly in Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, 
Maungdaw, and Rathedaung townships along the border between Rakhine 
State and Bangladesh. The Government also required other noncitizens, 
primarily ethnic South Asians and Chinese, to obtain prior permission 
to travel internally. Nonetheless, the country's borders with China, 
Thailand, Bangladesh, and India remained very porous, with significant 
undocumented migration and commercial travel occurring.
    An ordinary citizen needed three documents to travel outside the 
country: a passport from the Ministry of Home Affairs, a revenue 
clearance from the Ministry of Finance and Revenue, and a departure 
form from the Ministry of Immigration and Population. To address the 
problem of trafficking in persons, the Government continued to hinder 
or restrict international travel for women, particularly those under 25 
years of age.
    The Government carefully scrutinized prospective travel abroad for 
all passport holders. Rigorous control of passport and exit visa 
issuance perpetuated rampant corruption, as applicants were forced to 
pay bribes of up to $230 (300,000 kyat), the equivalent of a yearly 
salary. The Government regularly denied passports on political grounds. 
College graduates who obtained a passport (except for certain 
government employees) were required to pay a fee to reimburse the 
Government for the cost of their education. It frequently took several 
months to receive a passport, particularly if the applicant was 
unwilling to offer a bribe as incentive for speedier service.
    Citizens who emigrated legally generally were allowed to return to 
visit relatives, and some who lived abroad illegally and acquired 
foreign citizenship also were able to return.
    The Government permitted travel outside of Rangoon by foreign 
diplomats and foreign UN employees based in Rangoon to designated 
tourist sites without prior permission; all other travel required 
advance permission and was regularly denied. The Government waived the 
requirement for ICRC employees. The Government required all foreign and 
local residents, except diplomats, to apply for authorization to leave 
the country.
    Restrictions on nonresident foreigners' travel to some areas of the 
country were relaxed. The Government also inaugurated a ``visa on 
arrival'' system for tour groups, which still required predeparture 
application for a visa via the Internet. The country's embassies 
generally issued tourist visas, valid for one month, within 24 hours of 
application. However, certain categories of applicants, including human 
rights advocates, journalists, diplomats, and political figures, were 
denied entry visas regularly unless they were traveling under the aegis 
of a sponsor acceptable to the Government and for purposes approved by 
the Government.
    The abrogated 1974 constitution did not provide for forced exile, 
and the Government generally did not use it. However, in June the 
Government revoked the passport of exile Chin dissident Salai Tun Than 
to prevent him from returning.
    The Government has not established legal arrangements to accept 
Burmese citizens deported from other countries; however, in the past 
the Government has accepted the return of several thousand illegal 
migrants from Thailand and China.
    Harassment, fear of repression, and deteriorating socioeconomic 
conditions continued to force many citizens to leave for neighboring 
countries and beyond. In border regions populated by minority ethnic 
and religious groups, the Government continued its practices of forced 
labor, confiscation of land, compulsory contributions of food and 
money, and forced relocations. During the year there were credible and 
widespread reports that security forces burned villages in Bago 
Division, Karen State, and Kayah State and prevented the villagers from 
returning (see section 1.g.).
    These policies produced hundreds of thousands of refugees in 
neighboring countries, particularly Thailand, India, Malaysia, and 
Bangladesh, starting from 1984 and continuing to year's end.
    Rohingya Muslims who returned to Rakhine State were not stigmatized 
for having left but were discriminated against because of their 
ethnicity. Returnees faced severe restrictions on their ability to 
travel, engage in economic activity, obtain an education, and register 
births, deaths, and marriages. Muslim youth from Rakhine State accepted 
to universities and medical schools outside the state were unable to 
enroll due to travel restrictions imposed upon them.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to NGOs, there were 
more than 500,000 IDPs in the country at year's end.
    Military forces continued to abuse thousands of villagers and drive 
them from their homes, particularly during campaigns in Bago Division 
and Karen, Kayah, and Shan states (see section 1.f.). Thai-based NGOs 
reported that approximately 25,000 ethnic Karen became IDPs during the 
year.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not party to the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. 
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status 
and the Government has not established a system for providing 
protection to refugees. However, there were no reports that persons 
formally sought asylum in the country during the year, nor were there 
reports of forced repatriation.
    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to 
negotiate throughout the year for permission to work with ``communities 
that are affected by displacement.'' The Government allowed the UNHCR 
to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas in northern 
Rakhine State whom the Government does not recognize as citizens.
    In April the UNHCR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the 
Ministry of Border Affairs (NaTaLa) that permitted the UNHCR to work 
with implementing partners in the southeast region, including parts of 
Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi Division, to which the UNHCR had 
previously been denied access. Under the memorandum, UNHCR foreign 
personnel also were permitted to monitor their project activities in 
the region (see section 4).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The 
1947 constitution contained a clause that gave citizens the right to 
recall elected MPs. The 1974 constitution contained a similar clause, 
but there was no record that this clause was ever exercised. However, 
the SPDC continued to prevent the parliament elected in 1990 from 
convening. The regime continued its systematic use of coercion and 
intimidation to deny citizens the right to change their government.
    Since 1962 active duty military officers have occupied the most 
important positions in the central government and in local governments, 
and the SPDC placed active duty or retired military officers in senior-
level positions in almost every ministry. At year's end active duty or 
retired military officers occupied 30 of 33 ministerial-level posts, 
including that of prime minister as well as the mayoral posts in 
Rangoon, Mandalay, and the new administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Following the NLD's victory 
in the 1990 elections, the regime refused to implement the election 
results and disqualified, detained, or imprisoned many successful 
candidates (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.). It was believed that one MP-
elect fled the country during the year and another in 2005. In 2004 at 
least four NLD MPs-elect fled the country.
    In 1998 the NLD leadership joined other prodemocracy parties to 
organize the Committee to Represent the People's Parliament on the 
basis of written delegations of authority from a majority of the 
surviving MPs-elect of the 1990 parliament. The committee considered 
itself as acting on behalf of parliament until the parliament is 
convened. In retaliation the Government launched a sustained and 
systematic campaign to destroy the NLD without formally banning it; 
authorities pressured many thousands of NLD members and local officials 
to resign and closed party offices throughout the country. At year's 
end 12 MPs-elect remained in prison for political reasons. Some had 
been in prison since the early 1990s under harsh conditions.
    In the 1990 election, 392 NLD members won seats. Of that number, 
128 remained elected members. Self-exiles (20), deaths (74), and forced 
resignations or barring (170) accounted for the balance. Those in the 
last category resigned for various reasons. For example, the USA staged 
rallies of ``no confidence'' against some of the elected members. The 
USA and government officials pressured the families as well as the 
members themselves.
    On October 10, the regime reconvened the NC, first summoned in 1993 
and in recess since January 31, as part of its seven-step ``democracy 
road map'' that would nullify the results of the 1990 election and 
adopt a new constitution. The regime convened the NC with more than 
1,000 handpicked delegates, including representatives from 17 ethnic 
cease-fire groups. However, it prohibited free debate on the drafting 
of a new constitution and threatened to imprison persons for periods of 
five to 20 years for any criticism of the process. Due to the 
limitations on open debate, the NLD continued its 1995 decision not to 
participate. The NC recessed on December 29.
    UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari 
visited the country in May and November and met with Senior General 
Than Shwe as well as NLD General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and other 
NLD leaders. By year's end the Government had failed to carry out 
Gambari's request that authorities address human rights concerns and 
expand dialogue with opposition leaders.
    UN Secretary General's Special Envoy Tan Sri Razali Ismail resigned 
in January, after Foreign Minister Nyan Win declined to meet with 
Razali during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos in July 2005.
    Women were excluded from political leadership. There were no female 
or ethnic minority members of the SPDC, cabinet, or Supreme Court.
    Members of certain minority groups also were denied full 
citizenship and a role in government and politics (see section 5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was systemic at 
all levels of the Government and society. Economists and 
businesspersons considered it to be one of the most serious barriers to 
investment and conducting business in the country.
    A complex and capricious regulatory environment fostered 
corruption. Authorities rarely and inconsistently enforced the 
anticorruption statute and usually did so only when the regime's senior 
generals wanted to take action against officials whose egregious 
corruption had become an embarrassment. Beginning in July the 
Government arrested more than 100 customs officials, including Director 
General Colonel Khin Maung Linn, on charges of corruption. The head of 
the National Defense College and his deputy were also forced to retire 
amid charges of corruption.
    The Government did not provide access to most official documents, 
nor is there a law allowing for it. Most government data is classified 
or tightly controlled. Government policymaking was not transparent, 
with decision-making confined to the top layers of government, and new 
government policies rarely were published or explained openly.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government did not allow domestic human rights organizations to 
function independently, and it remained generally hostile to outside 
scrutiny of its human rights record.
    In addition to the ICRC and several UN agencies, approximately 35 
nonpolitical, international humanitarian NGOs operated in the country. 
A few others had a provisional presence while undertaking protracted 
negotiations necessary to establish permanent operations in the 
country. Many international humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies reported 
increasing government pressure to curtail their activities, and access 
by international personnel became more difficult.
    In February the Government released guidelines for controlling the 
activities of humanitarian organizations; however, the Burmese-language 
version contained measures that were more restrictive than those in the 
English-language version. UN agencies and NGOs negotiated with the 
Government throughout the year to try to reach agreement on mutually 
acceptable guidelines. Organizations already present in the country 
reported few changes in their operations, and a multidonor consortium 
to address HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis negotiated separate 
arrangements.
    The Government maintained travel restrictions on foreign 
journalists (see section 2.a.), NGO staff, UN agency staff, and 
diplomats in some regions. Human rights advocates regularly were denied 
entry visas unless traveling under the aegis of a sponsor acceptable to 
the Government and for purposes approved by the Government (see section 
2.d.). The Government's monitoring of the movements of foreigners, its 
frequent interrogation of citizens concerning contacts with foreigners, 
its restrictions on the freedom of expression and association of 
citizens, and its practice of arresting citizens who passed information 
about government human rights abuses to foreigners impeded efforts to 
collect or investigate human rights abuses. Reports of abuses, 
especially those committed in prisons or ethnic minority areas, often 
emerged months or years after the abuses allegedly were committed and 
seldom could be verified.
    Some international NGOs and UN agencies were required to have a 
government representative accompany them on field visits, at the NGOs' 
expense, although this rule was not consistently enforced (see section 
1.f.). Foreign staff experienced difficulty obtaining permission to 
travel to project sites.
    The ICRC was forced to suspend its prison visits in late 2005 when 
the regime ended ICRC's access to prisons to conduct private interviews 
with prisoners (see section 1.c.). The ICRC also suspended its 
activities in ethnic minority areas, due to restrictions of access to 
conflict areas that prevented it from carrying out normal, independent 
humanitarian operations. In November the Government ordered ICRC field 
offices in Hpa-an, Kengtung, Mandalay, Mawlawmyine, and Taunggyi to 
close but later ``clarified'' that instead of closing, the offices had 
to cease all field activities, including protection, basic hygiene, and 
health care, until further notice. The Government allowed the ICRC to 
continue prosthetic services to mine victims in Hpa-an, Mandalay, 
Taunggyi, and government prosthetics centers.
    Under a new agreement signed with NaTaLa in April, the UNHCR 
resumed projects in the southeast region with implementation partners, 
and UNHCR foreign personnel carried out monitoring visits. In April 
2005 the Government had withdrawn permission to the UNHCR to visit 
these areas.
    In July lawyer Aye Myint, who was arrested in October 2005 and 
sentenced to seven years for advising farmers to contact the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) when authorities confiscated 
their land, was released following ILO pressure on the Government (see 
section 6.c.). In 2003 he was arrested and sentenced to death for 
contact with the ILO but was released in January 2005.
    Despite repeated requests, the Government persisted in its refusal 
to allow the UN special rapporteur for human rights to visit the 
country during the year.
    The Government received ILO complaints of labor violations and 
stated that it was conducting investigations into the violations. Some 
officials were arrested and prosecuted in January 2005 for forced labor 
violations and spent several months in jail before being released (see 
section 6.c.). However, in April 2005 the ILO liaison officer stopped 
filing forced labor complaints with the Government because authorities 
threatened to arrest complainants (see section 6.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The SPDC continued to rule by decree and was not bound by any 
constitutional provisions concerning discrimination.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
remained a problem; however, because the Government did not maintain 
statistics related to spousal abuse or domestic violence, it was 
difficult to measure. There are no laws specifically against domestic 
violence or spousal abuse, although there are laws related to 
committing bodily harm against another person. The violations and 
related penalties range from one year to life, in addition to possible 
fines. The government-affiliated MWAF sometimes lobbied local 
authorities, including the police, to investigate domestic violence 
cases involving spousal abuse. As the MWAF is controlled by wives of 
regime leaders, police usually investigated domestic violence cases 
referred to them by the MWAF.
    Rape is illegal; however, spousal rape is not a crime unless the 
wife is under 14 years of age. If the victim is under 14, it is 
considered rape with or without consent and carries a sentence of 10 
years to life. In a case of spousal rape when the woman is between 12 
and 14, the maximum sentence is two years; in a case of spousal rape 
when the woman is under 12, the sentence is 10 years to life. Married 
women often lived in households with extended families, where social 
pressure tended to protect the wife from abuse. The Government did not 
release statistics regarding rape; however, it stated that rape was not 
common in populous urban areas but occurred more often in remote areas. 
Nonetheless, it was generally considered unsafe for women to travel 
during hours of darkness without a male escort, and employers typically 
had to supply a bus or truck to return female workers to their homes at 
night. Use of taxis at night was considered particularly hazardous for 
women because of the risk of rape or robbery. Prostitutes traveling at 
night typically had to pay substantial additional fees to taxi 
operators or risk being raped, robbed, or turned over to the police. 
There were credible reports from NGOs and diplomatic sources that 
prostitutes taken into police custody were sometimes raped or robbed by 
the police. Incidents of rape in conflict areas and other ethnic 
minority areas continued, particularly by military personnel garrisoned 
in those regions (see section 1.g.).
    Prostitution is prohibited by law and punishable by three years in 
prison; however, its prevalence grew in urban areas, particularly in 
some of Rangoon's ``border towns'' and ``new towns,'' populated chiefly 
by poor families who were relocated forcibly from older areas of the 
capital.
    There are no laws against sexual harassment.
    Consistent with traditional culture, women kept their own names 
after marriage and often controlled family finances. However, women 
remained underrepresented in most traditional male occupations and were 
effectively barred from certain professions, including the military 
officer corps. Poverty affected women disproportionately. Women did not 
receive equal pay for equal work on a consistent basis. Women legally 
are entitled to receive up to 26 weeks of maternity benefits; however, 
in practice these benefits often were not accorded them.
    There were no independent women's rights organizations, although 
there were several groups with some relationship to the Government. The 
MWAF, chaired by the wife of Prime Minister General Soe Win, was the 
leading ``nongovernmental'' women's rights organization. With branches 
in all 14 states and divisions, it was the primary government 
organization responsible for addressing women's interests. The MMCWA, 
another government-controlled agency, provided assistance to mothers 
and children. These organizations were closely allied with the 
Government and conducted activities that furthered government 
objectives. The Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs' Association, a 
professional society for businesswomen, provided loans to women 
starting new businesses. While not controlled by the Government, the 
association enjoyed good relations with the Government and was allowed 
to conduct its activities to support women in business.

    Children.--Children under the age of 18 constituted approximately 
40 percent of the population. Children were at high risk, as 
deteriorating economic conditions forced destitute parents to take them 
out of school to work in factories and teashops or to beg. Some were 
placed in orphanages. With few or no skills, increasing numbers of 
children worked in the informal economy or in the street, where they 
were exposed to drugs, petty crime, risk of arrest, sexual abuse and 
exploitation, and HIV/AIDS.
    There was no adequate child protection or juvenile justice system. 
Efforts in this regard were severely constrained by lack of resources. 
The DSW provided limited social welfare services, but there were only a 
few officially appointed social workers.
    The Government continued to allocate minimal resources to public 
education. According to official figures for fiscal year 2006-07 (April 
through March), official expenditure allocations for the Ministry of 
Education comprised 1.9 percent of the total national budget. Public 
schooling was ostensibly provided free through the 10th standard 
(approximately age 16). However, on average, public school teachers' 
pay was equal only to approximately four dollars (5,300 kyat) per 
month, far below subsistence wages, forcing many teachers either to 
leave the profession or demand extra payments from their students. 
Thus, many families had to pay to send their children to school, even 
at the primary level. According to a Kachin women's group, families in 
Kachin State had to pay as much as $230 (300,000 kyat) for their 
children to attend 10th standard, an amount above the national average 
annual income. In some areas where families were not able to afford 
unofficial payments, teachers ceased work. In response to official 
neglect, private institutions began to provide assistance in education, 
despite a legal ban on private schools.
    Education is compulsory through the 4th standard. The UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF) reported that 50 percent of primary school students 
dropped out of school before finishing the 4th standard. Rates of 
school attendance were low, largely due to increasing economic 
hardship, causing students to seek work as domestic helpers or waiters 
at urban teashops. NGOs estimated that nationwide nearly one million 
primary-age children did not attend school. There was no difference in 
the attendance rate of boys and girls.
    The Government promoted education at Buddhist monastic schools in 
rural areas and subsidized Buddhist universities in Rangoon and 
Mandalay. In ethnic minority areas, the Government often banned 
teaching in local languages.
    The Government cooperated with the UN Committee on the Rights of 
the Child. UNICEF reported close working relationships with the DSW and 
the Ministry of Education, where it worked to support primary education 
and produce children's storybooks in five minority languages. Faith-
based organizations, Buddhist monks and nuns, and private community-
based groups also provided educational and other support for children.
    Children also suffered from the Government's severe neglect of 
health care. According to official government figures, the budget for 
the Ministry of Health in fiscal year 2006-07 amounted to 0.8 percent 
of the total national budget.
    There were no reports that the Government discriminated between 
boys and girls in the provision of health care. Estimated mortality 
rates for children under five years of age ranged from 66 (Ministry of 
Health, 2003) to 109 (UN Development Program, 2004) deaths per 1,000 
live births. Almost three-quarters of these deaths occurred within the 
first year of life, with infant mortality rates from the same sources 
ranging from 50 to 77 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively. Many 
of the infant deaths occurred in the first month of life. All data 
sources estimated rural mortality to be at least 25 percent higher than 
urban mortality, with the highest mortality in mountainous areas and 
the central dry zone. According to UNICEF, up to 56 percent of child 
deaths from age six to 59 months could be attributed to the effects of 
malnutrition and infection. Countrywide, the prevalence of underweight 
and stunting among children was 32 percent and wasting was 8.6 percent. 
In 2005 the head of the World Food Program estimated that 33 percent of 
children were chronically malnourished in spite of its food-for-work 
programs in Shan State and the central dry zone.
    The law prohibits child abuse, and the Government stated that child 
abuse was not a significant problem. In 2004 the UN Committee on the 
Rights of the Child concluded that it remained ``seriously concerned at 
the lack of appropriate measures, mechanisms, and resources to prevent 
and combat domestic violence, including physical and sexual abuse and 
neglect of children; the limited number of services for abused 
children; as well as the lack of data on the aforementioned.''
    Child prostitution and trafficking in girls for the purpose of 
prostitution--especially Shan girls who were sent or lured to 
Thailand--persisted as a major problem (see section 5, Trafficking). In 
Rangoon and Mandalay, diplomatic representatives noted widespread 
employment of female prostitutes who appeared to be in their early 
teens and for whom there was reportedly a high demand. Additionally, 
some brothels offered young teenage ``virgins'' to their customers for 
a substantial additional fee.
    The official age of enlistment in the army is 18 years. The 
Government stated that its official policy is to avoid conscripting 
child soldiers; however, recruiters frequently ignored the policy. In 
2004 the Government established the Committee for Prevention Against 
Recruitment of Minors for Military Service, which purportedly issued 
rules and regulations to punish those who recruit child soldiers. On 
August 22, SPDC Secretary-1 Lieutenant General Thein Sein told the 
committee that minors themselves were to blame for the problem because 
they lied about their true age or did not inform their parents that 
they had enlisted in the armed forces. Thein Sein claimed that when 
parents came to military camps to take back their underage sons, the 
children often were returned after the cases were investigated. In a 
tacit admission that there remained underage soldiers in the armed 
forces, Thein Sein stated that soldiers with stunted growth were not 
sent to forward areas but were instead given light work duties at 
military bases, and that illiterate youth were sent to army schools to 
be educated.
    According to Ministry of Defense sources, the army discharged 55 
soldiers between February and May, including four who were underage. A 
separate Ministry of Foreign Affairs report in November stated that as 
of September the army had discharged 16 new recruits, four of whom were 
underage. On October 24, the Government gave the ICRC a list of 17 
complaints of recruitment of underage soldiers and declared the cases 
were all resolved.
    The army continued to use forced recruitment of child soldiers. On 
March 21, government soldiers detained 17-year-old Maung Han Zaw who 
lived in Tharkayta Township, Rangoon Division. A few days later his 
parents traveled to Military Training School Number 5 at Yai Ni near 
Pyinmana to bring their son home. The commanding officer, Captain Aye 
Thit, allowed them to meet their son but would not permit him to return 
home.
    In May a unit of Light Infantry Brigade 365, commanded by Sergeant 
Major Thein Tun, reportedly lured 11 ethnic Chin boys from an orphanage 
in Myoma Ward, Tiddim, Chin State. After forcing them to work at 
Kalemyo airport, the soldiers transported the orphans to a military 
camp in Kalemyo, Sagaing Division, to become soldiers. Two older boys 
who tried to escape were punished and transferred to Kalewa military 
camp. One of the older boys, Vung Ki Thang, was reported to be only 15 
years old.
    On August 3, police at Meiktila, Mandalay Division, reportedly 
arrested three 15-year-old children--Than Naing Aye, Lin Lin, and Yan 
Lin Maung--on charges of theft. On August 22, police officer Min Aung 
Thein reportedly sold the children to Taung Thone Lone army recruitment 
center in Mandalay for $50 (65,000 kyat).
    In the past army recruitment drives targeted children to meet 
quotas for the ostensibly all-volunteer army, but anecdotal evidence, 
at least in Rangoon, suggested this practice had become less common.
    The Government invited UNICEF to visit military recruitment 
centers, but UNICEF declined because it deemed government-organized 
tours to be of little value. UNICEF offered to help reintegrate 
discharged underage soldiers into society and to conduct awareness 
workshops for trainers of military recruiters in international 
humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 
country's child laws, and HIV/AIDS. The Government did not formally 
respond to UNICEF's offer.
    Ethnic minority cease-fire groups and insurgent armies, 
particularly the United Wa State Army, also forcibly conscripted child 
soldiers. Field observers reported seeing numerous Wa soldiers who 
clearly were underage. Inaccessibility to the areas where these groups 
operated made it difficult to obtain reliable data on the extent of the 
problem among ethnic armies.
    In January the Government claimed that a group of soldiers who 
surrendered from the SSA-S included several teenagers, of whom the 
youngest, Private Sai Yi, was 13 years old. Colonel Yot Suk, head of 
SSA-S, denied that any of his soldiers were under the age of 18.
    During the year representatives of the KNU and the KNPP, two ethnic 
resistance groups, met with UNICEF and UNHCR representatives in 
Thailand to request that they be removed from the list of groups who 
recruited child soldiers. Admitting that the KNU recruited child 
soldiers as recently as 2000, the KNU spokesperson claimed that the KNU 
had adopted a policy not to accept underage recruits. However, the 
spokesperson acknowledged the possibility that low-level officers in 
the field could have continued to recruit children. On July 31, the KNU 
wrote to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for 
Children and Armed Conflict to request that the UN remove it from the 
list of armed groups who use child soldiers. The KNU claimed it was 
against their policy to recruit underage soldiers and said it would 
take action against anyone who recruited underage children into their 
armed wing. The KNPP spokesperson said his group sent underage 
volunteers to school.
    In August a spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child 
Soldiers noted that the Government remained very secretive about child 
recruitment problems, while the KNU and the KNPP held open discussions 
on the issue. The spokesperson estimated that there were fewer than 50 
child soldiers in the two ethnic armies.
    Several international NGOs and agencies promoted the rights of 
children in the country, including the ICRC, World Vision, Save the 
Children UK, CARE, UNICEF, the UN Development Program, and foreign 
governments.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although there are laws specifically 
prohibiting child prostitution and child pornography, they were not 
enforced effectively. Trafficking, including of children, continued, 
but there were no reliable statistics regarding its extent. Government 
data showed that Thailand was the primary destination for trafficking 
victims, with much smaller numbers going directly to China, Malaysia, 
Bangladesh, Korea, and Macau.
    Trafficking of women and girls to Thailand, China, Bangladesh, 
Malaysia, Korea, Japan, and countries in the Middle East for sexual 
exploitation, factory labor, and as household servants remained a 
problem. Shan and other ethnic minority women and girls were trafficked 
across the border from the north; Karen and Mon women and girls were 
trafficked from the south. There was evidence that internal trafficking 
generally occurred from poor agricultural and urban centers to areas 
where prostitution flourished (trucking routes, mining areas, military 
bases, and industrial estates) as well as along the borders with 
Thailand and China. Men and boys also reportedly were trafficked to 
other countries for sexual exploitation and labor. While most observers 
believed that the number of these victims was at least several thousand 
per year, there were no reliable estimates.
    In a report released in May 2005, the Kachin Women's Association of 
Thailand documented trafficking of Kachin girls and women to China 
ostensibly to work but instead forced into prostitution or to become 
brides to Chinese men who could not find local brides. Based on 
interviews with 85 Kachin women who escaped their captors, 10 percent 
were trafficked domestically and up to half became brides of Chinese 
men, some in distant northeastern provinces of China.
    Human traffickers appeared to be primarily free-lance, small-scale 
operators using village contacts to feed victims to more established 
trafficking brokers. Brokers were primarily foreign, but some Burmese 
brokers operated in Thailand and China.
    The penalties for trafficking women, children, and youth was 10 
years to life; for trafficking men, five to 10 years; for fraud for the 
purpose of trafficking, three to seven years; for using trafficked 
victims for pornography, five to 10 years; for trafficking with an 
organized criminal group, 10 years to life; for serious crime involving 
trafficking, 10 years to life or death; for a public official accepting 
money related to an investigation of the trafficking law, three to 
seven years. All penalties also include the option of a fine.
    The Government made limited progress against trafficking in 
persons. The Government reported that in 2005 it convicted 68 human 
traffickers out of 203 cases. Most received sentences of less than five 
years, but during the year two traffickers received life sentences. 
Since the Government did not accurately distinguish between human 
traffickers and smugglers, the actual number of traffickers convicted 
was probably less.
    As in the previous year, the Government's pervasive security 
controls, restrictions on access to information, and lack of 
transparency prevented a comprehensive assessment of trafficking in 
persons activities in the country. While experts agreed that human 
trafficking from the country was substantial, no organization, 
including the Government, was able or willing to estimate the number of 
victims.
    Officials recognized the importance of preventing cross-border 
trafficking and prosecuting traffickers, but they did little to combat 
domestic trafficking and took no action on forced labor. The Government 
worked with the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking to sponsor 
seminars for national, state/division, and lower level authorities and 
received training from the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons 
Project. New government guidelines issued early in the year reduced the 
abilities of many international NGOs, including those working on 
trafficking issues, to implement and monitor programs; however, many 
activities were allowed to continue. In January the Government signed 
the ASEAN Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Agreement. Cooperation 
with Thailand and China on enforcement and repatriation continued to 
increase.
    UN agencies and NGOs credited the Government for demonstrating 
political will to combat cross-border trafficking and for improving 
cooperation with the international community. The Government increased 
the size of the antitrafficking unit from 40 to 65 officers.
    During the year the Government hosted national and state/division 
level seminars to inform officials from relevant ministries about the 
antitrafficking law enacted in September 2005. The Government 
established a working group that began to revise the national action 
plan to reflect the 2005 law.
    The Ministry of Home Affairs maintained its position that there was 
no complicity of government officials in trafficking; however, 
corruption among local government officials was widespread. NGOs 
reported that government officials were complicit in trafficking, 
although it appeared limited to local and regional officials turning a 
blind eye to trafficking activities. NGOs also reported that individual 
police officials were likely involved in extorting money from economic 
migrants and others leaving the country.
    The Government had four vocational training centers and one house 
to shelter female trafficking victims; male victims were temporarily 
sheltered in training schools. The Government insisted that repatriated 
victims stay for one month in these centers, where they were confined 
against international norms of victim protection. During the year the 
Government took action against 274 offenders and returned 419 
trafficking victims, according to police reports.
    The MWAF and the DSW provided some basic health and compulsory 
counseling services and job training for trafficking victims before 
turning them over to an NGO or returning them to their families. 
However, government funding for these programs was very limited.
    The Government made it difficult for single women to obtain 
passports or marry foreigners, ostensibly to reduce the outflow of 
women as victims of trafficking (see sections 1.f. and 2.d.). In 
addition, regulations forbid females under the age of 25 from crossing 
the border unless accompanied by a guardian, but most trafficked women 
crossed the border without passports.
    The Ministry of Home Affairs placed antitrafficking units at nine 
locations known for frequent trafficking. With assistance from 
international NGOs, the Government conducted training and advocacy 
workshops and also approved nationwide television and radio 
announcements and distribution of materials at the state/division 
level.
    Three international NGOs and some local NGOs offered poverty 
alleviation and education programs designed to counter trafficking. 
These programs were moderately successful.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The Government did not actively 
discriminate against persons with disabilities in employment, access to 
health care, education, or in the provision of other state services, 
but there were few official resources to assist persons with 
disabilities. There were no laws mandating accessibility to buildings, 
public transportation, or government facilities, and persons with 
disabilities faced societal discrimination. There were several local 
and international organizations that assisted persons with 
disabilities, but most such persons had to rely exclusively on their 
families to provide for their welfare.
    Military veterans with disabilities received benefits on a priority 
basis, usually a civil service job at equivalent pay. In principle, 
official assistance to nonmilitary persons with disabilities included 
two-thirds of pay for up to one year of a temporary disability and a 
tax-free stipend for permanent disability; however, the Government did 
not provide job protection for private sector workers who became 
disabled.
    The Ministry of Health is responsible for medical rehabilitation of 
persons with disabilities, and the Ministry of Social Welfare is 
responsible for vocational training. The Government operated three 
schools for the blind, two for the deaf, two rehabilitation centers for 
adults with disabilities, and two for children with disabilities. 
However, the Government provided inadequate funds for its schools and 
programs for persons with disabilities. Local NGOs ran four schools for 
the blind.
    The ICRC continued to provide rehabilitation services to victims of 
landmine injuries, both civilian and military amputees. Besides running 
an orthopedic rehabilitation center in Hpa-an, Karen State, the ICRC 
also had an active outreach program to identify and refer amputees from 
remote border villages to the its prosthetic services.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Wide-ranging governmental and 
societal discrimination against minorities persisted. Animosities 
between the country's many ethnic minorities and the Burman majority, 
which has dominated the Government and the armed forces since 
independence, continued to fuel active conflict that resulted in 
serious abuses during the year. The abuses included reported killings, 
beatings, torture, forced labor, forced relocations, and rapes of Chin, 
Karen, Karenni, Rohingya, Shan, Mon, and other ethnic groups by SPDC 
soldiers. Some armed ethnic groups also may have committed abuses, but 
on a much smaller scale than the Government army (see sections 1.a., 
1.c., 1.f., and 1.g.).
    Only persons who were able to prove long familial links to the 
country were accorded full citizenship. Native-born but nonindigenous 
ethnic populations such as Chinese, Indians, and Bengalis were denied 
full citizenship and excluded from government positions. Members of the 
Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State were not considered citizens 
and continued to experience severe legal, economic, and social 
discrimination. The Government denied citizenship to most Rohingyas on 
the grounds that their ancestors did not reside in the country for one 
year prior to the start of British colonial rule in 1824, as required 
by the country's highly restrictive citizenship law.
    Rohingya Muslims did not have access to state-operated schools 
beyond primary education because the Government reserved secondary 
state schools for citizens. Those excluded were also ineligible for 
most civil service positions.
    Persons without full citizenship faced restrictions in domestic 
travel (see section 2.d.). They also were barred from certain advanced 
university programs in medicine and technological fields.
    Ethnic minority groups generally used their own languages at home. 
However, throughout all parts of the country controlled by the 
Government, including ethnic minority areas, Burmese remained the 
mandatory language of instruction in state schools. Even in ethnic 
minority areas, most primary and secondary state schools did not offer 
instruction in the local ethnic minority language. There were very few 
domestic publications in indigenous minority languages.
    The Government continued to resettle groups of ethnic Burmans to 
various ethnic minority areas through the establishment of ``model 
villages'' in Rakhine State and other regions of the country (see 
section 1.f.). Government jobs in ethnic minority regions, including as 
teachers, were increasingly reserved for ethnic Burmans, according to 
reports from Kachin and Kayah states.
    There were ethnic tensions between Burmans and nonindigenous ethnic 
populations, including South Asians, many of whom were Muslims, and a 
rapidly growing population of Chinese, most of whom emigrated from 
Yunnan Province. Chinese immigrants increasingly dominated the economy 
of the northern part of the country.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Many citizens viewed 
homosexuals with scorn. Penal code provisions against ``sexually 
abnormal'' behavior were applied to charge gays and lesbians who drew 
unfavorable attention to themselves. Nevertheless, homosexuals had a 
certain degree of protection through societal traditions. Transgender 
performers commonly provided entertainment at traditional observances. 
Some were spirit (nat) worshippers and, as such, had special standing 
in the society. They participated in a well-established week-long 
festival held near Mandalay every year. The event was considered a 
religious event, free of sexual overtones or activities, and was 
officially approved by the Government. No one, including the military 
or police, interfered with the festival.
    HIV-positive patients were discriminated against, although HIV 
activists reported that awareness campaigns helped to reduce 
discrimination and stigma. However, some persons reportedly were 
reluctant to visit clinics that treat HIV/AIDS patients for fear of 
being suspected of having the disease.
    In August local authorities pressured and intimidated Sayadaw 
Einthariya, a monk from Mahasi Yeiktha Monastery in Yenangyaung, Magway 
Division, to stop assisting HIV/AIDS victims, claiming it was 
unsuitable conduct for a monk. He was threatened with arrest by the 
township clergy coordination committee. The pressure appeared to be 
inspired by political rather than religious considerations, since the 
monk had cooperated with NLD activists supporting HIV/AIDS programs in 
the absence of any viable government program for HIV/AIDS patients.
    On August 13, authorities detained 11 HIV/AIDS activists at Maggin 
Monastery near Rangoon as they prepared for a ceremony to honor HIV/
AIDS victims. The authorities claimed the group, which had ties to the 
NLD and the 88 Generation Students, had not properly registered to stay 
overnight at the monastery. The authorities reportedly pressured the 
monastery to select a new senior abbot more supportive of the regime. 
On August 14, the authorities released the activists without charging 
them.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law permits workers to form trade 
unions with the prior consent of the Government; however, no free trade 
unions existed in the country.
    Domestic and internationally affiliated unions are not allowed, nor 
is individual membership in unions. The Government forbade seafarers 
who found work on foreign vessels through the Seafarers Employment 
Control Division from having contact with the International Transport 
Workers' Federation, and the Government often refused to document 
seafarers who were abroad. Without proper documentation, it was 
impossible for a seafarer to find regular employment abroad.
    The Government criminalized contact with the Federation of Trade 
Unions--Burma, claiming it was a ``terrorist group.'' In November nine 
persons were given prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years 
after their arrest in July 2005 for allegedly contacting the federation 
(see sections 1.a. and 2.a.). In November 2005 one such prisoner, Aung 
Myint Thein, died while in custody (see sections 1.a., 1.d., 2.a., 2.b, 
and 6.b.).

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Government 
does not allow workers to organize or bargain collectively. The 
Government's central arbitration board, which once provided a means for 
settling major labor disputes, has been dormant since 1988, although 
the Ministry of Labor reportedly played an arbitration role in settling 
some disputes since then. Township-level labor supervisory committees 
existed to address minor labor concerns. During the year authorities 
intervened as a mediator in informal labor strikes to ensure peaceful 
resolutions between workers and employers.
    The Government unilaterally set wages in the public sector. In the 
private sector, market forces generally set wages; however, the 
Government pressured joint ventures to pay salaries no greater than 
those of ministers or other senior government employees. Some joint 
ventures circumvented this with supplemental pay or special incentive 
systems. Foreign firms generally set wages near those of the domestic 
private sector but followed the example of joint ventures in awarding 
supplemental wages and benefits.
    According to the law, labor strikes are prohibited, although 
employees at a number of large factories organized informal strikes 
during the year and in many cases won higher wages. Most strikes were 
resolved without government intervention, but in some cases authorities 
pressured workers and employers for resolution. Employers fired a 
number of the strike organizers.
    There are no export processing zones; however, there are special 
military-owned industrial parks, such as Pyin-Ma-Bin, near Rangoon, 
which attracted foreign investors, and the 2,000-acre Hlaing Thaya 
Industrial Zone in Rangoon, where several companies operated. Labor 
laws were applicable in all industrial zones and across all industries, 
but they were not always enforced.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law provides for 
the punishment of persons who impose forced labor on others. However, 
government and military use of forced or compulsory labor remained a 
widespread and serious problem, particularly targeting members of 
ethnic minority groups. Throughout the country, international observers 
verified that the Government routinely forced citizens to work on 
roads, construction, and other maintenance projects. Citizens also were 
forced to work in the military-owned industrial zones.
    The Government's use of forced labor in support of military 
garrisons or military operations remained serious in ethnic or 
religious minority regions. According to credible NGO sources, 
villagers were ordered to build or repair military camp infrastructure 
and to perform other tasks within the camps, such as standing guard. 
The same sources also reported that villagers were required to bring 
lumber, at their own expense, to construct and repair military 
facilities.
    The ILO corroborated reports of serious forced labor abuses in 
Rakhine State and continued to call upon the Government to stop the use 
of forced labor. Local authorities continued to use forced labor to 
complete major public works projects on time.
    In May credible sources in Rakhine State reported that local 
residents from the villages of Kyaukpan Du, Thawin Chaung, Inndin, Mrin 
Lwet, Atwin Byin, Chut Byin, Owe Thima, Thein Daung, and Taungmaw from 
Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships were forced to construct an 18-
mile-road over the Mayu mountain range between the model village of 
Tazin Myint in Rathedaung Township and Kyaukpandu Village in Maungdaw 
Township. Although the authorities promised each worker $0.38 (500 
kyat) per day, they failed to pay them. When the villagers refused to 
work any more, the authorities reportedly forced them to work at 
gunpoint.
    In September 2005 the NGO Amnesty International reported that the 
requirement for porters decreased as armed resistance to the Government 
lessened and the army established itself in former hostile territory. 
However, the NGO claimed that the decreasing need for porters was 
replaced with an increase in other types of forced labor as the army 
built new barracks and other infrastructure. The report also noted that 
the KNLA and the DKBA were guilty of some of the same abuses committed 
by the army, including confiscation of food from already malnourished 
villagers, who were forced to provide rice, livestock, and other 
valuables to soldiers of both sides. During the year NGOs presented 
credible evidence of increased use of ethnic Karen villagers as porters 
by the army in its ongoing military attacks against Karen villages in 
Bago Division, Karen State, and Kayah State.
    In recent years the ILO and other international agencies have seen 
changes in the Government's approach to conscripting forced labor. The 
ILO reported that military units no longer tended to issue written 
orders to village heads to provide forced labor but instead gave verbal 
instructions. The ILO also reported that in some cases the Government 
substituted demands for forced labor with demands for forced 
contributions of materials, provisions, or money. Throughout the year 
there were frequent and widespread reports of soldiers forcing 
contributions of rice and other commodities from ethnic minority 
villagers. The ILO reported that it appeared the Government 
occasionally paid workers for forced labor, but the payments were 
usually well below prevailing wage rates.
    The ILO reported that since 2002 the Government increasingly 
substituted prisoners not sentenced to hard labor for civilians as 
forced laborers, possibly due to international pressure against the use 
of civilians. There reportedly were new labor camps, but many were 
temporary, existing only until the completion of a specific work 
project. During the year the army reportedly transported convicts from 
prisons throughout the country to serve as porters in its ongoing 
military attacks against Karen villages in Bago Division, Karen State, 
and Kayah State. The convicts faced dangers from minefields and 
exposure to gunfire while working with inadequate food and no medical 
care.
    Reports of forced labor for smaller projects in villages 
countrywide persisted. Authorities also continued to use forced labor 
countrywide to maintain existing civil infrastructure, including 
transportation and irrigation facilities. Authorities often allowed 
households or persons to substitute money or food for labor for 
infrastructure projects, but widespread rural poverty forced most 
households to contribute labor. Parents routinely called upon children 
to help fulfill their households' forced labor obligations (see section 
6.d.).
    There were reports from nearly every division and state that 
authorities forced citizens to plant physic nut trees on public and 
private property as part of the SPDC's campaign to produce more 
biodiesel fuel. Those who tried to avoid planting physic nuts were 
frequently threatened with fines if they did not participate.
    In May businessmen reported that Light Infantry Battalion 141 and 
Northern Commander Major General Ohn Myint forced ethnic Kachin in the 
villages of Yinna Pinlong, Min Thar, Man Khin, Shwe Nyaung Pin, Hu Kat, 
Ta Kat, and Nga Pyaw Daw in Kachin State to provide labor to upgrade 
the road between Shinbo and Myitkyina. Besides working without pay, the 
workers had to provide their own food and shelter. Those who could not 
work reportedly had to find a substitute or pay a fine of $15.40 
(20,000 kyat).
    There were no developments in the November 2005 death of a man from 
Tharat Cho Village in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, who returned 
home seriously ill after Battalion 550 officials forced him to help 
construct a military base.
    In December 2005 local PDC authorities in Myothit Village, 
Ngathainggyaung Township, Ayeyarwady Division, arrested carpenter Ko 
Than Htaik, detained him at the village PDC office, and severely beat 
him. The authorities accused him of failing to provide involuntary 
labor to build a road and not providing funds for village militia 
training. His family admitted him to the local hospital, where he died 
soon after as a result of the beating. The Yaykyay police arrested 
local PDC officials who were involved in the beating, including Aung 
Myint Thein, chairman of the village PDC.
    The Government refused to pay compensation for the death of Win 
Lwin, who died while performing forced labor in Magway Division in 
2004.
    From 2004, the first year that private citizens voluntarily 
approached the ILO to report alleged violations, until September 2005 
the ILO office in Rangoon received 102 cases of forced labor to 
investigate. The ILO forwarded 59 of the cases to the Government's 
committee on forced labor. The committee responded to all of the cases, 
and a total of 10 persons were found guilty and sentenced. The 
committee did not implement adequate mechanisms for the reporting, 
investigation, and prosecution of incidents of forced labor.
    Beginning in April 2005 the ILO stopped pursuing forced labor cases 
because the Government stated that it would prosecute any person who 
made what the Government deemed a ``false'' complaint. However, the ILO 
liaison officer continued to receive credible reports of forced labor 
throughout the year.
    At its June conference, ILO members noted the Government's lack of 
progress on forced labor issues and debated additional actions to 
secure compliance. Members established deadlines for action on two 
items: a moratorium on prosecution of forced labor complainants, 
including existing prisoners and ongoing cases, by the end of July; and 
agreement on a mechanism to handle forced labor claims by the end of 
October. On June 6, the Government released Su Su Nway, a labor 
activist imprisoned in 2005 who had successfully prosecuted local 
officials from Kawhmu Township, Rangoon Division, on forced labor 
charges. The Government also released a second prominent labor activist 
during the year, and on September 20, it dropped a case against three 
villagers, but it did not address other ILO concerns.
    At its November meeting, ILO members reviewed possible further 
actions, including referral to the International Court of Justice. On 
November 17, the ILO Governing Body voiced its ``great frustration'' at 
the Government's failure to agree on how to deal with complaints of 
forced labor and requested that it ``conclude with the ILO such an 
agreement as a matter of utmost urgency.''
    Forced recruitment of soldiers, including children, continued (see 
section 5).
    The law does not specifically prohibit forced and bonded labor by 
children, and forced labor by children continued to be a serious 
problem (see section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law sets a minimum age of 13 for the employment of children, but in 
practice the law was not enforced. Child labor was prevalent and highly 
visible. Working children were noticeable in cities, employed primarily 
in small or family enterprises. In the countryside, children worked in 
family agricultural activities. Children working in the urban informal 
sector in Rangoon and Mandalay often began work at very young ages. In 
cities child workers were found mostly in the food processing, street 
vending, refuse collecting, and light manufacturing industries, and as 
restaurant and teashop attendants.
    The law does not prohibit compulsory labor by children, and 
children were subjected to forced labor. Authorities reportedly rounded 
up teenage children in Rangoon and Mandalay and forced them into 
porterage or military service (see section 5).
    The DSW provided support and schooling for a small number of 
orphaned children or others who were in some other way estranged from 
their families. One of the aims of this assistance was to help the 
children become more capable of resisting exploitation in the future.
    No specific government agency existed to enforce child labor laws. 
In December UNICEF completed a review of legal provisions for working 
children found in 10 separate labor laws enacted from 1923 to 1993 and 
subsequently made many recommendations for protecting children who 
work.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Only government employees and 
employees of a few traditional industries were covered by minimum wage 
provisions. After a significant public service salary increase in 
April, the minimum monthly wage for salaried public employees was set 
at the market equivalent of $11.50 (15,000 kyat) for what was in effect 
an eight-hour workday. The rate for day laborers was raised to $0.38 
(500 kyat) per day. Various subsidies and allowances supplemented this 
sum. Neither the minimum wage nor the higher wages earned by senior 
officials provided a worker and family with a decent standard of 
living. Low real wages in the public sector fostered widespread 
corruption and absenteeism. In the private sector, urban laborers 
earned approximately $0.38 to $0.75 (500 to 1,000 kyat) per day, while 
rural agricultural workers earned approximately half that rate. Some 
private sector workers earned substantially more: a skilled factory 
worker earned approximately $19 (25,000 kyat) per month, according to 
private sector employers.
    A surplus of labor, a poor economy, and the lack of protection by 
the Government continued to foster substandard conditions for workers. 
The law prescribes a five-day, 35-hour workweek for employees in the 
public sector and a six-day, 44-hour workweek for private and state 
enterprise employees, with overtime paid for additional work. The law 
also allows for a 24-hour rest period per week, and workers are 
permitted 21 paid holidays per year; however, in practice such 
provisions benefited only a small portion of the country's labor force, 
since most of the labor force was engaged in rural agriculture or the 
informal sector. The laws were generally enforced in the Government 
sector, but there were frequent violations by private enterprises.
    Numerous health and safety regulations existed, but the Government 
did not make necessary resources available to enforce the regulations. 
Although workers may remove themselves from hazardous conditions, many 
workers could not expect to retain their jobs if they did so.

                               __________

                                CAMBODIA

    Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected government 
and a population of approximately 13.8 million. Following elections in 
2003, in 2004 the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by Prime Minister 
Hun Sen, and the National United Front for a Neutral, Peaceful, 
Cooperative, and Independent Cambodia (FUNCINPEC), led by Prince 
Norodom Ranariddh, formed a coalition government. However, the CPP 
dominated the three branches of government and other national 
institutions, with most power concentrated in the hands of the Prime 
Minister. Although the civilian authorities nominally controlled the 
security forces, in practice security forces answered to the CPP 
leadership.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor. Government 
agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with 
impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by 
government authorities to adhere to the rule of law. Detainees were 
abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. 
Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial 
detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a 
fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions, often accompanied by 
violence, were a growing problem. The Government restricted freedom of 
speech and press through the use of defamation and disinformation 
suits, controlled or influenced the content of television and radio 
broadcasts, and sometimes interfered with freedom of assembly. 
Corruption was endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, 
including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of 
government. Domestic violence and child abuse occurred. Education of 
children was inadequate, and trafficking in women and children 
persisted. The Government offered little assistance to persons with 
disabilities. Antiunion activity by employers and weak enforcement of 
labor laws continued, and child labor remained a problem.
    In a positive turn, in January the Government released five human 
rights activists jailed in 2005 on charges of defamation and 
incitement. Parliamentary immunity was restored to opposition leader 
Sam Rainsy, who returned to the country without incident in February, 
as well as to two other opposition parliamentarians. Opposition 
parliament member Cheam Channy was released from prison following a 
royal pardon. The Government also partially decriminalized defamation.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically 
motivated killings. However, human rights nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) reported that extrajudicial killings continued to occur.
    During the year NGOs recorded at least 44 cases of extrajudicial 
killings. NGOs noted that in 26 cases the perpetrators evaded justice 
following the crimes; in the other cases the perpetrator was either 
arrested or paid restitution to the victim's family. Nine killings were 
committed by the military, four by police, two by bodyguards of 
government officials or wealthy persons, two by guards in prisons or 
rubber plantations, and one by a member of the forest authority. NGOs 
also recorded that in at least two cases the perpetrators were 
convicted, in five they were in detention awaiting trial, and in five 
others financial restitution was paid to the victim's family as a 
settlement; no further information was available in the remaining 32 
cases.
    On March 29, two suspects died while in police custody in Kandal 
Province. According to the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee 
(CHRAC), Pao Rum and Khat Thoeun died in separate districts after 
police detained them for questioning about theft allegations. CHRAC 
said that both suspects suffered massive internal injuries, serious 
burns and bruises on their legs, and broken necks prior to their 
deaths. The three police officers in charge of Pao Rum's custody in 
Kandal Stoeung District were suspended pending an investigation into 
Pao Rum's death. At year's end neither the courts nor the Ministry of 
the Interior (MOI) had taken further action against the officers. CHRAC 
reported that Koh Thom District police denied responsibility for the 
death of Khat Thoeun, alleging that he had been beaten by a military 
official before being brought to them. NGOs reported that a district 
military official was detained, questioned for three days, and 
released; police officers overseeing Khat Thoeun's custody were not 
charged in the case. At year's end the investigation into Khat Thoeun's 
death continued.
    On June 7, Nong Sam died in a Siem Reap hospital from head injuries 
received in a beating from Siem Riep provincial police officers. 
According to an NGO investigation, the police officer in charge, Chhith 
Bunchhay, arrested Nong Sam for beating his wife, who was also Chhith 
Bunchhay's sister. A provincial court prosecutor investigated the case 
but brought no formal charges against Chhith Bunchhay.
    Guards of two prisons in Kampong Thom and Battambang killed 10 
inmates during prison breaks. On April 9, a prison guard shot one of 
three inmates attempting to escape from a prison in Kompong Thom 
Province. The guard, who fled following the incident, was charged with 
intentional murder, but at year's end authorities had not located him.
    On June 18, during an attempted prison break from Battambang 
provincial prison, nine inmates and one guard were killed inside the 
prison when inmates took a guard hostage. Prison authorities did not 
return the dead bodies to families as requested for a funeral but 
buried them inside the prison compound. Authorities prohibited local 
human rights staff from investigating the incident. Prison authorities 
did not provide access to NGOs to investigate.
    There were no confirmed reports of politically motivated killings 
during the year. On April 21, Koeut Chhuon, the Sam Rainsy Party's 
(SRP) second deputy chief of Yeang Communal Council in Preah Vihear 
Province's Chamksan District, was killed. Based on preliminary reports, 
neither human rights NGOs nor the police believed the killing was 
politically motivated; however, at year's the investigation was 
ongoing. On October 16, SRP activist Thoeung Thear was shot and killed 
in Kampong Cham Province. A provincial court issued a warrant for the 
arrest of Long Sopheak, the brother of the deputy district chief, who 
was seen fleeing the scene, but he remained at large at year's end. On 
November 18, Man Meth was shot and killed in Prey Veng Province. On 
December 21, police arrested three persons for the killing. NGOs were 
unable to confirm if the killing of either Theoung Thear or Man Meth 
was politically motivated.
    There were no developments in the 2005 killings of five SRP 
activists or in the March 2005 case of an attempted escape from 
Trapoeung Phlong Prison in which 19 prisoners and the prison director 
were killed. At year's end the Phnom Pehn Appeals Court had taken no 
action regarding the March 2005 killing of five protesters by 
government security forces in the village of Kbal Spean.
    On August 5, retired King Norodom Sihanouk stated to the families 
of the two persons convicted in 2005 for the killing of union activist 
Chea Vichea that he believed they were not the killers and asked the 
Government to reconsider their cases. Chea Vichea's family and civil 
society demanded that the Government free the two men, and an 
eyewitness to the killing recanted an earlier statement to police 
authorities and said neither man was responsible for the killing. On 
October 6, the appeals court scheduled a hearing, but it was postponed 
because one of the three judges was ill. At year's end no date had been 
set for a new hearing, and the convicted persons remained in prison.
    No legal action was taken against a police officer for the 2004 
killing of a prisoner awaiting trial in Takeo Province.
    There were no developments in the cases of a FUNCINPEC deputy 
village chief or an SRP activist, who were killed in separate incidents 
in 2004 in Kompot Province.
    On August 2, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for 
the arrest of Heng Pov, former under secretary of state of the Ministry 
of Interior, who was charged with multiple counts of premeditated 
killings and involvement in illegal arrests and detentions. He was 
alleged to have been involved in the 2003 Sok Sethamony killing. Heng 
Pov denied the allegations and sought political asylum abroad. On 
September 18, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Heng Pov in 
absentia for crimes including the murder of Judge Sok Sethamony and 
sentenced him and five other police officials to 18 years in prison. On 
December 21, Malaysian authorities deported Heng Pov, and he was taken 
to Prey Sar Prison to begin serving his sentence. Authorities permitted 
Heng Pov to meet with his legal counsel, but family members and NGOs 
were not allowed to see him.
    Casualties by mines and unexploded ordinances (UXO) remained high 
but decreased sharply compared with 2005. According to the Cambodia 
Mine/UXO Victim Information System, casualties from land mines and UXO 
totaled 440 cases during the year, a decrease from 875 in 2005. The 
casualties included 58 deaths, down from 168 deaths in 2005; 91 
amputations, down from 173; and 58 other injuries, down from 534.
    Vigilante justice as well as killings by mobs persisted. NGOs 
reported that at least six persons were killed by mobs during the year. 
Few perpetrators were arrested. In some instances authorities could not 
protect suspects from angry mobs. NGOs noted that a majority of mob 
killings were related to thefts, robberies, or suspected witchcraft. On 
February 5, a man was beaten and killed following accusations that he 
practiced witchcraft. No one was arrested in connection with the 
killing. On August 5, Sam Roeun, suspected of stealing a boat, was 
caught in Kratie Province's Prey Prosap District, placed in a sack 
weighted with stones, and thrown into a river. Police stated that 
villagers killed Sam Roeun because they did not trust the judicial 
system. A human rights NGO based in Kratie reported that six villagers 
were charged with Roeun's killing and detained at year's end awaiting 
trial.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, 
beatings and other forms of physical mistreatment of prisoners 
continued to be a serious problem.
    There were credible reports that military and civilian police 
officials used physical and psychological torture and severely beat 
criminal detainees, particularly during interrogation. Human rights NGO 
LICADHO reported that in the first six months of the year, authorities 
tortured 96 detainees, of whom 78 were tortured in police custody and 
18 in prisons. Based on interviews with thousands of detainees from 18 
of the country's 24 prisons, LICADHO added that kicking, punching, and 
pistol-whipping were the most common methods of physical abuse, but 
techniques also included electric shocks, suffocation, caning, and 
whipping with wire. ADHOC, another NGO monitoring human rights across 
the country, recorded approximately 150 cases of physical assaults and 
torture committed by police and military agents. The constitution 
protects suspects from any form of torture; however, NGOs reported that 
it was not uncommon for police to torture detained suspects until they 
confessed to a crime. Based on LICADHO's report for the year, 191 
suspects, including 14 women, were tortured while in police custody, 
and 22 others were tortured in prison. According to ADHOC's interviews 
during the year with 300 inmates in the country's 24 prisons, 55 
inmates said they were tortured following their arrests and prior to 
their detention in a prison. ADHOC's interviews disclosed that half of 
the torture incidents occurred during police custody, while the other 
half occurred during either military police custody or at the offices 
of local authorities. Based on the responses of court officials, courts 
used forced confessions as legal evidence during trial. Additionally, 
government officials and those in their employment used violence to 
suppress the weak. The NGOs noted that during the year there were 167 
cases of physical assaults by local authorities, government agents, or 
the bodyguards of the rich and powerful, compared to 154 cases in 2005 
and 145 cases in 2004. The NGOs noted that the Government frequently 
expressed ignorance of civil society's demands for abusers to be 
brought to justice. The same report stated that authorities were 
disciplined in only 15 percent of all cases.
    On January 28, six police officers, including the head of the Phnom 
Penh Municipal Police Minor Crime Unit, were arrested for torturing a 
woman to death and other killings. On July 21, the Phnom Penh Municipal 
Court convicted the officers and sentenced them to 12 years each in 
prison.
    On February 14, two policemen from Border Protection Unit 701 
suspended a 13-year-old boy upside down and beat him; the policemen 
accused the boy of assaulting the police. After NGO intervention, the 
police officers paid approximately $500 (2.1 million riels) in 
compensation to the boy. No legal actions were taken against the 
officers.
    On March 29, two suspects died in separate incidents due to police 
brutality in two districts of Kandal Province. CHRAC found that both 
died as a result of severe torture (see section 1.a.).
    On April 18, following a dispute between Kong Salath and other 
villagers, police commissioner Team Sangkriem of Tbeng Meanchey 
District, Preah Vihear Province, and three other police agents detained 
Kong Salath without a warrant and beat him while he was handcuffed and 
his legs shackled. An NGO reported that the commissioner detained 
Salath illegally for one night before he let Salath's father take him 
for medical treatment. In June the commissioner was removed to another 
province. At year's end the provincial court reportedly was awaiting 
the results of a police investigation before deciding whether to take 
legal action against the commissioner.
    On April 24, Battambang military police arrested a motorist without 
a warrant and accused him of robbery. The military police severely beat 
him at the scene and additionally abused him and covered his head with 
a sheet of plastic. Despite a complaint from a local human rights NGO 
to a court and to the commander of the military police unit, by year's 
end no disciplinary or legal actions had been taken against the abusive 
officers.
    On June 7, Nong Sam died in a Siem Reap hospital from head injuries 
caused by a beating from a group of Siem Riep provincial police 
officers (see section 1.a.).
    On December 29-30, Tous Sdoeung died due to injuries sustained in 
detention. Kompong Thom Provincial Police Chief Mao Pov confirmed that 
the man was tortured by two military police officers. On December 29, 
Sdoeung was reportedly arrested after burning down his own house and 
beating his wife while drunk. His badly beaten body was returned to his 
family the next day. Sdoeung's family initially agreed not to charge 
the officers if $650 (approximately 2.73 million riels) in compensation 
was paid, but they later appealed for more financial assistance and 
filed a complaint seeking an additional $1,250 (approximately 5.25 
million riels). The case was taken up by the provincial court, but at 
year's end no action had been taken against the officers.
    At year's end no legal action had been taken in the 2005 complaint 
filed against a prison guard who allegedly mistreated a female prisoner 
who refused his sexual advances, although according to NGO reports the 
guard was transferred in June to another province.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not 
meet international standards and were life threatening. Prison 
conditions remained harsh, and government efforts to improve them 
continued to be hampered by a lack of funds and weak enforcement. Human 
rights organizations cited a number of serious problems, including 
overcrowding, medical and sanitation problems, food and water 
shortages, malnutrition, and poor security. According to prison 
authority statistics, there were 10,250 inmates in prison as of 
October, compared with 8,943 inmates in 2005. Despite the relocation of 
three prisons to larger facilities--in Battambang, Kandal, and Kompong 
Thom provinces--and renovations to other prisons during the year, most 
prisons remained overcrowded. According to LICADHO, which monitored 18 
of the 24 prisons, the 18 prisons had a capacity of 6,410 inmates but 
held a total 8,835 inmates. Prison authority statistics recorded that 
from January to November, 90 inmates died, mainly of AIDS and 
tuberculosis. NGOs recorded that there were 12 prison escapes during 
the year, resulting in 12 inmates killed, 24 recaptured, and 17 still 
at large at year's end. NGOs reported that two inmates in Koh Kong 
prison died in August, a few days following a fierce fight inside their 
cell; however, prison authorities claimed both died of disease.
    In 2005 an NGO noted that the average number of inmates placed in a 
23-by-26-foot cell had increased from 45 to between 50 and 60. In some 
prisons, after escape attempts authorities used shackles and held 
prisoners in small, dark cells.
    Government ration allowances for purchasing prisoners' food 
routinely were misappropriated and remained inadequate, exacerbating 
malnutrition and disease. Although during the year the Government 
increased ration allowances from $0.23 (1,000 riels) to $0.36 (1,500 
riels) per day for each prisoner's food, NGOs noted that food rations 
for inmates were still inadequate. According to human rights 
organizations, a culture of corruption existed whereby prisoners whose 
families bribed prison authorities received better treatment than 
prisoners who could not afford to pay bribes. Regulations permitted 
families to provide prisoners with food and other necessities, and 
prisoners depended on such outside assistance; however, families often 
were compelled to bribe prison officials to be allowed to provide 
assistance or to gain access to visit inmates. In 2005 NGOs reported 
that 89 prisoners died for lack of food or medication or of disease 
contracted or aggravated while incarcerated.
    On April 9, prison guards shot and killed one of three inmates who 
escaped prison in Kompong Thom Province (see section 1.a.).
    On June 11, 12 pretrial detainees charged with murder escaped from 
Prey Sar Prison. A prison guard suspected of helping the inmates was 
arrested. NGOs blamed the escape on prison authorities' negligence and 
corruption.
    On June 18, nine inmates and a guard of the prison in Battambang 
Province were killed inside the prison when inmates took the guard 
hostage and tried to escape (see section 1.a.).
    There were reports that officials demanded bribes before releasing 
inmates who had served their full jail terms.
    In most prisons there was no separation of adult and juvenile 
prisoners, of male and female prisoners, or of persons convicted of 
serious crimes and persons detained for minor offenses.
    The Government generally continued to allow international and 
domestic human rights groups to visit prisons and provide human rights 
training to prison guards. However, NGOs reported that at times 
cooperation from local authorities was limited. Prison monitoring NGOs 
complained that beginning in March the Government curtailed their right 
to monitor the country's 24 prisons. Battambang prison officials did 
not give access to human rights organizations to investigate the 
killing of nine inmates who were killed during their attempted June 18 
escape. The MOI continued to require that lawyers, human rights 
monitors, and other visitors obtain permission prior to visiting 
prisoners. The MOI withheld such permission in some politically 
sensitive cases. NGOs were not allowed to interview prisoners in 
private.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, the Government generally did not respect 
these prohibitions. ADHOC reported that 90 persons were illegally 
arrested and detained during the year. ADHOC believed that the actual 
number of arbitrary arrests and detentions was higher, because some 
victims in rural areas did not file complaints due to difficulty in 
traveling to the NGO's offices or out of fear for their family's 
security. According to ADHOC, police were at fault in more than half of 
the cases, and members of the armed forces and military police were 
responsible for almost 10 percent; the other cases were committed by 
civil servants, local government officials, or officials from the 
judiciary. ADHOC's report stated that most illegal detainees were 
subsequently freed following detainee complaints, interventions by 
human rights NGOs, or payment of bribes. Human rights NGOs noted that 
approximately half of the cases were resolved by release of the victim 
or payment of compensation to the victim as well as release. The other 
cases generally went to court, and the victims were held until the case 
was heard by a judge. The report concluded that neither legal nor 
disciplinary actions were taken against the persons responsible for the 
illegal actions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The General 
Commissariat of the National Police, which is under the supervision of 
the MOI, manages all civilian police units. The police forces are 
divided into those who have the authority to make arrests, those 
without such authority, and the judicial police. Military police are 
permitted to arrest civilians only when authorized by local 
governments.
    Police officers acted with impunity, and in most cases the 
Government took little or no action. There were reports that police, 
prosecutors, investigating judges, and presiding judges received bribes 
from owners of illegal businesses.
    Police, prosecutors, and judges are required by law to investigate 
all complaints, including those of police abuses; however, in practice 
judges and prosecutors rarely conducted an investigation prior to a 
public trial. The presiding judge passes down the verdict based on 
written reports from police and witness testimonies. In general police 
received little professional training. Police who failed to prevent or 
respond to societal violence were rarely disciplined.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain a warrant 
from a prosecutor prior to making an arrest, but police may arrest 
without a warrant anyone caught in the act of committing a crime. The 
law allows police to take a person into custody and conduct an 
investigation for 48 hours, excluding weekends and government holidays, 
before charges must be filed; however, authorities routinely held 
persons for extended periods before charging them. Many prisoners, 
particularly those without legal representation, had no opportunity to 
seek release on bail. Accused persons legally are entitled to a lawyer, 
but prisoners routinely were held for several days before gaining 
access to a lawyer or family members. According to the UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), such prolonged detention 
largely was a result of the limited capacity of the court system.
    Due to the limited ability to interview inmates during the year, 
prison monitoring NGOs could not ascertain how many inmates had been 
detained longer than the legal six-month pretrial detention period. 
LICADHO reported at least 286 inmates had been detained longer than the 
six-month limit. In addition, ADHOC reported that at least 40 convicts 
were not aware of length of their jail terms; prison authorities 
claimed that the judiciary did not tell them the verdicts.
    On October 29, six persons from the provinces of Svay Rieng, Siem 
Riep, and Kandal were arrested and charged by the Phom Pehn Municipal 
Court with conspiracy to commit terrorism. Police alleged that the 
suspects were plotting to bomb the annual Water Festival celebrations 
in Phnom Penh, which attract an estimated million persons to the city. 
However, the lawyer of the accused stated that no warrants were shown 
to his clients when they were arrested, nor were they informed of the 
charge. The lawyer also stated that the evidence that led to the 
arrests had not been presented. Court officials replied that the 
investigation was ongoing and evidence would be presented once the 
investigation was complete.
    CHRAC reported that in Phnom Penh on March 1, Phok Sambath, a 
Special Airborne Brigade 911 soldier, was detained on orders of General 
Chap Pheakday, the brigade commander, over a property dispute. On March 
8, Sambath's family filed a complaint with human rights organizations. 
The brigade commander claimed that Sambath was detained for not 
reporting to duty. Following his release on April 13, Sambath told 
CHRAC investigators that he had quit the military nearly one year 
earlier but had not signed any paperwork to that effect; he added that 
he had not received a salary during that time. CHRAC concluded that the 
property dispute led to the detention, called the detention illegal, 
and stated that military officials did not have the authority to judge 
civil cases. At year's end the property dispute was in the Phnom Penh 
Civil Court awaiting a decision.
    In June Team Sangkriem, police commissioner of Preah Vihear 
Province, and three police colleagues detained Kong Salath without a 
warrant and severely tortured him before releasing him after one day. 
The police commissioner was later transferred from his post following a 
criminal complaint that an NGO filed with the provincial court. At 
year's end the investigation was ongoing, and no legal action had been 
taken against the commissioner (see section 1.c.).
    On January 4, Pa Nguon Teang, who worked with human rights activist 
Kem Sokha, was detained on defamation charges; the Government released 
him after two weeks.
    On January 11, human rights advocate Yeng Virak, arrested in 
December 2005, was freed on bail. On January 17, Pa Nguon Teang and 
three prisoners detained in 2005--radio station owner Mam Sonando, 
detained in October 2005; labor activist Rong Chhun, also detained in 
October 2005; and Kem Sokha, detained on December 31, 2005--were 
released and their cases suspended. All had been detained on defamation 
charges.

    Amnesty.--On February 5, King Norodom Sihamoni granted pardons to 
convicted opposition parliamentarians Sam Rainsy, Cheam Channy, and 
Chea Poch (see sections 1.e. and 3).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, but the Government did not respect judicial 
independence. The courts were subject to influence and interference by 
the executive branch, and there was widespread corruption among judges, 
prosecutors, and court officials.
    The court system consists of lower courts, an appeals court, and a 
Supreme Court. The constitution also mandates a Constitutional Council, 
which is empowered to review the constitutionality of laws, and a 
Supreme Council of the Magistracy, which appoints, oversees, and 
disciplines judges. The composition of both councils heavily favored 
the CPP.
    There is a separate military court system, which suffered from 
deficiencies similar to those of the civilian court system. The legal 
distinction between the military and civil courts sometimes was ignored 
in practice, and civilians have been called for interrogation by 
military courts with no apparent jurisdiction in their cases.
    On July 3, 17 local and 10 international judges as well as 
coprosecutors for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 
(ECCC) were sworn in. On July 21, Ung Choeun, alias Ta Mok, considered 
a potential defendant before the tribunal, died at a military hospital 
in Phnom Penh; his death was attributed to old age, tuberculosis, and a 
history of poor health. Ta Mok, under military detention since 1997, 
was a zone secretary, Central and Standing Committee member, and 
commander of the South East Regional Army of the Khmer Rouge.
    At year's end the ECCC could not begin judicial performance due to 
failure to finalize its internal rules. The delay drew increased public 
concerns that senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge would die prior to the 
beginning of or during the ECCC's mandate.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. Juries are not used; the 
presiding judge possesses the authority to pass a verdict. Defendants 
have the right to be present and consult with an attorney, confront and 
question witnesses against them, and present witnesses and evidence on 
their own behalf. If a defendant cannot afford an attorney, the court 
is required to provide the defendant with free legal representation; 
however, the judiciary lacked the resources to provide legal counsel, 
and most defendants sought assistance from NGOs or went without legal 
representation. Trials typically were perfunctory, and extensive cross-
examination usually did not take place. Defendants and their attorneys 
have the right to examine government-held evidence relevant to their 
cases; however, at times it was difficult for them to obtain such 
access, especially if the case was political or involved a high-ranking 
government official or well-connected member of the elite.
    Defendants are entitled by law to the presumption of innocence and 
the right of appeal, but due to pervasive corruption, defendants often 
were expected to bribe judges to secure a verdict. A citizen's right to 
appeal sometimes was limited by difficulty in transferring prisoners 
from provincial prisons to the appeals court in Phnom Penh. Many 
appeals thus were heard in the absence of the defendant.
    A lack of resources, low salaries, and poor training contributed to 
a high level of corruption and inefficiency in the judicial branch, and 
the Government did not ensure due process. A report released in March 
by the Center for Social Development, which monitored nearly 1,000 
court cases in one year, indicated that only 15 percent included 
witness testimony and 71 percent lasted less than 30 minutes. The 
center's report found that access to lawyers increased in felony cases 
from 85 percent in 2004 to 97 percent in 2005. Beginning in late 2005, 
the President of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court banned all reporters 
from staying inside the court compound following a trial; however, such 
a ban is not codified in law (see section 2.a.).
    Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun remained in prison for the murder of 
Chea Vichea, following a trial marked by serious irregularities and 
condemned by international observers. On October 6, the appeals court 
postponed a hearing for the two men. At year's end no date had been set 
for the court to hear the appeal.
    Judges and prosecutors often had little legal training. Early in 
the year, the Royal School for Judges and Prosecutors began preparing a 
second group of 55 trainees to become judges and prosecutors.
    There remained a critical shortage of trained lawyers, particularly 
outside Phnom Penh. Persons without means to secure counsel often were 
effectively denied the right to a fair trial. According to the Bar 
Association, approximately 30 percent of the country's 300 lawyers were 
providing legal counsel to poor persons, although this was inadequate 
to cover the legal needs of all of the country's poor. On August 18, 
the Association of Lawyers Without Borders signed an agreement with the 
Bar Association to fund 24 voluntary lawyers to provide legal services 
to the poor in 21 provinces.
    Sworn written statements from witnesses and the accused usually 
constituted the only evidence presented at trials. The accused person's 
statements sometimes were coerced through beatings or threats, and 
illiterate defendants often were not informed of the content of written 
confessions that they were forced to sign. In cases involving military 
personnel, military officers often exerted pressure on judges of 
civilian courts to have the defendants released without trial.
    Court delays or corrupt practices often allowed accused persons to 
escape prosecution. Government officials or members of their families 
who committed crimes often enjoyed impunity. At year's end authorities 
had taken no legal action in the case of the June 2005 killing of a man 
in a house belonging to the family of a provincial police chief.
    Although the courts prosecuted some members of the security forces 
for human rights abuses, impunity for most of those who committed human 
rights abuses remained a problem. In many criminal cases, the rich or 
powerful usually paid money to victims and authorities to drop the 
criminal charges against them. The authorities were known to urge 
victims or their families to accept financial restitution in exchange 
for dropping criminal charges (see section 1.a.).
    On April 13, a police officer from the Anti-Drug Department and a 
military policeman accidentally shot and severely injured 
Sovansocheata, a singer in a Phnom Penh karaoke parlor. The officers 
paid approximately $3,000 (12.3 million riels) to the injured woman to 
settle the criminal case. At year's end neither the local court nor 
local police authorities had taken legal action against the two 
officers.
    On April 26, Major Phat Sophal and Captain Sim Ry, both of Brigade 
70, the military unit charged with defense of Phnom Penh in case of 
political instability, were arrested by military police in Phnom Penh's 
Tuol Kork District shortly after they shot and injured a woman. The two 
officers were released hours later when their commander, General Mao 
Sophan, intervened. The general subsequently said he punished the two 
officers by shaving their heads. At year's end no legal action had been 
taken against the two officers.
    On July 1, Lim Srey, a worker in a garment factory, was shot and 
severely injured by Kuch Panha, a military officer, who was firing at 
someone throwing stones at his house. Local authorities arrested the 
officer, but he was subsequently freed after paying an undisclosed 
amount to the victim.
    From November 11 to November 13, three police officers in Siem Riep 
Province allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl at a police post. NGOs 
helped the girl, who suffered from mental difficulties, file complaints 
with the provincial court. The district deputy governor, whose son is 
one of the accused, admitted to offering $500 (approximately 2.1 
million riels) to the victim's family. The Siem Riep provincial police 
applied for arrest warrants for the three suspects, but at year's end 
the court had not acted on the request.
    On April 21, in the retrial of three judges, two deputy 
prosecutors, and two court clerks convicted in December 2005 of 
corruption and corruption-related conspiracy, the Battambang Provincial 
Court acquitted the seven officials. The prosecutor protested the new 
verdicts and filed an appeal. At year's end the appeal was pending at 
the appeals court. On June 4, the Supreme Council of Magistracy 
reappointed five of the seven officials to their judicial posts and 
dismissed one judge and one prosecutor.
    At year's end the appeals court had taken no action in the March 
2005 land eviction case in which more than 100 government security 
agents killed five persons and injured eight others in the village of 
Kbal Spean. According to NGOs, victims' families accepted the 
Government's offer that returned some of the disputed land with land 
titles to the families.
    The Judicial Reform Council made no significant progress in 
fulfilling its mandate to develop and implement reform measures. In 
2005 the Government, in cooperation with legal experts from donor 
countries, completed draft laws of the criminal and civil codes and 
began reviewing them. During the year further action was held up by 
government efforts to harmonize all the draft legislation.
    Human rights groups continued to report that the Government 
demonstrated its control of the courts by ordering the rearrest of 
suspects released either by the courts or through extrajudicial 
processes. Judges cited examples of interference from high-ranking 
officials tasking them to make rulings in line with political 
priorities.
    Lawyers also noted that some police and prison officials, in 
violation of the law and with apparent support from other government 
officials, denied them the right to meet prisoners in private or for 
adequate lengths of time.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.
    On February 5, opposition member of Parliament (MP) Cheam Channy, 
convicted in August 2005 of organizing a shadow army and fraud, was 
released from prison following a pardon by the King upon the Prime 
Minister's request. The National Assembly also reinstated his 
parliamentary immunity.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has a 
judiciary in civil matters, and citizens are entitled to bring lawsuits 
seeking damages for human rights violations. Generally, there are both 
administrative and judicial remedies. However, the judiciary was 
generally viewed as corrupt, politically biased, and weak, and persons 
seldom filed complaints because they did not trust the judicial system. 
The public was especially distrusting of the judiciary to act in a 
transparent manner when a case was in conflict with the Government. 
Enforcing a domestic court order was often problematic. Persons 
occasionally turned to violence because of their lack of trust in the 
courts.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law provides for the privacy of residence and 
correspondence and prohibits illegal searches; however, police 
routinely conducted searches and seizures without warrants.
    Due to the forced collectivization during Khmer Rouge rule and the 
return of thousands of refugees, land ownership often was unclear, and 
most landowners lacked adequate formal documentation of ownership. 
Following the end of the Khmer Rouge insurgency, a rush to gain 
possession of lands near potentially lucrative cross-border trade 
routes exacerbated the ownership problem. Widespread land speculation 
fueled disputes and increased tensions between poor rural communities 
and wealthy speculators. The Cadastral Commission, established in 2002 
to settle disputes over land that had not been registered or where an 
owner had not been given a land certificate, continued to perform its 
functions slowly. The courts under the Ministry of Justice remained 
responsible for resolving disputes in cases where land had been 
registered or disputants had been given land titles. On March 15, the 
National Authority for Resolving Land Disputes was established to 
adjudicate land cases, but it proved ineffective.
    Problems of inhabitants being forced to relocate continued to occur 
when powerful officials or businessmen colluded with local authorities. 
Some persons also used the court system to intimidate the poor and 
vulnerable into exchanging their land for meager compensation. One NGO 
reported receiving 124 land-related cases in Phnom Penh and 12 other 
provinces affecting a total number of 15,274 persons during the year. 
Another NGO reported 460 cases of land disputes during the same period 
that pitted individuals against local authorities and private 
businesses. The poor often had no legal documents to support their land 
claims and lacked faith in the judicial system due to the corruption 
within the judiciary. Some of those expelled successfully contested 
these actions in court, but the majority lost their cases.
    On January 5, a provincial court ordered the arrest and detention 
of two persons representing the Ekkareach commune in Ratanakiri 
Province in a case that involved 108 families and the ownership of more 
than 494 acres. Khet Sokhai, who claimed to own the 494 acres, 
initially obtained 148 acres from villagers in 1996 but did not develop 
the land for several years. In 2004 Sokhai started clearing the 
surrounding land, where villagers lived and cultivated crops. The 
villagers protested and filed a complaint with the Cadastral 
Commission, which took no action. In late 2005 Sokhai filed a complaint 
with a Ratanakiri court accusing two villagers of obstructing his land-
clearing activities. The men were arrested but later released. In early 
January the Ratanakiri Court judge jailed two other villagers but later 
released them. Villagers went to Phnom Penh to seek intervention from 
the National Assembly and the Prime Minister's Office. The National 
Assembly ordered the local authorities to take action to resolve the 
problem in the villagers favor. The local authorities reportedly 
ignored this order, and the attempt to obtain the land continued. An 
NGO reported that ownership of the land was later transferred from 
Sokhai to another individual named Piset. Villagers gave in to the 
intimidation and threats and agreed to accept $3,000 (approximately 
12.6 million riels) in compensation. On July 5, the provincial court 
ruled that the land be handed to the new owner, which the villagers 
willingly accepted.
    On February 11, approximately 200 villagers of Ratanakiri's Pateh 
Commune gathered in front of the Commune Office to protest the 
confiscation of their land by a private company allegedly owned by a 
sister of the minister of economics and finance. According to an NGO 
report, the sister came to the area in 2004 trying to buy land from the 
villagers. At first she used persuasion, but later she reportedly used 
threats and intimidation with the help of local authorities. Facing the 
choice of losing their land without compensation or receiving some 
small payment, the villagers agreed to sell approximately 124 acres. 
After a drinking party, villagers thumb-printed a document to sell 124 
acres of their communal land; none of the villagers read the contract, 
which in reality stipulated 1,236 in lieu of the agreed 124 acres. The 
villagers filed complaints with an NGO's assistance, but the Ratanakiri 
Provincial Court took no action.
    On May 30, Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to redistribute 494,210 
acres of land to 50,000 disenfranchised farmers in Sihanoukville. He 
stated that the plan would involve taking the land from rich and 
powerful officials and transferring it to the poor and landless farmers 
as social land concessions. However, at year's end no land had been 
redistributed.
    At year's end the appeals court had taken no action in a land 
dispute resulting in the March 2005 mass eviction in the village of 
Kbal Spean that resulted in the deaths of five villagers and injuries 
to several others (see section 1.e.).
    At year's end the MOI had taken no action regarding a 2005 land 
dispute involving indigenous Phnong hill tribe members in Mondulkiri 
Province and a Chinese company. In August tribal representatives asked 
the MOI to demarcate the land in question and cede it to the indigenous 
community.
    There were no developments in the 2004 land dispute involving 
villagers in Pursat and Kompong Chnnang provinces and the Pheapimex 
Company.
    Land disputes were so prevalent that they no longer affected only 
the poor and minority groups. Son Chhay, an outspoken SRP lawmaker, was 
embroiled in a land dispute with the Apsara Authority, a government 
agency, over 7.8 acres of land that he purchased in the 1990s in Siem 
Riep. Earmarking the land for a planned Culture and Tourism City, the 
Apsara Authority filed a case with the Siem Riep Provincial Court 
demanding the lawmaker abide by a compulsory order to sell his land for 
approximately $20,000 (84 million riels). The lawmaker demanded the 
much higher market price of the land and requested that the Apsara 
Authority prove that the land would be used for public good. On 
December 18, the Siem Riep Provincial Court ruled in favor of the 
Apsara Authority and ordered Son Chhay to sell his land at the price 
stipulated by the compulsory order. At year's end the parliamentarian 
said he planned to appeal the decision.
    Forced evictions became an increasing occurrence in Phnom Penh, and 
land disputes and evictions became more violent. During the year a 
local NGO reported the arrest of, or charges against, 126 persons 
related to land confiscation or forced evictions. Out of these cases, 
117 persons were released, and nine were in detention.
    In June more than 1,200 families of the Tonle Basac's Sambok Chab 
community were moved to relocation sites more than 20 kilometers from 
Phnom Penh. Three persons, including a journalist, involved in a 
protest against the forceful eviction were arrested and charged with 
incitement and destruction of public property. Another group of 
approximately 200 families in the vicinity was also targeted for 
eviction.
    During the June eviction of Sambok Chap residents, local 
authorities injured an 11-year-old girl and a pregnant woman while 
destroying their makeshift tent. Enraged villagers rioted and destroyed 
the buildings used as the village chief's office and attempted to kill 
the security officer who caused the injuries. Four individuals, 
including a journalist, were arrested and charged with incitement and 
destruction of public property. On November 30, the Phnom Penh 
Municipal Court sentenced the journalist and two other men to two 
years' imprisonment for destroying public property. The defense lawyers 
called the verdict unjust and said they would appeal.
    In early June approximately 2,000 squatters confronted police 
officers who were forcing them to leave government-owned land in Kampot 
Province. The confrontation led to the destruction of wooden bridges 
connecting the disputed area with the only road providing access to the 
area. The squatters, who were villagers from other provinces, flocked 
to Kampot's Chhouk District to stake claims, hoping to sell the land 
later for profit. Six individuals were arrested for inciting persons to 
stake land in the area. Another person was arrested later for 
involvement in the case, and the court sought to arrest five others. On 
November 28, the Kampot Provincial Court convicted the twelve persons, 
including the five in absentia, and sentenced three of them to eight 
years and the remainder to six years in prison for deforestation and 
staking claims to state-owned land. NGOs representing the defendants 
appealed the case.
    On July 5, MOI forces evicted more than 168 families living near 
the Preah Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh. One woman was injured while 
clashing with police officers. Most of the residents, some of whom were 
government officials, had lived in the area since 1988. Families of 
police officers received $1,300 (5.46 million riels) for relocation, 
while other families received $500 (2.1 million riels). In addition to 
the monetary compensation, each relocated family received a small plot 
almost 22 miles from Phnom Penh. Infrastructure, including water and 
electricity, schools, hospitals, and markets, was lacking at the 
relocation site.
    Early in the year, three of the five families remaining in Koh 
Pich, a small island in the Tonle Bassac River, agreed to move with 
compensation of $12 (50,400 riels) per square meter. The last two 
families demanded the market value of $25 (105,000 riels) per square 
meter for their land. In August the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered 
the villagers to accept the municipality's offer. The families refused 
and planned to appeal the court's decision. At year's end the appeal 
court had taken no action in the case.
    On August 7, more than 200 villagers from Kandal Province's Ang 
Snoul District clashed with police officers who blocked them from 
entering the city to protest a land dispute in their community. 
Approximately 30 persons were injured; some needed medical treatment 
for their injuries. Police reportedly used tear gas and electric batons 
and fired into the air to stop the villagers.
    Two land disputes in Prey Veng Province's Peam Chor District 
resulted in one death and injuries to four others. The first dispute 
involved 119 acres of land affecting 53 families. On December 14, 
during a protest staged by villagers against the confiscation of their 
land, local officials shot and killed a 17-year-old boy. Police did not 
arrest those responsible for the killing; however, the provincial court 
charged eight villagers involved in the dispute with robbery. On 
December 5, local authorities injured two other villagers over the same 
dispute. On November 26, in a separate dispute, a police officer shot 
two villagers. The offender reportedly escaped.
    Another high profile land dispute case in Koh Kong Province led to 
the suspicious death of one man and injuries to a woman. In August 400 
families in Koh Kong's Sre Ambel District protested the Ministry of 
Agriculture's concessions of two adjacent 24,700-acre plots to two 
companies owned by businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat. According 
to law, the maximum concession cannot exceed 24,700 acres. When the 
company started bulldozing the land for a sugarcane plantation, 
affecting the villagers' crops and orchards, the villagers protested, 
demanding that the company cease its operations and negotiate fair 
compensation. The company agreed to compensate only those villagers who 
could prove legal ownership and then forced some persons to accept 
meager compensation ranging from approximately $35 to $71 (150,000 to 
300,000 riels). NGOs pointed out that although many villagers did not 
have land titles, they had lived there since the fall of the Khmer 
Rouge, which under the law made them the owners of the land. On 
December 15, a villager active in the confrontation was found dead from 
axe wounds. Police said the death was unrelated to the land dispute. In 
September security guards and police shot a woman in the foot during a 
protest by villagers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press; however, these rights were not 
always respected in practice. The Government used the weak and often 
politically biased judiciary to file defamation and disinformation 
suits to intimidate and silence antigovernment critics and outspoken 
civil society leaders. Most reporters and editors privately admitted to 
some self-censorship due to fear of government reprisal. The 
constitution implicitly limits free speech by requiring that it not 
adversely affect public security. The constitution also declares that 
the King is ``inviolable.''
    On January 17, the Government provisionally released four political 
detainees being held on defamation charges: radio journalist and 
Beehive/FM 105 owner Mam Sonando, labor leader Rong Chhun, Cambodian 
Center for Human Rights (CCHR) President Kem Sokha, and CCHR employee 
Pa Nguon Teang (see section 1.d.). While defamation charges were not 
formally dropped against these individuals or against others who had 
fled the country to avoid arrest on defamation charges--including 
royalist politician Prince Sisowath Thomico and Cambodian Watchdog 
Council members Man Nath, Ear Channa, and Chea Mony--the Government did 
not pursue prosecution.
    In August government authorities in Battambang Province confiscated 
digital video discs (DVDs) with images that appeared to contradict 
official police reports that nine prisoners killed themselves and a 
hostage with a hand grenade in a June prison standoff, but the DVDs 
remained readily available in Phnom Penh and other areas of the country 
(see section 1.a.). An MOI spokesperson stated that the ministry hoped 
to arrest the filmmaker and try him for compromising national security, 
but at year's end no arrest had been made.
    At the end of August, the National Assembly passed legislation that 
many interpreted to limit the right of MPs to speak freely. The new law 
declares that MPs may not use their parliamentary immunity to abuse 
national security, social customs, or an individual's honor. In 
addition, the law allows an MP to be arrested, charged, and detained 
prior to the lifting of parliamentary immunity. At year's end no MP had 
been charged under the new law.
    The 1995 press law provides journalists with a number of rights, 
including a prohibition on prepublication censorship and protection 
from imprisonment for expressing opinions. However, the Government 
continued to use the older UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia 
(UNTAC) law to prosecute journalists and others on criminal defamation 
charges rather than the 1995 press law, which treats defamation as a 
civil matter. In May the National Assembly amended the UNTAC law to 
eliminate imprisonment as a penalty for defamation, but judges can 
still order large fines, which many citizens cannot afford to pay. 
Furthermore, UNTAC Article 62, which covers the crime of 
disinformation, continues to include prison sentences of up to three 
years.
    The Government and influential individuals used defamation suits, 
both civil and criminal, as well as charges of disinformation in an 
effort to silence critics. In June Prime Minister Hun Sen's nephew, Hun 
To, filed a civil defamation lawsuit against You Saravuth, editor-in-
chief of the opposition newspaper Sralanh Khmer (Khmer Love) for 
alleging that Hun To was involved in illegal land seizures. In July 
senior FUNCINPEC official Prince Norodom Chakrapong filed a civil 
defamation suit against the same newspaper for reporting on the 
prince's activities in the early 1990s. In September the editor of 
opposition newspaper Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience) was convicted 
in absentia for disinformation for accusing Deputy Prime Minister Sok 
An of corruption and was ordered to pay approximately $2,000 (8.4 
million riels) in fines and $2,500 (10.5 million riels) in compensation 
to Sok An. Also in September Julio Jeldres, the official biographer for 
retired King Norodom Sihanouk, was convicted in absentia for defaming 
Prime Minister Hun Sen in a private e-mail that was published in the 
local press as a public statement. Jeldres was ordered to pay 
approximately $2,000 (8.4 million riels) in fines and $2,500 (10.5 
million riels) in compensation to the Prime Minister.
    Journalists were also subject to other forms of harassment and 
intimidation, including death threats. In the defamation case involving 
Hun To and You Saravuth, You filed a countersuit against Hun To for 
alleged death threats and subsequently fled to a third country, where 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) granted him asylum 
status. In September television journalist Soy Sopheap received an 
anonymous death threat after the Prime Minister criticized Soy's 
popular television ``newspaper reading show,'' and station managers 
removed the show from the air. In June a journalist with the newspaper 
Samrek Yutekthor (Scream for Justice) was detained and charged with 
destruction of public and private property. In an August 14 letter to 
King Norodom Sihamoni, the Prime Minister refused to release the jailed 
journalist, claiming that the reporter had committed criminal acts by 
injuring policemen and inciting the burning of a local village office 
during the attempted eviction of residents from the Tonle Bassac area 
(see section 1.f.). There were also several instances in which 
government officials seized film and cameras from journalists or 
deleted digital photos, often linked to reporting on illegal logging or 
forced land evictions.
    All major political parties had reasonable and regular access to 
the print media. Although the press law does not specifically permit 
newspapers to receive financial support from political parties, in 
general newspapers were aligned politically. Major newspapers that 
published in the Khmer language received support from various political 
parties. There were an estimated 20 Khmer-language newspapers published 
regularly; more than half were considered pro-CPP, and at least two 
newspapers were considered to support each of the other main political 
parties--FUNCINPEC, the SRP, and the Norodom Ranariddh Party. Although 
the three largest circulation newspapers were considered pro-CPP, most 
newspapers criticized the Government frequently, particularly with 
respect to corruption. Prime Minister Hun Sen and former FUNCINPEC 
President Prince Norodom Ranariddh frequently came under strong attack 
by opposition newspapers.
    The Government, military forces, and ruling political party 
continued to dominate the broadcast media and influence the content of 
broadcasts. There were seven television stations, all controlled or 
strongly influenced by the CPP. According to a 2001 report by the 
UNHCHR, the procedures for licensing and allocation of radio and 
television frequencies to the media were not impartial. Since 2003 the 
Ministry of Information has refused to grant new broadcast licenses in 
Phnom Penh, claiming that the Phnom Penh media market was saturated. 
This policy affected principally the SRP and independent human rights 
advocacy groups aligned with the opposition seeking to open new radio 
and television stations. However, in September the Ministry of 
Information and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural 
Organization signed an agreement to establish a Kroeng-language radio 
station in Ratanakiri Province, with the area's minority ethnic groups 
being the target audience.
    Despite being unable to obtain a broadcast license, the CCHR-
produced Voice of Democracy radio program, which included independent 
and often antigovernment views, remained extremely popular and 
continued broadcasting its program on the SRP-aligned radio station FM 
93.5. Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) Khmer-language 
programming was also regularly broadcast on Beehive/FM 105, and the 
Women's Media Center signed a contract in September to broadcast VOA 
and RFA programs on its FM 102 radio station.
    The government-controlled national television and radio stations 
broadcast taped sessions of National Assembly debates; however, in 
several instances these broadcasts were censored. National radio and 
television stations regularly broadcast some human rights, social 
action, public health, education, and civil society programming 
produced by domestic NGOs.
    The Government continued to restrict media access to government 
facilities. Although the constitution mandates media access to National 
Assembly sessions, the National Assembly continued to ban reporters 
from entering its grounds without authorization from the Assembly's 
secretary general, due to limited space in the meeting hall. Reporters 
have not been given free access to the courts since the October 2005 
Penh Municipal Court order requiring reporters to obtain permission to 
interview court officials and written permission for journalists to 
bring recording devices into the courtroom. On July 7, the Council of 
Ministers issued a directive prohibiting government officials and 
employees from speaking to the media or the public about government 
corruption.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. The Internet was widely available through Internet cafes and home 
subscriptions in urban areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--In general there were no 
legal impediments to academic freedom. However, scholars tended to be 
careful when teaching politically related subjects for fear of 
offending politicians. In September the Secretariat of the Ministry of 
Religions and Cults ordered the removal of Tieng Narith as a professor 
at the Buddhist University of the Royal Academy of Preah Sihanouk 
Reach. The Government claimed that Tieng, without approval from his 
supervisors, developed a classroom text that contained inaccuracies 
about the country's history and inappropriately accused government 
officials of crimes such as corruption and political assassinations. 
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court subsequently charged the professor with 
disinformation and detained him. His family claimed that he was 
mentally ill; however, the results of a court-ordered psychiatric 
examination were not made available to the court or the public. At 
year's end Tieng remained in detention awaiting trial.
    There were no government restrictions on cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly, 
but the Government did not respect this right in practice. The 
Government required that a permit be obtained in advance of a march or 
demonstration. The Government routinely did not issue permits to groups 
critical of the ruling party. The Government cited the 2003 anti-Thai 
riots, the need for stability, and public security as reasons for 
denying permits. Police forcibly dispersed groups that assembled 
without a permit, often resulting in minor injuries to some 
demonstrators.
    ADHOC reported that during the year police and military police 
dispersed 46 protests, 11 of which were by labor protesters and 35 by 
land protesters. Twenty-one land protesters were convicted, and 27 
workers were subject to investigations. ADHOC added that 12 workers 
resigned from their factory jobs due to their security concern. The 
report noted that authorities frequently used criminal charges as a 
tool to arrest protesters.
    Civil society groups noted that authorities used violence and 
excessive force to disperse protesters. On August 7, on the outskirts 
of Phnom Penh, antiriot police used fired tear gas and electric batons 
while firing automatic rifles into the air to disperse 200 land 
protesters from Kandal Province who were attempting to march to the 
National Assembly to ask for the release of their representative, who 
had been arrested as part of the dispute.
    The Phnom Penh Municipality denied permission to the Kampuchea Krom 
community to demonstrate against the March 6 visit of Vietnamese Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai. The municipal authorities stated that they were 
concerned about public order, security, and national dignity. The 
community had planned to demand that the Government of Vietnam respect 
human rights and freedom for ethnic Khmers in southern Vietnam.
    Phnom Penh Municipal authorities denied a permit to labor unions 
for a May 1 rally in a public area to observe International Labor Day. 
The unions proceeded to march without a permit (see section 6.b.). On 
August 1, armed police broke up a gathering of 50 protesters demanding 
the release of the two men convicted of murdering labor union leader 
Chea Vichea in 2004 (see section 1.a.).
    On August 18, in a nationwide directive to Buddhist monks, the 
Supreme Patriarch banned all monks from joining a strike, protest, or 
insurrection of any form without a permit from the Supreme Patriarch 
himself.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the Government did not enforce effectively the 
freedom of association provisions of the labor law (see section 6.a.).
    The Government did not coerce or forbid membership in political 
organizations. Political parties normally were able to conduct their 
activities freely and without government interference. On February 6, 
opposition MPs Sam Rainsy, Cheam Channy, and Chea Poch were pardoned 
and regained their parliamentary immunity.
    Human rights organizations reported that some local authorities 
warned members of certain political parties that if they continued to 
support those parties, they would face a loss of residency rights, 
confiscation of property, and a ban on using local infrastructure. 
However, during the year there were no reports that such acts occurred.
    Membership in the Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country from 1975 to 
1979 and after its overthrow conducted an armed insurgency against the 
Government, is illegal, as is membership in an armed group.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The constitution also prohibits discrimination based on 
religion, and minority religions experienced little or no official 
discrimination. Buddhism is the state religion, and more than 93 
percent of the population was Buddhist. Ethnic Cham Muslims constituted 
most of the remaining population.
    The law requires all religious groups, including Buddhists, to 
submit applications to the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs to 
construct places of worship and conduct religious activities. However, 
there is no penalty for failing to register. In 2003 the Ministry of 
Cults and Religions issued an order prohibiting public proselytizing, 
but the order was enforced only during the two-hour lunch period.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religions experienced 
little or no societal discrimination. There was no known Jewish 
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The Government placed no restrictions on foreign travel. The 
Government also did not restrict emigration or the return of citizens 
who had left the country.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status, and the country is a signatory of the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; 
however, in practice the Government did not consistently respect the 
law and has not implemented legislation pertaining to the 1951 UN 
convention.
    A human rights NGO based in Ratanakiri Province reported that in 
August six Montagnards seeking asylum in the province were arrested and 
deported to Vietnam without UNHCR review.
    On May 27, Ratanakiri provincial authorities found the body of an 
eight-year-old Montagnard girl in the Sesan River and returned it to 
Vietnamese authorities. An NGO reported the body was that of one of 
five Montagnards missing since May 25 when Vietnam's border authority 
chased them and fired at them when they crossed a border stream to seek 
asylum. However, a UNHCR investigation indicated that the refugees were 
crossing in an overcrowded boat that overturned and the young girl 
could not swim.
    On August 25, police in Mondulkiri Province arrested two teenagers 
of Phnong minority. The police, who were searching for Montagnards 
reportedly hiding in the jungle, accused the two teenagers of providing 
food to Montagnards. The police released the teenagers after one day.
    On December 4, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced ethnic 
Khmer Krom Vietnamese citizen Lam Huyen to three months in prison; he 
was arrested on September 6 for guiding Montagnard asylum seekers to 
Cambodia. UNHCR and UNHCHR intervention prevented his deportation to 
Vietnam.
    A human rights NGO claimed that local authorities at the border 
with Vietnam increased their search for Montagnards when Vietnamese 
authorities informed them about new arrivals of Montagnards. There were 
unconfirmed reports that Vietnamese authorities offered incentive 
awards to Cambodian border police who returned Vietnamese refugees to 
Vietnam and that Vietnamese secret police were active on the Cambodian 
side of the border.
    A memorandum of understanding that the country signed in January 
2005 with the UNHCR and the Government of Vietnam to resolve the 
situation of Montagnards under UNHCR protection in Phnom Penh remained 
the operating framework for the UNHCR in the country. However, a human 
rights NGO based in Ratanakiri Province reported that in August six 
Montagnards seeking asylum were arrested and deported to Vietnam 
without UNHCR review.
    Asylum seekers who reached the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh were 
processed with government cooperation. During the year there were 277 
new arrivals seeking asylum with the UNHCR. Of this number, 30 persons 
were later identified as Cambodians. According to the UNHCR, 
authorities deported 28 rejected Montagnard asylum seekers to Vietnam. 
On December 6, 43 Montagnard refugees departed for a third country. At 
year's end there were 235 Montagnards in refugee sites in Phnom Penh, 
which included 78 refugees who arrived in previous years.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens generally exercised this right in 
practice through periodic elections on the basis of universal suffrage. 
Suffrage is voluntary for all citizens above the age of 18.
    During the year the National Assembly approved a constitutional 
amendment, later ratified by the Senate and the King, that changed the 
electoral majority needed to form a government from two-thirds of the 
National Assembly seats to a simple majority, which gave the CPP 
further control over the legislative process.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On January 22, the first 
elections for the Senate were held to elect 57 of 61 total senators. 
Parties and individuals were free to be candidates without 
restrictions. By an indirect nongeneral system in which 
parliamentarians and elected members of communal councils were eligible 
to vote, the CPP won 45 seats, FUNCINPEC 10, and the SRP two. In 
addition, two senators were appointed by the King and two others by the 
National Assembly. The elections were conducted peacefully but drew 
criticism from civil society for the indirect selection process. 
Previously, political parties in the National Assembly and the King 
appointed all members of the Senate.
    The National Election Committee (NEC) was scheduled to hold 
communal council elections on April 1, 2007. During the registration of 
eligible voters and candidates prior to year's end, election monitoring 
NGOs were concerned about increasing violence and intimidation 
committed against political party activists and citizens. The NGOs 
noted that a number of persons in Takeo Province were forced to take an 
oath to become CPP members. At year's end NGOs had recorded at least 12 
cases of obstruction to SRP and NGO education activities. The NGOs and 
SRP found many irregularities during the distribution of voter 
information notes and registration of candidates for the communal 
elections. Most complaints centered on the NEC's delegation to the 
mostly CPP-affiliated village chiefs the crucial task of providing each 
voter with an updated information card containing the voter's personal 
registration information. Voters had only a short amount of time to 
update incorrect information or risk being turned away on election day. 
Some village chiefs reportedly did not provide the cards to the voters 
from the nonruling parties.
    From May to July, the largely CPP-dominated commune councils 
selected village chiefs through an indirect election process criticized 
by civil society as unrepresentative and geared towards maintaining 
CPP-control at the grassroots level. The Government argued that direct 
elections would be too expensive and that the village chiefs have no 
political role: Their position centered on traditional roles as 
conflict mediators and authorizers of birth certificates and other 
public documents issued by the commune councils. Despite their 
purported apolitical role, the NEC announced in July that village 
chiefs would assume responsibility for the distribution of over six 
million voter information cards as well as informing unregistered 
voters regarding the registration process. One NGO found that 
approximately 1.7 million eligible voters did not receive voting 
information from their village chiefs.
    In the most recent National Assembly elections, held in 2003, the 
CPP won 73 seats, FUNCINPEC 26, and the SRP 24. In 2004 the CPP and 
FUNCINPEC formed a nominal coalition government, but the CPP dominated 
the Government. All election observer groups noted improvements in the 
elections but concluded they fell short of international standards. 
Politically motivated violence was a problem, but it was less than 
during previous elections. The Government took action against only some 
alleged perpetrators and addressed other misconduct inconsistently. 
Technical problems with the registration process and preparation of 
voter lists effectively disenfranchised many citizens in the elections. 
There also were incidents of voter intimidation by local officials. The 
NEC failed to establish a credible process to resolve election 
complaints. The appointment of NEC members by the MOI was not 
transparent and left the NEC open to charges of political influence by 
the ruling CPP.
    During the 2003 elections there were improvements in media access 
for registered parties, and open political debate and multiparty 
debates were televised nationally for the first time; however, 
electronic media coverage heavily favored the ruling CPP.
    Some NGOs and political parties alleged that membership in the 
dominant CPP party provided advantages, such as gifts or access to 
government emergency aid.
    In 2002 the Government held its first nationwide commune, local-
level elections. During the election campaign period, NGOs reported 25 
FUNCINPEC and SRP activists and candidates were killed under suspicious 
circumstances, including seven killings that human rights monitoring 
organizations agreed were politically motivated. The election results 
loosened the CPP's long hold on local governance. CPP commune chiefs 
remained in 99 percent of the 1,621 communes; however, as a result of 
the elections, power was shared with other parties in all but 148 
communes. At year's end the MOI had not issued instructions for elected 
commune councils to implement the Commune Administration Law describing 
the power, duties, and functions of the councils.
    Following a political compromise between the ruling party and the 
SRP, King Norodom Sihamoni granted pardons in February to Sam Rainsy 
and Cheam Channy; Chea Poch's charges were dropped. Subsequently, the 
National Assembly voted to restore their immunity and parliamentary 
status. Sam Rainsy returned from abroad on February 10.
    On August 18, the Supreme Patriarch of Buddhism cancelled a 2002 
ban that prohibited Buddhist monks from voting. However, in November he 
warned monks against participating in any mass political movement 
critical of the Government.
    Traditional culture limited the role of women in government; 
however, women took an active part in the 2003 elections. The number of 
women in the National Assembly, Senate, and senior government positions 
increased. There were 22 women in the 123-seat National Assembly, nine 
women in the 61-seat Senate, and 24 women working as ministers, 
secretaries of state, undersecretaries of state, and NEC officials. 
Women also served as advisors, and there were 14 female judges at the 
municipal, provincial, and appeals court levels. After the 2002 local 
elections, women held 933 (8.3 percent) of the 11,261 commune council 
seats.
    Minorities also took part in the Government. There were four 
members of minorities--two Cham and two tribal--in the National 
Assembly. There also were six members of minorities--two Cham, two 
tribal, and two Thai--in the Senate. At least eight officials in senior 
positions in the Government were from minority groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was considered 
endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the 
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Public 
perception of corruption was widespread. Meager salaries contributed to 
``survival corruption'' among low-level public servants, while a 
culture of impunity enabled corruption to flourish among senior 
officials. In January 2005 the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry 
of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection to prepare a draft 
anticorruption law. At year's end the draft was pending at the Council 
of Ministers. The Prime Minister claimed that the draft law needed to 
be harmonized with the criminal procedures code.
    In June the World Bank announced that an audit revealed corruption 
in World Bank-funded projects worth $68.4 million. The bank ordered a 
halt to the projects and demanded the repayment of $7.6 million for 
misprocurement. The Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and 
Inspection, the body responsible for probing corruption, started an 
investigation that led to the arrest of a director general of the 
Ministry of Rural Development. On December 1, the Phnom Penh Municipal 
Court released the arrested official on bail, citing lack of evidence.
    The August 2005 National Archives Law allows unlimited access to 
informational documents in the public archive. However, the law grants 
access to other unspecified government documents only after 20 years, 
and documents affecting national security and preservation of personal 
lives would be released after 40 and 120 years, respectively. In 
practice the Government occasionally denied access to information, 
citing reasons of confidentiality or national security.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The Government 
generally cooperated with human rights workers in performing their 
investigations; however, there were numerous reports of lack of 
cooperation or even intimidation by local authorities throughout the 
country.
    There were approximately 40 NGOs involved in human rights 
activities, but only a small portion of them were actively involved in 
organizing training programs or investigating abuses.
    On March 15, upon request from NGOs, the Government ordered the 
release of 18 persons who had been arrested or detained for having 
connection with land disputes since late 2005.
    While the central government generally was cooperative, human 
rights NGOs faced a variety of threats and harassment from local 
officials. These took the form of restrictions on gatherings sponsored 
by NGOs, verbal intimidation, threats of legal action, bureaucratic 
obstruction, and other acts of interference. During the year ADHOC 
reported seven instances in which their activists and investigators 
were detained or impeded in their work or intimidated by local 
authorities. In addition, the Government did not provide full 
cooperation with NGOs investigating the March killings of inmates in 
the Battambang prison.
    On May 22, a forest patrol team from the Wild Aid Organization and 
the Ministry of Environment in Koh Kong Province's Mondul Seima 
District briefly detained an ADHOC activist and destroyed film in her 
camera after she had attempted to photograph a confrontation between 
villagers and the patrol team. She filed a complaint with a prosecutor 
of the provincial court a few days following the incident. The 
prosecutor opened an investigation of the case but at year's end had 
not issued a decision.
    In May monitors from ADHOC, LICADHO, and CCHR were detained and 
threatened at gunpoint by military police in Kampot Province while 
investigating a land dispute. In another case, LICADHO reported that 
unidentified armed forces threatened human rights monitors from two 
local NGOs at gunpoint and kicked one in the stomach while they were 
monitoring a land dispute in Mondulkiri Province.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no credible threats against local NGO 
staff providing shelter to trafficked victims and conducting 
antitrafficking advocacy and investigations.
    During the year UNHCHR conducted activities related to human rights 
and the judiciary, and it maintained its headquarters in Phnom Penh and 
a regional office in Battambang. The UN special representative for 
human rights in Cambodia undertook his second mission in March 
following his appointment in November 2005. In a public statement on 
March 28, he emphasized the need for an independent and strong 
judiciary to help root out the problem of impunity for deeply rooted 
serious human rights abuses in the country. He also noted 
disappointment that the Government had not disclosed information on 
concessions of natural resources and noted that the information on land 
concessions fell short of expectations.
    The Cambodian Human Rights Committee, which the Government 
established in 1998, remained largely inactive. The committee did not 
have regular meetings or a transparent operating process.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, 
color, or language; however, the Government did not generally protect 
these rights.

    Women.--The law prohibits rape and assault; however, local and 
international NGOs reported that violence against women, including 
domestic violence and rape, was common. The domestic violence law, 
passed in 2005, criminalizes domestic violence but does not 
specifically set out penalties. However, article 41 of the UNTAC Law on 
Battery and Injury can be used to penalize domestic violence offenses, 
with penalties ranging from two months to five years' imprisonment. 
Rape is a criminal offense and punishable by a prison sentence of 
between five and 10 years, according to article 33 of the UNTAC law. 
Spousal rape and domestic abuse are not recognized as separate crimes. 
A case of spousal rape could be prosecuted as ``rape,'' ``causing 
injury,'' or ``indecent assault,'' but such charges were rare. 
According to an NGO that worked in three provinces, there were 827 
cases of domestic violence, six of which resulted in death. During the 
year the MOI's antitrafficking department investigated 614 cases of 
violence against women and children, resulting in the arrest of 670 
perpetrators and rescue of 784 victims. Of the 670 arrests, 477 were 
for rape and attempted rape. Fourteen cases of rape resulted in the 
death of the victims. During the year a legal advocacy NGO reported 
representing 417 cases of violence against women and children, 
including trafficking, domestic violence, and rape. Of the 417 cases, 
166 were tried during the year, of which 114 resulted in convictions. 
Defendants in the other cases were acquitted either for lack of 
evidence or because the victims withdrew their complaints. The number 
of cases likely underreported the scope of the problem, due to 
ineffective enforcement and the fact that women were afraid to make 
complaints against perpetrators. Despite the passage of the 2005 
domestic violence law, NGOs reported that authorities continued to 
avoid involvement in domestic disputes and victims frequently were 
reluctant to pursue formal complaints.
    Prostitution is prohibited constitutionally; however, there is no 
specific legislation against working as a prostitute. Trafficking in 
women for the purpose of prostitution was a serious problem, despite 
laws against procuring and kidnapping for purposes of sexual 
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking). There were reports that 
police abused prostitutes. Despite sporadic crackdowns on brothel 
operators in Phnom Penh, prostitution and related trafficking 
persisted. Estimates of the number of working prostitutes ranged from 
14,725 to 18,250. Sex tourism was a problem, fueled by pervasive 
poverty and the perception of impunity.
    The labor law has provisions against sexual harassment in the 
workplace, and the International Labor Organization reported that 
sexual harassment in the industrial sector was rare. However, a 2005 
NGO study conducted on women working in the beer promotion industry 
reported widespread harassment.
    A large number of NGOs provided training for poor and vulnerable 
women that addressed social problems such as spousal abuse, 
prostitution, and trafficking. A local media center produced and 
broadcast programming on women's issues. NGOs provided shelters for 
many women in crisis.
    The constitution contains explicit language providing for equal 
rights for women, equal pay for equal work, and equal status in 
marriage. In practice women had equal property rights, the same legal 
status to bring divorce proceedings, and equal access to education and 
some jobs; however, cultural traditions continued to limit the ability 
of women to reach senior positions in business and other areas. Women 
often were concentrated in low-paying jobs and largely were excluded 
from management positions. Men made up the vast majority of the 
military, police, and civil service.
    The Ministry of Women's Affairs, mandated to protect the rights of 
women and promote gender equality in society, continued its Neary 
Ratanak (Women as Precious Gems) program. The program aimed to improve 
the image of women through gender mainstreaming, enhanced participation 
of women in economic and political life, and protection of women's 
rights. Demographic trends and a history of conflict have resulted in 
increasing female participation in the labor force. In 2004 women made 
up an estimated 54 percent of agricultural workers, 51 percent of 
industrial work force, and 46 percent of service sector workers.

    Children.--The constitution provides for children's rights, and the 
Government made the welfare of children a specific goal. The Government 
relied on international aid to fund most child social welfare programs, 
resulting in only modest funds for problems that affect children.
    Children were affected adversely by an inadequate education system. 
Education was free, but not compulsory, through grade nine. Many 
children either left school to help their families in subsistence 
agriculture, began school at a late age, or did not attend school at 
all. A 2005 Ministry of Education report stated that 91 percent of 
eligible children were enrolled in primary school but only 26 percent 
of eligible students attended junior high and 9 percent attended high 
school. Despite an extensive school construction program, schools were 
overcrowded and lacked sufficient equipment. In rural areas, schools 
often provided only a few years of education. According to ministry 
data, 46 percent of schools lacked drinking water, and 37 percent had 
no toilets. Teachers' salaries were irregularly paid and inadequate to 
support a decent standard of living, leading to demands for unofficial 
payments from parents, which the poorest families could not afford. The 
Government did not deny girls equal access to education; however, 
families with limited resources often gave priority to educating boys. 
In many areas, schools were remote and transportation was a major 
problem. This especially affected girls because of safety concerns in 
traveling between their homes and schools.
    Children frequently suffered from malnutrition, and the health care 
system was inadequate. According to the Demographic and Health Survey 
2005 Preliminary Report, infant mortality was estimated at 65 per 
1,000. It was also estimated that the child mortality rate was 19 per 
1,000.
    Child abuse was believed to be common, although no statistics were 
available. A domestic NGO estimated that more than 1,200 street 
children in Phnom Penh had no relationship with their families and more 
than 10,000 children worked on the streets but returned to their family 
homes in the evenings. An estimated 500 to 1,500 children lived with 
their families on the streets in provincial towns. A local NGO reported 
a monthly intake of approximately 60 street children into its shelter 
for vocational and literacy training. The NGO reported observing 80 to 
100 new children on the streets every month. The Ministry of Social 
Affairs and Youth Rehabilitations (MOSAVY) provided lower statistics, 
reporting 3,084 street children nationwide in 2005.
    Child rape remained a serious problem; a local NGO reported 206 
cases of rape committed on persons under the age of 18, five of which 
resulted in death. During the year 21 cases of rape involving children 
below five years of age were reported; five of the victims were as 
young as three.
    Sexual intercourse with a person under age 15 is illegal; however, 
child prostitution and trafficking in children occurred (see section 5, 
Trafficking). The first five-year program against child sexual 
exploitation, which ended in 2005, emphasized prevention through 
information dissemination and protection by law enforcement (see 
section 5, Trafficking). The MOI reported the arrests of 12 foreign 
pedophiles during the year.
    The illegal purchase and sale of children for prostitution was a 
problem. During the year raids on brothels rescued underage girls who 
were trafficked for prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem in the informal sector of the economy 
(see section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, the country was a source, destination, and transit country for 
men, women, and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor. 
A 2003 study estimated the number of trafficking victims in the sex 
industry to be 2,000 victims, approximately 80 percent of whom were 
Vietnamese women and girls. Some Vietnamese women and girls were 
trafficked through the country for exploitation in the commercial sex 
trade in other Asian countries.
    Children were trafficked to Thailand and Vietnam for begging, 
soliciting, street vending, and flower selling. The children frequently 
were placed into debt bondage to beg or sell, or they formed part of 
organized begging rings even when there was no debt or economic 
hardship involved. A MOSAVY study found that 76 percent of trafficked 
persons returned from Thailand came from families who owned land, 93 
percent owned their own house and had no debt on the land or house, and 
47 percent stated that their mother was the facilitator. There was an 
increase in the trafficking of women to Malaysia to work in the sex 
industry.
    Trafficking victims, especially those trafficked for sexual 
exploitation, faced the risk of contracting sexually transmitted 
diseases, including HIV/AIDS. In some cases victims were detained and 
physically and mentally abused by traffickers, brothel owners, and 
clients.
    Local traffickers covered specific small geographic areas and acted 
as middlemen for larger trafficking networks. Organized crime groups, 
employment agencies, and marriage brokers were believed to have some 
degree of involvement. Traffickers used a variety of methods to acquire 
victims. In many cases victims were lured by promises of legitimate 
employment. In other cases acquaintances, friends, and family members 
sold the victims or received payment for helping deceive them. Young 
children, the majority of them girls, were often ``pledged'' as 
collateral for loans by desperately poor parents; the children were 
responsible for repaying the loan and the accumulating interest.
    The law establishes a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years for a 
person convicted of trafficking in persons under 15 years of age; the 
penalty is 10 to 15 years for trafficking persons age 15 or older. 
According to the MOI, during the year police investigated 614 cases of 
violence against women and children, including child sexual 
exploitation, rape, debauchery, and human trafficking; the 
investigations resulted in the arrest of 670 offenders, of whom 65 were 
arrested for cross border and domestic trafficking. A legal advocacy 
NGO brought 24 trafficking cases to court, of which nine went to trial. 
Convictions were obtained in six cases, with sentences ranging from 
three to 20 years' imprisonment and civil compensation issued to 
victims ranging from approximately $715 to $950 (three million to four 
million riel).
    While the Government increased arrests and prosecutions of 
traffickers and continued its support for prevention and protection 
programs through collaboration with foreign and domestic NGOs and 
international organizations, its antitrafficking efforts continued to 
be hampered by reports of corruption and a weak judicial system. It was 
widely believed that some law enforcement and other government 
officials received bribes that facilitated the sex trade and 
trafficking in persons.
    In August the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted three police 
officers for trafficking-related corruption committed in 2005, gave 
them sentences of five to seven years in prison, and ordered the return 
of $9,000 (37.8 million riel) extorted from brothel owners in Kampong 
Speu Province. One of the convicted officers began serving his 
sentence, but the MOI stated that the other two officers would have to 
be formally removed from their positions before they were arrested and 
made to serve jail terms.
    In January Meng Say, chief of the Phnom Penh antitrafficking unit, 
was suspended for extorting money from South Korean nationals. In 
August he was detained on extortion charges and at year's end was 
awaiting trial.
    The MOSAVY referred trafficking victims to NGOs, which provided 
most assistance to the victims. The Government participated as a 
partner in a number of these efforts; however, its contributions were 
severely hampered by limited resources. Some victims were encouraged by 
NGOs and the MOI to file complaints against perpetrators; however, in 
the general climate of impunity, victim protection was problematic, and 
victims were known to be intimidated into abandoning their cases. The 
MOSAVY and NGOs reported that during the year 366 trafficking victims, 
beggars, and porters, the majority (more than 70 percent) of whom were 
children, were reintegrated into their communities.
    Several government ministries were active in combating trafficking. 
There was a Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile 
Protection, and mechanisms existed for monitoring and reporting on 
child sexual exploitation. There also were specialized MOI 
antitrafficking divisions in all provinces and municipalities.
    MOSAVY worked with the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) to repatriate trafficked victims from Thailand and Vietnam to 
Cambodia, and from Cambodia to Vietnam. However, repatriation to 
Vietnam continued to be a long and arduous process. The MOSAVY also 
worked with the United Nations Children's Fund and local NGOs to manage 
community-based networks aimed at preventing trafficking.
    During the year the MOSAVY repatriated from Thailand and Vietnam 
1,273 children, victims, and those vulnerable to becoming victims and 
reintegrated them with their families. With financial and technical 
support from IOM, MOSAVY repatriated four trafficked Vietnamese girls 
to Vietnam.
    In 2005 NGOs worked with the Ministry of Women's Affairs to 
repatriate 23 victims of sex trafficking from Malaysia, bringing to 40 
the number of repatriated victims from Malaysia since 2003. The MOI, 
with help from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, was conducting an 
investigation into the trafficking of women and girls to Malaysia for 
prostitution. Although the Ministry of Women's Affairs had no 
statistics concerning victims of trafficking from Malaysia during the 
year, a local NGO reported that 33 trafficking victims from Malaysia 
returned; however, it was not known if they were victims of sex 
trafficking or labor trafficking.
    The trafficking law contains no provisions to protect foreign 
victims from being charged under the country's immigration laws, but 
during the year there were no reported cases of trafficking victims 
being treated as illegal immigrants.
    In each of the provinces and municipalities, there existed 
specialized antitrafficking and juvenile protection divisions, which 
raided a number of brothels and rescued numerous victims, including 
underage workers. The Government provided most rescued victims with 
protection and worked with NGOs either to reunite the victims with 
their families or place them in a shelter. Trafficking victims, 
especially those exploited sexually, faced societal discrimination, 
particularly in their home villages and within their own families, as a 
result of having been trafficked.
    During the year the owner and the managers of a notorious Phnom 
Penh hotel and their accomplices, arrested in September 2005 for 
trafficking, were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of four to 
five years.
    The Government used posters, television, radio, and traditional 
local theater to raise public awareness of human trafficking. The 
Ministry of Women's Affairs, in conjunction with IOM, continued its 
major information campaign to raise awareness of trafficking in persons 
and safe migration until September, when the project with IOM ended.
    On May 6, the Government and the other five member states of the 
Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking met in 
Phnom Penh and agreed to approve the plan of action developed in March 
2005 in Hanoi.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law explicitly prohibiting 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. The Government does 
not require that buildings or government services be accessible to 
persons with disabilities. The Government prohibits persons with even 
minor disabilities from being teachers in public schools.
    According to a 1999 survey, there were 170,000 persons with 
disabilities, including 24,000 persons missing at least one limb and 
6,744 persons missing more than one limb. Disability due to landmines 
accounted for 11.5 percent of persons with disabilities, while 
disability due to congenital problems and disease accounted for 53 
percent.
    Programs administered by various NGOs brought about substantial 
improvements in the treatment and rehabilitation of persons who had 
lost limbs, but they faced considerable societal discrimination, 
especially in obtaining skilled employment.
    There are no legal limitations on the rights of persons with 
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs, but the 
Government did not make any concerted effort to assist them in becoming 
more civically engaged. The Rehabilitation Department of the MOSAVY is 
responsible for making policy to protect the rights of persons with 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The rights of minorities under 
the 1996 nationality law are not explicit; constitutional protections 
are extended only to ``Khmer people.'' Citizens of Chinese and 
Vietnamese ethnicity constituted the largest ethnic minorities. Ethnic 
Chinese citizens were accepted in society, but animosity continued 
toward ethnic Vietnamese, who were seen as a threat to the nation and 
culture. Some groups continued to make strong anti-Vietnamese 
statements. They complained of political control of the CPP by the 
Vietnamese government, border encroachment, and other problems for 
which they held ethnic Vietnamese at least partially responsible.

    Indigenous People.--The Government often ignored efforts by 
indigenous communities to protect their ancestral lands and natural 
resources. In spite of the 2001 land law, which calls for the 
registration of communal lands of indigenous people, little was done to 
implement communal land titling. NGOs called for a moratorium on land 
sales and land concessions affecting indigenous communities.
    International and local NGOs were active in educating the 
indigenous communities about their land rights and providing legal 
representation in disputes.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination 
against those infected with HIV/AIDS remained a problem in rural areas; 
however, discrimination was moderated by HIV/AIDS awareness programs. 
There was no official discrimination against those infected with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The labor law provides workers with 
the right to form professional organizations of their choosing without 
prior authorization, and private sector workers in the formal economy 
are free to join the trade union of their choice. However, the 
Government's enforcement of these rights was selective. Membership in 
trade unions or employee associations is not compulsory, and workers 
are free to withdraw from such organizations, although a few unions 
attempted to intimidate workers who wanted to withdraw. Unions may 
affiliate freely, but the law does not address explicitly their right 
to affiliate internationally. While the law applies to foreign workers, 
it does not apply to civil servants, including teachers, judges, and 
military personnel, or to workers in the informal sector. Personnel in 
the air and maritime transportation industries are not entitled to the 
full protections of the law but are free to form unions.
    Most workers were subsistence rice farmers, and although there was 
an expanding service sector, most urban workers were engaged in small-
scale commerce, self-employed skilled labor, or unskilled day labor. 
Only a small fraction (estimated at less than 1 percent) of the labor 
force was unionized, and the nascent trade union movement was weak but 
growing stronger. Unions suffered from a lack of resources, training, 
and experience. Unions were concentrated in the garment and footwear 
industries, where approximately 40 to 50 percent of the 333,144 workers 
were union members. The Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers 
Federation, formed in 2003, represented more than 3,757 hotel, casino, 
and airport workers.
    Due to prohibitions against public sector employees forming unions, 
the Cambodia Independent Teachers Association (CITA) was registered as 
an ``association'' and represented 8,000 members in 18 provinces and 
municipalities. CITA experienced less interference from local 
provincial authorities than in previous years but still faced 
significant restrictions. For example, marches and other protests were 
often forbidden. Another public sector association, the Cambodian 
Independent Civil Servants' Association (CICA), represented more than 
250 members from ministries, provincial departments, and commune 
councils throughout the country. Many civil servants feared that they 
would be subject to harassment or demotion if they joined CICA, leading 
to a low number of official members.
    The law requires unions and employer organizations to file a 
charter and list of officers with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational 
Training (MOLVT). The MOLVT had registered 1,026 factory unions, 26 
national labor federations, and four national confederations (alliances 
of several like-minded federations) since the law went into effect in 
1997, including 193 unions and two federations during the year. Some 
unions and federations complained of unnecessary delays and costs in 
the registration process. In June the MOLVT refused to register the 
Cambodian Labor Confederation, the first cross-sector union 
confederation, on the grounds that constituent associations 
representing civil servants and informal sector workers could not be 
registered as part of a union confederation. Although all unions 
collected dues from members, none was able to operate without outside 
sources of financial support.
    Of the 30 national labor federations, 24 were allied with the 
Government, including 11 that were part of the progovernment Cambodian 
Confederation of Trade Unions (CCTU). The remaining five federations 
were independent of government ties; one of them had pro-opposition 
leanings or support. There was credible evidence of management 
involvement in some labor unions. In some factories, management 
appeared to have established their own unions, supported promanagement 
unions, or compromised union leaders. Independent union leaders 
complained that the CCTU frequently intervened in the affairs of other 
unions, extorted money from management in exchange for discouraging 
workers from conducting legal strikes and demonstrations, and 
threatened rival union leaders. There were also widespread complaints 
that the Khmer Youth Federation of Trade Unions habitually threatened 
strikes to extort money from management.
    Enforcement of the right of association and freedom from antiunion 
discrimination was poor. The Government's enforcement efforts were 
further hampered by a lack of political will and by confused financial 
and political relationships with employers and union leaders. The 
Government also suffered from a lack of resources, including trained, 
experienced labor inspectors, in part because it did not pay staff 
adequate salaries. The MOLVT often decided in favor of employees but 
rarely used its legal authority to penalize employers who defied its 
orders.
    During the year there were credible reports of antiunion harassment 
by employers, including the dismissal of union leaders, in garment 
factories and other enterprises. Employers sometimes relied on the 
courts to dismiss or punish union leaders. In three cases, union 
leaders were charged with inciting workers to strike and destroying 
private property. On several occasions, dismissed union leaders 
accepted cash settlements after unsuccessfully appealing to the 
Government to enforce laws requiring their reinstatement. At other 
times, the Government upheld labor rights. For example, during the year 
the MOLVT formally warned 902 companies of legal violations, fined 19 
companies, and sued 17 companies on behalf of workers. During the same 
period the MOLVT sent 75 cases of unresolved labor disputes to the 
Arbitration Council for arbitration.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively, but the 
Government's enforcement of these rights was inconsistent. Wages were 
set by market forces, except in the case of civil servants, whose wages 
were set by the Government.
    Since passage of the 1997 labor law, there has been confusion about 
the overlapping roles of labor unions and elected shop stewards. In 
2000 the MOLVT issued a regulation that gave trade union leaders roles 
comparable to those of shop stewards and extended protection from 
dismissal to certain union officers within an enterprise; however, 
these protections for union leaders were not always respected by 
employers.
    During the year there were 13 collective bargaining agreements 
registered with the MOLVT; most were conciliation agreements that did 
not meet international collective bargaining standards. Only five 
genuine collective bargaining agreements existed within the garment 
industry. These agreements provided additional health and welfare 
provisions such as extra sick leave and maternity leave, factory clinic 
upgrades, and union-controlled welfare funds.
    A 2001 regulation established procedures to allow unions to 
demonstrate that they represent workers for purposes of collective 
bargaining. The regulation also established requirements for employers 
and unions regarding collective bargaining and provided union leaders 
with additional protection from dismissal. The Bureau of Labor 
Relations facilitated the process of union registration and 
certification of ``most representative status'' for unions, which 
entitled a union representing an absolute majority of workers in a 
given enterprise to represent all of the workers in that establishment. 
The MOLVT granted most representative status to 11 unions during the 
year. Unions that applied for this status but had not received it 
complained of unnecessary bureaucratic delays.
    The law provides for the right to strike and protects strikers from 
reprisal. The law stipulates that strikes can be held only after 
several requirements have been met, including the failure of other 
methods of dispute resolution (such as negotiation, conciliation, and 
arbitration), a secret ballot vote of union membership, and a seven-day 
advance notice to the employer and Ministry of Labor.
    There was a significant increase in labor unrest from February to 
June, leading to an unprecedented number of working days lost to 
strikes in the garment industry. The MOLVT reported that 103 strikes 
occurred during the year, nearly all of which violated prestrike legal 
requirements. Union leaders, in contrast, maintained that twice as many 
strikes had actually taken place. However, several unions admitted 
their strikes were not in compliance with legal procedures. Other 
unions complained that a severe lack of MOLVT involvement led to an 
unprecedented increase in industrial strikes from February to June.
    The Government allowed most strikes held at factories but denied 
worker requests to hold protest marches outside of the factory 
district. Police intervention in strikes generally was minimal and 
restrained, even in those cases where property damage occurred. Police 
presence at the few marches that occurred tended to be excessive and 
often included a specialized police intervention unit.
    On January 22, approximately 300 union and nongovernment 
organization workers defied a municipal government ban and held a march 
commemorating the second anniversary of the assassination of union 
leader Chea Vichea. The march was peaceful, and there was no police 
interference.
    On May 1, police detained Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea 
Mony and two of his colleagues as they attempted to lead more than 
1,000 workers in a Labor Day march. When word of their release came two 
hours later, fellow union leader Rong Chhun led the workers in a 
peaceful march. However, there were reports of police interference and 
violence in other parts of the city. Police reportedly blocked major 
roads into Phnom Penh early in the morning in an effort to prevent 
workers from entering the city. In addition, there were also many 
unconfirmed reports of isolated clashes between workers and police 
across the city, including allegations that police used electric batons 
and water cannons to subdue workers.
    On June 20, approximately 200 riot police officers forcibly broke 
up a march involving more than 1,500 workers protesting the illegal 
suspension of a union leader and urging a garment factory to comply 
with an Arbitration Council award. Four protesters were seriously 
injured, and 15 more protesters sustained minor injuries.
    On August 7, three factory-level union leaders affiliated with FTU 
were convicted of charges of illegal human confinement, marking the 
first time that union leaders were convicted of felony charges. The 
workers, who had been imprisoned since July 3, were sentenced to one 
month and four days in prison and a three-year suspended jail term with 
five years' probation. While the strike and subsequent worker blockade 
of the factory were both illegal, no evidence emerged to support 
allegations that managers were detained inside the factory.
    At year's end the case of three Federation Union of Solidarity 
leaders arrested in May 2005 on charges of extorting money from a 
garment factory was pending.
    On October 16, workers at Bright Sky garment factory in Phnom Penh 
staged an illegal strike stemming from a dispute over short-term work 
contracts. As the strike threatened to become violent, riot police 
moved in to suppress the unrest. One female worker from a neighboring 
garment factory was shot in the abdomen as she walked home after work, 
and several Bright Sky workers alleged that they were beaten by police. 
Police denied involvement in the shooting or beatings, claiming that 
they only fired their weapons into the air and did not assault any 
workers. Two workers were arrested but later released. A week after the 
incident, the factory ended night shift production and dismissed the 
entire night shift, arguing that night shift workers were behind the 
October 16 disturbance and had been provoking labor unrest.
    In spite of legal provisions protecting strikers from reprisals, 
there were credible reports that workers were dismissed on spurious 
grounds after organizing or participating in strikes. In some cases 
strikers were pressured by employers to accept compensation and leave 
their employment. There are potential remedies for such dismissals, 
although none was particularly effective. The MOLVT can issue 
reinstatement orders, but these often provoked management efforts to 
pressure workers into resigning in exchange for a settlement. 
Collective disputes, such as when multiple employees are dismissed, can 
be brought before the Arbitration Council for a nonbinding decision. 
Individual disputes can be bought before the court.
    In September and October, 17 garment sector unions--representing 
essentially all of the country's unionized garment workers--overcame 
longstanding rivalries to negotiate collectively with the Garment 
Manufacturers Association of Cambodia. Negotiations, which centered on 
raising the minimum wage, progressed slowly with neither side willing 
or able to compromise significantly. On October 19, the day before the 
last scheduled negotiating session, the Government called a meeting of 
the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), a tripartite group with probusiness 
and progovernment leanings. The LAC approved a government plan to 
increase the minimum wage by $5 (21,000 riels) per month effective 
January 1, 2007. Independent labor observers were disappointed by the 
Government action, as they had hoped for a compromise independent of 
the LAC.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including forced labor by children, but the 
Government did not enforce its provisions adequately. Involuntary 
overtime remained widespread. Under the law, legal overtime work cannot 
exceed two hours daily and must be voluntary; however, in practice 
overtime was often extended beyond the legal limit, and employers used 
coercion to force employees to work. Workers often faced fines, 
dismissal, or loss of premium pay if they refused to work overtime.
    There also were reports of isolated cases of forced labor by 
domestic servants.
    Forced child labor was a serious problem in the commercial sex 
industry (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government has adopted laws to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace; however, enforcement was often weak. The law establishes 
15 years as the minimum age for employment and 18 years as the minimum 
age for hazardous work. The law permits children between 12 and 15 to 
engage in ``light work'' that is not hazardous to their health and does 
not affect school attendance.
    No aspect of the law prohibiting child labor was adequately 
enforced in the formal employment sector. No employer was prosecuted 
for violating laws against child labor. MOLVT has responsibility for 
child labor issues in both the formal and informal sectors of the 
economy, but its labor inspectors played no role in the informal sector 
or in enforcing the law in illegal industries. Within the formal 
sector, labor inspectors conducted routine inspections of some 
industries, such as garment manufacturing (where the incidence of child 
labor is negligible), but in some industries with the highest child 
labor risk, labor inspections were entirely complaint-driven.
    Of children between ages five and 17, 53 percent were employed; 
one-third of these children were older than 14. Approximately 71 
percent of them worked in agricultural, farming, or forestry 
activities; 21 percent in sales or service; and 7 percent in production 
work.
    The constitution prohibits forced or bonded child labor; however, 
forced child labor was a serious problem in the commercial sex industry 
(see section 5). Law enforcement agencies failed to combat child 
prostitution in a sustained, consistent manner. Widespread corruption, 
lack of transparency, inadequate resources, and staffing shortages 
remained the most challenging obstacles.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires the MOLVT to 
establish minimum wages based on recommendations from the Labor 
Advisory Committee. The minimum wage was raised from $45 to $50 
(189,000 to 210,000 riels) per month. This amount, which applied only 
to garment and footwear factories, was generally respected during the 
year. There was no minimum wage for any other industry.
    Garment workers earned an average wage of $70 to $80 (294,000 to 
336,000 riels) per month, including overtime and bonuses. Prevailing 
monthly wages in the garment sector and many other professions were 
insufficient to provide a worker and family with a decent standard of 
living. Civil service salaries also were insufficient to provide a 
decent standard of living, requiring government officials to secure 
outside sources of income, in many cases by obtaining second jobs or 
collecting bribes.
    The law provides for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours, not to 
exceed eight hours per day. The law stipulates time-and-a-half for 
overtime and double time if overtime occurs at night, on Sunday, or on 
a holiday; however, the Government did not enforce these standards 
effectively. Workers in many garment factories reported that overtime 
was excessive or involuntary or that they were required to work seven 
days per week. Similarly, outside the garment industry, regulations on 
working hours were rarely enforced.
    The law states that the workplace should have health and safety 
standards adequate to ensure workers' well-being. The Government 
enforced existing standards selectively, in part because it lacked 
trained staff and equipment. Work-related injuries and health problems 
were common. Most large garment factories producing for markets in 
developed countries met relatively high health and safety standards as 
conditions of their contracts with buyers. Working conditions in some 
small-scale factories and cottage industries were poor and often did 
not meet international standards. Penalties are specified in the law, 
but there are no specific provisions to protect workers who complain 
about unsafe or unhealthy conditions. Workers who removed themselves 
from unsafe working conditions risked loss of employment.

                               __________

                                 CHINA

    The People's Republic of China (PRC) is an authoritarian state in 
which, as specified in its constitution, the Chinese Communist Party 
(CCP) is the paramount source of power. Party members hold almost all 
top government, police, and military positions. Ultimate authority 
rests with the 24-member political bureau (Politburo) of the CCP and 
its nine-member standing committee. General Secretary Hu Jintao holds 
the three most powerful positions as CCP general secretary, President, 
and chairman of the Central Military Commission. The party's authority 
rested primarily on the Government's ability to maintain social 
stability; appeals to nationalism and patriotism; party control of 
personnel, media, and the security apparatus; and continued improvement 
in the living standards of most of the country's 1.3 billion citizens. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    Although the constitution asserts that ``the state respects and 
preserves human rights,'' the Government's human rights record remained 
poor, and in certain areas deteriorated. There were an increased number 
of high-profile cases involving the monitoring, harassment, detention, 
arrest, and imprisonment of journalists, writers, activists, and 
defense lawyers, many of whom were seeking to exercise their rights 
under law. The Government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech 
and the press, including stricter control and censorship of the 
Internet. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), both local and 
international, continued to face increased scrutiny and restrictions. 
As in previous years, citizens did not have the right to change their 
government. Other serious human rights abuses included instances of 
extrajudicial killings; torture and coerced confessions of prisoners; 
and the use of forced labor, including prison labor. Legal reforms 
continued to stall, as the party and state exercised strict political 
control of courts and judges, and maintained closed trials and 
administrative detention. Executions often took place on the day of 
conviction or immediately after the denial of an appeal. A lack of due 
process and new restrictions on lawyers further limited progress toward 
rule of law. Individuals and groups, especially those considered 
politically sensitive, continued to face tight restrictions on their 
freedom to assemble; their freedom to practice religion, including 
strengthened enforcement of religious affairs regulations implemented 
in 2005; and their freedom to travel. The Government continued its 
coercive birth limitation policy, in some cases resulting in forced 
abortion and sterilization.
    The Government failed to adequately protect refugees, and the 
forced repatriation of North Koreans continued to be a grave problem. 
Serious social conditions that affected human rights included endemic 
corruption, trafficking in persons, and discrimination against women, 
minorities, and persons with disabilities. The Government continued its 
severe cultural and religious repression of minorities in Tibetan areas 
and Xinjiang; in Xinjiang, trials and executions of Uighurs charged 
with separatism continued.
    The Government continued to pursue some criminal and judicial 
reforms. China's highest court, the Supreme People's Court (SPC), began 
implementing new appellate procedures for hearing death penalty cases 
and took concrete steps towards reclaiming the death penalty review 
power from provincial courts. In July the Supreme People's 
Procuratorate (SPP) issued new regulations that detail criteria for 
prosecuting official abuses of power, and clarified that police are 
accountable when they use torture to coerce confessions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year 
politically motivated and other arbitrary and unlawful killings 
occurred, although no official statistics on deaths in custody were 
available.
    On September 30, People's Armed Police at the Nangpa La pass fired 
at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans attempting to cross into Nepal, 
killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and wounding others (see Tibet 
Addendum).
    In December 2005 police shot and killed at least three protesters 
in Dongzhou Village, Guangdong Province. Villagers claimed that as many 
as 20 villagers were shot and killed by paramilitary riot police, with 
approximately 40 others missing. The Government said the shooting 
occurred after protesters threw explosives at police and claimed that 
three protesters were killed. On May 24, 13 villagers from Dongzhou 
were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to seven years for 
alleged crimes during the protest. Four government officials were given 
internal warnings, but only the deputy director of the local Public 
Security Bureau (PSB) was removed from his position.
    Trials involving capital offenses sometimes took place under 
circumstances involving severe lack of due process and with no 
meaningful appeal. Some executions took place on the day of conviction 
or failed appeal. In past years executions of Uighurs whom authorities 
accused of separatism, but which some observers claimed were 
politically motivated, were reported (see sections 1.e. and 5). The 
Government regarded the number of death sentences it carried out as a 
state secret. However, in March 2004 a National People's Congress (NPC) 
deputy asserted that nearly 10,000 cases per year ``result in immediate 
execution,'' a figure SPC and Ministry of Justice officials stated was 
exaggerated. Foreign experts estimated that the country executed 
between 5,000 and 12,000 persons each year. Media reports stated that 
approximately 10 percent of executions were for economic crimes, 
especially corruption. The SPC began implementing new appellate 
procedures requiring it to review all death sentences, thus 
consolidating and reclaiming the death penalty review power from 
provincial courts. The SPC and SPP issued a joint interpretation to 
establish specific guidelines for how local courts and procuratorates 
should handle death penalty appeals. The SPC added three new tribunals 
to conduct reviews of death sentences and hired hundreds of personnel 
to staff the new tribunals, but at year's end it had not begun 
exercising its reclaimed review authority. The SPC has not issued a 
judicial interpretation to settle unresolved issues in the death 
penalty review process and to clarify its own procedures for final 
review (see section 1.e.).

    b. Disappearance.--Tsewangnorbu, a Web master for a Web site run by 
the Snow Country Tibetans, was not heard from after Gansu Province 
security authorities shut down the Web site in March 2005, according to 
NGOs. His whereabouts remained unknown. In October Shi Xiaoyu was 
reportedly detained in Zhejiang Province after writing about labor 
disputes online. His status remained unknown. Shanghai petitioner Chen 
Xiaoming was detained by police in February, and his whereabouts remain 
unknown.
    At year's end the Government had not provided a comprehensive, 
credible accounting of all those killed, missing, or detained in 
connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen 
demonstrations.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law forbids prison guards from extorting confessions 
by torture, insulting prisoners' dignity, and beating or encouraging 
others to beat prisoners. However, police and other elements of the 
security apparatus employed widespread torture and degrading treatment 
when dealing with some detainees and prisoners. UN Rapporteur on 
Torture Manfred Nowak's March report to the UN Commission on Human 
Rights blamed the prevalence of torture on institutional weakness and 
lack of judicial independence in a system that pressures police to 
solve cases and allows them wide discretion in matters of arrest and 
detention.
    Former detainees credibly reported that officials used electric 
shocks, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse. In January four 
teenagers from Anhui Province were released from custody. Media reports 
said authorities were investigating three police officers on suspicion 
of using torture to coerce false confessions from the teenagers. Public 
security officials acknowledged that the teenagers' cases were 
mishandled. In June authorities charged Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar 
Abdurehim, three of Uighur businesswomen Rebiya Kadeer's sons, with 
state security and economic crimes. Authorities beat Alim and Ablikim, 
and Alim confessed to the charges against him after reportedly being 
tortured. In October 2005 Falun Gong adherents Liu Boyang and Wang 
Shuohui of Changchun, Jilin Province reportedly died in custody after 
being tortured by police. Beijing-based petitioner leader Ye Guozhu was 
reportedly tortured and abused in prison, including beatings with 
electric batons, suspension from the ceiling by his arms, and shackled 
and forced to sit in extreme positions for extended periods of time. 
Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada was also reportedly tortured. 
Approximately half of all alleged acts of torture occurred in pretrial 
criminal detention centers or reeducation-through-labor centers.
    In February the Ministry of Justice established punishments for 
prison and reeducation-through-labor police who beat, or induce others 
to beat, prisoners.
    In March UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reaffirmed earlier findings 
that torture remained widespread. Nowak reported that beatings with 
fists, sticks, and electric batons continued to be the most common 
tortures. He also found that prisoners continued to suffer cigarette 
burns, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and submersion in 
water or sewage, and that they were made to hold extreme positions for 
long periods, were denied medical treatment, and were forced to do hard 
labor. Death row inmates were shackled or handcuffed 24 hours per day 
and systematically abused to break their will and force confession. 
According to Nowak, officials specifically targeted house church 
groups, Falun Gong adherents, Tibetans, and Uighur prisoners for abuse. 
Nowak found that procedural and substantive measures to prevent torture 
were inadequate.
    Since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, estimates of the 
numbers of Falun Gong adherents who died in custody due to torture, 
abuse, and neglect ranged from several hundred to a few thousand (see 
section 2.c.). UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported in March that Falun 
Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged 
torture while in government custody.
    The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) began audio and video taping 
of police interrogations in homicide and organized crime cases in an 
attempt to prevent coerced confessions. In May the Government concluded 
a campaign to curb coerced confessions. The campaign exposed 3,700 
cases of official abuse and resulted in 1,924 prosecutions and 1,450 
convictions.
    On November 29, the PSB punished 100 alleged prostitutes and their 
procurers in an act of public shaming in the southern city of Shenzhen. 
Officials paraded the women in front of jeering crowds, revealed their 
names and alleged crimes over a loudspeaker, and then sentenced them to 
administrative detention without trial. According to reports, the 
purpose of this campaign was to dissuade women from turning to 
prostitution and intimidate men who patronized brothels.
    Sexual and physical abuse and extortion were reported in some 
detention centers. Falun Gong activists reported that police raped 
female practitioners, including an incident in November 2005 at the 
Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province, in which 
two women were raped while in detention.
    According to foreign researchers, the country had 20 ankang 
institutions (high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally 
insane) directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security. 
Persons committed to these institutions had no mechanism for objecting 
to public security officials' determinations of mental illness. Some 
dissidents, persistent petitioners, and others were housed with 
mentally ill patients in these institutions. Patients in these 
hospitals were reportedly given medicine against their will and 
forcibly subjected to electric shock treatment. The regulations for 
committing a person into an ankang psychiatric facility were not clear. 
Credible reports indicated that a number of political and trade union 
activists, underground religious believers, persons who repeatedly 
petitioned the Government, members of the banned China Democratic 
Party, and Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such facilities 
during the year. These included Wang Miaogen, Wang Chanhao, Pan 
Zhiming, and Li Da, who were reportedly held in an ankang facility run 
by the Shanghai PSB. Activists sentenced to administrative detention 
also reported they were strapped to beds or other devices for days at a 
time, beaten, forcibly injected or fed medications, and denied food and 
use of toilet facilities.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The Ministry of Justice 
administered more than 700 prisons with a population of more than 1.8 
million inmates, according to 2005 official statistics. In addition, 30 
jails for juveniles held approximately 22,000 juvenile offenders. The 
country also operated hundreds of administrative detention centers, 
which were run by security ministries and administered separately from 
the formal court system (see section 2.d.).
    Conditions in penal institutions for both political prisoners and 
common criminals generally were harsh and degrading. Prisoners and 
detainees often were kept in overcrowded conditions with poor 
sanitation. Prison capacity was an increasing problem in some areas. 
Food often was inadequate and of poor quality, and many detainees 
relied on supplemental food and medicines provided by relatives; some 
prominent dissidents were not allowed to receive such goods.
    During the year new reports from overseas medical and legal experts 
asserted that the Government harvested organs from executed prisoners 
without consent. At least one formal complaint was filed with the 
Government by a family alleging that their executed son's organs were 
harvested before the body was returned to the family for burial. In 
July 2005 Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu confirmed that the 
majority of organs used in transplants in the country come from 
executed prisoners. A Ministry of Health directive prohibits buying and 
selling human organs and tissues and requires that organ donations from 
deceased individuals be ``handled according to society's ethical and 
moral principles.'' However, new regulations that went into effect in 
July focus on organ trade, which refers to persons voluntarily selling 
their organs, a practice rare in China, but leave intact old provisions 
that legalize organ harvesting if no one claims the body for burial. 
Critics also assert that the regulations apply to Ministry of Health 
hospitals but not military hospitals, where it is alleged that 
transplants for foreigners were conducted.
    Adequate, timely medical care for prisoners remained a serious 
problem, despite official assurances that prisoners have the right to 
prompt medical treatment. Labor activist Xiao Yunliang remained in 
prison in very poor health. Other prisoners with health concerns 
included democracy activists Qin Yongmin, Hua Di, Wang Sen, and He 
Depu; Internet writers Yang Zili and Luo Yongzhang; labor activists Hu 
Shigen and Zhang Shanguang; Inner Mongolian activist Hada; foreign 
residents Yang Jianli and Wang Bingzhang; and religious prisoners Zhang 
Rongliang, Liu Fenggang, and Gong Shengliang.
    Acknowledging guilt was a precondition for receiving certain prison 
privileges, including the ability to purchase outside food, make 
telephone calls, and receive family visits. Prison officials often 
denied privileges to those, including political prisoners, who refused 
to acknowledge guilt.
    Conditions in administrative detention facilities, such as 
reeducation-through-labor camps, were similar to those in prisons. 
Beating deaths occurred in administrative detention and reeducation-
through-labor facilities.
    The law requires juveniles to be held separately from adults, 
unless facilities are insufficient. In practice, children sometimes 
were held with adult prisoners and required to work (see sections 1.d. 
and 6.c.). Political prisoners were segregated from each other and 
placed with common criminals, who sometimes beat political prisoners at 
the instigation of guards. Newly arrived prisoners or those who refused 
to acknowledge committing crimes were particularly vulnerable to 
beatings.
    The Government generally did not permit independent monitoring of 
prisons or reeducation-through-labor camps, and prisoners remained 
inaccessible to most international human rights organizations. In July 
2005 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) opened a 
regional delegation in Beijing, although the Government did not grant 
the ICRC access to prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention 
remained serious problems. The law permits police and security 
authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging them. 
Because the Government tightly controlled information, it was 
impossible to determine accurately the total number of persons 
subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. According to 2005 official 
statistics, 500,000 persons were held in 310 reeducation-through-labor 
camps. In 2004, special administrative detention facilities held more 
than 350,000 offenders. The Government also confined some Falun Gong 
adherents, petitioners, labor activists, and others to psychiatric 
hospitals.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security apparatus 
is made up of the Ministries of State Security and Public Security, the 
People's Armed Police, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and the 
state judicial, procuratorial, and penal systems. The Ministries of 
State Security and Public Security were responsible for internal 
security. SPP and SPC officials admitted that courts and prosecutors 
often deferred to the security ministries on policy matters and 
individual cases. The PLA was responsible for external security, but 
also had some domestic security responsibilities.
    The MPS coordinates the country's law enforcement, which is 
administratively organized into local, county, provincial, and 
specialized police agencies. Recent efforts have been made to 
strengthen historically weak regulation and management of law 
enforcement agencies; however, judicial oversight was limited, and 
checks and balances were absent. Corruption at the local level was 
widespread. Police officers reportedly coerced victims, took 
individuals into custody without just cause, arbitrarily collected fees 
from individuals charged with crimes, and mentally and physically 
abused victims and perpetrators.
    The SPP acknowledged continuing widespread abuse in law 
enforcement. In July the SPP issued new standards for prosecuting 
official abuses of power. Domestic news media reported the convictions 
of several public security officials who had beaten to death suspects 
or prisoners in their custody. Nonetheless, investigation of misconduct 
typically only came in response to publicity, public pressure, and 
persistent efforts by relatives of victims to petition the Government. 
In July an SPP spokesperson said there were many abuse of power cases 
that the procuratorates did not dare handle.

    Arrest and Detention.--Public security organs do not require court-
approved warrants to detain suspects under their administrative 
detention powers. After detention, the procuracy can approve formal 
arrest without court approval. The courts, the procuracy, and public 
security organs grant bail only in a small minority of cases. Access to 
lawyers is limited before formal charges are filed, and lawyers 
generally cannot discuss the substance of a detainee's case with the 
detainee before formal charges are filed.
    Administrative detention was frequently used to intimidate 
political activists and prevent public demonstrations (see section 
2.b.). The Government was reforming its administrative punishment 
system, but reforms seek to codify rather than abolish it. In March the 
new public order administrative punishment law went into effect. The 
law provides for administrative review of detention decisions, bans 
administrative detention of minors, the elderly, pregnant women, and 
nursing mothers, places limits on interrogation, and limits the maximum 
period for public order detentions to 20 days. However, the law also 
establishes more severe punishments and creates 165 new offences 
subject to administrative punishment, including illegal demonstrations, 
disturbing social order in the name of religion, invasion of privacy, 
and publication that incites ethnic or national hostility or 
discrimination. Police continued to hold individuals without granting 
access to family members or lawyers, and some trials continued to be 
conducted in secret. Detained criminal suspects, defendants, their 
legal representatives, and close relatives were entitled to apply for 
bail; however, in practice few suspects were released on bail pending 
trial.
    Extended, unlawful detention remained a problem. In January the 
Government reported to UN Special Rapporteur Nowak that there were no 
serious cases of extended detention lasting more than three years and 
that cases of persons held beyond lawful time limits were at an all-
time low. In May the SPP acknowledged that unlawful extended detentions 
remain a problem and that authorities misused legal provisions to hide 
this. Law enforcement officials continued to detain citizens for long 
periods without formal charge or trial. A number of politically 
sensitive individuals were held for periods longer than the time 
authorized by law, which varied depending on the stage a case is in. In 
some cases, investigating security agents or prosecutors sought 
repeated extensions, resulting in pretrial detention of a year or 
longer.
    The Government used incommunicado detention. The law requires 
notification of family members within 24 hours of detention, but 
individuals were often held without notification for significantly 
longer periods, especially in politically sensitive cases. Under a 
sweeping exception, officials were not required to provide notification 
if doing so would ``hinder the investigation'' of a case. In some cases 
police treated those with no immediate family more severely.
    Citizens who were reportedly detained with no or severely delayed 
notice included HIV/AIDS activist Hu Jia, blind legal activist Chen 
Guangcheng, attorney Zhu Jiuhu, petitioner advocate Hou Wenzhuo, and 
writer Guo Feixiong (also known as Yang Maodong). On February 16, Hu 
Jia was detained and held incommunicado for 41 days, until March 28 
(see sections 1.d. and 4). During Hu's detention, police questioned him 
about his contacts with rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. On August 15, Gao 
was likewise detained and thereafter held incommunicado by government 
authorities.
    The law permits nonjudicial panels, called labor reeducation 
panels, to sentence persons without trial to three years in 
reeducation-through-labor camps or other administrative detention 
programs. The labor reeducation committee is authorized to extend a 
sentence up to one year. Defendants could challenge reeducation-
through-labor sentences under the administrative litigation law and 
appeal for a reduction in, or suspension of, their sentences (see 
section 1.e.). However, appeals rarely succeeded. Many other persons 
were detained in similar forms of administrative detention, known as 
``custody and education'' (for prostitutes and those soliciting 
prostitutes) and ``custody and training'' (for minors who committed 
crimes). Administrative detention was frequently used to intimidate 
political activists and prevent public demonstrations (see section 
2.b.). A special form of reeducation centers was used to detain Falun 
Gong practitioners who had completed terms in reeducation through labor 
but whom authorities decided to continue detaining.
    Authorities arrested persons on charges of revealing state secrets, 
subversion, and common crimes to suppress political dissent and social 
advocacy. Citizens also were detained and prosecuted under broad and 
ambiguous state secrets laws for, among other actions, disclosing 
information on criminal trials, meetings, and government activity. 
Information could retroactively be classified a state secret by the 
Government. Citizens writing on the Internet were detained, arrested, 
and sentenced on state secrets and subversion charges during the year 
(see section 2.a.).
    Among those specially targeted for arbitrary detention or arrest 
during the year were current and former China Democracy Party (CDP) 
activists, Falun Gong practitioners, domestic and foreign journalists, 
unregistered religious figures, and former political prisoners and 
their family members. Gao Zhisheng was detained and questioned several 
times during the year. On August 15, authorities reportedly abducted 
Gao from his sister's home in Shandong Province and thereafter detained 
him. Gao's wife and children were under house arrest in Beijing. On 
November 24, Gao Zhisheng's wife, Geng He, was attacked by local 
officials while shopping in Beijing. In February activist Hu Jia 
disappeared after launching a hunger strike protesting government 
abuses. Officials held Hu for 41 days at an undisclosed location 
without any legal formalities or notice to his family (see section 
1.b.).
    The Government continued to use house arrest as a nonjudicial 
punishment and control measure against dissidents, former political 
prisoners, family members of political prisoners, petitioners, 
underground religious figures, and others it deemed politically 
sensitive. In some cases house arrest involved constant monitoring, but 
the target of house arrest was occasionally permitted to leave the home 
to work or run errands. When outside the home, the subject of house 
arrest was usually, but not always, under surveillance. House arrest 
encompassed varying degrees of stringency but sometimes included 
complete isolation in one's own home or another location under lock and 
guard. In some instances security officials assumed invasive positions 
within the family home, rather than monitoring from the outside.
    Former senior leader Zhao Ziyang died in January 2005, after 
spending more than 15 years under house arrest in Beijing for his 
support of student demonstrations at Tiananmen in 1989. Zhao's former 
aide Bao Tong remained under similar surveillance in his home. In 
September 2005 blind legal advisor and family planning whistleblower 
Chen Guangcheng was placed under house arrest without charge or trial 
for nine months. Local authorities did not formally notify Chen of his 
criminal detention until June 10 (see section 1.e.). On June 5, 
activist lawyer Zheng Enchong was released from prison and placed under 
house arrest. Several underground Catholic priests and bishops were 
under house arrest for varying periods during the year. The longest 
serving among them may be Bishop Su Zhimin, who has reportedly been 
detained in a form of house arrest in Baoding, Hebei Province, since 
1997. An unverified press report circulated in June stated that Bishop 
Su had died in custody. The Government did not respond to this report.
    Police continued the practice of placing under surveillance, 
harassing, and detaining citizens around politically sensitive events, 
including before the first anniversary of Zhao Ziyang's death in 
January, the plenary sessions of the NPC and Chinese People's Political 
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March, and the anniversary of the 
founding of the PRC in October. Authorities in Xinjiang used house 
arrest and other forms of arbitrary detention against those accused of 
the ``three evils'' of extremism, splittism, and terrorism. Because 
authorities failed to distinguish carefully between peaceful activities 
supporting independence, ``illegal'' religious activities, and violent 
terrorism, it was difficult to determine whether raids, detentions, 
arrests, or judicial punishments were targeted at those peacefully 
seeking political goals, those seeking worship, or those engaged in 
violence (see section 5). Others held under house arrest for varying 
periods during the year included Tiananmen activist Qi Zhiyou, Internet 
writer Liu Di, underground Catholic bishops Jia Zhiguo and Wei Jingyi, 
members of the Tiananmen Mothers organization and of the Independent 
PEN Center for Freedom to Write. Family members of some detained 
political prisoners reported being under house arrest or other 
surveillance.
    Officials deployed a wide range of tactics to obstruct the work of 
lawyers representing sensitive clients, including unlawful detentions, 
disbarment, intimidation, refusal to allow a case to be tried before a 
court and physical abuse. According to the law, defense attorneys can 
be held responsible if their client commits perjury, and prosecutors 
and judges have wide discretion to decide what constitutes perjury. 
According to the All-China Lawyers Association, since 1997 more than 
500 defense attorneys have been detained. More than 80 percent were 
acquitted, but the prosecutions nevertheless had a chilling effect on 
attorneys' willingness to handle controversial defense cases. In 1990 
Beijing attorneys handled an annual average of 2.64 criminal cases; by 
2000 the figure had dropped to 0.78. Nationwide, attorneys handled an 
average of only 0.72 criminal cases in 2004.
    On June 10, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who publicized 
local officials' abuses in family planning policies, was formally 
arrested after nine months of informal house arrest. Local officials 
physically abused Chen several times after he tried to file lawsuits 
objecting to their abuses. Officials threatened attorneys and law 
professors who rallied to defend Chen. In June and July, local 
authorities obstructed attempts by lawyers to gather evidence in Chen 
Guangcheng's defense. The night before Chen's August 18 trial, local 
authorities detained Chen's lawyers on spurious charges, which were 
later dropped. The following day, court-appointed attorneys effectively 
conceded the case against Chen. On August 24, Chen was sentenced to 
four years' and three months' imprisonment on dubious charges of 
obstructing traffic and inciting others to destroy public property. 
Chen's case was later remanded for retrial, where he was represented by 
his own lawyers. However, courts affirmed Chen's original conviction 
and sentence on retrial and then again on appeal.
    In February lawyer Tang Jingling was beaten by thugs after visiting 
Guo Feixiong, who was under house arrest after helping villagers 
attempt to recall the elected village head of Taishi, Guangdong 
Province. Police refused to investigate the incident. In April Tang, 
who had begun practicing law at a second firm, was stripped of his 
license to practice law and dismissed from that law firm.
    According to the law, in routine criminal cases police can 
unilaterally detain persons for up to 37 days before releasing them or 
formally placing them under arrest. After a suspect is arrested, the 
law allows police and prosecutors to detain a person for up to seven 
months while public security organs further investigate the case. 
Another one and one-half months of detention are allowed where public 
security organs refer a case to the procuratorate to decide whether to 
file charges. If charges are filed, authorities can detain a suspect 
for an additional one and one-half month period between filing and 
trial. However, in practice the police detained persons beyond the time 
limits stipulated by law. In some cases, investigating security agents 
or prosecutors sought repeated extensions, resulting in pretrial 
detention of a year or longer. It was uncertain how many other 
prisoners were similarly detained. Beijing authorities held New York 
Times researcher Zhao Yan from September 17, 2004, until his trial on 
June 16. Authorities asserted that the pretrial extension was justified 
by special exceptions to the time limits, but Zhao and his lawyer 
claimed that the extended pretrial detention was unlawful.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law states that the courts 
shall exercise judicial power independently, without interference from 
administrative organs, social organizations, and individuals. However, 
in practice the judiciary was not independent. It received policy 
guidance from both the Government and the CCP, whose leaders used a 
variety of means to direct courts on verdicts and sentences, 
particularly in politically sensitive cases. At both the central and 
local levels, the Government and CCP frequently interfered in the 
judicial system and dictated court decisions. Trial judges decide 
individual cases under the direction of the trial committee in each 
court. In addition, the CCP's law and politics committee, which 
includes representatives of the police, security services, 
procuratorate, and courts, had the authority to review and influence 
court operations at all levels of the judiciary; in some cases the 
committee altered decisions. People's congresses also had authority to 
alter court decisions, but this happened rarely.
    Corruption often influenced judicial decision making, and 
safeguards against corruption were vague and poorly enforced (see 
section 3). In 2005 378 judges were investigated for taking bribes, and 
66 were found criminally liable. Local governments appointed judges at 
the corresponding level of the judicial structure. Judges received 
their court finances and salaries from these government bodies and 
could be replaced by them. Local authorities often exerted undue 
influence over the judges they appointed and financed.
    The SPC is followed in descending order by the higher, 
intermediate, and basic people's courts. These courts handle criminal, 
civil, and administrative cases, including appeals of decisions by 
police and security officials to use reeducationthrough-labor 
and other forms of administrative detention. There were special courts 
for handling military, maritime, and railway transport cases.
    The CCP used a form of discipline known as shuang gui for 
violations of CPP discipline, but there were reports of its use against 
nonparty members. Shuang gui is similar to house arrest and can be 
authorized without judicial involvement or oversight. Shuang gui 
requires the CCP party member under investigation to submit to 
questioning at a designated place for a set period of time. According 
to regulations of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) 
governing shuang gui, corporal punishment is banned, the member's 
dignity must be respected, and he or she is regarded as a comrade 
unless violations are proved. Absent any legal oversight, it is unclear 
how these regulations were enforced in practice.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials took place before a judge, who often was 
accompanied by ``people's assessors,'' lay persons hired by the court 
to assist in decision making. According to statistics published during 
the year, there were 48,211 people's assessors. According to law, 
people's assessors had authority similar to judges, but in practice 
they deferred to judges and did not exercise an independent jury-like 
function.
    The law gives most suspects the right to seek legal counsel shortly 
after their initial detention and interrogation, although police often 
circumvented defendants' right to seek counsel. Individuals who faced 
administrative detention do not have the right to seek legal counsel.
    The Government expanded the scope of legal aid and required 
authorities to notify criminal defendants of their right to apply for 
legal aid. Both criminal and administrative cases remained eligible for 
legal aid, although 70 percent or more of criminal defendants still 
went to trial without a lawyer. According to the Ministry of Justice, 
during the first half of the year legal aid was granted in 124,800 
cases. The number of government lawyers providing legal aid remained 
inadequate to meet demand. Nonattorney legal advisors and government 
employees provided the only legal aid options in many areas. According 
to government statistics, more than 10,000 employees provided legal aid 
at 3,155 legal aid centers. New regulations required law firms and 
private attorneys to provide some legal aid. During 2005 courts waived 
more than $158 million (RMB 1.27 billion) in litigation costs.
    Government-employed lawyers often refused to represent defendants 
in politically sensitive cases and defendants frequently found it 
difficult to find an attorney. When defendants were able to retain 
counsel in politically sensitive cases, government officials sometimes 
prevented effective representation of counsel. From June to August, 
local authorities obstructed lawyers' efforts to prepare Chen 
Guangcheng's defense and detained Chen's lawyers the night before his 
trial. During the trial, court-appointed defense counsel conceded much 
of the case against Chen (see section 1.d.). After the initial trial, 
officials obstructed Chen's lawyers' efforts to investigate and develop 
their case. In some sensitive cases, lawyers had no pretrial access to 
their clients, and defendants and lawyers were not allowed to speak 
during trials. In practice criminal defendants often were not assigned 
an attorney until a case was brought to court. For example, officials 
detained prominent rights attorney Gao Zhisheng on August 15 on 
``suspicion of involvement in criminal activity'' and subsequently 
deprived Gao of his right to counsel by obstructing efforts to 
formalize Gao's representation. Officials later claimed that Gao 
declined representation by counsel. Even in nonsensitive criminal 
trials, only one of seven defendants had legal representation, 
according to credible reports.
    The mechanism that allows defendants to confront their accusers was 
inadequate; according to one expert, only 1 to 5 percent of trials 
involved witnesses. In most criminal trials prosecutors read witness 
statements, which neither the defendant nor his lawyer have an 
opportunity to question. Approximately 95 percent of witnesses in 
criminal cases did not appear in court to testify, in part due to 
hardship or fear of reprisals. Although criminal procedure law says 
pretrial witness statements cannot serve as the sole basis for 
conviction, officials relied heavily on such statements to support 
their cases. Defense attorneys had no authority to compel witnesses to 
testify or to mandate discovery, although they could apply for access 
to government-held evidence relevant to their case. In practice, 
pretrial access to information was minimal, and the defense often 
lacked adequate opportunity to prepare for trial.
    The criminal justice system was biased toward a presumption of 
guilt, especially in high-profile or politically sensitive cases. The 
conviction rate for first-instance criminal cases rose slightly and 
remained above 99 percent in 2005. In many politically sensitive 
trials, which rarely lasted more than several hours, the courts handed 
down guilty verdicts immediately following proceedings. Courts often 
punished defendants who refused to acknowledge guilt with harsher 
sentences than those who confessed. There was an appeals process, but 
appeals rarely resulted in reversed verdicts. Appeals processes failed 
to provide sufficient avenue for review, and there were inadequate 
remedies for violations of defendants' rights. Nationwide, appeals 
resulted in changed verdicts in only 0.36 percent of all cases, 
including capital cases.
    SPC regulations require all trials to be open to the public, with 
certain exceptions, such as cases involving state secrets, privacy, and 
minors. Authorities used the legal exception for cases involving state 
secrets to keep politically sensitive proceedings closed to the public 
and sometimes even to family members, and to improperly withhold access 
to defense counsel. Under the regulations, foreigners with valid 
identification are allowed the same access to trials as citizens, but 
in practice foreigners were permitted to attend court proceedings by 
invitation only. As in past years, foreign diplomats and journalists 
sought permission to attend a number of trials only to have court 
officials reclassify them as ``state secret'' cases, fill all available 
seats with security officials, or otherwise close them to the public. 
Some trials were broadcast, and court proceedings were a regular 
television feature. A few courts published their verdicts on the 
Internet.
    There was no adversary system, no presumption of innocence, and 
judges and prosecutors typically used an inquisitorial style to 
question the defendant, who was often the only witness. The law affords 
no right to remain silent, no protection against double jeopardy, and 
no rules governing the type of evidence that may be introduced.
    Police and prosecutorial officials often ignored the due process 
provisions of the law. The lack of due process was particularly 
egregious in death penalty cases. There were at least 68 capital 
offenses, including nonviolent financial crimes such as counterfeiting 
currency, embezzlement, and corruption. Executions were often carried 
out on the date of conviction. In February the Guangdong High Court 
announced that the death penalty could be applied in bag-snatching 
cases. Previously, the maximum sentence was three years.
    Following reports of wrongful murder convictions in 2005, the SPC 
made reform of the death penalty review process a top priority. During 
the year the SPC began implementing new appellate procedures for 
hearing death penalty cases, in an effort to reclaim the death penalty 
review power from provincial courts. The SPC added three new tribunals 
to handle the death penalty review function and some provincial-level 
high courts began conducting hearings in death penalty cases. The 
Government also strengthened institutions, including legal aid centers, 
to assist citizens with legal claims.
    The Government regarded the number of executions a state secret. 
Minors and pregnant women expressly were exempt from the death 
sentence, although in the past the Government executed a few criminals 
who were under age 18 at the time they committed an offense.
    Courts lacked the independence and authority to rule on the 
constitutionality of laws. The law permits organizations or individuals 
to question laws and regulations they believe contradict the 
constitution, but a constitutional challenge first requires 
consultation with the body drafting the questioned regulation and can 
only be appealed to the NPC. Accordingly, lawyers had little or no 
opportunity to use the constitution in litigation.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Government officials continued 
to deny holding any political prisoners, asserting that authorities 
detained persons not for their political or religious views, but 
because they violated the law; however, the authorities continued to 
confine citizens for reasons related to politics and religion. Tens of 
thousands of political prisoners remained incarcerated, some in prisons 
and others in reeducation-through-labor camps or administrative 
detention. The Government did not grant international humanitarian 
organizations access to political prisoners.
    Western NGOs estimated that approximately 500 persons remained in 
prison for the repealed crime of ``counterrevolution,'' and thousands 
of others were serving sentences under the state security law, which 
authorities stated covers crimes similar to counterrevolution. Persons 
who continued to be detained for counterrevolutionary offenses included 
labor activist Hu Shigen; Inner Mongolian activist Hada; and dissidents 
Yu Dongyue, Zhang Jingsheng, and Sun Xiongying. Foreign governments 
urged the Government to review the cases of those charged before 1997 
with counterrevolution and to release those who had been jailed for 
nonviolent offenses under provisions of the Criminal Law, which were 
eliminated when the law was revised. To date, no such review has 
occurred. The Government maintained that counterrevolutionary prisoners 
were eligible for parole and early release on an equal basis with other 
prisoners but provided no evidence to support this assertion.
    Amnesty International has identified by name more than 80 persons 
who remained imprisoned or on medical parole for their participation in 
the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations; other NGOs estimated that as many as 
200 persons remained in prison for political activities connected to 
the demonstrations.
    Many political prisoners remained in prison or under other forms of 
detention during the year, including journalists Zhao Yan, Shi Tao, and 
Jiang Weiping; Internet writers Yang Zili and Xu Wei; labor activist 
Yao Fuxin; China Democracy Party cofounder Qin Yongmin; political 
dissident Yang Jianli; family planning whistleblower Chen Guangcheng; 
Su Zhimin and other underground Catholic bishops; house Christian 
activists Zhang Rongliang, Cai Zhuohua, and Liu Fenggang; Uighurs Tohti 
Tunyaz and Dilkex Tilivaldi; Tibetans Jigme Gyatso, Tenzin Deleg, and 
Gendun Choekyi Nyima; and Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada. 
Political prisoners obtained parole and sentence reduction much less 
frequently than ordinary prisoners.
    Criminal punishments included ``deprivation of political rights'' 
for a fixed period after release from prison, during which the 
individual is denied the already limited rights of free speech and 
association granted to other citizens. Former prisoners sometimes found 
their status in society, ability to find employment, freedom to travel, 
and access to residence permits and social services severely 
restricted. Former political prisoners and their families frequently 
were subjected to police surveillance, telephone wiretaps, searches, 
and other forms of harassment, and some encountered difficulty in 
obtaining or keeping employment and housing (see section 1.f.).

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Courts deciding civil 
matters suffer from internal and external limitations on judicial 
independence. The State Compensation Law provides administrative and 
judicial remedies for deprivations of criminal rights, such as wrongful 
arrest or conviction, extortion of confession by torture, or unlawful 
use of force resulting in bodily injury. In civil matters, prevailing 
parties often find it difficult to enforce court orders, and resistance 
to the enforcement sometimes extends to forcible resistance to court 
police.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law states that the ``freedom and privacy of 
correspondence of citizens are protected by law''; however, the 
authorities often did not respect the privacy of citizens in practice. 
Although the law requires warrants before law enforcement officials can 
search premises, this provision frequently was ignored; moreover, the 
PSB and prosecutors could issue search warrants on their own authority 
without judicial consent, review, or consideration. Cases of forced 
entry by police officers continued to be reported.
    During the year authorities monitored telephone conversations, 
facsimile transmissions, e-mail, text messaging, and Internet 
communications. Authorities also opened and censored domestic and 
international mail. The security services routinely monitored and 
entered residences and offices to gain access to computers, telephones, 
and fax machines. All major hotels had a sizable internal security 
presence, and hotel guestrooms were sometimes bugged and searched for 
sensitive or proprietary materials.
    Some citizens were under heavy surveillance and routinely had their 
telephone calls monitored or telephone service disrupted. The 
authorities frequently warned dissidents and activists, underground 
religious figures, former political prisoners, and others whom the 
Government considered to be troublemakers not to meet with foreigners. 
During the year police ordered many such citizens not to meet with 
foreign journalists or diplomats, especially before sensitive 
anniversaries, at the time of important government or party meetings, 
and during the visits of high-level foreign officials. Security 
personnel also harassed and detained the family members of political 
prisoners, including following them to meetings with foreign reporters 
and diplomats and urging them to remain silent about the cases of their 
relatives. In 2005 family members of prisoners were discouraged or 
prevented from meeting with the UN special rapporteur on torture.
    Forced relocation because of urban development continued, and in 
some locations, increased during the year. Protests over relocation 
terms or compensation, some of which included thousands of 
participants, were common, and some protest leaders were prosecuted 
during the year (see sections 2.b. and 3). Many evictions in Beijing 
were linked to construction for the 2008 Olympics. In rural areas, 
relocation for major state projects, such as dams, and for commercial 
development resulted in the forced relocation of millions of persons.
    The country's birth planning policies retained harshly coercive 
elements in law and practice. The laws restrict the rights of families 
to choose the number of children they have and the period of time 
between births. The penalties for violating the law are strict, leaving 
some women little choice but to abort pregnancies. In addition, 
implementation of the policy by local officials resulted in serious 
violations of human rights. Reports of forced sterilizations and 
abortions, in violation of the national law, continued to be documented 
in rural areas. During the year officials in Chongqing municipality and 
in Fujian Province reportedly forcibly sterilized women. In June 
Western media reported that a woman fell to her death while fleeing 
Anhui authorities who were trying to force her to abort twins.
    The law standardizes the implementation of the Government's birth 
limitation policies; however, enforcement varied significantly from 
place to place. The law grants married couples the right to have one 
birth and allows eligible couples to apply for permission to have a 
second child if they meet conditions stipulated in local and provincial 
regulations. Many provincial regulations require women to wait four 
years or more after their first birth before making such an 
application. According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the spacing 
requirement was removed in eight and relaxed in 10 of 30 counties 
across 30 provinces participating in UNFPA's ``Fifth Country Program.'' 
The law requires couples that have an unapproved child to pay a 
``social compensation fee,'' which sometimes reached 10 times a 
person's annual disposable income, and grants preferential treatment to 
couples who abide by the birth limits. Although the law states that 
officials should not violate citizens' rights, these rights, as well as 
penalties for violating them, are not clearly defined. The law provides 
significant and detailed sanctions for officials who help persons evade 
the birth limitations.
    Social compensation fees are set and assessed at the local level. 
The law requires family planning officials to obtain court approval 
before taking ``forcible'' action, such as detaining family members or 
confiscating and destroying property of families who refuse to pay 
social compensation fees. However, in practice this requirement was not 
always followed.
    The one-child limit was more strictly applied in the cities, where 
only couples meeting certain conditions (e.g., both parents are only 
children) were permitted to have a second child. In most rural areas 
(including towns of under 200,000 persons), which included 
approximately 60 percent of the country's population, the policy was 
more relaxed, generally allowing couples to have a second child if the 
first was a girl or had a disability. Central government policy 
formally prohibits the use of physical coercion to compel persons to 
submit to abortion or sterilization, although reports of physical 
coercion to meet birth targets continued.
    Provinces were responsible for implementation of the regulations. 
All provincial-level governments except the Tibet Autonomous Region 
(TAR) amended their regulations to conform to the new law. For example, 
Anhui Province passed a law permitting 13 categories of couples, 
including coal miners, some remarried divorcees, and some farm couples, 
to have a second child. Ethnic minorities like the Uighurs and the 
Tibetans are also allowed more than one child.
    Seven provinces--Anhui, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, 
and Ningxia--require ``termination of pregnancy'' if the pregnancy 
violates provincial family planning regulations. An additional 10 
provinces--Fujian, Guizhou, Guangdong, Gansu, Jiangxi, Qinghai, 
Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Yunnan--require unspecified ``remedial 
measures'' to deal with out-of-plan pregnancies.
    In order to delay childbearing, the law sets the minimum marriage 
age for women at 20 years and for men at 22 years. It continued to be 
illegal in almost all provinces for a single woman to have a child. 
Social compensation fees were levied on unwed mothers.
    The country's population control policy relied on education, 
propaganda, and economic incentives, as well as on more coercive 
measures such as the threat of job loss or demotion and social 
compensation fees. Psychological and economic pressures were common. 
According to provincial regulations, the fees ranged from one-half to 
10 times the average worker's annual disposable income. Those who 
violated the child limit policy by having an unapproved child or 
helping another to do so faced disciplinary measures such as job loss 
or demotion, loss of promotion opportunity, expulsion from the party 
(membership in which was an unofficial requirement for certain jobs), 
and other administrative punishments, including in some cases the 
destruction of property. In the case of families that already had two 
children, one parent was often pressured to undergo sterilization. 
These penalties sometimes left women with little practical choice but 
to undergo abortion or sterilization. There were several rewards for 
couples who adhered to birth limitation laws and policies, including 
monthly stipends and preferential medical and educational benefits. The 
National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) expanded a 
number of programs to encourage smaller families. For example, new 
pension benefits were made available nationwide for those who adhered 
to birth limitation laws.
    The law states that family planning bureaus will conduct pregnancy 
tests on married women and provide them with unspecified ``follow-up'' 
services. Some provinces fine women who do not undergo periodic 
pregnancy tests. For example, in Hebei fines ranges from $25 to $62.50 
(RMB 200 to 500) and in Henan from $6 to $62.50 (RMB 50 to 500).
    Officials at all levels remained subject to rewards or penalties 
based on meeting the population goals set by their administrative 
region. Promotions for local officials still depended in part on 
meeting population targets. There continued to be sporadic reports of 
violations of citizens' rights by local officials attempting to reduce 
the number of births in their region. The most egregious reports 
occurred in 2005 in Linyi, Shandong Province. International press 
reports alleged that local official detained some 130,000 persons and 
forced them to submit to abortions or sterilization procedures. At 
least 7,000 persons were forcibly sterilized. Local officials profited 
from this illegal system by charging detention fees. Local rights 
activists documented several cases of forced late-term abortions.
    According to law, citizens may sue officials who exceed their 
authority in implementing birth-planning policy. However, local 
officials retaliated with impunity against whistleblower Chen 
Guangcheng for his work in exposing the Linyi family planning abuses. 
In August Chen was sentenced to four years' and three months' 
imprisonment on dubious charges of obstructing traffic and damaging 
public property (see section 1.e.).
    Laws and regulations forbid the termination of pregnancies based on 
the sex of the fetus, but because of the intersection of birth 
limitations with the traditional preference for male children, 
particularly in rural areas, many families used ultrasound technology 
to identify female fetuses and terminate these pregnancies (see section 
5). The male-female birth ratio for first births was 118.58 to 100 
(compared with norms of between 103 and 107 to 100), and in some parts 
of the country, the ratio was even more skewed. For second births, the 
national ratio was 152 to 100. While the NPFPC continued to deny a 
direct connection between family planning and skewed sex ratios at 
birth, it promoted expanded programs to raise awareness of the sex 
ratio imbalance and to improve protection of the rights of girls.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, although the Government generally did not 
respect these rights in practice. The Government interpreted the CCP's 
``leading role,'' as mandated in the constitution, as superseding and 
circumscribing these rights. The Government continued to threaten, 
arrest, and imprison many individuals for exercising rights to free 
expression. Internet essayists and journalists in particular were 
targeted. Hunan writer Shi Tao, New York Times employee Zhao Yan, and 
Hong Kong-based journalist for the Singapore's Straits Times Ching 
Cheong remained in prison. In November Ching Cheong, who was tried in a 
closed hearing in August, had his appeal denied by the Beijing High 
People's Court. On December 19, Lu Jianhua, a former media commentator 
and researcher at a top state-run academic institution, was sentenced 
in closed proceedings to 20 years' imprisonment. Lu, who was originally 
detained in December 2005, was found guilty of leaking state secrets in 
August. The Government continued to control print, broadcast, and 
electronic media tightly and used them to propagate government views 
and CCP ideology. Such controls tightened during the year, and it was 
increasingly difficult to express views that differed from the official 
line on the Internet, through broadcast media, and in print. Media 
outlets received regular guidance from the Central Propaganda 
Department, which listed topics that should not be covered, including 
politically sensitive topics. All media employees were under explicit 
orders to follow CCP directives and guide public opinion. These 
measures greatly restricted the freedom of journalists and Internet 
writers to report the news and led to a high degree of self-censorship.
    So long as the speaker did not publish views that challenged the 
Communist Party or disseminate such views to overseas audiences, the 
range of permissible topics for private speech continued to grow. 
Political topics could be discussed privately and in small groups 
without punishment, and minor criticisms of the Government were common 
topics of daily speech. However, public speeches, academic discussions, 
and speeches at meetings or in public forums covered by the media 
remained circumscribed. Those who aired views that disagreed with the 
Government's position on controversial topics risked punishment ranging 
from disciplinary action at government work units to police 
interrogation and detention. These restrictions and more formal 
restrictions on freedom of the press and academic freedom had a 
chilling effect on freedom of speech.
    Some citizens continued to speak out and publish on controversial 
topics, despite the Government's restrictions. For example, in January 
Guangzhou Professor Yuan Weishi wrote an article in Freezing Point, a 
popular investigative segment in the China Youth Daily newspaper, 
calling for a reassessment of sensitive historical points, resulting in 
a six-week suspension of the publication
    Journalists who reported on topics that met with the Government's 
or local authorities' disapproval continued to suffer harassment, 
detention, and imprisonment.
    Yang Xiaoqing, a reporter for the Beijing-based China Industrial 
Economy News, was detained in January, charged with blackmail and 
extortion in February and sentenced in June to one year in prison. Yang 
reported for the newspaper on alleged corruption among county officials 
in Hunan Province. Other journalists who remained in prison included 
Huang Jinqiu, Li Changqing, Yu Huafeng, Li Minying, Cheng Yizhong, Yang 
Xiaoqing, and Shi Tao. International NGOs reported that at year's end 
32 journalists and 50 cyberdissidents remained in prison.
    Detention of journalists and Chinese employees working for foreign 
media outlets increased concern that the Government was attempting to 
intimidate foreign correspondents and newspapers. In August the Beijing 
Intermediate Court sentenced Hong Kong-born journalist Cheng Xiang 
(more commonly known as Ching Cheong) of the Singapore Straits Times to 
five years in prison for espionage. NGOs reported he was detained while 
researching a story about former leader Zhao Ziyang, while the 
Government claimed he accepted money from overseas intelligence groups. 
New York Times employee Zhao Yan was sentenced in August to three years 
in prison for fraud after a Beijing court unexpectedly dismissed 
charges of divulging state secrets, which could have carried a 10-year 
sentence. Zhao maintained his innocence, and his lawyer criticized the 
courts for not allowing Zhao to testify, call on witnesses, or present 
evidence to the court.
    In addition, to criminal prosecution of writers, some government 
officials used civil lawsuits and other punishments to intimidate 
authors and block controversial writings. On October 25, writer Li 
Jianping was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on the charges of 
``incitement to subvert state power.'' In April 2005 Li was detained in 
Zibo, Shandong Province, for posting articles critical of the CCP on 
foreign Web sites. No verdict has issued from the August 2004 libel 
trial of Anhui Province authors Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao over their 
book China Peasant Survey (Nongmin Diaocha). The book, a best seller 
until it was banned, described abuse and extortion of farmers by local 
officials, one of whom sued the authors and their publishing house for 
libel.
    The Government continued to close publications and punish 
journalists for printing material deemed too sensitive. In January the 
propaganda department suspended publication of Freezing Point. A 
January 11 Freezing Point essay by Zhongshan University professor Yuan 
Weishi questioning key historical events recounted in school textbooks 
drew the attention of the censors. In March, following the removal of 
Freezing Point's editor-in-chief Li Datong and deputy editor Lu 
Yuegang, the publication reappeared with a lengthy refutation of Yuan's 
January essay. In February Chen Jieren, editor of the Public Interest 
Times, was reportedly fired for publishing articles revealing financial 
misconduct among local officials in Shaanxi Province. Also in February, 
Li Yuanlong, a reporter for the Bijie Daily in Guizhou Province, was 
charged with ``inciting to subvert state power,'' and in July he was 
sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Li was reportedly arrested in 
September 2005 for posting articles on the Internet about harsh living 
conditions in rural Guizhou.
    Newspapers could not report on corruption without government and 
party approval, although authorities approved reports regarding some 
high-profile cases. In September, when Shanghai party secretary Chen 
Liangyu was dismissed from office, the Propaganda Department issued 
strict guidelines forbidding unsanctioned commentary and ordering all 
publications only to print Xinhua News Service reports. Publishers 
printed original material at their own risk. During the year 
journalists and editors who exposed corruption scandals frequently 
faced problems with the authorities.
    Propaganda authorities also restricted reporting about public 
protests (see section 2.c.). Authorities also continued to block 
reporting and prevented journalists from covering violent protests, 
including student protests in June in Henan Province, where graduates 
rioted after learning their university reneged on a pledge to list a 
more prestigious school on their diplomas.
    Officials continued to censor and ban some reporting on labor, 
health, and environmental crises.
    Transparency in the health sector improved compared with the 
Government's cover up of the initial Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 
(SARS) outbreak in 2003. Central government officials pledged to 
promptly report cases of avian influenza but acknowledged that local 
authorities did not do so in some cases. International observers 
acknowledged that transparency had improved with regard to avian 
influenza but expressed concern about delays in reporting some human 
and animal cases. Hong Kong media reported that the Guangzhou Bureau of 
Health told hospitals to submit detailed interview outlines and 
questions for approval two days before any media interview. Some 
academics were unable to publish results of independent research into 
contagious disease cases.
    In 2005 the Government banned dozens of newspapers and confiscated 
almost one million ``illegal'' political publications. There were a few 
privately funded print publications but no privately owned television 
or radio stations or Internet portals. The censorship process for 
private and government media increasingly relied on self-censorship 
and, in a few cases, post-publication sanctions. Nonetheless, the 
Central Propaganda Department continued to list areas that were off 
limits to media, and the Government maintained authority to approve all 
programming.
    By law, only government-approved publishing houses were permitted 
to print books. The State Press and Publications Administration (PPA) 
controlled all licenses to publish. No newspaper, periodical, book, 
audio, video, or electronic publication may be printed or distributed 
without the PPA and relevant provincial publishing authorities' 
approval of both the printer and distributor. Individuals who attempted 
to publish without government approval faced imprisonment, fines, 
confiscation of their books, and other sanctions. The CCP exerted 
control over the publishing industry by preemptively classifying 
certain topics as off limits; selectively rewarding with promotions and 
perks those publishers, editors, and writers who adhered to CCP 
guidelines; and punishing with administrative sanctions and 
blacklisting those who did not. Underground printing houses were 
targets of periodic campaigns to stop all illegal publications, 
including pornography and pirated computer software and audiovisual 
products.
    Many intellectuals and scholars exercised self-censorship, 
anticipating that books or papers on political topics would be deemed 
too sensitive to be published. Overt intervention by the PPA and the 
Central Propaganda Department, which provides editorial guidelines for 
all media, usually occurred after publication.
    In past years officials reportedly destroyed Uighur books on the 
grounds that Uighur groups used art and literature to distort 
historical fact and advocate ethnic separatism. Uighur writers and 
editors, including the editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal Korash 
Huseyin, were jailed in 2005 for publishing stories that authorities 
maintained advocated separatism (see section 5). Authorities continued 
to ban books containing content they deemed controversial. Among the 
most notable was Serve the People, a sexually explicit novel that 
officials said debased Chairman Mao's image and Notes on Party History, 
which exposed historical incidents that were reportedly embellished or 
fabricated by the CCP.
    The authorities continued to jam, with varying degrees of success, 
Chinese-, Uighur-, and Tibetan-language broadcasts of the Voice of 
America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the BBC. English-language 
broadcasts on VOA generally were not jammed. Government jamming of RFA 
and BBC appeared to be more frequent and effective. Internet 
distribution of ``streaming radio'' news from these sources often was 
blocked. Despite jamming overseas broadcasts, VOA, BBC, RFA, and Radio 
France International had a large audience, including rights advocates, 
ordinary citizens, and government officials.
    Television broadcasts of foreign news, largely restricted to hotels 
and foreign residence compounds, were occasionally subject to 
censorship. Politically sensitive coverage in Chinese, and to a lesser 
extent in English, was censored more than coverage in other languages. 
``Public service announcements'' frequently interrupted news items 
critical of the Government, particularly in the south, where television 
programming from Hong Kong was available.
    The Government prohibited some foreign and domestic films from 
appearing in the country. In September the State Administration for 
Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) imposed a five-year filmmaking ban 
on director Lou Ye. SARFT banned Lou from showing his film Summer 
Palace, which is set during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, because he 
failed to obtain proper authorization. In February authorities detained 
filmmaker and foreign resident Wu Hao after Wu arranged an interview 
with rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. Wu, who was filming a documentary 
about unregistered churches, was released in July. Earlier in the year, 
SARFT banned distribution and screening of Mission Impossible III, on 
grounds that it depicted Shanghai in an unflattering light. Other 
foreign films banned during the year included Brokeback Mountain, based 
on its depiction of homosexuality and Memoirs of a Geisha, due to the 
controversy over ethnic Chinese actors playing Japanese characters.
    Visas to enter the country were sometimes denied for political 
reasons. For example, some foreign academics and journalists critical 
of the country continued to be denied visas. Others who intended to 
discuss human rights or rule of law issues also were denied visas. 
Representatives of some international human rights organizations 
reported that authorities denied their visa requests or restricted the 
length of visas issued to them (see section 4).

    Internet Freedom.--At year's end the China Internet Network 
Information Center reported that the number of Internet users jumped to 
140 million, the majority of which had broadband access to the 
Internet. While the Government continued to encourage expanded use of 
the Internet, it also took steps to monitor its use, control content, 
restrict information, and punished those who violated regulations. New 
restrictions aimed at increasing government control over the Internet 
included stricter Web site registration requirements, enhanced official 
control of online content, and an expanded definition of illegal online 
content.
    The country's Internet control system reportedly employed tens of 
thousands of persons. The Government consistently blocked access to 
sites it deemed controversial, such as sites discussing Taiwan and 
Tibetan independence, underground religious and spiritual 
organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. 
The Government also at times blocked access to selected sites operated 
by major foreign news outlets, health organizations, and educational 
institutions.
    The number of blocked sites appeared to increase around major 
political events and sensitive dates. The authorities reportedly began 
to employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective blocking 
of specific content rather than entire Web sites. Such technology was 
also used to block e-mails containing sensitive content (see section 
1.f.). The Government generally did not prosecute citizens who received 
dissident email publications but detained individuals who 
forwarded such messages. Individuals using the Internet in public 
libraries were required to register using their national identity card. 
Internet usage reportedly was monitored at all terminals in public 
libraries.
    The Ministry of Information Industry regulated access to the 
Internet while the Ministries of Public and State Security monitored 
its use. Regulations prohibit a broad range of activities that 
authorities interpret as subversive or slanderous to the state, 
including the dissemination of information that harms national unity or 
endangers national security. Promoting ``evil cults'' was banned, as 
was providing information that ``disturbs social order or undermines 
social stability.'' Internet service providers (ISPs) were instructed 
to use only domestic media news postings, to record information useful 
for tracking users and their viewing habits, to install software 
capable of copying e-mails, and to end immediately transmission of so-
called subversive material. Many ISPs practiced extensive self-
censorship to avoid violating broadly worded regulations.
    In January several individuals were detained or imprisoned for 
their Internet writing during the year. Former Fuzhou Daily journalist 
and Internet essayist Li Changqing was sentenced to three years in 
prison for ``spreading alarmist information.'' His Internet articles 
supported jailed corruption whistleblower Huang Jingao. On March 17, 
Ren Zhiyuan was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for ``subversion of 
state power'' for an Internet article holding that persons may 
rightfully overthrow tyranny through violent means. Ren was also 
suspected of planning to organize an opposition group called the 
``Mainland Democratic Front.'' On May 17, Internet essayist Yang 
Tongyan (more commonly known as Yang Tianshui) was sentenced to 12 
years in prison for posting on overseas Web sites articles calling for 
the release of Chinese dissidents. Also in May, Internet author Guo 
Qizhen, who was preparing to join a hunger strike to support lawyer Gao 
Zhisheng and others, was detained for posting essays on a Web site 
supporting human rights. On October 9, Guo was sentenced to four years' 
imprisonment and three years' deprivation of political rights on the 
charge of ``inciting subversion of state power.'' On October 12, 
Internet writer Zhang Jianhong was arrested and charged with ``inciting 
subversion of state power.'' The police took Zhang into custody on 
September 6, removed disk drives and a telephone book from his house, 
and questioned his wife about articles he posted on Web sites. On 
August 12, Zan Aizong, chief correspondent of the Hangzhou Bureau of 
the Beijing-based China Ocean News, was detained for publishing an 
Internet piece criticizing the demolition of a nearby church. Zan was 
released on August 18, but was promptly fired. In August Deng 
Yongliang, another Internet essayist, was detained in Shandong 
Province, where he had traveled to cover the trial of legal activist 
Chen Guangcheng. Authorities released Deng in September but confiscated 
his computer hard drive and mobile telephone.
    During the year the Government continued its efforts to get 
companies to sign a ``Public Pledge on Self Discipline for China's 
Internet Industry.'' Several hundred companies signed the pledge, 
including popular Chinese Internet companies like Sina.com and Sohu.com 
and Yahoo's local partner Alibaba.com. Those who signed the pledge 
agreed not to spread information that ``breaks laws or spreads 
superstition or obscenity.'' They also promised to refrain from 
``producing, posting, or disseminating pernicious information that may 
jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability.'' According to 
court documents, Yahoo provided information to security authorities, 
including access to private e-mail accounts, used in the prosecution of 
journalist Shi Tao for leaking state secrets. The company said it was 
required to provide the information under national law and customs.
    On April 9, 14 major Internet portals, including Sina.com, 
Sohu.com, Baidu.com and Yahoo's Chinese Web site issued a joint 
proposal calling for the Internet industry to censor indecent and 
harmful information, spread the ideas of Hu Jintao, encourage 
``passionate love of the motherland,'' and accept government 
supervision. Chinese search engines such as Baidu.com and the China-
based search engines of Yahoo!, MSN and Google filtered search results, 
including those relating to the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and 
human rights.
    Official statistics showed that as of July, authorities shut down 
approximately 700 online forums. In June authorities shut down Sina.com 
and Sohu.com for several days to allow the popular Internet portals to 
upgrade their filtering capabilities after censors found that the 
portals failed to filter certain key words deemed politically harmful. 
In July the Beijing Communications Administration shut down the Century 
China Web site, a popular online forum for discussing current affairs 
and historical issues, and several other sites. In August authorities 
shut down China Consultation Net after the site published results of a 
poll asking visitors whether the general secretary of the Communist 
Party should be elected from among candidates competing for the 
position.
    Internet cafes must install software that allows government 
officials to monitor customers' Internet usage. Internet users at cafes 
were often subject to surveillance. Many cafes sporadically enforced 
regulations requiring patrons to provide identification.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not 
respect academic freedom and increased controls on political and social 
discourse at colleges, universities, and research institutes. Scholars 
and researchers reported varying degrees of control regarding issues 
they could examine and conclusions they could draw. Law professors were 
warned not to propose abolition of the reeducation-through-labor 
system. Scholar Xu Zerong received a nine-month sentence reduction in 
September, but he remained in prison. Scholars studying religion 
reported that the official Protestant church blocked some publications 
it found objectionable. Authorities canceled university conferences 
involving foreign and domestic academics on short notice when they 
deemed the topics at issue to be too sensitive.
    The Government continued to use political attitudes as criteria for 
selecting persons for the few government-sponsored study abroad 
programs but did not impose such restrictions on privately sponsored 
students. In August Independent Chinese Pen Center (ICPC) member Wu Wei 
was reportedly stopped at the Hong Kong border while on his way to 
attend the ICPC's annual meeting (see section 2.d.).
    Researchers residing abroad also were subject to sanctions from the 
authorities when their work did not meet with official approval.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the Government severely 
restricted this right in practice. The law stipulates that such 
activities may not challenge ``party leadership'' or infringe upon the 
``interests of the state.'' Protests against the political system or 
national leaders were prohibited. Authorities denied permits and 
quickly suppressed demonstrations involving expression of dissenting 
political views.

    Freedom of Assembly.--At times police used excessive force against 
demonstrators. Demonstrations with political or social themes were 
often broken up quickly and violently. Widespread market reforms and 
rapid growth have resulted in increased social unrest, with large-scale 
public disturbances on the rise for more than a decade. As in past 
years, the vast majority of demonstrations during the year concerned 
land disputes, housing issues, industrial, environmental, and labor 
matters, government corruption, taxation, and other economic and social 
concerns. During the first half of the year, public security 
authorities reported 39,000 ``public order disturbances,'' a 2.5 
percent decrease from the same period in 2005, although these 
statistics were widely viewed as unreliable. While the scale of 
disturbances and incidents varied, some included thousands of 
participants. In April, for example, up to 3,000 riot police used tear 
gas and water cannons to disperse 4,000 villagers gathered to protest 
destruction of an unauthorized, farmer-initiated irrigation project in 
Bomei Village, Guangdong Province. Land protests involving hundreds or 
thousands of protesters also continued (see section 1.a.). In January 
one villager died and as many as 100 were injured when police disrupted 
3,000 residents at a sit-in convened over a land dispute in Zhongshan 
City, Guangdong Province. In April more than 50 villagers were injured 
when 1,000 riot police confronted 2,000 villagers peacefully protesting 
a land dispute near Guangdong Province's Foshan City.
    Authorities detained potential protesters before the June 4 
anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the first anniversary of Zhao 
Ziyang's death in January, and the March plenary sessions of the NPC 
and CPPCC. Dissidents were detained around the time of other sensitive 
events to head off public demonstrations (see section 1.d.). Labor 
protests over restructuring of state-owned enterprises and resulting 
unemployment continued, as did protests over environmental degradation 
and major infrastructure projects, such as dams. All concerts, sports 
events, exercise classes, or other meetings of more than 200 persons 
required approval from public security authorities. In practice much 
smaller gatherings also ran the risk of being disrupted by authorities. 
Unlike previous years, there were no sizable incidents of anti-Japanese 
protests.
    The Government continued to wage a severe campaign against the 
Falun Gong movement. Falun Gong practitioners were subject to close 
scrutiny by local security personnel, and their personal mobility was 
tightly restricted, particularly at times when the Government believed 
public protests were likely.
    Persons petitioning the Government continued to face restrictions 
on their rights to assemble and raise grievances. Official news media 
reported that citizens presented 12.7 million petitions to ``letters 
and visits'' offices in 2005, but only 0.2 percent of petitions filed 
received a response. Most petitions mentioned grievances about land, 
housing, entitlements, the environment, or corruption. Petitioners 
largely sought to present their complaints at national and provincial 
``letters and visits'' offices but also targeted foreign embassies and 
media to bring attention to their complaints.
    Petitioners continued to face harassment, detention, and 
incarceration. Petitioners in Liaoning and other provinces reported 
being accosted by plainclothes police and brought back to their homes 
before they could register their petitions in the capital. In June Fu 
Xiancai, who petitioned the Government for compensation on behalf of 
1.3 million persons forcibly relocated from their land due to the Three 
Gorges Dam project, was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a 
beating he received at the hands of unidentified assailants.
    Although regulations implemented in 2005 banned retaliation against 
petitioners, reports of retaliation continued. This was partly due to 
incentives provided to local officials by the central government to 
prevent petitioners in their regions from raising complaints to higher 
levels. Incentives included provincial cadre evaluations based in part 
on the number of petitions from their provinces. This initiative aimed 
to encourage local and provincial officials to resolve legitimate 
complaints but also resulted in local officials sending security 
personnel to Beijing and forcibly returning the petitioners to their 
home provinces. Such detentions occurred both before and after the 
enactment of the new regulations and often went unrecorded.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, but the Government restricted this right in practice. CCP 
policy and government regulations require that all professional, 
social, and economic organizations officially register with, and be 
approved by, the Government. In practice these regulations prevented 
the formation of truly autonomous political, human rights, religious, 
spiritual, labor, and other organizations that might challenge 
government authority. Implementation of these regulations tightened 
during the year (see section 2.a.).
    Authorities established a task force in 2005 to increase scrutiny 
over NGOs, especially those with links overseas. Published reports said 
the task force was part of a campaign initiated in response to the 
``color revolutions'' in former Soviet republics and aimed to block 
NGOs from fomenting political change. Security ministries participated 
in this task force and questioned representatives of domestic and 
international NGOs about their activities. International foundations, 
NGOs involved in social and charitable activities, and groups dedicated 
to combating discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, 
and minorities were targets of the campaign, along with organizations 
that focused on human rights issues.
    Since 2004 according to official statistics, the number of 
registered NGOs increased from 288,936 to 317,000. NGOs were required 
to register with the Government. To register, an NGO must find a 
government agency to serve as the NGO's organizational sponsor, have a 
registered office, and hold a minimum amount of funds. Organizations 
with social or educational purposes that had previously been registered 
as private or for-profit businesses reportedly were requested to find a 
government sponsor and reregister as NGOs during the year (see section 
4). Experts estimated that, including both registered and unregistered 
groups, there were perhaps as many as eight million quasi-governmental 
organizations and NGOs.
    Authorities supported the growth of some civil society 
organizations that address social problems such as poverty and HIV/
AIDS. Over the past two years, officials increased measures aimed at 
supervising and controlling civil society organizations; however, 
various NGOs were still able to develop their own agendas, although the 
registered organizations all came under some degree of government 
control. Prominent activist Hu Jia resigned from an organization he 
helped establish to assist HIV/AIDS orphans, citing pressure on the 
organization's international donors. On November 24, HIV/AIDS activist 
Wan Yanhai was detained for three days in Beijing. Wan was forced to 
cancel an HIV/AIDS rights related workshop planned for November 26. 
Officials reportedly were concerned because workshop attendees included 
human rights lawyers (see section 5). A number of NGOs had support from 
foreign secular and religious NGOs, and several were able to undertake 
limited advocacy roles in public interest areas like women's issues, 
the environment, health, and consumer rights. According to government 
guidelines, NGOs must not advocate nonparty rule, damage national 
unity, or upset ethnic harmony. Groups that disregarded guidelines and 
unregistered groups that continued to operate could face administrative 
punishment or criminal charges.
    No laws or regulations specifically govern the formation of 
political parties. But the CDP remained banned, and the Government 
continued to monitor, detain, and imprison current and former CDP 
members (see section 3). As in past years, individuals were charged 
with and convicted of ``disclosing state secrets'' after passing 
information to human rights NGOs based abroad (see section 4).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and laws provide for 
freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe. However, 
the Government sought to restrict religious practice to government-
sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to 
control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. The 
Government recognized five main religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, 
Protestantism, and Catholicism. A government-affiliated association 
monitored and supervised the activities of each of these faiths. 
Membership in these faiths as well as unregistered religious groups 
grew rapidly. The Government tried to control and regulate religious 
groups, especially groups that were unregistered.
    The extent of religious freedom continued to vary widely within the 
country. Freedom to participate in officially sanctioned religious 
activity continued to increase in most areas. Religious activity grew 
not only among the five main religions, but also among the Eastern 
Orthodox Church and folk religions. Bibles and other religious texts 
were available in most parts of the country. At the same time, some 
unregistered groups continued to experience varying degrees of official 
interference and harassment. Crackdowns against unregistered 
Protestants and Catholics, Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists (see Tibet 
Addendum) continued. The Government continued its repression of groups 
that it determined to be ``cults'' and of the Falun Gong spiritual 
movement in particular.
    All religious venues were required to register with the State 
Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) or its provincial or local 
offices (known as Religious Affairs Bureaus (RABs). SARA and the RABs 
were responsible for monitoring and judging whether religious activity 
was ``normal'' and therefore lawful. SARA and the CCP's united front 
work department provided policy guidance and supervision over 
implementation of government regulations on religious activity.
    New regulations governing religious affairs, which came into effect 
in March 2005, delineated regulatory activities governing religious 
affairs and consolidated official pronouncements within a legal 
framework. However, the regulations provide general protection only for 
freedom of ``religious belief,'' and not for expressions of belief. The 
regulations protect only those religious beliefs categorized vaguely as 
``normal.'' In practice, party doctrine guides resolution of religious 
issues and implementation of the regulations. The regulations protect 
the rights of registered religious groups, under certain conditions, to 
possess property, publish literature, train and approve clergy, and 
collect donations. However, the regulations have not created additional 
room for lawful religious activity by groups not affiliated with the 
five main religions. In this regard, the regulations merely codify past 
practices and give authorities broad discretion to define which 
religious activities are permissible.
    The law requires religious groups to register places of worship. 
Spiritual activities in places of worship that have not registered may 
be considered illegal and participants can be punished. Government 
officials stated that private homes where family and friends meet to 
study the Bible would not be required to register, but venues for 
formal worship services should be registered, even if such formal 
worship takes place in a private home. Clergy need not be approved by 
the Government but must be reported to the Government after being 
selected pursuant to the rules of the relevant government-affiliated 
religious association. Pressure on religious groups to register or to 
come under the supervision of official ``patriotic'' religious 
organizations continued during the year. Some groups registered 
voluntarily, while a number registered under pressure; several groups 
avoided officials in an attempt to avoid registration, and authorities 
refused to register others. Various unofficial groups reported that 
authorities refused them registration without explanation. The 
Government contended that these refusals were mainly the result of 
failure to meet requirements concerning facilities and meeting spaces. 
Some religious groups were reluctant to comply with the regulations out 
of principled opposition to state control of religion or due to fear of 
adverse consequences if they revealed, as required, the names and 
addresses of church leaders and members.
    Local authorities' handling of unregistered religious groups, 
especially Protestant ``house churches,'' varied widely. In certain 
regions government supervision of religious activity was minimal, and 
registered and unregistered Protestant and Catholic churches existed 
openly side-by-side and were treated similarly by the authorities. In 
such areas many congregants worshipped in both types of churches; 
congregants in unregistered churches were also able to procure Bibles 
at official churches. In some parts of the country, unregistered house 
churches with hundreds of members met openly, with the full knowledge 
of local authorities, who characterized the meetings as informal 
gatherings. In other areas house church meetings of more than a handful 
of family members and friends were strictly proscribed. House churches 
often encountered difficulties when their membership grew, when they 
arranged for the regular use of facilities for the purpose of 
conducting religious activities, or when they forged links with other 
unregistered groups.
    Leaders of unauthorized groups were sometimes the target of 
harassment, interrogation, detention, and physical abuse. Authorities 
frequently disrupted house church meetings and retreats, detained and 
questioned leaders and church members, and confiscated the personal 
property of house church leaders and members. During the year thousands 
of house church members were detained; a large number of these 
detentions occurred in Henan Province.
    Henan Province house Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang was convicted 
in June of obtaining a passport through fraud and of illegal border 
crossing. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. 
Beijing-based house church Christian Liu Fenggang, who was convicted in 
August 2004 with Xu Yonghai and Zhang Shenqi on charges of disclosing 
state secrets, remained in prison. Liu provided an overseas Chinese 
magazine information about abuse of Christians in the country. In 
February Lou Yuanqi was reportedly detained for holding unauthorized 
church services in Xinjiang. In April Li Huimin was reportedly 
sentenced to reeducation in Henan Province for holding house church 
meetings at his home. In May several house church activists were 
detained in Henan Province's Fugou County, while several others 
remained under detention. Persons associated with Protestant Christian 
worship outside government-approved venues also were subject to 
detention or abuse.
    In July and August, according to the China Aid Association, 
authorities in several provinces detained Protestant house church 
members. On July 19, Henan Province authorities reportedly raided a 
house church in Zhumadian, questioning more than 60 church members. On 
July 21, Hubei Province officials reportedly raided a house church 
meeting, questioning 20 church members. Officials later placed 10 
church members under administrative detention lasting from 10 to 15 
days. On July 24, Yunnan Province authorities reportedly detained four 
house church members. On July 27, Anhui Province officials reportedly 
raided a house church Sunday school, questioning approximately 40 
individuals. Officials also placed pastors Cai Yili and Li Lizhong in 
administrative detention for 16 days. On August 19, officials from the 
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reportedly raided a house church, 
confiscating church property and warning church members that they could 
only meet at registered churches.
    As in previous years, there were reports that a number of Catholic 
priests, lay leaders, and laypersons were beaten or otherwise abused. 
In some localities, authorities reportedly pressured unregistered 
clergy and laypersons to renounce ordinations approved by the Holy See, 
join the official church, or face a variety of punishments including 
fines, job loss, and detentions. On September 11, Bishop Wu Qinjing, 
who was ordained in October 2005 with approval from the Holy See but 
without government permission, was detained for five days and forced to 
sign a document stating that his ordination was illegal.
    Harassment of unregistered Catholic bishops, priests, and 
laypersons, including government surveillance and detentions, 
continued. On July 2, authorities detained unregistered Bishop Jia 
Zhiguo for the tenth time since 2004; he was released on September 27. 
Bishop Yao Liang, who is 82 years old, was arrested on July 30 and 
remained under detention at year's end. There was no new information 
about unregistered Bishop Su Zhimin, who has been unaccounted for since 
his reported detention in 1997. In June an unverified press report 
circulated that Bishop Su had died in custody. The Government did not 
respond to requests for information in the case. Bishop An Shuxin, 
Bishop Su's auxiliary bishop, was released on August 24, after 10 years 
in prison. Officials permitted Bishop An's release when he accepted 
recognition by the Government and did not force him to register with 
the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA). In late September 
unregistered Catholic priests Shao Zhoumin and Jiang Sunian were 
detained in Shenzhen upon their return from Europe. Sources also 
reported that Bishop Zhang Weizhu, Father Cui Xing, and Father Wang 
Quanjun remained detained in Hebei Province. According to the foreign-
based Cardinal Kung Foundation, the whereabouts of Bishop Zhao 
Zhendong, who was detained in December 2004, remained unknown. In Hebei 
Province, officials detained a total of seven Catholic clerics and 90 
laypersons.
    The Government and the Holy See have not established diplomatic 
relations and there was no Vatican representative on the Mainland. The 
role of the pope in selecting bishops, the status of underground 
Catholic clerics, and Vatican recognition of Taiwan remained obstacles 
to improved relations.
    Although the Government insisted that it retains power to impose 
conditions on the appointment of Catholic bishops, registered Catholics 
increasingly acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Holy See, and 
the Vatican has approved most registered bishops appointed by the 
Government prior to consecration. In April and May, CPA officials 
consecrated two Catholic bishops without Vatican approval, reportedly 
forcing registered Catholic clerics to participate in the 
consecrations. The CPA also installed a bishop in Fujian Province, even 
though he was consecrated in 2000 without Holy See approval.
    In July officials demolished a large house church that was under 
constructed in Zhejiang Province and reportedly beat hundreds of house 
church members who arrived to protest the demolition. Officials 
repeatedly denied requests for permission to build a church. 
Traditional folk religions, such as Fujian Province's ``Mazu cult,'' 
were still practiced in some locations. They were tolerated to varying 
degrees, often seen as loose affiliates of Taoism or as ethnic minority 
cultural practices. However, the Government has labeled folk religions 
``feudal superstition'' and sometimes repressed them. SARA established 
a new administrative division responsible for the activities of folk 
religions and religions outside the main five, including the Eastern 
Orthodox Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    Buddhists made up the largest body of organized religious 
believers. The traditional practice of Buddhism continued to expand 
among citizens in many parts of the country. Tibetan Buddhists in some 
areas had growing freedom to practice their faith. However, government 
restrictions remained, particularly in cases in which the Government 
interpreted Buddhist belief as supporting separatism, such as in some 
Tibetan areas and parts of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. In 
February emissaries of the Dalai Lama met with government officials, in 
the fifth round of dialogue between the two sides since 2002 (see Tibet 
Addendum).
    Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and 
places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in Xinjiang. 
During the year authorities added women to the groups of persons 
prohibited from entering mosques. Other groups formally prohibited from 
entering mosques included children, CCP members, and government 
workers. However, in practice women and children were not uniformly 
barred from entering mosques. The Government continued to use 
counterterrorism to justify religious repression of Uighur Muslims (see 
section 5). Xinjiang authorities continued to detain and arrest persons 
engaged in unauthorized religious activities and charged them with a 
range of offences including state security crimes. Xinjiang authorities 
often charged religious believers with committing the ``three evils'' 
of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. While targeted primarily at 
Muslims, the tight control of religion in Xinjiang affected followers 
of other religions as well.
    The Government strictly controlled the practice of Islam, while the 
state-controlled Islamic Association of China aligned Islamic practice 
to CCP goals. However, in contrast to the heavy-handed approach to 
Muslims in Xinjiang Province, officials in Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai 
provinces approached religious affairs cautiously and were reluctant to 
interfere overtly in Muslims' activities. Authorities reserved the 
right to censor imams' sermons, and imams were urged to emphasize the 
damage caused to Islam by terrorist acts in the name of the religion. 
Certain Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment. 
Authorities conducted monthly political study sessions for religious 
personnel and the program continued through the year. In May the IAC 
announced it would establish an office to manage pilgrimages to Mecca. 
In the same month the China Islamic Conference passed a measure 
requiring religious personnel to study ``new collected sermons'' 
compiled by an IAC committee, including messages on patriotism and 
unity aimed at building a ``socialist harmonious society.''
    According to one overseas organization, 179 practitioners of the 
Sala order, a local Sufi branch of Islam, were arrested in August 2005 
following a government ban on the movement. Although officials denied 
the ban, they considered the movement dangerous. In August 2004 eight 
Uighur Muslims in Hotan were reportedly charged with endangering state 
security and scores were detained on charges of engaging in ``illegal 
religious activities.'' In addition to the restrictions on practicing 
religion placed on party members and government officials throughout 
the country, teachers, professors, and university students in Xinjiang 
were not allowed to practice religion openly.
    Muslims were permitted to make pilgrimages abroad, but the 
Government reportedly penalized those who arranged unauthorized 
pilgrimages. Official reports noted that more than 9,700 Chinese 
Muslims traveled to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, which began on 
November 29. This figure likely did not include participants who were 
not organized by the Government, which numbered thousands in previous 
years. Between July and September, thousands of Uighur Muslims, who 
traveled to Pakistan to circumvent government-imposed controls on Hajj 
participants, were stuck in Islamabad because they were denied visas by 
the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Following demonstrations by the visa 
applicants outside the Saudi Embassy, visas were granted to 
approximately 1,000 applicants, although many more were forced to 
return to Xinjiang.
    The authorities permitted officially sanctioned religious 
organizations to maintain international contacts that do not involve 
``foreign control.'' However, what constitutes ``control'' is not 
defined. Regulations on religious practice by foreigners include a ban 
on proselytizing. Authorities generally allowed foreign nationals to 
preach to other foreigners, bring in religious materials for personal 
use, and preach to citizens at the invitation of registered religious 
organizations. Despite a ban on missionary activities, many foreign 
Christians teaching on college campuses openly professed their faith 
with minimum interference from authorities provided their religious 
activity remains discreet. Authorities permitted citizens who joined 
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while they were outside 
of China to hold services after they returned.
    The authorities continued a general crackdown on groups considered 
to be ``cults.'' These ``cults'' included not only Falun Gong and 
various traditional Chinese meditation and exercise groups (known 
collectively as qigong groups), but also religious groups that 
authorities accused of preaching beliefs outside the bounds of 
officially approved doctrine. Groups that the Government labeled cults 
included Eastern Lightning, the Servants of Three Classes, the 
Shouters, the South China Church, the Association of Disciples, the 
Full Scope Church, the Spirit Sect, the New Testament Church, the Way 
of the Goddess of Mercy, the Lord God Sect, the Established King 
Church, the Unification Church, and the Family of Love. Authorities 
accused some in these groups of lacking proper theological training, 
preaching the imminent coming of the apocalypse or holy war, or 
exploiting the reemergence of religion for personal gain. The 
Government accused the Eastern Lightning group and some other 
unregistered Christian groups of involvement in violence.
    Actions against such groups continued during the year. Police also 
continued their efforts to close down the underground evangelical group 
Shouters, an offshoot of a pre-1949 indigenous Protestant group. Action 
against the South China Church (SCC) continued. In August 2005 
approximately 40 SCC members were detained in Hubei Province after 
meeting with foreigners. According to an anonymous petition submitted 
to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, SCC founder 
Gong Shengliang and other imprisoned SCC members suffered serious 
abuses in prison. Gong is serving a life sentence for rape, arson, and 
assault, even though the women who testified against him in his 
original trial in 2001 reported that police had tortured them into 
signing statements accusing Gong of raping them. During the year Gong's 
daughters reported that Gong was in poor health and had been beaten by 
another inmate.
    Public Falun Gong activity in the country remained negligible, and 
practitioners based abroad reported that the Government's crackdown 
against the group continued. Since the Government banned the Falun Gong 
in 1999, the mere belief in the discipline (even without any public 
manifestation of its tenets) has been sufficient grounds for 
practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to 
imprisonment. Although the vast majority of practitioners detained have 
been released, many were detained again after release (see section 
1.e.). Falun Gong sources estimated that at least 6,000 Falun Gong 
practitioners had been sentenced to prison, more than 100,000 
practitioners sentenced to reeducation through labor, and almost 3,000 
had died from torture while in custody. Some foreign observers 
estimated that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 
250,000 officially recorded inmates in reeducation-through-labor camps, 
while Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number even higher. In 
March UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported that Falun Gong 
practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture 
while in government custody.
    Falun Gong members identified by the Government as ``core leaders'' 
have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment. More than a 
dozen Falun Gong members have been sentenced to prison for the crime of 
``endangering state security,'' but the great majority of Falun Gong 
members convicted by the courts since 1999 have been sentenced to 
prison for ``organizing or using a sect to undermine the implementation 
of the law,'' a less serious offense. Most practitioners, however, were 
punished administratively. Some practitioners were sentenced to 
reeducation through labor. Among them, Yuan Yuju and Liang Jinhui, 
relatives of a Hong Kong journalist working for a television station 
supportive of Falun Gong, were sentenced to reeducation through labor 
for distributing Falun Gong materials. Apart from reeducation through 
labor, some Falun Gong members were sent to ``legal education'' centers 
specifically established to ``rehabilitate'' practitioners who refused 
to recant their belief voluntarily after release from reeducation-
through-labor camps. Government officials denied the existence of such 
``legal education'' centers. In addition, hundreds of Falun Gong 
practitioners have been confined to mental hospitals, according to 
overseas groups (see section 1.d.).
    Allegations of abuse of Falun Gong practitioners by the police and 
other security personnel continued during the year (see section 1.c.). 
In addition, multiple allegations of government-sanctioned organ 
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners surfaced. In April overseas Falun 
Gong groups claimed that a hospital in Sujiatun, Shenyang, had been the 
site of a ``concentration camp'' and of mass organ harvesting, 
including from live prisoners (see section 1.c.). The Government opened 
the facility to diplomatic observers and foreign journalists, who found 
nothing inconsistent with the operation of a hospital.
    Police continued to detain current and former Falun Gong 
practitioners and place them in reeducation camps. Police reportedly 
had quotas for Falun Gong arrests and targeted former practitioners, 
even if they were no longer practicing. The Government continued its 
use of high-pressure tactics and mandatory anti-Falun Gong study 
sessions to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. Even 
practitioners who had not protested or made other public demonstrations 
of belief reportedly were forced to attend anti-Falun Gong classes or 
were sent directly to reeducation-through-labor camps. These tactics 
reportedly resulted in large numbers of practitioners signing pledges 
to renounce the movement.
    The Government supported atheism in schools. In March 2005 a 
Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country had no national regulations 
preventing children from receiving religious instruction, but said 
religion should not interfere with public education. In practice local 
authorities in many regions barred school-age children from attending 
religious services at mosques, temples, or churches and prevented them 
from receiving religious education outside the home.
    The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public 
office; however, party membership is required for almost all high-level 
positions in government, state-owned businesses, and many official 
organizations. Communist Party officials have stated that party 
membership and religious belief were incompatible. Government and CCP 
officials reiterated that religious believers should resign their party 
membership. The Routine Service Regulations of the People's Liberation 
Army state explicitly that service members ``may not take part in 
religious or superstitious activities.'' CCP and PLA personnel have 
been expelled for adhering to Falun Gong beliefs.
    Despite regulations encouraging officials to be atheists, some 
party officials engaged in religious activity, most commonly Buddhism 
or a folk religion. The NPC included several religious representatives. 
NPC Standing Committee vice chairmen included Fu Tieshan, a bishop and 
vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Religious 
groups also were represented in the CPPCC, an advisory forum for 
``multiparty'' cooperation and consultation led by the CCP, and in 
local and provincial governments. CPPCC Standing Committee vice 
chairmen included Pagbalha Geleg Namgyal, a Tibetan reincarnate lama.
    Official religious organizations administered local religious 
schools, seminaries, and institutes to train priests, ministers, imams, 
Islamic scholars, and Buddhist monks. Students who attended these 
institutes had to demonstrate ``political reliability,'' and all 
graduates must pass an examination on their political as well as 
theological knowledge to qualify for the clergy. The Government 
permitted registered religions to train clergy and allowed an 
increasing number of Catholic and Protestant seminarians, Muslim 
clerics, and Buddhist clergy to go abroad for additional religious 
studies, but some religion students had difficulty getting passports or 
obtaining approval to study abroad. In most cases foreign organizations 
provided funding for such training programs.
    Authorities continued to prohibit the teaching of Islam to 
elementary and middle school-age children in some areas, although 
children studied Arabic and the Koran without restriction in many 
others. Local officials stated that school-age children may not study 
religion or enter mosques in Xinjiang. In August 2005 a teacher, Aminan 
Momixi, and more than 30 students were reportedly detained for holding 
Koran study sessions during school vacation. Authorities confiscated 
their Korans and Muslim textbooks and the Government declined to 
clarify Momixi's status. According to media reports, Xinjiang 
authorities confiscated religious publications on many other occasions, 
sometimes detaining those who possessed unapproved religious texts.
    Religious organizations of all faiths, including those composed of 
foreigners, were encouraged to engage in charitable activities and 
social services. Religious organizations engaged in social services 
faced obstacles registering with local authorities. These difficulties 
were similar to those faced by nonreligious NGOs (section 2.b.).
    The 2005 religious regulations permit authorized religious 
organizations and venues to compile and print materials for internal 
and public distribution, but require publications to be prepared in 
accordance with national regulations. These regulations, in turn, 
impose strict prior restraints on religious literature, even beyond the 
restrictions on other types of publications. The regulations also 
provide for government oversight of the appointment of religious 
personnel.
    The Government strictly punished the private publication of 
religious works. In April pastor Liu Yuhua from Shandong was detained 
in Linchu County on charges of operating an illegal business after he 
was found distributing religious texts. In May house church pastor Wang 
Zaiqing from Anhui was formally arrested. Foreign-based NGOs said the 
arrest was in connection with his work publishing Bibles and religious 
materials. In July 2005 Protestant Pastor Cai Zhuohua and two other 
relatives were sentenced to three years, two years, and 18 months in 
prison for operating an illegal business, stemming from their large-
scale publishing of Bibles and Christian literature without government 
approval. According to reliable reports, the CCP officials described 
the prosecution of Cai as one of the most important cases in the 
campaign to prevent foreign infiltration under the cover of religion.
    Media reports stated that authorities confiscated illegal religious 
publications in Xinjiang. In February Xinjiang authorities reportedly 
raided a minority-language printing market and seized ``illegally 
printed'' religious posters. Also in February authorities announced 
that in 2005 they had seized 9,860 illegal publications involving 
religion, Falun Gong, or ``feudal superstitions.'' The Xinjiang 
People's Publication House was the only publisher allowed to print 
Muslim literature.
    The supply of Bibles was adequate in most parts of the country, but 
some members of underground churches complained that the supply and 
distribution of Bibles, especially in rural locations, was inadequate. 
Individuals could not order Bibles directly from publishing houses. 
Customs officials continued to monitor for the ``smuggling'' of 
religious materials into the country. There have been credible reports 
that the authorities sometimes confiscated Bibles, Korans, and other 
religious material.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuses of religious practitioners or anti-Semitic acts during 
the year. The Government does not recognize Judaism as an ethnicity or 
religion.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration and Repatriation.--The law provides for some of these 
rights; however, the Government generally did not respect them in 
practice. Although the Government maintained restrictions on the 
freedom to change one's workplace or residence, the national household 
registration system continued to erode, and the ability of most 
citizens to move within the country to work and live continued to 
expand. However, the Government retained the ability to restrict 
freedom of movement through other mechanisms. Authorities heightened 
restrictions periodically, particularly curtailing the movement of 
individuals deemed politically sensitive before key anniversaries, 
visits of foreign dignitaries, and to forestall demonstrations.
    The system of national household registration (hukou) underwent 
further change during the year, as the country accumulated a more 
mobile labor force. Rural residents continued to migrate to the cities, 
where the per capita disposable income was more than quadruple the 
rural per capita cash income. Nonetheless, many could not officially 
change their residence or workplace within the country. Government and 
work unit permission were often required before moving to a new city. 
Most cities had annual quotas for the number of new temporary residence 
permits that would be issued, and all workers, including university 
graduates, had to compete for a limited number of such permits. It was 
particularly difficult for peasants from rural areas to obtain 
household registration in economically more developed urban areas.
    The household registration system added to the difficulties rural 
residents faced in changing to urban residency, even when they have 
already relocated to urban areas and found employment. There remained a 
floating population of between 100 and 150 million economic migrants 
who lacked official residence status in cities. Without official 
residence status, it was difficult or impossible to gain full access to 
social services, including education. Furthermore, law and society 
generally limited migrant workers to types of work considered least 
desirable by local residents, and such workers had little recourse when 
subjected to abuse by employers and officials. Some major cities 
maintained programs to provide migrant workers and their children 
access to public education and other social services free of charge, 
but migrants in some locations reported that it is difficult to qualify 
for these benefits in practice. Many cities and provinces continued 
experiments aimed at abolishing the distinction between urban and rural 
residents in household registration documents.
    House arrest continued to be used as a nonjudicial punishment and 
control measure against dissidents, family members of political 
prisoners, petitioners, and others whom the Government or party deemed 
politically sensitive or ``troublemakers'' (see section 1.d.).
    Under the ``staying at prison employment'' system applicable to 
recidivists incarcerated in reeducation-through-labor camps, 
authorities denied certain persons permission to return to their homes 
after serving their sentences. Some released or paroled prisoners 
returned home but were not permitted freedom of movement.
    The Government permitted legal emigration and foreign travel for 
most citizens. Most citizens could obtain passports, although those 
whom the Government deemed threats, including religious leaders, 
political dissidents, and some ethnic minority members continued to 
have difficulty obtaining passports (see Tibet Addendum). There were 
reports that some academics faced travel restrictions around the year's 
sensitive anniversaries, particularly the June 4 anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre. There were instances in which the 
authorities refused to issue passports or visas on apparent political 
grounds. Members of underground churches, Falun Gong members, and other 
politically sensitive individuals sometimes were refused passports and 
other necessary travel documents. In March an individual in Guangxi 
Province was reportedly barred from traveling outside the country 
because he authored Internet articles critical of the CCP. In August 
ICPC member Wu Wei was reportedly stopped at the Hong Kong border while 
on his way to attend the ICPC's annual meeting. In September passport 
control authorities without warning confiscated the passport of a 
prominent labor rights lawyer as he was boarding a train to Hong Kong.
    The law neither provides for a citizen's right to repatriate nor 
otherwise addresses exile. The Government continued to refuse reentry 
to numerous citizens who were considered dissidents, Falun Gong 
activists, or troublemakers. Although some dissidents living abroad 
have been allowed to return, dissidents released on medical parole and 
allowed to leave the country often were effectively exiled. Activists 
residing abroad have been imprisoned upon their return to the country.
    While UNHCR reported that more than 2,000 Tibetans each year 
crossed into Nepal, the Government continued to try to prevent many 
Tibetans from leaving (see Tibet Addendum).

    Protection of Refugees.--Although a signatory of the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
the law does not provide for the granting of refugee or asylum status. 
The Government largely cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) when dealing with the resettlement of 
ethnic Han Chinese or ethnic minorities from Vietnam and Laos resident 
in the country. During the year the Government and UNHCR continued 
ongoing discussions concerning the granting of citizenship to these 
residents. Since the late 1980s, the Government has adopted a de facto 
policy of tolerance toward the small number of persons, fewer than 100 
annually, from other nations who registered with the Beijing office of 
the UNHCR as asylum seekers. The Government permitted these persons to 
remain in the country while the UNHCR made determinations as to their 
status and, if the UNHCR determined that they were bona fide refugees, 
while they awaited resettlement in third countries. However, the 
Government continued to deny the UNHCR permission to operate along its 
northeastern border with North Korea, arguing that North Koreans who 
crossed the border were illegal economic migrants, not refugees.
    During the year several thousand North Koreans were reportedly 
detained and forcibly returned to North Korea. Many faced persecution, 
and some may have been executed upon their return. Several hundred 
North Koreans were permitted to travel to third countries after they 
had entered diplomatic compounds or international schools in the 
country. There were numerous credible reports of harassment and 
detention of North Koreans in the country. The Government also arrested 
and detained foreign journalists, missionaries, and activists, as well 
as some citizens, for providing food, shelter, transportation, and 
other assistance to North Koreans. The Government continued to detain 
several foreigners in the Northeast, some on charges of alien 
smuggling, but most for helping North Koreans enter the country. Jilin 
Province's public security Web site reported that it had deported an 
estimated 2,000 ``foreigners'' in 2004, most of who were believed to be 
North Korean. According to NGOs, during the year North Korean agents 
operated within the country to forcibly repatriate North Korean 
citizens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law does not provide citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens cannot freely choose or change the 
laws and officials that govern them. The CCP continued to control 
appointments to positions of political power.

    Elections and Political Participation.--According to the law, the 
NPC is the highest organ of state power. Formally, it elects the 
President and vice President, selects the premier and vice premiers, 
and elects the chairman of the State Central Military Commission. In 
practice the NPC Standing Committee, which is composed of 153 members, 
oversaw these elections and determined the agenda and procedure for the 
NPC. The NPC Standing Committee remained under the direct authority of 
the CCP's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee. The NPC does not 
have the power to set policy or remove government or party leaders.
    In 2003 the NPC confirmed CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao as 
President, and in 2004 Hu consolidated his power when he was also 
appointed chairman of the Central Military Commission.
    All of the country's approximately one million villages were 
expected to hold competitive, direct elections for village committee 
officials. Most provinces already have held four or five rounds of 
village committee elections, according to the Ministry of Civil 
Affairs. Foreign observers who monitored local village committee 
elections judged those they observed to have been generally fair. 
However, the Government estimated that one-third of all elections had 
serious procedural flaws. Corruption, vote buying, and interference by 
township-level and party officials continued to be problems. The law 
permitted each voter to cast proxy votes for up to three other voters. 
Many rural voters cast the maximum number of proxy votes, especially in 
areas with significant out-migration.
    Although the law includes a provision for recalling village 
committee members, local implementing regulations have proven 
sufficiently vague or cumbersome so as to prevent most attempted 
recalls. In cases of alleged corruption, a handful of local legislative 
deputies, but not village heads, have been recalled. In 2005 villagers 
in Guangdong Province's Taishi Village were subjected to severe abuse 
when they tried to recall village chief Chen Jinsheng, whom they 
accused of embezzling village funds. Authorities resorted to violence, 
intimidation, and other tactics to quash the recall attempt.
    The election law governs elections of legislative bodies at all 
levels. Under this law, citizens have the opportunity to vote for local 
people's congress representatives at the county level and below, 
although in most cases the nomination of candidates in those elections 
was strictly controlled. Legislators selected people's congress 
delegates above the county level. For example, provincial-level 
people's congresses selected delegates to the NPC. Local CCP 
secretaries generally served concurrently as the head of the local 
people's congress, thus strengthening party control over legislatures.
    During the year independent candidates not selected by local 
authorities ran or attempted to run in people's congress elections held 
at the local level across the country. While a small number of 
independents were elected, in Hubei and Guangdong Provinces local 
officials reportedly manipulated and pressured some candidates, who 
mounted aggressive campaigns to prevent independents from being 
nominated, and if nominated, from winning. Local police detained and 
monitored independent candidates, seized campaign materials, and 
intimidated supporters, family members, and friends. Some activists 
also alleged that vote counts were rigged to ensure defeat. During the 
year Taishi villagers failed in their attempt to nominate an 
independent candidate for local people's congress representative, 
allegedly because of ballot tampering and an illegal refusal to allow 
proxy votes.
    Although the party controlled appointments of officials to 
government and party positions at all levels, some township, county, 
and provincial elections featured experiments with increased 
competition, including self-nomination of candidates, campaign speeches 
by candidates, public vetting of nominees, and a two-tiered indirect 
election system.
    The CCP retained a monopoly on political power and forbade the 
creation of new political parties. The Government recognized nine 
parties founded prior to 1949, but not the CDP, an opposition party 
founded in 1998 and subsequently declared illegal. Dozens of CDP 
leaders, activists, and members have been arrested, detained, or 
confined. One of the CDP's founders, Qin Yongmin, remained in prison at 
year's end, as did others connected with a 2002 open letter calling for 
political reform and reappraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. On 
September 14, authorities released CDP leader Zhu Yufu after he 
completed a seven-year sentence for participating in prodemocracy 
activities. On the same day, authorities detained CDP leader Chen 
Shuqing on suspicion of inciting ``to subvert state power.'' More than 
30 current or former CDP members reportedly remained imprisoned or held 
in reeducation-through-labor camps, including Zhang Lin, Zhao 
Changqing, Sang Jiancheng, He Depu, Yang Tianshui, Wang Rongqing, and 
Jiang Lijun.
    The Government placed no special restrictions on the participation 
of women or minority groups in the political process. However, women 
held few positions of significant influence in the CCP or government 
structure. There was one female vice premier on the 24-member 
Politburo. There was also one woman among the five state councilors. 
The head of a key CCP organization, the United Front Work Department, 
was a woman. During the year women headed one of the country's 28 
ministries, and 25 women served at the level of vice minister or 
higher.
    The Government encouraged women to exercise their right to vote in 
village committee elections and to stand for those elections, although 
only a small fraction of elected members were women. In many locations, 
a seat on the village committee was reserved for a woman, who was 
usually given responsibility for family planning. At the end of 2005, 
there were 13.6 million female party members, making up 19.2 percent of 
the 70.8 million members of the Communist Party. Women constituted 20.2 
percent of the NPC and 14.2 percent of the NPC Standing Committee. In 
2002 the 16th Party Congress elected 27 women to serve as members or 
alternates on the 198person Central Committee, a slight 
increase over the total of the previous committee.
    Minorities constituted 13.9 percent of the NPC, although they made 
up approximately 8.4 percent of the population. All of the country's 55 
officially recognized minority groups were represented in the NPC 
membership. The 16th Party Congress elected 35 members of ethnic 
minority groups as members or alternates on the Central Committee. The 
only ministerial-level post, held by an ethnic minority was the Ethnic 
Affairs post and there was one ethnic minority, Vice Premier Hui 
Liangyu, on the Politburo. Minorities held few senior party or 
government positions of significant influence (see section 5).

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained an 
endemic problem. The National Audit Office found that 48 ministerial 
level departments misused or embezzled approximately $685 million (RMB 
5.51 billion) from the central government's 2005 budget, a 70 percent 
increase over the amount reported in 2004. Corruption plagued courts, 
law enforcement agencies, and other government agencies. In March 2000 
foreign citizen Jude Shao was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for 
tax evasion after allegedly refusing to pay bribes to local tax 
auditors. He remained in prison at year's end, despite receiving a one-
year reduction in his sentence in September.
    The courts and party agencies took disciplinary action against many 
public and party officials during the year. According to the SPP's 
March 11 report to the NPC, prosecutors filed and investigated 24,277 
cases of embezzlement, bribery, or dereliction of duty; prosecuted 
30,205 officials while investigating a total of 41,477 officials in 
2005; and transferred 7,279 cases to judicial organs for prosecution. 
The CCP's CDIC reported that 110,000 officials were disciplined for 
breaking laws and party discipline in 2005. Inspection committees 
stripped 11,071 persons of CCP membership, more than twice the number 
in 2004. In some cases, sanctions administered by the CDIC reportedly 
substituted for sanctions by courts and other legal agencies.
    The country had no national freedom of information law, but many 
local jurisdictions continued to enact freedom of information 
regulations aimed at improving the public's communication with and 
supervision over local government initiatives. Approximately 95 percent 
of government ministries, provincial governments and prefecture-level 
cities had Web sites, providing some, albeit restricted, public 
information. However, citizens, local media, and foreign journalists 
found it difficult to get information about government decision making, 
especially before decisions were formally announced.
    The Government experimented with various forms of public oversight 
of government, including telephone hot lines and complaint centers, 
administrative hearings, increased opportunity for citizen observation 
of government proceedings, and other forms of citizen input in the 
local legislative process, such as hearings to discuss draft 
legislation. Citizens continued to file administrative lawsuits to seek 
legal redress against government malfeasance. According to official 
statistics, 95,707 administrative lawsuits were filed against the 
Government in 2005, slightly more than in the previous year. 
Petitioning officials directly and outside the court system was also a 
common avenue used by citizens to redress grievances. Official media 
reported that 12.7 million petitions were filed at the county level and 
above in 2005, down from 13.7 million in 2004 (see section 2.b.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government sought to maintain control over civil society 
groups, halt the emergence of independent NGOs, and prevent what they 
have called the ``westernization'' of China. The Government did not 
permit independent domestic NGOs to monitor openly or to comment on 
human rights conditions; existing domestic NGOs were harassed. The 
Government tended to be suspicious of independent organizations and 
increased scrutiny of NGOs with links overseas. Most large NGOs were 
quasi-governmental in nature, and all NGOs had to be sponsored by 
government agencies (see section 2.b.).
    During the year the Government continued its intensified efforts to 
monitor and control NGOs and used strict regulations to limit the 
growth of independent civil society, which were first implemented in 
2005.
    An informal network of activists around the country continued to 
serve as a credible source of information about many human rights 
violations. The information was disseminated through organizations such 
as the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and 
Democratic Movement in China and the New York-based Human Rights in 
China.
    When permitted by authorities, the press reported about officials 
who exceeded their authority and infringed on citizens' rights. 
However, the Government remained reluctant to accept criticism of its 
human rights record by other nations or international organizations. It 
criticized reports by international human rights monitoring groups, 
claiming that such reports were inaccurate and interfered with the 
country's internal affairs. Representatives of some international human 
rights organizations reported that authorities denied their visa 
requests or restricted the length of visas issued to them (see section 
2.d.). The government-established China Society for Human Rights is an 
NGO whose mandate was to defend the Government's human rights record. 
The Government maintained that each country's economic, social, 
cultural and historical conditions influence its approach to human 
rights.
    The Government permitted the ICRC to open an office in Beijing, 
although it did not authorize the ICRC to visit prisons. The Government 
submitted to the UN its first compliance report on the International 
Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. The Government 
continued unofficial discussions on human rights and prisoner issues 
with a San Francisco-based human rights group, although the 
Government's cooperation with the group was not as extensive as in 
previous years.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
    There were laws designed to protect women, children, persons with 
disabilities, and minorities. However, in practice, some discrimination 
based on ethnicity, gender, and disability persisted.

    Women.--Violence against women remained a significant problem. 
There was no national law criminalizing domestic violence, but the 
Marriage Law provides for mediation and administrative penalties in 
cases of domestic violence. In August 2005 the NPC amended the Law on 
the Protection of Women's Rights specifically to prohibit domestic 
violence, although critics complained that the provision fails to 
define domestic violence. More than 30 provinces, cities, or local 
jurisdictions passed legislation aimed at addressing domestic violence. 
According to a 2004 survey by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), 
30 percent of families had experienced domestic violence, and 16 
percent of husbands had beaten their wives. The ACWF reported that it 
received some 300,000 letters per year complaining about family 
problems, mostly domestic violence. The actual incidence was believed 
to be higher because spousal abuse went largely unreported. According 
to experts, domestic abuse was more common in rural areas than in urban 
centers. In response to increased awareness of the problem of domestic 
violence, there were a growing number of shelters for victims. Most 
shelters were government run, although some included NGO participation.
    Rape is illegal, and some persons convicted of rape were executed. 
The law does not expressly recognize or exclude spousal rape.
    The law prohibits the use of physical coercion to compel persons to 
submit to abortion or sterilization. However, intense pressure to meet 
birth limitation targets set by government regulations resulted in 
instances of local birth-planning officials using physical coercion to 
meet government goals (see section 1.f.). In addition, women faced a 
disproportionate burden due to the Government's enforcement of its 
birth limitation laws and practices. Such laws and practices required 
the use of birth control methods (particularly IUDs and female 
sterilization, which according to government statistics, accounted for 
more than 80 percent of birth control methods employed) and the 
abortion of certain pregnancies.
    Although prostitution is illegal, experts estimate that there were 
1.7 to five million commercial sex workers in the country. The 
commercialization of sex and related trafficking in women trapped tens 
of thousands of women in a cycle of crime and exploitation and left 
them vulnerable to disease and abuse (see section 5, Trafficking). 
According to state-run media, one out of every five massage parlors in 
the country was involved in prostitution, with the percentage higher in 
cities. A 2004 Guangdong Province survey found that 74.2 percent of 
massage parlor workers were involved in prostitution. Unsafe working 
conditions were rampant among the saunas, massage parlors, clubs, and 
hostess bars in cities. Research indicated that up to 80 percent of 
prostitutes in some areas had hepatitis.
    Although the Government made some efforts to crack down on the sex 
trade, credible media reports claimed that some local officials were 
complicit in prostitution, owned prostitution venues, or received 
proceeds from such businesses. Prostitution involved organized crime 
groups and businesspersons as well as the police and the military. 
Actions to curtail prostitution had limited results. In 2004 according 
to state-run media, an investigation of prostitution at entertainment 
facilities in Guangdong Province led to the permanent closure of 15 
percent and temporary closure of another 40 percent of the facilities 
investigated. Courts have prosecuted persons involved in organizing and 
procuring prostitutes.
    The amended Law on the Protection of Women's Rights included a ban 
on sexual harassment, stating ``the injured woman has the right to 
complain to the work unit and the relevant department'' and may ``bring 
a civil action in court for damages.'' Legal scholars and activists 
praised the amendment but emphasized the law should also specifically 
define what constitutes abusive behavior. Experts continued to suggest 
that many victims did not report sexual harassment out of fear of 
losing their jobs.
    The Government has made gender equality a policy objective since 
1949. The constitution states ``women enjoy equal rights with men in 
all spheres of life.'' The Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and 
Interests provides for equality in ownership of property, inheritance 
rights, and access to education. Policies that once allotted work-unit 
housing only to the husband have become gender-neutral, and an April 
2005 Supreme Court interpretation emphasized that housing rights are 
shared equally, even in cases of divorce. The State Council's National 
Working Committee on Children and Women coordinated women's policy. The 
ACWF was the leading implementer of women's policy for the Government. 
Nonetheless, many activists and observers were concerned that the 
progress made by women over the past 50 years was eroding. They 
asserted that the Government appeared to have made the pursuit of 
gender equality a secondary priority as it focused on economic reform 
and political stability.
    The Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests was 
designed to assist in curbing gender-based discrimination. However, 
women continued to report that discrimination, sexual harassment, 
unfair dismissal, demotion, and wage discrepancies were significant 
problems. Social organizations and the Government made efforts to 
educate women about their legal rights. In a high-profile case in 
September a Chinese actress made sexual harassment allegations against 
a China Central Television (CCTV) director on her blog. Although the 
director threatened to sue the actress for ``libel,'' the case has not 
gone to court. Hundreds of thousands of Internet users expressed 
support for the actress.
    Women's networks, involving lawyers, activists, and the press, were 
active in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, highlighting problems 
and calling for solutions to gender-based discrimination.
    Nevertheless, women frequently encountered serious obstacles to the 
enforcement of laws. According to legal experts, it was difficult to 
litigate a sex discrimination suit because the vague legal definition 
made it difficult to quantify damages. As a result very few cases were 
brought to court. Some observers noted the agencies tasked with 
protecting women's rights tended to focus on maternity-related benefits 
and wrongful termination during maternity leave rather than on sex 
discrimination, violence against women, and sexual harassment. Women's 
rights advocates indicated that in rural areas, women often forfeited 
land and property rights to their husbands in divorce proceedings.
    The ACWF reported that 47 percent of laid-off workers were women, a 
percentage significantly higher than their representation in the labor 
force. Many employers preferred to hire men to avoid the expense of 
maternity leave and childcare, and some lowered the effective 
retirement age for female workers to 40 years of age (the official 
retirement age for men was 60 years and for women 55 years). In 
addition, work units were allowed to impose an earlier mandatory 
retirement age for women than for men, which limits women's lifetime 
earning power and career span. Lower retirement ages also reduced 
pensions, which generally were based on the number of years worked. Job 
advertisements sometimes specified height and age requirements for 
women.
    Women have less earning power than men, despite government policies 
that mandate nondiscrimination in employment and occupation. According 
to the UN's 2005 Human Development Report, nationwide women's salaries 
overall were only 66 percent of men's salaries, while women in rural 
areas earned only 60 percent of the income earned by males. Average 
incomes of female executives and senior professionals were respectively 
only 58 percent and 68 percent of their male colleagues' salaries. Most 
women employed in industry worked in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs 
and in sectors, such as textiles, which were particularly vulnerable to 
restructuring of state-owned enterprises and layoffs. Women accounted 
for 60 percent of those below the poverty line.
    UNESCO reported that less than 2 percent of women between the ages 
of 15 and 24 were illiterate. According to 2005 official government 
statistics, women comprised 73.6 percent of all illiterate persons. In 
some underdeveloped regions, the female literacy rate lagged behind the 
male literacy rate by 15 percent or more.
    A high female suicide rate continued to be a serious problem. 
According to the World Bank and the World Health Organization, there 
were approximately 500 female suicides per day. The suicide rate for 
females was 25 percent higher than for males. Many observers believed 
that violence against women and girls, discrimination in education and 
employment, the traditional preference for male children, the country's 
birth limitation policies, and other societal factors contributed to 
the especially high female suicide rate. Women in rural areas, where 
the suicide rate for women is three to four times higher than for men, 
were especially vulnerable.
    While the gap in the education levels of men and women narrowed, 
differences in educational attainment remained a problem. According to 
a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report, 61 percent of boys and 43 
percent of girls in rural areas completed education higher than lower 
middle school. Men continued to be overrepresented among the relatively 
small number of persons who received a university-level education. 
According to official statistics, in 2005 women accounted for 47.1 
percent of undergraduate and college students, 43.4 percent of 
postgraduate students, and 32.6 percent of doctoral students. Women 
with advanced degrees reported discrimination in the hiring process as 
the job distribution system became more competitive and market driven.

    Children.--The law prohibits maltreatment of children and provides 
for compulsory education. The State Council's National Working 
Committee on Children and Women was tasked with carrying out policy 
toward children.
    The law provides for nine years of compulsory education for 
children. However, in economically disadvantaged rural areas many 
children did not attend school for the required period and some never 
attended. Public schools were not allowed to charge tuition, but after 
the central government largely stopped subsidizing primary education, 
many public schools began to charge mandatory school-related fees to 
meet revenue shortfalls. Such fees made it difficult for poorer 
families and some migrant workers to send their children to school.
    According to government statistics, 98.6 percent of children 
nationwide were enrolled in elementary school. In 2005 the Government 
reported that 51.4 percent of primary school students, 45.7 percent of 
junior secondary school students, and 44.0 percent of senior secondary 
school students were female. It was widely believed that the proportion 
of girls attending school in rural and minority areas was smaller than 
in cities.
    In 2003 the UN special rapporteur on the right to education visited 
and found that the Government failed to provide education to many 
children of migrant workers and prohibited children from receiving 
religious education. The special rapporteur expressed serious concern 
about privatization of the costs of public education and reported that 
the Government compelled parents to pay nearly half the costs of public 
education, making education inaccessible to many children. The special 
rapporteur also recommended the Government immediately ban the practice 
of children performing manual labor at their schools to raise funds.
    According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2004 statistics, the 
infant mortality rate was 26 per 1,000 and the mortality rate for 
children under five years of age was 31 per 1,000 live births. The Law 
on the Protection of Juveniles forbids infanticide; however, there was 
evidence that the practice continued. According to the National 
Population and Family Planning Commission, a handful of doctors have 
been charged with infanticide under this law. The law prohibits 
discrimination against minors with disabilities and codifies a variety 
of judicial protections for juvenile offenders. The physical abuse of 
children can be grounds for criminal prosecution.
    More than half of all boys and almost a third of all girls have 
been physically abused, according to survey results released at a May 
2005 conference in Beijing. The survey reported that 10 percent of boys 
and 15 percent of girls have been sexually abused. These statistics 
were among those publicized at a National Consultation on Violence 
against Children, which the Government and UNICEF sponsored. However, 
journalists were sanctioned for reporting on the rape of female 
students as young as 10 in Shanxi and Guangdong provinces. A media ban 
was also issued after a Nanjing newspaper publicized the forced 
sterilization of mentally challenged teenagers in Nantong, Jiangsu 
Province.
    Despite government efforts to prevent kidnapping and the buying and 
selling of children, these problems persisted in some rural areas, and 
children were trafficked for labor purposes (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    According to official statistics, during the year juvenile crime 
fell after increasing sharply in 2005. In 2005 courts heard cases 
involving 82,692 juvenile offenders, up 18 percent from 2004 when 
courts heard cases involving 70,086 juvenile offenders. During the 
first eight months of the year, 11.4 percent fewer juveniles were 
convicted of crimes than during the same period in 2005. From 2000 to 
2005, the annual increase in juvenile crime was approximately 11 
percent. Abolition of the system of custody and repatriation in 2003 
reduced the number of children detained administratively. Nonetheless, 
more than 150,000 ``street children'' lived in cities, according to 
state-run media. This number was even higher if the children of migrant 
workers, who spend the day on the streets were included. Juveniles were 
required by law to be held separately from adults, except when 
facilities were insufficient. In practice children sometimes were 
detained without their parents, held with adults, and required to 
participate in forced labor (see sections 1.c. and 6.c.).
    Female infanticide, sex-selective abortions, and the abandonment 
and neglect of baby girls remained problems due to the traditional 
preference for sons and the birth limitation policy (see section 1.f.). 
Many families, particularly in rural areas, used ultrasound to identify 
female fetuses and terminate pregnancies, even though this practice 
remained illegal. An official study in Hainan Province found that 68 
percent of abortions were of female fetuses. According to a 2002 
survey, 35 percent of women in one rural township admitted to having an 
abortion because of a preference for a male child. Female babies also 
suffered from a higher mortality rate than male babies, contrary to the 
worldwide norm. State media reported that infant mortality rates in 
rural areas were 27 percent higher for girls than boys. Neglect of baby 
girls was one factor in their lower survival rate. One study found the 
differential mortality rates were highest in areas where women had a 
lower social status and economic and medical conditions were poor.
    The law forbids the mistreatment or abandonment of children. The 
vast majority of children in orphanages were female; males in 
orphanages were usually disabled or in poor health. Medical 
professionals sometimes advised parents of children with disabilities 
to put the children into orphanages.
    The Government denied that children in orphanages were mistreated 
or refused medical care but acknowledged that the system often was 
unable to provide adequately for some children, particularly those with 
serious medical problems. Adopted children were counted under the birth 
limitation regulations in most locations. As a result, couples that 
adopted abandoned baby girls were sometimes barred from having 
additional children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits human 
trafficking, trafficking in persons remained a serious problem. The 
country was both a source and destination country for trafficking in 
persons. Most trafficking was internal for the purposes of forced labor 
and forced marriage. Some cases involved trafficking of women and girls 
into forced prostitution in urban areas, and some reports suggested 
that certain victims, especially children, were sold into forced labor. 
In many cases, women and children were lured abroad with false promises 
of employment and then trafficked into prostitution or forced labor.
    Domestic and cross-border trafficking continued to be significant 
problems, although the exact numbers of persons involved could only be 
estimated due to a huge itinerant population of approximately 150 
million. The MPS opened 2,884 trafficking cases involving female 
children in 2005. During this same period, the MPS resolved 2,471 cases 
and rescued 3,977 women and children. During the year Vietnamese 
authorities reported that 167 women and children were rescued from 
traffickers in China, an increase of 64 percent from the same period in 
2005.
    Some experts and NGOs suggested that a shortage of marriageable 
women fueled the demand for abducted women, especially in rural areas. 
They argued that the serious imbalance in the male-female sex ratio at 
birth, the tendency for many village women to leave rural areas to seek 
employment, and the cost of traditional betrothal gifts all made 
purchasing a wife attractive to some poor rural men. Some men recruited 
women from poorer regions, while others sought help from criminal 
gangs. Criminal gangs either kidnapped women and girls or tricked them 
with promises of jobs and higher living standards, only to be 
transported far from their homes for delivery to buyers. Once in their 
new ``family,'' these women were ``married'' and sometimes raped. Some 
accepted their fate and joined the new community; others struggled and 
were punished; a few escaped. Some former trafficking victims became 
traffickers themselves, lured by the prospect of financial gain.
    According to UN reports, most women and girls trafficked from 
abroad came from North Korea and Vietnam. Others came from Burma, Laos, 
Russia, and Ukraine. They were trafficked into the country for sexual 
exploitation, forced marriage, and indentured servitude in domestic 
service or businesses. Past reports noted that trafficking of North 
Korean women and girls into the country to work in the sex industry was 
widespread in the northeastern part of the country, but reliable 
sources suggested that the practice has decreased. North Korean women 
reportedly were sold for approximately $380 to $1,260 (RMB 3,040 to 
10,080). Women reportedly were also trafficked from Vietnam for the 
purpose of forced marriage. The UN reported that Chinese citizens were 
most often trafficked to Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and 
the United States. Second-tier destinations included Australia, 
European countries, Canada, Japan, Italy, Burma, Singapore, South 
Africa, and Taiwan.
    Trafficked persons became entangled with alien smuggling rings, 
which often had ties to organized crime and were international in 
scope. Persons trafficked by alien smugglers paid high prices for their 
passage to other countries, where they hoped that their economic 
prospects would improve. There were credible reports that some promised 
to pay from $30,000 to $50,000 (RMB 240,000 to RMB 400,000) each for 
their passage. Upon arrival, many reportedly were forced to repay 
traffickers for the smuggling charges and their living expenses by 
working in specified jobs for a set period of time. Living and working 
conditions for trafficked persons were generally poor. Traffickers 
restricted their movements and confiscated their travel documents. 
Threats to report trafficking victims to the authorities or to 
retaliate against their families if they protested made trafficked 
persons even more vulnerable. When arrested and brought to court, human 
smugglers received five- to ten-year jail sentences and fines up to 
$6,000 (RMB 48,000). In very serious cases, courts imposed life 
imprisonment or the death penalty.
    MPS officials stated that repatriated victims of trafficking no 
longer faced fines or other punishment upon their return. However, 
authorities acknowledged that errors sometimes occurred because of 
corruption among police, provisions allowing for the imposition of 
fines on persons traveling without proper documentation, and the 
difficulty in identifying victims. Trafficking victims often lacked 
proper identification, which made it difficult to distinguish them from 
person who illegally crossed borders.
    Kidnapping and the buying and selling of children for adoption 
continued, particularly in poor rural areas. There were no reliable 
estimates of the number of children trafficked. Domestically, most 
trafficked children were sold to couples unable to have children, 
particularly sons. In the past, most infants rescued were male, but 
increased demand for children has reportedly driven traffickers to 
focus on females as well.
    Children were also trafficked from poorer interior areas to 
relatively more prosperous areas for work. Traffickers reportedly often 
enticed parents to relinquish their children with promises of large 
remittances their children would be able to send home. Some children 
worked in factories but many ended up under the control of local gangs 
and were induced to commit petty crimes such as purse snatching.
    The purchase of women was criminalized in 1991 when the NPC 
Standing Committee enacted its ``Decision Relating to the Severe 
Punishment of Criminal Elements Who Abduct and Kidnap Women and 
Children.'' This decision made abduction and sale separate offenses.
    Between 2001 and 2005, police opened more than 28,000 trafficking 
cases, arrested more than 25,000 suspected traffickers, and rescued 
more than 35,000 victims. In July, 28 members of a trafficking ring in 
Guangdong Province received sentences ranging from two years 
imprisonment to the death penalty. The ring had forced 10 women into 
prostitution. In 2005 10 members of a Guangzhou baby smuggling ring 
were convicted of smuggling 37 male infants. According to several media 
reports the average price was U.S. 1,250 (RMB 10,000) per child, 
although other media reports quoted a range of prices from several 
thousand to a few hundred dollars per child.
    Despite government efforts to eliminate trafficking in women and 
children, the problem persisted. There were reports of local officials' 
complicity in both alien smuggling and in prostitution, which sometimes 
involved trafficked women. In some cases, village leaders sought to 
prevent police from rescuing women who had been sold to villagers.
    The two principal organs responsible for combating trafficking were 
the MPS and the State Council's Work Committee for Women and Children. 
In addition, the SPC, the SPP, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the 
Central Office in Charge of Comprehensive Management of Public Order, 
and the Legislative Office of the State Council played roles in this 
area. It was central government policy to provide funds to provincial 
and local police to house victims and return them to their homes. 
Government-funded women's federation offices provided counseling on 
legal rights, including the options for legal action against 
traffickers, to some victims. The ACWF assisted victims in obtaining 
medical and psychological treatment.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law protects the rights of persons 
with disabilities and prohibits discrimination; however, conditions for 
such persons lagged far behind legal dictates, failing to provide 
persons with disabilities with access to programs designed to assist 
them. According to the official press, all local governments have 
drafted specific measures to implement the law.
    The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Disabled Persons 
Federation, a government-organized civil association, were the main 
entities responsible for persons with disabilities. According to the 
China Disabled Persons' Federation, there were 60 million persons with 
disabilities. According to government statistics, 3,335 educational and 
vocational centers provided training and job-placement services for 
persons with disabilities. During the year 572,000 persons with 
disabilities received education or training. However, some 1.2 million 
urban and 3.4 million rural persons with disabilities were unemployed. 
Nationwide, 275,000 school-age children with disabilities did not 
attend school. Nearly 100,000 organizations exist, mostly in urban 
areas, to serve those with disabilities and protect their legal rights. 
The Government, at times in conjunction with NGOs, sponsored programs 
to integrate persons with disabilities into society. However, 
misdiagnosis, inadequate medical care, stigmatization, and abandonment 
remained common problems.
    According to reports, doctors frequently persuaded parents of 
children with disabilities to place their children in large government-
run institutions, where care was often inadequate. Those parents who 
chose to keep children with disabilities at home generally faced 
difficulty finding adequate medical care, day care, and education for 
their children. Government statistics showed that almost one-quarter of 
persons with disabilities lived in extreme poverty. Unemployment among 
adults with disabilities remained a serious problem. Standards adopted 
for making roads and buildings accessible to persons with disabilities 
were subject to the Law on the Handicapped, which calls for their 
``gradual'' implementation; compliance with the law was lax. Students 
with disabilities were discriminated against in access to education. 
The law permits universities legally to exclude otherwise qualified 
candidates from higher education.
    The law forbids the marriage of persons with certain acute mental 
illnesses, such as schizophrenia. If doctors find that a couple is at 
risk of transmitting disabling congenital defects to their children, 
the couple may marry only if they agree to use birth control or undergo 
sterilization. The law stipulates that local governments must employ 
such practices to raise the percentage of healthy births. Media reports 
publicized the forced sterilization of mentally challenged teenagers in 
Nantong, Jiangsu Province.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2000 census, 
the population of the country's 55 officially recognized ethnic 
minorities totaled 106.4 million, or 8.4 percent of the total 
population. Additionally some citizens identified themselves as members 
of unrecognized ethnic minorities. Most minority groups resided in 
areas they traditionally inhabited. Government policy provides members 
of recognized minorities with preferential treatment in birth planning, 
university admission, access to loans, and employment. In May 2005 new 
regulations designed to enhance minority preferences in education 
became effective. Nonetheless, in practice the majority Han culture 
often discriminated against minorities. Most minorities in border 
regions were less educated, and job discrimination in favor of Han 
migrants remained a serious problem even in state-owned enterprises. In 
June the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps announced that it 
would recruit 840 employees from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, 
designating nearly all of the job openings for Han Chinese. Racial 
discrimination was the source of deep resentment in some areas, such as 
Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet. As part of the Government's 
emphasis on building a ``harmonious society,'' the Government 
downplayed racism against minorities and tension among different ethnic 
groups. But even in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin 
Province, which the Government recognized as the most ``harmonious'' 
ethnic area, there is a perceived ceiling in career advancement for 
ethnic Koreans.
    Incomes in minority areas remained well below those in other parts 
of the country, particularly for minorities. Han Chinese benefited 
disproportionately from government programs and economic growth. Many 
development programs disrupted traditional living patterns of minority 
groups and included, in some cases, the forced relocation of persons 
(see section 2.d.).
    The Government's policy to encourage Han migration into minority 
areas resulted in significant increases in the population of Han 
Chinese in Xinjiang. According to 2005 statistics published by Xinjiang 
officials, nine million of Xinjiang's 19.6 million official residents 
were Uighur. Approximately 7.8 million Xinjiang residents were Han (40 
percent of the total population), up from 300,000 Han in 1949 (6 
percent of the total population). Significant numbers of Kazakhs, Hui, 
Kyrgyz, and other minorities also lived in Xinjiang. Official 
statistics underestimated the Han population because they did not count 
the tens of thousands of Han Chinese who were long-term ``temporary 
workers.'' The migration of ethnic Han into Xinjiang in recent decades 
caused the Han-Uighur ratio in the capital of Urumqi to shift from 20 
to 80 to 80 to 20 and was a source of Uighur resentment. According to 
2005 figures, non-Tibetan residents of the TAR comprised 5.9 percent of 
the population, but that figure did not include a large number of long-
term Han Chinese ``temporary'' residents. Their presence also caused 
resentment among some Tibetans (see Tibet Addendum).
    Minorities constituted 14 percent of the NPC, which was higher than 
their percentage in the population. According to a 1999 government 
report, 2.7 million minority officials served in the Government. A 
Xinhua report claimed that more than 25 percent of Inner Mongolia's 
cadres were ethnic minorities, even though ethnic minorities 
constituted only 21 percent out of the region's population of 23.79 
million. A government report stated that ethnic minority representation 
in the NPC was 62.7 percent in Xinjiang, 68.2 percent in Tibet, 58.8 
percent in Guangxi, 59.8 percent in Ningxia, and 40.7 percent in Inner 
Mongolia.
    Nonetheless, Han officials held the most powerful party and 
government positions in minority autonomous regions, particularly 
Xinjiang. In April 2005 the Government announced that 500 of 700 new 
government jobs in Southern Xinjiang would be reserved for Han Chinese. 
In September 2005 the Xinjiang Daily announced that 947 Han cadres were 
being sent to areas where ethnic unrest had occurred. Han Chinese also 
held a majority of positions in security services, including special 
border brigades and new counterterrorism brigades that had some police 
powers.
    The Government continued moving away from the two-track school 
systems that used either standard Chinese or the local minority 
language and toward a new system that required schools to teach both 
standard Chinese and local minority languages or to teach standard 
Chinese only. Prior to adopting the new policy, the vast majority of 
Uighur children in Xinjiang attended Uighur-language schools and 
generally received an hour's Chinese-language instruction per day. 
Graduates of minority language schools typically needed intensive 
Chinese study before they could handle Chinese-language course work at 
a university. The dominant position of standard Chinese in government, 
commerce, and academia put graduates of minority-language schools who 
lacked standard Chinese proficiency at a disadvantage. Koranic 
education was tightly controlled and use of Arabic in public schools is 
forbidden (see section 2.c.). During the year the Government allocated 
an additional $15 million (RMB 120 million) to build new schools and 
support technical training for minority students who drop out before 
high school.
    A campaign in Xinjiang targeting the ``three evils'' of religious 
extremism, splittism, and terrorism continued. Authorities in Xinjiang 
regularly grouped together individuals or organizations involved in the 
three evils, making it difficult to determine whether particular raids, 
detentions, or judicial punishments were targeted at those peacefully 
seeking to express their political and religious views or those who 
engaged in violence (see section 2.c.). The Government's war on terror 
continued to be used as a pretext for cracking down harshly on Uighurs 
expressing peaceful political dissent and on independent Muslim 
religious leaders. In December 2003 the Government published an ``East 
Turkestan Terrorist List,'' which labeled organizations such as the 
World Uighur Youth Congress and the East Turkestan Information Center 
as terrorist entities. These groups openly advocated East Turkestan 
independence, but only one group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement 
was designated by the UN as a terrorist organization.
    Uighurs were sentenced to long prison terms and many were executed 
on charges of separatism. During a previous ``strike hard'' campaign, 
which officially concluded in 2003, authorities stated they prosecuted 
more than 3,000 cases in Xinjiang and held mass sentencing rallies 
attended by more than 300,000 persons. By its own account, from January 
to August 2004 the Government broke up 22 groups engaged in what it 
claimed were separatist and terrorist activities and meted out 50 death 
sentences to those charged with separatist acts. In February 2005 
Uighur writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin was sentenced to 10 years in prison 
after publishing a short story which authorities claimed advocated 
separatism. In April 2005 writer Abdulla Jamal was detained in 
Xinjiang, reportedly for writings that promoted Uighur independence. In 
August 2005 10 individuals reportedly were arrested for possession of 
pamphlets and audiotapes that called for an independent state. Later in 
the year, editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal Korash Huseyin was 
sentenced to three years in prison. In October 2005 Ismail Semed, an 
ethnic Uighur from Xinjiang, was reportedly convicted and sentenced to 
death on charges of ``attempting to split the motherland'' and other 
counts related to possession of firearms and explosives. In 2003 Uighur 
Shaheer Ali was executed after being convicted of terrorism.
    In June authorities charged Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar Abdurehim, 
three of Uighur activist and businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer's sons, with 
state security and economic crimes. Authorities reportedly beat and 
tortured Alim and Ablikim, and Alim reportedly confessed to the 
charges. On July 10, officials indicted Alim and Qahar and placed other 
family members under house arrest and surveillance.
    In 2004 Uighur Dilkex Tilivaldi was detained after meeting a 
foreign journalist. The Government refused to clarify his whereabouts 
(see section 1.e.).
    Possession of publications or audiovisual materials discussing 
independence or other sensitive subjects was not permitted. According 
to reports, possession of such materials resulted in lengthy prison 
sentences.
    Officials in the region defended the campaign against separatism as 
necessary to maintain public order and continued to use the threat of 
violence as justification for extreme security measures directed at the 
local population and visiting foreigners.
    Han control of the region's political and economic institutions 
also contributed to heightened tension. Although government policies 
brought economic improvements to Xinjiang, Han residents received a 
disproportionate share of the benefits.
    Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada continued to serve a 15-year 
sentence during the year (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The household 
registration system continued to result in widespread discrimination 
against Chinese from rural areas. Because they could not change their 
household registrations, many migrants living and working in urban 
areas were denied access to public services such as education and 
health care, as well as pension benefits, unemployment, and other 
social insurance programs. Where public services were available to 
migrant families, they rarely reached a standard equal to those of 
registered urban residents.
    No laws criminalize private homosexual activity between consenting 
adults. Societal discrimination and strong pressure to conform to 
family expectations deterred most gay individuals from publicly 
discussing their sexual orientation. Published reports stated that more 
than 80 percent of gay men married because of social pressure. In what 
officials said was a campaign against pornography, authorities blocked 
the overseas Web site gaychinese.net for three months. Other Internet 
sites on gay issues that were not sexually explicit were also blocked 
during the year.
    Under the new contagious disease law and adopted regulations, 
employment discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B 
is forbidden, and provisions allow such persons to work as civil 
servants. However, discrimination against the estimated 650,000 persons 
with HIV/AIDS and approximately 10 million hepatitis B carriers 
remained widespread in many areas. Hospitals and physicians sometimes 
refused to treat HIV-positive patients. During the year a number of 
hepatitis B carriers sued local government institutions to enforce 
their rights to work and study. While they won judgments in some cases, 
widespread discrimination remains. In October the Ministry of Health 
criticized local officials in Urumqi, Xinjiang for expelling 19 
hepatitis B carriers from public schools. The criticism was carried in 
the national press, but no remedies were reported. Persons with HIV/
AIDS likewise suffered discrimination and local governments sometimes 
tried to suppress their activities. In April Jilin Province authorities 
blocked a group of HIV-positive persons from accepting free travel to 
visit the Great Wall. At the same time, international involvement in 
HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment, as well as central government 
pressure on local governments to respond appropriately, brought 
improvements in some localities. Some hospitals that previously refused 
to treat HIV/AIDS patients now have active care and treatment programs, 
because domestic and international training programs improved the 
understanding of local healthcare workers and their managers. In 
Beijing, dozens of local community centers encourage and facilitate 
HIV/AIDS support groups.
    Some NGOs working with HIV/AIDS patients and their family members 
continued to report difficulties with local government, particularly in 
Henan Province where thousands were infected in government-run blood 
selling stations during the 1990s. Henan authorities were successful in 
providing free treatment to persons with HIV/AIDS. However, foreign and 
local observers noted that local governments were reluctant or even 
hostile towards coordinating efforts with NGOs and preferred to work 
independently.
    Scholarly studies by Chinese indicated that discrimination in 
employment based on height and physical appearance was both legal and 
common.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides for the 
freedom of association, in practice workers were not free to organize 
or join unions of their own choosing. The All-China Federation of Trade 
Unions (ACFTU), which was controlled by the CCP and chaired by a member 
of the Politburo, was the sole legal workers' organization. The trade 
union law gives the ACFTU control over all union organizations and 
activities, including enterprise-level unions, and requires the ACFTU 
to ``uphold the leadership of the Communist Party.'' Independent unions 
are illegal. In some cases the ACFTU and its constituent unions 
influenced and implemented government policies on behalf of workers; 
however, the CCP used the ACFTU to communicate with and control 
workers.
    Already established in the state-owned sector, where union 
representatives frequently held senior management positions, the ACFTU 
worked throughout the year to establish its unions in the nonstate-
owned sector. Union membership is low in both domestic and foreign-
invested private companies. During the year the ACFTU began a campaign 
to establish unions in foreign-invested enterprises. By year's end, the 
ACFTU claimed to have established unions in 60 percent of foreign-
invested enterprises and 31 percent of all nonpublic enterprises. In 
2005 the ACFTU reported that its membership had reached 150.3 million 
or 69 percent of the 217 million urban workers, an increase of 9.7 
percent over the previous year.
    Since 2004 ACFTU has made efforts to expand control over 
nonunionized workers. A large rural labor force, consisting of 
approximately 540 million persons, including 300 million agricultural 
workers, was unorganized; farmers had no union or similar organization. 
Few of the 130 million rural residents working in township and village 
enterprises were unionized. Of the 100 to 150 million rural migrants 
who worked in the cities, the ACFTU claimed that a total of 14 million 
had joined the union. The Ministry of Construction reported that 11 
million of the 40 million migrant workers in the construction industry 
were union members. However, most migrants working in low-value-added 
jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors were not represented and 
were easily exploited. Although migrant workers were first permitted to 
join the union in 2003, by year's end only 13.8 percent of the migrant 
workforce was ``unionized,'' and it was not clear what benefits they 
derived from union membership.
    Although the law states that trade union officers at each level 
should be elected, most were appointed by higher levels of the ACFTU, 
often in coordination with employers. In areas where an experimental 
program allowed direct election of union officers, regional ACFTU 
offices and local party authorities retained control over the selection 
and approval of candidates.
    Some workers acted outside the ACFTU structure to demand back 
wages, pension or health insurance contributions, or other benefits 
owed by employers. The Government took action against some of these 
workers, especially when they engaged in organized campaigns. Some 
workers who complained to local labor and social security bureau 
offices about working conditions reported that they faced harassment 
from their employers and police, and sometimes from labor bureau 
officials. During the year labor rights activists complained throughout 
the year of police surveillance, including interviews with police and 
police background investigations of their family members. In November 
Shenzhen officials investigated the activities of five labor NGOs for 
their involvement in an organized petition drive to reduce labor 
arbitration fees. Shenzhen authorities confiscated several computers 
and shut down two of the NGOs.
    The trade union law provides specific legal remedies against 
antiunion discrimination and specifies that union representatives may 
not be transferred or terminated by enterprise management during their 
term of office. Collective contract regulations provide similar 
protections for employee representatives during collective 
consultations. The degree to which these provisions were enforced was 
unknown.
    Labor activist Xiao Yunliang was released on February 23, three 
weeks before the end of his four year prison sentence. According to 
human rights NGOs, Xiao and his family continued to suffer harassment 
after his release. Other labor activists, detained in previous years, 
were reportedly still in detention at year's end. These included Yao 
Fuxin, Shao Liangchen, Hu Shigen, Wang Sen, Zhang Shanguang, He 
Chaohui, Yue Tianxiang, Miao Jinhong, Ni Xiafei, Huang Xiangwei, Li 
Xintao, Kong Jun and Du Hongqi, Gao Hongming, Hu Mingjun, Li Wangyang, 
Liu Zhihua, Luo Mingzhong, Luo Huiquan, Ning Xianhua, She Wanbao, Wang 
Miaogen, Yang Jianli, and Zhao Changqing.
    Civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who had defended the rights of 
Chinese workers, labor activists and other rights activists for many 
years, was detained in August and later arrested on September 21 on 
``suspicion of inciting subversion of state power.'' His office was 
suspended by the Beijing Bureau of Justice for one year in November 
2005 shortly after he sent a letter to the President and premier, 
calling for an end to widespread detention of activists and after he 
had refused to withdraw from politically sensitive legal cases as 
demanded by Beijing officials.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law 
permits collective bargaining for workers in all types of enterprises; 
however, in practice, collective bargaining fell far short of 
international standards. Under the law, collective contracts are to be 
developed through collaboration between the labor union and management 
and should specify such matters as working conditions, wage scales, and 
hours of work.
    The trade union law specifically addresses unions' responsibility 
to bargain collectively on behalf of workers' interests. Regulations 
required the union to gather input from workers prior to consultation 
with management and to submit collective contracts to workers or their 
congress for approval, but it was not clear to what extent these 
provisions were carried out in practice. Moreover, without the right to 
strike, workers had only a limited capacity to influence the 
negotiation process. In the private sector, where official unions were 
few and alternative union organizations were unavailable, workers faced 
substantial obstacles to bargain collectively with management. The 
revised company law, which was passed in October 2005, recognizes the 
role of the labor union in representing employees in signing a 
collective agreement with a company. It also provides for employee 
congresses to enable employees to play a role in the democratic 
management of the company.
    At the end of 2005 the ACFTU reported that collective contracts 
covered 103.8 million workers. Many of these contracts only covered 
wages. Officials estimated that 80 percent of collective contracts are 
prefabricated contracts adopted with no negotiation. Collective 
contracts generally served as minimum standards for individual 
contracts between employers and employees and generally mirrored the 
law and local minimum labor standards.
    The law provides for labor dispute resolution through a three stage 
process: in-house mediation, labor arbitration, and litigation. The 
ACFTU reported that in all of 2005 there were 294,000 disputes, a 17 
percent increase over 2004. Two-thirds of these concerned wage or 
social welfare insurance benefits. According to academics, collective 
disputes made up 6 percent of the total but accounted for 55 percent of 
the workers involved in the disputes. A smaller percentage of disputes 
settled through mediation in the workplace than in previous years, a 
fact some academics attributed to the conflict between the ACFTU's dual 
roles as convener of the mediation body and as worker representative.
    The law does not provide for the right to strike. The trade union 
law acknowledges that strikes may occur, in which case the union is to 
reflect the views and demands of workers in seeking a resolution of the 
strike. Some observers interpreted this provision to offer a 
theoretical legal basis for the right to strike. However, the 
Government continued to treat worker protests as illegal 
demonstrations, indicating that there was still no officially accepted 
right to strike.
    Worker protests occurred throughout the year (see sections 2.b. and 
3). Most involved actual or feared job loss, wage or benefit arrears, 
allegations of owner/management corruption, dissatisfaction with new 
contracts offered in enterprise restructuring, failure to honor 
contract terms, or discontent over substandard conditions of 
employment. In November the Hong Kong press reported that 1,000 laid-
off former employees of a bankrupt automobile factory in Gansu Province 
surrounded the company headquarters, alleging that the company did not 
pay agreed severance compensation. In August bus drivers in Huaibei, 
Anhui Province started a spontaneous strike to protest changes in their 
wages and benefits. While some protests were tolerated, the Government 
took swift action to halt protests that became large or that officials 
deemed embarrassing.
    On February 10, more than 1,000 workers at a textile factory in 
Shandong staged a strike against low pay and pay disparity in favor of 
the managers. On March 13, 3,000 to 4,000 workers at a textile factory 
in Kunming staged a four-day strike against the plant's restructuring 
and compensation plans. On April 3, thousands of workers at a Hong 
Kong-owned furniture factory in Shenzhen staged a protest against long 
working hours and exploitative and abusive treatment. In July more than 
1,000 workers at a plastic toy factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, 
rioted over allegations of inadequate pay and working conditions, 
particularly excessive overtime, and protesters clashed with police and 
company security. Dozens of workers were detained after the two-day 
protest. In August bus drivers in Huaibei, Anhui Province started a 
spontaneous strike to protest changes in their wages and benefits. On 
November 13, more than 1,000 workers of a state-owned, transportation 
enterprise in Gansu province staged a protest against the company's 
restructuring plan, which forced 1,448 workers to sign a ``laid-off'' 
agreement. In some cases protesting workers were offered payments that 
met at least a portion of their demands. On November 9, the Shenzhen 
Migrant Workers Association was forcibly closed down for organizing a 
mass petition to lower the Government's labor dispute arbitration fee 
(see section 6.a.). Police sometimes detained protest leaders and 
dispersed demonstrations. In December 50 laid-off middle managers from 
a state-owned bank were detained when they tried to take a 
demonstration to the Beijing district where most senior government 
leaders lived.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, forced 
labor was a serious problem in penal institutions. Detainees in 
reeducation-through-labor facilities were required to work, often with 
little or no remuneration. In some cases prisoners worked in facilities 
directly connected with penal institutions; in other cases they were 
contracted to nonprison enterprises. Former prison inmates reported 
that workers who refused to work in some prisons were beaten. 
Facilities and their management profited from inmate labor.
    The Government cooperated throughout the year to resolve a number 
of cases that alleged products produced with prison labor were exported 
to a foreign country. Although the Government prohibits forced and 
compulsory labor by children, some child trafficking victims were 
reportedly sold into forced labor (see section 5).
    It remained common for employers to withhold several months' wages, 
or to require unskilled workers to deposit several months' wages, as 
security against the workers departing early from their labor 
contracts. Although this practice was illegal, the Government did not 
emphasize controlling it.
    On March 27, 31 migrant workers, including child workers, were 
freed from a Shanxi Province brickworks where they were forced to work 
between 14 to 18 hours a day with no pay under close 24 hour scrutiny 
by a work gang leader and six guards.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 16, but the 
Government had not adopted a comprehensive policy to combat child 
labor. The labor law specifies administrative review, fines, and 
revocation of business licenses of those businesses that illegally hire 
minors. The law also stipulates that parents or guardians should 
provide for children's subsistence. Workers between the ages of 16 and 
18 were referred to as ``juvenile workers'' and were prohibited from 
engaging in certain forms of physical work, including labor in mines.
    A decree prohibiting the use of child labor provides that 
businesses illegally hiring minors or in whose employ a child dies will 
be punished via administrative review, fines, or revocation of their 
business license. The decree further provides that underage children 
found working should be returned to their parents or other custodians 
in their original place of residence.
    According to a study by a Hong Kong-based labor rights NGO, the use 
of child labor is on the rise along the country's eastern coast in 
recent years. While poverty remains the main reason, inadequacy of the 
mandatory education system, rising market demand due to labor shortage 
and potential child labor supply outside the formal labor market also 
contribute to this long-term problem.
    Reliable statistics on the prevalence of child labor are not 
available. The Government acknowledged the problem of child labor, and 
noted that it was relatively prevalent in certain industries. The 
Government also maintained that the country did not have a widespread 
child labor problem and that the majority of children who worked did so 
to supplement family income, particularly in impoverished rural areas. 
Although nine years of education (through age 16) is compulsory, the 
high cost of basic education caused some children to drop out of school 
to seek work; other children worked while in school. In March Premier 
Wen Jiabao pledged that the Government would eliminate tuition fees for 
rural students receiving compulsory education by the end of the year, 
beginning with the poorest regions. Tuition fees have since been 
eliminated in many areas but other miscellaneous costs (food, 
textbooks, etc.) are a major burden, especially for rural residents.
    State-run media reported on provincial bureau investigations into 
child labor cases, as well as punishment of factory owners who employed 
children. In one well-publicized case in August, authorities in Ningbo 
rescued more than 70 middle-school students used as laborers at a grape 
cannery under the guise of a summer work-study program. In general 
there was little follow-up on whether children involved in such cases 
continued to work outside the home.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum 
wage. The labor law requires local governments to set their own minimum 
wage according to standards promulgated by the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Security. These standards include the minimum cost of living for 
workers and their families, levels of economic development and 
employment in the area, as well as the level of social insurance and 
other benefits contributions paid by the employees themselves. The 
regulation states that labor and social security bureaus at or above 
the county level are responsible for enforcement of the law. It 
provides that where the ACFTU finds an employer in violation of the 
regulation, it shall have the power to demand that the department of 
labor and social security deal with the case, although it was not clear 
how that provision was implemented in practice.
    In March the NPC issued a report on the implementation of the labor 
law, based on an intensive 2005 survey of labor conditions. The report 
stated that that the minimum wage system was not fully implemented, 
that there was no regular mechanism for increasing wages in many 
places, and that wage arrears continued to occur. However in many 
locations a shortage of unskilled labor continued to push wages up, 
causing several major cities in Guangdong province to increase the 
minimum wage by 17 to 42 percent during the year.
    Wage arrearages to employees of state-owned and private enterprises 
remained common, especially among migrant workers. According to a 
government report published in April, 35 percent of rural migrant 
workers reported having difficulty obtaining wages on time, while 
nearly 16 percent had trouble obtaining wages. Some migrant workers 
received wages once a year, when settling with employers prior to 
returning to their home districts for the lunar New Year. The 
Government continued its campaign to recover payment of missing wages 
and insurance contributions, and some localities took action to remedy 
wage arrears, with varying degrees of success. Some provinces 
promulgated regulations requiring companies to establish wage guaranty 
funds, in which employers are required to deposit a percentage of 
project costs into government-controlled accounts for use to pay back 
wage claims to workers. In February the Shenzhen city Labor and Social 
Security Bureau sanctioned 1,300 companies and imposed $5.8 million (47 
million RMB) in fines for not paying wages. In June Guangdong 
authorities blacklisted 30 construction companies for failure to pay 
wages, making them ineligible for city-funded projects. In August the 
SPC issued a judicial interpretation allowing unpaid workers holding 
vouchers from their employers to take their cases directly to court, 
without first going through the lengthy process of labor mediation and 
arbitration. Legal aid lawyers reported that this judicial decision has 
been very effective in reducing the time it takes to resolve wage 
arrears cases.
    Other widespread, illegal practices effectively reduced workers' 
wages. These included arbitrary fines and wage deductions levied by 
employers for such breaches of company rules as talking to fellow 
employees, talking back to supervisors, or standing or sitting 
improperly on the job. Many employers used an ``extended shift'' 
system, in which the employer sets an unrealistic production target 
that workers cannot achieve within designated work hours. Workers must 
then work overtime without additional compensation to meet the target, 
sometimes resulting in actual hourly wages that are below the legal 
minimum wage.
    The NPC report also found that excessive overtime was common. The 
labor law mandates a 40-hour standard workweek, excluding overtime, and 
a 24-hour weekly rest period. It also prohibits overtime work in excess 
of three hours per day or 36 hours per month and mandates a required 
percentage of additional pay for overtime work. However, these 
standards were regularly violated, particularly in the private sector 
and in enterprises that use low-skilled migrant or seasonal labor. A 
survey conducted by a human resources firm found that 80 percent of 
respondents worked overtime often, while only 30 percent were paid 
premium wages for overtime. Many areas of the country experienced 
shortages of migrant and skilled workers during the year, in part due 
to worker dissatisfaction with low wages and poor working conditions. 
Social auditors found that factories routinely falsified overtime and 
payroll records. In August a Shenzhen court accepted a libel complaint 
from an employer against two journalists who had reported on illegal 
overtime conditions in a factory, although the employer subsequently 
dropped the case.
    The NPC report found that working conditions in locations it 
surveyed were substandard. The State Administration for Work Safety 
(SAWS) also acknowledged that occupational health and safety concerns 
remained serious. SAWS, which was elevated to ministry status in 2005, 
continued to develop the national framework for work safety. The 
Ministry of Health was responsible for the prevention and treatment of 
occupational illness, while SAWS was responsible for workplace health 
supervision. In June the law was amended to provide for criminal 
sanctions against individuals responsible for industrial accidents. In 
August SAWS announced a five-year, $58 billion (467.4 billion RMB) plan 
to invest in safety projects, including coal mine accident prevention, 
in an effort to reduce the industrial accident rate.
    While inadequate and poorly enforced occupational health and safety 
laws and regulations continued to put workers' health and lives at 
risk, there was a decline in reported accidents and fatalities compare 
to the previous year. During the year official statistics reported that 
industrial accidents killed 14,382 workers, a decrease of 9.4 percent 
from the previous year. There were 95 incidents involving more than 10 
fatalities (a total of 1,570 fatalities), 49 percent fewer incidents 
than in 2005.
    The coal industry continued to suffer the largest number of 
accidents and fatalities as soaring demand and increasing prices drove 
companies to increase production of coal. During the year the number of 
deaths in coal mine accidents fell to 4,746, a decline of 20 percent 
from 2005. The Government took other steps throughout the year to 
improve mine safety. However, allegations of local government 
complicity in the cover-up of mining disasters continued.
    The central government announced plans to close 2,652 unsafe small 
coal mines during the year, but extended the deadline to the first half 
of 2007 following resistance from local governments. Throughout the 
year, central and provincial authorities punished a number of mine 
managers and local government officials for their involvement in coal 
mine accidents.
    Many factories that used harmful materials or processes not only 
failed to protect their workers against the ill effects of such 
materials or processes but failed to inform them about the hazards, 
neglected to provide them with health inspections as required by law, 
and when they fell ill, denied their claims for compensation. The 
Ministry of Health said that pneumonoconiosis, a chronic respiratory 
disease caused by inhaling metallic or mineral particles, remained the 
single most prevalent occupational disease in China. The official 
number of pneumonoconiosis cases was 440,000, although some observers 
reported that it may have affected as many as five million workers, 
including coal miners and jewelry workers. In February SAWS ordered the 
closing of 35,842 companies due to safety concerns.
    The Government reported that 102 million workers participated in 
the country's work-injury insurance system, an increase of 17 percent 
over the previous year. However, NGOs reported that local labor and 
social security bureaus frequently rejected claims for compensation by 
workers because employers failed to provide them with documentation as 
required by law. Workers showed a willingness to use lawsuits to pursue 
injury and illness claims against employers, but there were few sources 
of legal aid available.
    The work safety law states that employees have the right, after 
spotting an emergency situation that threatens their personal safety, 
to evacuate the workplace. Employers are forbidden to cancel the labor 
contracts or reduce the wages or benefits of any employee who takes 
such action. In practice such protective provisions were difficult to 
enforce. There were reports of serious accidents in which miners were 
killed when mine managers forced them to continue work under unsafe 
conditions.
    The NPC report stated that infringement of workers' rights was 
widespread in 2005, and this situation continued during the year. In 
addition to citing poor labor law enforcement, the NPC noted that labor 
contracts are seldom executed, and when they were, that contract terms 
were too short and not in compliance with the law. NPC inspection 
results in 2005 showed that only 20 percent of employees signed labor 
contracts in small- and medium-sized nonpublic enterprises. This 
situation continued during the year. The lack of written labor 
contracts made it much more difficult for workers whose rights had been 
violated to seek redress through administrative processes or through 
the courts. The widespread use of labor contracting agencies to supply 
manpower also created legal gray areas that made labor law enforcement 
more difficult.

                                 TIBET

    The United States recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and 
Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties in other provinces to be a 
part of the People's Republic of China. The Tibetan population within 
the TAR was 2.4 million, while in autonomous prefectures and counties 
outside the TAR the Tibetan population was 2.9 million. The Government 
strictly controlled information about, and access to, Tibetan areas, 
making it difficult to determine accurately the scope of human rights 
abuses.
    The Government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China 
remained poor, and the level of repression of religious freedom 
remained high. The Government continued to strongly criticize the Dalai 
Lama and to associate Tibetan Buddhist religious activity with 
separatist sympathies. The preservation and development of the unique 
religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage of Tibetan areas and the 
protection of Tibetan people's fundamental human rights continued to be 
of concern. Authorities continued to commit serious human rights 
abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, house arrest 
and surveillance of dissidents, and arbitrary restrictions on free 
movement.
    Positive developments in Tibetan areas included a fifth round of 
dialogue between the Government and envoys of the Dalai Lama. In March 
authorities permitted released political prisoner Phuntsog Nyidrol to 
travel overseas to receive medical treatment.

    Deprivation of Life.--On September 30, People's Armed Police at the 
Nangpa La pass shot at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans, attempting 
to cross into Nepal, killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and 
wounding others. Although officials claimed the police officers shot in 
self-defense, eyewitness accounts, including footage shot by a European 
film crew, showed that soldiers were unprovoked and fired at the 
Tibetans from a distance (see Torture and Freedom of Movement 
sections).
    In April monastery and Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) officials 
claimed Ngawang Jangchub's death in October 2005 was due to medical 
problems he had suffered from since childhood. According to other 
reports, he committed suicide. His death followed a heated dispute with 
the monastery's ``work team'' over the intensification of the patriotic 
education campaign at the monastery, the expulsion of five monks, and 
his refusal to denounce the Dalai Lama.

    Torture.--The security apparatus employed torture and degrading 
treatment in dealing with some detainees and prisoners. Tibetans 
repatriated from Nepal reportedly continued to suffer torture and other 
abuse in detention centers, including electric shocks, exposure to 
cold, and severe beatings, and were forced to perform heavy physical 
labor. Many were required to pay fines upon release.
    According to news reports, more than 30 of the 70 Tibetans fired 
upon by soldiers at Nangpa La were captured, incarcerated, and tortured 
in a labor camp. A 15-year-old member of the group who later reached 
India reported to international media that three dozen of the Tibetans 
captured by soldiers were tortured with cattle prods and forced to do 
hard labor (see Deprivation of Life and Freedom of Movement sections).
    According to a new report from the International Campaign for Tibet 
(ICT), a group of 50 refugees was previously fired upon by Chinese 
troops in October 2005 at the same pass. After the shooting began the 
group scattered, and 23 Tibetans were reportedly arrested, detained, 
tortured, and interrogated at an army camp in Dingri County. The 
whereabouts of the remaining 27 refugees were unknown (see Freedom of 
Movement section).
    On August 15, Nun Phuntsog Nyidrol, who was released in 2005 after 
serving 15 years in prison for participating in peaceful protests, 
testified before the UN Human Rights Council that government 
authorities severely beat and tortured her while in prison.
    Prison authorities reportedly subjected Jigme Gyatso to beatings 
and solitary confinement following a December 2005 meeting with UN 
Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak in Drapchi Prison.

    Prison Conditions.--Prisoners in Tibetan areas were generally 
subject to the same prison conditions as in other areas of the country. 
Forced labor was used in some prisons, detention centers, 
reeducationthrough-labor facilities, and prison work sites. The 
law states that prisoners may be required to work up to 12 hours per 
day, with one rest day every two weeks, but these regulations often 
were not enforced. Conditions in administrative detention facilities, 
such as reeducation-through-labor camps, were similar to those in 
prisons.
    Political prisoner Rinzin Wangyal (also known as Rinwang) 
reportedly died in prison in late 2004 of unknown causes. There was no 
official confirmation of Rinzin Wangyal's death, nor was his body 
handed over to his family.

    Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention 
remained serious problems in Tibetan areas. The law permits police and 
security authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging 
them.
    In August the ICT reported the March 2005 arrest of Lhasa history 
teacher Dolma Kyab. He was reportedly serving a 10-year sentence in 
Qushui Prison on charges of ``endangering state security.'' In August 
Bureau of Justice authorities in Lhasa denied he was detained.
    Authorities reportedly detained six Tibetans from Sichuan Province 
for allegedly handing out leaflets advocating Tibetan independence. In 
early June Yiga, a former nun, and two lay women, Sonam Choetso and 
Jampa Yangtso, all from Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan, were detained in 
Lhasa. On June 1 and 2, respectively, Kayi Doega, a layman, and Sonam 
Lhamo, a nun from Geci Nunnery, were detained in Ganzi Prefecture on 
the suspicion they had organized the protest.
    In late August authorities arrested Yiwang, a 16-year-old Tibetan 
girl from Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan, for her involvement in the 
campaign. No information on her trial or sentence was available.
    According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), on August 23 
security officials arrested Khenpo Jinpa, the abbot of Choktsang 
Taklung Monastery in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Khenpo Jinpa 
was reportedly arrested on suspicion of involvement in displaying 
proindependence posters at the monastery.
    According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy 
(TCHRD), on November 23 authorities reportedly arrested five monks who 
refused to take part in the ``patriotic education campaign'' that began 
in October 2005 at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. The monks, who were 
identified as Ngawang Namdrol, Ngawang Nyingpo, Ngawang Thupten, 
Ngawang Phelgey, and Phuntsok Thupwang, reportedly refused to denounce 
the Dalai Lama and recognize Tibet as part of China. In April monastery 
officials denied the five had been arrested and said they were expelled 
from the monastery and had returned to their homes (see Freedom of 
Religion section).
    On February 24, eight Tibetans were detained in Sichuan Province 
during a fur-burning campaign. They were released in March without 
being charged (see Freedom of Religion section).
    In August 2005 four Tibetans who were detained after the burning of 
a slaughterhouse in Sichuan Province reportedly remained in detention 
in Derge County. Sherab Yonten, Sonam Gyelpo, and two others whose 
names are unknown continued to be held without charges and without 
access to relatives or defense counsel. Soepa, originally detained with 
the others, was released after going blind in custody due to alleged 
beatings and lack of access to medical care. Dawa, also originally 
detained with the others, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment 
(see Political Prisoners section).
    In July 2005 monk Tsering Dhondup reportedly was detained after he 
allegedly wrote a ``request for prayer'' mentioning the Dalai Lama. 
According to RFA, the monastery disciplinarian who read the request for 
prayer, Changchup Gyaltsen, reportedly was also expelled from the 
monastery.
    On May 23, 19-year-old monk Thubten Samten reportedly disappeared 
from his room in the Sera Monastery. According to the TCHRD, sources 
believe police arrested him for displaying pictures in his room of the 
Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and the Tibetan national flag. His 
whereabouts remained unknown.
    In June border police near Tingri reportedly arrested 13 Tibetans 
who were planning to cross the border to Nepal. The detainees were male 
and in their twenties and early thirties. There were no reports on the 
whereabouts of those arrested.
    Jigme Gyatso continued to serve a sentence for counterrevolution 
despite a November 2000 UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 
statement that he was merely ``exercising the right to freedom of 
peaceful assembly.''
    Chadrel Rinpoche remained under house arrest for leaking 
information about the selection of the Panchen Lama. Officials denied 
requests by diplomatic observers to visit with him.
    On February 26, former nun and schoolteacher Nyima Choedron, who 
was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, had the 
remainder of her sentence commuted and was released from the TAR 
Prison.
    On March 9, the ICT reported that Nyima Choedron's partner, Bangri 
Chogtrul Rinpoche, a schoolteacher and founder of the Gyatso children's 
home and school who was also detained in 1999, remained in prison on 
charges of ``splittism.''

    Political Prisoners.--Due to the lack of independent access to 
prisoners and prisons, it was difficult to ascertain the number of 
Tibetan political prisoners. According to the Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China's Political Prisoner Database (CECC PPD), in 
December there were 105 known cases of political prisoners, although 
the exact figure may be higher. Based on information available for 70 
political prisoners, the average sentence was 10 years and 11 months, 
and 69 percent were monks or nuns. Approximately 52 political prisoners 
remained in prison in Lhasa, most serving sentences on the charge of 
``counterrevolution,'' which was dropped from the criminal law in 1997. 
Authorities have stated that acts previously prosecuted as 
counterrevolutionary crimes continue to be considered crimes under 
antisubversion laws. The CECC PPD showed that 57 Tibetan political 
prisoners were imprisoned in the TAR, 29 in Sichuan Province, 12 in 
Qinghai Province, four in Gansu Province, and three in Beijing. The 
overall number of reported political prisoners in Tibetan areas dropped 
to 105 from 117 in 2005.
    An unknown number of Tibetans were serving sentences in 
reeducation-through-labor camps and other forms of administrative 
detention not subject to judicial review.
    In October the TCHRD reported that Dawa (also called Gyaltsen 
Namdak) was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for allegedly 
distributing pamphlets containing political material. Dawa was arrested 
in May. He reportedly remained in Chushul Prison at year's end.
    On September 6, authorities reportedly charged monk Lobsang Palden 
from Ganzi Monastery for initiating separatist activities. On August 
15, he reportedly was arrested in Sichuan Province after police 
searched his room and found photographs of the Dalai Lama.
    In May the Dui Hua Foundation released new information on the 
sentencing of monk Choeying Khedrub from Nagchu Prefecture. He was one 
of six men detained in 2000 for ``endangering state security'' and 
``supporting splittist activities.'' Choeying Khedrub reportedly was 
sentenced to life in prison in 2001. He was one of only two Tibetans 
known to be serving life sentences for political offenses. The other 
was Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a senior monk. He initially was sentenced to 
death for allegedly causing explosions and inciting the separation of 
the state; in January 2005 his sentence was commuted to life 
imprisonment.
    In November the TCHRD reported that Sonam Gyalpo, a Lhasa tailor 
arrested in 2005, was sentenced in the middle of the year to 12 years' 
imprisonment on charges of splittism and destroying national unity.
    Monk Namkha Gyaltsen, a chant master from Ganzi Monastery in 
Sichuan Province, was serving an eight-year sentence in Ganzi Prison 
for allegedly posting, displaying, and circulating Tibetan independence 
pamphlets in Ganzi in 2005. Authorities denied access to visitors, and 
his condition remained unknown.
    In January a court in Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province, reportedly 
sentenced five Tibetan monks and nuns to up to three years' 
imprisonment for displaying and distributing posters in 2005 that were 
critical of the Government. According to the Free Tibet Campaign, nuns 
Choekyi Drolma and Tamdrin Tsomo and monk Dargyal Gyatso were sentenced 
to three years' imprisonment and nun Yonten Tsomo and monk Yamyang 
Samdrub to 18 months' imprisonment. Nun Yonten Tsomo was released at 
the end of the year. The charges against the monks and other nuns were 
unknown.
    In January Gendun, a monk and teacher of traditional monastic dance 
from Amdo, was sentenced to four years in prison after he spoke about 
Tibetan culture and history at a teacher training college in February 
2005. Twenty monks, students, and teachers detained in connection with 
his case reportedly were released soon after they were detained.
    Other political prisoners in detention at year's end included: monk 
Sonam Phuntsog; Tashi Gyaltsen, Tsultrim Phelgyal, Tsesum Samten, 
Jhamphel Gyatso, and Lobsang Thargyal from Dakar Treldzong Monastery in 
Qinghai Province; Jigme Dasang, a monk from Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai 
Province; Ngawang Phulchung, a monk from Drepung Monastery; Tibetan 
Buddhist monk Jigme Gyatso; and Lobsang Khedrub and Gyalpo.
    The status of the following persons arrested in 2004 remained 
unconfirmed at year's end: Nyima Dorjee and Lobsang Dorjee, who were 
arrested for hanging proindependence posters on government buildings; 
Choeden Rinzen, who was arrested for possessing pictures of the Dalai 
Lama and the Tibetan National flag; Dejor, Tsering Dawa, and Datsok, 
who were detained after clashing with Chinese workers over a mining 
project; and Nyima Tenzen and Sonam Nyidup, who protested their 
detention by shouting proindependence slogans in a bar.

    Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Legal safeguards for Tibetans 
detained or imprisoned were inadequate in both design and 
implementation. Most judges had little or no legal training. According 
to an official of the TAR Bureau of Justice, all seven cities and 
prefectures had established legal assistance centers, which offered 
services in the Tibetan language. Justice Bureau officials confirmed 
that there is a new prisoner appointment application by which prisoners 
may request a meeting with a government-appointed attorney. 
Nevertheless, many defendants still did not have access to legal 
representation. Moreover, their trials were cursory and closed if 
issues of state security were involved. Under the law, maximum prison 
sentences for crimes such as ``endangering state security'' and 
``splitting the country'' were 15 years for each count, not to exceed 
20 years in total. Such cases mainly concerned actions alleged to be in 
support of Tibetan independence, and activities did not have to be 
violent to be illegal or to draw a heavy sentence.

    Freedom of Speech and Press, Including Internet Freedom.--The 
Tibetan-language services of Voice of America and RFA, as well as of 
the Oslo-based Voice of Tibet, suffered from the same jamming of their 
frequencies by authorities as Chinese-language services. However, 
Tibetans were able to listen to the broadcasts at least some of the 
time.
    During the year the Tibet Culture Web site, a domestic site devoted 
to contemporary Tibetan culture, was shut down intermittently. In July 
authorities closed Internet blogs of well-known Tibetan author Oser. In 
press reports the writer speculated the closure was due to her posting 
of a picture of the Dalai Lama and expression of birthday wishes for 
him.

    Freedom of Religion.--The level of repression in Tibetan areas 
remained high, and the Government's record of respect for religious 
freedom remained poor during the year. The law provides for freedom of 
religious belief, and the Government's 2004 white paper on Regional 
Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet states, ``Tibetans fully enjoy the freedom of 
religious belief.'' However, the Government maintained tight controls 
on religious practices and places of worship in Tibetan areas. Although 
authorities permitted many traditional practices and public 
manifestations of belief, they promptly and forcibly suppressed 
activities they viewed as vehicles for political dissent or advocacy of 
Tibetan independence, such as religious activities venerating the Dalai 
Lama (which the Government described as ``splittist'').
    On August 8, the newly appointed party secretary in the TAR, Zhang 
Qingli, sharply criticized the Dalai Lama, describing him in an 
interview with a foreign magazine as a ``false religious leader'' and 
dismissing his ``middle way'' approach as ``splittism.'' In a May 16 
address to Party officials in Lhasa, Zhang said the Communist Party was 
engaged in a ``fight to the death struggle'' against the Dalai Lama and 
his supporters. According to the Xinhua News Agency, in a July press 
conference TAR Chairman Champa Phuntsok described the Dalai Lama as a 
``politician in Buddhist robes and Italian shoes.''
    Approximately 615 Tibetan Buddhist religious figures held positions 
in local people's congresses and local Chinese people's political 
consultative conferences in the TAR. However, the Government continued 
to insist that CCP members and senior employees adhere to the CCP's 
code of atheism, and routine political training for cadres continued to 
promote atheism. TAR officials confirmed that some RAB officers were 
members of the CCP and that religious belief was incompatible with CCP 
membership. However, some lower-level RAB officials practiced Buddhism.
    The atmosphere for religious freedom varied from region to region. 
Conditions were more relaxed in some Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
    Monks outside the TAR who want to study in the TAR are required to 
get official permission from the RAB, although such permission was not 
readily granted. Sources said that ethnic Han Chinese monks generally 
were not allowed to undertake religious study in the TAR. Although 
Tibetan monks were not allowed to conduct large-scale religious 
teachings outside Tibetan areas, many monks continued to give private 
teachings to audiences in non-Tibetan regions of China.
    Monasteries in the TAR were not allowed to establish any 
relationship with other monasteries or hold joint religious activities. 
Monasteries are required to report to the local government and request 
permission to hold any large or important religious events or to build 
new temples.
    In February and March Tibetan Buddhists in Qinghai and Sichuan 
Provinces and the TAR carried out animal pelt-burning campaigns to 
destroy wild animal pelts traditionally worn in Tibetan clothing. The 
activities were a response to a call from the Dalai Lama during January 
Kolachakara celebrations in India to increase awareness of wildlife 
protection. Authorities banned the public burnings, which they saw as 
demonstrations of loyalty to the Dalai Lama, and detained some 
participants in Ganzi, Sichuan Province (see Arbitrary Arrest and 
Detention section).
    In June an overseas Web site reported that the Government began a 
political education campaign for school children in Ganzi Prefecture, 
Sichuan Province, to prevent involvement in the animal pelt-burning 
campaign.
    In February envoys of the Dalai Lama came to China for the fifth 
round of talks since 2002. In his public remarks, the Dalai Lama 
continued to call for a ``middle way'' approach, which included 
``meaningful autonomy'' for Tibet but not independence.
    Security was intensified during the Dalai Lama's birthday, 
sensitive anniversaries, and festival days in the TAR and in some other 
Tibetan areas as well. The prohibition on celebrating the Dalai Lama's 
birthday on July 6 continued. Government officials reportedly ordered 
Tibetans working for the Government to refrain from going to temples 
during the Saga Dawa festival in May or risk losing their jobs.
    In early September authorities permitted Buddhists in Gansu 
Province's Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to celebrate the 
festival of Kalachakara, which was originally scheduled for July 6, the 
birthday of the Dalai Lama, but then postponed by authorities.
    In December Tibetan government workers, retired staff and cadres, 
students, and party members were banned from participating or observing 
celebrations of the Gaden Ngachoe Festival, which commemorates the 
death of a 14th-century Buddhist teacher and founder of the Gelugpa 
school of Tibetan Buddhism.
    Government officials maintained that possessing or displaying 
pictures of the Dalai Lama was legal. However, authorities appeared to 
view possession of such photos as evidence of separatist sentiment when 
detaining individuals on political charges. Pictures of the Dalai Lama 
were not openly displayed in most major monasteries and could not be 
purchased openly in the TAR.
    During the year international observers saw pictures of a number of 
religious figures, including the Dalai Lama, displayed more widely in 
some Tibetan areas outside the TAR. The Government continued to ban 
pictures of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama 
as the Panchen Lama. Photos of the ``official'' Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen 
Norbu, were not widely displayed, most likely because most Tibetans do 
not recognize him as the Panchen Lama.
    TAR Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau officials confirmed that 
the TAR had approximately 46,000 Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns and 
more than 1,700 venues for Tibetan Buddhist activities. Officials cited 
almost identical figures since 1996, although the number of monks and 
nuns has dropped at many sites due to the patriotic education campaign 
and the expulsion of many monks and nuns who refused to denounce the 
Dalai Lama or who were found to be ``politically unqualified.'' These 
numbers represented only the TAR, where the number of monks and nuns 
was strictly controlled. According to statistics collected by the China 
Center for Tibetan Studies, a government research institution, there 
were 1,535 monasteries in Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
    Government officials closely associated Buddhist monasteries with 
proindependence activism in Tibetan areas of China. Spiritual leaders 
encountered difficulty reestablishing historical monasteries due to 
lack of funds, general limitations on monastic education, and lack of 
authorization to build and operate religious institutions; officials in 
some areas contended such religious institutions were a drain on local 
resources and a conduit for political infiltration by the Tibetan exile 
community.
    The Government stated there were no limits on the number of monks 
in major monasteries and that each monastery's democratic management 
committee (DMC) decided independently how many monks the monastery 
could support. However, the Government exercised strict control over 
most monasteries through the DMCs and imposed strict limits on the 
number of monks in major monasteries, particularly within the TAR. The 
Government had the right to disapprove any individual's application to 
take up religious orders, although there were no known reports of the 
Government exercising this right during the year. Authorities limited 
the traditional practice of sending young boys to monasteries for 
religious training by means of regulations that forbade monasteries 
from accepting individuals under the age of 18. Nevertheless, many 
monasteries continued to admit younger boys, often delaying their 
formal registration until age 18.
    The Government continued to oversee the daily operations of major 
monasteries. The Government, which did not contribute to the 
monasteries' operating funds, retained management control of 
monasteries through the DMCs and local RABs. Regulations restricted 
leadership of many DMCs to ``patriotic and devoted'' monks and nuns and 
specified that the Government must approve all members of the 
committees. At some monasteries government officials also sat on the 
committees.
    The quality and availability of high-level religious teachers in 
the TAR and other Tibetan areas remained inadequate; many teachers were 
in exile, older teachers were not being replaced, and those remaining 
in Tibetan areas outside the TAR had difficulty securing permission to 
teach in the TAR. DMCs at several large TAR monasteries used funds 
generated by the sales of entrance tickets or donated by pilgrims for 
purposes other than the support of monks engaged in full-time religious 
study. As a result, some ``scholar monks'' who had formerly been fully 
supported had to engage in income-generating activities. Some experts 
were concerned that, as a result, fewer monks will be qualified to 
serve as teachers.
    Government officials claimed that the patriotic education campaign, 
which often consisted of intensive, weeks-long sessions conducted by 
outside work teams, ended in 2000. However, monks and nuns continued to 
undergo political education on a regular basis. Numerous credible 
sources reported that political education sessions intensified in Lhasa 
beginning in April 2005. In July 2005 18 monks were expelled from Sera 
Monastery, and eight others were detained before they were to be tested 
on the contents of political education materials. In October 2005 RFA 
reported that 40 of the approximately 50 nuns residing at the Gyarak 
Nunnery near Lhasa were expelled for refusing to participate in 
political education.
    In August officials from the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs 
told diplomatic observers that political education was carried out for 
all citizens, not just monks and nuns. Because the primary 
responsibility for conducting political education shifted from 
government officials to monastery leaders, the form, content, and 
frequency of training at each monastery appeared to vary widely. 
However, conducting such training remained a requirement and has become 
a routine part of monastic management.
    In April religious authorities in the TAR stated that five Drepung 
Monastery monks had been expelled from the monastery in October 2005 
for failing to satisfactorily participate in political education 
classes. Reports from international media sources indicated that the 
monks had been detained (see Arbitrary Arrest and Detention section).
    During the year the official Ganzi Prefecture government Web site 
reported that in 2005 the permanent work team at Serthar Buddhist 
Institute destroyed 74 illegal houses in the monastery during its 
``management of religious work.'' The same Web site reported that 853 
houses were destroyed and 1,100 monks and nuns were evicted from the 
Yachen Monastery.
    Diplomatic observers repeatedly have been denied access to Nenang 
Monastery to verify the well-being of Pawo Rinpoche, who was recognized 
by the Karmapa Lama in 1994 and has lived under strict government 
supervision since that time.
    The Government routinely asserted control over the process of 
finding and educating reincarnate lamas. The Panchen Lama is Tibetan 
Buddhism's second most prominent figure, after the Dalai Lama. The 
Government continued to insist that Gyaltsen Norbu is the Panchen 
Lama's 11th reincarnation. The Government continued to deny access to 
Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11th 
Panchen Lama, and his whereabouts were unknown. Government officials 
claimed he was under government supervision at an undisclosed location 
for his own protection and attended classes as a ``normal schoolboy.'' 
While the overwhelming majority of Tibetan Buddhists recognized Gendun 
Choeki Nyima as the Panchen Lama, Tibetan monks claimed that they have 
been forced to sign statements pledging allegiance to Gyalsten Norbu, 
who the Government selected. The CCP also urged its members to support 
the ``official'' Panchen Lama.
    In 2005 diplomatic officials met the seven-year-old child approved 
by the Government as the seventh reincarnation of Reting Rinpoche. His 
appointment was reportedly disputed by many of the monks at Reting 
Monastery in 2000 because the Dalai Lama did not recognize the 
selection. The Reting Rinpoche's religious training was closely 
supervised by the Government through the selection of his religious and 
lay tutors.
    In August Gyaltsen Norbu traveled to his home town in Nagchu 
Prefecture for the first time since 1995. According to press reports, 
he presided over a blessing ritual for 4,000 local persons.
    The Government claimed that since 1949 it has contributed 
approximately $36 million (RMB 300 million) to renovate and open more 
than 1,400 monasteries and to repair cultural relics, many of which 
were destroyed before and during the Cultural Revolution.
    Despite the Government's efforts, many monasteries destroyed during 
the Cultural Revolution were never rebuilt or repaired, and others 
remained only partially repaired. Government funding of restoration 
efforts ostensibly supported the practice of religion but also promoted 
the development of tourism in Tibetan areas. Most recent restoration 
efforts were funded privately, although a few religious sites also 
received government support for reconstruction projects during the 
year.

    Freedom of Movement.--The law provides for the freedom to travel; 
however, in practice the Government strictly regulated travel and 
freedom of movement of Tibetans, especially within the TAR. Many 
Tibetans, particularly those from rural areas, continued to report 
difficulties obtaining passports.
    The Government also regulated foreign travel to the TAR. In 
accordance with a 1989 regulation, foreign visitors (excluding 
individuals from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) were required to obtain 
an official confirmation letter issued by the Government before 
entering the TAR. Most tourists obtained such letters by booking tours 
through officially registered travel agencies. While none of the TAR's 
70 counties were officially closed to foreigners, access for foreigners 
to many areas of the TAR remained problematic.
    Official visits to the TAR were supervised closely and afforded 
delegation members very few opportunities to meet local persons not 
previously approved by the authorities. Foreigners could travel freely 
in most Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
    Tibetans continued to encounter substantial difficulties and 
obstacles in traveling to India for religious and other purposes. The 
Government placed restrictions on the movement of Tibetans during 
sensitive anniversaries and events and increased controls over border 
areas at these times. There were reports that in January individuals 
returning to Tibet from the Kolachakara celebrations in India were 
required to register with authorities in the TAR. There were reports of 
arbitrary detention of persons, particularly monks, returning from 
Nepal. Detentions generally lasted for several months, although in most 
cases no formal charges were brought. In June border police near Tingri 
reportedly arrested 13 Tibetans who were planning to cross the border 
into Nepal (see Arbitrary Arrest and Detention section).
    On September 30, Chinese border forces at the Nangpa La pass shot 
at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans who were attempting to cross 
into Nepal, killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and injuring others. 
The group included monks, nuns, and children. Eyewitness accounts 
reported that soldiers fired at the group from a distance. These 
accounts appeared to contradict claims made shortly after the incident 
by state-controlled media, which claimed the group had attacked the 
border troops. Forty-three members of the group arrived in Katmandu. 
Other members of the group were caught by soldiers, and photographs of 
the incident showed soldiers standing watch over a group of children. A 
15-year-old member of the group who later reached India reported to 
international media that three dozen of the Tibetans captured by 
soldiers were tortured with cattle prods and forced to do hard labor. 
The whereabouts of the remaining members of the group were unknown (see 
Deprivation of Life and Torture sections).
    According to a report from the ICT, a group of 50 refugees was 
previously fired upon by Chinese troops in October 2005 at the same 
pass (see Torture section).
    The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that 
during the year 2,405 Tibetans arrived at the Tibet Reception Center 
(TRC) in Nepal, compared with 3,395 in 2005. During the year departures 
were higher than arrivals, with 2,946 Tibetans departing the TRC for 
India. This was due to a backlog at the TRC at the end of 2005.
    Nevertheless, thousands of Tibetans, including monks and nuns, 
visited India via third countries and returned to China after temporary 
stays. The majority of Tibetans who transited via Nepal to India were 
young, with ages ranging from six to 30, and the main reason they 
migrated was the lack of Tibetan-language educational facilities and 
opportunities for religious education.
    The Karmapa Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kagyu sect and 
one of the most influential religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism, 
remained in exile following his 1999 flight to India. The Karmapa Lama 
stated that he fled because of the Government's controls on his 
movements and its refusal either to allow him to go to India to be 
trained by his spiritual mentors or to allow his teachers to come to 
him.

    National Minorities.--Tibetans made up 94 percent of the population 
of the TAR. Government-sponsored development and new economic 
opportunities attracted migrant workers from China's large transient 
population to Tibetan areas. The result was a net increase in the non-
Tibetan share of the TAR population from approximately 4 percent in 
1990 to 6 percent in 2000. However, TAR census figures did not include 
a large number of long-term Han residents, such as cadres, skilled 
workers, unskilled laborers, military and paramilitary troops, and 
their dependents.
    Migrants to the TAR were overwhelmingly concentrated in cities and 
towns, while Tibetans continued to make up nearly 98 percent of the 
rural population. One official estimate put the number of Han residents 
in Lhasa at 100,000 out of a total population of approximately 409,500, 
although many observers estimated that more than half of Lhasa's 
population was Han Chinese. Small businesses, mostly restaurants and 
retail shops, run by Han and Hui migrants predominated in cities 
throughout the Tibetan areas.
    In Tibetan areas outside the TAR, Tibetans increased their majority 
share as natural population growth outpaced net migration by non-
Tibetans.
    Family planning policies permitted Tibetans and members of other 
minority groups to have more children than Han. Urban Tibetans, 
including Communist Party members, and some ethnic Han Chinese living 
in Tibetan areas were generally permitted to have two children. Rural 
Tibetans were encouraged, but not required, to limit births to three 
children.
    The TAR is one of China's poorest regions, and Tibetans are one of 
the poorest groups; malnutrition among Tibetan children continued to be 
widespread in many areas of the TAR.
    In 2005 the Government launched a campaign known as Ramdrang 
Rangdrik (Do It Yourself program). Ostensibly aimed at relocating 
Tibetans and improving their housing conditions, the campaign required 
villagers to build houses according to strict official specifications 
within two to three years, often forcing them to go into debt to cover 
construction costs. According to Human Rights Watch, Tibetans were told 
that modern houses were necessary to make a good impression on visitors 
and tourists. However, many of the houses did not have water or 
electricity and were often smaller than traditional Tibetan homes.
    In 2005 state media reported that Tibetans and other minority 
ethnic groups made up 75 percent of all government employees in the 
TAR. However, Han Chinese continued to hold key positions, including 
party secretary of the TAR. Tibetans holding government positions were 
prohibited from worshipping at monasteries or practicing their 
religion.
    Some Tibetans reported that they experienced discrimination in 
employment and claimed Han Chinese were hired preferentially for many 
jobs and received greater pay for the same work. In recent years some 
Tibetans reported that it was more difficult for Tibetans than Han to 
get permits and loans to open businesses. The use of the Chinese 
language was widespread in urban areas, and many businesses limited 
employment opportunities for Tibetans who did not speak Chinese.
    The TAR tourism bureau continued its policy of refusing to hire 
Tibetan tour guides educated in India or Nepal. Government officials 
have stated that all tour guides working in the TAR were required to 
seek employment with the Tourism Bureau and pass a licensing exam on 
tourism and political ideology. The Government's stated intent was to 
ensure that all tour guides provide visitors with the Government's 
position opposing Tibetan independence and the activities of the Dalai 
Lama.

    Women and Children.--There were no formal restrictions on women's 
participation in the political system, and women held many lower-level 
government positions. However, women were underrepresented at the 
provincial and prefectural levels of government. According to an 
official Web site, female cadres in the TAR accounted for more than 30 
percent of the TAR's total cadres.
    Prostitution was a growing problem in Tibetan areas, and hundreds 
of brothels operated semi-openly in Lhasa. International development 
workers in the TAR reported there were no reliable data on the number 
of commercial sex workers employed in Lhasa and Shigatse, the TAR's two 
largest cities, although some estimates placed the number of sex 
workers as high as 10,000. Some of the prostitution occurred at sites 
owned by the CCP, the Government, and the military. Most prostitutes in 
the TAR were Han women, mainly from Sichuan. However, some Tibetans, 
mainly young girls from rural or nomadic areas, also worked as 
prostitutes. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among prostitutes in Tibetan 
areas was unknown, but lack of knowledge about HIV transmission and 
economic pressures on prostitutes to engage in unprotected sex made 
them particularly vulnerable.
    Both Tibetan and Chinese are official languages in the TAR, and 
both languages were used on public and commercial signs. However, the 
Chinese language was spoken widely and was used for most commercial and 
official communications. The use of both languages was also impacted by 
the rate of illiteracy among Tibetans, which the CECC Annual Report 
reported was more than five times higher (47.55 percent) than the 
national average (9.08 percent), according to the 2000 census data. The 
TAR rate of illiteracy (47.25 percent) was the highest in the country 
and was nearly twice as high as in the second-ranked Qinghai Province 
(25.22 percent). Primary school was the only level of educational 
attainment for which data showed Tibetans nearly on par with the 
national average. In practice many pupils in rural and nomadic areas 
received only one to three years of schooling. The illiteracy rate of 
youth and adults in the prime of life fell from 95 percent before 1959 
to 22 percent at the end of 2004. However, the illiteracy rate for this 
group was much higher than 22 percent in some areas.
    The Government established a comprehensive national Tibetan-
language curriculum, and many elementary schools in Tibetan areas used 
Tibetan as the primary language of instruction. Tibetan students were 
also required to study Chinese, and Chinese was generally used to teach 
certain subjects, such as arithmetic and science. In middle and high 
schools--even some officially designated as Tibetan schools--teachers 
often used Tibetan only to teach classes in Tibetan language, 
literature, and culture and taught all other classes in Chinese. As a 
practical matter proficiency in Chinese was essential to receive a 
higher education. China's most prestigious universities provided 
instruction only in Chinese, while the lower-ranked universities 
established to serve ethnic minorities allowed study of only some 
subjects in Tibetan. Opportunities to study at Tibetan-language schools 
were greater in the TAR, while opportunities to study at privately 
funded Tibetan-language schools and to receive a traditional Tibetan-
language religious education were greater in Tibetan areas outside the 
TAR.
    Authorities in Tibetan areas required professors and students at 
institutions of higher education to attend political education sessions 
and limited course studies and materials in an effort to prevent 
separatist political and religious activities on campus. Students at 
Tibet University were prohibited from engaging in religious practice. 
The Government controlled curricula, texts, and other course materials.

    Protection of Cultural Heritage.--Rapid economic growth, the 
expanding tourism industry, and the introduction of more modern 
cultural influences have disrupted traditional living patterns and 
customs and threatened traditional Tibetan culture. Residents lacked 
the right to play a role in protecting their cultural heritage.
    The Dalai Lama, Tibetan experts, and other observers expressed 
concern that development projects and other central government policies 
would continue to promote a considerable influx of Han Chinese, Hui, 
and other ethnic groups into the TAR and benefit these groups 
disproportionately. There was widespread concern that the opening of 
the Qinghai-TAR railroad in April would increase this migration and 
threaten traditional culture and the demographic dominance of Tibetans.
    On July 1, General Secretary Hu Jintao traveled to Lhasa to 
inaugurate the Qinghai-TAR railroad. In September official press 
reports stated that the line had carried 272,700 passengers and 37,400 
tons of freight since entering service. Approximately 40 percent of the 
passengers were tourists, 30 percent business persons, and the 
remainder students, transient workers, traders, and persons visiting 
relatives in Tibet.
    Although the Government made efforts in recent years to restore 
some of the physical structures and other aspects of Tibetan Buddhism 
and Tibetan culture damaged or destroyed during the Cultural 
Revolution, repressive social and political controls continued to limit 
the fundamental freedoms of Tibetans and risked undermining Tibet's 
unique cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage.

                               HONG KONG

    Hong Kong, with a population of approximately seven million, is a 
Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China 
(PRC). The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong 
Kong and the SAR's constitution, the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special 
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (hereafter 
referred to as the Basic Law), specify that Hong Kong will enjoy a high 
degree of autonomy except in matters of defense and foreign affairs. In 
June 2005 following the resignation of former Chief Executive Tung 
Chee-hwa, Donald Tsang, the acting chief executive, was elected 
unopposed as chief executive. Legislative Council (Legco) members were 
elected in 2004 to four-year terms. Although the elections were 
generally considered free and fair, in the months leading up to the 
elections there were allegations of intimidation of voters and 
political commentators. The civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, although core issues remain.
    Residents were limited in their ability to change their government, 
and the legislature was limited in its power to affect government 
policies. Self-censorship remained a problem, as did violence and 
discrimination against women. Workers were also restricted from 
organizing and bargaining collectively.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The Basic Law and Hong Kong Bill of Rights prohibits 
torture and other abuse by the police, and the Government generally 
observed the prohibition in practice. From January to June, there were 
303 allegations of assault by police officers on persons in or not in 
custody; however, none alleged torture or were substantiated by the 
Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) (see section 1.d.). In August 
an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka lodged a complaint with CAPO that he 
was assaulted by police when being pushed into a police car after being 
apprehended for overstaying in Hong Kong. As of year's end, the 
complaint was still being investigated.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and although the Government 
permitted visits by independent human rights observers, there were no 
requests during the year. Media visit requests were permitted, and 
local justices of the peace regularly conducted unannounced prison 
inspections. Prison overcrowding continued to be a problem, although 
the construction of a new immigration detention center in Tuen Mun in 
2005 eliminated the need to put immigration offenders in prison with 
convicted criminals. For the first six months of the year, the average 
prison occupancy rate for the 24 prisons was 104 percent. Overcrowding 
was most serious in maximumsecurity prisons, which operated at 
an average occupancy rate of 119 percent.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Common law, legal precedent, and 
the Basic Law provide substantial and effective legal protection 
against arbitrary arrest or detention, and the Government generally 
observed these provisions in practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is led 
by a uniformed police commissioner who reports to the secretary for 
security--a member of the chief executive's cabinet. The force had 
approximately 28,700 officers and was divided into five departments 
with both headquarters and regional formations. Corruption and impunity 
were not significant problems within the force. Police officers are 
subject to disciplinary review by CAPO and the civilian Independent 
Police Complaints Council (IPCC) in cases of alleged misconduct.
    Disciplinary action can range from warnings to dismissal. Criminal 
proceedings may be undertaken independently of the disciplinary process 
under Section 3 of the Crimes (Torture) Ordinance, punishable by life 
imprisonment. CAPO investigates allegations of excessive use of force, 
and IPCC monitors and reviews their work.

    Arrest and Detention.--Suspects were apprehended openly with 
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized 
official. Suspects must also be charged within 48 hours or released, 
and the Government respected this right in practice. There is a 
functioning bail system, and detainees are allowed prompt access to a 
lawyer and family members. Incommunicado detention was not a problem. 
The law provides accused persons with the right to a prompt judicial 
determination. During the year the average length of preconviction 
incarceration was 63 days.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. The judiciary, underpinned by the Basic Law's 
provision that the common law tradition be maintained, provided 
citizens with a fair and efficient judicial process. Under the Basic 
Law, the courts may interpret those provisions of the Basic Law that 
address matters within the limits of the SAR's autonomy. The courts 
also interpret provisions of the Basic Law that touch on PRC central 
government responsibilities or on the relationship between the central 
authorities and the SAR. However, before making final judgments on 
these matters, which are not subject to appeal, the courts must seek an 
interpretation of the relevant provisions from the standing committee 
of the National People's Congress (NPC).
    The Basic Law requires the courts to follow the standing 
committee's interpretation of Basic Law provisions, although judgments 
previously rendered are not affected. As the final interpreter of the 
Basic Law, the standing committee of the NPC also has the power to 
self-initiate interpretations of the Basic Law, as it did in April 2004 
when it ruled out universal suffrage in Hong Kong's 2007 and 2008 
elections (see section 3). The NPC's mechanism for interpretation is 
its Committee for the Basic Law, composed of six mainland and six Hong 
Kong members. The chief executive, the President of the Legco, and the 
chief justice nominate the Hong Kong members. Human rights and lawyers' 
organizations have expressed concern that this process, which 
circumvents the Court of Final Appeal's power of final adjudication, 
could be used to limit the independence of the judiciary or could 
degrade the courts' authority. In 2005 critics argued that the Basic 
Law and the resulting interpretation from the NPC standing committee on 
the question of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's successor's term of 
office was an attempt to circumvent the judicial process. In response 
to the request, the NPC standing committee ruled in April that Tung's 
successor should serve out only the remaining two years of Tung's term 
rather than a full five-year term. Critics argued that the request, and 
the resulting NPC interpretation, sought to circumvent the judicial 
process. The Government argued that the need to resolve the issue 
quickly left insufficient time for a lengthy judicial review.
    The Court of Final Appeal is the SAR's supreme judicial body. An 
independent commission nominates judges. The chief executive is 
required to appoint those nominated, subject to endorsement by the 
legislature. Nomination procedures ensure that commission members 
nominated by the private bar have a virtual veto on the nominations. 
The Basic Law provides that, with the exception of both the chief 
justice and the chief judge of the high court, who are prohibited from 
residing outside Hong Kong, foreigners may serve on the courts. During 
the year approximately 18 percent of all judges and judicial officers 
were expatriates, with 15 of 16 Court of Final Appeal judges being 
expatriates. Judges have security of tenure until retirement.
    Under the Court of Final Appeal is the high court, composed of the 
court of appeal and the court of first instance. Lower judicial bodies 
include the district courts, which have limited jurisdiction in civil 
and criminal matters; the magistrates' courts, which exercise 
jurisdiction over a wide range of criminal offenses; the coroner's 
court; the juvenile court; the lands tribunal; the labor tribunal; the 
small claims tribunal; and the obscene articles tribunal

    Trial Procedures.--The Basic Law provides for the right to a fair 
public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right in practice. Trials are by jury except at the magistrate court 
level. The judiciary provides citizens with a fair and efficient 
judicial process. An attorney is provided at the public's expense if 
defendants cannot afford counsel. Defendants can confront and question 
witnesses testifying against them and present witnesses to testify on 
their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants have the right of 
appeal.
    Defendants generally enjoy a presumption of innocence. However, 
under prosecution rules, there is a presumption of guilt in official 
corruption cases. Under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, a current 
or former government official who maintains a standard of living above 
that commensurate with his official income, or controls monies or 
property disproportionate to his official income is, unless he can 
satisfactorily explain the discrepancy, guilty of an offense. The 
courts have upheld this ordinance in practice.
    According to the Basic Law, English may be used as an official 
language by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. For 
historical reasons and because of the courts' reliance on common law 
precedents, almost all civil cases and most criminal cases were heard 
in English. In recent years the Government has developed a bilingual 
legal system. It has increased the number of officers in the legal aid 
department proficient in spoken Cantonese and written Chinese, and 
extended the use of bilingual prosecution documents and indictments. 
All laws are bilingual, with English and Chinese texts being equally 
authentic. All courts and tribunals may operate in either Cantonese or 
English. Judges, witnesses, the parties themselves, and legal 
representatives may each decide which language to use at any point in 
the proceedings.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary for civil matters, and there were no problems 
enforcing domestic court orders (see section 2.b.).

    Property Restitution.--The Government enforced court orders with 
respect to restitution or compensation for taking private property 
under domestic law.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The Basic Law prohibits arbitrary interference with 
privacy, family, home, and correspondence, and the Government generally 
respected these prohibitions in practice.
    In February the high court ruled that a 2005 executive order 
authorizing covert surveillance activities by law enforcement agencies 
had no legal effect and a decades-old wiretapping law violated the 
Basic Law. This decision followed a series of court rulings in 2005 
where government evidence collected through covert surveillance was 
barred from criminal trials because the courts said it was collected 
without legal authorization. In August Legco passed a new law 
regulating the use of covert surveillance and the interception of 
telecommunications and postal communications. The law establishes a 
two-tiered system for granting approval for surveillance activities, 
under which surveillance of a more intrusive nature requires the 
approval of a judge and surveillance of a less intrusive nature 
requires only the approval of a senior law enforcement official. 
Authorization to conduct covert surveillance can only be granted to 
prevent or detect ``serious crime'' or protect ``public security.'' 
Applications to intercept telecommunications must involve crimes with a 
penalty of at least seven years imprisonment, while applications for 
covert surveillance must involve crimes with a penalty of at least 
three years imprisonment or a fine of at least $128,000 (HK$1 million). 
Some lawmakers and civil rights activists criticized the legislation 
for granting too much power to the police. The chief executive 
dismissed the criticism, saying the law was fairer and more protective 
of privacy than similar laws in the world's most open democracies. The 
Government did not reveal the number of authorizations granted to 
conduct such activities. After taking office in August, Justice Woo 
Kwok-hing, the commissioner on interception of communications and 
surveillance, received multiple complaints citing unlawful surveillance 
activities. Justice Woo publicly vowed to investigate each complaint.
    The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, 
established under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO), works 
to prevent the misuse, disclosure, or matching of personal data without 
the consent of the subject individual or the commissioner. PDPO is not 
applicable to PRC government organs in Hong Kong. As of year's end, the 
Government was considering whether it should be made applicable to PRC 
bodies. Under certain exemptions for purposes related to safeguarding 
the security, defense, or international relations of Hong Kong, and for 
the prevention, detection, or prosecution of a crime, Hong Kong 
authorities may be allowed to transfer personal data to a PRC body.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. Accusations of media self-censorship continued 
during the year. Most media outlets were owned by businesses with 
interests on the mainland, making them vulnerable to self-censorship. 
The Hong Kong Journalist Association's 2005 annual report noted that 
there ``is a continued perception that some sections of the media are 
engaged in self-censorship.'' In 2005 the University of Hong Kong 
conducted a public opinion poll that said that 50 percent of 
respondents believed the media practiced self-censorship.
    In February four men broke into the offices of the Falun Gong-owned 
daily newspaper Epoch Times and destroyed a piece of machinery in the 
paper's print shop. Epoch Times had just opened the print shop a few 
weeks prior to the break-in after experiencing difficulties in hiring a 
local printing company. In 2005 the printing company that Epoch Times 
had been using refused to renew their contract, and the Falun Gong 
alleged the contract was canceled because the company feared business 
reprisals from its mainland clients. In addition to printing its daily 
paper, Epoch Times used the new shop to print large volumes of their 
Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a series of editorials 
offering a critical history of the Chinese Communist Party. At year's 
end police investigators had collected evidence at the crime scene but 
had made no arrests in connection with the break-in. After brief 
initial reports in local papers, the incident received no follow-up 
media coverage, which some observers said was an obvious case of media 
self-censorship.
    The publishing or importation of print or other media in Hong Kong 
are subject to regulation by a few provisions to safeguard the interest 
of readers. For example, the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles 
Ordinance guards against the inclusion of obscene materials in print 
and other media not regulated by the Broadcasting Ordinance. In August 
peephole-style photos of popular Hong Kong singer Gillian Chung, taken 
backstage at a concert in Malaysia and published in the Hong Kong 
weekly Easy Finder, sparked debate among government, local media, and 
women's rights activists on the proper balance between press freedom 
and the right to privacy. Gillian Chung filed a writ with Kong Kong's 
High Court (Obscene Articles Tribunal) on August 28, seeking an 
injunction against further publication and an order for Easy Finder to 
surrender all existing copies of the photos. At year's end the case had 
not been decided, but government officials, including the chief 
executive and Legco members, called for fresh discussions on the 
controversial legal nexus between privacy, press freedom, and covert 
surveillance.
    In August legislator Albert Ho was attacked and beaten with clubs 
by three assailants in what appeared to be a premeditated attack. While 
the exact motivation for the assault remained a mystery, local 
observers said it was likely connected to his legal work rather than 
his government activities. The chief executive vowed that the 
assailants would be brought to justice. As of year's end, five arrests 
had been made in connection with the attack, but the investigation 
continued. In 2005 two employees of the local daily newspaper Ming Pao 
were slightly injured by a small package bomb that was addressed to the 
paper's editor. An accompanying letter denounced the paper's executives 
for publishing an unspecified article. As of November, the 
perpetrator's identity and exact motivation remained a mystery.
    In 2005 a radio talk show host resigned from his position, saying 
that he was denied a primetime slot because of his outspoken views 
regarding greater democracy in Hong Kong. The same talk show host had 
previously resigned in 2004 for unexplained reasons but later returned 
to his job and was given a Saturday evening time slot. This followed 
the resignation in 2004 of two other popular radio talk show hosts, who 
were known for their antigovernment and antimainland rhetoric, due to 
alleged intimidation. The police investigated the allegations but 
determined there was not enough evidence to file charges.
    Questions continued during the year over whether the Government was 
infringing on the editorial independence of the government-owned Radio 
Television Hong Kong (RTHK). In February the Government unveiled plans 
to set up an audit team to monitor RTHK following allegations of poor 
financial controls, management problems, and a failure to comply with 
government rules and procedures. Critics believed the Government's 
August decision to replace the retiring RTHK deputy director with a 
civil servant lacking in journalism experience could further erode 
RTHK's editorial independence. In September the Committee on Review of 
Public Service Broadcasting proposed RTHK's governing board comprise up 
to 15 members, with up to four of them directly appointed by the chief 
executive and nine appointed based on nominations from professional 
sectors. These 13 board members would appoint the broadcaster's chief 
executive officer, who would serve on the board along with a staff 
representative. The proposal, according to the review committee's 
chairman, aimed to minimize political intervention in the broadcaster, 
but media pundits were mixed over the level of press freedom offered by 
the proposal.
    International media organizations operated freely. Foreign 
reporters needed no special visas or government-issued press cards for 
Hong Kong.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were generally no 
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. The Government routinely 
issued the required permits for public meetings and demonstrations.
    Under the Public Order Ordinance, demonstration organizers must 
notify the police of their intention to demonstrate one week in 
advance, unless an exception is granted. The police accept shorter 
notice if groups can satisfy the commissioner of police that earlier 
notice could not have been given for a march involving more than 30 
persons and for an assembly of more than 50 persons. The police must 
explicitly object within 48 hours, and if there is no reply, it is 
assumed there is no objection. The ordinance also empowers police to 
object to demonstrations on national security grounds, although that 
portion of the law has never been invoked. If the police object, 
demonstration organizers may appeal to a statutory appeals board 
comprising members from different sectors of society. Both the board's 
proceedings and the police's exercise of power are subject to judicial 
review.
    Falun Gong practitioners regularly conducted public protests 
against the crackdown on fellow practitioners in the PRC. In 2005 the 
Court of Final Appeal overturned the convictions of eight Falun Gong 
practitioners who had been charged with obstructing and assaulting 
police officers during a sit-in protest in 2002. The ruling was viewed 
as an important affirmation of Hong Kong's fundamental freedom of 
assembly, demonstration, and expression under the Basic Law. In August, 
15 of the protesters arrested during the sit-in filed a $192,000 
(HK$1.5 million) civil claim against the police for unlawful arrest and 
false imprisonment. At year's end the case was pending.

    Freedom of Association.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected these provisions in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While Falun Gong practitioners 
freely and openly practiced their beliefs, they have been routinely 
subjected to more subtle forms of discrimination. In February the 
offices of the Falun Gong-owned daily newspaper Epoch Times were 
attacked and vandalized (see section 2.a.). In 2005 an international 
hotel chain canceled a conference room reservation that Epoch Times had 
made for a forum on the future of China. A Falun Gong spokesperson said 
that once it became widely known that the Falun Gong had sponsored the 
conference, a replacement facility could not be found.
    Hong Kong's small Jewish community had excellent relations with the 
rest of society, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during 
the year.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Basic Law provides residents freedom 
of movement, freedom of emigration, and freedom to enter and leave the 
territory, and the Government generally respected these rights in 
practice, with some prominent exceptions. Most residents easily 
obtained travel documents from the SAR government. There were limits on 
travel to the mainland imposed by the PRC government.
    The Government does not recognize the Taiwan passport as valid for 
visa endorsement purposes.
    The law does not provide for, and the Government did not use, 
forced exile.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the Government 
denied entry to persons it considered politically controversial. In 
2005 Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou was unexpectedly denied a visa to attend 
a University of Hong Kong seminar on culture and city management. The 
Government refused to give a reason for the denial.
    In 2004 a New Zealand citizen and Falun Gong practitioner was 
denied entry to Hong Kong for unspecified reasons. Also in 2004 the 
Government barred 41 Falun Gong practitioners from entering the SAR for 
``security reasons.'' Most of the practitioners were attempting to 
attend Falun Gong's annual conference, which attracted approximately 
700 persons. Four of those denied entry filed a judicial review. As of 
October the Court of Final Appeal had not issued a ruling in the case. 
Also in 2004 the Government denied a request to allow two 1989 
Tiananmen Square student leaders to enter the SAR to participate in a 
conference focused on the Tiananmen Square massacre. Earlier that year 
other Tiananmen Square student leaders had been allowed to enter to 
engage in uncontroversial activities.
    PRC authorities do not permit some Hong Kong human rights activists 
and prodemocracy legislators to visit the mainland; however, this 
policy has been relaxed in recent years.

    Protection of Refugees.--The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the 
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol do not extend to Hong Kong, 
and the SAR eliminated its temporary protection policy. The director of 
immigration has discretion to grant refugee status or asylum on an ad 
hoc basis, but only in cases of exceptional humanitarian or 
compassionate need. The Immigration Ordinance does not provide 
foreigners any right to have asylum claims recognized. The Government 
practice was to refer refugee and asylum claimants to a lawyer or to 
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those 
granted refugee status, as well as those awaiting UNHCR assessment of 
their status, received a UNHCR subsistence allowance but were not 
allowed to seek employment or enroll their children in local schools. 
In May the UNHCR stopped providing financial support to those 
individuals awaiting status assessment due to budget cuts. In response, 
the Government began offering limited allowances to adult claimants 
through its social welfare department. The UNHCR worked with potential 
host country representatives to resettle those few persons designated 
as refugees. Government policy is to repatriate all illegal immigrants, 
including those who arrive from the mainland, as promptly as possible. 
During the first half of the year, 1,486 illegal PRC immigrants were 
repatriated to the mainland.
    In August six asylum seekers staged a hunger strike at an 
immigration detention center in protest of their detention while 
awaiting adjudication of their status. The detention center held 
approximately 120 asylum seekers, and about one-quarter of those had 
been held for more than six months while their claims for asylum under 
the UN Convention Against Torture were considered by the Government. 
Legislators responded by passing a motion urging the Government to 
cooperate with the UNHCR to speed up processing of asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The right of residents to peacefully change their government is 
limited by the Basic Law, which provides for the selection of the chief 
executive by an 800-person election committee (composed of individuals 
who are directly elected, indirectly elected, and appointed). The Basic 
Law provides for the direct election of only 30 of the 60 Legco 
members, and the inclusion of appointed members to the elected district 
councils. The approval of the chief executive, two-thirds of the 
legislature, and twothirds of Hong Kong's NPC delegates is 
required to place an amendment of the Basic Law on the agenda of the 
NPC, which, under the Basic Law, has the sole power to amend the Basic 
Law.
    The Basic Law states that ``the ultimate aim is the selection of 
the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly 
representative nominating committee in accordance with ``democratic 
procedures.'' Similarly, the Basic Law states that the ``ultimate aim 
is the election of all the members of Legco by universal suffrage.'' 
However, in 2004 the NPC standing committee rejected universal suffrage 
in Hong Kong in the 2007 and 2008 elections.
    The Committee on Governance and Political Development held its last 
meeting in late November. In early November, despite the chief 
executive's silence on a timetable for universal suffrage at the Policy 
Address, the chief secretary said that greater democracy and political 
reforms require ``more on trust, and less on fundamentalism and 
posturing.'' In October the secretary for constitutional affairs 
proposed that a 1,600-strong Nominating Committee could be set up to 
vet future chief executive candidates to ensure they were acceptable to 
Beijing.
    The Government is authorized to exercise a high degree of autonomy 
and to enjoy executive, legislative, and independent judicial power. It 
contains an executive branch staffed by a professional and independent 
civil service and a two-tiered legislative branch consisting of the 
Legco and 18 district councils.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In March 2005 Chief 
Executive Tung Chee-hwa unexpectedly resigned citing health concerns. 
Tung's resignation sparked a debate over the appropriate length of term 
for his replacement under the Basic Law. In 2004 the Hong Kong 
government took the explicit position that the ``the term of the chief 
executive of the Hong Kong SAR shall be five years.'' The Government 
abruptly changed that position following Tung's resignation, holding 
that the legislative intent of the Basic Law was that a chief executive 
returned through a by-election should only serve out the remaining term 
of the outgoing chief executive. After legislators raised the prospect 
of filing for judicial review by the Hong Kong courts, the Government 
requested an interpretation by the NPC Standing Committee to clarify 
the issue. In April the Standing Committee of the NPC issued an 
interpretation of the Basic Law stating that Tung's replacement should 
only serve the remaining two years of Tung's term. The interpretation, 
which was regarded by many as inconsistent with the Basic Law, raised 
questions about the central government's commitment to the rule of law 
in Hong Kong and respect for Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy.
    In June 2005, after a 10-day campaign, former chief secretary 
Donald Tsang secured 710 of the 800 election committee nominating 
votes. This was enough to ensure that his two declared challengers, 
Democratic Party Chairman Lee Wing-tat and Independent legislator Chim 
Pui-cheng, could not obtain the 100 nominations required to contest the 
election. Tsang was sworn in on June 24 in Beijing.
    In April 2004 the NPC standing committee issued a self-initiated 
interpretation of the Basic Law, cutting short local debate and 
rejecting universal suffrage for Hong Kong in the 2007 and 2008 
elections. The NPC also determined that the current 50-50 ratio for 
directly elected geographic seats and indirectly elected functional 
constituency seats in Legco must remain indefinitely in place. In 
addition, the NPC narrowed the circumstances in which Legco members 
would be permitted to initiate legislation. The NPC decision left room 
for amendments to the election processes, albeit strictly within the 
limits dictated by the NPC standing committee.
    In December 2005 a government plan to make modest changes to the 
electoral procedures for selecting the chief executive and Legco 
members failed to gain the required two-thirds majority in Legco. The 
plan called for increasing the size of the chief executive election 
committee and adding five seats each to both the geographic and 
functional constituencies. All ``no'' votes came from prodemocracy 
members, who decried the legislation's lack of a roadmap and timeline 
for the introduction of universal suffrage.
    Legco members were elected in 2004 to four-year terms, and despite 
some minor problems, including an insufficient supply of ballot boxes 
and intimidation of voters and political commentators, the elections 
were considered free and fair. Prodemocracy candidates won 18 of the 30 
directly elected geographic seats and 25 seats overall. There were 
199,539 persons eligible to vote in the functional constituencies.
    The Basic Law substantially limits the ability of the legislature 
to influence policy by requiring separate majorities among members 
elected from geographical and functional constituencies to pass a bill 
introduced by an individual member. Another Basic Law provision 
prohibits Legco from putting forward bills that affect public 
expenditure, political structure, or government policy. Bills that 
affect government policy cannot be introduced without the chief 
executive's written consent. The Government has adopted a very broad 
definition of ``government policy'' in order to block private member 
bills, and the President of Legco has upheld the Government's position.
    In August, legislator Leung Kwok-hung launched a judicial review 
challenging Legco President Rita Fan's refusal to table many private 
member amendments during debate over the Interception of Communications 
and Surveillance bill. Fan rejected the amendments on the grounds that 
they violated Article 74 of the Basic Law, which prohibits individual 
members from introducing legislation that affects government 
expenditure or existing government policy. However, because Article 74 
places no explicit restrictions on the amendment process, Leung and his 
attorney argued that Fan's decision violated the Basic Law. Hearings on 
the case began in mid-November and were ongoing at year's end.
    District councils are responsible for advising the Government on 
matters affecting the well-being of district residents, the provision 
and use of public facilities, and the use of public funds allocated for 
local public works and community activities. The District Council 
Ordinance gives the chief executive authority to appoint 102 out of 529 
of the district councilors, and he exercises this power in practice.
    Hong Kong sends 36 delegates to the PRC's National People's 
Congress. In 2002 Hong Kong's NPC delegates were elected to a 
fiveyear term by an NPC-appointed committee of 955 residents. 
Politicians and human rights activists criticized the election process 
as undemocratic and lacking transparency. In 2004 two local NPC 
delegates won directly elected seats in the Legco. One NPC delegate 
lost his bid for a directly elected Legco seat.
    Women held 11 of the 60 Legco seats and made up between 17 and 23 
percent of membership in the major political parties. The President of 
the Legco was a woman, as were the heads of several government 
departments. More than one-third of civil servants were women, and two 
of the 15 most senior government officials were women.
    There were no ethnic minorities in the Legco, but there were a 
number of ethnic minorities in senior civil service positions.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were only isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year, and the Government 
sought to combat official corruption through the Prevention of Bribery 
Ordinance and the ICAC. The law provides for access to government 
information, and in practice such information was provided to both 
citizens and noncitizens, with exceptions that are narrowly defined and 
could be appealed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. Prominent 
human rights activists critical of the PRC also operated freely and 
maintained permanent resident status in Hong Kong, but some overseas 
dissidents have in recent years had difficulty gaining entry to the 
SAR.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law provides that all residents are equal, and the Government 
enforced these rights in practice.

    Women.--The Government continued to be criticized for failing to 
adequately address the growing problem of domestic violence. Local 
public health officials, politicians and women's groups remained 
concerned about violence against women, particularly among new 
immigrants from the mainland. The Domestic Violence Ordinance allows 
victims to seek a threemonth injunction, extendable to six 
months, against an abuser. The ordinance does not criminalize domestic 
violence directly, although abusers may be liable for criminal charges 
under other ordinances, including the Crime Ordinance and the Offences 
Against the Person Ordinance. The Government enforced the law and 
prosecuted violators, but sentences typically consisted only of 
injunctions or restraining orders. Between January and March, there 
were 968 cases of domestic violence reported to the Social Welfare 
Department, which receives reports from the police, social workers, the 
health department, and volunteer organizations.
    In November a man allegedly killed his wife and two children, 
despite four calls to police by the family following disputes in the 
two years preceding the killings. All four calls to police were 
referred by police to the Social Welfare Department, since none 
involved violence; however, press reports criticized both police and 
the department for a lack of sensitivity in handling domestic violence 
cases. Similarly, in 2004 a mother and her two daughters were killed in 
an act of domestic violence hours after unsuccessfully seeking help at 
a police station. The mother had previously sought help from government 
social workers. A 2005 coroner's inquest into the murder recommended 
sweeping changes to existing guidelines to combat domestic violence. 
The police department implemented some of the recommendations, and the 
Social Welfare Department announced a ``zero tolerance policy'' toward 
domestic violence. In 2005 the executive director of Harmony House, an 
NGO that provides services to victims of domestic violence, said that 
between April 2004 and April 2005, 263 women were admitted to shelters 
to escape domestic violence--the highest figure in five years. A 2005 
University of Hong Kong survey found that one in five families had 
experienced some form of domestic violence.
    In January the government-sponsored Women's Commission released a 
report providing a strategy for addressing domestic violence, including 
plans on empowering victims, preventing violence, timely and effective 
intervention, and community education and support.
    In March the Government introduced two pilot projects under the 
Batterer Intervention Program and a new 24-hour service for victims of 
sexual violence.
    In August Permanent Secretary for Health and Welfare Sandra Lee 
told the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination against Women Committee that the Government would seek 
to strengthen the Domestic Violence Ordinance in the following three 
areas: extend the scope of coverage to include ex-spouses and ex-
cohabiters; extend the criteria for attachment of a power of arrest to 
an injunction order to psychological harm; and increase the duration of 
the injunction order. NGOs said there was an urgent need to amend the 
law to make domestic violence a crime directly under the Domestic 
Violence Ordinance. The legislator representing the social welfare 
sector accused the Government of doing too little to fight domestic 
violence.
    These initiatives were in addition to other government programs 
that assisted women, such as family life education counseling, a hot 
line service, temporary housing, legal aid, and child protective 
services. The Government also sponsored public education and media 
programs through the women's commission to promote public awareness of 
domestic violence and encouraged women to seek early professional 
assistance.
    There were 38 cases of rape reported to the police during the first 
half of the year. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 
criminalizes marital rape and the Crimes Ordinance expressly states 
that ``unlawful sexual intercourse'' could be applied both outside and 
inside the bounds of marriage. During the first half of the year, 554 
indecent assault cases were reported to the police.
    Prostitution is legal, but there are laws against activities such 
as causing or procuring another to be a prostitute, living on the 
prostitution of others, or keeping a vice establishment. Hong Kong is a 
transit and destination point for persons trafficked for the purposes 
of sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking.).
    The Sex Discrimination Ordinance prohibits sexual harassment of 
women seeking employment or already working in an organization. The 
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reported 48 sexual harassment 
complaints.
    Women faced discrimination in employment, salary, welfare, 
inheritance, and promotion. A survey released in 2004 found that nearly 
80 percent of women workers believed they were victims of 
discrimination.
    The percentage of women employed in professional fields, including 
sciences and engineering, law, teaching, accounting, social sciences, 
health, and medicine, increased slightly during the year. As of June, 
37 percent of professionals employed in these fields were women, versus 
33.5 percent in June 2005. Approximately 21 percent of judicial 
officers and judges were women. In the Legco, women held 11 of the 60 
seats. According to a survey released in 2004, approximately three-
quarters of private companies had women in senior management positions, 
and women occupied more than a quarter of senior management posts. 
Women were still disproportionately represented in the lower echelons 
of the work force.
    The law treats men and women equally in terms of property rights in 
divorce settlements and in inheritance matters, although women still 
faced discrimination based on traditional practices, such as in the 
inheritance of homes in rural areas of the New Territories.

    Children.--The Government supported children's rights and welfare 
through well-funded systems of public education, medical care, and 
protective services. The Education Department provided schooling for 
children between six and 15 years of age and placement services for 
non-Chinese speaking children. Education is free and compulsory through 
grade nine. Nearly 100 percent of school-age children attended school, 
and boys and girls attended in equal proportions. The Government 
supported programs for custody, protection, day care, foster care, 
shelters, small group homes, and assistance to families.
    The Domestic Violence Ordinance mandates substantial legal 
penalties for acts of child abuse such as battery, assault, neglect, 
abandonment, sexual exploitation, and child sex tourism, and the 
Government enforced the law.
    During the first half of the year, there were 616 child abuse cases 
reported to the police: A total of 264 involved physical abuses 
(referring to victims less than 14 years of age), and 352 involved 
sexual abuses (referring to victims less than 17 years of age). In 2005 
a University of Hong Kong survey found that almost one in three 
children had been abused.
    The Government provided parent education programs in all 50 of the 
Department of Health's maternal and child health centers, which 
included instruction on child abuse prevention. It also provided public 
education programs to raise awareness of child abuse and alert children 
about how to protect themselves. The Social Welfare Department provided 
child psychologists for its clinical psychology units and social 
workers for its family and child protective services units. The 
department also commissioned research on domestic violence, including 
child abuse. The police maintained a child abuse investigation unit and 
a child witness support program. A child care center law helps prevent 
unsuitable persons from providing childcare services and facilitates 
the formation of mutual help childcare groups.
    The Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance criminalizes the 
making, production, distribution, publication, advertising, and 
possession of child pornography. It also prohibits the procurement of 
children for making pornography, extends the application of certain 
sexual offense provisions to acts committed against children outside of 
Hong Kong, and prohibits any arrangement or advertising relating to 
commission of those acts. The law carries a penalty of up to five 
years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $128,500 (HK$1 million) for 
possession of child pornography.
    In September 2005 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 
(UNCRC) recommended that the Government create a single unified law or 
policy pertaining to children, establish a body representing children's 
views, ban corporal punishment, establish a poverty line, abolish life 
sentences for minors, and increase funding for child welfare programs. 
However, the Government did not implement the UNCRC recommendations 
during the year.
    The Government provided subsidized, quality medical care for all 
children who were residents.
    The age of criminal responsibility for children is 10 years of age. 
During the first half of the year, there were 59 youths under the age 
of 16 who were incarcerated: nine in prison; seven in training centers; 
12 in detention centers; and 31 in rehabilitation centers.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There is no law prohibiting trafficking in 
persons. There are various laws and ordinances that allow law 
enforcement authorities to take action against traffickers. Despite 
robust efforts by the SAR government to stop such activities, Hong Kong 
was a point of transit and destination for a small number of persons 
trafficked for sexual exploitation from China and Southeast Asia. It 
was difficult for the Government to identify trafficking victims from 
among the larger group of illegal immigrants.
    Nearly all foreign prostitutes came to Hong Kong willingly to 
engage in prostitution. Most came from rural areas of the mainland, 
Thailand, or the Philippines on 14-day tourist visas, although a very 
small number entered using forged documents. The overwhelming majority 
were women, although an increasing number of young men were coming to 
Hong Kong to work as homosexual prostitutes. While many came on their 
own, some were lured to the SAR by criminal syndicates and promises of 
financial rewards. Prostitutes were typically required to repay the 
syndicates the cost of their airfare, lodging, and food. Some were 
forced to stay longer than they anticipated, or work more than they 
expected, to repay their debts. Prostitutes were sometimes required to 
give their passports to the syndicates until the debt was paid. When 
their visas expired, many would travel to Macau or Shenzhen for a day, 
and then reenter Hong Kong. Immigration officials were well aware of 
this practice and would deny reentry if they suspected such abuse. 
Despite the involvement of syndicates in bringing prostitutes to Hong 
Kong, very few women were forced, or coerced, to work as prostitutes.
    During the year the Government reported one suspected case of 
trafficking. Two Philippine women reported they were recruited by 
another Philippine woman to come to Hong Kong to work as bar 
waitresses. The alleged victims claimed they were forced to work as 
prostitutes upon arrival and they had successfully escaped after one 
week. The alleged victims filed affidavits to the Philippine Consulate 
General and left Hong Kong. The case was reported to the police. One 
suspect was arrested but denied the allegation, and the investigation 
was underway.
    In recent years traffickers have used forged or illegally obtained 
travel documents to attempt to smuggle persons through the Hong Kong 
airport, but it was not a serious problem throughout the year. In 2004 
the Immigration Department established the Anti-Illegal Migration 
Agency to target human smugglers and other travelers using fraudulent 
documents. The agency had 60 officers stationed at the Hong Kong 
International Airport. The number of fraudulent documents seized at the 
airport declined sharply during the first half of the year due to the 
presence of these officers. Authorities apprehended 834 persons with 
forged travel documents in the first half of the year, versus 1,288 
during the same period in 2004. During the year there were no known 
reports of persons being trafficked into the SAR to work as domestic 
workers.
    Provisions in the Immigration Ordinance, the Crimes Ordinance, and 
other relevant laws enabled law enforcement authorities to take action 
against trafficking in persons. The courts can impose heavy fines and 
prison sentences up to 14 years for activities such as arranging 
passage of unauthorized entrants; assisting unauthorized entrants to 
remain; using or possessing a forged, false, or unlawfully obtained 
travel document; and aiding and abetting any person to use such a 
document. The security bureau is responsible for combating migrant 
trafficking and overseeing the police, customs, and immigration 
departments, which are responsible for enforcing antitrafficking laws. 
Law enforcement officials received special training on handling and 
protecting victims and vulnerable witnesses, including victims of 
trafficking.
    The Government provided legal aid to those taking legal action 
against an employer, and immunity from prosecution for those who assist 
in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. The Social Welfare 
Department and local NGOs also provided an array of social services to 
victims of trafficking. The Government did not provide funding to 
foreign or domestic NGOs for services to victims. The Government also 
tried to prevent trafficking by distributing pamphlets in a wide range 
of languages to workers about their rights.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with 
physical and mental disabilities persisted in employment, education, 
and the provision of some public services. The Disability 
Discrimination Ordinance calls for improved building access and 
sanctions against those who discriminate. Despite inspections and the 
occasional closure of noncompliant businesses under the Buildings 
Ordinance, access to public buildings (including public schools) and 
transportation remained a serious problem for persons with 
disabilities.
    The Government offered an integrated work program in sheltered 
workshops and provided vocational assessment and training. No 
comprehensive statistics were available on the number of persons with 
disabilities in the work force, but the last government survey 
conducted in 2000 estimated that there were approximately 269,500 
persons with one or more disabilities, including 225,600 persons with 
physical disabilities and 52,700 with mental disabilities. According to 
the survey, of the 269,500 persons with disabilities, 52,500 were 
employed and 59,700 were considered ``economically active,'' including 
small business owners and street vendors. However, a consortium of 
organizations representing persons with disabilities reported in 2002 
that approximately 700,000 residents were disabled, approximately half 
of whom were able to work. As of March there were 3,256 persons with 
disabilities employed as civil servants out of a total civil service 
work force of 156,436. During the first half of the year, the Labor 
Department's Selective Placement Division found jobs for 1,637 of 2,670 
disabled job seekers. As of September 2005, 1.32 percent of 795,000 
students were disabled; approximately 37 percent of these students 
studied at mainstream schools.
    The EOC sponsored a variety of activities to address discrimination 
against persons with disabilities, including youth education programs, 
distributing guidelines and resources for employers, carrying out media 
campaigns, and cosponsoring seminars and research.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
association and the right of workers to establish and join 
organizations of their own choosing. Trade unions must register under 
the Trade Unions Ordinance. The basic precondition for registration is 
a minimum membership of seven persons.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize; however, it does not guarantee the 
right to collective bargaining. The 1997 Employment and Labor Relations 
(Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance removes the legal stipulation of 
trade unions' right to engage employers in collective bargaining. The 
ordinance bans the use of union funds for political purposes, requires 
the chief executive's approval before unions can contribute funds to 
any trade union outside of the SAR, and restricts the appointment of 
persons from outside the enterprise or sector to union executive 
committees. In a few trades, such as tailoring and carpentry, wage 
rates were determined collectively in accordance with established trade 
practices and customs rather than a statutory mechanism, but collective 
bargaining was not practiced widely. Unions were not powerful enough to 
force management to engage in collective bargaining. The Government did 
not engage in collective bargaining with civil servants' unions.
    The workplace consultation promotion unit in the Labor Department 
facilitated communication, consultation, and voluntary negotiation 
between employers and employees. Tripartite committees for each of the 
nine sectors of the economy included representatives from some trade 
unions, employers, and the Labor Department.
    Work stoppages and strikes are legal. There are some restrictions 
on this right for civil servants. Although there is no legislative 
prohibition of strikes, in practice most workers had to sign employment 
contracts that typically stated that walking off the job is a breach of 
contract, which could lead to summary dismissal. In addition, there is 
no legal entitlement to reinstatement in the case of unfair dismissal.
    There was one minor labor stoppage during the year. In June more 
than 200 bus drivers staged a one-day sit-in over wages, but a larger 
strike was averted when a last-minute agreement was reached. There are 
no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor. Although the law does not specifically 
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, there were no reports 
that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Employment of Children Regulations prohibits employment of children 
under the age of 15 in any industrial establishment. Children ages 13 
and 14 may work in certain nonindustrial establishments, subject to 
conditions aimed at ensuring a minimum nine years of education and 
protection of their safety, health, and welfare. The Labor Department 
conducted regular workplace inspections to enforce compliance with the 
regulations. During the first half of the year, the Labor Department 
conducted 79,968 inspections and discovered three suspected violations 
of the Employment of Children Regulations. Two cases involved the 
employment of children ages 13 and 14 without valid school attendance 
certificates and written parental consent, whereas the other case 
involved the employment of a child entertainer age 14 working beyond 
the stipulated hours of work. As of year's end, the Government was 
assessing the evidence for prosecution. The regulations limit work 
hours in the manufacturing sector for persons 15 to 17 years of age to 
eight hours per day and 48 hours per week between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. 
They also prohibit, for persons less than 18 years of age, overtime in 
industrial establishments with employment in dangerous trades.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no statutory minimum 
wage except for domestic workers of foreign origin. Aside from a small 
number of trades where a uniform wage structure exists, wage levels 
customarily are fixed by individual agreement between employer and 
employee and are determined by supply and demand. Some employers 
provided workers with various kinds of allowances, free medical 
treatment, and free subsidized transport. The average wage provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Two-income 
households were the norm. There are no regulations concerning working 
hours, paid weekly rest, rest breaks, or compulsory overtime. In 
October the chief executive for the first time acknowledged the need to 
study the issue of a minimum wage and limits on working hours.
    In 2001 the SAR government was criticized by the UN Committee on 
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for failure to establish 
regulations on a statutory minimum wage, maximum working hours, paid 
weekly rest, rest breaks, compulsory overtime, and protection against 
unfair dismissal. In 2004 the Government referred the issue of a 
minimum wage and maximum working hours to the labor advisory board. As 
of October the board was still considering the issue. In early October 
as many as 50 trade unions and associations protested the Government's 
slow progress towards a minimum wage and accused it of exploiting the 
underprivileged and colluding with big business. Moreover, there was no 
broad consensus in the community on these issues, which were debated by 
legislators, academics, and the public. Nevertheless, the Labor 
Department actively sought to improve working conditions by encouraging 
consultations, meetings, and seminars with industry-based committees 
comprising representatives of government, employers' associations, and 
trade unions. Such committees included the tripartite committee for the 
cargo transport industry and the committee for the property management 
industry.
    The minimum wage for foreign domestic workers was approximately 
$435 per month (HK$3,400, as of June 2006). The standard workweek was 
48 hours, but many domestic workers worked much longer hours. The 
standard contract law requires employers to provide foreign domestic 
workers with housing, worker's compensation insurance, travel 
allowances, and food or a food allowance in addition to the minimum 
wage, which together provide a decent standard of living. Foreign 
domestic workers can be deported if dismissed. During the first seven 
months of the year, four employers were convicted for labor law 
maltreatment violations under the Employment Ordinance relating to the 
employment of foreign domestic workers. During the first seven months 
of the year 124 foreign domestic workers filed criminal suits for other 
types of maltreatment, including rape, indecent assault, and wounding 
and serious assault, 75 of which were prosecuted.
    The Occupational Safety and Health Branch of the Labor Department 
are responsible for safety and health promotion, enforcement of safety 
management legislation, as well as policy formulation and 
implementation.
    The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, the 
Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Boilers and Pressure 
Vessels Ordinance, and their 35 sets of subsidiary regulations regulate 
safety and health conditions. During the first half of the year, the 
Labor Department conducted 63,156 workplace inspections and issued 959 
summonses, resulting in a total of $965,295 (HK$7,529,300) in fines. 
Worker safety and health has improved over the years, but serious 
problems remained, particularly in the construction industry. During 
the first half of the year, there were 10,048 occupational injuries, of 
which 3,667 were classified as industrial accidents. There were five 
fatal industrial accidents. Employers are required under the Employee's 
Compensation Ordinance to report any injuries sustained by their 
employees in work-related accidents. There is no specific legal 
provision allowing workers to remove themselves from dangerous work 
situations without jeopardy to continued employment.

                                 MACAU

    Macau, with a population of approximately 500,000, is a Special 
Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). 
The 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and 
the SAR's 1993 constitution, the Basic Law of the Macau SAR (hereafter 
referred to as the Basic Law), specify that Macau will enjoy a high 
degree of autonomy, except in defense and foreign affairs. The 
Government is led by a chief executive, chosen by a 300-member election 
committee, which in turn is chosen by a preparatory committee composed 
of 60 SAR and 40 mainland representatives appointed by the National 
People's Congress (NPC). In 2004 Chief Executive Edmund Ho was 
reelected to a second five-year term. The Basic Law significantly 
circumscribes the power of the Legislative Assembly. In September 2005 
voters elected 12 of the legislature's 29 members in direct elections 
based on geographical constituencies. Interest groups in functional 
constituencies elected 10 others, and the chief executive appointed the 
remaining seven members. The Basic Law does not posit the election of 
all members of the legislature by universal suffrage as an ultimate 
aim. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, some problems remained, most notably limits on 
citizens' ability to change their government.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The Basic Law, as well as the Criminal Code, prohibits 
such practices, and the Government generally respected this law in 
practice. Between January and July, there were 11 reports of police 
brutality, compared with 18 reports for the same period in 2005, and 
none involved acts of rape, sexual abuse, medical abuse, or hazing. 
There were no reports of deaths in police custody.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and although the Government 
permitted visits by independent human rights observers, there were no 
requests during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Basic Law prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Civilian authorities, 
specifically the secretary for security, supervised and controlled the 
police. The Public Security Police were well disciplined and corruption 
and impunity were not problems. The Commission Against Corruption (CAC) 
acted to preclude problems with corruption.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police must present persons remanded in 
custody to an examining judge within 48 hours of detention. The 
examining judge, who conducts a pretrial inquiry in criminal cases, has 
a wide range of powers to collect evidence, order or dismiss 
indictments, and determine whether to release detained persons. The 
accused person's counsel may examine the evidence. The law provides 
that cases must come to trial within six months of an indictment. Data 
on the average length of pretrial incarceration was not available 
because courts do not keep detailed records on detention; however, the 
criminal procedure code mandates that pretrial detention is limited to 
between six months to three years, depending on the criminal charges 
and progress of the judicial system. Judges often refused bail in cases 
where sentences could exceed three years.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    There are four courts: the primary court, with general jurisdiction 
of first instance; the administrative court, with jurisdiction of first 
instance in administrative disputes; the court of second instance; and 
the court of final appeal. The courts have the power of final 
adjudication in all cases that are within the authority of the SAR. The 
courts also may rule on matters that are ``the responsibility of the 
Central People's government or concern the relationship between the 
central authorities and the [Special Administrative] Region.'' However, 
before making their final judgment, one which is not subject to appeal, 
the courts must seek an interpretation of the relevant provisions from 
the NPC's Standing Committee. When the Standing Committee makes an 
interpretation of the provisions concerned, the courts, in applying 
those provisions, ``shall follow the interpretation of the Standing 
Committee.'' The Standing Committee must consult the NPC's Committee 
for the Basic Law of the SAR before giving an interpretation of the 
law. This committee is composed of 10 members, five from the SAR and 
five from the mainland. The chief executive, the President of the SAR 
Legislative Assembly, and the President of the court of final appeal 
nominate the SAR members.
    The Basic Law provides for the use of Portuguese, in addition to 
Chinese, as an official language used by executive authorities, the 
legislature, and the judiciary. The need to translate laws and 
judgments from Portuguese and a severe shortage of local bilingual 
lawyers and magistrates hampered development of the legal system. At 
year's end there were 124 lawyers in private practice in the SAR: 66 
spoke Cantonese, 19 could read and write Cantonese and Mandarin, and 
117 could read and write Portuguese. The Government sponsored a 
postgraduate training program for magistrates who had received legal 
training outside of the SAR. The judiciary was relatively inexperienced 
and lacked locally trained lawyers. There were 29 practicing judges, 
six of whom were Portuguese.
    According to the Basic Law, the chief executive appoints judges at 
all levels, acting on the recommendation of an independent commission, 
which he appoints. The commission is composed of local judges, lawyers, 
and ``eminent persons.'' The Basic Law stipulates that judges must be 
chosen on the basis of their professional qualifications. Judges may be 
removed only for criminal acts or an inability to discharge their 
functions. With the exception of the chief justice, who must be a 
Chinese citizen with no right of abode elsewhere, foreigners are 
permitted to serve as judges under the Basic Law.

    Trial Procedures.--The Basic Law provides for the right to a fair 
trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. By 
law trials are open to the public, except when publicity could cause 
great harm to the dignity of the persons, to public morals, or to the 
normal development of the trial. The Basic Law provides for an accused 
person's right to be present during proceedings and to choose an 
attorney or request that one be provided at government expense. The 
Organized Crime Ordinance provides that ``certain procedural acts may 
be held without publicity and witness statements read in court are 
admissible as evidence.'' There also are additional restrictions on 
granting bail and suspended sentences in organized crime cases. 
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases, and have a right of appeal.
    The judiciary provides citizens with a fair and efficient judicial 
process; however, due to an overloaded court system, a period of up to 
a year sometimes passed between filing a civil case and its scheduled 
hearing.
    A public prosecutor general heads the Public Prosecutions Office, 
which enjoys substantial autonomy from both the executive and the 
judiciary. The Basic Law stipulates that the Public Prosecutions 
Office's functions be carried out without government interference, and 
the Government respected the law in practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures.--There is an independent and impartial 
judiciary for civil matters, and there were no problems enforcing 
domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The Basic Law prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Basic Law provides for freedom 
of speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected 
these rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom. An 
independent press and an effective judiciary contributed to freedom of 
speech and the press.
    The dominant newspapers, mainly Chinese-language, supported PRC 
government positions in their editorial line. The Union for Democracy 
Development Macau (UDDM), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) headed 
by prodemocracy legislators, charged that newspapers did not give equal 
attention to liberal and prodemocracy voices. In February 2005 the 
chief editor of Open Magazine--which is openly critical of the mainland 
Chinese government--was refused entry to the SAR ``based on Macau 
Special Administrative Region internal security guidelines,'' according 
to a letter from the Government. The editor had been barred from the 
mainland for a number of years, although this was the first time he was 
barred from the SAR. At year's end the case was under investigation by 
the chief executive's office.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Basic Law 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts during the year, and the size of the SAR's Jewish 
population remained extremely small.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Basic Law provides for these rights, 
and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    In 2005 government immigration officials refused entry to a Hong 
Kong resident who was a spokesperson for the Falun Gong. The 
spokesperson had been granted entry to the SAR many times without 
incident. During the year the same practitioner was denied entry at 
least four times, although the specific reasons for denial were not 
made clear by the Government. Some members of the media who were openly 
critical of the mainland government were also refused entry (see 
section 2.a.).
    The Basic Law prohibits forced exile by guaranteeing the right of 
permanent residents to leave and enter the SAR, and the Government 
generally respected the law in practice.

    Protection of Refugees.--The Basic Law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government granted refugee status or asylum 
and provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a 
country where they feared persecution. The migration department 
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in handling 
refugees. There were no applications for refugee status during the 
year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The Basic Law restricts citizens' ability to change their 
government. The Government was led by a chief executive, chosen by a 
300-member election committee, which in turn was chosen by a 100-member 
preparatory committee, composed of 60 SAR and 40 mainland 
representatives appointed by the NPC.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Chief Executive 
Edmund Ho was reelected to a second five-year term.
    In September 2005, in accordance with the Basic Law, the SAR's 
democratic development was enhanced when a record 58 percent of 
registered voters participated in the SAR's third legislative 
elections, and voters directly elected 12 of the 29 members of the 
Legislative Assembly from geographic constituencies. Local community 
interests, such as business, labor, professional, welfare, cultural, 
educational, and sports associations, indirectly elected 10 members, 
and the chief executive appointed seven members.
    There are limits on the types of legislation that legislators may 
introduce. The Basic Law stipulates that legislators may not initiate 
legislation related to public expenditure, the SAR's political 
structure, or the operation of the Government. Proposed legislation 
relating to government policies must receive the chief executive's 
written approval before they are submitted.
    A 10-member executive council functions as an unofficial cabinet, 
approving all draft legislation before it is presented in the 
Legislative Assembly.
    There were six women in the 29-member assembly, including the 
President of the assembly. Women also held a number of senior positions 
throughout the Government. There were three ethnic minorities in the 
29-member assembly. One member of the executive council was also an 
ethnic minority, as was the police commissioner.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The CAC investigates 
public sector corruption and has the power to arrest and detain 
suspects. Between January and August, the CAC received 309 complaints 
against public officials in a variety of agencies. The CAC pursued 28 
of these complaints, 25 of which were criminal cases and three were 
administrative cases. The CAC transferred eight cases to the Public 
Prosecutions Office. A monitoring body established to review complaints 
of maladministration or abuse by the CAC did not receive any complaints 
during the same period.
    The law does not provide for public access to government 
information. However, the executive branch published online, in both 
Chinese and Portuguese, an extensive amount of information including 
laws, regulations, ordinances, government policies and procedures, and 
biographies of government officials. The Government also issued a daily 
press release on topics of public concern. The information provided by 
the legislature was less extensive. For example, it did not publish a 
legislative agenda or a list of pending bills.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic human rights groups generally operated without 
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on 
human rights cases. Government officials often were cooperative and 
responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The Basic Law stipulates that residents shall be free from 
discrimination, irrespective of their nationality, descent, race, sex, 
language, religion, political persuasion, ideological belief, 
educational level, economic status, or social condition, and the 
Government effectively enforced the law. In addition, many local laws 
carry specific prohibitions against discrimination, although there is 
no specific law for combating discrimination. For example, under the 
law that established the general framework for the educational system, 
access to education was stipulated for all residents regardless of 
race, religious, political, or ideological beliefs.

    Women.--The Government effectively enforced criminal statutes 
prohibiting domestic violence against women and prosecuted violators; 
however, various NGOs and government officials consider domestic 
violence against women to be a growing problem. In the first half of 
the year, 170 cases of spousal abuse were reported to the police; 
however, because there is no independent category of spousal abuse in 
the SAR's court case classification system, there was no data on 
convictions.
    Domestic violence is punishable by one to 15 years in prison. In 
the case of spousal abuse and violence against minors, the penalty is 
two to eight years' imprisonment, and five to 15 years if the abuse 
leads to the death of the victim. There was no data on reported cases 
of spousal abuse and violence against minors.
    The Government provided hospital treatment for victims of abuse, 
and medical social workers counseled victims and informed them about 
social welfare services. The Government may provide victims of domestic 
violence with public housing until their complaints are resolved, but 
it did not reserve facilities expressly for this purpose.
    Private and religious groups sponsored programs for victims of 
domestic violence, and the Government supported and helped to fund 
these organizations and programs. The Bureau for Family Action, a 
government organization subordinate to the Department of Family and 
Community of the Social Welfare Institute, helped female victims of 
domestic violence by providing a safe place for them and their children 
and furnishing advice regarding legal actions against the perpetrators. 
A family counseling service was available to persons who requested such 
services at social centers. Two government-supported religious programs 
also offered rehabilitation programs for female victims of violence.
    The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the 
Government effectively enforced the law. In the first half of the year, 
there were five reported rapes.
    Prostitution is legal, but procuring is not. Trafficking in persons 
also is illegal; however, there were 10 suspected cases of trafficking 
in women involving 17 victims for the purposes of prostitution (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    There is no law specifically addressing sexual harassment, although 
there is a law prohibiting harassment in general. Sexual harassment was 
not considered to be a major problem.
    Equal opportunity legislation applicable to all public and private 
organizations mandates that women receive equal pay for equal work, 
prohibits discrimination based on sex or physical ability, and 
establishes penalties for employers who violate these guidelines. The 
law allows for civil suits, but few women took their cases to the Labor 
Affairs Bureau or other entities. There were no reported cases alleging 
sexual discrimination during the first half of the year.
    Women also have become more active and visible in business; 
however, wage discrimination occurred in certain sectors of the job 
market, notably construction.

    Children.--The Government protected the rights and welfare of 
children through the general framework of civil and political rights 
legislation that protects all citizens. The law specifically provides 
for criminal punishment for sexual abuse of children and students, 
statutory rape, and procurement involving minors.
    School attendance is compulsory for all children between ages five 
and 15. Basic education was provided in government-run schools and 
subsidized private schools, and it covered the preprimary year, primary 
education, and general secondary education. The Education Department 
provided assistance to families that could not pay school fees. The 
children of illegal immigrants were excluded from the educational 
system. Experts believed this exclusion affected only a few children. 
Boys and girls attended school in equal proportions, and the Government 
provided free medical care for all children.
    Child abuse and exploitation were not widespread problems. In the 
first half of the year, nine cases of child abuse were reported to the 
Health Department and 80 cases of offenses against the physical 
integrity of minors were reported to the police. During the same 
period, the police received two reports of rape of minors and eight 
reports of sexual abuse of minors.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The Basic Law makes trafficking in persons 
a crime punishable by two to 15 years in prison; however, there was no 
law that specifically addressed trafficking persons into the SAR. The 
law increases penalties by one-third (within minimum and maximum 
limits) if the victim is under 18 years of age. If the victim is under 
14 years of age, the penalty is increased by five to 15 years. If the 
trafficker rapes the victim, the two offenses are treated as different 
crimes. The Government has other statutes that it can use to prosecute 
such traffickers. For example, although prostitution is not illegal, a 
``procurement'' law makes it a crime to instigate, favor, or facilitate 
the practice of prostitution by another person for the purposes of 
profit or as a way of life.
    The country is a transit and destination point for women trafficked 
for the purposes of prostitution. While the overwhelming majority of 
foreign prostitutes entered the country voluntarily, there was evidence 
that some had been deceived or coerced into participating in the 
country's commercial sex trade. During the year press reports and NGOs 
stated that some prostitutes lived in poor conditions under threats of 
violence and coercion.
    No information was available on government investigations into 
cases of procurement. While most known cases involved women who were 
believed to be willing participants in the sex industry, 17 women 
claimed to have been brought to the SAR under false pretenses, and four 
complained of abuse. SAR authorities believed that Chinese, Russian, 
and Thai criminal syndicates were involved in bringing women to the SAR 
for the purposes of prostitution. Prostitutes were primarily from 
mainland China, Mongolia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and 
Thailand.
    There were no government assistance programs for victims of 
trafficking, and no NGOs focused specifically on trafficking-related 
problems; however, there were charitable organizations that provided 
assistance and shelter to women and children who were the victims of 
abuse.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law mandates access to buildings 
for persons with disabilities, and the Government generally enforced 
these provisions in practice. There were no reports of discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, or 
provision of state services.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although no specific laws 
prohibit discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic background, 
the Government generally respected the rights of ethnic minorities, 
particularly the Macanese (Eurasians who comprise approximately 2 
percent of the population). Although Portuguese officials no longer 
dominated the civil service, the Government bureaucracy and the legal 
system placed a premium on knowledge of the Portuguese language, which 
was spoken by approximately 2 percent of the population. During the 
year the Government conducted its first census since 2001, but updates 
on the racial and ethnic composition of the population had not been 
released as of year's end. The Chinese language has official status, 
and the use of Chinese in the civil service has grown in recent years.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirement, and the Government generally 
respected this right in practice. The Basic Law stipulates that 
international labor conventions that applied before the handover remain 
in force. The UDDM expressed concern that the local law contains no 
explicit provisions that bar discrimination against unions. The law 
also specifically excludes public servants and migrant workers from 
labor law protections.
    Nearly all private sector unions were part of the proPRC 
Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), or the Macau Chamber of Commerce 
(both of which are listed as associations, commonly the case for 
unions), and they tended to stress the importance of stability and 
minimum disruption of the work force. The UDDM and some local 
journalists claimed that the FTU was more interested in providing 
social and recreational services than in addressing trade union 
problems such as wages, benefits, and working conditions. At the 
beginning of the year, there were 567 registered unions. All classes of 
workers have the right to join a union. There was no data on the 
percentage of unionized workers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides that agreements concluded between employers and workers shall 
be valid, but there is no specific statutory protection that provides 
for the right to collective bargaining; however, the Government did not 
impede or discourage collective bargaining. Market forces determined 
wages. Unions tended to resemble local traditional neighborhood 
associations, promoting social and cultural activities rather than 
workplace problems. Local customs normally favored employment without 
the benefit of written labor contracts, except in the case of migrant 
labor from the mainland and the Philippines. Pro-PRC unions 
traditionally have not attempted to engage in collective bargaining.
    There is no specific protection in local law from retribution if 
workers exercise their right to strike. The Government argued that 
striking employees are protected from retaliation by labor law 
provisions, which require an employer to have ``justified cause'' to 
dismiss an employee; the Government generally enforced these 
provisions. Strikes, rallies, and demonstrations were not permitted in 
the vicinity of the chief executive's office, the Legislative Assembly, 
and other key government buildings.
    In May approximately 3,000 workers from eight independent labor 
unions representing unskilled laborers and construction workers held a 
demonstration against the chief executive. The demonstration turned 
violent when protesters confronted riot police as they attempted to 
march on government headquarters. The theme of the demonstration was to 
``drive out illegal workers and cut imported labor.'' Twenty-five 
police officers were reportedly injured and four protesters arrested 
during the demonstration. Prodemocracy legislator Antonio Ng voiced his 
support for the demonstration and called on the Government to formulate 
labor importation policies in a transparent way with prior public 
consultation.
    In December approximately 600 workers and citizens protested labor 
issues and corruption in Macau. In contrast to the labor demonstrations 
in May, the protests were nonviolent. Workers who believed that they 
were dismissed unlawfully may bring a case to court or lodge a 
complaint with the Labor Department or the high commissioner against 
corruption and administrative illegality, who also functions as an 
ombudsman.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits minors under the age of 16 from working, although minors 
between the ages of 14 and 16 can be authorized to work on an 
``exceptional basis.'' Some children reportedly worked in family-run 
businesses and on fishing vessels, usually during summer and winter 
vacations. Local laws do not establish specific regulations governing 
the number of hours these children can work, but International Labor 
Organization conventions were applied. The Labor Department enforced 
the law through periodic and targeted inspections, and violators were 
prosecuted. In July 2005 the Labor Department Inspectorate conducted a 
special inspection specifically aimed at enforcing child labor laws. 
During this inspection 476 companies were visited, and 17 were found to 
have violated child labor laws by employing 29 minors ages 14 to 16. A 
similar inspection was conducted during the year, but data from it was 
not available at year's end.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Local labor laws establish the 
general principle of fair wages and mandate compliance with wage 
agreements, but there was no mandatory minimum wage. Average wages 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. In his 
policy address in November, Chief Executive Ho stated that government 
cleaning and security contractors would enjoy a minimum wage starting 
next year but did not say what the wage would be.
    Labor legislation provides for a 48-hour workweek, an eight-hour 
workday, paid overtime, annual leave, and medical and maternity care. 
Although the law provides for a 24-hour rest period for every seven 
days of work, workers frequently agreed to work overtime to compensate 
for low wages. The Labor Department provided assistance and legal 
advice to workers on request.
    The Labor Department enforced occupational safety and health 
regulations, and failure to correct infractions could lead to 
prosecution. In 2005 the Labor Department inspectorate conducted 4,508 
inspections and uncovered 3,195 violations carrying fines totaling 
approximately $194,000 (1.5 million patacas). Data on Labor Department 
inspections throughout the year was not available. From January to 
September, there were five workrelated deaths. Although the law 
includes a requirement that employers provide a safe working 
environment, no explicit provisions protected employees' right to 
continued employment if they refused to work under dangerous 
conditions.
    Migrant workers, mainly from the PRC and Southeast Asia, made up 
approximately 10.3 percent of the work force. In May several thousand 
workers and union members marched in demand of more effective measures 
to prevent the hiring of illegal workers and to limit the number of 
imported workers (see section 6.b.). They often received less than 
local residents for performing the same job, lived in controlled 
dormitories, worked 10 to 12 hours per day, and owed large sums of 
money to labor-importing companies for purchasing their jobs. They had 
no collective bargaining rights and no legal recourse in the case of 
unfair dismissal.

                               __________

                          CHINA (TAIWAN ONLY)

    Taiwan's population of 23 million is governed by a President and 
parliament chosen in multiparty elections. In 2004 President Chen Shui-
bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was reelected in a close 
election. The opposition coalition made up of the Kuomintang (KMT) and 
the People First Party (PFP) won 114 of the 225 Legislative Yuan (LY) 
seats. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The authorities generally respected the human rights of citizens; 
however, there continued to be problems reported in the following 
areas: corruption by officials, violence and discrimination against 
women, trafficking in persons, and abuses of foreign workers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution stipulates that no violence, threat, 
inducement, fraud, or other improper means should be used against 
accused persons. Several human rights nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) stated they had not received any reports of physical abuse of 
persons held in police custody. One NGO received several police abuse 
complaints, but was unable to substantiate the reports. Unlike in 
previous years, lawyers and legal scholars did not complain of police 
abuse occurring when interrogations were not recorded or when attorneys 
were not present.
    The primary responsibility for investigating torture and 
mistreatment lies with prosecutors. The Control Yuan (CY), the highest 
government oversight agency, also investigates such cases.
    The law allows suspects to have attorneys present during 
interrogations, primarily to ensure that abuse does not take place (see 
section 1.d.). The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) stated that each 
interrogation was audiotaped or videotaped and that any allegation of 
mistreatment was investigated. Police were subject to severe punishment 
for abusing their authority in arresting or detaining suspects or using 
threats of violence to extract evidence.
    The criminal code provides that criminal charges must be based on 
legally obtained evidence. A confession by a defendant or accomplice, 
without other evidentiary support, is not sufficient to convict a 
defendant. Police must investigate allegations that a confession was 
illegally obtained before proceeding to other evidence.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. Prison overcrowding was a 
growing problem. As of December prisons operated at 119 percent of 
design capacity.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police 
Administration (NPA) of the Ministry of Interior (MOI) has 
administrative jurisdiction over all police units. City mayors and 
county magistrates appoint city and county police commissioners from 
candidates recommended by the NPA. Mayors and magistrates are 
responsible for maintaining order and assessing the performance of 
police commissioners within their jurisdiction.
    Police corruption continued to be a problem. In July four police 
officers and their police chief were indicted on suspicion of taking 
bribes to conceal a gambling ring. In November three officers were 
detained for accepting bribes from illegal casinos, and another officer 
was indicted for leaking investigation information to a criminal group 
suspected of kidnapping.
    Following a spate of police corruption scandals the MOI announced 
in November that it would increase inspection of the police and require 
police chiefs to cooperate closely with prosecutors' investigations. 
Prosecutors and the CY are responsible for investigating allegations of 
police malfeasance. The NPA also has an inspector general and an 
internal affairs division that conduct internal police investigations. 
Police officers and senior officials suspected of corruption are 
prosecuted and punished upon conviction.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may legally detain without a warrant 
anyone they suspect of committing a crime when the punishment would be 
imprisonment of five years or more if there is ample reason to believe 
the person may flee. When circumstances are too urgent to apply for a 
summons prior to questioning, police may question a person without 
first obtaining the required summons from a public prosecutor. However 
after detaining a suspect, the authorities must immediately apply to a 
prosecutor for a warrant in order to detain the arrestee for up to 24 
hours and must give written notice to the detainee or a designated 
relative or friend, stating the reason for the arrest or questioning. 
If the prosecutor rejects the application for a warrant, the police 
must release the detainee immediately. Indicted persons may be released 
on bail at judicial discretion. By law, prosecutors must apply to the 
courts within 24 hours after arrest for permission to continue 
detaining an arrestee. The duration of this pretrial detention is 
limited to two months and, with court approval, a single extension of 
an additional two months. Limits also apply to detention during trial. 
If a crime is punishable by less than 10 years' imprisonment, then no 
more than three extensions of two months each may be granted during the 
trial and appellate proceedings. During a second appeal, only one 
extension may be granted. The authorities generally observed these 
procedures, and trials usually took place within three months of 
indictment.
    During an interrogation the law requires that the police inform a 
suspect of; the specific charges in question, the right to remain 
silent, the right to counsel, and the right to ask the police to 
investigate evidence that would be favorable to the suspect. If the 
charges are subsequently amended, the police must inform the suspect. 
The authorities generally respected a detainee's request to have a 
lawyer present during the investigation phase. When a detainee requests 
legal counsel, police must wait at least four hours for a lawyer before 
proceeding with an interrogation. Although the law requires that 
indigent persons be provided legal counsel during trials, it does not 
provide for legal counsel during interrogations.
    Confessions from interrogations conducted in the evenings generally 
are not to be used as evidence; allegations that a confession was 
obtained illegally are to be investigated before it can be used in a 
trial. With the exception of urgent circumstances, when such equipment 
is unavailable, interrogations must be audiotaped or videotaped, and 
when written reports of interrogations are in conflict with evidence in 
audiotapes and videotapes, the contradictory interrogation may not be 
used as evidence.
    Some human rights advocates claimed that the rules did not provide 
adequate protection since suspects often did not have legal 
representation during interrogation. Informed observers continued to 
report that public defense counsels did not appear until the final 
argument of a trial and that they seldom spent adequate time discussing 
the case with their clients. In response to this complaint, courts 
continued allowing appointment of private attorneys or public defense 
counsel for detainees. In a first trial, courts require that counsel 
interview the detainee at least once before each hearing and, in an 
appeal, whenever the detainee requests an interview.
    On January 11, the Judicial Yuan (JY) approved a pilot legal aid 
program to provide indigent suspects with counsel during initial police 
questioning. The program, started in November, recruited volunteer 
attorneys and worked with the NPA to establish clear procedural 
guidelines. A NGO, the Legal Aid Foundation of Taiwan, also provided 
professional legal services to the indigent.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. Although the Government made efforts to 
eliminate corruption and to diminish political influence in recent 
years, residual problems remained (see section 3).
    The JY, headed by a President and vice President, is one of the 
five coequal branches of the political system and includes the 15-
member Council of Grand Justices (CGJ), which interprets the 
constitution as well as laws and ordinances. Subordinate JY organs 
include the Supreme Court, high courts, district courts, the 
administrative court, and the Committee on the Discipline of Public 
Functionaries. An administrative court provides judicial review of 
administrative decisions.
    Active-duty military personnel are subject to the military justice 
system. Except in exigent circumstances, a military court-issued 
warrant is required to arrest a suspect or to search a person or place. 
A search incident to arrest does not require a separate warrant. 
Suspects are entitled to counsel during interrogation. Suspects can be 
detained up to 60 days, which can be extended upon a showing of good 
cause. Trial must take place no later than 90 days after arrest. 
Defendants are entitled to counsel during trial and are entitled to 
collect and present evidence in their defense. Defendants are presumed 
innocent until proven guilty. Cases are tried before one or more 
military judges. Established guidelines limit judges' sentencing 
discretion. Defendants can appeal convictions to higher military courts 
and then to the civilian court system. Critics contend that since 
military prosecutors and judges are usually officers in the same unit 
and under the same command, there is insufficient separation between 
them to properly safeguard a defendant's interests.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution establishes the right to a fair 
trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
Judges, rather than juries, decide cases; all judges are appointed by, 
and are responsible to, the JY. In a typical court case, a single judge 
rather than a defense attorney or prosecutor interrogates parties and 
witnesses. The judge may decline to hear witnesses or to consider 
evidence that a party wishes to submit if the judge considers it 
irrelevant; a refusal to hear evidence may be a factor in an appeal. 
Trials are public, but attendance at trials involving juveniles or 
potentially sensitive issues that might attract crowds may require 
court permission. A defendant's access to government-held evidence is 
determined by the presiding judge on a case-by-case basis. All 
defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and criminal 
procedure rights are extended to all persons without limitation.
    A defendant has the right to an attorney. If the defendant is 
charged with committing a crime for which the penalty is three or more 
years' imprisonment or if the defendant is indigent, the judge may 
assign an attorney. Attorneys assigned to defendants generally assisted 
once an indictment was filed and at trial but usually were not present 
during police interrogations. Although the Government took measures to 
strengthen the effectiveness of defense representation, some human 
rights lawyers argued that more improvements were necessary. The law 
states that a suspect may not be compelled to testify and that a 
confession shall not be the sole evidence used to find a defendant 
guilty. All convicted persons have the right to appeal to the next 
higher court level. Persons sentenced to terms of imprisonment of three 
years or more may appeal beyond that level. The Supreme Court 
automatically reviews life imprisonment and death sentences. It is 
unconstitutional to allow the confessions of accomplices to be used as 
the only evidence to convict a defendant.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--District courts are the 
courts of first instance for the trial of civil monetary and non-
monetary claims, including those seeking redress for human rights 
violations. High courts hear appeals from the district courts. The 
Supreme Court is the final court of appeal and will review judgments of 
the high courts, but only on questions of law, not fact. A separate 
two-tier administrative court system resolves disputes arising from 
administrative laws. Courts are empowered to attach assets and issue 
provisional and permanent injunctions. There were no reports of 
problems enforcing domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution protects the right to privacy and 
this was generally respected in practice. The law requires prosecutors 
to obtain judicial approval of search warrants, except when incidental 
to arrest or when there are concerns that evidence may be destroyed. 
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of police misusing the 
search-incidental-to-arrest provision. The police must report any 
incidental search to a prosecutor or the court within 24 hours. The 
court must decide whether the incidental search violated the law. A 
police officer convicted of conducting an illegal search may be given a 
sentence of up to one year in prison.
    The law imposes severe penalties for unauthorized wiretapping. The 
law provides that judicial and security authorities may file a written 
request to a prosecutor's office to monitor telephone calls to collect 
evidence against a suspect involved in a major crime. The MOJ and the 
police used wiretapping as an investigative tool. According to the MOJ 
prosecution department, the annual number of approved wiretappings has 
steadily increased from 19,845 in 2004 to 24,117 in 2005, and to 25,556 
through November.
    Homosexual rights advocacy groups claim that government law 
enforcement agencies monitored Internet chat room and bulletin-board 
exchanges between adults (see section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
    Government and political party officials are forbidden from holding 
positions in broadcast media companies. Government entities and 
political parties were required to divest themselves of all radio and 
broadcast companies by December 2005. On April 21, the Government 
donated its 70 percent share of China Television System (CTS) to the 
Public Television Service (PTS). The two companies merged into the 
Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS), which was privatized on July 1. By 
year's end the Government had not sold its 47 percent stake in Taiwan 
Television Enterprise (TTV). Critics argued that more needed to be done 
to insulate broadcast news media from political influence.
    On February 22, the National Communications Commission (NCC) 
convened for the first time. On July 21, the CGJ determined that the 
system for appointing commissioners was unconstitutional, but allowed 
the sitting commissioners to remain in office until new commissioners 
could be appointed.
    In April the NCC reinstated the license of cable news channel 
Eastern TV. The Government Information Office (GIO) had revoked the 
license in 2005, provoking charges that it had infringed on press 
freedom and hurt the livelihoods of broadcast journalists. On July 12, 
Eastern TV resumed operations.
    In May the Executive Yuan Administrative Appeals Review Committee 
reversed another controversial GIO decision. In November 2005 GIO 
levied a $30,000 (NT$1 million) fine on TVBS, a Hong Kong-invested 
satellite broadcast station. GIO alleged TVBS had exceeded the 50 
percent cap on foreign ownership. GIO was ordered to return the fine. 
TVBS, which had been a vocal critic of government corruption, had 
accused the GIO of a ``political witch hunt.''
    Also in May the NCC decided to halt a GIO plan to restructure 
publicly owned radio networks and to reorganize the distribution of 
frequencies. Instead the NCC proposed to open new FM frequencies for 
commercial use. The NCC plan was expected to create a mechanism for the 
commercial sale and transfer of radio frequencies and formal procedures 
for their recovery and reassignment by the Government.
    There was a vigorous and active free press. Critics alleged that 
dependency upon government advertising revenue and loans from 
government-controlled banks deterred media outlets from criticizing the 
Government. The Government denied using loans or advertising revenue to 
manipulate the media. On April 30, the Executive Yuan terminated its 
media purchasing program.
    On September 16, supporters of President Chen Shui-bian attacked 
four television journalists covering a pro-Chen demonstration. Police 
arrested some of the attackers, who claimed the journalists were biased 
against the President.
    For three consecutive days in April a Taipei court ordered a United 
Daily News reporter named Kao to pay a fine of $1,000 (NT$30,000) per 
day until he revealed the source for a report that caused the stock of 
a company to lose two-thirds of its value. Kao was convicted of aiding 
criminal activities and disrupting the financial market. Kao refused to 
disclose his source, decried his conviction as a ``serious violation of 
press freedom,'' and filed an appeal. The public reacted negatively to 
the conviction and the fine was suspended.
    By law the police may seize violent or pornographic material. The 
police must request search warrants from prosecutors to conduct such 
seizures (see section 1.f.).
    On October 26, the Constitutional Court (CC) held that freedom of 
publication is not an absolute right, stipulating that certain sexually 
explicit materials are protected only as long as they are properly 
packaged and labeled. Based on the CC interpretation, the owner of a 
gay bookstore appealed his 2005 conviction for violating the criminal 
code, which bans the sale, circulation, and public display of obscene 
publications. The owner argued the magazines were legally imported from 
Hong Kong and had been properly packaged in opaque wrappers as required 
by adult publications ordinances.
    The GIO, which requires that any publications imported from 
mainland China be sent to the GIO Publications Department for screening 
before sale or publication, has the authority to ban importation of 
publications that advocate communism or the establishment of united 
front organizations, endanger public order or good morals, or violate 
laws. Nevertheless, a wide variety of mainland China-origin material 
was accessible through the Internet as well as in retail stores. Cable 
television systems were required to send imported material to the GIO 
for screening and to convert subtitles from the simplified characters 
used in mainland China to traditional characters before broadcasting.
    The media occasionally infringed on individuals' right to privacy. 
The media often taped and aired police interrogations and entered 
hospital rooms when the patient was unable to prevent such entry. The 
electronic media also frequently ignored individuals' requests to 
respect their privacy. In August a prominent sports figure announced 
that he would no longer accept interviews by the media because 
reporters had harassed his parents. He reversed his decision eight days 
later, after the media agreed to respect his and his parents' privacy.

    Internet Freedom.--There were generally no government restrictions 
on access to the Internet, with the following exceptions:
    In September the Ministry of National Defense investigated a 
military pilot who took a picture of the Presidential plane while 
flying escort. The pilot's girlfriend posted the photograph on her Web 
site, with commentary critical of the President. Military authorities 
argued that the posting of the photograph was a breach of national 
security.
    In October 2005 the GIO promulgated regulations that restricted 
access to certain Internet sites based on an Internet content rating to 
persons 18 years of age or older. Rules required restricted material to 
be clearly marked.
    Homosexual rights advocacy groups claim that government law 
enforcement agencies monitored Internet chat room and bulletin-board 
exchanges between adults. Several NGOs reported that law enforcement 
officials prosecuted and punished adults for posting sexually 
suggestive messages. According to one NGO, police used Internet network 
addresses to identify individual perpetrators, who were then charged. 
Critics noted the law has no age limitation and asserted that police 
enforcement against adults violated free speech rights.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law prohibits teachings, 
writings, or research that advocate communism or communist united front 
organizations, which endanger the public order or good morals, or 
violate regulations or laws. The Government did not otherwise restrict 
academic freedom.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and authorities 
generally respected these rights in practice. Although the National 
Security Law gives the Government the authority to prevent 
demonstrations advocating communism or the division of the national 
territory, pro-independence and pro-reunification demonstrations took 
place without government interference.
    Under the Civic Organizations Law, the Constitutional Court, which 
is made up of the CGJ, has the power to dissolve political parties. 
Grounds for dissolution include objectives or actions that are deemed 
to jeopardize the existence of the ``Republic of China.'' The 
Constitutional Court heard no cases under this law during the year.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the authorities generally respected this right in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The generally amicable 
relationship among religions in society contributed to religious 
freedom.
    The Jewish community consisted of approximately 150 members. There 
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides these rights, 
and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    All travelers from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are 
required to have invitations from sponsors and are subject to approval 
by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). PRC tourists must travel in 
groups, stay at designated hotels, and return to their hotel rooms by 
10 p.m. PRC tour groups must be chaperoned by a Taiwan travel agency, 
which is required to post a $29,000 (NT$1 million) bond for each group. 
The bond is forfeited if any tour group member is involved in legal 
problems or is reported missing. The Tourism Bureau must be notified in 
advance of any change to a tour group itinerary. PRC visitors who come 
to the country for family and business purposes are required to 
regularly report their location to the police. They are also prohibited 
from seeking employment in the country.
    Regulations require that PRC spouses of Taiwanese citizens who 
apply for a national identification card pass a security clearance.
    PRC journalists were granted a maximum stay of 30 days. PRC 
national news outlets China Central Television (CCTV), China National 
Radio, and China News Service regularly assign up to two journalists in 
the country at a time. At year's end there were six journalists from 
these news agencies on one-month assignments in Taiwan.
    In March 2005 after the PRC adopted the Anti secession Law, Xinhua 
News Agency and People's Daily were temporarily barred from posting 
journalists to Taiwan. Subsequently, journalists from these two news 
organizations were permitted to visit the country but were not granted 
the maximum one-month stay.
    The law does not provide for forced exile, and it was not 
practiced.
    According to the Cross-Strait Relations Act, Taiwan citizens 
residing in the PRC will lose Taiwan citizenship if they do not return 
within four years. They may apply to recover citizenship through 
relatives or a legal representative. Applications to recover 
citizenship were regularly granted, and there were no reports of 
rejected applications.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status. All PRC citizens unlawfully present are 
required by law to be returned to the PRC, including trafficking in-
persons victims (see section 5). Although the authorities were 
reluctant to return to the mainland those who might suffer political 
persecution, they regularly deported mainlanders who illegally entered 
the island for what were presumed to be economic reasons.
    During the year authorities regularly renewed two PRC democracy 
activists' three-month temporary visas and continued to provide them 
financial support. However their requests for long-term visas were 
denied and the two continued to seek asylum in a third country. They 
first entered Taiwan illegally in 2004 by fishing boat, and requested 
asylum. After brief confinement in a detention center, they were 
released and allowed freedom of movement.
    Throughout the year the Government repatriated illegal immigrants 
to their countries of origin. According to MOI, the total number of 
illegal PRC immigrants deported to the mainland declined, from 2,352 in 
2005 to 1,596 during the year. At year's end, 480 illegal PRC 
immigrants were in detention centers awaiting repatriation.
    PRC illegal immigrants continued to wait long periods in detention. 
During the year their average wait time before repatriation was 377 
days. By comparison, non-PRC illegal aliens averaged just 37 days in 
detention before repatriation. MOI claimed that some PRC detainees gave 
false name and age information, making it difficult for PRC authorities 
to properly identify them. Some were charged with criminal acts and 
must await trial and sentencing before repatriation. MOI also faulted 
PRC authorities for causing procedural delays.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--According to the law, 
candidates are free to run for any office in an election as long as 
they meet all requirements. Both the DPP and the KMT utilized a 
combination of public opinion polls and primary elections to select 
candidates. Independent candidates were common. The law specifies and 
regulates the maximum budget each candidate can spend in an election. 
In general, individuals and parties were given full freedom within the 
confines of the law to participate in elections.
    On December 9, the KMT candidate was elected mayor of Taipei by a 
sizeable margin, and the DPP candidate was elected mayor of Kaohsiung 
by less than 1,200 votes (0.12 percent). The Kaohsiung mayoral 
candidates traded accusations of vote-buying, but at year's end the 
courts declined to order a recount, citing insufficient evidence. By 
early December prosecutors had received 463 complaints of vote-buying 
related to the mayoral and city council races in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
    In December 2005 the KMT defeated the DPP in island-wide city, 
county and local government elections. Despite allegations of vote-
buying and isolated cases of unethical campaign practices, the 
elections were viewed as free and fair.
    In the 2004 Presidential election, President Chen Shui-bian was re-
elected and in the 2004 legislative elections, the opposition KMT-PFP 
coalition won a narrow majority in the LY. Both elections were hotly 
contested in an intense partisan atmosphere but generally were regarded 
as free and fair. An apparent assassination attempt against President 
Chen and Vice President Lu on the eve of the vote and the extremely 
close election result continued to be matters of controversy. In August 
2005 the Supreme Court prosecutor's office concluded that the 
assassination attempt was made by a retired construction worker, Chen 
Yi-hsiung, who committed suicide after the incident. The KMT-PFP 
opposition rejected the report and in May established a second 
investigation committee. The report from the second committee alleged 
the assailant had not committed suicide but was murdered. The results 
of both investigations were delivered to the Tainan district 
prosecutor's office.
    On January 19, Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's second female vice 
premier. Vice President Annette Lu was re-elected to a second term in 
2004. Six of the 48 cabinet members were women. Three of the 21 members 
of the Examination Yuan were women. Three of the 13 grand justices were 
women. Three of the 15 members of the DPP central standing committee 
and 12 of the 30 members of the DPP central executive committee were 
women. Ten of the 31 members of the KMT central standing committee were 
women. There were 46 women in the 221-member LY. According to 
constitutional amendments passed in June 2005, at least half of the 
nominees for at-large overseas legislators must be women.
    Aborigine representatives participated in most levels of the 
political system. They held eight reserved seats in the LY, half of 
which were elected by plains Aborigines and half by mountain 
Aborigines. Aborigines accounted for about 2 percent of the population; 
their allocation of legislative seats was almost twice their 
proportional representation. An Aborigine served as Chairman of the 
Council of Aboriginal Affairs.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were allegations of 
government corruption during the year. However, the Government 
continued to take action to combat corruption in the executive and 
judicial branches of government. Allegations of vote buying continued, 
although all political parties committed publicly to ending the 
practice.
    In February regulations went into effect that required political 
appointees to the cabinet (Executive Yuan) and its subordinate agencies 
to place all financial assets into a trust within three months of 
assuming office and, for those already in office, within three months 
of the effective date of the regulations.
    President Chen's son-in-law was indicted for insider trading and 
embezzlement in May. First lady Wu Shu-chen was also accused of 
questionable financial dealings. On June 27, the legislature rejected a 
motion to recall President Chen. In late July prosecutors began an 
investigation of alleged misuse of Presidential office accounts by the 
President, his wife, and several officials from the Presidential 
office. Two weeks of mass demonstrations took place in September 
calling for the President's resignation. On October 13, a second 
legislative motion to recall President Chen failed. The first lady was 
indicted for corruption, on November 3, as were several officials of 
the Presidential office for offenses related to the alleged improper 
use of Presidential office funds. Although not indicted because of 
Presidential immunity, the President was named as an involved party. A 
third motion to recall President Chen failed on November 24.
    During the year a number of senior government officials were also 
investigated for corruption, including former Presidential office 
deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan, former head of the cabinet-level 
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Kong Jaw-sheng and former 
director general of the FSC's Examination Bureau, Lee Chin-chen, who 
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for facilitating insider trading. 
Several senior Kaohsiung officials were named as suspects in the 
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation labor scandal. Keelung City mayor 
Hsu Tsai-li was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption. 
Several former vice ministers and deputy ministers were also under 
investigation for alleged corruption.
    By November prosecutors had indicted 1,487 persons on various 
corruption charges and had convicted 1,252 persons. Of those accused, 
77 were high-ranking government officials, 244 were mid-level, 394 were 
low-level, and 58 were elected officials.
    In November 2005 the Public Officials Election and Recall Act was 
revised to stiffen penalties for those convicted of vote-buying. As a 
result, those convicted face a mandatory jail sentence of three to 10 
years.
    In December 2005 the LY passed the Access to government Information 
Law. Under the law, all government information must be made available 
to the public upon request, except national secrets, professional 
secrets, personal information, and intellectual property rights. All 
citizens, including those living overseas, and all companies and groups 
registered in the country, as well as foreign citizens whose countries 
do not prohibit Taiwan citizens from applying for access to their 
government information, can submit information requests and can 
administratively appeal if such requests are denied.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides for equality of citizens before the law 
``irrespective of sex, religion, race, class, or party affiliation.'' 
It also provides for the rights of persons with disabilities.

    Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and 
rape, remained a serious problem. The law allows prosecutors to take 
the initiative in investigating complaints of domestic violence without 
waiting for a spouse to file a formal lawsuit. As of November, 2,038 
persons had been prosecuted for domestic violence, and 1,527 persons 
had been convicted. Typically persons convicted in domestic violence 
cases were sentenced to less than six months in prison. Strong social 
pressure not to disgrace their families discouraged abused women from 
reporting incidents to the police.
    By November, 61,508 cases of domestic violence were reported, 
representing a projected 9 percent increase of reported cases over 
2005. MOI cited this as evidence that women were more willing to report 
domestic violence.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime and remained a serious 
problem; its victims were socially stigmatized. Experts estimated that 
the total number of rapes was 10 times the number reported to the 
police. The law provides protection for rape victims. Mentally 
handicapped victims and those under 16 years of age are allowed to 
testify via a two-way television system. Rape trials may not be open to 
the public unless the victim consents. By regulation, doctors, social 
workers, police, and prosecutors jointly question victims of sexual 
abuse to reduce the number of times a victim is questioned. The law 
permits a charge of rape without requiring the victim to press charges.
    The law establishes the punishment for rape as not less than five 
years' imprisonment, and those convicted usually were given prison 
sentences of five to 10 years. According to the MOI, 6,601 reports of 
rape or sexual assault were filed during the year. Prosecutors tried 
1,825 of those cases and convicted 1,535 persons. Women's rights 
activists criticized law enforcement for bringing only a small 
percentage of perpetrators to justice.
    The law requires all city and county governments to establish 
violence prevention and control centers to address domestic and sexual 
violence, child abuse, and elderly abuse. These government-funded 
centers provided victims with protection, medical treatment, emergency 
assistance, shelter, legal counseling, and education and training on a 
24-hour basis. As of November the centers obtained 26,143 protection 
orders from the courts.
    Prostitution was illegal. Prostitution, including child 
prostitution, was a problem. Trafficking in women remained a problem 
(see section 5, Trafficking). Authorities reported that the number of 
prostitutes from Southeast Asian countries, mainly Vietnam, Indonesia, 
and Cambodia, increased.
    During the year authorities arrested 380 Southeast Asian women for 
prostitution, a 73 percent increase over 2005. Those arrested included 
186 women from Vietnam, 105 from Indonesia, and 55 from Thailand. At 
the same time, prostitution arrests of women from the PRC, Hong Kong, 
and Macau declined sharply. During the year 664 PRC women who had 
entered Taiwan legally were arrested for prostitution, a decrease of 48 
percent from 2005. Seventeen illegal PRC entrants were also arrested 
for prostitution, a 66 percent drop from 2005. There were reports of a 
growing trend of teenagers and young women being lured into 
prostitution by Internet advertisements promising employment, large 
salaries, and adventure.
    The law prohibits sex discrimination. The law also stipulates that 
measures be taken to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. The 
Gender Equality in Employment Act (GEEA) provides for equal treatment 
with regard to salaries, promotions, and assignments. The GEEA entitles 
women to request up to two-years of unpaid maternity leave and forbids 
termination because of pregnancy or marriage. Despite the law, women 
continued to be denied maternity leave or were forced to quit jobs due 
to marriage, age, or pregnancy. Women's advocates noted that women 
continued to be promoted less frequently, occupied fewer management 
positions, and worked for lower pay than their male counterparts. Women 
make up 42 percent of the total workforce, and 50 percent of the 
service industry workforce. According to the Council on Labor Affairs 
(CLA), salaries for women averaged 85 percent of those for men 
performing comparable jobs.
    During the year a poll reported that most women were unaware of or 
did not understand their employment rights. Women's rights activists 
urged the Government to more actively promote workplace gender 
equality. Most city and county administrations formed committees to 
deal with complaints of sexual discrimination in the workplace.
    In February the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act went into effect. 
Sexual harassment is a crime. Violators face fines of $3,000 to $30,000 
(NT$100,000 to NT$1,000,000) and imprisonment for up to two years. All 
levels of government and larger private employers were required to 
enact preventive measures and establish complaint procedures to deter 
sexual harassment. Hot lines were established in several major cities, 
but reporting levels were well below expectations. Women's groups 
criticized the Government's implementation of the law as ineffective, 
and attributed low reporting rates to inadequate publicity.
    Since 1987 the country has registered more than 370,000 marriages 
to foreigners, mostly women from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and 
Thailand. During the year 20 to 30 percent of all marriages were to 
foreign-born spouses and 13 percent of all births were to foreign-born 
mothers. Government regulations do not adequately protect the rights of 
foreign spouses, especially those with children from the marriage.
    Foreign spouses are initially issued a visitor's visa, which 
usually must be renewed outside the country. Foreign spouses cannot 
apply for citizenship until they have resided in the country for three 
consecutive years. They are required to relinquish their home country 
citizenship in order to apply. Citizenship is typically granted after 
the fourth consecutive year of residence; thus, for one year foreign 
spouses are technically stateless. Without citizenship, foreign spouses 
can be deported if their visas expire. In one high-profile case, a 
married Taiwanese man named Chan used another man's identity to marry a 
Cambodian woman, who bore him twins. When the woman's visa expired, she 
was unable to renew it because her registered husband, named Yao, had 
died. The Cambodian woman was deported, and Chan arranged with the 
authorities to adopt the twins. The mother of the twins appealed to a 
legislator for help. At year's end the MOI had not decided whether the 
twin's mother was entitled to custody, or if she would be permitted to 
return to the country.
    Foreign spouses were targets of discrimination both inside and 
outside the home. Most cross-border marriages were arranged by brokers, 
whose advertisements in Taiwan were frequently degrading to women. For 
fees ranging from $7,000 to $12,000 (NT$250,000 to $400,000), brokers 
typically flew clients to other Southeast Asian cities, where they 
could choose from a group of eligible women recruited by the broker. 
The marriage and necessary paperwork were usually completed within a 
week. Several reports suggested that this commercialized process 
likened foreign spouses to property and contributed to their 
mistreatment. A MOI report concluded that social and economic 
marginalization contributed to an abnormally high rate of domestic 
violence in cross-border marriages. Traffickers abused the spousal visa 
program to bring foreign women into the country for prostitution. 
Politicians publicly disparaged foreign spouses, which contributed to 
negative stereotypes.
    To assist the growing number of foreign born spouses authorities 
took steps to help integrate them into society, including offering free 
Mandarin language and child-raising classes and counseling services at 
community outreach centers. The government-funded Legal Aid Foundation 
expanded its services to include an out reach to foreign spouses that 
included a hot line established to receive complaints. The MOI 
continued to operate its hot line service with staff conversant in 
Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Indonesian, English, and Chinese. As of 
November the service had received 651 calls from non-Chinese speakers. 
On October 1, Chunghwa Telecom, in collaboration with a local NGO, 
activated a similar free nationwide telephone hot line which provided 
assistance to foreign born spouses.

    Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare 
of children, and the law included provisions to protect them. Education 
for children between six and 15 years of age was free, universal, 
compulsory, and enforced. According to government statistics, 99 
percent of school-age children attended primary and junior high school. 
Children were provided health care under the national health insurance 
plan.
    Child abuse continued to be a widespread and growing problem. 
According to 2005 MOI statistics, reports of child abuse rose by 26 
percent over 2004. During the year this trend continued. Through 
September, 9,984 cases had been reported, including cases of physical, 
mental, or sexual abuse or harm due to guardian neglect, marking a 
projected increase of 24 percent over 2005. Approximately 90 percent of 
abusers were parents, relatives, or caregivers. Hospitals, schools, 
social welfare organizations, or the police reported 60 percent of all 
cases, with 40 percent of reports coming from family members or the 
public. Fifty percent of all cases were reported through the child 
abuse hot line. The central government, local governments, and private 
organizations continued efforts to identify and assist high-risk 
children and families, and to increase public awareness of child abuse 
and domestic violence.
    In July the central and local governments began a $100 (NT$3,000) 
per month per child subsidy program to reduce financial stress on 
lower-income families deemed to be at high risk for child abuse. The 
central government paid 70 percent of the $6.4 million (NT$198 million) 
program, with local governments contributing the rest. The program was 
expected to help as many as 15,000 underprivileged children. The 
Government also allocated $1 million (NT$31.5 million) to hire an 
additional 140 social workers to serve as child welfare case managers. 
MOI tripled funding for social welfare groups to $3 million (NT$135 
million) to support their efforts to identify and assist high-risk 
children and families, and to increase public awareness of child abuse 
and domestic violence.
    By law, persons discovering cases of child abuse or neglect must 
notify the police, social welfare, or child welfare authorities. Child 
welfare specialists must make such notification to county or city 
governments within 24 hours, and authorities must respond with 
appropriate measures within 24 hours. County or city officials are 
required to submit a request for investigation to a supervisory agency 
within four days. Both the MOI children's bureau and NGO specialists 
monitored cases to ensure that these requirements were met. A hot line 
accepted complaints of child abuse and offered counseling. Courts were 
authorized to appoint guardians for children who lost their parents or 
whose parents were deemed unfit.
    The MOI provided guidance to local governments for day-care 
facilities and for children's halfway houses and education centers. 
Financial subsidies were provided to low-income families with children 
in day-care facilities and to local governments to promote child 
protection efforts.
    The law prohibited advertisements in the media tied to the sex 
trade. Persons could be indicted and convicted for patronizing underage 
prostitutes in foreign countries; adding to penalties imposed on 
citizens arrested abroad for having sex with minors. These laws were 
enforced in practice.
    Solicitors of child prostitutes under the age of 14 faced sentences 
of three to 10 years in prison. Those who patronized prostitutes 
between the ages of 14 to 16 were sentenced to three to seven years. 
Solicitors of child prostitutes older than 16 but younger than 18 faced 
up to one year in prison or hard labor, or a fine up to $100,000 (NT$3 
million).
    During the year 997 persons were indicted and 887 persons were 
convicted of violating the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction 
Prevention Act, which criminalized possession and distribution of child 
pornography and child prostitution. This was a 16 percent increase in 
indictments but a 5 percent decrease in convictions from 2005. The law 
also required the publication of the names of violators in newspapers.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There was no comprehensive trafficking 
law, although most forms of trafficking were criminalized through a 
number of statutes. The law did not address prevention of trafficking 
or victim protection, which authorities nonetheless provided on an ad 
hoc basis. The MOJ and the MOI were responsible for combating 
trafficking.
    Trafficking in persons remained a serious problem. The country 
continued to be a destination for women and girls, mainly from the PRC. 
These individuals were trafficked for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation and forced labor. There were numerous reports of women 
from Southeast Asian countries, primarily from Vietnam, Cambodia, and 
Thailand, being forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade after 
receiving fraudulent offers of employment. There also were reports of 
Taiwanese women being trafficked for sexual exploitation purposes to 
Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other 
countries.
    During the year 261 persons were indicted for trafficking related 
offenses, this represented a 25 percent increase over 2005. Of those 
indicted, 92 persons were convicted, a 16 percent decrease from 2005. 
Of those convicted, 74 persons were found guilty of exploiting children 
for prostitution. Of those defendants, 29 were sentenced to five to 
seven years in prison, 16 were sentenced for three to five years, and 
20 received sentences of one to three years. Another 12 defendants were 
convicted of forced prostitution. Two of them were sentenced to 10 to 
15 years; three were sentenced to seven to 10 years; one was sentenced 
to five to seven years; and four were sentenced to three to five years. 
Five defendants were convicted of forced prostitution of a minor: two 
were sentenced to 10 to 15 years; two received seven to 10 years; and 
one was sentenced to one to two years. One defendant was convicted of 
human trafficking and received a prison sentence of seven to 10 years.
    NGOs reported that traffickers continued to use fraudulent 
marriages as a method for human trafficking, in part because penalties 
for ``husbands'' were lenient. Foreign spouses, mainly from the PRC, 
but also from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, were lured 
to the country by marriage brokers, only to be forced into prostitution 
or exploitative labor. To counteract this trend the country reinstated 
a face-to-face interview requirement in January 2005 for Vietnamese 
women seeking to marry Taiwanese men. Mainland Chinese spouses were 
also required to undergo face-to-face interviews.
    On June 6, MOI banned the formation of new cross-border matchmaking 
companies and announced that existing firms would be subject to 
stricter regulations and monitoring.
    In July the Kaohsiung prosecutor's office indicted eight 
individuals suspected of trafficking Vietnamese women for prostitution. 
Prosecutors requested sentences ranging from 20 years to life. 
Prosecutors also investigated allegations that local hospitals had 
colluded with traffickers to conduct illegal abortions on Vietnamese 
spouses.
    In October a senior immigration official and 10 others were 
arrested for helping smuggle at least 80 Chinese women into the country 
for prostitution over a six month period.
    NGOs and the media continued to report many incidents of physical 
and mental abuse. NGOs and academics asserted that more government 
regulation was needed to reduce deceptive marriage brokering and 
marriages of convenience for illegal purposes.
    NPA officials stated that increasing law enforcement pressure on 
smuggling rings had forced traffickers to rely on other methods, 
including sham marriages. Ninety percent of those smuggled, both men 
and women, were from Fujian Province. Authorities continued to fund NGO 
anti trafficking prevention programs targeting minors and Southeast 
Asian women married to Taiwanese men. Taiwan also funded anti 
trafficking publicity campaigns in source countries.
    According to a report released in February by the Coast Guard 
Administration (CGA), the total number of illegal immigrants from the 
PRC, especially women, continued to drop. Through September 319 illegal 
Chinese immigrants were arrested, 28 of whom were women. In 2005 the 
CGA intercepted 1,069 Chinese nationals smuggled into the country; 182 
of whom were women.
    Labor trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs reported that 
foreign laborers often contracted for one type of employment, but were 
diverted to another (see section 6.e.).
    Authorities took several steps to combat trafficking and to 
repatriate illegal immigrants; including increased efforts to detect 
and disrupt criminal syndicates that smuggled migrants and trafficking 
victims. Officials also exchanged information with foreign law 
enforcement and immigration counterparts, especially those in 
Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities and sets minimum fines for 
violations. Through September there were 969,000 persons identified as 
having mental or physical disabilities.
    The law stipulates that the Government must provide services and 
programs to the disabled population. Free universal medical care was 
provided to persons with disabilities. NGOs continued to note that more 
public nursing homes were needed and current programs, such as home 
care services, needed to be expanded to meet the growing needs of the 
disabled population, including the growing numbers of elderly persons.
    The law requires all private enterprises with more than 100 
employees to hire at least one disabled person per 100 workers. For all 
government offices, public schools, and public enterprises with 50 or 
more employees, disabled employees must comprise at least 2 percent of 
their total workforce. For each unmet quota position, both public and 
private organizations are required to pay into the Disabled Welfare 
Fund (DWF) an amount equal to one basic monthly salary or approximately 
$500 (NT$15,840). As of September persons with disabilities constituted 
approximately 2 percent of the public sector workforce.
    The law provides monetary assistance for up to five years, and 
additional support through other programs, for those with occupational 
injuries. NGOs maintained that the Government needed to extend the 
current five-year limit and liberalize the qualifications for 
assistance.
    By law, new public buildings, facilities, and transportation 
equipment must be accessible to persons with disabilities, and this 
requirement was generally met. Violations resulted in fines of $1,800 
to $9,100 (NT$60,000 to $300,000). The MOI guided local government 
efforts to budget for, develop, and implement refitting guidelines. 
Handicap-accessible public transportation, although limited to larger 
cities, increased to 224 special vehicles, including 32 low-chassis 
buses. Additional handicap-priority seating was installed in 233 buses. 
Five hundred buses were equipped with new handrails and 460 were 
equipped with anti skid flooring. NGOs stated that more vehicles were 
needed to accommodate demand.

    Indigenous People.--The only non-Chinese minority group consisted 
of the aboriginal descendants of Malayo-Polynesians, who were well 
established on the island when the first Chinese settlers arrived. 
According to MOI statistics, Aborigines accounted for approximately 2 
percent of the population. More than 70 percent of the Aborigines were 
Christian, while the dominant Han Chinese were largely Buddhist or 
Taoist. The civil and political rights of Aborigines were protected 
under law (see section 3). The LY amended the constitution in 1992 and 
again in 1997 to upgrade the status of aboriginal people, protect their 
right of political participation, and ensure their cultural, 
educational, and business development. In addition, the authorities 
also instituted social programs to help Aborigines assimilate into the 
dominant Chinese society.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to gay rights 
activists, anti-homosexual violence was rare, but societal 
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV and AIDS was a 
problem. It was reported that some politicians and religious groups 
made derogatory remarks about the homosexual community. Free speech 
advocates alleged the Government prejudicially applied obscenity laws 
to punish a seller of legally imported gay pornography (see section 
2.a.).
    There were no laws prohibiting homosexual activities. While the 
authorities were committed to protecting homosexual rights, 
discrimination against some groups continued.
    The 2004 Gender Equality Education Law stipulated that except for 
traditionally male- or female-only schools, educational institutions 
cannot discriminate against prospective employees or students based on 
gender or sexual preference. All schools were obligated to establish 
curricula to foster greater tolerance of non-traditional gender roles. 
Homosexual rights activists welcomed the law but criticized government 
enforcement as inadequate.
    On September 17, some 5,000 persons took part in the fourth annual 
gay rights rally; calling for society to respect the civil rights of 
the country's estimated one million homosexuals.
    The national health insurance system provides free screening and 
treatment, including antiretroviral therapy, for the estimated 12,000 
HIV-infected nationals.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The right to unionize is protected by 
law but is highly regulated. At present, approximately 28 percent of 
the 10.4 million labor force belongs to one of the 4,352 registered 
labor unions. Many of them are also members of one of the eight 
country-wide labor federations.
    Workers other than teachers, civil servants, and defense industry 
workers, are protected by the Labor Union Law (LUL). Under the LUL, 
employers may not refuse employment to, dismiss, or otherwise unfairly 
treat workers because of their union-related activities. The LUL 
requires that labor union leaders be elected regularly by secret 
ballot, and in recent years workers tended to reject management-
endorsed union slates. However, in practice employers sometimes 
dismissed labor union leaders without reasonable cause or laid them off 
first during employee cutbacks. According to the Taiwan Federation of 
Trade Unions (TFTC) and the Taiwan Labor Front, the law has no specific 
penalties for violations.
    Some public employees, including teachers, civil servants, and 
defense industry workers have only limited rights to form unions. These 
restrictions have led to a long running dispute between government 
authorities and groups that represent teachers and civil servants. 
Teachers and civil servants are allowed to form professional 
associations to negotiate with authorities but are not allowed to 
strike. A teachers' union has been established since 2003 but has not 
been recognized by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Domestic workers 
have no right to organize.
    A number of laws and regulations limit the right of association. 
While labor unions may draw up their own rules and constitutions, they 
must submit those rules and constitutions to their county and city 
governments as well as the CLA for review. Labor unions may be rejected 
or dissolved if they do not meet certification requirements or if their 
activities disturb public order. During the year for example, employees 
from two different financial companies attempted to form a union under 
the name of their parent holding company. The CLA rejected the bid, 
citing a law which forbids employees from different companies from 
forming a single union.
    In 1971 the PRC replaced Taiwan in the International Labor 
Organization (ILO). However, Taiwan's Chinese Federation of Labor 
attends the ILO annual meetings as an affiliate of the International 
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Except for some 
public employees, the law gives workers the right to organize, bargain, 
and act collectively. As of March there were 233 collective agreements 
in force; however, they covered only a small proportion of the labor 
force, and 78 percent of industrial labor unions had no collective 
agreements.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. However, the law imposes restrictions that in 
practice make it difficult to strike legally, which undermines the 
usefulness of collective bargaining. For example, the law requires 
mediation of labor/management disputes when authorities deem disputes 
to be sufficiently serious or to involve ``unfair practices.'' The law 
forbids both labor and management from disrupting the ``working order'' 
when either mediation or arbitration is in progress. Moreover, labor 
unions are only allowed to strike over issues of compensation and 
working schedules. The law mandates stiff penalties for violations of 
no-strike and no-retaliation clauses. Employers in the past sometimes 
ignored the law and dismissed or locked out workers without any legal 
action being taken against them, although no such cases were reported 
during the year.
    Recent efforts to privatize state-run enterprises resulted in 
rising tensions between labor unions and the authorities. In the last 
few years, strikes and protests by labor unions at Business Bank of 
Taiwan, Changhwa Commercial Bank, Taiwan Power Company, and Chunghwa 
Telecom have delayed privatization efforts. From January to November, 
75,351 persons had been involved in labor disputes, compared with 
77,260 during the same period of 2005.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including forced and compulsory labor by 
children. However, the authorities prosecuted several cases of forced 
child prostitution and there was evidence of labor trafficking (see 
section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Labor Standards Law (LSL) stipulates age 15, the age at which 
compulsory education ends, as the minimum age for employment. County 
and city labor bureaus effectively enforced minimum-age laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The LSL addresses rights and 
obligations of employees and employers. The law also provides standards 
for working conditions and health and safety precautions. By year's end 
the LSL covered an estimated 6 million of Taiwan's 7.6 million salaried 
workers. Those not covered included nursery workers, gardeners, 
bodyguards, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and domestic 
workers.
    The minimum monthly wage is $500 (NT$15,840). While sufficient in 
less expensive areas, this wage did not assure a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family in urban areas such as Taipei. The 
average manufacturing wage was more than double the legal minimum wage, 
and the average wage for service industry employees was even higher. 
Legal working hours were 336 hours per eight-week period (for an 
average of 42 hours per work week). While a five-day work week was 
mandated for the public sector, according to a CLA survey, 55 percent 
of private sector enterprises also reduced the normal workweek to 5 
days.
    The law provided standards for working conditions and health and 
safety precautions and gave workers the right to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. 
Although the CLA conducted publicity campaigns during the year to 
increase public awareness of the law and operated telephone hot lines 
to accept complaints of LSL violations, there was widespread criticism 
that the CLA did not effectively enforce workplace laws and 
regulations. During the first 10 months of the year 128,992 inspections 
were completed. This was a 45 percent increase over the same period in 
2005. This increase was due in part to the expansion of the CLA 
inspector corps by 150. Over 440 inspectors were responsible for 
supervising approximately 300,000 enterprises covered by the 
Occupational Safety and Health Law.
    The CLA did not provide the same protection to foreign workers that 
it did to citizens. The LSL did not cover the more than 148,000 foreign 
workers employed as nursing caregivers or the 2,000 employed as 
housekeepers. According to an ITUC report released in June, 333,000 
legal migrant workers suffered wage discrimination. These workers were 
not allowed to take leadership positions in unions, making them 
vulnerable to exploitation. In addition, migrant workers were often 
depicted by local media as dangerous or criminal.
    No domestic workers were entitled to the minimum wage. Although the 
minimum wage was not a legal obligation, most domestic workers were 
hired through brokers who negotiated the minimum wage to ensure that 
the worker earned enough to cover the brokers' fees. Of the $500 
(NT$15,840) a month typically paid to domestic caretakers, after 
deductions by brokers, most domestic caretakers reportedly received 
only $100 (NT$3,000) to $200 (NT$6,000) per month in the first two 
years of working in Taiwan. Domestic workers could change jobs only 
under rare circumstances and were often not fully informed of available 
recourse in the event of abuse.
    On January 16, CLA launched the Foreign Workers Service Center at 
the international airport. The service center provided orientation 
services to arriving workers and dispute resolution services to those 
departing the country. Service center telephones were located 
throughout the airport to facilitate the filing of complaints. As of 
June the center's multilingual staff had responded to 65,538 service 
requests, including 124 petitions filed by workers facing deportation. 
Five workers were exempted from deportation and transferred to shelters 
to help authorities investigate abuse allegations.
    On March 13 and 14, approximately 2,000 Thai factory workers in 
Kaohsiung city held a strike to seek equal treatment. CLA, with the 
help of the Yunlin county government and Thailand trade and economic 
office, quickly negotiated a settlement that addressed most of the 
workers' demands. A similar strike took placed a few weeks earlier in 
another factory in Kaohsiung.
    On March 31, 630 Thai construction workers employed by the 
Kaohsiung Railway Transit Corporation (KRTC) stopped work for one day 
to protest unpaid overtime work, increased medical expenses, 
substandard living conditions, and inadequate meals. KRTC management 
met with labor representatives and agreed to treat the strike as a 
holiday. Workers resumed work the next day.
    On November 1, a package of new foreign labor regulations went into 
effect. Employers of foreign workers were required to agree to a 
``living management plan,'' specifying an employee's work hours, 
overtime provisions, living quarters, meal program, and free time. CLA 
inspectors were required to inspect a foreign worker's living and work 
environment within 72 hours of the worker's arrival in the country. For 
companies employing over 100 foreign workers, work and living facility 
inspections were required every three months. To prevent employers from 
deporting foreign workers without just cause, CLA required all contract 
terminations to be witnessed and approved by an appropriate city or 
county government official.
    On November 8, the LY passed legislation establishing the National 
Immigration Agency (NIA). During the year the new agency consolidated 
elements of the National Police Agency, Council for Labor Affairs, MOI, 
and other agencies. NIA's director assumed responsibility for all 
immigration-related policies and procedures for foreign workers, 
foreign spouses, immigrant services, and repatriation of illegal 
immigrants.
    Labor trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs reported that 
foreign laborers often contract for one type of employment, but were 
diverted to another. Both brokers and employers profited from this 
bait-and-switch tactic. Brokers charged much more for high-wage factory 
jobs than for low-wage domestic worker positions. NGOs reported that 
many foreign workers who paid to secure a high-wage factory job were 
offered low-wage domestic work once in the country. In addition, many 
foreign workers who contracted to do domestic work were instead forced 
to work in factories, then paid the lower domestic worker wage.
    In addition to labor trafficking risks, NGOs urged authorities to 
address other issues facing foreign workers: an abusive broker system, 
the lack of rights and legal protections, and the risk of retaliatory 
deportation. Brokers regularly charged high fees.
    On August 3, CLA announced plans to intensify inspection and 
oversight of brokerage companies. Brokerage companies were rated based 
on legal compliance. Company ratings were published to encourage good 
management practices. Lower-rated companies were targeted for more 
frequent inspection, and were subject to closure.
    The country imposed strict quotas on the number of foreign workers 
admitted each year. According to several NGOs, the lack of legal 
protection coupled with fear of retaliatory deportation prevented 
workers from protesting substandard or even dangerous working 
conditions. These fears were compounded for those foreign workers 
unable to speak Chinese.
    According to CLA, an employer convicted of illegally changing the 
place or nature of a foreign worker's employment was subject to a fine 
ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 (NT$30,000 to $150,000). Anyone convicted 
of illegally hiring foreign workers or transferring a foreign worker to 
another employer was fined $5,000 to $25,000 (NT$150,000 to $750,000).
    On April 20, CLA adopted a mandatory maximum fine policy to 
strengthen deterrence. However, county labor officials continued to 
assess fines at less than the available maximums. According to CLA, 
existing laws required labor authorities to annul an employer's permit 
to recruit or employ foreign workers if the employer failed to cure a 
violation within a specified time or if the employer committed a second 
violation.
    During the year 308 employers were fined for hiring illegal foreign 
workers, 1,584 were fined for hiring foreign workers without a 
government permit, 110 employers were fined for unlawfully transferring 
employment of a foreign worker to another employer, and 618 employers 
were cited for unlawfully changing a foreign worker's job or place of 
employment. Of the 110 employers fined for unlawfully transferring 
employment of a foreign worker to another employer, only 25 were 
assessed the maximum $25,000 (NT$750,000) fine. Employers cited for 
other types of foreign labor violations were often assessed only the 
minimum fine.
    Foreign worker rights groups urged the Government to extend the 
work permits of foreign workers forced to seek shelter from employer 
abuse or sexual assault. Foreign workers were allowed to work in the 
country for three years. Under the law, once a worker files a complaint 
against the employer, the worker can not resume work until the abuse 
case is closed, which can take more than a year; this waiting period is 
included in the three-year work period. Many foreign workers, still 
burdened with broker fees and other debts, chose to work illegally, 
rather than face such a long period without income. Foreign workers who 
worked illegally faced heavy fines, mandatory repatriation, and were 
permanently barred from re-entering the country, regardless of the 
circumstances.
    There were 24 CLA-funded labor consultation service centers located 
throughout the country. These centers provided counseling, legal aid, 
and labor dispute resolution services. They also operated toll-free 
multilingual hot lines. Through December the service centers responded 
to 71,613 inquiries, of which 7,497 were related to labor disputes.
    Thirteen overnight-stay shelters were available to foreign workers 
in need. Twelve shelters were operated by NGOs, two of which were 
wholly supported by funding from the Taipei and Kaohsiung city 
governments. One shelter was operated by the Indonesian foreign 
representative office.

                               __________

                               EAST TIMOR

    East Timor is a parliamentary republic with a population of 
approximately 925,000. Its first parliament was formed from the 88-
member constituent assembly chosen in free and fair, UN-supervised 
elections in 2001. The 41-member cabinet was dominated by the Fretilin 
Party, which won the majority of assembly seats. Xanana Gusmao, elected 
in free and fair elections in 2002, was President and head of state. 
During much of the year, the civilian authorities did not have 
effective control of the security forces. There were a series of deadly 
clashes between the national defense force (F-FDTL) and a variety of 
dissident military, police, and civilian forces. Mob and gang violence 
in the capital was widespread and tens of thousands of Dili residents 
were displaced. On May 26, at the request of the Government, Australian 
forces subsequently joined by forces from New Zealand, Malaysia, and 
Portugal, began arriving and assumed responsibility for security in the 
capital. President Gusmao assumed security powers, and on June 27, 
Fretilin's secretary general, Mari Alkatiri, resigned as prime minister 
and was replaced two weeks later by Jose Ramos-Horta. On August 25, the 
UN Integrated Mission for East Timor (UNMIT) took over policing 
responsibilities, but international military forces remained under a 
joint Australian-led command.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were serious problems. The most severe human 
rights violations took place in April and May when over 30 unlawful 
killings committed by security forces, rebel groups, mobs, or gangs 
occurred. Excessive use of force and abuse of authority by police was a 
problem. Problems with the justice sector often deprived citizens of 
due process and an expeditious and fair trial. Internal conflict 
resulted in the displacement of approximately 150,000 people, primarily 
residents of the capital. Domestic violence, rape, and sexual abuse 
were problems. Societal divisions based on regional origin (eastern 
versus western) emerged as a major problem during the year, resulting 
in widespread discrimination, segregation, and violence, particularly 
in the capital.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year 
security forces and other actors committed more than 30 killings. Many 
of these killings were politically motivated and took place in April 
and May.
    On January 6, officers of the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) encountered 
three men illegally on the Timorese side of the border who were alleged 
members of 1999-era anti-independence militias who had been living in 
Indonesia. In the ensuing clash, the three men were shot and killed, 
and there were allegations that the BPU used excessive force. The 
Indonesian government protested the killings and called for a joint 
investigation, to which the East Timor government agreed. By year's end 
there were no known developments.
    On April 28, rioting broke out during a demonstration by a large 
number of former F-FDTL personnel who had been involuntarily discharged 
and their civilian supporters. The rioting prompted a police and 
military response and resulted in six confirmed deaths during April 28 
and 29. Two civilians were shot and killed in the vicinity of the 
Government Palace where the riots began; no perpetrators were 
identified. As the riots moved through the city, an additional civilian 
was shot to death; the UN Special Commission of Inquiry (COI), which 
investigated the events of April 28 and 29 and May 23 through 25, 
established that at least one Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) officer 
fired shots into the crowd most likely causing the death. Later on the 
28th another civilian was shot and killed by a member of the F-FDTL. 
The COI found that this action may have been legitimate self-defense, 
but advised further investigation. Between the night of April 28 and 
the morning of April 29, following the formal intervention of the F-
FDTL in response to the rioting, two civilians were killed in the 
Tasitolu area while it was under military control. No individuals were 
identified as responsible. There were allegations that the F-FDTL 
massacred approximately 60 civilians in Tasitolu; however, the COI 
noted that while ``other deaths may have occurred'' in addition to the 
two confirmed, extensive efforts found no evidence of a massacre. The 
employment of the F-FDTL for riot control duties was alleged to have 
been illegal and emerged as a major point of contention in the 
aftermath of the riots.
    On May 23, a clash between an F-FDTL unit and the dissident 
commander of the F-FDTL Military Police, Major Alfredo Reinado, and his 
group, resulted in five deaths, including a civilian. A police officer 
and an F-FDTL officer were killed, each in separate incidents while 
traveling through the conflict area. In addition, two members of Major 
Reinado's group were killed. According to the COI Reinado and his group 
are ``reasonably suspected of having committed crimes against life and 
the person.'' In late July Reinado and a number of his men were 
arrested for arms offenses in Dili and held pending investigation into 
murder charges. However, on August 30, the group escaped from prison, 
citing among other things the expiration of their 30-day detention 
period without renewal as justification for their escape. No 
significant efforts to recapture them ensued, and at year's end the F-
FDTL commander and the Government were pursuing dialogue with Reinado.
    On May 24 and 25, armed confrontation involving the F-FDTL and 
groups of armed persons, including police officers, civilians, and 
members of the group of dismissed soldiers known as the 
``petitioners,'' resulted in as many as nine deaths. Precise 
information on the identity and numbers of the dead was not available, 
but some civilians not involved in the confrontation were killed.
    Also on May 24, police and other actors attacked the house of the 
F-FDTL commander, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, resulting in the 
death of a police officer.
    On May 25, F-FDTL soldiers opened fire on a group of unarmed police 
officers who were departing their headquarters under UN escort in 
accordance with a ceasefire agreement negotiated by UN police and 
military officials with the F-FDTL commander. Eight police officers 
were confirmed to have died as a result of the attack, and 27 were 
seriously injured. According to the COI's findings, at least six F-FDTL 
officers were involved in the shooting. At year's end the prosecutor 
reportedly was investigating this case.
    On May 8, in Ermera District members of a mob stabbed and killed a 
UIR officer. The officer was part of an escort for the regional 
secretary of state. The mob had surrounded and threatened the party; 
the officers negotiated with the mob, disarmed and removed their flak 
jackets and began to depart, but members of the mob pulled two officers 
out of their vehicle and stabbed them. At year's end the prosecutor 
general had identified 12 suspects in this attack, but further 
investigations remained pending.
    On May 25, six persons were killed when the house they were in was 
attacked and set on fire by a crowd. The victims were all members of 
the same family, reportedly relatives by marriage of the then-minister 
of interior, and included four children. The COI was unable to identify 
any specific suspects but listed 27 persons warranting further 
investigation. At year's end no further progress was known to have been 
made on this case.
    On May 25, a man was killed in Dili while driving through a road 
block set up by a former independence fighter and his men who were 
armed by the F-FDTL the previous day. While manning the roadblock, the 
group fired on two vehicles, causing the death as well as two gunshot 
injuries. In July the leader of the group surrendered, and at year's 
end he remained in pretrial detention.
    Mob and gang violence emerged as a significant problem in late May 
and early June and continued to plague Dili through the end of the 
year; the violence caused a number of deaths. In several cases victims 
were targeted based on eastern or western geographical origin, although 
the cause of the violence could not be easily explained. Later in the 
year, conflicts between martial arts groups and other membership 
organizations became more prevalent amid allegations of political 
motives in some of these clashes.
    In the case of a police (PNTL-National Police of East Timor) 
officer who died in February 2005 apparently as a result of an assault 
by other PNTL officers in December 2004, three of the suspects were 
sentenced to 1+ months for minor assault charges as the court concluded 
that there was insufficient evidence to link the assault with the 
subsequent death.
    There were no new developments in the case of the Colimau 2000 
member killed in Bobonaro district in January 2005.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected the prohibition against torture; however, there 
were incidents of cruel or degrading treatment by police officers, of 
abuses against civilians during domestic conflict; and of abuses by 
vigilante and other societal groups.
    Although the PNTL ceased functioning in Dili by the end of May (see 
section 1.d.), police in other districts continued to operate through 
the year. The majority of human rights abuse complaints submitted to 
the provedor (ombudsman) involved the police and the most common 
complaint was of use of violence or excessive force. In addition, human 
rights monitoring organizations noted some cases of excessive force 
employed by international forces and police. Several such cases were 
referred to the provedor.
    Delay or refusal by police to investigate allegations of rape or 
domestic violence was a common problem (see section 5).
    Rioting and mob action, and the response of the police and later 
the armed forces on April 28 and 29, resulted in several civilian 
deaths, a number of civilian injuries, and cases of arbitrary arrest 
(see sections 1.a. and 1.d.). During rioting on April 28, in the 
vicinity of the Government Palace, four persons suffered firearms 
injuries, including three civilians and a police officer, a civilian 
and a police officer suffered other serious injuries. Shortly 
thereafter on April 28, demonstrators escorted by police encountered a 
hostile crowd in the Comoro market area of Dili. In the resulting 
incident, a number of shots were fired both by members of the police 
(UIR) and from the crowd. Eight civilians suffered firearms injuries 
and two suffered other serious injuries. Two police also suffered 
serious injuries. Later the same day, during a confrontation between a 
violent mob and members of the F-FDTL, a soldier suffered a minor 
grenade injury and two civilians suffered firearms injuries. During 
continued F-FDTL operations in the Tasitolu area of Dili during the 
afternoon of April 28 through the morning of April 29, four civilians 
were wounded.
    During armed confrontation in Dili between members of the F-FDTL 
and the police on May 25, two civilians suffered gunshot injuries at 
the hands of a former independence fighter and his followers who had 
been armed by the F-FDTL and ordered to set up a road block in Dili to 
apprehend members of the police. First, a priest driving through the 
checkpoint was shot and injured, then shortly thereafter, the persons 
manning the roadblock fired on another vehicle, killing a civilian (see 
section 1.a.) and injuring another.
    Widespread mob and gang violence was a significant problem in Dili 
in April through June and continued to be an issue through the 
remainder of the year. There were a number of incidents involving 
members of the national police. For example, on September 1, at least 
one member of the police was involved in a shooting incident at an 
internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Dili resulting in several 
injuries. He was arrested the same day and was in pretrial detention at 
the end of the year. Allegations of police involvement in mob violence 
were being investigated by UN police in coordination with the Ministry 
of Interior as part of a vetting process required before police could 
return to duty. This vetting was ongoing at year's end. There were also 
numerous allegations that members of the F-FDTL, the Government, and 
the opposition were involved in instigating mob and gang violence.
    Tensions between easterners and westerners were frequently an 
element in these incidents, with attacks on easterners by westerners 
being the most frequent, but the reverse also taking place regularly 
(see section 5).
    During the rioting of April 28, approximately 100 homes, primarily 
belonging to persons from the eastern districts, were targeted and 
burned. An estimated 2,000 additional houses were burned or otherwise 
destroyed in mob or gang attacks in June and July, and arson attacks 
continued to be a problem through year's end. Other abuses included 
illegal checkpoints set up to target persons based on geographic origin 
or membership in specific groups; intimidation of IDP camp residents by 
groups operating both in and outside of the camps; and attacks and 
intimidation of communities or individuals.
    During the year there were accusations of abuses by international 
peacekeeping forces. Most of these accusations appeared to be part of a 
politically inspired effort to discredit the international forces.
    There were no known judicial or administrative actions in the cases 
of the January 2005 border police beating of an Indonesian citizen for 
illegally crossing the border; the March 2005 police beating of two men 
and one woman arrested without warrant in Cailaco; the June 2005 police 
beating and threatening of a man accused of assaulting the wife of a 
PNTL officer; or the allegations of police abuse during a July 2005 
operation against the Comite Popular de Defesa-Republica Democratica.
    A 2004 case in which four PNTL officers severely beat a detainee in 
Baucau went to trial. Two of the accused received light sentences; the 
other two were acquitted.
    Lawyers for the alleged victims attempted to pursue the November 
2005 case in which the minister of interior (who resigned in May) and 
three of his bodyguards beat the passengers of a truck involved in a 
traffic incident. However, following the late May looting of government 
offices, including that of the prosecutor general, it was discovered 
that the case file was missing. The lawyers reconstituted the file and 
at year's end were continuing to pursue the case.
    There were no developments in the July 2005 case of an F-FDTL 
captain and members of the military police detaining and beating a man 
involved in an alleged assault on the captain.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--There were three 
government-run prisons, located in Dili, Baucau, and Gleno. During the 
year international forces set up additional detention facilities in 
Dili. Prison conditions generally met international standards; however, 
government-run prison facilities were not well maintained. The provedor 
noted that in Dili's Becora prison, inmates' movement was extremely 
restricted movement due to lack of sufficient prison guards.
    Two full-time social workers dealt with juveniles, women, elderly, 
and mentally ill inmates. All prisons operated at or very near capacity 
throughout the year.
    The Government and international forces permitted prison visits by 
the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent human 
rights observers. The provedor was able to conduct almost daily 
detainee monitoring in Dili and observed that ``international forces 
are cooperating extremely well--allowing confidential access to 
detainees and providing regular information.''

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, there were instances in which these 
provisions were violated. A number of persons were arrested and 
detained but ultimately not charged with crimes. In many cases this was 
explained by misunderstandings because an investigation exculpated the 
suspect, or because no judge was available to conduct the required 
detention review. However, the circumstances of other cases suggested 
that law enforcement officers may have held detainees as punishment.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
consisted of approximately 3,300 members, including specialized units. 
After deadly clashes involving PNTL, F-FDTL, and dissident forces in 
late May, the approximately 1,200 Dili-based police, including regular 
police and specialized units, ceased to function in any law enforcement 
capacity and most police posts were abandoned. The Government requested 
international intervention, and international military and police 
forces began arriving on May 26 to assume responsibility for security 
in Dili. Under an August 25 UN resolution, responsibility for security 
in Dili was transferred to UN police, but international military forces 
operating separately from the UN also assisted in maintaining security.
    UN police undertook a vetting process to reintegrate Dili-based 
police into police operations. At year's end over 1,000 police had 
registered for the process and vetting was ongoing. More than 200 
police had been vetted and undergone reintegration training and were 
working alongside UN police as trainees. A number of police did not 
pass the vetting process and were on suspension pending further 
investigation. At year's end there was some confusion regarding the 
vetting process as the Ministry of Interior had begun a separate 
parallel vetting process. Efforts were underway to coordinate the two 
processes.
    Each of the country's 13 districts has a district commander who 
normally reports to the national police commissioner; at year's end, 
however, district commanders were reporting to UN police headquartered 
in Dili. The PNTL remained poorly equipped and under-trained, and it 
was subject to numerous credible allegations of abuse of authority (see 
section 1.c.), mishandling of firearms, and corruption. The COI report 
noted that divisions within the PNTL were exacerbated by the former 
minister of interior's undermining of the chain of command by giving 
operational orders for personal or politically partisan reasons.
    Prior to the April-May crisis, a professional ethics office within 
the police was responsible for tracking and investigating allegations 
of police misconduct, however, its effectiveness was hampered by lack 
of resources and political interference. The COI report noted that 
several officers suspected of criminal conduct during the crisis had 
previously been the subjects of disciplinary complaints, but no or 
light penalties had been imposed. In general, sanctions for police 
misconduct were rare.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicial warrants prior to 
arrests or searches, except in exceptional circumstances; however, this 
provision was often violated. A chronic and extreme shortage of 
prosecutors and judges outside of the capital, further exacerbated by 
the crisis, contributed to police inability to obtain required 
warrants.
    Lack of local knowledge and language ability by international 
police personnel led to cases in which police failed to inform 
detainees in a timely fashion of the reason for detention, to give 
detainees early access to legal assistance, or to inform detainees' 
family members of the detention.
    Government regulations require a hearing within 72 hours of arrest 
to review the lawfulness of the arrest and detention and also to 
provide the right to a trial without undue delay. During these hearings 
the judge may also determine whether the suspect should be released 
because evidence is lacking or the suspect is not considered a flight 
risk. Because of a shortage of magistrates, exacerbated during the year 
as many international judges departed before replacements arrived, some 
suspects were forced to wait longer than 72 hours for a hearing. 
However, according to human rights observers, police increasingly 
followed the practice of simply releasing suspects after 72 hours in 
the absence of a judge to review the detention. In areas that did not 
have a local magistrate or where authorities lacked means to transport 
suspects to a hearing, this situation was particularly acute and 
contributed to an atmosphere of lawlessness and impunity.
    The law provides for access to legal representation at all stages 
of the proceedings, and provisions exist for providing public defenders 
to indigent defendants. However, there was an extreme shortage of 
qualified public defenders, and many indigent defendants relied on 
lawyers provided by legal aid organizations. A number of defendants 
assigned public defenders reported that they had never seen their 
lawyer, and there were concerns that some low priority cases were being 
delayed indefinitely while suspects remained in pretrial detention.
    During their intervention in response to the rioting on April 28, 
the F-FDTL arrested approximately 30 persons. All were transferred to 
the police and most were released within 24 to 48 hours. The legal 
basis for the F-FDTL making these arrests was not clear. According to 
the COI report, ``the Government did not follow the procedures 
established by the Organic Law of the F-FDTL'' in employing the F-FDTL. 
Moreover, there was no clear communication, written or otherwise, 
regarding ``the degree of intervention by military authorities and 
powers conferred and the manner of cooperation between the F-FDTL and 
(the national police).'' The provedor also assessed these arrests as 
illegal.
    A 2003 ruling by the Court of Appeals stated that the pretrial 
detention limit of six months and the requirement that such detentions 
be reviewed every 30 days need not apply in cases involving certain 
serious crimes; however, the 30-day review deadline was missed in a 
large number of cases involving less serious crimes, and a majority of 
the prison population consisted of pretrial detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides that judges shall 
perform their duties ``independently and impartially'' without 
``improper influence'' and requires public prosecutors to discharge 
their duties impartially. These provisions generally were respected. 
However, the country's judicial system faced a wide array of challenges 
including concerns about the impartiality of some judicial organs, a 
severe shortage of qualified personnel, a complex and multi-sourced 
legal regime, and the fact that the majority of the population does not 
speak Portuguese, the language in which the laws are written and the 
courts operate. Even under normal circumstances, access to justice was 
notably constrained. During the year the national crisis resulted in a 
number of high profile and complex criminal cases as well as a marked 
increase in violent crime overall, further burdening the system. The 
COI report noted that, despite the events of April and May, the 
judicial system continued to function, albeit in a limited manner. 
Nevertheless, the report concluded that the country has ``a minimally 
functioning judicial system.''
    During the year political and other considerations at times 
influenced the proceedings of both the public prosecutor and the Court 
of Appeals. Two separate UN commissions concluded that the prosecutor 
general was insufficiently independent and viewed his constitutional 
accountability to the President as requiring that he ``follow the 
policy of the latter in relation to prosecutions.''
    There were also concerns during the year that the Court of Appeals 
was influenced by political considerations in its decisions.
    On August 11, the Court of Appeals upheld the Fretilin Party's 
decision to hold leadership elections through a public show of hands 
although the law on political parties appears to stipulate that such 
elections are to be by secret ballot. The court argued that the 10-day 
procedural deadline for filing a suit had not been met and that the 
political party law did not in fact stipulate that all leadership 
elections must be by secret ballot. There was a widespread perception 
that political considerations outweighed full examination of the 
applicable laws in this decision. The COI noted that it received 
reports of political influence in cases related to the April and May 
crisis and a ``lack of public confidence in the impartiality of the 
investigation and prosecution process.''
    The court system includes four district courts (Dili, Baucau, Suai, 
and Oecussi) and a national Court of Appeals in Dili. The Ministry of 
Justice is responsible for administration of the courts and prisons and 
also provides defense representation. The prosecutor general is 
responsible for initiating indictments and prosecutions. Until a 
supreme court is established, the Court of Appeals is the country's 
highest tribunal.
    Establishing justice sector institutions and recruiting and 
training qualified judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys proved 
difficult, and the judicial system was heavily dependent on 
international personnel. In January 2005 the President of the Court of 
Appeals announced that all 22 sitting judges failed qualifying exams 
and were therefore required to step down. Exceptions were made for 
judges on the Court of Appeals, the Special Panels for Serious Crimes, 
and the National Election Commission. In May 2005 it was announced that 
all of the prosecutors and public defenders who had taken their 
qualifying exams had failed. Although 11 national judges returned to 
work as probationary judges during the year, international judges 
continued to serve as the primary judges in all cases involving 
potential sentences of five or more years. The departure of 
international judges and prosecutors in early August, without 
replacements having arrived, resulted in additional disruption to the 
judicial system during a critical period. The public defender's office 
was staffed by seven national probationary defenders and three 
international public defenders. Private lawyers continued to represent 
the majority of defendants in the district courts.
    Personnel shortages and administrative issues disproportionately 
affected the operations of the Baucau, Oecussi, and Suai district 
courts, which operated at irregular intervals throughout the year. The 
trial process often was hindered by nonattendance of witnesses due to 
lack of proper notification or lack of transportation. The functioning 
of the Dili district court and the Court of Appeals was severely 
disrupted by the April and May events. Full trials did not resume in 
the Dili district court until mid-July. The Court of Appeals suffered 
similar disruption, including looting of computer, translation, and 
transportation equipment.
    The shortage of qualified prosecutors and technical staff in the 
office of the prosecutor general hampered the work of the office and 
resulted in a large case backlog. This was exacerbated by the late May 
looting of the office's files, forensic evidence, and computers. 
National probationary prosecutors returned to work during the year, but 
sensitive cases related to the crisis were handled by international 
prosecutors. There were six international prosecutors and 12 national 
prosecutors (nine probationary), including the prosecutor general. At 
year's end there was a nationwide case backlog of over 2,500. The 
amount of time for cases to come to trial varied significantly, with 
some delayed for years and others tried within months of accusations.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial; 
however, the severe shortages of qualified personnel throughout the 
system led to some trials that did not fulfill prescribed legal 
procedures. Trials are before judges. Except for sensitive cases, such 
as crimes involving sexual assault, they are public; however, this was 
inconsistently applied. Defendants have the right to be present at 
trials and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. Attorneys 
are provided to indigent defendants. Defendants can confront hostile 
witnesses and present witness and evidence. Defendants and their 
attorneys have access to government-held evidence. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal to higher courts.
    The legal regime is complex and inconsistently applied. Pending 
development of a complete set of national laws, Indonesian laws and the 
UN's transitional regulations remained in effect. The constitution 
stipulates that UN regulations supersede Indonesian laws; however, this 
was inconsistently applied. For example, in a 2004 decision the Court 
of Appeals declared that a UN executive order decriminalizing 
defamation did not effectively overrule an Indonesian law under which 
defamation is criminalized (see section 2.a.). There was concern that 
this decision could undermine the precedence of laws stipulated within 
the constitution. Also of concern was confusion regarding how to apply 
different sources of law, particularly in criminal cases where the 
Indonesian penal code remained in effect but procedure was governed by 
a national criminal procedure code.
    The Court of Appeals operated primarily in Portuguese. The UN 
regulations, many of which remained in force, were available in 
English, Portuguese, and Indonesian, as well as in Tetum, the language 
most widely spoken in the country. Laws enacted by parliament, intended 
to supplant Indonesian laws and UN regulations, were published in 
Portuguese with very few available in Tetum. Litigants, witnesses, and 
criminal defendants often were unable to read the new laws. Trials are 
required to be conducted solely in Portuguese and Tetum. However, the 
quality of translation provided in court varied widely, and 
translations to Tetum were often incomplete summaries rather than 
thorough translations.
    During the year concerns arose over the lack of witness protection 
arrangements. In many violent crimes, witnesses were unwilling to 
testify because of the high potential for retribution against 
themselves or their families. No national law provided for witness 
protection, and an Indonesian law on witness protection was not 
applied. Reports of witness intimidation and nonappearance of witnesses 
were widespread. Court personnel also reported increased concern 
regarding their safety. This contributed to a widespread public 
perception that crimes could be committed with impunity and that 
vigilantism or personal revenge were the only avenues available to 
address criminal accountability.
    The COI was mandated in response to a request from the Government 
to ``establish the facts and circumstances relevant to incidents that 
took place on April 28 and 29 and May 23, 24, and 25 and related events 
or issues that contributed to the crisis.'' Its October 17 report 
provided a detailed narrative of the events, including an assessment of 
individual and institutional responsibility.
    The COI report recommended the prosecution of over 60 individuals 
for criminal culpability in the April and May events, including police 
officers who allegedly took part in deadly incidents; the former 
minister of interior, Rogerio Lobato; six F-FDTL officers alleged to 
have been involved in the shooting of unarmed police; the top 
leadership of the F-FDTL; and the former minister of defense. In 
addition, it recommended the investigation of more than 60 others for 
possible involvement in these crimes. Also recommended for prosecution 
were several civilians alleged to have received illegal weapons 
transfers or to have been involved in deadly incidents in late May, as 
well as the dissident military police commander, alleged to have been 
responsible for initiating deadly clashes with the F-FDTL on May 23. 
Among the individuals recommended for further investigation was the 
former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, for possible complicity in 
illegal arms transfers.
    The COI recommended that criminal cases related to the April and 
May events be handled within the domestic judicial system, but with a 
significant role for international prosecutors and judges. It 
recommended that international actors working within the prosecutor 
general's office play the lead role. For those cases where a panel of 
judges was required (the criminal procedure code requires a panel of 
three judges for crimes involving a potential sentence of five or more 
years), the report recommended that the panels be composed of two 
international and one national judge.
    The trial of former minister of interior Rogerio Lobato and several 
codefendants was scheduled to commence on November 30. Due to the 
absence of one of the codefendants, the judges adjourned the trial 
until January 2007. No other trials related to the April and May events 
were scheduled by year's end. The status of investigations and the 
preparation of indictments were ongoing at year's end.
    The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) was responsible for investigations 
and indictments concerning crimes that occurred in 1999, including 
genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual offenses, 
and torture. Pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions, the SCU 
ceased its investigations in November 2004 and ceased virtually all 
other operations in August 2005. At the time of its closure, the SCU 
had filed 95 indictments against 391 persons. Of these, 290 remained at 
large in Indonesia with little chance of being returned to stand trial. 
In 2000 the transitional administration also established the Special 
Panels on Serious Crimes within the Dili district court to try those 
charged with the mass killings and other gross human rights violations 
committed in 1999. As of their adjournment in May 2005, the special 
panels had issued 84 convictions, three acquittals (one of which was 
later overturned by the Court of Appeals), and 13 indictment 
dismissals. In June an academic study of the serious crimes process 
criticized the UN for failing to ensure proper leadership and staffing 
throughout the process and noted ``a significant number of cases in 
which the rights of the accused appeared to have been compromised due 
to severely inadequate defense and appeals process and flawed 
jurisprudence.''
    Although the special panels were adjourned, they can be 
reconstituted whenever needed as long as they meet the requirement of 
consisting of two international and one local judge. Several serious 
crimes suspects arrested in 2005 remained in pretrial detention.
    The August 25 UN Security Council Resolution calls for ``the 
provision of a team of experienced investigative personnel, to resume 
investigative functions of the former Serious Crimes Unit, with a view 
to completing investigations into outstanding cases of serious human 
rights violations committed in the country in 1999.'' At year's end 
this had not yet been implemented. International observers familiar 
with the serious crimes process expressed concern that providing only 
investigations assistance without the inclusion of assistance to 
prosecute new cases would produce little progress on accountability for 
1999.
    The SCU worked closely with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 
of East Timor (CAVR). While the SCU is mandated to investigate and 
prosecute crimes against humanity committed in 1999, the CAVR 
investigated less egregious human rights violations that occurred 
between April 1974 and October 1999. CAVR also facilitated 
reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of these violations 
(see section 4). The President presented the CAVR final report to the 
UN Secretary General on January 20.
    The Ad Hoc Tribunal, based in Indonesia, failed to achieve 
accountability for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 
1999. In February 2005 the UN appointed a Commission of Experts (COE) 
to evaluate the Ad Hoc Tribunal and the SCU and recommend the next 
steps for achieving accountability. The COE concluded that the serious 
crimes process in East Timor had ``ensured a notable degree of 
accountability for those responsible for the crimes committed in 1999'' 
but the Ad Hoc Tribunal in Indonesia was ``manifestly inadequate.'' The 
COE report recommended continued UN support of the serious crimes 
process in East Timor so that investigation, indictment, and 
prosecution of perpetrators could continue (see section 4).
    In 2004 the Governments of Indonesia and East Timor agreed to form 
a bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission (TFC) to address human 
rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 (see section 4). The 
TFC was inaugurated in August 2005. The COE report criticized the TFC's 
terms of reference as contradicting international standards that 
prohibit impunity for crimes against humanity. Although the TFC 
continued to meet throughout the year, little evident progress was 
made. The TFC's mandate was extended to August 2007.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil judicial procedures 
were plagued by the same problems encountered by the judicial system as 
a whole, including huge backlogs of cases, a complex and inconsistently 
applied legal regime, and concerns about the impartiality of some 
judicial organs. Political influence has especially been brought to 
bear on civil cases involving business or property disputes. Court 
orders in some of these latter cases have not been enforced. Alleged 
human rights abuses have been presented to the provedor's office (see 
Section 4).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however, there were 
a few reports of arbitrary interference with privacy and home.
    There were cases of authorities entering homes without judicial 
authorization. For example, during an intensive effort by the 
international forces to recover illegal weapons, there were several 
reports that international military officers entered homes without 
securing warrants. Officers maintained that in some of these cases, 
warrants could not be obtained because the courts were not operating 
and in others they had to act expeditiously.
    A 2003 land law broadly defines what property belongs to the 
Government; and has been criticized as disregarding many private 
claims.
    A large number of Dili residents arrived as internal migrants since 
1999 and occupied empty houses or built houses on empty lots. The 
majority of properties in Dili are deemed state property, and the 
Government evicted persons from land identified as state property at 
times with little notice and with no due process. For example, in 
November several families were instructed to vacate the property on 
which they lived in order for the Government to build new housing.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice; however, there were instances in which government 
officials attempted to interfere with these rights.
    Individuals could generally criticize the Government without 
reprisal, and a UN executive order decriminalized defamation. However, 
in 2004 the Court of Appeals decided that the executive order did not 
overturn the Indonesian statutes that define libel and defamation as 
criminal offenses and the Indonesian criminal defamation statutes still 
applied (see section 1.e.). In January the then-prime minister pressed 
charges against the head of the main opposition party, accusing him of 
defamation for remarks linking the Prime Minister to corruption. Many 
journalists were reluctant to pursue investigations on sensitive topics 
for fear of reprisals. A journalist who published a rare expose on 
corruption in a government office received threatening phone calls 
following the story's publication (see section 3).
    In December 2005 the cabinet passed a penal code that included 
provisions criminalizing defamation and insults to a person's 
``honor.'' Following an intense national debate, the President sent the 
law back to the cabinet without promulgating it. The Alkatiri 
government fell before the bill could be reintroduced. At year's end 
officials asserted that the criminal defamation provisions of the 
Indonesian penal code still apply.
    There were three daily newspapers, three weeklies, and several 
newspapers that appeared sporadically. All frequently criticized the 
Government and other political entities editorially.
    Broadcast news, especially radio, was the most widely accessible 
news medium in the country, but its reach was limited. Few people 
outside of the capital regularly had access to any form of news. The 
Public Broadcast Service (PBS) owned and operated a radio station and a 
television station. The PBS radio service was available in all 13 
districts but on a fluctuating and uncertain basis. The PBS television 
broadcast was available only in Dili and nearby towns. In addition to 
the PBS radio station, there were 18 community radio stations, 
including at least one in each district. However, only a few operated 
dependably (in Los Palos, Baucau, and Dili), while many were frequently 
inoperative due to technical or resource problems, and most operated 
only a few hours a day. Few community radio stations provided any news 
content.
    Instability, mob violence, and threats during the height of the 
crisis in May and June resulted in the temporary closure of all 
national media outlets for varying periods of time and constricted many 
journalists ability to report on developments. During this period there 
were frequent reports of threats and attacks on journalists and media 
organizations. For example, in late June a mob attacked the PBS 
headquarters following the broadcasting of a speech by the recently 
resigned prime minister. Also in late June, two members of the 
distribution staff of the daily newspaper Timor Post were attacked, 
apparently because of an interview the newspaper published with a 
person who had alleged that former government officials had armed gangs 
to attack members of the opposition. UN police investigated the attack 
against the newspaper staff. At year's end although the situation was 
somewhat improved, media outlets continued to report that journalists 
remained constrained in their work due to fear of violence.
    During the year there was increased concern about encroachments on 
the independence of PBS. In September the PBS board of directors 
dismissed the PBS's managing director. Media observers judged the 
dismissal to be a response to the managing director's criticism of a 
government minister's interference in PBS's editorial policies. There 
were also reports of increased micro-management and political 
interference by the President of the board and of pressure on 
journalists to avoid reporting criticism of national leaders.

    Internet Freedom.--Although Internet access in the country was 
limited, there were no government restrictions on access to the 
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet 
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful expression 
of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did 
not restrict academic freedom; however, a 2004 law requires that 
academic research on Tetum and other indigenous languages be approved 
by the National Language Institute. There were no reports during the 
year that this law had been applied to prevent academic research or to 
punish researchers. Nor were there any reports of interference with 
cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for the freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights.

    Freedom of Assembly.--On January 16, a law on assembly and 
demonstrations was promulgated, which establishes guidelines for 
obtaining permits to hold demonstrations and, also requires police be 
notified four days in advance of any demonstration or strike. The law 
also stipulates that demonstrations cannot take place within 100 yards 
of government building or facilities, diplomatic facilities, or 
political party headquarters. In practice demonstrations were allowed 
to take place without the requisite advance notification and the 100-
yard regulation was rarely observed.
    During June competing antigovernment and progovernment 
demonstrations took place in Dili, involving thousands of participants 
from the districts. International forces, in coordination with 
government authorities, provided extensive security and, in some cases, 
limited the length of the demonstrations or their locations. These 
arrangements generally facilitated the peaceful conduct of the 
demonstrations and were considered by human rights observers to be 
justified given the precarious security environment.

    Freedom of Association.--There were reports during the year of 
political parties, particularly opposition parties, being prevented 
from raising their party flags or from holding meetings in areas 
identified as strongholds of another party. Such incidents sometimes 
took place with the involvement of local government officials or 
police.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. An overwhelming majority of the population was Roman 
Catholic, and the Catholic Church was the dominant religious 
institution. There were small Protestant and Muslim minorities who were 
generally well integrated into society. The issues, including religious 
education in the public school curricula, which inspired the large-
scale, antigovernment demonstrations organized by Roman Catholic Church 
officials in April and May of 2005 did not arise during the year.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Outside of the capital, non-
Catholic religious groups were at times regarded with suspicion. In 
past years there were occasional reports of threats or assaults against 
Protestant missionaries; however, there were no reports of such 
incidents during the year.
    There is no indigenous Jewish population, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice; however, during 
large-scale, antigovernment demonstrations in Dili in April and May 
2005, police roadblocks at times stopped participants coming from 
outlying areas. In contrast several large-scale demonstrations occurred 
during the year with no attempts to block access.
    During the crisis beginning in April, and through the remainder of 
the year, there were numerous incidents of dissident groups, gangs, and 
other groups preventing freedom of movement. In early May a group of 
dissident military police established an armed checkpoint near the town 
of Gleno, Ermera District, preventing travel into Dili. During the 
remainder of the year there were frequent occurrences of illegal, 
temporary checkpoints set up in Dili, often designed to target people 
from certain parts of the country or members of a particular group. The 
tension between people from the eastern and western areas of the 
country led to a large number of people feeling that they did not have 
freedom of movement within the country. Within the capital where these 
divisions were most marked, many neighborhoods became exclusively 
eastern or western, and members of one group did not feel free to 
travel to or through the other group's area.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Approximately 150,000 
residents of Dili were displaced from their homes during the year as a 
result of the crisis that began in late April. Initial displacement 
occurred in response to the April 28 riots and the response by security 
forces. In early May thousands of Dili residents fled their homes as 
rumors of impending clashes between security forces and dissident 
forces circulated. In late May several days of actual clashes between 
regular and dissident forces and between police and military caused 
additional displacements. Widespread mob violence, often targeting and 
driving out selected populations and individuals, further exacerbated 
the IDP situation. Widespread destruction meant that many IDPs had no 
place to which to return. Illegal occupation of temporarily abandoned 
properties and the unresolved state of many conflicting land and 
property claims further complicated return (see section 1.f.).
    While all groups and levels of society were represented in the IDP 
population, humanitarian workers observed a greater proportion of 
easterners. By year's end a large number of IDPs had left the camps. 
Many returned to their homes, but many others lacking this option moved 
into houses with relatives, or in many cases returned to their home 
districts. It was not known to what extent the recent unrest resulted 
in a permanent reallocation of the population throughout the country. 
At year's end an estimated 25,000 IDPs remained in camps in Dili and as 
many as 70,000 remained displaced in the districts.
    The Government worked closely with domestic and international 
humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to IDPs both in Dili 
and the districts. The Government's initial response to the 
humanitarian needs, carried out under the leadership of the minister of 
labor, was judged effective and well-coordinated. However, as time went 
on, the response became less effective due to the added involvement of 
other government ministries and the UN agencies that arrived on the 
scene. Decision making became slow and hampered by competing political 
considerations. At year's end despite months of discussion regarding 
the need to prepare for the rainy season and to close several camps 
where there were significant security concerns, the problem camps 
remained in place and few camps had made the necessary preparations for 
the rains.
    The provedor, in partnership with the Human Rights Monitoring 
Network, conducted crisis-related human rights monitoring in IDP camps 
beginning in June. The network did not find a significant increase in 
human rights abuses.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum; however, 
there were concerns that the country's regulations governing asylum and 
refugee status may preclude genuine refugees from proving their 
eligibility for such status. For example, persons who wish to apply for 
asylum have only 72 hours to do so after entry into the country. 
Foreign nationals already present in the country have only 72 hours to 
initiate the process after the situation in their home country becomes 
too dangerous for them to return safely. A number of human rights and 
refugee advocates maintained that this time limit contravenes the 1951 
Convention. These advocates also expressed concern that no written 
explanation is required when an asylum application is denied.
    There were no new asylum applications during the year. At the end 
of the year, there were seven pending cases, originally submitted in 
2004, still awaiting final decision. After the promulgation of the 2003 
Immigration and Asylum Act, the Government assumed responsibility from 
the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for 
adjudicating asylum claims. Throughout the year UNHCR continued to 
mentor immigration officials to ensure that asylum applications were 
processed according to treaty guidelines. The Government instituted a 
process whereby all asylum applications must be approved by the 
minister of the interior. This requirement led to delays.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully through periodic elections.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2002 Xanana Gusmao was 
inaugurated as the first President, and, in accordance with the 
constitution, the members of the constituent assembly were sworn in as 
the first national parliament. Mari Alkatiri became the first prime 
minister. However, on June 27, under great political pressure including 
allegations of complicity in illegally arming civilians, Alkatiri 
resigned. On July 10, Jose Ramos-Horta, who previously held the 
position of foreign minister, was sworn in as prime minister. He was 
also simultaneously holding the position of minister of defense, a 
portfolio he assumed when the former minister resigned in May. The 88-
member assembly, elected in a generally free and fair election in 2001, 
was charged with writing a constitution, which was completed in 2002 
and came into effect upon independence. Some observers criticized the 
constitutional provision that allowed the constituent assembly 
automatically to become the parliament and scheduled the first 
parliamentary election five years after independence. Fretilin held 55 
of the 88 parliamentary seats.
    In 2004 the Government, with oversight by independent election 
authorities and assisted by UN advisors, carried out voter 
registration, and the list of registered voters was published for 
public scrutiny. The resulting voter database was used for local 
elections in 2004-05 and is to be maintained and updated for future 
Presidential and parliamentary elections.
    In December the laws that will govern future national elections 
were promulgated. These laws were seen by many as reflecting the ruling 
party's preferences rather than broad national consensus. Concerns were 
raised regarding the independence of the Technical Secretariat for 
Election Administration, which under the law will continue to report to 
a ministry headed by a prominent member of the ruling party.
    In November and December, a UN independent electoral certification 
team conducted two assessment missions concerning the national 
elections scheduled for 2007. The resulting reports highlighted a 
number of aspects of the election laws that fell short of meeting 
certification benchmarks.
    There were 23 women in the 88-seat assembly. Women held three 
senior cabinet positions--minister of state, minister of public works, 
and minister of finance and planning--and four vice minister positions. 
Two of the four judges on the appeals court were women, one national 
and one international.
    The country's small ethnic minority groups were well integrated 
into society. The number of members of these groups in parliament and 
other government positions was uncertain.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year there were 
credible reports of corruption in government institutions. The office 
of the provedor by law is the institution charged with leading national 
anticorruption activities and has the authority to refer cases for 
prosecution. During the year the provedor investigated the Government 
procurement process. The anticorruption division of the provedor's 
office investigated 12 cases of alleged corruption and 59 cases of 
``maladministration.'' Most cases submitted to the provedor involved 
allegations of corruption by mid-level officials but some involved 
senior-level cases. There continued to be credible reports of petty 
corruption at the nation's port. In addition, customs and border 
officials were suspected of facilitating the smuggling of gasoline, 
tobacco, and alcohol across the border from Indonesia. An investigative 
report on alleged corruption in the Timor Sea Office was published in a 
local newspaper in December with details regarding official resources 
and equipment being redirected for personal use. Such practices are 
believed to exist in many government institutions. The lack of 
resources for many district police operations was alleged to result in 
part from resources being diverted to personal use.
    The Office of the Inspector General, the Government's internal 
oversight office, carried out investigations into eight cases of 
maladministration or possible corruption during the year and conducted 
two audits.
    The law stipulates that all legislation, Supreme Court decisions, 
and decisions made by government bodies must be published in the 
official gazette. If not published they are null and void. Regulations 
also provide for public access to court proceedings and decisions and 
the national budget and accounts. In practice there were concerns that 
public access to information was constrained. For example, the official 
gazette was published only in Portuguese, although it is required by 
law to be published in Tetum as well. Moreover, its irregular 
publishing schedule and varying cost meant that few journalists, public 
servants, or others had regular access to it or knew how to access it.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) played an active role in assisting and advising in 
the development of the country, and numerous NGOs were established over 
the last few years. Following the events of April and May, the 
Government relayed a request to the UN to conduct a special inquiry to 
establish the facts and responsibility for the crimes committed. The UN 
COI was given full access to all relevant documents and persons to 
conduct its inquiry. A number of national and international NGOs, in 
coordination with the provedor, monitored human rights issues in IDP 
camps, resulting from the crisis.
    According to the controversial 2003 Immigration and Asylum Act, 
foreigners are prohibited from taking part in political activities. 
This provision could preclude foreigners and international NGOs from 
assisting labor unions or projects to promote the development of civil 
society, and it could also allow the Government to restrict 
noncitizens' monitoring of the criminal or judicial systems. However, 
to date, the act's provisions have not been applied this way.
    In March the Office of the Provedor for Human Rights and Justice, 
established in 2004, officially began its work. The provedor was 
responsible for the promotion of human rights, anticorruption, and good 
governance, and he has the power to investigate cases, monitor the 
observance of human rights, anticorruption and good governance 
standards, and make recommendations to the relevant authorities. On 
June 30, in accordance with his mandate, the provedor submitted the 
office's first annual report to parliament. The report noted that the 
provedor had received 75 complaints, including 40 from 2005. More than 
a third of these complaints involved allegations against the police. 
Most of the complaints, including most of those against the police, 
were allegations of human rights abuses. The provedor's offices were 
located in Dili and had limited ability to conduct outreach or other 
activities in the districts.
    In April the Government appointed a ``Commission of Notables,'' 
chaired by the minister of state administration, to investigate the 
claims of the approximately 600 involuntarily discharged soldiers known 
as the ``petitioners'' (see section 6.b.). After several months of 
inaction, the Prime Minister gave the commission a deadline of October 
30, but by year's end, the commission had not announced its findings. 
The Government started distributing subsidies to the petitioners in 
December.
    The CAVR, which was charged with inquiring into human rights 
violations that occurred between April 1974 and October 1999, presented 
its final report to the President in October 2005, and then to 
Parliament the following month. The report has been disseminated by 
international NGOs, but no public distribution has taken place within 
the country (see section 1.e.).
    The UN-appointed Commission of Experts to evaluate the Indonesian 
and East Timorese procedures and to recommend the next steps for 
achieving accountability for human rights violations committed in 1999 
concluded that the serious crimes process in East Timor had ``ensured a 
notable degree of accountability for those responsible for the crimes 
committed in 1999'' but that the Ad Hoc Tribunal in Indonesia was 
``manifestly inadequate.''
    The Governments of Indonesia and East Timor bilateral Truth and 
Friendship Commission, inaugurated in August 2005, addressed human 
rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 (see section 1.e.). 
The COE report criticized the TFC's terms of reference as contradicting 
international standards that prohibit impunity for crimes against 
humanity. The TFC was based in Bali and held a number of meetings 
during the year. Its one-year mandate has been extended by an 
additional year. Observers have noted slow progress to date and many 
concluded that it is unlikely to produce a substantive result.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    Government regulations prohibit all forms of discrimination. 
Nonetheless, violence against women was a problem, and discrimination 
against women, persons with disabilities, and members of minority 
groups occurred.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was a significant problem 
and often was exacerbated by the reluctance of authorities to respond 
aggressively. Many authorities regarded it as a family issue rather 
than a criminal matter, and victims, under pressure to resolve cases 
within the family, were frequently reluctant to report abuse. In many 
cases a lack of resources was an element in official inaction and 
failure to investigate or prosecute cases involving violence against 
women. The police were particularly slow to pursue cases where the 
accused occupied a position of power. Police also at times came under 
pressure from community members to ignore cases of domestic violence or 
sexual abuse.
    Although rape is a crime, failures to investigate or prosecute in 
cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse were common as were long delays. 
For example, in July police in Suai relayed an investigation report to 
prosecutors for a sexual assault that had occurred earlier that month; 
however, by year's end no judicial action had been taken on the case. 
Spousal rape under applicable Indonesian law is not a crime.
    Cases of domestic violence and sexual crimes were generally handled 
by the PNTL's Vulnerable Persons Units (VPUs). Women's organizations 
assessed the VPUs' performance as variable, with some actively pursuing 
cases while others preferring to handle them through mediation or as 
family matters. The national and the Dili district VPUs ceased 
operating in May as a result of the crisis. In November the work of the 
national VPU resumed under the UN policing mission, but at year's end 
the Dili district VPU was still not operational. Advocacy organizations 
noted that the Dili VPU previously had handled a large number of cases 
and its absence represented a significant decrease in law enforcement 
resources in this area. Other district VPUs continued to operate but 
were severely constrained by lack of support and resources.
    Government regulations prohibit persons from organizing 
prostitution; however, under the Court of Appeals' interpretation of 
Indonesian laws, prostitution is not illegal. Nonetheless in past 
years, there were reports of women being arrested for prostitution.
    In 2004 a local NGO conducted a study on prostitution and 
trafficking and estimated that there were up to 358 sex workers in the 
capital, of whom approximately 115 were possible trafficking victims. 
Late in the year, concern increased that the country was being targeted 
as a source for trafficking; suspects were detained and at year's end 
an investigation was proceeding (see section 5, Trafficking).
    There was no law prohibiting sexual harassment, and sexual 
harassment was reportedly widespread, particularly within some 
government ministries and the police.
    There were no reports of gender-based employment discrimination; 
however, women usually deferred to men when job opportunities arose at 
the village level.
    Some customary practices discriminate against women. For example, 
in some regions or villages where traditional practices hold sway, 
women may not inherit or own property.
    A UN-created gender affairs unit continued as the Office for the 
Promotion of Equality (OPE) within the Prime Minister's office. The 
unit worked with government ministries and departments to promote 
gender equality and coordinated activities to reduce gender-based 
violence. Some activities of the OPE, including coordination of gender-
based violence training for police, ceased after the onset of crisis in 
April as the office's attention shifted to IDP-related issues.
    Women's organizations offered some assistance to female victims of 
violence including shelters for victims of domestic violence and 
incest; a safe room at the national hospital for victims of domestic 
violence and sexual assault; and escorts to judicial proceedings. 
Women's and human rights monitoring organizations formed a committee to 
monitor violence against women in the IDP camps and to train the camp 
managers to identify and pursue such cases.

    Children.--The constitution stipulates that primary education shall 
be compulsory and free; however, no legislation has been adopted 
establishing the minimum level of education to be provided, nor has a 
system been established to ensure provision of free education. 
According to UN statistics, approximately 20 percent of primary school-
age children nationwide were not enrolled in school; the figures for 
rural areas were substantially worse than those for urban areas.
    During the year education was adversely affected by the crisis as 
both children and teachers were displaced. Dili was the most affected 
area with all schools shut at the onset of the crisis and most reopened 
only in September. Key problems faced by schools in Dili included their 
use as camps for IDPs affecting their ability of resume classes; 
vandalism and looting, leaving them without the necessary facilities, 
furniture, equipment, and materials; a shortage of teachers as many 
fled to the districts; and security issues affecting school attendance. 
Many students living in IDP camps joined schools near their camp. Camp-
based education support was provided at the Airport IDP camp as this 
was one of two camps with a large school-age population not attending 
school. Camp-based education could not be provided at the Metinaro IDP 
camp due to camp management and space allocation constraints.
    A country-wide survey of school attendance of students and teachers 
was conducted in November and December to update education data and 
assess the effect of crisis. At year's end results of the survey were 
not yet available.
    Poor health facilities throughout the country contributed to high 
mortality rates for infants and children under five. The major causes 
of death among children were combinations of infectious diseases, 
persistent malnutrition, and parasites. The low rate of vaccinations 
against communicable diseases was a serious problem. Immunization 
coverage for children below one year of age increased from 55 percent 
in 2005 to 62 percent during the year. An emergency measles campaign 
conducted in IDP camps and neighboring communities, reached 166,840 
children from six months to 15 years of age. According to estimates by 
UN agencies 46 to 56 percent of children under age five were 
underweight.
    Domestic violence, including violence against children and child 
sexual assault, was a significant problem. Some commercial sexual 
exploitation of minors occurred. The Indonesian penal code, which 
remains in effect pending the promulgation of a national penal code, is 
ambiguous regarding statutory rape, specifying only that it is a crime 
to have intercourse with someone who has not reached the age of consent 
for marriage. This age is specified as 15 in the Indonesian civil code.
    As a result of the displacement of up to 170,000 persons, thousands 
of children were exposed to risks. The capacity of the state, 
communities, and families to protect children has been seriously 
challenged. According to the UN Children's Fund, many children showed 
signs of stress, including increased aggressive behaviour, withdrawal, 
and difficulty sleeping.
    Incidents of child abuse, including sexual abuse, were reported 
both inside and outside the IDP camps. Underreporting of child abuse 
and gender-based violence was a problem prior to the crisis and with 
the breakdown in referral and reporting systems it is likely that the 
actual number of cases was far greater than those reported. Since the 
crisis there has been a significant drop in the number of reported 
cases. The absence of the Dili police VPU contributed to this problem.
    The Ministry of Labor and Community Reinsertion has dealt with some 
30 unaccompanied or separated children as a result of the crisis. The 
majority of these children were reunited with their families or care-
givers. The National Division of Social Services dealt with 
approximately 50 cases of children in conflict with the law.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The 2003 Immigration and Asylum Act 
prohibits trafficking in women and children, whether for prostitution 
or for forced labor; however, in recent years there have been reports 
of women and girls trafficked into the country for prostitution. In 
addition, during the year there was increased concern that the country 
could be targeted as a source country for trafficking.
    In 2004 a local NGO conducted a baseline study of human trafficking 
and the sex industry and estimated that as many as 115 foreign sex 
workers in the capital might be victims of trafficking. Several 
establishments in the capital were known commercial sex operations and 
were suspected of being involved in trafficking. Although there has 
been no recent study, reliable sources estimated that the number of 
foreign trafficking victims remained approximately the same. During the 
year domestic trafficking was a growing concern, with an increased 
number of citizens exploited as sex workers. Trafficking victims in the 
country were almost exclusively forced to work in the sex industry. 
Reports of trafficking for forced labor have not been verified.
    While the police conducted raids on brothels and massage parlors in 
Dili during the year, credible reports indicated that some police and 
customs officials colluded with such establishments or with those who 
trafficked foreign women into the country to work in them. In May 
Dili's VPU, which had primary responsibility for investigating 
trafficking cases, ceased to function along with the rest of the Dili-
based PNTL and at year's end had not been reconstituted.
    Although the country was not previously a source for trafficking 
victims, there was evidence during the year that it was being targeted. 
Beginning in October dozens of young women were approached regarding 
overseas job offers. UN police investigations resulted in detentions, 
and at year's end investigations were ongoing. It was generally thought 
that this scheme was intended to force the women into prostitution 
overseas.
    There was widespread ignorance about the trafficking issue. 
Trafficking victims did not understand their rights or know who to 
contact for assistance. Police were uninformed about the nature of 
trafficking, how to recognize it, and how to handle cases. Potential 
trafficking victims in country were unaware of the risks of accepting 
overseas employment.
    There have been no government-run antitrafficking education 
campaigns, and the Government does not financially support any 
antitrafficking programs. However, the Government cooperated with 
various international and NGO programs. In 2005 UN authorities and the 
Government established a working group headed by the International 
Organization for Migration to monitor and control trafficking. The 
Alola Foundation, an NGO headed by First Lady Kirsty Sword Gusmao, 
provided assistance to female victims of trafficking and advised the 
Government on trafficking-related issues.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution protects the 
rights of persons with disabilities, the Government had not enacted 
legislation or otherwise mandated accessibility to buildings for 
persons with disabilities, nor does the law prohibit discrimination 
against persons with disabilities. There were no reports of 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, or the provision of other state services; however, in many 
districts children with disabilities were unable to attend school due 
to accessibility problems. Training and vocational initiatives did not 
address the needs of persons with disabilities. During the year some 
persons with mental disabilities faced discriminatory or degrading 
treatment due in part to a lack of appropriate treatment resources or 
lack of referral to existing resources.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Tensions between persons from 
the eastern districts (lorosae) and persons from the western districts 
(loromonu) were a major element in the April and May national crisis. 
Historically there had been some tension between East and West, but it 
was an occasional irritant rather than a major issue. These geographic 
divisions emerged as a defining factor as the crisis affected the 
capital, and at year's end many of Dili's neighborhoods had become 
essentially segregated. The causes involved dynamics within the 
security institutions, socioeconomic pressures in the capital, 
conflicting views regarding the role of different groups in the 
independence struggle, and increasingly bitter political divisions.
    The crisis began with claims by hundreds of soldiers that they were 
disadvantaged due to their western identities. Loromonu made up the 
majority of the population in Dili, and many associated the lorosae 
population with the controversial F-FDTL intervention on April 28-29. 
The violence and divisions impacted all communities, but the lorosae 
population of Dili bore a disproportionate burden as the crisis 
progressed. Thousands of lorosae were displaced from their homes due to 
fear of violence, many had their houses burned, and many came under 
attack if they refused to abandon their homes or attempted to return.
    Toward the end of the year, the lorosae-versus-loromonu dynamic had 
largely dissipated as an element in violent clashes in Dili, supplanted 
by an upsurge in fighting between competing martial arts groups. 
However, many Dili neighborhoods remained divided and some observers 
thought the reduction in lorosae-loromonu violence was a result of the 
segregation process having run its course.
    Relations are generally good between the ethnic majority and 
members of several small ethnic minority groups; however, there were 
occasional reports of discrimination against ethnic Chinese (who 
constitute less than 1 percent of the population) and ethnic-Malay 
Muslims.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The country has a labor code based on 
the International Labor Organization's standards. The law permits 
workers to form and join worker organizations without prior 
authorization. Unions may draft their own constitutions and rules and 
elect their representatives; however, attempts to organize workers 
generally were slowed by inexperience and a lack of organizational 
skills. In 2004 the Government established official registration 
procedures for trade unions and employer organizations.
    The Immigration and Asylum Act prohibits foreigners from 
participating in the administration of trade unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While 
collective bargaining is permitted, workers generally had little 
experience negotiating contracts, promoting worker rights, or engaging 
in collective bargaining and negotiations.
    The law provides for the right to strike, but few workers exercised 
this right during the year.
    Approximately 400 soldiers were on strike from early February until 
March over working conditions and alleged discrimination (see section 
5). On March 16, they, along with approximately 200 additional soldiers 
who had been chronically absent without leave, were discharged from the 
F-FDTL after they refused orders to end the strike and return to their 
barracks. The underlying grievances and the subsequent activities of 
this group were important elements of the subsequent tensions and civil 
unrest.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Government 
regulations prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by 
children, and such practices were not known to occur.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor code largely prohibits children under 18 from working; however, 
there are circumstances under which children between the ages of 15 and 
18 can work, and there are even exceptional exemptions for children 
under 15. The minimum age did not apply to family-owned businesses, and 
many children worked in the agricultural sector. Child labor in the 
informal sector was a major problem. In practice enforcement of the 
labor code outside of Dili was limited.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code does not 
stipulate a minimum wage; however, employers generally used and 
employees expected a wage of $85 (the U.S. dollar is the country's 
official currency) per month as a minimum standard. This amount 
provided a basic standard of living for a worker and family. The labor 
code provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours, and standard 
benefits such as overtime and leave, and minimum standards of worker 
health and safety. A National Labor Board and a Labor Relations Board 
exist, and there are no restrictions on the rights of workers to file 
complaints and seek redress. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from hazardous conditions without jeopardizing employment; 
however, it was not clear that they could avail themselves of this 
right in practice.

                               __________

                                  FIJI

    Fiji is a constitutional republic with a population of 
approximately 850,000. The constitution provides for an elected 
President, prime minister, and parliament, but on December 5, armed 
forces commander Commodore Voreque Bainimarama overthrew the Government 
of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni 
Lewenivanua (SDL) party in a bloodless coup d'etat and announced the 
establishment of an interim military government. Bainimarama declared 
himself acting President and on December 6 dissolved the Parliament. 
Bainimarama asserted that the Qarase government was corrupt, that it 
had manipulated the May election that returned it to power, and that it 
unfairly favored indigenous Fijian interests. Qarase was elected prime 
minister in 2001, and Parliament reelected him following multiparty 
parliamentary elections in May deemed generally free and fair. Prior to 
the coup the civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the police but were unable to maintain effective control of 
the military forces. In the months before the coup the military had 
publicly threatened to force the Government to resign if it did not 
comply with certain military demands.
    Prior to the December coup the Government generally respected the 
human rights of its citizens, although there were serious problems in 
some areas. The human rights situation deteriorated greatly following 
the coup. The takeover denied citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully. On December 5, Bainimarama proclaimed a state of 
emergency, significantly restricting constitutional provisions for 
freedom of expression and assembly, and the right to privacy, subject 
to the military's interpretation and without recourse to the courts. 
The military government arbitrarily detained, and sometimes abused, 
coup opponents; conducted searches without warrants; engaged in 
intimidation of the media; and restricted the right to assemble 
peacefully. Other problems during the year included poor prison 
conditions; attacks against religious facilities, particularly Hindu 
temples; government corruption; continuing deep divisions between 
indigenous Fijians (55 percent of the population) and Indo-Fijians (37 
percent); violence and discrimination against women; and child 
prostitution.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, there 
were some reports of abuses by police during the year. The military 
committed numerous abuses after the December 5 coup.
    Reported incidents of police beatings and other abuse of 
apprehended persons and prisoners prior to the coup were investigated 
and, when appropriate, offending officers were prosecuted and punished. 
All such cases appeared to be isolated incidents, not condoned by 
supervisory officers. At year's end the investigation into a 2005 case 
in which the police allegedly failed to obtain prompt medical treatment 
for a suspect injured during apprehension was still ongoing.
    Following the coup there were numerous incidents of the Republic of 
Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) detaining without a warrant and abusing 
persons who had voiced opposition to the coup or who supported a return 
to democratic government. In the late hours of December 24 and early 
hours of December 25, soldiers took six prodemocracy supporters from 
their homes, including young persons who had erected a ``prodemocracy 
shrine'' outside a house in Lami (see section 2.a.), and brought them 
to the RFMF's Queen Elizabeth barracks, where they reportedly were 
beaten, stepped on, and threatened with weapons. They were then forced 
to run several miles through Suva followed by soldiers in vehicles. 
Also on December 25, the military seized five young men in a Suva 
suburb and made them strip to their underwear and crawl through drain 
pipes before being dropped at a remote jungle location to find their 
way home. In another incident soldiers seized a former government 
minister overheard in a bar criticizing Bainimarama, roughed him up, 
and made him run around a track at gunpoint. Some women detained by the 
military for speaking out against the coup were sexually molested.
    The number of complaints to the Fiji Human Rights Commission 
(FHRC), a constitutionally mandated statutory body, for violation of 
the right to freedom from cruel and degrading treatment and torture 
declined over the previous four years. Formal complaints to the FHRC 
following the coup did not increase significantly by year's end despite 
alleged military abuses; according to human rights observers this 
reflected a climate of intimidation and fears of reprisal after the 
coup.
    Following allegations by human rights nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) of FHRC inaction over rights abuses, the FHRC director stated 
she would investigate such cases if formal complaints were made. 
However, on December 27, she also warned members of the public that not 
all their rights, including that to free speech, could still be 
exercised freely and lawfully under the state of emergency (see section 
4). Although the state of emergency was initially declared on December 
5, the details on how constitutional rights had been affected were not 
made publicly known until December 29.
    The law permits corporal punishment as a penalty for criminal acts; 
however, in 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled that corporal punishment in 
the penal system was unconstitutional. The FHRC conducted periodic 
training courses for police, prison officers, and military personnel, 
using a human rights manual based on international standards.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not 
meet international standards. The national prison system was seriously 
underfunded, with deteriorating infrastructure and poor delivery of 
essential services. The system had insufficient beds, inadequate 
sanitation, and a shortage of basic necessities. There were a large 
number of prison escapes during the year.
    In some cases pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners were held 
together. Courts released pretrial detainees, including some facing 
serious charges, on bail to minimize their exposure to an unhealthy and 
overcrowded prison environment. Upon instructions from the High Court, 
the FHRC compiled reports for the court of inhumane conditions within 
the Suva prison's facility for those awaiting trial. Based on the 
reports the High Court declared conditions in the Suva prison to be in 
breach of the constitution and granted bail on these grounds for 
several pretrial detainees. Prison authorities subsequently closed the 
main cell block of the Suva prison.
    Family members were routinely permitted to visit prisoners.
    The Qarase government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers. During the year the International Committee for the Red 
Cross (ICRC) visited detention facilities and interviewed detainees. 
Persons detained by the military following the coup were typically held 
in cells at the main military barracks in Suva for very brief periods, 
generally overnight. No independent human rights observers were 
permitted to visit the military detention cells.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the civilian government generally 
observed these prohibitions. However, from the December 5 coup through 
the end of the year, military personnel detained numerous persons 
without warrants for interrogation and intimidation and, in some cases, 
brief incarceration. None of those detained appeared before any court. 
The military and the director of the FHRC cited the military's state of 
emergency proclamation as the basis for the detentions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Home 
Affairs oversees the Fiji Police Force, which is responsible for law 
enforcement and the maintenance of internal security. The RFMF is 
responsible for external security. The RFMF maintained that it has a 
broad constitutional responsibility for national security that also 
extends to domestic affairs; many constitutional scholars in the 
country disagreed with that assertion.
    The police maintained a network of 31 stations and 54 police posts 
throughout the country. Policing of more remote and smaller islands was 
done through regularly scheduled visits. The Government continued a 
program initiated in 2003 to improve policing standards and combat 
corruption. The police internal affairs unit is required to investigate 
complaints of police brutality. Allegations of corruption were 
investigated, and disciplinary and criminal cases initiated. Some 
officers were removed from the force. Although there were improvements 
in discipline and accountability, corruption remained a problem.
    Following the December coup the interim military government 
dismissed the police commissioner, his deputy, and the assistant 
commissioner for crime; named a military officer as interim 
commissioner; and instituted joint military and police operations to 
maintain public order.
    The interim military government took no action against military 
personnel alleged to have committed abuses against coup opponents and 
prodemocracy activists.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police officers may arrest persons without a 
warrant for violations of the penal code. Police also arrest persons in 
response to warrants issued by magistrates and judges. Arrested persons 
must be brought before a court without ``undue delay,'' normally 
interpreted to mean within 24 hours, with 48 hours as the exception. 
Detainees have the right to a judicial review of the grounds for their 
arrest. There was a well-functioning bail system.
    Prior to the coup there were no claims of incommunicado or 
arbitrary detention. After the coup the military detained, and in most 
cases briefly held incommunicado, a number of persons who publicly 
opposed its takeover. Reports indicated that the detentions were 
usually for several hours, typically overnight, and included threats 
and abuse (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
    The Legal Aid Commission provided counsel to some indigent 
defendants in criminal cases, a service supplemented by voluntary 
services from private attorneys.
    The courts had a significant backlog of cases, and processing was 
slowed by, among other things, a shortage of prosecutors and judges. As 
a result some defendants faced lengthy pretrial detention.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. However, there were allegations that some 
judges held biases stemming from events surrounding the 2000 coup. 
Perceived bias led one High Court justice to request a ruling from the 
Supreme Court in late 2005 to bar another High Court justice from 
hearing the appeal of a verdict in a coup-related trial. In April the 
Supreme Court denied the request.
    The country's judicial structure is patterned on the British 
system. The principal courts are the magistrate's courts, the High 
Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. In addition to its 
jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, the High Court has special-
interest jurisdiction on behalf of the public and is empowered to 
review alleged violations of individual rights.
    Except for the family court, there are no special civilian courts. 
Military courts try members of the armed forces, and there is an 
internal police tribunal mechanism.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    Defendants have the right to a public trial and to counsel. The 
Legal Aid Commission, supplemented by voluntary services of private 
attorneys, provided free counsel to some indigent defendants in 
criminal cases. Most cases were heard in the magistrate's courts, but a 
case cannot be tried in a magistrate's court without the defendant's 
consent. Absent such consent, cases are tried in the High Court. Trials 
in the High Court provide for the presence of assessors, typically 
three, who are similar to jurors but only advise the presiding judge. 
Magistrates are not authorized to impose prison sentences longer than 
10 years. Sentences in the magistrate's courts in most domestic and 
family law cases were relatively light. Defendants enjoy a presumption 
of innocence and can question witnesses, present evidence on their own 
behalf, and access government-held evidence relevant to their case. The 
right of appeal exists but often was hampered by delays in the process.
    Although the majority of the key participants in the 2000 coup have 
been charged and tried, several investigations continued during the 
year. At year's end approximately 50 defendants were still awaiting 
trial on charges related to that coup.
    On December 11, the High Court acquitted former Prime Minister 
Sitiveni Rabuka of two charges relating to a November 2000 mutiny 
linked to the 2000 coup. The trial assessors were split on whether 
Rabuka was guilty of the charges, and the judge ruled that Rabuka's 
guilt had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
    The military court system provides for the same basic rights as the 
civilian court system, although bail is granted less frequently in the 
military system. During the year 20 former soldiers serving sentences 
for their roles in the November 2000 mutiny were retried by court 
martial; the civilian Court of Appeal had ordered the retrial in 
November 2005 on technical grounds. In separate decisions in February 
and August, all 20 were again found guilty. The retrial appeared to 
have been conducted fairly.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or long-term political detainees. Following the 
coup several human rights activists and others were detained briefly 
for making statements against the coup or the interim military 
government, or in support of a return to democracy.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is access to a court to 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights 
violations. In the event of a human rights violation, an individual 
also can make a complaint to the FHRC, which, prior to the coup, 
frequently resolved complaints through conciliation without referring 
them to the courts.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice prior to 
the December coup. Following the December coup RFMF forces searched 
without warrants the homes and offices of a number of persons the 
military accused of corruption. Soldiers also repeatedly entered 
private property without warrants to warn and threaten persons who 
spoke publicly against the takeover.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice prior to the December coup.
    In December the interim military government repeatedly attempted to 
impede criticism of its takeover. On December 6, RFMF troops told 
prodemocracy activists to remove a ``shrine to democracy'' they had 
erected outside a house in the Suva suburb of Lami. On December 9, 
individuals in civilian clothes and carrying a firearm vandalized the 
display. On the night of December 24, the house where the democracy 
shrine had been established was broken into and ransacked, and the 
shrine vandalized again. The RFMF briefly detained and physically 
abused a number of prodemocracy advocates and others who criticized the 
military government, including those who had set up the democracy 
shrine (see section 1.c.). The RFMF issued warnings to a number of 
persons who wrote letters to the media critical of the coup; some were 
detained, interrogated, and abused in barrack cells by the military. 
Two prominent women's and human rights advocates who criticized the 
takeover reported receiving rape threats by telephone that were 
believed to have come from members of the RFMF.
    Prior to the coup the independent media were active and expressed a 
wide variety of views without restriction in English, Fijian, and 
Hindi. The country's television news production was owned and operated 
by Fiji One, one of two national noncable television stations. A trust 
operating on behalf of the provincial councils owned 51 percent of Fiji 
One; the remainder was privately held. The Government owned the Fiji 
Broadcasting Corporation, which operated four radio stations. The 
Qarase government also had shares in two daily newspapers, the Daily 
Post and the Fiji Sun; however, there were no reports that the 
Government attempted to censor their content. There were several 
thriving independent radio stations broadcasting in English, Fijian, 
and Hindi.
    Following the announcement of the military takeover, the RFMF sent 
soldiers to various media outlets in an attempt to censor reporting of 
the event. A major daily newspaper temporarily suspended publication in 
protest. The military censors were withdrawn the next day, and the RFMF 
commander stated that the media would be free to publish without 
restriction but also stated that ``inciting comments'' would not be 
tolerated. On December 13, the editor of the Daily Post newspaper, a 
foreign national, reported that an army officer visited his office and 
told the paper to tone down its reporting on the coup. The RFMF briefly 
took the editor into custody and threatened to deport him but by year's 
end had not done so. On a radio talk show on December 22, Bainimarama 
stated that if prodemocracy activists did not ``shut their mouth,'' the 
military would ``shut it for them.'' On December 24, an office 
belonging to the co-owner of a monthly magazine, who had written an 
article criticizing the military takeover, was gutted by a fire of 
unexplained origin. Media self-censorship increased after the coup.
    The Media Council, a private watchdog group of media and academic 
figures, receives and seeks to resolve complaints of bias and 
malfeasance within the media. Following the December coup the council 
publicly denounced military efforts to censor free speech and press. 
During the year media and civil liberties advocates widely criticized a 
Qarase government bill to establish a government-appointed broadcast 
licensing authority, stating it would likely infringe on freedom of the 
press. The bill was undergoing revision by the cabinet when the coup 
occurred.
    Legislation pertaining to the press is contained in the Newspaper 
Registration Act and Press Correction Act. Under these acts all 
newspapers must register with the Government before they can publish. 
The acts give the minister of information sole discretionary power to 
order a newspaper to publish a ``correcting statement'' if, in the 
minister's view, a false or distorted article was published. A 
newspaper refusing to publish the minister's correction can be sued in 
court and, if found guilty, fined. Individuals in such cases can be 
fined, imprisoned for six months, or both. These acts authorize the 
Government to arrest any person who publishes ``malicious'' material. 
This would include anything the Government considered false, likely to 
create or foster public alarm, or result in ``detriment'' to the 
public. However, this authority has never been used.
    The 1992 Television Decree permits the Government to influence 
programming content. The civilian government did not attempt to use the 
programming authority during the year. However, the interim military 
government attempted to censor television news broadcasts that featured 
deposed Prime Minister Qarase.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Academic freedom was 
generally respected; however, government work-permit stipulations 
prohibit foreigners from participating in domestic politics. University 
of the South Pacific contract regulations effectively restrict most 
university employees from running for or holding public office or 
holding an official position with any political party.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the 
Government generally respected this right in practice prior to the 
December coup, with some limitations. Although civic organizations were 
regularly granted permits to assemble, permits for most political 
demonstrations and marches were denied.
    After the coup the Government effectively suspended the 
constitutional right of freedom of assembly. No permits to march or 
demonstrate were issued. On December 14, a group of human rights 
activists staged a small, unannounced march through downtown Suva and 
were subsequently warned by the military against further such actions. 
Police broke up a very small demonstration by a group of activists, 
held during a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs concerning the 
coup, and briefly held the demonstrators for questioning. The military 
authorities tolerated a small weekly prayer vigil organized by human 
rights groups at a Suva city church.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice prior to the coup. Following the coup the interim military 
government did not restrict persons from joining NGOs, professional 
associations, or other private organizations, but it targeted for 
threats and harassment members of NGOs who criticized the coup (see 
sections 2.a. and 4).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The majority of citizens (52 percent) are Christian, and 
government-sponsored meetings and events often begin with a Christian 
prayer.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Racial polarization was 
reflected in religious differences, which were largely along ethnic 
lines; this contributed to political problems. Most ethnic Fijians were 
Christians, and most Indo-Fijians were Hindu, with a sizable minority 
of Muslims. The dominant Methodist Church has closely allied itself 
with the interests of the pro-indigenous Fijian movement.
    Break-ins, vandalism, and arson directed at houses of worship, 
predominantly Hindu temples, were common. The attacks were broadly 
viewed as reflections of intercommunal strife, although there was often 
evidence that theft also was a contributing factor. There was no known 
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice prior 
to the December coup. In December the RFMF established armed military 
checkpoints in the Suva, Nadi, and Lautoka areas.
    A prominent group of six democracy activists who repeatedly defied 
the military's demands that they cease their activities were banned 
from leaving the country following their interrogation and abuse on 
December 25 (see section 1.c.).
    The law prohibits forced exile, and prior to December the 
Government did not practice it. However, in December the military 
government prohibited ousted Prime Minister Qarase from leaving his 
home island of Lau, where he flew after the coup.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law includes provisions for providing 
refugee and asylum status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. During the 
year the Government was in the process of establishing a system for 
providing protection for refugees, but implementing regulations 
endorsed by the Qarase cabinet in August had not come into effect by 
year's end. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees. The Government received no applications for refugee 
status or asylum during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, but on December 5, RFMF commander Bainimarama 
overthrew the lawfully elected government of Prime Minister Qarase, 
declared himself acting President, and on December 6 dissolved 
Parliament.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections, 
held in May, were judged generally free and fair. Party politics was 
largely race based, although this did not limit participation in the 
political process. The governing SDL party was primarily ethnic Fijian, 
and the Fiji Labor Party (FLP), the second largest party, was primarily 
Indo-Fijian, although both parties had membership across racial lines. 
After the elections, compelled by constitutional provisions, the two 
parties formed a multiparty cabinet consisting of 14 members from the 
SDL, nine members from the FLP, and one independent.
    After the December 5 coup, Bainimarama appointed Jone Baravilala 
Senilagakali, a military physician, as interim prime minister to 
replace Qarase. Bainimarama also declared that he had assumed 
Presidential powers, replacing President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
    Prior to Parliament's dissolution by the RFMF, there were eight 
women in the 71-seat House of Representatives and five women in the 32-
member Senate. There were three women in the Qarase cabinet and two 
female assistant ministers. According to the Asian Development Bank, 
women held only about 16 percent of senior government executive 
positions. Women played important roles in the traditional chiefly 
system and could be chiefs in their own right.
    Prior to the coup there were 29 Indo-Fijians in the House of 
Representatives and six in the Senate. There were eight Indo-Fijian 
cabinet ministers and one Indo-Fijian assistant minister in the Qarase 
government. Indo-Fijians, who accounted for 37 percent of the 
population, continued to be underrepresented at senior levels of the 
civil service and in the military. Indo-Fijians comprised approximately 
35 percent of the civil service overall.
    The political primacy of indigenous Fijians is to some extent 
enshrined in the constitution, which mandates that 14 of Parliament's 
32 senators be appointed by the indigenous Fijian Great Council of 
Chiefs, a hereditary body, and one by the Rotuma Island Council. The 
remainder are appointed by the Government and opposition. This 
arrangement essentially ensured indigenous Fijians effective control in 
the Senate. Under the 1997 constitution, the Prime Minister and the 
President may be of any race. The constitution established a 71-member 
lower house with 25 seats open to any ethnicity and 46 seats allocated 
to different ethnic communities. The open seats are apportioned into 
districts of approximately equal population. Of the 46 communal seats, 
23 are allotted to indigenous Fijians, 19 to Indo-Fijians, three to 
``general voters'' (for the most part mixed-race, Caucasian, and East 
Asian voters), and one to Rotumans (an ethnically distinct Polynesian 
group). These allotments were generally proportional to the ethnic 
composition of the country's population in 1996.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption within 
government, including the civil service, was a significant problem. The 
media continued to raise numerous allegations of nonaccountability, 
bribery, abuse of office, fraud, misuse of public property, financial 
mismanagement, failure to complete statutory audits, and conflicts of 
interest regarding officials and ministries. In November a Suva court 
sentenced former Agriculture Ministry chief executive officer Peniasi 
Kunatuba to four years in prison on corruption charges. The charges 
involved a large-scale scam and misuse of public monies by the Ministry 
of Agriculture during 2000 and 2001. In some ministries transparency 
was virtually nonexistent. The constitution gives the auditor general 
the right to audit all national and local government bodies. In its 
annual report to Parliament, the auditor general's office highlighted 
numerous instances of corrupt practices in government offices and 
ministries.
    In May an individual imprisoned for his participation in the 2000 
coup was released from prison to serve his sentence extramurally. This 
release and numerous similar releases in 2005 were widely seen as 
politically motivated.
    The interim military government, citing general corruption, 
summarily dismissed from office a large number of senior career 
bureaucrats and office holders under the Government of ousted Prime 
Minister Qarase, but by year's end did not produce specific evidence of 
corruption in their cases or other specific cause for dismissal beyond 
their association with that government.
    Although the 1997 constitution instructs Parliament to enact a 
freedom of information law as soon as practicable, no such law has been 
enacted. In practice the Government was sometimes responsive to 
requests for government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Prior to the coup a number of domestic and international human 
rights groups generally operated without government restriction, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their 
views.
    There were several nongovernmental organizations that concentrated 
on a variety of local human rights causes, such as the Regional Rights 
Resource Team, the Pacific Center for Public Integrity, the Citizens' 
Constitutional Forum, the Fiji Women's Rights Movement and the Fiji 
Women's Crisis Center. A number of UN organizations concerned with 
human rights, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Human Rights, the International Labor Organization, the UN Children's 
Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Development Fund, had regional offices in the 
country and worked actively with the Government on various human rights 
issues. The ICRC continued to operate in the country.
    The interim military government stated that it was committed to 
respecting human rights, but the RFMF harassed, threatened, and abused 
members of local human rights NGOs who criticized the coup and the 
military (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
    Prior to the coup the FHRC appeared to be impartial and independent 
and generally operated without government interference. The FHRC 
received and investigated reports of human rights violations and 
requests for assistance, some involving alleged abuses by the military, 
police, and prison officials. The FHRC issued widely distributed 
quarterly and annual reports on its work. In June the FHRC published a 
lengthy report on the Government's affirmative action programs. The 
FHRC criticized the programs, which primarily benefited indigenous 
Fijians, as discriminatory and unconstitutional (see section 5). Prime 
Minister Qarase dismissed the report as politicized, and the Government 
announced it would undertake its own review of the programs.
    Following the coup the director of the FHRC repeatedly failed to 
publicly object to some significant human rights abuses by the 
military. After the December 25 incident in which prodemocracy 
activists were detained and abused by RFMF members (see section 1.c.), 
the director stated she would investigate the incident but also advised 
persons speaking out against the military takeover to bear in mind that 
they did so at their own risk, since their rights were curtailed under 
the state of emergency. An FHRC commissioner strongly criticized the 
director's statements and her failure to take action in support of 
persons abused by the RFMF. The interim military government called on 
persons claiming human rights violations to report them to the military 
authorities.
    The Qarase government's controversial 2005 Reconciliation, 
Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which provided for the possibility of 
amnesty for certain participants in the 2000 coup, was not enacted 
prior to the May elections. In late 2005, following widespread 
criticism of the bill, a parliamentary committee recommended 
substantial changes to the legislation, including changes to its 
amnesty provisions. In November, under continuing military pressure, 
the Government announced that the bill's controversial amnesty 
provisions had been removed, but a revised bill had not yet been 
introduced into Parliament when the December coup occurred. There also 
was extensive criticism by human rights groups of two other 
controversial pieces of legislation announced by government following 
the May elections. The bills, on indigenous Fijian foreshore fishing 
rights and an indigenous land rights tribunal, were undergoing a 
parliamentary hearing when the coup took place.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, place 
of origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, color, primary language, 
economic status, age, or disability. The Government generally enforced 
these provisions effectively, although there were problems in some 
areas.
    The constitution also cites the ``paramountcy'' of Fijian interests 
as a guiding principle for the protection of the rights of indigenous 
citizens. A compact included in the constitution specifically provides 
for affirmative action and ``social justice'' programs to ``secure 
effective equality'' for ethnic Fijians and Rotumans, ``as well as for 
other communities.'' The compact chiefly benefited the indigenous 
Fijian majority.

    Women.--Domestic abuse, rape, incest, and indecent assault were 
significant problems. Police practiced a ``no-drop'' policy, under 
which they pursued investigations of domestic violence cases even if a 
victim later withdrew her accusation. The police generally were more 
responsive to domestic violence cases than in the past. Nonetheless, 
courts often dismissed cases of domestic abuse and incest or gave the 
perpetrators minimal sentences. The head of the Fiji Women's Rights 
Movement reported that following the coup soldiers forcibly took a 
battered wife who had fled to her parents' home back to her husband. 
Incest was widely believed to be underreported. Traditional practices 
of reconciliation between aggrieved parties were sometimes taken into 
account to mitigate sentences in domestic violence cases, particularly 
in cases of incest. An active women's rights movement sought to raise 
public awareness about domestic violence.
    Four women's crisis centers funded by foreign governments operated 
in the country. The centers offered counseling and assistance to women 
in cases of domestic violence, rape, and other problems, such as child 
support.
    The women's rights movement pressed for more severe punishments for 
rape. Sentences varied considerably. Rape cases heard in the lower 
magistrate's courts typically resulted in shorter sentences. Women's 
groups continued to urge that all rape cases be heard in the High 
Court, where lengthier sentences are available. The Court of Appeal has 
ruled that 10 years is the minimum appropriate sentence in child rape 
cases. Women's activists continued to press for criminalization of 
spousal rape.
    Prostitution is illegal, but it occurred, particularly in cities. 
Sex tourism is prohibited by law but reportedly occurred, particularly 
in tourist centers such as Nadi and Savusavu, including cases involving 
children. Reportedly taxi drivers acted as middlemen, facilitating the 
commercial sexual exploitation of children.
    The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, but laws 
against ``indecent assaults on females'' prohibit offending the modesty 
of women and could be used to prosecute sexual harassment cases. 
According to a recent survey, one in three women has been sexually 
harassed in the workplace.
    The Women's Crisis Center provided a gender awareness program to 
educate soldiers and police officers about women's concerns.
    Women have full rights of property ownership and inheritance but 
often were excluded from the decision-making process on disposition of 
communal land. Many women were successful entrepreneurs. Other than a 
prohibition on working in mines, there were no legal limitations on the 
employment of women. Women generally were paid less than men for 
similar work. According to the Asian Development Bank, only about 30 
percent of the economically active female population was engaged in the 
formal economy, and of these a large proportion worked in semi-
subsistence employment or self-employment.

    Children.--The Government devoted 18 percent of the national budget 
to education and also worked to improve children's health and welfare. 
School is mandatory until age 15, but the inability of some families to 
pay school fees and bus fares limited attendance for some children. 
There was no significant difference between the school enrollment rates 
for boys and girls.
    The Government provided free medical care for children at public 
health centers and hospitals, including immunizations in primary 
schools.
    Corporal punishment was common both in homes and in schools, 
despite a Ministry of Education policy forbidding it in the classroom. 
Increasing urbanization, overcrowding, and the breakdown of traditional 
community and extended family-based structures led to an increasing 
incidence of child abuse. Multiple reports suggested that child 
prostitution increased during the year. Child prostitution was evident 
in poverty-stricken urban areas and among homeless urban youth (see 
section 5, Trafficking). Urban migration and the subsequent breakdown 
of community structures, children from outer islands living with 
relatives while attending high school, and homelessness all appeared to 
be factors that increased a child's chance of being exploited for 
commercial sex.
    Increasing urbanization led to more children working as casual 
laborers, often with no safeguards against abuse or injury.

    Trafficking in Persons.--A November 2005 law prohibits trafficking 
in persons, and there were no substantiated reports of trafficking to 
or from the country during the year. There were some reports of 
children trafficked within the country during the year. Many observers 
cited poverty as the primary underlying reason for sexual exploitation 
of children.
    The antitrafficking law provides for penalties of up to 20 years' 
imprisonment and fines up to $442,000 (F$750,000) for convicted 
traffickers.
    The Government did not sponsor or provide assistance to any 
programs specifically to combat or prevent trafficking in persons.

    Persons With Disabilities.--All persons are considered equal under 
the law, including persons with disabilities, and discrimination 
against persons with physical disabilities in employment, education, 
provision of housing and land, or provision of other state services is 
illegal. In addition the law provides for the right of access to places 
and modes of transport generally open to the public and obliges 
proprietors of such places and services to ``facilitate reasonable 
access for disabled persons to the extent provided by law.'' The 2004 
public health regulations provide penalties for noncompliance; however, 
there was very little enabling legislation on accessibility for persons 
with disabilities, and there was little or no enforcement of laws 
protecting persons with disabilities. Although building regulations 
issued in 2004 require new public buildings to be accessible to persons 
with disabilities, according to an FHRC survey of 70 percent of public 
facilities in the capital, only a single fast food restaurant was fully 
accessible. There were only a handful of disabled-accessible vehicles 
in the country. There were a number of community organizations to 
assist those with disabilities, particularly children.
    Persons with mental disabilities largely were separated from 
society and typically were supported at home by their families. 
Institutionalization of persons with severe mental disabilities was in 
a single overcrowded, underfunded public facility in the capital. There 
were a few special schools for persons with physical, cognitive, and 
sensory disabilities; however, costs and location limited access. 
Opportunities for a secondary school education for those with 
disabilities were very limited. Persons with disabilities in rural 
settings found it difficult to access special services.
    The government-funded Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons 
worked to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Several NGOs 
also promoted attention to the needs of persons with various 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Tension between ethnic Fijians 
and Indo-Fijians has been a longstanding problem. The constitution 
notes that ``the composition of state services at all levels must be 
based on the principle of reflecting as closely as possible the ethnic 
composition of the population,'' but it also specifies the 
``paramountcy of Fijian interests'' as a protective principle (see 
section 3).
    Prior to the coup the Qarase government pursued a policy of 
political predominance for ethnic Fijians. Land tenure remained a 
highly sensitive and politicized issue. Ethnic Fijians communally held 
approximately 85 percent of all land, the Government held another 3.6 
percent, and the remainder was freehold land, which private individuals 
or companies may hold.
    Ethnic Fijians' traditional beliefs, cultural values, and self-
identity are intimately linked to the land. Most cash-crop farmers were 
Indo-Fijians, the majority of whom were descendants of indentured 
laborers who came to the country during the British colonial era. 
Virtually all Indo-Fijian farmers were obliged to lease land from 
ethnic Fijian landowners. Many Indo-Fijians believed that their very 
limited ability to own land and their subsequent dependency on leased 
land from indigenous Fijians constituted de facto discrimination 
against them. A pattern of refusals by ethnic Fijian landowners to 
renew expiring leases resulted in evictions of Indo-Fijians from their 
farms and their displacement to squatter settlements. This situation 
contributed significantly to communal tensions. Many indigenous Fijian 
landowners in turn believed that the rental formulas included in the 
national land tenure legislation discriminated against them.
    In June the FHRC reported the results of its investigation into 
complaints by the FLP, the Citizens Constitutional Forum, and the Fiji 
Teachers Union that the Government's affirmative action programs 
unconstitutionally favored indigenous Fijians over ethnic minorities. 
The FHRC found the complaints to be valid and stated that the 
Government's programs did not meet the legal standards of the 
constitution and law. In response the Government indicated it would 
conduct its own internal review. A cabinet subcommittee on equal 
opportunity and human rights was reviewing the programs when the coup 
occurred. The programs were still in place at year's end.
    Unlike in the previous year, the ethnic Chinese community appeared 
to be less of a target for violent attacks. Police worked with the 
Chinese Association of Fiji to address the issues raised by a number of 
such attacks in 2005.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The constitution 
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but 
preexisting statutes criminalize homosexual acts. At year's end the 
director of public prosecutions was awaiting a hearing on his appeal of 
the August 2005 court decision that overturned a magistrate's court's 
April 2005 conviction of a local citizen and an Australian tourist for 
engaging in consensual homosexual acts. The magistrate's court had 
sentenced the men to two years in prison. Homosexuality continued to be 
a hotly debated issue, and during the year church groups again urged 
the Government to amend the constitution to eliminate its provision 
prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law protect the 
right of workers to form and join unions, elect their own 
representatives, publicize their views on labor matters, and determine 
their own policies, and the authorities respected these rights in 
practice. An estimated 36 percent of the work force was unionized.
    All unions must register with, but are not controlled by, the 
Government. While certain unions were ethnically based, both Indo-
Fijians and ethnic Fijians held leadership roles in the trade union 
movement.
    The Employment Act makes it an offense for an employer to victimize 
any worker or make it a condition of employment for a worker not to 
belong to a union. Unions reported some cases of victimization of 
workers who expressed a desire to join a union, but the Ministry of 
Labor reported that it was unable to verify these cases, and no 
employers were prosecuted.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers have 
the right to organize and bargain collectively. However, wage 
negotiations generally were conducted at the level of individual 
companies rather than on an industry-wide basis. Employers are required 
to recognize a union if more than half of the employees in a workplace 
have signed membership cards; no ballots are held to determine 
representation. The Government has the power to order recalcitrant 
employers to recognize unions, and it has done so in the past. 
Traditional key sectors of the economy, including sugar and tourism, 
were heavily unionized. Although the law allowed unionization, union 
organizers' jobs were not protected, resulting in low unionization in 
some sectors.
    Strikes are legal, except in connection with union recognition 
disputes. Trade unions can conduct secret strike ballots without 
government supervision. To carry out a legal strike, organizers must 
give an employer 28 days' notification. The Ministry of Labor also must 
be notified of the dispute and receive a list of all striking 
employees, and the starting date and location of the strike. This 
requirement is intended to give organizers, unions, employers, and the 
ministry time to resolve the dispute prior to a strike. There were some 
strikes during the year. Most disputes, including those in which strike 
action was deemed illegal, were settled by referral to a permanent 
arbitrator.
    Union organizers were occasionally vulnerable to dismissal or to 
other interference by employers, particularly when operating on company 
premises, although in theory they have legal protection.
    Export processing zones (EPZs) are subject to the same laws as the 
rest of the country. With the decline of the garment industry in the 
country, the number of workers employed in the EPZs also declined. The 
Fiji Trade Union Congress reported that it was able to negotiate 
collective bargaining agreements with some employers in the EPZs, but 
that not all employers were cooperative.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there 
were no confirmed reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Inadequate enforcement of existing child labor regulations failed to 
fully protect children from exploitation in the workplace. Under the 
law children under age 12 may not be employed except in a family-owned 
business or agricultural enterprise. Children between ages 12 and 15 
may be employed on a daily wage basis in nonindustrial work not 
involving machinery, provided they return to parents or guardian every 
night. Persons between the ages of 15 and 17 may be employed in certain 
occupations not involving heavy machinery; however, they must be given 
specified hours and rest breaks. In practice the Ministry of Labor had 
few or no resources to investigate reports of child labor. There were 
only two inspectors at the ministry who conducted annual workplace 
inspections, and there were no inspectors to investigate reports of 
child labor violations. There was no comprehensive policy to eliminate 
the worst forms of child labor. During the year migration of rural 
youth to urban areas continued, and youths continued to find employment 
in the informal sector, including work as shoeshine boys, casual 
laborers, and prostitutes. There were reports of trafficking in 
children during the year (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no single, national 
minimum wage, although the Ministry of Labor set minimum wages for 
certain sectors. Entry-level wages in unregulated sectors, especially 
service industries, provided a sparse and often only marginally 
adequate standard of living for a worker and family. There was no 
single national limitation on maximum working hours for adults; 
however, there were restrictions and overtime provisions in certain 
sectors. Other than a prohibition on working in mines, there were no 
limitations on the type of work female employees could perform. Workers 
in some industries, notably transportation and shipping, worked 
excessive hours.
    There are workplace safety regulations, a worker's compensation 
act, and an accident compensation plan. Safety standards applied 
equally to citizens and foreign workers; however, government 
enforcement of safety standards suffered from a lack of trained 
personnel and delays in compensation hearings and rulings. Unions 
generally monitored safety standards in organized workplaces; however, 
many work areas did not meet standards and were not monitored by the 
Ministry of Labor for compliance. In response to public complaints, the 
Ministry of Labor condemned some facilities as unfit for occupation. 
The law accords employees the right to remove themselves from a 
hazardous work site without jeopardizing their employment, but most 
feared the loss of their jobs if they did so.

                               __________

                               INDONESIA

    Indonesia is a multiparty republic with a population of 
approximately 245 million. In 2004 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono became the 
country's first directly elected President in elections that 
international observers judged to be free and fair. Voters also chose 
two national legislative bodies in 2004: the House of Representatives 
(DPR) and the newly created House of Regional Representatives (DPD). 
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces, in some instances elements of the security forces 
acted independently of civilian authority.
    The Government generally has been unable to adequately address 
serious human rights abuses committed in the past. Inadequate 
resources, weak leadership, and limited accountability contributed to 
continued abuses by security force personnel, although with sharply 
reduced frequency and gravity than under past governments. The 
following human rights problems occurred during the year: unlawful 
killings by security force personnel, terrorists, vigilante groups, and 
mobs; torture; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary detentions; a corrupt 
judicial system; warrantless searches; infringements on free speech; 
restrictions on peaceful assembly; interference with freedom of 
religion by private parties, sometimes with complicity of local 
officials; intercommunal religious violence; violence and sexual abuse 
against women and children; trafficking in persons; failure to enforce 
labor standards and violations of worker rights, including forced child 
labor.
    During the year the implementation of the Aceh peace accord, signed 
in 2005, continued to yield substantial legal and judicial 
improvements. No unlawful disappearances occurred; human rights 
observers were given open access to the province; and the year marked 
the election of a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leader as governor. 
Domestic and international observers judged the elections to be free 
and fair. In the legal area the Government added Confucianism to the 
list of officially recognized faiths; a new law gave important 
citizenship rights to foreign spouses of citizens and the children of 
such marriages; court decisions applied the more expansive press law 
rather than the more punitive criminal law in press freedom cases; and 
the Constitutional Court declared articles of the penal code 
criminalizing defamation of the President and vice President 
unconstitutional.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year 
there was a sharp decrease in unlawful killing by security forces, 
particularly in the conflict areas of Aceh and Papua. However, the 
Government, in the past, rarely investigated such killings and largely 
failed to hold soldiers and police accountable for killings and other 
serious human rights abuses that occurred in past years.
    On January 20, soldiers opened fire on a crowd in Paniai, Papua 
killing one Papuan and wounding two others. The Indonesian Armed Forces 
(TNI) is reportedly investigating the incident. At year's end no 
charges had been filed.
    On March 6, a man on a motorcycle, trying to evade a police 
roadblock in Peudawa, East Aceh, died. Police maintained that death was 
the result of a fall; local residents and others maintained that he was 
shot by police and that other bystanders on the scene were shot and 
wounded as well. An investigation reportedly was underway, but no 
results had been released at year's end.
    On May 17, police in Wamena, Papua, shot and killed two persons in 
a crowd trying to block the arrest of a local official on corruption 
charges. There were no further developments at year's end.
    On July 3, TNI personnel reportedly shot and killed a former GAM 
member in Keude Paya Bakong, North Aceh, in what may have been a 
traffic dispute. No new developments were reported at year's end.
    On August 19, Deny Lewol was arrested by police in Benteng, Ambon 
City, Maluku. He reportedly was beaten while in custody at the Benteng 
police station and later died at the hospital (see section 1.c.).
    There were no known developments regarding the 44 civilians and 37 
GAM members whom the Human Rights Nongovernmental Organization 
Coalition in Aceh reported were killed during 2005.
    There were no known developments regarding the following 2005 
cases: the January incident in Bireuen, Aceh, during which six members 
of the TNI special forces (Kopassus) reportedly killed two men and 
injured another; the January incident in Nabire, Papua, in which TNI 
personnel allegedly beat local Papuan residents leaving seven seriously 
injured and one, Miron Wonda, dead; the April incident in Mulia City, 
the capital of Puncak Jaya Regency, during which the police shot and 
killed Tolino Iban Giri and arrested eight other persons; the report 
that TNI and Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel killed three 
suspected rebels after capturing them during a joint operation in Serba 
Jaya village in Aceh Jaya District.
    The Government made no significant progress establishing 
accountability for the following 2004 abuse cases: the beating death of 
an East Java resident by police; the killing of three persons who 
allegedly tried to escape police custody in Sragen, Central Java; the 
killings of Hermansyah and Ade Candra, who allegedly tried to escape 
police questioning in Pekanbaru; the police shooting in Poso that 
injured Bambang, a wrongly accused murder suspect.
    On October 4, the Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of 
Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the 2004 poisoning death of prominent 
human rights activist Munir Thalib. The Court upheld Pollycarpus's 
conviction and two-year sentence on lesser charges of falsifying 
official documents. On December 25, Pollycarpus received a three-month 
remission for good behavior and was released from prison, having served 
21 months. A report on the case prepared by a Presidentially appointed 
fact-finding team in 2005 was not publicly released but, according to 
press reports, concluded that Munir's killing was a conspiracy and 
recommended investigation of former and current officials of the State 
Intelligence Agency and of Garuda airlines officials. Munir's widow 
publicly expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court ruling. She 
had previously called on the President to establish a new investigation 
team with more power than the previous one. President Yudhoyono has 
publicly promised that the Government would find and try all those 
responsible for the killing. On December 29, after a meeting with 
President Yudhoyono, the national police chief declared that the police 
were continuing to pursue new evidence in the case.
    During the year the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) 
investigated the 1998 killing of four students at Trisakti University 
and nine demonstrators at Semanggi intersection and the 1999 killing of 
an additional four demonstrators at Semanggi; it concluded that the 
killings were gross human rights violations. Komnas HAM submitted these 
cases to the Attorney General's office (AGO) for prosecution; however, 
the AGO argued that it could not prosecute these cases unless the DPR 
classified them as gross human rights violations. In February DPR 
Speaker Agung Laksono said that the DPR would not reconsider its 2001 
decision that these cases were not gross human rights violations.
    In August 2005 the Governments of Indonesia and East Timor 
established the Truth and Friendship Commission (TFC) to address the 
human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 1999. The 
mandate of the TFC has been extended to August 2007. The TFC 
prioritized 14 cases to be addressed, including the Liquica killing, 
the ambush of Suai Church, and the shooting in the house of Mario 
Carrascalao (see section 1.e.).
    During the year, there were no reports of known killings by the GAM 
or the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
    In 2005 the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Commission for 
Disappearances and Victims of Violence Aceh reported that GAM killed 
seven civilians; the Human Rights NGO Coalition reported that GAM 
killed 17 soldiers during 2005. There were no known developments in 
these cases.
    In May 2005 GAM rebels allegedly shot and killed a seven-year-old 
boy in North Aceh Regency during a rebel ambush of a vehicle carrying 
the boy. The incident left 10 others, including three soldiers, 
injured. There were no known developments in this case.
    There was no known progress in the following cases from 2004: the 
four civilians found dead in a jungle near Peureulak, East Aceh; the 
killing of civilian Cut Musdaifah in Wakheuh village; the alleged GAM 
killing of local legislature candidate Muhammad Amin; and the shooting 
death of a paramedic in South Aceh.
    In March 2005 in Mulia, Papua, according to the military district 
command, an unknown person, believed to be an OPM member, shot and 
killed local civilian Tinius Tabuni. There was no known progress in 
this case.
    On November 7, a Central Jakarta court sentenced OPM guerrilla 
Anthonius Wamang to life in prison for the 2002 murder of two American 
citizens and an Indonesian citizen in Timika, Papua. Two co-defendants 
were convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to seven years. 
Four other defendants were convicted of assisting the conspiracy and 
sentenced to 18 months in prison.
    The courts tried a number of suspects in connection with major 
terrorist incidents. On September 14, the Denpasar District Court in 
Bali announced the final of four convictions of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) 
associates for their role in the October 2005 Bali suicide bombings, 
which killed 19 persons and injured more than 100 in the tourist areas 
of Kuta and Jimbaran. The Bali Court used the country's 2003 
Counterterrorism Law and the Criminal Code to hand down sentences for 
charges that varied from assembling explosives linked to the attacks to 
hiding the suspected architect of the bombing, Noordin Top, and 
facilitating his use of the Internet to spread the group's violent 
ideology. The stiffest sentences were given to Mohammad Cholily (18 
years) and Anif Solchanudin (15 years), in each case exceeding the 
prosecutor's recommendations. The court handed down sentences for Abdul 
Aziz and Widiyarto that were two years less than the 10 recommended by 
prosecutors. Following the convictions, lawyers for Cholily, 
Solchanuddin, and Widiyarto filed appeals, which were withdrawn at the 
insistence of the convicted men.
    On December 6, lawyers for the three men convicted of carrying out 
the 2002 Bali bombing, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas), and Imam 
Samudra, filed requests for judicial review of their convictions. The 
attorneys argued that the 2003 antiterror law, which was passed after 
the bombing and under which the bombers were convicted, could not be 
applied retroactively. At year's end, the review was underway.
    On December 13, the Surabaya district court sentenced Ahmed Arif 
Hermansyah to three years in prison for hiding explosives that were 
used in the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which 
killed 10 and injured more than 150 people.
    On December 21, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction for 
conspiracy of JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in connection with 
the 2002 Bali bombings. After a key witness renounced his statement 
that Ba'asyir had attended meetings where the bombings had been 
discussed, the court decided there was insufficient evidence to uphold 
Ba'asyir's conviction. Ba'asyir had already completed his prison 
sentence.
    The courts continued with prosecutions related to the 2003 Marriott 
hotel bombing that killed 12 persons. On May 1, the South Jakarta 
District Court sentenced Muhammad Iqbal (alias Bayhaqi) to four years 
for aiding terrorists and smuggling weapons; Abdullah Sunata (alias 
Arman) was sentenced to seven years for financing terrorists and 
withholding information on Noordin Top; Joni Ahmad Fauzani and Joko 
Sumanto were found guilty of helping to conceal Top and received four-
year sentences.
    Religious and ethnic conflict in Central Sulawesi abated somewhat 
during the year. The number of murders declined from 37 in 2005 to 
eight, and the number injured due to religious or ethnic attacks 
declined from 104 to three. A new provincial police chief and 1,000 
additional police improved security which reduced violence in the 
province.
    On January 25, the Poso police chief survived an attack by an 
assailant on a motorbike when a bullet narrowly missed his head. On 
September 6, a 50-year-old male was killed when a bomb exploded in 
Tangkura village of Poso Pesisir subdistrict. On September 9, a bomb 
exploded in Kawua, South Poso, killing one person. No arrests have been 
made. On October 1, a Christian woman was stabbed and killed while 
riding public transportation through a predominantly Muslim area of 
Poso City. On October 16, an unidentified gunman shot and killed 
Reverend Irianto Kongkoli in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Police continued 
to investigate but had made no arrests at year's end.
    Government and police continued to make some progress in handling 
conflicts in Central Sulawesi and Maluku. Police made stronger efforts 
to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those involved in violence. On 
May 8, provincial police captured two men, Hasanuddin and Taufik, 
believed to be the perpetrators of the October 2005 beheadings of three 
Christian schoolgirls near Poso. Taufik admitted to participating in 
the beheadings and the murder of Helmi Tobiling in 2004. At year's end 
Taufik was awaiting trial. Based on information provided by Hasanuddin 
and Taufik, police arrested five additional suspects for a number of 
outstanding crimes over the last several years: Jendra (alias Asrudin), 
Irwanto Irano, Lilik Purwanto (alias Haris), Nano Maryono, and Abdul 
Muis in Toli-Toli, Central Sulawesi. Police provided local media with a 
video in which Hasanuddin, Purwanto, Jendra, and Irano confessed to the 
2005 beheadings of the three schoolgirls and named two other co-
conspirators. On the same video Irano also confessed to participating 
in the May 2005 Tentena market bombing as well as the 2004 Immanuel 
Church bombing. Lilik Purwanto confessed to murdering Poso prosecutor 
Ferry Silalahi and Reverend Susianti Tinulele and to bombing the 
Immanuel Church and the Anugerah Central Sulawesi Protestant Church in 
2004. At year's end neither Purwanto nor Irano had been charged for 
these crimes.
    In November 2005 police arrested four men, Parlin, Nurdin, Arsam, 
and Alfitzar, in connection with the November 2005 beheading of a 
Muslim girl in Palu. At year's end all four had been convicted of 
involvement in the murder.
    On September 22, Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva, and Marianus 
Riwu were executed for their roles in connection with sectarian 
violence in Poso in 2000 and in the murder of 191 Muslims in a school. 
The executions led to violence in areas of Flores and West Timor, Nusa 
Tenggara Province, and in Central Sulawesi. In Flores, 3,000 persons 
rioted and burned down at least three government buildings. In 
Kefamananu and Atambua, West Timor, between 3,000 and 5,000 persons 
rioted, destroying government buildings, homes, and vehicles. In 
Central Sulawesi, on the same day as the executions, two Muslims, Arham 
Badaruddin and Rendi Rahman, were pulled from their car and killed 
while passing through Taripa, a predominantly Christian village. 
According to the local police, an autopsy revealed that the men were 
beaten to death with a blunt object. Police arrested 17 people for 
participating in the killings, all of whom admitted their involvement. 
The suspects told police that the victims were killed because of the 
executions of Tibo, Riwu, and Da Silva. At year's end, the suspects 
were awaiting trial. Several other incidents occurred following the 
executions, including three small bombings, attacks on both Muslims and 
Christians, and an attack on the Central Sulawesi police chief that 
resulted in the mobbing and destruction of his police helicopter by a 
crowd of 5,000. Police continued to investigate convicted murderer 
Fabianus Tibo's accusation that 16 other Christians masterminded the 
Central Sulawesi violence. In April Central Sulawesi police again 
questioned 10 out of the 16 people named by Tibo.
    Maluku Province saw greatly reduced ethnic and religious tensions 
during the year, and religious leaders met frequently and openly to 
discuss local events while cooperating to maintain peace and security 
in the province. During the year four murders and two injuries from 
violent attacks occurred in Maluku Province; in 2005 four murders and 
13 injuries were reported.
    In February the Ambon state court sentenced Ongen Pattimura to life 
in prison and Muthalib Patty to 15 years in prison for their roles in 
killing two persons and injuring two others during the February 2005 
attack on the ``Villa'' Karaoke Club in Hative Besar, Ambon. The Ambon 
district court also sentenced Syamsudin (alias Fatur or Andi) to life 
in prison for his role in planning the attack.
    On April 26, Ambon district court sentenced Zainuddin Nasir to 20 
years in prison for his role in the 2004 attack on Wamkana village of 
Buru Island, during which attackers fired on the village from a 
speedboat, killing three and injuring four.
    On September 12, the Ambon state court sentenced Syarif Tarabubun 
to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the ``Villa'' attack. 
Police originally arrested Tarabubun, a police officer, in November 
2005 as a suspect in a number of terrorist actions, including the 
killings at Wamkana in March 2005, the attack on the ``Villa'' Karaoke 
club in February 2005, and the May 2005 attack on a Brimob operations 
command post in Loki Village, Piru District in West Seram Island, 
Maluku Province, which killed seven persons, including five police 
officers.
    During the year the Ambon district court convicted three men for 
participating in a series of attacks in 2004 and 2005. On February 13, 
the court sentenced Asep Djaja to death for his involvement in the May 
2004 Wamkana attack and the May 2005 Loki attack. The sentence was 
reduced to life imprisonment on appeal. The court also sentenced 
Nazaruddin Mochtar (alias Abu Gar) to nine years in prison for his 
involvement in the Loki attack. On April 13, the court convicted 
Abdullah Umamit of involvement in the Loki attack and the 2004 Batu 
Merah grenade attack, which injured five persons in a Muslim 
neighborhood. The incident provoked Muslim residents to attack a bus in 
March 2005, killing four and injuring 14 Christian passengers. There 
has been no progress on the bus attack investigation.
    On March 16, protesters in Abepura, Papua Province, killed three 
policemen and an air force intelligence sergeant. According to a 
Federation of Papuan Churches report, a civilian, Jeni Hisage, was 
shot, beaten, and killed by police in the aftermath of the riot.

    b. Disappearance.--In the past Aceh Province was the scene of 
numerous disappearances. During the year there were no known 
disappearances in Aceh. On November 6, in a speech in Aceh, the TNI 
commander said that the TNI no longer engaged in kidnapping. The 
Government reported little progress in accounting for persons who 
disappeared in previous years or in prosecuting those responsible for 
those disappearances.
    During 2005, according to the Human Rights NGO Coalition, 31 
civilians and one GAM member were kidnapped in Aceh; 46 civilians and 
four GAM members reportedly were kidnapped in 2004. Security forces 
were implicated in some of the disappearances.
    There has been no known progress in the 2004 case of a wounded 16-
year-old boy whom police allegedly took into custody, or in the cases 
of Mukhlis and Zulfikar, members of the local NGO Link for Community 
Development. There was no known progress regarding the 2004 
disappearances of elementary school teachers Muhammad Amin Alwi and 
Hasballah, who were forcibly taken by 10 armed men in military uniforms 
in Nagan Raya Regency.
    In February 2005 GAM members allegedly kidnapped four persons, 
including an eight-year-old child, and demanded a ransom. Their 
whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
    In 2004 Pentecostal minister Jokran Hardi Ratu (alias Jarok Ratu) 
was abducted in South Buru Island, Maluku Province. Abdullah Umamit, 
who was serving a life sentence for his involvement in the Loki attack 
(see section 1.a.), was also convicted in the kidnapping of minister 
Ratu. Umamit admitted in the investigation report that he kidnapped and 
killed the minister and then threw the body into the sea.
    On September 30, a Komnas HAM ad hoc team submitted to the AGO the 
results of their inquiry into the 1998 abductions of between 12 and 14 
pro-democracy activists; the findings had been previously announced 
publicly in September 2005. Despite refusals from military personnel to 
cooperate in the investigation, Komnas HAM concluded that all victims 
still missing were dead and identified suspects for an official 
investigation without publicly releasing their names. During the year 
the AGO took no action, stating that it could not prosecute these 
crimes unless the DPR declared them gross human rights violations (see 
section 1.a.).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution states that every person shall have the 
right to be free from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. The law 
makes it a crime punishable by up to four years in prison for any 
official to use violence or force to elicit a confession; however, law 
enforcement officials widely ignored such statutes. Security forces 
continued to employ torture and other forms of abuse. The Government 
made some efforts to hold members of the security forces responsible 
for acts of torture. During the year the use of torture to obtain 
confessions from suspects was most apparent in Papua. Torture was 
sometimes used to obtain confessions, punish suspects, and seek 
information that incriminated others in criminal activity. Security 
forces also allegedly used torture to extort money from villagers. 
Reliable figures on the number of incidents of torture that occurred 
during the year were difficult to obtain. Torture and other abuse 
included random beatings, bitings, whippings, slashings, and burnings.
    The Catholic Peace and Justice Secretariat (CPJS) reported that 
police arrested more than 20 Papuans following the March 16 Abepura 
incident, in which three policemen and an air force sergeant were 
killed (see sections 1.a. and 2.b.). CPJS staff visited the detainees 
and reported visible signs of abuse on detainees' faces. On August 28, 
a police officer named Novril beat one of the Abepura defendants, 
Nelson Rumbiak, in front of the Abepura Penitentiary (see section 
2.b.). Novril was escorting Rumbiak from the Jayapura District Court 
where Rumbiak had testified that police had beaten him and others 
following the March 16 incident. The Jayapura police disciplinary 
committee sentenced Novril to 21 days' detention.
    In Aceh Province the Human Rights NGO Coalition reported 17 cases 
of human rights violations committed by security forces against 
civilians and two cases against former GAM members during the year, 
compared with violations of 80 civilians' rights in 2005. In September 
2004 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported widespread abuse of prisoners in 
Aceh by security forces, including electric shocks and beatings with 
wooden beams and gun butts. The Government announced it would 
investigate the allegations; however, there were no known 
investigations.
    On January 20, security officers opened fire on a group of 
protesters outside a police station in Paniai Regency, Papua Province, 
killing one person and injuring two others (see section 1.a.).
    Following the May 17 incident in Wamena, Papua, in which police 
killed two persons in a crowd trying to prevent the arrest of a local 
official (see section 1.a.), police allegedly detained more than 100 
villagers, including women and children, and required them to sit in 
the sun in front of the police station for nearly four hours.
    During the year the Government reported no progress in prosecuting 
those responsible for acts of torture committed in Aceh in past years, 
including those cases detailed in reports by HRW and Amnesty 
International (AI).
    During the year 15 persons were publicly caned in Aceh for offenses 
under Shari'a (Islamic law) such as gambling, consumption of alcohol, 
and being alone with members of the opposite sex who were not blood 
relatives, a sharp reduction from 2005, when at least 88 people were 
caned (see section 2.c.).
    Military personnel and police officers were responsible for 
mistreatment and other cruel acts during the reporting period. In March 
Rosidi from Ra'ab, East Java, was arrested and accused of running an 
illegal lottery. According to the head of the village, Rosidi was in 
good health when he was taken to the police station. Following a severe 
beating, he was rushed to Dr. Sutomo Hospital in Surabaya. On March 27, 
Probolinggo police arrested three officers accused of the beating. At 
year's end no details of punishment were available.
    On August 19, Deny Lewol was arrested by police in Benteng, Ambon 
City, Maluku. He was beaten while in custody at the Benteng police 
station and died at the hospital. A group of persons subsequently 
attacked and destroyed the Benteng police station. A crowd of hundreds 
brought his body to the Maluku police to protest. On August 20, Maluku 
provincial police arrested and charged three members of Maluku 
provincial police intelligence (Luis Nusamara, Albert Wattimena, Raders 
Ralahalu) and one civilian, Robert Latuheru, in the death. At year's 
end they were awaiting trial.
    No known disciplinary action has been taken in the September 2005 
attack by a group of Brimob officers in Kampu Pisa, North Maluku, which 
injured 12 persons. The deputy chief of the North Maluku Brimob unit 
had promised to punish the attackers.
    On January 16, the Makassar military court sentenced three army 
soldiers to 10-week jail sentences and fines of $0.55 (Rp 5,000) each 
for their involvement in the November 2005 attack on Banrimanurung 
village in South Sulawesi. Investigators from the Makassar military 
police found that 25 soldiers were involved in the attack, which 
injured three persons and destroyed 50 houses, four cars, and three 
motorcycles. The attack was triggered by an incident the previous week 
when villagers punched a soldier.
    On August 20, Subiyanto, a police officer from the Probolinggo 
police precinct, beat and kicked five-year-old Rian Amarullah. 
Amarullah required hospitalization for his injuries. According to a 
source in the police unit, Subiyanto was drunk and hit three other men 
who saw the incident. Probolinggo police arrested Subiyanto. On August 
23, Subiyanto reportedly committed suicide, hanging himself in his 
cell. In Poso, in November 2005 two schoolgirls, Ivon Nathalia and Siti 
Nuraini, were shot as they walked in the street. They stated that one 
of the perpetrators was a Poso police sergeant. Central Sulawesi Police 
Chief Oegroseno formed a special task force to investigate the incident 
and other shooting incidents that had occurred in Central Sulawesi, 
possibly involving police officers. On April 10, Central Sulawesi 
police arrested a police sergeant for the shooting of the two 
schoolgirls. At year's end, no further information about the 
investigation was available.
    There was no reported progress in the investigation of the 2004 
case of the TNI soldiers in Kampung Meureu Baro-Indrapuri who 
repeatedly raped a 16-year-old girl over a period of several months, 
leaving her pregnant.
    On March 24, Hendra Saputra, a cadet at the Semarang Police 
Academy, was beaten, kicked, and subjected to electric shocks by five 
senior cadets in a hazing incident. He suffered serious brain injuries 
as a result. In November five cadets were charged with torturing 
Saputra. The five cadets were not suspended from the police academy and 
their ongoing police academy duties delayed the start of the trial 
until December. The court had not reached a verdict at year's end.
    Mobs carried out vigilante justice, but reliable statistics on such 
actions were not available. Incidents of theft or perceived theft 
triggered many such incidents. On September 6, in West Jakarta, a mob 
beat and blinded in one eye a man who attempted to steal a woman's 
cellular telephone. Police saved him from being burned alive.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions at the 
country's 365 prisons and detention centers were harsh, and 
overcrowding was widespread. Occupancy frequently was two or three 
times over recommended capacity. Guards regularly mistreated inmates 
and extorted money from them. There were widespread reports that the 
Government did not supply sufficient food to inmates, and family 
members often brought food to supplement their relatives' diets. Family 
members reported that prison officials often sought money to allow 
relatives to visit inmates. Unruly detainees were held in solitary 
confinement for up to six days on a rice-and-water diet.
    The wealthy or privileged had access to better treatment in prison. 
The country's most famous inmate, Hutomo ``Tommy'' Suharto, the son of 
former President Suharto, reportedly left his Central Java prison cell 
for Jakarta every month via helicopter and stayed at a luxury hotel 
while being treated at Subroto Army Hospital for a benign tumor behind 
his eye. In 2002 the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Tommy to 
15 years in prison for hiring two men to kill Supreme Court Justice 
Syaifuddin Kartasasmita, who had convicted him for corruption. On 
appeal, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 10 years. While 
serving his sentence, Tommy received regular remissions of between six 
months and one year for ``good behavior,'' and he was released 
conditionally on October 30.
    Most children convicted of serious crimes served their sentences in 
juvenile prisons. However, in the arrest and trial phases, authorities 
held juveniles in detention centers with adults (see section 5). In 
theory, prisons held those convicted by courts, while detention centers 
held those awaiting trial; however, in practice, pretrial detainees at 
times were held with convicted prisoners.
    There were no official restrictions on prison visits by human 
rights monitors, and prison officials granted varying degrees of 
access, including to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law contains provisions 
against arbitrary arrest and detention but lacks adequate enforcement 
mechanisms, and authorities routinely violated it. The law provides 
prisoners with the right to notify their families promptly and 
specifies that warrants must be produced during an arrest. Exceptions 
are allowed if, for example, a suspect is caught in the act of 
committing a crime. The law allows investigators to issue warrants; 
however, at times authorities made arrests without warrants.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The President appoints 
the national police chief, subject to DPR confirmation. The police 
chief reports to the President but is not a full member of the cabinet. 
The national police force has approximately 250,000 officers deployed 
throughout the 33 provinces. The police maintain a centralized 
hierarchy, and locally deployed forces formally report to their 
national headquarters rather than to local governments. The military is 
responsible for external defense, but also has a residual obligation to 
support the police in their domestic security responsibilities. In 
Aceh, the Shari'a police, a provincial body, is responsible for 
enforcing Shari'a law. During the year international NGOs noted 
improvement in the degree of police crime-fighting professionalism and 
an increased emphasis on law enforcement ethics. Overall, however, 
police professionalism remained low, as did their respect for human 
rights and effectiveness at investigating human rights abuses. Impunity 
and corruption remained significant problems. There were instances in 
which the police failed to respond to mob or vigilante violence. Police 
commonly extracted bribes, ranging from minor payoffs in traffic cases 
to large bribes in criminal investigations. From January to October, 
the Division of Profession and Security (Propam) reportedly 
investigated 5,486 police officers, including high-level officials, 
across the country, resulting in 240 dismissals. Other punishments 
varied from demotion to criminal prosecution.
    In August Propam ordered that Southwest Sulawesi Police Chief 
Brigadier General Edhy Susilo be removed from his position following a 
disciplinary hearing on sexual harassment charges. On September 16, the 
provincial chief of police in East Kalimantan, Inspector General Djosua 
Sitompul, was removed from his position on suspicion of involvement in 
illegal logging.
    On September 26, the South Jakarta District Court found Brigadier 
General Ismoko guilty of receiving bribes and sentenced him to 20 
months in prison. In the same case, Commissioner General Suyitno 
Landung, the former head of the Criminal Investigation Division and an 
instructor at the National Institute of Defense, was arrested in 
December 2005 on suspicion of accepting bribes. On October 10, Landung 
was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is the highest-ranking police 
official to be jailed for corruption.
    On December 4, Senior Commissioner Erick Bismo, the deputy police 
chief in Rembang, Central Java, was removed from his position for 
allegedly beating 26 subordinates.

    Arrest and Detention.--A defendant may challenge the legality of 
his arrest and detention in a pretrial hearing and may sue for 
compensation if wrongfully detained; however, defendants rarely won 
pretrial hearings and almost never received compensation after being 
released without charge. Military and civilian courts rarely accepted 
appeals based on claims of improper arrest and detention. The law 
limits periods of pretrial detention. Police are permitted an initial 
20-day detention, which can be extended to 60 days; prosecutors may 
detain a suspect 30 days initially, with a 20-day extension permitted. 
Prosecutors may extend police detention periods, and a district court 
may further extend prosecutors' detention of a suspect. The district 
and high courts may detain a defendant up to 90 days during trial or 
appeal, while the Supreme Court may detain a defendant 110 days while 
considering an appeal. In addition, the law allows detention periods to 
be extended up to an additional 60 days at each level if a defendant 
faces a possible prison sentence of nine years or longer or if the 
individual is certified to be mentally or physically disturbed. 
Authorities generally respected these limits in practice. The 
antiterrorism law allows investigators to detain any person who, based 
on adequate preliminary evidence, is strongly suspected of committing 
or planning to commit any act of terrorism for up to four months before 
charges must be filed.
    In areas of separatist conflict, such as Papua, police frequently 
and arbitrarily detained persons without warrants, charges, or court 
proceedings. The authorities rarely granted bail, frequently prevented 
access to defense counsel during investigations, and limited or 
prevented access to legal assistance from voluntary legal defense 
organizations.
    In the aftermath of the March 16 Abepura incident in which three 
police officers were killed, police allegedly physically abused and 
arbitrarily arrested suspects. Only one of the persons arrested was on 
the list of suspects issued by local police immediately after the 
incident. According to human rights groups, the persons arrested were a 
combination of student activists and innocent bystanders implicated 
during the interrogation of other suspects (see sections 1.a., 1.e., 
and 2.b.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for judicial 
independence. In practice the judiciary became increasingly independent 
but remained influenced at times by the executive branch, the military, 
business interests, and politicians. The Constitutional Court 
demonstrated significant independence and, in some major cases, ruled 
against the Government. Low salaries continued to encourage corruption, 
and judges were subject to pressure from government authorities, which 
often influenced the outcome of cases.
    Under the Supreme Court are general, religious, military, and 
administrative courts. The law provides for the right of appeal. The 
Supreme Court normally considers only the lower court's application of 
the law. Another avenue for appeal is the judicial review process. 
Judicial review allows the Supreme Court to revisit cases that have 
already been decided (including by the Supreme Court itself), provided 
that there is new evidence that was not available during earlier 
trials. Parallel to the Supreme Court is the Constitutional Court, 
which is empowered to review the constitutionality of laws, settle 
disputes between state institutions, dissolve political parties, 
resolve certain electoral disputes, and decide allegations of treason 
or corruption against the President or vice President.
    In August 2005 the President inaugurated the Judicial Commission 
with a mandate to propose candidates for appointment as justices to the 
Supreme Court and to monitor and ensure the integrity of judges. In an 
August 23 verdict, the Constitutional Court stripped the Judicial 
Commission of an oversight role and concluded that the law establishing 
the commission did not clearly state what the body would monitor. Legal 
experts criticized the court's decision as counter to efforts to combat 
corruption. During the year the commission received a total of 473 
reports about the conduct of judges.
    The judicial branch theoretically is equal to the executive and 
legislative branches, and it has the power of judicial review of laws 
passed by the DPR; government regulations; and Presidential, 
ministerial, and gubernatorial decrees. In practice the judiciary was 
less influential than the executive and legislative branches. In each 
of the country's 2,418 district courts, a panel of judges conducts 
trials by posing questions, hearing evidence, deciding on guilt or 
innocence, and assessing punishment. Both the defense and prosecution 
can appeal verdicts. At times judges reversed initial judgments in the 
appeals process and sometimes lengthened or shortened sentences.
    In the aftermath of the March 16 Abepura civil disorder, police 
arrested a total of 24 persons on charges ranging from murder to 
assault to obstructing an officer in the performance of official 
duties; at year's end 22 had been convicted and given sentences ranging 
from four months to 15 years in jail. The trials of the remaining two 
were in progress at year's end. Human rights activists raised serious 
questions about the fairness of the trials. They noted the lack of 
positive identifications of suspects by police in most cases, the 
admission of physical evidence without proper foundation being laid, 
and alleged that the judicial panel was biased against the defendants. 
Komnas HAM was asked to investigate the trials, but, at year's end, it 
had not yet decided whether to open an investigation (see sections 
1.a., 1.d., and 2.b.).

    Trial Procedures.--The law presumes that defendants are innocent 
until proven guilty. It also permits bail, which was used rarely in 
areas of separatist conflict. Court officials sometimes accepted bribes 
in exchange for granting bail. Defendants have the right to confront 
witnesses and call witnesses in their defense. An exception is allowed 
in cases in which distance or expense is deemed excessive for 
transporting witnesses to court; in such cases, sworn affidavits may be 
introduced. The courts allowed forced confessions, particularly in 
conflict areas, and limited the presentation of defense evidence. 
Defendants have the right to avoid self-incrimination but generally 
were required to give testimony before the conclusion of a trial. 
However, in practice, defendants regularly refused to answer questions. 
The law gives defendants the right to an attorney from the time of 
arrest and at every stage of examination, and requires that counsel be 
appointed in cases involving capital punishment or a prison sentence of 
15 years or more. In cases involving potential sentences of five years 
or more, the law requires the appointment of an attorney if the 
defendant is indigent and requests counsel. In theory, indigent 
defendants may obtain private legal assistance, and NGO lawyer 
associations provided free legal representation to indigent defendants. 
For example, the Women's Legal Aid Foundation (LBH-Apik) represented 
many women who otherwise could not afford representation. In many cases 
procedural protections, including those against forced confessions, 
were inadequate to ensure a fair trial.
    On August 11, President Yudhoyono signed the Witness and Victim 
Protection Act, which is intended to protect witnesses who testify or 
provide information to investigators from harm and threats to their 
safety and security. The law provides security to witnesses and 
victims, and their family members. In the past many witnesses were 
reluctant to testify in court for fear of defamation charges. The 
Witness and Victim Protection Act does not shield against defamation 
charges.
    Widespread corruption throughout the legal system continued. Bribes 
and extortion influenced prosecution, conviction, and sentencing in 
countless civil and criminal cases. On January 3, investigators from 
the AGO and the national police took Judge Herman Alossitandi into 
custody after he allegedly attempted to extort $22,000 (200 million 
rupiah) from Walter Sigalingging, a key witness in a $34.5 million (311 
billion rupiah) graft case involving the former head of the state 
social security agency. The Supreme Court ordered the Jakarta High 
Court to set up a disciplinary council and move forward with the 
possible suspension of Alossitandi. On June 26, Alossitandi was 
sentenced to 4+ years in prison and fined $22,000 (200 million rupiah).
    On September 6, the Anti-Corruption Court sentenced Suparman, a 
former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator, to eight 
years' imprisonment and fined him $22,000 (200 million rupiah) for 
corruption and blackmailing a witness. The judges concluded Suparman 
abused his authority as a KPK investigator to extort money and goods 
from Tintin Surtini, a witness in a corruption case.
    On December 19, the Constitutional Court ruled that the legal 
provision creating the Anti-Corruption Court was unconstitutional but 
permitted the court to continue functioning for three more years.
    During the year the National Ombudsman Commission reported that it 
received 102 complaints of judicial corruption involving judges, 
clerks, and lawyers. This represented 13 percent of all corruption 
complaints, a reduction from 2005, when 36 percent of complaints 
related to judicial corruption. Key individuals in the justice system 
not only accepted bribes but also appeared to turn a blind eye to other 
government offices suspected of corruption.
    Most judges earned $200 to $256 (1.8 million to 2.3 million rupiah) 
per month, while a judge with three decades' experience earned 
approximately $660 (5.94 million rupiah) per month; Supreme Court 
justices earned between $1,540 and $2,640 (14 to 24 million rupiah) per 
month. During the year the Government issued a Presidential instruction 
to adjust the salary of judges to $1,100-1,600 (10 to 15 million 
rupiah) per month. At year's end this decision had not been 
implemented.
    Apart from the handful of soldiers who were tried in human rights 
courts, hundreds of low-level and sometimes mid-level soldiers were 
tried in military court, including for offenses that involved civilians 
or occurred when soldiers were not on duty. If a soldier was suspected 
of committing a crime, military police investigated and then passed 
their findings to military prosecutors, who decided whether or not to 
prepare a case. While administratively managed by the TNI, military 
prosecutors and judges were responsible to the AGO and the Supreme 
Court for the application of laws. However, under the ``one roof 
system'' adopted in 2004, the Supreme Court exercises administrative 
control over military and religious courts. A three-person panel of 
military judges heard trials while the military high court and the 
military supreme court heard appeals. Some civilians criticized the 
short length of prison sentences imposed by military courts. TNI legal 
officials noted that all personnel sentenced to terms of three months 
or longer, regardless of their record or length of service, were 
discharged from military service.
    Four district courts adjudicated cases of gross human rights 
violations. The law provides for each court to have five members, 
including three non-career human rights judges, who are appointed to 
five-year terms. Verdicts can be appealed to the standing high court 
and the Supreme Court. The law provides for internationally recognized 
definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity, and command 
responsibility, but it does not include war crimes as a gross violation 
of human rights.
    In September 2005, in its first verdict, the country's first 
permanent human rights court in Makassar, South Sulawesi, found that 
the police attacks in 2000 against almost 100 victims in Abepura, 
Papua, were not ``crimes against humanity'' (see section 2.b.). The 
court dismissed all charges against Brimob Brigadier General Johny 
Wainal Usman and South Sulawesi Police High Commissioner Daud 
Sihombing. The court also denied the victims' request for 
rehabilitation and compensation. Prosecutors appealed the verdict to 
the Supreme Court, which had not issued a decision by year's end (see 
section 1.a.).
    On March 13, the Supreme Court acquitted Noer Muis of all charges 
and sentenced Eurico Guterres to 10 years in jail for charges in 
connection with atrocities that occurred during 1999 in three East 
Timor locations: Liquica, Dili, and Suai. Of the 18 original 
defendants, only Guterres received a jail sentence. Guterres filed for 
a judicial review and the hearing was held on October 2. At year's end 
no decision had been issued. Six of the 18 originally were convicted at 
the trial level. In 2004 the Jakarta High Court overturned four of the 
sentences. Later in 2004 the Supreme Court acquitted a fifth.
    By 2005 East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit had indicted a total of 
391 individuals for crimes against humanity committed during and after 
the 1999 referendum; however, 290 of these individuals remained at 
large with little chance of being returned to East Timor to stand 
trial. The UN sent a Commission of Experts to Indonesia in 2005 to 
evaluate the Indonesian ad hoc tribunal and the Serious Crimes Unit and 
to recommend next steps for achieving accountability. The commission 
recommended that either Indonesia retry the perpetrators of violence 
within six months or that the cases be tried before an international 
tribunal. The commission also included the possibility of an 
exceptional International Criminal Court investigation (that would 
extend the court's jurisdiction to crimes committed before its 
establishment) if its recommendations were not implemented.
    In August 2005 Indonesia and East Timor established the TFC to 
address the human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 
1999. The mandate of the TFC has been extended to August 2007.In 
January and February, the Supreme Court acquitted Captain Sutrisno 
Mascung, retired army major general Pranowo, and 10 subordinates of all 
charges stemming from the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident, in which dozens 
and perhaps hundreds of persons were shot and killed. The court held 
that the Tanjung Priok incident was a criminal case, not a human rights 
one. In 2003 the ad hoc human rights tribunal for the 1984 Tanjung 
Priok incident heard the cases of 16 defendants, including Pranowo; 
retired army major general Rudolf Adolf Butar-Butar; army major general 
Sriyanto Muntrasan, the commander of Army Special Forces; and other 
lower-ranked military officers and enlisted personnel under the command 
of Captain Sutrisno Mascung. All of the defendants faced charges of 
crimes against humanity. The tribunal sentenced Butar-Butar to 10 years 
in prison and found 13 others guilty and sentenced them to two or three 
years in jail. The prosecutors had requested 10-year sentences. The 
court found Pranowo and Muntrasan not guilty. In July 2005 the high 
court overturned all 14 convictions and upheld the lower court's 
finding that Pranowo and Muntrasan were not guilty as well.
    In 2004 Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan inaugurated the 
first Shari'a courts in Aceh. Under the system, 19 district religious 
courts and one court of appeals heard cases. The courts heard only 
cases involving Muslims and used decrees formulated by the Aceh local 
government rather than the penal code. In 2003 the provincial 
legislature passed laws that included caning among the punishments that 
the Shari'a court may administer as punishment for persons found guilty 
of gambling, drinking, or being alone with a non-related member of the 
opposite sex (see sections 1.c. and 2.c.).
    Political Prisoners and DetaineesIn accordance with the 2005 
Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of 
Indonesia and GAM, the Government unconditionally released prisoners 
and detainees held due to the Aceh conflict. The Government facilitated 
reintegration of released prisoners, which proceeded without violence. 
The Government continued to hold a relatively small number of former 
GAM personnel whom it maintained had been convicted on criminal 
charges.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Widespread corruption 
exists at all levels of the civil legal system. Bribes, extortion, and 
political considerations influenced the outcomes in large numbers of 
civil cases.
    The civil court system can be used to seek damages for victims of 
human rights violations. However, corruption and political influence 
over the civil court system limit access of victims to this remedy.
    On December 8, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) created in 2004 by the DPR was 
unconstitutional (see section 4). The Constitutional Court chief 
justice stated that the Government's lack of progress in appointing the 
TRC's members was one factor in its decision.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law requires judicial warrants for searches except 
for cases involving subversion, economic crimes, and corruption. The 
law also provides for searches without warrants when circumstances are 
``urgent and compelling.'' Security officials occasionally broke into 
homes and offices. The authorities occasionally conducted surveillance 
on individuals and their residences and monitored telephone calls. 
Corrupt officials sometimes subjected migrants returning from abroad, 
particularly women, to arbitrary strip searches, theft, and extortion 
at special lanes set aside at airports for returning workers. Under the 
special autonomy arrangement in Aceh, Shari'a courts and police have 
been established to enforce locally drafted laws which ban Muslims 
from, among other things, drinking alcohol, gambling, and being in 
close proximity to a member of the opposite sex to whom one is not a 
close blood relation. The special police charged with upholding Shari'a 
conducted warrantless searches during the year.
    In December the DPR passed a law reaffirming a longstanding 
requirement that the National Identity Card (KTP), which all citizens 
are required to carry, identify the holder's religion. NGOs charged 
that this feature of the KTP undermined the country's pluralistic 
tradition and endangered cardholders who traveled through areas of 
interreligious conflict.
    Members of the six religions officially recognized by the 
Government--Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and 
Confucianism--had little or no trouble obtaining identification cards. 
On February 24, the Government issued a decree officially recognizing 
Confucianism, and Confucians are now able to get KTPs which list 
Confucianism as their religion (see section 2.c.). Members of 
unrecognized religious groups such as the Sikhs or Baha'is remained 
unable to obtain KTPs unless they consented to listing themselves as 
belonging to one of the officially recognized religions. Also, low-
level officials and village heads responsible for issuing KTPs often 
demanded small bribes or made the process very cumbersome, which made 
it difficult for disadvantaged groups such as itinerant workers, the 
poor, religious minorities, and the homeless to obtain KTPs.
    In many parts of the country, particularly in Kalimantan and Papua, 
local residents believed that the government-sponsored transmigration 
program interfered with their traditional ways of life, land usage, and 
economic opportunities. No new families have transmigrated under 
government auspices since 2004. The Government continued to support at 
least 71,748 households moved in previous years from overpopulated 
areas to 361 isolated and less developed areas in 26 provinces.
    The Government used its authority, and at times intimidation, to 
appropriate land for development projects, often without fair 
compensation. In other cases, state-owned companies were accused of 
endangering resources upon which citizens' livelihood depended. In May 
2005 President Yudhoyono signed a decree on land acquisition for public 
use, which allows the Government to acquire land for public development 
projects even if landowners have not agreed on the amount of 
compensation. A number of NGOs argued that the decree served the 
interests of wealthy developers at the expense of the poor.
    Land disputes generated charges of unfair evictions and the use of 
excessive force by security officials. The NGO Jakarta Residents Forum 
estimated that security officials evicted at least 6,000 persons in 13 
areas during the year compared with 5,000 in 2005.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law 
provide for freedom of speech and freedom of the press; however, the 
Government at times restricted these rights in practice. A vigorous, 
independent media operated in the country and generally expressed a 
wide variety of views without restriction. During the year trials were 
held for two men charged with criminal defamation for ``insulting the 
President,'' but in December the Constitutional Court ruled these 
articles of the criminal code unconstitutional. At least three persons 
were arrested for raising separatist flags. In addition, politicians 
and powerful businessmen often filed criminal or civil complaints 
against journalists whose articles they found insulting or offensive. 
During the year some journalists faced threats or violence.
    During the year there was a vigorous debate over proposed revisions 
to the criminal code. Among the more controversial provisions were ones 
that would protect government officials and the state ideology 
(Pancasila) from defamation and would criminalize pornography and 
certain acts deemed pornographic. The revisions were still under debate 
at year's end.
    Three chief editors were charged with the crime of publicly 
expressing or inciting animosity and defamation towards Islam after 
they published controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. 
However, only Teguh Santosa, editor of the news Web site Rakyat Merdeka 
Online, was brought to court. On September 20, the South Jakarta 
District Court dismissed the charges against Santosa saying the 
prosecution had used an improper legal argument against him. The judges 
accepted the defense lawyers' argument that journalists should not be 
tried under the criminal code, but rather under the press law.
    On June 28, police arrested student activist Fahrur Rahman for 
burning pictures of the President and vice President in a student 
demonstration. On October 30, Rahman was convicted and sentenced to 
three months in jail. On August 3, the North Jakarta district court 
tried lawyer Eggi Sudjana on charges of defamation for criticizing the 
President for allegedly accepting gifts of luxury cars for his son and 
three of his aides from a businessman. Sudjana asked the Constitutional 
Court to review the two provisions of the criminal code which 
criminalize defamation of the President and vice President. On December 
7, the Constitutional Court declared the two provisions 
unconstitutional.
    On April 28, police arrested Popy Egenderph, Jhon Sahureka, and 
Dominggus Saranamual for their involvement in raising the separatist 
South Maluku Republic flag in the Kudamati area. Popy had been the 
target of police investigation since 2004 because of her involvement in 
coordinating such actions as a flag-raising in front of the residence 
of Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) leader Alex Manuputy in 2004. Police 
were also investigating the involvement of Sahureka and Saranamual in 
the FKM.
    Although the Government did not formally restrict foreign 
journalists from traveling to the provinces of Papua and West Irian 
Jaya, as a matter of practice the Government expected journalists to 
request permission through the foreign ministry or, if abroad, through 
the nearest Indonesian embassy. The Government approved some requests 
and denied others. Some journalists traveled to Papua without specific 
government permission. There were no reports of restrictions on 
journalists traveling to previous areas of conflict in Aceh, Maluku, 
North Maluku, and Sulawesi.
    Journalists faced violence and intimidation from police, soldiers, 
government officials, rebels, thugs, students, and ordinary citizens. 
During the year the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) recorded 
at least 53 acts of violence against journalists, including physical 
attacks as well as verbal threats and lawsuits. One journalist was 
murdered, four faced lawsuits, 17 were threatened, and 31 were 
attacked. AJI found the most dangerous provinces for journalists were 
Jakarta (16 cases of violence), East Java (seven cases), and West Java 
(six cases). Mobs and thugs committed 15 acts of violence, government 
officials (district heads, regents, governors, ministerial staff) and 
the police were each responsible for seven.
    On April 29, freelance reporter Herliyanto was found dead with 
numerous stab wounds to his head, neck, stomach, and back in a teak 
plantation near Tarokan village, East Java. Herliyanto was 
investigating corruption allegations involving school construction 
funds in Tulupari village. Police ruled out robbery as a motive but did 
not say publicly whether the killing was linked to his reporting.
    On June 13, unknown persons attacked a group of journalists from 
Jakarta who were on assignment in Kutai Kertanegara, East Kalimantan. 
The journalists were invited by the governor to cover preparations for 
the 2008 National Sports Week. Police arrested 10 attackers. Several 
were known delinquents and one was a tribal leader from the Kutai 
Kertanegara Forestry Service.
    On several occasions during the year, an extremist group, the 
Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), sought to limit freedom of expression 
through intimidation. In April the country's first edition of Playboy 
magazine was published and sparked protests although it contained no 
nudity. The police charged four models and the chief editor of the 
magazine in a lawsuit filed by FPI and a group called the Indonesian 
Anti-Piracy and Pornography Society. The editor's trial began in 
December and continued through year's end. On April 12, approximately 
300 FPI activists attacked the building housing the magazine's office, 
causing damage and injuring two police officers. They demanded that the 
magazine cease publication. The police arrested three of the FPI 
members. The publisher moved the magazine's operations from Jakarta to 
Bali.
    On February 9, the Supreme Court overturned Tempo magazine chief 
editor Bambang Harymurti's 2004 criminal defamation conviction in a 
case stemming from an article that suggested that prominent businessman 
Tomy Winata stood to benefit from a fire that destroyed a Jakarta 
market. In overturning the conviction, the Supreme Court ruled that the 
press law should be used in defamation cases against journalists 
instead of the criminal law.
    During the year the Government took no legal action against any 
person responsible for crimes committed against journalists in 2004 and 
2005.
    In 2002 the Government enacted a broadcasting law that established 
an impartial broadcasting commission (KPI) and designated the state as 
the sole authority to issue broadcasting licenses. In November 2005 the 
Government issued four implementing regulations banning live broadcast 
of regularly scheduled foreign programs by domestic carriers and giving 
the broadcast licensing authority to the Ministry of Communications and 
Information. Although some stations continued to air live broadcasts of 
foreign news reports, others delayed them to comply with the law. The 
2002 law does not specify whether the ministry or the KPI controls 
issuance of broadcast licenses, so broadcasters continued to apply to 
both. In May both KPI and a coalition of NGOs separately requested that 
the Supreme Court review the 2005 implementing regulations, arguing 
they infringe on media freedom. At year's end the Supreme Court had not 
issued a decision in either case.
    Despite incidents of violence and intimidation of the press, 
members of the press continued aggressive reporting on such issues as 
corruption, the Munir murder case, and environmental degradation. 
Regional media increasingly prospered. In addition, moderate Islamic 
publications continued to increase in number and popularity. Internet 
Freedom
    In November, the Ministry of Information issued a decree creating 
an agency aimed at preventing online crime among local users. Under the 
decree, Internet cafes are required to provide the identities of 
Internet users to the agency on a monthly basis. The Ministry of 
Communication and Information denied that this agency would monitor 
online content. Human rights NGOs formed a team to monitor 
implementation of the decree.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The March 16 Abepura 
incident, in which three police officers and an air force 
noncommissioned officer were killed, occurred near Cendrawasih 
University. In the aftermath police swept the dormitories in search of 
suspects. Many students reportedly fled the university, and it was 
forced to close for 10 days.
    The government-supervised Film Censorship Institute continued to 
censor domestic and imported movies for content deemed pornographic or 
religiously offensive.
    In December the Jakarta film festival showed the documentary film A 
Hero's Journey about East Timor President and former Indonesian 
prisoner Xanana Gusmao. Media coverage of the film was limited. The 
Film Censorship Institute reportedly prevented the planned showing of 
three other films at the festival, all of which touched upon 
politically sensitive topics: East Timor, the 2002 Bali bombing, and 
the Aceh conflict.
    In July the women's chapter of FPI, the Mujahidah FPI, claimed that 
Miss Indonesia's participation in the Miss Universe contest violated an 
education minister's decree forbidding the holding of beauty contests. 
FPI also reported members of the Miss Indonesia Foundation to the 
police for their involvement in sending Miss Indonesia to the contest. 
Although the case remained open, no charges had been filed at year's 
end.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right; however, the Government restricted this 
right in conflict areas. The law generally does not require permits for 
social, cultural, or religious gatherings; however, any gathering of 
five or more persons related to political, labor, or public policy 
requires police notification, and demonstrations require a permit.
    Although the Papua Special Autonomy Law permits flying a flag 
symbolizing Papua's cultural identity, on January 28, police arrested 
Jacob Mamori for hoisting the Papuan Morning Star Flag. Soon after he 
was described as being mentally deranged and was released. On May 11, 
police refused permission for a May 12 seminar at Cendrawasih 
University on the topic ``the demand for Freeport closure.''
    There were instances when police showed notable restraint in 
dealing with violent demonstrations. For example, on March 16 in 
Abepura, approximately 150 demonstrators, including students from 
Cendrawasih University, blocked off roads for two days in front of the 
university demanding the closure of the foreign-owned Freeport mine in 
Timika. Demonstrators and students attacked the police and, with large 
rocks, beat to death three police officers and one member of the air 
force. In response, police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets at 
the crowd (see sections 1.a., 1.d., and 1.e.).
    On May 3, the police used tear gas and water cannons in confronting 
labor demonstrators who had torn down the gates to the parliament 
compound, set fire to tires, and thrown stones at the police (see 
section 6.b.).
    On other occasions police took no action to protect persons being 
attacked by mobs. On February 4, a mob in West Lombok attacked the 
houses of Ahmadiyah sect members, destroying 27 houses and leaving 137 
people homeless. On March 17, a mob in Central Lombok attacked another 
Ahmadiyah settlement, destroying 45 homes. In each incident, police 
received information that an attack was imminent, but took no action to 
prevent it. In July a mob ransacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in Bogor, West 
Java (see section 2.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected it in practice. The 
Communist Party was banned in 1966.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for ``all 
persons the right to worship according to his or her own religion or 
belief'' and states that ``the nation is based upon belief in one 
supreme God.'' The Government generally respected the former provision, 
but until recently only five faiths--Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, 
Hinduism, and Buddhism--received official recognition in the form of 
representation at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. However, in 
February the Government recognized Confucianism as a formal religion 
following a statement by President Yudhoyono on the celebration of the 
Chinese New Year (most Confucians in the country are ethnic Chinese). 
On February 24, the Home Affairs Ministry issued a regulation requiring 
local and provincial administrations to provide administrative services 
to Confucians, such as issuing marriage licenses and identification 
documents which denote the bearer's Confucian religious affiliation. 
Other religious groups were able to register with the Government, but 
only with the Ministry of Home Affairs and only as social 
organizations. These groups experienced official and social 
discrimination. The law does not recognize atheism, and in practical 
terms requires all persons to identify themselves with one of the six 
faiths acknowledged by the Government.
    The civil registration system continued to discriminate against 
members of minority religions. Civil registry officials refused to 
register the marriages or births of children of animists, members of 
the Baha'i faith, and others because they did not belong to one of the 
six officially recognized faiths. According to the Hindu association 
Parisadha Hindu Dharma Indonesia, Hindus, particularly in North 
Lampung, Southeast Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and some areas in East Java, 
despite official recognition of their religion, sometimes had to travel 
some distance to register marriages or births because local officials 
would not perform the registration.
    Persons whose religion was not one of the six officially recognized 
faiths, as well as persons of Chinese descent, had difficulty obtaining 
a KTP, which was necessary to register marriages, births, and divorces. 
Several NGOs and religious advocacy groups urged the Government to 
delete the religion category from the KTPs, but the DPR passed 
legislation in December retaining it (see section 1.f.). Men and women 
of different religions experienced difficulties in marrying and in 
registering marriages. The Government refused to register a marriage 
unless a religious marriage ceremony had taken place. However, very few 
religious officials were willing to take part in a wedding involving a 
man and woman of different faiths. For this reason, some brides and 
grooms converted to their partner's religion. Others resorted to 
traveling overseas to wed. In July 2005 the Indonesian Council of 
Ulemas (MUI) reaffirmed its 1980 ban on marriages between persons of 
different faiths. MUI edicts are influential but do not have legal 
standing.
    On March 21, the ministers of religious affairs and home affairs 
signed a joint ministerial decree on the establishment of houses of 
worship, which replaced a 1969 joint ministerial decree, and declares 
that a permit for a house of worship can be issued if it is petitioned 
in a signed statement by at least 90 congregation members and 60 other 
community members. The petition must then be approved by both the local 
head of the Religious Affairs Department and the local office of the 
Communication Forum for Religious Harmony. The joint ministerial decree 
was in part a response to attacks on unregistered houses of worship. 
The decree was intended to make it easier to open houses of worship by 
reducing the number of other community members who must sign the 
petition. Some groups criticized the new rules for retaining the 
requirement that community members consent to establishment of houses 
of worship. These groups also noted that the high number of 
congregation members required to sign the petition limited the ability 
of small congregations to register and to exercise their constitutional 
right to freedom of worship.
    In Central Sulawesi and Maluku, NGOs worked closely with religious 
leaders and the local community to promote mutual respect and 
cooperation among religions. Muslim and Christian groups in Poso/Palu 
were communicating better and interacting more intensively.
    In March in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, approximately 100 members of 
the militant Islamic group Laskar Jundullah ransacked an office/house 
of two foreign university lecturers/linguists, accusing the two long-
term residents of translating the Bible into the local dialect and 
demanding the two leave the country for allegedly trying to convert 
residents to Christianity. The local police dispersed the crowd, after 
allowing them to ``search'' the couple's house.
    In September 2005 a court in West Java sentenced three women to 
three years in prison each for proselytizing based on their inclusion 
of Muslim children, albeit with parental permission, in Christian 
Sunday school activities. On February 7, the Supreme Court denied their 
appeal. In November 2005 a non-Indonesian and a citizen working on a 
dam project in Madura were arrested following accusations that they 
were trying to corrupt the Muslim community. On March 29, the non-
Indonesian was found guilty of misusing his visa and sentenced to four 
months in jail. After serving his sentence, he was deported. The 
citizen was sentenced to 2+ years in jail.
    During the year the Government took no concrete steps to implement 
controversial provisions of the education law that require schools to 
provide religious instruction to students in their own faith.
    As in previous years, some political parties advocated amending the 
constitution to adopt Shari'a on a nationwide basis, but most 
parliamentarians and the country's largest Muslim social organizations 
remained opposed to the proposal. There were no attempts by the 
national parliament or local legislatures to amend the constitution to 
adopt Shari'a laws. However, local governments have issued Shari'a-
based local laws. Some human rights groups argue that these religiously 
based laws are illegal, since the Government of Indonesia's regional 
autonomy law prohibits local laws from dealing with religion. Others 
argue that the Shari'a based laws violate constitutional provisions 
that proscribe religiously based laws. The central authorities have not 
challenged the issuance of such local regulations.
    According to the Indonesian Women's Coalition, more than 56 
Shari'a-based local laws have been issued throughout Indonesia. These 
include laws requiring that women wear headscarves in public, that 
village heads be able to read the Koran (in Arabic), and that prohibit 
drinking alcohol and gambling.
    In Aceh, in accordance with Aceh's special autonomy arrangement, 
the Government continued to establish Shari'a courts, which heard only 
cases involving Muslims and did not enforce the national penal code but 
rather qanuns, decrees formulated by the Aceh government and approved 
by the provincial legislature. The qanuns cover such ``immoral 
behavior'' as extramarital contact between a man and woman, gambling, 
and the production, distribution, or consumption of alcohol. 
Extramarital contact warrants from three to nine lashes, consumption of 
alcohol 40 lashes, and gambling six to 12 lashes. During the year a 
total of 15 persons were caned.
    Members of the Banda Aceh Shari'a office, supported by local 
police, enforced headscarf use by Muslim women. In a series of December 
sweeps, Aceh's Shari'a police raided more than 30 beauty salons for 
allowing ``improper contact'' between men and women that, they alleged, 
could lead to adultery. The police also arrested local women for not 
wearing headscarves.
    Courts sentenced several persons to jail for insulting Islam.
    On May 17, the Palu District Court sentenced eight followers of 
Madi, a fugitive sect leader, to nine months in jail for their 
involvement in a October 2005 clash that left five dead, including 
three police officers. Two other suspects were acquitted of all 
charges.
    As in previous years, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, 
many local governments ordered either the closure or limited operating 
hours for various types of ``entertainment'' establishments, 
particularly bars and nightclubs not located in five star hotels. 
Government and mainstream Islamic leaders called on fringe groups not 
to carry out vigilante closings of establishments that violated these 
decrees, and these radical groups complied.Societal Abuses and 
Discrimination
    The Ahmadiyah Islamic sect, considered heretical by many mainstream 
Muslims, was attacked by mobs on several occasions, sometimes with 
elements of the authorities assisting the attackers or acquiescing in 
the attack. The Government has not sought to punish the perpetrators of 
these attacks (see section 2.b.). At year's end the Ahmadiyah compound 
in Bogor, West Java, which was attacked and damaged in July 2005, 
remained sealed, although Ahmadiyah members were able to use the office 
facilities in a limited fashion.
    On February 4, between 500 and 1,000 local residents attacked an 
Ahmadiyah housing complex in Gegerungan, injuring six persons and 
destroying all 25 homes. The 137 residents were forced to take shelter 
in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Mataram, the Lombok 
provincial capital. The village head informed police of the impending 
attack but the police were unable or unwilling to stop the violence. 
Police arrested three participants in the violence after the situation 
calmed, but they were subsequently released and no further action was 
taken. An alleged provocateur of the violence was also later arrested, 
but was released when an angry crowd showed up at the police station 
holding him. No one has been charged with any crime in the incident.
    On March 17, members of the Anti-Ahmadiyah Alliance destroyed homes 
of Ahmadiyah members in Prapen, Central Lombok Regency, causing the 
evacuation of 45 people to the Ahmadiyah IDP camp in Mataram. There 
were no arrests after this attack.
    At year's end 182 Ahmadiyah members were living as IDPs in 
government barracks in Mataram. Police would not allow them to return 
and rebuild their homes until the local government decided what to do 
about them. Local political and religious leaders blamed the 
Ahmadiyah's plight on their unwillingness to ``return to the flock'' of 
mainstream Islam.
    On February 15, the Regent of Bulukumba closed the Ahmadiyah mosque 
in Ujung Loe district of Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi. Hundreds of 
persons demanded that Ahmadiyah followers leave the village.
    On April 29, dozens of unidentified people vandalized the Ahmadiyah 
mosque in Ranowila, South Sulawesi Province, while Ahmadiyah followers 
were commemorating the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. No injuries or 
arrests were reported.
    On October 24, a group attacked a mosque belonging to the 
Ahmadihyah sect in Buton regency, South Sulawesi, while the group was 
performing Idul Fitri prayers. Buton police prevented the attackers 
from setting the mosque on fire and evacuated members of the sect. No 
arrests were made.
    On October 25, followers of Ahmadiyah clashed with local community 
members in Manislor, West Java, causing damage to the Ahmadiyah mosque 
and the house of a local resident. No arrests were made.
    On October 27, a mob in Bogor, West Java, dragged Muslim cleric 
Alih bin Hadi from his mosque and beat him to death. Members of the 
local community had contended for some time that Alih, who was a member 
of a group called Yayasan Karisma Usada Mustika, was delivering 
heretical sermons; the MUI was also looking into charges of heresy. In 
December 2005, Alih agreed to leave Bogor and stop preaching but 
returned to Bogor during the fall of this year. At year's end an 
investigation was ongoing.
    Religiously motivated violence and vigilante acts in Central 
Sulawesi, Maluku, and North Maluku occurred less frequently than in 
previous years. However, Central Sulawesi continued to experience 
sporadic bombings, shootings, and other violence in spite of broad 
societal support for security restoration and reconciliation. During 
the year the police withdrew some forces from areas of the Poso 
Regency, bombing and other attacks increased in an apparent effort to 
provoke renewed intercommunal violence. On March 22, a small bomb 
exploded in front of the Poso Nursing Academy causing no injuries. 
Another detonated in the empty Eklesia church in Poso on July 1. An 
explosion took place in front of the residence of the Poso police chief 
on August 3. On October 16, an unidentified gunman shot and killed 
Reverend Irianto Kongkoli in Palu, Central Sulawesi (see section 1.a.).
    The indigenous Jewish population is small. Sabili, a radical 
Islamic publication and the country's second largest magazine by 
circulation, regularly published articles with anti-Semitic statements 
and themes. During the year a commercial company, Trustco Multimedia, 
circulated an interactive computer disk (cd) with material on the 
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which included a ``game'' entitled 
``Shoot the Jews.'' PKS denied any connection with the cd and requested 
Trustco Multimedia remove it from circulation.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution allows the Government 
to prevent persons from entering or leaving the country, and sometimes 
the Government restricted freedom of movement. The Law on Overcoming 
Dangerous Situations gives military forces broad powers in a declared 
state of emergency, including the power to limit land, air, and sea 
traffic; however, the Government did not use these powers. The 
Government continued to restrict freedom of movement for foreigners 
through a system of ``travel letters,'' required for Papua. Enforcement 
was inconsistent. In June two foreign citizens were detained and 
deported for misusing their tourist visas to attend a meeting of a 
local tribal group in Papua Province. Under the 2005 Helsinki MOU 
between the Government and GAM, special national identity cards for 
Acehnese were no longer issued. However, at year's end many Acehnese 
continued to use Aceh-specific identity cards, as the Government had 
not yet issued national identity cards in all parts of the province.
    The Government prevented at least 1,167 persons from leaving the 
country during the year. The AGO and the High Prosecutor's office 
prevented most of these departures. Some of those barred from leaving 
were delinquent taxpayers, convicted or indicted persons, and persons 
otherwise involved in legal disputes.
    On April 19, a noncitizen was barred from entering the country. The 
individual had been detained by the authorities in 2005 for illegally 
entering Aceh, and was jailed and deported in 2003 for associating with 
Acehnese rebels. On September 14, five foreign journalists were 
deported from Jayapura, Papua, for not possessing appropriate 
permission to cover news in the area. The five journalists came to 
Jayapura as tourists but then allegedly engaged in journalistic 
activities without the permission of the Foreign Ministry.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Internal Displacement 
Monitoring Center (IDMC) reported that there were between 200,000 and 
350,000 IDPs in the country, between 140,000 and 150,000 of whom were 
in Aceh, almost all the result of the 2004 tsunami. Some of the Aceh 
IDPs lived in temporary shelters, while others stayed with host 
families or were integrated into local communities.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. However, in practice, there were no reports of the forced 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), which maintained an office in Jakarta, for assisting refugees 
and asylum seekers. At year's end there were 61 UNHCR-recognized 
refugees and 265 asylum seekers living in the country. Some were 
applicants and others were dependents. Most were from Iraq, Burma, 
Nigeria, or Sri Lanka.
    The above figures do not include approximately 10,000 former 
refugees from East Timor who resided in West Timor at year's end, 
according to the UNHCR and the National Coordinating Board for Disaster 
and the IDMC. The precise number of East Timorese refugees is a matter 
of debate; the East Nusa Tenggara Governor cited a figure of 104,436 
individuals remaining in West Timor.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.
    The constitution provides for national elections every five years. 
The security forces lost their appointed DPR seats in October 2004 with 
the inauguration of the new legislature. DPR members automatically are 
members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which until 
October 2004 included regional and government appointed 
representatives. In October 2004 the MPR became a fully elected body 
consisting of the 550 DPR members and the 128 members of the DPD.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Domestic and international 
observers monitored peaceful, first-ever, direct local elections to 
choose provincial- and district-level executives beginning in June 
2005. During the year the Government held 54 local elections: six for 
governor, seven for mayor, and 41 for regent. Observers generally 
perceived the local elections as free and fair and, with a few 
exceptions, without incident affecting the outcome.Most instances of 
violence involved supporters of losing candidates attacking local 
election offices.
    In 2004 President Yudhoyono became the country's first directly 
elected President. Domestic and international observers monitored the 
legislative and Presidential elections, organized by an independent 
election commission, and considered the elections free and fair. The 
national elections featured high voter turnouts, an absence of any 
notable violence, and broad public acceptance of the results.
    All adult citizens are eligible to vote except members of the 
military and the police, convicts serving a sentence of five years or 
more, persons suffering from mental disorders, and persons deprived of 
voting rights by an irrevocable verdict of a court of justice.
    There were no legal restrictions on the role of women in politics. 
During the year women held four of 36 cabinet seats. The current 
election law includes a nonbinding call for parties to select women for 
at least 30 percent of the candidate slots on their party lists. In the 
2004 elections, 61 women were elected to the 550-seat DPR, an increase 
from 1999, when 44 women held seats in the 500-seat DPR. In the DPD, 27 
of the 128 members were women. During the year a woman was elected 
governor of Banten Province; and women won six district chief positions 
in local elections, raising, the total number of female district chiefs 
to 18. Women are greatly underrepresented in local government in some 
provinces; for example, in Aceh the highest positions held by women are 
two deputy mayor and deputy regent positions.With the exception of Aceh 
Province, where non-Muslims are effectively blocked from political 
office by a requirement that all candidates must demonstrate their 
ability to read the Koran in Arabic, there were no legal restrictions 
on the role of minorities in politics. There were no official 
statistics on the ethnic backgrounds of legislators in the DPR. 
President Yudhoyono's cabinet consisted of a plurality of Javanese, 
with others being of Sundanese, Bugis, Batak, Acehnese, Papuan, 
Balinese, Arab, and Chinese heritage. The authorities swore in a 
directly elected governor for West Irian Jaya on July 24, and for Papua 
Province on July 26.
    On December 11, Aceh held its first direct elections for regents, 
mayors, and governor since the 2005 peace accord. Domestic and 
international observers judged the elections to be free and fair. A 
former GAM field commander won the gubernatorial election and GAM-
affiliated candidates won positions in six local and district 
governments.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
domestic and international perception that corruption was a part of 
daily life. Soon after taking office, the President established the 
Corruption Eradication Commission, giving it a broad investigative 
mandate. On February 7, former minister of religion Said Agil Hussein 
Munawar was sentenced for illegally spending approximately $78.7 
million (709 billion rupiah) entrusted to his ministry by Muslims 
wanting to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Supreme Court 
reaffirmed the decision in August. On August 25, Theodorus F. Toemion, 
former chief of the National Investment Board, was sentenced to six 
years in prison and fined $33,300 (300 million rupiah) for embezzling 
$3.3 million (3 billion rupiah). On November 30, former minister of 
oceans and fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri was detained in connection with an 
investigation into his management of an off-budget fund.
    The AJI reported no problems for the media in obtaining 
unclassified public documents from the Government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government met with local NGOs, responded to their inquiries, 
and took some actions in response to NGO concerns. Following the 2004 
murder of human rights activist Munir, the President formed a fact-
finding team (TPF) consisting of leading members of the NGO community, 
prosecutors, and a senior police officer. However, the President did 
not release the TPF's report, which, according to press reports, called 
for the investigation of former and active officials of the State 
Intelligence Agency in connection with Munir's death (see section 
1.a.). After Pollycarpus's murder conviction for Munir's killing was 
overturned in October (see section 1.a.), the police reconstituted an 
investigatory team. The chief of the national police stated that police 
were continuing to pursue leads in the case.
    Domestic human rights organizations were subjected to monitoring, 
harassment, and interference by the Government; however, they actively 
advocated improvements to the Government's human rights performance. 
Including the October reversal of Pollycarpus' conviction for Munir's 
murder, Komnas HAM reported that since 2000, 14 human rights activists 
had been killed, and no perpetrators had been brought to justice. There 
were no reports of human rights activists killed since 2004.
    NGOs in Papua reported widespread monitoring of their activities by 
intelligence officials as well as threats and intimidation. Activists 
reported that intelligence officers took their pictures surreptitiously 
and sometimes questioned their friends and family members regarding 
their whereabouts and activities.
    There were no reports of government interference with the large 
number of international and domestic NGOs in Aceh to help with the 
relief and reconstruction following the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, 
and human rights organizations had full access to the province.
    The Government generally viewed outside investigations or foreign 
criticism of its human rights record as interference in its internal 
affairs. The security forces and intelligence agencies tended to regard 
with suspicion foreign human rights organizations, particularly those 
operating in conflict areas. Government monitoring of foreigners was 
apparent in conflict areas. Some domestic human rights organizations 
expressed concern about the possible negative consequences of 
contacting foreigners.A number of government agencies and affiliated 
bodies addressed human rights problems, including the Ministry of Law 
and Human Rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of 
Women's Empowerment, and Komnas HAM. However, in recent years Komnas 
HAM's efforts to expose human rights violations and bring perpetrators 
to account were undermined by a number of court decisions regarding its 
jurisdiction or authority. In 2003 a Jakarta court refused to subpoena 
former and active military officers who had ignored Komnas HAM 
summonses to face questioning about 1998 riots, which claimed more than 
1,200 lives. In June 2005 the TNI stated it could not cooperate with 
attempts by Komnas HAM to summon retired and active-duty generals to 
answer questions about the abduction of pro-democracy activists between 
1997 and 1998. The TNI insisted that Komnas HAM first obtain permission 
from the DPR (see section 1.b.). By law, severe human rights violations 
that occurred before 2000 could be investigated only by an ad hoc human 
rights courts, not Komnas HAM. Such a court could be formed only by a 
decision of the DPR, but for the DPR to know enough about an incident 
to approve the formation of a court, a thorough investigation was 
necessary. The resulting stalemate continued to block progress toward 
accountability. In June Komnas HAM asked the Attorney General for 
permission to visit places where the victims were taken during the 
abduction. In July Komnas HAM also wrote to the Central Jakarta 
District Court to summon retired and active-duty generals for 
questioning. These efforts apparently were fruitless, and the Komnas 
HAM team that worked on this issue from October 2005 was disbanded in 
September.
    In 2005 the Government, in cooperation with East Timor, formed a 
bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission (see section 1.e.) to 
investigate alleged human rights abuses that occurred in East Timor.
    In 2004 the DPR passed legislation to establish a TRC to 
investigate human rights violations before making recommendations to 
the President regarding amnesty for abusers and rehabilitation for 
their victims. The TRC was empowered to recommend amnesty for a 
confessed violator, even without the victim's consent. The law also 
stipulated that cases resolved by the commission could not later be 
filed in a human rights court. Human rights activists filed an appeal 
with the Constitutional Court, questioning the constitutionality of two 
articles: a provision permitting payment of compensation before a 
finding of guilt and the prohibition on TRC cases being filed in human 
rights courts. On December 8, the Constitutional Court ruled the entire 
TRC act unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court chief justice stated 
that the Government's lack of progress in selecting the 21 TRC members 
factored into its decision.
    The Law on the Government of Aceh promulgated in August states that 
a Human Rights Court will be established in Aceh within one year and 
that the judgments passed by the Human Rights Court may prescribe 
compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation for the victims of human 
rights violations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based 
on gender, race, disability, language, or social status. It provides 
for equal rights for all citizens, both native and naturalized. 
However, in practice, the Government failed to defend these rights 
adequately.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic abuse and other forms of 
violence against women. However, rape and domestic violence were 
problems.
    Violence against women remained poorly documented. Nationwide 
figures were unavailable. The National Commission for Women's Rights 
reported that in 2005 (the most recent statistics available) there were 
20,931 cases of violence handled by 215 NGOs in 29 provinces, and the 
local press reported that violence against women continued to increase. 
In East Java incidents of violence against women continued to increase 
both in number and severity. The East Java Integrated Service Center 
recorded 213 cases of violence against women and children in the first 
half of the year, compared with approximately 300 cases of violence 
against women and children in all of 2005. Most East Java NGOs working 
on women and children's issues believed the real figure was far higher, 
noting the tendency of many victims to keep silent. During the year at 
least 10 cases were prosecuted under the 2004 Domestic Violence Act, 
with punishments ranging from three to 18 months' imprisonment. Two 
types of crisis centers were available for abused women: government-run 
centers in hospitals and NGO centers in the community. Reliable 
nationwide statistics on the incidence of rape were unavailable. The 
legal definition of rape is narrow and excludes some acts that would 
commonly be treated as rape in other countries, such as marital rape. 
Sentencing was a problem. Although rape is punishable by four to 12 
years in jail, and the Government jailed perpetrators for rape and 
attempted rape, most convicted rapists were sentenced to the minimum or 
less.
    In past years rapes by members of the security forces occurred in 
Aceh. The TNI did not prosecute any of its personnel for rape.
    Nationwide, the police operated more than 200 ``special crisis 
rooms'' or ``women's desks'' where female officers received criminal 
reports from women and child victims of sexual assault and trafficking, 
and where victims found temporary shelter. During the year the police 
opened trafficking victims' rehabilitation recovery centers in 
Pontianak (West Kalimantan) and Makassar (South Sulawesi).
    The legal differentiation between a woman and a girl was not clear. 
The law sets the minimum marriageable age at 16 for a woman (and 19 for 
a man), but the Child Protection Law states that persons under age 18 
are children. A girl who marries has adult legal status. Girls 
frequently marry before reaching the age of 16, particularly in rural 
areas. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was practiced in some parts of 
the country, including West Java. Complications reportedly were 
minimal. Some NGO activists dismissed any claims of mutilation, saying 
the ritual as practiced in the country was largely symbolic. In April 
the Ministry of Health banned FGM by doctors and nurses. However, 
symbolic female circumcisions that do not involve physical damaging of 
the child could be carried out and violators of the ban did not face 
prosecution.
    Prostitution is not specifically addressed in the law. However, 
many officials interpret ``crimes against decency/morality'' to apply 
to prostitution. Child prostitution is illegal. While contrary to 
societal and religious norms, prostitution was widespread and largely 
tolerated. Security forces reportedly participated in the running of 
brothels or protection rackets, which shielded brothels from 
prosecution. International sex tourism took place, especially on the 
islands of Batam and Karimun, both near Singapore.
    Although it is not explicitly mentioned, sexual harassment is 
against the law and is actionable under the criminal code. In the most 
recent statistics available, the State Ministry of Women's Empowerment 
said in 2004 that 90 percent of women and 25 percent of men have been 
victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.
    State policy and the law state that women have the same rights, 
obligations, and opportunities as men. However, the law also states 
that women's participation in the development process must not conflict 
with their role in improving family welfare and educating the younger 
generation. Marriage law designates the man as the head of the family. 
Women in many regions of the country, particularly in Papua, complained 
about differential treatment based on gender.
    Although legal scholars believed that local governments lacked 
authority to legislate on religious matters, local governments 
increasingly passed Shari'a-based local laws that some human rights and 
women's activists believed discriminate against women. The central 
government has not challenged the validity of these regulations. In 
2005 the local government of Tangerang, Banten, issued a local 
regulation prohibiting women who behave like prostitutes and who are 
unaccompanied by male relatives, from frequenting public areas in 
Tangerang after dark. The law also prohibits public displays of 
affection. Violation of this law is punishable by three months' 
imprisonment or a maximum fine of $1,666 (15 million rupiah). Many 
activists protested the law because of its potential to lead to 
wrongful arrests of innocent women. On February 27, public order 
officers arrested the pregnant wife of an elementary school teacher 
(for suspected prostitution) as she waited unaccompanied for public 
transportation. She filed a lawsuit against Tangerang Mayor Wahidin 
Halim for wrongful arrest and defamation of character. On August 29, 
the Tangerang District Court ruled in favor of the mayor.
    Divorce is available to both men and women. Muslims who sought 
divorce generally turned to the Shari'a-based family court system as a 
faster and cheaper alternative to the national court system. Non-
Muslims obtained divorces through the national court system. Due to 
prejudicial attitudes, women often faced a heavier evidentiary burden 
than men, especially in the Shari'a-based family court system. Although 
both Islamic and national courts may award alimony, many divorcees 
received no alimony, since there was no system to enforce such 
payments. Men and women both keep the separate property they owned 
before marriage. If there is no prenuptial agreement, joint property is 
divided equally. The law requires a divorced woman to wait a certain 
period of time before remarrying; a man can remarry immediately. On 
August 1, the President signed a citizenship law to end longstanding 
discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians and Indonesian women with 
foreign spouses. Among other things, the law revises the definition of 
``indigenous Indonesian'' to include all citizens who have never 
assumed foreign citizenship; enables foreign spouses, including males, 
to seek citizenship after living in the country for five consecutive 
years or 10 accumulated years; entitles foreign-born spouses to 
permanent resident status after they reside in the country for a 
stipulated period of time; and allows a child born to a citizen parent 
and a foreign parent to maintain dual citizenship until age 18, at 
which point the child would have to choose citizenship.
    During the year the Government continued to implement Shari'a in 
Aceh (see section 2.c.). The most visible impact on women's rights 
appeared to be the enforcement of dress codes. In Banda Aceh, Shari'a 
police briefly detained improperly dressed women in the Shari'a 
enforcement office, where the women were lectured on appropriate 
attire. In February media reported on a protest against the Shari'a 
police's humiliation of women in Banda Aceh. In Western Aceh, Shari'a 
police publicly humiliated women they considered improperly dressed by 
cutting off their clothes. Local governments and groups in other areas 
also undertook campaigns to promote conformity by women with the 
precepts of Shari'a. Some women told reporters that they felt 
humiliated when detained for dress code violations. In West Sumatra the 
governor approved a regulation requiring all female civil servants, 
regardless of religion, to wear headscarves.
    Women faced discrimination in the workplace, both in hiring and in 
gaining fair compensation. In 2003, the latest year for which 
statistics are available, the International Labor Organization's (ILO) 
Jakarta office reported that, on average, women's earnings were 68 
percent of that of men. According to the Government, 41 percent of all 
civil servants were women but they accounted for less than 7 percent of 
senior government officials. Some activists said that in manufacturing, 
employers relegated women to lower-paying, lower-level jobs. Many 
female factory workers were hired as day laborers instead of as full-
time permanent employees, and companies were not required to provide 
benefits, such as maternity leave, to day laborers. By law, if a couple 
both worked for a government agency, the couple's head-of-household 
allowance was given to the husband.
    Organizations around the country promoted women's rights or 
otherwise addressed women's issues during the year, including 
Solidaritas Perempuan, Mitra Perempuan, LBH-Apik, and the International 
Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).

    Children.--The Government stated its commitment to children's 
rights, education, and welfare, but it devoted insufficient resources 
to fulfill that commitment. Although the law provides for free 
education, in practice most schools were not free of charge, and 
poverty put education out of the reach of many children. Child labor 
and sexual abuse were serious problems. In 2003 the leader of the 
National Commission for Child Protection identified the most pressing 
problems related to the country's youth as child labor, child 
trafficking, child prostitution, street children, children in conflict 
areas, and undernourished children. The Child Protection Act addresses 
economic and sexual exploitation of children as well as adoption, 
guardianship, and other problems; however, some provincial governments 
did not enforce its provisions.
    By law children are required to attend six years of elementary 
school and three years of junior high school; however, in practice, the 
Government did not enforce these requirements. According to the 
Government's 2004 National Socio-Economic Household Survey, school 
enrollment rates were 96.1 percent for children ages seven to 12, 79.2 
percent for children ages 13 to 15, and 49.8 percent for children ages 
16 to 18. Although girls and boys ostensibly received equal educational 
opportunities, boys were more likely to finish school.
    Monthly fees for public schools varied by province and were based 
on average incomes. Tuition, transportation, and school materials, 
could cost a family between $444 and $777 (four million to seven 
million rupiah) per year for each primary and secondary student. In 
June 2005 the ILO conducted a limited child labor survey in areas 
within five provinces (North Sumatra, East Kalimantan, West Java, East 
Java and South Sulawesi), which revealed that one in five school-age 
children from low-income families had no access to education and 
experienced various kinds of exploitation at work--both in the formal 
and informal sectors. The survey also found that of 2,438 school-age 
children below 15 years of age, 19 percent were not attending school. 
It was unclear how many children were forced to leave school to help 
support their families. In some remote areas of East Java, lack of 
nearby school locations contributed to drop out rates as high as 50 
percent and led children to seek work. In some areas, parents and 
watchdog groups complained that corruption among public servants 
severely undermined the quality of education. The 2004 tsunami and the 
lingering effects of conflicts continued to disrupt the education of 
significant numbers of children in the coastal areas of Aceh.
    Many children grew up in unhealthy circumstances. Malnutrition 
remained a serious problem. The country's infant mortality rate 
remained high. According to Bureau of Statistics data for the year, 
there were 36 deaths for every thousand live births.
    During the year malnutrition continued to be a problem in East Nusa 
Tenggara Province. More than 17,000 children were believed to be 
suffering from malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara as of September, an 
increase from the 2005 figure of 12,000. As of August, 21 infants had 
died of acute malnutrition, a decrease from 59 such deaths during the 
first eight months of 2005.
    Child abuse is prohibited by law, but government efforts to combat 
it generally have been slow and ineffective. NGOs reported that it 
continued to take excessively long to bring a child rape case to court 
and that mechanisms for reporting and dealing with child abuse were 
vague. The East Java Children's Protection Agency (LPA) estimated that 
the number of cases of physical and sexual violence against children 
increased during the year. In most cases, the offender was a parent of 
the victim. Commercial sexual exploitation of children continued to be 
a serious problem. The number of child prostitutes in the country was 
unclear; however, a 2004 ILO assessment estimated there were 
approximately 21,000 child prostitutes on the island of Java. In 2003 a 
team of NGO and government health officials visited a prostitution 
complex in Riau Province and estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the 365 
female prostitutes there were less than 18 years of age. Many teenage 
girls were forced into or found themselves caught in debt bondage. At 
times law enforcement officials treated child prostitutes as criminals 
rather than victims. Women's rights activists and religious groups 
accused government officials, particularly police and soldiers, of 
operating or protecting brothels that employed underage prostitutes. 
Corrupt civil servants issued identity cards to underage girls, 
facilitating entry into the sex trade. According to official East Java 
government statistics, there were approximately 4,000 child prostitutes 
in East Java, 30 percent of the total number of recorded prostitutes; 
there were approximately 3,000 child prostitutes in Central Java; and 
194 in the city of Yogyakarta. There also were reports of sexual 
exploitation of boys. During the year NGOs reported that long-active 
pedophile rings continued to operate in Bali, and authorities arrested 
at least one foreign national and deported another for pedophilia.
    There were cases in which employment brokers paid parents advances 
of future salaries to be earned by their daughters. The child was 
required to repay the employment brokers. Researchers described a 
``culture of prostitution'' in some parts of the country, where parents 
encouraged their daughters to work as big-city prostitutes and send the 
proceeds home. NGO observers said many girls were forced into 
prostitution after failed marriages they had entered into when they 
were 10 to 14 years of age. There was no obvious violation of the law, 
because their paperwork identified them as adults due to the fact they 
were once married. In 2004 the latest year for which data was 
available, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration reported 2.86 
million child workers in its national labor survey; however, this was 
far lower than the figure cited in a 2003 ILO report of 8 million 
children under 18 doing the work of adults (see section 6.d.).
    In East Java, local NGOs reported that the Government paid little 
attention to the rights of juvenile offenders. In Surabaya, juveniles 
were held in the same detention facilities as adults during pre-trial 
and trial phases of detention. The only prison for juveniles in Blitar, 
East Java, is far from the population centers of the province. As of 
July, there were 126 juveniles in the Blitar prison. According to the 
LPA, the physical conditions were inhumane. Most juveniles from 
Surabaya were remanded to Surabaya-area adult facilities. Juveniles 
frequently experienced abuse while in detention. There were no further 
developments regarding the July 2005 allegation by four juveniles in 
the Rungkut area of Surabaya that police injured their knees and legs 
during an interrogation. The head of the local police denied the 
accusation. Substantial numbers of street children were apparent in 
Jakarta and the provinces of East Java, West Java, North Sumatra, and 
South Sulawesi. Surabaya, in East Java, was home to approximately 8,000 
street children, many reportedly susceptible to sexual abuse and 
violence. Approximately 40 shelters in the province provided services 
to such children. The Jakarta City government opened a shelter in 2004 
with the capacity for approximately 200 children. The Government 
continued to fund other shelters administered by local NGOs and paid 
for the education of some street children.
    A number of NGOs promoted children's rights, including Child 
Advocacy Network, National Commission on Child Protection, Center for 
Study and Child Protection, and Foundation for Indonesian Child 
Welfare.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Trafficking in persons is illegal under 
the law; however, the law is not comprehensive in its definition of 
trafficking. During the year persons were trafficked to, from, and 
within the country for the purposes of prostitution and forced labor, 
including instances of debt bondage. Internal trafficking was a 
significant problem. Although the criminal code lacks an adequate legal 
definition of trafficking in persons, a variety of laws are applied in 
cases of trafficking and related offenses. The penal code prohibits 
trade in women and male minors but is silent on female minors. The 
Child Protection Act provides for prison sentences of three to 15 
years, plus fines for child traffickers. For cases involving underage 
victims, police and prosecutors used the Child Protection Act, a change 
from previous reliance on the penal code with its weaker sentencing 
guidelines. Prior to 2004 judges rarely sentenced traffickers to more 
than three years in prison; however, during the year sentences for 
trafficking convictions continued to increase. Judges imposed heavier 
sentences on child traffickers, with convictions regularly resulting in 
five- or six-year jail terms.
    During the year the Government, NGOs, and the media reported that 
women were trafficked to Malaysia, Japan, the Middle East (including 
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other 
destinations. Malaysia was the destination for the greatest number of 
credibly documented cases of female trafficking victims. An 
undetermined number of women from China, Thailand, Eastern Europe, and 
Central Asia were trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation.
    Reliable figures were not available on the number of persons 
trafficked. A 2003 study by the NGO Solidarity Center and the ICMC 
estimated that between 2.4 and 3.7 million women and children worked in 
the vulnerable categories of migrant workers, sex workers, and child 
domestic workers (see section 5, Children). Within these categories, 
the estimated total number of children ranged from 254,000 to 422,000. 
These were not estimates of victims but rather of women and children 
vulnerable to trafficking.
    There is little reliable data regarding human trafficking victims 
in eastern Indonesia. However, the LPA estimated that at least 100,000 
women and children would be trafficked from, to, or through East Java 
during the year. They also believed that the number of trafficking 
victims increases between 5 and 10 percent per year. The women's 
division of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, 
believed that the number of victims of trafficking in East Java doubles 
annually. Based on East Java police data, there were 14,896 trafficking 
victims in East Java from January to July. The Surabaya NGO Abdi Ahsi 
reported that 3,000 women per year were trafficked from rural East Java 
to one of the large prostitution areas in Surabaya.
    In West Nusa Tenggara Province, 3,336 cases of ``overseas worker 
problems'' were referred to the Panca Karsa Foundation (PCF) in 
Mataram, Lombok, by the victims and their families during the first six 
months of the year. These cases ranged from workers not receiving the 
jobs or salaries they were promised, to torture and rape by employers 
and employment agents. PCF estimated that at least 10,000 to 15,000 
persons were trafficked annually by extensive illegal networks 
operating in the province.
    A notable West Nusa Tenggara case occurred in mid-2005 in Krukah 
subdistrict, East Lombok. Two 12-year-old girls escaped involuntary 
captivity and were referred to the Mataram Legal Aid Society. They 
complained that they had given $320 (3,000 rupiah) to an overseas 
worker agency that promised the girls jobs as domestic workers abroad. 
They said that the agents held them captive and raped them. The NGO LBH 
APIK notified the police, who conducted a raid, which discovered 55 
other young girls being held captive under conditions that included 
rape and torture. The perpetrators were arrested, eventually convicted 
of defrauding the girls' parents of the placement fees, and sentenced 
to nine months in prison. Public outrage over this case led the East 
Lombok government to pass the province's first antitrafficking 
regulations during the year, empowering local police to combat 
trafficking more effectively.
    The Singkawang District of West Kalimantan remained well known as 
an area from which poor, ethnic Chinese women and teenage girls between 
the ages of 14 and 20 were recruited as ``mail order'' brides for men, 
primarily in Taiwan but also in Hong Kong and Singapore. In some cases 
the women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and slave-like 
servitude. In many cases traffickers recruited girls and women under 
false pretenses. One tactic was to offer young women in rural areas 
jobs as waitresses or hotel employees in distant regions, including 
island resorts. After the new recruits arrived and incurred debts to 
their recruiters, they learned that they had been hired as prostitutes. 
In October 2005 Jakarta police arrested two persons for duping at least 
51 women with offers to work in Japan as ``cultural performers.'' Once 
in Japan, the women were exploited as prostitutes. No developments in 
this case were reported during the year.
    Many victims became vulnerable to trafficking during the process of 
becoming migrant workers. Many unauthorized recruiting agents operated 
throughout the country and were involved in trafficking to various 
degrees, and some government-licensed recruiting agents also were 
implicated in trafficking. Recruiting agents often charged exorbitant 
fees leading to debt bondage and recruited persons to work illegally 
overseas, which increased the workers' vulnerability to trafficking and 
other abuses. According to Solidarity Center, hundreds of Burmese 
fishermen, apparently forced to work on Thai fishing boats, either 
escaped or were abandoned in Tual, a small island in Maluku Province, 
where they lived in difficult conditions. In 2004 immigration officials 
forcibly deported a number of Burmese fishermen to Thailand via foreign 
fishing vessels. In 2005 the Burmese Seafarers Union estimated that 
there were still more than 100 Burmese seafarers living near Tual but 
did not anticipate further deportations. The Southeast Maluku police 
and the local Maritime and Fishery Office estimated that there were 
about 500 Thai and Burmese working as fishermen in Tual during the 
year.
    From January until mid-October, the national police trafficking 
unit reported investigations of 91 suspects involving 437 victims, 
compared with 82 suspects and 143 victims for all of 2005. Police have 
submitted 23 cases to prosecutors and continue to investigate 24 cases, 
compared with 12 cases submitted in 2005. The AGO created a 
Transnational Crime Task Force, which began operating in July and which 
is pursuing 10 trafficking cases. Many of the traffickers are members 
of well financed crime syndicates. During the year courts convicted 18 
traffickers, a slight increase over 2005. According to NGOs, 
convictions resulted in an average jail sentence of four years, an 
increase from 2.25 years in 2005.
    East Java police demonstrated improved commitment in combating 
trafficking, resulting in increased numbers of investigations, arrests, 
and detainments. However, relatively few cases resulted in successful 
prosecutions. It is unclear whether police were unable to gather 
sufficient evidence to secure convictions or if corruption of 
prosecutors and judges interfered with the prosecution of these cases.
    On March 13, police officers from Rogojompi precinct, Banyuwangi 
arrested Lemahbangdewo village head Suwardi for allegedly trafficking 
two girls from his village. No charges were filed.
    In March Jember police arrested Burawi and Santo on suspicion of 
trafficking a girl from Jember, East Java. In November the Jember 
district court convicted Burawi and Santo for trafficking and sentenced 
them to seven and six years in prison, respectively.
    On March 22, Surabaya police arrested a couple named Jatimah (alias 
Yati) and Nur Iman as members of a large human trafficking syndicate in 
Surabaya. No charges were filed.
    In March, Surabaya police arrested Saka Baharuddin, owner of 
``Wisma Barbara'' brothel, on trafficking charges. He was convicted and 
sentenced to two months in jail. On June 19, Surabaya police again 
arrested Baharudin, on trafficking charges. In July police forwarded 
the file of Baharudin to the Surabaya prosecutors' office. On September 
6, the prosecutors' office returned the case to the police as 
incomplete. Police released Baharudin on September 16. No charges were 
filed.
    On May 8, Surabaya police arrested two members of a trafficking 
syndicate in the city's ``Moro Seneng'' prostitution complex. They 
allegedly trafficked 14 juvenile girls for prostitution. Their trial 
was still pending.
    On May 30, Nganjuk police in East Java arrested Sudarwati on human 
trafficking charges. In September she was convicted of trafficking 
girls from East Java to East Kutai, East Kalimantan and sentenced to 4+ 
years in prison. She was the second person convicted under East Java's 
Child Protection Law.
    On July 20, Krembangan police in Surabaya rescued two female 
trafficking victims and arrested three alleged traffickers, Alexander 
Go, Yola (alias Candra Asri), and Lisawati.
    The basic three-month course that all police officers received did 
not include training on countertrafficking in persons. During the year 
international agencies continued to provide police with specific 
counter-trafficking training. Trafficking falls under the purview of 
the Criminal Investigation Department, which has a dedicated 
antitrafficking unit with operational and coordinating 
responsibilities. During the year 40 officers trained in 
countertrafficking were assigned to train police nationwide.
    Credible sources noted that individual security force members were 
involved in setting up and protecting brothels. Traffickers and brothel 
owners reportedly paid protection money to security force members. An 
NGO survey of trafficking in Papua concluded that military members 
operated or protected brothels that housed trafficking victims. Apart 
from police and soldiers, some government officials were complicit in 
trafficking, particularly in the production of false documents. The 
prevalence and ease of obtaining fraudulent national identity cards, 
which could document children as adults, contributed to the trafficking 
problem. Within society and the Government, there was continued 
reluctance to acknowledge that prostitution was a major problem. During 
the year the Government continued to implement the 2002-07 National 
Action Plan to counter trafficking of women and children. The Child 
Protection Act prohibits economic and sexual exploitation of children 
and also child trafficking. The act specifies severe criminal penalties 
and jail terms for persons who violate children's rights, including by 
trafficking in persons. The Government, with the help of NGOs, 
conducted public education efforts on trafficking. In September the 
Ministry of Women's Empowerment held a series of workshops on debt 
bondage to raise awareness and develop a coordinated approach to this 
issue.
    During the year the Government established a trial program to help 
trafficking victims reintegrate into society, thereby mitigating the 
risk of people becoming two-time victims, and opened a trafficking 
victims' shelter in Batam. Police, prosecutors and judges attended 
workshops on enforcement of antitrafficking laws, and in some provinces 
government officials and civil society formed committees to stop 
trafficking. Prosecutors began identifying trafficking cases as such, a 
step that will help track success in bringing traffickers to justice. 
Overall, government and society became increasingly aware of 
trafficking and the special rehabilitation needs of trafficking 
victims.
    Nevertheless, the Government faced several challenges in battling 
trafficking, including: a limited budget; a lack of awareness of the 
trafficking issue across a full range of government agencies; uneven 
collection of data related to trafficking, especially with respect to 
prosecutions and investigations; and the need for capacity building in 
the Government's ability to report on and collect information about 
trafficking within the country's borders. International organizations 
have witnessed collusion by immigration officials with traffickers at 
transit points, making victims more vulnerable to traffickers at border 
and transit points.
    Domestic NGOs, with international support, led efforts to monitor 
and prevent trafficking, frequently in coordination with government 
agencies. These NGOs included the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant 
Workers Advocacy, LBH-Apik, Women's Aid and Protection Group, Women's 
Coalition (Koalisi Perempuan), Solidaritas Perempuan, and Pusaka.
    National and local assistance to trafficking victims increased 
compared with previous years but remained small in comparison with the 
scope of the problem. In general government assistance was modest and 
focused on citizens trafficked abroad, while domestic assistance was 
minimal. The Government and community groups have a number of shelters 
in Dumai, Riau Province; Nunukan, East Kalimantan Province; West 
Kalimantan Province; Jakarta; North Sumatra; and North Sulawesi. The 
police operated more than 200 women's desks, units established to help 
women and children who fall victim to violence including trafficking. 
The women's desks provided temporary shelter, special police handling, 
and some legal services for victims. The women's desks often cooperated 
with local NGOs to provide medical and psychological services and 
longer-term shelter. However, distrust of police discouraged some 
victims from using these desks. The Government's policy is to ``treat 
persons who are trafficked not as criminals but as victims who need 
help and protection.'' During the year the People's Welfare 
Coordinating Ministry and the Ministry of Women's Empowerment continued 
to reinforce this policy in public settings and training programs for 
police and other officials. However, local government and police 
practice varied, particularly in the lower ranks of law enforcement 
agencies. Local governments, exercising greater authority under the 
country's decentralization program, sometimes enacted laws or 
regulations that tended to treat those trafficked for sexual 
exploitation as criminals, contrary to national policy. In many 
instances, government officials and police actively protected and 
assisted victims. In other cases, police treated victims such as 
trafficked prostitutes as criminals, subjected them to detention, and 
took advantage of their vulnerability to demand bribes and sexual 
services. Police and immigration officials periodically rounded up 
foreign prostitutes and quickly deported them without any reported 
screening for potential trafficking victims. The media and lower-level 
officials, including police, often failed to protect victims' 
identities and commonly provided victims' names to the public. The 
Government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and 
prosecution of traffickers, but victims frequently were reluctant or 
refused to provide testimony due to shame and fear of retribution 
against themselves or their families. The new Victim Protection Law was 
intended to encourage witnesses and victims to come forward with 
testimony to enable successful prosecutions (see section 1.e.).
    During the year the Government established an educational pilot 
program in East Java and East Nusa Tenggara to raise awareness of 
trafficking among housewives, religious leaders, out-of-school 
children, and parents.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The Government classified persons with 
disabilities into four categories: blind, deaf, mentally disabled, and 
physically disabled. The constitution requires the Government to 
provide them with care; however, ``care'' is not defined, and the 
provision of education to children with disabilities never was inferred 
from the requirement. The law also mandates accessibility to public 
facilities for persons with disabilities; however, the Government did 
not enforce this provision. Few buildings and virtually no public 
transportation facilities provided such accessibility. The law requires 
companies that employ more than 100 workers to set aside 1 percent of 
their positions for persons with disabilities. However, the Government 
did not enforce the law, and persons with disabilities faced 
considerable discrimination.
    In urban areas only a few city buses offered wheelchair access, and 
many of those have had their hydraulic lifts vandalized, rendering them 
unusable.
    In 2003 the Government stated the country was home to 1.3 million 
children with disabilities, but only 55,000 of them attended school. 
The actual number of children with disabilities was believed to be much 
higher. The law provides children with disabilities with the right to 
an education and rehabilitative treatment. A government official 
alleged that many parents chose to keep children with disabilities at 
home; however, many schools refused to accommodate such children, 
stating they lacked the resources to do so. According to the 
Government, there were 1,234 schools dedicated to educating children 
with disabilities; 960 of them were run privately. Some young persons 
with disabilities resorted to begging for a living.
    Human rights activists in Surabaya reported that discrimination 
against persons with disabilities existed in employment and education. 
In 2004 the Surabaya city government refused a civil service candidate 
with disabilities claiming that she did not fulfill health 
requirements. In May 2005 the Surabaya Administrative Court ruled in 
her favor. City officials appealed to the Supreme Court to uphold their 
actions. At year's end the case was still pending and the city 
government had not issued a policy to allow persons with disabilities 
to apply for civil service jobs.
    Few companies in East Java provided facilities for persons with 
disabilities and fewer companies employed disabled persons. 
Accessibility to public facilities for disabled persons in eastern 
Indonesia was limited. In November Surabaya's new airport opened and 
reportedly was not accessible for disabled persons. Lack of funds was 
generally cited as the primary reason for not improving accessibility.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government officially 
promotes racial and ethnic tolerance. Ethnic Chinese accounted for 
approximately 3 percent of the population, by far the largest 
nonindigenous minority group, and played a major role in the economy. 
Instances of discrimination and harassment of ethnic Chinese continued 
to decline compared with previous years. Recent reforms increased 
religious and cultural freedoms. However, some ethnic Chinese noted 
that public servants still discriminated against them when issuing 
marriage licenses and in other services and often demanded bribes for a 
citizenship certificate, although such certificates were no longer 
legally required. An attorney advocate for the rights of ethnic Chinese 
noted 50 articles of law, regulation, or decree that discriminated 
against ethnic Chinese citizens. During the year President Yudhoyono 
revoked a previous Presidential decree that required special permits to 
engage in Chinese cultural and religious celebrations. The new 
citizenship law explicitly states that an Indonesian citizenship 
certificate, which ethnic Chinese often had a difficult time obtaining, 
is not required to establish citizenship. NGOs such as the Indonesia 
Anti-Discrimination Movement urged the Government to revoke the 
remaining discriminatory articles.
    The ethnic Chinese community in Surabaya established an anti-
discrimination organization, Sikad, on September 27, to address 
discrimination problems faced by ethnic Chinese.
    In May hundreds of students threatened to attack Chinese-
Indonesians in Makassar, South Sulawesi, if the police failed to 
investigate the death of a maid after she was allegedly tortured by her 
Chinese-Indonesian employer.
    On August 7, dozens of university students held violent protests 
and threatened to expel ethnic Chinese from Makassar after a Chinese-
Indonesian man was accused of attempting to rape his maid. No 
casualties were reported during the protests. Five students were 
detained and questioned at Makassar police headquarters following the 
protest.
    There were no reports of overt discrimination against Acehnese 
outside the province. Some Acehnese continued using a national identity 
card specific to Aceh. The 2005 Helsinki MOU between the Government and 
GAM included a provision to issue Acehnese standard national identity 
cards by April. This had not been completed by the end of the year.

    Indigenous People.--The Government views all citizens as 
``indigenous''; however, it recognizes the existence of several 
``isolated communities'' and their right to participate fully in 
political and social life. These communities include the myriad Dayak 
tribes of Kalimantan, families living as sea nomads, and the 312 
officially recognized indigenous groups in Papua. During the year 
indigenous people, most notably in Papua, remained subject to 
widespread discrimination, and there was little improvement in respect 
for their traditional land rights. Mining and logging activities, many 
of them illegal, posed significant social, economic, and logistical 
problems to indigenous communities. The Government failed to prevent 
domestic and multinational companies, often in collusion with the local 
military and police, from encroaching on indigenous people's land. In 
Papua tensions continued between indigenous Papuans and migrants from 
other provinces, between residents of coastal and inland communities, 
and among tribes. Some in the indigenous community accused the 
newcomers of price gouging and condescension, while some newcomers 
claimed that indigenous Papuans treated them with resentment and 
suspicion. In Central Kalimantan, relations between indigenous Dayaks 
and ethnic Madurese transmigrants remained poor in the wake of 2001 
interethnic violence. However, between 30,000 and 57,000 displaced 
ethnic Madurese had returned to Central Kalimantan by the end of 2005. 
Despite interethnic tensions, local elections were orderly and 
relatively peaceful. Relations between the two groups also remained 
poor in West Kalimantan, where former residents of Madurese descent 
were obstructed in their attempts to reclaim their property.
    Human rights activists said that the government-sponsored 
transmigration program violated the rights of indigenous people, bred 
social resentment, and encouraged the exploitation and degradation of 
natural resources on which many indigenous persons relied. In some 
areas, such as parts of Sulawesi, the Malukus, Kalimantan, Aceh, and 
Papua, relations between transmigrants and indigenous people were poor.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal 
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. Some individuals received 
prejudicial treatment at medical centers, saw their confidential 
laboratory results released or had their identity published in a 
newspaper. In most, if not all such cases, the Government failed to 
take corrective action. In Papua, where the incidence of HIV infection 
is the highest in the country, community members and even families 
often stigmatized and ostracized those known to be infected with the 
virus. However, the Government encouraged tolerance, took steps to 
prevent new infections, and drew up plans to subsidize antiretroviral 
drugs.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides broad rights of 
association for workers, and workers exercised these rights. The law 
allows workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers did so in 
practice. The law stipulates that 10 or more workers have the right to 
form a union, with membership open to all workers, regardless of 
political affiliation, religion, ethnicity, or gender. Private sector 
workers are by law free to form worker organizations without prior 
authorization, and unions may draw up their own constitutions and rules 
and elect representatives. The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration 
(the manpower ministry) records, rather than approves, the formation of 
a union, federation, or confederation and provides it with a 
registration number. During the year, some unions reported local 
manpower ministry offices prejudicially recommended denial of 
registration. During the year one union federation registered with the 
manpower ministry, bringing the total number of registered federations 
to 88. Ministry officials noted that only 64 federations recorded by 
the ministry had verifiable members. The vast majority of union members 
belonged to one of three union confederations: the All-Indonesia Trade 
Union Confederation (KSPSI), the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union 
Confederation (KSBSI), and the Indonesian Trade Union Congress. In 
addition more than 11,000 workplace-level units were registered with 
the manpower ministry, a drop from the 18,000 reported in 2005, which 
were based on unions' self-reported data.
    According to the Government, the country's total labor force 
consisted of approximately 110 million workers, 42 percent of whom 
worked in the agricultural and forestry sector. From April to September 
2005, the manpower ministry conducted a survey of union membership, the 
results of which indicated a significantly reduced number of union 
members compared with previous estimates. In the past, the Government 
had relied upon unions' self-reported membership statistics. The 
manpower ministry estimated total trade union membership at 3.4 million 
workers, less than 4 percent of the total workforce. However, this 
figure of 3.4 million union members is 14 percent of the regular, 
formal sector workforce of 23.8 million (a category that excludes the 
self-employed, employers, casual workers, and unpaid workers).
    The law recognizes civil servants' freedom of association and right 
to organize, and employees of several ministries formed employee 
associations; union organizations sought to organize these workers. 
Unions also sought to organize state-owned enterprise (SOE) employees, 
although they encountered resistance from enterprise management, and 
the legal basis for registering unions in SOEs remained unclear.
    The law allows the Government to petition the courts to dissolve a 
union if it conflicts with the state ideology of Pancasila or the 
constitution, or if a union's leaders or members, in the name of the 
union, commit crimes against the security of the state and are 
sentenced to at least five years in prison. Once a union is dissolved, 
its leaders and members may not form another union for at least three 
years. There were no reports that the Government dissolved any unions 
during the year. The law prohibits anti-union discrimination by 
employers and others against union organizers and members and provides 
penalties for violations; however, the Government did not effectively 
enforce the law in many cases. There were frequent, credible reports of 
employer retribution against union organizers, including dismissals and 
violence that were not prevented effectively or remedied in practice. 
Some employers warned employees against contact with union organizers. 
Some unions claimed that strike leaders were singled out for layoffs 
when companies downsized. Legal requirements existed for employers to 
reinstate workers fired for union activity, although in many cases the 
Government did not enforce this effectively.
    On May 19, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the State 
Administrative High Court and the lower courts that the workers 
dismissed following an April 2005 strike be reinstated and receive back 
pay. On July 19, the union and company reached an agreement whereby the 
company would compensate the workers for back pay and provide a 
severance payment. In turn the workers renounced their right to be re-
hired. The workers at a private security firm in Jakarta, Group4/
Securicor, went on strike over the firm's plans to reduce benefits 
following a merger. According to the NGO Solidarity Center, in May 
2005, Jakarta police called in for questioning and intimidated four 
union leaders. The police reportedly explained that they were 
investigating the union leaders for possible charges of defamation and 
asked them to identify other workers from photographs taken at a lawful 
union demonstration in April 2005. The company terminated 200 workers 
and refused to rehire them, despite a decision by the local manpower 
officer that the strike was legal and the strikers should be rehired. 
In October 2005 a labor dispute resolution committee awarded the 
workers two months' salary.
    On March 13, the independent Indonesian Union Federation (IUF) held 
a mass rally in Surabaya to demand government intervention against 
anti-union activities at PTPN X, and to ensure inclusion of the 
federation's locals in collective bargaining at both state-owned 
complexes, and to reinstate IUF-affiliated Federation of Sugar 
Plantation and Mill Workers President Daud Sukamto, who was fired from 
his job at a plantation in Central Lampung in 2005 for ``gross 
misconduct'' after recommending that his union reject a management wage 
proposal during labor negotiations. In June the ILO's Freedom of 
Association Committee concluded that Sukamto's termination violated the 
right to conduct legitimate trade union activity and called on the 
Government to reinstate him.
    In August Amnesty International called on the Government to release 
six imprisoned trade union leaders, who were arrested following a 
strike and demonstration at a palm oil plantation in Riau Province in 
September 2005.
    In September the state-owned workers' insurance company, PT 
Jamsostek, demoted two Jamsostek union members and transferred twelve 
others in connection with a union vote of no confidence in company 
management. More than 40 workers at a branch office in Banten staged a 
demonstration at the company's main office in Jakarta, demanding the 
cancellation of the demotions and transfers. In October legislators 
called on the Government to end the labor conflict. All the affected 
workers sued the company seeking reinstatement. At year's end the cases 
were still pending.
    On October 30, KSBSI filed 20 complaints with the manpower ministry 
on behalf of workers who claimed they had been denied the right to form 
unions. Many of them had been reportedly dismissed without severance 
payment or demoted despite their having cases pending in the labor 
court.
    The Industrial Relations Disputes Settlement Act together with the 
Trade Union Act and the Manpower Act constitute the revised legal basis 
for industrial relations and worker rights. The Disputes Settlement Act 
stipulates a system of tripartite labor courts, replacing the previous 
tripartite committees. The act also outlines settlement procedures 
through mediation and arbitration. The ILO provided assistance in the 
development of the law. By the end of 2005, the Government had 
established the new labor courts in all 33 provinces.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the 
Government often did not protect this right in practice. The law 
provides for collective bargaining and allows workers' organizations 
that register with the Government to conclude legally binding 
collective labor agreements (CLAs) with employers and to exercise other 
trade union functions. The law includes some restrictions on collective 
bargaining, including a requirement that a union or unions represent 
more than 50 percent of the company workforce to negotiate a CLA. The 
Manpower Development and Protection Act (Manpower Act), which regulates 
collective bargaining, the right to strike, and general employment 
conditions does not apply to SOEs. Although the law was written with 
ILO technical assistance, some unions claimed that it contains 
inadequate severance benefits and protection against arbitrary 
terminations and does not sufficiently restrict against outsourcing and 
child labor. The Government continued to issue implementing decrees for 
the Manpower Act.
    The Government planned to revise the 2003 Labor Law to make 
Indonesia more competitive and attractive to foreign investors. 
However, labor unions voiced opposition to the plan, and on May 1, 
international Labor Day, tens of thousands of workers protested 
peacefully on the streets of Jakarta and other cities against the 
proposed revisions, which would have made it easier for employers to 
hire and fire workers by reducing severance payments and allowing 
companies to employ workers for up to five years without a contract. On 
May 3, tens of thousands of workers again took to the streets in 
opposition to modifying the labor law. The rally turned violent when 
protesters took down the main gate of the parliament compound, set fire 
to tires and threw stones at the police. In response, police fired tear 
gas and water cannons. Police also detained 13 members of the KSPSI. On 
September 13, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration announced 
that the Government had dropped its plan to revise the labor law and 
instead would issue government regulations detailing termination 
procedures and severance payments for workers to give them more job 
certainty.
    According to the manpower ministry, during the year there were 
9,168 CLAs in effect between unions and private companies. Company 
regulations, allowed for under government regulations, substituted for 
CLAs in another 36,652 companies, many of which did not have union 
representation. The Manpower Act requires that employers and workers 
form joint employer/worker committees in companies with 50 or more 
workers, a measure to institutionalize communication and consensus 
building. However, the number of such bodies did not increase 
significantly after passage of the act. All workers, whether or not 
union members, have the legal right to strike, except for public sector 
workers and those involved in public safety activities. The law allows 
workers in these latter categories to carry out strikes if they are 
arranged so as not to disrupt public interests or endanger public 
safety. Private sector workers exercised their right to strike, as did 
those in state enterprises, although the latter did so with less 
frequency. The large majority of government-recorded strikes involved 
nonunion workers. Unions or workers' representatives must provide seven 
days' notice to carry out a legal strike. The law calls for mediation 
by local manpower ministry officials but does not require government 
approval of strikes. Workers and employers rarely followed dispute 
settlement procedures, and workers rarely gave formal notice of the 
intent to strike because manpower ministry procedures were slow and had 
little credibility among workers. The number of government-recorded 
strikes had declined in recent years, from 220 strikes involving more 
than 97,000 workers in 2002, to 125 strikes involving some 56,082 
workers in 2005. During the year, the number of strikes rose to 282 
involving 595,783 workers. According to the manpower ministry, the 
increase was due to protests of the Government's proposed labor law 
reform.
    The underpayment or nonpayment of legally required severance 
packages precipitated strikes and labor protests. The Solidarity Center 
documented cases in which foreign employers in the garment and footwear 
industry, faced with falling orders and plant closures, fled the 
country to avoid making legally required severance payments. Labor 
activists also reported that factory managers in some locations 
employed thugs to intimidate and assault trade union members who 
attempted to organize legal strike actions. At times the police 
intervened inappropriately and with force in labor matters, usually to 
protect employers' interests. In April 2005 the national police adopted 
new guidelines for ``handling law and order in industrial disputes,'' 
developed with the assistance of the ILO.
    On July 31, police shot labor leader Samsir Hasibuan during a labor 
dispute near Medan at P[.] T. Cipta Mebelindo Lestari, a furniture 
manufacturer. According to Hasibuan, police dragged him from his house 
after the demonstration ended. The police maintained he was shot in 
front of the factory gate after protesters became violent. According to 
Medan human rights advocates, police later coerced Hasibuan into 
signing a document accepting representation by a police-provided 
attorney by police beating on his injured knee. He and two other labor 
leaders remained in jail but were allowed to have their own attorney. 
Other strikers whom the company could identify were all fired.
    In September 2005 the management of a palm oil plantation in Riau 
province, P[.] T. Musim Mas, fired approximately 700 workers for 
striking in protest of the termination of nine union leaders. In June 
the Indonesian Union of Wood and Forestry Workers signed an agreement 
with the company to provide severance pay to strikers, but the workers 
were not rehired.
    On December 8, Kompas newspaper fired union activist Bambang 
Wisudo. Kompas claimed that Wisudo was fired on grounds that he refused 
a transfer to Ambon, but the Association of Independent Journalists 
stated that he was fired for demanding that the newspaper respect the 
right of employees to profit-sharing.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
special economic zones (SEZs). However, nongovernmental observers, 
including the Solidarity Center, described stronger antiunion sentiment 
and actions by employers in SEZs.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced labor or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there 
were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). The 
Government tolerated forms of compulsory labor practiced in the migrant 
worker recruitment process. The unscrupulous practices of migrant 
worker recruiting agencies, and poor enforcement of government 
regulations often led to debt bondage and extended unlawful confinement 
(see section 5). According to press reports and research by the 
Solidarity Center, recruiting agencies frequently kept migrant workers 
in holding centers for months before sending them abroad. While in the 
holding centers, migrant workers normally did not receive pay, and 
recruiters often did not allow them to leave the centers. In most 
instances, workers were forced to pay recruiters for the cost of their 
forced stay, which resulted in large debts to the recruiters. During 
the year the manpower ministry took limited measures to enforce 
existing labor laws that prevent employment agencies from trafficking 
workers through debt bondage and thus protect workers against internal 
and external trafficking. During the year police and manpower ministry 
officials conducted raids on 32 licensed and six illegal migrant worker 
holding centers in Jakarta, targeting those that forcibly held 
prospective workers, both adults and children, some in inhumane 
conditions. The raids resulted in the release of 3,438 prospective 
workers, and the arrests of eight suspects. The manpower ministry was 
unable to provide information on the disposition of 20 arrest cases 
arising from the raids conducted in 2004 and 2005.
    Under a Malaysia-Indonesia agreement, as of June, Indonesians 
working in Malaysia's informal sector are to be accorded basic labor 
rights including a monthly minimum wage, a mandatory day off per week, 
and paid annual leave for a home visit. However, activists stated that 
the agreement often protects Malaysian employers to the detriment of 
Indonesian workers.
    Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see section 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits children from working in hazardous sectors and the worst 
forms of child labor, including mining, skin diving, construction, 
prostitution, and offshore fishing platforms. However, the Government 
did not enforce these laws effectively. Law, regulations, and practice 
acknowledged that some children must work to supplement family incomes. 
The Manpower Act prohibits the employment of children, defined as 
persons under 18, except for those 13 to 15 years of age, who may work 
no more than three hours per day and only under a number of other 
conditions, such as parental consent, no work during school hours, and 
payment of legal wages. The law does not appear to address exceptions 
for children ages 16 to 17. The law addresses economic and sexual 
exploitation, including child prostitution, child trafficking, and the 
involvement of children in the narcotics trade, and provides severe 
criminal penalties and jail terms for persons who violate children's 
rights.
    The Government has a national action plan to eliminate the worst 
forms of child labor, as well as separate national action plans for 
combating trafficking and for eliminating the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children. Child labor remained a serious problem in the 
country. An estimated six to eight million children exceeded the legal 
three-hour daily work limit, working in agriculture, street vending, 
mining, construction, prostitution, and other areas. More children 
worked in the informal than the formal sector. Some children worked in 
large factories, but their numbers were unknown, largely because 
documents verifying age could be falsified easily. Children worked in 
industries such as rattan and wood furniture, garment, footwear, food 
processing, and toy making, and also in small-scale mining operations. 
Many girls between 14 and 16 years of age worked as live-in domestic 
servants. The ILO estimated that there were 2.6 million domestic 
workers in the country, of whom at least 688,000 were children. 
According to a 2005 Human Rights Watch report, children between 12 and 
15 years of age worked 14 to 18 hours per day, seven days a week from 4 
a.m. to 10 p.m. with employers who often subjected them to physical and 
sexual threats. Many child servants were not allowed to study and were 
forced to work long hours, received low pay, and generally were unaware 
of their rights. The law and regulations prohibit bonded labor by 
children; however, the Government was not effective in eliminating 
forced child labor, which remained a serious problem. A significant 
number of children worked against their will in prostitution, 
pornography, begging, drug trafficking, domestic service, and other 
exploitative situations, including a small number on fishing platforms 
(see section 5). Social and cultural resistance remained a challenge in 
addressing child labor. Many parents disagreed with government efforts 
to restrict children from working, arguing that the Government offered 
inadequate economic support to guarantee these families' welfare.
    Enforcement of child labor laws remained largely ineffective. 
Despite legislative and regulatory measures, most children who worked, 
including as domestics, did so in unregulated environments. Anecdotal 
evidence suggested that local labor officials carried out few child 
labor investigations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Provincial and district 
authorities, not the central government, establish minimum wages, which 
vary by province, district, and sector. Provincial authorities 
determined provincial minimum wage levels based on proposals by 
tripartite (workers, employers, and government) provincial wage 
commissions. The provincial minimum wage rates establish a floor for 
minimum wages within the province. Local districts set district minimum 
wages using the provincial levels as references. Districts also set 
minimum wages in some industrial sectors on an ad hoc basis. Provinces 
and districts conducted annual minimum wage rate negotiations, which 
often produced controversy and protests. The minimum wage levels set by 
most local governments did not provide a worker and family with a 
decent standard of living. Most province-level minimum wage rates fell 
below the Government's own calculation of basic minimum needs. During 
the year Aceh offered the highest minimum wage level of approximately 
$91 (820 thousand rupiah) per month, while the manpower ministry 
reported official minimum wages as low as $43 (390 thousand rupiah) per 
month in one area.
    Local manpower officials are responsible for enforcing minimum wage 
regulations. Enforcement remained inadequate, particularly at smaller 
companies and in the informal sector. In practice, official minimum 
wage levels applied only in the formal sector, which accounted for 35 
percent of the workforce. Labor law and ministerial regulations provide 
workers with a variety of benefits. Persons who worked at more modern 
facilities often received health benefits, meal privileges, and 
transportation. The law also requires employers to register workers 
with and pay contributions to the state-owned insurance agency 
JAMSOSTEK.
    The law establishes a 40-hour workweek, with one 30-minute rest 
period for every four hours of work. Companies often required a five 
and a half- or six-day workweek. The law also requires at least one day 
of rest weekly. The daily overtime rate was 1+ times the normal hourly 
rate for the first hour and double the hourly rate for additional 
overtime, with a maximum of three hours of overtime per day and no more 
than 14 hours per week. Workers in industries that produced retail 
goods for export frequently worked overtime to meet contract quotas. 
Unions complained that companies relied upon excessive overtime in some 
garment and electronics assembly plants, to the detriment of workers' 
health and safety. Observance of laws regulating benefits and labor 
standards varied between sectors and regions. Employer violations of 
legal requirements were fairly common, resulting in some strikes and 
protests. The Solidarity Center reported that workers in the garment 
industry worked extremely long hours but because their pay slips do not 
specify the amount of overtime paid, workers cannot be certain they are 
fully compensated for overtime. The manpower ministry continued to urge 
employers to comply with the law; however, government enforcement and 
supervision of labor standards were weak. Both law and regulations 
provide for minimum standards of industrial health and safety. In 
practice, the country's worker safety record was poor. JAMSOSTEK 
reported 70,069 accidents in the first nine months of the year, 
compared with 99,023 for the whole of 2005. Local officials have 
responsibility for enforcing health and safety standards. In larger 
companies, the quality of occupational health and safety programs 
varied greatly. Health and safety standards in smaller companies and in 
the informal sector tended to be weaker or nonexistent. Workers are 
obligated to report hazardous working conditions, and employers are 
forbidden by law from retaliating against those who do report hazardous 
working conditions; however, the law was not enforced effectively.

                               __________

                                 JAPAN

    Japan is a parliamentary democracy with a population of 
approximately 127.7 million. Sovereignty is vested in the citizenry, 
and the emperor is defined as the symbol of state. Shinzo Abe, who 
replaced Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister on September 26, headed a 
coalition composed of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito 
Party. The most recent national elections, held in September 2005, were 
generally considered free and fair. The civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens. 
However, violence against women and children continued, as did sexual 
harassment. Despite government efforts to combat human trafficking, it 
remained a widespread problem. Societal discrimination against women as 
well as burakumin, Ainu, and other ethnic minorities was prevalent 
throughout the country.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice. Unlike in past years, 
there were no reports of violence against prisoners or detainees. Human 
rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that treatment of 
prisoners improved after revisions to the law took effect in May.
    At year's end a number of prisoner abuse and neglect cases were 
pending in courts, including the appeal of an assistant police 
inspector found guilty of raping a female suspect in 2005 and the civil 
case against three police officers convicted for the 2004 death of a 
suspect being held in a police detention center.
    The Government continued its practice of denying death-row inmates 
and their families information about the date of execution. Families of 
condemned prisoners were not notified of the execution until after the 
fact. Condemned prisoners were held in solitary confinement for an 
average of seven years and five months until their execution. They were 
allowed visits by their families and lawyers, and a new law scheduled 
to take effect in 2007 would allow access by persons other than family 
members or lawyers.
    Prisoners' rights NGOs reported that prison management officials 
regularly abused the rules on solitary confinement for prisoners. 
Although the Prison Law Enforcement Regulation stipulates the maximum 
time prisoners may be held in solitary confinement, the regulation 
gives wardens broad leeway. Punitive solitary confinement may be 
imposed for a maximum of 60 days, but prison operating procedures allow 
wardens to keep prisoners in ``isolation'' solitary confinement 
indefinitely.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards. However, several facilities were 
overcrowded and unheated and provided inadequate food and medical care. 
NGOs reported that inmates in some institutions were given insufficient 
clothing and blankets to protect themselves against cold weather. A 
prisoner in Saga City was refused medical attention for almost two 
years despite severe medical symptoms, according to press reports. When 
the prisoner was finally able to see a doctor, he was diagnosed with 
advanced intestinal cancer.
    Unlike in past years, there were no reports of rape or brutality 
against prisoners. The Ministry of Justice reported that 15 prisoners 
committed suicide in 2005.
    Minors were sometimes held in the same correctional facility as 
adults. NGOs reported that as of December, two 16-year-old Kurdish 
immigrants had been held in an Ibaraki Prefecture immigration detention 
center alongside adults for more than three months.
    Access to prisoners, while still restricted, continued to become 
easier. During the year the Ministry of Justice implemented regulations 
established by the revised law for prison management that set up 
independent inspection committees. The committees included physicians, 
lawyers, and NGO representatives. Prisoners' rights advocates reported 
that the committees visited many prisons supervised by the Ministry of 
Justice. However, by year's end the National Police Agency (NPA) did 
not have a similar program for police-operated detention centers. 
Access to these facilities was limited and strictly controlled by 
police officials.
    Prison rules on correspondence became less restrictive during the 
year. Although prison management officials continued to inspect and 
occasionally censor inmate mail for security reasons, limits were no 
longer placed on the amount of mail that inmates could receive or on 
the number of their correspondents.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces are 
responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the 
country. The military forces are responsible for external security and 
have limited domestic security responsibilities. Corruption and 
impunity were not reported as significant problems within either 
national or local police forces. The National Public Safety Commission, 
an independent body under the Prime Minister's jurisdiction, oversees 
the NPA.
    The law permits persons to lodge complaints against police with 
national and local public safety commissions. The commissions have the 
authority to direct police to conduct internal investigations. NGOs 
criticized the commissions for lacking independence from or sufficient 
authority over police agencies.

    Arrest and Detention.--Persons were apprehended openly with 
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized 
official, and detainees were brought before an independent judiciary.
    The law provides detainees the right to a prompt judicial 
determination of the legality of the detention, and authorities 
respected this right in practice. The law requires authorities to 
inform detainees immediately of the charges against them. Authorities 
usually hold suspects in police-operated detention centers for an 
initial 72 hours. A judge must interview a suspect prior to further 
detention. The judge may extend preindictment custody by up to two 
consecutive 10-day periods. Prosecutors routinely sought and received 
these extensions. Prosecutors may also apply for an additional five-day 
extension.
    The code of criminal procedure allows detainees, their families, or 
representatives to request that the court release an indicted detainee 
on bail. However, bail was not available before indictment to suspects 
held in police-operated detention centers. More than 25 percent of 
persons arrested were released without being indicted.
    Police and prosecutors have the power to limit suspects' access to 
their legal counsel. Suspects may be detained for up to 23 days without 
access to counsel. Counsel may not be present during interrogations at 
any time. A court-appointed attorney is not approved until after 
indictment; suspects must rely on their own resources to hire an 
attorney before indictment. Local bar associations provided detainees 
with limited free assistance. Family members were allowed to meet with 
detainees, but only in the presence of a detention officer.
    In contrast to government claims, critics said that access to 
counsel was limited both in duration and frequency. Critics also 
alleged that allowing suspects to be detained by the same authorities 
who interrogated them heightened the potential for abuse and coercion. 
The Government countered that cases where persons were sent to police 
detention facilities tended to be those in which the facts were not in 
dispute. According to government statistics, more than 98 percent of 
arrested suspects were sent to police detention facilities. The other 2 
percent were held in Ministry of Justice-operated preindictment 
detention centers.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    There are several levels of courts, including family and summary 
courts, district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court, which 
serves as the court of final appeal. Criminal trials normally begin at 
the district court level. Verdicts may be appealed to a higher court 
and ultimately to the Supreme Court.
    The law provides for a speedy trial, and the Government generally 
followed this practice. The average length of a criminal trial in 2005 
was 3.2 months.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The law 
extends this right to all citizens, and it also ensures that each 
charged individual receives a public trial by an independent civilian 
court, has access to defense counsel, and has the right to cross-
examine witnesses. There is no trial by jury. A defendant is presumed 
innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and defendants cannot 
be compelled to testify against themselves.
    Most cases are decided before they reach the courts. Safeguards 
exist to ensure that suspects cannot be compelled to confess to a crime 
or convicted when a confession is the only evidence, but a manual of 
police interrogation procedures showed that police investigators are 
authorized to use heavy pressure to extract confessions from detainees. 
According to legal advocacy NGOs, the majority of detainees who were 
indicted confessed while in police custody. The use of police-operated 
detention centers, which puts suspects in the custody of their 
interrogators, has been on the rise for more than 30 years, from 82 
percent of all arrests in 1970 to 98 percent in 2004. More than 99 
percent of cases that appeared in a trial court resulted in conviction.
    Although the law provides for access to counsel, a significant 
number of defendants reported insufficient access to legal counsel. The 
Government contended that the right of defendants to consult with 
attorneys could be restricted when compatible with the spirit of the 
constitution.
    Trial procedures favor the prosecution. The law does not require 
full disclosure by prosecutors, and material that the prosecution does 
not use in court may be suppressed. Critics claimed that the legal 
representatives of some defendants did not receive access to relevant 
material in the police record.
    The language barrier was a serious problem for foreign defendants. 
No guidelines exist to ensure effective communication between judges, 
lawyers, and non-Japanese-speaking defendants. No standard licensing or 
qualification system exists for court interpreters, and trials 
proceeded even if no translation or interpretation was provided to the 
accused. Several foreign detainees claimed that police urged them to 
sign statements in Japanese that they could not read and that were not 
translated adequately.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Cases involving human rights 
violations have been brought before these courts (see section 1.c.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Persons regularly used the widely available Internet connections.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. 
Allegations by the Unification Church that the Government was 
unresponsive to claims that its members were being abducted and 
deprogrammed decreased.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Relations among religious 
groups were generally amicable. An estimated 200 Jewish families lived 
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government generally cooperated with the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. However, in February two Kurdish men were deported before 
being able to exercise their legal right to appeal the denial of their 
application for asylum.
    The Government granted refugee status or asylum in only a small 
number of cases. Of 384 claims submitted to the Ministry of Justice in 
2005, the Government granted refugee status to 46 persons. The country 
also provided temporary protection to 97 individuals who did not 
qualify as refugees under either the 1951 Convention or the 1967 
Protocol. During the year the Government did not accept any refugees 
for resettlement.
    Refugees faced the same patterns of discrimination that ethnic 
minorities did: reduced access to housing, education, and employment. 
Persons whose refugee status was pending or on appeal did not have the 
legal right to work or receive social welfare, rendering them 
completely dependent on overcrowded government shelters or the support 
of NGOs (see section 5).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The country held its most 
recent national elections in September 2005. There were few reported 
irregularities, and the elections were judged to be generally free and 
fair.
    Except for a brief hiatus in the 1990s, the Liberal Democratic 
Party has been reelected as the dominant party in every government 
since the mid-1950s. There were no government restrictions on the 
political opposition. Individuals could freely declare their 
candidacies and run for election.
    There were 34 women elected to the 242-member upper house and 45 
women elected to the 480-member lower house, representing the highest 
number of women elected to the lower house since women first entered 
the Diet in 1946. In September the Prime Minister appointed two women 
to his 18-member cabinet. On a regional level, there were five female 
governors and five female deputy governors, which represented a greater 
number of women holding public office at that level than in the past.
    NGOs reported that two members of the burakumin minority were 
elected to the Diet in 2005.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year. According to NPA 
figures for January through June, there were 42 cases involving bribery 
and 17 cases of bid rigging, compared with 39 for bribery and nine for 
bid rigging during the same period in 2005.
    Corruption scandals led to public calls for reform. One major bid-
rigging case involved the Defense Facilities Administration Agency and 
the governors of three prefectures. In August an Osaka prison warden 
was arrested for taking a bribe from an inmate who was a member of an 
organized crime family. Investigators also uncovered a 12-year pattern 
of widespread corruption in the Gifu prefectural government.
    On December 8, the law to prevent collusive bid rigging by 
government officials was revised and enacted. The new law sets 
penalties for government officials involved in bid rigging to 
imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or fines of up to 
$21,000 (2.5 million yen).
    The public has the legal right to access government information. 
There were no reports that the Government denied legal requests for 
information or required information seekers to pay prohibitive fees to 
gain access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without governmental restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, 
disability, language, and social status. Although the Government 
generally enforced these provisions, discrimination against women, 
ethnic minority groups, and foreigners remained a problem.

    Women.--Although prohibited by law, domestic violence against women 
persisted. District courts may impose six-month restraining orders on 
perpetrators of domestic violence and impose sentences of up to one 
year in prison or fines of up to $8,500 (one million yen). The law 
covers common-law marriages and divorced individuals; it also 
encourages prefectures to expand shelter facilities for domestic abuse 
victims and stipulates that local governments offer financial 
assistance to 40 private institutions already operating such shelters.
    Because domestic violence often went unreported due to social and 
cultural pressures, NPA statistics on violence against women most 
likely understated the magnitude of the problem. In 2005 spousal 
violence consultation assistance centers received 51,358 consultations. 
According to NPA statistics, in 2005 there were 16,888 reported cases 
of domestic violence. Police were quick to respond to calls for 
assistance; they also trained victims in basic self-defense and taught 
them how to file restraining orders.
    The law criminalizes all forms of rape, including spousal rape, and 
the Government generally enforced the law effectively. According to 
government statistics, 2,076 rapes were reported in 2005, and courts 
handed out 132 convictions. Out of 104 reported gang rapes, there were 
five convictions in 2005. Gang rape is punishable by a minimum penalty 
of four years in prison. Many local governments maintained special, 
female-staffed consultation departments in police stations to provide 
confidential assistance to female victims.
    Sexual harassment in the workplace remained widespread. In 2005 the 
Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) received 7,894 reports of 
such harassment. The law includes measures to identify companies that 
fail to prevent sexual harassment, but it does not include punitive 
measures to enforce compliance other than publicizing the names of 
offending companies. The Government has established hotlines and 
designated ombudsmen to handle complaints of discrimination and sexual 
harassment. In December 2005 the MHLW notified labor bureaus nationally 
that mental illness resulting from sexual harassment could be 
compensated under the law. The Government also supported private 
companies and public institutions that made voluntary efforts to 
prevent sexual harassment. Local governments and private rail operators 
enforced measures to address the widespread problem of groping and 
molesting female commuters. Several railway companies maintained women-
only rail cars on various trains, and an antigroping ordinance makes 
first-time offenders subject to imprisonment.
    The law prohibits sexual discrimination and provides women the same 
rights as men. A Council for Gender Equality monitored enforcement; its 
high-level members included the chief cabinet secretary, cabinet 
ministers, and Diet members. During the year the council regularly met 
to examine policies and monitor progress on gender equality.
    Inequality in employment remained entrenched in society. Although 
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication statistics showed that 
women composed 41.6 percent of the labor force, the average monthly 
wage for women was $1,900 (222,500 yen), less than two-thirds of the 
monthly wage that men earned ($2,890, or 337,800 yen). Many private 
sector companies directed men into higher paying managerial jobs while 
steering equally qualified women into lower paying clerical work.
    Prostitution is illegal but widespread. Sex tourism was not a 
significant problem. The Government continued to address the problem of 
trafficking in women for prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The issue of ``comfort women,'' or women forced into sexual slavery 
for Japanese troops in World War II, continued to draw controversy. In 
1993 then chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono officially acknowledged 
that the Imperial Japanese Army forced women from the Korean Peninsula 
and elsewhere into sexual slavery for soldiers. As part of its efforts 
to atone for the damage, in 1995 the Government established the Asian 
Women's Fund (AWF), which sent a signed apology from the Prime Minister 
along with privately raised financial compensation to each victim. 
Although many victims refused to accept the atonement money, from 1995 
to 2002 the AWF successfully distributed compensation to 285 former 
comfort women.
    Critics of the policy towards comfort women maintained that the 
apology letter from the Prime Minister took moral but not legal 
responsibility for the suffering endured by the comfort women. Human 
rights NGOs also called for the Government to pay direct compensation 
to victims and rejected the Government's position that the San 
Francisco Peace Treaty absolved the Government of any obligation to pay 
direct restitution. During the year some politicians fueled the 
controversy by calling for a reexamination of the comfort women issue.

    Children.--The Government is committed to the rights and welfare of 
children, and in general children's rights were protected adequately.
    Public school education is provided for up to 12 years. Primary 
education is free and compulsory through the lower secondary level (age 
15 or the ninth grade). Education was widely available through age 18 
to students who met minimum academic standards at the upper secondary 
level. Society placed an extremely high value on education, and 
enrollment levels for both boys and girls through the upper secondary 
level exceeded 94.4 percent, according to the Government. There were no 
differences in the treatment of girls and boys at any level of school.
    The Government provides universal health care for all citizens, 
including children.
    Reports of child abuse continued to increase. In 2005 there were 
34,451 reported cases of child abuse, a 45 percent increase over the 
previous year. A total of 37 children died in 2005 after being abused, 
according to the NPA. The law grants child welfare officials the 
authority to prohibit abusive parents from meeting or communicating 
with their children. The law also bans abuse under the guise of 
discipline and obliges teachers, medical doctors, and welfare officials 
to report any suspicious circumstances to a local child-counseling 
center or municipal welfare center.
    Law enforcement officials were not able to participate in some 
international child pornography investigations because the access, 
downloading, and possession of child pornography was legal.
    Trafficking of minors, teenage prostitution, and dating for money 
also continued to be problems (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--Human trafficking remained a widespread 
problem despite significant efforts by the Government, including 
stricter visa requirements and the authorization of a temporary legal 
immigration status for victims. The country remained a destination and 
transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for commercial 
sexual exploitation. Victims came from China, Southeast Asia, Eastern 
Europe, and to a lesser extent Latin America. Unlike in past years, 
internal trafficking of Japanese girls for sexual exploitation was not 
a significant problem.
    Brokers in the countries of origin recruited women and sold them to 
intermediaries or employers, who in turn subjected them to debt bondage 
and coercion. Agents, brokers, and employers involved in trafficking 
for sexual exploitation usually had ties to organized crime.
    Women trafficked to the country generally were employed as 
prostitutes under coercive conditions in businesses licensed to provide 
commercial sex services. Sex entertainment businesses included strip 
clubs, sex shops, hostess bars, private video rooms, escort services, 
and mail-order video services.
    Most women trafficked into the sex trade had their travel documents 
taken away and their movements strictly controlled by their employers. 
Victims were threatened with reprisals to themselves or their families 
if they tried to escape. Employers often isolated the women, subjected 
them to constant surveillance, and used violence to punish them for 
disobedience. NGOs reported that in some cases brokers used drugs to 
subjugate victims.
    Debt bondage was another method traffickers used to control their 
victims. Before arrival in the country, trafficking victims generally 
did not understand the size of the debts they would owe, the amount of 
time it would take them to repay the debts, or the conditions of 
employment to which they would be subjected upon arrival. Women 
typically faced debts upon commencement of their contracts from $26,000 
to $43,000 (three million to five million yen). In addition, they had 
to pay their employer for their living expenses, medical care (when 
provided by the employer), and other necessities. ``Fines'' for 
misbehavior added to the original debt over time; in general the 
process that the employers used to calculate these debts was not 
transparent. Employers also sometimes ``resold,'' or threatened to 
resell, troublesome women or women found to be HIV positive, thereby 
increasing the victims' debts and often leading to even worse working 
conditions.
    In addition to organizing antitrafficking conferences that included 
NGO participation, the NPA made significant improvements in its 
handling of trafficking cases and identification of victims. 
Nevertheless, there continued to be isolated reports that police failed 
to identify victims adequately or declined to investigate suspected 
brokers when presented with information obtained from trafficking 
victims. NGOs reported that police and immigration officers 
occasionally neglected to classify a woman working in abusive 
conditions as a victim because she willingly entered into an agreement 
to work illegally in the country. Government statistics probably 
understated the scope of the problem because they did not always 
include persons who agreed to one kind of work but were forced into 
prostitution by fraud or coercion.
    The Government expanded efforts to protect victims of trafficking. 
In addition to allocating funds to subsidize private shelters, the MHLW 
encouraged police and immigration officers to use its preexisting 
network of shelters for domestic violence victims as temporary housing 
for foreign trafficking victims awaiting repatriation. The Government 
paid for victims' medical care and subsidized repatriation through a 
grant to the International Office of Migration (IOM). The MHLW reported 
that in 2005 112 women were protected in private and public shelters, 
and IOM representatives stated that they helped 50 women return home 
with the Government's support.
    Originally used only as shelters for victims of domestic violence, 
the Government shelters lacked the resources needed to provide adequate 
services to trafficking victims. Private NGO shelters that specialized 
in assisting victims of human trafficking had full-time staff able to 
speak seven or more languages, but the MHLW shelters had to rely on 
interpretation services from outside providers. Without sufficient 
counseling in their native language by professionals familiar with the 
special needs of trafficking victims, foreign women staying at 
government shelters elected to repatriate as quickly as possible. 
Although the Government reserved funds to subsidize victims' stays in 
private shelters, very few victims were referred to the specialized NGO 
facilities.
    A suspended sentence remained the most common punishment for those 
convicted of trafficking-related crimes. According to Ministry of 
Justice statistics, in 2005 only six of 75 convictions resulted in 
incarceration, with an average two-year sentence. All but one of the 
six offenders who were imprisoned were foreigners. Police, government 
officials, and NGO representatives agreed that organized crime 
syndicates (the yakuza) were the controlling investors in the sex 
industry, but only one yakuza member was prosecuted. Ministry of 
Justice officials declared that it was ``difficult to tell the level of 
involvement'' of the owners of bars and clubs selling the sexual 
services of trafficking victims. However, NPA officials claimed it was 
difficult to build cases without a program to encourage victim 
testimony, long-term undercover work by the police, or the ability to 
plea bargain. In addition, an entrenched reluctance to move against the 
sex establishments persisted, according to NGO lawyers, who noted that 
although buying sexual services is illegal, clients were never arrested 
and the establishments were permitted to operate relatively 
unconstrained.
    Coercive control of ``foreign trainees'' in some companies was 
increasingly reported by the media (see section 6.e.).

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment, 
education, and access to health care, and the Government effectively 
enforced these provisions.
    Persons with disabilities generally were not subject to overt 
discrimination in employment, education, or provision of other state 
services; however, in practice they faced limited access to these 
services.
    During the year the revised law to promote employment of persons 
with disabilities went into effect, mandating that the Government and 
private companies hire fixed minimum proportions of persons with 
disabilities (including mental disabilities). Companies with more than 
300 employees that do not comply must pay a fine of $425 (50,000 yen) 
per position per month. As of June public employment of persons with 
disabilities exceeded the minimum, but the private sector lagged behind 
despite increases over 2005, according to MHLW statistics.
    In December revisions to accessibility laws mandated that new 
construction projects for public use must include provisions for 
persons with disabilities. In addition, the Government allows operators 
of hospitals, theaters, hotels, and other public-use facilities to 
receive low-interest loans and tax benefits if they upgrade or install 
features to accommodate persons with disabilities.
    The Government supported the right of persons with disabilities to 
participate in civic affairs.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Burakumin (descendants of 
feudal era ``outcasts'') and ethnic minorities experienced varying 
degrees of societal discrimination, some of it severe and longstanding. 
The approximately three million burakumin, although not subject to 
governmental discrimination, frequently were victims of entrenched 
societal discrimination, including restricted access to housing, 
education, and employment opportunities.
    During the year a banned ``black book'' cataloguing burakumin 
lineages for the purpose of discriminating against them was found in a 
major company office. This discovery dispelled the widely held belief 
in society that the book was no longer published and that 
discrimination against the burakumin had ended. NGOs reported that 
discrimination was still extensive outside major metropolitan areas.
    Despite improvements in legal safeguards against discrimination, 
the country's large populations of Korean, Chinese, Brazilian, and 
Filipino permanent residents--many of whom were born, raised, and 
educated in Japan--were subject to various forms of deeply entrenched 
societal discrimination, including restricted access to housing, 
education, and employment opportunities. There was a widespread 
perception among citizens that ``foreigners,'' often members of Japan-
born ethnic minorities, were responsible for most of the crimes 
committed in the country. The media fostered this perception despite 
the fact that the ``foreigner"-committed crime rate was much lower than 
the rate of crimes committed by citizens, according to the Ministry of 
Justice.
    Aliens with five years of continuous residence are eligible for 
naturalization and citizenship rights. However, many immigrants 
struggled to overcome obstacles to naturalization, including the broad 
discretion available to adjudicating officers and the great emphasis on 
Japanese-language ability. Naturalization procedures also require an 
extensive background check, which includes inquiries into the 
applicant's economic status and assimilation into society. The 
Government defended its naturalization procedures as necessary to 
ensure the smooth assimilation of foreigners into society.

    Indigenous People.--Conditions improved for the estimated 27,000 
indigenous Ainu that lived in the country. Ending a long history of 
oppressing the Ainu, in 1997 the parliament passed the Law for the 
Promotion of the Ainu Culture and Dissemination and Advocacy for the 
Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture (Culture Promotion Law). 
The law recognized the Ainu as an ethnic minority, required all 
prefectural governments to develop basic programs for promoting Ainu 
culture and traditions, canceled previous laws that discriminated 
against the Ainu, and required the Government of Hokkaido to return 
Ainu communal assets. Although the Ainu enjoyed the same rights as all 
other citizens, they faced the same patterns of discrimination that all 
ethnic minorities encountered (see section 5, National/Racial/Ethnic 
Minorities).
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and the Government effectively enforced the law. Unions 
were free of government control and influence; however, governed by a 
separate law, public service employees' basic union rights are 
considerably restricted, which the International Labor Organization 
described as ``tantamount to prior authorization'' to form unions. 
Approximately 18.7 percent of the total workforce was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Except for 
public sector workers and employees of state-owned enterprises, the law 
allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right. Collective bargaining is protected by 
law and was freely practiced. Unions have the right to strike, and 
workers exercised this right in practice.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law bans the exploitation of children in the workplace, and the 
Government effectively implemented the law. The MHLW is responsible for 
enforcement. Both societal values and the rigorous enforcement of the 
law protect children from exploitation in the workplace. By law 
children under the age of 15 may not be employed, and those under 18 
may not be employed in dangerous or harmful jobs. An exception is made 
for children in the entertainment industry, who may begin work at age 
13. Other than victims of human trafficking (see section 5), child 
labor was not a problem.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages are set on a 
prefectural and industry basis, with the input of tripartite (workers, 
employers, and public interest) advisory councils. Employers covered by 
a minimum wage must post the relevant minimum wages, and compliance 
with minimum wages was considered widespread. Minimum wage rates 
ranged, according to prefecture, from $5.21 (610 yen) to $6.15 (719 
yen) per hour. The minimum daily wage provided a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family.
    The law provides for a 40-hour workweek for most industries and 
mandates premium pay for hours worked above 40 in a week or above eight 
in a day. However, it was widely accepted within the population that 
workers, including those in government jobs, routinely exceeded the 
hours outlined in the law. Labor unions frequently criticized the 
Government for failing to enforce maximum working hour regulations.
    Activist groups claimed that employers exploited illegal foreign 
workers, who often had little or no knowledge of the Japanese language 
or their legal rights. The Government tried to reduce the inflow of 
illegal foreign workers by prosecuting employers of such workers. 
Citizen groups worked with illegal foreign workers to improve their 
access to information on worker rights.
    The ``foreign trainee'' program came under increasing scrutiny for 
human rights abuses, and the media reported investigations into abusive 
company practices. In some companies trainees earned less than the 
minimum wage, and their wages were automatically deposited in company-
controlled accounts, despite the fact that such deposits are illegal. 
In addition, employers sometimes confiscated their travel documents and 
controlled their movements to ``prevent escape.''
    The Government sets occupational health and safety standards, and 
the Ministry of Labor effectively administered the various laws and 
regulations governing occupational health and safety. Labor inspectors 
have the authority to suspend unsafe operations immediately, and the 
law provides that workers may voice concerns over occupational safety 
and remove themselves from unsafe working conditions without 
jeopardizing their continued employment.

                               __________

                                KIRIBATI

    Kiribati is a constitutional multiparty republic with a population 
of approximately 92,000. The President exercises executive authority 
and is popularly elected for a four-year term. The legislative assembly 
nominates at least three, and no more than four, Presidential 
candidates from among its members. The most recent parliamentary and 
Presidential elections, held in May and July 2003 respectively, were 
considered generally free and fair. Anote Tong of the Boutokan te Koaua 
party was elected President. The civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse. There were instances of 
extrajudicial communal justice. Government corruption, violence and 
discrimination against women, child abuse, and child prostitution also 
were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed them. Traditional village 
practice permits corporal punishment for criminal acts and other 
transgressions. On some outer islands, village associations 
occasionally ordered strokes with palm fronds to be administered for 
public drunkenness and other minor offenses, such as petty theft. 
Communal justice in the form of beatings and banishment sometimes 
occurred.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. Children under age 16 
usually were not incarcerated. There was no separate facility for 
juvenile offenders. Juveniles age 16 to 17 generally may be detained no 
longer than a month in the adult facility; however, for more serious 
offenses, such as murder, juveniles over the age of 16 can be held in 
custody for more than a month and can be sentenced to longer terms. 
Pretrial detainees accused of serious offenses who did not meet bail 
were held with convicted prisoners. Persons charged with minor offenses 
normally were released on their own recognizance pending trial.
    Family members and church representatives were allowed access to 
prisoners. Diplomats and senior judicial officials visited the prisons, 
including some unannounced visits, and reported no problems.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The commissioner of 
police and prisons, who reports directly to the Office of the 
President, heads the police force. There are three superintendents 
under the commissioner responsible for crime and security, prisons, and 
administrative functions respectively. The force consisted of 
approximately 300 police officers and 40 correctional officers and was 
reasonably effective in maintaining law and order. Police corruption 
and impunity generally were not serious problems. The police 
commissioner is responsible for investigating allegations of police 
misconduct, and police officers occasionally were dismissed.

    Arrest and Detention.--In most cases magistrates issued warrants 
before an arrest was made. Persons taken into custody without a warrant 
must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours or within a 
reasonable amount of time when arrested in remote locations. The law 
requires that arrested individuals be informed of their rights, which 
include the right to legal counsel during questioning and the right not 
to incriminate themselves. Two police officers must be present at all 
times during questioning of detainees, who also are provided the option 
of writing and reviewing statements given to police. Many individuals 
were released on their own recognizance pending trial, and bail was 
granted routinely for many offenses. Detainees were allowed prompt 
access to legal counsel.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judiciary consists of magistrates' courts, the High Court, and 
the Court of Appeal.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. There is no trial by jury. An accused person must be informed of 
the charges and be provided adequate time and facilities to prepare a 
defense. The law also provides for the right to confront witnesses, 
present evidence, and appeal convictions. Defendants facing serious 
criminal charges are entitled to free legal representation. Procedural 
safeguards are based on British common law and include the presumption 
of innocence until proven guilty.
    Cases of extrajudicial traditional communal justice, in which 
village elders decide cases and mete out punishment, remained a part of 
village life, especially on remote outer islands. In the past there 
were reports that in extreme cases, those deemed guilty were banished 
from an island or even killed; however, the incidence of communal 
justice was declining under pressure from the codified national law.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, as well as access to a court 
to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights 
violations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and with some limitations, the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice. Under the 
Newspaper Registration Act, newspapers are required to register with 
the Government, but there were no reports that the Government denied 
registration to any publication.
    The country had three weekly newspapers: one government owned, one 
church owned, and one privately owned. The Government also owned AM and 
FM radio stations in Tarawa. There was one privately owned FM radio 
station. Churches published newsletters and other periodicals.
    In March a journalist formerly employed by Radio Kiribati lost his 
appeal against the Government for wrongful dismissal. In December 2005 
he was dismissed from his employment after refusing to reveal his 
sources for a report about a case of alleged corruption involving the 
auditor general.
    Opposition politicians claimed that local media were constrained 
from reporting on a corruption case involving alleged improper 
allocation of university scholarships (see section 3).

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the 
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet 
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful expression 
of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice. Unlike in 2005, there 
were no refusals for demonstration permits during the year.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including 
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community in the country.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. The 
law prohibits government restrictions on citizens' freedom of movement; 
however, it does not restrict such actions by village councils.
    The law provides for the forced expulsion from the country of a 
convicted person, if ``in the interests of'' defense, public safety, 
order, morality, health, or environmental conservation. The Government 
has not used forced exile; however, on rare occasions village councils 
have banished persons from a specific island within the country, 
usually for a fixed period of time. The legality of this form of 
punishment has never been challenged.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. There were no applications for refugee resettlement or asylum 
during the year, and the country had no formal association with the 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The legislature has 42 
members: 40 are elected by universal adult suffrage, the Rabi Island 
council of I-Kiribati (persons of Kiribati ancestry) in Fiji selects 
one, and the Attorney General is an ex officio member. The most recent 
parliamentary elections were held in May 2003. Then-opposition leader 
Anote Tong of the Boutokan Te Koaua party was elected President in July 
2003. The elections were considered generally free and fair. The 
Government party and allied independents together held 25 legislative 
seats. Candidates and parties were free to stand for election. There 
were no government restrictions on political opponents. Elected village 
councils run local governments in consultation with traditional village 
elders.
    There were two women, including the vice President, in the 42-
member legislature, and the head of the civil service was a woman. No 
women sat on the High Court.
    Members of minorities have held cabinet positions in the past. The 
President and several members of the legislature were of mixed descent.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Nepotism, based on tribal, 
church, and family ties, was prevalent. The auditor general (AG) is 
responsible for oversight of government expenditures. In reality the AG 
lacked sufficient resources, and findings of misappropriations and 
unaccounted-for funds were generally ignored, or the investigations 
were inconclusive.
    During the year there were allegations that nationally funded 
university scholarships were not fairly awarded. Several public 
servants stated that the original list of individuals eligible for 
scholarships on the basis of test scores was later replaced by another 
list, and that the substitution unfairly denied scholarships to some 
individuals. A commission of inquiry's report on the matter was not 
made public. One whistleblower public servant was dismissed from his 
job after allegations of the scholarship misallocations were made.
    No specific law provides for citizen or media access to government 
information. In practice the Government was fairly responsive to 
individual requests for information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no restrictions on the formation of local human rights 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but none have been formed. There 
were no restrictions on operations by international human rights 
groups. Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their 
views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, 
national origin, color, or creed, and the Government observed these 
prohibitions in practice; however, only native I-Kiribati may own land. 
Society is fundamentally egalitarian and has no privileged class.

    Women.--Spousal abuse and other forms of violence against women 
were significant problems. Alcohol abuse frequently was a factor in 
attacks on women. The law does not address domestic violence 
specifically, but general common law and criminal law make assault in 
all forms illegal. The law provides for penalties of up to six months' 
imprisonment for common assault and up to five years' imprisonment for 
assault involving bodily harm. Rape, including spousal rape, is a 
crime, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, but sentences were 
typically much shorter. Prosecutions for rape and domestic assault were 
infrequent, largely due to cultural taboos on reporting such crimes and 
police attitudes encouraging reconciliation over prosecution.
    Prostitution is not illegal, and child prostitution was highlighted 
as a problem by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other international 
NGOs (see section 5, Children). Procuring sex and managing brothels are 
illegal; however, the lack of a law against prostitution hindered the 
ability of the police to restrict these activities.
    The law does not specifically prohibit sex tourism. There were 
multiple reports of foreign fishermen engaging in sexual acts with 
minors (see section 5, Children). Obscene or indecent behavior is 
banned.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, which sometimes 
occurred but generally was not regarded as a major problem.
    The law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender, 
and the traditional culture, in which men are dominant, impeded a more 
active role for women in the economy. Nevertheless, women were slowly 
finding work in unskilled and semiskilled occupations. Women filled 
many government office and teaching positions. The law prohibits night 
work by women except in certain specified occupations, including health 
worker, pharmacist, business manager, theater employee, and hotel, bar, 
and restaurant worker; however, there were no reported prosecutions 
based on this ordinance. Statistics generally were not well collected 
in the country, and data on the participation of women in the work 
force and on comparative wages were unavailable. Women have full rights 
of ownership and inheritance of property as well as full and equal 
access to education.

    Children.--Within its limited financial resources, the Government 
made adequate expenditures for child welfare. Primary education is 
compulsory, free, and universal for children between the ages of six 
and 14 years. In practice the Government did not enforce primary school 
attendance. According to the Department of Statistics, 93.5 percent of 
all school-age children attended primary school. Boys and girls had 
similar attendance rates. The approximately 40 percent of primary 
school graduates who pass a national examination qualify for three 
additional years of subsidized junior secondary and four years of 
subsidized senior secondary education; a small fee was charged to other 
students who wished to matriculate at these levels. There were 
allegations that university scholarships were awarded unfairly (see 
section 3).
    The Government provided free medical services for children.
    Chronic alcohol abuse leading to child abuse (physical and 
occasionally sexual) and neglect continued to be a serious problem. 
There is a police unit specifically focused on child and family 
violence.
    UNICEF and other international NGOs identified child prostitution 
as a problem. Specifically, workers on foreign fishing vessels often 
exploited underage girls. A study conducted in June 2005 by the 
National Youth Commission of the Republic of Korea and a Korea-based 
children's rights group, and a regional report on commercial sexual 
exploitation of children in the Pacific published during the year by 
UNICEF, both highlighted commercial sexual exploitation of underage 
girls by crew members of foreign fishing vessels that stopped in 
Kiribati. The reports estimated that approximately 20 to 80 girls were 
involved in such prostitution. Some of the girls worked as prostitutes 
in bars frequented by crewmembers, and local I-Kiribati often acted as 
facilitators, delivering girls to the boats. According to the reports 
the girls generally received cash, food, or goods in exchange for 
sexual services. The lack of a legal ban on prostitution hindered 
police efforts to stem the practice, which continued. During the year 
the Government, with assistance from UNICEF and other NGOs, was working 
on a national plan to combat child prostitution and child sexual abuse.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, but there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, 
from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there were 
no complaints of discrimination in employment, education, or the 
provision of other state services for persons with mental or physical 
disabilities. Accessibility of buildings for persons with disabilities 
has not been mandated, and special accommodations for persons with 
disabilities were basically nonexistent. The central hospital on Tarawa 
had a wing for persons with mental disabilities, and there was a 
psychiatrist working on Tarawa.
    There was no government agency specifically responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom 
of association, and workers are free to join and organize unions; 
workers exercised these rights in practice.
    More than 80 percent of the adult workforce was occupied in fishing 
or subsistence farming. The small wage-earning workforce had a 
relatively strong and effective trade union movement. An estimated 10 
percent of wage-earning workers were union members. There were no 
official public sector trade unions, but nurses and teachers belonged 
to voluntary employee associations similar to unions and constituted 
approximately 30 to 40 percent of total union and association 
membership.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
protects workers from employer interference in their right to organize 
and administer unions. The Government did not control or restrict union 
activities; however, unions must register with the Government. The law 
provides for collective bargaining. The Government sets wages in the 
large public sector. In a few statutory bodies and government-owned 
companies, however, employees could negotiate wages and other 
conditions. In the private sector, individual employees also could 
negotiate wages with employers. In keeping with tradition, negotiations 
generally were nonconfrontational. There were no reports of antiunion 
discrimination, and there were mechanisms to resolve any complaints 
that might arise.
    The law provides for the right to strike, but no strikes have taken 
place since 1980.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that 
such practices occurred. The prohibition does not mention specifically 
forced and compulsory labor by children; however, there were no reports 
that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits the employment of children under age 14. Children through 
the age of 15 are prohibited from industrial employment and employment 
aboard ships. Labor officers from the Ministry of Labor and Human 
Resources Development generally enforced these laws effectively. 
Children rarely were employed outside the traditional economy.
    Underage girls were solicited for prostitution (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The wage-earning workforce 
consisted of approximately 8,000 persons, mostly employed on the main 
atoll of Tarawa, the political and commercial capital. The remainder of 
the working population worked within a subsistence economy. There is no 
official minimum wage, but the Labor Ministry estimated the ``non-
legislated'' minimum to be between $1.24 and $1.32 (A$1.60 to A$1.70) 
per hour in practice. There is provision for a minimum wage at 
ministerial discretion, but it has never been implemented. In 2004 the 
Asian Development Bank reported that approximately one half of the 
population lived below the national basic needs poverty line. Income 
tended to be pooled within individual extended families. The standard 
wage income provided a marginally decent standard of living for a 
worker and family. There is no legislatively prescribed workweek. 
Workers in the public sector (80 percent of the wage-earning workforce) 
worked 36, hours per week, with overtime pay for additional hours.
    Employment laws provide rudimentary health and safety standards for 
the workplace. For example, employers must provide an adequate supply 
of clean water for workers and ensure the availability of sanitary 
toilet facilities. Employers are liable for the expenses of workers 
injured on the job, but a lack of qualified personnel hampered the 
Government's ability to enforce employment laws. Workers do not have 
the right to remove themselves from hazardous work sites without 
risking loss of employment.

                               __________

                 DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

    The Democratic People's Republic of Korea\1\ (DPRK or North Korea) 
is a dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong-il, general 
secretary of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) and chairman of the 
National Defense Commission, the ``highest office of state.'' The 
country has an estimated population of 22.7 million. Kim's father, the 
late Kim Il-sung, remains ``eternal President.'' Elections held in 
August 2003 were not free or fair. There was no civilian control of the 
security forces, and members of the security forces committed numerous 
serious human rights abuses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Note on Sourcing: The United States does not have diplomatic 
relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korea 
does not allow representatives of foreign governments, journalists, or 
other invited guests the freedom of movement that would enable them to 
fully assess human rights conditions or confirm reported abuses. This 
report is based on information from interviews, press reports, 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reports, and refugee testimony 
obtained over the past decade, and supplemented where possible by 
information drawn from more recent reports from visitors, both private 
and official, to the country and NGOs working on the Chinese border. 
Refugee testimony is often dated because of the time lapse between 
refugee departures from North Korea and contact with NGOs or officials 
able to document human rights conditions. The report cites specific 
sources and time frames wherever possible, and reports are corroborated 
to the best of our ability. While limited in detail, the information in 
this report is indicative of the human rights situation in North Korea 
in recent years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the regime 
continued to commit numerous serious abuses. The regime subjected 
citizens to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives. Citizens 
did not have the right to change their government. There continued to 
be reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary 
detention, including of political prisoners. Prison conditions were 
harsh and life-threatening, and torture reportedly was common. Pregnant 
female prisoners reportedly underwent forced abortions, and in other 
cases babies reportedly were killed upon birth in prisons. The 
judiciary was not independent and did not provide fair trials. Citizens 
were denied freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association, 
and the Government attempted to control all information. The Government 
restricted freedom of religion, citizens' movement, and worker rights. 
There continued to be reports of severe punishment of some repatriated 
refugees. There were widespread reports of trafficking in women and 
girls among refugees and workers crossing the border into China.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Defector and refugee 
reports indicated that in some instances the regime executed political 
prisoners, opponents of the regime, repatriated defectors, and others, 
including military officers suspected of espionage or of plotting 
against Kim Jong-il. The law prescribes the death penalty for the most 
``serious'' or ``grave'' cases of ``antistate'' or ``antination'' 
crimes, including: active participation in a coup or plotting to 
overthrow the state; acts of terrorism for an antistate purpose; 
treason, which includes defection or handing over state secrets; and 
suppressing the people's movement for national liberation. In March the 
Government added ``cutting electric power lines or communication lines 
and illegal drug transactions'' to the list of antistate crimes 
punishable by death. In September a Japanese television station 
broadcast a video allegedly filmed in South Hamkyong Province. The 
video depicted the trial and public execution of Yoo Bun-hee. In the 
past border guards reportedly had orders to shoot to kill potential 
defectors, and prison guards were under orders to shoot to kill those 
attempting escape from political prison camps. During the year a North 
Korean defector reported that he witnessed two public executions, one 
in 2000 and one in 2003, of prisoners who had attempted to escape the 
Yodok prison camp.
    Religious and human rights groups outside the country alleged that 
some North Koreans who had contact with foreigners across the Chinese 
border were imprisoned or killed (see section 2.c.). However, anecdotal 
evidence from refugees suggested that refugees forcibly repatriated 
from China were generally being treated less harshly than in past 
years.
    In March the Government reportedly sentenced Son Jong-nam to death 
for espionage. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claimed the 
sentence was the result of his contacts with Christian groups in China, 
proselytizing activities, and alleged sharing of information with his 
brother in the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea). Because the DPRK 
effectively bars outside observers from investigating such reports, it 
was not possible to verify the DPRK's claims about Son's activities or 
determine whether he was executed.
    As recently as 2004, defectors reported that prison camp 
authorities mandated forced abortions and, in other cases, authorized 
infanticide. Prisoners reportedly continued to die from beatings, 
disease, starvation, or exposure (see section 1.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--The Government was responsible for cases of 
disappearance. Defectors in recent years claimed that state security 
often apprehended individuals suspected of political crimes and sent 
them, without trial, to political prison camps. There are no 
restrictions on the ability of the Government to detain and imprison 
persons at will and to hold them incommunicado.
    According to Amnesty International (AI), in August Lee Kwang-soo, 
who defected to the ROK in March, learned that 19 members of his family 
in the DPRK reportedly had disappeared after his defection.
    Japan continued to seek further information about the cases of 11 
officially designated Japanese nationals believed to have been abducted 
by DPRK government entities, despite the DPRK's insistence that the 11 
were either dead or were never in North Korea. Japan also hoped to gain 
answers regarding other cases of suspected abductions of Japanese 
nationals.
    Credible reports indicated that the DPRK has also kidnapped other 
nationals from locations abroad. However, the Government continued to 
deny its involvement in the kidnappings of non-Japanese citizens.
    The ROK government estimated that approximately 485 civilian South 
Koreans who were abducted or detained by the DPRK since the end of the 
Korean War remained in the DPRK. A number of South Korean prisoners of 
war (POWs) and missing in action were also believed to remain in the 
DPRK.
    The whereabouts of defector Kang Gun remained unknown. In 2005 AI 
reported that Kang may have been kidnapped from China by North Korean 
agents.
    At year's end the whereabouts of South Korean missionary Kim Dong-
shik, who disappeared in 2000 near the China-DPRK border, remained 
unknown.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The penal code prohibits torture or inhumane treatment; 
however, many sources continued to confirm its practice. According to a 
2003 report by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 
torture was ``routine'' and ``severe.'' Methods of torture and other 
abuse reportedly included severe beatings, electric shock, prolonged 
periods of exposure, humiliations such as public nakedness, confinement 
for up to several weeks in small ``punishment cells'' in which 
prisoners were unable to stand upright or lie down, being forced to 
kneel or sit immobilized for long periods, being hung by one's wrists, 
being forced to stand up and sit down to the point of collapse, and 
forcing mothers recently repatriated from China to watch the 
infanticide of their newborn infants. Defectors continued to report 
that many prisoners died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure, 
or a combination of these causes.
    During the year a North Korean defector reported that, upon his 
repatriation from China in 2000, authorities forced him to crouch for 
long periods of time with a wooden pole placed between his calves and 
thighs; while crouching, booted guards would stomp on the top of his 
legs, crushing his toes and hyperextending his knees. He also reported 
that interrogators forced him to kneel forward onto fire-heated iron 
plates.
    In September 2005 a defector reported that she lost the use of her 
feet due to severe beatings she received from police for attempting to 
leave the country.
    Over the years there have been unconfirmed reports from a few 
defectors alleging the testing on human subjects of a variety of 
chemical and biological agents up through the early 1990s.
    According to refugee reports, officials continued to prohibit live 
births in prison and ordered forced abortions, particularly in 
detention centers holding women repatriated from China. According to 
defectors, in some cases of live birth, prison guards killed the infant 
or left it for dead. In addition guards reportedly sexually abused 
female prisoners.
    In April Cho Chang-ho, a former ROK POW who escaped in 1994, 
testified that the Government held ROK POWs in various types of prison 
camps and forced them to work in coal mines and other types of forced 
labor. Cho reported POWs faced daily abuses, beatings, and threats.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--An estimated 150,000 to 
200,000 persons were believed to be held in detention camps in remote 
areas. NGO, refugee, and press reports indicated that there were 
several types of detention centers and camps, including forced labor 
camps; separate camps reportedly existed for political prisoners. Using 
commercial satellite imagery to bolster their assertions about the 
existence of the camps and point out their main features, defectors 
claimed the camps covered areas as large as 200 square miles. The camps 
appeared to contain mass graves, barracks, work sites, and other prison 
facilities. The Government continued to deny the existence of political 
prison camps.
    Reports indicated that conditions in the camps for political 
prisoners were harsh, and many prisoners were not expected to survive. 
During the year a former Yodok prisoner reported prisoners were 
expected to provide their own clothing, and food rations were barely 
life-sustaining. He reported that four or five persons per month died 
from malnutrition of approximately 200 to 250 persons in his 
``village.''
    Reeducation through labor was a common punishment and consisted of 
forced labor such as logging, mining, or tending crops under harsh 
conditions. Reeducation involving memorizing speeches by Kim Jong-il 
and forced self-criticism sessions focused on work performance were 
also a standard practice. According to refugees, in some places of 
detention, prisoners were given little or no food and were denied 
medical care. Sanitation was poor, and former labor camp inmates 
reported they had no changes of clothing during their incarceration and 
were rarely able to bathe or wash their clothing.
    The Government did not permit inspection of prisons or detention 
camps by human rights monitors.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The penal code reflects the 
principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without a law), but gaps 
remained between principles and practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The internal security 
apparatus includes the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the State 
Security Department. Reports of diversion of food aid to the military 
and regime officials and of official quid-pro-quo bribery were 
indicative of corruption in the security forces.

    Arrest and Detention.--Members of security forces arrested and 
transported citizens to prison camps without trial.
    There were no restrictions on the Government's ability to detain 
and imprison persons at will or to hold them incommunicado. Family 
members and other concerned persons reportedly found it virtually 
impossible to obtain information on charges against detained persons or 
the lengths of their sentences. Judicial review of detentions did not 
exist in law or in practice.
    Entire families, including children, reportedly have been 
imprisoned when one member of the family was accused of a crime (see 
section 1.f.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution states that 
courts are independent and that judicial proceedings are to be carried 
out in strict accordance with the law; however, an independent 
judiciary did not exist. The constitution mandates that the central 
court is accountable to the Supreme People's Assembly, and the criminal 
code subjects judges to criminal liability for handing down ``unjust 
judgments.'' Furthermore, individual rights are not acknowledged.

    Trial Procedures.--The Public Security Ministry dispensed with 
trials in political cases and referred prisoners to the State Security 
Department for punishment. Little information was available on formal 
criminal justice procedures and practices, and outside access to the 
legal system was limited to show trials for traffic violations and 
other minor offenses.
    The constitution contains elaborate procedural protections, stating 
that cases should be heard in public, except under circumstances 
stipulated by law. The constitution also states that the accused has 
the right to a defense, and when trials were held the Government 
reportedly assigned lawyers. Some reports noted a distinction between 
those accused of political crimes and common criminals and claimed that 
the Government offered trials and lawyers only to the latter. There was 
no indication that independent, nongovernmental defense lawyers 
existed.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government considered 
critics of the regime to be political criminals. Reports from past 
years described political offenses as including sitting on newspapers 
bearing Kim Il-sung's picture, mentioning Kim Il-sung's limited formal 
education, or defacing photographs of the Kims. The number of political 
prisoners and detainees remained unknown.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Article 69 of the 
Constitution states that ``[c]itizens are entitled to submit complaints 
and petitions. The state shall fairly investigate and deal with 
complaints and petitions as fixed by law.'' Under the Law on Complaint 
and Petition, citizens are entitled to submit complaints to stop 
encroachment upon their rights and interest or seek compensation for 
the encroached rights and interest.
    In 2001 the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern that 
``there is no independent national institution for the promotion and 
protection of human rights.'' It stated that article 69 of the 
constitution and the Law on Complaint and Petition are ``no substitute 
for such an independent monitoring body'' and recommended 
``establishment of a national human rights institution.''

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for the inviolability of 
person and residence and the privacy of correspondence; however, the 
Government did not respect these provisions in practice. The regime 
subjected its citizens to rigid controls. The Government relied upon a 
massive, multilevel system of informers to identify critics and 
potential troublemakers. Entire communities sometimes were subjected to 
security checks. Possessing ``antistate'' material and listening to 
foreign broadcasts were crimes that could subject the transgressor to 
harsh punishments, including up to five years of labor reeducation.
    The Government monitored correspondence and telephone 
conversations. Private telephone lines operated on a system that 
precluded making or receiving international calls; international phone 
lines were available only under restricted circumstances. Reportedly 
there were several separate phone networks: one for international 
calls, which was available to foreigners; another for foreign 
embassies; and a third for the domestic needs of citizens. Foreign 
diplomats in Pyongyang stated that the local network was subdivided 
further so phone use remained a privilege. Although a government-
controlled cellular phone network existed, cell phone use was banned 
for the general population since 2004. However, visitors to Pyongyang 
continued to report an increase in the number of persons with cell 
phones. NGOs also reported that migrants obtained cell phones in China 
and used them on a limited basis in border areas of the DPRK on the 
Chinese network. During the year North Korean defectors reported 
contacting their relatives in the country via this network. Foreign 
visitors to the country were required to leave their cell phones at 
their point of entry for the duration of their stay. Foreigners were 
allowed to have North Korean mobile phones, although in practice few 
did.
    Allegations continued to circulate that imprisonment and execution 
had been ordered for individuals who made statements at home that were 
critical of the regime.
    In the late 1950s the regime began dividing society into three 
classes: ``core,'' ``wavering,'' and ``hostile.'' Security ratings were 
assigned to individuals; according to some estimates, nearly half of 
the population was designated as either ``wavering'' or ``hostile.'' 
Loyalty ratings determined access to employment, higher education, 
place of residence, medical facilities, and certain stores. They also 
affected the severity of punishment in the case of legal infractions. 
Citizens with relatives who fled to the ROK at the time of the Korean 
War were classified as part of the ``hostile class.'' Between 20 and 30 
percent of the population was considered potentially hostile. Members 
of this class were subject to discrimination, although defectors 
reported their treatment had improved in recent years. Economic reforms 
may have eroded rigid loyalty-based class divisions to some extent, 
although growing economic disparities also resulted from price and wage 
reforms. In his August 2005 report, the UN special rapporteur on the 
situation of human rights in North Korea stated that ``while this 
practice may have been abolished in law, it seems to persist and is 
implied by the testimonies of those who leave the country in search of 
refuge elsewhere.''
    Citizens of all age groups and occupations remained subject to 
intensive political and ideological indoctrination. The cult of 
personality of Kim Jong-il and his father remained an important 
ideological underpinning of the regime, at times seeming to resemble 
tenets of a state religion. The Government continued to emphasize a 
``military first'' policy along with juche principles (often described 
as extreme self-reliance). Indoctrination was intended to ensure 
loyalty to the system and the leadership, as well as conformity to the 
state's ideology and authority.
    Indoctrination was carried out systematically through the mass 
media, schools, and worker and neighborhood associations. According to 
North Korean media, Kim Jong-il frequently told officials that 
ideological education must take precedence over academic education in 
the nation's schools. Indoctrination continued to involve mass marches, 
rallies, and staged performances, sometimes including hundreds of 
thousands of persons.
    Collective punishment reportedly was practiced. Entire families, 
including children, have been imprisoned when one member of the family 
was accused of a crime. The March decree on cutting electric power or 
communication lines and illegal drug transactions states that a 
violator's family shall be ``expelled.''
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government prohibited 
the exercise of these rights in practice. Articles of the constitution 
that require citizens to follow ``socialist norms of life'' and to obey 
a ``collective spirit'' took precedence over individual political and 
civil liberties. In February international media reported that 21 North 
Korean cheerleaders who had participated in the Busan Asian Games in 
2002 had been imprisoned in the Daeheung prison camp, reportedly for 
discussing what they had seen in the ROK upon their return to the DPRK. 
According to the UN special rapporteur's January report, the Government 
banned discussion of Kim Jong-il's succession at the end of 2005, after 
media speculation on the topic.
    The constitution provides for the right to petition. However, when 
anonymous petitions or complaints about state administration were 
submitted, the State Security Department and MPS sought to identify the 
authors, who could be subjected to investigation and punishment.
    The Government sought to control virtually all information. There 
was no independent media. The Government carefully managed visits by 
foreigners, especially foreign journalists.
    On occasion, when it served its agenda, the Government allowed 
foreign media to cover certain events. During visits by foreign 
leaders, groups of foreign journalists were permitted to accompany 
official delegations and to file reports. In all cases journalists were 
strictly monitored. They generally were not allowed to talk to 
officials or to persons on the street, and cellular or satellite phones 
were held at the airport for the duration of a visitor's stay (see 
section 1.f.). In March a group of 24 South Korean reporters covering 
family reunions at Kumgangsan left in protest after officials prevented 
two broadcasters from transmitting stories and asked one reporter to 
leave. Reporters without Borders reported that in May North Korean 
authorities blocked the arrival of 200 ROK journalists to the Kaesong 
Industrial Complex (KIC) after the ROK press criticized North Korea's 
decision to halt a railroad project between the two countries.
    Domestic media censorship continued to be enforced strictly, and no 
deviation from the official government line was tolerated. The 
Government prohibited listening to foreign media broadcasts except by 
the political elite, and violators were subject to severe punishment. 
Radios and television sets, unless altered, received only domestic 
programming; radios obtained from abroad must be altered to operate in 
a similar manner. During the year the Government attempted to jam all 
foreign radio broadcasts. In October the Government condemned the 
activities of a defector-run broadcasting station and urged ROK 
authorities to shut down the organization. During the year there was 
evidence that radios were more accessible than in the past due 
primarily to corrupt border guards. Some NGOs reported that more 
defectors said they had listened to foreign broadcasts than in previous 
years. Numerous NGOs reported that Chinese and South Korean DVDs 
smuggled from China were available in the northern border area and 
perhaps in Pyongyang.

    Internet Freedom.--Some deluxe hotels in Pyongyang offered Internet 
service in the rooms of foreign visitors when it was ordered in 
advance. Internet access for citizens was limited to high-ranking 
officials and other designated elites, including select university 
students. This access was granted via international telephone lines 
through a provider in China, as well as a new local connection that was 
linked with a German server. NGO and press reports claimed that the 
DPRK established an ``intranet'' in 2004, available to a slightly 
larger group of users including an elite grade school, selected 
research institutions, universities, factories, and a few individuals. 
The Korean Communication Corporation acts as the gatekeeper, 
downloading only acceptable information for access through the 
intranet. Reporters Without Borders reported that some e-mail access 
existed through this network.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government has long 
restricted academic freedom and controlled artistic and academic works. 
A primary function of plays, movies, operas, children's performances, 
and books was to buttress the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-
sung and Kim Jong-il.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however, 
the Government did not respect this provision in practice and continued 
to prohibit public meetings without prior authorization.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association; however, the Government failed to respect this provision 
in practice. There were no known organizations other than those created 
by the Government. Professional associations existed primarily to 
facilitate government monitoring and control over organization members.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for ``freedom of 
religious belief''; however, in practice the Government severely 
restricted religious freedom, except that which was supervised by 
officially recognized groups linked to the Government. The law also 
stipulates that religion ``should not be used for purposes of dragging 
in foreign powers or endangering public security.'' Genuine religious 
freedom did not exist.
    The personality cult of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il remained a 
virtual civil religion that provided a spiritual underpinning for the 
regime. Refusal on religious or other grounds to accept the leader as 
the supreme authority exemplifying the state and society's needs was 
regarded as opposition to the national interest and continued to result 
in severe punishment. In his January report, the UN special rapporteur 
on the situation of human rights in the DPRK observed that ``the 
regime's emphasis is to inculcate religiously upon the people from a 
young age a belief in and total adherence to the past and current 
political leadership, coupled with massive ideological mobilization 
akin to cult worship.''
    In its 2002 report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, the 
Government reported the existence of 500 ``family worship centers,'' 
although the existence of such centers has not been independently 
confirmed. Some unconfirmed reports indicated that such worship centers 
were tolerated as long as they did not openly proselytize or have 
contact with foreign missionaries. There continued to be unconfirmed 
reports of underground Christian churches.
    On August 13, the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church opened in 
Pyongyang. Most of the 300 Buddhist temples in the country were 
regarded as cultural relics, but in some of them religious activity was 
permitted. Monks reportedly resided at a few temples that were being 
restored, although they were expected to serve primarily as guides for 
South Korean tourists.
    Several government-sponsored religious organizations served as 
interlocutors with foreign church groups and international aid 
organizations. Foreigners who met with representatives of these 
organizations reported that some were genuinely religious, while others 
appeared to have little knowledge of religious doctrine or teachings. 
Some foreigners who visited the country stated that church services 
contained political content supportive of the regime in addition to 
religious themes. The 2005 Korea Institute for National Unification's 
white paper on human rights in North Korea indicated that the regime 
used authorized religious entities for external propaganda and 
political purposes and strictly barred local citizens from entering 
places of worship. Ordinary citizens considered such sites to be 
primarily ``sightseeing spots for foreigners.''
    There were reports that the Government channeled to the KWP funds 
and goods that had been given to government-approved churches. There 
were unconfirmed reports that the nonreligious children of religious 
believers may be employed at midlevels of the Government. In the past 
such individuals suffered broad discrimination with sometimes severe 
penalties or even imprisonment.
    Overseas religious relief organizations have been active in 
responding to the country's food crisis; however, they have been denied 
access to many areas of the country and their movement restricted and 
closely monitored.
    According to some defectors, the Government increased repression 
and persecution of unauthorized religious groups in recent years. These 
defectors reported that persons engaging in religious proselytizing, 
persons with ties to overseas evangelical groups, and repatriated 
persons who contacted foreigners while outside the country were 
arrested and subjected to harsh punishment. During the year defectors 
asserted that North Koreans who received help from foreign churches 
were considered political criminals and received harsher treatment. 
This has included imprisonment, prolonged detention without charge, 
torture, and execution. According to defector reports, the Government 
was concerned that faith-based South Korean relief and refugee 
assistance efforts along the northeast border of China had both 
humanitarian and political goals.
    Religious and human rights groups outside the country continued to 
provide numerous unconfirmed reports that members of underground 
churches have been beaten, arrested, detained in prison camps, 
tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs in prior years. 
Members of underground churches connected to border missionary activity 
were regarded as subversive elements.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no known Jewish 
population, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for the ``freedom to 
reside in or travel to any place''; however, the Government did not 
respect these rights in practice. During the year the Government 
continued to attempt to control internal travel. Numerous reports 
suggested that internal travel rules were relaxed to allow citizens to 
search for food, conduct local market activities, or engage in 
enterprise-to-enterprise business activities.
    Only members of a very small elite and those with access to 
remittances from overseas had access to personal vehicles, and movement 
was hampered by the absence of an effective transport network and by 
military and police checkpoints on main roads at the entry to and exit 
from every town. Use of personal vehicles at night and on Sundays was 
restricted. According to NGO reports, in response to a scarlet fever 
outbreak, the Government banned travel to or from infected areas and 
closed schools.
    The Government strictly controlled permission to reside in, or even 
to enter, Pyongyang, where food supplies, housing, health, and general 
living conditions were much better than in the rest of the country.
    The regime limited issuance of exit visas for foreign travel to 
officials and trusted businessmen, artists, athletes, academics, and 
religious figures. Short-term exit papers were available for some 
residents on the Chinese border to enable visits with relatives or to 
engage in small-scale trade. During the year press reports claimed that 
the DPRK and China had ended their visa waiver program for short-term 
visitors.
    In the past the Government engaged in forced internal resettlement 
to relocate tens of thousands of persons from Pyongyang to the 
countryside. Sometimes this occurred as punishment for offenses, 
although social engineering was also involved. For example, although 
disabled veterans were treated well, other persons with physical and 
mental disabilities, as well as those judged to be politically 
unreliable, have been sent out of Pyongyang into internal exile.
    The Government did not allow legal emigration, although officials 
in border areas reportedly often have taken bribes from, or simply let 
pass, persons crossing the border into China without required permits. 
During the year official media reported periodic crack-downs on this 
practice, with a stepped-up military presence along the border.
    Substantial numbers of North Koreans have crossed the border into 
China over the years, and NGO estimates of those that lived there 
during the year ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. 
Some settled semipermanently in northeastern China, others traveled 
back and forth across the border, and still others sought asylum and 
permanent resettlement in third countries. There was evidence that the 
number of North Koreans crossing into China leveled off during the 
year, after declining in 2005. A few thousand North Koreans were able 
to gain asylum in third countries during the year.
    The law criminalizes defection and attempted defection, including 
the attempt to gain entry to a foreign diplomatic facility for the 
purpose of seeking political asylum. Individuals who cross the border 
with the purpose of defecting or seeking asylum in a third country are 
subject to a minimum of five years of ``labor correction.'' In 
``serious'' cases defectors or asylum seekers are subject to indefinite 
terms of imprisonment and forced labor, confiscation of property, or 
death. Many would-be refugees who were returned involuntarily were 
imprisoned under harsh conditions (see section 1.a. and 1.c.). Some 
sources indicated that the harshest treatment was reserved for those 
who had extensive contact with foreigners. In March China reported it 
repatriated a North Korean asylum seeker known as Kim Chun-hee, despite 
requests from the international community to treat her humanely. Kim's 
whereabouts remained unknown. In October Chinese police arrested and 
deported to North Korea nine relatives of South Korean POWs; one NGO 
reported that the nine were likely in prison in the DPRK, but their 
whereabouts were unknown.
    Reports from defectors indicated that the regime was 
differentiating between persons who crossed the border in search of 
food, who might be sentenced only to a few months of forced labor or in 
some cases merely issued a warning, and persons who crossed repeatedly 
or for political purposes, who were sometimes sentenced to heavy 
punishments. The law stipulates a sentence of up to two years of 
``labor correction'' for the crime of illegally crossing the border. 
According to the UN special rapporteur's August 2005 report, there was 
a new policy to enable persons leaving the country for nonpolitical 
reasons to return with the promise of a pardon under the penal code. 
Other NGO reports indicated that North Koreans returning from China 
were often able to bribe North Korean border guards into letting them 
freely pass across the border. Several NGOs operating in the region 
confirmed that punishments seemed to be less severe than in the past. 
During the year a North Korean who fled the country in 2004 reported 
that repatriated North Koreans generally were sentenced to six months 
of hard labor at a labor training camp and then released. He reported 
that, in certain cases, such as when defectors were accused of 
denouncing the DPRK, punishments could be harsher.
    The Government permitted an increasing number of overseas Koreans 
to visit relatives in North Korea over the past decade.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, nor has the 
Government established a system for providing protection for refugees. 
The Government had no known policy or provision for refugees or asylees 
and did not participate in international refugee fora.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens do not have the right to change their government 
peacefully. The KWP and the Korean People's Army, with Kim Jong-il in 
control, dominated the political system. Little reliable information 
was available on intraregime politics. The legislature, the Supreme 
People's Assembly (SPA), meets only a few days per year to rubber-stamp 
resolutions presented by the party leadership.
    The Government justified its dictatorship with nationalism and 
demanded near deification of both Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. The 
military first policy and ``our style socialism'' mark the twin pillars 
of the Government's ideology under Kim Jong-il's direction. Military 
first touts the People's Army as the main ideological force of the 
revolution, and ``our style socialism'' emphasizes the supposed 
superiority of the North Korean method of governance.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In an effort to give the 
appearance of democracy, the Government has created several ``minority 
parties.'' Lacking grassroots organizations, they existed only as 
rosters of officials with token representation in the SPA. Free 
elections have never existed, and the regime regularly criticized the 
concept of free elections and competition among political parties as an 
``artifact'' of ``capitalist decay.''
    Elections to the SPA are held every five years. Provincial, city, 
and county assemblies were held irregularly. Elections were not free 
and fair. Elections were held in 1990, 1998, and in 2003; the outcomes 
of all were virtually identical. The Government openly monitored 
voting, resulting in nearly 100 percent participation and 100 percent 
approval rate.
    Women reportedly made up 20 percent of the membership of the SPA as 
of the 2003 elections, but only approximately 4 percent of the 
membership of the central committee of the KWP.
    The country is racially and ethnically homogenous. Officially there 
are no minorities, and there is, therefore, no information on minority 
representation in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Reports of diversion of 
food aid to the military and government officials and of quid pro quo 
bribery were indicative of corruption in the Government and security 
forces. The Government continued to deny any diversion of food aid, 
although it hinted that it was combating internal corruption.
    There are no known freedom of information laws. The Government has 
not taken steps towards transparency that would make it eligible for 
membership in international financial institutions.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no independent domestic organizations to monitor human 
rights conditions or to comment on the status of such rights. The 
Government's North Korean Human Rights Committee has denied the 
existence of any human rights violations in the country. The Government 
decried international statements about human rights abuses in the 
country as politically motivated and an interference in internal 
affairs. The Government said that criticism of its human rights record 
was an attempt by some countries to cover-up their own abuses, and said 
that such hypocrisy undermined human rights principles. In December the 
UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the country's human 
rights record. In November 2005 in a meeting with the UN high 
commissioner on human rights, the DPRK's permanent representative to 
the UN office in Geneva rejected the high commissioner's offer to work 
with the DPRK on human rights treaty implementation.
    The Government ignored requests for visits from international human 
rights NGOs. The NGO community and numerous international experts 
continued to testify to the grave human rights situation in the country 
during the year.
    North Korea emphasized that it had ratified most UN human rights 
instruments.
    The Government has not allowed UN Special Rapporteur on the 
Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK Vitit Muntarbhorn to visit the 
country to carry out his mandate. In response to a letter from the 
special rapporteur, the Government wrote in a December 2005 letter that 
it did not recognize his mandate and therefore did not wish to 
communicate with him on human rights issues. Muntarbhorn has issued 
several reports documenting the country's human rights abuses. The 
European Parliament also passed a resolution on the issue of North 
Korean human rights in June.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution grants equal rights to all citizens. However, the 
Government has never granted its citizens most fundamental human rights 
in practice, and there continued to be pervasive discrimination on the 
basis of social status.

    Women.--The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights 
in the DPRK reported that violence against women was a significant 
problem both in and out of the home. Women in prison camps reportedly 
were subject to rape and forced abortions (see section 1.c.).
    There continued to be reports of trafficking in women and young 
girls who had crossed into China (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The constitution states that ``women hold equal social status and 
rights with men''; however, although women were represented 
proportionally in the labor force, few women had reached high levels of 
the party or the Government. Working-age women, like men, were required 
to work. They were thus required to leave preschool-age children in the 
care of elderly relatives or in state nurseries. According to the law, 
women with large families are permitted to work shorter hours. During 
the year approximately two-thirds of the refugees who found safe haven 
in the ROK were women.

    Children.--The state provides 11 years of free compulsory education 
for all children. However, in the past some children were denied 
educational opportunities and subjected to punishments and 
disadvantages as a result of the loyalty classification system and the 
principle of ``collective retribution'' for the transgressions of 
family members (see section 1.f.).
    Like others in society, children were the objects of intense 
political indoctrination; even mathematics textbooks propound party 
dogma. In addition, foreign visitors and academic sources reported that 
from an early age, children were subjected to several hours a week of 
mandatory military training and indoctrination at their schools.
    The World Food Program's (WFP) Protracted Relief and Recovery 
Operation, which went into effect in June, aspired to provide 
nutritional assistance to 1.9 million persons, primarily children and 
pregnant or nursing women, through targeted feeding programs in 
schools, hospitals, and orphanages. A nutrition survey carried out in 
2004 by the UN Children's Fund and the WFP, in cooperation with the 
Government, found that in the sample of 4,800 children under six, 23 
percent were underweight, 37 percent were stunted (chronic 
malnutrition, measured by height for age) and 7 percent suffered from 
``wasting'' (acute malnutrition, measured by weight for height). The 
survey also found that 32 percent of mothers with children under two 
were malnourished, and 35 percent were anemic.
    The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly 
expressed concern over de facto discrimination against children with 
disabilities and the insufficient measures taken by the state to ensure 
these children had effective access to health, education, and social 
services.
    Information about societal or familial abuse of children remained 
unavailable. There were reports of trafficking in young girls among 
persons who had crossed into China (see section 5, Trafficking).
    School children sometimes were sent to work in factories or in the 
fields for short periods to assist in completing special projects or in 
meeting production goals (see section 6.c.). Children were also used in 
cultural activities and, according to academic reports, were subjected 
to harsh conditions during mandatory training sessions.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There were no known laws specifically 
addressing the problem of trafficking in persons, and trafficking of 
women and young girls into and within China continued to be widely 
reported. Some women and girls were sold by their families or by 
kidnappers as wives or concubines to men in China; others fled of their 
own volition to escape starvation and deprivation. A network of 
smugglers reportedly facilitated this trafficking. According to 
defector reports, many victims of trafficking, unable to speak Chinese, 
were held as virtual prisoners, and some were forced to work as 
prostitutes. According to some defectors, traffickers sometimes abused 
or physically scarred the victims to prevent them from escaping.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Traditional social norms condone 
discrimination against persons with physical disabilities. Although 
veterans with disabilities were treated well, other persons with 
physical and mental disabilities have been sent out of Pyongyang into 
internal exile. The Government passed a law in 2003 on the protection 
of persons with disabilities, ensuring equal access for persons with 
disabilities to public services; however, implementing legislation has 
not been passed. According to a report released in April by the World 
Association of Milal, approximately 3.4 percent of the population was 
disabled. According to the report, more than 64 percent of persons with 
disabilities lived in urban areas. During the year a North Korean who 
defected in 2005 reported that ``there are no people with physical 
defects in North Korea'' because babies born with disabilities were 
killed in a practice encouraged by the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom 
of association; however, this provision has never been respected in 
practice. There were no known labor organizations other than those 
created by the Government. The KWP purportedly represents the interests 
of all labor. There was a single labor organization, the General 
Federation of Trade Unions of Korea. Operating under this umbrella, 
unions functioned on the classic Stalinist model, with responsibility 
for mobilizing workers to support production goals and for providing 
health, education, cultural, and welfare facilities.
    The country was not a member of the International Labor 
Organization, but it had observer status.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers do not 
have the right to organize or to bargain collectively. Factory and farm 
workers were organized into councils, which had an impact on management 
decisions. Unions do not have the right to strike.
    There was one special enterprise zone (SEZ) in the Rajin-Sonbong 
area. The same labor laws that applied in the rest of the country 
applied in the Rajin-Sonbong SEZ, and workers in the SEZ were selected 
by the Government.
    At year's end 18 South Korean companies were producing goods at the 
KIC. A North Korean agency provides candidates for selection by the 
South Korean companies; there are approximately 10,000 workers 
currently employed at the site. Special regulations covering labor 
issues were negotiated for the management of the area, and the 
respective assemblies of both North and South Korea approved the 
Kaesong Industrial Complex Act. Under this agreement, North Korean 
workers in the KIC were guaranteed a monthly minimum wage of 
approximately $50. Employing firms reported that, with overtime, the 
average worker earned about $67 before deductions. Although the special 
laws governing the KIC require direct payment to the workers, the wages 
were paid to the Government, which withheld a portion for social 
insurance and other benefits and then remitted the balance (reportedly 
about 70 percent) to the workers in an unknown combination of coupons, 
which could be exchanged for staple goods, and North Korean won, 
converted at the official exchange rate. Due to the lack of 
transparency, it was difficult to determine how much workers ultimately 
took home.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The laws prohibit 
forced or compulsory labor. However, the Government sometimes mobilized 
the population for construction and other voluntary labor projects, 
including on Sundays, the one day off a week; the 2005 rice planting 
and harvesting effort, designed by the Government to help boost the 
country's food production, was an example of such projects. Following 
severe flooding in July, several NGOs observed mobilized work groups, 
including both soldiers and private citizens, engaged in infrastructure 
reconstruction projects. According to a South Korean press report, the 
Government required high school and college students to participate in 
unpaid ``voluntary work,'' particularly rice planting efforts, during 
their vacation. A North Korean defector interviewed by the UN special 
rapporteur reported that the Government sometimes took young people 
from the street and forced them to work on the farms. The Government 
also frequently gathered large groups together for mass demonstrations 
and performances. ``Reformatory labor'' and ``reeducation through 
labor'' have traditionally been common punishments for political 
offenses. Forced and compulsory labor, such as logging and tending 
crops, continued to be the common fate of political prisoners.
    The penal code requires that all citizens of working age must work 
and ``strictly observe labor discipline and working hours.'' According 
to the penal code, failure to meet economic plan goals can result in 
two years of ``labor correction.''

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
According to the law, the state prohibits work by children under the 
age of 16 years, and the penal code criminalizes forced child labor. 
Still, school children may be assigned to factories or farms for short 
periods to help meet production goals and to other work such as snow 
removal on major roads.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--No data were available on the 
minimum wage in state-owned industries. Since the 2002 economic 
reforms, wages have become the primary form of compensation, and 
factory managers have had more latitude to set wages and provide 
incentives. Workers were expected to use some of their increased income 
to pay for services that had previously been provided either free or at 
highly subsidized rates by the state, such as rent for housing and fees 
for transportation. While education and medical care technically 
remained free, educational materials and medicines appeared available 
only for purchase in markets.
    Class background and family connections could be as important as 
professional competence in deciding who received particular jobs, and 
foreign companies that have established joint ventures continued to 
report that all their employees must be hired from registers screened 
by the authorities.
    The constitution stipulates an eight-hour workday; however, some 
sources reported that laborers worked longer hours, perhaps including 
additional time for mandatory study of the writings of Kim Il-sung and 
Kim Jong-il. The constitution provides all citizens with a ``right to 
rest,'' including paid leave, holidays, and access to sanitariums and 
rest homes funded at public expense; however, the state's willingness 
and ability to provide these services was unknown. Foreign diplomats 
reported that workers had 15 days of paid leave plus paid national 
holidays. Some persons were required to take part in mass events on 
holidays, which sometimes required advance practice during work time. 
Workers were often required to ``celebrate'' at least some part of 
public holidays with their work units and were able to spend a whole 
day with their families only if the holiday lasted for two days.
    Many worksites were hazardous, and the rate of industrial accidents 
was high. The law recognizes the state's responsibility for providing 
modern and hygienic working conditions. The penal code criminalizes the 
failure to heed ``labor safety orders'' pertaining to worker safety and 
workplace conditions only if it results in the loss of lives or other 
``grave loss.'' In addition workers do not have an enumerated right to 
remove themselves from hazardous working conditions.
    North Koreans suffered human rights abuses and labored under harsh 
conditions while working abroad for North Korean firms and under 
arrangements between the North Korean government and foreign firms. 
According to press reports, North Korean contract laborers worked in 
the Czech Republic, Poland, Mongolia, Russia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, 
Bulgaria, and Angola. In most cases employing firms paid salaries to 
the North Korean government, and it was not known how much of that 
salary the workers actually received. Workers were typically watched 
closely by North Korean government officials while overseas and 
reportedly did not have freedom of movement outside their living and 
working quarters. For example, according to the Czech Republic Ministry 
of Labor, approximately 400 North Korean women worked in garment and 
leather factories in several locations throughout the Czech Republic. 
The Czech Labor Ministry investigated their situation and concluded 
that although the situation was ``troubling'' in several aspects, the 
women were working voluntarily. North Koreans sought opportunities to 
work abroad, and most were vetted by the party for their ideological 
health and background.
    It was reported that wages of some of the several thousand North 
Koreans reportedly employed in the Russian Far East were withheld until 
the laborers returned home, making them vulnerable to deception by 
North Korean authorities, who promised relatively high payments. AI 
charged that a 1995 bilateral agreement with North Korea allowed the 
exchange of free labor for debt repayment, although the Russian 
government claimed that a 1999 intergovernmental agreement gave North 
Koreans working in Russia the same legal protections as Russian 
citizens.

                               __________

                           REPUBLIC OF KOREA

    The Republic of Korea (Korea) is a constitutional democracy 
governed by a President and a unicameral legislature. The country has a 
population of approximately 48 million. In April 2004, in a free and 
fair election, President Roh Moo-hyun's Uri Party obtained a majority. 
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Domestic 
violence, rape, and child abuse remained serious problems. Women, 
persons with disabilities, and minorities continued to face societal 
discrimination. The country was a country of origin, transit, and 
destination for trafficking in persons.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    However, in 2005 the National Human Rights Commission found that 
two demonstrators probably died as a result of police violence (see 
section 2.b.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits mistreatment of suspects, and officials 
generally observed this prohibition in practice. However, the National 
Human Rights Commission determined that the Seoul Detention Center 
submitted false reports to senior authorities in an attempt to cover up 
the sexual assault by a male prison guard on a female inmate in 
February. The guard was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison.
    The Government continued to investigate incidents of possible abuse 
under the country's former military regimes. As of September, the 
Commission for the Restoration of Honor and Compensation to Activists 
of the Democratization Movement, established to review cases in which 
political activists may have been tortured, had reviewed 10,078 of 
11,990 reported cases since 2000 and determined that compensation was 
due in 2,596 of them.
    There were a number of incidents, including assaults related to 
military hazing.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions. However, rules regarding arrest and detention under the 
National Security Law (NSL) are vague. For example, the NSL defines 
espionage in broad terms and permits the authorities to detain and 
arrest persons who commit acts viewed as supporting North Korea and 
therefore deemed dangerous to the country. The NSL permits the 
imprisonment for up to seven years of anyone who ``with the knowledge 
that he might endanger the existence or security of the state or the 
basic order of free democracy, praised, encouraged, propagandized for, 
or sided with the activities of an antistate organization.'' The legal 
standard for what constitutes ``endangering the security of the State'' 
is vague. Thus, persons could be arrested for the peaceful expression 
of views that the Government considered pro-North Korean or antistate. 
Between January and September authorities arrested 11 persons for 
alleged NSL violations.
    The UN Human Rights Committee has termed the NSL ``a major obstacle 
to the full realization of the rights enshrined in the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.'' Proposals to annul or 
substantially revise the NSL were sparked again during the year after a 
teachers' union published a pamphlet using text from a North Korean 
state document. A university professor who was arrested under the NSL 
late last year for publishing unpopular columns about the Korean War 
was subsequently found guilty of violating the NSL and was dismissed 
from his job. In May he was sentenced to two years of prison with a 
stay of execution of three years. At year's end the case was under 
appeal.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Korean National 
Police Agency (KNPA) is under the Ministry of government Administration 
and Home Affairs. The approximately 93,000-member force has a national 
headquarters in Seoul, five special agencies, including the Maritime 
Police, 13 provincial headquarters, 220 police stations, and 3,389 
branch offices. The KNPA was considered well disciplined, and 
corruption and impunity were not major problems. The KNPA conducts 
internal investigations of alleged wrongdoing by the police, but 
citizens also are able to file a claim directly with the National Human 
Rights Commission to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants in cases of 
arrest, detention, seizure, or search, except if a person is 
apprehended while committing a criminal act or if a judge is not 
available and the authorities believe that a suspect may destroy 
evidence or escape capture if not quickly arrested. In such cases, 
judges must issue arrest warrants within 48 hours after the suspect is 
apprehended, or within 72 hours if a court is not located in the same 
county. Police may detain suspects who appear voluntarily for 
questioning for up to six hours but must notify the suspects' families. 
The police generally respected these requirements.
    Authorities generally must release an arrested suspect within 20 
days unless an indictment is issued. An additional 10 days of detention 
is allowed in exceptional circumstances.
    There is a bail system, but human rights lawyers said bail 
generally was not granted for detainees who were charged with 
committing serious offenses, might attempt to flee or harm a previous 
victim, or had no fixed address. The law provides for the right to 
representation by an attorney, including during police interrogation. 
There were no reports of access to legal counsel being denied.

    Amnesty.--In August the Government granted a special amnesty to 142 
prisoners and paroled another 750. The list also included three 
politicians who had been convicted of illegal fundraising.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. Of the nine justices on the constitutional 
court, three are appointed by the President, three are elected by the 
National Assembly, and three are designated by the chief justice of the 
Supreme Court. Although judges do not receive life appointments, they 
cannot be fired or transferred for political reasons. The prosecutor's 
office, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), has 
shown increased independence and impartiality in recent years.
    Local courts are presided over by judges who render verdicts in all 
cases. Both defendants and prosecutors can appeal a verdict or a 
sentence to a district appeals court and to the Supreme Court. 
Constitutional challenges can be taken to the constitutional court.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are open to the public, but a judge may 
restrict attendance if he believes spectators might disrupt the 
proceedings. There is no trial by jury. Court-appointed lawyers are 
provided by the Government (at government expense) in cases where the 
defendant cannot afford to provide his or her own legal counsel. When a 
person is detained, the initial trial must be completed within six 
months of arrest. Judges generally allowed considerable scope for 
examination of witnesses by both the prosecution and defense. The law 
provides defendants with a number of rights in criminal trials, 
including the presumption of innocence, protection against self-
incrimination, freedom from retroactive laws and double jeopardy, the 
right to a speedy trial, and the right of appeal. Although the law 
prohibits double jeopardy, the courts interpreted this provision to 
mean that a suspect cannot be indicted or punished more than once for 
the same crime, while the prosecution can appeal a not-guilty verdict 
or a sentence it considers excessively lenient. Therefore, a suspect 
may be tried more than once for the same crime.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--It was difficult to estimate 
the number of political prisoners because it was unclear whether 
persons were arrested for exercising the rights of free speech and 
association, or were detained for committing acts of violence or 
espionage. Minganhyup, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported 
that as of September the Government had prosecuted 129 persons for 
their political beliefs. As of August the Government had convicted 252 
conscientious objectors who failed to report for military service.
    There were no reports of political detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. Some human rights 
groups raised concerns about possible government wiretapping abuse. The 
Anti-Wiretap Law lays out broad conditions under which the Government 
may monitor telephone calls, mail, and other forms of communication for 
up to two months in criminal investigations and four months in national 
security cases. The Ministry of Information and Communication said that 
between January and June, the Government conducted 528 cases of 
wiretapping, down 11 percent from the 550 cases during the same time 
period in 2005. Telecommunications companies also reported providing 
more than 35 percent fewer phone records to law enforcement agencies 
when compared with last year.
    The Government continued to require some released prisoners to 
report regularly to a probation officer under the Social Surveillance 
Law.
    The NSL forbids citizens from listening to North Korean radio in 
their homes or reading books published in North Korea if the Government 
determines that the action endangers national security or the basic 
order of democracy in the country (see section 1.d.). However, this 
prohibition was rarely enforced, and the viewing of North Korean 
satellite telecasts in private homes is legal.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. However, under the NSL, the Government may limit 
the expression of ideas that authorities consider Communist or pro-
North Korean (see section 1.d.). Proposals to annul or substantially 
revise the NSL failed to reach a majority in the National Assembly.
    In January 2005 the National Assembly passed a law that allows the 
Fair Trade Commission to impose restrictions on publishers if any one 
newspaper has more than 30 percent of the market or if three major 
newspapers have a combined market share of 60 percent or more. The law 
also requires press owners to report their circulation and advertising 
revenue to a Press Development Committee. In June the Constitutional 
Court ruled that some parts of the law, including the market share 
issue, were unconstitutional.
    The state-owned radio and television network maintained a 
considerable degree of editorial independence in its news coverage.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government blocked violent and sexually 
explicit Web sites and required site operators to rate their site as 
harmful or not harmful to youth, based on the country's 
telecommunications laws that ban Internet service providers from 
offering harmful information for youth. The Government also continued 
to block North Korean Web sites that it deemed inappropriate. The 
Government also blocked the sale of video games that featured North 
Korea in a negative way.
    According to the 2005 Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development data, 92.7 percent of households had access to the 
Internet. In addition to Internet access from home, public Internet 
rooms were widely available and inexpensive.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. The Law on Assembly and 
Demonstrations prohibits assemblies that are considered likely to 
undermine public order. The law requires that the police be notified in 
advance of demonstrations of all types, including political rallies. 
The police must notify organizers if they consider an event 
impermissible under this law; however, police routinely approved 
demonstrations.
    During the year demonstrators on several occasions used steel bars, 
rocks, and other weapons to attack police. Violence erupted in 
demonstrations involving labor disputes, trade issues, and U.S. Forces 
Korea base consolidation. In December 2005 the National Human Rights 
Commission found that two demonstrators allegedly died as a result of 
police violence, and the President apologized for the incident in a 
nationally publicized address. The protesters had participated in a 
November 2005 rally during which demonstrators armed with wooden sticks 
and fire bombs clashed with police armed with batons and plastic 
shields. It was determined that the officers who were likely to have 
caused the deaths of the protestors could not be identified given the 
nature of the confrontation between the large group of police and 
protestors. The commissioner-general of the KNPA took responsibility 
for the police actions and resigned a few days after the commission 
issued its ruling.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. Associations operated freely, except those deemed by the 
Government to be seeking to overthrow the Government.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The small Jewish population 
was comprised almost entirely of expatriates. There were no reports of 
anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Most citizens could move freely 
throughout the country; however, government officials had discretion to 
restrict the movement of some former prisoners and North Korean 
defectors. While foreign travel generally was unrestricted, the 
Government must approve travel to North Korea. Travelers going to 
places other than Kaesong or Mt. Geumgang must receive a briefing from 
the Ministry of Unification prior to departure and demonstrate that 
their trip does not have a political purpose and is not undertaken to 
praise North Korea or criticize the Government. In October a group of 
50 South Koreans traveled to visit a national cemetery in Pyongyang 
after receiving government approval. Under the NSL, the cemetery 
commemorating patriotic martyrs previously was off-limits.
    The law does not include provisions for forced exile of its 
citizens, and the Government did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. In practice the Government 
generally provided protection against refoulement, the return of 
persons to a country where they feared persecution; however, the 
Government did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum. Those few 
asylum-seekers who were recognized as refugees were provided with basic 
documentation but frequently encountered problems in exercising their 
rights. In particular, their protected status was not always recognized 
by all government departments, and refugees, like other foreigners, 
were frequently subjected to various forms of informal discrimination. 
Government guidelines provide for offering temporary refuge in the case 
of a mass influx of asylum seekers and an alternative form of 
protection, a renewable, short-term permit, to those who met a broader 
definition of ``refugee.'' Between January and December the Government 
received 278 refugee applications (not including North Koreans). 
Between July 1994, when the Government first accepted applications, and 
December, the Government approved 52 of 724 applications. The 
Government continued to work with the UNHCR to bring its refugee 
processing up to international standards; however, a complex procedure 
and long delays in decision making continued to be problems.
    The Government continued its longstanding policy of accepting 
refugees from North Korea, who are entitled to citizenship in the ROK. 
The Government resettled 2,023 North Koreans during the year, resulting 
in a total of approximately 9,800 North Koreans resettled in the 
country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage for all citizens 20 years of age or older. Elections are held 
by secret ballot.

    Elections and Political Participation.--A free and fair national 
assembly election was held in April 2004. After by-elections in July, 
the ruling Uri Party maintained a plurality of 141 of 299 seats in the 
National Assembly.
    In general elections, 50 percent of each party's candidates on the 
proportional ballot must be women, and 30 percent of each party's 
geographical candidates must be women. As a result, in the 2004 
elections 39 women were elected to the 299-seat legislature. At year's 
end three of the 19 National Assembly committees were chaired by women. 
In the Supreme Court, two of 14 justices were women, and in the 
cabinet, two of 19 ministers were women. In April the first female 
prime minister, Han Myeong-sook, was confirmed by the National 
Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--On taking office, 
President Roh encouraged prosecutors to investigate political parties 
and politicians for corruption. Several investigations involved his 
close aides.
    The country has a Freedom of Information Act, which went into 
effect in 1998.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law forbids discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, 
disability, age, social status, regional origin, national origin, 
ethnic origin, physical condition or appearance, marital status, 
pregnancy and child delivery, family status, race, skin color, thought 
or political opinion, record of any crime for which punishment has been 
fulfilled, or sexual orientation or medical history, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions. However, traditional attitudes 
limited opportunities for women, persons with disabilities, and ethnic 
minorities. While courts have jurisdiction to decide discrimination 
claims, many of these cases were instead handled by the National Human 
Rights Commission.

    Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. Between January 
and July the MOJ registered 6,549 cases of domestic violence and 
prosecuted 1,153 cases. The Special Act on the Punishment of Domestic 
Violence defines domestic violence as a serious crime and enables 
authorities to order offenders to stay away from victims for up to six 
months. Offenders may also be placed on probation or ordered to see 
court-designated counselors. The law also requires police to respond 
immediately to reports of domestic violence, and the police generally 
were responsive. The Government has established some shelters for 
battered women and has increased the number of childcare facilities, 
giving women in abusive situations more options. However, women's 
rights groups said these measures fell far short of effectively dealing 
with the problem.
    In 2005 the National Assembly eliminated the household registration 
system that made women legally subordinate to the male family head. The 
reforms also allowed remarried women to change their children's family 
name to their new husband's name and ended the six-month waiting period 
to remarry that was directed only at women. The family law permits 
women to head a household, recognizes a wife's right to a portion of 
the couple's property, and allows a woman to maintain greater contact 
with her children after a divorce. Although the law helped abused women 
who chose to divorce, there remained a stigma of divorce and little 
government or private assistance for divorced women. These factors, 
plus the fact that divorced women had limited employment opportunities, 
led some women to stay in abusive situations. However, according to a 
National Statistical Office report, 44.8 percent of marriages ended in 
divorce.
    Rape remained a serious problem. Between January and August there 
were 4,917 reported cases of rape and 2,281 prosecutions. Many rapes 
were believed to have gone unreported because of the stigma associated 
with being raped. The activities of a number of women's groups 
increased awareness of the importance of reporting and prosecuting 
rape, as well as of offenses such as sexual harassment in the 
workplace. According to women's rights groups, cases involving sexual 
harassment or rape frequently went unprosecuted, and perpetrators of 
sex crimes, if convicted, often received light sentences. The penalty 
for rape is three years' imprisonment; if a weapon is used or two or 
more persons commit the rape, punishment may be a maximum of life 
imprisonment. In 2004 the courts set a precedent by prosecuting spouses 
in cases of spousal rape, although there is no specific statute that 
defines spousal rape as illegal.
    Prostitution is illegal but widespread. In 2004 the Government 
passed sweeping antiprostitution and antitrafficking legislation that 
provided protection for the victims of prostitution and enhanced 
punishment for those engaged in prostitution. There are no laws that 
specifically addressed sex tourism. Some NGOs also expressed concern 
that sex tourism to China and Southeast Asia was becoming more 
prevalent.
    The law defines sexual harassment as a form of gender 
discrimination. The Gender Discrimination Prevention and Relief Act 
covers almost all kinds of human relations--including, for example, 
relations between teachers and students and citizens and civil 
servants. Nevertheless, sexual harassment continued to be a problem. 
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea received 99 cases of 
sexual harassment in the past year.
    Relative to other developed countries, few women worked in 
managerial positions or earned more than a median income, and gender 
discrimination in the workplace remained a problem. According to the 
Korea Women's Development Institute, the average working woman earned 
64 percent of what a man made in a comparable job. The Equal Employment 
Act penalizes companies found to discriminate against women in hiring 
and promotions. A company found guilty of practicing sexual 
discrimination could be fined up to $4,399 (5 million won) and have its 
name published in the newspaper. The law also provides for a public 
fund to support victims in seeking legal redress. Nevertheless, some 
government agencies' preferential hiring of applicants with military 
service (nearly always men) perpetuated legal barriers against women, 
despite a constitutional court ruling that such preferential hiring was 
unconstitutional. A recent poll showed that 79 percent of women 
responded that they had experienced some form of discrimination in the 
workplace, usually in the form of job duties and pay.
    Women had full access to education, and social mores and attitudes 
were improving gradually. For example, the major political parties made 
more efforts to recruit women, and an increasing number of women 
occupied key political positions, including that of prime minister.

    Children.--The Government demonstrated its commitment to children's 
rights and welfare through public education. The Government provided 
high-quality elementary education to all children free of charge. 
Education is compulsory through the age of 15, and most children 
obtained a good secondary education. Enrollment rates for elementary 
school were at 98.8 percent as of 2005. Boys and girls have equal 
access to education. High-quality health care was widely available to 
children.
    As of June, 4,548 cases were registered with the National Child 
Protection Agency, of which 2,561 were determined to be abuse cases. In 
2005 the Ministry of Health and Welfare increased requirements for 
child abuse reporting. In the past child abuse reporting was limited to 
employees of welfare institutes, teachers, medical professionals, and 
social workers. The new measure includes lawyers, private institute 
instructors, and kindergarten teachers.
    The Youth Protection Law provides for prison terms of up to three 
years or a fine of up to $17,680 (20 million won) for owners of 
entertainment establishments who hire persons under the age of 19. The 
Commission on Youth Protection's definition of ``entertainment 
establishment'' includes facilities such as restaurants and cafes where 
children are hired illegally as prostitutes. The Juvenile Sexual 
Protection Act establishes a maximum sentence of 25 years' imprisonment 
for the brokerage and sale of the sexual services of persons younger 
than 19 years of age. It also establishes prison terms for persons 
convicted of the purchase of sexual services of youth under the age of 
19 (see section 5, Trafficking). Based on this law, the commission 
publicized the names of those who had committed sex offenses against 
minors. The National Youth Commission said in 2005 that Korean 
fishermen were greatly responsible for the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children in Kiribati. As a result, the Ministry of 
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries undertook a program to educate the 
fishermen, but no criminal charges were filed.
    With a birthrate of 1.08 boys for every girl, the traditional 
preference for male children continued. Although the law bans fetal 
testing except in cases in which a woman's life is in danger, 
hereditary disease could be transmitted, or in cases of rape or incest, 
such testing and the subsequent abortion of female fetuses frequently 
occurred. The Government continued an education campaign aimed at 
eradicating gender-preference abortions, which are already prohibited 
by law.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
nevertheless, the country was a country of origin, transit, and 
destination. As a country of origin, women were trafficked primarily 
for sexual exploitation to the United States, sometimes through Canada 
and Mexico, as well as to other Western countries and Japan. Relatively 
small numbers of economic migrants, seeking opportunities abroad, were 
believed to have become victims of trafficking as well.
    The country was a transit point for alien smugglers, including 
human traffickers. There were reports of the falsification of 
government documents by travel agencies; many cases involved the 
trafficking or smuggling of Korean citizens to Western countries. In 
addition to trafficking by air, transit traffic occurred in the 
country's territorial waterways by ship.
    Unlike in previous years, Chinese women were not known to have been 
trafficked through the country to the United States and other parts of 
the world. However, women from Russia, other countries of the former 
Soviet Union, China, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian 
countries were trafficked to the country for sexual exploitation and 
domestic servitude. They were recruited personally or answered 
advertisements and were flown to Korea, often with entertainer or 
tourist visas. In an effort to curb abuse, the Government restricted 
issuance of certain types of entertainer visas. In 2005 the Government 
issued 4,293 entertainer visas. Once these visa recipients were in the 
country, employers in some instances held victims' passports. There was 
no credible evidence that officials were involved in trafficking.
    Legislation targeting prostitution and human trafficking 
implemented in 2004 led to a decline in the overall number of red-light 
districts and prostitutes. According to the National Police Agency, the 
number of prostitutes dropped from 5,500 in 2004 to 2,660 during the 
year, and the number of red-light districts dropped from 1,679 in 2004 
to 1,097 during the year. However, as prostitution continued to move 
underground and overseas, accurate numbers were difficult to estimate. 
In recent years prostitution has become more prevalent in massage 
parlors rather than traditional brothels. A recent survey by the Korean 
Institute for Criminology found that 60 percent of men who had 
purchased sexual favors in the past year had done so through a massage 
parlor. The Internet was also used more frequently to arrange sexual 
encounters in private homes and hotels. Despite reports of prostitution 
crackdowns involving thousands of suspects, on average, only 15 percent 
of those who were booked for investigation were actually prosecuted.
    The Juvenile Sexual Protection Act imposes lengthy prison terms for 
persons convicted of sexual crimes against minors (see section 5, 
Children). The KNPA and the MOJ were principally responsible for 
enforcing antiprostitution laws. While many credited the laws with 
increasing societal awareness of prostitution as a crime, some 
observers believed the new laws were not being enforced to their 
fullest potential. The Government continued to support a public 
awareness campaign, a victim support hot line, and a reward system for 
information leading to the arrest of traffickers.
    The Government maintained a network of shelters and programs to 
assist victims. As of June 482 Korean women were housed in 40 shelters 
and 22 foreign women were in three shelters. Victims were also eligible 
for medical, legal, vocational, and social support services. Many of 
these services were provided in conjunction with NGOs. The MOJ 
continued to educate male offenders about the antiprostitution and 
antitrafficking laws. During the year 11,216 men participated in the 
program.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, or the provision of other state 
services is illegal. The law states, ``No one shall be discriminated 
against in all areas of political, economic, social, and cultural life 
on the grounds of disability.'' The Government took measures to 
increase opportunities and access for persons with disabilities. 
Although many public facilities remained inadequate, most Seoul 
sidewalks were designed to alert the sight-impaired, intersections had 
audible cross-signals, and nearly all subway stations were equipped 
with elevators, wheelchair lifts, or both.
    Firms with more than 300 employees are required by law either to 
hire persons with disabilities or pay a fine. Nevertheless, the hiring 
of persons with disabilities remained significantly below target 
levels. Persons with disabilities made up less than 1 percent of the 
work force.
    Many persons with disabilities lived in group facilities or 
rehabilitation centers, where there were periodic reports of physical 
and sexual abuse.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is racially 
homogeneous, with no sizable populations of ethnic minorities. However, 
international marriages were becoming increasingly common. During the 
year approximately 14 percent of marriages were with foreigners, 
primarily the result of brokered marriages between Korean men and women 
from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Such marriages accounted for 
36 percent of marriages in rural areas. According to the MOJ, the 
number of foreign women married to Korean men living in Korea stood at 
66,659 at the end of 2005. Except in cases of naturalization, 
citizenship is based on parentage, not place of birth, and persons must 
show their family genealogy as proof of citizenship. Naturalization is 
a difficult process requiring detailed applications, a long waiting 
period, and a series of investigations and examinations. Because of the 
difficulty of establishing Korean citizenship, those not ethnically 
Korean remained ``foreign,'' thus disqualifying them legally from 
entering the civil service and, in practice, being hired by some major 
corporations. Foreign workers continued to report difficult working 
conditions. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of unduly 
aggressive police crackdowns on illegal migrants. Amerasians faced no 
legal discrimination, and informal discrimination appeared to be on the 
decline.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Age discrimination 
continued to be a problem. For example, the National Human Rights 
Commission criticized airline companies' policy of not hiring women 
over the age of 25 as crew members.
    During the year a United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 
estimated that the country had approximately 13,000 persons with HIV or 
AIDS, although the Government recorded only 4,229 official cases. The 
AIDS Prevention Act, enacted in 1987, ensures the confidentiality of 
persons with HIV/AIDS and protects individuals from discrimination. The 
Government supported rehabilitation programs and shelters run by 
private groups and subsidized medical expenses from the initial 
diagnosis. The Government operated a Web site with HIV/AIDS information 
and a telephone counseling service. Some observers claimed that persons 
with HIV/AIDs suffered from severe societal discrimination and social 
isolation.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
right to associate freely. A new law, which took effect in January, 
allows public servants to organize unions; however, the unions 
protested the law, as it bans them from taking collective action. In 
September the Federation of government Employees submitted an 
application to the Ministry of Labor for the establishment of a legal 
union that was subsequently approved.
    Labor law changes in 1997 authorized the formation of competing 
unions starting in 2002, but implementation was postponed until 2007 by 
mutual agreement among members of the Tripartite Commission, which 
included representatives of government, labor, and management (see 
section 6.b.). In September the commission again decided to delay 
implementation until the end of 2009.
    The ratio of organized labor in the entire population of wage 
earners was approximately 11 percent, or 1.5 million unionists from a 
total of 14 million workers. The country has two national labor 
federations, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the 
Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), and an estimated 1,600 labor 
unions. The FKTU and the KCTU were affiliated with the International 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Most of the FKTU's constituent 
unions maintained affiliations with global union federations, as did 
the KCTU Metalworkers Council. In protest of government policies 
perceived to be antilabor, the FKTU and KCTU officially withdrew from 
the Tripartite Commission, although the FKTU rejoined in February and 
served as the labor chairman.
    The Government recognized a range of other labor federations, 
including independent white-collar federations representing hospital 
workers, journalists, and office workers at construction firms and at 
government research institutes. Labor federations not formally 
recognized by the labor ministry have generally operated without 
government interference, with the exception of the Korean government 
Employees Union, which was forced out of its offices in September after 
failing to register as an official union before the specified deadline.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the workers' right to collective bargaining and collective 
action, and workers exercised these rights in practice. This law also 
empowers workers to file complaints of unfair labor practices against 
employers who interfere with union organizing or who discriminate 
against union members. Employers found guilty of unfair practices can 
be required to reinstate workers fired for union activities. However, 
forced reinstatement has been used less frequently because employers 
have taken extra precautions when laying off union members.
    Under the Special Act on Public Servants' Unions that went into 
effect on January 28, public servants are allowed to organize trade 
unions and bargain collectively, although the act restricts the public 
service unions from collective bargaining on topics such as 
policymaking issues and budgetary matters.
    Under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, unions 
must submit a request for mediation to the Labor Relations Commission 
before a strike. In most cases the mediation must be completed within 
10 days; in the case of essential services, within 15 days. Once a 
dispute is referred to arbitration, striking is prohibited. Management 
can initiate criminal proceedings against an illegal strike. Arrest 
warrants can be issued against union leaders, and striking workers can 
be removed by police from the premises and prosecuted, along with union 
leaders, and sentenced under the penal code for ``obstruction to 
business.'' Labor laws prohibit retribution against workers who have 
conducted a legal strike and allow workers to file complaints of unfair 
labor practices against employers.
    On July 13, subcontractors of POSCO Steel Company entered the 
corporate headquarters in Pohang and remained for eight days. The 
President spoke out against the strike labeling the action ``illegal,'' 
which prompted the workers to disband with only minor conflicts with 
police.
    Strikes are prohibited for most government officials and for those 
who produce mainly defense goods. A total of 80 strikes occurred 
between January and July, with 89,202 participating workers. During the 
same period in 2005, 105,577 persons participated in 228 strikes. By 
law, unions in enterprises determined to be of ``essential public 
interest"--including railways, utilities, public health, the Bank of 
Korea, and telecommunications--can be ordered to submit to government-
ordered arbitration. Although arbitration was not used, the threat of 
arbitration effectively brought to conclusion a Korean Power strike in 
September and a medical workers strike in August.
    There is no independent system of labor courts. Semijudicial 
agencies such as the Central and Local Labor Relation Commissions 
mediate or arbitrate labor disputes based on the Trade Union and Labor 
Relation Adjustment Act. Each commission is composed of equal numbers 
of representatives of labor and management, plus neutral experts who 
represent the ``public interest.'' The Labor Relations Commission can 
decide on remedial measures in cases involving unfair labor practices 
and can mediate or arbitrate labor disputes in sectors deemed essential 
to public welfare.
    The Government originally designated enterprises in the two export 
processing zones (EPZs) as public interest enterprises. Workers in 
these enterprises gradually were given the rights enjoyed by workers in 
other sectors of the economy; however, foreign companies are exempt 
from many of these labor standards. Foreign-invested enterprises 
located in free economic zones are exempt from articles 54, 57, and 71 
of the Labor Standards Act, which mandate monthly leave, paid holidays, 
and menstruation leave for women; article 31 of the Honorable Treatment 
and Support of Persons of Distinguished Services to the State Act, 
which gives preferential treatment to patriots, veterans, and their 
families; article 24 of the Employment Promotion and Vocational 
Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act, which obligates companies with 
more than 300 persons to recruit persons with disabilities for at least 
2 percent of its workforce; article 12 of the Employment Promotion for 
the Aged Act, which encourages companies to reserve 3 percent of their 
workforce for workers over 55 years of age; and articles 4 and 12 of 
the Act on the Protection of the Business Sphere of Small and Medium 
Enterprises and Promotion of Their Cooperation, which restrict large 
companies from participating in certain business categories. Labor 
organizations are permitted in EPZs.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
labor standards law prohibits the employment of persons under age 15 
without a special employment certificate from the Labor Ministry. 
Because education is compulsory through middle school (approximately 
age 15), few special employment certificates were issued for full-time 
employment. To obtain employment, children under age 18 must obtain 
written approval from either parents or guardians. Employers can 
require minors to work only a limited number of overtime hours and are 
prohibited from employing them at night without special permission from 
the Labor Ministry. These regulations were enforced through regular 
inspections, and child labor was not considered a problem.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is reviewed 
annually. As of December the minimum wage was $2.92 (3,100 won) per 
hour, $23.38 (24,800 won) per day. The FKTU and other labor 
organizations asserted that the existing minimum wage did not meet the 
basic requirements of urban workers. According to the National 
Statistical Office, the size of the population living below the 
official poverty level reached 18 percent in 2005, an increase of 1.1 
percent from 2003.
    As of 2004 the five-day workweek system was adopted for employees 
of large conglomerates, publicly owned companies, banks, and insurance 
companies with 1,000 registered workers or more, reducing working hours 
to 40 hours a week. Companies with more than 300 employees adopted the 
shortened workweek in 2005. Labor laws mandate a 24-hour rest period 
each week. Labor laws also provide for a flexible hours system, under 
which employers can require laborers to work up to 44 hours during 
certain weeks without paying overtime, so long as average weekly hours 
for any given two-week period do not exceed 40 hours. If a union agrees 
to a further loosening of the rules, management may ask employees to 
work up to 56 hours in a given week. Workers may not be required to 
work more than 12 hours per working day. Unions claimed that the 
Government did not enforce adequately the maximum workweek provisions 
at small companies. The amended labor standards law also provides for a 
50 percent higher wage for overtime.
    As of August there were 196,288 foreigners, mostly from China, 
Bangladesh, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, 
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, working legally in the country. 
They often faced difficult working conditions but tolerated the 
conditions in order to keep their employment status. Unlike in previous 
years, there were no reports of unduly aggressive police crackdowns. 
The Government continued its crackdown on illegal foreign labor.
    The Government continued to utilize its employment permit system 
designed to increase protections and controls on foreign workers while 
easing the labor shortage in the manufacturing, construction, and 
agricultural sectors. Under the system, permit holders may work in 
certain industries only and have limited job mobility but generally 
enjoy the same rights and privileges, including the right to organize, 
enjoyed by domestic workers. Foreign workers are limited in their 
freedom to change jobs. Before changing jobs, the employee's place of 
work must close down or the worker must have proof of physical abuse at 
the hand of the employer. If the worker does not find a new employer 
within two months, he or she becomes ``illegal.'' The MOJ estimated 
that there were almost 186,000 illegal workers in Korea.
    Foreign workers working as language teachers continued to complain 
that the language institutes for which they worked frequently violated 
employment contracts, but employers reported there were a large number 
of foreign teachers who did not fully honor their work contracts.
    Contract and other ``nonregular'' workers accounted for a 
substantial portion of the workforce. According to the Government, 
there were approximately 5.48 million nonregular workers, approximately 
37 percent of the workforce. Labor unions and other groups believed 
that the actual number of workers could have been as high as 8.5 
million workers. In general nonregular workers performed work similar 
to regular workers but received approximately 60 percent of the wages. 
A new bill passed in February attempts to cut the disparity in pay to 
20 percent. Further, most nonregular workers were ineligible for 
national health and unemployment insurance and other benefits.
    The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency is responsible for 
implementing industrial accident prevention activities. The Government 
set health and safety standards, but the accident rate was high by 
international standards. In 2005 there were 2,493 fatalities related to 
industrial accidents, a decline of 11.8 percent over the previous year. 
The Ministry of Labor believed that the ``Fatal Accident Prevention 
Program'' launched in 2005 contributed to the reduction in fatalities. 
In particular, the number of fatalities caused by the 10 most 
vulnerable construction areas, including those performed near openings 
or those performed without installing scaffolding, decreased by more 
than 32 percent from 2004 numbers. According to the Korea Occupational 
Safety and Health Act, an employer may not dismiss or otherwise 
disadvantage an employee who interrupts work and takes shelter because 
of an urgent hazard that could lead to an industrial accident.

                               __________

                                  LAOS

    The Lao People's Democratic Republic is an authoritarian, 
communist, one-party state ruled by the Lao People's Revolutionary 
Party (LPRP). Based on the 2005 census, the country had an estimated 
population of 5.6 million. Although the 1991 constitution outlines a 
system composed of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in 
practice the LPRP continued to control governance and the choice of 
leaders at all levels through its constitutionally designated ``leading 
role.'' The most recent National Assembly election was held in April. 
In June the National Assembly elected the President and vice President 
and ratified the President's selection of a prime minister and cabinet. 
The LPRP generally maintained effective control of the security forces, 
but on occasion elements of the security forces acted outside the 
LPRP's authority.
    The Government's overall human rights record worsened during the 
year. Citizens continued to be denied the right to change their 
government. Government agents committed unlawful killings. Prison 
conditions were harsh and at times life threatening. Corruption in the 
police and judiciary persisted. The Government infringed on citizens' 
right to privacy and did not respect the right to freedom of speech, 
the press, assembly, or association. Local officials at times 
interfered with religious freedom and restricted citizens' freedom of 
movement. There were no domestic nongovernmental human rights 
organizations. Trafficking in persons, especially women and girls for 
prostitution, remained a problem, as did discrimination against 
minority groups, such as the Hmong. Workers' rights were restricted. 
The Government continued to deny ever holding a group of 27 Hmong, most 
of them children, who were deported from Thailand in December 2005.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government 
or its agents; however, human rights nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs) reported that the Government or its agents carried out several 
unlawful killings.
    Amnesty International and the U.S. based Fact Finding Commission 
alleged that on April 6 in Vientiane Province, Lao People's Army (LPA) 
troops killed 26 unarmed Hmong, 25 of them women and children, who were 
foraging for food. Despite evidence of the killing, the Government 
dismissed the incident as a fabrication and refused to investigate.
    On June 8, in the capital of the former Saisomboun Special Zone, 
two police officers allegedly killed a Hmong farmer who was a cousin of 
a Hmong insurgent leader. His six-year-old son was also shot and, 
despite suffering life-threatening injuries, was refused treatment at 
the local hospital. The Government reported that the incident was 
carried out by unknown assailants and was the result of a business 
dispute. Authorities did not investigate the killing.
    In northeast Thailand, four foreign and two Thai citizens, all of 
Lao ethnicity and connected to the former Lao regime, were killed. On 
January 18, a husband and wife who claimed kinship to royalty under the 
former Lao regime were killed in Nongkai. On May 11, an ex-soldier 
under the former Lao regime and his wife were killed in Ubon 
Ratchathani. On December 13, another two men, one an ex-soldier and one 
an ex-policeman under the former Lao regime, were also killed in Ubon 
Ratchathani. Thai authorities were investigating all of these cases at 
year's end. Press reports and NGOs alleged Lao government complicity in 
these killings; however, the Government denied any involvement and did 
not investigate the incidents.
    There were no developments in the cases of persons allegedly killed 
by police in previous years, including the December 2005 death of Aloun 
Voraphom, a Protestant pastor who was killed in Pak Kading District; 
the 2004 killing of five ethnic Hmong children, allegedly committed by 
LPA members, in the former Saisomboun Special Zone; and the 2004 death 
of an ethnic Hmong man, Khoua Lee Her, who reportedly died while 
incarcerated in Houaphanh Province.
    Clashes between insurgent and military forces resulted in an 
unknown number of deaths of civilians, insurgents, and military forces. 
During the year insurgents reported increased military pressure from 
LPA forces against their encampments in Bolikhamsai, Xieng Khouang, 
Luang Prabang, and Vientiane provinces as well as the former Saisomboun 
Special Zone. Much of the LPA's pressure was intended to starve the 
remnants of insurgent families from their jungle dwellings. According 
to insurgent reports, the attacks and starvation campaigns resulted in 
dozens of deaths and injuries of persons, mostly women and children 
(see section 1.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--The Government continued to deny that it had 
detained 26 Hmong children deported from Thailand in December 2005. 
After Thai authorities provided evidence of the deportation to Laos' 
Bolikhamsai Province, government officials privately acknowledged that 
the Government was holding the children but later denied that it ever 
had the children or knew of their whereabouts (see sections 1.d., 2.c., 
and 2.d.).
    There were no developments in the 2004 disappearance of Cher Wa 
Yang, an ethnic Hmong schoolteacher from the former Saisomboun Special 
Zone.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits the beating or torture of an arrested 
person. In practice members of the police and security forces sometimes 
abused prisoners, especially those suspected of associations with the 
insurgency; however, there were anecdotal reports that abuse decreased, 
and during the year there were no verifiable reports of prisoner abuse.
    Detainees have sometimes been subjected to beatings and long-term 
solitary confinement in completely darkened rooms, and in many cases 
they were detained in leg chains or wooden stocks for long periods. 
Former inmates reported that degrading treatment, the chaining and 
manacling of prisoners, and solitary confinement in small unlit rooms 
were standard punishments in larger prisons, while smaller provincial 
or district prisons employed manacles and chains to prevent prisoners 
from escaping. In April a Christian man was placed under house arrest 
in Salavan Province, reportedly for refusing the village chief's order 
to recant his faith, and was held in hand and ankle stocks for 10 days 
(see sections 1.d. and 2.c.).
    During the year the Government increased military pressure against 
insurgent encampments in Bolikhamsai, Xieng Khouang, Luang Prabang, and 
Vientiane provinces as well as the former Saisomboun Special Zone. 
Insurgents reported that such actions resulted in dozens of deaths and 
injuries of persons, mostly women and children (see section 1.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied 
widely but in general were harsh and occasionally life threatening. 
Prisoners in larger, state-operated facilities in Vientiane generally 
fared better than those in provincial prisons. Food rations were 
minimal, and most prisoners relied on their families for subsistence. 
Most larger facilities allowed prisoners to grow supplemental food in 
small vegetable gardens. Prison wardens set prison visitation policies. 
Consequently, in some facilities families could make frequent visits, 
but in others visits were severely restricted. Credible reports 
indicated that ethnic minority prisoners and some foreign prisoners 
were treated particularly harshly. Former prisoners reported that 
incommunicado detention was used as an interrogation device and against 
perceived problem prisoners; however, there were fewer reports of its 
use. Although most prisons had some form of clinic, usually with a 
doctor or nurse on staff, medical facilities were extremely poor, and 
medical treatment for serious ailments was unavailable. In some 
facilities prisoners could arrange treatment in outside hospitals if 
they could pay for the treatment and the expense of police escorts.
    Prisons held both male and female prisoners, although they were 
placed in separate cells. In some prisons juveniles were housed with 
adult prisoners. International organizations opposed the Government's 
plan to construct a separate facility to serve juvenile detainees, 
arguing that juveniles would best be kept in segregated sections of 
adult prisons located close to their homes and families. Most juveniles 
were in detention for narcotics offenses or petty crimes. Rather than 
send juveniles to prisons, authorities used drug treatment facilities 
as holding centers for juvenile offenders. While conditions in 
treatment facilities were generally better than those in prisons, 
conditions were nevertheless Spartan and lengths of detention 
indefinite. During the year the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) began 
counting child detainees, but the Government stopped the organization's 
activities shortly after the project began. At the time the project was 
halted, UNICEF had counted more than 600 child detainees in various 
provincial prisons.
    The Government did not permit regular independent monitoring of 
prison conditions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
continued its longstanding efforts to establish an official presence in 
the country to carry out its mandate of monitoring prison conditions, 
but at year's end the Government had not granted the ICRC's request. 
The Government at times provided UN and nongovernmental organization 
(NGO) personnel access to some juvenile detention facilities, but such 
access was strictly limited.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, in practice the Government did not 
respect these provisions, and arbitrary arrest and detention persisted.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Public 
Security (MoPS) maintains internal security but shares the function of 
state control with the Ministry of Defense's security forces and with 
LPRP and popular fronts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with MoPS 
support, is responsible for oversight of foreigners, including ensuring 
that foreigners do not visit sensitive areas or have sexual relations 
with citizens. The MoPS includes local police, traffic police, 
immigration police, security police (including border police), and 
other armed police units. Communication police are responsible for 
monitoring telephone and electronic communications. The armed forces 
are responsible for external security but also have domestic security 
responsibilities that include counterterrorism and counterinsurgency 
activities as well as control of an extensive system of village 
militias.
    Impunity was a problem, as was police corruption. Many police 
officers used their authority to extract bribes from citizens. Corrupt 
officials reportedly were rarely punished. There was no formal 
mechanism for investigating police abuse. In theory the Government's 
National Audit Committee has responsibility for uncovering corruption 
in all government ministries, including the MoPS, but in practice the 
office's investigative activities were minimal. Lower-level officials 
were on occasion arrested and punished for corruption. During the year 
several customs officials were reportedly dismissed for corruption.
    Police are trained at the National Police Academy, but the extent 
to which the academy's curriculum discusses corruption was unknown. At 
the instruction of the LPRP, the government-controlled press rarely 
reported cases of official corruption.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police and military forces both had powers 
of arrest, although normally only police carried out these powers. 
Police agents exercised wide latitude in making arrests, relying on 
exceptions to the requirement that warrants are necessary except to 
apprehend persons in the act of committing crimes or in urgent cases. 
Police reportedly sometimes used arrest as a means to intimidate 
persons or extract bribes. There were reports that military forces 
occasionally arrested or detained persons suspected of insurgent 
activities.
    There is a one-year statutory limit for detention without trial. 
The length of detention without a pretrial hearing or formal charges is 
also limited to one year. The Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) 
reportedly made efforts to ensure that all prisoners were brought to 
trial within the one-year limit, but the limit sometimes was ignored. 
The OPG must authorize police to hold a suspect pending investigation. 
Authorization is given in three-month increments, and a suspect must be 
released after a maximum of one year if police do not have sufficient 
evidence to bring charges. There is a bail system, but its 
implementation was arbitrary and in practice often amounted to a bribe 
to prison officials for a prisoner's release. Prisoner access to family 
members and a lawyer was not assured. Incommunicado detention was a 
problem; however, it was used less frequently than in the past (see 
section 1.c.). A statute of limitations applies to most crimes. Alleged 
violations of criminal laws at times led to lengthy pretrial detentions 
without charge and minimal due process protection of those detained. 
Authorities sometimes continued to detain prisoners after they had 
completed their sentences, particularly in cases where prisoners were 
unable to pay court fines. In other cases prisoners were released 
contingent upon their agreement to pay fines at a later date.
    On April 1, a Christian man in Salavan Province's Tabeng Village 
was placed under house arrest for several months, reportedly without 
charges, for refusing to recant his faith. During the first 10 days of 
his house arrest, he was reportedly placed in wrist and ankle stocks. 
He was reportedly released from house arrest in October (see sections 
1.c. and 2.c.). On August 11, two ethnic minority Christians were 
arrested in Savannakhet Province's Xephone District, reportedly for 
being outspoken about their Christian faith and for their perceived 
prowestern views. At year's end the two remained in prison without 
charge.
    On November 17, 11 ethnic Khmu Christians were arrested in Khon 
Kean Village, Vientiane Province, along with two foreign citizens. The 
foreigners were released after three weeks' detention and the reported 
payment of a $9,000 fine. Two additional Khmu Christians from Khon Kean 
Village were subsequently arrested, and at year's end the 13 
individuals remained incarcerated (see section 2.c.).
    During the year authorities arrested, with no apparent charges or 
with questionable charges, a total of approximately 49 Christians due 
to their efforts to practice their religion, refusal to give up their 
religious beliefs, or suspicions that they were pro-western or opposed 
to the Government.
    At year's end a group of 27 Hmong Christians, 26 of whom were 
children, were presumed to remain in detention. In December 2005 the 
Government detained them after Thai authorities unofficially deported 
them to Bolikhamsai Province (see sections 1.b., 2.c., and 2.d.).
    Early in the year authorities in Phine District, Savannakhet 
Province, released two ethnic Brou who, after refusing to cease their 
religious activities, were convicted in mid-2005 on charges of 
``illegal weapons trafficking.''
    There were no reports that police administratively overruled court 
decisions by detaining exonerated individuals. However, local police 
reportedly continued to detain persons who had been ordered released by 
higher authorities. There were no known instances of police being 
reprimanded or punished for such behavior. The OPG made efforts to 
encourage compliance with the law regarding detention of suspects but 
acknowledged that police widely continued to ignore the law's 
provisions.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for the 
independence of the judiciary and the OPG; however, senior government 
and party officials influenced the courts, although to a lesser degree 
than in the past. Impunity was a problem, as was corruption. 
Reportedly, some judges could be bribed. The National Assembly may 
remove judges from office for ``impropriety''; however, according to 
government sources, since 1991 only one judge at the district level has 
been removed for improper behavior.
    The people's courts have four levels: district courts, municipal 
and provincial courts, a court of appeals, and the Supreme People's 
Court. In 2004 the Supreme Court established a commercial court, family 
court, and juvenile court. Decisions of the lower courts are subject to 
review by the Supreme Court, but military court decisions are not. Both 
defendants and prosecutors in civilian courts have the right to appeal 
adverse verdicts. There are instances in which civilians may be tried 
in the military courts, but this was rare.

    Trial Procedures.--Court judges, not juries, decide guilt or 
innocence. All judges were Communist Party members. Trials that involve 
certain criminal laws relating to national security, state secrets, 
children under the age of 16, or certain types of family law are 
closed. The law provides for open trials in which defendants have the 
right to defend themselves with the assistance of a lawyer or other 
persons. Defense attorneys are provided at government expense only in 
cases involving children, cases for which there is the possibility of 
life imprisonment or the death penalty, and cases that are considered 
particularly complicated, such as those involving foreigners. The law 
requires that authorities inform persons of their rights and states 
that defendants may have anyone assist them in preparing written cases 
and accompany them at their trials; however, only the defendant may 
present oral arguments at a criminal trial. Defendants are permitted to 
question witnesses and can present witnesses and evidence on their own 
behalf. Court litigants may select members of the Lao Bar Association 
to represent them at trials. The association, with a membership of 
nearly 50 private attorneys, is nominally independent but receives some 
direction from the Ministry of Justice. For several reasons, including 
a lack of funds, shortage of attorneys, and the general perception that 
attorneys cannot affect court decisions, most defendants did not choose 
to have attorneys or trained representatives.
    Under the law defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. However, 
in practice judges usually decided guilt or innocence in advance, 
basing their decisions on the result of police or the prosecutor's 
investigation reports. Most trials, including criminal trials, were 
little more than pro forma examinations of the accused, with a verdict 
having been reached beforehand. Defendants have the right of appeal.
    Most of the country's 450 judges had only basic legal training, and 
many provincial and district courts had few or no reference materials 
available to which judges could refer for guidance. The National 
Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee occasionally reviewed Supreme Court 
decisions for ``accuracy'' and returned cases to the court or the OPG 
for review when the committee believed decisions were reached 
improperly.
    There were no developments in the 2003 arrest of three Hmong 
porters in Xieng Khouang Province. The three were arrested along with 
two foreign journalists and their foreign interpreter. The foreign 
journalists and interpreter were released, but the three porters were 
charged with having conspired with ethnic Hmong villagers in the 
killing of a local militia member and given long prison sentences. One 
later escaped, but at year's end the other two remained in custody.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were three known 
political prisoners. Colonel Sing Chanthakoumane, a former government 
official, was serving a life sentence after a 1990 trial that was not 
conducted according to international standards. Sing reportedly was 
very ill, but the Government ignored numerous requests to release him 
on humanitarian grounds. He was the sole remaining reeducation camp 
inmate from the old regime. At least two persons, Thongpaseuth Keuakoun 
and Seng-aloun Phengboun, who were arrested in 1999 for attempting to 
organize a prodemocracy demonstration in Vientiane, continued to serve 
10-year sentences for antigovernment activities.
    Other political prisoners may have been arrested, tried, and 
convicted under laws relating to national security that prevent public 
court trials. However, there was no reliable independent method to 
ascertain accurately their total number.
    Based on information provided by former prisoners, a small but 
unknown number of persons, particularly Hmong suspected of insurgent 
activities, were detained for allegedly violating criminal laws 
concerning national security.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for 
independence of the judiciary in both criminal and civil matters. If 
civil or political rights are violated, one may seek judicial remedy in 
a criminal court or pursue an administrative remedy from the National 
Assembly under the Law on Public Complaints. In regard to social and 
cultural rights, one may seek remedy in a civil court. Despite some 
improvement following the creation of the Department of Law Enforcement 
in 2000, enforcement of court orders remained a problem.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law generally protects privacy, including that of 
mail, telephone, and electronic correspondence, but the Government 
reportedly violated these legal protections in situations when there 
was a perceived security threat.
    The law prohibits unlawful searches and seizures. By law police 
must obtain search authorization from a prosecutor or a panel of 
judges, but in practice police did not always obtain prior approval, 
especially in rural areas. Security laws allow the Government to 
monitor individuals' movements and private communications, including 
via cellular telephones and e-mail (see section 2.a.).
    The MoPS regularly monitored citizens' activities through a vast 
surveillance network. An informal militia in urban and rural areas, 
operating under the aegis of the armed forces, had responsibility for 
maintaining public order and reporting ``undesirable elements'' to 
police. Militia units were usually more concerned with addressing petty 
crime, robberies, and instances of moral turpitude than with political 
activism, although in remote rural areas where the Hmong insurgency was 
active, the militia also played a role in providing security against 
insurgents. Members of the LPRP's many front organizations, including 
the Lao Women's Union, the Youth Union, and the Lao Front for National 
Construction (LFNC), served as watchdogs over the citizenry at all 
levels of society. The MoPS also maintained a network of secret police 
whose job was to monitor the citizenry in order to prevent acts 
threatening the Government.
    The Government monitored the e-mails of private citizens. All 
Internet service providers were licensed by the Government and were 
required to report quarterly to the Prime Minister's Office regarding 
their activities (see section 2.a.).
    The Government continued its program to relocate highland slash-
and-burn farmers, most of whom belonged to ethnic minority groups, to 
lowland areas in keeping with its plan to end opium production by the 
end of 2005 and slash-and-burn agriculture by 2010. In some areas 
district and provincial officials used persuasion to convince villagers 
to move to relocation areas. In other areas villagers relocated 
spontaneously to be closer to roads, markets, and government services. 
Although the Government's resettlement plan called for compensating 
farmers for lost land and providing resettlement assistance, this 
assistance was not available in many cases or was insufficient to give 
relocated farmers the means to adjust to their new homes and new way of 
life. Moreover, in some areas farmland allotted to relocated villagers 
was of poor quality and unsuited for intensive rice farming. The result 
was that some relocated villagers experienced increased poverty, 
hunger, malnourishment, susceptibility to disease, and mortality rates. 
The Government relied on assistance from NGOs, bilateral donors, and 
international organizations to cover the needs of those recently 
resettled, but such assistance was not available in all areas.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of forced resettlement during 
the year.
    Local officials confiscated lands of Christians in one area of 
Oudomsay Province in February but returned the land after a few months 
(see section 2.c.).
    The Government allowed citizens to marry foreigners only with prior 
approval. Premarital cohabitation was illegal. Although the Government 
routinely granted permission to marry, the process was lengthy and 
burdensome and offered officials the opportunity to solicit bribes. 
Marriages to foreigners without government approval could be annulled, 
with both parties subject to arrest and fines.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, in practice the Government severely 
restricted political speech and writing. The Government also prohibited 
most criticism that it deemed harmful to its reputation. The law 
forbids slandering the state, distorting party or state policies, 
inciting disorder, or propagating information or opinions that weaken 
the state. Citizens who lodged legitimate complaints with government 
departments generally did not suffer reprisals; criticism of a more 
general nature or targeting the party leadership could lead to censure 
or arrest.
    The state owned and controlled most domestic print and electronic 
media. Local news in all media reflected government policy. Television 
talk shows and opinion articles referred only to differences in 
administrative approaches. Although domestic television and radio 
broadcasts were closely controlled, the Government made no effort to 
interfere with television and radio broadcasts from abroad. Many 
citizens routinely watched Thai television or listened to Thai radio, 
including news broadcasts. Citizens had 24-hour access to CNN and the 
BBC as well as other international stations accessible via satellite 
and cable television. The Government required registration of receiving 
satellite dishes and payment of a one-time licensing fee, largely as a 
revenue-generating measure, but otherwise made no effort to restrict 
their use. A Chinese-owned company provided cable television service to 
subscribers in Vientiane. This government-registered cable service 
offered Thai and international news and entertainment programs without 
restriction from authorities.
    The Government permitted the publication of several privately owned 
periodicals of a nonpolitical nature, including periodicals 
specializing in business, society, and trade topics. While government 
officials did not review in advance all articles in these periodicals, 
they reviewed them after publication and imposed penalties on 
periodicals that carried articles that did not meet government 
approval. A few Asian and Western newspapers and magazines were 
available through private outlets that had government permission to 
sell them.
    Foreign journalists were required to apply for special visas and 
were restricted in their activities. The authorities did not allow 
journalists free access to information sources, but journalists often 
were allowed to travel without official escorts. When escorts were 
required, journalists had to pay daily fees for their services.
    Authorities prohibited the dissemination of materials deemed 
indecent, subversive of ``national culture,'' or politically sensitive. 
Any person found guilty of importing a publication considered offensive 
to the national culture faced a fine or imprisonment for up to one 
year. Decree 92 on religious practice permits the publication of 
religious material with permission from the LFNC. Although several 
religious groups sought such permission, at year's end no Christian or 
Baha'i groups had received authorization to publish religious materials 
(see section 2.c.).

    Internet Freedom.--The Government controlled all domestic Internet 
servers and occasionally blocked access to Internet sites that were 
deemed pornographic or were critical of government institutions and 
policies. The Government also sporadically monitored e-mail. Highly 
restrictive regulations regarding Internet use by citizens 
significantly curtailed freedom of expression. ``Disturbing the peace 
and happiness of the community'' and ``reporting misleading news'' are 
criminal acts. The Prime Minister's Office required all Internet 
service providers to submit quarterly reports and link their gateways 
to facilitate monitoring, but the Government's ability to enforce such 
regulations appeared to be limited. Fearful of monitoring by the 
authorities, many citizens used the Internet services of a growing 
number of Internet cafes rather than personal computers for private 
correspondence.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law provides for 
academic freedom, but in practice the Government imposed restrictions. 
The Ministry of Education tightly controlled curriculums in schools, 
including private schools and colleges, to ensure that no subjects were 
taught that might raise questions about the political system.
    Both citizen and noncitizen academic professionals conducting 
research in the country may be subject to restrictions on travel, 
access to information, and publication. The Government exercised 
control, via requirements for exit stamps and other mechanisms, over 
the ability of state-employed academic professionals to travel for 
research or obtain study grants, but it actively sought such 
opportunities worldwide and approved virtually all such proposals.
    Films and music recordings produced in government studios were 
required to be submitted for official censorship; however, uncensored 
foreign films and music were easily available in video and compact disc 
format. The Ministry of Information and Culture repeatedly attempted to 
impose restrictions aimed at limiting the influence of Thai culture in 
Lao music and entertainment, but these restrictions were widely ignored 
and appeared to have little effect.
    The Government did not interfere with cultural events unless it 
considered such events antigovernment. During the year there were no 
reports that the Government forced the cancellation of cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the 
Government restricted this right in practice. The law prohibits 
participation in organizations that undertake demonstrations, protest 
marches, or other acts that cause ``turmoil or social instability.'' 
Participation in acts deemed to cause turmoil or social instability, 
such as protest marches, is punishable by prison terms of one to five 
years. Defendants tried for crimes against the state could face 
sentences of up to 20 years or execution.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides citizens the right to 
organize and join associations, but the Government restricted this 
right in practice. The Government registered and controlled all 
associations and prohibited associations that criticized the 
Government. Political groups other than popular front organizations 
approved by the LPRP were forbidden. Although the Government restricted 
many types of formal professional and social associations, informal 
nonpolitical groups were able to meet without hindrance. The Government 
permitted the creation of some associations of a business nature, such 
as allowing hotel owners and freight forwarders to create their own 
business associations. The Government also began permitting the 
establishment of nonprofit organizations designed to promote science 
and agriculture. The Prime Minister's Office oversees the small but 
growing number of organizations that have registered to conduct 
activities in these areas.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion; however, the authorities, particularly at the local level, 
interfered with this right.
    Although the state is secular, the LPRP and the Government 
supported Theravada Buddhism, which was followed by more than 40 
percent of the population and was the faith of nearly all of the ethnic 
Lao population. The law does not recognize a national religion, but the 
Government's support for and oversight of temples and other facilities 
and its promotion of Buddhist practices gave Buddhism an elevated 
status among the country's religions.
    During the year local authorities arrested or detained 
approximately 49 Christians in Luang Namtha, Savannakhet, Salavan, 
Oudomsay, Bolikhamsai, and Vientiane provinces. Authorities detained a 
group of 27 Hmong Christians, including 26 children, who had been 
deported from Thailand in December 2005 (see sections 1.b., 1.d., and 
2.d.). On April 1, a Christian man in Salavan Province was arrested and 
initially placed in ankle and wrist stocks after refusing the village 
chief's order to recant his faith. After 10 days the stocks were 
removed, but he remained under house arrest before being released in 
October (see section 1.c.).
    On November 17, 11 ethnic Khmu Christians were arrested in Khon 
Kean Village, Vientiane Province, along with two foreign citizens. The 
Khmu Christians reportedly were arrested for collaborating with the two 
foreigners, who had preached at a Christian celebration and videotaped 
interviews with some church members. The two foreigners were released 
after three weeks' detention and the reported payment of a $9,000 fine. 
Two additional Khmu Christians from Khon Kean Village were subsequently 
arrested. Among the 13 arrested, three pastors were imprisoned in 
Thongharb Prison, and 10 other church leaders remained in detention in 
Hin Heup, Vientiane Province, at year's end (see section 1.d.).
    On December 20, five ethnic Yao Christians in Luang Namtha Province 
were arrested for building a church without proper authorization. On 
December 26, authorities arrested one additional member of the group. 
The six church leaders had received village approval for the church's 
construction, but when district officials ordered them to stop 
construction, they reportedly continued without district approval.
    Ethnic minority Christians were sometimes arrested under what were 
alleged to be false charges because of their faith. In midyear a 
Christian in Oudomsay's Nam Heang Village reportedly was arrested for 
having ammunition at his home. He was held for two months and released 
contingent upon his agreement to pay a $200 (two million kip) fine. 
Church leaders, noting the man had recently completed three years of 
military service, alleged that the village chief, known to be anti-
Christian, used the ammunition as an excuse for the arrest. On August 
11, two Christians in Savannakhet's Xephone District were imprisoned 
for being outspoken about their faith and for what the village chief 
regarded as prowestern views. The Government reported that the men were 
sentenced to six months' imprisonment, to be followed by one year's 
probation for ``dividing society and damaging solidarity.'' At year's 
end the men remained in prison.
    Early in the year authorities reportedly released two ethnic Brou 
Christian men convicted of weapons trafficking in Savannakhet in 2005. 
However, some in the religious community said the two were never 
convicted and were held at a police facility until their families were 
able to pay fines to the police. Members of the religious community 
believed the arrests were due to their religious beliefs and said that 
many non-Christians in the community were also selling ammunition but 
were not arrested. Community members also believed that the men's 
arrest and detention was motivated by local officials' desire to force 
them to renounce their faith.
    In August Lao Evangelical Church member Nyoht, sentenced in 1999 to 
12 years' imprisonment for treason and sedition, died following a 
period of illness. Another church member, Thongchanh, sentenced to 15 
years in prison at the same time, remained incarcerated. Some persons 
believed their conviction was due to their proselytizing activities.
    The constitution prohibits ``all acts of creating division of 
religion or creating division among the people.'' The LPRP and the 
Government used this to justify restrictions on religious practice by 
all religious groups, including the Buddhist majority and animists. 
Although official pronouncements acknowledged the positive benefits of 
religion, they also emphasized its potential to divide, distract, or 
destabilize. The constitution notes that the state ``mobilizes and 
encourages'' Buddhist monks and novices as well as priests of other 
religions to participate in activities ``beneficial to the nation and 
the people.''
    Authorities continued to be suspicious of non-Buddhist religious 
communities, including some Christian groups. Local authorities, 
apparently in some cases with encouragement from government or LPRP 
officials, singled out Protestant groups, both those officially 
recognized by the LFNC and those that were not recognized, as a target 
of abuse.
    Decree 92 permits minority religious groups to engage in a number 
of activities previously considered illegal, such as proselytizing and 
printing religious material; however, it requires religious groups or 
individuals to obtain permission in advance for these activities, in 
most cases from the LFNC. Although the intent of the decree was to 
clarify the rights and responsibilities of religious groups, many 
minority religious leaders complained that it was too restrictive in 
practice. The requirement that religious groups obtain permission, 
sometimes from several different offices, for a broad range of 
activities greatly limited the freedom of these groups.
    The LFNC has recognized two Protestant groups: the Lao Evangelical 
Church (LEC), which is the umbrella Protestant church, and the Seventh-
day Adventist Church. The LFNC refused to recognize congregations such 
as the Methodists, who operated independently.
    The Government's tolerance of religion varied by region. In most 
parts of the country, members of long-established congregations had few 
problems in practicing their faith, although long-time congregations in 
some parts of Savannakhet and Luang Prabang provinces continued to face 
restrictions from local authorities. Authorities sometimes advised new 
congregations to join the LEC, despite clear differences between the 
groups' beliefs. In some areas, such as Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang 
provinces, independent congregations were ordered to join the LEC or 
face sanctions, including arrests of their leaders. In other areas, 
however, authorities allowed congregations not affiliated with the LEC 
or Seventh-day Adventists to continue their worship unhindered.
    The LFNC often sought to intervene with local governments in cases 
where minority religious practitioners, particularly Christians, had 
been harassed or mistreated; however, incidents of religious 
intolerance by local officials continued in some areas. Although 
officials in a few urban areas--notably Vientiane City, Savannakhet, 
and Pakse--were relatively tolerant of Christian religious practice, 
government authorities in many regions restricted the practice of 
properly registered religious groups. Officials in Savannakhet 
Province's Muang Phine District arrested and detained religious 
believers without charges, apparently as a means of forcing them to 
change their religious beliefs (see section 1.d.). Authorities in other 
areas used threats of arrest as a means of intimidating local religious 
communities. Local officials in some parts of the country also 
threatened to withhold government identification cards and household 
registration documents as well as deny educational benefits to those 
who did not give up their religious beliefs. Local officials 
confiscated lands of Christians in one area of Oudomsay Province in 
February but reportedly returned them after a few months.
    The Roman Catholic Church was unable to operate effectively in the 
northern part of the country, and church members had only intermittent 
contact with the bishop of Luang Prabang, who lived in Vientiane. The 
small Catholic communities in Luang Prabang, Sayaboury, and Bokeo 
provinces sporadically held services in members' homes, but there were 
no priests in the areas, and pastoral visits from Vientiane were 
infrequent.
    On June 18, the Government allowed the Catholic Church to ordain 
the country's first new priest in 30 years, after forcing a 
cancellation of the event in 2005. The Government allowed the Catholic 
Church to ordain two additional priests on December 9 and another on 
December 30.
    In contrast with 2005, there were no reports that authorities 
arrested or detained persons bringing Bibles into the country.
    Followers of the Baha'i Faith were able to practice their religion 
without hindrance in Vientiane City and in Savannakhet and Khammouane 
provinces. Small Baha'i groups faced fewer restrictions from local 
authorities than in the past. The small Muslim community in Vientiane 
was able to practice its religion without hindrance.
    Animists generally experienced no interference from the Government 
in their religious practices, which varied extensively among the 
approximately 70 identified ethnic groups and tribes in the country. 
However, the Government actively discouraged animist practices that it 
regarded as outdated, unhealthful, or illegal, such as the practice in 
some tribes of infanticide of those with birth defects or of keeping 
the bodies of deceased relatives in homes.
    Officials in Savannakhet Province continued to refuse requests by 
the Christian congregation in the village of Khamsan for the return of 
their church building, seized by authorities many years earlier. In 
several areas authorities continued to deny requests by local 
congregations to construct permanent church buildings, but in other 
areas officials permitted the construction or renovation of churches. 
Authorities in some regions used intimidation or threats of expulsion 
to force Christians to renounce their religious faith, particularly in 
parts of Savannakhet, Salavan, and Oudomsay provinces (see section 
1.f.).
    Officials in some areas were suspicious of persons who converted to 
Christianity. Two Christians arrested in Savannakhet Province on August 
11 were said to be relatively new converts and among the most vocal 
Christians in the community (see section 1.d.).
    The Government strictly prohibited foreigners from proselytizing, 
although it permitted foreign NGOs with religious affiliations to work 
in the country. Foreign persons who distributed religious material were 
subject to arrest or deportation. Although Decree 92 permits 
proselytizing by religious practitioners provided they obtain 
permission for such activities from the LFNC, the LFNC did not grant 
such permission, and persons found evangelizing risked harassment or 
arrest. In May authorities arrested two foreign citizens in Bokeo 
Province for proselytizing and, after holding them for two days, 
expelled them from the country.
    The Government permits the printing, import, and distribution of 
Buddhist religious material, but it made no such concessions to the 
printing or import of religious material and literature by non-Buddhist 
faiths. Decree 92 authorizes the printing of religious material, 
provided permission is obtained from the LFNC, but the LFNC did not 
grant permission to Christian congregations. The Government required 
and usually granted permission for formal links with coreligionists in 
other countries for all recognized religions; however, in practice the 
distinction between formal and informal links was unclear, and 
relations with coreligionists generally were established without 
difficulty.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--For the most part, the various 
religious communities coexisted amicably. There was no known Jewish 
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic 
acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, but 
in practice the Government restricted some of them. Citizens who 
traveled across provincial borders are not required to report to 
authorities; however, in designated security zones officials 
occasionally set up roadblocks and checked travelers' identity cards. 
Citizens who sought to travel to contiguous areas of neighboring 
countries could do so with travel permits that generally were easily 
obtained from district offices. Those wishing to travel farther abroad 
were required to apply for passports and exit visas. While the 
Government usually issued these documents for a fee, officials at the 
local level sometimes denied some persons permission to apply for 
passports and exit visas. Authorities restricted access by foreigners 
to certain areas, such as the former Saisomboun Special Zone, an area 
previously administered by military forces, or remote districts in 
Xieng Khouang and Bolikhamsai provinces, where antigovernment 
insurgents continued to operate.
    The Government did not use forced exile; however, a small group of 
persons, who fled the country during the 1975 change in government and 
were tried in absentia for antigovernment activities, did not have the 
right of return.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951 
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, 
but the Nationality Law provides for asylum and the protection of 
stateless persons. In practice the Government did not provide 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution, and did not routinely grant refugee or 
asylum status. However, the Government showed some flexibility in 
dealing pragmatically with individual asylum cases.
    In the years following their return, citizens who had temporarily 
sought refuge abroad were subject to greater scrutiny by the 
authorities than were other citizens. However, these returnees have 
largely reintegrated and no longer received unusual attention from 
officials. Many who fled after the 1975 change of government have 
returned to visit relatives, some have stayed and gained foreign 
resident status, and some have reclaimed citizenship successfully.
    The Government continued to refuse the request from the Office of 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to reestablish a presence 
in the country to monitor the reintegration of former refugees who 
returned under UNHCR's resettlement program. The Government stated that 
the UNHCR's mandate expired in 2001 and all former refugees had been 
successfully reintegrated. However, there were estimates that since 
June 2005 more than 2,000 Hmong had surrendered, mainly in the 
provinces of Xiang Khouang, Bolikhamsai, and Vientiane (part of which 
composed the former military-administered Saisomboung Special Zone).
    During the year the Government continued to deny that it had 
detained 26 Hmong children, but many sources indicated the children had 
been held in various government detention facilities since December 
2005. In November 2005 Thai authorities in Petchaboon Province arrested 
a group of ethnic Hmong, most of them girls, who had fled to Thailand 
and were living in a holding camp in Petchaboon Province. The Thai 
government later confirmed that it had unofficially deported the group 
of 27 persons, 26 of whom were children, to Laos in early December 
2005. Lao authorities initially refused to acknowledge the presence of 
the group but then privately indicated that they were holding them; 
however, later they denied that they ever held the group or knew of its 
whereabouts. At year's end the case remained unresolved.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens do not have the right to change their government. Although 
the constitution outlines a system composed of executive, legislative, 
and judicial branches, the LPRP controlled governance and the 
leadership at all levels through its constitutionally designated 
``leading role.''

    Elections and Political Participation.--The law provides for a 
representative National Assembly, elected every five years in open, 
multiple-candidate, fairly tabulated elections, with voting by secret 
ballot and universal adult suffrage. However, the constitution 
legitimizes only a single party, the LPRP; all other political parties 
are outlawed. Election committees, appointed by the National Assembly, 
must approve all candidates for local and national elections. 
Candidates do not need to be LPRP members, but in practice almost all 
were.
    The National Assembly chooses a Standing Committee, generally based 
on the previous Standing Committee's recommendation. Upon the 
committee's recommendation, the National Assembly elects or removes the 
President and vice President. The committee has the mandate to 
supervise all administrative and judicial organizations and the sole 
power to recommend Presidential decrees. It also appoints the National 
Election Committee, which has powers over elections, including approval 
of candidates. Activities of the Standing Committee were not fully 
transparent.
    The National Assembly, upon the President's recommendation, elects 
the Prime Minister and other ministers of the Government. The 115-
member National Assembly, elected in April under a system of universal 
suffrage, approved the LPRP's selection of the President at its 
inaugural session in June, when it also ratified the President's 
selection of a new prime minister and cabinet. The National Assembly 
may consider and amend draft legislation, but only permanent 
subcommittees of the Assembly may propose new laws. The law gives the 
right to submit draft legislation to the Standing Committee and the 
ruling executive structure.
    There were 29 women in the 115-member National Assembly and four 
women in the 55-member LPRP Central Committee, one of whom was also a 
member of the seven-member Standing Committee. There was one woman in 
the 11-member Politburo and one in the Prime Minister's Office, who 
also served as minister of the civil service and public administration 
authority. The minister of labor and social welfare was a woman.
    There were seven Lao Soung (members of highland dwelling tribes) 
and 16 Lao Theung (from midslope dwelling tribes) in the National 
Assembly. Most Assembly members were ethnic Lao, who also dominated the 
upper echelons of the LPRP and the Government. Three of the 28 cabinet 
ministers were members of ethnic minority groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception that many officials within the executive and judicial 
branches of the Government were corrupt. Wages of all government 
officials were extremely low, and many officials, such as police 
members, had broad powers that they could easily abuse. Early in the 
year there reportedly was some action taken against corrupt customs 
officials. The LPRP's measures to suppress all information that would 
lead citizens to conclude the party was flawed ensured that there was 
no public censure of corrupt officials who were party members.
    There are no laws providing for public access to government 
information, and in general the Government closely guarded the release 
of any information pertaining to its internal activities, deeming such 
secrecy necessary for ``national security.''
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no domestic human rights NGOs, and the Government does 
not have a formal procedure for registration of such groups. Any 
organization wishing to investigate and publicly criticize the 
Government's human rights policies would face serious obstacles, if it 
were permitted to operate at all.
    The Government only sporadically responded in writing to requests 
for information on the human rights situation from international human 
rights organizations. However, the Government maintained human rights 
dialogues with several foreign governments and continued to receive 
training in UN human rights conventions from several international 
donors.
    The Government maintained contacts with the ICRC. The Government 
continued to translate international human rights and humanitarian law 
conventions with ICRC support. Since the 2001 closing of the UNHCR 
office, the Government has not permitted UNHCR personnel to conduct 
monitoring visits to the country.
    A human rights division, established in 2005 in the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs' Department of International Treaties and Legal 
Affairs, has responsibility for investigating allegations of human 
rights violations. However, in practice the division appeared to be a 
correspondence unit with responsibility for answering letters of 
inquiry regarding alleged human rights abuses and apparently had no 
authority to perform or request investigations. The Foreign Ministry on 
occasion responded to inquiries from the UN regarding its human rights 
situation.
    The Government at times permitted limited access by international 
organizations and NGOs to provide food and other material assistance to 
former insurgents who had accepted government resettlement offers.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides for equal treatment under the law for all 
citizens without regard to sex, social status, education, faith, or 
ethnicity. The 1990 Family Law also includes provisions providing for 
equal treatment without regard to social status. The Government at 
times took action when well-documented and obvious cases of 
discrimination came to the attention of high-level officials, although 
the legal mechanism whereby citizens may bring charges of 
discrimination against individuals or organizations was neither well 
developed nor widely understood among the general population.

    Women.--There were reports that domestic violence against women 
occurred, but such violence did not appear to be widespread. There was 
no evidence of police or judicial reluctance to act on domestic abuse 
cases. Spousal abuse is illegal. Rape reportedly was rare. In rape 
cases that were tried in court, defendants generally were convicted 
with penalties ranging from three years' imprisonment to execution. 
Spousal rape is not illegal. Penalties for domestic abuse may include 
both fines and imprisonment.
    Prostitution is illegal, with penalties ranging from three months 
to one year in prison. However, in practice antiprostitution laws 
generally were not enforced, and in some cases officials reportedly 
were involved in the trade. Trafficking in women and girls for 
prostitution, both to Thailand and internally, was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking). Sexual relations with foreigners are forbidden 
under what the Government refers to as a ``special law,'' and police 
occasionally arrested both citizens and foreigners for having sexual 
relations outside of marriage.
    Sexual harassment was rarely reported, and the actual extent was 
difficult to assess. Although sexual harassment is not illegal, 
``indecent sexual behavior'' toward another person is illegal and 
punishable by six months' to three years' imprisonment.
    The law provides for equal rights for women, and the Lao Women's 
Union operated nationally to promote the position of women in society. 
The law prohibits legal discrimination in marriage and inheritance. 
Discrimination against women did not appear common; however, varying 
degrees of traditional, culturally based discrimination persisted, with 
greater discrimination practiced by some hill tribes. Many women 
occupied responsible positions in the civil service and private 
business, and in urban areas their incomes were often higher than those 
of men.
    During the year the Prime Minister issued a decree making the 2004 
Law on Women fully enforceable. The law establishes penalties for 
crimes against women that are significantly more severe than those 
contained in the criminal code. The law defines trafficking and 
violence against women and children as criminal actions and provides 
for the protection of victims internally and by international agencies.

    Children.--Although the Government has made children's education 
and health care a priority in its economic planning, funding for 
children's basic health and educational needs remained inadequate, and 
the country had a very high rate of infant and child mortality. 
Education is free and compulsory through the fifth grade; however, high 
fees for books and supplies and a general shortage of teachers in rural 
areas prevented many children from attending school. Although not 
reliable, 2005 census data claimed that 67 percent of primary school-
age children, 81 percent of junior high school-age children, and 
approximately 41 percent of high school-age children were enrolled in 
school. In contrast, the UN Development Program estimated that almost 
40 percent of children did not attend primary school and only 10 
percent entered secondary school. There was a significant difference in 
the educational opportunities offered to boys and girls. While figures 
were not reliable, literacy rates for girls were approximately 10 
percent lower than for boys in general. However, according to 
government policy an equal number of men and women were accepted by the 
national university.
    The law prohibits violence against children, and violators were 
subject to stiff punishments. Reports of the physical abuse of children 
were rare.
    Trafficking in girls for prostitution and forced labor was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). Other forms of child labor 
generally were confined to family farms and enterprises (see section 
6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits abduction and trade in 
persons as well as detaining persons against their will, procuring 
persons for commercial sex, and prostitution; however, trafficking in 
persons, particularly women and girls, was a problem. The 2004 Law on 
Women includes provisions protecting women and children from 
trafficking and domestic violence and imposes stiff penalties on 
traffickers (see section 5, Women).
    The country was primarily a country of origin for trafficking in 
persons, including girls ages 13-16, and, to a much lesser extent, a 
country of transit. The primary destination country was Thailand. There 
was almost no effective border control. There was little reliable data 
available on the scope and severity of the problem until recently, when 
studies conducted between 2004 and year's end indicated that the scale 
of economic emigration, mostly by young persons between the ages of 15 
and 30, was far greater than previously supposed. Approximately 7 
percent of the total sample population in three southern provinces 
migrated, primarily to Thailand, either seasonally or permanently, and 
approximately 55 percent of the migrants were female. Thai authorities 
estimated that at least 180,000 undocumented Lao worked in Thailand, 
while other estimates suggested the number was higher. An unknown 
number of these persons were actually trafficked in some sense of the 
term. Internal trafficking of mostly minority girls and women 
increased, with many minority victims working in the sex services trade 
in the northern part of the country. According to one study, a very 
small number of female citizens also were trafficked to China to become 
brides for Chinese men.
    Most trafficking victims were lowland Lao, although small numbers 
of minority women also were victimized by traffickers, and the number 
of minority trafficking victims was increasing. Minority groups were 
particularly vulnerable because they did not have the cultural 
familiarity or linguistic proximity to Thai that Lao-speaking workers 
could use to protect themselves from exploitative situations. A much 
smaller number of trafficked foreign nationals, especially Burmese and 
Vietnamese, transited through the country.
    Many labor recruiters in the country were local persons with cross-
border experience and were known to the trafficking victims. For the 
most part, they had no connection to organized crime, commercial sexual 
exploitation, or the practice of involuntary servitude, but their 
services usually ended once their charges reached Thailand, where more 
organized trafficking operations operated.
    There were few reports of official involvement in trafficking; 
however, anecdotal evidence suggested that local officials knew of 
trafficking activities, and some may have profited from them.
    Before the antitrafficking provisions in the 2004 Law on Women went 
into effect, the Government had prosecuted only a handful of 
traffickers, according to available information. All were prosecuted 
under other criminal statutes. The Law on Women became enforceable in 
February when the Prime Minister issued implementing regulations. While 
the Government worked to publicize the law, at year's end it had not 
been fully disseminated. Based on reports provided by the Lao Anti-
People's Trafficking Unit (LAPTU), the primary law enforcement unit 
responsible for investigating human trafficking cases, the Government 
prosecuted five persons for human trafficking-related offenses, and 
eight cases were pending court action. The average penalty of the five 
that were convicted was six-and-a-half years' imprisonment and fines 
ranging from $500 (five million kip) to $3,500 (35 million kip). Only 
one person, arrested in August, was charged under the amended penal 
code that specifically addresses human trafficking. LAPTU officers 
participated in joint investigations with their Thai counterparts from 
northeast Thailand.
    The Government became more involved in countering the worst forms 
of trafficking and the exploitation of underage persons, chiefly 
through cooperation with international NGOs working on trafficking 
problems. In August the Government hosted a meeting of the Coordinated 
Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking and also held its 
first national workshop on antitrafficking.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) had a unit devoted 
to children with special needs, including protection of trafficking 
victims and prevention of trafficking. The MLSW also maintained two 
small-scale repatriation assistance centers for returned victims of 
trafficking, but their effectiveness was limited by a small budget, 
inadequate international assistance, and a lack of trained personnel. 
The centers also served victims of domestic violence. The MLSW and the 
Lao Women's Union conducted pilot studies on antitrafficking 
information campaigns and began to pursue antitrafficking efforts more 
actively in conjunction with NGOs. Financial constraints limited the 
cash contributions the Government could make, but it offered the 
services of ministerial personnel and meeting venues to NGOs doing 
antitrafficking work.
    In October the NGO Assistance for Women in Distressing Situations 
(AFESIP) established a shelter in Vientiane Municipality to aid victims 
of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, particularly those in 
need of long-term counseling and assistance.
    The Lao Women's Union and the Youth Union, both party-sanctioned 
mass organizations, offered educational programs designed to inform 
girls and young women about the schemes of recruiters for brothels and 
sweatshops in neighboring countries and elsewhere. These organizations 
were most effective in disseminating information at the grassroots 
level.
    In the past some trafficking victims were punished for improper 
documentation or for crossing the border illegally. In July the 
Government reissued a 2004 order to stop the practice of fining 
returnees and followed up with training for local immigration officials 
in some areas. With support from UNICEF, the National Commission for 
Mothers and Children continued an active program of support for 
victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution provides citizens 
protection against discrimination but does not specify that these 
protections apply to persons with disabilities. Regulations promulgated 
by the MLSW and the Lao National Commission for the Disabled protect 
such persons against discrimination; however, the regulations lack the 
force of law. The law does not mandate accessibility to buildings or 
government services for persons with disabilities, but the MLSW has 
established regulations regarding building access and built some 
sidewalk ramps in Vientiane.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides for equal 
rights for all minority citizens, and there is no legal discrimination 
against them; however, societal discrimination persisted. Moreover, 
critics charged that the Government's resettlement program for ending 
slash-and-burn agriculture and opium production adversely affected many 
ethnic minority groups, particularly in the north. The program requires 
that resettled persons adopt paddy rice farming and live in large 
communities, ignoring the traditional livelihoods and community 
structures of these minority groups. The program has led to an active 
debate among international observers about whether the benefits of 
resettlement promoted by the Government--access to markets, schools, 
and medical care for resettled persons--outweigh the negative impact on 
traditional cultural practices (see section 1.f.).
    The Government encouraged the preservation of minority cultures and 
traditions; however, due to their remote location and inaccessibility, 
minority tribes had little voice in government decisions affecting 
their lands and the allocation of natural resources from their areas.
    The Hmong are one of the largest and most prominent highland 
minority groups. There were a number of Hmong officials in the senior 
ranks of the Government and LPRP, including at least five members of 
the LPRP Central Committee. However, societal discrimination continued 
against the Hmong (as well as other ethnic minorities), and some Hmong 
believed their ethnic group could not coexist with the ethnic Lao 
population. This belief has fanned separatist or irredentist beliefs 
among some Hmong. In recent years the Government focused limited 
assistance projects in Hmong areas to address regional and ethnic 
disparities in income. The Government also provided for Hmong and Khmu 
language radio broadcasts but reportedly denied Khmu requests to use 
the Lao script as their official written language. The Khmu language 
does not have its own writing system.
    There were no substantiated reports of attacks by Hmong insurgent 
groups during the year. Nonetheless, the Government leadership 
maintained its suspicion of Hmong irredentist desires, which resulted 
in increased efforts by security forces to eliminate scattered pockets 
of insurgents and their families in remote jungle areas (see section 
1.a.).
    There were reports of scattered surrenders of groups associated 
with the insurgency, often consisting of one or two families but also 
including a group of 350 ethnic Hmong in October in Vientiane Province. 
On December 13, another group of more than 400 Hmong surrendered to 
authorities in Xiang Khouang Province. While there were no reports of 
violence against those who surrendered, the Government did not handle 
the surrenders in a transparent manner and refused to allow 
international observers. At year's end the status and welfare of these 
groups remained unknown.
    For several years the Government has had a vaguely defined policy 
of giving resettlement assistance and ``amnesty'' to insurgents who 
surrender to authorities. At least partially in response to charges 
that it was trying to kill all insurgent elements, the Government used 
family members of insurgents living in the forest and former insurgents 
to approach these groups to urge them to surrender. Throughout the late 
1990s and early 2000s, small groups accepted this offer and received 
small amounts of resettlement assistance from the Government, 
especially in Vientiane, Bolikhamsai, and Xieng Khouang provinces and 
in the Saisomboun Special Zone. In some areas, such as in Bolikhamsai, 
the program included job training, land, and equipment for farming. 
However, in some cases the assistance was less than had been promised. 
Moreover, because of their past activities, amnestied insurgents 
continued to be the focus of government suspicion and scrutiny.
    The Government generally refused offers from the international 
community to assist surrendered insurgents directly, but it allowed 
some aid from the UN and other international agencies to reach them as 
part of larger assistance programs (see section 2.d.). The Government 
continued to refuse international observers permission to visit the 170 
insurgents who surrendered in June 2005 or to provide them with 
promised food and assistance.
    The constitution states that foreigners and stateless persons are 
protected by ``provisions of the laws,'' but in practice they did not 
enjoy such protection.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Within lowland Lao 
society, despite wide and growing tolerance of homosexual practices, 
societal discrimination persisted against such practices.
    There was no official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, 
but social discrimination existed. The Government actively promoted 
tolerance of those with HIV/AIDS, and during the year it conducted 
awareness campaigns to educate the population and promote understanding 
toward such persons.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Under the law workers may form unions 
in private enterprises without previous authorization as long as they 
operate within the framework of the officially sanctioned Federation of 
Lao Trade Unions (FLTU), which in turn is controlled by the LPRP. 
However, most of the FLTU's approximately 99,000 members worked in the 
public sector.
    The Government employed the majority of salaried workers, although 
this situation was changing as the Government privatized state 
enterprises and otherwise reduced the number of its employees. 
Subsistence farmers made up an estimated 85 percent of the work force.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no 
right to organize and bargain collectively. The law stipulates that 
disputes be resolved through workplace committees composed of 
employers, representatives of the local labor union, and 
representatives of the FLTU, with final authority residing in the MLSW. 
According to NGOs and embassies based in Vientiane, the law generally 
was not enforced by the MLSW, especially in dealings with joint 
ventures in the private sector. Labor disputes reportedly were 
infrequent. According to labor activists, the FLTU needed government 
permission to enter factories and had to provide advance notice of such 
visits, rendering it powerless to protect workers who filed complaints. 
The Government sets wages and salaries for government employees, while 
management sets wages and salaries for private business employees.
    Strikes are not prohibited by law, but the Government's ban on 
subversive activities or destabilizing demonstrations (see section 
2.b.) made strikes unlikely, and none were reported during the year.
    The law stipulates that employers may not fire employees for 
conducting trade union activities, lodging complaints against employers 
about law implementation, or cooperating with officials on law 
implementation and labor disputes, and there were no reports of such 
cases. Workplace committees were one mechanism used for resolving 
complaints, but there was no information on how effective these 
committees were in practice.
    There was one export processing zone under development. It was part 
of the Savan-Seno Special Economic Zone in Savannakhet Province. Three 
companies signed agreements to rent land in the zone, but at year's end 
the zone was not operational. Labor laws apply to the zone.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced labor except in time of war or national disaster, during which 
time the state may conscript laborers. The law also prohibits forced or 
compulsory labor by children; however, there were reports that such 
practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the law children under age 15 may not be recruited for employment 
except to work for their families, provided the work is not dangerous 
or difficult. Many children helped their families on farms or in shops, 
but child labor was rare in industrial enterprises. Some garment 
factories reportedly employed a very small number of underage girls. 
The Ministries of Public Security and of Justice are responsible for 
enforcing these provisions, but enforcement was ineffective due to a 
lack of inspectors and other resources.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The daily minimum wage was 
approximately $2.90 (29,000 kip), which was insufficient to provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most civil servants 
received less than the minimum wage but often received other government 
benefits and housing subsidies. Some piecework employees, especially on 
construction sites, earned less than the minimum wage.
    The law provides for a workweek limited to 48 hours (36 hours for 
employment in dangerous activities) and at least one day of rest per 
week.
    The law provides for safe working conditions and higher 
compensation for dangerous work. Employers are responsible for 
compensating a worker injured or killed on the job, or the worker's 
family. This requirement was generally fulfilled by employers in the 
formal economic sector. The law also mandates extensive employer 
responsibility for those disabled while at work, and this provision 
appeared to be enforced adequately. Although workplace inspections 
reportedly have increased over the past several years, the MLSW lacked 
the personnel and budgetary resources to enforce the law effectively. 
The law has no specific provision allowing workers to remove themselves 
from a dangerous situation without jeopardizing their employment.
    There were a number of illegal immigrants in the country, 
particularly from Vietnam and China, and they were vulnerable to 
exploitation by employers. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that 
children from illegal immigrant Vietnamese families sold goods on the 
streets of Vientiane.

                               __________

                                MALAYSIA

    Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy with a population of 
approximately 26.6 million. It has a parliamentary system of government 
headed by a prime minister selected through periodic multiparty 
elections. The National Front, a coalition of political parties 
dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has held 
power since 1957. The most recent national elections, in March 2004, 
were conducted in a generally transparent manner, but the opposition 
complained of the ruling coalition's exploitation of the powers of 
incumbency. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The Government 
abridged citizens' right to change their government. The Government 
maintained no independent body to investigate deaths that occurred 
during apprehension by police or while in police custody. Other 
problems included police abuse of detainees, overcrowded prisons, use 
of the Emergency Ordinance and other statutes to arrest and detain 
persons without charge or trial, and persistent questions about the 
impartiality and independence of the judiciary. The Government 
continued to restrict freedom of press, association, and assembly and 
placed some restrictions on freedom of speech, including prohibitions 
of organized public discussions about ``sensitive'' religious topics. 
Violence against women remained a problem. The country was a 
destination and transit point for trafficking in women and girls for 
the purposes of prostitution and domestic servitude. Longstanding 
government policies gave preferences to ethnic Malays in many areas. 
Workers' rights were impeded by long court backlogs and limitations on 
the right to organize unions in some industries. Migrant workers faced 
some discrimination and exploitation.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings during the 
year. Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that police 
killed 20 persons while apprehending them, up from nine such killings 
in 2005. Local NGOs also reported that 19 persons died in police 
custody during the year, up from eight such deaths in 2005.
    The law empowers magistrates and public prosecutors to investigate 
deaths of persons in police custody and to charge those responsible. In 
April the director of the federal criminal investigation department 
stated that magistrates had absolved police of blame in 39 of the 96 
deaths in their custody between 2000 and March. Magistrates determined 
those cases to be ``sudden deaths'' involving no police culpability. 
The remaining cases were in various stages of investigation. At year's 
end no prosecutions had been initiated as a result of the 
investigations, and no investigation results had been released.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--No law specifically prohibits torture; however, laws that 
prohibit ``committing grievous hurt'' encompass torture. There were no 
reports of torture by police. According to the Government, every report 
of abuse of prisoners was investigated; however, the Government 
generally did not release information on the results of internal police 
investigations, and whether those responsible for abuses were punished 
was not always known.
    In July parliament passed amendments to the criminal procedure code 
(CPC) that banned the use of nude ear squats and codified new body 
search procedures designed to ensure that police conduct searches in a 
more dignified and standardized manner. The amendments were in response 
to a November 2005 incident in which police forced a detained woman 
suspected of harboring narcotics to strip naked, hold her ears, and 
squat repeatedly in front of a policewoman. Police authorities later 
confirmed that such squats were standard police procedure at detention 
facilities for females suspected of committing narcotics offenses and 
were intended to expose or dislodge hidden contraband. A male policeman 
who surreptitiously filmed the female detainee's nude squats was 
dismissed from the police force.
    Criminal law prescribes caning as an additional punishment to 
imprisonment for those convicted of some nonviolent crimes, such as 
narcotics possession, criminal breach of trust, and alien smuggling. 
The law prescribes up to six strokes of the cane for both illegal 
immigrants and their employers. In February the Government offered 
approximately $2,300 (8,340 ringgit) to a legal Nepalese worker who was 
mistakenly detained for 51 days and caned prior to his deportation. The 
worker refused the settlement offer, calling the amount insufficient to 
compensate for his pain and suffering.
    Judges routinely included caning in sentences of those convicted of 
such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and robbery. Some state Shari'a 
(Islamic) laws, which bind only Muslims, also prescribe caning (see 
section 1.e.). The caning, carried out with a half-inch-thick wooden 
cane, commonly causes welts and at times scarring. Males older than 50 
and women are exempted from caning. Male children 10 years of age and 
older may be given up to 10 strokes of a ``light cane'' (see section 
5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison overcrowding 
remained a serious problem. Prison overcrowding was concentrated near 
major cities, with several facilities experiencing occupancy rates more 
than 50 percent above capacity. The Internal Security Ministry stated 
that five new prisons were under construction at year's end, and five 
additional prisons were scheduled to be completed by 2010. In September 
officials from Suhakam, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, 
reported that detainees under investigative detention or awaiting trial 
accounted for a significant portion of the prison overcrowding problem. 
On September 19, the Government announced that it would hire additional 
judges, in an effort to reduce the backlog of pending court cases (see 
section 1.e.).
    The Internal Security Ministry stated in September that 42,483 
individuals were incarcerated in prisons and illegal-migrant detention 
centers.
    NGOs and international organizations involved with migrant workers 
and refugees made credible allegations of inadequate food and medical 
care, poor sanitation, and abuse by guards in the 15 government 
detention camps for illegal immigrants. Immigrant detainees were not 
medically screened prior to placement in the camps. An NGO with access 
to the camps claimed that overcrowding and deficient sanitation 
sometimes facilitated the spread of disease. During the year local NGOs 
were allowed into the camps with mobile medical clinics.
    The Government does not have an agreement with the International 
Committee of the Red Cross permitting prison visits. NGOs and the media 
generally were not permitted to monitor prison conditions. However, 
during the year Suhakam officials visited various prisons and 
immigration detention camps on an ad hoc basis.
    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to have 
unlimited access to the country's immigration detention camps. During 
the year UNHCR staff members conducted numerous visits at various 
prisons and immigration detention facilities located throughout the 
country.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution stipulates that 
no person may be incarcerated unless in accordance with the law. 
However, the law allows investigative detention, designed to prevent a 
criminal suspect from fleeing or destroying evidence while police 
conduct an investigation. Several laws also permit preventive detention 
to incarcerate an individual suspected of criminal activity or to 
prevent a person from committing a future crime. Such laws severely 
restrict, and in some cases eliminate, access to timely legal 
representation and a fair public trial.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Malaysia 
Police is under the command of the inspector general of police (IGP), 
who reports to the minister of internal security. For the past several 
years, the Prime Minister also served as the minister of internal 
security. The IGP is responsible for organizing and administering the 
police force. Police functions generally are divided into five areas: 
enforcement of law and order, maintenance of national peace and 
security, prevention and detection of crimes, arrest and prosecution of 
offenders, and gathering of security intelligence. The police force 
consisted of approximately 93,000 officers, of which 4,500 were women.
    A 2005 police commission report on reform noted a rising incidence 
of police corruption and stated that it was endemic. Police offenses 
listed in the report included accepting bribes, theft, and rape; 
punishments included suspension, dismissal, and demotion. According to 
police statistics, the number of disciplinary actions against police 
officers had steadily declined--1,444 in 2003, 1,200 in 2004, and 886 
in 2005. Warnings and fines accounted for 48 percent and 36 percent, 
respectively, of all disciplinary punishments of police officers during 
the year. In addition, a police spokesman stated that an average of 10 
senior police officers and 80 to 100 lower-ranked policemen were 
charged with corruption each year. During the first 10 months of the 
year, the police dismissed 46 officers, compared with 77 dismissals 
during all of 2005.
    As in 2005, the Government continued to focus most of its police 
reform efforts on improving the salaries, quarters, and general living 
conditions of police officers. The status of other reforms recommended 
in the 2005 police commission report, including the formation of an 
Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), 
remained uncertain. On March 16, the Prime Minister stated that 65 
percent of the commission's 125 recommendations had been implemented. 
On March 21, the Internal Security Ministry submitted a chart to 
parliament that identified whether each recommendation had been 
implemented but provided no subsidiary information that allowed 
independent observers to verify the Government's claims. NGO leaders 
complained that the Government's efforts to implement the commission's 
recommendations lacked transparency.
    While the Prime Minister initially supported creation of an IPCMC, 
police leaders strongly resisted such a body. In late May the police 
Web site contained a quote from a senior police official that 
threatened police support for opposition candidates during the next 
general election if the Government did not abandon forming the IPCMC. 
Following a strong counterresponse by National Front politicians, the 
IGP publicly reversed his earlier opposition and stated that neither he 
nor other police officers would oppose formation of the IPCMC. All 
anti-IPCMC commentary on the police Web site was removed, but by year's 
end the Government had not established an IPCMC.
    The police training center continued to include human rights 
awareness training in its courses. In March the country's 145 district 
police chiefs attended a mandatory three-day human rights seminar. In 
addressing the district chiefs, the IGP urged them to respect suspects' 
human rights and not tolerate misbehavior by police officers under 
their command.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law permits police to arrest individuals 
for some offenses without a warrant and hold suspects for 24 hours 
without charge. A magistrate may extend this initial detention period 
for up to two weeks. Although police generally observed these 
provisions, the 2005 police commission report noted that police 
sometimes released suspects and then quickly rearrested them and held 
them in investigative custody. Police often denied detainees access to 
legal counsel and questioned suspects without giving them access to 
counsel. Police justified this practice as necessary to prevent 
interference in ongoing investigations, and judicial decisions 
generally upheld the practice. The commission stated that an ``arrest 
first, investigate later'' mentality pervaded some elements of the 
police force and recommended that detention procedures be reviewed to 
prevent abuse.
    The CPC allows the detention of a person whose testimony as a 
material witness is necessary in a criminal case if that person is 
considered likely to flee. Bail is usually available for those accused 
of crimes not potentially punishable by life imprisonment or death. The 
amount and availability of bail is determined at the judge's 
discretion. When bail is granted, accused persons must usually 
surrender their passports to the court.
    On July 27, parliament passed a series of amendments to the CPC 
that strengthened the rights of criminal suspects during their initial 
detention period. The amendments require an arresting officer to inform 
a detainee of the reason for his arrest and enable the suspect to 
contact his lawyer and family free of charge within 24 hours of arrest. 
In addition, the amendments limit investigative custody to a maximum 
period of seven days for crimes punishable by less than 14 years of 
incarceration. Judges are allowed to extend the first detention 
application for up to four days, followed by an additional three-day 
period if requested by police. For crimes potentially punishable by 14 
years or more in custody, a judge is allowed to grant up to seven days' 
detention on the first application, followed by a maximum of seven 
additional days based on a second application. NGO leaders praised 
these amendments as a significant step toward reducing historical 
abuses of the detention process by police.
    Crowded and understaffed courts often resulted in lengthy pretrial 
detention, sometimes lasting several years.
    On November 15, the federal Islamic Development Department (Jakim) 
announced revised guidelines for conducting raids on premises where 
Muslims are suspected of engaging in offenses such as gambling and 
consumption of alcohol. Although Jakim enforcement officers need not be 
escorted by police during their raids, the new guidelines authorize 
Jakim officials to enter any private premises without a warrant if they 
deem swift action to be necessary.
    Four preventive detention laws permit the Government to detain 
suspects without normal judicial review or filing formal charges: the 
Internal Security Act (ISA), the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention 
of Crime) Ordinance, the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) 
Act, and the Restricted Residence Act.
    The ISA empowers police to arrest without warrant and hold for up 
to 60 days any person who acts ``in a manner prejudicial to the 
national security or economic life of Malaysia.'' During the initial 
60-day detention period in special detention centers, suspects are not 
always given access to counsel. Upon the recommendation of an advisory 
board, the internal security minister may authorize further detention 
for up to two years, with an unlimited number of two-year periods to 
follow. Some of those released before the end of their detention period 
are subject to ``imposed restricted conditions.'' These conditions 
limit freedom of speech, association, and travel inside and outside the 
country. Since 1960 more than 10,500 persons have been arrested under 
the ISA, of whom more than 4,100 were detained beyond the initial 60-
day detention period and 2,000 were subjected to restriction orders.
    Even when there are no formal charges, the ISA requires that 
authorities inform detainees of the accusations against them and permit 
them to appeal to an advisory board for review every six months. 
However, advisory board decisions and recommendations are not binding 
on the internal security minister, not made public, and often not shown 
to the detainee. In past years local human rights NGOs claimed that 
police at times intimidated and harassed family members of ISA 
detainees to prevent them from taking legal action against the police.
    The 1988 ISA amendments circumscribe judicial review of ISA 
detentions. The Bar Council has asserted that ISA detentions should be 
subject to full judicial review; however, the courts do not concur with 
this interpretation and limit their review to procedural issues. 
Detainees freed by judicial order nearly always were immediately 
detained again. Following several successful procedural challenges to 
ISA detentions, the Federal Court ruled that the courts should not 
intervene in matters of national security and public order.
    In August the Abolish ISA Movement, a local NGO, stated that there 
were 97 persons in detention under the ISA, following the release of 11 
ISA detainees during the year. The 97 detainees included 59 suspected 
of involvement with terrorist groups, 22 held for forging currency, and 
16 held for falsification of documents or other offenses. According to 
Suaram, a local human rights NGO, none were formally charged with a 
criminal offense. Among those detained were members of the opposition 
Islamic Party (PAS), including Nik Adli, son of the PAS spiritual 
leader. In October the Government paroled Adli and 16 other ISA 
detainees previously accused of involvement with terrorist groups. The 
released detainees were required to remain within a fixed area of 
residence and were prohibited from international travel.
    Under the Emergency Ordinance, the internal security minister may 
issue a detention order for up to two years against a person if he 
deems it necessary for the protection of public order, ``the 
suppression of violence, or the prevention of crimes involving 
violence.'' On August 26, senior representatives from the Bar Council 
and Suaram criticized the ordinance and said that 712 persons were 
being held under the ordinance at the Simpang Renggam detention 
facility. Council and Suaram representatives stated that the ordinance 
was being used to detain alleged criminals when police lacked 
sufficient evidence to support a traditional prosecution. For example, 
in June a high court judge ordered the release of 13 men held at 
Simpang Renggam prison for more than two years under the Emergency 
Ordinance for various offenses. Fearing their rearrest under the 
ordinance, and assisted by friends and family members, the 13 men 
attempted to escape as they were transported from the prison to a 
police station. Police immediately captured eight of the men and 
rearrested them under the ordinance. The other five men initially 
escaped but were later recaptured and incarcerated again under the 
ordinance. At year's end the men remained detained at Simpang Renggam 
prison.
    Provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act give the Government specific 
power to detain suspected drug traffickers without trial for up to 39 
days before the internal security minister must issue a detention 
order. Once an order is issued, the detainee is entitled to a court 
hearing, which may order the detainee's release. Suspects may be held 
without charge for successive two-year intervals with periodic review 
by an advisory board, whose opinion is binding on the minister. 
However, the review process contains none of the procedural rights that 
a defendant would have in a court proceeding. Police frequently 
detained suspected narcotics traffickers under this act after the 
traffickers were acquitted of formal charges. According to the National 
Anti-Drug Agency, the Government detained 2,020 persons under the 
preventive detention provisions of the act during the first 10 months 
of the year, compared with 2,247 persons during the same period in 
2005.
    The Restricted Residence Act allows the minister of internal 
security to place individuals under restricted residence away from 
their homes. These persons may not leave the residential district 
assigned to them, and they must present themselves to police on a daily 
basis. As under the ISA, the term of detention may be renewed every two 
years. The minister is authorized to issue the restricted residence 
orders without any judicial or administrative hearings. The Government 
continued to justify the act as a necessary tool to remove suspects 
from the area where undesirable activities were being conducted.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Three constitutional articles 
provide the basis for an independent judiciary, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice. However, other 
constitutional provisions, legislation restricting judicial review, and 
additional factors limited judicial independence and strengthened 
executive influence over the judiciary.
    The constitution provides that judicial powers be conferred by 
parliament rather than vested directly in the courts. It also confers 
certain judicial powers on the Attorney General, including the 
authority to instruct the courts on which cases to hear, the power to 
choose venues, and the right to discontinue cases. The Attorney General 
has control and direction of all criminal prosecutions under the CPC 
and has assumed responsibility for judicial assignments and transfers. 
Senior judges are appointed based on the recommendation of the Prime 
Minister.
    Members of the bar, NGO representatives, and other observers 
expressed serious concern about the general decline of judicial 
independence, citing a number of high-profile instances of arbitrary 
verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some 
litigants and lawyers. On November 21, the chief justice publicly 
called on the Government to transfer supervision of judges operating 
below the high-court level to the judiciary, citing the potential for 
government interference if they remain as civil servants. The Bar 
Council immediately endorsed the chief justice's comments. At year's 
end the Government had not responded to the chief justice's 
recommendation.
    Minor civil suits and criminal cases are heard by sessions courts. 
High courts have original jurisdiction over all criminal cases 
involving serious crimes. Juvenile courts try offenders below age 18. 
The special court tries cases involving the King and the sultans. The 
court of appeal has appellate jurisdiction over high court and sessions 
court decisions. The Federal Court, the country's highest court, 
reviews court of appeal decisions.
    Indigenous peoples in the states of Sarawak and Sabah have a system 
of customary law to resolve matters such as land disputes between 
tribes. Additionally, penghulu (village head) courts may adjudicate 
minor civil matters, but these were rarely used.
    The armed forces have a separate system of courts.

    Trial Procedures.--The secular legal system is based on English 
common law. The constitution states that all persons are equal before 
the law and entitled to equal protection of the law. Trials are public, 
although judges may order restrictions on press coverage. Juries are 
not used. Defendants have the right to counsel at public expense if 
requested by an accused individual facing serious criminal charges. 
Strict rules of evidence apply in court. Defendants may make statements 
for the record to an investigative agency prior to trial. Limited 
pretrial discovery in criminal cases impeded defendants' ability to 
defend themselves. Defendants are presumed innocent and may appeal 
court decisions to higher courts. The 1964 Judiciary Court Act limits a 
defendant's right to appeal in some circumstances. The Government 
stated that the limits expedite the hearing of cases in the upper 
courts, but the Bar Council declared that the act imposes excessive 
restrictions on appeals.
    The Essential (Security Cases) Regulations restrict the right to a 
fair trial by lowering the standard for accepting self-incriminating 
statements by defendants as evidence in firearm and certain national 
security cases. The regulations also allow authorities to hold the 
accused for an unspecified time before making formal charges.
    Even when the Essential Regulations were not invoked, police 
sometimes used other tactics to limit the legal protections of 
defendants. For example, during a trial police summoned and 
interrogated witnesses who had previously given testimony that was not 
helpful to the prosecution. Police also used raids and document 
seizures to harass defendants, but there were no reports that police 
used such tactics during the year.
    Contempt of court charges also restricted the ability of defendants 
and their attorneys to defend themselves; however, the use of such 
charges appeared to be decreasing.
    In July the Attorney General's directive regarding confessions 
became law after parliament passed a CPC amendment regarding police-
obtained confessions (see section 1.d.). In August 2005 the Attorney 
General issued a directive that banned the use of such confessions in 
the prosecution of criminal cases unless the public prosecutor 
explicitly allowed the confession. The Attorney General claimed that it 
would significantly reduce accusations of police abuse in obtaining 
confessions as well as force the police to become more proactive and 
thorough in criminal investigations. A deputy public prosecutor stated 
that the directive would enable speedier trials, since judges would no 
longer need to rule on the admissibility of confessions. Both Suhakam 
and the Bar Council publicly praised the CPC amendment. Senior police 
officials stated that the restrictions on confessions would place 
greater demands on the investigative resources of police. Several NGO 
leaders warned that this could result in greater use of preventive 
detention laws against suspected criminals.
    Certain provisions of the Anticorruption Act impinge on the 
presumption of a public office holder's innocence, such as the 
requirement that accused persons prove that they acquired monetary and 
other assets legally. Failure to satisfy the court's demand for a 
satisfactory explanation can result in imprisonment of up to 20 years 
and a fine. In practice few such cases have been brought.
    Shari'a laws are administered by state authorities through Islamic 
courts and bind all Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Malays. The laws 
and the degree of their enforcement varied from state to state. Shari'a 
courts do not give equal weight to the testimony of women. Many NGOs 
also complained that women did not receive fair treatment from Shari'a 
courts, especially in matters of divorce and child custody (see 
sections 2.c. and 5).
    At year's end the Attorney General's review of amendments to the 
Islamic Family Law Act continued (see sections 2.c. and 5). In December 
2005 parliament passed the amendments to harmonize Shari'a throughout 
the country. The Attorney General undertook the revision following 
protests by NGOs about several provisions.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The structure of the civil 
judiciary mirrors that of the criminal courts. The subordinated courts 
(magistrate's and sessions) have jurisdiction in criminal as well as 
civil matters. Many minor civil cases involving Muslims are handled in 
Shari'a courts pursuant to both constitutional provisions and 
subsequent court decisions that delineated their jurisdictional sphere 
of responsibility.
    The high courts have general supervisory and revisionary 
jurisdiction over all the subordinate courts as well as jurisdiction to 
hear appeals from the subordinate courts in civil matters. The high 
courts generally hear civil cases involving claims in excess of $69,400 
(250,000 ringgit), other than actions involving motor vehicle accidents 
and disputes between landlords and tenants. Civil cases have routinely 
been elevated into the court of appeal and the Federal Court.
    A large case backlog often resulted in delayed provision of court-
ordered relief for civil plaintiffs. As of June 30, approximately 
320,000 civil cases remained collectively backlogged in the sessions, 
magistrate's, and high courts. The chief justice of the Federal Court 
advocated reappointment of retired judges on an ad hoc basis to reduce 
the case backlog. On September 19, the Government announced that it 
would increase the number of high court and appeals court judges from 
72 to 95, and by year's end 82 judges were in place.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--Various laws prohibit such actions; however, 
authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights in some cases. 
Provisions in the security legislation allow police to enter and search 
without a warrant the homes of persons suspected of threatening 
national security (see section 1.d.). Police also may confiscate 
evidence under these provisions. Police used this legal authority to 
search homes and offices, seize books and papers, monitor 
conversations, and take persons into custody without a warrant. The 
Government monitored e-mails sent to Internet blog sites and threatened 
detention for anyone sending content over the Internet that the 
Government deemed to threaten public order or security (see section 
2.a.).
    The Anticorruption Act empowers a deputy public prosecutor to 
authorize the interception of any messages sent or received by a 
suspect through any means of communication, once a written application 
has been received from a senior police official involved in an official 
investigation. Information obtained in this way is admissible as 
evidence in a corruption trial.
    Passed by parliament in July and scheduled to take effect on 
January 1, 2007, antiterrorism amendments to the penal code and CPC 
provide government security forces broader authority to surreptitiously 
install surveillance devices on private property. In addition, public 
prosecutors are allowed to authorize police to intercept postal and 
telecommunications messages if a prosecutor judges these likely to 
contain information regarding a terrorist offense. Intercepted 
communications from such efforts are admissible in court.
    The law permits the Internal Security Ministry to place criminal 
suspects under restricted residence in a remote district away from 
their homes for two years (see section 1.d.).
    The Government bans membership in unregistered political parties 
and organizations (see sections 2.b. and 3).
    Certain religious issues posed significant obstacles to marriage 
between Muslims and adherents of other religions (see section 2.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides each 
citizen with ``the right to freedom of speech and expression''; 
however, some important legal limitations exist. In practice the 
Government restricted freedom of expression, and journalists practiced 
self-censorship. According to the Government, restrictions were imposed 
to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with 
other countries.
    The law provides that freedom of speech may be restricted by 
legislation ``in the interest of security (or) public order.'' For 
example, the Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues defined as 
sensitive, such as racial and religious matters. The Sedition Act, the 
Official Secrets Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, 
criminal defamation laws, and other laws were used to restrict or 
intimidate dissenting political speech.
    The election law makes it an offense for a candidate to ``promote 
feelings of ill will, discontent, or hostility.'' Violators could be 
disqualified from running for office.
    Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in 
jail, a fine, or both. The Centre for Independent Journalism, a local 
NGO, claimed that the threat of imprisonment and large monetary 
judgments for criminal defamation reinforced self-censorship.
    Print journalism was dominated by nine national daily newspapers--
three in English, two in Malay, and four in Chinese. Parties in the 
ruling coalition owned or controlled a majority of shares in two of the 
three English and both Malay dailies. Politically well-connected 
businessmen owned the third English-language newspaper and, following a 
controversial private sale in October, all four major Chinese-language 
newspapers. In October a group of 45 NGOs issued a joint press 
statement describing the ownership concentration of Chinese-language 
newspapers as ``detrimental to press freedom and democratic space.''
    Self-censorship and biased reporting in the print media, while 
common, were not uniform; the English-, Malay-, and Chinese-language 
press sometimes provided balanced reporting on sensitive issues. The 
mainstream press occasionally printed editorials and interviews with 
opposition leaders that included criticism of government policy. 
Observers believed this indicated the Government had relaxed its 
interpretation and enforcement of press restrictions. However, the 
restrictions remained unamended and were reasserted several times 
during the year.
    In August, following a series of controversial public forums at 
which constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and the legal 
supremacy of the constitution were discussed (see section 2.c.), the 
Prime Minister publicly called on forum organizers, news media, and 
Internet content providers to cease public discourse about 
``sensitive'' religious issues. On August 21, the Government's law 
minister stated that the Government would take legal action against 
those who ignored the Prime Minister's directive. In the months 
following these statements and until year's end, public debate and 
media reporting on religious issues were significantly reduced.
    The Printing Presses and Publications Act limits press freedom. 
Under the act, domestic and foreign publications must apply annually to 
the Government for a permit. The act makes publication of ``malicious 
news'' a punishable offense and empowers the minister of internal 
security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public 
order, morality, or national security. The act also prohibits court 
challenges to suspension or revocation of publication permits. 
According to the Government, these provisions ensured that ``distorted 
news'' was not disseminated to the public.
    In February and March, following publication and broadcast of 
several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were deemed highly 
offensive by most Muslims in the country, the Government suspended 
publication of three daily newspapers (including permanent suspension 
of the Sarawak Tribune), prompted an apology from a fourth newspaper, 
and accepted the apologies of two of the four free-to-air television 
channels that ``inadvertently'' broadcast the caricatures.
    In January the two chief editors of the second-largest Chinese-
language daily newspaper, the China Press, were compelled to resign 
after the newspaper mistakenly identified a woman who was forced by 
police to do nude squats while in detention (see section 1.c.). The 
China Press identified the woman as a Chinese national, although she 
was actually an ethnic Chinese Malaysian. The deputy prime minister 
said the misstatement regarding her nationality had negatively impacted 
the perceptions of current and potential Chinese tourists. He 
acknowledged the Government's role in the editors' forced resignations, 
saying it was a ``reminder'' to newspapers to be more responsible. The 
China Press published a front page apology in an apparent effort to 
prevent suspension of its publishing permit.
    On November 7, the Internal Security Ministry suspended the weekend 
edition of the English-language daily newspaper Malay Mail, following 
publication of an edition focused on teenagers and sex. The weekend 
edition and its editor remained suspended at year's end, pending 
completion of the Government's investigation. The Malay Mail parent 
company's chief executive publicly apologized for the edition's 
publication.
    Government power over annual license renewal and other policies 
created an atmosphere that inhibited independent or investigative 
journalism and resulted in extensive self-censorship. Government 
officials continued to argue that the act helped to preserve harmony 
and promote peaceful coexistence in a multiracial country. In November 
2005 the deputy internal security minister stated that during the first 
nine months of 2005, the Home Affairs Ministry had inspected more than 
one million foreign publications to assess whether their content 
threatened national security, public order, or morality. During that 
time the ministry blocked 8,812 (mostly English-language) titles and 
confiscated more than 431,000 copies of books, newspapers, magazines, 
and comic books. During the year the ministry continued to review, 
censor, and confiscate many foreign publications.
    The Government continued to permit publication of haze levels 
whenever air quality deteriorated significantly. Until August 2005 the 
Government had banned publication of such information.
    The appeal of human rights monitor Irene Fernandez remained 
pending. In 2003 she was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for 
malicious publication of false material regarding abuse and torture of 
migrant workers at detention camps.
    Publications of opposition parties, social action groups, unions, 
and other private groups actively covered opposition parties and 
frequently printed views critical of government policies. However, the 
Government retained significant influence over these publications by 
requiring the annual renewal of publishing permits and limiting 
circulation only to organization members. Unlike in the past, the 
Government brought no libel suits against the media during the year.
    Printers, who also must have their permits renewed annually, often 
were reluctant to print publications that were critical of the 
Government.
    Radio and television stations were more restricted than the print 
media and were almost uniformly supportive of the Government's news 
coverage and commentary. News of the opposition was tightly restricted 
and reported in a biased fashion. In the weeks prior to the Sarawak 
state assembly election on May 20, opposition parties and candidates 
received very little coverage--positive or otherwise--in Sarawak's 
mainstream media outlets, which were controlled by National Front 
constituent parties. Opposition party representatives claimed that one-
sided media coverage impeded their ability to reach voters (see section 
3).
    Broadcasting licenses permit only Malay-language news from 8:00 to 
9:00 p.m., except on a Ministry of Information channel. Internet 
television faced no such restrictions, and PAS continued daily Internet 
television broadcasts. At year's end no other material provider of 
Internet television content had emerged.
    The Government censored and banned books for profanity, nudity, 
sex, violence, and certain political and religious content. In June the 
Government banned 18 books, many with religious themes (see section 
2.c.). Television stations censored programming in line with government 
guidelines. The Government banned some foreign newspapers and magazines 
and, infrequently, censored foreign magazines or newspapers, most often 
for sexual content; however, the Internet provided a means to bypass 
such restrictions. The Government maintained a ``blacklist'' of local 
and foreign performers, politicians, and religious leaders who were not 
allowed to appear on television or radio broadcasts.
    The Government generally restricted remarks or publications that 
might incite racial or religious disharmony; it also attempted to 
restrict the content of sermons at mosques in the states controlled by 
the governing coalition. Some state governments banned certain Muslim 
clergymen from delivering sermons. The Religious Affairs Department 
continued to conduct background checks on all clergymen (see section 
2.c.). The Government also cracked down on the distribution and sale of 
the opposition party's video compact discs and audiocassettes. The 
Government maintained its ban on the weekly Chinese-language newspaper 
Epoch Times.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet; however, on August 1, the Prime Minister stated that 
the Government would closely monitor the content of Internet Web sites 
and blogs that published ``seditious material.'' At least one Internet 
news provider complained that the police actively monitored his Web 
site for ``seditious'' or ``offensive'' content.
    While individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail, 
Internet users were subject to the same speech-restricting laws as non-
Internet users. Internet access was freely available, and Internet 
subscriptions totaled approximately 11 million at year's end; however, 
criminal defamation and preventive detention laws generated significant 
self-censorship from local Internet content sources such as bloggers, 
Internet news providers, and NGO activists.
    The Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) requires certain 
Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. In 
the past the Government stated that it did not intend to impose 
controls on Internet use but noted that it would punish the ``misuse'' 
of information technology under the CMA. During the year the Government 
did not use licensing provisions under the CMA to interfere with 
Internet access or to restrict Internet content.
    The CMA also permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog 
for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a 
court deems offensive. In July 2005 police raided the home of the 
editor of Malaysia Today, an independent Internet news provider, and 
seized two computers after Malaysia Today published corruption 
allegations against royal family members in the state of Negeri 
Sembilan. No legal action was taken against the editor, but at year's 
end his computers had not been returned to him.
    Investigations of Malaysiakini, the country's largest independent 
Internet news organization, continued. On July 31, police commenced an 
investigation of Malaysiakini, following an erroneous initial newsflash 
by the organization that identified police officials as possible 
participants in an assault on former prime minister Mahathir. That 
investigation continued despite a public offer of apology to police by 
Malaysiakini's editor-in-chief. A second ongoing investigation 
concerned Petronas' September 2005 accusation of criminal defamation.
    On March 22, police seized the computers of an Internet columnist 
after he published reports of alleged financial wrongdoing by the 
chairman of Malaysian Airlines. The columnist said that the police did 
so to locate the information source used for his column. The case 
against him ceased upon the columnist's death on April 28 from natural 
causes.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government placed some 
restrictions on academic freedom, particularly the expression of 
unapproved political views, and enforced restrictions on teachers and 
students who expressed dissenting views. The Government continued to 
require that all civil servants, university faculty, and students sign 
a pledge of loyalty to the King and the Government. Opposition leaders 
and human rights activists claimed that this was intended to restrain 
political activity among civil servants, academics, and students.
    Although faculty members sometimes were publicly critical of the 
Government, there was clear self-censorship among public university 
academics whose career advancement and funding depended on the 
Government. Private institution academics practiced self-censorship as 
well, fearing that the Government might revoke the licenses of their 
institutions. The law also imposes limitations on student associations 
and on student and faculty political activity (see section 2.b.).
    The Government has long stated that students should be apolitical 
and used that assertion as a basis for denying political parties access 
to student forums. According to student leaders, students who signed 
antigovernment petitions sometimes were expelled or fined. The 
Government enforced this policy selectively and did not refrain from 
spreading government views on political issues among students and 
teachers.
    The Government censored and banned films for profanity, nudity, 
sex, violence, and certain political and religious content. Films 
banned during the year included Brokeback Mountain, due to its 
references to homosexuality, and a locally produced film, The Last 
Communist, about the communist insurgency in the country from 1948 to 
1960.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution states that all citizens have ``the right 
to assemble peaceably and without arms''; however, the Government 
placed significant restrictions on this right through usage of the 
Public Order Ordinance and the Police Act. The ordinance restricts 
public assemblies that could damage security and public order, while 
the act requires police permits for all public assemblies except for 
workers on picket lines. Police define a public assembly as a gathering 
of five or more persons.
    The decision to grant a permit rests with the district police 
chief; however, senior police officials and political leaders have 
influenced the grant or denial of some permits. Police granted permits 
routinely to government and ruling coalition supporters but used a more 
restrictive policy with government critics, opposition parties, and 
human rights activists.
    On May 28, riot police used water cannons and batons to disperse 
approximately 500 demonstrators gathered in front of Kuala Lumpur's 
Petronas twin towers. Led by opposition members of parliament, the 
crowd protested the Government's decisions to increase government-fixed 
(and subsidized) prices for gasoline and electricity. Police arrested 
20 protesters and reportedly beat several others as they attempted to 
flee the area. No one was seriously injured, but two protesters 
required medical treatment.
    While protesting the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, 68 
ethnic Burmese persons were arrested in June 2005 and accused of 
participating in an illegal assembly. Initially, all of the detainees 
reportedly pleaded not guilty, claimed their right to a trial, and were 
remanded to prison. During the course of the proceedings, 34 of them 
changed their plea to guilty and were transferred from prison to an 
illegal-migrant detention center. The other 34 were released from 
prison in June after the prosecution withdrew its case against them. 
One of the 68 protesters remained in detention at year's end.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of 
association; however, the Government placed significant restrictions on 
this right, and certain statutes limit it. Under the Societies Act, 
only registered organizations of seven or more persons may function as 
societies. The Government sometimes refused to register organizations 
or imposed conditions when allowing a society to register. The 
Government prohibited the Communist Party and affiliated organizations 
from registering and has blocked the registration of the Socialist 
Party of Malaysia since 1999 (see section 3). The Government also has 
the power to revoke the registration of an existing society for 
violations of the act, a power that it enforced selectively against 
political opposition groups.
    The Universities and University Colleges Act also restricts freedom 
of association. This act mandates university approval for student 
associations and prohibits student associations and faculty members 
from engaging in political activity. Many students, NGOs, and 
opposition political parties called for the repeal or amendment of the 
act. A number of ruling coalition organizations and politicians also 
supported reexamination of the act, but the Government argued that the 
act still was necessary.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion; however, the Government placed some restrictions on this 
right. Islam is the official religion, but the Government significantly 
restricted the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam. Non-
Muslims, which included large Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh 
communities, were free to practice their religious beliefs with few 
restrictions. The Government provided financial support to an Islamic 
religious establishment and also provided more-limited funds to non-
Islamic religious communities. State authorities imposed Islamic 
religious laws administered through Islamic courts on all ethnic Malays 
(and other Muslims) in some civil matters but generally did not 
interfere with the religious practices of the non-Muslim community.
    The Registrar of Societies, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, 
registers religious organizations. Registration enables organizations 
to receive government grants and other benefits. Various religious 
groups were not recognized as such by the Government, and they 
sometimes registered themselves as businesses under the Companies Act 
to operate legally.
    Prime Minister Abdullah, a proponent of Islam Hadari 
(``civilizational Islam''), continued to emphasize religious tolerance 
towards all faiths. In January non-Muslim cabinet members presented a 
memorandum to the Prime Minister calling for a review of constitutional 
provisions affecting the legal rights of non-Muslims. Following 
protests from several Muslim leaders within the governing coalition and 
a commitment by the Prime Minister to address the non-Muslim ministers' 
concerns, the ministers withdrew their memorandum. The Prime Minister 
stated publicly that the constitution provided sufficient protection of 
religious freedom and therefore should not be reviewed or amended.
    The Government maintained that views held by ``deviant'' groups 
endangered national security. According to the Jakim Web site, 56 
deviant teachings were identified and prohibited to Muslims as of 
year's end. They included Shi'a, transcendental meditation, and Baha'i 
teachings. The Government asserted that ``deviationist'' teachings 
could cause divisions among Muslims. Jakim established written 
guidelines concerning what constituted ``deviationist'' behavior or 
belief. State religious authorities, in making their determinations on 
these matters, generally followed the federal guidelines. Members of 
groups deemed ``deviationist'' were arrested and detained, with the 
consent of a Shari'a court, in order to be ``rehabilitated'' and 
returned to the ``true path of Islam.'' The religious affairs minister 
stated that members of these groups were subject to prosecution, 
detention under the ISA, or rehabilitation. Neither the Government nor 
religious authorities provided data on the number of persons subjected 
to prosecution or rehabilitation.
    At year's end cases were pending against 69 of 70 followers of Ayah 
Pin, leader of the Sky Kingdom religious group, arrested in July 2005. 
One of the arrested followers agreed to undergo religious 
rehabilitation (see section 1.e.).
    On November 14, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) 
detained 107 persons, including several children, during a raid in 
Kuala Lumpur against suspected followers of the banned al-Arqam Islamic 
group. The Government banned al-Arqam in 1994, and Ashaari Muhammad, 
the leader of its approximately 10,000 followers, subsequently spent 10 
years under restricted residence. Ashaari established a holding 
company, Rufaqa Corporation, to manage his business interests while 
detained under restricted residence. At year's end Rufaqa was under 
investigation for allegedly supporting the revival of the al-Arqam 
group. Four of its leaders were charged with disobeying a national 
fatwa (Islamic ruling) issued by Jakim against al-Arqam's teachings, 
and they were in detention at year's end. The remaining alleged al-
Arqam followers were released.
    The Government generally respected non-Muslims' right of worship; 
however, state governments have authority over the building of non-
Muslim places of worship and the allocation of land for non-Muslim 
cemeteries. Approvals for building permits sometimes were granted very 
slowly. Minority religious groups reported that state governments 
sometimes blocked construction using restrictive zoning and 
construction codes.
    The Government demolished unregistered religious statues and places 
of worship. Several NGOs complained of the demolition of unregistered 
Hindu temples and shrines located on both private and government-owned 
lands. The structures were often constructed on privately owned 
plantations prior to independence in 1957, which were later transferred 
to government ownership. In March state officials in Negeri Sembilan 
announced their intention to demolish an unregistered Hindu temple 
believed to be 150 years old. The temple sat on state-owned land zoned 
for road construction in 1956 and was regularly used by approximately 
300 worshippers. In May persons who used the temple sought a court 
injunction against the pending demolition. The court case remained open 
at year's end.
    In July, following an 11-year dispute, a high court judge prevented 
a developer in Pahang State from destroying a Hindu temple on land 
purchased by the developer. The judge ruled that the temple existed on 
the land prior to the purchase and had the right to coexist on the 
land.
    In practice Muslims are not permitted to convert to another 
religion. In several court rulings during the year, secular courts 
ceded jurisdiction to Islamic courts in matters involving conversion to 
or from Islam. Shari'a courts routinely denied conversion requests. In 
September 2005 the court of appeal denied the request of Lina Joy, a 
Muslim woman who had converted to Christianity, to change the religion 
designated on her national identity card. Joy appealed the decision to 
the Federal Court, and in April, citing the case as ``a matter of 
general public interest,'' the Federal Court agreed to hear her appeal 
and address the degree to which Shari'a courts have jurisdiction over 
determinations of Muslim apostasy. At year's end the court had made no 
ruling.
    The Federal Court made no decision in the appeal of a non-Muslim 
woman involving the disposition of the remains of her Hindu spouse, who 
allegedly converted to Islam before his death. Despite her claim that 
there was no clear evidence of the conversion, Islamic religious 
authorities buried the man with Muslim rites. A similar case arose 
following the November 29 death of a Catholic man who had converted to 
Islam in 1990 after marrying a Muslim woman and then converted back to 
Catholicism in 1999. JAIS prevented the man's Catholic wife and 
children from claiming his body for nine days, asserting that the man 
remained a Muslim until his death. Following intervention by the 
Attorney General and acting at the behest of the cabinet, Selangor 
State Islamic authorities withdrew their claim on the man's body; he 
received a Catholic funeral, and his family cremated his remains.
    Article 11, an NGO named after the freedom of religion clause in 
the constitution, organized four public forums to discuss the perceived 
erosion of constitutional protection of non-Muslims' religious freedom. 
The last three events sponsored were either canceled or shortened at 
the request of police, following the actual or threatened appearance of 
a large number of Muslim protesters. As debate over religious topics 
intensified, in July and August the Prime Minister warned both 
mainstream and Internet-based media to refrain from publicizing debates 
about contentious religious issues (see section 2.a.). He also directed 
all NGOs--both Muslim and non-Muslim--to cease all public statements 
and activities that could generate further religious controversy. 
Article 11 held no further public discussions during the remainder of 
the year.
    Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is strictly 
prohibited, although proselytizing of non-Muslims faced no obstacles.
    On November 5, police reacted quickly and forcefully to protect 
worshippers at a Catholic church in Ipoh, when more than 1,000 Muslims 
gathered to protest the rumored baptism of several hundred Muslim 
children. The rumor was false, and the IGP subsequently declared that 
those responsible for initiating the rumor were a threat to public 
order and national security. The Prime Minister declared that the 
parties responsible for starting the rumor should be severely punished. 
On November 20, police detained a married couple from Ipoh on suspicion 
of starting the rumor. The couple was later released on bail, and at 
year's end the Government had not decided whether to charge the couple.
    According to the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhists, 
Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Taoists, the Government restricted visas 
for foreign clergy under the age of 40 to inhibit ``militant clergy'' 
from entering the country. While representatives of non-Muslim groups 
did not sit on the immigration committee that approved visa requests 
for clergy, the committee asked the consultative council for its 
recommendations. An August 2005 decision by the Selangor state 
religious authorities to withhold support for visa applications by 
foreign Muslim imams and religious teachers remained in effect at 
year's end. Local media reported that the decision largely targeted the 
ethnic Indian Muslim community, in an effort to increase the number of 
``homegrown'' imams. Ethnic Indian religious leaders expressed concern 
that some mosques and religious schools might need to be closed.
    Religious education according to a government-approved curriculum 
is compulsory for Muslim children. Muslim civil servants are required 
to attend Islamic religious classes taught by government-approved 
teachers.
    The Government discouraged but did not ban distribution in 
peninsular Malaysia of Malay-language translations of the Bible, 
Christian tapes, and other printed materials. The distribution of 
Malay-language Christian materials faced few restrictions in the 
eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. In June the Government banned 18 
books, many with religious themes, including The Battle for God, by 
Karen Armstrong. Two previous books by Armstrong, A History of God and 
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, were banned in 2005.
    The Government continued to monitor the activities of the Shi'a 
minority, and state religious authorities reserved the right to detain 
members of what they considered Islamic ``deviant sects'' under the 
ISA. According to the Government, no individuals were detained under 
the ISA for religious reasons during the year.
    The Government generally restricted remarks or publications that 
might incite racial or religious disharmony. This included some 
statements and publications critical of particular religions, 
especially Islam. The Government also restricted the content of sermons 
at mosques. In recent years both the Government and the opposition 
Islamic party PAS have attempted to use mosques in the states they 
control to deliver politically oriented messages. Several states have 
attempted to ban opponent-affiliated imams from speaking at mosques. 
Some states also announced measures including vigorous enforcement of 
existing restrictions on the content of sermons and replacement of 
mosque leaders and governing committees (see section 2.a.).
    In family and religious matters, Muslims are subject to Shari'a. 
According to some women's rights activists, women were subject to 
discriminatory interpretations of Shari'a and inconsistent application 
of the law from state to state. In December 2005 parliament approved a 
series of amendments to the Islamic Family Law Act intended to 
harmonize Shari'a family law throughout the country. However, the Prime 
Minister ordered a review of amendments to the act before they were 
gazetted into law; the review continued at year's end (see sections 
1.e. and 5).
    In Kelantan State local authorities enforced wearing of headscarves 
by Muslim women and imposed fines for violators. In March the IGP 
stated that all female police officers, including non-Muslims, should 
wear headscarves during public ceremonies. The President of the Bar 
Council called on the IGP to withdraw the directive, but the policy 
remained in effect.
    During the year the PAS-led state government in Kelantan reversed 
several previously enacted Islamic law-related prohibitions. The state 
government allowed operation of gender-segregated cinemas and concert 
venues, fashion shows limited to female attendees, and billiard centers 
for men only; however, state authorities continued to ban traditional 
Malay dance theaters, prohibited advertisements depicting women not 
fully covered by clothing, enforced wearing of headscarves by Muslim 
women, and imposed fines for violators. In May a case challenging 
Islamic penalties for theft, robbery, illicit sex, consumption of 
alcohol, and renunciation of Islam in Kelantan State was withdrawn from 
the Federal Court. In December the Kelantan state government enacted a 
by-law against ``indecent dressing'' by Muslim women working in retail 
outlets and restaurants. The dress code requires headscarves and allows 
only faces and hands to be exposed. The law also stipulates that non-
Muslim women should avoid dressing ``sexily or indecently.'' Women who 
violate the dress code can be fined up to $139 (500 ringgit). Women's 
rights leaders and the minister of women, family, and community 
development criticized the new law as overly restrictive.
    The Government provided no statistics regarding raids by federal 
religious police of nightclubs and similar places during the year. The 
religious affairs minister stated that 28 such raids had been conducted 
in Kuala Lumpur between 2002 and January 2005.
    On September 14, a Shari'a court sentenced a Muslim man and woman 
each to a fine of $792 (2,850 ringgit) or seven months in jail for 
committing khalwat, or ``close proximity'' (the charge usually used to 
prosecute premarital or extramarital sexual relations) near Kuala 
Lumpur in December 2005. The maximum sentence for khalwat is a maximum 
of two years in jail, a fine $833 (3,000 ringgit), or both.
    On October 12 on the island of Langkawi, a married foreign tourist 
couple was awakened at 2 a.m. by six Muslim religious enforcement 
officials. The officials suspected the couple of engaging in khalwat 
and demanded to see their marriage certificate. The couple was 
Christian and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of the 
religious authorities. Following a brief standoff with the religious 
authorities in their rented condominium, the couple filed a police 
report. Langkawi tourism officials subsequently issued an apology to 
the couple.
    On June 13, the National Fatwa Committee (the primary advisory body 
to the National Fatwa Council that guides Muslims on religious matters) 
announced its resolution that Muslims should not attend traditional 
``open house'' festivals in honor of other religions' holidays. 
According to news reports, the committee said such gatherings could 
erode Muslims' faith and lead to blasphemy. The minister of culture, 
arts, and heritage called the recommendation regrettable, stating that 
it undermined efforts to improve racial and religious harmony.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Relations among religious 
groups were generally amicable, although the public discourse between 
Muslims and non-Muslims about religious issues became strained during 
the year (see section 2.a.). In August a leaflet was widely distributed 
that contained a death threat against a prominent Muslim human rights 
lawyer who had played a leading role in organizing Article 11 
discussions and publicly warned against the encroachment of Shari'a 
upon the jurisdiction of the civil court system. Political and 
religious leaders from across the religious spectrum criticized the 
leaflet. However, several NGO leaders and opposition party politicians 
noted that government criticism of the death threat was muted; no 
cabinet level minister publicly condemned it. At year's end police 
continued their investigation of the death threat.
    No reliable estimate of the country's Jewish population was 
available, and there was no locally based Jewish community or synagogue 
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.For a more 
detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious Freedom 
Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice, 
although there were restrictions in some circumstances. The eastern 
states of Sabah and Sarawak controlled immigration and required 
citizens from peninsular Malaysia and foreigners to present passports 
or national identity cards for entry.The Government regulated the 
internal movement of provisionally released ISA detainees. The 
Government also used the Restricted Residence Act to limit movements of 
those suspected of some criminal activities (see section 1.d.).
    Citizens must apply for government permission to travel to Israel.
    The constitution provides that no citizen may be banished or 
excluded from the country. However, according to the terms of a 1989 
peace agreement, Chin Peng, the former leader of the communist 
insurgency in the country, continued to live in exile in Thailand and 
was denied permission to return.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government did not provide protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, but the Government generally did not deport such 
individuals recognized as persons of concern by the UNHCR. The 
Government did not grant refugee status or asylum, but it cooperated 
with the UNHCR and generally did not impede other humanitarian 
organizations from assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government continued to deport some asylum seekers and refugees 
but allowed certain asylum seekers and persons of concern to remain, 
pending resettlement to other countries. The Government generally did 
not distinguish between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, 
detaining them in the same camps. Detention facilities were overcrowded 
and lacked medical facilities. Local human rights NGOs alleged that 
detainees were sometimes abused by prison officials and received 
inadequate food.
    A group of Thai citizens who illegally entered the country in 
August 2005 remained in an illegal-migrant detention center. Due to 
several births, their number had grown from 131 to 134.
    At year's end the UNHCR listed 37,170 persons as refugees, of whom 
40 percent were Indonesians from Aceh Province and 58 percent were 
Burmese citizens. The UNHCR received 9,091 new applications for refugee 
status during the year, down from 15,166 applications in 2005.
    The UNHCR stated that 9,186 persons had active asylum cases pending 
in the country, of whom 74 percent were Burmese citizens. During the 
year the UNHCR submitted 3,501 refugee cases to third countries for 
resettlement consideration, and 1,220 refugees were resettled out of 
the country.
    The UNHCR identified 2,996 persons arrested during the year as 
asylum seekers, recognized refugees, or individuals granted ``temporary 
protection.'' The UNHCR facilitated the release of 3,333 individuals 
from police lockups and immigration detention camps. Police and 
immigration officials continued to observe an August 2005 directive not 
to arrest or detain persons solely for immigration violations if they 
had been granted UNHCR refugee or asylum-seeker status.
    The Government issued temporary residence permits (IMM 13 
documents) to more than 30,000 refugees from Aceh between 2005 and 
year's end. The permits, which allow recipients to gain lawful 
employment and access to education and health care, were largely 
subject to renewal on an annual basis. On August 1, the Government 
began to register approximately 12,000 Rohingya refugees, as the 
initial step toward provision of IMM 13 documents. However, the 
Government quickly halted the registration process, following charges 
of corruption against intermediaries who facilitated the registration 
process. At year's end the Government had not resumed the IMM 13 
registration process.
    While holders of IMM 13 documents were allowed to send their 
children to private schools, the Government refused to allow these 
children into the public school system on a cost-free basis. However, 
refugee parents who held IMM 13 documents generally lacked sufficient 
funds to afford private schooling for their children.
    To find and detain illegal migrants, the Home Affairs Ministry 
relied primarily upon a People's Volunteer Corps, known as RELA and 
consisting of approximately 440,000 citizens, to accompany police and 
immigration officials on raids. Following repeated media reports of 
alleged abusive behavior and inappropriate language by RELA members 
during raids, in February the ministry stated that only a small 
minority of RELA members would be allowed to participate in operations 
against illegal migrants and that RELA officers remained prohibited 
from body-searching a suspect.
    The immigration law provides for six months in prison and up to six 
strokes of the cane for immigration violations. In practice, delays in 
processing travel documents led to the detention of many illegal 
immigrants in camps for more than a year (see section 1.d.).
    In July several NGO leaders reported that conditions in immigrant 
detention centers had not materially improved, largely due to 
inadequate funding for food, medical care, and infrastructure 
maintenance, despite the fact that in 2005 the Prisons Department took 
over management of the centers from the Immigration Department.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic elections based on universal suffrage; however, while votes 
generally were recorded accurately, there were irregularities that 
affected the fairness of elections.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Opposition parties were 
unable to compete on equal terms with the governing coalition (which 
has held power at the national level since independence in 1957) 
because of significant restrictions on campaigning, freedom of assembly 
and association, and access to the media. Nevertheless, opposition 
candidates campaigned actively, with some success in past state and 
national elections. In the most recent national elections, held in 
2004, opposition parties captured 19 of 219 parliamentary seats and 52 
of 505 state assembly seats.
    The lack of equal access to the media was one of the most serious 
problems encountered by the opposition in the 2004 national elections 
(see section 2.a.). Opposition leaders also claimed that the election 
commission was under government control and did not carry out its 
duties impartially. There were numerous opposition complaints of 
irregularities by election officials during the 2004 campaign; however, 
most observers concluded that they did not substantially alter the 
results. Allegations were lodged of voter rolls being inflated by 
illegally registered ``phantom'' voters reportedly brought in from 
other districts to vote in tightly contested districts, nonregistered 
voters using fictitious names or the names of dead voters still listed 
on the voter rolls, and noncitizens illegally registered to vote. In 
addition, ballots were marked with a serial number that could be 
matched against a voter's name. Prior to the Sarawak state assembly 
election on May 20, the election commission disallowed such ballot 
marking for all future state and national elections.
    On November 18, the election commission announced that it had 
eliminated the names of more than 180,000 deceased voters from the 
electoral rolls during the preceding three months. As a result of the 
commission's ongoing efforts, the election commission chairman 
estimated that the election rolls for the next general election would 
contain approximately 9.8 million names, compared with the 10.3 million 
names registered for the 2004 election.
    Following the May election in Sarawak, a local NGO criticized the 
data quality of Sarawak's elector rolls, commenting that they increased 
the likelihood of voting fraud. Upon examination of 14 of Sarawak's 71 
electoral districts, the NGO reported in August that more than 35 
percent of the districts' 230,000 electors had no address listed on the 
elector rolls. In addition, in some cases more than 50 voters were 
simultaneously registered to a single address. Despite problems with 
the elector rolls and very little press coverage from Sarawak's 
mainstream media sources, controlled by National Front constituent 
parties, opposition parties increased their representation in the 71-
seat state assembly from one seat to eight.
    The constitution states that parliamentary constituencies should 
have approximately equal numbers of eligible voters; however, in 
practice the numbers varied significantly. The constitution also states 
that greater weight should be given to rural constituencies. In 2003, 
following nationwide redistricting, 25 new parliamentary seats were 
added, primarily in states in which the ruling coalition was strong. 
The opposition complained that the two states it controlled prior to 
the 2004 elections did not receive any new seats and that the 
redistricting was undertaken to weaken the opposition. Observers agreed 
that the redistricting favored government candidates for parliamentary 
seats but believed it had less influence on elections for state seats.
    The Malay-based UMNO party dominated the ruling National Front 
coalition. Since 1969 the National Front coalition has maintained at 
least a two-thirds majority in parliament, which enabled the Government 
to amend the constitution at will.
    Over the years power increasingly has been concentrated in the 
Prime Minister, and parliament's function as a deliberative body has 
deteriorated. Legislation proposed by the Government rarely was amended 
or rejected, while legislation proposed by the opposition was not given 
serious consideration. Parliamentary procedures allow the speaker of 
parliament to suspend members, establish restrictions on tabling 
questions, edit written copies of members' speeches before delivery, 
and severely restrict members' opportunities to question and debate 
government policies. Nonetheless, government officials often faced 
sharp questioning in parliament, and this was reported in the press in 
greater detail than in the past.
    After the 1969 race riots, the Government abolished elected local 
government in favor of municipal committees and village chiefs 
appointed by state governments. Under the Local government Act, 
elections of public officials were confined to state assemblies and the 
federal parliament. Some politicians and NGO activists advocated the 
reintroduction of local government elections. Some ruling party 
municipal officials noted that local bodies were simply ``rubber 
stamps'' for the Government.
    On July 24, the Government refused to register the Malaysian Dayak 
Congress, a new opposition political party in Sarawak. The registrar of 
societies provided no public justification for the refusal. On August 
16, the court of appeal unanimously upheld a high court ruling that 
supported the Government's decision to withhold nationwide registration 
for the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), based in Selangor State. The 
court of appeal did not base its decision on the Government's claim 
that national registration of the party would negatively impact 
national security. Instead, the three judges stated that the PSM lacked 
representatives in its leadership committee from the requisite minimum 
seven states and therefore could not receive formal recognition as a 
national political party. PSM leaders appealed the case to the Federal 
Court, where it remained pending at year's end.
    Women faced no legal limits on participation in government and 
politics. At the end of the year, three of 33 cabinet ministers were 
women. Women held 21 of 219 seats in the lower house and 17 of the 64 
senate seats.Ethnic minorities were well represented in cabinet-level 
positions in government as well as in senior civil service positions. 
In practice the political dominance of the Malay majority meant that 
ethnic Malays held the most powerful senior leadership positions. 
Nonetheless, non-Malays filled 10 of the 33 ministerial posts and 21 of 
35 deputy minister positions.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a broadly held 
perception of widespread corruption and cronyism within the governing 
coalition and in government institutions. As of November the Anti-
Corruption Agency (ACA) employed approximately 1,800 staff members 
nationwide. According to the ACA director general, the agency initiated 
the arrest of 339 individuals during the first nine months of the year, 
resulting in 205 prosecutions. During the same period the ACA reviewed 
8,614 corruption allegations against public officials; most were not 
pursued due to lack of evidence. The ACA stated that more than 90,000 
citizens participated in the agency's anticorruption talks, 
exhibitions, and seminars during the year.
    In May the ACA launched an investigation into an UMNO member of 
parliament accused of attempting to circumvent customs duties on 
imported logs. The Government formed a four-person panel, headed by the 
deputy prime minister and other National Front politicians, to 
investigate the matter. The panel had not completed its investigation 
by year's end.
    On December 7, a high court judge agreed to hear the appeal and 
stay the sentence of a former municipal council President who was 
convicted on four corruption charges, including solicitation of bribes 
from a property developer. On November 29, he was sentenced to four 
years in jail and fined $113,000 (405,000 ringgit).
    There was no law designed to facilitate citizens' requests for 
government statistics or other information collected and compiled by 
the Government. Individual members of parliament were allowed to 
request and obtain such information on an ad hoc basis, some of which 
was then made available to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. However, under 
Prime Minister Abdullah there generally was a more cooperative 
atmosphere toward human rights NGOs.
    The Government generally did not encourage international human 
rights organizations to form domestic branches; however, it usually did 
not restrict access by representatives of those organizations.
    Suhakam was generally considered a credible monitor of the human 
rights situation and a check on police activities. Suhakam is not 
empowered to inquire into allegations relating to ongoing court cases 
and must cease its inquiry if an allegation under investigation becomes 
the subject matter of a court case. In its most recent annual human 
rights report, published in May, Suhakam focused on the rights of women 
and children, older persons, and persons with disabilities; land rights 
for native tribes; and Suhakam's provision of human rights awareness 
training for teachers and their pupils. In addition, the report 
criticized prison conditions, deaths in police custody, detentions 
without trial, lengthy delays in the disposal of court cases, and some 
government-imposed restrictions on freedom of assembly. The report 
recommended enactment of freedom of information legislation, requested 
a review of the ISA, and recommended legislative amendments to uphold 
the right to peaceful assembly.
    Suhakam commissioners traveled throughout the country to educate 
community leaders, including police officials, on the importance of 
human rights. Commissioners also made several visits to prisons 
throughout the country to monitor conditions. They repeatedly noted 
that a major unresolved challenge was the slow government response to 
their reports on major topics that touched on fundamental liberties.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides for equal protection under the law and 
prohibits discrimination against citizens based on sex, religion, race, 
descent, or place of birth. However, the constitution also provides for 
the ``special position'' of ethnic Malays and the indigenous peoples of 
the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively, bumiputras), and 
discrimination based on this provision persisted. Government policies 
and legislation gave preferences to bumiputras in housing, home 
ownership, awarding of government contracts and jobs, educational 
scholarships, and other areas. Nonbumiputras regularly complained about 
these preferences, arguing that government subsidies for disadvantaged 
persons should be dispensed without regard to race.

    Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. Reports of rape 
and spousal abuse drew considerable government, NGO, and press 
attention. The Domestic Violence Act of 1994 addresses violence against 
women in the home. Under the act, anyone who willfully contravenes a 
protection order by using violence against a protected person may be 
punished by imprisonment of up to one year and a maximum fine of $556 
(2,000 ringgit); however, violators were commonly punished under the 
penal code, which carries the same penalty. In extreme cases involving 
``grievous hurt'' inflicted using a deadly weapon, the maximum 
imprisonment increases to 20 years. Women's groups criticized the act 
as inadequate and called for amendments to strengthen it. In their 
view, the act fails to protect women in immediate danger because it 
requires separate reports of abuse to be filed with both the Social 
Welfare Department and the police, causing delay in the issuance of a 
restraining order against the perpetrator. Women's rights activists 
also highlighted the fact that the act's incorporation into the penal 
code limits legal protection for victims to cases in which visible 
evidence of physical injury is present, despite its interpretation to 
include sexual and psychological abuse. As in 2005, NGOs working on 
women's rights claimed that police enforcement continued to be 
lax.Although the Government, NGOs, and political parties maintained 
shelters and offered other assistance to battered spouses, activists 
asserted that support mechanisms for victims of domestic violence 
remained inadequate. There was a sexual investigations unit at each 
police headquarters to help victims of sexual crimes and abuse. Police 
responses and sensitivity to complaints of domestic violence continued 
to improve, but women's rights activists claimed that police needed 
additional training in handling domestic abuse and rape cases.
    The 2005 police commission report noted that police abuses of 
women's rights were largely the result of a lack of adherence to 
existing laws and the police code of conduct. In response, police in 
Kuala Lumpur assigned female officers in each police district to work 
exclusively on domestic violence cases and provide basic counseling to 
victims.
    Some Shari'a experts urged Muslim women to become more aware of the 
provisions of Shari'a that prohibit spousal abuse and provide for 
divorce on grounds of physical cruelty. Provisions in state Shari'a 
laws, however, generally prohibit wives from disobeying the ``lawful 
orders'' of their husbands and present an obstacle to women pursuing 
claims against their husbands in Shari'a courts. Muslim women were able 
to file complaints in civil courts.
    Spousal rape is not a crime. CPC and penal code amendments approved 
by parliament in July do not define marital rape, although a husband 
may be charged for causing hurt to his wife while attempting to force 
sexual relations with her. By year's end the Government had not amended 
the penal code to explicitly include spousal rape as an offense, 
despite recommendations in 2004 from Suhakam and local NGOs.
    Another amendment approved in July stipulates that the courts may 
decide the minimum jail term for a man convicted of statutory rape of a 
girl age 15 years or less. Prior to the amendment, the penal code had 
stipulated minimum jail sentences for such behavior. In addition, an 
amendment prohibits a person in authority from using his position to 
intimidate a subordinate into having sexual relations.
    According to the police, 2,012 rapes were reported during the first 
10 months of the year, compared with 1,931 in all of 2005. Over the 
same time periods, domestic violence incidents reported to police 
totaled 2,699 and 3,093, respectively. Many government hospitals had 
crisis centers where victims of rape and domestic abuse could make 
reports without going to a police station. NGOs and political parties 
also cooperated in providing counseling for rape victims, but cultural 
attitudes and a perceived lack of sympathy from the largely male police 
force resulted in many victims not reporting rapes. According to the 
Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (MWFCD) and a 
leading women's NGO, only 10 percent of rape cases were reported to 
police. The penal code states that rape is punishable by a prison term 
of up to 30 years, caning, and a fine. On September 3, a sessions court 
sentenced a child rapist to 62 years in prison and five cane strokes 
for raping six children ages nine to 14 during eight days in July. 
Women's groups noted that while other rapists also received heavy 
punishments, including caning, some rapists received inadequate 
punishments.
    Prostitution by citizens is not a criminal offense, although 
Muslims engaged in prostitution could face civil penalties under 
Shari'a for engaging in sexual relations out of wedlock. Foreign 
prostitutes were routinely arrested for violating the terms of their 
nonimmigrant visas. Pimping, or financially benefiting from the 
prostitution activities of others, is illegal and was prosecuted. 
During the first 10 months of the year, police arrested 4,727 
foreigners suspected of involvement in prostitution, compared with 
6,484 such persons arrested during all of 2005. Chinese nationals 
accounted for the largest percentage of these arrests (42 percent), 
followed by Indonesians (23 percent), Thais (18 percent), and Filipinas 
(10 percent). Police were accused of profiling female Chinese nationals 
as potential prostitutes, following several highly publicized arrests 
(see section 1.c.). In March a police spokesman stated that an 
estimated 142,000 women were involved in prostitution.
    The country was a destination, transit, and, to a lesser extent, 
source country for trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution 
and domestic servitude (see section 5, Trafficking).
    A government code of conduct provides a detailed definition of 
sexual harassment and attempts to raise public awareness of the 
problem, but women's groups advocated passage of a separate law on 
sexual harassment in lieu of the voluntary code. The Malaysian 
Employers Federation opposed any attempt to legislate against sexual 
harassment in the workplace, arguing that government-imposed policies 
would unduly restrict the management of labor relations. Amendments to 
the Employment Act passed in March require employers to act within two 
weeks to address complaints of sexual harassment filed by a worker.
    Polygyny is allowed and practiced to a limited degree. Islamic 
inheritance law generally favors male offspring and relatives. There 
was a small but steadily increasing number of women obtaining divorces 
under the provisions of Shari'a that allow for divorce without the 
husband's consent.
    Women's rights advocates asserted that women faced discriminatory 
treatment in Islamic courts due to prejudicial interpretation of 
Islamic family law and the lack of uniformity in the implementation of 
such laws among the various states. In addition, the country had no 
female Shari'a court judges. In December 2005 parliament passed 
amendments to the Islamic Family Law Act to harmonize Shari'a 
throughout the country. Following sustained public pressure by women's 
rights leaders early in the year, the Prime Minister ordered a review 
of the amendments before they were gazetted into law; the review 
continued at year's end.
    Non-Muslim women are subject to civil law. The Guardianship of 
Women and Infants Act gives mothers equal parental rights. Four states 
extend the provisions of the act to Muslim mothers, and women's groups 
urged the other states to do the same.
    The Government undertook a number of initiatives to promote 
equality for women and the full and equal participation of women in 
education and the work force. In January the state of Johor appointed 
the first woman to head a state's civil service. In another 
unprecedented move, in April women were selected to lead two of the 
country's 17 public universities. In 2005 women comprised 63.4 percent 
of all university students and more than half of all university 
graduates in the scientific and medical fields. According to the 
National Union of Bank Employees, 65 percent of its members were women, 
but only one of eight principal banking officials was a woman. Women 
comprised approximately 10 percent of board members at publicly traded 
companies during each year from 2000 to 2005. At the end of 2005, women 
accounted for a significant portion of the country's lawyers (45 
percent), accountants (43 percent), and medical doctors (37 percent).

    Children.--The Government has demonstrated a commitment to 
children's rights and welfare and allocated approximately 25 percent of 
the national budget to education. The Government provides free 
education for children through age 15. Although primary education is 
compulsory, there is no enforcement mechanism governing school 
attendance. Attendance at primary school was 96 percent, while 
secondary school attendance was 82 percent. There was no difference in 
the treatment of girls and boys at the primary and secondary levels. A 
variety of programs provided low-cost health care for most children.
    The law prescribes severe punishments for child trafficking, abuse, 
molestation, neglect, and abandonment. The law allows that a maximum of 
10 strokes with a ``light cane'' be applied to male children between 
ages 10 to 18.
    The Government recognized that sexual exploitation of children and 
incest were problems. Incest in particular was a problem in rural 
areas. The law provides for six to 20 years' imprisonment and caning 
for individuals convicted of incest. The police stated that 295 cases 
of incest were reported in 2005, down from 334 cases in 2004. In past 
years the majority of incest cases involved children under 15 years of 
age. The testimony of children is accepted only if there is 
corroborating evidence. This posed special problems for molestation 
cases in which the child victim was the only witness.
    Statutory rape occurred and was prosecuted. However, Islamic law 
provisions that consider a Muslim girl an adult after her first 
menstruation sometimes complicated prosecution of statutory rape. Such 
a girl may be charged with khalwat, even if she is under the age of 18 
and her partner is an adult. Thus Shari'a courts sometimes punished the 
victims of statutory rape. Although Shari'a courts sometimes were more 
lenient with males charged with khalwat, in many cases Muslim men were 
charged and punished for statutory rape under civil law.
    Child prostitution existed, but child prostitutes often were 
treated as delinquents rather than victims (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Child labor occurred in certain areas of the country (see section 
6.d.).
    Sabah State had a problem of street children. Estimated to number 
anywhere from a few score to a few hundred, they were born in the 
country to illegal immigrant parents who had been deported. These 
children lacked citizenship and access to government-provided support.

    Trafficking in Persons.--There is no law that specifically and 
comprehensively criminalizes trafficking in persons. However, the Child 
Act prohibits all forms of trafficking of children under 18, and the 
penal code addresses procurement of women for the purpose of 
prostitution. The Government also uses other laws, such as the 
Immigration Act, the Restricted Residence Act, and the ISA, to arrest, 
prosecute, and detain traffickers.
    The country was a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and 
transit point for men and women trafficked for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation and forced labor. Foreign trafficking victims, mostly 
women and girls from the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, 
Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, were trafficked to 
the country for commercial sexual exploitation. These women often 
worked as karaoke hostesses, ``guest relations officers,'' and 
masseuses. Some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, were 
trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation. Some economic migrants 
working as domestic servants or laborers in the construction and 
agricultural sectors faced exploitative conditions that met the 
definition of involuntary servitude (see section 6.e.).
    According to police, the Bar Council, and Suhakam, many foreigners 
found to be involved in prostitution were possible trafficking victims. 
Foreign embassies, NGOs, and government authorities reported that at 
least 300 to 400 trafficking victims were rescued and repatriated in 
each of the past two years, although the rescues did not lead to a 
significant number of arrests and prosecutions of traffickers. There 
were allegations of corruption among law enforcement personnel, since 
some trafficking victims were known to pass through two or more ports 
of entry without travel documents.
    A small number of Malaysian women and girls were trafficked for 
sexual purposes, mostly to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but 
also to Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. According to 
police and ethnic Chinese community leaders, female citizens who were 
victims of trafficking were usually ethnic Chinese, although ethnic 
Malay, ethnic Chinese, and ethnic Indian women also worked as 
prostitutes domestically. Police and NGOs believed that criminal 
syndicates were behind most of the trafficking. Information from the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs indicated that fewer than 100 
Malaysian women were trafficked to other countries during the year and 
that the number had declined in recent years.
    Foreign trafficking victims were kept compliant through involuntary 
confinement, confiscation of travel documents, debt bondage, and 
physical abuse. During the year there were reports of foreign women 
escaping from apartments where they were held against their will and 
forced to serve as unwilling prostitutes. According to news reports, 
these women said that they were lured to the country by promises of 
legitimate employment but were forced into prostitution upon their 
arrival in the country.
    The penal code includes extensive provisions that prohibit buying 
or selling any person, using deceitful means to bring anyone into or 
out of the country, and wrongfully restraining (defined to include 
using threats, withholding clothing, or holding a person's passport) 
any person with the intention to use that person for prostitution. 
Punishment for these offenses includes a maximum 15-year prison term, 
caning, and a fine, to be determined at the discretion of the 
sentencing judge. During the first 10 months of the year, police 
arrested 22 individuals under sections of the penal code that 
criminalize procuring and brothel operations, compared with 34 such 
arrests during all of 2005. During the first 10 months of the year, 
police arrested 16 individuals under the Restricted Residence Act for 
allegedly arranging prostitution activities, compared with 64 such 
arrests during 2005. In addition, six individuals were detained under 
the Emergency Ordinance for vice activities during the first 10 months 
of the year, compared with two such detentions during 2005. In 
September the IGP stated that police had arrested 143 pimps since June 
2003 and detained 126 persons under the RRA, plus 18 under the 
Emergency Ordinance.
    In March, based on information supplied by Thai NGOs, police in 
Kuala Lumpur conducted raids in Johor and rescued two Thai trafficking 
victims under age 18 and three adult Thai victims.
    The Government assisted some underage prostitutes and rescued some 
trafficked women and girls. During the year police implemented a 
referral system to place foreign trafficking victims in shelters 
operated by NGOs and certain foreign embassies. However, shelter space 
in private shelters remained inadequate to hold all identified victims, 
and those whom shelters could not accept were transferred to 
immigration detention facilities for deportation processing. At year's 
end the Government had not implemented training programs that would 
enable systematic screening and identification of trafficking victims 
from among the illegal migrants processed by police and immigration 
authorities. In September the IGP publicly called for the Government to 
enact comprehensive antitrafficking legislation and stressed the need 
for the law to include provisions for victim protection, shelters, 
repatriation, and prevention of retrafficking.
    A number of foreign embassies arranged temporary shelter for their 
respective trafficking victims and assisted in their repatriation. The 
Indonesian embassy compound in Kuala Lumpur contained a separate 
shelter facility that typically held more than 150 female victims of 
employer abuse and of sexual and labor trafficking. The Indonesian 
embassy assisted up to 800 victims during the year.
    The MWFCD, as well as senior immigration and police officials, 
stated that a comprehensive antitrafficking law was needed to treat 
trafficked women as victims rather than as illegal immigrants. The 
ministry stated that, lacking such legislation, it could not legally 
establish a shelter for trafficked women.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Neither the constitution nor other laws 
explicitly prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental 
disabilities, but the Government promoted public acceptance and 
integration of persons with disabilities.
    The Government did not discriminate against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, or in the provision of other 
state services. A public sector regulation reserves 1 percent of all 
public sector jobs for persons with disabilities. The Government did 
not mandate accessibility to transportation for persons with 
disabilities, and few older public facilities were adapted for such 
persons. New government buildings were generally outfitted with a full 
range of facilities for persons with disabilities. The budget for the 
fiscal year included additional tax benefits for persons with 
disabilities and their spouses.
    A code of practice serves as a guideline for all government 
agencies, employers, employee associations, employees, and others to 
place suitable persons with disabilities in private sector jobs. 
Suhakam recommended legislation to address discriminatory practices and 
barriers facing persons with disabilities, and it organized dialogues 
among persons with disabilities, government departments, and NGOs to 
promote awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.
    Special education schools existed but were not sufficient to meet 
the needs of the population with disabilities. The Government undertook 
initiatives to promote public acceptance of persons with disabilities, 
make public facilities more accessible to such persons, and increase 
budgetary allotments for programs aimed at aiding them. Recognizing 
that public transportation was not ``disabled-friendly,'' the 
Government maintained its 50 percent reduction of the excise duty on 
locally made cars and motorcycles adapted for persons with 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law and government policy 
provide for extensive preferential programs designed to boost the 
economic position of bumiputras. Such programs limited opportunities 
for nonbumiputras in higher education, government employment, business 
permits and licenses, and ownership of land. According to the 
Government, these programs were necessary to ensure ethnic harmony and 
political stability. Ethnic Indian citizens, who did not receive such 
privileges, remained among the country's poorest groups.
    In August the minister of higher education stated that the nation's 
17 public universities employed few nonbumiputra deans. At the 
University of Malaysia, 19 of 20 deans were bumiputras; in many other 
universities deans were exclusively bumiputras. They also accounted for 
more than 85 percent of the country's almost 900,000 civil servants at 
the end of 2005. The percentage has steadily increased over previous 
decades. Bumiputras accounted for approximately 95 percent of the 
almost 410,000 applications for civil service jobs that the Government 
received in 2005.

    Indigenous People.--Indigenous people (the descendants of the 
original inhabitants of the peninsular region of the country and the 
Borneo states) generally enjoyed the same constitutional rights as the 
rest of the population. However, in practice federal laws pertaining to 
indigenous people of the peninsular region, known as the Orang Asli, 
vest considerable authority in the non-Orang Asli minister for rural 
development to protect, control, and otherwise decide issues concerning 
this group. As a result, indigenous people in peninsular Malaysia had 
very little ability to participate in decisions that affected them.
    The Orang Asli, who numbered approximately 149,500, constituted the 
poorest group in the country. According to government statistics, 
approximately 77 percent of Orang Asli households were categorized as 
living below the poverty level. A government-sponsored national 
advisory council monitored the development of Orang Asli, but only five 
of the council's 17 members were Orang Asli. In addition, only one 
Orang Asli held a management position in the Government's Department of 
Orang Asli Affairs. Under its ninth economic plan covering the years 
2006-10, the Government allocated slightly more than $100 million 
(361.8 million ringgit) for development projects for the Orang Asli. 
These focused on improving health, preschool education, infrastructure, 
and economic activities. The plan included an additional $28 million 
(100 million ringgit) for development of lands inhabited by the Orang 
Asli.
    The dropout rate among Orang Asli students remained high. 
Government statistics as of November indicated that 26,000 Orang Asli 
pupils were registered at the primary school level, while only 8,700 
students were registered in secondary schools. In March the minister of 
rural and regional development stated that the dropout rate among Orang 
Asli children was more than 50 percent in secondary schools.
    Under the Aboriginal People's Act, the Orang Asli were permitted to 
live on designated land as tenants-at-will, but they did not possess 
land rights. Observers reported that over the years the total area of 
land reserved for Orang Asli had decreased, and some land previously 
set aside as Orang Asli reserve had been rezoned for development.
    The uncertainty surrounding Orang Asli land ownership made them 
vulnerable to exploitation. Logging companies continued to encroach on 
land traditionally held by Orang Asli and other indigenous groups in 
the Borneo states. Indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak continued to 
protest encroachment by state and private logging and plantation 
companies onto land that they considered theirs under native customary 
rights. After four Suhakam commissioners visited impoverished natives 
of the large Penan tribe September 17-19 in Sarawak, they stated that 
living conditions of the Penan people had not improved during the past 
five years. The commissioners also found that the vast majority of the 
Penan people visited were not registered as citizens by the Government.
    A case regarding ownership of the land used for the construction of 
the Kuala Lumpur International Airport remained pending at year's end. 
In September 2005 the court of appeal upheld a high court ruling that 
the Temuans, an Orang Asli group in peninsular Malaysia, were the 
rightful owners of the land and ordered the Selangor state government 
pay compensation; however, the Government appealed the decision. On 
November 21, the Federal Court agreed to hear the appeal initiated by 
the state of Selangor and the federal government. At year's end no 
decision had been issued.
    Laws allowing condemnation and purchase of land do not require more 
than perfunctory notifications in newspapers, to which indigenous 
people may have no access. In past years this led to indigenous people 
being deprived of their traditional lands with little or no legal 
recourse. However, during the year there were no reports of such acts.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although there are no 
laws that prohibit homosexuality, laws against sodomy and ``carnal 
intercourse against the order of nature'' exist and were enforced. 
Religious and cultural taboos against homosexuality were widespread. 
The Government's response to HIV/AIDS was generally nondiscriminatory, 
although stigmatization of AIDS sufferers was common.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--By law most workers have the right to 
engage in trade union activity, but only 9.5 percent of the labor force 
was represented by trade unions. Those restricted by law from joining a 
union include public sector workers categorized as ``confidential'' and 
``managerial and executive,'' as well as defense and police officials. 
With certain limitations, unions may organize workplaces, bargain 
collectively with employers, and associate with national federations. 
In theory foreign workers can join a trade union; however, the 
Immigration Department placed conditions on foreign workers' permits 
that effectively barred them from joining a trade union (see section 
6.e.).
    The Trade Unions Act prohibits interfering with, restraining, or 
coercing a worker in the exercise of the right to form trade unions or 
participation in lawful trade union activities. However, the act 
restricts a union to representing workers in a ``particular 
establishment, trade, occupation, or industry or within any similar 
trades, occupations, or industries.'' The director general of trade 
unions may refuse to register a trade union and in some circumstances 
may also withdraw the registration of an existing trade union based on 
provisions outlined in the act. When registration is refused, 
withdrawn, or canceled, a trade union is considered an unlawful 
association. During the year the director general canceled the 
registrations of five trade unions. None of the cancellations was 
challenged in court.
    Trade unions from different industries may join in national 
congresses, but such congresses must register separately as societies 
under the Societies Act (see section 2.b.).
    Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) officials continued to 
express frustration about delays in the settlement of union recognition 
disputes. While the Industrial Relations Act requires that an employer 
respond to a union's request for recognition within 21 days of 
application, it was not uncommon for such applications to be refused 
and unions to go unrecognized for one to four years. At year's end 21 
trade union applications were pending approval.
    Government policy inhibited the formation of national unions in the 
electronics sector, the country's largest industry. The Government 
stated that establishment of national unions in the electronics sector 
would impede foreign direct investment and negatively impact the 
country's international competitiveness in the sector; government 
leaders stated that enterprise-level unions were more appropriate for 
the electronics industry. According to MTUC officials, 150,000 
electronics workers were unable to organize, and only eight in-house 
unions existed in the electronics industry.
    Unions maintained independence from both the Government and 
political parties, but individual union members may belong to political 
parties. Although by law union officers may not hold principal offices 
in political parties, individual trade union leaders have served in 
parliament. Trade unions were free to associate with national labor 
congresses, which exercised many of the responsibilities of national 
labor unions, although they cannot bargain on behalf of local unions.
    Trade unions were permitted to affiliate with international trade 
union organizations, such as global union federations and the 
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, subject to the 
approval of the director general of trade unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers have 
the legal right to organize and bargain collectively, and collective 
bargaining was widespread in those sectors where labor was organized.
    There are two national labor organizations. The MTUC is a society 
of trade unions in both the private and government sectors and is 
registered under the Societies Act. As such, the MTUC does not have 
collective bargaining or industrial action rights but provides 
technical support for affiliated members. The other national 
organization is the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and 
Civil Service (CUEPACS), a federation of public employee unions 
registered under the Trade Unions Act.
    CUEPACS is an umbrella organization that included 127 distinct 
civil servant unions with approximately 300,000 members of a total of 
one million civil servants, represented by an estimated 160 unions. 
Teacher unions accounted for 140,000 of CUEPACS' 300,000 members. 
CUEPACS holds talks with the Government through three National Joint 
Councils (NJCs) that represent three types of workers: managerial and 
professional, science and technology, and general (all other types of 
workers, such as clerical and support staff). The Government 
established the NJC system to have NJCs serve as aggregating, 
intermediary negotiating bodies between the Government and the various 
unions served by CUEPACS. NJC members are elected from constituent 
unions. While an individual civil service union may approach the 
Government directly on narrow issues that affect only that particular 
union or its members, broader issues that affect the entire civil 
service flow up to CUEPACS and then to one of the NJCs, depending on 
the type of civil servants involved.
    Government regulations limited CUEPACS' negotiating power and 
virtually eliminated its right to organize strikes. During the year 
CUEPACS sought to obtain a minimum wage for civil servants; however, by 
year's end the Government had announced no plans to institute a minimum 
wage for public or private sector workers.
    The Government placed limits on collective bargaining agreements in 
companies designated as having ``pioneer status.'' The MTUC continued 
to object to legal restrictions on collective bargaining in ``pioneer'' 
industries. On September 21, approximately 1,000 factory workers from 
200 factories nationwide held a protest outside parliament. They 
demanded a national minimum wage of $250 (900 ringgit) per month, a 
national union for electronics workers (prohibited by the Government, 
due to the electronics industry's ``pioneer'' status), reduced working 
hours, and an increase in paid maternity leave from 60 to 90 days. At 
year's end the Government had not responded to their demands.
    Charges of discrimination against employees engaged in organizing 
union activities may be filed with the Ministry of Human Resources or 
the industrial court. Critics alleged that the industrial court was 
slow in adjudicating worker complaints when conciliation efforts by the 
Ministry of Human Resources failed. In addition, beginning in 2004 the 
court introduced voluntary mediation as a means for faster case 
settlements. During the first eight months of the year, mediation was 
initiated for 95 industrial court cases, with 27 settlements recorded. 
During 2005 a total of 186 cases were mediated, resulting in 93 
settlements. The industrial court does not enforce its own awards, and 
unions complained that employers often ignored the court's judgments 
with impunity.
    The Government holds that issues of transfer, dismissal, and 
reinstatement are internal management prerogatives; therefore, they are 
excluded from collective bargaining, which is not in accordance with 
International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. The minister of human 
resources can suspend for up to six months any trade union deemed to be 
used for purposes prejudicial to or incompatible with security or 
public order. The Government has taken no such action during the past 
several years.
    Although strikes are legal, the right to strike is severely 
restricted. The law contains a list of ``essential services'' in which 
unions must give advance notice of any industrial action. The list 
includes sectors not normally deemed essential under ILO definitions. 
MTUC officials said that requirements imposed by the authorities were 
so stringent that it was almost impossible to strike. According to 
Ministry of Human Resources statistics, only one minor strike occurred 
during the first nine months of the year, compared with 10 strikes 
during 2005. Employees in the public sector do not have the right to 
collective bargaining.
    The Industrial Relations Act requires the parties to notify the 
Ministry of Human Resources that a dispute exists before any industrial 
action may be taken. The ministry's Industrial Relations Department 
then may become involved actively in conciliation efforts. If 
conciliation fails to achieve settlement, the minister has the power to 
refer the dispute to the industrial court. Strikes or lockouts are 
prohibited while the dispute is before the industrial court. The act 
prohibits employers from taking retribution against a worker for 
participating in the lawful activities of a trade union. However, some 
trade unions questioned the effectiveness of the provisions.
    Companies in free trade zones (FTZs) must observe labor standards 
identical to those in the rest of the country. Many workers in FTZ 
companies were organized, especially in the textile and electrical 
products sectors.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally 
enforced this prohibition. Certain laws allow imprisonment with 
compulsory labor as punishment for persons who express views opposed to 
the established order or who participate in strikes. However, these 
laws were not applied.
    Some of the estimated 320,000 foreign women employed as household 
workers were subjected to physical abuse and forced to work under harsh 
conditions. While the Workmen's Compensation Act and the Employment Act 
provide a minimum standard of protection to workers, in several 
important respects they do not apply to household employees (see 
section 6.e.).
    The Government prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, 
and there were no reports that such practices occurred in the formal 
sector, although some child household employees worked in conditions 
amounting to forced labor.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits the employment of children younger than age 14 but 
permits some exceptions, such as light work in a family enterprise, 
work in public entertainment, work performed for the Government in a 
school or in training institutions, or work as an approved apprentice. 
In no case may children work more than six hours per day, more than six 
days per week, or at night.
    Child labor occurred in certain areas of the country. There was no 
reliable estimate of the number of child workers. Most child laborers 
worked informally in the agricultural sector, helping their parents in 
the field; however, only adult members of the family received a wage. 
In urban areas, child labor could be found in family food businesses, 
night markets, and small-scale industries. Government officials did not 
deny the existence of child labor in family businesses but maintained 
that foreign workers had largely replaced child labor and that child 
labor provisions were vigorously enforced. Some children were exploited 
in the commercial sex industry (see section 5).
    Mechanisms for monitoring workplace conditions were inadequate, and 
the resolution of most abuse cases frequently was left to private, for-
profit labor agencies that were themselves often guilty of abuses. 
Bilateral labor agreements with Indonesia do not provide adequate 
protections for household workers.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage 
provision governing all workers, as the Government preferred to allow 
market forces to determine wages. Prevailing market wages generally 
provided a decent standard of living for citizens, although not for all 
migrant workers. Wage councils, established by a 1947 act to provide a 
recommended minimum wage for sectors in which the market wage was 
determined insufficient, had little impact on wages in any sector. 
According to MTUC officials, the wage councils had not met for more 
than 15 years, and their recommended wages have long been obsolete.
    Plantation workers generally received production-related payments 
or daily wages. Under a 2003 agreement, plantation workers received a 
minimum wage of $97 (350 ringgit) per month. Proponents of the 
agreement said that productivity incentives and bonuses raised the 
prevailing wage to nearly $194 (700 ringgit).
    Under the Employment Act, working hours may not exceed eight hours 
per day or 48 hours per workweek of six days. Each workweek must 
include a 24-hour rest period. The act also sets overtime rates and 
mandates public holidays, annual leave, sick leave, and maternity 
allowances. The Labor Department of the Ministry of Human Resources is 
responsible for enforcing the standards, but a shortage of inspectors 
precluded strict enforcement.
    Significant numbers of contract workers, including numerous illegal 
migrants, worked on plantations and in other sectors. According to 
statistics from the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW), 
foreign workers made up 50 percent of the plantation work force; 
however, the true number may have been higher, since illegal immigrants 
were not counted. Working conditions for these laborers compared poorly 
with those of direct-hire plantation workers, many of whom belonged to 
the NUPW.
    Work-related accidents were especially high in the plantation 
sector. According to the Human Resources Ministry, 14 percent of all 
reported industrial accidents during 2004 occurred on plantations. On 
September 12, the deputy prime minister reported that over the past 12 
years industrial accidents had declined by 60 percent, to fewer than 
44,000 in 2005. He stated that there had been an average of 14 work-
related deaths per 100,000 workers over the past several years, adding 
that the number compared unfavorably with much lower work-related death 
rates in highly developed countries.
    As of September 30, almost 1.9 million legal migrant workers worked 
mainly in manufacturing (33 percent), plantations (23 percent), as 
maids (18 percent), and in construction (16 percent). According to the 
Ministry of Human Resources, as of September 30, the legal foreign 
workers came from Indonesia (64 percent), Nepal (10 percent), India (7 
percent), Burma (5 percent), Vietnam (5 percent), Bangladesh (3 
percent), Pakistan (1 percent), the Philippines (1 percent), and other 
countries (4 percent). Among legal foreign workers, Indonesian workers 
accounted for 92 percent of domestic helpers, 89 percent of plantation 
workers, and 81 percent of construction workers. The deputy prime 
minister stated that between 300,000 and 500,000 illegal migrants also 
worked in the country, but several union leaders and state politicians 
believed that the number of illegal migrants could exceed one million.
    Foreign workers, particularly if they were illegal aliens, 
generally did not have access to the system of labor adjudication. 
However, the Government investigated complaints of abuses, attempted to 
inform workers of their rights, encouraged workers to come forward with 
their complaints, and warned employers to end abuses. Like other 
employers, labor contractors may be prosecuted for violating the law. 
According to the results of a survey conducted during the year by the 
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, the average monthly wage of 
foreign workers engaged in the manufacturing sector was $161 (581 
ringgit).
    The Workmen's Compensation Act covers both local and foreign 
workers but provides no protection for foreign household workers. 
According to the Government, foreign household workers are protected 
under the Employment Act with regard to wages and contract termination. 
However, these workers are excluded from provisions of the act that 
would otherwise ensure that they received one rest day per week, an 
eight-hour work day, and a 48-hour work week.
    Employers sometimes failed to honor the terms of employment and 
abused their household workers. Only household workers ages 25 to 45 
were allowed into the country, according to Immigration Department 
officials. They were not allowed to bring family members into the 
country while employed. The terms of the contract for Indonesian maids, 
who comprised approximately 92 percent of all foreign household 
workers, were often vague and open to abuse. The typical contract 
provided for a monthly salary of $111 (400 ringgit) but did not specify 
the number of working hours per day. NGOs reported that many Indonesian 
household workers were required to work 14 to 18 hours a day, seven 
days a week. The contract for Filipina household workers included more 
comprehensive protections, but both groups suffered from a lack of 
education concerning their legal rights. The Government of the 
Philippines doubled the minimum contractual wage rate for the 
approximately 12,000 Filipina household workers in the country to $400 
per month, beginning December 15, which the embassy estimated would 
reduce the number of Filipina household helpers in the country by at 
least 60 percent.
    In May the Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) 
with Indonesia stipulating that all household workers must sign a 
contract with their employer. The contract's terms and conditions, 
including the maid's salary and working hours, are freely negotiable. 
Under the MOU, an employer is obliged to open a bank account in the 
maid's name and deposit her salary into the account on a monthly basis. 
In addition, employers are required to purchase life and disability 
insurance for their household workers. Maids are allowed to take 
contract grievances to the labor court. The MOU contains no provisions 
regarding mandatory leave or overtime payments for maids. At year's end 
the Government had not released the MOU's full text to the public. This 
led several workers' rights lawyers and NGO leaders to question the 
Government's commitment to enforce the MOU's provisions.
    Some workers alleged that their employers subjected them to inhuman 
living conditions, withheld their salaries, confiscated their travel 
documents, and physically assaulted them. Workers have the right to 
take legal action against abusive employers. According to NGOs, the 
courts generally sided with employees and ruled that employers must pay 
all back salary and compensate plaintiffs for injuries, but long delays 
in court proceedings and rulings often precluded aggrieved foreign 
workers from seeking redress through the court system.
    Legal and illegal foreign workers from Indonesia, Nepal, India, 
Burma, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and other countries 
constituted approximately 20 percent of the work force. Illegal foreign 
workers have no legal protection under the law and have no legal 
recourse in cases of abuse.
    The Occupational Safety and Health Act covers all sectors of the 
economy except the maritime sector and the armed forces. The act 
established a national Occupational Safety and Health Council, composed 
of workers, employers, and government representatives, to set policy 
and coordinate occupational safety and health measures. It requires 
employers to identify risks and take precautions, including providing 
safety training to workers, and compels companies that have more than 
40 workers to establish joint management-employee safety committees. 
The act requires workers to use safety equipment and cooperate with 
employers to create a safe, healthy workplace. Employers or employees 
that violate the act are subject to substantial fines or imprisonment 
for up to five years, although the MTUC complained that some employers 
flouted the rules with impunity. There are no specific statutory or 
regulatory provisions that provide a right for workers to remove 
themselves from dangerous workplace conditions without arbitrary 
dismissal.

                               __________

                            MARSHALL ISLANDS

    The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a constitutional republic 
with a population of approximately 56,000. In November 2003 voters 
elected the parliament (Nitijela) in generally free and fair multiparty 
elections. The President is elected by majority Nitijela vote. In 
January 2004 the Nitijela elected President Kessai Note of the United 
Democratic Party (UDP) to a second four-year term. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, prison conditions, government corruption, violence 
against women, child abuse, and lack of worker protections were areas 
of concern.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not 
meet international standards. All 47 male prisoners were held in a 
single facility attached to police headquarters, consisting of three 
interconnected rooms and four small cells. On-duty police officers also 
served as guards, separated from the jail area by a closed door. 
Lighting, ventilation, and sanitation were inadequate, and there was no 
program to ensure regular access to outside activity. Security was 
poor.
    Some male juveniles were held together with adults; as juvenile 
crimes increased in number and seriousness over the past several years, 
the courts tried more male juveniles as adults and ordered them held 
with the general prison population. Pretrial detainees were not 
separated from the general prison population. There were no prison 
facilities for female prisoners, including juveniles; they generally 
were held under house arrest. During the year the one female juvenile 
prisoner was held in a separate office in the jail vacated to 
accommodate her.
    During the year the Government permitted a prison visit by 
independent journalists, who subsequently published an article on 
prison conditions in the Marshall Islands Journal newspaper. There were 
no other requests for visits by independent human rights observers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There are local police 
forces, and there is a national police force under the Ministry of 
Justice. In most situations police officers did not carry firearms and 
generally used the minimum force necessary to detain a suspect. 
Although there were some instances of police corruption, it was not 
widespread. There is a director of investigations in the Attorney 
General's Office to handle allegations of police abuse and corruption.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the constitution and law, a warrant 
issued by a court is required for an arrest if there is adequate time 
to obtain one; however, the courts have interpreted this provision to 
exempt situations such as a breach of the peace or an ongoing felony. 
Detainees may request bond immediately upon arrest for minor offenses; 
most serious offenses require the detainee to remain in jail until a 
hearing can be arranged, normally the morning after arrest.
    In May a public defender charged that on several occasions police 
and immigration officers detained nationals of the People's Republic of 
China (PRC) for immigration violations without first obtaining an 
arrest warrant and in some cases held the individuals in jail two to 
three days without filing charges. The Attorney General's Office 
responded that the officers had acted within the law since a violation 
of the Immigration Act is deemed to be an ongoing felony.
    Families had access to detainees, and detainees have the right to 
lawyers of their choice. There was a functioning system of bail, and 
the Government provides a lawyer if the defendant is indigent.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judiciary consists of a Supreme Court with appellate 
jurisdiction, a High Court with general jurisdiction in civil and 
criminal matters and appellate jurisdiction over subordinate courts at 
the district and community levels, and a Traditional Rights Court with 
jurisdiction in cases involving customary law and traditional practice. 
The cabinet appoints judges.
    Few citizens were trained in the law, and the judicial system 
relied heavily on noncitizen public prosecutors and defense attorneys. 
Lower court judges were citizens; the higher courts relied on 
noncitizen judges, in part to prevent conflicts of interest in the 
small, highly interrelated society. The chief justice of the High Court 
is a foreign national appointed for a 10-year term.
    During the year the High Court chief justice, with foreign 
assistance, continued work on development of a judicial training 
program and improvements in trial procedures.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    Defendants can choose either a bench trial or a four-member jury 
trial. In recent years defendants increasingly opted for jury trials, 
which had a higher rate of acquittals. Defendants enjoy a presumption 
of innocence and have the right to counsel, to question witnesses, to 
access government-held evidence, and to appeal convictions.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no separate 
judiciary in civil matters, but there are administrative remedies for 
alleged wrongs as well as judicial remedies within the general court 
system.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.
    Individuals generally could criticize the Government privately or 
publicly without reprisal. In July, however, one incident that 
questioned the right to freedom of speech occurred when a special 
interim committee of the Nitijela summoned the President of the Chamber 
of Commerce to answer inquiries regarding a letter the chamber sent to 
the speaker of the Nitijela and the Marshall Islands Journal condemning 
travel of certain elected officials to the PRC. The committee 
criticized both the letter and similar comments made by the chamber 
President in an interview with Radio New Zealand. Although the Nitijela 
took no action against the chamber, the committee's public scolding of 
chamber leaders led some members of the public to express concern about 
censorship.
    During the year the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Women United 
Together in the Marshall Islands (WUTMI) broadcast its outreach 
programs on the government-owned radio station under the auspices of a 
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) program grant. 
Previously the Government had denied permission to WUTMI for weekly 
broadcasts, and after the PREL program was completed in September, the 
Government again denied WUTMI access to weekly public broadcasting; 
however, WUTMI's General Assembly meetings were broadcast on the 
government-owned station.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including 
anti-Semitic acts. There were few known individuals of Jewish 
background in the country.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not 
employ this practice.

    Protection of Refugees.--Although not a signatory, the Government 
adhered to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 
and its 1967 Protocol, and it cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees; however, it has granted asylum in the past.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Executive power is 
centralized in the President and his cabinet. The legislature consists 
of the Nitijela and a council of chiefs (Iroij), which serves a largely 
consultative function dealing with custom and traditional practices. 
Citizens 18 years of age and older elect the 33-member Nitijela and 
mayors by secret ballot every four years. Elections for the Nitijela 
were held in November 2003; President Kessai Note's UDP won a majority 
of the seats, and the Nitijela reelected him in January 2004.
    There were no widespread allegations of electoral fraud, but the 
complex electoral system, which grants voters the option of voting 
where they have land rights instead of where they reside, requires 
almost every polling place to provide for voters from many other 
districts. A significant number of absentee ballots also were cast in 
the 2003 elections. As a result several close elections generated 
formal complaints against election officials for alleged mishandling of 
ballots and other problems, including some allegations of favoritism. 
The courts did not overturn any electoral commission decisions.
    Individuals and parties can freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election. There are no restrictions on the formation of 
political parties, although many candidates prefer to run independently 
or loosely aligned with informal coalitions. The law prohibits 
political activity by foreigners.
    There are no legal impediments to women's participation in 
government and politics; however, traditional attitudes of male 
dominance, women's cultural responsibilities, traditionally passive 
roles, and the generally early age of pregnancies made it difficult for 
women to obtain political qualifications or experience. There was one 
woman in the Nitijela and four women in the 12-seat House of Iroij. 
There were no female judges, but the chief public defender was a woman. 
There were a number of women in prominent appointive government 
positions, including the secretary of education, secretary of health, 
secretary of foreign affairs, director of the Social Security 
Administration, and banking commissioner.
    There were very few members of minority groups who were citizens, 
and there were no members of minorities in the legislature.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--According to the general 
audit report of 2003, performed by an independent accounting firm, 
government corruption was a problem, including instances of misuse of 
public funds and irregularities in the collection of certain taxes. In 
2005 the Ministry of Finance was reorganized in an effort to increase 
accountability. The Attorney General's Office is responsible for 
investigating cases of alleged corruption, but only a few cases have 
been prosecuted. No high-level elected official has ever been indicted 
for corruption. In March the chief immigration officer was dismissed 
for alleged improper professional conduct.
    The law does not provide specifically for public access to 
government information. Although there is no specific statutory basis 
for denying such information, the Government has taken the position 
that the burden for overcoming a denial of access rests with the 
public, and a court filing showing the reason the information is 
required is often necessary.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Human rights groups generally operated without government 
restriction, but few local groups have been formed. The Government was 
not always responsive to NGOs' concerns. The NGO WUTMI worked on 
women's, children's, and family issues and played a significant role in 
social issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, 
race, color, language, national or social origin, place of birth, and 
family status or descent, and the Government generally observed these 
provisions.

    Women.--Spousal abuse was common. Domestic violence was not 
condoned, and most assaults occurred while the assailant was under the 
influence of alcohol. According to a 2003 WUTMI survey, more than 80 
percent of women had been affected by spousal abuse. Violence against 
women outside the family occurred, and women in urban centers risked 
assault if they went out alone after dark. Police generally responded 
to reports of rape and domestic assault, and the Government's health 
office provided counseling in reported spousal and child abuse cases, 
but many cases apparently went unreported. Rape and assault are 
criminal offenses, with penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment for 
first-degree sexual assault, but women involved in domestic violence 
were reluctant to prosecute spouses in the court system. Most observers 
believe that few sexual offenses are prosecuted because cultural 
constraints may discourage victims from reporting such crimes to the 
police.
    During the year there were three reported incidents of sexual 
assault against foreign women. In one case a juvenile was charged with 
three counts of sexual assault, one count of burglary, and one count of 
disturbing the peace. He was found not guilty of sexual assault but was 
sentenced to 18 months in prison on the other two charges. In the 
second case a juvenile pled guilty to first-degree sexual assault and 
was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, with five years suspended. The 
third case, which involved alleged sexual fondling of a teacher on an 
outer atoll, was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence.
    Women's groups under the WUTMI umbrella continued to publicize 
women's issues and promote a greater awareness of women's rights.
    Prostitution is illegal but continued to occur, particularly on the 
Majuro and Kwajalein atolls. Organized prostitution on Majuro, run 
primarily by foreigners, no longer catered only to the crews of foreign 
fishing vessels. There were no specific reports of violence against 
prostitutes, although the Government assumed that it existed. The 
Government prosecuted and expelled several individuals who had 
overstayed their visas, could show no income or other evidence of 
support, and were alleged to be involved in prostitution.
    There is no law against sex tourism, but none has been reported.
    Sexual harassment is not prohibited by law but was not considered a 
widespread or serious problem.
    The inheritance of property and of traditional rank is matrilineal, 
with women occupying positions of importance in the traditional system, 
although control of property often was delegated to male family members 
on behalf of female landowners. Many educated women held prominent 
positions, particularly in government (see section 3); however, while 
female workers were very prevalent in the private sector, many were in 
low-paying jobs with little prospect for advancement. The traditional 
authority exercised by women has declined with growing urbanization and 
movement of the population away from traditional lands; nonetheless, 
many observers believed women continued to be a significant social 
force.

    Children.--The Government showed a commitment to children's welfare 
through its programs of health care and free education, but these have 
not been adequate to meet the needs of the country's increasing 
population.
    Education was compulsory and universal, and the national government 
did not charge school fees. However, individual public schools were 
permitted to charge modest registration fees to help support their 
programs, and some schools did so. A 2004 law expanded compulsory 
education from six- to 14-year-olds to four- to 18-year-olds, but the 
Government lacked the resources to implement the expanded mandate.
    It was estimated that up to 20 percent of elementary-school-age 
children did not attend school on a regular basis. In many cases this 
was because they lived too far away from a school or their families 
could not afford the annual registration fee (which varied by school 
but averaged approximately $10) or incidental expenses. (The U.S. 
dollar is the national currency.) The lack of school lunch programs in 
most public schools was cited as another factor that contributed to 
absenteeism and poor performance. Despite the 2004 law extending 
compulsory education through age 18, there were not enough high school 
facilities to accommodate all high-school-age children. Admission to 
high school continued to be by competitive examination; not all 
children qualified to attend. The Government's enrollment report 
indicated that only two-thirds of those completing eighth grade 
attended high school. Approximately 50 percent of high school 
students--or one-third of those who started elementary school--
eventually graduated.
    There were five public high schools in the country: two in Majuro 
and one each on Jaluit, Kwajalein, and Wotje. In addition there were a 
dozen private high schools, which were open to all who were able to pay 
the private school tuition. The Government provided subsidized 
essential medical services for all citizens, including children.
    The law sets age 16 as the minimum age of consent for sexual 
activity. Convictions for violation of the law are punishable by up to 
25 years in prison, depending on the degree of the offense. Child abuse 
and neglect are criminal offenses, but public awareness of children's 
rights remained low. The law requires teachers, caregivers, and other 
persons to report instances of child abuse and exempts them from civil 
or criminal liability as a consequence of making such a report. 
Nonetheless, there were few reports and few prosecutions. Child abuse 
and neglect were considered to be on the increase. In July the Supreme 
Court dismissed the appeal by a foreigner of his 2004 conviction for 
attempted rape and attempted incest against his minor daughter, a 
citizen of the country, on the ground that his appeal failed to comply 
with prescribed rules of procedure. A deportation proceeding against 
him was pending at year's end.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons 
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits 
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities, 
and there are no restrictions on the right of persons with disabilities 
to vote or participate in civic affairs. There was no apparent 
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other 
state services; however, there were no building codes and no 
legislation mandating access for persons with disabilities.
    There were approximately 50 persons who could be medically defined 
as psychotic. When these individuals demonstrated dangerous behavior, 
they were imprisoned with the general prison population and visited by 
a doctor. On occasions when prison officials protested disruptions 
caused by this practice, other arrangements, such as house arrest, were 
made.
    There is no government agency specifically charged with protecting 
the rights of persons with disabilities. The Attorney General is 
responsible for handling court cases involving complaints of 
discrimination against persons with disabilities, but no such cases 
were brought during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
free association in general, and the Government interpreted this right 
as allowing the existence of labor unions, although none have been 
formed to date. With few major employers, there were few opportunities 
for workers to unionize, and the country has no history or culture of 
organized labor.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no 
legislation concerning collective bargaining or trade union 
organization. Wages in the cash economy were determined by market 
factors in accordance with the minimum wage and other laws.
    The law does not provide for the right to strike, and the 
Government has not addressed this issue.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
involuntary servitude, and there were no reports of its practice among 
citizens. Officials suspected that some forced or compulsory labor 
existed among the illegal alien population. In August the Nitijela 
passed immigration and labor bills designed to deter illegal entry into 
the country and illegal employment activities of third country 
nationals. During the year five PRC national women charged that after 
they began working in a Majuro restaurant and bar in 2005, the owner, 
PRC national Xu Xin, withheld the pay they were promised and forced 
them to engage in acts of prostitution, threatening to have them 
arrested if they refused to comply. They also alleged that they paid Xu 
$1,500 each to obtain extended entry and work permits, but never 
received the permits. In August Xu was charged with five counts of 
prostitution and one count of public nuisance. She also was charged 
with illegal employment of aliens in a separate case. However, she left 
the country before the cases came to trial. The five victims 
voluntarily left the country by year's end.
    The law does not specifically prohibit forced and compulsory labor 
by children; however, there were no reports that such practices 
occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There is no law or regulation setting a minimum age for employment of 
children. Children typically were not employed in the wage economy, but 
some assisted their families in fishing, agriculture, retailing, and 
other small-scale enterprises.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law establishes a minimum 
wage of two dollars per hour for both government and private sector 
employees. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard 
of living for a worker and family. In the subsistence economy, however, 
extended families were expected to help less fortunate members, and 
there were often several wage earners to support each family. The 
Ministry of Resources and Development adequately enforced the minimum 
wage regulations. Foreign employees and Marshallese trainees of private 
employers who had invested in or established a business in the country 
were exempt from minimum wage requirements. This exemption did not 
affect a significant segment of the workforce.
    There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work or 
occupational safety and health. On Sunday most businesses were closed, 
and persons generally refrained from working.
    A government labor office makes recommendations to the Nitijela on 
working conditions, such as the minimum wage, legal working hours and 
overtime payments, and occupational health and safety standards, and 
the office periodically convenes board meetings that are open to the 
public. No legislation specifically gives workers the right to remove 
themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without 
jeopardy to their continued employment, and no legislation protects 
workers who file complaints about such conditions. The law protects 
foreign workers in the same manner as citizens.

                               __________

                     FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA

    The Federated States of Micronesia is a constitutional republic 
composed of four states: Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Its 
population was approximately 107,000. Voters elect a unicameral 
legislature that elects the President from among its members for a 
four-year term. There were no formal political parties. Congress chose 
Joseph J. Urusemal as President in May 2003. The most recent elections 
for Congress, held in March 2005, were considered generally free and 
fair. Individual states enjoy significant autonomy, and traditional 
leaders retain considerable influence in some states. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse; however, government efforts to 
address societal problems such as family violence were constrained by 
traditional society. Reported human rights problems included judicial 
delays, government corruption, discrimination against women, domestic 
violence, and child neglect.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed torture; however, there 
were occasional reports of physical abuse by police.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards; however, during the year Pohnpei 
and Chuuk states' underfunded corrections divisions failed to provide 
nutritionally adequate meals to prisoners.
    Each of the four state jails included a separate cell for female 
prisoners. Since women rarely were detained, these cells typically were 
used to separate disruptive male prisoners from the general prison 
population. There were no designated juvenile detention facilities; 
however, juvenile crime was rare, and the states typically have decided 
against incarceration of juveniles. Pretrial detainees usually were 
held together with convicted prisoners. All four states used separate 
jail cells to house persons with mental illnesses but no criminal 
background. In February one mentally ill person killed another mentally 
ill person in the Yap State jail. The assailant was placed under 
maximum security at the jail, and one correctional officer was 
suspended for 30 days for negligence. The case was still under 
investigation at year's end.
    The question of prison visits by human rights observers did not 
arise during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Each state has a 
department of public safety composed of police, corrections, fire, and 
emergency response functions. The directors of public safety are state 
cabinet-level positions. There is a small national police force under 
the Department of Justice. Some municipalities also have small police 
forces. Many citizens prefer to rely on customary and traditional 
remedies to resolve criminal and civil matters.
    Under measures introduced by the Chuuk State governor to reform the 
state's underqualified and politicized police force, applicants for the 
police force are reviewed by a selection panel and must meet certain 
criteria to be hired. Police training also was increased. There were 
fewer reports of police favoritism toward relatives and physical abuse 
by the Chuuk State police after the state established an internal 
affairs division to address police abuses, although these remained 
matters of concern.

    Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are required for arrests, and 
detainees were promptly advised of the charges against them. Detainees 
must be brought before a judge for a hearing within 24 hours of arrest, 
and this requirement was generally observed in practice. Most arrested 
persons were released on bail, which usually was set at low levels 
except in cases involving flight risk. Detainees had prompt access to 
family members and lawyers. All defendants have the right to counsel; 
however, the public defender's office was underfunded, and not all 
defendants received adequate legal assistance in practice.
    During the year the mayor of Udot in Chuuk State was convicted in 
two separate trials of violating a voter's civil rights, resisting 
arrest, and threats and other improper influence in official or 
political matters. He served approximately five months of a one-year 
prison sentence and was on parole at year's end. The charges stemmed 
from a 2002 incident in which supporters of the mayor, including local 
police, disarmed and briefly detained national government officials who 
had attempted to serve a search warrant on the mayor in connection with 
an investigation of his alleged misuse of public funds.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. The President, with the advice and consent of 
the legislature, appoints the three justices of the Supreme Court. Each 
state also has a supreme court, and some municipalities have local 
courts. Some states have additional courts to deal with land disputes. 
The formal legal system coexists with traditional, mediation-based 
mechanisms for resolving disputes and dealing with offenders at the 
local level.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are 
public, although juveniles may have closed hearings. Judges conduct 
trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence and have the right to counsel, to question 
witnesses, to access government-held evidence, and to appeal 
convictions. There is a national public defender system with an office 
in each state. Despite these provisions cultural resistance to 
litigation and incarceration as methods of maintaining public order 
allowed some persons to act with impunity. Serious cases of sexual and 
other assault and even murder have not gone to trial, and suspects 
routinely were released indefinitely. Bail, even for major crimes, 
usually was set at low levels (see section 1.d.).
    Delays in some judicial appointments and underfunding of the court 
system hampered the judiciary's ability to function efficiently. 
Shortages or unavailability of court personnel and services 
occasionally hampered the right to a speedy trial.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. The Supreme Court would hear 
lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation. There are no nonjudicial administrative remedies available.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution contains an express right to privacy 
that prohibits such actions, and the Government generally respected 
these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of ``expression'' but not specifically of ``speech'' or of 
``the press''; however, the Government generally respected each of 
these rights in practice.
    Although there were no government restrictions, the number of 
independent media outlets was very small. There also was a lack of 
consistently reliable access to broadcast media. For example, the 
Government radio stations on Yap, Pohnpei, and Chuuk remained off the 
air much of the year, in Yap's case due to typhoon-related damage and 
in the two other cases due to technical problems. Chuuk's cable 
television station ceased operations due to an unreliable power supply 
and financial problems.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including 
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
movement within the country. It does not address foreign travel, 
emigration, or repatriation, but in practice none of these were 
restricted.
    The law does not explicitly prohibit forced exile; however, 
statutes that prescribe punishments for crimes do not provide for the 
imposition of exile, and the Government did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Legislation 
introduced in Congress in November 2005 to establish a system for 
providing protection to refugees in accordance with the convention and 
protocol was still pending at year's end. In practice the Government 
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a 
country where they feared persecution. The Government did not grant 
refugee status or asylum, and there were no requests for refugee status 
or asylum during the year. The Government cooperated with the Office of 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The 14-member Congress is 
elected by popular vote from each state. Congress then chooses the 
President and vice President by majority vote from among its four at-
large senators. Elections for Congress were last held in March 2005.
    The elections were generally free and fair; however, there were 
serious discrepancies and evidence of fraud in two ballot boxes in 
Chuuk State. A court-ordered revote was held in one case, resulting in 
the incumbent's defeat. In the second case, the director of elections 
determined that exclusion of the suspect ballot box's results would not 
affect the outcome in that electoral district.
    State governors, state legislators, and municipal governments are 
elected by direct popular vote. Individuals can freely declare their 
candidacy and stand for election. There are no restrictions on the 
formation of political groups; however, there have been no significant 
efforts to form organized political parties, and none exist. Political 
support generally was sought from family and allied clan groupings, as 
well as religious groups.
    Cultural factors in the male-dominated society limited women's 
representation in government and politics. Women were well represented 
in the middle and lower ranks of government at both the federal and 
state level, and women held the federal cabinet-level positions of 
attorney general and public defender.
    There was one woman in the 23-seat Pohnpei State legislature and no 
women in the other state legislatures or in the national legislature.
    The country is a multicultural federation, and both the legislature 
and the Government included persons from various cultural backgrounds.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was 
a problem, particularly in Chuuk State. Following the 2004 convictions 
of the then speaker of Congress, one other member of Congress, and two 
former members on charges relating to misuse of government funds, the 
Attorney General's Office investigated and indicted other Chuuk 
politicians for corrupt practices, although one indicted member of 
Congress retained his seat in the March 2005 elections. The indicted 
member's trial in the Chuuk State supreme court was scheduled for 
December; however, the judge appointed to hear the case recused 
himself, and at year's end the chief justice had not yet appointed a 
new judge to handle the case.
    There is no national law providing for public access to government 
information. Under rules in effect during the year, the speaker of 
Congress can declare any congressional documents confidential. State 
laws and practices varied. Legislative hearings and deliberations 
generally were open to the public. The Pohnpei State legislature's 
proceedings were televised, and Yap's were broadcast on FM radio. 
Information from other branches of government also was accessible; 
however, retrieval sometimes was complicated and delayed by the loss or 
mishandling of records and by the concern of lower level administrative 
personnel with verifying that release of the particular information 
requested was permissible. There were no reported cases of government 
denial of access to media; however, there were only a small number of 
media outlets, and their reporting resources were limited.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Although there were no official restrictions, no local groups 
concerned themselves exclusively with human rights. There were groups 
that addressed problems concerning the rights of women and children, 
and the Government cooperated with these groups.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law provide explicit protection against 
discrimination based on race, sex, or language. The Attorney General 
successfully prosecuted one civil rights case against a municipal mayor 
in Chuuk State.

    Women.--Reports of spousal abuse, often severe, continued during 
the year. Although assault is a crime, there are no specific laws 
against domestic abuse, and there were no governmental or private 
facilities to shelter and support women in abusive situations. 
Effective prosecution of offenses was rare. In many cases victims 
decide against initiating legal charges because of family pressure, 
fear of further assault, or belief that the police will not involve 
themselves actively in what is seen as a private family problem.
    Sexual assault, including rape, is a crime. Sexual assault 
involving a dangerous weapon or serious physical or psychological harm 
to the victim is punishable by up to nine years' imprisonment in Chuuk 
and 10 years' imprisonment in the other three states, or a fine of up 
to $20,000 in Kosrae and $10,000 in the other states. (The U.S. dollar 
is the national currency.) If neither of these factors is involved, the 
assault is punishable in all states by up to five years' imprisonment 
or a fine. However, few cases were reported or prosecuted. There is no 
specific law against spousal rape. According to police and women's 
groups, there were a number of reports of physical and sexual assaults 
against women, both citizens and foreigners, outside the family 
context. In this traditional society, unmarried women sometimes were 
considered to have invited such violence by living or traveling alone.
    Within the traditional extended family unit, violence, abuse, and 
neglect directed against spouses or children were deemed offenses 
against the family, not just the individual victims, and were addressed 
by a complex system of familial sanctions. However, traditional methods 
of coping with family discord have been breaking down with increasing 
urbanization, monetization of the economy, and greater emphasis on the 
nuclear family. No government agency, including the police, has 
succeeded in replacing the extended family system or in addressing the 
problem of family violence directly.
    Prostitution is illegal and was not a major problem. The law does 
not prohibit sex tourism specifically, but it was not a problem. The 
law does not prohibit sexual harassment, which appeared to be 
pervasive, although seldom reported.
    Women have equal rights under the law, including the right to own 
property, and there were no institutional barriers to education or 
employment. Women received equal pay for equal work. There continued to 
be extensive societal discrimination against women, although women were 
active and increasingly successful in private business. There was an 
active national women's advisory council that lobbied the Government. 
Additionally, several small NGOs were interested in women's issues, 
particularly those associated with family violence and abuse. The 
Women's Interest Section of the Department of Health, Education and 
Social Affairs worked to protect and promote women's rights.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare 
through its programs of health care and education; however, these 
programs were inadequate to meet the needs of the population, 
particularly in an environment in which the extended family was 
breaking down. Health officials and religious leaders ran peer-support 
and family-care groups to address factors that could contribute to 
youth suicides.
    A compulsory education law requires all children to begin school at 
age six, but not all did so. A shortage of qualified teachers and lack 
of textbooks hampered progress. Education was free, and there was no 
difference between the education of boys and girls. Education levels 
differed among the states, but on average 75 percent of children 
finished eighth grade, 55 percent finished ninth grade, and 35 percent 
finished high school. Children may leave school when they reach the age 
of 14 or after completing the eighth grade, whichever comes first.
    The Government administered an immunization program throughout the 
country and provided some vitamin supplements.
    There were some anecdotal reports of child abuse and neglect, but 
no reliable statistics were available.

    Trafficking in Persons.--National and state laws do not 
specifically prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no 
reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination in 
public service employment against persons with disabilities. Children 
with physical or mental disabilities, including learning disabilities, 
were provided with special education, including instruction at home if 
necessary; however, such classes were dependent on foreign funding. 
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, access to health care, or provision of 
other state services; however, persons with disabilities usually did 
not seek employment outside the home.
    Neither laws nor regulations mandate accessibility to public 
buildings or services for persons with disabilities. Some private 
businesses provided special parking spaces and wheelchair ramps.
    The national health services department was responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
    Due to the lack of facilities for treating mentally ill persons, 
some persons with mental illnesses but no criminal background were 
housed in jails. The authorities provided separate rooms in jails for 
persons suffering from mental illness, and the state health services 
departments provided medications to the patients. During the year a 
mentally ill person killed another mentally ill person in the Yap State 
jail (see section 1.c.).

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Each of the country's four 
states has a different language and culture. Traditionally the state of 
Yap had a caste-like social system with high-status villages, each of 
which had an affiliated low-status village. In the past those who came 
from low-status villages worked without pay for those with higher 
status. In exchange those with higher status offered care and 
protection to those subservient to them. The traditional hierarchical 
social system has been gradually breaking down, and capable people from 
low-status villages can rise to senior positions in society. 
Nonetheless, the traditional system continued to affect contemporary 
life, with individuals from low-status villages still likely to defer 
to those with higher status. Persons from low-status backgrounds tended 
to be less assertive in advocating for their communities' needs with 
the Government. As a result low-status communities sometimes continued 
to be underserved.
    The national and state constitutions prohibit noncitizens from 
purchasing land, and a 2002 law limits the occupations that noncitizens 
may fill. The national Congress grants citizenship to non-Micronesians 
only in rare cases. There is no permanent residency status. However, 
for the most part noncitizens shared fully in the social and cultural 
life of the country.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Under the constitution citizens have 
the right to form or join associations, and national government 
employees by law may form associations to ``present their views'' to 
the Government without coercion, discrimination, or reprisals. For a 
variety of reasons, including the fact that most private-sector 
employment was in small-scale, family-owned businesses and citizens 
were not accustomed to collective bargaining, there were neither 
associations nor trade unions. Although foreign workers have the right 
to form unions, they have not done so.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--No law deals 
specifically with trade unions or with the right to collective 
bargaining, and there were no reports of collective bargaining 
agreements during the year. Individual employers, the largest of which 
were the national and state governments, set wages. There is no 
specific right to strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that 
such practices occurred. This prohibition does not mention specifically 
forced and compulsory labor by children, but there were no reports that 
such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
National and state laws do not establish a minimum age for employment 
of children. In practice there was no employment of children for wages; 
however, children often assisted their families in subsistence farming 
and in family-owned shops.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The four state governments have 
established minimum wage rates for government workers. Pohnpei had a 
minimum hourly wage rate of $2.00 for government and $1.35 for private-
sector workers. The other three states have established minimum hourly 
rates only for government workers: $1.25 for Chuuk, $1.49 for Kosrae, 
and $0.80 for Yap. The minimum hourly wage for employment with the 
national government was $2.64. These minimum wage structures and the 
wages customarily paid to skilled workers were sufficient to provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was 
enforced through the tax system, and this mechanism was believed to be 
effective.
    There are no laws regulating hours of work (although a 40-hour 
workweek was standard practice) or prescribing standards of 
occupational safety and health. A federal regulation requires that 
employers provide a safe workplace. The Department of Health has no 
enforcement capability, and working conditions varied in practice.
    There is no law for either the public or private sector that 
permits workers to remove themselves from dangerous work situations 
without jeopardy to their continued employment.
    Foreign workers were not subjected to abuse or deported without 
cause. They have the right to a hearing if facing deportation. Foreign 
garment factory workers who lost their jobs when their employing 
factory closed were repatriated by the employer.
    Working conditions onboard some Taiwan- and People's Republic of 
China-owned fishing vessels operating in the country's waters were very 
poor. Crewmen reported a high incidence of injuries, beatings by 
officers, and nonpayment of salary.

                               __________

                                MONGOLIA

    Mongolia, with a population of approximately 2.6 million, is a 
multiparty, parliamentary democracy. The constitution establishes a 
hybrid Presidential-parliamentary system of government. Observers noted 
minor irregularities in the 2005 Presidential elections. Parliament 
(the State Great Hural), with the agreement of the President, selects 
the Prime Minister, who is nominated by the majority party. In January 
a new ``unity'' coalition government replaced the coalition government 
formed in September 2004, and parliament confirmed M. Enkhbold of the 
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) as prime minister. While 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces, there were a few instances in which individuals in the 
security forces committed abuses.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, the following human rights problems were noted: 
police abuse of prisoners and detainees; impunity; poor conditions at 
prisons and pretrial detention centers; arbitrary arrest, lengthy 
detention, and corruption within the judicial system; criminal 
defamation laws resulting in self-censorship by the press; continued 
refusal by one province to register Christian churches; sweeping 
secrecy laws and a lack of transparency; endemic domestic violence 
against women; international trafficking of persons; and some domestic 
cases of child prostitution.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
abuse by security forces likely caused some deaths during the year. In 
May the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported that police 
abuse of suspects resulting in death was a persistent problem over the 
years, and it cited numerous examples. There often was a lag time in 
reporting and investigating cases, and examples of new deaths in police 
custody during the year were not readily available.
    The June 2005 death of a man beaten in a detention facility 
remained officially under investigation at year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police 
(especially in rural areas) occasionally beat prisoners and detainees, 
and the use of unnecessary force--particularly to obtain confessions--
in the arrest process was common.
    In its annual report, the NHRC condemned persistent abuse of 
suspects, including some cases resulting in death (see section 1.a.). 
Among 1,338 detainees the NHRC surveyed at eight pretrial detention 
centers in 2005, over 70 percent said they had confessed under duress 
or actual force. In many credible cases, suspects were placed in cells 
with violent inmates whom investigators had instructed to coerce 
confessions. In 2005 at the end of a fact-finding visit conducted at 
the invitation of the Government, the UN special rapporteur on torture 
publicly expressed concern about the persistence of incidents of 
torture, particularly in police stations and pretrial detention 
facilities.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in pretrial 
detention and prison facilities were poor. Insufficient food, heat, and 
medical care threatened the health and life of inmates. The NHRC annual 
report declared that no detention facility met the country's own 
standards and found little or no progress since a 2004 inspection 
revealed severe deficiencies. Overcrowding continued to be a problem. 
The number of prisoners in the central detention facility in 
Ulaanbaatar was sometimes 50 percent over intended capacity, resulting 
in many detainees having less than nine square feet of space each. 
However, in late December officials reported 698 detainees at the 
facility, only slightly over capacity, probably reflecting releases 
after the June amnesty (see section 1.d.).
    Prison staff members, including guards, social workers, and medical 
staff, received human rights training. The Ministry of Justice and Home 
Affairs (MOJHA) Department for the Enforcement of Court Decisions 
monitored conditions in prisons and detention facilities, but new laws 
and procedures were not publicized widely.
    Many inmates entered prison infected with tuberculosis or 
contracted it in prison. The Government's tuberculosis hospital 
provided treatment for a large number of prisoners and generally 
isolated infected persons from the general prison population. While the 
number of inmates who died from the disease declined significantly over 
the years, infection in prisons and detention facilities and poor 
treatment for the disease remained serious concerns.
    Outside of Ulaanbaatar, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 who 
were charged with crimes were sometimes kept in the same detention 
centers as adult prisoners.
    Improvements in detention and prison conditions outside the capital 
were minimal. At least two domestic and six foreign nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) worked to improve conditions in prisons and 
detention centers by providing clothing, food, books, English-language 
instruction, and vocational training in computers and trades.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors, 
foreign diplomats, and journalists.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides that no person 
shall be searched, arrested, detained, or deprived of liberty except by 
specified procedures; however, arbitrary arrest and detention remained 
problems. General public awareness of basic rights and judicial 
procedures, including rights with regard to arrest and detention 
procedures, was limited, especially in the countryside.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces are 
under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense (MOD), MOJHA, and the 
General Intelligence Agency (GIA). Military forces under the MOD are 
responsible for external security, and the MOD also handles civil 
defense, giving it a role in internal security. National police operate 
under the MOJHA, and during peacetime the national border security 
guard force is also under MOJHA control. The GIA, formerly the State 
Security Agency, is responsible for both internal security and foreign 
intelligence collection and operations. The GIA's civilian head has 
ministerial status and reports directly to the Prime Minister.
    There was general agreement that corruption in law enforcement 
agencies was endemic, although the Government did take some limited 
steps against the problem. The NHRC annual report concurred with the 
2005 judgment of the UN special rapporteur on torture that police who 
abused detainees operated in a climate of impunity (see section 1.c.). 
Laws and mechanisms to investigate police abuses were also inadequate. 
There were some efforts by the Government to improve training and 
professionalism of the police, but progress was slow.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may arrest persons suspected of a 
crime and hold them for up to 72 hours before a decision is made to 
prosecute or release them. Arrest without a warrant was fairly common. 
According to the NHRC, 919 out of 978 persons detained in the main 
pretrial detention center near Ulaanbaatar were arrested under the 
``pressing circumstances'' exception to the requirement that a warrant 
should be obtained from a judge prior to arrest. Under the criminal 
code, a court order must be requested to continue holding a suspect 
after 24 hours. If a court order is not granted within 72 hours, the 
suspect must be released.
    The maximum pretrial detention with a court order is 24 months; an 
additional six months are allowed for particularly serious crimes such 
as murder. Detainees may be released on bail with approval of a 
prosecutor.
    A detainee has the right to a defense attorney during this period 
and during all subsequent stages of the legal process. If a defendant 
cannot afford a private attorney, the Government must appoint an 
attorney. However, many detainees were not made aware of this right and 
did not assert it. There was a shortage of public-funded and pro bono 
attorneys for low-income defendants, particularly outside of 
Ulaanbaatar. The low quality of attorney training and the bureaucratic 
obstacles faced by attorneys and defendants were chronic problems.
    According to an administrative regulation, if a person is wrongly 
charged with a crime, the Government must restore the person's rights 
and reputation and provide compensation; however, this regulation was 
rarely followed in practice.
    A person forcibly abducted from France for questioning in 
connection with the 1998 killing of former infrastructure minister and 
Member of Parliament Sanjaasuren Zorig was released in February because 
of ill health, and he died in April. Before his release, he had been 
serving a jail sentence for a fraud conviction unrelated to the Zorig 
killing.

    Amnesty.--In June parliament passed an amnesty law in conjunction 
with the 800th anniversary of the establishment of a Mongolian state. 
Under the amnesty, authorities released about 700 prisoners in July and 
exempted others from prosecution or imposition of punishment. Prisoners 
released under the law included women 55 years and older, men 60 years 
and older, children, prisoners with disabilities, and some prisoners 
with children.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice; however, corruption and outside influence were 
problems.
    The judiciary consists of district, provincial, and separate 
constitutional and supreme courts. The 11-member Supreme Court is the 
court of final appeal, hearing appeals from lower courts and cases 
involving alleged misconduct by high-level officials. District courts 
primarily hear routine criminal and civil cases, while more serious 
cases, such as murder, rape, and grand larceny, are sent to the 
provincial courts. Provincial courts also serve as the appeals court 
for lower court decisions. The Constitutional Court, which is separate 
from criminal courts, has sole jurisdiction over constitutional 
questions. The General Council of Courts, an administrative body within 
the MOJHA, nominates candidates for vacancies on the courts; the 
President has the power to approve or refuse such nominations. The 
council also is charged with protecting the rights of judges and 
providing for the independence of the judiciary. The military judicial 
system was abolished in 1993; since then, all military cases have been 
handled in civilian courts.

    Trial Procedures.--According to law, all accused persons have the 
right to due process, legal defense, and a public trial by judge. 
Juries are not used. Closed proceedings are permitted in cases 
involving state secrets, rape cases involving minors, and other cases 
as provided by law. Defendants may question witnesses, present 
evidence, and appeal decisions. The law provides that defendants are 
innocent until proven guilty. There was a shortage of state-provided 
defense lawyers, and many defendants lacked adequate legal 
representation. There was a heavy reliance on confessions, many of 
which were coerced by police (see section 1.c.). Judges often relied on 
questionable confessions in convicting defendants.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Enforcement of court 
orders was a problem. Although victims of police abuse were able by law 
to sue for actual damages, the NHRC annual report noted that the many 
problems with the law made it useless in checking police abuse or 
compensating victims.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However, the head 
of the GIA, with the knowledge and consent of the Prime Minister, was 
allowed to direct the monitoring and recording of telephone 
conversations. The extent of such monitoring was unknown. Police 
wiretaps must be approved by the prosecutor's office and were 
authorized for two weeks at a time.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. However, government interference with licensing and 
indirect intimidation of the press, particularly broadcast media, 
remained a concern.
    A variety of newspapers and other publications represented both 
major political party and independent viewpoints. Due to transportation 
difficulties, unreliable postal service, and fluctuations in the amount 
of newsprint available, not all publications were available in rural 
areas. The media law bans censorship of public information and any 
legislation that would limit the freedom to publish and broadcast. The 
Government monitored all media for compliance with antiviolence, 
antipornography, anti-alcohol, and tax laws.
    While there was no direct government censorship, the press alleged 
indirect censorship in the form of government and political party 
harassment, such as frequent libel lawsuits and tax audits. The law 
places the burden of proof on the defendant in libel and slander cases. 
An NGO study indicated that between 2001 and 2005 there were a total of 
151 civil defamation suits and five criminal defamation cases filed 
against journalists by private individuals and officials. During the 
year there were two successful criminal defamation suits against 
journalists who had written articles suggesting the President had 
engaged in corrupt activities. The plaintiffs in both cases were other 
persons mentioned in the articles. A court imposed fines of $2,600 (3 
million tugrik) and $1,700 (2.1 million tugrik), which were not 
collected after both journalists benefited from the amnesty law passed 
in June (see section 1.d.). Another journalist lost a civil defamation 
case filed by a bank after she wrote an article claiming that the 
President might own part of the bank. She was ordered to pay $8,600 (10 
million tugrik) in damages.
    Officials as well as private citizens unhappy with news reports 
subjected journalists to physical intimidation and other threats. In 
some instances, representatives from print and electronic media 
covering protests alleged that police briefly detained them or scuffled 
with them to prevent coverage. Journalists objected to police efforts 
in May to forestall television news photographers from covering a 
police action to clear demonstrators from Ulaanbaatar's central square, 
and to police action during the arrest in late October of a prominent 
civil movement demonstrator on assault charges. As a result of all 
these problems, some media practiced self-censorship. However, other 
independent media outlets at times were strongly critical of the 
Government.
    While the print media were relatively free of political 
interference, broadcast media were not. A lack of transparency during 
the tender process, as well as lack of a truly independent licensing 
authority, inhibited fair competition for broadcast frequency licenses 
and benefited those with political connections. At the provincial 
level, local government control of the licensing process similarly 
inhibited the development of independent television stations.
    While there were several broadcast and cable television stations in 
Ulaanbaatar, Mongol TV remained the major source of television 
programming in rural areas. However, four additional VHF stations and 
several cable television providers made inroads and provided 
alternatives. During the year additional television stations began to 
broadcast in rural areas.
    The national council created by a 2005 law that shifted Mongol 
Radio and TV to ``public'' status began work during the year but was 
plagued by public splits and allegations that a majority of members 
were partisans of the MPRP, rather than truly independent. Under the 
new law, the main financial sources for the stations are license fees, 
state subsidies, and sponsorship.
    Due to local government control over the licensing process, local 
entities reported difficulties in acquiring licenses for local radio 
stations. However, one independent radio station broadcast widely, and 
there were increasing numbers of small local FM stations.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice.
    A variety of demonstrations took place on Sukhbaatar Square and at 
the nearby building housing parliament and the offices of the President 
and prime minister. Most of those staging the demonstrations had not 
filed applications for permits. Demonstrators frequently erected tents 
on the square and stayed for days. Police generally allowed such 
demonstrations to proceed unhindered but in some cases forcibly removed 
the protesters after demonstrators ignored police warnings to disperse. 
No serious injuries were reported as a result of these police actions.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    Religious groups were required to register with the MOJHA. Local 
assemblies have the authority to approve applications at the local 
level, while the MOJHA's role is to issue the registration once local 
approval is obtained. Registration and re-registration were burdensome 
for all religious groups and could take years. The length and 
documentation requirements of the process discouraged some 
organizations from applying. Ulaanbaatar authorities approved 15 
churches during the year; one approved in May had first applied in 
2003. No churches were known to have been refused registration in 
Ulaanbaatar. Authorities in Tov aimag (province), near Ulaanbaatar, 
routinely denied registration to churches, and no churches were 
registered in that province.
    The Kazakh Muslim minority, whose population of approximately 
100,000 was primarily concentrated in the western part of the country, 
generally enjoyed freedom of religion. However, the Government 
monitored the Kazakh community closely for any activity that could be 
construed as ``Kazakh political separatism'' or ``terrorism.''
    Under the law, the Government may supervise and limit the number of 
clergy and places of worship for organized religions. The Government 
used the registration process as a mechanism to limit the number of 
places for religious worship; however, there were no reports that it 
limited the number of clergy during the year.
    The law does not prohibit proselytizing, but it forbids the use of 
incentives, pressure, or ``deceptive methods'' to introduce religion. 
In addition, a Ministry of Education directive bans mixing foreign 
language or other training with religious instruction.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts during the year. There was no identified Mongolian Jewish 
population, and the number of resident Jews was very small.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The 
law does not provide asylum or refugee status, and the Government has 
not established a system for providing protection to refugees. In 
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, but it 
did not routinely grant refugee or asylum status.
    Several hundred North Koreans reportedly entered the country from 
China, and the Government allowed them to be resettled elsewhere. The 
Government's concerns about the potential for large numbers of migrants 
to arrive from neighboring countries increased opposition to accession 
to the 1951 UN convention.
    The Government continued talks with representatives of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees on refugee and asylum issues.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, and largely free and fair, elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage. The law limits the President to two four-year 
terms; parliamentary and local elections are held separately, also for 
four-year terms.
    The law provides that the majority party in parliament, in 
consultation with the President, shall appoint the Prime Minister. The 
demarcation of powers between the President and the Prime Minister has 
been the subject of several constitutional amendments and court 
challenges. Members of parliament may serve as cabinet ministers. There 
is no requirement that the Prime Minister or other ministers be a 
member of parliament.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2005 Presidential 
election won by N. Enkhbayar, observers found a variety of minor 
irregularities in the election process, but no major problems were 
cited. In a September parliamentary by-election, observers found some 
minor problems but no major irregularities. The campaign and balloting 
processes for the June 2004 parliamentary elections were marred by 
violations and inconsistencies. Two seats were disputed and resolved in 
court in 2005.
    There were 20 registered political parties, including two new 
parties registered during the year; seven parties were represented in 
parliament.
    Major changes enacted in late 2005 will affect the next 
parliamentary elections, slated for 2008. Under the changes, members of 
parliament will be elected from multi-member constituencies instead of 
individual constituencies. Each province and district of Ulaanbaatar 
will be a constituency, and voters will cast separate votes for two to 
four members of parliament who will represent the constituency. The new 
law also provides that citizens living abroad will be able to vote, 
although arrangements for accomplishing this had not yet been worked 
out.
    There were no legal impediments to the participation of women or 
minorities in government and politics. There were five women in the 76-
member parliament. No women were included in the cabinet or the Supreme 
Court. Women and women's organizations were vocal in local and national 
politics and actively sought greater female representation in 
government policymaking. The new parliamentary election law stipulates 
that at least 30 percent of candidates nominated in future general 
elections must be women.
    There were three ethnic Kazakhs serving in parliament.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was perceived 
to be a growing problem at both lower and upper levels of government. 
The NGO Transparency International reported a perception of rampant 
corruption in the country. Corruption was particularly severe in the 
police, the judiciary, customs, and other elements of government. In 
July parliament passed an anticorruption law that included provisions 
for a new anticorruption agency. The law went into force on November 1, 
and in late December, parliament approved the President's nominee to 
head the new agency. As well as providing additional investigatory 
capacity for corruption crimes, the new agency will oversee the filing 
of asset and income disclosure forms by all civil servants. This 
information on senior officials is to be published annually beginning 
in 2008.
    Government and parliamentary decision making was not sufficiently 
transparent, and public legislative hearings were rare. The far-
reaching State Secrets Law inhibited freedom of information, government 
transparency, and accountability. There were public calls to amend the 
law and implement the equivalent of a freedom of information act.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    With assistance from the UN Development Program, a local 
representative in each provincial assembly monitored human rights 
conditions, among other duties.
    The National Commission on Human Rights consists of three senior 
civil servants nominated by the President, the Supreme Court, and 
parliament for terms of six years. The NCHR is responsible for 
monitoring human rights abuses, initiating and reviewing policy 
changes, and coordinating with human rights NGOs. The NCHR reports 
directly to parliament. In its annual reports, the NCHR repeatedly 
criticized the Government for abuses of the power of arrest and 
detention, poor conditions in detention and prison facilities, lengthy 
detentions without trial, and failure to implement laws related to 
human rights. The reports also faulted parliament and the courts for 
failing to protect human rights fully. In May a plenary session of 
parliament discussed the NCHR's report for the first time. In June 
parliament directed the Government to take measures to prevent human 
rights violations in criminal proceedings, including drafting 
amendments to the Civil Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to conform 
to the International Convention against Torture, and to eradicate 
violations of human rights reported by the NHRC. Parliament also 
budgeted money to build a new pretrial detention facility in 
Ulaanbaatar.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law states that ``no person shall be discriminated against on 
the basis of ethnic origin, language, race, age, sex, social origin, or 
status,'' and that ``men and women shall be equal in political, 
economic, social, cultural fields, and family.'' The Government 
generally enforced these provisions in practice.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem. Rape 
and domestic abuse are illegal, and offenders can be prosecuted after 
formal charges have been filed. In 2005 a comprehensive law 
specifically dealing with domestic violence came into effect. As of 
August all 37 cases prosecuted under the law resulted in convictions. 
The law requires police to accept and file complaints, visit the site 
of the incidents, interrogate the offenders and witnesses, explain the 
law, impose administrative criminal penalties, bring victims to refuge, 
and transfer custody of the relatives if necessary. It outlines the 
role of social welfare organizations and NGOs and also provides for the 
following sanctions on offenders: expulsion from home or separate 
accommodations, prohibitions on the use of jointly owned property, 
prohibitions on meeting victims and on access to minors, compulsory 
training aimed at behavior modification, and compulsory treatment for 
alcoholism.
    There were no reliable statistics regarding the extent of domestic 
abuse, but qualified observers believed that it affected as much as 
one-third of the female population. Virtually all of those who 
committed violent crimes in the home were men, and women typically were 
the victims. In recent years domestic abuse has become more violent, 
including increases in the number of murders. After many years of 
government and societal denial, there was increasing public and media 
discussion of domestic violence, including spousal and child abuse. 
However, the perception remained that domestic abuse was either a 
family issue or not a problem. In recent years economic and societal 
changes created new stresses on families, including loss of jobs, 
inflation, and lowered spending on social and educational programs. 
Some statistics showed that more than 60 percent of family abuse cases 
were related to alcohol abuse. The high rate of alcohol abuse 
contributed to increased instances of family abuse and abandonment and 
added to the number of single-parent families, most of which were 
headed by women. Women were hesitant to ask authorities to prosecute 
cases of domestic abuse because of likely long-term detention of 
spouses and the resulting loss of household income.
    The Family Law details rights and responsibilities regarding 
alimony and parents' rights, and it is intended to bring about timely 
dispute settlement and ameliorate the causes of some domestic violence. 
The National Center against Violence operated branches in two districts 
of Ulaanbaatar and eight provinces. There were four shelters for 
victims of domestic abuse, largely funded by foreign charitable 
organizations.
    There is no law specifically prohibiting spousal rape. Rape, 
including spousal rape, remained a problem. During the year there were 
314 cases of rape reported to authorities, down slightly from 320 cases 
in 2005; however, many rapes were not reported. NGOs stated that police 
procedures were stressful to traumatized rape victims and tended to 
discourage reporting of the crime. According to NGOs, police referred 
for prosecution a minority of cases, largely on the basis that there 
was insufficient evidence for prosecution.
    Prostitution is legal. However, public solicitation for 
prostitution and organizing prostitution remained illegal. There were 
reports that some women worked in the sex trade elsewhere in Asia and 
other countries; an unknown number of them were trafficked (see section 
5, Trafficking).
    There are no laws against sexual harassment. According to NGOs, 
there was a lack of awareness on what constitutes inappropriate 
behavior, making it difficult to gauge the actual extent of the 
problem.
    The law provides men and women with equal rights in all areas. By 
law, women are to receive equal pay for equal work and have equal 
access to education. Women represented approximately half of the work 
force, and a significant number were the primary wage earners for their 
families. The law prohibits women from working in certain occupations 
that require heavy labor or exposure to chemicals that could affect 
infant and maternal health, and the Government effectively enforced 
these provisions. Many women occupied midlevel positions in government 
and business, and many were involved in the creation and management of 
new trading and manufacturing businesses.
    There was no separate government agency to oversee women's rights; 
however, there was a national council to coordinate policy and women's 
interests among ministries and NGOs, and the Ministry of Social Welfare 
and Labor had a Division for Women and Youth Issues. There were 
approximately 40 women's rights groups that concerned themselves with 
issues such as maternal and child health, domestic violence, and equal 
opportunity.

    Children.--Increased societal stress on the family structure had 
adverse effects on many children. Although the Government was unable to 
keep pace with the educational, health, and social needs of this 
rapidly growing segment of the population, in principle it remained 
committed to children's rights and welfare. The Government provided 
children with free and compulsory public education through the age of 
16; however, family economic needs and state budgetary troubles made it 
difficult for some children to attend school. In practice, female 
children over the age of 15 had better opportunities to complete their 
education than male children, because teenage males often were required 
to work at home, and schools generally were located far from homes (see 
section 6.d.). In addition, there continued to be a severe shortage of 
teachers and teaching materials at all educational levels.
    There was growing awareness that child abuse, often associated with 
parental alcoholism, was a problem. In conjunction with efforts to 
counter violence against women, NGOs began to address the problem.
    By year's end the national police documented 156 cases of suspected 
underage prostitution. In addition, there were some known or suspected 
cases of international trafficking of girls under age 18 (see section 
5, Trafficking). In June Chinese police returned a 17-year-old boy who 
reported that he had been taken across the border and forced to steal.
    Although society has a long tradition of raising children in a 
communal manner, societal and familial changes orphaned many children. 
The Government was more willing than in the past to admit the extent of 
the problem, but it lacked the resources to improve the welfare of 
children who became victims. NGOs continued to assist orphaned and 
abandoned children. Experts estimated that there were approximately 
1,300 homeless children, of whom about 70 lived on the street; the 
remainder lived in shelters. Female street children, who accounted for 
one-third of all street children, sometimes faced sexual abuse. The 
Government established the National Committee for Children to address 
this and other child welfare problems. There were two government-funded 
but privately owned and administered shelters, one for children up to 
age three and the other for children ages three to 16. Foreign 
charities operated more than 40 other shelters.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking 
in women and children; however, there was evidence that some females, 
including girls under 18, working in prostitution in other countries, 
were victims of trafficking rings. The country was both a source and 
transit point for trafficking. Most victims were trafficked to the 
People's Republic of China or Macau, to which citizens are able to 
travel without visas. However, cases in destinations such as South 
Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland, and Hungary were 
alleged or confirmed.
    During the year police investigated 12 cases of trafficking abroad 
involving 25 victims. While they did not refer most cases to 
prosecutors because of insufficient evidence or other problems, police 
did refer four cases for prosecution. At the end of the year, three of 
these cases remained under consideration by prosecutors, and one had 
been dropped due to lack of evidence. In January a court convicted a 
woman and sentenced her to more than 10 years in prison for trafficking 
to Macau; this was the first conviction won under the antitrafficking 
offense included in 2002 revisions to the criminal code.
    Although most officials and NGOs found it difficult to estimate the 
extent of trafficking, increasing attention was focused on the problem. 
According to a study during the year, those most vulnerable to 
trafficking were between 19 and 35 years of age, with the highest risk 
associated with low-income and unemployed females. Many victims were 
lured abroad by offers to study or work, while others wittingly went 
abroad as sex workers but found themselves in coercive situations. 
Preventive steps to combat trafficking, such as increased law 
enforcement measures, were very limited. As a result, it was not 
difficult to traffic persons across the country's borders. Some NGO 
experts believed that members of the police sometimes were involved in 
trafficking young women and helping facilitate their movement across 
borders.
    Protections for victims and witnesses were extremely limited, which 
discouraged them from coming forward. Furthermore, social stigma 
inhibited victims from telling their stories. The Government had 
limited resources and divergent priorities and provided no direct 
assistance for trafficking victims. NGOs offered support when possible, 
and the Government relied on NGOs to increase awareness and initiate 
prevention programs. During the year authorities began to implement the 
national action plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation of 
women and children, which included enhanced efforts by Mongolian 
diplomatic missions to combat the problem and assist victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The labor law prohibits discrimination 
in employment and education against persons with disabilities. The law 
also requires the Government to provide benefits according to the 
nature and severity of the disability, which it did. The Law on Social 
Protection of the Disabled gives provincial governors and the 
Ulaanbaatar governor the responsibility to work with provincial 
councils and the Ulaanbaatar city council to develop and implement 
measures to protect persons with disabilities. However, NGOs claimed 
that the Government did little to implement such measures, and in 
practice most persons with disabilities could not find jobs. The law 
requires companies employing more than 50 persons to hire at least 
three persons with disabilities.
    The Government provided tax benefits to enterprises that hired 
persons with disabilities, whom some firms hired exclusively. Persons 
injured in industrial accidents had the right to reemployment when 
ready to resume work, and the Government offered free retraining at a 
central technical school. There were several specialized schools for 
youth with disabilities, but these students also were free to attend 
regular schools. There is no law mandating access to buildings for 
persons with disabilities, which made it difficult for these persons to 
participate fully in public life. Persons with disabilities 
demonstrated for higher government subsidies. Government pensions for 
persons with disabilities were approximately $23 (26,500 tugrik) per 
month. Some 30 NGOs participated in activities assisting approximately 
40,000 persons with disabilities.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no official 
discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS; however, some societal 
discrimination existed.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles all workers to form 
or join unions and professional organizations of their choosing, and 
the Government respected this right in practice. However, some legal 
provisions restrict these rights for groups such as foreign workers, 
public servants, and workers without employment contracts.
    Union officials estimated that union membership declined over the 
years to 220,000, which represented less than one-quarter of the 
workforce. Workers who were self-employed or who worked at small firms 
generally did not belong to unions. No arbitrary restrictions limited 
who could be a union official, and officers were elected by secret 
ballot.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
regulates relations among employers, employees, trade unions, and the 
Government. The Government's role is limited to ensuring that contracts 
meet legal requirements concerning hours and conditions of work. Wages 
and other conditions of employment are set between employers, whether 
state or private, and employees, with trade union input in some cases. 
The Labor Dispute Settlement Commission resolves disputes involving an 
individual; disputes involving groups were referred to intermediaries 
and arbitrators for reconciliation.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. If an employer fails to comply with a 
recommendation, employees may exercise their right to strike. The law 
protects worker rights to participate in trade union activities without 
discrimination. However, the Government does not allow intervention in 
collective bargaining by third parties and prohibits third parties from 
organizing a strike. The International Labor Organization Committee of 
Experts described this as a ``serious restriction on the free 
functioning of trade unions'' and requested the Government to change 
it.
    Persons employed in essential services, which the Government 
defines as occupations critical for national defense and safety, 
including police, utility, and transportation workers, do not have the 
right to strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law specifically 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally 
enforced this provision. Although most prisoners were required to work 
as part of their sentences, they received monetary compensation to send 
to their families or use to buy food, books, and sanitary items. 
Prisoners in maximum security or serving custodial prison sentences of 
less than six months were excluded from compulsory labor.
    Beginning in 2004, North Korean laborers were employed under 
contracts between the North Korean Ministry of Light Industry and 
private companies, with government approval, primarily in the 
construction and service industries. Approximately 200 North Korean 
workers brought in through official channels worked in the country 
during the year. The contract terms generally required that the 
laborers return to North Korea at the end of the contract. The Ministry 
of Social Welfare and Labor did not monitor the working or living 
conditions of these workers. Allegedly some North Korean workers were 
not free to leave their employment or complain if work conditions were 
unacceptable. These workers, who reportedly were monitored closely by 
``minders'' from their government, did not routinely receive direct and 
full salary payments. In addition, possible pressure on family members 
in North Korea raised additional concerns that the labor of these 
workers was not fully voluntary.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits children under the age of 16 from working, although those 
who are 14 or 15 years of age may work up to 30 hours per week with 
parental consent. Those under age 18 may not work at night, engage in 
arduous work, or work in hazardous occupations such as mining and 
construction. Labor inspectors assigned to regional and local offices 
were responsible for enforcement of these prohibitions, as well as all 
other labor regulations. These inspectors have the authority to compel 
immediate compliance with labor legislation, but enforcement was 
limited, due to the small number of labor inspectors and the growing 
number of independent enterprises.
    Children worked informally in petty trade, scavenging in dumpsites, 
in unauthorized small-scale mining, and herding animals. Increasing 
alcoholism and parental abandonment made it necessary for many children 
to have an income to support themselves, their siblings, and sometimes 
their parents. Estimates placed the number of children in the labor 
force as high as 58,000.
    In addition, due to economic pressures, many children, especially 
teenage boys in the countryside, dropped out of school before age 18 
(see section 5). Children most often herded family livestock, but 
reports of children working in factories or coal mines continued.
    The Government prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children 
and effectively enforced this prohibition.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage 
established for the year was approximately $46 (53,000 tugrik) per 
month. This minimum wage, which applied to both public and private 
sector workers and was enforced by the labor ministry, did not provide 
a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
    The standard legal workweek is 40 hours, and there is a minimum 
rest period of 48 hours between workweeks. By law, overtime work is 
compensated at either double the standard hourly rate or by giving time 
off equal to the number of hours of overtime worked. Pregnant women and 
nursing mothers are prohibited by law from working overtime. For those 
16 and 17 years of age, the workweek is 36 hours, and overtime work is 
not allowed. These laws generally were enforced in practice.
    There were increasing numbers of Chinese workers in low-wage 
construction jobs, who often lived under spare conditions, but 
generally enjoyed the same protections as citizens. However, due to 
various pressures and restrictions, a small number of North Korean 
workers in the construction and service industries may not have been 
able to speak out about working conditions (see section 6.c.).
    Laws on labor, cooperatives, and enterprises set occupational 
health and safety standards. However, the near-total reliance on 
outmoded machinery and problems with maintenance and management led to 
frequent industrial accidents, particularly in the mining, power, and 
construction sectors. Enforcement of occupational health and safety 
standards was inadequate. The labor monitoring unit employed only 73 
inspectors to inspect a growing number of enterprises throughout the 
country. According to the law, workers have the right to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations and still retain their jobs.

                               __________

                                 NAURU

    Nauru is a constitutional republic with a population of 
approximately 9,200. The most recent parliamentary elections, held in 
October 2004, were generally free and fair. There were no formal 
political parties. The unicameral Parliament elects one of its members 
to be the President, who is both chief of state and head of government. 
In October 2004 Parliament reelected President Ludwig Scotty. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security force.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. A few human rights problems 
were reported, including frequent judicial delays, some restrictions on 
the activities of certain religions, and social and economic 
marginalization of stranded foreign former mine workers until their 
repatriation in midyear. Despite the ostensible deactivation of 
Australia's refugee processing center in the country, a small number of 
asylum seekers remained held there in isolated, Spartan conditions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
austere but generally met international standards.
    The Government affirmed it would permit visits by independent human 
rights observers, but none were reported. Prison visits by church 
groups and family members were permitted.
    Since 2001 the country has hosted a refugee processing and 
detention center funded by Australia and operated by the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM). Australian human rights organizations 
and some politicians have repeatedly expressed concern about the 
detention center's isolation and austere conditions, and called for the 
asylum seekers to be removed from Nauru. Early in the year the facility 
was declared deactivated, and its two remaining asylum seekers, both 
Iraqi nationals, were moved to an administrative building outside the 
center. In August one of the two was moved to Australia, and in 
December a third country agreed to accept the second for resettlement. 
However, in September seven Burmese asylum seekers were transferred 
from a refugee detention facility on Australia's Christmas Island to 
Nauru for further processing, effectively re-opening the detention 
center (see section 2.d.).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has no 
military force. The Ministry of Justice oversees the 109-member police 
force. Under a cooperative agreement, Australian Federal Police 
officers were seconded to the country's police force to facilitate 
organizational reforms and training and to increase police 
accountability, skills, professionalism, and community responsiveness. 
There were no reported cases of police corruption or impunity.

    Arrest and Detention.--Arrests are made openly, based either on 
warrants issued by authorized officials or for proximate cause by a 
police officer witnessing a crime. Police may hold a person for no more 
than 24 hours without a hearing before a magistrate. There was a 
functioning bail system. Authorities confiscated the passports of some 
accused persons released on bail to prevent flight. The law provides 
for accused persons to have access to legal assistance, but in practice 
qualified assistance was not always readily available.
    Judicial delays were a problem. The lack of qualified magistrates 
and judges, coupled with severe financial constraints, caused delays of 
up to two years, during which defendants were released from detention 
to await trial.
    Human rights activists continued to assert that the detention by 
Australian authorities of asylum seekers in Nauru was in violation of 
both countries' constitutions. The courts of both countries have ruled 
that the detention arrangements are legal.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The Supreme Court is the highest court addressing constitutional 
issues; it is presided over by the chief justice. Parliament cannot 
overturn court decisions. Under the Appeals Act, the High Court of 
Australia may review criminal and civil cases, but this rarely was 
done. A resident magistrate presides over the district court, and also 
the family court as chairman of a three-member panel. Three lay 
magistrates handle simple cases; serious matters are given directly to 
the Supreme Court.
    The constitution also provides for two quasi-courts: the Public 
Service Appeal Board and the Police Service Board. The chief justice 
presides over both boards.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
Procedural safeguards are based on English common law. They include the 
presumption of innocence; the right to be informed promptly of charges; 
a guarantee of adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense; the 
right to confront witnesses, present evidence, and appeal convictions; 
the right to trial by jury; and a prohibition on double jeopardy and 
forced self-incrimination. Trials are public, defendants have the right 
to legal counsel, and a representative for the defense is appointed 
when required ``in the interest of justice.'' Bail and traditional 
reconciliation mechanisms rather than the formal legal process were 
used in many cases--usually by choice but sometimes under communal 
pressure.
    Stranded contract workers from Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the People's 
Republic of China (PRC) who formerly worked in the moribund mining 
sector did not have recourse to effective communal assistance and were 
disadvantaged in complaints against citizens. There were only two 
trained lawyers, and many persons were represented in court by 
``pleaders,'' trained paralegals certified by the Government.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of ``expression,'' and the Government generally respected 
freedom of speech and of the press in practice.
    Although there were no government restrictions, there were no 
independent media except for a sporadically published private 
newsletter highly critical of the Government.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion; however, the Government restricted this right in some cases. 
The Government continued to prevent members of the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the Jehovah's Witnesses from 
practicing their religion freely and openly and from carrying out 
missionary work. Members of these religions were subject to arbitrary 
licensing and immigration requirements.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among 
religions generally were amicable, although there was a degree of 
societal intolerance toward religions other than established Christian 
denominations. There was no known Jewish community, and there were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Neither the constitution nor law 
specifically provides for these rights, but the Government generally 
respected them in practice.
    Neither the constitution nor law prohibits forced exile; however, 
the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; the country 
is a party to neither. Although the Government has not established a 
system for providing protection to refugees, under its 2001 agreement 
with Australia establishing refugee processing centers, the country 
undertook not to commit refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared prosecution. However, according to IOM statistics 
cited in testimony before an Australian Senate inquiry in June, 32 
Afghan children registered as unaccompanied when brought to Nauru in 
2001 for processing were subsequently returned to Afghanistan. Nine 
were still under 18 years of age at departure. The Government did not 
accept refugees for resettlement, nor did it grant refugee status or 
asylum. However, the Government cooperated with the Office of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
    Beginning in 2001 the country hosted an Australian government 
processing center for persons seeking asylum in Australia who had been 
apprehended at sea while attempting to enter Australia illegally. These 
persons were granted visas and detained under national law while their 
status as refugees was determined and possible applications for asylum 
in Australia or elsewhere were adjudicated. They were held in 
facilities funded by Australia but administered by IOM officials. The 
UNHCR took a limited role, on ``an exceptional basis,'' in conducting 
refugee determinations of some applicants when the processing centers 
were first opened. In subsequent years the UNHCR also assisted in 
resettling some successful applicants in other countries, but it was 
not active during the year.
    At the beginning of the year two Iraqi refugees deemed by Australia 
to be security risks remained in the country. In August one was 
transferred to Australia for psychiatric evaluation, and in December a 
third country agreed to accept the second of the two for resettlement. 
In September seven Burmese asylum seekers were sent to Nauru for 
further processing of their applications by Australia and remained 
there at year's end. The Government had publicly urged Australian 
authorities to resolve the case of the remaining Iraqi national and 
stated that the new arrivals must be processed more expeditiously than 
past cases, or the Government would impose substantially higher, 
punitive visa fees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens 20 years and 
older, in compulsory voting, directly elect an 18-member unicameral 
parliament for a term of three years. Following general elections in 
October 2004, Parliament reelected Ludwig Scotty as President. Multiple 
candidates stood for all parliamentary seats in each of the country's 
eight constituencies.
    There are no legal impediments to participation in politics by 
women, but in general women traditionally have been less prominent in 
politics than men. There were no women in the 18-seat Parliament or the 
cabinet. Women held some senior civil service positions, including the 
head of the civil service and the Presidential counsel.
    There were no members of minorities in Parliament or the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--In recent years Parliament 
took corrective measures to combat corruption in government and in 
publicly owned corporations. Over prior decades loose controls on the 
enormous revenues generated by phosphate mining led to mismanagement 
and misappropriation of vast sums of public funds. With the decline of 
the mining sector and its near end after 2000, the country went from 
great wealth to de facto bankruptcy. Financial and regulatory crises, 
accompanied by continued corruption and severe national impoverishment, 
dominated national politics from the late 1990s. The 2004 elections 
were widely interpreted as a victory for reformists dedicated to 
addressing corruption, increasing transparency, and addressing economic 
problems. During the year the Government continued its efforts to 
increase accountability and further reform the financial sector. 
Nonetheless, there were isolated reports of government corruption 
during the year.
    There are no legal provisions providing for public access to 
government information, and the Government did not freely provide such 
access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no government restrictions on establishing local human 
rights organizations, but no such groups have been formed. There were 
no reports that the Government sought to constrain the creation of such 
bodies. The Government remained highly defensive in response to 
accusations that it was violating the human rights of those persons 
held in the processing center. The Government worked harmoniously with 
the IOM, which co-managed the processing center with Australian 
authorities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, 
place of origin, color, creed, or sex, and the Government generally 
observed these provisions.

    Women.--The Government kept no statistics on the incidence of 
physical and domestic abuse against women. However, credible reports 
indicated that sporadic abuse, often aggravated by alcohol use, 
occurred. Families normally sought to reconcile such problems 
informally and, if necessary, communally. The police and judiciary 
treated major incidents and unresolved family disputes seriously.
    Spousal rape is not specifically a crime, but rape is a crime and 
police investigate and file charges if allegations of rape are made 
against a spouse. Prostitution is illegal and was not widespread. Some 
forms of sexual harassment are crimes, and sexual harassment was not a 
serious problem.
    The law grants women the same freedoms and protections as men. The 
Government officially provides equal opportunities in education and 
employment, and women are free to own property and pursue private 
interests. However, in practice societal pressures and the country's 
impoverished economic circumstances often limited opportunities for 
women to exercise these rights fully. The Women's Affairs Office was 
responsible for promoting professional opportunities for women.

    Children.--Government resources for education and health care for 
children were severely constrained by the country's economic crisis. 
Education is compulsory until age 16, but in practice not all school-
age children attended school. The Asian Development Bank reported that 
in 2003, 83 percent of girls and 84 percent of boys of primary school 
age attended school. At the secondary school level, only 50 percent of 
eligible girls and 46 percent of boys attended school. More recently 
the Government declared that truancy was as high as 60 percent in some 
schools. Most children did not complete secondary school. Government 
health care was free, but facilities and services provided were 
minimal. Prior to their repatriation (see section 6.e.), foreign 
workers left unemployed and stranded by the virtual closure of the 
phosphate mines complained that health and educational services to 
their children were inferior to those provided to citizens.
    Child abuse statistics were not compiled, and there were no 
reported cases of child abuse or child prostitution during the year. 
However, anecdotal evidence indicated that abuse occurred.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit 
trafficking in persons, but there were no reports of persons trafficked 
to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. Nonetheless, there 
was no reported discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other 
state services. No legislation mandates services for persons with 
disabilities or access to public buildings. Department of Education 
teachers provided rudimentary schooling for a small group of students 
with disabilities, holding classes in a teacher's home as no classroom 
was available. The country's economic crisis has led to an overall 
deterioration in funding for health care facilities and services, 
including for persons with disabilities. There were no restrictions on 
the rights of persons with disabilities to vote or participate in civic 
affairs, nor was there specific government support to facilitate the 
exercise of these rights by persons with disabilities.
    There was no government agency with specific responsibility for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
    There are no formal mechanisms to protect persons with mental 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--A pattern of theft, property 
damage, and violence directed at the ethnic Chinese community continued 
during the year. Ethnic Chinese composed 5 to 8 percent of the 
population. Police attributed most attacks on ethnic Chinese to 
economic motivations and noted a general trend of theft-related attacks 
against the country's few private businesses, such as stores and 
restaurants.
    Former mining industry workers from other Pacific islands 
(primarily Tuvalu and Kiribati) and the PRC, who were unemployed and 
stranded in the country, experienced discrimination. The foreign 
workers previously had been provided free housing as part of their 
contracts, and they continued to occupy this housing. However, it was 
no longer maintained by the mining company and had become derelict and 
badly overcrowded. Between July and October the workers from other 
Pacific islands and their families were repatriated to their home 
countries, but an estimated 130 to 150 Chinese workers remained at 
year's end (see section 6.e.).
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the 
right of citizens to form and belong to trade unions or other 
associations. However, the country has virtually no labor laws, nor 
does it have any formal trade unions. Historically, the transient 
nature of the mostly foreign workforce hampered efforts to organize 
trade unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The right to 
strike is not protected, prohibited, or limited by law. Although there 
were no legal impediments, collective bargaining did not take place. A 
tiny private sector, mostly family-run stores and restaurants, employed 
approximately 1 percent of salaried workers. Salaries, working hours, 
vacation periods, and other employment matters for government workers 
are nominally governed by public service regulations. However, as a 
consequence of the economic crisis, all civil servants, 
parliamentarians, and members of government were paid a common salary 
of approximately $108 (A$140) every other week.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that 
such practices occurred. Although the law does not specifically mention 
forced or compulsory labor by children, there were no reports that such 
practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law sets the minimum age of employment at 17. The only two significant 
employers, the Government and the phosphate industry, honored this 
rule. Some children under 17 worked in small, family-owned businesses.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As an emergency measure, the 
Government decreed a single maximum public servant wage equal to 
approximately $108 (A$140) every two weeks, which did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The measure was 
valid for all civil servants, including parliamentarians and government 
ministers. This represented a major salary reduction for most workers 
and families. However, prior to the wage measure, public service 
salaries often went unpaid, frequently for months.
    Approximately 460 foreign workers from other Pacific islands and 
the PRC formerly employed in the phosphate industry and approximately 
1,100 of their family members remained in the country at the beginning 
of the year. Previously they and their families received free housing, 
utilities, medical treatment, and often a food allowance. Their former 
employer, the state-owned phosphate mining company, was virtually 
defunct and unable to meet unpaid wage claims. The Government paid the 
foreign workers a stipend of $39 (A$50) every other week, barely enough 
to survive. They continued to occupy company housing at no cost, but 
their circumstances were dire. After the Government of Taiwan agreed to 
finance payment of unpaid back wages for the workers from other Pacific 
islands, these workers and their families were repatriated to their 
home countries. An estimated 130 to 150 workers from the PRC did not 
receive back wages and remained in the country; at year's end the 
Government was seeking their repatriation by the PRC government.
    By regulation the workweek in both the public and private sectors 
was 35 hours for office workers and 40 hours for manual laborers. 
Neither the law nor regulations stipulate a weekly rest period; 
however, most workers observed Saturdays and Sundays as holidays.
    The Government sets some health and safety standards. The phosphate 
industry had a history of workplace health and safety requirements and 
compliance, but with the decline of the industry, enforcement of these 
regulations was lax. During the year a gradual revival of the industry 
was accompanied by accusations that unfiltered dust discharge from the 
phosphate plant exposed workers and the surrounding communities to a 
significant health hazard. An arson attack on a plant conveyor belt was 
reportedly related to the dust issue. The Government did not act to 
eliminate the problem, citing high costs.

                               __________

                              NEW ZEALAND

    New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy with a population of 4.2 
million. Citizens periodically choose their representatives in free and 
fair multiparty elections. The 121-member Parliament is elected in a 
mixed-member, proportional representation system, with seven seats 
reserved for members of the native Maori population. The most recent 
elections were held in September 2005. The Labor Party won 50 
parliamentary seats and formed a minority coalition government; Helen 
Clark remained prime minister. The civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. There were disproportionate 
societal problems for indigenous people.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    In the August 2004 police killing of a man who attacked his wife 
and police officers with a knife, the Independent Police Complaints 
Authority concluded that the officer acted lawfully and that the force 
used was justified under the circumstances.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected this prohibition in practice. During the year there 
were some complaints that individual members of the police committed 
abuses. The Independent Police Complaints Authority handled complaints 
of police abuse, ranging from use of abusive language to allegations of 
complicity in deaths.
    On March 31, a jury found an assistant police commissioner and two 
former police officers not guilty of charges of rape. The three men 
were arrested in March 2005 for sexual offenses against two women in 
Rotorua dating back to 1986. Another woman made separate allegations of 
rape against the same three men; that case was scheduled to go to trial 
in 2007.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by human rights observers.
    In the 12-month period ending June 30, there were seven serious 
assaults on staff by inmates and 18 assaults of inmates by other 
inmates. During the same period there were eight recorded unnatural 
deaths in custody, including six suicides.
    Overcrowding was a problem during the year, but the situation 
improved compared with the previous year due to added prison capacity. 
For the 12-month period ending June 30, the prison population averaged 
7,605, an average occupancy rate of approximately 98 percent. As of 
June 30, there were 7,210 male prisoners and 414 female prisoners, 
while prison capacity was 7,395 beds for male prisoners and 455 for 
female prisoners.
    To alleviate overcrowding, during the year the Government continued 
expansion and new prison construction efforts, used double bunking at 
prisons, and housed prisoners in police and court cells. In June the 
Auckland Women's Corrections Facility opened, and its full 286-bed 
capacity was operational by year's end.
    Juvenile detainees come under the jurisdiction of Child, Youth, and 
Family Services (CYFS) rather than the police. In October 2005, to 
relieve pressure on overcrowded facilities, CYFS completed a new youth 
justice facility, raising to 102 the number of beds available for 
juvenile pretrial detainees and juvenile offenders serving residential 
orders. As of December 20, a total of 673 juveniles spent a combined 
2,036 nights in police cells during the year while waiting for a bed in 
a youth justice residence. Of these, 370 were later placed in a youth 
justice residence, 169 were released on bail, 133 were placed in the 
community, and one remained in a police cell.
    On August 25, an adult detainee killed a 17-year-old juvenile 
detainee while both were being transported from court back to jail. The 
man who killed the juvenile pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced 
to life imprisonment with an 18-year non-parole period. At year's end 
several investigations and projects to improve procedures for 
separating juvenile and adult prisoners and detainees were ongoing. 
Following the August killing, the Public Prisons Service instituted a 
requirement that prison managers complete a risk assessment for all 
prisoner and detainee escorts, including escorts to and from court 
hearings, to address the risk of possible harm by a prisoner or 
detainee to self or others or risk to a prisoner or detainee from 
others. Previously such an assessment was required only in cases 
involving prisoners or detainees deemed at risk for self-harm.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police 
commissioner, appointed by the governor general, is the chief executive 
of the police force and reports to the minister of police. A board of 
commissioners, consisting of the commissioner and two deputy 
commissioners, is responsible for high-level leadership and makes 
decisions on police strategy, governance, and performance management. 
The police are organized into 12 districts. There are three operational 
branches: general duties, criminal investigation, and traffic safety. 
Allegations of corruption or impunity are referred to the Independent 
Police Complaints Authority, which can refer cases directly to 
Parliament. The police generally did not have problems with corruption 
and impunity.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may arrest a suspect without a 
warrant if they have reasonable cause. Police also may request a 
warrant from a district court judge. Police may enter premises without 
a warrant to arrest a person if they reasonably suspect the person of 
committing a crime on the premises, or if they have found the person 
committing an offense and are in pursuit. Police must inform arrested 
persons immediately of their legal rights and the grounds for their 
arrest.
    After a suspect has been arrested and charged, police have the 
power to release the person on bail until the first court appearance. 
That bail comes to an end at the first court appearance and is distinct 
from court bail. Court bail is granted unless there is good reason to 
believe that the suspect would flee or is likely to be a danger to the 
community. Police bail is not normally granted for more serious 
offenses such as serious assault or burglary. Attorneys and families 
were granted prompt access to detainees.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The Supreme Court is the country's highest court of appeal. It is 
composed of the chief justice and four other judges appointed by the 
governor general. Below the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal; it 
hears appeals from the High Court, which has original jurisdiction for 
major crimes and important civil claims. The Court of Appeal also hears 
appeals on decisions of the district courts in serious criminal 
matters. The High Court hears appeals from lower courts and reviews 
administrative actions. Remaining original jurisdiction rests with the 
63 district courts. Special courts include the employment court, family 
court, youth court, Maori land court, Maori appellate court, and 
environment court. The country's military forces have their own court 
system, with a courts martial and a courts martial appeals court; 
appeals from the courts martial appeals court may be made to the Court 
of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Defendants 
enjoy the rights found in other common-law jurisdictions, including a 
presumption of innocence, a right to a jury trial, a right of appeal, 
and the right to counsel, to question witnesses, and to access 
government-held evidence.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which includes access to the 
Human Rights Review Tribunal and other courts to bring lawsuits seeking 
damages and other remedies for alleged human rights abuses. There are 
also administrative remedies for alleged wrongs through the Human 
Rights Commission (HRC) and the Office of Human Rights Proceedings.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish community numbered 
approximately 10,000 persons. In August a Jewish synagogue in 
Christchurch was vandalized; derogatory language was spray painted on a 
walkway and swastikas were etched into a plaque. The case was under 
investigation at year's end.
    The government-funded HRC actively promoted religious tolerance.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    There is no statutory authority for imposing a sentence of exile, 
and the Government did not practice forced exile.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government 
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers. The Government also provided protection to individuals 
who may not qualify under the definition of the 1951 Convention and the 
1967 Protocol. Under its refugee quota, the Government resettles up to 
750 UNHCR-approved refugees per year. In the 12-month period ending 
June 30, the Government approved 741 persons for refugee status.
    During the year asylum seeker and former member of the Algerian 
Parliament Ahmed Zaoui continued to be the subject of a national 
security risk certificate issued by the Security Intelligence Service, 
which continued its review of the certificate at year's end. Zaoui was 
released from detention on bail by order of the Supreme Court in 2004.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentarians are 
elected under a mixed-member, proportional representation system. In 
the most recent general elections, held in September 2005, the Labor 
Party won 50 of 121 parliamentary seats and formed a minority 
government with Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (one seat) and support 
from the center-right New Zealand First (seven seats) and United Future 
(three seats) parties. The Labor Party also had a cooperation agreement 
with the Green Party (six seats). Three other political parties were 
represented in Parliament: the National Party (48 seats), Maori Party 
(four seats), and ACT party (two seats). Executive authority is vested 
in a 20-member cabinet led by the Prime Minister.
    Women participated fully in political life. There were 39 women in 
the 121-seat Parliament. There were seven women (including the Prime 
Minister) on the executive council, which comprises 28 ministers (20 
within the cabinet and eight outside the cabinet). The cabinet included 
five women. The Prime Minister, the speaker of the house, and the chief 
justice of the Supreme Court were women. There were three women in the 
25-seat Parliament of the dependent territory of the Cook Islands and 
three women in the 20-seat Parliament of the dependent territory of 
Niue.Seven seats in Parliament are reserved for persons of Maori 
ancestry. The number of Maori seats is adjusted every five years, based 
on the number of persons of Maori ancestry who register to vote on the 
Maori electoral roll.
    There were 21 Maori in Parliament, including the seven reserved 
seats; three members of Pacific Island origin; and one member each of 
East and South Asian heritage. The cabinet included at least two 
members with Maori ancestry.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, to be 
provided within 20 working days of a request. Information must be made 
available unless a good reason, such as concern for national security, 
exists for not doing so. The requester must be provided with an 
estimate of any fees before the information is provided.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were very cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, 
disability, and national or ethnic origin, and the Government actively 
enforced it.

    Women.--Violence against women affected all socioeconomic groups. 
According to a national survey of crime victims conducted in 2001 and 
released in 2003, an estimated 32 percent of Maori, 17 percent of 
persons of European ancestry, and 12 percent of Pacific Islanders 
reported violent abuse by a heterosexual partner at least once in their 
lifetime; these figures included both men and women. One in four of the 
women included in the survey reported experiencing violent behavior 
from a partner at least once. Assault by a male on a female is a crime 
punishable by up to two years' imprisonment. In the 12-month period 
ending June 30, there were 6,674 prosecutions involving assault by a 
male on a female. Of these prosecutions, 49 percent involved Maori men, 
31 percent men of European ancestry, and 15 percent Pacific Islanders.
    Although Maori women and children constituted less than 10 percent 
of the population, during the 12-month period ending June 30, 52 
percent of the 24,968 women and children who used the National 
Collective of Independent Women's Refuges were Maori; 33 percent were 
of European ancestry, and 5 percent were Pacific Islanders.
    In March 2005 the Government established the Task Force for Action 
on Violence within Families to coordinate a variety of government 
initiatives to eliminate family violence, including continuation of its 
Te Rito program, a national strategy to address all forms and degrees 
of domestic violence. In July the taskforce issued its first report, 
recommending a $9.9 million (NZ$14 million) national awareness 
campaign, enhanced power for police to enforce protection orders, a 
$6.3 million (NZ$9 million) funding increase for nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) dealing with family violence, and establishment of 
three dedicated family violence courts in the Wellington region and one 
in Auckland. Consistent with the task force recommendations, the 
Government provided funding in the 2006 budget for family violence 
prevention services and a public awareness (``social marketing'') 
program.
    The Government partially funded women's shelters, rape crisis 
centers, sexual abuse counseling, family violence networks, and 
violence prevention services. From July 2005 through June, the Family 
Violence Intervention Program provided training for an additional 2,600 
social benefits staff, bringing the total number of staff trained to 
4,000. The program is designed to improve the Government's response to 
clients facing issues of family violence.The law penalizes rape, 
including spousal rape. In the period July 2005 through June, there 
were eight recorded cases of spousal rape and one conviction on that 
charge. There were two recorded cases of unlawful sexual connection 
with a spouse and one conviction. Rape crisis groups existed throughout 
the country and included centers focusing specifically on Maori and 
Pacific Islanders.
    It is illegal to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) or to 
remove a child from the country to carry out the procedure; violations 
of the law are punishable by up to seven years in prison. The 
Government funded a national FGM education program.
    Prostitution is legal. The Prostitution Reform Act sets a minimum 
age of 18 to work in the sex industry, gives prostitutes the same 
workplace protections as other industries, and provides for a licensing 
regime for brothels. The law also eliminates a client's defense of 
claiming ignorance that a person engaged in commercial sexual activity 
was under 18, and it extends culpability to any person who receives 
financial gain from such activity involving an underage person. The law 
prohibits sex tourism, and citizens who commit child sex offenses 
overseas can be prosecuted in New Zealand courts. During the year there 
were no reports of abuse or of the involuntary detention of women 
involved in prostitution, and no reports of such persons having 
passports held until employer bonds were repaid.
    The Prostitution Reform Act also established a statutory 
Prostitution Law Review Committee (PLRC) to review the act within three 
to five years of its enactment (by June 2008), including an assessment 
of the act's impact on the number of persons engaged in prostitution, 
and the nature and adequacy of resources available to assist persons in 
avoiding or leaving employment in the commercial sex industry. The 
Government also had an agreement with the United Future Party to review 
the act to ``address problems associated with street soliciting, under 
age involvement and local authority control over brothel zoning.'' In 
April 2005 the PLRC published a baseline profile of the commercial sex 
industry as a basis for comparison in future years' reviews.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment. The HRC published fact sheets 
on sexual harassment and made sexual harassment prevention training 
available to schools, businesses, and government departments on a 
regular basis.The Ministry of Women's Affairs addresses problems of 
discrimination and gender equality, and there is a minister of women's 
affairs in the cabinet. While the law prohibits discrimination in 
employment and in rates of pay for equal or similar work, the 
Government acknowledged that a gender earnings gap persisted in 
practice. A unit dedicated to this issue within the Department of Labor 
administers a $704,000 (NZ one million dollars) annual fund supporting 
employer and union initiatives to promote pay and employment equity. 
During the year women earned 87 percent of the average hourly earnings 
for men.

    Children.--The law provides specific safeguards for children's 
rights and protection. The Government demonstrated its commitment to 
children's rights and welfare through its well-funded systems of public 
education and medical care. The Government provides 14 weeks of 
government-funded, paid parental leave to care for children born after 
December 2005 or adopted children under the age of six. The Government 
extended the paid leave benefit to self-employed parents beginning July 
1. The Office of the Commissioner for Children played a key role in 
monitoring violence and abuse against children.
    The law provides for compulsory, free, and universal education 
through age 16, and the Government effectively enforced the law. As of 
July on average 99 percent of children ages six to 16 were enrolled in 
formal education. There was equal access to education for boys and 
girls, with nearly 75 percent of girls and 50 percent of boys enrolling 
in university studies. The Government provided free health care to all 
children under age five. Child abuse continued to be of concern to the 
Government. The Government promoted information sharing between the 
courts and health and child protection agencies to identify children at 
risk of abuse. For the period July 2005 through June, there were 20,833 
applications to Family Court for guardianship and parenting orders 
under the Guardianship Act or Care of Children Act and 7,782 
applications for protection orders under the Domestic Violence Act.
    There were 630 prosecutions and 254 convictions involving assaults 
on children in the 12-month period ending June 30.
    Commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    The Department of Internal Affairs' Censorship Compliance Unit 
actively policed images of child sex abuse on the Internet and 
prosecuted offenders. The Government maintains extraterritorial 
jurisdiction over child sex offenses committed by the country's 
citizens abroad.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to or from the 
country. No new confirmed cases of internationally trafficked persons 
have been brought to the attention of the authorities since 2001, 
although there was evidence that some women from Asia, and more 
recently the Czech Republic and Brazil, were working illegally in the 
country as prostitutes. Although prostitution has been decriminalized 
(see section 5, Women), it remains illegal for nonresidents to work in 
the commercial sex industry.
    In December 2005 the UN's special rapporteur on human trafficking 
asserted in the press that although in many cases such groups as 
migrant workers, mail-order brides, foreign fishermen, and those in 
arranged marriages enter the country voluntarily, they could be at risk 
of losing their autonomy and becoming victims of trafficking.
    Commercial sexual exploitation of children was a problem. A PLRC 
study completed in 2004 estimated that approximately 200 young persons 
under the age of 18 were working as prostitutes.
    The Government has signed the relevant international instruments 
dealing with trafficking and has adopted tough domestic legislation to 
criminalize trafficking, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison and 
fines of up to $352,000 (NZ$500,000). Laws against child sexual 
exploitation and slavery carry penalties of up to 14 years in prison. 
Under the Prostitution Reform Act, it is illegal to use a person under 
18 years of age in prostitution.
    Two prosecutions begun previously were completed during the year. 
In the first case two women were convicted in Wellington of employing a 
14-year-old and a 17-year-old girl in a brothel and were sentenced to 
community service. The brothel owner was sentenced to 300 hours, with 
her health considered as a mitigating factor, and the receptionist was 
sentenced to 180 hours. In the second case a man in Wellington was 
convicted of seeking commercial sex with a person under the age of 18, 
following a sting operation by police. He was sentenced to nine months' 
supervision and forfeiture of $620 (NZ$880); a mental disorder was 
considered as a mitigating factor in his case.
    During the 12-month period ending June 30, two cases initiated 
against individuals for assisting a person under 18 to provide sexual 
services were dismissed due to insufficient evidence. At year's end a 
man faced charges in Christchurch for recruiting a 14-year-old girl and 
a 16-year-old girl to provide sexual services in his brothel. That case 
was scheduled to be heard in 2007.
    The Department of Labor has primary responsibility for coordinating 
government efforts to combat trafficking in persons. Other agencies 
involved in antitrafficking efforts included the police; the HRC; the 
Department of Child, Youth, and Family; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and Trade; the Ministry of Justice; and the Ministry of Health.
    During the year the Government continued work on its national plan 
of action against trafficking in persons, begun in 2005, addressing the 
areas of prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim reintegration. 
There was strong coordination on antitrafficking matters between the 
Government and NGOs, and an extensive infrastructure of government and 
NGO assistance programs was available to victims of trafficking, 
including short-term sanctuary, witness protection, access to medical 
services, and safe repatriation.
    The Government also had a national plan of action against the 
commercial exploitation of children developed in concert with NGOs, and 
operated programs to reintegrate children out of prostitution through 
vocational training and educational opportunities. The Government also 
worked to address trafficking in children by providing funding for NGO 
outreach programs in Auckland and Christchurch that provided 
accommodations and other support for young persons at risk for 
involvement in prostitution. In May the Government published the 
results of a 2005 progress review of the national action plan, which 
reported increased government funding for victim support and sustained 
funding for community outreach.
    Shakti Migrant Services Trust, an antitrafficking NGO, reported 
abuses resulting from the immigration of Indian women for arranged 
marriages and provided services to abused women through four refuges 
located in three cities: Auckland, Christchurch, and Tauranga.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
places and facilities, and the provision of goods, services, and 
accommodation. Compliance with access laws varied. The Government is 
prohibited from discrimination on the basis of physical or mental 
disability, unless such discrimination can be ``demonstrably 
justified.'' Of the 5,707 inquiries and complaints that the HRC 
received during the 12-month period ending June 30, it received more 
complaints of discrimination based on disability than for any other 
type of discrimination (21.1 percent of all inquiries and complaints). 
In its action plan for human rights released in February 2005, the HRC 
noted that persons with disabilities faced major barriers in obtaining 
and retaining employment and earning adequate income. The Government 
supported equal access for persons with disabilities to polling 
facilities, as well as their general participation in civic affairs. 
Following the 2005 general elections, the Ministry of Justice 
commissioned a survey that included questions directed at persons with 
disabilities about their experience with polling procedures. Sixty-one 
percent of persons with disabilities who responded rated their 
experience as ``excellent,'' and 31 percent rated it as ``very good.''
    The Government's Office for Disabled Issues worked to protect and 
promote the rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, during 
the year both the HRC and the Mental Health Commission continued to 
address mental health issues in their antidiscrimination efforts.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Pacific Islanders, who made up 
6.5 percent of the population, experienced societal discrimination and 
as of June 30 accounted for approximately 10.4 percent of prison 
inmates and 28.7 percent of those serving community sentences. In July 
2005 the Department of Corrections launched its Pacific Strategy 2005-
08, designed to reduce the crime rate and recidivism among Pacific 
Islanders through the use of culturally based techniques. Asians, who 
as of June 30 made up 3.9 percent of the population, also reported 
discrimination.

    Indigenous People.--Approximately 15 percent of the population 
claimed at least one ancestor from the country's indigenous Maori or 
Moriori minorities. The law prohibits discrimination against the 
indigenous population; however, there was a continuing pattern of 
disproportionate numbers of Maori on unemployment and welfare rolls, in 
prison, among school dropouts, in infant mortality statistics, and 
among single-parent households. During the year the special rapporteur 
on human rights and fundamental freedoms from the UN Commission on 
Human Rights (UNCHR) released a report to the UNCHR on his November 
2005 visit to the country at the Government's invitation to obtain 
information on human rights related to treaty settlements and 
indigenous economic, social and cultural rights in general. The report 
was critical of the Government's handling of indigenous claims to land.
    Maori continued to constitute half the prison population and 17 
percent of persons serving community sentences. The Government 
addressed the problem of recidivism among Maori through Maori focus 
units and special cultural assessments of Maori offenders.
    Government policy recognized a special role for indigenous people 
and their traditional values and customs, including cultural and 
environmental issues that affected commercial development. The Ministry 
of Maori Development, in cooperation with several Maori NGOs, sought to 
improve the status of indigenous people. A special tribunal established 
in 1975 continued to hear Maori tribal claims to land and other natural 
resources stemming from the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
    Legislation enacted in 2004 regulates ownership of the foreshore 
(the land between high and low tide) and the seabed. The law grants 
ownership of the foreshore and seabed to the state and provides for 
universal public access. It also established a mechanism to accommodate 
customary indigenous rights of land use, including preservation of 
existing fishing rights. This legislation was the focus of protests by 
Maori groups asserting customary title to the land and by non-Maori 
groups opposing such claims.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to 
form and join organizations of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this 
right in practice. Nearly all unionized workers were members of the 
Council of Trade Unions, a federation that included unions representing 
various trades and locations. A few small, independent labor unions 
also existed. Unions represented approximately 22 percent of all wage 
earners.
    Labor organization was rudimentary in the territory of Tokelau 
(population 1,400) and in the Freely Associated State of Niue 
(population 2,200). In the more developed Associated State of the Cook 
Islands (population 21,000), most workers in the public sector, the 
major employer, belonged to the Cook Islands Workers' Association, an 
independent local union. Industrial relations in the Cook Islands are 
governed by a simplified version of national legislation. The law 
prohibits uniformed members of the armed forces from organizing unions 
and bargaining collectively. Sworn police officers (which includes all 
uniformed and plainclothes police but excludes clerical and support 
staff) are barred from striking or taking any form of industrial 
action. However, police have freedom of association and the right to 
organize and to bargain collectively. Disputes that cannot be settled 
by negotiation between the police association and management are 
subject to compulsory, final-offer arbitration.
    b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right of workers to organize and contract 
collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
    The Employment Relations Act governs industrial relations and 
promotes collective bargaining. In order to bargain collectively, 
unions must be registered, be governed by democratic rules, be 
independent, and have at least 15 members. Unions may not bargain 
collectively on social or political issues.
    The number of strikes increased during the year. During the 12-
month period ending June 30, 59 work stoppages ended and one was 
ongoing. This was the highest number of work stoppages since 1997.
    There were no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the Government 
generally enforced these provisions effectively; however, there were 
reports of commercial sexual exploitation of children (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Department of Labor inspectors effectively enforced a ban on the 
employment of children under the age of 15 in manufacturing, mining, 
and forestry. Children under age 16 may not work between the hours of 
10 p.m. and 6 a.m. By law children enrolled in school may not be 
employed, even outside school hours, if such employment would interfere 
with their education.
    There were reports of children involved in the commercial sex 
industry (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A 40-hour workweek is 
traditional. There are legal limits regarding hours worked. There is 
premium pay for overtime work. The law does not provide specifically 
for a 24-hour rest period weekly; however, management and labor have 
accepted the practice, and it was the norm. The law provides for a 
minimum three-week annual paid vacation and 11 paid public holidays. 
The minimum wage was approximately $7.20 (NZ$10.25). Combined with 
other regularly provided entitlements and welfare benefits for low-
income earners, this wage generally was adequate to provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. There was a separate youth 
minimum wage of approximately $5.75 (NZ$8.20) for younger workers (ages 
16 to 17). A majority of the work force earned more than the minimum 
wage.
    Raising the minimum wage was a significant campaign issue during 
the September 2005 general election. Both the New Zealand First and the 
Green parties concluded agreements with the Government to continue 
annual increases in the minimum wage with a target of $8.45 (NZ$12.00) 
by the end of 2008, economic conditions permitting.Extensive laws and 
regulations govern health and safety issues. Employers are obliged to 
provide a safe and healthy work environment, and employees are 
responsible for their own safety and health, as well as ensuring that 
their actions do not harm others.
    Workers have the legal right to strike over health and safety 
issues, as well as the right to withdraw from a dangerous work 
situation without jeopardy to continued employment. Department of Labor 
inspectors effectively enforced safety and health rules, and they had 
the power to shut down equipment if necessary. The Department of Labor 
normally investigated reports of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions 
within 24 hours of notification.

                               __________

                                 PALAU

    Palau is a constitutional republic with a population of 
approximately 20,900. The country is organized politically into 16 
states. The President, the vice President, and members of the 
legislature (the Olbiil Era Kelulau) are elected for four-year terms. 
There were no political parties. In generally free and fair elections 
held in November 2004 President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. was reelected, 
and Elias Camsek Chin was elected vice President. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control over the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. Problems were reported in a few areas, including government 
corruption, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and 
discrimination against, and some abuse of, foreign workers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in the 
country's sole prison, although primitive, generally met international 
standards, but overcrowding worsened during the year, aggravated by a 
growth in the inmate population as a result of increased convictions 
and mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses and other crimes. The 
few female prisoners were housed in separate cells but were permitted 
to mingle with male inmates during daylight hours.
    No visits by independent human rights observers were requested or 
made during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, a 
force of approximately 160 officers within the Bureau of Public Safety, 
maintains internal security and performs both police and emergency 
response functions. Koror State and Peleliu State also have marine 
police (``rangers'') who patrol their respective state waters. 
Typically law enforcement personnel receive training both locally and 
abroad. The police generally were considered effective. Police 
corruption and impunity were not major problems, and an internal 
affairs officer within the bureau investigates reports of police 
misconduct. There also is a special prosecutor with authority to 
investigate reports of misconduct by government employees.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests. 
Warrants are prepared by the Office of the Attorney General and signed 
by a judge. The law provides for a prompt judicial determination of the 
legality of detention, and this was observed in practice. Detainees 
were informed promptly of the charges against them and had prompt 
access to family members and lawyers. If a detainee could not afford a 
lawyer, the public defender or a court-appointed lawyer was available. 
There was a functioning system of bail.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, the Land Court, and 
the Court of Common Pleas. The constitution also provides for a 
national court, but other courts absorbed its caseload and it was 
inactive. The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court from a 
list submitted by a judicial nominating commission. Appointments are 
for life.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The 
Government has an independent special prosecutor and an independent 
public defender system.
    Trials are public and are conducted by judges; there are no juries. 
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and a right of appeal. They 
can question witnesses, present evidence on their own behalf, and 
access government-held evidence in their cases.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters for lawsuits involving 
allegations of human rights violations. Remedies were available and 
enforced.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The Government required religious organizations to obtain charters 
as nonprofit organizations from the Office of the Attorney General. 
This process was not protracted, and the Government did not deny any 
groups charters during the year.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including 
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum.
    There were no cases during the year involving the issue of 
cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum 
seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The legislature consists of 
two houses: the nine-member Senate and the 16-member House of 
Delegates. Legislators are elected by popular vote every four years: 
senators on a national basis, and delegates on a state basis. The 
President and vice President also are elected every four years, and 
there is no limit on the number of terms they may serve, except that 
the President may serve only two consecutive terms. Although there have 
been political parties in the past, there were none during the year. In 
November 2004 President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., was reelected, and 
Elias Camsek Chin was elected vice President. The Council of Chiefs, 
consisting of the highest traditional chiefs from each state, advises 
the President on traditional laws and customs.
    There are no legal impediments to women's participation in 
government and politics. There were no women in the 25-member national 
legislature. There were women candidates in the 2004 general elections, 
but none were elected. Women constituted 14 percent of state 
legislators. There were two women serving as state governors during the 
year. Two of the three associate justices of the Supreme Court were 
women.
    There were two members of minorities in the 16-member House of 
Delegates.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was 
a problem, which the Government took some steps to address.
    The special prosecutor has authority to investigate allegations of 
corrupt practices. In May the governor of Ngiwal State was convicted of 
grand larceny, forgery, and other offenses for diverting over $11,000 
in state funds (the U.S. dollar is the national currency) to his 
personal use and for other misconduct. The special prosecutor had 
brought charges against him in June 2005. Following his conviction the 
legislature removed him from office. In June he was sentenced to nine 
years' imprisonment (later reduced to two and a half years) and began 
serving his sentence in July. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to 
pay $23,000 in restitution.
    The law provides for the right of citizens and noncitizens to 
examine government documents and observe official deliberations of any 
government agency, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international groups concerned with human 
rights, including the Palau Red Cross Society and many church groups, 
generally operated without government restriction. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views. During the year there 
were no known allegations or investigations by such groups of human 
rights abuses.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, place 
of origin, language, social status, or clan affiliation, and the 
Government generally observed these provisions.

    Women.--The Ministry of Health's Office of Victims of Crimes 
reported 89 incidents of domestic violence in fiscal year 2005 (October 
1, 2004 to September 30, 2005, the latest statistics available), a 
continuation of an upward trend in domestic violence cases over the 
past few years. According to the Office of the Attorney General, the 
Ministry of Health, and women's groups, only a relatively small number 
of cases were reported to the authorities. Alcohol and drug abuse 
increasingly contributed to this problem. Although assault is a 
criminal offense, punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine of 
up to $100, and the police responded when such cases were reported, 
women were reluctant to prosecute their spouses. The Government 
conducted public education efforts to combat domestic violence.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by a maximum of 
25 years' imprisonment, and such crimes were uncommon. There was one 
conviction for rape during the year.
    Prostitution is illegal, but it was a problem. There were reports 
of women being trafficked to the country from the People's Republic of 
China (PRC), Taiwan, and the Philippines to work in karaoke bars as 
hostesses and prostitutes (see section 5, Trafficking). There was one 
conviction for trafficking for prostitution during the year.
    Sex tourism is illegal and was not a problem. Sexual harassment is 
illegal and did not appear to be a major problem.
    The inheritance of property and of traditional rank is matrilineal, 
with women occupying positions of importance within the traditional 
system. There were no reported instances of unequal pay for equal work 
or sex-related job discrimination.
    Local women's groups organized an annual women's conference that 
focused on women's and children's issues, including health, education, 
drug abuse, prostitution, and traditional customs and values. 
Government officials, including the President, vice President, 
ministers, and traditional chiefs, participated in the conference to 
discuss these issues. The 13th annual women's conference held in March 
continued to focus on these subjects.

    Children.--The Government provided a well-funded system of public 
education for children. There was no difference in the treatment of 
girls and boys in educational opportunities or in the availability of 
scholarships to attend postsecondary education abroad. Education was 
free, universal, and mandatory from ages six to 17. Of the 94 percent 
of school-age children who attended school in 2005, 97 percent finished 
elementary school and 78 completed high school. Girls and boys received 
equal treatment in health care services.
    The Office of Victims of Crimes reported 31 incidents of child 
abuse in fiscal year 2005, compared with 21 in fiscal year 2004 (the 
latest statistics available). The Office of the Attorney General has 
prosecuted such cases successfully. On November 1, a male nurse was 
sentenced to five years' imprisonment for molesting a 10-year-old 
patient. However, the sentence subsequently was reduced to one year, 
which he was serving at year's end.
    Children's rights generally were respected, although there were 
isolated reports of child neglect. Commercial sexual exploitation of 
children was neither accepted within society nor practiced.
    The annual women's conference (see section 5, Women) held in March 
included discussion of children's issues, such as education and drug 
abuse among youth.

    Trafficking in Persons.--An antitrafficking law prohibits such 
practices, with penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of 
up to $50,000 for exploiting or otherwise profiting from a trafficked 
person; up to 25 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for 
trafficking involving force, fraud, or deception; and up to 50 years' 
imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000 for trafficking involving a 
child ``by any means for the purpose of exploitation.'' There are also 
laws against slavery, fraud, and prostitution. There have been reports 
of women and some men being trafficked to the country from the PRC, 
Taiwan, and the Philippines to work in karaoke bars as hostesses and 
prostitutes, as domestics in private homes, and on construction sites.
    In April two men from the PRC were convicted under the 
antitrafficking law of exploiting a trafficked person and attempted 
bribery. In August they were deported to the PRC after paying a $12,000 
fine. The men had trafficked a PRC national woman into the country and 
subsequently tried to bribe immigration officers to allow them to 
proceed with the woman to Guam without proper visas. The trafficked 
woman also was deported to the PRC.
    In August a local restaurant owner, his wife, and two PRC nationals 
were charged with trafficking in persons, exploiting trafficked 
persons, prostitution, money laundering, assault and battery, and other 
offenses after they allegedly forced two Filipina women into 
prostitution and threatened the women to keep them from notifying the 
authorities. The case was still pending at year's end.
    The Divisions of Immigration and Labor and the Office of the 
Attorney General are involved in combating trafficking; however, the 
Government lacked the resources and expertise to address the problem in 
practice. There was no formalized assistance available for victims, and 
victims normally were detained, jailed, or deported if they committed a 
crime such as prostitution. No nongovernmental organizations 
specifically addressed trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law includes the Disabled Persons' 
Anti-Discrimination Act and the Programs and Services for Handicapped 
Children Act, which cover both persons with mental disabilities and 
persons with physical disabilities, and the Government enforced the 
provisions of these acts. No discrimination was reported against 
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health 
care, or the provision of other state services. The Government provides 
a monthly stipend of $50 for persons with disabilities. The law 
mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the 
Government generally enforced these provisions in practice. The public 
schools have established special education programs to address problems 
encountered by persons with disabilities.
    There were no government restrictions on the right of persons with 
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs.The Government 
agency Ngak Mak Tang (``Everyone Matters'') has responsibility for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits noncitizens 
from purchasing land or obtaining citizenship. A majority of citizens 
viewed negatively the rapid increase over the past several years in 
foreign workers, who, according to estimates during the year, 
constituted nearly 30 percent of the population and 46 percent of the 
work force. Foreign residents were subjected to some forms of 
discrimination and were targets of petty, and sometimes violent, 
crimes, as well as other random acts against person and property. 
Foreign residents made credible complaints that the authorities did not 
pursue or prosecute crimes against noncitizens with the same vigor as 
crimes against citizens.
    Noncitizens are officially excluded from the minimum wage law (see 
section 6.e.). In addition some foreign nationals experienced 
generalized discrimination in employment, pay, housing, education, and 
access to social services, although the law prohibits such 
discrimination. While precise data was unavailable, there continued to 
be anecdotal reports of the abuse of foreign workers by employers (see 
section 6.e.).
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of all 
persons to assemble peacefully and to associate with others for any 
lawful purpose, including the right to join and organize labor unions. 
However, there were no active labor unions or other employee 
organizations; the majority of businesses were small-scale, family-run 
enterprises employing relatives and friends.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no law 
concerning trade union organization or collective bargaining. Wages in 
the cash economy were determined by market factors.
    The law does not provide for the right to strike, and the 
Government has not addressed this issue.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
slavery or involuntary servitude except to punish crime. Although the 
law does not prohibit specifically forced or compulsory labor by 
children, there were no reports that such practices occurred.
    Some foreign workers, particularly domestic helpers and unskilled 
laborers, reportedly were forced to accept jobs different from those 
for which they were recruited. Employers sometimes verbally threatened 
or withheld passports and return tickets of foreign workers desiring to 
leave unfavorable work situations.
    In August a local restaurant owner, his wife, and two PRC nationals 
were charged with trafficking in persons and other offenses after 
allegedly forcing two Filipina employees into prostitution (see Section 
5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law states that the Government shall protect children from 
exploitation. There is no minimum age for employment. Children 
typically were not employed in the wage economy, but some assisted 
their families with fishing, agriculture, and other small-scale family 
enterprises.
    By regulation no foreigner under age 21 may be admitted into the 
country for employment purposes, and the Government generally enforced 
this regulation effectively.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets the minimum wage at 
$2.50 per hour, but foreign workers are not included under the minimum 
wage law. It generally was assumed that legislators specifically 
exempted foreign contract workers from the minimum wage law to ensure a 
continued supply of low-cost labor in industries that the legislators 
often control. The national minimum wage provided a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family. Anecdotal evidence indicated that 
unskilled workers (usually foreigners) for commercial firms were paid 
only $1.50 to $2.00 per hour; however, foreign workers usually were 
provided, in addition to their wages, basic accommodations and food 
gratis or at nominal cost. Although these wages were low, the country 
continued to attract large numbers of foreign workers from the 
Philippines, Vietnam, and China. During the year there were more than 
4,000 foreign nationals with work permits in the country; of these, 65 
percent were from the Philippines, 7 percent from Vietnam, and 6 
percent from the PRC.
    There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work, although 
most businesses are closed on either Saturday or Sunday. The Division 
of Labor has established some regulations regarding conditions of 
employment for nonresident workers. The division may inspect the 
conditions of the workplace and employer-provided housing on the 
specific complaint of the employees, but actual enforcement was 
sporadic. Working conditions varied in practice.
    Although there are occupational and safety standards, no law 
specifically gives workers the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to 
their continued employment, and no law protects workers who file 
complaints about such conditions. Anecdotal evidence suggested that 
noncitizens would likely lose their employment if they removed 
themselves from occupational situations that endangered health or 
safety. There were no reports to the Government of violations of 
occupational health or safety standards during the year.
    Reports of mistreatment of foreign workers by their employers 
continued during the year. The foreign workers most likely to be abused 
were those who worked under contracts as domestic helpers, farmers, 
waitresses, beauticians, hostesses in karaoke bars and massage parlors, 
construction workers, and other semiskilled workers, the majority of 
whom were from the Philippines, Vietnam, and the PRC. The most commonly 
reported abuses included misrepresentation of contract terms and 
conditions of employment, withholding of pay or benefits, and 
substandard food and housing. There have, at times, been complaints of 
physical abuse. In a number of instances local authorities took 
corrective action when alerted by social service and religious 
organizations. Nonetheless, foreign workers often were reluctant to 
seek legal redress for fear of losing their employment and, thus, 
permission to remain in the country.

                               __________

                            PAPUA NEW GUINEA

    Papua New Guinea is a federal multiparty parliamentary democracy 
with a population of approximately 6.1 million and more than 800 
indigenous tribes. Citizens elect a unicameral parliament. The most 
recent general elections were held in 2002; there were localized 
instances of voter intimidation, violence, and influence peddling. A 
coalition government, led by Prime Minister Michael Somare, was formed 
following the election. While civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces, there were some instances in 
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government 
authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Human 
rights abuses included arbitrary or unlawful killings by police; police 
abuse of detainees, including of children; poor prison conditions; 
lengthy pretrial detention; infringement of citizens' privacy rights; 
government corruption; violence and discrimination against women and 
children; discrimination against persons with disabilities; and 
continuing intertribal violence.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
police killed a number of persons during the year. According to police 
reports, most killings occurred during gunfights with criminal suspects 
who were resisting arrest. However, public concern about police 
violence continued. On September 29, police reportedly shot four 
individuals suspected of armed robbery, killing one. On November 3, 
police reportedly killed one person in an exchange of gunfire at a Port 
Moresby hotel. The police members involved in the killings were 
suspended pending investigation of each case, but no results had been 
released at year's end.
    Investigation continued of an October 2005 incident at the Porgera 
primary school in Enga Province in which police killed three persons 
and reportedly injured at least 20 others; however at year's end police 
had not sent the cases to the public prosecutor.
    As modern weapons, including assault rifles, became more readily 
available, the number of deaths resulting from violent tribal conflicts 
continued to increase (see section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, 
individual police members frequently beat and otherwise abused suspects 
during arrests, interrogations, and in pretrial detention. There were 
numerous press accounts of such abuses, particularly against young 
detainees.
    In January correction officers at Buimo prison beat and sexually 
abused young male detainees by forcing them to have anal sex with each 
other. At year's end no action had been taken against the officers, and 
they continued to work at the prison. In October the nongovernmental 
organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported continued 
widespread police abuse of children in custody, including severe 
beatings and sexual abuse.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
poor, and the prison system suffered from serious underfunding. Neither 
prisons nor police detention centers had medical care facilities. In 
some police holding cells, detainees lacked bedding and sufficient food 
and water. Overcrowding in the prisons was a serious problem. During 
most of the year, 15 of the country's 17 jails were operational; 
however, some prisons remained closed because of life-threatening 
conditions. Some prisons and police stations in urban areas were 
seriously overcrowded. In rural areas infrequent court sessions and 
bail restrictions for certain crimes exacerbated overcrowding (see 
section 1.d.).
    Male and female inmates usually were housed separately, but some 
rural prisons lacked separate facilities, and there were reports of 
assaults on female prisoners. There were no separate facilities for 
juvenile offenders; however, in some prisons juveniles were provided 
with separate sleeping quarters. HRW reported that juveniles routinely 
were held with adults in police lockups, placing them at risk of rape 
and other forms of violence. Pretrial detainees were not separated from 
convicted prisoners. HRW reported that 75 percent of all children were 
assaulted while in police custody.
    Prison escapes were common, even from high-security installations. 
On September 6, at least 22 detainees reportedly escaped from the Lae 
police station jail.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A commissioner who 
reports to the minister for internal security heads the country's 
national police force, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. 
Internal divisions related to clan rivalries and a serious lack of 
resources negatively impacted police effectiveness throughout the year. 
In October the National Executive Council suspended the commissioner 
who had replaced much of the police leadership in an effort to address 
corruption and inefficiency. During the year some police officials were 
suspended for involvement in corruption or other criminal activity.
    Police shootings are investigated by the police department's 
Internal Affairs Office and reviewed by a coroner's court. If the court 
finds that the shooting was unjustifiable or due to negligence, the 
police officers involved are tried. Families of persons killed or 
injured by police may challenge the coroner's finding in the National 
Court, with the assistance of the Public Solicitor's Office. Cases of 
accidental shootings of bystanders by police during police operations 
are also investigated and reviewed by a coroner's court.
    During the year the Government continued to negotiate with 
Australia the implementation of a scaled-down version of the 
Australian-sponsored Enhanced Cooperation Program, under which 
Australian federal police officers would work alongside the 
constabulary to improve police practices. The program was terminated in 
May 2005 when the Supreme Court ruled that immunity of Australian 
officers from prosecution in local courts, which had been a condition 
of the program, was unconstitutional.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the law, to make an arrest police must 
have reason to believe that a crime was committed, is in the course of 
being committed or will be committed. A warrant is not required, and 
police made the majority of arrests without one. Citizens may make 
arrests under the same standards as the police, but this was rare in 
practice. Police, prosecutors, and citizens may apply to a court for a 
warrant; however, police normally did so only if they believed it would 
assist them in carrying out an arrest.
    Under the law, only National or Supreme Court judges may grant bail 
to persons charged with willful murder or aggravated robbery. In all 
other cases, the police or magistrates may grant bail. Arrested 
suspects have the right to legal counsel, be informed of the charges 
against them, and have their arrests subjected to judicial review; 
however, the Government did not always respect these rights. Access to 
counsel by detainees was not a problem during the year. There were 
reported instances of politicians directing or bribing police officials 
to arrest or intimidate individuals seen as political enemies or as 
possible whistle-blowers on corruption or misuse or theft of public 
assets.
    Due to very limited police and judicial resources and a high crime 
rate, suspects often were held in pretrial detention for lengthy 
periods. Although pretrial detention is subject to strict judicial 
review through continuing pretrial consultations, the slow pace of 
police investigations and occasional political interference or police 
corruption frequently delayed cases for months. Additionally, circuit 
court sittings were infrequent because of a shortage of judges and 
travel funds. Some detainees were held in jail for more than two years 
because of shortages of judges.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. The Supreme Court is the final court of 
appeal and has original jurisdiction on constitutional matters. The 
National Court hears most cases and appeals from the lower district 
(provincial) courts. There also are village courts headed by lay 
persons (generally local chiefs, known as ``big-men''), who judge minor 
offenses under both customary and statutory law.

    Trial Procedures.--The legal system is based on English common law. 
The law provides for due process, including a public trial, and the 
court system generally enforced these provisions. Judges conduct trials 
and render verdicts; there are no juries. Defendants have the right to 
an attorney. The public solicitor's office provides legal counsel for 
those accused of ``serious offenses'' who are unable to afford counsel. 
Serious offenses are defined as charges for which a sentence of two 
years or more is the norm. Defendants and their attorneys may confront 
witnesses, present evidence, plead cases, and appeal convictions. The 
shortage of judges created delays in both the process of trials and the 
rendering of decisions (see section 1.d.). During the year development 
aid was provided for training and education of the judiciary. Since 
2003, as part of an intensive effort by an intergovernmental juvenile 
justice working group, progress has been made in establishing seven 
juvenile courts. In addition, police established a unit to divert 
minors from the formal justice system and monitor their treatment by 
police.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. District courts could order 
``good behavior bonds,'' commonly called ``protection orders,'' in 
addition to ordering that compensation be paid for violation of human 
rights. However, courts had difficulty in enforcing judgments. 
Additionally, many human rights matters were handled by village courts, 
which were largely unregulated. Village and district courts were often 
hesitant to interfere directly in domestic matters. Village courts 
regularly ordered compensation be paid to an abused spouse's family in 
cases of domestic abuse rather than issue a domestic court order.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions; however, 
there were instances of abuse. Police raids and searches of illegal 
squatter settlements and the homes of suspected criminals often were 
marked by a high level of violence and property destruction. Police 
units operating in highland regions sometimes used intimidation and 
destruction of property to suppress tribal fighting (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. All newspapers included a variety 
of editorial viewpoints and reported on controversial topics. There was 
no evidence of officially sanctioned government censorship; however, 
newspaper editors complained of intimidation tactics aimed at 
influencing coverage.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however, 
the Government often limited this right in practice. Public 
demonstrations require police approval and 14 days' notice. In recent 
years police, asserting a fear of violence from unruly spectators, 
rarely gave approval. Police reportedly received no requests for such 
approval during the year. However, various groups ignored the legal 
notice requirements and held meetings and rallies throughout the year. 
Groups also issued challenges to the requirements, citing conflicts 
with the constitution. In February Greenpeace held a peaceful anti-
illegal logging demonstration in downtown Port Moresby. On March 24, 
NGOs and concerned citizens marched against rape in Port Moresby. There 
were reports that police intimidated groups attempting to demonstrate 
during international conferences and events.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. Associations wishing to open a bank account and conduct 
financial transactions must register with the Government. The process 
of registration was slowed by bureaucratic inefficiency, but there was 
no policy of denying registration. International affiliation of church 
and civic groups was permitted freely.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The Department of Education set aside one hour per week for 
religious instruction in the public schools. Religious representatives 
taught the lessons, and parents chose the class their children would 
attend. There were no classes for members of non-Christian religions, 
due in part to a lack of qualified instructors, and children whose 
parents did not wish them to attend the classes were excused.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationship among 
religious groups in society was generally amicable. There was no known 
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. The 
law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--Although a party to the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 
Government has not enacted enabling legislation and has not established 
a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the 
Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may not 
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol.
    During the year the Government continued to provide protection with 
support from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to approximately 
2,700 persons residing at the East Awin refugee settlement who fled the 
Indonesian province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Approximately 5,000 
additional refugees lived in villages adjacent to the border with 
Indonesia.
    Registered refugees residing in the East Awin refugee settlement 
were granted a residence permit that allowed them to travel freely 
within the country but not to travel abroad.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage. 
Voters elect a unicameral parliament with 109 members from all 19 
provinces and the National Capital District. Any citizen may stand for 
election; members of Parliament (MPs) must be at least 25 years of age. 
Because of the large number of candidates, some MPs have won an 
election with less than 10 percent of the total votes cast under the 
old ``first past the post'' system, which was replaced with a limited 
preferential voting (LPV) system after the last national election in 
2002.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent general 
election was held in June 2002. Of the 109 seats in Parliament, 77 
changed hands. Prime Minister Michael Somare formed a coalition 
government following the election. Fraud, voter intimidation, theft of 
ballot boxes, and violence, including rape and murder, marred the 
election in parts of the country. Due to widespread violence, the 
Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea declared elections in six 
electorates of the Southern Highlands Province a failure. New elections 
in those districts, financed by Australia and accompanied by very 
little violence, were held successfully in 2003. All by-elections held 
after the 2002 national election were conducted using the LPV system.
    Early in the year the Election Commission discarded all old 
electoral rolls and held large-scale registration drives to prepare new 
rolls. Many voters who claimed to have registered were turned away from 
the polls in provincial and district by-elections held in August. The 
government-operated National Research Institute reported allegations of 
bribery and interference in these by-elections.
    The law provides that a losing candidate may dispute an election 
result by filing a petition with the National Court. Such petitions may 
question actions of the winning candidate and his supporters or allege 
malfeasance by the election officials. The procedure is fair but time 
consuming and expensive both to initiate and to defend.
    There is no law limiting political participation by women, but the 
deeply rooted patriarchal culture impeded women's full participation in 
political life. There was one woman in the 109-seat Parliament, 
compared with two in the previous parliament. She served as minister of 
community development, the only cabinet position held by a woman. There 
were no female Supreme Court justices or provincial governors.
    There were six minority (non-Melanesians) members in the 
Parliament. Of these, three were in the cabinet, and two were 
provincial governors.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption at all levels 
of government was a serious problem, primarily because clan-related 
obligations continued to undermine allegiance to constituents or to the 
country as a whole.
    In March the minister for national planning and monitoring stepped 
down following referral to the public prosecutor for misconduct. Later 
he was reappointed to the cabinet. At year's end his case was being 
reviewed by the leadership tribunal. In August a leadership tribunal 
found a provincial governor guilty of misconduct in office but 
reinstated him. Another provincial governor was suspended in September, 
following referral by the ombudsman for alleged misuse of government 
funds. At year's end more than 50 government officials were under 
investigation by the ombudsman's office.
    No law provides for public access to government information. The 
Government published frequent public notices in national newspapers and 
occasional reports on specific topics facing the Government; however, 
it generally was not responsive to individual requests, including media 
requests, for access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no official barriers to the formation of human rights 
groups. The Government cooperated with both domestic and international 
human rights NGOs but at times was slow in responding to their requests 
for information. The International and Community Rights Advocacy Forum, 
an umbrella group, concentrated on human rights and the environment 
during the year. The Government did not have a human rights ombudsman 
or commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides for equal protection under the law 
irrespective of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, color, 
creed, religion, or sex. Despite these constitutional and other legal 
provisions, women often faced discrimination. Geographic diversity 
prevented any one tribe or clan from dominating the country. Successive 
governments, based on loose coalitions, have consistently avoided 
favoring any group. Skirmishes and conflicts tended to be based on 
disputes between clans over issues such as boundaries, land ownership, 
and injuries and insults suffered by one clan at the hands of another; 
they were not ethnically based.

    Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and 
gang rape, was a serious and prevalent problem. In September Amnesty 
International issued a report highly critical of government efforts to 
address violence against women. Domestic violence was common and is a 
crime. However, since most communities viewed domestic violence as a 
private matter, few victims pressed charges, and prosecutions were 
rare. Widespread sexual violence committed by police and their 
unresponsiveness to complaints of sexual or domestic violence served as 
barriers to reporting by both women and men. Traditional village mores, 
which served as deterrents against violence, were weakening and were 
largely absent when youths moved from their villages to larger towns or 
to the capital. Although rape is punishable by imprisonment and 
sentences were imposed on convicted assailants, few rapists were 
apprehended. The willingness of some communities to settle incidents of 
rape through material compensation rather than criminal prosecution 
made the crime difficult to combat.
    On July 18, a reserve police officer sexually assaulted a six-year-
old girl in a Chinatown police station in Lae when her mother left her 
there while buying food. Following public protest, police arrested and 
charged the man. On August 8, HRW visited both Buimo prison and town 
police stations in Lae, but officials at each place claimed the man was 
detained in the other location. At year's end no officers had been 
prosecuted for the beatings and gang rape of women and girls arrested 
in the raid on the Three Mile Guest House in 2004. In January Madang 
provincial governor James Yali was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment 
after being found guilty for the rape of his sister-in-law in 2005, but 
at year's end he remained free and serving as an MP and provincial 
governor, pending appeal.
    Violence committed against women by other women frequently stemmed 
from domestic disputes. In areas where polygyny was customary, an 
increasing number of women were charged with murdering one of their 
husband's other wives. According to HRW, 65 percent of women in prison 
had been convicted for attacking or killing another woman.
    Prostitution is illegal; however, the laws were not enforced, and 
the practice was widespread. There were no reports of sex tourism 
during the year. Sexual harassment is not illegal, and it was a 
widespread problem.
    The laws have provisions for extensive rights for women dealing 
with family, marriage, and property disputes. Some women have achieved 
senior positions in business, the professions, and the civil service; 
however, traditional discrimination against women persisted. Many 
women, even in urban areas, were considered second-class citizens. In 
May the Asia Development Bank issued a country gender assessment that 
described a society in which women continued to face severe 
inequalities in all spheres of life: social, cultural, economic, and 
political.
    Village courts tended to impose jail terms on women found guilty of 
adultery while penalizing men lightly or not at all. By law a district 
court must endorse orders for imprisonment before the sentence is 
imposed, and circuit-riding National Court justices frequently annulled 
such village court sentences. Polygyny and the custom in many tribal 
cultures of paying a bride price tended to reinforce the view that 
women were property. In addition to the purchase of women as brides, 
women also sometimes were given as compensation to settle disputes 
between clans. The courts have ruled that such settlements denied the 
women their constitutional rights.
    According to statistics published in the UN Children Fund's 
(UNICEF) human development report in 2005, women continued to lag 
behind men in literacy and education due to discrimination. Adult 
literacy was 64 percent; 57 percent of women were literate, compared 
with 71 percent of men. The maternal mortality rate was approximately 
370 deaths per 100,000 live births, based on data for the period 1990-
2004.
    During the year the Ministry of Community Development was 
responsible for women's issues and had considerable influence over the 
Government's policy toward women.

    Children.--Independent observers generally agreed that the 
Government did not dedicate significant resources to protecting the 
rights and welfare of children. Religious and secular NGOs operated 
programs to protect and develop youth and children. In the past 
children were well cared for within the family and under traditional 
clan and village controls; however, small-scale studies indicated that 
this situation has changed over the last decade, especially in areas 
where households have become isolated from the extended family support 
system and depend on the cash economy for a livelihood.
    Primary education was not free, compulsory, or universal. 
Substantial fees were charged and posed a significant barrier to 
children's education. According to a 2005 UNICEF report, the primary 
school enrollment rate was 79 percent for boys and 69 percent for 
girls, based on 2000-04 data. Many children did not progress further 
than primary school. Government-provided free medical care for 
citizens, including children, was no longer available due to budget 
cuts and deteriorating infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. 
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care, but many children did 
not have effective care. Many villages were geographically isolated, 
and malnutrition and infant mortality rates were very high. Nearly 70 
of every 1,000 children born did not survive their first year.
    Sexual abuse of children was believed to be frequent. There were 
cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children in urban areas, 
including children working in bars and nightclubs. HRW documented 
numerous instances of police abuse of children (see section 1.c.). Some 
children were forced to work long hours as domestic servants in private 
homes, often to repay a family debt to the ``host'' family.
    The legal age for marriage is 18 for boys and 16 for girls. There 
is a lower legal marriage age (16 for boys and 14 for girls) with 
parental and court consent. However, customary and traditional 
practices allow marriage of children as young as age 12, and child 
marriage was common in many traditional, isolated rural communities. 
Child brides frequently were taken as additional wives or given as 
brides to pay family debts and often were used as domestic servants. 
Child brides were particularly vulnerable to domestic abuse.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons. There were reports of trafficking within the country. Custom 
requires the family of the groom to pay a ``bride price'' to the family 
of the bride. While marriages were usually consensual, women and female 
children were sometimes sold against their will. There were also 
reports of Asian women being trafficked into the country to work in the 
sex industry. Transactional sex was common and often involved the 
sexual exploitation of children.
    The Government investigated allegations of corruption among 
officials dealing with passport issuance and immigration. The 
allegations primarily involved the illegal issuance of residence and 
work permits for Chinese or South Asian nationals migrating to the 
country. Nevertheless, there was concern that the country may be have 
been used as a route for trafficking in persons to Australia.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Persons with disabilities faced 
discrimination in education, training, and employment. Through the 
National Board for the Disabled, the Government provided funds to a 
number of NGOs that provided services to persons with disabilities. The 
Government provided free consultation and treatment for persons with 
mental disabilities; however, such services were rarely available 
outside major cities, and the Government did not provide other programs 
or services. Apart from the traditional clan and family system, 
services and health care for persons with disabilities did not exist in 
several provinces. No legislation mandates accessibility to buildings. 
Most persons with disabilities did not find training or work outside 
the family structure.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Centuries-old animosities among 
isolated tribes, a persistent cultural tradition of revenge for 
perceived wrongs, and the lack of police enforcement sometimes resulted 
in violent tribal conflict in the highland areas. In the last few years 
the number of deaths resulting from such conflicts has risen due to the 
availability of modern weapons. Tribal fighting continued in Western 
Highlands Province. The prevalence of high-powered small arms prevented 
police intervention.
    On February 7, persons from a neighboring village reportedly burned 
down more than 80 houses in Bau Village in Madang Province. One person 
was reported hospitalized and two were reported missing in the 
incident. Police investigated the incident; however, at year's end the 
results of the investigation were not known.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
government discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, there 
was a strong societal stigma attached to HIV/AIDS infection that 
prevented individuals from seeking HIV/AIDS related services, and there 
were reports that companies have dismissed HIV-positive employees after 
learning of their condition.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to 
form and join labor unions, subject to registration by the Department 
of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Government did not use 
registration to control unions; however, an unregistered union has no 
legal standing and thus cannot operate effectively. An estimated half 
of the approximately 250,000 wage earners in the formal economy were 
organized and were members of approximately 50 trade unions. Most 
unions representing private-sector workers were associated with the PNG 
Trade Union Congress, which is affiliated with International Trade 
Union Confederation. The Public Employees Association represented an 
estimated 30,000 persons employed by national, provincial, and 
municipal governments, or one-third of the public sector work force. 
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against union 
leaders, members, and organizers; however, it was enforced selectively. 
Unions were independent of the Government and of political parties.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to engage in collective bargaining and to join 
industrial organizations, and workers exercised these rights in 
practice. Under the law, the Government has discretionary power to 
cancel arbitration awards or declare wage agreements void when they are 
contrary to government policy. The International Labor Organization has 
criticized this law. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations 
and the courts are involved in dispute settlement. Wages above the 
minimum wage were set through negotiations between employers and 
employees or their respective industrial organizations.
    The law provides for the right to strike, although the Government 
can and often does intervene in labor disputes to require arbitration 
before workers can legally strike. The law prohibits retaliation 
against strikers; however, it was not always enforced. Employees of 
some government-owned enterprises went on strike on several occasions 
during the year, primarily to protest against privatization policies or 
in pay disputes. These strikes were brief and ineffective. In May an 
estimated 1,000 teachers in the National Capital District went on 
strike for several days over a pay dispute.
    At year's end no decision had been made regarding the legality of a 
December 2005 nurses' strike or the disciplinary actions taken against 
nurses who participated in the strike.
    There were no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
forbids slavery and all forms of forced or compulsory labor, including 
that performed by children, and there were no reports that such 
practices occurred in the formal economy. Some children were obliged to 
work long hours as domestic servants in private homes (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law establishes the minimum working age as 16; for hazardous work, the 
minimum age is 18. However, children between the ages of 11 and 18 may 
be employed in a family business or enterprise provided they have 
parental permission, a medical clearance, and a work permit from a 
labor office. This type of employment was rare, except in subsistence 
agriculture. Work by children between the ages of 11 and 16 must not 
interfere with school attendance. Some children under 18 worked in bars 
and nightclubs (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Minimum Wage Board, a 
quasigovernmental body with labor and employer representatives, sets 
minimum wages for the private sector. The national youth wage, for new 
entrants into the labor force between 16 and 21 years of age, was set 
at 75 percent of the adult minimum wage. The minimum wage was $12.75 
(37.50 kina) per week, and although it was above the national per 
capita income, the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family who lived solely on the cash economy.
    The law regulates minimum wage levels, allowances, rest periods, 
holiday leave, and overtime. Although the Department of Labor and 
Industrial Relations and the courts attempted to enforce the minimum 
wage law, enforcement was not effective. The law limits the workweek to 
42 hours per week in urban areas and 44 hours per week in rural areas. 
The law provides for at least one rest period of 24 consecutive hours 
every week; however, enforcement was lax. Enforcement of the Industrial 
Health and Safety Law and related regulations is the responsibility of 
the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The law requires that 
work sites be inspected on a regular basis; however, due to a shortage 
of inspectors, inspections took place only when requested by workers or 
unions. Workers' ability to remove themselves from hazardous working 
conditions varied by workplace. Unionized workers had some measure of 
protection in such situations.
    The law protects legal foreign workers. The few illegal foreign 
workers lacked full legal protection.

                               __________

                              PHILIPPINES

    The Philippines, with a population of 87 million, is a democratic 
republic with an elected President, an elected bicameral legislature, 
and a multiparty system. The May 2004 national elections for President 
and both houses of congress continued to be a source of contention, 
with unsuccessful attempts in 2005 and during the year to impeach the 
President on grounds of alleged election fraud. Civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces; however, 
some elements of these security forces committed human rights abuses.
    During the year there were a number of arbitrary, unlawful, and 
extrajudicial killings apparently by elements of the security services 
and of political killings, including killings of journalists, by a 
variety of actors. Many of these killings went unsolved and unpunished, 
contributing to a climate of impunity, despite intensified government 
efforts during the year to investigate and prosecute these cases. 
Members of the security services committed acts of physical and 
psychological abuse on suspects and detainees, and there were instances 
of torture. Arbitrary or warrantless arrests and detentions were 
common. Trials were delayed and procedures were prolonged. Prisoners 
awaiting trial and those already convicted were often held under 
primitive conditions. Corruption was a problem in all the institutions 
making up the criminal justice system, including police, prosecutorial, 
and judicial organs. During a brief ``state of emergency'' in February, 
there was some attempted interference in freedom of the press and in 
the right of assembly. In addition to the killings mentioned above, 
leftwing and human rights activists were often subject to harassment by 
local security forces. Problems such as violence against women and 
abuse of children, child prostitution, trafficking in persons, child 
labor, and ineffective enforcement of worker rights were common.
    In addition to killing soldiers and police officers in armed 
encounters, the New People's Army (NPA, the military wing of the 
Communist Party) killed local government officials, and ordinary 
civilians, including through the use of landmines, and were suspected 
in many of the killings of leftwing activists. The NPA also used 
underage soldiers in combat roles. Terrorist groups committed bombings 
that caused civilian casualties, and these groups also used underage 
soldiers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Security forces and 
antigovernment insurgents committed a number of arbitrary and unlawful 
killings. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigated 296 
complaints of killings between January and November, compared with a 
total of 453 complaints of killings during 2005. The CHR suspected 
personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of 
the Philippines (AFP) in a number of the killings of leftist activists 
operating in rural areas that it investigated during the year. A number 
of allegations of summary executions by government security forces were 
referred to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Task Force Detainees 
of the Philippines (TFDP); TFDP was unable to investigate all of these 
allegations, but it did document the summary executions of 20 
individuals by government forces through December.
    On May 12, the Department of Interior and Local government formed 
``Task Force Usig'' within the PNP to investigate the killings of 
activists and journalists (see section 2.a.). Through December, the 
task force recorded 142 killings since 2001; 68 of these led to cases 
filed in court, with one conviction so far, and the remainder still 
under investigation.
    On August 20, President Arroyo created an independent commission 
headed by former supreme court justice Jose A. Melo to investigate 
patterns in the killings of journalists and leftist activists and to 
make policy and legislative recommendations for dealing with the 
problem. The commission completed its investigation in December and was 
expected to submit its report to the President in January 2007.
    The following are examples of arbitrary and unlawful killings 
during the year:
    On April 12, a gunman, subsequently identified as a police officer, 
shot and killed environmental activist Elpidio de la Victoria in 
Talisay City, Cebu. The police officer was allegedly acting as a hired 
gunman for a private businessman. On September 18, a trial court judge 
in Cebu convicted police officer Marcial Ocampo and sentenced him to 20 
to 40 years in prison.
    On May 29, three assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed Sotero 
Llamas, a former adviser of the Communist Party (CPP)-aligned National 
Democratic Front (NDF) in Tabaco City, Albay Province. Task Force Usig 
identified two suspects, an alleged former NPA commander and a 
discharged former Philippine Army member. Witnesses were identified and 
murder charges were filed, although by year's end no arrests had been 
made.
    On July 31, unidentified men in two vans fired on Constancio 
Claver, a doctor and provincial leader of Bayan Muna, and his wife 
Alice, local coordinator of the same group, in Tabuk, Kalinga Province, 
wounding Constancio and killing his wife. The PNP chief relieved the 
head of the Kalinga police from his post in order to create a climate 
of trust in the course of investigation. On September 22, the PNP 
Criminal Investigation Group filed charges of murder and three counts 
of frustrated murder against a Kalinga police officer, who was also the 
bodyguard and driver of the relieved police chief. At year's end, the 
suspect was in restrictive police custody and the case was with the 
local prosecutor for preliminary investigation.
    On August 3, approximately 10 masked gunmen shot and killed United 
Methodist Church pastor Isaias Santa Rosa in Daraga, Albay. Santa Rosa 
was a member of a Bicol region leftist farmers' group. His family 
alleged that the gunmen tortured him and forced him to confess that he 
was a communist rebel. The police found another dead man at the site of 
the incident, later identified as an army military intelligence group 
corporal, whom Santa Rosa's family alleged was among the group of armed 
men. The police were still investigating the case as of the end of 
December.
    Investigations of cases from 2004 and 2005, including killings of 
judges (see section 1.e.), were still ongoing:
    In March 2005 gunmen killed a leader of Bayan Muna and a priest of 
the Aglipayan Church who were involved in supporting a strike by 
plantation workers in Tarlac Province; officials arrested a suspect in 
the case of the priest's killing. At year's end, a trial was underway 
in a Tarlac court, and the suspect was still detained.
    The CHR has not released a final report of its investigation of the 
2004 killing by security forces of seven persons during the strike of 
plantation workers in Tarlac Province.
    There were no developments in the investigation of the March 2005 
killing of Bayan Muna coordinator Felidito Dacut. Task Force Usig 
alleged that members of the CPP/NPA Eastern Visayas Regional Party 
Committee were possible suspects.
    The killings of United Church of Christ in the Philippines pastors 
in May and August 2005 were still under investigation at year's end.
    Two members of the Philippine Army were charged with murder for the 
October 2005 killing of Ricardo Ramos, a leader of the sugar workers' 
union at the Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac Province. The criminal case was 
under preliminary investigation by a local prosecutor, although it was 
on trial in a military court at year's end.
    The trial in the case of the 2004 killing of Bayan Muna members 
Juvy Magsino and Leyma Fortu in Mindoro Oriental was ongoing in a 
Quezon City trial court at year's end. In 2004 the police arrested one 
suspect, allegedly a hired gun, on murder charges; another unidentified 
suspect was still at large.
    On September 13, Task Force Usig filed charges against a former 
police officer in the 2004 killing of human rights activist Jacinto 
Manahan. At year's end, the case was still under preliminary 
investigation by the local prosecutor and the suspect had not been 
arrested.
    In recent years, there have been deaths as a result of military 
hazing. There were no developments in the 2004 case of a PNP cadet who 
died allegedly from maltreatment during training. On February 3, the 
Sandiganbayan (antigraft court) dismissed criminal charges against five 
officials of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy who were accused as 
accomplices in the 2001 death of a freshman cadet as a result of 
hazing.
    Government forces killed a number of civilians during clashes with 
antigovernment forces and with the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and 
the NPA (see section 1.g.).
    The terrorist group ASG and the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM) 
continued to kill civilians in bombings throughout the year (see 
section 1.g.). In March ASG terrorists bombed a convenience store in 
Jolo City, killing five civilians and wounding 25 others. Authorities 
suspected the ASG of bombings in Mindanao during August 2005 that 
injured dozens of civilians. An Indonesian ranking member of the 
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, an operative of the RSM, and an ASG 
member were sentenced to death in October 2005 for the 2005 Valentine's 
Day bombing in Manila, which killed four people. Indonesian authorities 
arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked suspect in two simultaneous February 2005 
Mindanao bombings.
    At year's end, the trial of five alleged Moro Islamic Liberation 
Front (MILF) members for the 2003 Davao airport and seaport bombing was 
underway.
    Communist insurgents, mainly from the NPA, continued to kill 
political figures, military and police officers, and civilians, 
including suspected military and police informers. On June 13, NPA 
rebels killed nine soldiers of the 50th Infantry Battalion and injured 
three others during an ambush in Ilocos Sur. In 2004 authorities 
arrested and charged 15 suspected NPA members for the killing of the 
police chief of Angat, Bulacan. There have been no known developments 
in the case since the arrests.
    Vigilante groups are suspected of conducting summary killings of 
suspected criminals in two major cities and local officials appeared to 
condone and even encourage them. Through December, Kabataan Consortium, 
a group of human rights NGOs, documented 76 apparent vigilante killings 
in Davao City, Mindanao. In Cebu City in the Central Visayan Region, 
more than 70 persons were killed through December. The cities of Toledo 
and Carcar on Cebu island also saw apparent illegal killings. Most of 
the victims were suspected of involvement in criminal activities, and 
the killings appeared to have popular support. The authorities made no 
arrests in these cases. A court dismissed two cases filed in 2004 in 
Davao because the victims' relatives withdrew their complaints. In June 
2005 the Office of the Ombudsman suspended four police officers in 
Davao for failing to solve extrajudicial killings in their 
jurisdiction; however, in July 2005 the court of appeals reinstated 
them.

    b. Disappearance.--According to local human rights NGOs, government 
forces were responsible for disappearances. Through December the 
domestic NGO Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND) 
documented 72 victims of involuntary disappearance: 31 were found 
alive, four were found dead, and 37 remained missing; FIND suspected 
government forces in 33 cases, while unidentified armed men were 
suspected in the remaining 14 cases. Task Force ``Usig'' documented six 
cases of forced disappearance of activists since 2001. Only one case 
has been filed in court, but no arrests had been made at year's end.
    On May 22, five supporters of former President Joseph Estrada were 
surreptitiously taken into custody, suspected of plotting rebellion. 
Initially, the Government denied any involvement in their 
disappearance, but on May 24 authorities admitted holding them and 
released them on May 27.
    On June 26, unidentified gunmen in Bulacan Province abducted 
University of the Philippines (UP) student Karen Empeno, former UP 
student council officer Sherlyn Cadapan, and local citizen Manuel 
Merino. The three reportedly were blindfolded and forced to board a 
``jeepney'' (small commercial passenger vehicle) at gunpoint. The 
leftist human rights group Karapatan alleged that the Philippine Army's 
7th Infantry Division was responsible for the abduction. On July 19, 
the Supreme Court ordered the chief of AFP Northern Luzon Command, the 
commander of the 7th Infantry Division, and two other military 
officials to present the three victims to the Court of Appeals. 
However, these officials denied the AFP was holding them. At year's 
end, the three were still missing. The Melo Commission investigated the 
case; however, there were no publicly known developments regarding the 
investigation at year's end.
    In August 2005 leftist political activists Armando Barquillo and 
Lirio de Castro were released a month after heavily armed men abducted 
them in Cavite City. They alleged that their abductors were military 
intelligence agents.
    Efforts to locate three members of Bayan Muna reportedly abducted 
in Manila in 2004 by 10 armed men were unsuccessful. FIND claimed the 
Intelligence Service of the AFP was responsible.
    Some victims' families complained that the courts and police failed 
to address adequately their complaints concerning disappearances in 
which security forces were suspected. Evidence of a kidnapping or 
killing is required in order to file charges. FIND and Amnesty 
International's Manila office continued to support the efforts of 
victims' families to press charges. In most cases, evidence and 
documentation were unavailable, and convictions were rare. Out of 16 
court cases related to disappearances of concern to FIND, none had been 
resolved as of year's end. In May FIND filed a petition for a writ of 
habeas corpus against the suspected perpetrators in one case involving 
two victims, but as of year's end the court had not granted the 
petition. Judicial inaction on the vast majority of disappearances 
contributed to a climate of impunity and undermined public confidence 
in the justice system.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits torture, and evidence obtained 
through its use is inadmissible in court; however, members of the 
security forces and police were alleged to have routinely abused and 
sometimes tortured suspects and detainees. The CHR provides the police 
with mandatory human rights training, and senior PNP officials appeared 
receptive to respecting the human rights of detainees; however, rank-
and-file awareness of the rights of detainees remained inadequate.
    The TFDP stated that torture remained an ingrained part of the 
arrest and detention process. Common forms of abuse during arrest and 
interrogation reportedly included striking detainees and threatening 
them with guns. The TFDP reported that arresting officers often carried 
out such beatings in the early stages of detention.
    A human rights NGO, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights 
Advocates, also reported that police used excessive force in 
apprehending suspects.
    Within the AFP, the CHR continued to observe greater sensitivity to 
the need to prevent human rights violations. CHR is required to 
determine whether an officer being considered for promotion has a 
history of human rights violations (see section 4); however, a negative 
CHR finding does not preclude promotion. The CHR also vets PNP officers 
at the senior superintendent level. Nevertheless, abuses still 
occurred. Human rights activists complained of abuses by security 
forces against suspected ASG and NPA members in captivity. According to 
the Moro Human Rights Center, some members of the AFP continued to beat 
ASG suspects.
    The TFDP documented seven cases of torture involving 20 victims 
from January to December. The CHR investigated 11 cases of alleged 
torture during the year. The suspects in these cases mostly were 
members of PNP.
    In April 2005 four farmers in Laak, Mindanao, accused the AFP of 
torturing them as suspected NPA collaborators. The CHR began an 
investigation but had not yet released any conclusion as of year's end.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
rudimentary and sometimes harsh. Provincial jails and prisons were 
overcrowded, lacked basic infrastructure, and provided prisoners with 
an inadequate diet. Jails managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and 
Penology (BJMP) in metropolitan Manila usually operated at about 240 
percent of designed capacity. An on-going jail decongestion program by 
BJMP resulted in the early release, using applicable laws, of more than 
3,500 inmates. BJMP's establishment of new facilities for women inmates 
and its implementation of the new law on juvenile justice also 
contributed to the decrease in jail overcrowding from 2005.
    Prison administrators budgeted a daily subsistence allowance of 
about $0.78 (P40) per prisoner. Prison inmates often depended on their 
families for food because of the insufficient subsistence allowance and 
the need to bribe guards to receive food rations.
    The slow judicial process exacerbated the problem of overcrowding. 
Some inmates took turns sleeping. Some prison wardens reportedly 
allowed wives or children to move in with inmates or stay in the prison 
compound because they could help feed the prisoners. Lack of potable 
water and poor ventilation continued to cause health problems in jails.
    On May 16, President Arroyo signed the Juvenile Justice and Welfare 
Act, which, among other reforms, changed the age of criminal 
responsibility from nine to 15 years of age. Under the new law, 
children caught committing crimes are to be turned over to juvenile 
justice and welfare councils to be placed in programs supervised by 
local social welfare officers. The law also prohibits the detention of 
minors in jails while undergoing trial and exempts convicted minors 
from the death penalty.
    There were reports of widespread corruption among prison guards. 
Guards sometimes demanded that prisoners pay to receive food, to use 
sanitary facilities, and to avoid beatings by other prisoners. Jail 
administrators reportedly delegated to senior inmates authority to 
maintain order. The CHR and TFDP reported that beatings by prison 
guards and other inmates were common but that prisoners, fearing 
retaliation, refused to lodge complaints. Corruption appeared to be a 
problem at higher levels of authority within the prison system as well. 
Favored inmates reportedly enjoyed access to prostitutes and drugs.
    There were reports that guards abused prisoners. Women in police 
custody were particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical assault by 
police and prison officials. Victims often were afraid to report 
incidents (see section 5). Some detainees at Bureau of Immigration 
detention centers reportedly gained release by making cash payments to 
guards.
    Through December, the BJMP recorded 27 successful prison escapes 
involving 52 inmates; 16 were recaptured and 36 remained at large. 
Police blamed the escapes on lenient security and the poor quality of 
detention facilities.
    On February 28, the CHR released a report on a March 2005 escape 
attempt during which three guards were killed and which ended in the 
deaths of 22 inmates. The CHR concluded that the authorities used 
excessive force, that inmates were summarily executed, and that inmates 
were maltreated after a police assault. The CHR report also recommended 
that the Department of Justice (DOJ) create a committee to investigate 
and determine the criminal liability of the police units; however, by 
year's end, the DOJ had not received a formal complaint from the CHR to 
investigate these police units.
    According to regulations, male and female inmates are to be held in 
separate facilities and, in national prisons, overseen by guards of the 
same sex; however, there were anecdotal reports that these regulations 
were not uniformly enforced. In provincial and municipal prisons, male 
guards sometimes supervised female prisoners directly or indirectly. 
Although prison authorities attempted to segregate children, in some 
instances they were held in facilities not fully segregated from adult 
male inmates (see section 5). Only 223 out of 1,100 jails managed by 
the BJMP and PNP had separate cells for minors, while 345 jails had 
separate cells for females. During the year the BJMP established two 
detention centers exclusively for women. Approximately 1,200 women 
inmates were transferred to these new facilities, located in Metro 
Manila and in Cebu City. More than 300 minor inmates were transferred 
to three youth centers in compliance with the new law on juvenile 
justice. In Bureau of Immigration detention facilities, male and female 
inmates are segregated by sex, but male guards oversaw both sexes.
    International monitoring groups, including the International 
Committee of the Red Cross, were allowed free access to jails and 
prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law requires a judicial 
determination of probable cause before issuance of an arrest warrant 
and prohibits holding prisoners incommunicado or in secret places of 
detention; however, in a number of cases, police arrested and detained 
citizens arbitrarily. Through December, the TFDP documented 35 cases of 
illegal arrest and detention involving 114 victims.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Department of 
National Defense directs the AFP, which shares responsibility for 
counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations with the PNP. The 
Department of Interior and Local government directs the PNP, which is 
responsible for enforcement of law and order and urban 
counterterrorism; however, governors, mayors, and other local officials 
have considerable influence. The 115,000-member PNP has deep-rooted 
institutional deficiencies and suffered from a widely held and accurate 
public perception that it was corrupt. The PNP's Internal Affairs 
Service remained largely ineffective. Members of the PNP were regularly 
accused of torture, of soliciting bribes, and of other illegal acts. 
Efforts were underway to reform the institution in part to counter a 
widespread impression of official impunity. From January to November, 
the PNP dismissed 89 policemen. Of the 2,859 administrative cases filed 
against PNP officers and personnel, 1,398 were resolved, 944 remained 
under preliminary investigation, 391 underwent summary hearings, and 
the remaining 126 were filed with the People's Law Enforcement Board, a 
body composed of local government officials and NGO representatives 
that receives complaints filed against members of the PNP in the 
regions. In 2005 the PNP initiated a Transformation Program aimed at 
systematic institutional reform.

    Arrest and Detention.--Detainees have the right to a judicial 
review of the legality of their detention and, except for offenses 
punishable by a life sentence, the right to bail; however, only 6.5 
percent of detainees were able to post bail. Authorities are required 
to file charges within 12 to 36 hours of arrests made without warrants, 
with the time given to file charges increasing with the seriousness of 
the crime. Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem (see section 
1.e.). In 2005 the courts released 67 detainees who had been held in 
jail for periods equal to or longer than the maximum prison terms they 
would have served if convicted. Through November only two detainees 
were released under this circumstance.
    The NPA, as well as some Islamic separatist groups, were 
responsible for a number of arbitrary detentions, often in connection 
with informal courts set up to try military personnel, police, local 
politicians, and other persons for ``crimes against the people'' (see 
section 1.e.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, the judicial system suffered from 
corruption and inefficiency. Personal ties and sometimes venality 
resulted in impunity for some wealthy and influential offenders and 
contributed to widespread skepticism that the judicial process could 
ensure due process and equal justice. The Supreme Court continued 
efforts to ensure speedier trials and to sanction judicial malfeasance 
and was in the midst of a five-year program to increase judicial branch 
efficiency and raise public confidence in the judiciary.
    In September 2005 a regional trial court judge was killed in her 
house in Natividad, Pangasinan. Police identified two suspects, but a 
judge dismissed the case and did not issue arrest warrants against the 
two for lack of probable cause. In January police arrested six suspects 
for the December 2005 murder of a Pasay City regional trial court 
judge; their trial was on-going at year's end. Trials in the 2004 
killings of two judges were also underway at year's end, and 
prosecutors filed charges in the third case. Ten cases of the killing 
of judges remained under investigation at year's end.
    The national court system consists of four levels: local and 
regional trial courts; a national court of appeals divided into 
seventeen divisions; a 15-member Supreme Court; and an informal local 
system for arbitrating or mediating certain disputes outside the formal 
court system. The Sandiganbayan, the Government's anticorruption court, 
hears criminal cases brought against senior officials. A Shari'a 
(Islamic law) court system, with jurisdiction over domestic and 
contractual relations among Muslim citizens, operates in some Mindanao 
provinces.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides that those accused of crimes be 
informed of the charges against them, have the right to counsel, and be 
provided a speedy and public trial before a judge. Defendants are 
presumed innocent and have the right to confront witnesses against 
them, to present evidence, and to appeal convictions. The authorities 
respected the right of defendants to be represented by a lawyer, but 
poverty often inhibited a defendant's access to effective legal 
representation. Skilled defense lawyers staffed the Public Attorney's 
Office (PAO), but their workload was large and resources were scarce. 
The PAO provides legal representation for all indigent litigants at 
trial; however, during arraignment, courts may at their option appoint 
any lawyer present in the courtroom to provide counsel to the accused.
    According to the law, cases should be resolved within set time 
limits once submitted for decision: 24 months for the Supreme Court; 12 
months for the Court of Appeals; and three months for lower courts. 
However, these time limits are not mandatory, and, in effect, there 
were no time limits for trials.
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. In 2005 the UN 
Development Program (UNDP) and the Supreme Court released a study that 
found that the average trial takes over three years. Trials take place 
in short sessions over time and as witnesses become available; these 
non-continuous sessions created lengthy delays. Furthermore, there was 
a widely recognized need for more prosecutors, judges, and courtrooms. 
Judgeship vacancy rates were high; of the total 2,152 trial court 
judgeships (including Shari'a courts), 628 (29 percent) were vacant, a 
small decline from 2005. Courts in Mindanao and other poorer provinces 
had higher vacancy rates than the national average. Shari'a court 
positions were particularly difficult to fill because of the 
requirement that applicants be members of both the Shari'a Bar and the 
Integrated Bar. All five Shari'a district court judgeships and 41 
percent of circuit court judgeships remained vacant. Shari'a courts do 
not have criminal jurisdiction.
    The NPA continued to subject military personnel, police, local 
politicians, and other persons to its so-called courts for ``crimes 
against the people.'' The NPA executed some of these ``defendants.'' 
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front also maintained similar ``people's 
courts.''
    In the past, international and domestic NGOs criticized many court 
proceedings that resulted in death sentences, asserting that the 
judicial system did not ensure due process and legal representation. On 
June 24, the Government formally abolished the death penalty.

    Political Prisoners.--Various human rights NGOs maintained lists of 
incarcerated persons they alleged to be political prisoners. Through 
December, the TFDP said that there were 233 political prisoners. 
Typically, there was no distinction in these lists between detainees 
and prisoners, and the majority of persons listed have not been 
convicted. Some NGOs asserted that it was frequent practice to make 
politically motivated arrests of persons for common crimes and to 
continue to detain them after their sentences expired. The Government 
used NGO lists as one source of information in the conduct of its 
pardon, parole, and amnesty programs, but it did not consider the 
persons listed to be political detainees or prisoners. The CPP/NPA 
demanded that their members under detention by the PNP or AFP be 
treated as political prisoners as one of the preconditions for resuming 
peace talks with the Government.
    During the year, the Government did not release any persons whom 
NGOs claimed were political prisoners.
    The Government permitted access to alleged political prisoners by 
international humanitarian organizations.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary is 
independent and impartial in civil matters. Complainants have access to 
local trial courts to seek damages for, or cessation of, human rights 
abuses. There are administrative remedies as well as judicial remedies 
for alleged wrongs; however, corruption is widespread in the judiciary, 
and cases were often dismissed. The Commission on Human Rights keeps a 
database of alleged human rights violators, including those in the AFP 
or PNP. The CHR also investigates cases of alleged human rights 
violations. However, it has no prosecutorial power and can only refer 
cases with probable cause to local prosecutors.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law provides that a judge may issue search 
warrants on a finding of probable cause; however, while the Government 
generally respected restrictions on search and seizure within private 
homes, searches without warrants occurred. Judges declared evidence 
obtained illegally to be inadmissible.
    The Government generally respected the privacy of its citizens; 
however, leaders of communist organizations and rural-based NGOs 
complained of what they described as a pattern of surveillance and 
harassment.
    Forced resettlement of urban squatters, who made up at least 30 
percent of the urban population, continued during the year. The law 
provides certain protections for squatters; eviction was often 
difficult, especially because politicians recognized squatters' voting 
power. Government relocation efforts were constrained by budget 
problems, and the issuance of land titles to squatters targeted by 
displacement was limited, but the Government successfully completed a 
two-year program to relocate in new housing approximately 20,000 
squatter families from what will be a new ``Northrail'' project from 
Manila to Northern Luzon.

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Some citizen groups complained that the AFP, in confronting the 
terrorist ASG and NPA, illegally detained citizens, destroyed houses, 
displaced residents, and shelled villages. NGOs also accused the police 
of wrongful detention, excessive force, and extrajudicial killings (see 
section 1.c.).
    On January 31, a clash between the AFP and NPA rebels in Santa 
Ignacia, Tarlac, resulted in at least 10 casualties; three of whom were 
civilians. The human rights group Karapatan alleged that the military 
was responsible for the civilian deaths. On May 18, AFP fire in an 
encounter with NPA rebels in Bulan, Sorsogon, allegedly killed a 
civilian.
    On a number of occasions, ASG and RSM bombings killed and wounded 
civilians. On October 10, bombs in Makilala, North Cotabato, and in 
Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, killed eight persons and wounded at least 30 
others. On October 18, an explosion near a police camp in Jolo, Sulu, 
killed at least three persons. The authorities identified the ASG as 
responsible for these attacks. Throughout the year, clashes between the 
AFP, Jemaah Islamiyah, and ASG, mostly in the Zamboanga peninsula and 
Sulu archipelago, contributed to the displacement of civilians.
    During the year, the NPA killed political activists, mayors, other 
civilians, and military and police personnel. The NPA also harassed 
businesses and burned buses to enforce the collection of 
``revolutionary taxes.'' On July 24, NPA personnel detonated two 
landmines on a highway in Surigao del Sur Province, seriously wounding 
five passengers in a jeepney and 10 pedestrians. Subsequently, a 
spokesman for the NDF said that the injuries to civilians were 
unfortunate but that the NPA will not give up its ``legitimate right'' 
to use landmines. The AFP reported that the NPA killed at least 191 AFP 
and PNP personnel from January to December. The NPA continued actively 
to recruit minors both as combatants and noncombatants (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and, except for a few instances during a week-
long imposition of a state of national emergency, the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.
    The Government owned several television and radio stations; 
however, most print and electronic media were privately owned. The 
media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without 
restriction. Broadcast and print media were freewheeling and often 
criticized for lacking rigorous journalistic ethics. They tended to 
reflect the particular political or economic orientations of owners, 
publishers, or patrons, some of whom were close associates of present 
or past high-level officials. Special interests often used bribes and 
other inducements to solicit one-sided and erroneous reports and 
commentaries that supported their positions.
    Journalists continued to be murdered. The National Union of 
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) recorded 12 journalists killed 
during the year. Task Force Usig classified two of these cases as work-
related slayings. According to the task force, seven of more than 70 
cases of journalist killings since 1986 resulted in convictions. On 
October 6, a Cebu City trial court convicted three men for the March 
2005 murder of journalist Marlene Esperat. One suspect, a former AFP 
member who had turned state witness for the case, was acquitted for 
lack of evidence. On November 27, the same court dismissed a 
prosecutor's motion to reinstate the murder cases, which were earlier 
dismissed by the Tacurong trial court, against two regional officials 
of the Department of Agriculture, who allegedly planned the killing.
    On May 22, two gunmen shot and killed Fernando Batul, a radio 
commentator and former vice-mayor of Puerto Princesa City. The 
authorities arrested a police officer, and a murder case has been filed 
against the officer and another unidentified suspect.
    The trial of the four suspects in the May 2005 killing of Philip 
Agustin, editor of a local newspaper in Dingalan, Aurora Province, was 
still on-going. In May the Mayor of Dingalan, charged as co-conspirator 
in the case, surrendered to the authorities.
    On March 6, a regional trial court acquitted a former police 
officer in the 2004 killing of radio broadcaster Ely Binoya in 
Sarangani Province. The international NGO Reporters without Borders 
termed the court decision ``unacceptable.''
    On July 28, suspects in the 2004 murder of Ilocos Norte radio 
commentator Roger Mariano were arraigned and a trial was underway in a 
Manila trial court. The two suspects, including a police officer, were 
detained in the Manila City Jail. Two other suspects remained at large 
as of end of November.
    There were no developments with regard to the 2004 murders of a 
newspaper writer in Batangas and of radio commentator Edward Balida.
    Human rights NGOs frequently criticized the Government for failing 
to protect journalists. The NUJP accused the police and the Government 
of failing adequately to investigate these killings and of subjecting 
journalists to harassment and surveillance. In some situations, it was 
difficult to discern if violence against journalists was carried out in 
retribution for their profession or if these journalists were the 
victims of random crime. According to a study released by the Center 
for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in September 2005, most of 
the slain journalists were not professionally trained as journalists or 
formally accredited to any national media organization. CMFR listed 61 
journalists killed since democracy was restored in 1986.
    On February 24, President Arroyo imposed a state of national 
emergency and shortly thereafter the police occupied the premises of 
the opposition-leaning Daily Tribune. The police officers confiscated 
copies of the mock-up copy of the newspaper's next issue and 
photographs. On March 3, after the President lifted the state of 
national emergency, the police left the newspaper's office. The 
newspaper's publisher and two columnists were subsequently charged with 
incitement to sedition. At year's end, the case was in preliminary 
investigation with the DOJ. The three accused filed separate motions to 
dismiss the case against them and were awaiting DOJ's resolution. On 
May 3, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the imposition of a 
state of national emergency, but ruled the raid on the newspaper an 
attack on press freedoms and hence illegal.
    On October 17, a number of media groups accused the President's 
husband of seeking to muzzle the press through a series of libel suits. 
Over the last two years, 43 reporters, columnists, editors, publishers, 
and a subscription manager reportedly faced lawsuits filed by the 
President's husband over stories alleging corruption and electoral 
fraud by the President and her husband. A Manila trial court issued 
warrants of arrest on October 16 against nine of the accused in the 
libel cases, including a former opposition senator.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful 
expressions of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access is widely available.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--In June 2005 the 
intelligence service of the AFP released a presentation, ``Know Your 
Enemy,'' listing some press unions and student organizations as 
``enemies of the state'' or communist fronts. The Government did not 
otherwise interfere with academic freedom, and there were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and, except for a 
few instances during the brief imposition of a state of national 
emergency, the Government generally respected this right in practice. 
Although the law requires that groups request a permit to hold a rally, 
the Government at times followed an unwritten policy of allowing 
rallies to occur without requiring the filing of a request.
    On February 24, President Arroyo declared a state of national 
emergency, and all rally permits were cancelled. The police dispersed 
rallies commemorating the 1986 ``people's power'' demonstrations, which 
culminated in the ouster of the Marcos regime, and those calling for 
the ouster of President Arroyo. The police detained UP professor and 
newspaper columnist Randy David at one of the rallies; he was released 
after a few hours.
    In September 2005, President Arroyo declared that the police and 
armed forces would no longer exercise ``maximum tolerance'' in dealing 
with protesters. The administration urged municipalities to enforce 
strictly the requirements that protests be staged in designated areas 
and only with government permits. In practice, there did not appear to 
be any notable change in the way the authorities dealt with 
demonstrators. On April 25, the Supreme Court declared the September 
2005 policy unconstitutional and upheld the policy of maximum tolerance 
in dealing with rallies and public demonstrations. On May 3, while 
upholding the constitutionality of the February 24 declaration of a 
state of national emergency, the Supreme Court declared illegal the 
warrantless arrest of Randy David and other protesters during a rally 
and the dispersal of the rally. The court found that there was no proof 
that those detained committed acts that would constitute ``lawless 
violence, invasion, or rebellion,'' and that the security forces 
therefore had no legal authority to curtail the rights of due process, 
peaceable assembly, and free speech.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Although 
Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism, was the predominant 
religion, there is no state religion, and church and state are legally 
separate.
    The Government's campaign against the ASG terrorist group and RSM 
led some human rights NGOs to accuse the police and military of 
unfairly targeting Muslims for arrest and detention. However, most 
observers believed that discrimination against Muslims was grounded in 
cultural differences, not religious beliefs or practices. There were 
some reports of Muslim discrimination against Christians in areas where 
Muslims were the majority.
    Intermittent government efforts to integrate Muslims into political 
and economic society achieved only limited success. Many Muslims 
claimed that they continued to be underrepresented in senior civilian 
and military positions and cited the lack of proportional Muslim 
representation in national government institutions (see section 3). 
Predominantly Muslim provinces in Mindanao lagged far behind the rest 
of the country in most aspects of socioeconomic development. The 
percentage of the population under the poverty level in the Autonomous 
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was almost twice as high as the 
national average, with per capita income of $309 (P15,760) per year.
    The teaching of religious classes in public schools is permitted 
with the written consent of parents, provided that it is conducted at 
no cost to the Government.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Historically, the Christian 
majority has marginalized Muslims. The national culture, with its 
emphasis on familial, tribal, and regional loyalties, created informal 
barriers whereby access to jobs or resources is provided first to those 
of one's own family or group network. Muslims reported difficulty 
renting rooms or being hired for retail work if they used their real 
names or wore distinctive Muslim dress. As a result, some Muslims used 
Christian pseudonyms and did not wear distinctive dress when applying 
for housing or jobs.
    An estimated 400 to 1,000 Jews lived in the country. There were no 
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. Travel abroad was 
limited only in rare circumstances, such as when a citizen has a 
pending court case. Government authorities discouraged travel by 
vulnerable workers to areas in which they face personal risk (see 
section 5).
    The Government retained its formal yet ineffective ban on travel to 
Iraq to work. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) 
sought to limit departures for work abroad to persons the POEA 
certified as qualified for the jobs. Millions of citizens worked 
overseas and remitted money home. Such remittances accounted for 
approximately 11 percent of the gross national product.
    Forced exile is illegal, and the Government did not use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Clashes between the AFP and 
elements of MILF insurgents in Maguindanao Province during the period 
from June to August resulted in approximately 40,000 persons being 
displaced. In 2005 approximately 85,000 persons were displaced as a 
result of clashes in Sulu from February to April between the AFP and a 
faction of the Moro National Liberation Front aligned with the ASG. 
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 
at year's end the total number of IDPs was 59,886 persons. Since 2004 
DSWD has established 707 shelter units to resettle IDPs in other 
southern Mindanao regions and the ARMM. Other agencies, including UNDP, 
the Mindanao Emergency Relief Network, and the Red Cross provided food 
and essential items such as medicine, blankets, mosquito nets, and soap 
to IDPs.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; 
however, there is no comprehensive legislation that provides for 
granting refugee status or asylum. In practice the Government provided 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they fear persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The 
refugee unit in the DOJ determined which asylum seekers qualify as 
refugees; such determinations in practice implemented many of the basic 
provisions of the 1951 Convention. The Government cooperated with the 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. The Government also 
provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as 
refugees under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol. This was the 
case for some 1,500 Vietnamese asylum seekers who were found not to be 
refugees under the UNHCR-administered Comprehensive Plan of Action in 
the 1990s. Following the closure of the one remaining refugee camp on 
Palawan in 1997, the Government permitted these former asylum seekers 
to remain in the country. However, none in this group were granted 
legal status.
    Subsequently the Government allowed processing for resettlement of 
this group, many of whom were resettled in the United States. An 
estimated 176 persons, most of whom married Philippine citizens, 
remained in legal limbo: ineligible for resettlement in other countries 
and not granted permanent asylum.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through periodic 
elections that largely were free and fair and held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 national elections 
were held for President, senators, representatives, provincial 
governors, and local government officials. Voter turnout was high, with 
approximately 74 percent of eligible voters participating; however, 
voting was marred by numerous irregularities. An election monitoring 
survey conducted by a consortium of three international NGOs concluded 
that an antiquated voting system, system error, and improper management 
of registration databases disenfranchised thousands of voters. 
Widespread reports indicated that local politicians and their 
supporters engaged in vote buying and that conditions did not ensure 
that balloting was secret. Observers also received reports of NPA 
activists imposing ``permission to campaign'' fees on local candidates.
    The 2004 election marked the first time that overseas Filipinos 
were able to vote. Approximately 230,000 of 354,000 registered overseas 
voters, or 65 percent, actually voted, a small portion of the millions 
of Filipinos working overseas. The low rate of registration was 
attributed by election NGOs to lack of information about the 
procedures, inaccessible registration centers, strict employers who did 
not allow overseas workers to take a day off, and the requirement that 
voters execute an affidavit to return to the country to reside within 
three years.
    The Commission on Elections did not allow first-time voters among 
squatters in communities of the urban poor to register for the 
elections unless they could prove that they were bona fide residents of 
their locale. NGOs estimated that this registration residence 
requirement deprived one million squatters of the right to vote. Among 
those who did register, vote buying was common and many residents 
accepted bribes to vote in a certain way or to act as ``flying 
voters,'' voting in several precincts.
    There were no restrictions in law or practice on participation by 
women and members of minorities in politics. Many women, including the 
President, held positions of leadership and authority. There were four 
women in the 24-seat Senate and 37 women in the 236-seat House of 
Representatives. There were two women in the 23-member Cabinet, five 
female associate justices on the 15-member Supreme Court, and 14 female 
governors.
    Along with many other citizens, Muslims argued that electing 
senators from a nationwide list favored established political figures 
from the Manila area, to the disadvantage of Muslims. Election of 
senators by region would require a constitutional amendment, which many 
Muslims and members of other groups underrepresented in the national 
legislature favored. There were no Muslim cabinet members and no Muslim 
senators. There were 12 Muslim members in the 236-seat House of 
Representatives, including some elected from Christian majority 
districts.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--A justifiable public 
perception of corruption in the judicial, executive, and legislative 
branches remained high. Both the Government and the private sector have 
established a number of anticorruption bodies, including an Ombudsman's 
Office and an anticorruption court. Cases were opened against mid-level 
officials in the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Bureau of 
Customs, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. During the year, several 
elected figures, including the opposition mayors of Makati and Pasay 
City and administration mayors of Baguio and Santa Rosa City, Laguna 
Province, were suspended from their offices on corruption-related 
charges. In October the Court of Appeals issued a 60-day temporary 
restraining order on the suspension of the mayor of Makati. The mayors 
of Pasay, Baguio, and Santa Rosa remain suspended as of end of 
November.
    The law provides for the right to information on matters of public 
concern, and the Supreme Court has affirmed this provision. However, 
denial of such information often occurred when the information related 
to an anomaly or irregularity in government transactions. Much 
government information was not available electronically and was 
difficult to retrieve.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A large and active group of human rights NGOs generally operated 
without government interference, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Most government officials were 
responsive to NGO views. Human rights activists continued to encounter 
occasional harassment, mainly from security forces or local officials 
from the area in which incidents under investigation took place.
    On December 6, shortly before a planned regional summit hosted by 
the Government, a foreign labor rights activist was denied entry into 
the country and a security officer showed him a list of international 
human rights advocates who would not be allowed into the country.
    The CHR is an independent agency mandated to protect and promote 
human rights. It is empowered to investigate all human rights 
violations and to monitor the Government's compliance with 
international human rights treaty obligations. The CHR has nonbinding 
authority to clear on military promotions. The commission has a 
chairperson and four members. CHR monitoring and investigating 
continued to be hamstrung by insufficient resources. Approximately one-
third of the country's 42,000 barangays (villages) had human rights 
action centers, which coordinated with CHR regional offices; however, 
the CHR's regional and subregional offices remained understaffed and 
underfunded. The CHR nationwide budget for the year was $3.87 million 
(P197.38 million).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination against women, children, and 
minorities; however, vague regulations and budgetary constraints 
hindered implementation of these protections.

    Women.--Violence against women, both in and out of the home, 
remained a serious problem. The 2004 Anti-Violence Against Women and 
their Children Act criminalizes physical, sexual, and psychological 
harm or abuse to women and their children committed by their spouses or 
partners. Through December the PNP reported 1,269 cases under the act 
and 1,892 other cases of wife battering and physical injuries under 
older laws. This number likely underreported significantly the level of 
violence against women in the country. A 2003 survey by the NGO Social 
Weather Station found that 12 percent of men admitted having physically 
harmed women (39 percent of these respondents indicated violence 
against their wives, 15 percent against their girlfriends, and 4 
percent against their partners). Women in the same survey cited the 
following reasons for not reporting violence: embarrassment, not 
knowing how or to whom to report, belief that the violence was 
unimportant, and belief that nothing would be done.
    The PNP and DSWD both maintained help desks to assist victims of 
violence against women and to encourage the reporting of crimes. With 
the assistance of NGOs, officers received gender sensitivity training 
to deal with victims of sexual crimes and domestic violence. 
Approximately 7 to 8 percent of PNP officers were women. The PNP has a 
Women and Children's Unit to deal with these issues
    Rape continued to be a problem, with most cases going unreported. 
During the year, the PNP reported 685 rape cases There were reports of 
rape and sexual abuse of women in police or protective custody--often 
women from marginalized groups, such as suspected prostitutes, drug 
users, and lower income individuals arrested for minor crimes.
    Spousal rape and abuse are also illegal, but enforcement was 
ineffective.
    Prostitution is illegal but was a widespread problem. Many women 
suffered exposure to violence through their recruitment, often through 
deception, into prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking). Penalties 
for prostitution are light, but detained prostitutes were sometimes 
subjected to administrative indignities and extortion. The DSWD 
continued to provide temporary shelter and counseling to women engaged 
in prostitution. From January to September, DSWD provided temporary 
shelter and counseling to 68 women who were victims of involuntary 
prostitution. Some local officials condoned a climate of impunity for 
those who exploited prostitutes. There were no convictions under the 
provision of the law criminalizing the act of engaging the services of 
a prostitute.
    Sex tourism and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and 
forced labor were serious problems. An antitrafficking law outlaws a 
number of activities specifically related to trafficking and provides 
stiff penalties for convicted offenders (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment. However, sexual harassment in 
the workplace was thought to be widespread and underreported due to 
victims' fear of losing their jobs. Female employees in special 
economic zones (SEZs) were particularly at risk; most were economic 
migrants who had no independent workers' organization to assist with 
filing complaints. Women in the retail industry worked on three- to 
five-month contracts and were often reluctant to report sexual 
harassment for fear their contracts would not be renewed.
    The law does not provide for divorce, although courts generally 
recognize the legality of divorces obtained in other countries if one 
of the parties is a foreign national. The Government recognizes 
religious annulment, but the process can be costly, which precludes 
annulment as an option for many women. Many lower-income couples simply 
separated informally without severing their marital ties. The family 
code provides that in child custody cases resulting from annulment, 
illegitimacy, or divorce in another country, children under the age of 
seven are placed in the care of the mother unless there is a court 
order to the contrary. Children over the age of seven normally also 
remained with the mother, although the father could dispute custody 
through the courts.
    In law, but not always in practice, women have most of the rights 
and protections accorded to men. Women continued to face some 
discrimination in employment, despite the fact that more women than men 
have secondary and higher education degrees. Unemployment rates for 
women remained higher than for men.
    The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, composed of 
10 government officials and 13 NGO leaders appointed by the President, 
acted as an oversight body whose goal is to press for effective 
implementation of programs benefiting women.

    Children.--The Government devoted considerable resources to the 
education, welfare, and development of children. The Department of 
Education (DepEd) had the largest budget of any cabinet department: 
12.3 percent of the national budget. Nevertheless, children faced 
serious problems.
    Elementary and secondary education is free and is compulsory 
through age 11, but the quality of education remained poor due in part 
to inadequate resources. During the year according to DepEd figures, 
the estimated annual per pupil expenditure for basic education was $115 
(P5,875). The DepEd budget for this year was $2.16 billion (P110 
billion). The public school enrollment rate for 2005-06 was 74 percent, 
slightly down from 76 percent for the 2004-05 school year. According to 
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statistics, girls and boys attend school in 
approximately equal numbers.
    According to government reports, 68.3 percent of children were well 
nourished, and 70 percent were fully immunized. The child mortality 
rate was 42 out of 1,000 children under age five. Most of the 
malnourished children were in villages in the southern provinces of 
Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi. According to UNICEF data 
from 1996 to 2004, 28 percent of children under age five were 
moderately or severely underweight.
    Child abuse remained a problem. DSWD offices served 6,234 victims 
of child abuse from January to September, of whom 70 percent were 
girls. Approximately 50 percent of the girls were victims of sexual 
abuse, while 5 percent (198 girls) were victims of sexual exploitation. 
The majority of the boys had been abandoned or neglected. Several 
cities ran crisis centers for abused women and children. The problem of 
foreign pedophiles continued, and the Government continued to prosecute 
accused pedophiles vigorously. Some children also were victims of 
police abuse while in detention for committing minor crimes. In March 
2005 the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies released a 
report highlighting child pornography as a significant problem in the 
country.
    Child prostitution continued to be a serious problem (see section 
5, Trafficking). During the year the Department of Labor and Employment 
(DOLE) ordered the closure of three establishments for allegedly 
prostituting minors. The trials for these cases were on-going at year's 
end.
    During the year the NPA and ASG targeted children for recruitment 
as combatants and noncombatants. There were an estimated 2,000 child 
soldiers in the country. By mid-year, an International Labor 
Organization (ILO)-led program demobilized and reintegrated into 
society 300 children. The NPA claimed that it assigned persons 15 to 18 
years of age to self-defense and noncombatant duties; however, there 
were reports that the NPA continued to use minors in combat. In a July 
2004 report, the Council for Welfare of Children estimated that 
children constituted between 13 to 18 percent of armed rebel 
combatants. In the last several years, the AFP on numerous occasions 
captured or killed NPA fighters who turned out to be minors.
    The ASG also recruited teenagers to fight and participate in its 
activities. There were reports that a significant number of ASG members 
staffing the groups' camps were teenagers. The AFP stated that some 
Islamic schools in Mindanao served as fronts to indoctrinate children 
and that the ASG used children as couriers and spies.
    According to UNICEF and ILO studies, approximately 2.4 million 
children were exposed to hazardous working environments, such as 
quarries, mines, and docksides (see section 6.d.). Since 1995, only 
four persons have been convicted of violating the child labor law.
    The Government estimated that there were at least 22,000 street 
children nationwide, but UNICEF estimated that there were approximately 
250,000 street children. Welfare officials believed that the number 
increased as a result of widespread unemployment in rural areas. Many 
street children appeared to be abandoned and engaged in scavenging or 
begging.
    A variety of national executive orders and laws provide for the 
welfare and protection of children. Police stations have child and 
youth relations officers to ensure that child suspects are treated 
appropriately. However, procedural safeguards were often ignored in 
practice. The BJMP stated that approximately 1,400 minors were held on 
``preventative detention'' while their trials were ongoing, and only 72 
of them actually were convicted and serving their sentences. Many child 
suspects were detained for extended periods without access to social 
workers and lawyers, and were not segregated from adult criminals. NGOs 
believed that children held in integrated conditions with adults were 
highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, recruitment into gangs, forced 
labor, torture, and other ill treatment. There were also reports that 
many children detained in jails appeared to have been arrested without 
warrants.
    In April Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered a nationwide 
review of cases of juvenile offenders. During the year government 
agencies and NGOs worked to segregate juvenile offenders, secure the 
release of minors wrongfully imprisoned, and transfer others to 
rehabilitation centers. DSWD ran 11 regional youth rehabilitation 
centers for juvenile offenders. There were three detention centers for 
children in Manila. On May 16, President Arroyo signed the Juvenile 
Justice and Welfare Act, which, among other reforms, changes the age of 
criminal responsibility from nine to 15 years of age. Under the new law 
children caught committing crimes are to be turned over to juvenile 
justice and welfare councils to be placed in diversion programs 
supervised by local social welfare officers. The law also prohibits the 
detention of minors in jails while undergoing trial and exempts 
convicted minors from the death penalty (see section 1.d.).
    A number of NGOs actively promoted children's rights.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Trafficking in persons is prohibited under 
a comprehensive 2003 antitrafficking law, which defines several 
activities related to trafficking in persons as illegal and imposes 
stiff penalties--up to life imprisonment--for convicted offenders. 
Nonetheless, trafficking remained a problem in the country. The country 
was a source, transit, and destination country for internationally 
trafficked persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced 
labor. Internal trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs and 
government agencies estimated that from 300,000 to 400,000 women and 
from 60,000 to 100,000 children were trafficked annually. The most 
serious problem appeared to be the trafficking of women across 
international borders for purposes of sexual exploitation. Organized 
criminal gangs typically trafficked persons from China through the 
country to other destinations, although occasionally the country was 
the final destination. Although the Government pursued trafficking-
related cases under the antitrafficking law as well as other related 
laws, its efforts were hampered by slow processing times in the courts, 
resource constraints within law enforcement agencies, and corruption. 
In 2005 the DOJ assigned an additional 10 prosecutors to handle the 
preliminary investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases at the 
national level, bringing the total to 14, in addition to other 
prosecutors in the regional trial courts. The principal investigative 
agencies were the National Bureau of Intelligence, the Bureau of 
Immigration, and the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. 
The Government cooperated with international investigations of 
trafficking.
    Both adults and children were trafficked domestically from poor, 
rural, areas in the southern and central parts of the country to major 
urban centers, especially Metro Manila and Cebu, but also increasingly 
to cities in Mindanao. A significant percentage of the victims of 
internal trafficking were from Mindanao and were fleeing the poverty 
and violence in their home areas. Approximately 75 percent of the 
trafficking victims provided with temporary shelter and counseling by 
the NGO Visayan Forum Foundation were from Mindanao. The Visayan region 
was also a source of trafficking victims. Women and girls were far more 
at risk of becoming victims of trafficking than men and boys.
    The Virlanie Foundation, a local child protection NGO, estimated 
that there were at least 20,000 child prostitutes in the country, most 
in the Metro Manila area. Other NGOs estimated that as many as 100,000 
children were involved in the commercial sex industry. Most of these 
children were girls, and nearly all had dropped out of school. These 
children came from very poor families with unemployed or irregularly 
employed parents.
    The Virlanie Foundation offered housing, training, and counseling 
services to child prostitutes. An ILO program resulted in more than 
6,000 children being removed or prevented from engaging in the worst 
forms of child labor, including the commercial sex industry.
    Traffickers targeted persons seeking overseas employment. Millions 
of Filipinos work overseas, about 10 percent of the population and 20 
percent of the workforce. An estimated 10 percent of gross national 
product comes from these workers' remittances. Most recruits were 
females ages 13 to 30 from poor farming families. The traffickers 
generally were private employment recruiters and their partners in 
organized crime. Many recruiters targeted persons from their own 
hometowns, promising a respectable and lucrative job.
    In December 2005 five persons were convicted and sentenced to life 
imprisonment under the antitrafficking law, one of whom remained at 
large. Three other convicted persons received light sentences as a 
result of plea bargains. As of December, an estimated 71 trafficking in 
persons cases were pending or had trials underway, the DOJ was 
considering charges in another 85 cases.
    In June 2005 the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) and the 
DOJ filed criminal trafficking charges against a Manila police officer, 
the first public official to be charged under the antitrafficking law. 
In July 2005 DOLE ordered the permanent closure of a brothel owned by 
the police officer, allegedly employing minors. At year's end the 
criminal case against the police officer was ongoing.
    In August 2005 Malaysian authorities rescued and expatriated four 
Filipino women who were allegedly victims of trafficking. The four were 
recruited in Davao del Norte Province to work as entertainers in Brunei 
but were taken instead to Malaysia. A case was filed under the 
antitrafficking law against the suspected traffickers at the municipal 
court in Carmen, Davao Del Norte. An arrest warrant was issued, but the 
accused eluded arrest and at year's end was still at large.
    Victims faced exposure to sexually transmitted or other infectious 
diseases, and were vulnerable to beatings, sexual abuse, and 
humiliation.
    There was anecdotal evidence that some lower-level officials such 
as customs officers, border guards, immigration officials, local 
police, or others received bribes from traffickers or otherwise 
facilitated trafficking. In August the DOJ launched an investigation 
into an alleged extortion racket among immigration officials in Cebu. 
Immigration officers allegedly accepted payments ranging from $4,000 to 
$12,000 (P200,000 to P600,000) in exchange for the entry of 
undocumented aliens from India, Pakistan, China, and Korea. The 
investigation remained ongoing at year's end.
    On July 19, IJM and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection 
group rescued seven minors who were allegedly trafficked for 
prostitution in Manila. The case was filed in court; however, the three 
accused were yet to be arraigned as they remained at large at year's 
end.
    The Government devoted significant resources to assist and protect 
victims. The concept of a trafficked person as a victim rather than a 
perpetrator was strong. The Government, in conjunction with NGO 
partners, assisted victims by providing temporary residency status and 
relief from deportation; shelter; and access to legal, medical, and 
psychological services. As of September, DSWD had provided temporary 
shelter and social services to 32 women and 83 juvenile victims of 
trafficking. In 2005 DSWD provided services to 74 women victims of 
illegal recruitment, 141 victims of involuntary prostitution, and 112 
victims of trafficking.
    DSWD and many private groups have established shelters and 
rehabilitation centers. DSWD provided economic aid to victims, 
including residential care. Additional protective services included hot 
lines for reporting cases and the operation of 24-hour halfway houses 
in 13 regions of the country to assist victims. Although the Government 
provided some funding to domestic and foreign NGOs for services to 
victims, religious groups, multinational donor agencies, and private 
foundations typically funded most of the budgets for these NGOs.
    The Government rarely deported or charged victims of trafficking 
with crimes; however, police sometimes charged alleged prostitutes with 
vagrancy. No reliable statistics indicating whether these individuals 
were victims of trafficking were available.
    Victims may file civil suits or seek legal action against 
traffickers. Most victims who chose to do so filed charges of illegal 
recruitment. However, the Government lacked the resources to pursue 
these cases effectively. IJM, employing private Filipino investigators 
and prosecutors, coordinated with the Government in an effort to 
increase the number of pro bono prosecutions on behalf of victims of 
trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. IJM gathered evidence 
against establishments that employ prostitutes and children, and shared 
this information with the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP. 
IJM's private prosecutors then filed criminal cases for sexually abused 
women and children. Cases were prosecuted in coordination with DOJ 
prosecutors. As of December, IJM had filed 23 cases under the 
antitrafficking in persons law, 11 during the year.
    Numerous government agencies and officials, as well as NGOs and 
international organizations, continued to support public information 
campaigns against trafficking. The Government supported programs to 
prevent trafficking, such as the promotion of women's participation in 
economic decision making and efforts to keep children in school. The 
Government provided skills training to women, lessening the need for 
them to go to urban centers or overseas for employment. However, 
funding remained limited.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for equal physical 
access for persons with both physical and mental disabilities to all 
public buildings and establishments and for the ``rehabilitation, self-
development, and self-reliance of disabled persons and their 
integration into the mainstream of society.'' The DOLE's Bureau of 
Local Employment (BLE) maintained registers of persons with 
disabilities indicating their skills and abilities. BLE monitored 
private and public places of employment for violations of labor 
standards regarding persons with disabilities and also promoted the 
establishment of cooperatives and self-employment projects for persons 
with disabilities.
    Estimates of the number of persons with disabilities in the country 
varied significantly. The National Council for the Welfare of Disabled 
Persons estimated that persons with disabilities make up 10 percent of 
the population. The 2000 census registered 992,000 persons with 
disabilities; 580,000 were registered with the Department of Health as 
of July. Advocates suspected the data were incomplete due to the social 
stigma attached to persons with disabilities. It was estimated that 
most persons with disabilities were younger than 65 years of age and 
lived at home with their families. Assisted living centers were 
understaffed and underfunded. DSWD operated two assisted living centers 
in Metro Manila, and five community-based vocational centers for 
persons with disabilities nationwide.
    Advocates for persons with disabilities contended that equal-access 
laws were ineffective because implementing regulations were weak, 
funding was inadequate, and government programs were inadequately 
focused on integration. Many public buildings, particularly older ones, 
lacked functioning elevators. Many schools had architectural barriers 
that made attendance difficult for persons with disabilities.
    Government efforts to improve access to transportation for persons 
with disabilities have been halting. Only one of Manila's light rail 
lines was wheelchair-accessible, and many stops had out-of-service 
elevators. Buses lacked wheelchair lifts, and there were reports of 
drivers who failed to stop for passengers in wheelchairs. A small 
number of sidewalks had wheelchair ramps, but garbage cans and street 
vendors often blocked access. Many of the sidewalk wheelchair ramps 
were crumbling or too steep. The situation was worse in many smaller 
cities and towns.

    Indigenous People.--Indigenous people lived throughout the country 
but primarily in the mountainous areas of northern and central Luzon 
and in Mindanao. They accounted for approximately 14 percent of the 
national population, with over 60 percent of the total in Mindanao. 
Although no specific laws discriminate against indigenous people, the 
remoteness of the areas that many inhabit and cultural bias prevented 
their full integration into society. Indigenous children suffered from 
lack of health, education, and other basic services. NGOs estimated 
that up to 70 percent of indigenous youth leave or never attend school 
because of the discrimination they experienced.
    Indigenous people suffered disproportionately from armed conflict, 
including displacement from their homes, because they often inhabit 
mountainous areas also favored by guerrillas. Their lands were often 
the sites of armed encounters, and various parties to the fighting 
recruited many indigenous people.
    A National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), staffed by 
tribal members, implements constitutional provisions to protect 
indigenous people. During the year, NCIP had a budget of $7.94 million 
(P405 million). At year's end, the NCIP had awarded Certificates of 
Ancestral Land and Ancestral Domain Titles covering over 2.75 million 
acres of land claimed by indigenous people in the country. It awarded 
such ``ancestral domain lands'' on the basis of communal ownership, 
stopping sale of the lands by tribal leaders. The law requires a 
process of informed consultation and written consent by the indigenous 
group to allow mining on tribal lands, and assigns indigenous groups 
the responsibility to preserve their domains from environmentally 
inappropriate development. The Government was slow to implement the 
legislation, primarily because of opposition from mining and 
agribusiness interests, but some limited progress was made.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers, including most public employees, with the exception of the 
military and the police, to form and join trade unions. Trade unions 
are independent of the Government. Unions have the right to form or 
join federations or other labor groups.
    Through November the Bureau of Labor Relations reported 128 
registered labor federations and more than 15,000 private sector 
unions, a slight decline from the number of unions registered in 2005. 
The 1.6 million union members represented 4.4 percent of the total 
workforce of 35.9 million. The number of firms using contractual labor, 
primarily large employers, continued to grow. There were 1,531 public 
sector unions, with a total membership of 291,343 or about 19 percent 
of the total public sector labor force.
    The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) 
alleged that a new union may be registered only if it represents at 
least 20 percent of workers in a bargaining unit and that the law 
requires 10 unions before a federation can be formed. The ICFTU had two 
complaints pending before the ILO regarding these requirements.
    The ICFTU and other labor rights advocacy groups expressed alarm at 
killings, abductions, and other attacks on 19 labor leaders and 
supporters since September 2005 and urged the Government to greater 
efforts in investigating these attacks (see section 1.a.).

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively. The labor 
code provides for this right for employees both in the private sector 
and in government-owned or controlled corporations. A similar right is 
afforded to most government workers. Approximately 5 percent of the 
work force was organized. Collective bargaining was practiced; however, 
it is subject to hindrance and union leaders may be subject to 
reprisal. International labor organizations noted that collective 
bargaining in the public sector is limited and that the right to strike 
is banned outright for public sector workers. Through November the 
number of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements declined 
to approximately 241,600 (approximately 11 percent of union members) 
from 296,000 in 2005. There are no special laws or exemptions from 
regular labor laws in SEZs.
    Allegations of intimidation and discrimination in connection with 
union activities are grounds for review before the quasi-judicial 
National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) as possible unfair labor 
practices. However, unions maintained that widespread ignorance of 
basic standards and rights was a major obstacle to union organization. 
Before disputes reach the NLRC, the DOLE provides the services of a 
mediation board, which settles most of the unfair labor practice 
disputes raised as grounds for strikes before the strikes may be 
declared. The DOLE, through the mediation board, also worked to improve 
the functioning of labor-management councils in companies that already 
had unions.
    Subject to certain procedural restrictions, strikes in the private 
sector are legal; however, unions are required to provide strike 
notice, respect mandatory cooling-off periods, and obtain majority 
member approval before calling a strike. By law, the reason for 
striking must be relevant to the labor contract or the law, and all 
means of reconciliation must have been exhausted. The DOLE secretary 
may intervene in some labor disputes by assuming jurisdiction and 
mandating a settlement if the secretary decides that the industry 
involved in the strike is vital to national security. From January to 
November, DOLE reported that there were 12 strikes involving 1,415 
workers; in 2005 there were 26 strikes involving approximately 8,000 
workers.
    On September 25 and 27, unions of two garment factories in the 
Cavite Economic Zone alleged that guards and local police illegally and 
violently dispersed their strikes. These strikes were launched after 
the management of the two companies refused to negotiate a collective 
bargaining agreement with the unions, despite DOLE's certification of 
the unions as exclusive bargaining agents. The unions filed with the 
CHR charges of illegal dispersal, physical injuries, and food blockade 
against the economic zone authority and the local police. The CHR 
investigation was on-going as of year's end.
    Although the labor code provides that union officers who knowingly 
participate in an illegal strike may be dismissed and, if convicted, 
imprisoned for up to three years, there has never been a conviction 
under this provision.
    Trade union officials reported that underpayment of the minimum 
wage and the use of contract employees to avoid the payment of required 
benefits were common practices, including in the government-designated 
SEZs, where tax benefits were used to encourage the growth of export 
industries. Dismissal or threatened dismissal of union members also was 
common. Labor groups alleged that companies in the SEZs have used 
frivolous lawsuits as a means of harassing union leaders.
    Labor law applies uniformly throughout the country, including the 
SEZs; however, local political leaders and officials who govern the 
SEZs attempted to frustrate union organizing efforts by maintaining 
union-free or strike-free policies. A conflict over interpretation of 
the SEZ law's provisions for labor inspection created further obstacles 
to the enforcement of workers' rights to organize. DOLE can conduct 
inspections of local SEZ establishments, although local SEZ directors 
claimed authority to conduct their own inspections as part of the 
zones' privileges intended by congress. Hiring often was controlled 
tightly through SEZ labor centers. Union successes in organizing in the 
SEZs have been few and marginal. In the Subic SEZ, only one firm was 
unionized. Some mainstream unions declined to mount a major unionizing 
effort in the lower-wage SEZ industries, such as the garment industry. 
They considered it unpromising in view of both the organizers' 
restricted access to the closely guarded zones and the rapid turnover 
of the young, mainly female, staff who worked on short-term contracts 
in the zones' many electronics and garment factories.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced labor, including forced and compulsory labor by children; 
however, despite the Government's efforts, there were some reports of 
forced and compulsory labor, particularly by children, mainly in 
prostitution, drug trafficking, and other areas of the informal sector 
(see sections 5 and 6.d.). The legal minimum age for employment as a 
domestic worker is 15. However, an estimated 2.1 million children 17 
years of age or younger, including 880,000 under 15, were employed. 
Some recruiters reportedly brought children to work in Manila or other 
cities under terms that involved a ``loan'' advanced to their parents 
that the children were obliged to repay through their work. The DOLE 
continued to address the problem of underage workers in family work 
settings with prosecutions and fines of violators (see sections 5 and 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15, except 
under the direct and sole responsibility of parents or guardians, or in 
cases in which employment in cinema, theater, radio, or television is 
essential to the integrity of the production. The law allows employment 
of those between the ages of 15 and 18 for such hours and periods of 
the day as are determined by the DOLE secretary but forbids the 
employment of persons less than 18 years of age in hazardous or 
dangerous work. However, child labor remained a common problem, and a 
significant number of children were employed in the informal sector of 
the urban economy or as unpaid family workers in rural areas--some as 
bonded laborers (see section 6.c.). The Government estimated that there 
were approximately four million working children, about half of whom 
were exposed to hazardous working environments, such as quarries and 
mines, docksides, and fishing boats, which are defined in the nation's 
laws as among the worst forms of child labor.
    Most child labor occurred in the informal economy, often in family 
settings. The Government rarely sought to prosecute a poor family 
because it had a working child. Nevertheless, the Government, in 
coordination with a number of domestic NGOs and international 
organizations, implemented programs to develop other, safer options for 
children, return them to school, and offer families viable economic 
alternatives to child labor. Although the Government made attempts to 
devote more resources to child labor programs this year, resources 
remained inadequate.
    The Government and NGOs implemented programs to prevent the 
engagement of children in exploitative child labor; they educated 
communities on child labor and provided counseling and other activities 
for children. The DOLE and the DepEd worked with NGOs, UNICEF, and the 
ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to assist 
children to return to school. The Government also imposed fines and 
instituted criminal prosecutions for child labor violations in the 
formal sector, such as in manufacturing. Between January and September, 
the DOLE continued its efforts to rescue exploited child workers, 
rescuing 201 minors in 44 different operations, compared with 63 
operations involving 151 minors in 2005. The Employers Confederation of 
the Philippines pursued an active and highly visible program against 
child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage did 
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. 
Tripartite regional wage boards set minimum wages, and the highest 
minimum wage rates were in the National Capital Region, where the 
minimum daily wage for nonagricultural workers was $7 (P350). The 
lowest minimum wages were in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 
where the daily agricultural wage was $4 (P200). The regional wage 
board orders covered all private sector workers except domestic 
servants and others employed in the personal service of another person. 
Boards exempted some employers because of factors such as business 
size, industry sector, export intensity, financial distress, and level 
of capitalization. These exemptions excluded substantial numbers of 
workers from coverage under the law. Reportedly 225 businesses in Metro 
Manila requested exemptions from the minimum wage order issued in July. 
However, as of the end of November, the wage board for Metro Manila had 
not yet granted any exemptions. As of December, the regional wage 
boards approved 366 out of 525 employer applications for exemptions 
from the minimum wage orders issued in 2005. The regional boards 
received an additional 287 applications for exemptions from the 2006 
minimum wage orders; 46 of which were approved as of October. Unions 
have filed complaints about the minimum wage exemption policies.
    Violation of minimum wage standards was common. Many firms hired 
employees for less than the minimum apprentice rates, even if there was 
no approved training in their production-line work. As of June, 16 
percent of commercial establishments inspected by DOLE were out of 
compliance with the prevailing minimum wage. The DOLE acknowledged that 
the shortage of inspectors made the law difficult to enforce. In 
addition to fines, the Government also made use of administrative 
procedures and moral suasion to encourage employers to rectify 
violations voluntarily. Complaints about nonpayment of social security 
contributions, bonuses, and overtime were particularly common with 
regard to companies in SEZs.
    By law, the standard legal workweek is 48 hours for most categories 
of industrial workers and 40 hours for government workers, with an 
eight-hour per day limit. The Government mandates an overtime rate of 
125 percent of the hourly rate on ordinary days and 130 percent on rest 
days and holidays. The law mandates one day of rest each week. However, 
there is no legal limit on the number of overtime hours that an 
employer may require. The DOLE conducted only sporadic inspections to 
enforce limits on workweek hours. The DOLE's 208 labor inspectors made 
nearly 10,500 inspections by June to check on companies' compliance 
with general labor and working standards.
    The law provides for a comprehensive set of occupational safety and 
health standards. The DOLE has responsibility for policy formulation 
and review of these standards, but with too few inspectors nationwide, 
local authorities often must carry out enforcement. The DOLE continued 
a campaign to promote safer work environments in small enterprises. 
Statistics on actual work-related accidents and illnesses were 
incomplete, as incidents (especially in agriculture) were 
underreported. Workers do not have a legally protected right to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations without risking loss of 
employment.
    The Government and several NGOs worked to protect the rights of the 
country's overseas citizens, most of whom were temporary or contract 
workers. The Government placed financial sanctions on and criminal 
charges against domestic recruiting agencies found guilty of unfair 
labor practices. Although the Philippine Overseas Employment 
Administration registered and supervised domestic recruiters' practices 
successfully, the authorities sometimes lacked sufficient resources to 
ensure workers' protection overseas. It sought cooperation from 
receiving countries and proposed migrant worker rights conventions in 
international forums. The Government also provided assistance through 
its diplomatic missions in countries with substantial numbers of 
migrant workers.
    The labor laws protect foreign workers in the country. Foreign 
workers must obtain work permits and may not engage in certain 
occupations. Typically their work conditions were better than those 
faced by citizens.

                               __________

                                 SAMOA

    Samoa is a parliamentary democracy that incorporates traditional 
practices into its governmental system. The country has a population of 
approximately 177,000. Executive authority is vested in the head of 
state, Malietoa Tanumafili II, who holds the position for life. 
Parliament, elected by universal suffrage, is composed primarily of the 
heads of extended families, or matai. The most recent elections, held 
in March, were marred by charges of bribery. As a result of election 
challenges filed by losing candidates, the Supreme Court ordered 10 by-
elections. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has dominated 
parliament as the majority party for the past six terms. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the national 
police force.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, some human rights problems remained, including local 
limitations on religious freedom, discrimination against women and non-
matai, and poor prison conditions.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings. In August the ombudsman's office reopened the 
investigation of a 2005 case in which police officer Tupou Ainu'u was 
found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of a man in police 
custody. The investigation was ongoing at year's end

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
continued to deteriorate, especially for male inmates. Only basic 
provisions were provided with respect to food, water, and sanitation. 
Diplomatic observers reported that each concrete cell held 
approximately 15 inmates. Most of the cells had gravel floors, no 
toilets, poor ventilation, and almost no lighting. Meals were served 
through the cell bars. The Government made efforts to improve prison 
conditions, including constructing 10 new cells. Juveniles were not 
held in separate facilities; however, during the year the Government 
began construction on a new separate juvenile detention center.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers; however, there were no known requests during the year. The 
Government permitted family members and church representatives to visit 
prisons every two weeks.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a small 
national police force and no external defense force. Enforcement of 
rules and security within individual villages is vested in the fono 
(Council of Matai). Judgments by the fono usually involved fines or, 
more rarely, banishment from the village.
    The police, prison guards, and firefighters all belong to one 
consolidated national service. A commissioner appointed to a three-year 
term heads this service. He is assisted by four assistant commissioners 
and reports to the minister of police. Corruption and impunity were not 
significant problems among the police; however, a lack of resources 
limited police effectiveness.

    Arrest and Detention.--The Supreme Court issues arrest warrants 
based on sufficient evidence. The law provides for the right to a 
prompt judicial determination regarding the legality of detention, and 
the authorities generally respected this right in practice. Detainees 
are informed within 24 hours of the charges against them, or they are 
released. There was a functioning system of bail. Detainees were 
allowed prompt access to family members and a lawyer of their choice. 
If the detainee is indigent, the Government provides a lawyer.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judiciary consists of the district court, the Lands and Titles 
Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. The district court 
has jurisdiction over matters involving values less than $4,000 
(WST$10,000) and criminal offenses with penalties less than five years. 
The Lands and Titles Court has jurisdiction over all lands and titles 
cases. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over matters of more than 
$4,000 (WST$10,000) and criminal offenses with penalties of more than 
five years. The Court of Appeal is the highest court. It has appellate 
jurisdiction only and can review the rulings of any other court. It is 
composed of a panel of retired New Zealand judges and sits once a year 
for several weeks.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The accused 
person must be charged within 24 hours. A trial judge examines evidence 
and determines if there are grounds to proceed. Defendants have the 
presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Trials are public, and 
juries are used. Defendants have the right to be present and to timely 
consultation with an attorney, at public expense if required. 
Defendants may confront witnesses and present witnesses and evidence on 
their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to 
government-held evidence, and defendants have the right to appeal a 
verdict.
    Many civil and criminal matters were handled by village fono, which 
varied considerably in their decision-making styles and the number of 
matai involved in the decisions. The law recognizes the decisions of 
the fono and provides for limited appeal to the Lands and Titles Court 
and the Supreme Court. The nature and severity of the dispute 
determines which court receives an appeal. For all lands and titles 
appeals, the Lands and Titles Court first uses its own appellate court 
presided over by the President, after which appeals may be taken up to 
the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal if necessary. For other civil 
and criminal disputes, appeals may be taken first to the Supreme Court 
and later to the Court of Appeal if necessary. According to a 2000 
Supreme Court ruling, fono may not infringe upon villagers' freedom of 
religion, speech, assembly, or association (see section 2.c.).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Lands and Titles Court 
is an independent and impartial court that deals with civil matters, 
including human rights violations. The Lands and Titles Court hears 
disputes concerning the use or ownership of land and the use or 
ownership of a matai title. Within their jurisdictions, other courts 
can also provide independent and impartial means to redress human 
rights violations, as indicated above in this section.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However, there is 
little or no privacy in villages, where there can be substantial 
societal pressure on residents to grant village officials access 
without a warrant.
    In accordance with traditional law, village fono may impose a 
punishment of banishment (see section 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. There were three television stations (one 
government-controlled) and three newspapers (also one government-
controlled). The independent media were generally active and expressed 
a wide variety of views without restriction. The law stipulates 
imprisonment for any journalist who, despite court order, refuses to 
reveal a confidential source upon request from a member of the public. 
However, there has been no court case invoking this law.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expressions of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events. However, under a 
1998 amendment to the Films Control Act, the official government censor 
is required to ban any film that might hinder stability and social 
order. During the year, the Government banned from public viewing one 
motion picture considered likely to promote interreligious strife.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The 
constitution acknowledges an ``independent state based on Christian 
principles and Samoan custom and traditions''; however, there is no 
official or state denomination. The law grants each person the right to 
change religion or belief and to worship or teach religion alone or 
with others, but in practice the matai often choose the religious 
denomination of their extended family. There were instances during the 
year where fono imposed restrictions on the introduction and practice 
of new religions and faiths. The courts ruled in several high-profile 
cases in which village fono attempted to limit religious observance to 
existing churches (primarily the Congregational Christian Church of 
Samoa, the Catholic Church, and the Methodist Church). Those negatively 
affected by such attempts were primarily the relatively new, fast-
growing evangelical and interdenominational Christian movements. In 
such cases, the fono allowed village persons to travel outside their 
village to attend religious services (see Section 2.d.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no significant 
reports of societal religious discrimination or anti-Semitic acts. For 
a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious 
Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. However, 
traditional law governs villages, and village fono regularly banned 
citizens from village activities or banished citizens from the village 
for failing to conform to village laws or obey fono rulings. In some 
cases civil courts have overruled banishment orders. During the year 
one person was banished from his village for attempting to establish a 
new church, allegedly due to a lack of advance consultation with the 
fono. The person affected appealed to the Lands and Titles Court, which 
ruled in his favor.
    The law prohibits exile, and the Government did not use it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government was prepared to cooperate with the Office of 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees, but the need did not arise during 
the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections 
were in March, but they were marred by charges of bribery. As a result 
of election challenges filed by losing candidates, the Supreme Court 
ordered 10 by-elections. By year's end, the by-elections had not all 
been conducted and not all results were finalized. The HRPP has 
dominated the political process, winning seven consecutive elections 
since 1982.
    The law does not prohibit the formation of opposition parties, 
although none currently exist. In October the leader of the recognized 
opposition, the Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP), resigned due to 
internal party conflict. His resignation, together with that of another 
SDUP member, reduced the SDUP below the eight members required for 
recognition as a party in parliament.
    While the constitution gives all citizens above the age of 21 the 
right to vote and run for office, by social custom candidates for 47 of 
the 49 seats in the parliament are drawn from the approximately 25,000 
chiefs. Matai are selected by family agreement; there is no age 
qualification. Although both men and women are permitted to become 
matai, 95 percent of matai were men. Matai controlled local government 
through the village fono, which were open to them alone.
    During the year the number of women matai and women participating 
in politics increased, with three women seated in the 13-member 
cabinet, two women serving as heads of constitutional offices, four 
women as chief executive officers of government ministries, and two 
women as chief executive officers of government corporations. There 
were five women in the 49-member Parliament.
    The political rights of citizens who are not of ethnic Samoan 
heritage are addressed by the reservation of two parliamentary seats 
for ``at large'' members of parliament (MP). One of the at large 
cabinet ministers was an at-large MP of mixed European-Samoan heritage. 
Citizens of mixed European-Samoan or Chinese-Samoan heritage were well 
represented in the civil service.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year. During 2004 and 2005, 
charges were brought against several current and former employees of 
the Ministry of Health and the Department of Customs for theft of 
government funds, and the chief executive officer of the Ministry of 
Health was suspended. One senior officer from the Department of Customs 
was charged with theft as a public servant. At year's end the trial 
concerning the former chief executive officer of the Ministry of Health 
was pending.
    The law provides for an ombudsman to investigate complaints against 
government agencies, officials, or employees, including allegations of 
corruption. The ombudsman may require the Government to provide 
information relating to a complaint.
    Under the law, government information is subject to disclosure in 
civil proceedings involving the Government, unless the information is 
considered privileged or its disclosure would harm the public interest.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally respected this 
in practice. However, politics and culture reflected a heritage of 
matai privilege and power, and as such members of certain families had 
some advantages.

    Women.--The law prohibits abuse of women, but common social 
attitudes tolerated their physical abuse within the home, and such 
abuse was common. Delay in adopting amendments to the current fono law 
prevented police from interfering in domestic violence. Domestic abuses 
typically went unreported due to social pressure and fear of reprisal. 
Village fono typically punished domestic violence offenders, but only 
if the abuse was considered extreme (i.e. visible signs of physical 
abuse). Village religious leaders were also permitted to intervene in 
domestic disputes. When police received complaints from abused women, 
the Government punished the offender, including by imprisonment. The 
Government did not keep statistics on domestic abuse cases but 
acknowledged the problem to be one of considerable concern.
    Many cases of rape went unreported because common social attitudes 
discourage such reporting. Rape is illegal, although spousal rape is 
not illegal. In recent years authorities noted a considerable number of 
reported cases of rape, as women slowly became more forthcoming with 
police. Rape cases that reached the courts were treated seriously. 
Convicted offenders often received sentences of several years' 
imprisonment. During the year reporting of sexual crimes to the police 
reportedly improved.
    Prostitution is illegal but was not a major problem. The law does 
not address sex tourism specifically; however, it was not a problem. 
The law prohibits sexual harassment; it was not a widespread problem 
but was believed to be underreported.
    Women have equal rights under the constitution and statutory law, 
and the traditional subordinate role of women is changing, albeit 
slowly, particularly in the more conservative parts of society. The 
Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development oversees and helps 
secure the rights of women. To integrate women into the economic 
mainstream, the Government sponsored numerous programs, including 
literacy programs and training programs for those who did not complete 
high school.

    Children.--The Government made a strong commitment to the welfare 
of children through the implementation of various youth programs by the 
Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development in collaboration 
with the ministries of Education and Health. Education is compulsory 
through age 14; however, the Government did not enforce this law. 
Public education was not free, and students were required to pay some 
school fees. Boys and girls were treated equally and attended school in 
approximately equal percentages. Most children attended school through 
junior high school.
    The Division for Women of the Ministry of Women, Community, and 
Social Development, carried out several programs for women and young 
people on a range of issues, including human rights. These issues were 
facilitated and taught in the context of the Convention on the Rights 
of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination against Women.
    The Government provided health care for children at public 
hospitals for minimal charge. The Ministry of Health and the Samoa 
Family Health Association undertook efforts to improve access to its 
services by women and children. Law and tradition prohibit severe abuse 
of children, but both tolerate corporal punishment. A recent rise in 
reported cases of child abuse appeared to be due to the rise to 
citizens' increased awareness of the need to report physical, 
emotional, and sexual abuse of children. The Government aggressively 
prosecuted such cases. There were no reports of commercial sexual 
exploitation of children.
    The Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, in collaboration 
with nongovernmental organizations, carried out other educational 
activities address domestic violence and inappropriate behavior between 
adults and children, and to promote human rights awareness.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons. There were no reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, or within the country during the year.
    A transnational crimes unit monitored crimes related to trafficking 
in persons.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law pertaining specifically 
to the status of persons with disabilities or regarding accessibility 
for them. Tradition dictates that families care for persons with 
disabilities, and this custom was observed widely in practice. There 
were no reports of discrimination against persons with disabilities in 
the areas of employment, education, access to health care, or in the 
provision of other state services. Many public buildings were old, and 
only a few were accessible to persons with disabilities. Most new 
buildings provided better access, including ramps and elevators in most 
multistory buildings.
    The Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development has 
responsibility for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers legally have unrestricted 
rights to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. There 
were no practical limitations to union membership, and approximately 20 
percent of the private sector workforce was unionized. The Public 
Service Association (PSA) functioned as a union for all government 
workers, who comprised approximately 80 percent of the paid workforce, 
excluding the self-employed.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides workers with the right to organize and bargain collectively, 
and workers exercised this right in practice. The PSA engages in 
collective bargaining on behalf of government workers, including 
bargaining on wages. Under the law, arbitration and mediation 
procedures are in place to resolve labor disputes, although such 
disputes rarely arise.
    The Supreme Court has upheld the right of government workers to 
strike, subject to certain restrictions imposed principally for reasons 
of public safety, and workers have exercised this right. In September 
2005 government doctors organized for more pay and better working 
conditions. The Attorney General and the Ministry of Health deemed the 
strike illegal and ordered the doctors to return to work. The doctors 
defied the order, and a government commission was formed and tasked 
with investigating the doctors' complaints. The commission's report was 
approved by the cabinet, but the doctors on strike rejected it. At 
year's end few of the doctors had returned to work.
    Workers in the private sector have the right to strike, but there 
were no private sector strikes during the year. There are no special 
laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the sole export 
processing zone.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but matai frequently 
called upon persons, including minors, to work for their villages. Most 
persons did so willingly; however, the matai may compel those who do 
not (see section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--It 
is illegal to employ children under the age of 15 except in ``safe and 
light work.'' The Ministry of Labor refers complaints of illegal child 
labor to the Attorney General for enforcement; however, no cases were 
prosecuted during the year. Children frequently were seen vending goods 
and food on Apia street corners. The Government has not made a 
definitive determination as to whether this practice violates the 
country's labor laws, which cover only persons who have a place of 
employment. Although the practice may constitute a violation of the 
law, local officials mostly tolerated it. There were no reports of 
compulsory labor by children; however, the law does not apply to 
service rendered to the matai or family members, some of whom required 
children to work for the village, primarily on village farms. The 
extent of this practice varied by village, but it generally did not 
significantly disrupt children's education.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law establishes for the 
private sector a 40-hour workweek and an hourly minimum wage. In 
September 2005, the minimum wage was increased to $0.72 (WST$2.00) per 
hour, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family. An advisory commission to the minister of labor sets 
minimum wages. Wages in the private sector are determined by 
competitive demand for the required skills. Minimum wage rates were 
sufficient only when supplemented by subsistence farming and fishing.
    The law also establishes certain rudimentary safety and health 
standards, which the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labor is 
responsible for enforcing. However, independent observers reported that 
safety laws were not enforced strictly, except when accidents 
highlighted noncompliance. Many agricultural workers, among others, 
were inadequately protected from pesticides and other dangers to 
health. Government education and awareness programs addressed these 
concerns by providing appropriate training and equipment to 
agricultural workers for adequate protection from pesticides and other 
dangers to health. Safety laws do not apply to agricultural service 
rendered to the matai. While the law does not address specifically the 
right of workers to remove themselves from dangerous work situations, 
the commissioner of labor investigates such cases, without jeopardy to 
continued employment. Government employees are covered under different 
and more stringent regulations, which were enforced adequately by the 
Public Service Commission.
    The Occupational Safety Hazard Act includes provisions covering the 
safety and health of workers in both the private and public sectors. 
The act also covers persons who are not workers but who are lawfully on 
the premises or within the workplace during work hours. Workplace 
safety and health were monitored strictly by the Ministry of Commerce, 
Industry, and Labor through occupational safety hazard inspectors. Work 
accidents were investigated when reports were received.

                               __________

                               SINGAPORE

    Singapore is a parliamentary republic in which the People's Action 
Party (PAP), in power since 1959, overwhelmingly dominates politics. 
The population was approximately 4.35 million, with foreign workers 
accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total. Opposition parties exist, 
and parliamentary elections take place at regular, constitutionally 
mandated intervals (most recently in May). The PAP holds 82 of 84 
elected parliamentary seats and all ministerial positions. The civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government has broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to 
handicap political opposition, which it used. Caning is an allowable 
punishment for numerous offenses. The following human rights problems 
were reported: preventive detention, executive influence over the 
judiciary, infringement of citizens' privacy rights, restriction of 
speech and press freedom and the practice of self-censorship by 
journalists, restriction of freedom of assembly and freedom of 
association, some restriction of freedom of religion, and some 
trafficking in persons.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions. On February 9, an inmate held 
in a courthouse cell claimed a policeman punched him twice when the 
inmate was found smoking and in possession of cigarettes and a lighter. 
The inmate was sent for a medical examination and filed charges against 
the policeman. The subordinate courts found the accused policeman 
guilty on March 29 and on April 4 sentenced him to four months in jail.
    The penal code mandates caning, in addition to imprisonment, as 
punishment for approximately 30 offenses involving violence, such as 
rape and robbery, and for nonviolent offenses such as vandalism, drug 
trafficking, and violation of immigration laws. Caning is discretionary 
for convictions on other charges involving the use of force, such as 
kidnapping or voluntarily causing grievous hurt. All women, men over 
age 50 or under age 16, and anyone determined medically unfit are 
exempt from punishment by caning. During the year 5,984 convicted 
persons were sentenced to caning. Approximately 95 percent of caning 
sentences were carried out.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions, while 
Spartan, generally met international standards.
    The Government did not allow human rights monitors to visit 
prisons; however, diplomatic representatives were given consular access 
to citizens of their countries.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are 
responsible for routine security within the country and for border 
protection, including action against illegal immigrants. The Internal 
Security Act (ISA) authorizes the Internal Security Department in the 
Ministry of Home Affairs to counter perceived threats to the nation's 
security such as espionage, international terrorism, threats to racial 
and religious harmony, and subversion. The police force was well 
trained and highly disciplined. Corruption was not a problem, and the 
police effectively maintained internal law and order. The Corrupt 
Practices Investigation Bureau, an independent agency under the Prime 
Minister's Office, investigates all allegations of corruption including 
police corruption. Allegations of criminal offenses by police officers 
are investigated either by a police division other than the unit to 
which the accused are assigned or, in cases involving complaints of 
serious misconduct, by the Internal Investigation Division at police 
headquarters.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that, in most instances, 
arrests are to be carried out after issuance of an authorized warrant; 
however, some laws, such as the ISA, provide for arrests without 
warrants. Those arrested under warrants must be charged before a 
magistrate within 48 hours. The majority of those arrested were charged 
expeditiously and brought to trial. A functioning bail system exists, 
but no commercial bail bond services were available. Those who face 
criminal charges are allowed counsel; however, there was no access to 
counsel during an initial arrest and investigation before charges were 
filed. The Law Society administered a legal aid plan for those who 
could not afford to hire an attorney. In death penalty cases, the 
Supreme Court appoints two attorneys for defendants who are unable to 
afford their own counsel.
    Some laws--the ISA, the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act 
(CLA), the Misuse of Drugs Act (the drug act), and the Undesirable 
Publications Act (UPA)--have provisions for arrest and detention 
without a warrant or judicial review. The ISA has been employed 
primarily against suspected security threats. In the past, these 
threats were Communist related; however, in recent years, the ISA has 
been employed against suspected terrorists. The CLA has been employed 
primarily against suspected organized crime and drug trafficking.
    The ISA and the CLA permit preventive detention without trial for 
the protection of public security, safety, or the maintenance of public 
order. The ISA gives broad discretion to the minister for home affairs, 
at the direction of the President, to order detention without filing 
charges if it is determined that a person poses a threat to national 
security. The initial detention may be for up to two years and may be 
renewed without limitation for additional periods of up to two years at 
a time. Detainees have a right to be informed of the grounds for their 
detention and are entitled to counsel. However, they have no right to 
challenge the substantive basis for their detention through the courts. 
The ISA specifically excludes recourse to the normal judicial system 
for review of a detention order made under its authority. Instead, 
detainees may make representations to an advisory board, headed by a 
Supreme Court justice, which reviews each detainee's case periodically 
and must make a recommendation to the President within three months of 
the initial detention. The President may concur with the advisory 
board's recommendation that a detainee be released prior to the 
expiration of the detention order, but he is not obligated to do so.
    At year's end, 34 detainees were being held under the ISA as 
suspected terrorists. Of these detainees, 31 were suspected of 
belonging to the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and three were 
suspected of membership in the Philippines-based Moro Islamic 
Liberation Front. In January Indonesian authorities arrested Mas 
Selamat Kastari, alleged leader of the Singapore branch of JI, and 
deported him to Singapore where he was detained under the ISA.
    At year's end, 26 others were on restriction orders (ROs); this 
number included both released detainees and suspected terrorists who 
were never arrested. A person subject to an RO must seek official 
approval for a change of address or occupation, for overseas travel, or 
for participation in any public organization or activity.
    The CLA comes up for renewal every five years. When Parliament 
renewed the CLA in 2004, it amended it to allow taking DNA samples. 
Under the CLA, the minister for home affairs may order preventive 
detention, with the concurrence of the public prosecutor, for an 
initial period of one year, and the President may extend detention for 
additional periods of up to one year at a time. The minister must 
provide a written statement of the grounds for detention to the 
Criminal Law Advisory Committee (CLAC) within 28 days of the order. The 
CLAC then reviews the case at a private hearing. CLAC rules require 
that detainees be notified of the grounds of their detention at least 
10 days prior to this hearing, in which a detainee may represent 
himself or be represented by a lawyer. After the hearing, the committee 
makes a written recommendation to the President, who may cancel, 
confirm, or amend the detention order. However, persons detained under 
the CLA have recourse to the courts via an application for a writ of 
habeas corpus. Persons detained without trial under the CLA are 
entitled to counsel, but they may challenge the substantive basis for 
their detention only to the CLAC. The CLA is used almost exclusively in 
cases involving narcotics or criminal organizations and has not been 
used for political purposes. At the end of 2005, 211 persons were 
detained under the provisions of the CLA; more recent statistics were 
not available. Persons who allege mistreatment while in detention may 
bring criminal charges against government officials alleged to have 
committed such acts.
    Both the ISA and the CLA contain provisions that allow for modified 
forms of detention such as curfews, residence limitations, requirements 
to report regularly to the authorities, limitations on travel, and, in 
the case of the ISA, restrictions on political activities and 
association.
    The drug act permits detention without trial. Under the drug act, 
the director of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) also may commit--
without trial--suspected drug abusers to a drug rehabilitation center 
for a six-month period, which is extendable by a review committee of 
the institution for up to a maximum of three years. As of December 432 
persons were held in drug rehabilitation centers. Under the 
Intoxicating Substances Act, the CNB director may order the treatment 
of a person believed to be an inhalant drug abuser for up to six 
months. Other sections of the drug act allow for capital punishment or 
incarceration of persons found guilty of narcotics trafficking offenses 
(see section 1.e.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence; however, in practice laws that limit judicial review 
permit restrictions on constitutional rights. Some judicial officials, 
especially supreme court judges, have ties to the ruling party and its 
leaders. The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court on the 
recommendation of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the chief 
justice. The President also appoints subordinate court judges on the 
recommendation of the chief justice. The term of appointment is 
determined by the Legal Service Commission, of which the chief justice 
is the chairman. Under the ISA and the CLA, the President and the 
minister for home affairs have substantial de facto judicial power, 
which explicitly (in the case of the ISA) or implicitly (in the case of 
the CLA) excludes normal judicial review. These laws provide the 
Government with the power to limit, on vaguely defined national 
security grounds, the scope of certain fundamental liberties that 
otherwise are provided for in the constitution.
    Government leaders historically have used court proceedings, in 
particular defamation suits, against political opponents and critics 
(see sections 2.a., 2.d., and 3). Both this practice and consistent 
awards in favor of government plaintiffs raised questions about the 
relationship between the Government and the judiciary and led to a 
perception that the judiciary reflected the views of the ruling party 
in politically sensitive cases. On February 10, the High Court declared 
opposition politician Chee Soon Juan bankrupt for failing to pay libel 
damages awarded to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mentor 
Lee Kuan Yew in January 2005 for $316,455 (S$500,000) for comments made 
by Chee in the 2001 election campaign. Following the bankruptcy 
hearing, Chee criticized the judiciary for ``lack of independence and 
fairness,'' and on February 15, the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) 
moved to have Chee found in contempt of court. Supreme Court Justice 
Lai dismissed defense claims that the AGC had no standing since the 
bankruptcy court should have taken any contempt action on February 10; 
Lai also dismissed defense arguments of fair comment and free speech, 
found Chee guilty, and sentenced him to one day in jail and a $3,600 
(S$6,000) fine. Chee refused to pay the fine and spent eight days in 
prison. Chee and his associates faced a variety of other charges during 
the year, which greatly handicapped their opposition political 
activities. In particular, on June 20, Chee's attorney M. Ravi appeared 
before the Disciplinary Committee of Law Society to respond to a 
complaint a judge lodged against him regarding his behavior in a 2003 
case. The disciplinary committee fined Ravi $1,250 (S$2,000) and 
referred his case to the Court of Three Judges, the legal profession's 
highest disciplinary body, which has the authority to suspend him from 
the practice of law. On October 27, the court suspended Ravi from 
practicing for one year.
    The judicial system has two levels of courts: the Supreme Court, 
which includes the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and the 
subordinate courts. Subordinate court judges and magistrates as well as 
public prosecutors are civil servants whose specific assignments are 
determined by the Legal Service Commission, which can decide on job 
transfers to any of several legal service departments. The subordinate 
courts handle the great majority of civil and criminal cases in the 
first instance. The High Court may hear any civil or criminal case, 
although it generally limits itself to civil matters involving 
substantial claims and criminal matters carrying the death penalty or 
imprisonment of more than 10 years. The Court of Appeal is the highest 
and final court of review for matters decided in the subordinate courts 
or the High Court. Supreme Court justices may choose to remain in 
office until the mandatory retirement age of 65, after which they may 
continue to serve at the Government's discretion for brief, renewable 
terms at full salary. In addition, the law provides for Islamic courts 
whose authority is limited to Islamic family law, which is applicable 
only to Muslims.
    A two-tier military court system has jurisdiction over all military 
personnel, civilians in the service of the armed forces, and volunteers 
when they are ordered to report for service. The system handles 
approximately 450 cases each year. The Military Court of Appeal has the 
jurisdiction to examine an appeal from a person convicted by a 
subordinate military court. Trials are public, and the defendants have 
the right to be present. An accused individual also has the right to 
defense representation.

    Trial Procedures.--The judicial system provides citizens with an 
efficient judicial process. In normal cases the criminal procedures 
code provides that a charge against a defendant must be read and 
explained to him as soon as it is framed by the prosecution or the 
magistrate. Trials are public and heard by a judge; there are no jury 
trials. Defendants have the right to be present at their trials and to 
be represented by an attorney; the Law Society administers a criminal 
legal aid plan for those who cannot afford to hire an attorney. 
Defendants also have the right to question opposing witnesses, to 
provide witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and to review 
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal in most cases. Despite 
the general presumption of innocence, the drug act stipulates that a 
person who the prosecution proves has illegal narcotics in his 
possession, custody, or control shall be assumed to be aware of the 
substance and places the burden on the defendant to prove otherwise. 
The same law also stipulates that, if the amount of the narcotic is 
above set low limits, it is the defendant's burden to prove he did not 
have the drug for the purpose of trafficking. Convictions for narcotics 
trafficking offenses carry lengthy jail sentences or the death penalty, 
depending on the type and amount of the illegal substance. Persons 
charged with a capital offense under the the drug act have the right to 
a public trial and to appeal conviction.
    The constitution extends these rights to all citizens; however, 
persons detained under the ISA or CLA are not entitled to a public 
trial. In addition, proceedings of the advisory board under the ISA and 
CLA are not public (see section 1.d.).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no 
differentiation between civil and criminal judicial procedures. The 
subordinate courts handle the majority of civil cases. Access to the 
courts is open, and citizens and residents have the right to sue for 
infringement of human rights. However, there has been no known attempt 
to use legal action against the Government for human rights violations. 
In fact, despite their sometimes heavy-handed tactics against the 
opposition, the Government was careful to ensure that their actions 
were within the constitution and the law.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution does not address privacy rights; 
remedies for infringement of some aspects of privacy rights are 
available under statutory or common law. The Government generally 
respected the privacy of homes and families; however, it had a 
pervasive influence over civic and economic life and sometimes used its 
broad discretionary powers to infringe on these rights. To prevent 
housing segregation, the Government enforced ethnic ratios in publicly 
subsidized housing where the majority of citizens lived (see section 
5). Normally the police must have a warrant issued by a court to 
conduct a search; however, they may search a person, home, or a 
property without a warrant if they decide that such a search is 
necessary to preserve evidence. The Government has wide-ranging 
discretionary powers under the ISA, CLA, the drug act, and UPA to 
conduct searches without a warrant if it determines that national 
security, public safety and order, or the public interest is at risk. 
Defendants may request judicial review of such searches.
    Law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Security 
Department and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Board, have 
extensive networks for gathering information and conducting 
surveillance and highly sophisticated capabilities to monitor telephone 
and other private conversations. No court warrants are required for 
such operations. The law permits government monitoring of Internet use. 
It was believed that the authorities routinely monitored telephone 
conversations and the use of the Internet. It was widely believed that 
the authorities routinely conducted surveillance on some opposition 
politicians and other government critics.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and freedom of expression but permits official 
restrictions on these rights, and in practice the Government 
significantly restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press. 
Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in self-
censorship among journalists; however, there was a moderate level of 
ongoing debate in newspapers and on the Internet on some public issues 
such as rising income inequality and the role of foreign workers in the 
country.
    Under the ISA, the Government may restrict or place conditions on 
publications that incite violence, counsel disobedience to the law, 
have the potential to arouse tensions in the country's diverse 
population, or might threaten national interests, national security, or 
public order. While the ISA has not been invoked in recent years 
against political opponents of the Government, political opposition and 
criticism remained restricted by the Government's authority to define 
these powers broadly.
    Government leaders urged that news media support the goals of the 
elected leadership and help maintain social and religious harmony. In 
addition, strict defamation and press laws and the Government's 
demonstrated willingness to respond vigorously to what it considered 
personal attacks on officials sometimes led journalists and editors to 
moderate or limit what was published.
    In 2004 the Government relaxed provisions of the Public 
Entertainment and Meetings Act (PEMA), which requires a permit for 
virtually any form of public speech or entertainment (see section 
2.b.). Citizens do not need a permit to speak at indoor public 
gatherings outside the hearing or view of nonparticipants, unless the 
topic refers to race or religion. Nevertheless, police continued to 
invoke the PEMA for minor public protests. In January the police warned 
a group of female high school students that their plan to sell t-shirts 
commemorating the 2005 ``White Elephant'' protest might violate the 
PEMA.
    On November 23, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and two 
supporters were convicted and fined for speaking in public without a 
permit (see sections 1.e., 2.d., and 3). Police testified that they 
observed Chee giving speeches rather than a sales talk for his Social 
Democratic Party newsletter. On November 23, in lieu of paying a $3,268 
(S$5,000) fine, Chee began serving a five-week jail term.
    Government restrictions limit the ability to speak freely at the 
Speakers' Corner in a public park. Prospective speakers must be 
citizens, must show their identification cards, and must register in 
advance with the police. While it was not necessary to declare speech 
topics in advance, government regulations governing the Speakers' 
Corner state that ``the speech should not be religious in nature and 
should not have the potential to cause feelings of enmity, ill will, or 
hostility between different racial or religious groups.''
    On September 24, a journalist for the Epoch Times, a newspaper 
affiliated with the Falun Gong movement, was denied entry and asked to 
leave the country.
    The Government strongly influenced both the print and electronic 
media. Two companies, Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) and 
MediaCorp, own all general circulation newspapers in the four official 
languages--English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. MediaCorp is wholly 
owned by the Government investment company. SPH is a private holding 
company with close ties to the Government; the Government must approve 
(and can remove) the holders of SPH management shares, who have the 
power to appoint or dismiss all directors or staff. As a result, while 
newspapers printed a large and diverse selection of articles from 
domestic and foreign sources, their editorials, coverage of domestic 
events, and reporting of sensitive foreign relations issues usually 
closely reflected government policies and the opinions of government 
leaders. The Government sets formal and informal constraints on the 
media; for example, a visiting academic whose views on religion the 
Government considered unconventional was allowed to speak, but the 
media reportedly was restricted with regard to coverage of the speech. 
Columnists' opinions and letters to the editor expressed a moderate 
range of opinions on public issues. The international nongovernmental 
organization (NGO) Reporters Without Borders noted strong government 
and ruling party influence over the media as well as continued 
censorship and self-censorship.
    Government-linked companies and organizations operated all domestic 
broadcast television channels and almost all radio stations. Only one 
radio station, the BBC World Service, was completely independent of the 
Government. Some Malaysian and Indonesian television and radio 
programming could be received, but satellite dishes were banned, with 
few exceptions. Cable subscribers had access to seven foreign 
television news channels and many entertainment channels, including 
some with news programs; these were not censored.
    The Media Development Authority (MDA), a statutory board under the 
Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Arts (MICA), continued 
to censor broadcast media, Internet sites, and all other media, 
including movies, video materials, computer games, and music. Banned 
publications consisted primarily of sexually oriented materials but 
also included some religious and political publications. Both MDA and 
MICA developed censorship standards with the help of a citizen advisory 
panel. The ISA, the UPA, and the Films Act allow the banning, seizure, 
censorship, or restriction of written, visual, or musical materials by 
these agencies if they determine that such materials threaten the 
stability of the state, contravene moral norms, are pornographic, show 
excessive or gratuitous sex and violence, glamorize or promote drug 
use, or incite racial, religious, or linguistic animosities. The MDA 
has the power to sanction broadcasters for airing what it believes to 
be inappropriate content. All content airing between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. 
must be suitable for viewers of all ages.
    A substantial number of foreign media operations were located 
within the country, and a wide range of international magazines and 
newspapers can be purchased uncensored. However, under the Newspaper 
and Printing Press Act (NPPA), the Government may limit the circulation 
of foreign publications that it determines interfere with domestic 
politics. The NPPA requires foreign publications that report on 
politics and current events in Southeast Asia, with circulation of 300 
or more copies per issue, to register, post a $126,582 (S$200,000) 
bond, and name a person in the country to accept legal service. The 
Government has granted exemptions to 19 of the 24 publications to which 
these requirements could apply. On September 28, the Government banned 
the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) for failing to comply with the 
NPPA. Importation or possession of FEER for sale or distribution was an 
offense. Readers could access FEER through the Internet. Newspapers 
printed in Malaysia cannot be imported.
    The Government may limit (or ``gazette'') the circulation of 
publications. The Government also may ban the circulation of domestic 
and foreign publications under provisions of the ISA and the UPA. The 
Broadcasting Act empowers the minister for information, communication, 
and the arts to gazette or place formal restrictions on any foreign 
broadcaster deemed to be engaging in domestic politics. Once gazetted, 
a broadcaster can be required to obtain express permission from the 
minister to continue broadcasting in the country. The Government may 
impose restrictions on the number of households receiving a 
broadcaster's programming, and a broadcaster can be fined up to $63,291 
(S$100,000) for failing to comply.
    Under the country's defamation laws, some plaintiffs can easily win 
substantial judgments for damages and legal costs. Conviction on 
criminal defamation charges can result in a prison sentence of up to 
two years, a fine, or both. Threats of defamation actions often 
persuaded newspapers and others to apologize and pay damages for 
perceived slights. On August 22, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and 
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew sued FEER for defamation over an article 
that questioned whether the Government's ``squeaky-clean'' reputation 
was deserved. In September 2005 a regional financial magazine, 
FinanceAsia, apologized to top national leaders for an article that 
described Temasek Holdings, the Government's key state investment 
entity, as ``the Lee family trust.'' The magazine also agreed to pay 
undisclosed damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister 
Goh Chok Tong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and Temasek and its board 
members.
    Critics charged that government leaders used defamation lawsuits or 
threats of such actions to discourage public criticism and intimidate 
opposition politicians and the press. The unbroken success of 
government leaders' suits in the last decade has fostered public 
caution about political speech, prompted a culture of self-censorship 
within the news media, and inhibited opposition politics. During the 
last decade, ruling party leaders have sued opposition politicians for 
defamation of individual government leaders on several occasions. In 
May Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew 
sued the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) executive committee and the 
publisher of its newsletter for allegedly defamatory comments about the 
Government's handling of a 2005 corruption and mismanagement scandal 
affecting the National Kidney Foundation. The publisher and the entire 
SDP executive committee, with the exception of executive committee 
members Chee Soon Juan and his sister, Chee Siok Chin, apologized 
publicly. The two Chees refused to apologize, and on September 13, the 
High Court found them guilty of defamation. The court had not set 
damages by year's end. Earlier the High Court convicted Chee Soon Juan 
for contempt of court for questioning the independence of the 
Singaporean judiciary in connection with his February 10 (see section 
1.e.) bankruptcy hearing, which stemmed from an earlier defamation 
case.

    Internet Freedom.--Although residents generally have unrestricted 
access to the Internet, the Government subjected all Internet content 
to the same rules and standards as traditional media. Using a framework 
of Web site licenses, the MDA also regulates access to material on the 
Internet. Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to ensure that 
content complies with the MDA's Internet code of conduct. The MDA also 
regulates Internet material by licensing the ISPs through which local 
users are required to route their Internet connections. The law permits 
government monitoring of Internet use, and the Government closely 
monitored Internet activities such as blogs and podcasts as sources of 
political dissent, including before the May election. On April 3, MICA 
prohibited the use of podcasts and videocasts as campaign tools during 
the election period. It is unclear whether this prohibition will remain 
in effect for future elections. Although there has been no shut down of 
blogs, on July 7, the state-owned newspaper Today eliminated a popular 
blogger's column after the Government complained that his comments on 
economic policy ``distorted the truth.'' On July 22, another blogger 
received a warning after he posted cartoons mocking Jesus Christ on his 
online journal. The MDA was empowered to direct service providers to 
block access to Web sites that, in the Government's view, undermined 
public security, national defense, racial and religious harmony, and 
public morals. Although the MDA ordered ISPs to block 100 specific Web 
sites that the Government considered pornographic, in general the 
Government actually focused on blocking only a small number of sites.
    Political and religious Web sites must register with the MDA.
    In the past the Government has prosecuted persons for making 
allegedly racist remarks on the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--All public institutions of 
higher education and political research have limited autonomy from the 
Government. Although faculty members are not technically government 
employees, in practice they were subject to potential government 
influence. Academics spoke and published widely and engaged in debate 
on social and political issues. However, they were aware that any 
public comments outside the classroom or in academic publications that 
ventured into prohibited areas--criticism of political leaders or 
sensitive social and economic policies, or comments that could disturb 
ethnic or religious harmony or that appeared to advocate partisan 
political views--could subject them to sanctions. Publications by local 
academics and members of research institutions rarely deviated 
substantially from government views.
    The Films Act bans political advertising using films or videos as 
well as films directed towards any political purpose. The act does not 
apply to any film sponsored by the Government, and the act allows the 
MICA minister to exempt any film from the act. On August 5, the MDA 
withdrew the entertainment license of a play 30 hours before it was set 
to open, citing its purported negative portrayal of Muslims. In March 
2005 under government pressure a local filmmaker withdrew his film 
Singapore Rebel, about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, from the 
Singapore International Film Festival. Police questioned the filmmaker 
about his film in March 2006 and in May and August 2005. Authorities 
claimed his film violated the Films Act, which prohibits films 
``directed towards any domestic political end.'' In August the police 
closed the case with a warning. Other restrictions tightly control the 
types of campaign materials that can be distributed by or about 
candidates and parties during an election.
    A list of banned films was available on the MDA Web site. Certain 
films that have been barred from general release may be allowed limited 
showings, either censored or uncensored, with a special rating. In 
practice censorship standards have been significantly relaxed in recent 
years for live theater performances. Plays with overtly sexual or 
antiruling party themes have been permitted.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides citizens the right to peaceful 
assembly but permits Parliament to impose restrictions ``it considers 
necessary or expedient'' in the interest of security, public order, or 
morality; in practice the Government restricted this right. Public 
assemblies of five or more persons, including political meetings and 
rallies, require police permission; however, in 2004 the Government 
relaxed rules so that citizens no longer need permits for some indoor 
speaking events (see section 2.a.). Spontaneous public gatherings or 
demonstrations were virtually unknown. On July 15, nine persons 
associated with Falun Gong were charged with illegal assembly for 
gathering without a permit in October 2005. On August 18, one foreign 
member of the Falun Gong was asked to leave Singapore after prosecutors 
dropped a public nuisance charge against her for protests outside the 
Chinese embassy in July.
    The Government closely monitored political gatherings regardless of 
the number of persons present. During the International Monetary Fund 
and World Bank Joint Annual Meetings held in Singapore September 19-20, 
the Government did not authorize any public demonstrations. Accredited 
NGOs were allowed to protest in the lobby of the conference hall. On 
September 9, immigration officials asked three activists from People 
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to leave the country for having 
planned to stage a public protest. On September 12, the Government 
announced it would bar 27 individuals representing eight NGOs from 
entering the country to attend the conference. They were deemed a 
threat to security and public order. The decision was amended on 
September 15 to permit 22 of the 27 to enter the country. On September 
16, police prevented Chee Soon Juan from carrying out a protest march.
    Plain-clothed police officers often monitored political gatherings. 
In July 2005 the police attended and videotaped a book launch by 
opposition figure Chee Soon Juan. After his presentation, the police 
questioned Chee and seized a video of protests by Hong Kong residents 
that was playing in the background. The police claimed that Chee did 
not have a certificate for public display of the video. Persons who 
wished to speak at a public function, excluding functions provided by 
or under the auspices of the Government, needed to obtain a public 
entertainment license from the police; however, regulations exempt some 
cultural events (such as Chinese operas or lion dances), requiring 
seven days' advance notice to the police in lieu of a permit.
    In August the Government approved a gay and lesbian festival that 
included movie showings, book signings, and theater performances. In 
July 2005 the police had denied a permit for the fourth annual gay and 
lesbian beach festival, after having approved the festival in prior 
years.

    Freedom of Association.--Most associations, societies, clubs, 
religious groups, and other organizations with more than 10 members are 
required to register with the Government under the Societies Act. The 
Government denied registration to groups that it believed were likely 
to have been formed for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial 
to public peace, welfare, or public order. The Government has absolute 
discretion in applying criteria to register or dissolve societies. 
During the year the Registry of Societies received 336 registration 
applications of which two were denied. The Government prohibits 
organized political activities except by groups registered as political 
parties or political organizations. This prohibition limits opposition 
activities and contributes to restricting the scope of unofficial 
political expression and action (see section 3). The prohibition 
affected the PAP less because of its long domination of the Government 
and its overwhelming parliamentary majority; the PAP traditionally was 
able to use nonpolitical organizations such as residential committees 
and neighborhood groups for political purposes far more extensively 
than opposition political parties were. Political parties and 
organizations are subject to strict financial regulations, including a 
ban on receiving foreign donations. Due to laws regulating the 
formation of publicly active organizations, there were few NGOs apart 
from nonpolitical organizations such as religious groups, ethnically 
oriented organizations, and providers of welfare services.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion; however, the Government restricted this right in some 
circumstances. The constitution provides that every citizen or person 
in the country has the right to profess, practice, or propagate his 
religious belief so long as such activities do not breach any other 
laws relating to public order, public health, or morality.
    All religious groups were subject to government scrutiny. These 
groups must be registered under the Societies Act. The Maintenance of 
Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) gives the Government the power to restrain 
leaders and members of religious groups and institutions from carrying 
out political activities, ``exciting disaffection against'' the 
Government, creating ``ill will'' between religious groups, or carrying 
out subversive activities. Violation of a restraining order issued 
under the MRHA is a criminal offense. The act also prohibits judicial 
review of its enforcement or of any possible denial of rights arising 
from its implementation.
    The Government played an active but limited role in religious 
affairs. It did not tolerate speech or actions, including those of a 
religious nature, that it interpreted as adversely affecting racial and 
religious harmony. In June MDA officials visited an Islamic bookstore 
and asked the owner to remove radical Islamic literature, which he did 
immediately. The Government may issue restraining orders barring 
participation in activities adversely affecting religious harmony. The 
Presidential Council for Religious Harmony reviews such orders and 
makes recommendations to the President on whether to confirm, cancel, 
or alter a restraining order. The Presidential Council for Minority 
Rights examines all pending legislation to ensure it is not 
disadvantageous to a particular group, reports to the Government on 
matters that affect any racial or religious community, and investigates 
complaints. The Government maintains a relationship with the Muslim 
community through the Islamic Religious Council (MUS, which was 
established under the Administration of Muslim Law Act. The MUSadvises 
the Government on the Muslim community's concerns, drafts a weekly 
approved sermon, maintains regulatory authority over Muslim religious 
matters, and oversees a fund financed by voluntary payroll deductions 
and used for mosque-building and social and educational purposes.
    Under the Societies Act, the Government deregistered and banned 
meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972 and in 1982 dissolved the 
Unification Church. While the Government did not outlaw the profession 
or propagation of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and does not 
arrest members merely for being believers, the result of deregistration 
was to make meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses illegal. The community 
numbered approximately 2,000 in the country, and members of Jehovah's 
Witnesses continued to refuse to perform national military service. The 
Government also banned all written materials published by the Jehovah's 
Witnesses' publishing affiliates, the International Bible Students 
Association and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. A person in 
possession of banned literature can be fined up to $1,140 (S$2,000), 
and for holding a meeting, the fine can be as high as $2,280 (S$4,000). 
In August one member of Jehovah's Witnesses was charged with three 
counts of importation of banned literature. He was convicted on two 
counts and fined $3,420 (S$6,000). In 2004 the authorities briefly 
detained 11 persons for attempting to bring Jehovah's Witnesses' 
publications into the country. One individual received a warning.
    Missionaries, with the exception of members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
and representatives of the Unification Church, were permitted to work, 
publish, and distribute religious texts. However, while the Government 
did not prohibit evangelical activities, in practice it discouraged 
activities that could upset intercommunal relations, such as 
unsolicited public proselytizing.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no significant 
reports of societal religious discrimination or of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides citizens the 
right to move freely throughout the country; however, while the 
Government generally respected this right in practice, it limited this 
right in a few respects. For example, citizens' choice of where to live 
sometimes was limited by the Government's legal requirement for ethnic 
balance in publicly subsidized housing, in which the great majority of 
citizens lived (see section 5). The Government required all citizens 
and permanent residents over the age of 15 to register and to carry 
identification cards. The Government may refuse to issue a passport and 
did so in the case of former ISA detainees. Under the ISA a person's 
movement may be restricted (see section 1.d.). According to official 
press releases, at year's end there were 26 suspected terrorists 
subject to such restrictions. Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan (see 
sections 1.e., 2.a., and 3), considered bankrupt under the terms of the 
Bankruptcy Act, was prevented from leaving the country in April. On May 
7, opposition politician James Gomez was stopped from leaving the 
country and questioned for eight hours regarding a complaint filed 
against him by the Election Department; on May 13, his passport was 
returned and permission to travel was granted.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the country did not employ it.
    The right of voluntary repatriation was extended to holders of 
national passports. The Government actively encouraged citizens living 
overseas to return home or at least to maintain active ties with the 
country. A provision of the law allows for the loss of citizenship by 
citizens who resided outside the country for more than 10 consecutive 
years, but it was not known to have been used.
    Men are required to serve 24 months of national service upon 
turning 18 years of age. They also are required to undergo reserve 
training up to the age of 40 (for enlisted men) or 50 (for officers). 
Male citizens with national service reserve obligations are required to 
advise the Ministry of Defense if they plan to travel abroad. Boys age 
13 to 16.5 years are issued passports that are valid for five years but 
are required to obtain exit permits for trips longer then three months. 
From the age of 16.5 until the age of enlistment, male citizens are 
granted one-year passports and are required to apply for exit permits 
for travel that exceeds three months. A bond of $47,468 (S$75,000) is 
needed for exit permits of two years or more for both age groups.
    The law stipulates that former members of the Communist Party of 
Malaya (CPM) residing outside the country must apply to the Government 
to be allowed to return. They must renounce communism, sever all 
organizational ties with the CPM, and pledge not to engage in 
activities prejudicial to the country's internal security. In addition, 
the law requires them to submit to an interview by the Internal 
Security Department and to accept any restrictive conditions imposed on 
them.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In 
practice the Government provides protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, but does 
not grant refugee or asylum status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully. Opposition parties can contest elections, and 
the voting and vote-counting systems are fair and free from tampering; 
however, the PAP, which has held power continuously and overwhelmingly 
for more than four decades, has used the Government's extensive powers 
to place formidable obstacles in the path of political opponents.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Following the May 6 
elections, the PAP (having captured 66.6 percent of the vote) held 82 
of 84 elected seats; the opposition Singapore Democratic Alliance (13.1 
percent) and the Workers' Party (16.3 percent) each held one seat. The 
opposition continued to criticize what it described as PAP abuse of its 
incumbency advantages to handicap opposition parties. The PAP 
maintained its political dominance in part by developing voter support 
through effective administration and its record in bringing economic 
prosperity to the country, and in part by manipulating the electoral 
framework, intimidating organized political opposition, and 
circumscribing the bounds of legitimate political discourse and action. 
The belief that the Government might directly or indirectly harm the 
employment prospects of opposition supporters inhibited opposition 
political activity; however, there were no confirmed cases of such 
retaliation. As a result of these and other factors, opposition parties 
were unable to seriously challenge the ruling party. The PAP claimed 
that the lack of an effective opposition was due to disorganization, 
weak leadership, and absence of persuasive alternative policies.
    The country has a parliamentary system in which the majority party 
in Parliament has the authority to constitute the Government, which is 
headed by a prime minister. The parliamentary term is for no more than 
five years after the first sitting of Parliament following a general 
election. Parliament may be dissolved early by Presidential 
proclamation, which normally follows a request by the Prime Minister. 
Elections must be held within three months of Parliament's dissolution. 
The constitution allows a parliamentary committee to select and the 
President to appoint nominated members of parliament (MPs) to serve 2+-
year terms without facing election. A constitutional amendment requires 
at least three opposition MPs. Therefore, if fewer than three are 
elected, the Government will appoint a ``nonconstituency MP,'' who is 
the opposition candidate who obtains the highest share of the vote 
without winning a seat. Nonconstituency MPs and nominated MPs can 
participate in parliamentary debate and can vote on some, but not all, 
types of legislation.
    The PAP has an extensive grassroots system and a carefully 
selected, highly disciplined membership. The establishment of 
government-organized and predominantly publicly funded Community 
Development Councils (CDCs) has further strengthened the PAP's 
position. The CDCs promote community development and cohesion and 
provide welfare and other assistance services. The PAP dominates the 
CDCs even in opposition-held constituencies and has threatened to 
withdraw publicly funded benefits.
    The PAP completely controlled key positions in and out of 
government, influenced the press and courts, and limited opposition 
political activities. Often the means were fully consistent with the 
law and the normal prerogatives of the Government, but the overall 
effect (and many argued the ultimate purpose) was to disadvantage and 
weaken political opposition. Since 1988 the PAP changed all but nine 
single-seat constituencies into group representational constituencies 
(GRCs) of five to six parliamentary seats, in which the party with a 
plurality wins all of the seats. According to the constitution, such 
changes are permitted to ensure ethnic minority representation in 
Parliament; each GRC candidate list must contain at least one Malay, 
Indian, or other ethnic minority candidate. These changes made it more 
difficult for opposition parties, all of which had very limited 
memberships, to fill multimember candidate lists.
    Although political parties legally were free to organize, they 
operated under the same limitations that applied to all organizations, 
and the authorities imposed strict regulations on their constitutions, 
fundraising, and accountability (see section 2.b.). There were 24 
registered political parties in the country; however, only six of these 
were active. Political parties and organizations were subject to strict 
financial regulations, including a ban on receiving foreign donations. 
Government regulations hindered attempts by opposition parties to rent 
office space in government housing blocks or to establish community 
foundations. In addition, government influence extended in varying 
degrees to academic, community service, and other NGOs.
    The Films Act bans political films and recorded televised programs, 
which further puts opposition parties at a disadvantage since they 
received less coverage in the government-influenced press and media. A 
filmmaker was investigated for a film about opposition leader Chee Soon 
Juan that allegedly violated the Films Act (see section 2.a.). The ban, 
which ostensibly exists to prevent the sensationalist or emotional 
effect that video or film productions could have on political issues, 
applies to the PAP as well as to the opposition parties. The law 
regulates the use of the Internet by political parties and others for 
political purposes during election campaigns (see section 2.a.).
    The threat of civil libel or slander suits, which government 
leaders have often used against political opponents and critics and 
consistently won, had a stifling effect on the full expression of 
political opinion and disadvantaged the political opposition (see 
section 2.a.). Large judgments in libel suits can lead to bankruptcy, 
and, under the law, bankrupt persons are ineligible to sit in 
Parliament. The law also provides for criminal defamation offenses.
    In the past, the Government used parliamentary censure or the 
threat of censure to humiliate or intimidate opposition leaders.
    The duties of the President are largely ceremonial. Nonetheless, 
the President has significant budget oversight powers, as well as some 
powers over civil service appointments and internal security affairs. 
The law provides for a popularly elected President to be elected for a 
six-year term from among candidates who are approved by a 
constitutionally prescribed committee selected by the Government. In 
August 2005 the committee decided that the PAP-endorsed incumbent, 
President S.R. Nathan, was the only qualified candidate out of four 
applicants. The election was cancelled and Nathan was inaugurated for a 
second term in September 2005. The Government placed significant 
obstacles in the way of opposition political figures' Presidential 
candidacies. For example, opposition members were much less likely to 
satisfy the requirement that candidates have experience in managing the 
financial affairs of a large institution, since many of the country's 
large institutions were government run or linked to the Government.
    Voting is compulsory, and 95 percent of eligible voters voted. 
There is no legal bar to the participation of women in political life; 
women held 17 of the 84 elected parliamentary seats compared with 10 in 
the previous parliament. As of October there were three female 
ministers of state, although none of cabinet rank. Three of the 14 
Supreme Court justices were women.
    There are no restrictions in law or practice against minorities 
voting or participating in politics; they actively participated in the 
political process and were well represented throughout the Government, 
except in some sensitive military positions. Malays made up 
approximately 14 percent of the general population and hold 
approximately the same percentage of elected seats in Parliament. 
Indians made up approximately 9 percent of the general population and 
held approximately 11 percent of the elected seats in Parliament. 
Minority representation in Parliament is, in part, the result of a 
legal requirement that candidate slates in every multiseat constituency 
have at least one minority representative. There was one ethnic Malay 
minister and three ethnic Indian ministers. Three of the 14 members of 
the Supreme Court were ethnic Indian; there were no Malays on the 
court.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year, and the Government actively 
prosecutes officials involved in corruption.
    There are no laws that specifically provide for public access to 
government information; however, significant amounts of information 
were available on government Web sites.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Efforts by independent organizations to investigate and evaluate 
government human rights policies faced the same obstacles as those 
faced by opposition political parties. NGOs were subject to 
registration under the Societies Act (see section 2.b.). Some domestic 
NGOs criticized restrictions on human rights or suggested changes that 
would relax or remove restrictions.
    There is a Presidential Council on Minority Rights that monitors 
pending legislation for anything possibly disadvantageous to minorities 
(see section 5).
    The Government permitted international human rights organizations 
to observe human rights-related court cases.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution states that all persons are equal before the law 
and entitled to the equal protection of the law, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice; there is no explicit 
provision granting equal rights for women and minorities. Mindful of 
the country's history of intercommunal tension, the Government took 
measures to ensure racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural 
nondiscrimination. Social, economic, and cultural benefits and 
facilities were available to all citizens regardless of race, religion, 
or gender. Men do not have the right to seek alimony from their wives 
in cases of divorce or separation.

    Women.--The law criminalizes domestic violence and sexual or 
physical harassment; however, violence or abuse against women occurred. 
A victim of domestic violence can obtain court orders barring the 
spouse from the home until the court is satisfied that the spouse 
ceased aggressive behavior. The number of court orders for protection 
against violent family members has increased in recent years, in part 
because the definition of violence includes intimidation, continual 
harassment, or restraint against one's will. The law prescribes 
mandatory caning and a minimum imprisonment of two years for conviction 
on any charge of ``outraging modesty'' that caused the victim fear of 
death or injury. The press gave prominent coverage to instances of 
abuse or violence against women. There were several organizations that 
provided assistance to abused women. The Association of Women for 
Action and Research ran a hot line that offered counseling and legal 
advice. The Family Protection and Welfare Service, an office of the 
Ministry of Community Development, Youth, and Sports, documented 
physical and psychological abuse and provided counseling and other 
support services to abused women. The Star Shelter accepted children, 
women, and men and can accommodate up to 30 persons. The Government 
reported that, in 2005, 284 men applied for personal protection orders 
against their wives compared to 1,627 applications from women against 
their husbands. The Government enforced the law against rape, which 
provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and caning for offenders. 
Under the law rape can be committed only by a man, and spousal rape is 
not a crime; however, husbands who force their wives to have 
intercourse can be prosecuted for other offenses, such as assault. 
During the year 10 persons were prosecuted for rape; including cases 
from 2005 there were eight convictions, seven persons awaiting trial, 
and one case of a discharge not amounting to acquittal. The Ministry of 
Education and the police both carried out programs aimed at preventing 
rape.
    Prostitution itself is not illegal; however, public solicitation, 
living on the earnings of a prostitute, and maintaining a brothel are 
illegal. The authorities periodically carried out crackdowns on 
solicitation for prostitution and arrested and deported foreign 
prostitutes, particularly when their activities took place outside 
informally designated red light areas. In practice police unofficially 
tolerated and monitored a limited number of brothels; prostitutes (the 
great majority of whom were foreign and working illegally) in such 
establishments were required to undergo periodic health checks and 
carry a health card.
    There are no specific laws prohibiting stalking or sexual 
harassment; however, the Miscellaneous Offenses Act and laws 
prohibiting insults to modesty were used successfully to prosecute 
these offenses. Sexual harassment was not considered a significant 
problem.
    As of 2004 women accounted for 55 percent of civil service 
employees. They enjoyed the same legal rights as men, including civil 
liberties, employment, commercial activity, and education. The Women's 
Charter gives women, among other rights, the right to own property, 
conduct trade, and receive divorce settlements. Muslim women enjoyed 
most of the rights and protections of the Women's Charter. For the most 
part, Muslim marriage law falls under the administration of the Muslim 
Law Act, which empowers the Shari'a (Islamic law) court to oversee such 
matters. The laws allow Muslim men to practice polygyny, although 
requests to take additional spouses may be refused by the Registry of 
Muslim Marriages, which solicits the views of an existing wife or wives 
and reviews the financial capability of the husband. During the year, 
there were 44 applications for polygynous marriage, and 13 applications 
were approved. Both men and women have the right to initiate divorce 
proceedings; however, in practice women faced significant difficulties 
that often prevented them from pursuing proceedings. This included the 
lack of financial resources to obtain legal counsel.
    During the year women constituted 43 percent of the labor force and 
were well represented in many professions. The percentage of women 
between ages of 30 and 54 in the workforce increased from 60.3 percent 
in 2000 to 66.4 percent in 2005. However, they held few leadership 
positions in the private sector and no ministerial positions in the 
Government. Women were overrepresented in low-wage jobs such as clerks 
and secretaries; although some women held senior corporate leadership 
positions. Salaries for women ranged upwards from 62 percent of men's 
salaries depending on the occupational grouping. In some occupations 
women earned more than their male counterparts. Observers noted that 
the wage differential was smaller in professional jobs and that wage 
disparities could be attributed in part to differences in average 
educational levels and work experience.

    Children.--The Government demonstrated a strong commitment to 
children's rights and welfare through well-funded systems of public 
education and medical care, and access was equal for all children. Six 
years of public (or government-recognized private) education is 
compulsory for all children. Virtually 100 percent of children were 
enrolled through grade 6, and the dropout rate for secondary school was 
low. The Children and Young Persons Act created a juvenile court system 
and established protective services for orphaned, abused, and 
``troubled'' children, and those with disabilities. The Ministry of 
Community Development, Youth, and Sports (MCYS) worked closely with the 
National Council for Social Services to oversee children's welfare 
cases. Voluntary organizations operated most of the homes for children, 
while the Government funded from 50 to 100 percent of living expenses 
and overhead, as well as expenses for special schooling, health care, 
and supervisory needs.
    Some child prostitution occurred. During the year 60 female 
prostitutes under the age of 18 were arrested, compared with 48 in 
2005. In 2004, 35 of the more than 5,239 foreign women arrested for 
prostitution were believed to be under the age of 18. There is no legal 
prohibition on commercial sex with ``consenting'' partners ages 16 and 
17. The law criminalizes consensual sex between a minor female (under 
16) and a male and prescribes punishment for the male participant of up 
to five years in prison and a fine of up to $6,329 (S$10,000). The 
authorities have the power to detain persons under the age of 21 who 
are believed to be engaged in prostitution, as well as to prosecute 
those who organize or profit from prostitution, who bring women or 
girls to the country for prostitution, or who coerce or deceive women 
or girls into prostitution. In March the MCYS funded a leaflet campaign 
by a local women's group to fight sex tourism.
    The MCYS sponsored activities promoting children's causes, 
including family stability. The ministry and several NGOs focused on 
keeping fathers involved in their children's lives and on preventing 
child abuse.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking in persons occurred.
    The three major laws that govern trafficking and prostitution are 
the Women's Charter, the Children and Young Persons' Act, and the penal 
code. Trafficking in women and children, regardless of whether it is 
related to prostitution, is punishable by up to five years' 
imprisonment, a $6,329 (S$10,000) fine, and caning. Traffickers could 
be prosecuted under provisions governing kidnapping, abduction, 
slavery, and forced labor, which carry maximum punishments of 10 years' 
imprisonment and a fine. Convicted traffickers could be found guilty of 
violating more than one law. There was no specific campaign to combat 
or prevent the use of fraud or coercion to recruit foreign women as 
prostitutes, although some persons were prosecuted and punished for 
crimes involving such acts.
    There were no reports of any official involvement in trafficking in 
persons.
    In practice successful investigation and prosecution of trafficking 
in persons required that victims remain in or return to the country to 
testify. Victims were urged by police to remain in the country until a 
case was prosecuted, and generally they did; some abused domestics who 
left were brought back to testify. Victims did not receive government 
assistance during this period or at other times and sometimes were not 
granted permission for alternative employment and were dependent on 
support from their embassy. Laws prohibiting the harboring, aiding, or 
abetting of illegal immigrants could hamper assistance to trafficking 
victims by putting NGOs in the position of harboring a victim who has 
no legal status; however, the authorities did not appear to investigate 
or prosecute such assistance. The authorities notified embassies of the 
arrest of nationals, including for prostitution-related offenses, and 
allowed consular access. Prostitutes rarely contacted embassies 
voluntarily, unless detained for solicitation or immigration offenses 
during police sweeps. However, victims of crimes, including domestics 
alleging abuse, sometimes requested and received assistance from their 
embassies.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The Government maintained a 
comprehensive code on barrier-free accessibility; this established 
standards for facilities for persons with physical disabilities in all 
new buildings and mandated the progressive upgrading of older 
structures. There was no legislation addressing equal opportunities for 
persons with disabilities in education or employment; however, the 
National Council of Social Services, in conjunction with various 
voluntary associations, provided an extensive job training and 
placement program for persons with disabilities. The Government also 
ran vigorous campaigns to raise public awareness of issues confronting 
persons with disabilities and the services available to them. A tax 
deduction of up to $63,291 (S$100,000) was available to employers to 
defray building modifications to benefit employees with disabilities. 
Informal provisions in education have permitted university 
matriculation for the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, and for 
students with other physical disabilities. There were 21 special 
education schools that enrolled more than 4,800 students. Currently, 
one out of every six primary schools and one out of every seven 
secondary schools are equipped with full-handicap facilities. The 
Government provided funds for six childcare centers to take in 60 
children with special needs.
    The Government allowed a tax deduction of up to $1,898 (S$3,500) 
per individual for families caring for a sibling, spouse, or child with 
a disability. Mental and physical disabilities were treated in the same 
way. Press coverage of the activities and achievements of persons with 
disabilities was extensive, and discrimination or abuse of persons with 
disabilities did not appear to be a problem.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnic Malays constituted 
approximately 14 percent of the population. The constitution 
acknowledges them as the indigenous people of the country and charges 
the Government to support and to promote their political, educational, 
religious, economic, social, cultural, and language interests. The 
Government took steps to encourage greater educational achievement 
among Malay students as a key to economic advancement. However, ethnic 
Malays have not yet reached the educational or socioeconomic levels 
achieved by the ethnic Chinese majority, the ethnic Indian minority, or 
the Eurasian community. Malays remained underrepresented at senior 
corporate levels and, some assert, in certain sectors of the Government 
and the military. This reflected their historically lower educational 
and economic levels, but some argued that it also was a result of 
employment discrimination. The Government has issued guidelines that 
call for eliminating language referring to age, gender, or ethnicity in 
employment advertisements; restrictive language pertinent to job 
requirements, such as ``Chinese speaker'' or ``physically strong'' 
remains acceptable. These guidelines were generally followed.
    The Presidential Council on Minority Rights examined all pending 
bills to ensure that they were not disadvantageous to a particular 
group. It also reported to the Government on matters that affected any 
racial or religious community and investigated complaints.
    The Government enforced ethnic ratios for publicly subsidized 
housing, where the majority of citizens live and own their own units. 
The policy was designed to prevent ethnic or racial ghettos and to 
achieve an ethnic mix more or less in proportion to that of society at 
large. When a housing development was at or near the limit for a 
particular ethnic group, it could be difficult for owners to sell their 
apartments and force them to sell to a person of an underrepresented 
group, potentially at a price below market value.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some individuals with 
HIV/AIDS claimed that they were socially marginalized and faced 
employment discrimination if they revealed they were suffering from the 
disease. The Government discouraged discrimination, supported 
initiatives that countered misperceptions about HIV/AIDS, and praised 
employers that welcomed workers with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides all 
citizens the right to form associations, including trade unions; 
however, Parliament may impose restrictions based on security, public 
order, or morality grounds. The right of association was restricted by 
the Societies Act and by labor and education laws and regulations. 
Under these laws any group of 10 or more persons is required to 
register with the Government. The Trade Unions Act authorizes the 
formation of unions with broad rights, albeit with some narrow 
restrictions such as prohibitions on the unionization of uniformed 
personnel or government employees. The Amalgamated Union of Public 
Employees was declared exempt from these provisions, and its scope of 
representation was expanded over the years to cover all public sector 
employees except the most senior civil servants.
    The Trade Unions Act restricts the right of trade unions to elect 
their officers and whom they may employ. Foreigners and those with 
criminal convictions may not hold union office or become employees of 
unions. However, the minister of manpower could grant exemptions. The 
Trade Unions Act limits the objectives on which unions can spend their 
funds and prohibits payments to political parties or the use of funds 
for political purposes. In 2004 the national labor force was made up of 
approximately 2.18 million workers, nearly 420,000 of whom were 
represented by 68 unions. Almost all of the unions (which represented 
virtually all of the union members) were affiliated with the National 
Trade Union Congress (NTUC), an umbrella organization with a close 
relationship with the Government.
    The NTUC acknowledged that its interests were linked closely with 
those of the ruling PAP, a relationship often described by both as 
symbiotic. The NTUC's secretary general, Lim Boon Heng, a PAP MP, was a 
member of the cabinet as minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Young 
PAP MPs with no union experience were often elected to leadership 
positions in the NTUC or a member union. The NTUC policy prohibited 
union members who supported opposition parties from holding office in 
affiliated unions. While the NTUC is financially independent of the 
PAP, the two shared a common ideology and worked closely with 
management in support of nonconfrontational labor relations. The NTUC 
is free to associate regionally and internationally.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective 
bargaining was a normal part of labor-management relations in the 
industrial sector. Collective agreements must be certified by the 
tripartite Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) before going into effect. 
The IAC could refuse certification at its discretion on the ground of 
public interest. Transfers and layoffs were excluded from the scope of 
collective bargaining. However, in practice employers consulted with 
unions on both issues, and the Tripartite Panel on Retrenched Workers 
issued guidelines calling for early notification to unions of layoffs. 
Agreements between management and labor were renewed every two to three 
years, although wage increases were negotiated annually. The National 
Wages Council (NWC), a group composed of labor, management, and 
government representatives, issues yearly guidelines on raises and 
bonus pay that serve as the starting point for bargaining agreements. 
Subject to negotiation in each enterprise, up to 10 percent of salaries 
were considered ``variable'' each month, allowing companies to 
eliminate that portion of pay if there were financial problems.
    Workers in ``essential services'' are required to give 14 days' 
notice to an employer before striking, and there is a prohibition on 
strikes by workers in the water, gas, and electricity sectors. Other 
workers have the legal right to strike but rarely did so. There were no 
specific laws that prohibited retaliation against strikers. The law 
provides that before striking, unionized workers must vote in favor of 
the strike by secret ballot.
    Most disagreements were resolved through informal consultations 
with the Ministry of Manpower. If conciliation fails, the disputing 
parties usually submit their case to the IAC, which is composed of 
representatives from labor and management, and chaired by a judge. In 
limited situations, the law provides for compulsory arbitration, which 
has not been used since 1980. Besides these labor dispute mechanisms 
and the close working relationship and shared views among labor, 
management, and the Government, the maintenance of labor peace has been 
a product of high economic growth rates, regular wage increases, and a 
high degree of job mobility in a virtual full-employment economy.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government enforced the Employment Act, which prohibits employment of 
children under the age of 12. Restrictions on the employment of 
children between the ages of 12 and 16 are rigorous and fully enforced. 
Children under the age of 14 generally are prohibited from employment 
in the industrial sector. Exceptions include family enterprises; 
children may work in a business in which only members of the same 
family are employed. A child of 12 or older may be employed in light 
work, subject to medical clearance. Employers must notify the 
commissioner of labor within 30 days of hiring a child between the ages 
of 14 and 16 and attach a medical certification of the child's fitness 
for employment. The incidence of children in permanent employment was 
low, and abuses were almost nonexistent.
    Ministry of Manpower regulations prohibit night employment of 
children and restrict industrial work for children between the ages of 
14 and 16 to no more than seven hours a day, including the hours spent 
in school. Children may not work on commercial vessels, with moving 
machinery, on live electrical apparatus lacking effective insulation, 
or in any underground job. The minister of manpower effectively 
enforced these laws and regulations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There are no laws or regulations 
on minimum wages or unemployment compensation; however, the NWC 
monitored the economy and made annual recommendations to the Government 
concerning wage guidelines. The NWC urged companies to adopt a monthly 
variable component in computing wages. The labor market generally 
offered good working conditions and relatively high wages, which 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
    The Employment Act sets the standard legal workweek at 44 hours and 
provides for one rest day each week.
    The Ministry of Manpower effectively enforced laws and regulations 
establishing working conditions and comprehensive occupational safety 
and health laws. Enforcement procedures, coupled with the promotion of 
educational and training programs, were implemented to reduce the 
frequency of job-related accidents. While workers have the right under 
the Employment Act to remove themselves from a dangerous work 
situation, their right to continued employment depended upon an 
investigation of the circumstances by the Ministry of Manpower.
    Because of a domestic labor shortage, approximately 600,000 foreign 
workers were employed legally, constituting approximately 30 percent of 
the total work force. There were no reliable estimates of the number of 
foreigners working illegally. Most foreign workers were unskilled 
laborers and household servants from other Asian countries. Foreign 
workers faced no legal wage discrimination; however, they were 
concentrated in low-wage, low-skill jobs and were often required to 
work long hours. Most foreign construction workers live on worksites in 
substandard conditions. From April 2005 to April 2006, the Ministry of 
Manpower fined 13 employers between $126 (S$200) to $1,265 (S$2,000) 
each for failing ministry checks on workers' quarters. The number of 
employers who failed checks rose sharply during this period, with 506 
of 766 employers receiving warnings. Only 105 contractors were warned 
in 2004.
    Although the great majority of the approximately 150,000 maids 
(mainly from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka) worked under 
clearly outlined contracts, their low wages, dependence on their 
employers for food and lodging, and relative isolation made them 
vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse. The authorities fined or 
imprisoned employers who abused maids. On February 7, the district 
court sentenced a housewife to two weeks in jail for ordering her maid 
to stand on a ledge to hang laundry, leading to her fall and subsequent 
death. On March 29, the district court convicted a man of molesting his 
maid in 2005. On April 19, a woman who assaulted her maid in 2003 was 
sentenced to one month in jail. Debate on how to prevent abuse of maids 
was ongoing. In February the Ministry of Manpower launched a demerit 
points system which penalizes employment agencies for violating 
government regulations. The accumulated points are shown on the 
ministry's Web site to help potential employers identify errant 
agencies. Agencies with too many demerits face license suspension. The 
Ministry of Manpower sets the minimum age for maids at 23 and requires 
all maids to show that they had eight years of formal education before 
allowing them to enter. All new maids and new employers of maids must 
undergo mandatory training on maids' rights and responsibilities. Maids 
must take a written entrance exam that covers topics such as safety and 
English comprehension.
    Most maids worked six days per week from early morning until late 
in the evening. Effective November 1, the Ministry of Manpower requires 
an employer to deposit a maid's salary directly into her bank account 
if she requests it. It also regularly distributes pamphlets in four 
different languages alerting maids to their rights. On September 15, 
the Employment Agencies Singapore, a nongovernment agency that 
accredits the country's approximately 500 maid agencies, implemented a 
new standard employment contract for maids that provides a compulsory 
day off each month or cash compensation. On July 21, the international 
NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) had criticized the standard contract as 
inadequate since there was no government requirement that maids receive 
one day off a month.
    Maids often had to set aside most or all of their wages for the 
first several months of employment to reimburse their placement agents. 
Work permits for low-wage foreign workers could be cancelled if a 
worker applied to marry or married a citizen or permanent resident.
    The Employment Act protects foreign workers such as the many 
employed in the construction industry; however, domestic servants are 
not covered by the act and are not eligible for limited free legal 
assistance from the Government. However, the Ministry of Manpower 
offered conciliation services for all employees, foreign or local. The 
Foreign Workers Unit of the ministry provided free advisory and 
mediation services to foreign workers experiencing problems with 
employers. The Government allowed complainants to seek legal redress 
and operated a hot line for maids. In December a migrant workers 
advocacy group and a telephone company established a help line to 
advise migrant workers in distress.

                               __________

                            SOLOMON ISLANDS

    The Solomon Islands is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 538,000. Citizens elect a single-chamber 
parliament of 50 members. Executive authority is vested in the Prime 
Minister, who is elected by a majority vote of parliament, and his 
cabinet. A new parliament was elected in April with Snyder Rini as 
prime minister. However, rioting broke out in the capital city of 
Honiara calling for his resignation, and soon after parliament elected 
Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister. Between 1998 and 2003, conflict 
between two of the main ethnic groups in the country--the Malaitans and 
the Guadalcanalese--led to a serious deterioration in the human rights 
situation. In 2003 the Regional Assistance Mission for Solomon Islands 
(RAMSI), a multinational police-centered force organized by Australia, 
arrived in the country at the Government's invitation to assist in 
restoring law and order and rebuilding the country's institutions. 
While law and order was largely restored, rioting occurred following 
the formation of a new government after the April elections. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Human rights 
problems included lengthy pretrial detention, government corruption, 
and violence and discrimination against women and minorities.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed unlawful or 
arbitrary killings.
    Since 2003 RAMSI investigated, arrested, and brought to trial a 
number of police officers and militants who allegedly committed murder 
and other criminal acts (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.). At year's end 
prosecutions continued. Arrests included senior political figures, one 
of whom was a former cabinet minister charged with, among other things, 
being an accomplice to murder. While he was released on bail earlier in 
the year, authorities arrested him on charges relating to the April 
rioting. He remained in custody awaiting trial on the earlier charges 
at year's end.
    Edmund Sae, a former police sergeant arrested for murder in the 
2003 killing of retired police commissioner Sir Frederick Soaki, and 
who subsequently escaped from custody, remained at large at year's end.
    In December 2004 an Australian Federal Police officer attached to 
RAMSI was shot and killed while on patrol in Honiara. Police arrested 
four suspects and charged them with murder in the case; the trial for 
two of the suspects began in October.
    In October 2005 a Honiara court convicted three former members of 
the Guadalcanal Liberation Front for the 2003 murders of six members of 
the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious order, and sentenced 
them to life imprisonment. In August the court tried a fourth suspect, 
a juvenile, separately, convicted him of murder, and sentenced him to 
life imprisonment. In March 2005 a court convicted former Guadalcanal 
Liberation Front leader Harold Ke'ke and two codefendants for the 2002 
murder of cabinet minister Father Augustine Geve and sentenced them to 
life imprisonment. Ke'ke stood trial on 14 additional counts of murder 
during the year.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
confirmed reports of such practices by the police during the year. 
There were a few allegations by detainees that they were mistreated by 
police during questioning.
    Since its arrival in 2003, RAMSI apprehended and charged persons 
allegedly responsible for human rights abuses and other criminal acts. 
More than 240 persons, including approximately 40 police officers, 
Ke'ke, and other militants, were arrested. Authorities lodged more than 
600 charges against them. Many of those arrested were tried and 
convicted in 2005, while others were awaiting trial at year's end. 
Authorities made more arrests following the riots in April.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers, including the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC also 
facilitated visits by family members of some prisoners.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A commissioner who 
reports to the minister of police heads the Royal Solomon Islands 
Police (RSIP) force of approximately 1,050 members. This force is 
supported by 250 RAMSI officers, who serve in line positions and in 
logistical and finance support. During the year an Australian police 
official served as commissioner on a contract funded by the Australian 
government. However, on December 22, authorities declared him an 
``undesirable immigrant'' while he was out of the country and did not 
allow him to return. At year's end the police commissioner position 
remained vacant. There were 43 police stations open throughout the 
country.
    While the police were more effective under RAMSI, the RSIP 
continued to be weak in investigation and reporting. The police service 
has an inspection unit to monitor police discipline and performance.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for a judicial 
determination of the legality of arrests. Detainees generally were 
informed promptly of the charges against them. Detainees have the right 
to counsel. The public solicitor's office provided legal assistance to 
indigent defendants. Detainees had prompt access to family members and 
to counsel. Officials found to have violated civil liberties were 
subject to fines and jail sentences. There was a functioning system of 
bail. However, delays in adjudication of the large number of cases 
before the courts resulted in lengthy pretrial detention for some 
prisoners.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judicial system consists of the High Court, the Court of 
Appeals, and magistrate's courts. RAMSI expanded the public solicitor's 
staff to 16, of whom 10 were foreign nationals. The number of public 
prosecutors increased to 12, including eight foreign nationals. During 
the year three magistrate's courtrooms were upgraded, and a children's 
court was introduced.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    Trial procedures normally operated in accordance with British 
common law, with a presumption of innocence, access to attorneys, and 
the right to access government-held evidence, confront witnesses, and 
appeal convictions. Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there 
are no juries. Accused persons are entitled to counsel.
    Backlogs in the investigation and prosecution of cases remained a 
problem at year's end (see section 1.d.), but all persons in custody 
prior to September had initial trial dates assigned.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary for civil matters; local courts and 
magistrate's courts have civil jurisdiction. In addition, the 
constitution provides that any person whose rights or freedoms have 
been contravened may apply directly to the High Court for redress.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.
    Individuals were allowed to criticize the Government publicly and 
privately without reprisal. The Government did not attempt to impede 
criticism.
    There were three independent newspapers, one daily and two weekly. 
One independent television station broadcast for four hours per day. 
One government-sponsored and two independent radio stations operated 
during the year. The independent media were active and expressed a wide 
variety of views without restrictions.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the 
Government generally respected this right in practice. Demonstrators 
must obtain permits, which the Government generally granted.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, but at times the Government restricted this right. The 
Government has outlawed the principal militant groups. Other groups 
associated freely, and a good governance oversight group, the Civil 
Society Network, continued to raise issues of concern with the 
Government.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The public school curriculum included a 30-minute daily class of 
religious instruction, the content of which was agreed upon by the 
Christian churches; students whose parents did not wish them to attend 
the class were excused. However, the Government did not subsidize 
church schools that did not align their curriculums with governmental 
criteria. Although non-Christian religions theoretically can be taught 
in the schools, there was no such instruction in practice.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The 
Jewish community was very small.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it. 
Native-born citizens may not be deprived of citizenship on any grounds.

    Protection of Refugees.--Although party to the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. However, the Government cooperated with the Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross in assisting refugees 
and asylum seekers and did not return persons to a country where they 
feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage for persons 18 years of age and older.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The April national 
parliamentary elections were regarded as generally free and fair, 
although there was evidence of vote buying. Changes of government 
occurred on several occasions since independence, due to the 
resignation of the Prime Minister or parliamentary votes of no 
confidence. On April 18, rioting broke out in Honiara immediately 
following the election of Snyder Rini as prime minister. Rini resigned 
on April 26. Parliament elected Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister on 
May 4.
    Male dominance in government limited the role of women. There were 
no women in the 50-member parliament. Four women served as permanent 
secretaries in the Government.
    There were two minority (non-Melanesian) members in parliament, 
neither of whom were in the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption and 
impunity in both the executive and legislative branches continued to be 
problems. While there was progress made at lower levels of government 
as over 140 RAMSI officials worked directly with government 
counterparts, the auditor general released a report on corruption in 
October that was very critical of the Government. In May Prime Minister 
Sogavare appointed Charles Dausabea and Nelson Ne'e to the cabinet. 
Both had been arrested in April and were awaiting trial at year's end 
for their roles in the April riots. On September 21, Prime Minister 
Sogavare appointed Julian Moti to be attorney general. The Australian 
government sought Moti on child sex charges, and the Solomon Islands 
police commissioner arrested Moti on October 10 for illegally entering 
the country. Moti was facing possible extradition to Australia at 
year's end.
    During the year corruption-related charges were lodged against a 
number of current and former government officials. On October 18, 
authorities charged the immigration minister with multiple offenses 
related to Moti's illegal entry but later cleared him of all charges. 
At year's end trials were pending for a number of other officials 
charged with corruption.
    In 2004 and 2005 a former East Honiara member of parliament and a 
former cabinet minister charged with official corruption involving the 
granting of certificates of naturalization to Chinese nationals were 
both acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence. The Government 
appealed the cases to the High Court; the appeal had not been heard at 
year's end.
    No law provides for public access to government information. In 
practice the Government generally was responsive to inquiries from the 
media during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The constitution provides for an ombudsman, with the power to 
subpoena and to investigate complaints of official abuse, mistreatment, 
or unfair treatment. While the ombudsman's office has potentially far-
ranging powers, it was limited by a shortage of resources. It organized 
occasional workshops and undertook a few tours during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides that no person--regardless of race, place 
of origin, political opinion, color, creed, or disability--shall be 
treated in a discriminatory manner with respect to access to public 
places. The constitution further prohibits any laws that would have 
discriminatory effects and provides that no person should be treated in 
a discriminatory manner by anyone acting in an official capacity. 
Despite constitutional and legal protections, women remained the 
victims of discrimination in this male-dominated society. Unemployment 
was high, and there were limited job opportunities for persons with 
disabilities.

    Women.--Although statistics were unavailable, incidents of domestic 
violence appeared to be common. The law does not address domestic 
violence; however, there are provisions against common assault and 
rape. In the rare cases of domestic abuse that were reported, victims 
often dropped charges before the court appearance, or the case was 
settled out of court. The magistrate's courts dealt with physical abuse 
of women as with any other assault, although prosecutions were rare. In 
part due to the breakdown in law and order and the lack of an 
effective, functioning police force after June 2000, women and teenage 
girls in particular were vulnerable to abuse, including rape. Following 
RAMSI's arrival, rape charges were brought against a number of persons. 
As part of a new police curriculum, officers received specialized 
training on how to work with victims of rape.
    Violence against women, including rape and domestic abuse, remained 
a serious problem. Among the reasons cited for the failure to report 
many incidents of abuse were pressure from male relatives, fear of 
reprisals, feelings of shame, and cultural taboos on discussion of such 
matters. In May 2005 the police established a sexual assault unit, 
staffed mostly by female officers, to combat the problem. The unit was 
well received by the public; women felt more comfortable reporting 
abuses. Approximately 300 cases of sexual assault were reported during 
the year. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) conducted awareness 
campaigns on family violence during the year. There were two church-run 
facilities for abused women and an NGO-supported family center that 
provided counseling, legal assistance, and other support services for 
women.
    Prostitution is illegal, but the statutes were not enforced. There 
is no law specifically against sex tourism, although such offenses 
could be prosecuted under laws against prostitution. There were some 
press reports of sex tourism during the year, but no specific cases 
were reported to the police.
    Sexual harassment is not prohibited by law and was a problem.
    The law accords women equal legal rights, including the right to 
own property. However, women were limited to customary family roles, 
and this situation prevented women from taking more active roles in 
economic and political life. A shortage of jobs also inhibited the 
entry of women into the work force. The majority of women were 
illiterate; this was attributed in large part to cultural barriers. The 
National Council of Women and other NGOs attempted to make women more 
aware of their legal rights, including voting rights, through seminars, 
workshops, and other activities. The Government's Women's Development 
Division also addressed women's issues.

    Children.--Within the limits of its resources, the Government was 
committed to the welfare and protection of children. During the year 
major foreign assistance continued to bolster the educational system. 
Approximately 50 classrooms were added to existing primary schools, and 
30 classrooms were added to existing high schools. Education was not 
compulsory, and the high cost of school fees severely limited 
attendance at secondary and higher institutions. A higher percentage of 
boys than girls attended school. Most children at the primary school 
level, where fees were eliminated in 2005, attended school. All medical 
care for children was free; however, the lack of resources seriously 
reduced the quality and availability of medical care.
    The law grants children the same general rights and protections as 
adults, and there are laws designed to protect children from sexual 
abuse, child labor, and neglect. Children generally were respected and 
protected within the traditional extended family system, in accordance 
with a family's financial resources and access to services, although 
some cases of child abuse were reported. Virtually no children were 
homeless or abandoned.Both boys and girls may legally marry at age 15, 
and the law permits marriage at age 14 with parental and village 
consent. However, marriage at such young ages did not appear to be 
common.
    Several hundred children (generally boys) under the age of 18 were 
active combatants during the ethnic conflict or assisted in militants' 
camps. Many of these underage militants joined criminal gangs 
immediately following the conflict, but most returned to their villages 
and reentered civil society.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law does not prohibit 
trafficking in persons, there were no reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law or national policy on 
persons with disabilities, and no legislation mandates access to 
buildings for such individuals. Their protection and care is left to 
the extended family and NGOs. With high unemployment countrywide and 
few jobs available in the formal sector, most persons with 
disabilities, particularly those in rural areas, did not find work 
outside of the family structure.
    The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for protecting the 
rights of persons with disabilities.
    The country had one educational facility for children with 
disabilities, which was supported almost entirely by the Red Cross. An 
education unit at the College of Higher Education, staffed by 
Australian volunteers, trained teachers in the education of persons 
with disabilities. Such training was compulsory for all student 
teachers at the college. Persons with mental disabilities were cared 
for within the family structure; there were very limited government 
facilities for such persons. The Kilufi Hospital in Malaita operated a 
10-bed ward for the treatment of psychiatric patients.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is composed of more 
than 27 islands with approximately 70 language groups. In the 
precolonial era these groups existed in a state of continual warfare 
with one another, and even today many islanders see themselves first as 
members of a clan, next as inhabitants of their natal island, and only 
third as citizens of their nation. Over the past century, and 
particularly since World War II, many persons from the poor, heavily 
populated island of Malaita settled on Guadalcanal, the island on which 
the capital of Honiara is located. The tensions and resentment between 
the Guadalcanalese and the Malaitans on Guadalcanal culminated in 
violence beginning in 1998, when Guadalcanalese militants began a 
campaign of threats and intimidation against Malaitans on Guadalcanal. 
Civilians were the victims of abuse by both sides. The presence of 
RAMSI greatly reduced ethnic tension between Malaitans and 
Guadalcanalese, although underlying problems between the two groups 
remained to be addressed, including issues related to jobs and land 
rights.
    There was societal discrimination against ethnic Chinese. The April 
18-19 riots were directed almost exclusively against Chinese business 
interests. The Chinatown section of Honiara was burned down during the 
rioting. No deaths were reported in the rioting, but several ethnic 
Chinese were injured. Australians were also targets of discrimination 
and threats of violence.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Same-sex relationships 
are illegal, and persons engaged in same-sex relationships were often 
the subject of societal discrimination. While there were fewer than 200 
confirmed HIV/AIDS cases, there were reports that HIV-positive 
individuals were often disowned by their families.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution implicitly 
recognizes the right of workers to form or join unions, to choose their 
own representatives, to determine and pursue their own views and 
policies, and to engage in political activities. The courts have 
confirmed these rights, and workers exercised them in practice. Only 
about 10 percent of the population participated in the formal sector of 
the economy. According to the chief of trade unions, approximately 55 
percent of employees in the public sector and 25 percent of those in 
the private sector were organized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize and to bargain collectively, and 
unions exercised these rights. Wages and conditions of employment were 
determined by collective bargaining, usually at the level of individual 
firms. Disputes between labor and management that cannot be settled 
between the two sides are referred to the Trade Disputes Panel (TDP) 
for arbitration. The three-member TDP, composed of a chairman appointed 
by the judiciary, a labor representative, and a business 
representative, is independent and neutral.
    The law permits strikes. Private sector disputes usually were 
referred quickly to the TDP for arbitration, either before or during a 
strike. In practice the small percentage of the work force in formal 
employment meant that employers had ample replacement workers if 
disputes were not resolved quickly. However, employees are protected 
from arbitrary dismissal or lockout while the TDP is deliberating.
    During most of the year the lengthy standoff continued between the 
National Union of Workers and the Russell Islands Plantation Estate, 
and the TDP had the dispute under review. In addition, in March 
approximately 160 Solomon Islands Ports Authority employees went on 
strike when negotiations with management over a backlog of claims ended 
in a deadlock. The strike ended after the dispute was referred to the 
TDP.
    The law protects workers against antiunion activity, and there were 
no areas where union activity was officially discouraged.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there 
were no reports that such practices occurred, except as part of a court 
sentence or order.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law forbids labor by children under the age of 12, except light 
agricultural or domestic work performed in the company of parents. 
Children under age 15 are barred from work in industry or on ships; 
those under age 18 may not work underground or in mines. The 
commissioner of labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, 
but few resources were devoted to investigating child labor cases. 
Given low wages and high unemployment, there was little incentive to 
employ child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage rate is $0.20 
(SI$1.50) per hour for all workers except those in the fishing and 
agricultural sectors, who receive $0.17 (SI$1.25). The legal minimum 
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for an urban family 
living entirely on the cash economy. However, most families were not 
dependent solely on wages for their livelihoods.
    The law regulates premium pay, sick leave, the right to paid 
vacations, and other conditions of service. The standard workweek is 45 
hours and is limited to six days per week. There are provisions for 
maternity leave and for premium pay for overtime and holiday work.
    Both an active labor movement and an independent judiciary provided 
enforcement of labor laws in major state and private enterprises. The 
commissioner of labor, the public prosecutor, and the police are 
responsible for enforcing labor laws; however, they usually reacted to 
complaints rather than routinely monitoring adherence to the law. The 
extent to which the law was enforced in smaller establishments and in 
the subsistence sector was unclear. Safety and health laws appeared to 
be adequate. The Safety at Work Act requires employers to provide a 
safe working environment and forbids retribution against an employee 
who seeks protection under labor regulations or removes himself from a 
hazardous job site. Laws on working conditions and safety standards 
apply equally to foreign workers and citizens.

                               __________

                                THAILAND

    Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, with a population of more 
than 65 million. The King is revered and exerts strong informal 
influence. On September 19, in a bloodless coup d'etat, military coup 
leaders overthrew the Government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 
which had won reelection in February 2005 in an election viewed as 
generally free and fair but marred by widespread vote buying. The coup 
leaders repealed the constitution, abolished parliament, declared 
martial law, and issued several decrees limiting civil liberties. On 
October 1, the military coup leaders, taking the name the Council for 
National Security (CNS), promulgated an interim constitution and 
established an interim government.
    Following the September 19 coup, the CNS imposed some limits on 
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. Prior 
to the coup, the Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were significant problems, some of which 
continued under the interim government. During the year security forces 
continued to use excessive force against criminal suspects and 
committed or were connected to dozens of extrajudicial, arbitrary, and 
unlawful killings. Reports of disappearances in the southern provinces, 
in many cases after the missing allegedly had been questioned by 
security officials, continued. There were reports that police tortured, 
beat, and otherwise abused detainees and prisoners, generally with 
impunity. The use of defamation suits and, in some cases, charges of 
sedition encouraged self-censorship by the media and nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs). Human rights workers, particularly those focusing 
on disappearances and the violence in the South, experienced government 
harassment. The country continued to be a source, transit, and 
destination for trafficking in women and children for a variety of 
purposes, including indentured servitude, forced labor, and 
prostitution. Members of hill tribes without proper documentation 
continued to face restrictions on their movement, could not own land, 
and were not protected by labor laws.
    Violence by ethnic Malay separatist insurgents in the southern part 
of the country against symbols and representatives of government 
authority as well as against civilians resulted in hundreds of killings 
in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani, and Songkhla. The 
Thaksin government imposed an emergency decree for these provinces in 
July 2005 giving the police and civilian authorities significant powers 
to restrict certain basic rights and delegating certain internal 
security powers to the armed forces; the Emergency Decree also provides 
security forces broad immunity from prosecution. A separate martial law 
was decreed in September after the military coup, which provided a 
broader range of powers to the military alone.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government 
or its agents; however, security forces continued to use excessive, 
lethal force against criminal suspects and committed or were connected 
to numerous extrajudicial, arbitrary, and unlawful killings, including 
killings by security force personnel acting in a private capacity.
    On March 27, gunmen in a pickup truck shot and killed Saharat 
Suramit, a land rights and forest encroachment issues activist from 
Sisaket. No suspects were detained and the case remains open.
    On May 27, gunmen in a pick-up truck shot and killed former Thai 
Rak Thai (TRT) member of parliament (MP) Kobkul Nopamornbodee. A police 
bodyguard who was with her in the vehicle survived the shooting. 
Authorities arrested five of the alleged gunmen, including a 
subdistrict chief from Petchaburi. The sixth suspect, Sa-ngad 
Phumpheng, committed suicide before he could be apprehended. A former 
senator, Napintorn Srisunpang, was charged with planning the attack. He 
surrendered to police and was released on bail. The charges against 
Jamron Omthong and Suppharit Omthong were dismissed. Anont Phanrat, 
Winyu Ratanawannee, and Anantasak Srisawas were charged, and at year's 
end their cases were pending trial. Public prosecutors were considering 
whether to prosecute Napintorn Srisunpang.
    On August 17, Mr. Charan Iamphaibun, a leading activist for the 
Democrat Party in Prachinburi was shot and killed while in bed at his 
residence. No arrests were made, and at year's end the investigation 
was ongoing.
    On October 20, unknown persons shot and killed Muhammad Dunai 
Tanyeeno, a village headman and human rights activist in Narathiwat. He 
had actively assisted some of the 58 defendants in the 2004 Tak Bai 
case, in which 78 Muslim detainees died of asphyxiation (see sections 
1.e and 1.g.). On October 3, he helped organize a meeting between a 
group called the Network for the Affected Population in Relation to 
Southern Violence and the newly appointed regional army commander. No 
arrests were made, and at year's end an investigation was ongoing.
    On December 31, unknown persons conducted a series of bomb attacks 
at eight locations in Bangkok and Nonthaburi. Three persons were killed 
and 32 injured.
    Bombings and targeted attacks occurred on an almost daily basis in 
the four southernmost provinces, resulting in deaths and injuries. 
Separatist violence directed against government and religious 
representatives, including teachers, monks, as well as district and 
municipal officials occurred throughout the year (see section 1.g.).
    There were no developments with regard to the alleged October 2005 
suicides of three Karen detainees.
    There were no developments with regard to the August 2005 killing 
of Satopa Yushoh or the 2004 killings at Krue Se mosque; there were 
developments with regard to the September 2005 mob-killing of two 
marines and the 2004 killing of Ilmin Nehlae (see section 1.g.).
    On November 2, the interim prime minister apologized for the 2004 
deaths of 85 Muslims (78 of whom were asphyxiated while under 
detention) following a violent demonstration at Tak Bai. On November 6, 
the interim government announced that it would drop all charges against 
the demonstrators.
    A November CNS white paper cited the 2003 extrajudicial killing of 
approximately 1,300 suspected drug traffickers during the Thaksin 
government's ``War on Drugs'' campaign as one of justifications for the 
September 19 coup. On December 14, the Ministry of Justice's Department 
for Special Investigations opened four investigations of possible 
extrajudicial killings associated with the 2003 War on Drugs.
    Procedures for investigating suspicious deaths, including deaths 
occurring in police custody, required that the prosecutor, a forensic 
pathologist, and a local administrator participate in the investigation 
and that family members have legal representation at the inquests. 
However, these procedures often were not followed. Families rarely took 
advantage of a provision in the law that allows them to bring personal 
lawsuits against police officers for criminal action during arrests.
    According to the Ministry of Interior's Investigation and Legal 
Affairs Bureau, during the first six months of the year, 534 persons 
died in prison or police custody, 20 due to the actions of police 
officers. During all of 2005, 1,139 persons died in prison or police 
custody, 63 due to the actions of police officers. Authorities 
attributed most of these deaths to natural causes. Following an 
investigation into the 2003 death of a detainee at the Kanchanaburi 
police station, the provincial public prosecutor charged a police 
corporal with murder. In 2005 the provincial court dismissed the case 
due to lack of sufficient evidence. No appeal was filed.
    The two gunmen charged in the 2004 killing of environmental 
activist Charoen Wataksorn confessed to the shooting but reportedly did 
not implicate in their confession three others suspected of planning 
the murder. During the year both men died in prison, prison officials 
attributed their deaths to natural causes. Some human rights groups 
requested an independent examination of the bodies, but none was 
granted. At year's end the trial of the other three suspects continued.
    There were developments in the investigations of some of the 2005 
campaign period killings of political activists. Five gunmen and the 
alleged planner, a Mahachon Party candidate, were arrested for the 
murder of Thiwa Phakpuppha, a TRT Party activist in Ayutthaya Province. 
Charges against the Mahachon Party candidate were later dropped; the 
trials of the five alleged gunmen were ongoing at year's end. The 
alleged planner and gunman also were arrested for the killing of 
Worayut Wutthaphanit, a candidate for the Nong-ri Tambon Administration 
Organization chairmanship. The gunman pleaded guilty, while the alleged 
planner maintained his innocence. At year's end the trial was ongoing. 
There were no developments with regard to other 2005 campaign period 
killings.
    There were no developments with regard to the 2005 killings of 
journalists Phruttiphong Marohabut in February, Kiat Saetang also in 
February, Manop Ratanajaroongporn in June, and Santi Lamaneenil in 
November (see section 2.a.).
    The investigation into the 2004 killing of Rapin Ruankaew, a 
Pattani provincial court judge, led to the arrest of one suspect, 
Abdunlo Pasi. At year's end his trial was ongoing. At year's end 
suspected accomplices Abdun Kama, Bueraheng Mama, and Unnungwa Kaso 
were at large.
    In September 2005 a former village headman and four subordinates 
were sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of six Burmese migrant 
workers in Mae Sot. The defendants appealed the sentence, and at year's 
end the case remained pending in the appellate court.
    According to the Thailand Mine Action Center, through August 31, 
four persons were reported injured by landmines. These incidents were 
attributed to recent conflicts on the Burmese border.

    b. Disappearance.--NGOs expressed great concern over reported 
disappearances in the southern provinces. In many cases the missing 
persons allegedly disappeared after being questioned by security 
officials. Estimates of the number of disappeared varied widely but 
appeared to be more than 50, mostly Muslim men (see section 1.g.). On 
November 2, on the same occasion when he apologized for the Tak Bai 
deaths (see section 1.a.), the interim prime minister said he would 
investigate cases in which the Government was suspected in the 
disappearance of alleged insurgents.
    On January 12, four of the five police officers charged in the 2004 
robbery and abduction of Muslim attorney and human rights activist, 
Somchai Neelapaijit, were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The fifth 
accused, Police Major Ngern Thongsuk, was convicted of coercion for his 
role in forcing Somchai into a car. Thongsuk was released on bail 
pending an appeal. There were allegations that witnesses in the case 
were intimidated. Somchai's wife and some NGO representatives who were 
monitoring the trial also were threatened. Human rights organizations 
and legal advocacy groups expressed serious concerns over inadequate 
and improper investigative procedures, inadequate protection of 
witnesses, and irregularities in the prosecution's handling of the 
case. On October 31, CNS head and army commander General Sonthi 
Boonyaratkalin said publicly that a close aide of deposed prime 
minister Thaksin may have been involved in Somchai's disappearance. On 
November 3, the Attorney General's Office announced that it had 
received evidence confirming Somchai's death. It also announced that it 
was preparing to issue arrest warrants for several suspects. Activists 
involved in the case expressed concern that arrest warrants not be 
issued until the prosecutors had a case suitable to bring to trial.
    Following an investigation into the alleged 2004 abduction by five 
police officers of Sukip-li Asae in Narathiwat, the Narathiwat 
Provincial Court determined that the accusation was unfounded and 
dropped all charges against the officers.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution 
prohibited such practices; however, NGOs and legal organizations 
continued to report that members of the police occasionally tortured 
and beat suspects to obtain confessions. On September 19, the military 
coup leaders revoked the constitution and decreed martial law. Legal 
experts maintained that the interim constitution incorporates by 
reference all of the protections contained in the 1997 constitution and 
specific laws pertaining to prohibition of torture and other cruel, 
inhuman, or degrading treatment remain in force. During the period of 
martial law, there were no confirmed reports of torture or other cruel, 
inhuman or degrading treatment. During the year there were newspaper 
reports of numerous cases in which citizens accused police of using 
brutality, threatening false charges, and extorting bribes. 
Investigations were undertaken in most of the cases, including several 
in which the accused police officers were suspended pending the results 
of internal investigations.
    On April 17, Sakhon Khamto was detained by police for allegedly 
kidnapping a newborn infant from Lop Buri Hospital. While in police 
custody, Sakhon confessed to the kidnapping; however, on April 18, 
after witnesses failed to positively identify her, Sakhon was released. 
She immediately retracted her confession and filed a suit against the 
police claiming that she was beaten and forced to confess. On April 22, 
an unrelated individual in another part of the country was apprehended 
with the kidnapped child. Sakhon filed a complaint against the police 
and sought the assistance of the National Human Rights Commission 
(NHRC). The NHRC assisted the investigation, but Sakhon was unable to 
positively identify the officer who abused her.
    An investigation was opened into the complaint that in October 
2005, a police officer in Tak Province forced his way into a home, 
threatened and beat an older woman, and tried to rape an 18-year-old 
Burmese migrant worker. At year's end no arrests had been made.
    The five persons represented by lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (see 
section 1.b.) in a 2004 alleged police torture case dropped the charges 
filed against the police officers involved.
    At year's end Police Major Kriangsak Thipchoi, suspended for his 
part in a 2004 case involving the claim by a married couple that they 
were beaten and robbed while under detention for 102 days without 
charge at the Lumpini police station in Bangkok, was being investigated 
by the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) for ``abusing 
authority.''

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were 
poor and overcrowded. The prison population of approximately 149,000 
inmates was held in 135 prisons and detention centers designed for 
110,000 prisoners. Sleeping accommodations were insufficient. Medical 
care was inadequate, and communicable diseases were widespread in some 
prisons. The corrections department employed 17 full-time doctors, 306 
full-time nurses, and eight full-time dentists. There were also a small 
number of part-time doctors to supplement the permanent medical staff. 
Prisoners who are seriously ill may be transferred to provincial or 
state hospitals.
    Prison authorities sometimes used solitary confinement of not more 
than three months to punish male prisoners who consistently violated 
prison rules or regulations. They also used heavy leg irons to control 
prisoners who were deemed escape risks and for prisoners serving life 
sentences or facing the death penalty.
    On September 14, prisoners in the Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial 
prison rioted and briefly took over the prison. The prisoners demanded 
that five wardens be removed and investigated for alleged physical 
abuse and theft of prisoner's personal items. Corrections department 
authorities agreed to remove and investigate the five. The protest 
ended peacefully after approximately eight hours.
    Approximately 27 percent of the total prison population were 
pretrial detainees, who were not segregated from the general prison 
population. Men, women, and children often were held together in police 
station cells pending indictment. During the year the Government opened 
12 new juvenile detention centers, and separate facilities for juvenile 
offenders were available in all of the country's 76 provinces; but in 
some locations juveniles were detained with adults.
    Conditions in Bangkok's Suan Phlu immigration detention center met 
minimum international standards; however, conditions in nine provincial 
detention centers remained poor. Immigration detention facilities were 
administered by the Immigration Police Bureau, which reported to the 
Office of the Prime Minister and were not subject to many of the 
regulations that governed the regular prison system. There were 
credible reports that guards physically abused detainees in some 
detention centers. Overcrowding and a lack of basic medical care 
continued to be serious problems.
    Access to prisons was not restricted, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers and the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Prior to the September 19 coup 
d'etat, the constitution prohibited arbitrary arrest and detention; 
however, government forces occasionally arrested and detained persons 
arbitrarily. On September 19, the military coup leaders revoked the 
constitution and decreed martial law. During the period of martial law, 
four former high-level government officials were detained without 
formal charges. All four were released on October 1, on the same day 
that the interim constitution was promulgated. On November 28, the 
Government announced it would lift martial law in 41 of the country's 
76 provinces as well as in some districts of the remaining provinces. 
By year's end, however, the Government had not submitted the decree 
lifting martial law to the palace for the king's signature, required 
for the decree to come into effect.
    The emergency decree covering the southern provinces grants 
authorities the power to detain suspects for up to 30 days without 
charge, and make searches and arrests without warrants.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Thai Police 
(RTP) is under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister and a 20-
member police commission. The RTP consisted of approximately 213,000 
officers in 10 geographic regions. The police commissioner-general is 
appointed by the Prime Minister and subject to cabinet and royal 
approval. The border patrol police have special authority and 
responsibility in border areas to combat insurgent or separatist 
movements. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the military coup 
leaders declared martial law, which gave the military authority over 
civilian institutions including the police, regarding the maintenance 
of public order.
    Corruption remained widespread among police officers. Police 
officials suggested that low pay made them susceptible to bribes. There 
were reports that police tortured, beat, and otherwise abused detainees 
and prisoners, generally with impunity. Complaints of police abuse can 
be filed directly with the superior of the accused police officer, the 
Office of Inspector General, or the police commissioner-general. The 
NHRC, the Law Society of Thailand, the NCCC, and the Office of the 
Prime Minister also accept complaints of police abuse and corruption, 
as does the Office of the Ombudsmen. When the police department 
receives a petition, an internal investigation committee first takes up 
the matter and may temporarily suspend the officer during the 
investigation. Various administrative penalties exist, and serious 
cases can be referred to the criminal court. The Police Department 
reported that as of August, 255 officers were charged with criminal 
offenses during the year. Of these 97 were charged with murder or 
attempted murder. Through August the NHRC received 68 complaints of 
police abuse compared to 132 such complaints in 2005.
    Some police officers were involved in facilitating prostitution and 
trafficking in women and children (see section 5). On August 25, a 
police lieutenant colonel from Doi Luang police station in Chiang Rai 
was arrested and charged with trafficking nine Burmese laborers.

    Arrest and Detention.--In practice the system for issuing arrest 
warrants was subject to misuse by police officers who provided false 
evidence to courts to obtain arrest warrants. By law persons must be 
informed of likely charges against them immediately after arrest and 
must be allowed to inform someone of their arrest. The law provides for 
access to counsel for criminal detainees; however, lawyers and human 
rights groups claimed that local police often ignored this and 
conducted interrogations without providing access to an attorney. 
Lawyers working in the southern provinces reported that under the 
emergency decree they were denied adequate access to detained clients. 
Foreign prisoners sometimes were pressured to sign confessions without 
the benefit of a competent translator.
    Under normal conditions the law requires the police to submit 
criminal cases to prosecutors for the filing of court charges within 48 
hours of arrest, with extensions of up to three days permitted. Police 
may seek court permission to hold suspects for additional periods (up 
to a maximum of six months for the most serious offenses) to conduct 
investigations. Laws and regulations place offenses for which the 
maximum penalty is less than three years under the jurisdiction of the 
district courts, which have different procedures. In these cases, 
police are required to submit cases to public prosecutors within 72 
hours of arrest. Lawyers reported that police rarely brought cases to 
court within the 48-hour period. According to the Law Society of 
Thailand, pretrial detention of criminal suspects for up to 60 days was 
common. As in previous years, several Burmese activists were arrested 
and held, generally on immigration violation charges.
    Under martial law, the military had the authority to detain persons 
without charge for a maximum of seven days. Following the September 19 
coup, the coup leaders detained a number of former government officials 
and TRT party loyalists. Most of these persons were held for several 
hours and then released. Four high-ranking former government officials, 
the former deputy prime minister Chidchai Wannasatht, the former 
secretary general to the Prime Minister Prommin Lertsuridej, the former 
minister in the Prime Minister's Office Newin Chidchob, and the former 
minister of natural resources and the environment, Yongyuth Tiyapairat, 
were detained on September 19 and released on October 1.
    The law provides defendants the right to bail, and the Government 
generally respected this right. However, some human rights groups 
reported that police frequently did not inform detained suspects of 
their right to bail or refused to recommend bail after a request for 
bail was submitted.
    The emergency decree in effect in Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani 
provinces, plus parts of Songkhla, allowed authorities to arrest and 
detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge. After the expiration 
of these 30 days, authorities could begin holding suspects under normal 
criminal law. Unlike martial law, these detentions required the consent 
of a court of law. According to the Government, 454 persons were 
arrested under these provisions as of April and 66 cases had gone to 
court. It is unclear whether any persons were detained in the South 
under the auspices of martial law alone.

    Amnesty.--In June, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the king's 
coronation, the Government released approximately 25,000 prisoners. The 
freed prisoners were nonviolent offenders.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Prior to the September 19 coup, 
the constitution provided for an independent judiciary. Following the 
coup, the coup leaders repealed the constitution and issued a decree 
announcing that all courts with the exception of the Constitutional 
Court would continue to operate as normal. While the judiciary 
generally was regarded as independent, it was subject to corruption and 
outside influences. According to human rights groups, the lack of 
progress in several high-profile cases involving alleged abuse by the 
police and military diminished the public's trust in the justice system 
and discouraged some victims of human rights abuses (or their families) 
from seeking justice.
    The civilian judicial system has three levels of courts: courts of 
first instance, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court. Prior to the 
coup, there was an independent Constitutional Court. On September 19, 
the coup leaders dissolved the Constitutional Court and on October 1, 
established a Constitutional Tribunal composed of justices from the 
Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Justice. A 
separate military court hears criminal and civil cases pertaining to 
military personnel as well as those brought during periods of martial 
law. Islamic (Shari'a) courts hear only civil cases concerning members 
of the Muslim minority. The law provides for access to courts or 
administrative bodies to seek redress, and the Government generally 
respected this right.

    Trial Procedures.--There is no trial by jury. A single judge 
decides trials for misdemeanors; two or more judges are required for 
more serious cases. Court procedures enacted in 2004 somewhat 
alleviated delays; however, a large backlog of cases remained, and 
trials still could go on for months or even years. While most trials 
are public, the court may order a closed trial, particularly in cases 
involving national security, the royal family, children, or sexual 
abuse. Under the 1997 constitution, justices nominated to the Supreme 
Administrative Court had to be confirmed by the Senate; under the 
interim constitution procedures are undefined. All other judges are 
career civil servants whose appointments are not subject to 
parliamentary review.
    The law provides for the presumption of innocence. In ordinary 
criminal courts, defendants enjoy a broad range of legal rights, 
including access to a lawyer of their choosing. A government program 
provided free legal advice to the poor, but indigent defendants were 
not provided with counsel at public expense automatically. The court 
was required to appoint an attorney in cases where the defendant was a 
minor and in cases where possible punishment was imprisonment. Most 
free legal aid came from private groups, including the Law Society of 
Thailand and the Thai Women Lawyers Association. There is no discovery 
process, so lawyers and defendants do not have access to evidence prior 
to the trial.
    Several NGOs expressed concern over the lack of adequate protection 
for witnesses, particularly in cases involving alleged wrongdoing by 
the police. In 2003 the Government created the Office of Witness 
Protection in the Ministry of Justice. The office had limited resources 
and primarily played a coordinating role. In most cases, actual witness 
protection was provided by the police. Witnesses, lawyers, and 
activists involved in cases of alleged police abuse report that 
protection was inadequate and they were intimidated by the police sent 
to provide protection.
    Although no police or military personnel were prosecuted in 
relation to the death of 78 Muslim detainees following violent 
demonstrations in Tak Bai in 2004 (see section 1.g.), the Government 
charged 99 demonstrators with offenses including obstruction of 
government officials, assembling to breach the peace, and refusing to 
disperse when ordered. A trial for 57 defendants began in April; the 
proceedings were delayed by the failure of key prosecution witnesses 
(including high-ranking police and military officers) to appear in 
court. The Government took no action against these witnesses. On 
November 3, the Government announced that it had dropped all charges 
against the protesters due to a lack of sufficient evidence.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for 
access to courts and administrative bodies to seek redress in civil 
matters, and the Government generally respected this right.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home or 
Correspondence.--Prior to the September 19 coup, the constitution 
prohibited such actions with some exceptions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. With a few 
exceptions, including crimes in progress, police are required to obtain 
a warrant from a court prior to conducting a search. The law provides 
standardized procedures for issuing warrants. Following the coup, the 
coup leaders repealed the constitution and decreed martial law. During 
the period of martial law, the military has the authority to conduct 
searches without a warrant, although there were no reports that this 
authority was used.
    The Emergency Decree covering the southern provinces also allows 
authorities to make searches and arrests without warrants. The Law 
Society of Thailand received multiple complaints from persons in the 
South claiming that security forces abused this authority; however, the 
Emergency Decree provides security forces broad immunity from 
prosecution. At year's end both the Emergency Decree and martial law 
were in force in the southernmost provinces. The Government maintained 
that both were needed since the Emergency Decree pertained to the 
police and civilian authorities while martial law pertained to the 
military.
    Reports of police conducting warrantless searches for narcotics in 
villages in the northern provinces declined. Warrantless searches are 
permitted in cases in which there is reasonable suspicion and an urgent 
search is deemed necessary.
    Security services monitored persons, including foreign visitors, 
who espoused extremist or highly controversial views.
    In late June National Human Rights Commissioner Vasant Panich 
reported that he and his family were under intense surveillance by the 
Government. Commissioner Vasant closely monitored cases of human rights 
violations in the South and worked on the case of missing human rights 
lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (see section 1.b.). Between June 27 and 28, 
Vasant reported being followed and receiving multiple phone calls from 
unidentified persons. Vasant claimed that the type of surveillance he 
was under closely resembled that experienced by Somchai prior to his 
disappearance in 2004. Concerns that Vasant was being targeted for 
abduction were widely publicized, and Vasant reported that the 
surveillance diminished.
    During the year Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of Somchai 
Neelaphaijit, reported receiving numerous threats. Angkhana was a co-
plaintiff in the case against police for the abduction of her husband 
and an outspoken critic of forced disappearances. Angkhana reported 
regularly receiving threatening telephone calls and being followed. On 
January 12, she reported that her car was broken into and searched 
while parked at the criminal court building where she was attending the 
reading of the verdict against police officers charged with abducting 
Somchai (see section 1.b.). In early November she reported increased 
surveillance and threats following statements by the Government and the 
CNS that it had evidence linking a former Thaksin aide to the 
disappearance of Somchai.
    Members of indigenous hill tribes continued to face forced 
evictions and relocation. Due to lack of proof of citizenship and land 
ownership, they were forced to move from areas they had cultivated for 
decades. Conflicts occurred when the land on which they lived was 
converted to forest conservation areas. Court hearings in the case of 
the 2004 raid on Palong Pang Daeng Village and the arrest of 48 persons 
were scheduled to begin in 2007.
    In 2004 the Government embarked on a ``New Model of Forested 
Villages'' project covering approximately 10,866 villages in 70 
provinces. Under this project land that tribal villagers had cultivated 
for more than a hundred years was declared state land, and the 
indigenous hill tribes became illegal trespassers and faced forcible 
eviction and other penalties. During the year the project was abandoned 
due to public discontent and lack of budgetary resources.
    A land committee was established under the National Poverty 
Reduction Program to deal with land disputes in areas affected by the 
2004 tsunami. By June, according to the Asian Coalition for Housing 
Rights, 13 communities had resolved conflicts and received long-term 
land tenure. An additional 76 communities continued efforts to resolve 
land disputes.
    In 2005 the Government ordered Burmese refugees with Office of the 
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) documentation who were 
working in cities (the ``urban Burmese'') to relocate to refugee camps 
on the Burma border. According to the UNHCR, more than 1,800 registered 
refugees transferred to camps during the year, while 340 failed to 
report for transfer. Those who remained in cities risked arrest and 
deportation (see section 2.d.).

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflict.--
The internal conflict in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces 
continued throughout the year. An emergency decree in effect for these 
provinces (Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and portions of Songkhla) gave 
the police and civilian authorities significant powers to restrict 
certain basic rights and delegated certain internal security powers to 
the armed forces. Martial law decreed in September after the military 
coup gives a broader range of power to the military alone. There were 
reports of abuses by security forces; however, the emergency decree 
provides security forces broad immunity from prosecution. Insurgents 
carried out bombings and targeted attacks on an almost daily basis 
resulting in death and injuries.
    The interim government made a number of conciliatory gestures 
towards southern Malay-Muslims, including repeated statements that it 
was prepared to talk with separatists and that it intends to lift the 
emergency decree in January 2007 and apologizes for the Tak Bai 
killings. Government forces were blamed for the disappearances of more 
than 50 persons in the South.
    In August 2005 unknown attackers shot and killed Satopa Yushoh, an 
imam in Narathiwat Province. Before dying, Satopa reportedly said he 
was shot by government soldiers. At year's end there were no 
developments in this case.
    In 2004 elements of the police and military killed more than 100 
persons while repelling multiple attacks in Yala, Pattani, and 
Narathiwat provinces by unnamed separatist Muslim men. Of this total, 
32 were killed at Krue Se mosque in Pattani, when security forces 
stormed the mosque after a nine-hour standoff. According to an official 
independent commission report on the Krue Se mosque incident, the 
commander on the scene ordered the raid after failed negotiations and 
the deaths of three soldiers. Civilian authorities in Bangkok, 
including the deputy prime minister in charge of security, claimed that 
the raid was conducted without their approval. The commission concluded 
that force was used when negotiations would have been more appropriate 
and that the level of force employed was excessive.
    In 2004 Ilmin Nehlae reportedly was shot and killed while under 
control of paramilitary rangers. Five paramilitary soldiers were 
charged with murder. At year's end the case was being prosecuted in the 
Yala Provincial Court and all five defendants were free on bail.
    Also in 2004, 78 Muslim detainees being transported to an army camp 
after a violent demonstration in Tak Bai, Narathiwat Province, died 
from asphyxiation after police and military forces stacked them 
horizontally onto truck beds for transport. An independent commission 
reported that three senior security officials, including the Fourth 
Army commanding general, failed to properly perform their duty and 
responsibility to monitor their subordinates in transporting detainees 
in a humane manner. The commission stated that seven persons remained 
missing. The Government directed the Ministry of Defense to conduct a 
disciplinary investigation of the three senior officers, and it also 
directed the police to conduct a criminal investigation. Three generals 
were placed in inactive status, but no police or military personnel 
were prosecuted for these actions. Although the Government paid some 
compensation to the victims' families, the Law Society of Thailand 
filed a suit on behalf of the families demanding approximately $3.39 
million (127 million baht) in compensation from various national- and 
provincial-level agencies including the military and the police. On 
November 2, the interim prime minister traveled to the South and 
offered a public apology for abuses at the hands of security officers. 
On November 7, the Government offered the families a total of $1.12 
million (42 million baht) in compensation for dropping the outstanding 
civil suit.
    In February 2005 Prime Minister Thaksin established the 50-member 
National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to build ``peace and 
reconciliation'' in the South. In April 2005 the NRC released a report 
on the Tak Bai incident, which reached conclusions similar to those of 
the independent commission. In April 2005 the NRC released a report on 
the Krue Se mosque incident. The majority of commission members felt 
that the military had handled the matter poorly and had not exhausted 
all possible peaceful solutions before raiding the mosque. Other 
commissioners felt that it was impossible to tell whether the force had 
in fact been excessive.
    In June the NRC released its final report and recommendations. The 
NRC determined that the violence in the South stemmed from economic and 
cultural factors, as well as from ``unconstrained abuses of 
administrative power'' and ``injustices arising from the existing 
judicial process and administrative system.'' The NRC further 
determined that religion was not the cause of violence but that it was 
used as a justification by some militants to ``legitimize their violent 
methods.'' The report offered a wide range of recommendations for the 
Government to address the problems in the South and promote 
reconciliation including: passage of an act that would create 
administrative mechanisms to unify government strategy and strengthen 
civil society; establishing an unarmed community security force 
composed of civilians, military, and police; engaging in dialogue with 
militants; and encouraging the Government to ``deal decisively with 
state officials against whom abuse-of-power complaints have been 
made.'' The Thaksin government acknowledged receipt of the report, but 
took no actions specifically to address NRC recommendations. On 
November 1, the interim government reestablished the Southern Border 
Province Administration Center, which had been dissolved under the 
Thaksin government, to coordinate government actions in the South and 
serve as a mechanism through which the local population can file 
complaints about government misconduct. The interim prime minister also 
pledged to use the NRC report as the basic guideline for government 
action in the South.
    Separatist violence continued throughout the year. The separatists 
frequently targeted government and religious representatives, including 
teachers, monks, as well as district and municipal officials. Among the 
most notable incidents were: the June 15 coordinated bombing of 40 
separate locations including government offices and police stations; 
the occurrence of over 100 violent incidents across the region on the 
night and early morning of August 1-2, including a large explosion 
along a rail line which killed three police officers; and the bombing 
of 22 bank branches on August 31. Continued violence against teachers 
and a spate of more than 10 school arsons in early November also forced 
the closing of 944 schools in the South on November 27 (see section 5). 
These schools reopened in early December. Among the most notable acts 
of violence were the assassination of a government primary school 
teacher while he was teaching class on July 24 and the shooting and 
burning of another teacher in front of his students on November 24. 
Bombings and targeted killings, sometimes in public areas, resulted in 
death and injury on an almost daily basis.
    While the insurgents typically targeted ``figures of authority,'' 
the instances of attacks on civilians increased. On September 16, 
coordinated explosions in the shopping areas of Hat Yai City in 
Songkhla Province killed four and injured 59. Mid-November witnessed 
the shooting deaths of over 30 civilians.
    During the year the Government began supporting civilian defense 
volunteers from villages in the South. Volunteers received basic 
training and some received weapons. Over the course of the year, 
militants increasingly targeted these civilian volunteers. For example, 
on August 28, a defense volunteer in Sungai Padi District, Narathiwat, 
was shot multiple times, his head was nearly severed, and his ears were 
cut off.
    In September 2005 ethnic Malay villagers in Narathiwat Province 
tortured and killed two marines whom they believed had been involved in 
the murder of two civilians. A total of 34 persons were initially 
arrested in connection with the killing, although a number subsequently 
were released. Prosecutors plan to bring charges against 30 suspects, 
some of whom remain in police custody. The case has yet to come to 
trial.
    As of September, 24 families from the southern provinces filed 
official complaints alleging that members of their families (all young 
men between the ages of 20 and 22) were abducted. At least 23 of these 
families have accepted monetary compensation from the Government of 
approximately $2,700 (100,000 baht). The Central Institute of Forensic 
Science obtained court authority to exhume roughly 400 unidentified 
bodies from cemeteries in the South, and the Government collected DNA 
samples from members of the families who had filed complaints. Due to 
budgetary constraints and provincial governors' reluctance to allow 
remains to be transported across provincial borders to a central 
forensics facility, the work of identifying the bodies has yet to 
begin. The NHRC and other human rights organizations expressed 
confidence that, if this effort moves forward, more families in the 
South will come forward to report disappearances.
    On May 29, Wae-halem Kuwaekama was abducted in Joh Airong District, 
Narathiwat. According to villagers, soldiers frequently harassed Wae-
halem and warned him that his name was on a list of suspected 
insurgents. Several weeks before his disappearance, Wae-halem and 
several other villagers were detained for 12 days at the army 
interrogation center in Bo Thong District, Pattani. No charges were 
ever filed. Following his disappearance, Wae-halem's family filed a 
missing persons report with the police. They also filed a complaint 
with the Independent Commission on Justice and Civil Liberties for the 
Southern Border Provinces, an independent governmental agency that 
reports directly to the Prime Minister. At year's end Wae-halem's 
whereabouts remained unknown.
    At year's end no charges had been filed against police personnel in 
the case of four Muslim men acquitted of charges of alleged membership 
in a terrorist organization who claimed that police had beaten them 
while they were in custody.
    In 2004 five suspects in a raid on a Narathiwat military camp 
alleged that police beat and administered electric shocks to them in 
order to obtain confessions. The suspects filed a formal complaint with 
the Ministry of Justice through their lawyer, Somchai Neelapaichjit, 
who subsequently disappeared and was presumed dead (see section 1.b.). 
Police opened an internal investigation but the five dropped their 
complaint.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Prior to September 19, the 
constitution, with some exceptions, provided for freedom of speech and 
of the press. While individuals could criticize the Government publicly 
and privately without official reprisal, there were incidents in which 
the Government limited freedom of speech. The Government consistently 
pressured the media, particularly the broadcast media, to limit 
dissenting views through threats of libel suits and other means. The 
Government and its allies owned all the major broadcast media, and 
large shares of the newspaper sector. The Government shut down 
community radio stations and Web sites critical of the ruling party, 
although these stations were able to reopen. The courts continued to 
issue rulings that helped protect press freedoms. Following the coup 
d'etat, the constitutional provisions regarding the rights of freedom 
of speech and freedom of the press were suspended, and in practice 
these rights were limited, particularly in the immediate aftermath of 
the coup. Legal experts opined that the interim constitution 
incorporates by reference the legal protections contained in the 1997 
constitution.
    By law the Government may restrict freedom of speech and freedom of 
the press to preserve national security, maintain public order, 
preserve the rights of others, protect public morals, and prevent 
criticism of the royal family and insults to Buddhism. The law permits 
police to close newspapers or printing presses in times of war or 
national emergency, but only with a court order. The law allows police 
to restrict or confiscate publications and other materials for 
disturbing the peace, interfering with public safety, or offending 
public morals. The Government could restrict print or broadcast media 
by specific legislation in times of crisis and did so through the 
Emergency Decree imposed in July 2005. The decree empowered the 
Government ``to prohibit publication and distribution of news and 
information that may cause the people to panic or with an intention to 
distort information.'' The Emergency Decree also authorized the 
Government to censor newspapers and ban publications, although these 
powers were not used.
    On September 20, the military coup leaders ordered the Ministry of 
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ``censor, prevent, 
block, and destroy dissemination'' of information carried on the 
telecommunications networks that contained ``articles, messages, verbal 
speech, or any other discourse'' that could undermine the coup leaders. 
On the same day, the coup leaders issued an announcement that sought 
``cooperation from the mass media--(in) joint efforts to disseminate 
factual and constructive news and information.'' During the remainder 
of the year, print and broadcast media nonetheless reported news 
critical of the interim government and CNS and continued to report the 
statements and activities of the former prime minister.
    Prior to September 19, print media criticism of political parties, 
public figures, and the Government was common and vigorous. Journalists 
generally were free to comment on government activities without fear of 
official reprisal; however, the print media routinely practiced self-
censorship, particularly with regard to the monarchy and national 
security. The Government and its allies exerted strong pressure on the 
print media. According to NGOs, including the Thai Journalists 
Association (TJA), the Government controlled the media through direct 
ownership, the threat of withdrawing financial support and 
advertisements, constraints on the flow of information, and pressure on 
journalists and activists.
    Libel suits were used to encourage self-censorship. In October 2005 
the Prime Minister filed a series of six civil and criminal libel suits 
against the Phujatkarn newspaper; its owner, Sondhi Limthongkul, an 
outspoken critic of the Government; and his associates. The lawsuits 
were withdrawn in December 2005, following disapproving remarks by the 
king.
    In 2004 the Shin Corporation, owned by the then prime minister's 
family, filed a libel suit against media activist Supinya Kangnarong. 
On March 15, the Criminal Court acquitted Supinya, and the Shin 
Corporation withdrew a civil case against her on May 11.
    Some of the country's largest advertisers were state owned and 
newspaper editors reported that these companies threatened to withdraw 
lucrative advertising contracts if a newspaper did not soften its 
antigovernment editorial tone.
    Journalists also expressed concern about government public 
relations tools presented to the public as neutral media outlets. On 
September 4, the TJA issued a statement denouncing ``phony'' print and 
Internet media, which failed to identify themselves as government 
controlled. The TJA claimed they were designed to discredit the 
conventional media.
    Prior to the September 19th coup, the Government and its allies 
owned large stakes in many prominent newspapers.
    State entities and government allies controlled and owned almost 
all radio and television stations. The Government owned and controlled 
524 officially registered ``regular'' AM and FM stations, while the 
military and police services retained ownership of 230 radio stations, 
ostensibly for national security purposes. Other owners of national 
broadcast media included the Government's Public Relations Department 
(PRD). Almost all of the stations were leased to commercial companies.
    Radio stations must renew their licenses every year, and radio 
signals were broadcast via government transmitters. Stations are 
required by law to broadcast 30-minute government-produced newscasts 
twice daily. The country's estimated 2,000 to 3,000 community radio 
stations operated under somewhat different regulations. Because 
broadcast regulations restrict radio frequencies to government 
entities, these stations technically operated outside the law, but most 
were allowed to continue broadcasting provided they registered with the 
Government. In the last two years, the Government closed 17 community 
radio stations including 92.25, a station critical of the Government, 
for violating rules on antenna height or signal strength. During the 
year, 92.25 was allowed to operate with a shorter antenna.
    Until January Prime Minister Thaksin's family controlled the Shin 
Corporation which owned iTV, the country's only independent nonstate-
owned broadcast television station.
    The appointment of a National Broadcast Commission tasked with 
reallocating all broadcast frequencies and regulating the broadcast 
media remained in limbo. During the year the selection committee again 
selected 14 individuals, and the courts again rejected the nominees.
    Self-censorship in the broadcast media was evident even before the 
coup. Producers and reporters who criticized the Government faced 
political or economic repercussions, such as reassignment to other 
duties in a publication, termination of a broadcast program, loss of 
advertising, politically motivated libel suits, or removal from a role 
in the production or presentation of a broadcast program. There were 
credible reports that the political opposition had difficulty getting 
broadcast time due to fears of offending the Government. On August 20, 
broadcast journalists at a TJA seminar admitted they employed self-
censorship to ensure they remained on air and avoided government 
harassment.
    In the days following the September 19 coup d'etat, broadcast 
media, particularly television, was closely monitored. On the night of 
the coup, armed soldiers deployed to television and radio stations 
throughout Bangkok. All regular television programming ceased, and all 
broadcast stations aired programming from the army-owned and operated 
Channel 5. By mid-morning on September 20 these stations had returned 
to ``regular'' programming, mostly light entertainment and 
informational shows. Newscasts continued to air at their regularly 
scheduled times, and reports included factual, although positively 
slanted, news of the coup. Soldiers in the stations reportedly 
requested news producers not to air negative reports on the coup. Armed 
troops remained deployed at the stations for several weeks. The 
privately operated United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) cable network 
blocked CNN and BBC on the night of the coup. For the next few weeks, 
UBC continued to occasionally block the signal when those networks 
aired images of former prime minister Thaksin.
    The ICT also banned radio programs with call-in formats and asked 
television programs not to broadcast text-messages from viewers on 
screen. Programming gradually returned to normal over the subsequent 
weeks.
    Soon after the coup, the local branches of the PRD asked hundreds 
of community radio stations in the North and Northeast to cease 
broadcasting. An army representative explained that the stations were 
too difficult to monitor to ensure that they were not broadcasting pro-
Thaksin information. Within two weeks, most of these stations had 
permission to resume operating.
    At year's end there was no resolution of the following cases of 
journalists killed in 2005: the February killing of Phruttiphong 
Marohabut, a cameraman for iTV, in Pattani Province; the February 
killing of Kiat Saetang, editor of the Hat Yai Post, in Pattani 
Province; the June killing of Manop Ratanajaroongporn, in Phang Nga 
Province; and the November killing of Santi Lammaneenil, owner of the 
Pattaya Post and freelance reporter. All were believed to have been 
killed for their politically sensitive reporting.
    On February 6, the Special Police Branch wrote to all print media 
asking them not to reprint or publish excerpts from the book The King 
Never Smiles, written by Paul Handley and published overseas. Imports 
were also banned.

    Internet Freedom.--Individuals and groups could generally engage in 
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by 
electronic mail; however, there were some limitations. The ICT cyber 
inspection team is responsible for censorship. Prior to the September 
19 coup, most banned Web sites featured pornography or offered illegal 
products. The Government distributed a blacklist of approximately 4,000 
Web sites, both domestic and foreign, to government and private 
Internet service providers (ISPs). Compliance by the ISPs in blocking 
routine access to these Web sites was universal.
    Following the coup many popular Web sites banned political topics 
in their chat rooms. Anticoup political messages and blogs continued on 
other Web sites. ICT blocked two local Web sites explicitly critical of 
the coup. BBC reported that parts of its Web site, which featured 
commentary on the possible role of the King, also were blocked.
    In response to persistent violence in the South, the Government 
continued to block Web sites viewed as threatening to national 
security. In 2004 authorities blocked access to the Pattani United 
Liberation Organization Web site, which advocated Muslim separatist 
ideas and violence. Internet providers enforced the ban, informing 
their customers that they had blocked access to the Web site.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom, either before or after the coup.
    Cultural events may be censored, usually for reasons of public 
decency. Under the 1930 Film Act, theater owners and broadcasters must 
submit films they plan to show to the film censorship board for review. 
The board may ban a film if offending portions are not deleted. Reasons 
for censoring films include violating moral or cultural norms and 
disturbing the public order or national security. Theater owners and 
broadcasters frequently censored films themselves before submitting 
them to the board. According to the board, no films have been banned 
since 2003.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--Prior to September 19, the constitution provided for freedom 
of assembly and association, and the Government generally respected 
these rights in practice. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the 
coup leaders repealed the constitution and decreed martial law. On 
September 20, the coup leaders prohibited gatherings of more than five 
persons for political purposes. On September 21, the coup leaders 
issued a decree prohibiting all political gatherings or political 
activities by political parties. A similar decree on September 24 
prohibited all political gatherings or activities of local and 
provincial government officials. Although there were no credible 
reports of reprisals by the authorities for violation of these decrees, 
many NGOs and civil liberty advocacy groups expressed concern that they 
inhibited individuals from exercising their rights of assembly and 
association. On November 9, the National Legislative Assembly voted to 
lift the decree prohibiting gatherings of more than five persons for 
political purposes. The restriction was formally lifted on December 27.
    The Emergency Decree for the southern provinces allows the 
Government to limit freedom of assembly, but this provision was not 
used during the year.
    Between January and April, the People's Alliance for Democracy 
(PAD--a coalition of NGOs) staged a series of massive antigovernment 
demonstrations in Bangkok and other cities around the country. The 
demonstrations, some drawing as many as 100,000 to 200,000 
participants, were peaceful. Although demonstrators in Bangkok did not 
always possess the proper permits for some of the actions they staged, 
the authorities consistently allowed demonstrations to proceed without 
incident. On April 23, PAD was forced to cancel a seminar in Udon Thani 
after a pro-Thaksin group of several hundred people began pelting PAD 
organizers with stones and other objects.
    On August 19, a small group of protesters shouting anti-Thaksin 
slogans at an event attended by Prime Minister Thaksin in a Bangkok 
shopping mall were restrained and some were reportedly beaten by 
plainclothes security guards. On August 21, a small group of protesters 
shouting anti-Thaksin slogans outside another shopping mall were beaten 
by two men while police officers stood by watching. Television cameras 
filming the demonstration captured the attack and police inaction. 
Three demonstrators were injured in the assault. The two men later 
surrendered to police and were charged with assault.

    Freedom of Association.--Both before and after the September 19 
coup, the laws provided for and the authorities generally respected the 
right to freedom of association. On September 21, the coup leaders 
announced a suspension on the registration and formation of new 
political parties.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the 
constitution provided for freedom of religion, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice; however, it restricted the 
activities of some groups. The constitution required that the monarch 
be a Buddhist. The state religion in effect is Therevada Buddhism; 
however, it is not designated as such. Following the September 19 coup 
d'etat, there were no credible reports of additional restrictions 
placed on religious freedom.
    The Government played an active role in religious affairs. Under 
the Religious Organizations Act, a new religion can be registered if a 
national census shows that it has at least 5,000 adherents, represents 
a recognizably unique theology, and is not politically active. To 
register, a religious organization also is required to be accepted into 
one of the five officially recognized ecclesiastical groups: Buddhist, 
Muslim, Catholic (which includes four Protestant sub-groups), Brahmin-
Hindu, and Sikh. Since 1984 the Government has not recognized any new 
religious groups. Government registration conferred some benefits, 
including access to state subsidies, tax-exempt status, and 
preferential allocation of resident visas for organization officials. 
Unregistered religious organizations did not receive these benefits but 
operated freely in practice.
    The repealed 1997 constitution required the Government ``to 
patronize and protect Buddhism and other religions.'' The Government 
subsidized activities of the three largest religious communities 
(Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian).
    The 1962 Sangha Act specifically prohibits the defamation or insult 
of Buddhism and the Buddhist clergy. The penal code prohibits the 
insult or disturbance of religious places or services of all of the 
recognized religions in the country. Followers of the Santi Asoke sect 
of Buddhism were unable to legally refer to themselves as Buddhists 
because of theological disagreements with the sangha council, but they 
were able to practice their faith without restriction.
    The Government stationed troops to protect religious practitioners 
and structures in communities where the potential for violence existed 
and provided armed escort for Buddhist monks where necessary.
    Religious instruction is required in public schools at both the 
primary and secondary education levels.
    In the past, traditional Islamic pondok schools were not required 
to register with the Government and had no government oversight or 
funding. Following the outbreak of violence in the southern provinces, 
registration with the Government was made mandatory. By July the 
Government had registered 372 pondok schools in the provinces of Yala, 
Pattani, and Narathiwat. Observers estimated that as many as 1,000 
pondok schools operated in the South.
    Muslims, who represented between 5 and 10 percent of the population 
nationwide and constituted the majority in four of the five 
southernmost provinces, experienced some economic discrimination. The 
Government attempted to address the problem by maintaining longstanding 
policies designed to integrate Muslim communities into society through 
developmental efforts and expanded educational opportunities. However, 
these efforts were often resisted amid charges of forced assimilation. 
Muslims outside of the southern provinces were much better integrated 
into society.
    Government officials reportedly continued to monitor Falun Gong 
members. The Falun Gong's long-pending application for official 
registration was denied in October 2005. The Falun Gong group's 
application to the police to print and distribute a weekly magazine was 
still pending at year's end. In December 2005 eight Falun Gong 
practitioners were arrested following a week of peaceful protests 
outside the Chinese embassy. Three were released later that month, and 
the remaining five were released in January.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Violence committed by 
suspected Islamic militants in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, 
Pattani, Songkhla, and Yala affected the ability of some Buddhists in 
this predominantly Muslim region to undertake the full range of their 
traditional religious practices. Buddhist monks and temples have been 
targeted for attack. A number of monks reported that they no longer 
were able to travel freely through southern communities. Monks also 
claimed that, due to fear of being targeted by militants, laypersons 
sometimes declined to assist them in their daily activities. During the 
year one Buddhist layperson and one Muslim layperson were beheaded, 
compared with nine in 2005.
    Many persons presumed that the killing of Buddhist civilians was 
intended to increase interfaith tensions. While the level of tension 
between local Muslim and Buddhist communities was heightened, it did 
not result in open communal conflict (see section 5). During the year a 
number of Buddhist families were displaced and sought shelter in 
Buddhist temples (see section 2.d.).
    A group of Hmong refugees sheltered in Thailand complained of 
desecration of Hmong graves. According to wat authorities, the Wat Tham 
Krabok monastery provided a portion of its private land to the refugees 
for use as a cemetery. The cemetery expanded beyond the land allocated 
and decomposing remains reportedly contaminated ground water. The 
monastery contracted with a Buddhist organization to disinter the 
remains outside the allocated area and relocate them to a more suitable 
site, pending cremation. Approximately 800 bodies were removed in the 
fall of 2005.
    The indigenous Jewish community is small, and there were no reports 
of anti-Semitic incidents.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, 
the constitution provided for the right of citizens to change their 
residence or workplace, and the authorities generally respected this 
right in practice; however, there were some exceptions. Following the 
September 19 coup, there were no credible reports of additional 
restrictions placed on freedom of movement. Longstanding written 
restrictions remained in effect on the travel and domicile of certain 
Vietnamese and Chinese resident aliens. A large number of these persons 
and their descendants received full citizenship in recent years (see 
section 5).
    Other longtime noncitizen residents, including hundreds of 
thousands of ethnic Shan and tens of thousands of members of other 
tribes, were required to seek permission from local authorities or the 
army for foreign and domestic travel. Registered resident aliens moved 
freely within the country.
    Members of hill tribes who have not been granted citizenship were 
issued color coded identity cards which reflect restrictions on their 
freedom of movement as well as other restrictions. The cards often 
prohibit travel outside their province or district without permission 
from the district head. Offenders are subject to heavy fines and jail 
terms. Persons with no card may not travel at all (see section 5).
    Migrant workers may only work in certain provinces. The Government 
continued to offer illegal migrants the opportunity to be legally 
registered. Registration must be renewed each year. As of August, more 
than 746,000 migrants had registered, three-fourths of them from Burma. 
In August the Government announced an agreement with the Government of 
Burma to allow Burmese migrants working in Thailand the opportunity to 
apply for temporary passports at select Burmese border crossings. 
Burmese possessing these temporary passports would be able to legally 
re-enter Thailand and work. The travel document would not be valid for 
travel to third countries. Similar agreements are in place with the 
Governments of Laos and Cambodia. On November 7, the Government of 
Burma announced the opening of three new offices to issue these 
temporary passports in the Burmese border towns of Myawaddy, Kawthong, 
and Tachilek.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not practice 
it. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, there were no reports of 
forced exile. Former prime minister Thaksin remained outside of the 
country. The CNS stated that he should not consider returning to the 
country before martial law has been lifted.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In November insurgent 
violence caused approximately 55 Buddhist families from two villages in 
Yala Province to seek shelter in a Buddhist temple. At year's end they 
remained displaced.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951 
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol 
and the law does not provide for granting asylum or refugee status; 
however, the Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. Late in the year 
cooperation with UNHCR deteriorated as the authorities detained 
increasing numbers of Hmong, North Korean, and Burmese Rohingya asylum 
seekers and refugees.
    During the year asylum seekers of many nationalities, the large 
majority of whom were Burmese, received temporary protection. The 
Government continued to allow the UNHCR to monitor the conditions of 
the approximately 150,000 Burmese refugees living in nine camps along 
the Burmese border but prohibited the UNHCR from maintaining a 
permanent presence in the border camps. NGOs provided basic needs 
assistance in the camps.
    In 2005 provincial admission boards (PAB) were established, with 
UNHCR participation, to replace UNHCR in determining refugee status for 
Burmese nationals. UNHCR continued its refugee status determination 
process for all other nationalities. During the year the PABs formally 
admitted more than 26,000 refugees into camps. Many of these previously 
lived in the camps without formal permission. The Government agreed to 
permit third-country resettlement of camp refugees, and there was some 
resettlement from the camps during the year.
    The Government allowed NGOs to provide food, medical services, 
housing, and other services to Burmese refugees who may have valid 
refugee claims but who reside outside the camps. Government officials 
periodically arrested Burmese outside designated camps as illegal 
aliens. Those arrested generally were taken to the border and released 
without being turned over to Burmese authorities.
    In March 2005 the authorities ordered urban Burmese refugees (see 
section 1.f.) to relocate to refugee camps near the border or face 
arrest and deportation and loss of their chance for third-country 
resettlement for being in the country illegally. According to the 
UNHCR, more than 1,800 transferred to camps during the year, while 340 
did not. NGOs protested that difficult conditions in the camps would be 
exacerbated by the influx of new refugees and that Burmese journalists 
and activists from urban areas would be unable to continue their work. 
Many in this group departed for resettlement in third countries.
    In addition to the urban Burmese refugees, UNHCR reported that it 
registered more than 11,000 additional Burmese asylum seekers outside 
of camp settings. Under government policy, they must first transfer to 
holding centers in the camps before the PABs will consider their cases. 
Some have transferred to the camps, but very few have been screened by 
the PABs.
    During the year the Government permitted NGOs to expand 
occupational training and income generation programs in the camps.
    The Government adopted a tougher approach to resolve the situation 
of the approximately 7,500 Hmong who congregated in Huay Nam Khao, 
Phetchabun Province, some of whom appeared to have valid refugee 
claims. The Government reserved the right to repatriate the group to 
Laos and has not granted the UNHCR permission to interview them to 
determine their refugee status out of concern that allowing status 
determination would attract more Hmong from Laos to enter the country 
to seek asylum. In November 2005 27 Hmong from this group, including 26 
minors, were picked up by local authorities and irregularly deported to 
Laos. At year's end the Lao government continued to deny knowledge of 
the whereabouts of these individuals.
    In June approximately 230 Hmong fled Laos attempting to join the 
Huay Nam Khao group. They were arrested by Thai authorities and placed 
in separate detention facilities spread out across Phetchabun Province. 
On August 15, authorities transported 31 members of this group to a 
remote area of the Laos border and reportedly left them on the border 
with several days supply of food. On November 15, following formal Lao 
government agreement to repatriate Hmong, a group of 53 Hmong were 
deported to Laos. None had received access to UNHCR or other screening 
of their asylum claims. Their status and whereabouts were unclear. On 
November 17, a group of 152 Hmong, many with UNHCR refugee status, was 
arrested in Bangkok and taken to the border city of Nong Khai. There 
they faced the risk of deportation, or refoulement for those with UNHCR 
refugee status. In response to pleas on behalf of the group by UNHCR, 
NGOs, and foreign governments the return of this group was temporarily 
halted.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Prior to September 19, the constitution provided citizens the right 
to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this 
right in practice through periodic free and fair elections held on the 
basis of universal suffrage. On September 19, after seizing control of 
the Government in a military coup d'etat, the ruling coup leaders 
repealed the constitution, abolished both houses of the parliament, and 
deposed the Prime Minister and his cabinet. National elections 
scheduled for October 15 were cancelled. The interim constitution, 
promulgated on October 1, sets the framework for the adoption of a new 
constitution with elections to follow.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In February 2005 national 
elections, then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's TRT Party won an 
absolute majority of 377 seats in the 500-seat lower house of 
parliament and formed a government without entering into a coalition. 
On February 24, amid massive antigovernment street demonstrations and 
growing calls for his resignation, Thaksin dissolved the lower house of 
parliament and called for elections to be held on April 2. The three 
main opposition political parties boycotted the snap elections.
    The April 2 election and subsequent by-elections did not result in 
a full lower house. Election laws required candidates running unopposed 
to garner the votes of at least 20 percent of the electoral base in 
their constituency. TRT candidates running unopposed in at least 13 
constituencies were unable to reach the 20 percent threshold. As such, 
the lower house was unable to convene an opening session or elect a new 
prime minister.
    On May 8, the Constitutional Court ruled that the April 2 election 
was unconstitutional. The court also ruled that the results of that 
election were null and void and that new elections must be held for the 
lower house. The decisions were based on the court's finding that the 
election was set too soon after parliament's dissolution and that the 
positioning of the voting booths at the polling stations violated voter 
confidentiality.
    In the wake of the court ruling, one election commissioner 
resigned, but three remained in office. On July 25, the courts 
convicted the remaining three electoral commissioners on charges that 
they violated election laws in ways that favored the ruling TRT Party.
    Meanwhile, the national election process for the 200-seat upper 
house of parliament (Senate) held on April 19 generally was viewed as 
free and fair; however, it was marred by widespread reports of vote-
buying, a recurrent problem, especially in the northeast of the 
country. A spate of election-day attacks in Narathiwat and Yala 
provinces targeted several polling stations and vehicles transporting 
ballots. Four persons were killed and over 20 were injured. Senators-
elect were unable to assume their posts because only 180 were confirmed 
by the election commission before it ceased functioning.
    On October 1, following the September 19 coup d'etat, the ruling 
coup leaders promulgated an interim constitution and appointed retired 
general Surayud Chulanot to serve as prime minister of an interim 
government. The interim constitution did not provide citizens the right 
to change their government peacefully; however, it did establish a 
process by which a new constitution would be drafted and submitted to a 
public referendum.
    Prior to its dissolution in February, there were 52 women in the 
500-member House of Representatives. There were 21 women in the 
outgoing 200-member Senate. Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat there 
was one woman in the 38-member caretaker cabinet. Women hold two 
cabinet positions in the interim government: minister attached to the 
Prime Minister's Office and minister of culture. Although half of civil 
service employees were women, women held only 15 percent of senior 
positions.
    Few members of ethnic minorities held positions of authority in 
national politics. Muslims from the South held significant elected 
positions, although they continued to be underrepresented in appointed 
local and provincial government positions. There were eight Muslim and 
two Christian outgoing senators and 24 Muslim and six Christian members 
of the House of Representatives prior to its dissolution. One MP was a 
hill tribesman. General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council 
for National Security, is a Muslim, as is Interior Minister Aree 
Wongarya.
    From 1992 through 2005, there were six national multiparty 
elections, which transferred power to successive governments through 
peaceful, democratic processes. Voting was compulsory.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the 
executive branch was widely acknowledged by the public and was cited by 
the coup makers as one of the principal justifications for the 
September 19 coup d'etat. Prior to the September 19 coup, the NCCC was 
moribund as new commissioners had not been appointed to replace the 
commissioners who resigned in May 2005. The commission continued 
administrative functions, but investigations could not be concluded 
until new commissioners were appointed.
    Anticorruption efforts under the Thaksin government were also 
hampered by a 2004 court ruling against the procedures used in 
appointing the auditor-general, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka. Jaruvan was 
out of office from July 2004 through February, when she was able to 
return to her position as auditor-general after the King refused to 
approve the appointment of a new candidate and efforts to replace 
Jaruvan were abandoned.
    Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the coup leaders took 
several actions aimed at enhancing efforts to investigate corruption 
under the ousted government. On September 20, the coup leaders placed 
full authority to audit all public agencies under auditor-general 
Jaruvan by dissolving both the State Audit Commission and the 
supervisory board of the Office of the Auditor-General. On September 
22, the coup leaders appointed nine new NCCC commissioners. On 
September 24, the coup leaders established the Assets Examination 
Committee (AEC) that was specifically charged with investigating cases 
of alleged corruption in the Thaksin government. The AEC included 
Auditor-General Jaruvan, the secretary general of the NCCC, and several 
other prominent figures.
    There were a number of high-profile allegations of corruption 
during the year. The controversial $1.9 billion sale of Shin 
Corporation, which was owned by Prime Minister Thaksin's family, was 
under investigation for the allegedly illegal foreign ownership 
structure arranged to facilitate the sale. Investigations also 
continued into various allegations of corruption involving construction 
and procurement at Bangkok's new international airport.
    Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution provided 
access to public information. If a government agency denied a citizen's 
request for information, a petition could be made to the official 
information commission. In 2005 more than 90 percent of the petitions 
were approved. Requests for public information could be denied for 
reasons of national security, law enforcement, and public safety. 
Following the September 19 coup, laws providing access to public 
information remained in force. There were no reports of government 
agencies denying citizens' requests for information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights 
organizations generally operated without government restriction, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
    However, NGOs that dealt with sensitive political issues, such as 
the Burmese democracy movement and opposition to government-sponsored 
development projects, faced periodic harassment. Human rights workers 
focusing on disappearances and the violence in southern Thailand were 
particularly vulnerable to government harassment. Very few NGOs were 
accorded tax-exempt status, which sometimes hampered the ability of 
domestic human rights organizations to secure adequate funding.
    Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of Somchai Neelaphaijit, reported 
regularly receiving threatening phone calls and being followed (see 
sections 1.b. and 1.f.).
    In late June National Human Rights Commissioner Vasant Panich 
reported that he and his family were under surveillance by government 
agents (see section 1.f).
    On September 15, a human rights advocate who worked as a researcher 
for the NRC and other human rights organizations, was stopped while 
driving on the Pattani-Narathiwat highway and searched by two armed men 
who refused to present identification. The human rights advocate 
claimed the men accused him of assisting separatist insurgents by 
investigating and exposing human rights abuses by government officials. 
On September 17, he fled his home in Pattani after receiving scores of 
threatening phone calls and being followed for several days by unmarked 
cars. In September 2005 this same individual was shot and injured while 
riding his motorcycle in Pattani Province. He reported he was targeted 
because of his human rights activities.
    On October 20, Muhammad Dunai Tanyeeno, a human rights defender in 
Narathiwat was shot and killed near his home (see section 1.a.). 
Muhammad Dunai worked to assist villagers affected by the violence in 
the South and had actively assisted some of the 58 defendants in the 
Tak Bai case (see sections 1.e. and 1.g.).
    Some members of the domestic NGO Assembly of the Poor reported that 
the Government threatened to file charges of treason and otherwise 
intimated them because of their activities. The threat of arrest 
hindered their work.
    Government officials met and cooperated with visitors from the ICRC 
and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights throughout 
the year. In June the foreign minister attended the 33rd Session of the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Baku, Azerbaijan, as an 
observer. At that meeting, the OIC resolved to continue efforts with 
the Government to seek just solutions to the problems of Muslims in 
southern Thailand.
    In 2004 the UN Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur on 
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings requested permission to 
visit the country following the October incident in Tak Bai (see 
section 1.g.). Although the country provided a detailed response to the 
inquiry by the special rapporteur, the visit did not take place. In 
August and November 2005, the special rapporteur again requested 
permission to visit, but the visit did not take place.
    The NHRC was active during the year. As an independent government 
entity, it submitted an annual evaluation of the human rights 
situation, proposed policies and recommendations for amending laws to 
the National Assembly, promoted measures to educate citizens on human 
rights, and investigated human rights abuses. Modest staffing and 
resources, as well as the lack of power to prosecute or to punish 
violators, hampered the NHRC's ability to carry out its mandate. 
According to NHRC commissioners, the Government rarely responded to 
NHRC proposals or recommendations. In a May 2005 report on the Tak Bai 
incident, the NHRC concluded that officials had violated the human 
rights of the Tak Bai detainees and called on the Government to 
compensate victims and their families and to review its southern 
policy. The NHRC publicly appealed to the Prime Minister to do away 
with the emergency decree.
    In February 2005 the Prime Minister established the 50-member 
National Reconciliation Commission to build ``peace and 
reconciliation'' in the South. In June the NRC released its final 
report and recommendations. The Government acknowledged receipt of the 
report, but did not take any actions specifically to address NRC 
recommendations. The interim prime minister pledged to use the NRC 
report as the basic guideline for government action in the South (see 
section 1.g.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution provided 
for equal treatment without respect to race, gender, religion, 
disability, language, or social status; however, in practice, some 
discrimination existed, and government enforcement of equal protection 
statutes was uneven. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, specific 
laws pertaining to the provision of equal treatment without respect to 
race, gender, religion, disability, language, or social status were 
unaffected and there were no credible reports of increased 
discrimination based on these factors. The interim constitution 
contained provisions that provided for basic human rights, although 
equal rights and protections against societal abuses were not 
specifically addressed.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women was a significant problem, 
and there were no specific laws addressing the problem. A few domestic 
violence crimes were prosecuted under provisions for assault or 
violence against a person. Domestic violence often went unreported, and 
the police often were reluctant to pursue reports of domestic violence. 
Reliable statistics on rates of domestic violence were difficult to 
obtain, but in November 2005 the public health minister noted that the 
number of reported cases of abuse had increased from five per day in 
2002 to 28 per day in 2005. Approximately half of these cases involved 
sexual abuse. It was unclear whether the increase reflected an increase 
in violence or an increased public awareness of the problem and an 
increased willingness on the part of battered women to report it to 
authorities. Also in November 2005 the World Health Organization 
released findings of a study that showed 41 percent of women in Bangkok 
and 47 percent of women in rural areas had experienced physical or 
sexual abuse by an intimate partner. NGO-supported programs included 
emergency hot lines, temporary shelters, counseling services, and a 
television program to increase awareness of domestic violence, HIV/
AIDS, and other issues involving women. The Government's ``one-stop'' 
crisis centers, located in state-run hospitals, continued to care for 
abused women and children but faced budget difficulties.
    Rape is illegal. Through November the police reported 5,060 rape 
cases nationwide, including five cases where the victim was killed. 
Suspects were arrested in 2,047 of these cases, including four of the 
cases resulting in the victim's death. There were 4,693 reported rapes 
in 2005. There are no provisions for prosecuting spousal rape. 
According to academics and women's rights activists, rapes and domestic 
assaults were underreported, in part because law enforcement agencies 
were perceived to be incapable of bringing perpetrators to justice. 
Police sought to change this perception and encouraged women to report 
sexual crimes through the use of female police officers in metropolitan 
Bangkok and in three other provinces. The law specifies a range of 
penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault, depending on the age of 
the victim, the degree of assault, and the physical and mental 
condition of the victim after the assault. The minimum penalty is from 
four to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of $200 to $1,000 (8,000 to 
40,000 baht). If firearms or explosives are used, or if it is a gang 
rape, the penalty increases to 15 to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine 
of $750 to $1,000 (30,000 to 40,000 baht). Life imprisonment or 
execution is possible for cases in which the victim is injured or 
killed. A sentence of four to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine ranging 
from $200 to $1,000 (8,000 to 40,000 baht) is imposed for statutory 
rape of a child less than 15 years of age. If the victim is less than 
13, the jail term ranges from seven years' to life imprisonment. The 
law also provides that any individual convicted for a second time for 
the same criminal offense within two years is liable to increased 
penalties for recidivism. Victims of sexual abuse were eligible to 
receive state financial aid of up to $750 (30,000 baht).
    Prostitution is illegal, although it is practiced openly throughout 
the country. Local officials with commercial interest often protected 
prostitution (see sections 1.d. and 5, Trafficking). Trafficking in 
women and children for prostitution was a serious problem (see section 
5, Trafficking). Government and NGO estimates of the number of women 
and children engaged in prostitution varied widely. Ministry of Social 
Development and Human Security figures estimated there were 57,500 
prostitutes working in the country. However, NGOs reported between 
200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes. The illegal nature of the work and the 
high incidence of part-time prostitutes made precise numbers difficult 
to assess. In 2000 the Commission on Women's Affairs estimated that 
approximately 20 percent of prostitutes were children. There were 
reports that women were forced into prostitution in border areas, but 
the number of such cases was difficult to determine. Most prostitutes 
were not kept under physical constraint, but a large number worked 
under debt bondage (see section 5, Trafficking). The law forbids child 
prostitution and subjects customers who patronize child prostitutes to 
criminal sanctions (see section 5, Children). NGOs and government 
agencies provided shelter, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs 
for children and women involved in the sex industry.
    Sex tourism was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law makes sexual harassment illegal but covers only persons 
working in the formal sector. NGOs claimed that the legal definition of 
harassment was vague and prosecution of harassment claims difficult. 
Between July 2005 and August 2006, the civil service commission's 
sexual harassment and bullying hot line recorded approximately 250 
cases. All complaints were investigated, but prosecution or 
disciplinary action was rarely sought because most callers only wanted 
to seek consultations. Some complaints may have been settled out of 
court.
    The law provides for the equality of all citizens; however, some 
inequalities in the law remained. For example, a man may sue for 
divorce on the grounds that his wife committed adultery, but a woman 
faces the additional legal burden of proving that her husband publicly 
has acknowledged another woman as his wife.
    Women had equal access to higher education, and more than half of 
university graduates were women. However, police and military academies 
(except for the nursing academy) did not accept female students, 
although a significant number of instructors at the military academies 
were women. According to the national statistics office, in 2005, women 
constituted 46 percent of the labor force and held an increasing share 
of professional positions. Women composed 58 percent of professional 
workers and 51 percent of technical workers but only 29 percent of 
administrators and managers. Women were able to own and manage 
businesses freely. Government regulations require employers to pay 
equal wages and benefits for equal work, regardless of gender. 
Nonetheless, discrimination in hiring was common, and women were 
concentrated in lower-paying jobs. In practice women received lower pay 
for equal work in virtually all sectors of the economy.
    The National Human Rights Commission Act specifies that at least 
one-third of the members of the NHRC be women; during the year, five of 
the 11 commissioners were women. The Women and Constitution Network, a 
league of more than 50 women's organizations, advocated legal reforms 
to address inequities in the treatment of women. The organization 
actively campaigned for gender-equality clauses in legislation and for 
strengthening a proposed law on domestic violence.

    Children.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution 
provided children equal protection under the law. Following the 
September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution was repealed but laws 
pertaining to equal protection for children were unaffected. Education 
is compulsory for nine years, and school tuition is free for 12 years. 
In general girls and boys attended primary and secondary schools in 
equal numbers. An estimated 96 percent of children completed grade six, 
80 percent completed grade nine, and 79 percent completed grade 12. 
Girls are prohibited by religious practice from enrolling in religious 
schools restricted to Buddhist monks or novices. During the year 
violence in the southern provinces, and particularly violence aimed at 
public school teachers, sporadically forced the temporary closure of 
public schools and disrupted the educational process in those areas 
(see section 1. g.).
    Children were tried in the same courts as adults and detained with 
adults in some regions of the country. There were 94 Juvenile 
Observation and Protection Centers for underage offenders, with at 
least one such facility located in each of the country's 76 provinces.
    The law provides for the protection of children from abuse, and 
laws on rape and abandonment carry harsher penalties if the victim is a 
child. A nationwide, government-sponsored poll of high school students 
found that 5 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls had encountered 
sexual harassment. During the year police were reluctant to investigate 
abuse cases, and rules of evidence made prosecution of child abuse 
difficult. The law is designed to protect witnesses, victims, and 
offenders under the age of 18, and procedures with a judge's consent 
allow children to testify on videotape in private surroundings in the 
presence of a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other social worker. 
However, many judges declined to use videotaped testimony, citing 
technical problems and the inability to question accusers and 
defendants directly in court. Persons charged with pedophilia are 
charged under appropriate age of consent and prostitution laws. 
Victims' testimony is handled under the provisions of the Child 
Friendly Procedure Act.
    Trafficking in children, including for commercial sexual 
exploitation, remained a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking). 
Pedophilia continued, both by citizens and by foreign sex tourists. The 
Government, university researchers, and NGOs estimated that there were 
as many as 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes less than 18 years of age, not 
including foreign migrants. The Prostitution Prevention and Suppression 
Act makes child prostitution illegal and provides for criminal 
punishment for those who use prostitutes under age 18. Parents who 
allow a child to enter into prostitution also are punishable. During 
the year there were a few arrests and no prosecutions of parents who 
allowed a child to enter into prostitution. Custom and tradition made 
it rare for children to accuse their parents in court proceedings.
    Child labor remained a problem (see section 6.d.).
    There were believed to be approximately 20,000 street children in 
major urban centers. The children were referred to government-provided 
shelters, but many, especially foreign migrants, reportedly avoided the 
shelters due to fear of being detained and expelled from the country. 
Approximately 280 street children were repatriated to Laos, Cambodia, 
and Burma during the year. According to the Government, citizen street 
children were sent to their home provinces and placed in occupational 
training centers.
    Street children were often left out of national reports on child 
labor issues, and national statistics on street children often included 
only citizens.
    Street children were often exploited by organized gangs as beggars 
or to sell flowers or other items. Many of these children were forced 
to turn over their daily earnings to the gang and were paid less than a 
dollar (34 baht) a day. There were reports of street children who were 
bought, rented, or forcibly ``borrowed'' from their parents or 
guardians in order to beg alongside women on sidewalks and overpasses. 
This was particularly true in areas of the capital frequented by 
tourists. Working conditions for these children were poor, leaving them 
exposed to the elements for long periods of time and open to further 
exploitation.
    There were many local NGOs that worked to promote children's 
rights. Employers' organizations, such as the Employers' Confederation 
of Thailand, also were involved in child labor issues. These 
organizations received good working support from the Government.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, the country was a source, transit, and destination for 
trafficking in women and children for a variety of purposes, including 
indentured servitude, forced labor, and prostitution. Some local 
officials, immigration officers, and police reportedly either were 
involved in trafficking directly or took bribes to ignore it. Penalties 
vary according to the age of the victim and the method of trafficking. 
In general the law provides for imprisonment of a year to life and 
fines of $50 to $1,000 (2,000 to 40,000 baht). For offenses against 
children between 15 and 18 years of age, the potential punishment is 
three to 15 years of imprisonment and a fine of $150 to $1,000 (6,000 
to 40,000 baht). For offenses against children under 15 years of age, 
the penalty ranges from five to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of 
$250 to $1,000 (10,000 to 40,000 baht). If the offense is committed 
with deceit, threat, physical assault, immoral influence, or other 
mental coercion, the sentences and fines may be increased by one-third.
    In general the Government cooperated with governments of other 
countries in the investigation of transnational crimes, including 
trafficking. The country has signed bilateral antitrafficking 
memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Cambodia and Laos. Receiving 
countries generally initiated trafficking case investigations. The 
Government continued to investigate rings associated with smuggling 
female citizens abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted 270 
Thai women and girls, most victims of sexual exploitation, to return 
from abroad in 2005 (down from 316 in 2004). The police reported that 
146 trafficking in persons cases were filed in the judicial system 
during 2005, representing an increase from 134 cases in 2004. The 
convictions from the 2004 cases included a March 2005 85-year sentence 
to a Cambodian woman for procuring women and underage girls for 
prostitution.
    The law allows for extradition of citizens; however, no citizens 
were extradited for trafficking-related offenses. Requesting-country 
nationals charged with trafficking-related crimes, including 
pedophilia, were extradited to Japan, Australia, Germany, and the 
United States.
    Some portion (thought by the UN, NGOs, and the Government to be a 
minority) of the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 sex industry workers in 
the country were either underage or in involuntary servitude or debt 
bondage. Women and children (particularly girls) tended to be the most 
frequent trafficking victims. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the 
trafficking of men, women, and children into such fields as commercial 
fisheries or sweatshop work was significant. Young migrant women and 
girls, particularly from Laos, were found employed in indentured 
servitude. NGOs assisted some victims to obtain back wages from abusive 
employers.
    Within the country women were trafficked from the impoverished 
Northeast and the North to Bangkok for sexual exploitation. However, 
internal trafficking of women appeared to be on the decline, due to 
prevention programs and better economic opportunities. Women also were 
trafficked to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain, Australia, South 
Africa, Europe, and the United States chiefly for sexual exploitation 
but also for sweatshop labor. Men were trafficked into the country for 
commercial fisheries and farm, industrial, and construction labor. 
Prosecution of traffickers of men was complicated by the lack of 
coverage in the law.
    Women and men were trafficked from Burma, Cambodia, the People's 
Republic of China (PRC), and Laos for labor and sexual exploitation. 
Boys and girls were trafficked chiefly from Burma and Cambodia 
primarily for sexual exploitation and to work in begging gangs. The 
Government screened trafficking victims from Cambodia and Burma through 
cooperation between the police and the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM). Law enforcement officials identified victims of 
trafficking and referred them to one of six regional government 
shelters.
    Entire families occasionally were trafficked for labor in 
sweatshops. Underage boys reportedly were brought into the country for 
specialized work in which small size was an advantage. According to 
domestic NGOs, girls between the ages of 12 and 18 continued to be 
trafficked from Burma, southern PRC, and Laos to work in the commercial 
sex industry. Social workers noted that young girls were prized because 
clients believed that they were free of sexually transmitted diseases. 
Persons trafficked from the PRC often were in transit to other 
countries, although women and girls from Yunnan Province generally were 
destined for brothels in the North. Victims of trafficking were often 
lured into the country or for transit to other countries, with promises 
of restaurant or household work and then were pressured or physically 
forced into prostitution.
    The lack of citizenship status for some hill tribe women and 
children was a strong risk factor for becoming victims of trafficking. 
Although members of this group were not a large percentage of 
trafficking victims, they continued to be found in disproportionately 
large numbers in situations entailing severe forms of trafficking. In 
April the Government repatriated 10 hill tribe women lacking 
citizenship who had been trafficked to Malaysia for prostitution in 
2004. The women were repatriated after providing documentation of their 
prior residency or birth in the country.
    Trafficking within the country and from neighboring countries into 
the country tended to be carried out by loosely organized small groups 
that often had close ties in the source communities. Burmese, Laotian, 
Cambodian, and Thai individuals were involved in labor trafficking 
along the border. Informal chains of acquaintance often were used to 
recruit victims. In some cases, the traffickers themselves were former 
victims, particularly where the sex industry was the destination.
    The trafficking of Thai prostitutes abroad, and that of PRC 
nationals using the country as a transit point, was done by 
sophisticated and well-financed international criminal syndicates that 
sometimes cooperated with each other.
    The majority of prostitutes were not kept under physical 
constraint, but a large number worked in debt bondage. Brothel 
procurers reportedly advanced parents a substantial sum against their 
child's future earnings. The child was then obligated to work in a 
brothel to repay the loan.
    Because foreign women frequently were unable to speak the language 
and were considered illegal immigrants, they were particularly 
vulnerable to physical abuse and exploitation. Some women were lured 
into the country with promises of jobs as waitresses or domestic 
helpers but ended up working as prostitutes. Reports of labor 
trafficking were also received from Burmese migrant workers who were 
ostensibly offered jobs in the food processing industry, but were later 
induced or forcibly transported to work on fishing vessels. In 
September police raided a shrimp processing factory in Samut Sakhon and 
found more than 100 Burmese workers who had been held on the premises 
against their will.
    Illegal immigrants had no rights to legal counsel or health care if 
arrested. In 2004 a series of MOUs among government agencies and 
between the Government and domestic NGOs provided some detailed police 
procedures to assist with the problem of trafficked persons being 
detained by the authorities. The agreements stated that the training of 
police officers would include instructions to treat such persons as 
victims of human trafficking rather than as illegal immigrant workers. 
Instead of being deported, they would become the responsibility of the 
public welfare department. However, implementation of the MOUs has been 
erratic, due to insufficient training of law enforcement officials and 
their unfamiliarity with the law.
    Official corruption facilitating the most severe forms of 
trafficking in persons was generally at the low- and mid-levels. Police 
personnel were poorly paid and were accustomed to taking bribes to 
supplement their income. There was no evidence that high-level 
officials benefited from or protected the practice. Compromised local 
police protected brothels and other sex venues, as well as factories, 
from surprise raids. Officials found complicit in any part of the 
illegal economy rarely were prosecuted but instead were moved to 
positions thought to limit opportunities for future corruption.
    Several NGOs, both local and international, and government agencies 
worked with trafficking victims. The Government worked with the 
International Labor Organization's International Program on the 
Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) to implement antitrafficking 
projects to reduce the incidence of trafficking of children for labor 
and sexual exploitation. However, funds for fighting trafficking or 
aiding its victims were limited.
    In general victims awaiting repatriation were brought to 
government-run shelters or, in the case of noncitizens, to NGO-run 
shelters. The repatriation process took up to six months. Between 
October 2005 and September 2006, the main government shelter in Bangkok 
received 390 women and children from neighboring countries and 164 
citizens, including women found in voluntary prostitution and domestic 
abuse cases. There were no reliable statistics on how many of these 
persons were victims of trafficking. The Government provided food, 
medical care, and limited psychological counseling.
    Trafficking victims received some legal assistance from NGOs and 
Department of Welfare officials, and they generally were informed of 
the option of pursuing legal action against the trafficking 
perpetrators. Relatively few opted to do so; language barriers, 
illiteracy, distrust of government officials, the lengthy legal 
processes, and fear of the traffickers played a role. Trafficked 
victims residing illegally in the country were not allowed to obtain 
employment while awaiting repatriation, even if they were involved in 
legal proceedings against the trafficker.
    The Government continued cooperative arrangements with NGOs and 
local industries, especially the hotel industry, to encourage youths 
(particularly girls) to find employment outside of the sex industry and 
other exploitative work. Vocational training programs aimed at high 
school students also received funding. Although the vocational training 
was not intended explicitly for trafficking prevention, the practical 
effect was to increase the range of choices for recent school 
graduates.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, 
the constitution mandated access to public buildings for persons with 
disabilities, but laws implementing the provisions were never fully 
enacted. In July 2005 a law was enacted providing that newly 
constructed buildings have facilities for persons with disabilities. 
Activists continued to work to amend laws that allow employment 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. Persons with 
disabilities were legally precluded from working as police officers and 
as persons providing medicinal massages, although the Ministry of 
Health stated that it welcomed the registration of persons with 
disabilities as medical masseurs.
    Persons with disabilities who register with the Government are 
entitled to free medical examinations, wheelchairs, and crutches. As of 
August, 568,927 persons had registered as disabled. The Government 
provided five-year, interest-free small business loans for persons with 
disabilities. As of September, approximately 5,600 loans have been 
granted.
    During the year approximately 238,000 children with disabilities 
attended school. The Government reported that 13,286 students were 
enrolled in the 43 special schools for students with disabilities; the 
remaining students were enrolled in regular public schools. The 
Ministry of Education reported that there were 76 centers nationwide 
offering special education programs for preschool-age children. 
Nationwide, there were nine government-operated and 12 NGO-operated 
training centers for persons with disabilities. In addition there were 
eight private associations providing occasional trainings for persons 
with disabilities. There were reports of schools turning away students 
with disabilities. In April 2005 the minister of education received a 
petition requesting that the Government guarantee educational 
opportunities for persons with disabilities. A 2002 report by the 
National Statistics Office said that 23 percent of registered persons 
with disabilities had graduated from junior high school.
    Many persons with disabilities who found employment were subjected 
to wage discrimination. The law requires private firms to hire one 
person with a disability for every 200 other workers or contribute to a 
fund that benefits persons with disabilities, but this provision has 
never been enforced. Government officials estimated that between 20 and 
30 percent of firms disregarded the law. Some state enterprises had 
discriminatory hiring policies.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Former belligerents in the 
Chinese civil war and their descendants, who have been in the country 
since the end of the civil war, and children of Vietnamese immigrants, 
who resided in five northeastern provinces, lived under laws and 
regulations that could restrict their movement, residence, education, 
and occupation (see section 2.d.). During the year approximately 2,300 
of the Vietnamese and their descendants and 1,000 Chinese and some of 
their descendants were granted full citizenship.
    Violence in the South exacerbated social prejudices against 
Muslims; however, there were no outbreaks of communal violence between 
the Buddhist and Muslim communities. Many Muslims complained of 
societal discrimination both by Buddhist citizens and by the central 
government. Many Muslims complained that Thai-language newspapers 
present a negative image of Muslims and of their communities, 
associating them with terrorists.
    Insurgent groups in the South spread propaganda against Buddhists 
in the form of threatening pamphlets and flyers. There were also 
reports that some religious schools in the South preached hatred for 
non-Muslims, as well as for Muslims who cooperated with the Government 
and security forces (see section 2.c.).

    Indigenous People.--Members of hill tribes without proper 
documentation continued to face restrictions on their movement, could 
not own land, and were not protected by labor laws, including minimum 
wage requirements. Freedom of movement was often dependent on their 
residency status, which was identifiable by the color of their identity 
cards (see section 2.d.). Citizenship is not automatically granted to 
children born to persons living illegally or without status in the 
country. Lack of citizenship makes hill tribe persons vulnerable to 
abuses and exploitation, such as trafficking (see section 5, 
Trafficking). They sometimes were denied adequate education and health 
care. Those residing in national parks or wildlife sanctuaries were 
subject to eviction (see section 1.f.). As noncitizen residents, they 
also were barred from participating in the political process (see 
section 3).
    In recent years regulations eased the requirements to establish 
citizenship by allowing a wider range of evidence, including testimony 
from references and empowering local officials to decide cases. 
According to the Registration Administration Bureau of the Ministry of 
Interior, roughly 60 percent of potentially eligible candidates have 
received citizenship under the regulations. Although the Government was 
supportive of efforts to register citizens and to educate eligible hill 
tribe persons about their rights, activists reported that widespread 
corruption and inefficiency at all levels, including among highland 
village headmen and government officials, contributed to a backlog of 
pending citizenship applications.
    Hill tribe members continued to face societal discrimination 
arising in part from the belief that they were involved in drug 
trafficking and environmental degradation. Hill tribes occasionally 
were subjected to indiscriminate searches of villages for illegal drugs 
(see section 1.f.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--HIV/AIDS was estimated 
to have infected approximately 1.5 percent of the population. During 
the year the Government took measures to improve its support of persons 
with HIV/AIDS. The Government aggressively implemented a program to 
provide anti-retroviral drugs and, as of September, more than 80,000 
HIV/AIDS sufferers were receiving such drugs. The Government provided 
funds to HIV/AIDS support groups and continued public debate at the 
highest levels of political leadership. Societal discrimination against 
persons with AIDS most often was found in the form of a psychological 
stigma associated with rejection by family, friends, and the community. 
There were reports that some employers refused to hire persons who 
tested positive following employer-mandated blood screening.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Prior to the September 19 coup 
d'etat, the constitution allowed all private sector workers to form and 
join trade unions of their choosing without prior authorization. Laws 
pertaining to private sector workers rights to form and join trade 
unions were unaffected by the coup and its aftermath; however, the law 
provides inadequate protection to workers who participate in union 
activities. The law prohibits antiunion actions by employers; however, 
it also requires that union officials be full-time employees of the 
company, which makes them vulnerable to employers seeking to discipline 
workers who serve as union officials or who attempt to form unions. 
Union leaders and academic observers reported that employers often 
discriminated against workers seeking to organize unions. The law does 
not protect workers from employer reprisal for union activities prior 
to the registration of the union, and employers could exploit this 
loophole to defeat efforts at union organization. During the year 
employers used loopholes in the Labor Relations Act to fire union 
leaders prior to government certification of unions. Trade union 
leaders can be dismissed for any reason, provided severance payment is 
made. In such circumstances the law does not provide for reinstatement. 
The labor court reinstated employees in some cases where dismissal 
resulted from union activity and was illegal. However, because the 
reinstatement process was lengthy and cost prohibitive for the 
employee, most cases were settled out of court through severance 
payments to the employee. There were no punitive sanctions for 
employers.
    Union officials must be full-time employees of the company or state 
enterprise. This prohibition against permanent union staff limited the 
ability of unions to organize and be politically active. The Labor 
Relations Act allows only two outside government-licensed advisors to a 
union, and the Ministry of Labor often blocked the registration of 
labor advisors whom it deemed too activist. Union leaders and outside 
observers complained this interfered with the ability to train union 
members and develop expertise in collective bargaining, and led to 
rapid turnover in union leaders.
    Less than 4 percent of the total work force but nearly 11 percent 
of industrial workers and more than 50 percent of state enterprise 
workers were unionized. Cultural traditions, unfamiliarity with the 
concept of industrial relations, efforts by the Government and the 
private sector to diminish union cohesiveness, and the sizeable 
agricultural and informal sectors (where unions are not permitted) were 
cited as reasons for low rates of labor organization.
    State enterprise employees can join organizations of workers in the 
private sector, but only at the level of confederations. This 
restriction effectively divided the trade union movement along state 
enterprise and private sector lines. However, unofficial contacts at 
the union level between public and private sector workers continued, 
and the Government did not interfere with these relationships. Unions 
in state-owned enterprises generally operated independently of the 
Government and other organizations. Internal conflicts, corruption, and 
a lack of leadership weakened the labor movement.
    Civil servants including public school teachers are prohibited from 
forming or registering a union. They are allowed to form and register 
only as associations, which have no right to bargain collectively.
    Noncitizen migrant workers, whether registered or illegally 
present, did not have the right to form unions or serve as union 
officials; however, registered migrants may be members of unions 
organized and led by citizens. The Ministry of Labor required foreign 
workers to renew their temporary work status annually. About three-
fourths of these foreign workers were from Burma (see section 2.d.). 
Few, if any, of the registered migrants joined unions. During the year 
a substantial number of migrant workers worked in factories near border 
crossing points, where labor laws were routinely violated and few 
inspections were attempted to verify compliance with the law.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right of citizen private-sector workers to organize 
and bargain collectively; however, the Government's efforts to protect 
this right were weak. The law defines the mechanisms for collective 
bargaining and for government-assisted conciliation and arbitration in 
cases under dispute. In practice genuine collective bargaining occurred 
only in a small fraction of workplaces, and in most instances, it 
continued to be characterized by a lack of sophistication on the part 
of worker groups and autocratic attitudes on the part of employers. 
Wage increases for most workers came as a result of increases in the 
minimum wage rather than as a result of collective bargaining. The 
process of setting minimum wages locally through provincial tripartite 
wage committees may further limit union influence; many of these 
provincial committees excluded labor representatives and placed factory 
managers on the wage committees to represent worker interests. The 
minimum wage increase in the year again did not keep pace with 
inflation. The Government sets wages for state enterprise employees 
under the State Enterprise Labor Relations Act (SELRA) (see section 
6.e.). Wages for civil servants are determined by the Ministry of 
Finance.
    The Government has the authority to restrict private sector strikes 
that would affect national security or cause severe negative 
repercussions for the population at large; however, it seldom invoked 
this provision and did not do so during the year. Labor law also 
forbids strikes in ``essential services,'' which are defined much more 
broadly than in the ILO criteria, and include sectors such as 
telecommunications, electricity, water supply, and public 
transportation as essential services. The law also prohibits 
termination of employment of legal strikers; however, some employers 
used unfavorable work assignments and reductions in work hours and 
bonuses to punish strikers. Employers are legally permitted to hire 
workers to replace strikers. SELRA provides public sector employees in 
state enterprises the same rights to organize as exist in the private 
sector. SELRA prohibits lockouts by employers and strikes by state 
enterprise workers. Strike action in the private sector was constrained 
by the legal requirement to call a general meeting of trade union 
members and to have a strike approved by 50 percent of unionists. 
During the year there were three legal strikes involving 348 workers, 
and there were six lockouts involving 803 workers.
    A system of labor courts exercises judicial review over most 
aspects of labor law for the private sector; however, there was 
documented abuse in the system, including evidence that awards to 
workers were ignored or not paid in full. Issues of collective labor 
relations are adjudicated through the Tripartite Labor Relations 
Committee, and are subject to review by the labor courts. Workers could 
also seek redress through the NHRC and the Parliamentary Committee on 
Labor and Social Welfare, although this committee ceased functioning 
during the year. The law authorizes the Ministry of Labor to refer any 
private sector labor dispute for voluntary arbitration by a government-
appointed group other than the Labor Relations Committee. Although the 
legal authority seldom was used, the ILO viewed this provision as 
acceptable only in defined essential services. Redress of grievances 
for state enterprise workers is handled by the State Enterprise 
Relations Committee. Labor leaders generally were satisfied with the 
treatment that their concerns received in these forums, although they 
complained that union leaders unjustly dismissed were awarded only back 
wages with no punitive sanctions against the employer. This limited any 
disincentive for employers to fire union organizers and activists.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
export processing zones (EPZs), in which wages and working conditions 
often were better than national norms. However, union leaders alleged 
that employers' associations were organized to cooperate in 
discouraging union organization. Unions existed in the automobile and 
petroleum production facilities located in EPZs.
    In recent years labor brokerage firms have used a ``contract labor 
system'' under which workers sign an annual contract. Contract laborers 
are not covered under the Labor Relations Act or the Labor Protection 
Act. These workers lacked the ability to bargain collectively over wage 
and benefit issues. Although they may perform the same work as direct-
hire workers they were paid less and received fewer, or no, benefits.
    Attempts by registered migrant workers to carry out work stoppages 
to demand minimum and back wages, along with better working conditions, 
often led to deportations, resulting from apparent collusion between 
factory owners and local government immigration officials. There 
continued to be credible reports of NGO personnel being assaulted while 
trying to assist migrant workers.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Prior to the 
September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution prohibited forced or 
compulsory labor, including by children, except in the case of national 
emergency, war, or martial law; however, the Government was unable to 
enforce these provisions effectively in the large informal sector. 
Following the September 19 coup d'etat, laws pertaining to prohibition 
of forced or compulsory labor were unaffected, and there were no 
reports that the Government engaged in or tolerated forced or 
compulsory labor. During the year there continued to be reports of 
sweatshops in which employers prevented workers, primarily foreign 
migrants, from leaving the premises. There were no estimates of the 
number of such sweatshops, but the large number of migrants from Burma, 
Cambodia, and Laos created opportunities for such abuse. NGOs and the 
ILO reported that thousands of underage boys and girls were brought 
into the country for labor on farms or in sweatshops, and very young 
children were used to work in street begging gangs.
    Problems encountered by Thai citizens working overseas highlighted 
the problem of exploitative labor supply agencies that charged heavy 
and illegal recruitment fees often equal to all of a worker's first and 
second year earnings. In many cases recruited workers did not receive 
the terms they were promised and incurred significant debt.
    Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see section 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In 
general sufficient legal protections exist for children in the formal 
economic sector. The Labor Protection Act is the primary law regulating 
employment of children under the age of 18. Employment of children 
under 15 is prohibited. However, the law does not cover the 
agricultural and informal sectors, including domestic work, which 
employ the majority of persons in the workforce, including many child 
workers. The law allows for issuance of ministerial regulations to 
address sectors not covered in the law, and since 2004 regulations 
increased protections for child workers in domestic and agricultural 
sector work. The minimum working age is coordinated with the mandatory 
national educational requirement. On February 28, as part of its 
strategy to strengthen child labor laws and enforcement procedures, the 
Government approved the appointment of the National Committee on 
Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
    Child labor remained a problem, particularly in small-scale 
industry and agricultural sectors. Contradictory surveys by various 
government agencies, which largely ignored foreign children and those 
in illegal industries, made estimating the scope of the phenomenon 
difficult. According to a study funded by the Ministry of Labor and the 
ILO, child labor abuse of citizens was declining and citizen children 
made up less than 1 percent of the workforce. Abuse of underage migrant 
workers, especially from Burma, however, was widespread and continuing 
to increase.
    The law permits the employment of children between the ages of 15 
and 18 only in ``light work,'' where the lifting of heavy loads and 
exposure to toxic materials or dangerous equipment or situations is 
limited. The law prohibits employment of children at night (from 10 
p.m. to 6 a.m.) or in places in which alcohol is served. It was 
estimated that approximately one million children worked on family 
farms. NGOs reported that 2 to 4 percent of children between the ages 
of six to 14 worked illegally in urban areas; such children were at 
risk of becoming victims of other abuses of labor laws. Most underage 
workers in urban areas worked in the service sector, primarily in 
gasoline stations, small-scale industry, and restaurants. Child labor 
was less evident in larger export-oriented factories. A police raid in 
September discovered 18 migrant workers under the age of 16 working in 
a shrimp processing factory south of Bangkok. NGOs also reported 
extensive child labor in garment factories along the Burmese border, in 
Mae Sot Province. However, there was no comprehensive survey of child 
labor throughout the country, since NGOs often did not have access to 
shop-house factories. NGOs reported child domestic workers were 
predominantly migrants from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. Most were in the 
country illegally, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation. 
Minimum wage and age provisions of the Labor Protection Act do not 
apply to domestic workers, some of whom were believed to be less than 
15 years of age; however, recently issued regulations extended 
protections to children in the domestic and agricultural sectors. Thus 
far any effects of these regulations have not been measured.
    The worst forms of child labor occurred in the country. Children 
(usually foreign) were exploited in street selling, begging, and 
prostitution in urban areas, sometimes in a system of debt bondage. 
Some were sold or otherwise trafficked by parents or other relatives. 
The Government implemented guidelines in cooperation with the IOM to 
improve the screening of trafficking victims among child beggars and 
street vendors from Cambodia or Burma (see section 5). A 2004 ILO study 
noted that drug merchants in Bangkok used male children as delivery 
boys. Narcotics sellers preferred children because they were 
undemanding and were not charged as adults if arrested. Instead they 
were sent to police-run correctional homes.
    The Ministry of Labor is the primary agency charged with enforcing 
child labor laws and policies. During the year there were 2,354 labor 
inspection officers, including labor ministry officials and policemen 
who registered as labor inspection officers. Enforcement of child labor 
laws was not rigorous, and only 736 of the registered inspection 
officers routinely performed inspections. There were 36,062 inspections 
at 31,173 establishments in 2005. Inspectors usually responded only to 
specific public complaints, reports of absences by teachers, or reports 
in newspapers. Their inclination when dealing with violators was to 
negotiate promises of better future behavior rather than seek 
prosecution and punishment. The legal requirement for a warrant 
hampered inspection of private homes to monitor the welfare of child 
domestic workers. In 2005 child labor inspections and investigations 
were performed in 543 firms; eight of the workplaces inspected revealed 
serious violations, such as employing underage workers.
    In 2004 the Government registered 79,200 migrant children 15 years 
of age and younger, the first time minors had been given temporary 
residence permits under migrant labor policy. Government officials 
stated the new measure would permit foreign children access to the 
public school system. NGOs reported that this new provision was 
implemented only if the employer of the migrant parent provided 
evidence regarding the parent's status to school authorities. In most 
cases the employer did not do so.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage ranged from 
$3.75 to $4.94 (140 baht to 184 baht) per day, depending on the cost of 
living in various provinces. The minimum wage was set by provincial 
wage committees that sometimes included only employer representatives. 
This wage was not adequate to provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family. The official poverty rate was 83 cents (31 baht) per 
day, which permitted survival only in areas where subsistence 
agriculture was possible. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for 
ensuring that employers adhere to minimum wage requirements (applicable 
to the formal sector); however, nationwide, academics estimated one-
third of formal sector workers received less than the minimum wage, 
especially those in rural provinces. Despite encouragement of employees 
to report violations to labor inspectors, the enforcement of minimum 
wage laws was mixed. Many labor laws, including the minimum wage law, 
do not apply to undocumented workers, primarily hill tribe members and 
illegal aliens. An estimated one to two million unskilled and 
semiskilled migrant workers worked for wages that were approximately 
one-half the minimum wage.
    The Government mandated a uniform workweek of 48 hours, with a 
limit on overtime of 35 hours per week. Employees engaged in 
``dangerous'' work, such as in the chemical, mining, or other 
industries involving heavy machinery, legally may work a maximum of 35 
hours per week and are not permitted overtime. The petrochemical 
industry is excluded from these regulations. There were reported 
incidents of employees forced to work overtime, with punishments and 
dismissals for workers who refused.
    Working conditions varied widely. The official rate of injury from 
industrial accidents remained relatively constant over the last 10 
years at 4.5 percent of the total work force. The Ministry of Labor 
stated that the average annual rate of work-related deaths was 15 per 
100,000 workers. However, these rates applied only to industrial sector 
workers; the rate of incidents occurring in the larger informal and 
agricultural sectors, and among migrant workers, was thought to be 
higher. Occupational diseases rarely were diagnosed or compensated, and 
few doctors or clinics specialized in them. The approximately 50,000 
young migrant women employed in textile factories along the Burma 
border, had limited and substandard medical options, and many suffered 
from stress-related disorders and complications resulting from 
abortions. In medium-sized and large factories, government health and 
safety standards often were applied, but enforcement of safety 
standards was lax. In the large informal sector, health and safety 
protections were substandard.
    Provisions of the Labor Protection Act include expanded protection 
for pregnant workers by prohibiting them from working on night shifts, 
overtime, holidays, or working with dangerous machinery or on boats. 
Despite the act's prohibition on dismissing pregnant workers regardless 
of their nationalities, there were reports of employers of migrant 
women firing those who became pregnant.
    The Ministry of Labor promulgates health and safety regulations 
regarding conditions of work; however, the inspection department 
enforced these standards ineffectively, due to a lack of human and 
financial resources. There is no law affording job protection to 
employees who remove themselves from dangerous work situations.
    Redress for workers injured in industrial accidents was rarely 
timely or sufficient. Few court decisions were handed down against 
management or owners involved in workplace disasters.
    Despite the new registration process, migrant workers, especially 
from Burma, remained especially vulnerable to poor working conditions 
due to a lack of labor rights. According to Amnesty International, they 
were routinely paid well below the minimum wage, worked long hours in 
unhealthy conditions, and were at risk of arbitrary arrest and 
deportation. An ILO report during the year indicated that 35 to 50 
percent of migrant workers in the agriculture, fishing, and 
manufacturing sectors had their identification and registration papers 
held by employers, which limited the workers' freedom of movement. In 
addition, 60 percent of domestic workers surveyed said they were not 
allowed to leave their work premises, while 82 percent said they worked 
more than 12 hours a day.
    Enforcement of workplace laws and regulations is the responsibility 
of the Ministry of Labor's Department of Labor Protection and Welfare. 
The department has fewer than 700 fulltime inspectors to monitor more 
than 340,000 workplaces. Although the department has undertaken 
initiatives to hire additional inspectors and to deputize local 
government officials, the shortage of human and other resources 
significantly impeded effective enforcement of labor laws.

                               __________

                                 TONGA

    The Kingdom of Tonga is a constitutional monarchy with a population 
of approximately 110,000. Political life is dominated by the King, the 
nobility, and a few prominent commoners. In September King Taufa'ahau 
Tupou IV died and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Siaosi Tupou V. 
The most recent election for ``people's representative'' seats in 
Parliament, held in March 2005, was deemed generally free and fair. 
There were several nascent political parties. The civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The country's human rights record remained deficient. Citizens 
lacked the ability to change their government. However, in March the 
King appointed a non-noble as prime minister, and in October a 
parliamentary national committee formed in 2005 to explore the 
possibility of expanding political rights issued a report recommending 
an all-elected parliament, with 17 ``people's representatives'' and 
nine nobles' representatives. There were allegations of police and 
defense force abuses of some persons arrested under a state of 
emergency decree following a major riot in the capital of Nuku'alofa on 
November 16, which occurred after initially peaceful political 
demonstrations turned violent. There was also severe, temporary 
detention center overcrowding as a result of the post-riot arrests. A 
member of Parliament (MP) was charged with sedition when exercising his 
right to free speech. Government corruption was a problem, and 
discrimination against women continued.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, in December an 
employee of a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) issued a report 
alleging abuse by the Tonga Defense Services (TDS) and police of some 
of the persons arrested following rioting in Nuku'alofa on November 16 
(see section 2.b.). The NGO's board later disavowed the report, citing 
differences with the author's methodology and conclusions and his 
failure to clear the report prior to release. The Tonga Evangelical 
Union also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister expressing concern over 
reports of abuses, including violence towards underage detainees. The 
Government stated it would investigate the charges. There were also 
reports of gratuitous violence used during more routine arrests, 
detentions, and other encounters with the TDS and police.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards. Unlike in 2005, there were no 
reports that prisoners were collectively punished after the misbehavior 
or escape of individual inmates.
    Prior to the November 16 riot, no NGOs attempted to monitor prison 
or detention center conditions. However, following the arrests of more 
than 900 riot suspects and allegations of overcrowding and mistreatment 
of detainees, in early December the Tonga Red Cross visited the 
Nuku'alofa prison and local police jails where the suspects were held. 
The Red Cross reported overcrowding and unhygienic conditions in the 
detention facilities.
    Also in December a report issued by an employee of a local NGO, 
later disavowed by the NGO, alleged inhumane conditions for pretrial 
detainees following the large number of arrests through year's end in 
connection with the riot. According to the report the main detention 
center--the Nuku'alofa police station--had seven cells designed to hold 
up to 16 persons each, but at times there were up to four times that 
many detained in a cell. The report also noted detainee complaints of 
inadequate food, toilets, and washing facilities. There were 
allegations that some detainees were left handcuffed for several days. 
Some juveniles at the facility reportedly were held together with 
adults.
    Church representatives and family members were permitted to visit 
prisoners.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions. Human rights lawyers claimed that the arrests of 
suspected November 16 rioters were illegal. They argued that special 
arrest powers granted under the post-riot state of emergency decree 
could only apply prospectively, not retroactively to participation in 
the rioting.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security apparatus 
consists of the TDS and a police force. The minister of defense 
controls the TDS force, which is responsible for external security. The 
police are normally responsible for internal security, but under the 
state of emergency declared following the November riot, the TDS also 
shared domestic security duties with the police.
    The minister of police and prisons directs the police force of 
approximately 470 persons. Incidents of bribe taking and other forms of 
corruption in the police force reportedly occurred. Reports of 
corruption and other public complaints were referred to a specific 
police office that conducts internal investigations and, if necessary, 
convenes a police tribunal. Entry-level police training included 
training on corruption and transparency.
    The police force was unable to respond adequately to the large-
scale rioting on November 16 (see section 2.c.). Following the riot the 
Government declared a state of emergency and deployed the TDS to assist 
the police in maintaining internal security and in locating and 
arresting persons suspected of participating in the violence. The state 
of emergency was still in effect at year's end.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for the right to judicial 
determination of the legality of arrest, and this was observed in 
practice prior to the state of emergency declaration. Under normal 
circumstances police have the right to arrest detainees without a 
warrant, but detainees must be brought before a local magistrate within 
24 hours. Under the state of emergency the period can extend to 48 
hours. Following the November 16 riot in Nuku'alofa, some detainees 
were held for several days without seeing a magistrate.
    In most cases magistrates set bail. The law permits unlimited 
access by counsel and family members to detained persons. However, some 
persons detained after the November rioting reportedly were not allowed 
to contact an attorney or family members.

    Amnesty.--The King has the power to grant amnesty, but unlike in 
2005, he did not use it during the year.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. The judiciary tended to provide citizens with 
a fair and efficient judicial process. The highest-ranking judges 
historically have been foreign nationals. Judges hold office ``during 
good behavior'' and otherwise cannot be dismissed during their terms.
    The court system consists of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court 
(which has original jurisdiction over all major cases), the police 
magistrate's court, a general court, a TDS court-martial, a court 
tribunal for the police force, and a court of review for the Inland 
Revenue Department. The Court of Appeal is the highest court. The 
king's privy council presides over cases relating to disputes over 
titles of nobility and estate boundaries.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
The law applies to all citizens without exception. A court may not 
summon anyone without providing a written indictment stating the 
charges. Trials are public, and defendants have the option to request a 
seven-member jury. Defendants are presumed innocent, may question 
witnesses against them, and have access to government-held evidence. 
Lawyers have free access to defendants. Defendants have the right to be 
present at their trials and to consult with an attorney in a timely 
manner. Public defenders are not provided, but local lawyers 
occasionally take pro bono cases. Defendants have the right of appeal.
    The TDS and the police force both have tribunals. These tribunals 
cannot try civilians.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Any violation of a human 
right provided for in the law can be addressed in the courts. There are 
no nonjudicial administrative remedies in such matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However, 
under the state of emergency, police and TDS personnel entered homes 
without search warrants and searched for stolen goods and suspects in 
the weeks following the November 16 riot.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government did not always 
respect these rights in practice. In May it took legal action against a 
prodemocracy MP for veiled criticism of the King and in November it 
forced the closure of a private television broadcaster critical of 
government.
    Individuals generally were free to criticize the Government without 
reprisal. However, in May leading prodemocracy MP Akilisi Pohiva was 
charged with sedition after his organization displayed banners quoting 
biblical scripture in a public park. The Government interpreted the 
banners as a criticism of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. Members of the 
prodemocracy movement saw this charge as an attempt to intimidate them. 
The Government later dropped the charges.
    In March 2005 Piveni Piukala, a former employee of the monopoly 
power company partially owned by King Siaosi Tupou V, made public 
allegations of excessively high salaries and other problems within the 
company. In June 2005 he was arrested for allegedly having illegally 
retrieved information from the company's computers. At year's end he 
remained free on bail awaiting trial.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views, generally without restriction. However, the number of local 
independent media outlets was limited.
    The Overseas Broadcasting Network (OBN), one of only two private 
television stations in the country, provided generous airtime to 
prodemocracy leaders in the weeks prior to the November 16 riot. Days 
before November 16, the Government prevented the station from 
broadcasting. The Government alleged that OBN did not have a lease on 
its station land or a valid broadcast license. Both issues had been in 
litigation. Prodemocracy activists believed that OBN was shut down to 
stop political speech critical of government.
    Government-controlled media outlets were criticized for exercising 
self-censorship. While there was little editorializing in the 
government-owned media, opposition opinion in the form of letters to 
the editor, along with government statements and letters, appeared 
regularly. From time to time the national media carried comments, 
including some by prominent citizens, critical of government practices 
and policies. Under Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) guidelines, 
religious programming on Radio Tonga must be confined ``within the 
limits of the mainstream Christian tradition'' (see section 2.c.).

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Lack of infrastructure limited access to a certain extent, but there 
were Internet cafes available in the larger towns in all three of the 
country's island groups.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.
    On June 1, approximately 1,000 civil servants and prodemocracy 
activists marched through the capital and presented a petition to the 
royal family demanding immediate political reforms. The Government 
permitted the march, but police arrested 32 participants for allegedly 
refusing to comply with police instructions. Two of the accused were 
found guilty of obstructing a government servant and disorderly 
behavior in public. The convictions were upheld on appeal. The 
remaining 30 individuals were released pending a hearing, which had not 
yet been held at year's end.
    On November 16, large gatherings of proreform and antireform 
demonstrators in downtown Nuku'alofa verbally confronted each other and 
urged Parliament to back their respective views (see section 3). After 
Parliament did not meet to vote on a particular reform plan, violence 
broke out. Several thousand rioters roamed through the city's downtown 
business district. Numerous buildings were attacked, looted, and 
burned. Government buildings, businesses associated with the royal 
family and government officials, and Chinese- and Indian-owned shops 
were particular targets. Seven persons died after apparently becoming 
trapped in a burning building. Since the building's owners reported 
that all their employees were accounted for, the authorities believed 
some or all of the victims may have been participants in the riot, but 
this was not confirmed by year's end. In November and December the 
authorities arrested over 900 persons on charges connected to the riot; 
their cases were pending at year's end. An employee of a local NGO and 
the head of the Tonga Evangelical Union alleged that TDS and police 
officers mistreated some of those arrested; the Government denied the 
charges (see section 1.c.).
    The law permits political parties to register under an 
``incorporated societies'' statute. Since 2002 four parties have been 
registered (see section 3).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. However, the dominant Christian religion shows its influence 
in a constitutional provision that Sunday, the Sabbath, is to be ``kept 
holy'' and that no business can be conducted ``except according to 
law.'' Although an exception was made for bakeries, hotels, resorts, 
and restaurants that are part of the tourism industry, the Sabbath day 
prohibition was otherwise enforced strictly for all businesses, 
regardless of the business owner's religion.
    TBC guidelines require that religious programming on Radio Tonga be 
confined ``within the limits of the mainstream Christian tradition.'' 
The TBC did not allow members of the Baha'i Faith to discuss the tenets 
of their religion or refer to the founder, Baha'ullah, by name. 
Similarly, the TBC did not allow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (Mormons) to discuss its founder, Joseph Smith, or the Book 
of Mormon by name. However, members of the Baha'i Faith used a 
privately owned radio station for program activities and the 
announcement of functions, and Mormons and members of some other faiths 
were permitted to use Radio Tonga for the announcement of church 
activities. A government-owned newspaper occasionally carried news 
articles about Baha'i activities or events, as well as those of other 
faiths.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among 
religions generally were amicable. There were no reports of societal 
abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including anti-
Semitic acts. There was no known resident Jewish community.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
prior to the declaration of a state of emergency in November, the 
Government generally respected them in practice. Under the state of 
emergency the Government restricted free movement in and around the 
Government and central business district of the capital. In December 
the magistrate's court issued a restraining order under the country's 
bail act that prohibited 81 named suspects in the rioting from 
departing the country.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not 
employ it in practice.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. No persons were known to have applied for refugee status or 
temporary protection.
    The Government was not approached during the year by the Office of 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or other humanitarian 
organizations to assist with refugees or asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens do not have the ability to change their leaders or system 
of government. The King and 33 hereditary nobles dominated political 
life. They asserted authority largely through control of substantial 
landholdings and their dominant numbers in Parliament. While the 
constitution allows the monarch broad powers, many of which do not 
require Parliament's endorsement, at times the King permitted 
Parliament to operate without his guidance. The King appoints the Prime 
Minister. He also appoints and presides over the privy council (called 
the cabinet when the King or regent is not presiding), which makes 
major policy decisions. The cabinet is composed of as many as 13 
ministers and two governors; it includes nobles and commoners, all 
serving at the king's pleasure. In March the King appointed a commoner 
as prime minister, the first such appointment since the late 1800s. 
This followed a move in 2005 in which the current prime minister and 
another of the nine elected ``people's representatives'' were appointed 
to the cabinet--the first time elected ``people's representatives'' 
served as cabinet ministers.
    The unicameral Parliament consists of the cabinet members, nine 
nobles elected by their peers, and nine representatives elected by the 
general population. The King appoints the speaker from among the 
representatives of the nobles. Cabinet members and nobles often voted 
as a bloc.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Only citizens 21 years or 
older and resident in the country may vote. March 2005 elections for 
the Parliament's nine ``people's representatives'' were deemed to be 
generally free and fair and resulted in a strong showing for 
prodemocracy candidates. Subsequent by-elections also resulted in the 
election of prodemocracy candidates.
    Nobles and cabinet members associated with the royal family have 
traditionally dominated the Parliament and government. For several 
decades there has been a building democracy movement and since 2005 
three proreform political parties have been registered.
    Prodemocracy groups staged demonstrations in September 2005 and in 
June and presented petitions to the king's representative that called 
for constitutional changes, including a popularly elected parliament. 
The King did not specifically respond to these petitions. In October 
2005 Parliament commissioned the National Committee on Political Reform 
(NCPR) to ask citizens around the nation and abroad for recommendations 
about necessary political changes. The committee met with groups of 
citizens throughout the country and expatriate groups in New Zealand, 
Australia, and the United States. In late August the committee 
presented a report of its findings to the King, and on October 3, it 
presented its report to Parliament. The report recommended an elected 
parliament, with an increase from nine to 17 in the number of MPs 
elected by the general public; the 33 nobles would continue to elect 
nine MPs from among their number. The Prime Minister would be selected 
by the King from and would select cabinet members from among the 26 
elected MPs. In response to the report the cabinet suggested the 
formation of a tripartite committee to review the NCPR's 
recommendations as well as an alternative proposal for more limited 
reforms made by the Prime Minister.
    On November 16, citing security concerns due to proreform and 
antireform demonstrations in front of Parliament House, the Parliament 
did not meet to vote and thus took no action on reform recommendations. 
The large proreform demonstration subsequently degenerated into a group 
of several thousand rioters who attacked, looted and burned numerous 
buildings in the central business district (see Section 2.b.). In a 
last-minute meeting with prodemocracy leaders aimed at calming the 
crowds outside his office, the Prime Minister agreed to support a 
reform plan for a 30-member parliament with 21 representatives elected 
by the general populace and nine representatives elected by the nobles, 
to be implemented beginning with elections in January 2008. The 
agreement came too late to head off the riot. Under the constitution 
any agreement on reforms would have to be passed by Parliament and 
approved by the King before it could go into effect, and Parliament 
took no further action on reform proposals by year's end. In a speech 
on November 22 to close Parliament, the King affirmed that political 
reform should continue and requested that all political factions work 
to negotiate terms of a compromise reform plan before the next opening 
of Parliament in May 2007.
    There was one woman in the 34-member Parliament. A woman may become 
queen, but the constitution forbids a woman to inherit other noble 
titles or become a chief. There was one female government minister. 
Women held several other significant government posts, including that 
of ambassador and permanent representative to the UN.
    There was no minority participation in government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of 
government corruption during the year. Officials working in the main 
port reportedly took bribes in exchange for not charging the full 
amount of port and duty tax. In January the speaker of Parliament was 
convicted of evading customs duties and bribery of a customs officer 
and stripped of his position as well as his chiefly rank and title. He 
also was fined $9,780 (T$20,000).
    In addition government preferences appeared to benefit unfairly 
businesses associated with members of the royal family.
    At year's end the Government was considering a controversial 
measure that would close down a number of bonded warehouses at the port 
in an effort to fight corruption.
    The law does not specifically allow for public access to government 
information, and such access was a problem, especially when the 
Government deemed the information sensitive.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There are no legal barriers to the formation of domestic human 
rights NGOs. Some domestic NGOs dealt with human rights issues. 
Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their 
views. Claims of mistreatment of detainees in the wake of the November 
riot led to ad hoc investigations by several domestic NGOs (see section 
1.c.). There were no restrictions on operations by international human 
rights groups. After the post-riot allegations of mistreatment of 
detainees, two UN agencies requested information from the Government 
and asked to visit the country to conduct further investigations. These 
requests were pending at year's end.
    Government offices include a commission on public relations that 
investigates and seeks to resolve complaints about the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law confirms the special status of members of the royal family 
and the nobility. While social, cultural, and economic facilities were 
available to all citizens regardless of race and religion, members of 
the hereditary nobility had substantial advantages, including control 
over most land and a generally privileged status.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women seldom was publicized; 
however, according to local women's groups, it was very common. 
Domestic violence can be prosecuted under laws against physical 
assault, but in practice prosecutions were very rare. When abuse was 
reported to the police, victims were often encouraged to return to 
their homes. There were shelters for abused and troubled women, and the 
Free Wesleyan Church operated a hot line for women in trouble.
    Rape is punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment. The law does 
not recognize spousal rape. The incidence of rape appeared to be 
infrequent, although there were no reliable statistics. There was one 
conviction for indecent assault on a minor during the year.
    Under a Ministry of Health policy, a woman is not permitted to 
undergo a tubal ligation at a public hospital without the consent of 
her husband or, in his absence, her male next-of-kin.
    Prostitution is not illegal, but activities such as soliciting in a 
public place, procuring, operating a brothel, and trading in women are 
criminal offenses. During the year there was an increase in 
prostitution for men from foreign fishing vessels, especially among 
women under the age of 18. Sexual harassment is not a crime, but 
physical sexual assault could be prosecuted as indecent assault. Sexual 
harassment sometimes occurred, but it was not a major problem.
    Inheritance laws, especially those concerned with land, 
discriminate against women. Women can lease land, but inheritance 
rights pass through the male heirs. Under the inheritance laws, the 
claim to a father's estate by a male child born out of wedlock takes 
precedence over the claim of the deceased's widow or daughter. If there 
are no male relatives, a widow is entitled to remain on her husband's 
land as long as she does not remarry or engage in sexual intercourse. 
In August the cabinet asked the Ministry of Lands to consider 
amendments to the country's land laws to allow women to inherit 
registered land allotments in the absence of a male heir. The 
inheritance would then continue to the woman's first male descendant. 
The proposal was a subject of considerable national debate during the 
year; it was still under consideration by the ministry at year's end.
    The Office of Women within the Prime Minister's Office is 
responsible for facilitation of development projects for women. During 
the year the office assisted women's groups in setting up work 
programs.
    Women who rose to positions of leadership usually had links with 
the nobility. Some female commoners held senior leadership positions in 
business.
    The nongovernmental Center for Women and Children focused on 
domestic abuse and improving the economic and social conditions of 
women and offered counseling to women in crisis. Several religiously 
affiliated women's groups also advocated for women's legal rights.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare, and it provided some funding for children's welfare. Education 
is compulsory from ages six to 14. Education was available for all 
children through high school, and almost all children attended school. 
Education was free at the primary level, but students were required to 
pay school fees at the secondary level.
    The Government provided free basic medical care to children.
    There were some reports of child abuse. There was one conviction 
for indecent assault on a minor (see section 5, Women).
    There were reports that workers on foreign fishing vessels 
solicited underage girls for prostitution (see section 5, Women).

    Trafficking in Persons.--While the law does not specifically 
address trafficking in persons, violators could be prosecuted under 
antislavery statutes. There were no reports that persons were 
trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There are no mandated provisions for 
services for persons with disabilities. The Tonga Red Cross Society 
operated a school for children with disabilities and conducted 
occasional home visits. There were complaints of discrimination in 
employment, education, and provision of other government services. The 
queen ran a center providing accommodation and meals for adults with 
disabilities. There were no programs to ensure access to buildings for 
persons with disabilities.
    There were no restrictions on the right of persons with 
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs. There was no 
specific government agency with responsibility for protecting the 
rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the Ministry of 
Labor, ownership and operation of food retail stores in the country has 
been legally restricted to citizens since 1978. Despite this policy the 
retail sector in many towns has become increasingly dominated by 
foreigners, particularly Chinese nationals. The Immigration Department 
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attempted to enforce the 
restrictions in an effort to curb growing illegal immigration. Although 
some foreigners left as a result of the policy, others moved to 
nonrestricted sectors of the economy. There were reports of crime and 
societal discrimination targeted at members of the Chinese minority. 
Chinese- and Indian-owned shops were among the buildings targeted by 
rioters in Nuku'alofa on November 16 (see section 2.b.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons who engaged in 
openly homosexual behavior faced societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers gained the right to form 
unions under the 1964 Trade Union Act, but regulations on the formation 
of unions were never promulgated, and there were no official unions. 
The Friendly Islands Teachers Association and the Tonga Nurses 
Association were incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act; 
however, they had no formal bargaining rights under the act. The Public 
Servants Association acted as a de facto union representing all 
government employees during the six-week, nationwide civil servants' 
strike for a wage increase in 2005.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits 
collective bargaining, but there were no implementing regulations. In 
2005 the Government and public sector employees engaged in collective 
bargaining to resolve a strike by civil servants for higher wages. The 
Government ultimately granted a wage increase.
    The Trade Unions Act provides workers with the right to strike, but 
implementing regulations were never formulated. There were no strikes 
during the year.
    Labor laws apply in all sectors of the economy, including the two 
small export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred among citizens. In March three 
Bangladeshi nationals alleged that after they came to the country in 
August 2005 to work for a local business they were obliged to work long 
hours and were not paid their promised salaries. One of the men alleged 
that the company chairman's wife assaulted him after he contacted a 
lawyer for assistance. The company denied the charges and claimed that 
the men's salaries had been sent directly to their families in 
Bangladesh. At year's end the assault charge was still pending, but the 
plaintiffs were not actively pursuing the case.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although there is no legislation prohibiting child labor, the practice 
did not exist in the wage economy.
    There were reports of underage girls involved in prostitution (see 
section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no minimum wage law, 
although there are government guidelines for wage levels. According to 
the Asian Development Bank, in 2005, 23 percent of 16 communities 
surveyed earned less than $14 (T$29) per person per week, which did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Labor laws 
and regulations, enforced by the Ministry of Labor, Commerce, and 
Industries, limited the workweek to 40 hours. The ministry enforced 
laws and regulations in the wage sector of the economy, particularly on 
the main island of Tongatapu, but enforcement in the agricultural 
sector and on the outer islands was less consistent.
    Few industries exposed workers to significant danger, and 
industrial accidents were rare. The Government seldom addressed 
industrial safety standards, including the right of workers to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations.

                               __________

                                 TUVALU

    Tuvalu is a parliamentary democracy and British Commonwealth member 
with a population of approximately 11,000. In August citizens elected a 
15-member unicameral parliament in generally free and fair elections. 
There were no formal political parties. Following the elections a loose 
coalition of eight members of Parliament formed a new government and 
selected Apisai Ielemia as prime minister. The civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the police, the only security 
force.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary generally provide effective means 
of addressing individual instances of abuse. However, there were a few 
areas of concern. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and members of 
the public alleged that certain members of government were corrupt. 
Traditional customs and social patterns led to and perpetuated 
religious and social discrimination, including discrimination against 
women.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed them.
    Local hereditary elders exercise discretionary traditional 
punishment and disciplinary authority. This includes the right to 
inflict corporal punishment for infringement of customary rules, which 
can be at odds with the national law. However, during the year there 
were no reports of such corporal punishment.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by local church representatives. At least one independent 
international human rights observer also visited prison facilities 
during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Office of the Prime 
Minister oversees the country's only security force, the 73-member 
national police service. Most police were stationed on Funafuti Island, 
with one regular and one auxiliary officer serving on each of the other 
islands. The police generally were regarded as professional and 
effective, although women's rights advocates criticized them for 
failing to take the issue of domestic violence seriously enough.
    Senior officers investigate allegations of police abuse on a case-
by-case basis, and the police commissioner reviews any proposed 
punishment. Corruption and impunity were not significant problems.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law permit arrests 
without warrants if a police officer witnesses the commission of an 
unlawful act or has ``reasonable suspicion'' that an offense is about 
to be committed. Police estimated that approximately 80 percent of 
arrests were of this type. The police may hold a person arrested 
without a warrant for no more than 24 hours without a hearing before a 
magistrate. When a court issues an arrest warrant, the maximum 
permissible detention time before a hearing must be held is stated on 
the warrant and normally is one to two weeks.
    There was a functioning system of bail. Arrested persons generally 
were promptly informed of the charges against them, although 
bureaucratic delays sometimes occurred (see section 1.e.). Detainees 
had prompt access to family members and to the people's lawyer (public 
defender); the country had no attorneys in private practice.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice.
    There is a two-tier judicial system. Higher courts include the High 
Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Sovereign in Council (Privy 
Council) in the United Kingdom. Lower courts consist of senior and 
resident magistrates, the island courts, and the land court. A 
nonresident expatriate chief justice appointed by the governor general 
presides over the High Court, which generally sits twice a year.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right.
    Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. The 
accused must be informed of the nature of the offenses with which they 
are charged and provided the time and facilities required to prepare a 
defense. The public defender expressed concern that on occasion 
bureaucratic delays resulted in several months passing before an 
accused was informed of the charges. The law provides for a presumption 
of innocence and the right to confront witnesses, present evidence, and 
appeal convictions. Procedural safeguards are based on British common 
law. The services of the independent public defender are available to 
all citizens without charge.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government occasionally 
limited these rights in practice.
    Citizens were free to criticize the Government publicly or 
privately without reprisal, and there were no reports that the 
Government sought to impede such criticism.
    There were no private, independent media. The Tuvalu Media 
Corporation (TMC), a public corporation, controlled the country's sole 
radio station and a monthly newsletter. Local news, information, and 
music were broadcast five and a half hours per day. The remaining radio 
programming consisted of rebroadcasts of BBC programs. There was no 
television. Videotapes circulated freely and were widely available; 
however, pornography in all forms is illegal. Following previous 
criticism of government influence and self-censorship at the TMC, human 
rights activists reported that the TMC's limited coverage of political 
and human rights issues, including coverage critical of the Government, 
increased somewhat during the year. Following his August election new 
Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia called for a freer media, and after some 
initial differences regarding their relationship with the new 
government, the media reported less government interference.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
However, the relative lack of telecommunications infrastructure, 
especially beyond the capital island of Funafuti, and relatively high 
costs restricted public access to and use of the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the High Court has held that traditional village 
authorities may restrict this right in certain circumstances.
    The constitution also states that the laws are to be based on 
Christian principles. Despite official tolerance, religious homogeneity 
(more than 90 percent of citizens are members of the Church of Tuvalu, 
a Congregationalist denomination) and traditional structures of 
communal life posed practical barriers to the introduction and spread 
of other religious beliefs. The law requires churches to register, and 
they must have a minimum of 50 members to do so.
    In December 2005 the Tuvalu Brethren Church appealed an October 
2005 ruling by the High Court that the constitution permits local 
traditional authorities to restrict the constitutional right to 
religious freedom in defense of traditional mores. In May 2005 the 
Brethren Church had filed a complaint against the traditional island 
council of Nanumaga after the council banned the introduction of new 
religions to that island and ordered church members to stop further 
proselytizing.
    In April the Nanumaga council passed a further resolution banning 
all new churches and threatening local council workers with dismissal 
if they worshipped with the Brethren Church. In June the council 
dismissed without proper notice five council workers who were Brethren 
Church members. At year's end the Court of Appeal had not yet met to 
consider the case.
    In January the council of elders on Funafuti Island issued a 
resolution prohibiting the establishment or practice of ``any new 
religion'' not already established on the island and specifically 
prohibiting the construction of a Brethren church. In June the High 
Court issued a temporary injunction prohibiting any actions against the 
Brethren Church and its missionary work on Funafuti. The court briefly 
considered the case at its October session but then adjourned until 
2007.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a degree of societal 
intolerance toward religions other than established Christian 
denominations, particularly on the outer islands. There was no known 
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
practice it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum. The 
Government maintained its general cooperation with the Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations, 
but the issue of assisting refugees and asylum seekers did not arise 
during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens freely and 
directly elect a 15-member unicameral parliament with a normal term of 
four years. Each of the country's eight main islands is administered by 
a six-person council, also elected by universal suffrage to four-year 
terms. The minimum voting age is 18 years.
    The most recent general elections, held in August, were generally 
free and fair. An eight-member majority of the newly elected Parliament 
selected Apisai Ielemia, a former opposition parliamentarian, as prime 
minister, replacing Maatia Toafa.
    There were no formal political parties; however, Parliament has 
tended to divide between an ad hoc faction with at least the necessary 
eight votes to form a government and an informal opposition faction.
    Participation by women in government and politics was limited, 
largely due to traditional perceptions of women's role in society. 
There were no female members of Parliament or cabinet ministers. Two 
women ran for election to Parliament in August but both lost.
    There were no members of minorities in the legislature or the 
cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Laws against corruption 
are weak. There was a widespread public perception that the Government 
lacked transparency and accountability, that public funds sometimes 
were mismanaged, and that government officials benefited unfairly from 
their positions, particularly in regard to overseas travel and related 
payments and benefits. The electoral defeat of the previous government 
in August was attributed in part to the introduction of new, increased 
travel benefits for government officials at a time of economic 
hardship. As one of its first acts, the newly elected government banned 
overseas travel by government officials other than in exceptional 
cases.
    The law provides for annual, public ministerial reports, but 
publication was spotty and often nonexistent. The Auditor General's 
Office, responsible for providing government oversight, was underfunded 
and lacked serious parliamentary support. Consequently it had 
inadequate staff and resources.
    There is no law providing for public access to government 
information. In practice the Government was only somewhat cooperative 
in responding to individual requests for such information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no local NGOs concerned entirely with human rights, 
although there were no known barriers to their establishment. Some 
human rights advocates, such as the Tuvalu National Council of Women, 
operated under the aegis of the Tuvalu Association of Nongovernmental 
Organizations, which was composed primarily of religious organizations. 
The people's lawyer, who served as a public defender, also monitored 
sentencing, equality before the law, and human rights issues in 
general. This institution, which at times has been critical of the 
Government, nonetheless was supported by the Government, which 
frequently sought its advice. The few other local organizations 
involved in human rights issues generally operated without government 
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human 
rights cases. However, opportunities to publicize such information 
locally were severely limited due to the lack of local print and 
electronic media. Government officials were somewhat cooperative and 
responsive to local organizations' views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and 
place of origin, and the Government generally enforced these 
prohibitions. The Tuvalu National Council of Women has urged the 
Government to amend the law to specifically prohibit discrimination on 
the basis of gender, but no action was taken on this proposal during 
the year.

    Women.--Reports of violence against women were rare. Women's rights 
observers reported, however, that it was not possible to estimate 
accurately the incidence of domestic violence, due to a lack of data. 
They criticized the police for seeking to address violence against 
women using traditional and customary methods of reconciliation rather 
than criminal prosecution. The law does not address domestic violence 
specifically. Acts of domestic violence are prosecuted under the 
assault provisions of the penal code. The maximum penalty for common 
assault is six months' imprisonment, and for assault with actual bodily 
harm, it is five years. Domestic violence was not a source of broad 
societal debate. However, the Women's Department of the Ministry of 
Home Affairs sponsored a well-received national radio discussion on 
violence against women, in which the police encouraged women to report 
domestic violence. The police practiced a ``no drop'' policy under 
which they cannot drop charges in cases of domestic violence. There 
were no shelters or hot lines for abused women. Rape is a crime 
punishable by a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment, but 
spousal rape is not included in the legal definition of this offense.
    Prostitution and sex tourism are illegal and were not problems. The 
law does not prohibit sexual harassment specifically but prohibits 
indecent behavior, which includes lewd touching. Sexual harassment was 
not a significant problem.
    Although the constitution provides that its bill of rights 
provisions apply to all regardless of ``race, place of origin, 
political opinions, color, religious beliefs or lack of religious 
beliefs, or sex,'' its provision on freedom from discrimination omits a 
specific reference to discrimination based on gender. Women's rights 
advocates have cited this contradiction as denying women full 
constitutional rights and freedoms. In January 2005, as part of its 
decision in a child custody case, the High Court stated that the 
omission of gender as a ground of discrimination in the constitution 
was deliberate and there is no constitutional protection against gender 
discrimination. The court also stated that although the country 
ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the lack of implementing 
legislation meant that CEDAW has no effect on the treatment of women 
under national law.
    The law generally treats men and women equally, but there remained 
some areas in which the law contributed to an unequal status for women. 
For example, the land inheritance rights of the Tuvalu Lands Code are 
based in part on customary practices. If survivors cannot agree on the 
settlement of an estate, the law specifically provides for sons to 
inherit a greater share of property than daughters, although the law 
allows appeal of such property distributions. In addition the Native 
Lands Ordinance states that after the age of two any illegitimate 
child, if accepted by the father, shall reside with him or his 
relations.
    In practice women held a subordinate societal position, constrained 
both by law in some areas and by traditional customary practices. 
Nonetheless, women increasingly held positions in the health and 
education sectors and were more active politically. In the wage 
economy, men held most higher-paying positions, while women held the 
clear majority of lower-paying clerical and retail positions.

    Children.--Government funding for children's welfare was reasonable 
within the context of its total available resources. Education was 
free, compulsory, and universal for children through age 13. Primary 
school enrollment rates were 87 percent for boys and 88 percent for 
girls, according to the Asian Development Bank. However, only about 
one-third of secondary-school-age children (ages 15 to 19) attended 
school. The attendance rate for girls at the secondary school level was 
approximately 10 percent higher than that for boys and approximately 40 
percent higher in the last two years of secondary school. Students 
competed for academic scholarships to attend universities overseas or 
participated in vocational training focusing on subsistence farming and 
maritime training for men and computer or other business training for 
women. The Government provided free medical care for children through 
age 18.
    The Government did not compile child abuse statistics, and there 
were no reported cases of child abuse or child prostitution during the 
year. However, anecdotal evidence indicated that child abuse occurred. 
Corporal punishment, in the form of strokes of a cane or paddle, was 
common in schools.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits procurement of persons 
within and across borders for purposes of prostitution. It does not 
mention or prohibit trafficking specifically, but there were no reports 
that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Neither the constitution nor the law 
prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disability. 
There were no known reports of discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, or the provision of other state 
services, nor were there restrictions on the right of persons with 
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs. However, 
supplementary state services to address the special needs of persons 
with disabilities were very limited. There are no mandated 
accessibility provisions for persons with disabilities.
    There was no government agency with specific responsibility for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
association. Workers were free to organize unions and choose their own 
labor representatives, but most of the population lacked permanent 
employment and was engaged in subsistence activity.
    Public sector employees such as civil servants, teachers, and 
nurses were members of professional associations that did not have 
union status. The only registered trade union, the Tuvalu Seamen's 
Union, had approximately 1,100 members, who worked on foreign merchant 
vessels.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for conciliation, arbitration, and settlement procedures in 
cases of labor disputes. Although there are provisions for collective 
bargaining, in practice the few individual private sector employers set 
their own wage scales. Both the private and public sectors generally 
used nonconfrontational deliberations to resolve labor disputes.
    The law provides for the right to strike, but no strike has ever 
taken place.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits children under age 14 from working in the formal labor 
market. The law also prohibits children under age 15 from industrial 
employment or work on any ship and stipulates that children under age 
18 are not allowed to enter into formal contracts, including work 
contracts. Children rarely were employed outside the traditional 
economy of subsistence farming and fishing.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage, set by the 
Government, was barely sufficient to allow a worker and family in the 
wage economy to maintain a decent standard of living. The biweekly 
minimum wage in the public sector was $99 (A$130), regardless of sex 
and age. In most cases the private sector adopted the same minimum wage 
rate.
    The Ministry of Labor may specify the days and hours of work for 
workers in various industries. The law sets the workday at eight hours. 
The majority of workers were outside the wage economy, which was 
primarily on the main island.
    The law provides for rudimentary health and safety standards. It 
requires employers to provide an adequate potable water supply, basic 
sanitary facilities, and medical care. The Ministry of Labor is 
responsible for the enforcement of these regulations, but in practice 
it provided only minimum enforcement.
    Workers can remove themselves from work situations that endanger 
health or safety without jeopardy to their jobs; the law also protects 
legal foreign workers.

                               __________

                                VANUATU

    Vanuatu is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a population 
of approximately 218,000. The constitution provides for parliamentary 
elections based on universal suffrage every four years. The 52-member 
Parliament elects the Prime Minister as the head of government. An 
electoral college composed of the members of Parliament (MPs) and the 
chairmen of the country's six provincial government councils elects the 
President as the head of state for a five-year term. The President's 
powers are largely ceremonial. The Council of Chiefs provides 
recommendations on matters relating to custom and traditional 
practices. The most recent elections, held in July 2004, were 
considered generally free and fair. Prime Minister Han Lini's 
government, a seven-party coalition, enjoyed relative political 
stability during the year, surviving a vote of no confidence in March. 
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces; however, police officials on occasion have acted 
peremptorily or at the direction of senior politicians.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. These included 
poor prison conditions, arrests without warrants, an extremely slow 
judicial process, government corruption, and violence and 
discrimination against women.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were 
no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions were poor at 
the small, dilapidated prisons. Security at all facilities was poor, 
and there were frequent prisoner escapes. In December 2005 the 
Government released 52 prisoners, citing poor prison sanitation and 
overcrowding as the reasons for the release. In October a new temporary 
prison was opened in Luganville, which helped to reduce overcrowding 
and improve sanitation. Pretrial detainees usually were held in the 
police lockup rather than the prison. Persons deemed mentally unfit to 
stand trial were held with the general prison population. At least one 
juvenile was held together with adults.
    Over the year the Government began a modernization program to 
replace outdated prisons. An amended Vanuatu Correction Services Act 
took effect in August, creating a new Department of Correctional 
Services. In October and November, over 30 newly hired and trained 
civilian correctional and probation officers replaced police wardens in 
all facilities.
    The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights 
observers, although there were no requests for visits during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The commissioner of 
police heads the police force of approximately 500 officers, including 
a police maritime wing, and the paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force 
(VMF). A new commissioner of police assumed command of the police force 
in September. Police effectiveness was hampered by a lack of resources 
and by internal rivalries. The Police College Recruitment Office 
conducted interviews for 60 new officer positions in October, marking 
the first recruitment of new officers in seven years. Corruption and 
impunity were not major problems; however, there were some instances of 
corruption, and there have been some instances in which police have 
acted without proper authorization at the behest of politicians.

    Arrest and Detention.--A warrant issued by a court is required for 
an arrest; however, police made a small number of arrests without 
warrants during the year. The constitutional provision that suspects 
must be informed of the charges against them generally was observed in 
practice.
    A system of bail operated effectively; however, some persons not 
granted bail spent lengthy periods in pretrial detention due to 
judicial inefficiency. Judges, prosecutors, and police complained about 
large case backlogs due to a lack of resources and limited numbers of 
qualified judges and prosecutors. Years could pass before a case is 
brought to trial. Detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and 
family members. A public defender's office provides counsel to indigent 
defendants.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    Magistrates' courts deal with most routine legal matters. Island 
courts are present at the local level, with limited jurisdiction in 
civil and criminal matters. The Supreme Court, an intermediate-level 
court, has unlimited jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters and 
considers appeals from the magistrates' courts. The President appoints 
the chief justice of the Supreme Court after consultation with the 
Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition; the three other 
justices are appointed by the President on the advice of the Judicial 
Services Commission. The Appeals Court is the highest appellate court. 
It comprises at least three judges, including at least two judges from 
the Supreme Court, and often includes senior judges from other common-
law countries in the region. Judges cannot be removed without cause.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
However, the judiciary was relatively weak and inefficient, and some 
defendants spent extended periods in pretrial detention as a result 
(see section 1.d.). The judicial system is derived from British common 
law. Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. 
The courts uphold constitutional provisions for a fair public trial; a 
presumption of innocence until guilt is proven; a prohibition against 
double jeopardy; a right to judicial determination of the validity of 
arrest or detention; a right to question witnesses; and a right of 
appeal to a higher court.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary for civil matters; however, police were 
reluctant to enforce domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
    The Government controlled the country's one AM and one FM radio 
station and a limited-service television station that broadcast only to 
the capital of Port Vila and the second-largest city, Luganville. 
Access to international news and information also was available through 
private subscription satellite television service. There was one 
independent daily newspaper and one independent weekly newspaper. 
During the year most international correspondents, government-owned 
media, and the independent press reported criticisms of political 
leaders freely and apparently without hindrance. However, at times some 
individual politicians and their supporters have attempted to 
intimidate the media, although with no apparent effect. In March 
members of a police rugby team allegedly assaulted a reporter during a 
rugby match. The day after his newspaper published a report of this 
incident, seven police officers arrested and briefly held Marc-Neil 
Jones, editor of the Daily Post newspaper, allegedly in retaliation for 
criticism of the behavior of the police rugby team. The police 
commissioner suspended one officer involved in the assault, and this 
suspension was lifted in December. The officers involved in the arrest 
were required to issue an apology, which was reportedly never 
delivered.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The Government provided some financial assistance for the 
construction of churches affiliated with member denominations of the 
Vanuatu Christian Council, provided grants to church-operated schools, 
and paid teachers' salaries at church-operated schools in existence 
since the country's independence. These benefits were not available to 
non-Christian religious organizations. Government schools also 
scheduled weekly religious education classes conducted by 
representatives of Council churches. Students whose parents did not 
wish them to attend the classes were excused. Non-Christian religions 
were not permitted to give religious instruction in public schools.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's Jewish community 
was limited to a few expatriates, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not address forced exile, but the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government did not provide protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or 
asylum. The Government had no association with the Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary 
elections were last held in July 2004 and were considered generally 
free and fair. During the year no further action was taken against 
alleged participants in the burning of several ballot boxes on the 
island of Tanna during the elections. Parliamentary majorities have 
been unstable, with frequent motions for votes of no confidence in the 
Government.
    Traditional attitudes regarding male dominance and customary 
familial roles hampered women's participation in economic and political 
life. There were two women in the 52-member Parliament. There was one 
woman in the cabinet.
    There were at least two members of minorities (non-Melanesians) in 
Parliament, one of whom was in the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year. The law provides for 
the appointment of public servants on the basis of merit; however, in 
practice political interference at times has hampered the effective 
operation of the civil service. The Court of Appeal found several 
officials from the Vanuatu Maritime Authority not guilty in a 2005 case 
involving criminal conspiracy for alleged mishandling the awarding of 
licenses and contracts.
    No law provides for public access to government information. In 
practice governmental response to requests for information from the 
media was inconsistent.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated 
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The President appoints a government ombudsman to a five-year term 
in consultation with other political leaders. The law requires that the 
Public Service Commission, not the ombudsman, appoint members of the 
ombudsman's staff and authorizes the presence of legal counsel during 
interviews with the ombudsman. Since its establishment, the ombudsman's 
office has issued a number of reports critical of government 
institutions and officials. However, the ombudsman did not have 
adequate resources. The ombudsman did not have independent power to 
prosecute, and the results of its investigations may not be used as 
evidence in court proceedings.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, place of 
origin, religious or traditional beliefs, political opinion, language, 
or sex; however, women remained victims of discrimination in the 
tradition-based society.

    Women.--Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, was 
common, although no accurate statistics existed. There are no specific 
laws against domestic violence; courts occasionally prosecuted 
offenders using common law assault as a basis for prosecution. Under a 
2002 revision of the civil procedure rules, magistrates have the 
authority to issue domestic violence protection orders. However, most 
cases of violence against women, including rape, went unreported 
because women, particularly in rural areas, were ignorant of their 
rights or feared further abuse. Although rape is a crime, with a 
maximum penalty of life imprisonment, spousal rape is not cited 
specifically in the law, and police frequently were reluctant to 
intervene in what were considered domestic matters. There were no 
government programs to address domestic violence, and media attention 
to the abuse was limited. Churches and other NGOs ran facilities for 
abused women. NGOs such as the National Council of Women and the 
Vanuatu Women's Center also played an important role in educating the 
public about domestic violence, but did not have sufficient funding to 
fully implement its programs.
    Prostitution is illegal and was not regarded as a serious problem. 
Although there is no law against sex tourism, no incidents were 
reported. Sexual harassment is not illegal and was a problem.
    While women have equal rights under the law, they are only slowly 
emerging from a traditional culture characterized by male dominance, a 
general reluctance to educate women, and a widespread belief that women 
should devote themselves primarily to childbearing. The majority of 
women entered into marriage through ``bride-price payment,'' a practice 
that encouraged men to view women as property. Women also were barred 
by tradition from land ownership. Many female leaders viewed village 
chiefs as major obstacles to social, political, and economic rights for 
women. Women interested in running for public office received 
encouragement and help from the NGO Vanuatu Women in Politics.
    On November 27, the National Parliament ratified the optional 
protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination against Women.

    Children.--Access to education was limited, and school attendance 
was not compulsory. Less than 35 percent of all children advanced 
beyond elementary school due to a shortage of schools and teachers 
beyond grade six. Boys tended to receive more education than girls. 
Although attendance rates were similar in the early primary grades 
(approximately 79 percent for boys and 78 percent for girls), fewer 
girls advanced to the higher grades. A significant portion of the 
population, perhaps as high as 50 percent, was functionally illiterate. 
Medical services were free, and there was an immunization program; 
however, the Government had few resources for medical care, 
particularly in outlying provinces where there were no hospitals.
    Child abuse was not believed to be extensive; however, the 
Government did little to combat the problem. NGOs and law enforcement 
agencies reported increased complaints of incest and rape of children 
in recent years, but no statistics were available. Children generally 
were protected within the traditional extended family system. Members 
of the extended family played an active role in a child's development. 
Virtually no children were homeless or abandoned.
    The legal age for marriage is 21, although boys between 18 and 21 
and girls between 16 and 21 may marry with parental permission. In 
practice, in rural areas and some outer islands, some children married 
at younger ages.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons 
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There was no governmental or national 
policy on persons with disabilities and no legislation mandating access 
to buildings for them. There were no special programs to assist persons 
with disabilities. Their protection and care was left to the 
traditional extended family and to NGOs. Due to high rates of 
unemployment, there were few jobs available for persons with 
disabilities. Persons with mental illness generally did not receive 
specialized care; they usually were attended by members of their 
extended families.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Most of the population is 
Melanesian. Small minorities of Chinese, Fijians, Vietnamese, Tongans, 
and Europeans generally were concentrated in two towns and on a few 
plantations. Most of the land belongs to indigenous tribes and cannot 
be sold, although prime real estate was increasingly leased to others. 
Within the limits of this system of land tenure, there generally were 
no reports of discrimination against ethnic minorities; however, only 
indigenous farmers can legally grow kava, a native herb, for export.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all workers with the 
right to organize and join unions, and workers exercised this right in 
practice. Approximately 25,000 persons participated in the formal 
economy as wage earners. Combined union membership in the private and 
public sectors was approximately 1,000. The two existing trade unions, 
the Vanuatu Teacher's Union and the Vanuatu National Worker's Union, 
were independent of the Government. They were grouped under an umbrella 
organization, the Vanuatu Council of Trade Unions (VCTU). The high 
percentage of the population still engaged in subsistence agriculture 
and fishing precluded extensive union activity. Unions require 
government permission to affiliate with international labor 
federations. The Government has not denied any union such permission.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions 
exercised the right to organize and bargain collectively. They 
negotiated wages and conditions directly with management. If the two 
sides cannot agree, the matter is referred to a three-member 
arbitration board appointed by the minister of home affairs. The board 
consists of one representative from organized labor, one from 
management, and the senior magistrate of the Magistrate's Court. While 
a dispute is before the board, labor may not strike and management may 
not dismiss union employees. However, unions and management generally 
reached agreement on wages without arbitration.
    In August 2005 employees of Air Vanuatu held a one-day strike to 
protest proposed layoffs. Police refused to issue a demonstration 
permit to the National Workers Union, which sought to march in support 
of the Air Vanuatu workers. In September 2005 the airline dismissed 26 
employees, and the National Workers Union later alleged that police and 
VMF members threatened union members who were picketing. According to 
the union, the picketers were warned that they would lose their jobs if 
they did not stop their protest and return to work. Air Vanuatu denied 
the union's allegations and asserted that the authorities were brought 
in only to ensure normal operations at the airport.
    In March frustration over the Government's inaction in these and 
other industrial disputes led 58 unionists with the National Workers 
Union to stage actions at Air Vanuatu, Eric Wong store, Vanuatu 
Abattoir Ltd., and Unelco. The unionists were subsequently charged with 
unlawful assembly, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted arson. In 
September the unionists were found guilty of unlawful imprisonment and 
attempted arson.
    Complaints of antiunion discrimination are referred to the 
Department of Labor. During the year there were reports made by 
unionists of employer violations of ratified International Labor 
Organization (ILO) conventions, although all investigations were 
ongoing as of year's end.
    While the law does not require union recognition, it prohibits 
antiunion discrimination once a union is recognized. The law prohibits 
retaliation for legal strikes. In the case of private-sector employees, 
complaints of violations are referred to the Department of Labor for 
conciliation and arbitration. In the public sector, the Public Service 
Commission handles complaints of violations. Unions are required by law 
to give 30 days' notice of intent to strike and to provide a list of 
the names of potential strikers. The Government ratified the eight core 
ILO conventions in August.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there 
were no reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits children under age 12 from working outside family-owned 
agricultural production, where many children assisted their parents. 
The employment of children from 12 to 18 years of age was restricted by 
occupational category and conditions of labor, including employment in 
the shipping industry and nighttime employment. The Department of Labor 
effectively enforced these laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Department of Labor 
effectively enforced a legislated minimum wage. In September 2005 
Parliament set the minimum wage at approximately $189 (20,000 vatu) per 
month, a substantial increase from the $151 (16,000 vatu) rate in place 
since 1995. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of 
living for an urban worker and family. However, most families were not 
dependent solely on wages for their livelihood, supplementing incomes 
through subsistence farming. Various laws regulated benefits such as 
sick leave, annual vacations, and other conditions of employment, such 
as a 44-hour maximum workweek that included at least one 24-hour rest 
period.
    The Employment Act, enforced by the Department of Labor, includes 
provisions for safety standards. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their 
continued employment. However, the safety and health law was inadequate 
to protect workers engaged in logging, agriculture, construction, and 
manufacturing, and the single inspector attached to the Department of 
Labor could not enforce the law fully. Laws on working conditions and 
safety standards apply equally to foreign workers and citizens.

                               __________

                                VIETNAM

    The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an authoritarian state ruled 
by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Its population is 
approximately 84.1 million. The CPV's constitutionally mandated primacy 
and the continued occupancy of all key government positions by party 
members allowed it to set national policy. However, the CPV continued 
to reduce its formal involvement in government operations and allowed 
the Government to exercise significant discretion in implementing 
policy. There were no other legal political parties. The most recent 
National Assembly elections, held in 2002, were neither free nor fair, 
since all candidates were chosen by the CPV's Vietnam Fatherland Front 
(VFF), an umbrella group that monitored the country's popular 
organizations. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained unsatisfactory. Some 
government officials, particularly at the local level, continued to 
commit abuses despite a concerted push by central authorities to 
address abuse concerns, especially of religious freedom. Citizens could 
not change their government, and political opposition movements were 
officially prohibited and some activists arrested, although several 
nascent opposition organizations were not completely suppressed. The 
Government sought to reinforce its controls over the press and the 
Internet. In a few instances, police abused suspects during arrest, 
detention, and interrogation. Prison conditions were often severe but 
generally did not threaten the lives of prisoners. Security forces 
generally operated with impunity, and there was one credible report of 
an extrajudicial killing by security forces. Individuals were 
arbitrarily detained for political activities. Persons were denied the 
right to fair and expeditious trials. The Government limited citizens' 
privacy rights and freedom of speech, press, assembly, movement, and 
association. The Government maintained its prohibition of independent 
human rights organizations. Violence and discrimination against women 
persisted, as did limited child prostitution and trafficking in women 
and children, although the Government intensified its efforts to combat 
trafficking. Some ethnic minority groups suffered societal 
discrimination. The Government continued to limit workers' rights, 
especially to organize independently.
    The Government's economic reforms and the rising standard of living 
continued to reduce CPV and government control over, and intrusion 
into, daily life. The Government also continued to forge greater links 
with the outside world, with a corresponding change in attitude toward 
human rights. The Government released its sole remaining prisoner 
recognized as having been incarcerated for reasons connected to his 
faith, as well as all but two of those widely regarded as political 
prisoners. Conditions for most religious believers were markedly 
improved from previous years; in particular, hundreds of Protestant 
congregations were legalized throughout the country.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
there was one credible report of an extrajudicial killing by security 
forces. According to persons in the Central Highlands, in mid-July Y 
Ngo Adrong, an ethnic Jarai, was arrested in Ea Hleo District in Dak 
Lak Province, reportedly for using a cellular telephone to communicate 
with members of the ethnic minority community abroad. Subsequently, 
police announced that Adrong hanged himself in his prison cell, 
although bruises on his torso strongly suggested that he died from a 
beating. Police reportedly refused to allow unfettered access to the 
body and paid approximately $1,000 (15 million VND) in compensation to 
the family.
    There were no developments in identifying and punishing police 
members responsible for the 2004 killings of protesters in the Central 
Highlands.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits physical abuse; however, police 
sometimes physically mistreated suspects while arresting them or 
holding them in custody.
    In June commune-employed security officers detained and beat two 
Protestants belonging to an unregistered house church in Thanh Hoa 
Province. In July commune officers beat two women of the same group 
after they attempted to visit the home used by the congregation as a 
place of worship. The provincial security department reportedly 
investigated the incidents. In September two commune security officers 
received administrative punishment from the commune leadership in 
connection with the June incident (see section 2.c.).
    There were credible reports that in July a member of an ethnic 
minority died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody in 
the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak (see section 1.a.). There was 
no apparent official investigation, and local police reportedly sought 
to suppress information on the incident.
    In August in Ho Chi Minh City, at least one political activist 
reported that police beat him about the head and neck while 
interrogating him about his activities.
    In September police struck and manhandled political activist Pham 
Hong Son as they detained him following his visit to the Hanoi 
residence of dissident Hoang Minh Chinh. After several hours of 
interrogation, police released Son without charge.
    On November 2, political dissident Bui Kim Thanh was involuntarily 
committed to the national mental hospital in Dong Nai Province. Thanh, 
a member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), was responsible for 
providing legal support and organizing individuals with land disputes 
in the south against the Government. The Government refused foreign 
observers' requests to meet with Thanh or discuss her case with police 
or hospital officials.
    There was no discernable official follow-up in the September 2005 
beating of two ethnic Dzao Protestants in the Central Highlands 
province of Kon Tum.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no credible reports that 
ethnic minority Protestants were forced to perform acts against their 
religious beliefs.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions could be 
severe but generally did not threaten the lives of prisoners. 
Overcrowding, insufficient diet, and poor sanitation reportedly 
remained serious problems in many prisons. Prisoners had access to 
basic health care, with additional medical services available at 
district- or provincial-level hospitals. Prisoners generally were 
required to work but received no wages (see section 6.c.). Diplomatic 
observers reported Spartan but generally acceptable conditions. 
Prisoners reportedly were sometimes moved to solitary confinement, 
where they were deprived of reading and writing materials, for periods 
of up to several months.
    The Government did not permit the International Committee of the 
Red Cross or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to visit prisons. 
Diplomatic observers were permitted to visit at least two prisons in 
the southern area of the country.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, the Government continued to arrest and 
detain citizens for their political activities.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Internal security 
primarily is the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Security 
(MPS); however, in some remote areas the military is the primary 
government agency and provides public safety functions, including 
maintaining public order in the event of civil unrest. The MPS controls 
the police, a special national security investigative agency, and other 
internal security units. It also maintains a system of household 
registration and block wardens to monitor the population, concentrating 
on those suspected of engaging, or likely to engage, in unauthorized 
political activities, but this system became less pervasive in its 
intrusion into most citizens' daily lives.
    Police organizations exist at the provincial, district, and local 
levels and are subject to the authority of the people's committees at 
each level. The police were generally effective at maintaining 
political stability and public order, but police capacities, especially 
investigative, were very low. Police training and resources were 
inadequate. Corruption was a significant problem among the police force 
at all levels, and most police officers acted with impunity. Internal 
police oversight structures existed but were subject to political 
influence. The reported punishment of two commune-level security 
officers in Thanh Hoa Province for abusing a detainee was unprecedented 
(see section 1.c.).

    Arrest and Detention.--The criminal procedure code outlines the 
process by which individuals are taken into custody and treated until 
they are brought before a court or other tribunal for judgment. The 
Supreme People's Procuracy (the public prosecutor) issues arrest 
warrants, generally at the request of police; however, police may make 
an arrest without a warrant on the basis of a complaint filed by any 
person. The procuracy issues retroactive warrants in such cases. The 
procuracy must issue a decision to initiate a formal criminal 
investigation of a detainee within nine days; otherwise, police must 
release the suspect. In the past this requirement was often 
circumvented, but during the year most detainees apparently were 
promptly informed of the charges against them.
    The investigative period may last from three months for ``less 
serious'' offenses (punishable by up to three years' imprisonment) to 
16 months for ``exceptionally serious'' offenses (punishable by more 
than 15 years' imprisonment or capital punishment), or 20 months for 
national security cases. The code further permits the procuracy to 
request additional two-month periods of detention after an 
investigation to consider whether to prosecute a detainee or ask the 
police to investigate further. There was no functioning bail system or 
equivalent system of conditional release. Time spent in pretrial 
detention counts toward time served upon conviction and sentencing.
    Although legal counsel is a constitutional right for all persons 
accused of crimes, a scarcity of trained lawyers made prompt detainee 
access to an attorney rare. In general only persons formally charged 
with capital crimes were assigned lawyers.
    By law detainees are permitted access to lawyers from the time of 
their detention, but bureaucratic delays frequently limited initial 
detainee contacts with their attorneys. In national security cases, 
authorities can delay defense lawyers' access to clients until after an 
investigation has ended and the suspect has been formally charged with 
a crime. Lawyers must be informed of and allowed to attend 
interrogations of their clients. They must also be given access to case 
files and be permitted to make copies of documents. Attorneys were 
generally able to exercise these privileges. However, in the case of an 
interrogation, a defendant first must request the presence of a lawyer, 
and it was not clear whether authorities always advised defendants of 
this privilege.
    Police generally informed family of detainees' whereabouts; 
however, family members were allowed to visit a detainee only with the 
permission of the investigator. Prior to a formal indictment, detainees 
also have the right to notify family members. A number of detainees 
held for investigation of purported national security violations were 
reportedly denied family visits or access to legal counsel.
    Courts may sentence persons to administrative detention of up to 
five years after completion of a sentence. In addition, police or mass 
organizations can propose that one of five ``administrative measures'' 
be imposed by people's committee chairpersons at district and 
provincial levels without a trial. The measures include terms ranging 
from six to 24 months in either juvenile reformatories or adult 
detention centers and generally were applied to repeat offenders with a 
record of minor offenses, such as committing petty theft or 
``humiliating other persons.'' Chairpersons may also impose terms of 
``administrative probation,'' which generally was some form of 
restriction on movement and travel. In December the Government 
announced a plan to abolish Decree 31, the directive authorizing 
administrative detention, but at year's end the decree remained in 
force.
    Arbitrary detentions, particularly for political activists, 
remained a problem. In February police officers detained Do Nam Hai and 
Nguyen Khac Toan after they entered an Internet cafe in Hanoi. They 
were released after a six-hour interrogation.
    At year's end Truong Quoc Huy remained in detention after he was 
rearrested in August on charges related to his continued political 
activism, including an accusation of ``attempting to undermine national 
unity.'' In October 2005 police in Ho Chi Minh City detained Huy, his 
two brothers--Truong Quoc Tuan and Truong Quoc Nghia--and his 
girlfriend Lisa Pham on charges of attempting to overthrow the 
Government. The police released Nghia almost immediately and Tuan two 
weeks later. Pham, a legal permanent resident of another country, and 
Huy remained in custody until July. Police believed that Pham and Huy 
had been participating in a Web chat forum called ``the voice of people 
in Vietnam and abroad.'' The arrestees also may have sought to 
distribute antigovernment flyers in Ho Chi Minh City. The content of 
the documents and Web chats was unknown. Police reportedly first 
downgraded the charges to ``propagandizing against the Government'' and 
then released Pham and Huy without pressing charges.
    In December at least 10 and as many as 16 other political and 
social activists reportedly were detained, including Vu Hoang Hai and 
Nguyen Ngoc Quan, who were arrested for activities to ``overthrow the 
people's government.'' Hai, Quan, and an unknown number of others 
remained in detention at year's end.
    In September Pham Hong Son was briefly detained and reportedly 
struck by police (see section 1.c.).
    There were some reports that government officials in the Central 
and Northwest Highlands temporarily detained ethnic minority 
individuals for communicating with the ethnic minority community abroad 
during the year.
    A lack of transparency and information made it impossible to 
calculate percentages of pretrial detainees in the overall prison 
population or their average length of detention.
    Prominent political dissidents Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Khac Toan, 
who were amnestied during the year, were subject to administrative 
detention in the form of official restrictions on their movements (see 
section 2.d.). Occasionally they were confined to their homes, but both 
individuals were allowed some movement within Hanoi, including visits 
to other dissidents.
    Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, amnestied in February 2005, remained 
under administrative probation. However, he was able to travel within 
the country with the prior approval of Thua Thien Hue provincial 
officials. Senior leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam 
(UBCV) remained under ``pagoda arrest,'' although the Government denied 
that such orders existed, but they were allowed some movement within 
the country. For example, in July UBCV General Secretary Thich Quang Do 
left his pagoda to meet with diplomats. In September UBCV leaders were 
able to travel to Ho Chi Minh City without restriction to visit the 
ailing church patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. Other religious and 
political activists were subject to varying degrees of informal 
detention in their residences (see sections 2.c. and 2.d.).

    Amnesty.--During the year the central government and provincial 
councils amnestied 5,851 prisoners in two groups. In addition, 12,516 
provincial inmates had their sentences reduced. Several high-profile 
prisoners benefited from these amnesties, including political and 
religious activists such as Nguyen Khac Toan, Pham Hong Son, Do Van My, 
and Ma Van Bay.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for the 
independence of judges and lay assessors; however, in practice the CPV 
controlled the courts at all levels by retaining effective executive 
power to appoint judges. Most, if not all, judges were members of the 
Communist Party and were chosen at least in part for their political 
reliability. As in past years, the entire judicial system was strongly 
distorted by political influence, endemic corruption, and inefficiency. 
CPV influence was particularly notable in high-profile cases and others 
in which a person was charged with challenging or harming the CPV or 
the state.
    The judiciary consists of the Supreme People's Court (SPC); the 
provincial and district people's courts; military tribunals; 
administrative, economic, and labor courts; and other tribunals 
established by law. Each district has a people's court, which serves as 
the court of first instance for most domestic, civil, and criminal 
cases. Each province also has a people's court, which serves as the 
appellate forum for district court cases as well as court of first 
instance for other cases. The SPC, which reports to the National 
Assembly, is the highest court of appeal and review. Administrative 
courts adjudicate complaints by citizens about official abuse and 
corruption. There are also special committees to help resolve local 
disputes.
    There was a shortage of trained lawyers and judges, and there was 
no independent bar association. Low judicial salaries hindered efforts 
to develop a trained judiciary. The few judges who had formal legal 
training often had studied abroad only in countries with communist 
legal traditions.
    Government training programs to address the problem of inadequately 
trained judges and other court officials were underway. Foreign 
governments and the UN Development Program provided assistance; 
however, the lack of openness in the criminal judicial process and the 
continuing lack of independence of the judiciary hampered progress.
    Courts of first instance at district and provincial levels include 
judges and lay assessors, but provincial appeals courts and the SPC are 
composed of judges only. People's councils appoint lay assessors from a 
pool of candidates suggested by the VFF. Lay assessors are required to 
have ``high moral standards,'' but legal training is not necessary.
    Military tribunals, although funded by the Ministry of National 
Defense (MND), operate under the same rules as other courts. The MND is 
represented on the judicial selection panels, and the head of the 
military tribunal system is the deputy head of the SPC. Military 
tribunal judges and assessors are military personnel, chosen jointly by 
the SPC and the MND but supervised by the SPC. The law gives military 
courts jurisdiction over all criminal cases involving military 
entities, including military-owned enterprises. The military has the 
option of using the administrative, economic, or labor courts for civil 
cases.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials generally were open to the public, but in 
sensitive cases judges closed trials or strictly limited attendance. 
Defendants have the right to be present and have a lawyer, although not 
necessarily the lawyer of their choice, and this right was generally 
upheld in practice. Defendants unable to afford a lawyer were generally 
provided one only in cases with possible sentences of life imprisonment 
or capital punishment. The defendant or the defense lawyer has the 
right to cross-examine witnesses; however, there were credible reports 
of cases in which neither defendants nor their lawyers were allowed to 
access government evidence in advance of the trial, cross-examine 
witnesses, or challenge statements. Lawyers often had little time 
before trials to examine evidence against their clients. Although the 
constitution provides that citizens are innocent until proven guilty, 
in the past some lawyers complained that judges generally presumed 
guilt. Convicted persons have the right to appeal. Courts did not 
publish their proceedings.
    In the past there were credible reports that defense lawyers were 
pressured not to take as clients religious or democracy activists 
facing trial; however, there were no such reports during the year.
    The public prosecutor brings charges against an accused and serves 
as prosecutor during trials. According to the criminal procedures code, 
courtroom procedures were to continue the change from an 
``investigative'' system, in which the judge leads the questioning, to 
an ``adversarial'' system, in which prosecutors and defense lawyers 
advocate for their respective sides. The change was intended to provide 
more protections for defendants and prevent judges from coercing 
defendants into confessing guilt; however, the extent to which this 
change was implemented in practice remained unclear.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reliable 
estimates of the number of political prisoners. The Government held at 
least two political detainees at year's end but claimed that it did not 
hold any political prisoners. In the past such persons were usually 
convicted of violating national security laws or general criminal laws.
    At year's end nine Cao Dai church members sentenced in July 2005 to 
between three and 13 years in prison remained incarcerated. They 
reportedly were convicted of disseminating literature against the 
Government during a 2004 Association of South East Asian Nations 
conference in Phnom Penh. Cambodian police arrested the group and 
expelled them to Vietnam, where they reportedly were arrested for 
possession of ``hostile documents.''
    Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, convicted in 2003 of ``espionage,'' and 
former policeman Phan Van Ban, convicted in 1985 for participating in 
an organization that called for political change, remained in prison. 
As with the general prison population, the Government did not allow 
humanitarian organizations access to these political prisoners.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no clear or 
effective mechanism for pursuing a civil action to redress or remedy 
abuses by authorities. Civil suits are heard by ``administrative'' 
courts, civil courts, and criminal courts, which all follow the same 
procedures as in criminal cases and are adjudicated by members of the 
same body of judges and lay assessors. All three levels were subject to 
the same problems of corruption, lack of independence, and 
inexperience. Officials reported that, in theory, a citizen seeking to 
press a complaint is required first to petition the officer accused of 
committing a human rights violation for permission to refer the 
complaint to the administrative courts. If a petition is refused, the 
citizen may refer it to the officer's superior. If the officer or his 
superior agrees to allow the complaint to be heard, the matter is taken 
up by the administrative courts. If the administrative courts agree 
that the case should be pursued, it is referred either to the civil 
courts for suits involving physical injury seeking redress of less than 
20 percent of health care costs resulting from the alleged abuse, or to 
the criminal courts for redress of more than 20 percent of such costs. 
In practice this elaborate system of referral and permission ensured 
that citizens had little effective recourse to civil or criminal 
judicial procedures to remedy human rights abuses, and few legal 
experts had experience with the system.

    Property Restitution.--By law citizens must be compensated when 
they are resettled to make way for infrastructure projects, but there 
were widespread complaints, including from the National Assembly, that 
compensation was not fair or was delayed.
    Beginning in midsummer in Ho Chi Minh City, disgruntled groups from 
the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh City region conducted a steady 
stream of small, peaceful protests over disputes related to land 
expropriation and land compensation by the state. Police generally did 
not interfere with the protesters, who positioned themselves in front 
of government buildings in downtown Ho Chi Minh City (see section 
2.b.).
    Some members of ethnic minorities in the Central and Northwest 
Highlands continued to complain that they had not received proper 
compensation for past seizures of their land, which was given to 
government-owned coffee and rubber plantations (see section 1.f.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law provides for the right to privacy of home and 
correspondence; however, the Government restricted this right 
significantly. Household registration and block warden systems existed 
for the surveillance of all citizens but usually did not intrude on 
most citizens. Authorities focused on persons whom they regarded as 
having dissenting views or suspected of being involved in unauthorized 
political or religious activities.
    Forced entry into homes is not permitted without orders from the 
public prosecutor; however, security forces seldom followed these 
procedures but instead asked permission to enter homes, with an implied 
threat for failure to cooperate. Some individuals refused to cooperate 
with such ``requests.'' In urban areas police generally left when faced 
with noncompliance.
    Government authorities opened and censored targeted persons' mail, 
confiscated packages and letters, and monitored telephone 
conversations, e-mail, and facsimile transmissions. The Government cut 
the telephone lines and interrupted the cellular telephone service of a 
number of religious and political activists and their family members 
(see section 5).
    The Government sought to tighten control of the Internet with a 
regulation that requires Internet agents, such as cybercafes, to 
register the personal information of their customers and store records 
of Internet sites visited by customers. The Government also monitored 
e-mail, searched for sensitive key words, and regulated Internet 
content (see section 2.a.).
    The Government did not have an official policy of forced 
resettlement. However, the Government resettled some citizens to make 
way for infrastructure projects, and there were widespread reports that 
compensation was either not fair or was not paid in a timely manner. 
Some resettled individuals reportedly returned to their ancestral 
villages in Son La and Dien Bien provinces after being forced to move 
during the year (see section 1.e.).
    Membership in the CPV remained a prerequisite to career advancement 
for all government and government-linked organizations and businesses 
(see section 3). However, economic diversification made membership in 
the CPV and CPV-controlled mass organizations less essential to 
financial and social advancement.
    The Government continued to implement a family planning policy that 
urged families to have no more than two children, but the policy 
emphasized exhortation rather than coercion. The Government can deny 
promotions and salary increases to government employees with more than 
two children, but it was unclear if this policy was enforced. 
Government officials expressed growing concern that family planning 
efforts were failing.
    Democracy activist Nguyen Dan Que, released from prison in February 
2005, remained subject to government surveillance and low-level 
harassment. Other political dissidents had their writings, computers, 
and electronics seized and their landline and cellular telephone 
services cut. Local officials harassed some family members of political 
or religious activists. In September the wife and extended family of 
dissident Pham Hong Son had their telephone lines cut soon after his 
release.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the Government significantly 
restricted these freedoms, particularly with respect to political 
speech and social commentary. Both the constitution and the criminal 
code include broad national security and antidefamation provisions that 
the Government used to restrict such freedoms. The criminal code 
defines the crimes of ``sabotaging the infrastructure of Socialism,'' 
``sowing divisions between religious and nonreligious people,'' and 
``conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam'' as 
serious offenses against national security. The code also expressly 
forbids ``taking advantage of democratic freedoms and rights to violate 
the interests of the state and social organizations.''
    The CPV, the Government, and the party-controlled mass 
organizations controlled all print, broadcast, and electronic media. 
The Government exercised oversight through the Ministry of Culture and 
Information (MOCI) and supplemented its control through pervasive party 
guidance and national security legislation sufficiently broad to ensure 
effective self-censorship by the domestic media.
    In October the MOCI issued formal decisions suspending the 
publication of two newspapers for one month. The ministry wrote in the 
decisions that the two newspapers, Cong Ly (Justice) and Thoi Dai 
(Era), had published false reports of alleged problems with newly 
issued polymer dong currency notes. The ministry noted that the 
reporting violated certain articles of the press law and that the 
newspapers had failed to comply with official instructions on how to 
cover the issue.
    The following day, in a similar but reportedly unrelated 
development, the MOCI revoked the operating license of Kinh Doanh va 
San Pham (Business and Product) magazine. The ministry declared that 
the magazine had failed to follow directives laid out in its licensing 
agreements. It reported that despite repeated warnings, the magazine 
had continued to publish articles that created a ``negative social 
impact.''
    The law requires journalists to pay monetary damages to individuals 
or organizations harmed as a result of their reporting, even if the 
reports are true. Independent observers noted that the law served to 
limit investigative reporting. Several media outlets continued to test 
the limits of government press restrictions by publishing articles that 
criticized actions by CPV and government officials. During the year 
there were press reports about topics that generally were considered 
sensitive, such as the prosecution on corruption charges of high-
ranking CPV and government officials. Nonetheless, the freedom to 
criticize the CPV and its senior leadership remained restricted. 
Occasional criticism of officials and official associations appeared in 
local press.
    The law allows citizens to complain openly about inefficient 
government, administrative procedures, corruption, and economic policy. 
In general citizens freely exercised this right, but the Government 
considered any overt political criticism stemming from such commentary 
a crime. Attempts to organize those with complaints to facilitate 
action are considered proscribed political activities. Senior 
government and party leaders traveled to many provinces reportedly to 
try to resolve citizen complaints. Corruption related to land use was 
widely publicized in the press.
    The Government continued to prohibit speech that questioned the 
role of the CPV, criticized individual government leaders, promoted 
pluralism or multiparty democracy, or questioned policies on sensitive 
matters such as human rights or the border agreement with China. The 
line between what constituted private speech and public speech in those 
areas continued to be arbitrary. In February and March, in the lead-up 
to the 10th party congress, newspapers and other media outlets carried 
a series of articles ostensibly written by private citizens that 
together constituted an unprecedented discussion of the CPV's role in 
society. Independent observers generally concluded that the articles 
represented varying opinions within factions of the Government rather 
than independent criticism. The range of opinions ran the gamut from 
strong support of the status quo to guarded advocacy of a multiparty 
approach. Some observers dismissed this nascent political ``debate'' as 
staged. The media discussion ceased following the conclusion of the 
congress; however, there were echoes of some of the ideas expressed by 
the media in indirect National Assembly discussion of the CPV during 
its May session.
    In August and September police detained a foreign citizen and six 
other political activists affiliated with the People's Democracy Party 
of Vietnam (PDPV), which reportedly advocated peaceful political change 
and opposed the country's single-party rule. Other activists belonging 
to a second peaceful political activist organization--the 8406 Bloc--
also faced harassment and detention. At year's end four members of the 
8406 Bloc were in detention. Bui Kim Thanh, a land rights activist 
affiliated with the DPV, was involuntarily committed to a mental 
institution (see section 1.c.). At least seven and possibly another 
eight activists of the PDPV and the Union of Workers and Farmers also 
reportedly were under detention. Other prominent political activists, 
such as Do Nam Hai and Pham Hong Son, faced harassment, repeated police 
questioning sessions, and administrative measures taken against them in 
response to their political activities.
    Democracy activist Nguyen Dan Que, released in February 2005, 
remained subject to government surveillance and low-level harassment. 
Political activist Tran Khue also remained subject to surveillance and 
episodic harassment, such as the cutting of his telephone and Internet 
lines.
    In a Web chat forum in May hosted by Tienphong Online, frank 
discussions on sexuality and persons with HIV/AIDS were not censored, 
although these were normally taboo subjects. In a July Web chat with a 
senior foreign diplomat at the same online agency, editors censored 
major portions of the diplomat's comments on human rights and religious 
freedom, although his comment that ``we believe that Vietnam can 
achieve more prosperity and advancement by giving more room for 
political activities'' remained posted.
    Some persons who expressed alternative opinions on religious or 
political issues were not allowed to travel abroad (see section 2.d.).
    Published reports on high-level government corruption and 
mismanagement have become more frequent and prominent in recent years. 
In March and April the press extensively reported a corruption story 
involving Project Management Unit 18 (PMU-18), a government office 
handling large infrastructure projects, some with substantial foreign 
contributions (see section 3).
    Foreign journalists must be approved by the Foreign Ministry's 
press center, and they must be based in Hanoi. The number of foreign 
staff allowed was limited, and local staff who worked for foreign media 
also were required to be registered with the ministry. It was difficult 
for foreign media outlets to hire local photographers and receive 
approval for their accreditation. In November two ethnic Vietnamese 
journalists with foreign citizenship were arbitrarily refused visas to 
travel to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. 
Police and government officials also reportedly prevented political and 
social activists from meeting with foreign journalists who traveled to 
Ho Chi Minh City to cover the visit of a foreign leader. The press 
center monitored journalists' activities and decided on a case-by-case 
basis whether to approve requests for interviews, photographs, filming, 
or travel, which must be submitted five days in advance. By law foreign 
journalists are required to address all questions to government 
agencies through the Foreign Ministry, although it appeared that this 
procedure often was ignored in practice. Foreign journalists generally 
received visas valid for six months.
    The Government generally required religious publishing to be done 
through a government-owned religious publishing house; however, some 
religious groups were able to copy their own materials or import them, 
subject to government approval (see section 2.c.). There were reports 
that the Government relaxed restrictions somewhat on the printing and 
importation of some religious texts, including in some ethnic minority 
languages. However, in a few cases unauthorized religious materials 
were confiscated and the owners either fined or arrested.
    Foreign-language editions of some banned books were sold openly by 
street peddlers. Foreign-language periodicals were widely available in 
cities; however, the Government occasionally censored articles about 
the country and sometimes delayed the availability of a foreign 
periodical because of sensitive articles. The Government generally did 
not limit access to international radio, except to Radio Free Asia 
(RFA) and the Far East Broadcasting Corporation, which it continued to 
jam periodically.
    The law limits access to satellite television to top officials, 
foreigners, luxury hotels, and the press, but it was not enforced 
uniformly, and an increasing number of persons in urban and some rural 
areas had access to television programs via home satellite equipment or 
cable. Cable television, including foreign-origin channels, was 
available to subscribers living in urban areas, although the Government 
periodically blocked many subscribers from receiving certain news 
channels, including CNN and the BBC. When service was not blocked, it 
was usually subject to a 30-minute delay. Satellite dishes picking up 
pirated satellite signals from Thailand and the Philippines were 
increasingly common.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government allowed access to the Internet 
through a limited number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), all of 
which were state-owned joint stock companies. The Government forbids 
direct access to the Internet through foreign ISPs, requires domestic 
ISPs to store information transmitted on the Internet for at least 15 
days, and also requires ISPs to provide technical assistance and 
workspace to public security agents to allow them to monitor Internet 
activities. The Government also requires Internet agents, such as 
cybercafes, to register the personal information of their customers, 
store records of Internet sites visited by customers for 30 days, and 
cooperate with public security officials.
    In July the Ministry of Post and Telematics instructed all ISPs to 
install in their Internet kiosks new control software designed to 
record information on users and their Internet behavior and send the 
information to the ISPs' servers to be stored for a year. The software 
also contained an identification system that allows ISPs to identify 
the user and what the user does during an Internet session. To use 
Internet kiosks, customers must provide personal details to acquire a 
username and password, granted and controlled by the ISP. Customers 
then can use the acquired username and password to browse the Internet. 
Alternatively, a customer can provide a personal national identity card 
to gain Internet access. It was not clear how fully these provisions 
were being followed in practice, and many cybercafes did not register 
the personal details of their clients. At least some home asymmetric 
digital subscriber line (ADSL) Internet subscribers had all Internet 
usage monitored by the newly installed software and hardware system.
    On January 6, the CPV-controlled Nhan Dan daily newspaper carried a 
commentary rejecting a Reporters Without Borders' characterization of 
Vietnam and 14 other countries as ``enemies of the Internet'' and its 
allegations about the impeded development of the Internet in the 
country. The newspaper cited the robust development of the Internet, 
including the CPV's guidelines on Internet application and the 
Government's approval of an Internet development plan for the period 
2001-05. The newspaper also reported that the country had registered an 
Internet growth rate of 20 percent annually since 2001, with more than 
eight million users, or one-tenth of the total population. ``While 
recognizing the benefits of the Internet, the Party and State of 
Vietnam are also aware of the dark side of this global information 
network and have adopted proper measures to minimize the movement of 
negative information into the country,'' the newspaper stated, adding 
it was ``necessary that all countries in the world, not only Vietnam, 
take measures to safeguard their traditional cultural values.''
    On March 11, police raided a cybercafe and arrested an Internet 
user in Hanoi while he was taking part in a discussion forum on 
democracy. The individual's status was not known at year's end.
    The Government used firewalls to block Web sites that it deemed 
politically or culturally inappropriate, including sites operated by 
exile groups abroad. The Government occasionally restricted access to 
the RFA and Voice of America Web sites during the year, as well as 
sites operated by overseas dissident groups. Local press occasionally 
wrote stories based on RFA broadcasts.
    The Government required owners of domestic Web sites, including 
those operated by foreign entities, to register their sites with the 
Government and submit their Web site content to the Government for 
approval.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom, and foreign field researchers often were questioned 
and monitored. However, the Government continued to permit a more open 
flow of information, including in the university system, than in 
previous years. Local librarians increasingly were being trained in 
professional skills and international standards that supported wider 
international library and information exchanges and research. Foreign 
academic professionals temporarily working at universities in the 
country were allowed to discuss nonpolitical issues widely and freely 
in classes, but government observers regularly attended classes taught 
by both foreigners and citizens. Security officials occasionally 
questioned persons who attended programs on diplomatic premises or used 
diplomatic research facilities. Nevertheless, requests for materials 
from foreign research facilities increased. Academic publications 
usually reflected the views of the CPV and the Government.
    The Government controlled art exhibits, music, and other cultural 
activities; however, it generally allowed artists broader latitude than 
in past years to choose the themes for their works. Many artists 
obtained permission to exhibit their works abroad and received 
passports to attend the exhibits and export permits to send their works 
out of the country. Additionally, a number of foreign embassies and 
consulates were able to conduct a wider variety of cultural activities 
than in the past.
    From June to November, two state-run institutions--the Vietnam 
Museum of Ethnology and the Vietnam Revolutionary Museum--showed a 
groundbreaking exhibit called ``Hanoi Life under the Subsidy Economy, 
1975-1986,'' which included taped interviews of poets and journalists 
criticizing failed economic policies and censorship of artistic works 
during that period, a marked departure from any exhibit previously on 
display to the general public.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The right of assembly is restricted by law, and the 
Government restricted and monitored all forms of public protest or 
gathering. Persons wishing to gather in a group are required to apply 
for a permit, which local authorities can issue or deny arbitrarily. In 
general the Government did not permit demonstrations that could be seen 
as having a political purpose. Persons routinely gathered in informal 
groups without government interference; however, the Government 
restricted the right of some unregistered religious groups to gather in 
worship.
    As in previous years, there were reports from the Northwest 
Highlands and Central Highlands that officials prevented meetings of 
some Protestant believers or dispersed those meetings when they 
occurred (see section 2.c.). In the Central Highlands province of Dak 
Lak, as many as 100 congregations affiliated with the Southern 
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) were not permitted to gather to 
worship.
    During the year peaceful small protests of farmers demanding 
redress for land rights issues frequently took place in front of 
government buildings in Hanoi. Police monitored these protests but did 
not disrupt them.
    During the summer groups from the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh 
City region conducted small protests over land disputes. Police 
generally did not interfere with the protesters--mainly elderly women--
who positioned themselves in front of government buildings in downtown 
Ho Chi Minh City. Police cordoned off the protesters from passersby and 
sought, sometimes by means of intimidation, to minimize protesters' 
contact with legal and political activists. In September a senior 
police official met with protesters and declared that the Government 
and police would carefully examine their cases, but he cautioned that 
protesters could not carry signs that had ``down with corrupt 
government'' and that authorities would show ``no mercy'' with those 
who took advantage of the land disputes to work against the Government. 
The protests stopped soon thereafter, but there was no indication that 
the Government resolved the underlying grievances.

    Freedom of Association.--The Government restricted freedom of 
association. Opposition political parties were not permitted. The 
Government prohibited the legal establishment of private, independent 
organizations, insisting that persons work within established, party-
controlled mass organizations, usually under the aegis of the VFF. 
However, some entities, particularly unregistered religious groups, 
were able to operate outside of this framework with little or no 
government interference (see section 2.c.).
    On June 6, several political dissidents led by Hoang Minh Chinh in 
Hanoi and Tran Khue in Ho Chi Minh City announced the formation of a 
new political group, the Democratic Party of Vietnam. In response, 
police occasionally harassed its members. It was not clear how large or 
active the party was after its formation, but independent observers 
generally characterized the organization as ``a group of idealists'' 
rather than an activist group.
    In April a larger group of political activists largely based in the 
southern and central regions of the country formed the 8406 Bloc, which 
calls for the creation of a multiparty state. The 8406 Bloc claimed at 
least 2,000 supporters inside the country, although this claim was 
impossible to verify. At least four members of the 8406 Bloc were 
detained, and others faced severe harassment for their peaceful 
political activities. Authorities also arrested at least five members 
of another activist group, the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam 
(PDP-VN), and a related group, the United Workers' Farmers' Union. 
Members of the PDP-VN were advocating for the elimination of Article 4 
of the constitution, which legally codifies Communist Party supremacy.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--Although the constitution and government 
decrees provide for freedom of worship, the Government restricted 
religious freedom to a significant degree. However, during the year the 
Government continued to relax restrictions, and participation in 
religious activities continued to grow significantly.
    In June commune-employed security officers detained and beat two 
Protestants belonging to an unregistered house church in Thanh Hoa 
Province. The incident resulted partly from a familial dispute 
involving members of the church and neighborhood leaders. However, in 
July commune officers beat two women of the same group after they 
attempted to visit the home used by the congregation as a place of 
worship. In all instances the provincial security department reportedly 
conducted investigations into alleged official abuse. In September two 
commune security officers received administrative punishment from the 
commune leadership in connection with the June incident (see section 
1.c.).
    Hong Thien Hanh, leader of the small To Dinh Tan Chieu Minh Cao Dai 
religious group in Tien Giang Province, remained in prison serving an 
eight-year sentence after being convicted in 2005 on charges of 
engaging in illegal religious activities and defrauding his followers. 
Some independent Cao Dai confirmed the Government's fraud allegations 
against Hanh.
    By year's end most churches affiliated with the government-
recognized SECV in the Central Highlands were able to operate, although 
the process of according the congregations full legalization remained 
slow. At least 29 Protestant churches affiliated with the government-
recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam North were granted 
registration in the Northwest Highlands during the year as part of a 
pilot program to accelerate registrations in the region. Two small 
Buddhist groups, a Danang-based Protestant organization, and two 
Protestant house church organizations based in Ho Chi Minh City 
received national-level registration. Registrations for the Baha'i 
Faith and additional Protestant house church organizations awaited 
registration at year's end. Congregations belonging to previously 
recognized faiths were able to register their activities and places of 
worship.
    The 2005 government framework on religion maintained overall 
government control of religious organizations and kept in place 
significant limitations on education, medical, and charitable work by 
religious groups. The Government continued to use the recognition and 
registration processes to monitor and limit the activities of church 
organizations. The Government officially recognized Buddhist, Roman 
Catholic, Protestant, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Muslim religious 
organizations. To obtain recognition a group must obtain government 
approval of its charter and leadership. Official approval is required 
for the registration of new congregations and places of worship, 
ordination of clerics, establishment of religious teaching 
institutions, and entry of students into those institutions. Officially 
recognized religious organizations were able to operate with increasing 
ease throughout most of the country, and followers of these religious 
bodies were usually able to worship without government harassment even 
if their local congregation was not registered.
    The law mandates that the Government act in a time-bound and 
transparent fashion, but the approval process for recognition and 
registration could be slow and nontransparent. Some local authorities 
continued to demand that even recognized religious organizations 
provide lists of all members of subcongregations as a precondition to 
registration, although this requirement is not codified in the legal 
framework on religion. Some registered congregations in the northern 
region and the Northwest Highlands complained that officials used such 
lists to keep unlisted members from participating in services. Annual 
activities by congregations also must be registered with authorities, 
and activities not on the accepted annual calendar require separate 
government approval.
    In addition to officially recognized religious denominations, 
numerous nonrecognized denominations operated in the country, including 
independent Buddhists, Baptists, Mennonites, Jehovah's Witnesses, 
Mormons, the Baha'i Faith, independent Cao Dai and Hoa Hao groups, and 
ethnic Cham Hindus. Some nonrecognized Protestant groups received what 
appeared to be local official recognition of their organizations. In 
addition to the three Protestant groups that received national 
registration, a fourth group affiliated with the Mennonites had its 
registration pending in other provinces.
    As in past years, official oversight of recognized religions and 
their registered subcongregations, as well as problems faced by 
followers of nonrecognized religions or unregistered subcongregations 
of recognized religions, varied widely from locality to locality, often 
as a result of ignorance of national policy or varying local 
interpretations of the policy's intent. In general, central-level 
efforts to coordinate proper implementation of the Government's 
religious framework reduced the frequency and intensity of religious 
freedom violations. Nevertheless, activities of nonrecognized and 
unregistered religious groups remained technically illegal, and these 
groups occasionally experienced harassment. The level of harassment 
declined in comparison with previous years, and the vast majority of 
unregistered churches and temples were allowed to operate without 
interference.
    The Government actively discouraged contacts between the illegal 
UBCV and its foreign supporters, although such contacts continued. The 
Government appeared to show increasing tolerance for unofficial 
contacts made by Protestant and Catholic groups with foreign 
counterparts. Police routinely questioned some persons who held 
alternative religious or political views, such as UBCV monks and 
certain Catholic priests. Police continued to restrict the free 
movement of UBCV monks and expelled at least two UBCV members from 
their pagodas in the Mekong Delta and in Khanh Hoa Province. According 
to credible reports, police in the Central Highlands restricted the 
activities of, and at times detained, persons based on a suspicion that 
the form of Protestant religion that they were practicing encouraged 
ethnic minority separatism.
    In Ho Chi Minh City, local officials demolished a portion of 
Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang's home that was built without proper 
zoning approval. Government officials reportedly also discouraged Quang 
from participating in a December registration briefing sponsored by the 
Government under the legal framework on religion with other Ho Chi Minh 
City-based Protestant groups. The authorities refused to accept all but 
a handful of registration applications from Quang's group.
    There were no reports of police interference with other Protestant 
activities in Ho Chi Minh City. In August the city authorized the 
government-recognized SECV to build a new seminary complex within city 
limits. Reports of harassment of Protestant groups in the Northwest 
Highlands continued to decline.
    With the exception of up to 20 congregations in Dak Lak Province 
that faced limits on the size of gatherings, church leaders report that 
SECV-affiliated Protestant groups in the Central Highlands that the 
Government ordered closed in 2001 had resumed operations, and a small 
but growing number--fewer than 80--were officially recognized. The 
United World Mission Church, based in Danang but active throughout the 
Central Highlands, also received registration during the year and 
reported improved treatment for its congregations. More than 1,000 
unregistered Protestant congregations among ethnic minority groups in 
the northern region and the Northwest Highlands, the Hmong in 
particular, formally began registration proceedings with local 
authorities.
    In September the SECV was able to hold an organizational meeting in 
Nha Trang to select church officials without government interference.
    There were few credible allegations of forced renunciations during 
the year. However, in September leaders of a house church organization 
based in Ho Chi Minh City reported that local officials and village 
elders in a remote rural village in central Coastal Ninh Thuan Province 
used the threat of withholding government benefits and social ostracism 
to induce 30 ethnic minority individuals to abandon Protestantism and 
return to traditionalist beliefs. However, local officials later 
resolved their differences with the church leader, and three families 
reportedly readopted Protestantism, while others chose to continue to 
follow traditional beliefs.
    In Quang Ngai Province, a congregation leader, whom local officials 
previously had attempted to force to renounce his faith, and another 
leader of his group received government permission to attend pastoral 
training classes.
    Articles in some provincial newspapers encouraged local authorities 
and ethnic minority groups to favor animist and traditional beliefs and 
to reject Protestantism.
    Early in the year, police in Kon Tum Province reportedly harassed 
two Protestant believers and beat them. Official complaints to 
provincial authorities about the alleged police abuse reportedly went 
unanswered.
    There were no credible reports that ethnic minority Protestants 
were made to sign a formal, written renunciation of their faith or 
undergo a symbolic ritual. At year's end no local officials had been 
punished for forcing an ethnic minority pastor in Ha Giang Province to 
renounce his faith in 2005; however, his congregation was able to 
gather for worship.
    Buddhists practicing their religion under the Vietnam Buddhist 
Sangha Executive Council, the officially sanctioned Buddhist governing 
council, were generally free to practice their religion. While these 
constituted the vast majority of Buddhists, the Government continued to 
harass members of the banned UBCV and prevented them from conducting 
independent religious activities outside their pagodas. Since 2003 
senior UBCV leaders, including Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Thich 
Quang Do, have been confined to their pagodas and had restrictions on 
their ability to travel and meet with followers (see section 2.d.). 
Until September Thich Quang Do's attempts to meet with Thich Huyen 
Quang were blocked repeatedly. However, foreign diplomats were able to 
meet with Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do on several 
occasions during the year. In September the Government allowed Thich 
Quang Do and 19 other UBCV leaders to meet with Thich Huyen Quang 
during his hospitalization in Ho Chi Minh City.
    Although the Government technically maintained veto power over 
Vatican appointments of Catholic bishops, under the 2005 framework on 
religion it continued to ease restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church 
and did not veto any candidates submitted by the Church for bishoprics. 
During the year a new bishop was appointed for the newly created Ba Ria 
Vung Tau Diocese. The Government reduced restrictions on the size and 
frequency of entering classes for Catholic seminaries. It also approved 
the creation of a new seminary in Xuan Loc Diocese, which technically 
would operate as a satellite of the Ho Chi Minh City seminary. The Ho 
Chi Minh City government continued to facilitate certain charitable 
activities of the Catholic Church in combating HIV/AIDS. A number of 
Catholic clergy reported a continued easing of government control over 
activities in certain dioceses during the year. In many places local 
government officials allowed the Catholic Church to conduct religious 
education classes (outside regular school hours) and some charitable 
activities. The Government continued low-level discussions to normalize 
diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
    At least 10 Hoa Hao church followers remained in prison on 
accusations of playing key roles in a protest and clash with the police 
following a June 2005 religious event. Hoa Hao monks and believers 
following the government-approved Hoa Hao Administrative Council (HHAC) 
were allowed freedom to practice their faith. Monks and followers who 
belonged to dissident groups or declined to recognize the authority of 
the HHAC suffered restrictions. In June a hunger strike by some Hoa Hao 
dissidents in the Mekong Delta triggered a standoff with police; 
however, the incident was defused without violence. Some organizers of 
the June incident were detained later in the year.
    The Government restricted and monitored all forms of public 
assembly, including assembly for religious activities. Large regularly 
scheduled religious gatherings were allowed, such as Protestant and 
Catholic Christmas celebrations, the Catholic celebrations at La Vang 
Pilgrimage Center in Quang Tri Province, and the Cao Dai celebrations 
in Tay Ninh Province. The Hoa Hao were allowed to hold large public 
gatherings to commemorate some traditional anniversaries.
    Open adherence to a religious faith generally did not disadvantage 
persons in civil, economic, or secular life, although it would prevent 
advancement in government and military careers. However, there were 
some reports that ethnic minority boarding schools discriminated 
against children from religious, especially Protestant, families. 
Religious practice does not preclude membership in the CPV. Some 
government and CPV officials admitted that they followed traditional 
and Buddhist religious practices.
    Foreign missionaries may not operate openly as religious workers in 
the country, although many undertook humanitarian or development 
activities with government approval.
    A government publishing house oversees the publishing of all 
religious materials. Many Buddhist sacred scriptures, Christian Bibles, 
and other religious texts and publications, including some in ethnic 
minority languages, were printed by government-approved organizations.
    The Government allowed religious travel for some religious persons. 
Muslims were permitted to make the Hajj, and more Buddhist, Catholic, 
and Protestant officials were able to travel and study abroad. The 
Government allowed many Catholic bishops and priests to travel freely 
within their dioceses and allowed greater, but still restricted, 
freedom for travel outside these areas, particularly in ethnic areas. 
Many Protestant house church leaders traveled overseas and within the 
country during the year. In the past government officials discouraged 
officially recognized clergy from entering the provinces of Son La, 
Dien Bien, Lai Chau, as well as Ha Giang and other ``sensitive'' 
ethnic-minority highlands border provinces; however, some Protestant 
and Catholic leaders reported that this policy eased significantly 
during the year.
    The Government continued to be wary of overseas travel by religious 
leaders of nonrecognized groups not first coordinated with authorities. 
In one case members of a large Baptist group returning from a retreat 
in Cambodia were stopped and questioned by authorities, although there 
were no subsequent reports of repercussions against them. Authorities 
reportedly continued to refuse to return the passport of a Protestant 
pastor who made an unauthorized visit abroad in 2004.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In general relations among the 
various religious communities continued to be amicable, and there were 
no known instances of societal discrimination or violence based on 
religion. There was limited cooperation between the Catholic Church and 
the government-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha on charitable 
activities such as the fight against HIV/AIDS. There was no indigenous 
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides that citizens 
``shall enjoy freedom of movement and of residence within the country--
(and) freely travel abroad and return home--in accordance with the 
provisions of the law''; however, the Government imposed some limits on 
freedom of movement. Local authorities sometimes required members of 
ethnic minority groups to obtain permission to travel outside certain 
highland areas, including in some cases travel outside their own 
villages.
    Political dissidents Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Khac Toan, who were 
amnestied during the year, were subject to official restrictions on 
their movements (see section 1.d.).
    The 2004 decision by the Prime Minister's Office regarding travel 
to certain areas remained in effect. It requires citizens and resident 
foreigners to obtain a permit to visit border areas, defense 
facilities, industrial zones involved in national defense, areas of 
``national strategic storage,'' and ``works of extreme importance for 
political, economic, cultural, and social purposes.''
    Local officials reportedly informally discouraged some clergy from 
traveling domestically, even within their own provinces, especially 
when travel to ethnic minority areas was involved (see section 2.c.).
    During the year the National Assembly passed a controversial new 
Law on Residence which allows the MPS to retain the current system of 
residence registrations, in spite of strong opposition from many 
legislators. During the debate of the law, Assembly members echoed a 
common public concern that the residence registration violates the 
freedom of residency stipulated in the constitution. Many citizens 
believed that this government practice effectively acted as a barrier 
for individuals and families to move within the country and become 
legal residents of a new province or city, and that it has become an 
infamous example of excessive government bureaucracy. Legal residency 
is needed to buy property. MPS officials successfully argued that they 
must maintain this system for the sake of social order and security. 
The MPS restricts the number of residency registrations given out, for 
example, for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
    Many persons continued to move without approval, especially migrant 
or itinerant laborers moving from rural areas to cities in search of 
work. Moving without permission hampered persons in obtaining legal 
residence permits. Foreign passport holders must register to stay in 
private homes, although there were no known cases of local authorities 
refusing to allow foreign visitors to stay with friends and family. 
Citizens are also required to register with local police when they stay 
overnight in any location outside of their own homes; the Government 
appeared to have enforced these requirements more strictly in some 
districts of the Central and Northern Highlands. However, some ethnic 
minority individuals from the Central Highlands encountered no problems 
when they traveled to Ho Chi Minh City to process family reunification 
visas.
    During the APEC summit, there were many reports of arbitrary 
government arrests and temporary detention of those deemed a threat or 
a potential embarrassment to the Government. Some of the reports were 
exaggerated, but others were substantiated by foreign diplomats. In 
general the Government did not hesitate to arbitrarily detain those 
whom they deemed a potential threat to government and Communist Party 
control.
    The Government again allowed fact-finding and monitoring visits by 
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and foreign 
diplomatic mission representatives to the Central Highlands. In general 
these trips were monitored but not hindered by local government 
authorities. The Government granted the UNHCR and foreign diplomatic 
staff access to local citizens of interest. The UNHCR and foreign 
diplomats saw some resistance from lower-level officials in permitting 
private interviews of returnees. Local policemen often were present 
during UNHCR returnee interviews. Earlier in the year a separate 
foreign observer mission reported government officials disguised as 
local village elders. Nevertheless, the UNHCR and foreign diplomats 
separately concluded that provincial governments continued to honor 
their obligations to attempt to peacefully reintegrate ethnic minority 
returnees from Cambodia.
    The UNHCR reported that by the end of the year, local authorities 
had received unprecedented training on UNHCR mandates for returnees. 
The UNHCR reported a general feeling of ``more openness'' during their 
monitoring visits and a better filtering of information from national 
to provincial to local government levels, due in part to World Trade 
Organization accession and APEC summit preparations.
    UNHCR representatives reported that the overall environment for 
ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands improved, despite an 
increase in the number of persons illegally going to Cambodia during 
the year. They stated that there was ``no general threat'' of systemic 
discrimination against ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.
    Although the Government no longer required citizens traveling 
abroad to obtain exit or reentry visas, the Government sometimes 
refused to issue passports. In the past the Government did not allow 
some persons who publicly or privately expressed critical opinions on 
religious or political issues to travel abroad. Authorities continued 
to deny political activist Tran Khue a passport to travel to Europe and 
the United States. However, provincial governments in the Central 
Highlands consistently facilitated the passport issuance and travel of 
ethnic minority individuals traveling legally to the United States on 
family reunification visas.
    Citizens' access to passports sometimes was constrained by factors 
such as bribery and corruption. Immigrant visa applicants sometimes 
encountered local officials who arbitrarily delayed or denied passport 
issuance based on personal animosities, on the officials' perception 
that an applicant did not meet program criteria, or to extort a bribe. 
Unlike in past years, there appeared to be no restrictions on the 
ability of family members of ethnic minorities granted refugee status 
abroad to obtain documents and passports to rejoin their spouses 
abroad.
    The law does not provide for forced internal or external exile; 
however, cases amounting to de facto exile continued to occur. In 2003 
several UBCV leaders were forcibly returned to their home pagodas and 
placed under official or unofficial administrative detention there (see 
section 2.c.). Protestant pastor Nguyen Nhat Thong has been forced to 
reside in a remote village in Binh Thuan Province since 1979. He has 
been allowed to travel outside the village since 1986, but he must ask 
for the permission of local authorities each time. Protestant pastor 
Nguyen Lap Ma, who had been forced to reside in an isolated village in 
Can Tho Province since 1982, received a passport and was resettled in 
another country.
    The U.S. Government continued to process immigrants and refugee 
applicants for admission and resettlement, including family 
reunification cases and Amerasians. Travel under other refugee 
categories had virtually ceased as the relevant programs were closed to 
new applicants in the mid-1990s. However, due to concerns that some 
former reeducation camp detainees, former U.S. Government employees, 
and former U.S. organization employees had been unable to apply or 
complete the application process, on June 25 a two-year application 
period opened for such persons. By year's end several hundred persons 
had departed the country under this process and through related family 
reunification cases.
    The Government generally permitted citizens who had emigrated 
abroad to return to visit. However, the Government refused to allow 
some citizen activists living abroad to return. For example, exiled 
activist Pastor Paul Tran Dinh Ai was denied entry at Ho Chi Minh City 
airport in February when he attempted to visit his mother. By law the 
Government considers anyone born in the country to be a citizen, even 
if the person has acquired another country's citizenship, unless a 
formal renunciation of citizenship has been approved by the President. 
However, in practice the Government usually treated overseas Vietnamese 
as citizens of their adopted country. Emigrants were not permitted to 
use Vietnamese passports after they acquired other citizenship. The 
Government generally encouraged visitation by such persons but 
sometimes monitored them carefully.
    Following April 2004 protests in the Central Highlands, a number of 
ethnic minorities hid in forests and rubber plantations, and some 
attempted to flee across the border into Cambodia. Vietnamese police 
attempted to block these potential refugees and reportedly crossed the 
border into Cambodia. The UNHCR received approximately 775 ethnic 
minority refugees in its camps in Cambodia. Thirteen potential refugees 
who received UNHCR protection in Phnom Penh independently returned to 
Vietnam in October 2004. According to authorities, the 13 persons 
returned safely to their homes; however, newspaper accounts reported 
that they were interviewed extensively by authorities upon their 
return.
    In January 2005 the Government signed a tripartite Memorandum of 
Understanding on the Settlement of Issues Relating to the Vietnamese 
Central Highlands Ethnic Minority People in Cambodia with the 
Government of Cambodia and the UNHCR to facilitate the return of all 
ethnic minority individuals in Cambodia who did not qualify for third-
country resettlement. The UNHCR and various foreign diplomats were 
subsequently permitted to visit ethnic minority returnees from Cambodia 
after their arrival in the Central Highlands.
    The UNHCR reported that 228 Vietnamese ethnic minority individuals 
from the Central Highlands arrived in Cambodia during the year. 
Approximately 50 individuals returned under the auspices of the 2005 
agreement.

    Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951 
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. 
After North Korean asylum seekers entered foreign diplomatic missions 
in Hanoi in July 2005, the Government called on diplomatic missions and 
international organizations to hand over to local authorities any 
third-country intruders, whom the Government considers to be 
immigration law violators. There were no reports at year's end that the 
Government had invoked this new policy.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution does not provide for the right of citizens to 
change their government peacefully, and citizens could not freely 
choose and change the laws and officials that govern them. All 
authority and political power is vested in the CPV, and the 
constitution delineates the leadership of the CPV. Political opposition 
movements and other political parties are illegal. The CPV Politburo, 
led by a triumvirate consisting of CPV General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, 
State President Nguyen Minh Triet, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, 
is the supreme decision-making body in the country, although it 
technically reports to the CPV Central Committee.
    The Government continued to restrict public debate and criticism to 
certain aspects of individual, state, or party performance determined 
by the CPV itself. No public challenge to the legitimacy of the one-
party state was permitted; however, there were instances of 
unsanctioned letters critical of the Government from private citizens, 
including some former senior party members, that circulated publicly. 
Several small opposition political groupings that established 
themselves during the year were tolerated, although police harassment 
of members gradually increased (see section 2.b.).

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections 
to select members of the National Assembly were held in 2002. The 
elections were neither free nor fair, since all candidates were chosen 
and vetted by the CPV's VFF, an umbrella group that monitored all of 
the country's popular organizations. Consequently, 90 percent of the 
delegates were CPV members, and non-CPV members were only nominally 
independent.
    The Law on Election of Deputies to People's Councils provided for 
higher numbers of female and minority candidates, more candidates per 
position, and fewer party members standing for seats in people's 
council elections at all levels than in previous elections. 
Nonetheless, for the 2004 people's councils elections at the district 
level, the party-controlled VFF approved all candidates, as it did for 
national and provincial assembly elections. Although voting is not 
compulsory, election officials applied many means to persuade citizens 
to vote, including using public address systems to ask late-voting 
citizens by name to come to the polls. The Government claimed a 99.7 
percent voter turnout for the 2004 people's councils election. Proxy 
voting in that election, while illegal, appeared widespread. In 
addition, most voting was finished by 10 a.m., although polls were 
required to stay open until 7 p.m.
    The National Assembly, although subject to the control of the CPV 
(all of its senior leaders and 90 percent of its members were party 
members), increasingly served as a forum for the expression of local 
and provincial concerns, a critic of corruption and inefficiency, and 
an arena for debating progress in improved transparency for the legal 
and regulatory systems. In the past it did not initiate legislation and 
did not pass legislation that the CPV opposed, but the National 
Assembly continued to assert itself as a legislative body during the 
year. The CPV's nominees for the three top positions in the Government 
(below party general secretary) made brief presentations to the 
Assembly before their candidacies were voted on. Assembly members' 
displeasure over the Government's reaction to corruption scandals was 
evident in low votes returned on several CPV candidates tainted by the 
scandals and in question-and-answer sessions with government ministers. 
In an unprecedented development, some deputies also indirectly 
criticized the CPV's preeminent position in society.
    CPV officials occupied most senior government and National Assembly 
positions and continued to have the final decision on key issues.
    The law provides the opportunity for equal participation in 
politics by women and minority groups. Women held a number of important 
government positions, including the vice presidency. There were 136 
women in the 498-seat National Assembly. There were three women at the 
ministerial level but none in the Politburo. There were few women in 
provincial-level leadership positions.
    There were 87 ethnic minority members in the National Assembly and 
two ethnic minority members serving in cabinet-level positions. The CPV 
general secretary was a member of the Tay ethnic minority group; 
however, the number of minorities in the executive branch of government 
or within the party at a national-level did not accurately reflect 
their proportion (15 percent) of the population.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be 
a major problem. The Government showcased its efforts to fight 
corruption, including publicizing budgets at different levels of 
government and streamlining government inspection measures. Cases of 
government officials accused of corruption were publicized widely (see 
section 2.a.). In March and April, the press extensively reported a 
corruption story involving PMU-18, a government office handling large 
infrastructure projects, some with substantial foreign contributions. 
The press revealed that Bui Tien Dung, the head of PMU-18, was part of 
a betting ring. Deputy Minister of Transportation Nguyen Viet Tien was 
implicated in the scandal by a March 28 MPS report and required to step 
down; on March 30, a spokesman for the Prime Minister declared that 
``the transport minister must take responsibility, and after that 
deputy ministers must follow.'' On April 1, the CPV announced that a 
proposal to remove Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh had been submitted 
to the Politburo. Binh submitted his resignation on April 3; however, 
he was not formally punished despite significant protests from National 
Assembly deputies. In late November the Government Inspectorate also 
found that two local party officials in Quang Ngai Province had 
illegally allowed their relatives to use large stocks of land for 
personal use; the party eventually removed the officials from their 
positions. In December the inspectorate found party officials had 
misused $4.3 million (685 billion VND) intended for the upgrade of 
Highway 5, although it remained unclear if anyone would be punished in 
connection to the scandal.
    During the year senior government officials in Khanh Hoa Province 
faced sanction, investigation, and possible imprisonment for a corrupt 
land deal. In August the director of one of Ho Chi Minh City's most 
prestigious high schools was arrested for corruption. The cases 
remained under investigation for possible prosecution.
    At year's end neither Vice Minister of Trade Mai Van Dau nor his 
son, Mai Thanh Hai, had been tried after their 2004 indictment on 
charges of accepting bribes in exchange for arranging textile quotas.
    In accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Normative 
Documents, the Official Gazette published most legal documents in its 
daily publication. Party documents such as Politburo decrees were not 
published in the Gazette.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    The Government does not permit private, local human rights 
organizations to form or operate. The Government generally did not 
tolerate attempts by organizations or individuals to comment publicly 
on government human rights practices, and it used a wide variety of 
methods to suppress domestic criticism of its human rights policies, 
including surveillance, limits on freedom of assembly, interference 
with personal communications, and detention.
    The Government generally prohibited private citizens from 
contacting international human rights organizations, although some 
activists did so. The Government generally did not permit visits by 
international NGO human rights monitors; however, it allowed 
representatives from the press, UNHCR, foreign governments, and 
international development and relief NGOs to visit the Central 
Highlands. The Government criticized almost all public statements on 
human rights issues by international NGOs and foreign governments, 
although criticism was muted compared with previous years.
    The Government generally was willing to discuss human rights 
problems bilaterally with some foreign governments, and several foreign 
governments continued official talks with the Government concerning 
human rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, 
religion, or social class; however, enforcement of these prohibitions 
was uneven. While many persons formerly interned in reeducation camps 
on the basis of association with the pre-1975 government were well 
integrated into society, some continued to report varying levels of 
discrimination as they and their families sought access to housing, 
education, and employment. In the past some military veterans of the 
pre-1975 South Vietnamese government and their families faced economic 
hardship as a result of past employment restrictions and 
discrimination. Few of these prohibitions remained, and the declining 
percentage of war veterans belonging to the labor force also lessened 
the incidence of such discrimination.

    Women.--The law prescribes punishment ranging from warnings to up 
to two years' imprisonment for ``those who cruelly treat persons 
dependent on them", but the police and legal system were generally not 
equipped to deal with cases of domestic violence. Officials 
increasingly acknowledged domestic violence, which also was discussed 
more openly in the media. Domestic violence against women reportedly 
was common, although there were no firm statistics measuring the extent 
of the problem. Hotlines for victims of domestic violence operated by 
domestic NGOs existed in some major cities. There were no reports of 
police or judicial reluctance to act on domestic abuse cases. 
Approximately two-thirds of divorces reportedly were due in part to 
domestic violence. The divorce rate has risen in the past few years, 
but many women remained in abusive marriages rather than confront 
social and family stigma as well as economic uncertainty.
    It is a crime to use violence, threaten violence, take advantage of 
a person who is unable to act in self-defense, or resort to trickery to 
have sexual intercourse with a person against that person's will. This 
appears to criminalize rape, spousal rape, and in some instances sexual 
harassment; however, there were no known instances of prosecution for 
spousal rape or sexual harassment.
    Prostitution is illegal, but enforcement was uneven. Estimates 
varied widely, but some NGOs estimated that there were 300,000 
prostitutes in the country, including those who engaged in prostitution 
part-time or seasonally. As in past years, some women reportedly were 
coerced to work as prostitutes, often victimized by false promises of 
lucrative work (see section 5, Trafficking). Many more women felt 
compelled to work as prostitutes because of poverty and a lack of other 
employment opportunities. There were continued reports that some 
parents coerced daughters into prostitution or made extreme financial 
demands that compelled them to engage in prostitution, since parents 
often expected an eldest daughter to assume responsibility for a 
significant part of a family's finances. The Vietnam Women's Union as 
well as international NGOs engaged actively in education and 
rehabilitation programs to combat these abuses.
    While there is no legal discrimination, women faced societal 
discrimination. Despite the large body of legislation and regulations 
devoted to the protection of women's rights in marriage as well as in 
the workplace and labor code provisions that call for preferential 
treatment of women, women did not always receive equal treatment.
    In November the National Assembly passed the country's first-ever 
Law on Gender Equality. The law was considered an acknowledgement by 
leadership that sex discrimination is a serious problem. It aims to 
redress wage and other gaps and rationalize existing gender-related 
statutes. The law also calls for the establishment of a government 
agency to implement the law and promote public education about gender 
equality. While the National Assembly consulted with the international 
donor community on the development of the law, and the law is seen as 
forward-thinking in many areas, UN representatives stated that there 
are parts of the new law not compatible with the UN Convention on the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, alluding in 
part to the Government's maintenance of a lower retirement age for 
women than for men.
    The Women's Union continued to promote women's rights, including 
political, economic, and legal equality and protection from spousal 
abuse. The Women's Union also operated microcredit consumer finance 
programs and other programs to promote the advancement of women.

    Children.--International organizations and government agencies 
reported that despite the Government's promotion of child protection 
and welfare, children continued to be at risk of economic exploitation. 
While education is compulsory through the age of 14, authorities did 
not enforce the requirement, especially in rural areas where government 
and family budgets for education were strained and where children were 
needed for agricultural labor. Some street children in Ho Chi Minh City 
and Hanoi participated in night education courses. The culture's strong 
emphasis on education led parents who could send children to school to 
do so rather than allow them to work. The public school system includes 
12 grades. More than 90 percent of children attended primary grades; 
however, the percentage that attended lower and upper secondary school 
was much lower. Secondary school enrollments were at less than 75 
percent of eligible students for lower secondary and less than 50 
percent for upper secondary. Enrollments were lower at all educational 
levels in remote mountainous areas, although the Government operated a 
system of subsidized boarding schools through the high-school level for 
high-aptitude ethnic minority students. The Government also had a 
program of preferential placement for ethnic minority individuals 
seeking university entry. Religious groups operated some orphanages, 
despite the Government's prohibition on such activities, and sent the 
children to public schools during the day.
    The Government continued a nationwide immunization campaign, and 
the government-controlled press regularly stressed the importance of 
health and education for all children. While reports from domestic 
sources indicated that responsible officials generally took these goals 
seriously, concrete actions were constrained by limited budgets. 
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), despite 
growth in incomes over the past decade, severe malnutrition remained a 
problem; approximately 39 percent of children under five years of age 
were underweight during the 1995-2000 period.
    Anecdotal evidence suggested that child abuse occurred, but there 
were no studies on the extent of such abuse.
    Widespread poverty contributed to child prostitution, particularly 
of girls but also of some boys, in major cities. Many prostitutes in Ho 
Chi Minh City were under 18 years of age. Some child prostitutes, such 
as those from abusive homes, were forced into prostitution for economic 
reasons.
    Some children were trafficked domestically, and others were 
trafficked to foreign destinations for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking). Domestic trafficking also 
included incidents of beggar children and flower-selling rings, 
especially in the urban centers of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. 
Government officials prosecuted one such case, originating in Hue. 
Other children were trafficked from Cambodia into Ho Chi Minh City.
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
    According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs 
(MOLISA), there were 21,869 street children in the country as of 
February 2003. Street children were vulnerable to abuse and sometimes 
were abused or harassed by police. International NGOs documented 
numerous cases of Cambodian children trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City for 
work in begging and flower-selling rings. In August the Vietnam Women's 
Union, in cooperation with the Government of China and UNICEF, 
organized a Children's Forum on antitrafficking. Youth unions also 
launched awareness campaigns.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The penal code prohibits trafficking in 
women and children, but trafficking, in particular trafficking in women 
and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, remained a 
significant problem. Documentation of known trafficking cases as well 
as the level of case adjudications and prosecutions increased, while 
the Government became more open in identifying and prosecuting 
trafficking cases and public awareness rose. The transnational element 
to Vietnam-sourced trafficking also increased along with an increase in 
economic growth, globalization of the economy, and the gap between rich 
and poor.
    A Central Coordination Office within the MPS's Criminal Department 
was set up during the year to coordinate government efforts in 
identification and prosecution of trafficking cases and assist in 
prevention and training activities. In addition, several law 
enforcement officers were trained under western standards.
    During the year the Government signed an antitrafficking memorandum 
of understanding (MOU) with China, similar to the MOU signed with 
Cambodia in 2005, which resulted in increased cooperation on border 
security, identification and prosecution of trafficking cases, and 
assistance and reintegration procedures for victims. With assistance 
from the UN and the international donor community, training of law 
enforcement officials increased, training manuals were developed and 
institutionalized, and law enforcement institutions and the court 
system began increasing their capacities. Several international NGOs 
worked in the field of trafficking in the country.
    There were few documented cases of trafficking in adult persons for 
labor during the year; however, deceitful and fraudulent overseas labor 
contracts and recruiting remained a problem. MOLISA reported that some 
workers of state-owned labor companies who were recruited and sent 
abroad suffered conditions akin to involuntary servitude or forced 
labor. MOLISA reported incidents within the Malaysian construction 
industry (see section 6.e.).
    The country was a source for trafficking in persons. Women were 
trafficked primarily to Cambodia, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, and South 
Korea for sexual exploitation. Chinese police stated that they had 
rescued more than 1,800 trafficking victims on the China-Vietnam border 
between 2001 and 2005. Some women also were trafficked to Hong Kong, 
Macau, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There also 
were reports that some women going to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South 
Korea, and China for arranged marriages were victims of trafficking. 
The Government estimated that approximately 10 percent of women in 
arranged marriages with Chinese men may have become trafficking 
victims. Some women and children also were trafficked within the 
country, usually from rural to urban areas. There were no reported 
incidents of trafficking of adult males during the year.
    Some children were trafficked within the country, and others to 
foreign destinations, for the purpose of prostitution. An NGO advocate 
estimated that the average age of trafficked girls was between 15 and 
17. Some reports indicated that the ages of girls trafficked to 
Cambodia typically were even lower.
    Individuals also were convicted in cases in which parents received 
payments in exchange for giving up their infant children for adoption. 
In addition, there was anecdotal evidence that small children and 
infants were sometimes kidnapped and sold to traffickers in China. 
Children also were trafficked to other countries. Mass organizations 
and NGOs continued to operate programs to reintegrate trafficked women 
and children into society. During the year programs designed to provide 
protection and reintegration assistance for trafficking victims through 
psychosocial support and vocational training, as well as to supplement 
regional and national prevention efforts by targeting at-risk 
populations for similar services, increased in the north of the 
country.
    There were reports that some women from Ho Chi Minh City and the 
Mekong Delta who left the country to marry men from Taiwan were forced 
into prostitution after their arrival in Taiwan. There was reported 
trafficking in women to the Macau Special Administrative Region of 
China with the assistance of organizations in China that were 
ostensibly marriage service bureaus, international labor organizations, 
and travel agencies. After arrival, women were forced into conditions 
similar to indentured servitude; some were forced into prostitution. In 
2005 visa issuance standards for Taiwanese marriages were tightened 
considerably, and the number of problematic or fraudulent marriages 
declined significantly as a result.
    Poor women and teenage girls, especially those from rural areas, 
were most at risk for being trafficked. MPS and UNICEF research 
indicated that trafficking victims could come from any part of the 
country but were concentrated in certain northern and southern border 
provinces, especially the Mekong Delta and central province of Thanh 
Hoa. Some were sold by their families as domestic workers or for sexual 
exploitation. In some cases traffickers paid families several hundred 
dollars in exchange for allowing their daughters to go to Cambodia for 
an ``employment offer.'' Many victims faced strong pressure to make 
significant contributions to the family income; others were offered 
lucrative jobs by acquaintances. False advertising, debt bondage, 
confiscation of documents, and threats of deportation were other 
methods commonly used by the traffickers, spouses, and employers.
    Individual opportunists and informal networks, as well as some 
organized groups, lured poor, often rural, women with promises of jobs 
or marriage and forced them to work as prostitutes (see section 5, 
Women). The Government stated that organized criminal groups were 
involved in recruitment, transit, and other trafficking-related 
activities. Organized crime was on the rise, and Vietnam-sourced 
trafficking operations were uncovered in Europe.
    Throughout the year the Government increased efforts to prosecute 
traffickers. The law provides for prison sentences of two to 20 years 
for each offense for persons found guilty of trafficking women, and 
between three years and life in prison for each offense for persons 
found guilty of trafficking children. Hundreds of traffickers have been 
convicted and imprisoned. The Government worked with international NGOs 
to supplement and strengthen law enforcement measures and institutions 
and also cooperated with other national governments to prevent 
trafficking. It also cooperated closely with other countries within the 
frameworks of Interpol, its Asian counterpart, and the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations.
    While reliable statistics on the number of citizens who were 
victims of sex-related trafficking were not available, there was 
evidence that the number has grown in recent years. The Criminal Police 
Department of the MPS, the Ministry of Justice, the Border Guard 
Command, and the Social Evils Department of MOLISA were the main 
government agencies involved in combating trafficking, with significant 
collaboration from the Women's Union. Police took an increasingly 
active role in investigating trafficking during the year, including 
training a dedicated antitrafficking force and building a conviction 
record. Late in the year, Ho Chi Minh City police reportedly uncovered 
a ring trafficking women to Malaysia, similar to another ring broken up 
in 2005.
    Official institutions, including MOLISA, the Women's Union, the 
Youth Union, and the Committee for Population, Family, and Children, 
continued active programs aimed at prevention, public awareness, and 
victims' protection. These programs included warning women and girls of 
these dangers, repatriation programs, and vocational training for 
teenage girls in communities considered vulnerable to trafficking. 
Government agencies worked closely with the International Organization 
for Migration, the Asia Foundation, and other international NGOs to 
provide temporary shelter, medical services, education, credit, 
counseling, and rehabilitation to returned trafficking victims. 
Throughout the year security agencies with border control 
responsibility received training in investigative techniques to prevent 
trafficking. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, funded with support from 
the Australian, French, and United Kingdom governments, had a three-
year program with the MPS in strengthening law enforcement 
institutions.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the state to protect 
the rights and encourage the employment of persons with disabilities; 
however, the provision of services to such persons was limited. 
Government agencies worked with domestic and foreign organizations to 
provide protection, support, physical access, education, and 
employment. The Government operated a small network of rehabilitation 
centers to provide long-term, inpatient physical therapy. Several 
provinces, government agencies, and universities had specific programs 
for those with disabilities.
    Educational opportunities for children with disabilities were poor 
but improving. Slightly more than 10 percent of children with 
disabilities were enrolled in school. The Government worked with donor 
countries and international NGOs to train additional teachers for 
students with disabilities.
    The law provides for preferential treatment for firms that recruit 
persons with disabilities and for fines on firms that do not meet 
minimum quotas that reserve 2 to 3 percent of their workforce for 
workers with disabilities; however, the Government enforced these 
provisions unevenly. Firms that have 51 percent of their employees with 
disabilities can qualify for special government-subsidized loans. 
During the year the Government provided $750,000 (12 billion VND) for 
vocational training for persons with disabilities. Measures enacted in 
2002 require that the construction or major renovation of new 
government and large public buildings include access for persons with 
disabilities. The Ministry of Construction trained architects and 
engineers in the requirements.
    The Government worked closely with international groups in 
implementing programs to increase access by persons with disabilities 
to education and employment.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the Government 
officially was opposed to discrimination against ethnic minorities, 
longstanding societal discrimination against ethnic minorities remained 
a problem. With the significant economic growth that has occurred, 
especially in the last five years, some improvement in this area was 
reported, although the improved economic conditions largely evaded 
ethnic minorities. The Government continued to implement policies to 
narrow the gap in the standard of living by granting preferential 
treatment to domestic and foreign companies that invested in highland 
areas, which are heavily populated with ethnic minorities.
    The Government also had infrastructure development programs that 
targeted poor, largely ethnic minority areas and established 
agricultural extension programs for remote rural areas. The Government 
operated special schools for ethnic minorities in many provinces, 
including subsidized boarding schools at the high-school and middle-
school levels, and offered special admission and preparatory programs 
as well as scholarships and preferential admissions at the university 
level.
    The Government resettled some ethnic minorities from inaccessible 
areas to locations where basic services were easier to provide; 
however, the resettlement sometimes diluted the political and social 
solidarity of these groups. The Government acknowledged that one of the 
goals of resettlement was to persuade the minorities to change from 
traditional slash-and-burn agricultural methods to sedentary 
agriculture. This resettlement program also had the effect of making 
more land available to ethnic Vietnamese migrants and state-owned 
plantations.
    Some members of ethnic minority groups continued to flee to 
Cambodia and Thailand, reportedly to seek greater economic opportunity 
or shortcuts to immigration to other nations. During the year 
approximately 20 Vietnamese Hmong were detained along with a larger 
group of Laotian Hmong in Thailand, reportedly claiming that they were 
escaping ethnic and religious pressures in the northern region and the 
Northwest Highlands, although conditions for religious freedom 
significantly improved in the north during the year. Government 
officials continued to monitor some highland minorities closely, 
particularly several ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, because of 
concern that the form of Protestant religion they were practicing 
encouraged ethnic minority separatism. Hmong Protestants in the 
northwest provinces were also subject to special attention for 
practicing their religion without official approval, although the great 
majority of Hmong believers were able to worship without difficulty, 
and conditions for religious freedom significantly improved in the 
north (see section 2.c.).
    The Government continued to impose extra security measures in the 
Central Highlands, in response to fears of ethnic minority separatist 
activity. There were some reports that ethnic minority individuals 
using cellular telephones to call the ethnic minority community abroad 
were a special target of police attention. There were numerous reports 
that ethnic minorities seeking to cross into Cambodia were returned by 
Vietnamese police operating on both sides of the border, sometimes 
followed by beatings and detentions; however, the Government also 
continued to implement measures to address the causes of ethnic 
minority discontent and initiate new measures as well. These included 
special programs to improve education and health facilities and expand 
road access and electrification of rural communities and villages. The 
Government allocated land to ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands 
through a special program, but there were complaints that 
implementation of these special programs was uneven.
    The Government continued a program to conduct classes in some local 
ethnic minority languages up to the fifth grade. The Government worked 
with local officials to develop a local language curriculum. The 
Government appeared to implement this program more comprehensively in 
the Central Highlands than in the mountainous northern and northwestern 
provinces. The Government broadcast radio and television programs in 
ethnic minority languages in some areas. The Government also instructed 
ethnic Kinh officials to learn the language of the locality in which 
they worked; however, implementation was not widespread. Provincial 
governments continued initiatives designed to increase employment, 
reduce the income gap between ethnic minorities and ethnic Kinh, and 
make officials sensitive and receptive to ethnic minority culture and 
traditions.
    The Government allowed the UNHCR and western diplomats extensive 
access to interview and monitor ethnic minority individuals returned to 
the Central Highlands from Cambodia under a tripartite MOU established 
with Cambodia and the UNHCR in 2005. Western observers were 
increasingly allowed to conduct private interviews with these 
individuals. There was little credible evidence that ethnic minority 
returnees faced discrimination in the Central Highlands during the 
year.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no evidence of 
official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, but there was 
substantial societal discrimination against such persons. There were 
multiple credible reports that persons with HIV/AIDS lost jobs or 
suffered from discrimination in the workplace or in finding housing. In 
a few cases, children of persons with HIV/AIDS were barred from 
schools, although this is against the law. With the assistance of some 
foreign donors, the national government and some provincial authorities 
took steps to treat, assist, and accommodate persons with HIV/AIDS; 
decrease societal stigma and discrimination; and increase dignity, 
although overall consistency was lacking. Religious charities were 
sometimes permitted to operate in this area.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers are not free to join or form 
unions of their choosing. The CPV controls the single trade union, the 
Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL), an umbrella organization 
that approves and manages a range of subsidiary labor unions organized 
according to location and industry. According to December 2005 data, 
the VGCL claimed 5.4 million members, or an estimated 48.8 percent of 
the approximately 11.1 million wage earners. Of these, 36.5 percent 
worked in the public sector, 33.1 percent in state-owned enterprises, 
and 30.4 percent in the private sector. The VGCL claimed that its 
membership represented 95 percent of public sector workers and 90 
percent of workers in state-owned enterprises. Approximately 1.7 
million union members worked in the private sector, including in 
enterprises with foreign investment (more than 700,000 persons). The 
vast majority of the workforce was not unionized, as more than 33 
million of the 44 million total laborers lived in rural areas and 
engaged in activities such as small-scale farming or worked in small 
companies and the informal private sector.
    Union leaders influenced key decisions, such as amending labor 
legislation, developing social safety nets, and setting health, safety, 
and minimum wage standards. However, the VGCL asserted that authorities 
did not prosecute some violations of the law. MOLISA acknowledged 
shortcomings in its labor inspection system, emphasizing that the 
country had an insufficient number of labor inspectors. The VGCL 
stated, and MOLISA acknowledged, that low fines on firms for labor 
violations failed to act as an effective deterrent against law 
violations. On June 7, at a National Assembly session, VGCL Standing 
Chairman Dang Ngoc Tung criticized law enforcement and stated that 
remedies had not been strong enough. Tung provided an example in which 
an enterprise had employed 5,000 workers but had made social insurance 
contributions for only 2,000 employees, retaining for itself as much as 
$187,500 (three billion VND) in social insurance contributions. Tung 
stated that labor authorities imposed only a $1,250 (20 million VND) 
fine on the firm for the violation, and subsequently the employer 
continued to violate the law.
    The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the UN Development 
Program continued to cooperate on a large multiyear technical 
assistance program to strengthen labor law implementation. The program 
involved projects to improve industrial relations, including collective 
bargaining and dispute settlement, encourage job promotion for young 
women, and improve occupational safety and health, among other 
objectives. During the year the ILO concluded a project to eliminate 
child labor.
    The VGCL had relations with 140 labor organizations in 91 
countries, 20 NGOs and UN organizations, and 20 international and 
regional occupational trade unions.
    According to the trade union law, VGCL's industrial union 
subsidiaries are also allowed to join international trade unions in 
conformity with their activity objectives.
    The labor code requires enterprises to facilitate employee efforts 
to join the union and prohibits antiunion discrimination on the part of 
employers against employees who seek it, but enforcement was uneven. 
Toan Cau SH Trading Company's 681 workers in Quoc Oai District of Ha 
Tay Province, who had been working since September 2005, were 
prohibited from establishing a union. The company ignored not only the 
workers' request to set up a trade union but also a similar appeal from 
the representative of Quoc Oai trade union.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--By law the 
provincial or metropolitan branch of the VGCL is responsible for 
organizing a union within six months of the establishment of any new 
enterprise, and management is required to cooperate with the union. In 
actuality only 85 percent of state-owned enterprises, 60 percent of 
foreign-invested enterprises, and 30 percent of private enterprises 
were unionized.
    The law provides VGCL-affiliated unions the right to bargain 
collectively on behalf of workers. However, according to a June ILO 
report on industrial relations, only 6 percent of workers in the four 
most industrialized provinces were represented by collective labor 
agreements. The ILO noted that collective bargaining agreements, if 
they existed, were vague and tended simply to repeat the law, lacking 
key specifics on salary increases for seniority, overtime, and 
nonsalary benefits.
    In November the National Assembly passed an amendment to the labor 
code that revised chapter 14, pertaining to strikes. The Government 
deemed the amendment necessary because nearly all of the more than 
1,200 strikes held since 1995 were de jure illegal. A wave of strikes 
in late 2005 and early in the year created a further impetus for the 
amendment. Labor experts had criticized the previous legally required 
conciliation and arbitration processes as overly lengthy and 
complicated. At the same time, enterprises and local authorities had 
failed to establish required dispute resolution bodies. The amendment 
clarifies the procedures for holding strikes legally and for the first 
time allows workers to choose their own representatives to negotiate 
disputes at enterprises where no union exists. In the past the VGCL was 
the sole organization allowed to represent workers.
    While the amended law does not allow for independent unions, it 
states that the negotiation of disputes can be led and organized by 
``relevant entities'' when the enterprise in question does not have a 
union. MOLISA officials characterized the change as significant because 
large numbers of workers were not unionized. A key feature of the 
amended law is that it shortens the time for resolving disputes by half 
and divides labor disputes into those over rights and those over 
interests. Collective labor disputes over rights must be routed through 
a conciliation council and, if the council cannot resolve the issue, to 
the chairman of the district-level people's committee. In collective 
labor disputes over interests, workers must take their claims through a 
process involving a conciliation council, or a district-level labor 
conciliator where no union is present, and if no resolution is 
obtained, a provincial arbitration council before a legal strike can be 
held. Unions (or workers' representatives where no union is present) 
have the right either to appeal decisions of provincial labor 
arbitration councils to provincial people's courts or to go on strike. 
Individual workers may take cases directly to the people's court 
system, but in most cases they may do so only after conciliation has 
been attempted and failed. The amendment also stipulates that workers 
on strike will not be paid wages while they are not at work.
    Strikes that began at South Korean and Taiwanese foreign-invested 
firms in the southern region soon spread to domestically-owned firms in 
that area and also to firms in other areas of the country. The VGCL and 
MOLISA maintained that the vast majority of strikes occurred over wages 
and employers' labor regulation violations; however, the ILO noted that 
outdated industrial relations mechanisms contributed to the tensions. 
Specifically, the ILO mentioned a lack of capacity at the VGCL at the 
local level to mediate labor disputes, the weakness of collective 
bargaining agreements at enterprises, and poor enforcement of labor 
laws.
    According to MOLISA, 303 strikes took place in the first six months 
of the year, more than twice the number that took place in all of 2005, 
itself a record year for strikes. Of the 303 strikes, 224 involved 
foreign-invested enterprises, 76 occurred in domestic private firms, 
and only three affected state-owned firms. Approximately 75 percent of 
the strikes took place in the textile, shoe-making, and processing 
industries, and 90.9 percent of the strikes occurred in Ho Chi Minh 
City and Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces. Strikes typically did not 
follow the authorized conciliation and arbitration process and thus 
were technically illegal, but the Government tolerated them and took no 
action against the strikers. The law prohibits retribution against 
strikers, and there were no reports of retribution. In some cases the 
Government disciplined employers for the illegal practices that led to 
strikes.
    The law prohibits strikes in 54 occupational sectors and businesses 
that serve the public or are considered by the Government to be 
important to the national economy and defense. A subsequent decree 
defines these enterprises to be those involved in electricity 
production; post and telecommunications; railway, maritime, and air 
transportation; banking; public works; and the oil and gas industry. 
The law also grants the Prime Minister the right to suspend a strike 
considered detrimental to the national economy or public safety.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
export processing zones and industrial zones. There was anecdotal 
evidence that the Government enforced the laws more actively in the 
zones than outside them.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that thousands of children worked in exploitative situations 
(see section 6.d.). Some women were coerced into prostitution (see 
section 5).
    Prisoners routinely were required to work for little or no pay. 
They produced food and other goods used directly in prisons or sold on 
local markets, reportedly to purchase items for their personal use.
    On April 5, the Government abolished an ordinance requiring all 
male citizens between 18 and 45 years of age and female citizens 
between 18 and 35 years of age to perform 10 days of annual public 
labor. In December 2005 a government taskforce finished a year-long 
survey of forced labor, and at year's end it was reviewing all legal 
regulations related to forced labor with the aim of signing ILO 
conventions 29 and 105 on forced labor.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a problem. The law prohibits most child labor but 
allows exceptions for certain types of work. The law sets the minimum 
age for employment at 18, but enterprises may hire children between 15 
and 18 if the firm obtains permission from parents and MOLISA. Based on 
a living standards survey conducted in previous years, MOLISA reported 
in June that approximately 30 percent of children between the ages of 
six and 17 participated in economic activities, 44.7 percent of them 
between 15 and 17, 16.4 percent between 11 and 14, and 1.2 percent 
between six and 10. MOLISA further calculated that 1.2 percent of 
children between six and 10 worked, 16.4 percent of children between 11 
and 14 worked, and 44.7 percent of children between 15 and 17 worked. 
Observers noted that the estimate may have understated the number of 
children who participated in such activities, since many more children 
worked in the informal sector, usually on family farms or in family 
businesses not within the scope of the law. According to the Vietnam 
Commission for Population, Family, and Children, as of December 31, 
2005, there were 7,699 street children in the country, although 
estimates of the numbers of such children in previous years were 
considerably higher. In 2005 a total of 2,032 street children were 
assisted in returning to their homes.
    By law an employer must ensure that workers under 18 do not 
undertake hazardous work or work that would harm their physical or 
mental development. Prohibited occupations are specified in the labor 
law. The law permits children to register at trade training centers, a 
form of vocational training, from the age of 13. Children may work a 
maximum of seven hours per day and 42 hours per week and must receive 
special health care.
    In rural areas children worked primarily on family farms and in 
other agricultural activities. In some cases they began work as young 
as age six and were expected to do the work of adults by the time they 
were 15. In urban areas children also worked in family-owned small 
businesses. According to a 2002-03 living standard survey, 88.5 percent 
of children who worked did so in household businesses and family-owned 
small businesses, while the remainder were occupied in wage-earning 
work. Migration from rural to urban settings exacerbated the child 
labor problem, because unauthorized migrants were unable to register 
their households in urban areas. This meant that their children could 
not attend public schools and families had less access to credit. 
Officials stated that juveniles in education and nourishment centers, 
which functioned much as reform schools or juvenile detention centers, 
were commonly assigned work for ``educational purposes.''
    A 2004 study of child labor in Ho Chi Minh City found cases in 
which parents in poor families entered into ``verbal agreements'' with 
employers, who then put their children to work. An ILO- and MOLISA-
sponsored study of four groups of child workers conducted by Hanoi 
National University of Vietnam's Center for Women Studies found that 
the salaries of children in domestic labor were sent directly to the 
parents. Most children in the study rarely used the wages for 
themselves, although some were able to pay their school fees with part 
of their salary. The study also noted that the working hours and income 
of children engaged in coal sorting and fishing were to some degree 
managed by their families.
    Government officials may fine and, in cases of criminal code 
violations, prosecute employers who violate child labor laws. While the 
Government committed insufficient resources to enforce effectively laws 
providing for children's safety, especially for children working in 
mines and as domestic servants, it detected some cases of child 
exploitation, removed the children from the exploitative situations, 
and fined the employers. In September Ho Chi Minh City police uncovered 
two unlicensed textile businesses that forced children between the ages 
of 12 and 17 to work 15 to 19 hours a day. The employers also allegedly 
physically abused the children.
    International donor assistance targeted the problem of child labor. 
The Government also continued programs to eliminate persistent child 
labor, with a particular focus on needy families and orphans.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires the Government 
to set a minimum wage, which is adjusted for inflation and other 
economic changes. In January, amid the wave of strikes at foreign-
invested firms, the Government raised the official monthly minimum wage 
for unskilled laborers at foreign-investment joint ventures by 40 
percent to $54.40 (870,000 VND) in the urban districts of Hanoi and Ho 
Chi Minh City; $49.40 (790,000 VND) in the suburban districts of Hanoi, 
Ho Chi Minh City, and several other industrial districts and towns; and 
$44.40 (710,000 VND) elsewhere in the country. The Government may 
temporarily exempt certain joint ventures from paying the minimum wage 
during the first months of an enterprise's operations or if the 
enterprise is located in a very remote area, but the minimum monthly 
wage in these cases can be no lower than $44.40 (710,000 VND). On 
October 1, the official monthly minimum wage of the state sector 
increased to $28 (450,000 VND). This amount remained inadequate to 
provide a worker and family a decent standard of living. The new salary 
policy benefited more than 10 million persons and 1.8 million 
pensioners and social insurance beneficiaries. However, state-owned 
enterprises consistently paid more than the state-sector minimum wage. 
The number of workers who received government-subsidized housing 
decreased. Many workers received bonuses and supplemented their incomes 
by engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Households frequently 
included more than one wage earner.
    The Government set the workweek for government employees and 
employees of companies in the state sector at 40 hours, and it 
encouraged the private business sector and foreign and international 
organizations that employed local workers to reduce the number of hours 
in the workweek to 40 hours but did not make compliance mandatory.
    The law sets normal working hours at eight hours per day, with a 
mandatory 24-hour break each week. Additional hours require overtime 
pay at one and one-half times the regular wage, two times the regular 
wage for weekdays off, and three times the regular wage for holidays 
and paid leave days. The law limits compulsory overtime to four hours 
per week and 200 hours per year but provides for an exception in 
special cases, where this maximum can be up to 300 overtime hours 
worked annually, subject to stipulation by the Government after 
consulting with VGCL and employer representatives. The law also 
prescribes annual leave with full pay for various types of work. It was 
unclear how well the Government enforced these provisions.
    According to the law, a female employee who is engaged, pregnant, 
on maternity leave, or raising a child under one year of age cannot be 
dismissed unless the enterprise closes. Female employees who are at 
least seven months' pregnant or are caring for a child under one year 
of age cannot work overtime, at night, or in locations distant from 
their homes.
    The law requires the Government to promulgate rules and regulations 
that ensure worker safety. MOLISA, in coordination with local people's 
committees and labor unions, is charged with enforcing the regulations. 
In practice enforcement was inadequate because of low funding and a 
shortage of trained enforcement personnel. The VGCL reported that there 
were more than 300 labor inspectors in the country but that at least 
600 were needed. On-the-job injuries due to poor health and safety 
conditions in the workplace were a problem. The greatest number of 
occupational injuries was caused by machinery such as rolling mills and 
presses. In 2005 36.3 percent of fatalities were caused by construction 
accidents, and 14.3 percent of occupational injuries were caused by 
mining accidents. According to MOLISA statistics from 60 of 64 
provinces, in 2005 there were 3,691 injuries and 473 fatalities 
resulting from 4,050 work-related accidents. In 2004 statistics from 64 
provinces showed 6,186 injuries and 575 fatalities resulting from 6,026 
work-related accidents (some involving multiple workers).
    There was evidence that workers, through labor unions, were 
effective in improving working conditions. Some foreign companies with 
operations in the country performed independent monitoring of problems 
at their factories. Companies reported that MOLISA or provincial labor 
agencies performed labor and occupational safety and health inspections 
at enterprises when they learned of serious accidents or when there 
were reports of hazardous conditions.
    The law provides that workers may remove themselves from hazardous 
conditions without risking loss of employment; however, it was unclear 
how well this stipulation was enforced. MOLISA stated that there were 
no worker complaints of employers failing to abide by the law.
    Recognizing that labor exports were a lucrative source of income 
for the country, the Government planned to send 80,000 to 90,000 
additional citizens overseas each year until 2010, adding to the 
400,000 workers already abroad at the end of the year. To promote and 
regulate the growing industry, restrict the number of laborers taking 
illegal jobs abroad for higher pay, and address international community 
concerns over a lack of worker protections afforded to Vietnamese guest 
workers, in November the Government passed an export labor law (see 
section 5).

                               __________

                           EUROPE AND EURASIA

                              ----------                              


                                ALBANIA

    The Republic of Albania is a parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 3.6 million. Legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral People's Assembly (parliament), which elects 
both the Prime Minister and the President. The Prime Minister heads the 
Government, while the presidency is a largely ceremonial position with 
limited executive power. Parliamentary elections held in July 2005 did 
not fully comply with international standards but were generally 
considered a step forward in the country's democratic development. 
Although delayed, a peaceful transition of power occurred in September. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were significant problems in several areas. 
Arrest and pretrial detention conditions continued to be an area of 
great concern with cases of abuse, violence, and inhuman conditions 
reported. Police corruption and impunity continued to be a problem. 
There were societal killings and an atmosphere of fear in some areas 
due to traditional blood feuds. Societal violence and discrimination 
against women and children were a problem, as was trafficking in 
persons. Societal discrimination against homosexuals, Roma, and Balkan-
Egyptians also continued.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings; however, the country continued to experience high 
levels of societal killings. Many killings occurred as the result of 
individual or clan vigilante actions connected to traditional ``blood 
feuds'' or to criminal gang conflicts. According to the interior 
ministry, at least five persons were killed during the year in blood 
feuds based on the medieval Code of Lek Dukagjini (the kanun). 
Approximately six persons were killed for revenge. The National 
Reconciliation Committee (NRC), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) 
that worked on blood feud issues, estimated that there were as many as 
78 deaths from feuds nationwide.
    According to the NRC, approximately 860 families were effectively 
self-imprisoned during the year due to blood feuds. Property disputes 
accounted for four-fifths of formally declared blood feuds, with the 
remainder pertaining to issues of honor or violations of the home 
(e.g., theft, trespassing, etc.). The NRC estimated that there were 
several hundred additional blood feuds stemming from trafficking, which 
are typically not formally declared out of shame. Of the 738 families 
reported effectively self-imprisoned in 2005, 166 left the country, 
including 93 families that sought formal political asylum in other 
countries.
    The NRC claimed that fear of revenge prevented approximately 182 
children from attending school, 86 of whom were permanently confined to 
their houses. Traditionally under the kanun, which was practiced 
particularly in the northern part of the country, only adult males are 
acceptable targets in blood feuds. However, women and children often 
were killed or injured in attacks because the kanun was not always 
strictly observed.
    According to the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation of Disputes 
Foundation, the phenomenon of blood feuds was intensified in the 
northern part of the country as a result of increased internal 
migration. Mountain villagers, who were most likely to follow the 
kanun, migrated to low-lying areas, cities, and towns, and many 
constructed homes on disputed land, triggering a blood feud.
    The 2004 murder of Emin Spahija, head of the NGO Peace Missionaries 
League that worked exclusively on blood feud issues was still on going. 
A suspect was arrested but has not yet been formally charged.
    In May 2005 the parliament approved a law establishing a 
coordination council, chaired by the President, to develop a national 
strategy against blood feuds and to coordinate activities of government 
agencies. The council was inactive during the year.
    The court of serious crimes tried blood feud cases. Under the 
Criminal Code, premeditated murder, when committed for revenge or a 
blood feud, is punishable by 20 years' or life imprisonment.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; however, 
the police and prison guards at times beat and abused suspects and 
detainees. The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) and the Albanian Human 
Rights Group (AHRG) continued to report that police nationwide used 
excessive force or inhumane treatment. According to the AHRG, most 
mistreatment took place at the time of arrest or initial detention. 
Roma, Balkan-Egyptians, and homosexuals were particularly vulnerable to 
police abuse (see section 5).
    In July the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture (CPT) released a report based on its 2005 inspection of the 
country's prisons and detention centers. The report detailed widespread 
inhumane treatment and physical abuse of prisoners and detainees. 
During the year there were reports that police in various parts of the 
country, such as Korca and Vlora, beat and mistreated persons during 
their arrest or while in pretrial detention.
    In May 2005 Besnik Kosturi filed charges against a Korca criminal 
police officer, Oltion Agolli, for mistreatment. The officer reportedly 
beat Kosturi for refusing to provide information on a pending case. 
Medical experts verified the abuse and the officer was suspended. The 
case was sent to the Korca district prosecutor's office, which declined 
to initiate formal proceedings due to lack of evidence.
    In May the Vlora Office of Internal Police Control gathered 
information in the case of Arben Belaj against Dritan Veizaj, a member 
of the Vlora special police force, for allegedly beating Belaj. The 
information was forwarded to the Vlora District Military Prosecution 
and Veizaj was suspended from his duties pending the final court 
outcome.
    The Shkodra District Military Prosecution investigated the 2005 
case of Frendi Ndoci against Pjerin Lazri and other Shkodra police 
officers for allegedly beating him at the police commissariat. Lazri 
was found guilty and fined approximately $830 (80,000 lek).
    At times police abused juvenile detainees. According to the 
Children's Human Rights Center of Albania (CHRCA), police sometimes 
used threats, violence, and torture to extract confessions from minors. 
In June Amarildo Perfundi, an 18-year-old high school student from 
Korca, was taken into custody for questioning for theft. Shortly after 
being released, Perfundi committed suicide. Several human rights 
organizations in the country criticized police handling of the case, 
citing psychological trauma and abuse on the part of police. The 
ombudsman investigated and found that the police had not followed legal 
procedures for arrest, detention, and questioning. The ombudsman 
concluded that the psychological trauma Perfundi sustained led him to 
commit suicide. Upon the recommendation of the ombudsman, the two 
officers involved, Altin Gusho and Gezim Mullai, were dismissed for 
failure to follow correct procedures. The case was forwarded to the 
district prosecutor's office for investigation and possible 
prosecution. The prosecutor found that there was insufficient evidence 
to bring charges against Gusho, and he was subsequently reinstated. 
Formal charges have been filed against Mullai.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that police beat 
protesters. However, the civic activist organization Mjaft! reported 
that police stood by without taking action as a government supporter 
physically assaulted a Mjaft! participant in a protest (see section 
2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The Ministry of Justice 
operated all prisons and some pretrial detention facilities. Most 
pretrial facilities were collocated with police commissariats and were 
operated by the Ministry of the Interior. The July CPT report stated 
that conditions inside the prisons and detention centers remained poor 
and were marked by decrepit conditions, overcrowding, poor food 
quality, physical abuse of detainees, and a lack of medical care. The 
Ministry of Justice's Directorate of Prisons asserted that many of the 
problems highlighted in the CPT report have been corrected in the 
prisons and detention facilities that it operated. The AHC confirmed 
that conditions in the Ministry of Justice run detention facilities 
were steadily improving, but that little or no progress had been made 
in the Ministry of Interior run detention facilities that held 80 
percent of all detainees. A project to close all Ministry of Interior 
facilities and to move all detainees to Ministry of Justice run 
facilities has been underway since 2003.
    The AHRG and the AHC singled out Ministry of Interior-run 
facilities as the most egregious violators of human rights. According 
to the Directorate of Prisons, the Government had no plans to 
rehabilitate Ministry of Interior run-facilities in anticipation of 
their eventual closure and replacement by Ministry of Justice run 
facilities. In addition to substandard infrastructure, AHC reported 
that Ministry of Interior-run facilities were operated under internal 
regulations which did not respect the rights of detainees to health 
care, adequate hygiene, and access to fresh air, recreation, and media.
    By year's end there were four additional Ministry of Justice 
facilities under construction, including a mental health facility in 
Durres.
    In September the AHC reported that detainees at the Ministry of 
Interior-run detention facility in Berat rioted and set fire to their 
bedding materials to protest poor treatment and conditions. As a 
result, the AHC recommended to the Government that the treatment of all 
pretrial detainees in the country should be governed by the 2005 
Ministry of Justice regulations and that the harsher 1999 Ministry of 
Interior regulations should be abandoned. According to the AHC, the 
Ministry of Interior regulations are not only outdated, but also 
contain provisions that are contrary to laws regarding the rights and 
treatment of prisoners.
    Overcrowding remained a serious problem in prisons and detention 
centers. The director of prisons reported that, as of December, there 
were 3,060 persons held in prisons designed for 2,718 and 752 persons 
in pretrial detention facilities designed for 671. According to the 
director of prisons, all of the 50 convicted criminals that in 2005 
were serving sentences in pretrial detention facilities had been 
transferred to prisons. This number did not include the 40 to 50 
convicted prisoners who may be in pretrial detention facilities at any 
time awaiting transfer to prison.
    Pretrial detention conditions at the Ministry of Justice run Lezhe 
prison, one of the largest in the country, improved substantially 
during the year. With foreign donor support, the physical conditions 
were ameliorated and prison guards and administrators received human 
rights training.
    Poor quality and insufficient food continued to be a concern, 
particularly for prisoners who did not have relatives nearby to provide 
food. In September 2005 the ombudsman's office inspected the 
Commissariat Four detention facility in Tirana and other district 
detention facilities and determined that eight Chinese nationals (six 
men and two women detained for possessing illegal documents) and other 
detainees were not being fed. The ombudsman requested that the Prime 
Minister's office and ministries of interior and justice take immediate 
measures to assist the detainees and the situation was corrected. In 
addition, the Chinese nationals were given the opportunity to speak via 
telephone with relatives.
    According to the General Directorate of Prisons, there were 80 
women serving in Prison 325 for women in Tirana and 47 women in 
pretrial detention. A nursery was constructed at Prison 325 and in 
September it housed two children.
    Juvenile convicts and detainees were separated from adults. There 
were no reported cases of sexual abuse of minors. All convicted minors 
were held in the juvenile wing of the Vaqarr prison where they received 
basic education. The CHRCA reported that minors still used the same 
recreation and hygienic facilities as adult detainees, although at 
different times.
    The director of prisons acknowledged that the physical abuse of 
prisoners and corruption of prison guards and officials was a major 
problem. During the year, 178 guards and officials were dismissed for 
corruption or misconduct and charges were pending against five high-
level prison officials for corruption (see section 3).
    The Government permitted international human rights observers to 
visit both pretrial detention centers and prisons; there were no 
reports of refusals to permit access for inspections by domestic 
independent human rights monitors.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports 
that police occasionally arbitrarily arrested and detained persons.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In 2005 the Ministry of 
Public Order and the Ministry of Local government were combined as a 
new Ministry of the Interior. Local police units reported to the 
Ministry of the Interior and were the main force responsible for 
internal security. The military has a special 90-person commando unit, 
which operates in an antiterrorist role under the minister of defense. 
The law allows the minister of interior to request authority over this 
unit during a domestic crisis. The State Intelligence Service (SHISH) 
is responsible for both internal and external intelligence gathering 
and counterintelligence. The Albanian State Police (ASP) employed 
approximately 12,000 officers.
    The overall performance of law enforcement remained weak. 
Unprofessional behavior and corruption remained major impediments to 
the development of an effective civilian police force. According to the 
Ministry of the Interior, only 40 percent of police officers received 
training beyond basic, despite assistance from foreign governments.
    Corruption remained a problem among police forces, and low salaries 
and widespread corruption throughout society made the problem difficult 
to combat. The Ministry of the Interior's Office of Internal Control 
engaged in the prevention, discovery, and documentation of corruption 
and other criminal activity committed by police.
    Between January 2005 and October, the Office of Internal Control 
received 127 complaints from the public and conducted 132 
investigations. Of these, charges against two officers were dismissed 
as baseless. In 35 other cases, there was sufficient evidence for 
authorities to arrest officers on suspicion of having committed 
criminal acts. A total of 98 police officers (including 37 of middle to 
high rank) were charged with offenses, including counterfeiting and 
illegal issuance of travel documents and assistance to illegal border 
crossing. Approximately 70 officers were dismissed during the period 
for professional misconduct, including corruption.
    Impunity remained a problem, although on the decline. In 2005 the 
ombudsman received 30 complaints against police officers for use of 
excessive force or mistreatment. Out of these, the ombudsman determined 
that four were valid and the remainder was dismissed as baseless. The 
ombudsman's recommendations were accepted and the prosecutor's office 
brought charges against the four police officers.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law a police officer or prosecutor may 
order a suspect into custody. The constitution requires that detained 
persons must be informed immediately of the charges against them and of 
their rights, and a prosecutor must be notified immediately after 
police detain a suspect. Police generally followed these requirements 
in practice. Within 48 hours of the arrest or detention, a suspect must 
appear before a judge. The judge has an additional 48 hours to 
determine whether the suspect should remain in detention. In some 
cases, detained persons were kept in pretrial detention beyond 48 hours 
without a court decision on whether the prosecutor had sufficient 
evidence.
    A court may order detention in especially serious cases that could 
pose a danger to society. Alternatively, a suspect may be placed under 
house arrest. Bail may be required if the judge believes that the 
accused may not appear for trial.
    Legal counsel must be provided free of charge if the defendant 
cannot afford a private attorney; however, this right was not widely 
known, and police often failed to inform suspects of it. Access to 
legal information remained difficult for citizens, particularly those 
in rural areas or those lacking Internet access. However, for the 
limited segment of the population with Internet access, virtually all 
laws were available on-line free of charge, and there were several NGOs 
that provided free legal advice for those in need, although the NGOs 
were not easily located. In contrast with the previous year, there were 
no reports of persons being illegally detained and unable to contact a 
private attorney. In some cases detainees were interrogated without 
their attorneys present. Legal services offered by the state bar 
association were considered inadequate, corrupt, and at times lacking 
in professionalism.
    During the year the ombudsman received two complaints of arbitrary 
arrests and illegal detention by the police but considered neither to 
have merit. While there were no other reports of arbitrary arrest and 
detention by police, some NGOs believed it was still a problem. The 
AHRG reported that in an effort to bolster statistics, numerous arrests 
took place during the year either without a valid arrest warrant or 
with arrest warrants based on falsified evidence. For example, the AHRG 
cited the case of four transvestites arrested in August for allegedly 
engaging in prostitution (see section 5). The police publicized this 
case as part of its efforts to crack down on serious crime.
    The law requires completion of pretrial investigations within three 
months; however, a prosecutor may extend this period by additional 
three-month increments in particularly difficult cases. While the law 
provides that the maximum length of pretrial detention should not 
exceed two years, lengthy pretrial detention often occurred as a result 
of delayed investigations. In 2005 the AHRG reported that Elton 
Gerdhuqi had been detained in the Vlora police commissariat since 2000 
and that the Vlora court had yet to issue a decision on the case. By 
year's end all 49 prisoners held in pretrial detention after their 
trial had been transferred to prison.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, political pressure, 
intimidation, widespread corruption, and limited resources prevented 
the judiciary from functioning independently and efficiently. The 
President heads the High Council of Justice (HJC), which has authority 
to appoint, discipline, and dismiss district and appeals court judges. 
Judges who are dismissed have the right to appeal to the high court. 
The council includes the minister of justice, the head of the High 
Court, nine judges of all levels selected by the National Judicial 
Conference, and three members selected by parliament. In July the 
Constitutional Court struck down most provisions of a 2005 law that 
sought to alter the functioning of the HJC on the grounds that they 
would have compromised the independence of the judiciary. The 
Government contended that such changes were necessary to eliminate 
potential conflicts of interest among council members.
    During the year progress was made in removing incompetent or 
corrupt judges from the bench. During the year the Ministry of Justice 
recommended to the HJC that five judges be sanctioned for corruption or 
incompetence. The HCJ voted to remove one judge from office, and the 
other four were reprimanded. Investigations were underway against 10 
other judges.
    The governing coalition parties in parliament accused the 
prosecutor general of incompetence and corruption and recommended that 
the President dismiss him. The opposition saw this as a governmental 
attack on the independence of the prosecutor general's office. 
Ultimately, the President declined to act on parliament's 
recommendation and cited the need to maintain the independence of the 
prosecutor's office. Subsequently, the Constitutional Court ruled that 
the parliamentary commission convened to investigate the prosecutor 
general was unconstitutional and did not have the legal power to review 
the prosecutor's decisions.
    Police, prosecutors, and the judiciary continued to blame each 
other for failures that allowed criminals to avoid imprisonment. For 
example, the courts accused prosecutors and police of failing to carry 
out solid investigations and gather evidence necessary to prosecute 
criminals successfully, and the police asserted that corruption and 
bribery tainted the courts. The judicial police were responsible, under 
the direction of prosecutors, for developing investigations initially 
conducted by police.
    The judicial system is composed of district courts, six courts of 
appeal, the serious crimes court, the serious crimes court of appeal, 
military courts, military courts of appeal, a high court, and a 
separate and independent constitutional court. The high court hears 
appeals from both the district courts and the courts of appeal, while 
the constitutional court primarily reviews those cases involving 
constitutional interpretation and conflicts between branches of 
government and cases of individuals alleging denial of due process. The 
serious crimes court and serious crimes court of appeal focus on the 
fight against organized crime, trafficking, and on other serious crimes 
and on improving the quality of adjudication.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a speedy trial; however, limited material resources, lack of space, 
and case overload in many instances prevented the court system from 
adjudicating cases in a timely fashion. Long case backlogs were typical 
and resulted in suspects being detained for longer than legal limits 
(see section 1.d.). Defendants, witnesses, and others who do not speak 
Albanian are entitled to the services of a translator. Defendants are 
entitled to a lawyer, and, under the law, the Government provides 
lawyers for indigent defendants, although the quality of representation 
varied. Defendants have the right to appeal decisions within 10 days to 
the Court of Appeal. Defendants are legally presumed innocent until 
convicted.
    During the year four trials were conducted in absentia, compared 
with 98 such trials in 2005.
    The trial system does not provide for jury trials. Prosecutors and 
the defense lawyers present cases to a panel of three judges, and 
defendants have the right to all evidence that is presented to the 
judges.
    The country has no juvenile justice system, and children's cases 
frequently were presented to judges who were not trained in juvenile 
justice. According to the CHRCA, lengthy sentences given to juveniles 
were often due to lack of such training.
    While separate from civilian courts, military courts are under the 
district court. They employ judges and prosecutors from civilian courts 
for military cases but do not try civilians.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedure and Remedies.--The bailiff's office, which 
is part of the Ministry of Justice, ensures that civil judgments are 
enforced. Many civil judgments, particularly property settlement cases, 
were not implemented because of strong social or political 
ramifications. For example, authorities did not enforce the court order 
awarding the building that housed the country's two main trade unions 
in Tirana to their rightful owner as determined by the court. During 
the year one individual won a case in the European Court of Human 
Rights in Strasbourg against the Government for failure to pay court 
ordered restitution for seized property.

    Property Restitution.--In July parliament amended the 2004 law on 
restitution and compensation for property confiscated during the 
Communist regime. The law expanded the limit of 148 acres to 247 acres 
for property restitution, dissolved the independent State Committee for 
Property Restitution, and replaced it with an agency appointed by the 
council of ministers. During the year the Government established a fund 
of three million (300 million lek) to provide compensation to 
claimants. The Annual Report of the Activities of the ombudsman's 
office reported that in 2005 a total of 41 complaints related to 
property compensation were processed and that the number of such 
complaints was up 40 percent from the previous year. Of these, 10 were 
resolved in favor of the plaintiff, and the remainder was directed to 
the courts.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, at times, the Government infringed on these rights.
    In July the homes of 45 Romani families were destroyed in Elbasani 
when city officials decided to relocate them to another part of the 
city (see section 5). In 2005 18 Romani families were forced to abandon 
their homes in Tirana because they blocked a local municipality's 
territory regulation plan.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. While the media was active and 
largely unrestrained, there were serious problems with the use of the 
media for political purposes.
    Politicization of the media remained an issue of concern and, in 
the run up to local elections planned for January 2007, appeared to be 
on the upswing in the final quarter of the year. The polarization of 
media outlets into opposing camps has become more pronounced. 
Publishers and newspaper owners continued to dictate news stories to 
serve their political and economic interests and sometimes blocked 
stories that ran counter to those interests. Journalists continued to 
practice self-censorship, and there was little transparency in the 
financing of the media.
    In general individuals could freely criticize the Government and 
its actions in print and broadcasts. However, in May the activist 
movement Mjaft! reported that police disrupted its efforts to 
disseminate a poster critical of the Prime Minister. After 
approximately 1,000 posters were hung around the city of Tirana, police 
forces reportedly removed the posters and confiscated the remaining 
4,000 that had not been posted. There were no reports that officials 
used or threatened to use libel suits to limit free political 
discussion.
    The independent print media were active but were constrained by 
limited professionalism, lack of finances, and political pressure. 
Political parties, trade unions, and various societies and groups 
published their own newspapers or magazines independent of government 
influence. An estimated 200 publications were available, including 
daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and pamphlets. One 
new major national daily newspaper, Shqip, started in the spring while 
two others, Dita and Express, closed.
    According to official data, there were 64 private television 
stations and 44 private radio stations, but the actual number was 
reportedly larger. While stations generally operated free of direct 
government influence, most owners believed that the content of their 
broadcasts could influence government action toward their other 
businesses.
    The public Albanian Radio and Television (RTSH) operated a national 
television channel and a national radio station. RTSH devoted most of 
its coverage to the Government and the ruling party. By law, the 
Government provides 50 percent of the station's budget. During the year 
Kico Blushi, chairman of the RTSH Steering Council, resigned to protest 
parliament's postponing a request to dismiss television director Artur 
Zheji. Blushi claimed that RTSH was still hostage to politics and the 
Government, thus failing to fulfill its public mission.
    In May parliament amended the Law on Broadcast Media, restructuring 
the RTSH Steering Council and the National Council of Media, which is 
responsible for licensing and regulation and dismissing the previous 
members of the council. The opposition charged that the new law was a 
political maneuver designed to weaken the independence of the two 
regulatory bodies by tilting them in favor of the Government. The 
amendment also called for the appointment of media professionals and 
representatives of civil society in lieu of representatives of the 
political parties.
    In contrast to 2005 there was only one report that police or other 
officials physically abused journalists. In February a television 
reporter accused police officer Kastriot Caushi of the Lushnje Police 
Commissariat and members of the Republican Guard of using excessive 
force to keep reporters from interviewing the President. The reporter 
suffered minor injuries from the incident.
    In 2005 the editorial office of the top-circulation daily Shekulli 
was damaged when an explosive was thrown onto its balcony. While nobody 
was harmed, there was damage to the office. A spokesperson for the 
newspaper reported that the case was closed with no formal charges 
having been filed.
    Political intimidation of the media persisted. Journalists 
continued to complain that publishers and editors censored their work 
either directly or indirectly in response to political and commercial 
pressures. Many journalists complained that the absence of employment 
contracts frequently hindered their ability to report objectively.
    In September the council of ministers passed a resolution to evict 
Top Channel TV, a leading television station that had been critical of 
the Government, from a state-owned building in central Tirana. The 
Government said it intended to use the space to promote art and 
culture. Citing a long-term lease with the Ministry of the Economy, the 
company charged that this move was an attempt to put pressure on the 
station for its editorial content. At year's end the case was still 
ongoing.
    Libel is a crime that may be punished with a prison sentence of up 
to two years and a fine. In contrast with the previous year, there were 
no cases of libel suits against the media reported during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Access to the Internet has increased over the year, 
but remained limited, particularly outside the major urban areas.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in past years, there 
were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
    In 2005 a district court rejected the suit brought by the chief of 
the University of Tirana's geography department, Professor Doka, in 
connection with his 2004 dismissal for having an ``antinationalistic 
approach'' to work. The dismissal was prompted by Doka's publication of 
an atlas that expanded geographic minority zones in the country. The 
Government subsequently prohibited publication of the atlas. Doka won 
the case on appeal and resumed his position at the university. However, 
it was unknown if the atlas was ever published.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The law requires organizers of gatherings in public places to 
notify police three days in advance; there were no reports that police 
denied such gatherings arbitrarily.
    Unlike previous years, there were no reports that police mistreated 
protesters. However, Mjaft! reported that on September 1, police stood 
by without taking action while a government supporter physically 
assaulted a participant in a protest it had organized. At year's end no 
charges were filed against the officers and the police did not take 
independent action.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the 
right of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right; however, the law prohibits the formation of any political party 
or organization that is nontransparent or secretive. There were no 
reports that this provision was used against any group during the year.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The predominant religious communities, Sunni Muslim, Bektashi 
Muslim, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic, enjoyed a greater degree of 
official recognition (for example, national holidays) and social 
status.
    The Government does not require registration or licensing of 
religious groups.
    The Albanian Evangelical Alliance, an association of approximately 
98 Protestant churches, continued to complain during the year that it 
had encountered administrative obstacles to accessing the media. 
However, alliance representatives stated that it was not clear whether 
the limited access was due to the organization's small size or its 
religious affiliations.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no media allegations that 
Jehovah's Witnesses had influenced juvenile suicides.
    The Government discontinued a prohibition on the dissemination of 
religious literature in public places. The dissemination of such 
materials was prohibited in public schools.
    The Government failed to return all of the religious properties and 
objects that were confiscated under the Communist regime. In cases 
where religious buildings were returned, the Government often did not 
return the land surrounding the buildings or provide compensation. In 
addition, the Government did not compensate churches adequately for the 
extensive damage to religious properties during the Communist period. 
However, discussions about a possible resolution continued.
    In June the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania reported that 
the Government attempted to evict it from a building in Permet that was 
seized by the communist government and subsequently returned to the 
Orthodox Church in 1997. The parish priest gathered parishioners and 
children to block the eviction notice. The Government has since assured 
the Orthodox Church that they would collaborate to find a mutually 
agreeable solution. The former communist government converted the 
structure to a cultural center and, in 2003 the Albanian High Court 
ruled that since little of the original structure remained, the 
Orthodox Church was not entitled to the property. The Government 
continued to refuse the Orthodox Church's request that icons and other 
religious materials currently held in state-run museums and archives be 
returned.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no repeat during the 
year of the incidents of societal intimidation and threats of violence 
against Jehovah's Witnesses triggered in 2005 by media allegations in 
2005 that the community had influenced a series of juvenile suicides. 
There were no such reports during the year.
    In June police brought in for questioning a suspect in the 2003 
killing of Sali Tivari, former general secretary of the Islamic 
community, but no formal charges were brought.
    There were reportedly fewer than 100 Jews in the country; there 
were no reports of synagogues or community centers functioning in the 
country or of any anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Under the law, internal migrants must transfer their civil 
registration status from their original community to their new 
community before they are entitled to social services such as education 
and health care. According to the Office of Civil Registration, in 
order to transfer residency to a new community, citizens must prove 
they are legally domiciled either through property ownership, a 
property rental agreement, or utility bills. Since many of these 
internal migrants are essentially squatters residing in illegally 
constructed homes, it is difficult to prove a legal domicile. In 
addition to administrative hurdles, many of the internal migrants do 
not register due to both a lingering deep-seated mistrust of the 
Government and a general lack of education.
    As a result, some citizens lacked formal registration in the 
communities in which they reside. The Roma and Balkan-Egyptians were 
particularly affected by this phenomenon. The Government made no 
progress toward creating a standardized national identity document 
during the year.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. Under the law, requests for asylum must be made with 10 
days of arrival on the country's soil and the decision for granting 
asylum status must be given within 51 days of the initial request. 
During the year the Government granted six asylum requests and eight 
other requests were currently under consideration.
    In 2005 the Government granted temporary residency protection to an 
individual who did not qualify as a refugee under the 1951 Convention 
or the 1967 Protocol.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR, through the 
government-run national reception center for asylum seekers, provided 
social and legal services, health care coverage, insurance, and limited 
training support for the small refugee community and coordinated 
further assistance through a network of NGOs.
    Together with international organizations, the Government, through 
the European Union's Community Assistance for Reconstruction, 
Development, and Stabilization program, prescreened undocumented 
migrants stopped at all border crossing points. Under the program, an 
NGO and government team assisted border police in identifying 
undocumented migrants that were potential victims of trafficking, 
asylum seekers, or economic migrants.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2005 parliamentary 
elections were held throughout the country. The report of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election 
observation mission concluded that the elections complied only 
partially with international standards. Official election results were 
delayed for weeks due to complex complaint and appeal procedures and 
the need to rerun elections in several zones. OSCE election observers 
reported several instances where election officials obstructed the 
process and placed party interests before their duty to count and 
report votes in an impartial and honest manner. Family voting occurred 
and was particularly common in rural areas.
    Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election. A political party must register with the Tirana 
District Court and declare an aim or purpose that is not 
anticonstitutional or otherwise contrary to law, describe its 
organizational structure, and account for all public and private funds 
it receives. The court registered parties routinely.
    There were 10 women in the 140-seat People's Assembly, including 
the speaker, and one woman in the Council of Ministers; however, 
overall, women were poorly represented at the national and local levels 
of government, despite commitments by the major political parties to 
increase female representation. The Coalition for the Promotion of 
Women, Youth, and Minorities in parliament, supported by the ombudsman, 
called on all major political parties to include at least 30 percent 
female candidates in local elections expected in February 2007. While 
the proposal was sent to the Parliamentary Commission on Legislative 
Affairs, no formal legislative action had been taken.
    Several members of the Greek minority served in both the 140-seat 
People's Assembly and the executive branch in ministerial and 
subministerial positions. No other ethnic minorities were thought to be 
represented in the People's Assembly or the Council of Ministers.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a 
major obstacle to meaningful reform. During the year, the country 
received a score of 2.6 on Transparency International's 10 point 
composite index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist 
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating a 
perception that the country has a serious corruption problem. A January 
survey by the Institute for Development and Research Alternatives found 
that on a scale of 0 to 100, customs officials scored 87 and were 
perceived as the most corrupt public servants. However, a new director 
assumed office in late 2005 and made inroads in reducing corruption in 
the Customs Service, primarily by dismissing nearly 200 customs 
officials on charges of corruption or other abuse of office. Tax 
officials, ranking 83.1, and doctors, ranking 80.1, followed close 
behind. However, the most respected leaders were the President (21) and 
religious leaders (27.9). While the perception of police corruption 
worsened slightly, the survey results showed a modest improvement in 
respondent perceptions of corruption among members of parliament, 
ministers, judges, prosecutors, custom officials, and NGO leaders. In 
the first nine months of the year, the prosecutor's office dealt with 
480 cases of abuse of office and other types of corruption resulting in 
the criminal conviction of 107 government officials.
    During the year the Council of Ministers adopted several 
anticorruption internal regulations. In February, the parliament 
approved new broadened conflict of interest legislation. In January the 
Government created an Anti-Corruption Task Force and during the year 
carried out a highly visible crackdown on organized crime. Opposition 
politicians charged that the Government's efforts were highly 
politicized and accused the Prime Minister of using the fight against 
corruption as a weapon against any who opposed his views.
    In July citing human rights concerns, the Constitutional Court set 
aside the Government's new internal regulation on antinepotism in the 
civil service and in May rejected most of the proposed amendments to a 
law on conflict of interest for judges serving on the High Council of 
Justice that would have forced many existing members to either resign 
or give up existing judgeships.
    The law provides that government ministers may not own a company 
that is directly tied to their official responsibilities and includes a 
prohibition against companies owned by close family members of 
government officials. Approximately 6,000 public officials and close 
relatives must submit financial declarations; another 1,500 officials 
of the previous administration were obliged to file declarations for 
the year following the end of their mandate. The Inspectorate of Asset 
Declaration administers the conflict of interest regulations.
    Authorities took legal or disciplinary actions based on financial 
declarations against 123 officials and fined 69 officials for late 
submissions. During the year when notified of a potential conflict of 
interest, 56 employees either voluntarily resigned their positions or 
were dismissed, and another 67 divested themselves of the offending 
asset. By year's end, five high profile cases investigated by the 
inspectorate were forwarded to the prosecutor's office for criminal 
prosecution.
    The director of prisons reported that over the past year charges 
have been brought against five high-level prison officials and an 
additional 178 prison guards or officers have been dismissed for 
corruption. In its July report, the CPT cited bribe taking and other 
corruption on the part of guards as one of the most serious problems in 
the penitentiary system.
    Citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media, have the right 
to obtain information about the activities of government bodies and 
persons who exercise official state functions. Public officials are 
legally obligated to release all information and official documents 
with the exception of classified documents and state secrets. During 
the year public access to information improved greatly, in large part 
due to greater use of the Internet. The Information Department at the 
Council of Ministers disseminated public information via its Web site 
and responded to public inquiries for information. In addition, 
virtually all government ministries and agencies posted public 
information directly on their websites. However, NGOs noted that the 
Government tailored information released on the Internet to meet the 
needs of the media and not members of the general public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, in some areas, 
such as violence against women, including domestic violence, and 
children's issues, NGOs made little progress.
    Independent domestic human rights organizations included the 
Albanian Helsinki Committee (problems related to minorities, security 
forces, the judiciary, and elections), the Albanian Human Rights Group 
(legal assistance and police training), the CHRCA (children's rights), 
and the Citizen's Advocacy Office (official corruption).
    The Government cooperated with international organizations, such as 
the UNHCR, the Council of Europe, and the International Organization 
for Migration (IOM), and did not restrict their access to the country.
    A human rights ombudsman investigated inappropriate, inadequate, or 
illegal government actions. Although it lacked the power to enforce 
decisions, the ombudsman acted as a watchdog for human rights 
violations. The most common cases included citizen complaints of police 
and military abuse of power, lack of enforcement of court judgments in 
civil cases, wrongful dismissal, and land disputes (see sections 1.c. 
and 1.e.). In many cases, the Government took concrete steps to correct 
problems in response to the findings of the ombudsman. During the year 
the collaboration between the ombudsman's office and the prosecutors 
improved.
    The ombudsman has authority to monitor courts and judicial 
proceedings, inspect and monitor detention facilities and prisons, and 
facilitate cooperation from state employees. The law also provides the 
ombudsman authority to initiate cases when victims do not come forward 
or in cases that involve the interest of the community.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, 
disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination against 
women, Balkan-Egyptians, Roma, and homosexuals persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
remained a serious problem. In a traditionally male-dominated society, 
social norms and lax police response resulted in underreported abuse, 
making it difficult to quantify the number of women who were victims of 
rape, domestic violence, or sexual harassment. According to the Gender 
Alliance for Development Center's 2002-03 media monitoring project, 56 
women and girls throughout the country lost their lives as a result of 
domestic violence, and 74 others were seriously injured.
    The Government did not have programs to combat domestic violence or 
assist victims. The Women to Women organization, a Sweden-based NGO, 
reported that there were approximately six domestic violence hot lines 
that operated throughout the country. The hot line that served mainly 
the northern part of the country received approximately 20 calls per 
month from women reporting some form of violence. Shtreheza, an NGO 
that operated two shelters for battered women in Tirana, reported an 
increase in cases of domestic violence and that both facilities were at 
maximum occupancy, mainly due to better awareness and access to help.
    Many communities, particularly those from the northeastern part of 
the country, still followed the traditional code--the kanun--under 
which, according to some interpretations, women are considered to be, 
and were treated as, chattel. Some interpretations of the kanun dictate 
that a woman's duty is to serve her husband and to be subordinate to 
him in all matters.
    On December 18, parliament enacted the country's first law against 
domestic violence. The Government developed and introduced the law with 
the assistance of the Women's Legal Rights Project. The law allows 
victims of violence to obtain protection orders from the courts in 
civil proceedings, orders that will then be served to the alleged 
abuser. If the abuser violates the order, then he can be arrested and 
prosecuted. The law also requires the Government to set up services for 
victims and to raise public awareness of domestic violence throughout 
the country.
    The criminal code penalizes rape, including spousal rape; however, 
spousal rape was not reported or prosecuted in practice. The concept of 
spousal rape was not well established, and often neither authorities 
nor the public considered it to be a crime. The law imposes penalties 
for rape and assault depending on the age of the victim. For rape of an 
adult, the prison term is three to 10 years, rape of an adolescent age 
14 to 18 is five to 15 years and rape of a child under 14 is seven to 
15 years' imprisonment.
    The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was a problem. 
Trafficking in women and children remained a problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was rarely 
enforced in practice.
    Women were not excluded, by law or in practice, from any 
occupation; however, they were not well represented at the highest 
levels of their fields. The law mandates equal pay for equal work; 
however, this provision was not fully implemented. According to a March 
report by Amnesty International (AI) women earned 20 to 50 percent as 
much as men. Men owned 92 percent of the land in the country and earned 
84 percent of the country's gross domestic product, although women 
continued gradually to gain economic power.
    Women enjoyed equal access to higher education, but in some rural 
areas they represented 24.9 percent of students enrolled in higher 
education, and the dropout rate was greater for girls than for boys. 
According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics there were twice as 
many illiterate women (2 percent of the population) as illiterate men 
(1 percent).
    Women were not accorded full and equal opportunity in their 
careers, and well-educated women were often underemployed or worked 
outside their field of training.
    The law provides equal rights for men and women under family law, 
property law, and in the judicial system. In practice, cultural 
traditions resulted in men often being favored over women. In May the 
Government abolished the State Committee on Equal Opportunity, which 
was responsible for drafting, promoting, and monitoring governmental 
gender equality programs, and replaced it with a new Directorate of 
Equal Opportunity within the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and 
Equal Opportunity. In May the Government also abolished the 
Interministerial Committee on Gender Equality, an advisory body. In 
November, together with civil society partners, the directorate 
presented to the council of ministers a national strategy against 
domestic violence.

    Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and 
welfare is codified in domestic law; however, in practice there was 
limited commitment.
    The law provides for nine years of free education and authorizes 
private schools. School attendance is mandatory through the ninth grade 
or until age 16, whichever comes first; however, in practice, many 
children left school earlier than allowed by law to work with their 
families, particularly in rural areas (see section 6.d.). Parents had 
to purchase supplies, books, school materials, and space heaters for 
some classrooms, which was prohibitively expensive for many families.
    In general children must be registered in the same community where 
their parents are registered. However, according to the CHRCA, children 
born to internal migrants frequently have no birth certificates or 
other legal documentation and, as a result, are unable to attend school 
(see section 2.d.)
    Registration of children is compulsory and free within 30 days of 
the child's birth. After this period, registration must take place 
through the courts, a process that is costly due to legal fees and 
possible fines that may be incurred for not being properly registered. 
Thus, the country has a large--and growing--population of vulnerable, 
unregistered children, who were at greater risk of trafficking or 
exploitation, particularly children from the Balkan-Egyptian and Romani 
communities.
    According to 2004 World Bank statistics, secondary school 
enrollment for both boys and girls was 77.8 percent, while the Albanian 
Institute of Statistics estimated enrollment in secondary education at 
53 percent for 2003 to 2004. Enrollment in primary school was 
approximately 95 percent for the same period.
    Equal access to medical care was available in principle for both 
boys and girls; however, a high level of bribery in the medical care 
system sometimes limited access for all.
    Child abuse, including sexual abuse, occasionally occurred but was 
rarely reported. In May the media reported widely the arrest of a 
British national, who operated an orphanage, on charges of child 
molestation and selling access to the children to foreign sex tourists. 
According to the Ministry of the Interior, in 2005 20 cases of sex 
crimes against children were reported.
    According to the NRC, as many as 182 children remained endangered 
by blood feuds involving their families; 86 of these were in 
particularly dangerous circumstances (see section 1.a.).
    Child marriage was a problem. While statistics were not available, 
child marriage was reportedly common among the Romani population and 
there were still some communities in the north and northeast of the 
country where there is traditional arranged ``marriage from the 
cradle'' based upon parental agreement.
    Trafficking in children, although not widespread, was a problem 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor remained a major problem (see section 6.d.).
    Homeless, displaced, or street children remained a problem, 
particularly Romani children, who lived in extreme poverty throughout 
the country. Street children begged or did petty work; many migrated to 
neighboring countries, particularly during the summer.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons 
and provides penalties for traffickers; however, persons, particularly 
women and children, were trafficked to, from, and within the country. 
Unlike in past years, there were no reports of police involvement in 
trafficking.
    The country remained a source for trafficking of women and children 
for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, but was 
deemed by international observers to no longer be a significant country 
of destination or transit. The relatively few foreign women and girls 
in transit came primarily from Kosovo, and, to a lesser extent, 
Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and China. Most 
trafficked women and girls were transported to Italy, Greece, and other 
European countries, such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the 
Netherlands, and Norway, as well as to the United States. Traffickers 
largely used overland routes or falsified documents to transport their 
victims by plane or ferry.
    The trafficking of children to Kosovo and Greece for begging or 
sexual exploitation continued to be a problem, although estimates 
varied widely on the number of victims annually. According to NGOs, 
approximately 1,000 unaccompanied Albanian children were living in 
Italy, although not all were victims of trafficking. A 2002 study 
conducted by the NGO International Social Service reported that 1,800 
unaccompanied Albanian children, many of who were trafficking victims, 
lived in Greece. According to Terre des Hommes (TdH), a Swiss child-
welfare NGO operating in the country, the number of children trafficked 
to Greece has declined in recent years.
    Internal trafficking of women and children continued to be a 
problem. TdH identified 90 children who during the year had been 
trafficked within the country for forced begging, forced labor, and 
possible sexual exploitation. Children who were internally trafficked 
came from all regions of the country and were typically trafficked to 
either Tirana or Durres. According to TdH, the number of internally 
trafficked children was rising. Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities 
were particularly vulnerable due to poverty and illiteracy. In a few 
cases children were bought from families or kidnapped, reportedly for 
begging or working abroad. According to TdH, children, mostly from 
Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities, were increasingly trafficked 
for begging by their parents without the involvement of a third party.
    The main forms of recruitment of adult victims of trafficking 
involved marriage under false pretenses or false promises of marriage 
to lure victims abroad for sexual exploitation. Due to the poor 
economic situation, men and women from organized criminal groups also 
lured many women and girls from all over the country by promising them 
jobs in Italy and Greece. Traffickers typically confiscated victims' 
documents, physically and sexually abused them, and sometimes forced 
them to work as prostitutes before they left the country. Both citizens 
and foreign women trafficked by domestic organized crime networks were 
abused, tortured, and raped. Traffickers also threatened many of the 
victims' family members. To a lesser extent, family members or 
neighbors sold victims, particularly Romani children, to traffickers, 
or traffickers kidnapped children, including from orphanages.
    The law provides for penalties of five to 15 years' imprisonment 
for trafficking in persons; seven to 15 years' imprisonment for 
trafficking women for prostitution; and 15-to-20-years' imprisonment 
for trafficking in minors. Aggravating circumstances, such as the 
kidnapping or death of a victim, can raise the severity of the 
punishment to a maximum of life in prison. Prison sentences may be 
supplemented by fines of $4,000 to $6,000 (400,000 to 600,000 lek) for 
sexual exploitation of a minor and $3,000 to $6,000 (300,000 to 600,000 
lek) for sexual exploitation of a woman. The law provides that a 
government official convicted of exploitation for prostitution receive 
125 percent of the standard penalty. The law also mandates the 
sequestration and confiscation of assets derived from organized crime 
and trafficking. The Agency for the Administration of Sequestered and 
Confiscated Assets administers sequestered and confiscated assets, 
including those of persons found guilty of trafficking related crimes. 
Despite several court-ordered seizures during the year, there were no 
cases of forfeited assets successfully liquidated and the agency did 
not distribute any funds to victims.
    Prosecution of traffickers has improved. At year's end 10 
traffickers of women were convicted and 27 new cases of suspected 
trafficking were detected leading to the arrest or detention of 32 
persons. Four persons were convicted of organizing, directing, or 
financing trafficking. Six persons were convicted on child trafficking 
related charges and three new cases of suspected child trafficking were 
detected, leading to the arrest of four persons. In a matter closely 
related to trafficking, 66 persons were convicted for providing 
assistance to illegal border crossing and 132 new cases were detected 
leading to the arrest or detention of 168 persons. In addition, 37 
persons were convicted for aggravated exploitation of prostitution 
within the country, and 24 new cases were detected leading to the 
arrest of 29 persons.
    Authorities often released arrested traffickers because of 
insufficient evidence or, if they were prosecuted, charged them with 
lesser crimes, or gave them less than the minimum sentence for 
trafficking.
    The country has a child trafficking strategy and action plan based 
on UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) guidelines that are intended to prevent 
recruitment of potential victims and protect victims, including those 
returned from abroad. The strategy and the plan also set out the 
Government's approach for the prosecution of traffickers. The 
Government has a full time antitrafficking deputy minister at the 
Ministry of Interior who is in charge of coordination of the 
implementation of the strategy. The Government signed a bilateral child 
trafficking cooperation agreement with the Greek government and 
established a National Referral Mechanism for the reintegration of 
victims into society. In an effort to move antitrafficking efforts out 
of the capital and into the rural areas that are most heavily affected, 
the Government also established in July regional committees in each of 
the country's 12 prefectures.
    During the year the Government expanded implementation of the 
witness protection law by upgrading the witness protection unit to a 
Directorate for Witness Protection and Collaborators of Justice, 
located within the state police. In 2005 the Government also named a 
commission, comprised of a prosecutor, a judge, and police officials, 
to evaluate applications for admission to the witness protection 
program. The Government budgeted $207,627 (20,762,700 lek) for witness 
protection during the year, representing a 20-fold increase over the 
2005 appropriation.
    In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of cases of 
direct police involvement in trafficking. However, police officers 
continued to be involved in various forms of trafficking-related 
corruption, despite determined efforts of the Office of Internal 
Control and State Intelligence Service to address the problem (see 
section 1.d.)
    The Government provided some limited services to trafficking 
victims, operating a shelter near Tirana and a national referral 
mechanism that enabled authorities to share data confidentially on 
victims returning to the country. The newly created Responsible 
Authority also shared data with the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, 
and Equal Opportunity, government and NGO shelters, and local 
antitrafficking committees, which include NGOs, to ensure ongoing 
victim support and assistance. Consistent with the guidance approved by 
the General Director of the State Police on the handling of returned 
persons, authorities at Rinas International Airport developed local 
procedures using a dedicated reception facility. These procedures 
included participation from the Border and Migration Police and, from 
time-to-time, State Social Service workers and representatives from the 
Anti-Trafficking Police. Local procedures have also been approved for 
use at some land border crossing points. These new procedures are in 
use, however, recent transfers of Border and Migration Police officers 
disrupted them.
    Several NGOs were active in addressing victims' needs. The IOM 
operated a reintegration center in Tirana that provided counseling and 
medical services, job training, and some legal assistance. The Vatra 
Hearth Shelter, an NGO in Vlora, and the state-run Linza Shelter 
provided similar services. Both shelters reported that a large 
percentage of their cases during the year involved victims deported 
from other European countries.
    Police treatment of trafficked women continued to improve during 
the year; however, foreign women who were detained by police at times 
lacked translation services or were not given a choice of lawyers. In 
general foreign women believed to be victims of trafficking were 
granted temporary residency and placed in shelters pending repatriation 
to their country of origin.
    Victims of trafficking often faced significant stigmatization from 
their families and society. According to the Vatra Hearth Shelter, the 
protection of returned trafficking victims who denounced their 
traffickers continued to be a serious problem. The shelter reported 
that two returned victims were murdered by their traffickers. In one 
case, the victim reported the threats to the local police, who failed 
to take her concerns seriously. The police were charged with negligence 
to respond.
    Retrafficking was a significant problem, with 85 out of 288 victims 
sheltered at the Vatra, Tjeter Vision, and Different and Equal Shelters 
during the year reporting that they had been trafficked at least twice 
previously. Some of the victims were under continuous threats from 
perpetrators. Citing confidentiality concerns, a fourth shelter 
providing services to victims of trafficking, the state-run Linza 
Shelter, declined to provide data regarding victims. Of the 288 victims 
at the shelters, 28 were internally trafficked and the remainder were 
citizens returned from other countries.
    Domestic and international NGOs carried out most of the country's 
trafficking awareness programs. During the year the new government 
began an ambitious antitrafficking awareness program in schools and 
higher education curricula and was working through Ministry of Labor, 
Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity employment offices on a safe 
migration and overseas employment initiative that included an 
antitrafficking module. In November the Government launched an 
antitrafficking hotline and reported that by year's end dozens of calls 
had been received.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there was 
some discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and the provision of other state 
services. Widespread poverty, unregulated working conditions, and poor 
medical care posed significant problems for many persons with 
disabilities. In September the Government finalized its National 
Strategy for Handicapped Persons that lays out the Government's 
priorities and plan of action for the next several years.
    From January to February, the ombudsman's office performed an 
inspection of mental health institutions. In the Psychiatric Hospital 
of Elbasani, they found that patients had entered the mental health 
institution without documentation or decisions by the courts, as the 
law demands. The mental health institutions were usually under-staffed, 
and the doctors typically were not neurologists or psychiatrists.
    The Government acknowledged that the admission and release of 
patients from mental health institutions was problematic due to the 
lack of sufficient financial resources to provide adequate psychiatric 
evaluations.
    In 2004 the Council of Ministers enacted the Urban Designing and 
Architecture Rules on People with Disabilities. The law mandates that 
new public buildings be made accessible for persons with disabilities. 
Although the Government has been slow to enforce the law, the rules 
have increased awareness of the need to make new structures accessible 
to people with disabilities, thus leading some builders to incorporate 
appropriate features into new projects.
    In the 2005 parliamentary elections, election authorities provided 
persons with disabilities services for the first time in the country's 
history. Improvements in the Electoral Code provided for wheelchair 
accessible voting booths and special accommodations for the blind.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of police 
violence and societal discrimination against members of minority 
groups. As visible minorities, the Romani and Balkan-Egyptian 
communities were subject to considerable societal abuse and 
discrimination on a daily basis.
    The law permits official minority status for national groups and 
for ethnolinguistic groups. Greeks are the largest national minority, 
followed by small groups of Macedonians and Montenegrins; Aromanians 
(Vlachs) and Roma are defined as ethnolinguistic minority groups. The 
Government has not provided minority status to the Balkan-Egyptian 
community, thereby denying it constitutional protections against 
discrimination available to other minority groups. To qualify for 
minority status under the law, a group of individuals must share the 
same language (other than Albanian), have documentation to prove its 
distinct ethnic origin or national identity, and have distinct customs 
and traditions or a link to a kinship state outside of the country. The 
Government maintained that the Balkan-Egyptians did not meet some 
criteria, such as a distinct language and traditions, and instead 
considered them a ``community.'' Nefreta, a Balkan-Egyptian NGO, 
asserted that the community has a culture, tradition, and history that 
are distinct from any other group in the country, and that Balkan-
Egyptians are racially distinct as well.
    During the year there were reports that police beat Roma and 
Balkan-Egyptians. Nefreta reported that in at least three instances 
Balkan-Egyptians were arbitrarily arrested, detained, or otherwise 
abused by the police. According to Nefreta all three cases were 
reported to the prosecutor's office and the ombudsman's office but the 
complaints were not followed up.
    There were complaints that police displaced Romani and Balkan-
Egyptian families from their homes. According to Amaro Drom, an NGO 
that works with the Romani population, in July there were two assaults 
on the Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities in Elbasani both stemming 
from their forced eviction from land they were illegally occupying. In 
the first case, 45 families were displaced and 120 individuals left 
homeless when authorities destroyed their homes to make way for the 
construction of an apartment building. A few days later, a Romani open-
air market was destroyed without notice in the middle of the night, 
depriving 450 merchants of their livelihoods. The municipality proposed 
a new location that the Roma have rejected because it was too far out 
of the city. Some of the displaced found new homes in Elbasani while 
the rest moved to other cities.
    In 2005 the Tirana municipality demolished the homes of 18 Romani 
families comprising 150 persons, reportedly without warning, leaving 
them homeless in the middle of winter. The municipality demolished the 
homes, located in a settlement close to the Lana River, because they 
were illegal and would block the execution of its territory regulation 
plan. According to Amaro Drom, the Tirana municipality first offered 
the displaced persons a new location outside the city center, but 
failed to keep this promise. The municipality then offered to place 
them in mobile homes, an offer that the Roma rejected. A similar case 
resulted in the eviction of 51 Romani families in 2004.
    The Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities were among the most 
politically, economically, and socially neglected groups in the 
country. Members of the Balkan-Egyptian community tended to settle in 
urban areas and generally were more integrated into the economy than 
the Roma. In addition to widespread societal discrimination, these 
groups generally suffered from high illiteracy, particularly among 
children, poor health conditions, lack of education, and marked 
economic disadvantages. According to a 2006 World Bank-UN Development 
Program study, approximately 80 percent of Roma lived in extreme 
poverty, compared to 20 to 30 percent of the rest of the country's 
population. The group's unemployment rate was 71 percent, nearly 12 
times the rate for the rest of the population, and Roma had a life 
expectancy 15 years less than non-Roma. The Government did not fund its 
National Roma Strategy, which sought to improve the livelihood of the 
community.
    Because the Balkan-Egyptian community is not recognized as an 
official minority, as are the Roma, they were not specifically included 
in government poverty alleviation strategies.
    The ethnic Greek minority pursued grievances with the Government 
regarding electoral zones, Greek-language education, property rights, 
and government documents. Minority leaders cited the Government's 
unwillingness to recognize ethnic Greek towns outside communist-era 
``minority zones''; to utilize Greek on official documents and on 
public signs in ethnic Greek areas, to ascertain the size of the ethnic 
Greek population, and to include a higher number of ethnic Greeks in 
public administration.
    While there were Greek-language public elementary schools in the 
southern part of the country where most ethnic Greeks live, the Greek 
cultural association Omonia complained that the community needed more 
classes both within and outside the minority zones, due to overcrowded 
classrooms and unfulfilled demand. Every village in the Greek zones had 
its own elementary-middle (nine year) school in the Greek language, 
regardless of the number of students, and Gjirokaster had two Greek-
language high schools. During the year, the Government granted an 
operating license to one school in the south outside the Greek zone. 
During a September visit by the Prime Minister to Greece, the 
Government agreed to cooperate in the building of a Greek-language 
university in the city of Gjirokaster to be funded by the Greek 
government.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--NGOs claimed that police 
targeted the country's homosexual community for abuse. According to the 
Albanian Gay and Lesbian Association, the police often arbitrarily 
arrested homosexuals and then physically and verbally abused them while 
they were in detention. In August police arrested the secretary general 
of Gay Albania, a gay rights NGO, and three others on prostitution 
charges. The AHRG carried out an investigation and reported that while 
in detention the four were mistreated by other prisoners and insulted 
by prison forces. The AHRG also reported that media coverage of this 
arrest did not respect the privacy of the arrested, including their HIV 
status, and was manipulated to propagate antihomosexual stereotypes and 
further discrimination. A 2006 UN Development Program report on HIV/
AIDS in the country stated that citizens perceived little 
confidentiality in their HIV test results. Social stigmatization and 
severe discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS were also common.
    According to the ombudsman's office, in 2005 police at the Tirana 
police commissariat detained, insulted, and physically mistreated a 
member of the Gay Albania association. Medical experts verified the 
mistreatment, and the ombudsman's office started an investigation. No 
action had been taken against the police by year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers had the right to form 
independent unions and exercised this right in practice; however, 
members of the military are prohibited from joining unions. Civilian 
government employees may join unions but do not have the right to 
strike. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce was unionized.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, there 
were no reports of such discrimination in practice.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Citizens in all 
fields of employment, except uniformed members of the armed forces and 
some court employees, have the constitutional right to organize and 
bargain collectively, and the law establishes procedures for the 
protection of workers' rights through collective bargaining agreements; 
however, labor unions operated from a weak position. In practice, 
unions representing public sector employees negotiated directly with 
the Government. Effective collective bargaining remained difficult, and 
agreements were hard to enforce.
    The law provides that all workers, except civil servants, uniformed 
military, police, and some court officials, have the right to strike 
and workers exercised this right in practice. The law prohibits strikes 
that are declared openly to be political or that are judged by the 
courts to be political.
    Opposition parties claimed that approximately 10,000 public 
servants were dismissed after the new government took over in 2005. The 
chairman of the Civil Service Commission, however, reported that only 
425 people were dismissed from the public administration. Through 
September 194 complaints for unlawful job firings have been presented 
to the ombudsman's office. The ombudsman's office concluded that, with 
few exceptions, the dismissals were contrary to established procedures. 
In July in a case brought by the AHC and the ombudsman's office, the 
Constitutional Court set aside the Government's antinepotism rules that 
had been the basis for many dismissals. In its finding, the court ruled 
that such dismissals constituted a violation of the right of the 
workers to choose their place of employment.
    By year's end the urban transport park in Tirana had not reinstated 
10 employees who held a five-day hunger strike in 2004 to protest 
illegal dismissal. The park's director claimed that the strike violated 
the workers' employment contract. However, the AHRG and ombudsman 
stated that the hunger strike was legal and that the park director had 
not abided by the law in the firing of the employees. The case was 
brought to court, and the employees lost their claim.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, such 
practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law sets the minimum age of employment at 14 and regulates the amount 
and type of labor that can be performed by children under the age of 
18. Children between the ages of 14 and 16 may work legally in part 
time jobs during summer vacation; children between the ages of 16 and 
18 can work throughout the year in certain specified jobs. The law 
provided for Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity 
to enforce minimum age requirements through the courts; however, there 
were no reports that enforcement took place. Labor inspections of 
factories in 2005 found 83 cases of underage employment. However, labor 
inspectors only investigated the formal labor sector, whereas most 
child labor occurred in the informal sector. The majority of factories 
inspected were shoe and textile companies. More than 70 percent of the 
underage workers were girls. NGOs reported that labor inspectors 
charged with investigating child labor complaints did not give out 
fines or penalties or initiate legal actions against those who violated 
child labor laws.
    The CHRCA estimated that approximately 50,000 children under the 
age of 18 worked either full or part time. UNICEF estimated that 23 
percent of children aged 5 to 14 years in the country were working 
between 1999 and 2003; children considered to be working included those 
who performed any paid or unpaid work for someone who was not a member 
of the household, who performed more than four hours of housekeeping 
chores in the household, or who performed other family work.
    According to the CHRCA, the majority of child laborers worked as 
street or shop vendors, beggars, farmers or shepherds, drug runners, 
vehicle washers, textile factory workers, and shoeshine boys, some as 
many as 16 hours a day. In Tirana and other cities, children, mostly 
Roma, worked as beggars or sold cigarettes and other items on the 
street; the police generally ignored this practice. The CHRCA also 
noted that there were approximately 1,000 street children in Tirana. 
Increasing numbers of children in Tirana fell victim to prostitution 
and other forms of exploitation. Children were trafficked for sexual 
exploitation and forced labor (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was 
$145 (14,000 lek) per month. However, it was not sufficient to provide 
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The average wage 
for government workers was approximately $300 (28,950 lek) per month. 
According to a 2005 report by the UNDP, 25 to 30 percent of the 
population lived under the official poverty line of $47 (4,720 lek) per 
month. Another 30 percent lived very close to that line. The Albanian 
Institute of Statistics reported that average monthly wages in the 
public sector increased 14.4 percent from 2003 to 2004.
    The law establishes a 40-hour workweek; however, the actual 
workweek typically was set by individual or collective agreements. Many 
persons worked six days a week. The law requires payment of overtime 
and rest periods; however, these provisions were not always observed in 
practice. The Government had not established standards for a minimum 
number of rest periods per week, limits on the maximum number of hours 
worked per week, or the amount of premium pay for overtime and did not 
prohibit excessive compulsory overtime.
    The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity is 
responsible for enforcing government occupational health and safety 
standards and regulations; however, these regulations were generally 
not enforced in practice. Actual workplace conditions were frequently 
very poor and in some cases dangerous. During the year the media 
reported a number of job-related deaths, particularly in the 
construction and mining industries. The law does not provide workers 
the right to remove themselves from hazardous situations without 
jeopardy to their employment.

                               __________

                                ANDORRA

    The Principality of Andorra is a constitutional parliamentary 
democracy with a population of 81,222. Two princes--the President of 
France and the Spanish bishop of Urgel--serve with joint authority as 
heads of state, and a delegate represents each in the country. Free and 
fair elections in April 2005 chose 28 members of the General Council of 
the Valleys (General Council) that selects the head of government. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of 
dealing with individual instances of abuse. However, prolonged pretrial 
detention and violence against women and children were reported.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. The Council of Europe's 
Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported that some prisoners 
charged they were kicked while being arrested or under detention. The 
report recommended strengthening safeguards against mistreatment of 
persons in police custody.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has no 
defense force and depends on Spain and France for external defense. The 
national police, which have sole responsibility for internal security, 
are organized into four areas: public security, technical support, 
borders and traffic, and crime. Corruption was not a problem during the 
year; there are legal provisions for investigating and addressing 
allegations of corruption whenever they may occur. Some police 
officials received training in other European countries during the 
year.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may legally detain persons for 48 
hours without charging them with a crime. Warrants are required for 
arrest. The law does not provide individuals under arrest immediate 
access to an attorney. Legislation provides for legal assistance 
beginning 25 hours after the time of arrest. There is a system of bail.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem, and the ombudsman has 
criticized it. Approximately 75 percent of lengthy detention cases 
involved foreigners. Pretrial detainees made up approximately 30 
percent of the prison population.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    The judiciary includes the Magistrate's Court and the Court of 
Courts. Once sentencing is announced there is a 10-day period to 
present an appeal to the Magistrate's Court. Upon acceptance of appeal 
the report is sent to the Court of Courts where the two parties are 
requested to return within a 15-day period. If the appellant or a legal 
representative makes no physical appearance before the court within the 
15-day period then the appeal is declared void. The highest judicial 
body is the five-member Supreme Council of Justice. The two princes, 
the head of government, the President of the parliament, and, 
collectively, members of the lower courts, appoint one member each.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials are public and defendants can request a jury. Defendants 
have the right to present evidence and consult with an attorney. 
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, and they have the right to 
appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civil judiciary is 
independent and impartial.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for the freedoms of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. Under the constitution, the Roman Catholic Church and the 
state have a special relationship; however, the Catholic Church 
received no direct subsidies from the Government.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts against the approximately 300-person Jewish community.
    For a more detailed discussion see the 2006 International Religious 
Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has not established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum; 
however, it cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. At 
the request of the Spanish government, the Government accepted five 
Eritrean immigrants who were part of a group saved from a ship adrift 
in the Mediterranean Sea. The Government said it accepted the group for 
humanitarian reasons.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--General Council elections 
in April 2005 were considered free and fair and allowed the 
conservative Andorran Liberal Party to remain in power. Individuals and 
parties could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.
    There were eight women in the 28-seat General Council, and three 
women in the 11-seat cabinet.
    There were no members of minorities in either the General Council 
or the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government permitted access in practice for citizens and non-
citizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    An ombudsman received and addressed complaints, some of which were 
against the Government's policies. The ombudsman was free of government 
control, and the Government was generally responsive to the ombudsman's 
recommendations. The ombudsman, who is elected by consensus of all 
political parties, is authorized to hear and investigate complaints by 
private citizens against government officials or agencies. The 
ombudsman advised the Government to follow World Health Organization 
recommendations concerning work and residence permits for immigrants. 
The Government's denial of permits to people with certain diseases, 
including those affected by the HIV virus, is a practice that the 
ombudsman stated could violate human rights.
    The Andorran International Women's Association (AIWA), Caritas, the 
Andorran Women's Association (AWA), and Women's Group formed a 
``platform for human rights'' in January with the purpose of ensuring 
that human rights are adhered to in the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law declare that all persons are equal before 
the law and prohibit discrimination on grounds of birth, race, gender, 
origin, opinions, or any other personal or social condition; however, 
the law grants a few rights and privileges exclusively to citizens.

    Women.--Violence against women was a problem. According to the 
Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family, violence against women 
increased during the year; the number of reports of physical abuse rose 
to approximately 110 cases. There is no specific law prohibiting 
domestic violence, although other laws may be applied in such cases. 
Victims of domestic violence could request help from the AIWA and the 
AWA, but rarely filed a complaint with the police for fear of reprisal. 
The two associations reported that some women complained at the 
treatment they received from police when they went to file a complaint. 
Authorities reported that the number of persons prosecuted for violence 
against women during the year increased, but they did not provide 
statistics. The Government had a hot line and provided medical and 
psychological services to victims of domestic violence but did not have 
any shelters. The Government and the AIWA placed abused women and their 
children in the private apartments of people who agreed to provide 
shelter to them. Caritas, a religious NGO, worked closely with the 
Government and the AIWA on social issues.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, which is punishable 
by up to 15 years' imprisonment. Authorities enforced the law 
effectively.
    Prostitution is illegal and was not a problem.
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment; however, it was not 
considered a problem.
    The law prohibits discrimination against women privately or 
professionally; however, the AWA reported that there were many cases of 
women dismissed from employment due to pregnancy. Women did not earn 
equal pay for equal work. Observers estimated that women earned 35 
percent less than men for comparable work; this gap appeared to be 
decreasing slowly.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare. 
Free, universal public education begins at age four and is compulsory 
until age 16. The Government provides free nursery schools, although 
their number continued to be insufficient. Reportedly 100 percent of 
school-age children attended school. Secondary school was the maximum 
level of public school offered.
    Health care is free, and boys and girls had equal access.
    Although violence against children was a problem, according to the 
secretariat of state for the family, the number of cases was low, and 
the incidence of child abuse continued to fall during the year.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government enforced it effectively. Nevertheless, societal 
discrimination against persons with disabilities existed on a small 
scale, in the form of social and cultural barriers. Persons with 
disabilities also faced disadvantages in the labor market. The law 
mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, and 
the Government generally enforced this provision. An association for 
persons with disabilities operates in the principality.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Some immigrant workers 
complained that although the law provides them the same labor rights as 
citizens, they were not treated the same in practice.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution allows workers to 
form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice. 
However, no further specific law has been developed to protect this 
right; thus workers are sometimes reluctant to admit to union 
membership, fearing retaliation by their employers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government respected this right in practice. The law does not 
specifically provide for collective bargaining. The minimum wage is 
determined by the consumer price index; the vast majority of employees 
are paid more than this. The law does not provide for the right to 
strike, and there were no strikes during the year. There are no export 
processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not 
prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were no reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits children under the age of 18 from working, except in very 
limited circumstances. The labor inspection office in the Ministry of 
Social Welfare, Public Health, and Labor effectively enforced child 
labor regulations.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of 
$8.51 (6.50 euros) per hour, and $1,080 (825 euros) per month did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Wages 
increased at a slower pace than housing and lodging costs. The labor 
inspection office enforced the minimum wage effectively.
    The law limits the workweek to 40 hours, although employers may 
require up to 66 hours per month and 426 hours per year overtime from 
workers. The law provides for premium pay for overtime. There is a 
required rest period every day. The standard workday is eight hours; 
workers may work up to three overtime hours per day or 15 hours per 
week.
    The labor inspection service sets occupational health and safety 
standards and effectively enforced them. During the year the labor 
inspection service received more than 200 complaints against companies 
for violating labor regulations, and had the authority to levy 
sanctions and fines against such companies. Although the law authorizes 
employees to refuse certain tasks if their employers do not provide the 
necessary level of protection, it does not provide workers the right to 
remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing 
their continued employment. The number of accidents at work has been 
rising for a number of years; from January to October there were 5,395 
accidents.

                               __________

                                ARMENIA

    Armenia, with a population of approximately 3.2 million, is a 
republic. The constitution provides for a popularly elected President 
(Robert Kocharian) and a unicameral legislature (National Assembly). A 
constitutional referendum in 2005 and Presidential and National 
Assembly elections in 2003 were seriously flawed and did not meet 
international standards. The country has a multiparty political system. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces; members of the security forces committed a number of 
human rights abuses.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and serious 
problems remained. Citizens were not able freely to change their 
government; authorities beat pretrial detainees; the national security 
service and the national police force acted with impunity; authorities 
engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention; prison conditions were 
cramped and unhealthy, although slowly improving; authorities imposed 
restrictions on citizens' privacy, freedom of the press, and freedom of 
assembly. Journalists practiced self-censorship, and the Government and 
laws restricted religious freedom. Violence against women and spousal 
abuse were problems, as were trafficking in persons, discrimination 
against persons with disabilities, and societal harassment of 
homosexuals. There were reports of forced labor.
    There were some improvements during the year. The implementation of 
constitutional reforms ratified in 2005 led to some increase in 
judicial independence and for the first time gave citizens direct 
access to the Constitutional Court. Penalties for trafficking were 
toughened and a court for the first time imposed financial, as well as 
criminal, penalties on traffickers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government and 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and 
unlike in 2005, neither the Government nor advocacy groups reported any 
deaths from hazing or other mistreatment during the year.
    There were reports that an officer kicked a serviceman, who had 
previously undergone testicular surgery, in the groin. The serviceman 
later died, reportedly from cancer, after a second surgery on February 
27. The officer received a one-year suspended sentence.
    The military prosecutor's office said that there were no hazing-
related deaths during the year.
    Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-
Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. During the year 
incidents along the militarized line of contact separating the sides 
again resulted in numerous casualties on both sides. Reporting from 
unofficial sources indicates that approximately 20 persons were killed 
and 44 were wounded, including both military and civilian casualties on 
both sides of the line of contact.
    All parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have laid landmines 
along the 540-mile border with Azerbaijan and along the line of 
contact. During the year there were reports that a landmine killed one 
civilian and unexploded ordnance killed another.
    On September 5, unknown persons killed a senior tax official using 
a bomb apparently planted under the seat of his government car. State 
prosecutors opened an investigation and arrested two suspects, based on 
the testimony of the official's driver. One suspect was released from 
prison on medical grounds. At year's end the investigation was ongoing.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
government security forces employed them. Witnesses continued to report 
numerous cases of police beating citizens during arrest and during 
interrogation while in detention. Human rights nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) reported similar allegations; however, most cases 
of police mistreatment went unreported because of fear of retribution.
    On November 16, the European Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) 
published a report on its 2004 visit to the country. The CPT's 
investigators received numerous allegations from detainees of 
mistreatment by officials. One individual asserted he had received 
kicks and blows with fists and truncheons on various parts of his body; 
he appeared to bear bruises and other medical indications consistent 
with this account. The inmate said the ill treatment stopped when he 
agreed to sign a confession. Although the testimony was taken in 2004, 
other portions of the report criticized the authorities for not putting 
safeguards into place that might reduce the likelihood of such 
treatment.
    The Government reported that police conducted five internal 
investigations into misconduct by off-duty police officers during the 
year. Two officers were subjected to disciplinary action, and criminal 
cases were opened against the remaining three, all of whom were fired. 
The Government reported that during the year 20 police officers 
received administrative fines (compared to 49 in 2005) for their roles 
in cases involving police mistreatment of detainees. Prosecutors also 
opened 11 criminal cases against some of the police officers involved; 
the disposition of those cases was unclear at the end of the year.
    Unlike in 2005, when there was a constitutional referendum, there 
were no reports that police beat opposition supporters during the year. 
There was no indication that authorities were investigating reports 
that police beat opposition supporters following the 2005 
constitutional referendum (see section 3).
    Social norms and substandard living conditions in the armed forces 
contributed to mistreatment and injuries unrelated to military 
operations. Although there was no reliable and up-to-date reporting on 
the full extent of military hazing, soldiers reported to human rights 
NGOs that the practice continued. Local NGOs reported instances of 
hazing and said parents of soldiers complained that corrupt officials 
controlled military units. Authorities did not take any significant 
measures to limit or stop the practice; however, 20 military personnel 
were convicted in connection with criminal cases of hazing during the 
year.
    A soldier reported in February that fellow servicemen raped him 
while they were on active duty. The case was under investigation at the 
end of the year.
    In August Razmik Sargsian, a soldier who had been serving a 15-year 
sentence for the 2003 murder of two fellow soldiers, staged several 
hunger strikes to protest his innocence. Sargsian said interrogators, 
including military investigators and military police officer Aram 
Baghdasaryan, physically mistreated him for five days to obtain his 
confession for the killings. He claimed interrogators suspended him by 
his hands and beat him and threatened him with rape. Sargisian's 
confession implicated two other soldiers, and the court of first 
instance sentenced all three to 15-year terms in May 2005. Following an 
unsuccessful appeal, the Court of Appeals extended their sentences to 
life in prison on May 30. When the defendants' lawyers, Zaruhi 
Postanjian, Ashot Atoyan, and Stepan Voskanian, asserted that the 
proceedings were fraudulent and designed to cover up involvement of 
higher ranking personnel, state prosecutors initiated contempt 
proceedings against the lawyers at the request of the three appeals 
court judges who heard their cases (see section 1.e). On December 22, 
in a significant assertion of judicial independence, the Court of 
Cassation, the country's highest court, nullified the convictions of 
the soldiers and ordered them released. The Court based its ruling on a 
provision of the Criminal Procedural Code that allows a judge to send a 
case back to the prosecutor's office for reinvestigation if the 
original investigation was not conducted lawfully. Charges against the 
soldiers remained in place at year's end.
    By law detainees may file complaints prior to trial to address 
alleged abuses committed by authorities during criminal investigations; 
however, detainees must obtain permission from police or the 
prosecutor's office in order to obtain a forensic medical examination 
needed to substantiate a report of physical abuse. Human rights NGOs 
reported that authorities rarely granted such permission (see section 
1.e.). There were no prosecutions or convictions of police for torture 
or other mistreatment during the year. Police conducted 18 internal 
investigations of complaints of brutality by their officers, but 
information on the outcome of these investigations was not available at 
year's end.
    The CPT described allegations that detainees had spent periods of 
up to 10 days in various district divisions of the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs in Yerevan ``in cells deprived of suitable means of rest, 
without a mattress and a blanket and without food (other than that 
brought by relatives).''

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor and posed a threat to health, although the Civil Society 
Monitoring Board (CSMB), an organization established by government 
initiative involving prison monitoring by NGO personnel, reported some 
improvements as authorities began to renovate old prisons. However, 
problems remained: cells were overcrowded, most did not have adequate 
facilities, prison authorities did not provide most inmates with basic 
hygiene supplies, and food quality remained extremely poor. The CSMB 
reported in 2005 that prisoners were at high risk of contracting 
tuberculosis, and adolescents held in juvenile facilities rarely 
received the schooling required by law. The CSMB reported other chronic 
problems, including denial of visitor privileges, medical neglect, and 
in the most extreme cases, physical abuse.
    In certain facilities prisoners bribed officials to obtain single 
occupancy cells and to obtain additional comforts. There were also 
unverified reports that authorities charged unofficial ``fees'' to 
family members and friends seeking to deliver meals to inmates. In some 
prisons monitors noted that prisoners had difficulty mailing letters 
and that some prison officials did not adequately facilitate family 
visits.
    A local NGO reported that of 62 prisoners held in pretrial 
detention in the Lori region between January 1 and March 17, 16 showed 
signs of abuse. The NGO based its findings on prison logs in which 
authorities documented the conditions of prisoners transferred from 
pretrial detention. The same NGO reported that guards and 
administrators at prisons in Nubarashen and Goris had beaten prisoners.
    On July 23, four prisoners serving life sentences at Nubarashen 
Prison attempted to escape. After they were caught they attempted 
suicide and later went on a week-long hunger strike to protest prison 
conditions. The Governmental human rights defender's office later sent 
a task force to the prison to investigate and found that conditions at 
the prison had improved with the renovation of cells and medical 
facilities but remained very poor.
    The CSMB monitors reported that female prisoners had more freedom 
of movement than male prisoners and that their facility was cleaner and 
better equipped.
    Observers believed that most instances in which authorities abused 
prisoners took place in pretrial detention facilities, which were under 
the control of the Department of Police. Suspects may be held in such 
facilities without charge for up to three days, and longer at the 
request of the prosecutor general and with the assent of a judge.
    The Government permitted local NGOs and international rights 
groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 
to monitor conditions in prisons. Authorities continued to permit 
personnel of the CSMB to visit prisons without giving advance notice, 
as they have done since 2004. However, despite the Government's 
commitment to give the CSMB access to all detention facilities, 
including holding cells and local police stations, the Department of 
Police did not permit the CSMB or any other locally based organization 
to visit detention facilities under its control during the year.
    The ICRC was permitted to visit both prisons and pretrial detention 
centers and did so in accordance with its standard modalities.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, in practice authorities continued to 
arrest and detain criminal suspects without warrants.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police and 
the National Security Service (NSS) are responsible for domestic 
security, intelligence activities, and border control; they report 
directly to the Prime Minister. Both services lacked the training, 
resources, and established procedures to implement reforms or to 
prevent incidents of abuse. Prisoners reported that police and NSS 
authorities did little to investigate allegations of abuse. As a 
result, impunity was a serious problem.
    In contrast to 2005, the Government made some efforts to modernize 
and reform police and security forces, although the changes had mostly 
to do with infrastructure. On August 25, police opened a community 
justice center in Vanadzor with help from the local affiliate of the 
international NGO, Project Harmony. The center offered counseling to 
first-time juvenile offenders and brought local police into public 
schools for community outreach. On October 30, a new community policing 
project designed to facilitate cooperation between police and civilians 
was initiated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE) at the Arabkir district police department in Yerevan.
    Corruption remained a significant problem in the police force and 
security service. Police officers routinely stopped motorists at 
roadside checkpoints to extort illegal ``fees.'' Motorists reported 
that traffic police generally demanded approximately $2.80 (1000 drams) 
to pass a checkpoint. Investigative journalists alleged that police 
inspectors and superiors received a portion of the proceeds from each 
traffic stop. As a result, there were no incentives to curb the 
practice and no efforts by the Government during the year to do so.
    There was no dedicated mechanism for investigating police abuse. By 
law citizens may sue police in court as they would sue any person 
against whom they had an adjudicable complaint. The Government reported 
that during the year citizens lodged 69 civil complaints against police 
in court. Judges decided 26 of those cases in favor of the citizens and 
dismissed the remaining 43.

    Arrest and Detention.--Prosecutors and police must first obtain a 
warrant from a judge in order to arrest a suspect, except to avert the 
imminent flight of the suspect or when they witness a crime in 
progress. Although judges rarely denied police requests for arrest 
warrants, police at times made arrests without a warrant on the pretext 
that detainees were material witnesses rather than suspects. The law 
provides that a detainee must either be indicted or released within 
three days of arrest, and this procedure was usually followed in 
practice; however, in some cases police skirted this requirement by 
alleging that suspects were material witnesses, who do not have the 
right to prompt judicial determination or legal counsel. The law 
provides for a bail system; however, most courts denied requests for 
bail in favor of detention.
    The law also requires police to inform detainees of their right to 
remain silent, to make a phone call, and to be represented by an 
attorney from the moment of arrest and before indictment (including 
state-provided lawyers for indigent detainees). In practice police did 
not always abide by the law. They often questioned and pressured 
detainees to confess prior to indictment and in the absence of counsel. 
Since witnesses do not have the right to legal counsel or prompt 
judicial determination, police used this loophole to interrogate 
suspects in the absence of counsel and to detain them beyond the three-
day limit for indicting suspects. Police sometimes restricted family 
members' access to detainees.
    During a year without national elections, there were no large 
demonstrations; arbitrary detention of protestors was not a problem.
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. According to the 
law, a suspect may not be detained for more than 12 months awaiting 
trial and authorities generally did not exceed this limit. The 
Government reported that during the first nine months of the year, 
pretrial detainees constituted on average about 25 percent of a prison 
population of nearly 3,000.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, despite structural changes implemented 
during the year that led to somewhat greater independence, courts 
remained subject to political pressure from the executive and 
legislative branches, and judicial corruption was a problem.
    The law provides for a three-tier court system, including the 
highest court (the Court of Cassation), the Court of Appeals, and 
courts of first instance. Cases originate in courts of first instance; 
appeals are lodged with the Court of Appeals and the Court of 
Cassation. There is also a Constitutional Court, which rules on the 
constitutionality of legislation, approves international agreements, 
and rules on election-related questions.
    Citizens' right to appeal was strengthened by changes approved in 
the 2005 constitutional referendum and enacted into law on July 1. 
These changes gave ordinary citizens the right to appeal to the 
Constitutional Court, which previously could only accept cases proposed 
by the President and approved by a two-thirds majority of the National 
Assembly or cases involving election-related issues brought by the 
National Assembly or Presidential candidates.
    Changes to the constitution which allowed citizens to bring appeals 
to the Constitutional Court took effect on July 1. From that date 
through August 22, 288 citizens appealed to the court, which 
immediately threw out more than 60 percent of the cases, because they 
did not call into question a law's constitutionality and thus were not 
within the court's mandate. Of the remaining 109 appeals, hearings were 
scheduled for 13. The first hearings took place September 12 through 
November 14.
    The President exercised dominant influence over the judiciary, 
including over the appointment and dismissal of judges and chairmen of 
courts on all levels. He has the authority to make appointments based 
on the recommendations of the Judicial Council, the supreme judicial 
body in the country, which previously consisted of nine judges, two 
legal scholars, and three prosecutors, all of whom he also appointed. 
The judicial reforms that took effect on July 1 significantly reduced 
the President's power to appoint members of the Judicial Council. He 
subsequently had the right to appoint only two of a 13-member body; the 
other members are either appointed by the National Assembly or elected 
by a General Assembly of Judges by secret ballot. The Constitutional 
Court is the only other exception to Presidential dominance in judicial 
appointments; he appoints only four of its nine judges.
    On December 22, the Court of Cassation took the highly unusual 
decision of voiding two lower court decisions on the grounds that the 
original investigation had not been conducted lawfully (see section 
1.c.).
    Even with these changes, however, the judiciary was still far from 
independent. The Ministry of Justice remained responsible for the 
administration of judicial exams, the disciplining of judges, and the 
development of legislation relating to judicial functioning.

    Trial Procedures.--The law generally requires that trials be 
public, but it permits many exceptions, including when a trial's 
secrecy is in the interest of ``morals,'' national security, or for the 
``protection of the private lives of the participants.'' Juries are not 
used. A single judge issues verdicts in courts of first instance, and 
panels of judges preside over the other courts. Defendants generally 
have the right, and are generally required, to be present at their 
trials, but this requirement also has many exceptions. They have the 
right to counsel of their own choosing, and the Government is required 
to provide them with defense counsel upon request; however, this 
obligation was frequently not honored in the regions outside of 
Yerevan, where there often were not enough defense lawyers. Defendants 
also commonly refused free counsel due to the poor quality of the 
public defenders or the perception that public defenders colluded with 
prosecutors.
    Defendants may confront witnesses and present evidence, and they 
and their attorneys may examine the Government's case in advance of 
trial. Judges generally granted defendants' requests for additional 
time to prepare cases. The law provides for the presumption of 
innocence; in practice this right was not always observed. In one case 
during the year, defendants' lawyers who criticized the outcome of 
their case, were sued for contempt of court by the judges involved (see 
section 1.c).
    Court statistics released on August 7 indicated that fewer than 1 
percent of court cases resulted in acquittals. However, these 
statistics do not reflect the many cases that judges remanded to the 
prosecutor's office for lack of evidence and that prosecutors dropped 
and never sent back to court. Thus prosecutors, in effect, often lost 
their cases during the year. According to one international NGO 
specializing in legal issues, pretrial investigations lasted an average 
of one to three months. Both defendants and prosecutors have the right 
to appeal.
    There were reports that prosecutors used confessions obtained 
through methods that some NGOs asserted amounted to torture, as central 
elements of their cases. Defense lawyers may present evidence of 
torture to overturn improperly obtained confessions; however, 
defendants stated that judges and prosecutors refused to admit such 
evidence into court proceedings, even when the perpetrator could be 
identified.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Armen Babajanian, the editor of 
the opposition newspaper Yerevan Zhamanak, was arrested on June 26 and 
charged with document forgery and evasion of military service. He was 
convicted on September 8. Babajanian admitted his guilt, but his four-
year sentence was somewhat harsher than is customary, and some 
observers charged that he was the victim of selective enforcement.
    Apart from this possible exception, there were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The same courts hear civil 
and criminal cases. Citizens had access to courts to bring lawsuits 
seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation; 
however, the courts were widely perceived as corrupt, and potential 
litigants in civil cases often evaluated the advisability of bringing 
suit on the basis of whether they or their opponents had greater 
resources with which to influence judges. Citizens also had access to 
the ombudsman's office, and during the year they were given access to 
the Constitutional Court when they judged that constitutional rights 
were not being protected (see sections 1.e., and 4).
    Residents of approximately 100 houses in downtown Yerevan that were 
razed to make way for a new boulevard lost a number of court cases 
protesting their evictions during the year. The Constitutional Court 
ruled on April 18 that the 2002 government decision that made the 
demolitions possible violated parts of the constitution, but the court 
did not obligate authorities to return the remaining houses to their 
former owners.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits unauthorized searches and provides 
for the right to privacy and confidentiality of communications; 
however, the Government did not always respect these rights in 
practice.
    There were several reports of government surveillance of opposition 
Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannesian. The party also reported that 
its members were harassed and threatened (see section 3).
    By law, judges may authorize authorities to wiretap a telephone or 
intercept correspondence only after being presented with compelling 
evidence; however, the law was not strictly enforced in practice, and 
some judges arbitrarily granted permission.
    At times police maintained surveillance of draft-aged men to 
prevent them from fleeing the country.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government partially 
limited freedom of speech. There were incidents of violence, 
intimidation, and self-censorship in the press.
    The law prohibits incitement to national, racial, or religious 
animosity. There were no prosecutions under this provision during the 
year, unlike in 2005 when Armen Avetisyan, the leader of the Union of 
Armenian Aryans, was convicted of this offense and given a three-year 
suspended sentence for making anti-Semitic and anti-Yezidi statements 
in a press interview (see section 2.c.).
    Most newspapers were privately owned with the exception of 
government-sponsored Hayastani Hanrapetutyun and its Russian-language 
version, Respublika Armenii. The print media pursued stories vigorously 
and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction, but no media 
outlet was completely independent of patronage from economic or 
political interest groups or individuals.
    Newspaper circulation was very limited, and most of the population 
relied on television and radio for news and information. There were 
more than 20 radio and 45 television stations, most of them privately 
operated. In Yerevan and regional cities, private television stations 
generally offered news coverage of good technical quality; however, the 
substantive quality of news reporting on television and radio varied. 
Most stations were owned by progovernment politicians or well-connected 
businessmen, factors that led journalists to engage in self-censorship. 
Major broadcast media outlets generally expressed progovernment views. 
Public Television of Armenia (H1) generally avoided editorial 
commentary or reporting critical of the Government.
    In 2003 the National Commission for Television and Radio (NCTVR), 
the governing body for the country's media whose members are all 
appointed by President Kocharian, awarded a progovernment national 
television channel, Kentron TV, a broadcast frequency that had 
previously belonged to A1-Plus, one of the country's last politically 
independent television stations. Observers alleged the decision was 
politically motivated due to A1-Plus's previous criticism of the 
Kocharian administration. During the year A1-Plus continued its 
unsuccessful efforts to obtain a license to resume broadcasting. Since 
A1-Plus lost its license it has unsuccessfully filed 12 applications 
for radio or television licenses. An OSCE report, The State of Media 
Freedom in Armenia, released in July, recommended that the composition 
of the NCTVR and similar regulatory bodies be changed to represent the 
political diversity of the country and to include NGOs and professional 
associations.
    In September, in an action unusual in a National Assembly where the 
ruling coalition has a comfortable majority, lawmakers rejected 
government-sponsored legislation that would have altered regulation of 
the media. The legislation would have further restricted media freedom, 
reduced or eliminated television coverage of National Assembly 
sessions, and altered the composition of the NCTVR. Under the 
Government proposal, the National Assembly would appoint half of the 
members of the NCTVR and the President the other half, but none would 
be selected by other elements of society as recommended by the OSCE 
report.
    International media outlets generally operated freely.
    The editor of the opposition newspaper Yerevan Zhamanak was 
arrested on June 26 and charged with document forgery and evasion of 
military service. He was convicted on September 8.
    Although he admitted guilt, Armen Babajanian's four-year sentence 
was harsher than is customary for such offenses, and some observers 
regarded him as a victim of selective enforcement see section 1.e).
    There were unconfirmed reports of several incidents of harassment 
and intimidation of journalists that appeared to be related to their 
journalistic activities.
    Independent investigative journalist Edik Baghdasarian reported 
that in July he began to receive e-mail threats following the 
publication of two articles on his Web site criticizing a new political 
party.
    Journalist Gagik Shamshian, who works for opposition-owned Chorrord 
Ishkhanutiun newspaper, reported that a gang of men attacked him on 
July 11 after he publicly accused the local district prefect's father 
of threatening him. He had written an article saying that two men 
arrested on charges of bank robbery were relatives of the prefect. 
Shamshian claimed the prefect's brother was among his attackers. 
Shamshian said law enforcement officials harassed him after the attacks 
for refusing to retract his testimony against the prefect's brother. 
The local police told Shamshian they had received complaints detailing 
criminal activity on his part, which he denied. Several weeks later, he 
retracted the allegations. The criminal case against him went to court 
December 14, with no verdict by year's end. On July 20, an unknown 
person broke the windows of Chorrord Ishkhanutiun's office, poured 
gasoline on the windowsills, and set them on fire. Citing 
disillusionment with the country's law enforcement officers, Chorrord 
Ishkhanutiun did not ask for a police investigation. The editor said 
she wasn't sure of the motive behind the fire; however, others drew a 
connection between the incident and the paper's reporting on the 
district prefect.
    On September 6, unknown persons assaulted Ovannes Galagzhyan, the 
editor-in-chief of the opposition-sponsored newspaper Iravunk, in an 
attack he believed was related to political topics discussed in his 
newspaper.
    There was no official censorship, although journalists and 
opposition parties complained that the Government put pressure on 
television stations not to grant air time to several out-of-favor 
politicians. Print and broadcast journalists continued to practice 
self-censorship because of pressure from official sources and from 
economic self-interest.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet cafes were widely available in the cities, although local ISP 
connections were often too slow to be useful.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no restrictions 
on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but there 
were some limits on this right. Organizers are not required to obtain a 
government permit to stage a rally or demonstration but are required to 
notify authorities in advance of their plans for such events. There 
were also locations, such as military installations and sensitive power 
generation facilities, where persons could not demonstrate without 
permission. The law empowers police to break up illegal rallies and 
demonstrations, particularly those that encourage violence and the 
overthrow of the Government. During the year police did not break up 
demonstrations.
    The Government did not interfere when small rallies took place 
without permission.
    There were reports that government authorities hindered political 
party meetings and pressured property owners to evict opposition 
parties from meeting facilities. For example, during the year the 
opposition Heritage Party was evicted from its offices, ostensibly over 
a lease dispute (see section 3). In May 2005 Aram Karapetyan asserted 
that his New Times opposition party was evicted from its headquarters 
in Yerevan following pressure on the landlord by government officials.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected it in practice. 
However, registration requirements for all political parties, 
associations, and secular and religious organizations remained 
cumbersome, exacting, and time-consuming. The law stipulates that 
citizens have the right to form associations, including political 
parties and trade unions, except for persons serving in the armed 
services and law enforcement agencies. As in previous years, no human 
rights groups or political organizations reported problems with 
registration, although the Heritage Party reported harassment of its 
members (see section 3).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion; 
however, there were some restrictions in practice. The Armenian 
Apostolic Church has formal legal status as the national church, which 
gives it privileges not afforded to other faiths. The law gives 
minority religious groups that register with the Government specific 
rights, such as the right to publish newspapers and magazines, rent 
meeting places on government property, broadcast television or radio 
programs, and sponsor official visitors. Unregistered religious 
organizations may only import small quantities of religious literature 
for private use. The law also requires all religious organizations 
except the Armenian Apostolic Church to obtain prior permission to 
engage in public religious activities. There were no reports that 
religious groups were denied, or otherwise had problems with, 
registration.
    The law prohibits incitement to national, racial, or religious 
animosity. There were no prosecutions under this provision during the 
year, unlike in 2005 when Armen Avetisyan, the leader of the Union of 
Armenian Aryans, was convicted of this offense and given a three-year 
suspended sentence for making anti-Semitic and anti-Yezidi statements 
in a press interview.
    Although the country has a law providing alternative service for 
conscientious objectors, the military services themselves administer 
the alternative service, and many members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
refused the alternative program for that reason. At year's end, 
according to Jehovah's Witnesses lawyers, 52 of their members were in 
prison, 49 of them serving sentences and three awaiting trial.
    On October 27, the Jewish community, with assistance from the 
Government and other groups, unveiled a new Holocaust memorial to 
replace the old one that had been vandalized earlier in the year.
    The law prohibits proselytizing--which is left undefined in the 
law--by minority religions and bans foreign funding for foreign-based 
churches; neither ban was enforced. The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints reported police harassment of missionaries in July 
2005; however, church officials said members had not experienced any 
harassment since then.
    The Jehovah's Witnesses organization reported that an Armenian 
Apostolic priest assaulted two of its members on August 21. According 
to the group, one of the victims suffered a broken arm and a 
concussion. The group said police opened an investigation but quickly 
ended it, stating that the priest expressed remorse for his crime.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal attitudes toward most 
minority religions were ambivalent. Unlike in 2005, Yezidi leaders said 
that they had received no reports that police and local authorities 
discriminated against them.
    According to observers the general population viewed ``non-
traditional'' religious groups with suspicion and expressed negative 
attitudes about members of Jehovah's Witnesses because of their 
proselytizing practices and because they refused to serve in the armed 
forces. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses continued to experience 
occasional societal discrimination.
    On March 17, two young members of the Union of Armenian Aryans, a 
small ultranationalist group, distributed a leaflet in the city of 
Vanadzor calling for death to members of religious sects. The staff of 
a local human rights NGO that reported the incident to the local 
prosecutor's office received e-mailed death threats June 18.
    There were reports of isolated incidents in which Protestants in 
rural areas were fired from their jobs because of their religious 
beliefs.
    Jewish community leaders estimated the community's size at between 
500 and 1,000 persons (the Government does not provide official figures 
for religious adherents), but unlike in 2005, leaders of the Jewish 
community said that they had no reports of harassment of Jews during 
the year.
    In September the environment minister, Vardan Ayvazian, publicly 
referred to representatives of a foreign mining company during a press 
conference as ``kikes.''
    There were no reports that individuals or groups distributed anti-
Semitic literature.
    Approximately one thousand Muslims resided in the capital. There 
was no formally operating mosque, although one surviving 18th century 
mosque in the capital remained open for Friday prayers without 
government interference, though it was not officially registered.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    c. Freedom of Movement Within The Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, but 
there were some restrictions in practice.
    The Government generally did not restrict internal movement. 
Corruption and an inefficient bureaucracy hindered citizens' efforts to 
register changes in their status, including changes in official places 
of residence. This hampered efforts to emigrate. To leave the country 
on a temporary or permanent basis, citizens must obtain an exit visa. 
Exit visas for temporary travel out of the country may be routinely 
purchased at a cost of approximately $2.80 (1,000 drams) for each year 
of validity and may be purchased when a passport is issued for the 
entire term of validity of the passport. Visas may also be obtained 
later. There was an official 10-day waiting period for visas, but 
officials commonly agreed to expedite them in exchange for bribes up to 
about $30 (10,714 drams). Citizens who opted not to purchase the 
appropriate visas, but attempted to depart the country, were not 
permitted to leave.
    The exit visa process is more difficult for citizens leaving the 
country permanently. The registration agency must deregister them, 
which entails sending queries to numerous other agencies to determine 
whether the citizen has any outstanding debts or obligations. The 
process commonly took several months to complete, and according to some 
citizens, authorities used the exit permit process to exact bribes 
which, by some accounts, totaled hundreds of dollars. Permission to 
depart the country permanently may be denied to persons who possess 
state secrets, are subject to military service, are involved in pending 
court cases, or who have outstanding financial obligations. Men of 
military age who have not completed service requirements must overcome 
substantial bureaucratic obstacles to travel abroad, including 
excessive delays in processing and officials soliciting bribes for exit 
stamps.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but there were no reports 
that the Government employed it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Norwegian Refugee Council 
(NRC) found in a study released in 2005 that 8,399 IDPs lived in the 
country. The NRC said the number did not change during the year.
    During the country's war with Azerbaijan, the Government evacuated 
approximately 65 thousand households from the border region, but most 
returned or settled elsewhere. Of the 8,399 remaining IDPs, almost two-
thirds could not return to their villages, which were surrounded by 
Azerbaijani territory, and others chose not to return due to socio-
economic vulnerability or a fear of land mines. IDPs enjoyed full 
rights as citizens, but the Government did not provide special programs 
to help them adjust to their new surroundings. IDPs had access to 
international assistance programs and there were no reports of abuse of 
IDPs.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
most refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum 
during the year.
    As of December 26, 646 persons had applied for asylum and the 
Government granted 120 of those requests. Two were granted refugee 
status, and the Government provided temporary protection to 118 
individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and the 1967 Protocol.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    There was an established procedure for granting asylum; however, a 
combination of frequent rotations of inexperienced border officials and 
little training on asylum procedures, at times caused delays and 
difficulties with refugee processing at airports and land borders. 
International organizations asserted that Russian border guards usually 
came into first contact with would-be asylum-seekers at the borders 
with Turkey and Iran, as well as at the main international airport in 
Yerevan, and often refused them entry without informing either the 
Government or the UNHCR. However, the Russian guards, who operated on 
the basis of an agreement between the two countries, were being phased 
out.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Although the law provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, that right was restricted in practice due to 
repeated flaws in the conduct of elections.

    Elections and Political Participation.--International observers 
found the 2003 Presidential and National Assembly elections to be well 
below international standards. There were serious irregularities, 
including ballot box stuffing, discrepancies in vote counts, partisan 
election commissions, and wide use of government resources to support 
the incumbent President. Domestic observers noted similar 
irregularities in local elections in September and October 2005.
    In November 2005 a series of constitutional amendments were 
approved by a national referendum which made potentially significant 
changes in the division of powers between the branches. Although the 
balloting was conducted mostly without incident, Council of Europe 
observers reported discrepancies between the reported results and the 
apparent lack of turnout (a two-thirds majority of all registered 
voters was required for adoption, and a previous constitutional 
referendum had failed for lack of turnout). Domestic observers reported 
ballot stuffing, unauthorized individuals accompanying voters to the 
voting booths and ballot boxes to instruct them on how to vote, and 
intimidation of opposition observers. As it was technically not 
required to do so, the Government declined to invite the OSCE to 
observe the voting process.
    Authorities harassed opposition supporters. On March 4, the 
Ministry of Justice's Department of State Property Management, armed 
with a court order, evicted the opposition Heritage Party from its 
offices, ostensibly over a lease dispute. When the party staff was 
allowed to return temporarily on May 29, they reported that their 
central computer had been hacked on March 8. Party officials reported 
instances of harassment of party members throughout the country after 
March 8 and attributed them to the hacking of the computer, which 
contained addresses and telephone numbers of party members.
    There was a widespread public perception, reflected in the press 
and the speeches of politicians, that a small elite of ``oligarchs'' 
exercised disproportionate influence on public affairs.
    The Orinats Yerkir party lost many members following its withdrawal 
from the governing coalition on May 12. Party leader Artur Baghdasarian 
asserted later that the President's office had pressured them to leave 
the faction, and there were reports that members were threatened with 
loss of employment and the closure of their businesses.
    There were seven women in the 131-seat National Assembly but none 
in the cabinet.
    There were no members of ethnic minorities in the National Assembly 
or cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was widespread, 
as was citizens' awareness of it. In an August Gallup poll commissioned 
by a foreign organization, one in 10 respondents, asked to name the 
most serious problem facing the country, named corruption, placing it 
in third place behind economic concerns and the problem of Nagorno-
Karabakh. The country scored 2.9 in Transparency International's 2005 
Corruption Perceptions Index. The index reflects the perceptions of 
business people and country analysts using a scale of zero to 10 with 
zero being considered highly corrupt. Amalia Kostanian, head of the 
local affiliate of Transparency International stated that the expert 
and public perception was that corruption was increasing. However, the 
public, which rarely protested practices such as routine bribe-paying, 
was generally politically apathetic and appeared to be resigned to the 
prevalence of corruption.
    The Government did not adequately maintain its own anticorruption 
programs. For example, an anticorruption council headed by the Prime 
Minister met only twice during the year, violating its own regulations, 
and a monitoring commission established by the council did not meet at 
all during the year.
    According to the Government, 69 government officials were charged 
in 46 corruption cases during the year. At least 16 of those officials 
were convicted under anticorruption laws. The disposition of the 
remaining cases was unclear at year's end.
    The law provides for access to government information as well as 
for its dissemination, but in practice the Government rarely provided 
access. In July the Yerevan mayor's office, which in 2005 was described 
by an NGO focusing on freedom of information as one of the worst 
providers of information access, set up an information center in city 
hall. Though the office was still in its infancy at year's end, the 
same NGO described the staff of the center as serious about its work.
    Citizens had little awareness of their right to information, and 
those who were aware of this right were often unable to exercise them. 
The first instinct of government employees generally was to block 
access to information rather than to provide it. In some cases the 
officials themselves were not aware of laws providing for freedom of 
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restrictions, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
    During the year more than 20 independent local religious and human 
rights organizations and local affiliates of international 
organizations operated in the country. They included the Armenian 
Helsinki Committee, the Civil Society Institute, the Helsinki Citizens' 
Assembly, Hope and Help, the International Committee of the Red Cross, 
Junior Achievement, Mission Armenia, the Open Society Institute, and 
Transparency International. The Government, while not soliciting 
contacts with these organizations, generally did not deny requests to 
meet with domestic NGO monitors. Authorities followed some of their 
recommendations, particularly those related to social welfare, 
education, or those involving local matters.
    With one possible exception, NGOs did not report experiencing 
reprisals for criticizing the authorities. On one occasion authorities 
subjected an NGO that had accused an official of wrongdoing in relation 
to trafficking, to an unexpected tax inspection (see section 5).
    There was no progress in the investigation into the 2004 incident 
in which unknown persons beat Mikael Danielyan, the director of the 
Helsinki Committee human rights NGO, after Danielyan had given a 
controversial interview to an Azerbaijani newspaper. Authorities 
suspended the investigation shortly after the incident.
    The Government was generally cooperative with international NGOs. 
It permitted visits by international organizations to prisons and in 
the case of the ICRC, to detention centers operated by the police.
    In 2005 the country's first human rights ombudsman complained that 
government interference, including a ruling by the Constitutional 
Court, limited her ability to influence the Government's implementation 
of her recommendations. On February 17, the National Assembly elected a 
successor. One of his first actions was to petition the Constitutional 
Court to rule find government decision to expropriate residential 
houses and apartments in certain parts of downtown Yerevan to be 
unconstitutional (see section 1.e.). Although the court did so, it did 
not provide any remedies for the citizens deprived of their property 
without adequate compensation.
    From February 17, when the new ombudsman took office, through 
December 11, the ombudsman's office received 1,178 citizen complaints. 
At year's end there was no information on the disposition of these 
complaints.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status, but there was societal 
discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, persons with 
disabilities, and homosexuals.

    Women.--There is no law against domestic violence. Few cases of 
spousal abuse or other violence against women were reported during the 
year, although such violence was believed to be widespread. While there 
was no recent information on the extent of the problem, in a 2001 
survey, 45 percent of the (female) respondents acknowledged that family 
members subjected them to psychological abuse, and 25 percent 
considered themselves victims of physical abuse. Most cases of domestic 
violence were not reported to police because victims were afraid of 
physical harm, were apprehensive that police would return them to their 
husbands, or were embarrassed to make family problems public. Several 
NGOs in the Yerevan and Gyumri areas provided shelter and assistance, 
including psychological and legal counseling, to battered women.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense and carries a 
maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment. In the first nine months of 
the year, authorities registered 31 cases of rape and attempted rape; 
however, societal stigma contributed to the underreporting of those 
crimes. Authorities prosecuted and convicted 14 individuals involved in 
seven cases of rape, and five individuals involved in three cases of 
attempted rape during the year. In 2005 authorities prosecuted 21 
individuals charged with these offenses.
    Prostitution and sex tourism are not illegal, but operating 
brothels is prohibited. Operating a brothel and engaging in other forms 
of pimping are punishable by one to 10 years' imprisonment. According 
to the NGO Hope and Help, there were fewer than 5,000 prostitutes, 
approximately 1,500 of them in Yerevan. Police and other security 
forces were complicit in, or tolerated, prostitution.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although 
it addresses lewd acts and indecent behavior. Society generally did not 
consider cases of sexual harassment important enough to justify legal 
action. Although there were no official statistics, sexual harassment 
appeared to be widespread.
    Men and women enjoy equal legal status, although gender 
discrimination existed and was a continuing problem in the public and 
private sectors. According to a survey conducted 2005 in Yerevan, women 
earned on average 40 percent of what men earned. Women generally were 
not afforded the same professional opportunities as men and often were 
relegated to more menial or low-skill jobs.

    Children.--The Government was committed to protecting children's 
rights and welfare, but it did not allocate resources sufficient to 
fulfill this commitment.
    Education is free, universal, and compulsory through age 14; 
secondary education is provided through the complete secondary level. 
According to the UN Development Program, in 2003, 84 percent of 
students completed schooling through age 14, and 36 percent studied 
through age 16. Many facilities were impoverished and in poor 
condition. Access to education in rural areas remained difficult, and 
work in the fields during harvest season took precedence over school 
for many children. Lack of funding to provide heat prompted school 
officials in many areas to extend winter school breaks by as much as an 
additional month. Many teachers demanded bribes from parents in return 
for good or passing grades.
    In 2005 the Government began to focus on education reform, and the 
2005-2006 national budget included an allocation for increases in 
educators' salaries.
    A 2004 survey commissioned by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) found 
that school drop-out rates were high for children from poor 
communities. NGOs reported that school absenteeism was also on the 
rise.
    A high percentage of children in the Yezidi community did not 
attend school, partly for economic reasons and partly because schools 
lacked Yezidi teachers and books in their native language. In September 
the Government published and distributed Kurdish-language primary 
school textbooks for Yezidi schoolchildren. The Government also 
published Assyrian-language primary school textbooks during the year.
    Free basic health care was available to boys and girls through age 
eight but often was of poor quality, and officials often demanded overt 
or concealed payment for services.
    Physical abuse of children was not believed to be a serious 
problem, and the prosecutor general's office did not report any cases 
during the year. UNICEF reported that psychological abuse was 
widespread and that in 2004 there had been a few registered cases of 
sexual abuse in special education schools.
    Experts believed child marriage was a problem among the small 
Yezidi and Kurdish ethnic minorities, but there were no specific 
reports of this practice during the year.
    Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Observers did not believe that child labor was a serious problem 
(see section 6.d.).
    UNICEF reported that the number of children begging or working on 
the street appeared to be on the decline. Abuse of street children did 
not appear to be a serious problem.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Authorities reported that the country was 
a source and transit point for women and girls trafficked primarily for 
sexual exploitation to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. It was 
also, to a lesser extent, a destination for women trafficked for sexual 
exploitation. There were also reports of men being trafficked to Russia 
for labor.
    According to the general prosecutor's office, at least 40 persons 
were victims of trafficking during the year, including four victims 
exploited within the country and 36 exploited in the United Arab 
Emirates, Turkey, and Russia. The general prosecutor's office also 
reported that 99 persons were victims of pimping during the year, 
including 38 exploited within the country and 61 exploited in the UAE 
and Turkey. Trafficking organizations typically recruited victims who 
were already engaged in local prostitution. The majority of identified 
victims were aware that they were being recruited to work in the sex 
industry in other countries; however, they were unaware of the 
traffickers' intent or the true exploitive circumstances of the 
conditions in destination countries. Once in the country of 
destination, victims were deprived of their travel documents, locked in 
hotel rooms, and told that they must ``repay'' their expenses. This 
initial consent, unfortunately contributed to an overall lack of 
identification of trafficking by authorities. There were reports that 
traffickers encouraged women to become recruiters, promising them that 
they could keep a percentage of their recruits' earnings. Women engaged 
in prostitution, orphans who had outgrown their institutions, the 
homeless, and those in difficult financial situations were at 
particular risk of being trafficked. Trafficking victims, who came 
largely from impoverished communities, were at greatly increased risk 
of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and there were some 
reported incidents of physical violence.
    The law prohibits trafficking in persons. On July 16, the National 
Assembly adopted legislation that toughened trafficking penalties. The 
new law made trafficking in persons punishable by imprisonment for 
three to 15 years, depending on whether there were aggravating factors 
such as the death of victims or involvement of a minor.
    During the first nine months of the year, eight defendants were 
convicted under the trafficking statute, according to the prosecutor 
general's office. During that same period, courts convicted 18 
defendants under the pimping statute.
    On December 12, a court in Gyumri ruled on the country's first 
labor trafficking case, sentencing the trafficker, Ararat Muradyan, to 
five years' imprisonment. The court also ordered the defendant to 
provide financial restitution to the victims, the first order for 
restitution in any trafficking case. In April 2004 the three male 
victims, including a 16-year-old boy, had been sent to the Russian 
republic of Tatarstan for construction work; they were held against 
their will and forced to work for 16 months before the Tatarstan 
authorities freed them.
    In November 2005 the prosecutor general's office opened a criminal 
case on charges of trafficking against Ashot Hovsepyan, and Sos 
Meliksetyan, a local nightclub manager. They were charged with 
trafficking four victims for work in a nightclub. This was the first 
clear indication that the country was a destination for trafficking. 
The NGO Hope and Help took the victims into its shelter. On January 8, 
a court sentenced Meliksetyan to two years' correctional labor, and a 
warrant for Hovsepyan's arrest was outstanding at year's end.
    A governmental interagency commission, the national police, the 
prosecutor's office, and the NSS are responsible for coordinating and 
implementing antitrafficking policy and for combating trafficking. The 
Government actively sought bilateral cooperation with several 
trafficking destination countries and regularly shared information with 
these partners.
    Victims reported that Russian and Armenian border guards were 
easily bribed. Some prosecutors were also reportedly complicit in 
trafficking. Allegations of official complicity with traffickers 
continued to hurt the credibility of the Government's antitrafficking 
efforts. There were persistent allegations that senior members of the 
prosecutor general's office were susceptible to outside influence. Some 
observers asserted that agreements between corrupt court officials and 
traffickers were also common. Unlike in previous years there were no 
reports that police employees and employees of the country's 
international airport assisted traffickers with transportation of 
victims to and through the country.
    In February the Government established a task force to investigate 
allegations of misconduct against an investigator in the prosecutor 
general's antitrafficking unit. After a cursory investigation, the task 
force reported no evidence of wrongdoing. In August a group of alleged 
trafficking victims, assisted by an NGO, brought new allegations of 
corruption and complicity against the same investigator and another 
official. A few days after the allegations were brought to the 
Government's attention, tax inspectors launched an investigation into 
the NGO's finances (see section 4). The prosecutor general created a 
task force that included members of antitrafficking NGOs to investigate 
the officials, who remained in charge of the original case during the 
internal investigation. The internal investigation commission found no 
evidence of wrongdoing; however, the investigators were transferred out 
of the antitrafficking unit, and one was demoted from senior 
investigator to investigator.
    Upon their return from abroad, many trafficking victims feared 
societal stigma and discrimination and were reluctant to help locate 
and prosecute their traffickers. Government officials did not require 
victims to provide such assistance, but they worked with victims who 
were willing to do so. Judges did not prosecute victims in trafficking 
cases for violating laws but often denied them counsel and subjected 
them to humiliating treatment during trials.
    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGOs 
Hope and Help, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and 
Democracy Today, operated assistance programs for trafficking victims 
with funding from foreign governments. Between March and November 14, 
UMCOR and Hope and Help shelters assisted 23 victims, more than in all 
of 2005. The Government did not offer financial assistance but 
increasingly referred victims to these organizations. The NGOs 
maintained two hotlines for trafficking victims.
    NGOs, international organizations, and the Government conducted 
trafficking prevention activities, primarily educational and mass media 
programs to raise public awareness. International organizations trained 
the Government's consular corps to identify signs of trafficking, and 
in June the Government, with international assistance, published a 
manual with guidelines for interviewing and repatriating trafficking 
victims for use by consular officers abroad.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, and the provision of other state services; however, 
discrimination was a problem. The law and a special government decree 
mandate accessibility to buildings for persons with disabilities, but 
in practice very few buildings and other facilities were accessible to 
them.
    In September the Government allocated about $33,000 (12 million 
drams) for the printing of Braille textbooks.
    Institutionalized patients often lacked medication, and care was 
substandard. Hospitals, residential care, and other facilities for 
persons with serious disabilities were also substandard.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, but the Government 
provided insufficient resources to the ministry to permit fulfillment 
of this responsibility.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Yezidi community, which 
numbers between 30,000 and 40,000 persons according to its leaders, 
speaks a dialect of Kurdish and practices a religion derived from 
Zoroastrianism, Islam, and animism. Unlike in previous years, Yezidi 
leaders did not complain that police and local authorities subjected 
their community to discrimination. However, on December 7, a woman and 
three teenagers set themselves on fire in front of the Presidential 
palace to protest the lack of local government response to the November 
murder of one of their relatives. Other Yezidi villagers involved in 
the protest said they believed the lack of response resulted from local 
government corruption rather than from discrimination.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons who were openly 
gay were exempted from military service, purportedly because of 
concerns that they would be abused by fellow servicemen. The local 
Helsinki Association and other observers reported cases of police 
harassment of homosexuals through blackmail, extortion, and, on 
occasion, violence.
    On August 9, an openly gay businessman was found dead in his 
apartment. The police investigation focused mainly on the man's 
possible sexual partners. Local observers reported that in the course 
of the police investigation, officers indiscriminately rounded up gay 
men in a city park for questioning.
    Many employers discriminated by age, most commonly requiring that 
job applicants be between the ages of 18 and 30. After the age of 40, 
workers, particularly women, had little chance of finding jobs 
appropriate to their education or skills.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, except for 
those serving in the armed services and law enforcement agencies (see 
section 2.b.), with the right to form and to join unions of their 
choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, but 
most workers did not exercise this right in practice. Labor 
organizations remained weak because of employer resistance, high 
unemployment, and poor economic conditions.
    The Confederation of Labor Unions (CLU) estimated there were 
441,000 members of 24 trade unions. There were also other labor unions 
that did not belong to the CLU. Labor unions were generally inactive, 
with the exception of those connected with the mining industry. 
However, some mining enterprises, including some financed by foreign 
capital, discouraged employees from joining labor unions with the 
implied threat of loss of employment.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference. Although the 
law provides for collective bargaining, in practice there was none. 
Factory directors generally set pay scales without consulting 
employees. Regular or economic courts arbitrated labor disputes.
    The law provides for the right to strike, except for members of the 
armed services and law enforcement agencies, but workers rarely went on 
strike. The law also prohibits retaliation against strikers, although 
it sometimes occurred.
    In June 2005 the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC) fired 24 
employees at its gold mining facility near Zod, allegedly for 
organizing a May 2005 strike over wages and workplace safety. AGRC 
initially dismissed 463 employees and required them to reapply for 
their positions; it did not rehire 11 employees who were members of the 
Lernagorts labor union and 13 unaffiliated employees. Four sued AGRC 
for reinstatement. One won the court case and was rehired but was fired 
again soon after. The other three lost their cases. AGRC maintained it 
fired the employees on legitimate grounds.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace. The minimum age for employment is 16; children may work 
from age 14 with parental and labor union permission. The Armenian 
State Labor Inspectorate is responsible for child labor law compliance, 
but the inspectorate, community councils, unemployment offices, and, as 
a final board of appeal, the courts, enforced the law unevenly. 
Children under the age of 18 are prohibited from working overtime or in 
harmful and dangerous conditions, at night, and on holidays.
    According to the Employment Service Agency, some children were 
involved in family businesses, as well as in other activities not 
prohibited by law. Observers also reported seeing children in Yerevan 
selling flowers and working in local markets after school hours.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets the minimum 
wage by decree. The monthly minimum wage of approximately $55.60 
(20,000 drams) did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker 
and family. While businesses generally observed the law for their 
registered employees, there were reports that employers did not 
register some employees and paid them lower than minimum wage. In 2004, 
the most recent year for which information was available, 6.4 percent 
of the population lived on less than $1 per day, while 34.6 percent 
lived on slightly more than that amount. The Government did not enforce 
the minimum wage law effectively.
    The law sets the workweek at 40 hours and provides for mandatory 
rest periods and overtime compensation. In the mining sector, employers 
allow limited sick leave with the presentation of a medical 
certificate. There were reports that employers fired employees who took 
extended sick leave.
    In April 2005 the Employment Service Agency officially replaced the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as the Government's chief 
enforcement agency for workers' rights, occupational health, and safety 
standards. In its second year, the inspectorate made little progress 
toward implementing an inspection regime or the requirements of the 
labor code.
    Workers had the legal right to remove themselves from work 
situations that endangered health and safety, but they were unlikely to 
do so because such an action would place their employment at risk, and 
jobs were scarce. The law requires the Government to set occupational 
and health standards, but by year's end the Government had not done so.

                               __________

                                AUSTRIA

    Austria is a parliamentary democracy with constitutional power 
shared between the popularly elected President and the bicameral 
Federal Assembly (parliament). The country's eight million citizens 
choose their government representatives in periodic, free, and fair 
multiparty elections. In 2004 voters elected President Heinz Fischer of 
the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) to a six-year term. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some 
reports of police abuse and use of unjustified force against prisoners. 
Anti-Semitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling, 
property damage, and threatening letters, telephone calls, and Internet 
postings occurred during the year. There was some governmental and 
societal discrimination against Muslims and members of unrecognized 
religious groups, particularly those considered ``sects.'' There were 
incidents of neo-National Socialist activity, rightwing extremism, and 
xenophobia. Trafficking in women and children for prostitution and 
labor also remained a problem.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    In August a Vienna court found four members of the elite Wiener 
Einsatzgruppe Alarmabteilung police unit guilty of torturing and 
seriously injuring Gambian asylum seeker Bakary J. earlier in the year 
during a predeportation incident. Three police officers received eight-
month suspended sentences, and a fourth officer was given a six-month 
suspended sentence. The Austrian chapter of Amnesty International 
criticized the verdict as being too lenient.
    In August the attorney for a Nigerian asylum seeker claimed that 
Austrian police physically injured him during his forced deportation. 
The incident occurred in Frankfurt, Germany after the Nigerian refused 
to board a plane to Nigeria.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
reports that police beat and abused persons.
    In 2005 the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture (CPT) reported a ``considerable number'' of allegations of 
police mistreatment of criminal detainees. The interior ministry 
investigated these cases but concluded that none of the accusations 
could be verified.
    During the year the Government continued to deny an extradition 
request from Kosovo authorities in the case of a police officer 
convicted in absentia for torture while serving in Kosovo's civilian 
international police in 2003. The Government recalled the officer from 
Kosovo, but allowed him to remain on duty during the investigation. 
Following the investigation, the officer was removed from his former 
job in the Ministry of Interior and demoted to a lower position. In 
October the Government officially closed the case.
    There were no reports during the year that army officials 
mistreated conscripts.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards in many areas, and the Government 
permitted visits by independent human rights observers. A May report by 
the Human Rights Advisory Council explicitly criticized pre-deportation 
conditions in 2005 as ``questionable from a human rights point of 
view,'' and, at times ``not in conformity with human rights 
standards.''
    Some human rights observers criticized the incarceration of 
nonviolent offenders, such as persons awaiting deportation, for long 
periods in single cells or inadequate facilities designed for temporary 
detention. In 2005 the CPT noted that juveniles were not always 
separated from adults at the Linz prison.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions; however, the strict application of slander laws tended to 
discourage reports of police abuse.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a 
police force that is responsible for maintaining internal security. The 
Ministry of Interior controls the police, while the Ministry of Defense 
controls the army, which is responsible for external security. The 
police were generally well trained and disciplined.
    On August 31, a senior Vienna police officer, Ernst Geiger, 
received a three-month suspended sentence for violation of 
confidentiality rules. Geiger had allegedly informed the owner of a 
sauna of an upcoming police raid on March 9. Vienna's top police 
official, Roland Horngacher, was suspended from office on August 9 and 
faces charges of accepting improper gifts and abuse of office for 
suspected leaking of information to journalists.
    Government statistics for 2005 showed there were 1,047 public 
complaints against federal police officials; of those, 960 were 
dropped. In 18 court cases, two officers were convicted of using 
unjustified force and two cases were pending at the end of the year. 
Some police violence appeared to be racially motivated (see section 5).
    Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other groups continued to 
criticize the police for targeting minorities. During the year the 
interior ministry conducted racial sensitivity training programs for 
over 2,000 police and other officials with NGO assistance. The Human 
Rights Advisory Council monitors police respect for human rights and 
makes recommendations to the minister of the interior. During the year 
the council issued several recommendations to improve processing of 
predeportation and juvenile delinquent cases.

    Arrest and Detention.--In criminal cases the law provides for 
investigative or pretrial detention for up to 48 hours; an 
investigative judge may decide within that period to grant a 
prosecution request for detention of up to two years pending completion 
of an investigation. The law specifies grounds required for such 
investigative detention and conditions for bail. The investigative 
judge is required to evaluate such detention periodically. There is a 
system of bail. The police and judicial authorities respected these 
laws in practice. Detainees also had prompt access to a lawyer; 
however, the CPT noted in 2004 that criminal suspects who lack the 
means to pay for legal services may be appointed an ex officio lawyer 
only after the court's decision to detain them, i.e. 96 hours after 
their apprehension.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    The court system consists of local, regional, and higher regional 
courts, as well as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest 
judicial body, while the Administrative Court acts as the supervisory 
body over administrative acts of the executive branch. The 
Constitutional Court presides over constitutional issues.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. A system of 
judicial review provides extensive possibilities for appeal. Trials 
must be public and conducted orally. Persons charged with criminal 
offenses are considered innocent until proven guilty. Defendants have 
the right to be present during trials. While pro bono attorneys are 
supposed to be provided to indigent defendants, the CPT in its 2004 
report found that there were generally not enough lawyers in criminal 
matters, financial arrangements were inadequate, and lawyers were not 
available around the clock. The report concluded that, as there is no 
effective system of free legal aid for indigent persons in police 
custody, any right of access to a lawyer at that stage remains, in most 
cases, purely theoretical.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including an appellate 
system. This is available for lawsuits seeking damages for human rights 
violations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law prohibits neo-Nazi 
activity, including making statements that deny the Holocaust. On 
February 20, the Vienna regional court convicted British historian 
David Irving and sentenced him to a three years in prison on charges of 
neo-Nazi activity. In 1989 Irving reportedly denied the existence of 
gas chambers at Auschwitz and claimed that unknown individuals dressed 
in Sturmabteilung uniforms committed the Reichskristallnacht crimes in 
November 1934. On August 29, the Supreme Court confirmed the guilty-
verdict. On December 20, the Vienna court of second instance suspended 
two thirds of Irving's three-year prison sentence. Because Irving had 
been in custody since November 11, 2005, he was released from prison 
and deported to Great Britain.
    On April 26, the Vienna Criminal Court convicted John Gudenus, a 
former Freedom Party member of the upper house of parliament, to a one-
year suspended sentence for violating the law banning neo-Nazi 
activity. In public interviews in 2005, Gudenus had questioned the 
existence of gas chambers and belittled the suffering of concentration 
camp inmates during the Holocaust.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including electronic 
mail. According to March 2005 figures, 56.8 percent of the population 
used the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The law divides religious organizations into three legal 
categories: officially recognized religious societies, religious 
confessional communities, and associations. Numerous unrecognized 
religious groups have complained that the law obstructs legitimate 
claims for recognition and relegates them to second-class status. As of 
December the European Court of Human Rights had not ruled on a 2003 
complaint by the Jehovah's Witnesses challenging the legality of the 
requirement that a group must exist for 10 years in the country before 
it can be recognized by the Government.
    The conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP) denied party 
membership to members of unrecognized religious groups, which it 
considered ``sects,'' that hold a view of mankind fundamentally 
different from the party's, advocate opinions irreconcilable with the 
OVP's ethical principles, or reject basic rights granted by 
``progressively minded'' constitutional states and in an open society. 
The OVP denied membership to members of the Church of Scientology.
    The city of Vienna funded a counseling center of a controversial 
NGO, the Society Against Sect and Cult Dangers (GSK), which actively 
worked against alleged sects and cults. GSK distributed information to 
schools and the general public and offered counseling to persons who 
believe that sects and cults had hurt their lives.
    The Federal Office of Sect Issues functioned as a counseling center 
for those who had questions about sects and cults. While the office is 
legally independent of the Government, the minister for social security 
and generations appointed and supervised its director. Some members of 
the public believed the office of sect issues and similar government 
offices fostered societal discrimination against unrecognized religious 
groups.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal 
discrimination against members of unrecognized religious groups, 
particularly those considered to be ``cults'' or ``sects.'' The 
majority of these groups have less than 100 members. The Church of 
Scientology and the Unification Church were among the larger 
unrecognized groups.
    Muslims complained about incidents of societal discrimination and 
verbal harassment, including occasional incidences of discrimination 
against Muslim women wearing headscarves in public. On April 9, an 
unknown person conducted an arson attack against the construction site 
of an Islamic Cemetery in Vienna. The attack coincided with the 
conclusion of a conference of European imams in Vienna. On September 
11, police destroyed a suspicious device, which turned out to be a fake 
bomb, in front of the Muslim Youth office in Vienna. On November 7, 
police arrested a 29-year old Muslim man on charges of placing the fake 
bomb.
    The Jewish community has approximately 7,700 members. During the 
year the NGO Forum Against Anti-Semitism reported a total of 125 anti-
Semitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling, graffiti 
or defacement, threatening letters, anti-Semitic Internet postings, 
property damage, and vilifying letters and telephone calls.
    On November 26, a 24-year old Croatian man went on a rampage in the 
Jewish Lauder Chabad School, breaking windows, glass doors, and 
showcases with an iron rod. Police later arrested him.
    The European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia 
declared that anti-Semitism in the country was characterized by diffuse 
and traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes rather than by acts of 
physical aggression.
    The law prohibits any form of neo-Nazism or anti-Semitism or any 
activity in the spirit of Nazism. It also prohibits public denial, 
belittlement, approval, or justification of Nazi crimes, including the 
Holocaust. The law prohibits public incitement to hostile acts, insult, 
contempt against a church or religious society, or public incitement 
against a group based on race, nationality, or ethnicity, if that 
incitement poses a danger to public order. The Government strictly 
enforced the law against neo-Nazi activity. The Vienna Jewish 
community's offices and other Jewish community institutions in the 
country, such as schools and museums, were under police protection.
    On February 20, the Vienna regional court convicted British 
historian David Irving and sentenced him to a three years in prison on 
charges of neo-Nazi activity. In 1989 Irving reportedly denied the 
existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and claimed that unknown 
individuals dressed in Sturmabteilung uniforms committed the 
Reichskristallnacht crimes in November 1934. On August 29, the Supreme 
Court confirmed the guilty-verdict. On December 20, the Vienna court of 
second instance suspended two thirds of Irving's three-year prison 
sentence. Irving was subsequently released from prison and deported to 
Great Britain.
    On April 26, the Vienna Criminal Court convicted John Gudenus, a 
former Freedom Party member of the Upper House of Parliament, to a one-
year suspended sentence for violating the law banning neo-Nazi 
activity. In public interviews in 2005, Gudenus had questioned the 
existence of gas chambers and belittled the suffering of concentration 
camp inmates during the Holocaust.
    Secondary school history and civics courses discussed the 
Holocaust. Religious education classes taught the tenets of different 
religions and fostered overall tolerance. The education ministry 
offered special teacher training seminars on the subject of Holocaust 
education. An education ministry program routinely invited Holocaust 
survivors to speak to classes about Nazism and the Holocaust.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits 
forced exile, and the Government did not use it in practice.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 Convention 
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum and 
subscribed to a ``safe country of transit'' policy, which required 
asylum seekers who transited a country determined to be ``safe'' to 
return to that country to seek refugee status. With the expansion of 
the European Union (EU) this concept has lost some of its importance 
because upon their accession, neighboring Slovenia, the Czech Republic, 
the Slovak Republic, and Hungary became subject to the EU provisions 
that establish criteria and mechanisms for determining the EU member 
state responsible for examining an asylum application. In 2005 new 
legislation introduced stricter detention and removal policies as part 
of a stronger enforcement of the 2003 Dublin II regulation (also 
referred to as the Dublin Convention) which discourages asylum shopping 
by allowing serial asylum-seekers to be returned to the EU country 
where they first applied for asylum. EURODAC, the EU's system for 
comparing fingerprints of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants, has 
facilitated the application of the Dublin Convention. As a result, 
asylum applications dropped by more than 30 percent during the year 
with a noticeable trend in applicants attempting to conceal their 
routes of transit.
    The Government has in the past (during the Kosovo crisis and as a 
result of hostilities in Afghanistan) also provided temporary 
protection to individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 
1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol under a mechanism whereby victims of 
armed conflict may be admitted to the country. The Government 
cooperated with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 voters elected 
President Heinz Fischer of the SPO to a six-year term in national 
elections in which individuals could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election. In 2002 the OVP received a plurality in 
parliamentary elections and renewed its right-center coalition with the 
Freedom Party (FPO). In 2005 the Alliance for the Future of Austria 
broke away from the FPO, but remained a junior partner with the OVP in 
the coalition government.
    The Federal Assembly consists of the National Council and the 
Federal Council. There were 58 women in the 183-seat National Council 
and 18 women in the 62-member Federal Council. There were five women in 
the 14-member Council of Ministers (cabinet).
    Although there appeared to be relatively little minority 
representation at the national level, no precise information on the 
number of minorities in the Federal Assembly was available.
    Some Muslims were on party lists for the elections but were not 
elected into the Federal Assembly.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for full public access to government information, 
and the Government generally respected these provisions in practice. 
Authorities can only deny access if it would violate substantial data 
protection rights or would involve information that is of national 
security interest. Petitioners could challenge denials before the 
Administrative Court.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views, but some 
groups were dissatisfied with the information supplied by authorities 
in response to specific complaints.
    The Human Rights Advisory Council, composed of representatives from 
the justice and interior ministries and NGOs, operated to ensure that 
police respected human rights while carrying out their duties. However, 
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) 
characterized the council as ineffective and unable to obtain the 
cooperation of the security services, citing that the country's 
criminal code was lacking severity in certain instances. According to 
the IHF, shoplifters were likely to receive a longer sentence than sex 
offenders.
    The 2004 equal treatment law expanded the responsibility of the 
ombudsman to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace regardless of 
ethnic origin, religion, age, or sexual orientation, and to address 
general discrimination because of ethnic origin. The law went into 
effect in 2004, and the ombudsman began its work addressing the new 
grounds in March 2005; 617 complaints on the new grounds were filed in 
2005.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law provides for protection against discrimination based on 
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, and the 
Government generally enforced these provisions effectively; however, 
violence against women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, and racial 
discrimination were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a 
problem. The Association of Houses for Battered Women estimated that 
one-fifth of the country's 1.5 million adult women have suffered from 
violence in a relationship. However, media reports estimated that fewer 
than 10 percent of abused women filed complaints. The law provides that 
police can expel abusive family members from family homes for up to 
three months. In 2005 an injunction to prevent abusive family members 
from returning home was applied in 5,618 cases.
    The Government funded privately operated intervention centers and 
help lines for victims of domestic abuse. The centers provided for the 
victims' safety, assessed the threat posed by perpetrators, helped 
victims develop plans to stop the abuse, and provided legal counseling 
and other social services.
    Under the law, rape, including spousal rape, is punishable with up 
to 15 years in prison.
    In July a new law prohibiting stalking went into effect. The law 
provides for sentences of up to one year in prison.
    Although there were no reported cases of female genital mutilation 
(FGM) in the country, the city of Vienna set up a counseling office in 
June to assist female immigrants from African countries who were 
victims of FGM. In 2005 the African Women's Organization (AFO) helped 
899 women with various problems, among them a number of FGM cases.
    Prostitution is legal; however, illegal trafficking, including for 
the purposes of prostitution, was a problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking). Laws regulating prostitution require prostitutes to 
register, undergo periodic health examinations, and pay taxes.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government effectively 
enforced those laws. Of the 4,418 cases of discrimination brought to 
the ombudsman for equal treatment of gender in 2005, 408 involved 
sexual harassment. The labor court can order employers to compensate 
victims of sexual harassment on the basis of the Federal Equality 
Commission's finding on the case; the law provides that a victim is 
entitled to a minimum of $840 (700 euros) in financial compensation.
    There are no legal restrictions on women's rights and the Federal 
Equality Commission and the ombudsman for equal treatment of gender 
oversee laws prescribing equal treatment of men and women. However, on 
average, women earned 83 percent of what men earned for the same work. 
Women were more likely than men to hold temporary positions and part-
time jobs and also were disproportionately represented among those 
unemployed for extended periods.
    Although labor laws provide for equal treatment of women in the 
civil service, women remained underrepresented. The law requires the 
Government to hire women of equivalent qualifications ahead of men in 
all civil service areas in which less than 40 percent of the employees 
are women, including police. There are no penalties, however, for 
agencies that fail to attain the 40 percent target.
    Female employees in the private sector may invoke equality laws 
prohibiting discrimination against women. On the basis of the Federal 
Equality Commission's findings, labor courts may award compensation of 
up to four months' salary to women who experienced discrimination in 
promotion because of their gender. The courts may also order 
compensation for women who were denied a post despite having equal 
qualifications.

    Children.--The law provides for the protection of children's 
rights, and the Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare. Each state government and the federal Ministry for Social 
Welfare, Generations, and Consumer Protection has an ombudsman for 
children and adolescents whose main function is to resolve complaints 
about violations of children's rights. The ombudsman provides free 
legal counseling to children, adolescents, and parents on a wide range 
of problems, including child abuse, child custody, and domestic 
violence.
    Nine years of education is mandatory for all children beginning at 
age six. The Government also provided free education through secondary 
school and subsidized technical, vocational, or university education. 
According to the Ministry of Education, 99.8 percent of children 
between the ages of six and 15 attended school. The Government provided 
comprehensive medical care for children.
    Child abuse was a problem, and the Government continued its efforts 
to monitor abuse and prosecute offenders. The Ministry for Social 
Welfare, Generations, and Consumer Protection estimated that 90 percent 
of child abuse cases occurred within families or was committed by close 
family members or family friends. Law enforcement officials noted a 
growing readiness to report abuse cases. According to authorities, 
approximately 20,000 abuse incidents are reported annually in the 
country.
    In a child abduction case that attracted international media 
attention, 18-year-old Natascha Kampusch escaped her abductor in 
September after eight years in captivity; Wolfgang Priklopil, the 
suspect in the case, subsequently committed suicide.
    There were occasional cases of suspected child marriage, primarily 
in the Muslim and Romani communities. However, such cases were 
undocumented. Some male immigrants entered into a marriage with a 
teenage girl in their home country, and then returned to the country 
with her.
    The law provides that adults having sexual intercourse with a child 
under 14 may be punished with a prison sentence of up to 10 years. If 
the victim is impregnated, the sentence may be extended to 15 years. In 
2005 the Interior Ministry reported 1,314 cases of child abuse, most 
involving intercourse with a minor, while the Justice Ministry reported 
322 convictions. The law provides for criminal punishment for the 
possession, trading, and private viewing of child pornography. 
Exchanging pornographic videos of children is illegal.
    Trafficking of children remained a problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and 
within the country. Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and 
domestic service, and children were trafficked for begging and possibly 
for sexual exploitation.
    The law provides for the prosecution of traffickers and addresses 
trafficking for prostitution through deception, coercion, or the use of 
force; for the purposes of slavery; for the exploitation of labor; and 
the exploitation of aliens.
    Trafficking is illegal and punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 
years. In 2005 there were 168 trafficking cases involving 109 suspects 
and 25 convictions for human trafficking. Trafficking for purposes of 
slavery is punishable by imprisonment for 10-20 years. The perpetrators 
of human trafficking included both citizens, who were generally 
connected with licensed brothels, and foreign nationals, who are 
involved primarily with unlicensed brothels. Authorities estimated that 
organized crime groups from Eastern Europe controlled a large portion 
of human trafficking in the country. The police were also aware of 
cooperation between Austrian and foreign citizens in organizing the 
transfer of foreign prostitutes through the country.
    The Interior Ministry's Federal Bureau for Criminal Affairs has a 
division dedicated to combating human trafficking. Law enforcement 
officials maintained contact with authorities in countries of origin to 
facilitate the prosecution of suspected traffickers. During the year 
there were no reports that the Government extradited any persons wanted 
for trafficking crimes in other countries.
    In January the Government eliminated a ``dancer'' visa that had 
been used to traffic women into the country.
    The country was a transit and destination point for women 
trafficked from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, the Balkans, and, to a 
lesser extent, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, 
Belarus, and Africa. Victims were trafficked through the country to 
Spain, Italy, and France. Women were trafficked into the country 
primarily for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that there were 
approximately 7,000 foreign trafficking victims in Vienna alone. Women 
also were trafficked from Asia and Latin America for domestic labor. In 
2005, following extensive efforts by the Government in cooperation with 
Bulgarian authorities, police noted a decrease in the trafficking of 
Bulgarian children for the purposes of begging and stealing, and 
sometimes sexual exploitation.
    While there were no accurate statistics on the number of 
trafficking victims, the NGO Lateinamerikanische Frauen in Oesterreich-
Interventionsstelle fuer Betroffene des Frauenhandels reported 
assisting 151 trafficking victims in 2005, down from 167 victims in 
2004. Both citizens and foreigners were engaged in trafficking. The 
country was attractive to traffickers because of its geographic 
location and because it does not require entry visas for citizens of 
the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania, and 
Bulgaria.
    Most trafficked women were brought to the country with promises of 
unskilled jobs, such as nannies or waitresses. Upon arrival they were 
often coerced into prostitution. According to police, there also were 
cases of women who knowingly entered the country to work as 
prostitutes, but were forced into dependency akin to slavery. Most 
victims were in the country illegally and feared being turned into 
authorities and deported. Traffickers usually retained victims' 
official documents, including passports, to maintain control over them. 
Trafficking victims reported being subjected to threats and physical 
violence. A major deterrent to victim cooperation was widespread fear 
of retribution, both in the country and in the victims' countries of 
origin.
    The Government provided temporary residence, limited to the 
duration of the trial, to trafficking victims who were prepared to 
testify or who intended to file civil law suits. However, victims 
rarely agreed to testify due to fear of retribution. Victims have the 
possibility of continued residence if they meet the criteria for 
residence permits.
    LEFOE provided secure housing and other support for trafficking 
victims. The IOM also sought to put victims in contact with NGOs in 
their countries of origin upon their return. With financial assistance 
from the interior ministry, LEFOE continued to operate a center in 
Vienna that provided psychological, legal, and health-related 
assistance, emergency housing, and German language courses to 
trafficked women. Federal and local governments funded NGOs that 
provided assistance in other cities.
    The Government worked with international organizations to carry out 
prevention programs throughout the region. The Government funded 
research on trafficking and NGOs produced antitrafficking brochures, 
law enforcement workshops, and international conferences funded with 
the help of private donors.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law protects persons with physical 
and mental disabilities from discrimination in housing, education, 
employment, and access to health care and other government services, 
and the Government generally enforced these provisions effectively. 
There were no reports of societal discrimination against persons with 
disabilities.
    Federal law mandates access to public buildings for persons with 
physical disabilities; however, many public buildings were inaccessible 
to persons with disabilities due to insufficient enforcement of the law 
and low penalties for noncompliance.
    The law provides for involuntary sterilization of adults with 
mental disabilities in cases where a pregnancy would be considered 
life-threatening. However, no involuntary sterilizations have been 
performed in recent years. The law prohibits the sterilization of 
minors.
    The Government funded a wide range of programs for persons with 
disabilities, including provision of transportation, assistance 
integrating school children with disabilities into regular classes, and 
assistance integrating employees with disabilities into the workplace.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In 2005 the Ministry of 
Interior recorded 209 incidents of neo-Nazi, rightwing extremist, and 
xenophobic incidents against members of minority groups. The Government 
continued to express concern over the activities of extreme right-wing 
skinhead and neo-Nazi groups, many with links to organizations in other 
countries.
    A 2005 report by the domestic NGO Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus 
Arbeit, in conjunction with other groups, found that persons from 
diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds faced increasing discrimination 
from government officials, particularly the police, as well as in the 
workplace and in housing. The report cited 1,105 cases of alleged 
racial discrimination in 2005. The Government continued training 
programs to combat racism and educate the police in cultural 
sensitivity. In September the Ministry of Interior renewed an agreement 
with the Anti-Defamation League to teach police officers cultural 
sensitivity, religious tolerance, and the acceptance of minorities.
    Human rights groups reported that Roma faced discrimination in 
employment and housing. The situation of the Romani community, 
estimated at over 6,200 autochthonous (indigenous) and 15,000 to 20,000 
non-autochthonous Roma, has significantly improved in recent years, 
according to the head of the Austrian Roma Cultural Association. 
Government programs, including providing financing for tutors, have 
helped school age Romani children move out of ``special needs'' and 
into mainstream classes. The Government also initiated programs in 
recent years to compensate Romani Holocaust victims and to document the 
suffering of the Roma during the Holocaust.
    NGOs complained that Africans living in the country experienced 
verbal harassment in public. In some cases, black Africans were 
stigmatized as being involved in the drug trade and other illegal 
activities.
    According to the IHF, the issue regarding full recognition of 
Slovenes remained problematic. For example, the governor of the 
province of Carinthia refused to implement rulings by higher courts 
that gave certain rights to the Slovene minority.
    The law recognizes Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Roma, Slovaks, and 
Slovenes as national minority groups and requires any community, where 
at least 25 percent of the population belongs to one of these groups, 
to provide bilingual town signs, education, media, and access to 
federal funds earmarked for such minorities. The law affects 148 
communities. At year's end the Government had not reached a decision on 
implementation of a 2001 Constitutional Court ruling on lowering the 25 
percent threshold. The law does not provide these rights to other 
minority groups, such as Turks, which the Government does not recognize 
as indigenous minorities. However, the Government provided a wide range 
of language and job promotion courses. In December the Constitutional 
Court ruled that the state of Carinthia must install additional 
bilingual town signs in German and Slovene.
    According to the IHF, the criminalization of homosexuality 
continued to be an issue. A majority in parliament has not supported 
calls by the Green Party for the legalization of gay marriages.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to 
form and join unions without prior authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. No workers 
were prohibited from joining unions. An estimated 47 percent of the 
work force was organized into 13 national unions belonging to the 
Austrian Trade Union Federation (OGB).

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is 
protected in law and was freely practiced. Approximately 80 percent of 
the workforce was under a collective bargaining agreement; the OGB was 
exclusively responsible for collective bargaining. The law does not 
explicitly provide for the right to strike; however, the Government 
recognized the right in practice. The law prohibits retaliation against 
strikers, and the Government effectively enforced the law.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace, and the Government generally enforced these laws and 
policies effectively. The minimum legal working age is 15 years. The 
Labor Inspectorate of the Ministry of Social Affairs effectively 
enforced this law.
    There were reports of trafficking of children for begging and 
sexual exploitation (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legislated national 
minimum wage. Instead, nationwide collective bargaining agreements set 
minimum wages by job classification for each industry. The accepted 
unofficial annual minimum wage is $14,880 to $17,360 (12,000 to 14,000 
euros), and it provided a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 workers had salaries below this 
level.
    The law limits standard working hours to eight hours per day and up 
to 40 hours per week. The standard workday may be extended to 10 hours 
as long as the weekly maximum is not exceeded. The law requires 
compulsory time off on weekends and official holidays. An employee must 
have at least 11 hours off between workdays. Authorities effectively 
enforce these provisions.
    The law limits overtime to five hours per week plus up to 60 hours 
per year; however, authorities did not enforce these laws and 
regulations effectively, and some employers exceeded legal limits on 
compulsory overtime. Collective bargaining agreements may provide for 
higher limits.
    The Labor Inspectorate regularly enforces laws that provide for 
mandatory occupational health and safety standards. Workers may file 
complaints anonymously with the Labor Inspectorate, which may bring 
suit against the employer on behalf of the employee. However, workers 
rarely exercised this option and normally relied instead on the 
chambers of labor, which filed suits on their behalf. The law provides 
that workers have the right to remove themselves from a job if they 
fear serious, immediate danger to life and health without incurring any 
prejudice to their job or career, and the Government effectively 
enforced this law.

                               __________

                               AZERBAIJAN

    Azerbaijan is a republic of approximately 7.9 million persons with 
a Presidential form of government. The President dominated the 
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Ilham 
Aliyev, the son of former President Heydar Aliyev, was elected 
President in 2003 in a ballot that did not meet international standards 
for a democratic election due to numerous, serious irregularities. 
November 2005 parliamentary elections, including rerun elections in ten 
constituencies in May, showed an improvement in some areas but did not 
meet a number of international standards. Armenian forces controlled 
most of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as large portions of adjacent 
Azerbaijani territory. The Government did not exercise any control over 
developments in territories occupied by Armenian forces. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces. Members of the security forces committed numerous human rights 
abuses.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it 
continued to commit numerous abuses. The public's right to peacefully 
change the national legislature was restricted in the November 2005 
parliamentary elections, although there were some improvements in the 
period leading up to the elections and in the May 13 parliamentary 
election reruns that took place in ten parliamentary constituencies. 
Torture and beating of persons in police custody resulted in three 
deaths, and police officials acted with impunity. Prison conditions--
despite improvements in infrastructure--were generally harsh and life 
threatening. Arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of 
individuals considered by the Government to be political opponents, and 
lengthy pretrial detention continued. The Government continued to 
imprison persons for politically motivated reasons. Pervasive 
corruption in the judiciary and in law enforcement continued. 
Restrictions on media freedom, freedom of assembly, and political 
participation worsened.
    During the year, the Government took several important steps to 
combat human trafficking, including establishing a shelter for victims 
of trafficking, and separating the antitrafficking special police unit 
from the organized crime unit.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
human rights monitors reported three prisoners died in police custody 
due to alleged abuse and mistreatment.
    On April 3, Namik Mammadov died in police custody at the Khizi 
regional police department. Domestic human rights activists reported 
that police beat and tortured him during questioning in order to coerce 
a confession. Police officials initially alleged that Mammadov died of 
a heart attack. However, photographic evidence of torture resulted in 
the state prosecutor opening a criminal investigation into Mammadov's 
death. Following the investigation, officials asserted the death was a 
suicide.
    On July 25, Rasim Alishov died while in the custody of the 
Mingechevir city police; human rights activists reported that Alishov 
was beaten and tortured to death. In response the interior minister 
dismissed the head of the investigations department of the Mingechevir 
police and a member of the investigations staff and reprimanded three 
other Mingechevir officers in August.
    On September 16, Yuri Safaraliyev was found dead in a Gobustan 
prison bathroom. The Government attributed Safaraliyev's death to 
suicide.
    On August 29, Alihuseyn Shaliyev, a former ministry of economic 
development official in pretrial detention, was found dead at a 
Ministry of Justice hospital. Shaliyev had been arrested in October 
2005 in connection with an alleged coup plot (see section 1.d.). A 
ministry investigation concluded that Shaliyev committed suicide by 
repeatedly slashing himself with a razor blade, an assessment with 
which human rights monitors concurred.
    The authorities did not prosecute law enforcement officials 
implicated in the 2005 deaths of Nikolay Nikolashvili, Elchin 
Shahmaliyev, Elhman Ibrahimov, and Mahir Suleymanov because the 
Government attributed these deaths to suicide.
    In March 2005 the ministry of national security arrested a senior 
Ministry of Internal Affairs official, Haji Mammadov, for ordering the 
kidnapping of 11 persons and killing of three persons since 1995 as the 
head of a criminal kidnapping, murder, and extortion ring within the 
ministry of internal affairs (see section 1.b.). Mammadov's trial began 
in June, received widespread publicity, and continued at year's end.
    In 2005 unknown persons killed journalist Elmar Huseynov (see 
section 2.a.).
    Human rights activists reported that Orkhan Nasibov, an army 
soldier, died on July 23 as a result of military hazing. It was not 
known whether military officials were investigated in connection with 
this allegation.
    Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-
Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. During the 
year, incidents along the militarized line of contact separating the 
sides as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict again resulted in 
numerous casualties on both sides. Reporting from unofficial sources 
indicated approximately 20 killed and 44 wounded, taking into account 
both military and civilian casualties on both sides of the line of 
contact.
    According to the national agency for mine actions, landmines killed 
two persons and injured 15 others during the year.

    b. Disappearance.--During the year there were at least two reports 
of politically motivated kidnappings. On March 6 unknown assailants 
kidnapped opposition newspaper journalist Fikret Huseynli and on 
September 30 the father of Eynulla Fatullayev, founder of Azerbaijan's 
most widely read weekly newsmagazine (see section 2.a.).
    In March 2005 the wife of the chairman of the International Bank of 
Azerbaijan was kidnapped. A ministry of national security investigation 
uncovered a kidnapping and extortion ring responsible for the woman's 
kidnapping, as well as multiple killings over a 10-year period directed 
from within the ministry of internal affairs. A ministry of national 
security special forces unit raid rescued the woman (see section 1.a.).
    The prosecutor general prosecuted one senior ministry of internal 
affairs officer, Lieutenant Colonel Haji Mammadov, chief of the 
ministry's criminal investigation division, who confessed to the March 
kidnapping and also to the abduction of 11 persons since 1995. The 
ministry of national security arrested 12 persons for their involvement 
in the ring, including two Chechen citizens. The minister of internal 
affairs, who remained in office, dismissed three other senior ministry 
officials including the Deputy Minister for Law Enforcement Zahid 
Dunyamaliyev. The Ministry of Justice did not prosecute these 
officials.
    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to 
urge the Government to provide information on the fate of persons 
missing in action since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; 
during the year the number of those confirmed missing increased from 
3,400 to 4,176. The Government estimated that approximately 4,850 
citizens remained missing, allegedly held by Armenia. During the year 
the ICRC facilitated the transfer and repatriation of six persons 
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices and 
provide for penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment; however, there 
were credible reports that security forces beat detainees to extract 
confessions. Despite defendants' claims that testimony was obtained 
through torture or abuse, no cases involving such claims were 
dismissed. A domestic human rights monitor reported that security 
forces tortured between 40 and 50 persons while in custody. For 
example, according to the monitor, police in a Mingechevir police 
station tied up a detainee and beat him unconscious. Impunity remained 
a problem.
    In November 2005 the media reported that officers of the ministry 
of internal affairs organized crime unit repeatedly gave electric 
shocks to opposition Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) deputy chairman 
and former political prisoner Natik Efendiyev while in detention (see 
section 1.d.). Following widespread attention from press, local 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international observers, the 
ministry transferred Efendiyev from the organized crime unit to a local 
prison where he received medical treatment. In September he was 
sentenced to five years in prison (see section 1.e.).
    According to the ministry of internal affairs, authorities punished 
104 officers for human rights abuses. However, the ministry did not 
state whether the Government criminally charged any police officers for 
these violations. The ministry reported that it dismissed 28 law 
enforcement officers for misconduct during the year.
    During the year the Government did not punish interior ministry 
officials for police abuse, misconduct, and the excessive use of force 
at a November 2005 peaceful opposition demonstration nor was any action 
expected. Viliyat Eyvazov, one of the senior officers allegedly 
involved in police abuse and misconduct in the aftermath of the 2003 
Presidential election, continued to serve as deputy minister of 
internal affairs following his 2005 promotion.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and life threatening despite continuing prison infrastructure 
improvements.
    Overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, and poor medical care combined 
to make the spread of infectious diseases a serious problem. Despite 
recent improvements to prison infrastructure, prisons, generally 
Soviet-era facilities, did not meet international standards. In 
maximum-security facilities, authorities limited physical exercise for 
prisoners as well as visits by attorneys and family members. Some 
pretrial detainees were reportedly held in ``separation cells,'' often 
located in basements, to conceal evidence of physical abuse and where 
food and sleep reportedly were denied to elicit confessions.
    According to the Justice Ministry, three new detention facilities, 
built to meet international standards, were under construction in the 
regions of Sheki, Lenkoran and Nakchivan. The Government increased 
financing for prison renovations threefold during the year and 
completed renovations at 16 facilities.
    Harsh prison conditions resulted in numerous deaths during the 
year; the total number of prison deaths was not available from the 
Justice Ministry at year's end. Credible reports indicated that at 
least three deaths in police detention facilities were the result of 
torture or abuse (see section 1.a.). Tuberculosis (TB) remained the 
primary cause of death in prisons; the Government reported 633 convicts 
received treatment for TB. The ICRC reported the Government treated 674 
prisoners for TB during the year; due to the absence of systematic 
medical screening, such treatment often started after prisoners were 
seriously ill.
    The ICRC reported that 53 inmates died of the disease during the 
year. In October the Justice Ministry launched an expanded TB treatment 
program in its detention facilities. Many relied on their families for 
medicine and food, who often paid bribes to prison officials to gain 
access to imprisoned relatives. The Government said that it received no 
complaints of corruption within the prison system.
    In September a reconstituted joint government-human rights 
community prison-monitoring group began functioning, although it was 
not very active during the last three months of the year. The 
Government had disbanded the monitoring group following the February 
2005 dismissal of the deputy minister of justice for prisons on 
allegations of accepting bribes for awarding prison renovation 
contracts, and it officially reestablished the group in August 2005.
    The Government permitted prison visits by international and local 
humanitarian and human rights groups. The ICRC also had unobstructed 
access to prisoners of war and to civilians held in connection with the 
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. In August 2005 the Government 
authorized a select group of local human rights activists to visit 
interior ministry-run police stations and ministry pretrial detention 
facilities in addition to prisons. This access continued uninterrupted 
during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the law prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, the Government generally did not 
observe these prohibitions in practice, and impunity remained a 
problem.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The ministry of 
internal affairs and ministry of national security are responsible for 
internal security and report directly to the President. The internal 
affairs ministry oversees local police forces and maintains internal 
civil defense troops. The ministry of national security has a separate 
internal security force.
    Law enforcement corruption was a problem. Police often levied 
spurious, informal fines for traffic and other minor violations and 
extracted protection money from local residents. In 2005 and again 
during the year, traffic police officers received a substantial pay 
raise to counter corruption; nevertheless, the low wages of other law 
enforcement officials continued to contribute to police corruption. The 
ministry of internal affairs reported that during the year it punished 
45 police officers for corruption.
    Police officers acted with impunity, and in most cases the 
Government took little or no disciplinary action. During the year, 
however, the Government reported that it took action against 104 police 
officers for human rights violations, seven of whom were disciplined 
for inflicting bodily harm. The Government reported that it dismissed 
28 officers from the ministry of internal affairs police forces, 
removed six officers from their position and administratively 
disciplined 11 others. The Government did not state whether it 
criminally charged any officers for violating human rights and civil 
liberties during the year.
    During the year an international foundation continued its training 
program in human rights theory, standards, and practices for security 
officers attached to the Special State Protective Service (SSPS), a 
government agency responsible for protecting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan 
pipeline. The officers who participated in the training were recruited 
from the SSPS, state border guard, army, and police.
    During the year an international organization conducted community 
policing and crowd control training for 135 ministry of internal 
affairs police officers. In May 2005 the Justice Ministry granted 
approval for foreign governments to train law enforcement officials to 
meet international standards and the first training program began.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law states that persons who are 
detained, arrested, or accused of a crime should be advised immediately 
of their rights and reason for arrest and accorded due process of law; 
however, the Government did not respect these provisions in practice. 
Arbitrary arrest, often on spurious charges of resisting the police, 
remained a problem throughout the year.
    The law allows police to detain and question individuals for 24 
hours without a warrant; in practice police detained individuals for 
several days, sometimes weeks, without a warrant. In other instances, 
the prosecutor general issued ex post facto warrants.
    Judges, acting at the instruction of the prosecutor general's 
office or of other executive branch officials, sentenced detainees to 
jail within hours of their arrest without providing access to a lawyer.
    The law provides for access to a lawyer from the time of detention; 
in practice, access to lawyers was poor, particularly outside of Baku. 
Although provided for by law, in practice indigent detainees did not 
have access to lawyers. Authorities often restricted family member 
visits and withheld information about detainees; frequently days passed 
before families could obtain any information about detained relatives. 
Individuals were sometimes permitted to ``vouch'' for detainees, 
enabling their conditional release during pretrial investigation; 
however, there was no formal, functioning bail system. At times 
politically sensitive suspects were held incommunicado for several 
hours and sometimes days while in police custody.
    On October 11, immigration inspectors at Baku's international 
airport detained opposition youth activist and media freedom advocate 
Emin Huseynov on his arrival from Turkey, releasing him after five 
hours. Huseynov, who featured prominently in a BBC television 
documentary about the country's 2005 parliamentary elections, 
complained that authorities also subjected his family to harassment.
    On October 18, police detained overnight Ali Ismayilov, the leader 
of the youth group Yox. The detention prevented Ismayilov's 
participation in an unauthorized rally in Baku's city center on October 
19 (see section 2.b.).
    On November 23, police officers detained 40 to 50 opposition party 
members attempting to hold an unsanctioned protest in front of the Baku 
mayor's office. Observers reported that police detained at least three 
opposition members before the protest began as they exited a local 
metro station. Immediately following their arrest, a Baku court fined 
some of the detainees and sentenced 16 others to detention for between 
two and 15 days. Credible reports indicated that the court proceedings 
failed to meet minimum standards for due process. For example, the 
detainees did not have access to legal counsel during the hearing and 
were not formally arraigned on a specific charge. Witnesses report that 
some of the detainees received their sentences while waiting in the 
police bus outside of the courtroom. All of the detainees were released 
at the end of their respective detention periods.
    In the run-up to the 2005 parliamentary elections, ministry of 
internal affairs police officers preemptively detained members of the 
political opposition to prevent their participation in planned but 
unsanctioned political rallies, on grounds that they were suspected of 
planning to incite civil unrest. Within hours of the detentions, judges 
sentenced the individuals to jail on those grounds. Between June 4, 
when the Government partially restored freedom of assembly, and 
November 6, election day, the Government detained and sentenced 50 
persons for attempting to participate in unauthorized rallies.
    Lengthy pretrial detention of up to 18 months was a serious 
problem. The prosecutor general routinely extended the permitted, 
initial three-month pretrial detention period in successive increments 
of several months until the Government completed an investigation.
    In October 2005 security forces arrested approximately 300 
opposition party activists, including up to 20 parliamentary 
candidates, in connection with the anticipated return to Baku of exiled 
ADP leader Rasul Guliyev. Shortly thereafter in October the ministry of 
national security arrested Presidential aide Akif Muradverdiyev, 
Minister of Health Ali Insanov, Minister of Economic Development Farhad 
Aliyev, former finance minister Fikrat Yusifov, business leaders Fikrat 
Sadigov and Rafiq Aliyev, and others, including Ministry of Economic 
Development official Alihuseyn Shaliyev (see section 1.a.), for 
allegedly attempting to foment a coup d'etat in connection with 
Guliyev's failed October return. As of year's end, authorities had not 
presented any evidence to substantiate this charge and eight persons 
remained in pretrial detention. The law permits individuals charged 
with fomenting a coup to be held in pretrial detention for up to 18 
months if the prosecutor general's office states to a court that 
continued detention is justified for the investigation; this period 
would expire in April 2007. The trial of Natik Efendiyev, an ADP deputy 
chairman charged with aiding and abetting the coup plot, occurred in 
September (see sections 1.e. and 1.c.).
    In November 2005 government agents arrested prominent academic and 
Guliyev friend Eldar Salayev for allegedly planning to carry out the 
coup. The national security ministry released Salayev from detention in 
2005 on account of his age and poor health, although the charges 
against him continued to stand.
    In November 2005 several progovernment television channels 
broadcast a videotape of ministry of national security detainees 
Yusifov, Insanov, Muradverdiyev, and Sadigov testifying to their role 
in the plot to overthrow the Government. Yusifov, a former finance 
minister whose testimony dominated the broadcast, described himself as 
the financial middleman in exiled opposition leader Guliyev's network 
of support within the Government and business community. Yusifov 
confessed that Aliyev, Insanov, Sadigov, and others gave him money, 
which he turned over to Salayev, who was tasked with financing the 
opposition's activities. In November 2005 authorities released Fikrat 
Sadiqov, former head of a state-owned chemical company, on the 
condition he notify police before traveling outside of Baku.
    NGOs and lawyers for several of the accused reported that some of 
the detainees did not have access to appropriate medical care. They 
also said that the Government denied the detainees' due process rights, 
inappropriately prolonged the pretrial detention period, and denied 
some detainees the right to visits by their families. Some NGOs 
considered the case of the alleged coup plotters to be politically 
motivated.
    The police arrested and detained members of certain religious 
groups, generally evangelical Christian denominations (see section 
2.c.).

    Amnesty.--During the year President Aliyev pardoned 199 prisoners, 
including eight persons whom local human rights activists considered 
political prisoners. Aliyev's October 24 decree included two 
journalists imprisoned in August on libel charges.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an 
independent judiciary, in practice judges did not function 
independently of the executive branch. The judiciary was corrupt and 
inefficient.
    The executive branch exerts a strong influence over the judiciary. 
The President appoints Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges 
(subject to parliamentary confirmation) and lower court judges (without 
parliamentary confirmation).
    Judges' salaries steadily increased over several years; 
nevertheless, there continued to be credible allegations that judges 
routinely accepted bribes. There were also credible reports that judges 
and prosecutors took instruction from the Presidential administration 
and the Justice Ministry, particularly in cases of interest to 
international observers.
    Courts of general jurisdiction may hear criminal, civil, and 
juvenile cases. District courts try the majority of cases. The Supreme 
Court may not act as the court of first instance. One judge presides 
over district court-level trials, while a three-judge panel hears cases 
at the Court of Appeals, the Court of Grave Crimes, and the Supreme 
Court. The constitution provides all citizens with the right to appeal 
to the Constitutional Court. Citizens also have the right to appeal to 
the European Court of Human Rights, and they exercised this right 
frequently.
    On October 2005 the Justice Ministry for the first time granted 
approval to an international NGO to train judges on compliance with 
election law. This judicial training program continued throughout the 
year.
    In January the Government conducted judicial recruitment 
examinations for the purpose of selecting qualified judges to fill 
vacancies in the judiciary. International observers reported that the 
examinations complied with international standards, resulting in the 
selection of 55 new judges. At the end of the year, all 55 candidates 
were awaiting Presidential appointments to the judiciary. The 
Government began a second round of judicial selection examinations in 
October that continued at year's end.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for public trials except in 
cases involving state, commercial, or professional secrets or matters 
involving confidential, personal, or family matters. The law provides 
for the presumption of innocence in criminal cases, the right to review 
evidence, a defendant's rights to confront witnesses and present 
evidence at trial, a court-approved attorney for indigent defendants, 
and appeal for both defendants and prosecutors--provisions not 
generally respected in practice.
    Plans to begin jury trials were not implemented. Foreign and 
domestic observers usually were allowed to attend trials. Although the 
constitution prescribes equal status for prosecutors and defense 
attorneys, in practice prosecutors' privileges and rights outweighed 
those of the defense. Judges reserved the right to remove defense 
lawyers in civil cases for ``good cause.'' In criminal proceedings 
judges may remove defense lawyers for conflict of interest or if a 
defendant requests a change of counsel.
    The law limits representation in criminal cases to members of a 
government-controlled collegium of lawyers (bar association), thereby 
restricting the public's access to legal representation of choice. The 
collegium reserves the right to remove lawyers from criminal cases and 
sometimes did so for reasons that observers believed were questionable. 
The law allows all licensed lawyers to join the collegium 
automatically. However, some provisions in the law left open the 
possibility that the collegium could refuse a fully qualified lawyer 
for failing to meet other, unspecified requirements. In 2005 the 
collegium admitted nine of 231 licensed lawyers entitled to automatic 
admission to the association. During the year the collegium did not 
admit any licensed lawyers to the organization. In June the collegium 
announced plans to hold a bar examination to admit additional lawyers 
to the collegium, but did not hold the examinations during the year.
    The constitution prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence; 
however, despite some defendants' claims that testimony was obtained 
through torture or abuse, no cases based on claims of abuse were 
dismissed, and there was no independent forensic investigator to 
determine the occurrence of abuse (see section 1.c.). Investigations 
often focused on obtaining confessions rather than gathering physical 
evidence against suspects. Serious crimes brought before the courts 
were likely to end in conviction, as judges generally required only a 
minimal level of proof and collaborated closely with prosecutors. In 
the rare instance when a judge determined the evidence presented was 
not sufficient to convict a defendant, judges could and did return 
cases to the prosecutor for additional investigation, in effect giving 
the prosecution a ``second chance'' for a conviction.
    On September 6, Natik Efendiyev was tried on charges of stockpiling 
weapons in connection with an alleged October 2005 coup plot (see 
section 1.d.). After a two-day trial, Efendiyev was sentenced to five 
years in prison. No domestic or international human rights monitors 
were present at the trial because of its sudden occurrence and remote 
location. An appellate court upheld the conviction in November. 
Efendiyev reportedly was tortured in pretrial detention (see section 
1.c.). Some NGOs considered the imprisonment of Natik Efendiyev to be 
politically motivated.
    In September Musavat party member Pirali Orujev, arrested in June 
2005, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for allegedly 
conspiring to kill two progovernment figures. Some NGOs raised concerns 
about the fairness of his trial and considered his imprisonment to be 
politically motivated.
    On November 23, a Baku court sentenced 27 opposition members to 
jail for periods of up to two weeks for participating in an 
unauthorized protest outside of the Baku mayor's office earlier that 
day (see section 1.b.). Similarly, in the period preceding the November 
2005 parliamentary elections, judges often sentenced to jail opposition 
members arrested for participating in unauthorized political rallies 
within hours of their detention and without a fair trial.
    The country also has a military court system with civilian judges. 
The military court retains original jurisdiction over any case in which 
``crimes against the state'' are adjudicated.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Local NGOs maintained that the 
Government continued to hold political prisoners, although estimates of 
the number varied. NGO activists maintained that the Government held 
approximately 51 political prisoners. As was the case in 2005, at 
year's end three political prisoners arrested in connection with the 
2003 Presidential election and listed in the Council of Europe's 
experts report remained incarcerated: Elchin Amiraslanov, Safa Poladov, 
and Arif Kazimov.
    From April 5 to July 12 the trial of Ruslan Bashirli, Said Nuriyev, 
and Ramin Tagiyev, activists from the opposition youth group Yeni Fikir 
took place in the Court of Grave Crimes. In August 2005 the Government 
arrested the activists and charged them with treason in the period 
leading up to the 2005 parliamentary elections. In a widely broadcast 
videotape shown by state-operated AzTV in 2005, Bashirli was shown 
taking money from and conspiring with Georgian and alleged Armenian 
citizens to foment revolution in the country. International and 
domestic observers doubted the credibility of the evidence against the 
three activists and suspected a case of entrapment to intimidate and 
embarrass the opposition.
    Authorities asserted that national security justified closure of 
the Yeni Fikir trial to outside observers during its first three weeks. 
After the trial was opened to observers, diplomatic representatives 
attended the proceedings and reported that the trial did not meet 
minimum international standards for due process. The defendants were 
repeatedly denied access to the evidence presented against them, the 
cross-examination of witnesses was restricted, and the judge, Tofiq 
Pashayev, often convened hearings for less than an hour before 
adjourning the court proceeding for several weeks. As a result, 
domestic and international observers considered the imprisonment of 
Bashirli, Nuriyev, and Tagiyev to be politically motivated.
    On July 13, the court sentenced Bashirli to five years in prison, 
Tagiyev to four years in prison, and Nuriyev to a suspended three-year 
sentence because of a pre-existing health condition. On September 28, 
an appeals court upheld the lower court's verdict but reduced Tagiyev's 
sentence to three years.
    Domestic and international observers considered the imprisonment of 
prominent political satirist Mirza Zahidov to be politically motivated 
(see section 2.a.).
    Some NGOs considered several other cases involving prisoners or 
detainees to be politically motivated (see sections 1.d. and 1.e., 
Trial Procedures).
    There were no reliable estimates of the number of political 
detainees. Most political detainees received sentences of between 10 
and 15 days in jail, often described as ``administrative detention'' 
sentences (see sections 1.e., Trial Procedures, and 2.b.).
    The Government generally permitted unrestricted access to political 
prisoners by international humanitarian organizations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary invasions of privacy and 
monitoring of correspondence and other private communications; in 
practice the Government restricted privacy rights.
    The constitution allows for searches of residences only with a 
court order or in cases specifically provided by law; however, 
authorities often conducted searches without warrants. It was widely 
believed that the ministry of national security and ministry of 
internal affairs monitored telephone and Internet communications, 
particularly those of foreigners and prominent political and business 
figures.
    Police continued to intimidate and harass family members of 
suspected criminals. Human rights monitors reported that officials 
denied family members the right to visit those detained in connection 
with an alleged coup plot (see section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press and specifically prohibits press censorship; 
however, the Government often did not respect these rights in practice. 
On October 11, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
(OSCE) representative on freedom of the media visited the country in 
response to growing concern about the deterioration of media freedom. 
The representative criticized the general decline in media freedom 
during the year. He urged the President to pardon journalists convicted 
of libel, to remove libel from the criminal code, and to thoroughly 
investigate and prosecute physical assaults of journalists.
    A large number of opposition and independent media outlets operated 
during the year. The print media expressed a wide variety of views on 
government policies. However, most broadcast media adhered to a 
progovernment line in their news coverage.
    There were several pro-opposition newspapers and magazines, and a 
few independent newspapers and magazines. There were 17 television and 
12 radio stations. There also were several national state newspapers 
and numerous newspapers funded by city or district level officials. In 
contrast to progovernment newspapers, the distribution of many 
opposition newspapers was limited to the capital, and their circulation 
was low. During the year many opposition and government-run newspapers 
reduced circulation, and several, including prominent opposition 
newspaper Yeni Musavat, reduced frequency. Moderate independent 
newspapers Echo and Zerkalo, however, maintained their circulation.
    Some private television channels broadcast the views of both 
government and opposition officials, but their programs were not 
available in all parts of the country. ANS TV, a popular channel 
regarded as independent, provided generally balanced news coverage. 
However, on November 24, the National Television and Radio Council 
(NTRC) ordered ANS to stop broadcasting on grounds that the channel had 
failed to comply with national media law and regulations, a charge that 
ANS disputed. Citing the appeals of prominent citizens, and of the 
human rights ombudswoman, the NTRC reversed its decision on December 11 
and allowed ANS to resume broadcasting the following day. However, 
according to the NTRC, numerous regulatory issues remained unresolved 
and at year's end, ANS had reapplied for its license in an open tender.
    There were no restrictions on systems to receive satellite 
broadcasts by foreign stations.
    Harassment and violence against individual journalists continued. 
The Media Council, an independent NGO, reported that 40 journalists 
experienced physical attack or harassment during the six-month period 
preceding the November 2005 parliamentary elections, the most recent 
period for which data was available.
    On March 5, unknown assailants kidnapped opposition newspaper 
journalist Fikret Huseynli and attacked him with a knife. No one had 
been charged or arrested in connection with the incident by year's end.
    On May 18, unknown assailants took Bahaddin Haziyev, editor in 
chief of the opposition newspaper Bizim Yol (Our Path), to a lake near 
Baku, ran his legs over with a car, and reportedly threatened to kill 
his family if he did not stop writing articles critical of the 
Government. Huseynli sustained serious injuries. Authorities had not 
charged any suspects in connection with the attack by year's end.
    On June 23, police arrested prominent political satirist Mirza 
Zahidov (also known as Mirza Sakit) on charges of narcotics trafficking 
and possession. Zahidov routinely criticized the Government and public 
officials in his writings. Human rights activists doubted the 
credibility of the charges against Zahidov and considered them to be 
politically motivated. On October 3 the Baku Court of Grave Crimes 
convicted Zahidov of drug possession but not of drug trafficking. The 
court sentenced Zahidov to three years in prison. In November, a Baku 
appellate court upheld the sentence.
    On October 3, the Russian language weekly newsmagazine Realny 
Azerbaijan and its Azerbaijani-language sister publication Gundelik 
Azerbaijan abruptly ceased publication. Credible human rights monitors 
said that unknown assailants kidnapped the father of the publications' 
founder and editor in chief, Eynulla Fatullayev, and held him for three 
days. Fatullayev's father was released reportedly after Fatullayev 
agreed to cease publishing both titles on October 3. Fatullayev had 
started Realny Azerbaijan in May 2005 after having worked at The 
Monitor, which ceased publication following the killing of its founder 
and editor. In 2004 unknown assailants had physically attacked 
Fatullayev. Fatullayev resumed the publication of Realny Azerbaijan in 
December.
    On November 24, the Baku Economic Court ordered the eviction of the 
opposition Popular Front Party (PFP), the opposition-affiliated 
newspapers Azadliq and Bizim Yol, and the independent Turan News Agency 
from their headquarters in central Baku. The court ruled that the PFP 
and the affected media organizations were occupying a building 
illegally leased to them by the Baku mayor's office in 1992. Officials 
began implementing the eviction order immediately after the verdict. 
Officials gave the building tenants until 11:00 a.m. on November 25 to 
remove their belongings and instructed the building's tenants to 
relocate to properties that the Government previously offered but which 
the tenants had rejected as unacceptable due to their remote location 
and deplorable condition.
    On November 25, police officers cordoned off access to the building 
and local officials supervised hired movers who removed the tenants' 
furniture, equipment and effects to the alternate locations. However, 
police did not permit PFP workers to move the party's belongings to a 
preferred temporary office at the ADP's headquarters. The opposition 
newspapers Azadliq and Bizim Yol completed the relocation after one 
week and resumed publication. The independent Turan News Agency 
relocated to a downtown Baku facility within three days of the eviction 
and resumed its full operations within a week.
    On December 25, four unidentified assailants attacked opposition 
Azadliq newspaper journalist Nijat Huseynov near a bus stop close to 
his home. Huseynov was hospitalized and in recovery at year's end.
    There were no developments during the year in the March 2005 
killing of the founder and editor of The Monitor, Elmar Huseynov, by 
unknown assailants. The Government characterized the killing as a 
terrorist act meant to destabilize the regime and launched an 
investigation into the case. Some human rights activists described the 
killing as a warning to those critical of the Government, a suggestion 
that officials vehemently rejected. In July 2005 press reports stated 
that the Government's investigation identified two Georgian citizens, 
Tahir Khubanov and Teymuraz Aliyev, as suspects. However, Ministry of 
Internal Affairs Lieutenant Colonel Haji Mammadov asserted during his 
trial (see section 1.b.) that he had ordered the killing of Huseynov at 
the order of former minister of economic development Farhad Aliyev (see 
section 1.d.). Members of the human rights and independent media 
communities did not find this assertion credible. The Monitor ceased 
publication in April 2005.
    In contrast with 2005, there were fewer reports that police beat 
journalists covering opposition rallies or other events because 
authorities did not permit opposition political rallies during the 
year. In 2005 police officers beat some journalists and detained and 
released others covering opposition rallies connected with the 
parliamentary elections.
    A state regulatory agency, the NTRC, was responsible for issuing 
licenses and monitoring broadcasts, but it did not function 
independently of the Government and its procedures were not 
transparent. The Justice Ministry must register a corporation such as a 
television station operating company in order for it to have legal 
existence. Despite pressure from independent media outlets, the NTRC 
did not open tenders for the issuance of new broadcast licenses during 
the year.
    Throughout the year, the NTRC failed to renew the broadcast license 
of independent private broadcasting company ANS Television and Radio, 
forcing it to operate without an official license since its license 
expired in September 2005. During the year, ANS was also the subject of 
multiple official investigations, including one for alleged tax 
evasion.
    In October the NTRC notified ANS and the independent radio station, 
AntennFM Radio, that the stations' daily broadcast of Voice of America, 
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and BBC-contracted programming 
violated the national television and radio law. The NTRC asserted that 
the law prohibited foreign broadcasters from rebroadcasting programming 
on private television channels. In December the NTRC granted Voice of 
America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty their own FM radio 
frequencies and notified Voice of America that it would be able to 
resume broadcasting on state television on January 1, 2007.
    On November 24, the NTRC ordered ANS Television and Radio to stop 
broadcasting at 3:00 p.m. that day. The NTRC said that ANS had 11 
violations of the national media law and NTRC regulations. ANS disputed 
the NTRC's claim, and company officials said that ANS complied with all 
of the NTRC's regulatory orders during the year. Senior government 
officials said that ANS could resume broadcasting if and when the 
company complied with the NTRC's requirements. Citing the appeals of 
prominent citizens, the NTRC reversed its decision on December 11 and 
allowed ANS to resume broadcasting the following day. However, 
according to the NTRC, numerous regulatory issues remained unresolved 
at year's end. ANS was also required to compete in an open tender for 
its broadcast frequency, the results of which were not yet known at 
year's end.
    In September 2005 the Justice Ministry initially rejected the 
registration application of a regional television network consisting of 
local stations on the grounds that the network was sponsored by an 
international media development NGO. The network revised its 
incorporation documents to remove the international NGO from the title. 
However, the ministry did not act on the pending network registration 
application during the year.
    In the months preceding the November 2005 parliamentary elections, 
opposition politicians consistently had free, unrestricted access to 
state television airtime and paid, unrestricted access to private 
television time, although news coverage was heavily skewed in favor of 
the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. While the election code includes free 
media access requirements, the Government restricted the opposition's 
access to a state television channel during the 72-hour period 
following the attempted October 2005 return of exiled opposition leader 
Rasul Guliyev.
    Libel is a criminal offense; the law allows for large fines and up 
to three years' imprisonment. The Government intimidated and harassed 
the media, primarily through defamation suits, prohibitively high court 
fines for libel, and measures that hampered printing and distribution 
of independent newspapers and magazines. In contrast to 2005, the 
number of defamation suits threatening the financial viability of the 
print media increased during the year. Human rights activists believed 
that public officials used libel suits to prevent the publication of 
embarrassing or incriminating information. Government officials 
publicly stated that the accusations leveled by journalists were 
unfounded and slanderous.
    In June, July, and August, public officials filed numerous libel 
lawsuits against journalists. Courts sentenced five opposition 
newspaper journalists to prison terms of between one and five years for 
libel as a result of these lawsuits. For example, on July 18, the 
minister of internal affairs sued Shahin Agabeyli, editor in chief of 
Milli Yol newspaper for libel. A Baku court sentenced Agabeyli to one 
year in prison on August 10. However, the President pardoned Agabeyli 
in October, and he was released. On August 2, a senior Ministry of 
Internal Affairs counternarcotics official, Hazi Aslanov, sued 
prominent opposition journalist Zarusht Alizadeh for libel because 
Alizadeh described ministry counternarcotic officers as drug dealers in 
an opposition newspaper interview. Alizadeh was fined $5,700 (5,000 new 
manat).
    In August 2005 the Government launched public television channel 
ITV. In the run-up to the November 2005 parliamentary elections the 
channel broadcast television debates between parliamentary candidates 
and provided candidates with free airtime consistent with the 
requirements of the election code. However, the OSCE election 
assessment reported that government-funded ITV devoted 79 percent of 
its prime time news coverage almost exclusively to positive or neutral 
coverage of the President, administration, government, and ruling 
party. During the year OSCE media monitors reported that ITV's 
programming was increasingly difficult to distinguish from AzTV, the 
state television channel.
    In 2005 one member of parliament sued the editor in chief of 
Hesabat for libel after the newsmagazine called the parliamentarian one 
of the country's richest persons. The case remained in a Baku court at 
year's end.
    Most newspapers and magazines were printed in government publishing 
houses or on private printing presses owned by individuals close to the 
Government. The majority of independent and opposition newspapers 
remained in a precarious financial position; they continued to have 
problems paying wages, taxes, and periodic court fines.
    The Government prohibited some state libraries from subscribing to 
opposition newspapers. The Government also continued to prohibit state 
businesses from buying advertising in opposition newspapers and 
pressured private business to do the same.
    Baku-based journalists reported that authorities in the exclave of 
Nakchivan continued to block distribution of opposition newspapers.
    As in the previous year, the Government tightened enforcement on 
unregistered, independent newspaper vendors who mainly distributed 
opposition newspapers, stating that the illegal vendors created traffic 
hazards on city streets. In March 2005 the Government lifted a 
prohibition on the sale of opposition newspapers in the subway system.
    Continuing a trend from 2005, Gaya, the country's largest 
independent newspaper distributor, reopened some of its 20 newsstands 
in Baku that were torn down in 2002 by the Baku mayor's office. 
However, some of the newsstands remain in the custody of the Baku 
municipal authorities.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not restrict access 
to the Internet, but it required Internet service providers to be 
licensed and have formal agreements with the Ministry of Communications 
and Information Technologies. There was no evidence to support the 
widely held belief that the Government monitored Internet traffic of 
foreign businesses and opposition leaders. However, in July press 
reports said that the Government temporarily blocked public Internet 
access to a Web site popular for lampooning the President. Access to 
the Internet was limited to urban centers due to lack of 
infrastructure.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did 
not restrict academic freedom. The opposition Musavat Party said that 
40 of its members, employed as teachers in state educational 
institutions in the regions were harassed and periodically threatened 
with dismissal for their political activities. University students have 
been threatened with expulsion for opposition political activity. As a 
result, a number of students believed they would be expelled if they 
were to become politically active.
    In May approximately 50 students from Azerbaijan Independent 
University (AIU) went on hunger strike to protest the education 
ministry's suspension of further matriculation at the school and at 17 
other academic institutions. Ministry officials said the suspension was 
part of ongoing efforts to root out systemic corruption in the 
education system. However, some analysts believed the ministry was 
attempting to stifle competition against the Government's premier 
academic institution, Baku State University. In response to widespread 
media attention, the ministry permitted fourth-year students at AIU to 
graduate and third-year students to transfer to other institutions but 
cancelled enrollment of the first- and second-year students. A group of 
the first- and second-year students sued the ministry over the 
revocation of their matriculation status. Claiming that the lawsuit was 
proceeding too slowly, approximately 100 to 150 of the first and second 
year students resumed their hunger strike in December in the Musavat 
office while awaiting a court decision. The strike ended on December 28 
when Musavat officials decided not to continue providing a space for 
the strikers. At year's end the court had not issued a ruling.
    At the end of 2005, the Government expelled four students from Baku 
State University, the State Economic University, and the Pedagogical 
University due to their political activities in support of opposition 
parties. One expelled student, Turan Aliyev, began a hunger strike at 
the end of 2005 and was joined by three opposition youth activists in 
protest of the universities' expulsions. On January 17, the minister of 
education intervened after local human rights activists drew public 
attention to the students' case and ordered the students' 
reinstatement. However, two of the students, Turan Aliyev and Namik 
Faziyev, reported that university administrators continued to refuse to 
grant them letters of enrollment that would allow them to return to 
class.
    There were no government restrictions on cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the 
Government restricted this right in practice. The Government often 
denied opposition political parties' requests to hold political 
rallies. However, the Government periodically allowed other 
unauthorized rallies to take place. For example, in early February the 
Government allowed several unauthorized rallies of less than 100 
participants in Baku and its surrounding villages. The protests were 
held in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet 
Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.
    On October 16, the Baku mayor's office denied the Yox youth group's 
application to hold a demonstration on October 18. On October 18, Yox 
leader Ali Ismayilov said that unidentified men detained him overnight 
in order to prevent him from leading an unauthorized demonstration in 
Baku.
    In November the opposition attempted to hold five unauthorized 
rallies of less than a hundred participants each, in response to the 
Government's lawsuit seeking to evict the PFP and several media outlets 
from their central Baku offices (see section 2.a.). On four occasions--
November 2, 6, 15, and 16--police detained the opposition protesters, 
who were demonstrating peacefully, and released them after several 
hours.
    On November 23, between 60 and 70 opposition party members 
attempted to protest peacefully in front of the Baku mayor's office. 
Police detained between 40 and 50 of the participants. Within hours of 
the detention, a Baku court fined some of the participants and 
sentenced 27 others to jail for between two and 15 days.
    In June 2005 in advance of the November 2005 parliamentary 
elections, the Government partially restored the constitutional right 
to freedom of assembly, which had not been permitted since the 
demonstrations following the 2003 Presidential election. However, the 
Government again restricted this right in the period before the 
November elections. The Government interpreted the law to require 
individuals and political parties to obtain permission from the 
authorities in order to assemble and organize demonstrations.
    During the pre-election period in 2005, the Government limited 
political rallies to predetermined sites approved by local authorities. 
Most of these locations were removed from city centers. The opposition 
held authorized rallies at some of these locations and attempted to 
hold unauthorized rallies in city centers. Authorities restricted 
public transportation to the sites of unauthorized rallies and, in one 
instance, blockaded the Azadliq bloc's local party offices to prevent 
opposition members from congregating in the downtown area.
    Between May and October 2005, the Government deployed riot police 
on multiple occasions to break up unsanctioned political rallies in 
Baku, and police in several instances beat participants and journalists 
covering the rallies and arrested participants. With one exception, 
there was no accountability for these police abuses at year's end.
    Following the November 2005 parliamentary elections, the opposition 
Azadliq bloc held four government-authorized rallies in Baku to protest 
the election's conduct. In November 2005 security forces violently 
dispersed an authorized Azadliq bloc rally in response to an opposition 
leader's call for a participant ``sit down'' to protest election 
results. Riot police charged through the crowd of 7,000 opposition 
supporters, striking them with truncheons while other security forces 
destroyed the platform where opposition leaders had been standing. Two 
opposition leaders were struck, and police seriously beat a third 
opposition leader while apprehending him. Police used truncheons and 
water cannons to remove protesters from the square. Opposition 
officials subsequently reported that 90 persons were seriously injured, 
four were taken to city emergency rooms in critical condition, and 67 
others sustained minor bruises. Despite the peaceful conduct of 
participants, the Government arrested 57 opposition supporters for 
``hooliganism'' and ``public disorder'' at the rally. Within hours of 
the arrests, courts sentenced 27 opposition supporters to jail for 10 
to 15 days; the remaining 30 were released with administrative 
penalties or fines. No police officials were held accountable for the 
excessive use of force.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, although in practice the Government continued to restrict 
this right. A number of provisions allowed the Government to regulate 
the activities of political parties, religious groups, businesses, and 
NGOs, including a requirement that all organizations register either 
with the Justice Ministry or the State Committee on Work with Religious 
Associations (SCWRA). Although a new law requiring the Government to 
act on registration applications within 30 days of receipt was 
implemented in 2005, vague, cumbersome, and nontransparent registration 
procedures continued to result in long delays that effectively limited 
citizens' right to associate.
    The Government used a 2003 requirement for all existing NGOs to 
reregister with the Justice Ministry to delay or deny registration to 
some previously registered groups, often citing the failure of 
applicants to follow proper procedures. During the year the ministry 
registered 548 NGOs, which it reported was more than the number 
registered in 2005. However, the ministry did not provide information 
on the total number of NGO applications received or the number of NGO 
applications rejected during the year.
    In May 2005 the OSCE issued a report on NGO registration, 
identifying problems and offering recommendations. Its conclusions 
noted that the Government procedurally evaded NGO registration by 
taking an excessive amount of time to discover shortcomings, which 
unduly prolonged processing times for NGO registration applications. 
While the report noted many of the shortcomings in applications cited 
by authorities were valid, most of them were correctable during the 
registration process and should not have been grounds for final 
rejection.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion; however, there were some abuses and restrictions 
in practice. Although the law expressly prohibits the Government from 
interfering in the religious activities of any individual or group, 
there are exceptions, including cases where the activity of a religious 
group ``threatens public order and stability.'' In January the 
Government announced its intention to amend the law to restrict the 
political activities of religious groups. However, at year's end 
parliament had not taken up consideration of a draft amendment. The 
generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society 
contributed to religious freedom. Most religious groups met without 
government interference.
    A number of legal provisions enable the Government to regulate 
religious groups, including a requirement that religious organizations, 
including individual congregations of a denomination, be registered by 
the Government (see section 2.b.). Muslim religious groups must receive 
a letter of approval from the Caucasus Muslim Board (CMB) before they 
can be registered by the State Committee on Work with Religious 
Associations (SCWRA). The committee and its chairman have broad powers 
over registration; control over the publication, import, and 
distribution of religious literature; and the ability to suspend the 
activities of religious groups violating the law.
    Registered Muslim organizations are subordinate to the CMB, a 
Soviet-era entity that appoints Muslim clerics to mosques, periodically 
monitors sermons, and organizes annual hajj pilgrimages. It has been 
subject to some interference by the SCWRA, which has attempted to share 
control with the CMB over the appointment and certification of clerics 
and internal financial control of the country's mosques. At least one 
prominent Muslim religious leader objected to interference from both 
the CMB and SCWRA.
    The SCWRA continued to delay or deny registration to some 
Protestant Christian groups, including two Baptist churches. Three of 
the Baptists' five main churches successfully reregistered. However, 
during the year, religious organizations reported that the registration 
process had improved and that the SCWRA appeared to be handling 
requests more effectively. At the end of the year, the SCWRA had 
registered more than three-quarters of the number of religious 
communities previously registered. The SCWRA estimated that 1,300 
religious groups are in operation, although many have not filed for 
registration or reregistration. Some groups reported that SCWRA 
employees tried to interfere in the internal workings of their 
organizations during the registration process.
    Although unregistered religious groups continued to function, some, 
such as Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baptists, 
reported official harassment, including disruption of religious 
services and police intimidation, fines, and occasional beatings of 
worshippers by police. For example, on April 16, Baku police 
interrupted the Easter services of the Protestant Community of Greater 
Grace, purportedly to ascertain the legality of the group's religious 
activities. However, when the group complained to the Government, local 
officials apologized for the incident.
    Local law enforcement authorities occasionally monitored religious 
services, and some observant Christians and Muslims were penalized for 
their religious affiliations. Christians were often suspected of 
illegally proselytizing but not political activity. Government 
authorities took various actions to restrict what they claimed were 
political and terrorist activities by Iranian and other clerics 
operating independently of the organized Muslim community. For example 
in 2005 the Government deported several Iranian and other foreign 
clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim community for 
alleged violations of the law. The Government outlawed several Islamic 
humanitarian organizations because of credible reports about 
connections to terrorist activities.
    Jehovah's Witnesses reported that authorities regularly interfered 
with their ability to rent public halls for religious assemblies and on 
occasion fined or detained and beat individuals for meeting in private 
homes. Local television stations also aired ``raids'' of religious 
meetings for ``exposes'' of religious groups.
    On December 24, police accompanied by a television crew raided a 
gathering of Jehovah's Witnesses in Baku. Police detained and released 
most participants, but held six foreigners in immigration detention 
pending deportation proceedings. These individuals remained in 
immigration detention at the end of the year.
    The law expressly prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, 
and officials enforced this strictly.
    The Juma Mosque remained closed at the end of the year.
    In 2004 Ministry of Justice officials and police forcibly evicted 
the Juma Mosque community from its premises following protracted 
litigation.
    Since his 2004 conviction for participating in post election 
demonstrations in 2003, the imam of the Juma Mosque, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, 
has not been allowed to travel outside the country, including to 
several meetings of the UN and the OSCE where he was to be an official 
NGO participant.
    In June 2005 a Sumgayit court ruled that a school teacher was 
permitted to wear hijab in class. During the year, officials generally 
permitted headscarves in schools. In November after an NGO sued the 
university in court Sumgayit University officials changed a university 
policy that previously prohibited students from wearing hijab. The 
Center for Protection of Conscience and Freedom of Religious Persuasion 
reported that authorities continued to prohibit Muslim women from 
wearing headscarves in passport photos.
    The law permits the production and dissemination of religious 
literature with the approval of the SCWRA; authorities also appeared to 
selectively restrict individuals from importing and distributing 
religious materials. The procedure for obtaining permission to import 
religious literature remained burdensome, but religious organizations 
reported that the SCWRA appeared to be handling requests more 
effectively.
    Some religious groups continued to report that government 
ministries restricted and delayed the import of religious literature, 
although in other instances, the SCWRA facilitated the import of such 
literature. The Baptist Union reported the SCWRA restricted the 
quantity of religious books allowed after granting initial import 
permission.
    In February 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that while the country 
remained in a state of war with Armenia, the military service 
requirement superseded an individual's constitutional entitlement to 
alternative service due to religious beliefs and that, absent 
implementing regulations, the military was not obligated to provide 
alternative service.
    On April 28, police arrested Mushfiq Mammedov, a member of 
Jehovah's Witnesses, for refusing to fulfill the mandatory military 
service requirement due to his religious beliefs. According to the 
SCWRA, a local court sentenced Mammedov to a suspended six-month 
sentence.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were an estimated 15,000 
Jews in the country, the vast majority located in Baku. Incidences of 
prejudice and discrimination against Jews were rare, and in the few 
instances of anti-Semitic activity the Government responded quickly. 
There was popular prejudice against Muslims who converted to non-
Islamic faiths and hostility toward groups that proselytized, 
particularly evangelical Christian and missionary groups. The 
Government appeared to encourage such social stigmatization through 
orchestrated exposes and raids of nontraditional groups.
    The Government actively undertook programs to encourage religious 
tolerance. For example, on November 15, the SCWRA, foreign affairs 
ministry, and Caucasus Muslim board cohosted an interfaith tolerance 
conference.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, 
although at times the Government limited freedom of movement, 
particularly for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The law required 
men of draft age to register with military officials before traveling 
abroad; some travel restrictions were placed on military personnel with 
access to national security information. Citizens charged with or 
convicted of criminal offenses and given suspended sentences were not 
permitted to travel abroad. The Government employed this provision to 
prevent the foreign travel of an imam who had been convicted and given 
a suspended sentence in 2004 (see section 2.c.). The Government refused 
to renew the passport of an opposition party leader, citing an 
outstanding civil complaint against him from over a decade ago. 
Officials regularly extracted bribes from individuals who applied for 
passports.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons.--IDPs were required to register their 
place of residence with authorities and could live only in approved 
areas. This so-called propiska system, a carryover from the Soviet era, 
was imposed mainly on persons forced from their homes after the 
Armenian occupation of western parts of the country. The Government 
asserted that registration was needed to keep track of IDPs to provide 
them with assistance.
    While official government policy allowed ethnic Armenians to 
travel, low-level officials often requested bribes or harassed 
Armenians who applied for passports. According to the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM), some Armenians of mixed descent 
reported to a local NGO that they had problems with officials in the 
passport and registration department when applying for identification 
cards; applicants who applied with Azerbaijani surnames encountered no 
problems except for having to pay bribes.
    There were approximately 675,000 IDPs in the country. The vast 
majority of these persons fled their homes between 1988 and 1993 as a 
result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
    During the year the Government received $30 million in assistance 
from international and domestic humanitarian organizations for refugees 
and IDPs. According to the Government, it also allocated $110 million 
from the country's oil fund and $100 million from the state treasury to 
improve living conditions for IDPs and refugees. During the year the 
Government constructed new settlements under a 2004 Presidential decree 
to improve living conditions for refugees and IDPs.
    The State IDP and Refugee Committee's estimated expenditures were 
$87 million. IDPs received monthly food subsidies of approximately 
seven dollars (six manat) from the Government.
    According to the IOM, in 2005 approximately 21,000 IDPs lived in 
the Sabirabad, Saatli, Aghjabadi, and Barda camps. Many IDPs lived at 
below-subsistence levels, without adequate food, shelter, education, 
sanitation, and medical care. Approximately 28,000 IDPs lived in 
settlements provided by the European Union, while another 12,000 lived 
in housing provided by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR). Other IDPs were scattered among unfinished buildings 
(in some cases mud dwellings), hostels, public health facilities, and 
the homes of friends or relatives.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to some 
refugees through the refugee status determination department. While the 
department has been progressing in many ways, this was offset by a 
disappointing series of court rulings on refugee status decisions. The 
courts rejected all appeals against negative decisions on asylum 
claims. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they faced 
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum during the year. As 
in the preceding year, the largest number of applicants from officially 
recognized populations was from Afghanistan. However, the Government 
did not recognize any of these individuals as refugees.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR, however, 
considered the Government's forced return to Turkey in October of a 
Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity, recognized in Germany as a 
refugee, as contrary to the country's obligations under the 1951 UN 
convention and a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
    Over 90 percent of the 2,542 refugees and asylum seekers registered 
by the UNHCR in the country were Chechens from the Russian Federation. 
The Government does not recognize Chechens as refugees as established 
under the 1951 Convention, and it did not accept applications for 
refugee status determination from Chechens. Instead, the UNHCR 
continued to carry out all functions to provide Chechens with required 
assistance and protection to remain in the country.
    Only Chechens who registered with the UNHCR were protected from 
forced repatriation to their homeland. The laws on residence, 
registration, and the status of refugees and IDPs did not apply to 
Chechens, who were required to register with the police and not 
entitled to residence permits. Chechens were permitted to enter the 
country visa-free following the March 2005 implementation of a new 
bilateral external passport system with Russia. However, most Chechens 
could not afford the associated costs to acquire external passports. 
Harassment, detention, and arrests of undocumented Chechens occurred.
    According to UNHCR, several hundred Chechens sought protection 
during the year, a marked decrease from previous years. Chechen 
children were allowed to attend public schools. However, Chechen 
refugees were often denied access to public medical services. Such 
assistance was provided by UNHCR through the support of foreign donors.
    The Government did not provide temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol. However, the Government accepted the UNHCR identification 
card issued to Chechens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully; however, the Government continued to restrict this right in 
practice by interfering in elections. The law also provides for an 
independent legislature; however, parliament's independence was 
minimal, and it exercised little legislative initiative independent of 
the executive branch.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Government held 
national parliamentary elections in November 2005. The OSCE's final 
assessment concluded that the elections did not meet a number of the 
country's OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for 
democratic elections. The OSCE concluded that the May 13 rerun 
elections that took place in 10 out of 125 parliamentary constituencies 
showed some improvement over the November 2005 elections in areas such 
as inclusive candidate registration, a largely unimpeded campaign, and 
increased opportunities for domestic election observers. However, the 
OSCE highlighted the need for further electoral reform, citing 
continuing problems in areas including the composition of election 
commissions; interference by local authorities in the electoral 
process; the voting, counting, and tabulation processes; and the 
election grievance process. There were numerous credible reports that 
local officials interfered with the campaign process to the benefit of 
progovernment candidates in the November 2005 elections and in the May 
partial rerun elections.
    Local authorities also restricted freedom of assembly for 
opposition candidates. Police used disproportionate force to disrupt 
rallies (see section 2.b.).
    More than 500 candidates withdrew in the final weeks of the 
November 2005 parliamentary election campaign; many cited government 
pressure to withdraw.
    The Government generally respected the legal provisions of the 
election code. Candidates were able to hold numerous town hall meetings 
with voters, although police disrupted some gatherings. According to 
the OSCE, June 2005 amendments to the election code made limited 
improvements to the electoral framework, although most recommendations 
were not implemented or only partially implemented. The Central 
Election Commission approved a number of regulations to enhance the 
integrity of voting, counting, and the vote tabulation process. The 
Central Election Commission undertook an extensive, pre-election voter 
education campaign.
    In October 2005 a Presidential decree reversed a ban on election 
observation by NGOs receiving financial support from international 
sources. The change had no impact on the 2005 parliamentary elections, 
as all observers were required to have registered in advance; however, 
domestic election observers were generally able to register as 
individuals. There were an estimated 3,000 individual observers 
affiliated with NGOs for the parliamentary elections.
    Voting in the November 2005 elections proceeded in a more orderly 
and transparent manner than in previous national elections, although 
there were some irregularities. The OSCE-led observation mission 
assessed as positive 87 percent of the more than 2,500 polling stations 
it visited during the daytime voting process. However, in some 
instances, international observers reported unauthorized persons, such 
as police officers, in the polling station during the voting. Observers 
also witnessed candidates or candidate representatives attempting to 
influence voter choices and ballot box stuffing in one-third of the 
polling stations visited as well as family (group) voting in one-fifth 
of the polling stations visited.
    Fraud and major irregularities marred the vote counting and 
tabulation process. International observers assessed the ballot 
counting process as bad or very bad in 43 percent of polling stations 
observed, reporting that election precinct officials refused to count 
election ballots in front of them and attempted to complete official 
tabulation protocols behind closed doors. In one precinct, observers 
witnessed election commission members taking instructions from an 
unidentified person in the polling station's basement. Precinct-level 
voting results were not posted in 54 percent of the counts observed.
    Following the November 2005 elections, authorities acted to address 
some instances of election fraud. The Central Election Commission 
annulled results from 423 of more than 5,100 election precincts. 
President Aliyev dismissed three local executive authorities because of 
their interference in the campaign and voting process. The prosecutor 
general opened 17 criminal cases against local government officials, 
election commission members, and opposition candidates for violations 
of the election code on voting day, resulting in 10 convictions. The 
prosecutor also ordered the arrest of four local election officials for 
election fraud; they were convicted of election misconduct and 
sentenced to prison during the year. The Central Election Commission 
annulled four constituency results and ordered reruns of these races 
that were held in May. The commission overturned the results of two 
other constituencies in favor of opposition candidates because of 
serious precinct irregularities and dismissed the election commission 
members of these six constituencies citing the members' involvement in 
fraud or failure to follow election procedures. The Central Election 
Commission also dismissed 108 precinct-level election commissions and 
six constituency commissions on fraud-related grounds.
    In a December 2005 hearing to certify the election results, the 
Constitutional Court annulled the results of an additional six 
constituencies, bringing to 10 the total number of annulled 
constituencies that were rerun on May 13; however, the six additional 
annulments also included the court's reversal of previous CEC 
decisions. Opposition supporters criticized the court's action because 
it cancelled a race previously awarded to an opposition Azadliq bloc 
candidate as well as a race that Azadliq claimed it had won in a fair 
contest.
    The Central Election Commission and Constitutional Court actions 
did not fully address reports of fraud and other irregularities or 
allay the concerns of the international community about the extent to 
which the results fully reflected the will of the people.
    One opposition member refused to take her seat in protest of 
election fraud, and the Government did not set a date for a by-election 
during the year.
    The most recent Presidential election was held in October 2003 and 
formally brought Ilham Aliyev to power. This election failed to meet 
international standards for democratic elections due to a number of 
serious irregularities.
    On October 6, the authorities held partial municipal elections 
around the country. The opposition Azadliq bloc, comprised of the PFP, 
ADP, and Azerbaijan Liberal Party, boycotted the municipal elections, 
asserting that the composition of local election commissions made the 
elections inherently unfair. Some of these municipal elections were 
reruns of 2004 municipal elections, which election authorities 
cancelled because of widespread fraud and irregularities.
    Opposition parties played an active role in politics. However, 
members of the opposition were more likely to experience official 
harassment and arbitrary arrest and detention than other citizens. On 
November 24, the State Economic Court evicted the opposition PFP and 
several media outlets from their office building in central Baku. The 
Government assigned the party to the second floor of a building in 
deplorable condition on the outskirts of the city. The party refused to 
occupy the premises and instead continued to work out of space 
temporarily provided by the ADP. Police officials had not allowed PFP 
members to retrieve their property and effects from the newly assigned 
office space at year's end (see section 2.a).
    The Government refused to renew the passport of PFP Chairman Ali 
Kerimli citing an outstanding civil complaint from 1993. Human rights 
activists criticized the action, noting that the Government had renewed 
Kerimli's passport on several occasions in the intervening years 
without objection.
    Progovernment news agencies attacked Kerimli and his party in daily 
news broadcasts in 2005, inciting several violent protests outside of 
the PFP's offices.
    There were 14 women in the 125-seat parliament. Several women held 
senior government positions, including deputy speaker of parliament and 
deputy chair of the Central Election Commission. There were no legal 
restrictions on the participation of women in politics, although 
traditional social norms limited women's political roles, and they were 
underrepresented in elective offices.
    Ethnic minorities such as the Lezghins, Talysh, and Avars continued 
to serve in parliament and in government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The law penalizes 
corruption by outlawing bribery; however, there was widespread public 
perception of corruption throughout all facets of society, including 
the civil service, government ministries, and the highest levels of 
government. The NGO Transparency International reported that the 
country received a rating of 2.4 on its corruption perceptions index, 
indicating there was a perception of serious corruption. According to 
the prosecutor general's office, criminal cases related to corruption 
were opened during the year, specifically on bribery charges; however, 
these cases had little or no impact on the prevalence of bribery and 
corruption in the country.
    In January 2005 a new anticorruption law came into force that 
required public officials to report annual income, sources of income, 
property owned, and financial liabilities. It also prohibited nepotism 
and limited giving gifts and direct or indirect financial benefits to 
public officials or third parties; government officials acknowledged 
that implementation of this law was slow and halting.
    The law provides for public access to government information by 
individuals and organizations; however, the Government often did not 
provide access. Although government ministries have separate procedures 
on how to request information, they routinely denied requests, claiming 
not to possess the information. Individuals have the right to appeal 
the denials in court; however, the courts generally upheld the 
decisions of the ministries.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although the 
Government maintained ties with some human rights NGOs and responded to 
their inquiries, on occasion the Government criticized and intimidated 
other human rights NGOs and activists. The Ministry of Justice 
routinely denied or failed to register some human rights NGOs.
    The major local human rights NGOs were the Association for the 
Protection of Women's Rights, the Bureau of Human Rights and Respect 
for the Law, the Azerbaijan Foundation of Democracy Development and 
Human Rights Protection, Azerbaijani Committee Against Torture, the 
Institute for Peace and Democracy, and the Human Rights Center of 
Azerbaijan. Most of the leading NGOs affiliated themselves with one of 
two independent, umbrella organizations: the Human Rights Federation or 
the Helsinki Citizens Assembly.
    The Government met with a variety of domestic NGO monitors. In 2005 
the Ministry of Justice formed a joint prison-monitoring commission 
with several representatives of the NGO community (see section 1.c.). 
The ministry also formed a joint political prisoner review committee 
with several representatives of the human rights community in 2005. In 
August 2005 the ministry of internal affairs granted permission for the 
first time for an NGO to have immediate access to police and pretrial 
detention facilities; the NGO exercised this right without obstruction.
    Several NGOs reported that the Government and police at times 
refused to protect them from so-called provocateurs who threatened, 
harassed, and attacked NGO activists and vandalized their property. 
Arzu Abdullayeva director of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly received 
several threats in connection with her leadership of an NGO 
delegation's fact-finding visit to Nagorno-Karabakh in July.
    The registration process for NGOs remained cumbersome and included 
requirements to register grants from foreign entities. NGO grants from 
foreign entities are subject to a social security tax of 22 percent on 
employee salaries, although grants from a few countries with bilateral 
agreements with the Government were subject to only a 2 percent tax. 
NGO activists reported that these provisions inhibited their 
organizations' activities.
    The Government generally permitted visits by UN representatives and 
other international organizations such as the ICRC. International NGOs, 
such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, generally 
operated without government hindrance.
    Citizens may appeal violations committed by the state or by 
individuals to the ombudswoman for human rights. No information was 
available at year's end regarding the complaints received during the 
year by the ombudswoman. In 2005 her office received 6,200 complaints 
and accepted 3,000 for investigation as authentic human rights 
violations. The ombudswoman may refuse to accept cases of abuse that 
occurred over a year ago, anonymous complaints, and cases already being 
handled by the judiciary. The ombudswoman traveled around the country 
to hear human rights complaints, cooperated with foreign diplomats 
working on human rights activities, and submitted an annual report to 
parliament. Compared with previous years, the ombudswoman was more 
outspoken in her criticism of government actions. For example, the 
ombudswoman spoke out against the NTRC's November decision to order ANS 
Television and Radio off the air (see section 2.a.). However, local 
human rights NGOs and activists criticized the ombudswoman's work as 
ineffective and generally regarded her as not independent of the 
Government.
    The parliament and Ministry of Justice also had human rights 
offices that heard complaints, conducted investigations, and made 
recommendations to relevant government bodies. Officials of the human 
rights office within the ministry of foreign affairs regularly met with 
the diplomatic community to discuss issues of concern. The parliament's 
human rights body did not operate fully independently of government 
influence.
    On December 28, President Aliyev issued a decree announcing a new 
National Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights aimed at 
improving Azerbaijan's human rights performance. The deputy prime 
minister and Presidential administration were assigned oversight 
responsibility.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law provides for equal rights without respect to gender, race, 
language, disability, or social status, but the Government did not 
always respect these provisions or effectively enforce them. Violence 
and discrimination against women, trafficking of persons, and 
discrimination against ethnic Armenians were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, 
continued to be a problem. In rural areas, women had no effective 
recourse against assaults by their husbands or others; there are no 
laws on spousal abuse or specific laws on spousal rape. Rape is illegal 
and carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. The Government stated 
that 32 rapes and attempted rapes were reported during the year. Most 
rape victims reportedly knew their assailants but did not report 
incidents out of fear and shame.
    There were no government-sponsored programs for victims of domestic 
violence or rape. In Baku a women's crisis center operated by the 
Institute for Peace and Democracy provided free medical, psychological, 
and legal assistance for women. During the year the center provided 
services to 4,734 women, and 1,850 women called the center's crisis hot 
line. The institute also broadcast three public service announcements 
and short films in the regions, covering women's legal rights and court 
procedures.
    Prostitution is an administrative offense rather than a crime and 
is punishable by a fine of up to $100 (88 manat). Pimps and brothel 
owners may be sentenced to prison for up to six years. Prostitution was 
a serious problem, particularly in Baku.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was prohibited by law, and the Government 
reported that it investigated cases of sexual harassment during the 
year. At year's end, the Government had not released data on the number 
of cases it investigated during the year.
    Women nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however, 
societal discrimination was a problem. Traditional social norms and 
poor economic conditions continued to restrict women's roles in the 
economy, and there were reports that women had difficulty exercising 
their legal rights due to gender discrimination. Women were 
underrepresented in high-level jobs, including top business positions.

    Children.--The law requires the Government to protect the rights of 
children with regard to education and health care. In practice 
government programs provided a low standard of education and health 
care for children.
    Public education was compulsory, free, and universal until the age 
of 17. The Ministry of Education reported 100 percent elementary school 
attendance, 97 percent middle school attendance, and 88 percent high 
school attendance during the year; the UN Children's Fund reported the 
elementary school figure was approximately 88 percent. The highest 
level of education achieved by the majority of children was high 
school. In impoverished rural areas, large families sometimes placed a 
higher priority on the education of male children and kept girls to 
work in the home. Some poor families forced their children to beg 
rather than attend school (see section 6.d.).
    The Government provided a minimum standard of health care for 
children, but the overall quality of medical care was very low. During 
the year, the Government began undertaking health sector reforms aimed 
at improving the low quality of care.
    There were isolated reports of child abuse and of trafficking in 
children (see section 5, Trafficking), and during the year the 
Government reported that it opened an investigation into 11 cases of 
child trafficking.
    Child marriage was not considered a significant problem, although 
evidence suggested it was growing, primarily in rural central and 
southern regions among poor families.
    A large number of refugee and IDP children lived in substandard 
conditions in camps and public buildings. In some cases these children 
were unable to attend school.

    Trafficking in Persons.--In 2005 the Government adopted new 
legislation and amendments to the criminal code criminalizing 
trafficking in persons. During the year 190 traffickers were prosecuted 
under the new law. In addition the Government prosecuted traffickers 
under other laws including those prohibiting rape, forced prostitution 
and labor, and forgery of travel documents. Most trafficking-related 
crimes prosecuted during the year carried maximum penalties between 
five and twelve years' imprisonment, except for rape and sexual 
violence, which both carried maximum 15-year prison sentences. There 
also are specific criminal penalties for enslaving, raping, and forcing 
children into prostitution. During the year the Government opened 186 
criminal investigations resulting in 190 convictions of individuals 
charged with trafficking-related crimes.
    The deputy minister of internal affairs was the national 
coordinator for government antitrafficking activities, monitoring 
relevant government bodies' efforts and dealing with the NGO community. 
Government bodies involved in antitrafficking included the ministries 
of internal affairs, foreign affairs, justice, national security, and 
health; the prosecutor general; the state border guard; customs; and 
the State Committee on Women's and Children's Issues. In August the 
President announced a restructuring of the ministry of internal 
affairs, which created a separate antitrafficking unit.
    The Government regularly collaborated with neighboring countries on 
antitrafficking investigations.
    The country was primarily a country of origin and transit for 
trafficked women, men, and children for sexual exploitation and forced 
labor. Central Asian and local women and girls were trafficked from or 
through the country to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iran, India, 
and Pakistan for work in the sex industry. There was also some internal 
trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. The Government reported 
it identified 77 trafficking victims. During the year the Government 
also reported 11 cases of child trafficking.
    Women and girls were trafficked internally from rural areas to 
urban centers for sexual exploitation, men were trafficked to Turkey 
and Russia for forced labor, and children were trafficked internally 
for begging. Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, and migrants from South Asia 
were smuggled through the country to Europe--particularly Germany, 
Sweden, France, and the Netherlands--and to the U.S. where they at 
times had their passports confiscated and were subjected to forced 
labor. Traffickers generally targeted women.
    Traffickers were either foreigners or ethnic Azerbaijanis who acted 
in loose concert with international networks. They approached victims 
directly and indirectly through friends and relatives, usually offering 
to arrange employment abroad. Traffickers also used deceptive newspaper 
advertisements offering false work abroad. Traffickers reportedly used 
forged documents to move victims. They also used fraudulent marriage 
proposals from men posing as Iranian businessmen to lure women into 
prostitution in neighboring Iran. Despite such fraud, some families 
willingly married their daughters to wealthy Iranians without concern 
for the actual outcome.
    There was no evidence of official complicity in trafficking, but 
corruption in some government agencies facilitated trafficking.
    In 2005 parliament passed antitrafficking legislation increasing 
protections for trafficking victims by relieving them from civil, 
administrative, and criminal responsibility for offenses committed 
under coercion, intimidation, or other trafficking conditions. The law 
also allows the use of pseudonyms to protect the identity of 
trafficking victims and provides for assistance and shelters for 
trafficking victims. Subsequent revisions to the criminal code 
implemented this legislation.
    There was no standardized mechanism to return trafficked women to 
the country. According to the IOM, some Azerbaijanis and third country 
nationals who were either victims of trafficking or engaged in 
prostitution were deported to the country, primarily from Turkey. 
However, the Government had no program to assist them.
    The Government informally referred some victims to state health 
care facilities; these facilities lacked the capacity to provide the 
required specialized treatment or information for victims of 
trafficking. The Government also referred some victims to international 
organizations and domestic NGOs for assistance. Some NGOs, which 
cooperated with the Government, reportedly sheltered victims in private 
homes, due to a lack, for most of the year, of adequate shelters 
available for trafficking victims in the country. IOM conducted 
training for shelter volunteers, as well as training for volunteers to 
staff an NGO antitrafficking hotline, which has yet to open.
    During the year the Government continued to implement its 
antitrafficking action plan. The Government completed renovations to 
the building designated last year to be a shelter for trafficking 
victims, which was officially opened in October. The Government also 
designated a number for a trafficking hotline which will be accessible 
toll-free both domestically and internationally once it is operational. 
The Government implemented a standardized recruitment, selection, and 
testing process for police officers of the new antitrafficking unit 
developed last year with international assistance. However, it was not 
possible to determine whether this process conformed to international 
standards.
    Several NGOs, such as the Institute for Peace and Democracy's 
Women's Crisis Center and Clean World, and government bodies, such as 
the State Committee for Women's and Children's Issues, worked on 
antitrafficking activities. There were no government-sponsored 
antitrafficking public education campaigns, although the Ministry of 
Education supported school information programs run by domestic NGOs.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, and access 
to health care, or the provision of other state services, but 
discrimination in employment was a problem. It was commonly believed 
that children with disabilities were ill and needed to be separated 
from other children and institutionalized. Several international and 
local NGOs developed educational campaigns to change social perceptions 
and reintegrate disabled children.
    There are no legal provisions mandating access to public or other 
buildings for persons with disabilities, and most buildings were not 
accessible.
    Care in facilities for the mentally ill and persons with 
disabilities varied; some provided adequate care while others lacked 
qualified caregivers, equipment, and supplies to maintain sanitary 
conditions and provide a proper diet.
    The ministries of health and labor and social welfare were 
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Some of the approximately 
20,000 citizens of Armenian descent living in the country historically 
have complained of discrimination in employment, schooling, housing, 
the provision of social services, and other areas. Azerbaijani citizens 
who were ethnically Armenian often concealed their ethnicity by legally 
changing the ethnic designation in their passports.
    Some groups complained that authorities restricted their ability to 
teach or print materials in their native languages. Specifically, 
Farsi-speaking Tallish in the south, Caucasian Lezghins in the north, 
displaced Meskhetian Turks from Central Asia, and displaced Kurds from 
the Armenian-occupied Lachin region reported sporadic incidents of 
discrimination, restrictions on the ability to teach in their native 
languages, and harassment by local authorities.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Government did not 
officially condone discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, 
there was societal prejudice against homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, including the right to form labor unions, but there were 
some restrictions on this right in practice. The overwhelming majority 
of labor unions remained tightly linked to the Government, with the 
exception of the independent journalists' unions.
    Uniformed military and police are prohibited from participating in 
unions, although civilians working in the interior and defense 
ministries are allowed to do so. The law also prohibits managerial 
staff from joining a union, but in practice managers in government 
industries often had union dues automatically deducted from their 
paychecks.
    Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) between the Government and 
multinational energy enterprises signed in 1994 do not provide for 
employee participation in a trade union and effectively exempt these 
enterprises from national labor laws. Some labor organizations and 
local NGOs reported that some of these companies discouraged employees 
from forming unions, and most employees of multinational enterprises 
operating under the PSA arrangements were not union members, although 
there were exceptions.
    On October 10, parliament lifted the statutory prohibition on trade 
unions engaging in political activity.
    Many of the state-owned enterprises that dominated the formal 
economy withheld union dues from workers' pay but did not deliver the 
dues to the unions. As a result unions did not have resources to carry 
out their activities effectively. Unions had no recourse to investigate 
the withheld funds.
    The Azerbaijani Trade Union Confederation (ATUC) had approximately 
1.5 million members, including 26 labor federations in various 
industrial sectors. Although the ATUC was registered independently, 
some workers considered it closely aligned with the Government.
    Membership in the Union of Oil and Gas Industry Workers remained 
mandatory for the State Oil Company's 50,000 workers, whose union dues 
(2 percent of each worker's salary) were automatically deducted from 
their paychecks.
    There were no reports of government antiunion discrimination; labor 
disputes were primarily handled by local courts, which, while not 
exhibiting antiunion discrimination, were widely considered corrupt. 
There were reports of antiunion discrimination by foreign companies 
operating in Baku. Labor NGOs report that multinational energy 
companies and their subcontractors often discouraged union membership 
by their employees. Production sharing agreements signed in 1994 
between the Government and these multinational energy enterprises did 
not address employees' participation in unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
trade unions to conduct their activities without government 
interference; in practice most unions were not independent. The law 
also provides for collective bargaining agreements to set wages in 
state enterprises, and trade unions actively negotiated with employers, 
particularly in the formal sector. In reality unions could not 
effectively participate in negotiating wage levels because government-
appointed boards ran major state-owned firms and set wages according to 
a unified schedule. In addition, in 2005, the labor ministry reported 
that the Government continued to have limited success in addressing 
worker-related issues with foreign companies.
    The law provides most workers with the right to strike, and workers 
exercised this right. Categories of workers prohibited from striking 
include high-ranking executive and legislative officials, law 
enforcement officers, court employees, fire fighters, and health, 
electric power, water supply, telephone, and railway and air traffic 
control workers. Striking workers who disrupt public transportation can 
be sentenced up to three years' imprisonment. The law prohibits 
retribution against strikers such as dismissal or replacement.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
law allow forced or compulsory labor under circumstances of war or in 
the execution of a court's decision under the supervision of a 
government agency, and some observers asserted that there were 
infrequent occurrences of forced or compulsory labor, including 
trafficking in persons (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in the 
workplace and from work that is dangerous to their health, but there 
were few complaints of abuses of child labor laws.
    The minimum age for employment depended on the type of work. In 
most instances the law permits children to work from age 15; 14-year-
old children may work in family businesses or at after-school jobs 
during the day that pose no hazard to their health with parental 
consent. Children under 16 may not work more than 24 hours per week; 
children between 16 and 18 may not work more than 36 hours per week. 
The law prohibits employing children under 18 in jobs with difficult 
and hazardous work conditions. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Security is responsible for enforcing child labor laws. However, the 
unit responsible is considered ineffective.
    There were reports that some parents forced their children to beg, 
and children were trafficked internally for this purpose. Children were 
also trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual 
exploitation (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year the Government 
raised the minimum monthly wage from $30 to $34 (29 manat), the third 
raise in 18 months. The minimum wage was insufficient to provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family, although it was $8 
(about seven manat) above the official poverty level of $26 (22 manat) 
set by the Government. The Ministry of Taxes, the Ministry of Labor, 
and the State Social Protection Fund legally share responsibility for 
enforcing the minimum wage. However, in practice the minimum wage was 
not effectively enforced.
    The law provides for a 40-hour work week; the maximum daily work 
shift is 12 hours. Workers in hazardous occupations may not work more 
than 36 hours per week. The law requires lunch and rest periods, which 
are determined by labor contracts and collective agreements. It was not 
known whether local companies provided adequate premium compensation 
for overtime, although international companies generally did. There was 
no prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime. The Ministry of Labor 
reported little success enforcing such contracts and agreements in the 
informal sector, where most individuals were employed.
    The law sets health and safety standards; government inspections of 
working conditions were weak and ineffective, and standards were widely 
ignored. The ATUC also monitored compliance with labor and trade 
regulations, including safety and health conditions. During the year 
the ATUC reported that it inspected 2,466 enterprises and organizations 
and found 677 legal and technical violations. The ATUC stated that 
virtually all of the violations were addressed, and no official 
complaints were registered.
    Workers did not have the right to remove themselves from situations 
that endangered their health or safety without jeopardizing their 
employment. According to the Oil Workers Rights Defense Council (ORDC), 
an NGO dedicated to protecting worker rights in the oil sector, four 
State Oil Company workers died in workplace accidents. Workplace 
accidents were also a problem in other sectors of the economy.
    The law provides equal rights to foreign and domestic workers, 
although local human rights groups, including ORDC, maintained that 
disparities existed, particularly in foreign oil companies.

                               __________

                                BELARUS

    Under its constitution, the Republic of Belarus, with a population 
of 9,724,000, has a directly elected President and a bicameral National 
Assembly. Since his election in 1994 as President, Alexander Lukashenko 
has systematically undermined the country's democratic institutions and 
concentrated power in the executive branch through authoritarian means, 
flawed referenda, manipulated elections, and arbitrary decrees that 
undermine the rule of law. Presidential elections on March 19 that 
declared Lukashenko President for a consecutive third term failed to 
meet international standards for democratic elections. The Government 
continued to ignore recommendations by major international 
organizations to improve election processes and human rights. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces; however, members of the security forces committed numerous 
human rights abuses.
    The Government's human rights record remained very poor and 
worsened in some areas as the Government continued to commit frequent 
serious abuses. In March the Government denied citizens the right to 
democratically change their government by holding a fraudulent 
Presidential election. Throughout the election campaign and in the 
months afterward, opposition and civil society activists, including 
four domestic election observers and a former Presidential candidate, 
were beaten, harassed, fined or imprisoned. The Government failed to 
account for past disappearances of opposition political figures and 
journalists. Prison conditions were extremely poor, and there were 
numerous reports of abuse of prisoners and detainees. Arbitrary 
arrests, detentions, and imprisonment of citizens for political 
reasons, criticizing officials, or participating in demonstrations were 
common. Court trials, whose outcomes usually were predetermined, 
frequently were conducted behind closed doors without the benefit of an 
independent judiciary or independent observers.
    The Government further restricted civil liberties, including 
freedoms of press, speech, assembly, association, and religion. The 
Government seized at will published materials from civil society 
activists and closed or limited the distribution of several independent 
newspapers. The few remaining independent publications often were 
fined, usually for alleged slander or not following restrictive 
registration procedures. State security services used unreasonable and 
often brutal force to disperse peaceful protesters. Nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) and political parties were subjected to 
harassment, fines, prosecution, and closure. Religious leaders were 
fined or imprisoned for performing services and ceremonies, and 
churches were either closed, deregistered, or had their congregations 
evicted. Trafficking in persons remained a significant problem, 
although some progress was made to combat it. There was official 
discrimination against Roma, ethnic and sexual minorities, and the 
Belarusian language. Authorities harassed independent unions and their 
members, severely limiting the ability of the workers to form and join 
independent trade unions and to organize and bargain collectively.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports that the Government or its agents committed any 
politically motivated killings; however, one foreign diplomat died 
under unexplained circumstances. On March 22, Ryszard Badon-Lehr, a 
Polish diplomat assigned to Grodno, was found unconscious in his 
residence and appeared to have suffered a beating. He was transferred 
to a hospital in Poland, where he died on April 6. Authorities denied 
Badon-Lehr was beaten. They claimed he suffered a stroke and did not 
open an investigation into the case.
    On March 14, authorities suspended their investigation of the 2004 
killing of journalist Veronika Cherkasova, who was found dead in her 
Minsk apartment with multiple stab wounds. Her colleagues linked her 
death to her research into the Government's alleged arms sales to Iraq. 
The Government initially accused her teenage son of the death and 
detained him in late 2005 for three months on other charges. On October 
17, the Minsk Prosecutor's office stated that Cherkasova was murdered, 
but had no suspects in the case (see section 1.d.).
    In October 2005 independent journalist Vasiliy Grodnikov was found 
dead inside his locked apartment. Grodnikov's brother, who found the 
body, reported signs of a struggle and claimed that Grodnikov was 
killed by a blow to the head with a blunt object. In November 2005 
police concluded that Grodnikov fell while intoxicated and closed the 
case. The prosecutor general's office reopened the case but in December 
2005 announced no crime had been committed and that Grodnikov died as a 
result of ``his careless actions'' (see section 2.a.).
    In late 2005 militia officer S. Magonov was found guilty of murder 
in the August 2005 beating death of Vasiliy Shevelenko and sentenced to 
eight years in prison following a criminal investigation by 
authorities. Shevelenko had been detained in August 2005 in a 
government drug and alcohol detoxification facility in Svetlogorsk, 
where he was severely beaten on the face, head, and neck.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically 
motivated disappearances during the year, and there were no 
developments in the investigations of the 1999 and 2000 disappearances 
of opposition activists, a businessman, and a journalist. The 
Government continued to deny any official involvement in the 
disappearances.
    On March 31, the authorities suspended the investigation into the 
disappearance and presumed killing in 2000 of television journalist 
Dmitriy Zavadskiy one year after reopening the case. Credible evidence 
indicated that government agents killed Zavadskiy for his reporting 
that government officials may have aided Chechen separatists in Russia.
    Investigations into the 1999 disappearances and presumed murders of 
opposition figures Yuriy Zakharenko and Viktor Gonchar and businessman 
Anatoliy Krasovskiy remained open, but no developments were reported. 
In August 2005 President Lukashenko granted the order ``For Service to 
the Motherland'' to Ministry of Interior special forces Colonel Dmitriy 
Pavlichenko, who was named in a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council 
of Europe (PACE) report as having played a key role in the 
disappearances.
    On December 20, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that 
expressed deep concern over the human rights situation in the country 
and urged the Government to hold free and fair elections and to cease 
politically motivated prosecution and harassment of political 
opponents. In April 2005 the UN Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) 
approved a third resolution on the poor human rights situation in the 
country, urging the Government to conduct an impartial investigation 
into the disappearances of Zavadskiy, Zakharenko, Gonchar, and 
Krasovskiy. The UNCHR passed similar resolutions in 2003 and 2004. The 
PACE report recommended suspending senior officials suspected of 
involvement in the disappearances. The UNCHR also extended the mandate 
of its special rapporteur to continue examining the country's human 
rights performance (see section 4).

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, Special Purpose 
Detachment (OMON) riot police and other special forces on occasion beat 
detainees and demonstrators.
    The OMON also occasionally beat individuals during arrests and in 
detention for organizing or participating in demonstrations (see 
sections 1.d. and 2.b.). Credible sources reported that during 
demonstrations following the March 19 Presidential elections, OMON riot 
police and other special forces, such as the antiterrorist unit ALMAZ, 
beat demonstrators in custody and threatened others with death or rape 
(see sections 1.d. and 3). According to one such report, teenage 
demonstrator Andrey Kuzmienkov was detained on March 25 and beaten, 
suffering a ruptured kidney.
    Eyewitnesses reported that security services brutally kicked and 
clubbed demonstrators and organizers, including young women. On March 
23, Viktor Korniyenko, the deputy chief of Presidential candidate 
Aleksandr Milinkevich's campaign team, was beaten unconscious by two 
unidentified men in an attack linked to his political activities. On 
March 24, special forces forcefully removed hundreds of demonstrators 
from October Square (see sections 2.b. and 3). One of the 
demonstrators, Yuriy Chavusav, reported that he was repeatedly beaten 
and choked with his own scarf on a police detainment bus.
    On March 25, special forces and OMON riot police used truncheons 
and tear gas to break up a peaceful march to Okrestina prison to 
protest the detention of 250 demonstrators (see section 2.b.). 
Television footage showed two severely beaten protesters lying on the 
ground and dozens more covered in blood. According to eyewitness 
reports, security services searched for and beat demonstrators hiding 
in stores or backyards. Ministry of Interior Colonel Dmitriy 
Pavlichenko, who has been implicated in the disappearances and presumed 
deaths of opposition activists, personally beat Presidential candidate 
Aleksandr Kozulin before the latter was tied up and transported by 
ALMAZ forces to a pretrial detention center (see sections 1.e., 2.b., 
and 3). Kozulin's beating by Pavlichenko and ALMAZ officers resulted in 
head and spine injuries. Neither Pavlichenko, ALMAZ officers, nor other 
special forces personally were punished for their actions. Kozulin was 
sentenced July 13 to five and one half years in prison for alleged 
hooliganism and organizing persons to disturb the public peace (see 
section 1.e.)
    On March 14, a Grodno police lieutenant severely beat Nikolay 
Voron, a Kozulin activist, in a factory dormitory as he was passing out 
campaign flyers. According to a Kozulin spokesperson, the police 
officer repeatedly slammed Voron's head against a wall. He was rushed 
by ambulance to a hospital with serious head injuries.
    Hazing of new army recruits by beatings and other forms of physical 
and psychological abuse continued, according to official sources; 
however, the number of reported cases declined.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
austere and were marked by occasional shortages of food and medicine 
and the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Leila 
Zerrougui, chairperson of a UN working group on arbitrary detention who 
visited the country in 2004, reported that conditions in detention 
centers were worse than those in prisons because of poor sanitary and 
living conditions and restrictions on visitation, phone, and mail 
privileges. According to human rights monitors, conditions in prison 
hospitals also were poor.
    Overcrowding in prisons, detention centers, and in work release 
prisons--khimya--was a serious problem. Persons sentenced to khimya 
live in prison barracks and are forced to work under conditions set by 
the Government. According to a government estimate, the total number of 
confined persons in the country was approximately 35,000. Former 
political prisoners reported that they were treated worse than 
murderers and other criminals and often had to share a cell with such 
individuals. They also reported that their legal rights were neither 
explained nor protected. Prisoners who complained about abuse of their 
rights often were threatened with death, humiliation, or other forms of 
punishment.
    Credible reports indicated that police and prison officials 
continued to mistreat and torture prisoners. Human rights groups 
reported that prisoners did not receive adequate food, medical 
attention, or warm clothing, and were often denied a bed, sheets, 
change of clothes, and restroom privileges. As a result, tuberculosis, 
pneumonia and other diseases were widespread.
    Following mass arrests on March 24 after a special forces raid on a 
tent city erected by protestors and a March 25 march to the Okrestina 
jail, credible sources reported that many detainees were not fed during 
the first 24 hours of detainment (see sections 1.d., 2.b., and 3). The 
law permits family and friends to bring detainees food and hygiene 
products, but in many cases authorities did not respect this right.
    Authorities frequently kept those arrested for political activities 
in the Okrestina jail or the Volodarskogo detention center in Minsk. 
Following the mass arrests after the March 24 and 25 demonstrations, 
cell occupancy doubled, forcing detainees to take turns sleeping 
because there was insufficient space and beds.
    Besides overcrowding, cells were damp, cold, and poorly ventilated. 
Former detainees reported that they were denied blankets or pillows and 
given little medical assistance. On March 26, jailed demonstrator 
Dmitriy Shimanskiy was transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed 
with the flu. He attributed his illness to the poor conditions of his 
cell. Kozulin and NGO Partnership activist Timofey Dranchuk reportedly 
suffered vision loss due to poor detention center conditions.
    Credible sources reported that Kozulin's health seriously 
deteriorated in prison (see sections 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3). Although 
his living conditions were said to be decent, associates claimed that 
he did not receive adequate medical attention after he was severely 
beaten by police and still complained about residual pain. On October 
20, Kozulin began a 53-day hunger strike in protest of his 
incarceration and the fraudulent March 19 election. In response, prison 
authorities denied Kozulin's wife and lawyer visitation rights. On 
December 5, authorities allowed Kozulin a 30-minute meeting with his 
wife, who reported that her husband had lost 88 pounds and suffered 
from very low blood pressure. He was on 24-hour surveillance by prison 
hospital staff. Kozulin ended his hunger strike on December 12.
    On April 14, authorities released opposition activist Mikhail 
Marinich after he served 18 months in a maximum security prison. Upon 
release Marinich sought treatment abroad for poor health, which he 
attributed to prison conditions. Credible reports indicated that prison 
authorities in March 2005 prevented Marinich from receiving medical 
treatment for three days after he suffered a stroke.
    On May 15, authorities released entrepreneurial union leader 
Valeriy Levonevskiy, who served two and one-half years in a maximum 
security prison for slandering the President. According to Levonevskiy 
most cells he saw were poorly ventilated and damp, contributing to the 
spread of diseases such as tuberculosis. Medical check-ups were 
infrequent, and doctors repeatedly fabricated examination dates and 
results to fulfill paperwork requirements. Levonevskiy also asserted 
that prison food contained insufficient nutrients and vitamins and was 
often prepared by prisoners in unsanitary conditions.
    Authorities sometimes granted human rights observers access to 
prisons and political prisoners in the presence of officials; however, 
most requests to visit political prisoners were denied. In 2004 
authorities allowed a delegation from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary 
Detention to visit prisons and detention centers, but denied the group 
access to a Committee for State Security (BKGB) detention center on the 
grounds it had not requested the visit in advance.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law limits arbitrary 
detention; however, the Government did not abide by these limits. 
Authorities continued to arrest individuals for political reasons and 
use administrative measures to detain political activists before, 
during, and after protests (see sections 2.b. and 3).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Interior has authority over the police, but the BKGB and Presidential 
security forces also exercised police functions. The President has the 
right to subordinate all security bodies to his personal command. Petty 
corruption among police was widespread, although the Government made 
attempts to limit official corruption (see section 3). Impunity 
remained a serious problem. While the law gives individuals the right 
to report police abuse to the prosecutor, the Government often did not 
investigate abuses by the security forces or hold perpetrators 
accountable.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police frequently arrested and detained 
individuals without a warrant. However, police must obtain permission 
to detain persons for longer than three hours. Detained persons 
suspected of a crime may be held for up to 10 days without formal 
charge, and for up to 18 months after charges are filed. Under the law, 
prosecutors and investigators have the authority to extend detention 
periods without consulting a judge. Detainees have the right to 
petition the legality of their detention; however, in practice, appeals 
by suspects seeking court review of their detentions were frequently 
suppressed or ignored. The law provides for bail, but in practice bail 
was not granted.
    Police often detained individuals for several hours ostensibly to 
confirm their identity. This tactic was frequently used to detain 
opposition members and demonstrators, to prevent the distribution of 
leaflets and newspapers or as a pretext to break up civil society 
meetings (see sections 2.a., 2.b., and 3).
    For example, on February 17, police stopped and detained for three 
hours a vehicle carrying eight opposition candidate supporters on their 
way to Minsk for a candidate registration ceremony. On March 24, 
authorities detained three Polish citizens, including a former Polish 
ambassador to Belarus, who reported to the Polish Embassy that he was 
beaten by police.
    On April 26, police arrested opposition Belarusian Party of 
Communists Chairman Sergey Kalyakin and Belarusian Popular Front 
Chairman Vintsuk Vyachorka for participating in an unauthorized 
demonstration. Kalyakin and Vyachorka served 14 and 15 days in jail, 
respectively. On April 28, police detained eight ``flash-mob'' 
activists demonstrating support for the independent Union of Belarusian 
Writers and released them after copying their identity information (see 
section 2.b.). On May 12, police detained, fingerprinted, and 
photographed ten opposition activists gathered near a local Interior 
Ministry building to express solidarity with jailed activists (see 
section 2.b.). Authorities released them without charge hours later 
after confiscating prodemocracy signs and national flags.
    On July 26, authorities in Polotsk detained for one hour former 
opposition Presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich, his wife, 
press secretary, and an opposition party deputy head after discovering 
old campaign leaflets in their vehicle. They were on the way to visit a 
prominent political prisoner.
    On September 2, border guards detained and questioned human rights 
attorney Oleg Volchek for over three hours. He was released without 
charge, but authorities confiscated reports in his possession that 
criticized the country's March 19 Presidential elections. Authorities 
later accused Volchek of transporting illegal economic policy 
materials; however, the charge was dropped on December 7 for lack of 
evidence.
    On October 16, authorities in Minsk detained 15 demonstrators who 
were holding images of Belarusian political prisoners and candles in 
memoriam of 54 people who died in a stampede at subway station in 1999. 
On that same day, police in Brest detained 14 activists who formed a 
line on a bridge so that letters on their chests would read ``Freedom 
to Political Prisoners!'' Authorities released all 29 demonstrators 
from local police stations without charge after recording identities.
    On October 27, a Minsk court sentenced opposition activists and 
independent journalist Aleksandr Abramovich to 15 days in jail for 
attempting to demonstrate near a government building.
    On October 30, a court in Grodno sentenced Milinkevich aide Andrey 
Kuselchuk to three days in jail for allegedly speaking obscenities in 
public. Police had originally arrested him on October 29 after finding 
opposition newsletters in his car.
    On November 23, police in Vitebsk stopped a vehicle transporting 
Presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich and a local opposition 
leader three times while they were collecting signatures for local 
election campaigns. During one of the stops, police brought Milinkevich 
and the vehicle to a local police station for questioning about 
possible involvement in a fatal car accident. He was held for two hours 
and released.
    During the year a number of other individuals also were detained or 
arrested for political reasons. On October 5, authorities detained 
opposition youth activist Pavel Krasovskiy for 10 days on suspicion of 
involvement in the September 2005 bombings that injured more than 50 
people in the northern city of Vitebsk. Authorities accused Krasovskiy 
of attempted murder and seized computer equipment and printed material 
from his residence. They also charged him with killing and raping two 
women in 1999. In October 2005 President Lukashenko announced that two 
brothers, identified as Vitaliy and Yuriy Murashko, had admitted to the 
bombing. However, in April they were freed on their own recognizance; 
there were no further reports regarding the charges against them by 
year's end. On November 15, authorities dropped the 1999 murder-rape 
charges against Krasovskiy but said he remained a suspect in the 2005 
bombing, despite clear evidence that he was out of the country at the 
time.
    According to the authoritative local human rights NGO Vyasna, 
authorities detained or arrested approximately 1,000 persons throughout 
the country for political reasons leading up to and following the 
Presidential election; 685 of the arrests occurred between March 19 and 
March 25. Many of those detained or arrested, including Milinkevich's 
two sons, were bringing food and warm clothing to prodemocracy 
demonstrators camping in Minsk's October Square to protest the 
fraudulent Presidential election. Detainees also included opposition 
United Civic Party leader Anatoliy Lebedko and his deputy Aleksandr 
Dobrovolskiy. On March 24, authorities raided the ``tent city'' and 
arrested as many as 250 people. Most of the detainees were sentenced to 
10-15 days detention in trials that lasted no longer than 10 minutes. 
There were no reports of acquittals (see sections 2.b. and 3).
    The Government arbitrarily detained representatives of the 
independent media (see section 2.a.).
    On March 13, authorities released Anton Filimonov, the son of 
murdered journalist Veronika Cherkasova, after three months in 
detention (see section 1.a.) He was detained in December 2005 with four 
other persons for counterfeiting and on suspicion of murdering his 
mother. He was subjected to intense interrogation and authorities had 
attempted to confine him to a psychiatric ward. While in detention 
Filimonov reported that unidentified men had tried to persuade him to 
sign a confession to killing his mother. He was released for lack of 
evidence.

    Amnesty.--Unlike in previous years, authorities did not grant 
general amnesty during the year.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary; however the Government did not respect judicial 
independence in practice. There was credible evidence that prosecutors 
and courts convicted individuals on false charges.
    The President appoints six of the 12 members of the Constitutional 
Court, including the chairman, and the chairmen of the Supreme Court 
and the Supreme Economic Court. He also has authority to appoint and 
dismiss all district and military judges. Corruption and inefficiency 
in the judiciary were generally the result of political interference in 
the work of the court system (see section 3). In 2005 one judge was 
tried and convicted of corruption.
    The criminal justice system has three tiers: district courts, 
regional courts, and the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court is 
empowered to adjudicate constitutional issues and to examine the 
legality of laws; however, in practice it was wholly dependent on the 
executive branch, had no means of enforcing its decisions, and did not 
challenge Presidential initiatives.
    Prosecutors are organized into offices at the district, regional, 
and national levels. They answer to and serve at the pleasure of the 
prosecutor general, who is appointed by the President. Prosecutors are 
not independent and do not have authority to bring charges against the 
President or members of his executive staff.
    On January 16, the UNCHR special rapporteur on Belarus released a 
report that confirmed the findings of an April 2005 report by the 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on arbitrary detention 
(see section 2.d.). The report described the authority of prosecutors 
as ``excessive and imbalanced'' because prosecutors could extend 
periods of detention without the permission of judges. In addition, 
investigations are conducted by investigators and prosecutors without 
effective judicial oversight. The report stated there also was an 
imbalance of power between the prosecution and the defense. Defense 
lawyers did not have the benefit of examining investigation files, to 
be present during gathering of evidence, or to examine evidence against 
defendants until a prosecutor formally brought the case to the court. 
Lawyers found it difficult to call some evidence into question because 
technical expertise was under the control of the prosecutor's office. 
According to the special rapporteur's report, these imbalances of power 
had intensified at the beginning of the year. As a result, there were 
very few cases in which criminal defendants were found innocent. By 
Presidential decree all lawyers are subordinate to the Ministry of 
Justice, which compromised their independence. Lawyers must be licensed 
by the ministry and are required to work for the state in regional 
collegiums. The law prohibits private attorneys from practicing, and 
lawyers must renew their licenses every five years. Unlike in previous 
years, there were no credible reports during the year of lawyers losing 
their licenses for defending NGOs or opposition political parties.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for public trials; however, the 
courts frequently held trials in judges' offices, which often prevented 
interested observers from attending. Several trials, particularly of 
political figures, were closed to the public. Judges adjudicate all 
trials; there is no system of trial by jury. However, in the case of 
grave crimes, judges adjudicate the trial with assistance of two 
civilian advisors. Judges depended on the Ministry of Justice for 
funding court infrastructure and on executive branch officials for 
personal housing. There were widespread and credible reports that 
executive and local authorities dictated the outcome of trials.
    On February 21, authorities arrested four leaders of the 
independent election-monitoring NGO Partnership--Nikolay Astreyko, 
Timofey Dranchuk, Aleksandr Shalayko, and Enira Bronitskaya--on 
suspicion of plotting a terrorist coup. They were held in pretrial 
detention without visits by family members until their July 28 trial. 
Judge Leonid Yasinovich conducted the trial behind closed doors. 
Following closing arguments, Yasinovich altered the charges to fit the 
prosecution's case and sentenced Astreyko and Dranchuk to two years and 
one year imprisonment respectively, for operating an unregistered NGO. 
Shalayko and Bronitskaya were sentenced to six months in prison on the 
same charge. Authorities subsequently adjusted their sentences for time 
served in pretrial detention; Shalayko and Bronitskaya were released on 
August 21; Dranchuk on December 26. On November 17, a Minsk court 
resentenced Astreyko to corrective labor and house arrest (see sections 
2.b., 2.d., 3, and 4).
    On September 15, authorities arrested youth opposition leader 
Dmitriy Dashkevich for operating an unregistered NGO and denied him 
family contact until November 1 when he was sentenced to 18 months in 
prison.
    Defendants have the right to attend proceedings, confront 
witnesses, and present evidence on their own behalf; however, in 
practice these rights were not always respected.
    The law provides for access to legal counsel for detainees and 
requires that courts appoint lawyers for those who cannot afford one; 
however, at times these rights were not respected, and some detainees 
were denied access to a lawyer. The law provides for the right to 
choose legal representation freely; however, a Presidential decree 
prohibits members of NGOs from representing individuals other than 
members of their organizations in court (see section 4). In contrast 
with the previous year, there were no reports of the Government using 
the decree as a pretext for closing NGOs.
    The laws provide for the presumption of innocence; however, in 
practice defendants frequently had the burden of proving their 
innocence. Information obtained from interrogations was often used 
against defendants in court. Authorities seemed unwilling to challenge 
the veracity of prosecution witnesses. For example, in May a Gomel 
prosecutor refused to prosecute the deputy head of the local police 
department, whom opposition activists accused of perjury, on the 
grounds that in administrative cases the law ``does not envisage 
warning citizens about accountability for false testimony.''
    Defendants have the right to appeal court decisions, and most 
criminal cases were appealed; however, in the vast majority of those 
cases lower court verdicts were upheld. In an appeal, neither 
defendants nor witnesses appear before the court; the court only 
reviews the protocol and other documents from a lower court trial. In 
2004 the chairman of the Supreme Court stated that only 1.5 percent of 
court decisions were overturned on appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Despite some releases, the 
number of reported political prisoners increased during the year as 
authorities sentenced opposition leaders and activists to short- and 
long-term jail detention on the basis of highly questionable evidence.
    On March 14, authorities arrested and sentenced opposition youth 
leader Nikita Sasim to three months in jail for participating in an 
unsanctioned demonstration. Three months later, a Baranovichi court 
sentenced Sasim to three additional months in jail for alleged draft 
evasion. Sasim had a waiver from military service on account of head 
injuries caused by police during a peaceful protest in September 2005. 
Amnesty International (AI) declared Sasim a prisoner of conscience 
while he was in jail.
    On May 4, opposition youth activists Andrey Ignatchik and Aleksey 
Kozulin, the nephew of an imprisoned former opposition Presidential 
candidate, were sentenced to five days in jail for participating in an 
unsanctioned protest. On May 10, a Minsk court sentenced opposition 
youth activist Artur Finkevich to two years of khimya for allegedly 
painting antigovernment graffiti. The judge suspended the trial for a 
week because the prosecution could not document the $16,000 (34,240,000 
rubles) damage Finkevich allegedly caused.
    On May 15, a Lida district judge sentenced opposition party leader 
Ivan Kruk to six months in jail on the basis of police testimony that 
he resisted arrest. On May 29, Sergey Lyashkevich, an opposition 
campaign coordinator, was sentenced to five months in jail for inciting 
mass disorder. During Lyashkevich's hearing, prosecution witnesses 
could not recall pertinent information and contradicted each other's 
testimonies.
    On July 13, a Minsk court sentenced opposition Presidential 
candidate Aleksandr Kozulin to 5 1/2 years in prison for alleged 
hooliganism and organizing persons to disturb public peace during and 
immediately after the March 19 elections (see sections 1.c., 1.e., 
2.b., and 3). Other protest events related to the Presidential election 
were also part of the criminal case against Kozulin. Authorities denied 
the Kozulin family visits from October 20, the day he began a 53-day 
hunger strike, until November 25. Prison authorities also refused 
Kozulin legal counsel in an apparent effort to coerce him to end his 
fast.
    On July 17, a Minsk court sentenced Anatoliy Lebedko, an opposition 
party leader, and Anatoliy Askerko to 10 days in jail for allegedly 
using obscenities when they tried to participate in a demonstration to 
express solidarity with prodemocracy activists who disappeared under 
mysterious circumstances.
    On August 4, a Minsk judge sentenced independent election monitors 
Nikolay Astreyko and Timofey Dranchuk to two years and one year in 
prison, respectively, for running an unregistered organization. In late 
November, authorities permitted Astreyko to serve the remainder of his 
sentence in corrective labor and house arrest. The judge also sentenced 
their colleagues Aleksandr Shalayko and Enira Bronitskaya to six months 
in prison, but counted time served and ordered their release on August 
21.
    Also in August authorities refused to approve the early release of 
opposition party leader Nikolay Statkevich and youth activist Pavel 
Severinets from khimya. They were sentenced in 2005 to three years of 
work release following a politically motivated trial for organizing 
unsanctioned protests after the fraudulent 2004 constitutional 
referendum to abolish term limits. Their sentences were reduced to two 
years as part of a general amnesty; at year's end they remained in 
khimya.
    On September 18, a Minsk judge sentenced opposition politician 
Vyacheslav Sivchik to 10 days in jail for organizing an unsanctioned 
three-day demonstration in October Square to protest the fraudulent 
March 19 Presidential election (see section 2.b.). Sivchik was severely 
beaten by armed individuals who lured him into a car disguised as a 
diplomatic vehicle. At year's end there were no developments into a 
government investigation on how the assailants acquired diplomatic 
vehicle number plates.
    On October 23, a Minsk court sentenced 60-year-old human rights 
activist Yekaterina Sadovskaya to two years in prison for allegedly 
insulting President Lukashenko and levied a fine of $1,860 (four 
million rubles) for allegedly insulting and threatening a judge. She 
was arrested in July, sent to a mental hospital for a psychiatric 
examination, and then transferred to a pretrial detention center until 
her trial. According to the human rights NGO Charter 97, Sadovskaya 
admitted to writing a letter recommending that Lukashenko undergo a 
mental examination; however, the letter was never distributed. 
Authorities found the letter during a search of her home.
    On November 1, a Minsk judge sentenced youth opposition leader 
Dmitriy Dashkevich to 18 months in prison for operating an unregistered 
organization. AI subsequently declared Dashkevich a prisoner of 
conscience (see section 4). On December 22, authorities released Andrey 
Klimov, whom a Minsk court sentenced in June 2005 to 18 months of 
khimya in a politically motivated trial for organizing an unsanctioned 
protest in March 2005. He had previously spent four years in prison for 
alleged embezzlement.
    In April authorities released former NGO leader and opposition 
activist Mikhail Marinich following the March 19 Presidential election 
and an amnesty that reduced his prison sentence to two-and-one-half 
years. He was sentenced in 2004 for allegedly stealing property from 
his NGO. While in jail, AI declared Marinich a prisoner of conscience. 
Marinich, a former government minister and Presidential candidate, was 
widely regarded as a leading political opponent of President Lukashenko 
(see section 1.c.).
    In May authorities released opposition activist Valeriy 
Levonevskiy, who was sentenced in 2004 to two years in prison for 
writing a poem insulting President Lukashenko. While in prison, 
authorities prohibited Levonevskiy from corresponding with foreign 
embassies and denied him permission to attend his father's funeral (see 
section 1.c.).
    In November authorities released former opposition Member of 
Parliament and outspoken critic of the Government Sergey Skrebets, who 
was sentenced on February 14 to two years in prison for allegedly 
securing an illegal bank loan in 2001.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no credible reports that authorities 
orchestrated alleged fights with cellmates as a pretext to prolong 
short-term imprisonments. In August 2005 a court sentenced Tadeusz 
Gavin to 15 days in prison for participating in an unsanctioned 
protest. In mid-August of the same year, the court added 15 days to his 
sentence for allegedly attacking a cellmate. In November 2005 the 
Supreme Court annulled the second sentence for lack of evidence of a 
crime, after Gavin had served the sentence.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although individuals could 
file lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation, the civil judiciary is not independent and rarely impartial 
in such matters.
    In February, opposition political party leader Anatoliy Lebedko 
filed a $467,000 (one billion rubles) libel suit against a state 
television network for a February 20 documentary featuring a fabricated 
dialogue between him and a Georgian politician in which Lebedko was 
portrayed as plotting a violent street demonstration. In April a Minsk 
court threw out Lebedko's suit, reportedly under pressure from the 
Government.
    In March state university authorities dismissed history instructor 
Yuriy Bacheshche for refusing to turn over his findings following his 
participation in independent election monitoring. In May during 
Bacheshche's civil hearing for reinstatement, authorities threatened 
Bacheshche with a criminal investigation for allegedly defaming 
President Lukashenko. In June the judge suspended Bacheshche's case 
(see section 2.a.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the 
Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. In addition, 
the law provides penalties for those who obstruct BKGB officers in the 
performance of their duties, even though these actions may, in 
principle, be illegal. Any effort to prevent BKGB officers from 
entering the premises of a company, establishment, or organization is 
an administrative offense, as is any refusal to allow BKGB audits or to 
deny or restrict BKGB access to company information systems and 
databases.
    The law requires a warrant for searches; however, the BKGB entered 
homes, conducted unauthorized searches, and read mail without warrants. 
In May 2005 a new law took effect giving the BKGB authority to enter 
any building at any time, so long as it applies for a warrant within 24 
hours after the entry took place. There were credible reports that 
government agents covertly entered homes of opposition activists and 
offices of opposition groups and monitored the actions of individuals.
    On July 31, state-controlled media broadcast hidden camera footage 
of a police raid on a Latvian diplomat's apartment (see section 5).
    Authorities conducted searches of residences and offices for 
clearly political reasons (see section 3). For example, on February 11, 
Brest police raided a basement belonging to opposition regional 
campaign manager Vladimir Radivonchik, seizing posters and calendars 
featuring images of opposition Presidential candidate Aleksandr 
Milinkevich. Police stated they conducted the search after receiving an 
anonymous telephone tip that Radivonchik was storing ammunition. 
Radivonchik was taken to a police station for questioning, where police 
played a recording of the phone call. The police found no ammunition 
and released Radivonchik.
    On September 5, police in Vitebsk and Minsk searched three 
apartments belonging to youth activists, claiming the searches were 
connected to the politically based criminal cases of activists Kristina 
Shatikova, Denis Denisov, and Tatyana Yelovaya. Police seized cell 
phones, computers, and leaflets and brought one activist to a police 
station for questioning.
    On October 31, police searched the office of the Dzedzich 
Foundation for Support of Youth Initiatives in Brest after allegedly 
receiving complaints about a domestic disturbance. Local Belarusian 
Popular Front (BPF) leader Dmitriy Shimanskiy reported that the 
authorities presented an unsigned inspection warrant before seizing 15 
completed BPF applications, 500 blank applications, 800 copies of the 
UN Human Rights Committee's report on the country, and other printed 
material.
    In March 2005 police raided the office of the Zhoda newspaper and 
confiscated decorations from office walls, including altered 
photographs of Lukashenko. Zhoda's editor Aleksey Karol and deputy 
editor Aleksandr Sdvizhkov were each fined $1,200 (2,550,000 rubles) in 
September 2005 for ``disseminating false information'' through the 
altered photos.
    Diplomats also were forced to submit to searches and detentions. On 
March 26, customs officials stopped Polish consul Janusz Dombrowski at 
a border crossing and demanded to search his vehicle. He refused. On 
March 27, Belarusian Television alleged that the border guards had 
stopped Dombrowski because they had information that he was trying to 
smuggle subversive literature into the country. After crossing the 
border, Dombrowski opened the trunk of his vehicle to show Polish 
reporters that he was only transporting food. Dombrowski claimed that 
he was detained at the border for 24 hours without food and water and 
treated like a common criminal. The diplomat was not allowed to bring 
his vehicle back into the country upon his return.
    While the law prohibits authorities from intercepting telephone and 
other communications without a court order, in practice authorities 
continued to monitor residences, telephones, and computers. The BKGB, 
the interior ministry, and certain border guard detachments may use 
wiretaps but must first obtain a prosecutor's permission; the lack of 
independence of the prosecutor's office rendered the due process 
protections relating to wiretaps meaningless.
    The Government telecommunications company Beltelekom has a monopoly 
on Internet service, allowing authorities to monitor practically all e-
mail. There were credible reports that the Government monitored e-mail 
sent from Internet cafes and from university computer networks (see 
section 2.a.).
    Nearly all opposition political figures reported that authorities 
monitored their activities and conversations. During the 2004 trial of 
former NGO leader and opposition activist Mikhail Marinich, the 
prosecutor introduced as evidence transcripts of Marinich's phone 
conversations that had been recorded by the BKGB (see sections 1.c. and 
1.e). Representatives of certain NGOs also said that their 
conversations and correspondence were monitored routinely by the 
security services.
    The Government owned a majority share in all cellular telephone 
companies. Ministry of Communications contracts for telephone service 
prohibited subscribers from using such services for purposes contrary 
to state interests and public order. The ministry has the authority to 
terminate telephone service to those who breach the law. There were 
several instances where prodemocracy activists had their cell phones 
disconnected as they attempted to spread information about peaceful 
demonstrations, particularly during the months leading up to and 
following the March 19 Presidential election. In October 2005 the 
cellular telephone company Velcom disconnected the mobile telephones of 
opposition activists asking citizens to place lit candles in their 
windows to protest government excesses.
    There were numerous reports that the Government coerced young 
people to join the pro-Lukashenko state-funded NGO Belarusian 
Republican Youth Union (BRYU). There were credible reports that 
military conscripts were ordered to join the BRYU, and university 
students reported that proof of BRYU membership was often needed to 
register for popular courses or acquire a dormitory room.
    The Government employed and encouraged a widespread system of 
informants. On July 26, interior ministry official Andrey Solodovnikov 
stated that civilian patrols at the country's educational institutions 
were formed in recent years to encourage students to become law-abiding 
citizens. Solodovnikov said that almost 200 ``voluntary'' squads had 
been created, with 49 of them policing higher educational institutions, 
77 operating at general educational schools, and 66 at vocational 
training schools. In 2005 the squads reported more than 600 alleged 
offenses. According to Solodovonikov, universities offer discounts on 
tuition to patrol members. According to independent media, at year's 
end there were approximately 43,000 members of 3,633 civilian patrol 
squads.
    Unlike previous years, there were no reports that authorities 
threatened to punish family members for alleged violations by 
individuals. In March 2005 court officials visited the home of former 
NGO leader and opposition activist Mikhail Marinich's ex-wife and 
confiscated $1,860 (four million rubles) worth of personal property 
towards payment of a fine less than $4.00 (8,000 rubles) (see sections 
1.c. and 1.e.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the Government did not respect these 
rights in practice.
    In November 2005 President Lukashenko told reporters that his 
government uses ``serious pressure'' to control the media and that he 
is in charge of this process. Individuals could not criticize the 
Government publicly without fear of reprisal, and authorities impeded 
criticism of the Government by videotaping political meetings, frequent 
identity checks, and other forms of intimidation (see sections 1.d. and 
3). The law also limits freedom of expression by prohibiting the 
wearing of masks and use of unregistered flags, symbols, and placards 
bearing messages deemed threatening to the Government or public order.
    In December 2005 the National Assembly passed and the President 
signed a series of amendments that greatly inhibited the freedoms of 
speech and assembly and criminalized the following actions: giving 
``false'' information about the political, economic, social, military, 
or international situation of the country to a foreigner; providing 
information on government agencies or the rights of citizens; 
participating in the activities of unregistered NGOs and in public 
demonstrations; training people to demonstrate publicly; financing 
public demonstrations; and soliciting foreign countries or 
international organizations to ``act to the detriment'' of the country 
(see sections 1.d., 1.e., 2.b., 3, and 4). Violations are punishable by 
up to three years in prison.
    The Government took steps to restrict independent media. On April 
27, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
chairman-in-office reported that freedom of the media had deteriorated 
in the country over the past few years, with fewer independent media 
outlets and greater use by the Government of administrative pressures 
to limit free expression.
    The highest circulation newspapers and other publications were 
state-owned and printed only materials supportive of the Government. 
There were some independent small-circulation newspapers and magazines, 
many of which criticized the Government. However, local authorities 
frequently warned independent editors to avoid certain topics and not 
to criticize the Government. Authorities also warned businesses not to 
advertise in newspapers that criticized the Government.
    During the year, the Government did not grant permits to any new 
independent newspapers. Meanwhile, authorities closed at least two 
independent newspapers and threatened to close several others. On March 
17, Supreme Economic Court Judge Oksana Mikhnyuk closed the independent 
newspaper Zhoda for violating the country's criminal code by publishing 
composite photographs of President Lukashenko and other prominent 
politicians and for reprinting satirical drawings of the Islamic 
Prophet Mohammad.
    On April 10, authorities nullified the legal address of independent 
newspaper Nasha Niva because its editor, Andrey Dynko, had been 
arrested while reporting on opposition demonstrations following the 
fraudulent March 19 Presidential election. Under the country's media 
laws, a newspaper must maintain a legal address in order to publish.
    State-owned stores across the country also stopped selling all but 
eight independent newspapers. While independent newspapers could still 
be purchased from independent sellers, their circulation was seriously 
restricted by these measures.
    In November and December 2005, authorities removed 17 independent 
newspapers from the state subscription list, making it impossible to 
receive them by mail. The state postal system, Belpochta, and the state 
kiosk network, Belsoyuzpechat, refused to distribute most of them. 
Starting on January 1, Belpochta and Belsoyuzpechat refused to 
distribute an additional 15 independent newspapers, including Brestskiy 
Kuryer, Vitebskiy Kuryer, Nasha Niva, Intex-Press, Lyakhavitskiy Chas, 
Tovarishch, Volaye Hlybokaye, Myastsoviy Chas, Khimik, Borisovskie 
Novosti, and Kuryer iz Borisova. On April 10, the Ministry of 
Information refused to grant the independent newspaper Nasha Niva, 
first published in 1906, a subscription license. Nasha Niva 
subsequently distributed information via the Internet. As of February 
3, state-run post offices in Novopolotsk and Polotsk refused to deliver 
the independent newspaper Khimik.
    The arbitrary use of Presidential power, often exercised through 
Presidential decrees, created additional obstacles to an independent 
press. On July 31, President Lukashenko signed an order empowering the 
State Security Council to control the distribution of radio 
frequencies. In July and August 2005 the President signed decrees 
restricting foreign and domestic sources from giving money to 
organizations for broadly defined political activities, including the 
distribution of information. These restrictions followed a 2003 
Presidential decree that was used to crackdown on independent media 
outlets and NGOs.
    Only state-run radio and the state-run television networks ONT, 
Belarusian Television (BT), and Capital Television broadcast 
nationwide. The Government continued to make use of its virtual 
monopoly on television and radio broadcasting to spread the official 
version of events and to minimize opposing points of view. State-owned 
broadcast media continued to marginalize the political opposition by 
depicting it negatively or ignoring it altogether (see section 3). 
Local independent television stations operated in some areas and 
reported local news relatively unhindered by the authorities; however, 
most were under government pressure to forego reporting on national 
issues or be subjected to censorship. Moreover, local independent 
stations were frequently pressured into sharing materials and 
cooperating with authorities to intimidate local opposition and human 
rights groups during meetings with foreign diplomats.
    In general, international media, including Deutsche Welle, were 
permitted to operate, but not without some interference and harassment. 
Russian channels NTV and RTR were generally available, although in many 
parts of the country only through pay cable services. However, their 
news programs were at times blocked from broadcast or temporarily 
replaced with local programming. On March 16, cable television company 
Kosmos Television stopped transmitting Russia's RTVi channel to 57,000 
subscribers, citing technical problems. RTVi Director Mikhail 
Borshchevskiy reported receiving an order from authorities to cut off 
transmission during the election. Broadcasts from other countries, 
including Poland and Lithuania, could be received in parts of the 
country, usually along the border.
    The Government harassed and arrested journalists, particularly 
before and after the March 19 Presidential election (see sections 1.d. 
and 3). The Belarusian Association of Journalists identified 31 
journalists who were detained, arrested, fined, or jailed between March 
14 and 27. Among them were Vadim Aleksandrovich of the newspaper 
Belarusi i Rynok, Dmitriy Gurnevich of Radio Polonia, and Andrey Dynko, 
editor-in-chief of Nasha Niva, who were sentenced to 10 days in jail on 
March 20 and 21 in connection with their reporting of opposition 
demonstrations in Minsk's October Square. On March 27, authorities 
fined freelance journalist Tatyana Snitko $435 (935,250 rubles) after 
detaining her for three days for allegedly participating in an 
unsanctioned demonstration.
    At least 12 foreign journalists were detained or jailed during the 
same period. On March 27, a Minsk court sentenced Ukrainian journalist 
Pavlo Salyha to 10 days incarceration for allegedly participating in an 
unsanctioned demonstration. On March 24, authorities arrested Nino 
Georgobiani and Georgy Lagidze of Georgia's public television and 
Canadian freelance journalist Frederick Lavoie as they filmed near a 
Minsk detention center. Georgobiani and Lagidze served five days in 
jail; Lavoie served 15 days.
    Authorities also assaulted, detained, or arrested numerous 
independent journalists during the year. According to Reporters Without 
Borders, on March 2 police assaulted nine independent reporters who 
were covering the arrest of former opposition Presidential candidate 
Aleksandr Kozulin. On April 21, police in Bobruysk detained Vadim 
Dovnar, a correspondent with the Russian newspaper Kommersant, for 
allegedly speaking obscenities near a government building. On April 26, 
police detained independent journalists Nikita Bytsenko and Yuriy 
Svetlakov as they traveled to a rally commemorating the 20th 
anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; they were released the 
day after the rally. On June 15, police in the Mogilev region detained 
reporters Syarhey and Mikalai Herdziy of the independent newspaper 
Volny Gorad for collecting information about construction in the 
village of Veraneykiy; they were released the same day with a warning.
    Several foreign journalists were prevented from entering the 
country or were detained or arrested after their arrival (see sections 
1.d. and 1.e.). In January border guards briefly detained and seized 
videotapes from a crew of Ukrainian television journalists who were 
covering the March Presidential election. On February 19, authorities 
detained and expelled Polish journalist Waclaw Radzivinowicz as he 
tried to cover the trial of several activists from the Union of 
Belarusian Poles NGO. On March 15, border guards detained and denied 
entry to Ukraine Channel 5 correspondent Andrey Zhihulin and cameraman 
Vitaliy Doroshchonok. Both journalists had been arrested during a live 
broadcast of an opposition rally in Minsk on March 12 and later 
released.
    On March 14, authorities suspended the investigation of the 2004 
killing of Veronika Cherkasova, a journalist for the independent 
Solidarnost newspaper. In December 2005 the prosecutor general closed 
the investigation into the October 2005 unexplained death of 
independent journalist Vasiliy Grodnikov, stating that he had died 
because of his own ``careless actions'' (see section 1.a.).
    The law specifies that the Government may close a publication after 
two warnings in one year for violating a range of amendments adopted in 
2005 that inhibit freedom of speech and of the press. Authorities 
continued to frequently issue warnings to pressure independent 
newspapers. In addition, regulatory provisions grant authorities power 
arbitrarily to prohibit or censor critical reporting. The State 
Committee on the Press can suspend periodicals or newspapers for three 
months without a court ruling. The law also prohibits the media from 
disseminating information on behalf of unregistered political parties, 
trade unions, and NGOs. On May 23, the Ministry of Information warned 
independent newspaper Khimik of possible legal actions after the local 
Novopolotsk ideology office complained that the paper had published an 
opinion poll conducted by an unlicensed pollster and an interview with 
an opposition Presidential candidate.
    The Government tightly controlled the content of television 
broadcasts. On January 26, President Lukashenko declared that the 
country's radio and television industry ``is an integral part of state 
policies and ideology, a powerful communication tool for subjects of 
society.'' In February the state-controlled television network BT ran a 
six-day documentary series disparaging the opposition. Throughout the 
election campaign, BT's news program ``Panorama'' devoted more than 40 
percent of its reports, which were all positive, to President 
Lukashenko and less than 0.5 percent to opposition candidates. There 
were credible reports during the year that the BKGB and other 
government agencies censored national television news broadcasts. 
Although the Central Election Committee (CEC) allocated equal airtime 
on two occasions for half-hour speeches on state television to both 
Lukashenko and opposition Presidential candidates prior to the March 19 
elections, authorities censored several minutes of remarks by 
opposition candidates (see section 3).
    State television covered the post-election opposition protests on 
March 21. However, broadcasts portrayed participants as drug users and 
selectively interviewed alleged bystanders who denounced the protests 
as pointless and disgraceful.
    The Government censored the media. Authorities frequently imposed 
heavy fines on journalists and editors for criticizing the President 
and his supporters, and many publications were forced to exercise self-
censorship. Authorities fined, warned, or jailed members of the media 
who publicly criticized the Government. The libel law makes no 
distinction between private and public persons in lawsuits concerning 
defamation of character. A public figure who was criticized for poor 
performance while in office may sue both the journalist and the media 
outlet that disseminated the critical report.
    The Government used harsh libel laws to suppress criticism of 
political leaders. The law provides for punishment of public insults or 
libel of the President and government officials by up to four years' 
imprisonment, two years' khimya, or a large fine. Authorities continued 
to use such laws to stifle press freedom and to imprison political 
opponents (see section 1.e.).
    In June a court sentenced opposition activist Nikolay Razumov to 
three years in prison for slandering the President; he has been in jail 
since March 14. During the campaign of opposition Presidential 
candidate Aleksander Milinkevich, Razumov said during an interview that 
Lukashenko was involved in the disappearance of opposition politicians 
Viktor Gonchar, Anatoliy Krasovskiy, and Yuriy Zakharenko (see section 
1.b.). On June 18, authorities in Vitebsk fined independent journalist 
Serzhuk Serabro eight dollars (17,000 rubles) for watching activists 
raise a prohibited flag in the city center and confiscated his 
photographs.
    In May police and the BKGB reported seizing 94 copies of a book by 
youth opposition leader Pavel Severinets to determine whether it 
complied with antidefamatory regulations. The book discussed national 
geography and history, including the short-lived Belarusian National 
Republic, World War II, and the Chernobyl nuclear accident. However, a 
few chapters reportedly mentioned an opposition political party and an 
unregistered youth organization.
    On May 17, the Minsk city prosecutor threatened Irina Khalip, an 
independent journalist working for the Russian newpaper Novaya Gazeta, 
with a four-year prison term if she continued writing articles that 
defamed President Lukashenko. On February 6, Baranavichi Judge Zhana 
Kapachewskaya fined Uladizmir Hundar, editor of Baranavitskaya Gazeta, 
$271 (58,000 rubles) for publishing an article on ``Solidarity Day,'' 
an unofficial monthly commemoration of the mysterious disappearance of 
four political dissidents. The judge stated that Hundar was guilty of 
participating in the unsanctioned demonstration by virtue of publishing 
an article about it.
    In January 2005 the private Pressbol sports newspaper was ordered 
to pay a $14,000 (30 million rubles) fine and its editor, Vladimir 
Berezhkov, a $4,600 (10 million rubles) fine for a 2004 article 
claiming that Andrey Imanali, deputy head of the Belarusian Gymnastics 
Federation, was involved in organized crime. In July 2005 Russian 
authorities charged Imanali with abduction and with alleged links to 
organized crime. He faces extradition to Russia.
    In May 2005 Minsk authorities reopened a slander case against human 
rights activist Harry Pogonyailo for giving an interview to Swedish 
journalists about the disappearance of opposition figures. The 
interview never aired, and authorities confiscated the video tape. The 
slander case was dropped in November 2005.
    In June 2005 Minsk judge Lyubov Valevich ordered independent 
newspaper Narodnaya Volya to pay $46,000 (100 million rubles) to Sergey 
Gaidukevich, leader of a progovernment party, for claiming he was 
involved in violating the Iraqi oil-for-food program, even though a 
number of reputable international sources documented Gaidukevich's 
involvement.
    The Government took numerous other actions during the year to limit 
the independent press, including limiting access to newsprint and 
printing presses, restricting the import of media-related materials, 
and temporarily suspending independent and opposition periodicals.
    During the run up to the March elections, the Government 
discouraged and threatened printing companies from printing the legally 
authorized leaflets of opposition candidates and parties. In late 2005 
State Control Committee inspectors conducted detailed audits of many 
printing houses to see if they had printed material for the opposition. 
Although there are no laws against owning printing presses, authorities 
seized at least one opposition press in July 2005 from the home of 
local opposition party leader Vladimir Kishkurna.
    Several independent newspapers, including Belorusskaya Delovaya 
Gazeta, Den, and Solidarnost printed their materials in Russia because 
domestic printing presses (mostly state-owned) refused to print them. 
State printing houses refused to print four independent newspapers, 
including one of the country's two independent daily newspapers, 
Narodnaya Volya. The other three, Mestnaya Gazeta, Belaruskaya Delovaya 
Gazeta, and Solidarnost began disseminating Internet-only versions due 
to printing and distribution problems created by the Government. On May 
30, Narodnaya Volya discontinued free distribution of its print run and 
warned its readers that some affiliates of the state-owned Belarusbank 
would not permit them to transfer money to subscribe to the paper.
    On September 21, the Belarusian language intellectual magazine 
Arche was suspended for three months because its September issue 
featured a cover photograph of the country's police officers violently 
dispersing antigovernment protesters in 1995. Authorities claimed that 
Arche violated the country's media laws by publishing a political 
article because the magazine's license application stated that it would 
focus exclusively on history.
    In many cases the Government confiscated at will independent and 
opposition newspapers. For example, on January 17, police in Grodno 
seized 50 copies of Polish Magazine in Exile from two activists with 
the NGO Union of Poles. On February 12, police in Lida seized 1,200 
copies of Narodnaya Volya from opposition campaign activists. On March 
3, Vitebsk police seized 250,000 copies of the independent newspaper 
Narodnaya Volya being transported from a Russian printing plant to 
Minsk because the issue contained quotations of an opposition 
Presidential candidate; on March 14, the police confiscated the paper's 
entire replacement run of 300,000 copies. On March 17, Minsk police 
seized 85,600 copies of the opposition newspaper Tovarishch; 
authorities offered to return the newspapers only after the country's 
March 19 elections. On July 26, authorities arrested Dzemjan Frankouski 
pursuant to a criminal case started in May for distributing issues of 
the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya free of charge. Frankouski 
was released two days later.
    Authorities also seized leaflets and other printed materials the 
Government deemed to be illegally printed. On January 6, police in the 
Gomel region seized 10,800 calendars from the car of opposition party 
activist Valeriy Rybchenko; police claimed the calendars did not have 
the proper publication data. Two weeks earlier police from the same 
area seized 57,000 holiday cards signed by former Presidential 
candidate Milinkevich. On March 6, authorities in Rogachev fined an 
opposition campaign worker $145 (310,000 rubles) for passing out 
opposition campaign flyers. On March 7, police in Gomel confiscated 
28,000 leaflets from an opposition Presidential candidate's campaign. 
On March 15, Minsk police seized 92,000 leaflets from opposition 
activists. About 50,000 leaflets were taken from an opposition party 
leader, whom police arrested for petty hooliganism and illegal 
distribution of printed materials.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted access to the 
Internet. Credible reports indicated that the Government monitored e-
mail and Internet chatrooms. Many individuals and groups could not 
engage in peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by 
electronic mail.
    During the March 19 Presidential election, there were numerous 
credible reports that the Government blocked several opposition 
campaign and independent media Web sites. Many opposition groups and 
independent newspapers have switched to Internet domains operated 
outside the country because of the Government's campaign against 
Internet freedom. There also were credible reports that authorities 
attempted to block Radio Liberty's Web site in the country during the 
March Presidential elections. On November 7, the NGO Reporters Without 
Borders again included the country on its annual list of ``enemies of 
the internet,'' countries that censor independent news sites and 
opposition publications and monitor the Internet to stifle dissident 
voices.
    In February the Ministry of Communications announced new laws 
effectively giving the country's telephone monopoly, Beltelekom, and 
other organizations authorized by the Government the exclusive right to 
maintain Internet domains. Meanwhile, there were credible reports that 
authorities in Vitebsk attempted to use the law to prohibit all 
wireless Internet access. The local government compromised only after 
several youth demonstrations, and invoked the prohibition to computers 
purchased after February.
    In March 2005 Grodno authorities closed the Internet chat room 
forum.Grodno, declaring it ``subversive.'' Beltelekom subsequently 
fired the chat room's administrator, Aleksey Rads. Some students 
claimed state university officials monitored Internet usage on 
university networks.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted 
academic freedom, in part by requiring educational institutions to 
teach and students to study an official state ideology that combined 
reverence for the achievements of the Soviet Union and for the country 
under the leadership of President Lukashenko. Use of the word 
``academic'' was restricted. On June 19, President Lukashenko signed a 
decree prohibiting any nongovernmental organization from including the 
word ``academy'' in its title.
    During the year there were credible reports of authorities 
dismissing teachers on political grounds. In August authorities 
terminated longtime history teacher Ales Chigir, who was an opposition 
member of the Bobruysk City Council and headed an opposition 
Presidential candidate's regional campaign. On October 20, a Bobruysk 
court dismissed Chigir's suit to be reinstated as a teacher.
    In March state university authorities dismissed history instructor 
Yuriy Bacheshche for refusing to turn over his findings after 
independent monitoring of the March 19 Presidential election (see 
section 1.e.). In December a Minsk civil court upheld the dismissal 
after the university alleged that Bacheshche distributed computer discs 
with cartoon images that defamed the country's President.
    The dismissals were in keeping with a November 2005 directive by 
Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov that all schools, including private 
institutions, are political bodies, must follow state orders, and 
cannot be headed by opposition members. Radkov also asserted his right 
as minister to appoint and dismiss the heads of private educational 
institutions.
    On January 24, the Supreme Court suspended the operations of the 
independent think tank association ``Belorusskiye Fabriki Mysli'' 
(Belarusian Thought Factories--BFM) for three months for lack of a 
legal address; BFM was liquidated on August 3 (see section 2.b.). 
Separately on January 23, BFM head Oleg Manayev, who also was the 
director of the Independent Center for Economic and Socio-political 
Research, received a warning from the prosecutor's office for 
conducting surveys and publishing results without first receiving 
official accreditation from the National Academy of Sciences.
    On February 21, pursuant to a 2005 regulation requiring all opinion 
polling to be registered with NAS, the academy authorized 10 Belarusian 
and Russian polling services to conduct election-related polling. This 
list included the Presidential administration's polling service, 
sociological agencies of the Gomel and Grodno regional governments, and 
the pro-Lukashenko Ekoom polling organization. No major independent 
polling services were on the list (see section 3).
    The Government tasked the state youth organization, BRYU, with 
ensuring ideological purity among youth. Students reportedly were 
pressured to join the BRYU to receive benefits and rooms in 
dormitories, and local authorities pressured BRYU members to campaign 
on behalf of government candidates (see section 1.f.).
    Government mandated textbooks contained a heavily propagandized 
version of history and other subjects. On June 16, while dedicating the 
country's national library, President Lukashenko rationalized 
government censorship of texts on the grounds that modern books about 
heads of state and historical personalities contain ``80 percent 
lies,'' and those about Soviet-era leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph 
Stalin contain ``100 percent lies.''
    Although the Ministry of Education promised that no student would 
be expelled for political activities, by July credible sources reported 
that authorities had expelled at least 100 university students for 
involvement in opposition activities, particularly in pre-election 
opposition campaigns and post-election demonstrations (see sections 
2.b. and 2.d.). These sources noted that university authorities did not 
formally expel students, but cited poor academic performance or missed 
classes as reasons for not readmitting them. The expulsions followed a 
May 2005 directive from the ministry to all educational institutions 
calling for the expulsion of any student who engaged in antigovernment 
or unsanctioned political activity, and for the proper ideological 
education of all students. Student organizations credibly claimed that 
authorities expelled dozens of students for their political activities 
during the year. In August 2005 Minsk Mayor Mikhail Pavlov publicly 
ordered school administrators to keep their students from becoming 
politically active.
    In January the Ministry of Education dismissed an appeal by Tatyana 
Khoma to reinstate her at the Belarusian State Economic University 
(BSEU). The fourth-year student was expelled in November 2005 for 
``violating an internal university order.'' Khoma had traveled to 
France, where she was elected to the executive committee of the 
National Union of Students in Europe. In defending the expulsion, BSEU 
rector Vladimir Shimov said Khoma had traveled without the university's 
permission. He also said Khoma was the 51st BSEU student expelled since 
September 2005 for traveling without permission.
    In May 2005 Belarusian State University expelled journalism student 
Olga Klaskovskaya. She had worked for the independent newspaper 
Narodnaya Volya and filed a complaint with the prosecutor general about 
police mistreatment while covering a demonstration. The university 
claimed it expelled her for missing exams when she was caring for her 
sick child.
    The expulsions were in keeping with other efforts by the defense 
and foreign affairs ministries to curb study abroad because authorities 
stated that such programs ``threaten the country's security'' and pose 
life-threatening dangers.
    On October 27, while addressing the lower house of parliament, 
Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov denied that any university students 
had been expelled for political reasons. However, a year earlier, 
Radkov confirmed to the lower house that he had directed university 
authorities to undertake such expulsions.
    The Government also restricted cultural events. During the year the 
Government continued to force antigovernment theater groups into 
underground venues such as bars and private apartments. This included 
Free Theater's production of ``Techniques of Breathing in a Closed 
Space,'' which was based on the testimony of the wives of missing 
dissidents.
    Authorities denied writer Vladimir Orlov and activists Valentina 
Svyatskaya and Aleksandr Zhuchkov permission to hold a rock concert 
July 27 to commemorate the anniversary of the country's 1990 
declaration of independence.
    In June the authorities banned a ``Basowiszcza'' concert at the 
Palace of Fine Arts in Minsk on the grounds that the roof was in a 
critical condition. However, daily government-sanctioned concerts and 
exhibitions took place in the palace immediately prior to the requested 
date. Basowiszcza is an annual rock festival held in northeastern 
Poland that showcases young Belarusian musicians and performers who 
have been denied opportunities to perform in public in the country.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, 
the Government severely restricted this right in practice. Police and 
other security officials beat and detained demonstrators following 
unsanctioned but otherwise peaceful demonstrations.
    By law organizers must apply at least 15 days in advance for 
permission to conduct a demonstration, rally, or meeting. Government 
officials must respond no later than five days prior to the scheduled 
event. However, authorities either did not grant permits to opposition 
groups or granted them only for demonstrations in out of the way 
locations. This happened regularly in the lead up to the March 19 
Presidential election (see section 3.). On March 7, authorities in 
Mogilev refused at the last minute to allow supporters of Presidential 
opposition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich to use a local university 
building to meet with voters. The event, attended by approximately 250 
persons, was held outdoors. On March 8, Milinkevich held two campaign 
rallies in Minsk, the largest of which reportedly attracted 1,400 
people. Milinkevich had applied for a permit to hold one of the events 
in the Berestye Theater, but was denied access to the building that 
morning; the event was held outside. On September 28, local authorities 
denied local opposition BPF activists permission to hold a rally the 
following day for Milinkevich in the Vitebsk region on the grounds that 
written authorization from the BPF board was not attached to the 
application. That same day, authorities also denied BPF activists in 
the eastern city of Orsha permission to hold a September 30 rally for 
Milinkevich.
    Demonstrators are required by law to pay for damages caused during 
demonstrations and for the presence of police and medical personnel. 
Only political parties, trade unions, or registered organizations may 
request permission for a demonstration of more than 1,000 individuals. 
The law also prohibits the wearing of masks and use of unregistered 
flags, symbols, and placards bearing messages deemed threatening to the 
state or public order (see section 2.a.).
    During the year demonstrations in Minsk varied in size from a few 
participants to approximately 12,000 persons. However, the Government 
kept demonstrations under strict surveillance, and police and 
plainclothes security officers openly videotaped participants. 
Authorities used intimidation and threats to discourage people from 
participating in demonstrations leading up to and following the March 
Presidential election. For example, BKGB head Stepan Sukharenko 
announced that the BKGB would treat any attempts to take to the streets 
as potential acts of terrorism that would be punished according to the 
Criminal Code. The BKGB added to the climate of intimidation three days 
before the March 19 elections by opening a criminal investigation 
against several opposition leaders and Georgian activists for allegedly 
planning a terrorist attack to overthrow President Lukashenko (see 
section 3).
    During the evening on March 19, up to 12,000 persons gathered on 
and around October Square in downtown Minsk. A large number of special 
riot police and other Ministry of Interior special forces were 
stationed around the perimeter of the square, but mainly out of sight 
of the protesters. Prior to the rallies and protests that followed the 
March 19 election, authorities had cut electricity to the usually 
brightly-lit square, where protesters had created a tent city on the 
square and were keeping constant vigil. Just after 3:00 am on March 24, 
approximately 100 riot police entered the square accompanied by buses 
and trucks. They declared the demonstration illegal and ordered 
participants to leave. In the ensuing hours, security forces arrested 
approximately 250 persons and transported them to the Okrestina jail 
(see section 1.d.). Most received five to 15-day jail sentences for 
participating in the unauthorized demonstrations (see section 1.e.).
    On March 25, approximately 7,000 persons attempted to gather in 
October Square to protest the March 24 police crackdown on the 
opposition tent camp and to celebrate the anniversary of Freedom Day 
commemorating the country's brief independence from Russia in 1918. 
However, significant numbers of OMON and special forces prevented 
demonstrators from entering the square. Several thousand demonstrators 
carrying flags and chanting ``long live Belarus!'' attempted to break 
through the riot police barrier but were repelled. A smaller group of 
approximately 2,000 persons who had gathered on the other side of the 
square also were blocked by riot police.
    In response to the police blockade, opposition leaders Aleksandr 
Milinkevich and Aleksandr Kozulin led the estimated crowd of 7,000 to 
Yanka Kupala Park. At the park Kozulin urged the crowd to follow him on 
a three-kilometer march to the Okrestina jail, where protesters were 
being detained. Riot police used smoke and stun grenades to break up 
the march and arrested at least 100 people, including Kozulin, who was 
brutally beaten by police (see sections 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3).
    Following the police crackdown after the March elections, anti-
Lukashenko activists increasingly used fast moving ``flash mobs'' as 
one of their principal methods of protest.
    On November 28, 13 opposition activists staged a demonstration 
during the Commonwealth of Independent States' Summit in Minsk by 
displaying images of imprisoned NGO youth leaders Dmitriy Dashkevich 
and Artur Finkevich (see section 1.e.). Police quickly dispersed the 
demonstrators but made no arrests. On December 10, activists organized 
three separate demonstrations in Minsk to show solidarity with 
imprisoned opposition activist Aleksandr Kozulin and to commemorate 
World Human Rights Day. Authorities broke up the demonstrations and 
arrested approximately 25 people for hooliganism. Three of the 
activists were sentenced to 15 days in jail.
    In response authorities intensified their already significant 
repression to deter flash mob activists by increasing surveillance of 
opposition buildings and Web sites and filing criminal prosecutions. On 
April 28, police arrested eight flash mob activists outside the Supreme 
Court in Minsk out of several dozen who had gathered to demonstrate 
support for the independent Union of Belarusian Writers. Police 
released all eight after copying their passport information (see 
section 1.e.). Between May 30 and June 1, approximately 50 youth 
activists participated in hourly shifts of sitting on the pavement at 
Lenin Square in Brest and reading the Bible to demonstrate solidarity 
with several imprisoned leaders of Malady Front, an opposition youth 
group. Police arrested five activists. Three were found guilty of 
holding an unauthorized religious event under Article 167 of the 
Administrative Code.
    Police also used preemptive arrests to combat protests. On May 7, 
young activists planned a flash mob event near the old National Library 
in Minsk to mark the anniversary of the renaming of Frantsisk Skaryna 
Avenue. The group reportedly intended to tear pages out of history 
textbooks used by schools. As the group formed, riot police blocked 
access to the library and arrested 12 persons. They were released after 
police searched them and recorded their personal data. On May 9, the 
anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany, police pre-empted an 
attempted demonstration in support of veterans. On June 2, OMON riot 
police detained nine activists for attempting to show solidarity with 
youth activists who were on a hunger strike. Authorities detained the 
group for at least two hours but filed no charges. There were several 
reports that police beat demonstrators during protests (see section 
1.c.).
    Persons often received heavy fines or jail sentences for 
participating in demonstrations. After a March 7 rally, police arrested 
senior opposition activists Anatoliy Lebedko and Vladimir Shantsov, a 
Milinkevich regional campaign manager. That day Lebedko was fined $721 
(1.5 million rubles), and Shantsov was sentenced to 15 days in jail for 
organizing an unsanctioned rally. After a March 8 rally, Milinkevich's 
campaign deputy Vintsuk Vyachorka left an event in a minivan that 
contained a public address system. Police confiscated the vehicle with 
the equipment and arrested the six passengers. On March 9, all were 
sentenced to 15 days in jail for organizing unsanctioned rallies (see 
section 1.e). On August 24, a Minsk district court sentenced opposition 
youth activist Yuliya Goryachko to four days in jail and fined five 
others between $290 and $420 (620,000 and 900,000 rubles) for 
participating in an unsanctioned demonstration under Article 167 of the 
Administrative Code.
    The Government took other measures to restrict the ability of 
prodemocracy and civil society groups to meet.
    Local authorities prevented opposition parties from holding local 
conventions in a number of sites across the country (see section 3).
    On December 24, police attempted to prevent a ceremony 
commemorating World War II nationalist Vintsent Gadlevskiy. Authorities 
stopped vehicles carrying people going to the ceremony, forcing them to 
continue on foot for several miles or causing several people to miss 
the ceremony altogether. Other attendees were ordered to report to the 
local police station for questioning.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association; however, the authorities severely restricted it in 
practice.
    The Government employed an elaborate system of laws and strict 
registration regulations that restricted the ability of individuals to 
form associations that might be critical of the Government or immune to 
official manipulation. All NGOs, political parties, and trade unions 
must register with authorities; it is illegal to act on behalf of an 
unregistered organization. The leaders of the domestic election 
observation NGO Partnership were sentenced to up to two years in prison 
in August for leading an unregistered organization (see sections 1.e., 
2.d., and 4).
    The Government's registration procedures were costly and onerous, 
requiring the specific number and names of founders, along with a legal 
address for the organization in a nonresidential building. Individuals 
listed as members are vulnerable to retribution. The Government's 
refusal to rent office space to unapproved organizations and the 
expense of renting private space forced most organizations to violate 
the nonresidential address requirement, a situation that allowed the 
authorities to deregister existing organizations and deny registration 
of new ones.
    On January 27, authorities in Svetlogorsk refused to provide the 
local chapter of the Belarusian Language Society (BLS) office space, 
and it was evicted from another state-owned building. The head of the 
BLS, Telman Maslyukov, told independent online news source Belapan that 
authorities claimed to have no space available to rent to the BLS.
    In October the Justice Ministry denied registration to Stareishiny, 
the association of prodemocratic NGOs, allegedly due to the group's 
violation of procedures related to the founding conference and members. 
The group appealed the denial to the Supreme Court, but the court 
refused to hear the suit on December 22, claiming that the group's 
legal counsel could not sign the complaint since the lawyer had not 
been appointed as the association's legal counsel at the founding 
conference. Stareishiny filed a new suit on December 28.
    During the year authorities continued to close local political 
party offices (see section 3).
    The Ministry of Justice reported that it continued to issue written 
warnings to NGOs, political parties, and trade unions during the year, 
and that the courts continued to deregister NGOs for ``systematic or 
severe violations of the law.'' Harassment in the form of inspections 
by security officials and confiscation of political literature, usually 
without warrants, was widespread (see sections 1.d. and 3).
    A government commission reviews and approves all registration 
applications. During the year it continued to base its decisions 
largely on the political and ideological compatibility of the applicant 
with the Government's authoritarian philosophy (see section 2.a.). For 
example, one of two remaining nationally-registered human rights 
organizations, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, was repeatedly 
threatened with closure for, among other things, allegedly failing to 
pay taxes on a foreign assistance grant (see section 4). On February 7, 
the Supreme Court liquidated the umbrella youth organization Rada for 
allegedly engaging in politics and for interfering in the affairs of 
government agencies. The court ruling followed a forum Rada held in 
December 2005 at which it proposed to create an alternative youth 
policy. On April 27, the Government refused to renew the registration 
of the American Bar Association Office in Minsk. Authorities would not 
comment on the reason for the refusal. On August 3, the Supreme Court 
also liquidated the independent think tank ``Belarusian Thought 
Factory'' (BFM) for lack of a legal address. The closure follows a 
three-month suspension of the NGO in January and two warnings to BFM 
head Oleg Manayev for spreading false information about the 2006 
Presidential election after he released the results of an election 
related poll (see section 2.a.). In April 2005 the Supreme Court 
liquidated Manayev's Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and 
Political Studies for lack of a legal address. It was one of two 
organizations in the country that conducted independent opinion 
polling.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion; 
however, the Government restricted this right in practice. While the 
constitution affirms the equality of religions and denominations, it 
also contains restrictive language, stipulating that cooperation 
between the state and religious organizations ``is regulated with 
regard for their influence on the formation of spiritual, cultural, and 
country traditions of the Belarusian people.''
    The Government used the restrictive provisions of the law on 
religion to hinder or prevent activities of groups other than the 
Belarusian Orthodox Church. In particular the law restricts the ability 
of religious organizations to provide religious education, requires all 
religious groups to receive governmental approval to distribute 
literature, and prohibits foreigners from leading religious 
organizations. A concordat and other arrangements with the Government 
provide the Belarusian Orthodox Church, which is an exarchate of the 
Russian Orthodox Church, privileges not enjoyed by other religious 
groups. In March 2005 Vladimir Makarov, chief of the Defense Ministry's 
information directorate, called on clergy to fight the spread of 
``destructive sects'' and to spread Orthodoxy.
    The law requires that religious organizations register with the 
Committee of Religious and Nationalities Affairs of the Council of 
Ministers (CRNA) or with local and regional governments. During the 
year the CRNA continued to refuse to register some nontraditional 
religious groups. Religious groups that could not register frequently 
were forced to meet illegally or in the homes of individual members. 
According to the CRNA, 25 religious denominations with 2,944 religious 
communities were officially registered as of November.
    The Government required all religious organizations to reregister 
with the CRNA in 2004. While the CRNA registered 2,676 religious 
communities, 104 communities were dissolved due to lack of membership 
or denied reregistration. The CRNA denied registration to what it 
considered nontraditional faiths, mainly Protestant groups, such as the 
Light to the World, the New Life Church, and the Belarusian Evangelical 
Church. When the Light to the World's lease on a church was terminated 
in October 2005 and authorities prevented them from leasing new 
premises, most of the group's leaders left the country.
    The CRNA also refused to register the Belarusian Autocephalous 
Orthodox Church (BAOC) without the approval of local Belarusian 
Orthodox Church bishops. Without the approval, the BAOC was effectively 
banned. In 2005 authorities confiscated a building in Semkov Gorodok, 
which the local BAOC community had renovated for the church.
    On December 4, the Minsk-based Hare Krishna community was forced 
out of their office, which was located in a vehicle service station, 
following an inspection by the sanitary and emergency management 
authorities. The inspectors, however, allowed all other tenants to 
remain. The Minsk and Bobruysk Hare Krishna communities have been 
searching for a legal address since they and other groups were denied 
registration in 2004. Following the denial, which the Hare Krishna 
unsuccessfully contested, the Minsk community worshipped in a 
residential building. However, they were repeatedly fined for operating 
there. In 2001 and 2002 the Hare Krishna communities attempted to 
register as an association to be allowed to invite foreign religious 
teachers into the country. The Government denied the application, and 
the community appealed the decision to the UNCHR. In August 2005 the 
UNCHR recommended that the Hare Krishna be established as an 
association and that authorities restore the community's rights within 
90 days. The Government rejected the UNCCR recommendations and has 
taken no further action on the matter.
    The Government continued to limit the ability of a number of groups 
to own or use property for religious purposes. On July 24, for example, 
Minsk City Economic Court judge Aleksandr Karamyshev ordered the New 
Life Church to sell to the city a building it purchased as a place of 
worship at a price far below market value and to vacate the premises by 
October 8. The CRNA refused to reregister the New Life Church because 
it tried to use a former cow barn as its legal residence. Authorities 
would not allow the church to renovate the structure, change the 
registration status from a cow barn to a religious property, or hold 
meetings in the building. The pastor and other leaders were assessed 
large fines for conducting services in the barn. To protest the July 24 
decision, the church began a hunger strike, which prompted the 
authorities to review its decision. On November 4, the Supreme Economic 
Court overturned all court decisions regarding the church and held a 
hearing on December 7 to adjudicate the case under original 
jurisdiction. The case remained under review at year's end.
    The Government permits the use of residential property for 
religious services only after it has been converted from residential 
use. This interpretation of the law effectively requires all religious 
organizations to reregister their properties as religious properties. 
However, authorities continued to reject requests for property 
registration from many Protestant churches, as well as from other 
nontraditional faiths. On June 27, the Minsk city court deregistered 
the Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church for lack of legal 
addresses. In August 2005 and September 2005 the Government closed the 
Belarusian Evangelical Reformed Church and the Belarusian Evangelist 
Church for failure to secure nonresidential legal addresses for 
worship.
    According to the Full Gospel Evangelical Christian Church, 
authorities continued to deny it permission to construct a building for 
religious purposes in Minsk.
    Meeting hall officials cancelled or refused to extend agreements 
with religious groups to use their facilities, citing a government 
decree specifying measures to ensure public order and safety during 
public gatherings. On March 31, the Minsk city administration 
reportedly refused to allow the local Hassidic Jewish community to 
celebrate Passover at the state-owned Palace for Children and Youth, 
according to the international religious freedom NGO Forum 18. City 
officials asserted that a religious event could not be held in a venue 
frequented by children. The community was forced to hold the 
celebration at its cafeteria, which could only accommodate 
approximately 10 percent of the invited guests.
    The law allows persons to gather in private homes to pray; however, 
it requires that individuals obtain permission from local authorities 
to hold rituals, rites, or ceremonies in homes. Police interfered with 
religious meetings in residences several times during the year, 
sometimes resulting in fines for participants.
    On March 3, a Minsk district judge sentenced the pastor of Christ's 
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church, Gregoriy Vyazorskiy, to 10 days in 
jail for conducting unsanctioned religious services. Authorities warned 
the pastor in November 2005 against conducting illegal services in a 
private Minsk residence and about failing to provide a ``legal 
address.'' Pentecostal bishop Sergey Tsvor faced similar charges, but 
they were dropped because of technical errors made by the police.
    On March 24, authorities sentenced human rights lawyer Sergey 
Shavtsov to 10 days in detention for conducting an unsanctioned 
interdenominational seminar in a private cafe. On the last day of the 
three-day seminar, police entered the cafe and detained him because the 
event was not sanctioned by the Government.
    In July and again in August, Union of Evangelical Christians 
Salvation Church pastor Sergey Poznyakovich was fined $2,170 dollars 
(4.65 million rubles) and $300 (640,000 rubles), respectively, for 
conducting an unauthorized religious service and performing a baptism 
ceremony in a nearby lake.
    Baptists, Pentecostals, and other Protestants were warned or fined 
for illegally conducting and hosting religious services. According to 
the CRNA, convictions for such offenses were based on charges of either 
disturbing public order or illegally gathering without prior 
permission.
    On April 6, authorities fined political opposition activist Boris 
Khamaida $2,600 (5.6 million rubles) for carrying a sign with a gospel 
quotation, ``the one who endures to the end will be saved.'' Police 
detained Khamaida on March 20 for three hours for displaying the sign 
and charged him with violating demonstration laws.
    On June 1, Forum 18 reported that authorities warned three 
evangelical Christians in Brest for participating in a 24-hour silent 
vigil of Bible reading to express solidarity with victims of political 
repression in the country. According to the authorities, the three 
protesters needed prior permission to organize and conduct religious 
events outside designated worship areas.
    On August 9, border guards took into custody and transported to 
Minsk 47 Baptist children and adults, who were on a religious retreat 
at a private homestead in the western Grodno region, for alleged 
violations of health and safety regulations. The previous day, local 
authorities ordered the gathering to disperse and threatened to take 
the children to a police juvenile facility. After their release, a 
senior Minsk city religious affairs official conceded that the retreat 
was legal since private individuals had organized the event.
    On October 13, independent media reported that authorities fined a 
78-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Antoni Koczko, $29 (62,000 rubles) 
for conducting an ``unauthorized'' religious service in Minsk. The 
priest, who is a Polish citizen, was born in the country and has been 
practicing in the city of Slutsk for the past 15 years.
    The Government only registered Orthodox communities that were not 
based in Moscow and only with the approval of the local Moscow 
Patriarchate bishop. In June 2005 authorities warned the priest of the 
unregistered Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), Father Leonid 
Plyats, that he could be jailed and fined for conducting ``illegal 
religious activities,'' including small gatherings in private homes. In 
November 2005 authorities denied registration to a different ROCA 
parish in Ruzhany. In this case, Brest religious affairs official 
Vasiliy Marchenko told ROCA members to worship at the Moscow 
Patriarchate Church instead. The ROCA parish refused and its members 
have been fined four times, totaling over $2,000 (4 million rubles), 
for worshiping in private homes. The community again applied for 
registration; however in October there were credible reports that 
Moscow Patriarchiate officials were pressuring parishioners to withdraw 
their signatures from registration applications.
    In November 2005 former CRNA chairman Stanislav Buko announced that 
authorities would not register ``destructive sects.'' He claimed no 
such sects were operating in the country but said that authorities 
closely monitored the activities of persons bearing the characteristics 
of such sects. University textbooks reportedly classified Baptists and 
Adventists as members of sects.
    On May 19, Forum 18 reported that authorities pressured Pentecostal 
pastor Oksana Gavrilenko to resign from her job as a school teacher 
after she complained about a lecture to students by an Orthodox priest 
on the dangers of ``sects,'' including Baptists and Pentecostals. 
According to the report, authorities did not reinstate Gavrilenko but 
did ask the priest to refrain from slandering Protestant churches.
    In early December 2005, police in Vitebsk raided the homes of local 
Muslims on the pretext of looking for suspects connected to two 
September bombings, even though authorities had previously arrested two 
persons in the case with no known connection to Islam. Police detained 
several of the Muslims for questioning and seized religious literature.
    The law provides that citizens may speak freely about their 
religious beliefs; however, authorities continued their efforts to 
prevent, interfere with, or punish persons who proselytized for any 
religious group other than the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
    The Government did not permit foreign missionaries to engage in 
religious activities outside of the institutions that invited them. The 
law requires one-year, multiple-entry ``spiritual activities'' visas 
for foreign missionaries. Observers expressed concern that lack of 
standardized government guidance on how to implement recent changes to 
visa laws may affect the ability of missionaries to live and work in 
the country. For example, according to Forum 18, authorities for 10 
years have refused to renew the work permit of Stewart Vinograd, 
founder of the Minsk-based New Testament Church and pastor of its 
Messianic Jewish congregation. Forum 18 also reported that in July 
authorities denied permission for the Full Gospel Union to invite 
Nigerian pastor Anselm Madubuko to preach at three member churches. In 
October authorities refused to renew visas for 12 Polish Catholic nuns 
and priests from the Grodno region, who had been working in the country 
for 10 years, and ordered them to leave by the end of the year.
    Missionaries of other religious groups with a long history in the 
country, particularly Protestants, continued to have difficulties 
obtaining visas; and there were credible reports that members of 
Protestant religious communities were harassed for teaching children 
religion at home.
    The law does not provide for the return of property seized during 
the Soviet period or the Nazi occupation and restricts the return of 
property that is being used for cultural or educational purposes.
    In February CRNA chairman Leonid Gulyako told members of a Catholic 
parish that their monastery and church, which was being used as a state 
scientific archive, would not be returned because the Government did 
not have funds to build a new facility. The parish earlier requested 
that the Government return the property. However, in October 2005 the 
CRNA Council of Ministers said the church and monastery building could 
be returned only after the Government built a new building to house the 
archive.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a generally amicable 
relationship among religious groups and a widely held ethic of 
tolerance; however, hostile or intolerant attitudes in some parts of 
the press encouraged negative attitudes toward some minority religious 
groups. The Belarusian Orthodox Church took some steps to counter 
propaganda that discriminated against other religious groups.
    There were new media reports of isolated instances of anti-
Protestant vandalism during the year. On October 31, vandals painted 
``No to Totalitarian Sects!'' and the Russian extremist National 
Bolshevik Party's symbol on the New Life Church's building. On November 
20, unidentified vandals painted ``Don't Believe Sects!'' on a 
billboard in Baranovichi advertising the Salvation Church, an affiliate 
of the Union of Evangelical Faith Christians in the country. Police 
refused to institute criminal proceedings in connection with the 
vandalism.
    According to government census figures, there were approximately 
40,000 Jews in the country, but Jewish groups maintained that between 
50,000 and 70,000 persons identified themselves as Jewish. The vast 
majority of the Jewish population was not religiously active. There 
were instances of anti-Semitism, but no government efforts to promote 
anti-bias and tolerance education. State-owned periodicals continued to 
attack nontraditional and Jewish religious groups. In January Mogilev 
newspapers published a series of anti-Semitic articles after a new type 
of kosher bread was produced in the city. The state-owned Mogilev 
Register claimed that the blood of sacrificed animals was used in 
kosher rituals and warned Orthodox believers to ``keep away from kosher 
products in the same way they keep away from idol sacrifice.'' Another 
newspaper, The Evening Mogilev, reported that the act of making 
something kosher is ``sacrilegious and anti-Christian.''
    There were new reports of isolated instances of anti-Semitic 
vandalism during the year.
    In early October vandals damaged property and gravestones at Jewish 
and Christian cemeteries in Orsha. At the Jewish cemetery, where 7,000 
Holocaust victims were buried, 10 tombstones and the fence around the 
property were damaged. At the Christian cemetery, vandals damaged 17 
gravestones. Police stated they would not file criminal proceedings for 
vandalism if the perpetrators were found.
    On November 12, Minsk's Yama Holocaust Memorial, which has been 
vandalized on numerous occasions during the past few years, was again 
vandalized. Vandals drew a white swastika on the main obelisk and left 
behind leaflets calling for a war against supporters of democracy and 
Judaism and ``others rushing to a new world order under the aegis of 
Talmudism and the U.S.'' The incident occurred on the same weekend that 
the Israeli Cultural and Information Center was also vandalized with 
swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti. Authorities initially refused to 
investigate the vandalism, saying the incident was a case of teenage 
hooliganism. However, on November 14, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor 
Gaysenok pledged that police will do everything possible to find and 
punish those who damaged the memorial. The investigation was pending at 
year's end.
    On November 30, vandals burned flowers and wreaths on the Brest 
Jewish memorial, which was dedicated in 1992 to the extermination of 
the Brest ghetto. The flames and smoke left the monument partially 
blackened. The incident marks the sixth time the memorial has been 
vandalized since it was built. At year's end police were investigating 
the incident.
    On December 26, a fire destroyed the roof and interior walls of an 
orthodox church in Gomel. Satanic graffiti was sprayed on the exterior 
of the building. Police suspected arson and have opened a criminal 
case.
    On April 17, authorities issued an official warning to preschool 
teacher Lyudmila Izakson-Bolotovskaya for the ``intentional inculcation 
of religious doctrines in small children.'' Izakson-Bolotovskaya and 
her children's Jewish musical group were shown on local television 
celebrating a Jewish holiday. Authorities claimed that she violated the 
law by holding a religious celebration in a government building and 
illegally propagated Judaism via the television coverage of the event. 
Authorities forced Izakson-Bolotovskaya to remove Jewish symbols from 
the classroom and threatened her with prosecution if she continued 
these activities.
    Anti-Semitic and Russian ultranationalist and xenophobic literature 
continued to be sold and distributed at Pravoslavnaya Kniga (Orthodox 
Bookstore), a store operated by Orthodox Initiative, a group that sells 
Orthodox literature and religious paraphernalia. The CRNA asserted that 
the publication of such literature in the country was illegal, but that 
nothing could be done regarding privately imported Russian and anti-
Semitic literature.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for freedom of 
movement; however, the Government at times restricted its citizens' 
right to choose their place of residence and their foreign travel. 
Internal passports served as primary identity documents and were 
required for permanent housing, work, and hotel registration.
    Police continued to harass individuals because they lived at a 
location other than the legal place of residence indicated in their 
internal passport.
    The law provides for freedom of movement in and out of the country; 
however, the Government at times restricted this right. Government 
regulations specify that citizens who wish to travel abroad must obtain 
an exit stamp valid for one to five years. The Government could 
invalidate stamps that had been issued.
    On January 11, the Visa and Passport Department denied Anatoliy 
Lebedko, leader of the United Civic Party, a foreign travel stamp under 
the pretext that the BKGB had not granted permission. However, he 
received the stamp six days later after lodging a public complaint. The 
stamp was valid for only two years instead of the three he requested.
    On February 7, border guards denied Anzhelika Borys, chair of the 
unrecognized Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP), permission to leave the 
country to participate in a conference in Warsaw due to insufficient 
room in her passport for an exit stamp.
    On October 20, authorities refused to place a travel stamp in the 
passport of UBP activist Wojciech Boradyn without explanation, thus 
denying him the opportunity to travel abroad.
    In November 2005 authorities prohibited seven UBP members from 
travelling abroad. Despite the prohibition, one UBP member, Andrzej 
Poczobut, travelled to Poland. Upon his return, authorities stamped a 
notation in his passport that prohibited him from international travel 
(see section 5).
    In several cases opposition activists wishing to travel abroad were 
detained at the border for lengthy searches while leaving or returning 
to the country. On May 12, border officials prevented human rights NGO 
Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) chairwoman Tatyana Protko from 
traveling to a conference in Germany. Border guards had detained her 
until the flight left. Protko claimed she was detained to prevent the 
BHC from providing information about the human rights situation in the 
country to the international community. Protko earlier had been 
restricted from traveling after the Government had threatened to bring 
criminal charges against her for tax evasion (see section 4). On 
October 30, UBP chair Borys and two associates were detained for seven 
hours upon their return to the country when authorities claimed they 
found an unidentified powder in the car in which they were traveling. 
Authorities seized the car and subjected the group to a drug test. On 
December 6, authorities confiscated Borys' passport in connection with 
the investigation. On November 4, Brest police detained local United 
Civic Party chairman Stepan Novoselchanin for two hours, causing him to 
miss a train to Kyiv to attend a conference of Belarusian opposition 
activists. On November 5, police detained for three hours two local 
Belarusian Party of Communists activists traveling by car to the same 
conference and impounded their vehicle, forcing them to continue the 
journey by bus.
    On November 29, Minsk airport authorities detained and charged 
opposition leader and former Presidential candidate Aleksandr 
Milinkevich with using a forged document to cross a border after 
returning from the NATO summit meeting in Latvia. Milinkevich had 
mistakenly used his son's passport when he initially left the country. 
The charge, which remained pending at year's end, carries either a jail 
term of up to two months or a large fine.
    In March 2005 a Presidential decree, ostensibly intended to counter 
trafficking in persons, imposed new restrictions on foreign travel. 
Under the order, any student who wishes to study abroad must obtain 
permission from the minister of education. In signing the decree, 
President Lukashenko publicly stated his opposition to study abroad 
programs. The Government used this requirement to prevent 59 high 
school students from participating in an educational exchange program. 
It also used the requirement to expel university students who were 
involved in political activity (see section 2.a.) The decree requires 
the Ministry of Interior to track all citizens working abroad and 
travel agencies to report individuals who do not return from abroad as 
scheduled.
    The Government denied reregistration to most travel agencies that 
arranged work abroad. On January 4, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism 
announced that it terminated the licenses of almost 200 tour operators 
in 2005 primarily for failing to meet mandatory inbound tourist 
requirements. In October authorities suspended the licenses of an 
additional 36 tour agencies and warned 67 others for failure to meet 
licensing requirements.
    Statements by government officials during the year and in 2005, 
including an October 2005 Presidential decree, reduced the number of 
children from Chernobyl-contaminated areas that could travel abroad for 
treatment, particularly those who wanted to travel during the school 
year. On November 24, Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov announced 
that all orphans would spend the winter holidays in the country. In 
February 2005 several hundred children were denied permission to go to 
Germany and Italy. According to the October 2005 decree students or 
chaperones who did not return to the country on time must be reported 
to the Presidential administration. During the year President 
Lukashenko imposed further restrictions on recreational trips to Italy 
that require Italian host families to provide a certified guarantee 
that children will return home as scheduled and that they will not be 
adopted (see section 5).
    The law requires persons who travel to areas within 15 miles (25 
kilometers) of the border to obtain an entrance pass. In 2005 police 
arrested several prodemocracy activists for violating this law after 
holding meetings in towns near the border. On January 5, the Grodno 
border police fined two UBP activists, Poczobut and Andrey Pisalnik, 
the maximum $135 (290,000 rubles) for allegedly entering a restricted 
border zone. They were stopped in December 2005 on their way to 
Sapotkin, where they intended to meet local UBP members.
    The law does not provide for exile abroad; however, the Government 
did expel long-term resident and independent political analyst Vladimir 
Suzdaltsev. On March 27, authorities ordered Suzdaltsev, a Russian 
citizen, to leave within 10 days and not return for five years. 
Suzdaltsev had lived in the country for the last 13 years with his 
Belarusian wife and children.
    Many university students who had been expelled or were under threat 
of expulsion for their political activities opted for self-imposed 
exile. Approximately 400 students chose to continue their studies at 
foreign universities mostly in Europe during the academic year.
    The law provides for internal exile or khimya (see section 1.d.). 
In May youth activist Artur Finkevich was sentenced to two years of 
khimya; in November Partnership NGO leader Nikolay Astreyko was 
transferred from prison to khimya (see section 1.e., 2.b., 3, and 4). 
Detention in internal exile was one possible penalty for defaming the 
President. Persons serving khimya lived in prison barracks and were 
forced to work under conditions set by the Government. Political 
prisoners still serving khimya sentences included Nikolay Statkevich, 
Pavel Severinets, and Artur Finkevich.
    The law provides for the right to emigrate, and the authorities 
generally respected this right; however, there were restrictions for 
individuals with access to sensitive government information or citizens 
involved in criminal investigations. Persons who have been refused 
permission to emigrate may appeal to the courts.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. Under the law, all persons who applied for or received asylum 
are protected against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution.
    The law does not allow for temporary protection of persons who may 
not qualify as refugees; however, the Government granted humanitarian 
protection to persons who may not have qualified for refugee status but 
had humanitarian grounds for remaining in the country. As of October, 
two Georgians were granted humanitarian protection. In 2005, 40 persons 
were granted humanitarian protection.
    The authorities cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees. However, the Government failed to conclude a 
1995 cooperation agreement with UNHCR.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides the right for citizens to change their government 
peacefully; however, the Government effectively denied citizens this 
right. The constitution allows the President to issue decrees that 
carry the force of law in specific, urgent circumstances, a provision 
President Lukashenko has interpreted broadly. Since his election in 
1994 to a five-year term as the country's first President, Lukashenko 
has consolidated power steadily in the executive branch and dominated 
all branches of government. Referenda in 1996 and 2004 amended the 
constitution to broaden his powers and extend his term in office. 
Lukashenko gained a third term in office through a fraudulent 
Presidential election on March 19.

    Elections and Political Participation.--According to the OSCE's 
final election observer report, the March 19 Presidential election fell 
significantly short of international standards for democratic elections 
and were characterized by arbitrary use of state power and widespread 
detentions. The Government restricted freedom of assembly, association, 
expression, and appeared unwilling to tolerate political competition.
    More than 500 international observers from 38 countries observed 
the voting and counting on behalf of the OSCE's Office for Democratic 
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary 
Assembly. However, authorities either denied entry or visas to 27 
accredited OSCE observers. On March 16, BKGB officials detained eight 
Georgian Supreme Council (parliament) members who were accredited 
election observers at the Minsk airport for questioning about an 
alleged terrorist plot to upset the election.
    The OSCE final election observation report on June 7 detailed the 
substantial problems that precluded a free and fair election, including 
detention of campaign activists, searches of campaign offices, 
confiscation of campaign materials, and interruption of campaign 
meetings. Other problems included pressure from the BKGB on domestic 
election observers (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.); scant media coverage 
of the three candidates opposing Lukashenko (see section 2.a.); highly 
questionable early voting; and ballot counting that was problematic and 
lacked transparency.
    On November 23, President Lukashenko stated during a press 
conference that the March Presidential election results were falsified 
in favor of opposition candidates to appease Western leaders. Speaking 
to journalists, he said he actually won as much as 93.5 percent of the 
vote instead of the 83 percent announced by the CEC. He said the 
outcome was underreported in an attempt to have the results recognized 
by European and other western leaders. The following day a senior 
election committee official denied any vote rigging, saying the 
election was held in strict adherence to the country's laws.
    Authorities virtually excluded opposition parties from the election 
process. During the Presidential election, authorities selected only 
one out of 2,124 territorial commission members from the opposition BPF 
party. According to prodemocratic Belarusian Party of Communists' (BPC) 
head Sergey Kalyakin, the BPC reportedly nominated 70 persons to 
territorial commissions, and the opposition United Civic Party (UCP) 
nominated 38, but none were selected. A similar situation existed in 
the local council election process. On October 23, prodemocratic party 
leaders reported that the election authorities did not include one 
opposition party member on the 1,590 territorial commissions. On 
December 1, the CEC reported that only one prodemocratic political 
party member, a representative from the UCP, was given one of the 
70,877 seats on the precinct election commissions.
    Authorities frequently warned opposition candidates against early 
campaigning and harassed activists who attempted to collect signatures 
to nominate opposition candidates. On January 5, activists for 
Presidential hopeful Zenon Poznyak claimed that they were chased out of 
underground passageways by police and barred from entering student 
dormitories. They said police cited a law banning collection of 
signatures in underground passageways, but could not cite the specific 
law that they were violating. BPC leader Kalyakin estimated that by 
mid-January approximately 60 percent of his party's signature 
collectors had either been questioned by authorities or threatened with 
expulsion if they continued to collect signatures.
    On January 6, human rights NGO Charter 97 received letters from 
students at Belarusian State University (BSU) describing instances of 
university officials strongly encouraging students to sign nomination 
forms in support of President Lukashenko before they were allowed to 
take their exams. On January 9, the human rights NGO Vyasna reported 
that university officials interrupted an exam to announce that, if the 
students wanted to receive good marks, they had to sign nomination 
forms supporting Lukashenko. University students also were pressured to 
vote early and to leave the capital before the March 19 elections. 
Classes were canceled on March 17 to March 20, and students were 
encouraged to return to their homes outside of Minsk.
    On January 18, the CEC warned opposition coalition candidate 
Aleksandr Milinkevich and Presidential hopeful Zenon Poznyak for 
distributing campaign material while collecting signatures, which it 
said was a violation of the electoral law.
    While opposition activists were warned or fined for early 
campaigning, the state-controlled television channel ONT broadcast a 
six week series of concerts featuring Russian pop stars, which 
culminated in a massive concert in Minsk four days before the start of 
early voting. The concert series was called Za Belarus (For Belarus), 
which was the campaign slogan Lukashenko used in the 2004 referendum 
that extended Presidential term limits.
    On February 11, the Minsk city government issued a list of specific 
venues and locations where Presidential candidates could meet with 
voters and post campaign materials. Most of the venues were parks 
outside of Minsk's city center. In contrast, President Lukashenko had 
unlimited access to all government-owned venues in Minsk. Police 
routinely prevented candidates from holding rallies and posting 
campaign materials in unauthorized venues.
    The CEC restricted campaigning by Presidential candidates to state-
controlled broadcast and print media. Each candidate was allotted two 
30-minute segments on state radio and television. However, the 
candidate's speeches were prerecorded, and in one case the CEC edited 
Alexander Kozulin's remarks on the grounds that they slandered the 
President and the Government. State broadcast media coverage was 
heavily biased in favor of Lukashenko and described the opposition in 
mainly negative terms (see section 2.a.).
    Candidates were given access to seven state-run newspapers to 
publish their campaign platforms. On March 1, however, the newspapers 
announced they would not publish Milinkevich's platform because he had 
not provided the text on time. On March 2 and 3, four state newspapers 
published Lukashenko's platform on their front pages along with several 
of his photographs. In contrast, the major state newspapers published 
the platforms of Presidential candidates Kozulin and Sergey Gaidukevich 
in much less visible sections of the papers.
    Independent polling services were prohibited (see section 2.a.).
    According to a 2005 regulation, all opinion polling must be 
registered with the Government backed National Academy of Sciences; 
only government approved pollsters could conduct election related 
polling (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    There were credible reports that state employees were forced to 
collect signatures for Lukashenko's nomination out of fear of losing 
their jobs. State-owned department store employees in Minsk were 
required to gather signatures at the store's entrance. Other reports of 
coercion by Lukashenko's campaign operatives included forcing postal 
service workers, housing administrators, teachers, and hospital workers 
to collect signatures for the incumbent or risk losing their jobs.
    Authorities either detained or arrested activists and often seized 
their private property or campaign materials. The leaders of the 
domestic election observers from the NGO Partnership were arrested in 
February on charges of planning a terrorist coup, but sentenced to up 
to two years in prison for leading an unregistered NGO (see sections 
1.e., 2.b., 2.d., and 4). On January 6, police searched Milinkevich 
campaign team member Vladimir Hundar's apartment in Baranovichy and 
confiscated computer equipment (see section 2.a.). On February 14, Lida 
police detained opposition activists Anatoliy Khotko and Sergey Malchik 
and Grodno city council deputy Sergey Antusevich and seized 1,200 
copies of the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya. On February 21, 
the BKGB arrested Timofey Dranchuk, a Partnership NGO member, and 
confiscated numerous items from his apartment, including books, 
campaign leaflets, a computer, and personal documents (see sections 
1.d. and 1.e.).
    Police often invoked the law on combating terrorism to sanction 
their searches, detentions, and arrests (see section 2.b.). On March 3, 
police searched Milinkevich campaign team member Vasiliy Bezman's 
apartment for four hours looking for weapons and materials that could 
be connected to terrorist activities. They seized Bezman's computers 
and documents. Also on March 3, counterterrorist officers expelled 
three activists from Ukraine's Pora youth movement and several 
Ukrainian journalists who had arrived from Kyiv. Authorities claimed 
the journalists did not have proper press accreditation from the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On March 16, BKGB chairman Stepan 
Sukharenko claimed that the agency had uncovered and foiled an 
opposition plot funded by two foreign governments to bomb four schools 
on election day as part of a coup against the President. Sukharenko 
accused the leaders of the domestic election observation group 
Partnership and opposition leader Anatoliy Lebedko of involvement in 
the alleged terrorist attack (see sections 1.e., 2.b., 2.d., and 4).
    Authorities regularly interfered with peaceful election-related 
demonstrations (see section 2.b.). Activists that participated or led 
demonstrations were arrested and sentenced in large numbers following 
the March 19 elections (see section 1.e.). On July 13, a judge of the 
Moskovskiy District Court sentenced former Presidential candidate 
Aleksander Kozulin to five and a one-half years in prison for 
hooliganism and disturbing the peace for organizing a protest march on 
March 25 (see section 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3).
    Political parties continued to receive warnings from authorities 
for minor offenses under a law that allowed the Government to suspend 
political parties for six months for a violation and close a party 
after it received two warnings. The law also prohibited political 
parties from receiving support from abroad. In September 2005 the 
Ministry of Justice issued a separate ruling that required political 
blocs and coalitions to register with it. The closing in 2005 of 
approximately 80 percent of local political party offices around the 
country allowed the ministry to issue warnings to political parties 
that did not have the required number of local offices in the regions 
and in Minsk to operate (see section 2.b.).
    On January 12, the Bobruysk chapter of Alexander Kozulin's Social 
Democratic Party ``Hramada'' (BSDP) lost its office after state 
authorities cancelled a rental lease due ``to dangerous floor 
conditions.'' The authorities refused to rent BSDP another room to the 
party in the same building.
    On January 30, the Ministry of Justice issued a second warning to 
the BPF for failing to have chapters in at least four regions and in 
Minsk. BPF deputy chairman Viktor Ivashkevich told reporters that 
landlords cancelled rental leases for BPF local chapters in Grodno and 
Gomel after being pressured by the authorities. As a result, 
authorities annulled the registrations of the two local chapters.
    On August 15, the Ministry of Justice issued a warning to the Minsk 
chapter of the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC) for alleged 
registration and other minor violations. The move was a culmination of 
a month-long effort by the pro-Lukashenko Communist Party of Belarus 
(CPB) to merge the two parties. When the BPC failed to comply with the 
warning, the Justice Ministry moved to suspend the BPC. On November 2, 
the Justice Ministry re-registered the BPC and annulled the merger with 
the CPB. On November 3, the Supreme Court canceled a hearing on the 
BPC's suspension until after the 2007 local elections. On November 28, 
the BPC appealed to authorities to end harassment of its members by the 
Justice Ministry. According to the BPC, the Justice Ministry ordered 
its local offices to verify membership of local chapters by compelling 
members to explain in writing why they belonged to the BPC. According 
to the BPC, 143 local party chapters were closed during the year.
    There were 32 women in the 110-member lower house of the National 
Assembly, and 18 women in the 56-member upper house. Women chaired two 
of the National Assembly's 14 committees. There was one woman in the 
38-member Council of Ministers, and the head of the Central Election 
Commission was a woman. With the exception of the judiciary, men held 
virtually all leadership positions.
    No high level members of government or parliament openly identified 
themselves as members of a minority, although several were Polish or 
members of other ethnic groups.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the 
executive branch of government was a significant problem, with a poor 
delineation between the President's personal and official funds, and a 
heavy reliance on off-budget revenues. The Government itself profited 
from official corruption through high levels of goods confiscated at 
the border that were sold in state shops, and through renationalizing 
more of the economy.
    Between January and October authorities uncovered approximately 
3,000 corruption-related offenses. During the first six months of the 
year, the Government prosecuted approximately 857 individuals for 
corruption and recovered more than $1.87 million (four billion rubles) 
for the state.
    On January 5, authorities arrested a senior official of the state-
run truck production company ``Belaz'' for allegedly using his position 
to steal $154,000 (330 million rubles) under the guise of research and 
development expenses.
    On February 8, the chairman of the Supreme Court, Valentin Sukalo, 
confirmed that in April 2005 President Lukashenko had pardoned Galina 
Zhuravkova, who was convicted and sentenced in 2004 to four years in 
prison for embezzling over $3 million from the state (6.4 billion 
rubles.) Zhuravkova allegedly repaid the money and did not spend any 
time in prison.
    On October 3, the Supreme Court sentenced former director general 
of the Naftan oil refinery, Konstantin Chesnovitskiy, to four years in 
prison for illegal business activities and accepting large bribes. 
Also, a former official of the state-run airline, Belavia, was 
sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting a $66,000 bribe (142 
million rubles).
    On October 24, the former chief executive and personnel manager of 
the Evistor medical equipment plant were sentenced to 11 years in 
prison for accepting a $50,000 bribe (106.7 million rubles) from a 
potential buyer of part of the company.
    On November 21, two military courts convicted approximately 50 
border guards and customs officials for accepting bribes to allow some 
600 trucks enter the country between 2002 and 2004 without import 
duties. A former border control unit head, 13 border guards, five 
customs officers, and two civilians were sentenced to between five and 
14 years in prison; 27 inspectors received sentences of up to seven 
years in prison.
    On December 31, the Supreme Court sentenced a former police 
official to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes and abusing his 
power. The court confiscated his property and forbade him from holding 
a law enforcement job for five years. Five other men, including a KGB 
officer, received sentences ranging from six to eight years for bribery 
charges.
    In July President Lukashenko signed an anticorruption bill to 
supplement existing anticorruption legislation. The new law expanded 
the list of professions vulnerable to corruption, designated the 
prosecutor general's office as the coordinator of anticorruption 
efforts, and prohibited government officials from having foreign bank 
accounts or engaging in nepotism. However, President Lukashenko's older 
son Viktor remained employed as his father's personal assistant.
    The law and government policies severely restricted public access 
to government information. In practice citizens had some access to 
certain categories of information on government or database Web sites, 
but the information was often neither current nor complete. A 2004 
Presidential decree broadened significantly the amount of government 
material considered a state secret.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Several domestic human rights groups were active in the country; 
however, authorities hindered their efforts to investigate alleged 
human rights violations. Authorities monitored NGO correspondence and 
telephone conversations and harassed NGOs by bureaucratic means such as 
frequent tax and other inspections and deregistration (see sections 
1.f. and 2.b.). The Government generally ignored reports issued by 
human rights NGOs and did not meet with these groups during the year. 
Official government media did not report on human right NGOs and their 
actions; independent media that reported on human rights' issues were 
subjected to closure and harassment (see section 2.a.).
    The Government has officially closed (de-registered) most major 
human rights NGOs and NGO resource centers, under a variety of pretexts 
which independent observers viewed as politically motivated. Many of 
the closures were based on a law signed by the President in July 2005 
that allows authorities to close an NGO after just one warning from the 
Government of a violation of the law. The violations most frequently 
cited were discrepancies between the seal that was presented when the 
organization registered and the seal used on subsequent occasions; 
inaccuracies in an organization's letterhead; the use of a mailing 
address at a residence rather than the registered office; alleged 
forgeries among the signatures required to obtain legal registration; 
and failure to follow the organization's own bylaws. The law allows 
authorities to close an NGO for illegally accepting foreign assistance 
and allows the Ministry of Justice to participate in any NGO activity, 
review any NGO document, and request any information from an NGO. It 
also requires NGOs to present detailed reports annually to the Justice 
Ministry about their activities, office locations, names of officers, 
and total number of members.
    The law prohibits persons from acting on behalf of unregistered 
NGOs, and the Government continued to prosecute persons for this 
offense during the year. In July four leaders of the domestic election 
NGO Partnership received from six months to two years in prison for 
action on behalf of an unregistered NGO (see sections, 1.e., 2.b., 
2.d., and 3). On November 1, Malady Front leader Dmitriy Dashkevich was 
sentenced to 18 months in prison for leading an unregistered 
organization (see section 1.e. and 3).
    A 2003 Presidential decree restricting the right of organizations 
to receive funding from abroad provides that international assistance 
may be granted to, or accepted by, an organization whose project is 
registered by the Government; however, lengthy delays in project 
registrations were common, particularly for human rights organizations. 
Another Presidential decree prohibits foreign support for a broad range 
of activities, including the preparation, administration, and 
organization of elections and referenda; the organization of meetings, 
rallies, demonstrations, pickets, and strikes; the publication and 
distribution of promotional materials; and the organization of seminars 
and other types of promotional activities involving the population. The 
law also prohibits unregistered organizations from providing assistance 
to other NGOs. The Government sometimes refused groups permission to 
accept foreign support even if they complied with government reporting 
requirements. In early 2006 the Government denied permission for the 
(BHC) to accept $1,000 (2.1 million rubles) from the International 
Helsinki Federation.
    During the year authorities continued to harass the BHC, the 
country's most significant registered human rights NGO. On December 5, 
authorities seized BHC office equipment as partial payment of a $75,000 
(160 million rubles) fine for back taxes levied on international 
financial support it received. The BHC appealed the Government fine, 
but the appeal was rejected by both the prosecutor general and the 
Supreme Economic Court, which cleared the way for the seizure. The 
seizure followed charges filed on May 26 by the Justice Ministry with 
the Supreme Court that BHC violated the law and its charter by 
including nonmembers as observers during the 2004 parliamentary 
elections, used a residence for its legal address, and did not pay 
taxes on time. The May 26 charges were suspended until the authorities 
could make a decision on the $75,000 fine.
    Authorities were increasingly reluctant to discuss human rights 
with international NGOs, whose representatives often had difficulty 
gaining admission to the country.
    Government authorities continued to refuse to cooperate with the UN 
rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country. In 2005 the 
Government refused to allow the human rights rapporteur entry into the 
country to assess the situation and stated that it would not cooperate 
with the UN official. However, on September 27, UN Special Rapporteur 
on Belarus Adrian Severin reported that the human rights situation in 
the country had deteriorated ``to such an extent that the elements 
usually defining a dictatorship could be seen.'' According to Severin, 
civil and political rights were limited, cultural rights were ignored, 
and economic and other ``rights'' were conditional on obedience to the 
wishes of the authorities. On September 28, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
spokesman Andrey Popov stated that the rapporteur was not necessary 
because there were ``no grounds for such an institution'' in the 
country.
    On November 3, the International Helsinki Federation urged the 
Government to abolish article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, which 
criminalizes directing and managing unregistered organizations. During 
the year leaders of two local groups, Partnership and Malady Front, 
were sentenced to prison under the article (see sections 1.e., 2.b., 
2.d., and 3).
    On December 20, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution 
expressing deep concern over the human rights situation in the country; 
particularly the Government's ``persistent'' harassment and prosecution 
of opposition activists and independent NGOs, and the Government's 
failure to hold a free and fair Presidential election (see sections 
1.d., 1.e., and 3).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the 
law and have the right to equal protection of their rights and 
legitimate interests. The constitution and other laws also specifically 
prohibit discrimination based on factors such as race and language, or 
gender in certain instances. However, the Government did not always 
protect these rights in practice. Violence against women and children, 
trafficking of persons, and discrimination against persons with 
disabilities, Roma, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse against women, 
was a significant problem. In November, AI in a report stated that 
measures taken by the authorities to protect women against domestic 
violence were insufficient. The criminal code does not contain a 
separate article to prosecute cases of domestic violence. During the 
first eight months of the year the Government reported that 2,993 
criminal cases were opened under three criminal code articles 
prohibiting ``household offenses'' (intentional body damage, torture, 
and murder threats; severe body damage; destruction of property). 
During the same time, authorities secured 295 convictions for severe 
abuse of women and 33 for severe abuse of pregnant women, minors, and 
persons with disabilities. Women, however, remained reluctant to report 
domestic violence due to fear of reprisal and social stigma. NGOs 
operated crisis shelters primarily in Minsk, but they were poorly 
funded and provided limited support. NGOs complained of lack of funding 
and government support.
    There is a law against rape, but spousal rape is not criminalized 
and is not generally viewed as a crime. Rape was a problem and most 
women did not report rape from shame or fear that police would blame 
the victim. The Ministry of Interior reported 353 rape cases during the 
year.
    The law prohibits prostitution, but the penalties usually involved 
a warning or a small fine. Although authorities and local human rights 
observers reported that prostitution was not a significant problem, 
considerable anecdotal evidence indicated that it was growing, 
particularly in regions outside the main cities. Prostitution rings 
operated in government-owned hotels.
    Trafficking in women and girls, particularly for sexual 
exploitation, was a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking in 
Persons).
    Sexual harassment was reportedly widespread, but no specific laws 
other than those against physical assault address the problem.
    The law provides for equal treatment for women with regard to 
property ownership and inheritance, family law, and in the judicial 
system, and the law was generally respected in practice. The law also 
requires equal wages for equal work; however, this provision was not 
always enforced. Women had significantly fewer opportunities for 
advancement to the upper ranks of management or government. A 
disproportionate number of unemployed persons were women. In March the 
Ministry of Statistics and Analysis reported that approximately 67 
percent of unemployed persons in the country were women. Employers 
interviewing candidates for jobs often took into account whether a 
female applicant had children. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Security is responsible for ensuring gender equality; however, it 
cannot issue binding instructions to any other government agency.

    Children.--The authorities were committed to children's welfare and 
health. In cities and urban areas the quality of education and other 
services for children exceeded minimum state standards, although it was 
lower outside of major cities.
    Children begin school at age six and are required to complete nine 
years of education; most children completed compulsory schooling. The 
state provided 12 years of free education and in many cases paid for 
university education; students who received higher education at public 
expense were required to work for two years after graduation in 
government-directed jobs.
    By law universal free government health care was available and 
provided to children, but health care at private clinics is generally 
of better quality. There were no differences in the health care 
available to girls and boys. Beginning in 2005 the Government began to 
discourage medical rehabilitation trips abroad for children. During the 
past two years, the Government introduced new regulations that 
restricted certain groups of children living in areas affected by the 
Chernobyl nuclear disaster from traveling abroad for rehabilitation 
(see section 2.d.). Many observers considered the restrictions part of 
a government effort to limit opportunities for children to experience 
living conditions outside of the country.
    Child abuse appeared to occur infrequently. The country's criminal 
code does not contain a separate provision on child abuse. During the 
first eight months of the year the Government reported that 59 minors 
were victims of rape; 31 suffered from intentional severe physical 
abuse, and 39 children ages nine through 12 suffered from a lesser form 
of physical abuse.
    Child marriage was generally not a problem. However, within the 
Romani community, girls as young as 14 and boys as young as 16 could 
marry with parental consent, and frequently did so.
    Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    As of January 1, the National Adoption Center reported that there 
were approximately 32,600 orphans in the country. During the year there 
were reports of abuse and mistreatment in orphanages.
    In September a foreign couple that served as seasonal foster 
parents for a 10-year-old female Belarusian orphan hid the girl for 
three weeks from authorities in Italy. They refused to release her, 
claiming they found marks on her body, including a suspected burn mark 
on the genital area. The Ministry of Education denied the allegations 
and the orphanage director stated that all ``inmates have access to a 
pay phone and could call home at any moment'' to report physical abuse 
in the school. The child was later returned to the orphanage (see 
section 2.d.).
    As an alternative to orphanages, the law allows military units to 
adopt and train orphan boys between the ages of 14 and 16, an accepted 
practice that continues. While the children are not enlisted in the 
military, they must comply with military rules, wear a uniform, and 
obey orders. They have the option to join the unit upon reaching the 
draft age of 18.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, through, 
and in a few instances within, the country.
    Trafficking remained a serious problem. The Ministry of Interior 
reported 518 cases of trafficking in persons in the first 10 months of 
the year and registered about 463 victims of trafficking, including 55 
minors. Victims were primarily women, who were trafficked for sexual 
exploitation, although traffickers have continued to target males of 
all ages for forced manual labor, primarily in Russia. According to 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), men trafficked for 
labor exploitation represented a larger percentage of the total number 
of trafficking victims this year as compared to 2005.
    The country was both a country of origin and a country of transit 
for women and girls trafficked to the European Union (particularly 
Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Cyprus), the Middle 
East (particularly Israel), Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and Japan. The 
country's open border with Russia was a particular problem as it 
allowed easy trafficking of persons. Single, unemployed women under the 
age of 30 and girls were at particular risk of being trafficked due to 
their lack of awareness about trafficking and lack of economic 
opportunities, although victims over 30 increasingly became trafficking 
victims during the year due to an increase in the number of men over 30 
who were trafficked for forced labor.
    Ministry of Interior reports indicated that traffickers were 
members of loosely organized crime networks based within the country 
that maintained connections to larger international organized crime 
rings or direct contacts with brothels, clubs and bars in destination 
countries. Employment agencies, particularly travel and modeling 
agencies, were also responsible for trafficking.
    Traffickers used force, fraud, and coercion to traffic persons, 
mostly from economically depressed areas, for sexual exploitation or 
for physical or menial labor. Before the Government began to give 
closer scrutiny to the activities of tourist bureaus and employment 
agencies, traffickers lured victims through print and Internet 
advertisements, offering jobs abroad as models and soliciting marriage 
partners. More recently traffickers have used informal recruitment 
networks and personal approaches to victims through friends and 
relatives to make false promises of lucrative financial opportunities 
abroad. Traffickers often withheld victims' documents and used physical 
and emotional abuse to control them.
    The law criminalizes trafficking in persons for sexual or other 
kinds of exploitation. A March 2005 Presidential decree led to 
amendments in the Criminal Code to allow the Government to confiscate 
the property of convicted traffickers and increased their prison 
sentences. The penalty for trafficking is a minimum of five to seven 
years' imprisonment with property forfeiture, while the punishment for 
severe forms of trafficking is a minimum of 12 to 15 years' 
imprisonment with property forfeiture.
    In the first 10 months of the year, authorities convicted 172 
persons for trafficking-related offenses, as compared with 84 persons 
for the first six months in 2005, and 67 persons for the first six 
months in 2004. On September 18, a Moldovan citizen was sentenced to 
three and one-half years under Article 187 of the Criminal Code for 
trafficking men to Russia for labor exploitation. Authorities also 
cooperated with counterparts in the main EU destination countries, 
other member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, 
Israel, and Turkey to combat trafficking in persons. In March police 
helped Israeli authorities break up a sex trade ring that trafficked 
Belarusian women to Israel. However, poor implementation of existing 
legislation and unwillingness to formally recognize antitrafficking 
NGOs as equal partners in the battle against trafficking in persons 
continued to inhibit the Government's antitrafficking efforts.
    Antitrafficking efforts within the Government were coordinated by 
the interior ministry's Department on Combating Trafficking in Human 
Beings. Many observers concluded that the Government should clarify the 
role and power of the department for it to be effective. There was no 
formal mechanism to coordinate the Government's activities with those 
of NGOs and international organizations. Antitrafficking NGOs and 
international organizations complained of a lack of financial and 
operational support from the Government. While the Government allowed 
NGOs and international organizations to conduct some antitrafficking 
programs, there were many reports of long delays to register or 
refusals to register antitrafficking projects, especially if funding 
came from outside the country.
    Attention to trafficking at the border increased, but segments 
remained largely uncontrolled; an open border used to traffic victims 
both eastward and westward exists with Russia.
    The Ministry of Labor continued to monitor and license activities 
of employment agencies offering labor contracts in foreign countries. 
In 2005 all agencies that facilitated travel, work, study, and marriage 
abroad were required to reregister with the Government and provide full 
information to the Government about foreign employment contracts (see 
section 2.d.). Out of 716 travel agencies, 198 were not reregistered. 
In October authorities suspended the licenses of an additional 36 tour 
agencies and warned 67 others for failure to meet licensing 
requirements (see section 1.d.). Most agencies dealing with work 
abroad, as well as most modeling agencies and marriage brokers, were 
not reregistered.
    Reports continued that individual corrupt law enforcement and 
border officials facilitated trafficking by accepting bribes or by 
ignoring trafficking; however, there was no indication that the 
Government systematically facilitated or condoned trafficking. The 
State Control Committee investigated allegations of official corruption 
through the Interagency Commission for Combating Crime, Corruption, and 
Drug Trafficking. In March 2005 a court sentenced former culture 
ministry official A. Semenov to eight years in prison for using his 
position to traffic 20 women to Italy.
    Victims seldom reported trafficking crimes to police due to the 
social stigma attached to trafficking, aversion to dealing with 
authorities, and a shortage of social services and rehabilitation 
options. Some victims who were deported back to the country did not 
receive special status or assistance as trafficking victims due in part 
to recurring problems with victim identification. There were 156 
government territorial social centers around the country, but none 
specialized in victim assistance. To supplement the Government 
shelters, the UN Development Program, the IOM, and the antitrafficking 
NGO La Strada opened rehabilitation shelters for victims and their 
families. IOM assisted 413 victims as of December 1, compared with 455 
in 2005.
    Presidential decrees have eliminated criminal responsibility for 
illegal acts committed by a person being trafficked; defined the status 
of trafficking victims; and mandated measures to provide them with 
protection, medical care, and social rehabilitation, but only for 
victims who cooperate in an investigation and prosecution. However, the 
Government did not allocate funds to pay for rehabilitation services. 
Lack of adequate funding for victim protection hampered the 
Government's ability to deliver consistent assistance to victims. 
Instead, the Government relied on international organizations and NGOs 
to provide the mandated rehabilitation assistance to victims of 
trafficking. In addition, under the law, traffickers are responsible 
for expenses incurred by the Government to help victims, and agencies 
that assisted victims may seek reimbursement through the courts. Law 
enforcement authorities strongly encouraged victims to assist with 
investigations. Any trafficking victim who obstructs either the 
investigation or prosecution of a trafficking case is denied the 
benefits, including measures of protection, generally made available to 
victims.
    The Government did not conduct any formal trafficking awareness 
programs during the year, and there were no line items in the state 
budget for countering trafficking; however, the government-controlled 
media increased its reporting on the problem. There were 
antitrafficking billboards and television and radio public 
announcements during the year. The Government continued to rely 
primarily on international organizations to implement antitrafficking 
legislation.
    Government measures to deter trafficking included a requirement 
that all Internet dating services reregister with the Government and 
provide information to the interior ministry about citizens leaving the 
country to date foreigners and about foreigners arriving in the country 
to date citizens. The authorities continued to enforce strong measures 
introduced in 2005 to discourage and control study abroad, which they 
justified in part as antitrafficking measures. However, some observers 
asserted that the authorities were seeking to restrict freedom of 
movement and possibilities for education abroad under the pretext of 
combating trafficking (see sections 2.a. and 2.d.).

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and other government services. 
According to the Republican Association of Disabled Wheelchair Users 
(RADWU), persons with certain diagnosed disabilities were not allowed 
to hold most government jobs. On May 5, RADWU organized a demonstration 
of approximately 30 wheelchair users in Minsk to demand equal rights 
and fair employment opportunities. According to the Internet news 
source Belapan, similar demonstrations took place in 11 other cities.
    The law mandates that transport, residences, and businesses be 
accessible to persons with disabilities; however, facilities, including 
public transport and government office buildings, were generally not 
accessible to persons with disabilities. According to RADWU, the 
Government's five year program launched in 2001 to make public 
buildings accessible to persons with disabilities achieved minor 
results. While ramps were installed on the exteriors of some buildings, 
the interiors remained inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. RADWU 
estimated that more than 75 percent of persons with disabilities were 
unable to leave their homes without assistance. Many sidewalks and 
stores had no ramps, and most buildings had only stairs or small 
elevators.
    Authorities provided minimal benefits for persons with 
disabilities, and most of those benefits were ineffectual. For example, 
persons with disabilities were entitled to a 50 percent discount on 
rent and utilities, but only if they lived alone. Since few residences 
were accessible to persons with disabilities, most had to live with 
friends or family and were ineligible for the discount. Public 
transportation was free to persons with disabilities but neither the 
subway in Minsk nor the bus system was wheelchair accessible. The 
Government prohibited employers from requiring persons with 
disabilities to work more than seven hours a day; however, this 
restriction had the unintentional consequence of discouraging companies 
from hiring persons with disabilities. The Government provided support 
only to state-operated facilities, although those run by NGOs were 
often better equipped and more responsive to persons with disabilities.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Security is the main government 
agency responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was governmental and 
societal discrimination against the ethnic Polish population and Roma. 
There were also expressions of societal hostility toward proponents of 
Belarusian national culture.
    During the year authorities repeatedly questioned the chairman of 
the unrecognized UBP, Anzhelika Borys, and her associates regarding 
their activities (see section 2.d.). On August 16, police summoned UBP 
activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut for questioning, allegedly 
about a crime he witnessed. However, all of the questions focused on 
the sources of funding for his magazine and a previous fine. In August 
Poczobut was sentenced to 10 days in jail after a local television 
company complained that he obstructed the work of a cameraman trying to 
film a wreath laying. On September 25, police also summoned former UBP 
chairman Tadeusz Gavin for questioning.
    On February 25, Minsk police detained Andrey Borys and two other 
UBP activists for three hours as they tried to attend a concert at the 
Sukno Palace of Culture. According to one UBP activist, police grabbed 
Borys, punched him in the face, put a pistol to his head, and dragged 
him from his vehicle. The police later claimed they had an anonymous 
tip that Borys was carrying weapons. No arms were found in the vehicle, 
but police confiscated 58 copies of the UBP publication Glos znad 
Niomna and charged all three activists with distributing printed 
material without required information about its origin.
    On December 13, authorities sentenced ``Magazyn Polski'' Polish 
magazine layout editor Aleksey Saley to seven days in jail on charges 
of petty hooliganism and disobeying police officers after being 
arrested. Saley left his office on December 12 when several 
plainclothes police officers arrested him and forced him into a 
vehicle.
    There was significant official and societal discrimination against 
the country's approximately 40,000 to 60,000 Roma.
    Government media and officials portrayed Roma negatively. On 
January 14, the prosecutor rejected complaints by the Romani community 
about a documentary film shown on state television in 2005 that 
portrayed Roma as criminals who began selling drugs in childhood. 
Nikolay Kalinin, the head of the Roma community and a human rights 
activist, stated that the program, Gypsies Go to Jail, contained 
``exclusively negative information'' that portrayed fellow Roma as 
criminals. The prosecutor, however, stated that the documentary did not 
contain any discrimination or insults directed at the Romani community.
    On April 3, a group of six unidentified men assaulted and beat 
Kalinin in downtown Minsk. The assailants told Kalinin the beating was 
to defend the honor of a woman whom Kalinin had allegedly insulted. 
Kalinin claimed that he had never seen the woman and linked the attack 
to his human rights work and involvement in monitoring the March 
Presidential election.
    There was high unemployment and low levels of education within the 
Romani community. In November 2005 authorities estimated the 
unemployment rate among Roma at 93 percent. Romani children, who spoke 
mainly Roma and Belarusian, struggled in the school system where the 
primary language of instruction was Russian. Romani students reported 
that teachers and fellow students often considered them lazy or 
mentally incompetent due to language-related academic difficulties. 
During the year the Romani Lawyers Group continued to petition the 
Government to permit establishment of a public school in Minsk for 
Roma, arguing that there were schools for Jews, Lithuanians, and Poles. 
The Government has yet to respond to the petition, which was first 
submitted in September 2004. Roma were often denied access to free, 
higher education in state-run universities.
    The Russian and Belarusian languages have equal legal status; 
however, in practice Russian was the primary language used by the 
Government. Few official functions and publications were in Belarusian. 
As of September 1, the Ministry of Education ordered all course 
instruction in grades 10 and 11 at Russian language schools to be in 
Russian. Previously both Russian and Belarusian language schools taught 
national history, geography, and Belarusian language and literature in 
Belarusian. The Belarusian Language Society protested the decision. The 
ministry later agreed to allow individual schools to decide on the 
language of instruction. However, both Russian and Belarusian schools 
received new textbooks about Belarusian history and geography for 10th 
and 11th grade in Russian.
    On November 29, Viktoriya Dashkevich, head of a puppet theater in 
the northern city of Vitebsk, reported that the neo-Nazi, Russian 
National Unity group (RNU) sent her a letter demanding that the theater 
stop staging Belarusian-language plays and translate all plays into 
Russian because Belarus will soon become a part of Russia. Dashkevich 
filed a complaint with law-enforcement agencies over the letter, but 
the authorities refused to open a criminal investigation.
    Ultranationalist skinhead groups made up of ethnic Russians 
harassed and vandalized property belonging to persons promoting 
Belarusian national culture. On April 3, unknown persons affixed fliers 
and signs with emblems of Russia's ultra-left National Bolshevik Party 
at the entrance to the Frantsisk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society 
headquarters. In June the leader of the Vitebsk chapter of the UCP 
received a threatening letter from the RNU telling her to abandon her 
opposition activities or face unspecified retribution from the RNU. On 
August 16, opposition BPF members discovered fake explosives planted 
near their office that were decorated with the RNU emblem, which 
resembles a swastika, and packed with RNU leaflets. The RNU denied 
planting the fake explosives. Also in August the independent newspaper 
Vitebskiy Kuryer received a letter from RNU leaders with threats to 
drive the paper out of business.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is not 
illegal; however societal discrimination against homosexuals was a 
problem. Homophobia was widespread, and instances of harassment 
occurred in all spheres of society. According to the local TEMA gay 
rights group, government-controlled media tried to decrease 
participation in the protests following the March Presidential election 
by saying they were part of a ``gay revolution.'' In 2005 state media 
attempted to discredit the opposition by associating it with 
homosexuality. On July 31, state media BT broadcast on national 
television a police expose of a Latvian diplomat assigned to the 
country whom authorities accused of distributing pornography (see 
section 1.f.). The program targeted the diplomat because of his sexual 
orientation and included several minutes of hidden-camera footage of 
the diplomat watching pornography and engaging in homosexual 
activities. The police dropped the investigation in October.
    On November 8, police raided an apartment where TEMA members 
gathered to organize an international Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and 
Transsexual Conference scheduled for November 10. Police seized 
conference materials and detained members for questioning at a police 
station. Four TEMA activists were released; three remained in detention 
over night. TEMA leaders subsequently canceled the conference.
    Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS remained a 
problem despite greater awareness of the disease and increasing 
tolerance towards people infected with HIV/AIDS. For example, maternity 
wards no longer separate HIV/AIDS-infected mothers from those not 
infected. However, the UNAIDS office reported that attitudes towards 
HIV/AIDS patients remained complicated, and there were still numerous 
reports of HIV-infected individuals who faced discrimination or were 
afraid to disclose their illness.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--In contrast with 2005, there 
were no reports that the Government or government-controlled media 
promoted racial or ethnic hatred or incited violence against any race 
or ethnic group.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except state 
security and military personnel, to form and join independent unions 
voluntarily; however, in practice the Government did not respect this 
right. During the year the Government continued efforts to suppress 
independent unions, stop their activities, and to bring all union 
activity under its control. The efforts included frequent refusals to 
extend employment contracts for members of independent unions, arrests 
of independent union members, confiscation of union materials, and 
refusals to register some unions.
    The government-controlled Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus 
(FTUB) was the largest union in the country with an estimated four 
million members; however the number is likely inflated since the 
country's total workforce is approximately four million. The Belarusian 
Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU) was the largest independent 
union organization, consisting of four constituent unions.
    In September 2005 President Lukashenko expressed his intention to 
see all workers become FTUB members. The Presidential administration 
subsequently enacted several measures to further this goal. Two 
Presidential decrees in October 2005 granted the FTUB and its 
affiliated unions privileges that were not extended to independent 
trade unions. This included free office space in state-owned buildings 
and the exclusive right to inspect all business concerns for compliance 
with wage regulations, regardless of whether the firm employed FTUB 
members.
    During the year the Government continued efforts begun in 2005 to 
reinvigorate an ``ideology program'' at state enterprises, which was 
designed to propagate government policies and monitor workers' 
attitudes. New, more highly motivated ``ideology workers'' were named 
to replace tenured and relatively independent workers who previously 
occupied such positions. One independent union leader claimed that the 
ideology director at his factory said his job was to rid the factory of 
all nongovernmental unions.
    On October 9, President Lukashenko signed a decree to eliminate 
registration requirements for trade unions; however, at year's end the 
measure had not been implemented, and several independent trade unions 
remained unregistered. Trade unions must be registered to conduct union 
activities and to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. 
Unregistered union members faced administrative and criminal charges 
for what authorities could deem as ``illegal'' activity.
    During the year city officials in Grodno, Borisov, and Mogilev 
continued to deny registration applications from local chapters of the 
independent Radio Electronic Workers Union (REP). On October 6, Borisov 
city officials for a fourth time denied registration to the REP chapter 
at the Borisov Factory of Auto Tractor Electric Equipment. In Grodno 
and Mogilev, officials denied REP registration in June and July, 
respectively, for a second consecutive year. At year's end the Justice 
Ministry had not decided if it would uphold a refusal by the Sovetskiy 
District administration to register a REP chapter at the Minsk 
Automobile Factory. The chapter first applied for registration three 
years ago.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that authorities 
tried to implement a 1999 Presidential decree requiring independent 
trade unions to reregister to account for membership. Under the decree, 
unions had to enroll at least 10 percent of workers in an enterprise to 
register a local chapter, and have at least 500 members to form and 
register a national union. In November 2005 the Justice Ministry 
ordered the independent Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (FTUM) to 
reregister as a local chapter after it found that the union had 217 
members. The union protested the order, claiming that it had 542 
members because the ministry prevented four of the FTUM's nine local 
chapters to register. Also in 2005 the ministry found the Democratic 
Union of Transport Workers to have too few members and referred the 
case to the prosecutor general.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the Government 
dissolved unions without judicial process.
    The Government used a system of contracts with individual workers 
and administrative measures to discourage membership in independent 
unions and in regional, national, and international labor 
organizations.
    Beginning in 2004 authorities required government employees and 
employees of state-owned businesses, which make up a majority of the 
workforce, to work under short-term contracts. While contracts could be 
signed for up to five years, most state employers issued work contracts 
for a six month or one year term. In August 2005 President Lukashenko 
signed a decree that set the minimum contract length for state 
employees at one year to satisfy complaints by critics. Any contract 
for less than one year must be agreed to in writing by a worker, and a 
worker's contract cannot be terminated without a two week notice. 
However, authorities continued to use the contract system to discourage 
state employees from participating in independent union and political 
party activities, which they deemed to be ``anti-government'' or 
``harmful'' to society.
    On November 21, the management of the Gomel Motor Park No. 1 
refused to extend the work contract of REP chapter leader Andrey 
Baranov because his membership in the independent union precluded him 
from continuing work as a driver. The action followed a Justice 
Ministry decision that drivers at the Gomel Motor Park No. 1 could not 
join trade unions. In March police confiscated 70 REP applications from 
the motor park drivers and sometimes helped management pressure union 
applicants to resign their membership. As a result, 20 drivers signed 
requests to leave REP. Of that number, six who were forced to quit the 
union claimed that they were threatened with job loss.
    The Government continued to reject or ignore efforts by the 
international community to encourage trade union independence. On July 
26, authorities refused to allow four members of the European Union's 
economic and social committee into the country even though they had 
entry visas. The EU officials wanted to determine whether the country 
was fulfilling International Labor Organization (ILO) recommendations 
to stem the erosion of independent trade union activity. The Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs stated that the delegation's visas were canceled 
because the visit was not prepared in close cooperation with the 
Government.
    During the year government-backed union officials continued to 
reject a key ILO recommendation by refusing to give a seat on the 
National Council of Labor and Social Issues (NCLSI) to an independent 
union. In August, the head of the government- controlled FTUB Leonid 
Kozik pledged to the leader of the independent BCDTU, Aleksandr 
Yaroshuk, a seat on the national council. However, the council neither 
provided written confirmation of the promise, nor voted to give the 
BCDTU a seat on the NCLSI. As a result, the BCDTU could only 
participate as an observer on the NCLSI.
    Authorities and factory managers continued to discourage workers 
from maintaining membership in independent unions. For example, 
continued threats from managers at the Belshina tire factory in Orsha 
not to renew work contracts caused a drop in membership of the 
Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU) from 250 in 2005 to 
approximately 80 at year's end.
    In January Anatoliy Yakobuk, director of the Mogilev Artificial 
Fiber Factory, refused to deduct union dues from worker salaries and to 
transfer the fund to the national office of the independent REP. On 
April 17, management renewed the fund transfers, but REP activists 
claimed Yakobuk complicated the process by requiring REP members to 
apply for the monthly funds transfer in writing.
    On June 1, the chapter of the BITU that represents workers at the 
Grodno Azot chemical plant, one of the country's major chemical 
manufacturing industries, filed a complaint with the regional 
prosecutor's office claiming that Grodno Azot managers were forcing 
members to leave the union. According to union leader Sergey 
Antusevich, Grodno Azot's new director, Aleksandr Radevich, complained 
that he could not run an enterprise with two trade unions. During the 
year harassment of workers at the factory resulted in a decline in BITU 
membership from 800 to 300.
    On June 2, the Belarusian Free Trade Union (BFTU) at the Bobruysk 
tractor factory reported that its membership decreased from 500 to 350 
as a result of constant pressure from the factory administration. 
According to the BFTU, members were given an ultimatum: leave the union 
and receive contract extensions and better wages or face unemployment.
    The Government also directly targeted union leaders and activists. 
On March 18, the country's antiterrorist paramilitary group ALMAZ 
unsuccessfully tried to force its way into REP's office under the 
pretext of a bomb threat. Grodno REP activist Ivan Roman was later 
arrested and detained for allegedly planting bombs. Roman reported that 
ALMAZ officers threatened his life. He was charged with using 
obscenities and released 36 hours later. In September 2005 a Grodno 
court fined Roman $600 (1.3 million rubles) for acting on behalf of an 
unregistered organization while distributing union literature. Prior to 
his court appearance, unknown persons ransacked the REP's Grodno 
office, stealing documents and electronic files. In October 2005 Roman 
was detained for distributing an independent newspaper.
    On April 26, the administration of the Gomel Motor Park No.1 
dismissed employee and REP activist Aleksandr Evseychuk for 
absenteeism. According to Evseychuk, he was subpoenaed to appear in 
court, but allegedly returned to work too late to leave for a business 
trip. According to Evseychuk's lawyer, he was previously fined twice 
for his union work.
    On May 4, the management of the Minsk Metro declined to renew the 
contract of Oleg Shcherbo, a locomotive driver for 23 years and BFTU 
member. In 2005 Shcherbo was demoted to a lower paying job as a 
mechanic. The BCDTU attributed Shcherbo's dismissal to his testimony 
about the Government's mistreatment of independent unions to a 2004 ILO 
Commission of Inquiry.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively; however, 
government authorities and managers of state-owned enterprises 
routinely interfered with union activities and hindered workers' 
efforts to bargain collectively, in some instances arbitrarily 
suspending collective bargaining agreements.
    In September 2005 President Lukashenko called for all employers to 
sign collective bargaining agreements with trade union leaders at their 
respective companies. However, employers and progovernment trade unions 
refused to include many independent trade unions in the negotiations. 
Independent union leaders viewed the requirement for collective 
bargaining agreements as the beginning of a process that would strip 
unions of their negotiating power and independence; however, they also 
understood that failure to sign the collective agreements would prevent 
workers from receiving social benefits and protection.
    During the year the administration at Grodno AZOT excluded the 
factory's BFTU from its collective bargaining agreement. As of August 
18, the managers at the Belshina tire factory in Bobruysk continued to 
deny benefits required by its collective agreement to BITU members, 
asserting that the official union, Belkhimprofsoyuz, was against the 
move. According to the BCDTU, denying equal benefits to BITU members 
violated Article 365 of the Labor Code, which calls for extended 
agreements to cover all workers who give their consent. In September 
Belshina managers refused to pay BITU members bonuses offered to non-
BITU members. To protest the move and to demand registration of the 
local BITU chapter, BITU leader Yelena Zakhozhaya went on a 43-day 
hunger strike. In November managers paid the bonuses but did not 
approve the chapter's registration.
    The law provides for the right to strike; however, tight government 
control over public demonstrations made it difficult for unions to 
strike or hold public rallies. Management and local authorities also 
blocked worker attempts to organize strikes on many occasions by 
declaring them illegal.
    During the year unions organized small strikes in various regions 
of the country. However, these authorized demonstrations were held away 
from city centers. On August 9, 70 activists of the Mogilev REP chapter 
held a picket on the outskirts of the city to demand that city 
authorities register its local chapter. The rally was originally 
scheduled for July 25 at the Palace of Culture at the Artificial Fiber 
Plant, but city officials denied permission one day earlier after 
discovering that REP had failed to pay for ground cleaning services. 
The independent union had already paid for police, outpatient clinic, 
and local housing maintenance services.
    Similar demonstrations were to take place in Grodno and Gomel, but 
city officials either did not approve a requested city center location 
or delegated the decision to regional officials. On March 2, Polotsk 
city officials refused to allow the BFTU to picket near the entrance of 
the Polotsk Fiber Glass Company because the site was not intended for 
carrying out mass actions.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the six special economic zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, persons 
were trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor (see section 
5).
    During the year the Government approved several subbotniks, when 
workers ``volunteered'' to work on Saturday and donate earnings to 
finance government social projects. However, participation in the day-
long labor was, in effect, mandatory. Workers who refused to work were 
subjected to fines and intimidation by employers and government 
authorities.
    Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that authorities ordered 
graduating medical students who had paid their own tuition to work for 
three years in small towns.
    With the concurrence of a doctor, an administrative court may 
sentence alcohol and drug abusers to up to two years of labor in 
government work treatment centers. Inmates receive minimal pay, almost 
all of which is taken to pay for room and board.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including a 
prohibition on forced and compulsory labor, and specifies policies for 
acceptable working conditions, and in practice the Government generally 
implemented these laws.
    The minimum age for employment is 16; however, 14-year-olds may 
conclude a labor contract with the written consent of one parent or 
legal guardian. The prosecutor general's office reportedly enforced the 
law effectively. Minors under 18 were allowed to work in nonhazardous 
jobs, but were not allowed to work overtime, on weekends, or on 
government holidays. Work was not to be harmful to the minor's health 
or to hinder their education. With the exception of some trafficked 
minors child labor was generally not a problem (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of $70 
(150,000 rubles) a month did not provide a decent standard of living 
for a worker and family. Officially, average real wages were 
approximately $283 (608,450 rubles) a month at year's end, although 
many employees received additional wages under the table.
    The law establishes a standard work week of 40 hours and provides 
for at least one 24-hour rest period per week. Because of the country's 
difficult economic situation, many workers worked considerably less 
than 40 hours per week, and factories often required workers to take 
unpaid furloughs due to raw material or energy shortages or lack of 
demand. The law provides for mandatory overtime and holiday pay and 
restricts overtime to 4 hours every two days, with a maximum of 120 
hours of overtime allowed each year. The Government was believed to 
have effectively enforced these standards.
    The law establishes minimum conditions for workplace safety and 
worker health; however, employers often ignored these standards. 
Workers at many heavy machinery plants did not wear even minimal safety 
gear. There is a state labor inspectorate, but the agency lacked 
authority to enforce employer compliance and often ignored violations. 
During the first eight months of the year, 140 fatal accidents in the 
work place were reported, a 4.1 percent decrease from the same time in 
the previous year. There also were 453 accidents resulting in serious 
injury during the same time period, which marked a 7.6 percent 
decrease. The labor ministry reported that workplace accidents were 
caused by carelessness, poor conditions, malfunctioning equipment, and 
poor training and instruction. The law does not provide workers the 
right to remove themselves from dangerous and unhealthy work 
environments without risking loss of employment.

                               __________

                                BELGIUM

    The Kingdom of Belgium, with a population of approximately 10.5 
million, is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch who 
plays a mainly symbolic role. The country is a federal state with 
several levels of government, including national, regional (Flanders, 
Wallonia, and Brussels), community (Flemish, Francophone, and German), 
provincial, and local. The Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the 
Prime Minister, holds office as long as it retains the confidence of 
the lower house (Chamber of Deputies) of the bicameral parliament. 
Federal parliamentary elections held in 2003 were free and fair and 
resulted in a four-party coalition government. Civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights 
problems were reported: lengthy pretrial detention, violence against 
ethnic and religious minorities and against women, racial and ethnic 
discrimination in the job market, and trafficking in persons.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overcrowding remained a 
problem in a system where approximately 9,500 inmates filled facilities 
with a capacity of 8,311. Almost half of all inmates were foreign 
nationals, with the latter also accounting for about half the group in 
pretrial detention. The large number of noncitizen inmates prompted the 
authorities to acknowledge cultural problems in the prisons.
    In April the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) issued a 
report on its April 2005 visit to the country. The report expressed 
concern about reports of mistreatment in police custody. The CPT 
expressed concern about detention conditions at the special center of 
the Brussels national airport. This facility holds persons suspected of 
seeking to enter the country illegally. The report also noted that, 
during a strike by prison wardens, authorities failed to provide a 
decent quality of life for inmates. This failure occurred despite 
efforts by police, Belgian Red Cross, and civil protection teams to 
maintain security, family visits, and access to lawyers. The delegation 
also examined the circumstances in which two prisoners died during a 
2003 strike at the Andenne prison. Legal proceedings resulted in a 
court decision to throw out the case. The report also expressed concern 
about conditions at psychiatric wards, where inmates were held in small 
cells.
    Prisons met most international standards. The Government was 
upgrading some older facilities but overcrowding remained a problem as 
incarcerations outpaced construction. During the year the country 
continued to expand psychiatric prison ward capacity following 
criticism of inmate treatment.
    Juvenile prisoners were sometimes held with adults. Convicted 
criminals and pretrial detainees were held together.
    The Government permitted visits by members of parliament and 
independent human rights groups, and they visited during the year. In 
addition the Government instituted a system in which an independent 
control committee exercised oversight of each individual prison. A 
nationwide body, the Central Control Council, coordinates and oversees 
the prison-based organizations.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The federal police 
council, an anticorruption unit, and the federal Interior Ministry 
managed the operations of the federal police forces. An independent 
oversight committee monitored police activities and compiled an annual 
report for parliament. The federal police were responsible for internal 
security and nationwide law and order. The local police operated 
branches in all 196 police districts responsible for local law 
enforcement. There were isolated incidents of corruption in the police 
force; during the year the federal Ministry of the Interior issued a 
new ethics code aimed at further reducing instances of corruption.
    In 2005 the parliamentary oversight committee received 2,221 
complaints about police behavior, a 16 percent increase compared to the 
previous year. The complaints concerned discriminatory behavior, 
racism, failure to intervene, violations of privacy, and arbitrary 
detention. The oversight committee found 212 cases of individual 
mistakes, and 46 cases concerning organizational defects. In general 
one in eight complaints appeared to be justified, according to a 
parliamentary body responsible for police oversight.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the constitution, an individual can 
only be arrested while committing a crime, or by order of a judge that 
must be served within twenty-four hours of the time of arrest. The law 
provides a person in detention the right to a prompt judicial 
determination of the legality of his detention, and the authorities 
generally respected this right in practice. Detainees were promptly 
informed of charges against them. There is a functioning bail system, 
but during the year there was mounting controversy over the conditional 
release system which was viewed as being too lenient. The justice 
minister was forced to issue a temporary conditional release stop for 
certain categories of hardened criminals.
    According to May figures, 37 percent of the prison population 
consisted of pretrial detainees. The average length of pretrial 
detention was 90 days.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    The judicial system is composed of civil and criminal courts, which 
both refer cases to courts of appeal. The courts of first instance 
(district courts) are responsible for civil and commercial litigation 
for matters that exceed the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace. 
There are five appellate courts and one Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour 
de Cassation) overseeing both the civil and criminal courts. The 
Supreme Court of Appeal verifies that the law has been correctly 
applied and that no procedural errors have been committed. When the 
Supreme Court of Appeal overturns a ruling, the case is referred to one 
of the appeals courts to reexamine the facts.
    The criminal courts consist of the magistrate's court, correctional 
courts, and the criminal chambers of the court of appeal. In addition, 
each province has a special criminal court, with a public jury to try 
murder cases. Each judicial district has a labor court, which deals 
with litigation between employers and employees regarding wages, 
notice, competition clauses, and social security benefits. There is 
also a magistrate in each district to monitor cases involving religious 
groups (see section 2.c.).

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. All 
defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to be present, to 
have counsel (at public expense if needed), to confront witnesses, to 
present evidence, and to appeal.
    An amendment to the youth protection code adopted in May provided 
judges of juvenile courts with a wider range of possibilities for 
mediation and sentencing young offenders. Young offenders committing 
serious crimes can be tried by a regular court for adults, but with 
youth judges present, and these offenders can be incarcerated in 
special youth detention centers until the age of 23.
    The law authorizes jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against 
humanity outside the national territory when the victim or perpetrator 
is a citizen of or resides in the country. In April the law was amended 
to avoid discrimination against refugees and to guarantee means of 
appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Plaintiffs can either 
individually or through specialized organizations seek damages for 
human rights violations under the prevailing antidiscrimination 
legislation. There were no problems enforcing court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    The law prohibits public statements that incite national, racial, 
or religious hatred, including denial of the Holocaust. The maximum 
sentence for Holocaust denial is one year's imprisonment. In April the 
Brussels Chamber of Indictment ruled that Roeland Raes, a former vice 
chairman of the Vlaams Belang party and former senator, would have to 
stand trial for denying the Holocaust during a television show 
broadcast in 2001. The trial had not taken place by year's end.
    On June 21, two staff members of the Belgian Islamic Center were 
convicted for denial of the Holocaust. They received a 10-month 
sentence, which the court reduced by half, and were fined.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly and privately 
without reprisal, and the Government made no attempts to impede 
criticism.
    In 2005 and during the year Parliament enacted legislation to 
protect journalistic sources, including protecting them from judicial 
investigation, unless such an investigation could prevent the 
commission of criminal acts or endanger life.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
Government and service providers were developing programs to warn users 
of Web sites containing illegal content, such as child pornography.
    Government incentives to expand Internet access increased the total 
number of Internet connections to 2.3 million out of a 10.5 million 
population.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The law accorded ``recognized'' status to six religions and a 
grouping of nonconfessional philosophical or secular organizations, 
each of which received benefits from the federal and regional 
governments. The lack of recognized status generally did not prevent 
nonrecognized religious groups from freely practicing their religions, 
and citizens generally practiced their religion without official 
harassment or impediment. During the year the Buddhist community 
formally applied for recognition as a nonconfessional faith; the Syrian 
Orthodox Church sought recognition as a confessional faith.
    Since 1999 the Center for Information and Advice on Harmful and 
Sectarian Organizations (CIAOSN), a government agency, has conducted 
research on 598 organizations, generally at the behest of members of 
the public requesting information about particular groups. CIAOSN has 
an advisory role and can point out the possible risk, in its view, of 
joining a particular group, but cannot prevent people from doing so.
    In April the Brussels appellate court ruled that the Francophone 
community government must cease circulating a flyer in which 
Anthroposophism was labeled as a dangerous sect. The court awarded a 
symbolic $1.31 (one euro) in damages to the plaintiffs.
    In June the Brussels appellate court in a summary trial ruled that 
the CIAOSN was wrong in identifying Sahaya Yoga as a dangerous sect. 
The court ordered CIAOSN to make public the ruling and to change its 
Web site and annual report accordingly.
    School authorities in Brussels terminated the contracts of two 
teachers for wearing Muslim headscarves. The two filed an appeal with 
the personnel appeals board of the Brussels public schools, but the 
latter upheld the decision. In the absence of nationwide guidelines, 
individual schools remained free to decide on restrictions regarding 
the personal display of religious symbols.
    In June a judge of the local police court ruled that the police in 
the Flemish town of Maaseik acted lawfully in 2005 when fining a woman 
of Moroccan origin for wearing a niqab, (a face veil worn by some 
devout Muslim women). The local police had fined the woman under a 1993 
ministerial directive that people in the street should be identifiable.
    In June three religion teachers in an Antwerp mosque were arrested 
for allegedly spanking students in their charge for dressing 
immodestly.
    There is no provision in immigration law for foreign members of 
religious groups to enter the country to conduct religious work or for 
them to obtain work permits for that purpose. However, various 
religious groups continued to receive visas for members from abroad to 
temporarily conduct missionary activities. Foreign-born ministers of 
recognized faiths are not required to obtain work permits.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Center for Equal 
Opportunity and the Fight Against Racism (CEOOR) counted 56 anti-
Semitic incidents during the year, including three violent incidents. 
There were 58 anti-Semitic incidents reported the previous year. Most 
incidents occurred in Antwerp, and to a lesser extent in Brussels. 
Verbal abuse and the painting of anti-Jewish graffiti were the most 
common complaints. As in the past, incidents appear to have been 
generated from the Muslim immigrant community. CEOOR also reported an 
increase in anti-Semitic incidents due to the July-August conflict 
involving Israel and Lebanon. Before the war the organization received 
one or two complaints of anti-Semitism per week; after hostilities 
commenced they received about one complaint per day. The complaints 
generally involved Internet hate messages and anti-Semitic letters and 
articles in the press. In addition, anti-Semitic graffiti on Jewish 
homes and insults against Jews on the streets were reported. An 
official investigation was under way at year's end to determine 
responsibility.
    On July 5, a young man of North African origin yelled anti-Semitic 
insults while passing two Jewish boys who were walking outside the 
yeshiva (Talmud school) in Wilrijk (Antwerp). The North African man 
returned shortly later with some friends to assault the Jewish boys. 
One boy was badly hurt and the other boy escaped. The perpetrators were 
not found despite a police investigation.
    On the evening of July 24, the National Monument for the Jewish 
Martyrs of Anderlecht was vandalized. Documents, windows, and the 
memorial's crypt were destroyed. The crypt included an urn containing 
ashes from Auschwitz, which was emptied and vandalized. The memorial, 
in the Anderlecht quarter of Brussels, had been a target of desecration 
before. There were no reported arrests, but the investigation 
continued, according to authorities.
    On November 30, Turkish youths from the town of Beringen shouted 
abuse and threw stones at a group of Jewish boys visiting a coal mine 
museum. The perpetrators appeared before a magistrate, who ordered them 
to perform community service, to pay damages, and to formally apologize 
to the Jewish youths.
    The law prohibits public statements that incite national, racial, 
or religious hatred, including denial of the Holocaust. The maximum 
sentence for Holocaust denial is one year's imprisonment. In April the 
Brussels Chamber of Indictment ruled that Roeland Raes, a former vice-
chairman of the Vlaams Belang party and former senator, would have to 
stand trial for denying the Holocaust during a television show 
broadcast in 2001. The trial had not taken place by year's end.
    On June 21, a Brussels court convicted two persons held responsible 
for disseminating racial hatred against Jews on the Web site of the 
Islamic Center of Belgium. They received a 10 month sentence, which the 
court reduced by half, and were fined.
    In March a judge of the Brussels district court suspended his 
verdict in the case of a man who had painted anti-Jewish graffiti on 
the Brussels Airport premises. Because of the isolated nature of the 
violations, the judge sentenced the defendant to a five-year probation 
period.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 1,000 persons during the 
year. This included persons facing an unduly long application period.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    During the initial vetting conducted by the Immigration Office, 
applicants for refugee status receive material aid and are assigned to 
an open center. During the second phase of in-depth verification by the 
Commissariat for Refugees and Stateless Persons, applicants receive 
housing from a municipal assistance commission and can establish 
residence anywhere in the country. They can be gainfully employed. If 
the appeal is rejected, the refugee is still eligible for material aid.
    Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are assigned to designated 
special centers. Each individual applicant works directly with a 
custodian whose task is to assist during the application process. 
School-age applicants must attend school.
    During the year 11,600 refugees applied for asylum, compared to 
16,000 during 2005. Most applicants came from Russia, Congo, Serbia, 
and Iraq. In 2005 the authorities rejected 85 percent of the 
applications placed under review.
    Rejected asylum seekers are informed in writing and in person of 
the repatriation scenarios they can choose from. Each year 
approximately 30,000 eviction orders are issued, but only 3,000 
rejected asylum seekers leave freely. Most rejected asylum seekers 
remain unaccounted for after receiving the order to leave the country.
    The Government, in partnership with the International Organization 
for Migration, provided relocation assistance to unsuccessful asylum 
applicants who agreed to repatriate voluntarily to their country of 
origin. Unsuccessful applicants who did not leave voluntarily were 
subject to forced repatriation.
    During the year scores of asylum seekers took refuge in churches 
and went on hunger strikes. Most of them had stayed in the country 
illegally after their applications had been rejected. By year's end, 
the strikes had ended, and the interior minister reiterated his 
position that individual asylum seekers could apply to regularize their 
status on humanitarian or medical grounds.
    In September Parliament enacted amendments to asylum legislation 
implementing a European Union directive of 2004 granting subsidiary and 
temporary protection status to foreigners who could prove that upon 
return to their home countries they would face the death penalty, 
torture, or other inhumane treatment. Under the new law the vetting 
procedure is shortened, and appeals are no longer handled by the 
Council of State, but by a separate body in order to expedite the 
growing number of pending cases. Regularization of undocumented aliens 
remained under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens aged 18 and older exercised this 
right through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage. Voting in all elections is compulsory. Failure to 
vote is punishable by a nominal fine.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Local elections took place 
in October; for these elections the franchise was extended to include 
non-European Union foreign nationals. General elections were last held 
in 2003. Elections for the regional/community parliaments were held in 
2004.
    The law requires an equal number of male and female candidates on 
party tickets in European, federal, regional, provincial, and local 
elections. The constitution and the law require the presence of men and 
women in federal, regional, provincial, and local government executive 
positions. Failure to implement the law would nullify the elections and 
render any government created thereby illegal.
    There were 53 women in the 150-seat chamber of representatives and 
26 women in the 71-seat senate; five of the 21 federal cabinet 
ministers were women, and there were 12 female ministers among 33 
regional ministers.
    There were four members of minorities in the Chamber of 
Representatives and six in the Senate; one of the federal cabinet 
ministers was a member of a minority group, and there were two minority 
regional ministers.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--In January five Flemish 
civil servants and six private contractors were arrested on active and 
passive corruption charges in connection with public building 
contracts. No formal indictments had been filed by year's end.
    In October a number of local officials in the Charleroi and Namur 
areas were arrested in connection with a public housing fund scandal 
made public the year before by investigative journalists. Other public 
utility agencies became implicated in the scandal as investigations 
continued.
    With some exceptions--e.g., material involving national security--
the Government provided unrestricted access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced these 
laws; however, violence against women, trafficking in persons, and 
violence against minorities were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
remained a problem. Reportedly, one in five women was subject to 
domestic violence. In 2005 federal police reported 11,557 cases of 
domestic violence, compared to 10,137 the previous year. The law 
defines and criminalizes domestic violence and provides for fines and 
incarceration. The law allows police to enter a home without the 
consent of the head of household when investigating a domestic violence 
complaint; however, there were complaints that the police frequently 
declined to do this in practice. By year's end the Government had not 
fully implemented provisions of the law that required it to establish 
and maintain a database of statistics on domestic violence.
    In March the justice minister launched an updated version of her 
2004-2007 action plan for dealing with domestic violence. The directive 
issued by the minister and leading magistrates ordered police forces 
and prosecuting magistrates to register all complaints and actions 
undertaken dealing with violence against women and spousal abuse. The 
minister assigned the task of handling domestic violence cases to one 
magistrate within each judicial district of the country.
    A number of government-supported shelters and telephone help lines 
were available across the country. In addition to providing shelter and 
advice, many offered assistance on legal matters, job placement, and 
psychological counseling to both partners.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government 
prosecuted such cases. In 2005, the most recent year for which 
statistics were available, police registered 2,559 rape cases; there 
were no figures on the number that went to trial, although in 2003 
there were reportedly 497 convictions. A convicted rapist can be 
imprisoned for a minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life. The length 
of sentence is based on the age of the victim, the age difference 
between the offender and the victim, the relationship between the 
offender and victim, and the use of violence during the commission of 
the crime.
    Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits organizing 
prostitution or assisting immigration for the purpose of prostitution. 
In an attempt to curb prostitution in the city, the Antwerp police 
fined men visiting prostitutes.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government generally enforced 
the law. A victim of sexual harassment in the workplace can file a 
claim with a court of justice and claim damages. While the law provides 
victims of sexual harassment the right to sue their harassers and 
provides for financial remedies, most cases of sexual harassment were 
resolved less formally.
    Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The federal 
government's Institute for the Equality of Men and Women is authorized 
to initiate lawsuits if it finds that equality laws have been violated.
    Economic discrimination against women continued. The average annual 
salary for women was 85 percent of that for men. Discrimination was 
greatest among older workers and in higher wage categories. There was 
also discrimination against women in access to leading positions in 
both the private and public sector. In 2005, the latest year for which 
statistics were available, the Institute for the Equality of Men and 
Women received about 100 complaints, 40 percent of which were 
employment-related.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare.
    Free full-time education is compulsory from ages six to 16; 
subsequently education remains compulsory until the age of 18, but 
students may continue on a part-time basis. More than 75 percent of 
children over 15 finish school with a secondary diploma. Girls and boys 
had equal access to education.
    The Government funded health care; boys and girls had equal access.
    There were reports of child abuse. Through October there were 60 
prosecutions for child abuse. As a result of awareness campaigns to 
sensitize the general public to the problems of child abuse, the number 
of reports of child abuse and neglect increased. The law provides for 
the protection of youth against sexual exploitation, abduction, and 
trafficking. The law provides for severe penalties for child 
pornography and persons possessing pedophilic materials. It permits the 
prosecution of residents who commit such crimes abroad and provides 
that criminals convicted of the sexual abuse of children cannot be 
paroled without first receiving specialized treatment and they must 
continue counseling and treatment after their release from prison.
    Child Focus, a government-sponsored center for missing and 
exploited children, reported that it handled 3,638 cases in 2005. There 
were 1,088 cases of runaways (concerning 1,104 individual children), 
and 233 cases of runaways who returned home within 48 hours. The center 
handled 35 abduction cases.
    The authorities started issuing electronic identification cards to 
children under age 12. The card has the Child Focus phone number and 
allows safe chatting on the Internet.
    In May police searched 20 houses in an international police drive 
against a child pornography network active in Europe and the United 
States. The investigation continued at the end of the year.
    Although child prostitution was not widespread, it was a problem. 
As a result of the Government's 2004 campaign to prevent child 
prostitution, the public appeared more aware of the problem, and 
reporting increased. Police registered 1,174 pedophile sexual offenses 
on the Internet during 2005, the last year for which figures were 
available.
    Trafficking in children was a problem.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through, 
and from the country. The country was a destination and transit point 
for women and children from Central Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan 
Africa, primarily trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 
Men were trafficked for exploitive labor on construction sites and in 
restaurants and sweatshops. Reportedly, trafficking for forced labor 
and forced begging increased from past levels. The country ranked 
``very high'' as a destination country in the UN Office on Drugs and 
Crime's citation index. The Government fully complies with the minimum 
standards for the elimination of trafficking.
    Since 2005 the law has criminalized recruiting, transporting, 
transiting, sheltering, and passing on to others the control over 
persons for the purpose of prostitution, child pornography, 
exploitation of poverty, economic exploitation, or organ transplant. 
The law also makes it illegal to force trafficked persons to commit 
crimes. Persons convicted of violating the antitrafficking law are 
subject to one to five years imprisonment and are fined between $650 
and $65,000 (500 to 50,000 euros). Repeat offenses, offenses of an 
organized nature, and those with aggravated circumstances are subject 
to higher penalties. If the offender belongs to a criminal organization 
or if the trafficking results in manslaughter, the punishment is 15 to 
20 years' imprisonment and a fine ranging from $1,300 to $195,000 
(1,000 to 150,000 euros).
    The authorities continued to investigate and prosecute trafficking 
and provided victims with specialized protection and assistance. In 
2005 the federal government established a coordination agency composed 
of representatives from all concerned ministries. Agencies involved in 
combating trafficking are connected to a secure Web site, enabling them 
to exchange information and to have access to all relevant information. 
The Federal Police identified 144 criminal organizations involved in 
trafficking, and the federal police intercepted 27,466 illegal aliens, 
including victims of trafficking.
    The Government continued to subsidize three specialized trafficking 
shelters providing assistance to victims of trafficking, and NGOs 
continued to report excellent cooperation and coordination with law 
enforcement. The shelters registered 586 victims in 2004 and 600 
victims during 2005. The victims were mostly women from Nigeria, China, 
Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Russia, and Albania. Eighteen percent were 
victims of economic exploitation, 65 percent were victims of sexual 
exploitation, and 15 percent were victims of smuggling. The majority of 
registered victims opted against help from state-run shelters.
    The Government continued to provide victims a 45-day ``reflection'' 
period during which they could decide whether to assist in the 
investigation of their traffickers; subsequent government protection 
was linked to a victim's willingness to testify in court. In practice 
the Government granted permanent residency to many who assisted in 
prosecutions. Over a third of current shelter residents had been 
granted indefinite residence status and thus qualified for the full 
range of social benefits available to citizens, including access to job 
training, rehabilitation, and medical treatment.
    In April a court in Bruges convicted a person under the 
antitrafficking law who had his boat refurbished by Lithuanian workers 
smuggled into the country. The judge ruled that the workers were 
underpaid and that they were housed in unacceptable conditions. In 
October a judge in Dendermonde handed down sentences ranging from 18 
months' to 10 years' imprisonment to 25 Indian and Pakistani human 
traffickers who had smuggled asylum seekers to the United Kingdom. The 
judge also ordered fines up to $65,000 (50,000 euros) and the 
confiscation of goods worth almost $1 million (770,000 euros).
    During the year Parliament enacted legislation imposing stiffer 
penalties on persons contracting fake or forced marriages in order to 
obtain residence permits.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for the protection of 
persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, 
access to health care, and the provision of other state services. The 
CEOOR reported that it received 30 percent more complaints of 
discrimination against disabled persons in 2005 than in 2004. Most of 
the complaints concerned housing, public transport, public utilities, 
and access to banks, bars, and restaurants. While the Government 
mandated that public buildings erected after 1970 be accessible to such 
persons, many older buildings were still inaccessible.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Immigrant communities 
complained of discrimination. Members of the Muslim community, 
estimated at 450,000, and principally of Moroccan and Turkish origin, 
claimed that discrimination against their community, notably in 
education and employment and particularly against young men, was 
greater than that experienced by other immigrant communities. In 2005 
the CEOOR, which investigates complaints of discrimination, handled 
1,022 complaints. The CEOOR noted a trend of increased discrimination 
regarding employment, housing, and restaurant access. It also pointed 
at an increase in ethnic conflicts among neighbors.
    Two percent of the complaints of ethnic discrimination resulted in 
litigation initiated by the CEOOR. The courts ruled in several landmark 
ethnic discrimination cases. Not only were Holocaust deniers convicted, 
but also landlords discriminating against foreigners. An Antwerp court 
convicted three persons for disseminating a racist version of a popular 
song through the Internet.
    In March the College of Prosecutors General, the body of leading 
magistrates, issued a directive to all judicial districts ordering 
magistrates to separately identify all racially-motivated cases.
    The CEOOR lost a case in court against an employer who had decided 
not to hire a Moroccan job seeker upon request from his clients.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In its annual report for 
2005, the CEOOR noted an increase in nonracial complaints. These cases 
concerned discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, health 
condition, and age. Courts have occasionally convicted landlords 
refusing to lease to same-sex couples, and a judge in Brussels 
convicted one youth for savagely beating a gay couple. The CEOOR also 
handled numerous complaints regarding insurance companies 
discriminating on age, health, and disability grounds.
    The country permits homosexual marriages, and same-sex couples can 
adopt children.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to 
associate freely, including the freedom to organize and to join unions 
of their choice, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Approximately 63 percent of employed and unemployed workers were 
members of labor unions. During the year trade unions complained about 
legal and practical difficulties they encountered when seeking to 
organize workers in small businesses and retail groups. According to 
the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), employers prefer to 
pay fines rather than reinstate workers dismissed for union activities.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protects this right in practice. The right to bargain 
collectively is recognized, and the Government protected this right in 
practice. The law provides for the right to strike, and workers 
exercised this right. However, the ITUC reported that, in spite of a 
European Union directive, workers in small companies are generally 
denied the right to collective representation. It also stated that the 
scope of the right to strike is poorly defined, and that employers 
prefer to pay out legal entitlements rather than reinstate workers 
terminated as a result of union activities.
    In October 2005, during nationwide strikes against the Government's 
pension plans, 75 enterprises sought court intervention against strike 
actions. These were mostly preventive initiatives to avoid blockades of 
entire industrial zones. In 34 of these cases, judges imposed penalties 
as a preventive measure.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law and policies generally protect children from exploitation in the 
workplace. The minimum age of employment is 15. Youths between the ages 
of 15 and 18 could participate in part-time work and study programs and 
work full-time during school vacations. Trafficking of children 
occurred (see section 5). The labor courts effectively monitored 
compliance with national laws and standards; no violations were 
reported enduring the year.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly national minimum 
wage for workers over 21 years of age was approximately $1,636 (1,259 
euros), coupled with extensive social benefits, which provided a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family.
    The standard workday is eight hours and the standard workweek is 38 
hours. Departure from these norms can occur under the terms of a 
collective bargaining agreement, but daily work time cannot exceed 11 
hours and 50 hours of work per week. An 11 hour rest period is required 
between two work periods and overtime is paid at a time-and-a-half 
premium Monday through Saturday and at double time on Sundays. The 
Ministry of Labor and the labor courts effectively enforced these laws 
and regulations.
    There are comprehensive provisions in the law for worker safety. 
Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that 
endanger their safety or health without jeopardy to their continued 
employment, and workers exercised this right in practice. In general 
regulations were enforced effectively.

                               __________

                         BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

    The independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) consists of 
two multiethnic constituent entities within the state, the Federation 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Federation) and the Republika Srpska 
(RS), along with the Brcko District. The country has a population of 
approximately 4.5 million; the Federation has a Bosniak (Bosnian 
Muslim) and Croat majority, while the RS has a Bosnian Serb majority. 
As stipulated in the 1995 peace agreement (the Dayton Accords), a 
state-level constitution provides for a federal democratic republic 
with a bicameral parliamentary assembly but assigns many governmental 
functions to the two entities, which have their own governments. The 
Dayton Accords also provide for an Office of the High Representative 
(OHR) with authority to impose legislation and remove officials. The 
Government is headed by a tripartite presidency that for most of the 
year consisted of Bosnian Croat Ivo Miro Jovic, Bosnian Serb Borislav 
Paravac, and Bosniak Sulejman Tihic. On October 1, BiH held general 
elections that were generally free and fair. On November 6, Presidents-
elect Bosnian Croat Zeljko Komsic, Bosnian Serb Nebojsa Radmanovic, and 
Bosniak Haris Silajdzic took office. In the Federation, an indirectly-
elected President nominates and the House of Representatives approves 
the Federation prime minister. In the RS, a directly-elected President 
nominates and the RS National Assembly confirms the RS prime minister. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government's human rights record remained poor, although there 
were improvements in some areas. Serious problems that remained 
included: death from landmines; physical abuse by police; overcrowding 
and poor prison conditions; improper influence on the judiciary; 
harassment and intimidation of journalists; restrictions on religious 
minorities and attacks on religious structures; obstructionism toward 
minority returnees; government corruption; societal discrimination 
against women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and persons with 
disabilities; ethnically-motivated violence; trafficking in persons; 
and limits on employment rights. Two of the war crimes suspects most 
wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 
Yugoslavia's (ICTY), Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, also remained 
at large.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    There were no developments during the year in the 2004 killing by 
unknown persons of Hrustan Suljic, President of the local Bosniak 
returnee community near the town of Teslic. Although local police 
highlighted the case on the television show Unsolved Cases on December 
28, 2005, the investigation produced no new results.
    Domestic courts and the ICTY continued to adjudicate cases arising 
from crimes committed during the 1991-95 conflicts (see sections 1.e. 
and 4).
    During the year there were 34 landmine accidents that killed 17 
persons and injured 17.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    An estimated 13,000 persons remained missing from the wars in 1991-
95. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that, 
since 1995, it had received 22,326 requests from family members to 
trace relatives still missing from the war. By year's end, a total of 
7,972 persons had been accounted for, including 448 located alive.
    The missing persons case of Colonel Avdo Palic, commander of 
Bosnian government forces defending the UN-protected enclave of Zepa, 
received a great deal of publicity during the year. Mr. Palic went 
missing in 1995 from the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) compound in 
Zepa. The BiH Human Rights Commission issued a final ruling on January 
16, which stated that RS authorities failed to provide adequate details 
regarding Palic's disappearance. OHR then ordered the RS to form a 
commission to investigate the Palic case. Although the commission 
issued a report in April, OHR banned publication of the report due to 
the pending criminal investigation by the BiH prosecutor's office. At 
year's end there were no updates on Palic's whereabouts.
    The national Missing Persons Institute, a state-level authority 
established in 2004, was responsible for absorbing the entity-level 
missing persons commissions and continuing the search for missing 
persons in partnership with the International Commission on Missing 
Persons (ICMP). The institute's goal was to establish a single, central 
list of all those who went missing during the war. The institute, which 
was supposed to take over competencies from the entities during the 
year, was not fully operational at year's end. In March the institute 
appointed a board of directors composed of one Bosniak, one Croat, and 
one Serb.
    During the year entity-level commissions carried out 435 
exhumations of mass or illicit gravesites in 205 locations with the 
forensic support of the ICMP. These efforts recovered 801 complete and 
1,397 incomplete sets of human remains. The majority of these came from 
five mass graves found during the year in Kamenica near Zvornik, which 
contained the remains of more than 1,000 victims of the Srebrenica 
massacre.
    To date the ICMP has generated 13,495 DNA matches relevant to 8,928 
missing individuals and has collected more than 65,472 blood samples 
representing 22,482 missing individuals.
    During the year the BiH prosecutor's office and its War Crimes 
Department conducted an ongoing investigation based on statements from 
the RS Srebrenica Commission, a body active from 2003-05 that 
investigated the events surrounding the Srebrenica massacre and the 
fate of missing individuals from those events. The investigation 
followed up on information provided in the commission's final report of 
October 2005.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice; however, physical 
mistreatment of individuals by police occurred.
    The Office of the Ombudsman and the RS and Federation police did 
not provide information on the number of complaints against police 
officers received or investigated during the year. In September one man 
was beaten by police in front of television cameras, after he and four 
others threw paint at the BiH Presidency building and injured two 
guards. The nongovernmental organization Dosta! (Enough!) issued a 
press release protesting the excessive use of force.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overcrowding, inadequate 
nutrition, and poor hygiene were chronic problems in police detention 
facilities. Prison standards for hygiene and access to medical care met 
prisoners' basic needs, but overcrowding and antiquated facilities 
remained serious problems. There were no proper facilities for treating 
mentally ill or special needs prisoners. There were some reports of 
allegedly ethnically-motivated violence among inmates. In June four 
Bosnian Serbs convicted of war crimes claimed they were attacked by 
Bosniak inmates in Zenica prison after photos from the Srebrenica 
massacre were broadcast on television. The Federation justice minister 
denied their request to be transferred to Kula prison in the RS. There 
were no reports of specific incidents of corruption among prison 
officials, but such activities were considered to occur in some 
instances.
    Adult and juvenile female inmates were held together in separate 
wings of facilities for adult males. Male inmates aged 16 to 18 were 
held with adult male inmates, while male inmates under the age of 16 
were held separately. In October the first correction facility for 
juveniles aged 16 to 18 opened in the Banja Luka prison, with a 35-bed 
capacity. Pending agreement with the Federation Ministry of Justice, 
the facility will accommodate juveniles from both entities.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers. International community representatives were given 
widespread and unhindered access to detention facilities and prisoners. 
The ICRC continued to have access to detention facilities under the 
jurisdiction of the ministries of justice at both the state and entity 
levels and mainly visited persons under investigation or sentenced for 
war crime offenses.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The law gives the 
state-level government primary responsibility for law enforcement, but 
extends significant overlapping competencies to each entity and to the 
Brcko District, each of which has its own police force. The European 
Union Force (EUFOR) continued to implement the military aspects of the 
Dayton Accords and provide a secure environment for implementation of 
the nonmilitary aspects of the settlement. The North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization headquarters in Sarajevo is responsible for overseeing 
defense reform, counterterrorism efforts, and cooperation with the 
ICTY. A European Union (EU) police mission monitored, mentored, 
inspected, and worked to raise professional standards of the local 
police.
    There are three primary levels of law enforcement in the country: 
the state-level Ministry of Security, which does not have a police 
force but is supported by the State Investigation and Protection Agency 
(SIPA), the State Border Service (SBS), and the Foreigners Affairs 
Service; the Federation Ministry of Interior; and the RS Ministry of 
Interior. The RS interior ministry is centralized with five public 
safety centers. The Federation interior ministry is decentralized; each 
of the 10 cantons has its own cantonal interior ministry that functions 
autonomously. While neither the Federation nor the RS interior 
ministries reports to the Ministry of Security, they must work in 
tandem with SIPA on cases involving specific offenses, such as 
terrorism, organized crime, and trafficking. Although they shared 
information, these structures for the most part functioned 
independently. During the year a technical expert group finalized a 
police reform plan. At year's end, it was unclear when the plan would 
be sent to the entity national parliaments for review.
    Police in the RS generally did not meet target standards of ethnic 
representation, as mandated by various agreements.
    The EU police mission acted in an advisory capacity to entity 
police forces, with a limited mandate. Police Standards Units (PSUs) 
functioned as internal affairs investigative units in each entity's 
interior ministry and in the Brcko District. The presence of these 
units led to the creation of standardized procedures for processing 
complaints of police misconduct and for disciplining police in 
accordance with standard procedures.
    As of October the RS PSUs investigated 780 conduct-related 
complaints and determined that 37 citizen complaints and 89 internal 
complaints were well founded. The unit forwarded recommendations for 
disciplinary action to prosecutors in 113 cases considered to be major 
violations. During the year 19 felony reports and 25 misdemeanor 
reports were filed against 44 interior ministry employees for offenses 
including narcotics trafficking, forgery, theft, domestic violence, 
assault, extortion, and traffic violations.
    By October the Federation PSUs investigated 54 cases and concluded 
that 18 complaints were well-founded. The 18 cases deemed to be major 
violations of duty were forwarded to prosecutors for disciplinary 
action.
    There were continued reports of corruption within the entity and 
national security services.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires persons suspected of 
committing a crime to be brought before a prosecutor within 24 hours of 
detention. Police are also authorized to detain individuals for up to 
six hours at the scene of a crime for investigative purposes; this 
period is included in the 24-hour detention period allowed prior to 
being charged. The prosecutor has an additional 24 hours either to 
determine whether the person should be released or brought before a 
judge to decide whether they should remain in pretrial custody. 
Detainees are allowed to request a lawyer of their own choosing and to 
inform family members of their detention.
    In practice, these requirements were generally observed. Persons 
were generally arrested openly with warrants based on sufficient 
evidence and issued by a judge. Detainees were promptly informed of the 
charges against them and there was a functioning bail system. There 
were no reported cases of arbitrary arrest or detention during the 
year.
    The law generally limits pretrial detention to one year; however, 
in cases involving war crimes, organized crime, economic crime, and 
corruption, detention can be extended for an additional year. Persons 
in pretrial detention have the right to be informed of all charges 
against them once an indictment has been handed down. Under the law, a 
trial must be undertaken in a speedy manner. In practice detainees were 
usually not held in pretrial detention for more than six months except 
in cases involving war crimes.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The state constitution does not 
explicitly provide for an independent judiciary, but the laws of both 
entities do. There were indications, however, that political parties 
influenced the judiciary in certain politically sensitive cases. 
Judicial reforms have reduced the level of intimidation by organized 
crime figures and political leaders, although such interference 
continued to occur.
    The State Court is the highest court in the country for certain 
criminal cases, including war crimes, organized crime, terrorism, 
economic crime, and corruption. The country also has a State 
Constitutional Court, whose judges are selected by the Federation's 
House of Representatives, the RS National Assembly, and the President 
of the European Court of Human Rights in consultation with the 
presidency. Each entity has its own supreme court and chief 
prosecutors' offices. There are cantonal courts in the Federation, 
district courts in the RS, and municipal courts in both entities and 
the Brcko District.
    Local officials and police generally cooperated in enforcing court 
decisions, but problems persisted as a result of organizational 
inefficiency. Despite efforts to streamline court procedures, large 
backlogs of unresolved cases, mostly in noncriminal matters, remained a 
problem in many jurisdictions. Authorities generally respected and 
implemented constitutional court decisions.

    Trial Procedures.--Under Federation and RS laws, trials are public 
and the defendant has the right to counsel, at public expense, if 
charged with a crime that is punishable by long-term imprisonment. 
However, courts did not always appoint defense attorneys for indigent 
defendants in cases where the maximum prison sentence was less than 
five years. The law provides that defendants have the right to confront 
or question witnesses, to present witnesses and evidence on their own 
behalf, and to appeal. The Government observed these rights in 
practice.
    The BiH State Court made significant progress on adjudicating 
organized crime and war crimes cases and expanded the witness 
protection program. In the first eight months of the year there were 13 
final verdicts, up from four for 2005. From January to September, the 
Witness Protection Department provided assistance to 68 individuals, as 
compared with 32 the previous year.
    The State Court War Crimes Chamber and entity courts continued 
conducting war crimes trials during the year. The ICTY transferred five 
new cases involving nine defendants to the State Court. Ten trials were 
underway based on BiH indictments reviewed by the ICTY at year's end. 
Two additional trials began at the State Court based on local 
indictments not reviewed by the ICTY, involving 12 defendants. The BiH 
State Prosecutor's office opened 126 new war crimes investigations, 
involving 334 suspects, and confirmed 18 new indictments, involving 32 
accused. The BiH State Prosecutor referred more than 90 ICTY-reviewed 
indictments to lower courts, involving more than 250 individuals. There 
was some contention between victims and the BiH State Prosecutor's 
office concerning case referrals because of the disparity between 
maximum sentences for war crimes at the state level (45 years) and the 
entity level (20 years).
    In April the State Court appellate panel confirmed a five-year 
sentence for Abdulahim Maktouf, an Iraqi national residing in the 
country, for participating in the kidnapping of three Croat civilians, 
one of whom was beheaded. Also in April, the court sentenced Nedo 
Samardzic to 13 years' imprisonment for multiple acts of enslavement, 
rape, torture, and killing of non-Serb civilians in the Foca region in 
1992-93.
    In July the War Crimes Chamber sentenced Boban Simsic to five years 
in prison for war crimes against Bosniak civilians in Visegrad in 1992. 
The case was on appeal at year's end. In October the State Court 
appellate panel upheld the guilty verdict for Dragoje Paunovic, who was 
sentenced to 20 years for crimes against humanity in connection with 
the forced deportation of Muslim civilians from the eastern RS in 1992.
    Three war crimes trials concluded in November. Radovan Stankovic, 
the first person indicted for war crimes to be transferred from the 
ICTY, was sentenced to 16 years in jail for committing multiple acts of 
enslavement, rape, torture, and murder against the non-Serb population 
in the Foca region. The court sentenced Marko Samardzija to 26 years' 
imprisonment for murdering over 144 Bosniak men and boys from the 
villages of Brkic and Balagic Brdo in 1992. The Court also sentenced 
Nikola Kovacovic to 12 years in prison for committing atrocities 
against the Croat and Bosniak populations in the Greater Bosanska 
Karjina area in 1992. The three cases were on appeal at year's end.
    In June the BiH State Prosecutor came under public criticism for 
refusing to release the names of 892 persons the Srebrenica Commission 
suspected might be connected to the mass killings, but who were still 
employed in municipal, entity, and state institutions. Many of these 
names were later leaked to the media in the weeks prior to the October 
national elections.
    On the entity level, the Federation prosecutor initiated 44 new war 
crimes cases, involving 443 accused during the year. During the year 
the RS prosecutor initiated 10 cases involving 13 individuals accused 
of war crimes.
    The first war crimes trial in the RS concluded early in the year 
when the RS Supreme Court confirmed the 2005 Banja Luka district court 
acquittal of 11 former Prijedor police officers accused of murdering 
Catholic priest Tomislav Matanovic and his parents, who disappeared 
from Prijedor in 1995.
    The justice process regarding the eight Bosnian Serbs arrested by 
the RS in 2004 for war crimes against Muslims and transferred that year 
to the Sarajevo cantonal court was still underway. In 2005 four cases 
were returned to the RS prosecutor's office, and four remained in 
Sarajevo cantonal court. The cases of defendants Svetko Novakovic, 
Jovan Skobo, Zeljko Mitrovic, Momir Skakavac, and Dragoje Radanovic 
remained ongoing for the second consecutive year.
    In September 2005 the Sarajevo cantonal court acquitted Momir 
Glisic of committing war crimes against civilians in the Grbavica 
settlement near Sarajevo. The Federation prosecutor appealed the 
decision to the Federation Supreme Court and on September 18, the 
Federation Supreme Court sentenced Glisic to two years and six months 
in prison.
    During the year, the BiH State Prosecutor's office initiated an 
investigation into the activities of ex-commander of the Fifth Corps of 
the BiH army, General Atif Dudakovic, and other unknown persons 
portrayed on a recently-released video killing an unknown number of 
individuals from the Bosnian Serb Army during the war. The video, which 
shows events occurring during ``Operation Storm'' received a wide 
distribution on Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian media outlets. The 
investigation was ongoing at the end of the year.
    At the international level, the ICTY continued to prosecute war 
crimes cases during the year. In June the ICTY sentenced Naser Oric, 
commander of the Bosnian army in the Srebrenica area, to two years' 
imprisonment. He was then released for time served. In September the 
tribunal sentenced Momcilo Krajisnik, wartime President of the RS 
Assembly, to 27 years in prison. By the end of the year, the ICTY 
concluded proceedings against 100 of the 161 persons who have been 
charged by the tribunal. Six ICTY indictees remained at-large, 
including Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Stojan Zupljanin.
    Despite local and international level efforts to prosecute war 
crimes, many of the lower-level perpetrators of killings and other 
abuses committed in previous years remained unpunished, including those 
responsible for the approximately 8,000 persons killed after the fall 
of Srebrenica, and those responsible for approximately 15,000 to 20,000 
other persons who were missing and presumed killed as a result of 
``ethnic cleansing.''

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an 
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens 
could file civil suits seeking remedies for human rights violations. 
Individuals could also seek assistance from an ombudsman institution to 
hear and provide recommendations on cases of human rights violations, 
though these recommendations were not binding (see section 4).

    Property Restitution.--The Domestic Commission on Real Property 
Claims (DCRPC) processed claims for property wrongfully taken during 
the 1992-95 war that were not adjudicated by the former Commission for 
Real Property Claims (CRPC) or by municipal housing authorities. During 
the year the DCRPC resolved 344 cases. Due to funding limitations and 
other bureaucratic obstacles during the year, the DCRPC received an 
extension of its mandate until 2007 to resolve the remaining 24 backlog 
cases and 100 appeals. By year's end, all municipalities had 
implemented already adjudicated CRPC and DCRPC property claims relating 
to socially owned apartments that had been illegally occupied during 
the 1992-95 war.
    In 2004 the Constitutional Court upheld a Federation law 
prohibiting ownership of property in the Federation by anyone who 
served in the Yugoslav military after May 1992. The ruling affected 
former Yugoslav officers, mostly Serbs, who claimed 4,000 apartments 
they had abandoned during the war. The court also ruled that the 
Federation could apply a Yugoslav legal principle that prevents a 
citizen from claiming tenancy rights to more than one apartment at a 
time; this adversely affected the officers' claims, since most had 
apartments elsewhere, primarily in Serbia. Even with the court ruling, 
the DCRPC must still render official legal decisions in all these 
cases.
    During the year the Constitutional Court received 2,757 cases 
related to property restitution, war damage, old currency savings, and 
missing persons, and it resolved 1,997 of them. During the year the 
court also resolved a backlog of cases from 2004. The court found 
constitutional violations in 52 cases and, by September 1, authorities 
had implemented 14 decisions; one was not implemented. In five cases, 
authorities concluded that there was a constitutional violation, but no 
deadline was given for implementation. Overall implementation rates 
were 28 percent. During the year the court concentrated on resolving 
issues related to systematic failures at the state and entity levels to 
resolve holdover issues, including old currency savings, issues of 
public debt, war damages, and missing persons.
    Roma displaced during the war had difficulty repossessing their 
property as a result of discrimination and because they lacked 
information on procedures (see section 5). In many cases, Romani 
families lacked documents proving ownership or had never registered 
their property with local authorities. The lack of documentation also 
prevented them from applying for reconstruction assistance.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the Government did not always respect 
press freedom in practice. Laws safeguarding freedom of the press were 
delegated to the cantons in the Federation and to the central 
authorities in the RS. There are provisions against hate speech in the 
Federation Criminal Code, but not in the RS Criminal Code. The 
Broadcasting Code of Practice also regulates hate speech by 
broadcasters. The Communications Regulatory Agency, charged with 
implementing the code, did not register any cases of hate speech during 
the year. The print media is self-regulated and governed by the Press 
Code which also regulates hate speech, among other issues. During the 
year, the Press Council of BiH did not receive any complaints about 
hate speech, and monitoring reports conducted during the year indicated 
that the level of hate speech decreased. There were, however, a number 
of cases of gender discrimination noted in the media, as well as cases 
of discrimination based on sexual orientation. An increased number of 
cases of violation of rights of minors were noted in the media.
    The Government generally respected freedom of speech in practice; 
individuals could criticize the Government without fear of reprisal and 
frequently did so.
    Many independent, privately owned newspapers were available and 
expressed a wide variety of views. Several printing houses operated in 
the country. Dnevni Avaz, whose editorial policy strongly reflects 
Bosniak interests, remained the largest circulation daily, followed by 
Banja Luka-based daily Nezavisne Novine. A number of independent print 
media outlets encountered financial problems that endangered their 
continued operation.
    Two public broadcasters, Federation Television (FTV) in the 
Federation and Radio Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS) in the RS, 
remained the largest television broadcasters in the country. BHT 1, a 
nationwide public broadcaster, gradually increased its audience and 
outreach. While these broadcasters provided relatively balanced 
coverage, remaining public broadcasters in cantons and municipalities 
in the Federation and RS remained vulnerable to political influence. A 
local commercial network of five stations operated in both entities 
(Mreza Plus), as did the private television networks OBN and PinkBH. 
Dozens of small independent television stations broadcast throughout 
the country. Radio continued to provide a forum for diverse points of 
view. In many cases, news programs of independent broadcasters 
reflected opposition perspectives.
    A number of RS media outlets showed a distinct pro-RS government 
bias. Federation media outlets also exhibited political bias, although 
not in support of any one political party.
    Journalists continued to face threats in the course of their 
professional work. In the first six months of the year, the Free Media 
Help Line (a part of the Bosnian Journalists Association) registered 41 
cases involving violations of journalist rights and freedoms and 
pressure from government and law enforcement officials. There were 13 
cases of pressure on journalists, twelve threats, seven labor disputes, 
three cases of harassment, one physical attack, and one violation of 
the Press Code.
    Violations of the employment rights of journalists continued during 
the year. Private media owners and management were the most frequent 
perpetrators of violations of employee rights. In a number of cases, 
journalists worked without an employment agreement or social and health 
benefits, items mandated by law.
    In some instances, officials subjected media outlets to overt 
pressure, such as threatening them with loss of advertising or placing 
limits on their access to official information. Politicians and 
government officials also pressured the media by accusing them of 
opposing the interests of a given ethnic group or betraying the 
interests of their ethnic group.
    In February several journalists from different media outlets 
received a threatening note from an unknown organization named 
Sandzacka Ruka Pravde (Sandzak's Arm of Justice). The note was directly 
addressed to Zvonko Maric, a journalist with Federation Television, but 
mentioned several other media outlets. The note threatened that Maric 
and his family would be executed because of his alleged anti-Bosniak 
views. The state-level association of journalists, BH Novinari, the BiH 
Press Council, and the BiH Helsinki Committee for Human Rights 
criticized the threats and called on law enforcement to investigate 
them. There was no information available to the public on whether an 
investigation had been initiated.
    In March a military colonel, Veljko Brojic, physically attacked a 
journalist from the print daily Fokus, Cvjetko Udovicic, in the 
newspaper's Doboj office. The attack was allegedly in response to 
Udovicic's story about possible irregularities in the decision of 
Doboj's authorities to give the colonel an apartment. Doboj's police 
filed a criminal compliant against the colonel because of his violent 
behavior. By year's end Udovicic decided of his own volition and 
without explanation to drop the charges.
    In March privately-owned Nezavisne Novine reported that certain 
individuals from the RS Police and SDS were under investigation by the 
Prosecutor's Office for possible involvement in organized crime and 
support of persons indicted by the Hague Tribunal. The reports provoked 
reactions from the RS and from then SDS President, Dragan Cavic, who 
publicly accused Nezavisne Novine of being an instrument of the newly-
appointed RS Minister of Interior who, according to Cavic, wanted to 
remove political opponents from the police. Cavic also criticized RS 
Radio and Television, asserting that it took sides in the issue by 
carrying unconfirmed information and fabrications previously published 
in Nezavisne Novine. Although Nezavisne Novine carried reactions of the 
police officers whose names were mentioned as well as that of President 
Cavic, Cavic sued Nezavisne Novine for defamation. The court case had 
not yet opened by year's end.
    In May during a Radio Zos report from Doboj Istok on the 
investigation of a pedophile case in the city of Tesanj, two police 
officers from the Tesanj police station entered the station and 
attempted to terminate the broadcast. The police explained that they 
were trying to protect the identity of minor children. Radio Zos 
continued its broadcast. BH Novinari, Free Media Help Line, and the 
state-level Regulatory Communications Agency criticized Tesanj police 
for their interference.
    In June, while addressing graduates of the Islamic Pedagogical 
Faculty in Zenica, the head of the Islamic Community in BiH, Reis 
Mustafa effendi Ceric, accused Federation Television, and in particular 
the editor of FTV's 60 Minutes political magazine, Bakir Hadziomerovic, 
of attacking Islam and Muslims.
    In July a previously unknown group named Kaznena Ekspedicija 
(Retribution Expedition) faxed a letter to Sarajevo's weekly Slobodna 
Bosna with the names of 20 politicians and journalists who, according 
to the group, should be killed by November 1. The letter was written on 
the memorandum of the Prst newspaper, a tabloid financed by a Bosnian 
Serb extremist nationalist party. The RS police investigated the case 
but had not released the results by year's end.
    In November the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization 
reported and expressed concern over death threats and intimidating 
phone calls made to Mubarek Asani, a journalist for BHT 1 television 
station. The threats appeared in response to Asani's report in early 
November on the Javna Tajna show, which discussed details of an illegal 
prostitution ring involving unnamed politicians and other public 
figures. As a consequence, the Sarajevo Prosecutor's Office opened an 
investigation of the allegations.
    The law prohibits criminal cases against journalists for 
defamation, although they may be sued in civil court. Courts, however, 
did not always have sufficient experience and training to accurately 
interpret this area of law. The print media engaged in self-regulation, 
although this did not eliminate the possibility of reprisals or charges 
being brought against journalists for the content of their reports.
    From the adoption in 2001 of the Law on Defamation 'until the end 
of the year, approximately 400 defamation cases have been tried in 
cantonal and district courts in the Federation and RS; approximately 
350 charges were brought in Federation courts. Public figures, 
particularly politicians, tended to initiate defamation cases, although 
journalists frequently brought charges against colleagues. Jurisdiction 
for defamation cases has been in the municipal courts since September 
2005. While country-wide data was not available by year's end, the 172 
defamation cases filed in the Sarajevo municipal court from September 
2005 to date indicated a significant increase.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. Rates of Internet usage by the Bosnian population remained very 
low, with estimates below 20 percent.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; however, ethnic 
favoritism and politicization of faculty appointments constrained 
academic freedom. In Sarajevo, Serbs and Croats complained that members 
of the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and Bosniaks in general 
received preferential treatment in appointments and promotions at the 
University of Sarajevo. The University of Banja Luka continued to limit 
faculty appointments almost exclusively to Serbs. The University of 
Mostar remained divided into two separate universities, reflecting the 
continued ethnic divide in the city.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. A wide range of social, cultural, and political organizations 
functioned without interference.
    The law allows NGOs to register freely at the Ministry of Civil 
Affairs and Communications and therefore to operate anywhere in the 
country; however, some NGOs and NGO associations experienced 
difficulties registering, including long delays and inconsistent 
application of the law. Some NGOs, frustrated by bureaucratic delays at 
the state level, chose instead to register their organizations at the 
entity level in one or both entities.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion; 
however, societal violence and the threat of violence restricted the 
ability of adherents of minority religions in heterogeneous areas to 
worship as they pleased. On October 16, the Ministry of Human Rights 
and Refugees issued instructions for implementation of the Law on 
Religious Freedom, which provides for freedom of religion, ensures 
legal positions of churches and religious communities, and prohibits 
any form of discrimination against any religious community. The law 
also provides the basis for the establishment of relations between the 
state and religious communities. In practice, respect for religious 
freedom declined during the year.
    Entity and local governments and police forces frequently allowed 
or encouraged an atmosphere in which abuses of religious freedom could 
take place. Compared to 2005 attacks on religious objects and religious 
officials increased significantly during the year, particularly in the 
campaign months before the national elections, during which nationalist 
rhetoric employed by certain political parties heightened religious and 
ethnic tensions in the country. In some cases, however, police and 
local government officials acted to protect religious freedom by 
providing security for major religious events and for religious 
buildings. The reluctance of police and prosecutors to aggressively 
investigate and prosecute crimes against religious minorities remained 
a major obstacle to safeguarding the rights of religious minorities.
    In the RS, administrative and financial obstacles impeded the 
rebuilding of religious structures damaged in the 1992-95 war, limiting 
the ability of minorities to worship and interfering with their return 
in many areas.
    The law requires religious communities to register with the 
Ministry of Justice; any religious group can register if it has at 
least 300 adult members who are citizens. Local congregations of the 
four major religious communities (Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, Jewish, and 
Catholic) were registered, as were congregations of several smaller 
Christian denominations, including Baptist, evangelical Christian, and 
Jehovah's Witnesses.
    Religious education is mandatory for Serb children in RS public 
schools and optional for children in other parts of the country. In 
practice classes were generally offered only for students of the 
majority religion in a given area. Authorities sometimes pressured 
parents to consent to religious instruction for their children. In some 
cases, children who chose not to attend religion classes were subject 
to pressure and discrimination from peers and teachers.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Ethnically-motivated religious 
violence was often directed at ethnic symbols, clerics, and religious 
buildings, particularly in the months surrounding the October 1 
national elections. Such acts of violence were reported in several 
municipalities in the country. Local police generally did not conduct 
serious investigations into such incidents. For example, in Trebinje 
municipality in July, unknown perpetrators sprayed gunfire into a 
Muslim cemetery, damaging several tombstones. In the same month, 
unknown persons threw an explosive device at the home of a Bosniak 
returnee in Trebinje. When police concluded that the attacks were the 
pranks of local youngsters, the local Islamic Community called for the 
dismissal of the police chief, who they asserted did not perform a full 
investigation into the matter.
    There were a number of acts of violence and vandalism against 
Islamic religious targets during the year. For example, in March 
unknown persons destroyed 23 400-year-old tombstones in the graveyard 
next to the destroyed Arnaudija Mosque in Banja Luka. There were also 
several reports of anti-Muslim graffiti on the walls of mosques in 
Trebinje, Banja Luka, and on two mosques under construction in Brcko 
District. In August unknown assailants detonated an explosive device at 
the grave of former President Alija Izetbegovic, destroying his 
tombstone and leaving a large crater at the grave. The Carsijska Mosque 
in Bosanska Dubica was also the site of several vandalism attacks in 
September. In October a missile attack destroyed a large portion of the 
Jasenica Mosque near Mostar; this was the most severe attack since the 
end of the war. The Jasenica Mosque became a source of controversy when 
local Croats objected to its reconstruction on the grounds that its new 
design violated a law that allows reconstruction only in the same style 
as the original prewar building. City officials ordered removal of the 
mosque, but the order had not been carried out before the attack.
    There was also vandalism against Serbian Orthodox religious 
targets. In January unknown persons stoned the Serb Orthodox Church and 
its annex buildings in Puracic, breaking the glass in six different 
windows. There were also reports of the destruction of a wooden cross 
in July. In August unknown persons wrote threatening, anti-Serb 
graffiti on the Serb Orthodox Church in Petrovo. Also in August unknown 
perpetrators damaged several tombstones and broke a large number of 
vases at the Orthodox cemetery in Ljubinici and broke windows and 
damaged the entrance door of the Orthodox Church in Gracanica. In 
September individuals threw a hand grenade at the door of the Orthodox 
Church in the Bosniak returnee settlement of Divic.
    Catholic religious objects were also the targets of vandalism. In 
September unknown persons broke the glass on the entrance door to a 
Catholic Church in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Grbavica. This church 
was the subject of controversy because the Catholic community had 
requested a permit to build a new church which local authorities had 
yet to approve. Also in September in the Orasje neighborhood near 
Tuzla, persons damaged the metal doors and windows of the cemetery 
chapel and moved religious statues.
    There were a number of controversial cases involving construction 
of religious objects or monuments. An illegally constructed Serbian 
Orthodox church remained on the land of a Bosniak returnee in the town 
of Konjevic Polje in the eastern RS, despite the absence of local Serb 
residents and the RS Ministry of Urban Planning's 2004 decision that 
the church should be removed. On September 11, for the second 
consecutive year, the local Orthodox priest celebrated mass in the 
church, which was attended by a large number of nationalist 
antagonists. Local police were present, and there was no violence.
    In the Bosniak returnee village of Divic, near Zvornik, a Serbian 
Orthodox Church remained on the site of the village's destroyed mosque. 
Although Serbian Orthodox religious leaders agreed to relocate the 
church in September, reports in October indicated that they were only 
willing to relocate the church to an area immediately adjacent to a 
Muslim cemetery, which angered the Islamic community and stalled 
relocation negotiations.
    In 2004 Federation authorities ordered the removal of crosses that 
had been illegally constructed on public land in Stolac; however, the 
removal was delayed pending the outcome of a 2004 lawsuit on the 
legality of the Federation government's decision. In September the 
Federation Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the 
law, and the Federation Ministry of Spatial Planning was able again to 
launch an initiative for removal of the crosses. While the Federation 
Ministry of Spatial Planning had the legal authority to undertake such 
an initiative, the ministry was reluctant to do so out of concern that 
it would increase inter-ethnic tensions during the election year.
    The Jewish community had approximately 1,000 believers and was 
recognized as one of four established religions in the country.
    In May graffiti containing anti-Semitic slogans appeared on a wall 
in the Sarajevo settlement of Ilidza. The Bosnian Jewish community 
criticized the act, stressing that such signs gave a negative image of 
Bosnia. During the year Jewish leaders noted a tendency to mix anti-
Israeli sentiment with anti-Semitism, as the general public and the 
media often failed to distinguish between criticism of Israeli policy 
and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights; 
however, some limits remained in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The overall return process 
for persons displaced by the 1991-95 wars slowed during the year, 
indicating a sharp decrease in returns from years past. According to 
the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), between the 
end of the war in 1995 and year's end, 1,017,433 persons who left the 
country had returned. Of these, 458,816 were returnees to areas where 
they were an ethnic minority. The UNHCR registered 5,603 returns 
through December, of which 4,596 were minority returnees. These numbers 
continued to decline, particularly for returnees to areas where they 
would be an ethnic minority. Government officials and some NGOs, 
however, believed that the total number of returns was inflated, since 
the UNHCR determines returns based on property restitution rather than 
physical presence. Some properties, therefore, could have been returned 
to the original owners without those individuals actually returning to 
live in the locale.
    The difficult economic situation in the country remained the most 
significant factor inhibiting returns, with many rural areas 
experiencing official unemployment rates above 40 percent. When jobs 
were available, minority returnees often complained of discrimination 
in hiring. In returnee areas throughout the country, the percentage of 
minorities holding municipal employment was neither representative of 
current populations, nor legally mandated percentages based on the 1991 
census, indicating local government failures to implement and enforce 
the provisions of the Law on Self Administration. Funds for 
reconstruction assistance continued to decline, although the Ministry 
of Human Rights and Refugees continued to implement projects from the 
joint return fund.
    The security situation for returnees improved during the year, 
although isolated incidents of violence were reported and a hostile 
atmosphere still existed in many areas. During the year, there was a 
substantial shift towards attacks against symbols of a minority group 
as a whole and away from attacks against individuals. Many returnees 
cited authorities' failure to apprehend war criminals as a disincentive 
to return. Many displaced persons created permanent lives away from 
their prewar homes, and only individuals with few other options 
(including a large number of elderly pensioners) tended to return.
    Other factors inhibiting returns included a lack of access to 
social benefits including healthcare, education and pension benefits. A 
lack of available housing and high municipal administration taxes on 
documents that are necessary for return, such as birth or land 
certificates, also affected the number of returns. Minority returnees 
often faced intimidation, discrimination, obstructionism in their 
access to health care and pension benefits, poor infrastructure, and 
denial of utility services such as electricity, gas, and telephone by 
publicly owned utility companies. While problems decreased from 
previous years, they persisted in hard-line areas. Authorities in some 
areas of Croat-controlled Herzegovina and some towns in the eastern RS 
continued to resist minority returns, obstructing returnees' access to 
local services, including municipal power and water, education, 
issuance of important civil documents, and health care.
    In the RS, the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons provided 
support to Bosniaks and Croats returning to the RS and to Bosnian Serbs 
returning to the Federation. The Federation Ministry for Refugees 
assisted Croats and Serbs returning to the Federation and Bosniaks 
returning to the RS. Both entity-level refugee ministries provided 
limited reconstruction assistance to returnees and also committed part 
of their budgets toward joint projects to be determined by the State 
Commission for Refugees. All levels of government budgeted funding for 
returns, but it was unclear how much of this funding was actually used.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum is 
undergoing revision to expedite the time between application and final 
adjudication. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution.
    During the year the Government did not grant temporary protection 
to any persons who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 
Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
    The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR, the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other humanitarian 
organizations to assist refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees with 
pending asylum applications, regardless of national origin, may remain 
in collective centers until their cases can be decided. As a result of 
the 1999 conflict in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), 
approximately 6,000 persons, half of them from Kosovo, fled the FRY and 
came to the country. According to UNHCR statistics from June, 521 
refugees from Serbia and Montenegro, including refugees from Kosovo, 
remained in collective centers. An additional 3,098 refugees from 
Serbia and Montenegro were also living in communities throughout the 
country. By October the Government had not accepted any of these 
refugees for local integration or permanent status in the country. 
During the year the Government extended the ``temporarily admitted 
persons'' status to approximately 3,000 Kosovars, a status that neither 
precludes nor facilitates asylum, residency, or naturalization under 
the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully; however, the use of coercive tactics by some nationalist 
parties precluded full citizen participation without intimidation.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Observers from the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe (OSCE) concluded that 
the general elections held during the year had been conducted largely 
in line with international standards but noted problems, including the 
inability of numerous voters to find their names on voter registers, 
voters being directed to incorrect polling stations because of changes 
in the registration process, group voting, irregularities in the 
counting process, and a few cases of voter intimidation.
    A new passive registration system, linked to the issuance of 
national identification cards, registered 400,000 new voters prior to 
the national elections held during the year. Some voters complained, 
however, that the registration process discriminated against voters who 
physically live in one location but continue to receive government 
benefits in another because they could only vote in their place of 
legal, and not actual, residence.
    While political parties did not compel individuals to become 
members, many viewed membership in the leading party of any given area 
as the surest way of obtaining, regaining, or keeping pension and 
health benefits, housing, and jobs in government-owned companies. There 
were also reports that political parties paid individuals to campaign 
on their behalf or to run for office to increase the number of 
representatives present in electoral polling stations.
    Individuals and parties representing a wide spectrum of political 
views could freely declare their candidacies and stand for election. 
Nationalist rhetoric dominated the pre-election campaign, with Bosniak 
nationalist politicians calling for the abolition of the RS and Serb 
politicians threatening to call a referendum in the RS to secede from 
the state. Nevertheless, opposition parties were not excluded from 
participation in political life. Membership in large, well-funded 
parties conferred formal advantages, as nonparty members were often 
excluded from appointment to many key government positions.
    During the pre-election period, the civic movement GROZD produced a 
12-point, issue-specific platform and asked all political parties to 
incorporate these issues into their own political platform. More than 
500,000 Bosnians (notable as more than the number of votes any one 
party received in the 2002 elections) signed a petition in support of 
the GROZD platform, as did several less powerful political parties.
    The election law requires that at least 30 percent of political 
party candidates be women. At year's end, six of 42 delegates in the 
BIH House of Representatives were women. Out of 82 delegates in the RS 
National Assembly, 19 were women. Although national elections took 
place October 1, the new Federation and State parliamentary assemblies 
had not been constituted by year's end. In the previous mandate of 
parliament, there were seven women in the directly elected 42-seat BiH 
House of Representatives (lower house) and no women in the 15-seat BiH 
House of Peoples (upper house), whose members were appointed by entity 
legislatures. There were 23 women in the 98-seat Federation House of 
Representatives. There was one woman in the nine-member Council of 
Ministers, but at year's end the new Council of Members had not been 
established.
    There were no members of a minority in either the BiH House of 
Representatives or the nine-member Council of Ministers. Under the 
state-level constitution members of the ethnic Serb, Croat, and Bosniak 
groups must be appointed to government positions on a proportional 
basis, based on the 1991 census. Separate from those groups, there are 
16 recognized national minority groups. While other minorities may hold 
these offices, they remained underrepresented.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of 
official corruption during the year. The country received a score of 
2.9 on Transparency International's 10 point index of the degree to 
which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians 
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country has a 
serious corruption problem.
    The law bars citizens from holding positions of public 
responsibility if they have pending criminal indictments against them, 
but this prohibition was not always observed in practice. For example, 
the court did not remove or suspend Mato Tadic, charged with accepting 
bribes in the tax evasion and bribery case involving former BiH 
Presidency member Dragan Covic, from his position as President of the 
Constitutional Court while the trial against him was underway. Covic 
was convicted in November of one count of abuse of office and sentenced 
to five years in prison.
    Although the law provides for citizen access to government records, 
many government agencies did not comply with the law. For example, some 
agencies have not yet prepared the required registry of documents that 
are available and guidelines for access to them. According to the law, 
the Government must provide an explanation for any denial of access, 
and citizens may appeal denials in the court system or to the 
ombudsman's offices. In practice, the Government sometimes failed to 
provide an explanation for denial of access to information as required 
by the law; however, if citizens appealed denials to the ombudsmen, the 
courts, or legal aid, the Government generally provided an explanation. 
Public awareness of the law remained low.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
and NGOs generally operated without government restriction, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. For 
example, the BiH Helsinki Committee and the Helsinki Committee of the 
RS continued to actively report on a wide range of human rights abuses. 
However, government officials were often inefficient and slow to 
respond to their recommendations.
    The Government cooperated fully with international organizations 
such as the Office of the High Representative (OHR), which has special 
powers over the Government, as well as other international 
organizations such as the UNHCR, ICRC, OSCE, and ICMP.
    The Constitutional Court handles all human rights cases filed since 
the beginning of 2004. The Human Rights Commission, which consists of 
five judges from the Human Rights Chamber in the Constitutional Court, 
was formed in 2004 to address this backlog. By year's end the 
commission had issued 2,266 decisions, of which 536 were decisions on 
the merits of the case. The most common cases included claims for the 
return of frozen foreign currency accounts, war damages, and claims 
involving pensions and property rights.
    In April the state-level parliament adopted a law establishing a 
single ombudsman institution composed of three members who will likely 
represent the country's three constituent peoples (Bosniaks, Serbs, and 
Croats), although members of national minorities can also be appointed. 
The multiple ombudsman offices already existing at the sub-federal 
level, whose effectiveness had been limited in addressing institutional 
patterns of discrimination, were to be abolished by December 31. An 
effective plan for handover of responsibilities from the entity-level 
ombudsman institutions to the state ombudsman office was not developed, 
however, and the transfer did not occur by year's end.
    Citizens' remedies for human rights violations included filing 
civil suits or seeking assistance from the ombudsmen. However, the 
ombudsmen's recommendations were not binding, and the civil court 
system had major backlogs. The ombudsmen were effective in some 
individual cases, but were less successful in addressing institutional 
patterns of discrimination.
    The State Court continued during the year to cooperate with the 
ICTY by, adjudicating cases transferred by the ICTY and proceeding on 
ICTY-reviewed indictments. During the year, BiH authorities also 
assisted in the transfer of one ICTY indictee to The Hague. The 
Federation continued its cooperation with the ICTY and the State 
Court's War Crimes Chamber. During the year, the Federation prosecutor 
initiated 34 war crimes cases involving 384 defendants (see section 
1.e.).
    RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik's government ended the long-time 
practice of providing stipends from the RS budget to families of 
indictees on trial in the ICTY. The level of cooperation between the RS 
and Serbian law enforcement agencies in eradicating Mladic and 
Karadzic's cross-border support networks and compelling their eventual 
capture was unclear. The RS municipalities of Bijeljina, Sokolac, Han 
Pijesak and Pale remained under sanctions for failing to cooperate with 
ICTY. In April sanctions were lifted for Foca.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or other social status; however, discrimination against 
minorities, women, sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, and 
others was pervasive.

    Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and 
sexual assault, remained a widespread and underreported problem. 
According to a 2004 study by the Sarajevo faculty of criminology, 20 
percent of female respondents indicated that they were physically 
abused by their husbands or boyfriends. In 79 percent of these cases, 
the violence occurred repeatedly. According to general NGO estimates, 
one out of every three Bosnian women is a victim of domestic violence. 
Both the Federation and RS have adopted a law on domestic violence that 
requires police to remove the offender from the family home; however, 
domestic violence usually was not reported to the authorities. Experts 
estimate that only one in 10 cases of domestic violence was reported to 
the police. As of October, the RS domestic violence hotline received 
2,657 reports of domestic violence.
    Police received specialized training in handling cases of domestic 
violence and there were four hotlines operating in the Federation and 
RS that provided assistance and counseling to domestic violence 
victims. Reluctance on the part of victims to report domestic violence 
to authorities or to testify against their abusers contributed to lack 
of prosecutions. There were shelters in Mostar, Tuzla, Banja Luka, 
Sarajevo and Modrica to assist victims of domestic violence, and local 
NGOs were trying to build additional facilities. Several NGOs reported 
an increase in domestic violence reports because of awareness campaigns 
that informed victims about their rights and encouraged them to make 
official complaints.
    Rape and spousal rape are illegal; the maximum penalty for either 
crime is 15 years' imprisonment. A sense of shame reportedly prevented 
some rape victims from complaining to authorities. While police 
generally responded to reports of sexual assault, they tended not to 
treat reports of spousal rape with the same seriousness.
    Prostitution is illegal. The law treats procuring as a major crime, 
but prostitution and solicitation are misdemeanors punishable by a fine 
only. Since police raids on bars and brothels drove it underground, 
prostitution frequently took place in private apartments or on an 
outcall basis. Single mothers or other vulnerable women, particularly 
from economically depressed rural areas, were at higher risk of being 
recruited for sexual exploitation.
    Trafficking in women for purposes of sexual exploitation was a 
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment, but sexual harassment was a 
serious problem that was poorly understood by the general population. 
Many women surveyed by NGOs reported experiencing treatment that 
constituted sexual harassment in their workplaces. Victims of sexual 
harassment almost never filed complaints, largely because they did not 
recognize their experiences as harassment and were not aware of their 
legal rights and remedies.
    The law prohibits gender-based discrimination. Women have equal 
legal status to men in family law and property law, and were treated 
equally in practice throughout the judicial system.
    The Government's Agency for Gender Equality worked to harmonize 
legislation with the Law on Gender Equality and inform women of their 
legal rights. The Federation, the RS, and state-level parliaments had 
committees for gender equality.
    Women served as judges, doctors, and professors, although few women 
held positions of real economic or political power. A small but 
increasing number of gender-related discrimination cases were 
documented. Anecdotal accounts indicated that women and men generally 
received equal pay for equal work at government-owned enterprises but 
not always at private businesses. Women in all parts of the country had 
problems with nonpayment of maternity leave allowances and the 
unwarranted dismissal of pregnant women and new mothers. Many job 
announcements openly advertised discriminatory criteria such as age 
(typically under 35) and physical appearance of female applicants. 
Women remained underrepresented in law enforcement agencies, although 
progress continued to be made.

    Children.--The Governments of both entities were generally 
committed to the rights and welfare of children; however, social 
services for children were extremely limited. The Ministry of Human 
Rights and Refugees had a role in enforcing children's rights. Children 
with disabilities lacked sufficient medical care and educational 
opportunities.
    Education is free and compulsory through age 15; however, parents 
were required to pay for textbooks, lunches, and transportation, which 
some families could not afford, causing some children to drop out of 
school. A lack of reliable monitoring and statistics on enrollment and 
drop-out rates hindered efforts to ensure that school-age children 
received an education. Children with special needs were legally 
required to attend regular classes, but schools were often unable to 
accommodate them. Except for Roma, almost all children finished primary 
school through the ninth grade; the completion rate was lower for 
secondary school. Boys and girls attended school equally.
    According to the BiH Roma Council, less than 35 percent of Romani 
children attended school regularly. Amnesty International reported 
during the year that Romani children lacked access to education in BiH. 
Many Romani children were unable to attend school because of extremely 
poor living conditions, lack of proper clothing, and the inability or 
unwillingness of families to pay school-related expenses. Verbal 
harassment from other students, language problems, and registration 
costs and requirements also contributed to the exclusion of Roma from 
schools, despite the desire of many parents to enroll their children. 
Authorities failed to provide textbooks including topics related to 
Romani culture and history into the curriculum.
    Students in minority areas frequently faced a hostile environment 
in schools that did not provide an ethnically neutral setting. 
Obstruction by nationalist politicians and government officials slowed 
efforts to remove discriminatory material from textbooks, abolish 
school segregation, and enact other reforms. Cantonal governments in 
the Federation and the Ministry of Education in the RS pressured school 
directors at the primary and secondary school level, and several 
schools were directed by hard-line political figures. For example, on 
the first day of school at the Sveti Sava primary school in the eastern 
RS town of Zvornik, school officials organized an Orthodox religious 
ceremony with an Orthodox priest presiding. More than 100 Bosniak 
students who attend the school were present with their families at the 
ceremony. Following the event, the RS Ministry of Education issued a 
statement indicating that such ceremonies were inappropriate.
    Administrative and legal unification of the 52 cases of ``two 
schools under one roof,'' with separate classes for Bosnian Croats and 
Bosniaks, did not lead to integrated classrooms, although shared 
extracurricular activities, school entrances and recreation facilities 
sometimes resulted. In some areas of the country, notably Vitez in 
central Bosnia and Prozor-Rama and Stolac in Herzegovina, local 
officials and parents sought to establish complete physical segregation 
of Bosniak and Croat students. Segregation and discrimination were 
entrenched in many schools, particularly in the teaching of national 
history and religious education. In the RS, non-Serbs made up less than 
5 percent of the teaching staff in primary and secondary schools. In 
the Federation, minority teachers made up between 5 and 8 percent of 
all teachers, depending on the canton.
    Schools throughout the country continued to use textbooks on 
subjects outside the so-called ``national group'' of subjects that 
contained controversial material. For example, textbooks in Bosnian 
Croat-majority areas refer to Croatia as the homeland of all Croat 
people, while texts in the RS instill a sense of patriotism towards 
Serbia.
    Medical care for children in the Federation is controlled at the 
cantonal level, and the level of care varied widely between cantons. In 
the RS, the law provides that the Ministry of Health furnish free 
medical care to children up to 15 years of age; in practice, children 
often did not receive medical care unless they had medical insurance 
paid for by their parents. Boys and girls had equal access to medical 
care.
    Family violence against children was a problem. Police investigated 
and prosecuted individual cases of child abuse; there were no 
statistics available on the extent of the problem, as much of it went 
unreported. Municipal centers for social work were responsible for 
protecting children's rights, but often lacked resources and 
alternative housing for children who ran away from home to escape abuse 
or who needed to be removed from abusive homes. Some NGOs estimated 
that one in four families experienced some form of domestic violence, 
including physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of children.
    In certain Romani communities, girls married between the ages of 12 
and 14. Apart from efforts to increase Romani participation in 
education, there were no programs aimed specifically at reducing the 
incidence of child marriage.
    Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child begging was common in some Romani communities; infants (with 
adults) and children as young as four were sent out to beg on street 
corners, often working 10 or more hours per day in all weather 
conditions.
    According to statistics released during the year by the Ministry of 
Human Rights and Refugees, 21 percent of displaced persons from the 
country were children under 18.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation and 
children and adults, particularly from the Romani community, were 
sometimes trafficked for labor. There were reports that police and 
other officials were involved in trafficking.
    The country was a destination, transit point, and, to a greater 
extent, country of origin for women and girls trafficked for sexual 
exploitation. An increasing trend of victims being trafficked 
domestically was also observed during the year. The number of domestic 
victims increased dramatically and is now about equal to the number of 
foreign victims, a possible indicator that official efforts to 
interdict and prevent cross-border trafficking have both increased 
internal trafficking and helped drive the crime underground to the 
local level. During the year, Romani children were trafficked to and 
within the country for forced labor.
    The majority of women trafficked to the country came from Serbia, 
Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Russia. While no reliable estimates were 
available, a significant number may have been trafficked on to Western 
Europe. According to the IOM, most victims were lured by false job 
offers, such as advertisements offering work in Italy or Germany as 
dancers, waitresses, and domestic servants. Some NGOs reported that 
trafficking victims were increasingly lured into the country by 
promises of marriage to traffickers or their associates, while others 
knowingly entered into false marriages to obtain work and residence 
permits. Most trafficked women entered the country through Serbia and 
Montenegro. Those who transited the country generally continued on via 
Croatia. The IOM reported Bosnian victims in other parts of Europe, and 
local NGOs observed a dramatic increase of Bosnian victims within the 
country.
    There were no reliable estimates on the number of victims 
trafficked during the year; police raids forced trafficking further 
underground, increasing the difficulty of estimating the scope of the 
problem. During the year the Office of the State Antitrafficking 
Coordinator registered 43 new trafficking victims from within its 
referral mechanism. During the year the IOM assisted 59 victims, 12 of 
whom were repatriated; 27 were citizens, while almost half of all 
victims (28 persons) were minors.
    Traffickers came from a variety of backgrounds, including freelance 
operators and loosely organized local criminal networks. Large 
international organized crime syndicates were less involved than in 
previous years.
    Victims reported working in conditions akin to slavery, with little 
or no financial support. In some cases, traffickers paid victims some 
wages so that they could send money home to their families. Traffickers 
coerced victims to remain in these situations through intimidation, 
verbal threats, seizure of passports, withholding of food and medical 
care, and physical and sexual assault. To keep victims in the country 
legally, traffickers also made victims apply for asylum since, as 
asylum seekers, they were entitled to remain in the country until their 
claims could be adjudicated.
    Under the law, trafficking is a state-level crime that carries a 
sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The Ministry of Security is 
responsible for coordinating antitrafficking law enforcement at all 
levels of government, but during the year it was understaffed and 
lacked the capacity and the funding to adequately manage 
antitrafficking activities.
    The BiH State Prosecutor's office has exclusive jurisdiction over 
trafficking cases and can decide which cases to prosecute at the state 
level and which to send to the entity level. The State Antitrafficking 
Coordinator, whose mandate includes coordination of victim protection 
efforts among NGOs, police, and government institutions as well as law 
enforcement, reported directly to the Ministry of Security. A 
nationwide interagency investigative task force to combat trafficking, 
the antitrafficking strike force, was chaired by the chief state 
prosecutor and included prosecutors, police, and financial 
investigators and targeted trafficking and illegal migration. There 
were two major strike force investigations that resulted in indictments 
during the year.
    In February the strike force raided three well-known ``night bars'' 
in central Bosnia, resulting in four arrests and the filing of criminal 
charges against 11 people suspected of involvement in trafficking. In 
April the State Court sentenced Nermin Cupina from Mostar, the first 
defendant in a major trafficking case from Herzegovina, to eight years 
in prison for trafficking. The judge also ordered seizure of Cupina's 
apartment and payment of compensation, a $62,500 (93,750 convertible 
marks) total value believed to have been earned through trafficking 
during 2002 and 2003. Igor Salcin, the second defendant in the same 
case, agreed to a plea bargain in February and was convicted to 5+ 
years of imprisonment. Predrag Leventic, the third defendant, was 
acquitted for lack of evidence.
    If screening established that a person was a trafficking victim, 
authorities did not prosecute that person for immigration or 
prostitution violations. In most cases, foreign victims were 
voluntarily repatriated. Persons determined by law enforcement not to 
be trafficking victims were often deported and occasionally prosecuted 
for immigration and other violations.
    There continued to be reports of police and other official 
involvement in trafficking, particularly at the local level. Victims' 
groups alleged that, because of strong local networks, local police 
often willfully ignored or actively protected consumers or perpetrators 
of trafficking activity, often accepting bribes in return. To date 
there have been only a few documented cases of official involvement in 
trafficking, and no official indictments have been made. In 2004 border 
police arrested a member of the RS interior ministry's elite special 
unit near Bijeljina while he was attempting to cross into the country 
from Serbia with two suspected trafficking victims in his car. 
Authorities immediately suspended him from duty and opened an 
investigation. The case was closed during the year due to lack of 
evidence, and the police officer was reinstated. In 2005 authorities 
charged a State Border Service officer with abuse of office for placing 
a false stamp in the passport of a suspected trafficking victim; the 
case was ongoing at year's end.
    During the year authorities continued efforts to combat trafficking 
by producing an antitrafficking manual for teachers for use in the 
curriculum of all BiH schools. Authorities also continued their efforts 
to assist victims by working with local NGOs to support shelters and 
other services and by conducting extensive training for police, 
prosecutors, judges, teachers, and social workers.
    In 2005 the Government adopted a formal victim referral mechanism 
and memoranda of understanding with six NGOs that ran shelters for 
trafficking victims. The local NGO Forum of Solidarity continued to 
operate the main shelter in Sarajevo and ran one safe house in Doboj 
where victims received medical care, counseling, repatriation 
assistance and limited vocational training. Other NGOs operated safe 
houses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar, and Bijeljina. Although police 
provided protection for the shelters, victims told NGO employees that 
they did not trust local police and feared that traffickers would 
pursue them if they left.
    During the year NGOs assisted trafficking victims by providing 
basic shelter and medical, psychological, and legal assistance. The 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a manual 
on legal advocacy and trained local attorneys to assist trafficking 
victims on a range of criminal and civil issues, including victims' 
immigration status and legal rights if they chose to testify against 
their traffickers.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law in both entities prohibits 
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there was 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state 
services.
    Throughout the country, there was clear discrimination between 
different categories of persons with disabilities, though the vast 
majority of persons with disabilities were unemployed. For example, 
persons with disabilities resulting from service during the 1991-95 
wars were given a de facto privileged status above the civilian war 
disabled and persons who were born with disabilities. Children with 
disabilities were often hospitalized in residential institutions or 
confined to their homes, and they rarely had the opportunity to attend 
school. One NGO estimated that 30 percent of persons with disabilities 
residing in institutions were capable of independent living if housing 
and resources were available. Some institutions inappropriately housed 
mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons together.
    In the Federation, the law mandates that all existing public 
buildings must be retrofitted to provide access to persons with 
disabilities by November 2007 and that new buildings must also be 
accessible. However, in practice, buildings rarely were accessible to 
persons with disabilities. The RS had comparable laws for building 
access, and progress on retrofitting older public buildings remained 
slow.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnic differences remained a 
powerful force in the country, although mixed communities existed 
peacefully in a number of areas. Nationalist Bosniak, Serb, and Croat 
politicians sought to increase the ethnic homogeneity of the population 
in areas they controlled by discouraging IDPs of their own ethnicity 
from returning to their prewar homes if they would be in the minority 
there (see section 2.d.). The RS and Federation governments were both 
supportive of minority returns, but there was a significant decrease in 
returns nationwide.
    Attacks on ethnic and religious objects increased during the year, 
particularly in the period immediately before the October national 
elections (see section 2.c.). Police conducted investigations and 
sometimes apprehended and charged perpetrators of ethnically motivated 
hate crimes.
    Recreational events were an additional forum for interethnic 
disputes. In June Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks clashed in Mostar 
following a World Cup soccer game when Bosniaks were perceived as 
cheering the defeat of the Croatian team. In August a clash between 
Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks at a soccer game resulted in one Bosniak's 
serious injury in Bratunac. Also in August Bosnian Serb and Bosnian 
Croat fans watching a soccer game in Ivanica caused a fight, marking 
the first ethnic clash in the town since the end of the war. Also at a 
September soccer match in Zvornik between local team Drina and visitors 
Sarajevo, nationalist antagonists carried signs and chanted disparaging 
slogans at the visiting team comprising mainly Bosniaks.
    Harassment and discrimination against minorities continued 
throughout the country, often centering on property disputes. These 
problems included desecration of graves, graffiti, arson, damage to 
houses of worship, verbal harassment, dismissal from work, threats, and 
assaults. In September unknown persons broke the glass of a Bosniak 
returnee's grill stand in downtown Zvornik. The grill's owner indicated 
that this was the ninth time his business had been attacked since he 
returned to the area. Members of the Association of Mothers of 
Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves who live in returnee areas continued to 
receive death threats.
    Ethnic discrimination in employment and education remained key 
obstacles to the return of residents (see section 5, Children). 
Widespread firing of ethnic minorities during and after the war was not 
reversed in most cases, and members of the ethnic majority in a region 
often were hired over minorities in places where the minorities had 
been employed. Amnesty International reported during the year on 
widespread ethnic discrimination in employment and cited failure on the 
part of state-level and entity-level officials to prevent such 
discrimination. Although privatization of large state-owned enterprises 
was conducted under the supervision of the international community, 
many smaller enterprises were sold to politically well-connected 
individuals, usually members of the majority group in their 
communities. These enterprises generally did not employ minorities. For 
example, only three of 120 municipality jobs in Foca were filled by 
returnees. In Zvornik, the town with the greatest percentage of 
returnees in the eastern RS, only four Bosniaks served in more than 100 
positions available at the municipal level.
    During the year the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination (CERD) issued observations on the situation in BiH, 
citing concern over distinctions in the law between ``constituent 
peoples `` (Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats) and ``others 
`` that precluded members of non-constituent groups from fully enjoying 
the right to vote and stand for office. The CERD also registered 
concerns over an absence of comprehensive antidiscrimination 
legislation in the country and the condition of the Romani minority.
    The Roma population, estimated at 40,000 to 80,000, faced serious 
difficulties in exercising the full range of fundamental human rights 
provided to them under the law. Access to employment, education, and 
government services was a particular problem. The BiH Helsinki 
Committee estimated that only 1 percent of the working-age Romani 
population was employed and indicated that Roma were usually the first 
to be let go during a reduction in force. Many Roma were also excluded 
from public life because they lacked birth certificates, identification 
cards, or a registered residence. Many Roma also could not access 
health care or register to vote. Only a small number of adult Roma were 
officially employed, and Roma were often denied social support; some 
families sent their children out to beg or relied on other sporadic 
sources of income. During the year the Roma Council and the Ministry of 
Human Rights and Refugees worked to develop action plans for the 
employment, health and housing of Roma, in efforts to fulfill 
preconditions for eligibility in the ``decade of Roma inclusion'' 
initiative in Europe. However, by year's end the Government had not 
completed the action plans for housing, health care, and employment, 
while the implementation of the education action plan had been 
implemented only partially.
    While authorities permitted Romani children to attend schools in 
all areas of the country, their attendance was often low as the result 
of pressure from within their own community and from local non-Romani 
communities discouraging them from attending school (see section 5, 
Children).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While the law prohibits 
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, it was not enforced 
in practice, and there was frequent societal discrimination against 
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons.
    The NGO Global Rights reported during the year on the country's 
compliance under international and European legal frameworks to uphold 
the rights of sexual minorities. The report stated that the country did 
not provide the full range of protection envisaged under these 
instruments to members of sexual minority communities and that social 
and cultural stigma contributed to instances of discrimination. The 
report cited the limited means available for redress against 
discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, as well as a lack 
of legal provisions directly addressing discrimination based on gender 
identity or expression.
    Sexual minorities who were open about their orientation were 
frequently fired from their jobs. In some cases, dismissal letters 
explicitly stated that sexual orientation was the cause of termination, 
making it extremely difficult for them to find another job. Some gay 
teens were harassed at school and were kicked out or ran away from home 
after revealing their orientation to their parents.
    Some teachers described homosexuality as deviant behavior when 
presenting the public school curriculum on health and sexuality to 
their students.
    According to unreliable government statistics, there were less than 
a hundred cases of HIV/AIDS in the country. There was a significant 
stigma against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers in both 
entities (except members of the military) to form and join unions of 
their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, 
and workers did so in practice. However, the BiH government refused to 
register an umbrella organization of entity-level unions (formed in 
mid-2005) at the state level, which effectively blocked the activity of 
the principal unions above the entity level.
    The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members 
and organizers; however, protections against retaliation for union 
activity were not strong and discrimination continued. Practical 
barriers to employees bringing complaints against employers included 
high unemployment, a backlogged court system, and the large number of 
workers in the gray economy.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the right to organize and conduct union activities without 
interference; however, authorities did not impose sanctions against 
employers who obstructed union organizing and activity in practice. 
Some unions reported that employees of private companies were 
threatened with dismissal if they joined a union.
    The right to bargain collectively is provided by law in the RS and 
in a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement in the Federation. 
However, collective bargaining in both entities did not involve 
voluntary direct negotiation between a union and individual employers, 
but rather work agreements between the Government and workers in the 
public sector. In the Federation, there were no collective bargaining 
agreements between private employers and unions. In the RS, the general 
collective bargaining agreement applied to all workers and was 
negotiated between unions, the Government, and employers. This general 
agreement applied to private companies, regardless of whether their 
workers were union members. There is no law in the Brcko District on 
collective agreements, and workers there effectively did not have the 
right to bargain collectively.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the country's six export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Entity-level labor laws restrict child labor, and the entity 
governments implemented these laws in practice. The minimum age for 
employment of children in the Federation and in the RS is 15 years; 
minors between the ages of 15 to 18 must provide a valid health 
certificate in order to work. The law prohibits children from 
performing hazardous labor, such as night work. Although child labor 
was not generally a problem, children sometimes assisted their families 
with farm work and odd jobs. Romani children often begged on the 
streets, particularly in larger cities.
    Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation and sometimes for 
labor was a serious problem (see section 5).
    Entity governments are responsible for enforcing child labor laws. 
Neither entity had inspectors dedicated solely to child labor 
inspections; rather, violations of child labor laws were investigated 
as part of a general labor inspection. Both entities' labor 
inspectorates reported that they have not found significant violations 
of child labor laws in the workplace, although they did not conduct 
reviews of children working on family farms.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage in the 
Federation was $196 (308 convertible marks) and in the RS the ``minimum 
price of work'' used as a base for the salary scale of government 
employees was $66 (100 convertible marks); however, neither provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers had 
outstanding claims for back payment of salaries and pensions. The law 
requires employers in both entities to make substantial mandatory 
contributions to pension and health care funds; as a result, to avoid 
paying high social welfare benefits, employers often did not officially 
register their employees, leaving employees without access to public 
health care.
    The legal workweek in both entities is 40 hours; however, seasonal 
workers may work up to 60 hours per week. The law limits overtime to 10 
hours per week in both entities; the Federation has no provision for 
premium pay, while the RS requires a 30 percent premium. An employee in 
the RS may volunteer for an additional 10 hours in exceptional 
circumstances. Federation and RS laws require a minimum rest period of 
30 minutes during the work day.
    Authorities did not adequately enforce regulations related to 
acceptable work conditions. While entity labor inspectorates made some 
effort to enforce registration of employees, they limited most 
inspections to conditions affecting the officially registered 
workforce. Since the courts only served as recourse for complaints 
involving registered workers, the RS labor inspectorate had to submit 
fines and penalties for court approval; because of court backlogs, this 
system was not effective, and many workers for practical purposes 
worked without protections.
    The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to 
their employment; however, this right was not effectively enforced in 
practice. Worker's rights extended to all official, i.e. registered 
workers, including migrant and temporary workers in this status.

                               __________

                                BULGARIA

    The Republic of Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 7.5 million. Legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral Narodno Sabranie (National Assembly). The 
country is ruled by a coalition government headed by Prime Minister 
Sergei Stanishev. Presidential elections held in October were deemed 
generally free and fair. While civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of law enforcement officers, there were 
some instances in which law enforcement officers acted independently of 
government authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. Among the 
human rights problems reported were police abuses, including beatings 
and mistreatment of pretrial detainees, prison inmates, and members of 
minorities; harsh conditions in prisons and detention facilities; 
arbitrary arrest and detention; and impunity. There were limitations on 
freedom of the press; some restrictions of freedom of religion and 
discrimination against religious minorities; and corruption in the 
executive and judicial branches of government. Societal violence and 
discrimination against women, children, and minority groups, 
particularly Roma; trafficking in persons; discrimination against 
persons with disabilities; and child labor also were reported.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
there were reports that police killed one person during the year.
    On August 1, police officer Stoyan Pachalov accidentally shot 
Georgi Bozhanov, who was picking mushrooms nearby. Two officers were 
target-practicing when one of the bullets ricocheted and hit the victim 
in the eye. Bozhanov died en route to the hospital. The two officers 
were court-martialed and fined, and the chief of the regional police 
department resigned over the incident.
    On January 19, the Sofia Military Appellate Court overturned the 
prosecutor's decision and ordered further investigation in the 2005 
death of Angel Dimitrov while in police custody. Prosecutors had 
initially ruled that police used lawful measures in detaining Dimitrov, 
who died of severe blows to the head received during his arrest in a 
nationwide operation against organized crime. The case was pending 
before the Sofia Military court at year's end.
    The Varna regional military prosecutor's inquiry into the April 
2005 fatal beating of a 38-year-old homeless man in Varna resulted in 
an indictment against police officer Dian Vassilev. In November the 
Varna Military Court sentenced him to 16 years in prison but his appeal 
was pending before the Military Appellate Court at year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
police commonly beat criminal suspects, particularly minorities.
    Police often mistreated criminal suspects in police custody, 
usually during the initial interrogation. Human rights observers 
charged that police sometimes handled minor offenses by arresting 
suspects, beating them and releasing them within a 24-hour period so 
that no judicial involvement was required. Nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) reported receiving complaints of police brutality 
from Romani victims who were too intimidated to lodge an official 
complaint with the authorities.
    On April 14, 20-year-old Anton Zlatanov was beaten by police 
officers and detained for 24 hours after he honked at a police tow 
truck blocking the road. The police interpreted Zlatanov's actions as 
an act of hooliganism. The military prosecutor's office launched an 
investigation on possible police abuse, which was ongoing at year's 
end.
    On October 13, police used excessive force when raiding a Romani 
district in the town of Pazardzhik. Reportedly called to quiet a brawl, 
the police broke into houses and allegedly beat innocent bystanders. 
The raid was ordered by the Pazardzhik Chief of Police Emil Ganchev. 
NGOs reported that doctors, under police pressure, refused to issue 
medical certificates to the victims. The local government called for 
the resignation of the chief of police and established a commission to 
assess the damages. The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry into 
the matter found no evidence of excessive force by police and confirmed 
that police acted within their authority.
    The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry into the May 2005 
incident found no abusive behavior on the part of the two police 
officers in Pernik who reportedly beat Rossen Stoyadinov, a Rom. 
Stoyadinov was not informed of his rights as a detainee and forced to 
confess to thefts (see section 1.d.).
    Human rights groups claimed that medical examinations in cases of 
police abuses were not properly documented, that allegations of police 
abuse were seldom investigated thoroughly, and that offending officers 
were very rarely punished.
    The Sofia military prosecutor's office terminated the investigation 
into the charges of police brutality stemming from a January 2004 
incident in which two Sofia police officers unleashed their dog on 
Assen Zarev, a Rom, after questioning him about the whereabouts of 
another person. The officers reportedly beat Zarev and threatened to 
shoot him. In 2005 the prosecution confirmed the results of an internal 
Ministry of Interior inquiry which found no abuse of police authority.
    In April the Supreme Cassation Court rejected the appeal of two 
police officers, Vassil Popov and Hristo Chakmakov, who challenged 
their May 2005 sentence by the Plovdiv Military Court for their role in 
the March 2004 beating of 22-year-old detainee Boris Daskalov. The 
court sentenced the two officers to an 18-month suspended sentence each 
and fined their direct supervisor. In April 2004 the Ministry of 
Interior inspectorate confirmed that the police officers had exceeded 
their powers, and seven police officers received disciplinary sanctions 
for the incident.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally did not meet international standards, and the Government did 
not allocate funds to make significant improvements.
    Conditions in some prisons remained harsh and included 
overcrowding, inadequate lavatory facilities, and insufficient heating 
and ventilation. According to the Ministry of Justice, the average 
space allotted to each prisoner was two square meters, far below the 
international standard of up to six square meters (64.6 square feet). 
The daily food allowance amounted to $.85 (approximately 1.3 lev) per 
day.
    NGO prison monitors reported that brutality by prison guards 
against inmates continued to be a problem. There also were reports of 
brutality among inmates. Prisoners had the right to report substandard 
conditions or mistreatment to prison authorities; however, NGOs 
observed that corruption among the authorities continued to plague the 
system.
    Overcrowding remained a problem, although the Ministry of Justice 
reported a slight decrease in the prison population following the 
introduction of a probation system. There were 11,165 prisoners in the 
country's 12 prisons, a figure that the Ministry of Justice estimated 
exceeded by three times the capacity of the prison system. NGOs 
received complaints from prisoners about the quality and quantity of 
food they were served.
    Despite some infrastructure improvements, such as installing 
ventilation systems in 31 detention centers, most prisoners continued 
to share toilets and had infrequent restroom access. Despite the 
closure of six detention centers due to poor living conditions, many of 
the remaining detention centers still operated in basements with little 
or no access to sunlight.
    There were 1,039 detainees in the country's 45 detention centers. 
The detention facilities operated below capacity, according to data 
from the Ministry of Justice.
    In September 170 foreign prisoners in the Sofia prison went on a 
hunger strike seeking rights equal to their Bulgarian counterparts. 
Under the law, prisoners can shorten their prison sentences by working 
in prison, an opportunity not available to foreigners. The strike ended 
when prison management promised to look into their requests. The prison 
administration held meetings with the strikers to explain procedural 
requirements, including the right of preliminary release from suspended 
sentence. In November, 20 foreigners were granted early release. During 
the year the prison administration began renovations on a separate 
building where it plans to move the foreigners.
    The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by independent observers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports of 
infringement of these provisions by police.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Interior is responsible for oversight of internal law enforcement. The 
new Ministry of Interior Act, which came in force on May 1, 
demilitarized the institution and changed its structure. The ministry 
now oversees the activities of the National Security Service, National 
Fire Safety Service, and the National Police Service, which includes 
the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, the Chief 
Directorate of the Gendarmerie Service, the Chief Directorate of Border 
Police, and the Chief Directorate of Combating Crime and Protecting 
Public Order. Public order services, such as the National Intelligence 
Service and National Bodyguard Service, were directly subordinate to 
the President and were not subject to adequate judicial, executive, or 
legislative oversight of their activities or budgets.
    A survey by the Center for Study of Democracy (CSD) published in 
2005 found that a significant percentage of crimes committed in the 
country were not reported to the police. Although respondents offered 
varying reasons for not reporting the crimes, the most cited were the 
lack of confidence in police competence, dislike of police, and fear of 
reprisal. During the year the CSD published a survey indicating that 
one in four individuals stopped by police were not treated 
professionally and respectfully, with Roma consistently being treated 
worse than ethnic Bulgarians. Survey participants expressed fear that 
filing a complaint would earn them further abuse if they encountered 
the officer again.
    The Ministry of Interior reported 451 complaints of police 
corruption, 179 of which were submitted to its hotline or website 
during the year. The complaints resulted in 57 officers being fired and 
81 officers being administratively censured. During the year 38 
officers were referred to the military prosecution service. Ministry of 
Interior investigations of criminal acts committed by police resulted 
in six convictions for extortion in 2004.
    Impunity remained a problem; lack of accountability inhibited 
government attempts to address police abuses. Human rights groups 
claimed the structure of judicial authority represented a serious 
obstacle to the accountability of law enforcement officers for alleged 
human rights abuses. All complaints involving Ministry of Interior and 
other police forces are required to be heard through the military court 
system. The Sofia Military Appellate Court is the court of final appeal 
for cases involving Ministry of Interior personnel. NGOs claimed that 
this separate court system encouraged a latent bias in favor of police 
and resulted in halfhearted prosecutions by military prosecutors who 
were not eager to see their colleagues punished.
    Human rights-related training is mandatory at the police academy 
and officers' schools.
    In contrast with 2005, there were no reports that police failed to 
take action during outbreaks of violence.

    Arrest and Detention.--While warrants are not always required for 
arrest, police normally obtained them from a prosecutor prior to 
apprehending an individual. If the person is released within 24 hours 
without being charged, no judicial involvement in the case is required. 
Some human rights groups claimed that police abused this provision by 
arbitrarily detaining persons, particularly Roma, but releasing them 
within 24 hours; however, such complaints were much less frequent than 
in previous years. Persons could be detained for no more than 24 hours 
at the request of an investigator or police officer; however, detention 
could last for up to 72 hours without charge if ordered by a 
prosecutor.
    The law provides for bail, and it was widely used.
    Although the law provides for access to legal counsel from the time 
of detention, a study by the Open Society Institute (OSI) showed that 
lack of timely access to legal counsel remained a problem. Legislation 
expanding access to legal aid for low-income defendants in criminal 
cases was adopted in 2005, although OSI's study reported that many 
police precincts did not have an accurate list of public defenders, 
thus effectively hindering the program's implementation.
    Detainees were generally informed promptly of the charges against 
them. However, the OSI reported instances in which detainees were not 
informed of the charges against them or their rights under the law.
    In 2005 two police officers in Pernik detained Rossen Stoyadinov, a 
Rom, for 24 hours after requesting that he accompany them to the police 
station without informing him of the charges against him (see section 
1.c.). The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry, completed in June 
2005, found no abusive behavior on the part of the officers.
    Although the Government generally observed the statutory limit of 
one year for pretrial detention or two years for pretrial detention in 
cases involving the most serious crimes, there were a few cases of more 
lengthy detention due to a backlog of cases. In the event of a 
conviction, time spent in pretrial detention was credited toward the 
sentence.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the effectiveness of the 
judiciary was hampered by corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of 
checks and balances.
    Although many serious systemic flaws remained, observers noted 
modest improvement in the efficiency of moving cases through the 
criminal system. Long delays in trials were common, and investigators 
and police continued to struggle with a large backlog of outstanding 
investigations.
    The Center for Liberal Strategies reported that, on average, civil 
cases lasted 350 days and criminal cases 835 days, with 541 days spent 
in pretrial proceedings. While the system's efficiency was improving, 
there were still an absence of convictions on charges of organized 
crime, corruption, and money laundering.
    The court system consists of regional courts, district courts, 
appellate courts, military courts (on the district and appellate 
levels), the Supreme Cassation Court, and the Supreme Administrative 
Court. The Constitutional Court, which is separate from the rest of the 
judiciary, is empowered to rescind legislation that it considers 
unconstitutional, settle disputes over the conduct of general 
elections, and resolve conflicts over the division of powers among the 
various branches of government. The procedural codes determine which 
court hears a particular case.
    Questions remained about the vast authority of the chief 
prosecutor's office, the immunity of magistrates, and the structure of 
the Supreme Judicial Council as factors that crippled the system's 
efficiency and left the magistrates open to influence.
    In January Boris Velchev was appointed chief prosecutor and 
energetically began a wide-reaching campaign to introduce structural 
and personnel reforms in the prosecution service. The internal 
inspection Velchev ordered resulted in three prosecutors' resignations, 
eight probes for abuse of office, and three requests for dismissal by 
the Supreme Judicial Council on grounds of undermining the prestige of 
the judiciary. However, observers believed further reform was needed to 
establish a fair, impartial, and efficient judicial system.

    Trial Procedures.--The law stipulates that all courts conduct 
hearings in public unless proceedings involve safeguarding national 
secrets or public morals or are against juvenile defendants, and 
authorities generally respected this provision. Defendants have the 
right to know the charges against them, to have government-provided 
legal representation if they are indigent, and to have ample time to 
prepare a defense. Participation of a defense attorney is mandatory if 
the alleged crime incurs a punishment of at least 10 years in prison or 
if the defendant is a juvenile, a foreigner, a person with mental or 
physical disabilities, or is being tried in absentia. Defendants in 
criminal proceedings have the right to confront witnesses, to examine 
evidence, and to present their own witnesses and evidence. The law 
provides for the right of appeal, which was used widely.
    Defendants have the right to be present at trial. Juries are not 
used, although cases involving more serious crimes are heard at the 
trial phase by one judge and two assessors or lay judges, who are 
ordinary citizens chosen to serve as representatives of the public. If 
a crime entails a punishment of more than 15 years in prison, the panel 
consists of two judges and three assessors. Verdicts are determined by 
majority vote of panel members.
    Military courts handle cases involving military personnel 
(including Ministry of Interior personnel) and certain national 
security matters. As a part of the judiciary, military courts are 
independent from the military and provide the same rights as the 
civilian courts. Military prosecutors also investigate allegations of 
crimes committed by police officers.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an 
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, although civil 
cases are plagued by the same long delays as criminal cases. 
Allegations of human right abuses can also be filed with the Commission 
on Protection Against Discrimination, which has the power to impose 
sanctions on violators. During the year reforms in the burdensome 
enforcement of judgments went into force that allowed private 
enforcement agents to collect claims, thus greatly improving the 
efficiency of collection. From January to July, approximately 20,000 
collection cases were filed with private enforcement agents while only 
600 were filed with the state enforcement agents.

    Property Restitution.--While the Government generally respected the 
right to private property, the Jewish community reported difficulties 
in recovering some restituted buildings, including a hospital in 
central Sofia and a former rabbi's house in Varna. In 2002 the courts 
confirmed that Shalom, a Jewish community organization, was the 
hospital's rightful owner, but the building has yet to be returned 
pending completion of renovations on a new building for the hospital. 
The Varna property was under the control of the Ministry of Defense, 
which declined to return it for national security reasons, but was 
working with Shalom on finding comparable compensation. Both cases 
remained open at year's end (see section 2.c.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
    In June the Sofia mayor's office came under international criticism 
for planned demolition of illegal housing in the Vazrazhdane 
neighborhood, home to over 200 Roma who lacked the proper titles and 
registration to the land. After receiving letters from four members of 
the European Parliament on July 29, municipal authorities halted 
demolition plans and entered into negotiations with the central 
government and NGOs to resolve the problem. On June 12, the previous 
year's demolition of illegal housing in the Hristo Botev neighborhood 
was judged by the Supreme Administrative Court to be legal, paving the 
way for future demolitions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. There were reports, however, that 
journalists were threatened and intimidated by individuals with 
political interests. NGOs reported that significant numbers of 
journalists practiced self-censorship due to political influence, 
pressure from management, and organized crime. Some journalists 
allegedly accepted payments in return for positive coverage of 
politicians, prominent businessmen, and organized crime syndicates.
    Individuals criticized the Government freely without reprisal, and 
the Government did not attempt to impede criticism.
    A variety of newspapers were published freely by political parties 
and other organizations representing the full spectrum of public 
opinion.
    On October 10, leading journalist Ivo Indjev was fired from BTV 
Television for reporting unverified information on President Parvanov's 
real estate holdings. Observers alleged that his dismissal was the 
result of pressure from the President's office. Approximately 15 
members of parliament wrote a letter of protest to foreign human rights 
observers, labeling the incident a violation of freedom of the press.
    On April 6, unknown persons detonated a bomb in the apartment of 
investigative journalist Vasil Ivanov. There were no casualties, but 
the apartment had extensive damage. Ivanov, who had described wide-
ranging abuses in Sofia's main prison prior to the attack, reported 
receiving death threats several months before the explosion. The 
Ministry of Interior opened an investigation into the attack, which was 
ongoing at year's end.
    On May 18, unknown perpetrators broke into the offices of leading 
newspaper Novinar, stealing journalists' research on ties between the 
country's rich and its political parties. The police had no leads in 
the case, and the investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    The investigation against unknown perpetrators into the 2005 fire 
in the Vratsa office of national daily newspaper Trud remained open. 
There were also no developments in the investigations into threats made 
in 2004 against the newspaper Naroden Glas, the news agency De Facto, 
or the national daily newspaper 24 Hours.
    The change of leadership at the Ministry of Interior in August 2005 
ended the practice of Ministry of Interior officials using the media to 
blame the judiciary for lack of progress in battling crime. In 2004 a 
group of judges protested the practice in a letter to the Prime 
Minister. In his response, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance 
of judicial independence and called for a direct dialogue between the 
branches.
    Defamation is punishable under the law. In most cases the courts 
defined libel and interpreted the law in a manner that favored 
journalistic expression. Fines for libel ranged from approximately 
$1,875 (3,000 leva) to approximately $6,250 (10,000 leva); fines for 
slander ranged from approximately $3,125 (5,000 leva) to $9,375 (15,000 
leva). Although observers noted a slight increase in the number of 
defamation suits brought against journalists in recent years, only a 
small number of cases resulted in journalists being fined. The majority 
of defamation cases were brought against reports about corruption or 
mismanagement, and the most frequent plaintiffs were government 
officials or other persons in public positions.
    Television and radio provided a variety of news and public interest 
programming. Although the state-owned media presented opposition views, 
observers believed that the inadequacy of existing legislation left 
these media vulnerable to government pressure. Despite this 
vulnerability, Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the state-owned news 
agency, was generally regarded as unbiased, and the state-owned 
Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) was often one of the most outspoken 
critics of the Government and its policies.
    In 2005 the CEM noted 106 infringements of the radio and television 
act: 84 by television operators and 22 by radio operators. The CEM 
fined 73 of these operators for violations that were considered 
serious, including disclosure of personal information without the 
person's consent, airing programs that damage children's physical and 
mental development, and violating the right of a rebuttal.
    In September 2005 the Ruse Regional Court reversed its 2004 
decision to sentence Romanian television journalist George Buhnici for 
having used a microphone and a camera hidden in his glasses to film the 
illegal cigarette trade at the Bulgarian-Romanian border. In March the 
prosecution service withdrew its appeal of the court decision, thereby 
enforcing Buhnici's acquittal.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the 
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet 
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail. 
International studies estimated that 28.5 percent of the population 
regularly used the Internet, although less-developed rural areas did 
not have the infrastructure to support Internet connections.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law 
requires that groups requesting a permit for gatherings need to give 48 
hours notice and that groups requesting a permit for a demonstration 
need to give five days notice.
    During the year the Macedonian activist group, Ilinden, 
successfully held a public meeting to initiate its registration as a 
political party. In 2005 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) 
ruled that the country had violated the right of its citizens to 
peaceful assembly by dispersing Ilinden's demonstrations and preventing 
the group from holding peaceful meetings from 1998 to 2003. Despite the 
progress, the group reported difficulties registering as a political 
party.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. The law prohibits groups that endanger national 
unity or promote and incite racial, national, ethnic, or religious 
hatred, violate the rights of citizens, or seek to achieve their 
objectives through violent means. The Government generally respected 
the rights of individuals and groups to freely establish their own 
political parties or other political organizations.
    The law prohibits the formation of political parties along 
religious, ethnic, or racial lines and prohibits citizens' associations 
from engaging in political activity. In practice this prohibition did 
not restrict political participation by ethnic minorities. The law 
requires all electoral campaigning to be conducted in the Bulgarian 
language. Several political groups complained that this law was 
arbitrarily applied during the 2005 parliamentary election campaign. In 
2005 a new law took effect that obliged all existing parties to 
reregister by year's end and introduced a 5,000-person membership 
requirement (see section 3).
    The Macedonian activist group Ilinden continued to report 
difficulties in registering as a political party. The courts refused it 
legal registration in 2001 on the grounds that it was a separatist 
group whose statute and program were directed against the unity of the 
country. In June Ilinden launched a re-registration campaign but was 
accused in some media reports of paying for signatures in order to 
reach the 5,000 threshold. Ilinden's appeal of the Sofia City Court's 
decision, which rejected its registration citing numerous procedural 
violations, was ongoing at year's end. Group members reported hostile 
treatment from the authorities, specifically prejudiced statements from 
the Blagoevgrad mayor and an aggressive campaign by the police, who 
went door to door to question members on their affiliation with 
Ilinden.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--Although the constitution and law provide 
for freedom of religion, the Government restricted this right to public 
practice for unregistered religious groups. The law designates the 
Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the ``traditional'' religion and the 
Government provided preferential financial support to it, as well as to 
several other religious communities perceived as holding historic 
places in society, including the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish 
faiths. The law prohibits the public practice of religion by groups not 
registered through the court system.
    In 2005 the ECHR granted an accelerated hearing to the Alternative 
Synod, which filed a complaint alleging that in 2004 the Government 
improperly intervened in an internal church dispute. The case was 
pending in the ECHR at year's end.
    The law requires religious groups to formally register with the 
Sofia City Court if they wish to operate and be recognized as legal 
entities or to conduct worship in public. The 2002 Denominations Act 
gives Sofia City Court responsibility for registering religious groups. 
To register, groups are required to submit a statement of the 
denomination's beliefs. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has 
expressed concern that this requirement constitutes an infringement on 
freedom of religion. The law specifically exempts the Bulgarian 
Orthodox Church from registration.
    The Council of Minister's Religious Confessions Directorate 
provides ``expert opinions'' on registration matters upon the court's 
request. Only once, for the 2003 application of the Ahmadi Muslim 
Organization of the Muslim Ahmadi Community, has the directorate issued 
an advisory opinion that resulted in the rejection of registration for 
a denomination. After losing a two-year battle for registration as a 
religious group in 2004, Ahmadis resorted to registering as a local NGO 
in Blagoevgrad. In November the Religious Directorate took the group to 
court for carrying out religious activities without proper 
registration. The court case was ongoing at year's end. From January to 
August, 85 new religious groups were registered with the court.
    Although the law does not require local formal registration, some 
local branches of nationally-registered denominations experienced 
problems with local authorities who insisted that the branches be 
registered locally. The registration provisions of the 2002 act did not 
provide the criteria which gives the Court a basis for registration, or 
the grounds for denying it. Furthermore, the act does not provide 
recourse for groups denied registration or state what the consequences 
are for failure to register.
    Religious groups continued to report difficulties with gaining 
long-term status and ability to proselytize, although much less 
frequently than in previous years. Foreign missionaries reported 
difficulties adjusting their visa status to long-term residence, but 
this was more the result of the country's visa regime than a policy of 
discrimination on the part of the Government. The Law on Foreign 
Persons had no visa category for missionaries or religious workers. 
Jehovah's Witnesses reported incidents where local authorities 
prevented them from distributing leaflets and impeded their ability to 
proselytize.
    The leadership of the Muslim community continued to be disputed in 
the courts. In 2005 the Sofia City Court attempted to settle the two-
year dispute by formally registering Mustafa Alish Hadji as chief 
mufti. Rival Islamic leader Nedim Gendzhev filed an appeal, and in 
December 2005 the Sofia appellate court ordered Gendzhev's registration 
as the Muslim community's leader. Alish Hadji appealed, and the case 
remained unresolved at year's end. Many observers criticized the court 
procedures as opaque and politically influenced.
    In August the Commission for Protection Against Discrimination 
(CPD) decided that school uniform requirements did not discriminate 
against female Muslim students. An NGO filed the complaint stating that 
the policy effectively banned headscarves.
    The Jewish community, the Muslim community, the Catholic Church, 
and some Protestant denominations claimed that a number of their 
properties confiscated under the Communist government had not been 
returned. The Catholic Church reported that only 60 percent of its 
confiscated properties had been restituted. A central problem facing 
claimant groups was the need to demonstrate that they were the same 
organization or the legitimate successor of the organization that owned 
the property prior to 1944. This was difficult because Communist 
hostility to religion led some groups to hide assets or ownership and 
because documents had been destroyed or lost over the intervening 
years.
    The Government formed a special commission to review outstanding 
claims of the Jewish community for restitution of properties 
confiscated by the Communist regime. The commission's report, presented 
to the Prime Minister in October, found that the community had valid 
claims to several properties and recommended the Government either 
return them to the community or find comparable properties as 
compensation. The commission chose not to review the controversial 2005 
court decision on the Rila Hotel, which held that the expropriation 
procedure was properly executed by the Communist government and that 
the community was not legally entitled to any further compensation. At 
year's end the Jewish community was still working with the Government 
to implement the recommendations.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination, harassment, 
and general public intolerance of nontraditional religious groups 
remained an occasional problem. Human rights groups reported that 
societal discrimination against nontraditional religious groups 
gradually lessened over the last few years.
    The country's small Jewish community and the Muslim community 
became targets of the extremist political party Ataka, which employed 
racist and discriminatory rhetoric during the 2005 parliamentary 
campaign and the 2006 Presidential campaign. Both the newspaper 
launched by Ataka in October and the group's Web site, as well as its 
cable television mouth-piece Skat, contained strong anti-Semitic and 
anti-Muslim material.
    According to Shalom, a Jewish organization, anti-Semitism was not 
wide-spread. The country's small Jewish community has traditionally 
enjoyed long standing tolerance and is a respected minority. Ataka's 
discriminatory rhetoric increased anti-Semitic statements in the media 
in 2005, but has had limited impact on the overall tradition of 
tolerance.
    The law protects freedom of religion and prohibits discrimination. 
In an effort to promote inter-faith and inter-ethnic education, the 
Government supported programs that taught classes on religion and the 
history of minorities in at schools. Two watchdog institutions, the 
Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission to Protect Against 
Discrimination, were responsible for hearing and acting on complaints 
of discrimination.
    On July 25, unknown persons set fire to a mosque in the town of 
Kazanlyk, damaging a small part of the officially-designated cultural 
monument. The parliament criticized the attempted arson, noting that 
such violations of religious tolerance were atypical for the society. 
The investigation into the crime was ongoing at the year's end.
    The investigation into the 2005 desecration of over 100 Turkish 
graves in Haskovo by three teenagers was ongoing at year's end.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it in practice.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Government continued to 
work with NGOs to provide assistance to people displaced by 2005 summer 
floods. Over 5,000 persons were displaced when their homes were 
destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. While many were able to return, 
some continued to live in temporary housing while media allegations 
mounted that local officials misused and misappropriated relief funds.

    Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provide for the 
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government provided some protection against refoulement, 
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution; 
however, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and NGOs, 
including the BHC, expressed concern over the Government's handling of 
claims for refugee and asylum status and reported that there may have 
been cases in which possible bona fide refugees were turned away at the 
border. The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. 
The law requires that persons seeking refugee status request and file 
an application within 72 hours after entering the country legally.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to persons who 
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967 
Protocol. This protection, known under Bulgarian law as ``humanitarian 
status,'' was provided to 82 persons before December 1.
    The UNHCR, in cooperation with the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM), operated three transit centers near the Greek, 
Turkish, and Romanian borders to interview refugee applicants and 
assisted the Government with a small reception center in Banya.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On October 22, national 
Presidential elections were held. The incumbent President, Georgi 
Parvanov, won a landslide victory against Volen Siderov, leader of the 
ultra-nationalist Ataka party. The elections were widely deemed free 
and fair.
    The law prohibits the formation of political parties along 
religious, ethnic, or racial lines and prohibits citizens' associations 
from engaging in political activity. In practice, this prohibition did 
not restrict political participation by ethnic minorities, and 
political parties representing minority groups were active on the local 
and national level. The law requires all electoral campaigning to be 
conducted in the Bulgarian language. Several political groups 
complained that this law was arbitrarily applied during the 2005 
parliamentary election campaign.
    In 2005 a law took effect obliging all existing parties to 
reregister by year's end and introducing a 5,000-person membership 
requirement (see section 2.b.).
    There were 51 women in the 240-seat National Assembly. A number of 
women held elective and appointive office at high levels in the 
Government, including one deputy prime minister and two ministers. 
Women held key positions in the National Assembly, including one deputy 
speaker and the chair of one of the 24 standing committees. The leader 
of one of the seven parliamentary groups was a woman.
    There were 31 members of minorities in the 240-seat National 
Assembly, of whom 28 were ethnic Turkish, one was Romani, and two were 
ethnic Armenian. There were three ethnic Turkish ministers in the 
cabinet and one Romani deputy ministers. While the ethnic Turkish 
minority was well-represented, Roma were underrepresented, particularly 
in appointed leadership positions. Pomaks (Slavic Bulgarians who are 
Muslims) held elected positions at the local level.
    In the 2003 local elections, 3 percent of municipal councilors 
elected were Romani, and advocacy groups reported that a considerable 
number of Romani mayors also were elected. The National Association of 
Municipalities reported that Muslim candidates accounted for 12.5 
percent of municipal mayors and 15.2 percent of municipal councilors 
elected in 2003.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was 
a problem. During the year, the country received a score of 4.0 on 
Transparency International's 10 point composite index of the degree to 
which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians 
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country had a 
serious corruption problem. While high-profile firings and 
investigations somewhat improved the Government's image, widespread 
concern over government corruption remained.
    The European Commission's September monitoring report noted that 
the Government had strengthened the legal framework necessary to battle 
corruption but that it needed to do more to erase high-level 
corruption. In particular, the commission called for more indictments, 
trials, and convictions of the guilty. The report also noted the lack 
of significant government progress in battling organized crime and 
money-laundering.
    During the year the Government undertook efforts to combat 
corruption. The interministerial anticorruption commission was 
responsible for coordinating government efforts to fight public sector 
corruption and engaging in public awareness campaigns; however, 
representatives of the business community criticized the commission as 
ineffectual. In June the commission reported that a total of 248 civil 
servants had been punished for corruption and 102 of them were 
dismissed.
    During the year the Ministry of Interior and the chief prosecutor's 
office launched extensive anticorruption campaigns. Several high-placed 
government officials, including the heads of the state reserve and fire 
protection, the chief of Sofia traffic police, and the head of the 
Sofia heating utility, were under investigation for misuse of 
government funds. Numerous mid-level officials in customs, the police, 
and the prosecutor's office were fired or sanctioned for abuse of 
position. Up to September the Ministry of Interior's corruption hotline 
received more than 3,000 tips.
    The law provides for public access to government information; 
however, in practice the Government often restricted such access. In 
2005 the NGO Access to Information Program reported approximately 350 
cases in which government institutions denied access to information. 
During the year the Supreme Administrative Court reviewed more than 40 
appeals of denials.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigations of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Human rights observers 
reported uneven levels of cooperation from various national and local 
government officials during the year.
    In 2005 after a one-year delay and two failed attempts, the 
National Assembly appointed the country's first national ombudsman. By 
law the ombudsman receives and reviews complaints filed by individuals 
of rights or freedoms abridged by government institutions. The 
ombudsman can request information from state authorities, act as an 
intermediary in resolving disputes, make proposals for terminating 
existing practices, and refer information to the prosecution service. 
Since January the office received over 2,000 complaints on violations 
of citizens' rights and freedoms by the administration. Only a small 
part of them fell within the office's jurisdiction.
    The nine-member antidiscrimination commission began its work during 
the year. The commission has the power to receive and investigate 
complaints, issue rulings, and impose sanctions on violators. During 
the year the commission reviewed approximately 400 cases, the majority 
of which dealt with discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or 
disability.
    The ECHR passed 38 sentences against the country during the year, 
compared to 20 in 2005. In 2005 the Government paid over $144,100 
(218,675 leva) in compensation for damages suffered as a result of the 
Government's denial of fair trial, an unreasonably slow judicial 
process, inadequate prison conditions, maltreatment of detainees or 
prisoners, and other restrictions of liberty.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the grounds of 
race, gender, disability, social status, and sexual orientation; 
however, the law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of 
language. Societal discrimination continued to occur, particularly 
against women, practitioners of nontraditional religions, sexual 
minorities, and ethnic minorities such as the Roma.
    The Government took steps during the year to implement 
administrative provisions of the 2004 antidiscrimination law, but 
progress was slow. A number of potentially groundbreaking court rulings 
against discrimination were issued under the new law, but questions 
remained about implementation and the outcome of possible appeals.

    Women.--Domestic violence was a serious problem, according to NGOs. 
Although there were no precise statistics on its occurrence, police 
believed that one of every four women had been a victim of domestic 
violence. Courts and prosecutors tended to view domestic abuse as a 
family matter rather than a criminal act. As a result, police often 
were reluctant to intervene in cases of domestic abuse, even if a woman 
sought police protection or assistance.
    The law defines domestic violence as any act or attempt of 
physical, psychological, or sexual violence against members of one's 
family or between cohabitating persons. It empowers the court to deal 
with offenders by imposing fines, issuing restraining or eviction 
orders, or requiring special counseling. However, according to NGO 
observers, only one-third of the cases heard under the law resulted in 
restrictive measures against the offender.
    The Government did not provide shelter or counseling for women, 
although in October the cabinet voted to provide approximately $180,000 
(270,000 leva) to establish shelters for domestic violence victims. In 
2005 the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation reported having trained 
over 300 police officers and judges on the provisions of the domestic 
violence law.
    Police and social workers actively referred victims of domestic 
violence to NGO-run shelters. The country had 15 crisis centers to 
provide victim assistance and short-term shelter. The NGO Animus 
Association Foundation (AAF) operated a 24-hour hotline for women in 
crisis, including victims of trafficking, providing them with access to 
professional therapists and assisting them in obtaining medical exams 
and treatment, identity documents, and information on housing and 
employment opportunities.
    The law criminalizes rape, which was underreported due to the 
stigma that society attached to the victim. Spousal rape, although not 
specifically addressed in the law, can be prosecuted under the general 
rape statute; it was rarely prosecuted in practice. Sentences for rape 
range between two and eight years in prison, and between three and 10 
years in prison if the victim is a descendent relative. In cases where 
rape results in serious bodily injury or suicide of the victim, 
sentences range between 10 and 20 years' imprisonment. The Government 
generally enforced laws against rape, and sentences tended to conform 
to statutory guidelines. According to NGOs, the social taboo 
experienced by rape victims discouraged them from reporting the crime 
and was a far more serious obstacle to prosecution than police 
reluctance to investigate.
    Prostitution is legal and was commonly practiced; however, a 
variety of activities associated with prostitution, such as pimping, 
are illegal. Forced prostitution is illegal and remained a serious 
problem. Poor socioeconomic conditions contributed to a 
disproportionately higher number of Romani women engaged in organized 
prostitution.
    Trafficking in women was a serious problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is prohibited under the antidiscrimination law, 
which also outlines the process for redress. However, sexual harassment 
remained a widespread problem, and the Government did not effectively 
enforce the law.
    The Antidiscrimination Committee reported an increasing number of 
sexual harassment cases, approximately 5 percent of all complaints. In 
January the court heard the first sexual harassment case under the 
antidiscrimination act. The plaintiff, an actress, brought suit against 
her director, alleging that she was fired because she refused his 
sexual advances. The case was ongoing at year's end.
    During the year the Sliven military court reviewed another sexual 
harassment case against Colonel Alexander Petkov for sexually harassing 
five female soldiers in his brigade. The colonel was dismissed 
following the allegations, and the case was ongoing at year's end.
    In 2005 the former chief of the Plovdiv sanitary control 
inspectorate was charged with coercion, which is punishable by up to 
six years' imprisonment, for allegedly threatening to dismiss two of 
his female subordinates for declining his sexual advances. In February 
the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and fined the defendant. The 
decision was being appealed at year's end.
    Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including under 
family and property law, and in the judicial system; however, women 
faced some discrimination in terms of job recruitment. In 2004 a 
national council on equality between women and men, headed by the 
minister of labor and social policy, was established under the Council 
of Ministers to ensure that the rights of women were being protected. 
Primarily a consultative body, the council is charged with promoting 
cooperation and coordination among NGOs and government agencies. In 
November the Government adopted a national plan for equal treatment of 
men and women, which the council had developed over the course of the 
year.
    Women experienced some economic discrimination. According to the 
NGO Bulgaria Gender Research Foundation, women's salaries in 2005 were 
28 percent lower than men's.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy operated a number of 
programs to address economic discrimination and integrate women into 
the mainstream of society and the economy. In August the National 
Assembly adopted legislation stipulating that in hiring for government 
positions, all other factors being equal, the candidate of the minority 
gender should get preferential consideration.

    Children.--The Government generally was committed to protecting 
children's welfare; however, government efforts in education and health 
were constrained by serious budgetary limitations and by outmoded 
social care structures.
    The law provides for compulsory public education until the age of 
16; however, the Government did not effectively enforce attendance 
requirements. Although public education is free through the 12th grade, 
children were required to pay for books, which was a problem for poor 
families.
    The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that net school attendance 
from 2000 to 2005 was approximately 95 percent. Most students completed 
some secondary school. According to a 2006 study, 76 percent of 
students completed high school. The study reported that children 
primarily left school due to low household income, parental lack of 
interest, lack of motivation, or immigration. The number of school 
dropouts was highest in the regions with a large Romani population.
    Romani children generally received an inferior quality of 
education. Romani children generally attended separate schools from 
ethnic Bulgarian children, partly due to a legacy of segregation and 
official discrimination. Government figures for 2006 indicated that 30 
percent of Romani students attended completely segregated schools. 
Nearly 10 percent of Roma had never attended school, and less than 1 
percent had a university degree.
    In 2005 a Sofia court found the city guilty of discrimination for 
failing to provide equal educational opportunities to Romani children, 
many of whom attended Sofia's three ethnically segregated Roma schools. 
The Government's appeal of the ruling was pending at year's end.
    Conditions for children in state institutions were poor. Social 
prejudice against children with disabilities led families to 
institutionalize these children. The provisions of a 2003 national 
action plan on children in institutions have led to an annual decline 
in the number of child wards. According to the State Agency for Child 
Protection, 9,590 children were housed in institutions, down from 9,776 
in 2005. Human rights monitors sharply criticized the serious 
deficiencies in government-run institutions, including orphanages, 
educational reform boarding schools, facilities for children with 
mental disabilities, and shelters for homeless children. Inadequate 
budgets, poorly trained or unqualified staff, and insufficient 
oversight plagued these facilities. Standards of hygiene and access to 
medical care were poor.
    In October police broke up a prostitution ring involving children 
from the Berkovitsa orphanage. The orphanage teenagers reportedly 
worked for the arrested ringleader in their time off from school. The 
police blamed the lack of proper oversight at the institution for the 
incident. The case was under investigation at year's end.
    In October a nine-year-old girl died of complications from eating 
garbage after being left unattended. An investigation into negligence 
on the part of the institution was ongoing at year's end.
    In 2005 a five-year-old blind child died from hot water burns 
sustained while left unattended in the bathroom of an institution for 
children with disabilities in Dobromirci. A police investigation into 
staff negligence was ongoing at year's end.
    According to NGOs, living conditions in reform boarding schools run 
by the Ministry of Education and Science remained poor, offering few 
medical, educational, or social services (see section 1.e.). At most of 
these institutions, the Government failed to provide for residents' 
needs for food, clothing, and instructional materials. Mixed-age 
classes and low levels of staff motivation considerably impaired the 
teaching process. However, due process procedures for juveniles in 
these institutions improved.
    Violence against children was a problem. The National Statistical 
Institute reported 824 cases of child abuse in 2005, a 3 percent 
decrease since 2004. The Government removed children from abusive homes 
and prosecuted abusive parents.
    Although no official statistics were available, the State Agency 
for Child Protection reported that child marriage was relatively 
uncommon nationwide but prevalent in the Romani community. The agency 
also voiced its concern that arranged marriages, a traditional aspect 
of Romani culture, were resulting in trafficking in persons.
    The Ministry of Interior identified 255 children as ``at risk'' of 
being forced into prostitution between January and October, compared to 
398 in 2005. Child prostitution reportedly was particularly common 
among Romani girls; there were no known cases of boys engaged in 
prostitution.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Widespread poverty led many Romani children to turn to begging, 
prostitution, and petty crime on the streets. There were reports of 
child smuggling rings paying Romani women for babies that were later 
sold to couples in Western and Southern Europe, particularly Greece. 
Over the past three years, the authorities have pressed charges against 
33 people for forcing pregnant women to sell their children abroad. The 
trafficking of pregnant women remained an elusive problem because the 
women were free to travel abroad and could not be stopped by border 
police. An amendment to the Criminal Code, which went into effect in 
October, criminalizes the sale of unborn children.
    In December 2004 the State Agency for Child Protection reported 
that 625 children were known to be either living or working on the 
streets. The children were primarily involved in begging, prostitution, 
or car window washing and approximately 400 of these children were 
believed to be exploited for labor by adults. The National Statistical 
Institute reported a 68 percent increase from 2003 to 2004 in the 
number of children registered by police for vagrancy and begging. The 
Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime reported a growing 
number of children being sent as beggars and pick-pockets to Western 
countries, such as Austria; in one example, 600 Bulgarian children were 
apprehended in Vienna between January and March and repatriated. The 
children were placed in homes for juvenile delinquents upon return to 
the country.
    As part of the national strategy for street children, the State 
Agency for Child Protection continued placing street children in 
protective custody. Between January and October, the Ministry of 
Interior placed 301 children involved in begging and vagrancy in five 
special shelters for street children; in 2005, 274 such children were 
sent to these shelters. The shelters were intended to serve more as 
immediate protective resources than facilities for long-term or 
intermediate care. They provided food, bathing facilities, and basic 
medical care, but children were usually not kept for more than 24 hours 
unless remanded to protective custody by the special order of a 
prosecutor.
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit 
trafficking in persons; however, trafficking was a serious problem. The 
country remained primarily a point of transit and, to a lesser extent, 
of origin and destination, with most victims trafficked for the purpose 
of sexual exploitation. Police reported an upward trend in the number 
of persons being trafficked from the country. A number of individual 
law enforcement officers and other government authorities were 
reportedly involved in trafficking.
    The Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the IOM 
reported that victims came from within the country, as well as from 
Romania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and the countries of central Asia. 
The destinations of victims trafficked from and through the country 
were Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Macedonia, Kosovo, and 
countries in Western Europe. Victims overwhelmingly were women and 
girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Young women 
between the ages of 16 and 24, with less education, and with 
problematic family relations were most vulnerable to being trafficked, 
according to NGO and government sources. Minorities, particularly Roma, 
and prostitutes also were at particular risk. The IOM reported that 34 
percent of the victims it assisted in 2004 were Roma. According to the 
IOM and AAF, there also were cases of trafficking in male children.
    The IOM reported that it identified and assisted approximately 100 
victims of trafficking per year. The actual number of victims may have 
been much higher. Police reported dismantling at least 16 trafficking 
rings and arresting 175 alleged traffickers during the first nine 
months of the year. Of the dismantled rings, 12 were trafficking women 
for sexual exploitation, one trafficked pregnant women, two engaged in 
trafficking for labor exploitation, and one trafficked persons for 
begging and petty theft.
    The punishment for trafficking in persons includes prison terms of 
one to eight years and fines up to approximately $5,000 (8,000 leva). 
Aggravated circumstances increase the penalties to up to 15 years in 
prison and fines of up to approximately $12,500 (20,000 leva), and the 
court may confiscate the trafficker's assets. A variety of additional 
laws may be used to prosecute persons for activities often associated 
with trafficking, such as inducement to prostitution. Law enforcement 
officers complained that because the minimum penalty for trafficking is 
less than five years' imprisonment, the law does not permit them to 
fight trafficking with special investigative techniques, such as 
wiretapping.
    Two police units, one within the National Border Police and the 
other within the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, 
specifically addressed the problem of trafficking. The Government 
participated in multinational anti-trafficking activities, particularly 
within the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative. In 2005 the 
National Assembly adopted an amendment permitting the extradition of 
citizens for crimes committed abroad, including trafficking.
    Some law enforcement officers and other government authorities, 
including local authorities and customs officials, allegedly 
facilitated trafficking, although there was no evidence of a pattern of 
official complicity. Officials often accepted bribes to ignore 
trafficking, although some officers may have been more involved. Those 
involved in facilitating trafficking overwhelmingly were low-level, 
low-paid officials in the rural and border regions.
    As of year's end, the National Antitrafficking Commission, the 
primary coordination and policy-making body for trafficking issues, had 
not met regularly, appointed a functioning secretariat, or established 
the regional antitrafficking commissions foreseen by the national 
strategy. The Government also had not implemented witness protection 
legislation adopted in 2004.
    In association with NGOs, the Government conducted trafficking 
awareness programs for law enforcement personnel and consular officers 
posted to Bulgarian embassies. NGOs reported excellent working 
relationships with law enforcement in identifying and assisting 
trafficking victims. The IOM continued a trafficking awareness campaign 
begun in 2000, which has developed several regional networks of police, 
prosecutors, and concerned NGOs to raise awareness of trafficking. The 
program included a referral mechanism to provide protection and 
assistance to returning victims. The IOM operated several local 
shelters and safe houses where it provided free housing, protection, 
and reintegration assistance to victims, including those willing to 
testify in the prosecution of traffickers. The Government supported 
information campaigns organized by local and international NGOs. During 
the year the IOM reported sheltering approximately 100 women and girls, 
and the AAF sheltered more than 50 women.
    During the year the Government opened one shelter for child victims 
of violence and trafficking.
    The AAF operated a 24-hour hotline for women in crisis that 
received 109 calls regarding trafficking of women and children, down 
from 142 in 2005.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution and law 
prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and mental 
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the 
provision of other state services, the Government did not effectively 
enforce these provisions in practice. Societal discrimination against 
persons with disabilities persisted.
    The law requires improved access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities, and public works projects have taken this into account; 
however, enforcement of this law lagged in existing, unrenovated 
buildings. According to the Psychological Center for Research, an 
advocacy group for rights of people with disabilities, only 3 percent 
of the country's municipalities have fully complied with the legal 
requirements for accessibility.
    Conditions in institutions for persons with disabilities were poor. 
NGOs reported that staffing problems, particularly on night shifts in 
institutions for adults, posed a significant risk to residents, who 
complained of mistreatment and theft by staff.
    In June 2005 24-year-old Ivailo Vakarelski was found beaten and 
strangled to death in the state psychiatric hospital in Karlukovo. By 
the end of 2005, hospital authorities had reportedly neither conducted 
an internal investigation nor performed a post mortem examination, 
which is generally mandatory in such cases. In December the regional 
prosecutor's investigation into the incident was terminated due to lack 
of evidence.
    Laws exist to promote the hiring and employment of persons with 
disabilities; however, the Government's enforcement of these provisions 
was poor, and some provisions resulted in employer discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in the hiring process. An 
overwhelming majority of persons with disabilities were unemployed.
    Persons with mental and physical disabilities, including very young 
children, often were segregated from the rest of society; the 
segregation of children with disabilities into special schools lowered 
the quality of their education. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy 
(MLSP) operated 26 institutions for children and youth with 
disabilities. An MLSP study during the year reported that the 
facilities and administration of 25 of the institutions had to be 
reformed or restructured, with one recommendation for closing. NGOs 
complained that conditions in these institutions were poor, despite 
slight improvements during the year.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against 
Roma and other minority groups remained the same as in 2005, 
occasionally resulting in incidents of violence between members of the 
ethnic Bulgarian majority and the ethnic Romani minority.
    Although the Roma were officially estimated to make up 4.6 percent 
of the population, their actual share was more likely between 6 and 7 
percent. According to a 2002 Council of Europe report, there were 
600,000 to 800,000 Roma in the country. According to a 2001 census, 
ethnic Turks made up 9 percent of the population. Ethnic Bulgarian 
Muslims, often termed Pomaks, are a distinct group of Slavic descent, 
whose ancestors converted from Orthodox Christianity to Islam; they 
constituted 2 to 3 percent of the population.
    There were reports that police harassed, physically abused, and 
arbitrarily arrested Roma, although no fatal attacks were reported 
during the year (see section 1.d.). The Government made little progress 
in resolving cases of police violence against Roma. Human rights groups 
complained that magistrates sometimes failed to pursue crimes committed 
against minorities.
    Ethnic prejudices against and negative stereotypes of Roma continue 
to play a significant role in society. According to a study by the 
Center for Liberal Studies, 86 percent of ethnic Bulgarians viewed Roma 
as irresponsible and lazy, 87 percent believed Roma were inclined to 
criminal acts, and 63 percent believed Roma should live separately from 
others.
    In September a Bulgarian observer to the European Parliament, 
Dimitar Stoyanov, sparked an international controversy when he made 
racist and sexist remarks against a Hungarian member of the European 
Parliament of Roma origins, Livia Jaroka. Stoyanov, an Ataka party 
member, protested Jaroka's nomination as parliamentarian of the year in 
an e-mail sent to all European Parliament members, stating that ``there 
are tens of thousands of gypsy girls way more beautiful than this--and 
the best of them are very expensive.'' His statement was unanimously 
criticized by the Bulgarian parliament; however, because of a legal 
technicality, the parliament could not recall Stoyanov without 
recalling all Bulgarian observers.
    In October Minister of Health Radoslav Gaidarski told journalists 
that he would initiate a law to ban underage motherhood. His statement 
was widely taken as a proposal to limit births among Roma girls and 
invoked sharp criticism from NGOs and several members of parliament. 
Gaydarski attempted to withdraw his comment later, saying that it was 
taken out of context and that there was no need for such a law at the 
moment.
    At year's end authorities continued the investigation into the 
highly publicized death of Stanimir Kaloyanov, an ethnic Bulgarian who 
died of head injuries sustained during a race-related brawl in Sofia in 
May 2005. Three ethnic Romani suspects were arrested immediately 
following the incident and were released without charge.
    There were no developments relating to cases of skinhead violence 
against Romani residents of Sofia in 2004.
    There were no developments in the April 2004 case in which two men 
reportedly brutally beat Georgi Angelov, a Rom, and cut off his ear 
with a razor blade. Human rights groups reported that the police failed 
to effectively investigate this and similar incidents.
    Many Roma and other observers made credible allegations that the 
quality of education offered to Romani children was inferior to that 
afforded most other students (see section 5, Children).
    The unemployment rate among Roma was nearly 65 percent, reaching up 
to 80 percent in some regions. Approximately 10 percent of Roma 
graduated from high school and only 1 percent had a university degree. 
Severe unemployment and poverty among Roma, combined with generally 
unfavorable attitudes toward Roma among ethnic Bulgarians and Turks, 
contributed to strained relations between Roma and the rest of society. 
Workplace discrimination against minorities, especially the Roma, 
continued to be a problem.
    Many Roma lived in substandard housing and lacked legal 
registration for their places of residences. This situation rendered 
them particularly vulnerable in June, when Sofia city officials ordered 
the demolition of the houses of 16 Romani families lacking legal deeds 
in the Vazhrazhdane district of Sofia. The demolition was halted when 
local NGOs and the international community publicly criticized the 
mayor's office. The previous year, approximately 150 Roma were left 
homeless when the Government destroyed their illegal houses in the 
Hristo Botev neighborhood.
    Roma were disproportionately affected by the 2005 summer floods 
that destroyed vital infrastructure and displaced more than 5,000 
persons (see section 2.d.). Observers attributed the greater 
vulnerability of Roma to preexisting economic hardship and harsh living 
conditions.
    With the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and 
Development, the Government attempted to provide housing for Romani 
families displaced in 2001 by the construction of new apartment blocks 
in Sofia and Plovdiv. However, NGOs reported that only 80 Romani 
families had been resettled in Sofia. In Plovdiv, 80 percent of the 
allocated funds were used to build 30 percent of the planned housing, 
causing local officials to allege corruption in the central government 
and prompting the international donors to withdraw from the project.
    NGOs reported that Roma encountered difficulties applying for 
social benefits, and local officials discouraged rural Roma from 
claiming land to which they were entitled under the law disbanding 
agricultural collectives. Many Roma suffered from inadequate access to 
health care.
    During the year Romani rights organizations successfully used the 
2003 antidiscrimination act to win several cases in court. In June the 
Plovdiv Appeals Court ruled against a local discotheque for denying 
entrance to Kiril Mitkov in 2004. The court ruled that the business 
practiced direct discrimination when it refused to let Mitkov enter 
because ``no Roma were allowed.'' In another 2006 case, the Sofia city 
court held employers directly responsible for the discriminatory 
behavior of their employees. In the case, the court found that a 
company became liable when its employee advised Angel Assenov not to 
apply for a position because he was Roma and would not be hired.
    With the support of local NGOs and foreign donors, the Government 
implemented a program to teach Romani folklore and history to over 
5,000 children in an effort to increase interethnic understanding and 
fight prejudice. Government integration programs also included busing 
over 2,000 Romani children from ghettoized neighborhoods to mixed-
ethnicity schools. Assistant teachers from minority backgrounds were 
hired to assist children from Turkish and Romani linguistic minorities 
to learn Bulgarian and to integrate into mixed classes.
    The country's small population of Pomaks remained in an ambiguous 
position. In the town of Yakoruda, local officials refused to recognize 
the Pomak identity, and those calling themselves Pomaks alleged 
discrimination by government officials.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although the law 
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the 
Government did not effectively enforce this provision in practice. 
Although incidents of violence against sexual minorities were rare, 
societal discrimination was a problem, manifesting itself primarily as 
discrimination in employment. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
and transgender community were sometimes refused employment on the 
grounds of sexual orientation or fired after revealing their sexual 
identity, although gay rights activists reported that such incidents 
were becoming less common.
    According to the Bulgarian Foundation for Aiding HIV/AIDS Patients, 
several HIV-positive patients were denied appropriate medical 
treatment. The main reason cited by doctors was the lack of the 
legislatively-mandated isolation room. Patients reported hiding the 
fact that they are HIV positive in order to receive medical care.
    Gemini, a gay-rights organization, filed three cases with the 
Committee on Protection Against Discrimination on the basis of sexual 
orientation discrimination. The committee ruled in Gemini's favor in 
all three cases.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
the right of all workers to form or join trade unions of their choice, 
and workers exercised this right in practice.
    Approximately 18 percent of the workforce was unionized; according 
to individual trade unions and the Democratic Trade Unions Association, 
the percentage of the workforce that was unionized continued to 
decrease.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and includes a provision 
for a six-month salary payment as compensation for illegal dismissal. 
Employees could use mediation and the judicial system to resolve 
complaints, although the burden of proof in such cases rested entirely 
on the employee.
    There were reports of discrimination and harassment against trade 
union activists and members, who were relocated, downgraded, or fired. 
In the private sector, a few employers had a policy of illegally 
prohibiting trade union membership within their enterprises. Although 
less frequent than in previous years, there were credible reports that 
some private employers also forced newly employed workers to sign 
declarations that they would not establish or join trade unions. There 
were reports of employers deducting dues from workers' salaries and not 
passing them on to the unions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law provides 
an adequate legal structure for collective bargaining, which was 
practiced nationally, regionally, and on the local level; however, 
labor unions alleged that many employers failed to bargain in good 
faith or to adhere to agreements that were concluded. NGOs reported 
that collective bargaining was not always effective in practice. 
Private employers reportedly often refused to negotiate collective 
agreements, delayed negotiations unnecessarily, or refused to sign 
agreements; in other cases, private employers signed agreements but did 
not apply them. A 2003 study published by the European Industrial 
Relations Observatory estimated that 40 percent of employees worked 
under collective bargaining agreements.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice; however, key public sector employees (primarily 
military and law enforcement personnel) were subject to a blanket 
prohibition against striking. These employees were able to take the 
Government to court as a means of ensuring due process in protecting 
their rights.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the country's six export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). Children were 
sometimes forced to work due to economic conditions or because of 
pressure from family members or criminal organizations.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace, including a prohibition on forced or compulsory labor 
and policies regarding acceptable working conditions. The Government 
was somewhat effective at implementing these laws and policies in 
practice. The law sets the minimum age for employment at 16 years and 
the minimum age for dangerous work at 18 years; employers and the MLSP 
are responsible for enforcing these provisions. Child labor laws 
generally were enforced well in the formal sector, but NGOs reported 
that children were exploited in certain industries (particularly small 
family-owned shops, textile factories, restaurants, family farms, 
construction, and periodical sales) and by organized crime (notably for 
sexual exploitation and the distribution of narcotics). During the year 
the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy's general labor inspectorate 
found 219 violations of child labor regulations, all of which were 
forwarded for prosecution. By October the prosecution service declined 
to prosecute 34 cases and continued to review the rest.
    Few official statistics on child labor were available. The latest 
statistics, published by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 
2000, showed that 14 percent of children ages five to 17 years were 
working. Children were engaged in paid work outside of the home in the 
commercial and service sectors, agriculture, forestry, transportation, 
communications, industry, and construction. According to the ILO, 
children's workdays often exceeded the seven-hour legal maximum, and 
sometimes children did not receive overtime pay for hours worked. Local 
NGOs reported that children worked on nonfamily-owned farms for meager 
monetary or in-kind wages, such as food, and that institutionalized 
children often sought modestly paid agricultural labor during periods 
when they were allowed out of residential facilities.
    The worst forms of child labor occurred infrequently, but included 
heavy physical labor and health hazards on family tobacco farms, 
particularly among the ethnic Turkish minority. The Government 
continued programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, using 
educational campaigns about the effects of child labor and implementing 
interventions aimed to protect, withdraw, rehabilitate, and reintegrate 
children engaged in the worst forms of child labor. Trafficking of 
children was a problem (see section 5).
    In accordance with a memorandum of understanding with the ILO, the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy established a child labor unit to 
coordinate child labor issues and to develop a national database on 
child labor in the country.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year the Government 
approved and implemented an increase in the national minimum wage to 
approximately $94 (150 leva) per month. While this wage does not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, many 
workers were paid more under the table for tax purposes.
    The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours with at least 
one 24-hour rest period per week. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Policy is responsible for enforcing both the minimum wage and the 
standard workweek. Premium pay for hours worked over 40 per week was 
supposed to be negotiated between employers and employees. The law 
stipulates that premium pay for overtime could not be less than 150 
percent during workdays, 175 percent during weekends, and 200 percent 
during official holidays. The law prohibits overtime for children under 
age 18, pregnant women, and women with children up to age six. 
Enforcement generally was effective in the state sector but was weaker 
in the private sector.
    There was a national labor safety program, with standards 
established by the law, which states that employees are entitled to 
healthy and nonhazardous working conditions. The Ministry of Labor and 
Social Policy is responsible for enforcing these provisions. However, 
conditions in many cases continued to worsen. In one case, the general 
labor inspectorate inspected a Dupnitsa shoe factory after two 
seamstresses died on the job. Both suffered from high-blood pressure, 
which was worsened by the harsh working conditions at the factory. The 
inspectors found numerous violations, including substandard 
ventilation, excessive overtime, lack of proper protective gear, and 
failure to observe statutory medical requirements. The law requires 
joint employer and labor health and safety committees to monitor 
workplace conditions; however, implementation was slow and these 
committees remained in the developmental stages at year's end.
    The law gives employees the right to remove themselves from work 
situations that present a serious or immediate danger to life or health 
without jeopardy to their continued employment; however, refusal to 
work in such situations could result in the loss of employment.

                               __________

                                CROATIA

    The Republic of Croatia is a constitutional parliamentary democracy 
with a population of 4.4 million. Legislative authority is vested in 
the unicameral Sabor (parliament). The President, Stjepan Mesic, serves 
as head of state and commander of the armed forces, cooperating in 
formulation and execution of foreign policy and directing operations of 
the intelligence service; he also nominates the Prime Minister, who 
leads the Government. Presidential and local elections held in February 
and May 2005 were generally conducted in accordance with electoral 
legislation. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The judicial 
system suffered from a severe backlog, although during the year it made 
headway in reducing the number of cases awaiting a hearing. 
Intimidation of some witnesses in domestic war crimes trials remained a 
problem, with one notably high-profile case involving parliamentarian 
Branimir Glavas. Courts largely discontinued the practice of in-
absentia trials, although some trials continued against large groups 
for war crimes. The Government made little progress in restituting 
property nationalized by the Yugoslav communist regime to non-Roman 
Catholic religious groups. The Orthodox Church was particularly 
critical of the Government's reluctance to consistently implement laws 
and speed up return of confiscated property. The Government did not 
fully implement programs providing housing to ethnic Serb refugees who 
lost access to socialized housing. While NGOs noted a significant 
decline in violence against ethnic Serbs, societal violence and 
discrimination against ethnic minorities, particularly Serbs and Roma, 
remained a problem. The 2002 Constitutional Law on National Minorities 
remained largely unimplemented, particularly relating to public sector 
employment. In addition violence and discrimination against women 
continued. School officials continued to segregate Romani students into 
substandard schools. Trafficking in persons remained a problem.
    During the year the Government, in particular offices of the state 
prosecutor, demonstrated continued willingness to prosecute war crimes 
committed by ethnic Croats and continued strong cooperation with the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). 
Although Serbs continued to represent the majority of individuals 
prosecuted, international trial monitors reported that Serb defendants 
generally had a better chance of receiving a fair trial than in the 
past.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    During the year one civilian was killed by a landmine in the 
Vukovar region. During the year there were mine incidents in which one 
person was killed, two heavily injured, and four lightly injured. The 
incidents happened in Vukovar-Srijem, Sisak-Moslavina, Brod-Posavina, 
and Karlovac counties.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    Government figures showed that 1,122 persons, mostly ethnic Croats, 
remained missing from the 1991-95 military conflict. In addition the 
Government collected information on 930 missing ethnic Serbs. During 
the year the bodies of 176 missing persons were exhumed, while the 
remains of another 74 persons found earlier were identified. In March, 
for the first time, parliament accepted the Office of Missing Person's 
total calculations on missing persons of all ethnicities. Previously, 
international organizations criticized the Government for failing to 
recognize this number, which now coincides with calculations of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International 
Committee for Missing Persons (ICMP).
    To date, 4,155 persons have been exhumed, and 3,366 missing persons 
have been identified. During the year Serbia and Montenegro provided to 
the Government a list of approximately 400 military members who 
allegedly were missing in the country. In June there was reportedly a 
discovery of a mass grave with the remains of six persons in Trokut 
Novska. In October the Government discovered two caves in the Plitvice 
area with remains of at least 100 persons. The Government had not 
determined whether they originated from World War II or a later period. 
The Government handled all exhumations and identifications, with the 
ICTY monitoring only the sites related to cases it investigated. The 
ICMP assisted in the recovery and identification of remains. The ICRC, 
which closed its Zagreb office in December, and the Government signed a 
memorandum of understanding in August which allowed sharing of 
databases and the handing over of all remaining ICRC missing persons 
cases to the Croatian Red Cross.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--In March the Government's 
human rights ombudsman and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) 
found substandard conditions in the country's prisons. The ombudsman 
identified overcrowding as a primary problem. Prisons in Varazdin, 
Osijek, and Split held twice their stated capacity. Prisons were 
overpopulated due to the number of pretrial detainees awaiting verdicts 
rather than convicted persons serving sentences. The ombudsman also 
found that basic hygienic conditions were lacking in some facilities 
and that medical care was poor.
    The 2006 Prison System Administration report, published in 
November, showed a deterioration of the conditions in detention 
centers. Overcrowding, poor staffing, corruption, and an increasing 
number of young inmates existed in many of the country's prisons. In 
2005 the average occupancy of Croatian prisons was approximately 122 
percent of intended capacity.
    Similar concerns were raised by the ECHR in the Miroslav Cenbauer 
case, in which the country was found to be in breach of the European 
Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane or degrading 
treatment and punishment. The Court ruled unanimously that there had 
been a violation of the ECHR and awarded the applicant $3,700 (3,000 
euros) for non-pecuniary damage. The ECHR noted that Cenbauer was not 
allotted the minimum space required for inmates as prescribed by 
domestic law and international standards, and that he was confined to 
his cell for at least two years. In addition, the court found that 
Cenbauer was subjected to unhygienic living conditions. In 1993 the 
applicant was found guilty of several criminal offences, including 
murder, and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He was released in 
2003.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers. The ICRC had free access and reported full cooperation on 
the part of the authorities during its tour of prisons during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The intelligence 
service is under the authority of the Prime Minister and President. The 
national police have primary responsibility for national security; in 
times of disorder, the Prime Minister and the President may call upon 
the military to provide security. An independent oversight board 
monitors intelligence service performance.
    There were approximately 21,000 police officers under the authority 
of the interior ministry. Minorities made up approximately 4.2 percent 
of the national police force and approximately 4.8 percent of the 
interior ministry administration.
    Police corruption and dereliction of duty were problems. During the 
year, the police received negative media attention for several 
incidents. In June two individuals beat Dutch photographer and 
journalist Ad van Denderen who they falsely suspected of taking 
inappropriate pictures of children. In August the photographer reported 
the Split police to the European Parliament for mistreatment and 
failure to grant protection, alleging that he was treated as a suspect 
rather than a victim. Police began disciplinary proceedings against the 
officers in August. In July, in Korcula, two police officers arrested a 
suspected narcotics dealer and then had coffee with the individual, 
during which time he escaped and was subsequently recaptured. The 
officers were temporarily suspended.
    Under the European Union, the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international guidance, the 
interior ministry continued to update and codify rules of ethical 
police conduct and to improve the capabilities of the police internal 
control section.
    Weak police performance, including poor investigative techniques, 
insensitivity to ethnic issues, indecisive middle management, and 
susceptibility to pressure from hard-line local politicians remained 
problems despite government efforts to address them. During the year 
the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the OSCE, continued a 
comprehensive program of police reforms, in part to extend community 
policing pilot programs throughout the country. The Ministry of 
Interior also expanded programs to provide training for all active 
police officers.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police normally obtained arrest warrants by 
presenting evidence of probable cause to an investigative magistrate; 
however, police can make arrests without a warrant if they believe a 
suspect might flee, destroy evidence, or commit other crimes. The 
police have 24 hours to justify an arrest to a magistrate.
    Police must provide detainees' access to an attorney of their 
choice within 24 hours of their arrest. If a detainee does not have an 
attorney and is charged with a crime for which the sentence is over 10 
years' imprisonment, the magistrate is required to appoint counsel. The 
Government generally enforced this in practice. The magistrate must 
decide whether to extend a detention for further investigation within 
48 hours of an arrest. Investigative detention generally lasted up to 
30 days; however, trial courts could extend the period up to 12 months 
in certain cases. Detainees may be released on their own recognizance 
pending further proceedings, although most criminal suspects were held 
in custody pending trial. The option of posting bail after an 
indictment is available but was not commonly exercised. Detainees are 
also allowed visits by family members.
    During the year authorities apprehended 20 individuals (13 Serbs, 
six Croats, and one Bosniak) for war crimes based on court orders or 
arrest warrants. Nine remained in detention pending ongoing 
investigation, and three of the individuals were returnees.
    According to a state prosecutor's survey conducted in 2005, the 
average length of pretrial detention varied between four and five 
months. The law allows six months standard maximum pretrial detention, 
but the court can extend it to 12 months in certain cases, primarily 
for war crimes and organized crime cases, at the request of the state 
prosecutor.
    Mitar Arambasic, an ethnic Serb, was arrested in 2002 in the United 
States and extradited to the country in January based on a 1997 in-
absentia war crimes conviction. He immediately requested and was 
granted a retrial, but the court has delayed his retrial pending 
extradition of fellow indictee Dragan Arnaut from Russia. In June 
Arambasic's attorney filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court 
arguing that any further detention would be excessive when combined 
with the more than three years the defendant spent in detention prior 
to his extradition. In November the Constitutional Court upheld the 
Supreme Court decision from September that the previous detention 
period was not part of the pretrial detention period.

    Amnesty.--The law provides for amnesty except for war crimes. In 
practice when investigations fail to substantiate original charges of 
war crimes, courts have lowered the charges and convicted defendants, 
allowing them to grant the defendants amnesty. This practice resolves 
the case for the court without further investigation and allows the 
defendant to go free, but disregards the future repercussions that a 
criminal record may have on potentially innocent defendants, 
particularly with regard to employment.
    Five Serbs were granted amnesty during their trial, since charges 
against them were reduced to armed rebellion and amnesty subsequently 
applied.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary. The judiciary continued to suffer from a 
backlog of approximately 1.5 million cases as of 2005. During the first 
six months of the year, case backlogs in municipal courts decreased by 
approximately 400,000. In a September survey, according to the 
marketing agency GFK, the public perceived the judiciary as one of the 
main sources of corruption in the country.
    The judicial system consists of municipal and county courts, 
commercial and misdemeanor courts, an administrative court, and the 
Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court determines the 
constitutionality of laws, governmental acts, and elections. A parallel 
commercial court system adjudicates commercial and contractual 
disputes. The State Judicial Council is responsible for appointing, 
disciplining, and, if necessary, removing judges. Parliament appoints 
the chief state prosecutor, who appoints chief state attorneys at the 
county and municipal level; the State Prosecutorial Council, a 
disciplinary body appointed by parliament, appoints and disciplines 
deputy prosecutors.
    During the year Serb leaders continued to express concern about 
discrimination in the appointment of judges and reported that, on 
occasion, the State Judicial Council either refused candidates or left 
positions vacant rather than appoint ethnic Serbs. In February, 
according to a government report, 34 out of 1,492 judges, or 2.3 
percent, were ethnic Serbs. At year's end 96.1 percent of the 7,782 
judicial employees, including courts and the prosecution, were Croat, 
2.3 percent were Serb, and 1.5 percent belonged to other national 
minorities.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. The legal system uses panels of judges, which in some cases 
include lay judges, rather than juries, to make convictions. Defendants 
have the right to be present and consult with an attorney in a timely 
manner and could confront or question witnesses against them and 
present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants have access 
to government held evidence relevant to their cases and enjoyed the 
presumption of innocence and the right to appeal.
    Excessive court delays remained a problem, and the Constitutional 
Court increasingly awarded damages to persons who had experienced 
unreasonable court delays. During the year the Constitutional Court 
issued 963 judgments finding unreasonable delays in lower and Supreme 
Court rulings and ordered the Government to pay fines in 725 of these 
cases. The Supreme Court increased the fines which totaled $1.3 million 
(7.3 million kuna). The Supreme Court noted that such delays threatened 
the integrity of the legal system and called into question the court's 
ability to provide effective remedies. In 2005 the ECHR called the 
delays excessive and a violation of citizens' right to trial in a 
reasonable time. During the year a new system for review of judicial 
delays was implemented to reduce the Constitutional Court's supervisory 
role and increase time spent on human rights issues. The amended law 
authorizes regular courts to adjudicate lawsuits related to delayed 
trials. The Constitutional Court was previously the only court of 
instance that could rule in such cases.
    The OSCE reported that state institutions, such as police officers 
and county state prosecutors, increasingly investigated possible crimes 
by the armed forces, including by persons in supervisory positions. 
However, political interference in judicial matters continued to be a 
concern in two ongoing investigations into war crimes committed in 
Osijek in 1991-92, that implicated Branimir Glavas, a Member of 
Parliament (MP) and Osijek city council President. In May, following an 
initial police investigation in Osijek, in late 2005 and early 2006, 
parliament removed Glavas' immunity from criminal prosecution and the 
Supreme Court approved a change of venue for the full investigation 
from Osijek to Zagreb. In July Glavas posted the full testimony of 
several witnesses before the investigative judge as well as documents 
to discredit them on his Web site. To avoid possible witness 
intimidation, the court ordered prosecutors and Glavas' legal counsel 
to sign a binding non disclosure agreement. Osijek-based journalist 
Drago Hedl cited incidents in which Glavas' supporters directly 
intimidated potential witnesses, including himself. In October, after 
parliament removed Glavas' immunity from detention, the Zagreb County 
Court reordered his detention to prevent further witness tampering. 
Glavas voluntarily entered detention but immediately went on a hunger 
strike to protest what he called political charges against him. He was 
released after 37 days on a hunger strike and sent to the hospital. At 
year's end Glavas remained in the hospital due to his critical health 
condition, and both procedures against him were temporarily suspended.
    To improve management standards and increase knowledge and 
expertise among the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, with 
international assistance, expanded the number and scope of programs at 
the judicial academy to improve professional training for judges.
    During the year domestic courts continued to try cases arising from 
the 1991-95 war, including several partially in absentia trials with 
large groups of defendants. State prosecutors continued to review all 
open war crimes cases, eliminating unsubstantiated charges. As of 
December 1,092 pending war crimes cases remained, most involving 
defendants currently living outside the country. As most constitutions 
in the region prohibit the extradition of a country's own citizens, the 
chief state prosecutor signed agreements with his counterparts in 
Montenegro and Serbia to enable the transfer of evidence in such cases, 
allowing suspects to be tried where they lived rather than where the 
crime was committed.
    In August the OSCE reported that the Supreme Court reversed trial 
court verdicts and remanded the case for retrial in 75 percent of 
individual appeals, reflecting a continued upward trend in reversal 
rates. During the year the OSCE followed 48 cases at the Supreme Court 
involving appeals of trial court verdicts involving 119 individuals (90 
ethnic Serbs, 26 ethnic Croats, two ethnic Bosniaks, and one ethnic 
Hungarian). Of these, the court decided on 13 appeals involving 36 
people (32 Serbs, two Bosniaks, one Croat, and one Hungarian), 
confirming 11 trial court verdicts involving 24 individuals, and 
reversing two trial court verdicts involving 12 individuals. In the 
majority of cases, the Supreme Court took more than three years to 
reach a verdict. Similar to previous years, at least one case of 
substantial delays involved accused persons who were convicted in 
absentia and remained at large.
    Persons convicted in absentia regularly made use of their 
guaranteed right for a retrial. Some ethnic Serbs voluntarily returned 
to the country to be arrested for pending war crimes charges or in 
absentia convictions, since this was the only way they could challenge 
a conviction under the law.
    While the atmosphere surrounding domestic war crimes trials 
generally improved, inadequate training, shortcomings in the legal 
code, witness intimidation, and an often-hostile local public hampered 
the war crimes adjudication process. While the Ministry of Interior's 
witness protection unit provided effective witness protection to at-
risk witnesses outside the courtroom, observers noted that courts were 
not sufficiently proactive in sanctioning defendants or members of the 
public who attempedt to intimidate witnesses inside the courtroom.
    Many observers questioned the impartiality of trials held in the 
jurisdiction where war crimes occurred, since judges, prosecutors, and 
witnesses could be more exposed to external influences there. Courts 
trying domestic war crimes continued to display bias toward defendants 
based on their ethnic origin, although the OSCE noted that Serb 
defendants had a better chance of receiving a fair trial than in the 
past. The most noticeable problem was the difference in charges filed 
against Serbs and Croats, with Serbs being accused of a wide range of 
misconduct while Croats were almost exclusively charged for killings. 
In at least three cases, courts continued to prosecute Serbs for 
genocide on the basis of acts that were not of the gravity usually 
associated with verdicts of international tribunals ascribing genocidal 
intent and conduct.
    Most persons on trial for war crimes were ethnic Serbs, nearly 
three-quarters of whom were tried in absentia in group trials in 
Vukovar County where some defendants were present.
    In March the Split County Court found eight former soldiers guilty 
of the torture and murder of ethnic Serb civilians in Lora prison in 
1992. Their sentences ranged from six to eight years in prison.
    In June the retrial of Mihajlo Hrastov resumed in Karlovac after a 
year-long suspension due to the defendant's mental health. Hrastov, an 
ethnic Croat and former member of the Karlovac special police, was 
charged with the murder of 13 unarmed Yugoslav National Army prisoners 
in 1991. The Supreme Court overturned two previous acquittals.
    In August the Vukovar County Court ordered the detention of three 
former soldiers and one soldier still on active duty pending an 
investigation of the 1992 murder of the Olujic family, who were ethnic 
Serbs, in the village of Cerna.
    In August, upon request of the chief state prosecutor, the Ministry 
of Interior began an investigation of alleged war crimes captured on 
video near Dvor na Uni in 1995. After reviewing the video, the 
prosecutor determined it contained evidence of crimes against civilians 
and prisoners of war. The state prosecutor initiated cooperation with 
counterparts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro to 
identify perpetrators and pursue investigations.
    In May the Supreme Court upheld in part the Zagreb County Court in 
absentia conviction of fugitive Munib Suljic. Based on this verdict, 
the Netherlands extradited Suljic in June; in August, Suljic died of 
natural causes in a prison hospital.
    The appeal of the acquittal of four soldiers charged with killing 
two elderly Serb civilians near Sibenik in 1995 remained pending before 
the Supreme Court at year's end.
    The Vukovar County Court trial of 16 former members of a Serb 
paramilitary unit, 15 in absentia, who were charged with genocide and 
war crimes in the town of Lovas in Eastern Slavonia remained ongoing at 
year's end. In 2005 the OSCE trial monitors cited the trial was an 
example of genocide charges being brought for acts that were not of the 
gravity associated with international genocide verdicts. The indictment 
alleged that defendants took actions intended to exterminate ethnic 
Croats. One defendant died. Only one of the accused was present during 
the trial.
    The trial continued in Vukovar against 25 persons, 15 Serbs, five 
Ruthenians, four persons of unknown ethnicity, and one Roma, accused of 
war crimes against civilians from Miklosevci, a mainly Ruthenian-
populated village. Two defendants died, one from cancer. Some 
defendants were present at hearings while others were on provisional 
release. The defendants were accused of genocide, murder, and 
intimidation of non-Serbs in 1991 and 1992.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    Property Restitution.--During the year the Government neared 
completion of its program to return illegally occupied homes to their 
owners; however, the property law implicitly favors ethnic Croats over 
ethnic Serbs by giving precedence to the right of temporary occupants, 
who are mainly ethnic Croats, to that of original owners, predominantly 
ethnic Serbs. Owners generally could not repossess their property 
unless housing was secured for the temporary tenants. At year's end the 
Government estimated that 18 private houses belonging to ethnic Serbs 
remained occupied, down from 55 houses in December 2005. In addition 
173 properties remained unclaimed or disputed in the court system. 
Backlogs in the judicial system impeded the resolution of housing 
disputes.
    In March the ECHR Grand Chamber declared inadmissible the landmark 
case related to termination of tenancy rights in the apartment of 
Krstina Blecic. Blecic left her apartment at the outset of war and did 
not return within the six months required by law to maintain her 
tenancy right. Without entering into the case's merit, the court 
decided that the ECHR did not apply because the termination of right 
happened before the convention entered into force in 1997.
    Property restitution remained a problem for all major religious 
groups except the Islamic Community. The Serbian Orthodox community, 
the second largest claimant of property in the country, reported that 
its joint commission with the Government convened in December after 
repeated requests and achieved no results on restitution by year's end. 
The Government also had not returned Jewish properties, including some 
buildings in Zagreb, although it did return properties in Osijek and 
Vukovar.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and the press; however, government officials 
occasionally interfered with the media and attempted to influence 
national television.
    A wide range of private newspapers and magazines were published 
without government interference. The privately owned Tisak distributed 
approximately 75 percent of the print media. Political parties, private 
companies (some foreign owned), and the Government owned or influenced 
various newspaper and magazine outlets. Foreign newspapers and journals 
were available in urban areas throughout the country; however, they 
remained largely inaccessible to many persons due to their high cost. 
Despite the three-year-old media law, media ownership was not fully 
transparent, making it possible for political or other interests to 
conceal their influence on media outlets.
    The government-owned and operated the national television and radio 
network (HRT). Independent television and radio stations operated in 
the country, and two of the three national television stations were 
private.
    Local broadcast media were vulnerable to political pressure since 
most stations were at least partially owned by local governments. 
Approximately 70 percent of the media was partly or fully owned by 
local governments and approximately 46 percent of local radio stations 
depended on the financial support of local authorities. The Croatian 
Journalists Association (CJA) proposed privatization of approximately 
100 local and regional radio stations owned by municipalities, towns, 
and counties, warning in July that local authorities were using them as 
``propaganda machines.'' In October CJA President Dragutin Lucic stated 
that approximately 100 partly state-owned local radio stations remain a 
serious problem, as they acted as a propaganda service to the ruling 
party in local self-government. In October, in a separate statement, 
CJA also expressed concern over censorship in the government-owned 
national daily Vjesnik.
    In late October the CJA and the journalists' trade union stated 
that journalists' labor rights had lately been ``increasingly 
violated'' and ``media freedoms infringed.'' They warned of numerous 
violations in Vjesnik, Pula-based daily Glas Istre, and other local 
media. Among cases cited were the decision by Glas Istre management to 
fire a number of journalists, who complained that they were being 
targeted for their reporting on the activities of a local political 
party leader, and the case of a Karlovac local radio station 
journalist, Vlado Drazic, whose salary had been cut by 5 percent 
allegedly because he opposed the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) 
deputy mayor in Karlovac.
    In December HRT management suspended two HTV news editors, Danko 
Druzijanic and Goran Rotim, and publicly warned a third editor, Petar 
Stefanic, for broadcasting a speech by President Stjepan Mesic in the 
early 1990s, where he appeared to condone the country's fascist 
government during World War II. The editors were suspended on the 
grounds that they had lacked critical judgment and professionalism in 
broadcasting the speech. The CJA described the suspension as a 
``serious violation of the right of free expression and speech,'' and 
Reporters Without Borders also condemned the HRT decision. Rotim and 
Druzijanic were allowed to return to work on December 14, after HRT's 
Ethics Council decided that they and Stefanic did not violate the HRT's 
code of conduct.
    War crimes issues were a sensitive issue for media, and journalists 
faced pressures because of their reporting. In May the CJA condemned 
death threats against Feral Tribune journalist Drago Hedl, who had 
reported alleged war crimes by current officials. According to media 
reports, the police provided 24-hour police protection for Hedl and 
arrested two individuals. The alleged threat came from local politician 
Davor Boras, President of HDS-SB Youth (Croatian Democratic Council of 
Slavonia and Baranja) and Dalibor Zizanovic.
    In May police detained both Boras and Zizanovic. In September Boras 
pleaded not guilty, adding that he cursed Hedl but did not threaten 
him. He also added that Hedl's reports about the ``homeland war'' and 
war veterans were the motive of his action. Hedl said that in addition 
to curses, Boras told him he would ``kill him like a dog.''
    On July 19 after parliament appointed four members of the new five-
member steering council of state-owned news agency Hina, the 
International Federation of Journalists released a statement calling 
for new and transparent executive appointment procedures for public 
media. The CJA and Croatian Journalists Trade Union also protested and 
accused the Government of selecting unsuitable candidates. They 
expressed fear that the new council was controlled by political 
appointees who would select government-friendly editors. The fifth 
council member represented Hina employees; however, Vladimir Lulic, who 
was to be appointed as the representative of the Hina staff, was not 
endorsed by the Government, which claimed his nomination had breached 
procedural regulations. In October, one day after Hina news agency 
management council appointed Smiljanka Skugor-Hrncevic as the new 
general manager, the Government proposed the dissolution of the board, 
thus invalidating the appointment. The Government suggested that 
parliament dissolve Hina's management council because employees had 
been denied the opportunity to state their opinion.
    Three of four council members resigned in protest. The former 
general manager's mandate was at the same time extended until January 
1, 2007. Parliament dissmissed the four members of Hina's management 
council on December 1. New Hina management council members were not 
appointed by the end of the year. In October CJA President Lucic stated 
that freedom of the media was ``jeopardized by the vague wording of the 
law on public media, which has resulted in recent cases such as Hina 
and Vjesnik.''
    In early March the minister of interior, in reaction to media 
reports of a physical fight between officials of the majority Croatian 
Demoncratic Union (HDZ) in Virovitica, announced that he would initiate 
legal action against anonymous letters appearing in the press. The 
President of the CJA noted that the media law prohibits the media from 
publishing certain information, even if its source was anonymous. The 
minister later stated that his words were misinterpreted and that he 
had not requested a legal ban on publishing anonymous letters, but the 
end of such information leaking from the Ministry of Interior and state 
prosecutor's office.
    The press reported a number of attacks and efforts to apply 
pressure against journalists during the year. In February the media 
reported that former Makarska municipal court judge Predrag Trutin 
physically beat Andjelko Erceg, editor-in-chief of the local weekly 
Makarska Kronika, because of articles that the newspapers published 
about him. In April the Karlovac County deputy prefect Marinko Milcic 
was accused by Radio Mreznica journalist, Arijana Kekic, Vecernji List 
journalist, Tomo Vicic, and Karlovacki List journalist, Marinko Ivka of 
verbally threatening three Karlovac-based journalists. The CJA 
criticized the incident. In July the CJA and Nova Television also 
criticized Novalja Mayor's Ivan Dabo who allegedly made verbal and 
physical attacks on a Nova Television journalist to prevent her 
reporting on shortage of water on the island of Pag.
    According to the CJA, the Sinj Social Democratic Party (SDP) 
President Velbert Milosevic and Sinj ruling coalition official tried to 
intimidate Jutarnji List newspaper correspondent and a radio journalist 
to prevent them from reporting on alleged manipulation of Sinj SDP 
convention election ballots. Croatian Radio journalist, Vito Peric, 
twice called the police due to threats he received after his reports.
    Libel is a criminal offense; in recent years there were no reports 
of politically motivated libel cases. However, a large number of libel 
cases from previous years remained unresolved due to judicial backlogs. 
In June parliament amended the criminal code to remove imprisonment as 
a punishment for criminal slander and libel. Courts may fine persons 
convicted of slander and libel.
    In February the Zagreb Municipal Court acquitted HTV journalist 
Ljubica Letinic in a case in which Miroslav Tudjman, the son of the 
country's former President, sued her for slander in connection with a 
March 2003 story by Letinic for HTV's ``Latinica.''

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. Internet access is widely available and used by citizens 
throughout the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice; however, the law grants discretionary power to the 
Ministry of Justice over the establishment and internal governance of 
foundations. While it was applied equally to all organizations, the law 
itself is restrictive and controlling. For example, the law provides 
that organizations will not be registered if their statutory goals are 
deemed trivial or if their property is not deemed sufficient to carry 
out their statutory activities. The law also permits the Government to 
influence the appointment of an organization's management body.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of conscience and religion, and free public profession of 
religious conviction. There is no official state religion; however, the 
Roman Catholic Church has an historic and close relationship with the 
state that was not shared by other religious groups. The Catholic 
Church signed concordats with the state granting it a number of 
benefits. Similar agreements were subsequently reached with the Serbian 
Orthodox Church, Islamic community, and other smaller Christian 
denominations, but the Jewish community has not signed such an 
agreement, pending the return of nationalized property.
    The law requires a group to have at least 500 members and to have 
been registered as an association for five years in order to register 
as a religious community. However, all religious groups in the country 
prior to the 2003 passage of the law were in the process of being 
registered without conditions. A total of 42 religious communities were 
registered and 15 additional communities were awaiting registration. 
The Montenegrin Orthodox Church and Jewish religious community, Bet 
Israel, were registered in June.
    In December 2005 three churches, the Church of the Full Gospel, the 
Alliance of Churches ``Word of Life,'' and the Protestant Reformed 
Christian Church challenged in the Constitutional Court the 
Government's refusal to conclude agreements providing them benefits 
similar to those provided by agreements with the Catholic, Serbian 
Orthodox, Islamic, and other communities. The Government maintained 
that the three churches did not meet government requirements to have a 
minimum number of members and to have been continuously active in the 
country since 1941. The appeal was pending in the Constitutional Court 
at year's end. Registered communities have the status of a legal person 
and enjoy tax and other benefits. Some international groups have 
criticized the restrictiveness of the Government conditions for 
registration of new religious communities.
    The law does not explicitly prohibit photographs with a headscarf 
on identification documents. However, the Constitutional Court was 
reviewing a case in which police in the coastal town of Crikvenica 
refused in 2004 to issue identification documents to a Muslim woman 
because she was wearing a headscarf in her photograph. Police standards 
were not consistent, and the police reportedly accepted such 
photographs in other locations in the country. The case was pending 
before the Constitutional Court.
    The Government required that schools provide religious training, 
although attendance was optional. Because 85 percent of the population 
is Roman Catholic, the Catholic catechism was the predominant religious 
teaching in public schools. Schools that met the quota of seven 
students per class of a minority faith allowed separate religion 
classes to be held for the students.
    National broadcaster HRT in 2005 signed an agreement with eight 
minority religious communities guaranteeing equal representation in its 
program. HRT agreed to live broadcasts of important annual celebrations 
and minimum weekly and monthly coverage. Under an agreement with the 
Roman Catholic Church, HRT provided up to 10 hours per month of regular 
coverage of Roman Catholic events.
    The Government made little progress restituting property 
nationalized during the World War II era to most major religious 
communities. In May the Prime Minister and the Zagreb Archbishop Josip 
Bozanic agreed to sign a contract under which government property would 
be given as compensation for an unspecified Catholic Church property in 
Zagreb. The City of Zagreb returned theater property to the Franciscan 
monastery, while the City of Varazdin returned a monastery building to 
the order of Ursuline nuns. The Serbian Orthodox Church, the second 
largest claimant of property after the Catholic Church, reported that 
its joint subcommission had difficulty in convening, despite repeated 
requests to meet with the Government. In July the Serbian Orthodox 
Church Metropolitan Jovan Pavlovic met with Prime Minister Sanader to 
discuss finding modalities to enable faster property restitution, but 
made no progress by year's end. The church stated that resolution of 
most of its outstanding issues, including property restitution, had 
stalled. There was no progress returning nationalized property to the 
Jewish community. In September the Prime Minister announced partial 
government funding for the reconstruction of the synagogue in Zagreb, 
which was destroyed during World War II. The Muslim community had no 
property claims.
    After years of delays, an acceptable site to build a mosque in 
Rijeka was found in cooperation with local authorities, and in June 
local authorities adopted a zoning plan for construction.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and physical 
abuse of religious minorities were problems.
    Incidents involving harassment of clergy and desecration and 
vandalism of Serbian Orthodox Church property continued to occur 
sporadically. Orthodox Church sources from the Dalmatian hinterlands 
assessed that violence was at similar levels as in the past year, 
citing several examples of vandalism and one instance of harassment of 
clergy.
    In March abusive graffiti including ``Death to Serbs,'' the Ustasha 
``U'' symbol, and ``This is ours, not Serb'' appeared on the walls of 
the St. Ilija church in Zadar. The unidentified suspects also broke 
into the belfry and damaged its electrical wiring.
    In June, in Obrovac, three young men verbally abused and threatened 
the local priest's wife. The police reported the incident; however, the 
suspects had not been charged by year's end.
    In August police received reports and investigated cases of 
vandalism and looting of several Orthodox churches. For example, church 
bells were stolen from the St. Dimitrije the Martyr church in Bjelovar 
and from another church in the village of Toranja near Pozega. In the 
same month, copper drainpipes were removed from the Orthodox Church in 
Novi Pavljani near Bjelovar and a window was smashed on the Bogorodicin 
Pokrov church in Knin.
    The St. George church, near Knin, was vandalized twice, once in 
October and again in December; both times there was an attempt to 
forcibly enter the church, which resulted in damage to the doors and 
smashed windows. Police had not identified the suspects by year's end.
    In 2005 the Orthodox Church and Serb NGOs reported a series of 
attacks against the Orthodox Church during the Orthodox Christmas 
season. For example, a group of young men smashed the entrance to the 
St. Sava Church in Split and shouted threats such as ``kill the 
Serbs,'' and continued to cause damage on nearby streets. In Zadar, 
also in December 2005, offensive graffiti referring to a Serbian 
Orthodox saint and Ustasha symbols were sprayed on the fence of the St. 
Ilija Church. Police investigated but did not identify perpetrators in 
any of these cases.
    In 2005 an Orthodox chapel was set on fire at the Osijek cemetery; 
police investigated the case, but had not released their findings by 
the end of the year.
    There were no developments or arrests in the following cases from 
2005: the attack by HDZ supporters on the car of an imam who supported 
the SDP party in Vojnic; the arson attack against a plaque on an 
Islamic community building in Dubrovnik; the detonation of a bomb in 
front of a Serb house in Glavinja Donja on a Serbian Orthodox holiday; 
vandalism of an Orthodox Church in Knin; and vandalism of the Orthodox 
eparchy in Sibenik.
    Serbian Orthodox clergy in Dalmatia and ethnic Serb leaders 
remarked on several occasions in 2005 that the positive overtures of 
the central government stood in stark contrast with that of local 
authorities, law enforcement, and judiciary, who persistently 
discriminated against Serbs. For example, cases involving two church-
owned flats that were occupied illegally remained pending at county 
courts in Zadar and Split for over a decade. Also, Serbian Orthodox 
clergy who arrived from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montengro 
faced bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining a longer-term residency 
permit that entitled holders to benefits such as health care and 
pensions. The priests were required to renew their status at relatively 
short intervals that interrupted their stay, preventing them from 
accumulating the years of residency needed for a more permanent status.
    The Jewish community has approximately 2,000 members.
    In June police pressed charges against a 21-year-old student for 
sending two threatening e-mails to the Zagreb Jewish Community. In the 
messages the author denied the Holocaust made offensive statements 
about Jews and Africans. He also expressed hope for ``the Iranians to 
complete a nuclear bomb as soon as possible and launch it on Haifa and 
Tel Aviv,'' after which celebrations would be held in Zagre's streets.
    Also in June two youths wearing shirts with Nazi insignia verbally 
and then physically assaulted Avi Eliezer Aloni, the rabbi of the 
Jewish Community in Zagreb, yelling ``Jews out.'' Police were still 
investigating at year's end.
    There were no developments in the police investigation of the April 
2005 anti-Semitic threat letter sent to the Jewish community and some 
international organizations.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    Refugees returning to the country encountered obstacles obtaining 
permanent residency status. The law permitted former habitual residents 
who returned by June 2005 to be reinstated to their prewar status as 
habitual residents without further requirements, such as meeting 
housing and financial criteria, and could subsequently apply for 
citizenship. During the year the interior ministry agreed to 
regularize, on humanitarian grounds, the status of individuals who 
still wished to apply. Due to poor communication, many potential 
claimants were unaware that they could regularize their status. The 
OSCE estimated there were approximately 2,000 potential claimants in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro.
    Observers continued to note that fear of arrest among ethnic Serbs 
for war crimes, often based on weak evidence, dissuaded some refugees 
from returning. The state prosecutor continued to review the list of 
war crime suspects to address this concern. During the year authorities 
arrested 20 individuals (13 Serbs, six Croats, and one Bosniak) for war 
crimes based on court orders or arrest warrants. Nine remained in 
detention pending ongoing investigation, and three of the individuals 
were returnees.
    While the Government continued to verify and document citizenship 
during the year, there were continued reports that some local officials 
obstructed the process by applying procedures inconsistently.
    The Government did not take steps to recognize or ``convalidate'' 
legal and administrative documents issued by entities not under 
Croatian control during the 1991-95 conflict. Without such recognition, 
citizens (almost exclusively ethnic Serbs) remained unable to resolve a 
wide range of problems accessing pensions and disability insurance, 
establishing work experience, and in other areas.
    By year's end the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR) registered a total of 140,544 minority returns to the country, 
with 4,616 returning in during the year. The UNHCR noted that the 
number of returnees was at similar levels as in past years. According 
to the UNHCR the return process slowed considerably due to limited 
progress in providing housing for the former holders of the tenancy 
rights in state owned flats. Approximately 9,000 former tenancy rights 
holders who applied for housing represent the bulk of potential 
returnees. International organizations that monitored return of 
refugees considered the decline in returnees to be within expectations, 
since most of the remaining refugees willing to return were former 
tenancy rights holders who were waiting to be provided housing. 
According to a UNCHR study during the year, approximately 60 percent of 
returns were sustainable, and the remainder were either one time or 
``commuter'' returns.
    The largest disincentives to returns were the poor state of the 
regional economy, ethnic incidents in return areas, resistance of local 
authorities, and slow implementation of return programs. Ethnic 
tensions directed against returning ethnic Serb refugees continued to 
be most pronounced in parts of Dalmatia and its hinterlands (see 
section 5).
    The ability of refugees to return to the country was hampered by 
limited access to housing, slow resolution of some bureaucratic 
obstacles, and lack of employment opportunities. Repossession and 
reconstruction of Serb houses continued. During the year the Government 
began reconstruction of 2,450 houses and provided cash grants to 2,370 
individuals. To date the Government has rebuilt approximately 142,000 
properties. An additional 901 claims remained unprocessed, and 
approximately 14,000 owners who were denied reconstruction filed 
appeals; those appeals remained unresolved. Two-thirds of the remaining 
properties were located in Dalmatia. An estimated one-fifth of houses 
returned to their owners were looted beforehand. In 2005 the Government 
adopted a protocol for looted properties but did not define 
instructions for its implementation. It recognized claims for damages 
only when they were officially recorded. At the end of 2005 the 
Government selected 400 properties as eligible for damage repair; 
however, the Government had repaired 89 of the 400 properties by year's 
end.
    There were cases of persons attempting to use the courts to recover 
alleged investments they had made while illegally occupying property. 
As of December there were 24 such cases pending in the courts. During 
December the Government adopted a process to resolve those cases out of 
court with investors.
    The Government slowly began to resolve the claims of persons who, 
prior to the war, held tenancy rights in socially owned apartments. 
Without such rights, claimants, who were mainly ethnic Serbs, were 
unable to return to their prewar apartments (see section 1.e.). 
Approximately 8,101 claims have been submitted, 4,425 of which were in 
urban areas; by December about 40 humanitarian cases identified by the 
international community were provided with housing. In August the 
Government announced its plans to construct or purchase 4,000 
apartments to be leased to tenancy rights holders in urban areas.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Authorities took an 
inconsistent and nonuniform approach to minority IDPs, hampering their 
return. A significant number of IDPs remained in the country, although 
not all were under the Government's direct care. At year's end the 
UNHCR reported that there were 3,975 IDPs in the country. Of these, 
2,327 were Croats originating from the Danube region, while 1,648 were 
ethnic Serbs in the Danube region who did not hold official IDP status.
    The Government allowed free access to all displaced persons by 
domestic and international humanitarian organizations and permitted 
them to provide assistance.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law generally provides for the 
granting of asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating 
to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has 
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, 
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of 
persons to a country where they feared persecution. At year's end, 94 
new asylum applications were submitted to the Government. During the 
year 80 persons were rejected, 11 persons had their cases dismissed, 
and 70 persons appealed. Two persons were pending first instance 
decision, and 11 persons re-applied.
    In June the Government temporarily established a reception center 
for asylum seekers in Kutina, near Zagreb. At year's end 23 persons 
resided in Kutina; 15 were asylum seekers, and eight persons were 
rejected asylum seekers who had the status of foreigners (pending 
return or deportation). The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and 
other humanitarian and international organizations in assisting 
refugees and returnees.
    In November, for the first time, authorities granted asylum to a 27 
year-old woman from an eastern African country. A UNHCR representative 
commended the country for making this important step toward a fully 
functioning asylum system.
    A government appeals commission conducted substantive reviews of 
cases of asylum seekers who were initially rejected; however, the UNHCR 
expressed continued concern that the Government commission influences 
appointments. The UNHCR closely followed cases of individuals who were 
deported or returned by authorities to their country of origin.
    There were no reports of persons requesting temporary protection 
during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Stjepan Mesic was elected 
President in January 2005. Citizens Organized to Monitor Elections 
(GONG), the leading local election-monitoring NGO, reported that the 
January 2005 Presidential elections were conducted in accordance with 
electoral legislation, with some irregularities, including breaches of 
procedure by individual polling committees and inaccurate voter lists. 
There were more serious problems in the first round of Presidential 
elections at polling stations established for citizens who lived in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, including cases of partisan polling officials, 
voting under names of deceased persons, and inaccurate voter lists.
    Early local elections were held in April in the counties of 
Dubrovnik-Neretva and Pozega-Slavonia, as well as in the city of Velika 
Gorica. GONG described the course and atmosphere of these elections as 
peaceful, democratic, and lawful. However, GONG repeated its concerns 
about the lack of transparency in campaign financing and called on the 
Government to regulate this matter by law. The media reported that 
public resources were used for campaign purposes in Pozega-Slavonia 
County and the city of Velika Gorica.
    In December parliament passed a law governing the funding of 
political partes and independent candidates. The law limits individual 
and corporate contibutions to a political party during the year. It 
also bans political party financing by foreign entities and domestic 
public institutions. However, GONG objected that those limits still 
were too high and continued to argue that election campaign financing 
should be regulated by a separate law.
    In 2005 the Prime Minister announced that a dual citizenship 
agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina would resolve problems related to 
the right of citizens who are residents there to vote. Bosnian Croats, 
as well as other citizens living abroad, elected their representatives 
in parliament in a special worldwide district. Preliminary reports of 
the agreement indicated that the existing situation would continue.
    There were 33 women in the 152-seat parliament, including two women 
in positions of deputy speaker. There were four women in the 15-seat 
cabinet, including the deputy prime minister, the minister of justice, 
and the foreign minister. There were four women among the 13 
Constitutional Court justices and 18 women among the 40 Supreme Court 
justices.
    The law requires that ethnic minorities be represented in local 
government bodies if the census shows that a minority group constitutes 
at least five percent of the local population. While authorities 
generally implemented this provision, the Government did not take 
updated voter lists into account in calculating the number of elected 
minority representatives, as required by law. Use of the voters' lists 
would have resulted in greater minority representation due to the 
return of refugees since the 2001 census.
    In July 2005 the Government instructed local authorities to exclude 
voters' lists in determining the proportion of minorities in these 
communities. The National Minorities' Council subsequently asked the 
Government to withdraw the instruction on grounds that it contradicted 
the law. The Serb community and NGOs expressed similar concerns, and 
GONG challenged the Government's instruction in the Constitutional 
Court. At year's end the decision was still pending before the 
Constitutional Court.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Public perception in the 
country held that corruption was widespread. According to a poll 
reported in the local press, 92 percent of those polled believed they 
lived in a corrupt state. Citizens were convinced that corruption 
existed in public institutions, particularly in the health care system 
and the judicial system. The European Commission, in its ``Croatia 2006 
Progress Report,'' issued on November 8 in Brussels, stated that 
corruption and a flawed judicial system were the greatest problems the 
country faced. Local NGOs consistently criticized the Government for 
not taking decisive action against corruption in the country.
    In March the Government presented a public strategy for battling 
corruption that proposed to overhaul the judicial system, health 
system, local government, political party financing, public 
administration, and the economy. However, a local NGO and Transparency 
International (TI) criticized the strategy as lacking specificity and 
deadlines for action.
    Law enforcement investigated a number of allegations of corruption 
by senior government or former government officials, including former 
foreign minister Mate Granic and Nevenka Tudjman, daughter of the late 
President Franjo Tudjman. Although Tudjman was acquitted, in 2005 the 
Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling that one of the 
previous four charges for unauthorized consulting, with which Tudjman 
was charged, was not a criminal abuse of official duty and ordered a 
retrial. The retrial was scheduled for late October 2005, but was 
postponed due to Tudjman's serious illness and chemotherapy treatment. 
The Supreme Court rejected the proposed indictment of Mate Granic due 
to lack of evidence.
    The Government's Office for the Prevention of Corruption and 
Organized Crime (USKOK) continued to improve its capacity and authority 
to manage criminal investigations. Most recently USOK was involved in 
the arrest of a prominent heart surgeon who was suspected of taking 
bribes in return for timely surgical procedures. The case was under 
investigation and being watched closely by the public. In a separate 
case, the former prefect of Pozega-Slavonia county was arrested and 
placed in detention on charges of defrauding the county of $48,096,890 
(278 million kunas), leading to its bankruptcy. There have been other 
lower profile bribery cases. However, there were few cases of high-
ranking officials being formally charged with corruption, despite 
frequent allegations.
    During the year, USOK continued its February 2005 investigation to 
possible large-scale illegal sales of refugee Serb houses to the 
Government's Agency for Refugee Property (APN).
    As of November 26 individuals brought charges against the 
Government for APN's sale of houses through intermediary agencies, 
based on falsified documents. One local NGO that represented ethnic 
Serb refugees and assisted them in filing charges complained that the 
agency had violated the law by refusing to allow refugees access to 
files, including to contracts that might reveal fraud. The NGO provided 
legal assistance to more than 250 individuals whose houses were 
allegedly sold without their knowledge or at prices different from 
those in specified contracts. The NGO also asserted that the state 
prosecution was slow to respond to related charges that it had filed in 
2005 against the head of the APN. In April prosecutors agreed not to 
appeal county court verdicts, which will speed up the process and 
permit compensation. In September courts reached three verdicts in 
favor of plaintiffs, two of which were appealable. The USOK 
investigated allegations that some APN employees, along with 
intermediary agencies based in Serbia, were accomplices to this fraud. 
In November the Zagreb Municipal prosecutor's office charged former APN 
manager, Damir Rajcic, for unlawful operation of the APN and causing 
damage to the budget exceeding $1.8 million (10 million kuna).
    The effectiveness of the parliamentary Commission for the 
Prevention of Conflict of Interest, which required officials to 
publicly declare their assets, increased, and all government officials 
disclosed their assets, which were made available on the Internet. TI 
expressed concern that due to the incomplete land register, there was 
ample room for evasion of this new requirement.
    The law provides the right to access government information, but 
was unevenly applied in practice and only had limited effectiveness. 
Inquiries were rarely answered in a timely fashion and often not at 
all. During the year the Coalition of NGOs ``The Public has the Right 
to Know'' conducted an opinion poll that indicated lower official 
compliance with the law than indicated by the Government report. In May 
TI reported that government institutions were reluctant to share 
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were often cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The office for cooperation with NGOs and other government 
ministries and offices was active in coordinating and promoting NGO and 
governmental efforts on human rights and civil society. The Human 
Rights Center, which was integrated into the public sector in 2005, 
received both UN and government funds during the year.
    In December 2005 two men from Vukovar, one of whom was a former 
special police force member, physically and verbally assaulted the 
President of the NGO Citizens Human Rights Committee and his wife. The 
NGO President did not press charges but the police initiated 
misdemeanor proceedings against one of the attackers. There was no 
information about the status of the case at year's end.
    The Office for Human Rights was the primary government body 
responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing the 
Government's human rights policies. While the office did not have 
authority to investigate alleged human rights abuses, it cooperated 
effectively with NGOs and the international community to conduct 
awareness campaigns to promote gender equality and women's rights, 
encourage general tolerance, and prevent trafficking in persons. The 
office also awarded project grants to NGOs to address various human 
rights problems. It was adequately funded and enjoyed the cooperation 
of other government agencies.
    During the year the Government fully complied with all requests by 
the ITCY for information and evidence.
    During the year the chief state prosecutor continued to accept 
additional evidence from the ICTY as part of the transfer of the case 
against Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi from ITCY to the country. In 2006 
the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor drafted several draft 
indictments, which were discussed with the Office of the ICTY 
Prosecutor. In November full agreement about the content of the 
indictment was made between Croatian prosecutors and the Office of the 
ICTY Prosecutor. On December 28, the Chief State Prosecutor filed the 
indictment with the County Court in Zagreb. The state prosecutor 
continued to work closely with the ICTY prosecutor on the transfer of 
investigative materials from unindicted cases.
    In August the Government detained journalist Domagoj Margetic at 
the ICTY's request after he refused to obey an injunction ordering him 
to stop publishing on his Web site the names of 102 protected witnesses 
from the ICTY trial of Bosnian Croat Tihomir Blaskic. After a month in 
detention, Margetic agreed to abide by the injunction and was released. 
In September the ICTY indicted Margetic for contempt of court.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, age, and race, 
disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination against 
women, ethnic Serbs, and Roma continued.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued 
to be a problem. In 2005 police recorded an increase of almost 30 
percent in cases registered over with the previous year. In the first 
eight months of the year police reported that 1,339 acts of family 
violence qualified as criminal acts, and another 8,238 acts qualified 
as misdemeanors. According to the Ministry of Interior, one third of 
the murders committed over the past four years resulted from family 
violence.
    Provisions in the legislation regarding family violence provide 
that a domestic violence case may be initiated by persons other than 
the victim, including police. The law treats family violence as a 
misdemeanor: Penalties range between $166 to $1,660 (1,000 to 10,000 
kunas) or up to 60 days in prison. Under the criminal law, perpetrators 
can face up to three years in prison for the same acts. NGOs complained 
that the courts were slow to schedule hearings, issued few convictions, 
and administered only minimum prison sentences and fines in family 
abuse cases. In 2005 NGOs specializing in domestic violence criticized 
police procedures that gave police discretion to assess threat levels 
when administering restraint orders and other measures. Police officers 
were trained to handle family violence at every police station in the 
country to provide quick intervention, secure victims' safety, and 
remove perpetrators from families.
    Police officials tended to classify violent acts against women as 
misdemeanors, resulting in minimal sentences. Minimal sentencing was 
particularly frequent in cases of rape. During the year police began 
keeping gender-specific statistics, which allowed them to better track 
violence against women. The Central Bureau of Statistics issued a 
separate publication with gender-related statistics including 
participation in political power, distribution of salaries and 
education. The publication reported that women comprised approximately 
57 percent of the unemployed population. However, salaries for women 
and men with the same qualifications differed. For example, in 
education, health care, and public administration, women received 
approximately 80 percent of men's earnings.
    The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality and women's NGOs 
reported in 2005 that courts were consistently too lenient towards 
perpetrators. Women's NGOS and the media also criticized the courts for 
unequal sentencing of males and females. In one highly-publicized case 
in September, the Zadar County Court sentenced Ana Magas to eight years 
in prison for killing her husband while he tried to strangle her, 
ruling that Magas had exceeded force necessary for self-defense. The 
court's decision contained statements that she ``provoked the 
strangling.took away the father from their child,'' and that ``calling 
her a whore was logical.'' NGOs and the media contrasted the Magas 
verdict with a verdict issued the same month in which a man who killed 
his aggressive wife by beating her received a one-year prison sentence. 
The verdict initiated public discussion on double standards and 
unpredictable criteria in the courts.
    In September 2005 the Government adopted the protocol of action in 
domestic violence cases. While the definitions of violence are 
generally broad, the harshest sentence is 60 days in prison, and 
violent acts remain a misdemeanor in many cases. During the year the 
Government expanded the authority of courts to issue restraining orders 
when social services submit a request in the interest of the family 
member. In September the Ministry of Family, War Veterans, and 
Intergenerational Solidarity adopted changes to the protocol on Conduct 
in Domestic Violence Cases. The changes state that social care centers 
can propose restraining orders against an absent parent when it is in 
the best interest of the child. The changes followed two high-profile 
cases of family violence against women and children during the summer.
    In June a husband killed his wife and then committed suicide in 
front of a children's home in Zagreb. The killings took place after 
months of repeated death threats against both the wife and the child, 
which the wife reported to local social services and the court. 
However, the courts and social service never issued a restraining 
order, and the perpetrator was repeatedly released immediately after 
being questioned by the police. A similar incident occurred in the 
north, where a husband killed his wife and daughter and then committed 
suicide. The perpetrator earlier served a prison sentence for family 
violence and was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment, which was 
later reversed by the county court. The leading women's NGO, Autonomna 
Zenska Kuca, protested to the Ministry of Justice against the lenient 
attitude courts displayed toward offenders. Women activists demanded 
family violence be treated as a criminal act, requested obligatory 
prison sentences for offenders, insisted on the application of 
restraining orders for offenders, urged the establishment of family 
courts, and advocated for that victims of domestic violence be treated 
as protected witnesses. Support measures for victims of violence were 
limited, as were shelters and counseling facilities. In general, 
private donations financed most services, with limited government 
spending. The Government began a program to increase employment 
opportunities for victims of violence, single parents, and unemployed 
mothers of three or more children.
    The Government cooperated with NGOs to promote gender equality; 
however NGOs remained concerned that the budget for such programs was 
small and unstable. NGOs complained that, while the Government 
organized conferences and public events to raise public awareness, it 
did not make significant substantive changes.
    There were 10 shelters operated mainly by NGOs and financed by 
donations for victims of domestic violence. The Ministry of Health and 
Social Welfare signed a contract with six organizations to increase the 
number of beds in women's shelters by approximately 120 beds. The 
Government provided $237,000 (1.3 million kuna) to finance consultation 
centers that operated either independently or in the shelters for 
female victims of domestic violence run by NGOs. Hotlines, counseling, 
and legal assistance were available to victims of domestic violence.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime; however, according to 
NGOs, many women did not report rape or spousal rape. In June changes 
to the criminal code increased the minimum sentence for rape from one 
to three years, with the maximum sentence remaining unchanged at 10 
years. Under the same law, sentences were increased for various acts of 
physical and sexual violence against disabled persons. In rape cases 
under aggravated circumstances, such as rape that resulted in death or 
pregnancy or if the victim was a minor, the sentence remained 
unchanged, ranging between three and 15 years. NGOs estimated that on 
average 100-140 cases of sexual violence and rape occurred annually. 
Due to social pressure stigmatization, rape and sexual violence were 
underreported. Some NGOs that specialized in sexual violence were 
concerned that there appeared to be no uniform application of rape kits 
or a uniform gynecological protocol for the treatment of rape victims.
    In the first eight months of the year, the Ministry of Interior 
registered 70 reports of rape and 14 for attempted rape. The state 
prosecutor reported 45 rape convictions during the year, an increase 
from 38 the year before. The NGO Women's Room stated that in previous 
years women frequently did not report rape and spousal rape because 
they lacked information about available legal protections, felt 
ashamed, feared reprisal, or, in case of spousal rape, were concerned 
over the economic consequences. Women's NGOs noted that victims were 
also reluctant to report rape, particularly spousal rape, because it 
was difficult to prove in court and because medical staff, police, and 
judiciary were not trained to treat such victims. They also alleged 
that sentences for spousal rape tended to be too lenient.
    Prostitution is illegal but widespread. According to a 2005 
estimate by the Croatian Trade Unions' Association, approximately 3,500 
women were involved in prostitution. According to the state 
prosecutor's statistics, authorities initiated 301 misdemeanor 
procedures for prostitution in 2005.
    Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation 
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, it 
was a problem. According to a 2004 survey by Poslovni Forum, over 17 
percent of female employees reported experiencing sexual harassment in 
the workplace at some point in their career. During the year the 
International Unions' Confederation conducted a regional survey that 
showed similar results with 18 percent of women reporting different 
forms of harassment at work. According to trade unions, the problem was 
most pronounced in the textile and leather, trade, and catering 
industries. The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality and 
unions reported that they worked on sexual harassment cases, although 
many women were reluctant to take action for fear of reprisal.
    The constitution and law prohibit gender discrimination. In 
practice women generally held lower paying positions in the work force. 
In January Croatian Women's Network, a group of women's NGOs, reported 
that 59.3 percent of unemployed persons were women, an increase from 
the beginning of 2005. The group reported in January that women's wages 
were on average 19.4 percent below men's, double the difference 
reported by the State Bureau of Statistics in 2003. Women held the 
preponderance of low-level clerical, labor, and shop-keeping positions.
    Gender-based discrimination occurred in the educational system, 
which does not include sex education or education on gender equality. 
Textbooks often displayed a masculine bias, discriminatory patterns, 
and gender stereotypes. According to the Center for Women's Studies, in 
a physics textbook for primary school, there were images of a woman 
ironing while a man sat in an armchair reading papers as well as other 
images where a man appeared angry because he had to vacuum floors. In 
many textbooks, women appeared as mothers and housewives, and 
professionally only as teachers, nurses, or working on farms. In yet 
another example, there was a complete absence of women as historical 
figures in the history book for eighth graders. In June the Government 
formed a committee for sex education with the goal of offering a sex 
education curriculum in the schools. NGOs complained that the committee 
was not balanced and tended to favor more conservative approaches 
towards sexual education. In addition concerns about lack of 
transparency and religious bias in sex education have raised concern 
among some NGOs.
    The Office for Gender Equality is responsible for implementing the 
Gender Equality Law and formulating the Government's gender policy; the 
Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality monitors implementation 
of the law, including the submission of mandatory action plans for 
state institutions and public companies. During the year the office 
received a small increase in government funding, doubling its budget 
from the previous year $630,000 (3.5 million kuna). It provided 
financial assistance to the NGO Be Active, Be Emancipated (B.a.b.e.) 
for a project on the treatment of women in the media, which included a 
study of media legislation. It also supported a publication for Roma 
women activists in their language and the first bilingual magazine for 
ethnic Albanian women.
    In September the Government adopted the national gender equality 
policy for 2006-10 which was drafted with active participation of 
prominent women's NGO's. The document focuses on improvements to 
women's status in human rights protection, securing equal treatment on 
the labor market, introduction of gender-sensitive education, 
suppression of all forms of violence against women, and increased 
female participation in political power. The document introduces 
``gender-mainstreaming issues'' and gender budgeting in line with EU 
standards.
    The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality took an active 
role in public debate on sexual education and in raising the profile of 
women's human rights. While women made up over 50 percent of the 
population, according to 2005 NGO statistics, women's participation in 
representational bodies averaged 10.8 percent, with city councils 
having the highest average representation at 14.7 percent. 
Representation in local and regional governments increased slightly 
overall in the past few years to 13 percent. According to government 
statistics, participation of women in senior government positions rose 
from 20 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in during the year.

    Children.--The Government was generally committed to the rights and 
welfare of children.
    Education is free and mandatory through grade eight (generally age 
14); boys and girls had equal access to education. The majority of 
students continued their education until the age of 18, with Roma being 
the only notable exception. Romani children faced serious obstacles to 
continuing their education, including discrimination in schools and a 
lack of family support. An estimated 10 percent of Romani children 
graduated secondary school, while up to 39 percent were illiterate. 
According to a survey financed by the UN Development Program (UNDP) in 
2005, 17 percent of Romani children over the age of 12 completed 
primary education, compared to 74 percent of the non-Roma population 
living close to Romani settlements.
    International organizations and local NGOs reported that school 
authorities continued to provide segregated, lower quality classes for 
Romani students in the northern part of the country. A 2003 lawsuit 
challenging the segregation of primary school classes in the northern 
Medjimurje region remained pending before the Constitutional Court. By 
year's end the ECHR had not reached a decision on a December 2004 
lawsuit filed by the European Center for Roma Rights and Croatian 
Helsinki Committee (HHO) on behalf of 15 Romani children who were 
allegedly subjected to discrimination in elementary schools. In 
September the HHO repeated its concern over the prolonged silence of 
the Constitutional Court, which had been its primary motive for filing 
the lawsuit with the ECHR.
    The HHO noted in 2005 that at least four primary schools included 
in the indictment continued segregating classes during the year. One 
Romani NGO, Croatia's Umbrella Association of Bajasi, noted that this 
practice continued in 2006. The same NGO based in Medjimurje reported 
in September that the segregation of classes did not decline and that 
20 Roma assistants in this school system could not substantially help 
students overcome the language barrier and acquire psychological and 
social skills because the students had not received sufficient 
preschool education. The Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports 
worked to improve the status of Roma assistants by paying their 
salaries during summer vacations and financing their training to obtain 
a high school education.
    The Council of Europe Human Rights Commission noted that under the 
Government's 2005 action plan for the social integration of Roma, 
efforts have continued to promote preschool education with the aim of 
fully integrating Roma children into the school system. Government 
desegregation efforts were sometimes still met with opposition from 
parents or non-Roma children. The Ministry of Science, Education, and 
Sports reported that approximately 350 children, mostly from Medjimurje 
and some from Istria, received preschool education which was lengthened 
to an average of six months compared with three months in 2005. With an 
additional $700,000 (3.9 million kuna) funding from the Roma Education 
Fund, the Government planned to extend preschool education to the 
entire school year. In March the ministry established a special 
department for educational needs of ethnic minorities.
    Medical care for children was free, and boys and girls had equal 
access.
    Child abuse, including sexual abuse, was a problem. According to 
state prosecution statistics, 1,058 persons were reported for criminal 
acts against children in 2005. The prosecution dismissed 323 reports 
and initiated proceedings against 721 persons. During 2005 509 persons 
were convicted for neglect and abuse of children and minors, while 19 
persons were convicted for explicit sexual crime, 57 for lewd behavior, 
and 16 for sexual exploitation of children.
    In June parliament amended the Criminal Code to provide harsher 
sentences for employees of government institutions in charge of 
children and juveniles who failed to meet their legal obligations, thus 
endangering their health and development. The minimum sentence for such 
crimes was raised from a fine to three months in prison. The minimum 
sentence for child desertion was increased from six months to one year, 
and similar changes were introduced for neglect and maltreatment of a 
child or a juvenile.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.)
    There were no nationwide statistics on child marriages among Roma, 
but social welfare services in Medjimurje county, where a substantial 
Romani minority resides, reported that common-law marriages were 
customary among partners at the age of 16 and above. According to their 
estimates, as many as 60 percent of female teenagers entered such 
marriages, which were often prompted by pregnancies. These marriages 
were in some cases made official when partners reached adulthood.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, women and minors were trafficked to, from, and within the 
country.
    The country was a transit country for women and girls trafficked to 
other parts of Europe for prostitution and increasingly a source and 
destination country for trafficked women. Women from Romania, Bulgaria, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other countries were trafficked through 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro to the country, where 
some remained to work as prostitutes while others were trafficked 
onward. Women were transported through the country by truck or boat. 
Women from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, 
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, and Serbia were 
detained for illegal entry into the country; some of these were 
believed to be trafficking victims. The Government reported 10 new 
victims during the year: two Serbian, three Bulgarian, one Romanian, 
two Ukrainian, and two Croatians. All victims were women, one was a 
minor victim. Since 2002, 51 victims have been identified. The 
Government reported that all victims cooperated with police 
investigations. As of September the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) identified one additional potential trafficking in 
persons victim, who was a minor.
    The law defines trafficking in persons as a crime separate from 
slavery and provides penalties between one and 10 years' imprisonment 
for traffickers. The minimum penalty for trafficking crimes committed 
against a minor is five years' imprisonment. In addition, if the crime 
was committed by a criminal organization and resulted in a death, the 
penalty is five years' to life imprisonment. In June parliament passed 
amendments to the Penal Code, criminalizing users of trafficked 
services. Perpetrators are subject to three months to three years' 
imprisonment. During the year the Government also began implementing 
its operational plan for the suppression of trafficking in persons. By 
year's end, the Ministry of Interior reported that 10 criminal charges 
were filed for trafficking in persons related crimes against 17 
individuals. Police arrested all individuals. The state prosecutor 
filed two indictments against four defendants. The National Coordinator 
for trafficking in persons, reported one appealable conviction and two 
related convictions for international prostitution, slavery, and 
illegal capture crimes. As the crimes in the second and third cases 
occurred prior to the implementation of the trafficking in persons 
provision in October 2004, these cases were prosecuted and convicted 
under the legal provisions that existed prior to adoption of the 
specific trafficking in persons provision. Police also identified five 
suspects who were involved in related crimes (international 
prostitution and pimping), but did not consider these cases to be 
trafficking.
    A witness protection law provides for granting government 
protection when a witness' life, health, freedom, or property is 
threatened; however, it was not used in any trafficking-related case 
during the year.
    The Government has a national committee for the suppression of 
trafficking in persons and a national coordinator for trafficking in 
person's issues who is the head of the Government's human rights 
office. Ministries and agencies responsible for the suppression of 
trafficking included the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, 
interior, health and social care, and education and the Office of the 
State Prosecutor. Police participated in international investigations 
through the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative regional center 
in Bucharest.
    Police awareness of the problem of trafficking in persons continued 
to improve; however, according to NGOs, failure to identify trafficked 
women among illegal aliens smuggled into the country remained a problem 
that resulted in the significant underestimation of the trafficking 
problem in the country. The police academy continued to teach 
antitrafficking as a regular part of its curriculum, offering 18 hours 
of instruction per semester. The Ministry of Interior reported that it 
provided trafficking in persons related education to 33 police 
officers, 16 illegal migration officers, and 17 organized crime 
officers. The ministry reported that the 26 police officers who became 
trafficking in persons trainers educated other officials and members of 
civil society. In addition police participated at various TIP related 
regional conferences. The Department for Illegal Migration hired new 
staff and continued education for its officers to strengthen border 
controls. The ministry continued its regional cooperation and signed in 
January a cooperation agreement with EUROPOL to further enhance 
existing cooperation and investigations.
    Young women, IDPs, and foreign nationalities were most at risk of 
being trafficked. Anecdotal information indicated that international 
organized crime groups, local groups, and travel or marriage agencies 
were responsible for trafficking. Victims were subject to violence, 
intimidation, withholding of documents, and threats by traffickers.
    There were no reports that government officials were involved in 
trafficking.
    During the year the Government did not deport or punish victims of 
trafficking and cooperated with NGOs and with the IOM mission to offer 
all necessary assistance to victims. While the law criminalizes 
international prostitution and unauthorized border crossings, it 
exempts trafficking victims from prosecution. Similarly, the law allows 
authorities to charge foreign prostitutes with a misdemeanor and 
initiate deportation proceedings if they do not fulfill legal 
requirements for their stay in the country but exempts trafficking 
victims from deportation.
    The Government has a legal framework to provide for victim 
assistance, and there were support services available for trafficking 
victims. The Government continued to finance a shelter for trafficking 
victims. The Croatian Red Cross (CRC), in cooperation with the 
Government, operated four reception shelters for victims. Although the 
Government offered assistance to all victims, some refused services. 
For those who sought assistance, the Government provided services 
jointly with local NGOs and IOM. In one case involving a minor, the 
Government cooperated with IOM and Interpol to ensure the minor's 
repatriation to a safe environment. One foreign victim requested and 
received a residence permit; other victims were resettled or 
repatriated outside the country, as requested.
    The Government conducted trafficking in persons public awareness 
campaigns and continued to support an NGO hotline and alternative 
shelter. One government information campaign targeted children as 
potential trafficking victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, and in the provision of other state services; however, 
discrimination occurred.
    By November the Government had established 10 counseling centers 
that offered assistance to persons with disabilities and their families 
and reported that 1,012 persons with disabilities were employed through 
the Employment Institute.
    MP Vesna Skulic continued to criticize the Government for slow 
implementation of the three-year national strategy for persons with 
disabilities, which expired in December. For example, the practice of 
placing personal assistants with persons with grave disabilities, which 
should have been widespread under the strategy, was still reduced to 
its current status as a pilot project. Skulic also criticized the lack 
of transparency in the management of the Government's fund for 
professional rehabilitation and employment and the lack of progress in 
employing persons with disabilities outside Zagreb.
    The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities; 
however, the Government did not always enforce these provisions, and 
the law did not mandate that facilities be retrofitted. As a result, 
access to public facilities was limited.
    In August a blind man and his guide dog were prevented from 
boarding a train in Karlovac. Railway officials asserted that, 
according to regulations, only trains with compartments were available 
to blind persons accompanied by dogs. Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka 
Kosor condemned the incident, stating that all means of transport 
should be available to persons with this kind of disability.
    In 2005 charges for neglect of children were brought against five 
nuns and another employee for sexual abuse in a home for mentally 
incapacitated children operated by the Catholic charity Caritas. Most 
charges were dropped because of a statute of limitations. In September 
the state attorney's council considered additional evidence and 
dishonorably dismissed the deputy state prosecutor in charge of 
children and youth for disregarding evidence and terminating an 
investigation into the case in 2004.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Constitutional protections 
against discrimination are applied to all minorities; however, open 
discrimination continued against ethnic Serbs and Roma.
    In comparison with the previous year, violence against ethnic Serbs 
generally declined. During the year the Croatian Helsinki Committee 
(HHO) reported that the number of interethnic incidents dropped by 45 
percent. The HHO also noted that the improvement was partly due to 
leadership following a high profile incident in Zadar in August as well 
as administrative changes in the Ministry of Interior and personnel 
changes in the police directorate. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported 17 
incidents in Zadar hinterlands in the first six months of the year. 
However, the largest Serb NGO, Serb Democratic Forum (SDF), noted no 
major instances of violence against ethnic Serbs in the second half of 
the year. The SDF noted better police performance and the general 
improvement of the political climate as factors that led to more 
stability.
    In August four persons from the nearby Croat village of Skabrnja 
threw stones at houses and attempted to torch courtyards of three Serb 
returnee families in the village of Biljane Donje near Zadar. The 
President and Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor traveled to Biljane 
Donje the day after the incident and condemned the attacks. Police 
presence was increased for days after the attack, and the four suspects 
were promptly identified and detained. However, the Serb families 
dropped all charges.
    In 2005 the Ministry of Interior appointed an ethnic Serb advisor 
in Zadar to collect information and to monitor police response to 
ethnically related incidents in Dalmatia. A similar advisor has been 
posted in eastern Slavonia since 2004.
    According to police statistics, in areas of more intense refugee 
return, agricultural land issues remained the primary cause of 
interethnic incidents. In June the Serb Democratic Forum reported that 
127 plots of land in the area of Zadar were used by persons other than 
the owners. They expressed concern that the increased number of 
incidents deterred permanent return of refugees.
    In April and May the Serb Democratic Forum reported several 
incidents in the wider Benkovac area. In Smokovic unknown persons 
poured paint over the door and a window of a Serb returnee's house and 
set them on fire. Police investigated but identified no suspects. In 
April a Serb returnee and his daughter were threatened in front of the 
Benkovac police station. The perpetrator threatened to kill the 
returnee, asking him who murdered his father. In May a Serb returnee 
from Zemunik Donji notified the Serb Democratic Forum that four Roma 
youth threatened to loot their property claiming that ``this was their 
state'' and that the Serbs had no right to be there. Later in 
September, in Ostrovica, an elderly Serb returnee suffered an arm 
fracture after a group of Roma attacked him with wooden beams over a 
land dispute.
    In May the Serb Democratic Forum and HRW reported that, at a soccer 
match between Knin and Zagreb teams, fans chanted songs and shouted 
slogans about killing Serbs, such as ``we do not drink wine, we drink 
Serbs' blood'' and ``kill the Serb, kill the donkey.'' After the match, 
similar slogans were painted on the nearby walls. There was no official 
reaction to the event and police told their superiors they did not hear 
any songs or slogans. However, the police investigated the incident but 
the perpetrators were not identified.
    Ethnic Serb MP Ratko Gajica informed the media about 29 incidents 
against ethnic Serbs across the country during August. Those incidents 
ranged from the appearance of graffiti with ethnic slurs in the Zadar 
region (Sukosan, Zemunik Donji, and Miranje villages) to damaging cars 
with Belgrade, Serbia plates in Knin and Zadar. Offensive graffiti such 
as ``Ustasha Youth'' and ``Serbs should hang'' were also noted on 
several locations in Zagreb.
    In November the media reported two incidents involving the removal 
and burning of flags directed against the ethnic Croat majority. Police 
identified a teenage boy who set fire to a Croatian flag hoisted on the 
building of a local paper in Karlovac on Independence Day. The boy was 
reportedly charged with damaging the reputation of the country. In the 
same month unidentified persons stole a flagpole in front of the 
Skabrnja Municipal building in the Zadar hinterland. The incident took 
place two days before commemoration of the Skabrnja massacre in which 
dozens of Croats perished during the 1991-95 war. Police investigated 
but no one had been charged by year's end.
    In December four three-feet tall ``S'' letters in Cyrillic script, 
symbolizing Serb rebellion, appeared on the monument to the Croatian 
war victims in Lovas near Osijek. The police investigated the incident 
but had not identified the suspects by year's end.
    As of September, police had not identified any suspects in 
connection with the following incidents against ethnic Serbs: the 2005 
murder of an elderly Serb in Karin; the 2005 beatings of two elderly 
Serbs in Ostrovica; and 2005 killings of two Serbs in Lipik.
    The Serb Democratic Forum and others asserted that police were not 
always impartial when investigating property disputes between ethnic 
Croats and ethnic Serbs. The OSCE reported on several ethnically 
related incidents where the perpetrators were charged with misdemeanor 
offenses, such as disturbing public order, rather than criminal 
offenses. In a majority of the cases, police and prosecutors were 
reluctant to identify cases as ethnic discrimination. However, in 
cooperation with the OSCE, police provided ongoing training to officers 
on identifying and prosecuting hate crimes.
    Discrimination continued against ethnic Serbs in several areas, 
including in administration of justice, employment, and housing (see 
sections 1.e. and 2.d.). Ethnic Serbs in war-affected regions continued 
to be subject to societal harassment and discrimination.
    Four years after the Constitutional Law on National Minorities was 
passed authorities have not implemented its provision on proportional 
minority employment in the public sector in places where a minority 
constitutes at least 15 percent of the population. The largest Serb 
NGO, Serb Democratic Forum, published a survey in June covering 23 
municipalities in five regions where Serbs constituted a prewar 
majority and remained a significant part of the population. In the 
towns of Glina, Petrinja, Topusko, and Vojnic in the central area of 
the country, the report found that Serbs made up 22 percent of the 
population but held only 3 percent of public administration jobs. In 
Benkovac, Drnis, Knin, and Skradin in Dalmatia, Serbs made up 13 
percent of the population but held only 4 percent of public sector 
jobs. Of the five regions covered in the survey, the situation was 
significantly better only in eastern Slavonia, where Serbs were 
adequately represented in the police and only slightly underrepresented 
in the judiciary. However, even in eastern Slavonia, overall employment 
in state administration remained low; while Serbs made up 51 percent of 
the population in eastern Slavonia, they held only 26 percent of state 
administration jobs.
    In October the National Council for National Minorities filed a 
complaint against the city of Daruvar over an alleged violation of the 
Law on National Minorities and the Law on the Use of the Minority 
Language and Script. While the Czech minority comprised approximately 
20 percent of the local population, the scripts on the street signs and 
on public buildings largely remained in Croat.
    In December 2005 the Law on Courts was amended to stipulate that 
minority participation be taken into account when appointing judges in 
regions where minorities constitute a significant percentage of the 
population. The amendment was a rare example in which an individual law 
was amended to reflect rights protected under the Constitutional Law on 
National Minorities.
    Human rights and Serb NGOs pointed out several cases of ethnic Serb 
judges who, although fully qualified, were unable to secure positions 
in areas with a significant Serb minority population. Persons without 
experience or from other towns were appointed instead. One ethnic Serb 
judge in 2005 appealed the State Judicial Council's decision when it 
turned down his bid for the position at the Municipal Court in Gvozd. 
The administrative court wrote in its response that the applicant 
indicated his Serb ethnicity, but did not indicate that he was a 
minority member, and thus failed to invoke his minority rights. His 
appeal was still pending. The same judge applied for and was refused a 
position at the Vojnic municipal and misdemeanor courts. His case was 
pending before the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg.
    In June the parliament amended the criminal code, introducing a 
definition of hate crime as any criminal act committed against another 
person due to their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual 
orientation, or affiliation to certain social groups. The article on 
grave murders in the criminal code, which carries a minimum 10-year 
sentence was amended by adding hatred as one of the motives that 
defines the criminal act. However, legal experts, including Zagreb 
County Court Deputy President Marin Mrcela warned that hate crime was 
mentioned in part of the criminal code which could lead to difficulties 
in its application for prosecutors. NGOs and international 
organizations earlier complained that crimes motivated by ethnic, 
religious, gender, and sexual orientation were often seriously under-
sanctioned.
    In June parliament increased penalties for hate speech to no less 
than six months' and no more than five years' imprisonment. For the 
crime of hate speech committed over the Internet, penalties range from 
six months to three years imprisonment.
    During the year the Vecernji List newspaper repeatedly made 
derogatory and inflammatory statements about minorities, including 
ethnic Serbs and Muslims. In July the paper printed a story with the 
headline ``Chetnik Sniper Fires Shots in Zagreb,'' containing the 
allegation, which the police later denied, that a Serb from Vukovar who 
was accused of war crimes took part in a sport shooting competition. 
Observers noted the newspaper's coverage of some minority issues 
bordered on hate speech.
    Some discrimination occurred against minorities in schools (see 
section 5, Children). In September local authorities in Vukovar and the 
Ministry of Education integrated four secondary schools that previously 
held separate classes for over 2,000 ethnic Croat and Serb children. 
With the exception of one school that continued to divide students into 
separate shifts according to language and ethnicity, all of Vukovar's 
primary schools had integrated joint shifts.
    In November several students of the Technical School in Vukovar 
accused their language teacher of insulting them on ethnic grounds. 
According to the students, the teacher insulted them by saying ``this 
is not Serbia'' and ``go across the Danube.'' The teacher denied all 
allegations.
    Societal violence, harassment, and discrimination against Roma 
continued to be a problem. While only 9,000 persons declared themselves 
to be Roma in the 2001 census, according to an OSCE report this year, 
the country's Roma population was widely estimated to be much larger. 
Officials and NGOs estimated that the Romani population was between 
30,000 and 40,000. In June the European Court of Human Rights agreed to 
review a complaint against the country for allegedly failing to 
adequately investigate skinhead violence against Roma.
    Roma faced many obstacles, including language (many Roma, 
particularly women, had only limited Croatian language skills), lack of 
education, lack of citizenship and identity documents, high 
unemployment, and widespread discrimination. Romani NGOs estimated that 
25 percent of Roma did not have citizenship documents and thus could 
not obtain social benefits, employment, voting rights, and property 
restitution. According to the Council of Europe, only 6.5 percent had 
permanent jobs, while the Ministry of Social Welfare estimated that 
20,000 to 30,000 Roma were receiving some form of social assistance. 
The Ivo Pilar Institute for Social Research in 2005 estimated that only 
17 percent of Roma had permanent employment and over 50 percent lived 
exclusively on social welfare.
    International organizations and local NGOs continued to report that 
school officials segregated Romani pupils in lower quality classes in 
the northern part of the country (see section 5, Children).
    In March 2005 the Government adopted an action plan to invest 
approximately $10 million (62.5 million kunas) over the next 10 years 
to improve conditions for Roma in education, health, employment, 
housing, and other areas. During the year the Government increased its 
budget for Roma programs five fold compared with 2005, to $2 million 
(12 million kunas). The European Commission provided additional funding 
for programs, including for Roma employment through the State 
Employment Bureau, education, improvement of Romani settlements, free 
legal aid, and health care. In August the Government organized an 
employment seminar for 20 young Roma. In Bjelovar the first Roma was 
employed as an advisor to the regional state employment bureau. In 
August the Government launched a website in Croatian, English, and 
Romani on the implementation of its programs for Roma. The Government's 
Office for National Minorities asserted that progress was most visible 
in the preparation of zoning plans for municipalities with Roma 
settlements, which is a precondition for their legalization and 
reconstruction. The Ministry of Health continued to deploy mobile teams 
to provide basic health care to Romani communities. In July the 
Ministry of Education approved specialized training for some teachers 
in the Roma language to facilitate their communication with Romani 
students.
    On occasion ethnic Croats were targets of interethnic violence. In 
September the media reported that a Serb youth attacked a younger Croat 
teenager, pointing a knife against his throat while they rode on a bus 
from school in Vukovar. The attacker cut the boy on his fingers and 
threatened a group of boys to ``slaughter all Ustasha.'' The police 
charged the attacker with violent behavior and disturbing public order.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal 
discrimination against homosexuals.
    In July the media reported that a dozen persons attacked two 
homosexual British tourists in a bar. The tourists sustained a 
concussion, ear injury, and loss of teeth. The attackers accused them 
of making inappropriate comments and behavior. The same month Croatian 
Party of Rights MP Tonci Tadic compared homosexual tourists with 
concentration camp guards and cannibals, and suggested they would not 
be welcome in the country. The Government ombudswoman for gender 
equality and human rights groups criticized the statement. In September 
at least three unidentified persons attacked two German homosexual 
tourists in Split while they walked on the waterfront holding hands. 
One of the victims sustained a nose fracture and the other a slight 
chest injury. The police investigated but did not identify the 
perpetrators.
    Legal experts from Iskorak and Kontra, two NGOs that represent 
sexual minorities, drafted the definition of hate crime that was 
introduced in the Penal Code in June and participated in a seminar for 
nine police officers at the Police Academy in Zagreb that month. The 
nine officers were expected to train colleagues in prosecuting this 
type of crime.
    In August 2005 one NGO reported that authorities initiated 11 
criminal proceedings for physical assaults against homosexuals during 
that year. In one, a group of teenagers attacked a homosexual couple by 
shouting offensive remarks and then severely beat the couple. The 
victims, who immediately reported the incident, complained that the 
police were slow to react.
    Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS remained a 
problem. The Croatian Association for HIV reported that dentists and 
general practitioners often refused treatment of HIV positive patients 
and some hospitals postponed surgeries because doctors were reluctant 
to operate. If an HIV patient did not go through the infectious disease 
hospital, they often had to wait for treatment, and surgery could be 
delayed indefinitely. Transplant centers have also refused to put HIV 
patients on their list of potential organ recipients.
    In March a daily paper reported the death of an individual, 
printing his name and photograph and stating that the cause of death 
was AIDS. The newspaper published the article without official 
confirmation of the cause of death. The same paper republished the 
details again in September, in an article about a company director that 
allegedly intentionally infected employees with HIV. According to the 
Croatian Association for HIV, the paper did not officially confirm the 
facts surrounding the article, which accused the newspaper of running a 
campaign against persons with HIV.
    A daily newspaper published a report with photographs concerning 
two juveniles, who were the focus of media attention in prior years due 
to their HIV status. The country does not have separate regulations on 
the protection of data confidentiality for children with HIV.
    According to the UN theme group on HIV/AIDS, analysis of laws 
regarding HIV indicated that they contain discriminatory provisions. 
The group cited legal provisions that require: testing under medical 
supervision for certain professions and in certain cases involving 
prisoners and restrictions on HIV-positive persons with regard to 
performing certain jobs. Otherwise, according to the analysis, most 
cases of discrimination occur outside the scope of legislation or due 
to a lack of sufficient enforcement of privacy laws, lack of consistent 
adequate medical care and discrimination in school or the workplace.
    The UNDP reported that one weekly in May published the initials and 
other personal information in detail sufficient to identify a cafe 
owner in Split suspected of being HIV positive and alleged that he was 
allegedly spreading AIDS. The damaged party did not take legal action 
against the weekly.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers are entitled by law to form 
or join unions of their own choosing, and workers exercised this right 
in practice. Approximately 50 percent of workers were members of 
unions; however, not all the unions were associated with each other and 
this percentage could vary. Unions generally were independent of the 
Government and political parties.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and expressly allows 
unions to challenge firings in court. However, in general, citizens' 
attempts to seek redress through the legal system were seriously 
hampered by the inefficiency of the court system.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 
constitution and law protect collective bargaining and the right to 
organize, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
    The law provides for the right to strike, with some limitations, 
and workers exercised these rights during the year. Members of the 
armed forces, police, government administration, and public services 
were not permitted to strike. Workers may only strike at the end of a 
contract or in specific circumstances mentioned in the contract after 
they have gone through mediation. When negotiating a new contract, 
workers are required to go through mediation before they can strike 
over a new contract. Labor and management must jointly agree on a 
mediator if a dispute goes to mediation. If a strike is found to be 
illegal, any participant may be dismissed and the union held liable for 
damages.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
all forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there 
were reports that it occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace and provide for acceptable working conditions. While the 
Government for the most part implemented these laws and policies 
effectively, child labor remained a problem.
    In 2005 the State Inspectorate recorded 271 violations of the labor 
law involving 188 children under the age of 17. Approximately 35 
percent of the total violations involved children under the age of 15, 
mostly in the entertainment industry. The children were employed in the 
hospitality, tourism, retail, industrial, construction, and media 
sectors.
    The minimum age for employment of children is 15 years. The 
Ministry of Economy, Labor, and Entrepreneurship in conjunction with 
the ombudsman for children and the State Inspectorate was responsible 
for enforcing this regulation. Minors under the age of 15 may work if 
they receive prior approval from the Labor Inspectorate and if it is 
determined that the child will not suffer physically or mentally from 
the work. Approval is usually requested for filming movie scenes or 
play rehearsal. The law prohibits workers under the age of 18 from 
working overtime, at night, or under dangerous conditions.
    The law prohibits trafficking in children; however, it occurred 
(see section 5).
    The law proscribes the worst forms of child labor. Recent changes 
to the criminal code criminalize trafficking in children for purposes 
of sexual exploitation and labor. The national ombudsman for children 
coordinates the country's efforts to prevent the exploitation of 
children and to assist in removing children from exploitative 
situations. The State Labor Inspectorate has 92 inspectors whose duties 
include inspection for illegal employment of minors. The inspectorate 
forwards all cases of violations involving minors to the office of the 
ombudsman for children.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage, as determined by 
the Government, is $368 (2,100 HRK gross), net is between $245-$262 
(1,400-1,500 HRK) depending upon exemptions, and does not provide a 
decent standard of living for a working family. Government statistics 
from August indicated the average wage was $812 (4,633 HRK) and the 
minimum cost of living for a family of four in rented housing was $1097 
(6,256 HRK). The labor inspectorate enforces the minimum wage while the 
Ministry of Finance determines the level.
    Nonpayment and late payment of wages continued to be a problem, 
although it lessened in recent years. Nonpayment of overtime or for 
work on holidays was also a problem. According to the State Labor 
Inspectorate, 1,809 workers did not receive payment for their work 
between January 1 and October 31.
    The Labor Inspectorate reported that employers did not register 
4,046 employees with the health and pension insurance funds, thereby 
denying health or pension benefits. The law allows labor inspectors to 
immediately shut down a work site where illegal or unregistered workers 
are discovered. Between January 1 and October 31, the inspectorate shut 
down 327 employers for violating labor regulations.
    The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours. Workers are 
entitled to a 30 minute daily break, one day off out of seven, and a 
minimum of 18 days of paid vacation annually. The law provides that 
workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay for overtime and limits 
overtime to 10 hours per week. The labor inspectorate must be notified 
if overtime work for an individual employee continues for more than 
four consecutive weeks, for more than 12 weeks during a calendar year, 
or if overtime work of all employees of a certain employer exceeds 10 
percent of the total working hours in a particular month. Between 
January 1 and October 31, the inspectorate processed 12,984 violations 
of labor law. After processing the inspectorate sent 5,311 violations 
to misdemeanor courts for proceedings. Infractions included labor 
contract, payment, and annual leave violations, and unpaid and 
unreported overtime. Pregnant women, mothers of children under three 
years of age, and single parents of children under six years of age, 
may work overtime only if they freely give written consent to perform 
such work.
    The Government set health and safety standards, which were enforced 
by the Ministry of Health; the ministry's inspectorate has jurisdiction 
over enforcement of health and safety laws at the workplace and 
compiled annual data on injuries and health and safety code violations. 
In practice, many industries often did not meet the standards for 
worker protection. In 2005 the inspectorate investigated 6,773 
worksites and entered 1,750 misdemeanor reports covering a total of 
3,483 violations of safety standards. During 2005 misdemeanor courts 
issued 1,267 violations of which five were declared criminal acts and 
referred to municipal or county courts. However, under the law, workers 
may remove themselves from hazardous conditions and have recourse 
through the courts if they believe that they have been dismissed 
wrongfully for doing so; however, according to the state inspectorate, 
workers did not exercise this right in practice and normally only 
reported employers after they had left their job.

                               __________

                           REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS

    The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional republic and multiparty 
Presidential democracy. The area under control of the Government has 
approximately 780,000 inhabitants. On May 21, 56 representatives were 
elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in 
free and fair elections. This election marked the first time in decades 
that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area were 
permitted to vote in elections and run for office. President Tassos 
Papadopoulos was elected in 2003 in free and fair elections. Civilian 
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some 
reports of police abuse and degrading treatment of persons in police 
custody and of asylum seekers. Violence against women, including 
spousal abuse, was common. Trafficking of women to the island, 
especially for sexual exploitation, continued to be a problem.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings during the year.
    The chief of police reported that the May 2005 killing by the 
police of a Syrian asylum seeker was in self-defense (see section 
2.d.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    The Government participated in the autonomous, tripartite (UN, 
Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot) UN Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) 
in Cyprus as part of its continuing efforts to account for persons 
missing as a result of the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the 
conflict in 1974.
    In August the CMP launched its project to exhume, identify, and 
return remains. On December 21, the CMP announced that it would perform 
DNA tests on the remains of 160 individuals held at its Anthropological 
Laboratory. The CMP anticipated returning the first remains to families 
of the deceased by April 2007. Exhumations continued in different parts 
of the island. According to the CMP, 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502 
Turkish Cypriots remained missing.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were reports that police abused detainees.
    There continued to be reports that police engaged in heavy-handed 
tactics and degrading treatment of suspects.
    In an incident not previously reported, on December 20, 2005, 
plainclothes police officers stopped two cars in Nicosia and proceeded 
to handcuff and beat the drivers, 27-year-old students Marcos 
Papageorghiou and Yiannos Nicolaou. The 40-minute beating was 
videotaped by an unidentified witness. The police then took the 
students to a police station, where they allegedly continued to beat 
them, causing serious injuries requiring hospitalization. The police 
officers involved claimed that the students were drunk and resisted 
arrest and that force was necessary to restrain them. They further 
claimed that the students suffered the injuries by throwing themselves 
on the ground. The chief of police appointed an investigator; however, 
the police investigation was suspended a few days later when the 
Attorney General appointed an independent criminal investigator. Eleven 
police officers (Andreas Efstathiou, Haris Haritou, Andreas Panayi, 
Georgios Pavlou, Giorgios Kylilis, Costas Toumbas, Iordanis Iordanous, 
Andreas Christou, Christiana Antoniou, Tefkros Charalambous, and 
Georgios Vanezis) were charged with numerous offenses, such as assault 
and torture. At year's end, the trial was ongoing; however, the police 
had initiated disciplinary procedures against 13 police officers 
involved in the incident. The April 7 report by the Office of the 
Commissioner for Administration (ombudsman) on the incident concluded 
that the victims suffered inhuman and degrading treatment tantamount to 
torture.
    On January 13, the press reported that a Nicosia police sergeant 
was charged with forcing a Bulgarian woman to perform a sex act. 
According to press reports, the officer offered to give her a ride home 
from the pub where she worked but, as soon as she got in the car, 
allegedly became violent and demanded oral sex. A disciplinary 
committee appointed by the chief of police demoted the officer to 
police constable.
    Also in January, members of the police antinarcotics unit (YKAN) 
allegedly beat a Turkish Cypriot suspect during the execution of a 
search warrant at his house in Larnaca. The chief of police ordered two 
criminal investigations, one against the members of YKAN and one 
against the suspect. The results of the investigations have not been 
made public, and the files were with the Attorney General for 
evaluation at year's end.
    On March 30, a police officer allegedly beat prisoner Georgios 
Georgiou in his cell. The police officer was charged with assault 
causing actual bodily harm. The case was set for a February 20, 2007, 
hearing. The police initiated disciplinary procedures against the 
officer, but they were interrupted on August 21 when the ombudsman 
asked to review the case.
    The Attorney General decided that the alleged victim of a police 
beating following a car accident in Limassol, reported in April 2005, 
had not been treated in a discriminatory or racist manner, and he 
ordered the police to proceed with the individual's prosecution. The 
alleged victim was charged with attacking and hitting a police officer 
on duty.
    The police investigation into the September 2005 death of a Polish 
laborer who had been held in police custody revealed that the death was 
due to a pre-existing condition. No external or internal injuries were 
found during the post mortem examination. However, the coroner had not 
yet completed his own investigation at year's end.
    The police officer acquitted of raping a Moldovan woman in her 
prison cell in 2004 was required to resign on April 7.
    The disciplinary committee investigating the 2004 case of two 
police officers who forced an Afghani man to pose with two women in 
sexually suggestive photographs found them guilty on the charge of 
misconduct. One officer was fined 10 days' salary, amounting to 
approximately $1,000 (462 pounds), and the other was penalized with a 
two-year deferment of salary increases, amounting to approximately 
$33,000 (14,800 pounds).
    The second police investigation into the allegations made by a 
detainee that police mistreated him during his 2003 detention in 
Limassol was suspended because the complainant did not respond to 
repeated police calls for an interview.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prisons, 
detention centers, and other government institutions generally met 
international standards, although there were some problems.
    In February police reported that final toxicological results showed 
that the January 2005 death of prisoner Jevor Hakorian in police 
custody was caused by drug use and suffocation induced by the 
swallowing of stomach fluids. The coroner's report was pending at 
year's end.
    Both the ombudsman and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) 
received complaints that police and prison officials subjected foreign 
inmates in the Nicosia central prison to discriminatory treatment as 
well as beatings and other forms of abuse. Foreign inmates also claimed 
that prison officials did not answer their calls for protection from 
fellow inmates and prevented them from reporting mistreatment without 
prison officials also being present. NGOs further reported that inmates 
incarcerated for nonviolent crimes were confined with dangerous 
criminals and rapists. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports 
that prison officials subjected Turkish Cypriots to discriminatory 
treatment.
    During the year overcrowding remained Nicosia central prison's 
greatest problem despite renovation and expansion. The prison's 
capacity was 340, although at times it held up to 670 inmates. 
Approximately 14 percent of the inmates were foreigners imprisoned for 
entering or living in the country illegally. The Government provided no 
assistance for the rehabilitation of drug abusers and only limited 
support for reintegration for former inmates.
    A March 29 report by the Council of Europe's (COE) commissioner for 
human rights noted that, while prison conditions were generally 
satisfactory, overcrowding remained a problem. The report also 
expressed concern over the Government's failure to provide facilities 
and resources for the psychiatric treatment of prisoners. The report 
noted government efforts to improve the professional training of the 
prison staff and the abolition of imprisonment for nonpayment of civil 
debt.
    A May 16 report by the COE's European Commission against Racism and 
Intolerance (ECRI) stressed that the continuing lack of a comprehensive 
immigration and integration policy resulted in a particular 
vulnerability for migrants, including domestic and other foreign 
workers, to human rights violations, exploitation and discrimination in 
detention centers. The report further stated that similar problems were 
experienced by asylum seekers, who confronted serious difficulties in 
exercising their rights. ECRI expressed concern with the extensive use 
of detention for both migrants and asylum seekers and the conduct of 
law enforcement officials, which included alleged cases of ill 
treatment.
    Juveniles were generally held separately from adults, although 
there were isolated exceptions due to overcrowding.
    The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights 
observers, and such visits, unrestricted and unannounced, occurred 
during the year.
    In September Cyprus Mental Health Commission President 
Christodoulos Messis criticized conditions at the Athalassa Psychiatric 
Hospital (see section 5).

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Cyprus police 
maintain internal security. The Greek Cypriot National Guard (GCNG), 
backed by a contingent of Greek military forces, is responsible for 
external and domestic security. The GCNG reports to the Ministry of 
Defense, which in turn reports to the President. The police report to 
the Ministry of Justice and Public Order. The President appoints the 
chief of police. The police force is composed of a headquarters with 
six functional departments, six geographic district divisions, 
including one inactive district for the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots, and seven police units that provide specialized services. 
Although there were reported cases of misconduct, there were no serious 
cases of police corruption or bribery.
    On April 5, the Council of Ministers appointed an independent 
committee charged with investigating complaints against the police 
concerning bribery, corruption, unlawful financial gain, violation of 
human rights, abuse of power, preferential treatment, and conduct 
unbecoming of police officers. Previously, the assistant chief of 
police for administration handled investigations and recommended 
appropriate disciplinary measures to the chief of police. In August the 
committee chair complained that the body could not handle the workload 
and suggested that it instead supervise investigations to be carried 
out by the police. In the first five months after its inception, the 
committee received 40 complaints. More than half of the complaints were 
dismissed because they could not be substantiated.
    There were 34 criminal investigations against members of the police 
during the year. Ten of the investigations were presented to a court; 
however, there was no information regarding the outcome of these cases.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicially issued arrest 
warrants, and authorities recognized this requirement in practice. 
Persons may not be detained for more than one day without referral of 
the case to a court for extension of detention. Most periods of 
investigative detention did not exceed 10 days before formal charges 
were filed. The Attorney General generally made efforts to keep 
pretrial detention to a minimum, especially in cases of serious crimes; 
however, aliens arrested for illegal entry without identification were 
detained indefinitely when authorities did not know where to deport 
them. Attorneys generally had access to detainees. Bail was permitted. 
The Government claimed the right to deport foreign nationals for 
reasons of public interest whether or not they had been charged with or 
convicted of a crime.
    By year's end there were fewer than 10 persons in detention 
awaiting trial.
    The Government arrested persons crossing the green line in 
possession of evidence of purchasing or developing Greek Cypriot 
property in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. On June 27, the 
Government arrested Turkish Cypriot architect Osman Sarper, crossing 
from the north to the south, who was allegedly found to be in 
possession of architectural blueprints for structures being built on 
Greek Cypriot properties in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. 
He was charged with intent to commit a crime, illegal possession and 
use of property, and attempt to conceal a crime, and was released on 
bail.
    On October 20, the Government passed a law making the purchase, 
rent, or sale of property without consent of the registered owner a 
felony. On November 18, the Government arrested a Russian couple in 
possession of a contract for the purchase of Greek Cypriot property in 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The wife, who had signed the 
documents, was charged under the new law with conspiracy to commit a 
felony and could face up to seven years' imprisonment. She was released 
on November 23 after paying bail of approximately $100,000 (50,000 
pounds). Her trial began on December 15 and was ongoing at year's end.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and constitution provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    Most criminal and civil cases begin in district courts, from which 
appeals may be made to the Supreme Court. There are no special courts 
for security or political offenses. There are military tribunals that 
have jurisdiction over members of the GCNG.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The 
constitution provides for public trials, albeit not by jury, and 
defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney 
in a timely manner. An attorney is provided for those who cannot afford 
one, and defendants are allowed the right to question witnesses against 
them and present evidence or witnesses on their behalf. The law also 
guarantees that defendants and their attorneys have access to 
government-held evidence related to their cases. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal. The Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary for civil matters, permitting claimants to 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations.

    Property Restitution.--By year's end, Turkish Cypriots had filed 35 
cases in the courts in an effort to reclaim property located in the 
government- controlled area.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede 
criticism.
    Opposition newspapers frequently criticized the authorities. 
Independent newspapers and periodicals proliferated. There were seven 
major daily newspapers, one weekly, and six major magazines. Several 
private television and radio stations competed effectively with 
government-controlled stations. International broadcasts were available 
without interference throughout the island, including telecasts from 
Turkey and Greece.
    On September 11, a customs officer at the Ledra Palace checkpoint 
searched the bag of Turkish Cypriot journalist Murat Kanatli. The 
chairman of the Cyprus Journalists' Union demanded a formal 
investigation into the incident, alleging that the journalist was being 
harassed for simply being Turkish Cypriot. Police said they suspected 
the journalist of carrying drugs.
    There were multiple reports of verbal harassment of Turkish Cypriot 
journalists by members of ultranationalist Greek Cypriot groups.
    In early November the Council of Ministers rejected a December 2005 
decision by the Board of Cyprus News Agency to appoint Christoforos 
Christoforou as its new director. Some newspapers and opposition 
parties attributed the rejection to Christoforou's authorship of 
articles criticizing the Government's policies regarding UN efforts to 
reunify the island culminating in 2004. The Cyprus Journalists' Union 
called on the Government to reverse its decision and approve the 
appointment.
    The Government imposed significant restrictions on Turkish (as 
opposed to Turkish Cypriot) journalists crossing the green line to 
cover news events in the government-controlled area.
    During the year Turkish Cypriot advertisers repeated claims 
initially made in 2004 by the vice chairman of the Turkish Cypriot 
Advertisers Association that Greek Cypriot newspapers refused to carry 
advertisements for businesses located in the area administered by 
Turkish Cypriots.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were generally no 
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; 
however, certain oversight efforts threatened academic independence and 
activities (see section 2.b.).

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law and constitution provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government respected it in practice.

    Freedom of Association.--The law and constitution provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected it in 
practice. However, parliamentary hearings purportedly aimed at 
providing government oversight over NGOs, especially those involved in 
bicommunal programs, threatened the independence and activities of such 
civil society groups, as well as academic institutions.
    Referring in part to the parliamentary hearings, the UN Secretary 
General's December report on country operations stated, ``[T]here has 
been a disturbing trend impinging on the ability of organizations and 
individuals to carry out activities and projects designed to contribute 
to bi-communal contacts and cooperation throughout the island. As a 
result, the UN, particularly [the UN Development Programme], has been 
hampered in its ability to support and implement such projects 
benefiting both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in areas of common 
concern.''

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law and constitution provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The law and constitution specify that the Greek Orthodox Church of 
Cyprus, which is not under the authority of the mainland Greek Orthodox 
Church, has the exclusive right to regulate and administer its internal 
affairs and property in accordance with its holy canons and charter. 
The law also states that the Turkish Cypriot religious trust, the 
Vakif, the Muslim institution that regulates religious activity for 
Turkish Cypriots, has the exclusive right to regulate and administer 
its internal affairs and property in accordance with Vakif laws and 
principles. No legislative, executive, or other act may contravene or 
interfere with the Orthodox Church or the Vakif. Armenian Orthodox, 
Maronite Christians, and Roman Catholics (``Latins'') are also 
recognized by the law and constitution.
    The Government required other religious groups to register as 
nonprofit companies if they desired to maintain a bank account or 
engage in other financial transactions.
    Missionaries have the legal right to proselytize, but the 
Government closely monitored missionary activities. It is illegal for a 
missionary to use ``physical or moral compulsion'' to make religious 
conversions. The police may investigate missionary activity based on a 
citizen's complaint. Police can also open an investigation if 
missionaries are suspected of involvement in illegal activities 
threatening the security of the Government, constitutional or public 
order, or public health and morals. No detentions or arrests were 
reported under these laws during the year.
    The Government required children in public primary and secondary 
schools to take instruction in the Greek Orthodox religion. Parents of 
other religions may request that their children be excused from such 
instruction and from attending religious services.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In May an NGO reported that it 
had filed complaints with the ombudsman's office and an independent 
investigatory committee regarding police treatment of Muslim asylum 
seekers. Some asylum seekers reportedly had difficulty securing 
employment, and one asylee alleged that he could not secure housing 
because of religious discrimination.
    On November 22, 15 to 20 Greek Cypriot teenagers, believed to be 
members of an ultranationalist group, National Voice of Youth with a 
Greek Soul, entered the grounds of the English School in Nicosia 
wearing masks and armed with planks of wood. They attacked a group of 
the school's Turkish Cypriot students, causing minor injuries. 
Incendiary reports in the Greek Cypriot press about an earlier incident 
at the same school, in which an 11-year-old male Turkish Cypriot 
student verbally insulted a Greek Cypriot student wearing a Christian 
cross, were blamed for inciting the latter event. The Government 
condemned the November 22 attack as an aberration, not indicative of a 
broader atmosphere of discrimination or racial hatred against Turkish 
Cypriots. Criminal charges were pending against 13 suspects in the case 
at year's end.
    Although Turkish Cypriots claimed that unused mosques in the 
government-controlled area had been vandalized, the Government 
routinely carried out maintenance and repair of mosques in the area 
under its administration. At year's end authorities still had not 
identified any suspects in an April 2005 vandalizing of a recently 
rehabilitated Turkish Cypriot cemetery in Larnaca.
    There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community 
included approximately 300 expatriate residents and fewer than 10 
Cypriots.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The Government did not restrict Greek Cypriots from traveling to 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but it generally discouraged 
them from spending the night at Greek Cypriot properties, gambling in 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, or buying or developing 
property there. The Government in many cases prohibited Turkish 
nationals from crossing from the area administered by Turkish Cypriots 
to the government-controlled area in the south (see section 2.a.).
    The Government allowed European Union citizens and citizens of 
other countries not subject to a visa requirement who entered Cyprus 
from ports of entry in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots to 
cross the green line into the government-controlled area; however, the 
Government maintained that all ports of entry in the area administered 
by Turkish Cypriots are illegal.
    Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were required to show 
identification cards when crossing the green line. Members of each 
community were required to obtain insurance coverage in the community 
where they planned to drive their vehicles. Turkish Cypriots flew in 
and out of Larnaca and Paphos airports without obstruction.
    The Government arrested persons crossing the green line in 
possession of contracts or blueprints related to purchasing or 
developing Greek Cypriot property in the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots (see section 1.d.).
    The Government issued 6,353 passports to Turkish Cypriots during 
the year.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although persons who were 
displaced as a result of the 1974 division of the island fall under the 
UN definition of IDPs, the Government considered them refugees. At 
year's end these people and their descendants numbered approximately 
238,000. Depending on their income, IDPs and their descendants are 
eligible for financial assistance from the Government. They have been 
resettled, have access to humanitarian organizations, and are not 
subject to attack, targeting, or return under dangerous conditions.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, although one NGO claimed that asylum seekers were 
deported. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    Qualified refugees were permitted to stay and given temporary work 
permits but were not granted permanent resettlement rights. During the 
year no refugees were deported, and authorities granted refugee status 
to 36 persons.
    The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may 
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol 
and provided it to 160 persons during the year. The Government 
generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and 
asylum seekers.
    According to the ombudsman and NGOs, the inmates in detention 
centers were exclusively foreign and often asylum seekers who were 
arrested for illegal entry. Similar to the previous year, the NGO 
Action for Equality, Support, and Anti-Racism maintained that police 
violated the law and the human rights of asylum seekers by carrying out 
illegal arrests, detentions, and deportations. The group claimed that 
authorities treated asylum seekers as illegal immigrants or economic 
migrants and jailed or deported them. Another local NGO reported that 
several asylum seekers made complaints to the ombudsman alleging they 
were physically and psychologically abused by police, and a third NGO 
claimed that asylum seekers complained about the denial of state 
medical care.
    In February 2005 the ombudsman recommended that the Government 
increase access to lawyers for detained asylum seekers, and in 2004 he 
recommended that the Government provide detained asylum seekers 
increased access to places where they could apply for asylum. Neither 
recommendation had been implemented by year's end.
    On May 4, Asian and Middle Eastern detainees, some of whom were 
asylum seekers and all of whom were being held as illegal immigrants, 
set fire to their cells in Nicosia central prison in protest of their 
long detention, more than 20 months for some. Five detainees and two 
police officers were sent to the hospital with injuries.
    A Kurdish man arrested in March 2005 when he applied for asylum was 
released. His asylum application was accepted, and he continued to 
reside in the country with his family.
    The May 2005 police shooting, allegedly in self-defense, of a 
Syrian asylum seeker was pending investigation by an independent 
criminal investigator appointed by the Attorney General. The coroner's 
investigation had not yet been completed at year's end.
    The May 2005 appeal of the Somali asylum seeker who claimed that he 
was illegally arrested and deported to Israel despite a pending asylum 
application was awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court at year's end.
    In December 2005 the press reported that three asylum seekers who 
married Cypriots were arrested when they withdrew their asylum 
applications after allegedly being advised by police or migration 
authorities to do so. The police denied having provided such advice. 
There were no further accounts regarding these asylum seekers, although 
a local NGO reported that some asylum seekers in the same situation 
were deported.
    The reception center for asylum seekers at Kofinou continued to 
accept only families in an attempt to increase the safety of women and 
children living in close quarters at the center.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law and constitution provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On May 21, elections were 
held for the 56 seats assigned to Greek Cypriots in the 80-seat House 
of Representatives. These elections marked the first time in decades 
that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area could 
vote and stand for election, in accordance with a 2005 European Court 
of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling. However, no Turkish Cypriot residing in 
the government-controlled area ran for the 24 seats reserved for the 
Turkish Cypriot community, and the Attorney General denied 78 Turkish 
Cypriots residing in the area administered by the Turkish Cypriots the 
right to run. The law affords the right to participate in elections 
only to Turkish Cypriots who habitually reside in the government-
controlled area. On April 28, two leading members of the group of 78, 
Ali Erel and Mustafa Damdelen, sued the Government for failure to fully 
reinstate the Turkish Cypriot community's rights to vote and run for 
election.
    Free and fair elections for local authorities were held on December 
17.
    Women held eight of the 56 seats filled in the House of 
Representatives as well as senior positions in the executive and 
judicial branches.
    There were no members of minorities in the House of 
Representatives, and the 24 seats assigned to Turkish Cypriots went 
unfilled. However, the small Armenian Orthodox, Maronite Christian, and 
Roman Catholic (``Latin'') communities elected special nonvoting 
observer representatives from their respective communities to the House 
of Representatives.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was one high-profile 
report of government corruption during the year. In November a local 
newspaper published the names of politicians who allegedly had asked 
the Ministry of Defense for favorable transfers of National Guard 
recruits. The list included prominent officials such as the President 
of the House of Representatives, members of the Council of Ministers, 
party leaders, and members of parliament. The President asked the 
minister of defense to investigate whether such requests constituted 
nepotism.
    The Government made no progress in the investigations of the May 
2005 allegations of nepotism directed at the former justice minister 
with regard to the hiring of prison staff or of the Government 
mismanagement outlined in a December 2005 auditor general's report.
    The 2004 charge against European Parliament member Marios Matsakis 
that he solicited a bribe from a police officer was dropped on October 
9; however, Matsakis continued to face the charge of illegally 
exporting historical artifacts.
    The constitution provides for the right of access to government 
information; however, there are no specific laws that assure public 
access. Civil servants were not allowed to give access to government 
documents without first obtaining permission from the relevant 
minister. There were no reported cases during the year of persons being 
denied access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. There is a government 
ombudsman, whose portfolio includes human rights, and a legislative 
committee on human rights.
    A number of NGOs considered themselves human rights groups; most, 
however, were concerned exclusively with alleged violations of the 
rights of Greek Cypriots by Turkey. NGOs with a broader human rights-
related mission included groups promoting migrant support and awareness 
of domestic violence and those concerned with allegations of police 
brutality. Domestic NGOs were numerous but had limited impact on public 
opinion or specific legislation. International NGOs active in Cyprus 
were few.
    The UN, through the CMP, continued its efforts to account for 
persons missing after the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the 
conflict of 1974 (see section 1.b.).
    On May 16, the ECRI released a report on trafficking in women and 
the rights of minorities and other vulnerable groups in the country.
    During the year the ombudsman received complaints from citizens and 
foreigners living on the island who believed their rights had been 
violated by the Government. During his independent investigations, the 
ombudsman generally enjoyed good cooperation with other government 
bodies. The ombudsman's annual reports focused on police brutality, 
treatment of patients at state hospitals and of asylum seekers and 
foreign workers, and gender equality in the workplace. The office of 
the ombudsman was well respected and considered effective; however, the 
Government had not implemented many of its recommendations.
    The legislative committee on human rights, which is generally 
considered by most local NGOs as effective, is made up of 10 members of 
the House of Representatives who serve five-year terms. The committee 
discusses wide-ranging human rights issues, including trafficking in 
persons, prison conditions, and the rights of foreign workers. The 
executive branch does not exercise control over the committee.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally effectively 
enforced it. However, violence against women, child abuse, trafficking 
in persons, discrimination against Turkish Cypriots living in the 
government-controlled area, and discrimination against Roma were 
problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was 
common. The law establishes clear mechanisms to report and prosecute 
family violence and provides that the testimony of minors and experts, 
such as psychologists, may be used as evidence to prosecute abusers. 
The law provides for prison terms for the abuse of family members. In 
contrast with previous years, a larger percentage of cases related to 
domestic violence charges resulted in convictions. Doctors, hospital 
workers, and education professionals are required to report all 
suspected cases of domestic violence to the police. However, many 
victims refused to testify in court, and by law spouses cannot be 
compelled to testify against each other. In cases of domestic violence 
where the spousal victim was the only witness and refused to testify, 
the courts were forced to drop the case.
    An NGO working with domestic abuse victims estimated a 7 to 8 
percent decrease in the number of telephone calls to its hot line 
compared to 2005. The NGO reported that, from January 1 to October 30, 
521 individuals, of whom 74 percent were women, 19 percent children, 
and 7 percent men, called claiming to be victims of domestic violence. 
The NGO also operated a shelter in Nicosia that served 51 victims of 
domestic violence during the same period.
    The law criminalizes rape and spousal rape with a maximum sentence 
of life in prison. Most convicted offenders received considerably less 
than the maximum sentence. The police indicated that there were 11 
convictions related to sexual assault charges during the year.
    The law does not prohibit ``voluntary'' prostitution; however, it 
is illegal to live off the profits of prostitution, and police 
routinely arrested pimps under this section of the criminal code. 
Procuring a woman for prostitution is a misdemeanor. The police 
reported five convictions on prostitution-related charges.
    Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace, but there 
were reports that it was a widespread problem with most incidents going 
unreported to authorities. During the year authorities investigated one 
of the country's ambassadors for sexually harassing two female 
employees at the overseas mission he headed. On December 20, the court 
found him guilty, and he was awaiting sentencing at year's end.
    Women generally have the same legal status as men under family law, 
property law, and in the judicial system. The Government agency tasked 
with the promotion, protection, and coordination of women's rights is 
the National Mechanism for Women's Rights under the Ministry of Justice 
and Public Order. Laws requiring equal pay for men and women performing 
the same work were enforced effectively at the white-collar level, but, 
despite a strong legal framework, the Ministry of Labor's enforcement 
was ineffective at the blue-collar level. Research from one NGO 
suggested that remuneration for female blue-collar workers was 25 to 30 
percent less than for their male counterparts.
    In February an NGO representing divorced mothers asked the 
legislative committee on human rights to approve new legislation to 
tackle the problem of collecting child support payments from delinquent 
fathers. During the year the same NGO worked with police to encourage 
collection efforts. The courts may garnish wages and assets and 
ultimately imprison persons to enforce child support payments.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare.
    The Government provided free education through the age of 18. 
Education was compulsory up to the age of 15, or nine years of 
education. Approximately 60 percent of children completed some form of 
university or other post-secondary education.
    Approximately 85 percent of the population was eligible to receive 
free public health care, and boys and girls had equal access to health 
care.
    Child abuse was a problem. The Welfare Department said the majority 
of cases, which increased over previous years, were linked to domestic 
violence, alcohol abuse, and psychological illness. The police reported 
that, as of the end of August, there were 18 criminal prosecutions 
pending before the courts for child abuse or sexual exploitation. In 
2005 a total of 44 cases of child abuse were prosecuted, resulting in 
26 convictions, four acquittals, and three dismissals. The rest were 
pending in the courts at year's end.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
with a specific focus on countering trafficking for sexual 
exploitation. It does not address internal or labor trafficking. 
Nevertheless, there were widespread reports that persons were 
trafficked to the country, and trafficking of women to the country for 
sexual exploitation continued to be a problem. There were also 
allegations of police corruption related to trafficking.
    The country was primarily a destination point for women trafficked 
for sexual exploitation, and authorities were aware of and generally 
tolerated the situation despite adoption in 2005 of a plan of action to 
combat trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of children. 
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of the country being 
used as a transit point for trafficking. The country was a destination 
for women trafficked from Eastern Europe, primarily Ukraine, Romania, 
Moldova, Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria, as well as the Philippines and 
the Dominican Republic. There was also one reported case during the 
year of a woman from Morocco. There was evidence that female victims 
coming from China on student visas engaged in prostitution and, in some 
cases, were victims of sexual exploitation. NGOs reported that female 
domestic workers from India and Sri Lanka were forced to work long 
hours. There were no reliable statistics on the number of trafficking 
victims; however, 81 women pressed charges during the year.
    Traffickers fraudulently recruited victims using the artiste 
employment permit category and often rotated victims between different 
cabarets and cities. In some cases, women reportedly were arbitrarily 
denied part or all of their salaries, forced to surrender their 
passports, and pressed into providing sexual services for clients. Some 
NGOs alleged that government officials with oversight and policing 
responsibility over the sex industry themselves frequented cabarets and 
nightclubs.
    It is a felony to engage in the sexual exploitation and trafficking 
of persons. The court may order persons convicted of trafficking to pay 
part or all of the expenses incurred for the provision of protection, 
temporary shelter, medical care, and psychiatric care for victims, as 
well as compensation to the victim, including repatriation expenses. 
The Ministries of Interior, Labor, Justice, and Commerce, and the 
Attorney General, share responsibility for combating trafficking, with 
the Ministry of Interior as the lead.
    During the year police arrested 110 individuals involved in cases 
related to prostitution and sexual exploitation. Of those, 83 were 
arrested specifically on trafficking charges. Police statistics showed 
that 41 cases were prosecuted, and police investigated an additional 17 
cases for possible prosecution. Of the 41 prosecutions, three resulted 
in acquittals, two were nolle prosequi, and five concluded in 
convictions with prison sentences ranging from four to 14 months. The 
remainder were being tried at year's end.
    The police participated and assisted in 24 international 
trafficking investigations.
    The law obligates the Government to provide protection and support 
for trafficking victims by allowing them to remain in the country to 
press charges or by facilitating their return to home countries. 
Victims may sue traffickers for damages. The law also requires the 
Government to provide shelter, medical, and psychiatric care to 
trafficking victims. The Government may appoint a guardian to advise, 
give counsel to, and represent the victim with the appropriate 
government agency. By year's end, police had identified 90 victims of 
trafficking, 81 of whom testified or pressed charges against their 
traffickers. As of October 31, government welfare services had provided 
financial aid, counseling, and temporary shelter to 84 victims.
    The Government maintained that most women who qualified as 
trafficking victims chose to return voluntarily to their home countries 
without testifying in court. There were reports that cabaret owners and 
agents for dancers pressured women to withdraw complaints to police or 
not to follow through with their intention to testify in court. Of 90 
women who requested police protection during the year, the Government 
reported that 59 returned to their home countries and 31 were waiting 
to testify at trials.
    NGOs that protect the rights of women and immigrant workers were 
available to assist trafficking victims and reported that they received 
one to two requests for assistance per month.
    The NGO Stigma in Limassol operated a shelter for trafficking 
victims funded in part by the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. A 
Russian-speaking psychiatrist was available to assist victims. During 
the year a total of 71 trafficking victims stayed in the shelter. Of 
these, 35 cooperated with the police and testified in court against 
their traffickers, nine gave testimony to police but chose repatriation 
before appearing in court, six were involved in cases under 
investigation, and the remaining 24 cooperated with police, but their 
testimony was not deemed adequate for substantiating cases against 
their traffickers. There was no formal referral process between the 
police and the shelter. Social welfare services typically housed 
victims in government-subsidized homes for the elderly or in hotels.
    An 18-year-old Ukrainian who in 2005 was fraudulently recruited to 
work in a rural cabaret and forced to have sex with clients testified 
in court against her employer. However, after the completion of her 
testimony, the Government did not respond to her request for a 
residency permit to remain and to work in the country. The trial was 
ongoing at year's end, and the Government had not yet responded to her 
request.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and in 
practice the Government generally enforced these provisions. The law 
mandates that public buildings and tourist facilities built after 1999 
be accessible to all; however, government enforcement of the law was 
ineffective, and older buildings frequently lacked access for persons 
with disabilities. Further, there are no appropriate institutions for 
adults who suffer from mental disabilities and are in need of long-term 
care.
    The amended People with Disabilities Law, which extended the 
ombudsman's authority to cover discrimination based on disabilities in 
both the private and public sectors, had not been fully implemented by 
year's end. Problems facing persons with disabilities included narrow 
or nonexistent sidewalks, lack of transport, and absence of parking 
spaces, accessible toilets, and elevators. The Government budget 
reportedly included approximately $90,000 (40,000 pounds) to improve 
access to government buildings.
    There were no long-term care facilities specifically for persons 
with mental disabilities, but many such persons were housed at the 
Athalassa psychiatric hospital. In September Cyprus Mental Health 
Commission President Dr. Christodoulos Messis criticized the hospital, 
calling it ``unacceptable.''
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance's Service for the Care 
and Rehabilitation of the Disabled was responsible for protecting the 
rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, the minister chaired 
the Pancyprian Council for Persons with Disabilities, which included 
representatives of government services, organizations representing 
persons with disabilities, as well as employer and employee 
organizations. The council monitored action for the protection of the 
rights of persons with disabilities and served as a forum for persons 
with disabilities to contribute to public policy.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reported incidents 
of government and societal discrimination against members of national 
and ethnic groups, particularly Turkish Cypriots and Roma.
    The 1975 Vienna III Agreement remains the legal source of authority 
regarding the treatment of Turkish Cypriots living in the government-
controlled area. The Government generally effectively enforced the 
agreement, which provides for the voluntary transfer of populations, 
free and unhindered access by UNFICYP to Turkish Cypriots living in the 
south, and facilities for education, medical care, and freedom of 
religion.
    Some Turkish Cypriots living in the government-controlled area 
reportedly faced difficulties obtaining identification cards and other 
government documents, particularly if they were born after 1974. 
Turkish Cypriots made few formal complaints to UNFICYP about their 
living conditions in the south. Complaints most often concerned the 
lack of affordable accommodation.
    After complaining repeatedly about the lack of a Turkish-language 
school in Limassol, the Turkish Cypriot teachers' union filed suit to 
guarantee the right of Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-
controlled area to an education in their native language. The Supreme 
Court trial began on May 5 but was adjourned several times and was 
scheduled to recommence on February 6, 2007. The Government stated 
that, according to surveys of Turkish Cypriots in the government-
controlled area, none had requested a Turkish-language school.
    A local NGO continued to report complaints that the Government 
ignored the law mandating automatic citizenship for children of Turkish 
Cypriots married to Turkish citizens. Instead of granting citizenship 
automatically, the Ministry of Interior routinely sought approval from 
the Council of Ministers before confirming the citizenship of such 
children. The Council of Ministers approved 113 cases during the year.
    The ombudsman's investigation into the September 2005 Ministry of 
Education decision to suspend from school all Romani children living in 
the Paphos District until they were tested for hepatitis was ongoing at 
year's end.
    There were repeated incidents of vandalism of Turkish Cypriots' 
vehicles, specifically at bicommunal activities, including the January 
18 Together for Peace and the February 13 Cyprus Literature Union 
events. There was also a physical attack on Turkish Cypriot students in 
Nicosia by a group of Greek Cypriot teenagers (see section 2.c.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Despite legal 
protections, homosexuals faced significant societal discrimination, and 
few homosexuals in the country were open about their sexual 
orientation. One NGO reported that there were complaints of 
discrimination toward homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS. NGOs were 
reluctant to initiate awareness campaigns.

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--The Government continued to 
use textbooks at the primary and secondary school levels that included 
inflammatory language derogatory of Turkish Cypriots and Turks. This 
was a particularly serious concern with history textbooks.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--All workers, except for members of 
the police and military forces, have the legal right to form and join 
unions of their own choosing without prior authorization, and workers 
did so in practice. Police officers were permitted to join only 
associations that have the right to bargain collectively but not to go 
on strike. More than 70 percent of the workforce belonged to 
independent unions. Antiunion discrimination is illegal, but union 
leaders contended that private sector employers were able to discourage 
union activity because the enforcement of labor regulations was 
sporadic and penalties for antiunion practices were minimal.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law provides 
for collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in 
practice; however, collective bargaining agreements were not legally 
enforceable. Collective bargaining agreements covered all workers, 
citizen and foreign, with the exception of housekeepers and cabaret 
workers; approximately 60 percent of workers were covered by such 
agreements. All workers have the right to strike; however, authorities 
have the power to curtail strikes in ``essential services,'' although 
this power was used rarely in practice. The law provides that members 
of the armed forces, the police, and the gendarmerie do not have the 
right to strike, but the right to strike is recognized for all other 
providers of essential services. There have been strikes in the past at 
government-run hospitals and airports, as well as by police; the 
Government did not take any actions against these workers. An agreement 
between the Government and essential services personnel provides for 
dispute resolution and protects workers in the sector.
    There are no special laws for or exemptions from regular labor laws 
in the export processing zone at the port of Larnaca.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum age for employment in 
an ``industrial undertaking'' is 16. Ministry of Labor inspectors are 
responsible for enforcing the child labor laws and did so effectively.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was 
approximately $800 (362 pounds) per month for shop assistants, 
practical nurses, clerks, hairdressers, and nursery assistants. The 
minimum wage rose to approximately $850 (385 pounds) after six months' 
employment. Neither amount provided a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family. All other occupations, including unskilled workers, 
were covered under collective bargaining agreements between unions and 
employers within the same economic sector. The wages set in these 
agreements were significantly higher than the minimum wage. Migration 
services of the Ministry of Interior set the starting salary for 
foreigners working as housekeepers at approximately $340 (150 pounds) 
per month, plus approximately $90 (40 pounds) for lodging if the worker 
was not a live-in, and an additional 16 percent, which employers were 
required to pay directly to the Government in the form of social 
insurance. Workers were not allowed to claim pensions unless they 
became citizens, although in some cases there were bilateral agreements 
that allowed workers to claim credit in their home countries. Unions 
and labor confederations generally effectively enforced negotiated wage 
rates (collectively bargained rates), which were generally much higher 
than the minimum wage. Migration services were responsible for 
enforcing the minimum wage for foreign workers but did not actively do 
so.
    The legal maximum workweek was 48 hours, including overtime. Unions 
and employers within the same economic sector collectively determined 
the actual working hours. In the private sector, white-collar employees 
typically worked 39 hours a week, and blue-collar employees worked 38 
hours a week. In the public sector, the workweek was 38 hours in the 
winter and 35 hours in the summer. The law does not require premium pay 
for overtime or mandatory rest periods; this is usually stipulated in 
the contracts of workers in larger sectors. Labor inspectors 
effectively enforced these laws.
    By law there was no premium pay for overtime for foreign workers; 
however, limits on workweeks are stipulated in their contracts and 
varied according to the economic sector.
    The Ministry of Labor experienced a substantial increase in the 
number of complaints of labor exploitation. Foreign workers, primarily 
from Eastern Europe and East and South Asia, reportedly were forced to 
work up to 13 hours a day, seven days a week, for very low wages. NGOs 
and the ombudsman also confirmed that employers often retained a 
portion of foreign workers' salaries as payment for accommodations.
    There were reports of mistreatment of maids and other foreign 
domestic workers. Such reports usually involved allegations that maids, 
primarily from East or South Asia, were mistreated by their employers 
or fired without cause in violation of their contracts. Although the 
law protects domestic workers who file a complaint with the Ministry of 
Labor from being deported until their cases have been adjudicated, NGOs 
reported that many of them did not complain to authorities out of fear 
of deportation.
    Health and safety laws apply to places of work in all economic 
sectors and were enforced by Ministry of Labor inspectors. Factory 
inspectors processed complaints and inspected businesses to ensure that 
occupational safety laws were observed. Their inspections were 
supported by close government cooperation with employer/employee 
organizations. However, the law does not apply to private households 
where persons were employed as domestic servants. Workers have the 
right to remove themselves from work situations that endanger health or 
safety without jeopardy to their continued employment, and authorities 
effectively enforced this right.

               THE AREA ADMINISTERED BY TURKISH CYPRIOTS

    Since 1974, the northern part of Cyprus, with a population of 
approximately 250,000 persons, has been run by a Turkish Cypriot 
administration that proclaimed itself the ``Turkish Republic of 
Northern Cyprus (TRNC)'' in 1983. The United States does not recognize 
the ``TRNC,'' nor does any country other than Turkey. Mehmet Ali Talat 
was elected ``President'' in April 2005 in free and fair elections. 
Elections to the ``Assembly of the Republic'' in February 2005 were 
also free and fair and resulted in the formation of a coalition 
government. The June 25 elections for two empty seats in 
``parliament,'' together with the municipal elections, were generally 
free and fair. The ``TRNC government'' was restructured in September 
when a minority coalition partner left. The ``TRNC constitution'' is 
the basis for the laws that govern the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots. Police and security forces were ultimately under the 
operational command of the Turkish military, per transitional article 
10 of the ``TRNC constitution,'' which cedes responsibility for public 
security and defense ``temporarily'' to Turkey.
    Turkish Cypriot authorities generally respected the human rights of 
citizens living under their control; however, there were problems in 
some areas. Police abuse of detainees and arbitrary arrest and 
detention continued to be problems. There were also restrictions on 
citizens' privacy rights and on the rights of asylum seekers. The 
``government'' proposed legislation to govern the treatment of asylum 
seekers, but by year's end there did not exist a regulatory 
infrastructure to handle asylum applications or specifically to protect 
the rights of asylum seekers. Trafficking in persons continued.
    With assistance from European Union experts, the authorities began 
to implement a program to improve the penal code. Also, a new ombudsman 
was appointed after a four-year vacancy.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the authorities or their agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    The authorities participated in the autonomous, tripartite (UN, 
Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot) UN Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) 
in Cyprus as part of its continuing efforts to account for persons who 
remained missing after the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the 
conflict of 1974. According to the CMP, 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502 
Turkish Cypriots remained missing.
    During the year the CMP verified a number of exhumations carried 
out previously by the ``TRNC.'' The remains were transferred to the CMP 
for identification. Exhumations continued in different parts of the 
island.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
reports that police abused detainees.
    Kudret Celebi, charged with rape (see section 5), claimed that he 
was tortured by police in November after his escape and recapture. 
Celebi said that police guards handcuffed him naked to a bunk and beat 
him, and that the guards forced him to walk through crowds of inmates 
so that they could hit him. After hearing Celebi's complaints, the 
judge ordered a medical examination of his person. No further actions 
by the authorities were reported.
    The authorities had no record of a complaint regarding a police 
beating reported by the press in September 2005. The press made no 
further mention of the case.
    Unlike in previous years, police did not prevent any public 
demonstrations.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, although there were some 
problems. Inmates complained of overcrowding at the prison, and the 
authorities publicly acknowledged the problem. In the 207-person 
capacity prison, there are 349 prisoners, 68 percent of whom are 
foreigners, mostly Turkish citizens. More than 40 percent of the 
prisoners were awaiting trial. According to press reports, the 
authorities were contemplating returning the Turkish prisoners to 
Turkey to overcome overcrowding, but no concrete action was taken.
    Violent offenders were generally kept separate from prisoners 
convicted of less serious crimes; however, juveniles were not held 
separate from adults.
    The authorities permitted prison visits by independent human rights 
observers and journalists.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the authorities generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are responsible 
for law enforcement. The chief of police reports to the Turkish Cypriot 
general holding the ``security portfolio,'' who is nominally under the 
supervision of the ``prime ministry.'' However, the police and security 
forces are ultimately under the operational command of the Turkish 
military per transitional article 10 of the ``TRNC constitution,'' 
which ``temporarily'' cedes responsibility for public security and 
defense to Turkey. Some politicians called for the police to be brought 
under the control of the civilian ``TRNC government,'' but there were 
no changes during the year. Despite this, security forces were 
generally cooperative with civilian authorities and effective in 
matters of law enforcement. The police are divided into eight 
functional divisions and five geographic divisions.
    The office of the ``attorney general'' continued to work in 
conjunction with the inspection division (or occasionally the criminal 
investigative division) to conduct investigations into allegations of 
police misconduct. There were no investigations resulting in the 
prosecution of officers for the abuse of detainees during the year.
    Two police officers, Salih Karahuseyin and Ufuk Derebeyler, 
arrested in September 2005 in connection with alleged narcotics 
trafficking, were released on bail the same month and fled the area 
administered by Turkish Cypriots. The authorities believed that the two 
escaped to the government-controlled area.
    The Iskele police chief, Veli Gurpinar, arrested in December 2005 
for collecting gambling debts for a criminal syndicate, was released on 
bail and temporarily suspended. The ``attorney general'' decided that 
there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case and reinstated 
Gurpinar.

    Arrest and Detention.--Judicially issued arrest warrants were 
required to arrest a person. No person could be detained for more than 
24 hours without referral of the case to the courts for extension of 
the period of detention. The authorities generally respected this right 
in practice. Also, detainees were promptly informed of charges against 
them, although individuals believed to have committed a violent offense 
were often held for longer periods of time without being charged. 
Judges could order that suspects be held for investigative detention 
for up to 10 days before formal charges are filed, or up to three 
months for those accused of serious crimes. Bail was permitted and 
routinely used. Detainees were usually allowed prompt access to family 
members and a lawyer of their choice. The authorities provided lawyers 
to the indigent for violent offenses only. Particularly at the time of 
arrest, police sometimes did not observe legal protections. Some 
suspects were not permitted to have their lawyers present when 
testimony was taken, in contravention of the law. Suspects who demanded 
the presence of a lawyer were sometimes threatened with stiffer charges 
or physically intimidated.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the authorities generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    Most criminal and civil cases begin in district courts, from which 
appeals are made to the ``Supreme Court.'' There were no special courts 
for political offenses. New legislation was passed transferring 
jurisdiction from military to civilian courts for cases in which 
civilians are accused of violating military restrictions, such as 
filming or photographing military zones.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The ``TRNC 
constitution'' guarantees public trials, the defendant's right to be 
present at those trials, and the defendant's right to consult with an 
attorney in a timely manner. The authorities provided lawyers to the 
indigent for violent offenses only. Defendants are allowed to question 
witnesses against them and present evidence or witnesses on their 
behalf. The law also guarantees that defendants and their attorneys 
have access to ``government''-held evidence related to their cases. 
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal. 
The authorities generally respected these rights in practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was generally an 
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters, permitting 
claimants to bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights 
violations. There were generally no problems enforcing domestic court 
orders.

    Property Restitution.--During the year Greek Cypriots continued to 
pursue property suits in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) 
against the Turkish government for the loss since 1974 of property 
located in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. Under ECHR rules, 
an appellant does not have standing to bring a case before the ECHR 
until that appellant exhausts all local remedies, unless no adequate 
local remedy exists. In response to the ECHR's December 2005 ruling in 
the landmark Xenides-Arestis case that Turkey's ``subordinate local 
authorities'' in Cyprus had not provided an adequate local remedy, 
Turkish Cypriot authorities established a new ``Property Commission'' 
to handle claims by Greek Cypriots. The Property Commission began 
reviewing Greek Cypriot claims in May and reportedly received more than 
80 applications. By year's end, three applicants had received outright 
restitution of their properties, while another seven had accepted 
compensation payments instead. In December the EHCR ruled that the 
commission had satisfied ``in principle'' the ECHR's requirement for an 
effective local remedy.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, there were 
reports that police subjected Greek Cypriots and Maronites living in 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots to surveillance (see section 
5). Although the authorities reported otherwise, a Maronite 
representative confirmed that houses in three enclaved villages were 
occupied by the Turkish military during the year.
    The case against a Turkish Cypriot man, Kamil Hur, who hung a 
Republic of Cyprus (ROC) flag outside his home in August 2005, was 
dropped. Contrary to his 2005 statements to the press, Hur did not sue 
the police.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the authorities generally respected these 
rights in practice; however, journalists were obstructed in their 
reporting, fined, and threatened with more serious charges.
    Individuals can and do publicly criticize the authorities without 
reprisal. There were no reports of the authorities attempting to impede 
criticism.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. International media were generally allowed 
to operate freely. Bayrak Radyo Televizyon Kurumu (BRTK) is the only 
``government''-owned television/radio station.
    In November two French journalists were arrested for filming in the 
military zone of Varosha near Famagusta and fined approximately $700 
(1,000 Turkish lira) each. A local press nongovernmental organization 
(NGO) paid their fines.
    In December eight Turkish Cypriot journalists were arrested while 
filming a house fire next to the military zone on the green line in 
Nicosia. The journalists were held for a few hours and subsequently 
released without charge.
    The 2003 criminal charges against five local journalists for 
criticizing the army were dropped.

    Internet Freedom.--The authorities did not restrict access to the 
Internet, and there were no reports that they monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The authorities did not 
restrict academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the 
authorities generally respected this right in practice.
    The charges against organizers of the 2003 demonstration in the 
village of Doganci were dropped.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the authorities generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the authorities generally respected this right in practice.
    Greek Cypriots and Maronites were still prohibited from visiting 
religious sites located in military zones. Greek Cypriots and Maronites 
were required to apply for permission to conduct church services 
anywhere other than the seven churches designated by the authorities.
    For the third year in a row, Turkish Cypriot authorities authorized 
Orthodox worshippers from the south to conduct a ceremony at St. Mamas 
Church in Morphou in September.
    Missionaries have the legal right to proselytize, but the 
authorities closely monitored such activities.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Greek Cypriots living in the 
government-controlled area continued to report that vandals damaged 
vacant Greek Orthodox churches and removed religious icons in the area 
administered by Turkish Cypriots; there were no reported investigations 
of these incidents.
    There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community is 
very small and composed primarily of nonresident businesspersons.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the authorities generally respected them in practice.
    Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were required to show 
identification cards when crossing the green line. In addition, Greek 
Cypriots and foreigners crossing into the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots were required to fill out a ``visa'' form. During the year the 
authorities did not enforce limitations announced in 2003 on duration 
of stay for Greek Cypriots.
    The authorities no longer maintained general restrictions on 
visitors to the 403 Greek Cypriots and 140 Maronites living in enclaves 
in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, although there were 
reports of specific refugees from the enclaved villages being barred 
from returning to their villages. A Maronite representative reported 
that the two Maronites barred from returning to their enclaved village 
in 2005 after visiting the government-controlled area were allowed to 
return.
    Turkish Cypriots had difficulty traveling to most countries because 
only Turkey recognizes travel documents issued by the ``TRNC.'' Some 
Turkish Cypriots used Turkish travel documents, but many obtained 
travel documents issued by the ROC.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the authorities did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although they would fall 
under the UN definition of IDPs, Turkish Cypriots considered those 
displaced as a result of the division of the island to be refugees. 
These persons and their descendants numbered approximately 90,000 to 
100,000. They were resettled, had access to humanitarian organizations, 
and were not subject to attack, targeting, or return under dangerous 
conditions.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the 
authorities did not grant refugee status or asylum, nor have they 
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, 
the authorities did not provide protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. 
Individuals who requested asylum were supposed to be directed to the 
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, the 
authorities' cooperation with the UNHCR was uneven due at least in part 
to complications arising from the unrecognized status of the ``TRNC.'' 
There were reports that the authorities refused entry to persons who 
arrived with or without proper documentation at ports of entry, denying 
them the opportunity to apply for asylum through the UNHCR.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides Turkish Cypriots the right to change their 
government peacefully, and they exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Turkish Cypriots choose a 
leader and a representative body every five years or less. In the 
February 2005 ``parliamentary'' elections, which were free and fair, 
parties favoring a solution to the division of the island based on the 
UN settlement plan, known as the Annan Plan, took a near majority of 
seats. A coalition ``government'' emerged and elevated Ferdi Sabit 
Soyer, one of the leading figures of the largest prosettlement party in 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, to the position of ``prime 
minister.'' Municipal elections held in June, together with by-
elections for two empty seats in ``parliament,'' were also generally 
free and fair. Soyer's coalition ``government'' collapsed in September 
but was quickly reformed with a different partner. Opposition 
politicians accused Soyer's party and the ruling Justice and 
Development Party in Turkey of using bribery to engineer the 
``government'' collapse, but no corroborating evidence emerged, and no 
formal investigation was opened.
    Greek Cypriots and Maronite residents were prohibited from 
participating in Turkish Cypriot ``national'' elections; they were 
eligible to vote in Greek Cypriot elections but had to travel to the 
government-controlled area to exercise that right. In December Greek 
Cypriot and Maronite communities in the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots directly elected municipal officials for the first time; 
previously, the ROC appointed these representatives. The Turkish 
Cypriot authorities did not recognize these ROC officials.
    The authorities did not restrict the political opposition, and 
membership or nonmembership in the dominant party did not confer formal 
advantages or disadvantages. However, there were widespread allegations 
of societal cronyism and nepotism.
    There were three women in the 50-seat ``parliament,'' including the 
``speaker.''
    There were no minorities represented in the ``parliament.''

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption, cronyism, and 
lack of transparency were generally perceived to be serious problems in 
the legislative and executive branches.
    The ``constitution'' provides for the right of free access to 
``government'' information; however, there are no specific laws that 
assure public access. Civil servants were not allowed to give access to 
``government'' documents without first obtaining permission from their 
directors or ``minister.'' There were no reported cases of persons 
being denied access to ``government'' information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without restriction from the authorities, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. The 
authorities often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    Local human rights groups were concerned almost exclusively with 
alleged violations of Turkish Cypriot rights by Greek Cypriots. NGOs 
with a broader human rights-related mission included groups promoting 
awareness of domestic violence, women's rights, and trafficking in 
persons. These groups were numerous but had little impact on public 
opinion or specific legislation. A few international NGOs were active 
in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but many were hesitant to 
operate there due to political sensitivities related to working in this 
unrecognized area.
    The UN, through the CMP, continued its efforts to account for 
persons who remained missing after the intercommunal violence beginning 
in 1963-64 and the conflict of 1974 (see section 1.b.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the authorities generally effectively 
enforced it; however, violence against women, trafficking in persons, 
and discrimination against Greek Cypriots and Maronites were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a 
problem. The law prohibits domestic violence; however, no cases of 
domestic violence were tried during the year, as claims were typically 
considered a family matter and settled out of court. Additionally, the 
authorities considered a case credible only if there was at least one 
witness in addition to the victim.
    The law provides for no minimum sentence for individuals convicted 
of rape, including spousal rape; the maximum sentence is life 
imprisonment. The authorities and police effectively handled and 
prosecuted rape cases, including cases of spousal rape. There were no 
NGOs to support rape victims.
    Kudret Celebi and Erkut Latif were arrested for raping a 14-year-
old girl in the village of Akdogan on February 11. Prior to the trial, 
the two men escaped from prison to the government-controlled area. They 
were caught in November and at year's end were in prison awaiting 
trial.
    Turkish taxi driver Mucahit Yanarates was sentenced March 22 to 
four years' imprisonment for raping Moldovan Mariana Gaiduc at Silver 
Beach in Famagusta in June 2005. Gaiduc, who worked as an dancer at the 
Gold Night nightclub in Famagusta, was picked up by Yanarates, who 
later raped her in a deserted beach area. Yanarates escaped from prison 
on June 7; media reported that he was captured by ROC police and 
deported to Turkey via Greece.
    The law does not specifically prohibit prostitution; however, 
encouraging or forcing a person to engage in prostitution is illegal, 
and procurement of a prostitute is a misdemeanor. The law designed to 
regulate the hiring of women at nightclubs and cabarets provides 
penalties for women and employers who ``partially or completely earn a 
living from prostitution.'' Unlike in previous years, there were no 
reports to indicate that Turkish military forces frequented nightclubs 
and cabarets.
    In July the Nicosia District Court ordered the first prostitution-
related imprisonment in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. 
After pleading no contest to the charges, the manager of Mexico 
nightclub, Mesut Kilicarslan, was sentenced to 15 days in prison for 
encouraging and profiting from prostitution.
    There were reports that women were trafficked to and within the 
area administered by Turkish Cypriots for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment; however, 
victims could pursue such cases under other sections of the law. Sexual 
harassment was not discussed widely, and any such incidents largely 
went unreported.
    Women generally have the same legal status as men under property 
law, family law, and in the judicial system. Laws requiring equal pay 
for men and women performing the same work were generally enforced at 
the white-collar level; however, women working in the agricultural and 
textile sectors were routinely paid less than their male counterparts. 
There were several NGOs, but no ``government'' agencies, that worked to 
protect women's rights.

    Children.--The authorities were generally committed to children's 
rights and welfare, although the Greek Cypriot school faced some 
obstacles.
    Education through the age of 15 was free and compulsory. 
Approximately 90 percent of children attended school up to the 
secondary level. Approximately 70 percent completed some kind of post-
secondary education.
    The Turkish Cypriot authorities continued to screen all textbooks 
sent to the Greek Cypriot Rizokarpasso Gymnasium, a primary and 
secondary school in the enclaved communities. Textbooks deemed 
derogatory were sent back to the government-controlled area, creating 
temporary shortages of up-to-date textbooks. A delay in the processing 
of work permits for the two teachers caused the school to open late. 
One teacher later quit reportedly due to regular harassment by the 
authorities.
    Boys and girls had equal access to publicly funded health care; 
however, patients faced long waits for services in public medical 
facilities. Access to health care by children of unregistered workers 
was no longer a problem because the authorities either registered or 
deported all illegal workers.
    There were no reported cases of child abuse; however, as with 
domestic violence, there were social and cultural disincentives to seek 
legal remedies for such problems.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons, and there were some reports that women were trafficked to and 
within the area administered by Turkish Cypriots for the purpose of 
sexual exploitation.
    The authorities issued worker ``visas'' to women, primarily from 
Eastern Europe, permitting their entry into the area administered by 
Turkish Cypriots to work in nightclubs and cabarets. There were 
credible reports that many of these women engaged in prostitution and 
that some women were coerced. The authorities acknowledged the 
existence of trafficking; however, they often confused it with human 
smuggling or illegal immigration. According to researchers, women 
working in nightclubs and cabarets often were sold by agencies that had 
advertised for models, babysitters, or elder caregivers. They also said 
that large casinos had offered women as ``gifts to their richest 
customers.'' In irregular raids on 45 nightclubs and cabarets, 204 
suspects were charged with 157 prostitution-related crimes.
    In April police assisted a Ukrainian victim of trafficking to leave 
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots when the Ukrainian Embassy 
said she had contacted her family to report abuse by her employer.
    The authorities examined the extent of the trafficking problem and 
began to offer some assistance to victims. In 2005 the ``Ministry of 
Health'' began collecting questionnaires on working and living 
conditions from nightclub and cabaret employees. In December 2005, the 
``ministry'' hired a Russian-speaking staff member to interview the 
women in private in order to investigate whether they were coerced or 
forced to engage in prostitution. In April the ``ministry'' established 
a hot line number for victims, but it did not publicize the number 
adequately. On December 10, the NGO Prologue Consulting Ltd. released a 
report concluding that many women working at nightclubs and cabarets 
had been trafficked. Release of the report sparked numerous press 
reports and public debate.
    The police reported that they had assisted international 
trafficking investigations through Turkish authorities.
    There were no NGOs available to provide assistance to trafficking 
victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and in 
practice the authorities effectively enforced these provisions. The 
``government'' employed 486 persons with disabilities and provided 
financial aid to 2,803 of the approximately 3,470 known persons with 
disabilities in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The law does 
not mandate access to public buildings and other facilities for persons 
with disabilities. A local NGO reported that this remained the greatest 
problem for persons with disabilities in the area administered by 
Turkish Cypriots.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits 
discrimination, and the 1975 Vienna III Agreement remains the legal 
source of authority regarding the treatment of Greek Cypriots and 
Maronites; however, the authorities' noncompliance with some of the 
agreement's provisions made daily life difficult for the 403 Greek 
Cypriot and 140 Maronite residents.
    Greek Cypriots and Maronites in the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots alleged that they were subject to surveillance, although less 
so than in previous years, and representatives of both communities 
complained that their telephones were tapped. Unlike in previous years, 
neither community reported the authorities breaking into their homes.
    Under the Vienna III agreement, the UN Force in Cyprus visited the 
enclaved Greek Cypriots weekly and the Maronites twice a month; any 
additional visits had to be preapproved by the authorities. Although 
the Vienna III Agreement provides for medical care by a doctor from the 
Greek Cypriot community, the authorities only permitted care provided 
by registered Turkish Cypriot doctors; enclaved persons also traveled 
to the government-controlled area for medical care.
    Greek Cypriots and Maronites were able to take possession of some 
of their properties but were still unable to leave any of their 
properties to heirs residing in the government-controlled area. The 
authorities allowed the enclaved residents to make improvements to 
their homes and to apply for permission to build new structures on 
their properties. Maronites living in the government-controlled area 
could use their properties only if those properties were not under the 
control of the Turkish military or allocated to Turkish Cypriots.
    A majority of foreign workers in the area administered by Turkish 
Cypriots were Turkish. One NGO reported that Turkish workers were often 
targeted by police investigations during the year, albeit less 
frequently after the authorities registered all foreign workers. The 
same NGO also reported that many Turkish workers lived in derelict 
buildings in Nicosia, with up to 20 persons sleeping in one room. Those 
working in the agricultural or construction sectors reportedly were 
forced to sleep on the ground, and those working at restaurants were 
seen sleeping after hours on chairs in the establishments where they 
work.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes 
homosexuality in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but a draft 
gay rights bill was being discussed in ``parliament'' at year's end. 
The new legislation would forbid discrimination against homosexuals and 
end the criminalization of homosexual behavior. Homosexuality remained 
highly proscribed socially and rarely discussed.
    There were no reports of discrimination against persons with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--All workers except members of the 
police and military forces have the legal right to form and join unions 
of their own choosing without prior authorization, and workers did so 
in practice. Approximately 1 percent of private sector workers, 60 to 
70 percent of semi-public sector workers, and nearly all public-sector 
workers belonged to labor unions.
    Some companies pressured workers to join unions led or approved by 
the company. Officials of independent unions claimed that the 
authorities created rival public sector unions to weaken the 
independent unions.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, and union 
leaders claimed that private sector employers were able to discourage 
union activity because the enforcement of labor regulations was 
sporadic and penalties--such as reassignment to an undesirable location 
or denial of promotion--for antiunion practices were nominal.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
authorities generally protected this right in practice. The law 
provides for collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in 
practice; however, collective bargaining agreements were not legally 
enforceable. The ``Ministry of Economy'' and union officials estimated 
that 98 percent of workers in the public sector, 60 to 70 percent of 
workers in the semipublic sector, e.g., the ``state'' university, and 1 
percent of workers in the private sector were unionized. Public and 
semipublic employees made up approximately 30 to 35 percent of the work 
force and benefited from collective bargaining agreements. Although the 
law provides for the right to strike, employers have an unrestricted 
right to hire replacement workers in the event of a strike, which 
limited the effectiveness of the right to strike. The law does not 
ensure due process for essential service workers and, in fact, states 
that judges and members of the police and the armed forces do not have 
the right to strike. The authorities have the power to curtail strikes 
in ``essential services,'' although this power was rarely used in 
practice.
    There are no special laws for or exemptions from regular labor laws 
in the export processing zone at the port of Famagusta.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The authorities 
prohibited forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). Legal 
and illegal migrant workers were subject to reduced wages or nonpayment 
of wages, beatings, and the threat of deportation (see section 6.e.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
authorities effectively enforced the laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace.
    The minimum age for employment in an ``industrial undertaking'' is 
16, and children may be employed in apprentice positions at 15. There 
were labor inspectors who enforced the law effectively. It was common 
in family-run shops for children to work after school, and children as 
young as 11 worked in orchards during school holidays.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As of August the minimum wage 
was approximately $600 (860 Turkish lira) per month, which did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Migrant 
workers were often offered substandard accommodation as part of their 
compensation or were made to pay for accommodation. The ``Ministry of 
Labor and Social Security'' is responsible for enforcing the minimum 
wage, and it was generally enforced. However, one NGO reported that 
legal foreign workers in general were paid below the minimum wage.
    The legal maximum workweek was 38 hours in the winter and 36 hours 
in the summer. Labor inspectors effectively enforced these laws, except 
in the case of migrant workers, who worked irregular hours and at times 
reportedly were required by their employers to work up to 14 hours per 
day, seven days a week. The law requires overtime pay, but it was not 
uniformly enforced.
    As part of an overall scheme to better regulate legal foreign 
workers, the ``Ministry of Labor'' and police routinely checked 
restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, casinos, and construction sites to 
make sure that workers had valid work ``visas,'' that they had signed a 
contract with their employers, and that working conditions were safe 
and sanitary.
    The authorities sporadically enforced occupational safety and 
health regulations. Although factory inspectors processed complaints 
and inspected businesses to ensure that occupational safety laws were 
observed, workers who filed complaints did not receive satisfactory 
legal protection and could face dismissal. Workers did not have the 
legal right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health 
or safety without risking their continued employment.

                               __________

                             CZECH REPUBLIC

    The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy of approximately 
10.2 million persons. The bicameral parliament elected as head of state 
President Vaclav Klaus, who then appointed Prime Minister Mirek 
Topolanek as head of government. Free and fair parliamentary elections 
held in June produced an even split between right and left parties, and 
as a result no government was able to receive a vote of confidence. 
However, a series of short-term governments executed routine government 
functions, and all officials adhered to constitutional procedures. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected and protected the rights of its 
citizens; however, problems continued to be reported. Lengthy pretrial 
delays remained a problem within the judiciary. Widespread corruption 
was a systemic problem and resulted in several high-profile corruption 
cases involving members of parliament and other government officials in 
nearly all political parties and at the highest levels of government. 
Many politicians avoided prosecution due to loopholes in the law. 
Violence against children was commonplace, and wage discrimination 
against women lingered as a problem in the workplace. Trafficking in 
persons both for sexual exploitation and forced labor continued. Random 
violence by neo-Nazis against Roma and other ``dark-skinned'' 
minorities was common. The growth of Romani ghettos and lack of 
equitable education for Romani children was especially concerning.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them. Use of 
excessive force by the police was not a problem, although there were 
occasional cases of abuse. There was one case of police mistreatment of 
Roma (see section 5).
    The office for the documentation and investigation of the crimes of 
communism (UDV) continued to investigate actions taken by government 
authorities and Communist Party members during the 1948-89 Communist 
regime and documented previous cases. According to the office, 190 
offenders were prosecuted in 96 criminal cases. Eight persons received 
two-to-five year prison sentences, and 21 persons received suspended 
sentences. As of the end of August, the office delivered to prosecutors 
95 indictment recommendations for 121 persons. Based on these 
recommendations counsel prosecutors indicted 100 persons. Twenty-five 
former Communist-era secret police (StB) officers were prosecuted for 
their participation in antidissident raids in the Asanace operation, a 
concerted campaign of harassment, torture, and abuse directed at 
opponents of the Communist regime during the 1970s and 1980s. Eighteen 
former secret policemen were sentenced to prison, with two additional 
sentences pending; five other cases remained under investigation. Since 
1989 the Government has convicted 90 former StB officials and sentenced 
26 to prison.
    Some politicians, mainly from the Communist Party, criticized and 
suggested closing the UDV without success. One Communist member of 
parliament, Josef Vondruska, was reported to have been involved in 
abuse of prisoners under the Communist regime. Although many abused 
political prisoners confirmed brutal treatment by Vondruska in the 
media, authorities did not bring legal charges against him.
    According to the Ministry of Interior, nearly 800 former StB 
officers remained in the national police. In October the deputy head of 
the Prague police admitted to being a former StB officer and resigned 
his position. In January and April, an appeals court upheld the 2005 
conviction of two former secret police agents on charges of torture and 
oppression of dissidents during the 1970s (Asanace operation) and 
increased their penalties from three to four years of imprisonment with 
supervision.
    In April 2005 in Prague the police mistreated two minor brothers, 
who had been detained on suspicion of passing out illegal posters. The 
brothers were taken to a station, stripped, forced to do push ups, and 
beaten to the point where one boy bled and had a concussion. The case 
was not pursued by the inspectorate of the Interior Ministry; however, 
the League of Human Rights appealed the decision. During the year the 
two police officers involved were convicted of abuse and forced to 
resign their positions. The first officer was sentenced to 15 months' 
imprisonment, three years of probation upon release, and a three-year 
bar on serving in the military or the police. The second officer 
involved was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and one year of 
probation.
    In a case of police brutality alleged by a Briton and a New 
Zealander in 2004, the judiciary considered the appeal but sustained 
the dismissal due to a lack of evidence.
    On May 1, during a large neo-Nazi march in Prague, Katerina 
Jacques, who at that time was head of the Government's human rights 
section and later became a Green Party member of parliament, was beaten 
and kicked by policeman Tomas Cermak when she refused to stop 
protesting against the neo-Nazis. Photos of the incident showed Jacques 
on the ground being struck by Cermak before being arrested. Police also 
detained the reporter who photographed the incident. Ten policemen, who 
were nearby but did not intervene, were under investigation. In June 
the local heads of police were demoted and the President of the police 
was denied promotion. Cermak's salary was reduced 10 percent for one 
month. In August inspectors for the Ministry of Interior recommended 
that Cermak be tried for abuse of office, violation of personal 
liberty, and assault. In September the Interior Ministry inspection 
unit dismissed the case against the policemen who watched and did 
nothing while Cermak beat Jacques. In November the state attorney 
decided against prosecuting Cermak, concluding that Cermak's behavior 
``constituted no crime.''

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. In March-April the 
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or 
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited the country. The CPT 
noted prison overcrowding and lack of space for individual prisoners as 
a continuing issue and recommended that the prisons and detention 
facilities work to meet the minimum norm of 12 feet square per 
prisoner. The CPT also highlighted the need to ensure that nonviolent 
prisoners are not held in cells with prisoners convicted of violent 
crimes.
    The Czech Helsinki Commission in April found that while prisons met 
domestic regulations, half of the country's prisons were filled beyond 
capacity and as such did not meet international standards for physical 
conditions and activities available for prisoners.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are 
responsible for enforcing the law and maintaining order, and they were 
generally effective in doing so. The internal security service, an 
intelligence and information gathering service with no powers of 
arrest, reports to parliament and to the Prime Minister. Police 
corruption was a problem. The Ministry of Interior oversees the police, 
and the ministry's inspectorate is responsible for investigating 
allegations of police misconduct, although this system was been 
criticized for its lack of independence. The Government continued to 
implement police reforms that included oversight measures, improved 
methods for reporting corruption, and better education and training for 
police. Impunity was not a problem.
    According to the Ministry of Interior, police conducted 65 bribery 
investigations in the first half of the year and investigated 48 public 
officials for abuse of authority. During the same period, Ministry of 
Justice records indicated that 38 public officials were convicted of 
crimes relating to abuse of their authority, and eight were sentenced 
unconditionally. In addition, 43 offenders were convicted for bribery-
related offenses, but only four were sentenced to prison with sentences 
of up to five years. Many observers were dissatisfied with the 
investigators' focus on minor cases of corruption and with the 
generally ineffective investigations and prosecutions of larger-scale 
malfeasance.
    In February the biggest criminal trial in the history of the 
country started in the Prague Municipal Court. Thirty-six members of 
so-called Berdych gang, including five police officers, were accused of 
36 different crimes including theft, extortion, murder, and kidnapping. 
The head of the gang, David Berdych, was convicted and sentenced to 
nine years in prison; other gang members received sentences ranging 
from eight to 14 years in prison. The trial continued through the end 
of the year due to the large number of witnesses.
    The Government increased awareness among police and prosecutors of 
racially and ethnically motivated crimes by integrating Roma-specific 
issues into training programs, gathering data on victimization rates, 
and researching antiextremist strategies. Police and prosecutors 
continued to show greater awareness of the seriousness of crimes with 
racial and ethnic motivations, but observers nevertheless criticized 
the effectiveness and timeliness with which such crimes were 
investigated. During the year the Government continued efforts to 
recruit Roma to serve in law enforcement and to improve police 
relations with the Romani community.

    Arrest and Detention.--Persons suspected of crimes were apprehended 
openly, with warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a 
prosecutor, and brought before an independent judiciary. Police may 
detain persons without charge for up to 48 hours, during which time 
they have the right to counsel at government expense, although they may 
not contact family members. After 48 hours, police must have 
determination from a judge and prosecutor that the suspect will be 
charged before they can detain the suspect further. When the judge and 
prosecutor decide to charge the suspect, the suspect may contact family 
members. In some instances a judge may allow a person to be detained 
for up to 90 days before charges are formally filed to allow further 
criminal investigation (investigative detention). The law provides for 
bail except for certain serious crimes or to prevent witness tampering.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Under the law, except for 
``exceptionally grave'' offenses, pretrial detention may last no longer 
than two years. According to prison service data in July, the average 
length of detention was 145 days. Twenty-seven detainees, or 
approximately 1.1 percent of the pretrial detainee population, had been 
held for over two years. A suspect may petition investigating 
authorities at any time for release from detention.

    Amnesty.--During the year the President granted 21 persons amnesty 
for humanitarian reasons. Individuals were released from prisons or in 
many cases granted amnesty from deportation and released from detention 
centers.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice; however, judicial effectiveness 
continued to be hampered by political influence, structural and 
procedural deficiencies, and a lack of training and resources. There 
were allegations of judicial corruption, particularly surrounding 
bankruptcy and commercial courts.
    The court system consists of district, regional, and high courts. 
The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal, but a separate 
Constitutional Court adjudicates the constitutionality of legislation. 
Judges are nominated by the minister of justice and appointed for life 
by the President. The senate confirms Constitutional Court judges. 
Defendants may appeal the decisions of the district courts through 
several judicial layers to the Supreme Court. Noncriminal cases are 
handled by the administrative court system, of which the highest court 
is the Supreme Administrative Court.
    During the year several events occurred that continued to damage 
public perception of the judiciary's independence from political 
influence. In February President Klaus removed the chairwoman of the 
Supreme Court, Iva Brozova, from her post, stating that she was not 
satisfactorily performing her duties. Chairwoman Brozova sued and won 
reinstatement in September under a ruling by the Constitutional Court, 
which stated that the President lacked the authority to remove Brozova.
    In April 2005 in Usti nad Labem, regional court judge Jiri Berka 
was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy and fraud. This was 
the first case of a judge being indicted for conspiracy: under the law 
any arrest of a sitting judge must be approved by the President. The 
trial began in February and was expected to take more than a year since 
there are eight other defendants, including the head of the National 
Security Office. The Government alleged that the criminal gang 
surrounding Berka embezzled nearly $13.7 million (300 million crowns) 
from domestic companies.
    The Ministry of Justice operated a hot line for citizens to report 
suspected judicial corruption. Through June, the hot line received 18 
calls, compared with 57 calls in 2005 and 263 calls in 2004. Through 
June, the ministry received 26 written complaints of corruption, 
compared with 47 in 2005 and 137 in 2004. Observers attributed the 
public's decreasing use of the hot lines to the plethora of hot lines 
and a lack of confidence that the accused would be punished. Nearly 
every government ministry and many cities have sponsored their own 
anticorruption hotlines. Of all corruption complaints received, 26 
percent concerned judges, 7 percent involved prosecutors, and 66 
percent concerned other officials. The ministry resolved 66 percent of 
all reports directly, while 12 percent were forwarded to the corruption 
police for further investigation.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right.
    Trials are public, but juries are not used. Instead, a panel of 
judges rule on guilt or innocence in serious cases, with all other 
cases heard by a single judge. Defendants have the right to be present 
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner and at state 
expense. Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them and 
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and 
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to 
their cases. Defendants are presumed innocent and have a right of 
appeal. The law extends these rights to all citizens.
    There was a significant backlog of cases, but in certain areas the 
situation improved. For example, in 2005 the commercial courts adopted 
more simplified procedures, such as allowing electronic filing of 
certain documents, which reduced their wait time from months to weeks. 
During 2005 the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) received 
approximately 1,000 complaints from citizens, mostly related to the 
extended length of court proceedings.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Government maintains 
an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Access to 
courts to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human 
rights violations is not impeded. Administrative and judicial remedies 
for alleged wrongs are available.

    Property Restitution.--The 1991 Law on Restitution applied only to 
property seized after the Communists took power in 1948. In 1994 
parliament amended the law to provide for restitution of or 
compensation for property wrongfully seized between 1938 and 1945. This 
amendment provided for the inclusion of Jewish private properties, 
primarily buildings, seized by the Nazi regime. Both the amendment and 
the original law require the claimants to be Czech citizens. This 
citizenship restriction unfairly impacted Czechs who obtained 
citizenship in the United States, as these naturalized citizens were 
required to forfeit their Czech citizenship under the terms of a 1928 
treaty between the two countries. The treaty was finally abrogated in 
August 1997, by which time the 1992 and 1995 deadlines for filing 
claims had already passed. There were also claims outstanding for some 
Jewish communal properties (see section 2.c.).
    In November the Government extended financing of the Center for 
Documentation of Property Transfers of Cultural Assets of Holocaust 
Victims for five years. At the same time, parliament approved an 
amendment to the law on restitution which abolishes the deadline for 
filing art-related claims. The President signed the amendment in 
November. Except for art restitution, the deadlines in other fields of 
restitution had expired.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. 
However, there were reports of local governments using various methods 
to evict Romani residents. The Government continued to investigate 
allegations of forced sterilization of Romani women, without informed 
legal consent, in previous years and prosecuted accused perpetrators.
    Several cases involving the alleged sterilizations of Romani women 
proceeded in the courts. In 2004 the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) 
accused the Government of continuing the forced sterilization policies 
of the former Communist regime. The ERRC and its partners asserted that 
this practice continued well after the fall of the regime and argued 
that often the victim's consent was either not obtained at all or was 
obtained under circumstances that rendered informed consent impossible.
    Over the last 30 years a total of 87 women (approximately 10 of 
whom were non-Roma) have complained about forced sterilizations to the 
office of the ombudsman for human rights. In December 2005 the 
ombudsman published a report on the sterilization issue that 
recommended restitution to the victims. The ombudsman also referred 
five cases against health systems workers and administrators for 
further criminal investigation and possible prosecution in 2005. While 
investigations were ongoing, the Government had otherwise not acted on 
the ombudsman's recommendations.
    In November 2005 the district court in Ostrava ordered the Ostrava 
hospital to apologize to Helena Ferencikova, a Romani woman sterilized 
in 2001 following the birth of her second child. Ferencikova appealed 
the decision in order to seek monetary damages. The case was ongoing at 
year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic 
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press. The independent media were active and 
expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
    The law mandates prison sentences of six months to three years for 
persons who deny Communist crimes or the Nazi Holocaust. Speech 
inciting hatred based on race, religion, class, nationality, or other 
group affiliation is also illegal and carries a sentence of up to three 
years in prison.
    The Government can enforce legislation banning hate speech by 
stopping unauthorized concerts, gatherings, or activities. In contrast 
to 2005, police did not halt concerts affiliated with neo-Nazi groups.
    Denis Gerasimov, who was charged by police in 2004 for having Nazi 
propaganda in his bag, was first found innocent in 2004. His second 
trial concluded in April 2005 and resulted in another acquittal. He was 
allowed to return to Russia, but another trial was planned for 2007.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. According to the Government statistical office, 47 percent of 
persons age 10 and older reported using the Internet in the last three 
months of the year, and 70 percent of the population under the age of 
55 reported using the Internet regularly.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, 
the Government may legally restrict meetings that promote hatred and 
intolerance, advocate the suppression of individual or political 
rights, or jeopardize the safety of participants. Permits normally are 
required for demonstrations, but police did not interfere with 
spontaneous, peaceful demonstrations during the year.
    In August the police halted a neo-Nazi march in front of the 
Israeli embassy in Prague and arrested many of the participants, 
finding that many possessed weapons. No updates were available at 
year's end.
    During the year there were rallies in several cities throughout the 
country organized by neo-Nazi and skinhead organizations. On May 1, the 
largest rally occurred in Prague, where more than 400 skinheads 
demonstrated and shouted fascist slogans.
    The Government may enforce legislation banning hate speech by 
stopping unauthorized concerts, gatherings, or activities. In December 
police terminated a late-night concert of approximately 120 neo-Nazis 
in Ceske Budejovice when one of the bands played racist music. The 
police arrested seven persons for inciting hatred of a group of persons 
or of limiting their rights and freedoms. There were no updates at 
year's end.
    In July 2005 several hundred police in the western town of Mlynec 
forcefully dispersed individuals at an annual outdoor techno concert 
called ``CzechTek'' because the concert had not been adequately 
registered. Many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and observers 
alleged that police used excessive force in breaking up the concert. 
Dozens of injuries among both concertgoers and police resulted, and 
many fans were arrested. Following an outcry by media and human rights 
groups, the Interior Ministry initiated an investigation into the 
incident and cleared the police leadership of wrongdoing. In January 
then prime minister Paroubek and then interior minister Bublan refused 
to submit a report on the actions of the police during CzechTek. The 
ombudsman launched an independent investigation into the affair 
following widespread criticism of the crack-down. In January the 
ombudsman's office formally criticized the police for excessive use of 
force. Four policemen from the city of Cheb were accused of being 
especially harsh in dealing with concertgoers. The Ministry of Interior 
Inspection Office closed the case against the police, but the supreme 
prosecutor reopened the investigation in August. The supreme 
prosecutor's investigation was ongoing at year's end. The main 
organizer of the concert was tried for destruction of property but was 
found not guilty in October. The case against a second concertgoer was 
ongoing at year's end.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. Organizations, associations, foundations, and 
political parties were required to register with local officials or the 
Interior Ministry. The law prohibits political party activities on 
university campuses, but students are permitted to form their own 
political groups.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    All religious groups officially registered with the Ministry of 
Culture are eligible to receive limited tax benefits and government 
subsidies. In order to qualify for first-tier status, which provides 
tax exemption, groups must have 300 adult permanent resident members. 
If a group wishes to attain the second-tier registration level, which 
confers specific additional rights (such as teaching religion in state 
schools, delegating persons to perform clerical activities in the 
military, qualifying for government financial subsidies, and being 
entitled to perform marriages and establish church schools), the group 
is required to have been registered for 10 years and to obtain 
signatures equal to one per every 1,000 citizens based on the last 
census, or approximately 10,200 signatures. Very few smaller or less-
established religions were able to obtain the required signatures to 
obtain second-tier registration. Several unregistered religious groups 
criticized the law as discriminatory against smaller religions. 
Religious organizations also have the option to register as a civic 
association rather than go through the tiered registration process. 
Religious groups registered prior to 1991, such as the small Jewish 
community, are not required to meet these conditions for registration. 
There were 26 officially recognized religious groups, of which nine 
were officially permitted to teach in state schools.
    The Armenian Apostolic Church was in the final process of being 
registered.
    The Muslim community, which was registered in 2004, applied to the 
Ministry of Culture for an exemption that would permit accelerated 
second-tier registration status. The community sought the right to hold 
classes on Islam in schools, have spiritual leaders in the army and 
prisons, administer schools, and conduct weddings. The application was 
denied based on opposition from the ministries of interior, justice, 
education and defense.
    Unregistered religious groups were free to assemble and worship as 
they chose, and their members issued publications without interference. 
Unregistered religious groups may not legally own communal property, so 
they often formed civic-interest associations for this purpose.
    In January, 25 mainly Christian Democratic senators submitted to 
the Ministry of Culture a complaint against the November 2005 amended 
Church Law on the establishment and regulation of church-sponsored 
activities, including schools and churches. The senators asserted that 
the new law violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
    There was no progress regarding the 2004 plans by the Muslim 
community to construct mosques in Teplice and Orlova. The Muslim 
community did not submit construction plans to Teplice's construction 
department and the plan to build a mosque in Orlova seemed to have been 
abandoned altogether.
    Although the Government was committed to the restitution of Jewish 
and Catholic property seized under Nazi or Communist governments, the 
restitution of Catholic property was extremely slow and contentious in 
practice. In September the Supreme Court upheld rulings by the Prague 
City Court and Prague District Court that St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague 
Castle belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and not the state. The 
Church and the state fought over ownership rights of the cathedral for 
more than 13 years. While most communities returned private properties 
to their Jewish owners, some cases remained outstanding. During the 
year legal proceedings concerning the ownership of two religious 
properties began between the Brno Jewish community and the state. The 
proceedings were ongoing at year's end.
    Under a 2000 law, stolen works of art, including religious art, 
were to be claimed by December. On November 3, the Government extended 
financing of the Center for Documentation of Property Transfers of 
Cultural Assets of Holocaust Victims for the next five years. Parallel 
to that, parliament approved an amendment to the law on restitution 
that abolished the December deadline for filing art-related claims. The 
President signed the amendment on November 30. Except for art 
restitution, the deadlines in other fields of restitution expired.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country had a Jewish 
population of several thousand persons. In general, public expressions 
of anti-Semitic sentiment were extremely rare, and Holocaust denial 
investigations and prosecutions were vigorously pursued by authorities. 
A small but persistent and fairly well-organized extreme right-wing 
movement with anti-Semitic views existed in the country. The Ministry 
of Interior continued its efforts to counter neo-Nazis, which included 
monitoring of their activities, close cooperation with police units in 
neighboring countries, and concentrated efforts to shut down 
unauthorized concerts and gatherings of neo-Nazi groups.
    There were a few anti-Semitic incidents during the year, including 
reports of a large-scale attack planned against the Jewish community. 
For example, in March a nonactive synagogue in Krnov was vandalized 
with signs praising the Holocaust. In April obscenities directed 
towards Jews were spray-painted on a villa that belonged to a well-
known Jewish family before the Second World War. On May 1, a large neo-
Nazi march took place in Prague; police beat and kicked a human rights 
leader who was protesting against the neo-Nazis (see section 1.c.). In 
October vandals stole a bronze plaque from a former Nazi concentration 
camp outside Prague honoring the victims of fascism. Vandals also 
destroyed or damaged several tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in 
Hroznetin. Police investigation of these crimes resulted in no arrests.
    In October a leading newspaper reported that the intelligence 
establishment had increased measures to prevent an alleged plot to 
kidnap and murder dozens of Czech Jews. Reportedly, Muslim extremists 
affiliated with an unnamed group planned to abduct Jewish residents of 
Prague and hold them hostage in the Jerusalem Synagogue, stage 
negotiations, then blow up the synagogue with its occupants. The 
Government did not comment on these reports; however, it temporarily 
raised the national terrorist alert level and increased security near 
the most prominent Jewish institutions as well as other sites of 
security concern.
    On November 18, at a concert attended by 250 skinheads held near 
Tabor, one of the participants gave the Nazi salute. There was no 
police intervention.
    During the year police closed their investigations of the 2005 
cases of vandalism of a synagogue and three Jewish memorials after 
being unable to identify the perpetrators. The cases involved vandalism 
of a Holocaust memorial in Teplice in August, the destruction of 
several doors and windows at a synagogue in Krnov and defacing of 
gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Velky Pecin in September, and the 
defacing of a commemorative stone dedicated to a Jewish artist in 
Jihlava in October. Local Jewish organizations believed that police had 
conducted thorough investigations but understood that perpetrators in 
vandalism cases were difficult to apprehend.
    There were several hate groups in the country that advocated 
violence against Jews. One neo-Nazi group, Narodni Odporu, petitioned 
President Klaus in August for permission to fight with the Iranian 
military against Israel and threatened violence against Jews and 
synagogues in the country if permission was denied.
    The city of Prague declared 2006 as the year of Jewish culture 
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. For 
humanitarian reasons, in December 2005 the Government resettled 15 
Uzbek refugees.
    In 2005 the Government also provided temporary protection to 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and the 1967 Protocol and provided it to approximately 78 persons 
during the year.
    The law establishes a list of ``safe countries of origin'' from 
which applicants are unlikely to be granted refugee status, but it does 
not automatically bar such applications. Applicants whose cases were 
denied could appeal to the appropriate regional court. In May 2005 
parliament amended the law to require regional court decisions to be 
reviewed by a five-judge panel, which refers cases requiring further 
attention to the Supreme Administrative Court. This was done to 
streamline the asylum process and decrease abuse of the system by 
illegal migrants. The amended law also stipulates that only exceptional 
cases may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court following a 
rejection by the regional court.
    In 2005 the Constitutional Court issued a decision that either 
asylum hearings be conducted in a language comprehensible to the 
applicant or that the Government provide an interpreter. The Government 
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and 
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum 
seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national 
elections were held in June for the Chamber of Deputies, the lower 
chamber of the parliament and in October for the seats in the Senate 
and municipal government posts. Both elections were considered free and 
fair. Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election.
    On April 24, not long before national elections in June, skinheads 
violently attacked and swore at Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party 
Jiri Dolejs near the Prague metro due to his high standing in the 
Communist Party. The perpetrators in the attack were not caught or 
punished (see section 5).
    Women and ethnic minorities were generally underrepresented in 
politics and government. There were 30 women in the 200-seat Chamber of 
Deputies and 10 women in the 81-seat Senate. There were two women in 
the 15-member Cabinet and five women on the 15-member Supreme Court.
    There were no members of minorities in the 200-seat Chamber of 
Deputies, the 81-seat Senate, or the 15-member cabinet. One justice on 
the Constitutional Court was an ethnic Slovak. Of the estimated 200,000 
to 250,000 Roma in the country, few were integrated into political life 
(see section 5). Few Roma served in local government, although some 
were appointed to advisory positions in government ministries, and each 
region appoints a Romani coordinator to monitor and mediate problems 
affecting the Romani community.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Throughout the year 
corruption and abuse of office remained major problems. Numerous polls 
highlighted public concern with corruption and low levels of public 
trust in the integrity and honesty of both government officials and 
political parties. The perception of widespread corruption and official 
abuse has fostered an environment of public mistrust of mainstream 
political parties. The poll by the Growth from Knowledge (GfK) Agency 
in June indicated that only 18 percent of respondents trusted political 
parties. Transparency International reported in September that 
procurement statutes were complicated and vulnerable to manipulation, 
that oversight mechanisms were weak, and that public procurement laws 
were generally ineffective. Biannual governance and anticorruption 
studies compiled by the World Bank have charted substantial and steady 
deterioration in the country since 1996 in indices of government 
effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of 
corruption. The World Bank's July report reported that bribery was on 
the rise and estimated that more than a quarter of businesses bribed 
public officials in order to receive preferential treatment in securing 
public tenders. Charges of corruption pervaded politics in the country 
and were levelled against nearly all political parties at the highest 
levels of government.
    Political pressure and ineffective police investigative tools 
contributed to the lack of prosecutions of high-level corruption cases. 
For example, under the law there is no obligation for a suspect to 
prove the origination of his assets. Since the end of Communism there 
have been no convictions of high-level individuals for corruption. Many 
politicians have been able to avoid prosecution due to loopholes in the 
law.
    In January member of parliament and Social Democratic Party whip 
Michal Kraus was accused of money laundering, fraud, and circumventing 
bankruptcy proceedings after he helped an accomplice invest money in 
cocoa plantations in Ghana. That same month, Kraus gave up his seat in 
parliament and left politics. The police investigation continued, 
although no charges had been filed by year's end.
    Having been stripped of parliamentary immunity, member of 
parliament Vladimir Dolezal was investigated and later accused of 
corruption. The first indictment in March was withdrawn by the 
prosecutor and the case was reinvestigated. He was re-indicted in 
September for assisting in attempted bribery. He was accused of 
demanding $35,000 (800,000 crowns) from businessmen on behalf of a 
Prague district counselor on a local zoning commission.
    In July a member of the board of directors of the Czech 
Consolidation Agency, a government institution that buys problematic 
assets and loans from state-owned companies and banks to assist through 
restructuring, and several other individuals were arrested and charged 
with large-scale corruption for insider trading and bribery. The group 
was allegedly bribed to sell bailout claims to other entities at prices 
much lower than their real value. The police seized more than $19 
million (420 million crowns) in accounts held by the three main 
suspects and froze securities worth more than $11 million (250 million 
crowns).
    The head of the police unit fighting organized crime, Jan Kubice, 
was accused by the Interior Ministry Inspection Office of abuse of 
official power in October. Shortly before the June elections, Kubice 
presented a report to the members of the parliamentary Defense and 
Security Committee that alleged a link between the top officials of the 
ruling Social Democratic Party and organized crime. By doing so, Kubice 
went around standard procedure of reporting the issue to the police 
President. The report subsequently leaked to the press shortly before 
the June elections. Experts maintained that Kubice's decision to inform 
the parliamentarians was an act of desperation as the lives of two 
police officers were in danger.
    In April 2005 Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned in a 
corruption scandal over his ownership of a luxury apartment in Prague 
in spite of earning only a modest government salary. During the 
subsequent controversy, additional questions surfaced in the media 
regarding other financial and business activities of Gross and his 
family. The decision by police in December 2005 to close the case for 
lack of evidence was met with widespread public criticism. The case was 
reopened during the year but again closed due to a lack of evidence.
    In August 2005 former prime minister Jiri Paroubek dismissed his 
chief aide, Zdenek Dolezel, who also previously served as chief aide to 
former prime minister Gross, over allegations of corruption involving 
the privatization of the oil and refining company, Unipetrol. During 
the company's sale to Polish refining corporation PKN Orlen, the aide 
reportedly solicited a $225,000 (5 million crowns) bribe. A 
parliamentary inquiry into the case that was authorized by Paroubek 
later in the year produced no result. Meanwhile, criminal proceedings 
were started in October by police against Dolezel and four other 
officials, including a deputy minister, member of parliament and mayor, 
on charges of attempting to siphon off large amounts of money from 
European Union (EU) structural funds. Police also investigated 
allegations that the group had plotted to kill Jan Kubice, head of the 
national police unit fighting organized crime. The case was ongoing at 
year's end.
    In October 2005 Marian Kus, a member of the ruling Social 
Democratic party executive committee, was forced to temporarily step 
down from his position during an investigation into charges that he had 
forged his lustration certificate, a document certifying that a person 
has been vetted by the Government and (usually) cleared of cooperation 
with the Communist secret police. No formal charges were brought 
against Kus.
    In November 2005 Agriculture Minister Petr Zgarba resigned due to 
allegations that he had passed inside information to land speculators. 
Zgarba served as chairman of the special government commission that 
oversaw the sale of state-owned property. It was alleged that, based on 
the information passed by Zgarba, land speculators purchased land for 
discount prices before the general public was allowed to bid. The 
speculators paid $2.3 million (50 million crowns) for property that was 
valued close to $160 million (3.5 billion crowns). The police 
investigation did not result in charges against those involved, and the 
case was closed.
    In 2004, 18 customs officials working at the Moravian/Austrian 
border were charged with accepting bribes of $7 (150 crowns) from truck 
drivers seeking expedited inspections at the border. Their trial began 
in June 2005. During the year all received suspended sentences of one 
to two years and fines of $480 to $3,360 (10,000 to 70,000 crowns).
    In 2005 the Ministry of Interior received 6,019 e-mails and 450 
calls to its hot line (compared with 6,334 e-mails and 480 calls in 
2004); most were requests for information on corruption. Only 35 of 
these calls and e-mails reported corruption; five of these alleged 
police corruption, and 30 concerned officials in other ministries. The 
ministry forwarded these 35 reports to the corruption police for 
further investigation.
    The law provides for public access to government information. The 
Government provided such access in practice for citizens and 
noncitizens, including foreign media. No prohibitive fees were used, 
and applicants may appeal a decision about information release within 
15 days of a decision or if the time limit for processing a request is 
exceeded.
Section 4. Government Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The NGOs watch the 
application of law in practice and press the Government to act when 
needed. Government officials were generally cooperative and responsive 
to their views.
    The amended law on the ombudsman, formally called the Public 
Defender of Rights, came into effect on January 1. The ombudsman's 
responsibilities, which include authority to investigate complaints 
involving the activity or inactivity of authorities in public 
administration, were greatly expanded under the new law. The 
ombudsman's new tasks include performing regular visits to all 
government facilities where persons are detained or imprisoned. During 
these visits the ombudsman should examine the treatment these 
individuals receive, endeavor to ensure that their fundamental rights 
are respected, and increase their protection against mistreatment. The 
ombudsman operated without government or party interference, and the 
incumbent was reelected by parliament in December to fill an additional 
six-year term. The ombudsman was considered effective and had adequate 
resources to perform his investigations. The incumbent ombudsman was 
widely respected and enjoyed the Government's cooperation. The 
ombudsman issues quarterly and annual reports on the efforts of his 
office in addition to specialized reports on topics of special concern.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, societal 
discrimination against women and Roma persisted, and trafficking in 
persons remained a significant problem, although the Government made 
progress during the year in addressing the issue, specifically in the 
area of forced labor.

    Women.--Specialists indicated that violence against women was more 
widespread than reflected in official statistics. The most recent 
Stredisko Empirickych Vyzkumu (STEM) agency poll conducted in August 
found that 9 percent of persons had witnessed domestic violence, 13 
percent were victims of such violence, and 1 percent admitted 
perpetrating acts of domestic violence. Eighty-four percent of citizens 
considered domestic violence to be a serious problem.
    The law recognizes domestic violence as a distinct crime, and those 
who commit acts of violence against relatives or domestic partners may 
receive sentences of up to three years in prison and longer under 
aggravated circumstances. Government efforts to investigate and 
prosecute cases of domestic violence improved dramatically during the 
year. Police received extensive training on how to identify domestic 
violence cases and possible victims of domestic violence. In the first 
half of the year, the police investigated 229 cases of domestic 
violence; in the same period 234 aggressors were prosecuted. Courts 
convicted 125 perpetrators, of whom 22 were sentenced to prison and 95 
received suspended sentences. The number of convictions was more than 
double that of previous years for the same six-month period. Police 
reported that investigations continued to be hampered by the reluctance 
of many victims to report domestic violence or to testify against their 
partners.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the Government 
effectively enforced these provisions in practice. The law provides 
penalties for rape of two to 15 years in prison.
    Many experts considered rape to be dramatically underreported. In 
the first six months of the year, there were 251 reported rapes, all of 
which were investigated. Police conducted investigations into 183 
alleged rapes, and the courts convicted 74 offenders. Suspended 
sentences were given to 38 offenders, and 11 individuals were sentenced 
from five to 15 years in prison. Experts noted an upward trend in the 
number of rape convictions since 2001, which they attributed to 
improved police training, public awareness campaigns, and greater 
interaction and cooperation of police with NGOs, all of which have 
gradually facilitated victims' willingness to report the crime and to 
testify in court.
    Koordona, an association of 13 NGOs that deals with domestic 
violence, organized several events during the year, provided 
specialized training manuals for health care workers, and continued 
distributing materials to inform victims of their rights. Police 
continued to train select personnel to handle cases and work with 
social service agencies.
    Victims of rape and domestic abuse could seek psychological 
counseling through a number of hot lines and crisis centers. For 
example, the Dona line had received 16,796 calls since 2001. Of these, 
10,462 calls were regarding domestic violence; 869 of these calls came 
from maltreated seniors and 388 others from handicapped individuals. 
The typical victims of domestic abuse were mothers on maternity leave, 
business women, and individuals in early retirement.
    The Government continued to investigate allegations from previous 
years of the forced sterilization of Romani women and prosecute accused 
perpetrators (see section 1.f.)
    The law does not prohibit prostitution, but it may be prohibited, 
limited, or regulated by local governments. Pimping is specifically 
prohibited. Prostitution was widespread in border areas and major 
cities throughout the country. NGOs reported that sex tourism was a 
problem and involved both female and male prostitutes, some of them 
juveniles. There are no laws addressing sex tourism. The Prague city 
government took action in June 2005 to ban the distribution of flyers 
advertising brothels at tourist destinations.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government did 
not effectively enforce this provision in practice, and sexual 
harassment remained a problem. In August 2005 a survey commissioned by 
the labor and social affairs ministry found that 28 percent of women 
and 22 percent of men had experienced sexual harassment in the 
workplace. The report also indicated that sexually suggestive behavior 
was common in the workplace and often not considered harassment. The 
law places the burden of proof on the person accused of sexual 
harassment. Those found guilty of sexual harassment can be fined up to 
approximately $2,750 (70,000 crowns), dismissed from work, or sentenced 
to prison. Most citizens did not consider sexual harassment a 
significant problem.
    Women and men are equal under the law, including under family law, 
property law, and in the judicial system. Women constituted 43 percent 
of the labor force, although employment of women grew faster than 
employment of men. Women were more likely than men to be employed in 
professions with a lower median salary. Women's median wages lagged 
behind those of men by almost 25 percent. The unemployment rate for 
women was the lowest in four years but still exceeded that for men, and 
a disproportionately small number of women held senior positions. The 
council for equal opportunities for men and women monitored gender 
issues and advised the Government on its efforts to enforce equal 
gender rights.
    In September the first civil case regarding gender discrimination 
was tried in the Prague District Court. The court ruled against a woman 
who claimed she was denied a management position solely based on her 
gender. She appealed the verdict, and the case was ongoing at year's 
end.

    Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and 
welfare. The Government provides free and compulsory education through 
age 15 and is universal to all children. Most children continued 
through secondary school. Education opportunities for Roma were 
limited. The February 2005 UN Development Program survey on education 
of minorities found that only 25 percent of Roma ages 12 and above 
completed primary education, compared with 73 percent of the majority 
population.
    Romani children were enrolled at disproportionately high rates in 
the remedial education system, which effectively segregated them in 
substandard schools (see section 5, National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities).
    Girls and boys enjoyed equal access to government-provided health 
care and education at all levels.
    Child abuse was a common problem. Over the previous 10 years, the 
number of physically abused children quadrupled, and the number of 
psychologically abused children was 12, times higher. The law prohibits 
family violence, physical restraint, sexual abuse, and other forms of 
abuse of minors. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs registered 
7,500 cases of abuse or neglect in 2005. Social protection bodies 
annually proposed that an average of 1,835 children be removed from 
their families due to mistreatment. There were approximately 20,000 
children living in children's facilities. Of those, more than 10,000 
lived in social care institutes, almost 7,500 in orphanages and 
correctional institutions, and more than 1,500 in special homes for 
infants. Both domestic and foreign NGOs criticized the high number of 
children living in social care facilities.
    During the first half of the year, police investigated 346 cases of 
child negligence or endangerment; 396 offenders were prosecuted and 234 
were convicted. Of these, only five were sentenced to time in prison. 
In 2005, 643 cases were investigated, resulting in 442 convictions. 
NGOs estimated that approximately 50 children died annually from 
domestic violence.
    Although there were some reports that members of the Romani 
community married before reaching the legal age of 18, underage 
marriage was not a significant problem in the country.
    The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was 
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    In August 2005 the Government extradited a member of the Qatari 
royal family and long-term Prague resident who had been convicted of 
four counts of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 15. The 
Government did so despite allegations of corruption by the supreme 
prosecutor and understanding that the prince would likely face no 
punishment in Qatar.
    Children were engaged in prostitution for survival without third-
party involvement. NGOs reported that many teenage prostitutes were 
either runaways or products of orphanages and the foster care system. 
Some NGOs asserted that orphanages did not prepare young teens 
adequately to be self-sufficient upon reaching legal adulthood.
    In August the Government issued an updated national plan to fight 
commercial sexual exploitation of children. There is a special police 
team dedicated to countering the sexual exploitation of children in 
Cheb, a town on the German border where sex tourism was common. During 
the year a German NGO opened a shelter focused on assisting abused and 
abandoned children in Cheb.
    Male adolescents, some as young as 13, engaged in prostitution for 
survival. NGOs that worked with these children attributed the problem 
to a dysfunctional foster care system that failed to provide adequate 
job skills for a modern economy while preventing unwanted children from 
being adopted by capable parents.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking to, from, and, to a smaller extent, within the 
country for sexual exploitation and forced labor was a problem.
    The country was a transit and destination point as well as a source 
country for trafficking victims. The majority of women trafficked into 
and through the country were from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, 
Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China, and Vietnam; many were 
destined for the sex trade. They were usually trafficked onward to 
Western Europe and elsewhere, including the United States, sometimes 
via third countries. Czech women were trafficked into Western Europe 
(primarily the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and 
countries in Scandinavia) to work as prostitutes, although there were 
been cases of victims as far away as Japan. A small number of Czech 
women were trafficked to the United States. Foreign and Czech women and 
children were also trafficked within the country, often from areas of 
low employment, to Prague and the border regions with Germany and 
Austria and were occasionally sold from one organized trafficking unit 
to another. Small numbers of men were trafficked to the United States 
for coerced labor.
    Since 2004 NGOs estimated that more than 80 percent of all 
trafficking victims entered the country legally. This held true for 
both forced labor and sex trafficking.
    Local sex trafficking victims were generally young women between 18 
and 29 years of age from areas of high unemployment. Romani women were 
at the highest risk of being trafficked internally, often by a friend 
or relative. Girls raised in state-run homes, such as orphanages, were 
also at particular risk. According to government authorities, women 
already working as prostitutes were also particularly vulnerable to 
traffickers. Trafficked women were frequently offered jobs as models, 
maids, waitresses, and dancers through employment agencies and then 
forced into prostitution. Once in a destination country, traffickers 
ensured victims' compliance by confiscating their travel documents and 
using isolation, drug and alcohol dependence, violence, threats of 
violence toward the victim or her family, and the threat of arrest and 
deportation. Police reported that traffickers increasingly relied on 
violence to secure their victims' cooperation.
    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGO La 
Strada released a study in 2005 documenting victims of labor 
trafficking from a wide variety of countries, including Romania, China, 
Vietnam, and countries in the former Soviet Union and South Asia. 
Victims were both male and female and varied widely in age and in 
social and educational status. According to the Ministry of Interior, 
most victims were employed in construction, forestry, fishery, 
agriculture, and textile industries and paid $800 to $1,200 to have 
employment and housing arranged by traffickers. Although there were no 
available estimates of the numbers of victims trafficked into the 
country for labor, both government and NGO sources conceded that the 
problem was widespread.
    Most traffickers were members of organized crime groups, often from 
Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, and countries in 
the former Yugoslavia and East Asia, and worked in cooperation with 
local citizens. Domestic traffickers often served as a link between 
those in Russia and Ukraine and those in Western Europe.
    The law criminalizes all forms of trafficking, including both 
internal and cross-border trafficking. Penalties for trafficking, 
including for the purpose of forced labor, include prison terms of two 
to 15 years and are generally commensurate with those for rape and 
sexual assault. Traffickers may also be prosecuted for organized 
prostitution and pimping, which are punishable by a prison term of up 
to 12 years if the victim is under the age of 15; however, penalties 
were significantly lower in practice.
    The security policy department of the Ministry of Interior and the 
organized crime division of the national police had primary 
responsibility for combating trafficking and worked to enhance 
coordination and cooperation with local and city police as well. The 
first deputy of the Ministry of Interior was assigned to be the 
national coordinator for trafficking issues. The security policy 
department was charged with collecting, analyzing, and reporting on all 
information relating to trafficking and monitoring the implementation 
of the national antitrafficking strategy. The crime prevention 
department of the ministry oversaw all aspects of the program of 
support and protection of victims of trafficking in persons.
    Authorities used a number of statutes to prosecute traffickers. Due 
to the complexity of the trafficking law, prosecutors frequently used 
other statutes, including laws prohibiting deprivation of liberty, 
rape, sex abuse, smuggling, extortion, oppression, and pimping, to 
prosecute traffickers. The Government did not differentiate in its 
crime statistics between human trafficking and these other categories 
of crimes.
    Although the Government investigated and prosecuted cases of 
trafficking, conviction rates were low. During the first half of the 
year, police initiated five trafficking investigations and 11 
prosecutions. One perpetrator was convicted under the trafficking 
statute and received a suspended sentence. In September police broke up 
a large prostitution ring that trafficked Czech and Slovak Romani women 
and girls to Norway. The police arrested 16 individuals in connection 
with the alleged crimes. More than 160 police were involved in the 
investigation, which lasted six months. The police estimated that, over 
the course of the investigation, the traffickers made $550,000 (12 
million crowns) from exploiting the Romani women and girls.
    In 2005 police investigated 18 trafficking cases; 12 offenders were 
prosecuted and 20 convicted, eight of whom received suspended 
sentences. Through June police conducted 54 investigations for pimping; 
84 perpetrators were prosecuted, and the courts convicted 29 
individuals, 21 of whom received suspended sentences. During 2005, 206 
persons were charged with pimping, and there were 69 convictions for 
pimping.
    The organized crime unit within the national police had a special 
department dedicated and specifically trained to combat trafficking in 
persons. The unit worked closely with its counterparts in Interpol and 
Europol and also cooperated extensively with the EU and other foreign 
governments in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
    Labor trafficking, which the Interior Ministry reported was the 
most common form of trafficking in the country, remained a problem. 
During the year the Government took significant steps to address labor 
trafficking. In April the trafficking department in the national 
police's organized crime unit created an additional section solely to 
investigate cases of forced labor; it began investigating three 
specific cases, which were ongoing at year's end. The Ministry of 
Interior also finalized plans to directly fund NGOs in Ukraine to 
assist job seekers in finding employment and housing and obtaining 
visas. NGOs estimated that this in-country effort to facilitate legal 
employment for Ukrainians would reduce the number of workers trafficked 
from Ukraine.
    There was no evidence of government complicity in, or tolerance of, 
trafficking in persons; however, NGOs suspected individual members of 
the border police of assisting illegal border crossings related to 
trafficking.
    The Government cooperated with NGOs to provide services to 
trafficking victims and to train police and investigators in how to 
handle trafficking cases. There were nine victims who received 
assistance, including three victims of forced labor from Romania. The 
Government assisted with international investigations, and law 
enforcement regularly cooperated with their counterparts in Europe and 
elsewhere; according to media reports, the Government cooperated with 
Sweden, Italy, Germany, and other countries. Statistics on extradition 
are not broken down by crime.
    The Government provided psychological and social assistance to 
victims for 30 days; the victim had to decide within this period 
whether or not to cooperate with authorities. Victims who chose not to 
assist police with prosecution were offered voluntary return to their 
home countries; victims choosing to cooperate were eligible for 
residency visas for the duration of the criminal proceedings and were 
eligible at the end of criminal proceedings to apply for permanent 
residency on humanitarian grounds. In June the Government eased the 
process for trafficking victims to apply for permanent residency. By 
the middle of the year, 43 women had entered the program and 
contributed testimony or information against trafficking organizations. 
During the year the Government improved police training on recognizing 
victims for referral to the program.
    Because of the stigma attached to trafficking, victims were 
frequently hesitant to return to their families or seek social service 
providers.
    The Government continued to implement the national strategy against 
trafficking. The Ministry of Justice organized several training 
sessions in trafficking issues for judges and prosecutors, and the 
Ministry of Interior continued offering training to police. In October 
the IOM and a foreign embassy held a week-long program of workshops 
with foreign legal experts on forced labor for law enforcement, 
prosecutors, judges, NGOs, and labor inspectors.
    The Ministry of Interior worked with the IOM to produce a demand-
reduction campaign targeted at consumers of sexually exploited women 
and children in the areas along the country's border with Germany. The 
progress of the project was slowed by the difficulty of collecting such 
sensitive information from clients of sexual services. The NGO Caritas 
visited schools and asylum and reception centers to conduct awareness 
campaigns among potential victims about the risks of trafficking and 
the entrapment and coercion strategies used by traffickers. Other NGOs 
that also received government funding, such as La Strada and Rozkos Bez 
Rizika (Pleasure Without Risk), conducted seminars and published and 
distributed literature about the dangers of trafficking. NGOs also led 
a large antitrafficking public relations campaign complete with posters 
on public transportation in Prague in English, Russian, and Czech.
    In September 2005 the Government created an interdisciplinary 
committee on trafficking, which included representatives from various 
ministries and NGOs. The committee met regularly during the year to 
coordinate efforts in implementing the national antitrafficking plan.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state 
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions 
effectively; however, persons with disabilities were unemployed at 
disproportionately higher rates.
    The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, 
and the Government generally enforced these provisions in practice. 
Although access improved during the year, many buildings and modes of 
public transportation remained inaccessible. In Prague, 27 of the 51 
subway stations were wheelchair accessible; however, the majority of 
stations in the city center remained inaccessible. A growing number of 
bus lines were accessible to persons with disabilities. Most public 
schools lacked barrier-free access for students, although there was at 
least one barrier-free school in each district.
    The ombudsman is required to regularly visit all government 
facilities where persons with physical restrictions work to examine the 
treatment these individuals receive, ensure that their fundamental 
rights are respected, and increase their protection against 
mistreatment.
    In April the Czech Helsinki Committee noted that, more than 17,000 
adults and children with mental disabilities lived in social care 
homes, the majority of these under guardianship. In many cases, the 
guardian was actually the director of the institution, giving rise to 
possible conflicts of interest. Despite the 2005 passage of a law on 
the procedural aspects of guardianship, the committee expressed concern 
that the procedure by which someone was placed under guardianship 
remained inadequate, and violations similar to those in the civil 
commitment process persisted. For example, persons were unable to 
attend trial in many cases or they were uninformed about the decision 
to incapacitate them.
    In August 2005 the Government approved a national plan to aid 
persons with disabilities. The plan was drafted with the participation 
of the Government council for disabled citizens, a permanent advisory 
body responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities. The Government's initial efforts to implement the plan 
focused on improving the quality and responsiveness of social programs 
serving persons with disabilities.
    Following heavy international criticism from governments and NGOs 
for the use of caged beds in psychiatric facilities, the Government 
decided in 2004 to remove caged and netted beds from its mental health 
institutions by the end of that year. However, the ban was not fully 
implemented in practice because the Government failed to fully fund the 
transition, and caged and netted beds were only replaced as more modern 
means of restraint were brought into service. Caged beds were used in 
social institutions to restrain clients with mental disabilities. In 
May 2005 the law was amended to severely limit the use of such beds, 
pending their replacement and removal from the system. The beds may 
only be used to protect the patient or others from injury, and 
institutions must carefully document their use and immediately notify 
the patient's legal representative. Although the amendment established 
much stricter guidelines regarding the conditions and use of 
restraints, NGOs criticized the law for not specifying which forms of 
restraint were appropriate for psychiatric patients and the lack of 
regulation on supervision and time limits. Netted beds remained legal 
for use in long-term care facilities for adults and children. NGOs 
estimated that as of April there were 700 netted and caged beds in use 
by institutions in the country. In 2004 the Government reported that of 
9,657 beds in the country's psychiatric facilities, approximately 20 
were caged and 100 were netted.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--After ethnic Slovaks, the 
largest minority was the Romani population, estimated at between 
200,000 and 250,000 persons. Roma faced disproportionately high levels 
of poverty, unemployment, ethnic violence, and illiteracy. Despite 
constitutional prohibitions against discrimination, there was no 
framework to implement those provisions in the civil or criminal law. 
Roma continued to face discrimination from potential employers and 
local and school officials, with only incremental improvements in 
recent years.
    A STEM agency poll from May found that more than 75 percent of the 
population believed the Government should not give more attention to 
the rights of the Romani minority. The same poll found that more than 
66 percent of the population had a ``negative relationship'' towards 
Roma. Only 11 percent of poll respondents stated that they would 
tolerate a Romani neighbor without problems, while more than one third 
stated that they would be completely opposed to having a Romani 
neighbor. During the year latent societal discrimination against Roma 
often was manifest in incidents of violence. Members and sympathizers 
of skinhead organizations were the most frequent perpetrators of 
interethnic violence, particularly against Roma and other ``dark-
skinned'' persons. An estimated 7,000 skinheads were active in the 
country, although some observers believed the actual figure was higher.
    In July two municipal policemen from Brno were accused of abuse of 
public office for allegedly attempting to force a 14-year-old Romani 
suspect to confess to assaulting the son of one of the police officers. 
The policemen allegedly took the suspect to the outskirts of town, 
where they beat him and put an unloaded gun into his mouth while 
pulling the trigger. In November the policemen were convicted of 
assaulting the Romani youth. They were both given two-year suspended 
sentences with five years of probation by the Brno City Court. The 
court also banned the policemen from serving on the police force for 
five years. The state attorney appealed the verdict due to the lenient 
sentences, and the case was pending before the Brno Regional Court at 
year's end.
    In October the Ostrava court sentenced two skinheads to 18 and 22 
months, respectively, for attacking and brutally beating seven Roma in 
2005. The court acquitted two other individuals in the incidents due to 
poor police investigations.
    There were no developments in the assault cases on Roma in Ostrava, 
Broumov, and Krnov in 2004, and no information was available on whether 
authorities prosecuted three men who were reportedly charged with 
attacking and beating a Romani couple in Prague in September 2005.
    In August the regional court in Olomouc resentenced three skinhead 
youths who beat a Romani couple in their home in 2003. The youths broke 
into the couple's apartment under the false pretext that they were 
police officers. They then proceeded to attack the couple, hitting the 
pregnant women repeatedly with a cobblestone, causing her to loose the 
child, and stabbing her male partner. In 2004 the local court sentenced 
the three to probation. After the NGO and Roma community complained, 
the regional court returned the case in 2004 for more expert reviews. 
In June and September, the regional court increased the sentences of 
the two main perpetrators to three years and three years and three 
months in prison, respectively. The third perpetrator was again 
sentenced to probation.
    The constitution and law prohibit employment discrimination based 
on ethnicity; however, Roma continued to face discrimination in both 
employment and education. Precise figures for unemployment among Roma 
were unavailable, but the rate was estimated to be 75 percent or higher 
by the media. Some employers refused to hire Roma and asked local labor 
offices not to send Romani applicants for advertised positions. 
Continuing a trend from previous years, Roma were increasingly able to 
find redress in court in cases of employment discrimination.
    Roma also faced discrimination in housing and other areas of 
everyday life. Police responded to complaints that some restaurants, 
bars, and other public places refused service to Roma and posted signs 
prohibiting their entry. Human rights groups reported that some 
municipalities attempted to force Romani families to leave, employing 
such tactics as evicting them from municipally owned homes for alleged 
lapses in rent payments or coercing them to sign agreements that they 
did not understand, which were then used to curtail existing housing 
contracts. While the human rights commissioner publicly criticized 
these evictions, the law affords municipalities substantial autonomy in 
such actions.
    In September, October, and November the mayor of Vsetin, Jiri 
Cunek, evicted a total of 360 Romani residents from their homes in the 
city, primarily for having missed rent payments. Many Roma were moved 
into prefab units that resembled stacked shipping containers outside 
the city. Cunek subsequently ran for and won a Senate seat in October. 
Although his actions were criticized in the press by human rights 
activists and members of his own party, Cunek in December was elected 
as chairman of the small but influential Christian Democrat Party. 
Cunek's victory and popularity were largely credited to his strong 
stand in solving Vsetin's Roma ``problem.'' The forced eviction of Roma 
from different cities into ghetto communities outside of city limits 
was a growing problem to which the media paid increasing attention.
    The Government continued taking steps to address the problem of 
discrimination in the education of Romani children during the year. 
However, the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) 
in May released a report criticizing the Government's de facto 
segregation of Romani children by sending many of them to special 
schools for children with learning difficulties. In November the EUMC 
subsequently released another report which further criticized the 
country for segregating Romani, primarily in the access to education.
    During the year the Government continued closing or integrating 
remedial schools by transferring ``slower'' students into new, 
``special'' remedial education classes pursuant to a January 2005 law 
that abolished remedial schools. However, NGOs asserted that the new 
special classes were still discriminatory and constituted a superficial 
``rebranding'' of the old system. While some regions implemented the 
new policy successfully, others experienced an exodus of non-Romani 
citizens concerned that their children would have to attend school with 
Roma.
    In February the ECHR dismissed a case brought in 2000 by the ERRC 
on behalf of Romani students in Ostrava and other communities who had 
been placed in remedial schools. The ECHR found that the students' 
rights were not violated because the schools were not specifically for 
Romani children, although the court mentioned concern over the 
disproportionate number of Romani children in the special schools. The 
ERRC appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, which did 
not take any additional action by year's end.
    The Czech Retail Inspection Office in cooperation with Romani 
organizations carried out 260 investigations in response to complaints 
of discrimination. The office employed two female Romani inspectors.
    In September the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs issued an 
exhaustive study of living standards in the Romani community and found 
that more than 330 ghettos were inhabited almost exclusively by Roma, 
and that the number of ghettos continued to grow. The study put the 
total population of these ghettos at 80,000, approximately a third of 
the country's Roma population. The study found these ghetto communities 
blighted by substandard housing and poor health conditions. Life in 
these ghettos compounded the unemployment problem in the Romani 
community. The ministry estimated unemployment in the ghettos to be 95 
percent or higher, since it was nearly impossible for individuals to 
find employment near their homes. In November a report by the EUMC also 
criticized the existence and growing problem of Romani ghettos.
    In Mlada Boleslav a number of Roma were forced to move when the 
town sold their public housing to a Romani entrepreneur, who moved them 
to villages outside of town. One woman sued the city because she did 
not receive substitute accommodation. In May the court upheld her 
complaints and ruled that the town must pay a fine of $3,725 (80,000 
crowns).
    In October 2005 the Bohumin mayor and local officials attempted to 
evict dozens of families, most of whom were Romani, from their 
apartments following the municipal purchase of their low-income hostel 
from its private owner. According to numerous NGOs, there were no 
provisions for adequate housing for the displaced families. When the 
action was challenged in the courts, several families were allowed to 
stay for the duration of the court case, but the town, assisted by 
police, employed several coercive measures, including shutting off the 
tenants' utilities and using private security guards to restrict access 
to the remaining families. The issue was ultimately resolved when a 
compromise was brokered through NGOs to allow the relocation of the 
remaining families. In December 2005 the town sought to collect payment 
from the families for the security guards the town employed at the 
site. In July the appeals court in Ostrava upheld a lower court ruling 
imposing a fine on the Bohumin municipality for ceasing to supply hot 
water to the apartment residents during the winter. In October Police 
President Vladislav Husak apologized for the actions of the police in 
behalf of the municipality, when the police earlier refused to enforce 
the court order and assisted the city in evicting the residents.
    The Government failed to act on removal of a large pig farm on the 
site of a World War II Roma concentration camp in Lety. The Government 
again announced its intention to buy and liquidate the farm but had not 
done so by year's end. The pig farm became an election issue when in 
January the small ultraright National Party erected a commemorative 
stone and plaque reflecting its view that the site was not a 
concentration camp but a labor camp. The stone and plaque were removed 
by local authorities after a national and international campaign.
    Allegations persisted that forced sterilization of Romani women had 
taken place in previous years (see section 1.f.).
    Positive actions taken by the Government included passage in April 
of a long-term Roma integration plan that implemented an affirmative 
action program. The program provided for state-paid advisers to assist 
Roma in finding employment and special stipends for Romani secondary 
school students. In May the Government was praised by the EUMC in May 
for beginning collection of anonymous data on the Roma that would 
assist the Government in addressing the long-term needs of the Romani 
community. The National Gallery in Prague hosted an exhibit devoted to 
the history of the Romani Holocaust, and the parliament also hosted a 
photo exhibit of Romani victims of forced sterilization.
    In addition, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs began work 
with NGOs to build capacity and to analyze the best means of utilizing 
EUSructural Fund monies to assist the Romani community.
    The Interministerial Commission for Romani Community Affairs, which 
included 12 government and 14 Romani representatives, as well as the 
commissioner for human rights and his deputy, continued to take an 
active role in resolving disputes between Romani communities and their 
non-Romani neighbors. The commission also promoted antidiscrimination 
initiatives in housing and education. The Romani affairs coordinator of 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to function as the ministry's 
liaison with Romani groups, NGOs, and the diplomatic community.
    The deputy prime minister, who at the same time served as the 
minister of labor and social affairs, was designated as the 
Government's point person on problems affecting Roma. He served as the 
head of the Government's councils on Romani community affairs and 
ethnic minorities.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year 
parliament failed to pass a new antidiscrimination act that would bring 
laws in line with the EU Racial Equality Directive. The House of 
Deputies failed to overcome a veto of the legislation by the Senate. In 
March parliament passed registered domestic partnership legislation, 
and the legislation went into effect in July. During the year 235 
homosexual couples registered their partnerships with the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
right to form and join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this 
right in practice. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce was 
unionized, and the trend of steady decline in union membership 
continued. Most union members belonged to unions affiliated with the 
Czech-Moravian Chamber of Trade Unions, a national umbrella 
organization.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, the Government 
did not effectively enforce this provision, and union discrimination 
occurred. Common discriminatory practices included firing union 
leaders, denying union members entry to meetings between employees and 
management, refusing to provide office space for unions, forcing 
members to cancel their memberships, offering financial incentives to 
dissolve union organization within a company, disparaging unions in 
statements to employees, monitoring union members, and refusing to 
withhold union dues. If found guilty of antiunion discrimination, 
employers are required to reinstate workers fired for union activity, 
although the court procedure was generally slow.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining, which generally was carried out by unions and 
employers on a company basis. The scope for collective bargaining was 
more limited for civil servants, whose wages were regulated by law. 
However, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported 
in 2004 that some employers attempted to prevent workers from 
organizing by means of direct and indirect pressure and attempted to 
render collective agreements null and void.
    Workers have the legal right to strike if mediation efforts fail, 
with the exception of those in critical sectors such as health care, 
nuclear energy, oil and gas pipelines, air traffic control, 
firefighting, and telecommunications; workers in these industries have 
access to mediation. The law requires unions to provide employers with 
a list of strikers at least one day before a strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). According to the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, approximately 400 North Korean 
women worked in bakeries and garment and leather factories in several 
locations throughout the country. Most of their earnings were deposited 
into an account controlled by the North Korean embassy. The Ministry of 
Labor and Social Affairs in coordination with other relevant government 
agencies and NGOs investigated the situation numerous times throughout 
the year and concluded that working conditions at the factories and 
work contracts were within the confines of the law. They found that 
although the situation was ``troubling'' in several aspects, the women 
were working voluntarily and no labor laws had been broken. The 
Government continued to follow the situation closely.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace. The law stipulates a minimum 
working age of 15 years, although children with disabilities who 
completed special schools could work at the age of 14. Employment 
conditions for children ages 15 to 18 were subject to strict safety 
standards. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs effectively 
enforced these regulations in practice.
    The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was 
a problem (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs sets and enforces minimum wage standards. The national minimum 
wage was approximately $331 (7,955 crowns) per month and provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family when combined with 
social benefits for low-paid workers.
    The law provides for a 40-hour workweek with at least two days of 
rest and a paid break of at least 30 minutes during the standard eight-
hour workday. Employers may establish up to eight hours per week of 
mandatory overtime, subject to the consent of the employee (in the form 
of the collective bargaining agreement or contract stipulating 
overtime), although the local employment office may permit additional 
mandatory overtime. Premium pay for overtime was dictated by the 
provisions of the employee's contract. The Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs effectively enforced standards for working hours and breaks.
    The Office of Labor Safety effectively enforced health and safety 
standards. Workers have the right to refuse work endangering their life 
or health without risking the loss of their employment, and they 
exercised this right in practice.

                               __________

                                DENMARK

    Denmark, with a population of approximately 5.4 million, is a 
constitutional monarchy with democratic parliamentary rule. Queen 
Margrethe II is head of state. The cabinet, which is accountable to the 
unicameral Folketing (parliament), heads the Government. The minority 
center-right coalition government led by the Liberal Party (Venstre) 
won a plurality of seats in the February 2005 elections, which were 
deemed free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse. Reports of religious and ethnic 
discrimination against members of the Muslim minority continued at 
recent post-September 11 levels, while domestic violence against women 
and trafficking in women and children continued to be reported.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.
    In 2004 military authorities charged intelligence officer Reserve 
Captain Annemette Hommel and four military police sergeants with 
dereliction of duty related to alleged improper interrogation of 
detainees. Their July convictions were subsequently overturned on 
appeal. The case led to major changes in rules of conduct in the Danish 
army, including tighter control and surveillance of military staff and 
better communication between ranks.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions, for the 
most part, met international standards; however, pretrial detainees 
were often held with convicted criminals. The Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police, 
under the Ministry of Justice, have sole policing authority in the 
country. There are 54 police districts (plus the Faroe Islands and 
Greenland), and a national commissioner's office. The minister of 
justice, with the approval of parliament, appoints the police chiefs of 
each district and the national commissioner. Corruption was not a 
problem. There was increased police training in recognition, reporting, 
and investigation of racially motivated cases during the year.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law the police are allowed to begin 
investigations and make arrests either based upon visual evidence 
without a warrant, or on the basis of indictments filed by public 
prosecutors with the courts. A court may either summon the accused to 
appear or order police to arrest the accused based upon an application 
filed by a public prosecutor. If an individual is taken into custody, 
the law provides for an initial appearance before a judge within 24 
hours; however, noncitizens may be detained for up to 72 hours before 
being given a court appearance. Authorities generally respected the 
right to a prompt judicial determination. The country does not have a 
bail system; rather, a judge decides within 24 hours of detention 
either to release the detainee on his or her recognizance or to keep 
the detainee in jail until a trial is held. Arrestees have the right to 
counsel at the initial hearing, and the Government provided counsel for 
those who could not afford legal representation. The law does not allow 
any visitors during the first 24 hours of detention except for legal 
counsel. However, depending upon the charges, the police generally did 
not restrict visitor access in practice.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice. The judicial system consists of local courts, 
which hear cases in the first instance; regional courts which address 
appeals; and the Supreme Court, which is the highest and final court of 
appeal.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials are public. Juries are required for criminal cases in 
which the maximum penalty is greater than four years' imprisonment. The 
law provides for defendants' right to timely consultation with an 
attorney, at public expense if needed. Defendants and their attorneys 
have access to government evidence relevant to their case. Defendants 
have the right to question witnesses against them and to present their 
own witnesses; they are presumed innocent until proven guilty; and the 
right of appeal encompasses both procedural matters and sentences 
imposed.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access to the court 
system to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human 
rights violation. There were no problems enforcing domestic court 
orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. Individuals are able to criticize 
the Government publicly and privately without reprisal. The Government 
does not attempt to impede criticism, for example by monitoring of 
political meetings. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    On April 27, a state prosecutor announced journalists Michael 
Bjerre and Jesper Larsen of the Berlingske Tidende had been charged for 
leaking state secrets in February and March 2004 articles concerning 
classified intelligence reports by defense intelligence agent Frank 
Grevil that questioned the existence of weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq. In July charges were also brought against Editor-in-Chief Niels 
Lunde. Bjerre, Larsen, and Lunde were free on personal recognizance; 
their trial began in the High Court on November 13. On December 4, the 
Copenhagen City Court in a 3-0 ruling acquitted all three men. The 
court ruled that the defendants ``acted in justified preservation of 
what is obvious in the interest of the general public when deciding to 
print the classified information.''
    In September 2005 the Jyllands-Posten (daily liberal newspaper) 
cartoon controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons depicting the 
Islamic prophet Muhammad were published. The newspaper explained that 
this publication was a contribution to debate regarding criticism of 
Islam and self-censorship. Nonviolent protests occurred in the country 
in reaction to the cartoons. Security guards were hired to protect the 
paper's journalists, and in January a bomb threat was made against the 
Copenhagen branch of the newspaper. Death threats were made against the 
cartoonists, forcing them into temporary hiding. Police investigated 
the threats, but did not have any leads by year's end.
    Police opened an investigation into allegations that an imam, Ahmed 
Akkari, at the center of the Muhammed cartoon controversy issued death 
threats against a moderate Muslim politician, Naser Khader, who opposed 
violent protests over the cartoons. In October the case was closed due 
to insufficient evidence.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. As 
of June approximately 83 percent of the population had access to the 
Internet from home.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the official state church and 
enjoys some privileges not available to other faiths, such as receiving 
state subsidies or funds directly through the tax system. Members of 
other faiths, notably Catholics, have asserted that the system is 
unfair, and that the Government does not provide religious equality, 
despite providing religious freedom. Allowing other religious 
organizations to be given the same status and privileges as the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church would require changes to the constitution. 
While the Government does not require that religious groups be 
licensed, the Government's permission is required for religious 
ceremonies, such as weddings, to have civil validity.
    Religious history, with special emphasis on the Evangelical 
Lutheran faith, was taught in public schools, but students could 
withdraw from religious classes with parental consent.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law provides protection 
against discrimination against religious minorities; however, societal 
discrimination against religious minorities was difficult to 
distinguish from discrimination against ethnic minorities. There were 
isolated incidents of anti-immigrant (mainly Muslim and African) 
graffiti, desecration of ethnic minority gravesites, and low-level 
assaults as well as some denial of service and hiring on racial 
grounds. The Government criticized the incidents, investigated several, 
and brought some cases to trial.
    In February more than 20 Muslim graves were desecrated in a 
cemetery in Esbjerg. Police interrogated three juveniles who were later 
released to social authorities to be reprimanded. There were no further 
developments in this case.
    On July 25, vandals desecrated the country's first Muslim graveyard 
prior to its official opening, painting swastikas on the grass and 
driving cars across the site. In September the cemetery opened without 
incident. In November the cemetery was vandalized when markers 
indicating where graves were to be situated were removed and replaced 
with pigs' heads on poles. No arrests were made, and the investigation 
was ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments in the January 2005 desecration of 
nearly 100 Muslim graves in Venstre Kirkegaard (Cemetery) in 
Copenhagen. Unknown vandals pushed over 50 headstones and smashed 
another 50. The vandals only targeted Muslim headstones, leaving the 
Christian headstones untouched. Police investigated the scene but did 
not find enough evidence to pursue charges.
    In August 2005 authorities closed local radio station Radio Holger 
for three months after it challenged listeners to kill Muslims. In 
February radio announcer Kaj Wilhelmsen was given a suspended two-week 
prison sentence for violating an antiracism law; Wilhelmsen appealed 
the verdict and Wilhelmsen continued broadcasting via the Internet, for 
which no license is required. In November Radio Holger's license was 
revoked by the Radio and Television Board for its alleged racist 
programming, broadcast on August 2, in the wake of the July-August 
conflict involving Israel and Lebanon. The board requested a copy of 
the broadcast, but did not receive it from Radio Holger. Radio Holger 
was broadcasting on a shared public access frequency, which made 
immediate shutdown of the station difficult. The station was continuing 
to broadcast, via the Internet, at year's end.
    The Jewish population was estimated at approximately 7,000 persons. 
There were isolated incidents of anti-Semitism, primarily by 
immigrants. Most incidents involved vandalism, such as graffiti, or 
nonviolent verbal assaults.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government 
did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to certain 
individuals who fall outside the definition of the 1951 UN convention 
and the 1967 Protocol and provided protection to approximately 315 
persons during the year. Through September 702 out of 1,361 asylum 
seekers received residency permits.
    In September 2005, 39 criminal immigrants who received deportation 
orders were allowed to remain in country after refusing to return to 
their native countries. They are currently detained at Sandholm refugee 
center where they receive room and board and are required to report to 
the police once a week.
    Due to tougher immigration regulations only 1,147 out of 2,281 
asylum seekers received residency permits in 2005.
    In September 2005 the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Institute 
for Human Rights accused parliament's naturalization committee of 
discrimination for tightening language requirements to the extent that 
torture victims who are unable to learn Danish are denied citizenship.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.
    The territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands have 
democratically elected home-rule governments whose powers encompass all 
matters except foreign and national security affairs, police services, 
the judiciary, and monetary matters. Greenlanders and Faroese have the 
same rights as other citizens. Each territory elects two 
representatives to the parliament.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Prime Minister Anders Fogh 
Rasmussen, leader of the Liberal Party, was reelected in February 2005 
in free and fair elections.
    In November 2005 free and fair municipal elections were held 
following parliament's adoption of a structural reform plan, which 
reduce the number of municipalities from 271 to 98 by January 2007. As 
a result of the elections, the number of municipal council members from 
ethnic minority backgrounds significantly increased.
    There were 65 women in the 179-seat parliament and five women in 
the 19-seat cabinet. Women also accounted for 44 percent of the newly 
elected public council board and committee members.
    There were three members of minorities in the 179-seat parliament. 
There were no members of minorities in the 19-seat cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and 
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, violence 
against women and trafficking in persons were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a 
problem. In 2004 the Institute for Public Health estimated that at 
least 64,000 women were exposed to domestic violence in 2003 and that 
domestic violence affected 30,000 children. The National Organization 
of Shelters for Battered Women and their Children reported that in 2005 
shelters provided a safe haven for 3,512 women and children; 30 percent 
of the women supported were not citizens.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the 
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. There 
were 475 reported rapes resulting in 321 official charges for rape in 
2005, and there were 228 reported rapes during the first six months of 
the year.
    Prostitution was legal, but subject to restrictions; pimping, 
coercion into prostitution, solicitation of prostitution from a minor, 
and trafficking were illegal. According to an April 2005 report 
published by the Ministry for Social Welfare and Gender Equality, an 
estimated 3,750 persons worked in legal prostitution in 2004, while an 
unknown number participated in illegal prostitution, including 
streetwalking.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for awards of 
monetary compensation for victims of sexual harassment. The Government 
effectively enforced the law, and there were few reported cases during 
the year.
    Women have the same legal status as men, including under family 
law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law requires equal 
pay for equal work, but female workers earned approximately 22 percent 
less on average than male workers. The wage difference between female 
workers and their male counterparts for the same work was 6.5 percent. 
Women held positions of authority throughout society, although they 
were underrepresented in senior business positions and as university 
professors. The Government's interagency gender-mainstreaming project 
promoted gender equality in government agencies through an interagency 
steering committee of managers which oversaw gender-mainstreaming 
initiatives. The Ministry of Social Affairs also provided 
administrators with education and tools related to gender mainstreaming 
and published individual ministry projects on its Web site.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. Education was compulsory through the ninth grade 
and free through the university level; school attendance was nearly 
universal. Slightly more women than men completed postsecondary 
education.
    Medical care was free, and boys and girls had equal access.
    In 2005 there were 296 reports of sexual abuse of children that 
resulted in 277 official investigations.
    In October 2005 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 
expressed concern regarding de facto societal discrimination against, 
and racist attitudes toward, children of ethnic minorities and migrant 
families as well as refugee and asylum-seeking families.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to the 
country.
    The country was both a destination and a transit point for women 
and children who were trafficked from the former Soviet Union, Eastern 
Europe, Thailand, and Africa for the purposes of sexual exploitation 
and occasionally to work as thieves. There were approximately 4,000 to 
5,000 prostitutes in the country, including an estimated 2,000 foreign 
women, a number of whom were believed to be trafficking victims.
    Traffickers lured victims with the prospect of higher wages and a 
better life, then forced them into prostitution, often withholding 
their passports. Authorities suspected traffickers had ties to 
organized crime, specifically in Russia and the Baltic countries, and 
subjected them to police investigations and prosecutions.
    The law criminalizes trafficking and provides for a maximum prison 
term of eight years for those convicted of trafficking in persons.
    Police conducted more than 35 trafficking investigations. During 
the first nine months of the year, at least three persons were 
convicted under the antitrafficking law, and 30 persons were convicted 
under the sexual procurement law.
    On December 14, a 39-year-old Nigerian woman was arrested and 
remanded in custody for 27 days on suspicion of being involved in a 
major trafficking operation. According to Copenhagen police, women were 
recruited in their native countries and then transported to the country 
and forced to work as prostitutes.
    The national commissioner for police maintained an internal task 
force on trafficking in persons, assisted local police constabularies 
with investigations, and trained officers to recognize and investigate 
trafficking cases. The Government cooperated with international 
investigations of trafficking and exchanged information with 
neighboring countries.
    According to national police, trafficking victims generally 
returned voluntarily to their home countries with NGO support and were 
not officially deported or prosecuted for immigration violations. By 
returning to their home country they avoid a possible one-year ban on 
re-entry.
    In September 2005 the Ministry of Social Affairs officially added 
trafficking in children as an appendix to the Government's action plan 
to combat trafficking in women, published in 2002. The initiatives of 
the appendix are divided into two areas, support for victims and 
prevention of child trafficking.
    The Government funded three NGOs that provided social, medical, and 
legal services to trafficking victims. Government funding was also used 
for NGO outreach programs as well as hotlines to support victims, 
prevent trafficking, and gather data on the extent of the problem. The 
Ministry of Social Affairs conducted an antitrafficking advertising 
campaign in all major newspapers, subsidized a hot line and Web site 
and funded an NGO program to identify trafficking victims and provide 
them with information on obtaining help.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced it in practice. The law mandates access 
to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government 
generally enforced these provisions in practice. The responsibility for 
protection of the rights of persons with disabilities is shared by all 
government ministries. The Danish Disability Council, a government-
funded organization, monitored the status of persons with disabilities 
in the country and advised the Government and the parliament on issues 
relating to disability policy. The Equal Opportunities Center for 
Disabled Persons is a government-funded entity, which alerts the 
Government to, and documents, inequalities in society related to 
persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were 39 cases reported to 
authorities in the first six months of the year of racial 
discrimination or racially motivated violence. In 2005 there were 89 
cases reported; however, some incidents went unreported. These figures 
reflect a change in reporting guidelines during the year for all police 
districts. Reported cases involved graffiti, vandalism, theft, and 
racist Internet and written messages. According to police, the victims 
were ``Jews and people of an ethnic origin other than Danish'' (usually 
meaning Muslims or Africans). Minority group members were also 
sometimes the perpetrators of the incidents. The Government effectively 
investigated and dealt with cases of racially motivated violence.
    There were reports of racism and claims of immigrants not being 
integrated. In September 2005 a Danish Refugee Council survey revealed 
that 45 percent of ethnic Danes would not initiate contact with an 
immigrant.
    The inflow of ethnically and racially diverse refugees and 
immigrants (mostly Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, 
Somalis, and refugees from the former Yugoslavia) caused some tension 
between citizens and immigrants, which was reflected in press reports 
on the failure of the immigrants to integrate and on the correlation 
between immigration and crime levels.

    Indigenous People.--The law protects the rights of the inhabitants 
of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland's legal system seeks to 
accommodate Inuit customs, and it provides for the use of lay persons 
as judges and sentences most prisoners to holding centers (rather than 
to prisons) where they were encouraged to work, hunt, or fish during 
the day. Education in Greenland is provided to the native population in 
both the Greenlandic and Danish languages.
    In 1999 a Danish court ordered the Government to compensate 
Greenlanders (and their descendants), whom the Government forcibly 
resettled in 1953 from a village adjoining a foreign military base. The 
plaintiffs appealed the decision, seeking inter alia greater 
compensation, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003. In 2004 
the Greenlanders filed an appeal with the European Court of Human 
Rights, which had not acted on the case at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law states that all workers, 
including military personnel and police, may form or join unions of 
their choosing. Approximately 77 percent of wage earners belonged to 
unions that were independent of the Government and political parties.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is 
protected in law and was freely practiced. Approximately 85 percent of 
the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements. These 
collective bargaining agreements also indirectly influenced wages and 
working conditions for the remaining percentage of the workforce. The 
law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right 
by conducting legal strikes. There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws 
and policies prohibit the exploitation of children in the workplace, 
and the Government effectively enforced these laws and policies in 
practice.
    The minimum legal age for full-time employment is 15 years. The law 
sets a minimum age for part-time employment of 13 years; however, 
school-age children are limited to less strenuous tasks. The law 
contains provisions that limit work hours and sets occupational health 
and safety restrictions for children. The law is enforced by the Danish 
Working Environment Service (DWES), an autonomous arm of the Ministry 
of Labor.
    Trafficking in children occurred (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law does not mandate a 
national minimum wage; however, in 2005 the average net wage, including 
pension benefits of adult blue-collar workers, was $34 (200 kroner) and 
of adult white-collar workers, $45 (261 kroner) per hour, which was 
sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. Workers generally worked a 37-hour workweek, which was 
established by contract rather than by law. Workers were not subjected 
to compulsory overtime and received premium pay for overtime. Working 
hours are determined by collective bargaining agreements, which adhere 
to the European Union directive that stipulates that an average work 
week not exceed 48 hours.
    The law also prescribes conditions of work, including safety and 
health; the DWES ensured compliance with labor legislation. In the 
first half of the year, the DWES conducted 30,962 company screenings 
and inspections, which resulted in 13,006 notices of varying severity 
for required improvements. Workers may remove themselves from hazardous 
situations without jeopardizing their employment, and authorities 
effectively enforced this right in practice. Similar work conditions 
were found in Greenland and the Faroes, except that the workweek was 
established by contract at 40 hours.

                               __________

                                ESTONIA

    Estonia, with a population of 1.34 million, is a constitutional 
parliamentary democracy with a unicameral parliament, a prime minister 
as head of government, and a President as head of state. On September 
23, the 345-member electoral college elected Toomas Hendrik Ilves as 
President, replacing incumbent Arnold Ruutel. Parliamentary elections 
held in March 2003 were generally free and fair. In March 2005 a 
coalition government consisting of the Center, Reform, and People's 
Union parties and headed by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, took office. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of citizens and 
the large ethnic Russian noncitizen community; however, there were 
problems in some areas. There were reports that police and prison 
officials used excessive force. Prison conditions remained poor, 
although there were some improvements. Domestic violence and child 
abuse continued to be problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
reports that police used excessive physical force and verbal abuse 
during the arrest and questioning of suspects.
    In January a Viru district prosecutor charged two police officers 
with assaulting a suspect they were seeking to arrest after a car 
chase. The case was pending with the court at year's end.
    In October a police officer was charged with the use of excessive 
physical force against three youngsters suspected of using drugs. The 
case was pending at year's end.
    At year's end nine investigations related to the use of force by 
police officers in previous years were continuing.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor, and the majority of prisons for men were overcrowded. In August 
the Ministry of Justice formed a special control unit for prisons. A 
lack of funds and trained staff continued to be a serious problem. 
Detention houses remained overcrowded. The Chancellor-Ombudsman 
continued to urge the allocation of further funds for the improvement 
of conditions in prisons and detention centers, although there were no 
reports of concrete results during the year. Adults and juveniles were 
separated, and women were held separately from men. Authorities 
reported that 9 to 10 percent of crimes committed in prisons included 
violence or verbal abuse, either towards fellow prisoners or 
authorities.
    Two inmates were killed by fellow prisoners in Murru prison during 
the year. In November the prosecutor's office started a criminal 
investigation of possible negligence on the part of the acting director 
of Murru prison and his deputy. The investigation was continuing at the 
end of the year.
    The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights 
observers, and such visits occurred during the year. There were no 
visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution and laws 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police, 
security police, tax and customs board, and national border guard have 
responsibility for law enforcement and the maintenance of order. The 
police, security police, and national border guard are subordinate to 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The tax and customs board is 
subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. Prison personnel are 
subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. The army is responsible for 
external security but also has domestic security responsibilities in 
case of threat to the constitutional order of the country. The police 
board is the central and supervisory authority that manages, directs, 
and coordinates the activities of police agencies under its 
administration. There are three police agencies and four regional 
police prefectures.
    Corruption was generally not a problem, but there were reports of 
corruption among the traffic police. During the year the state 
prosecutor's office investigated a case in which 26 traffic police 
officers had been involved with taking bribes. The court case was 
pending at year's end. Impunity was generally not a problem. When an 
allegation of police abuse is made, the internal control department of 
the police investigates and reports its findings. If the investigation 
substantiates the allegations, police initiate disciplinary procedures 
against the responsible officer, such as suspension. If warranted, 
prosecutors initiate criminal proceedings against the officer.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the law authorities must possess 
warrants issued by a court in order to make arrests. They must inform 
detainees promptly of the grounds for their arrest. There is a 
functioning bail system. Authorities may hold a person for 48 hours 
without charging him; further detention requires a court order. Police 
rarely violated these limits. Detainees must be given immediate access 
to legal counsel, and the Government pays for legal counsel for 
indigents. A person may be held in pretrial detention for two months, 
which may be extended by court order to a total of 12 months.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Approximately 23 percent 
of the prison population was in pretrial detention, and the average 
length of pretrial detention was eight months.

    e. Criminal and Judicial Procedures.--The constitution provides for 
an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice.
    The judiciary operates through a three tier court system. County 
and city courts and administrative courts adjudicate matters in the 
first instance. Three courts of second instance, sometimes called 
district courts or courts of appeal, hear appeals against decisions of 
courts of first instance. The Supreme Court is the court of the highest 
instance and is a court for ``constitutional supervision.''

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. Juries are not used; a judge 
and public assessors hear cases. Defendants have the right to be 
present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. In criminal 
proceedings an attorney is provided for all individuals at public 
expense; in civil court procedures an attorney is provided for 
indigents. Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them 
and present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and 
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to 
their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a 
right of appeal. The law extends these rights to all residents, whether 
or not they are citizens.
    The constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an 
independent judiciary generally enforced this right.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is access to a court to 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation. Administrative as well as judicial remedies are available 
for alleged wrongs. There were no problems with enforcement of human 
rights-related domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic 
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and the press.
    The law prohibits activity which publicly incites to hatred, 
violence, or discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, skin 
color, sex, language, origin, sexual orientation, religion, political 
opinion, or financial or social status, if the activity threatens a 
person's life, health, or property.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    Freedom of Assembly.--The constitution provides for this right, and 
the Government generally respected it in practice.
    The authorities have wide discretion to prohibit public gatherings 
on public safety grounds, but seldom did so. From June through 
September, the Government did prohibit access for all groups and 
organizations to a controversial Soviet monument in the center of the 
capital on the grounds of public safety. It did not prohibit 
demonstrations about the future of the monument held away from this 
site. The Government failed to protect participants of a gay rights 
parade in August (see section 5).

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for this right 
and the Government generally respected it in practice.
    The constitution prohibits organizations, unions, and political 
parties that seek to change the country's constitutional order by force 
or are otherwise in conflict with the law. The law prohibits 
noncitizens from joining political parties, although they may form 
social groups.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The law regulates the activities of religious associations, and the 
statutes of churches, congregations, and unions of congregations are 
registered at the city courts. To be registered, the law requires 
religious organizations to have at least 12 members, and their leaders 
must be citizens with at least five years' residence in the country.
    Relations between the various religious communities were generally 
amicable; however, the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the 
Estonian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchy continued to have 
differences over the disposition of Orthodox Church property.
    The law prohibits activity that publicly incites to hatred, 
violence, or discrimination on a variety of characteristics, including 
religion, if it causes a threat to a person's life, health, or property 
(see section 2.a.).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In April the media reported 
that two individuals who appeared to be skinheads shouted anti-Semitic 
insults and threw a beer bottle at an Israeli citizen visiting Tallinn. 
He reportedly stated that he informed local police about the incident 
but the latter ``received his report with indifference.'' The police 
stated that they had not been informed that any bottles had been 
thrown, that a patrol was sent to the location of the incident, and 
that since no perpetrators were found and there were no physical 
injuries, there was no further investigation.
    There were no confirmed anti-Semitic acts during the year.
    In June two vandals damaged seven grave plaques and several 
lanterns in Rakvere cemetery. Police took two suspects into custody, 
and they pled guilty. In September the court sentenced one of them to 
five months in prison.
    In May a court sentenced a person convicted of setting fire to the 
library of St. Paul's Church to four and a half years in prison. The 
arson took place in April 2005.
    Police were continuing to investigate a December 2005 incident in 
which an unknown person or persons vandalized over 20 grave plaques, as 
well as crosses, lanterns, and benches, in a Parnu cemetery.
    In February the Supreme Court overturned the June 2005 conviction 
of an individual charged with writing an essay that publicly incited 
social hatred on the basis of national origin, race, or religion. In 
his essay the writer called for destroying all Christians and Jews and 
all churches. The Supreme Court found that the essay did not include 
incitement to social hatred or violence as defined in the law.
    The Government took a number of steps to associate itself with 
commemoration of the Holocaust and to encourage best practices in 
teaching about it in schools.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign, Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The Government did not restrict the right of noncitizen residents--
persons who are citizens of another country or stateless persons--to 
foreign travel, emigration, or repatriation, and it provided all legal 
residents, including the 8.8 percent who were effectively stateless, 
with travel documents. The Legal Chancellor-Ombudsman received 
complaints of delays in the issuance of residence permits and of visa 
denials.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution.
    The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum during the 
year, because no applicants qualified in accordance with the 1951 UN 
convention and its 1967 Protocol. According to official statistics, 
during the year authorities had 15 asylum applications for review, 
including eight from previous years. They rejected five applications 
and seven remained pending at year's end.
    The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who 
might not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to one person during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Government has a ``safe country of origin or transit'' policy; 
it regarded countries that were parties to the UN refugee convention as 
safe countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On September 23, a 345-
member electoral college elected Toomas Hendrik Ilves as President. 
Parliamentary elections held in 2003 were generally free and fair and 
led to the formation of a three-party coalition government of the Res 
Publica, Reform, and People's Union parties. The coalition dissolved in 
April 2005, and a new coalition government, formed by the Center, 
Reform, and People's Union parties, took office.
    Only citizens may vote in parliamentary elections and be members of 
political parties. However, resident noncitizens and those who have 
lived permanently in the country for at least five years preceding the 
election may vote in local elections, although they may not run for 
office.
    There were 20 women in the 101-seat parliament. There were two 
women in the 13-member cabinet.
    There were eight members of ethnic minorities in the 101-seat 
parliament.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the reporting period.
    In February a court convicted a former head of the information 
technology service of the State Chancellery's information systems and 
organization department of taking a bribe from a private company. He 
received a suspended sentence of two and a half years, with 18-months 
probation, and was ordered to return illegally obtained funds to the 
state.
    In May a former construction consultant was sentenced to prison for 
16 months for requesting and taking a bribe in the course of a state 
tender for university construction.
    In June the Tartu County Court found 15 customs officials guilty of 
taking bribes. The court sentenced the officials to prison terms of up 
to three months or to two to three years' probation.
    The law provides the public access to government information and 
allows for monitoring of the public sector's performance. The 
Government provided access for citizens in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were usually cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking In Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination for any reason, and the 
Government generally enforced it. However, violence against women and 
child abuse were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a 
problem. The law prohibits physical abuse but does not differentiate 
between acts committed against men, women, or children. The police 
reported more than 3,300 cases of domestic violence. In more than 700 
cases persons were convicted for this abuse in 2005. According to 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) one in five women have suffered 
from physical, sexual, or emotional domestic violence, and NGOs 
considered domestic violence a serious problem. Domestic violence is 
punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to three years and up to 
five years in the case of longstanding and unremitting violence. 
Victims of domestic violence may obtain help, including counseling and 
legal assistance, from local social workers and specialized NGOs.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and was prosecuted under 
the law. The sentence for rape is up to 15 years' imprisonment. During 
the year police reported 73 rapes and 27 attempted rapes. In 2005, 46 
persons were convicted of rape.
    Prostitution is not prohibited and was common, but pimping is 
illegal.
    There were reports that women were trafficked for purposes of 
sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the 
workplace occurred but was not considered a serious problem. According 
to the law, disputes are to be resolved in court, in an administrative 
hearing by the Legal Chancellor-Ombudsman, or by the Gender Equality 
Commissioner. An injured party may demand compensation for damage and 
termination of the harmful activity.
    Although women have the same legal rights as men under the law and 
are entitled to equal pay for equal work, these rights were not always 
observed in practice. While women's average educational level was 
higher than that of men, their average pay was generally lower, and 
there continued to be female- and male-dominated professions.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare.
    Under the law, school attendance is mandatory and free from the age 
of seven until students complete basic education, generally after nine 
years, or until they reach 17 years of age. Approximately 98.7 percent 
of school-aged children attended school. According to the Government's 
statistical office, the highest level of education achieved by most 
students was high school plus two years of higher education.
    The Government provided free medical care for children and 
subsidized school meals. Boys and girls had equal access.
    Child abuse was a problem. Police reported 491 cases of violence 
against children, including domestic and school violence during the 
year.
    During the year there were 26 reports of rape and six attempted 
rapes committed against minors. The police registered 127 cases of 
sexual abuse of persons under 18 years of age, which included 37 cases 
involving victims below the age of 14. In 2005, 49 persons were 
convicted of sexual assaults of minors.
    There were reports of child prostitution, and trafficking of 
children for sexual exploitation was a problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--There is no specific law criminalizing all 
forms of trafficking; however, authorities may prosecute traffickers 
under the law prohibiting enslavement and abduction. Penalties for such 
acts range from a year to 12 years' imprisonment. A monetary punishment 
may also be applied.
    The country is a source, destination and transit point for 
individuals trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation. Estimates of 
the overall magnitude of the problem were difficult to obtain. A 2005 
study of trafficking for sexual exploitation conducted by the 
International Organization for Migration estimated there were 100 known 
victims of these forms of trafficking in Estonia from 2001 through 
2004. This figure included persons trafficked through the country. 
Persons were also trafficked to the country. The trafficking pattern 
appeared to be unchanged from earlier years. Travel-friendly 
regulations, short distances, low travel costs, and the draw of 
legitimate employment lowered the barriers to trafficking to the Nordic 
and other European Union (EU) countries. The traffickers were 
individuals, small groups, and organized criminals who ran the 
prostitution industry and lured victims with the promise of legitimate 
employment or the opportunity to live and study abroad. Traffickers 
tended to befriend victims or attempted to pass themselves off as 
legitimate job mediators. Due to fairly liberal travel regulations 
around the region, false documentation was not always necessary.
    The fight against trafficking was a government priority. In January 
it adopted a national action plan and established a trafficking 
database to provide data on the extent of the problem.
    In July, following a cooperative effort by local and Finnish 
investigators, Finnish courts convicted five Estonian and two Finnish 
traffickers of trafficking 15 Estonian women to Finland for 
prostitution. The prison sentences ranged from five years to 27 months. 
The verdict was under appeal at year's end. In 2005 the Government used 
the anti-enslavement statute in two court cases that resulted in the 
conviction of seven persons. In addition authorities initiated 73 court 
cases involving pimping, and courts convicted 40 persons of this crime; 
five court cases were started and 15 persons sentenced for the 
prostitution of minors in 2005. The ministries of interior, social 
affairs, foreign affairs, and justice are responsible for combating 
trafficking.
    The Government participated in the work of the Nordic and Baltic 
Task Force on Trafficking in Persons. It actively participated in 
antitrafficking activities within the EU, the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Baltic Sea States, the Nordic 
Council of Ministers, and the Council of Europe (COE). The Government 
assisted with international investigations in other countries.
    The law provides for protection, as well as legal and medical 
compensation rights, to victims of all crimes, including trafficking; 
however, there was no evidence that this was provided for trafficking 
victims in practice. Each county had an assigned victim assistant to 
provide trafficking victims access to the public assistance system. The 
assistants received specific training on trafficking in persons issues 
during the reporting period from NGOs.
    An NGO-operated trafficking hotline, which the Government began to 
fund during the year, continued to operate, providing information on 
trafficking risks to persons interested in working abroad. The hotline 
generated over 400 calls in 2005.
    During the year the Ministry of Social Affairs conducted a series 
of lectures on prostitution and trafficking for state officials, local 
governments, members of the defense forces serving as peacekeepers 
abroad, employee unions, social workers, women's organizations, 
journalists, and victim assistance workers. The Government cofunded 
manuals for social workers, counselors, and teachers to better assist 
trafficking victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government generally enforced these provisions. The law does not 
mandate access to buildings for persons with disabilities; older 
buildings were inaccessible, although new or renovated buildings were 
generally accessible. During the year the Government increased support 
to children with disabilities by 25 percent. The Ministry of Social 
Affairs is responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Instances of overt hostility 
based on race occurred, although they were infrequent. There is no 
specific law prohibiting hate crimes, but there is a law prohibiting 
incitement to hatred, violence, or discrimination on the basis of 
nationality, race, skin color, sex, language, origin, sexual 
orientation, religion, political opinion, or financial or social 
status.
    Police opened an investigation into remarks published in Eesti 
Paevaleht that allegedly incited hatred on the basis of Russian 
nationality in 2005. In October a Tallinn city court decided that the 
article did not include incitement to hatred or violence and acquitted 
the author.
    In March police fined three juveniles for inciting social hatred on 
the basis of a person's race (a Dutch citizen of African origin) in a 
Tallinn entertainment establishment. In August unknown persons 
allegedly insulted a PhD candidate from an African country in a Tartu 
night club. The police opened an investigation. The case was pending at 
year's end.
    During the year incitement to social hatred or violence on the 
basis of sexual orientation was criminalized. In August several persons 
attacked participants in a gay parade in Tallinn injuring twelve 
participants; one person filed a complaint with the police, who had 
been present at the parade but were unable to prevent violence. The 
police terminated the investigation into possible instigation of social 
hatred because they were unable to find the perpetrators. The police 
started seven misdemeanor proceedings. One resulted in a fine, and the 
rest were pending at the year's end.
    The law provides for the protection of cultures of minority group 
citizens; however, some noncitizens alleged it is discriminatory 
because it restricts cultural autonomy only to citizens. In districts 
where more than one half of the population speaks a language other than 
Estonian, the law entitles inhabitants to receive official information 
in that language.
    Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are the largest ethnic 
minorities, making up 29 percent of the population. The Government 
pursued a policy of social integration, particularly through its 
language policy which requires knowledge of Estonian in order to obtain 
citizenship and mandates that all public servants and public sector 
employees, service personnel, medical professionals, and sole 
proprietors use the Estonian language. Actual proficiency is usually 
determined through examination; however, citizenship applicants who 
have previously passed the basic level Estonian language proficiency 
examination or the basic school final examination for Estonian as a 
second language no longer have to take the citizenship language exam. 
Some noncitizen residents, particularly ethnic Russians, continued to 
allege that the language requirement resulted in job and salary 
discrimination.
    Many persons who accepted the legitimacy of the language 
requirement criticized authorities for providing inadequate resources 
to teach in Estonian. In March the Government adopted a plan of action 
that calls for achieving 60 percent instruction in Estonian in the 
country's 63 Russian-language high schools by 2011, with the transition 
beginning in 2007. The shortage of qualified teachers who could teach 
their subjects in Estonian at Russian-language schools, gymnasiums, and 
vocational schools remained a problem. Authorities have allotted new 
resources to this effort.
    There were Roma communities with fewer than 1,000 total members 
located primarily in three areas in the country. A report published by 
the COE in February concluded that the unemployment level among them 
was extremely high, in part due to the fact that very few of them 
attend school. However, the report also concluded that Roma faced 
discrimination in employment and other areas. The Government took steps 
to emphasize the importance of education for Roma children. Beginning 
in 2005 the Government undertook two projects promoting education and 
identity in the Roma society. In December authorities supported a 
seminar to discuss best practices for teaching Roma children in 
schools.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers to form and join a union or employee association, although some 
workers found it difficult to exercise this right in practice. 
Approximately 10 percent of the total workforce belonged to trade 
unions. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, the 
Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions (EAKL) continued to report that 
antiunion behavior was rife in the private sector. According to the 
EAKL, violations of trade union rights in the country are frequent, and 
labor inspectorates are not efficient in enforcing the law. In some 
enterprises, workers are advised against forming trade unions, 
threatened with dismissal or a reduction in wages, or promised benefits 
if they do not join unions. Both employees and employers have the right 
to request that labor dispute committees or the courts resolve 
individual labor disputes.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining and 
collective dispute resolution is provided for by law.
    Collectively bargained contracts covered approximately 15 percent 
of workers, including some nonunion members. The law provides for the 
right to strike, and workers have exercised this right in practice. 
Public servants working at the state or municipal level are denied the 
right to strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace.
    The law sets the minimum age for employment at 18 years, although 
children aged 15 to 17 may work with the consent of a parent or 
guardian, and children aged 13 to 15 may work with the consent of a 
parent or guardian and a labor inspector. Children under the age of 18 
may not perform hazardous or dangerous work. The law limits the hours 
that children may work and prohibits overtime or night work. The labor 
inspectorate was responsible for enforcing these laws and did so in 
practice. There were no separate inspections regarding the age of child 
workers.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum 
wage of $243 (3,000 kroon) did not provide a decent standard of living 
for a worker and family; however, approximately 94 percent of the 
workforce earned more than the minimum wage. The poverty line was $157 
(1,938 kroon) per month in 2005.
    The standard workweek is 40 hours, and there is a mandatory 24-hour 
rest period per week for those working in shifts. Reduced working time 
is required for minors and for employees who perform underground work, 
work that poses a health hazard, or work of an otherwise special 
nature. Work hours, including overtime, may not exceed an average of 48 
hours per week. The law required overtime pay of not less than 150 
percent of the hourly wage of the employee. These requirements were 
effectively enforced.
    The Government set occupational health and safety standards. The 
labor inspectorate, health protection inspectorate, and technical 
inspectorate were responsible for enforcement of these standards and 
made efforts to enforce them. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without 
jeopardizing their continued employment, and they exercised this right 
in practice. During the first nine months of the year 2,591 
occupational accidents occurred, for a ratio of 427 occupational 
accidents per 100,000 employees.

                               __________

                                FINLAND

    Finland is a constitutional republic of 5.3 million persons with a 
directly elected head of state (President), a unicameral parliament 
(Eduskunta), a head of government (prime minister), and an independent 
judiciary. The March 2003 elections to the 200-seat parliament were 
free and fair and resulted in the formation of a new coalition 
government led by the Center Party. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of all military and security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. The most serious human rights 
problems reported were violence against women, trafficking in persons, 
and discrimination against immigrants and members of minorities, 
particularly Roma.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law and constitution prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
    There were reports of police discrimination against immigrants (see 
section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers.
    Overpopulation of prison facilities was a continuing problem; the 
country's total prison capacity was approximately 4,000, but there were 
nearly 4,200 inmates at year's end. Prison overcrowding complicated 
efforts to deal with widespread inmate drug addiction; 70 percent of 
all prisoners were estimated by the Government to be drug addicts and 
in need of rehabilitation.
    On September 14, the Ministry of Justice appointed a rapporteur to 
assess the need to reform the administration of prisons. During the 
year prisons continued to operate beyond their original capacity due to 
increases in the inmate population in recent years.
    An April 2005 study showed that an increasing number of young 
prison inmates suffered from mental health disorders such as 
schizophrenia. Nearly half of all inmates under age 21 had previously 
been hospitalized for one or more mental disorders. Mental health 
experts asserted that such prisoners belonged in the health care system 
rather than in prisons and recommended the hiring of additional mental 
health professionals for the country's prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law and constitution 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.
    The International Helsinki Federation reported that police at times 
picked up persons with mental disabilities when officers mistakenly 
believed such persons were intoxicated. Under police procedures, 
intoxicated persons found by the police are taken home; however, if 
their home address cannot be established, they are taken to police 
station facilities designed to hold intoxicated individuals while they 
sober up. In the city of Vantaa, a patient who had come to a hospital 
seeking treatment for depression was awakened by police who mistook him 
for an intoxicated person and transferred him to a police station. When 
police discovered the mistake, they returned the man to the hospital. 
In March 2005 the deputy chancellor of justice criticized this practice 
carried out by Vantaa police and health care authorities.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
force is centralized under the control of the Ministry of the Interior, 
which also controls various other law enforcement organizations such as 
the frontier guards, customs and immigration agencies, the National 
Bureau for Investigation (NBI), and the security police. These 
organizations carried out their responsibilities for law enforcement 
and maintenance of order, but chronic underfunding sometimes 
compromised their effectiveness. Law enforcement organizations 
maintained internal investigation units that examined allegations of 
police abuse or misconduct.
    Corruption was not a problem during the year. In rare instances 
where police misconduct was reported, authorities responded quickly to 
investigate and discipline the officers involved. For example, in June 
2005 the deputy parliamentary ombudsman criticized two police officers 
who had offered an injured person $445 (340 euros) in exchange for 
agreeing not to file a complaint against the officers.

    Arrest and Detention.--A warrant issued by a prosecutor is required 
for an arrest. If an individual is arrested while committing a crime, a 
warrant must be obtained within three days. Once arrested, the accused 
must receive a court hearing within three days. Detainees were promptly 
informed of the charges against them, and lawyers were provided for the 
indigent. These legal provisions were generally enforced in practice. 
There is no system of bail, but most defendants awaiting trial were 
eligible for conditional release based on personal recognizance. 
Criminal detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and family. 
There were no reports of preventive detention, which was allowed only 
in exceptional circumstances, such as during a declared state of war, 
or for narrowly defined offenses, including treason, mutiny, and large-
scale arms trafficking.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and constitution provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, the Supreme 
Administrative Court, and a system of lower courts. The President 
appoints Supreme Court justices, who in turn appoint the lower court 
judges. Rulings of the 61 district courts can normally be appealed to 
the six appellate courts, which are courts of first instance in matters 
of treason and certain offenses of public office. The Supreme Court 
rules on the appeals of appellate court decisions. A system of 
administrative courts provides oversight of decisions made by local and 
state authorities. Four specialized courts review market, labor, 
insurance, and impeachment matters, respectively.

    Trial Procedures.--The law and constitution provide for the right 
to a fair public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced 
this right. Local courts may conduct closed trials in juvenile and 
guardianship cases, divorce proceedings, or when publicity would offend 
morality or endanger the security of the state.
    Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they have 
the right to appeal adverse judgments. The law does not provide for 
juries to be used in trials. Defendants have the right to be present 
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, and attorneys are 
provided at public expense if defendants faced serious criminal charges 
that might result in imprisonment or significant fines. Defendants can 
confront and question witnesses against them and present witnesses and 
evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases.
    The law extends these rights to all citizens and legal residents. 
Illegal immigrants enjoy the same rights but may be removed from the 
country or deported in a separate process.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--According to the 
constitution, all citizens have a fundamental right to live under the 
rule of law and to have that law applied equally and without 
discrimination to all segments of society. The country had an 
independent judiciary that administered civil law. Under the 
constitution, all citizens are entitled to have a civil case heard by a 
court or an appropriate legal authority, such as a magistrate, 
appropriately and without undue delay.
    In addition, the law provides that all citizens are entitled to 
have a decision or judgment affecting his or her rights or obligations 
reviewed by a court or another judicial authority and to appeal any 
adverse decision.
    The civil judicial administration consists of independent courts of 
law; the prosecution service; enforcement authorities, who are 
authorized to enforce financial and other judgments; prison and 
probation services, who see to the enforcement of custodial sentences; 
and the national Bar Association and the other avenues of legal aid.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law and constitution provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
    The country had a large independent media, with approximately 200 
newspapers, 320 popular magazines, and 2,100 professional magazines in 
publication; 53 of the newspapers were published daily. The Council for 
Mass Media, a regulatory board composed of members of the independent 
press, monitored journalistic ethics and handled public complaints 
about the print media. Major newspapers and magazines were published in 
Finnish, Swedish, and English.
    There were 67 commercial radio stations, including three national 
public radio channels in Finnish, two in Swedish, and one in the Sami 
(Lapp) language. YLE, the Finnish state broadcast network, operated a 
radio station offering international programming from National Public 
Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Deutsche Welle, and other 
networks. There were four national television channels, two of which 
offered public broadcasting and two of which offered commercial 
programming, and several cable television and satellite systems 
offering dozens of additional networks. The domestic film industry 
produced approximately 12 feature films annually.
    The Ministry of Transportation and Communications exercised 
oversight over the broadcast networks and issues operating licenses to 
commercial radio and television broadcasters.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
country had one of the world's highest rates of Internet connectivity, 
and virtually all citizens had access to the Internet at home or in 
schools and public libraries.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law and 
constitution provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The 
Government recognizes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and 
the Orthodox Church as state churches. More than 80 percent of the 
population belonged to the Lutheran Church. Nontraditional religious 
groups practiced their religion freely. There was a small but growing 
Muslim population and a small Jewish community. Any organization with 
more than 20 members could register as a religious community as long as 
its primary mission was spiritual.
    All citizens who belonged to one of the two state churches paid a 
church tax as part of their income tax. However, citizens may opt out 
of paying this tax by officially disassociating from the church. 
Nontraditional religious groups were eligible for tax relief as long as 
the Government had registered and recognized them as legitimate 
religious communities.
    Although religious instruction in Lutheran or Orthodox doctrine was 
part of the standard curriculum in public schools, students could 
substitute philosophy or world religion courses. In some urban 
communities where Islam is the second-largest religion, students may 
choose to receive Islamic religious instruction.
    Amnesty International and other groups criticized the length of 
alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors as punitive 
and discriminatory. Conscientious objectors were obliged to perform 395 
days of civilian service, while normal military service was 180 days. 
In March the nongovernmental organization (NGO) War Resisters' 
International reported that 25 conscientious objectors were in prison 
for refusing to perform alternative civilian service.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's Jewish community 
numbered approximately 1,900. There were a few reports of anti-Semitic 
incidents, chiefly graffiti such as swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans 
being spray-painted in public locations. The Government criticized such 
acts and removed the graffiti when it was discovered.
    School children begin studying the Holocaust and the Europe-wide 
phenomenon of anti-Semitism in eighth grade. The national curriculum 
applied since the fall of 2005 places the Holocaust in the context of 
other anti-Semitic persecution and pogroms, including those carried out 
by Josef Stalin in the Soviet Union.
    The Muslim population numbered approximately 25,000. Despite 
isolated reports of fights between non-Muslim and Muslim youths, there 
was no pattern of societal violence against Muslims. The Ministry for 
Foreign Affairs created an office for Muslim outreach in 2005, and in 
March the ministry sponsored a parliamentary seminar on the Danish 
cartoon controversy and religious respect and tolerance. The foreign 
minister delivered the keynote address at the seminar.
    The Ministry of Education continued to integrate tolerance and 
antidiscrimination education into the public school curricula.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law and constitution provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government automatically denied asylum to anyone who had 
already been rejected by another European Union (EU) state.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol. The Government included the number of persons who received 
temporary protection in overall asylum statistics.
    During the year the country began granting asylum or residence 
permits to Chechens. As many as 21 Chechens were granted asylum and 76 
others granted residence permits. This was the first time the country 
granted asylum to persons from Russia and areas of the former Soviet 
Union.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    There were some reports of discrimination against immigrants, 
including refugees and asylum seekers (see section 5).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair parliamentary 
elections held in March 2003 resulted in the formation of a coalition 
government led by the Center Party.
    There were 76 women in the 200-seat parliament and eight women in 
the 18-member Council of State. The President was a woman.
    There were 10 members of minorities in the parliament and two 
minorities in the Council of State. The indigenous Sami (Lapp) minority 
enjoys semiautonomous status and has its own legislative body.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year 
Transparency International gave the country a score of 9.6 on its 10-
point index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist 
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating that 
corruption was not perceived to be a problem. An anticorruption network 
in the Ministry of Justice met several times to address transnational 
bribery.
    The law provides for public access to government information, 
except for information classified for national security, or when 
release of documents would constitute a violation of privacy laws, and 
the Government provided such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status; violence against women; trafficking in 
persons; and discrimination against immigrants and Roma were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued 
to be a problem. During the first half of the year, incidents of 
domestic violence reported to the police fell slightly to 14,736, 
compared with 15,149 cases in the first six months of 2005. The total 
number of cases in 2005 was 31,656. Most researchers believed the 
actual number was higher since many cases went unreported. A UN 
Children's Fund report on domestic violence against or in the presence 
of children states that children had greater exposure to such violence 
than other children in the region. According to the report, five 
percent, or 61,000 children had witnessed or experienced violence in 
their homes. Approximately one out of every six cases of domestic 
violence involved a female perpetrator.
    During the year police focused significant attention on reducing 
violence. Police have focused their efforts on increasing cooperation 
among parties involved, breaking the spiral of violence, and providing 
better support to victims and perpetrators.
    The Government reported that up to 30 women died from domestic 
violence. Domestic abuse may be prosecuted as a variety of different 
crimes, including rape, assault and battery, harassment, and disturbing 
the peace. It was not possible to determine how many convictions in 
each category constituted domestic abuse cases.
    The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the 
Government enforced the law effectively. Through June, 249 rapes were 
reported to the police, which was 71 fewer than in the corresponding 
period in 2005. Police believed the true number of rapes during the 
year to be higher than those actually reported, attributing this 
underreporting to the social stigma encountered by rape victims. 
Researchers believed that 75 percent of unreported rapes were committed 
by a known assailant.
    The Government encouraged women to report domestic violence and 
abuse to the police. The Government provided counseling and support 
services to victims of domestic violence and rape and operated a 
network of shelters for victims. The Government provided funding to 
NGOs that provide additional services, including a telephone hot line 
and crisis center. According to researchers, most women seeking shelter 
from violence were between the ages of 25 and 35 who were either 
married or in a cohabiting relationship; nearly one-third were 
immigrants. Immigrants without proficiency in either Finnish or English 
experienced some difficulty accessing domestic violence services.
    Prostitution is legal, but the purchase of sexual services is a 
civil offense. Prostitution was generally limited to private apartments 
and certain nightclubs in larger cities. During the year, parliament 
adopted a law that criminalizes the purchase of all sexual services in 
cases where trafficking is involved.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, and the Government 
generally enforced the law in practice. The office of the prosecutor 
general was responsible for investigating sexual harassment cases. 
Employers who fail to protect employees from harassment are subject to 
fines or a maximum of six months' imprisonment.
    Women and men have identical legal rights under family and property 
law and in the judicial system. The Government placed a high priority 
on gender equality and maintained three primary government 
organizations devoted to gender equality issues: the ombudsman for 
equality, the gender equality unit, and the council for equality.
    In practice there was still economic discrimination against women. 
Women's average earnings were 82 percent of men's. Women were 
overrepresented in lower paying occupations, and men tended to dominate 
the upper ranks in industry and finance and in some government 
ministries.
    In April 2005 parliament passed a law amending existing legislation 
to increase gender equality in the workplace and to promote the 
principle of equal pay for equal work. Employers found to be in 
violation of the law are required to compensate women for lost wages. 
The new law, which took effect in June 2005, extended compensation 
eligibility to a greater number of women. The Government's equality 
ombudsman received hundreds of complaints during the year and generally 
determined approximately 20 percent of them to be violations of the 
law.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. Public education and health care systems were well 
funded. Education was free and compulsory for all children ages seven 
to 16, more than 99 percent of whom attended school. Most children 
attended school until graduation from high school. Education at 
universities and trade schools was also free.
    The Government offered free medical care for children through a 
comprehensive public health care system. Boys and girls had equal 
access to health care services.
    The number of suspected sexual abuse cases reported to the police 
continued to increase slightly during the year, and an average of 600 
cases are reported annually. According to the police, there were 150 
reported victims of child abuse under the age of six in 2005. Analysts 
speculated that a greater willingness by the public to report cases of 
child abuse rather than an increased incidence may be the cause for the 
increase in reports.
    There were reports of trafficking of children for sexual 
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
    During the summer parliament passed legislation creating the 
country's first ombudsman for children's issues. The ombudsman took 
office on September 1. The ombudsman monitored legislation and assessed 
its impact on children's welfare, with a particular focus on living 
conditions.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
but there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through the 
country.
    The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked 
persons. The actual incidence of trafficking remained unknown since no 
studies have been carried out to document the extent of the problem.
    Most trafficking involved women and girls from Russia, although 
Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian women were 
also trafficked for sexual exploitation. Increasing numbers of Asian 
women, most of whom were believed to be Chinese and Thai, were 
trafficked through the country to other parts of Europe.
    Some persons were trafficked for labor, and most of these cases 
involved persons coerced into restaurant work, in construction, and as 
maids. They were often forced to work long hours for low pay and were 
often reluctant to approach authorities due to the cultural gap and 
fear of deportation or confinement. Many of these workers were Asian, 
employed by other Asians who frequently had family or clan ties to the 
victims.
    The Government and NGOs believed Russian organized crime syndicates 
to be the principal traffickers of women and girls into the country. 
Although traffickers led some of the women to believe that they would 
be employed as domestic servants or waitresses, most were aware that 
they would be prostitutes. Economic incentives for poor women seemed to 
play a larger role in trafficking than physical coercion. Most 
trafficking victims entered the country with valid visas obtained at 
Finnish consulates abroad. The Schengen Treaty, which allows travelers 
already within the EUShengen area to travel to any other EUShengen 
country without inspection, facilitated the transit of persons 
trafficked into the country to other areas of Western Europe. In some 
cases traffickers confiscated victims' passports and used violence or 
the threat of violence to ensure their compliance.
    The maximum penalty for trafficking in persons is seven years in 
prison. There are various other laws related to trafficking offenses 
that can be used to convict traffickers, including laws against 
organized prostitution, the dissemination of child pornography, the 
coordination of illegal entry into the country, and the marketing of 
sexual services.
    In July the country conducted the first-ever prosecutions under 
anti-trafficking laws. Seven men and one woman were convicted and were 
given sentences ranging from 27 months to five years. The case involved 
the trafficking and exploitation of 15 Estonian women (one of whom 
suffered from an intellectual disability) who were forced to serve as 
prostitutes in Finland.
    Authorities also targeted labor trafficking during the year. In 
September, police in Savonlinna arrested the owners of a Chinese 
restaurant on accusations that, over an eight-year period, the owners 
forced up to 10 Chinese workers to work for virtual slave wages and for 
hours far exceeding those prescribed by the labor law. In October two 
Vietnamese nationals were arrested in Pietarsaari on suspicion of labor 
trafficking in a similar case involving five Vietnamese restaurant 
workers.
    Arrests in two unrelated cases of labor trafficking involving 
Chinese and Indian nationals were also made during the year, and trials 
in these cases were pending at year's end. Although there were no NGOs 
specifically dedicated to assisting trafficking victims, several 
focused on women's rights and general victim assistance issues, which 
included aid to trafficking victims. NGOs and government facilities 
operated by the Ministry of Labor provided victims with shelter, 
subsistence, medical services, and psychological counseling.
    The ministries for foreign affairs, interior, justice, labor, 
education, and social welfare were all involved in combating 
trafficking, and each was represented on the interagency 
antitrafficking working group. The parliamentary human rights caucus, 
the NBI, frontier guards, customs and immigration, and various 
municipal police were also involved in antitrafficking efforts.
    The Government participated in multilateral and regional efforts to 
combat trafficking, through organizations such as the Council of Baltic 
Sea States, Nordic Council of Ministers, and the Barents Euro-Arctic 
Council.
    The parliamentary human rights caucus organized briefings on 
trafficking in the Nordic-Baltic region and lobbied for increased 
victim assistance and protection measures.
    Law enforcement and prosecutorial officials received training in 
antitrafficking measures.
    During the year, antitrafficking efforts were assisted by the 
introduction of a specific type of residence permit for victims of 
trafficking. The permits allowed victims to remain in the country 
temporarily while recovering from their experience, seek employment, 
have access to healthcare and legal services, and have the opportunity 
to apply later for permanent residency.
    In 2005 the Government adopted a comprehensive national action plan 
to combat human trafficking. Based on the final report of an 
interagency working group appointed by the Ministry for Foreign 
Affairs, the plan called for a victim-centered approach to trafficking, 
including strengthened victim protection measures, an end to quick 
deportation of foreign victims, increased social and economic 
assistance for victims, and aggressive prosecution of traffickers. The 
Government continued implementing each of these measures during the 
year.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state 
services, and discrimination was not a problem. The law mandates access 
to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government 
generally enforced these provisions in practice. Many older buildings, 
however, remained inaccessible. Most forms of public transportation 
were accessible, but problems remained in some areas. For example, a 
few geographically isolated areas lacked adequate ramps for 
wheelchairs. The Ministry for Social Affairs and the Ministry for Labor 
were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities. The chairperson of the parliamentary human rights caucus, 
Ulla Antilla, organized several events focused on empowering persons 
with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country remained relatively 
homogenous, with most members of ethnic minorities having arrived as 
immigrants or asylum-seekers during the past 10 to 15 years. At the end 
of 2005, the immigrant population was estimated at 113,852 persons, or 
2.2 percent of the total population. The largest immigrant groups were 
Russians (24,600), Estonians (15,400), Swedes (8,200), Somalis (4,700), 
and Serbians (3,300).
    Although tension between citizens and minority groups was not 
overt, most racist and xenophobic incidents involved racial epithets 
directed toward immigrants in public. According to the Ministry of 
Interior, there were over 180 assaults or attempted assaults of a 
racist nature in 2004. Roma were the most frequent victims of racially 
motivated crimes, followed by Somalis, Russians, Turks, Iraqis, and 
Iranians. Ethnic Finns were also occasionally the victims of racially 
motivated crimes; these individuals were generally targeted because 
they associated with members of minority communities.
    There were occasional reports of fights between Finnish and 
foreign-born youths. African and Middle Eastern immigrants were 
typically the targets. There were also reports of fighting between 
rival ethnic immigrant groups.
    Approximately 70 percent of immigrants who reported experiencing 
racism did not report it to police, explaining that they had 
experienced police discrimination. Immigrants alleged that police did 
not take their claims of discrimination and unfair treatment seriously.
    The Government strongly encouraged tolerance and respect for 
minority groups and established an ombudsman for minorities to protect 
minority interests. All government ministries included antiracism 
provisions in their educational information, personnel policy, and 
training programs. The Government also monitored police, border guards, 
and teachers regarding their treatment of members of minority 
communities.
    Reports of attacks against restaurants and other property owned by 
immigrants continued during the year. In August the homes of several 
Burmese refugees were attacked by approximately 20 local youth in the 
town of Kotka. Stones, bricks, and sticks were used as weapons to 
vandalize the homes. The Minister of Labor immediately criticized the 
attack, although no suspects were apprehended.
    In August 2005 a pizzeria owned and operated by an immigrant in the 
city of Kajaani was raided by hooligans who destroyed the interior of 
the pizzeria and assaulted staff and customers. During the 
investigation that followed, the district police commander found that 
local police had failed to adequately respond to the incident, both in 
its immediate aftermath and in the ensuing investigation. Ten youths 
were charged in connection with the incident, and charges were pending 
at year's end.
    Although no exact figures were available, the country had 
approximately 10,000 Roma, some of whom were native to the country and 
others who had arrived as asylum seekers or immigrants. According to 
the ombudsman for minorities, problems encountered by Roma extended to 
all areas of daily life, which resulted in serious marginalization, 
often extending to de facto exclusion from Finnish society.
    Roma were frequently discriminated against in the areas of services 
and housing. In 2005 the NGO Finnish League for Human Rights conducted 
a study to test the extent of discrimination against Roma by sending 
Romani groups to several Helsinki restaurants. Many restaurants refused 
them entry, offering the Romas' own safety as justification. The human 
rights group criticized the Government's slow response to their 
complaints.
    Roma continued to experience difficulties in obtaining housing, and 
the minority ombudsman stated that such difficulties were on the rise 
throughout the country. Between 2004 and 2005, the number of housing 
complaints by Roma more than doubled.
    In 2005 the minority ombudsman lodged complaints against at least 
two municipalities, Oulu and Lahti, for discriminatory housing 
practices toward Roma. The authorities found in favor of the Roma, and 
the Roma were granted apartments in the areas in question.

    Indigenous People.--Sami (Lapps) constituted less than 0.1 percent 
of the population. The law provides for the protection of Sami language 
and culture, and the Government financially supported these 
protections. Sami enjoyed full political and civil rights as citizens, 
as well as a measure of autonomy in their own civil and administrative 
affairs. Sami had the right to use their language in dealings with 
administrative and judicial authorities and in schools, media, economic 
and commercial life, and cultural activities. Sami communities received 
subsidies to continue their traditional way of life. There were no 
reports of discrimination against Sami in employment, education, 
housing, or health services.
    Despite protections in the constitution, members of the Sami 
community continued to protest the Government's continued failure to 
pass legislation that would ensure protections of Sami land, resources, 
and economic livelihood. Sami complained that while 90 percent of the 
Sami home region is considered government-owned land, the Government 
used this land for logging and other purposes without consulting the 
Sami.
    During the year members of the Sami community continued to press 
legal challenges related to alleged violations of their land rights. In 
2005 the state forestry administration extended logging into areas 
where Sami herdsmen held reindeer during the fall months. In November 
2005 the Sami brought a complaint against the Government to the UN 
Human Rights Committee, alleging that the logging was so intense that 
it threatened the Samis' traditional means of subsistence through 
reindeer herding. The committee issued an interim order asking the 
Government to halt logging activities in the disputed areas; the state 
forestry administration abided by that order.
    Sami complaints about logging practices continued during the year. 
On June 21, Sami herdsmen in Inari issued a report criticizing the 
National Forestry Board's ``New Plan for Natural Resources,'' and 
noting that the plan had been prepared without Sami participation. On 
November 2, Sami representatives again expressed dissatisfaction with 
government attempts to address the logging problem and said that under 
the new plan, as much as four-fifths of forests outside of protected 
areas would be open to logging that could potentially harm traditional 
reindeer husbandry.
    In April 2005 the UN Human Rights Committee decided another case 
involving Sami land rights, finding no violation of the Sami right to 
enjoy their culture. The applicants had alleged that since the 1980s, 
approximately 4,000 acres of their grazing land in Paadarskaidi had 
been logged, thereby destroying 40 percent of the tree lichen needed by 
grazing reindeer in winter and threatening their reindeer husbandry 
activities. The committee found that although there was a decrease in 
the number of reindeer as a result of the logging, the total number of 
reindeer remained relatively high and the logging therefore did not 
violate the Sami right to enjoy their culture.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and join 
unions of their choice and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Approximately 79 percent of the workforce was unionized.

    b. Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law provides 
for the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government 
protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining agreements 
usually were based on tripartite wage policy agreements among 
employees, employers, and the Government. All unionized workers were 
covered under the collective bargaining agreements. Employers of 
nonunionized workers were required to compensate their employees at a 
wage equal to that stipulated by existing collective bargaining 
agreements.
    The law grants employees the right to strike, with some exceptions 
for public sector employees who provide essential services. An official 
dispute board can make non-binding recommendations to the cabinet on 
ending or limiting the duration of strikes when national security is 
threatened. Employees prohibited from striking can use arbitration to 
ensure due process in the resolution of their concerns. A strike is 
legal when an employment contract is not in effect and the action is 
pursuant to new contract negotiations. Strikes are considered illegal 
after a contract agreed to by all parties is in effect. Fines may be 
imposed for illegal strikes. Workers exercised this right in practice.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government has implemented laws and practices to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits children under age 16 
from working more than six hours per day and from working at night. The 
law sets occupational health and safety restrictions for children, and 
the Government implemented these provisions effectively.
    The labor ministry enforces child labor regulations; no complaints 
about the exploitation of children in the work force arose.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legal minimum wage; 
however, the law requires all employers, including nonunionized 
employers, to meet the minimum wages agreed to in collective bargaining 
agreements in each sector of the workforce. Almost all workers were 
covered under such arrangements. These negotiated minimum wages 
provided a decent standard of living for workers and their families.
    The legal workweek consists of five days not exceeding 40 hours. 
Employees working shifts or during the weekend are entitled to a 24-
hour rest period per week. Workers are entitled to premium pay for 
overtime work. The law limited a worker to 250 hours of overtime per 
year and to 138 overtime hours in any four-month period. Foreign 
workers were also protected by these laws, which the Government 
effectively enforced.
    The Government sets occupational health and safety standards, and 
the labor ministry effectively enforced them. Workers have the right to 
refuse dangerous work situations without penalty, and the Government 
enforced this right in practice.

                               __________

                                 FRANCE

    France, with a population of approximately 63.4 million, is a 
multiparty constitutional democracy. The Union for a Popular Movement 
is the ruling party and Jacques Chirac is President. The President is 
elected by popular vote for a five-year term. There is a bicameral 
parliament; the upper house (Senate) is indirectly elected through an 
electoral college; the lower house (National Assembly) is directly 
elected. National elections took place in 2002 and were considered free 
and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control 
of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas, including 
overcrowded and dilapidated prisons; lengthy pretrial detention; 
protracted investigation and trial proceedings; anti-Semitic incidents, 
including at least one killing; discrimination against Muslims; 
societal hostility toward immigrants; societal violence against women; 
child abuse and child marriage; and trafficking in persons.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings during the year.
    In November a plainclothes police officer of Afro-Caribbean descent 
shot and killed one fan and wounded another at the end of a soccer 
match. The officer was trying to protect a French-Jewish fan who was 
being chased by a crowd of 100 fans shouting anti-Semitic epithets. The 
officer used his weapon when the crowd turned on him with racial 
epithets and physical assault. Police union spokesmen asserted that the 
officer acted in self-defense (see section 2.c.).
    There were developments in several cases from earlier years.
    Following an investigation into the actions of French UN 
peacekeepers deployed to the Ivory Coast that were alleged to have lead 
to the May 2005 suffocation of an Ivorian national, Firmin Mahe, 
judicial authorities released all suspects except for regimental 
Sergeant Major Guy Raugel. On April 20, a court of appeals rejected 
Raugel's appeal, ruling that he was directly responsible for Mahe's 
death. General Henri Poncet, former commander of the country's 
peacekeepers in the Ivory Coast, and his deputy, Renaud de Malaussene, 
were each given an official warning and relieved of their commands in 
November 2005 for failing to report involvement of their troops in the 
death. At the end of the year Poncet remained under investigation for 
his role in Mahe's death.
    In February 2005 six individuals filed a lawsuit claiming that 
French soldiers were guilty of ``complicity in genocide'' and ``crimes 
against humanity'' while deployed to Rwanda at the time of the 1994 
genocide. In December 2005 a military tribunal opened an investigation 
into the accusations of two of the plaintiffs, including allegations 
that the soldiers stood by passively and permitted massacres to occur 
and that military personnel participated. Military authorities have 
denied that their troops aided or directed forces involved in the 
genocide, and a 1998 parliamentary panel absolved the armed forces of 
responsibility in the genocide. The pretrial investigation was ongoing 
at year's end. The process has been plagued with delays since its 
beginning, notably when a military magistrate slowed it with a December 
2005 decision challenging the legality of the court hearings. In May 
the Paris appeals court confirmed the admissibility of four additional 
complaints, for a total of six to be considered.
    In a report submitted on October 6, the National Security 
Commission (CNDS), an internal investigative body charged with 
examining complaints brought against police and judicial bodies, 
supported a magistrate's finding that no direct link existed between a 
2004 incident in which police in Paris' 18th arrondissement employed 
tear gas, and the death of a 62-year old Swedish artist. The CNDS did 
find, however, that ``the violence to which the victim was exposed 
could only have accentuated the mortal risk to which he was 
subjected.'' The CNDS forwarded the report to the Paris prosecutor's 
office; there was no follow-up action by year's end.
    A gang of immigrants kidnapped, tortured, and killed a Jewish man, 
a crime the interior and justice ministers characterized as motivated 
partly by anti-Semitism (see section 2.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were occasional accusations of police violence.
    There were press reports that police employed excessive force in 
making arrests. Authorities in Senlis sentenced two members of the 
security police there to six months suspended sentences and fines of 
approximately $3,013 (2,300 euros) for ``immoderate use of force'' in 
the apprehension of Abdelkader Miloudi in May 2005. There were also 
charges that police at times subjected young men who appeared to be 
Muslims to harassment (see section 2.c).
    Occasional press reports cited accusations of excessive force by 
police that could not be confirmed. For example, in February and March 
student demonstrations against educational reform proposals at times 
turned violent. The resulting confrontations led some demonstrators to 
charge that police had used excessive force. Other observers contended 
that such measures were necessary to rein in violence by demonstrators.
    On July 26, lawyers acting on behalf of Muhittin Altun, one of 
three minors whose conflict with police touched off widespread civil 
unrest in late 2005, lodged a formal complaint against police for 
reckless endangerment and falsifying public documents during their 
examination of Altun. They accused police of misclassifying Altun's 
case in order to speed the investigation to its conclusion and asserted 
that Altun's parents had not consented to a police interrogation of 
their son.
    The investigation of the 2004 case of three police officers, 
Captain Franck Junca and two members of his night brigade, who 
allegedly beat and sodomized a driver on a highway access road in Val-
de-Marne, continued. The captain was accused of destroying evidence. No 
further information on the case was available at year's end.
    In December a court gave three Lille police officers who allegedly 
raped a prostitute in 2003 suspended prison sentences after the 
prosecution was unable to meet the evidence standard needed for a 
heavier punishment.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards; however, credible 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported overcrowding and 
unacceptable hygienic conditions in some facilities. According to a 
Ministry of Justice press release, at the end of the year there were 
58,402 inmates in a prison system designed to hold a maximum of 50,300, 
exceeding the intended maximum capacity by 16 percent. The Government 
continued to replace old prisons and add new facilities as part of a 
project designed to add space for 13,200 additional inmates by the end 
of 2007, but there were no reports on the progress of this project.
    On February 13, Council of Europe (COE) Human Rights Commissioner 
Alvaro Gil-Robles released The Effective Respect for Human Rights in 
France, an institutional critique based on a two-week visit in 
September 2005. The report made 71 recommendations to the Government 
with particular emphasis placed on increasing the financial and 
technical resources allocated to the justice system, including 
improving prison and detention center conditions. COE observers visited 
seven prisons and five police stations where persons remanded into 
police custody were held. The observers concluded that overcrowding and 
inadequate operating resources were the most serious shortcomings. In 
some cases, as with the prisons La Sante and Les Baumettes, 
Commissioner Gil-Robles characterized living conditions as ``on the 
borderline of human dignity.'' Resource shortfalls were also evident in 
the conditions of prison health care units and substance abuse 
rehabilitation programs.
    Although there were no known deaths in prison due to mistreatment 
or adverse conditions during the year, prison suicides have been a 
problem in recent years. Penitentiary officials announced that there 
were 96 prison suicides during the year.
    Authorities maintained administrative holding centers (CRAs) for 
deportable foreigners whom they could not deport immediately. There 
were 18 holding centers on the mainland. Human rights observers 
reported that living conditions at CRAs ranged from generally 
acceptable to ``disastrous and unworthy of France,'' in the case of the 
men's holding center located under the Palace of Justice in Paris.
    The COE Commissioner for Human Rights reported that the Senate 
appeared to accept the presence of minors in holding centers as 
standard practice, although in the commissioner's view the practice 
contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic 
law.
    A new antiterrorism law came into force on January 23. Its 
provisions included longer periods of incommunicado detention, 
increased electronic surveillance in public places, and more extensive 
record keeping by mobile phone providers. The new law extended the 
maximum legal custody of terrorist suspects from four to six days and 
increased the sentences of persons convicted of terrorist acts. The law 
also gives the police wider access to previously confidential 
information of customers of rail, maritime, and air transport services.
    The NGO Amnesty International (AI) was critical of the law, 
asserting that it removes safeguards against ill-treatment and 
reinforces what it termed the effective impunity of law enforcement 
officials. Two other provisions of the new law caused particular 
concern to many observers. The first allows police to obtain data on 
citizens' electronic communications without judicial oversight to 
``prevent and punish'' acts of terrorism. The second allows police to 
monitor motor vehicles on the country's roads, including taking 
pictures of license plates and people in the cars, for a variety of 
purposes ranging from the fight against terrorism to the identification 
of stolen cars.
    Several officials who considered that the reforms gave authorities 
too much discretion to intrude upon citizens' privacy and encouraged 
confusion between immigrants and terrorists sent the law to the 
Constitutional Council. On January 19, the council declared the reforms 
to be consistent with the constitution.
    The Government permitted prison visits by independent local and 
foreign human rights observers. The International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) continued to work in cooperation with the Ministry of 
Justice and the National Prison Administration through a Convention of 
Partnership in accordance with ICRC standard modalities of independent 
monitoring.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions; however, lengthy pretrial detention was a 
problem. The Government provided financial compensation in some cases 
of wrongful incarceration.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A civilian force of 
145,820 national police under the direction of the Ministry of 
Interior, and a military force of 102,322 national gendarmes under the 
joint direction of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of 
Defense, ensured internal security. Police and gendarmes were 
considered generally effective.
    Some human rights organizations, including AI, charged that 
impunity was a problem in the police. AI cited protracted 
investigations of police misconduct as a contributing factor. However, 
impunity generally was not widespread. The inspector general of the 
national police and the Office of Judicial Police investigated and 
prosecuted allegations of police brutality. The independent National 
Commission of Security Ethics investigated and reported to the Prime 
Minister and parliament on allegations of misconduct by municipal 
police, gendarmes, and private security forces. The National 
Consultative Commission on Human Rights (NCCHR) also monitored police 
conduct. Police corruption was generally not a problem. The Government 
actively investigated and prosecuted allegations of police corruption.
    On November 2 the Government announced that since its creation in 
2000, the CNDS had submitted 419 legal misconduct cases against various 
authorities, more than half of them against police. Among police 
offenses, CNDS highlighted the excessive use of coercion during 
unjustifiably lengthy police custody and aggressive treatment of 
foreigners in border areas. CNDS recommended increased training in 
these areas for police.
    Another CNDS report attributed increasing delays in investigations 
of police misconduct to budgetary shortfalls and longer response times 
from prosecutors' offices. The system of indirect complaints also 
slowed the process; a person who was the victim of or a witness to 
police brutality could only apply to the commission through a member of 
parliament. Additionally, although the CNDS was entitled to conduct 
investigations, it could only make recommendations for action.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police are required by law to obtain 
warrants prior to taking persons into custody. They may apprehend 
persons with warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly 
authorized official. The law gives a person in detention the right to a 
prompt judicial determination of the legality of the detention, and 
authorities generally respected this right in practice. Authorities 
must promptly inform detainees of charges against them. There is a 
system of bail, and it is used. Detainees generally had prompt access 
to lawyers; however, in cases involving terrorism or other major 
crimes, suspects may be held up to 96 hours without access to a lawyer. 
If detainees are indigent, the state provides a lawyer for them.
    Long delays in bringing cases to trial and lengthy pretrial 
detention were problems. Pretrial detention is generally allowed only 
if there is a possibility that the suspect would be sentenced to more 
than three years in prison for crimes against property; however, a few 
suspects spent many years in detention before trial, which officials 
blamed on insufficient government resources for investigations and 
trials. In July 2005, 35 percent of persons held in jails and prisons 
were awaiting trial. According to government statistics released on 
March 18, detention times for persons awaiting trial increased 13 
percent since 2001, to an average of 7.1 months.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice. Magistrates and the first President of the 
Court of Cassation asserted that members of the executive 
inappropriately criticized judicial practices; critics noted in 
particular the interior minister's allegations in September that judges 
were too lenient on youth offenders.
    The court system includes local courts, 35 regional courts of 
appeal, and the highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, which 
considers appeals on procedural grounds only.
    In cases of serious crimes, investigating judges detain suspects 
while they conduct the investigation against them. A Chamber of 
Accusation, composed of a named President and two advisors, reviews the 
judge's investigation to determine the appropriateness of the charges 
against the accused. The Court of Assizes investigates and decides 
cases involving serious criminal offenses.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials are public and usually held before a judge or tribunal of 
judges. In instances where the sentence is potentially more than 10 
years' imprisonment, a combination of professional and lay judges hear 
the case. Defendants are able to question the testimony of prosecution 
witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence in their own 
defense. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held 
evidence relative to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of 
innocence and have the right to appeal.
    Public outrage over an inexperienced judge's wrongful 2003 
conviction of 13 innocent individuals in a case which the media labeled 
the ``Outreau Affair'' elicited new debate over how to treat children's 
testimony and whether a single magistrate should be responsible for 
assuring the neutrality of a criminal investigation.
    The Tribunal of the Armies of Paris is a military court created in 
1999 to judge crimes that members of the armed forces committed outside 
of the country. It has issued approximately 300 to 350 judgments 
annually. At year's end the tribunal was investigating both the death 
of Firmin Mahe and allegations regarding military actions during the 
Rwanda genocide (see section 1.a.). The tribunal abides by most of the 
rules of civil courts; however, the prosecutor seeks the advice of 
military authorities before most proceedings, and he has reported 
difficulties obtaining documents from military authorities that were 
classified ``secret.'' A former prosecutor criticized the influence of 
military authorities on the tribunal and has questioned whether it 
should continue to exist. COE research identified cases where military 
influence may have threatened human rights and due process, delayed 
trials, restricted the rights of detainees to counsel, hindered their 
access to witnesses and other relevant persons, and adversely affected 
the treatment of children.
    One cause of delays in trial proceedings was the abrupt and 
sweeping nature of the 2004 Perben II law, which amended 350 of the 934 
articles in the Code of Criminal Procedure and 70 articles in the 
Criminal Code. Most of these changes took effect almost immediately, 
creating major problems for legal professionals. According to the state 
prosecutor at the Marseille's Regional Court, criminal procedure was 
changing so rapidly that judges had to spend ever increasing time on 
formal issues, leaving less time for the substance of cases. Another 
cause of trial delays was chronic underfunding of court administration, 
including failure to fill vacant positions.
    COE research also found that the country's legal system limited the 
right of accused persons to benefit from legal counsel by limiting 
access to case files.
    Minors accounted for 18.8 percent of court proceedings in 2003, 
according to the COE. This figure has remained stable. The law provides 
that penalties for minors should vary according to the minor's age, 
with three age levels--10, 13 and 16 years--before legal adulthood (18 
years). Minors may be placed in a closed educational center. The 
distinction between serious offences and minor offences is waived with 
respect to minors aged 16 and 17, who may be remanded into custody 
regardless of the type of offence committed.
    During the year several judges informed human rights observers that 
the judicial system for minors was failing to deal with juvenile 
delinquents both in the short term and in the long term. Experts cited 
the need to reduce the time minors must wait to receive care from 
specialist social services and criticized the time children spend 
awaiting trial, currently two to 18 months for a hearing by the 
investigating judge's office and six months to two years for a court 
hearing.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, allowing access to a court to 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation. There were no reported problems enforcing domestic court 
orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
    Some civil rights and opposition political parties expressed 
concern about a new antiterrorism law enacted in December that, among 
other provisions, permits increased video surveillance of railway 
stations and airports and increased access to records of citizens' 
electronic communications. Critics asserted that the law gave 
authorities too much power to invade citizens' privacy (see section 
1.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice; however, there were some 
limitations. An 1881 press law prohibiting insults to the head of state 
remained technically in force but did not impede open criticism of the 
President and his actions. By law authorities may deport a noncitizen 
for publicly proclaiming deliberate and explicit acts of provocation 
proposing discrimination, hatred, or violence against any specific 
person or group of persons.
    On October 21, Minister of the Interior Sarkozy announced that 18 
Muslim imams ``who made remarks totally incompatible with the values of 
the Republic'' had been expelled since the beginning of the year.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views with few restrictions; however denial of crimes against humanity 
is illegal, as is speech, written or oral, that incites racial or 
ethnic hatred. There is a law against Holocaust denial, and a Lyon 
court opened a case against National Front senior official Bruno 
Gollnisch on November 7, on charges of having publicly questioned, 
during a 2004 press conference, the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
    In October the National Assembly passed a law making it a crime to 
deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman rulers of Turkey during 
the second decade of the twentieth century constituted genocide. The 
law, denounced by Ankara and criticized by the European Union, would 
set fines of as much as approximately $59,000 (45,000 euros) and a year 
in prison. Although the Senate had not approved the measure by year's 
end, its passage in the lower house prompted Turkey to suspend military 
relations.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could generally engage in 
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by 
electronic mail. In December the French parliament adopted an 
antiterrorist law that, among other provisions, permits official 
probing on the Internet and in mobile telephone records (see section 
1.c.). Some civil rights groups and left-wing opposition parties have 
expressed concern that the law gave authorities too much power to 
invade citizens' privacy and encourages confusion between immigration 
and terrorism. Access to the Internet was widely available throughout 
the country. However, the authorities shut down at least one Internet 
site during the year for threats against Jews (see section 2.c.).

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
    On July 26, the Council of Ministers dissolved the organization 
Tribu Ka because of its anti-Semitic behavior. The decision was based 
on a 1936 law which permits the dissolution of private militias and 
other militant antigovernment groups. The members of Tribu Ka, whose 
founder was reputedly a former member of the Black Muslim organization, 
consisted primarily of individuals of Sub-Saharan origin whom observers 
generally described as anti-Semitic and anti-White. Following its 
clashes with French authorities, the organization changed its name to 
``The Members of Kemi Seba's Generation'' and expressed its intention 
to submit a candidate list for the March 2008 municipal elections in 
the city of Sarcelles in the Val-d'Oise region.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. A 1905 
law on the separation of religion and state prohibits discrimination on 
the basis of faith. However, some religious groups remained concerned 
about legislation passed in 2001 and 2004 that permits the dissolution 
of groups under certain circumstances and prohibits the wearing of 
conspicuous religious symbols by public school employees and students. 
Although authorities based their actions on security grounds, some 
Muslims described the deportation of a number of radical Islamist 
religious figures since 2004 as a restriction on religious freedom (see 
section 2.b.).
    Under the law a religious group must apply to the local prefecture 
for recognition as an association of worship and must disclose certain 
management and financial information in order to receive tax-exempt 
status or gain official recognition. Groups of religious believers who 
do not seek such status are free to meet and conduct religious 
practice.
    A law adopted in 2004 prohibits the wearing of ``conspicuous'' 
religious symbols--including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and 
large crosses--by employees and students in public schools. In June 
2004 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the law did 
not violate freedom of religion, and the law took effect in September 
of that year. Some Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh leaders, human 
rights groups, and foreign governments voiced concerns about the law's 
potential to restrict religious freedom.
    The number of school children affected by these regulations was 
difficult to determine. Media reports estimated that of the 13 million 
schoolchildren, approximately 1,200 Muslim school-age girls wore 
headscarves to school. The Sikh community reported that of the roughly 
200 school-age Sikh boys, the legislation affected 168.
    During the year authorities registered four legal cases involving 
infractions of the 2004 law. When school resumed after the summer 
vacation, schools in Seine-Saint-Denis denied admission to three Sikh 
students who refused to remove their turbans; two were subsequently 
accepted into private schools, and the third was awaiting an appearance 
before a disciplinary council at year's end. A 16-year-old Sikh 
appealed his expulsion on November 21 for refusal to take off his 
turban. The Association of United Sikhs was supporting his appeal. 
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of Muslim girls being 
denied admission at the beginning of the autumn term.
    A respected Muslim observer complained that police sometimes 
singled out young Muslim men and demanded their documents, a tactic he 
described as a form of harassment intended to keep them out of certain 
neighborhoods.
    Public schools made an effort to supply special meals for students 
with religious dietary restrictions.
    Parents may homeschool children for religious reasons, but all 
schooling must conform to the curriculum standards established for 
public schools. The Government subsidizes private schools, including 
those that are affiliated with religious organizations.
    In September the Council on National Education, citing safety 
issues, affirmed Lyon authorities' decision to block the opening of 
what would have been the country's second and largest private Muslim 
high school. Local Muslim leaders criticized the decision, arguing that 
their right to open private religious schools was being impeded for 
fear that Muslim schools would spread across the country in response to 
the 2004 headscarf ban. According to press reports, there were hundreds 
of private Catholic and Jewish schools in the country, but there was 
only one private Muslim high school in a country with almost five 
million Muslims.
    In May 2005 then-prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin issued a 
circular indicating that officials should no longer use an earlier 
parliamentary list of ``cults'' to identify sects, and should instead 
focus their efforts on those sects that represented the greatest 
threat, notably those ``small, fluid'' groups that were ``less easily 
identifiable'' and used the Internet for recruitment. Some religious 
groups welcomed the move as a step forward but called for the Ministry 
of Justice to rescind circulars calling for what they regard as 
repressive measures against minority religions.
    The Interministerial Monitoring Mission against Sectarian Abuses 
(MIVILUDES) has the task of observing and analyzing sect or cult 
movements that could constitute a threat to public order or violate the 
law. MIVILUDES is responsible for coordinating the appropriate 
government response, informing the public about potential risks, and 
helping victims to receive aid. On April 16, MIVILUDES published its 
report for 2005, noting continued concern about the activities of 
groups it considers cults. The report cited three primary concerns: 
protecting all children from cult influences, both from parents who may 
be involved in such groups and from groups' attempts to recruit young 
members; reducing the demand for ``alternative medicines'' and 
spiritual healers; and preventing sects' use of natural disasters and 
humanitarian aid to promote their public image and proselytize their 
beliefs. The report specifically cited the Church of Scientology as 
reaching out to youth in the suburbs following the social unrest there 
in late 2005. Some groups have expressed concern that public servants 
could misuse MIVILUDES reporting against legitimate religious 
organizations.
    In December 2005 a Paris court rejected a lawsuit brought by a 
collective of associations asking for the dissolution of the National 
Union of Associations for the Defense of the Family (UNADFI). The 
organizations accused UNADFI, a state subsidized NGO ``specializing in 
information about sects,'' of regularly overstepping its mandate and 
acting against religious freedom. The court ruled that the suit 
constituted an ``abusive procedure.'' It ordered the plaintiffs to pay 
UNADFI $19,650 (15,000 euros) in damage and court costs and ordered the 
plaintiffs to print the decision in eight newspapers. The plaintiffs 
planned to appeal the decision.
    On June 28, in response to concerns raised by a 2005 MIVILUDES 
report, the National Assembly began an investigation into the influence 
of sectarian movements and their impact on the physical and mental 
health of minors. The investigative commission, which submitted its 
findings on December 19, concluded that 60,000 to 80,000 children may 
be threatened by sectarian groups and that public authorities, notably 
the Ministry of Interior, had been ``negligent'' in their supervision 
of the danger. The commission's report elicited criticism from minority 
religious groups, particularly the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. 
Other religious and civil rights groups labeled the commission's 
conclusions an affront to freedom of conscience and religious belief.
    Members of Jehovah's Witnesses also alleged that during the year 
the rapporteur and the secretary of the newly convened Third 
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Sects openly attacked them, 
describing them as delinquents and criminals and labeling their 
activities as ``mafia-like.''
    The Jehovah's Witnesses organization continued to appeal a case in 
which they asserted authorities targeted them for discriminatory and 
punitive auditing because of their classification as a cult. In 
December 2005 the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a 2001 decision in 
the case and ordered the Ministry of Interior to turn over to the 
Jehovah's Witnesses documents relating to a 1996 parliamentary report 
and pay court costs of $1,800. The ECHR had the case under 
consideration at year's end.
    There was continuing concern about the 2001 About-Picard law, which 
permits the dissolution of religious groups. Although authorities have 
never applied these provisions of the law, in 2004 a court relied on 
About-Picard to convict a religious leader of ``fraudulent abuse'' of 
his followers.
    In March the UN released the report of its special rapporteur on 
religious freedom in the country, which, while generally positive 
concerning the country's adherence to religious freedom, was critical 
of what it called the excessively rigid application of the principle of 
separation of church and state. The report also stated that the 
authorities may have contributed to a climate of general suspicion and 
intolerance toward religious groups listed as cults in a 1995 
parliamentary report, and suggested that ``the stigmatization of the 
headscarf has provoked acts of religious intolerance when women wear it 
outside school.''

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to a World Jewish 
Congress report issued on November 12, 275 anti-Semitic acts or insults 
were reported during the first nine months of the year, compared to 236 
incidents for the same time period of 2005 and 483 acts reported for 
the first nine months of 2004. The report emphasized that 61 anti-
Semitic acts were reported during July and August, up drastically from 
the 34 reported incidents in the same period of 2005, suggesting a 
possible relationship to the July-August conflict involving Israel and 
the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. During the first ten 
months of the year, the national police recorded 436 anti-Semitic acts.
    Minister of Justice Pascal Clement stated that, ``our society as a 
whole has perhaps not been vigilant enough in the face of racism and 
anti-Semitism.'' The minister, noting an increase in convictions for 
anti-Semitic acts, expressed the view that the increase was due not to 
more incidents, but rather to ``better pursuit'' of the acts that did 
occur. He encouraged prosecutors to act swiftly against these types of 
crimes; prosecutors were under orders to seek maximum punishments in 
hate crimes and to appeal systematically those sentences not considered 
strong enough.
    The Jewish community was estimated to number approximately 600,000 
persons, according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. In 
its annual report to the Prime Minister released in March, the NCCHR 
indicated that in 2005 the number of anti-Semitic incidents--including 
physical assaults, attacks against property, cemetery desecrations, 
threats, and reported insults--decreased 48 percent (down from 974 in 
2004 to 504 in 2005). The NCCHR also indicated that the decrease 
included incidents in schools, an area that has been of great concern 
in recent years. According to interior ministry figures, the number of 
racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic incidents in schools dropped by 54 
percent in 2005; the number of anti-Semitic incidents saw the greatest 
decrease. The Ministry of Education likewise reported a 40 percent 
reduction in racist and anti-Semitic acts for the 2005-2006 academic 
year.
    In July authorities banned an organization for anti-Semitic threats 
and closed its Web site (see section 2.b.).
    Strict antidefamation laws prohibit racially or religiously 
motivated verbal and physical abuse, and denial of crimes against 
humanity is illegal, as is speech, written or oral, that incites racial 
or ethnic hatred. There is a law against Holocaust denial, and on 
November 7, a Lyon court opened a case against National Front senior 
official Bruno Gollnisch on charges of having publicly questioned, 
during a 2004 press conference, the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
    The Government promotes interfaith understanding to combat racism 
and anti-Semitism through public awareness campaigns and by encouraging 
dialogue among local officials, police, and citizen groups.
    Official figures indicated that the Jewish community was the 
primary victim of religious intolerance. In 2004 almost 60 percent of 
such acts targeted Jews or Jewish property.
    There was one high profile killing during the year that the 
interior and justice ministers characterized as motivated partly by 
anti-Semitism. On January 21, a multiethnic gang of immigrant youths 
called the Barbarians kidnapped Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew of 
Moroccan descent. On February 13, five days after his family broke off 
ransom negotiations on the advice of police. Halimi was found south of 
Paris, naked, beaten, and covered with cigarette burns; he died on his 
way to the hospital. Authorities investigated 29 individuals in 
connection with the crime and eventually imprisoned 18. One of the 
suspects in custody admitted to authorities that Halimi had been 
targeted ``because he is Jewish, and because Jews are rich.'' Youssef 
Fofana, the suspected leader of the gang, was arrested in Cote d'Ivoire 
in February and extradited back to the country. He stated in a media 
interview following his arrest that the abduction was carried out for 
financial ends.
    Authorities reacted strongly to the killing, although some members 
of Halimi's family accused the police of moving too slowly and 
initially disregarding the anti-Semitic dimension of the crime. The 
Ministry of Justice classified the crime as a hate crime bearing the 
aggravated circumstance of anti-Semitism. President Chirac, Prime 
Minister de Villepin, opposition political figures, and Muslim and 
Christian religious leaders attended a memorial for Ilan Halimi 
February 24 at a Paris synagogue. The ongoing investigation was 
expected to take up to two years or more, in part because authorities 
were seeking to include all charges in one comprehensive legal 
proceeding.
    On August 5, during a local celebration in Annecy, a group of 
people attacked a young Venezuelan student after hearing his name 
called out as ``Abraham.'' They insulted him, calling him ``dirty 
Jew,'' and beat him until a nearby security guard intervened. According 
to the police, the Venezuelan student was not Jewish. Police arrested 
four persons, and a criminal court in Annecy convicted three of them 
and sentenced them to nine months' imprisonment, the harshest sentence 
ever imposed for an anti-Semitic attack. On May 28, a group of 
individuals of African descent calling themselves Tribu Ka staged an 
anti-Semitic demonstration in the heart of the Jewish area of Paris. 
With the direct support of Minister of Interior Sarkozy, authorities 
opened an investigation of the group's death threats against Jews, and 
on July 26, the minister of justice invoked a Presidential decree that 
dissolved Tribu Ka and forcibly closed the group's Web site. Tribu Ka's 
founder, Stellio Gilles Robert, reportedly a former member of the 
Nation of Islam in Paris under the name Kemi Seba, opened a new anti-
Semitic Web site in August. On September 25, Le Monde reported that the 
Paris Tribunal ordered the second Web site closed within two days, 
adding a $1,181 (1,500 euros) fine for each day spent in breach of the 
order. The site closed, but according to October press reporting, Kemi 
Seba had opened a new Internet site.
    On November 9, arsonists set fire to a Jewish school in Gagny, 
north of Paris. The fire caused little damage, in contrast to an arson 
attack on the same school in 2003 that destroyed 32,000 square feet of 
the school. Police opened an investigation. Days afterward, President 
Chirac announced a tougher policy to combat anti-Semitism.
    Also in November the media reported that approximately 100 
supporters of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team chased a Jewish man 
and shouted racial and anti-Semitic slogans at him, after their side 
lost a game to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Antoine Granomort, a plainclothes 
police officer of Afro-Caribbean descent, tried to protect the French 
fan of the visiting Israeli team, and when he was subjected to racial 
and physical attack, he drew his gun and shot and killed one Paris 
Saint-Germain supporter and seriously injured another. Investigating 
authorities found the officer's actions were justified. Following the 
incident authorities instituted several new measures aimed at 
discouraging violence at sporting events, including discontinuing 
ticket sales to unofficial fan groups, refusing entrance to fans with 
histories of hooliganism, and promoting more frequent interaction 
between fan groups and security forces.
    In June the administrative tribunal of Toulouse convicted the state 
and the state railways, the SNCF, for their role in the deportation of 
Jews during World War II. The family of Georges Liepitz brought the 
case. The state railway transferred Liepitz and his family in 1944 from 
Pau to a transit camp north of Paris. (They were ultimately set free; 
others perished in Nazi camps.) In its decision, the court found that 
``the French administration could not manifestly ignore that their 
transfer.facilitated an operation that would normally have been the 
prelude to the deportation of the concerned persons.'' The court 
ordered the SNCF to pay $74,400 (62,000 euros) to the Lipietz family. 
At year's end, the SNCF was appealing the decision.
    On July 12, a higher court overruled the May 2005 Versailles Court 
of Appeals verdict against the authors and publisher of a 2002 article 
for ``racial defamation'' due to the article's alleged anti-Semitic 
content. An appeals court had found that three sentences in the article 
violated a 1990 antiracism law. The higher court annulled the racial 
defamation judgment, stating that the published text was the expression 
of an opinion in an ideological debate.
    The trial of three minors accused of throwing bottles of acid into 
the courtyard of a Jewish school in July 2005 continued at year's end.
    Members of the Arab and broader Muslim communities also experienced 
incidents of harassment and vandalism. According to the NCCHR, 470 
racist acts were recorded in 2005, a decrease of 22 percent from the 
600 committed in 2004. Of these, the largest drop was in the number of 
violent incidents (88 in 2005 as opposed to 169 in 2004). The NCCHR 
attributed more than half of the 2005 racist incidents (257) to far-
right extremists.
    Racism and religious intolerance in Corsica remained a concern. On 
January 19, unknown persons detonated a bomb outside a Muslim-owned 
butcher shop of Porto Vecchio (South Corsica). The owner had been a 
bombing victim on at least two other occasions. No arrests had been 
made at year's end.
    On October 17, the penal court for minors of Paris gave twelve 
members of the armed group Clandestini Corsi jail sentences of six 
months to seven years for seven attacks against the Muslim community 
between March and September 2004. The court cited racism as an 
aggravating factor.
    No arrests were made during the year in connection with a January 
2005 bomb detonation outside a butcher shop owned by a Muslim in the 
Corsican capitol, Ajaccio. It was the fourth such attack against the 
shop.
    There were isolated anti-Islamic incidents on the mainland as well. 
On October 23, vandals profaned the future central Mosque of Belfort by 
leaving a pig's head in a window. Muslim worshippers also discovered 
posters of the National Front on the door of their temporary prayer 
room. The construction of the mosque, which was scheduled to open in 
2007, was source of controversy. Authorities questioned three members 
of the extreme right-wing movement Jeunesses Identitaires during an 
April demonstration against the project. Political and religious 
leaders condemned the attacks, and authorities actively investigated 
the incidents, but there were no reported arrests.
    An investigation continued into attacks on two mosques in Lyon in 
2005.
    Representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization asserted on 
December 18 that 78 of their places of worship had been vandalized 
since the beginning of the year. They attributed these and earlier 
attacks in part to a 1996 parliamentary commission of inquiry report 
that described them as a ``dangerous sect.'' On July 3, the Council of 
State stated that the 1996 designation of the group was based on a 
sketchy and superficial assessment of the effects of the organization's 
activities.
    Representatives of the Church of Scientology continued to report 
cases of societal discrimination during the year. Scientologists 
continued to follow closely the growing body of precedent-setting case 
law from the ECHR in order to contest what they regarded as unequal 
treatment. Scientologist representatives noted that the ECHR instructed 
governments to ``remain neutral and impartial'' with respect to 
religious faith and that it ruled that the right to freedom of religion 
as guaranteed under the COE's Convention for the Protection of Human 
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms excludes any discretion on the part of 
the state to determine whether religious beliefs or the means used to 
express such beliefs are legitimate.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    The law requires those engaged in itinerant activities, and who 
have a fixed domicile, to sign a declaration, which must be renewed 
periodically. Itinerant persons having no domicile or fixed abode must 
be in possession of travel documents, often requiring renewal every 
three months, and must choose a commune for administrative purposes. 
Members of the Romani community, who make up the majority of those who 
require travel documents, have protested the requirement and indicated 
that they often experience discriminatory treatment from officials when 
renewing the documents (see section 5).
    The law also requires municipalities with more than 5,000 residents 
to provide an ``encampment'' where persons may reside temporarily. 
However, members of the Romani community indicated that only one in 
four municipalities required to provide a designated encampment 
actually did so in practice, and that many encampments did not meet the 
legal requirements for infrastructure, sanitation, and safety. Romani 
groups have asserted that some municipal leaders preferred to pay fines 
rather than provide encampments. The law also designates some towns 
where encampment is prohibited. Compounding problems created by a lack 
of encampments is a law that makes it illegal to set up residency 
outside of designated areas (see section 5).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 557 persons during the year.
    An AI report condemned legal and administrative regulations that in 
its view restrict the right to seek asylum and the right to have an 
asylum claim considered on its merits. New regulations of concern 
include: a shortened time to complete and submit temporary residence 
applications (down to 21 days; formerly one month); less thorough, or 
``fast track,'' consideration of asylum applications for persons from 
an expanded list of ``safe'' countries of origin or transit; and 
cessation of free interpretation services to asylum applicants in 
detention centers.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    In September 2005 the National Association for Assisting Foreigners 
at Borders (ANAFE) released a statement citing a decline in the number 
of foreigners detained in the waiting areas of airports and seaports, 
noting that 14,291 individuals were denied admission in 2004, as 
opposed to 15,498 in 2003. However, it expressed concern that the 
Government was focusing on combating illegal immigration to the 
detriment of the protection and welcome offered to foreigners, 
particularly asylum seekers. ANAFE noted that there were allegations 
that security officials abused foreigners in waiting areas, 
particularly during attempts to re-embark them on aircraft.
    A 2003 law and 2004 regulations reformed the country's asylum law. 
Some of the new rules enhanced asylum seekers' rights, particularly by 
extending the scope of the Geneva Convention and the concept of agents 
of persecution; persecution by nonstate agents is taken into account if 
the state concerned is incapable of offering protection to the person 
in danger. In addition the reforms allow persons who may be exposed to 
certain serious risks if they return to their country of origin to 
remain for a renewable period of one year.
    The reforms of 2003 and 2004 also created additional difficulties 
for persons seeking asylum by stipulating that asylum application forms 
submitted to the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless 
Refugees (OFPRA) must be completed in French. Observers noted that the 
chances of a positive response to asylum seekers who speak no French, 
or not enough to draft a coherent, structured text, were significantly 
lower than those of French-speaking applicants.
    On May 16, the OFPRA expanded to 17 the list of countries said to 
be ``safe'' and regarded as respecting human rights: Albania, Benin, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Croatia, Georgia, Ghana, India, 
Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Niger, Senegal, 
Tanzania, and Ukraine. Some human rights observers, including UNHCR 
representatives, questioned whether all these countries could 
accurately be characterized as ``safe.'' Inclusion on the list of safe 
countries of origin had significant consequences for asylum seekers who 
were nationals of one of these countries: authorities systematically 
refused their applications for temporary residence permits, thus 
denying them the social rights granted to other asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law give citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.
    Individuals without a fixed domicile and who must carry travel 
documents were permitted to vote in municipal elections only after a 
three-year period of ``attachment'' to a municipality. Roma groups 
asserted that this requirement, which is based on special legislation 
applied only to itinerant groups, was discriminatory since other 
citizens, including the homeless, were able to vote after an attachment 
period of only six months.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national 
legislative and Presidential elections took place in 2002 and were free 
and fair.
    The citizens of Mayotte and the territories of French Polynesia, 
Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia determine their legal and 
political relationships to the rest of the country by means of 
referendums and, along with the overseas departments, elected deputies 
and senators to the parliament.
    In February new elections were held for 37 of the 57 seats in the 
Polynesian National Assembly and were considered generally free and 
fair; the Council of State had annulled the results of the November 
2004 elections because of irregularities.
    There were 129 women in the two chambers of the 908-seat 
legislature and six female ministers in the 32-member cabinet. Women 
made up 48 percent of municipal council members but held only 6.7 
percent of mayoral positions. Political parties are required to present 
voters lists containing equal numbers of male and female candidates, 
within two percentage points; however, in March the NGO Observatory for 
Parity between Men and Women reported that the three major political 
parties had been fined for failing to fulfill this requirement in the 
2002 elections.
    The law prohibits the Government from collecting information about 
the racial or ethnic background of its citizens; therefore, no 
statistics on minority participation in the Government were available. 
However, minorities appeared to be significantly underrepresented in 
the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--On May 30, the Paris 
prosecutor's office opened an investigation of 11 citizens suspected of 
involvement in corruption related to the UN ``Oil-for-Food'' program in 
Iraq. On April 5, former interior minister Charles Pasqua came under 
formal investigation for possible influence peddling in order to profit 
from this program. Pasqua denied the charges.
    On July 5, a Paris court convicted 38 persons in a financing 
scandal involving city officials from 1987 to 1993. The court gave the 
defendants suspended prison sentences of two months to two years and 
fines of up to approximately $131,000 (100,000 euros). Among those 
convicted were four former senior officials in the Paris public housing 
agency. Investigators charged that approximately 20 public works 
companies paid more than approximately $7.4 million (5.7 million euros) 
from 1991 to 1994 to Jean-Claude Mery, an official in the governing 
party at the time.
    In May 2005 the political party, Union for a Popular Movement 
(UMP), agreed to repay the city of Paris for municipal salaries 
illegally paid to a number of individuals who in fact had been working 
for the UMP's predecessor, the Rally for the Republic Party. The UMP 
was to reimburse the city approximately $1.17 million (890,000 euros) 
for the fictitious salaries, plus legal expenses and interest. 
According to press reports in September, the UMP paid the 
reimbursement, but Paris city government officials did not publicly 
confirm receipt of payment.
    In May the anonymous informant at the heart of a scandal that the 
media labeled the Clearstream affair was identified as a senior 
executive at the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), 
a defense firm. According to media accounts, the executive, a friend to 
Prime Minister de Villepin, compiled a bogus list linking politicians 
to offshore bank accounts. Targets included Minister of the Interior 
Sarkozy. General Philippe Rondot, a retired spy, has testified that 
Prime Minister de Villepin asked him to investigate Sarkozy.
    Corruption charges remained pending against President Jacques 
Chirac; however, as long as he remains in office, the President is 
immune from prosecution.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and 
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights 
organizations generally operated without government restrictions, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced these 
prohibitions. However, violence against women and children, child 
marriage, trafficking in persons, and acts of ethnic hostility and 
discrimination were problems.

    Women.--While not common, violence against women was a problem. The 
law prohibits violence against women, including spousal abuse, and the 
Government generally enforced it. During the first nine months of the 
year, according to a new study by the Ministry of Employment, Housing, 
and Social Cohesion, 113 homicides were attributed to domestic 
violence. Of these, 95 victims were women, and more than half of male 
victims had a record of violently abusing the women who killed them. 
The penalties for domestic violence vary according to the type of crime 
and range from three years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately 
$58,950 (45,000 euros) to 20 years' imprisonment. The Government 
sponsored and funded programs, including shelters, counseling, and hot 
lines, for women who were victims of violence. Numerous NGOs also 
assisted abused women.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government 
generally enforced the law effectively. Rape occurred rarely. The 
Ministry of Interior reported that the number of rapes fell by 24.88 
percent (from 10,506 to 9,993 cases) over the previous year. Reported 
sexual harassment cases for the same period dropped by 11.8 percent. 
These statistics did not specify the gender of the victims.
    The penalty for rape is 15 years' imprisonment, which may be 
increased due to other circumstances, such as the age of the victim or 
the nature of the relationship of the rapist to the victim. The 
Government and NGOs provided shelters, counseling, and hot lines for 
rape victims. The press and NGOs reported that a ``repressive 
atmosphere'' existed in some suburbs of Paris inhabited primarily by 
immigrants from North African countries, causing women to be 
intimidated. Some men in these suburbs reportedly sought to intimidate 
women whom they perceived as violating social norms, using methods 
ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault and gang rape.
    According to the Ministry of Employment, Housing and Social 
Cohesion, the law treats female genital mutilation under the criminal 
offense of ``violence involving mutilation or permanent infirmity.'' It 
is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of approximately 
$196,000 (150,000 euros). The sentence increases to 15 years if the 
crime involves children 15 years old or younger.
    Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits procuring, 
including aiding, assisting, maintaining, or profiting from the 
prostitution of another. Public solicitation is illegal. Enforcement of 
these laws varied, and criminal activity related to prostitution 
remained a problem.
    On October 29, authorities announced the successful dismantling of 
an extensive prostitution ring operating between the country and 
Bulgaria. Police carried out simultaneous raids in Nancy and in 
Bulgaria and arrested 20 persons, including the four leaders of the 
network.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). A government agency, the Central 
Office for Action against Trafficking in Humans (OCRETH), addressed 
trafficking in women, prostitution, and procuring.
    Sex tourism to other countries was a problem that the Government 
took steps to address. The law includes extraterritorial provisions 
that apply domestic law to sexual offenses committed abroad by French 
citizens or residents.
    In May 2005, 20 leading tourism companies signed a charter with the 
tourism minister pledging to increase their efforts to combat child sex 
tourism.
    In March the Government announced the creation of positions related 
to sex tourism in embassies located in six countries considered most 
susceptible to child sex tourism. Embassy officials were expected to 
provide education about combating child sex tourism, assist in 
prosecutions of French nationals who might be involved, and help 
victims approach authorities.
    The law prohibits gender-based job discrimination and harassment of 
subordinates by superiors, but it does not apply to relationships 
between peers. Sexual harassment was not widely considered a problem in 
the workplace. Both the Government and NGOs widely publicized the laws, 
and the Government enforced them effectively.
    Under the constitution and law, women have the same rights as men, 
including rights under family law, property law, and in the judicial 
system. The Ministry of Parity and Equality is responsible for the 
legal rights of women.
    The law requires that women receive equal pay for equal work; 
however, reports by various governmental organizations and NGOs 
indicated that there was a gender pay discrepancy of around 25 percent, 
according to the European Industrial Relations Observatory. Women 
continued to face difficulties in attaining positions of 
responsibility. According to a study by the Government's statistical 
agency, fewer than 20 percent of executives in the private sector were 
women, and although they made up 57 percent of the public workforce, 
women were underrepresented in managerial jobs and positions of 
responsibility. They were also underrepresented in political life (see 
section 3). Unemployment rates also remained higher for women than for 
men.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of public education and 
medical care. The Ministry for Family Affairs oversees implementation 
of the Government's programs for children.
    Public schooling is provided free through the age of 18, and 
education is compulsory for citizens and noncitizens from the ages of 
six to 16. However, after unrest in October 2005 in which minors were 
disproportionately involved, the Prime Minister proposed that some 
youth be allowed to leave school at age 14 to enter into 
apprenticeships. Although not compulsory, preschool and kindergarten 
for children under age six is free and widely available. According to 
the Government's statistical service, during the 2003-2004 school year 
attendance by children remained at 100 percent from age three to age 
13; however, for children aged 14, 15, and 16 the percentages dropped 
to 99.6, 98.6, and 97.3 respectively. Most children completed the 
equivalent of high school. There was no evidence of significant 
differences between the attendance of girls and boys at the primary, 
secondary, and postsecondary levels.
    The Government provided universal health care to all residents, and 
boys and girls had equal access.
    Although not common, child abuse was a problem. There are strict 
laws against child abuse by parents or guardians, and the Government 
generally enforced the law effectively and prosecuted abusers. The law 
provides for a government children's advocate, a position charged with 
defending and promoting children's rights as defined by law. However, a 
2003 report by a rapporteur for the UN Commission on Human Rights 
criticized the justice system and a government-chartered doctors' group 
for their handling of child sex abuse cases. The rapporteur concluded 
that ``many individuals in a position of responsibility for the 
protection of children's rights, particularly within the judiciary, are 
still largely in denial about the existence and extent of this 
phenomenon.'' Among the rapporteur's remedial recommendations was that 
a children's ombudsman (Defenseure des enfants) should be fully 
resourced and provided with an adequate number of staff to receive and 
investigate future cases where there appears to have been a failure of 
justice concerning children's rights.''
    A case involving the kidnapping and selling of babies from Bulgaria 
was pending at year's end. In October 2005 authorities arrested 15 
persons and rescued seven babies in connection with a ring discovered 
in 2004. A Romani family in Bulgaria headed the network, which sold 
babies to other Romani families for approximately $6,310 to $7,860 
(5,000 to 6,000 euros). OCRETH continued to work with Bulgarian 
authorities on the investigation.
    According to the Ministry of Interior, the number of reported rapes 
committed against minors fell by 9.88 percent between 2004 and 2005. 
The Government provided counseling, financial aid, foster homes, and 
orphanages for victims, depending on the extent of the problem. Various 
NGOs also helped minors seek justice in cases of mistreatment by 
parents.
    Child marriage was a problem, particularly in communities 
maintaining cultural ties to their African and Asian origins. Although 
such marriage ceremonies took place primarily outside the country, 
authorities took steps to address the problem. In 2003 the French 
Integration Council (HCI) reported that there were approximately 70,000 
girls in the country between 10 and 18 years of age, primarily from 
North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Turkey, who faced the prospect of 
a forced marriage. Women and girls could seek refuge at shelters if 
their parents or guardians threaten them with a forced marriage, and 
parents may be prosecuted for forcing their children into marriage. The 
Government offered some educational programs to inform young women of 
their rights. The HCI said it was important to distinguish between 
arranged and forced marriages. Both houses of parliament have passed 
laws to harmonize the minimum legal age of marriage for boys and girls 
at age 18.
    Trafficking in girls was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit the 
trafficking of persons; however, trafficking in women and children for 
sexual exploitation, forced domestic labor, and petty crime was a 
problem (see section 6.d.).
    The country was a destination for victims, primarily women, 
trafficked from Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and the former 
Soviet Union for the purposes of prostitution and domestic servitude. 
Police estimated that 90 percent of the 15,000 sex workers in the 
country were trafficking victims. Many children, including many Romani 
children, were trafficked from Romania.
    Trafficking of Brazilian women and girls to French Guiana for 
sexual exploitation was a problem.
    An increasing number of Chinese nationals were involved in 
prostitution in Paris and the surrounding region, a fairly new 
phenomenon. A 2005 report by the International Labor Office 
Organization estimated that there were approximately 50,000 Chinese 
immigrants in the country illegally; many having arrived by means of 
networks that subsequently exploited them. According to the report, 
there were approximately 6,000 new arrivals annually.
    Traffickers operated principally in small criminal networks. NGOs 
and police characterized the bulk of trafficking operations as 
``microtrafficking networks'' that included both citizens and 
foreigners. They used various methods to recruit and retain victims 
including force, fraud, confiscating the victims' identification 
documents, isolating them culturally, and abusing them physically and 
psychologically. Some victims who came to the country willing to work 
as prostitutes were subsequently exploited by pimps and traffickers. In 
other cases traffickers kidnapped or ``bought'' women and girls 
elsewhere and sold them to Balkans-based prostitution networks that 
trafficked them into the country.
    The specific crime of human trafficking was first introduced in a 
2003 law that offers protection for men and women forced to enter 
prostitution. Apart from social assistance, trafficking victims may be 
given a provisional residence permit on condition that they cooperate 
with police in securing the arrest of the person controlling them. If 
the latter is convicted, the victim may be issued with a residence 
card.
    Trafficking in persons is punishable by up to seven years' 
imprisonment and a fine of up to approximately $196,000 (150,000 
euros). The punishment for inducing a minor to beg is punishable by two 
years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $59,000 (45,000 euros). 
In the case of a minor under 15 years of age, the offence is punished 
by three years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $98,000 
(75,000 euros). Direct inducement of a minor to habitually commit 
felonies or misdemeanors is punished by five years' imprisonment and a 
fine of approximately $196,000 (150,000 euros). Direct inducement by 
promises, offers, pressure, threats, or violence to commit a felony is 
punishable up to by seven years' imprisonment and a fine of 
approximately $131,000 (100,000 euros). The commission without 
violence, constraint, threat or surprise of a sexual offence by an 
adult on the person of a minor younger than 15 years of age is punished 
by five years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $98,000 (75,000 
euros). However, under the trafficking-related sentencing guidelines, 
sentences for some types of convictions, such as those involving rape, 
were light. Exploiting foreign laborers and exposing them to inhumane 
conditions are criminal offenses under other statutes and are 
punishable by up to three years' imprisonment or substantial fines.
    Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the effort to 
combat trafficking. The Government regularly cooperated on a bilateral 
basis or with international institutions such as the European Police 
Agency (Europol) to investigate, track, and dismantle trafficking 
rings. Authorities worked with officials in other countries, 
particularly source countries, to counter human trafficking.
    The Government reported that in 2005, in Paris alone, it issued 306 
temporary residence permits, 197 of them renewable, under a government 
protection program to aid trafficking victims who chose to cooperate 
with police and judicial authorities. Victims who declined to cooperate 
with authorities were considered illegal immigrants and were sometimes, 
but not often, detained, jailed, or deported. NGOs criticized the 
Government's lack of a proactive approach to identifying trafficking 
victims; the reactive approach employed during the year required 
alleged victims to identify themselves and denounce their traffickers 
within 24 hours of detention following arrest, offering victims little 
time to develop assurances against retribution.
    The Government continued to screen and refer victims to counseling 
centers and safe houses for comprehensive services. The Government 
assumed child victims to be in danger and provided immediate shelter 
while assessing the child's best interests.
    Numerous NGOs dealt with trafficking in persons and prostitution. 
Social Aid to Children, the national social services branch for child 
care, was responsible for caring for and assisting victims under the 
age of 22.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state 
services; the Government generally enforced these provisions 
effectively.
    The law requires new public buildings to be accessible to persons 
with disabilities; however, many older buildings and public 
transportation were not accessible. In October a lawyer in Pas-de-
Calais, Maitre Bleitrach, lost her appeal in a discrimination case 
against the Justice Ministry in which she asserted that the 
inaccessibility of most court facilities in her region prevented her 
from carrying out her professional duties. The appeals court ruled that 
the scope of the inconvenience did not rise to the standard requiring 
public remediation. At year's end, Ms. Bleitrach was considering the 
possibility of bringing her case to the ECHR.
    Nearly 28 percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed, 
roughly three times the national unemployment rate. The law requires 
companies having more than 20 employees to ensure that 6 percent of 
their employees are persons with disabilities. Companies found not to 
be in compliance are liable to fines, which go to an association that 
assists persons with disabilities in finding work. However, many 
companies admitted to being unaware of their legal obligations, and the 
average employment rate of persons with disabilities for those 
companies subject to the law was approximately 4 percent.
    In February 2005 parliament passed a law to compensate persons for 
the consequences of disability and to promote their integration into 
the country's social life by requiring accessibility to buildings and 
access to education and employment. The law seeks to involve persons 
with disabilities in the decision-making process on these issues. It 
increased fines for companies not in compliance with the legal 
requirements concerning the employment of persons with disabilities, 
penalizing those who have not made significant efforts to meet their 
legal obligations within three years with fines of 1,500 times the 
minimum wage. In addition the law calls for centers to be set up in 
each department to assist persons with disabilities with receiving 
compensation and employment assistance. Many of the benefits were to 
have entered into force on January 1. However, implementation has 
lagged somewhat; as of May 31, only 30 departments had established 
assistance centers as required by law.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In its annual report, released 
in March, the NCCHR reported 974 racist and anti-Semitic incidents in 
2005, a drop of 38 percent from the 1,574 recorded in 2004. Violence 
against immigrants continued to be a problem, particularly on the 
island of Corsica (see section 2.c.). The Government condemned such 
incidents and took steps to address the problem. The attacks caused 
some families to move to the mainland or return to their countries of 
origin.
    The treatment of the country's large immigrant population, many of 
whom sought to preserve cultures quite different from traditional 
French culture, remained a problem. Many observers expressed the view 
that discriminatory hiring practices prevented minorities from Africa, 
the Maghreb, the Middle East, and Asia from equal access to the 
workplace, and a number of NGOs worked to sensitize the public to this 
problem. The COE cited studies indicating that 50 percent of instances 
of discrimination related to employment, followed by obstacles to the 
acquisition of housing, services, and leisure activities. Foreigners, 
citizens of foreign origin, and persons with foreign-sounding names, 
were generally the main victims of discrimination.
    Roma faced a special set of challenges, and Romani organizations 
charged that they faced discrimination in education, housing, and 
access to government services. Housing problems were particularly acute 
for an itinerant group known as Travelers. A 2000 law on the reception 
and accommodation of Travelers obliges municipalities of more than 
5,000 inhabitants to provide a camping site with facilities and access 
to water and electricity. As of June 2005 municipal authorities had 
established only 8,000 campsites. This left a shortfall of over 20,000 
sites, according to authorities, and 60,000 sites, according to NGOs 
(see section 4).
    Travelers were subject to other special laws which seemingly were 
not intended to apply to other citizens. Anyone over the age of 16 not 
settled in one place must have a travel permit which must be 
periodically renewed. Any delay in renewal entails heavy fines, 
approximately $980 (750 euros) for each day overdue. Anyone found not 
to be in possession of this document is subject to a sentence of up to 
one year in prison. Travelers are not entitled to vote until three 
years after they have been administratively assigned to a municipality. 
For other citizens, including those with no fixed abode, the qualifying 
period is 6 months. Authorities did not consider Travelers' caravans to 
be housing. As a result, Travelers were not entitled to housing 
assistance.
    Citizens may report cases of discrimination to the independent High 
Authority for the Fight against Discrimination and for Equality 
(HALDE). According to October 19 press reports, during its two-year 
existence, HALDE has received 4,736 discrimination claims, 40 percent 
of them relating to employment discrimination.
    On July 17, as a result of a HALDE investigation, a hairdresser was 
fined a total of approximately $5,900 (4,500 euros) in the court case 
on charges that she had refused to serve a client on the basis of race.
    Over the last two years, HALDE has persuaded 110 of the 146 
companies listed on the country's stock exchange to adopt more 
transparent internal staffing practices to demonstrate unbiased hiring 
practices. Other efforts included internal testing carried out by the 
Sorbonne-affiliated Discrimination Observatory, establishing forums for 
women executives, and recruitment counseling to avoid legacy hiring.
    On September 19, a Paris tribunal levied an approximately $2,600 
(2,000 euro) fine against a law firm for hiring discrimination. The 
firm had specified that it was seeking to employ citizens. The court 
also instructed the firm to pay approximately $5,240 (4,000 euros) in 
damages to the antidiscrimination NGO, SOS Racism.
    On January 18, an appeals court upheld a Lyon court's conviction of 
three bouncers and fined them a total of approximately $11,140 (8,500 
euros) for discrimination. Subsequently the Ministry of Labor and the 
NGO Group for Study and Combat of Discrimination established a free hot 
line for reporting discrimination.
    The Government attempted to combat racism and discrimination 
through programs that promoted public awareness and brought together 
local officials, police, and citizen's groups. Some public school 
systems also operated antidiscrimination educational programs.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment or 
service, public or private. Although there were isolated incidents of 
violence against homosexuals, authorities pursued and punished 
offenders.
    There were reportedly instances of discrimination based on age. On 
September 20, HALDE was investigating the complaints of seven 
unemployed individuals who presented 40 classified advertisements 
specifying an age limit. The investigators chose 70 businesses, 
recruitment services, and Internet sites as targets. However, HALDE's 
efforts have not received widespread judicial support. Prosecutors' 
offices in other affected regions, including Paris, Rennes, Versailles, 
and Creteil, have classified ageism complaints as unsubstantiated.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to 
form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice. 
Approximately 8 percent of the work force was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provided for the 
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right 
freely. Approximately 90 percent of workers in the formal economy 
operated under such agreements.
    Workers, including civil servants, have the right to strike except 
when a strike threatens public safety. Workers exercised this right by 
conducting legal strikes. There are no special laws or exceptions from 
regular labor laws in the three export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
    Although there were press reports that undetermined numbers of 
undocumented immigrants experienced substandard pay and working 
conditions, sweatshop conditions were rare due to effective labor law 
enforcement. In practice abuses were limited to the informal economy, 
which the World Bank estimated to account for 14-15 percent of GDP.
    Forced or compulsory child labor occurred (see section 6.d.). There 
are strict laws against trafficking in persons for domestic labor, and 
the Committee against Modern Slavery brought such cases to authorities 
for prosecution.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits most forms of child employment, and the Government's 
implementation of laws and policies designed to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace was generally effective. Children under 
16 are prohibited from working, with a few exceptions for those 
enrolled in certain apprenticeship programs or working in the 
entertainment industry. In general minors (persons under 18) are 
prohibited from performing work considered arduous. All minors are 
forbidden to work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Those younger than 16 may 
not work after 8 p.m.
    Police estimated in 2005 that 3,000 to 8,000 children were forced 
into prostitution and labor, including begging. During the year police 
reported 14 cases of minors illegally employed.
    Labor inspectors, who have the authority to take employers to court 
for noncompliance, enforced the laws related to child labor.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was 
$10.83 (8.27 euros) per hour, as adjusted on July 1. It provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was 
the same throughout the country, despite wide regional variations in 
the cost of living, and applied to any worker holding a regular working 
contract, whether or not he was a citizen. The employment ministry was 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. Certain categories of 
employment, including subsidized employment and internships, must 
conform to separate, clearly defined, standards and provide salaries 
inferior to the minimum wage. Employers generally adhered to the 
minimum wage requirement, with the exception of those in the informal 
economy.
    The official workweek was 35 hours; however, in certain industries 
the Government allowed a greater number of overtime hours that could 
result in a de facto 39-hour workweek. Overtime was limited to 180 
hours annually. Maximum hours of work were fixed at 10 hours per day, 
48 hours per week, and an average of 44 hours per week over a 12-week 
work period. Employees were entitled to a daily rest of at least 11 
hours and a weekly break of 24 hours, not including the daily rest 
period. Employers were required to give workers a 20-minute break in a 
six-hour workday. Premium pay was mandatory for overtime. These 
standards were effectively enforced.
    The law sets basic occupational health and safety standards. The 
Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, and Solidarity was responsible for 
enforcing the laws and did so effectively. Workers have the right to 
remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety 
without jeopardy to their employment, and the Government effectively 
enforced this right.

                               __________

                                GEORGIA

    The constitution of the Georgian republic provides for an executive 
branch that reports to the President, a unicameral Parliament, and an 
independent judiciary. The country has a population of approximately 
4.4 million. In 2003 former President Shevardnadze resigned during what 
became known as the Rose Revolution. Mikheil Saakashvili won the 
presidency in 2004 with over 90 percent of the vote in an election, and 
his National Movement Party won a majority of seats in the Parliament. 
International observers determined that the 2004 Presidential and 
parliamentary elections represented significant progress over previous 
elections and brought the country closer to meeting international 
standards, although several irregularities were noted. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government's human rights record improved in some areas during 
the year, although serious problems remained. While the Government took 
significant steps to address these problems, there were some reports of 
deaths due to excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, cases 
of torture and mistreatment of detainees, increased abuse of prisoners, 
impunity, continued overuse of pretrial detention for less serious 
offenses, worsened conditions in prisons and pretrial detention 
facilities, and lack of access for average citizens to defense 
attorneys. Other areas of concern included reports of government 
pressure on the judiciary and the media and--despite a substantial 
reduction due to reforms led by the President--corruption.
    During the year the Government took significant steps to improve 
the human rights situation. One notable example was its stepped up 
effort to combat human trafficking, which included adoption and 
implementation of a new antitrafficking law that resulted in 16 
convictions of traffickers. The Government also continued a broad 
reform of the justice system to improve the investigation and 
prosecution of some law enforcement abuses and increase the 
independence of the judiciary.
    De facto authorities in the separatist regions of Abkhazia and 
South Ossetia remained outside the control of the central government; 
ceasefires were in effect in both areas, although incidents of 
violence, including deaths, occurred in both areas. In both Abkhazia 
and South Ossetia, deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest, and detention 
continued to be problems.
    During the year de facto authorities in Abkhazia restricted the 
rights of citizens to vote and to participate in the political process 
via a citizenship law that forced ethnic Georgians to give up their 
Georgian citizenship. They also failed to allow the opening of a UN 
human rights office, deployment of a UN civilian police contingent, or 
instruction in Georgian language in the Gali district of Abkhazia.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings. In July 
four ministry of internal affairs officers were convicted in the 
January beating death of Sandro Girgvliani. The prosecutor general's 
office opened investigations into reports that the police used 
excessive lethal force to apprehend criminal suspects. In August a 
police officer was convicted in the 2004 shooting death of Amiran 
Robakidze. There were reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings in the 
separatist areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, areas not under 
government control.
    On March 27, special forces units entered Tbilisi Prison No. 5, a 
pretrial detention facility designed to hold 1,500 but which was 
housing a population of 3,700 detainees, to quell a disturbance, 
resulting in the deaths of at least seven detainees. The Government 
subsequently released a videotape showing members of the Thieves-in-
Law, a network of organized crime gangs, planning the uprising in order 
to disrupt the Government's efforts to break the gangs' influence. In 
May the Ministry of Internal Affairs released records of phone 
conversations between a reputed gang boss and detainees in Prison No. 5 
during which the boss gave instructions and encouragement to the 
detainees. NGOs and the public defender's office disputed this 
conclusion and alleged that sustained abuse of detainees by prison 
officials, including the head of the penitentiary system, sparked the 
incident. The public defender further alleged that the Government 
understated the extent of prisoner death and injuries resulting from 
the operation and that seriously injured detainees were denied medical 
care for injuries sustained in the operation. The public defender, the 
Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and NGOs
    called for an independent inquiry into allegations that the special 
forces had used disproportionate force to quell the disturbance. The 
prosecutor general's office opened an investigation into the lawfulness 
of the actions taken by law enforcement during the incident. The 
investigation continued at year's end.
    In July Gia Alania, Avtandil Aptsiauri, Aleksandre Ghachava and 
Mikheil Bibiluri, officers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' 
Department of Constitutional Security, were convicted in the January 
beating death of Sandro Girgvliani and were sentenced to seven years' 
imprisonment. Alania admitted in a pretrial statement that he and his 
fellow officers abducted and then beat Girgvliani and his friend Levan 
Bukhaidze after they heard the two men make disparaging remarks about 
senior ministry officials outside a Tbilisi bar. NGOs criticized the 
thoroughness of the investigation, which initially was conducted by the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs and on March 6 was transferred to the 
prosecutor general's office, and the fairness of the verdict. They 
claimed that government authorities had not comprehensively 
investigated the alleged involvement of four senior interior ministry 
officials, Guram Donadze, Vasil Sonadze, Dato Akhalia, and Oleg 
Melnikov, as well as Tako Salkaia, the wife of the minister of internal 
affairs, whom the NGOs asserted had ordered the beatings after an 
altercation with Girgvliani and Bukhaidze inside a Tbilisi bar. Senior 
government officials, however, stated that there was no evidence to 
implicate anyone else in the murder despite their offer of a plea 
bargain to the convicted officers.
    As part of a broad effort by the Government to fight organized 
crime, prison authorities removed members of the Thieves-in-Law from 
their privileged cells, which often contained luxuries such as flat 
screen televisions, and isolated them from the general prison 
population. NGOs reported, however, that during and following this 
process, prisoners were severely beaten and abused by prison 
authorities who often wore masks to conceal their identities. There are 
unconfirmed reports that three prisoners died during the effort.
    On August 10, police officer Grigol Bashaleishvili was sentenced to 
four years' imprisonment in connection with the 2004 shooting death of 
Amiran Robakidze. Initially, the ministry of internal affairs reported 
that Robakidze had been shot while police were trying to apprehend an 
armed gang and then released video footage showing assault rifles that 
had allegedly been seized from the car in which Robakidze had been 
riding. A subsequent investigation revealed that the police had planted 
the evidence. The prosecutor general's office continued its 
investigation at year's end into allegations that interior ministry 
officials fabricated evidence to conceal police culpability in the 
shooting of Robakidze.
    During the year, to address a serious crime problem dating back to 
the immediate post-independence period when organized crime and armed 
gangs operated openly, the Government announced a ``zero tolerance'' of 
crime policy. NGOs criticized the policy which they claimed violated 
the presumption of innocence and resulted in a reported 12 deaths in 
Tbilisi from the excessive use of force by police.
    In a May statement, the minister of internal affairs rejected NGOs' 
claims that the police were using excessive force in arresting 
suspects. He stated that as a result of the Government's successful 
anticorruption efforts, criminals could no longer resort to bribing 
police or judges to avoid prison sentences and resorted instead to 
violent means to avoid arrest by police.
    The office of the prosecutor general's investigations into five of 
the 12 deaths highlighted by NGOs--a May incident involving Aleqsandre 
Khublovi and Zurab Vazagashvili, suspects in an assault case, and a 
March incident involving Murman Movsesiani, Gela Gaidenini, and Levan 
Darsadze, suspected members of an organized crime gang--continued at 
year's end. In December the prosecutor general's office concluded after 
its investigation of a February incident involving Zviad Babukhadia, 
Butkhuz Kizira, and Valeri Bendeliani, suspected members of an 
organized crime gang, that police had not used excessive force in their 
efforts to apprehend the suspects and had only fired when the suspects 
had fired on them.
    Two police officers were suspended pending an investigation of the 
December 6 death in Kutaisi of Valeri Pkhakadze, who was allegedly shot 
and beaten by police investigating a break-in.
    Appellate proceedings were still pending at year's end in the 2004 
conviction of police officer Roland Minadze on charges of falsification 
and fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2004 beating and 
subsequent death of Khvicha Kvirikashvili. After his conviction was 
initially returned by the Supreme Court to the Tbilisi City Court for 
rehearing in October 2005, Minadze was released under police 
supervision pending the rehearing.
    Minadze subsequently disappeared and was convicted in absentia and 
sentenced to four years' imprisonment in December 2005.
    Despite ceasefires, killings were committed by elements on both 
sides of the separatist conflict in South Ossetia. The de facto South 
Ossetian authorities did not investigate, prosecute, or punish anyone 
for previous killings such as the October 2005 fatal shooting of Givi 
Chukhrukhidze.
    Violence continued in Abkhazia. In February 16-year-old Zviad 
Pirtskhalava was killed by an armed gang who attacked his family in the 
Barghbi village. In August Demur Gogokhia and Manuchar Patsulaia were 
allegedly killed while in the custody of Abkhaz de facto law 
enforcement personnel. No investigations were conducted by Abkhaz de 
facto authorities into the deaths of Meri Jalagonia, who was killed in 
March 2005 by an armed gang that also beat her family; Lasha Rigvava, 
who was killed in April 2005 in an incident involving Russian 
peacekeeping forces; and Tsiuri Margania, whom Abkhaz militants killed 
in May 2005.
    Both government and Abkhaz forces laid tens of thousands of 
landmines during the 1992-93 fighting. During the year there were no 
reports of deaths from landmines in Abkhazia. However, individuals in 
Abkhazia were injured in mine explosions. In December Dmitri Katsia, de 
facto administrator of the Repi village in the Gali region, was injured 
in a landmine explosion.
    Landmines posed a threat in South Ossetia. In August a Russian 
peacekeeper was injured in a landmine explosion near the village of 
Kekhvi. In October, also near the village of Kekhvi, one Georgian man 
was killed and another injured in a landmine explosion.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances perpetrated by the Government. However, conflict-related 
disappearances and kidnappings were frequent during the year in the 
separatist regions (see section 1.g.) of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
    In January armed gangs kidnapped 14 ethnic Georgians from the 
villages of Nabakevi and Gagida in Abkhazia and 30 young men from Gali. 
The whereabouts of Gocha Djaremlishvili, who was kidnapped in July 
2005, remained unknown.
    The Abkhaz continued forcefully conscripting underage male ethnic 
Georgians living in the Gali region of Abkhazia into the army.
    Government and Abkhaz commissions on missing persons reported that 
more than 1,000 Georgians and several hundred Abkhaz remained missing 
as a result of the 1992-93 war in Abkhazia (see section 1.g.). The 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assisted joint official 
efforts to fulfill the country's obligations under international 
humanitarian law to provide information to the families of missing 
persons. This included the determination of gravesite locations and the 
exhumation, identification, and repatriation of remains to the 
families. No repatriations occurred during the year.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, although 
they occurred. During the year the Government took steps to implement 
changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure adopted in 2004 and 2005 to 
address torture and mistreatment and initiated at least 68 
investigations during the year (see section 1.d.).
    In January Mikheil Chkeidze alleged police officers mistreated him 
in the Bagdadi region. An official investigation was pending at year's 
end.
    On February 12, Batumi police patrol officer Mamuka Jincharadze 
reportedly severely beat Jemal Baramidze of Batumi with his pistol, 
after stopping him for speeding, causing serious injury. In August the 
Kehlvachauri District Court convicted Jincharadze of exceeding 
authority and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. Jincharadze's 
appeal was pending in the Kutaisi Appellate Court at year's end.
    In May Eduard Jaogli alleged police officers mistreated him in the 
Isani-Samgori police station. An official investigation was pending at 
year's end.
    In September Gia Razmadze alleged mistreatment by police officers 
in the Kvemo Kartli region. An official investigation was pending at 
year's end.
    In November Avtandil Khvinchiashvili alleged police officers 
mistreated him in the Gladani-Nadzaladevi police station. An official 
investigation was pending at year's end.
    A special commission investigation continued at year's end into the 
alleged April 2005 beating of inmate Eldar Konenishvili in Prison No. 1 
and later at Gurdzhani police station. As part of its investigation, 
the special commission interrogated prisoners, officials and medical 
personnel in Prison No. 1, escorting officers, and law enforcement 
officers and other witnesses at Gurdzhani police station. The 
commission also reviewed results of an April 2005 medical examination 
of Konenishvili, which included a computer-assisted tomography scan, 
magnetic resonance imaging, and x-rays. In December 2005 the police 
officer who allegedly beat Konenishvili was removed from his position.
    The prosecutor general's office did not release any results in its 
investigation into the 2004 allegation of torture of former chief of 
the State Audit Agency Sulkhan Molashvili while in pretrial detention. 
The office stated that its investigation was hampered by Molashvili's 
refusal to cooperate. As directed by the European Court of Human Rights 
(ECHR), the Government established a parity commission to examine 
Molashvili's health. The prosecutor general's office stated that the 
commission's efforts were also initially hampered by Molashvili's 
uncooperativeness. In June the Court of Appeals affirmed Molashvili's 
sentence to eight years' imprisonment for abuse of power and 
misappropriation of funds. Molashvili's attorneys announced their 
intention to appeal the sentence to the ECHR, where another case 
alleging that the prosecution of Molashvili was politically motivated 
was already pending. At year's end Molashvili was being held in a 
prison hospital.
    Human rights advocates reported that, because of ongoing 
unannounced and random monitoring of police stations, allegations of 
abuse by law enforcement officials at police stations remained low. 
However, they reported that the number of detainees registered with 
signs of abuse upon arrival at police stations or pretrial facilities 
remained high. Amnesty International (AI), domestic NGOs, and the 
public defender's office reported a large number of cases in which a 
detainee reportedly sustained injuries resulting from police 
mistreatment during arrest. The police claimed injuries were either 
pre-existing or the result of detainee resistance.
    Law enforcement officers reportedly tortured or abused detainees in 
their homes or in cars while taking them to a place of detention. There 
were also allegations that plainclothes security service agents 
attacked several people on the street or abused them in unpopulated 
places, such as cemeteries or forests. In January four Ministry of 
Internal Affairs officers abducted Sandro Girgvliani and Levan 
Bukhaidze from a Tbilisi street and beat them at a cemetery. Girgvliani 
died as a result of the beating and, in July, the four officers were 
convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. No charges were 
brought in connection with Bukhaidze's beating (see section 1.a.).
    The public defender's office reported that, in the first six months 
of the year, monitoring groups conducted 307 visits to police stations 
throughout the country. This was a decrease from 2005, when the 
monitoring groups conducted 1,763 such visits. The public defender's 
office diverted resources for monitoring of police station isolators to 
increased monitoring of pretrial and prison facilities due to the 
deteriorating situation in those facilities.
    During the year there were several cases of police officers brought 
to trial, dismissed, or demoted for abuses; however, impunity remained 
a problem, particularly in outlying regions (see section 1.d.). NGOs 
continued to claim that close ties between the prosecutor general's 
office and the police hindered their ability to substantiate police 
misconduct and believed the continuing lack of professionalism and 
independence of the judiciary made it unresponsive to torture 
allegations. As a result, despite implementation of positive reforms, 
NGOs claimed law enforcement officials could still resort to torture or 
mistreatment with limited risk of exposure or punishment. NGOs also 
believed a lack of adequate training for law enforcement, as well as 
low public awareness of the protections afforded citizens, impeded 
improvements.
    According to statistics from the ministry of internal affairs, of 
the 18,083 detainees held during the year, 2,962 (16 percent) were 
registered with injuries, 191 of whom claimed to have been beaten by 
police. Of the 105 cases investigated by the general inspector's office 
of the ministry, 70 cases were referred to the prosecutor general's 
office. According to the public defender's office, during the first six 
months of the year, the police station groups monitoring police station 
isolators noted 384 breaches in 307 observed cases including, for 
example, instances of mistreatment, warrantless searches, and failure 
to
    inform detainees of their rights. The public defender's office 
noted that the monitoring groups found no instances where police 
officers had incorrectly registered a detainee upon arrival at the 
police station, which previously had been a means for police officers 
to conceal abuse.
    The courts implemented additional amendments to the criminal 
procedure code adopted in 2005, which were intended to discourage law 
enforcement officers from engaging in torture and abuse. The amendments 
exclude evidence obtained in violation of the law and require that 
confessions given by detainees during detention be ratified in court 
before being admissible as evidence.
    All law enforcement officers and representatives of the 
prosecutor's office, except for officers of the special police unit, 
were required to wear identity badges during meetings with detainees 
and prisoners. Special police units were exempted to protect members' 
anonymity. NGOs believed this prevented accountability for any abuse by 
the units. Despite 2005 legislative reforms, prisoners continued to 
allege abuse by masked prison authorities wearing no identifying 
numbers or symbols.
    There were still significant obstacles to bringing cases of police 
torture and mistreatment to light. NGOs reported victims often did not 
report abuse, fearing police retribution against them or their 
families. The public defender's office was aware of several cases of 
apparent abuse, but the detainees who had visible injuries later 
refused to report abuse, became uncooperative in the investigation, or 
withdrew their earlier complaint.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--During the year the 
Ministry of Justice, which includes the department of prisons, launched 
a comprehensive multiyear effort to reform all aspects of the 
penitentiary system. This first year was funded by an 87 percent 
increase in the Government's budgetary allotment compared with 2005 for 
the Department of Prisons. During the same period, however, the inmate 
population grew approximately 68 percent, eroding some of the benefits 
that could have been realized by the increased budgetary allotment.
    The Justice Ministry opened new prisons that met international 
physical standards in Rustavi and Kutaisi as well as new
    separate pretrial detention facilities for male juveniles and 
women. While male juveniles were held separately from adult males, 
female juveniles continued to be confined with adult females. Juvenile 
detainees were not provided educational opportunities despite sometimes 
being confined for extended periods.
    Despite the opening of new and remodeled facilities, conditions in 
prison and pretrial detention facilities generally remained poor, did 
not meet international standards, and even worsened during the year. 
The ICRC, the public defender's office, the OSCE, and many NGOs, 
including Human Rights Watch (HRW), continued to report inhumane and 
life-threatening conditions, including poor facilities, overcrowding, 
and inadequate nutrition and health care. Most prison and pretrial 
detention facilities lacked adequate sanitary facilities. Abuse of 
prisoners by prison staff increased, while extortion continued, 
according to the public defender and NGOs including HRW.
    The majority of prisons and pretrial detention facilities were 
severely overcrowded, sometimes at double their capacity, due to the 
increased prison population. NGOs attributed the increase to the 
Government's aggressive ``zero tolerance'' anticrime campaign and a 
case backlog resulting from an understaffed and inexperienced 
judiciary. An estimated 63 percent of inmates were detainees awaiting 
trial.
    Despite statements by the Ministry of Justice that the March 27 
incident (see section 1.a.) destroyed Tbilisi Prison No. 5 and made it 
unsuitable for housing detainees, the prison continued to be used as a 
pretrial detention facility.
    Since December 2005 HRW noted a serious increase in the number of 
reports of frequent beatings and degrading treatment of inmates, such 
as repeated strip searches sometimes conducted outside in winter 
weather. In March, after the public defender's office called for an 
investigation, the prosecutor general's office opened an investigation 
into the beating of Iago Tsikvadze in Tbilisi Prison No. 1. According 
to a statement Tsikvadze gave to the public defender's office, he was 
severely beaten by prison officials, including the head of the prison, 
Temur Tabaghua. Tsikvadze also stated that prison officials denied his 
requests to see a doctor. At year's end the prosecutor general's office 
stated that Tsikvadze's attorney had not yet responded to its request 
to question his client.
    In a report to the UN Committee Against Torture, NGOs reported that 
on January 11, prison officials moved Shalva Ramishvili of independent 
TV 202 (see section 2.a.) from his regular cell to a carcer, a small 
disciplinary solitary confinement cell, which Ramishvili alleged lacked 
necessary ventilation and sanitary facilities. He was reportedly held 
there for four days.
    Despite recent increases in government funding for prisoner well-
being, prisoners often relied on packages from family for necessary 
food, clothing, and hygiene items. As a result of policy changes in 
June, however, inmates in some facilities reported not being able to 
receive packages, correspond with family members and, in some limited 
cases, have the opportunity to meet with their lawyers. Prison 
officials also reportedly arbitrarily restricted visits by family 
members in violation of the law. In December sundry shops were opened 
in Rustavi Prison No. 6 to reduce reliance on packages from outside 
sources which had been a conduit for smuggling contraband into the 
prison.
    During the year prison authorities ended the influence of the 
Thieves-in-Law organized crime gangs network, which since the Soviet 
era had exercised de facto control of prisons through bribes, 
extortion, and violence. The gangs also coordinated criminal activity 
outside prisons by using contraband mobile telephones. Gang members 
were isolated from the general prison population and subjected to 24-
hour surveillance. During the year lawyers and family members were 
denied access to these prisoners (see section 1.a.). According to HRW, 
in some cases, the treatment of detainees in Tbilisi Prison No. 7, 
where authorities detained those it considered to be members of the 
gangs, rose to the level of torture.
    Salaries for prison guards were increased and paid regularly. 
Although corruption among guards diminished since the isolation of the 
Thieves-in-Law gangs, which used a system of obshiak to extort money 
from fellow prisoners in order to bribe prison officials, some guards 
reportedly demanded money from inmates' family members. Nevertheless, 
according to prison officials, the surge in turnover in prison guards 
was due in part to the loss of income from bribes and also to prison 
authorities' intolerance of this behavior.
    The Ministry of Justice established a Penitentiary and Probation 
Training Center at which all new employees were required to complete 
training in human rights standards. The convoying service within the 
department of prisons was reformed to eliminate delays in transporting 
inmates to court proceedings. Previously corruption and inefficiencies 
resulted in frequent delays and postponements of court proceedings.
    The investigative service of the department of prisons within the 
Ministry of Justice conducted investigations into allegations of 
misconduct committed by prison officials. During the year the 
investigative service opened 281 investigations of allegations that 
prison officials brought prohibited items such as illegal narcotics 
onto prison grounds. For example, in October Ramaz Gabisonia, an 
official in the women's prison, was detained on charges of bribery and 
possession of prohibited items on prison grounds. The investigative 
service also initiated 16 criminal investigations of alleged violations 
of prisoner rights. All investigations were pending at year's end.
    NGOs reported violence among prisoners continued during the year. 
The public defender's office reported that following an incident in the 
juvenile detention facility when an inmate was doused with boiling 
water by other inmates, their office intervened to obtain medical 
treatment for the injured juvenile.
    During the year the penitentiary system mortality level worsened. 
The Justice Ministry reported that 92 inmates died in the prison system 
compared with 46 deaths during 2005. Of the 92 deaths, four were 
reportedly suicides. From early July to late September, when inadequate 
conditions were exacerbated by very high seasonal temperatures, 31 
inmates died. The Justice Ministry made efforts to improve conditions 
during that period by providing fans and removing metal window 
shutters. The public defender's office reported that it frequently 
petitioned prison officials to obtain necessary medical treatment for 
inmates.
    Attempted suicides and self-mutilation occurred in prisons as 
protests against declining prison conditions and human rights 
violations. There were also sporadic hunger strikes by prisoners to 
protest poor conditions, visitor limitations, and the perceived 
arbitrary parole policy of the Government.
    With the exception of the new prisons in Kutaisi and Rustavi, 
medical facilities including equipment and medicines were severely 
lacking. Control over prison hospitals had been transferred to the 
ministry of labor, health, and social protection; however, there were 
no mechanisms in place to implement this change. Mortality figures 
issued by the Ministry of Justice attributed many deaths in the prison 
system to untreated intestinal infections and cardiovascular disease. 
While one prisoner died of tuberculosis, NGOs noted that there was a 
successful tuberculosis testing program implemented in all prisons.
    NGOs including HRW reported that the situation for inmates with 
psychiatric concerns was grave. Authorities did not transfer some 
inmates suffering from psychiatric problems to medical wards despite 
court orders requiring it. Reportedly inmates with psychiatric problems 
sometimes were housed in isolation cells.
    The OSCE and the public defender reported difficulty in visiting 
Tbilisi Prison No. 5 and injured inmates in the immediate aftermath of 
the March 27 incident (see section 1.a.). Local human rights groups 
reported difficulty in visiting prisons and pretrial detention 
facilities in the wake of allegations of abuse by prison authorities. 
HRW stated that some inmates were unwilling to talk to its 
representatives and that despite assurances from senior prison 
officials, prison authorities actively interfered with the NGO's 
efforts to interview inmates privately.
    The Human Rights Protection Unit of the prosecutor general's office 
had free access to monitor conditions at temporary isolator units at 
police stations, pretrial detention facilities, and prisons and to 
respond to reports of torture, inhuman, or degrading treatment. During 
the year the unit monitored 76 cases related to prisons, which resulted 
in the initiation of 12 investigations by the prosecutor general's 
office.
    During the year the Justice Ministry began setting up a series of 
local commissions to monitor conditions at prisons. By requiring that 
commission members live in proximity to a facility, the ministry 
believed commission members would take a more active role in monitoring 
prisons than did members of the former prison monitoring council. Local 
commissions were fully implemented for 11 facilities including the 
prison hospital facility and the women and juvenile detention facility. 
Commission members have the right to make unannounced visits to prison 
facilities. However, monitoring commissions are not allowed to bring 
audio or video equipment with them to document prisoner injuries or 
specific objectionable prison conditions.
    Among other concerns, the Batumi Prison No. 3 Monitoring Commission 
noted in its quarterly report that cells designed for 16 were routinely 
occupied by up to 36 inmates, that there was no natural ventilation, 
and that water was not regularly available in the cells. The board also 
noted that inmates lacked information about their rights. The board 
noted that prisoners regularly received packages from their families.
    The ICRC had full access to detention facilities.
    The ICRC also had full access to detention facilities in Abkhazia 
and South Ossetia. Prison conditions in the two regions were 
chronically substandard, although overcrowding was reportedly not a 
problem.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did 
not always observe these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Internal Affairs has primary responsibility for law enforcement. During 
times of internal disorder the Government may call on the ministry or 
the military. The ministry controls the police, which are divided into 
functional departments as well as a separate, independently funded 
police protection department that provides security and protection to 
private businesses.
    Public confidence in the patrol police remained high during the 
year due to a continuing low incidence of corruption. Higher salaries 
for police officers provided an incentive for them to refrain from 
using their positions to extort money from citizens and from 
mistreatment or abuse of detainees so as to not jeopardize their jobs.
    Police misconduct, such as the fabrication or planting of evidence, 
reportedly decreased; however, allegations persisted that authorities 
continued to use threats to plant or fabricate evidence against 
suspects or their families. At year's end the prosecutor general's 
office continued its investigation launched in August into allegations 
that Ministry of Internal Affairs officials fabricated evidence to 
conceal police culpability in the shooting of Amiran Robakidze (see 
section 1.a).
    Authorities arrested or administratively disciplined police 
officers in high-profile cases of physical abuse or deaths in custody. 
The human rights protection unit within the general prosecutor's office 
issued regular updates on the status of cases, trials, and 
investigations of human rights violations. According to the unit, 
during the year the general prosecutor's office handled 137 criminal 
cases concerned with alleged mistreatment, abuse, or torture by law 
enforcement officers and brought charges against at least 16 law 
enforcement officals. Seven officials were found guilty.
    However, NGOs believed that the incidence of abuse was higher than 
the number of cases investigated by the prosecutor general's office and 
that this failure to conduct systematic investigations and pursue 
convictions of all alleged abusers continued to foster a long-standing 
culture of impunity, particularly in regions outside Tbilisi.
    Human rights NGOs also believed that many instances of abuse went 
unreported by victims due to fear of reprisals or lack of confidence in 
the judicial system.
    The public defender called for an investigation into allegations 
that, on May 27, masked Georgian law enforcement officers detained and 
abused dozens of ethnic Ossetians in the South Ossetian conflict zone. 
No investigation had been opened by year's end.
    During the year the prosecutor general's office did not bring 
charges in any of the hundreds of allegations of abuse from 2004 
submitted to it by the NGO Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights 
(FPPHR). The prosecutor general's office previously reported it had 
opened investigations into some of the allegations, but asserted that 
the alleged abuses submitted by FPPHR often lacked sufficient detail to 
investigate. The office's investigations into allegations of abuse 
committed by police officers Roland Minadze and Levan Levidze were 
tried in 2005 (see section 1.a.).
    The prosecutor general's office was in charge of all criminal 
investigations into allegations of torture and mistreatment. 
Prosecutors were required to investigate police use of force when a 
detainee with injuries sustained during arrest was registered. The law 
required the office to open an investigation when it received 
information about a possible violation even if from an anonymous 
source. If prosecutors concluded after an investigation that charges 
were not warranted, the decision could be appealed to a higher level of 
the office. Any person subjected to abuse was able to pursue a civil 
action against the abuser.
    NGOs reported that the prosecutor general's office opened 
investigations but often continued them indefinitely without issuing 
any findings or, if concluded, usually substantiated the reasonable use 
of force by police. During the year at least nine investigations 
conducted by the office into allegations of torture or abuse and 
inhumane treatment concluded that the police had not committed any 
violation.
    NGOs alleged that officials accused or convicted of abuse were 
often granted preferential treatment by the courts. For example, NGOs 
noted that 14-year-old George Zerekidze was sentenced to 10 years' 
imprisonment for attempted murder, while the four ministry of internal 
affairs officers convicted in the beating death of Sandro Girgvliani 
were sentenced to seven years. In May Malkhaz Albuladze, a Kutaisi 
prosecutor who reportedly beat Avto Anukitdze, was dismissed from his 
position but was not detained. An investigation was ongoing at year's 
end.
    In March the Supreme Court ruled that the conviction of Levan 
Levidze, a senior inspector in the ministry of internal affairs, on 
charges of abuse of authority and forgery, was not supported by the 
facts, reduced the charges against him, and reduced his sentence from 
six years to one year and nine months' imprisonment.
    In June police officers Lasha Buquri, Giorgi Khonelidze and Giorgi 
Miqaberidze were convicted in Tbilisi City Court of crimes including 
arbitrary arrest and abuse by exceeding legal authority. Buquri and 
Khonelidze each received a four-year prison sentence and Miqaberidze 
received a five-year sentence.
    In October the prosecutor general's office submitted to the 
Mtskheta court a case charging police officers Bondo Tatunashvili and 
Besik Orkodashvili with torture of two teenagers. The trial was pending 
at year's end. The Government held Tatunashvili and Orkodashvili in 
detention during the investigation and in October released them on 
bail.
    Other cases involving mistreatment or illegal detention were 
pending in the courts at year's end. For example, in October the 
prosecutor general's office forwarded to the Tbilisi City Court a case 
against police officer Simon Ekvtimishvili alleging that he exceeded 
official authority when he struck Ilia Sologashvili during an arrest.
    In June a new police code of ethics came into force which obliged 
police officers to uphold the human rights of all persons and to use 
force only when strictly necessary for the performance of their duty. 
However, there is no office of professional responsibility within the 
police.
    During the year the Police Academy included training on human 
rights in the basic course for patrol police and also conducted 
additional specialized training on human rights in conjunction with 
international partners such as the Council of Europe.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law a person can only be arrested upon 
sufficient evidence and with a warrant. Judges issued warrants and 
detention orders; they could be obtained post facto and usually were. 
In practice police continued to detain persons without warrants. NGOs 
stated that reports of police planting drugs or weapons in order to 
make an arrest declined. The prosecutor general's office is the only 
body authorized to engage directly with the courts.
    NGOs criticized a February statement by President Saakashvili 
criticizing judges for showing what he called ``too much mercy'' 
towards criminal suspects and calling for a ``zero tolerance'' policy 
toward all crime in order to address the high crime rate which has 
burdened the country since independence. NGOs including HRW said that 
the President's statement violated the presumption of innocence, 
resulted in the surge in the alleged use of excessive force by police 
during arrests, and pressured judges to impose detention as a pretrial 
measure for individuals accused of even minor crimes.
    The law provides for detainees to be charged within 72 hours, and 
they usually were. Those not charged within this period must be 
released. Within the last two years, six detainees were released after 
being held longer than 72 hours without charge.
    Bail was the legislatively preferred alternative to pretrial 
detention. As of October the Government released on bail approximately 
50 percent of those arrested. Citing the example of police officer 
Grigol Bashaleishvili, who was released on bail despite admitting his 
guilt in the shooting death of Amiran Robakidze, the public defender 
and NGOs questioned the fairness of the granting of bail in some cases.
    A detainee has the right to request immediate access to a lawyer 
and the right to refuse to make a statement in the absence of counsel. 
An indigent defendant has the right to counsel provided at public 
expense. According to the law, the indigent defendant's attorney is 
appointed by the judge, although the defendant may seek a change in 
counsel. In practice there were not enough attorneys for the indigent 
(see section 1.e.), and defendants did not always receive an attorney. 
A 2005 pilot project set up two public defender's offices. Attorneys 
were provided at public expense in these areas, which included Tbilisi.
    Defense counsel had the right to meet the accused without any 
hindrance, supervision, or undue restriction; however, some attorneys 
complained that audio and video equipment in police stations intended 
to record interrogations of suspects by law enforcement or 
investigators was sometimes being used to improperly monitor privileged 
attorney/client conversations.
    Officers must notify detainees' families of their location within 
five hours of their arrest and note the circumstances of the 
notification in the case record. Monitoring boards regularly reviewed 
these records during their visits to police stations.
    Police routinely orally informed detainees of their rights so there 
was no written confirmation from detainees acknowledging that they had 
been fully informed of their rights. The public defender's office and 
NGOs reported that police often failed to completely inform detainees 
of their rights or that, even if informed of their rights, detainees 
did not understand them.
    Former Member of Parliament and minister of state security Irakli 
Batiashvili claimed that his July 30 arrest on charges of treason was 
politically motivated and that there was insufficient evidence to 
support the charges against him. Furthermore, he alleged that the 
evidence presented by prosecutors to support the charges had been 
fabricated by the ministry of internal affairs. Batiashvili allegedly 
provided intellectual support and encouragement to rebels in the Kodori 
valley during a July uprising and also failed to report to authorities 
the existence of the rebels' coup plot. The prosecutor general's office 
submitted the case to the court and, at year's end, Batiashvili 
remained in detention pending trial.
    According to amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure adopted 
in December 2005, pretrial measures of restraint
    included detention, release on bail, and personal guarantee. The 
amendments eliminated alternatives such as house arrest and police 
supervision. The judiciary resorted frequently to pretrial detention 
irrespective of the gravity of the offense. NGOs noted that due to 
economic hardship, some defendants were not able to pay bail even when 
it was granted and thus ended up in pretrial detention. After a 
February speech in which President Saakashvili called for the abolition 
of probation, it was virtually never awarded by the courts. Under the 
law and in practice, the overall maximum time period for trial and 
exhaustion of appeals was 12 months.
    Abuse in police station isolator facilities remained low, while 
incidents of police abuse inflicted during arrest persisted (see 
section 1.c.). Outside Tbilisi abuse in police isolator facilities 
continued due to less frequent monitoring.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary. During the year the Government took steps to 
increase the effectiveness of the judiciary through increased budgetary 
allotments and training and to strengthen the independence of the 
judiciary by reforming the High Council of Justice. Reports persisted, 
however, that the executive branch and powerful outside interests 
continued to pressure judicial authorities. Many NGOs complained that 
judicial authorities continued to act as a ``rubber stamp'' for 
prosecutors' decisions and that the executive branch exerted undue 
influence. NGOs expressed concerns that recent judicial appointees 
lacked experience and training to act independently. The high number of 
vacancies at the trial court level resulted in long delays in 
scheduling of trials, which in turn required pretrial detainees to be 
kept in severely overcrowded detention facilities for extended periods.
    Pursuant to amendments adopted throughout the year, the High 
Council of Justice became an independent institution within the 
judicial system in charge of providing administrative support to the 
judiciary. The council had 18 members, including nine members elected 
by the Conference of Judges, the chairman of the Supreme Court, and 
eight nonvoting ex officio members from the executive and legislative 
branches.
    In June membership on the High Council of Justice was changed to 
increase the number of judicial members and to remove the prosecutor 
general. Judicial members now constitute the majority of members on the 
council. Other executive and legislative branch appointees, however, 
remained on the council.
    In December Parliament approved a constitutional amendment to 
remove from the President the power to appoint or dismiss judges and 
granted it to the High Council of Justice. The President had been 
granted this power in a constitutional amendment adopted in 2004. The 
chairman of the Supreme Court will replace the President as the chair 
of the council. Despite the use of objective written examinations to 
create a pool of potential qualified appointees, the judicial 
appointment process was not transparent. Oral interviews of appointees 
were held behind closed doors with no written or testimonial record.
    Ex parte communications between lawyers and parties with judges 
were common, which facilitated Soviet-style ``telephone justice.'' 
Lawyers, including prosecutors, and parties to litigation reportedly 
used this avenue to pressure judges to decide cases in ways favorable 
to their interests.
    Judges are disciplined by the High Council of Justice based on a 
disciplinary code. In late 2005 the council instituted a disciplinary 
action against justices of the Supreme Court on grounds that they had, 
among other allegations, incorrectly decided a case. By ``incorrect,'' 
the council meant that the application of the law by the justices 
differed from that of the council. No allegation of fraud or misconduct 
was made against the justices. NGOs and legal experts widely criticized 
the action as infringing on the core responsibility of judges to 
interpret and apply the law according to their knowledge and 
experience. The Supreme Court confirmed the disciplinary committee's 
decision in August, and the justices were expelled from the court. The 
decision by the High Council of Justice to expel judges on the basis of 
a decision with which the council disagreed effectively chilled 
independent decision-making by judges.
    Defendants must confirm in court any statements they gave while in 
pretrial detention; otherwise, the statements will not be accepted as 
evidence. NGOs reported that this provision had little impact, either 
because detainees feared reprisal if their statement was not ratified 
in court or because the public was not aware of this protection.
    In August 2005 Irakli Sioridze, a court officer of the Justice 
Ministry, was detained on charges of exceeding authority. During an 
hour-long interrogation, several law enforcement officers reportedly 
beat and kicked him severely in order to force him to give 
incriminating evidence against Giorgi Usupashvili. According to 
Sioridze, the officers wanted him to sign a statement saying that 
Usupashvili had misappropriated $111,000 (200,000 lari). By year's end 
Sioridze was released pending a final verdict on his case. The criminal 
code includes a provision that increased the vulnerability of witnesses 
to improper police pressure. The amendment prescribes penalties of up 
to five years in prison for witnesses who change or retract their 
original statements to police. NGOs believed this made witnesses less 
likely to amend initial statements provided under police pressure.
    The High Council of Justice administered a three-tiered court 
system comprised of regional and city courts, appellate courts, supreme 
courts of autonomous republics (which serve as appellate courts in the 
relevant territorial units), and the Supreme Court. Regional and city 
courts hear routine criminal, civil, and administrative law cases. At 
the next level are three appellate courts, which unlike their 
predecessors serve a purely appellate function. The Supreme Court acts 
as the court of final instance (or as a court of cassation). A system 
of magistrates to hear specific cases such as misdemeanor cases was 
included in amendments adopted in 2005 but has not yet been fully 
implemented. The salaries of judges at all levels were raised to reduce 
the incentive for corruption.
    A constitutional court arbitrates disputes between branches of 
government and rules on individual human rights violation claims; it 
generally demonstrated judicial independence. The power of 
constitutional review is vested solely in the constitutional court. The 
court interpreted its function in human rights cases narrowly, agreeing 
to rule only on cases in which human rights were violated as a result 
of specific articles of law.

    Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a public trial. 
While the 2005 criminal procedure code provides for jury trials for 
certain grave crimes, the provision had not yet been implemented.
    Defendants have the right to be present at their trial and to 
consult with an attorney; however, access to defense attorneys for 
indigent defendants was limited in practice. While a new nationwide bar 
association convened in April, it did not offer pro bono or low cost 
legal services to indigent defendants. The Government and NGOs funded 
legal clinics, although there still remained a shortage of defense 
attorneys. The economic situation in the country was such that the 
majority of the population could not afford legal representation. As a 
result, the majority of criminal defendants proceeded without benefit 
of counsel. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, by 2007, the 
Ministry of Justice is required to provide attorneys to all indigent 
defendants at government expense.
    Defendants may question and confront witnesses against them and 
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf at trial. By law 
defendants and their attorneys have access to the prosecution's 
evidence relevant to their cases at any point during the investigation 
and may make copies at their own expense. By law defendants are 
presumed innocent and have the right to appeal.
    Under some provisions, defendants could be tried in absentia and, 
during the year, eight persons were. In August Ioseb Gvenetadze, a 
police official in Rustavi, was convicted in absentia of exceeding 
authority for using force to coerce confessions from four robbery 
suspects. Gvenetadze was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
    Defense counsel and the defendant have the right to participate in 
pretrial hearings; however, their presence is not mandatory. Failure of 
defense counsel to appear at a hearing can not be grounds for 
postponement of a hearing. A judge may rule on an appeal of a pretrial 
preventative measure without a hearing. In practice defense counsel 
usually receives notification of scheduled pretrial hearings by 
telephone.
    In response to recommendations from the UN special rapporteur, 
Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, in December 2005 the 
Government adopted amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure 
requiring that the courts void any plea bargaining agreement that 
infringed upon a party's right to request criminal proceedings in cases 
of torture or inhumane treatment. The court must certify that the 
agreement was reached without resort to violence, intimidation, 
deception, or illegal promise and that the accused had the opportunity 
to obtain legal assistance. NGOs criticized plea bargaining agreements 
saying that almost all required the accused to pay money and were 
rarely used to obtain information on other criminal activity.
    However, the prosecutor general's office reported that the majority 
of plea bargaining cases support ongoing investigations into drug 
trafficking. Reportedly, some plea bargaining agreements still tacitly 
included an understanding that the accused would not pursue complaints 
of abuse or mistreatment against law enforcement authorities or would 
support law enforcement's version of events to avoid negative 
publicity.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The parliamentary human rights 
committee and public defender claimed that there were no political 
prisoners in the country; however, many individuals, including several 
high-ranking officials from the previous government, considered 
themselves to be political prisoners (see section 1.d.). Local human 
rights organizations varied on estimates of how many political 
prisoners there were, reporting from none to 20.
    The Government permitted international human rights and domestic 
organizations to visit those claiming to be political prisoners, and 
some organizations did so during the year.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides 
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, however, 
there were concerns about professionalism of judges and transparency in 
adjudication. The constitution and law provide that a person who 
suffers damages resulting from arbitrary detention or other unlawful or 
arbitrary act is entitled to bring a civil action.
    NGOs and the public defender criticized the Government's November 
seizure and destruction of 100 tons of alleged counterfeit wine from a 
winery in Akhmeta without prior legal procedures or notice. The 
President later condemned the Government's actions. The wine producer 
said it plans to sue the Government for damages but had not done so by 
the end of the year. In December the public defender's office expressed 
concern over alleged violations of individual property rights in the 
Government's appropriation of property in Tbilisi, Gori and Sighnaghi. 
In December senior government officials announced that probes had been 
launched into these cases.
    In Abkhazia the de facto Parliament in May adopted a decree banning 
de facto courts from considering any property claims filed by ethnic 
Georgians who left Abkhazia before, during, or after the 1992-93 war, 
thereby effectively stripping internally displaced persons (IDPs) of 
their property in Abkhazia. According to the decree, any previous 
judgments or pending procedures related to ethnic Georgians' property 
were nullified. De facto courts in Abkhazia reportedly did not make 
efforts to establish facts or administer justice but acted simply at 
the direction of prosecutors and law enforcement. Criminals paid bribes 
to police, prosecutors, and judges to avoid prosecution.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions without court approval 
or legal necessity and also prohibits police from searching a residence 
or conducting undercover or monitoring operations without a warrant. 
NGOs continued to report that in practice police conducted searches and 
occasionally monitored private telephone conversations without first 
obtaining court orders; police often obtained the necessary warrant 
after the fact. NGOs reported that most people were unaware of their 
right to postpone a search of their home by one hour in order to summon 
two objective third-party witnesses for the search. The Government 
stated that security police and tax authorities entered homes and 
workplaces without prior legal sanction.
    During a November press conference, the penitentiary chief made 
public a recording of a telephone call between the public defender and 
a representative of the public defender's office. The Government did 
not respond to the public defender's request to see the warrant 
authorizing the recording.

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Separatist conflicts in the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia 
remained unresolved, although ceasefires were in effect. Commonwealth 
of Independent States peacekeeping forces (in effect Russian 
peacekeepers) were present in Abkhazia. Russian, Ossetian, and Georgian 
forces participated in a joint peacekeeping force in South Ossetia. 
Incidents of violence occurred in both Abkhazia, particularly in the 
predominantly ethnic Georgian Gali region, and in South Ossetia. Two 
Russian peacekeepers were killed in Abkhazia after unknown gunmen 
attacked a bus carrying the payroll for Russian peacekeepers stationed 
in the conflict zone.
    The Government gained effective control over the upper Kodori 
valley in Abkhazia following a police operation in July to remove the 
criminal warlord Emzar Kvitsiani. The rest of the Abkhazia region 
remained under the control of separatist authorities. The Government 
continued to have no effective control over South Ossetia.
    There was limited information on the human rights situation in 
Abkhazia and South Ossetia due to limited access to these regions. 
Abkhaz de facto authorities continued to resist the establishment of a 
UN human rights office and the establishment of a UN civilian police 
presence in Gali. The de facto South Ossetian government has a 
plenipotentiary on human rights.
    The situation in the Gali region of Abkhazia, where many ethnic 
Georgians live, remained tense as a result of kidnapping, arbitrary 
arrest, and deaths in custody. Systemic problems in the criminal 
justice system, in particular the failure to conduct impartial 
investigations and to bring alleged perpetrators to trial, sustained a 
climate of impunity. While the incidence of serious crime in Gali 
reportedly decreased during the first part of the year, the incidence 
of abuse by law enforcement increased, and included arbitrary arrests 
and detention as well as routine mistreatment of detainees. Law 
enforcement authorities rarely wore uniforms or carried badges or 
credentials, allowing them to act with impunity. The deputy chief of 
the Gali district police force, Otar Turnamba, reportedly extorted 
payments from farmers trying to bring their crops to market during the 
fall hazelnut harvest.
    An Abkhaz law on citizenship, which excludes the possibility of 
dual Abkhaz-Georgian citizenship, limited the rights of the ethnic 
Georgian population in Abkhazia to participate in the electoral 
process.
    In South Ossetia, kidnapping was used reciprocally both as a way to 
secure release for captured compatriots and for ransom.
    In Abkhazia teenage boys were frequently taken from their homes 
allegedly for forced conscription in the Abhaz military. Some parents 
claimed that their sons were younger than 18 and thus too young for 
military service.
    Approximately 247,000 persons, 234,000 from Abkhazia and 13,000 
from South Ossetia, remained displaced as a result of the conflicts in 
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During the year the Government, in 
conjunction with international organizations and NGOs, developed its 
first national strategy on IDPs. The strategy seeks to integrate IDPs 
into Georgian society while creating the necessary conditions for their 
eventual return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
    Approximately 110,000 IDPs occupied collective centers in hotels, 
hospitals, and other civil buildings throughout the country, 
particularly concentrated in Tbilisi, Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Kobuleti, and 
Gori. The remaining 135,000 lived in private homes with relatives or 
friends. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
reported that collective centers were not well adapted to serve as 
homes, and a foreign government continued its housing voucher program 
for vulnerable IDPs living in collective centers in Kutaisi.
    In June police forced dozens of IDPs to vacate the Meskheli Hotel 
in Batumi. The hotel was purchased by an investor who had pledged to 
pay $7,000 (11,995 lari) to each IDP family living in the hotel. While 
most IDPs accepted the offer, others protested by demanding more, or by 
claiming that the list of recipients was incorrect, thereby depriving 
some IDP families of any compensation. Several dozen of the evicted 
IDPs reportedly returned to Abkhazia.
    The Abkhaz separatist regime continued to prevent repatriation of 
the approximately 234,000 IDPs previously driven from the region, 
despite its 1994 agreement with Georgia, Russia, and the UNHCR that 
provided for the safe, secure, and voluntary return of IDPs who left 
during the war. Approximately 45,000 IDPs, mostly seasonal workers, 
returned to the Gali region of Abkhazia. The Abkhaz de facto 
authorities continued to prevent the opening of a UN human rights 
office in Gali, which would help build confidence for IDP return, 
despite an agreement to do so.
    The de facto South Ossetian authorities continued to obstruct 
repatriation of approximately 13,000 ethnic Georgians to the region.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press. However, there were accusations 
by NGOs, independent analysts, and journalists that high-ranking 
government officials exercised some influence over editorial and 
programming decisions through their personal connections with news 
directors and media executives. There were scattered reported incidents 
of actual or incited physical abuse of journalists by government 
officials. NGOs, media analysts and individual journalists cited the 
following problems: limited access to public information, 
nontransparent tenders offered to media outlets, ignoring or boycotting 
selective media organizations by government officials, unequal 
treatment of media outlets, absence of contracts or very short term 
contracts with journalists, indirect and covert pressure on 
journalists, and lack of financial resources. Most journalists viewed 
the Law on Freedom of Speech and Expression as very liberal but not 
always enforced. The Law on Broadcasters provided for the National 
Commission on Communications to adopt a Code of Ethics for Broadcasters 
by year's end. The draft code triggered sharp criticism from most 
journalists and was decried as an attempt by the Government to control 
broadcast media. The National Commission on Communications postponed 
adoption of the code to allow for public comment.
    There were approximately 200 independent newspapers. During the 
year the print media frequently criticized senior government officials; 
however, few editorially independent newspapers were commercially 
viable. In addition lack of financial resources limited their 
circulation. Typically newspapers were subsidized by and subject to the 
influence of patrons in politics and business. In August 2005 the 
Government announced an anticorruption action plan calling for an end 
to all direct and covert subsidies to the media; on December 31, the 
exemption for print media from property and profit taxes expired. The 
media remained largely dependent on subsidies.
    International media were allowed to operate freely.
    There were eight independent or privately owned television stations 
in Tbilisi and one public station, Channel 1. Three of the Tbilisi--
based stations, Channel 1, Rustavi-2, and Imedi claimed nationwide 
coverage. A fourth Tbilisi channel, Mze, had more limited coverage. A 
fifth channel, Batumi-based Ajara Television, broadcasted nationwide. 
An international NGO estimated that there were more than 45 regional 
television stations outside of Tbilisi, 17 of which offered locally 
oriented daily news.
    Throughout the year newspapers could and did criticize the 
Government. At the beginning of the year, broadcast media tended to be 
less critical of the Government. This changed during the highly 
controversial Girgvliani case, which received significant coverage, 
although it took approximately four weeks for independent television 
station Imedi to report the story (see section 1.a.).
    Imedi was criticized by senior government officials for being an 
``opposition station.'' The Government also alleged that the media was 
irresponsible in their reporting, particularly during the Girgvliani 
case (see section 1.a.) and the June Tbilisi State University 
professors' protests.
    On July 6, the host of the popular weekly political show Free 
Topic, Eka Khoperia, resigned from the Rustavi-2 television station 
during a live broadcast, stating that she was being pressured to air 
the comments of an official of the interior affairs ministry associated 
with the Girgvliani case. Although she resigned, she later refused to 
identify the specific officials who had sought to pressure her. 
Rustavi-2 had been known as one of the most professional and 
independent television stations in the country but, since its 2005 
sale, had become much less critical than its main competitor, Imedi, 
which had more politically oriented programming.
    On August 26, the staff of Rustavi-2 cancelled its afternoon news 
program when staff boycotted in protest of owner Kibar Kalvashi's 
decision to remove General Director Nick Tabatadze from his position. 
The media reported that Tabatadze was dismissed at the request of the 
then head of the President's administration, whose close friend 
replaced Tabatadze. In response to Tabatadze's firing, many Rustavi-2 
journalists went on strike, and on September 8, six resigned, asserting 
their commitment to independent reporting. In November Rustavi-2's 
owner sold the station, reportedly under pressure.
    Economic and political pressure on the media, in part encouraged by 
the general low profitability of media outlets, particularly of print 
media, resulted in decreased diversity of opinions.
    Despite comprehensive laws providing for media freedom and 
journalist protection, journalists did not avail themselves of these 
protections and often were uninformed about them. NGOs believed that 
lack of experience and professionalism explained the media's apparent 
aversion to asserting their legal rights.
    On March 29, Tbilisi City Court sentenced Shalva Ramishvili (see 
section 1.d.), co-owner and former general director of television 
station 202, and David Kokhreidze, former co-owner of the station, to 
four and three years' imprisonment, respectively, for extortion. In 
August 2005 hidden cameras captured Ramishvili accepting $30,000 
(51,405 lari) from Koba Bekauri, a member of Parliament and member of 
the National Movement party, in exchange for not reporting on his 
suspicious stake in a customs operation. Ramishvili and Kokhreidze 
claimed the incident was a sting operation and part of a report on 
Bekauri's business dealings. The NGO Reporters Without Borders 
criticized the ruling.
    The prosecutor general's office reported that since television 
station 202 anchor Irakli Kakabadze did not cooperate in their 
investigation of his September 2005 beating, the investigation did not 
progress. According to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists, some 
journalists alleged that Kakabadze's beating and the case against 
television station 202 co-owner Ramishvili constituted retribution for 
the station's critical coverage.
    In December 2005 the governor of the western region of Imereti, 
Akaki Bobokhidze, had a physical confrontation with reporter Irakli 
Imnaishvili after the two exchanged words on a televised debate program 
for local channel Rioni. Bobokhidze badly beat Imnaishvili and broke 
his nose. Bobokhidze resigned the next day. In February Bobokhidze was 
appointed chairman of the National Guard; in October the President 
reappointed him governor of Imereti. In 2005 the prosecutor general's 
office initiated criminal charges against Bobokhidze; but during the 
year, these charges were reduced to misdemeanor assault. Imnaishvili 
did not appeal the reclassification of charges against Bobokhidze. At 
year's end the case against Bobokhidze was still pending.
    On June 21, a special committee in Parliament stripped ruling 
National Movement Party Member of Parliament Badri Nanetashvili of his 
parliamentary credentials. The action stemmed from accusations by 
journalists at the Trialeti television station, which he co-owned, that 
Nanetashvili was directly managing the local station and interfering in 
its editorial policy. The law allows Parliamentarians to own media 
concerns but forbids them from managing editorial policy. Nanetashvili 
appealed the decision to remove him from Parliament to the 
Constitutional Court; the case was pending at year's end. Trialeti TV 
was known as an antigovernment media outlet but after the Rose 
Revolution became progovernment. At year's end Nanetashvili and 
Trialeti were also being investigated for alleged tax fraud.
    On July 22, Chief of Patrol Police Zviad Tsagareishvili physically 
assaulted cameraman Lasha Shengelia of Public Broadcasting Company 
Channel 1 as he was working on a story about a person found dead in 
Tbilisi's Varaziskhevi Street. The deceased was a brother-in-law of 
Tsagareishvili. Tsagareishvili resigned as chief of patrol police 
shortly after the incident. No charges were pressed against 
Tsagareishvili.
    On June 15, NGOs of the Sighnaghi district organized a protest 
rally against majority Member of Parliament Nugzar Abulashvili in the 
village Vakiri. The protesters accused Abulashvili of systematic 
pressure on the activities of the local self-government bodies. The 
protesters, accompanied by a large group of national and regional 
media, were attacked by Abulashvili supporters who broke the video 
camera of the Gurjaani Television journalist, took away the tapes, and 
physically assaulted Zviad Ruadze from the independent newspaper 
Spektr. Local police officers witnessed the attacks but took no action. 
Local police later arrested three alleged attackers; the former 
chairman of the Vakiri city council was among them. Authorities held 
the three men for an unconfirmed period and then released them on bail 
pending trial.
    In October the director of independent radio station Hereti, Ramaz 
Samkharadze, was beaten by an unidentified assailant in the street. In 
December Hereti's income-generating computer cafe was broken into and 
robbed of computers. Samkharadze attributed both events to local 
members of the National Movement party due to the fact he had received 
unidentified telephone threats as a result of Hereti reports critical 
of the local authorities. As of year's end, local authorities had not 
investigated the assault on Samkharadze.
    Self-censorship was still claimed to be common among journalists, 
and some observers believed that it was increasing.
    The ministry of defense continued to ban journalists it considered 
undesirable from public briefings. The ban continued after the 
appointment of a new minister of defense in November. The affected 
journalists claimed that the ministry's press officer did not return 
their telephone calls. Journalists complained that it was also 
difficult to obtain information from the ministry of internal affairs.
    Media in the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia 
remained tightly restricted by their de facto governments. In March 
authorities in Abkhazia detained three filmmakers for three weeks for 
allegedly having entered the region illegally. An Abkhaz de facto court 
refused to allow a Georgian lawyer to represent the filmmakers. Abkhaz 
de facto authorities also refused to allow UN representatives to meet 
with the detainees.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly; 
however, the police on occasion allegedly used force to disperse 
peaceful protests.
    The law requires political parties and other organizations to give 
prior notice and obtain permission from local authorities to assemble 
on a public thoroughfare. Permits for assemblies were routinely 
granted.
    In June protestors outside the appellate court building in Tbilisi 
were arrested and sentenced to 30 days detention for disturbing 
proceedings in the court house as a result of their actions. NGOs 
criticized the arrest and sentencing, stating that the appellate court 
judge's contempt powers did not extend to actions outside the court 
building. NGOs also stated that the absence of the right to appeal the 
judge's finding violated the constitution.
    The public defender criticized the dispersal by the police of an 
October 20 demonstration by the NGOs Equality Institute and the 
Coalition for a Democratic Georgia in front of the chancellery.
    The NGOs had obtained permission from Tbilisi municipal authorities 
to conduct the rally. The police said they had received complaints 
about excessive noise from nearby residents.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. Authorities granted permits for registration of 
associations without arbitrary restriction or discrimination.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The constitution recognizes the special role of the Orthodox Church 
in the country's history but stipulates the separation of church and 
state. A constitutional agreement (concordat) signed by the President 
and the Orthodox patriarch gives the church legal status. The concordat 
contained several controversial provisions that give the patriarch 
legal immunity, grant the church the exclusive right to staff the 
military chaplaincy, exempt church clergymen from military service, and 
give the church a unique consultative role in government, particularly 
in the area of education. However, the Parliament has not adopted 
legislation needed for many of these provisions to enter into force. 
For example, while the concordat grants the Orthodox Church the right 
to establish a military chaplaincy, there are no chaplains in military 
units due to the lack of implementing legislation. The tax code grants 
tax exemptions only for the Orthodox Church.
    Religious groups may register as local associations or foundations. 
An association is based on membership (a minimum of five members is 
required), while a foundation involves one or more founders 
establishing a fund for furtherance of a certain cause for the benefit 
of the group or the general public. In both cases registration is a 
function of the Ministry of Justice, which must grant or deny 
registration within 15 days of application; a refusal may be appealed 
in court.
    In July 2005 the Justice Ministry approved the first applications 
filed under the new registration process. Both the Seventh Day 
Adventists and the Foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints received their approvals in less time than the period 
allowed by law. During the year the Government registered an additional 
12 organizations. The Justice Ministry suspended a notary public for 
one year after she refused to notarize documents of a Pentecostal 
church, which the church needed for registration. The congregation was 
still seeking registration at year's end. Justice ministry officials 
were responsive in providing advice to religious organizations on 
preparing registration applications and supporting documentation.
    Some religious communities expressed dissatisfaction with the 
status that registration provided. The Roman Catholic Church and the 
Armenian Apostolic Church opposed registering as civil organizations. 
Other churches, such as the Baptists, expressed concern that transfers 
of property to their churches would now be taxable.
    During the year attacks on religious minorities, including 
violence, verbal harassment, and disruption of services and meetings, 
continued to decrease. Although police rarely facilitated harassment of 
religious minority groups, they sometimes failed to protect them. While 
the prosecutor general's office increasingly initiated investigations 
of religious-based violence, past complaints remained unresolved.
    A 2005 law separating state schools and religious teaching narrowed 
the interpretation of the Government concordat with the Orthodox Church 
regarding teaching Orthodoxy as an elective part of the school 
curriculum. The law stated that such Orthodox teaching may only take 
place after school hours and cannot be controlled by the school or 
teachers. Also, outsiders, including clergy, cannot regularly attend or 
direct student extracurricular activities, student clubs, or their 
meetings. Such classes were taught by lay theologians rather than 
priests. Religious minorities broadly welcomed the changes to school 
religious education, although they observed along with NGOs that 
practice did not always keep pace with the law.
    Public schools offered students the opportunity to take as an 
elective a course on Religion in Society which covered the history of 
major religions. Parents complained teachers focused solely on the 
Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church has a consultative role in all 
curriculum development, although there was no textbook for this course.
    A joint working group of the ministry of education and the Orthodox 
Church reviewed options for the elective course on religion in society 
and other matters related to religion in the curriculum. The ministry 
also financially assisted the church in its education projects and 
institutions. No other religious groups were afforded these privileges.
    ``Nontraditional'' religious groups reported that they have been 
able to import literature without seizure or delay. The Armenian 
Apostolic Church stated, however, that imports of religious items such 
as candles were sometimes delayed because of ambiguities surrounding 
the church's legal status in the country.
    While members of Jehovah's Witnesses no longer felt the need to 
hold their services in private homes for security reasons, delays in 
obtaining permits to build and occupy Kingdom Halls required 
congregations to continue meeting in private homes.
    In an effort to implement a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, the Jewish 
community reached an agreement with a theater group whereby the theater 
group vacated a hall in a Tbilisi building seized from the Jewish 
community during Soviet rule. While the Jewish community was able to 
use the hall, the situation was still not fully resolved, as the 
community could not use the hall as a synagogue.
    The Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church were 
unable to secure the return of churches closed or given to the Georgian 
Orthodox Church during the Soviet period.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Judaism is practiced in a 
number of communities throughout the country, particularly in the 
largest cities, Tbilisi and Kutaisi. There were approximately 14,000 
Jews in the country. The Jewish communities reported they encountered 
few societal problems. There was no historical pattern of anti-Semitism 
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    Despite a general tolerance toward minority religious groups 
``traditional'' to the country, including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic 
Christians, Jews, and Muslims, citizens remained very apprehensive 
towards ``nontraditional'' religions, which were seen as taking 
advantage of the populace's economic hardships by gaining membership 
through economic assistance to converts. Some members of the Orthodox 
Church and the public viewed non-Orthodox religious groups, 
particularly ``nontraditional'' groups or sects, as a threat to the 
national church and the country's cultural values and asserted that 
foreign Christian missionaries should confine their activities to non-
Christian areas.
    Following a series of physical and verbal threats in April and May 
2005 against a group of Pentecostals attempting to hold services in a 
private home in Tbilisi, the public defender helped the congregation 
obtain a plot of land on which to construct a building for services. 
While plans for the building were being drawn up, the congregation 
conducted services in undisclosed private homes or in outdoor areas. 
Police routinely provided protection in the latter case. No charges 
were filed in connection with the April and May 2005 incidents.
    In April, at the request of the Jehovah's Witnesses, authorities 
dropped criminal charges against two persons in connection with a 
series of attacks by local residents on members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
in Kutaisi that began in June 2005. The two individuals who were 
detained publicly apologized to the Jehovah's Witnesses. The group in 
Kutaisi has operated freely since that time.
    In November 2005 members of Jehovah's Witnesses rented a hall in 
Rustavi to conduct meetings. Paata Bluashvili, the leader of the 
Orthodox group Jvari, and members of the group threatened the hall's 
owner, who then cancelled the contract with the Jehovah's Witnesses. 
Pending investigation of the incident, Bluashvili was held in pretrial 
detention. Upon Bluashvili's appeal of the three-month detention, a 
court of appeals overturned the detention and released him, pending 
trial. In April a Rustavi court reinstated the three-month sentence. 
Bluashvili failed to appear at the April hearing and at year's end was 
wanted by the authorities.
    De facto authorities in the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia 
regions remained outside the control of the central government, and 
reliable information from those regions was difficult to obtain. A 1995 
decree issued by the de facto leader of Abkhazia banning Jehovah's 
Witnesses in the region remained in effect but was not enforced. During 
the year members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported no problems in 
Abkhazia, where membership is approximately 1,500. Although Baptists, 
Lutherans, and Roman Catholics also reported they were allowed to 
operate in the region, the Orthodox Church reported that it was unable 
to do so.
    In South Ossetia, Orthodox believers were not able to conduct 
services in Georgian Orthodox churches located near the villages of 
Nuli, Eredvi, Monasteri, and Gera because these areas were under the 
control of Ossetian authorities.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Freedom of movement was restricted by the de facto authorities in 
the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Police 
checkpoints often obstructed citizens' internal movement in these 
regions. In December Abkhaz de facto authorities closed the checkpoints 
along the cease--fire line to all civilian traffic. This restriction on 
the free movement of Gali residents was also a violation of the 1994 
Quadripartite Agreement.
    An Abkhaz citizenship law allowed dual Russian-Abkhaz citizenship 
but not dual Georgian-Abkhaz citizenship. As a result, ethnic Georgians 
had to relinquish their Georgian passports and obtain Russian passports 
to travel abroad.
    Abkhaz militia conducted searches of local populations and erected 
arbitrary checkpoints. Money and valuables were extorted from ethnic 
Georgians on the pretext that they violated identity document 
requirements.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    No families returned to the country under a 1999 Presidential 
decree issued to repatriate and rehabilitate approximately 275,000 
Meskhetian Turks relocated during the Soviet period.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--There were approximately 
247,000 IDPs at year's end due to conflicts in the separatist regions 
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (see section 1.g.).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    There were approximately 1,600 registered refugees from Chechnya in 
the country. Chechen refugees settled in the Pankisi valley in the 
eastern part of the country. International humanitarian organizations' 
assistance to refugees in the Pankisi valley was sporadic. Chechen 
refugees remained vulnerable to abuse, including police harassment and 
threats of forcible return to Russia. In November 90 refugees, mostly 
ethnic Kists (ethnic Chechens from Georgia), voluntarily returned to 
Russia via Azerbaijan. During the year there were no instances of 
refoulement.
    The majority of the Chechen refugees lived with the local Kist 
population; only 15 percent were sheltered in communal centers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through periodic 
elections, held on the basis of universal suffrage. In January 2004 
Mikheil Saakashvili was elected President, and Parliamentary elections 
were held in March 2004.
    In December Parliament partially modified the 2004 constitutional 
amendments that had strengthened the power of the executive at the 
expense of the Parliament and the judiciary (see section 1.e.).
    An Abkhaz citizenship law did not allow dual Georgian-Abkhaz 
citizenship. As a result ethnic Georgians in the separatist region had 
to relinquish their Georgian passports in order to vote or participate 
in the political process.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The OSCE reported that the 
2004 Presidential election demonstrated notable progress, although time 
constraints limited administrative improvements since previous 
elections. The OSCE noted a continued lack of separation between state 
administration and political party structures and the tendency to 
misuse state administration resources. The voter register also 
continued to be incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. While the OSCE 
reported the voting process itself was excellent in the majority of 
regions, there were significant irregularities in Kvemo Kartli, and the 
worst irregularities were recorded in Ajara, where no preelection 
registration was conducted and little or no campaigning occurred.
    International observers deemed the 2004 parliamentary elections the 
most democratic since independence, with voter registration procedures 
further improved, including the addition of a consolidated computerized 
database; however, there continued to be a lack of political balance 
and independence in election commissions. During the election 
international observers noticed a number of irregularities, including 
implausible voter turnout in certain regions, an unusually high 
percentage of invalid votes, and campaign material on display in 
several polling stations. Significant voting irregularities again took 
place in Kvemo Kartli.
    On October 5, the Government held the first local elections 
following major decentralization reforms. The Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe/Office of Democratic Institutions and Human 
Rights (OSCE/ODHIR) and the Council of Europe concluded that the 
October 5 local elections generally respected fundamental freedoms. 
Respected local NGOs International Society for Free Elections and 
Democracy, new Generation new Initiative, and Georgian Young Lawyers' 
Association stated that the results accurately reflected the will of 
the electorate. These organizations noted, however, that the ruling 
National Movement party, which prevailed by a wide margin nationwide, 
manipulated its incumbency status, for example, by the use of identical 
slogans, designs and images in public service announcements promoting 
new government services, and in National Movement campaign materials. 
OSCE/ODHIR noted that this improperly blurred the distinction between 
the National Movement party and the Government. Although in 2005 the 
Government reformed the Central Election Commission (CEC), the OSCE, 
NGOs, and opposition parties criticized the composition of the CEC, 
which was dominated by members of the ruling party. Other concerns 
noted by the OSCE/ODIHR included the need for further improvement of 
election legislation, the voter register, and the vote counting and 
election grievance processes. The OSCE/ODIHR also noted several 
positive developments including the Government's provision for an 
orderly electoral process and improvements in the election code.
    International organizations, including the UN and the OSCE, as well 
as the Government, did not recognize the November de facto Presidential 
election in South Ossetia, or the 2004 and 2005 de facto Presidential 
elections in Abkhazia.
    There were no government restrictions on political party formation 
beyond registration requirements; according to the Justice Ministry 
registration and licensing department, there were 178 registered 
political parties.
    There were no developments in the investigation into the July 2005 
violent attack on then opposition Member of Parliament Valeri 
Gelashvili in Tbilisi. Gelashvili was not interviewed by investigators. 
Armed and masked men attacked Gelashvili's car as he, his bodyguard, 
and a business associate were traveling on a main street during a 
weekday afternoon. Gelashvili was severely beaten in the face and head 
with gunstocks; the other two people in car were struck but did not 
require hospitalization. Opposition leaders and the media asserted that 
the attack was politically motivated, since Gelashvili had been 
involved in a long--running dispute with the Government over payment 
for work by his construction company on a new Presidential residence. 
There was no indication that robbery may have been a motive.
    There were 23 women in the 235-seat Parliament. The speaker of 
Parliament, Nino Burjanadze, was a woman. The majority head of 
Parliament was also a woman, and women held important committee chairs.
    There were eight members of minority groups (five Armenians and 
three Azeris) in the Parliament. As a result of local government 
reforms brought into force by local elections, the number of seats held 
by ethnic minorities in municipal councils is now commensurate with 
their percentage of the population in each region of the country.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption 
persisted, although it decreased as a result of high profile reforms 
led by the President.
    The country's score of 2.8 during the year on Transparency 
International's 0-10 index of public perceptions of corruption was a 
significant improvement over its score of 2.3 in 2005 but still 
indicated a perception that corruption remained a serious problem. An 
April public opinion poll indicated that 54 percent of those surveyed 
believed that there had been a reduction of corruption in ordinary 
people's lives after the Rose Revolution. The poll, which was conducted 
by the International Republican Institute (IRI), showed that only 2 
percent of those surveyed stated that in the previous 12 months they 
had to pay a bribe in order to get a service or decision from a 
government office. In 2005 the World Bank's Control of Corruption 
Indicator reported that 39 percent of businesses in the country 
reported that corruption hurt the growth of business, a drop from 60 
percent in 2002. During the year the Global Integrity Index rated the 
country as ``strong'' in the anticorruption and rule of law category.
    During the year members of the Government and the ruling party were 
investigated for corruption. In October the Parliament stripped the 
immunity of two ruling party parliamentarians implicated in a 
corruption scandal. One was arrested and was under investigation at 
year's end. The director general of the state-owned Georgian Oil and 
Gas Company and a member of his staff were also arrested on charges of 
corruption. They were being held in pretrial detention while their case 
was under investigation at year's end. In June 2005 the head of the 
Tbilisi city tax department and seven other officials were arrested on 
corruption charges. Minister of Finance Valeri Chechelashvili 
subsequently resigned amid criticism from the President for weak 
oversight and control. In a six-month period in 2005, more than 60 
police officers were charged with corruption, in addition to three 
mayors and six prosecutors.
    In 2005 the Government adopted an anticorruption strategy aimed at 
the formation of an effective state management system and activation of 
legal and public feedback mechanisms in order to prevent corruption. 
Reviewing the 2002-05 period, the World Bank's ``Anticorruption in 
Transition 3'' report noted that strong leadership in the country was 
the driving force behind ``swift and thorough reforms'' that 
significantly reduced corruption after 2002. The report noted that the 
leadership had taken bold actions to lessen the burden of the state on 
the economy, improve fiscal transparency, and strengthen oversight of 
institutions, all of which had contributed to the decline in 
corruption. During the year government officials continued to receive 
salaries in a timely manner, and salaries in the executive and 
legislative branches increased, reducing incentives for corruption.
    In November the Council of Europe and NGO representatives stated 
that significant steps had been taken to fulfill an August 2005 
anticorruption action plan for the privatization of state-owned 
property and the simplification of enterprise registration.
    The law provides for public access to government meetings and 
documents; however, the Government sometimes did not provide access. 
Although the law states that a public agency shall release public 
information immediately or no later than 10 days from request, the 
release of requested information could be delayed indefinitely, and 
requests were sometimes ignored in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigations of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. In some cases 
government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views. 
NGOs such as the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) helped 
draft the new law against trafficking and implement the Government's 
action plan. The NGO liaison office in Parliament worked with NGOs to 
develop new legislation. However, while some NGOs enjoyed close 
cooperation with the Government, others complained of discrimination 
from government members.
    In January high-ranking government officials publicly criticized 
leading human rights and rule of law NGO GYLA. The officials also 
questioned GYLA's status as an independent NGO by charging that it was 
operating under the influence of an opposition political party, noting 
that a prior chair of GYLA had become an opposition party leader. In 
response, a large coalition of NGOs issued a statement that ``the 
current campaign against GYLA confirms that the Government is unable to 
reconcile themselves with the criticism of unbiased NGOs.'' Public 
criticism by government officials of GYLA or other NGOs did not 
continue.
    The Government maintained a constructive relationship with many 
NGOs, underlined by the Parliament's decision to establish an NGO-
Parliament cooperation office and the allocation of two seats in the 
Permanent Interagency Antitrafficking Council to NGOs.
    The UNHCR and the OSCE operated only sporadically in the separatist 
conflict areas due to poor security conditions but provided periodic 
findings, reports, and recommendations.
    NGOs viewed the office of the public defender as the most objective 
of the Government's human rights bodies. The constitutionally mandated 
office monitored human rights conditions and investigated allegations 
of abuses. The office of the public defender generally operated without 
government interference and was considered effective. However, the 
public defender reported that representatives from his office and some 
of their family members were subject to harassment from law enforcement 
authorities during the year.
    The public defender stated that while his office continued to 
receive government funding, earmarked increases from the state budget 
were not provided to the office. The public defender's authority does 
not include the power to institute prosecutions or other legal actions. 
The public defender objected to Ministry of Justice regulations which 
prohibited the use of cameras and recorders in the penitentiary system 
as an obstacle to substantiating claims of abuse in the system.
    As required by law, the public defender issued biannual reports to 
Parliament. Some members of Parliament were critical of the public 
defender's findings and recommendations calling for equal recognition 
under the law of all religions. For example, the members stated that 
the historical position of the Orthodox Church justified its privileged 
position.
    The Parliament's Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration, 
the interior ministry's human rights division, and the national 
security council's human rights advisor also had mandates to 
investigate abuse claims. By law the prosecutor general is charged with 
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms; the human rights 
protection unit of the prosecutor general's office is the reporting and 
monitoring arm of the legal department and has no independent 
investigative powers. The prosecutor general office's human rights unit 
focused on curbing abuses by law enforcement officials. In June the 
prosecutor general issued a code of ethics for prosecutors which 
stated, among other things, that it was impermissible for prosecutors 
to use their official position to place illegal pressure on any person 
and that prosecutors must avoid activities that cast doubt on their 
independence.
    The UNHCR office in Sukhumi continued to monitor respect for human 
rights in Abkhazia and to visit detention facilities in the region. 
Despite increasing concerns about the deteriorating situation in the 
Gali region, de facto Abkhaz authorities continued to resist opening a 
human rights branch office in that area. In addition the de facto 
authorities continued not to implement the UN Observer Mission in 
Georgia's recommendations, endorsed by the UN Security Council, to 
permit education of local youth in their native Georgian language and 
to permit deployment of a UN civilian police contingent in Abkhazia.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion, 
disability, language, or social status; however, the Government did not 
always enforce these provisions effectively.

    Women.--Violence against women was a problem.
    The Government acknowledged that domestic violence was a widespread 
problem. Women victimized by domestic violence, however, rarely 
reported it because of social taboos and because previously it was not 
illegal. The police rarely arrested or punished perpetrators of 
domestic violence. From August 2005 to January, the police responded to 
466 reports of domestic violence. Neither the prosecutor general's 
office nor the courts maintained separate statistics on domestic 
violence cases, so it was not possible to track outcomes of these 
reports. A local NGO operated a hotline and a shelter for abused women, 
although services at the shelter were limited due to a lack of funding 
and facilities.
    Rape is illegal. Criminal cases on rape generally can only be 
initiated following a complaint by the victim. Spousal rape is not 
specifically addressed by criminal law. A first time offender may be 
imprisoned for up to seven years; a repeat offender or perpetrator 
against multiple victims may receive up to 10 years; factors such as if 
the victim was pregnant, contracted HIV/AIDS, or was subjected to 
extreme violence, demand up to 15 years; and if the victim was a minor, 
up to 20 years. During the year the ministry of internal affairs 
reported 167 cases of rape and attempted rape and initiated criminal 
prosecutions in 106 of these cases. Observers believed many instances 
of rape went unreported due to the social stigma for victims. Police 
did not always investigate reports of rape.
    The first law on domestic violence came into effect on June 9. The 
law defines domestic violence as a violation of the constitutional 
rights and liberties of one member of a family by another by means of 
physical, psychological, economic, or sexual violence or coercion; 
however, domestic violence is not specifically criminalized. 
Perpetrators of domestic violence are prosecuted under existing 
criminal provisions against, for example, battery or rape.
    The law allows victims to file immediate protective orders against 
their abusers and police to issue a temporary restrictive order against 
persons suspected of abusing a family member. The temporary order is 
then approved by a court within 24 hours and becomes a protective order 
that prohibits the abuser from coming within 100 meters of the victim 
and using common property, such as a residence or vehicle, for six 
months. The victim may ask authorities to extend the protective order 
indefinitely. While the law called for the ministry of internal affairs 
to develop by mid-July a form for police to issue as restrictive 
orders, the ministry did not do so. The law also requires the 
Government to draft an action plan which it had not done by year's end.
    The kidnapping of women for marriage occurred, particularly in 
rural areas. Such kidnappings often were arranged elopements; however, 
at times kidnappings occurred against the will of the intended bride 
and involved rape. Police rarely took action in these cases, even 
though the law criminalizes kidnapping. A local NGO in the Samtskhe-
Javakheti region established a hotline and shelter to assist victims of 
attempted kidnappings who were often rejected by their families after 
escaping from the kidnapper.
    Prostitution is against the law but was widespread, particularly in 
Tbilisi. Several NGOs claimed that prostitution remained common due to 
continuing poor economic conditions.
    Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment and violence against women in the workplace was a 
problem. The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government 
did not effectively enforce the law, and complaints were rarely 
investigated.
    The law provides for the equality of men and women; however, in 
practice this was not enforced. NGOs reported that discrimination 
against women in the workplace existed but instances were never 
reported. The speaker of Parliament chaired a Gender Equity Advisory 
Council, which included members of Parliament, as well as 
representatives from the executive branch, the public defender's 
office, and NGOs. The State Commission on Gender Equity was chaired by 
the deputy state minister on Euro-Atlantic integration and prepares 
recommendations on the implementation of international agreements and 
conventions on gender equity. Within the public defender's office there 
is a special group dedicated to women's and children's issues.
    Women's access to the labor market improved; however, women 
remained primarily confined to low-paying and low-skilled positions, 
regardless of professional and academic qualifications, and salaries 
for women lagged behind those for men. As a result, many women sought 
employment abroad. According to the UN Development Program, employers 
frequently withheld benefits connected to pregnancy and childbirth.
    No further information was available on a lawsuit filed in April 
2005 by servicewomen who claimed they were discharged from the armed 
forces while on maternity leave, despite a law that prohibits dismissal 
from employment of pregnant women and women with children under the age 
of three.

    Children.--The law provides for the protection of children's rights 
and welfare, but the Government provided limited services. Children are 
protected under the antidomestic violence law, which became effective 
in June.
    Primary and basic education is compulsory from age six or seven to 
age 14, and provided up to age 16 (a total of 11 years). The UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated primary school enrollment at 91 
percent in 2003 and secondary school enrollment at 79 percent in 2002, 
and most children attended school. Education was officially free 
through high school, but in practice a lack of resources inhibited 
schools' functioning and affected the quality of education in some 
areas.
    During the year the Government rehabilitated 300 schools but in 
some areas, school facilities were inadequate and lacked heating, 
libraries, and blackboards. Most parents were obliged to pay some form 
of ``tuition'' to support the schools. Many parents were unable to 
afford books and school supplies, and in some cases students were 
forced to drop out due to an inability or unwillingness to pay 
``tuition.''
    In June elections were held for membership on parent-teacher 
supervisory boards at secondary schools to provide better oversight of 
school management. There was widespread participation including outside 
Tbilisi.
    Free health care was available for children up to age four.
    There were some reports of child abuse, particularly of street 
children, although there was no societal pattern of such abuse.
    Incidents of sexual exploitation of children, particularly girls, 
were reported. Child prostitution and pornography are punishable by up 
to three years' imprisonment. The Ministry of Internal Affairs 
sponsored a center for the rehabilitation of minors, which regularly 
provided medical and psychological assistance to child and adolescent 
victims of prostitution before returning them to guardians.
    There were unconfirmed reports of trafficking in children (see 
section 5, Trafficking). Street children and children living in 
orphanages were reportedly particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
    Difficult economic conditions broke up some families and 
contributed to the number of street children. NGOs estimated that there 
were approximately 1,500 street children between the ages of three and 
15, with 1,200 concentrated in Tbilisi, due to the inability of 
orphanages and the Government to provide support. The private voluntary 
organization Child and Environment and the Ministry of Education each 
operated a shelter in Tbilisi; however, the two shelters could 
accommodate only a small number of street children. The Government took 
little other action to assist street children. There were unconfirmed 
reports of police violence against street children, but the patrol 
police routinely transferred street children to a 24-hour care center 
or orphanage. The center, however, lacked resources for treatment and 
rehabilitation of the children, many of whom were substance abusers or 
suffered from mental disorders.
    Orphanages were unable to provide adequate food, clothing, 
education, and medical care; facilities lacked heat, water, and 
electricity. Staff wages, which had been poor and often many months in 
arrears, were paid on a regular basis. Due to reported mismanagement of 
resources, staff members often diverted money and supplies provided to 
the orphanages for personal use.
    During the year the Government closed an orphanage in Tbilisi 
where, according to a 2005 public defender's office report, children 
lacked clothes, food, toothbrushes, blankets, and other necessities, 
and where the first floor had been flooded due to plumbing problems. 
The children were sent to other local orphanages where basic services 
such as heat and electricity were also sometimes lacking.
    Ongoing conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia displaced thousands 
of children. In these regions, UNICEF reported that health services 
were scant, immunization rates were lower than elsewhere in the 
country, schools were deteriorating, and malnutrition was a serious 
problem.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in 
persons, the country was primarily a point of transit and origin, and 
very rarely a destination for trafficked persons. Women were trafficked 
from the country to Turkey, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, North 
America, and Western Europe to work in hotels, bars, restaurants, or as 
domestic help. Many were trafficked into the adult entertainment sector 
or forced into prostitution. Victims most likely came directly from 
Tbilisi or the impoverished former industrial centers of Poti, Kutaisi, 
and Rustavi. Local NGOs reported that men were trafficked to Russia, 
Greece, Spain, Portugal, and other destinations to work in 
construction, agriculture, and other manual labor. There also was 
evidence that Ukrainian and Uzbek women, as well as women from other 
countries of the former Soviet Union, were trafficked through the 
country to Turkey, sometimes using fraudulently obtained passports.
    In July, when the Government regained control over the Kodori 
valley in Abkhazia, officials discovered several trafficking victims 
who were working for families in the region as household slaves. Some 
had been working as slaves for 20 years or more. The Government sent a 
team of law enforcement and trafficking experts to the region to 
investigate these claims further. By year's end, the Government has 
opened investigations into six cases of trafficking related to this 
previously warlord-controlled region. In December two of these cases 
have been referred to the courts while the remaining four were still 
under investigation.
    Children were seldom trafficking victims, although street children 
and children living in orphanages were allegedly particularly 
vulnerable. Some reports indicated that IDPs were a particular target 
for traffickers. Conditions for trafficked laborers and women 
trafficked into prostitution were extremely poor.
    Traffickers were largely freelance domestic operators with 
connections abroad, as well as some small international operations. 
They often used offers of employment from friends and families or 
offers of overseas jobs from tourism or employment agencies to lure 
potential victims.
    In April the Government adopted and implemented a new 
antitrafficking law. The passage of this law, which was developed with 
input from foreign governments and international experts, made it 
easier to prosecute traffickers, increased minimum sentences for 
convicted traffickers, and clarified the Government's responsibilities 
for victim identification and assistance.
    The law prohibits trafficking in persons, including minors, for the 
purposes of sexual, labor, and other forms of exploitation. During the 
year the minimum penalty for trafficking was increased to eight years 
in prison, with maximum penalties of 20 years for aggravated 
circumstances. A memorandum of understanding between the prosecutor 
general's office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs resulted in 
greater cooperation, joint operations, and a number of arrests and 
charges under trafficking statutes. An antitrafficking unit (ATIM) 
existed within the special operations department of the ministry of 
internal affairs, which was the primary investigative authority on 
trafficking cases.
    During the year the court returned convictions in 13 cases against 
traffickers. In these cases 16 traffickers were each sentenced to an 
average prison term of 10 years.
    The investigation of a local leader of an international operation 
that trafficked women from Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan was still 
underway at year's end.
    On December 12, Marina Chikhivadze, a major trafficker with 
previous convictions, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for 
trafficking an Uzbek national to Dubai for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation. The Uzbek victim continued to receive government 
assistance while she decided whether she wants to return to Uzbekistan 
or petition for refugee status in Georgia.
    On December 13, the appellate court of Kutaisi overturned the 
sentence given to Nana Verdadze by a Batumi court for ``facilitating 
prostitution.'' The Kutaisi Appellate Court ruled that the charges 
against Verdadze included trafficking--which carries a tougher 
sentence--and extended her sentence from five years to eight years in 
prison.
    The Government cooperated with others in the region to uncover 
trafficking rings and assisted in the repatriation of trafficked 
persons discovered in transit through the country.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of government 
officials' involvement in trafficking. In July two government 
officials, David Kobakhidze and Giorgi Amilakhvari, respectively the 
former heads of the Ambrolauri and Zestponi passport agencies, were 
convicted of misuse of authority and passport fraud, allegedly in 
connection with trafficking in 2005. Kobakhidze was sentenced to two 
years' imprisonment and six years' probation. Amilakhvari was sentenced 
to two years' imprisonment and five years' probation.
    During the year the Government took demonstrable steps to improve 
and coordinate its antitrafficking efforts, including passing a new 
antitrafficking law, forming a permanent interagency antitrafficking 
council implementing a national referral and assistance mechanism to 
identify and care for trafficking victims, and developing a government 
antitrafficking fund to provide assistance to victims.
    The Permanent Interagency Antitrafficking Council replaced the 
temporary interagency council and was chaired by the prosecutor 
general. During the year the council coordinated government efforts 
against trafficking, including the adoption and implementation of the 
antitrafficking law and a national victim referral and assistance 
mechanism, the appointment of a national antitrafficking coordinator, 
the allocation of $70,000 (126,000 lari) for victim assistance, the 
training of judges and prosecutors on the new law, the establishment of 
victim hotlines, the publication of warnings about trafficking dangers 
for travelers, the placement of information about trafficking on law 
enforcement agency Web sites, funding of shelters for victims, the 
establishment of witness protection procedures, the provision of 
immunity from prosecution for victims who cooperate with authorities, 
and cooperation with the International Organization for Migration on 
victim repatriation.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibited discrimination 
against persons with disabilities, although in practice the problem was 
a low priority for the Government. Discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and in 
the provision of other state services was a problem, and societal 
discrimination against persons with disabilities existed. There is no 
law or official provision mandating access to buildings for persons 
with disabilities and very few, if any, public facilities or buildings 
were accessible.
    According to the health ministry, the country has about 10,000 
children with disabilities. A 2005 incident involving a group of 
children in wheelchairs who were refused entry to a restaurant was 
resolved outside the court system. Pursuant to the request of the 
children's guardian and in accordance with the law, the prosecutor 
general's office closed its investigation without filing charges.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government generally 
respected the rights of ethnic minorities in nonconflict areas. The law 
stipulates that Georgian is the state language; ethnic Armenians, 
Azeris, Greeks, Abkhaz, Ossetians, and Russians usually communicated in 
their native languages or in Russian in the areas where they are the 
dominant ethnic group. The Government funds foreign language schools 
throughout the country for people whose first language is not Georgian, 
but the law requires that ethnic minority students learn Georgian as a 
second language. In Tbilisi a large majority of ethnic minority groups 
communicate in Georgian in their daily affairs and often at home. The 
law requires that all government officials speak Georgian, which some 
minorities claim excludes their participation in the Government; 
however, this law was not strictly enforced. Some government materials 
distributed to the public were only available in the Georgian language. 
However, local government reform legislation brought into force through 
October's local elections significantly increased ethnic-minority 
representation in local governments. After the elections, in most local 
governments ethnic minorities held a percentage of seats commensurate 
with their percentage of the population. In Marneuli the new mayor of 
this ethnic-Azeri region was Azeri for the first time in the city's 
history.
    Ethnic Georgians living in the Gali region of Abkhazia had no legal 
access to education in the Georgian language. As a practical matter, 
however, teachers who do not speak Abkhaz instructed students in 
Georgian. Teachers who did so were often subject to harassment and 
prosecution by de facto Abkhaz authorities.
    On several occasions tensions flared in the multiethnic Tsalka 
region. In March there were reports of a violent attack upon an ethnic 
Greek family. Later in the year, a knife fight between ethnic Armenians 
and ethnic Svans broke out in which an ethnic Armenian was killed. The 
Greek and Armenian families in these cases claimed that police were 
unresponsive to the incident. Some of Tsalka's Armenians and Greeks 
complained of harassment by ethnic Svans and Ajarans resettled from 
Svaneti and Ajara, mostly manifested in robberies and fist-fights; 
while there was an ethnic dimension to the situation, it was difficult 
to ascertain whether ethnic or criminal factors were the key 
motivations behind these acts in this economically depressed and 
isolated region. Observers also noted that a lack of resources for 
adequate policing in the region contributed to the problem.
    In the ethnic-Armenian dominated region of Akhalkalaki, many ethnic 
Armenians claimed that government should allow Armenian to have 
``provincial language'' status in the region as very few locals speak 
Georgian and are unable to conduct legal affairs in Georgian. They also 
complained that the Government did not pay enough attention to economic 
and infrastructure development in the region or provide Georgian 
language instruction. Ethnic Azeris had similar complaints in the 
ethnic-Azeri dominated region of Kvemo Kartli.
    During the year the Government addressed ethnic minority region 
concerns by allocating $100 million (171.4 million lari) in foreign 
assistance to build roads and infrastructure linking Akhalkalaki and 
Tbilisi and Armenia, thereby improving opportunities to bring the 
agricultural region's goods to market, and to open special educational 
resource centers in both ethnic-minority regions to improve access to 
Georgian language instruction resources.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law expressly 
prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS status; however, 
there is no penalty for violating this prohibition. NGOs reported that 
societal stigma resulted in individuals avoiding testing or obtaining 
health care for fear of discrimination. Some health care providers, 
particularly dentists, often refused to provide services to HIV-
positive persons. Individuals often concealed their HIV-positive status 
from employers for fear of losing their jobs. The ministry of internal 
affairs conducted mandatory HIV testing on all job applicants.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all workers, including 
government employees, to form and join unions of their choice, and they 
did so in practice. However, the law restricts the right of employees 
of law enforcement agencies and of the prosecutor general's office to 
form and join unions. In addition labor unions stated that provisions 
of the new labor code, which became effective in June, limited the 
mechanisms for them to exercise their rights.
    The principal union was the Georgian Trade Union Amalgamation 
(GTUA), which consisted of 27 sector--based unions and over 229,000 
unionized workers, or 13 percent of the total workforce (1.74 million). 
There was one other union: the Free Trade Union of Teachers of Georgia 
Solidarity.
    The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union 
members, and employers may be prosecuted for antiunion discrimination 
and forced to reinstate employees and pay back wages. Despite this 
provision the GTUA and its national unions continued to report some 
cases of management warning staff not to organize trade unions. Some 
workers, including teachers, employees of various mining, pipeline, and 
port facilities, and the Tbilisi municipal government reportedly 
continued to complain of being intimidated or threatened by employers--
including public sector employers--for union organizing activity. There 
were a few cases when employers failed to transfer compulsory union 
dues, deducted from wages, to union bank accounts, but the disputes 
were resolved after discussions between the unions and employers.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference. Collective 
bargaining is recognized by law, and the law provides punitive measures 
for those who refuse to take part in negotiations. However, the 
Government did not always protect this right in practice. The practice 
of collective bargaining was not widespread. The GTUA administered 
approximately 1,600 collective bargaining agreements. Prior poor 
management and leadership, plus a general unfamiliarity with the 
collective bargaining process, limited the scope of collective 
bargaining.
    The law provides for the right to strike; however, the new labor 
code which became effective in June capped the maximum duration for a 
strike at 90 days. In general workers exercised their right to strike 
in accordance with the labor code; strikes must be sanctioned by the 
employer based on written notification provided three days in advance 
and a one-hour warning strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred in the Kodori valley area of 
Abkhazia prior to the Government regaining control of the area in July 
(see section 5). NGOs and trade unions have objected to a provision in 
the new labor code which permits compulsory labor in instances of 
emergency and natural disaster but does not require remuneration to 
persons who are conscripted. Also, the labor code provides that an 
employer may change hours of work by 90 minutes in either direction 
without renegotiating the terms of any labor contact. NGOs stated that 
this provision would effectively require employees to work overtime 
without compensation in violation of the prohibition against compulsory 
labor in the constitution.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace. With high unemployment resulting in a large pool of 
adult workers willing to work for low wages, child labor was uncommon 
in the country. The ministry of health, social service, and labor is 
responsible for enforcing laws regulating child labor. Although 
official data was not available, child labor was not considered a 
serious problem.
    According to the law, the minimum age for employment of children is 
age 16. In exceptional cases, children may work with parental consent 
at ages 14 and 15. Children under age 18 may not engage in unhealthy or 
underground work, and children aged 15 to 18 are subject to reduced 
working hours. The office of labor inspection within the ministry of 
health and social security, which was previously charged with 
identifying labor violations, receiving complaints and determining 
compliance with labor laws and regulations, was disbanded during the 
year. Inspections were subsequently performed by the labor department 
of the ministry of health and social security, which employed six labor 
inspectors nationwide.
    Some children were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section 
5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for 
public employees increased to $67.11 (115 lari) a month; however, the 
minimum wage did not provide an adequate standard of living for a 
worker and family. The official minimum subsistence level for a single 
person was $67.69 (116 lari) and for a family of four $120.22 (206 
lari). The mandated minimum wage for private sector workers was $11.68 
(20 lari) per month. The average wage in private enterprises was 
$136.56 (234 lari) monthly; state employees earned approximately $94.54 
(162 lari). Minimum monthly pensions increased from approximately $16 
(28 lari) to $22 (38 lari). Unreported trade activities, assistance 
from family and friends, and the sale of homegrown agricultural 
products often supplemented salaries. The ministry of health and social 
security is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. The GTUA had 
its own inspector to monitor compliance.
    The labor code provides for a 41-hour workweek and for a weekly 24-
hour rest period, unless otherwise provided by a labor contract.
    The Government set occupational health and safety standards. The 
ministry of health and social security is charged with monitoring 
implementation of health and safety standards and had six inspectors 
assigned to the task. The law permits higher wages for hazardous work, 
and the law provides workers with the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their 
continued employment. In practice these protections were rarely, if 
ever, enforced.

                               __________

                                GERMANY

    Germany is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 82 million. Citizens periodically choose 
their representatives in free and fair multiparty elections. The head 
of the federal government, the Chancellor, is elected by the Federal 
Parliament (Bundestag). The second legislative chamber, the Federal 
Council (Bundesrat), represents the 16 states at the federal level and 
is composed of members of the state governments. The Basic Law 
(constitution) sets forth the powers of the Chancellor and of the 
legislative branch. The most recent national elections for the Federal 
Parliament took place in September 2005. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. However, there were reported instances of mistreatment of 
prisoners and detainees by police, and there were limits on freedom of 
speech, press, assembly, and association aimed at groups deemed 
extremist. Extremists engaged in intimidation during the electoral 
process; there was governmental and societal discrimination against 
some minority religious groups; and cases of societal harassment of 
asylum seekers and other foreigners occurred. Violence against women, 
trafficking in persons, and harassment of racial minorities were 
problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them. Investigations of 
earlier instances of alleged abuse continued.
    In 2004 prosecutors indicted 18 army instructors on charges of 
degrading treatment of subordinates in Coesfeld. In December 2005 the 
Muenster Regional Court refused to begin trials involving nine of them, 
citing lack of evidence. However, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm 
reversed the Muenster Regional Court's decision and ruled in August 
that all 18 instructors must stand trial. The trials had not begun by 
year's end.
    There were a number of violent attacks by right-wing groups on 
members of minority groups, foreigners, and political opponents (see 
sections 3 and 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. However, one reported 
incident and conditions in some facilities were causes for concern.
    In February an interim report of the Committee for the Prevention 
of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe criticized conditions at 
prisons in Hamburg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, 
Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia. According to the 
report, none of the inspected prisons had adequate staffing or 
facilities. The report criticized ``dirty and seedy cells,'' 
``systematic censorship of correspondence,'' and a lack of television 
sets and books. Addressing the CPT's allegations, the speaker of the 
Hamburg Justice Ministry referred to financial constraints and stated 
that the cited conditions affected only a few detainees.
    The authorities continued to investigate the January 2005 death of 
a detained asylum seeker, Oury Jalloh, from Sierra Leone. The death 
occurred during a fire in a jail cell in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. 
The state district attorney's office charged officers on duty with 
involuntary manslaughter. Court proceedings against one police officer 
were scheduled to begin in March 2007 at the Dessau Regional Court. 
Authorities had not decided whether a second officer would have to face 
court proceedings.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces are 
organized at the state level. The Federal Criminal Investigative 
Service has responsibility for counterterrorism and international 
organized crime. It also coordinates crime suppression at the national 
and international level and investigates certain limited cases of 
international crime as mandated by the law or instructed by the public 
prosecutor. Police forces in general were well trained, well 
disciplined, and mindful of citizens' rights. The Government 
investigated abuses and prosecuted police who mistreated persons in 
custody. Allegations of corruption were rare.

    Arrest and Detention.--An individual may be arrested only on the 
basis of a warrant issued by a competent judicial authority unless the 
suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime or the police have 
strong reason to believe that the individual intends to commit a crime. 
By law most detainees are entitled to prompt access to lawyers and, if 
indigent, to lawyers provided by the state. If there is evidence that a 
suspect might flee the country, police may detain that person for up to 
24 hours pending a formal charge. An individual detained by police must 
be brought before a judge and charged by the end of the day after the 
arrest. The court then must issue an arrest warrant stating the grounds 
for detention; otherwise they must order the individual's release. 
These rights were generally respected.
    Police may detain known or suspected radicals for brief periods 
when they believe such individuals intend to participate in illegal or 
unauthorized demonstrations (see section 2.b.). The rules governing 
this type of detention differ by state, with authorized periods of 
detention ranging from one to 14 days, provided judicial concurrence is 
given within 24 hours of initial detention. There were no reports of 
such detention during the year.
    Although criminals may not be punished twice for the same crime, 
the law allows ``retroactive preventive detention'' in cases involving 
such crimes as rape, homicide, or manslaughter. This procedure permits 
courts to order that detention be continued after offenders have served 
their sentences. Such preventive detention requires a court finding, 
based on at least one expert opinion, that the convicted person could 
pose a danger to the public. The detention could last indefinitely.
    Bail exists but was employed infrequently; authorities usually 
released detainees unless there was clear danger that the detainee 
might flee the country, in which case a detainee could be held for the 
duration of the investigation and subsequent trial. Such decisions are 
subject to regular judicial review, and time spent in investigative 
custody applies toward the sentence. In cases of acquittal, the 
Government must compensate the individual for pecuniary losses as well 
as a lump sum for ``moral prejudice'' if prison time was served.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    Ordinary courts have jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters. 
There are three levels of such courts (local courts, regional courts, 
and the Federal Court of Justice), with appeals possible from lower to 
higher levels. In addition to the ordinary courts, there are four types 
of specialized courts: administrative, labor, social, and fiscal, each 
with an appellate process.
    The Federal Constitutional Court, the country's supreme court, 
reviews laws to ensure their compatibility with the constitution and 
adjudicates disputes between different branches of government on 
questions of competency. It may also hear and decide cases concerning 
the infringement of a person's basic constitutional rights by a public 
authority.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Heavy 
caseloads at times delayed court proceedings. For simple or less 
serious cases, procedures exist for an accelerated hearing and summary 
punishment at the local court level. These procedures are limited to 
cases for which the maximum sentence is not greater than one year. The 
courts generally suspended one-year sentences and placed the convicted 
individuals on probation.
    Trials are public, and juries are not used. Cases are heard either 
by one judge, a panel of professional judges, or a mixed panel of 
professional and lay judges, depending on the severity of the charges. 
Defendants are required to be present and have the right to consult 
with an attorney in a timely manner. The Government provides an 
attorney at public expense if defendants demonstrate financial need. 
Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them and present 
witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys 
have access to all court-held evidence relevant to their cases. They 
also enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal.
    Military courts include one civilian judge and two lay judges. 
Appeals of their rulings go to the civilian court system.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and 
impartial judiciary in civil matters provides access to a court to 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation. Administrative remedies are available as well as judicial 
remedies for alleged wrongs. There were no reports of problems 
enforcing domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and authorities 
generally respected these prohibitions; however, members of 
organizations monitored by the federal and state offices for the 
protection of the constitution (OPCs) charged that their privacy was 
infringed (see sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
    In criminal investigations of certain serious crimes, law 
enforcement officials may monitor telecommunications of suspects but 
only with court approval. In intelligence-related cases, such as 
suspicion of involvement in terrorism, the law permits intelligence 
services to engage in surveillance activities, such as monitoring 
telecommunications, without court approval. However, such activities 
generally have to be approved by an independent commission elected by a 
parliamentary control body.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; while the Government generally respected these 
rights, it imposed some limits aimed at groups deemed extremist.
    Distribution of the propaganda of proscribed organizations is 
illegal, as are statements inciting racial hatred, endorsing Nazism, 
and denying the Holocaust. Following an unsuccessful effort to win 
political asylum abroad, Germar Rudolf was deported to Germany, where 
he was put on trial in November, in Mannheim, for ``representing the 
Holocaust as a myth.'' Rudolf had been convicted for Holocaust denial 
in 1995 but fled the country. The trial was underway at year's end.
    Apart from these limitations, an active independent media expressed 
a wide variety of views without government restriction.

    Internet Freedom.--Access to the Internet was unrestricted in most 
respects, and most individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. However, 
there were some limitations on access and expression.
    Federal and state laws permitted OPCs to monitor the private e-
mails and chatrooms of individuals and groups under surveillance, but 
such activities were subject to oversight by an independent commission 
elected by a parliamentary control body (see section 2.f.). Access to 
such ``prohibited'' material as child pornography and Nazi propaganda 
was forbidden by law. Authorities also sought to ban the storing of 
such material on servers in the country.
    A wide spectrum of society had access to the Internet at such 
places as homes, businesses, schools, and libraries.
    Several Internet providers have sued the state of North Rhine-
Westphalia over a state ordinance requiring them to block access to 
certain Web sites determined to be promoting right-wing extremism. In 
most of these cases, various administrative courts in the state 
rejected the complaints, although one was partially successful based on 
technical factors. At year's end two of the suits were pending before 
the Aachen Administrative Court.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were few government 
restrictions on academic or cultural events; however, the use of such 
materials as Nazi propaganda, Holocaust denial, and pornography was 
prohibited.
    At the end of 2005, the Higher District Court of Lueneburg, Lower 
Saxony, issued a ban on stage appearances by a right-wing songwriter 
who planned to perform at a ``national New Year's Eve'' party. The 
event, which was organized by the right-wing extremist National Party 
of Germany (NPD) took place.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. However, prohibited 
organizations were not permitted to hold public assemblies. Permits 
must be obtained for open-air public rallies and marches, and state and 
local officials have the authority to deny such permits when public 
safety concerns arise or when prohibited organizations attempt to hold 
public assemblies. Such denials were rare.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the law permits the prohibition of organizations 
whose activities which have been judged as illegal or opposed to the 
constitutional democratic order. While the Federal Constitutional Court 
is the only body that can outlaw political parties on these grounds, 
federal or state governments may prohibit or restrict other 
organizations, which have the right to appeal. Such organizations 
include groups that authorities classified as extremist or criminal in 
nature. For example, during the year the state of Brandenburg declared 
the Federation for the Protection of Germany (Schutzbund Deutschland) 
to be a prohibited organization.
    Federal and state OPCs charged with examining possible threats to 
the constitutional democratic system monitored several hundred 
organizations. Monitoring generally consisted of collecting information 
from written materials and firsthand accounts to assess possible 
threats; however, OPCs could employ more intrusive methods, such as the 
use of undercover agents, subject to legal checks. OPCs also published 
lists of monitored organizations.
    Although the law stipulates that OPC monitoring must not interfere 
with the activities of any organization, representatives of monitored 
organizations complained that the publication of the organizations' 
names by state OPCs contributed to prejudice against them (see section 
2.c.). The Islamic Religious Community of Hesse (Islamische 
Religionsgemeinschaft Hessen--IRH), the state of Hesse's largest Muslim 
umbrella organization, protested its listing in the Hesse OPC report. 
The Hesse interior ministry claimed that such IRH activities as 
limiting female student participation and promoting Shari'a (Islamic 
law) contradicted basic constitutional principles. In May the Hesse 
interior ministry agreed not to portray the IRH as an extremist 
organization, unless there were new facts to support its inclusion in 
OPC reporting. The IRH leadership also announced that the group would 
relax its position against the participation of female Muslim students 
in school excursions.
    In May the Munich Administrative Court ordered the state of Bavaria 
to cease publishing certain allegations in the OPC's report about the 
Islamic Community Milli Goerues (MG), considered by the Bavarian 
government to be a Turkish Islamic extremist group. Since 2001 the OPC 
report quoted alleged statements by several MG members that it 
considered anticonstitutional and inflammatory. The court ruled that 
the authenticity of these statements could not be established and asked 
the OPC not to republish them.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government respected this right in practice; however, 
discrimination against certain religious minorities remained a problem. 
Government policy continued to contribute generally to the free 
practice of religion.
    Religious organizations are not required to register, but must do 
so in order to qualify as nonprofit associations with tax-exempt 
status. The state confers certain other advantages upon religious 
communities that also obtain the status of ``corporation under public 
law,'' including the right to levy taxes on their members that the 
Government collects on their behalf. In July, after a 10-year legal 
effort by the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, the State of Berlin 
granted the organization public corporation status. Few Muslim 
organizations have applied for public law corporation status, and so 
far no state has granted corporation status to any Muslim organization, 
in part because none has met the Government's criteria; in some cases 
intra-Muslim disputes prevented organizations from establishing their 
right to represent their community.
    The Government did not recognize several belief systems, including 
Scientology, as religions; however, the absence of recognition did not 
prevent their adherents from engaging in public and private religious 
activities.
    Federal and some state authorities continued to classify 
Scientology as a potential threat to democratic order, a view that led 
to employment and commercial discrimination against Scientologists in 
both the public and private sectors. Administrative action and court 
rulings, including in Leipzig and Hamburg in late 2005 and during the 
year, reduced or eliminated some governmental impediments to 
Scientology. For example, unemployment offices were no longer required 
to inform job seekers if prospective employers were Scientologists, or 
whether they employed Scientologists.
    During the year several public and private organizations issued 
public warnings about Scientology after-school study programs.
    In October the Federal Constitutional Court, in response to an 
appeal by the Unification Church, overturned an earlier decision of a 
court in Rheinland-Pfalz to ban the Sun Myung Moon and his wife from 
entering the country. Reverend Moon and his wife were originally banned 
from entry in 1995. In a narrow decision, the Constitutional Court 
rejected the lower court's reasoning for upholding the ban on the 
grounds that it was a violation of religious freedom and ordered the 
case returned to the lower court for reexamination.
    Since the 1990s four major political parties--the Christian 
Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union, the Social 
Democratic Party (SPD), and the Free Democratic Party)--have prohibited 
Scientologists from becoming members. Scientologists have 
unsuccessfully challenged these prohibitions.
    Several states have laws that prohibit teachers from wearing 
headscarves in public schools. These laws have led to dismissals and 
adverse decisions on the hiring of teachers. Some courts have upheld 
challenges to these laws.
    In February Gilek Yilmaz became a teacher trainee at a school in 
Schleswig-Holstein. The state Ministry for Education advised her that 
she would be required to remove her headscarf when a school law 
prohibiting the wearing of headscarves takes effect in 2007.
    In July the administrative court of Stuttgart, reviewing the case 
of a teacher who had been suspended for wearing a headscarf, ruled that 
the law of state of Baden-Wuerttemberg prohibiting such attire was 
discriminatory. While the court agreed with the state that the 
headscarf violated religious neutrality, it concluded that the state 
could not prohibit headscarves while allowing Catholic nuns to wear 
religious dress. The teacher, Doris Graber, had been suspended from 
teaching in 2004. The state indicated that it would appeal the verdict.
    In April 2005 the Bremen education ministry denied the application 
of a trainee teacher after she refused to sign a commitment to abstain 
from wearing a headscarf in class. The Bremen Higher Administrative 
Court ruled that the state could refuse the application because her 
headscarf would ``seriously jeopardize school peace.'' However, in June 
the applicant obtained a verdict from the Bremen administrative court 
calling on the Bremen education ministry to prove that her teaching 
with a headscarf would concretely, rather than just abstractly, 
jeopardize school peace.
    Most public schools offer Protestant and Catholic religious 
instruction, as well as instruction in Judaism if enough students 
express interest. Students may opt out of religious instruction upon 
simple application to school authorities. Depending upon the state, 
students may be required to attend a nonreligious ethics course or they 
may be permitted to choose between such a course and a free period.
    Islamic education is offered in some states, but the overall 
practice is complicated by differences between Islamic groups.
    The legal obligation that children attend a school, confirmed by 
the Constitutional Court in May and the European Court of Justice in 
October, and the related bar on home schooling, was a problem for some 
groups. Generally, state authorities have permitted such groups to 
establish charter-type schools.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of 
continuing societal discrimination and hostility toward some minority 
religious groups; however, the Government took measures to address the 
problem. On August 18, a comprehensive federal antidiscrimination law 
took effect. This law prohibits discrimination on the basis of 
ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, sex, disability, and sexual 
orientation.
    The federal government also promoted tolerance by establishing 
dialogues with representatives of immigrant and Muslim groups at the 
Chancellor and interior minister levels on the integration of 
minorities and immigrants and on Islamic issues.
    Police conducted antiterrorism raids on mosques and Islamic centers 
in several states. The Muslim community criticized these raids as 
infringing on their freedom of religion. Authorities stated that some 
raids were conducted to prevent terrorist attacks during the Soccer 
World Cup competition. In June law enforcement officials in Baden-
Wuerttemberg conducted large-scale raids in areas allegedly frequented 
by Muslim extremists. The state's OPC continued to monitor what it 
termed the growing ranks of ``homegrown'' radical Muslim elements in 
the state.
    Beginning in January authorities in Baden-Wuerttemberg required 
residents seeking naturalization to complete a questionnaire concerning 
their political and moral beliefs and their adherence to the 
constitution. The questionnaire led to protests from the political 
opposition and from independents such as Paul Spiegel, then-chairman of 
the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Muslim organizations in Baden-
Wurttemberg announced plans to take the issue to the Federal 
Constitutional Court. Critics viewed the questionnaire, which included 
questions on attitudes toward women's and gay rights, terrorism, and 
other social issues, as discriminating against Muslim immigrants.
    Some observers believed that societal discrimination against some 
ethnic groups, particularly the Turks, was one of the major factors 
limiting their economic progress. While there were no statistics 
specifically documenting discrimination, an April 2005 study by the 
Center for Turkish Studies claimed that one-third of an estimated three 
million Turks in the country lived below the poverty level; a further 
third lived just above the poverty level. Only 5 percent of Turkish-
origin students attend a gymnasium, a top-tier secondary school 
necessary to enter university (see section 5). Fewer than 10 percent of 
18- to 25-year-olds of Turkish descent were enrolled in higher 
education. Information released in August suggested that unemployment 
continued to afflict Turkish immigrants more than the general 
population, with unemployment among Turkish immigrants at 33 percent 
compared to 10.5 percent countrywide.
    There were a number of anti-Semitic incidents during the year. 
According to official, but preliminary, data provided to parliament, 
there were reports of 463 anti-Semitic crimes in the first six months. 
Of these, seven were violent crimes, 91 involved anti-Semitic 
propaganda, and four persons were injured. The remainder included 
desecrations of Jewish sites such as cemeteries, memorials, and 
synagogues. For example, in January vandals smeared gravestones in a 
Jewish cemetery in Brandenburg with swastikas, and vandals also 
desecrated the Jewish memorials of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in Berlin. 
In April unknown perpetrators smeared swastikas on 28 graves at the 
Jewish cemetery in Bebra, Hesse, and desecrated tombstones in Worms, at 
Heiligen Sand, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Also in 
April the site of the Jewish community of Cottbus was smeared with 
anti-Semitic slogans. In June Jewish memorials to Heinrich Stahl, 
former chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin were desecrated, as 
was a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in July in Berlin-Mitte. 
Synagogues were defaced in March in Berlin and in April in Goerlitz. 
During the year authorities conducted 257 investigations of such 
incidents and made 29 arrests.
    In June six youths burned The Diary of Anne Frank at a summer 
festival in Pretzien, a small town in the eastern part of the country. 
On September 26, the players of the Jewish club TuS Makkabi stopped a 
soccer game in Berlin as a result of taunts and the singing of anti-
Semitic songs by spectators.
    There were no developments in the 2004 case of Jewish cemetery 
desecrations in Neunkirchen or the 2005 cases in Hesse and Rheinland-
Pfalz.
    The activities of right-wing extremist organizations, whose 
platforms include anti-Semitism among other forms of intolerance, 
increased significantly (see section 5). The Jewish community reported 
a marked increase in anti-Semitic acts and an extremely difficult 
atmosphere for the country's Jews, especially during the July-August 
conflict involving Israel and the terrorist organization Hizballah in 
Lebanon.
    The Government monitored right-wing extremists, conducted 
investigations into anti-Semitic crimes, and at times banned extremist 
groups deemed a threat to public order.
    Statements inciting racial hatred, endorsing Nazism, and denying 
the Holocaust are illegal. Following an unsuccessful effort to win 
political asylum abroad, Germar Rudolf was deported to the country from 
abroad and put on trial in November, in Mannheim, ``for representing 
the Holocaust as a myth.'' (See section 2.a.)
    Authorities sought to address right-wing extremism by conducting a 
variety of education programs to promote tolerance, many focusing on 
anti-Semitism (see section 5).
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    In January the interior minister of Brandenburg revoked the 
passport of neo-Nazi Horst Mahler for six months to prevent him from 
attending a conference in Iran of persons who deny the Holocaust.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    Authorities processed 30,759 asylum applications during the year. 
They granted 251 (0.8 percent), and rejected 18,384 (59.8 percent); the 
remainder were resolved but, information about the manner of their 
resolution was not available. Approximately 1,700 applicants were 
granted temporary suspension of expulsion on humanitarian grounds. All 
cases in which asylum was granted must be reviewed after three years in 
order to determine whether the grounds for asylum still apply.
    There have been instances of refoulement. For example, authorities 
deported asylum applicant Alassane Mousbaou, a dissident from Togo, 
from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Togo on January 31. According to his 
lawyer, Togolese authorities threatened Mousbaou immediately following 
his arrival because of his dissident activities in Germany. Since then 
Mousbaou was reported to be in hiding, awaiting the conclusion of legal 
proceedings related to his asylum application. In response to criticism 
over this case, on April 11 the state government adopted a six-month 
moratorium on further deportations to Togo.
    The federal government, in coordination with the UN Interim Mission 
in Kosovo, continued repatriation of the estimated 51,000 technically 
deportable Kosovar refugees remaining in the country. Through September 
approximately 400 Kosovars voluntarily repatriated and 1,000 had been 
involuntarily repatriated. Some human rights observers asserted that 
Roma from Kosovo were particularly liable to be deported; however, the 
federal Ministry of the Interior stated that Roma and Serbs were 
excluded from forced repatriation except in a few cases involving 
criminals.
    The Government voluntarily repatriated 198 Afghan refugees during 
the year. Between January 1 and September 30, 140 refugees were 
involuntarily returned to Afghanistan as criminals, deportees, and 
persons posing a threat to domestic security.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees.
    According to the Basic Law, individuals who attempted to enter the 
country via a ``safe country of transit''--a member state of the 
European Union (EU) or a country adhering to the Geneva Convention on 
Refugees--were ineligible for asylum and could be turned back at the 
border or, if they had entered the country, returned to that ``safe 
country of transit.''
    Individuals whose applications for asylum were rejected had up to 
two weeks to appeal the decision. Individuals who arrived at an 
international airport and who were found to have come from a ``safe 
country of origin'' could be detained at an airport holding facility. 
In these cases the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign 
Refugees was required either to make a decision on an asylum 
application within 48 hours or allow the person to enter the country. 
An applicant could appeal a negative decision to an administrative 
court within three days, and the court was required to rule within 14 
days or allow the individual to enter the country. Local 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued to criticize these 
periods of time as insufficient to allow applicants to prepare for 
hearings. Although stays in an airport facility were not supposed to 
exceed 19 days, applicants whose claims were rejected, but who could 
not be deported immediately, were allegedly held at the airport for 
months, a practice that refugee assistance groups and human rights 
advocates continued to criticize.
    To deal with particularly difficult cases, all of the states agreed 
to form ``commissions on hardship cases,'' composed of representatives 
from churches, charity organizations, and municipal organizations, that 
could grant rejected asylum seekers permission to remain in the country 
on an individual basis.
    Societal discrimination against, and abuse of, refugees and asylum 
seekers occurred. During the year right-wing extremist groups 
reportedly attacked shelters for asylum seekers in Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern (Nordvorpommern), Berlin, and Brandenburg (Cottbus and 
Neuruppin).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The Basic Law provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national 
elections took place for the Federal Parliament in September 2005.
    During campaigning that preceded the Berlin state elections in 
September, there were incidents of right-wing extremist intimidation. 
Extremists forcibly disrupted campaign events of political parties and 
vandalized campaign posters. For example, on September 8, two neo-Nazis 
attacked two campaign workers of the SPD, resulting in the 
hospitalization of one of them with serious head injuries. On August 
30, approximately 20 neo-Nazis disrupted an SPD campaign event. At an 
event held by the Party of Democratic Socialism in late August, 10 to 
15 right-wing extremists intimidated participants by wielding bottles 
and throwing firecrackers. Also in late August, right-wing extremists 
toppled tables at a campaign event of a CDU member of parliament.
    On August 11, during the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election 
campaign, right-wing extremists besieged and threatened SPD state 
parliament member Margret Seemann at her campaign stand in Hagenow.
    In May Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliamentarian Stefan Koester 
(NPD) was found guilty of having beaten a counter-demonstrator at a 
December 2004 NPD campaign event in Itzehoe (Schleswig-Holstein.)
    The Federal Constitutional Court is empowered to prohibit political 
parties that actively work to undermine the constitutional democratic 
order (see section 2.b.). No parties were prohibited during the year.
    The chancellor was a woman, and there were 194 women in the 614-
seat Federal Parliament. There were five women, in addition to the 
chancellor, in the 15-member cabinet; three of the 16 judges of the 
Federal Constitutional Court were women.
    There were at least eight members of ethnic minorities in the 
Federal Parliament and one on the Federal Constitutional Court but none 
in the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption.
    A federal freedom of information law that took effect on January 1 
provides for public access to government information. During the year 
2,278 requests for information were filed; authorities complied fully 
or partially with 1,379. They refused 410 based on restrictions defined 
in the law, such as protection of public interests or the rights of 
third parties. Appeals were filed by 142 applicants; 62 of these were 
rejected. Four states (Berlin, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and 
North Rhine-Westphalia) also have freedom of information laws that 
provide for an appeals process. In those states authorities in most 
cases cited business confidentiality as the basis for most of their 
denials of access to information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of international and domestic human rights groups 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were very 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits the denial of access to housing, health care, or 
education on the basis of race, gender, disability, language, or social 
status, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in 
practice. Nonetheless, violence against women and children, trafficking 
in persons, and harassment of racial minorities and foreigners were 
problems.
    On August 18, the Government complied with a 2000 EU directive by 
enacting an antidiscrimination law prohibiting discrimination on the 
basis of ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, sex, handicap, or 
sexual orientation.

    Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, including spousal 
abuse; perpetrators may be temporarily denied access to the household, 
put under a restraining order, or in severe cases prosecuted for 
assault or rape and required to pay damages. The Government enforced 
the law; nevertheless, violence against women was believed to be 
widespread. Organizations that aid victims estimated that one in four 
to five women has been the victim of physical or sexual violence.
    The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and provides 
penalties of up to 15 years in prison. The Government effectively 
enforced the law. According to national police criminal statistics, in 
2005 there were 8,133 cases of rape or serious sexual coercion. The 
federal government supported numerous projects in conjunction with the 
states and NGOs to deal with violence against women, both to prevent 
violence and to give victims greater access to medical care and legal 
recourse.
    Forced marriages are illegal and invalid, and the act of coercing 
another person into a marriage through force or threat of force or 
other negative consequences is punishable with up to three years' 
imprisonment. While there were no conclusive statistics regarding the 
actual number of forced marriages in the country, evidence indicated 
that the problem was common in the Muslim community. Women's rights 
activists asserted that one-half of the young Turkish women living in 
the country were in forced or arranged marriages, a situation that 
often led to violence. Such marriages affected not only young women 
living in the country for whom the family brought a husband from 
abroad, but also young women who were sent to their native countries 
against their will to be married.
    According to a Baden-Wuerttemberg commission, from January to 
October 2005, 215 persons in the state (of whom 213 were women) sought 
assistance for problems related to the prospect of a forced marriage 
(110 persons) or to a recent forced marriage (105 persons). Of those 
whose religious affiliation was known, 95 percent were Muslims, almost 
40 percent were Turkish citizens, and 40 percent were minors. In 46 
cases the forced marriage resulted in offspring. Saarland reported 13 
cases of forced marriage in 2005.
    While there was not complete agreement on the definition of the 
term ``honor killing,'' the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation 
(BKA) characterized five killings in 2005 as honor killings. In April a 
court found the brother of Hatan Surucu guilty of her murder in 
February 2005. He had disapproved of her Western lifestyle.
    In June 2005 a 22-year-old Turkish woman was shot and killed in 
Wiesbaden-Dotzheim. The victim's older brother confessed to the crime; 
police stated that he committed the ``honor killing'' because the woman 
had a German boyfriend. He was sentenced to a life term by the 
Wiesbaden Regional Court in September.
    Prostitution is legal and fairly widespread, although communities 
have the authority to exclude it from specified areas, such as 
residential neighborhoods.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    In September prominent lawyer Seyran Ates temporarily gave up her 
work as an attorney for women's rights because of numerous serious 
threats against her life, mainly from the husbands of the women she 
defended. Ates defended numerous Muslim women in court and spoke out 
against honor killings, forced marriage, and spousal violence.
    Sexual harassment of women was a recognized problem. The law 
prohibits sexual harassment and requires employers to protect employees 
from sexual harassment. Various disciplinary measures against offenders 
are possible, including dismissal. An employer's failure to take 
appropriate measures to protect employees from this abuse is considered 
a breach of contract and an affected employee has the right to paid 
leave until the situation is rectified. There were press reports of 
sexual harassment in the workplace and in public facilities. Unions, 
churches, government agencies, and NGOs operated a variety of support 
programs for women who experienced sexual harassment and sponsored 
seminars and training to prevent it.
    The law provides women the same rights as men. The Federal Ministry 
for Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth was the primary federal agency 
maintaining oversight of women's rights issues. The law provides for 
equal pay for equal work, but women earned on average 30 percent less 
than men. A study conducted during the year found that in private 
companies, women, who constituted 46 percent of the workforce, held 
only 24 percent of senior management positions.
    Women generally were not discriminated against in terms of 
compensation for equivalent work, although they were underrepresented 
in well-paid managerial positions and overrepresented in some lower-
wage occupations; their average monthly incomes were lower than those 
of men.

    Children.--The Government maintained its strong commitment to 
children's rights and welfare. Public education is provided free of 
charge through the university level, and education is compulsory 
through the age of 16; almost all children attended school.
    The Government funded medical care for children, and boys and girls 
had equal access to medical care.
    Child abuse was a problem that received widespread media attention. 
In 2005, 13,962 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported as well 
as 199 cases of serious sexual abuse of children for the purpose of 
producing and publishing pornographic material. The law provides for 
the protection of children against pornography and sexual abuse. The 
maximum sentence is one year's imprisonment for possession of child 
pornography and five years in prison for distribution. The law makes 
the sexual abuse of children by citizens abroad punishable even if the 
action is not illegal in the child's own country. The Government 
effectively enforced these laws.
    Forced marriage of young girls in various immigrant communities 
gained increasing public attention. This phenomenon affected both young 
adult women and minor girls (see section 5, Women).
    Although there were no reports of abuse of street children, 
authorities believed that the life of these children often involved 
violence and abuse. Often these children were fleeing violent and 
abusive homes. Street children frequently turned to prostitution for 
income.
    Approximately 8 percent of reported trafficking victims were under 
the age of 18 (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The Government provided extensive funding for programs to combat 
the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography, 
trafficking of children, and child sex tourism.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
but there were reports that men, women, and children were trafficked 
to, through, and within the country for the purposes of sexual and 
labor exploitation. Victims of sex trafficking came primarily from 
Central and Eastern Europe, although some were from Africa and Asia.
    In its most recent report, covering 2005, the Government recorded 
642 trafficking victims compared to 972 in 2004. Of these 115 were 
German nationals (17.9 percent) and 13 of the 115 were male. Most 
victims were between the ages of 18 and 24 (544). Of the victims, 79 (8 
percent) were under 18 years of age, including 26 citizens.
    The BKA registered 683 suspected traffickers in 2005, the latest 
year for which statistics were available. Citizens made up the largest 
share of suspected traffickers (283, or 41 percent).
    The law criminalizes trafficking in persons and provides penalties 
of up to 10 years in prison. Trafficking crimes are prosecuted at the 
state level.
    According to the Ministry of Justice, courts convicted 137 adults 
of trafficking charges in 2004, compared to 145 in 2003. The statistics 
did not include convictions of alleged traffickers on nontrafficking 
charges or convictions of traffickers on multiple charges where another 
charge carried a higher maximum penalty than the maximum penalty for 
trafficking. Of the 137 convicted traffickers in 2004, 93 received 
prison sentences of two years or less; 27 were sentenced to two to 
three years; 11 were sentenced to three to five years; and three were 
sentenced to five to 10 years. In keeping with standard practice for 
sentences of two years or less, 87 sentences were suspended. Those 
receiving suspended sentences were generally convicted of playing an 
auxiliary role in trafficking operations and were subsequently required 
to perform community service, pay penalties, and, in many cases, meet 
regularly with a parole officer.
    The countertrafficking office of the BKA cooperated with Europol 
and Interpol law enforcement authorities. Federal ministries 
coordinated countertrafficking efforts on the international, national, 
and state levels.
    Police were required to notify a counseling center of trafficking 
victims and to inform the victims of their rights and options for 
seeking assistance. The centers provided shelter, counseling, 
interpreting services, and legal assistance.
    In nine of the 16 states, there were cooperation agreements between 
police, state welfare agencies, and NGOs to strengthen the delivery of 
welfare services to victims. The federal and state governments worked 
with NGOs and local women's shelters to identify and assist victims, 
funding more than 30 NGO counseling centers for victims of trafficking.
    The Government paid the basic cost of repatriating trafficking 
victims under the Reintegration and Emigration Program for Asylum 
Seekers in Germany (REAG). The International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) administered REAG and facilitated assistance to returning 
victims.
    The Government sought to educate potential trafficking victims 
before they entered the country. Embassies and consulates as well as 
NGOs distributed brochures that provided information on residency and 
work permit requirements as well as warnings about trafficking.
    Federal and state government agencies took additional steps to 
prevent trafficking during the World Cup soccer championship by 
improving screening of possible victims and police safeguards, 
sponsoring seminars, expanding print and video outreach, and 
strengthening interagency coordination. NGOs used government funds to 
conduct public awareness campaigns and establish telephone hot lines 
for victims. According to government officials and the IOM, there was 
no increase in the number of trafficking victims during the World Cup. 
An IOM report attributed this result to enhanced border controls, 
police surveillance, international cooperation, and extensive public 
outreach efforts.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state 
services, and the Government effectively enforced these provisions.
    Government guidelines were in place for barrier-free public 
buildings and for modifications of streets and pedestrian traffic walks 
to accommodate persons with disabilities. All 16 states have 
incorporated the federal guidelines into their building codes. Almost 
all federal buildings (98 percent) complied with the guidelines for a 
barrier-free environment.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Harassment, including beatings, 
of foreigners and racial minorities remained a problem throughout the 
country.
    On April 16, two persons allegedly beat and kicked into a coma a 
man of Ethiopian origin at a trolley stop in Potsdam. They shouted 
racial epithets at the victim. The Brandenburg public prosecutor took 
over the investigation and indicted the two alleged assailants on 
August 22 for very serious injury, defamation, and failure to lend 
assistance. Court proceedings were scheduled to begin in February 2007.
    In the first eight months of the year, according to data from the 
Federal Criminal Office (BKA), illegal offenses by right-wing 
extremists increased 21 percent over the same period in 2005. In 2005 
the federal OPC recorded 15,361 right-wing ``politically motivated 
crimes'' (PMCs), the highest level since 2000. The BKA defines 
``politically motivated crimes'' as offenses related to the victims' 
ideology, nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, religion, 
worldview, ancestry, sexual orientation, disability status, appearance, 
or social status. The figures for 2005 included 2,305 left-wing PMCs, 
644 PMCs by foreigners, and 191 other types of PMCs. The OPC report 
listed 168 right-wing extremist organizations and groups. Authorities 
estimated membership in these groups plus right-wing extremists who 
remain unorganized to be approximately 39,000 at the end of 2005.
    In order to address right-wing extremism, authorities conducted a 
variety of educational programs to promote tolerance, many focusing on 
anti-Semitism and xenophobia. In October the federal government added 
approximately $6,550,000 (5 million euros) to the approximately 
$27,500,000 (21 million euros) previously allocated to such programs. 
Government agencies cooperated with NGOs in the formulation and 
administration of these programs.
    In March unknown persons vandalized four immigrant-owned stores in 
Rheinsberg, Brandenburg. In the same month in Cottbus, Brandenberg, two 
unknown persons physically attacked and shouted racial epithets at two 
asylum seekers, from Chad and Cameroon.
    Resident foreigners and minority groups continued to voice credible 
concerns about societal and job-related discrimination (see section 
6.c.).
    The Government monitored right-wing extremists, conducted 
investigations into hate crimes, and at times banned extremist groups 
deemed a threat to public order (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Despite increasing 
public awareness, media and reports from other sources indicated that 
societal and job-related discrimination against homosexuals occurred. 
However, openly homosexual persons occupied prominent positions in many 
areas of society, including politics, business, and the arts.
    There was discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, primarily 
due to lack of understanding of the disease. The Government worked with 
NGOs, religious groups, and business to educate the public about HIV/
AIDS and its prevention.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The Basic Law provides for the right 
of employees to form and join unions of their choice without excessive 
requirements or previous authorization, and workers exercised this 
right. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce was organized into 
unions. The overwhelming majority of organized workers belonged to 
eight unions largely grouped by industry or service sector and 
affiliated with the German Trade Union Federation, the country's main 
trade union umbrella organization.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law protects 
the right to collective bargaining, which was freely practiced. 
Collective bargaining agreements covered approximately 65 percent of 
the labor force. The law provides for the right to strike, except for 
civil servants (including teachers) and personnel in sensitive or 
essential positions, such as members of the armed forces. Collective 
bargaining agreements reached for those public service workers who had 
this right were usually extended by legislation to those who did not, 
although such extensions did not always include all of the provisions 
of those agreements. Workers not allowed to strike also had legal 
recourse through the courts to protect their rights. Workers conducted 
legal strikes during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the employment of 
children under the age of 15, with a few exceptions: Those 13 or 14 
years of age may do farm work for up to three hours per day or may 
deliver newspapers for up to two hours per day; and those three to 14 
years of age may take part in cultural performances, albeit under 
stringent curbs on the kinds of activity, number of hours, and times of 
day. Abusive child labor was not a serious problem, although violations 
did occur, mainly in small, often family-owned, businesses such as 
pubs, restaurants, and grocery stores.
    Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5).
    The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs effectively 
enforced the law through its Factory Inspection Bureau.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legislated or 
administratively determined minimum wage. Collective bargaining 
agreements set minimum pay rates and were enforceable by law for an 
estimated 80 percent of all wage and salary earners. The wages 
established by these processes provided a decent standard of living for 
a worker and family.
    Federal regulations limited the workweek to a maximum of 48 hours, 
but collective bargaining agreements may stipulate even lower maximums. 
Contracts that directly or indirectly affected 80 percent of the 
working population regulate the number of hours of work per week. The 
average workweek was 39.9 hours nationwide (data for 2004 from the 
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development); rest periods 
for lunch were accepted practices. Provisions for overtime, holiday, 
and weekend pay varied depending upon the applicable collective 
bargaining agreement.
    An extensive set of laws and regulations govern occupational safety 
and health. A comprehensive system of worker insurance carriers 
enforced safety requirements in the workplace. The Ministry of Labor 
and Social Affairs and its counterparts in the states effectively 
enforced occupational safety and health standards through a network of 
government bodies, including the Federal Institute for Work Safety. At 
the local level, professional and trade associations--self-governing 
public corporations with delegates representing both employers and 
unions--oversee worker safety. The law provides for the right to refuse 
to perform dangerous or unhealthy work without jeopardy to continued 
employment.
    Foreign workers in the country were protected by law and generally 
worked in conditions equal to those of citizens; however, such workers 
faced some wage discrimination. For example, foreign teachers in some 
schools were paid less than their citizen counterparts. Seasonal 
workers from Eastern Europe who came to the country on temporary work 
permits also often received wages below those of citizens. Workers from 
other EU countries at times were employed at the same wages they would 
receive in their home country, even if the corresponding citizen worker 
would receive a higher wage.

                               __________

                                 GREECE

    Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty parliamentary 
democracy, with an estimated population of 11 million. In March 2004 
the New Democracy Party won the majority of seats in the unicameral 
Vouli (parliament) in free and fair elections, and Konstantinos 
Karamanlis became the Prime Minister. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. The following 
human rights abuses were reported: abuse by security forces, 
particularly of illegal immigrants and Roma; overcrowding and harsh 
conditions in some prisons; detention of undocumented migrants in 
squalid conditions; limits on the ability of ethnic minorities to self-
identify; restrictions on freedom of speech; restrictions and 
administrative obstacles faced by members of non-Orthodox religions; 
detention and deportation of unaccompanied or separated immigrant 
minors, including asylum seekers; domestic violence against women; 
trafficking in persons; discrimination against ethnic minorities and 
Roma; substandard living conditions for Roma; inadequate access to 
schools for Romani children; and child exploitation in nontraditional 
labor.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically 
motivated killings; however, in September there were reports that coast 
guard authorities threw detained illegal migrants overboard and six of 
them drowned. After an investigation, authorities denied the reports.
    By year's end authorities had taken no action in the 2004 killing 
of an Albanian immigrant beaten to death by a person whom witnesses 
identified as a policeman.
    In March police officer George Dimitrakakis, charged with the 2003 
murder of a person who failed to stop at a routine automobile 
checkpoint in Crete, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two police 
guards also associated with this case were acquitted of murder charges 
but received two-year sentences with a three-year suspension for 
violating the law pertaining to law enforcement officers' use of arms.
    In June a border policeman identified in the Greek press as Pavlos 
Papageorgiadis was convicted of a felony--reckless homicide--in the 
September 2003 shooting and killing of an Albanian trying to cross 
illegally into the country. He received a suspended prison sentence of 
two years and three months.
    During the year two migrants were killed in minefields along the 
border with Turkey. Sixty-eight persons have died over the previous 15 
years in the Evros minefields.
    The appeals process remained ongoing for 15 members of the 17 
November terrorist organization, who were found guilty and sentenced in 
2003 for more than 2,500 crimes, including homicide.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other inhuman or degrading 
treatment or punishment; however, security forces abused a few persons, 
particularly immigrants and Roma (see section 5).
    International organizations and human rights nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) repeatedly alleged that illegal immigrants and 
refugees were subjected to violence by border guards and coast guard 
officers when caught entering the country illegally (see section 1.a.). 
Violence also occurred as coast guard officials tried to prevent 
illegal immigrants from leaving the country en route to other European 
Union (EU) countries.
    The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture 
(CPT) reported in December that the rights of persons in police 
detention centers were not respected in practice and that there 
continued to be widespread use of violence against persons deprived of 
their liberty. The CPT delegation doctors found that persons who had 
alleged ill-treatment during interrogation or while in border guard 
stations were found to have injuries consistent with their allegations.
    NGOs expressed continuing concern over the mistreatment of 
individuals during arrest and detention and for the failure of judicial 
and administrative systems to deal promptly and effectively with cases 
of police misconduct (see section 1.d.).
    By year's end no results had been released concerning the 
investigation of a case of two civilians who alleged in 2004 that 
police beat them in Pyrgos, Peloponnese, during a routine identity 
check. Similarly, no results had been announced regarding allegations 
that three armed forces officers abused and beat 10 illegal immigrants 
on an islet in the Aegean Sea in 2004.
    By year's end no date had been set for the trial of two police 
officers charged with subjecting a group of Afghan asylum seekers in 
2004 to interrogation techniques that allegedly included torture.
    In a letter to the Ministry of Public Order made public in January 
2005, the deputy ombudsman for human rights noted numerous procedural 
and substantive shortcomings in the investigation concerning the 
alleged police torture in 2002 of Nigerian citizen Joseph Okeke and the 
alleged 2002 beating and torture of Yannis Papacostas in a police 
station near Athens. The deputy ombudsman called for police to re-
evaluate their report on Okeke on the basis that the procedure suffered 
from gross errors concerning the evaluation and appraisal of the 
available evidence. At year's end an application based on this case was 
pending with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) alleging 
violation of the article in the European Convention on Human Rights 
that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or 
punishment.
    In December 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay a fine of 
$13,100 (10,000 euros) to each of two Romani men for inhuman and 
degrading treatment by police in Mesolonghi in 1998; the Government 
paid the fine during the year.
    In December 2004 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay a fine of 
$19,650 (15,000 euros) for failing to carry out an effective 
investigation of a 1995 shooting incident in which police officers 
seriously injured an unarmed person; the Government reportedly paid the 
fine during the year.
    Police were more likely to abuse Roma than other minority groups. 
Immigrants, including Albanians, also accused police of abuse (see 
section 5).
    Police beat a protester during the year (see section 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh due to continued overcrowding and outdated facilities; however, 
in December the Government appointed a former prosecutor as an 
Inspector for Prisons and opened one new prison facility. As of 
September the Ministry of Justice reported that the total prison 
population was 10,114, while the official capacity of the prison system 
was 6,019.
    Many pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners in the 
high security Korydallos Prison in central Piraeus. In March three 
inmates (two Romanians and one Greek) were burned to death and another 
was seriously injured after setting a fire in their cell at Korydallos. 
In April inmates in the old section of the Trikala prison, where 350 
inmates were housed in a building intended for 125, organized a riot to 
protest the prison's overcrowding. Since the riot, a new wing has 
opened at the Trikala prison and the old wing was renovated. Trikala's 
overall capacity was increased to 400 in the enlarged facility and 
there were approximately that number incarcerated there at year's end. 
In August a facility in Chania, Crete, designed for 10 inmates was 
holding 130, and another in Thessaloniki, built for 80 inmates, was 
holding 181. The Thessaloniki Bar Association reported that inmates in 
local police detention facilities did not have access to a yard or 
basic sanitary items, and they were poorly nourished.
    In an August-September 2005 visit, the CPT examined the treatment 
of persons detained by law enforcement authorities, focusing in 
particular on detention facilities for illegal immigrants in the 
eastern Aegean and Thrace. The delegation visited prisons, police 
detention centers, police stations, holding facilities for illegal 
immigrants, and psychiatric hospitals. The CPT released its report in 
December which found that most detention centers for illegal immigrants 
it visited were in a poor state of repair, unhygienic, and lacking in 
basic amenities. The CPT noted that prisons remained largely 
overcrowded and that inter-prison violence appeared to be on the rise. 
The CPT reported that conditions of detention in police establishments 
generally were unsatisfactory, and in certain cases amounted to inhuman 
or degrading treatment. The CPT found that facilities designed for 
holding suspects for short periods were used for holding persons for 
prolonged periods.
    The CPT recommended measures to stamp out ill-treatment by law 
enforcement officials that included investigating allegations of ill-
treatment thoroughly and, where appropriate, imposing disciplinary and 
criminal sanctions. The committee also recommended the establishment of 
an independent police inspectorate and rigorous recruitment and 
training programs for the police.
    The CPT also found that detention establishments of the Coast Guard 
on the islands of Chios and Mytilini were unacceptable, because metal 
containers lacking functioning hygienic facilities and natural light 
and ventilation were used to hold irregular immigrants. The CPT 
recommended that containers should never be used to hold persons for 
more than a few hours and should always be equipped with suitable 
facilities and ventilation.
    In November-December 2005, the Council of Europe Commissioner for 
Human Rights examined the treatment of persons detained by law 
enforcement authorities, focusing on detention facilities for illegal 
immigrants in Attica. The delegation visited police detention centers, 
holding facilities for illegal immigrants, and Romani camps. The 
commissioner noted that overcrowding in prisons had increased. The 
deputy ombudsman for human rights described conditions in the detention 
centers as ``an insult to human dignity.'' During a separate mission, 
in December 2005, the commissioner noted that the situation had not 
improved. Although the Attica police station was no longer used as a 
holding center due to its poor conditions, the replacement, a newly 
constructed facility at Petrou-Ralli designed as a short-term detention 
and transit facility, was only marginally better. The Council of Europe 
commissioner and the CPT found that the new facility, used to detain 
foreigners awaiting deportation, was unsuitable for stays over two 
days. In practice foreigners were confined for three months in cells 
that contained up to eight persons with only bunks for furniture, very 
limited access to showers, and only brief exercise possibilities. The 
CPT noted that the design of the facility was extremely poor, that it 
was suffering from a total lack of communal spaces, and characterized 
it as a missed opportunity for authorities to construct an 
appropriately designed center for administrative detention of aliens.
    In its 2006 annual report, Amnesty International (AI) and the CPT 
stated that detention conditions for aliens, including asylum seekers, 
irregular migrants, and unaccompanied minors, in some cases ``may have 
amounted to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,'' and that 
overcrowding remained a serious problem (see section 2.d.).
    At the Hellenikon holding center for irregular immigrants a man has 
been detained for almost one and a half years without being able to 
communicate with anyone; he appeared to have developed symptoms of 
mental illness. The CPT delegation reported that this man had been 
placed in a cage-like cell for several months.
    In April 120 alien detainees in the main Thessaloniki detention 
center protested overcrowding conditions and lack of access to proper 
sanitation in the facility.
    Disciplinary actions were initiated in late September 2005 against 
two police officers who disturbed four jailed Muslims during prayer at 
the police detention center in Aspropyrgos.
    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reiterated 
observations about overcrowding and poor conditions in detention 
centers during the year.
    The CPT reported that conditions in Peplos (Thrace) and the island 
of Mytilini (Aegean) detention centers were unacceptable, and found 
multiple shortcomings at the Chios Judicial prison.
    There were reports that juveniles seeking asylum were held with 
adults.
    The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights reported that 
local and international independent human rights observers were not 
consistently permitted access to prisons, police detention centers, or 
detention centers for illegal immigrants. The commissioner recommended 
the authorities increase and improve cooperation with NGOs, permitting 
regular access to all facilities where foreigners were detained. 
International human rights observers reported fewer problems receiving 
permission for visits than did local human rights groups, and the 
International Committee of the Red Cross had a regular program for 
prison visits. There was insufficient access to detention centers for 
independent organizations wanting to screen for victims of trafficking 
in persons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention. However, police conducted 
large-scale sweeps and temporarily detained large numbers of 
foreigners, often under crowded and squalid conditions, while 
determining their residence status.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are 
responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the 
country and are under the authority of the Ministry of Public Order. 
The coast guard is responsible for law enforcement in territorial 
waters and is under the authority of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine. 
While the country's law enforcement agencies were generally effective, 
police did not adequately deal with self-styled ``anti-imperialist'' 
anarchists, who used crude gas canister bombs and Molotov cocktails to 
attack property, government offices, targets representing ``Western 
interests,'' and the police, particularly in central Athens.
    Police corruption continued to be a problem. While a police 
anticorruption unit in the Ministry of Public Order's Bureau of 
Internal Affairs investigated alleged abuses, human rights and 
antitrafficking groups asserted that anticorruption efforts needed to 
be given higher priority. The ombudsman for human rights and NGOs noted 
that the Bureau of Internal Affairs' investigations determined 
culpability in very few cases and that the penalties handed down were 
disproportionately lenient. The Council of Europe commissioner for 
human rights reported that few cases against law enforcement personnel 
were brought before the courts and that there was leniency in the 
courts when addressing cases involving law enforcement personnel. The 
commissioner noted that the widely reported failure of authorities to 
examine cases of ill treatment by law enforcement personnel remained of 
particular concern and the mechanisms in place to address 
anticorruption and law enforcement abuse claims needed to be reviewed.
    During the year the Bureau of Internal Affairs took several 
disciplinary measures, including dismissal and suspension, against 
officers involved in corruption, primarily for forging documents and 
taking bribes. Most charges against police involved violation of duty, 
false certificates, abuse of power, corruption, violations with arms 
and explosives, illegal release of persons in police custody, 
procuring, and violations related to alien registration.
    As of December the trial of the Charilaou precinct commander on 
charges of blackmail, fraud, and illegal possession on firearms was 
pending.
    In April a police officer identified in published reports as Nikos 
Kanellopoulos was convicted and given a three-year suspended sentence 
for mistreating a Roma in August 2001.
    The Ministry of Public Order conducted regular training to address 
a variety of problems, including corruption and police abuses. The 
ministry also issued a new code of conduct, new booklets, and other 
material to police officers to promote reform.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicial warrants for 
arrests except when they are made during the commission of a crime, and 
it prohibits arbitrary arrest orders. Authorities generally respected 
these provisions in practice. Police must bring persons who are 
detained or arrested before an examining magistrate within 24 hours. 
The magistrate must issue a detention warrant or order their release 
within three days unless special circumstances justify a two-day 
extension of this limit. Bail is available for defendants detained or 
arrested on felony charges, unless the judicial officer determines that 
such incentives would not adequately assure the defendant's appearance 
at trial or that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the 
community.
    Under the law persons in detention had the right to inform a close 
relative or another third party, to have access to a lawyer and to have 
access to a doctor; however, the CPT found that the Government did not 
respect these rights in practice. The CPT heard a number of claims that 
access to a lawyer had been delayed for periods up to three days, and 
that in most of these cases the persons detained, mostly foreigners, 
alleged that they were ill-treated during arrest and interrogation. The 
CPT received a number of complaints from irregular immigrants in 
detention that the information sheets with explanations of their rights 
that they received were only in the Greek language and that they were 
either coerced physically or threatened with ill-treatment in order to 
ensure the slips were signed (in Greek).
    Defendants have the right to legal counsel. In felony cases the bar 
association provides lawyers to defendants who prove they cannot afford 
legal counsel.
    Defendants brought to court on the day following the alleged 
commission of a misdemeanor may be tried immediately under expedited 
procedures. Although legal safeguards, including representation by 
counsel, apply in expedited procedure cases, the short time period 
limited defendants' ability to present an adequate defense. Defendants 
may request a delay to prepare a defense, but the court is not obliged 
to grant the request. Expedited procedures were used in less than 10 
percent of applicable cases.
    There continued to be reports that police took citizens to 
detention centers for arbitrary identity checks, used insulting 
language and threats of force, and conducted bodily searches in public. 
Police reportedly targeted persons based on their race, color, 
nationality, or their presence in ``high-crime'' areas (see section 5).
    In December 2005 the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court opened 
investigations into allegations made by 28 Pakistanis resident in the 
country that they were abducted in July 2005, hooded, held for up to 
seven days in a secret location, and interrogated by persons who 
claimed to be police officers. One of the claimants also alleged that 
he was beaten. The minister of public order reported that up to 5,000 
foreign national residents were legally questioned in the aftermath of 
the July 2005 London bombings but that no such abuses took place. In 
May the prosecutor filed abduction charges against unidentified 
suspects after completing a four-month investigation and established 
that at least 14 Pakistanis were abducted.
    While members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
(Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses reported having difficulties with 
harassment and police detention due to antiproselytizing laws, they 
noted a marked improvement during the year (see section 2.c.).
    The law allows pretrial detention for up to 18 months for felonies 
and nine months for misdemeanors. Defense lawyers asserted that 
pretrial detention was excessively long and overused by judges. A panel 
of judges may release detainees pending trial, with or without bail. 
Pretrial detainees made up approximately 30 percent of those 
incarcerated and contributed to overcrowding, according to figures 
provided by the Ministry of Justice.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice. Observers reported that the judiciary is subject 
to influence. On several occasions in the last three years, the ECHR 
has penalized the Government for the unreasonably long lengths of 
trials and found the Greek court system to be inefficient. During the 
year a number of judges were under investigation or had been dismissed 
on corruption-related charges (see section 3). The judiciary acted more 
leniently toward those claiming a political motivation for their acts 
of property destruction (so-called anarchists) than it did for those 
who claimed no political motivation (such as hooligans). For example, 
anarchists were given suspended prison sentences in lieu of prison time 
or punitive fines.
    The judicial system consists of three levels of civil courts (first 
instance, appeals, and supreme), three levels of criminal courts (first 
instance, divided into misdemeanor and felony divisions; appeals; and 
supreme), appointed judges, and an examining magistrate system, with 
trials by judicial panels.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are 
public in most instances, and juries are used in all first and second-
degree felony cases. An antiterror statute permits denial of the right 
to a jury trial in cases of violent terrorism. Defendants have the 
right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. 
An attorney is provided at public expense if indigent defendants face 
serious criminal charges. Defendants may confront and question 
witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence on their 
behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held 
evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of 
innocence and have the right to appeal. Defendants who do not speak 
Greek have the right to a court-appointed interpreter. According to 
several immigrant associations in Athens, the low fees paid for such 
work often resulted in poor interpretation. Foreign defendants who used 
these interpreters frequently complained that they did not understand 
the proceedings at their trials. Defendants often were not advised of 
their rights during arrest in a language that they could understand. 
Several complained that they were not shown the Hellenic Police 
Informational Bulletin, which contains prisoners' rights in a variety 
of languages, and that they were forced to sign blank documents later 
used for their deportation.
    The Government recognizes Shari'a (the Muslim religious law) as the 
law regulating family and civic issues of the Muslim minority in Thrace 
(see section 5).
    In March the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $11,259 (9,000 
euros) to an applicant who had been subjected to a criminal proceeding 
that lasted an ``undue length of time.'' The ECHR court ruled that a 
proceeding of six years and eight months was excessive and did not 
comply with the reasonable time requirement of the European Convention 
on Human Rights. The Government paid the fine during the year.
    In May 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $18,000 (15,000 
euros) for nonpecuniary damages to an applicant for the undue length of 
a criminal proceeding; the Government paid the fine during the year.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a generally 
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There are no 
administrative remedies available beyond the judicial remedies for 
alleged wrongs.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits the invasion of privacy and searches 
without warrants, and permits the monitoring of personal communications 
only under strict judicial controls; however, these provisions were not 
always respected in practice.
    Police and prosecutors regularly conducted raids and searches of 
Romani neighborhoods, frequently entering Roma homes without 
authorization in search of criminal suspects, drugs, and weapons. Local 
authorities threatened to evict, and evicted, Roma from camps and tent 
dwellings during the year (see section 5).
    Unlike in the previous year, Turcophone and Slavophone activists 
did not complain of police surveillance.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice; however, legal restrictions on free 
speech remained in force. The law prohibits exposing to danger of 
disturbance the friendly relations of the state with foreign states, 
spreading false information and rumors liable to create concern and 
fear among citizens and cause disturbances in the country's 
international relations, and inciting citizens to rivalry and division 
leading to disturbing the peace or acts of violence. However, these 
prohibitions were very rarely invoked. In most criminal defamation 
cases, defendants were released on bail pending appeal without serving 
time in jail.
    By year's end the results had not been made public of an inquiry by 
the Mercantile Marine Ministry into 2004 allegations by two foreign 
journalists that members of the coast guard arrested and beat them when 
they attempted to film a restricted security area during the Olympic 
Games.
    There were numerous independent newspapers and magazines in 
circulation. Throughout the year, and consistent with past years, 
satirical and opposition newspapers routinely criticized state 
authorities. Members of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups were 
generally able to publish materials freely, including in their native 
languages.
    The law provides that the Government exercise ``immediate control'' 
over radio and television and establishes ownership limits on media 
frequencies. The Ministry of Press and Mass Media has authority over 
radio and television licensing, while the National Radio and Television 
Council (ESR) maintains an advisory role.
    Independent radio and television stations were active and expressed 
a wide variety of views with little government restriction. State-
operated stations tended to emphasize the Government's views but also 
reported objectively on other parties' programs and positions. Turkish-
language television programs were widely available via satellite in 
Thrace.
    The law allows for seizure, by order of the public prosecutor, of 
publications that insult the President, offend Christianity ``or any 
other known religion,'' contain obscene articles, advocate violent 
overthrow of the political system, or disclose military and defense 
information. There were no such seizures during the year.
    In February a court in Patras convicted and sentenced a journalist 
and a cameraman to eight months imprisonment and a fine of $37,530 
(30,000 euros) each for conducting an interview with an Albanian 
migrant who was arraigned for allegedly driving drunk in a stolen car. 
The conviction was based upon a law that prohibits photographing or 
filming individuals while they are pending trial; however, the Albanian 
individual requested the interview in order to denounce a racial attack 
that occurred while he was being arrested. The Greek Helsinki Monitor 
(GHM) alleged that this was the first invocation of the law, despite 
the fact that newspapers and television stations routinely violated it.
    In February 2005 police arrested an Internet artist on charges of 
Internet fraud for creating a satirical web site entitled ``Dirty Works 
in Greece.'' The site described corruption in the civil service hiring 
process. Police confiscated his computer, notes, and other materials. 
The artist was released on bail after three days. There were no further 
developments in the case during the year.
    Unlike in the previous year, no newspapers censored articles 
regarding the Slavophone dialect.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Internet use was widely available throughout the 
country.
    Individuals and groups could generally engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. However, in 
June Athens police arrested a search engine blog administrator and 
confiscated his computer hard drive. He was charged with libel and 
defamation based upon comments that appeared in one of the blogs under 
his administration. The comments allegedly used the word ``stupid'' to 
describe a nationalistic television religious evangelizer who claimed 
that all things on earth come from Greece and from ancient Greeks. The 
administrator, however, was not the author of the comments. He was 
released on bail and then suspended the operation of the blog. A 
lawsuit was filed against him, and his trial was still pending at 
year's end.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not 
restrict academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice.
    In November police severely beat a 24-year-old Cypriot student 
during a student protest commemorating the 1973 student uprising 
against the military junta. The incident was caught by television 
cameras and caused a public outcry. The Government condemned the 
incident, apologized for it, and ordered a judicial investigation, the 
results of which had not been announced by year's end. The Ministry of 
Public Order suspended two police officers and ordered the transfer of 
a police director and three low ranking officers.
    A human rights activist was held at a police station for four hours 
in October 2005 and was told that he was under arrest after having 
participated in demonstrations against the expulsion of Romani children 
from their school. A parent lodged a complaint against him for libel 
and defamation, but at year's end the case was still pending, and no 
trial date had been set.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association; however, the courts continued to place legal restrictions 
on the names of associations involving certain ethnic minorities.
    In February 2005 the Supreme Court announced its rejection of the 
appeal of the Turkish Union of Xanthi, upholding the 1983 lower court 
decision to dissolve the association because it used the adjective 
``Turkish'' in its title. The same court rejected the application for 
registration of the Rodopi Turkish Women's Cultural Association for the 
same reason. The Supreme Court ruling ended a 20-year legal struggle 
for recognition by the Turkish Union, which had normal legal status 
from 1927 to 1983. The Turkish Union of Xanthi and the Rodopi Cultural 
Association applied to the ECHR for redress, but by year's end, no 
decision had been reached.
    In October the Home of Macedonian Culture (Stegi Makedonikou 
Politismou) filed an appeal to a previous decision denying to the 
organization legal status; however, the appeals court in Florina 
rejected the appeal in September. Having exhausted all state avenues of 
redress, the only avenue left for the group is to file an appeal with 
the ECHR.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion; 
however, non-Orthodox groups at times faced administrative obstacles or 
legal restrictions on religious practices.
    The law establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ (Greek 
Orthodoxy) as the ``prevailing'' religion. The Greek Orthodox Church 
continued to exercise significant political and economic influence. The 
Government financially supported the Greek Orthodox Church and also 
paid the salaries and some expenses of the two official Muslim 
religious leaders in Thrace. Jewish leaders requested that the 
Government pay rabbis' salaries, given its practice of paying Orthodox 
priests' and Muslim muftis' salaries; the Government had not responded 
to this request by year's end.
    The Government, by virtue of the status of the Greek Orthodox 
Church as the prevailing religion, recognizes de facto its canon law. 
Privileges and legal prerogatives granted to the Orthodox Church are 
not extended routinely to other recognized religions. Orthodox Church 
officials refused to enter into dialogue with religious groups that 
they considered harmful to Orthodox worshippers, and they instructed 
their members to shun followers of these faiths. In June an Orthodox 
Bishop in the Dodecanese group of islands reportedly harassed and 
verbally abused an Old-Calendar bishop (a separate sect of Orthodoxy) 
who was conducting a liturgy in a private church on Kalymnos island.
    Several religious denominations reported difficulties dealing with 
authorities on a variety of administrative matters, including gaining 
recognition as a ``known religion,'' opening new houses of worship, and 
moving a house of worship from one location to another.
    Only Greek Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism are recognized as ``known 
religions.'' No formal mechanism exists to gain recognition as a 
``known religion.'' Recognition is granted indirectly by applying for 
and receiving a ``house of prayer'' permit from the Ministry of 
Education and Religion. In July the Government repealed a law that 
allowed the ministry to base its decisions on the issuance of house of 
prayer permits on the opinion of the local Orthodox bishop. New 
religions had problems obtaining these permits.
    According to Ministry of Education and Religion officials, 
applications for additional places of worship were numerous and were 
approved routinely once a recognized religion received a permit; 
however, members of the Church of Scientology have not been able to 
register or build a house of prayer. A group that follows the ancient 
polytheistic Hellenic tradition applied twice in the last three years 
for a house of prayer permit, but by year's end the group had not 
received an official response to its applications. The Jehovah's 
Witnesses have several pending house-of-prayer permit requests, but 
they have not taken the cases to the ombudsman because they received a 
verbal commitment from the Ministry of Education and Religion that it 
would approve their applications. In addition non-Orthodox religious 
groups must provide separate and lengthy applications to authorities on 
such matters as gaining permission to move an official house of prayer 
to a larger facility.
    In 2004 a former Greek Orthodox priest who became a priest of the 
Macedonian Orthodox Church was issued a three-month prison sentence, 
later suspended, for holding religious services without a house of 
prayer permit. The priest's sentence could not be appealed in the 
country and for this reason he intended to appeal to the ECHR.
    Although parliament approved a bill in 2000 allowing construction 
of the first Islamic cultural center and mosque in the Attica area, no 
construction had started by year's end. In October the Government 
passed legislation providing for the establishment of a mosque in 
central Athens, as opposed to the initial site chosen in an outlying 
suburb in Attica. In the meantime, Muslims in Athens continued 
congregating in dozens of unofficial prayer rooms and were forced to 
travel to Thrace for official weddings and funerals because there were 
no official Muslim clerics outside of Thrace.
    Muslims are accorded the status of an official minority in Thrace, 
and the Government selects two official Muslim religious leaders, or 
muftis, there. While part of the community accepted the two officially 
appointed muftis, some Muslims ``elected'' two different muftis. In the 
past, the courts repeatedly convicted one ``elected'' mufti for 
usurping the authority of the official mufti; however, his sentences 
remained suspended. The ``elected'' mufti appealed to the ECHR which 
found in July the Government had violated his right of freedom of 
religion (article 9 of the European Human Rights Convention on freedom 
of thought, conscience and religion) and ordered the Government to pay 
$3,930 (3,000 euros) in court costs. The Government paid the fine 
during the year.
    Non-Orthodox citizens claimed that they faced career limits in the 
military, police, fire-fighting forces, and civil service due to their 
religion.
    The law specifically prohibits proselytizing and stipulates that 
religious rites must not disturb public order or offend moral 
principles. Police conducted arbitrary identity checks and arrested and 
detained Mormons and members of Jehovah's Witnesses, usually after 
witnessing or receiving complaints that they were engaged in 
proselytizing. In most cases, police held persons for several hours and 
then released them without filing charges. Mormons and Jehovah's 
Witnesses arrested and held by the police reported that police did not 
allow them to call their lawyers and verbally abused them for their 
religious beliefs. However, the proselytizers reported a marked 
improvement during the year due to increased training and instruction 
given to police officers.
    Legislation providing for religious worker visas was passed in 
2005, remedying the difficulty reported in the past by some religious 
denominations in renewing the visas of non-EU citizen religious 
officials.
    Religious instruction is mandatory for all Greek Orthodox students 
in primary and secondary schools, but not for non-Orthodox students. 
Some government-approved religious textbooks made derogatory statements 
about non-Greek Orthodox faiths. Since schools did not supervise non-
Orthodox children while Greek Orthodox children were taking religious 
instruction, non-Orthodox parents complained that they were effectively 
forced to have their children attend Greek Orthodox classes. In Thrace 
the Government subsidized public schools for the Muslim minority and 
two Koranic schools. Turcophone activists criticized the quality of 
instruction at the minority schools and the state-sponsored Pedagogical 
Academy that trains teachers. In September the Government began a pilot 
program of teaching Turkish as a foreign language in five public high 
schools in Thrace. Turkish teachers expressed reservations about the 
program and ultimately refused to teach Turkish in these public high 
schools.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of non-Orthodox faiths 
reported incidents of societal discrimination, such as local Greek 
Orthodox bishops warning parishioners not to visit clergy or members of 
these faiths and requesting that police arrest missionaries for 
proselytizing. Some non-Orthodox religious communities encountered 
difficulty in communicating with officials of the Orthodox Church and 
claimed that the attitude of the Orthodox Church toward their faiths 
has increased societal intolerance toward their religions. However, 
with the exception of the growing Muslim population, most members of 
non-Orthodox faiths considered themselves satisfactorily integrated 
into society.
    The Orthodox Church maintained on its Web site a list of religious 
groups--including Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, evangelical 
Protestants, Scientologists, Baha'is, and others--and practices that it 
considers sacrilegious.
    The Jewish community has approximately 5,000 members. Anti-Semitism 
continued to exist, particularly in the extremist press. The mainstream 
press and public often did not clearly distinguish between criticism of 
Israel and comments about Jews. In 2004 the European Commission against 
Racism and Intolerance, the Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation 
League, and GHM criticized the press for carrying anti-Semitic stories 
and cartoons on several occasions. For example, on August 16, 
Eleftherotypia, the second largest daily newspaper, published a cartoon 
depicting an Israeli soldier praying with a rifle that was firing 
swastikas. Candidates for the political party LAOS, the fifth largest 
party, have made anti-Semitic statements during the campaign for 
municipal offices in the Fall. The party's weekly paper A1 published 
strongly anti-Semitic articles accusing the Israelis of genocide 
against the Lebanese people. A July editorial stated that if ``the Jews 
continue this way, they will beat Hitler's number of victims.'' Anti-
Semitic references as well as comparisons with the Holocaust were 
common in the press during the July-August conflict involving Israel 
and Lebanon, while some major media promoted the image of Israel as the 
``Nazi-state.'' On the other hand, Hezbollah fighters were often seen 
as ``freedom fighters'' and ``resistance groups.''
    Vandalism of Jewish monuments decreased, although the Holocaust 
monument in Thessaloniki was vandalized during an antiwar demonstration 
in August; the Government condemned the vandalism. As of December, 
police had not found the perpetrators of the 2004 desecration of 
Holocaust memorials in Komotini in Thrace. Several times throughout the 
year extreme right-wing groups painted anti-Semitic graffiti along with 
their symbols and organization names at multiple locations, including 
the busy Athens-Corinth and Athens-Tripoli highways, and other public 
structures. In February the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against ``Golden 
Dawn'' for defacing public property and painting anti-Semitic graffiti 
during the course of the last several years.
    In April the Central Board of the Jewish Communities of Greece 
continued to protest the Easter tradition of burning a life-size effigy 
of Judas, sometimes referred to as the ``burning of the Jew,'' which 
they maintained propagated hatred and fanaticism against Jews. One 
Greek Orthodox bishop, a local NGO, and the Wiesenthal Center expressed 
formal written objections to this tradition. The Jewish Community also 
protested anti-Semitic passages in the Holy Week liturgy and it 
reported that it maintained a dialogue with the Orthodox Church about 
the removal of these passages.
    Some schoolbooks carried negative references to Roman Catholics, 
Jewish persons, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, and others.
    Negotiations continued between the Jewish community of Thessaloniki 
and the Government to find acceptable restitution for the community's 
cemetery, expropriated after its destruction during the Holocaust. 
Aristotle University, a public institution, was built on top of the 
expropriated cemetery.
    Jewish community leaders condemned anti-Semitic broadcasts on small 
private television stations, but authorities did not bring charges 
against these largely unlicensed operators.
    The Government co-sponsored commemorative events in Athens and 
Thessaloniki in January for Holocaust Remembrance Day. This was 
followed two weeks later by the visit of Israel's President Moshe 
Katsav, the first official visit of an Israeli head of state. The 
Ministry of Education distributed materials to schools on the history 
of the Holocaust to be read in all schools on Holocaust Remembrance 
Day, and teacher-training seminars on the Holocaust were held.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for free movement or 
residence in the country as well as free entry and exit of citizens and 
noncitizens. The Government generally respected these rights in 
practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    The law permits the Government to remove citizenship from persons 
who commit acts contrary to the interests of the country for the 
benefit of a foreign state. While the law applies to citizens 
regardless of ethnicity, it has been enforced in all but one case 
against persons who identified themselves as ethnic ``Macedonians.'' 
The Government did not reveal the number of such cases, but it was 
reported to be low, and there were no reports of new cases during the 
year. There were reports that citizens of the United States, Canada, 
Australia, and the Republic of Macedonia were prevented from entering 
the country because their names appeared on a blacklist of people who 
had taken an anti-Greek political position on the Macedonia issue.
    The Ministry of Interior reported to parliament in May 2005 that 
46,638 Muslims from Thrace and the Dodecanese islands lost their 
citizenship when they left the country between 1955 and 1998. The law 
that permitted this divestment of citizenship was repealed in 1998, and 
the ``stateless'' residents are eligible to recover their citizenship 
as long as they live in Greece. According to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, by December 2005 there were 64 persons in possession of 
government-issued identification documents characterizing them as 
``stateless.'' By December the ministry reported that approximately 55 
applications were pending for citizenship through naturalization by 
these residents. In March the ombudsman for human rights noted that 
delay in processing applications for recovering citizenship was 
``excessive and unjustified.'' According to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, the Ministry of Interior has made no decisions on the 
applications. Stateless persons continued to be denied access to state 
benefits such as social security, medical care, and pensions.
    Due to serious bureaucratic problems in the legalization process 
for immigrants, many aliens were in a semilegal status (have expired 
permits but have filed for renewal or are entitled to renewal, but a 
renewal stamp had not yet been placed in their passports). Many of 
these were subject to deportation without legal process following 
police sweeps. In August 2005 a new immigration law was passed 
providing for legalization of undocumented migrants who can prove by a 
visa stamp or possession of a tax roll number that they entered the 
country before December 31, 2004. Immigrants and human rights 
organizations complained that out of an estimated population of 450,000 
undocumented immigrants, only 180,000 immigrants had successfully 
legalized under the new law because many immigrants did not meet the 
qualification of legal entry into the country or due to stringent 
application requirements.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. However, the 
Government largely has not implemented a 1999 Presidential decree that 
brought the law into compliance with the standards of the UNHCR with 
regard to asylum procedures. In practice the Government provided some 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution. Although the UNHCR observed an attempt 
by the Government for a more realistic and humanitarian approach to 
refugees during the year, they, together with the Greek Council for 
Refugees, the ombudsman for human rights, the European Commission 
against Racism and Intolerance, AI, and the Council of Europe 
commissioner for human rights, expressed concern that very few 
applicants were granted asylum and that new arrivals that might include 
potential asylum seekers were at risk of refoulement. In March the 
ombudsman for human rights noted that the asylum application process 
remained problematic, primarily due to selective acceptance and 
processing procedures for asylum applications by the police Aliens 
Directorate. During 2005 the Government granted refugee status to 39 
out of 4,624 applicants, whereas the overall recognition rate, 
including humanitarian status (granted to 49 persons) stood at 1.9 
percent. The UNHCR remained concerned that the refugee recognition rate 
remained very low.
    Although the Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers, 
the UNHCR and others expressed concern over the country's asylum policy 
and practices. They cited its insufficient reception facilities, 
underdeveloped systems for providing for refugee welfare, insufficient 
counseling to assist integration of refugees and asylum seekers, and 
lack of appropriate treatment for unaccompanied minors who were 
potential asylum seekers. In February the UNHCR issued a position paper 
on refugee protection with 25 recommendations for the Government 
regarding: improvement of reception capacity and living conditions; 
provision of legal counseling; and protection for asylum-seeking 
children, women, and victims of human trafficking. In 2005 the 
ombudsman pointed out inadequacies in laws for detaining and deporting 
underage foreign nationals, including asylum seekers, and a lack of 
infrastructure and services for handling juvenile detainees who tried 
to enter the country illegally or sought asylum. In June the ombudsman 
recommended that the Ministry of Public Order add staff to the Aliens 
Directorate to handle the 50,000 pending asylum applications, simplify 
asylum procedures, and follow UNHCR recommendations and guidelines; the 
Government had not responded to the recommendation by year's end.
    By November two policemen were awaiting trial for allegedly 
subjecting a group of 40 to 60 Afghan asylum seekers to interrogation 
techniques that included torture in 2004.
    Conditions for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers detained by 
authorities were sometimes unsatisfactory (see section 1.c.). The UNHCR 
observed an improvement of detention conditions at border areas, but 
this improvement was not uniform, and conditions in many areas remained 
substandard. Moreover, inadequate counseling to ensure the accurate 
identification of asylum seekers was prevalent. In May AI charged that 
several irregular immigrants, who arrived on the island of Chios in 
April 2005, were detained in conditions that amounted to cruel, 
inhuman, and degrading treatment, including being held in a metal 
container close to the island's main harbor. In April 2005 human rights 
activists on the island demonstrated against the use of the metal 
container to hold migrants. Human rights groups reported limited 
provisions and medical care as well as lack of hot water at some 
facilities. Improvement was noted in some parts of the Evros region, 
but old warehouses continued to be used to house illegal immigrants.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provides citizens the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In the most recent 
elections, held in 2004 and considered free and fair, the New Democracy 
Party won the majority of seats in parliament. Opposition parties 
functioned freely and had broad access to the media.
    Romani representatives reported that local authorities often 
deprived Roma of the right to vote by refusing to register them. Many 
Roma had difficulty meeting municipal residency requirements to 
register to vote. There were a few complaints that the Government 
harassed the Rainbow Party, a small political party that included 
Slavophone activists, prior to the 2004 elections.
    Voting is mandatory for citizens over age 18, according to the law; 
however, there are many conditions under which citizens may be 
exempted, and the Government did not apply a penalty for not voting.
    There were 38 women in the 300-seat parliament and one woman in the 
19-member cabinet. A quota system requires 30 percent of all local 
government candidates to be women. At the three high courts, there were 
14 women out of 61 council of state justices, 28 women out of 59 
supreme administrative court justices, and three women out of 62 
Supreme Court justices.
    There was one member of the Muslim minority in the 300-seat 
parliament. There were no Muslim minority members in the cabinet.
    A government-appointed regional administrator of Eastern Macedonia 
and Thrace has statutory responsibility for oversight of rights 
provided to the Muslim minority in Thrace, but the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs retains an important advisory role.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was a problem. 
International and domestic NGOs stated that anticorruption efforts 
needed to be a higher government priority, and opinion polls suggested 
widespread public perception of corruption in the executive and 
legislative branches. Mutual accusations of corruption between 
political parties were a daily staple of political life.
    By December. 13 justices had been dismissed, 14 were temporarily 
suspended from duty, two were detained and being prosecuted for money 
laundering and receiving bribes, 33 were indicted, and disciplinary 
action had been initiated against 49 for charges related to corruption. 
In October the immunity of a member of parliament was lifted on 
allegations of corruption. The deputy minister of national economy and 
finance was fired based on the public allegations of corruption; 
however, he was not prosecuted.
    The constitution provides for the right of access to government-
held information, and the Government granted access for citizens.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction in the country, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Cooperation with domestic groups varied; some received government 
funding, while others received no official or unofficial cooperation. 
The Government usually cooperated with international human rights 
groups and made an effort to be responsive to their views.
    A CPT delegation, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council 
of Europe, and the UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child 
prostitution, and child pornography visited the country during the year 
(see sections 1.c., 1.d., and 5).
    The UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child 
prostitution, and child pornography, after a November 2005 visit, 
called on the Government to foster a more efficient and cooperative 
relationship with NGOs ``to make children a recognized priority for the 
country beyond political, institutional, and ideological disputes''; 
appoint a focal point on children's issues; improve institutional 
capacity for protecting unaccompanied minors, street children, and 
victims of trafficking; and complete the pending bilateral child 
repatriation agreement with Albania. He further recommended that the 
state take specific measures to improve the living conditions of Roma 
and give Romani children alternatives to street work and prostitution 
as survival strategies. He also recommended the creation of an advisory 
board of civil society and public authorities to coordinate children's 
policies as well as the creation of a joint Greek-Albanian commission 
to investigate the ``disappearances'' from a children's institution 
from 1998 to 2003 (see section 5). He called NGOs an ``indispensable 
asset'' in implementing the measures. The Government did not take any 
steps to implement his recommendations during the year.
    The law provides for an independent ombudsman, whose office 
provided an effective means for citizens to address human rights and 
religious freedom problems. The widely recognized office was granted 
adequate resources to perform its functions: mediating between private 
individuals and public administration and defending and promoting 
children's rights. There were five deputy ombudsmen who dealt 
respectively with human rights, children's rights, citizen-state 
relations, health and social welfare, and quality of life. The 
Department of Human Rights received 2,506 complaints in 2005, 983 of 
which were pending in January. Problems included complaints regarding 
residence and work provisions for immigrants, overcrowding in prisons 
and aliens' detention centers, unjustified procedural difficulties to 
acquire citizenship, excessive and unjustified delays in processing 
applications for recovering citizenship for ``stateless'' persons, 
arbitrary acceptance of applications of asylum seekers and negative 
references to non-Orthodox religions in schoolbooks.
    The government-funded National Human Rights Committee is an 
autonomous human rights body that operates independently of government 
or party control or influence. The committee is the Government's 
advisory organ on the protection of human rights and had adequate 
resources. It cooperated effectively with the Government to promote 
legislation protecting and enhancing human rights. During the year it 
produced a major report on Roma which found that Roma remained the most 
discriminated against and marginalized social group in the country. In 
2005 it produced two television spots against racism and promulgated 
reports and recommendations on human rights problems, including teenage 
violence, gender equality, affirmative action, and refugee matters.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, government 
respect for these rights was inconsistent in practice. Violence against 
women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination against 
ethnic minorities (particularly Roma) and homosexuals were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, continued to be 
a problem. The Government passed legislation in August that charges 
spousal rape as a felony, prohibits corporal punishment of children, 
and provides for ex relatione prosecution (prosecution by force of law) 
for all domestic violence crimes. Penalties provided range from two 
years to 10 years depending on the gravity of the crime. The General 
Secretariat for the Equality of the Sexes (GSES), an independent 
government agency, estimated that only 6 to 10 percent of domestic 
violence victims contacted the police, and only a small fraction of 
those cases reached trial. The GSES claimed that police tended to 
discourage women from pursuing domestic violence charges, instead 
encouraging them to undertake reconciliation efforts, and that courts 
were lenient when dealing with domestic violence cases. The GSES, in 
cooperation with the Ministry of Public Order, continued courses to 
train police on ways to deal with domestic violence victims.
    The GSES provided counseling and assistance to domestic violence 
victims. Two GSES shelters for battered women and their children, in 
Athens and Piraeus, offered services including legal and psychological 
help. The GSES operated a 24-hour emergency telephone hotline for 
abused women. A unit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare also 
operated a hotline that provided referrals and psychological 
counseling. There were additional shelters operated by the municipality 
of Athens, the Orthodox Church, and various NGOs for domestic violence 
victims.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime according to a law passed 
in August. Conviction rates for rape were low for first-time offenders, 
but sentences were harsh for repeat offenders. According to the 
Ministry of Public Order, 127 rapes and attempted rapes were reported 
in the first six months of the year. In December an academic researcher 
estimated that approximately 4,500 rapes occurred annually in the 
country, of which only 270, or 6 percent, were reported to the police. 
Of the reported rapes, only 183 resulted in an arrest, and of the 47 
cases that reached the Felony Court, only 20 ended in conviction. 
Medical, psychological, social, and legal support from the Government 
and NGOs for victims of maltreatment was also usually available to rape 
victims.
    Prostitution is legal at the age of 18. Prostitutes must register 
at the local prefecture and carry a medical card that is updated every 
two weeks. It was estimated that fewer than 1,000 women were legally 
employed as prostitutes. Approximately 20,000 women, most of foreign 
origin, were engaged in illegal prostitution. According to academics, 
many illegal prostitutes may be trafficking victims (see section 5, 
Trafficking). While there were reports that prostitutes were abused and 
subjected to violence and harassment by pimps and clients, there were 
no reports that prostitutes were specifically targeted for abuse.
    A new law on sexual harassment was passed in August. The law 
implements an EU directive on sexual harassment that provides 
guidelines for sanctions, legal action, and compensation for victims. 
Labor unions reported that lawsuits for sexual harassment were very 
rare and that only four women had filed such charges in the past seven 
years. In all four cases, the courts reportedly imposed very lenient 
civil sentences. KETHI reported that the vast majority of women who 
experienced sexual harassment in the workplace quit their jobs and did 
not file charges. KETHI estimated that 30 to 50 percent of working 
women and 10 percent of working men have experienced sexual harassment 
at their work place.
    The Government recognizes Shari'a (the Muslim religious law) as the 
law regulating family and civic issues of the Muslim minority in 
Thrace. The first instance courts in Thrace routinely ratified 
decisions of the muftis who have judicial powers in civic and domestic 
matters. The National Human Rights Committee, an autonomous body that 
is the Government's advisory organ on protection of human rights, 
stated that the Government should limit the powers of the muftis to 
religious duties and should stop recognizing Shari'a, because it can 
restrict the civic rights of the citizens it is applied to. In 2005 the 
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern regarding the 
impediments that Muslim women in Thrace face under Shari'a law. In 
March the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights and the UN 
special rapporteur reported that they were informed of cases of both 
early marriages and marriages by proxy. Muslim female activists claimed 
that because all Muslim women in Thrace were married under Shari'a, 
they were therefore obliged to acquire mufti consent to obtain a 
divorce. These decisions were based on interpretations of Shari'a law 
that do not exist in written form and therefore cannot be appealed. The 
courts routinely ratified these mufti decisions.
    The law provides for equal pay for equal work; however, according 
to official 2005 statistics, women's pay amounted to 81 percent of 
men's pay. Although relatively few occupied senior positions, women 
continued to enter traditionally male-dominated professions such as law 
and medicine in larger numbers. Women were underrepresented in labor 
union leadership.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare.
    The law provides for free and compulsory education for a minimum of 
nine years. According to the 2001 census, 99.4 percent of school-age 
children attended school, and most children completed secondary 
education. However, noncompliance with the compulsory education 
requirement was a significant problem in the Romani community. Research 
conducted by the Aghlaia Kyriakou state hospital showed that 63 percent 
of Romani children did not attend school. There were reports of non-
Romani parents withdrawing their children from schools attended by 
Romani children, and of non-Romani parents attempting to prevent Romani 
children from studying at the same schools that their children 
attended. In February the European Roma Rights Centre and the 
International Helsinki Federation expressed concern about the placement 
of Romani pupils in segregated classes in Aspropyrgos, Attica.
    Violence against children occurred, particularly against street 
children. The law prohibits the mistreatment of children and sets 
penalties for violators, and the Government generally enforced these 
provisions effectively; however, government-run institutions were 
understaffed, and NGOs complained that they did not have available 
positions for all children in need of alternative placement. Welfare 
laws provide for treatment and prevention programs for abused and 
neglected children and seek to ensure the availability of alternative 
family care or institutional placement. However, children's rights 
advocacy groups claimed that government residential care centers 
provided inadequate and low quality protection for children at high 
risk of abuse due to a lack of coordination between welfare services 
and the courts, inadequate funding of the welfare system, and poor 
staffing of the care centers. In March the UN special rapporteur on the 
sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, who 
visited in November 2005, reported that children's social protection 
institutions lacked sufficient resource capacity and that there was no 
centralized child protection system.
    Child marriage was common within the Romani community. 
Additionally, there were limited numbers of marriages of persons under 
18 among the Muslim minority in Thrace and Athens. The state-appointed 
muftis, who may apply Shari'a law in family matters, noted that they 
did not allow marriage of children under age 15. In November 2005 the 
official mufti of Komotini reported issuing instruction to imams in 
Thrace not to conduct underage marriages; however, the Council of 
Europe's commissioner for human rights reported that he was informed of 
cases of both early marriages and marriages by proxy of underage 
persons. The Government has youth centers, parent counseling, and 
programs that address poverty and lack of education, two factors which 
were believed to contribute to child marriage.
    There were reports that trafficking of children, mainly for forced 
labor and sexual exploitation, was a problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking, and section 6.d.).
    The Police Division for Internet Crime dismantled 25 networks 
dealing in child pornography through the Internet in the period between 
July 2004 and June of this year. They arrested 35 citizens identified 
as members of networks, and charged them with buying and selling child 
pornographic materials. The country does not have legislation punishing 
possession and circulation of pedophiliac materials. The Internet Crime 
Police Division arrested nine persons and filed lawsuits against 19 
others for dealing in internet child pornography during the coordinated 
EU ``Operation Purity'' in April 2005. The division reported a 600 
percent annual increase of crime through the Internet.
    According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and local NGOs, the 
majority of street children (often indigenous Roma or Albanian Roma) 
were exploited by family members who forced them to work in the 
streets, usually begging or selling small items (see section 6.d).
    In 2004 the UN Committee Against Torture expressed concern that 
inadequate measures had been taken to protect 502 Albanian children who 
remained unaccounted for after being picked up by the security police 
and kept in state custody at the Agia Varvara orphanage between 1998 
and 2003. The prosecutor accepted a criminal complaint submitted by the 
GHM and an appeal by the UN Committee Against Torture, and in 2004 it 
pressed felony charges against members of the administration of the 
institution relating to the case; however, no action was reported on 
the case during the year. The UN special rapporteur on the sale of 
children, child prostitution, and child pornography who visited in 
November 2005 noted a ``deficiency in the design of the educational and 
social methodology'' of the Agia Varvara institution.
    During the year the Government, the UNHCR, and the deputy ombudsman 
for children's rights announced guidelines for the management of 
separated children seeking asylum, based on internally agreed upon 
principles of separated child protection. Among the 11 detailed 
guidelines is one specifying the appointment of a special temporary 
guardian as soon as a separated child is identified as an applicant for 
asylum. However, by November, there remained problems with the 
implementation of the guidelines, and the UNHCR, Greek Council for 
Refugees, and deputy ombudsman for children's rights called on the 
Government to improve protection for separated migrant children, 
notably potential asylum seekers and victims of trafficking, and 
appoint legal guardians for them.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, the country was both a transit and destination country for 
significant numbers of women, children, and smaller numbers of men 
trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.
    Major countries of origin for trafficking victims included Nigeria, 
Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Romania, and Belarus. 
Women from many other countries were trafficked to the country and in 
some cases were reportedly trafficked on to Italy and other EU 
countries as well as to the Middle East.
    According to an academic observer in 2005, trafficking in women and 
children for sexual exploitation in the country decreased from 
approximately 20,000 victims in 2003 to approximately 10,000 during 
2005. Unofficial NGO estimates placed approximately 13,000 to 14,000 
trafficked persons in the country at any given time.
    NGOs reported a decrease in the number of Albanian children 
trafficked to the country in 2005 and 2006; however, there were reports 
that Albanian Roma children continued to be trafficked for forced 
begging and stealing. Albanian children made up the majority of 
children trafficked for forced labor, begging, and stealing. NGOs 
reported that the practice of ``renting'' children had dramatically 
decreased in recent years as it became easier for Albanian parents to 
immigrate to the country. In February the Government concluded a 
protocol with Albania on the repatriation of Albanian child trafficking 
victims which by year's end remained unratified by the parliament.
    Problems persisted with police detaining minors trafficked into the 
country as criminals or repatriating them without ensuring proper 
reception by their home country authorities.
    Women and children arrived as ``tourists'' or illegal immigrants 
and were lured into prostitution by club owners who threatened them 
with deportation. There were reports that traffickers kidnapped 
victims, including minors, from their homes abroad and smuggled them 
into the country, where they were sold to local procurers. Some rescued 
victims reported being given small stipends, mobile phones, and limited 
freedoms but nevertheless they coerced, threatened, and abused by their 
traffickers.
    A few police officers reportedly were involved in trafficking rings 
or accepted bribes from traffickers, and a few Greek diplomats abroad 
reportedly facilitated trafficking by issuing visas with little 
documentary evidence and no personal interviews to women subsequently 
identified as trafficking victims, according to a lawsuit filed in 
April by the Greek Helsinki Monitor.
    The law considers trafficking in persons a criminal offense and 
provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and fines of approximately 
$12,000 to $60,000 (10,000 to 50,000 euros) for convicted traffickers. 
Penalties are harsher for traffickers of children.
    The Government continued to investigate cases of trafficking and 
secured convictions for traffickers. In January the Government 
established 12 additional anti-trafficking task forces throughout the 
country and funded specialized training for over 1,000 police officers.
    In the first half of the year the Government investigated several 
trafficking cases and arrested 95 suspected traffickers. In 2005 there 
were nine convictions and sentences for these convicted traffickers 
ranging from one to 12 years. The Government could not, however, 
confirm whether any traffickers were actually serving the time 
sentenced. While the Government reported that over 95 illegal-alien 
defendants were awaiting prosecution on trafficking charges, courts 
released and deported the majority of such foreign defendants.
    There is an interministerial committee to coordinate 
antitrafficking efforts. During the year, the Government participated 
in international investigations in cooperation with regional 
authorities, including the Southern European Cooperative Initiative.
    Police officers reportedly were involved in trafficking rings or 
accepted bribes from traffickers, including organized crime networks. 
During the year charges were filed against three police officers--two 
of them senior--relating to trafficking complicity. As of year's end, 
no trial date had been set. The Ministry of Public Order's Bureau of 
Internal Affairs investigated charges of police involvement in 
trafficking cases.
    While the immigration law provides for a ``reflection period'' for 
trafficking victims facing deportation, the screening and referral 
process did not adequately identify and protect most vulnerable 
potential victims in the country. Some trafficking victims were 
prosecuted for immigration violations, sometimes alongside their 
traffickers. A few trafficking victims and NGOs that supported them 
stated that inadequate police protection for victims who were witnesses 
in trials meant that those victims lived in constant fear of their 
traffickers. A few victims were provided with the reflection period and 
testified against their traffickers.
    During the year the Government granted 15 new and 24 renewed 
residence permits for trafficking victims. In the first half of the 
year the Government identified 48 trafficking victims, 28 of whom 
accepted assistance and protection; however, anecdotal reports 
indicated that trafficking victims continued to be deported.
    A number of domestic NGOs worked on trafficking problems, but 
victim protection measures and referral mechanisms remained weak. In 
November 2005 the Government signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with 12 
NGOs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve 
government-NGO coordination in a screening and referral process for 
trafficking victims. The Government supported a 24-hour hotline for 
trafficking victims, operated by an NGO.
    There were several NGO-operated shelters. The GSES produced a 
television ad which appeared in the media in February, March, and April 
targeting commercial sex procurers, trafficking victims, and citizens, 
and distributed information materials in Greek, English, Albanian, 
Russian and French. The campaign encouraged the public to report 
incidents of trafficking.
    In May the IOM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, led a training program for approximately 200 prosecutors on 
the subject of dealing with and prosecuting human trafficking cases. In 
November the Ministry of Public Order initiated an antitrafficking 
transborder police action plan on regional police cooperation. The 
Secretariat for Gender Equality held a joint conference with the 
Council on Europe on combating trafficking and the GSES conducted a 
series of seminars for civil servants and local administration officers 
in various cities to alert them to and educate them about trafficking. 
In October the IOM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Employment, led 
a training program for labor inspectors to learn how to identify 
victims of labor trafficking.
    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the GSES launched a development 
assistance project to combat trafficking in persons in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo that empowered female trafficking 
victims, raised the public's awareness of trafficking, and educated 
relevant agencies.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in 
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other 
government services and the Government effectively enforced these 
provisions. The law mandates access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities; however, authorities enforced this law poorly. In May 
members of parliament, rapporteurs to a special parliamentary committee 
on the disabled reported that the lack of accessibility forced persons 
with disabilities to stay home and led to serious social exclusion. 
Only five percent of public buildings were fully accessible to persons 
with disabilities; most buildings with special ramps did not have 
special elevators and lavatories. The deputy ombudsman for social 
welfare handled complaints related to persons with special needs, 
especially related to employment, social security, and transportation.
    The Ministry of Welfare estimated that there were 180,000 to 
200,000 children with special education needs, of whom only 18,585 were 
attending school in 2004 due either to a lack of special schools in 
their area or deficient accessibility. The National Confederation of 
Persons with Disabilities reported that the education system for the 
persons with disabilities fostered discrimination and social exclusion. 
The confederation noted that education was not available for persons 
with serious disabilities and that many persons with disabilities were 
either forced to leave schools due to lack of accessibility or were 
receiving very low quality education at the special schools.
    In July 2006 the deputy ombudsman reported that nearly 60 percent 
of persons with disabilities had been barred from the benefits of 
affirmative action employment to which they were entitled because they 
were misinformed or inadequately informed about the supporting 
documents they should provide and because of unclear interpretations of 
the law itself. The deputy ombudsman stated that unemployment of 
persons with disabilities estimated by the National Confederation of 
Persons with Disabilities and the Human Resources Employment 
Organization at approximately 80 percent, was the greatest social 
problem for persons with disabilities and recommended that the 
Government prepare new legislation or improve existing laws.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Albanian immigrants, who made 
up approximately five to seven percent of the population, faced 
widespread societal discrimination, although Albanian community 
representatives said that it was slowly decreasing. Immigrants accused 
police of physical, verbal, and other mistreatment. They also reported 
the confiscation and destruction of personal documents, particularly 
during police sweeps to apprehend illegal immigrants. The media blamed 
Albanians and immigrants for a reported rise in crime in recent years. 
AI, GHM, and the deputy ombudsman for human rights alleged that 
complaints of police ill-treatment of Albanians were rejected as 
unfounded, although the authenticity of the complaints was supported by 
documents such as certificates from state hospitals concerning recent 
injuries and issued shortly after the complainants' release from police 
stations. Moreover, Albanian community leaders reported that it was 
difficult to be granted citizenship, even after all objective 
citizenship requirements had been met.
    The citizenship application approval procedure is secret, and as a 
result the Ministry of Interior is not obliged to substantiate or to 
explain the reasons for rejection. Community leaders stated that 
persons who believed they met all criteria for citizenship saw their 
applications rejected. Reapplication is discouraged by the fact that an 
applicant has to pay a $1,251 (1,000 euro) non-refundable application 
fee.
    A September 2005 deputy ombudsman's report on police abuse found 
that police took citizens to detention centers for arbitrary identity 
checks, used insulting language and threats of force, conducted bodily 
searches in public, and did not inform citizens on the progress of 
internal investigations unless cases were made public through the 
press. The report found that the police conducted arbitrary identity 
checks on the basis of stereotypes, targeting persons based on their 
race, color, nationality, or who happened to be in ``high-crime'' areas 
(see section 1.d.).
    In February the minister of development issued a decree prohibiting 
immigrants from selling items in the street-markets. The communities 
appealed to the country's highest administrative court; however, the 
appeal remained pending at year's end.
    In May a felony court in Patras sentenced the person charged with 
the September 2004 killing of an Albanian immigrant in Zakynthos 
following a soccer game to life imprisonment.
    A number of citizens identified themselves as Turks, Pomaks (Slavic 
speaking Muslims), Vlachs, Roma, Arvanites (Orthodox Christians who 
speak a dialect of Albanian), or Macedonians. While some members of 
these groups sought to be identified as ``minorities,'' or ``linguistic 
minorities,'' others did not consider that these identifications made 
them members of a ``minority.'' The Government considers that the 1923 
Treaty of Lausanne provides the exclusive definition of minorities in 
the country and defines the rights they have as a group. In accordance 
with its view of the treaty, the Government recognizes only a ``Muslim 
minority.'' It does not officially confer status on any indigenous 
ethnic groups nor does it recognize ``ethnic minority'' or ``linguistic 
minority'' as legal terms. However, the Government affirmed an 
individual right of self identification.
    Many individuals who defined themselves as members of a 
``minority'' found it difficult to express their identity freely and 
maintain their culture. Use of the terms Tourkos and Tourkikos 
(``Turk'' and ``Turkish'') is prohibited in titles of organizations, 
although individuals legally may call themselves Tourkos (see section 
2.b.). To most Greeks, the words Tourkos and Tourkikos connote Turkish 
identity or loyalties, and many objected to their use by Greek citizens 
of Turkish origin.
    The Government did not recognize the Slavic dialect spoken by 
persons in the northwestern area of the country as ``Macedonian,'' or 
as a language distinct from Bulgarian. Most speakers of the dialect 
referred to themselves as ``natives.'' A small number of Slavic 
speakers insisted on the use of the term ``Macedonian,'' a designation 
that generated strong opposition from the ethnic Greek population. 
These Slavic speakers claimed that the Government pursued a policy 
designed to discourage use of their language. Government officials and 
the courts deny requests by Slavic groups to identify themselves using 
the term ``Macedonian,'' because approximately 2.2 million ethnic (and 
linguistically) Greek citizens already use the term to identify 
themselves.
    In October 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $42,294 
(35,245 euros) to the Rainbow Party for violations of two ECHR 
articles: the right to a fair hearing and the right to freedom of 
assembly and association; the Government paid the fine during the year.
    Roma continued to face widespread governmental and societal 
discrimination including systematic police abuse; mistreatment while in 
police custody; regular raids and searches of their neighborhoods for 
criminal suspects, drugs, and weapons; and educational discrimination. 
Organizations substantiating these reports included a UN special 
rapporteur , the European Committee of Social Rights in 2005, the 
International Helsinki Federation in 2005, AI, the European Roma Rights 
Center, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the 
ombudsman for human rights, the National Commission for Human Rights, 
and GHM.
    In August the European Committee of Social Rights held that 
government policies regarding housing and accommodation of Roma 
infringed upon the European Social Charter, due to an insufficient 
number of dwellings to meet the needs of settled Roma, an insufficient 
number of stopping places for Roma who follow an itinerant lifestyle, 
and the systemic eviction of Roma from sites or dwellings. The 
International Helsinki Federation found in June 2005 that approximately 
half of the Roma population lived segregated from non-Roma in 
substandard housing conditions. A UN special rapporteur noted in March 
that families in a Romani settlement in Athens lived in unacceptable 
conditions, lacking access to running water and sanitation and other 
basic services, while children were denied entry to schools. The 
Council of Europe commissioner, who visited the largest Romani 
settlement in Aspropyrgos, Attica, found that measures formerly 
promised to remedy the situation had not been taken, and he noted the 
situation was intolerable, citing a lack of access to basic public 
utilities, including water, electricity and sewage systems.
    In May AI published a report criticizing the Government for its 
treatment of Roma, stating that Romani families continued to be 
targeted for eviction and home demolition and that Roma faced 
discrimination and racist attacks by both representatives of local 
administration and society.
    The law prohibits the encampment of ``wandering nomads'' without a 
permit and forces Roma to establish settlements outside inhabited areas 
and far from permanent housing. There were approximately 70 Romani 
camps in the country. Local and international NGOs charged that the 
enforced separation contravened the country's commitments under the 
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 
Discrimination.
    There were frequent police raids on Romani settlements and reported 
harsh police treatment of Roma. In March the ombudsman for human 
rights, after visiting areas in Athens, Patras, and Thessaloniki, 
reported a series of cases that reflected inherent societal and law 
enforcement discrimination against Roma. The visits revealed poor 
housing conditions and lack of access to medical care and education.
    The UN special rapporteur's statement after his November 2005 visit 
called the housing and sanitation conditions of the Romani settlement 
he visited unacceptable, highlighting that ``access to health and 
education is limited or lacking and social programs are not providing 
assistance to the community.'' He recommended that the state take 
specific measures to develop and improve living conditions in Romani 
communities to give Romani children alternatives to street work or 
prostitution as survival strategies for them and their families. The 
Government had not taken any action in response to the rapporteur's 
recommendations by year's end.
    Local authorities continued to harass and threaten to evict Roma 
from their camps or other dwellings. In July and in August, GHM and the 
Council of Europe commissioner for human rights reported that the 
Municipality of Patras demolished the homes of 18 Greek and Albanian 
Romani families in two settlements near the city while the owners were 
away for seasonal work. The municipality also served the two 
settlements' remaining families with notices of emergency police 
eviction and proceeded to conduct forced evictions. In June all Romani 
families of the Riganocambos, Patras district were served notice to 
appear in a criminal court for illegal squatting on state land and were 
told to leave. For some of the homeless Roma, this was the fourth 
actual or threatened eviction since August 2004. In June municipal 
crews assisted by police, demolished the homes of 14 Romani families in 
Kladissos, Chania.
    Nine local and international NGOs, including the European Roma 
Rights Center, appealed to the mayor of Athens in July 2005 over the 
announced evictions of approximately 70 Albanian Romani families living 
in squalid conditions in communities around Votanikos, Athens, to make 
way for a new soccer stadium. Authorities had made no provision for 
resettlement of the families. By year's end the evictions were still 
planned, but no action had been taken.
    Roma frequently faced societal discrimination in employment and in 
housing, particularly when attempting to rent accommodations. The 
illiteracy rate among Roma was estimated at 80 percent. Poverty, 
illiteracy, and societal prejudice were most severe among migrant Roma 
or those who lived in quasi-permanent settlements. Most Romani camps 
had no running water, electricity, garbage disposal, or sewage 
treatment. For example, in 2005 the approximately 400 Romani families 
in Tyrnavos, Thessaly, lived in tents because authorities refused to 
include the area in city planning. The municipality of Rachoula in 
Larissa took action to delay the permanent settlement of Roma in the 
region on property owned by Roma.
    Romani representatives reported that some local authorities have 
refused to register Roma as residents or that the Roma were unable to 
satisfy the requirements to be registered. Until registered with a 
municipality, a citizen cannot vote or exercise other civil rights, 
such as contributing to social security or obtaining an official 
marriage, commercial, or driver's license. It was estimated that 90 
percent of Roma were not insured by the public social security system 
because they were unable to make the required contributions. Indigent 
Roma were entitled to free health care provided all citizens; however, 
at times, the distance between their encampments and public health 
facilities hindered their access.
    The Government considered the Roma to be a ``socially excluded'' or 
``sensitive'' group, not a ``minority.'' As a result government policy 
encouraged the integration of Roma. For example, the Ministry of 
Education has instructed school principals to promote integration.
    The Ministry of Interior headed an interministerial committee that 
coordinated projects for the 85,000 to 120,000 Roma the Government 
estimated were in the country (unofficial estimates ranged from 250,000 
to 350,000). In 2005, due to low local authorities' participation, the 
Government suspended a Romani housing project that required cities with 
Romani populations to identify areas suitable for building housing for 
Roma. During the year the Government provided approximately 5,000 low-
interest housing loans of $75,060 (60,000 euros) each to Roma living in 
tents to enable them to obtain appropriate housing.
    The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs continued projects to address the chronic problems of the 
Romani community, including training courses for civil servants, 
police, and teachers to increase their sensitivity to Romani problems; 
the development of teaching materials for Romani children; the 
establishment of youth centers in areas close to Romani communities; 
and the deployment of mobile health units and community social workers 
to address the needs of itinerant Roma. However, Romani community 
representatives reported that these programs either did not always 
reach their communities or were of limited effectiveness.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The NGO Greek Homosexual 
Community (EOK) alleged that police often abused and harassed 
homosexuals and transvestites and subjected them to arbitrary identity 
checks and bodily searches in public places.
    The Government took no action regarding a Gay and Lesbian Community 
of Greece and EOK complaint that the Government made a discriminatory 
decision when it fined a radio station in 2004 for using insulting 
language on a radio show presented by a lesbian.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers, 
with the exception of members of the military, have the right to form 
and join unions of their choice without any previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right. Approximately 
26 percent of nonagricultural salaried employees were union members. 
Approximately 30 percent of the total labor force was unionized. There 
were no unionized agricultural employees.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law generally provides 
for the right to bargain collectively in the private sector and in 
public corporations, and unions exercised this right freely. The law 
provides for the right to strike, and workers in the private sector and 
in public corporations exercised this right in practice. Police have 
the right to organize and demonstrate but not to strike.
    There are some legal restrictions on strikes, including a mandatory 
notice period of four days for public utilities and 24 hours for the 
private sector. The law mandates a skeleton staff during strikes 
affecting public services. Courts may declare a strike illegal; 
however, such decisions were seldom enforced. Unions complained that 
this judicial power deterred some of their members from participating 
in strikes. Courts declared some strikes (of transportation workers, 
air-traffic controllers, garbage collectors, and others) illegal during 
the year for reasons such as failure of the union to give adequate 
advance notice of the strike or a union making new demands during the 
course of the strike, but no workers were prosecuted for striking.
    In February the Government invoked the civil mobilization act, 
which required workers to return to work, in order to break a seamen's 
strike.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the country's three free trade zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
all forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such 
practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
laws protect children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibit 
forced or compulsory labor; however, the Government did not adequately 
protect children who were exploited in nontraditional environments, 
such as begging on the street.
    The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is 15 
years, with higher limits for some activities. The minimum age is 12 
years in family businesses, theaters, and the cinema. These limits were 
enforced by occasional spot checks and were generally observed. 
However, families engaged in agriculture, food service, and 
merchandising often had younger family members assisting them at least 
part time.
    Child labor was a problem, although international and local 
observers agreed that the number of working children had decreased in 
recent years. A number of children begged or tried to persuade persons 
to buy small items in the streets. The Government and NGOs reported 
that the majority of beggars were either indigenous or Albanian Roma.
    There were reports that children from Albania were trafficked and 
forced to beg; however, antitrafficking NGOs reported a decrease in 
this abuse as more Albanian parents entered the country legally with 
their children (see section 5). A few parents forced their children to 
beg for money.
    The labor inspectorate is responsible for enforcement of labor 
legislation; however, trade unions alleged that enforcement was 
inadequate.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of 
approximately $35 (29 euros) daily and $779 (649 euros) monthly 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. 
Officially, wages should be the same for local and foreign workers, but 
in practice there were some reports of undocumented foreign workers 
being exploited by employers, receiving low wages and no social 
security contributions.
    The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector and 
37.5 hours in the public sector. The law provides for at least one 24-
hour rest period per week, mandates paid vacation of one month per 
year, and sets limits on overtime. Premium pay and authorization by the 
Ministry of Employment is required by law for overtime work.
    The law provides for minimum standards of occupational health and 
safety. The Greek General Confederation of Labor characterized health 
and safety laws as satisfactory but stated that enforcement by the 
labor inspectorate was inadequate. Workers do not have the legal right 
to remove themselves from situations that they believe endanger their 
health; however, they have the right to lodge a confidential complaint 
with the labor inspectorate. Inspectors have the right to close down 
machinery or a process for up to five days if they see safety or health 
hazards that they believe represent an imminent danger to the workers. 
In 2005 the labor inspectorate conducted a nationwide campaign against 
noise at work places, made 25,477 inspections and imposed 4,459 
sanctions and penalties that included lawsuits, fines, and closing down 
of machineries and processes.

                               __________

                                HUNGARY

    The Republic of Hungary is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy 
with a population of approximately 10 million. Legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral National Assembly. The President assigns the 
Prime Ministerial candidate from the party that won the elections or is 
able to form a majority coalition. The President is head of state and 
is elected by the National Assembly. In April Prime Minister Ferenc 
Gyurcsany and his Socialist-Liberal coalition were returned to office 
in a free and fair election. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, problems in some areas remained. Incidents where 
police used excessive force against suspects, particularly Roma, were 
reported, and allegations of government interference in editorial and 
personnel decisions of state-owned media persisted. Violence against 
women and children as well as sexual harassment remained a problem. 
Discrimination against Roma continued to be widespread, and there were 
acts of anti-Semitic vandalism. Trafficking in persons was also a 
problem.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    At year's end the manslaughter case against two police officers in 
connection with the July 2004 death of a Bulgarian national remained 
pending.
    In April 2005 a court in Bacs-Kiskun county upheld a finding by the 
chief prosecutor's office that there was no criminal negligence on the 
part of police in the 2004 death of a Romani man who died while being 
arrested. The case stemmed from an appeal by a Romani family who 
rejected findings by the country's minority affairs ombudsman and a 
medical examiner that there was no link between the arresting officer's 
actions and the death.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, according to 
non-governmental organization (NGO) reports police used excessive 
force, beat, and harassed suspects, particularly Roma (see section 
1.d.). NGOs reported that Roma remained fearful to report police abuse, 
but the number of reports of police abuse of Roma increased slightly 
during the year. Observers attributed the increase to a greater public 
willingness to report abuse.
    During the first six months of the year, 26 police officers were 
charged with assault and four others were charged with ``forced 
interrogations.'' NGOs estimated that approximately half of the police 
abuse cases involved Romani victims (see section 1.d.).
    There was no reliable data on the ethnic background of victims of 
police abuse; however, human rights NGOs asserted that a high number of 
complaints were made by Roma and other dark-skinned persons.
    The Government investigation into the June 2005 beating of a Romani 
man by five police officers in Tolna County continued. At year's end 
three police officers were cleared; charges against two others were 
pending. The investigation stemmed from accusations that police beat 
the man after taking him into custody and later went to his brother's 
home where they beat him and threatened his family.
    Investigations begun in August by the county prosecutor and the 
national Roma self government into accusations of police abuse in Szany 
were closed due to insufficient evidence. The case involved complaints 
by a Romani youth and his two non-Romani friends who claimed that they 
were beaten by the local police chief and two of the chief's relatives 
following a complaint that the three were making excessive noise.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons generally met 
international standards; however, overcrowding continued to be a 
serious problem.
    At year's end 14,568 persons were being held in prisons and 
detention centers. During the year the overall prison population rose 
to 158 percent of capacity as compared with 146 percent in 2005. Due to 
changes in 2005 to regulations on detentions, the vast majority of 
pretrial detainees were held in prisons. At year's end there were 3,786 
pretrial detainees in prisons and police detention cells.
    According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the negative effects 
of prison overcrowding included a severe shortage of bed linen, towels, 
clothing, and inadequate medical care. Sanitation and toilet facilities 
were also poor; in some prisons toilets were not separate from living 
spaces. Many police holding cells did not have toilets; lighting and 
ventilation was also inadequate.
    The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison 
conditions by local and international human rights groups, and such 
visits occurred during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.
    From September 18 to 20 and again on October 23, police used force 
to stop violent antigovernment demonstrations. According to a report 
prepared by the independent Gonczol Commission on the protests, 326 
persons and 399 policemen were injured, and 380 protestors were either 
arrested or detained as a result of the demonstrations. Opposition 
parties and NGOs alleged that police excessively and illegally used of 
a water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray (see section 
2.b.). Police officials denied the allegations saying that while some 
officers were under investigation for possible abuse, riot police 
generally used appropriate force to handle violent protestors. At 
year's end allegations of police abuse and government charges against 
civilians who took part in the violent demonstrations remained under 
investigation by police and the Gonczol commission.

    Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, which 
is under the direction of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement, 
is responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining order. City police 
forces and national border guards also share security responsibilities 
under direction of the ministry. Police corruption was a problem, 
particularly soliciting or accepting of bribes from motorists to ignore 
traffic violations. The Government pursued allegations of police abuse 
and corruption. Penalties include reprimand, dismissal, and criminal 
prosecution. Generally, officers are suspended from duty during an 
investigation for abuse or corruption. According to police most 
officers are dismissed when found guilty of wrongdoing. During the year 
16 police officers were convicted of corruption; one was acquitted.
    At year's end investigations continued into numerous offensive, 
anti-Roma, racist postings made on Holdudvar, an internal Web site of 
the national police. The Web site postings were reported to authorities 
by two police officers. The Web site was immediately suspended and 
investigations were launched by the head of the national police and the 
country's ombudsman for minority affairs.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain warrants 
to make arrests. Police must inform suspects upon arrest of the charges 
against them and may detain persons for a maximum of 72 hours before 
filing charges. The law requires that all suspects have access to 
counsel prior to questioning and throughout all subsequent proceedings. 
Authorities must also provide counsel for detained suspects, juveniles, 
the indigent, and those with mental disabilities. However, in practice 
police did not always allow access to counsel, particularly for persons 
accused of minor crimes. In 2003 a bail system was introduced to 
decrease the number of pretrial detainees. However, it was not used 
often because most detainees were not eligible under the statutes of 
the bail system. Bail has been granted 376 times since it was 
introduced.
    In certain circumstances the law permits police to hold suspects 
for only 12 hours or for up to 24 hours of ``public security 
detention'' for persons detained without identification.
    During the first six months of the year, 2,658 persons were in 
pretrial detention for an average of 123 days, according to the 
prosecutor General's Office. Of that number 103 (3.9 percent) were held 
longer than 12 months. In 2005 the average number of days in pretrial 
detention was 126. In some cases time spent in pretrial detention 
equaled but did not exceed prison sentences. The law provides monetary 
compensation for persons who were detained and later acquitted.
    According to NGO reports, Roma were more frequently held in 
pretrial detention than non Roma.
    On April 24, an appeals court in Debrecen upheld a district court 
ruling to free two Romani men from prison because evidence used to 
convict them in 1999 of murder was weak. The court ruled that 
conviction and subsequent sentencing of up to 15 years in prison was 
unlawful. They spent nearly six years in custody.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and the constitution 
provide for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally 
respected judicial independence in practice.
    Under the constitution courts are responsible for administering 
justice; the Supreme Court exercises control over the operations and 
judicial procedure of all other courts and in certain cases can review 
lower court decisions. District courts are courts of first instance; 
regional courts hear appeals from district courts and also function as 
courts of first instance. Five appellate courts handle appeals from 
regional courts.
    The Constitutional Court is independent of the judicial system and 
cannot overturn decisions made by other courts. It is charged with 
reviewing both the constitutionality of laws and statutes and 
international treaties ratified by the Government. The court's 11 
members are appointed directly by the National Assembly for nine-year 
terms. Citizens may bring cases directly to the Constitutional Court. 
The court is required to address all petitions; however, it retains 
discretion on when to issue decisions, which has resulted in a backlog 
of cases and charges of politicization. The Constitutional Court 
generally receives more than 1,000 cases annually. During the year 
1,214 cases were filed with the court; in 2005, 1,208 cases were filed. 
During the year the Constitutional Court issued 413 decisions, as 
compared with 264 in 2005.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, but in some cases judges may 
close a trial to protect the accused or the victim. There is no jury 
system; judges are final arbiters. Judicial proceedings generally were 
investigative rather than adversarial in nature. Defendants are 
presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to counsel 
during all phases of criminal proceedings. Counsel is appointed for 
persons in need and for the indigent, but public defenders were 
generally considered to be substandard.
    Judicial proceedings varied in length, and delays of several months 
to a year were common. Appeal cases may remain pending for indefinite 
periods, during which time defendants are held in detention. Defendants 
can challenge or question witnesses and present witnesses and evidence 
on their own behalf. They also have access to government held evidence 
relevant to their case.Human rights and Romani organizations claimed 
that Roma received unequal treatment in the judicial process.
    Military trials follow civil law and may be closed on national 
security or moral grounds. In all cases sentencing must take place 
publicly. Civilians cannot be tried in military courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Under the law persons may 
initiate lawsuits to seek damages for human rights violations. However, 
fines levied in such cases are often too small to deter violations. 
During the year the Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic 
Minorities succeeded in bringing six cases to court for alleged labor 
discrimination, discrimination in restaurants and bars that denied 
service, and for police abuse. The defense bureau stated that more 
cases of human rights violations should have been lodged with the 
courts, but it lacked the resources to do so.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
    Roma faced discrimination in housing and at times were either 
displaced or forced by local officials to live in less desirable areas 
(see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice; however, there were allegations of political 
interference in editorial and personnel decisions of state owned media.
    There are no laws to prohibit hate speech, denial of the Holocaust 
or similar views. The Constitutional Court has ruled that previous 
attempts by the Government to enact laws to protect human dignity and 
penalize hate speech are a violation of the right to freedom of speech. 
However, there are laws that prohibit public display of symbols such as 
the swastika, hammer and sickle, the red star, among others.
    The media were generally free and independent and expressed a wide 
variety of views without restriction. Several state owned radio and 
television stations were governed by a state appointed public media 
oversight board. In August the President of the European Broadcasting 
Union expressed his concern in a letter to the Prime Minister about the 
poor financial situation of the country's two public television 
stations, claiming that this made them particularly prone to political 
influence.
    Under the law the National Television and Radio Board is 
responsible for monitoring public and commercial broadcasting programs 
and grants licenses and frequencies. All members are appointed 
proportionally by governing and opposition political parties. The board 
monitored news broadcasts for equal treatment of all political parties 
and could fine public and private broadcasters for noncompliance. 
Unlike the previous year, there were no cases of the board levying 
fines or censuring broadcasters. However, opposition political parties 
continued to be critical of the progovernment news coverage in state 
owned media.
    In August a two-year long, political dispute over electing a new 
President of public radio ended with the election and confirmation of 
Gyorgy Such. After taking office Such took steps to increase 
objectivity and more neutral news reporting by eliminating personal 
opinion from news reports and merging news and current affairs 
programs. He also appointed younger journalists to senior positions and 
named a new editor in chief.
    At year's end authorities continued to investigate harassment of 
two photojournalists in June by police who were covering a street brawl 
after a soccer match in Budapest.
    Under the law libel and violations of government secrecy laws are 
criminal offenses. Journalists and other persons can be held liable for 
their statements or for publicizing the statements of others.
    As in previous years, officials resorted to libel laws to claim 
compensation for perceived injuries to character. In May the 
prosecutors's office indicted Gyula Thurmer, President of the Workers 
Party and six co-workers, for alleged slander after Thurmer described a 
2005 decision by Municipal Court President, Laszlo Gatter, as 
politically motivated. In June 2005 Gatter denounced Thurmer and his 
six co-workers for their accusations. At year's end the case remained 
pending.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of journalists 
being prosecuted for slander. In May an appeals court upheld a lower 
court decision to dismiss charges against journalist Margit Klucsik for 
breaching secrecy laws. Klucsik, who works for the daily newspaper 
Nepszava, was prosecuted after publishing an article in 2005 that cited 
a secret police memorandum about criminal evidence gathered against a 
member of the National Assembly.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including via electronic mail. 
There also were no reports of the Government blocking access to 
specific Web sites. However, according to NGOs the Government monitored 
a number of far-right and openly anti-Semitic Web sites (see section 
2.c.). According to a Eurostat study published in the Magyar Hirlap 
newspaper, 42 percent of the country's population had Internet access 
during the year.Academic Freedom and Cultural EventsThere were no 
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    On September 18, an estimated 10,000 antigovernment protestors 
gathered in front of parliament to demand the Government's resignation. 
Some of the protests turned violent overnight as crowds damaged the 
headquarters of the country's public television station and a World War 
II memorial to Soviet soldiers who liberated Budapest. The protests 
continued on September 20. According to a report by the independent, 
government-sponsored Gonczol Commission, 185 protestors and more than 
200 policemen were injured in attempts by police to disperse the 
demonstrations. Riot police used tear gas and a water cannon; 345 
persons were either arrested or detained.
    On October 23, police again clashed with antigovernment protestors 
in Budapest during commemorations to mark the country's 50th 
anniversary of its uprising against Soviet rule. Riot police used 
rubber bullets, pepper spray, and a water cannon to disperse the 
crowds. The Gonczol Commission report stated that 141 persons were 
injured and 35 protestors were arrested or detained.
    As a result of the September and October demonstrations authorities 
filed 120 lawsuits against civilians for alleged involvement in violent 
protests. At the same time, according to the Gonczol report, 156 cases 
of alleged police abuse against protestors were lodged with the chief 
prosecutor's office for police investigations. The National Police also 
lodged eight abuse cases against police officers, and the head of the 
Police Security Service lodged three cases of police abuse. The 
investigations into allegations of police abuse have been complicated 
because some officers covered their badges and other forms of personal 
identification. At year's end 60 officers were identified for alleged 
abuse, and 18 were charged with abuse.
    While the report by the Gonczol Commission criticized police 
officers who concealed their identities and used excessive force, it 
said it was more concerned that police did not break up the 
demonstrations sooner. The commission blamed demonstrators and 
demonstration organizers for causing the violence and injuries and said 
the violent behavior necessitated the use of force by police.
    There was no decision in the ongoing case by the Hungarian Farmer's 
Alliance against Budapest city authorities who blocked the group's 
plans to demonstrate in front of parliament with tractors. In November 
the alliance filed suit with the Constitutional Court claiming city 
officials violated its right to freedom of assembly by erecting traffic 
signs to prohibit entry of tractors into the city center.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice.
    At year's end the appeal of a militant, neo-Nazi group to 
reorganize under a new name to regain its legal status remained 
pending. In October 2005 the Blood and Honor group disbanded following 
a Supreme Court ruling that an appeals court could proceed with a 
hearing on its legal status. In the opinion the Supreme Court found 
that there was no constitutional issue with regard to the right of 
freedom of association and the concept of human dignity as it pertains 
to protecting persons from hate speech and humiliation. In November a 
Budapest court denied the group's reregistration as the ``Pax Hungarica 
Society'' on the grounds that it was no different than Blood and Honor.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    There is no state religion; however, there are four historically 
recognized religious groups (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Evangelical, and 
Jewish) and 146 other registered denominations. The four historic 
religions enjoyed government privileges not extended to the other 
religious groups.
    During the year the Government continued to expedite an estimated 
300 religious property restitution cases filed under a September 2005 
government resolution that was reconfirmed during the year. Under the 
resolution religious groups may ``buy out'' their claims before the 
official restitution procedure ends in 2011. Of the four historically 
recognized churches, the Reformed and Evangelical churches chose not to 
exercise the so-called ``fast-track'' option to resolve their cases.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were acts of anti 
Semitic vandalism and other anti-Semitic incidents. Jewish community 
representatives continued to express concern over the existence of 
anti-Semitism in some media outlets, in society, and in coded political 
speech. They also said they believed that there was a rise in anti-
Semitism towards the end of the year.
    The estimated size of the Jewish population was between 80,000 and 
100,000, or less than 1 percent of the country's population.
    Police said they closed the investigation into a vandalism incident 
on November 6 at a Jewish synagogue in Vac because they could not 
identify any suspects. Unknown offenders painted black paint over the 
fence of the synagogue and sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti, swastikas, 
and other fascist symbols.
    In April during elections for the National Assembly, candidates of 
the nationalistic, far right-wing Hungarian Justice and Life Party 
(MIEP-Jobbik) espoused xenophobic and anti-Semitic slogans. The party 
has not been represented in the assembly since 2002.
    On July 28, two members of the Left-Wing Front-Communist Youth 
Alliance who participated in an anti-Israel protest in Budapest carried 
Israeli flags defaced with swastikas.
    In September and October, some participants in the antigovernment 
protests displayed images linked to the World War II-era, right-wing 
Hungarian Arrow Cross party. Nazi symbols and chants were also seen and 
heard. Some demonstrators erected a ``wall of shame,'' which displayed 
a list of names of those thought to be responsible for the Government 
crisis. The list stressed Jewish personalities.
    The private, right of center weekly newspapers Magyar Demokrata and 
Magyar Forum continued to publish anti-Semitic articles.
    There were numerous far-right Web sites in the country, many of 
which are openly anti-Semitic. NGOs reported that these Web sites were 
monitored by the Government for content because under the law public 
display of symbols such as the swastika, sickle and hammer, and red 
star is prohibited.
    According to police there were 387 reports of vandalism or 
destruction of Jewish and Christian properties (35 in churches and 352 
in cemeteries) during the year, as compared to 216 reported cases in 
2005 and 339 in 2004. Police and religious authorities considered the 
incidents to be acts of youth vandalism and not manifestations of 
religious intolerance.
    There were no developments in the police investigation into the 
vandalism of 130 graves in June 2005 at the largest Jewish cemetery in 
Budapest.
    During the year the Government continued its efforts to combat 
anti-Semitism by clearly speaking out against the use of coded speech 
by right-wing extremists and efforts to promote tolerance education. 
The Prime Minister publicly stated that the country's citizens bore 
responsibility for the Holocaust and facilitated the opening of a 
permanent, state-financed Holocaust Memorial Center. However, the 
status of certain portions of the Government's Holocaust records 
remained unclear. In November a working group under the direction of 
the Prime Minister's office convened to determine the status and 
whereabouts of the country's Holocaust records.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did 
not employ it.
    The law permits the Government to delay, but not deny, emigration 
for those who have significant court assessed debts or who possess 
state secrets.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
prosecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    During the year the Government did not provide temporary protection 
to individuals who do not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and its 1967 Protocol.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
to assist refugees and asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR, 2,117 
asylum applications were filed during the year, as compared with 1,609 
in 2005.
    There were no reports of refugee abuse; however, NGOs continued to 
criticize the Government for prolonged detention of persons who were 
denied refugee status and of other stateless and undocumented persons, 
who awaited adjudication of deportation cases.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The April 2006 National 
Assembly elections were free and fair. The election marked the first 
time a government won a consecutive term in office since democracy was 
restored in the country in 1990.
    There were 42 women in the 386 seat National Assembly, and two 
women in the Council of Ministers.
    There was no readily available information on the number of 
minorities in the National Assembly or the Council of Ministers. 
However, minorities did not appear to be well represented.
    In October following minority self-government elections, there were 
4,533 Roma members of local and national minority self governments 
(MSGs). The MSGs are responsible for organizing minority activities and 
handling cultural and educational affairs. The President of each self 
governed entity also has the right to speak at and attend local 
government assemblies. At year's end 1,118 of the 2,045 active minority 
self governments were Romani.
    As of July 199,789 persons had registered as members of one of the 
country's 13 recognized minority groups that could establish a minority 
self-government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
perception of corruption in the executive and legislative branches. 
During the year the country received a score of 5.2 on Transparency 
International's 10-point index of the degree to which corruption is 
perceived to exist among a country's politicians and public officials. 
The country's 2005 score was slightly better at 5.0, where 10 indicates 
the lowest level of corruption.
    During the year there were no reported police investigations or 
prosecutions of corruption in government. Low level corruption among 
law enforcement officials remained a problem.
    The National Police maintained a nine-person anticorruption unit to 
investigate corruption within the Government, although persons with 
legislative immunity were exempt from its purview. There was no 
independent government body to investigate internal corruption; 
however, the protective service of law enforcement agencies is 
empowered to investigate corruption cases. In February the National 
Assembly adopted a lobbying law designed to increase transparency and 
to regulate lobbying activity that was often perceived to be associated 
with corruption.
    The law provides for access to government information and the 
Government generally provided it upon request. However, many court 
rulings remained unavailable to the public. In January according to a 
new freedom of electronic information law, the Government launched a 
Web site to provide public access to various government actions and 
information. The law, which also took effect in January, obligates 
public institutions to post information of public interest on the 
Internet.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    In August the UN Committee to Eliminate Discrimination Against 
Women stated that the Government was responsible for violating the 
rights of a Romani woman in 2001 in connection with a sterilization 
procedure that was performed without consent. The committee recommended 
that the Government pay the woman compensation commensurate with the 
gravity of the violation of her rights and that medical personnel in 
public and private health centers be made aware of women's reproductive 
rights.
    The committee also recommended that the Government review its laws 
on the principle of informed consent in cases of sterilization to 
ensure that they conform to international human rights and medical 
standards. Other recommendations included the repeal of provisions that 
allow physicians to sterilize persons in certain circumstance without 
informed consent, and monitoring of public and private health centers 
to ensure that fully informed consent is given by patients before 
sterilization procedure are carried out.
    During the year the 19 member National Assembly's Committee for 
Human, Minority, and Religious Rights conducted hearings and 
participated in the legislative process with regard to funding programs 
and proposals affecting minority groups. Separate ombudsmen for human 
rights, data protection, and minority affairs are independent of the 
Government and report annually to the National Assembly on their 
activities and findings. The National Assembly is not legally bound to 
act on the reports. The National Assembly elects the ombudsmen for six 
year terms.
    Persons may seek direct assistance from one of three ombudsmen if 
their complaints have not been addressed elsewhere. Ombudsmen do not 
have the authority to issue legally binding judgments; they act as 
mediators and conduct fact finding inquiries.
    In a report in January, the office of the minority affairs 
ombudsman condemned the activities of a school in Kerepes that 
discriminated against Romani children and included recommendations to 
school authorities and to city officials. The report stemmed from an 
investigation by the minority affairs ombudsman into allegations of 
discrimination against the Romani community involving school 
segregation, access to housing, and employment (see section 5).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
or social status. However, in practice widespread discrimination 
persisted, particularly against Roma. Violence against women, child 
abuse, and trafficking in persons were also problems.
    In January the Government's newly established Equal Treatment 
Authority began operating. It has authority to investigate cases of 
discrimination and to levy fines against violators.

    Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence or 
spousal abuse. The general charge of assault and battery, which carries 
a prison term of up to eight years, is used to prosecute domestic 
violence cases. Expert research in the field of family violence 
indicated that an estimated 20 percent of women were threatened or 
victimized by domestic violence.
    Societal attitudes tended to blame the victim as the cause of 
abuse, and NGOs reported that police generally remained reluctant to 
arrest abusers. Victims' rights advocates indicate that some police 
reluctance may be due to a lack of faith that the judicial system will 
effectively resolve abuse cases. Most incidents of domestic violence 
went unreported from fear and shame on the part of victims. According 
to the national police, 4,620 women were victims of domestic violence 
during the year.
    In June a report released by the UN Committee to Eliminate 
Discrimination Against Women stated that 5.6 percent of all known 
criminal perpetrators, or 7,500 persons, committed crimes against 
family members or relatives. Overall, 25 percent of all crimes against 
persons were committed in the family.
    In February the National Assembly passed a restraining order law to 
help protect persons from abusive spouses. However, NGOs continued to 
criticize the Government for not focusing more attention on the problem 
of domestic violence. The Ministry of Social Affairs operated a 24-hour 
hot line for victims of domestic abuse and provided accommodations at 
government-run shelters.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, but the crime was often 
unreported. Penalties for rape range from two to eight years in prison 
to up to 15 years in prison in aggravated cases.
    During the year police investigated 206 rape-related cases as 
compared with 264 cases in 2005. Allegations of rape are included in 
cases of indecency and crimes against sexual morals. There were no 
figures available, however, on the number of convictions. Police 
reportedly were unsympathetic toward victims of sexual abuse, 
particularly if the victim had been acquainted with her abuser.
    Prostitution is legal, but there are many restrictions on where it 
may be carried out. Estimates of the number of prostitutes in the 
country varied widely. Some observers put the number at 17,000; others 
said it was 30,000. Many prostitutes were either forced or coerced into 
prostitution by pimps. Police regularly fined prostitutes and targeted 
them for physical and verbal abuse.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Although the law does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment in 
the workplace, general harassment is illegal, and the law provides for 
the right to a secure workplace. Nonetheless, sexual harassment 
remained a widespread problem. Women's groups continued to report that 
there was little government support for efforts by NGOs and some 
legislators to criminalize sexual harassment, and that many women 
tolerated sexual harassment in the workplace because they feared losing 
their jobs.
    Women have the same rights as men under family law, property law, 
and in the judicial system. However, there was economic discrimination 
against women in the workplace, particularly against jobseekers over 
the age of 50 and those who were pregnant. During the year the Equal 
Treatment Authority determined that employers had illegally 
discriminated in four cases, with most of the victims being women or 
Roma. The fines levied in the cases ranged from $1,500 (300,000 
forints) to $5,000 (1 million forints).

    Children.--The Government remained committed to children's rights 
and welfare. The law provides for free, compulsory education for 
children through 18 years of age. The Ministry of Education estimated 
that 95 percent of school age children were enrolled in school, 
although the drop-out rate for Romani children was much higher than for 
the overall student population. During the year one study found that 
over 82 percent of Roma have eight years of education or less, compared 
with 36 percent of the rest of the population. Similarly, while an 
estimated 40 percent of the population had some form of secondary 
schooling, among Roma the number was 3.1 percent.
    Although the law forbids official segregation of children according 
to ethnicity or nationality, segregation of Romani children remained a 
problem. Romani children were often placed in remedial classes without 
cause, effectively separating them from other students. NGOs and 
government officials estimated that 20 percent of Romani children were 
in remedial programs and that 700 such segregated classes existed. Many 
schools with a majority of Romani students had substandard buildings 
and resources and simplified teaching curricula. According to the 
European Roma Rights Center, Romani students made up 20 percent of the 
country's student population, but more than 50 percent of students in 
special schools for children with developmental disabilities.
    At year's end a segregation case filed in February by the NGO 
Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF) against city authorities in 
Hajduhadhaz remained pending. The CFCF claimed that two of the city's 
elementary schools openly relegated most Roma students to substandard 
buildings. In June CFCF won the first case of educational segregation 
in the country against the city of Miskolc. In that 2005 case, the CFCF 
stated that school officials relegated Romani and other disadvantaged 
children to separate, poorly maintained buildings and used a simplified 
curriculum to teach children.
    Although the Government provided medical care to school-age 
children, NGOs and Romani activists claimed that Romani children did 
not have equal access to these and other government services.
    According to police there were 1,135 reported crimes against 
children during the year. However, police continued to lack the 
necessary training, capacity, and institutional support to adequately 
protect children, particularly in instances of domestic violence. NGOs 
reported that neglect and abuse occurred in state care facilities such 
as orphanages. In May the ombudsman for civil rights found shortcomings 
in three, state-run child care facilities, the most serious of which 
was the lack of professional care given to children with special needs.
    Child prostitution was not a common practice, and police claimed to 
investigate all such reports vigorously. The law provides for severe 
penalties for persons convicted of sexually abusing children. Although 
child prostitutes were not criminally prosecuted, they can be remanded 
to juvenile centers for rehabilitation and to complete school.
    Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was 
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking in persons to, from, and primarily through the 
country remained a problem.
    The country was a source, transit, and destination country for 
women and girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 
Victims were also trafficked for domestic servitude and manual labor. 
Victims were primarily trafficked from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, 
Poland, the Balkans, and China. They were trafficked to and through the 
country to Austria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, France, 
Switzerland, and the United States. There was also evidence of 
trafficking to Central American and Scandinavian countries, as well as 
to Japan and the United Kingdom.
    Internal trafficking was also a problem. There was no systematic 
method of documenting or estimating the number of women who were 
trafficked from or through the country each year. However, NGOs and 
other organizations that deal with trafficking estimated that 3,000 to 
4,000 persons were trafficked from the country annually.
    Those most at risk of being trafficked were orphans who had reached 
adulthood, young women from the countryside, and young Romani women. 
Women and children from the country were trafficked primarily to 
wealthier destinations in Western and Northern Europe and North 
America. Some NGOs reported anecdotal evidence of trafficking of men 
and boys as young as 12 from Romania to Budapest for the purpose of 
sexual exploitation. Police said they pursued all such information but 
were not able to find corroboration to support these claims. Other NGOs 
also stated that they had not seen any evidence of this type of 
trafficking.
    According to government officials and NGOs, the majority of 
traffickers are individuals or small, family based groups. There also 
are some instances of organized crime engaging in trafficking. 
Organized crime syndicates transported many of the trafficking victims 
for forced prostitution in the country, or through it as a transit 
country. Russian speaking, organized- crime syndicates were active in 
trafficking women through the country.
    Victims were recruited at night clubs and modeling agencies, as 
well as through word of mouth, or even advertisements in local 
newspapers and magazines. Some victims reported that they knew that 
they were going to work illegally; some believed they were getting 
foreign visas, while others expected to work but believed their 
employers were obtaining the appropriate documents.
    Under the law penalties for trafficking range from one to 15 years 
in prison, depending on the circumstances of the case. Trafficking of 
minors is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In cases where a 
trafficking victim is under 12 years of age, the penalty is five to 15 
years, or life imprisonment. If an organized trafficking ring is 
involved, the sentence can be life imprisonment and seizure of assets.
    Government agencies most directly involved in efforts to combat 
trafficking included the newly formed Justice and Law Enforcement 
Ministry, the foreign ministry, as well as police, border guards, and 
custom authorities.
    During the year the Government's interministerial working group on 
trafficking was not able to develop a unified national approach to 
antitrafficking programs. Government officials cited difficulty in 
coordinating trafficking programs and policies overseen by the 
ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Equal Opportunity. In 
addition, a large-scale government restructuring during the year that 
merged the interior Ministry into a new Justice and Law Enforcement 
Ministry also hindered the interministerial group's efforts.
    A special government task force investigated trafficking cases 
involving organized crime, and the Government regularly cooperated with 
other countries in joint trafficking investigations. During the year 
seven foreign nationals were extradited from the country on trafficking 
charges.
    On December 22, the National Assembly ratified the United Nations 
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime which is supplemented 
by the so-called ``Palermo Protocol'' to prevent, suppress, and punish 
trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
    There was no evidence of official government involvement in, or 
tolerance of trafficking. However, reports continued that individual 
border guards were corrupt.
    The Government provided limited financial and property assistance 
to antitrafficking NGOs, donated several buildings to establish an NGO 
trafficking shelter, and allocated $47,000 (10 million forints) for 
trafficking victim protection. During the year the shelter assisted 23 
trafficking victims. There were approximately 60 regional and local 
victim protection offices, which provided psychological, social 
support, and legal aid to trafficking victims and to victims of violent 
crime, including domestic violence. The Ministries of Youth, Family, 
Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity operated a hot line for victims 
of trafficking. Trafficking victims who cooperated with police and 
prosecutors could receive temporary residency status, short term relief 
from deportation, and shelter.
    The Government continued to work closely with NGOs and the 
International Organization Migration (IOM) to promote public awareness 
programs about trafficking. Antitrafficking materials prepared by NGOs 
continued to be included in state-run university programs. The 
Government cooperated with IOM to conduct trafficking prevention and 
awareness programs for potential victims as well as trafficking 
awareness training for police, border guards, prosecutors, consular 
officers, and judicial officials. During the year approximately 160 
teachers and social workers took university classes on trafficking, and 
the Government sponsored trafficking awareness programs in public and 
religious schools.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services; however, 
persons with disabilities faced societal discrimination and prejudice. 
Government sources estimated that there were between 600,000 and 1 
million persons with disabilities (6 to 10 percent of the population).
    Persons with disabilities most commonly faced discrimination in 
employment and access to health care. Approximately 90 percent of 
working-age persons with mental disabilities were not employed. NGOs 
expressed concerns over the lack of independent oversight at 
government-run, long-term care institutions for persons with mental 
disabilities. Sporadic reports of excessive restraint have been 
reported, which experts attributed partly to a lack of sufficient 
numbers of qualified staff to care for patients.
    The international NGO Mental Disability Rights International and 
the local NGO Hungarian Mental Health Interest Forum noted that the 
Government lacked procedures to supervise the treatment and care of 
persons with disabilities who were under guardianship. This lack of 
oversight often resulted in the blanket institutionalization of many 
individuals who did not require it.
    A government decree mandates that all companies with more than 20 
employees must reserve 5 percent of their jobs for persons with 
physical or mental disabilities, with fines of up to 75 percent of the 
average monthly salary for noncompliance. In practice employers 
typically paid fines rather than employ persons with disabilities.
    In December 2005 the National Assembly extended a legal deadline to 
make all public buildings accessible to persons with disabilities by 
2013. To date between 30 and 35 percent of public buildings operated by 
the central and local governments are accessible.
    In February parliament adopted a resolution on the National 
Disability Plan that outlined key strategic goals for government action 
with regard to persons with disabilities. NGOs welcomed the action, 
which among other measures, emphasized a desire to give more individual 
rights to individuals under state guardianship.
    The National Council for the Disabled under the leadership of the 
Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, served as an advisory board to 
the Government. It assisted the Government with the National Disability 
Plan and also monitored its implementation. NGOs, however, noted that 
the council's meetings during the year were sporadic, due in part to 
large-scale government restructuring.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Widespread discrimination 
against Roma remained a problem. Reports of police abuse against Roma 
were common, but many Roma remained fearful of seeking legal remedies 
or of notifying NGOs (see section 1.c.).
    Living conditions for Romani communities continued to be 
significantly worse than for the general population. Roma were 
significantly less educated and had below average income and life 
expectancy. The unemployment rate for Roma was estimated at 70 percent, 
more than 10 times the national average, and most Roma lived in extreme 
poverty. Discrimination against Roma continued in education, housing, 
penal institutions, employment and access to public places, such as 
restaurants and bars.
    According to the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) some media 
outlets in the country promoted anti-Roma hatred and violence following 
the October 17 beating death of Lajos Szogi by a mob in the village of 
Olaszliszka. Two days earlier Szogi hit an 11-year-old Romani girl with 
his vehicle in a road incident. The ERRC condemned the mob violence and 
expressed concern over how major broadcast and print media reported the 
incident. For example, an opinion article in Magyar Nemzet advised 
drivers to drive away without stopping should they run over a Romani 
child.
    In March and August, the Equal Treatment Authority fined two 
companies for discriminating against Roma job seekers in their hiring 
process. In the first case, the fine was $6,500 (1.3 million forints); 
in the second the fine was $3,500 (700,000 forints). In one of the 
cases, officials uncovered clear evidence that a Romani man was denied 
employment solely because of his ethnic background.
    Roma schools were generally more crowded, more poorly equipped, and 
in significantly worse condition than those attended by non Roma 
students (see section 5, Children).
    In a report in January the office of the minority affairs ombudsman 
condemned the activities of a school in Kerepes that discriminated 
against Romani children by regularly segregating them by race in 
special classes, which were separated from the rest of the school by 
locked doors between hallways (see section 4).
    According to the Roma Civil Rights Foundation, many municipalities 
used a variety of techniques to prevent Roma from living in more 
desirable urban neighborhoods. Such techniques included auctioning by 
local governments of special housing for the poor to the highest bidder 
and evicting Roma from areas slated for renovation without financial 
compensation that was adequate to allow them to return after the 
renovations. The foundation also reported that district councils 
threatened to take children from Roma families who could not pay for 
public utilities in order to expedite evictions.
    At year's end the National Assembly passed a law designed to end 
racial discrimination in housing. The law was passed following a 
national investigation into racial discrimination against Roma in the 
allotment of social housing. The investigation was requested by the 
ombudsmen for national and ethnic minority rights and for human rights.
    During the year the position of Political State Secretary for Roma 
Affairs was eliminated as part of the Government's restructuring plan. 
However, most ministries retained Roma coordinators, and the Roma 
Affairs Interministerial Commission continued its work to integrate and 
coordinate Roma affairs.
    The 20 county labor affairs centers also had Romani affairs 
officers focusing on the needs of the Romani community. The Ministry of 
Education and Culture continued to offer financial incentives to 
encourage schools to integrate Romani and non-Romani children in the 
same class rooms and to reintegrate those Roma inappropriately placed 
in remedial programs. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor operated 
a program to finance infrastructure development in Romani communities.
    The Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement also funded a Roma 
antidiscrimination legal service network, which provided free legal aid 
to Roma in cases where they encountered discrimination based on their 
ethnicity.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice, and workers exercised these rights in 
practice. Approximately 23 percent of the labor force was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is 
protected by law, and it was freely practiced. Approximately 38 percent 
of the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements.
    With the exception of military personnel and police officers, 
workers have the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in 
practice. The law permits the unions of military personnel and police 
officers to seek resolution of grievances in the courts.
    There are no export processing zones, but individual foreign 
companies frequently were granted duty free zone status for their 
facilities. There are no exemptions from regular labor laws in the 
duty-free zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory LaborThe law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. Children 
under 16 are prohibited from working, except under certain conditions, 
such as temporary work during school vacations for those between 14 and 
16. Children may not work night shifts, overtime, or at hard physical 
labor. The National Labor Center enforced these regulations in 
practice, and there were no reports of any significant violations.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum monthly 
wage of $310 (62,000 forint) did not provide a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was regularly 
evaluated and raised by the National Council for Interest 
Reconciliation, a tripartite body of employers, employees, and the 
Government. An increased minimum wage of $334 (65,000 forint) will take 
effect in 2007.
    The law sets the official workday at eight hours, although it may 
vary depending upon the nature of the industry. A 48 hour rest period 
is required during any seven day period. The regular work week is 40 
hours, with premium pay for overtime, and the law prohibits overtime 
exceeding 200 hours per year. The law applies equally to foreign 
workers who have work permits.
    Labor courts and the country's labor inspectorate enforced 
occupational safety standards set by the Government, but specific 
safety conditions were not consistent with internationally accepted 
standards, and enforcement was not always effective. Under the law 
workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work 
situations without jeopardizing their continued employment, and this 
right generally was respected in practice.

                               __________

                                ICELAND

    Iceland, with a population of 300,000, is a constitutional, 
parliamentary republic. The President is the head of state; a prime 
minister, usually the head of the majority party, is head of 
government. There is a unicameral parliament (Althingi). In 2004 Olafur 
Ragnar Grimsson was reelected President in free and fair elections. On 
June 7, Geir Haarde (Independence Party) replaced Halldor Asgrimsson 
(Progressive Party) as prime minister when the latter retired from 
politics. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control 
of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights 
problems were reported: violence against women, societal discrimination 
against minorities and foreigners, and isolated reports of women 
trafficked to, through, and possibly from the country.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers.
    In a December 2005 report, the Council of Europe (COE) commissioner 
for human rights expressed concern that prisoners did not have access 
to specialized mental health care services. The commissioner urged the 
authorities to arrange for treatment--outside the prison system if 
necessary--to meet individual care requirements. Prisoners needing 
psychological and psychiatric services continued to experience delays, 
but prison authorities hired a second part-time psychiatrist at the 
prison to ensure that psychiatric personnel were present at least 50 
percent of the time by year's end, up from 25 percent in the summer. 
Emergency needs for either service received immediate attention.
    During the late summer, an increase in arrests and resulting 
pretrial detention caused some overcrowding at the detention facility 
in Reykjavik. At the problem's peak, the facility held between five and 
10 more detainees than its designed capacity. Authorities were forced 
to move some detainees temporarily to the main prison and release 
others sooner than originally planned. Opposition parties criticized 
the minister of justice for not doing enough to construct new prison 
housing to meet increased demand for pretrial detention space. In 
December the Althingi enacted the Government's 2007 budget, which 
included funds for the expansion, modernization, and upgrade of two 
smaller prisons in Kviabryggja and Akureyri, but not for the main 
prison at Litla-Hraun. Throughout the entire prison and detention 
system, during the year an average of 117.7 prisoners occupied 
facilities designed for 137 inmates.
    The Government maintained a separate minimum-security prison for 
female inmates; however, because so few women were incarcerated (five 
or six in July) some men were also held there. Men housed in facilities 
with women were closely monitored and only interacted with women in the 
common areas--they did not share cellblocks. In the rare instances when 
juvenile offenders were incarcerated, they were held with adults, since 
there was no separate facility for juveniles. Pretrial detainees were 
held with convicted prisoners.
    The 110 persons placed in custody during the year spent an average 
of 11.2 days each in solitary confinement. In nine cases prisoners 
spent more than a month in isolation. The average prisoner awaiting 
trial or being tried spent 1.7 days in isolation. Most of the minors 
who were held in custody during the year (fewer than 20 in all) spent 
some time in isolation. The Government permitted visits by independent 
human rights observers during the year. Prisoners could, and did, 
request visits from volunteers from the Icelandic Red Cross, or so-
called ``prisoners' friends.'' The volunteers talked with the prisoners 
and provided them with second-hand clothes upon request. There were no 
prison visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 
during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The minister of justice 
heads the police force. The national commissioner of police administers 
and runs those police operations requiring centralized coordination 
among various offices. Various district chiefs of police have 
responsibility for law enforcement in their areas. The police were 
effective, and corruption was not a problem. Complaints regarding 
police abuses could be directed to a state prosecutor, who in turn 
would seek investigative assistance from the national commissioner or, 
if the national commissioner were the subject of the investigation, the 
Reykjavik police department.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police may make arrests under a number of 
circumstances: when they believe a prosecutable offense has been 
committed, where necessary to prevent further offenses or destruction 
of evidence, to protect the suspect's safety, or when a person refuses 
to obey police orders to move. Arrest warrants were usually not 
required; the criminal code explicitly requires warrants only for 
arrests when individuals fail to present themselves in court to attend 
a hearing or a trial, or to prison to serve a sentence.
    Persons placed under arrest are entitled to legal counsel, which is 
provided by the Government if they are indigent. Authorities must 
inform persons under arrest of their rights and must bring them before 
a judge within 24 hours. The judge determines whether a suspect must 
remain in custody during the investigation; the judge may grant 
conditional release, subject to assurances that the accused will appear 
for trial.
    In his December 2005 report, the COE's commissioner for human 
rights recommended that only judges, not police officers or 
prosecutors, be permitted to place detainees, particularly minors, in 
solitary confinement. The Ministry of Justice disagreed with this 
recommendation and no action was taken.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    There are two levels of courts: district courts, of which there are 
8, and the Supreme Court. The minister of justice appoints all judges, 
who serve for life.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and with limited exceptions an independent judiciary 
enforced this right.
    Courts do not use juries, but multi-judge panels are common, 
particularly in the Supreme Court. The courts presume defendants' 
innocence and generally try them without delay. Defendants receive 
access to legal counsel of their own choosing. For defendants unable to 
pay attorneys' fees, the Government covers the cost; however, 
defendants who are found guilty must reimburse the Government. 
Defendants have the right to be present at their trial, to confront 
witnesses, and to participate in the proceedings. They and their 
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their 
cases. At the discretion of the courts, prosecutors may introduce 
evidence that police obtained illegally. With limited exceptions trials 
were public and conducted fairly. Defendants have the right to appeal, 
and the Supreme Court handles appeals expeditiously.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a single court 
system that handles both criminal and civil matters. The two levels of 
the judiciary--the district courts and the Supreme Court--are widely 
considered to be independent and impartial in civil matters. There were 
no significant reports of problems enforcing domestic court orders. 
Courts often awarded civil payment of damages in criminal cases. In 
both criminal and civil cases, if a guilty party fails to pay awarded 
damages, the Government will intervene to pay the damages and then 
initiate collection action against the delinquent party.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected this prohibition in practice.
    In order to obtain a permit to stay in the country based on 
marriage to a citizen or the holder of a resident permit, a partner or 
spouse must be at least 24 years of age. In 2005 the UN Committee on 
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Council of 
Europe commissioner for human rights both expressed concern about this 
requirement; however, there was no official action during the year in 
response to these concerns.
    Immigration law allows authorities to conduct house searches 
without a prior court order when there is a significant risk that any 
delay would jeopardize an investigation of immigration fraud; they may 
also request DNA tests without court supervision in cases where they 
suspect immigration fraud. In practice neither home searches without 
warrants nor DNA tests took place during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
    The law establishes fines and imprisonment of up to three months 
for those who publicly deride or belittle the religious doctrines of a 
lawful religious association active in the country. Additionally, the 
law establishes fines and imprisonment of up to two years to anyone who 
publicly ridicules, slanders, insults, threatens, or in any other 
manner publicly assaults, a person or a group of people on the basis of 
their nationality, skin color, race, religion, or sexual orientation. 
There were no reports that the law was invoked during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the state financially supported and promoted the 
official religion, Lutheranism. This adversely affected other religions 
in that they did not receive equal time and deference in school 
curricula or comparable subsidies for their faith-based activities.
    The law specifies conditions and procedures that religious 
organizations must follow to be registered by the Government. Such 
recognition was necessary for religious organizations other than the 
state church if they wished to receive a per capita share of church tax 
funds from the Government. Of three groups that applied to register as 
religious organizations during the year, two, the Free Church of 
Iceland and the Baptist Church of Sudurnes, had their applications 
denied on grounds of not being sufficiently well established. The 
Government did not place any restrictions or requirements on 
unregistered religious organizations, which had the same rights as 
other groups in society.
    All citizens 16 years of age and older must pay an annual church 
tax of approximately $121 (8,472 krona). For persons who were not 
registered as belonging to a religious organization, or who belonged to 
one that was not registered and officially recognized, the tax payment 
went to the University of Iceland, a secular institution. Atheists and 
humanists objected to having their fee go to the university, asserting 
that this was inconsistent with the right of freedom of association.
    In January the Icelandic Pagan Association (Asatuarfelagith) sued 
the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Ministry of 
Finance to receive funding proportional to its membership from monies 
currently made available only to the national church. These monies 
supplement the income that the national church receives from church 
taxes, exclusively favoring state Lutheranism, which the plaintiff 
alleged was a violation of the antidiscrimination provisions of the 
European Convention of Human Rights. In November the Reykjavik District 
Court ruled that the state does not have to give the association 
comparable funding to what the national church is receiving. The court 
based its reasoning on the fact that the national church is obligated 
by law to provide a number of services and carry out specific 
functions, so it is not unjust that it gets more funding from the state 
than other religious organizations. Representatives of the pagan 
association said they intended to appeal the verdict to the Supreme 
Court but had not done so by year's end.
    The law mandates religious instruction in Christianity in the 
public schools; however, students may be exempted from attending the 
classes upon parental request.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are no official groups 
representing Jews in the country, and the community numbers under 100 
individuals.
    The law establishes penalties of fines and up to two years in 
prison for verbal or physical assault on an individual or group based 
on religion. The law also establishes fines and imprisonment of up to 
three months for those who publicly deride or belittle the religious 
doctrines of a lawful religion association active in the country. There 
were no reports that the law was invoked during the year.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The 
Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees, 
but it had no fixed refugee acceptance requirements.
    Asylum seekers were eligible for state-subsidized health care 
during the processing of their cases, which at times took a year or 
more. They could enroll their children in public schools after being in 
the country for three months, and some children of asylum seekers were 
enrolled in public schools during the year. Asylum seekers could also 
apply for work permits. However, human rights advocates criticized the 
law for not specifying which ``significant human rights reasons'' must 
underpin granting temporary residence (and eligibility for work 
permits) while asylum cases are processed, arguing that the situation 
created the possible appearance of arbitrary decisions. This echoed 
such groups' criticism of the vagueness of criteria for granting 
asylum.
    Since 1984 only one person has been granted asylum as a political 
refugee. Officials rejected most asylum applications and eventually 
deported most applicants; however, some asylum seekers have been 
accepted on humanitarian grounds. The minister of justice appoints the 
director of immigration, who heads the deciding body for asylum cases. 
Some observers have asserted, as the Council of Europe commissioner for 
human rights did in a December 2005 report, that this hierarchy could 
constitute a conflict of interest. The law is ambiguous about the 
criteria for granting and denying asylum, and this ambiguity, combined 
with the low number of approved asylum applications, left unclear the 
considerations that are applied in adjudicating the applications of 
asylum seekers. The law allows for accelerated refusal of applications 
deemed to be ``manifestly unfounded.''
    Asylum seekers also faced other impediments. They were not entitled 
to legal representation during their initial asylum interviews before 
the Directorate of Immigration, although legal assistance was provided 
for any appeals. Asylum seekers had no access to the court system. They 
could address appeals against negative decisions only to the Ministry 
of Justice.
    In August 2005 CERD expressed concern about reports that border 
guards did not always handle asylum requests properly and encouraged 
the Government to intensify its efforts to provide systematic training 
to these officials. The Government did not directly respond to this 
concern and did not announce any action during the year to address it.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent 
Presidential election was held in 2004, when Olafur Ragnar Grimsson won 
85.6 percent of the valid votes for his third term in this mostly 
ceremonial office. Elections to parliament in 2003 were free and fair. 
Center-right coalitions have governed since 1991.
    There were 23 women in the 63-seat parliament and four women in the 
12-member cabinet. Two of nine Supreme Court members and 13 of 38 
district court judges were women. Foreigners who have resided in the 
country legally for five years (three years for citizens of 
Scandinavian countries) may vote in municipal elections. No members of 
minority groups held seats in the parliament.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and 
noncitizens, including foreign media. Appeals against refusals by 
government authorities to grant access to materials may be referred to 
an information committee consisting of three persons appointed to four-
year terms by the Prime Minister. Permanent employees of government 
ministries may not be members of the committee.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The Icelandic Human Rights Center acted as the country's leading 
human rights organization, vetting government legislation and reporting 
to international treaty monitoring bodies as well as promoting human 
rights education and research. The center was funded primarily by the 
Government but also by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), unions, 
and the city of Reykjavik; it operated as an NGO. The Government did 
not respond to criticism from CERD and the COE commissioner for human 
rights in 2005 regarding its decision to cease direct support for the 
center's operating expenses, but it continued to provide grants to the 
center for specific initiatives.
    The Government cooperated with international organizations and 
permitted visits by the ICRC.
    An independent ombudsman, elected by parliament, monitored and 
reported to national and local authorities on human rights developments 
to ensure that residents, whether citizens or aliens, received equal 
protection. Individuals could lodge complaints with the ombudsman 
regarding decisions, procedures, and conduct of public officials and 
government agencies. The ombudsman may demand official reports, 
documents, and records, may summon officials to give testimony, and has 
access to official premises. He continued to complain during the year 
that government agencies were responded slowly to requests for 
information and documents, causing delays in his handling of cases. By 
year's end the Government had not responded to these complaints. While 
the ombudsman's conclusions are not binding on authorities, his 
recommendations were generally followed. There was also a children's 
ombudsman (see section 5).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides that everyone shall be equal before the 
law and enjoy human rights irrespective of gender, race, social status, 
or language. Various laws implement these principles, and the 
Government effectively enforced them.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, violence 
against women continued to be a problem. Police statistics indicated 
that the incidence of reported violence against women, including rape 
and sexual assault, was low; however, the number of women seeking 
medical and counseling assistance indicated that many incidents went 
unreported. During the year 99 women sought temporary lodging at the 
country's shelter for women, mainly because of domestic violence. The 
shelter offered counseling to 219 clients. Also during the year, 143 
women sought assistance at the National Hospital's Rape Crisis Center.
    Legislation enacted in April permits judges to increase the 
sentences of persons who committed violence against persons with whom 
they had a domestic relationship or other close bond. Neither the 
Ministry of Justice nor the Office of the State Prosecutor maintained 
statistics on prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse.
    The Government helped finance various facilities and organizations 
that provided assistance to victims of violence. In addition to 
partially funding such services, the Government provided help to 
immigrant women in abusive relationships, offering emergency 
accommodation, counseling, and information on legal rights. Courts 
could issue restraining orders, but there were complaints that police 
were reluctant to recommend them and that courts granted them only in 
extreme circumstances. Victims of sexual crimes were entitled to 
lawyers to advise them of their legal rights and help them pursue cases 
against the alleged assailants; however, a large majority of victims 
declined to press charges or chose to forgo trial, in part to avoid 
unwanted publicity. Some local human rights monitors also attributed 
underreporting to the infrequency of convictions, due to the heavy 
burden of proof and to traditionally light sentences. While average 
sentences for domestic violence showed a gradual increase, the courts 
continued in many cases to base sentences on precedent and rarely made 
full use of the more stringent sentences available under the law. 
According to statistics from the Women's Shelter, 19 percent of their 
clients pressed charges during the year, up from 13 percent in 2005.
    In September the Government set into motion a plan for reducing 
domestic and sexual violence against women and children during the 
years 2006-11. Its main goals were: to increase preventive measures 
that should encourage an open debate on violence against children and 
gender-based violence, as well as foster a shift in societal attitudes; 
to train and encourage staff in all public institutions to recognize 
the symptoms of violence against children and gender-based violence; to 
provide victims of domestic or sexual violence with proper care; and to 
break the ``circle of violence'' by stepping up therapy options for 
perpetrators.
    Rape carries a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison. Judges 
typically imposed sentences of one to three years. Spousal rape is not 
explicitly addressed in the law. In 2005 the Icelandic Counseling and 
Information Center for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Reykjavik noted 
that the number of reported rapes rose faster than the number of 
convictions when compared to previous years. In March 2005 the UN Human 
Rights Committee expressed concern that what it considered a heavy 
burden of proof for rape complainants was leading to a low conviction 
rate. The Government did not address this point in its response to the 
committee's concerns.
    Prostitution was legal but rare. It was illegal to engage in 
prostitution as a main source of income or to act as an intermediary in 
the sale or procurement of sex.
    There were concerns that some foreign women were trafficked to work 
as exotic dancers or in massage parlors where sexual services are 
offered (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates that violations 
are punishable by fines; however, the law was not effectively enforced 
in practice. There was no central authority that plaintiffs could 
report to, or from which they could seek redress, and employers were 
free to decide whether to provide their employees with information on 
the legal prohibitions against sexual harassment in the workplace. 
While gender equality advocates reported receiving several complaints a 
year, the charges never became court cases, suggesting that victims 
were unsure how to proceed with their claims and skeptical as to their 
reception.
    Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including under family 
law, property law, and the judicial system. Despite laws that require 
equal pay for equal work, a pay gap existed between men and women. 
According to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs, 
during the year women on average earned 15.7 percent less than men in 
the same professions. Affirmative action provisions in the law state 
that if women are underrepresented in a certain profession, employers 
have an obligation to hire female candidates over equally qualified 
male candidates.
    The Government continued to fund a center for promoting gender 
equality to administer the Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of 
Women and Men. The center also provided gender equality counseling and 
education to national and municipal authorities, institutions, 
companies, individuals, and NGOs. The minister of social affairs 
appoints members of a Complaints Committee on Equal Status, which 
adjudicates alleged violations of the act; the committee's rulings are 
nonreviewable. The minister of social affairs appoints an Equal Status 
Council, with nine members drawn from national women's organizations, 
the University of Iceland, and labor and professional groups, which 
makes recommendations for equalizing the status of men and women in the 
labor market.
    During the year the Complaints Committee on Equal Status decided 13 
cases involving hiring during the year and found that the law on equal 
rights had been breached in two of them. Both involved the public 
University of Iceland where authorities hired male rather than female 
candidates for openly advertised positions. In one case in June, the 
complaints committee ruled that the rector's appointment of an 
associate professor represented gender bias and observed that the 
rector had not provided an adequate explanation for appointing a man 
instead of a woman (in August the female candidate was hired as a 
professor at Reykjavik University, a private institution). In the 
second case, the complaints committee ruled in December that the hiring 
of a male candidate for a research position similarly represented 
gender bias and was in breach of the law.
    In June parliament amended the law on public corporations to place 
greater emphasis on gender representation on their boards of directors.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare; it funded public education and health care. School 
attendance is compulsory through the age of 15 and free through public 
university level. According to government-published statistics for 
2005, approximately 94 percent of students continued to advanced 
secondary education.
    The Government provided free prenatal and infant medical care, as 
well as heavily subsidized childcare; girls and boys had equal access 
to these services.
    There were reports of abuse of children during the year. The Agency 
for Child Protection received 1,047 reports of abuse. Of these 353 
cited emotional abuse, 385 were related to physical abuse, and 317 to 
sexual abuse. The agency operated seven treatment centers and a 
diagnostic facility for abused and troubled minors. It also coordinated 
the work of 32 committees throughout the country that were responsible 
for managing child protection issues (for example, foster care) in 
their local areas. The local committees hired professionals 
knowledgeable about sexual abuse.
    In an effort to accelerate prosecution of child sexual abuse cases 
and lessen trauma to the child, the Government maintained a children's 
assessment center (Barnahus). During the year the center conducted 194 
investigative interviews, 117 children underwent assessment and 
therapy, and 14 medical examinations were performed. The center was 
intended to create a safe and secure environment where child victims 
might feel more comfortable talking about what happened to them. It 
brought together police, prosecutors, judges, doctors, and officials 
from child protection services. District court judges were not required 
to use the center and could hold investigatory interviews in the 
courthouse instead, a practice that concerned some children's rights 
advocates. In practice all district courts except for the Reykjavik 
District Court opted to use the center's services. In September, in 
response to public complaints by the Agency for Child Protection, the 
presiding judge for the Reykjavik District Court responded that the 
court had sufficient staff expertise and did not require the center's 
services.
    The children's ombudsman, who is appointed by the Prime Minister 
but acts independently of the Government, fulfilled her mandate to 
protect children's rights, interests, and welfare by, among other 
things, seeking to influence legislation, government decisions, and 
public attitudes. When investigating complaints, which typically 
involved physical and psychological abuse and inadequate accommodation 
for children with illnesses or disabilities, the ombudsman had access 
to all public and private institutions and associations that house 
children or otherwise care for them; however, the ombudsman's 
conclusions were not legally binding. The ombudsman was not empowered 
to address individual cases.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were isolated reports that persons were trafficked to, 
through, and possibly from, the country.
    Although information about trafficking is based on hearsay, the 
total number of cases during the year was under 100. Cases fell into 
several categories, none of which involved more than a few documented 
victims: young Asian men and women caught while being trafficked via 
Keflavik International Airport; ``mail-order'' or ``Internet'' brides 
(both Eastern European and Asian) trapped with abusive, controlling 
Icelandic husbands; and underpaid or mistreated prostitutes and workers 
in nightclubs and massage parlors.
    There were reports of foreign women, married to local men, who 
lived in conditions akin to slavery. These women worked long hours, and 
their husbands took their salaries, and some of the men sold the sexual 
services of their wives.
    In January a Chinese citizen won a civil suit of approximately 
$71,000 (4.7 million krona) for unpaid wages for administering 
therapeutic massages at a Kopavogur massage parlor.
    Responsibility for efforts to prevent and punish trafficking lay 
mainly with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Justice; 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also involved in antitrafficking 
efforts.
    Women's aid groups reported that there was evidence that foreign 
women were trafficked to the country primarily to work in striptease 
clubs or massage parlors offering sexual services. A number of 
municipalities have banned private clubs that feature dancing, believed 
to serve as a front for prostitution and possibly trafficking, but 
clubs appeared able to circumvent the regulations with impunity. One 
club marketed private dances on its Web site and in full-page newspaper 
advertisements that depicted a seminude woman reclining on a bed. The 
Baltic countries were the main countries of origin for women working in 
such clubs and parlors, with others coming from Central and Eastern 
Europe and Russia. There were no statistics on the number or origin of 
women actually trafficked. To work as an exotic dancer, any person from 
outside the European Economic Area (EEA) must first obtain a work 
permit, which is typically valid for three months. Social workers 
suspected that most foreign women working in this field came from 
within the EEA and were thus impossible to track through work permit 
applications. A specialist at the Intercultural Center stated in a 
newspaper interview that one or more foreign women sought assistance at 
the center every week to protect themselves from violence caused by an 
abusive husband or boyfriend. Two of the women interviewed during the 
year said their husbands had forced them into prostitution.
    The law prohibits trafficking in persons with the aim of sexual 
abuse or forced labor and provides for imprisonment of up to eight 
years for those found guilty of these offenses. During the year police 
did not charge any persons with trafficking.
    Although the Government sought to clamp down on elements of the sex 
industry thought to be primary venues for victims of trafficking, there 
was no coordinated government effort to investigate the trafficking 
phenomenon outside of the general context of increased government 
efforts to combat organized crime, and no public officials were 
specifically designated to prosecute trafficking cases, which senior 
officials described as very few. During the year the Government 
reorganized the national police to provide more effective analysis and 
investigation against organized crime and sexual offenses, to include 
prostitution and trafficking. The minister of justice called for 
further efforts to combat such crimes.
    The Government provided funding for the Women's Shelter (Stigamot), 
the country's counseling and information center for survivors of sexual 
violence, and the rape crisis center of the National Hospital, whose 
services included assistance to victims of trafficking. However, there 
was no established government assistance program specifically for 
victims of trafficking. Some NGOs provided government-supported 
counseling and shelter to women and children who were victims of 
violence or sexual abuse, including victims of trafficking. The Human 
Rights Center and Intercultural Center were also available to assist 
with trafficking cases and make referrals.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities, and there were no reports of 
official discrimination in employment, education, access to health 
care, or the provision of other state services. The law also provides 
that persons with disabilities receive preference for government jobs 
when they are at least as qualified as other applicants; however, 
advocates for persons with disabilities asserted that the law was not 
fully implemented and that such persons constituted a majority of the 
country's poor.
    Building regulations require that public accommodations and 
government buildings, including elevators, be accessible to persons in 
wheelchairs, that public property managers reserve 1 percent of parking 
spaces (a minimum of one space) for persons with disabilities, and that 
sidewalks outside the main entrance of such buildings be kept clear of 
ice and snow to the extent possible. Violations of these regulations 
are punishable by a fine or a jail sentence of up to two years; 
however, the main association for persons with disabilities complained 
that this regulation was not regularly enforced and that authorities 
rarely assessed penalties for noncompliance.
    Some mental health advocates criticized the Government for not 
devoting sufficient attention and resources to the care of persons with 
mental disabilities. Although the law provides them with rights to a 
number of services at no cost, a large number of persons with mental 
disabilities remained on waiting lists for housing, education, and 
employment programs. Advocates alleged that government funding for the 
care of persons with mental disabilities was inadequate and that the 
government-financed health system funded too few hospital places for 
acute patients and thus exacerbated a shortage of publicly funded 
preventative and follow-up mental health care.
    In October the Government initiated an action plan for the years 
2006-10 to strengthen residential services such as group homes for 
those with mental disabilities. The action plan also covers support 
services such as rehabilitation and employment participation. The 2007 
government budget enacted in December contained funding increases to 
initiate several of the projects covered by the plan.
    The Ministry of Social Affairs was the lead government body 
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. It 
coordinated the work of six regional offices that provided services and 
support to persons with disabilities. It also maintained a diagnostic 
and advisory center in Reykjavik that aimed to create conditions 
allowing persons with disabilities to lead normal lives.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Immigrants were visible in the 
largely homogeneous population and suffered occasional incidents of 
harassment based on their race and ethnicity.
    The Immigrant Council, established in November 2005 to coordinate 
the work of four ministries and the municipalities on immigrant and 
refugee issues, began its work in May. The council began gathering 
statistical data on immigration and coordinating outreach efforts to 
assist immigrants, including refugees, to integrate successfully.
    An April poll indicated that a third of respondents would consider 
voting for a party with an anti-immigrant platform if one were to be 
established. Most ``anti-immigrant'' respondents were in their late 
teens or early twenties, were not highly educated, and lived in the 
Reykjavik suburbs.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and workers exercised these rights. Labor unions were 
independent of the Government and political parties. Approximately 85 
percent of all eligible workers belonged to unions.
    The law requires employers to withhold union dues (1 percent gross 
pay) from the pay of all employees, regardless of their union status, 
to help support disability, strike, and pension funds, and to finance 
other benefits to which all workers are entitled.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law allows workers to 
bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Nearly 100 percent of the workforce was covered by collective 
bargaining agreements. Workers had the right to strike and exercised 
this right in practice.
    There were no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the 
employment of children younger than age 16 in factories, on ships, or 
in other places that are hazardous or require hard labor; this 
prohibition was observed in practice. Children 14 or 15 years old may 
work part-time or during school vacations in light, nonhazardous 
occupations. Their work hours must not exceed the ordinary work hours 
of adults in the same occupation. The Administration of Occupational 
Safety and Health enforced child labor regulations effectively.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law does not establish a 
minimum wage, but the minimum wages negotiated in various collectively 
bargained agreements applied automatically to all employees in those 
occupations, regardless of union membership. While the agreements can 
be either industry- or sector-wide, or in some cases firm-specific, the 
minimum wage levels are occupation-specific. Labor contracts provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family.
    The standard legal workweek was 40 hours, which included nearly 
three hours of paid breaks a week. Work exceeding eight hours in a 
workday must be compensated as overtime. Workers were entitled to 11 
hours of rest within each 24-hour period and to a day off every week. 
Under special defined circumstances, employers may reduce the 11-hour 
rest period to no less than eight hours, but they then must compensate 
workers with one and a half hours of rest for every hour of reduction. 
They may also postpone a worker's day off by a week. The Occupational 
Safety and Health Administration effectively enforced these 
regulations.
    There were indications that immigrant workers received substandard 
treatment. The media and labor organizations reported that a number of 
immigrant workers were paid wages well below union-mandated minimum, 
were denied medical coverage, and were required to work very long hours 
while living in substandard housing or even sleeping on building sites. 
Judging by anecdotal evidence from press accounts, such cases may have 
numbered in the dozens. The country's labor unions took the lead in 
investigating and protesting this mistreatment. They began inspecting 
conditions at work sites, including construction sites and restaurants, 
noting the number and nationality of workers employed. Citizen 
employees reported to their unions on working conditions and treatment 
of foreigners, and this practice acted as a check on mistreatment. In 
December 2005 parliament passed legislation to regulate temporary-work 
agencies that imported laborers and to protect their employees. 
Protective measures included prohibiting the agencies from charging the 
employees, in addition to the employers, for their services; requiring 
that the agencies establish written contracts with workers specifying 
the work to be performed; and giving employees the right to change 
employers. The Directorate of Labor of the Ministry of Social Affairs 
was charged with enforcing the new law.
    The legislature set health and safety standards, and the Ministry 
of Social Affairs administered and enforced them through its 
administration of occupational safety and health. The ministry could 
close workplaces until they met safety and health standards. Workers 
had a collective, but not individual, right to refuse to work at a job 
that did not meet occupational safety and health criteria. It is 
illegal to fire workers who report unsafe or unhealthy conditions.

                               __________

                                IRELAND

    Ireland is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with an executive 
branch headed by a prime minister (Bertie Ahern), a bicameral 
parliament (Oireachtas), and a directly elected head of state, the 
President (Mary McAleese). The country's population is approximately 
4.23 million. Free and fair parliamentary elections took place in 2002. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. The law and judiciary provided effective means of addressing 
individual instances of abuse. Overcrowding and other harmful prison 
conditions, societal mistreatment of children, domestic violence, and 
trafficking in persons were the main human rights abuses during the 
year.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were 
reports of abuse by police officers.
    In 2005 the Police Complaints Board recorded 1,173 complaints, 
including abuse of authority, discourtesy, neglect, and discreditable 
conduct by police officers, compared with 1,232 such complaints in 
2004. Of the 2005 complaints, 51 were adjudicated as minor breaches of 
discipline and referred to the police commissioner, and 23 were deemed 
breaches of discipline and referred to a tribunal.
    The Morris Tribunal, established in 2002, continued to investigate 
allegations of police corruption in County Donegal. Several police 
officers were accused of planting evidence, changing official 
statements, and intimidating witnesses in relation to the 1996 death of 
a local businessman. During the year the tribunal determined that two 
officers had planted evidence and that three others attempted to cover 
up the crime. The tribunal highlighted a pattern of insubordination and 
lack of discipline within the Donegal police force.
    During the year the independent police inspectorate, created in 
2005 in response to concerns about police conduct, continued to examine 
operational, investigative, managerial, and policing strategies 
relating to the police force and published its first report. The report 
recommended changes in two serious structural issues: lack of civilian 
support within the police organization and an overemphasis on 
headquarters and specialized units. However, at year's end no action 
had been taken on the recommendations (see section 1.d.).
    In several communities there were reports that violence against 
racial minorities and immigrants occurred; however, police stated that 
they received no complaints about misconduct from ethnic or religious 
groups (see section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--While prison conditions 
generally met international standards, there was some overcrowding, and 
work and sanitation conditions remained poor in some prisons.
    Overcrowding in prisons became a public concern following the death 
of three inmates within a four-week period in August at Dublin's 
Mountjoy Prison. In an overcrowded holding cell, one inmate with a 
history of psychiatric illness beat another inmate to death. Another 
inmate died of a drug overdose, and the third committed suicide. The 
inspector of prisons had informed authorities of the overcrowding at 
Mountjoy in a report that covered 2004-05. In an effort to alleviate 
Mountjoy Prison's overcrowding, some prisoners were sent during the 
year to other prisons. The same report also strongly criticized St. 
Patrick's Institution, a detention center for young men aged 16 to 21, 
for its lack of focus on rehabilitation. During the year approximately 
70 of the 198 inmates at St. Patrick's Institution were school-aged, 
although only 31 attended school. In October the educational workshops 
at the institution, which had been closed since 2003 for budgetary and 
health-related reasons, reopened.
    The law permits children between the ages of 15 and 17 to be placed 
in prison if they are found to be unsuitable for a detention school. An 
estimated 170 children and teenagers were placed in adult prisons 
during 2005.
    Human rights groups continued to criticize understaffing and poor 
infrastructure at the Central Mental Health Hospital in Dundrum, the 
country's only secure hospital for prisoners with mental disabilities. 
In May the Government approved construction of a new secure hospital 
for mentality ill patients.
    In most cases the Government permits prison visits by domestic and 
international human rights observers but requires prior appointments 
for such visits. There were no visits by such groups during the year; 
however, on October 18, the Council of Europe's Committee for the 
Prevention of Torture or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) 
announced it had visited a number of penal institutions earlier in the 
month and presented recommendations to the Government.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions. The use of special arrest and detention authority 
continued, primarily for those involved in paramilitary organizations.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
have primary responsibility for internal security but are generally 
unarmed; therefore the army, under the minister of defense, may act in 
support of police when necessary. There were limited problems of police 
corruption, which the Government investigated, and no known problems of 
impunity (see section 1.c.).

    Arrest and Detention.--In order to make an arrest, authorities must 
have a warrant issued by appropriate authorities, except when police, 
with reasonable cause, suspect that an offense has been committed and 
that a person is guilty of that offense. Suspects detained by police 
must be promptly informed of the charges against them and may not be 
held more than 24 hours without charge. For ``scheduled offenses,'' 
i.e. crimes involving firearms, explosives, or membership in an 
unlawful organization, a judge has discretion to extend, upon the 
police superintendent's request, the detention of a suspect for an 
additional 24 hours.
    The law requires that authorities bring a detainee before a 
district court judge as soon as possible to determine bail status 
pending a hearing; the judge decides whether to release the detainee on 
bail or continue detention until an appointed court date.
    The law permits detention without charge for up to seven days in 
cases involving individuals suspected of drug trafficking; however, to 
hold a suspected drug trafficker for more than 48 hours the police must 
seek a judge's approval.
    Detainees and prisoners are allowed unrestricted access to 
attorneys. If the detainee does not have an attorney, the court 
appoints one; for indigent detainees the Government provides an 
attorney through the free legal aid program.
    There is a functioning bail system; the law allows a court to 
refuse bail to a person charged with a serious offense (one that 
carries a penalty of five years' imprisonment or more) or when deemed 
necessary to prevent the commission of another serious offense.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    The judicial system consists of district courts, circuit courts, 
the High Court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, and the Supreme Court. 
The President appoints judges recommended by the Judicial Appointment 
Board, which makes its selection from a list presented by the 
Government.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    The director of public prosecutions, an independent government 
official, prosecutes criminal cases. Jury trials are generally used in 
criminal cases, and the accused may choose an attorney. Indigent 
defendants have the right to an attorney at public expense. Defendants 
enjoy a presumption of innocence and have the right to present 
evidence, to question witnesses, and to appeal.
    The law explicitly allows ``special courts'' to be created when 
``ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the effective administration 
of justice and the preservation of public peace and order.'' A nonjury 
``special criminal court'' tries ``scheduled offenses'' and any other 
case that the director of public prosecutions certifies as one that an 
ordinary court cannot adequately handle. The composition of the special 
criminal court, always a three-judge panel, is determined by the 
judicial branch and usually includes one high court judge, one circuit 
court judge, and one district court judge. The panel's verdicts are by 
majority vote. Rules of evidence are generally the same as in regular 
courts, but the sworn statement of a police chief superintendent 
identifying the accused as a member of an illegal organization is 
accepted as prima facie evidence of the accused person's membership in 
the organization. Proceedings of special criminal courts are generally 
public, but judges may exclude certain persons other than journalists. 
Special criminal court decisions, like decisions in all criminal cases, 
may be appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
    The constitution also allows parliament to pass legislation that 
establishes tribunals with limited powers to investigate certain 
matters, usually cases of government corruption, although, if 
warranted, formal charges may be brought on the basis of the tribunal 
findings. The legislation sets out the powers of the tribunal and the 
procedures that will be applied. Some tribunals are established to last 
indefinitely. Others are established for a specific task only and cease 
to exist when that task is completed.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The independent and 
impartial judicial system hears civil cases and appeals on civil 
matters, including damage claims resulting from human rights 
violations; such claims may be brought before all appropriate courts, 
including the Supreme Court.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The constitution provides for freedom of the press with the 
qualification that it not ``undermine public order or morality or the 
authority of the state.'' The constitution prohibits the publication or 
utterance of ``blasphemous seditious, or indecent'' matter.
    The law prohibits the use of words, behavior, or the publication or 
distribution of material which is threatening, abusive, or insulting 
and intended or likely to stir up hatred. There were no reports that 
these provisions were invoked during the year.
    The law empowers the Government to prohibit the state-owned radio 
and television network from broadcasting any material ``likely to 
promote or incite to crime or which would tend to undermine the 
authority of the State.'' Authorities did not invoke this prohibition 
during the year.
    The independent print media were active and expressed a wide 
variety of views without government restriction.
    Broadcasting remained mostly state controlled, but private-sector 
broadcasting continued to grow. There were 54 independent radio 
stations and two independent television stations. Access to cable and 
satellite television was widespread.
    A Publication Board has the authority to censor books and magazines 
that it finds indecent or obscene. The board did not exercise this 
authority during the year.
    The Office of the Film Censor must classify films and videos before 
they can be shown or sold; it must cut or ban any film that is 
``indecent, obscene, or blasphemous,'' or which tends to ``inculcate 
principles contrary to public morality or subversive of public 
morality.'' During the year the film censor did not ban any films, but 
it did ban one video because of its pornographic content.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
Internet was widely available and used by citizens.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution generally provides for freedom of assembly, 
and the Government respected this right in practice. The law allows the 
state to ``prevent or control meetings'' that are calculated to breach 
the peace or to be a danger or nuisance to the general public.
    On February 27, police dispersed demonstrators who responded 
violently to a ``love Ulster'' march in Dublin involving Northern 
Ireland unionists. The demonstrators attempted to block the march and 
then attacked police deployed at the scene, precipitating a riot. The 
rioters set fire to several vehicles, damaged local buildings, and 
looted a small number of shops. The police subdued the rioters and 
dispersed the protestors within hours of the initial outbreak of 
violence. Several police, protesters, and bystanders were injured. The 
police arrested 41 persons, 13 of whom were charged.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. Approximately 88 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. 
There is no official state religion.
    The Government permits, but does not require, religious instruction 
in public schools, and parents may exempt their children from such 
instruction.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In February a man was 
sentenced to 20 months in jail for multiple counts of anti-Semitic 
vandalism, including painting swastikas on three synagogues and 
painting swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on the Dublin Jewish 
Museum in 2005. He was released on bail pending an appeal. He was also 
scheduled to face 23 further charges of sending offensive e-mails to 
Jewish individuals. The trial for these charges was scheduled for 
January 12, 2007, in the Drogheda District Court.
    In July unknown persons painted anti-Semitic graffiti on the 
exterior wall of an embassy during the conflict involving Israel and 
the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. The police promptly 
removed the graffiti, but those responsible for the graffiti were never 
identified. According to the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-
Semitism (CFCA), the Israeli embassy received dozens of telephone calls 
during the July-August conflict between Israel and the terrorist group 
Hizbolah in Lebanon. Several of the calls compared Israel to Nazi 
Germany, and one caller said that ``it was a pity Hitler did not finish 
the job.'' Also according to the CFCA, the country's Chief Rabbi 
received an anti-Semitic phone call in mid-July, and a pair of 
children's shoes, on which the word, ``Qana,'' (a reference to a 
community in Lebanon shelled by the Israeli Air Force) was written in 
red ink, was found outside the synagogue in Cork in August.
    According to the 2002 census, the Jewish community numbered 1,790 
persons. The 2006 census did not give respondents a box marked 
``Jewish'' to check, due to the small number of Jews in the country. 
Jewish respondents had the option of writing in their religion under 
the ``other'' category.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government recognized 648 asylum seekers as refugees 
during the year. The Government also provided temporary protection to 
individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and its 1967 Protocol and provided it to approximately 39 persons from 
January through May. The Government cooperated with the Office of the 
UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections, 
which observers considered to be free and fair, were held in May 2002. 
In 2004, in accordance with the constitution, the President began her 
second term in office; the absence of any other candidates at the end 
of her first seven-year term eliminated the need for a ballot.
    There were 23 women in the 166-seat House of Representatives (Dail 
Eirann) and 10 women in the 60-seat Senate (Senad Eirann). The 
President is was woman, and three of the 15 government ministers were 
women. Three women sat on the 34-member High Court, and three of the 
eight Supreme Court judges were women.
    There were no members of minorities in the lower House of 
Representatives, the Senate, or the Cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of possible government corruption. The most widely publicized 
instance involved the Prime Minister, who was under scrutiny for 
financial payments and loans accepted from friends and business 
associates during his tenure as minister for finance in 1993-94. The 
Irish Times reported details of the Prime Minister's actions after an 
anonymous source within the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning 
Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon tribunal, passed 
confidential information from the tribunal to the newspaper. Although 
the Prime Minister's actions were not unlawful, the opposition 
political parties criticized the Prime Minister for unethical behavior.
    The law provides for public access to government information and 
obligates statutory agencies to publish information on their activities 
and make it available to citizens and noncitizens upon request. 
Authorities generally granted requests by the public for information 
and did not charge prohibitive fees. There were mechanisms for 
appealing denials.
    Tribunals operated on the basis of confidential information but 
published their findings and made them available to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of 
gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age, 
disability, race, and membership in the Traveller community. However, 
discrimination against racial minorities, including immigrants and 
Travellers, remained a problem.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a problem. 
A July 2005 study by the National Crime Council and the Economic and 
Social Research Institute reported that 15 percent of women at some 
time experienced domestic abuse by a partner. Of these women, 29 
percent reported the abuse to police, while only 7 percent contacted a 
help line.
    The law prohibits domestic violence, authorizes prosecution of a 
violent family member, and provides victims two types of protection: 
safety orders and barring orders. Safety orders prohibit a person from 
engaging in violent actions or threats but do not require the 
individual to leave the home, while barring orders prohibit a person 
from entering the family home for up to three years. The law allows 
claimants to apply for interim protection while courts process their 
cases. Violations of these orders are punishable by a fine of up to 
approximately $2,489 (1,900 euros) or 12 months' imprisonment. 
According to official statistics, in 2005 the courts received 2,866 
safety order applications and 3,183 barring applications; in both 
categories, more than a third of the applications were granted and 
nearly two-thirds were withdrawn. Of the safety and barring orders 
granted, more than half were related to the spouse of the applicant. In 
2005, 1,103 proceedings for breach of orders were initiated.
    The Government funded centers throughout the country for victims of 
domestic abuse.
    The law criminalizes rape, including within marriage, and provides 
for free legal advice to victims of serious sexual assault. The Courts 
Service annual report documented a total of 75 rape cases tried in 
2005, in which 40 persons were convicted of rape and other sexual 
offenses. They received sentences of between five and 12 years in 
prison. At the end of 2005, 58 rape cases were pending.
    In rape cases, the Government brings formal charges against the 
accused, with the victim acting as a witness. The law provides for 
separate legal representation for victims in rape and other serious 
sexual assault cases when counsel for the defendant applies to enter 
evidence or to cross-examine the victim about his or her past sexual 
experience.
    Strengthened statutory rape legislation to eliminate ignorance of 
the victim's age as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing prevented 
convicted perpetrators from leaving prison by arguing that they were 
unaware of the victim's age, an acceptable legal argument under the 
previous law. The law changed after one man convicted of statutory rape 
successfully appealed his conviction on this premise and was released. 
Several other appeals were pending when the law changed, effectively 
eliminating the basis for the appeals.
    Rape crisis centers, funded in part by the Government, provided 
support by immediate telephone contact and one-on-one counseling. 
Government programs provided long- and short-term housing options for 
victims of sexual violence. All police received training on the 
investigation of cases of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault.
    In 2005 the Dublin Rape Crisis Center reported receiving 12,244 
counseling calls in all categories (child sexual abuse, adult rape, 
adult sexual assault, and sexual harassment), an upward trend in the 
frequency of calls. The center reported that 95 of the 335 rape victims 
recorded in 2005 reported their attacks to the police, resulting in 
five defendants being tried and four convicted.
    Although prostitution is not a crime, it is illegal for a person in 
a street or public place to solicit for the purposes of prostitution. 
The offense applies equally to a prostitute soliciting a client, a 
client soliciting a prostitute, or a third party soliciting one on 
behalf of the other. The same offense and penalties apply to 
prostitutes, clients, or anyone who solicits in a public place. It is 
also an offense to solicit another person in order to commit certain 
sexual offenses, such as sexual offenses with underage persons or to 
keep or to manage a brothel. Reports of, and arrests for, prostitution 
were rare.
    There was anecdotal evidence that women were trafficked for sexual 
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
    The law obliges employers to prevent sexual harassment and 
prohibits dismissing an employee for making a complaint of sexual 
harassment. The Equality Authority investigates claims of unfair 
dismissal and may require an employer charged with unfair dismissal to 
reinstate the employee or pay the employee up to 104 weeks' pay. In the 
few cases of sexual harassment that were reported to them, authorities 
effectively enforced the law.
    Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under 
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Equality 
Tribunal and the Equality Authority are the main statutory bodies that 
enforce and administer the discrimination laws. Nonetheless, 
inequalities persisted regarding pay and promotions in both the public 
and private sectors. Women constituted 45 percent of the labor force 
but were underrepresented in senior management positions.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare, allocating ample funds to systems of public 
education and health care. Education is free and compulsory for 
children from age six to 15. The Department of Education reported that 
approximately 99 percent of children between the ages of five and 16 
attended school and that 92 percent completed upper secondary 
education.
    The Government makes available to all children a range of health 
services, including free immunizations and vaccinations and free 
prescribed drugs and medications. The Government covers all health 
services for residents below a certain income level.
    The law establishes strict guidelines for organizations providing 
services to children to identify and report cases of physical and 
sexual child abuse. Numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) 
offered support for victims as well as resources for parents and 
professionals who work with children.
    During the year the UN Committee on the Rights of Children 
expressed concern over the level of child poverty, alcohol abuse among 
children, and proposed changes to the youth justice system that would 
permit criminal prosecution of children as young as 10 years old.
    In 2005 the Dublin Rape Crisis Center reported that 46 percent of 
calls to its crisis line involved child sexual abuse. The 15 member 
centers of Rape Crisis Network Ireland provided face-to-face support to 
3,529 individuals, 39 percent of whom were children. The law requires 
government health boards to identify and help children who are not 
receiving adequate care, and it gives police increased powers to remove 
children from the family if there is an immediate and serious risk to 
their health or welfare.
    The law prohibits the trafficking and sexual exploitation of 
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see 
section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
    An ombudsman for children investigates complaints from children or 
persons acting on their behalf against various governmental and 
nongovernmental bodies and has a role in promoting general child 
welfare.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons. 
There were reports, which the Government investigated, that the country 
was a transit and destination point for a significant number of 
trafficking victims from Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and 
Asia. The country may also be a transit point for persons trafficked to 
or from Northern Ireland. There was anecdotal information that some 
women were trafficked within the country.
    Socially disadvantaged noncitizen women and children, asylum 
seekers, refugees, and economic immigrants were most likely to be 
trafficking victims.
    NGOs reported that women were smuggled or trafficked into the 
country primarily for sexual exploitation and that men may be smuggled 
or trafficked into the country for work in the construction industry or 
agricultural sector. There were no reliable statistics on the number of 
possible victims of trafficking, but press reports and anecdotal 
information from the police indicated that the number increased during 
the year. However, the most credible NGOs reported there were fewer 
than 30 victims. NGOs also reported that traffickers targeted more 
vulnerable younger women who knew little English, lacked legal status, 
and had no recourse to social or familial networks. The traffickers 
generally placed their victims in apartments, where illegal activities 
were easier to hide. NGOs reported that traffickers used the Internet 
to advertise and solicit victims. NGO and press accounts of the 
experiences of trafficking victims identified both Irish and foreign 
nationals among the traffickers. The majority of foreign traffickers 
were from Eastern Europe.
    The law expressly criminalizes trafficking in children for the 
purpose of sexual exploitation, with penalties of up to life 
imprisonment. The law also criminalizes trafficking in illegal 
immigrants and asylum seekers. The Police National Immigration Bureau 
(GNIB) and the Department of Justice are responsible for combating 
trafficking.
    In July 2005 the Dublin District Court began the trial of a man 
charged with trafficking a Mauritius national into the country. The 
trial was still pending at year's end. There were no trafficking 
convictions during the year.
    The Government trained law enforcement officials on how to extend 
protection assistance to potential victims of trafficking. In August 
the Government initiated an antitrafficking campaign, using 
multilingual posters to advertise a toll-free telephone number that 
victims of trafficking could call for assistance. Through this number 
they were referred to police and various NGOs for such services as 
temporary accommodations and access to social and legal counsel.
    The ministries of justice and foreign affairs and the GNIB were 
involved in antitrafficking efforts, and there was coordination between 
government officials, NGOs, and other elements of civil society on 
trafficking issues.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state 
services, and the Government effectively enforced these provisions. The 
law requires access to buildings for persons with disabilities, where 
possible, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in 
practice.
    A National Disability Authority has responsibility for setting 
disability standards, monitoring the implementation of these standards, 
and researching and formulating disability policy.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination and 
violence against immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities, including 
Asians, East Europeans, and Africans, continued to be a problem. 
Racially motivated incidents involved physical violence, intimidation, 
graffiti, and verbal slurs; the majority of the incidents took place in 
public places. In November the Economic and Social Research Institute 
issued a publication, Migrants' Experience of Racism and Discrimination 
in Ireland, which reported that 35 percent of migrants interviewed had 
experienced discrimination or harassment in public places.
    During the year 141 racially and ethnically motivated incidents 
were reported, an increase from the 94 incidents reported in 2005. The 
Police Racial and Intercultural Office trained police on interacting 
with persons of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. There were 
also 34 officers who were specially trained in conflict resolution 
involving foreign nationals where language was a problem.
    Approximately 25,000 nomadic persons regard themselves as a 
distinct ethnic group called ``Travellers,'' who have their own history 
and culture. Travellers faced societal discrimination and were 
regularly denied access to premises, goods, facilities, and services; 
many restaurants and pubs, for example, would not serve them. While the 
law does not recognize Travellers as an ethnic group, there is a 
specific designation that protects them under the antidiscrimination 
laws.
    Despite national regulations providing that no child may be refused 
admission to school on account of social position, Travellers 
frequently experienced difficulties enrolling their children in school. 
Traveller students were not taught in separate classrooms. Of the 
estimated 5,000 Traveller families, approximately 1,000 lived on 
roadsides or other temporary sites without electricity or sanitary 
facilities. Many Travellers depended on social welfare for survival and 
their participation in the economy was limited by discrimination and 
lack of education.
    The law specifically prohibits discrimination against Travellers, 
and a small number of discrimination lawsuits were filed and won during 
the year against proprietors for refusing to serve Travellers. The 
Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act requires local elected officials 
to draw up and implement Traveller accommodation plans on a five-year 
basis and requires them to solicit Traveller input into the process. 
Under this act, each community must provide adequate accommodations for 
Travellers. Traveller NGOs argued, however, that many communities 
provided Travellers with housing, such as government-owned apartments 
or townhouses, which was inconsistent with the nomadic Traveller 
lifestyle or provided halting sites that did not include basic 
amenities such as sanitary facilities, electricity, and water. 
Government expenditures on Traveller-specific reached an estimated $148 
million (114 million euros) during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
right to form and join unions of their choice, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. Approximately 33 percent of workers in the 
private sector were union members, compared with 95 percent in the 
public sector. Police and military personnel may form associations, but 
technically not unions, to represent themselves in matters of pay, 
working conditions, and general welfare.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Labor unions have the 
right to pursue collective bargaining and unions exercised this right 
in practice; however, employers are not required to engage in 
collective bargaining with employees. The law provides for the right to 
strike, and workers exercised this right in both the public and private 
sectors. Police and military personnel, however, are prohibited from 
striking.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the export processing zone at Shannon Airport.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government implemented laws and policies to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace. Under the law, employers may not employ 
children under the age of 16 in a regular, full-time job. Employers may 
hire 14- or 15-year-olds for light work on school holidays as part of 
an approved work experience or educational program. Employers may hire 
children over the age of 15 on a part-time basis during the school 
year. The law establishes rest intervals and maximum working hours, 
prohibits the employment of 18-year-olds for late night work, and 
requires employers to keep more detailed records on workers under 18 
years of age. The Office of the Labor Inspectorate at the Department of 
Enterprise, Trade and Employment is responsible for enforcement.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage is 
$10.02 (7.65 euros) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard 
of living for a worker and family; however, low-income families are 
entitled to such benefits as subsidized housing, medical coverage, and 
children's allowances. During the year reports persisted that the pay 
of non-Irish migrant workers was sometimes below the minimum wage, 
particularly in the rural agricultural and construction sectors. Partly 
in response to these reports, the Government established a labor-
monitoring agency independent of the Department of Enterprise, Trade, 
and Employment, which primarily represents business interests.
    The standard workweek is 39 hours. Working hours in the industrial 
sector are limited to nine hours per day and 48 hours per week. 
Overtime work is limited to two hours per day, 12 hours per week, and 
240 hours per year. The Government effectively enforced work-hour 
standards. Although there is no statutory entitlement to premium pay 
for overtime, it could be arranged between employer and employee.
    The Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment is responsible 
for enforcing the laws dealing with occupational safety, and these laws 
provided adequate and comprehensive protection. There were no 
complaints from either labor or management during the year regarding 
significant shortcomings in enforcement. Regulations provide workers 
with the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations that 
present a ``serious, imminent, and unavoidable risk'' without jeopardy 
to their continued employment.

                               __________

                                 ITALY

    Italy is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a population of 
approximately 58.4 million. The bicameral parliament consists of the 
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. National parliamentary elections, 
which determine who will be President and prime minister, were held in 
April and were considered free and fair. A center-left coalition led by 
Prime Minister Romano Prodi replaced the center-right coalition led by 
former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The parliament elected Giorgio 
Napolitano as the new President. The civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, although there were problems in some areas. Despite extensive 
delays, the law and judiciary otherwise provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. Journalists and prosecutors 
increased their criticisms of police behavior and filed a greater 
number of cases against them for various crimes. Lengthy pretrial 
detention, excessively long court proceedings, violence against women, 
trafficking in persons, and abuse of Roma remained problems.
    Parliament adopted a law reducing the prison sentences for minor 
crimes committed before May 2, a measure that resulted in the release 
of 17,400 prisoners and significantly reduced prison overcrowding.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and 
courts and investigators dealt with earlier killings by government 
agents and with politically motivated killings by nongovernmental 
actors.
    In 2005 a police officer in Turin shot and killed a Senegalese 
immigrant who refused to exit his vehicle during a drug search. The 
incident was under investigation at year's end.
    In March a court sentenced each of seven police officers in Naples 
to seven years in prison for the shooting death of a military 
parachutist in 2003.
    In April the Court of Cassation, the country's highest appellate 
court, sentenced a policemen to 10 years in prison for the 2000 killing 
of a 16-year-old boy.
    In March a court sentenced the leader of the New Red Brigades 
(Communist Combatant Party) to life in prison for the March 2003 murder 
of a police officer. In July and in 2005, in cases involving some of 
the same suspects, the Rome appeals court sentenced three Red Brigade 
members to life in prison and nine others to lesser sentences for the 
1999 killing of Massimo D'Antona, an academic advisor to the labor 
ministry. In December the Bologna court sentenced four Red Brigade 
members to life in prison and one to 21 years for the 2002 murder of 
another labor ministry academic advisor, Marco Biagi. In March and 
June, the Rome court sentenced five Red Brigade members to life and one 
to 16 years' imprisonment for the 2002 killing of Marco Biagi.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
reports that police occasionally used excessive force against persons 
detained in connection with common criminal offenses or in the course 
of identity checks. While this behavior affected both citizens and 
foreigners, Roma and immigrants were at particular risk (see section 
5).
    In 2004 authorities charged a prison guard in Lombardy with raping 
an Albanian immigrant in custody. The case remained under investigation 
at year's end.
    The investigation of an off-duty police officer who shot and 
injured a 16-year-old boy in 2004 was still ongoing at year's end.
    In 2003 a Nigerian immigrant accused two policemen in Rome of 
abusing him while he was in their custody; the alleged abuses included 
burns to his abdomen. The incident occurred after the immigrant had 
attempted to escape. The case was under investigation at the end of the 
year.
    In March the court gave a seven-month sentence to a police officer 
convicted of using excessive force and causing personal injury to a 
number of individuals when police were trying to clear approximately 
100 activists from a Milan emergency room waiting area in March 2003. 
During the year one of two other officers charged in the incident was 
acquitted, and a court sentenced two of four activists investigated for 
violence against police on the same occasion to 20 months in prison.
    At year's end the trial continued of 27 police officers, including 
senior officers, charged with perjury, conspiracy, or assault during a 
2001 police raid on a building used by protesters at the G-8 summit in 
Genoa in 2001. A separate trial continued of 45 police officers 
indicted for ``inhuman or degrading treatment,'' including assault, 
during the subsequent detention of those protestors.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, although some prisons remained 
overcrowded and antiquated. In July parliament approved a reduction in 
sentences for minor crimes that significantly reduced the number of 
prisoners (see section 1.d.). In November, after many prisoners were 
released, there were 39,200 inmates (down from 61,300 in June) in a 
prison system designed to hold 42,500; however, the uneven distribution 
of those released left a few institutions still overcrowded. Older 
facilities lacked outdoor or exercise space; some prisons lacked 
adequate medical care. Approximately 62 percent of the inmates were 
serving sentences; the other 38 percent consisted mainly of detainees 
awaiting trial or the outcome of an appeal.
    During the year, according to an independent research center, 58 
prisoners died while in custody, 35 of them by suicide.
    The 20 temporary detention centers for illegal immigrants continued 
to be overcrowded. The newly elected government provided improved 
access to detention centers for representatives of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and nongovernmental organizations 
(NGOs.)
    The law does not require that pretrial detainees be held separately 
from convicted prisoners, and they are held together in some smaller 
prisons.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
organizations, parliamentarians, and the media. Amnesty International 
(AI), the UN Human Rights Commission, the Committee Against Torture of 
the Council of Europe (CPT), and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture 
regularly assessed the country's judicial and prison systems. Several 
municipalities appointed independent ombudsmen to promote the rights of 
detainees and facilitate access to health care and other services.
    In April the Government authorized publication of a report of the 
CPT, whose representatives visited prisons, detention centers, and 
police stations in 2004. The report noted that some inmates suffered 
such abuses as incarceration in cramped conditions, lack of access to 
lawyers, poor medical treatment, and xenophobic and racist insults. In 
response to the report, the Government indicated that it had built four 
new prisons, was upgrading another eight, and had hired additional 
prison staff, including psychologists and cultural mediators.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Four separate police 
forces, which report to different ministerial or local authorities, 
effectively enforced law and order. The national police and the 
financial police are under the jurisdiction of the interior and finance 
ministries, respectively. The Ministry of Defense controls the 
carabinieri, a military security force; however, the Ministry of 
Interior assumes control of carabinieri and financial police units when 
they perform law enforcement functions. Under exceptional circumstances 
the Government may call on the army to provide security in the form of 
police duty in certain local areas, thereby freeing the carabinieri and 
local police to focus on other duties.
    Allegations of police corruption by journalists and prosecutors 
increased. In January eight carabinieri officers in Milan were arrested 
on charges of graft and evidence tampering. The officers reportedly 
used false evidence to extort money from a number of previous 
offenders, three of whom were wrongfully convicted and returned to 
prison until an investigation raised questions about the evidence. The 
accused were released. The officers' trial had not begun by year's end.
    In April 2005 authorities charged 12 police officers with 
corruption, abuse of authority, and perjury, because of their contacts 
with criminal organizations. The charges were based on wiretaps. The 
case remained under investigation at year's end.
    Both the Government and the judiciary investigated police abuses 
and prosecuted police who mistreated persons in custody. The trial of 
29 police officers charged in 2003 with unlawful imprisonment and 
assault in Genoa in 2001 continued (see section 1.c.).

    Arrest and Detention.--To make arrests, police are required to have 
warrants issued by duly authorized officials, unless there is a 
specific and immediate danger to which they must respond. The examining 
magistrate must decide within 24 hours of a suspect's detention whether 
there is enough evidence to proceed with an arrest. The investigating 
judge then has 48 hours in which to confirm the arrest and recommend 
whether the case goes to trial. Authorities generally respected the 
right to a prompt judicial determination in practice. Under the law 
detainees are entitled to prompt and regular access to lawyers of their 
choosing and to family members. The state provides a lawyer to 
indigents. In exceptional circumstances--usually in cases of organized 
crime figures--where there is danger that attorneys may attempt to 
tamper with evidence, the investigating judge may take up to five days 
to interrogate the accused before the accused is allowed to contact an 
attorney. There is no provision for bail; however, judges may grant 
provisional liberty to suspects awaiting trial. As a safeguard against 
unjustified detention, a detainee may request that a panel of judges 
(liberty tribunals) review his case on a regular basis and rule on 
whether continued detention is warranted.
    In 2005 the President signed into law a new antiterrorism decree 
that: doubles to 24 hours the amount of time police can hold suspects 
without charge; makes arrests for crimes involving terrorism 
obligatory; allows police to take DNA samples from suspects for 
identification purposes; makes it easier for intelligence services to 
conduct wiretaps; requires identification to purchase telephone cards 
and a license to operate an Internet cafe; increases penalties for 
concealing one's identity in public places; allows the Government to 
deport suspects under investigation without court approval (suspects 
may appeal only after the deportation occurs); and expands the legal 
grounds for deportation to include concern that an individual's 
presence might facilitate terrorist activities or organizations. In 
November the European Human Rights Committee blocked deportation orders 
against three individuals the authorities considered terrorists, citing 
the need to investigate whether they would be subject to persecution if 
they were returned to their home country, Tunisia.
    Since adoption of the 2005 law, authorities have employed it to 
deport 32 immigrants suspected of links to terrorist networks.
    Preventive detention may be imposed as a last resort if there is 
clear and convincing evidence of a serious offense. Serious offenses 
are defined as those that carry maximum prison sentences of four years 
or more, such as some crimes involving the Mafia or crimes related to 
terrorism, drugs, arms, and subversion. Authorities may also use 
preventive detention if there is a risk that an offense might be 
repeated or that evidence might be falsified. Except in extraordinary 
situations, preventive detention is prohibited for pregnant women, 
single parents of children under age three, persons over age 70, and 
those who are seriously ill.
    Despite restrictions on pretrial detention, it remained a serious 
problem. During the first half of the year, 20 percent of all prisoners 
were in pretrial detention awaiting the beginning of their trials and 
16 percent were awaiting a final sentence. The maximum term of pretrial 
incarceration is two years for a crime with a maximum penalty of six 
years in prison, four years for a crime with a maximum penalty of 20 
years, and six years for a crime with a maximum penalty of more than 20 
years.
    According to some judicial experts, a few prosecutors used pretrial 
detention as pressure to obtain confessions.
    In July parliament approved a law that granted a three-year 
reduction in prison sentences for minor crimes committed before May 2; 
it does not apply to sentences committed for the crimes of terrorism, 
trafficking in persons, mafia-related crime, pornography, rape, or drug 
trafficking. The effect of the law was to release 17,400 prisoners, 
greatly easing overcrowding of prisons.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice; however, most court cases involved long trial 
delays. Pressure on the judicial system, primarily through the 
intimidation of judges by organized crime groups, further complicated 
the judicial process. In February and March, a judge who was a member 
of a court of appeals that sentenced 39 mafia members to prison for 
life was the target of a series of episodes of intimidation (notes, 
graffiti, bullets were left in front of his apartment) in Catanzaro.
    There are three levels of courts. Either a single judge or a court, 
which may consist of a panel of judges or include a jury, hears cases 
at the level of first instance. At the second level, civil and criminal 
appeals are heard by separate courts with juries. Both sides may appeal 
decisions of the court of appeals to the highest court, the Court of 
Cassation in Rome, but only for reasons related to law, not to the 
merits of the case. A separate Constitutional Court hears cases 
involving possible conflict between laws and the constitution or 
involving conflicts over the duties or powers of different units of 
government.
    Legislation enacted in 2005 reformed the judicial system by 
altering the career track of professional magistrates (who previously 
functioned as both prosecutors and trial/appellate judges) to require 
them to become either prosecutors or judges. It also made the promotion 
of judges conditional upon passage of an examination and allows 
district prosecutors to determine the priority of cases. The 
legislation gives the Court of Cassation authority to discipline 
magistrates who participate in political activities, leak information, 
or otherwise violate judicial rules of procedure.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
Trials are public. Defendants have access to an attorney in a timely 
manner to prepare a defense. Defendants may confront and question 
witnesses against them, and they may present witnesses and evidence on 
their behalf. Prosecutors must make evidence available to defendants 
and their attorneys upon request. The law grants defendants the 
presumption of innocence. Defendants may appeal verdicts to the highest 
appellate court.
    Domestic and European institutions continued to criticize the slow 
pace of justice in the country. In 2005 over 800 petitions were pending 
in the European Court of Human Rights seeking compensation from the 
Government for excessively long proceedings. Observers cited several 
reasons for delays: the absence of effective limits on the length of 
pretrial investigations; the large number of minor offenses covered by 
the penal code; unclear and contradictory legal provisions; and 
insufficient resources, including an inadequate number of judges.
    In January 2005 the chief prosecutor of the Court of Cassation 
estimated that 81 percent of reported crimes went unpunished. A year 
later he reported that on average it took 401 days to complete a 
criminal trial, 860 days to complete an appeal, an additional 918 days 
if a case was referred to the Court of Cassation.
    The courts had significant leeway to determine when the statute of 
limitations should apply, and defendants often took advantage of the 
slow pace of justice to delay trials through extensive pleas and 
appeals (see section 3). In February parliament enacted a law that 
limits the power of prosecutors to appeal acquittals by eliminating the 
intermediary appellate level and requiring that appeals go directly to 
the Court of Cassation. For the first time the new law also allows 
appeals based on evidence presented during the trial; previously, the 
grounds for appeal were limited to interpretation or application of the 
law itself.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides 
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. 
Administrative remedies are determined by law and arbitration is 
allowed and regulated by contracts. In most cases citizens turned to 
arbitration because of trial delays. In 2004 the average time required 
to complete a civil trial was 798 days; 636 days were required to 
complete an appeal, and another 317 days to appeal to the Court of 
Cassation.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. Searches and 
electronic monitoring were generally permissible under judicial warrant 
and in carefully defined circumstances; however, the new antiterrorism 
decree made it easier for intelligence agencies to obtain permission to 
conduct wiretaps. The new antiterrorism decree also required the 
purchasers of telephone cards to provide identification.
    The media published leaked transcripts of both legal and illegal 
wiretaps during the year. Prosecutors and magistrates called for new 
legislation making it a crime to publish transcripts of illegal 
wiretaps. Published wiretaps included information relating to the 
arrest of Prince Victor Emanuele on charges of corruption and running a 
brothel, charges of game-fixing against coaches and referees of major 
soccer teams, and charges of inappropriate interference in the sale of 
banks that led to the resignation of the governor of the Bank of Italy. 
There were also accounts of alleged industrial espionage and illegal 
wiretaps relating to the sale of a national telecommunications company 
(see section 1.f.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic 
freedom. An independent press and judiciary and a functioning 
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and 
the press.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal, and the authorities did not impede such criticism. In 
January parliament enacted a law that replaces imprisonment with fines 
as punishment for desecrating the flag or insulting the President.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views.
    There were approximately 80 newspapers in circulation, eight of 
them national. Former prime minister Berlusconi (leader of the 
opposition coalition, controlled two of the national newspapers. 
Critics charged that through his ownership share of the company 
Mediaset, Berlusconi also directly or indirectly controlled three of 
the country's seven national television broadcast channels. The three 
state-owned channels (Radiotelevisione Italiana or RAI) and other 
networks broadcast a wide range of opinion that reflected the full 
spectrum of political views in the country. Disputes over partisanship 
on the airwaves continued to prompt frequent political debate, and NGOs 
contended that media ownership was concentrated in too few hands.
    On April 29, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a 
judge ordered journalist Mario Spezi released after 22 days in jail. 
Authorities detained Spezi in Perugia. His detention occurred days 
before the appearance of a book he coauthored that criticized the 
Perugia public prosecutor's investigation of a series of long-
unresolved killings. News reports indicated that the journalist was 
under investigation for attempting to sidetrack an investigation and 
defaming Perugia prosecutors in the media.
    The NGO Reporters Without Borders and the journalists' union 
criticized several judicial actions against journalists. In August 
prosecutors ordered police to search the premises of two national 
newspapers to ascertain the source of articles related to the 
investigation of an alleged rendition by foreign officials of an imam 
who was being investigated for terrorist activities by the Milan 
prosecutor. The case remained under investigation at year's end.
    In September two journalists claimed they were the subject of 
illegal wiretaps and that the country's intelligence services followed 
them because of their reports on alleged illicit activities by the 
security services.
    In May 2005, on the orders of a prosecutor, financial police 
searched the office of a national newspaper and interrogated some 
journalists to ascertain the source of an article on arms trafficking. 
Neither the newspaper nor the prosecutor took further action on the 
case. Observers noted that there were contradictory statutes that 
maintained the sanctity of journalistic sources on the one hand and 
authorized magistrates to carry out investigations into journalistic 
sources on the other.
    Unlike in previous years, politicians filed no defamation suits 
against journalists; however, action was pending or taken on several 
suits filed by politicians in earlier years. In July 2005 former prime 
minister Berlusconi filed a libel suit against a British journalist 
over a book in which the journalist alleged that Berlusconi was 
involved in criminal activity and political corruption; Berlusconi was 
seeking $1.27 million (one million euros) in compensation; no action 
was taken in the case by year's end. In March a judge dismissed charges 
filed by the former prime minister against another journalist who 
published a book about the alleged involvement of Berlusconi's 
companies in mafia-related crime. In April 2005 a trial of three 
journalists from the newspaper, Coriere della Sera, began; they were 
accused of defaming Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League 
party in 2003; the trial was ongoing at year's end.
    In 2005 the President of a Muslim association filed a defamation 
suit against the writer Oriana Fallaci for the publication of a book 
critical of Islam. The prosecutor first ordered the dismissal of the 
case, but a judge subsequently sent the case to trial in Bergamo. The 
book remains on sale, and Ms. Fallaci died in September, effectively 
ending the suit.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail; 
however, the Government could block foreign-based Internet sites if 
they contravened national laws. The new antiterrorism decree requires 
that the operator of an Internet cafe obtain a license.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    There is no state religion; however, an agreement between the Roman 
Catholic Church and the Government provides the Catholic Church certain 
privileges. For example, it may select Catholic religion teachers, 
whose earnings are paid by the Government. The law authorizes the 
Government to enter into relations with organizations representing non-
Catholic religions pursuant to an accord (intesa) that allows the 
Government to provide support (including financial) to the 
organization; these accords are voluntary and initiated by the 
religious groups themselves. Several minority religious groups 
benefited from such accords. The Government has also negotiated accords 
with several others, including the Buddhist Union and Jehovah's 
Witnesses organization; however, the parliament recessed in April 
without enacting the legislation necessary to put them into effect. 
Divisions between the country's Muslim organizations, as well as large 
number of Muslim immigrant groups, hindered that community's efforts to 
seek an intesa.
    There were occasional reports that government officials or the 
public objected to women wearing a burqah (a garment that completely 
covers the face and body). The 2005 antiterrorism decree doubled 
existing penalties for persons convicted of wearing such attire as a 
burqah (or a crash helmet) in order to hide their identity. Penalties 
were increased to two years in jail and fines of approximately $1,310 
(1,000 euros) to $2,620 (2,000 euros) (see section 1.d.).
    In May an administrative tribunal ruled that the 2005 deportation 
of the imam of Turin on the grounds that he was preaching hate and 
violence was groundless. The courts did not review the use of similar 
grounds in 2005 to expel the vice President of the Como Muslim Cultural 
Center. There were no reports of such expulsions during the year.
    The continuing presence of such Christian symbols as crucifixes in 
many government offices, courtrooms, and other public buildings drew 
criticism and continued to be the subject of lawsuits. In February an 
appeals court rejected a mother's efforts to remove crucifixes in her 
children's classroom in Albano Terme; the judge noted that the crucifix 
is not just a religious symbol but can express secular values as well. 
A poll conducted during the year indicated that 80 percent of the 
population supported having crucifixes in schools and public buildings.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's approximately 
30,000 Jews maintain synagogues in 21 cities. There were no violent 
anti-Semitic attacks during the year, but societal anti-Semitic 
prejudices persisted, and small extremist fringe groups were 
responsible for anti-Semitic acts.
    Swastika graffiti appeared in some cities and during some soccer 
matches. In January fans at a soccer match displayed anti-Semitic 
banners and Nazi symbols. On July 10, neo-Nazis celebrating the 
country's World Cup victory vandalized walls, doors, and vehicles in 
the Jewish quarter of Rome with swastikas and other anti-Semitic 
graffiti. The Prime Minister and other politicians strongly condemned 
the incident as an ``ignoble gesture of hate and intolerance.''
    On May 16, unknown persons vandalized 40 graves in a large Jewish 
cemetery in Milan. Authorities started an investigation, but there were 
no reports of progress at year's end.
    During the July-August conflict involving Israel and the terrorist 
organization Hizballah in Lebanon, Jewish citizens were sometimes held 
collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. For 
example, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that on July 28, in 
Livorno, graffiti translating roughly to ``Israel is an evil state'' 
was written on the walls of Jewish-owned businesses. The ADL also 
reported that on August 1, 20 shops in Rome were vandalized with 
swastikas and other damage. Fliers found at the shops were signed by 
the Armed Revolutionary Fascists, a neo-fascist group, and denounced 
``the Zionist economy'' and included pro-Hezbollah statements.
    Also in August the National Secretary of the Union of Islamic 
Communities in Italy (UCOII) placed an advertisement in local 
newspapers comparing the alleged massacres committed by the Israeli 
Army in Lebanon to the massacres committed by the Nazis. Politicians, 
government officials, and the minister of the interior's Muslim 
advisory board, the Islamic Consulta, (except for the UCOII member) 
condemned the statement.
    The Government hosted meetings to increase educational awareness of 
the Holocaust and to combat anti-Semitism.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 Report on 
International Religious Freedom.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. In 2005 the Government granted refugee status or asylum to 
907 persons.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to 4,375 persons during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees, and it provided temporary 
protection to refugees fleeing hostilities or natural disasters. Such 
refugees were granted temporary residence permits, which had to be 
renewed periodically but did not ensure future permanent residence.
    In the first half of the year, authorities identified 62,000 
individuals in the country illegally and deported 24,125. Those who 
were apprehended, usually attempting entry by sea, were sent to 
temporary detention centers for processing, and a magistrate determined 
whether an illegal immigrant would be deported (if their identity could 
be ascertained), issued an order to depart (if their identity could not 
be ascertained), or would be accepted for asylum processing. In 
February AI released a report on the rights of migrants and asylum-
seeking minors which highlighted 890 allegations regarding the presence 
of unaccompanied children who were restricted in temporary detention 
centers in unhygienic and unsuitable conditions. AI stated that it 
possessed detailed information about 28 of these cases. The Government 
had not responded to these allegations by year's end.
    The 20 temporary detention centers for illegal immigrants continued 
to be overcrowded (see section 1.c.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Executive authority is 
vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the President of the 
council (the Prime Minister). The head of state (President of the 
republic) nominates the Prime Minister after consulting with the 
leaders of all political forces in parliament. National parliamentary 
elections (which determine who will be President and prime minister) 
were held in April and were considered free and fair. Authorities 
invited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
to observe the process for the first time and that organization 
reported that overall the elections were in keeping with the country's 
tradition of democratic elections. A center-left coalition led by Prime 
Minister Romano Prodi was elected, replacing a center-right coalition 
led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Under a law enacted in 
2001, citizens living abroad were able to vote in national elections 
for the first time.
    Parliament also elected a new President, Giorgio Napolitano.
    There were numerous political parties, which functioned without 
government restrictions.
    The elections resulted in a significant increase in the number of 
women who won elective office. There were 40 women in the 315-seat 
Senate (up from 25) and 108 women in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies 
(up from 63). The number of women in the cabinet increased from two to 
six of 25 cabinet positions.
    The only legally defined minorities are linguistic--the French-
speaking Valdostani and the German-speaking Altoatesini/Suditirolesi. 
In the new parliament there were four members of linguistic minorities 
in the 315-seat Senate and five in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies. In 
a largely monolithic society, immigrants represented approximately 4 
percent of the population, and fewer than half of these qualified as 
ethnic/racial minorities. Two members of immigrant groups (of Moroccan 
and Palestinian origin) were elected to the Chamber of Deputies.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--In December the High 
Commissioner of the independent Task Force on Corruption resigned, 
citing a lack of political support and budgetary pressure to eliminate 
the office. Established in 2004, the task force conducted over 50 
investigations but had little real power to address corruption. There 
continued to be isolated reports of government corruption during the 
year, and the general public believed that politicians were corrupt. 
According to press reporting, between November 2003 and November 2005 a 
special court dealing with financial issues issued 201 summonses in 
response to complaints from private citizens and public officials 
regarding allegations of bribery or graft in public administration. It 
also issued 265 rulings on various cases. There was no information on 
the number of cases referred to a prosecutor for further action. In 
2005 the NGO Transparency International rated perceptions of corruption 
in the country at 5.0 on a scale of one to 10 with 10 indicating the 
least corruption. The rating reflected the perceptions of business 
people and country analysts concerning the prevalence of overall 
corruption in the country. Its rating in 2003 was 4.8.
    In July 2005 prosecutors charged 148 persons with involvement in a 
1999 scheme to avoid military service by bribing officials. The trial 
had not concluded by year's end.
    In November the Court of Cassation annulled the 2005 conviction of 
Ceasare Previti, previously former prime minister Berlusconi's lawyer 
and a former minister of defense. He had been convicted of corruption 
and sentenced to six years' imprisonment by an appeals court in a case 
that involved the possible corruption of a judge.
    The law gives citizens the right to access government documents and 
to be informed of administrative processes. With some exceptions for 
security issues, the Government and local authorities respected this 
right in practice for citizens, noncitizens, and the foreign press.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender 
(except with regard to hazardous work), ethnic background, and 
political opinion and provides some protection against discrimination 
based on disability, language, or social status. The Government 
generally enforced these prohibitions. However, some societal 
discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, immigrants, 
and Roma persisted.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a 
problem. The NGO Telefono Rosa, which provided a hot line through which 
abused women could obtain legal, medical, and other assistance, 
reported that 13 percent of the calls it received involved sexual 
violence, 37 percent involved physical violence in the home, and more 
than 31 percent involved psychological violence. Telefono Rosa reported 
receiving an average of 600 calls a month.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government 
enforced the law effectively. In 2004, 4,578 cases of rape were 
reported, 3,412 persons were charged, and 1,530 were convicted.
    The law criminalizes physical abuse of women, including by family 
members, allows for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence against 
women and helps women who have been victims of attack avoid publicity. 
Law enforcement and judicial authorities were not reluctant to 
prosecute perpetrators of violence against women, but victims 
frequently declined to press charges due to fear, shame, or ignorance 
of the law. According to a national survey, only 9 percent of rape 
victims reported the crime to police. In March the Ministry of Equal 
Opportunity established an additional hot line for victims of violence 
seeking immediate assistance and temporary shelter.
    Individual acts of prostitution in private residences are legal. It 
is legal for adults to solicit or pay for acts of prostitution. It is 
illegal to operate a brothel, traffic in human beings, or engage in sex 
with a minor.
    In August, in Brescia, the father of a 20-year-old Pakistani 
immigrant woman allegedly killed her because she refused an arranged 
marriage with her cousin and had adopted a western lifestyle. His trial 
was pending at year's end.
    In September an immigrant Indian woman, aged 31, committed suicide, 
allegedly to avoid an arranged marriage.
    Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation remained a problem 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law permits domestic courts to try citizens and permanent 
residents who engage in sex tourism, including outside the country, 
even if the offense is not a crime in the country in which it occurred. 
The country also has what is considered a model code of conduct for 
tourist agencies to help combat sex tourism. In January four persons 
accused of organizing tours to Brazil that included the sexual services 
of girls ages 12 to 17 were put on trial; the trials were ongoing at 
year's end. In September, in the first case applying the extra-
territorial aspect of the law against sexual tourism, prosecutors 
charged an individual for his activities in Thailand in 2003-2005; the 
trial was ongoing at year's end.
    In 2003 authorities charged two individuals with sex tourism; their 
trials had not concluded by year's end.
    Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively 
enforced the law. In 2005, in an effort to combat sexual harassment in 
the workplace, the Government issued a decree that makes emotional 
abuse based on gender discrimination a crime.
    The law provides women the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
    According to the well-respected research center Censis, the overall 
gap between salaries for men and women averaged 26 percent. Women were 
underrepresented in many fields, including management, entrepreneurial 
business, and the professions. According to the Superior Council of the 
Judiciary, 40 percent of magistrates were women, but only 5 percent of 
chief justices were women.
    A number of government offices worked to ensure women's rights. A 
woman heads the Ministry for Equal Opportunity, and there is an equal 
opportunity commission in the Office of the Prime Minister. The labor 
ministry has a similar commission that focuses on women's rights and 
discrimination in the workplace. Many NGOs, most of them affiliated 
with labor unions or political parties, actively and effectively 
promoted women's rights.

    Children.--The Government demonstrated a commitment to children's 
rights and welfare. Schooling is free and compulsory for children from 
age seven to 18; those unable or unwilling to follow the academic 
curriculum may shift to vocational training at age 15. In 2005 the 
Ministry of Education reported that 72.9 percent of children aged 15 to 
18 attended secondary school. There was no difference in the treatment 
and attendance of girls and boys at the primary, secondary, and post-
secondary levels. Completion of secondary school was the highest level 
achieved by most children.
    The state provides free medical care for all citizens.
    Child abuse was a problem; in 2005 the NGO Telefono Azzurro 
received approximately 380,000 calls related to child abuse. 
Approximately 5 percent involved sexual abuse, 11 percent physical 
violence, and 8 percent psychological exploitation. In 60 percent of 
the cases, the victims were female; 46 percent were 10 years old or 
younger. In the first six months of 2005, judicial authorities 
registered 748 allegations of sexual abuse of minors and accused 276 
persons of abuse. Between 2001 and 2003, the Government funded 144 
projects carried out by NGOs to improve parent-child relations and 
combat child abuse.
    NGOs estimated that eight to 10 percent of prostitutes were minors. 
An independent research center estimated that there were between 1,800 
and 3,000 minors who worked as street prostitutes; of these, 1,500 to 
2,300 were trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    Illegal immigrant child laborers from northern Africa, the 
Philippines, Albania, and China continued to enter the country. In 
December the prosecutor of Agrigento alleged that criminal 
organizations were responsible for trafficking thousands of minors from 
outside the European Union through Sicily. He reported that the most 
organized gangs were Romanian, Albanian, Egyptian and Moroccan.
    An interministerial committee chaired by the minister of equal 
opportunity coordinates the fight against pedophilia. A special unit of 
the police monitored 33,000 Web sites between January and November, 
investigated 337 persons for crimes involving child pornography online, 
and arrested 16 of them.
    There were reports of child labor (see section 6.d.)

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. 
According to government and NGO sources, approximately 2,500 new 
victims were trafficked to and within the country in 2005, the latest 
year for which data was available. Eight to 10 percent were believed to 
be underage.
    The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked 
persons. Immigrants, mostly from Nigeria, North Africa, and Eastern 
Europe, played a major role in trafficking for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation, both as traffickers and victims, although citizens were 
also involved. Press reports estimated that over 85 percent of 
prostitutes in the country were immigrants, primarily from Nigeria and 
Eastern Europe.
    Sexually exploited victims of trafficking faced health risks 
resulting from unsafe and unprotected sex. Trafficking victims in the 
Tuscany region who worked in sweatshops were possibly exposed to 
dangerous chemicals in the leather industry.
    Organized criminal groups were responsible for most trafficking; 
prostitution rings routinely moved trafficked persons from city to city 
to avoid arrest.
    Italian victims of trafficking were usually lured to other 
countries in Western Europe with promises of a job, or sold by 
relatives, friends, or acquaintances. Traffickers then forced their 
victims to work as prostitutes, laborers in restaurants or sweatshops, 
or beggars in the street. The traffickers enforced compliance by taking 
the victims' documents, beating and raping them, or threatening to harm 
their families. There were no reports that traffickers killed 
trafficked women during the year.
    The law provides sentences of eight to 20 years in prison for 
trafficking in persons and for enslavement. Sentences for persons 
convicted of trafficking in minors for sexual exploitation increase by 
one-third to one-half. The law mandates special prison conditions for 
traffickers designed to limit their ability to continue their 
operations from jail.
    The number of persons investigated for trafficking increased from 
1,861 in 2004 to 2,054 in 2005, but arrests decreased from 341 to 304; 
the number of prosecutions decreased from 120 to 102 and convictions 
from 77 to 50. The Government cooperated with foreign governments, 
including those of Nigeria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Moldova, to 
investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. For example, in May 
authorities arrested and charged 41 Bulgarian nationals with 
trafficking in minors; at year's end they continued to investigate 
another 75 persons for bringing children of Romani and poor families 
into the country to commit robberies in Trieste.
    In June police in Rome arrested three Romanian nationals and 
charged them with smuggling persons with disabilities and forcing them 
to work as beggars; one victim was assisted and repatriated. The case 
was pending at year's end.
    In July police arrested six Romanians in Rome and Milan on charges 
of trafficking at least 100 children whom they allegedly forced to beg 
on the streets and steal from private residences. The case was pending 
at year's end.
    In July, in Puglia, Italian and Polish police arrested 25 
individuals, including Poles, Ukrainians, Algerians, and an Italian, 
for trafficking up to 1,000 Poles over several years for forced 
agricultural labor. The traffickers hired the workers out to local 
farmers. Reportedly, the victims responded to an advertisement for 
migrant workers, paid a travel fee, received $4 per hour and were kept 
in penury by the traffickers, who charged them for food, water, and 
squalid sleeping quarters. Police freed 113 workers and were 
investigating reports of at least two suspicious suicide deaths in the 
work camps as well as reports of beatings and rape. The interior 
ministry was investigating the abuses at year's end.
    In April police unveiled a criminal ring and arrested twelve 
Italians and six Romanians charged with forced prostitution and 
exploitation since 2004 of hundreds of Romani minors who were persuaded 
to have sexual intercourse with adults in exchange for small gifts. 
Pedophiles allegedly lured children at intersections where they used to 
beg or sell merchandise
    There were no reported developments in the case involving 25 
Italians and Bulgarians arrested in 2005 and charged with trafficking 
in persons, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and sexual assault.
    The following reported 2004 trafficking investigations remained 
ongoing at year's end: a Romanian father who was selling his 10-year-
old child for sex in the outskirts of Milan; two Albanians, one 
Egyptian, one Pakistani, and one Italian involved in trafficking women 
from Eastern Europe for prostitution; six Bulgarian men who accompanied 
Bulgarian women into the country who gave birth and then sold the 
babies to Italian families for $13,100 (10,000 euros) each; 12 persons, 
including two police officers, who were arrested in Sassari and charged 
with trafficking for prostitution and falsification of documents; and 
four persons who were accused of organizing tours to Brazil that 
included the sexual services of girls ages 12 to 17.
    Government officials generally did not participate in, facilitate, 
or condone trafficking.
    The law provides temporary residence or work permits to persons who 
seek to escape their exploiters. Authorities and NGOs encouraged 
victims to file complaints, and there were no legal impediments for 
them to do so. Unlike most other illegal immigrants, who face 
deportation if caught, persons who qualify as official trafficking 
victims under law receive numerous benefits, including legal residence, 
whether or not they filed a complaint. To date, only prostitutes have 
received assistance under the law. However, NGOs alleged that the 
Government did not always allow enough time between apprehension and 
deportation of illegal immigrants to screen them for trafficking 
victims.
    The Government provided legal and medical assistance once 
authorities identified a person as having been trafficked. There were 
shelters and programs for job training. There also were assistance and 
incentive programs for those willing to return to their home country; 
in 2005, 78 victims who chose to go home were repatriated. The domestic 
NGO Social Service International assisted in repatriating unaccompanied 
immigrant minors.
    The law empowers magistrates to seize convicted traffickers' assets 
to finance legal assistance, vocational training, and other social 
integration assistance for trafficking victims.
    The Government worked with other governments and NGOs to 
orchestrate awareness campaigns. The law directs the foreign ministry, 
together with the equal opportunity ministry, to conclude additional 
antitrafficking agreements with trafficking source countries.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, and the provision of other state services; and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions; however, there was 
some societal discrimination. Although the law mandates access to 
government buildings for persons with disabilities, mechanical 
barriers, particularly in public transport, left such persons at a 
disadvantage. The Ministry of Labor and Welfare was responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
    In January parliament enacted legislation to broaden the definition 
of discrimination against persons with disabilities by public and 
private entities and, for the first time, allowed NGOs to file 
complaints on behalf of persons with disabilities.
    In August 2005 carabinieri closed a private health facility for the 
mentally ill in Reggio Calabria for structural, health, and safety 
violations.
    In June 2005 the national airline Alitalia refused to board a 
disabled person, claiming it would cause delays for other passengers. 
There were no reports of follow-up by authorities.
    Of the 587,000 workers with disabilities registered at public 
employment centers during the year, only 5.2 percent found work, even 
though 101,000 positions that are reserved by law for persons with 
disabilities remained vacant.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Police continued to mistreat 
Roma. The NGO Opera Nomadi reported cases of discrimination, especially 
with regard to housing and evictions, deportations, and efforts by the 
Government to remove children for their protection from Romani parents. 
Government officials at the national and local levels, including those 
from the Ministries of Interior and Equal Opportunity, met periodically 
with Roma and their representatives. Opera Nomandi held conferences, 
applied for tax exempt status, and lobbied the Government throughout 
the year.
    In April the European Committee of Social Rights ruled that the 
country systematically violates the right to adequate housing for Roma 
by not providing sufficient camping sites, not providing permanent 
housing, and evicting Roma from housing.
    Public opinion surveys indicated that negative societal attitudes 
toward immigrants continued to increase, especially among young persons 
and in the North. Immigrants continued to assert that that they were 
discriminated against in employment.
    There were no accurate statistics on the number of Roma in the 
country. NGOs estimated that a population of 120,000, up to 80 percent 
of whom could be citizens, was concentrated on the fringes of urban 
areas in the central and southern parts of the country, living in camps 
characterized by poor housing, unhygienic sanitary conditions, limited 
employment prospects, inadequate educational facilities, and the 
absence of a consistent police presence. Faced with limited income and 
job opportunities, and suffering from harassment, some Roma begged or 
engaged in petty crime, which led to repressive measures by police and 
some judicial authorities.
    The Government's Office to Combat Racial and Ethnic Discrimination 
in the Ministry of Equal Opportunity provided assistance to victims of 
discrimination. In 2005 it received 3,400 calls on its national hot 
line, of which it considered 282 to be genuine cases of discrimination 
against racial or ethnic minorities. The majority of complaints related 
to wage and overtime issues and discrimination in public. The office 
provided legal assistance and help in mediating disputes.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In June 2005 the 
Administrative Court of Catania condemned the Ministry of Transport for 
having requested the revocation of a driver's license of a homosexual 
based on his sexual orientation. A civil trial seeking restitution was 
underway at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to 
establish, join, and carry out union activities in the workplace 
without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers 
exercised these rights in practice. Unions claimed to represent between 
35 and 40 percent of the workforce.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, and workers 
exercised this right. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce works 
under a collective bargaining agreement, but nonunion members working 
alongside union employees also benefited from the same agreements. The 
law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right 
by conducting legal strikes. The law restricts strikes affecting 
essential public services (such as transport, sanitation, and health), 
requiring longer advance notification and precluding multiple strikes 
within days of each other.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government implemented laws and policies designed to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace; however, there were reports of 
child labor. The law prohibits employment of children under age 15 
(with some limited exceptions), and there are specific restrictions on 
employment in hazardous or unhealthy occupations for boys under age 18 
and girls under age 21. Enforcement of these laws was generally 
effective in the above-ground economy; however, the enforcement of 
minimum age or other child protection laws was difficult in the 
extensive informal economy. In 2005 an independent research center 
estimated that approximately 460,000 children under age 15 worked at 
least occasionally, while 70,000 worked for at least four hours per 
day. Many of these children were helping in family-owned farms and 
businesses, work which is illegal if it interferes with education.)
    Illegal immigrant child laborers from northern Africa, the 
Philippines, Albania, and China continued to enter the country (see 
section 5, Children).
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).
    The Government, employers' associations, and unions continued their 
tripartite cooperation on child labor. The Ministry of Labor, working 
with police and carabinieri, is responsible for enforcement of child 
labor laws, but their efforts generally were ineffective. In the first 
half of the year, the Ministry of Welfare conducted inspections of 
2,311 companies, which had a total workforce of 12,830. Of these, the 
Ministry found 2,276 citizens aged 14-18 and 259 immigrants, legal and 
illegal. They fined companies for violations related to lack of 
periodic medical check-ups (600), work hours and leave (158), and 
minimum age (84 cases of children under 15 being employed.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--While the law does not set 
minimum wages, it provides for them to be set through collective 
bargaining agreements on a sector-by-sector basis. The minimum wage in 
most industries provided a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. Courts effectively enforced the wages set through collective 
bargaining agreements, but workers in the informal sector often worked 
for less.
    The legal workweek is 40 hours. Overtime work may not exceed two 
hours per day or an average of 12 hours per week. Unless limited by a 
collective bargaining agreement, the law sets maximum overtime in 
industrial sector firms at no more than 80 hours per quarter and 250 
hours annually. The law required rest periods of one day per week and 
11 hours per day. Premium pay is required for overtime. These standards 
were effectively enforced.
    The law sets basic health and safety standards and guidelines for 
compensation for on-the-job injuries. There were labor inspectors in 
both the public health service and the Ministry of Labor, but their 
numbers were insufficient to ensure adequate enforcement of health and 
safety standards. The standards were not enforced in the significant 
unofficial economy. Workers have the right to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued 
employment, and the Government effectively enforced this right.

                               __________

                                 LATVIA

    The Republic of Latvia is a parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 2.3 million; legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral Saeima. The October elections for the 100-seat 
Saeima were free and fair. The civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens 
and the large resident noncitizen community. However, there were 
problems in some areas, including the following: police mistreatment 
and severe abuse of detainees; poor conditions at police detention 
facilities; poor prison conditions and overcrowding; judicial 
corruption; obstacles to due process; violence against women; child 
abuse; trafficking in women; violence against ethnic minorities; and 
societal violence and occasional government discrimination against 
homosexuals.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and laws prohibit such practices; 
however, there were reports that government officials employed them.
    In May 2005 the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture (CPT) released a report on its 2002 visit to the country. The 
CPT noted that its delegation received a considerable number of 
credible allegations of physical abuse by police throughout the 
country, particularly of juveniles, some of which the CPT felt were of 
sufficient severity that they could be considered to amount to torture. 
The majority of the allegations concerned mistreatment at the time of 
or immediately following arrest. While the Government stated that it 
had not received any complaints of such mistreatment during the time 
period that included the CPT visit, it noted in its response to the 
report that it had already implemented a number of new policies and 
devoted additional resources that addressed the concerns which the CPT 
report raised. For example, a code of professional ethics for the State 
Police was introduced in 2003, an Internal Security Office was 
established to investigate alleged misconduct within units of the State 
Police in 2003, and police officers participated in a series of 
seminars focused on human rights and ethics issues.
    The Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (LCHRES) 
stated that severe abuse of persons in custody was a problem. Detailed 
statistics on reports of police mistreatment during the year were 
unavailable. In 2005 the state police initiated a criminal case against 
two police officers, Ivars Lastins and Dmitry Martinsons, who beat two 
individuals apprehended for public drunkenness. Both officers were 
convicted in February and received suspended sentences. State 
prosecutors appealed the suspended sentences, and the case was 
outstanding at year's end.
    LCHRES expressed concern that victims underreported incidents of 
police mistreatment. In 2004 LCHRES conducted a study in which it 
operated a hot line to collect allegations of police misconduct from 
anonymous callers. Over a 3-day period, LCHRES received 283 complaints 
regarding police misconduct, 130 of which referred to police brutality. 
LCHRES has not conducted a study since 2004. During the year the 
Latvian National Human Rights Office (NHRO) received approximately 30 
complaints regarding misconduct, which was consistent with the amount 
of complaints from preceding years.
    There were several instances of attacks against ethnic minorities 
throughout the year (see section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor. Prisons also continued to be overcrowded. Prison hospitals and 
general medical care were major concerns. There were 28 short-term 
facilities designed to hold detainees less than 72 hours. The NHRO 
stated that conditions such as poor ventilation and damp, dark, and 
unsanitary cells in at least half of these centers violated human 
rights standards. The NHRO added that persons with poor health cannot 
get adequate health care; that detainees for life sometimes spend 23 
hours per day in their cell, causing psychiatric problems; and that in 
most detention centers there was only one psychiatric practitioner per 
facility.
    In its May 2005 report, the CPT noted it found extremely poor 
material conditions at police detention facilities during its 2002 
visit. The report stated that conditions were particularly bad at the 
Daugavpils, Liepaja, and Ventspils police headquarters, where cells 
were described as overcrowded, humid, dirty, and poorly ventilated. 
Sleeping and hygiene facilities were also described as falling short of 
European standards. Since that time the Government has built a new 
police detention facility in Liepaja, which opened during February and 
which addresses the conditions described in the CPT report. The state 
police budget since the time of the visit also included increases to 
improve detention facilities.
    The NHRO stated it received complaints of pretrial abuse during the 
year, although a large percentage of these complaints could not be 
substantiated.
    The Government permitted independent human rights observers to 
visit prisons and detention centers. During the year domestic groups, 
such as LCHRES, closely monitored prison conditions.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and laws 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces 
consist of the national police, the special immigration police, the 
border guards, and other services, who are subordinate to the Ministry 
of Interior; municipal police who are under local government control; 
the Military Counterintelligence Service and a protective service, 
which are under the Ministry of Defense; and the national guard, an 
element of the armed forces. Allegations of corruption and bribery 
within law enforcement ranks were frequent and affected the public's 
perception of police effectiveness.
    In 2005 the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) 
initiated cases against the following members of the security forces: 
three members of the Riga city main police board (Oskars Berzins, 
Vjaceslavs Andrianovs, Edgars Bebriss) for allegedly demanding and 
receiving a bribe from a businessman to avoid inspections; a member of 
the traffic police for his role in an alleged attempt to falsify blood-
alcohol tests; and a police inspector for extortion and bribery. These 
cases were still outstanding at year's end. On December 6, Riga City 
Police Board members Jevgenijs Nezincevs and Eduards Sabanovs were 
convicted for taking bribes; they received four years and three years 
in prison, respectively. In December the KNAB submitted documents for 
the prosecution of six high-ranking border guard officers, including 
the Head of the Procurement Department, for demanding and receiving 
bribes from businessmen for tender contracts with the border guard 
service. On July 20, the prosecutor general charged Ventspils' mayor, 
Aivars Lembergs, with bribery, money laundering, and abuse of office in 
connection with several different incidents over the previous 15 years. 
The case was still in the court system at year's end.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that persons be arrested 
openly and with warrants issued by a duly authorized judicial official, 
and the Government generally respected this requirement in practice. 
The law provides a person in detention with the right to a prompt 
judicial determination of the legality of the detention, and 
authorities generally respected this right in practice. Detainees were 
promptly informed of charges against them. The law requires the 
prosecutor's office to make a formal decision whether to charge or 
release a detainee within 48 hours after arrest. This requirement was 
followed in practice. A bail system exists; however, it was 
infrequently used and applied most often in cases of economic crimes. 
Detainees have the right to have an attorney present at any time; 
however, authorities did not fully respect this right in practice. If a 
detainee is indigent, an attorney is provided by the Government. 
Detainees were allowed prompt access to family members. These rights 
are subject to judicial review but only at the time of trial.
    In its May 2005 report, the CPT noticed that, during its 2002 
visit, it appeared that the right of access to a lawyer was not fully 
respected in practice. The report noted that, in many cases, 
fulfillment of the right was delayed or in some case denied, to 
juveniles in particular. In 2003 employees of the state police 
participated in a number of training events focused on human rights and 
ethics. Also in 2003 a code of professional ethics for the State police 
was affirmed. A temporary detention cell at Riga Principal Police 
Office was terminated in 2003. In addition, in 2003 an Internal 
Security Office was established to investigate alleged misconduct 
within units of the state police.
    The law limits pretrial detention to no more than 18 months from 
the first filing of the case. In its May 2005 report, the CPT noted 
that, during its 2002 visit, its delegation met a number of remand 
prisoners who had spent up to six years in prison awaiting the outcome 
of their trials and appeals. These persons had limited contact with 
outside NGOs or family and suffered under poor conditions. Upon passage 
of the Criminal Procedure Law in 2005, problems concerning pretrial 
detention decreased and mechanisms for bringing cases to court were 
simplified.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and laws provide 
for an independent judiciary; the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice though there were significant problems, including 
inefficiency and corruption.
    The judicial system is composed of district (city) courts; regional 
courts, which hear appeals from district courts and can also serve as 
courts of first instance; a separate administrative court, which 
adjudicates administrative violations; the Supreme Court, which is the 
highest appeals court; and the seven-member Constitutional Court, which 
hears cases regarding constitutional issues at the request of state 
institutions or individuals who believe that their constitutional 
rights were violated. For more serious criminal cases, two lay 
assessors join the professional judge on the bench at the district and 
regional levels.
    During the year the KNAB initiated 51 criminal cases against 
various government officials (including the judiciary), compared with 
34 in 2005 and 30 in 2004. During the year the KNAB passed 41 criminal 
cases to the prosecutor's office for prosecution of 65 persons. In 
September 2005 the Supreme Court sentenced one former prosecutor, 
Stanislavs Nazarovs, to seven years in prison with confiscation of 
property for demanding and receiving a bribe in the amount of $10,000 
for withdrawing an appeal. Another prosecutor, Juris Pelss, received a 
suspended sentence for a term of four years and a probation term of two 
years for a similar offense. Criminal prosecution was started against 
six bailiffs. A time-consuming judicial process and a shortage of 
judges overloaded the courts.
    On October 10, two district court judges, Irena Polikarpova and 
Beatrise Talere, were arrested and suspended from duty for allegedly 
taking bribes, and the Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal 
investigation.
    Steps have been taken to lessen conflict of interest within the 
Government. Approximately 1,000 government officials attended training 
and seminars on various aspects of conflicts of interest and on 
internal controls against corruption during the year.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and laws provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials generally are public; however, they may be closed if 
government secrets might be revealed or to protect the interests of 
minors. Juries were used in some cases, but not in all. Defendants have 
the right to be present at their trial and to consult with an attorney 
in a timely manner. The Government provided funds to indigent 
defendants for this purpose. Defendants have the right to read all 
charges, confront all witnesses, and call witnesses and offer evidence 
to support their case. Defendants and their attorneys have access to 
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a 
presumption of innocence and can make multiple appeals.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Laws provide for an 
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access 
to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damages, or cessation of, a human 
rights violation. The Government generally upheld the law concerning 
civil procedures.

    Property Restitution.--On November 23, the Saeima used a procedural 
motion to effectively reject a draft bill that would have provided 
financial assistance to the local Jewish community to compensate losses 
suffered during the Holocaust. The bill addressed Jewish communal 
properties and heirless private property last owned by members of the 
Jewish community that could not earlier be regained via the country's 
denationalization laws because there were no identifiable heirs for the 
property. Both President Vike-Freiberga and the local Jewish community 
expressed their disappointment over the vote.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and laws prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and laws provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. However, although the press law 
prohibits censorship of the press or other mass media, the media law 
contains a number of restrictive provisions regulating the content and 
language of broadcasts.
    Primary broadcast radio and television stations are required to use 
the state language, Latvian, and secondary broadcasters are allotted up 
to 20 percent of total broadcast time for non-Latvian language 
programming, which should be simultaneously translated using subtitles. 
However, these laws only apply to terrestrial broadcasts. Non-Latvian 
language broadcasts were available on cable and satellite services.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. On September 12, however, transcripts of a 
television investigative journalist's private phone conversations 
appeared in a daily newspaper. It was soon discovered that the finance 
police, who had requested the phone tap for an alleged investigation 
into organized crime activities, had leaked the information. The 
prosecutor's office launched an investigation. Four officials from the 
financial police were suspended for the duration of the internal 
investigation of the leaked information. On November 1, the judge who 
authorized the wire tapping received an official sanction from the 
Judicial Disciplinary Committee on procedural grounds. . The 
investigation was ongoing at the end of the year. In another incident 
on September 4, a court ordered a television station to reveal sources 
from a story on a search conducted in connection with criminal charges 
brought against an influential regional politician. The journalist 
refused to reveal her sources; and the case was on appeal at year's 
end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups engaged in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
Internet was widely used by the public.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The constitution recognizes 
the freedom of scientific, artistic, and other creative works. There 
were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and laws provide for freedom of assembly, 
and the authorities may not prohibit public gatherings; however, 
organizers of demonstrations must provide advance notice to local 
authorities, who may change the time and place of public gatherings for 
such reasons as fear of public disorder. The law also requires 
protesters to remain specified distances from foreign diplomatic 
missions, the parliament, the Prosecutor's Office, and certain other 
public institutions. Numerous demonstrations took place peacefully and 
without government interference during the year. However, in July 
authorities denied a permit for a gay pride parade on grounds of 
unspecified security threats to the marchers. Parade organizers 
attempted to host a private event at a local hotel as an alternative to 
the denied march. This event was disrupted by protesters who opposed 
homosexuality (see section 5).
    On November 23, the Constitutional Court ruled that several 
provisions in the law on meetings, parades, and picketing were 
unconstitutional and contravened the European Convention on Human 
Rights. The court ruled that demonstrators should only be required to 
inform a municipality of a planned event, rather than having to ask for 
permission, as the requirement to receive permission unnecessarily 
restricts the right of assembly.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and laws provide for 
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice; however, the law bars the registration of Communist, 
Nazi, or other organizations whose activities would contravene the 
constitution. Nevertheless, some nationalist organizations using 
fascist-era symbols, slogans, and rhetoric operated openly. Noncitizens 
may join and form political parties. Every party must have at least 200 
citizens as members in order to register. At least half of the total 
membership must be citizens.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and laws provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice; however, bureaucratic problems for ``nontraditional'' 
religions persisted.
    There is no state religion, but the Government distinguishes 
between ``traditional'' (Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old 
Believers, Baptist, and Jewish) and ``new'' religions. The ``new'' 
religions were subject to bureaucratic regulations and paperwork 
requirements not applicable to ``traditional'' religions and had more 
difficulties purchasing property.
    Although the Government does not require registration of religious 
groups, the law accords religious organizations certain rights and 
privileges when they register, such as a separate legal status for 
owning property or for other financial transactions, as well as tax 
benefits for donors.
    According to Ministry of Justice officials, most registration 
applications were approved once proper documents were submitted. The 
law does not permit simultaneous registration of more than one 
religious group (church) in a single confession, and the Government has 
denied the applications of splinter groups on this basis.
    The Government denied foreign evangelists and missionaries 
permission to hold meetings and to proselytize unless domestic 
religious organizations invited them to conduct such activities. 
Foreign religious denominations criticized this provision.
    The law provides that only representatives of the Lutheran, Roman 
Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believers, Baptist, and Jewish religions may 
teach religion to public school students who volunteer to take the 
classes.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were a 
few reports of harassment and discrimination against resident 
missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
    The Jewish community numbers approximately 11,000 and was largely 
secular and Russian-speaking. There was one synagogue operating in 
Riga. A newly renovated synagogue opened in Daugavpils in April. Unlike 
last year there were no reported incidents of violent attacks targeting 
Jews. However, there were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti painted on 
buildings in old town Riga. On March 16, Latvian Waffen SS veterans 
held a ceremony at the Cathedral in Riga and at a World War II cemetery 
near Riga in honor of their dead comrades. On the same day 
approximately 200 nationalists demonstrated near the Occupation Museum 
in Riga on behalf of a former Latvian Waffen SS unit despite a ban by 
the city authorities. A total of 65 persons were detained for 
participating in an unauthorized demonstration. On May 24, the Rezekne 
police reported that vandals had damaged a memorial which was scheduled 
to be unveiled on June 4 in memory of 120 local Jews who were killed 
during the Holocaust. In addition anti-Semitism continued to be 
expressed in Internet chat rooms and forums. In July the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs hosted a conference entitled ``Holocaust: Remembrance 
and Lessons'' over which the President of the country presided. In 2005 
a local NGO Education Development Center created educational materials 
about the Holocaust. The NGO regularly provided seminars to teachers to 
assist them in developing a methodology to teach about the Holocaust.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and laws provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law stipulates that noncitizens are prohibited from owning land 
in the border zones.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. Eight persons requested asylum in the country during the 
year. In that time two persons were granted refugee status as per the 
1951 Geneva Convention, as compared to none in 2005. In addition eight 
people were granted alternative status (subsidiary protection) during 
the year, as compared to none in 2005. In practice the Government 
provided some protection against refoulement, the return of persons to 
a country where they feared persecution. However, there were reports 
that authorities systematically turned away persons attempting to enter 
the country at border checkpoints; it is unclear how many of these 
people may have been refugees or asylum seekers.
    Illegal immigrants held at the Olaine detention center did not have 
access to information about their rights, including their right to 
apply for asylum, and had limited recreation opportunities. In August 
2005 seven Somali refugees were detained at the Olaine detention 
center. A court declared them to be illegal immigrants, but NGOs and a 
former government official claimed that the Somalis were not made aware 
of their legal rights or offered an opportunity to request asylum. In 
September the seven refugees were granted residency and work permits.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and laws provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic and generally free and fair elections held on 
the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair elections for 
the Saeima were held in October, and the new parliament will elect a 
new President in the first half of 2007. In March 2005 nationwide local 
elections were held; although largely free and fair, vote-buying 
scandals resulted in the election outcomes being challenged in the city 
of Jurmala and overturned in Rezekne. Both incidents prompted KNAB 
investigations in 2005. In March the Riga district prosecutor decided 
to close the Jurmala-related case due to a lack of evidence. On May 17, 
Juris Zacests, Grigorijs Bekasovs, and Olga Skutane were found guilty 
of various offences associated with the Rezekne vote-buying scandal.
    In March the Prime Minister demanded the resignation of the 
transport minister, Ainars Slesers, who had been implicated in a 
corruption scandal related to the 2005 mayoral elections in Jurmala. 
The scandal involved attempts by politicians and business people to 
bribe a critical swing vote in the election of the Jurmala city mayor. 
Four persons were charged with bribery in connection with the scandal, 
and the investigation was ongoing at year's end. Slesers, against whom 
no criminal charges had been filed by year's end, returned to the 
transport ministry following the October parliamentary elections.
    In November the KNAB also initiated an investigation into violation 
of campaign financing rules over a series of television commercials 
placed by individuals affiliated with the People's Party, the senior 
partner in the country's minority coalition government. The 
investigation was still in progress at year's end, although the Supreme 
Court ruled November 3 that the spending violated election law.
    The election law prohibits the holding of elective office by 
persons who remained active in the Communist Party or various other 
pro-Soviet organizations after 1991 or who worked for such institutions 
as the former Soviet Committee for State Security.
    There were 19 women in the 100-member Saeima, and there were four 
women in the 18-member Cabinet of Ministers. The President was a woman.
    Members of minorities, including ethnic Russians and Poles, served 
in various elected bodies. According to the Saeima's Web site, there 
were 22 members of minorities in the 100-seat Saeima, including 15 
ethnic Russians, one German, two Jews, one Karelian, and three others 
who declined to list their ethnicity.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
perception of corruption throughout all levels of the Government. 
During the year the KNAB initiated 51 criminal cases, compared with 34 
in 2005.
    A Cabinet of Ministers regulation provides a mechanism for public 
access to government information, and the Government generally provided 
access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    On April 25, a law to create an ombudsman as a separate office 
responsible for the protection of individual citizens' rights in 
relation to the Government was enacted; it was scheduled to come into 
force on January 1, 2007. However, no person had been selected as 
ombudsman by the Saeima by the end of the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination due to race, gender, language, 
disability, or sexual orientation; however, violence against women and 
racial minorities, societal discrimination against women and 
homosexuals, child abuse, and trafficking in persons were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, is against 
the law. Although domestic violence was a significant problem, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law, in large part because 
abuse was underreported. Victims of abuse often were uninformed about 
their rights and were reluctant to seek redress through the justice 
system. Human rights groups asserted that the legal system, including 
the courts, sometimes did not take domestic violence cases seriously 
and that police were often reluctant to make arrests. There were no 
shelters designed specifically for battered or abused women. Women who 
suffered from violence could seek help in family crisis centers; 
however, these centers had limited capacity and, therefore, gave 
priority to women with children. There were no dedicated rape or 
assault hot lines; however, NGOs managed approximately five general 
crisis hot lines, a number comparable to last year. In January the NGO 
Marta Center together with a Norwegian NGO launched a Web site that 
provided information for women were victims of violence.
    The law specifically criminalizes rape but does not recognize 
spousal rape. A local NGO, the Skalbes Crisis Center, reported that 
rape laws were ineffective and stated that rapes were underreported due 
to a tendency by police to blame the victim.
    Prostitution is legal, although procuring is not. Prostitution was 
widespread and often was linked to organized crime. During the year the 
popularity of Riga as a sex tourism destination generated increased 
public and political debate over whether changes in the law were 
needed, although no action was taken.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is illegal; however, in the absence of 
complaints, the Government was unable to enforce the law. Sexual 
harassment of women in the workplace reportedly was common. Cultural 
factors tended to discourage women from coming forth publicly with 
complaints of harassment.
    Women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under family 
law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law prohibits 
employment discrimination; however, in practice women frequently faced 
hiring and pay discrimination, especially in the private sector. The 
law also prohibits women from performing ``hard jobs or jobs having 
unhealthy conditions,'' which are specified in a list agreed by the 
Cabinet of Ministers.
    The law prohibits work and pay discrimination based on gender and 
requires employers to set equal pay for equal work. Although the 
Government agencies responsible for enforcing such laws lacked skills 
and resources to fully implement the law, some progress was made during 
the year. The Welfare Ministry implemented an awareness raising 
campaign using EU funds and staged numerous educational seminars.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare; however, authorities did not fully enforce constitutional 
provisions on children and the law on the rights of the child in 
practice.
    Primary schooling is free, compulsory, and universal through the 
ninth grade (between the ages of seven and 16) and free through the 
twelfth grade (age 18).
    Access to health care was universal, and there were no reports of 
discrimination based on sex.
    A local NGO working with abused children, Dardedze Center Against 
Violence, reported that the number of child abuse cases, including 
sexual abuse, increased in the past several years. However, the NGO 
attributed this rise largely to better detection of child abuse due to 
increased awareness of the issue. Laws against child abuse were 
enforced effectively, although the same NGO noted that there was weak 
coordination among various institutions and law enforcement agencies 
involved in the protection of children's rights. Law enforcement 
authorities have won court suits to remove children from abusive 
parents and secured convictions in child molestation cases. Children 
from families that were unable to care for them had access to 
government-funded boarding schools that provided adequate living 
conditions; however, these schools had lower educational standards than 
regular state schools.
    Police reported that, due to the imposition of severe penalties for 
rape and sexual exploitation of minors, the reported incidence of child 
prostitution declined in recent years.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking in women to, from, and within the country was a 
problem. In contrast to previous years, there were no reports that 
minors were trafficked.
    The law provides for prison sentences of up to 15-years' 
imprisonment for trafficking. Most perpetrators, however, continued to 
be prosecuted under a statute that prohibits ``pimping.'' This statute 
carries a lesser sentence of only up to six years. The legal definition 
of trafficking in persons includes internal trafficking.
    The country was both a source and transit point for trafficked 
victims. The main countries of destination were Germany, Spain, the 
United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, and the Nordic countries. The 
number of cases reported by the Government for this year was 24. This 
figure was similar to 2005, in which 23 cases were reported. However, 
law enforcement agencies reported that most victims insisted that they 
consented to participate in the sex industry and were not willing to 
cooperate with law enforcement officials. Many traffickers disclosed 
the sexual nature of the work they offered but concealed true 
information about working conditions, clientele, freedom of movement, 
and compensation. Many victims were not willing to cooperate with law 
enforcement officials.
    NGOs reported that women from economically poor districts continued 
to be trafficked inside of the country for sexual exploitation to Riga, 
Liepaja, and Ventspils. However, no criminal cases have been initiated 
for trafficking in persons within the country.
    Traffickers, primarily organized criminal groups, regularly lured 
victims through false offers of employment as dancers, bartenders, and 
babysitters in European countries. A large number of victims were drawn 
from the economically depressed areas of the country's eastern regions. 
While some victims were recruited through job advertisements or 
modeling and travel agencies, most victims were solicited through 
direct contact with the traffickers. Recruiting occurred most often at 
cafes and clubs, and victims themselves sometimes were enlisted to 
recruit new victims for the traffickers.
    The Government reported that during the year, five cases were 
prosecuted under the statute that criminalizes trafficking in persons; 
23 cases were prosecuted under the statute that makes sending persons 
abroad for sexual exploitation a crime. Of these cases 40 people were 
convicted. Of those 26 received a conditional sentence, three received 
a prison sentence of five to 10 years, three received a prison term of 
three to five years, four received a sentence of less than three years, 
and the remaining four were fined. Additionally, from January to 
September, 34 persons, including 12 females, were convicted under the 
``pimping'' laws. Of those 22 received sentences similar to probation, 
four received a prison sentence of not more than 12 months, six were 
given a prison sentence from one to five years, and two were fined.
    Cooperation between the border guards, police, and NGOs improved 
efforts to identify trafficking victims and help them gain access to 
assistance programs. This cooperation contributed to the effective 
control of the border areas. International cooperation in 
investigations and prosecutions was well established with Germany and 
the Nordic countries.
    Beginning in 2005 government funding was made available to cover 
rehabilitation costs for trafficking victims. During the year six 
trafficking victims qualified for government funded rehabilitation and 
13 trafficking victims received rehabilitation services funded by other 
sources. In December the Ministry of Welfare announced that amendments 
to the eligibility criteria for trafficking victims to qualify for 
government-funded rehabilitation had been approved. As in previous 
years, most assistance to trafficking victims came from local NGOs and 
the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Marta Centers, 
operating in cooperation with the IOM, offered assistance to 
trafficking victims in the form of crisis counseling, professional 
referrals, and reintegration assistance. Additionally, the Government 
provided shelter to trafficking victims in a government center as 
needed.
    Training programs for combating trafficking and for victim's 
assistance continued during the year. Although these were principally 
organized by NGOs and the IOM, the Government recognized it needed 
greater involvement. Marta Centers, in cooperation with the Ministry of 
Interior and other partners, continued its operations to educate 
adolescents. The Council of Youth Health Centers (CYHC) operated 
centers in Daugavpils and Liepaja. During the year the Government 
jointly sponsored and funded training for law enforcement specialists 
and judges on investigation techniques applicable in trafficking cases 
as well as training on rehabilitation services for victims for social 
workers. The IOM and several NGOs also sponsored conferences on 
trafficking and introduced several antitrafficking education campaigns.
    After two years of limited funding, the Government began devoting 
financial resources to the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking 
in Persons with financial assistance from local NGOs and international 
organizations. Despite the increased funding, budgetary constraints 
continued to impede overall progress. The performance of law 
enforcement agencies continued to be professional. Although only 
partial funding for planned anti-trafficking programs was directly 
provided in the state budget for the year, the Government demonstrated 
commitment to implement the National Action Plan with the limited 
resources available.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law mandates 
access to buildings for persons with disabilities; however, most 
buildings were not accessible.
    In October LCHRES stated that the review procedure for detention on 
grounds of mental disability fails to meet human rights standards, the 
criteria for compulsory admission into psychiatric institutions were 
too broad, and the provisions on consent to treatment did not meet 
international principles.
    The NHRO further stated that there were no restrictions on 
corresponding with relatives. However, institutions continued to 
restrict private correspondence and the number of visits a patient 
received per month.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Ministry of Social 
Integration and the National Human Rights Office are responsible for 
the protection of minority rights.
    During the year attacks against racial minorities were a problem. 
During the year there were 14 reported violent attacks against ethnic 
minorities, including one on June 10 against a member of the country's 
African-Latvian community NGO. The NGO member's attackers accosted him 
before a local police academy trainee intervened and helped the victim 
apprehend the two assailants. Both of the perpetrators were charged 
with incitement to racism, and the case was still outstanding at year's 
end. The Interior Ministry met with NGOs and minority groups to discuss 
their concerns. However, racial minorities expressed frustration that 
there was not greater police presence and patrolling in those locales 
where they felt most vulnerable to violence.
    On December 27, one individual was sentenced to four years of 
conditional punishments and three years of probation in connection with 
an attack on a Sri Lankan medical student in 2005. The sentence was 
suspended because the perpetrator was a minor. This conviction was the 
first time that a case had gone from charge to conviction as a racially 
motivated crime.
    There was limited improvement in the effectiveness of prosecution 
of such crimes; most perpetrators were charged with petty hooliganism, 
a misdemeanor offense.
    The country's population of approximately 8,000 Roma faced high 
levels of unemployment and illiteracy, as well as widespread societal 
discrimination.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and 
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. On July 19, the Riga 
city government, after coming under pressure and criticism from various 
political parties and religious groups, denied a permit for a gay pride 
parade. The reasons cited for the cancellation were security 
considerations, although the specifics were never made public and all 
court hearings were closed to the press and public. On July 22, parade 
organizers attempted to host several private functions as alternatives 
to the cancelled march. Demonstrators opposed to homosexuality 
surrounded and harassed participants outside these events, throwing 
eggs, shouting aggressive insults, and dumping human excrement on them. 
Police arrested 14 people for public disorder. In late August the Riga 
Vidzeme District Court and Riga Central District court fined seven 
opponents of the gay pride events charged with causing public disorder. 
In addition all seven faced prosecution for inciting public disorder. 
These cases were outstanding at the end of the year. Human Rights 
Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Gay and Lesbian 
Human Rights Commission all voiced their concern during the year over 
the failure of authorities to protect the gay pride event participants 
as well as the imposition of a ban on the originally planned parade.
    As of October 1, about 400,000 people in the country were 
classified as non-citizens. These individuals were primarily ethnic 
Slavs, most of whom were eligible for citizenship but had not pursued 
naturalization. These individuals had full rights for employment and 
access to most government social benefits, but they could not vote in 
local or national elections. The most often stated reason for not 
pursuing naturalization was perceived unfairness in the requirements 
for citizenship. The country did not grant automatic citizenship to 
those individuals who moved in during the Soviet occupation or to their 
descendants. Additionally, to qualify for citizenship, applicants must 
pass a Latvian language test, which ethnic Russians claimed was unfair. 
Since 1995 nearly 120,000 individuals have naturalized and the numbers 
of naturalizations, remained stable each year. The Government defined 
as stateless only those individuals, estimated at under 1,000, who did 
not have a claim to foreign citizenship and were not eligible to apply 
for naturalization.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers, except for 
the uniformed military and police, to form and join unions of their 
choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements; 
workers exercised this right in practice. As of January approximately 
16 percent of the workforce was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
The law recognizes the right to strike, subject to limitations 
including prolonged pre-strike procedures and prohibition of some types 
of solidarity strikes and political strikes. Workers generally 
exercised the right to strike during the year, but labor regulations 
prohibit judges, prosecutors, police, fire fighters, border guards, 
employees of state security institutions, prison guards, and military 
personnel from striking. A labor law addressing disputes identifies 
arbitration mechanisms that unions and members of the professions 
forbidden from striking may use in lieu of striking. There are no 
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the four special 
economic zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law and policies protect children from exploitation in the workplace, 
including policies regarding acceptable working conditions, and the 
Government effectively implemented these laws and policies in practice. 
The law restricts employment of those under the age of 18 by 
prohibiting night shift or overtime work. The statutory minimum age for 
employment of children is age 15, although children between the ages of 
13 and 15 may work in certain jobs outside of school hours with written 
permission from a parent.
    Inspectors from the Ministry of Welfare's State Labor Inspectorate 
were responsible for enforcing the child labor laws, and they enforced 
the laws effectively.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legally mandated monthly 
minimum wage of approximately $156 (90 lats) did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. As of September the actual 
average monthly wage was $463 (267 lats). The State Revenue Service is 
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage regulations, and it 
effectively enforced them.
    The law provides for a mandatory 40-hour maximum workweek with at 
least one 42-hour rest period weekly. There is a prohibition on 
excessive compulsory overtime. Maximum permitted overtime is 200 hours 
per calendar year. Premium pay is one of the ways workers may be 
remunerated for overtime. By law an employee performing overtime work 
must receive additional pay of at least 100 percent of the regular pay 
rate. An employer and employee can agree for a higher overtime rate as 
well.
    The laws establish minimum occupational health and safety standards 
for the workplace, which were effectively enforced. Workers have the 
legal right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health 
or safety without endangering their continued employment; however, 
authorities did not enforce this right.

                               __________

                             LIECHTENSTEIN

    The Principality of Liechtenstein, with a population of 
approximately 35,000, is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary 
government. The unicameral Landtag (parliament) nominates, and the 
monarch appoints, the members of the Government. A two-party coalition 
government was formed after free and fair parliamentary elections in 
March 2005. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. There were reports of 
violence against women, including spousal abuse, and reports of child 
abuse. The authorities dealt effectively with these matters.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. The most recent visit was 
in 2004, when the Council of Europe's (COE) commissioner for human 
rights visited the only prison and reported that it generally met 
international standards.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces are 
composed of the regular and auxiliary police under the Ministry of 
Interior. There is no standing military force. Corruption and impunity 
were not problems. Police automatically report allegations of 
misconduct to the prosecutor's office, and any person subject to 
wrongful police action also can file a complaint with the chief of 
police. A failure of either the prosecutor's office or the chief of 
police to open an investigation can be appealed to the Government and, 
subsequently, to the administrative courts.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police arrest a suspect based on an arrest 
warrant issued by the national court. Within 48 hours of arrest, police 
must bring suspects before an examining magistrate who must either file 
formal charges or order release; authorities respected this right in 
practice. Release on personal recognizance or bail is permitted unless 
the examining magistrate has reason to believe that the suspect is a 
danger to society or would not appear for trial. The law grants 
suspects the right to legal counsel of their own choosing, and counsel 
was provided at government expense to indigent persons. However, the 
law grants the suspect access to a lawyer only after an examining 
magistrate has filed formal charges. During police detention, visits 
are commonly not allowed, although in practice suspects may contact 
family members. During investigative detention, visits can be monitored 
to prevent tampering with evidence.
    The COE's commissioner for human rights in May 2005 criticized the 
law for not providing prompt access to legal counsel at the outset of 
detention.
    In 2004 the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) expressed similar 
concerns about shortcomings in the protection of arrested or detained 
persons, noting that the law does not require police to inform them of 
their right to remain silent, to be brought promptly before a judge, 
and to have access to legal counsel. In response to these criticisms, 
police issued internal regulations in 2004 instructing staff to grant 
suspects access to a lawyer upon request.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice.
    The judicial system has three tiers: a court of first instance, an 
appellate court, and the Supreme Court. The national court is the court 
of first instance in all civil and criminal matters. In addition, there 
are two courts outside the three tiers: the administrative court hears 
appeals against government decisions, and the state court reviews the 
constitutionality of laws, ordinances, and international treaties. It 
also protects the rights accorded by the constitution, decides 
conflicts of jurisdiction between the law courts and the administrative 
authorities, and acts as a disciplinary court for members of the 
Government.
    In 2004 the UNHRC expressed concern that the procedure for 
appointment and tenure of judges may not be compatible with the 
principle of the independence of the judiciary.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials involving minor offenses are heard by a single judge, 
more serious or complex cases by a panel of judges, and the most 
serious cases, including murder, by a public jury. The law grants 
defendants the right to legal counsel of their own choosing, and 
counsel was provided at government expense to indigent persons. 
Defendants may challenge witnesses or evidence and present witnesses or 
evidence on their own behalf. Defendants are presumed innocent and have 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their case. Those 
convicted have the right to appeal, ultimately to the Supreme Court.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The Roman Catholic Church is the official state church; its 
finances are integrated directly into the budgets of the national and 
local governments. The Government also provided financial support to 
the Protestant, Christian Orthodox, and Muslim communities. Smaller 
religious groups are eligible to apply for grants as associations of 
foreigners or specific projects.
    Roman Catholic or Protestant religious education was compulsory in 
all primary schools, but the authorities routinely granted individual 
exemptions for children whose parents requested them.
    The COE's commissioner for human rights in May 2005 criticized 
government policy for favoring the Catholic Church over other religious 
communities in the distribution of state subsidies, and urged the 
Government to review its policies to ensure an equitable distribution 
of these funds. In 2004 the UNHRC also expressed concern about the 
unequal treatment of different religious denominations in the 
allocation of public funds. In November the Government hosted another 
session of the working group seeking consensus on the redefinition of 
the relationship between the state and the Roman Catholic Church. The 
issue of state subsidies to religious communities formed part of these 
government-sponsored discussions.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In a 2004 report the UNHRC 
found evidence of religious intolerance and discrimination against 
Muslims (see section 5).
    According to 2002 data, there were 18 members in the Jewish 
community. (After 2002 the Government discontinued collecting 
statistics on religious affiliation.) There were no reports of anti-
Semitic attacks, but some acts of vandalism by right-wing extremists 
had anti-Semitic overtones (see section 5).
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may 
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol, and provided it to two persons during the year. The 
Government also provided 37 residency permits on humanitarian grounds.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    A trilateral agreement with Switzerland and Austria requires the 
Government to return persons to the respective authorities if they have 
entered from those countries without permission.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal 
suffrage.
    The monarchy is hereditary in the male line. Prince Hans Adam II is 
the head of state. Since 2004 Hereditary Prince Alois has taken on the 
duties of head of state, exercising the rights of office on behalf of 
the reigning prince. All legislation enacted by the parliament must 
have the concurrence of the monarch and the Prime Minister.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections, 
considered free and fair, were held in March 2005; the center-right 
Progressive Citizens' Party won 12 seats, the center-left Fatherland 
Union won 10 seats, and the green-alternative Free List won three seats 
in the 25-member parliament.
    Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and 
stand for election.
    There were six women in the 25-seat parliament and one woman in the 
five-seat cabinet.
    There were no known members of minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law requires the Government to inform the public of its 
activities, and government information was freely available to all 
persons living in the country, including domestic and foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A few domestic and international human rights groups generally 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, 
language, or social status. The law also prohibits public incitement to 
violence or public agitation or insult directed against a race, people, 
or ethnic group.

    Women.--The law prohibits all forms of domestic violence and 
provides for restraining orders against violent family members. 
However, there were reports of violence against women, including 
spousal abuse. According to police, there were 28 police interventions 
in cases of domestic violence during the year; five aggressors were 
prevented from re-entering the family home for 10 days and 10 for a 
further period of three months. The Government may file charges without 
a complaint from the victim. In 2005 nine women and 10 children spent a 
total of 1,088 nights at Frauenhaus, a woman's shelter. That 
nongovernmental organization (NGO) reported conducting 97 counseling 
contacts related to domestic violence. Frauenhaus provided both 
counseling and refuge for battered women (including nonresidents) and 
dependent children.
    In 2004 the Government concluded a joint project with Swiss and 
Austrian neighboring regions to combat domestic violence with 
awareness-raising activities, and issued a best-practice guideline in 
several languages for affected friends and relatives.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the 
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. Spousal 
rape has the same penalties as rape under other circumstances. The 
sentence may be reduced if the victim decides to remain with the 
abusive spouse. There were two investigations for rape resulting in one 
prosecution during the year. Police statistics do not separately record 
spousal rape.
    Prostitution is illegal; however, police tolerated it in the 
country's few nightclubs, as long as it did not cause public offense. 
Leading a person into prostitution is punishable by up to six months in 
prison, heavy fines, or both, and up to three years in prison if the 
victim was under 18.
    NGOs believed that trafficking in women occurred; however, no 
specific cases were documented during the year (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable by up to six months in 
prison or a fine, and the Government effectively enforced these 
prohibitions. Employers are required to take reasonable measures to 
prevent sexual harassment; failing to do so may entail damages to a 
victim of up to $32,000 (40,000 Swiss francs). There were 14 
investigations for sexual harassment during the year, resulting in four 
prosecutions and three convictions.
    Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Equal 
Opportunity Office and the Commission on Equality between Women and Men 
worked to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. However, 
societal discrimination continued to limit opportunities for women in 
fields traditionally dominated by men. Men earned more than women, and 
women generally did not receive equal pay for equal work. Implementing 
a European Union directive, parliament in May unanimously adopted 
amendments to the labor contract law and the equal opportunity law to 
combat gender discrimination in the workplace.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare and amply funded a system of public education and health care. 
Education is universal and compulsory until the ninth grade; it is free 
through the end of high school. Virtually all school-age children 
attend school. Approximately 50 percent complete professional, 
vocational, or technical training, with another 30 percent going on to 
earn higher-level specialized or university degrees.
    The Government provided free health care for all children under the 
age of 16.
    There were some reports of abuse of children. During the year there 
were five prosecutions but no convictions for child abuse. In April 
2005 the commission for the coordination of professionals in cases of 
sexual offenses against children published a brochure for professionals 
likely to be confronted with child abuse that included best-practice 
guidelines to facilitate the exchange of information among all parties. 
Each year the commission generally is contacted in 12 to 14 cases of 
suspected sexual abuse.
    Possession of child pornographic material is a statutory offense. 
The Government has extended the statute of limitations for sexual 
offenses against children. In January 2005 an amendment to the Code of 
Criminal Procedure was implemented that takes special account of the 
protective needs of young victims of crimes or victims of sexual 
offenses.
    The Government supported programs to protect the rights of children 
and made financial contributions to three NGOs that monitored 
children's rights. The Office for Social Services oversaw the 
implementation of government-supported programs for children and youth.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons, 
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or 
within the country; however, some NGOs believed that trafficking in 
women occurred but was not reported.
    In May 2005 the COE's commissioner for human rights expressed 
concern that the temporary immigration status, together with the 
precarious economic situation, of the majority of foreign cabaret 
dancers increased their risk of falling prey to trafficking networks. 
The commissioner called on the authorities to be vigilant in monitoring 
respect of contractual obligations by nightclub owners. The Government 
established an expert working group on public assistance to victims of 
crime, including victims of trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities, there were no reports 
of discrimination against such persons in employment, education, access 
to health care, or in the provision of other state services. In October 
the parliament adopted a new Equal Opportunity Law for Persons with 
Disabilities which requires that all public buildings be accessible to 
persons with disabilities within five years.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In 2004 the UNHRC expressed 
concern about the persistence of xenophobia and intolerance, especially 
against Muslims and persons of Turkish origin.
    Right-wing extremists, including skinheads, were publicly active 
during the year, but police estimated their numbers to be no more than 
30 to 40. There were some reports during the year of skinhead 
incidents, but none involving racially motivated assaults on foreigners 
or ethnic minorities. In April unknown vandals all over the country 
blackened a large number of billboard advertisements of a government 
anti-racism campaign, rendering them illegible and covering some of 
them with right-wing extremist propaganda.
    The Government continued to monitor right-wing groups. A government 
advisory commission attempted to raise public awareness in order to 
address the problem of acts of violence in public areas such as schools 
and playgrounds. A commission was working on guidelines to reduce 
violence at public events.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers, 
including foreigners, are free to associate, join unions of their 
choice, and select their own union representatives, and workers 
exercised these rights in practice. Due to the country's small size and 
population, there was only one trade union, which represented 
approximately 13 percent of the work force. The law does not prohibit 
antiunion discrimination, but there were no reports that antiunion 
discrimination occurred.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. About 25 percent 
of workers were covered by collective bargaining agreements. Workers 
have the right to strike except in certain essential services. No 
strikes occurred during the year; there were no reports of denials of 
the right to strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace. The law prohibits the employment of children younger 
than 16 years of age; exceptions may be made for the limited employment 
of children age 14 and over and for those who leave school after 
completing nine years of compulsory education. Children age 14 and 
older may be employed in light duties for not more than nine hours per 
week during the school year and 15 hours per week at other times.
    In May 2005 a new ordinance was implemented prohibiting labor that 
subjects children to physical, psychological, moral, or sexual abuse. 
There are no reports that any cases have been brought under the 
ordinance.
    The Government devoted adequate resources and oversight to child 
labor policies, and the Department for Worker Safety of the Office of 
the National Economy effectively supervised compliance with the law. 
The department completed 253 onsite inspections during the year and 
found no major violations of the law.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum 
wage; however, the average daily wage provided a decent standard of 
living for a worker and family.
    The law sets the maximum workweek at 45 hours for white-collar 
workers and employees of industrial firms and sales personnel, and 48 
hours for all other workers. The law provides for a daily mandatory 
one-hour break and an 11-hour rest period for full-time workers; with 
few exceptions, Sunday work was not allowed. Pay for overtime was 
required to be at least 25 percent higher than the standard rate and 
overtime generally was restricted to two hours per day. Over a period 
of four months the average total work week including overtime may not 
exceed 48 hours.
    The law sets occupational health and safety standards, and the 
Department for Worker Safety generally enforced these provisions 
effectively. The law provides for the right of workers to remove 
themselves from work situations that endanger health or safety without 
jeopardy to their continued employment, and workers exercised this 
right in practice.

                               __________

                               LITHUANIA

    The Republic of Lithuania is a constitutional, multiparty, 
parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 3.4 million 
people; legislative authority is vested in the unicameral Seimas 
(parliament). In 2004 citizens elected President Valdas Adamkus in free 
and fair elections. In July Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas formed a 
new government from a minority coalition of center-left parliamentary 
parties. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. Nonetheless, the following human rights problems were 
reported: poor prison conditions; police mistreatment of detainees and 
misuse of detention laws; government corruption; incidents of anti-
Semitism; widespread domestic violence and child abuse; and trafficking 
in women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    Both the International Commission to Investigate the Crimes of Nazi 
and Soviet Occupation Regimes and the prosecutor general's office 
continued investigations of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against 
humanity related to Nazi crimes committed against Jews during World War 
II. From January to October, the prosecutor general's office initiated 
nine pretrial investigations and continued investigations in 20 cases 
related to Nazi-era crimes. The prosecutor general dismissed two 
pretrial investigations for lack of evidence. In September 2005 the 
Government brought criminal charges against Algimantas Mykolas Dailide, 
alleging collaboration with Nazis and persecution of Jews. In March the 
Vilnius District Court convicted him of crimes against Jews in Nazi-
occupied Lithuania during World War II, but did not impose a sentence 
due to the 85-year-old convict's age and infirmity. The prosecutor 
appealed the verdict. During the year prosecutors initiated ten 
pretrial investigations for crimes against humanity or war crimes 
against Lithuanian people during the Nazi occupation and 17 pretrial 
investigations related to discrimination or incitement to racial or 
ethnic hatred during the Soviet occupation.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment 
or punishment. There were fewer reports that police physically 
mistreated detainees than in 2005.
    During the year the ombudsman's office received complaints that 
officials used force and psychological pressure to obtain evidence in 
pretrial investigations. The ombudsman's office was unable to find 
evidence to support any of these allegations and dismissed them.
    Reported incidents of noncommissioned military officers hazing 
recruits decreased during the year. The military police opened seven 
hazing-related criminal cases, compared with 11 cases in 2005. The 
military police terminated one pretrial investigation due to lack of 
evidence. Most reports of hazing alleged that draftees beat each other 
or subjected each other to psychological pressure. Investigators are 
preparing to pass six of the seven cases to the prosecutor's office.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Human rights advocates 
claimed that prison conditions remained poor and life threatening, 
although the Government continued to upgrade prisons to meet 
international standards. Nevertheless, inadequate sanitation, 
overcrowding, and limited access to medical services persisted. 
Renovation of several prisons reduced overcrowding, but inmate 
populations remain above capacity.
    The Seimas ombudsman's office received complaints that prison 
authorities arbitrarily restricted rights of prisoners who had good 
conduct records, interfered with inmates' correspondence, separated 
prisoners with HIV, and did not ensure access to medical services in 
jails. Arrested and detained persons generally suffered worse 
conditions than did convicts imprisoned for longer periods. In 2006 the 
ombudsman received 270 complaints from prisoners compared to 283 in 
2005. Most complaints were related to prison conditions and actions of 
prisons department personnel. Investigators determined that 30 
complaints were valid and the others were outside the ombudsman's 
purview.
    In November the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that 
the monitoring of a Siauliai inmate's correspondence with his wife was 
inappropriate and that the country should amend its regulations on 
inmate correspondence monitoring.
    During the year 18 prison inmates died (five by suicide, 12 of 
natural causes, and one killed by another inmate), compared with 23 
inmate deaths in 2005. There were 41 injuries inflicted by other 
inmates during the year, compared with 59 in 2005, and 30 self-
inflicted injuries, compared to 62 in 2005.
    Two correctional institutions remained seriously overcrowded during 
the year. For example, the facility in Siauliai had a capacity of 425 
inmates after recent remodeling but held 527. Additionally, the 
ombudsman concluded that conditions in the jails in the towns of 
Ukmerge, Anyksciai, and Zarasai made them unfit for use. The ombudsman 
received no complaints that working inmates were paid for fewer hours 
than they worked.
    Pretrial detainees were generally held separately from convicted 
criminals, but there were reports that police held individuals in jail 
for minor offenses together with criminal suspects.
    The Government continued renovation and reconstruction of 11 
correctional facilities and increased funding for prisoner 
rehabilitation and job training by 10 percent over spending in 2005.
    The Government permitted visits to prisons by independent human 
rights observers and researchers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions. Nevertheless, there were complaints of illegally 
prolonged pretrial detentions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A unified national 
police force is responsible for law enforcement and operates under the 
authority of the Ministry of Interior. The State Security Department is 
responsible for internal security, intelligence operations, and reports 
to the Seimas and the President.
    Corruption in the police system remained a problem. Transparency 
International reported that the police force was among the country's 
most corrupt institutions, but that lower ranking officials were more 
corrupt than their superiors. Although police officers and other 
government officials occasionally exceeded their official authority, 
they were subject to prosecution or punishment for doing so. The 
inspector general's office and the police department's internal 
investigation division investigated alleged cases of police abuse. 
Prosecutors and the Seimas ombudsman's office carried out independent 
investigations.
    During the year 17 police officers were found guilty of abuse of 
power. In 2004 the Seimas expanded the authorities of the ombudsman's 
office and authorized it to investigate complaints of actions of the 
prosecutors and pretrial investigation officers that violate human 
rights. The ombudsman has observed an increase in such complaints since 
that time. During the year the ombudsman investigated 510 complaints 
regarding police activities and determined 152 to be valid. In all 
cases authorities disciplined the police officers involved. In most 
cases police officers faced administrative disciplinary actions such as 
demotions or reprimands.

    Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are required for arrest and must be 
granted by judges upon the presentation of reliable evidence of 
criminal activity. Police are allowed to detain suspects for up to 48 
hours. There were no complaints of failure to inform detainees of the 
charges against them. Bail was available and was used widely. The law 
provides for the right to an attorney from the moment of detention and, 
if indigent, to one provided by the state; however, this right was not 
always respected in practice. The law provides a person in detention 
the right to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of the 
detention, and authorities effectively respected this right in 
practice.
    Judges may order pretrial detention only to prevent flight or the 
commission of new crimes, to allow unhindered investigation, or to 
comply with extradition requests; they may do so only in the case of 
felonies. The pretrial judge may order a suspect's detention for up to 
three months. In exceptional cases the detention may be extended to 18 
months (12 months for juveniles), subject to appeal to a higher court. 
The law provides for civil liability for damage caused by the unlawful 
actions of pretrial investigation officials, prosecutors, judges, and 
courts. During the year the average length of pretrial detention was 
approximately six months, and 12 percent of the incarcerated population 
were pretrial detainees.
    The Seimas ombudsman's office reported that the number of prolonged 
pretrial detention complaints has gradually decreased.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government respected this provision in 
practice.
    The law provides for a four-tier court system: the Supreme Court, 
the Court of Appeals, district courts, and local courts. The law also 
provides for a constitutional court and specialized courts for 
consideration of cases involving administrative, labor, and family 
problems.
    District courts hear juvenile criminal cases and cases related to 
children's rights (including domestic adoption and paternity matters). 
The local courts are tribunals of first instance for criminal, civil, 
and administrative offences, and all cases that are not assigned by law 
to other courts. The constitutional court reviews the constitutionality 
of laws and other legal acts, as well as actions by the President and 
the cabinet.

    Trial Procedures.--The law establishes the right to legal counsel 
for defendants and provides for legal assistance for indigent persons. 
The Seimas ombudsman reported only a few cases of authorities failing 
to provide counsel during the year. Defendants have access to 
government evidence and may present evidence and witnesses and confront 
or question witnesses against them. Defendants enjoy the presumption of 
innocence. The law permits trials in absentia when a defendant is 
outside the country and avoids trial. Local human rights experts 
criticized these provisions, because in such trials defendants do not 
cross-examine witnesses or present their own defense. Defendants have 
the right to appeal. The law provides for public trials. There is no 
trial by jury.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judicial system 
provides for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. 
Plaintiffs may sue for legal or injunctive relief based on human rights 
violations. Apart from redress in the court system, victims of human 
rights abuses may appeal to the parliamentary ombudsman for a 
determination on the merits of their claim. Although the ombudsman 
makes only a recommendation to the offending institution, his findings 
are commonly honored in practice.

    Property Restitution.--The 1995 law on restitution places 
significant restrictions on claims for communal property and, as a 
result, the Jewish community has regained only a fraction of the 
communal property owned by the country's prewar Jewish population of 
more than 200,000. Only 28 properties have been restituted under the 
1995 law, which is limited to religious properties.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits the arbitrary interference 
in an individual's personal correspondence or private and family life. 
There were reports of incidences where the Government did not respect 
these prohibitions in practice.
    The law requires a judge's authorization to search an individual's 
premises and prohibits indiscriminate monitoring of the correspondence 
or communications of citizens. However, local human rights groups 
allege that the Government did not properly enforce these laws.
    From January to September, the State Data Protection Inspectorate 
(SDPI) conducted 92 investigations of alleged arbitrary interference 
with privacy. This was a marked decrease from the 294 cases in 2005. 
Most of the violations involved violations of data processing rules and 
failure to inform individuals that their personal data was processed. 
The SDPI received one complaint of telephone tapping in 2005, but the 
SPDI determined in 2006 that there was no violation of law in that 
case.
    In May 2005 the Vilnius police published on its Web site the name, 
age, place, time of the violation, alcohol level, and penalties imposed 
on persons convicted of driving while intoxicated. The subjects of the 
publication contended that such publication constituted a violation of 
their privacy rights. However, the SDPI investigated and found no 
privacy violation. Similarly, in September 2005 a television program 
broadcast photographs of drivers whom police traffic cameras recorded 
violating traffic rules, which generated complaints from the local NGO 
community regarding privacy rights. The SDPI concluded that the Vilnius 
city administration and the Vilnius police did not violate the law, but 
that the company responsible for the traffic cameras had committed an 
administrative violation. It turned the case over to the Vilnius city 
court. The court did not impose any penalty.
    In March the Seimas ombudsman's office found that the Lustration 
Commission charged with investigating Soviet-era practices violated the 
privacy rights of a government official by publicizing details and 
comments about his relationship with the Soviet Committee on State 
Security (KGB) without awaiting the decision of the Administrative 
Court. The Administrative Court ultimately overturned the Lustration 
Commission's finding that he had collaborated with the KGB.
    There were no reports that doctors divulged confidential data about 
patients to employers and others.
    In 2005 the ECHR issued a judgment that the Government 
discriminated against and violated the privacy of two former Soviet KGB 
employees. The two complained that the Government prohibited them from 
seeking employment in various private-sector fields until 2009, that 
they were deprived of their jobs in the private sector, and that they 
were subjected to daily embarrassment on account of their past. 
Following the 2004 ECHR judgment in favor of plaintiffs in a similar 
case, the Government introduced amendments to the law to lift its bars 
on employment. For the second consecutive year, the Seimas did not pass 
the amendments, although the Government has reintroduced them several 
times. One similar case remains pending at the ECHR. During the year 
the ECHR issued three judgments that the Government violated the 
procedural right of the plaintiffs guaranteeing a speedy trial but did 
not address the merits of the privacy case.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal and the Government did not attempt to impede 
criticism.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views. Radio and television included a mix of independent and public 
stations. International media generally operated without restriction. 
In March the Radio and Television Commission prohibited the rebroadcast 
on local channels of Belarusian state television on the grounds that it 
disseminated disinformation. The Vilnius Administrative District Court 
overturned the decision in September, holding that the Commission 
violated its decision-making procedures and exceeded its authority by 
considering abstract opinions about the political situation in Belarus.
    The law prohibits the dissemination of information that is untrue 
and that is damaging to an individual's honor and dignity. Libel is 
punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to one year or up to two 
years for dissemination of libelous material through mass media.
    Editor-in-chief of the daily Respublika, Raimundas Celencevicius, 
was sued in September 2005 by Audrius Cininas for libel for a series of 
articles that the latter claimed portrayed him as biased in favor of 
the country's Jewish minority. The case was still pending at year's 
end. Cininas, a judge, had presided over a trial in 2005 against the 
owner of Respublika, Vitas Tomkus, who was convicted at that time for 
inciting ethnic and racial hatred for a series of editorials with anti-
Semitic overtones. The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme 
Administrative Court, which in August refused to reconsider its 
reversal.
    In September the State Security Department briefly detained a 
publisher and seized one day's issue of Laisvas Laikrastis newspaper on 
the grounds that the paper was publishing information classified as a 
state secret. President Adamkus issued a statement criticizing the 
Security Department's action and called the detention of the publisher 
and seizure of the issue an attack against free press. Neither the 
publisher nor the newspaper sought legal redress.
    In November a Siauliai City Court found Mindaugas Murza, a Siauliai 
city council member, guilty of incitement of ethnic and racial hatred 
because he had started a nationalist political party with an anti-
Semitic agenda and presented speeches and written materials inciting 
disrespect for Jews. Politicians and high-ranking government officials 
had publicly criticized the founder's statements, and the State 
Security Department had recommended that the Siauliai prosecutor's 
office bring charges against Murza. He was fined $1,760 (5,000 litas). 
Several of his supporters received lesser fines. Prosecutors also 
charged him for organizing a demonstration at a menorah lighting 
ceremony in 2003, but the court dismissed the case because the statute 
of limitations had expired.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. According to the Department of Statistics, 42 percent of the 
country's residents between the ages of 16 and 74 used the Internet in 
the first quarter of the year.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law and constitution provide for the right to peacefully 
assemble; the Government respected this in practice. There were no 
reported abuses by police in dealing with demonstrators.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the Government continued to ban the Communist Party 
and other organizations associated with the former Soviet regime (see 
section 3).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and the law provide for 
the free practice of religion, and the Government generally respected 
this right in practice. There is no state religion; however, some 
religious groups enjoyed special government benefits.
    The law divides religious communities into state-recognized 
traditional religious communities, other state-recognized religious 
groups, and registered communities and associations. The nine 
traditional religious communities received special exemptions and 
rights not available to other religious groups. Both traditional and 
nontraditional religious communities that are state-recognized may 
receive state subsidies; however, in practice only the traditional 
groups regularly received the subsidies. Registered but unrecognized 
religious communities did not receive the benefits and exemptions 
enjoyed by traditional and state-recognized communities, but they may 
act as legal entities. Unregistered religious communities have no 
juridical status or state privileges, but there were no reports that 
any such groups were prevented from worshiping or seeking members.
    Four applications for status as a ``state-recognized religious 
association'' have been pending since 1999, from the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church, the United Methodist Church of Lithuania, the New 
Apostolic Church, and the Union of Evangelical Christians 
(Pentecostals) of the Republic of Lithuania.
    The Government did not restrict activities of foreign missionary 
groups within the country.
    The law stipulates that state educational institutions may offer 
religious instruction only of traditional and other state-recognized 
religions; however, participation in religious classes is not 
mandatory, and parents can choose either religious instruction or 
secular ethics classes for their children.
    In July the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson found 
that the English language graduation exams discriminated against non-
Catholic or nonreligious students by requiring examinees to write 
essays about what All Saints' Day and Christmas Eve meant to them 
personally.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are approximately 4,000 
Jews in the country, and various Jewish communities are active. Anti-
Semitism was manifest in acts of vandalism against Jewish graves and 
monuments, displays of neo-Nazi sentiment, and public anti-Semitic 
comments. The political leadership and most media outlets generally 
criticized anti-Semitic acts of vandalism. A poll reported by the 
Baltic News Service in February indicated that 31 percent of 
individuals asked do not want Jewish neighbors. The same poll indicated 
that 51 percent of respondents do not want Muslim neighbors. The poll 
did not allow respondents the option to refrain from specifying any 
group they would not want as neighbors.
    In May several young people wearing Nazi-style uniforms and riding 
Nazi-era motorcycles drove past the Jewish community center in Vilnius, 
and community members heard the riders yell slogans glorifying Hitler 
and belittling Jews. The Vilnius city mayor immediately asked the 
police to investigate the incident. The Vilnius prosecutor's office 
initiated a pretrial investigation but by year's end had not charged 
anyone with a crime.
    In June vandals tore down 22 monuments at a Jewish cemetery in 
Vilnius. The President, prime minister, and Vilnius mayor criticized 
the desecration and urged local law enforcement to find and punish the 
perpetrators. In a separate incident in September, 18 tombstones in a 
Vilnius Jewish cemetery were vandalized. In both cases, the Vilnius 
municipality restored the monuments with city funds. The police had not 
identified any suspects in either case by year's end.
    In August the Supreme Administrative Court refused to reconsider 
its reversal of the lower court conviction of the owner of the daily 
Respublika, Vitas Tomkus, for inciting ethnic and racial hatred in 
connection with a series of editorials with obvious anti-Semitic 
overtones that were carried by the newspaper in 2004. In July 2005 the 
lower court found Tomkus guilty and fined him $1,035 (3,000 litas). The 
Supreme Administrative Court reversed the lower court's ruling in 
September 2005, ostensibly because of prosecutorial error, and 
cancelled the fine. The judge in the case later sued an editor of 
Respublika, Raimundas Celencevicius, for libel for a series of articles 
that the judge claimed portrayed him as biased in favor of Lithuania's 
Jewish minority. The case was still pending at year's end.
    In September a customer dressed up as Hitler greeted other 
customers at the door of the Fortas bar in Kaunas. Jewish leaders asked 
the Government to state clearly that Nazi symbols and figures should 
have no place in the country. Several politicians, including members of 
parliament and a deputy mayor of Kaunas, made public statements 
condemning the incident and the bar for its role in it. The same bar 
drew condemnation from politicians and television commentators in April 
when it marked Hitler's birthday by decorating the bar with Nazi 
paraphernalia and its staff dressed as Hitler and SS officials. The 
bar's director called the event a ``masquerade, a carnival, and a funny 
show.'' Shortly after the September incident, the owner of the bar sent 
a letter of apology to the local Jewish community, stating that the 
management and the staff do not tolerate anti-Semitism.
    In November a Siauliai City Court found Mindaugas Murza, a Siauliai 
city council member, guilty of incitement of ethnic and racial hatred 
because he had started a nationalist political party with an anti-
Semitic agenda and presented speeches and written materials inciting 
disrespect for Jews. Politicians and high-ranking government officials 
had publicly criticized the founder's statements, and the State 
Security Department had recommended that the Siauliai prosecutor's 
office bring charges against the member. He was fined $1,760 (5,000 
litas). Several of his supporters received lesser fines. Prosecutors 
also charged him for organizing a demonstration at a menorah lighting 
ceremony in 2003, but the court dismissed the case because the statute 
of limitations had expired.
    In August 2005 a small political party with no seats in the Seimas, 
the Lithuanian Liberty Union, issued a public statement that Jews were 
assuming power in the country. The union urged people not to trust 
Jewish-owned banks or insurance companies. The State Security 
Department determined that there was insufficient evidence to support 
charges of ethnic hatred against Jews.
    The Government continued its investigations in to Nazi-era war 
crimes (see section 1.a.).
    An estimated 10 percent of the pre-World War II population was 
Jewish. More than 200,000 Jews (approximately 95 percent of the 
immediately prewar Jewish population) died as victims of the Holocaust. 
The country continued to work to better understand its past and to make 
just recompense for its Holocaust legacy. In 1998 President Valdas 
Adamkus established a historical commission to investigate crimes of 
both the Holocaust and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The commission 
has held annual conferences and several seminars, published several 
reports, and co-sponsored a Holocaust education program. During the 
year the commission continued to organize conferences and publish 
reports on the subject. In July the President presented state awards to 
members of the International Commission for Evaluation of the Crimes of 
the Soviet and Nazi Occupation Regimes in the country.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    The law generally allows emigrants to retain citizenship as long as 
they hold no other citizenship. In April the Seimas amended the law to 
allow persons to recover Lithuanian citizenship if they lost it under 
previous laws. In November the Constitutional Court ruled 
unconstitutional provisions in the same law that allowed for dual 
citizenship.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Asylum seekers coming from a 
safe country of transit are prohibited from entering the country and 
are returned to the transit country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Presidential and 
parliamentary elections in 2004 were generally free and fair. However, 
there were complaints that campaign financing lacked transparency and 
reports of vote buying during the parliamentary elections. Some vote-
buying charges centered on one party's populist campaign tactics of 
holding political rallies-cum-concerts and distributing candy or 
campaign paraphernalia. The court found guilty and fined three persons 
for vote-buying in the parliamentary elections.
    In January 2005 an amendment increased the number of enrolled party 
members necessary to register a political party from 400 to 1,000. The 
Government continued to ban the Communist Party.
    There were 35 women in the 141-seat Seimas and three women in the 
14-member Council of Ministers. In July 2005 the interior ministry 
reported that more than 60 percent of civil servants were women and 
that women occupied 30 percent of the high-level positions within the 
Government.
    At year's end, there were six members of ethnic minorities in the 
141-seat Seimas and no members of ethnic minorities in the Council of 
Ministers.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Numerous reports of 
government corruption received widespread public attention during the 
year. The new government took steps to highlight corruption as a 
problem and strengthen oversight.
    Polls revealed the public perception that corruption was most 
prevalent among midlevel civil servants, traffic police, university 
officials, and those working in the health sector. Public corruption 
scandals arose among leading politicians as well.
    In March two top Presidential advisors resigned when it was 
revealed that they purchased homes in a prestigious district of Vilnius 
that had formerly been owned by the Government and recently sold to 
developers. The Chief Official Ethics Commission concluded that the 
officials did not violate ethics rules by purchasing the houses.
    In June Prime Minister Brazauskas resigned after the Labor Party 
withdrew from the ruling coalition amid allegations of the misuse of 
state and party funds by leading Labor Party politicians. The health 
minister in the Government admitted to using party funds to repair his 
car. State investigators also found that the culture minister broke 
ethics rules by paying family travel expenses from state funds. The 
Labor Party leader left the country and sought political asylum in 
Russia following allegations of fraudulent accounting of Labor Party 
funds and providing false information to election commission officials. 
A request for his extradition was pending at year's end.
    In October 2005 a court sentenced a former parliamentarian to 18 
months in a correctional institution for soliciting a bribe (in the 
form of a contribution to his campaign) while he was a member of 
parliament. The ex-parliamentarian appealed this ruling in November 
2005. In February the appellate court postponed the sentence for one 
year.
    In December 2005 the Seimas approved the conclusions of an ad hoc 
parliamentary commission that the mayor of Vilnius had received 
payments in exchange for ensuring that municipal decisions favored 
certain business interests. A local human rights organization claimed 
that the Seimas decision interfered in the judicial process. There was 
no further legal action on these allegations during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
government institutions generally provided access in practice. During 
the year, however, the ombudsman received some complaints regarding 
delays in providing information, the quality of the information 
provided, and failure of municipal institutions to provide material 
requested. The ombudsman requested heads of institutions and other unit 
supervisors to consider disciplinary actions against the officials 
involved. Although the ombudsman's recommendations are not binding, 
state institutions have implemented recommended disciplinary actions in 
86 percent of the cases.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, social 
status, or ethnic background as well as discrimination based on age, 
sexual orientation, disability, religion, or belief. The law provides 
penalties for discrimination on the basis of age, disability, race, 
ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual discrimination. Despite 
these programs and prohibitions, discrimination against women and 
minorities persisted.

    Women.--Societal violence against women, particularly alcohol-
related domestic violence, remained a serious problem. The law does not 
specifically criminalize domestic violence, but authorities prosecuted 
domestic violence under general assault laws. There was no 
authoritative information on the extent of the problem.
    When such violence occurs in the home, the victim must file a 
complaint to initiate an investigation. Certain NGOs maintained that 
few victims of domestic violence reported abuses to police because they 
preferred to avoid publicity and were not confident that the courts 
would punish their assailants. Only a few of the reported complaints 
reached the criminal court. The maximum penalty the courts imposed was 
two years' imprisonment. Observers criticized the Government's ability 
to enforce the law prohibiting domestic violence. Since domestic 
violence is prosecuted under general assault laws, the data was not 
segregated, and no reliable information existed on either the number of 
complaints of domestic violence or the number of convictions resulting 
from these complaints.
    Thirty-nine women's shelters, operating with the funding and under 
the direction of NGOs or municipal governments, provided assistance to 
domestic violence victims. Shelters reported that the increase in women 
applying for assistance was attributable to the growing availability of 
services rather than an increase in violence against women. During the 
year the Vilnius-based Shelter for Children and Mothers provided 
assistance to 287 victims of domestic violence, forced prostitution, 
and human trafficking.
    The law specifically criminalizes rape, including spousal rape. 
Persons convicted of rape generally received sentences of three to five 
years' imprisonment. During the year there were 253 rapes reported. 
Police were sometimes reluctant to act in cases of domestic abuse.
    Prostitution is illegal but remained a problem. The penalty for 
prostitution is a fine of $107 to $178 (300 to 500 litas) for a single 
offense and up to $345 (1,000 litas) for repeat offenses. According to 
the police, 2,100 women engaged in prostitution in 2006, compared to an 
estimated 3,000 to 5,000 in 2004.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment. A 2004 survey reported that 14 
percent of university students surveyed, most of them female, 
experienced sexual harassment from professors and university staff. The 
equal opportunities ombudsman reported that the lack of authority to 
compel witnesses to testify, or to caution witnesses against presenting 
false evidence, hampered investigations of sexual harassment.
    Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under 
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. Women 
nevertheless continued to face discrimination. A May 2005 report of the 
Open Society Institute and the Equality Center stated that gender 
equality institutions existed exclusively in the large cities and that 
they provided inadequate outreach at the regional or local level.
    National policy requires equal pay for equal work; however, 
employers often paid women less than their male counterparts. During 
the year a woman's average wage was 84 percent that of a man; in the 
public sector, women's wages were 82 percent those of men. Women were 
underrepresented significantly in some professions and in business and 
the managerial sector as a whole.
    The public opinion and market research company TNS Gallup released 
results of a labor market survey which showed that women felt 
discrimination in the labor market and that men also noticed unequal 
conditions for women. Only 37 percent of the country's residents 
thought that men and women had equal opportunities.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare.
    Public education was compulsory, free, and nearly universal for 
children through the age of 15. According to the children's rights 
ombudsman's data for 2005, approximately one percent of children under 
15 did not attend school.
    Boys and girls had equal access to government-provided medical 
care.
    Child abuse, particularly in connection with parental alcohol 
abuse, continued to be a problem. According to the Department of 
Statistics, approximately 36,500 children lived in 16,400 abusive or 
dysfunctional families. Several media sources reported that incidents 
of cruelty to children, including sexual abuse, intentional starvation, 
beatings, and killings, were common. Authorities reported that child 
abuse caused the death of 14 children during the year.
    The children's rights ombudsman reported 316 complaints during the 
year, compared to 430 in 2005. During the year, the ombudsman initiated 
107 investigations, compared to 74 in 2005. The ombudsman attributed 
the increase to greater awareness of children's rights and reporting, 
rather than an increase in violence against children. The Seimas' board 
allocated additional staff and funding for the ombudsman during the 
year.
    The penalty for violence or cruelty against minors is a one to two 
year prison sentence. In addition, authorities may remove abused 
children from their families and place them in foster care. Despite 
government efforts to combat child abuse and aid abused children, the 
ombudsman reported that the Government provided insufficient assistance 
for abused children.
    There was one report of child abuse at a state correctional 
institution. In September 2005 a study by the Lithuanian Law Institute 
reported that children in orphanages continued to suffer physical 
abuse. The Government relocated children from Soviet-style orphanages 
to residential foster families, thus permitting children to attend 
regular schools rather than orphanage schools. Foster families, 
however, did not always ensure adequate care for children. During the 
year, the children's rights ombudsman received 30 complaints about 
violations of children's rights in orphanages and no complaints about 
such violations in foster homes.
    The law provides for up to 13 years' imprisonment for sexual abuse 
of a child; however, sexual abuse of children remained a problem. 
During the year the interior ministry registered 69 cases of child 
sexual abuse (excluding child rape). In 2004 a Vilnius hospital and 
private firm conducted a survey of 18- to 20-year-olds indicating that 
31 percent of those surveyed experienced sexual abuse during their 
childhood and adolescence; the children's rights ombudsman stated that 
the survey exaggerated the number of victims.
    The Government operated a children's rehabilitation center to 
provide special care for sexually abused children.
    As in 2005 the Child Line (a children's hotline) received more than 
40,000 calls from children, who complained about problematic relations 
with their parents and friends, violence in their families, and sexual 
abuse.
    Trafficking of girls was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    During the year the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman initiated two 
pre-trial investigations regarding sexual exploitation of a child.
    Several thousand children reportedly lived on the street. Sixty 
regional government children's rights protection agencies, other 
institutions, and numerous NGOs routinely assisted these children. 
Street children had full access to government sponsored free services. 
There were no reports of police abuse of street children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking 
in persons. The country remained a source, transit, and destination 
point for trafficking in women and girls. Women were primarily 
trafficked to Western Europe. Most women trafficked into or transiting 
the country were from Eastern Europe.
    Europol estimated that over 1,200 women and girls were victims of 
human trafficking every year. The Government estimated that 
approximately 1,000 to 1,500 women, many of them trafficking victims, 
left the country each year to engage in prostitution. In addition, 
women from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine comprised approximately 12 
percent of the country's prostitutes.
    Traffickers targeted the most vulnerable social groups: young 
females from poor or unstable families. Traffickers also commonly 
targeted young women from ethnic minorities. Many were lured by 
deceptive offers of employment as household helpers, bar dancers, 
nannies, nurses, models, or waitresses, or through false marriage 
advertisements. In many cases close relatives or friends made the 
offers. Victims' compliance was ensured via threats and the withholding 
of their documents. Families often were unaware of their predicament 
and believed that they had been kidnapped. Boarding schools that also 
serve as orphanages were targets of traffickers.
    Police reported that nearly half of traffickers were linked to 
organized crime, including international groups.
    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that 
trafficking activity increased after the country joined the European 
Union in 2004. The IOM and NGOs also noted, however, that trafficking 
may have decreased or stabilized at least during the year, compared to 
2005. During the year the Government opened ten criminal cases of 
trafficking in persons and referred seven of these to the criminal 
court system. Four prosecutions ended in convictions, with sentences 
ranging from three years to four years of imprisonment. The Government 
cooperated with other European governments on several cases of 
trafficking in persons. During the year police determined that 27 
women, including three minors, were victims of trafficking; 
investigations in other cases continued at year's end.
    The ministries of interior, justice, social security and labor, 
education and science, the police department, the State Border Guard 
Service, the general prosecutor's office, and the National Courts 
Administration are responsible for enforcement of trafficking laws.
    Early in 2005 a joint government task force uncovered an organized 
crime gang that had transported nearly 100 young females from the 
country to the United Kingdom. In December law enforcement officers 
completed their investigation of 12 suspects and transferred the case 
to prosecutors.
    In 2005 the police detained five employees of model agencies amid 
allegations that the agencies were fronts for human trafficking to 
Western Europe and the United Arab Emirates. The investigation was 
continuing at year's end.
    The Government partially funded 15 day centers that assisted 
various groups at risk, including victims of trafficking. The 
Government also provided grants to 12 NGOs that offered trafficking 
victims assistance or temporary shelter. No formal screening and 
referral procedures existed, but police worked closely with these 
assistance providers.
    Prevention programs focused on disseminating information, promoting 
awareness of trafficking, especially among at-risk populations, and 
engaging policymakers and community actors in finding solutions to the 
problem. The Government improved training for law enforcement 
officials. During the year the police organized two specialized 
antitrafficking training courses (trafficking awareness and 
investigation of cases) for 60 law enforcement officials, prosecutors, 
and judges.
    In coordination with the Government and its national 
antitrafficking plan, the IOM carried out comprehensive research of the 
problems of legal prosecution of human trafficking in the country 
during the year. The IOM continued consultations on safe migration (on-
line and by phone) and provided assistance to 16 victims of trafficking 
during the year. In 2005 the IOM and the Ministry of Social Affairs 
trained 34 social workers on trafficking prevention and providing 
assistance to victims. The IOM also published a handbook about 
preventing human trafficking for teachers to use in schools.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or the provision of other state services. The Equal 
Opportunities Ombudsman received complaints concerning discrimination 
against persons with disabilities. The law mandates access to buildings 
for persons with disabilities; however, the Government generally did 
not enforce this provision in practice. Individuals involuntarily 
declared as incapacitated have no right to appeal the decision in 
court.
    In 2005 the NGOs Human Rights Monitoring Institute, Global 
Initiatives in Psychiatry, the Fellowship for Care of Mentally 
Challenged People Viltis, and the Vilnius Center of Psycho-social 
Rehabilitation surveyed nine sanitariums and five mental institutions 
and found that the institutions and sanitariums were operating in gross 
violation of patients' rights to information, privacy, and freedom from 
torture. The survey reported discriminatory staff treatment that 
extended greater privileges to favored patients. The NGOs also reported 
violations of patients' rights to education and property. The study 
recommended making available 24-hour special community services in the 
workplaces and homes of persons with disabilities and guaranteeing care 
to people suffering from serious mental disabilities.
    The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the Lithuanian Council 
for the Affairs of the Disabled focused on developing equal 
opportunities in the labor market and improving government 
effectiveness in meeting the needs of and augmenting the social 
security net for persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Discrimination and intolerance 
against ethnic minorities persisted despite laws that prohibit 
discrimination of ethnic or national minorities. Minority ethnic 
groups, including Russians, Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Tatars, and 
Karaites constitute approximately 16.5 percent of the population.
    The small Romani community (approximately 3,000) experienced 
discrimination in education, employment, health care, housing, 
services, citizenship, and in contacts with the police. The Human 
Rights Monitoring Institute reported that Roma alleged mistreatment by 
the police. The Human Rights Monitoring Institute also reported that on 
two occasions restaurants in Vilnius refused to serve Romani patrons. 
There were also reports of ambulances refusing to respond to calls in a 
predominantly Romani community.
    Minority advocates continued to criticize the Vilnius city 
government for focusing law enforcement attention on the Roma but doing 
little to integrate them into the broader community. After demolishing 
five allegedly illegal houses in a predominantly Romani area in 2004, 
the municipality did not immediately relocate the displaced occupants. 
A woman with three children lived in a tent until the municipality 
offered housing at the end of the year. Four families found shelter 
with relatives or friends. Some Romani families agreed to move to 
public housing in other parts of the city. The ombudsman, who had 
attempted to intervene in the demolition of the Romani houses, referred 
this matter to court, where it was pending at year's end. In August a 
Romani resident requested that the Vilnius city prosecutor's office 
acknowledge her as a victim of the demolition to give her standing to 
sue for damages.
    Although public sector employees are formally required to have a 
functional knowledge of the Lithuanian language, there was no 
documented evidence of job dismissals based on the language law. 
Authorities indicated that, while the law's intent is to encourage 
competence in Lithuanian as the official language of the state, the 
Government would not dismiss persons solely because of an inability to 
meet the language requirements.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year the 
ombudsman received 130 complaints of discrimination and initiated 135 
investigations (including five not based on complaints). Most 
complaints concerned either age discrimination in obtaining insurance, 
loans, and leases, or sexual discrimination in the workplace and labor 
market.
    Local human rights organizations and members of the homosexual 
community reported that physical abuse on the street, discrimination, 
and persistent social exclusion of homosexuals were problems.
    In October the ECHR opened a hearing into a case against the 
Government by a young transsexual woman who appealed to the ECHR to 
order the Ministry of Health to provide a sex change operation as 
recommended by her doctors. The ministry deferred acting on the 
doctors' recommendation on the grounds that the Seimas had not approved 
a law on sex change. The ECHR had not reached a decision in the case by 
year's end.
Section 6. Workers Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, including 
members of the police and armed forces, to form and join unions of 
their choice, and workers exercised this right in practice. However, 
unions represented only approximately 10 percent of the workforce.
    Unions must have at least 30 founding members in large enterprises 
or a membership of one-fifth of all employees in small enterprises to 
legally register. There were no reports of direct discrimination 
against members of unions. The law provides that trade unions shall be 
freely established and function independently. Although the law 
prohibits employer discrimination against union organizers and members, 
this prohibition was often ineffective in practice, and there were 
cases of employees punished for attempting to organize. According to 
the International Trade Union Confederation, no employer has yet 
``faced the penal sanctions foreseen by law for antiunion 
discrimination.'' Some large retail stores hired short-term contract 
labor and sometimes did not renew contracts of union members.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law protects 
collective bargaining for all workers except government employees 
involved in law enforcement and security-related work. The Lithuanian 
Tripartite Council, comprising representatives from labor, business, 
and government, estimated that between 5 and 25 percent of workers were 
covered under collective bargaining agreements. The law provides for 
the right to strike, except for workers in essential services; however, 
labor code procedures made it difficult to exercise this right, and 
there were no official strikes during the year. The law provides that 
only a union or a union's strike committee may call a strike; thus 
employees without union representation are unable to strike legally.
    Managers often determined wages without regard to union 
preferences, except in large factories with well-organized unions. The 
Government periodically issued guidelines for state enterprise 
management in setting wage scales.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the four free economic zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law prohibits exploitation of children in the workplace, and the 
Government generally enforced these laws effectively. In 2004 
statistics indicated that 10 percent of children working did so 
illegally, mostly in the agricultural sector where children sometimes 
received unlawfully low compensation.
    The law sets the minimum employment age at 16, but allows 
employment of 14-year-olds to perform light labor with the written 
consent of the child's parents and school. The law provides for reduced 
working hours for children, allowing up to two hours per day or 12 
hours per week during the school year and up to seven hours per day or 
32 hours per week when school is not in session. Authorities generally 
enforced these laws.
    In May 2005 the media reported that a number of school-age children 
performed farm fieldwork without contracts and received $5.20 (15 
litas) per day.
    During the year, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman initiated two 
pre-trial investigations regarding sexual exploitation of a child.
    The State Labor Inspectorate (SLI) is responsible for receiving 
complaints related to employment of persons under 18. During the year, 
the SLI received six complaints of illegal child labor and courts 
initiated pretrial investigations of these cases. The court fined an 
employer $1,100 (3,000 litas) in one case and dismissed another which 
is now under appeal. The other cases remain pending.
    The ministries of social security and labor, education, health, and 
interior administered programs to protect children's rights.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In July the Government increased 
the legal minimum wage to approximately $214 (600 litas) per month. The 
national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family.
    The law provides that maximum working hours within a seven-day 
period, including overtime, may not exceed 48 hours. Overtime can be 
allowed only in cases stipulated by law and, along with night work, 
must be compensated at a minimum of 1.5 times the hourly rate.
    The SLI is responsible for implementing the labor laws; in 2006 it 
conducted 19,729 inspections of companies. The most numerous abuses 
included wage arrears, illegal employment, violation of labor 
contracts, accounting for time off and hours worked, and unsatisfactory 
investigation of accidents.
    The law provides that workers have the right to safe and healthy 
working conditions, and this was generally enforced. During the year 
the state labor inspection service recorded 79 fatal accidents at work. 
Workers have the right, both in law and practice, to remove themselves 
from dangerous work environments without jeopardizing their continued 
employment.

                               __________

                               LUXEMBOURG

    The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with a population of approximately 
460,000, is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic, parliamentary 
form of government. The role of the grand duke is mainly ceremonial and 
administrative. Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral 
Chamber of Deputies. The Prime Minister is the leader of the dominant 
party in the popularly elected parliament. Generally free and fair 
parliamentary elections took place in 2004. Civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse. Prison overcrowding, domestic 
violence, and child abuse were reported, and there was one confirmed 
case of trafficking.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports of that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detection Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers, but there were no such 
visits during the year.
    Overcrowding in the Schrassig penitentiary remained a problem.
    During the year one refused asylum seeker from Algeria died in 
prison. He was killed in a fire started by a group of refused asylum 
seekers. Two prisoners were treated for severe burns, and 10 sustained 
minor injuries in the fire. The incident may have been exacerbated by 
overcrowding in the prison. Refused asylum seekers have since been 
relocated to a more spacious section of the prison.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The grand ducal police 
and its investigative branch, the judiciary police, are responsible for 
law enforcement and maintenance of order within the country. The police 
force is under the direction of the Ministry of Justice. Neither 
corruption nor impunity were problems. A special police body is in 
charge of investigating cases of police abuse. Police officers are 
required to attend in-service training at the police academy at least 
every two years.

    Arrest and Detention.--Warrants issued by a duly authorized 
official are required for arrests except in cases of hot pursuit. 
Within 24 hours of arrest, the police must inform detainees of charges 
against them and bring them before a judge for a determination of the 
legality of the detention, and these rights were generally respected in 
practice. There is a functioning bail system, which judges freely 
employ. Detainees are given immediate access to an attorney, at 
government expense for indigents. Detainees are allowed prompt access 
to family members.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice.
    The judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court of Justice, whose 
members are appointed by the grand duke. One of the country's three 
justices of the peace has jurisdiction over minor criminal, civil, and 
commercial cases, and one of two district courts heard more serious 
cases. The youth and guardianship court ruled on matters concerning the 
protection of young persons. An administrative court system reviewed 
citizen challenges to legislation. The Supreme Court of Justice is 
composed of the cour de cassation, a court of appeal, and a department 
of public prosecution. The defendant or prosecutor may appeal verdicts 
in criminal cases to the administrative court and the administrative 
court of appeal before going to the Supreme Court of Justice.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are 
public except for those involving sexual abuse or child abuse. There 
are no jury trials. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is provided at 
public expense if defendants face serious criminal charges. Defendants 
need to ask the judge for permission to confront or question witnesses 
against them or present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. 
Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence 
relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. 
Convicted defendants have the right of appeal.
    The military and religious courts were rarely used; they also 
generally respected the aforementioned rights.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The magistrates courts are 
the courts of original jurisdiction that hear civil and commercial 
matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic 
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. A 
majority of the population had connections to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    There is no state religion, but the Government provided financial 
support to some churches which had signed conventions with the 
Government. Specifically, it paid the salaries of Roman Catholic, and 
some Protestant, Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Serbian Orthodox, 
Anglican, and Jewish clergy; several local governments maintained 
sectarian religious facilities. The Muslim community filed an 
application for similar financial support in 1998, and named a national 
representative and single interlocutor for negotiations with the 
Government in 2003; however there was no final agreement at year's end.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reported acts of 
violence or discrimination against religious minorities during the 
year. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community 
numbered an estimated 600 persons.
    For a detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious 
Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The law provides for the possibility to grant temporary protection 
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 
Convention and the 1967 Protocol, but did not grant it during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The Chamber of Deputies adopted new asylum legislation on April 5. 
The new law establishes mechanisms to reduce the length of asylum 
procedures, which had lasted up to five years. It also cancelled the 
right of appeal for previously denied asylum seekers and the provisions 
for holding refused asylum seekers awaiting repatriation. Those who are 
refused asylum are to be repatriated more quickly.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary 
elections are held at least every five years. The most recent national 
parliamentary elections, held in 2004, were considered generally free 
and fair.
    There were 13 women in the 60-member Chamber of Deputies and three 
women in the 14-member Council of Ministers. There were 15 women in the 
32-member Supreme Court.
    There was one member of a minority in the 60-member Chamber of 
Deputies, and one member of a minority in the Council of Ministers.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
the Government freely provided access on its Internet Web site.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government effectively enforced it.

    Women.--Domestic violence occurred. The law prohibits domestic 
violence, and the Government effectively enforced the law. The law is 
gender neutral and provides that a batterer will be removed from the 
house for 10 days; this can be extended an additional three months. 
Police are responsible for pursuing the charges so that a victim cannot 
be intimidated into dropping charges. Penalties may include fines and 
imprisonment. If a person asks a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for 
assistance, the police must respond proactively and speak with the 
person. There were about 350 cases of police intervention relating to 
spousal abuse during the year, and 155 expulsions by the police of the 
abusing spouse.
    There is a hot line for battered women. During the year government-
sponsored NGO shelters provided refuge to approximately 310 women and 
340 children. In addition, the Government provided financial assistance 
to domestic violence victims. Information offices set up to respond to 
women in distress reported that they received about 1,000 telephone 
calls during the year. The Government funded organizations that 
provided shelter, counseling, and hot lines.
    The law specifically prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and 
the Government enforced these laws effectively. There was a reported 
average of about 10 rape cases per year. The penalties are five to 10 
years' imprisonment.
    Prostitution is legal and was common, but the activities associated 
with organized prostitution, such as profiting from, aiding or abetting 
prostitutes, are punishable by law.
    There were reports that women were trafficked to the country for 
sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government generally 
enforced it.
    Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law 
mandates equal pay for equal work; however, according to government 
reports, women were paid 20 to 30 percent less than men for comparable 
work. The Ministry of Equal Opportunity is responsible for protecting 
the legal and social rights of women; in 2005 it began a gender 
mainstreaming program, which is to assess all government policies in 
order to determine whether they result in any gender-based disparities. 
On March 16, the Parliament introduced the principle of non-
discrimination in the country's legislation. Article 11 of the 
constitution was revised to include equality between men and women in 
the text of the document.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. The law mandates school attendance from four 
through 15 years of age, and school attendance was universal through 
that age. Schooling was free through the secondary level, and the 
Government provided some financial assistance for postsecondary 
education. Most students completed high school.
    The Government provided free medical care, and boys and girls had 
equal access.
    Child abuse occurred. A physicians' organization estimated that 
approximately 200 cases of child abuse were reported during the year, 
resulting in about 60 children receiving medical treatment. The 
Government's hot line for young persons in distress received 600 calls 
during the year.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, the country was a country of destination for women trafficked 
transnationally for the purpose of sexual exploitation. There was one 
confirmed report of trafficking reported during the year.
    The law provides penalties from six months' to three years' 
imprisonment and monetary fines for trafficking. If there are 
aggravating circumstances, prison sentences can range from one to ten 
years' imprisonment. The Government effectively enforced the 
antitrafficking statutes.
    During the year one trafficker was sentenced to three years in 
prison and fined $39,300 (30,000 euros). The prosecution of a 2004 
trafficking case was ongoing at year's end.
    There were no government services specifically for victims of 
trafficking; however, two NGOs, which were fully financed by the 
Government, provided shelter and counseling assistance to women in 
distress.
    The Ministry of Justice was responsible for the Government's 
antitrafficking efforts, in cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign 
Affairs and Equal Opportunity as well as NGOs. The Government conducted 
specialized training to educate police, immigration officials, and NGOs 
on recognition and identification of trafficking victims. At the end of 
the year, the Criminal Investigation Police created a new unit to focus 
exclusively on trafficking in persons.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law does not 
require accessibility for persons with disabilities, but the Government 
paid subsidies to builders to construct ``disabled-friendly'' 
structures. Despite these government incentives, only a small 
proportion of buildings and public transportation vehicles have been 
modified to accommodate persons with disabilities. Aid for Handicapped 
Children, an NGO, is in charge of protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities.
    There are laws establishing quotas and requiring businesses that 
employ over 25 persons to hire workers with disabilities and pay them 
prevailing wages, but the Government acknowledged that these laws were 
not applied or enforced consistently.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised these 
rights in practice. Approximately 50 percent of the workforce 
(including the trans-border workers) was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right 
freely. Approximately 66 percent of workers are under collective 
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, except 
for government workers who provide essential services; no labor strikes 
occurred during the year. Five thousand students went on strike in 
November against proposed legislation that would reduce unemployment 
benefits for graduates and delay payments by six months for those under 
30 years of age who have completed a government pre-employment training 
program. Legal strikes may occur only after a lengthy conciliation 
procedure between the parties. The Government's national conciliation 
office must certify that conciliation efforts have ended for a strike 
to be legal.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the 
employment of children under the age of 16. Apprentices who are 16 
years old must attend school in addition to their job training. Workers 
under the age of 18 have additional legal protection, including limits 
on overtime and the number of hours that can be worked continuously. 
The Ministries of Labor and Education effectively enforced the child 
labor laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for a 
single worker over the age of 18 was approximately $1,968 (1,503 euros) 
per month for unskilled workers, and approximately $2,363 (1,804 euros) 
per month for skilled workers. The minimum wage was criticized by an 
NGO as not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family; however, most employees earned more than the minimum 
wage.
    The law mandates a maximum workweek of 40 hours. Premium pay is 
required for overtime or unusual hours. Sunday employment is permitted 
in continuous-process industries (steel, glass, and chemicals) and for 
certain maintenance and security personnel; other industries must 
request permission for Sunday work, which the Government granted on a 
case-by-case basis. Work on Sunday, allowed for some retail employees, 
must be entirely voluntary and compensated at double the normal wage, 
or with compensatory time off on another day, equal to the number of 
hours worked on Sunday. The law requires rest breaks for shift workers 
and limits all workers to a maximum of 10 hours per day including 
overtime. If employers do not honor the law, workers may successively 
ask for assistance at the labor inspection court and then the Supreme 
Court of Justice.
    The law mandates a safe working environment. An inspection system 
provided severe penalties for infractions. The labor inspectorate of 
the ministry of labor and the accident insurance agency of the social 
security ministry carried out effective inspections. No laws or 
regulations specifically provided workers with the right to remove 
themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their 
continued employment; however, every worker has the right to ask the 
labor inspectorate to make a determination regarding workplace safety, 
and the inspectorate usually did so expeditiously.

                               __________

                               MACEDONIA

    The Republic of Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy with a 
population of approximately 2.1 million. Legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral Sobranie (parliament). Parliamentary elections 
held in July generally met international standards, although the 
campaign period and election day were marred by some isolated instances 
of violence and irregularities. The new prime minister, Nikola 
Gruevski, was confirmed in office in August and presides over a 
multiethnic governing coalition. President Branko Crvenkovski was 
elected to a five-year term in April 2004 in elections that were 
generally free and fair but contained some election-day irregularities. 
Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police abuse of 
suspects continued to be a problem, and there were allegations of 
police harassment of ethnic minorities, particularly members of the 
Roma community. Corruption and political pressure in the interior and 
justice ministries, the courts, and the public prosecutor's office 
impeded the investigation of some human rights abuse allegations and 
the process of bringing the accused to trial. The country continued to 
be a transit and destination country for victims of trafficking in 
persons for sexual exploitation and labor. Societal discrimination 
against ethnic minorities, particularly Roma, continued to be a 
problem.
    There was a slight overall improvement in the human rights 
situation compared to the previous year, including improved internal 
controls and professionalism of security forces and a decrease in the 
prevalence of interethnic discrimination.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces allegedly caused the wrongful death of a Romani youth 
suspected of theft.
    On March 2, police shot Enver Xhaferi while serving arrest warrants 
on three ethnic Albanian men in the Skopje suburb of Kondovo. Xhaferi 
died from gunshot wounds en route to the hospital. Police shot and 
seriously injured a second man, Fatmir Ljuri, while the third man, 
Sokol Bega, was arrested without injury. Police reported that force was 
used to prevent the suspects from attacking other officers. A Ministry 
of Interior Professional Standards Unit (PSU) investigation concluded 
that police use of firearms was ``founded, justified, and in accordance 
with the regulation for use of force with a firearm.'' International 
police advisers concurred with the findings.
    On May 11, Trajan Bekirov, a Romani youth, was reported missing, 
and on May 27, his body was found in the Vardar River, which runs 
through Skopje. Police reported that they had approached and identified 
themselves to Bekirov and another Romani youth, Orhan Iseni, while 
patrolling a Skopje neighborhood following reports of thefts from 
vehicles. Bekirov and Iseni allegedly ran from the police officers. 
Iseni was apprehended but Bekirov went missing. Bekirov's family and 
Romani community members accused the police of beating and killing 
Bekirov and depositing the body in the river. The Macedonian Forensic 
Institute and a doctor representing a local human rights NGO performed 
separate autopsies on the body. The cause of death was determined to be 
drowning; there were no signs of other bodily harm or indications of 
wrongful death. However, the ombudsman's office filed charges with the 
public prosecutor's office against the Ministry of Interior for 
endangering Bekirov's life, alleging that the police chase led to the 
youth's flight and subsequent death by drowning. In September the 
public prosecutor decided not to bring an indictment against the 
Ministry of Interior as the evidence provided did not support any 
wrongdoing on the part of the police.
    On February 3, the Skopje appellate court upheld the April 2005 
Skopje trial court verdict that acquitted four persons--three former 
police officers and a businessman--implicated in the Rastanski Lozja 
case involving the 2002 police killing of seven South Asian illegal 
immigrants. The ruling and judicial procedure were met with wide 
criticism by the public, judicial officials, and international experts. 
The prosecution submitted a request for protection of legality with the 
Supreme Court, which challenged the legality of the basic and appellate 
court rulings based on an alleged violation of the Code of Criminal 
Procedure. The Supreme Court had not issued an opinion by year's end. 
High-ranking judicial officials stated that, while the Supreme Court 
could not reverse the acquittal, its ruling could influence the civil 
court's decision on monetary awards to the defendants for being 
unjustly detained. The prosecution had charged that former interior 
minister Ljube Boskovski ordered the killings, claiming that the 
immigrants were terrorists who threatened foreign embassies in Skopje. 
At year's end, Boskovski remained in prison in the Hague awaiting trial 
on unrelated war crimes charges and was not party to the proceedings in 
Skopje.
    At year's end the Kumanovo trial court was retrying, for the third 
time, the case against one of the 12 original defendants charged with 
terrorism for planting explosives in the center of Kumanovo and on 
railway tracks near that city, killing one person and injuring several 
others in 2003. Four of the 12 defendants continued to serve prison 
sentences after their convictions were affirmed by the Skopje appellate 
court. The remaining seven defendants had outstanding arrest warrants 
against them but had not been tried by year's end.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    The International Commission on Missing Persons closed its offices 
in the country in 2004 after collecting blood samples from relatives of 
all persons missing from the 2001 conflict. The International Committee 
of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated that 14 persons remained missing from 
the conflict.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police at times 
used excessive force during the apprehension of criminal suspects and 
sometimes abused prisoners.
    There were credible reports that police occasionally used violence 
against or otherwise harassed persons, particularly members of the Roma 
community, without legal justification. A coalition of local NGOs 
recorded 62 allegations of police abuse involving 75 victims over the 
twelve months ending in November. The alleged victims included nine 
ethnic Albanians, 48 ethnic Macedonians, and 11 Roma. The PSU reported 
receiving 152 credible citizen complaints of police misconduct during 
the year; of that number, 83 complaints were for excessive use of 
force. The ombudsman filed 112 complaints; various nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) filed 93. The PSU recommended disciplinary action 
be taken against officers in 58 cases and that criminal procedures be 
initiated in 42 cases. Less stringent punishments, such as a pay 
reduction, suspension from the police force, or reassignment, were 
delivered in 216 cases.
    In May a number of ethnic Albanian military recruits reported being 
physically mistreated by their commanding officer, an ethnic Macedonian 
lieutenant. After the incident was brought to the attention of high-
ranking Ministry of Defense officials, the lieutenant was temporarily 
relieved of his duties pending an investigation. An internal military 
investigation found the lieutenant guilty of abuse of authority and 
violation of the dignity of a subordinate soldier. In accordance with 
military regulations and national law, he was suspended from possible 
promotion for one year.
    In September 2005 the ombudsman announced that he had referred five 
cases against interior ministry employees to prosecutors for the 
mistreatment of civilians and other unspecified abuses. Prosecutors 
agreed to investigate one case and rejected another in 2005; the other 
three cases remained under review for the second consecutive year.
    In June 2005 three Romani men were called into the Kicevo police 
station for questioning after persons under interrogation there accused 
one of the individuals of participating in an altercation. A local NGO 
reported that police did not notify these men of their legal rights or 
provide explanation for their detention. The police then insulted them 
and beat them with rubber truncheons. The men filed charges in July 
2005, but the public prosecutor dropped the investigation, citing 
insufficient evidence to prove that the men's injuries occurred while 
in police custody. The men subsequently submitted a private lawsuit, 
which was still pending before the trial court at the end of the 
reporting period.
    For the second consecutive year, there were no developments 
reported on the European Roma Rights Centre's (ERRC) filing of a 
criminal complaint in connection with the 2004 police beating of two 
Romani men, Trajan Ibrahimov and Bergiun Ibrahimovic, in Skopje.
    On February 13, the public prosecutor dropped criminal charges 
filed in 2005 against police officers involved in the 2004 case of two 
ethnic Albanians whom police arrested and allegedly beat near 
Stenkovec.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions barely 
met international standards, but the Government permitted visits by 
independent human rights organizations. In September a prisoner in 
Idrizovo prison committed suicide, but there was no direct evidence his 
action was linked to prison conditions. There were no reported cases of 
death in prison facilities as a result of adverse conditions during the 
year. Juvenile prisoners were separated from adults in all prison 
facilities. In the pretrial detention facility in Skopje, however, 
juvenile and adult living and eating facilities were separate, while 
common spaces were collocated.
    The Government routinely granted permission for visits to convicted 
prisoners by independent humanitarian organizations (such as the 
Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and 
the ICRC) and the ombudsman's office. The law allows access to pretrial 
detainees for family members, physicians, chiefs of diplomatic 
missions, and representatives from the CPT and ICRC with the approval 
of the investigative judge. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of 
human rights organizations being denied permission to visit detainees 
during the reporting period.
    In January the Council of Europe released a report on the prison 
system based on a visit in November 2005. The report found that 
overcrowding continued to be a significant problem, along with poor 
hygienic conditions, inferior medical services, and inadequate state 
funding. However, the report also noted that reforms in the prison 
system were being implemented to decentralize authority and increase 
the efficiency and effectiveness of the prison system.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and detention were 
problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are 
a centralized force subordinate to the Ministry of Interior that 
consists of uniformed police, criminal (civilian) police, and border 
police.
    The NGO International Crisis Group reported during the year that 
the police did not function as a fully ``transparent and accountable 
community-based service.'' The report cited a lack of staff and 
resources available for investigating reports of internal corruption 
and abuse, as well as needs for merit-based career incentives, more 
police districts, and greater cooperation with other government 
agencies.
    In June the 30-member EU Police Advisor Team's (EUPAT) six-month 
mandate ended. EUPAT was replaced by the EU's Twinning Project, which, 
along with representatives from the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the U.S. Government, will continue to 
advise the Ministry of Interior on police reforms and monitor police 
operations.
    The police force remained largely ethnic Macedonian; however, the 
Government maintained a 25 percent recruiting quota for ethnic minority 
officers in order to achieve a police force that accurately reflected 
the population at large (see section 5). According to the Ministry of 
Interior, at the end of the year, 80 percent of the police force was 
ethnic Macedonian, a decrease of 12 percent from 2002.
    Ministry of Interior officials were slow to complete investigations 
and bring charges in outstanding human rights cases from previous 
years. International observers noted improved ministry response to 
investigating individual cases of police misconduct and more frequent 
and consistent disciplining of officers found guilty. However, they 
cited a limited range of disciplinary options and a restrictive statute 
of limitations for the punishment of police misconduct as factors that 
sometimes precluded appropriate sanctions.
    International observers and local NGOs cited corruption within the 
Ministry of Interior as a continuing problem in effectively fighting 
crime, particularly organized crime. International organizations 
focused their efforts on police reform and training to professionalize 
the ministry and aid in fighting corruption.
    At the end of the year, the Kavadarci trial court was retrying the 
case against a Ministry of Interior administrator on charges of 
corruption stemming from 2004. The appellate court ordered the retrial 
after overturning the Kavadarci trial court's original October 2005 
conviction and five-month prison sentence.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrest and 
detention, and police generally followed those requirements in 
practice.
    While the law provides that a detainee must be arraigned in court 
within 24 hours of arrest, police at times violated this requirement, 
often by transferring the suspect from one police station to another to 
avoid exceeding a 24-hour period of detention at a location. Detention 
of suspects for longer than 24 hours may only be ordered by 
investigative judges upon request of a prosecutor, and this generally 
occurred in practice.
    There is a functioning bail system that was used primarily by the 
courts in property-related crimes such as fraud, tax evasion, 
embezzlement, and abuse of official position. The courts were reluctant 
to approve bail for defendants accused of violent crimes or crimes 
against children.
    The law permits a detainee to contact a lawyer at the time of 
arrest and to have a lawyer present during police and court 
proceedings; however, such access must be approved by the warden of the 
detention facility and, in rare cases, also by the investigative judge. 
While wardens and investigative judges generally approved such access, 
there were occasional reports that detainees were denied access to an 
attorney during police and investigative proceedings.
    There were reports that police continued to call suspects and 
witnesses to police stations for ``informative talks'' without 
informing them of their rights. Two ethnic Albanian suspects in a July 
2005 bomb attack on a Skopje police station claimed they were detained 
without proper legal authority. The ombudsman's office reported that 
they were unable to file criminal charges with the public prosecutor's 
office regarding the allegations because the Ministry of Interior would 
not provide information on the identity of the officers involved in the 
alleged misconduct. A PSU investigation determined there were no 
irregularities involved in the arrest and detention of the two men.
    The law sets the maximum length of pretrial detention at 180 days; 
however, NGOs, as well as some legal experts, contended that the 
judiciary at times abused its detention authority by ordering pretrial 
detention in cases where other means of guaranteeing the presence of 
defendants at trial (e.g., bail, home confinement, or relinquishment of 
the passport) could have been utilized. In addition, there were some 
reports of government pressure to order pretrial detention in certain 
instances. However, for the second consecutive year, reports of both 
these practices decreased.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice; however, the judiciary was weak, at times 
inefficient, and occasionally influenced by political pressure, 
intimidation, and corruption. The Government also used its budgetary 
authority and modest allocations to the court system as instruments to 
exert control over the judiciary. Programs for witness protection began 
to operate with limited capacity during the year. A law enforcement 
agent successfully testified as a protected witness in a drug smuggling 
case, and the police also provided protection for a victim of 
trafficking who testified in court during the year.
    The country has a three-tiered court system composed of trial 
courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The Constitutional 
Court is not considered part of the judicial branch and deals with 
matters of constitutional interpretation and certain human rights 
protection issues.
    The NGO International Crisis Group noted in a January report that 
judiciary reform was an area of critical concern in the country. The 
report called for increased judicial and investigative training for 
officials, removal of corrupt or nonperforming judges, and additional 
courts to deal with serious crimes and administrative misdemeanors.
    In May the parliament adopted a number of judicial reform laws, to 
be implemented on January 1, 2007. The laws reformed numerous aspects 
of the judicial system, including reducing executive branch influence 
over the judiciary, establishing stronger safeguards for citizens' 
rights, enhancing the ability to file damage claims against judges who 
violate the law, establishing a system of specialization for judges, 
and creating separate civil and criminal trial courts in Skopje and a 
separate administrative court at the Supreme Court level. As a result 
of judicial reforms adopted in 2005, the process of hiring 140 new law 
clerks began during the year to help the judiciary reduce its backlog 
of 1.2 million cases. Based on unofficial reports from government 
authorities, the judicial backlog was reduced by 15 to 20 percent 
during the year.
    The chief public prosecutor continued to accuse some lower courts 
of being inefficient or influenced by political factors, which resulted 
in prolonged trials and an inability to reach final judgments in high-
profile corruption or other sensitive cases. In particular, the 
prosecutor criticized the judiciary for the acquittal of the four 
defendants in the Rastanski Lozja trial, which involved suspects linked 
to former Interior Minister Boskovski (see section 1.a.). He also 
publicly complained that his position did not grant him sufficient 
independence to fully exercise his powers. The Government discharged 
the chief public prosecutor on October 18 on the grounds of his alleged 
failure to perform his duties. Some international and local observers 
saw this move as politically motivated. The position was vacant at 
year's end.
    The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption reviewed cases of 
alleged corruption, conflict of interest, and nepotism. It issued 
several opinions that included recommendations that the prosecutor 
initiate criminal actions against judges and other state officials 
where there was sufficient evidence of corruption. The commission 
accused the public prosecutor of ignoring their recommendations, while 
the public prosecutor accused a number of the commission members of 
unevenly applying standards to cases and of blatant conflict of 
interest in high profile cases. A retrial, ordered by a December 2005 
Supreme Court decision, concluded on June 14 with the acquittal of the 
former public prosecutor of Stip on bribery charges brought in 2005 by 
the special prosecutors' Unit Against Organized Crime. The public 
prosecutor's office appealed the case and the Stip appellate court 
confirmed the ruling on December 20.

    Trial Procedures.--Court proceedings were open to the public except 
in limited cases, such as trials involving minors or in which the 
personal safety of the defendant was at risk. Juries were not used. 
Trials are presided over by judges; two to three community-member 
consulting jurors assist each judge in determining the verdict, 
although the judge generally makes the final decision regarding the 
sentence. The law provides for the presumption of innocence, the right 
to consult an attorney in a timely manner in pretrial and trial 
proceedings, the right to an appeal, and the right to stand trial 
within a reasonable period of time after charges are filed. These 
rights were generally respected in practice; however, lengthy legal 
procedures and delays were a problem, and access to attorneys was 
sometimes not granted in a timely manner. Defendants were entitled to 
have access to government-held evidence, but this did not always occur 
in practice. The law requires that indigent defendants be given access 
to attorneys, and this requirement was generally respected in practice.
    The law provides that trials may be held in absentia as long as 
they are repeated if the convicted individuals later become accessible 
to justice officials.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Separate civil and 
criminal trial courts in Skopje, along with a separate administrative 
court at the Supreme Court level to hear cases against state 
institutions, were created by a law adopted by parliament in May, to be 
implemented on January 1, 2007.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. There were no 
reports that the Government illegally used wiretaps to collect 
information on suspected criminals, although some opposition 
politicians alleged that the Ministry of Interior used wiretaps for 
political purposes.
    On November 15, the parliament adopted a law to allow for legal 
monitoring of communications only with a court order and as directed by 
the minister of interior. Strict conditions, in line with international 
standards, are stipulated for the use, storage, and application of the 
data obtained.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice; however, the law prohibited speech 
that incites national, religious, or ethnic hatred. Media institutions 
and reporting were divided along ethnic lines, with the most striking 
divisions visible in reports on controversial political issues.
    There were no official government-controlled print media. 
International newspapers and magazines were available throughout the 
country.
    Macedonian Radio and Television (MRTV), which generally favored the 
Government view on political issues, was the sole public broadcaster in 
the country. The head of MRTV was replaced after the new government was 
formed in August. There were five private television broadcasters with 
national coverage and more than 50 private local television stations. A 
variety of independent radio stations broadcast throughout the country.
    There were two news agencies, the state-owned Macedonian 
Information Agency and private Makfax.
    On April 3, Rajmonda Malecka, a journalist from Albania, and her 
father, Bujar Malecka, were released from prison and expelled from the 
country after serving one year in prison. The two were convicted by the 
Skopje trial court in November 2005 for planning terrorist acts in the 
Skopje suburb of Kondovo. Police reportedly found a videocassette with 
footage of an armed group in Kondovo in the suspects' possession when 
they arrested them in April 2005. The prison sentence was reduced from 
five years to one year in March by the Skopje appellate court, which 
also ordered their immediate expulsion from the country.
    In May the parliament amended the law to decriminalize defamation, 
libel, and slander. The new law provides that such offenses can be 
punished only by fines. Offenders who apologize to the injured party 
before the court can be relieved of any punishment.
    On June 15, a Skopje trial court ordered Nikola Mladenov, owner of 
the weekly Fokus, to pay $39,700 (1.84 million denars) in damages to 
President Branko Crvenkovski. On April 28, the same court ordered 
Mladenov to pay $25,800 (1,223,600 denars) to former prime minister 
Hari Kostov, for Mladenov's unfounded accusation that both men had 
secret personal bank accounts in Switzerland. On September 19, the 
Supreme Court acquitted A1 Television journalist Biljana Sekulovska of 
libel charges related to her criticism of the judge presiding over a 
trafficking in persons case involving Dilaver Bojku Leku. Goran 
Mihajlovski, owner of the tabloid Vest, was acquitted on November 2 of 
libel charges related to his newspaper's allegations that the 
pharmaceutical company Replek tried to sell unlicensed medications in 
the country.
    Zoran Bozhinovski, a journalist from Kumanovo, was imprisoned on 
November 18 to serve a three-month sentence for defamation. The 
conviction and prison sentence were handed down by the Kumanovo trial 
court in 2004, prior to the adoption of the law to decriminalize 
defamation, for the use of offensive expressions in a 2003 article in 
the weekly Bulevar. Bozhinovski had 14 additional convictions for 
similar articles and numerous other charges pending. Following a hunger 
strike and pressure from NGOs, the Kumanovo court freed Bozhinovski on 
November 21 and stated its intention to retry this case under the 
amended law, which went into effect on January 1, 2007.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. A survey conducted in April found that 27 percent of the 
population used the Internet regularly, and the majority of those users 
accessed the Internet at an Internet cafe or in their homes.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice; however, the Ministry of 
Interior requires approval of any religious gathering held outside of 
specific religious facilities and limits such gatherings to registered 
religious groups (see section 2.c.).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the law places some limits on religious practice by 
restricting the establishment of places of worship.
    The law defines the constitutional provision for religious freedom, 
designating the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Islamic Community of 
Macedonia, the Roman Catholic Church, the Jewish Community, and the 
Methodist Church as religious communities. All other registered 
religious associations are considered to be religious groups and must 
register with the State Commission on Relations with Religious 
Communities and Groups. In 1998 and 1999, however, the Constitutional 
Court struck down several provisions of the law on religion, which has 
resulted in inconsistent enforcement of the remaining provisions.
    In November 2005 the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the 
``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid,'' an affiliate of the Serbian 
Orthodox Church, to a November 2004 state commission decision to deny 
it registration. The commission's decision was based on a law that 
allows only one religious community to be registered for each 
confession; the Macedonian Orthodox Church had been registered as a 
religious community since the country's independence.
    The law requires a group to have a government ``opinion'' in order 
to obtain a permit to build a religious facility. However, past court 
rulings restricting government authority to provide such opinions have 
effectively blocked religious groups from obtaining construction 
permits for worship facilities. In practice the Government generally 
did not take action against religious buildings lacking permits.
    The law somewhat restricts the establishment of places of worship, 
for example, by requiring that a permit be obtained at least 15 days in 
advance for services in places not specified in the law. The law also 
states that religious activities ``shall not violate the public peace 
and order, and shall not disrespect the religious feelings and other 
freedoms and rights'' of persons who are not members of that particular 
religion. The Government did not actively enforce most of these 
provisions but acted upon complaints when they were received.
    Although a permit or permission is not required to perform 
religious rites in a private home, members of the ``Orthodox 
Archbishopric of Ohrid'' reported that police interrupted an April 2005 
religious service in a private apartment in Dracevo and asked the 
worshippers to produce their identification documents.
    On August 8, Zoran Vraniskovski, a defrocked Macedonian Orthodox 
Church bishop now recognized by the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' 
as Bishop Jovan, returned to prison to serve a one-year sentence for 
embezzlement. The charges stemmed from a September 2005 conviction by 
the Veles trial court. The sentence was reduced from two years to one 
year by an appellate court in March. Vraniskovski was acquitted by the 
Veles trial court on separate embezzlement charges on April 3.
    Vraniskovski had been released from prison in March after serving 
seven months of an 18-month sentence on a separate conviction for 
``inciting religious or ethnic hatred.'' A February Supreme Court 
decision had reduced the sentence to time served and suspended a 
sentence for ``falsely assuming religious authority.'' The 18-month 
sentence was based on charges that Vraniskovski held private religious 
services in union with the Serbian Orthodox Church and that he was 
responsible for the content of a religious calendar calling the 
Macedonian Orthodox Church ``the last fortress of communism'' and its 
believers heretics. The suspended sentence resulted from charges that 
Vraniskovski allegedly baptized a relative in a Macedonian Orthodox 
Church near Bitola in 2003, after Vraniskovski had been defrocked by 
the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
    The law requires that foreigners entering the country with the 
intent to carry out religious work or perform religious rites receive 
approval from the State Commission on Relations with Religious 
Communities and Groups. When applying for visas, persons planning to 
perform religious work must submit a letter of invitation from 
representatives of a registered religious group in the country to the 
commission, which then issues a letter of approval to be submitted with 
the visa request. Approvals were normally issued within one week.
    A Polish-born nun associated with the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of 
Ohrid'' claimed that, in 2004, the Ministry of Interior declined to 
extend her residency permit; the archdiocese is not legally entitled to 
sponsor foreign religious workers because it has been denied 
registration under the law permitting only one group per confession. 
Followers of the church report that the nun entered the country as a 
tourist during the year and therefore could not remain in the country 
continuously for a period longer than 90 days.
    The restitution of religious properties expropriated by the former 
Yugoslav government had not been fully resolved. Virtually all churches 
and many mosques have been returned to the ownership of the appropriate 
religious community, but that was not the case for most of the other 
properties, such as larger parcels of land or community centers. 
Restitution or compensation claims often are complicated by the fact 
that the seized properties have changed hands many times or have been 
developed. The Islamic Community of Macedonia claimed it was not able 
to regain rightful use of several mosques that the Government was to 
have returned to it. In addition, the Islamic community alleged that 
the Government in some cases delayed the process of restitution by 
selling or starting new construction on disputed property and 
questioning the historical legal claim of the Islamic community to 
religious properties.
    The Jewish community is the only religious community in the country 
whose communal property has been fully restituted. However, the Jewish 
community continued to work with the Government for the full 
restitution of private property of heirless victims of the Holocaust 
whose property was later nationalized by the former Yugoslav 
government. The process of private property restitution has been slow 
due in large part to the extensive documentation required to show the 
flow of ownership and lack of heirs. However, there was some noticeable 
progress during the year. Approximately 450 individual property 
restitution cases were in the settlement process with the Government, 
and 1,000 cases remained to be documented.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were isolated reports of 
vandalism of religious properties. The Macedonian Orthodox Church 
considered the acts of vandalism to its property to be incidents of 
petty theft or crime and did not believe they were motivated by 
religious discrimination.
    At year's end the long running ownership dispute between the 
Bektashi religious group and the Islamic community over a religious 
facility in Tetevo remained unresolved. The Bektashis filed suit 
against the Government to reverse the former Yugoslavia's 
nationalization of the property and against the Islamic community, 
which seized the complex in 2002 and continued to hold services there, 
excluding Bektashi community members from the majority of the property. 
There were a number of incidences of vandalism and harassment reported 
by members of the Bektashi community during the reporting period.
    The Jewish community estimated that approximately 600 Jewish 
persons lived in the country during the year. There were no reports of 
anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Under the constitution, any Yugoslav citizen who had legal 
residence in the country in 1991 could acquire citizenship by simple 
application. However, unresolved citizenship status of long-term 
habitual residents remained a problem. A 2004 ``transitory clause'' 
temporarily eased naturalization requirements for foreigners married to 
Macedonian citizens, persons without citizenship, and persons with 
refugee status; however, the transitory clause expired in March.
    By year's end, no survey had been undertaken to determine the 
number of residents without citizenship status. The Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the Government to be 
flexible in interpreting the citizenship law, and the Government 
indicated it might consider reinstituting the transitory clause. UNHCR 
continued to provide legal assistance to persons wishing to change 
their citizenship status and generally received good cooperation from 
the Ministry of Interior.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--At year's end the Government 
reported a total of fewer than 725 IDPs, most of whom were in 
collective centers, compared with 1,180 IDPs reported earlier in the 
year.
    IDPs received basic assistance, mostly from the Ministry of Labor 
and Social Policy, but had few opportunities for engaging in income-
generating activities.
    Some IDP groups claimed that ethnic Macedonian IDPs could not 
return to their homes in ethnic Albanian areas due to security threats. 
Some IDPs asserted the Government was not providing adequate support 
for them to return to their homes. Other IDPs claimed they had been 
able to return to homes in predominately ethnic Albanian areas such as 
the Skopje suburb of Aracinovo and had not faced any threats since 
doing so.
    During the year government relations with IDPs improved, but there 
were still pressures on some IDPs to return to their homes of origin in 
areas now considered safe by the Government. The Government informed 
some IDPs that their monthly benefits would eventually be reduced or 
eliminated if they did not comply with orders to relocate, but there 
were no reports that such reductions were undertaken during the year.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
prosecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum, but only 
in rare cases. As of October, out of 205 registered asylum seekers, 
only 28 had been granted humanitarian protection status, and none had 
received asylum. A total of 1,191 persons had been granted humanitarian 
protection, a decision subject to annual review. The decline in the 
numbers of registered asylum seekers and those granted humanitarian 
protection was due, in part, to some voluntary repatriations and some 
cases in which the Government discontinued humanitarian protection.
    According to UNHCR, the refugee status determination (RSD) 
mechanism was accessible and active, and the overall process was 
handled in a generally satisfactory manner. The country's RSD laws were 
considered satisfactory, but implementation of the RSD procedure in 
some cases was inadequate. The UNHCR noted shortcomings in refugee 
interview techniques and worked with Ministry of Interior officials to 
improve them. A more serious shortcoming in the RSD process noted by 
the UNHCR was the lack of an effective appeals system for those not 
initially granted either refugee or asylum status. UNHCR reported that 
appeals rejected by the administrative courts were usually given only 
cursory review by the Supreme Court, which simply rubber-stamped the 
commission's decision to deny the appeal.
    The Government provided humanitarian protection status to most 
refugees and asylum seekers in the country. However, that status was 
valid for only 12 months and had to be renewed. In addition, it was 
subject to nonrenewal by the Government at any time, which occurred 
during the year.
    The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
    In contrast with the previous year, there were no reports that 
authorities abused or mistreated refugees. In response to reports in 
2005 of sexual abuse or violence against female refugees, UNHCR 
investigated and called in police authorities for follow-up action 
where necessary. No arrests or formal charges related to these 
allegations had been made by year's end.
    There was strong evidence to suggest that Romani refugees were 
discriminated against in the RSD process, a reflection of general 
societal discrimination against the Roma. However, Romani refugees in 
the predominantly Romani municipality of Suto Orizari were generally 
well tolerated.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, generally free and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary 
elections were held on July 5. International observers characterized 
the elections as generally in accordance with international standards 
but noted serious irregularities in some areas, such as voter 
intimidation, ballot stuffing, and family or proxy voting. The official 
20-day campaign period was marred by several violent incidents, 
including attacks on campaign offices, fights among party activists, 
and nonfatal shooting incidents. Most of these incidents occurred in 
the northwest part of the country and involved the rival ethnic 
Albanian political parties, Democratic Union for Integration and 
Democratic Party of Albanians.
    Some women from more traditional communities, particularly ethnic 
Albanians, were disenfranchised due to the practice of family or proxy 
voting by male family members on their behalf.
    There were 36 women in the 120-seat parliament and three women in 
the 21-member Council of Ministers. The law requires that one in every 
three positions on each political party's list in both national and 
municipal elections must be from the less represented gender, which had 
the practical effect of increasing the number of female members of 
parliament.
    There were 28 ethnic Albanians, two Roma, two Turks, one Serb, one 
Bosniak, one Macedonian Muslim, and one Vlach in the 120-seat 
parliament. There were five members of minorities in the 21-member 
Council of Ministers.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was a 
significant problem in the executive, legislative, and judicial 
branches of the Government. Instances of corruption in the police and 
judicial system were of particular concern (see sections 1.d. and 
1.e.). The State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption was 
responsible for investigating charges of corruption as well as 
complaints submitted by citizens. During the year the commission 
received 679 complaints concerning the work of state bodies, 
privatization procedures, judicial procedures, and other relevant 
cases. For the third straight year, the country received a score of 2.7 
on Transparency International's 10-point index of the degree to which 
corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians and 
public officials, indicating a perception that the country has a 
serious corruption problem.
    During the year there were several high-profile cases reviewed by 
the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. On September 15 
the Skopje trial court refused to rehear a 2004 case that awarded 
$942,000 (44.7 million denars) in damages to Isnifaris Xhemaili in 
compensation for sheep and other livestock allegedly killed by a 
bombing conducted by the Ministry of Defense during the 2001 conflict. 
The commission questioned the high amount of damages awarded to the 
plaintiff and accused government authorities, including the public 
prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Defense, and the courts, of 
failing to perform due diligence in the case. On November 30, a number 
of individuals were detained on suspicion of corruption, including 
allegations of receiving a portion of the settlement awarded to 
Xhemaili.
    Another high-profile case involved the privatization of property. 
The commission accused a number of landowners, members of the 
Government's denationalization commission, and lending institutions of 
working together to defraud the Government by evading taxes through 
questionable land acquisitions. Landowners allegedly took out small 
loans on properties recently restored by the Government, then defaulted 
on the loan, resulting in foreclosure by the lending institution. The 
lender was subsequently able to cite the amount of the loan as the 
price of the land, not the actual market value, resulting in 
artificially deflated taxes levied on the property. This case remained 
under review by the public prosecutor's office at year's end.
    At the end of the year the Government was awaiting a decision by 
the Serbian government on an extradition request for Metodija 
Smilenski. Smilenski was arrested on June 15 in Serbia on charges filed 
in Macedonia in 2003 for embezzling approximately $20 million (one 
billion denars) in state funds through his now bankrupt Export-Import 
Bank. Smilenski is accused of colluding with the then governor of the 
Macedonian National Bank, Ljube Trpevski, to embezzle funds by using 
the nation's currency reserves to guarantee the debts of Smilenski's 
Export-Import Bank. Trpevski was detained in Skopje on November 23 and 
was released on bail at the end of the year pending trial. The criminal 
investigation into Smilenski's business dealing was completed in 
September, and the special prosecutor's office was preparing an 
indictment to bring this case to trial.
    In March a trial court convicted Vojo Mihajlovski, former director 
of the state health fund, on charges of abuse of state funds and 
corruption and sentenced him to four years in prison. In addition, 
three of his accomplices, all former directors of medical centers, each 
received 10-month prison sentences.
    At year's end a retrial was ongoing in the case against Nikola 
Tasev, the former general manager of the Nova Makedonija publishing 
house, on charges of abuse of position for selling 70 percent of the 
company on the eve of 2002 parliamentary elections. Tasev was sentenced 
to four years in prison by the Skopje trial court in April 2005. Both 
the defendant and the prosecution appealed the verdict, and the 
appellate court ordered a retrial. Besnik Fetai, who was the economy 
minister at the time of the privatization, was acquitted of similar 
charges. Nova Makedonija was the country's largest publishing house 
before its liquidation in 2003.
    On January 25, the parliament adopted a law guaranteeing citizens' 
access to government information, which went into effect on September 
1. The law requires each public institution to appoint a public 
relations officer, who must respond to a request for information within 
40 days. A fine of $400 to $1,000 (20,000 to 50,000 denars) may be 
levied if the law is not followed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were responsive to the views expressed by these groups and 
cooperative in working with them.
    There were more than 4,000 domestic and international registered 
NGOs operating in the country, including FORUM, MOST, Macedonian 
Helsinki Committee, and NGOs devoted to specific causes, including Roma 
rights, human trafficking, and voters' rights.
    The OSCE led international community efforts to engage the 
Government on human rights issues, and OSCE and EU monitoring missions 
continued to implement projects to improve relations between ethnic 
Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.
    The ombudsman office has a mandate to improve nondiscrimination and 
equitable representation of minority communities. The ombudsman's 
office operated six local branch offices around the country. 
Representatives from the ombudsman's office have the legal right to 
visit all persons detained, including those in pretrial detention; this 
right was exercised without restraint during the year. The ombudsman 
found that government institutions violated individuals' rights in 623 
cases, or approximately 20 percent of the complaints received during 
the year. Most cases concerned violations of judicial procedures, 
police abuse, and labor and property rights. The Government acted on 
the ombudsman's recommendations in 70 percent of these cases but in 
some instances did not provide information requested by the ombudsman's 
office in the course of their investigations. During the year the 
ombudsman's office noted increased cooperation and communication with 
the Government compared to previous years.
    The Government generally cooperated with the International Criminal 
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In March 2005 the ICTY 
indicted two ethnic Macedonians--former interior minister Ljube 
Boskovski and former police officer Johan Tarculovski--accused of 
complicity in the 2001 killing of ethnic Albanian civilians in 
Ljuboten.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on gender, 
race, disability, religion, or national, social or political 
affiliation; however, societal discrimination persisted against ethnic 
minorities, particularly Roma, and the protection of women's rights 
remained a problem.

    Women.--Domestic and other violence against women was a persistent 
and common problem; one survey, conducted by a local NGO working on 
family violence issues, found that 56 percent of women claimed to have 
been a victim of psychological domestic violence, and 18 percent of 
women claimed to be victims of physical domestic violence.
    Cultural norms, including victims' concern over possible shame to 
the family, discouraged the reporting of violence against women, and 
victims of domestic violence filed criminal charges only rarely. 
Although the law specifically criminalizes domestic violence and 
prescribes substantial punishments for violators, the law was rarely 
applied in practice. While the law provides for civil restraining 
orders to protect victims of domestic violence, there were reports that 
police officers were unaware of provisions of the law that allow them 
to act ex officio to protect victims of family violence, and police 
often did not respond to allegations of domestic violence. The 
Government did not require training for police, prosecutors, or judges; 
however, international organizations provided training on combating 
domestic violence to a number of law enforcement officials.
    The Government operated six crisis centers for women at risk with 
limited capacities and funded a national NGO-operated hotline for 
victims of domestic violence in Skopje. Local NGOs working against 
domestic violence relied to a large extent on international donor 
assistance. Public concern about violence against women was not 
generally evident in the media, although some women's groups worked to 
raise awareness of the issue.
    While the law specifically prohibits rape, including spousal rape, 
conviction requires proof of both penetration and active resistance by 
the victim. These requirements are more stringent than for other 
violent crimes. The penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault range 
from one to 15 years' imprisonment. Some rape cases were tried during 
the year. As with domestic violence, police and judicial officials were 
reluctant to prosecute spousal rape, and many victims did not come 
forward due to social stigma.
    Although prostitution is illegal, the law was not always enforced. 
Some foreign women accused of prostituting themselves were deported; 
some men were prosecuted for ``mediating'' in prostitution.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment of women in the workplace was a problem, 
particularly in the private sector. Although the law does not 
specifically address sexual harassment, it could be prosecuted as a 
criminal act under antidiscrimination legislation; however, this did 
not occur in practice. Although women remained underrepresented in the 
higher levels of the Government and the private sector, there were 
several prominent professional women in the public sector, including a 
female deputy prime minister, interior minister, and economy minister.
    Women from parts of the ethnic Albanian community did not have 
equal opportunities for employment and education due to traditional and 
religious restrictions on their schooling and participation in society. 
In some ethnic Albanian communities, women were disenfranchised by the 
practice of men voting on behalf of female family members (see section 
3). The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 
during the year expressed concern over the ``vulnerable and 
marginalized situation'' of rural and ethnic minority women, in 
particular Romani and Albanian women.
    The Office of Gender Equality in the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Policy was responsible for ensuring the legal rights of women. The Law 
on Equality, implemented in May, established gender commissions at the 
municipal council level. During the year a gender equality commission 
established by the parliament began revising laws to ensure equal 
protection for all genders.
    Although the law requires men and women to be paid equally for 
equivalent work, wage discrimination against women remained pervasive, 
particularly in the private sector. While the law prohibits dismissal 
of women on maternity leave, discrimination against pregnant women 
continued in practice.
    Among other activities, women's advocacy groups worked to combat 
domestic violence through awareness-raising campaigns, increase women's 
political involvement by training female candidates for local elected 
office, improve women's access to legal services, and promote the 
establishment of small and medium enterprises owned by females.

    Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare 
of children but provided only limited resources to this end. The 
Ombudsman's Office had a special unit for children that investigated 
complaints of violations of children's rights. The Ministry of Labor 
and Social Policy is responsible for children's welfare.
    Education is mandatory through the eighth grade or to the age of 
16; however, some children did not enter the educational system at all. 
The Ministry of Education reported that 95 percent of children were 
enrolled in school; no official data was available on school attendance 
or the number of children who did not have access to education. Primary 
and secondary education was free; however, students had to provide 
their own books and other materials.
    Almost 90 percent of the children who finished primary school 
continued to secondary school; however, at both the primary and 
secondary levels, girls in some ethnic Albanian communities did not 
attend school. Approximately half of ethnic minority students did not 
go on to high school due to lack of classes in minority languages at 
the secondary level and to the conviction of many rural, ethnic 
Albanian families that girls should be withdrawn from school at age 14.
    According to Romani community leaders, up to 10 percent of Romani 
children never enrolled in school. Of those who did enroll, 50 percent 
dropped out by the fifth grade and only 35 to 40 percent finished the 
eighth grade.
    As in previous years, poor physical conditions of schools and 
insufficient classroom space were common complaints, particularly in 
the predominantly ethnic Albanian western parts of the country. 
Students sometimes protested these conditions by refusing to attend 
school. Boys and girls generally had equal access to education, 
although there were instances of discrimination against girls in 
educational institutions in some ethnic Albanian areas.
    Medical care for children was generally adequate but was hampered 
by the generally difficult economic circumstances of the country and by 
the weak national health system.
    Child abuse was a problem in some areas. During the year, according 
to Ministry of Interior statistics, there were 56 reported cases of 
sexual abuse against children, including 53 cases of sexual assault 
against a child, two cases of showing pornography to minors, and one 
case of incest with a minor. The Centers for Social Work of the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Department for Juvenile 
Delinquency of the Ministry of Interior are responsible for addressing 
child abuse. NGOs are also active in this area.
    Child marriage occurred with some frequency in the Romani community 
and less frequently in the ethnic Albanian community. It was difficult 
to estimate the extent of underage marriage in the Romani community 
because such marriages frequently were not registered. A survey of 960 
Romani women in 2005 by a local NGO found that 54 percent had given 
birth to their first child by the age of 18, while 3 percent had given 
birth between the ages of 12 and 14.
    Girls were sometimes trafficked for sexual exploitation (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    Romani adults often organized their children into groups and made 
them beg for money at busy intersections, street corners, and in 
restaurants and cafes (see section 6.d.).
    According to some estimates, there were between 500 and 1,000 
street children in the country, most of whom were Roma. With 
international support, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy operated 
a day center for street children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through, 
and to a lesser degree, from and within the country.
    While the country remained primarily a transit and destination 
point for trafficking, officials and others acknowledged that it was a 
point of origin for an undetermined number of trafficking victims. The 
Government and NGOs reported a downward trend in transborder human 
trafficking. The Government also reported a downward trend in internal 
human trafficking; however, NGOs and the international community 
reported an increase in cases of internal trafficking. Since there was 
no central database for trafficking victim information, NGOs and 
government officials often disagreed on who was a trafficking victim, 
resulting in disputed or generally unreliable statistical data. The 
National Commission for Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in 
Persons launched a new Web site on December 28 to serve as a medium for 
sharing and comparing data on trafficking.
    Local NGOs estimated that 100 to 150 women were trafficked to or 
through the country during the year, primarily for sexual exploitation. 
Local NGOs reported an increase in the number of victims trafficked for 
labor exploitation, but there were no specific data due to the lack of 
information from the Ministry of Labor.
    Government data provided on victims of trafficking did not identify 
the age of the victims; however, local NGOs estimated that 20 percent 
of victims were minors. There were reports that female minors were 
recruited by some massage parlor owners to perform sexual services for 
clients. During the year authorities shut down one such massage parlor, 
arrested the owner, and charged him with ``mediation in prostitution.''
    Trafficked women were forced to work in prostitution, often under 
the guise of dancers, hostesses, or waitresses in local clubs. Police 
raids and testimony by victims confirmed that a small number of 
trafficking victims were subjected to threats, violence, physical and 
psychological abuse, and seizure of documents. NGOs and international 
community representatives reported that an increasing number of victims 
were paid a small amount of money for services and were granted limited 
freedom of movement to ensure they did not identify themselves as 
victims if questioned by the police.
    An analysis conducted by the Ministry of Labor found that young, 
uneducated women and children from the eastern rural areas of the 
country were at the highest risk of becoming victims of internal 
trafficking.
    The majority of internal trafficking victims were trafficked by a 
member of their family or a friend. There were fewer reports of 
traffickers in the country who were linked to regional trafficking-in-
persons networks. The networks typically began in the country of 
origin, extended through the country, and ended in destination 
countries in Western Europe.
    It is a criminal offense to traffic persons for sexual 
exploitation, forced labor or servitude, slavery, or a similar 
relationship. The law provides for a minimum sentence of four years for 
most trafficking crimes and a minimum of six months for the destruction 
of identification documents of trafficked persons. Persons convicted of 
organizing human trafficking receive a mandatory minimum prison term of 
eight years and one to 10 years for complicity in the crime of human 
trafficking. The law provides for a minimum six-month sentence for 
persons who wittingly use, or enable another person to use, sexual 
services from a trafficked person. The mandatory minimum sentence for 
trafficking in children or for knowingly using trafficked children and 
juveniles for sexual exploitation is eight years.
    During the year at least 30 trafficking-related cases were 
prosecuted, 100 individuals were indicted, and 56 persons were 
convicted and sentenced for trafficking. There were a number of high-
profile cases against traffickers completed or ongoing. On July 18, a 
case in Kumanovo trial court ended with all seven defendants convicted 
on trafficking charges and sentenced to prison terms of five to seven 
years. At year's end an appeal in this case was pending.
    On November 14, a Skopje trial court convicted all 28 defendants 
for trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants in the country's 
largest-ever trafficking in persons case, which began in February. 
Three law enforcement officers who worked at the border crossing with 
Greece were among the individuals convicted. The defendants received 
prison sentences of five to 13 years, and their property was seized.
    On November 27, the Skopje trial court found 21 defendants guilty 
of organizing a group for trafficking and smuggling of migrants. The 
defendants received prison sentences ranging from three to 12 years in 
prison.
    The country's most notorious convicted trafficker, Dilaver Bojku 
Leku, remained in a Skopje prison after being sentenced in 2004 for 
``mediation in prostitution.'' Since he was in an ``open regime'' 
facility with liberal release policies, international observers were 
concerned that Bojku would be able to intimidate witnesses during his 
periods of authorized leave from prison.
    For the second consecutive year there were no developments in the 
2004 case involving police complicity in trafficking in Gostivar, which 
resulted in the suspension from duty of an officer pending his trial on 
criminal charges for misuse of official position and trafficking in 
persons. While pretrial procedures had concluded, a hearing had not 
been scheduled by year's end. Two police officers who testified on 
behalf of trafficker Dilaver Bojku Leku were under investigation for 
possible complicity in trafficking.
    In March the Government adopted a national action plan and strategy 
to combat trafficking. The two documents called for increased training, 
programs for awareness and prevention, and for establishment of a 
national coordinator for trafficking. By year's end many of the 
provisions in the action plan had yet to be implemented. Once 
established, the national coordinator's office will be the chief body 
responsible for coordinating government efforts to combat trafficking. 
At year's end the National Commission for Prevention and Suppression of 
Trafficking in Persons continued to serve this function. The commission 
is an interministerial effort with representatives from the ministries 
of interior, justice, labor and social policy, education, and foreign 
affairs. However, at year's end only some ministries had designated 
representatives, and the commission had not met for over six months. 
The Ministry of Interior detailed several law enforcement personnel to 
work full time in its main trafficking unit in Skopje. It also deployed 
police officers to combat human trafficking on a local level. The 
Government routinely cooperated with neighboring countries' national 
organizations, most notably those in the Southeast European Cooperation 
Initiative and the Transnational Referral Mechanism project 
administered by the International Centre for Migration Policy 
Development.
    During the year the International Organization for Migration 
operated a transit center that assisted 17 victims of trafficking who 
had crossed international borders. The shelter provides assistance and 
housing throughout the trial process and until victims can be 
repatriated to their countries of origin. Four officers from the 
Ministry of Interior were assigned to the shelter to provide protection 
to victims. In addition, a local NGO operated a shelter that assisted 
14 victims of internal trafficking, who had been referred to the 
shelter by the National Referral Mechanism of the Ministry of Labor. 
All victims of trafficking identified in the country are entitled to 
housing and medical assistance.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination on the 
basis of disability; however, there was discrimination against persons 
with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and 
in the provisions of other state services. There are no laws or 
regulations requiring buildings to be made accessible to persons with 
disabilities, and many public buildings remained inaccessible for 
persons with physical disabilities.
    Advocates stated that employers were reluctant to hire persons with 
disabilities and that the difficulty of accessing educational and other 
opportunities prevented them from fully integrating into society.
    The interparty parliamentary lobby group for the rights of persons 
with special needs, in cooperation with NGOs, worked to develop and 
promote comprehensive legislation promoting the rights of persons with 
disabilities. The group focused on changes to laws on urban planning 
and construction.
    The Ministry for Labor and Social Policy was responsible for the 
integration of persons with disabilities into economic life and the 
payment of benefits. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) sponsored several 
projects aimed at addressing the needs of children with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2002 census, 
the population was 64.2 percent ethnic Macedonian; 25.2 percent ethnic 
Albanian; 3.9 percent ethnic Turkish; 2.7 percent Roma; 1.8 percent 
ethnic Serb; 0.8 percent Bosniak; and 0.5 percent Vlach.
    There were credible reports of police violence against Roma, 
including beatings during arrest and while in detention (see section 
1.c.), as well as incidents of societal violence during the year.
    While interethnic relations remained strained, a survey conducted 
in October 2005 found that 86 percent of ethnic Albanians hold a 
favorable opinion of ethnic Macedonians, an increase of 17 percentage 
points from the previous survey conducted in May 2005. There was a 
decrease, however, in the percentage of ethnic Macedonians who held a 
favorable opinion of ethnic Albanians during the same period, from 57 
to 48 percent.
    Unlike in previous years, the annual commemoration of the 
destruction of Motel Brioni in the village of Celopek in 2001 was not 
marred by interethnic violence. Motel Brioni, located in the 
predominately ethnic Albanian village of Celopek, and owned by ethnic 
Macedonians, was the site of the killing of two ethnic Macedonians 
during the 2001 conflict. The motel was destroyed at the end of the 
conflict, and annual commemoration events of the killings had been an 
interethnic flash point since 2001.
    Although interethnic tension in some schools remained a problem, 
serious disputes between parents and school authorities over ethnic 
issues decreased for the second consecutive year. Unlike in previous 
years, there were no reports of ethnically motivated fights between 
students at the high school in Struga. Altercations between ethnic 
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian students had been common in the town 
since 2003.
    In November 2005 the NGO European Roma Rights Center reported that 
a Romani boy was beaten after school in Tetovo in a confrontation with 
ethnic Albanian students. As of March, ERRC reported that the boy had 
not returned to school out of fear and that an investigation into the 
incident was still ongoing.
    Students from different ethnic groups sometimes studied in separate 
shifts or separate facilities, either due to use of different languages 
of instruction or at their parents' request.
    Ethnic Albanians continued to complain of widespread official 
discrimination. They were concerned about the slow progress in reaching 
what they considered to be equitable representation in government 
ministries, while ethnic Macedonians often claimed that they were 
targeted for downsizing regardless of job performance. Some ethnic 
Albanians claimed they were effectively disenfranchised by 
discrimination in citizenship decisions.
    Although steady progress was made, and recruitment efforts were in 
place, ethnic Albanians remained underrepresented in the military and 
police.
    The law establishes that languages of ethnic minorities must be 
recognized as additional official languages in areas where those 
minorities comprise at least 20 percent of the population. In those 
areas citizens had the right to communicate with local offices of the 
central government in the language of the minority group and to receive 
responses and personal documents in the same language; however, this 
did not always occur in practice. Under the law, those accused of 
crimes have the right to translation at state expense of all relevant 
judicial proceedings and documents; this did not always occur in 
practice.
    The law provides for primary and secondary education in the 
languages of the ethnic minorities, and primary education was available 
in Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, and Serbian. The number of ethnic 
minority students who received secondary education in their native 
languages continued to increase; however, ethnic Albanians complained 
that distribution of public educational resources was not proportional 
to ethnic groups' representation within the general population.
    Ethnic minorities remained underrepresented at the university 
level, although there was progress in increasing the number of minority 
students in recent years due in part to the accreditation of 
universities that offer Albanian, English, or multilingual instruction.
    Ethnic Turks also complained of governmental, societal, and 
cultural discrimination. Their main concerns centered on the slow 
progress in achieving equitable representation in government 
institutions, the absence of Turkish majority municipalities in the 
2004 municipal redistricting, and a lack of Turkish-language education 
and media.
    Roma complained of widespread ethnic discrimination. NGOs and 
international experts reported that Roma were often denied job 
opportunities, access to public welfare funds, and entrance to 
establishments such as restaurants and cafes.
    Roma had the highest rate of unemployment and the lowest personal 
and family incomes, were the least educated, and had the highest 
mortality rates of any ethnic group in the country. The Government 
provided few social services to Roma despite the belief that 
unemployment among the Romani population was above 70 percent. In some 
instances, Romani parents resisted sending their children to school due 
to their inability to pay for books and other fees, or because they 
preferred for their children to work, either at home or on the streets.
    At year's end there were 1,924 Romani refugees remaining in the 
country from the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. These Roma, many of whom 
settled in Skopje, were often targets of harassment and verbal abuse.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There is no general 
antidiscrimination law that specifies sexual orientation as a protected 
class, however, the labor law does prohibit discrimination based on 
sexual orientation. A local NGO representing the rights of homosexuals 
reported incidents of societal prejudice against homosexuals, including 
harassment or discrimination by employers and state officials. During 
the year this NGO began a project to document human rights violations 
based on sexual orientation, as it believed abuses were underreported.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to 
form and join unions, and workers did so in practice; however, at times 
the Government interfered with union activity.
    While the law provides that independent unions may freely register 
with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, some unions reported 
encountering obstacles, particularly delays in the registration 
process. Without registration a union cannot operate legally. More than 
50 percent of the legal workforce was unionized, and unions were 
particularly well represented in the public sector.
    Unions are not required to belong to the Confederation of Trade 
Unions of Macedonia (SSM), which in the past maintained close ties with 
government officials. Several new unions formed outside of the SSM in 
recent years, including unions of journalists, police officers, and 
farmers.
    In July 2005 the largest SSM branch union, the Union of Education, 
Science, and Culture (SONK), severed ties with SSM and became 
independent. The Government initially broke off negotiations with SONK 
after it became independent; however, negotiations later resumed and a 
wage agreement was signed in March. In December 2005 the SONK and 
several other unions that were formerly members of SSM formed a new, 
independent union federation, the Confederation of Free Unions (KCC).
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, antiunion 
discrimination existed in practice, and there were cases of private 
companies firing workers who participated in union activities. The 
companies' justifications for firing the workers were unrelated to 
their union activities; however, the employees claimed their union 
activities were the cause of their dismissal. Because of the delays in 
the court system, it could take a worker two to three years to regain 
employment through the courts.
    Employers were rumored at times to have interfered in the internal 
affairs of unions, allegedly by dominating union election campaigns or 
running their own candidates in union elections.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the 
Government did not always actively enforce these laws in practice. The 
law protects the right of employees to bargain collectively, and most 
branch and local unions had collective bargaining agreements. All 
legally employed workers are covered by one of two collective 
bargaining agreements, one for public sector employees and the other 
for private sector employees. While collective bargaining took place, 
employees had very little practical negotiating leverage due to the 
country's weak economic environment, and many collective bargaining 
agreements failed to keep pace with changes in the environment and 
workplace.
    The SSM negotiated collective bargaining agreement with the 
Government and an employers' association covering private sector 
workers, which established minimum standards for working conditions. 
The other union federation, KCC, contested the right of SSM to 
negotiate such contracts on its own, and this dispute was not settled 
by year's end. In the private sector, branch unions negotiated at the 
national level with the respective chambers of commerce, and local 
unions negotiated with individual companies. Collective agreements in 
the public sector were negotiated between branch unions and the 
respective ministries.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. The law allows members of the military and 
police to strike, but only if they adhere to restrictive guidelines and 
continue to perform essential services. However, the law allows private 
employers to ``exclude'' or temporarily release up to 2 percent of a 
company's workers during a strike if the company considers these 
workers to be potentially violent or disruptive. The released workers 
would be rehired after the strike. The unions maintained that this 
provision allows employers to exclude union leaders from negotiations 
during a strike.
    There is one export processing zone in the country, but it was not 
operational during the year.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While there are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation 
in the workplace, including a prohibition of forced or compulsory 
labor, government enforcement was uneven. The law stipulates a prison 
sentence of at least eight years for anyone who buys, sells, keeps, or 
takes children or minors for the purpose of exploitation.
    The minimum age for employment is 15 years. The law prohibits 
employing minors under the age of 18 in work that is detrimental to 
their physical or psychological health and morality. The law also 
prohibits minors under the age of 18 from working nights or more than 
40 hours per week.
    There were no official reports of child labor during the year; 
however, there was evidence that child labor was used in the gray 
economy, including for begging on the street and selling cigarettes and 
other small items at open markets, in the streets, and in bars or 
restaurants, sometimes at night. The children involved in these 
activities were primarily Roma and most often worked for their parents. 
Officials did not punish such violations, and children remained 
vulnerable to exploitation. A UNICEF-funded report published in 2005 
found that approximately 500 children worked in such activities.
    Minors were sometimes trafficked for sexual exploitation (see 
section 5).
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for 
enforcing laws regulating the employment of children. Government 
efforts to eliminate child labor abuse have been largely ineffective, 
and while the necessary laws are in place, there has been little 
practical implementation of the policy and laws.
    During the year the Government funded a center in Skopje that 
provided education, medical, and psychological services to children who 
work on the street. The Government also worked with UNICEF on 
developing public awareness campaigns on child labor and trafficking of 
minors. International donors supported programs to prevent children 
from working on the street and to increase school enrollment of 
children at risk for such work.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The country does not have a 
national minimum wage established by law. The average monthly wage 
according to official statistics was approximately $260 (12,464 denars) 
and did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. The Government statistics office estimated that 29.6 percent of 
the population lived below the poverty line.
    The law establishes a 40-hour workweek with a minimum 24-hour rest 
period and vacation and sick leave benefits. Employees cannot legally 
work more than 10 hours of overtime per week, 20 hours per month, or 
190 hours per year. According to the collective agreement between the 
Government and the SSM, employees have a right to overtime pay of 135 
percent of regular pay. In addition, employees who work more than 150 
hours of overtime per year are entitled to a bonus of one month of 
salary. However, high unemployment and difficult economic conditions 
led many employees to accept work that did not comply with the law. In 
particular, small retail businesses often required employees to work 
well beyond the legal limits.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy did not strictly enforce 
laws and regulations on worker safety. While workers have the legal 
right to remove themselves from situations that endanger their health 
or safety without jeopardy to their future employment, employers did 
not always respect this right in practice.

                               __________

                                 MALTA

    Malta is a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy with 
a population of approximately 400,000. President Edward Fenech Adami is 
the chief of state and is appointed by the unicameral parliament. The 
President appoints as prime minister the leader of the party that gains 
a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections. The most recent 
general elections in 2003 were free and fair, and the Nationalist Party 
remained in power. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens. The law and judiciary provide effective means of addressing 
individual instances of abuse. There were reports that persons were 
trafficked to the country.
    During the year the Government adopted a number of new laws to 
protect human rights; for example, following an increase in assault and 
harassment incidents thought to be racially motivated, the Government 
amended the law to introduce heavier penalties for crimes related to 
racial or religious hatred. The Government also approved a domestic 
violence law to expand the legal prohibition of domestic violence.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. The Council of Europe's 
Committee for the Prevention of Torture also conducted regular visits. 
The most recent ad hoc visit was in 2005.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
respected these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a 
single police department that maintains internal security with backup 
support from the armed forces. The appointed commissioner who commands 
the police is under the supervision of the civilian minister of justice 
and home affairs. The police force includes a number of special squads 
and the Criminal Investigation Department. The unified armed forces are 
responsible for defense, with an emphasis on protecting the country's 
territorial waters and airspace. The commander of the armed forces is 
under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister. There was one 
reported case of a senior police official who was arraigned on bribery 
charges in connection with the organization of an illegal, clandestine 
lotto. The official resigned from the police corps. He was arraigned 
and placed under house arrest against a deposit of $2,994 (1,000 lira) 
at the court registry and a personal guarantee of $14,970 (5,000 lira). 
The case was ongoing at year's end.
    There were no reported problems related to impunity within the 
police force. A Police Board made up of independent members from 
outside the police force and presided over by a former judge 
investigates any allegations of police abuse, and appropriate 
disciplinary action was taken when necessary. Training for members of 
the police force was ongoing. New recruits are trained at the police 
academy and current members regularly undergo refresher courses. There 
were no reported instances where police failed to prevent or to respond 
to societal violence.

    Arrest and Detention.--An arrest warrant, issued by a magistrate, 
is generally required before the police may detain a person for 
questioning on the basis of reasonable suspicion. The constitution 
provides that, within 48 hours of detention, police must either release 
a suspect or file charges and in all cases must inform detainees of the 
grounds of suspicion for their arrest. These requirements were 
respected in practice. During the 48-hour period after detention, 
arrested persons do not have the right to legal counsel or to meetings 
with family members. Pretrial detainees are granted access to counsel. 
Once charged, a person may select a lawyer; otherwise the court 
appoints a lawyer at its expense. Family members may visit detainees 
once charges are filed. There were no reports of problems or abuse of 
prisoners during the 48-hour detention period. Bail normally was 
granted on a case-by-case basis.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    The country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, interprets 
the constitution and has original jurisdiction in cases involving 
appellate jurisdiction and in cases concerning human rights violations. 
The Civil Court of Appeal hears appeals from the civil court, court of 
magistrates, and special tribunals. The Court of Criminal Appeal hears 
appeals from the court of magistrates and the juvenile court.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair public jury trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced 
this right. Defendants have the right to counsel of their choice or, if 
they cannot afford counsel, to court-appointed counsel at public 
expense. Defendants and their lawyers have access to government-held 
evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants may confront witnesses and 
present evidence; defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have 
the right to appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides 
for an independent and impartial court for the determination of civil 
rights or obligations, and also provides for a remedy in the case of 
damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. Excess in the 
case of a breach of human rights is also covered under the European 
Convention Act, which incorporates the European Convention of Human 
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Government generally respected 
these rights.
    The Code of Organization and Civil Procedure was amended during the 
year to ensure enhanced efficiency in the execution of judgments. The 
law was coming into force gradually, a mechanism that is permissible in 
the legal system.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; 
violations were subject to effective legal sanctions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. The law prohibits foreign financial 
support, speakers, equipment, or other materials in politics during the 
period leading up to elections, although this provision rarely has been 
used. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning 
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of 
the press.
    In 2004 the broadcasting authority, an independent statutory body 
that is responsible for television and radio broadcasting, fined a 
television station for broadcasting an interview with an independent 
candidate for the European Parliament on the grounds that his 
statements could have incited racial hatred. The station sought 
judicial review of the authority's decision, and the case was still 
ongoing at year's end.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. The international media operated freely.
    There were two cases of journalists' homes being targeted for arson 
after they had published articles advocating tolerance and human rights 
for migrants and refugees (see section 2.d.).
    On May 3, the front door of the editor to the Malta Today was set 
on fire after he wrote an editorial on immigration and racism. A police 
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    On May 13, the home of a journalist with the Malta Independent was 
set on fire; gasoline and broken glass were spread across the road in 
front of the house. This attack followed the publication of the 
journalist's articles on immigration and racism. A police investigation 
was ongoing at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail.
    The use of the Internet grew significantly over the past few years 
with broadband connectivity gaining popularity over narrowband 
connections. The use of the Internet was widespread in all sectors of 
society. Approximately 50 percent of households and 90 percent of 
schools (state, church, and private) had Internet access. Some three 
dozen Internet cafes, as well as a handful of blogs operated freely and 
without restriction.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state 
religion; however, numerous non-Catholic religious groups, including an 
Islamic community, various Protestant denominations, and a small Jewish 
community, practiced their faiths freely and were not required to 
register with the Government.
    The Government and the Catholic Church participated in a foundation 
that finances Catholic schools. While religious instruction in 
Catholicism was available in all public schools, the law provides that 
a student may opt out of this instruction if the student or a guardian 
objects. A Muslim cemetery that was started in 2005 was near to 
completion at year's end.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was an arson attack 
against the cars of members of the Jesuit community. The attack was 
believed to be linked to the community's advocacy for migrants and 
refugees rather than religious beliefs (see section 2.d.).
    There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year. The 
Jewish community is composed of about 120 persons.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.
    There were no reports of government restrictions on emigration or 
prohibition against the return of citizens who have left the country.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    From January to October, the Government also provided temporary 
protection to approximately 416 persons who appeared not to qualify as 
refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    Authorities confined asylum seekers for up to 18 months while their 
cases including appeals were processed.
    Authorities placed children, pregnant women, elderly immigrants, 
and parents with infants in so-called open centers where they were free 
to move about shortly after their arrival in the country. The armed 
forces and police are responsible for persons in detention, while the 
Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity has responsibility for the 
welfare and accommodation of persons released from detention centers.
    Illegal immigrants awaiting a decision on their cases occasionally 
protested their detention or attempted to escape from detention 
centers.
    In March approximately 370 illegal immigrants broke out of a closed 
detention center before being captured and returned. The breakout 
resulted in the hospitalization of a number of immigrants and police 
officers. Fourteen immigrants attempted to leave for Sicily by boat; 
the boat capsized leaving one dead and nine missing. A Sudanese man 
residing in the country and a number of foreigners were detained by the 
police for organizing the escape. The case was ongoing at year's end.
    On June 24, in a separate incident, Algerian national Khaled Masoud 
was jailed after being found guilty of transporting fifteen immigrants 
to the country en route to Sicily. During the court hearing, witnesses 
testified that they had paid almost $1,000 for the trip.
    There were also reports issued by the European Union and the UNHCR 
criticizing the length of time illegal immigrants were confined in 
closed detention centers and the conditions within the centers. 
Reported problems included crowded facilities, the lack of any 
meaningful activities within the centers, and the lack of access to 
legal resources.
    The Government excluded asylum seekers from the refugee status 
determination process if it deemed them to be nationals of a safe 
country of origin. Asylum seekers who claim to be nationals or citizens 
of a country of origin which is listed as safe in the country's laws 
are informed by the immigration police that their application for 
refugee status is inadmissible. However, such asylum seekers are also 
informed by the immigration police that they may apply to the refugee 
commissioner for a reconsideration of their request for refugee status. 
In all such cases, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner calls the 
applicants for a full interview and examination of their claims before 
proceeding to the determination of their application.
    There were arson attacks against property of advocates, an attorney 
for migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and a journalist and an editor 
who published articles on the immigration situation. These incidents 
received widespread condemnation and were believed to be carried out by 
a small group for the purpose of intimidation, not to cause actual 
harm.
    On March 13, unknown persons burned seven cars belonging to members 
of the Jesuit community during the night. These attacks were carried 
out a few days before the release of the National Report on Racism and 
Xenophobia, which was drawn up by the Jesuit Center for Faith and 
Justice in Malta, and the European Monitoring Center on Racism and 
Xenophobia by the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network. 
The case was ongoing at year's end. Following this incident, prominence 
was also given to an incident in November 2005, when two cars belonging 
to members of the community were burned.
    On April 11, unknown persons destroyed the car of a lawyer with the 
Jesuit Refugee Service, a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) for 
migrants. No charges were filed, and the case was ongoing at year's 
end.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent general 
elections in 2003 were free and fair.
    There were six women in the 65-seat parliament. There were two 
women in the 14-member cabinet of ministers. Approximately 13 percent 
of senior government officials were women, and two women held 
ambassadorial rank; one was a judge at the Court of the First Instance 
of the European Communities, while the other held the rank of a 
permanent secretary, the most senior civil servant position within a 
ministry. Two women were appointed judges, one was appointed 
magistrate, two were appointed to superintendent positions within the 
police force, and one was appointed to head the Office of the Prime 
Minister's defense section.
    There were no members of minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption during the year. There was a report of a senior 
police officer who was charged with receiving protection money in the 
organization of a clandestine lotto (see section 1.d.).
    The country does not have laws providing general access to 
government law. There are laws which provide access for the press and 
the public to certain government-held information. The Government 
retained discretion to release information that does not fall under any 
of these sector-specific laws. The Government generally provided access 
to such information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitudes Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, 
disability, language, or social status, and the Government generally 
effectively enforced this prohibition. There were incidents of child 
abuse and trafficking in persons.

    Women.--Between January and August the police domestic violence 
unit received 194 reports of domestic violence, compared with 162 
reports during the same time period in 2005. The law prohibits domestic 
violence, including against women, and the Government effectively 
enforced it. Penalties ranged from three months to 20 years 
imprisonment.
    A special police unit and several voluntary organizations provided 
support to victims of domestic violence. There is a hotline to assist 
victims of abuse through counseling and referrals to shelters. The 
Government provided support to victims of domestic violence through the 
department of welfare. A government-supported shelter for women and 
children was in operation throughout the year; and the Government also 
provided financial support to a shelter operated by the Catholic 
Church. In addition, the Government maintained an emergency fund and 
subsidized other shelters. Some NGOs and victims' assistance advocates 
asserted that domestic violence is underreported, primarily because of 
societal attitudes and the attitude of law enforcement and medical 
service providers. The NGOs reported that women were afraid to report 
the crime because they feared that they would not be believed or 
protected.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the 
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. Rape; 
spousal rape; and violent, indecent assault carry sentences of up to 10 
years' imprisonment.
    The law prohibits prostitution, and the Government effectively 
enforced it. The law provides for sentences of between several months 
and two years' imprisonment. From January to August, 203 persons were 
arraigned and there were a number of prosecutions during the year. 
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was unlawful and is punishable by a $2,800 (1,000 
lira) fine, six months' imprisonment, or both. The Government 
effectively enforced the law.
    Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under 
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. Redress in the 
courts for sexual discrimination was available. The Ministry for the 
Family and Social Solidarity and the National Commission for the 
Promotion of Equality for Men and Women were responsible for gender 
equality issues. The commission's program focused on broader 
integration of women into society. It advised the Government on the 
implementation of policies in favor of equality of the sexes.
    Although women constituted a growing portion of the higher 
education graduates and the work force, they were underrepresented in 
management and generally earned less than their male counterparts. The 
National Council of Women of Malta reported ``extremely low'' female 
representation in the labor force. In the second quarter of the year, 
34.5 percent of women between 15 and 65 years of age were employed, and 
the female unemployment rate was 10.3 percent, compared with an 
unemployment rate for males of 6.5 percent.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. It provided free, compulsory, and universal 
education through age 16. During the year approximately 95 percent of 
school-age children attended school and 70 percent went on to post-
secondary education. There were no apparent differences in the access 
of girls and boys to education.
    The Government provided universal free health care to all citizens, 
and boys and girls had equal access to health care.
    In 2005 the Child Protection Services Section of the National 
Social Welfare Service agency dealt with 995 cases of child abuse. 
Prison sentences were handed down in a number of cases involving sexual 
abuse of minors. A number of sources consistently claimed that 
authorities did not pursue cases of alleged sexual abuse of children by 
Catholic clerics unless a parent or adult filed a formal complaint, but 
rather allowed the church to handle the matter internally. The same 
sources reported that if a parent or victim filed a complaint against a 
cleric, the police investigated it thoroughly and followed the same 
judicial process as with other such complaints. There was at least one 
case involving a cleric pending at year's end.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to the 
country.
    The country was a destination for persons, primarily from Ukraine, 
Russia, the Czech Republic, and Romania, trafficked for prostitution.
    In 2004 reliable law enforcement sources reported that women were 
recruited for prostitution from Eastern European countries and 
essentially ``purchased'' by men, sometimes pimps intent on exploiting 
them for commercial sex or by individuals for exploitative sex only 
with the purchaser. These women were often ``sold'' to other pimps or 
individuals, who then continued the cycle; it was typical for a woman 
to be ``sold'' every three months under these schemes. The victims of 
this type of sexual exploitation typically arrived in the country 
legally on a tourist visa and often with the understanding that they 
would be employed in the sex trade. Once they arrived in the country, 
it was not known whether these victims cooperated with the ``purchasing 
schemes'' or were subjected to coercion or force to ensure that they 
remained in this trade.
    Concerted efforts in 2004 to disrupt these trafficking rings 
prompted traffickers to devise new schemes for trafficking women to the 
country for prostitution. Women were generally recruited in their 
country of origin by contacts from their respective country who resided 
in Malta. Jobs were offered and assistance was given in visa and travel 
arrangements. Once recruited, women arrived in the country legally 
either without a visa, if they were EU nationals, or on a tourist visa, 
student visa, or special ``dancer's visa'' if they were from another 
country. Police sources reported that brothel managers confiscated 
passports and intimidated foreign national women to keep them engaged 
in prostitution. Since the women involved had arrived and departed 
legally, police found it difficult to detect and interdict this new 
trafficking scheme.
    Additional sources claimed that immigration authorities were aware 
of the possibility of trafficking from certain countries and screened 
suspicious persons who attempted to enter the country. Local law 
enforcement authorities generally believed that women who traveled to 
the country to provide sexual services were willing participants; that 
they willingly provided these services for the clients recruited by 
pimps; that they profited from these activities; and that they were not 
coerced, forced, or compelled to continue.
    The criminal code prohibits trafficking and states that the 
punishment for trafficking of a person of age for the purpose of 
exploitation is from two to nine years. The punishment increases if any 
of the offenses are accompanied by grievous bodily harm, generate over 
$15,000 (5,000 lira), or are organized with a criminal network. Persons 
can be charged if the offence took place within the country, or if the 
person is a national or permanent resident. The law states that a 
person who forces by violence, threat, or deceit, another person over 
the age of 21 to leave the country for the purpose of prostitution can 
be imprisoned for up to two years. Forcing a person under 21 under the 
same scenario is punishable by up to four years. During the year the 
act was amended to prohibit the procurement of persons from abroad for 
the purpose of prostitution.
    Authorities made no arrests during the year for trafficking or 
trafficking-related offenses; however, an investigation was ongoing at 
year's end in the case of a police officer involved with trafficking-
related corruption in 2004.
    The Government sometimes cooperated with other governments in the 
investigation of trafficking. A police constable coordinated the 
enforcement of the antitrafficking law.
    Authorities generally did not condone or facilitate trafficking in 
persons. In 2005 authorities arrested and convicted a former constable 
and a police officer for trafficking in human beings, living off the 
earnings of prostitution, and keeping a brothel. The victims were an 
undisclosed number of Russian women. At year's end, one of the two men 
was reportedly free on bail pending appeal of his conviction. Further 
information on the case was not available.
    Authorities treated victims of trafficking as a culpable part of 
the criminal enterprise. The Government encouraged victims to assist in 
the investigation and prosecution of traffickers and provided 
protection of witnesses; however, victims who had been arrested 
generally refused to provide testimony or would testify only in closed 
hearings. Once the victims provided evidence, they were typically 
deported to their country of origin.
    The Government did not provide for social services to victims of 
trafficking. Law enforcement authorities did not have a screening or 
referral process in place for victims of trafficking; however, they 
occasionally referred victims to the array of social and housing 
services available to victims of domestic violence.
    The Government did not offer programs or education for the 
prevention of trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law mandates 
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government 
generally enforced these provisions in practice. Through June the 
National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD), the agency 
responsible for enforcement of this law, continued work on 113 
complaints of discrimination against persons with disabilities that 
were pending from previous years. Since October 2005 the NCPD opened 
investigations on 38 new cases. A total of 48 cases were satisfactorily 
concluded.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--A few thousand persons of Arab, 
African, and Eastern European origin live in the country. There 
continued to be isolated reports that owners of some bars and discos 
periodically discouraged or prohibited darker-skinned persons, 
particularly of African or Arab origin, from entering their 
establishments. There were no reports of charges being pressed by the 
alleged victims.
    The law criminalizes racial hatred. The Government amended the 
Criminal Code to introduce harsher penalties for racial or religiously 
motivated offenses. During the year two persons were charged with two 
new separate cases of inciting racial hatred. Their trials as well as 
three cases from 2005 were ongoing at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for workers 
to form and to join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers did so in 
practice. Noncivilian military and police personnel are not allowed to 
join a union. Approximately 65 percent of the work force was unionized. 
Although all unions were nominally independent of political parties, 
the largest, the General Workers' Union, generally was regarded as 
having close informal ties with the Labor Party.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining, and it was freely practiced. Workers, except 
non-civilian military and police personnel, have the right to strike, 
and they exercised this right by conducting legal strikes. There are no 
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the country's one 
export processing zone.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution 
prohibits forced labor or compulsory labor and the Government generally 
enforced it; however, there were reports that such practices occurred 
(see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace, and the Government effectively implemented them in 
practice. The law prohibits the employment of children younger than age 
16. The Employment Training Corporation, a government entity under the 
Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment, which is responsible for 
labor and employment issues generally enforced the law effectively but 
allowed summer employment of underage youth in businesses operated by 
their families; some underage children were employed as domestics, 
restaurant kitchen help, or vendors.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national weekly minimum wage 
of approximately $172 (57.88 lira) for adults combined with an annual 
mandatory bonus of approximately $620 (214 lira) and a $350 (117 lira) 
annual cost of living increase to all employees to reflect inflation 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Citizens 
were also entitled to additional government subsidies for housing, 
health care, and education.
    The standard workweek was 40 hours, but in some trades it was 43 or 
45 hours. Government regulations provide for a daily rest period, which 
is normally one hour, and one day of rest per week. Premium pay was 
required for overtime. Excessive compulsory overtime is prohibited, and 
workers cannot be obligated to work more than 48 hours, inclusive of 
overtime. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment's Department 
of Industrial and Employment Relations generally enforced these 
requirements effectively.
    The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), a government 
entity under the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment made up 
of the Government, unions, and employers, conducted regular inspections 
at work sites and cited a number of offenders. Enforcement of the 
health and safety standards continued to be uneven; however, and 
industrial accidents remained frequent, mostly in the building and 
construction sector. Workers had the right to remove themselves from 
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their 
employment, and OHSA generally enforced this right. Allegations of 
physical and sexual abuse of workers existed, but they were rarely made 
public; even more rarely were they the subject of court proceedings.

                               __________

                                MOLDOVA

    Moldova is a parliamentary republic, with a population of 
approximately 3.39 million, excluding the estimated 555,000 residents 
living in the secessionist-controlled region of Transnistria. The 
constitution provides for a multiparty representative government with 
power divided among a President, cabinet, a unicameral parliament, and 
the judiciary. Parliamentary elections in March 2005 generally complied 
with most international standards for democratic elections. In April 
2005 parliament reelected Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin as 
President for a second term. In 1990 separatist elements supported by 
Russian military forces in the area declared a ``Transdniester Moldovan 
Republic,'' which lies east of the Dniester River along the border with 
Ukraine. The Government has no authority in Transnistria. Unless 
otherwise stated, all references herein exclude the secessionist 
region. Voting for March 2005 parliamentary election did not take place 
in the area east of the Dniester River; however, more than 8,000 voters 
residing in Transnistria were able to vote at polling stations 
established by the Government on government-controlled territory. 
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Security forces 
beat persons in custody, there was incommunicado detention, and prison 
conditions remained harsh. Other problems included selective official 
harassment and intimidation of the political opposition ; judicial and 
police corruption; monitoring by security forces of political figures 
through unauthorized wiretaps and, at times, illegal searches; 
intimidation of journalists; obstacles to official registration of some 
religious groups; persistent societal violence and discrimination 
against women and children; trafficking in women and girls for sexual 
exploitation; discrimination against Roma; limits on workers' rights, 
and child labor.
    The human rights record of the Transnistrian authorities remained 
poor. The right of citizens to change their government was restricted 
and authorities interfered with the ability of residents to vote. 
Authorities reportedly continued to use torture and arbitrary arrest 
and detention. Prison conditions remained harsh, and two members of the 
so-called Ilascu group remained in prison despite a 2004 ruling by the 
European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) to end their imprisonment. 
Transnistrian authorities continued to harass independent media and 
opposition lawmakers, restrict freedom of association and of religion, 
and discriminate against Romanian-speakers.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings in the country or in the separatist Transnistrian 
region.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances during the year. There were no developments in the 
police investigation into the 2004 disappearance of Sergei Gavrilov, 
who was imprisoned in Transnistria during the early 1990s and allegedly 
witnessed mistreatment of ``Ilascu group'' members.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
credible reports that police used cruel and degrading arrest and 
interrogation methods, and that guards beat prison inmates. In June 
2005 parliament approved a law criminalizing torture.
    Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported several cases of 
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees 
during the year. In contrast with 2005, no new cases of police beating 
Roma were reported (see section 1.d.).
    On April 4, the ECHR ruled unanimously in favor of Mihai Corsacov 
who accused two police officers of torture. Corsacov was arrested for 
theft in 1998 and alleged that A. Tulbu and V. Tubceac kicked, punched, 
and beat him with batons. He spent 70 days in a hospital as a result of 
injuries. Corsacov's mother opened a case against police; the 
investigation lasted more than three years, and the case was closed and 
reopened 12 times. The ECHR ruled that Corsacov was a victim of police 
torture, and stated that the practice of falaka (beating of soles) was 
``a particularly reprehensible form of ill-treatment.'' This was the 
first such ECHR ruling on torture by police in the country. In its 
April ruling, the ECHR also found that the prosecutor general's office 
failed to effectively investigate Corsacov's allegations and deprived 
him of a remedy against mistreatment by refusing to open a case against 
the police officers. In September the prosecutor general's office 
opened a criminal investigation into charges against the two officers.
    According to Amnesty International (AI), the prosecutor general's 
office refused to charge the police officers who reportedly tortured 
Vitalii Kolibaba on April 25 and Serghei Gurgurov in October 2005. 
Kolibaba, who was arrested on April 21, allegedly was hung from a 
crowbar stuck under his elbows and beaten. He later attempted to commit 
suicide in his jail cell. Kolibaba was released May 15 following an 
intervention by AI with the authorities. In December Kolibaba filed a 
complaint with the ECHR.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in most prisons 
in the country and in the separatist Transnistria region remained 
harsh, and in some instances were life threatening, with serious 
overcrowding. Cell sizes did not conform to local legal requirements or 
to international standards. The incidence of malnutrition and disease, 
particularly tuberculosis, was high in all prisons. Conditions were 
particularly harsh in pretrial and presentencing facilities. On July 
12, a detainee died in a hospital after being beaten by a group of 
police officers while in pretrial detention. The prosecutor general's 
office launched a criminal investigation into the death. Other 
detainees reported being denied food and water and confined in 
underground facilities without medical care, fresh air, ventilation, 
and proper sanitation.
    In June 2005 several hundred inmates of a prison in the 
Transnistrian city of Tiraspol started a violent hunger strike to 
protest the conditions of their confinement and treatment. 
Representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE) were later allowed to visit the prison, where conditions 
continued to be harsh.
    On August 14, 170 inmates at the Leova prison 50 miles southwest of 
Chisinau staged a four-day hunger strike to protest overcrowding, 
insufficient drinking water, violation of their right to private 
meetings with lawyers, physical abuse, and intimidation. The Ministry 
of Justice acknowledged problems at the prison and stated they were due 
to insufficient state funding. The local office of the International 
Helsinki Commission reported that authorities denied them permission to 
visit the Leova prison during the protests. On September 15, a Helsinki 
Committee mission confirmed that prison authorities segregated 
prisoners into two groups: prisoners who cooperate closely with 
authorities, and prisoners who complain about poor conditions.
    During the year the Bender prison remained disconnected from 
municipal water and electricity services. Prison authorities used a 
generator to provide power and the Department of Penitentiaries 
arranged special water delivery and improvised outdoor toilets for the 
113 prisoners confined to the facility. Bender city officials 
disconnected the prison in 2003 from water and sewer services out of 
fear of contamination from inmates infected with tuberculosis. The 
Helsinki Committee represented nine inmates, who filed court cases to 
claim compensation for poor detention conditions. The director of the 
Penitentiary Department denied the prison received running water from 
Bender and stated that all tuberculosis-infected inmates had previously 
been transferred to another prison.
    In the case of Valeriu Pasat, the country's former defense 
minister, prison authorities repeatedly refused to abide by three court 
decisions to allow an independent medical commission to examine Pasat. 
He was instead examined by Ministry of Interior doctors in the presence 
of police (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
    Pretrial detainees generally were held separately from convicted 
prisoners, although there were reports of convicted prisoners remaining 
in detention facilities because of prison overcrowding. Children 
convicted of crimes were sent to adult prisons, where they were held in 
separate cells.
    The Government generally permitted independent human rights 
observers to regularly visit prisons. As a rule, observers are 
accompanied by prison officials during visits. Generally, however, 
prison officials allowed observers to talk in private with inmates, 
when privacy was requested. The Government cooperated with the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and permitted visits to 
prisoners in accordance with standard practices. In Transnistria 
authorities there allowed the ICRC to visit the Ilascu group prisoners 
once per year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, in practice the authorities did not 
observe these prohibitions.
    On August 30, police arrested nine members of the NGO Hyde Park 
during a sanctioned protest. They were detained without food or water 
for 40 hours in badly ventilated cells (see section 2.b.).

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
force is the country's primary law enforcement body. It is subdivided 
into regional and city police commissariats, which are subordinated to 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police corruption remained a problem. 
During the first eight months of the year, authorities brought 135 
criminal cases against ministry employees, 105 of them for abuse of 
office by using of violence and torture. Another 1,190 ministry 
employees received disciplinary sanctions.
    Impunity was also a problem. The prosecutor general's office is 
responsible for investigating the activities of the police. However, 
the prosecutor general's office stated that it believed the interior 
ministry often ignored or superficially examined reported violations. 
An internal affairs unit that reported to the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs investigated minor incidents of corruption.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law allows judges to issue arrest 
warrants based on cases presented by prosecutors. Authorities must 
promptly inform detainees of the reason for their arrest and the 
charges against them. Suspects may be detained without charge for 72 
hours. The law provides accused persons the right to a court hearing on 
the legality of their arrest. However, these rights were not always 
respected in practice.
    Once charged, a detainee may be released on personal recognizance 
pending trial; in some cases friends or relatives were allowed to give 
a written pledge that the accused would appear for trial. The law 
provides for a bail system, but it was rarely used and did not function 
well. Authorities generally did not release detainees accused of 
violent or serious crimes.
    On September 26, the Government's Center for Combating Economic 
Crimes and Corruption arrested Eduard Musuc, a prominent opposition 
political party leader, on charges of alleged fiscal impropriety 
concerning a real estate deal while director of Megadat.com, which is a 
leading Internet provider. On October 11, a court set bail at the 
unprecedented sum of $154,000 (two million lei). Musuc failed to pay 
bail and remained in detention. On November 14, a court dropped the 
bail requirement and released Musuc pending trial. The case remained 
pending at year's end.
    Detainees have the right to a defense attorney; however, at times 
this right was restricted. Authorities generally did not grant 
detainees access to a lawyer until 24 hours after being detained. 
Police often told persons that they were witnesses in a case and 
questioned them without a lawyer present, then subsequently detained 
them as suspects. Detainees were often informed of the charges against 
them without a lawyer present. The Government requires the local bar 
association to provide an attorney to defendants who are unable to 
afford one, but the Government did not pay legal fees, and defendants 
often did not have adequate counsel (see section 1.e.). Detainees were 
generally allowed access to family members.
    In contrast to the previous year, local and international NGOs did 
not report arbitrary arrests or incommunicado detention of Roma.
    There were occasional detentions that some observers regarded as 
politically motivated and retaliation for criticism of government 
officials. On September 7, police arrested Genadie Braghis, sales 
director of the independent Pro-TV media company, on allegations of 
bribery. He was held incommunicado and without effective access to 
legal counsel. Braghis met with his lawyer only at the time of the 
arrest and at the court hearing; four requests to meet Braghis were 
denied either because meetings rooms were not available or visiting 
hours were over. He was released September 11; the charges were dropped 
September 17 for lack of evidence, but reinstated on October 7. PRO-TV 
officials claimed there was a connection between the arrest and 
critical PRO-TV reports about the interior minister (see section 2.a.). 
The case remained under investigation at year's end.
    In July 2005 according to AI, the police detained more than 30 
Romani men and boys, some as young as 12, during a raid in the town of 
Edineti. Most were held for two days before a local court ordered their 
release, and most were released without charge. Three others were held 
incommunicado for several weeks and released without charge
    In October 2005 local authorities briefly detained Mikhail 
Formuzal, mayor of Ciadir-Lunga in the autonomous Gagauz region and a 
leading opposition figure, on charges of abuse of office and misuse of 
funds. Formuzal was forbidden to leave the city during the 
investigation. According to Formuzal, the prosecutor general's office 
opened as many as 18 criminal cases against him to thwart his election 
bid for the office of the Gagauz governor (Bashkan). However, Formuzal 
was elected governor December 17 with 56 percent of the vote (see 
section 3).
    There were no new developments during the year in the 2003 trial of 
Chisinau water utility head Constantin Becciev and the case remained 
pending at year's end. Becciev was held in preventive detention for six 
months in 2003. In October 2005, in a separate case initiated by 
Becciev with the ECHR, the court concluded that he had been held in 
inhuman and degrading conditions and did not receive a fair trial. The 
ECHR also determined that Becciev should be compensated for moral 
damages and legal expenses.
    The law permits pretrial detention for an initial period of 30 
days. The courts may extend pretrial detention for up to 12 months on 
an individual basis, according to the severity of the alleged crime. 
Detentions of several months were fairly frequent; in rare instances, 
pretrial detention was extended for several years. During the year a 
total of 8,614 persons were being held in detention facilities and 
prisons. Of that number 234 were minors, 440 were women, and 1,917 were 
pretrial detainees.
    In Transnistria authorities continued to harass and detain persons 
suspected of being critical of the regime.
    On August 17 and 18, the Transnistrian security agency arrested 
four members of the Slobozia-based NGO Dignitas on charges of alleged 
involvement in the August 13 explosion of a trolleybus in Tiraspol. The 
authorities searched the Dignitas office without an arrest or search 
warrant. All four men were released on August 22.

    Amnesty.--In May 2005 Gagauz authorities granted amnesty to Ivan 
Burgudji, an official of the Gagauz autonomous region and a well-known 
Gagauz nationalist. He was sentenced in 2003 by the Chisinau tribunal 
court to five years in prison for abuse of power and malicious 
hooliganism in connection with his opposition political activities. On 
December 17, Moldovan police, acting without a warrant, arrested 
Burgudji in Ceadir-Lunga after he voted in the Gagauz elections for 
governor. Police did not file formal charges at the time he was 
detained, and Burgudji remained in police custody at year's end.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, official pressure and corruption of 
judges remained a problem. There continued to be credible reports that 
local prosecutors and judges asked for bribes in return for reducing 
charges or sentences, and observers asserted that courts were sometimes 
politically influenced. Political factors played a large role in the 
reappointment of judges.
    The judiciary consists of lower courts, courts of appeal, and the 
Supreme Court of Justice. A separate Constitutional Court has exclusive 
authority in cases regarding the constitutionality of draft and final 
legislation, decrees, and other governmental acts. The Constitutional 
Court was the only court generally regarded as fair and objective.
    The prosecutor general's office is autonomous and answers to 
parliament. It is responsible for overseeing criminal investigations, 
presenting charges before a court, and protecting the rule of law and 
civil freedoms. Prosecutors may open and close investigations without 
bringing the matter before a court, giving them considerable influence 
over the judicial process
    There is a separate military court system, which generally has the 
same problems as the civilian courts. The jurisdiction of military 
courts extends to crimes committed by active duty military personnel 
and crimes committed by reserve or retired military personnel while 
they were on active duty. Military courts can also try civilians for 
crimes committed against military personnel if the plaintiff presses 
charges through the military prosecutor's office.

    Trial Procedures.--While defendants in criminal cases are presumed 
innocent, in practice a prosecutor's recommendation carried 
considerable weight and limited a defendant's presumption of innocence. 
Trials were generally open to the public; however, because of a 
shortage of courtrooms, many cases were heard in judges' chambers. 
Court-session information, such as trial times, locations, and 
verdicts, was rarely posted publicly as required by law; this lack of 
information limited public access to court proceedings. Cases were 
presented to a judge or panel of judges depending on the complexity of 
the case. Defendants have the right to a lawyer, to attend proceedings, 
to confront witnesses, and to present evidence. The law requires the 
local bar association to provide an attorney to defendants who are 
unable to afford one; however, since the Government did not pay legal 
fees, defendants often did not have adequate counsel. Prosecutors 
occasionally used bureaucratic maneuvers to restrict lawyers' access to 
clients. Defense attorneys were able to review evidence against their 
clients when preparing cases. Convicted persons have the right to 
appeal to a higher court.
    The January 17 conviction of former defense minister Valeriu Pasat 
for unlawfully selling state property followed a civilian court trial 
held behind closed doors (see section 3). Observers said the 
proceedings raised questions about the fairness and independence of the 
judiciary.
    The law provides for the accused to have an interpreter, both at 
the trial and when reviewing documents of the case; however, because of 
a lack of resources, persons requiring interpretation often had their 
hearings repeatedly postponed. If the majority of participants agree, 
trials may be conducted in Russian or another language instead of 
Romanian.
    There is no juvenile justice system, and children accused of crimes 
usually were tried by criminal courts. There were judges in each region 
and in Chisinau specializing in cases involving minors.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.
    However, in March 2005 police arrested former defense minister 
Valeriu Pasat on charges of defrauding the Government of millions 
dollars. Many observers considered the arrest politically motivated. On 
January 17, a court sentenced Pasat to 10 years in prison on charges of 
damaging the state. On February 7, the prosecutor general's office 
opened a second criminal case, accusing Pasat of attempted murder and 
usurping power. A third criminal case was launched in September on 
charges of ``weapons smuggling'' and abuse of authority. On October 16, 
an appeals court acquitted Pasat of some of the original charges and 
reduced his 10-year sentence to five. He remained in prison; the two 
new cases were pending at year's end (see section 3).
    In Transnistria authorities continued to refuse to comply with a 
July 2004 ECHR ruling to release two members of the Ilascu group 
convicted in 1993 of killing two Transnistrian officials; their 
sentence expires in June 2007.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--By law, citizens can seek 
damages in civil courts for human rights violations. Under the 
constitution the government is liable in cases where authorities 
violate a person's rights by administrative means; fail to reply in a 
timely manner to an application for relief, or make damaging errors 
during prosecution. However, judgments awarded in such cases are small, 
rarely exceeding $2,000 (26,000 lei) and are frequently not enforced. 
As of August the ECHR issued 13 decisions faulting the country for 
failure to enforce judgments for human rights violations. The decisions 
were part of 44 ECHR findings issued over the last decade against the 
country for human rights violations.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the 
Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice.
    It was widely believed that authorities, including the interior 
ministry, the prosecutor's general office, and the Security and 
Information Services (SIS), conducted illegal searches and wiretaps. 
Judges may legally authorize wiretaps only in cases where a criminal 
investigation is underway; in practice, however, the judiciary lacked 
the ability to control security organizations and police to prevent 
illegal wiretaps. Courts did not exclude evidence obtained illegally.
    During the year several opposition politicians alleged that 
government authorities continued to monitor them illegally.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the Government sometimes restricted 
these rights and on occasion intimidated journalists into practicing 
self-censorship.
    Public criticism of the Government is generally allowed; however 
members of the media and NGOs believe that authorities try to impede 
criticism when it is made by influential persons.
    The print media expressed a wide variety of political views and 
commentary. The Government owned a news agency; local and city 
governments subsidized approximately 25 newspapers. Political parties 
and professional organizations also published newspapers, most of which 
had a circulation of less than 15,000. The Government did not restrict 
foreign publications, but most were not widely circulated because of 
high costs. Russian newspapers were available; some of them published 
special weekly supplements for the country.
    In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of random 
beatings or violence against journalists.
    According to the Government's Audiovisual Coordinating Council, 
there were 44 radio stations and 194 television stations and cable 
operators broadcasting in the country. Most of them rebroadcast 
programs from Romania, Russia, and Ukraine, offering only a limited 
amount of locally produced programming. The Government controlled a 
national radio and television station, Teleradio Moldova (TRM), which 
covered most of the country. Some local governments, including in 
Chisinau and in the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, operated 
television and radio stations and newspapers. A number of cable 
television operators provided a variety of foreign television programs, 
including international news programs, to an estimated 202,300 
subscribers.
    The number of media outlets not owned and operated by the 
Government or a political party increased slightly during the year, but 
many remained in the service of, and secured large subsidies from, the 
Government and political movements.
    In June 2005 authorities sold two government-owned newspapers, 
Moldova Suverana and Nezavisimaya Moldova. The sale fulfilled one of 
the conditions by the parliamentary opposition in return for supporting 
President Voronin's re-election in April 2005. The two newspapers 
continued as independent publications but retained a strong 
progovernment stance.
    The restrictive regulatory framework for media coverage of the 
March 2005 parliamentary election campaign made it difficult for 
citizens to get information about the candidates. In February 2005, 
responding to international and domestic concerns, the Central Election 
Commission (CEC) revised regulations to increase airtime for debates on 
public stations and allowed news programs to cover the campaign. 
However, the CEC decision came less than two weeks before the election.
    The law prohibits foreign governments from funding or supporting 
domestic publications. In practice, however, publications supported by 
the Romanian government complied with the law by receiving funds from 
specially-created ``foundations.'' The Government did not prosecute 
publications receiving funds from other countries.
    In October 2005 the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (CCA) 
suspended the license of the Analytic Media Group (AMG) to rebroadcast 
the Russian ORT television channel on a nationwide television network, 
awarding it to a new company, Media Satellite, which is believed to 
have ties to individuals close to President Voronin. AMG filed a court 
case against CCA calling the action illegal on the grounds that it had 
both a valid license to broadcast on a major frequency and possessed 
the sole contract to rebroadcast the Russian ORT channel. However, in 
December 2005 an appeals court ruled in favor of the CCA's action. In 
the meantime, CCA awarded AMG a new but weaker frequency to allow it to 
continue broadcasting. Foreign observers in the country expressed 
concern over the lack of transparency and independence of the CCA in 
granting broadcast licenses and frequencies.
    On July 27, parliament adopted the Audiovisual Code that combined 
and revised several media laws according to OSCE and Council of Europe 
recommendations. The new code regulates the activity of private 
television and radio stations, the government-controlled public 
broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM), and the CCA. However, critics and 
local media NGOS expressed concern that the law, which placed all 
public television and radio stations under TRM, would hurt media 
independence and stifle independent and dissenting media.
    On December 14, the Chisinau Municipal Council dismissed the 
directors of two local public broadcasters, Radio Antena-C and Euro-TV 
Chisinau, and put both stations up for sale. Journalists at both 
stations protested the action, and opposition parties, NGOs, and the 
international community expressed concern about possible muzzling of 
independent media. On December 16, Radio Antena-C FM broadcasting was 
abruptly stopped, but its outdated cable network, connected to 
residences was allowed to continue broadcasting.
    Controversy continued over alleged government control of TRM, 
despite efforts begun in August 2004 to transform the broadcasting 
entity into an independent public company. TRM employees charged that 
selection of employees for the new TRM was biased against journalists 
who were critical of the Government. Several journalists who had been 
dismissed sued TRM to be reinstated. In one case, a local court upheld 
the legality and competency of TRM's hiring committee; other lawsuits 
remained pending at year's end. At least nine other dismissed TRM 
journalists, including Larisa Manole, filed cases with the ECHR, 
accusing the broadcaster of censorship. The cases remained under 
special ECHR review.
    Both print and broadcast journalists reportedly continued to 
practice self-censorship out of concern that government officials and 
other public figures may use civil defamation and calumny laws in 
retaliation for critical news coverage. While journalists and media 
outlets continued to face potential fines for libel under the civil 
code, there were no new reported libel cases during the year.
    In July, following the Council of Europe's recommendations, 
parliament amended the civil code to place a ceiling on the fines 
imposed for moral damages for libel. The new law established criteria 
that judges may take into consideration when deciding the amount of 
libel awards, such as the social impact of the information on the 
aggrieved person and the gravity of moral and physical suffering.
    On July 12, a court ordered the Moldavskie Vedomosty newspaper to 
pay a penalty of $2,000 (25,000 lei) in connection with a $50,000 
(620,000 lei) ``moral damages'' civil suit filed by the head of the 
government-owned Moldovan railroad. The independent Russian-language 
newspaper appealed the order to the ECHR; the case was pending at 
year's end.
    In 2004 the weekly newspaper Timpul lost a lawsuit in which the 
Daac-Hermes Company alleged $2 million (24.8 million lei) in damages 
for publishing ``calumnious'' information. In response, the newspaper 
voluntarily closed down and re-registered under a new name, Timpul de 
Dimineata.
    In Transnistria authorities limited freedom of speech and of the 
press. Alternative viewpoints were stifled by widespread censorship, 
and residents were wary of voicing alternative opinions and engaging in 
meaningful debate over key issues affecting the region. It was 
difficult to register, maintain, and financially sustain an independent 
newspaper, radio, or television station in the separatist region. In 
November 2005 Ion Iovcev, the principal of a Romanian-language school 
in Transnistria and active advocate for human rights as well as a 
critic of the Transnistrian leadership, received threatening calls that 
he attributed to his criticism of the separatist regime.
    Both of region's major newspapers, Pridnestrovie and Dnestrovskaya 
Pravda, were controlled by the authorities. There was one independent 
weekly newspaper in Bender and another in the northern city of 
Ribnitsa. Opposition newspapers, such as Novaia Gazeta and Chelovek i 
yevo Prava (Man and His Rights), had limited circulation and impact. 
Separatist authorities harassed independent newspapers for critical 
reporting of the Transnistrian regime. Other print media in 
Transnistria did not have a large circulation and appeared only on a 
weekly or monthly basis; some of the publications also criticized local 
authorities. Most Moldovan newspapers did not circulate widely in 
Transnistria, although they were available in Tiraspol.
    Most television and radio stations and print publication were 
controlled by Transnistrian authorities, which largely dictated their 
editorial policies and finance operations. Some broadcast networks, 
such as the TSV television station and the INTER-FM radio station, were 
owned by Transnistria's largest monopoly, Sherriff, which also holds a 
majority in the region's legislature. While these outlets on occasion 
expressed alternative views for political purposes, in general their 
editorial policy did not greatly differ from government-owned and 
controlled media.
    In July 2005 the Transnistrian Supreme Soviet amended the election 
code to prohibit media controlled by the Transnistrian authorities from 
publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail. According to the country's technology regulatory agency, 712 
companies are authorized to provide information technology services in 
the country. Internet penetration was estimated at 11.5 percent, and 
more than 394,000 persons in the country used the Internet during the 
year.
    In Transnistria the Internet is not readily affordable and 
broadband access is rare. Only a small segment of the population uses 
and has access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--On August 22, the Ministry 
of Culture refused for the third consecutive year to install a bust in 
central Chisinau of Romanian writer Liviu Rebreanu, stating that it had 
not received an authentication certificate. The Union of Writers, the 
Academy of Science, and several NGOs protested the ministry's refusal. 
On August 30, nine Hyde Park NGO members were arrested and detained 
during a protest against the ministry's refusal (see section 2. b.).
    On October 11, several hundred historians, politicians, teachers 
and students protested in the capital against a new ``Integrated 
History'' course introduced by the education ministry to replace the 
History of Romanians and Universal History courses. Protest organizers 
claimed that new textbooks reflect Stalinist ideas and promote 
xenophobia and anti-Romanian sentiments. The ministry stated that the 
textbooks had been compiled with wide input from the academic community 
and would be subject to any necessary revisions in the future.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, at times 
the Government limited this right in practice. In several instances 
authorities arrested and detained citizens during peaceful protests and 
released them hours later without charges.
    On April 28, the Chisinau authorities refused for a second year to 
issue a permit to the NGO GenderDoc-M for a peaceful demonstration in 
connection with the country's fifth annual gay pride events (see 
section 5).
    On August 30, police arrested nine members of the NGO Hyde Park, 
which campaigns for freedom of expression, during a lawful protest and 
detained them for 40 hours (see section 1.d.). Authorities ignored a 
court-issued permit for the protest and charged them with participating 
in an unsanctioned meeting and resisting arrest. The NGO members were 
subsequently acquitted on both charges. However, on November 1, the 
Supreme Court upheld a decision by municipal authorities to disregard 
the court-issued permit.
    On November 22, the Buiucani Prosecutor's Office in Chisinau 
summoned two members of the Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDM) 
for questioning about their participation in a sanctioned protest and 
alleged threats against the constitutional order of the country.
    On November 15, the Supreme Court declared illegal the refusal by 
the city government to permit AI to hold a protest on October 10 
against the death penalty at the embassies of two foreign governments.
    The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' 
(ODIHR) observer report on the country's March 2005 parliamentary 
elections noted several cases where local officials either did not 
authorize campaign meetings or obstructed access.
    In Transnistria authorities usually did not permit free assembly; 
on those occasions when permits were issued for demonstrations, 
authorities often harassed organizers and participants. Permits for 
demonstrations and public meetings are issued only to those 
organizations and public movements that are loyal to the authorities, 
such as the youth group Proryv (Breakthrough), and other organizations 
that the authorities consider to be patriotic.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association and states that citizens are free to form parties and other 
social and political organizations; however, the constitution also 
prohibits organizations that are ``engaged in fighting against 
political pluralism,'' the ``principles of the rule of law,'' or ``the 
sovereignty and independence or territorial integrity'' of the country. 
While authorities have not applied these provisions to prevent groups 
from forming, organizations favoring unification with Romania charged 
that the provisions were intended to impede their political activities. 
Authorities routinely approved applications to register private 
organizations, including political parties.
    In Transnistria authorities restricted freedom of association by 
intimidation and prosecution for alleged offenses or on fabricated 
charges. In April Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov issued a decree 
prohibiting external financing of NGOs. After criticism from the 
international community and Transnistrian NGOs, Smirnov later changed 
the decree to prohibit external financing of only those NGOs that are 
directly ``engaged in political activities'' (see section 4).

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, the law includes restrictions that inhibit the 
activities of some religious groups. There is no state religion; 
however, the Moldovan Orthodox Church received special treatment from 
the Government. For example, the Metropolitan of Chisinau and All 
Moldova and other high-ranking Orthodox Church officials received 
diplomatic passports.
    In the separatist region of Transnistria the authorities continued 
to deny registration and harassed a number of minority religions 
groups.
    The law requires religious groups to register with the State 
Service for Religions (SSR). Unregistered religious groups may not buy 
land or obtain construction permits for churches or seminaries. 
Unregistered groups often conduct services, but at the risk of 
harassment.
    At year's end the SSR still had not registered the True Orthodox 
Church of Moldova, despite a 2002 Supreme Court ruling in the church's 
favor. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), The 
Ukrainian Orthodox Kiev Patriarchate, the Central Muslim Spiritual 
Board of Moldova, a variety of Protestant congregations, and the 
Spiritual Organization of Muslims in Moldova continued to encounter 
bureaucratic obstacles to registration.
    However, on December 29, the SSR, responding to a supreme court of 
justice ruling, registered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints (Mormons), ending its six-year legal struggle to obtain official 
government recognition. In a September 27 ruling, the court said the 
Government had a duty to legally recognize the two local Mormon 
congregations, which have a total of approximately 250 members.
    With regard to the Muslim organizations, the SSR continued to 
maintain that they had failed to present necessary documents for 
registration. The Spiritual Organization of Muslims reported continued 
harassment by the police who conducted document checks and took 
pictures of members at Friday prayers. For example, on May 19, police 
filmed attendees during Friday prayers and tried to bring charges of 
administrative violations. The court dismissed the charges as 
unfounded. Police claimed the services were illegal because the 
organization was not registered and the meeting place was not being 
used in accordance with the organization's status as a charity. During 
the year authorities did not follow up with the group on the March 2005 
Ministry of Justice letter, which demanded that the organization stop 
propagation of an ``unregistered cult.''
    There were no legal developments in the 2004 case of the halted 
construction of a Baptist church in Capriana, despite Baptist appeals 
to both district and central authorities
    In Transnistria on May 13, the Jehovah's Witness community received 
an order from the Tiraspol city prosecutor to bring the group's charter 
into harmony with the law. The community responded with a petition that 
stated it was not able to change its charter because the Office for 
Religious Cults had not responded to its request for registration 
documents to apply for accreditation. The prosecutor rejected the 
petition, saying that the matter should be resolved in the courts. The 
case was pending at year's end.
    Foreign missionaries may enter the country for 90 days on a tourist 
visa. Although the law prohibits ``abusive proselytizing,'' which is 
defined as ``an attempt to influence someone's religious faith through 
violence or abuse of authority,'' the Government has not taken legal 
action against individuals or organizations for proselytizing.
    The law provides for restitution of property confiscated during the 
Nazi and Soviet regimes to religious communities; however, claims of 
the Moldovan Orthodox Church have been favored over those of other 
religious groups, and the church has recovered nearly all of its 
property. In cases where property was destroyed, the Government offered 
alternative compensation. Property disputes between the Moldovan and 
Bessarabian branches of the Orthodox Church have not been resolved; 
representatives of the Bessarabian Orthodox Church claimed that their 
property rights were still being violated. There were no developments 
in a 2005 ECHR case the BOC brought by the Bessarabian church against 
the country.
    According to Jewish community representatives, authorities have not 
returned Jewish community property.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of Jehovah's Witnesses 
complained that local town councils and Orthodox priests and their 
adherents continued to impede their ability to practice their religion 
freely. In April local authorities from Farladeni village, acting on 
the insistence of the local Orthodox community, terminated the contract 
that allowed Jehovah's Witnesses to rent a public building for worship. 
The Jehovah's Witnesses reported similar problems in obtaining and 
maintaining construction permits to build houses of worship. Baptists 
also reported that townspeople in several localities physically or 
verbally abused them at the instigation of local Orthodox priests.
    In Transnistria non-Orthodox groups complained that they were 
generally not allowed to rent property and were often harassed during 
religious services.
    The Jewish community had approximately 25,000 members, including 
2,600 living in separatist-controlled Transnistria. In May 2005 six 
tombstones were destroyed in the Jewish cemetery in Chisinau. Three 
young men, two from Chisinau and one from Tiraspol, were arrested in 
connection with the vandalism; their motives were unclear, but Jewish 
community leaders stated that they did not consider the vandalism an 
act of anti-Semitism. In November 2005 unknown persons destroyed 
another 25 tombstones. Police failed to find the perpetrators, and the 
Jewish leaders also did not consider the vandalism an act of anti-
Semitism.
    According to the Stephen Roth Institute, most anti-Semitism in the 
country is expressed on the Internet, which is used to spread ultra-
nationalist and revisionist ideas.
    In Transnistria there was no progress in the investigation into 
several anti-Semitic acts that took place in 2004 when more than 70 
tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in Tiraspol and 
unknown persons attempted to set fire to the Tiraspol synagogue. 
Transnistrian authorities believed the attacks were carried out by the 
same individuals.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. Transnistrian 
authorities sometimes restricted travel to and from the separatist 
region.
    Transnistrian authorities applied a transit fee to Moldovan 
nationals crossing Transnistria and often stopped and searched incoming 
and outgoing vehicles. Transnistrian authorities allowed farmers from 
government-controlled villages in the Dubasari region of Transnistria 
to travel to areas outside Transnistria to sell their produce, and no 
longer blocked farmers' access to their farmland.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    Citizens generally were able to depart from and return to the 
country freely; however, there were some restrictions on emigration. 
Persons wishing to emigrate must meet all outstanding financial 
obligations to other persons or legal entities before emigrating. 
However, this legal requirement was not strictly enforced in practice. 
Close relatives who are dependent on a potential emigrant for material 
support must give their concurrence. Although the Government may deny 
permission to emigrate if the applicant had access to state secrets, no 
such cases have been reported for several years.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN convention and its 
1967 Protocol and provided it to seven persons. The Government 
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and 
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum 
seekers. During the year the Government substantially revised 
procedures to expedite issuance of identification cards and travel 
permits to refugees. All Chechen refugees in the country were 
repatriated; none reported any mistreatment.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice in most of 
the country through periodic, generally free and fair elections held on 
the basis of universal suffrage, although authorities harassed and 
intimidated the political opposition. Authorities in Transnistria 
restricted the right of citizens to change their government.
    The constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government. 
Parliament elects the President by a three-fifths majority vote. The 
President appoints the Prime Minister, who in turn names a cabinet. 
Parliament must approve both the Prime Minister and the cabinet.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In March 2005 citizens 
voted in multiparty parliamentary elections, which according to OSCE/
ODIHR election observers complied with most international standards for 
democratic elections. While the balloting was free and fair, the OSCE 
reported that campaign conditions and media coverage preceding the vote 
``were not satisfactorily equitable.'' As a result, the elections fell 
short of meeting standards ``central to a genuinely competitive 
election process.'' Restrictive legal provisions and interference by 
authorities, in particular at the local level, hampered the campaigns 
of some candidates, particularly those representing the opposition. In 
addition, restrictive media provisions in the electoral code and state 
media bias prevented equal campaigning opportunities. Election 
observers noted other shortcomings, including inaccurate and incomplete 
voter lists and group voting. The law requires political parties to 
have a minimum of 5,000 members in order to register, a threshold that 
the Council of Europe considered to be a serious barrier to the 
maintenance of political parties.
    The authorities generally allowed international observers to 
monitor the elections, registering a record number of international and 
local observers. Several persons from Russia and other countries in the 
Commonwealth of Independents States who claimed to be observers were 
refused registration and expelled from the country during the campaign 
for conducting ``illegal activities.'' Authorities accused them of 
campaigning for and illegally funding one of the candidates.
    The Government selectively enforced regulations, including 
inspections and tax audits of individuals and businesses that belonged 
to or supported opposition parties. There were reports that police and 
officials from the Center for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption 
visited printing houses that published opposition party campaign 
materials and prevented transport companies from providing buses to 
political parties to bring individuals to voter assemblies.
    Members of parliament were elected from nationwide party lists. Two 
parties and one block won seats in the 101-seat parliament: the 
Communist Party won 56 seats; the three-party Democratic Moldova Bloc 
(BMD) gained 34 seats, and the Christian Democratic People's Party won 
11 seats. In April 2005 the new Parliament reelected Communist Party 
leader Vladimir Voronin President to a second term.
    There were 21 women and 26 members of ethnic minorities in 
parliament. There was one woman and three minority members in the 21-
member cabinet. Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Azeri, and Gagauz 
minorities were represented in parliament.
    The July 2005 mayoral elections in several towns, including 
Chisinau, were generally free and fair; there was greater media access 
and less government interference than in 2003. However, voters in 
Chisinau failed to elect a mayor four times because voter turnout did 
not reach the required minimum of one-third of registered voters. The 
next local elections across the country are scheduled for 2007.
    The Gagauz Christian Turkic minority enjoyed local autonomy in 
Gagauzia in the southern part of the country. According to the OSCE and 
the Council of Europe, the two rounds of Gagauz Bashkan elections on 
December 3 and 17 were held in a generally calm and orderly manner and 
complied with most international standards. Opposition candidate 
Mikhail Formzal was elected governor for a four-year term.
    In Transnistria authorities restricted the right of residents to 
change their government and interfered with the ability of residents to 
vote.
    On September 17, Transnistrian authorities conducted a referendum 
on the separatist region's independence and future accession to Russia. 
While authorities claimed that an overwhelming majority of 
Transnistria's voters supported the proposal, the referendum was not 
monitored by independent observers. The authorities prevented free 
expression of alternative viewpoints and were suspected of falsifying 
the final results.
    On December 10, elections for ``President'' of Transnistria 
returned the incumbent Igor Smirnov to power. The head of the 
separatist region's electoral commission said Smirnov won 82.4 percent 
of the vote. However, the election was marked by problems. Access to 
information was severely restricted and the authorities generally 
stifled alternative viewpoints of three competing candidates. As with 
previous elections, the December 10 balloting was not monitored by 
internationally recognized observers and results could not be 
independently verified.
    In December 2005 authorities also interfered with the ability of 
residents to vote in elections for the region's Supreme Soviet. Voting 
was not monitored by internationally recognized election observers and 
it was considered to be neither free nor fair.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was believed to 
be pervasive throughout government and society, as reflected in 
numerous public opinion polls and reports by NGOs. For example, 
Transparency International (TI) again reported that corruption remained 
a severe problem in the country. Although the Government has special 
law enforcement and judicial units to combat corruption and 
acknowledged the problem, some critics charged that authorities used 
these units to persecute political opponents.
    During the year, the country received a score of 3.2 on TI's 10 
point composite index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to 
exist among a country's politicians and public officials. The score 
marked an improvement on the 2005 score of 2.9 out of 10, where 10 
indicates the lowest level of corruption.
    During the year the Chisinau Central District Court found Valeriu 
Mostovoi, a former deputy minister of labor and social protection, 
guilty of corruption and banned him from occupying public office for 
five years. He was arrested in April 2005 by the Government's Center 
for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption (CCECC) on charges of 
extorting a bribe.
    In March 2005 police arrested former defense minister Valeriu Pasat 
on charges of illegally selling fighter jets in 1997 to a foreign 
government. Many observers considered the arrest to be politically 
motivated, because of Pasat's association with previous government 
administrations and his vocal support of the opposition Democratic 
Moldova bloc during the March 2005 election campaign. On January 17, a 
court sentenced Pasat to 10 years in prison; it was reduced to five 
years on October 16 (see section 1.d.). On December 19, a court 
deferred Pasat's amnesty request to the Supreme Court; the case was 
pending at the year's end.
    There were no developments in the CCECC's on-going investigation 
into allegations of graft and corruption against Our Moldova Alliance 
(AMN) opposition party leader Serafim Urechean and three other members 
of parliament two of them from Urechean's political faction. The AMN 
members had accused the authorities of politically motivated 
harassment. In October 2005 at the request of the Prosecutor General's 
Office, parliament voted to lift their immunity from prosecution to 
allow the authorities bring charges against Urechean and his two 
colleagues.
    In October 2005 authorities released the former secretary of the 
Chisinau City Council, Vladimir Sarban, who was in detention since 2004 
for alleged corruption. Sarban was released following an ECHR ruling 
that the Government's reasons for prolonging his detention were neither 
relevant nor sufficient. At year's end criminal investigations 
continued into the activities of other Chisinau officials who were 
arrested in 2004 as a result of joint efforts by the CCECC and the 
prosecutor general's Office.
    The law provides for free public access to official information; 
however, the Government generally denied access to public information 
and ignored requests from independent media. For example, the 
investigative weekly newspaper Ziarul de Garda did not receive a 
detailed response to its June 2005 request for a copy of a contract the 
President's office signed with a private company. In 2004 the newspaper 
Timpul filed a complaint against parliament for refusing to provide 
transcripts of its sessions; the Supreme Court dismissed the suit. 
Parliament subsequently changed its regulations and now provides 
transcripts of debates on the parliament's Internet Web site and also 
allows transcripts of sessions to be published.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated in the country without government restriction, 
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. In 
Transnistria authorities continued to impede activities of human rights 
groups in the separatist region.
    However, international observers noted that authorities and other 
officials generally were not cooperative or responsive to the views of 
local independent NGOs, and that the vast majority lacked the 
institutional capacity to meaningfully influence civil society or the 
Government.
    The local Helsinki Committee for Human Rights maintained contacts 
with international human rights organizations. Amnesty International 
also maintained an office in Chisinau and was active in the country.
    In January, a new NGO, the Anticorruption Alliance, composed of 
civil society and private sector representatives was established to 
work with the Government to fight corruption. It made recommendations 
to improve the country's new national anticorruption strategy and 
commented on a wide range of draft laws.
    In the run up to the March 2005 parliamentary elections, more than 
200 local NGOs united to form the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair 
Elections to monitor the elections. It effectively pressured the 
Government to comply with international standards, and issued several 
reports on its long-term observation findings.
    The Government cooperated with the OSCE mission in the country on 
efforts to resolve the long-standing Transnistrian conflict. The OSCE 
participated in the Joint Control Commission, which monitors compliance 
with the 1992 cease-fire agreement that the Government negotiated with 
Russian and Transnistrian officials. Transnistrian authorities 
frequently limited OSCE access throughout the breakaway region, which 
includes the three-mile security zone dividing Transnistria from the 
rest of the country. On November 12, however, authorities allowed a 
one-day visit by a delegation of OSCE officials. The visit included an 
inspection of the Russian Colbasna ammunition depot, which is located 
in the northern section of the region. It was the first time since 
March 2004 that OSCE officials gained access to the Colbasna site.
    The law provides for three parliamentary advocates (ombudsmen) and 
an independent center for human rights, the Moldovan Human Rights 
Center (MHRC). Parliament appoints the ombudsmen for five-year terms. 
They have equal rights and responsibilities and are empowered to 
examine claims of human rights violations, advise parliament on human 
rights problems, submit legislation to the constitutional court for 
review, and oversee MHRC operations. In practice, however, the 
ombudsmen dealt mostly with low-level cases. MHRC personnel provided 
training for lawyers and journalists, visited jails, made 
recommendations on legislation, and organized round tables.
    On June 30, the MHRC in its annual report to parliament on 
activities in 2005 stated that it had received 1,422 petitions and 
granted 3,194 interviews, and that 136 cases dealing with violations of 
individual rights were successfully concluded. The report also stated 
that there were 1,141 calls in 2005 to MHRC's hotline, and 704 
petitions from prisoners. During the first six months of the year, the 
MHRC stated that it received 968 petitions.
    The report also described revisions to the law that the MHRC 
drafted and saw through passage by parliament, the difficulties faced 
by the 2,551 prisoners released in 2005, and failures by public 
authorities to provide rights to arrested minors.
    In Transnistria authorities continued to control and intimidate 
NGOs in the region by ``inviting'' NGO representatives to meetings with 
security officials and by pressuring landlords not to renew rental 
leases for office space.
    In March the ``President'' of Transnistria signed a decree ``to 
ensure security'' in the region that prohibited NGOs from receiving 
foreign funding, and empowered authorities to close any organization 
that violated the decree. Following international criticism, Igor 
Smirnov altered the decree to prohibit only funding of NGOs directly 
engaged in political activities. The international community stated the 
decree would severely impair the ability of NGOs to operate in the 
region. While still unduly restrictive, the modified version of the 
decree expanded the NGOs' range of operation.
    The Chisinau-based NGO Promo-Lex reported that unidentified persons 
in Transnistria continued to follow their representatives and tap their 
telephones. In contrast to previous years, Promo-Lex did not report new 
office break-ins.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law provides that all persons are equal before the law 
regardless of race, sex, disability, or social origin; however, 
societal discrimination against women and some ethnic minorities, 
particularly Roma, persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women remained a widespread 
problem, and the law does not specifically address domestic assault.
    In the first eight months of the year, the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs reported that it received 212 domestic violence complaints. Of 
that number eight resulted in serious bodily injury and seven in death. 
In 2005 the MIA said it received more than 3,000 domestic violence 
complaints. Women's groups, however, continued to assert credibly that 
incidents of spousal abuse and rapes were underreported.
    The Government supported education efforts, usually undertaken with 
foreign assistance, to increase public awareness of domestic violence 
and to train public and law enforcement officials to address the 
problem. The city of Chisinau operated a women's shelter for victims of 
domestic violence. Private organizations operated services for abused 
spouses, including a hotline for battered women.
    The law criminalizes rape but does not specifically address spousal 
rape. There were 154 cases of rape reported to the interior ministry in 
the first eight months of the year, but most observers believed that 
many rapes went unreported. There were no specific government 
activities to combat rape.
    Prostitution is not a crime but a violation of civil law punishable 
by a fine or administrative detention of up to 30 days. Prostitution 
was widespread, and observers noted that sex tourism, which was 
particularly prevalent in upscale Chisinau hotels, continued to grow.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a serious problem 
(see section 5, Trafficking.)
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a common 
problem.
    The law provides that women and men enjoy equal rights. In practice 
women, who constituted approximately 50 percent of the workforce, 
received pay equal for equal work; however, women did not hold high-
paying jobs in the same proportion as men.

    Children.--There is extensive legislation designed to protect 
children, and the Government provided supplementary payments for 
families with many children.
    The law mandates the Government to provide free, compulsory, and 
universal education for at least nine years. However, many inadequately 
funded schools, particularly in rural areas, charged parents for school 
supplies. While not illegal, such fees contradicted the Government's 
policies and resulted in some parents keeping their children at home. 
Government and local authorities provided annual assistance of 
approximately $23 (300 lei) to children from vulnerable families for 
school supplies. The Government reported that net primary school 
enrollment was 91 percent. Secondary school enrollment was 
approximately 88.5 percent, with little difference in the rates for 
boys and girls.
    Although the healthcare system devoted a large portion of its 
limited resources to care for children, childcare professionals 
considered the assistance inadequate. Nonetheless, during the year UN 
Children Fund (UNICEF) reported that between 96 and 98 percent of 
children were immunized against tuberculosis, DPT, polio, and measles.
    While the law prohibits child neglect and specific forms of abuse, 
such as forced begging, child abuse was believed to be widespread. 
Although there were no comprehensive or official statistics on the 
problem, the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention NGO registered 
116 cases of abuse during the year. Observers alleged that women 
begging on the streets of Chisinau continued to sedate their infants to 
spend long hours begging.
    Trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation and 
begging remained a problem. (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.c. and 6.d.).
    The situation of children in orphanages and other institutions was 
generally very poor. Low funding caused major problems such as 
inadequate food, ``warehousing'' of children, lack of heat in winter, 
and disease. In 2005, according to the Ministry of Education, there 
were approximately 11,500 institutionalized children. Not all 
institutionalized children were orphans; the number of children 
entrusted to the Government by needy parents or by parents leaving the 
country to look for work reportedly continued to grow. The Government 
estimated that the number of children entrusted to relatives or placed 
in boarding by parents working abroad was approximately 20,000.
    During the year, the interior ministry reported that its records of 
troubled minors included 231 alcoholics, 146 drug addicts, 897 homeless 
minors, and 733 children who stopped attending school. However, 
according to NGOs, the numbers of troubled minors may well exceed the 
Government's official statistics.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons 
and it carries criminal penalties. However, trafficking remained a 
serious problem and the country is a major source for trafficked 
persons, particularly women and girls for sexual exploitation.
    To a lesser extent the country is also a transit point for 
trafficking victims, and there were reports of some internal 
trafficking of girls from rural areas to the capital.
    A significant amount of trafficking continued to occur in the 
breakaway region of Transnistria, which is outside of the Government's 
control. The separatist region remained a significant source and 
transit area for trafficking in persons.
    Women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation, and men 
and children were trafficked to Russia and neighboring countries for 
forced labor and begging. The country was also a transit point for 
victims trafficked from Ukraine. Victims were increasingly trafficked 
to Russia and countries of the Middle East, such as Turkey, Israel, and 
the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to International Organization 
for Migration (IOM), 12 percent of the trafficking victims it assisted 
were minors under 18 years of age. The IOM also noted that the 
percentages of victims trafficked from rural and urban areas closely 
corresponded to residence statistics from the country's 2004 census. 
Most victims had suffered some form of sexual or physical abuse at home 
and were willing to face significant risk to escape abuse.
    The Government's newly-formed Center to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons (CCTIP) stated that information indicated that men were 
trafficked for agricultural and construction work to the Baltic States 
and to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). There also were 
reports that women were trafficked to Lebanon, Greece, Macedonia, 
Serbia (including Kosovo), and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belarus, France, the United 
Kingdom, and Austria.
    Newspaper advertisements promising well-paying jobs abroad also 
lured many victims. The International Labor Organization's (ILO) 
program for the elimination of child labor reported that in many cases 
traffickers of children were Roma.
    Trafficking of orphans reportedly decreased during the year, 
according to the Center for Prevention of Trafficking in Women. The 
center also reported that parents or husbands pressured some young 
women to work abroad.
    Victims were transported by car, van, train, and on foot across 
borders. Sometimes false documents were used, but increasingly victims 
traveled by plane with genuine documents.
    The law provides criminal penalties for trafficking ranging from 
seven years to life imprisonment depending on the circumstances and 
severity of the offense.
    During the first 11 months of the year, authorities opened 333 
trafficking-related investigations. According to CCTIP, during the year 
authorities convicted 62 persons for trafficking, 85 for pimping, 13 
for organizing begging, seven for trafficking in children, four for 
organizing illegal migration, and two for forced labor. Of the 173 
convictions, 67 persons were sent to prison, 36 received a suspended 
sentence, 59 were fined, and 11 were amnestied or acquitted.
    During the first eight months of the year the interior ministry 
reported that it conducted 35 raids to inspect 143 travel and 
employment agencies; it withdrew the licenses of four for suspected 
trafficking.
    In 2005 the Government merged the interior ministry's 
antitrafficking section into a new national entity, the CCTIP, which is 
composed of senior officials from all relevant government ministries 
and includes prosecutors, analysts, and investigators. There is also a 
multiagency task force under the leadership of the prosecutor general's 
office to monitor trafficking law enforcement activities, coordinate 
intelligence, provide witness protection, and provide advice on 
prosecuting complex cases.
    During the year the Government improved cooperation with other 
member countries of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, 
Interpol, and with other trafficking destination countries such as 
Italy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey, resulting in a 
number of convictions.
    On February 8, the Government ratified an agreement with Turkey to 
combat trafficking as part of a broad effort to fight illegal drug 
trafficking, international terrorism, and other organized crime.
    There have been longstanding reports of involvement by some 
government officials in trafficking. On October 18, the Ministry of 
Interior dismissed several senior officials for trafficking, including 
a former CCTIP deputy director, Ion Bejan, who was under investigation 
on charges of protecting a major trafficker. According to the interior 
ministry, other government investigators and prosecutors were also 
involved in the protection scheme and are under investigation. The 
ministry also reported that, in the first 11 months of the year, it 
investigated and eradicated 39 trafficking networks. Turkey was the 
destination country in 14 of the cases; UAE in five; Russia in five; 
the Kosovo region of Serbia in three; and other countries in the 
remaining 12.
    Elsewhere in the country, widespread corruption and lack of 
resources prevented adequate border control and monitoring of 
traffickers, particularly in areas near Transnistria. Observers alleged 
that corrupt low and high-level Moldovan government officials were 
either involved in or routinely ignored trafficking crimes. In 
September trafficking charges levied in November 2004 against a former 
policeman who was deported from the UAE back to the country were 
downgraded to pimping; he was amnestied. The prosecutor and the 
victims' lawyer appealed the court decision.
    On June 20, police arrested Alexander Covali, an alleged leader of 
a trafficking ring. He was charged with trafficking after police found 
confined women on his properties. He was released on bail and arrested 
again on August 4 when an investigation revealed that he had received 
police protection. He remained in jail in year's end awaiting a court 
hearing.
    On December 27, Ion Gusin was convicted of trafficking in persons 
and sentenced to 22 years in jail for his role as pimp and translator 
for a foreign sex tourist.
    On October 20, the finance ministry created a special fund to pay 
for free social services for trafficking victims, including modest 
medical and psychiatric services, new identity documents and residence 
permits, legal counseling, vocational training, and professional 
counseling. The fund is part of a comprehensive trafficking in persons 
law passed by parliament in October 2005.
    The Government had no other programs to assist victims. Several 
NGOs offered repatriation assistance, temporary housing, and medical 
care for victims, as well as job training. The NGO Save the Children 
worked with trafficking victims, particularly repatriated girls. The 
NGO La Strada Moldova provided informational and educational services 
as well as a national toll-free hotline.
    During the first eight months of the year IOM assisted 193 returned 
trafficking victims, the majority of whom had been trafficked to 
Turkey, Russia, and the UAE.
    The Government took some steps to prevent the trafficking of 
persons and to assist victims through its network of national 
antitrafficking committees. Local committees in each region of the 
country and officials from a variety of ministries and local 
governments were required to present reports on their antitrafficking 
efforts. In August 2005 the Government approved a new national action 
plan for combating trafficking in persons, which was developed in 
conjunction with international organizations.
    Local NGOs operated public school programs to educate young women 
about the dangers of prostitution. During the year, the IOM continued 
its information program aimed at providing information to help citizens 
going abroad to avoid exploitation.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities; however the 
Government generally did not enforce these laws and there were reports 
of discrimination. The local NGO Gaudeamus reported continued 
widespread discrimination against students with disabilities.
    There are no laws mandating access to buildings, and there were few 
government resources devoted to training persons with disabilities. The 
Social Assistance Division in the Ministry of Health and Social 
Protection and the National Labor Force Agency are responsible for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ukrainians and Russians are the 
two largest minorities. A Christian Turkic minority, the Gagauz, makes 
up a small percentage of the population living primarily in the Gagauz 
Autonomous Region in the south of the country. Official statistics put 
the number of Roma at 11,600, but Romani NGOs estimated the number to 
be much higher.
    Roma suffered violence, harassment, and discrimination. However, in 
contrast to the previous year, local and international NGOs did not 
report arbitrary arrests or incommunicado detention of Roma (see 
section 1.d.).
    The European Roma Rights Center continued to report that officials 
discriminated against Roma with regard to housing, education, and 
access to public services. The Roma were the poorest of the minority 
groups and continued to live in unsanitary conditions in segregated 
communities lacking basic infrastructure. These conditions often led to 
segregated education and schools with even fewer resources than that 
elsewhere in the country. Many Romani children did not attend school, 
very few received a secondary or higher education, and there was no 
Romani-language education.
    Minority rights and language were closely related problems. 
Romanian is the only official language, but all official documents are 
also translated into Russian, which was used for interethnic 
communication. Russian speakers were not subject to discrimination in 
education or employment, and a citizen has a legal right to choose 
either language to interact with government officials or commercial 
entities. Officials are required to know both Romanian and Russian ``to 
the degree necessary to fulfill their professional obligations.'' The 
law provides parents the right to choose the language of instruction 
for their children, and the Government observed this right in practice.
    Authorities in the separatist Transnistrian region continued to 
discriminate against Romanian speakers, although to a lesser extent 
than in previous years. They continued to refuse to observe the 
country's language law, which requires use of Latin script, and 
required schools in the region to teach Romanian using the Cyrillic 
alphabet. Many teachers, parents, and students objected to the 
requirement, asserting that it disadvantaged persons who wished to 
pursue higher education opportunities in the rest of the country or in 
Romania, where the Latin script is used. Under a temporary arrangement, 
Romanian-language schools were allowed to use the Latin script for 
instruction. However, they complained that the arrangement, which 
applies to all Romanian-language schools, could be rescinded at any 
time by the authorities.
    In July 2005, under an OSCE-negotiated formula, Transnistrian 
authorities allowed Latin-script schools in the region, which were 
registered with the Moldovan Ministry of Education, to register locally 
and to begin the school year in September. In 2004 regional police 
closed Latin-script schools in Ribnitsa, Tiraspol, Dubasari, and 
Corjova, stating that the institutions violated the Transnistrian legal 
requirement for the schools to register locally and to use the Cyrillic 
alphabet for instruction. The schools have since reopened and are 
allowed to teach in Romanian.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of 
governmental and societal discrimination based on sexual orientation.
    According to the NGO GenderDoc-M, lack of community recognition, 
negative media portrayals, and condemnation by the Orthodox Church 
often led to public ostracism of gays, lesbians, and their families. On 
April 28, the Mayor of Chisinau denied the NGO's request to organize an 
event in support of gay rights out of fear that religious groups would 
organize protest actions if the rally went ahead. Chisinau authorities 
had refused a similar request in May 2005 by GenderDoc-M for a 
demonstration to support antidiscrimination legislation for sexual 
minorities.
    GenderDoc-M reported that there were on-going cases of gay children 
being asked to leave home by their parents, and incidents of villages 
shunning a family because of a gay child. The NGO also reported that 
police continued to threaten gays and lesbians with public exposure if 
they did not pay bribes.
    In Transnistria, homosexuality was illegal, and gays and lesbians 
were subject to governmental and societal discrimination.
    Several NGOs reported instances of discrimination against persons 
with HIV/AIDS, particularly in rural villages.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Neither the Penal Code nor the Code 
of Administrative Offences stipulates any specific sanctions for 
violating trade union rights. As a result, prosecutors may reject 
appeals by trade unions against any antiunion behavior by employers and 
governments; violations of the Trade Union Act remain unpunished.
    The law provides workers the right to establish or join unions; 
however, there were reports that the Government continued to pressure 
individual unions to join a confederation that supported government 
policies. Approximately 50 percent of the workforce belonged to a 
union. The law also provides for the right to strike, except for 
workers in essential services, and workers exercised this right by 
conducting legal strikes.
    There were two unions, the Trade Union Confederation of Moldova 
(TUCM) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions Solidaritate 
(Solidarity). The latter advocated government positions and was widely 
believed to enjoy government support. During the year, the Government 
continued to pressure local unions to quit TUCM and join Solidarity. On 
June 30, a representative of the state wine agency interfered during a 
meeting of the trade union of the National Institute of Wine and 
Viticulture to prevent the transfer of the trade union to Solidarity.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for collective bargaining, the right to organize, and the 
right to conduct activities without government interference; however, 
the Government did not always respect these rights in practice (see 
section 6.a.).
    On July 21, parliament passed a new law to create a national 
commission for collective consultations and bargaining that will 
include trade unions, employers, and government representatives.
    The Government, company management, and unions negotiated national 
minimum wages in tripartite talks. Arbitration committees typically 
settled workplace labor disputes. If an arbitration committee failed to 
settle a dispute, parties could take it to the court of appeals.
    Public officials and workers in essential services such as 
emergency healthcare, water and energy supply, telecommunications, air 
traffic control, law enforcement, judges, and military employees do not 
have the right to strike; the law provides for arbitration of disputes 
in these sectors with court mediation as a final option to ensure due 
process.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
reports that such practices occurred, particularly in the countryside 
during the harvest season when some children were compelled to work in 
fields.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for 
Employment.--The law sets standards for child labor, including the 
minimum age for employment, hours of work, and working conditions, and 
prohibits the worst forms of child labor; however, the Government did 
not effectively enforce these protections.
    Child labor was a problem. Because of poor economic conditions, 
parents often sent children to work in fields or to find other work, 
and those children living in rural areas often assisted in the 
agricultural sector. The law provides for 10 to 15 years' imprisonment 
for persons involving children in the worst forms of child labor; under 
aggravated circumstances, the sentence could be life imprisonment.
    The minimum age for unrestricted employment was 18 years. Persons 
between the ages of 16 and 18 were permitted to work under special 
conditions, including shorter workdays, no night shifts, and longer 
vacations.
    In September the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports issued two 
child labor orders without consulting either the Labor Inspection 
Office (LIO) or the ILO. The orders for working in the annual harvest 
did not define hazardous work and did not set limits on weights 
children could carry or types of hazardous equipment. There also were 
no instructions for teachers who accompany children who work in fields.
    In September 2005 the education ministry issued a similar decree 
that in effect ordered educational institutions to participate in the 
annual harvest. The decree, which was in contradiction to labor laws, 
allowed children between 11 and 14 to help with harvesting. The 
ministry decree also provided for forced labor of children ``under the 
condition of a penalty,'' such as poor grades, for not participating in 
the harvest. The ministry later agreed that the decree was wrong.
    Trafficking in children was a serious problem (see section 5.)
    Efforts to enforce child labor laws did not deter violations. The 
LIO is responsible for investigating possible child labor violations. 
However, the office does not have the institutional capacity to fully 
monitor child labor laws. During the year the LIO sanctioned 10 
enterprises for failing to create proper work conditions for minors. 
The ILO, in cooperation with the Government, implemented aspects of its 
international program to eliminate child labor by strengthening local 
antitrafficking committees, establishing community-based youth centers, 
training representatives of employers' organizations and trade unions, 
promoting employment for at-risk youth and parents, and improving care 
for child victims of trafficking.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum monthly wage 
was approximately $25 (320 lei) for public sector employees and 
approximately $53 (700 lei) for private sector employees. Neither wage 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The Labor 
Inspection Office is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage and 
opened several administrative cases against employers who violated it. 
Severe budgetary constraints often prevented government and private 
sector employers from meeting employee payrolls.
    The law sets the maximum workweek at 40 hours with extra 
compensation for overtime, and the law provides for at least one day 
off per week.
    The Government is required to establish and monitor safety 
standards in the workplace, and the LIO is responsible for enforcing 
health and safety standards. In the first 10 months of the year, the 
LIO's 81 territorial inspectors conducted 7,086 workplace inspections 
in approximately 180,000 registered enterprises and noted over 50,000 
health and safety violations. Of the number of workplaces inspected, 
824 received administrative fines. Workers have the right to refuse to 
work if working conditions represent a serious health threat, but there 
were no reports that workers exercised this right in practice. Poor 
economic conditions led enterprises to economize on safety equipment 
and give inadequate attention to worker safety. In the same period, the 
LIO reported there were 295 workplace accidents in which 35 persons 
died.

                               __________

                                 MONACO

    The Principality of Monaco, with a population of some 32,000, is a 
constitutional monarchy in which the sovereign prince plays a leading 
role in governing the country. In April 2005 Albert II succeeded 
Rainier III as the sovereign. The prince appoints the four-member 
government, headed by a minister of state chosen from a list of 
candidates proposed by France. The other members are the counselor for 
the interior (who is usually French), the counselor for public works 
and social affairs, and the counselor for finance and the economy. 
Legislative power is shared between the prince and the popularly 
elected 24-member National Council. The most recent National Council 
election was conducted in 2003 and was considered free and fair. There 
also are three consultative bodies whose members are appointed by the 
prince: the seven-member Crown Council; the 12-member Council of State; 
and the 30-member Economic Council, which includes representatives of 
the Government, employers, and trade unions. The judiciary is 
independent. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of 
dealing with individual instances of abuse. However, citizens did not 
have the right to change their government or denounce the royal family, 
and naturalized women could not transmit citizenship to their children.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and 
there were no reports that officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards. Women were held separately from 
men, and juveniles were held separately from adults. The Government 
permitted visits by human rights monitors; however, there were no such 
visits during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In addition to the 
national police force, the Carabiniers du Prince carry out security 
functions. The prince's chef de cabinet is responsible for 
administration of the police forces. Corruption and impunity were not 
problems. The police forces were generally considered effective.

    Arrest and Detention.--Arrest warrants are required, except when a 
suspect is arrested while committing an offense. The police must bring 
detainees before a judge within 24 hours to be informed of the charges 
against them and of their rights under the law. Most detainees are 
released without bail, but the investigating magistrate may order 
detention on grounds that the suspect might flee or interfere with the 
investigation of the case. The magistrate may extend the initial two-
month detention for additional two-month periods indefinitely. The 
magistrate may permit family members to see detainees, and it is 
customary for magistrates to do so.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice. Under the law, the prince delegates his 
judicial powers to the judiciary.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair, public trial. As 
under French law, a three-judge tribunal considers the evidence 
collected by the investigating magistrate and hears the arguments made 
by the prosecuting and defense attorneys. The defendant enjoys a 
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal. The defendant has the 
right to be present and the right to counsel, at public expense if 
necessary. Defendants have the right to question witnesses against them 
and to present their own witnesses. Defendants and their attorneys have 
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. After 
prisoners receive a definitive sentence, they are transferred to a 
French prison to serve out their terms.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The principality has an 
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters. Administrative 
remedies are available for alleged wrongs, and are regularly used by 
plaintiffs.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights and did not restrict academic freedom. The Penal 
Code, however, prohibits public denunciations of the ruling family, a 
provision that the media respected in practice.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. Several periodicals were published. Although 
there were no domestically published daily newspapers, foreign 
newspapers and magazines circulated freely, including French journals 
that specifically covered news in the principality.
    Radio and television stations broadcasting from the principality 
operated in accordance with French and Italian regulations. Foreign 
radio and television were received without restriction.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet use is widespread, supported by an advanced and robust 
telecommunications infrastructure.
    There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or 
cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
    Outdoor meetings require police authorization, but there were no 
reports that police withheld authorization for political or arbitrary 
reasons. Formal associations must be registered and authorized by the 
Government, and there were no reports that the Government withheld 
registration for political or arbitrary reasons.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Roman 
Catholicism is the state religion.
    No missionaries operated in the principality and proselytizing was 
strongly discouraged; however, there is no law against proselytizing by 
religious organizations that are formally registered by the Ministry of 
State. There were no reports of religious organizations being denied 
registration during the year.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of 
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of any 
religious group. The Jewish community was extremely small, and there 
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion see the 2006 International Religious 
Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. Residents moved 
freely within the country and across its open borders with France. 
Nationals enjoyed the rights of emigration and repatriation; however, 
they can be deprived of their nationality for specified acts, including 
naturalization in a foreign country. Only the prince can grant or 
restore nationality, but he is obliged by the constitution to consult 
the Crown Council on each case before doing so.
    The Penal Code prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
refugee and asylum status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention 
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has adopted the established French system for providing 
protection to refugees in light of its bilateral arrangements with 
France. There were no reported cases of the Government granting refugee 
status or granting political asylum. The Government provided some 
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution, but there were no reports that it 
occurred.
    The Government is committed to cooperate with the Office of the UN 
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    Citizens may voice their opinion democratically, but the sole 
authority to change the Government and to initiate laws rests with the 
prince. The 1962 Constitution cannot be suspended, but it can be 
revised by common agreement between the prince and the elected National 
Council.

    Elections and Political Participation.--As head of state, the 
prince plays an active role in government. He names the minister of 
state (in effect, the Prime Minister) from a list of names proposed by 
the French government. He also names the three counselors of government 
(of whom the one responsible for the interior is usually a French 
national). Together the four constitute the Government. The law 
prohibits public denunciations of the ruling family.
    Only the prince may initiate legislation, but the 24-member 
National Council may propose legislation to the Government. All 
legislation and the adoption of the budget require the Council's 
assent. Elections for National Council members are held every five 
years and are based on universal adult suffrage and secret balloting. 
The 2003 National Council elections were considered free and fair.
    There were five women in the 24-member National Council, two women 
in the seven-member Crown Council, and five women in the 30-member 
Economic Council. The mayor of Monaco was a woman.
    There were no members of minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government information and 
provides access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including the 
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    While the Government imposed no restrictions on the establishment 
or operation of local groups devoted to monitoring human rights, no 
such groups were formed, nor did foreign groups seek to investigate 
human rights conditions in the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution provides that all nationals are equal before the 
law. It differentiates between rights that are accorded to nationals 
(including preference in employment, free education, and assistance to 
the ill or unemployed) and those accorded to all residents (including 
inviolability of the home). The law prohibits discrimination based on 
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, and the 
Government generally enforced it. However, some legal discrimination 
against women remained.

    Women.--Reported instances of violence against women were rare. 
Marital violence is strictly prohibited by law, and victims may bring 
criminal charges against their spouses. Rape, including spousal rape, 
is a criminal offense, and the Government effectively prosecuted those 
accused of such crimes. There were no such prosecutions during the 
year.
    Prostitution is illegal, and overt prostitution was uncommon, 
although it existed to an extent in a well-hidden form.
    Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively 
enforced the law. There were no legal cases of sexual harassment during 
the year.
    Although the country has legislated the equality of men and women 
in the civil code, there is no institution with a mandate to monitor 
gender inequalities. The law governing transmission of citizenship 
provides for equality of treatment between men and women who are 
nationals by birth; however, women who acquire citizenship by 
naturalization cannot transmit it to their children, whereas 
naturalized male citizens can.
    Women were represented fairly well in the professions, but less 
well in business. Women received equal pay for equal work.

    Children.--The Government was committed fully to the protection of 
children's rights and welfare and has well-funded public education and 
health care programs. The Government provided compulsory, free, and 
universal education for children up to the age of 16. Health care for 
both boys and girls is of high quality and readily available to all 
citizens.
    There were isolated incidents, but no societal pattern of abuse of 
children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, or within the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--There was no reported governmental or 
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. The law 
requires that public buildings provide access for persons with 
disabilities, and this goal has been largely accomplished. On March 24, 
the principality inaugurated both a delegate for handicapped persons 
and a bus line specifically for persons with reduced mobility, and in 
December the principality purchased additional commuter train cars for 
the lines servicing Monaco that were equipped for persons with reduced 
mobility. In December the principality purchased additional commuter 
train cars equipped for persons with reduced mobility.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--By law, workers are free to form 
unions, but fewer than five percent of workers were unionized. 
Relatively few workers, unionized or nonunionized, resided in the 
principality. Unions were independent of both the Government and 
political parties.
    Antiunion discrimination is prohibited. Union representatives can 
be fired only with the agreement of a commission that includes two 
members from the employers' association and two from the labor 
movement. Allegations that an employee was fired for union activity may 
be brought before the labor court, which can order redress, such as the 
payment of damages with interest.
    The Monegasque Confederation of Unions was not affiliated with any 
larger labor organization but was free to join international bodies.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for the free exercise of union activity, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. Agreements on working conditions were 
negotiated between organizations representing employers in a given 
sector of the economy and the respective union. Collective bargaining 
is protected by law; however, it is used rarely. There are no export 
processing zones.
    The constitution and law provide for the right to strike; 
government workers, however, may not strike. There were no nation-wide 
strikes during the year.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and 
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and 
there were no reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for 
Employment.--The minimum age for employment is 16 years; those 
employing children under that age can be punished under criminal law. 
Special restrictions apply to the hiring, work times, and other 
conditions of workers 16 to 18 years old. The counselor of government 
for the interior is responsible for enforcing the child labor laws and 
regulations, and they were effectively enforced.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for full-
time work is the French minimum wage, currently approximately $10.71 
per hour (8.27 Euros), plus 5 percent. The 5 percent adjustment was 
intended to compensate for the travel costs of the three-quarters of 
the workforce that commuted daily from France. The minimum wage 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most 
workers received more than the minimum. The legal work week was 39 
hours. The Government allows companies to reduce the work week to 35 
hours if they so choose. Health and safety standards are fixed by law 
and government decree. These standards were enforced by health and 
safety committees in the workplace and by the Government labor 
inspector. Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous 
work situations.

                               __________

                               MONTENEGRO

    The Republic of Montenegro is a parliamentary republic with a 
population of approximately 630,000. Legislative authority is vested in 
the unicameral Assembly. On June 3, following a referendum, the 
Assembly declared the country independent of the State Union of Serbia 
and Montenegro. The republic retained its 2003 constitution and basic 
governmental structure after independence and has a mixed Presidential 
and multi-party parliamentary system of government with both President 
and Assembly elected by popular vote. The Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observed both the May referendum on 
independence and the September 10 Assembly elections and found them to 
be generally in accordance with international standards. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
services, but there were a few instances in which elements of the 
security forces acted independently of government authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, during the year, there were reports of arbitrary 
arrest, police mistreatment of suspects in detention, police impunity, 
lengthy pretrial detention and delayed trials, substandard prison 
conditions, corruption in law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, 
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against women and ethnic 
minorities.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
police occasionally beat suspects during arrests or while suspects were 
detained for questioning.
    According to some of those involved, police beat citizens and 
foreigners whom they detained in the course of a September 9 raid in 
Tuzi. An internal police investigation ended inconclusively. 
Authorities stated that the raid, which took place a day before 
Assembly elections, foiled a terrorist plot and reported they had found 
a large weapons stash and plans to attack government buildings. Some 
opponents of the Government asserted that the raid was politically 
motivated (those apprehended were associated with an Albanian 
nationalist organization).
    The investigation by the minister of interior and supreme state 
prosecutor into police beatings of prisoners in the main penitentiary 
in September 2005 concluded that police did not exceed their authority. 
There was no public reaction to the report's conclusion, although after 
the raid several prisoners were sent to the hospital with severe 
injuries.
    The trial of police inspector Dobrasin Vulic, indicted in 2004 for 
the 2003 beating of Nikola Popovic, ended in Vulic's acquittal.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions met some 
international standards; however, problems remained. Prison facilities 
were antiquated, overcrowded, poorly maintained, and had inadequate 
hygiene, although communicable disease was not prevalent. The main 
prison held about twice as many prisoners as it was designed for, with 
some cells at even higher levels of overcrowding. Authorities were 
constructing an extension to the main prison, including additional cell 
space to reduce overcrowding, and construction was nearly complete by 
year's end.
    The law provides that authorities hold juvenile prisoners 
separately from adults and that pretrial detainees be held separately 
from convicted criminals; however, these provisions were not always 
observed in practice due to overcrowding.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers, 
including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and local 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Both the ICRC and the Helsinki 
Committee of Montenegro made several visits during the year. 
Representatives of the human rights ombudsman's office routinely 
visited prisons, meeting with detainees and inmates without prior 
notice.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The interior ministry 
controls both the national and border police forces. These forces were 
generally effective in maintaining basic law and order. Impunity was a 
problem; the Government investigated police abuses, but criminal 
procedures and sentences against police were rare. During the year 19 
police officers were dismissed for abuse of office and exceeding 
authority.
    Police corruption was a problem; the small, close-knit society 
discouraged the reporting of corruption and facilitated criminals' 
access to law enforcement officers.

    Arrest and Detention.--Arrests require a judicial warrant or 
``strong suspicion that the suspect committed an offense.'' Authorities 
may detain suspects for up to 48 hours before bringing them before a 
judge and charging them. At arraignment the judge makes an initial 
determination of the legality of the detention. In practice arraignment 
generally occurred within the prescribed period of time. The law 
provides for access to an attorney during this initial period, but this 
did not always occur. Detainees generally had prompt access to family 
members. There is a system of bail; however, it was not widely used 
because citizens could rarely raise money for bail.
    Long trial delays, combined with difficulty in meeting conditions 
for bail, occasionally led to lengthy pretrial detention. Pretrial 
detainees made up approximately two-thirds of the prison population, 
and the average period of pretrial detention was five months.

    Amnesty.--On July 27, the Assembly enacted a general amnesty for 
prisoners. The amnesty reduced sentences for most prisoners already 
incarcerated by 25 percent, with a lesser reduction of 10 percent for 
more serious criminal offenses. There was no amnesty for persons 
convicted of trafficking in persons, war crimes, or other crimes 
prosecuted under international law.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, a lack of cooperation between 
police and prosecutors, a backlog of cases, often primitive courtroom 
facilities, and judicial corruption remained problems. The Government 
at times influenced prosecutors for political reasons. There were 
reports that judges issued tainted decisions out of fear of reprisals, 
including the loss of their jobs if they ruled against particular 
parties.
    The court system consists of municipal courts, higher (district) 
courts, an appeals court, an administrative court, and a Supreme Court.

    Trial Procedures.--Criminal trials are public; juries are not used. 
Defendants have the right to be present at their trials and to consult 
with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants have a right to engage 
an attorney; however, an attorney is provided at public expense only 
when the charge carries a possible sentence greater than five years in 
prison. Defendants and their attorneys have the right to access 
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. They enjoy the 
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal. Although the 
Government at times influenced the judiciary, defendants' rights were 
generally respected. Some observers charged that continuing control by 
the executive branch over the finances of the courts provided 
influential members of that branch with a means of exerting 
inappropriate pressure.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law 
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters. Parties have 
brought suit alleging human rights violations. Beginning in 2004 
families of victims brought 36 cases against the Government for the 
1992 deportation of Muslims and Bosniaks to the Republika Srpska in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Republika Srpska security forces subsequently 
killed most of the deportees. The first judgment, resulting in damages 
of $59,125 (45,000 euros) against the Government, was handed down on 
June 29 in favor of the family of Sanin Krdzalja, who was deported and 
killed in the Foca concentration camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 
1992. On September 15, the court dismissed a second case that involved 
the deportation and presumed death of Safet Buljubasic, ruling that the 
statute of limitations barred the case. The plaintiff's attorney 
contended that the court, in relying on a 2004 case from Serbia that 
had been strongly criticized by international human rights 
organizations, was acting solely to protect government interests. A 
third, related, case was decided on September 19; the court directed 
the Government to pay $89,350 (68,000 euros) to the family of Suad 
Karacic, who was deported to the Foca camp in 1992. On November 10, the 
court directed the Government to pay $164,250 (125,000 euros) to the 
wife and children of Izet Tufekcic. On November 13, the court directed 
the Government to pay $118,250 (90,000 euros) to the wife, father, and 
children of Azem Begic. On November 14, the court directed the 
Government to pay $26,275 (20,000 euros) to the wife of Sevko Kubat. On 
December 1, the court directed the Government to pay $211,300 (160,800 
euros) to the wife, daughter, and parents of Mirsad Borovac. The facts 
of the case in the last four instances were similar to those in the 
first three.
    The Government appealed all cases in which damages were awarded and 
did not pay compensation before year's end. The other 29 cases remained 
in litigation.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The 
law requires the National Security Agency (NSA) to obtain court 
authorization for a wiretap. Some observers believed that police 
selectively used wiretapping and surveillance against opposition 
parties and other groups. Many individuals and organizations operated 
on the assumption that they were, or could be, under surveillance.
    Eviction of Roma from illegal settlements, and sometimes from legal 
residences, was a problem (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, there were some 
restrictions of freedom of the press in practice.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal, and the Government did not monitor political meetings 
or otherwise attempt to impede criticism.
    According to the constitution and law, courts are permitted to ban 
any media content calling for violent overthrow of the constitutional 
system or challenging the territorial integrity of the Republic; 
infringing citizens' freedoms and rights; or instigating national, 
racial or religious intolerance or hatred.
    There were a small number of credible allegations of political and 
business pressure on the media. In January the director general of 
formerly state-owned Public Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) 
appointed a new television director to replace the director who had 
been dismissed in 2005 in what some observers regarded as an attempt to 
bring the TVCG editorial board closer in line with government 
positions. International and domestic observers noted that despite a 
tendency for RTCG to devote more attention to the Government, it 
generally acted professionally in covering the highly contentious 
referendum on the country's independence and subsequent parliamentary 
elections.
    The independent media was active and generally expressed a wide 
variety of political and social views without government restriction.
    There were no documented instances of journalists practicing self-
censorship on political grounds or through fear of government 
reprisals; however, observers noted that some journalists were 
susceptible to various political and business influences, due to the 
journalists' lack of expertise and political affiliations. Some NGOs 
warned that the practice of individual officials bringing criminal 
libel charges against journalists could deter them from reporting 
candidly on events. Libel charges which could carry fines of up to 
$18,400 (14,000 euros).
    The print media consisted of private news outlets and one national 
state-owned newspaper, which published a wide variety of articles on 
domestic and foreign topics. The expected privatization of the state-
owned newspaper was still pending at year's end due to government 
inaction.
    There were a wide variety of public and private broadcasting media, 
including public radio and television broadcaster RTCG and 16 private 
television and 39 private radio stations. Domestic radio and television 
stations regularly rebroadcast programs from a number of foreign 
services.
    On December 27, the Higher Court in Podgorica acquitted Damir 
Mandic of charges of participating in the 2004 killing of Dusko 
Jovanovic, the director and editor-in-chief of the leading opposition 
daily, Dan. Although the motive of the killing remained unknown, Dan 
and other media outlets called the killing a major attack on freedom of 
the press and journalistic safety. Opposition politicians protested the 
acquittal. During the year the special prosecutor for organized crime 
brought charges against individuals accused in the August 2005 killing 
of the chief police official investigating the Jovanovic and other 
major unresolved killings. That trial had not begun by the year's end.
    There were no publicized cases of direct government censorship of 
the media. Officials occasionally threatened to bring libel suits 
against media organizations that accused them of wrongdoing and 
government officials filed several new libel suits against media 
organizations. On February 3 and April 17, the basic court in Podgorica 
dismissed a lawsuit by the minister of education against Dan for libel 
and publication of false information. Despite these developments, 
observers noted a modest increase in the willingness of the media to 
criticize the Government during the year.
    On September 15, based on charges brought by the state prosecutor, 
the Podgorica basic court fined a Dan columnist $7,900 (6,000 euros) 
for having ``mocked'' the people who had voted for independence. In 
another case linked to the referendum, the Agency for Radio-Diffusion 
fined private television broadcaster Elmag, citing it for violating 
media laws and minimal program standards prescribed by the agency for 
airing viewers' text (SMS) messages ridiculing ethnic groups in 
programs related to the outcome of the referendum.
    The law mandates regulatory structures to insulate former state-
owned media from direct party or government control; these include a 
Radio and Television Council (RTVCG), which exercises oversight over 
the national public radio and television system. The RTVCG was 
established in 2003, with members selected by a variety of NGOs and 
professional groups; however, some observers noted that many RTVCG 
members had close ties to the Government. Twice during the year the 
ruling coalition in Parliament refused to verify the appointments of 
the NGO representatives on the council. Opposition parties, some NGOs, 
and the rejected candidates called it a violation of the Public 
Services Radio and TV Law, which only says parliament should verify, 
not vote on, the candidates for council membership. Some observers saw 
such moves as the Government's intention to maintain control over 
national public broadcasters.
    Radio and television stations receive broadcast licenses from an 
independent regulatory body. In 2005 the regulatory body allocated 
frequencies for 16 television and 39 radio stations in its first public 
tender. No frequency tenders were held during the year.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice. There was no state religion, although the constitution 
mentions the Orthodox Church, the Islamic community, and the Roman 
Catholic Church as equal and separate from the state.
    Although there was no formal registration requirement for 
religions, religious groups had to register as citizen groups with the 
republic's Ministry of the Interior and Department of Statistics to 
gain status as legal entities, which is necessary for them to conduct 
real estate and other administrative transactions. No problems with 
registration were reported.
    No progress was reported during the year on the restitution of 
previously-seized church property. The Serbian Orthodox Church claimed 
that the Government applied the restitution law in a discriminatory 
manner. In 2005 the church filed a suit with the European Court of 
Human Rights (ECHR), alleging that delays in addressing its claims for 
property taken by the Government after World War II were politically 
motivated. The ECHR had suspended action on the case pending 
Montenegro's renewed membership in the ECHR's parent body, the Council 
of Europe.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Religion and ethnicity were 
closely intertwined, and in many cases it was difficult to identify 
discriminatory acts as primarily religious or primarily ethnic in 
origin. Minority religious communities reported better cooperation with 
government organizations, leading to increased ability to operate 
normally; however, some elements in society continued to discriminate 
against such communities.
    Tensions continued between the canonically unrecognized Montenegrin 
Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
    A small, scattered number of adherents of Judaism lived in the 
country. A 2004 survey by the Government statistics office concluded 
that there was no organized Jewish community; an international Jewish 
NGO reached a similar conclusion
    A 2005 report by the International Helsinki Federation of Human 
Rights stated that anti-Semitic content was published in the (now-
defunct) Istok Review and anti-Semitic books were available in some 
bookshops (although independent observers disputed this.) There were no 
reports of anti-Semitic Internet postings or anti-Semitic speech among 
political parties or other groups.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the country became 
independent of Serbia on June 3, 16,619 persons displaced from Kosovo 
were still listed by the Government as ``internally displaced 
persons.'' The country lists another 6,926 persons originally from 
Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina as ``displaced persons.'' These 
persons may in fact be refugees according to international law and the 
country's new law on asylum, but no formal determination of their 
status was made. Another 24 persons with origins other than Kosovo, 
Croatia, or Bosnia and Herzegovina were registered with the Government.

    Protection of Refugees.--On July 6, the Assembly passed an asylum 
law that provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status to 
persons in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the 
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Government established a 
system for providing protection to refugees that was to take effect on 
January 25, 2007. In practice the Government provided some protection 
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they 
feared persecution. According to established procedures, during the 
year authorities referred refugee cases to the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for adjudication; during the year 
five persons applied to UNHCR for refugee status; all were rejected.
    The Government was also prepared to provide temporary protection to 
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention 
and the 1967 Protocol; however, no persons requested such protection 
during the year.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Conditions for 
refugees varied; those with relatives or property in the country were 
able to find housing and, in some cases, employment.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--A public referendum on 
independence took place on May 21. It was conducted according to rules 
agreed by the Assembly, following negotiations between the competing 
political blocs that were moderated by an envoy from the European 
Union. Turnout was 86.5 percent, with 55.5 percent of voters supporting 
independence and 44.5 percent against. The OSCE stated that the 
referendum was conducted in line with OSCE and other international 
standards related to democratic electoral processes. International and 
local observers noted scattered irregularities, the most significant of 
which were in rural areas where there were a number of reports that 
husbands directed their wives' voting.
    Elections for seats in the Assembly took place on September 10. The 
OSCE stated that the conduct of the campaign and vote were generally in 
line with international standards. However, OSCE observers criticized 
changes to the electoral law passed after the call for elections, and 
reiterated their view that the law giving party leaders the right to 
select half of their party's actual Assembly representation from 
anywhere on the party's voter's list impaired transparency.
    Filip Vujanovic was elected President in 2003 elections that an 
OSCE election observer mission found were conducted generally in 
accordance with international standards.
    The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has held power 
without interruption, in various coalitions, ever since the 
reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1991. The DPS is, however, on 
an equal legal footing with all other parties. All individuals and 
parties could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.
    There were seven women in the 81-seat Assembly and one woman in the 
cabinet.
    There were 14 members of ethnic minorities in the 81-seat Assembly 
and two members of ethnic minorities in the cabinet. Five seats were 
set aside by law for ethnic Albanians. On July 17, the Constitutional 
Court struck down a law that would have added set-aside seats for 
Muslims, Bosniacs, and Croats. Ethnic Albanians, Muslims, Bosniacs, and 
Croats participated in the political process, and their parties, 
candidates, and voters participated in all elections. No Roma ran for 
or held seats in the Assembly and Roma were significantly 
underrepresented in the Government; only one Roma held elective office 
at any level in the country.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
perception of government corruption, particularly in the executive and 
judicial branches. On July 28, the Government adopted an action plan 
against corruption. There were widespread allegations of corruption 
affecting the privatization of industry. Observers noted that a lack of 
transparency prevented citizens from judging the validity of those 
allegations; an August 15 court order to make the contracts privatizing 
the largest state-owned industries publicly available was not fully 
implemented by the end of the year. Conflict of interest legislation 
requiring the disclosure of the salaries and property of state 
officials, including members of the Assembly, was not fully 
implemented, and many officials refused to comply. There was no legal 
penalty for noncompliance.
    The constitution and law provide for public access to information. 
In practice access to public information was mixed. Some ministries 
were reluctant to implement the law fully and publicly criticized 
requests for information, but others were supportive. Authorities 
usually gave reasons for denials and denials could be appealed to the 
courts. While the courts usually supported access to the information, 
their orders to the ministries were often ambiguous and consequently 
ignored. Citizens could inspect secret files kept on them by the former 
State Security Service (SDB), the precursor of the NSA, from 1945 to 
1989; since 2001, 327 requests were made for inspection of SDB files, 
of which 90 were approved. In approximately half of the other cases, 
authorities responded that no file had been created. Nine requests were 
filed with the current NSA in 2006; two were approved and seven 
rejected (in three cases the stated reason for denial was that no such 
file existed; no reason was given in four cases).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    A number of NGOs investigated human rights cases, including the 
Helsinki Committee of Montenegro and the Center for Democracy and Human 
Rights. Observers credited NGOs with helping to reduce police brutality 
and other abuses. The Government generally cooperated with 
international organizations.
    The Government cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal 
for the former Yugoslavia; the tribunal's chief prosecutor stated that 
she was very satisfied with the country's cooperation with the court.
    The ombudsman for human rights does not have authority over the 
work of the courts, except in cases of excessively prolonged 
procedures, obvious abuses of procedure, and failure to execute court 
decisions. The office of the ombudsman operated without government or 
party interference and the Government provided the office with adequate 
resources. The ombudsman was generally considered to be effective. Upon 
finding a violation of human rights or freedoms, the ombudsman may 
initiate disciplinary procedures or dismissal of the violator. Failure 
to comply with the ombudsman's request for access to official data, 
documents, or premises, or with the ombudsman's request to testify at a 
hearing, is punishable by fines of 10 to 20 times the minimum monthly 
wage--$660 to $1,320 (500 to 1,000 euros). No fines were imposed during 
the year, since essentially all of the ombudsman's requests were 
respected. In March the ombudsman's office released its second annual 
report to the Assembly. The greatest number of complaints were about 
delays in the courts, protection of labor rights, and the work of local 
governments; only a few complaints involved police misconduct. In 
general the Government and the courts implemented the ombudsman's 
recommendations.
    An Assembly committee on human rights continued to exist but was 
inactive during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, the Government 
did not effectively enforce these prohibitions in practice. Violence 
and discrimination against women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, 
and discrimination against ethnic minorities were problems.

    Women.--Although violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
is illegal, it was widespread, particularly in rural areas. During the 
year official agencies, including the police, improved their response 
to domestic violence; however, efforts were still inadequate. Domestic 
violence is a crime punishable by a fine or prison sentence of up to 10 
years, depending on the seriousness of the offense or, if death 
results, by a sentence of three to 12 years in prison. Victims of 
domestic violence rarely filed complaints with authorities. According 
to a 2004 survey conducted by the NGO ``SOS,'' only 30 percent of 
victims reported domestic violence incidents to police; however, 
domestic violence-related offenses made up 30 percent of all police 
arrests. The Government prosecuted a small but growing number of 
domestic violence cases; however, NGOs reported that judges often 
refused to impose jail sentences, although prosecutors routinely asked 
that convicted abusers be imprisoned; most convictions resulted in 
probation.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The Government sought to 
enforce the law, but deeply ingrained societal attitudes continued to 
stigmatize rape victims, and judges frequently allowed negative 
aspersions on the victims' character to be entered into court 
proceedings. As a result victims were reluctant to report rape, 
including spousal rape. Punishment for rape, including spousal rape, is 
one to 10 years in prison; however, authorities can only prosecute the 
crime if the victim brings charges. A local NGO estimated that 80 
percent of domestic violence against women involved spousal rape; 
however, there were no reports of indictments of alleged rapists during 
the year.
    Prostitution is a crime, as are soliciting and procuring. The 
Government took active measures to suppress these offenses. 
Prostitution existed but was not widespread. Trafficking in women for 
sexual exploitation was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was a problem. It was tolerated by society at 
large. Although victims were hesitant to report harassment, police were 
usually effective in intervening when requested to do so.
    By law women have equal status with men in property law, family 
law, and the judicial system; however, in practice, women did not enjoy 
equal status with men. Traditional patriarchal ideas of gender, which 
maintained that women should be subservient to male members of their 
families, persisted and resulted in continued discrimination against 
women in the home. In rural areas women could not always exercise their 
right to control property, and husbands commonly directed wives' 
voting. Few women held senior management positions in government or 
commerce. There were some signs of improvement, however; an increasing 
numbers of women served as judges, and there were many women in 
professional fields such as law, science, and medicine.
    Women were legally entitled to equal pay for equal work; however, 
they did not always receive it in practice. The Government's Office for 
Gender Equality was responsible for protecting the legal and economic 
rights of women. The Office issued publications on antidiscrimination 
and worked on the Bill for Gender Equality and the National Action Plan 
for Gender Equality.

    Children.--The Government was committed to the health and 
educational needs of children; however, the Government did not allocate 
adequate resources to achieve this goal.
    Education was free, compulsory, and universal through the eighth 
grade. There was no difference in the treatment and attendance of boys 
and girls at the primary and secondary levels. Although ethnic Albanian 
children had access to instruction in their native language, some 
Albanians criticized the Government for not developing a curriculum in 
which Albanians could learn about their ethnic culture and history. 
Most Roma children received little or no education beyond the primary 
school level, and the Government did not undertake adequate efforts to 
encourage continued school attendance of Roma. Roma children who 
attended school were often segregated from others; instruction was 
usually in Serbian or Albanian.
    Child abuse was an underreported problem that the Government took 
little action to address. The law does not allow a juvenile to make an 
allegation of a crime without a parent or guardian present; 
consequently, there was almost no reporting of child abuse or incest to 
authorities.
    Child marriage was a problem, particularly among Roma. In the Roma 
community, boys and girls generally married at an early age, with girls 
marrying somewhat earlier than boys. The problem was widely ignored by 
the Government.
    Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was problem (see section 6).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, 
through, and within the country, primarily for prostitution, but 
trafficking for labor purposes existed as well. Internal trafficking 
was not a major problem. The republic was primarily a transit point for 
trafficked persons, particularly women and children, and to a lesser 
extent it was a source and destination for trafficking victims. 
Independence from Serbia during the year transformed a significant 
portion of formerly internal trafficking into external, cross-border, 
trafficking. According to the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) and police officials, most victims came from Ukraine and Serbia 
and often continued to West European countries.
    Statistics on the actual number of trafficking victims, as opposed 
to those that came to official attention, were difficult to obtain, as 
traffickers increasingly avoided holding their victims in such public 
locales as bars and nightclubs. Victims were generally women and girls 
with less-than-average education and usually, but not always, poor. The 
IOM estimated that approximately 30 to 50 percent of females in 
prostitution in the country were victims of trafficking: of that 
number, one-half were children aged 16 to 18.
    Traffickers were often citizens who worked at times with foreign 
partners and were affiliated with broader organized crime 
organizations. They usually used fraud (false advertisements for travel 
or employment) to entice their victims and resorted to force and 
coercion to keep victims from escaping. There were no reports of 
involvement in trafficking by officials during the year. The IOM stated 
that it regarded the lack of training for officials as a more serious 
problem than corruption in impeding their efforts to counter 
trafficking. Law enforcement personnel, including those at the borders, 
often lacked training in how to recognize trafficking operations.
    The maximum penalty for trafficking in persons is 10 years in 
prison. During the year authorities arrested and charged one citizen 
with trafficking, and at year's end they were investigating another 
person. There were eight convictions for trafficking during the year.
    On April 20, a court sentenced three citizens found guilty of 
trafficking. They transported four Bangladeshi nationals and 15 other 
persons of unknown nationality from Kosovo through Montenegro to Bosnia 
and Herzegovina. The victims were destined for Western Europe. Rajko S. 
Djukovic was sentenced to three years in prison, Branislav M. Brasnjo 
to two years and eight months and Elvir S. Kalac to two years and six 
months. On December 25, a court sentenced four citizens and one 
individual from Kosovo, to three years in prison each after finding 
them guilty of human trafficking. They attempted to trade their infant 
relative for a used automobile. Convicted were Adnan Salihi, Cazim 
Adzovic, Nailja Salihi, Ljubica Adzovic, and Vjera Adzovic.
    Several cases from previous years were still in the courts.
    A coordinator appointed by the Government chaired an 
antitrafficking working group composed of the ministries of interior, 
health, justice and education, the IOM, and NGOs. The Government also 
coordinated its antitrafficking efforts with other countries in the 
region, particularly through the Southern European Cooperative 
Initiative Center in Bucharest.
    The law provides some protection to trafficking victims, 
distinguishing them from prostitutes, who were subject to fines, and 
illegal migrants, who were subject to deportation. Authorities 
generally observed these distinctions. Authorities established 
procedures for referring trafficking victims to social service agencies 
and repatriating them with IOM assistance.
    International organizations sponsored training on trafficking 
problems for police (including border police), prosecutors, and judges. 
Local NGOs operated one shelter, in Podgorica, with government funding. 
Public awareness campaigns, sponsored by the Government with 
international support, continued throughout the country.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services; however, 
there was societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. 
The law mandates access to new official buildings for persons with 
disabilities, and the Government generally enforced this provision in 
practice; however, facilities for persons with disabilities, including 
at polling stations, were inadequate.
    The Government provided mobile voting for handicapped or ill voters 
who could not come to polling stations.
    The ministries of health, labor and social welfare, and education 
are responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against 
ethnic minorities was a problem. Prejudice against Roma was widespread, 
and local authorities often ignored or tacitly condoned their 
intimidation or mistreatment. According to a local NGO, 70 percent of 
Roma were illiterate, 70 percent did not speak the local language, 95 
percent were officially unemployed, 40 percent had no access to public 
utilities, and 90 percent lived below the poverty level.
    Roma from Kosovo, still formally considered by the Government as 
IDPs, lived primarily in collective centers and scattered settlements 
throughout the country. They often lacked identity documents and access 
to basic human services (see section 2.d.). Eviction from illegal 
settlements and at times from legal residences was a serious problem.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Society generally showed 
antipathy towards homosexuals, leading most homosexuals to conceal 
their identity. Violence against homosexuals was rare and not condoned 
by the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers, except for 
uniformed military and police personnel, to form and join unions of 
their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, 
and workers exercised this right in practice. Approximately 95 percent 
of the workforce in the formal economy was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right of collective bargaining; however, collective bargaining remained 
at a rudimentary level. By law the registered workforce is covered by 
collective bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to 
strike, and workers generally exercised this right by conducting legal 
strikes; however, the law prohibits strikes by military and police 
personnel.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace, including those prohibiting forced or compulsory labor, 
and those establishing acceptable working conditions, and the 
Government generally enforced these laws and regulations effectively.
    The official minimum age for employment is 15 years, although in 
farming communities it was common to find younger children assisting 
their families. Roma children also worked in a variety of unofficial 
retail jobs, typically washing car windows or selling small items such 
as newspapers. However, there were no reports that such practices 
occurred systematically.
    Children were trafficked for child prostitution (see section 5).
    Inspectors from the state labor inspectorate were responsible for 
enforcing the child labor laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of 
approximately $68 (52 euros) per month did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor 
enforced the minimum wage; there were no reports during the year of 
employers failing to pay it.
    The law requires a 30-minute rest period daily, limits hours worked 
to 40 per week except in specified unusual circumstances, and requires 
an unspecified premium for work in excess of 40 hours per week. There 
is no specific prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime. The 
Ministry of Labor effectively enforced the regulations on hours of 
work.
    The Government did not give high priority to the enforcement of 
occupational safety and health regulations. Workers did not have the 
right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health and 
safety without jeopardy to their employment.

                               __________

                            THE NETHERLANDS

    The Netherlands, with a population of approximately 16.3 million, 
is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliamentary legislative 
system consisting of a First Chamber, whose members are indirectly 
elected by the country's 12 provincial councils, and a Second Chamber, 
whose members are directly elected by popular vote. Elections held in 
November were free and fair. A prime minister and a cabinet 
representing the governing political parties (traditionally a coalition 
of at least two major parties) exercise executive authority. The 
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the 
security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights 
problems were reported: societal discrimination and violence against 
some religious and ethnic minorities, violence against women and 
children, and trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation. 
The Government took steps to deal with all these problems.
    Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles are two semi-autonomous
    countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; they also feature 
parliamentary systems and full constitutional protection of human 
rights. In practice respect for human rights in these islands generally 
was the same as in the European Netherlands; however, conditions in the 
islands' prisons remained substandard in some areas.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them. There were incidents 
of right-wing and racist violence against religious and ethnic 
minorities (see sections 2.c. and 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions in the 
country generally met international standards, and the Government 
permitted visits by independent human rights observers.
    The Safety Investigative Council investigated the causes of a fire 
at the Schiphol detention center in October 2005 in which 11 detainees 
died. In September it published a report stating that the Ministry of 
Justice and the Government Building Service failed to ensure compliance 
with fire safety standards. The ministers of justice and housing 
subsequently resigned, taking responsibility for the failures of the 
institutions under their supervision. The council made a number of 
recommendations. Measures were taken during the year to improve fire 
safety at this and other detention centers.
    During the year the Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and 
Aruba continued to improve prison staffing and capacity to address 
concerns by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture. Both governments took steps to alleviate overcrowding. They 
introduced a pilot project on house arrest for selected prison inmates. 
New women's and juvenile sections opened at the correctional institute 
in Aruba, while the detention center in Bonaire was renovated and 
placed under the supervision of the Netherlands Antilles Prison 
Service.
    Despite the improvement, problems remained. On Curacao several 
stabbings and shootings took place among rival gang members in the Bon 
Futuro prison, and several inmates escaped. In St. Maarten illegal 
immigrants held a hunger strike, because authorities did not repatriate 
them in a reasonable amount of time.
    The Governments of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and 
Aruba permitted access by independent human rights observers to 
prisons; however, no such visits occurred during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions in practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Regional police forces 
have primary responsibility for maintaining internal security. The 
royal constabulary and investigative organizations also have 
responsibilities for specified internal and external security matters. 
Police were generally effective, conducting their investigations in a 
professional manner. There were no indications of systematic police 
corruption. Impunity was not a problem; the National Criminal 
Investigation Service, the Rijksrecherche, investigates allegations of 
police abuse. Individuals may also file complaints to police complaint 
boards and the ombudsman.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police officers, acting under the authority 
of the public prosecutor, conduct criminal investigations. A prosecutor 
or senior police officer must order arrests. Police officers may 
question suspects for a maximum of 12 hours and may detain a suspect 
for up to six days by order of the public prosecutor. Authorities must 
promptly inform detainees of the charges against them and must bring 
them before an examining magistrate within four days. The magistrate is 
obliged to review the validity of continued detention every 30 days 
depending on progress in the preliminary investigation. The authorities 
respected these rights in practice. If the prosecutor believes an 
investigation is necessary, he must request a preliminary judicial 
inquiry from the investigative judge, who then assumes responsibility 
over the investigation. Defendants have the right to have their 
attorneys present during any questioning. There is no provision for 
bail.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judicial system is based on the Napoleonic Code. A pyramidal 
system of cantonal, district, and appellate courts handles both 
criminal and civil cases. The Supreme Court acts as the highest 
appellate court and ensures the uniform interpretation of the law.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. The judicial system does not 
provide for jury trials. The law requires that defendants be fully 
informed about the proceedings at every stage. In criminal trials the 
law provides for prompt access to counsel (inexpensively for persons 
with low incomes), the presumption of innocence, and the right to 
appeal. The Government respected these rights in practice.
    Defendants and their attorneys generally had access to government-
held evidence. In terrorism cases newly enacted legislation permits 
prosecutors to introduce classified information that defense attorneys 
cannot fully inspect. Courts may permit such information to be used in 
trials if it is corroborated by public evidence.
    These procedures and rights were the same or similar in Aruba and 
the Netherlands Antilles, where they were generally respected in 
practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Lawsuits for damages related 
to a possible human rights violation may be brought before the regular 
court system or specific appeal boards. There were no problems 
enforcing domestic court orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected this prohibition in practice. Legislation designed 
to improve law enforcement came into force in January 2005. The 
legislation requires every person over the age of 14 to carry valid 
identification and allows police to demand identification at any time 
on the basis of strict criteria; random searches are not permitted. 
Some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the implementation 
of the legislation, saying immigrant youth were disproportionately 
affected, but they did not allege that the disproportionate outcomes 
resulted from profiling or deliberate targeting of immigrant youth.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    The law forbids the broadcasting of programs that incite hate. In 
2004 the parliament raised questions about several foreign television 
and radio stations allegedly broadcasting anti-Semitic and other hate 
speech into the country. The Ministry of Justice investigated a number 
of cases and worked with other European governments to ensure 
compliance with national and European Union (EU) rules forbidding such 
broadcasts. For example, in January authorities cited licensing 
deficiencies in order to terminate broadcasts by Lebanon-based, 
Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar radio. Most such programs remain 
available via internet.
    Debate about radical Islam increased and intensified. Prominent 
figures, such as parliamentarians Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, 
immigration minister Rita Verdonk, Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen, and 
others, were put under constant police protection, some after making 
controversial statements. According to the International Helsinki 
Committee, threats from radical Islamists and others also contributed 
to a climate of fear in which many public figures censored themselves. 
Government leaders spoke out strongly against all such threats.
    In October the NGO Reporters Without Borders described the country 
as one in which there had been no recorded censorship, threats, 
intimidation, or physical reprisals targeting journalists.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. In November parliament enacted 
legislation banning organizations designated as terrorist by the UN and 
EU; the ban was scheduled to become effective February 1, 2007. The law 
also provides for action against foreign organizations that do not 
appear on the UN or EU lists but are conducting activities in the 
country deemed contrary to public order.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. There 
were no reports that the Government attempted to limit the freedom or 
exercise of religion during the year.
    The authorities continued to wrestle with the integration of the 
country's growing Muslim population. The Equal Opportunities Commission 
(CGB), a body established by law, but whose rulings are independent of 
government policy, and the courts, repeatedly addressed the wearing of 
headscarves in schools and places of employment. Both the CGB, whose 
opinions are not legally binding, and the courts have held that 
restrictions should be limited and based on security considerations or 
other narrow grounds. In practice headscarves are permitted almost 
everywhere, including in schools.
    Some limited restrictions on religious dress appeared to be 
permissible. In 2003 the CGB held that a ban on burqas (a loose robe 
worn by some Muslim women that covers the body from head to toe) by an 
Amsterdam school was not discriminatory. The CGB stated that open 
teacher-to-student and student-to-student interaction was more 
important than the right to wear a burqa. While burqas were not 
officially banned in schools, they were discouraged.
    In November the Government proposed a policy that would ban the 
wearing of face (as opposed to head) coverings, including head-to-toe 
burqas, in public. However, authorities took no action during the year. 
Some observers considered the move, which came days before national 
elections, as a political ploy with little chance of becoming law.
    The CGB and unofficial bodies reviewing complaints of religious and 
other discrimination publicly rebuked employers for failing to allow 
non-Christians to take leave from work on their religious holidays, for 
objecting to Sikhs wearing turbans and Muslim women wearing 
headscarves, and for objecting to observance of religious dietary 
requirements. For example, in 2004 the CGB ruled against a company that 
had denied employment to a Turkish applicant because he intended to 
attend Friday services at a mosque. The CGB said that employers are 
generally obliged to take account of their employees' reasonable 
religious demands and held that the company had violated the 
complainant's right to freedom of religion. Legislation enacted in 2003 
permits employees to refuse to work on Sunday for religious reasons, 
with certain exceptions.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The number of Muslims in the 
country has increased significantly in the past two decades. At the 
beginning of the year, the population included approximately 950,000 
Muslims, 5.8 percent of the total. They lived primarily in the larger 
cities. The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 by an Islamic 
extremist, and subsequent reactions to it, brought tensions between the 
Muslim and non-Muslim communities to the surface. These tensions 
continued to color intercommunal relations during the year. Minor 
incidents, including intimidation, brawls, vandalism, and graffiti with 
abusive texts, were frequent. Many in the Muslim community expressed an 
increased sense of alienation from Dutch society.
    In a February poll, a majority of ``native Dutch'' found Islam an 
intolerant (52 percent), violent (40 percent), women-unfriendly (70 
percent), and humorless (54 percent) religion, and 54 percent said 
Islam and democracy were incompatible.
    Half of those interviewed in a June poll conducted by the 
Motivaction Research Institute held very negative views of Islam, and 
63 percent regarded Islam as incompatible with Western society. Dutch 
Muslims often felt compelled to defend themselves against criticism of 
their poor integration into society, the high level of criminal 
activity among Muslim youth, and the views of conservative Muslims on 
women's rights, homosexuality, and corporal punishment.
    Anecdotal evidence suggested that Muslims experienced 
discrimination in the job market both in the private and public 
sectors, were more likely to be refused housing, and were more 
frequently banned from entering nightclubs and similar establishments, 
than non-Muslims.
    The Government pursued a comprehensive outreach campaign to counter 
anti-Muslim sentiments, stressing that the majority of Muslims fit 
comfortably into Dutch society. At the same time, the Government took 
firm action against groups espousing violence in support of an Islamic 
extremist agenda. These efforts raised public awareness and triggered 
debate, but concerns remained about the effectiveness of the 
Government's policies. The Government pursued a hiring policy of 
affirmative action towards minorities and women.
    Anti-Semitism continued to be a problem. According to the 
Government, the country had a population of approximately 45,000 Jews. 
Certain groups opposed to Israeli policies frequently used implicitly 
anti-Semitic language and images to express political views. Explicitly 
anti-Semitic sentiments also prevailed among certain segments of the 
Muslim community and among fringe nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. In 
June 2005 the Anti-Defamation League reported that one in five citizens 
held negative and prejudicial stereotypes about Jews.
    Observers generally agreed that the level of anti-Semitic incidents 
among the country's North African population depended to a considerable 
extent on events in the Middle East. While the Center for Information 
and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) registered 159 anti-Semitic 
incidents in 2005, a decline compared to 327 in 2004, the number of 
incidents increased in the first four months of the year, following the 
electoral victory of Hamas. There was also a sharp increase in 
incidents during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the 
terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon, during which period CIDI 
registered 105 incidents, including threatening phone calls, e-mails, 
spraying of slogans such as ``Juden Raus'' (Jews Out) and vandalizing a 
synagogue in Zutphen and the national Auschwitz monument. In many cases 
the conflict between Israel and its neighbors appeared to be an excuse 
for anti-Semites to offend Jews.
    The National Expertise Center on Discrimination (LECD) also reports 
statistics, based on the number of allegations of discrimination 
received and processed by the public prosecutor's office. In 2005, 65 
of 280 registered discrimination cases concerned anti-Semitism, 
compared to 58 of 214 cases in 2004 and 50 of 204 cases in 2003. There 
were 14 convictions related to anti-Semitism in 2005.
    Two distinct groups were responsible for most anti-Semitic 
incidents: North Africans, who acted out of sympathy with Palestinians, 
and supporters of right-wing extremist ideologies. While the percentage 
of incidents attributable to North Africans declined, the absolute 
number of incidents attributable to that group rose.
    Anti-Semitism among right-wing extremists appeared to increase. The 
independent Registration Center for Discrimination on the Internet has 
described several hundred right-wing Web sites as extremist, including 
those of Stormfront.org, Polinico, National Alliance, and Holland 
Hardcore. These sites target not just Jews but also Muslims, blacks, 
and homosexuals. Extreme right-wing anti-Semites express themselves 
primarily by vandalizing Jewish buildings and monuments. CIDI expressed 
concern about the sharply increased vandalism of monuments and 
desecration of cemeteries, in particular by right-wing extremists. For 
example, in late October 15 of 20 gravestones were vandalized in a 
Jewish cemetery in Beek. Dozens of such incidents were reported during 
the year.
    CIDI, which has frequently criticized what it regarded as 
inadequate prosecution of anti-Semitic events by the public 
prosecutor's office, reported considerable improvement during the year; 
however, CIDI called for more government action against anti-Semitic 
Internet sites; it described the Internet as one of the main sources 
for dissemination of anti-Semitic and racist ideologies. On March 1, 
the Government opened the new cybercrime Web site through which 
citizens can report radical statements and hate e-mail. The National 
Cybercrime Reporting Center is located with the National Police Force 
Services (KLPD).
    The criminal law forbids the broadcasting of programs that incite 
hate. Parliament in 2004 raised questions about several foreign 
television and radio stations allegedly broadcasting anti-Semitic and 
other hate speech into the country. The Ministry of Justice 
investigated a number of cases and worked with other European 
governments to ensure compliance with national and EU rules forbidding 
such broadcasts. In January authorities cited licensing deficiencies to 
end broadcasts by Lebanon-based, Hizballah-affiliated al-Manar radio. 
Most such programs remained available via Internet.
    Government and NGOs cooperated to combat discrimination and promote 
dialogue and mutual understanding. Educational efforts and projects to 
promote dialogue in Amsterdam and other large cities may have played a 
role in reducing the number of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by 
individuals of North African descent.
    It is a crime to engage in public speech that incites religious, 
racial, or ethnic hatred, and the Government prosecuted several cases 
during the year. For example, on May 3, a district court convicted and 
sentenced to 200 hours of community services a man who placed remarks 
insulting Jews, disabled persons, homosexuals, Muslims, and other 
minorities on a right-wing Web site. On May 24, the producers of the 
Housewitz film clip, a spoof on Auschwitz, which the court called 
``sickening,'' were convicted of incitement to hatred. On January 25, a 
man was convicted of incitement to hatred for producing material, 
placed on the Internet, that insulted homosexuals and Jews.
    The Government repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism and had a 
comprehensive action plan to combat discrimination. The Ministry of 
Education reminded schools about longstanding guidelines prescribing 
the teaching of different religions and ideologies in conjunction with 
combating discrimination and intolerance. The Ministry of Welfare 
subsidized a special program to teach children about the Second World 
War and the persecution of Jews. The Government sought to promote 
dialogue and supported initiatives that aimed to create a better 
understanding between Jews and Muslims. Nonetheless, CIDI suggested 
that the Government should spend more time and money creating a safe 
environment at schools and teaching respect for the different cultural 
and social backgrounds of students.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The 
Government cooperated with representatives of the UN High Commissioner 
for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting 
refugees and asylum seekers.
    Authorities denied asylum to persons who came from a so-called safe 
country of origin or who stay for some time in a safe country of 
transit. EU guidelines were used to define such countries. The 
authorities provided economic assistance to those whom it denied asylum 
and who chose to return home voluntarily.
    However, NGOs and the UNHCR alleged that the Government returned 
asylum seekers to countries where the security situation was 
insufficiently stable to guarantee their safety, such as Iraq, Iran, 
Somalia, and Afghanistan. These challenges drew intense political 
scrutiny and gave rise to parliamentary hearings whose consequences 
included the delay or reversal of government proposals to return asylum 
seekers from central and southern Iraq, as well as homosexuals and 
Christian converts from Iran.
    NGOs, refugee organizations, and opposition parties criticized the 
Government for failing to expeditiously adjudicate asylum requests 
involving over 32,000 persons. In some cases the applications were 10 
years old, and the total included approximately 6,000 children born 
while the applicants were in the country. Critics pressed for a general 
amnesty for these 32,000. In September the Government announced that it 
had completed its review of all these cases and had granted residence 
permits to about half of the applicants. The others, whose applications 
were denied, were ordered to leave the country. Several thousand 
individuals chose to return to their countries of origin and accepted 
government financial assistance for resettlement. Another few thousand 
were repatriated involuntarily. This led to an intense political 
debate, and in December the parliament agreed on a moratorium on 
repatriation of anyone else in this group in anticipation of a policy 
revision by the new government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage. These constitutional rights also apply to the Netherlands 
Antilles and Aruba, where they were also exercised in practice.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections, 
held on November 22, were free and fair. At year's end a coalition 
government had not yet been formed, and a caretaker government remained 
in power.
    Following the November elections, 55 women held seats in the 150-
seat Second Chamber of parliament; five women remained in the 16-member 
caretaker cabinet. Women also held positions in the parliaments and 
cabinets of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
    A court order prohibited the Government from subsidizing the 
orthodox Protestant Political Reformed Party (SGP), which does not 
grant equal rights to women on theological grounds. The SGP responded 
by permitting women to become party members. However, the SGP continued 
to deny women the right to run for office, a policy it defended as 
Biblically based.
    There were approximately 15 members of ethnic minorities--Turkish, 
Moroccan, Surinamese--in the 150-seat Second Chamber of parliament, 
although there were no ethnic minority political parties or movements 
specifically represented in parliament. There were no members of ethnic 
minorities in the 16-member cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of corruption within the Government. During the year there were 
press reports of low-level law enforcement corruption at Schiphol 
airport, but the problem was not believed to be widespread or 
systematic. However, in July courts sentenced eight Schiphol employees, 
including two former military police officers, of setting up a drug 
trafficking ring. They received sentences of between 12 and 44 months. 
In August 2005 the Ministry of Justice's Scientific Investigation and 
Documentation Center (WODC) reported that every year there were 
approximately 130 internal investigations of corruption within the 
public administration. Authorities transferred approximately 50 of 
these investigations to police or the public prosecutor's office, 
leading to approximately five convictions a year.
    The law provides for public access to government information, and 
authorities generally respected that right for both citizens and 
noncitizens. Disputes occasionally arose in court over the scope of the 
Government's right to decline to make information public based on the 
public interest. For example, there were disputes as to whether certain 
classified internal memos should be released.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Several domestic and international human rights groups generally 
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing 
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The Government has a long tradition of hosting international legal 
tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the 
headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, 
disability, language, political preference, sexual orientation, and 
social status, and the Government generally enforced these 
prohibitions. However, violence against women and children, trafficking 
in persons, and discrimination against ethnic minorities were problems.

    Women.--Domestic violence was the most prevalent form of violence 
in society. According to a fact sheet issued in June by the Ministry of 
Justice, more than 40 percent of the population has experienced 
domestic violence at some point in their lives. Of these, 10 percent 
reportedly experienced some form of physical, sexual, or mental abuse 
on at least a weekly basis. According to police records, some 80 
percent of victims were women. Police estimated that approximately 12 
percent of these cases were reported to police.
    Spousal abuse carries a penalty one-third greater than ordinary 
battery. Police records show that in 2005 approximately 3 percent of 
the cases reported to police resulted in arrests.
    The TransAct organization, supported by the Government, is the 
national office for providing support to victims of domestic violence 
and those investigating and prosecuting such crimes. TransAct organized 
meetings of the national network on domestic violence, set up 
databases, and gathered examples of best practices. The Government 
subsidized shelters for battered women.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the 
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. 
Approximately 15,000 rapes and sexual assaults were committed each 
year. The penalty for rape is imprisonment not exceeding 15 years or a 
fine. The maximum sentence for marital rape is eight years' 
imprisonment. Rape victims may be given protection in government-
subsidized shelters for battered women. Police officially registered 
1,774 rape cases in 2004, the latest year for which figures were 
available.
    According to a September report by the Ministry of Integration, 
there were 279 cases of honor-related violence in The Hague and 
surroundings. Police in The Hague region established a special computer 
registration system to track and identify honor-related violence. In 
May Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk, in response to parliamentary 
inquires about honor-related violence, announced a five-year, $17 
million (13 million Euro) program to combat honor-related violence.
    The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM). The Government's 
National Public Health Council estimates that at least 50 girls a year 
undergo FGM, but the government-affiliated FGM Committee, established 
by the health ministry, claims that the number is much higher. The 
maximum penalty for FGM is six to nine years' imprisonment. Beginning 
in February parents having their daughters genitally mutilated in 
foreign countries may also be punished under domestic law.
    Prostitution is legal for persons who are at least 18 years of age 
and engage in the work voluntarily; however, the law penalizes 
organized prostitution that involves force, violence, misuse of power, 
and deception. The Government reported that strict controls and 
licensing requirements were employed as a means of combating 
trafficking. The controls included regulations prohibiting the 
employment of minors and illegal immigrants. The regulations also set 
strict standards for workplace conditions and require the provision of 
health care for prostitutes. There were approximately 25,000 
prostitutes; roughly two-thirds were from non-EU countries.
    The trafficking of women for sexual exploitation was a problem that 
the Government took steps to address (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law requires employers to take measures to protect workers from 
sexual harassment; however, a 2003 study showed that 5.3 percent of 
female workers were sexually intimidated in the workplace. The 
Government funded an ongoing public awareness campaign and has taken 
measures to counter harassment among civil servants.
    Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
    Although roughly 59 percent of women worked, nearly two-thirds did 
so part time. Traditional cultural factors and an inadequate number of 
daycare facilities discouraged many women from working full time. The 
Government was taking measures to make daycare more accessible. Female 
and male unemployment rates were 6.5 and 4.4 percent respectively. The 
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment reported that women 
experienced a higher rate of unemployment, had less chance of 
promotion, and held lower level positions than men, primarily because 
they more often worked part time. According to the ministry, women 
working in the private sector on average earned 23 percent less than 
men, although, when adjusted for level of experience and expertise 
required for the jobs, this differential fell to 7 percent.
    The Government provided affirmative action programs for women, and 
collective labor agreements usually included provisions to strengthen 
the position of women. An official Equal Treatment Commission 
investigated complaints of discrimination against women.

    Children.--The Government worked to ensure the welfare of children 
through numerous well-funded health, education, and public information 
programs.
    Education was free and compulsory for children between the ages of 
four and 16, although schools could ask for a voluntary contribution 
from parents. Vocational education was also free, except for the cost 
of books and materials. According to an April education ministry fact 
sheet, in October 2004 approximately 3 percent of students, 64 percent 
of them immigrant children, left secondary school before attaining a 
certificate. Government-licensed Islamic schools were obliged to follow 
the same curriculum requirements as other schools. The Government 
subsidizes health care, and boys and girls have equal access.
    Child abuse was a problem. In a February 2005 report, the special 
child abuse commissioner for youth policy concluded that as many as 
100,000 children were victims of abuse. Experts estimate that 
approximately 50 to 80 children died each year from some form of abuse. 
More than 38,000 formal reports of child abuse were registered with the 
authorities in 2005, 12 percent more than in 2004. This high volume of 
reports led in turn to long waiting lists for assistance, but the 
Government reduced these waiting lists by increasing funding to the 
Council for the Protection of Children.
    In some cases girls were subjected to FGM (see section 5, Women).
    The law provides for the prosecution of sexual abusers of children 
between the ages of 12 and 16 and does not require that affected 
parties file a complaint. Under the law national courts may try 
citizens and noncitizen permanent residents who abuse minor children 
abroad, even if the offense is not a crime in the country where it 
occurred. In July Schiphol airport police increased controls designed 
to crack down on travelers guilty of sex tourism or possession of child 
pornography. In June they arrested three persons suspected of sexual 
abuse of minors abroad. In May the Dutch Association of Tour Operators 
suspended a Dutch travel agency for having organized sex trips to 
Thailand.
    The maximum penalty for the distribution of child pornography is 
six years' imprisonment, and the Government continued its campaign 
against child pornography on the Internet. The government-subsidized 
Child Pornography Reporting Center received 8,185 reports of cases of 
Internet child porn in 2005, up from 6,322 reports in 2004. In 2005 
more than 88 child pornography cases were prosecuted, compared to 60 in 
2004.
    Trafficking of girls for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking in persons was a problem.
    The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked 
persons. NGOs and the police estimated that the number of women and 
girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation ranged from 
1,000 to 3,600. The Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV), an 
independent NGO that helped victims of trafficking, registered 424 
victims in 2005, up from 405 in 2004. The top five countries of origin 
were the Netherlands (98), Bulgaria (52), Nigeria (28), Romania (23), 
and the Czech Republic (18). Of the 424 victims registered in 2005, two 
were male and 24 were under the age of 18. In the first four months of 
the year, the STV registered 122 victims, of whom 15 were male. A 
significant percentage of the 25,000 individuals engaged in 
prostitution in the country were reportedly trafficking victims.
    Trafficking within the country was also a problem. Almost all of 
the 98 domestic victims registered in 2005 were victims of so-called 
``lover boys,'' primarily young Moroccan or Turkish men and boys who 
seduce young, mostly immigrant, girls into prostitution. In January 
2005 the Government set up the National Expertise Center for Youth 
Prostitution to collect statistics, background information, and develop 
best practices in fighting youth prostitution and ``lover boys.'' 
Various organizations and local governments initiated specific 
assistance and prevention programs for potential victims of ``lover 
boys.''
    Most traffickers used threats of violence to the victim, or to the 
victim's family, to control their victims. Underage girls and young 
women of Moroccan and Turkish descent (mostly ``lover-boy'' victims), 
underage asylum seekers, women with a dependent residence status 
(pseudomarriage), and women recruited in Africa, were most vulnerable 
to becoming victims of trafficking.
    The Government and NGOs believed that trafficking for labor 
occurred but had not compiled statistics on this phenomenon by year's 
end. During the year the National Expertise Center on People 
Trafficking/Smuggling (EMM) investigated a test case to prosecute 
trafficking for labor exploitation--authorities arrested 18 persons in 
May, nine of whom were suspected traffickers and nine illegal aliens. 
At year's end the investigation continued.
    The maximum sentence for trafficking in persons is normally six 
years. Sentences may be increased in certain cases. For example, the 
maximum term is 10 years when the victim is under age 16, 12 years when 
the person being trafficked is seriously injured, and 15 years when 
trafficking results in the victim's death. The legal definition of 
trafficking in persons includes labor trafficking.
    In 2004 the public prosecutor's office prosecuted 253 traffickers, 
up from 174 in 2003, and the courts convicted 136 traffickers compared 
to 108 in 2003. A national outreach campaign against sexual 
exploitation, which the Government launched in January, proved 
successful. In the six months following the launch of the campaign, an 
anonymous crime-reporting hot line received 78 credible reports of 
forced prostitution compared to 42 such tips during all of 2005. 
Authorities were following up 25 of the tips. In September a prosecutor 
demanded six years' imprisonment for a ``lover boy'' suspected of 
having lured four young women into prostitution.
    During the year, in Alkmaar, a court convicted the owner of an 
escort service arrested in July 2004 of exploiting minors. The district 
court in The Hague sentenced six persons arrested in July 2004 for sex 
trafficking to imprisonment for terms ranging from one to six years.
    The Government, in particular the ministries of justice, internal 
affairs, foreign affairs, welfare and health, and social affairs, 
actively combated trafficking in persons. Local police forces 
established special units to deal with trafficking, and the EMM brought 
together experts from the national police criminal investigation 
service, military border police, regional police forces, the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Social Information and 
Investigation Service. The national prosecutor for trafficking in 
persons supervises investigations conducted by the EMM, which also 
provides specialized training to police in the identification and 
protection of trafficking victims. The National Rapporteur on 
Trafficking in Persons, an independent, publicly funded agency, reports 
annually to the Government on the nature, extent, and mechanisms of 
trafficking as well as on the effects of national policies. Authorities 
participated in international investigations and cooperated closely 
with other governments on trafficking. The Justice Ministry launched a 
study of the prostitution sector, which included an analysis of the 
extent of trafficking.
    Under the law illegal residents who may have been victims of 
trafficking may not be deported before investigations are completed. 
Victims may take three months to consider pressing charges, and 
authorities allowed victims who did so to stay in the country and to 
work until the judicial process was completed. Between 2003 and 2005, 
the Government received 430 requests from alleged trafficking victims 
for this so-called B-9 temporary residence status. It granted 334 
requests, rejected 74, and 22 were pending. In August the Government 
announced new rules making it easier for trafficking victims to obtain 
legal permanent residency on humanitarian grounds.
    The Government subsidized NGOs working with trafficking victims. 
For example, the STV offered social support, legal advice, medical aid, 
shelters, and counseling to victims.
    The Justice Ministry cofinanced the La Strada program, aimed at 
preventing trafficking in women in Central and East European countries. 
Other prevention initiatives included distribution by the travel agents 
of warnings about trafficking and sex with minors while abroad and 
public awareness campaigns aimed at tourists and travel agencies meant 
to deter sexual exploitation of children.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with 
disabilities was unlawful, but there were some reports that it 
occurred. The penal code provided penalties for discrimination in 
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of 
state services. The government-affiliated CGB received several dozen 
complaints, mostly labor related, of such discrimination. The law 
requires access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, but 
public buildings and public transport often were not easily accessible 
in practice.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Approximately 3 million persons 
(20 percent of the population) were of foreign origin, including 1.7 
million who belonged to ethnic minority groups, principally Turkish, 
Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean.
    Incidents of physical assault against minorities were rare, but 
members of minority groups experienced verbal abuse and intimidation 
and were at times denied access to such public venues as discotheques. 
The Muslim community, including 365,000 persons of Turkish descent and 
315,000 of Moroccan descent, faced increased discrimination (see 
section 2.c.).
    Members of immigrant groups also faced discrimination in housing 
and employment. The minority unemployment rate remained roughly three 
times that of the ethnic Dutch workforce.
    With the proliferation of Internet Web sites, the dissemination of 
racial and discriminatory material remained widespread. The NGO 
Discrimination on the Internet Registration Center registered 
approximately 1,300 incidents in 2005. The increase in expressions of 
hostility toward Muslims was particularly notable. Groups subject to 
hostility on a national basis included Moroccans, blacks, Jews, and 
homosexuals.
    The Government pursued an active campaign to increase public 
awareness of racism and discrimination. Depending on the circumstances, 
persons could file complaints of racism or discrimination with the 
civil and criminal courts, the CGB, the national ombudsman, the 
Commercial Code Council, as well as the Council for Journalism, the 
European Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights.
    The majority of cases filed in criminal courts concerned racial 
defamation. Civil lawsuits often alleged discrimination against persons 
who were not ethnically Dutch in the supply of such services as mobile 
phones or access to clubs. The CGB primarily addressed incidents of 
discrimination in the labor market, including discrimination in the 
workplace, unequal pay, termination of labor contracts, and 
preferential treatment of ethnically Dutch employees.
    The prosecutor's office has established a National Expertise Center 
on Discrimination, which maintained a database of discrimination 
complaints, and provided training for prosecutors handling cases of 
discrimination. In 2003, the most recent year for which data was 
available, the government-sponsored National Association of 
Antidiscrimination Bureaus registered approximately 3,600 complaints of 
discrimination, two-thirds of them citing race as the basis.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced 
increasing harassment in larger cities, primarily from some groups of 
Muslim youth. Harassment consisted largely of verbal epithets and 
abuse.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Workers are entitled to form or join 
unions of their own choosing without prior government authorization, 
and workers exercised this right in practice. Approximately 25 percent 
of the work force engaged in legal employment was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right to organize, and specific laws provide for the right to 
collective bargaining; workers exercised these rights in practice. 
Approximately 86 percent of workers were covered by collective 
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, and 
workers exercised this right by conducting legal strikes; some civil 
servants did not have the right to strike, but they had other 
institutionalized means of protection and redress. None of these 
protections extended to the significant number of workers who were 
employed in the underground economy.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government enforced laws and policies to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace; however, violations occurred.
    The minimum age for employment is 16 years. Those in school at the 
age of 16 may not work more than eight hours per week. The law 
prohibits persons under the age of 18 from working overtime, at night, 
or in activities dangerous to their physical or mental well-being. A 
tripartite labor commission composed of representatives of government, 
enterprises, and unions monitored hiring practices and conducted 
inspections. The commission enforced the laws effectively.
    Holiday work and after-school employment are subject to very strict 
rules set by law. The Ministry of Labor's inspection office, which is 
charged with enforcement, found during the year that 75 percent of 
companies employing holiday workers and children under 18 complied with 
the regulations.
    Trafficking of children occurred (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for adults of 
approximately $1,682 (1,284.60 euros) per month provided a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Except in the underground 
economy, the Labor Inspectorate effectively enforced the minimum wage.
    The law sets a 40-hour workweek. The average workweek was 30.6 
hours (38.7 hours for full-time and 20 hours for part-time workers). 
Anyone working more than 4.5 hours per day was entitled to a 30-minute 
rest period. Overtime is regulated. There are no exceptions for legal 
foreign workers. The Labor Inspectorate effectively enforced the labor 
laws. The tripartite labor commission actively monitored and 
effectively enforced working conditions, including comprehensive 
occupational safety and health standards set by law. The Ministry of 
Labor and Social Affairs also monitored standards. Workers could remove 
themselves from dangerous working conditions without jeopardizing their 
continued employment, and workers exercised this right in practice.

                               __________

                                 NORWAY

    Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy; 
King Harald V is head of state. With a population of approximately 4.6 
million, the country is governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and 
the 169-seat Storting (parliament) that is elected every four years and 
cannot be dissolved. Free and fair elections to the multiparty 
parliament were held in September 2005. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens, and 
the law and the independent judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing isolated instances of abuse. During the year there were 
incidents of anti-Semitism and the Government made efforts to combat 
violence against women and trafficking of women.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers; however, no such visits 
took place during the year.
    Juveniles aged 15 to 18 were held separately from the general 
prison population. Social welfare authorities generally cared for those 
under the age of 15.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police 
have primary responsibility for internal security; however, the police 
may call on the armed forces for assistance in times of crisis, such as 
internal disorder or natural catastrophe. In such circumstances, the 
armed forces are under police authority. The Ministry of Justice and 
Police oversees the police forces.
    The police force was generally effective, and corruption was not 
generally a problem. Adequate measures were in place to investigate 
police abuses. An independent police complaint commission investigates 
reports of corruption within the police force.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests, and 
police generally arrested a person based on a warrant authorized by a 
prosecutor. Police must file charges against detained persons within 
four hours, and detainees generally were promptly informed of the 
charges against them. An arrested suspect must be arraigned within 24 
hours, at which time the arraigning judge determines whether the 
accused should be held in custody or released pending trial. This legal 
provision was respected in practice. Arrested persons were allowed 
prompt access to a lawyer of their choosing or, if they could not 
afford one, to an attorney appointed by the Government. Arrested 
persons were generally allowed access to family members.
    There is no bail system or similar mechanism. Defendants accused of 
minor crimes were routinely released pending trial. Defendants accused 
of serious or violent crimes remain in custody until trial.
    New prison facilities were under construction; however, current 
space was scarce, and the authorities maintained a waiting list for 
those convicted of minor offenses to serve their sentences.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    The court system consists of the Supreme Court, the appeals 
selection committee of the Supreme Court, six appellate courts, and a 
number of district courts, which hear both civil and criminal cases. 
District court rulings may be appealed by either party, but the appeals 
selection committee refers only cases of great importance to the 
Supreme Court. There are also specialized courts, including the labor 
court and the land ownership severance courts.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    Trials are public, but juries are only used in criminal cases heard 
by the court of appeals. Charges are stated clearly and formally, and 
defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Defendants have the right 
to be present, to have counsel (at public expense if needed), to 
confront and question witnesses, to present evidence and witnesses, and 
to appeal. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. The law extends the above rights 
to all citizens. There are no military courts. Military crimes are 
tried in a civilian court, with the addition of a military judge to 
assist the civilian judges in trying the case.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Seventy percent of citizens had Internet access, and of these, 80 
percent had broadband connections. Slightly more than 70 percent of 
citizens accessed the Internet at home and over 45 percent accessed the 
Internet at their workplace.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The state church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway, 
which was supported financially by the Government. The constitution 
requires that the King and at least one-half of the cabinet belong to 
this church. Other denominations operated freely.
    A religious community is required to register with the Government 
only if it desires financial support, which is provided by the 
Government to all registered denominations on a proportional basis in 
accordance with membership.
    The law provides that ``religious knowledge and education in 
ethics'' be taught as a subject in public schools. The course covers 
world religions and philosophy and promotes tolerance and respect for 
all religious beliefs; however, the course devotes the most time to 
Christianity. The course is mandatory, and there are no exceptions for 
children of other faiths; students may be exempted from participating 
in or performing specific religious acts such as church services or 
prayer, but they may not forgo instruction in the subject as a whole. 
The Government lost a case on this issue before the UN Human Rights 
Committee in 2004, which led to a number of changes in 2005. Despite 
curriculum changes intended to meet the concerns of non-Christians, 
parents and the Humanist Association (an atheist organization) 
continued to contest the legality of the law mandating the course. The 
same petitioners who filed the case with the UN had earlier filed a 
similar case with the European Court of Human Rights in 2002. That case 
was still before the court at year's end, but since it was based on the 
circumstances as they were in 2002, analysts were uncertain whether the 
court would comment on the legality of the current system.
    The law permits private or religious schools and day care centers 
to ask persons seeking employment whether they will respect and teach 
the denomination's beliefs and principles. Employers may reject 
applicants on the basis of their responses; no statistics were 
available on how frequently this occurred.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population is 
relatively small, with about 1,000 members. There was an increase in 
the number of reports of anti-Semitic incidents during the year. There 
were several incidents of vandalism of Jewish cultural property 
(synagogues and cemeteries). On July 15, in Oslo three men physically 
attacked and verbally abused a Jewish citizen. Around the same time, 
the Jewish community reported threatening phone calls and e-mails. On 
July 19, a man defecated on the stairs of a synagogue, and then threw 
stones at it, causing minor damage, including two broken windows. At 
year's end there were no arrests in either the assault case or the act 
of vandalism (despite video evidence).
    On September 17, the synagogue in Oslo was hit by automatic weapon 
fire, causing minor damage and igniting a nationwide debate on the 
rising level of anti-Semitism. The police charged four men in the 
synagogue attack; they were in custody, and their case was pending at 
year's end.
    Articles, reports, and political cartoons appeared in the media 
that vilified and demeaned the Jewish people and community and 
minimized the Holocaust, particularly during the July-August conflict 
involving Israel and the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. 
One caricature appearing in a major Oslo newspaper showed Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert as a Nazi concentration camp commander. Jostein 
Gaarder, a prominent Norwegian author, published an article entitled 
``God's Chosen People'' that many within and outside the country 
considered anti-Semitic for its tone and biblical interpretations.
    The Government supported organizations that worked on combating 
discrimination. Among them were the Organization against Public 
Discrimination and Norwegian People's Aid. The Government also 
supported the foundation called ``The White Buses,'' which took 
students from Norway to Auschwitz to educate them about the Holocaust. 
Part of the mission of the Ministry for Children and Equality was to 
combat discrimination.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    c. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits 
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum, and 
accepted refugees for resettlement.
    The government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol, and provided it to 3,908 people.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government contracted with 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide information to asylum 
seekers in their native languages and to educate them about the asylum 
application process. Several NGOs offered additional legal counsel to 
persons whose initial applications were denied. To better communicate 
with a diverse group of asylum seekers, reception centers employed 
speakers of a wide range of languages.
    In accordance with the Dublin Convention, the Government required 
asylum seekers to make their claims in safe countries through which 
they traveled or had residence. The Government used a ``fast track'' 
system to process asylum claims from nationals or permit holders from 
``safe countries'' within 48 hours of application.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair parliamentary 
elections held in September 2005 resulted in the formation of a 
coalition government of the labor, socialist left, and center parties. 
Labor Party leader Jens Stoltenberg was named prime minister following 
multiparty negotiations.
    There were 61 women in the 169-seat parliament and six women among 
the 19 Supreme Court justices. Women headed nine of the 19 government 
ministries. There was one member of a minority in parliament. There 
were no minority ministers or Supreme Court justices.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
government corruption at the federal level during the year. The law 
provides for public access to government information, and the 
Government provided this access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced this 
prohibition in practice, although violence against women and 
trafficking in persons were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a 
problem.
    The law provides for higher penalties for violence in cases of 
severe domestic abuse, and the Government enforced the law in practice. 
In 2005 police registered 4,150 cases of domestic violence. The penalty 
for domestic violence is generally one to six years in prison, with an 
increased prison term in more severe cases.
    The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the 
Government enforced the law. The penalty for rape is generally one to 
10 years in prison depending on the severity of the assault, the age of 
the victim, and the circumstances under which the crime occurred. 
Although the number of rapes reported to the police has risen in recent 
years, with 689 reported rapes in 2004, the country has experienced a 
decrease in the number of rape convictions, with only 25 convictions in 
2004. In that year the chief prosecutor's office convened a task force 
to examine this trend; the task force had not yet reported at year's 
end.
    The Government and the police have instituted special programs to 
prevent rape and domestic violence and to counsel victims. There is a 
domestic violence coordinator in each of the country's 27 police 
districts to provide victims with responsive and knowledgeable 
assistance. Coordinators aided domestic violence victims in identifying 
the various services and institutions available to assist them. Public 
and private organizations ran 50 government-funded shelters and managed 
five 24-hour crisis telephone lines. The shelters provided support and 
counseling for victims, and helped them gain access to social services, 
doctors, lawyers, and housing authorities. Each of the country's 19 
counties had several shelters. In 2005 the country's shelters 
registered 52,004 overnight stays by 2,287 women.
    Prostitution is legal, but organized prostitution and pimping are 
illegal. NGOs and the Government estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 persons 
sold sexual services. A few of these were men, and NGOs reported that a 
few persons selling sexual services appeared to be under the age of 18, 
although they generally claimed to be older. An estimated 70 percent of 
the country's prostitutes were foreign women.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    The law provides that ``employees shall not be subjected to 
harassment or other unseemly behavior,'' and the Government effectively 
enforced this provision in practice. Employers who violate this law are 
subject to fines or prison sentences of up to two years, depending on 
the seriousness of the offense.
    Women have the same legal status as men and enjoy identical rights 
under family and property laws and in the judicial system. The office 
of the gender equality ombudsman was generally effective in processing 
and investigating complaints of sexual discrimination. In 2005 the 
office received 430 complaints.
    The law protects the rights of women and provides that women and 
men engaged in the same activity shall have equal wages for work of 
equal value. According to the office of the gender equality ombudsman, 
which monitors enforcement of the law, women generally received 10 to 
15 percent less in pay and benefits than men for equal work.
    In 2003 the parliament passed a resolution mandating that 40 
percent of publicly listed companies' directorships be held by women by 
mid-2005. However, as of June, only 21 percent of all directorships 
were held by women. New legislation on gender quotas was implemented 
that gave companies established before January 1 two additional years 
to meet the 40 percent requirement. Corporations established after 
January 1 must meet the requirement before they can be registered as a 
company.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of education and medical 
care.
    The Government provides free education for children through the 
postsecondary level. Education is compulsory for 10 years, or through 
the 10th grade; most children stayed in school at least until the age 
of 18. The school attendance rate was virtually 100 percent; parents 
lose a direct stipend of approximately $300 (970 kroner) per month per 
child if their children fail to attend school.
    The Government provides extensive, free medical care for children.
    In 2005 child care services investigated 21,000 cases and 
intervened in 22 percent of them--those that authorities considered to 
constitute child abuse or failure to care for a child. An independent 
children's ombudsman office within the Ministry of Children and 
Families is responsible for the protection of children under the law. 
The directorate for children, youth, and family affairs provides 
assistance and support services. With five regional offices and 26 
professional teams, the directorate is the Government's principal 
agency for the welfare and protection of children and families. The 
directorate's activities include providing family counseling, managing 
foster homes and child welfare institutions, and administering funds to 
NGOs focusing on children.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in 
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through 
the country. The maximum sentence for trafficking in persons is five 
years, with a maximum sentence of 10 years for aggravated cases; those 
are determined by several factors, including the victim's age, the use 
of violence or coercion, and any proceeds derived from exploitation. 
Traffickers can also be charged with violating pimping, immigration, 
and slavery prohibitions. Victims may sue their traffickers for 
compensation without impediment.
    The Ministry of Justice and Police coordinates and implements 
antitrafficking measures. At year's end seven police districts were 
investigating 35 trafficking cases.
    The Government cooperated with foreign governments, Interpol, and 
Europol in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. The 
country's collaboration with other Scandinavian countries was 
particularly strong.
    Police identified a number of possible victims trafficked by 
organized criminals for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Most of 
these suspected victims were women from Nigeria, Russia, Albania, 
Eastern Europe, and the Baltic countries. Suspected victims were often 
reluctant to press charges, making it difficult for police to identify 
and assist them and to prosecute traffickers.
    Government officials believed that organized crime groups were 
responsible for most trafficking. Traffickers used threats, violence, 
rape, and confinement to enforce victims' compliance. Government 
authorities suspected they may also confiscate travel documents and 
subject victims to debt bondage.
    Although trafficking victims may be prosecuted for violating 
immigration laws, no such prosecutions occurred during the year. 
Deportation decisions concerning victims of trafficking may be 
suspended for a 90-day reflection period (the period was extended from 
45 days during the year) to provide time for practical assistance and 
counseling to the individuals concerned.
    Government officials sought to improve public awareness of 
trafficking by raising the issue in speeches and other forums. NGOs 
conducted outreach programs to provide trafficking victims with 
information on their legal rights and available health and other 
services. Foreign victims of trafficking have the same legal rights as 
other foreigners to apply for residency, asylum, welfare, social aid, 
and emergency health care.
    The Government operated an assistance program for trafficking 
victims that featured support centers, shelters, and a 24-hour hot 
line. The Government also ran a national network of crisis centers 
where trafficking victims could seek assistance finding shelter, work, 
and education.
    Police working on trafficking issues are required to attend a two-
day training seminar.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services. The law 
mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, and 
the Government generally enforced this provision in practice.
    The section for disabled persons in the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Inclusion was responsible for protecting the rights of persons 
with disabilities; that office coordinated relevant national policy and 
managed the social benefits system for disabled persons. The section's 
budget sharply increased in 2005 and 2006, and it was therefore able to 
increase grants for persons with disabilities by $14 million (90.6 
million kroner) and to provide additional support to individual 
agencies for more enterprises, better transportation, better building 
access, and increased access to parks.

    Indigenous People.--The rights of the indigenous Sami were 
protected by the Government, which provided Sami language instruction 
at schools in their areas, radio and television programs broadcast or 
subtitled in Sami, and subsidies for Sami-oriented newspapers and 
books. A deputy minister in the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion 
deals specifically with Sami issues.
    In addition to participating freely in the national political 
process, the Sami elect their own constituent assembly, the Sameting. 
The law establishing the Sameting stipulates that this 39-seat 
consultative group is to meet regularly to deal with ``all matters, 
which in [its] opinion are of special importance to the Sami people.'' 
In practice the Sameting has been most interested in protecting the 
group's language and culture and in influencing decisions on resources 
and lands where Sami are a majority. The law requires that a report on 
the activity of the Sameting be submitted annually to parliament, and a 
report on the main principles of Sami policy every four years. The 2005 
report stated that the situation had improved in the last year, with 
the Sameting having an increased role in government decisions, and that 
they successfully completed their fifth election cycle since the 
Sameting was created in 1989.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and they exercised these rights in practice. 
Approximately 56 percent of the workforce was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--All workers, 
including government employees and military personnel, have the right 
to organize and bargain collectively, and they exercised this right in 
practice.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice; however, the Government may, with the approval 
of parliament, compel compulsory arbitration under certain 
circumstances. During the year the Government invoked compulsory 
arbitration once in response to a strike planned by bank and finance 
sector employees. When the employer organizations threatened to impose 
a lock-out, the Government regarded it as a threat to the country's 
security, and intervened.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred in connection with trafficking in 
persons (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government implemented laws and policies to protect children from 
exploitation in the workplace. Children 13 to 18 years of age may be 
employed part-time in light work that will not adversely affect their 
health, development, or schooling. Minimum age rules were observed in 
practice and enforced by the directorate of labor inspections. There 
were no reports of illegal child labor during the year.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legislated or 
specified minimum wage, but wages normally fall within a national scale 
negotiated by labor, employers, and the local government. Negotiations 
between these parties led to wage increases of approximately 3.3 
percent in the first half of the year. The average daily wage provided 
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Approximately 
200,000 people lived below the country's poverty line.
    The law limits the normal workweek to 37.5 hours and provides for 
25 working days of paid leave per year (31 days for those over age 60). 
The law mandates a 28-hour rest period on weekends and holidays. The 
law provides for premium pay for overtime and prohibits excessive 
compulsory overtime.
    The law provides for safe and physically acceptable working 
conditions for all employed persons. Specific standards are set by the 
Directorate of Labor Inspections (DLI) in consultation with 
nongovernmental experts. Under the law, environment committees composed 
of management, workers, and health personnel must be established in all 
enterprises with 50 or more workers, and safety delegates must be 
elected in all organizations. Workers have the right to remove 
themselves from situations that endanger their health, but no 
statistics were available on whether they exercised this right in 
practice. The DLI effectively monitored compliance with labor 
legislation and standards.
    Although foreign workers were provided the same legal protections, 
the media reported complaints from children of immigrants that they 
were excluded from mainstream society and that they had fewer and 
inferior job opportunities than did ethnic majority citizens.

                               __________

                                 POLAND

    The Republic of Poland is a multiparty democracy with a population 
of 38.5 million and a bicameral National Assembly consisting of an 
upper house, the Senate (Senat), and a lower house (Sejm). Executive 
power is shared among the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers, the 
President, and the Sejm. In October 2005 Lech Kaczynski was elected 
President in a free and fair election. Legislative elections in October 
2005 were also free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Prison conditions 
remained poor with serious overcrowding; lengthy pretrial detention was 
occasionally a problem; and the judicial system continued to function 
poorly. Holdover Communist-era laws and regulations restricted freedom 
of speech and the press. Occasional anti-Semitic violence and 
harassment also were problems. There was discrimination against women 
in the labor market, sexual exploitation of children, trafficking in 
women and children, and societal discrimination and violence against 
ethnic minorities and homosexuals. Violations of workers' rights and 
antiunion discrimination also were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    On September 26 and 29, district court hearings took place in 
Katowice in connection with the 1981 Wujek Mine case; Czeslaw Kiszczak 
again pleaded not guilty to charges of ordering militia (ZOMO) to open 
fire on striking miners. The trial was set to continue in 2007. In 
September 2005 an appeals court ruled that the district court could 
hear the communist-era offense against Kiszczak. In 2004 Kiszczak 
received a two-year suspended sentence, but a Warsaw appeals court 
overturned the sentence and ruled that the district court must hear the 
case again. A separate trial of ZOMO officers who fired at striking 
miners in 1981 also continued. On November 30, the last of three 
hearings during the year took place at which a former ZOMO officer 
testified to hearing other militia officers boast of shooting at 
miners.
    In the ongoing case from May 2004 in which police officers 
accidentally used live ammunition on a student crowd in Lodz, the 
family of a second shooting victim received an undisclosed amount of 
compensation. The family of the first victim received a payment in 
earlier years. There was no development in the investigation into the 
two police officers who allegedly distributed live ammunition.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice.
    In June a psychiatrist held in pretrial detention on corruption 
charges was reportedly denied medical treatment and pain relief for a 
jaw that was broken in an accident prior to his arrest. Authorities 
permitted the detainee to undergo an operation on his jaw approximately 
four weeks after his arrest.
    In April the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) published 
its first report on torture in the country, which stated that 
statistics on the number of cases of physical or psychological abuse 
were not available because the criminal code does not specifically 
include torture and cruel or degrading treatment as a crime. The HFHR 
received several hundred complaints during the year about abusive 
treatment by police officers and conditions in prisons and mental 
institutions.
    In 2005, 4,924 cases of police misconduct were reported. Of that 
number, 1,310 police officers were punished, and 78 others were 
expelled from the police force. Statistics of police misconduct during 
the year were not available at year's end. The law on police conduct 
outlines disciplinary actions against police misconduct, including 
warnings, demotion in rank, and expulsion.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prison and 
detention centers remained generally poor. Overcrowding and inadequate 
medical treatment were among the main problems.
    According to the Government, 89,546 persons (including 2,670 women) 
were held in prisons and detention facilities as of November 30. The 
Government estimated prison and detention center capacity at 71,994, 
whereas the International Helsinki Foundation estimated total capacity 
at 68,729 as of November 2005.
    Regulations provide for a minimum cell size of 16.5 square feet 
(1.5 square meters), while article 110 of the 1997 Executive Criminal 
Code provides for a minimum living area equivalent to 32.28 feet (three 
square meters). European Union standards designate minimum cell size at 
64 square feet (six square meters). Due to the chronic overcrowding it 
was common for prisons to convert sports and recreation centers as well 
as chapels into cells.
    On April 20, Janusz Kochanowski, the new human rights ombudsman, 
withdrew a December 2005 motion filed with the Constitutional Tribunal 
by his predecessor challenging a Ministry of Justice decree that 
allowed overcrowding in prisons and detention facilities (see section 
4). Kochanowski argued that the concerns had been addressed adequately 
by the Justice Ministry; the Constitutional Tribunal subsequently 
dismissed the case. On December 5, a prisoner filed a new complaint 
with the Constitutional Tribunal citing the same Justice Ministry 
decree. At year's end, no ruling had been issued.
    During the year the human rights ombudsman received 3,999 
complaints regarding prison conditions. These cited poor medical care, 
abuse by prison authorities, poor conditions, and violations of 
correspondence and visitation rights.
    Female prisoners were held in 28 facilities, eight of which were 
exclusively for women. Inmates were segregated by gender in the other 
20 facilities.
    Juveniles were generally separated from adults; however, under the 
law juveniles and adults could be housed together on occasion. 
Convicted minors (15- to 17-year-olds) were segregated from the adult 
prisoners. Juveniles (17- to 21-year-olds) accused of serious crimes 
were usually sent to pretrial detention. According to the central 
prison administration, there were two cases of an adult prisoner raping 
a minor and one additional case of a juvenile prisoner raping another 
juvenile. Criminal proceedings were initiated in all three cases.
    Facilities that housed prisoners often held pretrial detainees in 
separate areas. Conditions for pretrial detainees were similar, but 
occasionally worse than those for convicted prisoners because of 
greater overcrowding and poorer facilities.
    During the year the Government permitted prison visits by 
independent human rights organizations, such as the International 
Helsinki Foundation. In accordance with standard procedures, the visits 
were private and regularly repeated.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is a 
national law enforcement body with regional and municipal units 
overseen by the minister of interior and administration. Low-level 
corruption within the police force was considered widespread, and there 
was a public perception that police were unduly influenced by political 
pressures. Instances of corruption and serious criminal misconduct were 
investigated by the national police's office of internal affairs. The 
personnel division handled minor disciplinary offenses.
    In August media reports exposed a major corruption case in the 
national police headquarters involving officers who were accused of 
malfeasance in a number of public tenders, including procurement of 
Romanian-made vehicles. By year's end the case had not reached court, 
but prosecutors had brought charges against 13 individuals: eight 
former police officers and five employees of the company that won the 
contract.
    In November, following several anti-Semitic and anti-gay incidents 
in Warsaw and Wroclaw, a local non-governmental organization (NGO), 
Open Republic of Poland--Association against Anti-Semitism and 
Xenophobia, appealed to the Ministry of Interior to provide clearer 
guidelines to police on how to respond to these types of complaints. 
The NGO accused police of being inattentive and helpless in reacting to 
societal abuse and harassment.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law, authorities must obtain a court 
warrant based on sufficient evidence prior to making an arrest, and 
authorities generally complied with the law in practice.
    The law allows a 48-hour detention period before authorities must 
file charges, and an additional 24 hours for the court to decide 
whether to issue a pretrial detention order. Detainees must be informed 
of the charges promptly and have the right to counsel; the Government 
provides free counsel to the indigent. Defendants and detainees have 
the right to consult an attorney at any time. There was a functioning 
bail system, and most detainees were released on bail.
    Detainees may be held in pretrial detention for up to three months 
and may appeal the legality of their arrest. A court may extend 
pretrial detention every six to 12 months, but the total time in 
detention may not exceed two years. In certain complex cases, the court 
may petition the Supreme Court for an extension beyond two years. Court 
inefficiency occasionally delayed pretrial detention hearings.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice; however, the judiciary remained inefficient and 
lacked resources and public confidence.
    There is a four-tiered court structure composed of regional, 
provincial, and appellate divisions and a Supreme Court. These tiers 
are subdivided into five domains of jurisdiction: military, civil, 
criminal, labor, and family. Regional courts try original cases. 
Provincial courts have a dual responsibility, handling appeals from 
regional courts and acting as the court of original jurisdiction for 
the most serious offenses. Appellate courts only hear appeals tried at 
the provincial level. The Supreme Court handles appeals of lower court 
decisions and ensures that the law is applied consistently throughout 
the country. There also is a Constitutional Tribunal that handles 
constitutional matters.
    Supreme Court judges are nominated by the National Judicial Council 
and appointed for life terms by the President. They have immunity from 
prosecution but are subject to dismissal by a court decision. There are 
90 Supreme Court judges in four chambers: civil, criminal, military, 
and labor-social security-public affairs. Judges are nominated by the 
National Council of the Judiciary and appointed by the President. The 
first President of the Supreme Court is appointed by the President of 
country for a six-year term from among candidates proposed by the 
General Assembly of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
    The Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of new 
laws, adjudicates disputes between government entities, and monitors 
the constitutionality of political parties' actions. There are 15 
judges on the Constitutional Tribunal, nominated and approved by the 
Sejm.
    The court system remained cumbersome, poorly administered, 
inadequately staffed, and underfunded. The courts had numerous 
inefficiencies, most notably that there were more criminal judges than 
prosecutors in many districts. Court decisions frequently were not 
implemented. A continuing backlog of cases and the high cost of legal 
action deterred many citizens from using the justice system.

    Trial Procedures.--Cases are tried in regional and provincial 
courts by a panel composed of a judge and two lay assessors. Defendants 
are allowed to consult an attorney; the Government provides free 
counsel for indigent defendants as necessary. Defendants must be 
present during trial, may confront and question witnesses, have access 
to government-held evidence, and may present evidence and witnesses. 
Prosecutors can grant witnesses anonymity if they express fear of 
retribution from defendants. Trials are usually public; however, the 
courts reserve the right to close a trial in some circumstances, 
including divorce proceedings, cases involving state secrets, or cases 
with content that may offend public morality (see section 1.f.). 
However, the courts rarely invoked these rights.
    After a court renders a verdict, a defendant has seven days to 
request a written statement of the judgment; courts must respond within 
seven days. A defendant has the right to appeal a verdict within 14 
days of the response. A two-level appeal process is available in most 
civil and criminal matters.
    The law provides for juries, usually composed of two or three 
individuals appointed by local officials.
    Several individuals lodged complaints or filed cases against the 
Government in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because of 
trial delays and a perceived lack of due process. In 2005 the ECHR 
received 400 complaints about trial delays and 140 about failures of 
due process
    Military courts, which are supervised by the minister of justice 
and the prosecutor general, have jurisdiction over crimes committed by 
members of the military while on duty. Defendants enjoy the same rights 
as civilians. Civilian employees of the Ministry of Defense are not 
tried by the military courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary system is 
generally independent and impartial in civil cases. The constitution 
and law guarantee the sovereignty of and public access to the 
judiciary. Additional guarantees are provided by the country's EU 
membership in the Council of Europe (European Court of Human Rights). 
However, according to officials at the respected local NGO Batory 
Foundation, several main problems exist. Implementation of court 
orders, particularly payment of damages, is slow, cumbersome, and 
ineffective. Court decisions are poorly enforced, recent changes to 
civil procedure place speed and efficiency over individual rights, and, 
in practice the right to legal counsel is limited.

    Property Restitution.--The law provides for restitution of communal 
property seized during the communist and Nazi eras (see section 2.c.). 
A proposed law on private property claims introduced in the Sejm 
remained pending at year's end. The treasury estimated that there could 
be over 55,000 property claims valued together at $20 billion (60 
billion zloty). Despite the absence of a comprehensive law on private 
property claims, some illegally nationalized private property was 
restored, and approximately $183 million (550 million zloty) was paid 
out in compensation for 500 property claims provided over the previous 
10 years.
    Pursuant to a July 2005 law concerning properties that were lost 
because of border changes after World War II, the Government is 
obligated to pay compensation in the amount of 20 percent of the 
property value. At year's end the state treasury had paid compensation 
to 75 claimants. According to the Government, the law could affect 
approximately 80,000 claimants for property now located in Lithuania, 
Belarus, and Ukraine. The law requires the treasury to create registers 
of all claimants who have the right to compensation. The deadline for 
submitting applications for claims is December 31, 2008.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the 
Government did not always respect these prohibitions in practice.
    The law allows electronic surveillance for crime prevention and 
investigations. There was no independent judicial review of 
surveillance activities, nor was there any control over the use of 
information obtained by monitoring private communications. A number of 
government agencies had access to wiretap information.
    Under the 1997 ``lustration'' law designed to expose officials who 
collaborated with the communist-era secret police, persons who lie 
about their past may be prohibited from holding public office for 10 
years. In July the President signed a new lustration law that requires 
all politicians, civil servants and others in positions of public 
trust, including school principals and journalists, to obtain a 
clearance from the Institute for National Remembrance (IPN). The files 
of people reviewed by the IPN will be made available on the Internet. 
The new lustration process also will disclose the names of people who 
met with the secret police on an ``institutional'' or ``operational'' 
basis, but were not necessarily informants or collaborators. As the law 
stands now, 500,000 to 1.5 million people could come under scrutiny. 
However, many in government and human rights NGOs were concerned that 
the new law could be misused for political reasons.
    Many lustration cases remained closed to the public because they 
involved classified documents. Critics continued to voice concern that 
procedures for vetting persons for government positions were unfair 
because secret police records were subject to loss or tampering.
    In June Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Zita Gilowska 
lost her job when allegations were made that she collaborated with the 
communist-era security services. On September 22, Gilowska cleared her 
name through a lustration process and was restored to her position
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, holdover communist-era laws and 
regulations restricted these freedoms in practice. For example, libel 
and some forms of insults are criminal offenses; a person who insults 
or humiliates a constitutional institution is subject to a fine or 
imprisonment of up to two years; insulting a public official is subject 
to a fine or imprisonment of up to one year; and offending the object 
or spirit of a place of worship in public is punishable by a fine or a 
two-year prison term.
    On November 15 a 31 year-old homeless man pled guilty in court to 
charges of having insulted President Lech Kaczynski during a drunken 
outburst while under police questioning in January 2005. If convicted, 
the man could be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison. At 
year's end the court had not issued a sentence.
    Independent media expressed a wide variety of views and opinions 
without restriction. Private television, satellite, and cable 
subscription services were available across most of the country. 
Private television broadcasters operated on frequencies selected by the 
ministry of communications and auctioned by KRRiTV, the national radio 
and television broadcasting council. The four channels of public Polish 
Television (TVP) were the most widely viewed, earning between 40 and 45 
percent combined market share. The public channels faced strong 
competition from the private TVN and Polsat networks, which combined 
for around 35 percent of the market. Cable television and various 
satellite services carried the main national channels, as well as 
local, regional, and foreign channels.
    The five-member KRRiTV, which is responsible for protecting freedom 
of speech, has broad power to monitor and regulate programming, 
allocate broadcasting frequencies and licenses, and apportion 
subscription revenues to public media. While council members are 
required to suspend their membership in political parties or public 
associations, critics asserted that during the year the council became 
more politicized and less professional with the nomination of new 
members closely affiliated with the Government's ruling coalition.
    On March 23, the Constitutional Tribunal temporarily suspended the 
KRRiTV's operations by ruling that four articles of a new media law 
that increased the council's authority were unconstitutional. The 
tribunal found that the council could not oversee ethical questions and 
had no right of censorship and that the country's President could not 
appoint the KRRiTV chairman. The tribunal struck down another provision 
of the media law that granted special privileges to Catholic Church 
broadcast media.
    The Catholic nationalist radio station Radio Maryja is designated a 
``public broadcaster'' and exempted from paying regular licensing fees 
up to $457,000 (1,370,040 zloty). The station, which features 
conservative Catholic call-in shows, has historically included some 
anti-Semitic statements. It is privately owned by the Catholic Church, 
and the Warsaw-based Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer holds the 
broadcast license (see section 2.c.).
    The law prohibits the media from promoting activities that are 
illegal or against government policy, morality, or the common good and 
requires that all broadcasts ``respect the religious feelings of the 
audiences and, in particular, respect the Christian system of values.'' 
The Government enforced this provision in practice, levying fines 
during the year on programs deemed offensive.
    On March 22, KRRiTV fined POLSAT, the country's second largest 
private television channel, $165,000 (500,000 zloty) for broadcasting a 
satirical show that mimicked the voice of a disabled person who leads 
prayers on Catholic Radio Maryja. The KRRiTV chairman stated that the 
council levied the fine because the program failed to respect the 
religious beliefs of the public and particularly the ``Christian system 
of values.''
    On May 26, the regional court in Warsaw ruled in a closed session 
that Tomasz Sakiewicz, editor-in-chief of Niezalezna Gazeta Polska, 
could not print information about Boguslaw Koczur, who allegedly 
received money taken illegally by former President Alexander 
Kwasniewski from the Committee on Young Adults. The Press Freedom 
Monitoring Center called the ruling a form of censorship.
    In July journalist Jerzy Urban filed a case with the ECHR arguing 
that a $6,700 (20,000 zloty) fine levied by a Warsaw appeals court for 
alleged slander was a violation of his right to free speech. The case 
stemmed from an article Urban published in 2002 in the news weekly Nie 
that criticized the pope.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
    According to media reports, 45 percent of households in country 
owned a personal computer, and 36 percent had access to the Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were few government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
    In February the head of the public University of Marie Curie-
Sklodowska (UMCS) in Lublin banned the sale of T-shirts with slogans 
designed to encourage discussion about the state of freedom of 
expression in the country. The slogans included statements such as ``I 
am Jewish,'' ``I'm Arab,'' ``I had an abortion,'' and ``I did not cry 
when the pope died.'' The ban prompted the local chapter of the 
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights to cancel a series 
of human rights films at the university that were connected to the T-
shirt sales.
    The appeal of an artist convicted of offending religious beliefs in 
2004 by a Gdansk court remained pending at year's end. Dorota 
Nieznalska was sentenced to six months ``restricted freedom'' and 
unpaid community service for placing a photograph of male genitals on a 
Christian cross. The appeals court met 17 times during the year but 
reached no decision during the year.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. Permits were not necessary 
for public meetings but were required for public demonstrations. 
Authorities generally issued permits for public gatherings.
    In contrast with the previous year, Warsaw authorities granted a 
permit to a consortium of gay rights advocates to organize an Equality 
Parade on June 10 as well as to a right-wing, antigay group to protest 
the event. Police provided adequate protection for the approximately 
5,000-6,000 local and international activists who took part in the 
parade, although some counterprotestors threw eggs and rocks at the 
marchers (see section 5).

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association; however, there were restrictions on this right in 
practice. Private associations are required to register with the local 
district court to obtain government approval to organize, and 
organizations must sign a declaration saying that they will abide by 
the law. In practice the procedure was complicated and subject to the 
arbitrary discretion of a judge. There were no reports that private 
associations were routinely denied registration, or that any 
registration was denied for political reasons.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in full 
and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private 
actors. The Criminal Code stipulates that offending religious sentiment 
through public speech is punishable by a fine or a prison term of up to 
three-years. The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religious group 
in the country, and approximately 96 percent of the population was 
Roman Catholic.
    There are 15 religious groups whose relationship with the state is 
governed by laws that outline the internal structure of the groups, 
their activities, and procedures for property restitution. There are 
146 other registered religious groups that do not have a statutorily 
defined relationship with the state. All registered religious groups, 
including the original 15, enjoy equal protection under the law.
    Religious education classes are taught in public schools at public 
expense. Parents could request instruction in any registered religion, 
including Protestant and Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 
Children may choose between instruction in religion and ethics, and may 
be exempted from religious instruction. Catholic Church representatives 
are included on a commission that determined whether books were 
acceptable for school use.
    The Government continued to work with local and international 
religious groups to address property claims and other sensitive issues 
stemming from Nazi- and communist-era confiscations and persecutions. 
There are five different commissions supervised by the Ministry of 
Interior that oversee religious property claims; one each for the 
Catholic Church, Jewish Community, Lutheran Church, Orthodox Church, 
and other denominations. Of approximately 10,000 communal property 
claims filed for restitution of religious property, more than 5,000 
have been resolved and more than 1,200 properties had been returned by 
year's end.
    By year's end, approximately 2,801 of the 3,063 claims filed by the 
Catholic Church had been concluded, with 1,144 claims settled by 
agreement between the church and the party in possession of the 
property (usually the national or a local government); 932 properties 
returned through decision of the commission on property restitution; 
and 632 claims rejected by the Ministry of Interior commission.
    There were 5,544 outstanding property claims by the local Jewish 
community. At year's end the commission had concluded 1,143 cases, of 
which 316 were settled amicably, and 336 properties were restored. The 
time period for filing claims under a 1997 law ended in 2002.
    The Lutheran Church had filed claims for 1,200 properties. Of that 
number, 842 cases were concluded by year's end; 228 were resolved 
amicably. The deadline for filing these claims was 1996. The Orthodox 
Church had filed 486 claims with the commission, of which 215 were 
closed in full or in part.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were 
reports of several serious anti-Semitic incidents and occasional 
desecrations of Jewish cemeteries by skinheads and other groups. The 
Jewish community was estimated at 20,000 to 30,000, including 2,500 
registered members listed in the country's statistical yearbook. The 
Government publicly criticized anti-Semitic acts.
    The country has made considerable progress in relations with its 
Jewish communities; however, its politics remained vulnerable to 
charges of extremism, intolerance, and anti-Semitism. During the year 
some Jewish leaders expressed concern over reduction of government 
funding for Holocaust education and the inclusion of two small 
political parties in the governing coalition, some of whose members 
have made anti-Semitic statements.
    In April and May there were two separate attacks on prominent 
rabbis in Warsaw. In the first incident, an unidentified assailant 
accosted Rabbi Shalom Stambler, head of the country's Chabad-Lubavitch 
community, in the foyer of his office building. The person shoved the 
rabbi and shouted anti-Semitic slurs in view of security guards, who 
did not intervene.
    On May 16, an antifascist activist was stabbed by skinheads in 
Warsaw after being targeted by a neo-Nazi website. On May 27, the 
country's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, was attacked on a downtown 
Warsaw street. The assailant, who was apprehended in August, pushed the 
rabbi to the ground, sprayed him with pepper spray, and shouted an 
anti-Semitic slogan. A court sentenced the assailant to two years in 
prison and a fine of $1,300 (4,000 zloty). However, the court suspended 
the sentence.
    Following these two incidents police created a special unit to 
combat neofascist activities. In July police arrested the alleged 
content provider of Red Watch, the website that listed the name and 
whereabouts of the man who was stabbed in Warsaw, and which also 
promoted hatred of Jews and homosexuals (see section 5).
    On March 27, commentator Stanislaw Michalkiewicz, speaking on 
Catholic Radio Maryja, made anti-Semitic remarks when he claimed ``Jews 
are trying to force a ransom from our government which they covertly 
call restitution.'' Michalkiewicz also said the country was being 
``humiliated'' by Jews ``at the site of the former death camp 
Auschwitz.'' He was charged with insulting the Jewish community and for 
denying Nazi war crimes. On August 28, however, prosecutors dropped the 
charges. Michalkiewicz left Radio Maryja, which has a history of 
broadcasting anti-Semitic statements, to work for a public radio 
network, Polskie Radio.
    On December 7, a court in Bialystok ordered Leszek Bubel, a self-
proclaimed anti-Semite and leader of the Polish National Party, to 
undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The case stemmed from charges brought 
by the local prosecutor in August 2005 for an article Bubel published, 
``The Polish-Jewish War Over Crosses,'' for which the court sentenced 
Bubel to six months in prison and a fine of $825 (2,500 zloty) for 
inciting hostility and slandering Jews.
    On November 30, Maciej Giertych, who represents the extreme-right 
League of Polish Families in the European parliament, dismissed his 
assistant Leokadia Wiacek after a newspaper revealed a video in which 
the assistant participated in a 2004 neo-Nazi event, burned a swastika, 
chanted ``Sieg Heil,'' and gave the Nazi salute.
    In the first case of its kind, on November 16 Open Republic, an 
association of well-known Polish intellectuals, filed a civil suit 
against the aforementioned chairman of the Polish National Party Leszek 
Bubel, claiming that his anti-Semitic comments and publications 
offended their dignity both as Poles and as human beings. A letter of 
support signed by 700 other individuals accompanied the legal charges; 
the suit was pending at year's end.
    On September 21, a temporary installation opened in Warsaw to mark 
the beginning of construction of a museum of the history of the 
country's Jews. The opening followed the conclusion in January 2005 of 
lengthy negotiations between the ministry of culture, Warsaw city 
officials, and the Jewish Historical Institute (ZIH) to build the 
museum.
    During the year the Government provided grants to a number of 
organizations involved in tolerance education, including ZIH, which 
maintained an archive of Jewish-related documents, books, journals, and 
artifacts. The Government also provided grants to ZIH to produce 
educational materials on Jewish culture, the Holocaust, and religious 
tolerance. One NGO involved in Holocaust education claimed that their 
funding through the Ministry of Education was cut abruptly because it 
was no longer deemed a priority. Government officials denied any 
connection and claimed that there was no effort to restrict Holocaust 
education funding.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits 
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to 2,049 persons during the year. The 
Government granted refugee status to 423 persons during the year.
    The majority of refugees and asylum seekers arrived from Russia's 
Chechnya region; other major sources of asylum seekers were Ukraine, 
Belarus, Pakistan, Georgia and India.
    Persons granted asylum or refugee status have the right to work, to 
receive social assistance and education, and to have access to a state 
integration program for 12 months. The program provides participants 
with contacts in the local community, assistance with accommodations, 
and help with job searches. Refugees receive monetary assistance for 
living expenses and language training and are registered in the 
national health care system. Despite this program, many new immigrants 
had difficulty finding work commensurate with their skills due to the 
overall high rate of unemployment. Persons with temporary status also 
have the right to work and to social assistance but cannot participate 
in the Government's integration program.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government allowed UNHCR 
and NGOs to monitor refugee detention centers.
    Unlike in the previous year, there were few reports of problems in 
refugee detention centers. The Government operated 17 refugee reception 
centers in the Warsaw, Bialystok, and Lublin areas with a capacity of 
3,600 persons. The main difficulties in the centers involved providing 
access to education for children, legal assistance, and medical 
treatment. Press reports in April stated that half of school-aged 
children in refugee camps were not attending school.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Legislative and 
Presidential elections that took place in September and October 2005, 
respectively, were regarded as free and fair. Multiple candidates from 
various political parties freely declared their candidacy to stand for 
election and had full access to the media. There were 92 women in the 
460-seat Sejm and 12 women in the 100-seat upper house. There were 
three women in the 22-member Council of Ministers.
    There were two members of minorities in the Sejm (both representing 
the German minority in Silesia) and no minorities in the upper house. 
There were no minorities in the cabinet. The law exempts ethnic 
minority parties from the requirement that they win 5 percent of the 
vote nationwide to qualify for seats in individual districts.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception of corruption throughout the Government. Citizens 
continued to believe that political parties and members of the 
legislative branch, the health care system, and the judiciary were the 
most corrupt. During the year the country received a score of 3.7 on 
Transparency International's 10-point composite index of the degree to 
which corruption was perceived to exist among a country's politicians 
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country had a 
serious corruption problem. In March a poll conducted by the Center for 
Public Opinion research found that 95 percent of citizens believed 
corruption occurred often or very often.
    On May 16, the National Police Central Bureau of Investigations 
arrested three senior officials from the Ministry of Finance for 
corruption and accepting bribes. According to the prosecutor, the 
officials canceled fiscal liabilities and issued tax exemptions over a 
period of 10 years in exchange for bribes from organized criminals and 
businessmen. The investigation was ongoing at year's end and had not 
yet come to court.
    On December 14 police arrested four former deputy mayors of Krakow 
for their involvement in a questionable land deal seven years ago. The 
four served from 1998-2002 under mayor Andrzej Golas. The case remained 
pending at year's end.
    On June 24, the Sejm created the Central Anticorruption Bureau 
(CBA), which has broad powers to audit the financial holdings of public 
officials and to fight corruption in public procurement. CBA head 
Mariusz Kaminski estimated the total value of corruption in the country 
at more than $6 billion (18 billion zloty) annually. The CBA is 
authorized to conduct searches and secret videotaping, wiretap 
telephone conversations, and make arrests.
    On December 2, the CBA made its first arrests, detaining two men 
for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars in connection with the 
Kama Foods company, which went bankrupt in 2002. The CBA stated that 
one of the men, identified as ``Wieslaw B.,'' was a former senior 
official with Kama Foods; the second, ``Robert M.,'' had close 
connections with lawmakers.
    There were no developments during the year in the 2004 
``Orlengate'' scandal that involving allegations that one of the 
country's wealthiest businessmen illegally attempted to negotiate the 
sale of the state-owned Rafineria Gdanska, the country's second-largest 
oil refinery. A legislative investigation into the scandal concluded in 
a September 2005 report that senior officials of the former government 
should be impeached before a state tribunal. The officials included 
President Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller, Treasury Ministers 
Wieslaw Kaczmarek and Emil Wasacz, Justice Ministers Barbara Piwnik and 
Andrzej Kalwas, and Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
    At year's end businessman Marek Dochnal remained in detention. In 
September 2004 Dochnal was arrested for allegedly bribing public 
officials for information concerning the privatization of a state-owned 
steel mill and the sale of shares of the country's largest oil company. 
His detention was extended several times and he was still in custody at 
year's end, although no official charges had been filed or trial date 
set.
    The law provides for public access to government information; in 
practice the Government provided access to citizens and noncitizens, 
including foreign media. Government refusals of requests for 
information must be based on exceptions provided in the law related to 
government secrets, personal privacy restrictions, and propriety 
business data. Refusals may be appealed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    As provided for in the constitution, the country's human rights 
ombudsman presents an annual activity report to the Sejm on the state 
of human rights and civic freedom in the country. In July the ombudsman 
reported that in 2005, 51,543 cases were filed with the office, a 
decrease of 7,607 from 2004. A new ombudsman, Janusz Kochanowski, was 
appointed and confirmed February 15 by the Sejm for a five-year term.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language or social status, and the Government effectively enforced 
these provisions in practice; however, violence and societal 
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women continued to be a serious 
problem. According to authorities, 36,534 people reported domestic 
violence during the year, an increase from 2005. Authorities prosecuted 
20,809 cases of domestic violence, resulting in 8,938 convictions on 
domestic violence charges. The verdicts can be appealed and are not 
final. There are 4,066 persons incarcerated for crimes of domestic 
violence. Under the law a person convicted of domestic violence may be 
sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison; however, most 
convictions resulted in suspended sentences. The law provides for 
restraining orders on spouses to protect women from abuse.
    Women's organizations believed the number of women affected by 
domestic abuse was underreported. Violence against women remained 
hidden, particularly in small towns and villages. The NGO Women's 
Rights Center reported that police were occasionally reluctant to 
intervene in cases of domestic violence, particularly if the 
perpetrator was a member of the police or if victims were unwilling to 
cooperate.
    The increase in reports of domestic violence was attributed to 
heightened police awareness, particularly in urban areas, as a result 
of media campaigns and NGO efforts. According to NGOs, courts often 
treated domestic violence as a minor crime, pronounced lenient 
verdicts, or dismissed cases.
    NGOs operated centers to assist victims, provide preventive 
treatment and counseling to perpetrators, and train personnel working 
with domestic violence victims. The Government provided victims and 
families with legal and psychological assistance. It also operated 11 
shelters for pregnant women and mothers with small children, and 184 
crisis centers. However, neither the shelters nor the crisis centers 
were devoted exclusively to battered women and victims of domestic 
violence.
    Following the adoption of the July 2005 Law on Counteracting 
Domestic Violence, local governments established 32 specialized support 
centers for victims of domestic violence, and 960 perpetrators 
participated in ``corrective-educational programs.'' During the 
Government assigned nearly $3.2 million (9.4 million zloty) from the 
state budget for the implementation of the July 2005 law to cover the 
costs of the creation of the centers and for the programs for the 
perpetrators. The centers provided social, medical, psychological, and 
legal assistance to victims of domestic violence.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by up to 12 
years in prison. During the first 11 months of the year, 2,036 cases of 
rape were reported; of these, police determined that 1,739 were serious 
enough to open a formal investigation. However, women often were 
unwilling to report rape because of the associated social stigma. NGOs 
estimated that the actual number of rapes was 10 times higher than 
reported. Of the 1,739 rape cases that police investigated, 1,294 cases 
were forwarded to prosecutors for indictment.
    Prostitution is legal, but pimping is not. Experts estimated that 
30,000 to 35,000 women worked as prostitutes, many of them employed in 
massage parlors and escort services that functioned as brothels. 
Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment under gender discrimination 
provisions of the Labor Code and the Criminal Code. Under the criminal 
code persons convicted of sexual harassment involving sex may be 
sentenced to up to three years in prison. The Labor Code defines sexual 
harassment as a form of discrimination in the workplace as behavior 
that violates the dignity of an employee. The behavior includes 
physical, verbal, and non-verbal acts. Under the Labor Code, employees 
who have been discriminated against have the right to demand financial 
compensation from employers.
    On December 4, the public prosecutor opened an investigation into 
charges that a member of the Sejm, Stanislaw Lyzwinski, provided jobs 
to women in exchange for sexual favors. The prosecutor's investigation 
was ongoing at year's end.
    The NGO Center for Women's Rights believed that sexual harassment 
was a serious and underreported problem. Many victims either did not 
report abuse out of shame or fear of losing their job or withdrew their 
claims in the course of police investigations. Social awareness of the 
problem continued to increase, however, as more cases of sexual 
harassment were reported by the media. Through November police 
conducted 60 investigations into sexual harassment charges. This 
compared with 54 investigations in the previous year and 16 
convictions.
    The constitution provides for equal rights for men and women in 
family law, property law, and in the judicial system; however, in 
practice there were few laws to implement this provision. Women mainly 
held lower-level positions and frequently were paid less then men for 
equivalent work, were fired more readily, and were less likely to be 
promoted.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for 
combating gender discrimination, incorporating gender equality into 
governmental policy, and monitoring implementation of government 
programs to promote gender equality. During the year the ministry 
implemented a number of projects to combat gender discrimination in the 
workplace, including an EU project that involves local NGOs to combat 
discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, religion, disability, age, 
and sexual orientation.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare, and has a separate ombudsman for children's rights. Between 
April and December the ombudsman issued 37 statements and appeals to 
penalize promotion of pedophilia on the Internet, to improve access to 
public schools for disabled children, and to improve medical care for 
children with chronic diseases. Between January and November the 
ombudsman received 7,000 complaints. Of that number, 39 percent 
referred to contacts between parents and children, and 19 percent to 
protection against abuse, exploitation, and demoralization. Overall 
there was an increase of cases related to the physical, sexual and 
mental violence against children. On December 1, the ombudsman's office 
opened a 24-hour hot line for abused children.
    Education is universal and mandatory until age 18, and public 
schools are free. According to the UN Children's Fund, 98 percent of 
school-age children attended school. Boys and girls had equal access to 
state medical care. Most students continued their studies to the 
postsecondary level.
    Incidents of child abuse were rarely reported, and convictions also 
were rare. The law prohibits violence against children and provides for 
prison sentences ranging from three months to five years. Through 
November police reported 1,507 cases of the sexual exploitation of 
children, 516 cases of child pornography, and 81 cases of child 
abandonment.
    Trafficking in children, primarily for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation, was a problem.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, the country was a source, transit point, and destination for 
trafficked persons, primarily women and girls but also, to a lesser 
extent, boys. Internal trafficking for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation also occurred.
    Persons were trafficked to and through the country, primarily from 
Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Moldova. A relatively high 
number were members of the Turkish minority in southern Bulgaria and 
from the Romani population in Romania. Destination countries included 
Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, 
Sweden, and Australia. Some internal trafficking occurred; however, the 
extent of the problem was unclear because some victims may have chosen 
to engage in prostitution or other aspects of the sex trade. NGOs have 
noted a recent trend toward a higher percentage of victims being 
trafficked for labor in agriculture and other economic sectors.
    Traffickers targeted young, unemployed, and poorly paid women, 
particularly those with weak family ties and support networks. 
Traffickers attracted victims through methods including fake employment 
offers, arranged marriages, fraud, and coercion. Some victims believed 
that they were accepting employment abroad as waitresses, maids, or 
nannies. Traffickers threatened victims with violence, and those who 
resisted or tried to flee were raped, beaten, or intentionally injured.
    Authorities believed that large organized crime groups and 
individuals controlled the trafficking business, and that victims were 
frequently trafficked by nationals of their own country who collected a 
fee to allow passage into or through the country. According to arrest 
statistics, approximately 25 percent of traffickers were non-citizens. 
Bulgarian traffickers continued to account for a significant number of 
cases. Authorities also believed that employment and talent agencies 
were sometimes used as fronts for trafficking operations. As many as 90 
percent of those trafficked in the country had false travel documents.
    Several provisions of the criminal code specifically address 
trafficking and provide for prison sentences ranging from three to 15 
years for sexual and nonsexual exploitation of persons. Pimping, 
recruiting, or luring persons into prostitution are also prohibited, 
with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Individuals convicted of 
trafficking in children and luring women into prostitution abroad 
received the most severe sentences. Traffickers could also be 
prosecuted under laws criminalizing statutory rape, forced 
prostitution, and other acts.
    According to the Justice Ministry, during the first six months of 
the year, 10 persons were convicted and sentenced for trafficking. In 
2005, there were 37 convictions for trafficking in courts of first 
instance; all but nine of were overturned on appeal.
    On May 11, local media reported that police broke up a major 
trafficking ring involving illegal prostitution in an undercover 
investigation coordinated with Austrian police. According to reports, 
organized criminal groups set up a recruiting scheme with three police 
officers and other individuals that trafficked up to 350 women to 
Austria. One retired officer and two police officers from Wroclaw were 
arrested, together with five other persons. The two officers used their 
office space and computers to recruit women through the Internet for 
prostitution and transported them across the Czech border. A second 
source of trafficked women in the operation involved a modeling agency 
in Wroclaw.
    On July 18, in cooperation with Italian authorities, police broke 
up another trafficking ring that lured over 300 workers to southern 
Italy for agricultural work under conditions that amounted to forced 
labor. More than 100 citizens were freed in a joint operation with 
Italian police, and 25 persons arrested. The workers reportedly were 
forced to work up to 15 hours a day for $1.31 (one euro) per hour, 
slept on the ground, and were watched over by armed guards. Those 
arrested in the case were charged with trafficking, enslavement, and 
membership in a criminal group. At year's end prosecutors were 
preparing to bring the case to trial in mid-2007.
    On October 30, police announced the arrest of a six-person gang for 
trafficking laborers to work in orange groves in the Valencia region in 
Spain. Approximately 30 persons were forced to work for no pay, lived 
in barracks, and given little to eat. Police learned of the work camp 
after several workers managed to escape and send an electronic text 
message to police. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    The interior and justice ministries have primary responsibility for 
antitrafficking efforts; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated 
trafficking programs with foreign governments and international 
organizations. Following establishment of a five-person Central 
Antitrafficking Unit in July, National Police created 17 regional teams 
to combat human trafficking and child pornography.
    National police participated in several task forces with foreign 
authorities to share information, track the movement of traffickers and 
victims across borders, and help coordinate international operations to 
break up trafficking rings. The Government increased training for 
police, prosecutors, and other front-line personnel involved in 
combating trafficking. It also increased cooperation with neighboring 
countries to combat traffickers and adopted a law that allows 
trafficking victims to remain legally in the country to assist in 
investigations and prosecutions.
    There continued to be unconfirmed reports that low-ranking local 
police took bribes to ignore known trafficking activity.
    Trafficking victims often did not turn to officials for help out of 
fear that border guards and police would deport them for immigration 
law violations. In many cases unidentified trafficking victims were 
quickly deported by border guards, preventing the Government from 
providing assistance. NGOs attributed the deportations to the absence 
of national guidelines for police and border guards on how to approach 
and identify suspected victims. Victims were often prosecuted for 
carrying false travel documents, working illegally, and violating the 
terms of their visas. At times, deported victims were met at the border 
by their traffickers, who provided them with new travel documents and 
returned them to the country.
    During the year the interagency team for combating trafficking in 
persons adopted national guidelines for police, border guard, and other 
law enforcement agencies, which provided instructions on identifying 
possible victims and how to approach and assist them. The Ministry of 
Interior funded NGOs to conduct regional training in all provinces; 
several hundred law enforcement officials were trained in trafficking 
issues by La Strada, Nobody's Children Foundation, and the Ministry of 
Interior.
    During the year money was allocated for the first time from the 
state budget for victim assistance and educational and promotion 
materials. A total of $83,000 (250,000 zloty) was provided. The 
Government also worked extensively with antitrafficking NGOs, such as 
La Strada. While the Government provided space and funds to La Strada 
and another NGO to operate shelters for trafficking victims, the number 
of shelters remained inadequate, and NGOs frequently resorted to 
temporary arrangements to provide medical, psychological, and legal 
assistance to victims.
    With government financial assistance, NGOs also conducted 
trafficking training courses at police and border guard academies; 
provided counseling for victims and their families; developed training 
and prevention materials; and conducted public awareness campaigns on 
the dangers of trafficking. Newly hired border guards and police 
officers began receiving some training on trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, or the 
provision of other state services, including health care. The 
Government effectively enforced these provisions; however, there were 
reports of some societal discrimination against persons with 
disabilities. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation 
and Development (OECD), less than one in five disabled persons were 
employed, and those who were employed tended to have part-time or 
temporary jobs in sheltered work enterprises. There are approximately 
5.5 million persons with disabilities in the country.
    The law states that buildings should be accessible for persons with 
disabilities, and at least three laws require retrofitting of existing 
buildings to make them accessible. Public buildings and transportation 
generally were accessible.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for 
disability-related matters. There is a state fund for rehabilitation of 
persons with disabilities and a national consultation council for 
persons with disabilities that advised the ministry.
    On September 18, the UN awarded President Kaczynski the Franklin D. 
Roosevelt Award for the country's efforts to integrate persons with 
disabilities into public life.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of 
increasing intolerance that often erupted into violence against racial 
and ethnic minorities. National and local officials and law enforcement 
agencies discouraged intolerance and discrimination; however, some 
minority groups and NGOs noted that the judiciary was lenient in 
sentencing perpetrators, which contributed to an atmosphere that 
accepted intolerance.
    There were incidents of racially motivated violence and verbal and 
physical abuse directed at Roma and persons of African, Asian, or Arab 
descent. The small Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities also continued 
to experience petty harassment and discrimination.
    During the year soccer stadiums were scenes of fascist, anti-
Semitic, and xenophobic demonstrations and actions by groups such as 
Blood and Honor, the National Rebirth of Poland, and the All Poland 
Youth, which is affiliated with a major Catholic political party. For 
example, in March managers of the Ruch Chorzow team decided not to 
employ a dark-skinned player from Morocco after receiving several 
anonymous threats. However, Stal Mielec managers refused to drop two 
Cameroonians from the team's roster despite receiving complaints from 
the Association for Polish Football, a football fan club. In the 
eastern city of Bialystok, fans threw bananas at a dark-skinned player 
and later beat him up after the match. Additionally, during the March 
derby in Krakow, fans of the Cracovia Krakow team yelled ``monkey'' at 
Wisla Krakow player Jean Paulista, a dark-skinned Brazilian.
    On May 16, skinheads attacked a journalist in Warsaw with knives 
after he was identified ``as an enemy of white people'' on a Web site 
maintained by the Polish Blood and Honor group. On July 5, authorities 
arrested the Web site's administrator, Bartosz Barcicki, and charged 
him with disseminating Nazi ideas, xenophobia, and participating in an 
illegal group. The Web site was shut down but later reestablished.
    On November 20, prosecutors in Olsztyn indicted two men charged 
with assaulting Moroccan long-time resident Abdel Mandili with a 
dangerous weapon. The men faced up to eight years' imprisonment for 
their July 23 attack on Mandili. The alleged attackers beat Mandili 
unconscious at a theater festival in Olsztyn after his group performed 
a play about the difficulties of immigrants. Eleven other suspects were 
arrested in connection with the attack but only two have been indicted.
    Societal discrimination against Roma continued. In some cases local 
officials discriminated against Roma by not providing adequate social 
services. Romani leaders complained of widespread discrimination in 
employment, housing, banking, the justice system, the media, and 
education. During the year the IOM began a project as part of an EU-
wide undertaking called EQUAL to combat unemployment and improve the 
situation of ``disfavored'' groups on the labor market. Under the 
program the IOM established four small Roma-run enterprises which have 
special legal status and tax privileges.
    The Roma Association claimed that more than 50 percent of Romani 
children did not attend public school out of fear that teachers would 
try to assimilate them and uproot them from their Roma traditions. The 
association also noted that the gaps in education made it impossible 
for Roma to end their poverty; approximately 90 percent of Roma were 
unemployed.
    On October 20, the Silesian community filed an appeal to the 
Supreme Court to annul the entire judicial process of their application 
for official minority status, thus ending the matter.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--International NGOs, 
including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), and 
the European Parliament urged the Government to end homophobia and to 
halt attacks on gays and lesbians. In June, HRW and AI separately 
issued statements expressing concern about possible violence in 
connection with an ``equality parade'' organized by a consortium of gay 
rights advocates (see section 2.b.); the parade was held June 10 
without major incidents.
    Prior to the equality parade, a Sejm member and prominent member of 
the Catholic League of Polish Families, Wojciech Wierzejski, criticized 
the event in remarks before the Sejm, describing gays as ``deviants'' 
and stating that, when the parade begins, marchers ``should be beaten 
with batons.''
    On June 15, the European Parliament voted to condemn the rising 
environment of intolerance and homophobia in the country, with some 
parliamentarians singling out Wierzejski for inciting violence against 
gays and lesbians.
    There was discrimination against HIV-positive persons. The national 
AIDS center reported no cases of discrimination against HIV-positive 
persons in the units supervised and funded by the center.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers, 
including civilian employees of the armed forces, police, and frontier 
guard, have the right to establish and join trade unions. While many 
workers exercised this right in practice, many small and medium-sized 
firms discriminated against those who attempted to organize labor. As a 
rule, newly established small and medium-sized firms were nonunion, 
while privatized formerly state-owned enterprises frequently continued 
union activity.
    Under the law, 10 persons are required to form a local union and 30 
persons for a national union. Unions must be registered with the 
courts. A court decision refusing registration may be appealed. The law 
does not give trade unions the freedom to exercise their right to 
organize all workers. For example, workers on individual contracts 
cannot form or join a trade union.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, labor leaders 
reported that employers frequently discriminated against workers who 
attempted to organize or join unions, particularly in the private 
sector. In state-owned enterprises, such as the health, water, and 
forestry sectors, there were cases in which workers had their 
employment contracts terminated and replaced by individual contracts to 
prevent them from joining a union. Discrimination typically took the 
forms of intimidation, termination of work contracts without notice, 
and closing the workplace. The law also did not prevent employer 
harassment of union members for trade union activity; there were 
unconfirmed reports that some employers sanctioned employees who tried 
to set up unions. Managers also asked workers in the presence of a 
notary public to declare whether they were union members.
    On March 7, the Impel-Tom company in Kostrzyn fired Jacek 
Rosolowski without cause after he and 11 other workers signed a letter 
of intent to form a workers' initiative. Rosolowski successfully sued 
his former employer. On November 8, the regional labor court awarded 
him $2,400 (7,000 zloty) in damages. Three others who signed the letter 
of intent had also lost their jobs at Impel-Tom at year's end.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, in 
practice the Government failed to protect this right at small and 
medium-sized companies. The law provides for and protects enterprise-
level collective bargaining over wages and working conditions. As of 
June there were 166 collective bargaining agreements between employers 
and trade unions, with 198 amendments addressing salary, work 
conditions, or the needs of individual companies. The tripartite 
commission (unions, employers, and the Government) was the main forum 
that determined national wage and benefit increases in areas such as 
the social services sector.
    Key public sector employers (largely in heavy industry and the 
social services sector) could not negotiate with labor without the 
extensive involvement of the ministries to which they were subordinate. 
The law provides for parties to take group disputes to labor courts, 
then to the prosecutor general, and, as a last resort, to the 
Administrative Court. Through the first half of the year, groups filed 
492 such disputes.
    All workers have the right to strike except those in essential 
services such as security forces, the Supreme Chamber of Audit, police, 
border guards, and fire brigades. These workers had the right to 
protest and seek resolution of their grievances through mediation and 
the court system. A majority of strikes were technically illegal 
because one or both sides did not follow each step exactly. Labor 
courts acted slowly in deciding the legality of strikes, while 
sanctions against unions for calling illegal strikes and against 
employers for provoking them were minimal. Unions alleged that laws 
prohibiting retribution against strikers were not enforced consistently 
and that the small fines imposed as punishment were ineffective 
deterrents. Organizers are liable for damages and may face civil 
charges and fines.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including 
forced or compulsory labor, and the Government effectively enforced the 
law in practice. The law prohibits the employment of persons under age 
15. Persons between the ages of 15 and 18 may be employed only if they 
have completed primary school, the proposed employment constitutes 
vocational training, and the work is not harmful to their health.
    The State Labor Inspectorate (PIP) reported that increasing numbers 
of minors worked, and that many employers underpaid them or paid them 
late. During the year the inspectorate conducted 292 investigations 
involving 1,929 underage employees. Fines were levied in 100 cases, 
amounting to approximately $21,000 (63,550 zloty).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The new national monthly minimum 
wage of $300 (899 zloty) that took effect on January 1 did not provide 
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The large size of 
the informal economy and the low number of government labor inspectors 
made enforcement of the minimum wage difficult. A large percentage of 
construction workers and seasonal agricultural laborers from Ukraine 
and Belarus earned less than the minimum wage.
    The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours, with an upper 
limit of 48 hours per week including overtime. The law requires premium 
pay for overtime hours, but there were reports that this regulation was 
often ignored. The law provided for workers to receive at least 11 
hours of uninterrupted rest per day and 35 hours of uninterrupted rest 
per week.
    The law defines strict and extensive minimum conditions to protect 
worker health and safety. It empowers PIP to supervise and monitor 
implementation of worker health and safety laws and to close workplaces 
with unsafe conditions. However, PIP was unable to monitor workplace 
safety sufficiently. According to government statistics, 41,174 persons 
were injured, 201 persons killed, and 440 persons seriously injured on 
the job during the first six months of the year. Employers routinely 
exceeded standards for exposure to chemicals, dust, and noise.
    The law permits workers to remove themselves from dangerous working 
conditions without losing their jobs; however, they were unable to do 
so in practice without jeopardizing their employment.

                               __________

                                PORTUGAL

    Portugal, with a population of approximately 10.6 million, is a 
constitutional democracy with a President, a prime minister, and a 
parliament elected in multiparty elections. National parliamentary 
elections in February 2005 were free and fair. The civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police and prison 
guards occasionally beat and abused detainees and prison conditions 
remained poor. Lengthy pretrial and preventive detention remained a 
problem as did trafficking in foreign laborers and women.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings; however, security forces shot and killed six persons 
during the year. The six shootings were under investigation at year's 
end by the Government's Inspectorate General of Internal Administration 
(IGAI).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were credible reports of disproportionate use of force by police 
and of mistreatment and other forms of abuse by prison guards against 
detainees.
    During the year the IGAI investigated new reports of mistreatment 
and abuse by police and prison guards (see section 1.d.).
    An internal prison inquiry into the beating of Albino Libinio in 
2003 found that he had sustained multiple injuries from an assault that 
may have amounted to torture. A criminal investigation into the matter 
was pending, and disciplinary proceedings against several prison 
officers were ongoing.
    In December 2005 a trial began of three police officers who were 
accused of assault in 1995.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
poor, and guards continued to mistreat prisoners occasionally. Other 
problems included overcrowding, inadequate facilities, poor health 
conditions, and violence among inmates.
    Most of the guidelines and legislative proposals the Government 
adopted in 2004 to reform the prison system had not been put in 
practice. However, some improvements were made during the year, 
including a decrease in prison overcrowding and an increase in 
personnel training.
    According to the Director General for Prisons, approximately 35 
percent of the prison population was infected with HIV/AIDS and/or 
hepatitis B or C. The highest percentage (at least 20 percent) is 
infected with hepatitis C while at least 10 percent are infected with 
HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry of Justice, 93 persons died in 
prisons during 2005, 25 of them from HIV/AIDS and 35 from unspecified 
illnesses. Nine were reported as suicides. The Government's AIDS 
prevention and treatment program continued in two major prisons on a 
three-year trial basis.
    Although there was a youth prison in Leiria, at times juveniles 
were held with adults elsewhere in the prison system. Pretrial 
detainees were held with convicted criminals.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There were 
approximately 50,000 law enforcement officials, including police and 
prison guards. The ministries of Justice and Internal Administration 
are primarily responsible for internal security. The Republican 
National Guard (GNR) has jurisdiction outside cities, and the Public 
Security Police (PSP) has jurisdiction in cities. The Aliens and 
Borders Service has jurisdiction on immigration and border issues.
    Some members of the security forces committed human rights abuses. 
In 2004 the IGAI received 276 complaints of human rights abuses. The 
majority of the complaints were against the PSP and the GNR, 166 and 94 
respectively. The complaints included injuries or threats with 
firearms, excessive use of force, illegal detention, and abuse of 
power.
    The major problems within the police forces were understaffing, 
insufficient training with firearms, and inconsistent or weak law 
enforcement. According to the chairman of the Portuguese Police 
Association, police killings could be linked to the lack of adequate 
firearm training. There were no indications that police corruption was 
widespread. During the year police officers received professional 
training, and the Government regulated their actions through mechanisms 
established by law.
    An independent ombudsman is chosen by the parliament and the IGAI 
to investigate complaints of abuse or mistreatment by police; however, 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the slow pace of 
investigations and the lack of an independent oversight agency to 
monitor the IGAI and Ministry of Interior.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide detailed 
guidelines covering all aspects of arrest and custody, and the 
authorities generally followed the laws in practice. Persons can only 
be arrested based on a court ordered warrant. However, warrantless 
arrests by law enforcement officials and citizens can be made in cases 
where there is probable cause to believe a crime has been or is being 
committed and in cases where the person to be arrested is an escaped 
convict or detention prisoner.
    Under the law an investigating judge determines whether an arrested 
person should be detained, released on bail, or released outright. A 
person may not be held for more than 48 hours without appearing before 
an investigating judge. Investigative detention is limited to a maximum 
of six months for each suspected crime. If a formal charge is not filed 
within that period, the detainee must be released. In cases of serious 
crimes such as murder or armed robbery, or of those involving more than 
one suspect, investigative detention may last for up to two years and 
may be extended by a judge to three years in extraordinary 
circumstances. A suspect in investigative detention must be brought to 
trial within 18 months of being charged formally. If a suspect is not 
in detention, there is no specified period for going to trial. 
Detainees have access to lawyers from time of arrest, and the 
Government assumes any necessary costs.
    In 2004 the IGAI received 17 complaints linked to arbitrary 
arrests, which were duly investigated.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem.
    As of December 13, 3,039 individuals (24 percent of the prison 
population) were in preventive detention, an increase of six percent 
from the previous year. The average detention time was eight months 
(down from 26 months), while approximately 20 percent of preventive 
detainees spent more than one year in prison.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    The court system consists of a Constitutional Court, a Supreme 
Court of Justice, and judicial courts of first and second instance. 
There is also a Supreme Court of Administration, which handles 
administrative and tax disputes and is supported by lower 
administrative courts. There is an audit court in the Ministry of 
Finance.
    There were more than 500 courts in the country, and approximately 
3,000 magistrates and judges; however, staff shortages, budget 
restrictions, court delays, and the lack of computerization continued 
to be serious problems that contributed to inefficiency and a backlog 
of cases.
    Critics, including the media, business corporations, and legal 
observers, estimated the backlog of pending trials was at least a year.

    Trial Procedures.--Jury trials can be requested for criminal cases 
but are rare. Civil cases do not have jury trials. Defendants are 
presumed innocent and have the right of appeal and the right to consult 
with an attorney in a timely manner, at government expense if needed. 
They can confront and question witnesses against them, present evidence 
on their behalf, and have access to government- held evidence. These 
rights were generally followed in practice.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Citizens have access to a 
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human 
rights violation. There are administrative as well as judicial remedies 
for alleged wrongs.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press and judiciary 
and a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure 
freedom of speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail. 
According to a December survey by the National Statistics Institute, 
Internet use was approximately 36 percent; however, the rate increased 
to 80 and 87 percent for high school and university graduates, 
respectively. By January, Internet access was available in all public 
elementary and high schools. All federal government offices and 97 
percent of hospitals have Internet access.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    The 2001 Religious Freedom Act created a legislative framework for 
religions established in the country for at least 30 years, or 
recognized internationally for at least 60 years. The act provides all 
other qualifying religions with benefits previously reserved for the 
Catholic Church: full tax-exempt status, legal recognition for marriage 
and other rites, chaplain visits to prisons and hospitals, and respect 
for traditional holidays.
    The Catholic Church maintains a separate agreement with the 
Government under the terms of the 2004 amended concordat which 
recognizes the juridical personality of the Portuguese Episcopal 
Conference and allows the Catholic Church to receive 0.5 percent of the 
income tax that citizens can allocate to various institutions in their 
annual tax returns.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population was 
approximately 700. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. 
Government efforts to promote religious tolerance included the 
President's participation in a ceremony in 2005 to commemorate the 
anniversary of the founding of Lisbon's 19th century synagogue, which 
was restored for religious services and cultural events. On April 19, 
in a ceremony in a public square in downtown Lisbon, citizens marked 
the 500th anniversary of the killing of thousands of Jews who had been 
forced by the state to convert to Christianity. City officials unveiled 
a small memorial at the site, and the event received significant media 
coverage.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    c. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The country's system for granting refugee status was active and 
accessible.
    During the year the Government also provided temporary protection 
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 
Convention and 1967 Protocol, although the exact number was not 
available.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Parties.--Free and fair national 
parliamentary elections were held in February 2005. The Socialist Party 
won a ruling majority, ending a governing coalition between the Social 
Democrat Party (PSD) and the Christian Democrat/People's Party.
    There were 61 women in the 230-member parliament and two women in 
the cabinet. There were no members of minorities in parliament or the 
cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
corruption in the executive or legislative branches of government 
during the year; however, there were media reports of corruption 
involving local government officials. The most high-profile corruption 
cases involved mayors Fatima Felgueiras, Valentim Loureiro, and 
Isaltino Morais. Felgueiras (Socialist Party), self-exiled to Brazil 
from 2003-05 to escape arrest, was accused of embezzlement and abuse of 
power. Loureiro, PSD mayor and President of the Portuguese Professional 
Soccer League, was accused of corruption and influencing of referees in 
Portuguese soccer. Morais (PSD) was accused of tax evasion, corruption, 
and money laundering. All three were awaiting trial at year's end.
    The constitution and law provide for public access to government 
information, and the Government provided access in practice for 
citizens and non-citizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, most of the 
groups continued to complain about the slow pace of investigations and 
remedial actions.
    The country has an independent human rights ombudsman who is 
responsible for defending human rights, freedom, privileges, and the 
legitimate rights of all citizens. The ombudsman had adequate resources 
and published mandatory annual reports and special reports on such 
issues as women's rights, prisons, and the rights of children and 
senior citizens.
    Within parliament there is an independent First Committee for 
Constitutional Issues, Rights, and Liberties and Privileges, which has 
oversight over human rights issues. It drafts and submits bills and 
petitions for parliamentary approval. During the year these included 
bills on establishing the Legal Assistance Institute (to provide legal 
representation for indigent clients), combating corruption in sports, 
approving a referendum on the decriminalization of abortion, and 
improving immigrants' rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, and social status; however, 
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities persisted.

    Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, 
continued to be a problem. While there was no clear evidence that 
violence against women increased, more cases of violence were reported. 
In 2005 the Government established the Portuguese Structure against 
Domestic Violence (EMCVD), which launched a nationwide awareness 
campaign against domestic violence, trained health professionals, 
proposed legislation to improve legal assistance to victims, increased 
the number of safe houses for victims of domestic violence, and signed 
protocols with local authorities to assist victims. In July President 
Cavaco Silva toured several northern districts to raise awareness of 
domestic violence.
    Of the nearly 7,070 cases of violence reported during the first six 
months of the year to the Association for Victim Support (APAV), more 
than 86 percent involved domestic violence. The APAV is a nonprofit, 
charitable organization that provides confidential and free services 
nationwide to victims of any type of crime. (Most reported domestic 
violence cases are registered by the PSP and GNR, who redirect victims 
to APAV for assistance.)
    According to a women's rights NGO, the Union of Women Alternative 
and Response, 39 women were killed by their husbands or partners in the 
12 month period that ended in November.
    The law provides for criminal penalties in cases of violence by a 
spouse, and the judicial system prosecuted persons accused of abusing 
women; however, traditional societal attitudes still discouraged many 
battered women from using the judicial system.
    According to the head of the government-sponsored Mission Against 
Domestic Violence, only 10 percent of cases were brought to trial. The 
vast majority were resolved outside of the court system by lawyers who 
mediated between the parties. In 2005 according to the Ministry of 
Justice, there were 870 court cases related to domestic violence and 
only 460 prosecutions.
    The Government's Commission for Equality and Women's Rights ran 14 
safe houses for victims of domestic violence and also maintained a 24-
hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week phone service. The safe house services 
included food, shelter, and health and legal assistance.
    The law specifically makes rape, including spousal rape, illegal, 
and the Government generally enforced these laws. However, statistics 
were not available for the number of abusers who were prosecuted, 
convicted, or punished.
    Prostitution was legal and common, and there were reports of 
violence against prostitutes. Only pimping, running brothels, and the 
procurement of prostitutes are illegal and legally punishable. 
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation continued 
to be a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is a crime if perpetrated by a superior in the 
workplace. The penalty is two to three years in prison.
    The Commission on Equality in the Workplace and in Employment 
(CITE), which is composed of representatives of the Government, 
employers' organizations, and labor unions, is empowered to examine, 
but not adjudicate, complaints of sexual harassment. Reporting of 
sexual harassment was on the rise. According to a study conducted by 
the Higher Institute for Labor and Entrepreneurial Sciences and 
published by CITE, one out of three women has been a victim of sexual 
harassment, which ranged from offensive gazes to sexual propositions, 
insults, and threats of coerced or unwelcome touching.
    The civil code provides women with full legal equality with men; 
however, in practice women experienced economic and other forms of 
discrimination. Of the 367,312 students enrolled in higher education in 
the 2005-06 school year, 55 percent were women. Although women made up 
46 percent of the working population and increasingly were represented 
in business, science, academia, and the professions, their average 
salaries were about 30 percent less than men's.
    Discrimination by employers against pregnant workers and new 
mothers was a common problem.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. Nine years of compulsory, free, and universal 
education were provided for children through the age of 15. The 
majority of children attended school; however, 45 percent dropped out 
before completing high school. The Government also provided preschool 
education for children age four and older.
    The Government provided free or low cost health care for all 
children until the age of 15; girls and boys had equal access.
    Child abuse was a problem. The nonprofit APAV reported 97 cases of 
crimes against children under 18 years old during the first six months 
of the year. Approximately 85 percent of the cases involved domestic 
violence.
    The high-profile trial of a pedophilia operation at the Casa Pia 
children's home in Lisbon that began in November 2004 continued at 
year's end. The eight defendants faced charges ranging from procurement 
and rape to homosexual acts with adolescents and sexual abuse of minors 
for abusing 46 children.
    Trafficking of children for sexual exploitation and forced labor 
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or 
within the country. The law also criminalizes the trafficking of 
children under 16 years of age for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
    The country is primarily a destination and transit point for women, 
men, and children trafficked from Brazil, Eastern Europe, and, to a 
lesser extent, Africa. Some victims were trafficked to the country for 
forced labor. The majority of victims from Brazil were trafficked for 
the purpose of sexual exploitation. Approximately 5,000 women, mostly 
Brazilians, were trafficked to the country annually.
    Trafficked persons generally lived in hiding in poor conditions, 
with little or no sanitation facilities and in cramped spaces. Some 
trafficked workers were not paid, and some were ``housed'' within the 
factory or construction site. Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian 
organized crime groups reportedly conducted most of the trafficking of 
Eastern Europeans. The traffickers frequently demanded additional 
payments and a share of earnings following their victims' arrival in 
the country, usually under threat of physical harm. They often withheld 
the identification documents of the trafficked persons and threatened 
to harm family members who remained in the country of origin.
    The Government increased its anti-trafficking efforts during the 
year and reported that it actively dismantled trafficking networks in 
2005, reducing their overall presence in the country. The Government 
continued to cooperate with other European law enforcement agencies in 
trafficking investigations. In November 2005 it signed an agreement 
with Spanish police to strengthen border control, which included a 
joint police team to address trafficking and smuggling.
    Each law that can be applied to traffickers, such as facilitating 
the illegal entry of persons, employing an illegal immigrant, false 
documentation, extortion, fraud, and sexual exploitation, carries a 
penalty of between one and eight years' imprisonment. By citing the 
violation of multiple provisions, judges have handed down longer 
sentences. While the Government prosecuted 45 traffickers during 2004, 
the latest period for which data was available, only two of 27 
traffickers convicted served prison time; the remaining 25 received 
suspended sentences.
    The Government provided subsidies for victims to receive shelter, 
employment, education, access to medical services, and assistance in 
family reunification. The Government also provided legal residency to 
many trafficking victims, although most victims were repatriated. Some 
NGOs assisted the Government in tracking and reintegrating trafficking 
victims. Victims who initially were detained were later transferred to 
NGOs for protection and assistance. The Government operated 20 National 
Immigrant Support Centers throughout the country to provide immigrants, 
including trafficking victims, with multi-lingual information and 
assistance. In 2005 the Government renewed funding for NGOs to provide 
shelter and assistance to trafficking victims and victims of other 
crimes.
    The Government sponsored antitrafficking information campaigns and 
public service announcements throughout the year. It broadcasted 
various programs on state-run channels to educate and inform the 
general public, including potential trafficking victims and consumers. 
In 2005 the Government developed and disseminated a national 
antitrafficking action plan to address trafficking more systematically. 
The plan provided for the establishment of a statistics-gathering unit 
within the Ministry of Interior to monitor more effectively and adjust 
the Government's approach to combating trafficking.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced the law. The law also mandates access 
to public buildings for such persons, and the Government enforced these 
provisions in practice; however, no such legislation covers private 
businesses or other facilities.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity oversees the National 
Bureau for the Rehabilitation and Integration of Persons with 
Disabilities, which is responsible for the protection, professional 
training, rehabilitation, and integration of persons with disabilities, 
and enforcement of related legislation.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government effectively 
protected the civil and political rights of minority groups. The 
principal minority groups were immigrants, legal and illegal, from the 
country's former African colonies, Brazil, and Eastern Europe. 
Approximately 500,000 legal immigrants lived in the country, 
representing an estimated 5 percent of the population. The country also 
had a resident Romani population of approximately 50,000.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the 
right to form or join unions of their choice without previous 
authorization or excessive requirements, and they exercised this right 
in practice. Approximately 35 percent of the total workforce was 
unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The right to organize and 
bargain collectively was recognized and exercised freely in practice.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. During the year there were strikes in the 
education, health, transportation, and agriculture sectors. If a long 
strike occurs in an essential sector such as justice, health, energy, 
or transportation, the Government may order the strikers back to work 
for a specific period. The Government rarely has invoked this power.
    Police officers and members of the armed forces may not strike 
legally, but they have unions and recourse within the legal system.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace.
    The minimum working age is 16 years. There were instances of child 
labor, but the overall incidence was small and was concentrated 
geographically and by sector. The greatest problems were reported in 
Braga, Porto, and Faro and tended to occur in the clothing, footwear, 
construction, and hotel industries.
    According to the Government's last major study on child labor in 
2001, approximately 48,900 children between ages six and 15 engaged in 
some form of economic activity. Of that number, 85.3 percent were 
unpaid family workers, 14.7 percent worked for third parties, and 98.6 
percent attended school. Of these children, 48.4 percent were employed 
in the agricultural sector, 12.4 percent in manufacturing, and 8.9 
percent in construction. Of the children that worked, the vast majority 
worked 15 hours or less per week; however, about 11 percent worked more 
than 35 hours per week.
    The Government's principal body to address, monitor, and respond to 
reports of child labor is the Plan for the Elimination of Exploitation 
of Child Labor. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity is 
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and it did so effectively.
    There were reports that Romanian minors often were used for street 
begging (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage, which 
covers full-time workers, rural workers, and domestic employees ages 18 
and older, was approximately $484 (385.90 euros) and did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. However, widespread 
rent controls and basic food and utility subsidies increased the 
standard of living. Most workers received higher wages, with the 
General Confederation of Portuguese Workers estimating an average 
monthly salary of approximately $916 (763.20 euros), excluding public 
servants.
    The maximum legal workday is 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is 
40 hours. There is a maximum of two hours of paid overtime per day and 
200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours between 
workdays. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity effectively 
monitored compliance through its regional inspectors.
    Employers legally are responsible for accidents at work and are 
required by law to carry accident insurance. The General Directorate of 
Hygiene and Labor Security develops safety standards in line with 
European Union standards, and the general labor inspectorate is 
responsible for their enforcement. According to the Inspectorate 
General for Labor, there were 151 deaths from work-related accidents 
this year, the lowest death rate in the past five years. Workers 
injured on the job rarely initiated lawsuits. Workers have the right to 
remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety 
without jeopardy to their employment, and the authorities effectively 
enforced this right.

                               __________

                                ROMANIA

    Romania, a country of approximately 21.7 million persons, is a 
constitutional democracy with a multiparty, bicameral parliamentary 
system. The December 2004 election of Traian Basescu had a few 
irregularities, but generally was judged free and fair. Civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces.
    The Government made increasing attempts to address human rights 
issues during the year; however, human rights abuses continued to 
occur. There were continued reports of police and gendarme harassment 
of detainees and Roma. Although slightly improved over previous years, 
prison conditions remained poor. The judiciary exercised its 
independence, but lacked the public's trust in its ability to 
impartially apply the law. Restrictions on freedom of religion became a 
greater concern, in particular after the adoption of a restrictive, 
discriminatory religion law. While the Government made some progress 
with property restitution, it failed to return property to the Greek 
Catholic Church and other religious denominations. Widespread 
corruption remained a problem. There were continued reports of violence 
and discrimination against women, along with significant lapses in the 
protection of children's rights. Persons, mainly women and children, 
were trafficked for sexual exploitation, but also for labor and forced 
begging. The neglect of and inadequate assistance for persons with 
disabilities was a problem. Societal violence and discrimination 
against the Roma was pervasive. Homosexuals continued to suffer 
societal discrimination. Discrimination against persons, particularly 
children, living with HIV/AIDS was a serious problem.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
there were reports of at least one possibly arbitrary or unlawful 
killing. On September 19, a police officer shot and killed a 22-year 
old Romani man, Adrian Cobzaru, who, together with a second person, was 
stealing goods from a truck in Bucharest and tried to run from the 
scene disregarding the police orders to stop. A commission of the 
Bucharest police began an investigation regarding the circumstances 
under which the officer used his weapon, and that investigation 
continued at year's end. The family of the victim filed a separate 
complaint with the prosecutor's office. The Roma Center for Social 
Intervention and Studies (Romani CRISS), a nongovernmental organization 
(NGO) that monitors the observance of Roma rights, contacted a lawyer 
to help in the lawsuit.
    There were no new developments in the 2005 death of Dumitru Ciobu 
in police custody. Police did not investigate to determine whether his 
treatment in police custody played a role in his death.
    Police did not open an investigation in the death of 34-year-old 
Gheorghe Cazanciuc, who was shot dead in August 2005 by railway 
transportation police while he was allegedly stealing copper wire. The 
police reported that Cazanciuc attempted to flee the scene. Human 
rights NGOs asserted that the use of a firearm by police was excessive, 
given the nature of the crime.
    On January 30, the High Court of Cassation and Justice rejected an 
appeal, filed in 2005 by two former militia colonels, Tudor Stanica and 
Creanga Mihail, to reconsider the 10-year prison sentences; the two 
were convicted in 2003 of the 1985 beating death of former dissident 
Gheorghe Ursu. The appeal was based on a new forensic report 
attributing Ursu's death to a lack of medical care and not to the 
beating itself, thereby contradicting the original 1993 forensic 
report. The court's decision was final. On August 9, the High Court for 
Cassation and Justice rejected an appeal filed by Ursu's family against 
the authorities' decision to release Stanica from prison on medical 
grounds in April 2005. The other convict remained in prison.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
there were numerous credible reports of police torture and mistreatment 
of detainees and Roma, primarily through excessive force and beatings 
by police. There were also reports of mistreatment of physically 
disabled abandoned children in state institutions and of prolonged 
incarceration for misbehavior within state orphanages.
    On July 27, police in Bucharest responded to a dispute between an 
elderly couple, Maria and Lucian Tamaris, and one of their neighbors 
over an alleged property trespass. When police arrived on the scene, 
they allegedly handcuffed the couple, told them to lie on the ground, 
and kicked them. One of the officers claimed that Maria Tamaris 
attacked and injured him. The couple subsequently filed a criminal 
complaint against the police for abusive behavior. In early August, one 
of the officers involved was fired for damaging the image of the police 
by violating police procedures. Five other police officers involved in 
the incident were admonished for failing to observe appropriate police 
procedures.
    Media reported that on the morning of August 14, two community 
policemen beat Bucharest student Alexandru Ungureanu while he was 
walking in the park with a group of friends. Ungureanu claimed that the 
police took his identification documents and wallet. Following the 
student's complaint, the police initiated an internal investigation.
    No further updates were available on the investigations into the 
following alleged police beatings in 2005: the beating of a Romani man 
in a bar in Moreni in April; the beating of two men in Buzau in August; 
and the beating of Bucharest student Razvan Vasile Muraru in Tulcea 
county in October.
    In December 2005 police officers Viorel Buzenschi and Ioan Tibuleac 
in Tibana, Iasi county, allegedly beat four persons, two of them 
minors, with clubs and forced them to admit to committing an alleged 
theft. The minors were hospitalized for their injuries, and the 
officers were dismissed. In May Tibuleac initiated a lawsuit against 
the police chiefs, arguing that he did not use unlawful force against 
the four, and asking to be reinstated. The suit remained pending at 
year's end.
    Romani CRISS and other NGOs continued to claim that police used 
excessive force against Roma and subjected them to brutal treatment and 
harassment.
    According to Romani CRISS, on the morning of May 9, police forces, 
the special intervention squad, and representatives of the electric 
power company entered a Roma community in the village of Gepiu, Bihor 
county, allegedly to stop electric power theft. Police allegedly forced 
their way into Romani homes without showing warrants and physically 
abused five Romani individuals during the search and at the police 
headquarters. In response to complaints of abuse filed by Romani CRISS 
and the alleged victims, police stated that an internal investigation 
revealed no abuse by police. The alleged victims filed a criminal 
complaint with the prosecutor's office, and the case remained under 
investigation.
    On August 3, police and gendarmes entered a Roma community in the 
village of Bontida, Cluj county, and detained five Romani men and boys 
who were then taken to the police precinct. According to Romani CRISS, 
three individuals were physically abused in the gendarmes' van, and the 
other two were abused in the police precinct. Two of the five detainees 
were minors; their parents were initially denied access to the police 
precinct. The chief of the police precinct stated that the gendarmes' 
official report denied that the five men were subjected to abuse. The 
alleged victims filed complaints against the gendarmes for abusive 
behavior.
    In August, according to Romani CRISS, police searched Romani 
neighborhoods in Cluj during an eviction operation and physically 
assaulted several Roma. This raid followed two similar raids on the 
same neighborhood in November 2005, after which residents also accused 
police of abusive behavior toward Romani residents (see section 1.f.).
    According to NGOs, a police officer fined for the 2004 physical 
assault of a 12-year-old boy in Fetesti continued to refuse to pay the 
fine but remained employed as a police officer at year's end.
    On September 7, a police squad entered a Romani community in 
Apalina, Mures county, reportedly to deliver subpoenas to two Romani 
persons who were under criminal investigation. The Roma accused police 
of using extreme violence when they came to the community; however, the 
officers involved in the incident claimed that they were physically 
assaulted by the Roma and used force only in reaction to the attack. 
Romani CRISS and the Pro-Europa League, a human rights NGO based in 
Targu Mures, identified 37 victims of the incident, 36 of whom were 
Roma. In reply to two letters sent by Romani CRISS, the general police 
inspectorate initiated an investigation and concluded that the incident 
was ``inappropriately managed'' by the police officers in charge, which 
led to measures violating legal provisions and internal police 
regulations. On October 12, the inspectorate began a preliminary 
investigation of senior police officer Valer Ujica and police officers 
Alexandru Moldovan and Petru Gora. Forty-nine Roma filed criminal 
complaints and the case was under investigation by the prosecutor's 
office in Targu Mures at year's end.
    On June 28, after a lengthy trial, a Constanta court issued four- 
and six-month suspended prison sentences to two members of the Service 
for Protection and Guard, Daniel Bogdan Mihalcea and Teodor Chirica, 
who in August 2004 physically assaulted Serban Pretor, a state 
secretary on the National Audiovisual Council. In October, the 
Constanta court ruled on the appeals, filed by both Pretor and the two 
defendants in July, acquitting the two and reducing the moral 
compensation to be paid by the defendants to the victim from $1,560 to 
$780 (4,000 to 2,000 new lei). Chirica also received a penal fine of 
$195 (500 new lei).
    On January 24, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) filed an 
application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the 
Government, alleging the excessive and unjustified use of force by the 
police against a Romani family in 2003. The application further alleged 
that authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation of the 
incident. In August 2003 four members of the Pandele family publicly 
protested a municipal decision to deny renewal of their lease of space 
for a fruit and vegetable stand in the Targu Frumos food market. Police 
allegedly responded to the protest by beating the family members with 
bats, truncheons, and boots. The family was taken to the police 
station, where further abuse and threats allegedly took place. The 
Pandeles were fined for disturbing the peace and released, but alleged 
that they were subjected to continued harassment from the municipal 
government since the incident.
    On July 14, the prosecutor's office in Craiova decided to cease 
criminal prosecution of a police officer accused of having tortured an 
18-year-old Romani man, Nelu Balasoiu, who died in Jilava prison after 
his 2002 transfer from a penitentiary in Targu Jiu. The victim's family 
appealed the decision.
    Lesbian and gay rights NGOs complained that police singled out 
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community for 
violence and harassment (see section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
harsh and generally did not meet international standards.
    Overcrowding remained a serious problem, although there was a 
slight improvement over 2005 in respecting prisoners' rights, such as 
the provision of religious assistance and the investigation of 
incidents in prisons. At the end of November, 34,542 persons, including 
767 minors, were in prison or juvenile detention facilities in a system 
with a capacity of 37,925. Overcrowding resulted from a high 
concentration of inmates in a few facilities; for example, on November 
28, the prison in Bacau held 985 prisoners while its capacity was only 
453. The prison in Galati held 1,081 prisoners while its capacity was 
only 821. In the penitentiaries in Margineni and Slobozia, the number 
of prisoners in some cells was higher than the number of beds.
    In October a new law on the execution of prison terms came into 
effect, which, according to some NGOs, was a necessary step toward 
improving prison conditions and enhancing protection of prisoners' 
rights. However, its enforcement was delayed due to the Government's 
failure to adopt implementing regulations for the law. The law 
stipulates four categories of detention status for prisoners serving 
terms: maximum security, closed, semi-open, and open. The law expressly 
allows the transfer of prisoners from one category to another based on 
their conduct.
    Media and human rights organizations reported that the abuse of 
prisoners by authorities and other prisoners continued to be a problem. 
Prisoners from the penitentiaries in Craiova, Turnu Severin, Jilava, 
Bistrita, Slobozia, Tulcea, Braila, Deva, Colibasi, and Arad complained 
to human rights NGOs that prison staff beat and punished them with up 
to seven days of solitary confinement for minor infractions. For 
example, the Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania-the 
Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH) reported on the case of a prisoner in 
Slobozia penitentiary, who was physically abused by four prison guards, 
Emil Dinca, Laurentiu Marian Diamandopol, Valentin Dumitru Musat, and 
Adrian Tomescu, for refusing to wear a prison uniform when he was taken 
to court, on the grounds that the uniform was dirty. The prisoner was 
hospitalized for six days and subsequently punished with 10 days of 
solitary confinement and placed in the category of ``highly dangerous'' 
prisoners. The prosecutor's office decided not to indict the four, and 
an appeal of the decision filed by APADOR-CH was rejected on November 
6.
    According to APADOR-CH, the practice of labeling prisoners as 
``dangerous'' remained a problem, due to a lack of clear standards for 
classifying prisoners. ``Dangerous'' inmates were often held in smaller 
rooms with additional bars on windows and handcuffed when taken out of 
their cells, including during exercise or medical treatment. Because 
the prisons administration considered this labeling an administrative 
matter rather than a disciplinary sanction, prisoners labeled 
``dangerous'' had no right to challenge that determination. NGOs 
further criticized the practice of subjecting prisoners to multiple 
punishments for a single act of indiscipline. There were continued 
reports during the year that at the prison in Jilava, prisoners with 
few or no visitors were often the victims of physical and sexual abuse 
by other prisoners, due to the inability of the victims to obtain 
outside support.
    Sanitation and hygiene in prisons did not meet international 
standards. Medical facilities were not sufficient to care for all 
prisoners and detainees. Heating and hot water were not available in 
several facilities. At the prison at Jilava, prisoners complained of 
mold on cell walls, rust in the tap water, poor heating, and cold 
showers. Because the facility was built on swampland, sludge 
periodically flooded the cells, bringing rats and mice. Many prisoners 
had lice and scabies, and reported the insufficient provision of many 
medications.
    NGOs reported that prison meals did not provide the minimum 
necessary calories and that prisoner access to health care was 
inhibited by the lack of doctors. APADOR-CH criticized the common 
practice of prison doctors serving as the family doctors for prison 
staff, their family members, and retired staff, which further reduced 
the time available for inmate care. NGOs also stated that insufficient 
daily activities and limited educational programs for prisoners 
continued to be major problems; the rate of inmate participation in 
such activities remained at 10 to 20 percent.
    Many prisons and police detention facilities did not provide for 
the confidentiality of discussions between prisoners or detainees and 
their lawyers.
    On December 7, the prisoners in the Codlea penitentiary began 
protesting parliament's rejection of a bill on the collective pardoning 
of some categories of prisoners and against prison conditions. Over the 
next few days, the protests expanded to 26 penitentiaries, with 6,353 
prisoners going on hunger strike. The protests slowly died out, and the 
strikes had all ended by mid-December. According to APADOR-CH, the 
prisoners' actions were a justified response to chronic overcrowding 
and the presence of large numbers of prisoners serving terms for minor 
crimes.
    The Government continued limited efforts, including partnerships 
with NGOs, to alleviate harsh conditions and to deter the spread of HIV 
and tuberculosis.
    Due to overcrowding in some prisons, pretrial detainees were 
sometimes held in the same facilities and treated in the same manner as 
convicted prisoners. Juveniles were sometimes kept in cells with 
adults. An NGO criticized that minors incarcerated in several 
penitentiaries after the beginning of the school year were not admitted 
to educational courses organized in prison.
    In February the Government adopted new regulations for religious 
assistance in prisons, which allow unrestricted access of all religious 
groups to prisons (see section 2.c.).
    In November the national administration of penitentiaries, in 
cooperation with foreign governments, launched a program to improve the 
national prison system through implementation of a new management 
structure, to increase safety and psycho-social activities for high-
risk prisoners, and to provide training for staff who work with high-
risk prisoners.
    The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers, 
foreign government officials, and media representatives. In Arad, the 
local probation office sponsored two visits for foreign officials 
during the year to a newly constructed prison facility. The observers 
noted that the facility appeared new, and living conditions appeared 
clean. Inmates were allowed to receive televisions from their families 
and to keep those in their cells. There was an outdoor exercise area 
with a soccer field. The prison had a library, classrooms, chapel, and 
meeting areas. The kitchen was large and clean. The prison staff 
welcomed questions and seemed open in their responses. The staff freely 
admitted that not all of the prisons operated on the standards of this 
newly constructed facility.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Administration and Interior is responsible for the national police and 
the gendarmerie, as well as the border police; alien authority; 
national office for refugees; the general directorate of information 
and internal protection (DGIPI), which oversees the collection of 
intelligence on organized crime and corruption; the general 
anticorruption directorate; the special protection and intervention 
group; and the special aviation unit. The national police agency is the 
inspectorate general of police, which is divided into specialized 
directorates and has 42 regional directorates for counties and the city 
of Bucharest. The internal intelligence service (SRI) also collects 
intelligence on major organized crime, major economic crimes, and 
corruption. Both SRI and DGIPI turn over the intelligence they gather 
on criminal activity to the prosecutor's office for criminal 
investigation. However, the SRI lacks the legal authority to conduct 
criminal investigations or to collect intelligence on organized crime.
    While police generally followed the law and internal procedures, 
corruption was a continuing problem which remained a main cause of 
citizens' lack of respect for the police and contributed to a 
corresponding lack of police authority. Extremely low salaries, which 
were sometimes not paid on time, contributed to the susceptibility of 
individual law enforcement officials to bribes. According to human 
rights NGOs, forensic reports were frequently unreliable, often erring 
in favor of police and other officials. The ministry's general 
anticorruption directorate publicized its anticorruption telephone 
hotline to generate prosecutorial leads for corruption within the 
police. Instances of high-level corruption were referred to the 
national anticorruption directorate.
    Police impunity was a problem. Complaints of police misconduct were 
handled by the internal disciplinary council of the units where the 
reported officers worked. During the year, the Human Rights and 
Humanitarian Law Department in the General Police Inspectorate 
investigated nine cases of alleged violations of human rights by 18 
officers. Of those 18 officers, three officers' cases were dropped 
because there was no evidence that an officer was involved, four 
officers were found innocent, seven officers received some form of 
administrative punishment and four officers were fired. Separately, 61 
corruption cases (15 police officers and 46 security agents) were 
identified during the year. Of these cases, five were in custody 
awaiting trial and one was convicted. The General Anti-corruption 
Directorate of the Ministry of the Administration and Interior also 
investigated 996 cases of corruption among its employees, a category 
separate from human rights violations.
    Police reform continued during the year. The Government, with 
support from law enforcement agencies from other countries, offered 
police training workshops on topics such as human rights and the proper 
treatment of criminal suspects. The police increased hiring of women 
and minorities. In February the first ever Romani woman was hired as a 
police officer. According to the police, 8.4 percent of police 
employees were women. During the first nine months of the year, the 
police hired 43 members of national minorities: 25 Hungarians, 15 Roma, 
two Germans, and one Slovak. There were 176 Romani police officers 
specializing in the management of conflicts in Roma communities and the 
prevention of discrimination.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that only judges may issue 
detention and search warrants, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice. The law requires authorities to inform 
detainees at the time of arrest of the charges against them and their 
legal rights. Police must notify detainees of their rights in a 
language they understand before obtaining a statement. Detainees must 
be brought before a court within 24 hours of arrest. The law provides 
for pretrial release at the discretion of the court. A bail system also 
exists; however, it was seldom used in practice. The law requires that 
the Government provide an attorney to all detained individuals. 
Detainees have a right to access to counsel and generally had prompt 
access to counsel and their families. Indigent detainees were provided 
with legal counsel at public expense.
    The law allows police to take any person who endangers the public, 
other persons, or the social order to a police station. There were 
allegations that police often used this provision to detain persons up 
to 24 hours of their detention. The law provides criteria for pretrial 
release at the discretion of the court. Human rights NGOs complained 
that authorities were frequently able to listen to discussions between 
detainees and their lawyers. Such listening occurred most frequently in 
prisons, but also was reported at other police facilities.
    A judge may order pretrial detention for periods of up to 30 days, 
depending upon the status of the case. The court may extend these time 
periods; however, pretrial detention may not exceed 180 days. Courts 
and prosecutors may be held liable for unjustifiable, illegal, or 
abusive measures.

    Amnesty.--On April 20, June 20, July 10, and November 6, President 
Basescu issued a total of 12 pardons on humanitarian grounds to five 
women and seven men, most of whom were convicted for minor offenses. 
Five of these persons were pardoned because of old age and/or 
precarious health conditions; three of the women received pardons 
because they had four or five minor children; and one prisoner was 
pardoned for good behavior after serving 10 months of a three-year 
sentence for theft.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary and judges exercised this independence. The 
judiciary, however, lacked the public's trust that its judges were 
accountable and did not serve political interests.
    There was a widespread perception of corruption within the 
judiciary. Some observers noted improvements due to the Government's 
random assignment of cases to judges, but they also pointed out that 
there remained many ways of influencing judges. The Superior Council of 
Magistracy (CSM), the judiciary's independent oversight body which is 
responsible for the promotion and discipline of judges and prosecutors, 
publicly opposed the Government's anticorruption programs, including 
its public awareness campaign depicting justice as a pillar of society 
shaken by acts of corruption. The Government emphasized the importance 
of the judiciary's independence, but also urged the CSM to more 
effectively discipline its members to enhance the management of cases, 
raise ethical standards, and effectively address misconduct. Some NGOs 
criticized the unexpectedly secret elections for the management of the 
CSM as lacking transparency. The ability of CSM members to retain local 
positions, such as Presidents of courts of appeal, also presented 
apparent conflicts of interests and limited full-time activity to just 
six of the 19 members.
    The law establishes a four-tier legal system, beginning with the 
lower court (judecatorie), followed by the intermediate court 
(tribunal), the appellate court, and the High Court of Cassation and 
Justice. A separate Constitutional Court validates electoral results 
and makes decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws, treaties, 
ordinances, and internal rules of the parliament. A prosecutor's office 
is associated with each court. The court having original jurisdiction 
over a case is determined by the nature of the offense and by the 
position a defendant may hold in public service.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are open to the public. The law does not 
provide for trial by jury. The law provides for a right to counsel and 
a presumption of innocence until a final judgment by a court. The law 
requires that the Government provide an attorney to juveniles in 
criminal cases; in practice local bar associations provided attorneys 
to the indigent and were compensated by the Ministry of Justice. 
Defendants have the right to be present at trial, to consult with an 
attorney in a timely manner, to confront or question witnesses against 
them, and to present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants 
and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to 
their cases. Both plaintiffs and defendants have a right of appeal.
    The law provides for the investigation by civilian prosecutors of 
crimes by the national police. Military prosecutors continued to try 
cases that involved ``state security'' in military cases. Other cases 
involving ``state security'' but not military issues were tried by 
civilian prosecutors. Crimes by the gendarmerie continued to fall under 
military jurisdiction. Local and international human rights groups 
criticized the handling of cases by military courts, claiming that 
military prosecutors' investigations were unnecessarily lengthy, 
biased, and often inconclusive. Some lawyers claimed such lengthy 
investigations only served to discredit the reputations of their 
clients rather than hold them accountable for any actual wrongdoing.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.
    Following the end of Communism, no law was ever passed to annul the 
sentences of political prisoners who had served prison terms during the 
Communist era; individuals had to go through a lengthy appeals process 
to have their Communist-era criminal records expunged.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil courts functioned in 
every jurisdiction of the country. Civil courts do not use a jury and 
function in a similar fashion as the criminal courts. Crime victims can 
assert civil remedies in either civil courts or criminal courts if they 
choose. This can result in a combined civil/criminal trial to resolve 
all issues arising from the criminal case. Civil courts are 
administered by the Ministry of Justice and the magistrates themselves 
are overseen by the CSM. Civil courts operated with the same degree of 
judicial independence as the criminal courts.
    Problems with the civil court system stemmed primarily from their 
lack of efficiency. Litigants sometimes also encountered difficulties 
enforcing civil verdicts, because the procedures for enforcement of 
judgment orders were impractical and caused delays.
    Administrative and judicial remedies were available for violations 
of civil rights by government agencies.

    Property Restitution.--In July 2005 the Government passed 
legislation to improve the process of property restitution, which has 
moved slowly since the end of communism. The legislation clarifies the 
procedures for restitution and establish new application deadlines and 
fines for officials who hindered the process; and creats a property 
fund worth approximately $5 billion (14 billion new lei) for the 
compensation in stock of owners with properties that cannot be returned 
in kind. However, the fund has not yet been listed on the stock 
exchange. Although the large majority of restitution cases remained 
unresolved, the pace of restitution increased slightly during the year.
    Former owners' organizations, however, continued to assert that 
inertia hindered property restitution at the local level. In some 
cases, local government officials continued to delay or refuse to 
provide necessary documents to former owners filing claims. They also 
refused to turn over restituted properties in which county or municipal 
governments had an interest. Former owners stated that the central 
government, represented at the local level by prefects, did not 
uniformly apply fines or other sanctions against local governments that 
failed to provide requested documents or to turn over restituted 
properties. During the year new legislation was adopted to give 
increased powers to the National Agency for Property Restitution 
(ANRP). Although the ANRP fined local authorities in 23 of the 42 
counties for failing to abide by laws on restitution, former owners 
claimed that the actual number of mayors who disobeyed the law was much 
higher. About 7 percent of the mayors were fined for not implementing 
the restitution law. The fines levied during the year amounted to 
approximately $974,000 (2,500,000 new lei).
    The number of restitution claims submitted increased greatly as a 
result of the 2005 law. ANRP announced that the Government received an 
additional 600,000 applications by the close of a November 2005 
deadline for claims. Of the 210,000 claims filed before the 
legislation, ANRP reported that some 88,000 claims were resolved by 
year's end, approximately 35,000 of which were rejected.
    During the year the Government did not encourage the Romanian 
Orthodox Church to return Greek Catholic churches and church properties 
confiscated by the communist state, and given to the Romanian Orthodox 
Church (see section 2.c.).

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
    The law permits the use of electronic interception both in criminal 
cases and for national security purposes. In exceptional circumstances 
(when there is a clear and present danger to national security), 
government institutions may begin interception without a judicial 
warrant. Following this, however, a request for authorization must be 
submitted within 48 hours. Although the penal procedure code provides 
that warrants may be issued only by judges, under the law on national 
security, a prosecutor may authorize the issuance of a warrant for an 
initial period of six months, which can be extended indefinitely in 
three-month increments without judicial approval. There were reports of 
electronic interception used outside of these legal parameters.
    According to Romani CRISS, evictions of members of the Roma 
community continued to occur both in Bucharest and in other localities 
during the year.
    On January 24, the community police of Bucharest Sector 1, 
accompanied by a special intervention team, allegedly acting without 
prior written notification, demolished seven houses belonging to Roma 
in Chitila, a suburb of Bucharest. Three Roma were physically abused in 
the process, two of whom required medical treatment at the hospital. 
Approximately 50 of the evicted Roma were not allowed to take their 
belongings. The demolition took place at a temperature of five degrees 
Fahrenheit, leaving many adults and children outside in freezing cold. 
According to the mayor's office, the operation's goal was to demolish 
structures that had been illegally erected on public land by Romani 
families. Romani CRISS assisted the victims in filing criminal 
complaints, which remained pending at year's end.
    On August 2, police executed a raid in a Romani community located 
on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca, in which 10 Roma dwellings were set on 
fire. The community was reportedly also subject to two prior raids in 
November 2005. During one of these raids, police were alleged to have 
physically assaulted three women. Under the pretext of a search for 
stolen goods and criminal suspects, police reportedly confiscated 
private property, physically assaulted several Roma, evicted residents 
by force, detained men at the police precinct for six hours, and 
eventually burned all the Roma dwellings. In December 2005 Romani CRISS 
filed a complaint against the police officers for abuse and property 
destruction stemming from the November 2005 incidents at the 
prosecutor's office in Cluj. The case remained under criminal 
investigation by the prosecutor's office. Romani CRISS complained that 
neither the victims nor the witnesses had yet been called for their 
testimony.
    According to Romani CRISS, on August 7, the mayor's office in 
Piatra Neamt, working in conjunction with the police, gendarmes, and 
local community police, evicted 35 Romani families totaling 
approximately 250 individuals from a bloc of apartments. According to 
police the evictions were necessary in order to repair the building. 
During the eviction, a member of the community police reportedly 
physically assaulted an elderly woman. The authorities did not offer 
alternative housing for the evicted families.
    Most of the 40 Romani families evicted in Tulcea in May 2005 
continued to live either in the open, with relatives, or in a decaying 
building on the site while an appeal of the eviction decision was 
pending in a local court. Another lawsuit challenging the eviction was 
in progress. Approximately 250 Roma evicted in Zalau in February and 
March 2005 were moved to areas with poor conditions, including lack of 
access to water supply, heating, electric power, or a sewer system. In 
March, following talks with representatives of a Roma NGO, local 
authorities announced a plan to move the evicted Roma either to a 
former poultry farm outside of town or to a disused power station. Due 
to pressure by Romani CRISS, the plan was not implemented.
    In 2005, to implement a city plan to renovate Bucharest's historic 
Lipscani district, authorities evicted Roma living in the area, 
providing minimal financial aid and compensation. Although authorities 
in some cases offered alternative housing to those evicted, the offers 
were considered inadequate because of their proximity to industrial 
areas; poor living conditions; or the likelihood of de facto 
segregation from mainstream society.
    In August 2005 the National Council for Combating Discrimination 
(CNCD) fined the mayor's office in Miercurea Ciuc, Harghita county, 
approximately $1,560 (4,000 new lei) for the 2004 forced eviction of 
approximately 140 Roma and their relocation to a hazardous area near a 
wastewater treatment facility. The Roma lacked alternative housing and 
continued to reside in that area. A lawsuit filed by Romani CRISS 
against the vice mayor of Miercurea Ciuc for restriction of rights was 
in progress. Following a further complaint by Romani CRISS to county 
officials, the Harghita county health directorate determined that 
living in that area represented a health hazard for the Roma.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. Journalists and private citizens could generally 
criticize government authorities, including those at senior levels. 
Violence and threats against journalists dropped substantially, 
although investigations of incidents from previous years moved slowly.
    There were isolated cases of authorities intimidating, censoring, 
or attacking journalists, although this occurred less frequently than 
in previous years.
    Laws restricting freedom of speech continued to cause concern among 
the media and NGOs. The offense of insulting authorities was punishable 
with a fine but amendments to the criminal code, which became effective 
August 11, decriminalized libel, insult, and defamation of the country.
    The Government collaborated with media and NGO representatives to 
make the allocation of government-funded advertising more transparent, 
resulting in legal changes and the creation of a Web site dedicated to 
public advertising. These negotiations followed a 2004 ruling by the 
Bucharest appellate court that the Government must provide information 
regarding advertising contracts to the NGO Center for Independent 
Journalism.
    The independent media were more active than in previous years, and 
expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
    Parliamentarians and their political allies owned numerous media 
outlets in the provinces, and the news and editorial tone of these 
outlets frequently reflected the views of the owners.
    In previous years the media reported several cases of journalists 
who, while videotaping or covering various official events, were 
assaulted by those being filmed. Such incidents occurred in public 
places, and the media reported that gendarmes and police frequently did 
not intervene. According to a Media Monitoring Agency report issued in 
January, the number of direct and brutal attacks against journalists in 
the country diminished compared to previous years. However, public 
authorities and politicians were still responsible for many cases of 
harassment, although there were fewer reports of threats than in 
previous years.
    In February unknown persons set fire to the front door of the home 
of Ileana Firtuescu, editor in chief of Informatia weekly in Petrosani. 
Firtuescu and her family also reported receiving death threats. The NGO 
Media Monitoring Agency asked the police to investigate the case, but 
police were unable to identify any suspects. Firtulescu was 
investigating organized crime, as well as a corrupt former policeman, 
when the threats were received.
    In March police in Targu Mures confiscated the Hungarian language 
publication Europai Ido for its articles in support of regional 
autonomy. Police claimed that the publication harmed national security, 
but media activists charged it was an act of censorship.
    In July media NGOs protested phone threats issued by Vasile Paun, a 
deputy director of the Army Intelligence Service against Doru Dragomir, 
a reporter for the daily Ziua. Paun, who was taped by the journalist, 
threatened to destroy the journalist and said the journalist would pay 
for his reports.
    In August a crew from television network Antena 1 was filming an 
investigation of so-called ``local barons'' in the southern town of 
Giurgiu. While filming on public property outside a ranch allegedly 
belonging to Giurgiu mayor Lucian Iliescu, the mayor's wife, Smaranda 
Iliescu, assaulted the journalists and attempted to grab the tape from 
their camera. Mayor Lucian Iliescu, a member of the Democratic Party in 
the coalition government, told the press that the whole event was meant 
to ruin his image.
    There were cases in which media representatives were arrested or 
interviewed by authorities for using leaked classified information.
    On February 17, Marian Garleanu, the local correspondent of Romania 
Libera in Vrancea was arrested with regard to leaked information from 
the defense ministry. He was released in two days after the appellate 
court admitted a motion by his lawyer, but charges against him remained 
pending at year's end. Other journalists also were investigated in the 
case.
    On February 22, local prosecutors in Focsani indicted journalist 
Sebastian Oancea of the newspaper Ziua for his alleged possession of 
the same classified military documents possessed by Marian Garleanu, 
which Oancea also did not publish. Charges against Oancea remained 
pending at year's end.
    On March 28, journalists and media activists protested the legal 
investigation into the leaked information case and the fines levied by 
authorities against four of the journalists involved. Two appealed the 
fine and won their case, while the other two had to pay the fine of 
approximately $500 each (1,500 new lei).
    During the year there were no relevant developments in cases from 
previous years of violence against journalists. However, police in 
Hunedoara said that they had discovered the assailants of two 
journalists in Petrosani who had reported on corruption in the mining 
sector; the police investigation lasted three years. The case was in 
the courts at year's end.
    In August, journalist Brindusa Armanca won a lawsuit against her 
former employer, public television station TVR, following a two-year 
legal battle. Armanca was fired from the station after she publicly 
stated that the station's regulations for its employees violated the 
constitution and European Convention on Human Rights. TVR management 
claimed that Armanca violated internal policy by making critical 
statements about her employer. However, Armanca argued that the TVR 
rules violated her right to free expression. Following the incident, 
media watchdog groups protested and called upon state-owned television 
to reconsider its policies which ``restrict the right to free 
expression of their employees,'' and interfere with the public 
character of the institution. The appeals court in Timisoara ordered 
TVR to re-hire Armanca and to pay her damages of over $38,000 (100,000 
new lei). Armanca asked for the money to be paid not from the TVR 
budget, but by the station management who fired her. This was the fifth 
court case that arose out of Armanca's firing.
    In February an appeals court acquitted a contributor to one of the 
Legionnaire magazines, the Timisoara-based Gazeta de Vest (Western 
Gazette) after a lengthy trial. In 2003 he had been sentenced to 30 
months imprisonment for the dissemination of nationalist-chauvinistic 
propaganda and fascist symbols. The appeals court based its acquittal 
on freedom of speech and freedom of association, reasoning that it is 
not forbidden to voice opinions or beliefs about the legionnaire 
doctrine or movement. At the trial, the leader of the Legionnaire 
Movement came dressed in legionnaire attire to testify on behalf of the 
defendant.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. The Internet was widely available in the country, 
and individuals had access to both dial-up and broadband connections. 
Some smaller communities and rural areas lacked the requisite 
infrastructure to support Internet access, but this was relatively 
rare. The primary hurdle to Internet access for many was the cost of 
in-home Internet connections, although costs were decreasing through 
competition. Internet cafes were widely available in towns and cities 
throughout the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice. The law provides that 
unarmed citizens can assemble peacefully, but states that meetings must 
not interfere with other economic or social activities and may not be 
held near locations such as hospitals, airports, or military 
installations. Organizers of public assemblies must request permits in 
writing, three days in advance, from the mayor's office of the locality 
where the assembly will take place.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice. The law prohibits fascist, Communist, racist, or xenophobic 
ideologies, organization, and symbols (such as statues of war criminals 
on public land). Political parties are required to have at least 25,000 
members to have legal status, a number some NGOs criticized as being 
excessively high.
    In February, parliament passed a law stipulating that mayors and 
local officials who change their political party affiliations after 
being elected will lose their elected position. The law entered into 
effect in August. The Pro Democracy Association and several other 
prominent NGOs strongly opposed the law, asserting that it violates 
both freedom of association and citizens' fundamental right to choose 
their leaders.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, there were some restrictions, and several minority 
religious groups continued to claim credibly that government officials 
and Romanian Orthodox clergy impeded their proselytizing and interfered 
with other religious activities.
    The Government requires religious groups to register; however, 
there was no clear registration procedure, which made it almost 
impossible for groups to receive legal status.
    The Government gives official religious status to 18 religions. 
Only these recognized religions are eligible to receive state financial 
support. Recognized religions have the right to establish schools, 
receive state funds to build churches, pay clergy salaries, subsidize 
clergy housing, broadcast religious programs on radio and television, 
apply for broadcasting licenses for denominational frequencies, offer 
religion classes in public schools, and enjoy tax-exempt status. The 
Government also registered religious groups either as religious and 
charitable foundations or nonprofit cultural associations.
    On December 14, parliament adopted a new law on religions, despite 
strong domestic and international criticism of the proposed 
legislation. The law discriminates against smaller religious minorities 
and creates impediments for many such groups to obtain official 
recognition as religions. The new law requires a high numerical 
threshold of 0.1 percent of the population--approximately 22,000 
people--to qualify for ``religion'' status. In addition, minority 
religions must undergo a 12-year waiting period to qualify for official 
status. Civil society organizations recommended the elimination of both 
requirements. The parliament concurrently adopted an amendment that 
forbids acts of ``religious defamation'' and ``public offense to 
religious symbols.'' NGOs and the National Anti-Discrimination Council 
expressed concern that this provision might infringe on freedom of 
speech and conscience. Despite all criticisms, the President signed the 
law at the end of December.
    Tensions between the Greek Catholic Church and the municipality of 
Pesceana, Valcea county, continued during the year. In January 2005 the 
village council prohibited the registration of a Greek Catholic parish 
and the activity of the Greek Catholic Church in the locality. 
Following a complaint by a group of NGOs, the CNCD decided that the 
council's decisions were discriminatory and reprimanded it at the end 
of August 2005. Subsequently, the Greek Catholic priest and the 
church's members were repeatedly denied access to the local cemetery. 
On January 19, a court ruled that the Greek Catholic priest should be 
allowed access to the cemetery. The Romanian Orthodox Church 
subsequently appealed this decision, and that appeal was pending at 
year's end. In April and May, the mayor's office of Pesceana refused to 
issue a construction permit for a Greek Catholic church, asking the 
Greek Catholic parish to meet the legal requirements from the communist 
era, which technically remained in force, but in practice were 
nullified by the constitution and other subsequent laws. The Greek 
Catholic Church also complained about the hostile attitude of the 
Valcea county prefect toward the Greek Catholic congregation in 
Pesceana and the illegal transfer by the local council of two communal 
cemeteries to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
    The law does not prohibit or punish assembly for peaceful religious 
activities; however, several minority religious groups continued to 
complain that, on various occasions, local authorities and Orthodox 
priests prevented religious activities from taking place, even when 
their organizers had been issued permits. The Seventh-day Adventist 
Church and the Baptist Church reported difficulties obtaining approval 
to use public halls for religious activities following pressure by 
Orthodox priests. In some cases, Orthodox priests incited the local 
population against activities by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the 
Baptist Church, the Greek Catholic Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The 
press and minority religious groups continued to report instances of 
Romanian Orthodox clergy harassing members of other faiths, such as 
pressuring non-Orthodox school children to attend Orthodox religion 
classes or not allowing members of religious groups to proselytize near 
Orthodox churches.
    Although most minority religious groups reported that they had 
received permits to build places of worship without difficulty, 
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baptist Church the Seventh-day Adventist 
Church, and the Greek Catholic Church reported that permits were 
delayed by local authorities.
    Several religious groups made credible complaints that, in some 
instances, local police and administrative authorities tacitly 
supported sometimes violent societal campaigns against proselytizing. 
In January and March 2005, members of Jehovah's Witnesses were 
reportedly physically assaulted by residents of Dofteana, and the 
police failed to protect them. On February 4, two members of the 
Jehovah's Witnesses were assaulted by an Orthodox priest in the same 
town. When they filed a complaint with the local police, police 
officers allegedly warned them to not return to Dofteana.
    During the year the Greek Catholic Church was prevented from 
building a church on its own land in Certeze, Satu Mare county, due to 
obstruction and harassment by the Romanian Orthodox Church and local 
authorities. Following the intervention of a Romanian Orthodox priest, 
the local council refused the Greek Catholic request for a construction 
permit for a new church. The refusal came after the Greek Catholic 
Church renounced, to defuse local tensions, a restitution claim for a 
local church that had been its property before the communist period.
    In some localities, the activities of religious groups, such as 
charitable programs in children's homes and shelters, were perceived as 
being directed at adherents of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and 
conflicts occurred. Members of the Greek Catholic Church, Jehovah's 
Witnesses, the Baptist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church continued to report such 
cases.
    On July 11, the ECHR took note of an agreement concluded between 
the Government and the Jehovah's Witnesses organization and 14 members 
of Jehovah's Witnesses who had submitted complaints to the ECHR against 
the Government. Under the agreement, the Government would pay 
approximately $15,000 (39,000 new lei) to the Jehovah's Witnesses 
organization. The group had alleged that although the Supreme Court of 
Justice recognized the Jehovah's Witnesses' status as a religion in 
2000, the Government refused to abide by the court's judgment until 
2003. The 14 claimants alleged that the Government refused to exempt 
them from military service as conscientious objectors. As part of the 
settlement, the Government agreed to withdraw all appeals of decisions 
in national courts that had been favorable to the claimants.
    Members of the Roman Catholic Csango community, who speak a 
Hungarian dialect, repeatedly complained that they were unable to hold 
community religious services in Hungarian because of the opposition of 
the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Iasi. In August 2005 the Csango 
community filed a complaint with the CNCD, which decided in October 
2005 that the act of denying religious services in Hungarian is a 
restriction on religious freedom. Although the Bishopric abandoned its 
initial intention to challenge the CNCD decision in court, the Csango 
community still lacked religious services in Hungarian.
    Romanian Orthodox priests reportedly denied permission to the Greek 
Catholic Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to bury their members in either 
religious or secular cemeteries. Such denials were reported during the 
year in numerous communities around the country.
    Prior to February only recognized religions were entitled to give 
religious assistance to prisoners; regulations on religious assistance 
in penitentiaries also prohibited proselytizing. The prison priest, who 
was always a member of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was responsible 
for coordinating religious assistance in prisons. Some NGOs reported 
that prisoners were pressured against changing their religions, and 
that in many cases Orthodox priests attended meetings between 
representatives of other religions and prisoners. Recognized minority 
religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church, asserted that Orthodox priests denied them access to 
some penitentiaries. For example, the Orthodox prison priests in 
Gherla, Cluj county, and in Aiud, Alba county denied the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church access to their penitentiaries.
    In August 2005 the CNCD determined that some provisions of the 
military clergy law , which entitles recognized religions to have 
military clergy trained to render religious assistance to conscripts, 
and of the agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the Romanian 
Orthodox Church regarding religious assistance in penitentiaries 
discriminated against minority religions, and the CNCD recommended 
their elimination. On February 17, the Ministry of Justice changed the 
regulations for religious assistance in detention places. The new 
regulations provide for unrestricted access of recognized religions and 
religious associations to any place of detention, even if their 
assistance is not specifically requested. The regulations also provide 
that prison representatives in charge of religious assistance should 
not be priests or representatives of any faith.
    Both public and private organizations often permitted only Orthodox 
priests to provide religious guidance in the hospitals, children's 
homes, and shelters for the elderly that they operated.
    Only officially recognized religious groups have the right to teach 
religion in public schools. However, a number of recognized minority 
religious groups, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Greek 
Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses complained 
that they were unable to have classes on their faith offered in public 
schools. Attendance in religion classes is optional; however, the 
Baptist and the Greek Catholic Churches reported cases of children who 
were pressured to attend Orthodox religion classes.
    In November the CNCD, in answer to a complaint filed by a Buzau-
based NGO, asked the Ministry of Education to remove religious symbols 
from schools, with the exception of classrooms where religious classes 
were taught. On December 12, the Ministry of Education decided that 
parents, local communities, and school management should have decision-
making power on the presence or absence of icons in the classroom.
    The restitution law passed in July 2005 permits religious 
denominations to reclaim previously nationalized properties that housed 
schools, hospitals, or cultural institutions. Although the 
implementation of this law remained a problem during the year, some 
progress was made, particularly with regard to the restitution of 
religious property. During the year, the ANRP restituted over 500 
properties to religious denominations, as compared with approximately 
1,000 restituted between March 2003 and December 2005. The ANRP handled 
over 1,200 claims of religious denominations during the year.
    Property restitution was particularly important for the Greek 
Catholic Church, whose properties, including churches, were confiscated 
during the Communist regime. Most Greek Catholic Churches were given to 
the Romanian Orthodox Church after their forced merger in 1948, and 
many other Greek Catholic Church properties were taken over by the 
Government. During the year the Government made slow progress in 
restoring state-controlled church properties. Since 2003 the Government 
returned 151 out of 6,723 total properties claimed by the Greek 
Catholic Church.
    The Romanian Orthodox Church continued to resist the return of 
properties it had acquired when the Greek Catholic Church was forcibly 
merged into the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1948. While the restitution 
legislation only addressed restitution of properties under state 
control, a June 2005 law permits the Greek Catholic Church to take 
court action whenever bilateral dialogue between the Greek Catholic 
Church and Romanian Orthodox Church over church restitution fails. 
Although this law was invoked and some cases were resolved in favor of 
the Greek Catholic Church, such lawsuits routinely dragged on in courts 
for lengthy periods.
    In November 2005 the Romanian Orthodox Church returned a cathedral 
in Oradea to the Greek Catholic Church after direct pressure was 
exerted by top government officials. On February 17, in Satu Mare, 
following 16 years of lawsuits and delays, authorities enforced a 
ruling returning a cathedral to the Greek Catholic Church. In December 
the Orthodox Church restituted a major Greek Catholic Church in 
Bucharest, after a 16-year long lawsuit that ended with a final court 
ruling in favor of the Greek Catholic Church. In general, however, the 
Greek Catholic Church made very limited progress in recovering 
properties from the Romanian Orthodox Church. To date, the Romanian 
Orthodox Church returned less than 200 of the approximately 2,600 Greek 
Catholic churches and monasteries it had obtained through the 1948 
forced merger. With the exception of the hierarchs of the Orthodox 
Metropolitanate of Banat, all the other Romanian Orthodox Church 
representatives opposed the restitution of Greek Catholic churches, and 
refused to return properties, even when ordered to do so by a court. In 
Bogdan Voda, Maramures county, the Orthodox priest instigated the local 
population to physically oppose the restitution of a church that the 
Greek Catholic Church won in court in 2000. In February the Greek 
Catholic Church filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice due to 
its inability to get the court ruling enforced because of the Orthodox 
priest's opposition. The Ministry of Justice rejected the complaint as 
outside its competence and asked the Orthodox Patriarchate to 
investigate its own alleged illegal conduct and provide an answer to 
the Greek Catholic Church.
    A Greek Catholic-Romanian Orthodox commission, which had long been 
ineffective in resolving the problem of the restitution of Greek 
Catholic churches, remained dormant since 2004. In July the Greek 
Catholic hierarchs refused a government initiative to organize a Greek 
Catholic-Romanian Orthodox meeting, pointing to the absence of concrete 
results of bilateral dialogue over many years. On July 5, the Holy 
Synod of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Cluj, Alba, Crisana, and 
Maramures issued a communique that criticized alleged intensified anti-
Orthodox proselytizing actions by the Greek Catholic Church and called 
for a law to resolve the Romanian Orthodox-Greek Catholic dispute over 
churches and church property. The Romanian Orthodox Church reportedly 
collected signatures in support of such a draft law that would take 
into consideration the number of each denomination's believers in 
determining what properties should be returned to the Greek Catholic 
Church.
    On July 19, the Greek Catholic Church reiterated that the 
Government was obliged to adopt a law to restore formerly Greek 
Catholic churches and properties to the Greek Catholic Church. In 
October, the Holy Synod of the Greek Catholic Church addressed a letter 
to President Basescu, repeating its request for the restitution of a 
number of cathedrals and the former Greek Catholic churches in 
localities where the Romanian Orthodox Church is operating two 
churches, and provision for alternative religious service in localities 
with only one church. They also requested the restitution of all Greek 
Catholic Church properties presently controlled by the state. President 
Basescu had not responded to the letter by year's end.
    The Romanian Orthodox Church continued to demolish Greek Catholic 
church buildings under various pretexts and also attempted other 
methods to shield churches from return. On May 9, a work crew acting on 
the instructions of the Romanian Orthodox Church demolished a Greek 
Catholic parish church in Taga, Cluj county, despite a government 
injunction forbidding its demolition or the construction of a new 
church. The Orthodox Church had originally attempted to build a new 
church around the old Greek Catholic church to avoid restitution of the 
property to the Greek Catholic church. A similar such occurrence was 
reported in Ungheni.
    The historical Hungarian churches, including the Hungarian Roman 
Catholic and the Hungarian Protestant Reformed, Evangelical, and 
Unitarian churches, have reclaimed several significant properties. 
Since 2003 Hungarian churches received 534 of the approximately 2,700 
properties they claimed under the law on return of religious property.
    In Oradea, the Hungarian Reformed Church, the municipal office, and 
the Romanian Orthodox Church continued their dispute over possession of 
land used for a playground adjoining the Reformed Church high school. 
The municipality granted the land to a neighboring Orthodox Church 
without taking the school into consideration, a move that ethnic 
Hungarians claimed deliberately discriminated against the church. 
Ethnic Hungarians also claimed the local Orthodox parish intensified 
the conflict by locking up the playground during the summer of 2005 and 
restricting all access.
    The 2005 law amending the law on the restitution of religious and 
communal property provided for a broader scope of claimable properties 
and compensation for demolished buildings. This law was potentially 
beneficial to the Jewish community, which claimed over 3,700 
properties.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to the 2002 census, 
the Jewish population numbered 5,785 persons. Acts of anti-Semitism, 
including vandalism against Jewish sites, continued. In many such 
cases, the Federation of Jewish Communities notified the authorities, 
but the perpetrators were often not identified. The Center for 
Monitoring Anti-Semitism, an NGO, noted that authorities tended to 
downplay such incidents, often attributing the acts of vandalism 
without proof to children, drunkards, or persons with mental disorders.
    On January 20, police arrested a 20-year-old for throwing stones at 
the window of the Jewish Theatre in Bucharest. According to police 
reports, the man was apparently mentally ill and was hospitalized in a 
specialized clinic.
    On March 24, unidentified individuals vandalized 20 tombs in the 
Jewish cemetery in Resita, causing approximately $45,000 (115,000 new 
lei) in damage. The Federation of Jewish Communities notified 
authorities, but the perpetrators were not identified.
    During the night of May 5, two minors drew two swastikas on the 
walls of the Lutheran church in Cluj. The police fined the two minors, 
and the Lutheran Church also filed a criminal complaint, claiming that 
the perpetrators offended a religious denomination. Lutheran Church 
officials speculated that the act was linked to the Government of 
Israel's recognition in 2005 of one of the parish's pastors who hid 
Jews in the church during Nazi occupation. The case remained pending.
    In May swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the walls of 
a house in Bucharest. Perpetrators were not identified.
    On June 17 and 18, newly painted swastikas were found on several 
buildings in downtown Cluj, mostly on ethnic Hungarian-related 
buildings, including a church and the Hungarian-language Bathory Istvan 
High School.
    In November 2005 swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found on 
tombstones in two cemeteries, the walls of a vocational school and a 
neighboring bloc of apartments in Suceava. The police carried out an 
investigation, and began their prosecution of four alleged perpetrators 
in December for having vandalized the cemeteries; two of whom were also 
charged with dissemination of fascist, racist, and xenophobic symbols.
    The extremist press continued to publish anti-Semitic articles. The 
Legionnaires (Iron Guard), an extreme nationalist, anti-Semitic, pro-
Nazi group, continued to republish inflammatory books from the interwar 
period. In February, an appeals court acquitted a contributor to a 
legionnaire magazine of charges for disseminating propaganda and 
fascist symbols (see section 2.a.).
    During the year anti-Semitic views and attitudes were expressed 
during the talk shows of private television stations such as Antena 1, 
National TV, DTV, and Pro-TV.
    Extremists continued to publicly deny that the Holocaust occurred 
in the country or that the country's leader during World War II 
participated in Holocaust atrocities in Romanian-administered 
territory. Religious services for dead Legionnaire leaders continued to 
be held in individual Orthodox churches. The annual march commemorating 
the founder of the Legionnaire movement, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, took 
place in Tancabesti on November 25.
    On June 1, three nationalist organizations and parties, Vatra 
Romaneasca (Romanian Hearth Union), the Marshal Antonescu League, and 
the Party of the United Left sponsored a public religious service to 
commemorate the 60th anniversary of Ion Antonescu's death. Antonescu 
was the Romanian dictator during World War II and was responsible for 
widespread atrocities against Romanian Jews during the war. The 
Federation of Jewish Communities filed a complaint against the three 
sponsors of the event, based on the law which forbids racist, 
xenophobic, and pro-Nazi propaganda and which bans organizations that 
disseminate such ideas. The police sent the complaint to the 
prosecutor's office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and no 
further action was reported by year's end.
    In September 2005 unidentified individuals removed the covering 
hiding a bust of Antonescu located in an Orthodox church courtyard in 
Bucharest. The covering was eventually put back in place following 
complaints from the local Jewish community. In July the church priest 
removed the bust, reportedly in response to pressure from government 
officials.
    The Government continued to make progress in its effort to expand 
education on the true history of the Holocaust in the country. However, 
it failed to implement any plans to make the course on the Holocaust 
mandatory for all public high schools. The elective course was offered 
for the first time at 200 high schools in the 2004-05 school year, but 
without any standardized textbooks.
    In March the Ministry of Education made available on its Web site a 
teaching guide to assist the 327 teachers nationwide who instruct 
courses on the Holocaust. The Ministry of Education continued to 
sponsor international seminars on the Holocaust and the teaching of its 
history. The Government also earmarked $95,000 (245,000 new lei) to 
sponsor a June conference in Iasi organized by the National Institute 
for the Study of the Holocaust to commemorate the 1941 Iasi pogrom.
    On various occasions during the year, the President and other high-
level officials continued to make public statements against extremism, 
anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, and criticized the denial of the 
Holocaust. During a January 23 conference to commemorate the 1941 
Bucharest pogrom, President Basescu highlighted the necessity ``to 
present the realities of that time to the young generation.''
    On January 23, the Government launched a design contest for a 
Holocaust memorial in Bucharest, and the winning project was selected 
on August 23. The cornerstone of the memorial was laid on October 9, 
the National Holocaust Day.
    In April the Government enacted a law to combat anti-Semitism and 
prohibit fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations. The law 
includes the persecution of Roma in addition to Jews in its definition 
of the Holocaust, since approximately 14,000 Roma were killed in the 
country during that period. However, authorities failed to enforce the 
law against participants in an anti-gay parade on June 3, who used 
symbols and slogans of the Iron Guard (see section 5).
    In April the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in its annual report on the 
investigation and prosecution of Nazi War Criminals, categorized the 
Government as a ``total failure'' for refusing in principle to 
prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, despite clear evidence that 
such individuals were residents within the country's borders.
    The country also commemorated the third National Holocaust Day on 
October 9 with events in several cities that were attended by key 
dignitaries including the President, prime minister, and foreign 
minister. The President laid the cornerstone for a Holocaust memorial 
to be built in Bucharest. In his address, the President stated that 
Romanians still largely lacked remorse for their country's role in 
exterminating up to 380,000 Jews during the Second World War. Roma also 
staged a march on October 9 to insist that their wartime plight also be 
included in new teaching materials on the Holocaust.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    In July 2005 the Government temporarily implemented a policy of 
passport confiscation for citizens discovered upon reentering the 
country to have exceeded their permitted length of stay in an EUShengen 
country. Human rights NGOs and the media protested that the rule 
effectively curbed a citizen's right to travel freely outside the 
country. The Government stopped implementing the policy four days 
later, and the restriction was abandoned entirely when a new law on 
passports entered into effect in January.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Danube river floods in 
April produced extensive damage and displaced 16,366 persons, mostly 
from Dolj and Calarasi counties. The Government allocated approximately 
$76 million (196 million new lei) for home reconstruction. In November 
the Government also allocated an additional $30 million (76 million new 
lei) for flood protection works in high-risk localities. However, at 
the end of the year, an estimated 596 people continued to be displaced 
and were living in container-houses.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In August a new law on asylum entered into force that 
prohibits the expulsion, extradition, or forced return of any asylum 
seeker at the country's border or from within the country's territory. 
However, the law denies protection to people who participated in 
terrorist acts, crimes against humanity, or other serious offenses.
    In practice, the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; however, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) considered the time limits provided by the law for 
submitting appeal applications and court procedures to be too short.
    The Government did not provide temporary protection to individuals 
who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol. During the year the Government received 464 applications for 
refugee status and granted humanitarian protection to nine persons.
    In July 2005 the Government agreed to allow on a temporary basis 
439 Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan to enter the country without a visa 
for humanitarian reasons. The Government signed an agreement with the 
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to permit 
the refugees to stay at a suitable facility in Timisoara for up to six 
months; the agreement was subsequently extended for an additional six 
months. In July all remaining Uzbek refugees were successfully 
transferred to third countries for permanent resettlement.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR 
stated that government-sponsored programs for integrating refugees 
continued to improve following the 2004 refugee integration law. An 
agency within the national refugee office, which is subordinated to the 
Ministry of Administration and Interior, was established to help 
refugees integrate and seek employment in their communities. The 
Ministry of Administration and Interior and the Ministry of Labor, 
Social Solidarity, and Family also funded programs to assist asylees 
and refugees.
    Refugees who received ``tolerated'' status under the old law on 
asylum complained that this status does not give them permission to 
work and restricts their movement. Under the new law, this status no 
longer exists and foreigners may receive refugee status, subsidiary 
protection (for people who are exposed to risks if returned to the 
country of origin), or temporary humanitarian protection (for people 
who come from armed conflict areas).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The country held national 
elections for parliament in November 2004 and for the presidency in 
December 2004. The parliamentary and first round of Presidential 
elections were characterized by widespread irregularities, precipitated 
primarily by the previous government's decision to abandon the use of 
electoral identification cards and to allow citizens outside their home 
districts to vote at any polling location in the country. There were 
widespread reports of individuals voting in multiple locations, which 
political parties occasionally facilitated. Observers also reported the 
abuse of ``mobile ballot boxes'' that were transported to elderly or 
infirm voters; the prolonged presence of elected officials in polling 
places in contravention of the law; and the illegal placement of 
campaign posters near polling centers. Civil society organizations and 
opposition parties also claimed that the central electoral bureau 
allowed fraud at a national level during the electronic tabulation of 
votes, although subsequent inquiries into these allegations were 
inconclusive.
    In the second round of Presidential elections in December 2004, the 
Government limited the locations where voters outside of their home 
districts could vote, thereby reducing the possibility for multiple 
voting. However, both the lack of sufficient alternate locations and 
the closure of existing locations while many voters were waiting in 
line resulted in the disenfranchisement of hundreds and perhaps 
thousands of citizens, particularly in major cities. Members of the 
center-right Liberal-Democratic Alliance accused the then governing 
Social Democratic Party (PSD) of intentionally restricting the vote in 
this manner. In some precincts local officials or partisan election 
monitors instructed citizens how to vote, and campaign posters were 
placed too close to polls.
    The law requires political parties to register with the Bucharest 
tribunal and to submit their statutes, program, and a roster of at 
least 25,000 signatures. These 25,000 ``founding members'' must be from 
at least 18 counties, including Bucharest, with a minimum of 700 people 
from each county. The party statutes and program must not include ideas 
that incite war; discrimination; hatred of a national, racist, or 
religious nature; or territorial separatism.
    Organizations of ethnic minorities can also field candidates in 
elections if they meet requirements similar to those for political 
parties. Organizations must submit to the central electoral bureau a 
list of members numbering at least 15 percent of the total number of 
persons belonging to that ethnic group, according to the most recent 
census. If 15 percent represents more than 25,000 persons, then at 
least 25,000 names from at least 15 counties, but not fewer than 300 
persons from each county, must be submitted. Human rights NGOs 
criticized these requirements as discriminatory and overly burdensome, 
and maintained that they eliminated any competition against the 
mainstream organizations representing Hungarians and Roma, namely the 
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and the Social Democratic 
Roma Party in Romania. The Bucharest tribunal barred an ethnic 
Hungarian group from participating in the 2004 elections when 
irregularities were found in many of the 25,000 signatures on its 
members list.
    While the law does not restrict women's participation in government 
or politics, societal attitudes presented a significant barrier. In 
parliament 38 of 331 deputies and 14 of 137 senators were women. There 
were three female ministers in the 24-member cabinet. Three of the 
prefects (governors) of the 42 counties were women.
    The law grants each recognized ethnic minority one representative 
in the chamber of deputies if the minority's political organization 
cannot obtain the 5 percent of the votes needed to elect a deputy 
outright. Organizations representing 18 minority groups received 
deputies under this provision. There were 50 members of minorities in 
the 468-seat parliament. There were four members of minorities in the 
24-member cabinet; all were ethnic Hungarians. There were no members of 
minorities on the high court.
    Ethnic minority groups reported encountering difficulties in 
meeting the criteria to be allowed to field candidates, although there 
were no specific laws or policies prohibiting such groups from 
registering. The laws on national and local elections potentially 
discriminate against some minority organizations by defining ``national 
minorities'' as only the ethnic groups represented in the council of 
national minorities and by requiring that these organizations meet 
requirements to participate in government that are more stringent than 
those of minority groups already represented in parliament.
    The Romani population was heavily underrepresented in parliament. 
Internal politics within the Romani community was fragmented, as 
several different Romani organizations vied for public support, and the 
individual efforts of these groups prevented the consolidation of votes 
for any single candidate, organization, or party. As a result, there 
was only one Romani organization represented in parliament, the Roma 
Party-Pro Europe. Low Romani voter turnout due to lack of awareness, 
means, or identity cards further exacerbated the situation.
    Ethnic Hungarians, represented by the Democratic Alliance of 
Hungarians in Romania party, were the only ethnic minority to have 
attained parliamentary representation through the electoral process, 
having obtained over 5 percent of the total votes. Other ethnic 
Hungarian associations have alleged that their attempts to register as 
opposing ethnic Hungarian parties were unfairly blocked by the more 
influential existing party.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Reports of corruption and 
the Government response to corruption remained a focus of public 
discussion, political debate, and media scrutiny. The Government 
continued to implement its March 2005 Anticorruption Strategy, which 
included steps to increase transparency in public procurement, ensure 
oversight of government spending, and enforce new laws and procedures 
to combat money laundering and tax evasion. The National Anticorruption 
Directorate (DNA) prosecuted two officials for offenses alleged to have 
been committed while they occupied some of the highest positions in 
government. Prosecutors also investigated other high-level officials, 
including a state secretary, two mayors, a county council President and 
vice President, two judges, a chief prosecutor, and various officials 
from customs, police, and other government ministries.
    NGOs and the media continued to note that no major case of high-
level corruption had yet resulted in judgments involving prison 
sentences. On the contrary, one businessman held in pretrial custody on 
high-profile corruption and terrorism charges was released on medical 
grounds and escaped from the country due to the lack of a sufficient 
monitoring system. There were, however, some convictions of lower level 
officials for corruption.
    The institution responsible for investigating and prosecuting high-
level corruption cases remained the DNA. In January the Government 
upheld the DNA's exclusive and unrestricted competence to fight high-
level corruption, including in cases involving members of parliament 
and government officials. The parliament approved the Government's 
emergency order reorganizing the DNA under the nominal authority of the 
prosecutor general's office, while retaining its distinct budget and 
requiring its prosecutors to continue to operate under the exclusive 
authority of the DNA Chief Prosecutor.
    Although the DNA produced few indictments against former or current 
officials at the most senior levels of government, the office did 
successfully prosecute cases against mayors, judges, police, customs 
officers, and other officials at the local level and in the middle 
ranks of the bureaucracy.
    The DNA was authorized to prosecute corruption without regard to 
the political affiliation of the accused. Opposition politicians, 
however, continued to allege that investigations of high-level 
officials tended to focus on members of former administrations, 
contributing to questions about the office's impartiality. Various 
members of parliament noted that the only political party in the 
coalition government whose members had not been subjected to 
prosecutorial investigations were those from President Basescu's 
Democratic Party.
    The DNA enhanced its coordination with anti-fraud units set up 
within various ministries, accepting leads from their investigators and 
requesting further details from them. The Ministry of Interior 
established an Anticorruption General Directorate (DGA) to investigate 
allegations of corruption within the ministry. The DGA set up and 
publicized its anticorruption telephone hotline and began receiving 
confidential tips regarding corrupt officers from the general public. 
The Antifraud Department attached to the Prime Minister's Office 
continued to investigate cases involving the misuse of EU funds. The 
Ministry of Defense also created its own antifraud section and 
forwarded the results of its first investigation of a top-ranking 
military official to the DNA for further action.
    During the year there were continuous political disagreements both 
within the ruling coalition and within the opposition regarding 
transferring authority to appoint the head of the DNA from the Ministry 
of Justice to the CSM.
    In January the Ministry of Justice disbanded its General 
Directorate for Protection and Anticorruption, which had been in 
operation since 2001. According to the justice minister, the 
organization was being dissolved because it had been engaged in the 
wiretapping of judges and gathering of information for unknown 
purposes.
    Part of the Government's strategy to combat corruption included 
strengthening asset disclosure requirements for public officials. Asset 
declaration forms requested extensive information from officials, but 
no monitoring authority existed to ensure forms were filed or to check 
their accuracy. The creation of such an authority was a major part of 
the Anticorruption Strategy, but the Government did not create a 
proposed National Integrity Agency that could monitor conflicts of 
interests and unjustifiable wealth of public officials while in office.
    The law provides for access to government information related to 
official decision-making; however, human rights NGOs and the media 
reported that the law was poorly and unevenly applied. Procedures for 
releasing information were arduous and varied greatly by public 
institution. On numerous occasions NGOs and journalists took cases to 
court to obtain information.
    The Government ordered the intelligence services to release the 
files of the Communist-era Securitate intelligence service, but many 
observers claimed the review of individual files of officials by the 
National College for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) served 
primarily political purposes. There were also complaints that the CNSAS 
would not release to individuals, including former political prisoners 
of the Communist regime, the files the Securitate had kept on them. 
There was much debate as to why access to the Securitate's files 
remained limited and the contents only reached the public sporadically, 
and there was broad speculation that the continued presence of former 
Securitate members in the intelligence services hindered release of 
these files. In the second half of the year, after the intelligence 
services began handing the former Securitate archives over to the 
CNSAS, the CNSAS increased the pace of exposing former Securitate 
officers and informants who had been involved in political police 
activities. However, a lack of cooperation from the intelligence 
services prevented CNSAS from issuing similar findings on other 
officers and collaborators whose files indicated involvement in 
political police activities. There was significant debate over whether 
efforts to reveal persons involved with political police activities 
would uncover the many former Securitate agents and collaborators who 
remained active in politics and business.
    There also were continued reports that local authorities 
occasionally made it difficult for journalists, NGOs and the general 
public to access public information. In at least one instance, a 
polling institution was reportedly coerced by government officials to 
limit the public release of information that reflected negatively on 
certain political groups or goals.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views; however, 
there were a few reports of government officials harassing and 
intimidating members of the NGO community.
    At times police intimidated and harassed NGO workers. Romani CRISS 
continued to complain that police and local authorities attempted to 
harass and intimidate its local human rights monitors.
    An ombudsman's office existed to protect citizens' constitutional 
rights, but it had limited power and independence from the Government. 
Numerous media reports characterized the office as ineffective. During 
the first nine months of the year, the office handled 4,718 complaints. 
The office did not have authority in cases requiring judicial action.
    The CNCD is an independent governmental agency that reported 
directly to the Prime Minister's office until July. During the year the 
CNCD received 432 public complaints of discrimination, most of which 
were resolved. Approximately 80 of the cases involved alleged 
discrimination on the basis of nationality and ethnicity; eight 
complaints reported discrimination on religious grounds. This body 
continued to be understaffed and had an insufficient budget.
    In 2005 the CNCD played a leading role, along with four NGOs, in 
drafting language for a new antidiscrimination law, which was adopted 
by parliament in June and signed into law by the President on July 14. 
The new law defines the CNCD as an independent body and places it under 
parliamentary control instead of the Prime Minister's office and 
stipulates increased fines for discriminatory attitudes: $156 to $1,560 
(400 to 4,000 new lei) for discrimination against individual and 
approximately $230 to $3,120 (600 to 8,000 new lei) for discrimination 
against groups of persons or communities. However, the CNCD budget for 
the year was still insufficient.
    Both chambers of parliament have a human rights committee that 
focuses on legislation regarding human rights, religious issues, and 
minorities. However, since these committees were made up of party 
representatives, their recommendations often simply reflected the 
parties' views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law forbids discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
ethnicity, language, or social status, among other categories. However, 
in practice, the Government did not enforce these provisions 
effectively in some circumstances, and women, Roma, and other 
minorities were often subject to discrimination and violence.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued 
to be a serious problem, and the Government did not effectively address 
it.
    The law prohibits domestic violence and allows police intervention 
in such cases; however, there is no specific law that addresses spousal 
abuse. NGOs reported that domestic violence was common. According to a 
2002 UN survey, 45 percent of women have been verbally abused, 30 
percent physically abused, and 7 percent sexually abused. The law does 
not provide sentencing guidelines for domestic violence convictions.
    Although there was no evidence of police or judicial reluctance to 
act on domestic abuse cases, very few cases were prosecuted in the 
courts. Many cases were resolved before or during trial when victims 
dropped their charges or reconciled with the accused abuser. In cases 
with strong evidence of physical abuse, the court can prohibit the 
abusive spouse from returning home. The law also permits police to fine 
the abusive spouse for disturbing public order. During the year there 
were approximately 400 convictions for domestic violence.
    During the year the National Domestic Violence Coalition, composed 
of more than 30 NGOs, organized a number of campaigns to raise 
awareness of domestic violence. The Government funded 26 public 
institutions that provided counseling and support to domestic abuse 
victims. In addition, 52 NGOs from all regions of the country worked on 
domestic violence. There were several shelters dedicated to domestic 
abuse victims, but many of them were forced to close due to 
insufficient funding. The Government distributed funds to NGOs 
operating shelters for domestic violence victims in Cluj, Timisoara, 
and Baia Mare.
    According to NGOs, rates of domestic violence against women in 
Romani households were significantly higher than the domestic abuse 
rates in the general population.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The prosecution of rape 
cases was difficult because it required both a medical certificate and 
a witness, and a rapist could avoid punishment by marrying the victim. 
The successful prosecution of spousal rape cases was even more 
difficult because the law requires the victim to personally file a 
criminal complaint against the abusive spouse and does not allow others 
to file the complaint on the victim's behalf. The law provides for 
three to 10 years' imprisonment for rape; the sentence increases to 
five to 18 years if there are aggravated circumstances. There were 254 
rape convictions during the first half of the year. NGOs provided 
counseling and shelters for rape victims.
    Prostitution is illegal, but was prevalent. Police implicitly 
tolerated most cases by limiting their intervention to fining 
prostitutes for loitering or disturbing the peace. NGOs and the media 
reported that sex tourism existed in Bucharest and other major cities. 
No laws exist to punish clients of prostitution, unless the prostitute 
was a minor and the client admitted knowing that fact before the act.
    There were reports of trafficking in women and children (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits any act of gender discrimination, including 
sexual harassment. Although there were no reported cases of sexual 
harassment during the year, human rights NGOs attributed this to low 
public awareness of the problem. The Government enforced existing 
prohibitions, but there were no effective programs in place to educate 
the public about sexual harassment.
    The law grants women and men equal rights, including under family 
law, property law, and in the judicial system. In practice, the 
Government did not enforce these provisions, nor did authorities focus 
attention or resources on women's issues. Women had a higher rate of 
unemployment than men and occupied few influential positions in the 
private sector. An EU report published in August 2005 indicated that a 
man's average salary was 18 percent higher than that of a woman.
    Romani culture strongly discouraged women from working outside the 
home, especially in the formal economy. Romani women often lacked 
training, marketable skills, or relevant work experience. According to 
an Open Society Institute (OSI) report released during the year, only 
26 percent of Romani women interviewed were part of the workforce as 
employees, day laborers, or freelancers. A 2005 survey by the United 
Nations Development Program (UNDP) found that the unemployment rate of 
Romani women between ages 25 and 54 was four times higher than that of 
non-Romani women in the country. Romani women also were three times as 
likely to be unemployed compared to Romani men. The average monthly 
income of women surveyed by OSI was $41 (106 new lei).
    The national agency for family protection, within the Ministry of 
Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family, is responsible for advancing 
women's concerns and family policies, including organizing programs for 
women, proposing new laws, monitoring legislation for sexual bias, 
targeting resources to train women for skilled professions, and 
addressing the problems of single mothers.
    The law on equal opportunities for men and women was amended in 
July to extend protections to public employees as well as private 
sector employees. The amended law gives a female employee returning 
from maternity leave the right to return to her previous or similar 
position and to benefit from any improvements in working conditions 
that occurred during her absence.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare, but competing priorities, bureaucratic inefficiency, and 
poorly allocated resources prevented this commitment from being 
fulfilled in practice.
    Public education was free and compulsory through the 10th grade or 
age 16. After the 10th grade, schools charged fees for books, which 
discouraged lower-income children, particularly Roma, from attending. 
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that approximately 90 percent 
of primary school-age children attended school.
    The highest level of education achieved by most children was 
secondary school, although Romani students had lower rates of 
attendance at all education levels (see section 5, Minorities).
    A general health insurance plan covers all children until age 18 or 
graduation from secondary school. All schools have medical units which 
supply first aid and carry out vaccination campaigns. Boys and girls 
had equal access to medical care in schools. All medical costs for 
children are waived, and most drugs are provided at little or no cost. 
Of the 11,352 persons with HIV/AIDS, approximately 75 percent are 
children between the ages of 15 to 19 who were infected in the late 
1980s and early 1990s through contaminated blood transfusions and other 
medical procedures.
    Child abuse and neglect continued to be serious problems, and 
public awareness of the issue remained poor. Media reported several 
severe cases both in families and in child welfare institutions. Abuse 
observed within state institutions included children tied to cribs with 
bed sheets and prolonged incarceration for misbehavior. While the law 
protects children from abuse and neglect, the Government has not 
established a mechanism to identify and treat abused and neglected 
children and their families. In 2004 police reported that 1,221 cases 
of abused and neglected children were registered, including 832 cases 
of rape, 284 cases of sexual intercourse with a minor, 114 cases of 
sexual perversion, and 101 cases of sexual corruption. Officials 
believed the number of unreported cases was much higher. At year's end 
there were 39 hotlines to receive and assess reports of child abuse and 
neglect and 22 specialized counseling services for centers for abused, 
neglected, and trafficked children. During the year hotline operators 
received approximately 5,400 calls reporting child abuse and neglect. 
During the year the Government funded the creation of services for 
child victims of abuse and neglect as a national interest program; 
however, implementation was delayed due to the fact that no NGOs bid to 
provide services under this program.
    The abandonment of children in maternity hospitals remained a 
problem with over 2,580 children left in hospitals by their parents 
during 2005. Between January and August 1,654 children were abandoned 
in hospitals.
    The National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights 
(ANPDC) in coordination with the Ministry of Health made some progress 
in discouraging child abandonment through prenatal counseling and 
training of hospital personnel. However, children's rights NGOs and 
local child welfare officials reported that these efforts were 
insufficient to resolve the continued high number of abandonment cases, 
resulting in many essentially healthy children being kept in hospitals 
because family reintegration or foster placement was unavailable. 
According to the Children's High Level Group study on the prevention of 
child abandonment, 60 percent of children abandoned by their parents 
were left in hospitals, while the remaining 40 percent were abandoned 
in other places, including on the street.
    The 2005 child welfare law and its implementation continued to 
create confusion among entities responsible for child welfare and to 
prolong the time that a child spent in the child welfare system before 
being reunited with biological parents or being adopted. NGOs and child 
protection authorities continued to report that judges, police, and 
social workers generally lacked clear instructions from the central 
government, training, and the resources necessary to implement the 
legislation. As a result, thousands of children remained 
institutionalized or in foster care rather than reunited with 
biological families or legally approved for adoption when family 
reunification was not possible. There were credible reports of attempts 
to force family reunification for abandoned children in cases where 
biological family members explicitly stated they did not want the 
children or in which there was a high risk of child abuse or child 
labor.
    There were many reports of abandoned children being forced to wait 
for several years in institutions or foster care while authorities 
searched for their biological parents to formalize their abandonment in 
court. The adoptions office announced that 1,136 children were adopted 
during 2005 and 1,067 were adopted through November. The Government 
claimed there were only 883 children available for adoption in the 
country in December, and over 1,680 families that wanted to adopt 
children. However, the number of children available for adoption 
represented only a fraction of the estimated 9,000 children abandoned 
each year. These low figures were due to the state's non-recognition of 
the physical abandonment of children. There was no time limit on 
parents' absence from children for the children to be legally 
recognized as abandoned. Instead, government policy aimed to 
reintegrate children into biological families even years after physical 
abandonment. Many citizens wishing to adopt the children whom they 
already cared for as foster parents were forced to wait for the 
abandoning parents' statement of abandonment in court before the 
children could be declared legally adoptable. Many expressed fears that 
the foster children who had spent years in their care could be taken 
back by the biological parent or relatives and forced into begging on 
the street.
    The public child welfare system tracked approximately 95,000 
children. More than half of these lived with extended families or in 
foster care, and approximately 32,000 lived in public and private 
institutions. The Government continued to build smaller, family-type 
residential units for children in need of protection, including 
children with disabilities. The number of children in institutions 
continued to drop, from 31,000 in 2005 to 27,000 during the year, while 
the foster care system expanded to care for 19,300 children during the 
year compared with 16,800 children in 2005. Abandoned children under 
two years of age were only allowed to be placed in foster care, not 
released for adoption, if reunification with biological parents failed. 
Roma children, who were disproportionately represented among abandoned 
children, continued to suffer racial discrimination and were rarely 
adopted by Romanian families. Child welfare authorities did not have a 
system for providing labor market information, skills training, or job 
placement services for older children in residential care, and there 
was a high probability that they would gravitate to the streets, where 
they would be vulnerable to sexual exploitation and crime.
    The legal age of marriage is 18, but girls as young as 15 may marry 
in certain circumstances. Illegal child marriage was common within 
certain social groups, particularly the Roma. While there were limited 
statistics available on the extent of the problem, a recent UNDP survey 
found that 35 percent of Romani girls were married before reaching the 
age of 16. There were no government programs to address the problem of 
child marriages.
    Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). There also were isolated cases of 
children involved in prostitution for survival without third-party 
involvement, and some instances of boys as victims of trafficking.
    The country has a mechanism for the repatriation of unaccompanied 
Romanian children and for ensuring special measures for their 
protection. In 2005 approximately 3,250 children and their families 
benefited from protection and assistance in 12 transit centers in the 
country.
    The national agency for employment is legally required to provide 
up to 75 percent of the median national salary to employers for hiring 
persons between 16 and 25 years who are at risk of social exclusion, a 
group that includes youth reintegrating into society after spending 
time in state-care facilities or prison; young parents; and other 
categories of at-risk youth. The law provides that youth leaving the 
state institutional system may receive state assistance for an 
additional two years, during which they receive skills training for 
independent living. However, fewer than 1,000 youth benefited directly 
from this program during the year.
    During the year the NGO Mental Disability Rights International 
(MDRI) reported that doctors in some hospitals were still encouraging 
parents to give up children born with disabilities. The abandonment of 
children with disabilities decreased steadily in recent years, as 
specialized rehabilitation services for such children became slightly 
more available. There were approximately 75,000 children with 
disabilities, of which 12,000 were in state care. The MDRI report 
detailed the physical and mental disabling of abandoned children due to 
the conditions they were subjected to in state institutions. Several 
reports detailed the inhumane conditions children with physical and 
mental disabilities were subjected to in state institutions, including 
being bound, malnourished, and abused. In one instance, authorities 
sought to cover up repetitive sexual abuse within a state institution 
by denying those who revealed the problem further access to the 
institution. No attempt was made to separate the abuser from the abused 
until well after the issue appeared in the press.
    Child labor was a problem (see sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.d.).
    An official complete list of hazardous child labor activities still 
did not exist by year's end. A draft list was submitted by the National 
Steering Committee to the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and 
Family, in February. At year's end, the Directorate for EU Integration 
was analyzing the document.
    A National Statistics Institute survey released in 2003 on 
children's activities--the only nationwide survey to document the 
extent of child labor--found that between 40,000 and 80,000 children 
were involved in activities identified as the worst forms of child 
labor, including begging, drug dealing, stealing, prostitution, or were 
victims of child trafficking. Over 90 percent of these children were 
from rural areas. Street children, children in urban areas, and Romani 
children were the most vulnerable to labor and sexual exploitation.
    While the Government did not maintain official estimates on the 
number of homeless children living on the streets, police, social 
workers, and NGOs estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 children lived 
on the streets, depending on the season.
    During the year the Government continued to administer six national 
programs for the protection of children's rights. The programs focused 
on closing large state-run institutions for children; developing 
services for children with disabilities; creating services for children 
victims of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation; implementing the 
national professional standards of child welfare services and 
monitoring children's rights; improving the foster care network; and 
creating and developing community social services to support family 
cohesion. NGOs implemented these programs with governmental funding 
from the national budget.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking; however, 
trafficking in persons continued to be a serious problem. The law 
defines trafficking as the use of coercion to recruit, transport, 
harbor, or receive persons for exploitation. Coercion includes fraud or 
misrepresentation. Exploitation includes slavery, forced labor, 
prostitution, being a subject in pornography, organ theft, or other 
conditions that violate human rights. For minors under the age of 18, 
it is not necessary to prove coercion.
    The country was a point of both origin and transit for trafficking 
in persons. While the majority of trafficking cases involved 
international trafficking between the country and Western Europe, cases 
of domestic trafficking were also reported. Victims--primarily women 
and children--were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation, 
labor exploitation, and forced begging. In 2005 the Government 
identified 2,250 victims of trafficking. Recent trends indicated that 
traffickers rented private apartments, rather than using public bars 
and brothels, to conduct their illicit activities. The use of 
clandestine locations complicated the already difficult task of 
locating victims and allowed traffickers to operate with less concern 
of discovery by local authorities.
    According to the Government, many of the child victims originated 
in the eastern and northern areas of the country. Boys were targeted 
for forced labor, petty theft activities, and solicitation. Girls were 
targeted for sexual exploitation and solicitation. Adult victims 
generally originated in the southern part of the country, and were 
recruited by traffickers with the promise of jobs abroad.
    During the year authorities noticed an increase in cases of forced 
labor involving victims between the ages of 30 and 40. Women between 
the ages of 18 and 25 were more likely to become victims of trafficking 
for sexual purposes than any other age group or gender. Children were 
more likely to become victims of trafficking if they came from 
orphanages, single parent homes and/or lived in a dysfunctional family 
environment (e.g. families with financial difficulties, abuse, or 
alcoholism).
    Trafficking victims endured poor, cramped living conditions. 
Traffickers ensured the victims' compliance through threats, violence, 
and the confiscation of travel documents.
    Government officials reported that small groups of Romanian 
citizens were the most common operators of trafficking rings; several 
domestic prostitution rings were also known to be active in trafficking 
victims into, through, and from the country. In recent years the number 
of women and minors involved in trafficking has increased; most of 
these individuals acted as recruiters.
    Most victims were trafficked through or out of the country under 
seemingly legal means. Traffickers used employment agencies and travel 
companies as fronts for their activities. It was not difficult for 
traffickers to obtain legal work papers for the victims they intended 
to traffic. It was relatively easy for young women to legally secure 
visas for work as waitresses or domestics in destination countries; 
however, once out of the country and removed from any support 
structure, such women were extremely vulnerable to becoming trafficking 
victims. Most women trafficked for sexual exploitation were recruited 
by persons they knew or by newspaper advertisements. A friend or 
relative frequently made the initial offer, often telling the victim 
that she would obtain a job as a baby sitter or waitress. The crimes 
commonly associated with human trafficking, such as rape and false 
imprisonment, rarely occurred within the country's borders; rather, 
such abuses began when the victim who had been deceived about the 
nature of the work, arrived in the destination country.
    The law provides for five to 15 years' imprisonment for trafficking 
in minors or for multiple victims; if a victim suffers serious bodily 
harm or health problems; or if the trafficking is done by a public 
servant during his or her official duties. A sentence of five to 25 
years is mandated for trafficking that leads to the death or suicide of 
the victim. These penalties are increased by two to three years if the 
trafficker belongs to an organized crime group and by five years if 
coercion is applied against minors.
    Under 2005 revisions to the law, victims of trafficking who are 
arrested for prostitution or begging cannot be prosecuted for these 
offenses. In practice, however, victims were frequently not recognized 
as victims of trafficking upon arrest and were therefore treated as 
criminals. Only after a period of investigation were they typically 
declared ``victims.''
    Corruption in the police, particularly the local forces, 
contributed to trafficking. There were frequent allegations that border 
police and customs agency officials accepted bribes to ignore cases of 
trafficking.
    The National Antitrafficking Agency (ANITP), created in December 
2005, is responsible for collecting all information related to 
trafficking in persons and coordinating the efforts of the Government 
to combat trafficking and treat trafficking victims. During the year 
ANITP focused on hiring staff and worked to become operational. The 
Government approved a new national strategy against trafficking in 
November, and plans for implementation of that strategy continued at 
year's end.
    During the first six months of 2005 ANITP provided assistance to 
109 trafficking victims, four of whom were under the age of 13, 22 were 
between ages 14 and 17, 61 were between 18 and 25, and 22 were over age 
25. According to statistics provided by ANITP, 146 traffickers were 
convicted in 2005. During the year the IOM assisted 129 victims, of 
whom 121 were female, and 19 were minors. In January the Government 
extradited one trafficker wanted by the Greek authorities to Greece.
    The law requires the Government to protect trafficking victims, but 
implementation of the law remained weak and uneven. Reports of law 
enforcement officials losing contact with identified victims were 
common. Some identified victims reportedly chose not to press charges 
to avoid bureaucratic judicial procedures. Although the Government 
trained border police to encourage victims to identify themselves, few 
victims were willing to do so. There were reports that repatriated 
victims faced social discrimination in their home countries.
    The Government made attempts to assist repatriated victims. 
According to government reports, the Government opened twelve shelters 
for trafficking victims required by law. The shelters were 
underutilized, in part because the law did not mandate a standardized 
system for referring victims. Although the law obligates law 
enforcement officials to inform victims of the services available at 
government-operated shelters, many victims chose to decline them.
    In 2005 ANPDC established a technical secretariat charged with 
implementing a national action plan to fight child trafficking and 
exploitation. The secretariat carried out activities related to 
repatriation, protection, and social reintegration of unaccompanied 
Romanian children in difficulty in other countries, regardless of 
whether such children were victims or offenders. As a result, between 
January and March 59 children were repatriated from European countries 
including Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and 
Ireland.
    During the year the Government worked with domestic and 
international NGOs to build public awareness of trafficking risks and 
to improve and expand the services offered to victims. Public 
officials, including the President, made public statements during the 
year about the trafficking problem.
    The ANDPC, the antidrug national agency, and territorial general 
directorates for social assistance and children's protection created a 
program to monitor child labor that was operational in several cities. 
The project set up a system of services for the protection, 
rehabilitation, and social reintegration of child victims of domestic 
and international trafficking. In 2005 60 children vulnerable to human 
trafficking and 140 children involved in the worst forms of child labor 
were referred to social services and monitored.

    Persons With Disabilities.--In addition to the antidiscrimination 
law, which prohibits discrimination against all persons in employment, 
education, access to health care, or the provision of other services, a 
new law regarding the rights of persons with disabilities became 
effective in December. However, the Government did not fully implement 
the law, and discrimination against persons with disabilities remained 
a problem during the year.
    The law mandates accessibility for persons with disabilities to 
buildings and public transportation. In practice, the country had few 
facilities specifically designed for persons with disabilities. During 
the first half of the year, the national agency for persons with 
disabilities inspected 325 important local state institutions, such as 
prefecture buildings, county council buildings, and museums, and found 
that 73 percent of these structures lacked adequate facilities for 
persons with disabilities. During the year, however, an increasing 
number of public and private facilities voluntarily installed 
accessible features.
    As of March 31, the Government reported that approximately 405,000 
adults and 55,000 children were registered as persons with 
disabilities. Of this number, almost 18,000 adults and 354 children 
were receiving special care in residential institutions. The country 
had 149 residential institutions for adults with disabilities. NGOs 
estimated that there were some 300,000 persons with intellectual 
disabilities in the country, and close to three million persons with 
disabilities overall.
    An Amnesty International (AI) report released in May criticized the 
conditions in psychiatric hospitals, which continued to fall below 
international standards. The country had 38 psychiatric hospitals, four 
of which were considered secure facilities for convicted criminals, and 
66 outpatient mental health facilities, most of which were not in 
operation.
    According to reports by human rights NGOs, the placement, living 
conditions, and treatment of patients in many psychiatric wards and 
hospitals did not meet international human rights standards and were 
below professional norms. Most psychiatric hospitals had poor hygiene, 
insufficient heating, and insufficient food rations. Some hospitals 
lacked running water, were heavily overcrowded, lacked a sufficient 
number of beds, and had no mechanism for complaints in cases of abuse. 
Patients were in many cases secluded in rooms with metal bars on the 
windows based on arbitrary decisions of the staff. Conditions in 
psychiatric wards did not improve during the year.
    On August 1, the Ministry of Health established a national center 
for mental health which was tasked with drafting a national strategy 
for the psychiatric sector. During the year the center began conducting 
an inventory of mental health institutions nationwide.
    The Ministry of Health adopted a mental health action plan in 2005 
that included provisions for persons with mental disabilities. However, 
NGOs asserted that the plan failed to improve conditions in psychiatric 
institutions; most aspects of this plan remained unimplemented by 
year's end. The provision of community-based mental health care 
services remained inadequate.
    In January 162 psychiatric patients who were convicted criminals 
were transferred from a Poiana Mare hospital, where 18 patients died 
from malnutrition and hypothermia in 2004, to a psychiatric hospital in 
Sapoca. Upon their admission to the hospital in Sapoca, most of those 
transferred were diagnosed with tuberculosis and syphilis. Although the 
Ministry of Health ordered the closure of the Poiana Mare hospital in 
November 2005 it continued to function as an institution for chronic 
psychiatric patients, although convicted criminal patients were no 
longer held there. According to media reports, the Government did not 
close the hospital because of protests by hospital employees who feared 
the loss of their jobs.
    In May MDRI released a report that harshly criticized the 
Government for its treatment of children with mental disabilities and 
alleged that the country was in serious violation of its obligations 
under both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 
European Convention on Human Rights. MDRI found that children were 
being detained in adult facilities, some children were kept in 
permanent restraints, and abuse and neglect were commonplace throughout 
the country's mental institutions and healthcare facilities.
    The Center for Legal Resources, a local NGO, reported that minors 
with mental disabilities were routinely mistreated in state care 
institutions. These children were subjected to both verbal and physical 
abuse, including being tied to their beds, beaten, and threatened that 
they would be sent to psychiatric hospitals. Some minors were sent to 
psychiatric hospitals without the consent of the minors' legal 
guardians. According to human rights NGOs, there was no system to 
ensure that the rights of children with mental disabilities were 
observed in state care institutions. There were also reports that 
children without any mental disability were placed in centers for 
children with mental disabilities because they were HIV/AIDS-positive.
    According to a report released by the Open Society Institute in 
September 2005, only 28 percent of the approximately 52,000 children 
with mental disabilities received any form of education because most 
remedial schools did not accept children with serious mental 
disabilities. The report also cited a lack of job opportunities for 
persons with disabilities.
    An August Human Rights Watch report noted widespread discrimination 
faced by children with HIV/AIDS and authorities' failure to protect 
children from discrimination, abuse, and neglect. According to the 
report, less than 60 percent of the approximately 7,200 children and 
youths with HIV/AIDS attended any form of schooling. Doctors often 
refused to treat children and youths with HIV/AIDS, who obtained 
medication only with difficulty and delays. Medical personnel, school 
officials, and government employees did not keep the confidentiality of 
information about the children, which caused the children and families 
to be denied services such as schooling. In addition, in some 
situations the children and their parents were threatened by parents of 
other children to keep them out of school.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to a government 
survey, national minorities in approximately 13 percent of the 
country's localities do not have any rights regarding the use of their 
language. The survey also indicated that laws on the use of minority 
languages with regard to education, culture, and administration were 
enforced in 80 percent of localities with national minority 
communities. In 20 percent of localities surveyed, bilingual signs were 
not installed as required by law.
    In November the Government released a survey on interethnic 
relations, which revealed that Romanians continued to harbor 
preconceived ideas and stereotypes about ethnic minorities including 
Hungarians, Roma, and Jews. According to the survey, although 45 
percent of respondents viewed Roma as one of the most underprivileged 
social and ethnic groups, over 60 percent agreed with the statement, 
``If I were an employer, I would not hire Roma because most of them are 
lazy and steal.'' Forty-eight percent of respondents believed that only 
ethnic Romanians should be hired in positions of responsibility in the 
state or society, such as judges or police.
    Discrimination against Roma remained a serious problem. NGOs 
reported that throughout the country, Roma were denied access to, or 
refused service in, shops, restaurants, discotheques, and other places 
of public accommodation.
    An AI report published in May highlighted as a major problem the 
racially motivated violence perpetrated by both individuals and law 
enforcement authorities against the Romani population. Romani groups 
complained that police brutality, including beatings and harassment, 
was routine (see section 1.c.). In January and August police forcibly 
beat and evicted Roma from their homes (see sections 1.c. and 1.f.).
    The results of a December 2005 nationwide survey regarding 
discrimination and tolerance, conducted by the Center for Urban and 
Regional Sociology at the request of the CNCD, indicated that 81 
percent of respondents thought that most Roma broke the law; 61 percent 
shared the opinion that Roma were a disgrace for Romania; and 52 
percent favored the idea that Roma should not be allowed to travel 
abroad.
    Persistent poverty among the Roma remained one of the country's 
most prominent social problems. Roma faced the greatest hardship of any 
minority, with poor access to government services, few employment 
opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, 
and pervasive discrimination. Human rights NGOs characterized the 
persistent cyclical poverty confronting the country's Roma as an issue 
that had barely been addressed since the fall of communism. Although 
some government initiatives have shown positive results, an emerging 
group of Roma activists viewed many programs implemented to date as 
replacing Roma culture with a deepening culture of dependence.
    A 2004 European Commission report estimated that the Roma 
population numbered between 1.8 and 2.5 million persons, although the 
most recent official census of 2002 reported the significantly lower 
number of 535,000. NGOs pointed out that government figures were low 
because many Roma did not reveal their ethnicity to authorities, and 
many Roma lacked identity cards or other forms of identification.
    According to an analysis of the 2002 census by the Romani NGO 
Impreuna (Together), approximately 35 percent of the Romani population 
had not graduated from primary school. Illiteracy among Roma was 25.6 
percent.
    There were reports of pervasive discrimination by teachers and 
other students against Romani students. NGOs and the media reported 
that such discrimination served as an additional disincentive for 
Romani children to complete their studies. During the year there were 
reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms due 
to their ethnicity, of teachers ignoring Romani students, and of 
unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren. In some 
communities, authorities placed Romani students in separate classrooms 
from other students and even in separate schools. At the end of the 
2005-06 school year, Romani NGOs identified cases of Romani children 
segregated from other students in schools in Moreni, Neamt county; 
Munteni, Neamt county; Roman, Neamt county; Balusenii Noi, Botosani 
county; Targu Frumos, Iasi county; Pecica, Arad county; Santana, Arad 
county; Curtici, Arad county; Jibou, Salaj county; Polovragi, Gorj 
county; Constanta; Turda, Cluj county; Ineu de Cris, Bihor county; and 
Bogei, Bihor county. In 2004, following complaints by several NGOs, the 
Ministry of Education nominally prohibited segregation in schools in a 
nonbinding notification; Romani NGOs continued to press unsuccessfully 
for a binding order.
    According to OSI, ethnic Roma were five times as likely as members 
of the majority population to live below the poverty line. OSI also 
estimated that approximately 60 percent of Roma lived segregated from 
the majority population in communities with substandard housing and 
without basic governmental services such as schools, adequate 
healthcare, running water, electricity, and waste disposal.
    Roma were also disproportionately unemployed and underemployed. 
According to Impreuna, 67 percent of Romani households surveyed had no 
employed member, and the overall Roma unemployment rate was 
approximately 60 percent.
    Although the CNCD fined the Steaua soccer team for fans' use of 
anti-Roma hate language during a match in April 2005 and a stadium 
announcer for making racist comments during the same game, similar 
incidents involving the Steaua and other teams occurred repeatedly 
during the year. The Union of European Football Associations and the 
Federation Internationale de Football Association also imposed fines on 
several Romanian soccer teams.
    On April 4, the Civic Alliance of Roma, an NGO supporting Roma 
rights, the CNCD, and the Romanian Soccer Federation organized a soccer 
game to protest racism in stadiums. In addition, at the end of October, 
the CNCD and the Romanian Soccer Federation organized a three-day 
campaign against racism.
    In September the CNCD fined the New Right (Noua Dreapta), an 
organization with extremist and xenophobic views, and three of its 
leaders for authoring and posting discriminatory articles against the 
Roma on the organization's Web site.
    In November the Roma Party-Pro Europe and the Police signed a 
protocol of partnership aimed at initiating activities to prevent 
marginalization of Roma communities.
    On April 26, after repeatedly postponing its ruling, a court in 
Ludus decided not to enforce the seizure of perpetrators' property to 
compensate Romani victims of mob violence in the village of Hadareni in 
1993 that resulted in the deaths of four persons and the burning of 13 
Romani houses. In May Romani victims and their families appealed the 
ruling, and their suit remained pending at year's end.
    In answer to a complaint filed by the ERRC, the CNCD decided on 
January 17 that an anti-Romani speech made by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the 
leader of the extreme right Greater Romania Party, was in breach of the 
antidiscrimination law. However, the CNCD could not sanction Tudor 
because of his parliamentary immunity. In his speech, referring to the 
Hadareni case, Tudor had used derogatory terms regarding Roma.
    In September-October 2005 the National Agency for Roma (ANR), and 
nongovernmental experts drafted a community development plan to improve 
the prospects of the Roma in Hadareni. In January human rights NGOs 
criticized the Government for failing to take concrete steps toward 
implementing the plan. On April 19, the Government approved an updated 
two-year community development plan for Hadareni for the improvement of 
the situation of Roma. However, implementation of the updated program 
for Hadareni was further delayed by the Government's failure to publish 
implementing regulations before August. NGOs complained that, although 
the strategy included positive steps, implementation would be very 
difficult at the local level. During the final months of the year, 
several ANR-funded programs began in Hadareni. Between September 21 and 
December 15, several Romani and human rights NGOs partnered with local 
authorities on a project to build confidence and respect among the 
Romani and ethnic Romanian citizens of Hadareni. In November Hadareni 
authorities launched a campaign aimed at improving Roma access to 
public health care.
    Based on a 2003 CNCD ruling that the owner of a public bar 
committed a discriminatory act by posting a note denying access to Roma 
and ordering the bartender not to sell drinks to three young Roma, the 
victims filed a complaint, and a court in Botosani ruled that the 
defendant should provide access to Roma to the bar and pay moral 
damages amounting to $230 (600 new lei) to the plaintiffs.
    Romani CRISS continued to monitor cases of alleged human rights 
violations, increasing the number of counties it monitored from 10 to 
15, plus Bucharest. By mid-October human rights monitors identified 59 
cases of violence or abuse against Roma in 12 counties.
    Romani CRISS continued its partnership with the Ministry of 
Administration and Interior to help Roma obtain official identification 
documents. The lack of identification documents significantly hindered 
Roma from gaining access to employment, education, and health care, and 
made voting and buying property prohibitively difficult.
    Ethnic Hungarians were considered by the Government to be the 
largest ethnic minority, comprising 1.4 million persons according to 
the 2002 census. There are also approximately 60,000 ethnic Ukrainians, 
60,000 ethnic Germans, and other minorities in smaller numbers. In the 
Moldova region where the Roman Catholic Csango minority resided, the 
community continued to operate government-funded Hungarian-language 
school groups; 982 students in 16 localities were instructed in 
Hungarian during the academic year that commenced in September. An 
additional 360 students participated in extracurricular courses in 
Hungarian, but 7,900 students lacked access to Hungarian language 
classes.
    The Bolyai Initiative Group, a group of young professors from the 
Cluj-based Babes-Bolyai University (UBB) who supported the reopening of 
the Hungarian-language state-owned Bolyai University, and the Hungarian 
Civic Union (UCM) complained of discrimination against ethnic 
minorities in the teaching of the Romanian language in schools. They 
argued that national minorities were required to learn Romanian based 
on the same curricula and textbooks as ethnic Romanians who speak it as 
their mother tongue. In March and June the UCM filed a complaint on 
this issue with the CNCD. The Bolyai Initiative Group further 
complained that there were no bilingual signs in the UBB and that 
ethnic Hungarian students were not allowed to use the Hungarian 
language when interacting with university management. On November 22, 
two UBB faculty members who were also members of the Bolyai Initiative 
Group installed Hungarian-language ``no-smoking'' signs around the UBB 
campus. UBB security guards removed the signs on the same day. The 
UBB's governing body subsequently dismissed the two faculty members 
involved in the incident. The Ministry of Education conducted an 
investigation into UBB's decision and concluded that the two were 
dismissed because they violated the code of conduct and not because of 
their attempt to install the Hungarian-language signs and that their 
dismissal had nothing to do with their ethnic Hungarian origin.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--NGOs reported that 
police abuse and societal discrimination against homosexuals was common 
(see section 1.c.) and that open hostility prevented the reporting of 
some harassment and discrimination. Members of the gay and lesbian 
community also continued to voice concerns about discrimination in 
public education and health care systems, and about the possibility 
that young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons were being 
involuntarily referred to psychiatric institutions based on their 
parents' decisions.
    The second ``march of diversity'' gay pride parade was held in 
Bucharest on June 3 and included hundreds of participants. The parade 
was marred by violent physical and verbal attacks by onlookers against 
the marchers. Roving groups of men shouted abuse and hurled bottles, 
food, and buckets of water at the parade participants. The attackers 
were encouraged in their behavior by some onlookers, including Romanian 
Orthodox priests and seminarians. The Romanian Orthodox Church and 20 
other organizations had called for a ban on the gay parade. The police 
were reportedly alerted in advance to the planned attacks and 
dispatched a highly organized force to protect the marchers. The force 
included hundreds of uniformed officers, units of horse-mounted police, 
and armored personnel transport carriers.
    After the ``march of diversity,'' six participants (four Romanians 
and two foreigners) were assaulted on the subway by a group of youths 
making homophobic statements. Although the police were cooperative and 
called the victims to look at video recordings and pictures, no 
perpetrators had been identified by year's end.
    Earlier in the day on June 3, the New Right sponsored a march 
against homosexuality. The participants displayed symbols and chanted 
slogans and songs of the Iron Guard and wore t-shirts with the portrait 
of Legionnaire leader Codreanu.
    ACCEPT, an NGO promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 
rights, reported that it received complaints from people who were 
harassed and subjected to degrading treatment in prisons because of 
their sexual orientation. Few victims pursued charges due to fear of 
harassment from the local community and police or the belief that 
authorities would not carry out unbiased investigations. The NGO 
mentioned the case of a man who, beginning in April, was subjected to 
harassment at his workplace due to his alleged sexual orientation. 
After ACCEPT filed a petition on his behalf with the CNCD, the man was 
transferred to another location and demoted.
    A survey released by the Government in November revealed that 53 
percent of respondents did not want homosexual neighbors, 50 percent 
did not want to work with homosexuals, 60 percent did not want 
homosexual friends, and 67.8 percent would not want homosexual inlaws.
    The law prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. For 
the period between January and March 2005, the National Union of the 
Organizations of Persons Affected by HIV/AIDS (UNOPA) reported that 438 
out of approximately 1,000 individuals interviewed had encountered 
human rights violations; this figure included 156 cases of denied 
access to medical care on the pretext of medicine shortages at the 
hospital level, 269 cases of delays in the provision of subsidized food 
and social welfare allowances, and eight cases of breach of 
confidentiality. For the period between April and September 2005, UNOPA 
reported that 795 out of 2,407 individuals interviewed had encountered 
discrimination.
    In June Human Rights Watch issued a report on the country's 
``failure to protect and support children and youth living with HIV.'' 
The report was based on field research conducted in Bacau, Constanta, 
Giurgiu, and Ilfov counties and in Bucharest. The report found that, 
although the country was the first in Eastern Europe to provide 
universal access to antiretroviral therapy, stigma and discrimination 
against persons with HIV/AIDS frequently impeded their access to 
education, medical care, government services, and employment. The 
Government lacked a strategy to manage the transition of HIV-positive 
children living in institutions or foster care after they turned 18. 
Less than 60 percent of HIV-positive children and adolescents attended 
some form of schooling. Moreover, those who did attend school sometimes 
faced ostracism, abuse, and possible expulsion if their HIV status 
became known.
    Discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS impeded access to 
routine medical and dental care. Breaches of confidentiality involving 
individuals' HIV status were common and rarely punished; medical staff, 
teachers, social workers, and municipal staff were common sources of 
leaked information.
    Children had no legal right to learn of their HIV status without 
parental consent, and adolescents often lacked the ability to make 
informed decisions on medical treatment, education, and employment. 
Over half of HIV-infected adolescents were sexually active; they 
frequently experienced reduced access to facilities for reproductive 
healthcare and the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted 
infections.
    The authorities rarely enforced laws prohibiting discrimination 
against persons with HIV. The law set penalties for knowingly 
transmitting HIV.
    During the year the Government cooperated with international 
organizations to implement a national AIDS strategy by conducting 
conferences and disseminating brochures to raise public awareness of 
the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--All workers, except certain public 
employees, have the constitutional right to associate freely and to 
form and join labor unions without previous authorization, and they 
freely exercised this right. However, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of 
Administration and Interior, and intelligence personnel were not 
allowed to unionize. The majority of workers belonged to one of 
approximately 18 national trade union confederations and smaller 
independent trade unions. Approximately 55 to 60 percent of the 
workforce was unionized, according to union officials.
    The right to form unions generally was respected in practice, and 
many employers created enterprise-friendly unions. Many unions claimed 
that the Government interfered in labor negotiations, trade union 
activities, collective bargaining, and strikes, and complained that the 
union registration requirements stipulated by law were excessive.
    The law has specific provisions against union discrimination, which 
were generally respected.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides workers 
the right to bargain collectively, but government control of many 
industrial enterprises and the absence of independent management 
representatives at these entities hindered collective bargaining. 
Approximately 80 percent of the total workforce was covered by 
collective labor contracts at the branch and unit levels. A national 
collective labor contract for 2005-06 was concluded in March among the 
main employers' associations, trade unions, and the Government. 
Contracts resulting from collective bargaining were not consistently 
enforced. The wages of public employees were guided by a minimum wage 
stipulated by law and a pay scale specific to each ministry that was 
based on that ministry's annual budget.
    While the law permits strikes by all workers except judges, 
prosecutors, related Ministry of Justice staff, and employees of the 
ministries of defense, internal affairs, and the intelligence service, 
lengthy and cumbersome requirements made it difficult to hold strikes 
legally. Unions may strike only if all arbitration efforts have failed 
and if employers have been given 48 hours' notice. Unions complained 
that they must submit their grievances to government-sponsored 
conciliation before initiating a strike, and that the courts had a 
propensity to declare strikes illegal. Companies may claim damages from 
strike organizers if a court deems a strike illegal.
    There are no exemptions from regular labor laws in the country's 
six free trade zones and 31 disadvantaged zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a problem. Although a law to protect children from 
exploitation went into effect January 2005, the Government did not 
consistently enforce the measure in practice.
    The minimum employment age is 16 years, but children may work with 
the consent of parents or guardians at age 15, although only 
``according to their physical development, aptitude, and knowledge.'' 
Minors are prohibited from working in hazardous conditions. Working 
children under the age of 16 have the right to continue their 
education, and the law obliges employers to assist in this regard. In 
practice, however, many children were reported to occasionally forego 
attending school while working on family farms, especially in rural 
areas and in Romani communities. Children age 15 to 18 may work no more 
than six hours per day and no more than 30 hours per week, provided 
that their school attendance is not affected. An employer may hire 
minors only between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. Parents violating child labor 
law may be punished with either monetary fines of up to $200 (500 new 
lei) or imprisonment of two months to seven years. However, the 
Government did not consistently apply these provisions, claiming that 
the punishment would further harm children in certain cases. During the 
year the Government imposed fines on 52 sets of parents and sentenced 
none to prison. Factories were implicated in most cases of child labor 
exploitation and also were fined.
    The labor inspectorate within the Ministry of Labor provided the 
following information: in 2005, the labor inspectorates carried out 
inspections on 74,109 employers. Of 4,405 working youths encountered 
during the inspections, 135 of those aged 15 to 18 had no legal 
employment documents; 17 children under age 15 were found working with 
no legal employment documents. During the first quarter of the year 
inspections were carried out on 21,805 employers and identified 461 
working young people aged 15 to 18, of whom 21 had no legal employment 
documents. Fourteen employers were given fines exceeding $12,900 
(33,100 new lei).
    In January 2005 the protection and promotion of the rights of the 
child law went into force. The law requires schools to immediately 
notify social services of children missing classes to work. Social 
services are authorized to work with schools to reintegrate such 
children into the educational system. The Government also conducted 
information campaigns to raise awareness among children, potential 
employers, and the general public.
    In January 2005 the Government established the national authority 
for protection of children's rights under the Ministry of Labor, Social 
Solidarity, and Family. The national authority can impose fines and 
close factories for child labor exploitation, but enforcement tended to 
be lax except in extreme cases, most notably those that attracted media 
attention. Despite the prevalence of child labor, there were no reports 
of anyone being charged or convicted during the year under any of the 
child labor laws.
    Children were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation 
(see section 5).
    An international report released in 2004 estimated that 3.9 million 
of the 5.6 million children in the country were ``economically 
active.'' Over 300,000 (approximately 7 percent) were ``child 
laborers,'' working without any contractual arrangements in agriculture 
or low-skilled jobs, while 900,000 (19 percent) worked in their own 
households, especially in rural areas. Approximately 300,000 (6 
percent) were engaged in physically demanding work, while 70,000 
(approximately 1 percent) were victims of the ``worst forms of child 
labor,'' including hazardous work, sexual exploitation, forced labor, 
trafficking, or criminal activity. This last category included more 
than 3,000 ``street children,'' the majority of whom lived in 
Bucharest. Child labor, including begging, selling trinkets on the 
street, or washing windshields, remained widespread in Romani 
communities; children engaged in such activities could be as young as 
five years old. There was official recognition of the problem, and the 
country continued to show progress in eliminating the worst forms of 
child labor.
    During the year the Government allocated $490,000 (1.27 million new 
lei) to NGOs to implement two national interest programs to combat 
trafficking in children and child labor.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The latest collective labor 
contract published in May stipulated a gross minimum monthly wage of 
$144.00 (370 new lei) for a full time schedule of 170 hours per month, 
which translated into approximately $0.85 (2.18 new lei) per hour. The 
minimum monthly wage of approximately $144 (370 new lei) did not 
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Minimum 
wage rates generally were observed and enforced by the Ministry of 
Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family.
    The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours or five days, 
with overtime paid for weekend or holiday work, or work in excess of 40 
hours, which may not exceed 48 hours per week averaged over one month. 
The law requires a 24-hour rest period in the workweek, although most 
workers received two days off per week. The Ministry of Labor, Social 
Solidarity, and Family effectively enforced these standards.
    On August 30, the Government approved amendments to the labor code 
regarding collective layoffs and part-time contracts that bring the law 
into line with EU directives. Rules governing contracts for part-time 
or temporary workers were made more flexible and allow contracts for 
any period of time. The amendments also modify rules for collective 
layoffs, including mandatory union consultation.
    The law provides penalties for work performed without a labor 
contract in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. 
Employers who use illegal labor may be jailed or fined up to $38,000 
(100,000 new lei).
    The Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family has authority 
to establish and enforce safety standards for most industries, but 
lacked of trained personnel to enforce them. Employers often ignored 
the ministry's recommendations, which were usually only applied after 
an accident occurred. Workers have the right to refuse dangerous work 
assignments but seldom invoked it in practice.

                               __________

                                 RUSSIA

    The Russian Federation has a weak multiparty political system with 
a strong presidency, a government headed by a prime minister, and a 
bicameral legislature (Federal Assembly) consisting of a lower house 
(State Duma) and an upper house (Federation Council). The 
proPresidential United Russia party controlled more than two-thirds of 
the State Duma. The country had an estimated population of 142.9 
million. Vladimir Putin was re-elected in 2004 in an election process 
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
determined did not adequately reflect principles necessary for a 
healthy democratic election, particularly in equal access to the media 
by all candidates and secrecy of the ballot. However, the voting itself 
was relatively free of manipulation, and the outcome was generally 
understood to have represented the will of the people. The Government's 
human rights record in the continuing internal conflict in and around 
Chechnya remained poor. Both federal and Chechen Republic security 
forces generally acted with legal impunity in Chechnya where civilian 
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security 
forces. Chechen security forces at times appeared to act independently 
of the Russian command structure, and there were no indications that 
federal authorities made any effort to rein in those forces' extensive 
human rights abuses.
    The most notable human rights developments during the year were the 
contract-style killings of proreform Central Bank Deputy Chairman 
Andrei Kozlov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for uncovering 
human rights abuses in Chechnya. Continuing centralization of power in 
the executive branch, a compliant State Duma, political pressure on the 
judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities, corruption and selectivity 
in enforcement of the law, continuing media restrictions and self-
censorship, and harassment of some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) 
resulted in an erosion of the accountability of government leaders to 
the population. Security forces were involved in additional significant 
human rights problems, including alleged government involvement in 
politically motivated abductions, disappearances, and unlawful killings 
in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus; hazing in the armed 
forces that resulted in severe injuries and deaths; torture, violence, 
and other brutal or humiliating treatment by security forces; harsh and 
frequently life-threatening prison conditions; corruption in law 
enforcement; and arbitrary arrest and detention. The executive branch 
allegedly exerted influence over judicial decisions in certain high-
profile cases. Government pressure continued to weaken freedom of 
expression and media independence, particularly of major national 
networks. Media freedom declined due to restrictions as well as 
harassment, intimidation, and killing of journalists. Local authorities 
continued to limit freedom of assembly and restrict religious groups in 
some regions. There were also reports of societal discrimination, 
harassment, and violence against members of some religious minorities 
and incidents of anti-Semitism. Authorities restricted freedom of 
movement and exhibited negative attitudes toward, and sometimes 
harassed, NGOs involved in human rights monitoring. Also notable was 
the passage and entry into force of a new law on NGOs, which has 
already had some adverse effects on their operations. There was 
widespread governmental and societal discrimination as well as racially 
motivated attacks against ethnic minorities and dark-skinned 
immigrants, including the outbreak of violence against Chechens in the 
northwest and the initiation of a government campaign to selectively 
harass and deport ethnic Georgians. Xenophobic, racial and ethnic 
attacks, and hate crimes were on the rise. Violence against women and 
children, trafficking in persons, and instances of forced labor were 
also reported.
    In the internal conflict in Chechnya, antigovernment forces 
continued killing and intimidating local officials. There were also 
reports of Chechen rebel involvement in both terrorist bombings and 
politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya during 
the year. Some rebels were allegedly involved in kidnapping to raise 
funds, and there were reports that explosives improvised by rebels led 
to civilian casualties.
    There were also some positive developments with regard to human 
rights. Reforms initiated in previous years continued to produce 
improvements in the criminal justice system. Authorities sought to 
combat instances of racial and ethnic mistreatment through prosecutions 
of groups and individuals accused of engaging in this behavior.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
confirmed reports that the Government or its agent committed 
politically-motivated killings, but there continued to be credible 
reports that federal armed forces engaged in unlawful killings in 
Chechnya. The use of indiscriminate force in areas of Chechnya with 
significant civilian populations resulted in numerous deaths (see 
section 1.g.).
    While security forces generally conducted their activities with 
impunity, courts did address a few incidents. In June the Supreme Court 
overturned the acquittals of four servicemen charged with killing 
Chechen civilians and ordered new trials (see section 1.g.).
    As of October, according to Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka, hazing 
incidents in the military led to 20 deaths. On August 11, a commander 
kicked soldier Dmitry Panteleyev to death. On October 12, the Ryazan 
Garrison Military Court convicted Captain Vyacheslav Nikiforov, a 
former company commander in a Railway Troops unit, of kicking 
Panteleyev to death, Russian media reported. Nikiforov was sentenced to 
12 years in a maximum security prison on charges that could have 
brought him a sentence of up to 25 years. This case notwithstanding, 
observers complained that there was little accountability for such 
offenses.
    In Chechnya rebels killed a number of federal soldiers whom they 
had taken prisoner; many other individuals were kidnapped and then 
killed in Chechnya by both sides, as well as by criminal elements; and 
there were deaths from land mines and unexploded ordnance (see section 
1.g.).
    There were a number of high-profile killings by unknown persons. On 
the night of March 30, Viktor Dorkin, the mayor of Dzerzhinsky in 
Moscow Oblast, was shot 16 times and killed in the courtyard of his 
apartment building as he was returning from a local television studio. 
Investigators believe that at least three persons were involved in the 
killing. On May 5, police detained Sergei Bulavin, a local resident 
with a prior criminal conviction, for the assassination, ITAR-TASS 
reported. Police were still searching for the other two suspects.
    On September 13, unknown persons shot Central Bank Deputy Chairman 
Andrei Kozlov; he died of his injuries on September 14. In October 
authorities arrested three Ukrainian nationals in the suspected 
contract killing. At year's end police had not determined who ordered 
the killing. A supporter of banking reform, Kozlov had revoked the 
licenses of dozens of banks in the past few years. It was widely 
believed that Kozlov's killing was connected to his professional 
activities.
    On October 11, the branch director of VneshTorgBank Alexander 
Plokhin was shot and killed in the stairwell near his apartment. The 
prosecutor general's office said it was considering all motives for 
Plokhin's killing ``including links to his professional activities.'' 
At year's end, no progress has been made in the investigation.
    On October 19, unknown persons killed mayoral candidate Dmitry 
Fotyanov in the town of Dalnegorsk, Primorskiy Krai. Because he was 
killed days before a runoff election, many believe the killing was 
politically motivated; the prosecutor general's office was reportedly 
continuing to investigate whether the killing was connected with the 
elections (see section 3).
    On November 22, Konstantin Meshcheryakov, co-owner of 
Spetssetstroibank, was killed outside his apartment in central Moscow. 
As the third prominent banker to be killed within three months, 
prosecutors quickly admitted that his professional activities may have 
led to the attack; the case remains open and no further information 
appeared in the media.
    On November 23, former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr 
Litvinenko died in London as a result of radioactive poisoning by 
polonium-210 (a highly restricted substance) by unknown actors. At 
year's end, investigations into the death continued in both Russia and 
the United Kingdom.
    Some killings of government officials appeared connected with the 
ongoing strife in the North Caucasus. As of November, the prosecutor's 
office of Chechnya reported that, between 2000 and 2006, 71 criminal 
cases were opened based on actual or attempted assassinations of 
municipal administration leaders or their staff. Of these cases, nine 
went to trial.
    On June 9, Ingushetiya Ministry of Internal Affairs Lieutenant 
Colonel Musa Nalgiyev, three of his children, a driver, and bodyguard 
were killed as he took the children to a childcare center. Also on June 
9, a short distance away, deputy district administrator Galina Gubina 
was shot and killed (see section 1.g.). On August 8, Daghestani 
prosecutor Bitar Bitarov died in a car bomb attack in the town of 
Buinaksk, Dagestan Republic. When Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerey 
Magomedtagirov was traveling to the scene, his car was targeted by a 
car bomb, but he survived due to his car's armor. On October 24, the 
administrative head of the village of Chechen-Aul, Umar Khatsiyev, was 
shot and killed in his home.
    In May a jury acquitted four men accused of carrying out the 2005 
assassination of Zagir Arukhov, minister of nationality policy, 
information, and external ties of Dagestan, and of bombing a 
prosecutor's office in Makhachkala. The prosecutor's case was largely 
based on confessions made by the four defendants, and defense attorneys 
claimed the confessions were obtained through torturing the defendants. 
The prosecution appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which 
overturned the lower court's acquittal and ordered the case to be 
further investigated.
    At year's end hearings were still ongoing for two additional 
defendants allegedly involved in the 1998 killing of Galina 
Starovoytova, a prominent State Duma deputy. In June 2005 two of the 
initial six defendants tried in connect with the killing were convicted 
of terrorist acts and the four others released. The individual who 
ordered the killing had not been identified. In September two others 
were found guilty in connection with Starovoytova's killing. One of the 
defendants was sentenced to 11 years. The other, although found guilty, 
was released under statutes of limitations. The court ruled there were 
no political motives for the murder. Three identified suspects as well 
as one unidentified individual, who ordered the killing, remain at 
large.
    During the year several journalists were killed for reasons that 
appeared to be related to their work, including Anna Politkovskaya, 
known for her reporting on human rights abuses and the Chechnya 
conflict (see section 2.a.).
    Skinheads and members of neo-Nazi groups attacked and killed 
members of ethnic minorities and foreigners during the year (see 
section 5).

    b. Disappearance.--There were reports of government involvement in 
politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya, 
although the number of disappearances declined compared to 2005. In 
2005 Memorial documented 316 ``abduction'' cases; 127 of these 
``disappeared'' without a trace and 23 were found dead. During the year 
Memorial documented 184 abductions. Of these, Memorial reported that 91 
persons were released, 63 ``disappeared,'' 11 found dead, and 19 were 
under investigation by authorities. Unlike previous years, there were 
no reports of disappearances of individuals who had appealed court 
cases to the European Court of Human Rights (see section 1.g.).
    In April Bulat Chilaev, an employee of the NGO Civic Assistance, 
and Aslan Israilov disappeared after being detained by armed men 
thought to be members of the Chechen Republic security forces near 
Sernovodsk, Chechnya. According to Civic Assistance, investigators 
found identification at the site of the kidnapping belonging to a 
member of the West (Zapad) battalion, a Chechen unit attached to the 
Ministry of Defense, controlled by military intelligence. Chilaev and 
Israilov were later reported killed on the day they went missing.
    Criminal groups in the Northern Caucasus, possibly having links to 
rebel forces, frequently resorted to kidnapping. The main motivation 
behind such cases apparently was ransom, although some cases had 
political or religious overtones. The hostage-takers held many of their 
victims in Chechnya or Dagestan.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
credible reports that law enforcement personnel frequently engaged in 
torture, violence, and other brutal or humiliating treatment or 
punishment to coerce confessions from suspects and that the Government 
did not consistently hold officials accountable for such actions. 
Although prohibited in the constitution, torture is defined neither in 
the law nor the criminal code. As a result the only accusation 
prosecutors could bring against police suspected of such behavior was 
that they exceeded their authority or committed a simple assault.
    Cases of physical abuse by police officers usually occurred within 
the first few hours or days of arrest. Some of the methods reportedly 
used were: beatings with fists, batons, or other objects; asphyxiation 
using gas masks or bags (at times filled with mace); electric shocks; 
or suspension by body parts (for example, suspending a victim from the 
wrists, which were tied together behind the back). Allegations of abuse 
were difficult to substantiate because of limited access to medical 
professionals. According to the annual report of the country's human 
rights ombudsman, published in June, the majority of police brutality 
cases in 2005 were reported in Khanty-Mansiysk, Bashkortostan, 
Tatarstan, Bryansk, Moscow, and Tver regions. A report in November by 
Amnesty International documented 114 cases of torture by police to 
obtain a confession.
    In January, in the case of Aleksey Mikheyev, the European Court of 
Human Rights (ECHR) found that the Government had violated Article 3 
(torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the 
ECHR found that Mikheyev had been falsely accused of murder. In order 
to force him into confessing, investigators severely beat him and 
tortured him with an electric shock. After the torture, he jumped out 
of a window and broke his spine. The two investigators were prosecuted 
in the country and sentenced to four years imprisonment each.
    In Chechnya, there were credible reports that both government 
forces and Chechen rebels tortured detainees (see section 1.g.). Human 
Rights Watch reported that it had documented 115 torture cases in 
Chechnya between July 2004 and September 2006. The report concluded 
that most of the incidents were carried out at one of at least 10 
unlawful detention centers.
    Reports by refugees, NGOs, and the press suggested a pattern of 
police beatings, arrests, and extortion directed at persons with dark 
skin or who appeared to be from the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Africa, 
and at Roma. For example, in March, two militia officers were detained 
for extorting money from a foreign woman who lived in the Voronezh 
region without registration. In June 2004 the press reported that in 
Novosibirsk four policemen were arrested on suspicion of extorting over 
$1 million (28 million rubles) from a Romani family by kidnapping and 
torturing family members until their demands were met. The case reached 
court in April 2005 and the press reported it. Policemen were 
reportedly later tried and convicted.
    Police reportedly harassed defense lawyers by calling them in for 
questioning regarding their conversations with their clients and 
continued to intimidate witnesses (see section 1.e.).
    Trial proceedings continued at a slow pace for the eight police 
officers charged for abuse of office in August 2005 by the 
Bashkortostan prosecutor's office in the beatings of at least 32 
persons during the 2004 ``crime prevention'' crackdown in 
Blagoveshchensk. The accused were mostly junior officers of the town 
police and the Bashkortostan OMON (a special police detachment). The 
highest ranking defendant was Lieutenant-Colonel Ildar Ramazanov, head 
of the Blagoveshchensk town police. Defendants included the chief of 
Blagoveshchensk police and the OMON unit commander. In March the 
district court returned the case to the prosecutor's office for 
clarification and to separate it into two cases, one for rank-and-file 
policemen and the other their commanders. Bashkortostan's Supreme Court 
supported the decision in a July ruling, but the Bashkortostan's 
prosecutor's office disagreed with separating the cases and in August 
announced that it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Most 
of the defendants continued working in their positions.
    In February three Blagoveshchensk residents were convicted of 
attacking a police patrol, triggering the 2004 crackdown. Two received 
suspended sentences, but the third, Victor Geroyev, was sentenced to 2 
1/2 years in prison. In April Bashkortostan's Supreme Court annulled 
the sentences and sent the case to the Blagoveshchensk district court 
for retrial.
    There are a limited number of cases where psychiatry has been used 
against those dissatisfied with the authorities, according to the 
Russian Research Center on Human Rights. There is some indication that 
psychiatry was being used as a tool in the resolution of inheritance, 
business, and property disputes. The Government's and courts' 
interpretation of the 2001 law on ``Legal Expertise Activities in the 
Russian Federation'' led to a monopoly by government consultants in the 
provision of expert testimony in court cases. The exclusion of 
testimony by nongovernmental expert psychiatric witnesses leaves 
plaintiffs desiring a second opinion with no recourse and such a 
monopoly has led to allegations of corruption and bribe-taking. The 
human rights ombudsman's office was working to create a ``Service for 
the Defense of Patients,'' as required by law and sent letters backing 
the appeals of several court cases whose verdicts did not seem to be 
supported by the evidence.
    Various abuses against military servicemen continued, including but 
not limited to the violent hazing of junior recruits in the armed 
services, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and border guards. Press 
reports cited serving and former armed forces personnel, the main 
military prosecutor's office, and NGOs monitoring conditions in the 
armed forces as indicating that such mistreatment often included 
beatings or threats of increased hazing to extort money or material 
goods. As of August 31, according to Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka, 
hazing incidents led to more than 100 soldiers suffered injuries. The 
number of hazing cases and use of physical force by commanders grew by 
3 percent, and there were more than 3,500 cases of hazing reported. 
According to the chief military prosecutor, the number of registered 
crimes and service-related accidents in the Armed Forces decreased by 2 
percent from the previous year, to 21,252 cases this year. The number 
of grave crimes in the armed Forced decreased by 7 percent, while the 
number of murders dropped by 18.8 percent. There was some variation in 
reported statistics; other sources reported increases.
    According to the Ministry of Defense, there were 1,318 casualties 
recorded during the year (not including casualties in the Internal 
Troops, special units, Border Guards, or Emergency Situation Ministry, 
which are recorded individually. The ministry earlier reported that 554 
servicemen died in the Armed Forces during the year. Among those, 210 
servicemen committed suicide and 27 died in hazing attacks. The 
ministry maintained that 43 percent of the suicides were due to 
personal relationship problems and 23 percent were due to the hardships 
of military service. Approximately 19 percent of the casualties (250) 
were killed by other military personnel.
    By year's end, the Moscow Committee of Soldiers' Mothers registered 
over 1000 complaints from conscripts and parents, mostly related to 
beatings. Servicemen also complained about sexual abuse, torture, and 
enslavement. Soldiers often did not report hazing to either unit 
officers or military prosecutors due to fear of reprisals, since in 
some cases officers reportedly tolerated or even encouraged such hazing 
as a means of controlling their units. Officers reportedly also used 
beatings to discipline soldiers.
    Hazing reportedly was a particularly serious problem in units that 
had previously served in areas of military conflict.
    One high profile case involved the hazing of private Andrey Sychov, 
19, a first-year conscript at the Chelyabinsk Armor Academy. In 
December 2005 servicemen brutally beat and tortured Sychov at the 
Chelyabinsk Tank Academy, and Sychov had to have his legs and genitals 
amputated. The Sychov case prompted the State Duma to hold hearings on 
discipline in the army in February. Minister of Defense Ivanov 
testified and attributed hazing incidents to a ``morally pathological 
society'' and violence in the media. On January 30, President Putin 
ordered the Ministry of Defense to draft ``legal and organizational 
measures'' to boost ``the work of education and upbringing'' in the 
military. Also in February President Putin ordered the Ministry of 
Defense to create a military police force tasked with ending hazing, 
fighting criminal activity, and restoring discipline. In March the 
Council of Europe issued a report on the situation in the Russian Army 
and the practice of hazing. The report stated that the situation is 
extremely worrying and noted that in the view of both NGOs and 
conscripts themselves, young recruits lived through real torment. 
According to the report, deaths occur every year among young conscripts 
who have been ill-treated, subjected to initiation rites, suffered 
accidents, committed suicide or suffered untreated illnesses. Between 
50 and 80 percent of all conscripts and young servicemen are reported 
to be subjected to physical violence, initiation rites, beatings, rape 
or humiliation on the orders of superiors or their peers. Dedovshchina 
(hazing) very widely practiced, and the authorities seem unable to 
gauge the extent of the problem.
    After a three-month trial, a Chelyabinsk military court on 
September 26 convicted Junior Sergeant Aleksandr Sivyakov, who had 
consistently maintained his innocence, on five charges in the Sychov 
case, including ``exceeding authority, resulting in grave 
consequences,'' and sentenced him to four years, less time already 
served, in a medium-security penal colony. Sivyakov was also stripped 
of his rank, banned from holding a command position for three years, 
and ordered to pay $825 (22,000 rubles) to cover the cost of 
transporting witnesses and experts to the court. The prosecution and 
defense both intended to appeal the conviction: the prosecution for a 
stiffer sentence and the defense for a new trial. Two codefendants in 
the trial, Private Pavel Kuzmenko and Private Gennadiy Bilimovich, were 
convicted of hazing a soldier of equal rank and given suspended 
sentences of 1 1/2 years, followed by a year of probation. Sivyakov 
could be eligible for parole after two years; since he had served nine 
months of his sentence, he could be free in 15 months.
    In February local media reported that three recruits from Tyumen 
Oblast serving at Yekaterinburg's military base No. 32 were 
hospitalized as a result of hazing. One of them, Anton Afanasyev 
reportedly was first hospitalized and operated on following a brutal 
beating by fellow servicemen in September 2005.After two months in 
hospital, he returned to his unit, only to be beaten again in January, 
according to statements by his mother to the press. The second, Yuriy 
Afanasenko, was said to have been beaten by older soldiers on New 
Year's Eve (2005-06) in the same way as Andrey Sychov. Despite his 
swollen legs, Afanasenko reportedly received no help from military 
medics for several days. The third soldier, identified as Aleksandr 
Laptev, reportedly tried to commit suicide in late January because of 
beatings. A spokesperson for the Volga-Urals military district said 
that reports of violent hazing at Yekaterinburg's military base No. 32 
were ``greatly exaggerated,'' and that ``not every bruise a soldier has 
is a result of dedovshchina.'' The officer added that facts were being 
distorted because of the ``hysteria'' over Sychov's case.
    Hazing reportedly was also a serious problem in the Russian Pacific 
Fleet units. On March 9, in Vladivostok, it was reported that a local 
sailor was so severely beaten that he could not stand. At first his 
attackers hid him in their quarters, but when found, he was sent to 
various hospitals, misdiagnosed, and accused of trying to avoid his 
duties. Whenever his mother called his unit, officers told her he was 
``on duty'' and did not mention his injuries. After arriving in 
Vladivostok, she had to go to the military prosecutor's office in order 
to convince officials to open an investigation. According to a press 
report, only after the mother met with a reporter, did military 
officials apparently become more responsive.
    Local and national news reports highlighted measures taken by the 
Russian Pacific Fleet to stem military hazing in its ranks. Select 
groups of officers attended courses on psychological causes of military 
hazing. Navy officials expressed optimism that the training will help 
reduce the number of criminal hazing incidents in the navy.
    Both the Union of Soldiers' Mothers Committee (USMC) and the main 
military prosecutor's office received numerous reports about 
``nonstatutory relations,'' in which officers or sergeants physically 
assaulted or humiliated their subordinates. Despite the acknowledged 
seriousness of these problems, the leadership of the Armed Forces made 
only superficial efforts to implement substantive reforms in training, 
education, and administration programs within units to combat abuse.
    During the year federal and local Chechen government forces, as 
well as Chechen rebel forces, violated the human rights of civilians, 
inflicting widespread civilian casualties, abductions, and other abuses 
(see section 1.g.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained 
extremely harsh and frequently life-threatening. The Ministry of 
Justice's Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences administered 
most of the penitentiary system centrally from Moscow. On April 15, the 
State Duma passed a law prohibiting the FSB (Federal Security Service) 
from operating prisons. Pursuant to the law, all FSB prisons were 
transferred to the Ministry of Justice. There were five basic forms of 
custody in the criminal justice system: police temporary detention 
centers; pretrial detention facilities, known as investigation 
isolation facilities (SIZOs); correctional labor colonies (ITKs); 
prisons designated for those who violate ITK rules; and educational 
labor colonies (VTKs) for juveniles. As of July 2005, approximately 
797,500 persons were in the custody of the criminal justice system, 
including 48,600 women and 14,500 juveniles. In December 2005 the 
ministry reported that the number of the persons held in custody in 
2005 exceeded 800,000. As of December 31, approximately 872,000 persons 
were in the custody of the criminal justice system, including 
approximately 60,000 women and 13,000 juveniles. The number of people 
held in custody in 2005 was 823,451. In most cases juveniles were held 
separately from adults.
    In 2004 according to official statistics approximately 2,000 
persons died in SIZOS. According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2005, 
the mortality rate among inmates rose 12 percent and remained at 12 
percent during the year. Most died as a result of poor sanitary 
conditions or lack of medical care (the leading cause of death was 
heart disease). The press reported that individuals were mistreated, 
injured, or killed in various SIZOs. Some of the reported cases 
suggested habitual abuse by officers.
    Abuse of prisoners by other prisoners continued to be a problem. 
Violence among inmates, including beatings and rape, was common. There 
were elaborate inmate-enforced caste systems in which informers, 
homosexuals, rapists, prison rape victims, child molesters, and others 
were considered to be ``untouchable'' and were treated very harshly, 
with little or no protection provided by the prison authorities.
    Penal institutions frequently remained overcrowded, but there were 
reports of some improvements. For example, while many penal facilities 
remained in urgent need of renovation and upgrading, some reports 
indicated that these facilities were closer to meeting government 
standards, which include the provision of four square meters per 
inmate. According to the Federal Service for the Execution of 
Sentences, in 20 regions of the country the actual living space was 
less than four meters per SIZO inmate during the year, while in 18 
regions living space was less than three meters per inmate. By December 
31, approximately 48 percent of the SIZOs met the Governmental space 
minimums for prisoners.
    Inmates in the prison system often suffered from inadequate medical 
care. According to the Ministry of Justice, as of March 17, there were 
over 58,000 tuberculosis-infected persons and 35,000 HIV-infected 
persons in SIZOs and correction colonies, compared to approximately 
49,000 tuberculosis-infected persons and 31,000 HIV-infected persons in 
September 2005. Tuberculosis infection rates were far higher in 
detention facilities than in the population at large. The Moscow Center 
for Prison Reform reported that conditions in penal facilities varied 
among the regions.
    Conditions in SIZO pretrial facilities, where suspects were held 
until the completion of a criminal investigation, trial, sentencing, or 
appeal, remained extremely harsh and posed a serious threat to health 
and life. However, conditions within different SIZOs varied 
considerably. Health, nutrition, and sanitation standards remained low 
due to a lack of funding. Poor ventilation was thought to contribute to 
cardiac problems and lowered resistance to disease. According to the 
Federal Prison Service, the total number of detainees in the system 
increased by 31,000. As of December 31, as a result, facilities 
originally designed to house 130,000 held approximately 161,000 
suspects in 216 detention centers, seven prisons, and 160 facilities 
performing similar functions.
    ITKs held the bulk of the country's convicts. As of December 31, 
there were 696,900 inmates in 765 ITKs, which provided greater freedom 
of movement; however, at times, guards humiliated, beat, and starved 
prisoners. The country's ``prisons''--distinct from the ITKs--were 
penitentiary institutions for those who repeatedly violated the rules 
in effect in the ITKs.
    The 62 VTKs held juvenile prisoners from 14 to 20 years of age. 
Conditions in the VTKs were significantly better than in the ITKs, but 
juveniles in the VTKs and juvenile SIZO cells reportedly also suffered 
from beatings and rape. The Moscow Center for Prison Reform reported 
that such facilities had a poor psychological atmosphere and lacked 
educational and vocational training opportunities. Many of the 
juveniles were from orphanages, had no outside support, and were 
unaware of their rights. While juveniles were generally held separately 
from adults, there were two prisons in Moscow where children and adults 
were not separated and boys were held with adults in small, crowded, 
and smoky cells. Schooling in the prisons for children was sporadic at 
best.
    In August 2005 the NGO For Human Rights reported that it had been 
able to monitor prisons in 40 of the country's 88 regions; however, 
according to the group's executive director, it had become increasingly 
difficult for domestic observers to monitor prison conditions in the 
last six years. Human rights activists were allowed into those prisons 
where the situation was good enough, specifically in female and 
juvenile prisons. Krasnodar Kray was one of the few regions where the 
situation in prisons is good and activists from the NGO For Human 
Rights are allowed in to monitor. For Human Rights counted 40 prisons 
where human rights activists and even defense attorneys were not 
allowed into prisons where prisoners' rights were being seriously 
violated (mass beatings, mass tortures, mass punishment, and 
humiliation). The For Human Rights chairman estimated the situation 
with human rights violation in prison as critical and said that the 
situation worsened. Others, such as the Committee for Civil Rights, 
report that the situation improved in a few regions.
    Since 2004 authorities have refused to grant the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access, under ICRC's standard 
criteria, to those detained as part of the conflict in Chechnya, and 
the ICRC subsequently suspended its detention visits. As of December 
31, it had not regained access to detainees.
    Human rights groups also documented cases of illegal places of 
detention in Chechnya and in other locations in the North Caucasus 
where abuses occurred. Chechen Republic security forces reportedly 
maintained such secret prisons in Tsentoroy, Gudermes, and other 
locations. Human Rights Watch reported it had detailed descriptions of 
at least 10 unlawful detention facilities. Human rights groups also 
reported that officers of the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs' 
Second Operational Investigative Bureau illegally detained and tortured 
people in its Groznyy offices. The UN Committee Against Torture noted 
its concern about these unofficial places of detention.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, they remained problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Internal Affairs, the FSB, and the Office of the Prosecutor are 
responsible for law enforcement at all levels of government. The FSB's 
core responsibilities are security, counterintelligence, and 
counterterrorism, but it also has broader law enforcement functions, 
including fighting crime and corruption. The FSB operated with limited 
oversight by the office of the prosecutor general and the courts.
    The national police force, which falls under the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs, is organized on the federal, regional, and local 
levels. Although regulations and national laws prohibit corrupt 
activities, corruption was widespread and there were few crackdowns on 
illegal police activity. The Government reportedly addressed only a 
fraction of the crimes that federal forces committed against civilians 
in Chechnya (see section 1.g.). Although government agencies, such as 
the ministry, have continued to educate officers about safeguarding 
human rights during law enforcement activities through training 
provided by foreign governments, the security forces remained largely 
unreformed.

    Arrest and Detention.--Under the law an individual may be taken 
into custody for 48-hours without court approval if arrested at the 
scene of a crime, provided there is evidence of the committed crime on 
the individual's person or in his house or when the crime victims or 
witnesses identify the person as a perpetrator. Otherwise a court-
approved arrest warrant is required. According to statistics provided 
by the Supreme Court's judicial department in 2005, the number of 
motions for pretrial arrests filed by law enforcement authorities to 
courts increased by 19.8 percent in comparison to 2004, including an 
increase in the number of motions filed for juveniles (8.3 percent 
more) and women (29.5 percent more). Statistics for the first six 
months of the year indicated that courts approved approximately 92 
percent of all arrest requests from law enforcement authorities, 
approximately the same as in 2004 and 2005.
    After arrest detainees were typically taken to the nearest police 
station where they should be informed of their rights. The police are 
obliged to write an official protocol, signed by the detainee and the 
police officer within three hours of detention, which states the 
grounds for the detention. Police must interrogate the detainee within 
the first 24-hours, but prior to the interrogation the detainee has the 
right to meet with an attorney for two hours. No later than 12-hours 
after a detention, police must notify the prosecutor and the detainee's 
relatives about the detention unless a prosecutor's warrant to keep the 
fact of detention secret is obtained. The detainee must be released 
after 48 hours, either subject to bail conditions or on their own 
recognizance, unless a court decides to keep the person in custody in 
response to a motion filed by police no later than eight hours before 
the expiration of the 48 hour detention period. The defendant and his/
her attorney must be present at the court hearing.
    The law specifies that, within two months of a suspect's arrest, 
police should complete their investigation and transfer the file to the 
prosecutor for arraignment, although a court may extend the criminal 
investigation for up to six months in ``complex'' cases. With the 
personal approval of the prosecutor general, a judge may extend that 
period up to 18 months.
    Legal limitations on detention were generally respected; however, 
there were reports of occasional violations of the 48-hour time limit 
following an arrest. Most frequently, authorities failed to write the 
official protocol of detention within three hours after the actual 
detention and held suspects in excess of detention limits. In addition 
there were reports that police obtained defense counsels friendly to 
the prosecution. These ``pocket'' defense counsels allowed 
interrogation of their clients. The general ignorance of legal rights 
by both citizens and their defense counsels contributed to the 
persistence of these violations.
    Judges suppressed confessions of suspects whose confessions were 
taken without a lawyer present. They also freed suspects who were held 
in excess of detention limits, although they usually granted 
prosecutors' motions to extend the detention period for good cause. The 
Supreme Court overturned a number of cases in which lower court judges 
granted permission to detain individuals on what the Supreme Court 
deemed inadequate grounds.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no new reports or allegations 
that authorities detained and engaged in selective prosecution of 
political adversaries. In recent years observers considered the 2003 
arrest on fraud charges of prominent and politically active businessman 
Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and the 2004 arrest on fraud charges of Yukos Oil 
Company lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina to constitute possible cases of 
selective arrest and prosecution with political motives, regardless of 
their guilt or innocence on the specific charges against them (see 
section 1.e.).
    There were a limited number of cases where psychiatry was used 
against those dissatisfied with the authorities.

    Amnesty.--In July, following the death of terrorist warlord Shamil 
Basayev, the Government issued a partial amnesty, which gave militants 
two weeks to surrender. The original amnesty was extended through 
September 30. On September 23, the State Duma passed legislation to 
grant amnesty to militants in Chechnya and the North Caucasus through 
January 15, 2007. The amnesty requires militants to disarm and 
surrender themselves to authorities. According to the federal and 
Chechen Republic authorities, as of December 25, 375 militants had 
surrendered to authorities. The amnesty does not apply to militants 
suspected of crimes such as rape, murder, or terrorism. The amnesty 
also applies to servicemen but not to those accused of selling or 
stealing weapons (see section 1.a.).

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and there were a number of indications of 
judicial independence; however, the judiciary did not consistently act 
as an effective counterweight to other branches of the Government. For 
example, in April the Kemerovo Oblast governor's office issued a press 
release describing a meeting between the governor and the chief judge 
of the region, during the course of which the chief judge attempted to 
counter perceptions that the region's judges might be too lenient in 
their sentences. Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin criticized both 
the governor and the judge for not maintaining attitudes appropriate to 
a true separation of judicial and executive powers.
    The law provides for strengthening the role of the judiciary in 
relation to the prosecutor general by requiring judicial approval of 
arrest warrants, searches, seizures, and detentions (see section 1.d.). 
Judges allegedly remained subject to influence from the executive, 
military, and security forces, particularly in high profile or 
politically sensitive cases.
    President Putin decreed a 32 percent pay raise for judges effective 
July 1 and, as of year's end, there was an additional 7.2 percent 
raise. According to President Putin's official Web site, the pay raise 
was to provide material guarantees to judges that will permit them 
``fully and independently to render justice.'' While judges' salaries 
have increased significantly, the judiciary remained susceptible to 
corruption. Judges accepted bribes from officials and others. For the 
first six months of the year, the Supreme Qualifying Collegium of 
Judges reported that 39 judges were removed from the bench and 151 were 
given warnings. One NGO specializing in issues of corruption estimated 
that in 2005 judges received $209 million (5.9 billion rubles) in 
bribes annually for favorable rulings. Authorities did not provide 
adequate protection from intimidation or threats from powerful criminal 
defendants. Judges' salaries were increased in order reduce incentives 
for corruption and to attract more qualified candidates. In several 
cities, new modern courtrooms opened. Many of these courtrooms have 
recording equipment which allows for the recording of judicial 
proceedings and the production of accurate transcripts, which is 
essential to fair appellate review.
    The judiciary is divided into three branches. The courts of general 
jurisdiction, including military courts, are subordinated to the 
Supreme Court. These courts hear civil and criminal cases and include 
district courts, which serve every urban and rural district, regional 
courts, and the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can 
be appealed only to the immediately superior court unless a 
constitutional issue is involved. An arbitration (commercial) court 
system under the High Court of Arbitration constitutes a second branch 
of the judicial system. Arbitration courts hear cases involving 
business disputes between legal entities and between legal entities and 
the State. The federal constitutional court (as well as constitutional 
courts in a number of administrative entities) constitutes the third 
branch.
    The President approves judges after they have been nominated by the 
qualifying collegia, which are assemblies of judges (including some 
public members). After a three-year trial period, the President must 
reconfirm the judges. Judicial watchers have alleged that the 
executive's role in approving and reconfirming judges has ensured an 
increasingly progovernment judiciary. The collegia also have the 
authority to remove judges for misbehavior and to approve prosecutors' 
requests to prosecute judges.
    Justices of the peace deal with criminal cases involving maximum 
sentences of less than three years and with some civil cases. In 2005 
justices of the peace assumed 71.6 percent of federal judges' civil 
cases and 36.7 percent of their criminal matters. Justices of the peace 
work in all regions except Chechnya. In contrast to previous years, 
justices of the peace worked in Nenitskiy Autonomous Okrug.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials typically are conducted before a judge 
without a jury. The defendant is presumed innocent. The defense is not 
required to present evidence and is given an opportunity to cross-
examine witnesses and call defense witnesses. Defendants who are in 
custody during the trial are confined to a caged area and must quietly 
consult with their attorneys through the bars. Defendants have the 
right of appeal. According to Supreme Court statistics, in 2005 the 
number of convictions decreased by 1.3 percent and made up 71 percent 
of all criminal cases heard by courts; the acquittal rate stayed at 0.7 
percent; courts dismissed 27.3 percent of criminal cases during trial 
for various legal reasons. According to Supreme Court statistics, 
during the first six months of the year, the percentage of convictions 
in criminal cases increased by approximately 4.7 percent in comparison 
to the same period in 2005. The percentage of cases dismissed also 
increased by approximately 2 percent.
    The law provides for the nationwide use of jury trials for a 
limited category of ``especially grave'' crimes, such as murder, in 
higher-level regional courts. In 2005, out of 1,263,000 persons tried 
by criminal courts, 1,389 persons were tried by jury. By January 1, all 
regions except Chechnya implemented jury trials, as a result of a law 
passed by the State Duma during the year. In contrast to trials 
conducted by a judge, 0.7 percent of which ended in acquittal in 2005, 
approximately 15 percent of cases tried by juries ended in acquittals, 
although one-third of those acquittals were later reversed on appeal by 
the Supreme Court. The professional competence of jury trial 
participants, including both parties and, to some extent, judges, 
remained an issue of serious concern to domestic and international 
observers. In a speech in November, President Putin stated that the 
problem with jury trials was not the jurors, but poorly trained 
prosecutors and investigators.
    Jury trials play an important role in overcoming general public 
distrust of the judicial system. As an opinion poll conducted by the 
All-Russia Center for Public Opinion during the year demonstrated, 
almost 80 percent of citizen respondents, who participated as jurors in 
jury trials in 2004-2005 in Moscow city and Moscow and Yaroslavl 
regions, reported that their opinion about the judiciary system 
improved after they served as jurors in criminal trials.
    Prior to trial defendants are provided a copy of their indictment, 
which describes the charges in extensive detail. They are also given an 
opportunity to review the criminal file following the completion of the 
criminal investigation. Defense attorneys are allowed to visit their 
clients in detention, although conditions reportedly made it difficult 
for attorneys to conduct meaningful and confidential consultations with 
their clients.
    The law provides for the appointment of a lawyer free of charge if 
a suspect cannot afford one; however, this provision often was not 
effective in practice. The high cost of competent legal services meant 
that lower-income defendants often lacked competent representation. 
There were no defense attorneys in remote areas of the country. Public 
centers, staffed on a part time basis by lawyers, continued to offer 
free advice on legal rights and recourse under the law; however, they 
were not able to handle individual cases. In August 2005 the Government 
issued regulations to govern a program creating state legal aid offices 
in 10 regions on an experimental basis beginning in January. The 
program was extended for another year. However, official results of the 
program had not been published. Although a system of paying qualified 
attorneys for representation of indigent defendants has nominally been 
in place for several years, defense attorneys indicated that it only 
began to work efficiently during the year. As a result defense 
attorneys were now more likely to receive compensation for 
representation of indigent defendants, which has resulted in an 
improvement in the quality of legal assistance rendered.
    According to the NGO Independent Council of Legal Expertise, 
defense lawyers were the targets of police harassment. Professional 
associations at both the local and federal levels reported police 
efforts to intimidate attorneys and cover up their own criminal 
activities.
    Authorities abrogated due process in continuing to pursue several 
espionage cases involving foreigners who allegedly obtained information 
considered sensitive by security services. In some instances 
prosecutors pursued such cases after earlier courts had rejected them. 
The proceedings in some of these cases took place behind closed doors, 
and the defendants and their attorneys encountered difficulties in 
learning the details of the charges. Observers believed that the FSB 
was seeking to discourage citizens and foreigners from investigating 
problems that the security services considered sensitive.
    In February 2005 the FSB detained Oskar Kaibyshev, the former 
director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems, on 
charges linked to exporting sensitive technological information to 
South Korea while working as a research scientist. Several scientific 
panels stated that the information Kaibyshev gave the South Koreans was 
not subject to export controls. The espionage charges initially brought 
against Kaibyshev were later dropped, but he faced other criminal 
charges related to the case. Kaibyshev was later charged with 
unsanctioned export of technologies and theft. In October 2005 court 
hearings opened at the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan Republic for 
passing dual-use technology to South Korea. The trial was held behind 
closed doors, as the FSB stated that top secret information could 
emerge in the case. On August 8, Kaibyshev was given a suspended prison 
sentence of six years after being convicted of unsanctioned export of 
dual use technologies, abuse of authority, and embezzlement. He was 
also banned from holding any positions of authority in state 
organizations for three years and had to pay $130,000 (3.5 million 
rubles). The scientist's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict, as 
did the state prosecutor, who said the sentence was too lenient. An 
appeal had not occurred by year's end.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Human rights organizations and 
activists have identified various individuals as political prisoners: 
Zara Murtazaliyeva, Mikhail Trepashkin, Valentin Danilov, Igor 
Sutyagin, Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, Platon Lebedev, and Svetlana Bakhmina. 
All remained imprisoned at the end of the year.
    Zara Murtazaliyeva, a 22-year-old Chechen citizen, was arrested in 
March 2004 in Moscow. In January 2005, Moscow City court found her 
found guilty of charges of preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in 
Moscow; involving other people in the commitment of a terrorist act; 
and illegal acquisition and storage of explosive substances, and 
sentenced her to nine years in a general regime prison. Murtazaliyeva`s 
defense lawyers as well as human rights defenders who monitored the 
trial believed that the charges against her were fabricated. During the 
trial before the Moscow City Court, the prosecution was unable to give 
any evidence that would have substantiated any of the charges brought 
against her. Murtazaliyeva's defense appealed to the Supreme Court and 
in March 2005 the Supreme Court reduced the sentence by half a year, 
but left the charges in force. The defense lawyers appealed the verdict 
to the Presidium of the Supreme Court and also filed an appeal to the 
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in September 2005. Human rights 
advocates in the country continue to assert that the charges were 
fabricated, while her lawyers argue that she was framed by authorities 
eager to catch a ``black widow'' female terrorist.
    The 2004 conviction of Mikhail Trepashkin, a former consultant to a 
parliamentary commission investigating possible FSB involvement in a 
series of 1999 apartment bombings, gave further cause for concern about 
the undue influence of the FSB and arbitrary use of the judicial 
system. The bombings were officially blamed on Chechens and served as 
partial justification for the Government's resumption of the armed 
conflict against Chechen fighters. Trepashkin, an attorney and former 
FSB official, was arrested in 2003 and charged with disclosing state 
secrets and illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition. 
Trepashkin's arrest came a month after his charges of FSB 
responsibility for the bombings were cited in a book and a week before 
he was scheduled to represent the relatives of a victim of one of those 
bombings. In 2004 the Moscow Circuit Military Court sentenced 
Trepashkin to four years of forced labor. In April 2005 a Moscow court 
found Trepashkin guilty of illegal possession of a handgun and added 
one year to his four-year term, although this additional ruling was 
later reversed on appeal. In July 2005 Trepashkin began serving his 
prison term in Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlov Region. In August 2005 a Nizhniy 
Tagil court granted Trepashkin's appeal for an early release from 
prison. However, in September 2005 a Sverdlovsk regional court 
overturned the August ruling. In late September 2005, according to 
reports, Trepashkin was again taken into custody and sent back to the 
Nizhniy Tagil prison camp. A new hearing on his early release was held 
in November 2005, and the Nizhniy Tagil court turned down his 
application for release on parole. In a November 2005 letter to State 
Duma deputy Yevgeniy Roizman, Trepashkin said he feared for his life 
since he was kept together with convicts who had committed capital 
crimes. The following March, the press reported the Sverdlovsk Regional 
Court upheld a district court ruling that denied parole to Trepashkin, 
after which he went on a hunger strike. His defense lawyer, Lyubov 
Kosik, said she would appeal the denial to the Supreme Court. 
Trepashkin said that he was receiving no treatment for his severe 
asthma and that he was concerned about his health. In December 2006 he 
had an apparent asthma attack in court. Trepashkin's defense appealed 
the decision of the Federal Service of Penalty Execution to move 
Trepashkin to Nizhniy Tagil. In September 2006 the Zamoskvoretskiy 
District Court in Moscow found Trepashkin's transfer to colony-
settlement in Nizhniy Tagil legitimate. In December 2006 the Nizhniy 
Tagil court started hearings of Trepashkin's four appeals against 
several discipline penalties leveled on him by the prison's authorities 
and the prison authorities' cross-appeal to move him to a general 
regime prison-settlement.
    In 2004 the Supreme Court overturned the 2003 jury acquittal of 
Valentin Danilov, who had been charged with spying for China while 
working on a commercial contract. Allegedly, Danilov's activities in 
China involved the transfer of classified technological knowledge that 
would assist China's military goals, and divulge secrets concerning an 
electron accelerator at Krasnoyarsk University. Colleagues and 
supporters asserted that the information in question was declassified 
over a decade ago, leading some human rights organizations to consider 
Danilov's case to be politically motivated. In 2004 Danilov was 
convicted by a judge and sentenced to 14 years. In June 2005 the 
Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 13 years. In January 2006 
Danilov's defense appealed the verdict to the Presidium of the Supreme 
Court. Danilov also had an appeal before the European Court of Human 
Rights. Neither had responded to the appeals by the end of this year. 
In December 2006 Danilov's defense lawyers said he was planning to 
appeal to the Pardon Commission of Krasnoyarsk Kray because his health 
is getting worse.
    In August 2005 the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Igor 
Sutyagin, a disarmament researcher with the U.S. and Canada Institute, 
of his conviction on espionage-related charges. Prosecutors accused 
Sutyagin of passing classified information about the country's nuclear 
weapons to a London-based firm. In 2001 the Kaluga Regional Court ruled 
that the evidence did not support the charges against Sutyagin and 
returned the case to the prosecutor for further investigation. In 2002 
the ECHR registered Sutyagin's appeal and in March 2004 the decision 
was made to view Sutyagin's case in priority order. In April 2004 a 
Moscow city court found Sutyagin guilty and sentenced him to 15 years 
in a maximum security facility (the sentence included time served since 
his arrest in 1999). Also in April 2004, Amnesty International 
recognized Sutyagin as a political prisoner. Sutyagin claimed the 
Moscow city court's decision was unjust and insisted that he had no 
access to confidential information. Some observers agreed that he had 
no access to classified information and described the severe sentence 
as an effort to discourage citizens from sharing sensitive information 
with professional colleagues from other countries. Government officials 
asserted that Sutyagin had wittingly or unwittingly entered into a paid 
arrangement with a foreign intelligence service. Because of the conduct 
of the trial and lengthy sentence, a number of domestic and 
international human rights NGOs, in addition to Amnesty International, 
raised concerns that the charges were politically motivated. In 2005 
Sutyagin was transferred to a colony in Arkhangelsk Oblast, which is 
even further from his family than his previous detention place in 
Udmurtiya, and his attorneys were reportedly appealing the move. In 
June 2006Sutyagin's defense appealed the verdict to the Presidium of 
the Supreme Court but there was no information on the decision of the 
Presidium available at year's end. In May 2006 ECHR sent 20 questions 
to the Russian government regarding Sutyagin's case.
    On June 9,2006, the Public Chamber Commission on Control over Law 
Enforcement Bodies, Power Structures, and Legal System Reform made a 
decision to send President Putin an appeal for pardon of Danilov and 
Sutyagin. However, Anatoliy Kucherena, head of the Commission, told a 
Moscow radio station that the Public Chamber eventually decided against 
addressing President Putin with the request to pardon Danilov and 
Sutyagin. The decision was based on the rule that the President cannot 
be asked to pardon someone before that person has appealed for pardon 
himself.
    In May 2005 Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and codefendant Platon Lebedev 
were convicted on six charges of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement 
and sentenced to nine years in prison after an 11-month trial. 
Khodorkovskiy's conviction was upheld on appeal in September 2005, with 
the sentence reduced to eight years. Both Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev 
continued to appeal their convictions in Russian courts as well as the 
ECHR. As of April 19, 2006, the ECHR began preliminarily viewing 
Khodorkovskiy's appeal. The arrest and conviction of Khodorkovskiy 
raised concerns about the rule of law, including the independence of 
courts, the right to due process, the sanctity of contracts and 
property rights, and the lack of a predictable tax regime. Many 
observers believed that Khodorkovskiy's conviction was one of a number 
of politically motivated moves against wealthy ``oligarchs'' who 
represented centers of actual or potential political and media 
opposition to President Putin. Some observers believed that, despite 
the possibility that the charges against Khodorkovskiy may have had 
some merit, he was selectively targeted for prosecution because of his 
politically oriented activities and as a warning to other oligarchs 
against involvement in political affairs or providing financial support 
to independent civil society. In October 2005 authorities transferred 
Khodorkovskiy to a prison in Chita Oblast and Lebedev to a prison in 
Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous Okrug. In December 2005 Lebedev's defense 
team filed an appeal stating that sending him to a prison not in the 
area where Lebedev lived or was sentenced violated Russian law. The 
Moscow City Court has rejected all appeals to review the case against 
Khodorkovskiy. Some human rights activists have objected to sentencing 
both men to prisons that were not in the area where they lived or were 
sentenced. On November 29, 2006, the Supreme Court refused to proceed 
with Khodorkovskiy's appeal. According to Khodorkovskiy's defense 
attorney Genrikh Padva, the defense was considering appealing this 
decision to the chairman of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the 
prosecutor general's office was forming a new case against 
Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev. Both were transferred to the detention 
center in Chita in December 2006 due to new investigation activities 
being conducted.
    Some human rights groups considered Svetlana Bakhmina, a lawyer who 
worked for Yukos Oil Company (Yukos), to be a political prisoner. She 
was arrested in December 2004 on fraud charges and held without bail. 
Several organizations expressed concern about reports regarding 
Bakhmina's lack of access to her family and medical treatment while in 
custody. Some observers stated that she was being held in an attempt to 
pressure Dmitriy Gololobov, her former boss at Yukos, to return from 
London. In September 2005 a Moscow city court ruled that she could be 
held in detention until October 2005. In October 2005 her trial began 
in Moscow, and she was convicted and sentenced in April 2006 to seven 
years' imprisonment for tax evasion and embezzlement. In August the 
Moscow City Court overturned Bakhmina's tax evasion conviction but 
upheld the embezzlement charge and only reduced her sentence by six 
months, to 6 1/2 years. Bakhmina had appealed her April convictions and 
requested that all charges against her be dropped. In September 
Bakhmina's lawyers requested the court postpone the imposition of her 
sentence until her youngest child turns 14-years-old. A lawyer for 
Bakhmina explained that Bakhmina's youngest child is presently five 
years old, and that the law allows for applications to delay sentencing 
in such cases. On October 2, the Simonovsky Court in Moscow rejected 
the request and sent Bakhmina to a women's penal colony in the central 
part of the country. On December 27, 2006,a Moscow city court refused 
to postpone Bakhmina's imprisonment. Many observers saw the treatment 
of Bakhmina as politically-motivated and linked to the Khodorkovskiy 
case.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The criminal procedure 
code provides that an individual or business may seek civil 
compensation for a criminal violation. The law clearly provides for 
bringing a criminal or civil case on human rights violations, but 
implementation is inconsistent.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law states that officials may enter a private 
residence only in cases prescribed by federal law or on the basis of a 
judicial decision; however, authorities did not always observe these 
provisions. The law permits the Government to monitor correspondence, 
telephone conversations, and other means of communication only with 
judicial permission and prohibits the collection, storage, utilization, 
and dissemination of information about a person's private life without 
his consent. While these provisions were generally followed, problems 
remained. There were accounts of electronic surveillance by government 
officials and others without judicial permission, and of entry into 
residences and other premises by Moscow law enforcement without 
warrants. There were no reports of government action against officials 
who violated these safeguards.
    In September 2005 the press reported that the Government, citing 
concerns about terrorism, approved new regulations, which came into 
effect on January 1 for interactions between communication companies 
and certain government agencies. The new regulations give law 
enforcement agencies greater access to telephone and cellular phone 
company clients' personal information and require providers to grant 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and FSB 24-hour remote access to their 
client databases. Some experts believed these new rules contradict the 
constitution, but most mobile phone operators took it in stride. Given 
that the authorities have had legal access to these records for 10 
years, mobile operator MegaFon's press secretary suggested that the new 
rules change nothing, and simply make the process ``more transparent.''
    The Government continued to require Internet service providers to 
provide dedicated lines to the security establishment so that police 
could track private e-mail communications and monitor Internet activity 
(see section 2.a.).
    Human rights observers continued to allege that officers in the 
special services used their services' power to gather compromising 
materials on public figures. There were credible charges that regional 
branches of the FSB continued to exert pressure on citizens employed by 
foreign firms and organizations, often to coerce them into becoming 
informants.
    Federal forces and progovernment Chechen forces reportedly abducted 
relatives of rebel commanders and fighters (see section 1.g.).

    g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year unrest continued in and around the Chechen Republic and 
in the neighboring republics of Ingushetiya and Dagestan. Federal 
forces and Chechen Republic forces engaged in human rights abuses, 
including torture, summary executions, disappearances, and arbitrary 
detentions. Chechen rebels also committed human rights abuses, 
including major acts of terrorism and summary executions.
    The year saw a continued shift of government tactics away from 
operations involving Russian military formations and toward greater 
reliance on paramilitary and police units of the Chechen Republic or 
other Chechen units subordinated to the Ministry of Defense or the 
federal Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were fewer mopping-up 
operations, known as ``zachistki,'' than in previous years, although 
more targeted operations, such as night raids, continued. Memorial 
noted that these mop-up operations were often conducted with no serious 
human rights abuses but that in some cases such operations were 
accompanied by abductions, looting, and beatings. Chechen security 
forces were nominally under the control of Chechen Republic civilian 
authorities but also often conducted operations jointly with federal 
forces. In reality, Chechen security forces were under the command of 
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and often appeared to act with 
relative independence. The limited measures taken by the federal and 
Chechen leaders to rein them in have been largely ineffective.
    Federal authorities both military and civilian-have limited 
journalists' and human rights observers' access to war zones since the 
beginning of the second war in Chechnya in 1999, in part due to 
security concerns. In addition coverage has been restricted in 
government-controlled media, and the Government has sought to pressure 
independent journalists into engaging in self-censorship (see sections 
2.a. and 4). These restrictions made independent observation of 
conditions and verification of reports difficult and limited the 
available sources of information about the conflict. In addition, 
victims of human rights abuses and their relatives were reluctant to 
speak to human rights monitors or to file complaints with the 
authorities because they feared retaliation.
    The indiscriminate use of force by government troops, which during 
the course of the conflict has resulted in widespread civilian 
casualties, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons, and 
massive destruction of property and infrastructure, appeared to 
decrease further during the year. Memorial reported that in comparison 
to 2001-02, government forces used less indiscriminate force in 2004 
against civilian areas and this trend appeared to continue during the 
year. Memorial and others also noted that the reconstruction of 
destroyed housing and infrastructure in Chechnya was accelerating, but 
also noted that many of these changes were largely cosmetic.
    Nonetheless, there continued to be instances of indiscriminate use 
of force by government troops. According to the Prague Watchdog Web 
site, the southern districts of the Chechen Republic were repeatedly 
subjected to long-range shelling and aerial attacks. The Shalinsky 
district was subjected to regular shelling and aerial bombardment. In 
October the mountain village of Zumsoi was subjected to an aerial 
bombardment and two missile strikes. Memorial reported that on December 
19, two civilians were killed and one wounded when they came under fire 
from a military helicopter near the village of Chozhi-Chu.
    Zumsoi was subjected to repeated artillery shelling and aerial 
bombardment as well as sweeps by security forces during 2005, according 
to Memorial. In January 2005, the village was bombed for several days. 
Airborne forces then arrived in the village and took three men and a 
teenaged boy into custody. Their whereabouts remained unknown. Federal 
servicemen also allegedly robbed villagers, desecrated the village 
mosque, and killed cattle. In July 2005 unknown perpetrators, who were 
believed to be Chechen rebels, killed the head of the village 
administration. Also in July 2005, all but one of Zumsoi's residents 
left the village citing the continuing insecurity there.
    In June 2005 members of the Vostok (East) Battalion conducted a 
security sweep in the village of Borozdinovskaya. During that 
operation, 11 men from the village were detained. Some homes in the 
village were burned and two villagers were killed. Subsequently 
villagers left en masse and crossed into the neighboring Republic of 
Dagestan. According to press reports, most of the villagers have 
returned to their village but approximately 160 others remain in a tent 
camp in Dagestan. Although prosecutors announced an investigation, and 
federal and Chechen officials publicly called for those responsible to 
be held accountable, the whereabouts of the men detained remained 
unknown. Military prosecutors initiated criminal proceedings against 
one Vostok commander Mukhadi Aziyev. A military court in Chechnya 
convicted him in October 2005 of abuse of power, and he received a 
three-year suspended sentence.
    In most cases security forces acted against civilians with 
impunity, and even limited efforts of authorities to impose 
accountability were frequently timid. However, there was at least one 
case where the courts addressed an abuse. In June the Supreme Court 
overturned the acquittals of Captain Eduard Ullman and three other 
servicemen charged with killing Chechen civilians and ordered new 
trials. Lower courts had already acquitted the defendants twice, most 
recently in May 2005. A retrial began in December 2005. Following a 
Constitutional Court ruling in April that cases involving serious 
crimes in Chechnya could be tried without a jury, the Supreme Court 
ruled in June that Ullman and his codefendants could be tried in a non-
jury trial. On November 2, the military district court started hearing 
the case in a non-jury trial. The trial continued at year's end. At 
least one other serviceman was convicted on similar charges.
    Government forces and Chechen rebels continued to use landmines 
extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan. According to estimates by the UN 
Children's Fund (UNICEF), 3,065 persons were killed or wounded by 
landmines or unexploded ordnance in Chechnya since 1995.
    Amnesty International reported that it was aware of only one 
conviction by a Russian court in cases involving disappearances in 
Chechnya. In March 2005 a Groznyy court convicted Lieutenant Sergey 
Lapin, a member of an OMON riot police unit, of inflicting serious harm 
to health and other charges related to the torture and disappearance of 
Chechen citizen Zemlikhan Murdalov in 2001. Amnesty International 
noted, however, that none of the charges against Lapin related to 
Murdalov's actual disappearance, nor were any others charged in the 
case.
    In March federal serviceman Aleksey Krivoshonok was convicted for 
the November 2005 killings of three persons detained by federal forces 
at a checkpoint near the village of Staraya Sundzha in Chechnya. 
According to investigators, Krivoshonok and others in his unit detained 
six people at the checkpoint, beat three of them severely, forced them 
to lie face down, and then shot them in the head. Krivoshonok was 
sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay $7,692 (200,000 
rubles) to the family of each victim. Separately, on May 15, the 
Groznyy garrison military court convicted serviceman Pavel Zinchuk of 
causing grave bodily harm in the same incident and sentenced him to 
seven years in prison.
    In two separate cases in November, the ECHR found the Government 
responsible for the disappearances and deaths of three Chechens. In the 
first case the ECHR found the Government responsible for the 
disappearance and killing of Nura Luluyeva. Luluyeva was detained by 
military forces at a market in June 2000. Her body was found in 
February 2001 along with fifty other bodies in a mass grave in 
Chechnya.
    The ECHR also held the Government responsible for the disappearance 
and presumed death of Said-Magomed and Said-Khusein Imakaev, a father 
and son. Said-Khusein Imakaev, the son, was detained at a check point 
in 2000. A year later, his father filed a complaint with ECHR and four 
months later he was detained and never seen again. In the verdict, the 
court noted the authorities' failure to cooperate; specifically their 
failure to provide requested documents.
    In October the ECHR ruled that Russian forces were responsible for 
executing a Chechen family during a security operation in Groznyy and 
ordered Moscow to pay the victims' relatives more than $285,000 
(7,500,000 rubles) in damages. At least 55 other Chechen civilians were 
killed in the February 2000 operation. The Government has not held 
anyone responsible for the killings.
    During the year there were 102 judgments, 64 of which were based on 
the right to a fair trial. Ninety-six of the judgments found at least 
one violation, 5 found no violations, and one judgment was found 
``other'' (i.e., just satisfaction, revision judgments, preliminary 
objections and lack of jurisdiction). During the year, the ECHR 
received the highest number of applications to investigate human rights 
violations from the country, totaling 10,569. As of December 31, the 
country had 19,300 cases pending in the ECHR, 21.5 percent of the total 
cases pending. In previous years, the court typically received around 
4,000 complaints from Russia. The court has expanded its staff by 10 
percent in part to handle this increase in complaints.
    Despite the opening of a criminal case, a human rights organization 
reported that no charges were filed after a federal warplane bombed 
Maidat Tsintsayeva's house in 2004, killing her and her five children. 
According to a human rights NGO, there were no indications of progress 
in investigating the launching of several missiles at the village of 
Tevzen-Kale in 2004. One of the missiles hit the house of the 
Suleymanov family, killing one family member and wounding two others. 
The Chechen interior ministry told the press that the federal military 
refused to acknowledge that it had bombed the village and was impeding 
all investigation efforts.
    There were no reliable estimates of civilian casualties as a result 
of military operations. Then Chechen State Council Chairman Taus 
Dzhabrailov reportedly told the press in June 2005 that more than 
160,000 persons had been killed in Chechnya since 1994. Memorial has 
estimated that 75,000 civilians and up to 14,000 servicemen have died 
during the two Chechen conflicts.
    There were varied estimates of the number of those detained, 
abducted, or made to disappear(see section 1.b.) While Chechen rebels 
and criminals seeking ransom carried out many abductions and 
disappearances, federal and progovernment Chechen forces were also 
involved. In May Memorial representatives discovered an illegal 
detention center in Groznyy where detainees were reportedly held, 
tortured, ``disappeared,'' and killed by federal police units that had 
temporarily been assigned to Chechnya. Then-Chechen Republic Ombudsman 
Lema Khasuev stated in December 2005 that there were 2,096 cases of 
``enforced'' disappearances by unidentified security forces in 
Chechnya. His successor, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, stated that more than 7,000 
persons have gone missing or been abducted in Chechnya since the 
beginning of the first Chechen conflict, and 2,780 of them have gone 
missing since the second conflict started in 1999. Chechen President 
Alu Alkhanov has stated that 54 people were abducted during the year, 
compared to 77 persons in 2005, and 213 in 2004.
    Memorial reported that since 2002, 1,948 persons have been 
abducted, of whom 685 were freed, 189 were found dead, 1,040 were 
missing, and 34 were on trial. Memorial noted that its monitors had 
access to only about 25 to 30 percent of Chechnya. According to Chechen 
President Alu Alkhanov, 54 abductions were officially registered in 
Chechnya during the year.
    During the year, according to Memorial, 184 persons were abducted, 
of whom 91 were freed or ransomed, 11 were found killed, 19 were 
thought to be in detention, and 63 disappeared. Memorial attributed at 
least part of this decline to a climate of fear in which individuals 
were afraid to report abductions. In 2005, according to Memorial, 316 
persons were abducted, of whom 151 were freed or ransomed, 23 were 
found dead, 15 were thought to be in detention, and 127 disappeared. 
Memorial reported that 448 persons were abducted in 2004 and has 
estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 have gone missing in Chechnya since 1999. 
Memorial reported that it has information on 1,988 cases where persons 
disappeared after being detained by federal security forces since fall 
1999. The federal prosecutor's office reported in December 2004 that 
2,437 persons had been abducted in Chechnya in that period.
    Abductions and disappearances continued to occur following 
operations conducted by federal forces, Chechen Republic security 
forces, and joint operations involving Chechen and Russian units, 
according to various sources. In April, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan 
Kadyrov publicly accused officers of the federal Ministry of Internal 
Affairs' Operative Investigative Bureau of illegal detentions, torture, 
and other cruel treatment and requested the unit be withdrawn from 
Chechnya, although human rights activists said Chechen Republic 
security forces, many of them under Kadyrov's control, were also 
engaged in abductions and disappearances. Kadyrov also claimed that 
many of those allegedly abducted had joined the rebels or fled to 
Western Europe, but acknowledged there were cases where persons were 
abducted and disappeared. Aslanbek Aslakhanov of the federal 
Presidential Administration was cited in the press in 2005 as saying 
that he could not rule out the involvement of forces under command of 
then-Chechen first deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov or federal 
forces in such activities. Colonel General Arkadiy Yedelev, head of the 
Russian forces general staff in the Northern Caucasus, acknowledged in 
February 2005 that federal forces and Chechen Republic security forces 
had taken part in disappearances of civilians.
    According to NGOs federal forces and progovernment Chechen militias 
commonly detained Chechen men at checkpoints along the borders between 
Chechnya and Ingushetiya in targeted operations known as ``night 
raids,'' or during ``mopping-up'' operations following military 
hostilities. Detainees were often beaten or tortured. Human rights 
groups also reported that security forces increasingly detained women.
    In April unknown security forces detained Bilat Chilayev, a driver 
for the NGO Civic Assistance, and Aslan Israilov at a checkpoint near 
the village of Sernovodsk. Israilov had earlier been detained by 
security forces conducting a sweep operation in the village but he had 
been released. Their whereabouts were unknown. Both men were later 
reported to have been killed on the day they were detained (see section 
1.b).
    In April 2005 security forces detained Murad Muradov, the director 
of the Chechen NGO ``Let's Save the Generation'' during a firefight 
between federal and rebel forces in Groznyy. According to human rights 
groups, Muradov was detained because he lived near the apartment where 
rebels were hiding. His whereabouts were unknown. In March 2005 
Muradov's parents were informed his body had been identified and they 
could claim it at a morgue in Rostov-on-Don. According to press 
reports, Muradov's parents were given official documents that he was 
not suspected of any illegal activities.
    There were continued reports during the year that government forces 
took relatives of Chechen rebels as hostages to force them to 
surrender. According to Memorial, on January 16, officers of the 
Republic of Chechnya's Anti-Terrorism Center abducted five relatives of 
Khozh-Akhmed Dushayev in the village of Kurchaloy. Dushayev was wanted 
on suspicion of being a Chechen rebel. All five were later released. On 
April 15, officers from the Anti-Terrorism Center detained relatives of 
Bislan Ilmiyev, an ATC officer under suspicion of aiding anti-
government fighters. Ilmiyev's wife, mother, one-year-old child, his 
brothers, their wives, and their children were all detained. Ilmiyev's 
brother Ruslan was later released and ordered to find his brother, 
according to Memorial.
    Chechen security forces seized relatives of Chechen commander Doku 
Umarov in May 2005, including his 70-year-old father, wife, and six-
month-old son. They later released the wife and child, but the father's 
location remained unknown. In August 2005 security forces also detained 
Doku Umarov's sister, Natasha Khumadova. A source in the Urus-Martan 
district administration told Interfax that armed persons broke into 
Khumadova's house and threatening her with weapons, led her away. In 
August Chechen officials erroneously announced that Umarov, who later 
became the separatist ``President,'' had voluntarily surrendered. 
Subsequent reports noted that it was Umarov's older brother, Akhmad, 
who surrendered. Appearing at a press conference with Chechen 
officials, Akhmad Umarov said that he had been arrested in March 2005 
and had been held by authorities since. Human rights activists 
suggested that Akhmad Umarov had never participated in fighting 
alongside rebels and his detention was an effort to pressure Doku 
Umarov to surrender. At year's end there was no further information on 
the whereabouts of Umarov's relatives.
    Following the numerous arrests made after the October 2005 attack 
on Nalchik, Human Rights Watch reported that there were at least eight 
cases where detainees were mistreated and that lawyers for five 
detainees were barred from representing their clients on spurious 
grounds. A year after the arrests, authorities released some of the 
detainees but continued to hold others. Additionally, Ruslan Nakhushev, 
the head of the Islamic Research Institute in Nalchik who sought to 
promote dialogue between authorities and the Muslim community, 
disappeared in November 2005 after being questioned by the FSB. 
Authorities had opened a criminal case against him in October 2005 for 
allegedly organizing the attack on Nalchik. Nakhushev's lawyers tried 
to obtain copies of the documents on which the charges were based but 
they were denied. The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria ruled in 
March that the prosecutor's office must provide Nakhushev's lawyers 
with copies of these documents. In December the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs of Karbardino-Balkaria again included Nakhushev on its list of 
most wanted criminals.
    There were no indications that the authorities intended to take 
action as a result of a 2004 sweep of the town of Argun, which resulted 
in the abduction and torture of many residents and the killing of two. 
Only after mass protests in Argun in January 2004 were most of the 
detainees released; all showed signs of physical abuse and required 
medical attention.
    Although incidents continued, the statistics of both the 
authorities and Memorial appeared to indicate a continued decline in 
abductions and disappearances compared to previous years. However, 
human rights groups and authorities interpreted the data differently. 
Government spokesmen attributed the apparent decline in abductions to 
efforts begun by the Chechen government in 2004 to reinforce existing 
requirements that military forces have license plates on their vehicles 
when entering a village, be accompanied by a representative of the 
prosecutor's office and local officials, identify themselves when 
entering a house, prepare lists of all persons arrested during the 
operation, and share those lists with local authorities. Chechen 
officials subsequently prohibited law enforcement officers from wearing 
masks.
    Human rights groups attributed at least part of the statistical 
decline to the reluctance of detainees' relatives to complain to the 
authorities or human rights groups out of fear of reprisals. Citing 
numerous incidents in which unidentified armed men wearing camouflage 
broke into houses and abducted civilians, they expressed skepticism 
about government assertions that regulations governing the behavior of 
security forces were being more closely observed.
    Although federal forces were believed to have engaged in fewer 
abductions, this was to some extent offset by the increasing role of 
the security forces under the command of Chechen Prime Minister 
Kadyrov, either by themselves or in joint operations with federal 
forces. Human rights groups reported that these forces were frequently 
suspected of disappearances and abductions, including those of family 
members of rebel commanders and fighters. The International Helsinki 
Foundation for Human Rights estimated in a February 2005 report that 
Kadyrov's security forces were responsible for up to 75 percent of the 
crimes in Chechnya.
    In April Kadyrov and other officials announced that steps had been 
taken to remove units from Kadyrov's direct oversight. Kadyrov 
announced that the Chechen Republic's Anti-Terrorist Center was to be 
abolished, and the forces attached to it reorganized into two police 
battalions, North and South, and subordinated to the federal Ministry 
of Internal Affairs. Human rights activists contended, however, that 
these forces maintained their loyalty to Kadyrov and he continued to 
exert control over them.
    According to human rights observers, government forces responding 
to Chechen attacks at times engaged in indiscriminate reprisals against 
combatants and noncombatants.
    Amnesty International reported federal and Chechen security forces 
targeted female civilians, both in response to terrorist bombings 
carried out by Chechen women and to put pressure on male relatives 
suspected of being rebels.
    In August masked men in camouflage detained Yelena Yersenoyeva, the 
widow of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and also a journalist and 
AIDS activist in Groznyy. A relative who was detained with her and 
later released said the two had been briefly held in a basement but 
then Yersenoyeva was moved. There was no further information on her 
whereabouts. Two days before the detention, she had written to human 
rights organizations claiming she and her family were being harassed by 
Chechen security forces. On October 6, Yelena Yersenoyeva's mother was 
reportedly abducted from a village near Groznyy. At year's end, there 
was no further information on their whereabouts.
    The whereabouts of Milana Ozdoyeva, whom the security forces 
questioned twice in 2004 about her alleged plans to become a suicide 
bomber, remained unknown. In 2004 several men entered her house and 
took her away, leaving her two children behind.
    Troops also reportedly kidnapped and otherwise mistreated children 
(see section 5).
    Abductions reportedly continued in Ingushetiya. Memorial stated 
that 35 persons were reported abducted during the year. Of them, 15 
were freed, two were found dead, and 5 disappeared without a trace. The 
remaining 13 were later found in the custody of law enforcement 
agencies.
    Amnesty International and other human rights groups reported that 
Adam Gorchkhanov disappeared from the village of Plievo, Ingushetiya, 
in May 2005 after being detained in a raid by an unknown security 
service. Relatives subsequently learned that he had been held in the 
pretrial detention center in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, and later 
transferred to the Regional Department for the Fight Against Organized 
Crime under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In May 2005 relatives 
learned that he had been taken to a hospital where, according to police 
statements, he jumped from a fourth floor window. A doctor, however, 
later told Memorial that Gorchkhanov had been admitted with a serious 
head injury. He died in late May 2005 from his injuries.
    There were no developments during the year in the case of Ingush 
Deputy Prosecutor Rashid Ozdoyev, who disappeared in March 2004 after 
he submitted a report on alleged FSB abuses in Ingushetiya.
    Throughout the year security forces continued to conduct security 
sweeps and passport checks at temporary settlements in Ingushetiya 
housing IDPs from Chechnya. These sweeps sometimes led to reports of 
human rights abuses or disappearances.
    Following rebel attacks across Ingushetiya in 2004, federal forces 
conducted sweeps in several settlements housing Internally Displaced 
Persons (IDPs) from Chechnya. Human rights groups reported cases in 
which military personnel beat or verbally abused persons during these 
sweeps; however, the 20 IDPs they arrested were all released. Human 
rights groups also reported that several dozen Ingush and Chechens 
disappeared in Ingushetiya. As with similar operations in Chechnya, 
reports of beatings, arbitrary detentions, and looting usually followed 
security sweeps.
    Chechen Republic forces commanded by Ramzan Kadyrov and federal 
troops continued to arrest relatives of Chechen separatist leaders and 
fighters in an effort to force them to surrender, according to human 
rights groups. They noted that this practice may be linked to an 
October 2004 speech by Prosecutor General Ustinov suggesting that 
authorities detain relatives of alleged members of armed opposition 
groups in response to their hostage-taking (see section 1.d.).
    In March 2005, according to Memorial, Zaudi Sadulayev, aged 65, and 
his son were detained by Chechen security forces under the command of 
Kadyrov in the village of Mairtup because another of Sadulayev's sons 
was allegedly a member of the Chechen rebels. Similar cases cited by 
Memorial included the detention of a 13-year-old boy in the village of 
Noviye Atagi by Kadyrov's forces and the abduction of four members of 
the Sirazhdiyev family in May 2005 by unknown security forces in 
revenge for the killing of a member of the Vostok battalion.
    Government forces and Chechen rebel fighters have used landmines 
extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan since 1999; but there were fewer 
civilian landmine victims in Chechnya during the year. In June 
officials confirmed to Landmine Monitor, that forces continued to use 
antipersonnel mines in Chechnya, both newly emplaced mines and existing 
defensive minefields. The most-affected regions were Dagestan: 60 
casualties (nine killed and 51 injured); Chechnya: 24 casualties 
recorded by UNICEF; Ingushetia: 15 casualties (one killed and 14 
injured); and Bushkiria: 14 casualties (all injured).
    Federal forces and their opponents continued to use antipersonnel 
mines in Chechnya, although Landmine Monitor reported that Chechen 
fighters increasingly used improvised explosive devices. Reports 
suggested that the number of landmine casualties was declining over 
time. According to statistics this year, UNICEF recorded 30 new 
civilian mine/UXO (unexploded ordinance) casualties, including 9 killed 
and 21 injured; 10 were children (three killed and seven injured). 
According to UNICEF, as of December 31, there were 3,065 landmine and 
UXO casualties in Chechnya since 1995. Of these, 2,363 were wounded and 
702 killed. Among the casualties were 754 children, 623 of whom were 
wounded and 131 were killed. Unlike previous years, there were no 
reports that Chechen rebels used children to plant mines and 
explosives.
    Chechen officials acknowledged the presence of mass graves and 
dumping grounds for victims, and there was one report of a new mass 
grave discovered during the year. In April, officials in Groznyy 
announced they had found a mass grave containing the remains of at 
least 57 persons. The grave appeared to have been used for the burial 
of rebel fighters and civilians killed during government forces' 
bombardment of the city in 2000. Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, then-head of the 
Chechen Republic's Committee for Protecting the Constitutional Rights 
of Citizens, reported in 2005 there were as many as 52 mass graves in 
the republic, although this report resulted in no investigations. In 
April 2004 local residents near the village of Serzhen Yurt found the 
bodies of nine men in a ravine. According to Amnesty International, the 
bodies bore gunshot wounds and marks of torture. Federal forces 
detained eight of the men in 2004 in the village of Duba Yurt. The 
ninth man had disappeared from his home in Groznyy, according to 
Amnesty International. There were no reports by year's end that the 
Government had initiated any criminal cases related to the mass grave 
discoveries. Memorial reported that it was unaware of any charges 
brought against federal security officers in response to the discovery 
of any mass graves.
    Armed forces and police units were reported to have routinely 
abused and tortured persons in holding facilities where federal 
authorities sorted out fighters or those suspected of aiding the rebels 
from civilians. Human Rights Watch documented 115 torture cases in 
Chechnya between July 2004 and September 2006.
    In May, Memorial representatives discovered an illegal detention 
center in Groznyy where detainees were reportedly held, tortured, 
``disappeared,'' and killed by federal police units that had 
temporarily been assigned to Chechnya (see section 1.c.). Despite 
appeals to officials to investigate Memorial's allegations, the 
building--a former boarding school for deaf children--was demolished.
    Federal forces and Chechen police units reportedly ransomed Chechen 
detainees (and, at times, their corpses) to their families for prices 
ranging from several hundred to thousands of dollars.
    Russian law prohibits the bodies of ``terrorists'' from being 
returned to their relatives. The body of Chechen rebel ``President 
Abdul Khalim Saidulayev, who was killed in August, was not returned to 
his relatives.
    Since the start of the Chechen conflict, there have been widespread 
reports that federal troops killed or tortured suspected rebel fighters 
they had detained and that rebel fighters killed or abused captured 
federal troops and Chechen security forces. A policy of ``no 
surrender'' appeared to prevail in many units on both sides. According 
to press reports, Chechen police beheaded a slain rebel in July and 
placed his head on a pole in what they claimed was retaliation for the 
fighter's beheading of one of their comrades.
    According to human rights NGOs, federal troops on numerous 
occasions looted valuables and foodstuffs in regions they controlled. 
Many IDPs reported that guards at checkpoints forced them to provide 
payments or harassed and pressured them. The indiscriminate use of 
force by federal troops caused destruction of housing and commercial 
and administrative structures. In September an artillery bombardment 
near the village of Serzhen-Yurt reportedly inflicted heavy property 
damage although it caused no casualties.
    A climate of lawlessness and corruption continued to flourish in 
Chechnya. The Government investigated and tried some members of the 
military for crimes against civilians in Chechnya; however, there were 
few convictions and reports concerning the number of convictions 
differed. President Putin stated in a May 2005 interview that hundreds 
of criminal cases had been opened into alleged crimes by servicemen and 
that over 50 persons had been convicted and given various prison terms, 
but he provided no further details. While this figure agrees with 
others the administration has provided, it does not make note of the 
fact that the majority received suspended sentences, as stated by Duma 
deputy Sergei Kovalev in 2003.
    According to Memorial there were no arrests or convictions of 
servicemen during the year for crimes committed against civilians.
    In November 2005 authorities reportedly arrested four Russian 
servicemen for the November 2005 killing of three Chechen civilians in 
the village of Staraya Sunzha. According to press reports, the victims 
were shot and stabbed by drunken soldiers, who were stopping vehicles 
and demanding money at a checkpoint.
    According to statistics compiled by the federal Prosecutor 
General's office, through June 2005 verdicts had been rendered in 103 
cases involving federal servicemen charged with crimes against 
civilians since 1999. Of these, 27 were given prison sentences of from 
one to 18 years, eight were acquitted, and 20 were amnestied. Sentences 
in the remainder were suspended or the guilty were fined, according to 
Memorial. Government statistics also showed that 34 law enforcement 
officers were charged with crimes against civilians, with seven 
sentenced to prison and the rest convicted and given suspended 
sentences.
    The prosecutor general's office released statistics in 2004 
indicating that, since 2001, 1,749 criminal cases were initiated in 
Chechnya to investigate approximately 2,300 cases involving disappeared 
persons. Of these, only 50 cases reached the courts. Memorial concluded 
that the majority of cases opened for alleged crimes by federal 
servicemen against civilians resulted in no charges because of the 
absence of the bodies or an inability to identify a suspect.
    In May 2005, a retrial began of federal interior ministry officers 
charged with murdering three civilians in Chechnya in 2003. The retrial 
of Yevgeniy Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheyev began after the Supreme 
Court overturned the north Caucasus military district court's 2004 
acquittal of the two officers. A news service reported that the court 
found the jury for the trial was convened improperly. Khudyakov and 
Arakcheyev allegedly shot the three civilians in 2003 after forcing 
them out of a truck near Groznyy and doused the bodies with gasoline 
and ignited them in an attempt to cover up the crime. A jury acquitted 
them again in October 2005. In May the Supreme Court overturned the 
verdict and ordered a new trial.
    Following the death of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev in July, 
FSB chief Nikolay Patrushev, as chair of the National Antiterrorist 
Committee, announced an amnesty for Chechen rebels with an initial 
deadline of August 1. The deadline was extended until January 15, 2007 
in legislation passed by the Duma and through December 25, 375 rebels 
had surrendered according to press reports.
    In April 2004 then-Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov asked that the 
State Duma extend an amnesty that had expired in September 2003. In 
June 2004, following his assassination, his son Ramzan stated that the 
amnesty program should be ended and gave fighters three days to turn in 
their weapons.
    On July 27, the ECHR found that the Government was responsible for 
the ``disappearance'' of Khadzhimurat Yandiyev and ordered it to pay 
compensation to his mother. Yandiyev was detained in the village of 
Alkhan-Khala in 2000 and never seen again. Journalists had videotaped 
Colonel General Aleksandr Baranov aggressively interrogating Yandiyev 
and then ordering his execution.
    In February 2005 the ECHR found in favor of six Chechen applicants 
to the court. The ECHR found the Government in violation of several 
articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental 
Freedoms. Two of the cases concerned the killing and mutilation of the 
applicants' relatives in Groznyy in 2000. Three others were brought in 
response to the bombing of a convoy of civilians in 1999 by government 
military aircraft. The sixth case involved the artillery and aerial 
bombardment of the village of Katyr Yurt in 2000 that resulted in the 
death of one applicant's son and three other relatives (see section 4).
    Government forces continued to abuse individuals seeking 
accountability for abuses in Chechnya and continued to harass 
applicants to the ECHR. Amnesty International and other human rights 
groups have reported reprisals against applicants to the court, 
including killings, disappearances, and intimidation. According to 
press reports and human rights NGOs, at least five applicants to the 
ECHR have been killed or abducted.
    Memorial reported that in December 2005 unknown security forces 
arrested and detained Mekhti Mukhayev, whose relatives had complained 
to the ECHR over the disappearance of four men from the village of 
Zumsoi in January 2005. According to Memorial, Mukhaev was tortured 
repeatedly while in custody and authorities fabricated a criminal case 
against him (see section 1.c.). Mukhaev was convicted in August of 
participation in an illegal armed formation and sentenced to eight 
months in prison. Taking into account the time he had already spent in 
detention since January, he was ordered released in September.
    In April 2005 armed men took two ECHR applicants from their homes. 
The body of one of them was found in May 2005, and the other was still 
missing. Other applicants reported that they were offered pay-offs or 
were threatened in an effort to have them drop their cases.
    The authorities continued to target the Russian-Chechen Friendship 
Society (RCFS) and in October it was ordered to shut down (see sections 
2.b. and 4). The RCFS urged negotiations with Chechen rebels to settle 
the conflict and reported on human rights abuses perpetrated by both 
sides of the conflict. In February RCFS Executive Director Stanislav 
Dmitriyevskiy was convicted of inciting racial and ethnic hatred by a 
Russian court and given a two-year suspended sentence and four years 
probation. The guilty verdict was appealed to the Nizhniy Novgorod 
Regional Court, where it was upheld on April 11. In March authorities 
announced they were dropping a criminal case against the organization 
for tax evasion. Shortly after Dmitriyevskiy was convicted, authorities 
moved to shutdown the organization for failing to distance itself from 
Dmitriyevskiy. In October, under the new NGO legislation a Nizhny 
Novgorod court ordered RCFS to shutdown. At year's end, the RCFS 
remained open, pending appeals of Dmitrievskiy's conviction and the 
court ruling to close it.
    RCFS offices in Nizhniy Novgorod were raided in January 2005 and 
separate criminal and tax cases were opened against the RCFS executive 
director and the organization (see section 2.b. and 4). In January 2004 
human rights activist Aslan Davletukayev, an RCFS volunteer, was 
abducted, tortured, and killed in Chechnya under circumstances that 
suggested the involvement of government forces. He was the third 
volunteer with the RCFS to have been killed since December 2001. 
According to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, he 
had been in the custody of federal forces. A criminal investigation 
into the incident was inconclusive and no charges were brought. The 
RCFS reported that it received anonymous threats following the 
September 2004 seizure of the school in Beslan.
    Government oversight over human rights conditions in the Northern 
Caucasus remained weak. In February Chechen President Alu Alkhanov 
appointed Nurdi Nukhazhiyev as Chechnya's new human rights ombudsman. 
According to Amnesty International, Chechen Republic authorities also 
established a database of missing persons, and Alkhanov also 
established an interagency commission with the participation of federal 
law enforcement authorities to address the issue. A separate 
parliamentary commission was also created, but Amnesty International 
noted it remained to be seen how these entities would work together or 
how effective they might be.
    In January 2004 President Putin abolished the post of Presidential 
human rights representative to Chechnya on the grounds that no other 
region had an analogous representative and Chechnya no longer warranted 
special treatment. Putin handed full responsibility for the issue to 
then-Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov. In June 2004 Chechen President 
Alu Alkhanov appointed Lema Khasuyev as the republic's human rights 
ombudsman. In June 2005 Khasuyev said he would not cooperate with the 
human rights NGO Memorial, claiming that it was biased and worked in 
the interests of foreign donors.
    The Independent Commission on Human Rights in the Northern Caucasus 
headed by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Legislation has 
reduced the number of commission offices in Chechnya but as of 
November, it remained open. The commission heard hundreds of 
complaints, ranging from destruction or theft of property to rape and 
murder; however, it was not empowered to investigate or prosecute 
alleged offenses and had to refer complaints to military or civil 
prosecutors. Almost all complainants alleged violations of military 
discipline and other crimes by federal and Chechen Republic forces.
    Chechen rebel fighters also committed numerous, serious human 
rights abuses. They committed terrorist acts against civilians in 
Chechnya and elsewhere in the country, killed civilians who would not 
assist them, used civilians as human shields, forced civilians to build 
fortifications, and prevented refugees from fleeing Chechnya. In 
several cases, Chechen fighters killed elderly ethnic Russian civilians 
for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. Verifying or 
investigating these incidents was difficult. Chechen Minister of 
Internal Affairs Ruslan Alkhanov identified 120 attacks that he 
characterized as terrorist acts in Chechnya in 2004, but it was unclear 
what methodology he used to cite that figure.
    Chechen rebels and others affiliated with them have committed 
terrorist acts involving bombings during the year. Chechen terrorist 
leader Shamil Basayev, who was killed in July, when a truck full of 
explosives presumably to be used in another terrorist act blew up, had 
continued to take responsibility for rebel attacks outside Chechnya and 
to threaten new ones. In a 2005 interview in which Basayev acknowledged 
he was a terrorist, he said that attacks similar to the Beslan school 
attack were possible.
    In July 2005, a bomb planted by fighters killed 15 persons 
including a number of civilians, and injured nearly 30 others in the 
Chechen village of Znamenskoye. Police were lured to the scene of the 
explosion after rebels placed a corpse in a stolen police car and made 
it appear as though a shooting was taking place. In August 2005, a 
woman and a 12-year-old boy were killed in central Groznyy when a car 
bomb exploded near the Government compound. Eleven others were wounded.
    According to authorities 12 civilians were killed during a large-
scale rebel attack on Nalchik, capital of the Republic of Karbardino-
Balkariya in October 2005. The attackers, who numbered as many as 300, 
targeted military garrisons and police stations throughout the town. 
The death toll among military and law-enforcement personnel was 
reported to be 34. Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev claimed 
responsibility. Most observers believed that a majority of the 
attackers were natives of Karbardino-Balkariya.
    There were also rebel attacks in other parts of the Northern 
Caucasus. Chechen rebels continued to launch attacks on government 
forces and police in Ingushetiya during the year.
    In Ingushetiya, several officials were killed by unknown 
assailants. On June 9, Ingushetiya Ministry of Internal Affairs 
Lieutenant Colonel Musa Nalgiyev, three of his children, a driver, and 
bodyguard were killed as he took the children to a childcare center. A 
short distance away, on June 9, deputy district administrator Galina 
Gubina was shot and killed (see section 1.a.)
    In May, rebels killed Ingushetiya's Deputy Minister of Internal 
Affairs Dzhabrail Kostoyev using a roadside bomb. Two bodyguards and 
four bystanders were also killed. There had been repeated attempts on 
Kostoyev's life.
    These attacks followed a number of terrorist acts in 2004. In 
February 2004 Basayev claimed responsibility for an attack in which a 
suicide bomber blew up a car on the Moscow metro, killing 40 persons. 
In March 2004 terrorist Abu al-Walid stated that further attacks should 
be expected. In August 2004 suicide bombers from Chechnya were believed 
to have carried out the near-simultaneous downing of two civilian 
aircraft, killing 89 persons, and a suicide bombing later that month at 
a metro station in Moscow that killed 10 persons. In September 2004 
terrorists took an estimated 1,200 teachers, children and parents 
hostage in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. During the hostage-taking 
and the rescue effort by troops and security forces, at least 330 
hostages died. Security forces subsequently killed most of the hostage 
takers in a firefight that lasted several hours.
    In other incidents rebels took up positions in populated areas and 
fired on federal forces, thereby exposing civilians to federal 
counterattacks. When villagers protested, the rebels sometimes beat or 
fired upon them. Chechen fighters also targeted civilian officials 
working for the Chechen Republic. Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov 
stated November 14 that 71 heads of local administration and 60 imams 
had been killed in Chechnya from 2000-06. Memorial documented three 
cases in which local officials in Chechnya were killed during the year.
    In November 2005 about 100 Chechen rebels raided the village of 
Avtury, killing the head of the village administration Ibragim 
Umpashayev and his son Isa. In May 2004 Chechen rebels assassinated 
President of the Chechen Republic Akhmed Kadyrov while he was attending 
a Victory Day celebration in Groznyy. Chechen fighters also reportedly 
abused, tortured, and killed federal soldiers whom they captured. 
Rebels continued a concerted campaign, begun in 2001, to kill civilian 
officials of the Chechen Republic. According to Chechen sources, rebel 
factions also used violence to eliminate economic rivals in illegal 
activities or to settle personal accounts.
    Rebel field commanders reportedly resorted to drug smuggling and 
kidnapping to fund their units. As a result, distinguishing between 
rebel units and criminal gangs was often difficult if not impossible. 
Some rebels allegedly received financial and other forms of assistance 
from foreign supporters of international terrorism. Government 
officials continued to maintain that there were 200-300 foreign 
fighters in Chechnya.
    International organizations estimated that the number of IDPs and 
refugees who left Chechnya as a result of the conflict reached a high 
of approximately 280,000 in the spring of 2000 (see section 2.d.). At 
various times during the conflict, authorities restricted the movement 
of persons fleeing Chechnya and exerted pressure on them to return 
there (see section 2.d.). At year's end, the UN High Commission for 
Refugees (UNHCR) registered 20,075 IDPs from Chechnya for assistance in 
Ingushetia. About a third of these IDPs remained in temporary 
settlements. Approximately 150,000 persons lived within Chechnya, 
including thousands living in temporary accommodation centers. 
Conditions in those centers reportedly failed to meet international 
standards.
    Beginning in 2004, authorities refused to grant the ICRC access, 
under ICRC's standard criteria, to those detained as part of the 
conflict in Chechnya, and the ICRC subsequently suspended its detention 
visits. The suspension was still in place at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, government pressure on the media 
persisted, resulting in numerous infringements of these rights. Faced 
with continuing financial difficulties, as well as pressure from the 
Government and large private companies with links to the Government, 
many media organizations saw their autonomy further weaken. The 
Government used its controlling ownership in all national television 
and radio stations, as well as the majority of influential regional 
ones, to restrict access to information about issues deemed sensitive. 
It severely restricted coverage by all media of events in Chechnya. 
There were indications that government pressure frequently led 
reporters to engage in self-censorship. Nonetheless, on most subjects, 
the public continued to have access to a broad spectrum of viewpoints 
in the print media and, for those with access, on the Internet.
    While the Government generally respected citizens' rights to 
freedom of expression, it sometimes restricted this right with regard 
to issues such as the conduct of federal forces in Chechnya, 
discussions of religion, or controversial reforms in the social sector. 
Some regional and local authorities took advantage of the judicial 
system's procedural weaknesses to arrest persons for expressing views 
critical of the Government. With some exceptions, judges appeared 
unwilling to challenge powerful federal and local officials who sought 
to prosecute journalists. These proceedings often resulted in stiff 
fines.
    Although all but two national newspapers remained privately owned, 
as did more than 40 percent of the 45,000 registered local newspapers 
and periodicals, the Government attempted to influence the reporting of 
independent publications. During the year government friendly 
corporations purchased majority or significant minority stakes in 
several key publications. Media freedom advocates viewed this trend as 
further evidence of government efforts to expand control of media 
beyond national television before the 2007-08 parliamentary and 
Presidential elections.
    In June United Russia Duma Deputy Aleksandr Lebedev and former 
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev purchased 49 percent of Novaya Gazeta, 
an independent investigative weekly. Both indicated that they did not 
intend to interfere with editorial policy and by year's end there was 
no indication that they had.
    In August, after a year of rumors that the Government controlled 
company Gazprom would purchase the independent business daily 
Kommersant, 100 percent of the paper's holding company was sold to the 
general director of Gazprominvestholding, Alisher Usmanov. There was 
not been a discernible shift in the newspaper's editorial slant by 
year's end.
    Other significant transactions leading to greater state ownership 
included the April purchase of 49 percent of Zhizn, the fourth largest 
mass-circulation weekly, by UFG Private Equity Fund. Boris Fedorov, UFG 
general partner, also sat on Gazprom's Board of Directors. In June 2005 
Gazprom purchased the daily newspaper Izvestiya. In late 2005, after a 
personnel change at Izvestiya, the newspaper's editorial staff was 
reportedly told on several occasions to be careful not to provoke 
government authorities.
    In October 2005 liberal weekly newspaper, Moskovskiye Novosti, was 
purchased from the Ukrainian-Israeli media company, Media International 
Group (MIG) by Israeli businessman Arkadiy Gaydamak. MIG had just 
purchased the newspaper in July from Mikhail Khodorkovsky after 
pledging not to change the existing editorial policy. Upon purchasing 
Moskovskiye Novosti, Gaydamak stated that he would transform the 
newspaper into a progovernment media outlet devoid of opinion or 
polemics.
    Approximately two-thirds of the 2,500 television stations in the 
country were completely or partially owned by the federal and local 
governments. Furthermore, the Government indirectly influenced private 
broadcasting companies through partial ownership of such commercial 
structures as Gazprom and Eurofinance Bank which in turn owned 
controlling or large stakes of media companies. Such influence, 
however, was not uniform.
    The Government exerted its influence most directly on state-owned 
media. Of the three major national television stations, the Government 
had a direct interest in two, the Rossiya Channel, which it owned 
outright, and the First Channel, in which it held a majority interest. 
Journalists and news anchors of Rossiya and First Channel reported 
receiving ``guidelines'' from the management prepared by the 
Presidential administration, indicating which politicians they should 
support and which they should criticize. The two networks promoted a 
positive image of President Putin and supported a completely Russo-
centric angle on the gas crisis with Ukraine, the dispute with Georgia, 
and the gas crisis with Belarus.
    Gazprom has a controlling ownership stake in NTV, which maintained 
a slightly more independent editorial line than Rossiya or First 
Channel, avoiding criticism of the Government but continuing to 
highlight important stories--such as the prosecution of Mikhail 
Khordokovskiy--when other channels chose to bury the news deeper within 
their evening news programs. In March 2005 NTV management prohibited 
the broadcast of an investigative program about the 2000 murder of 
Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Media reports cited NTV sources 
as saying the program contained interviews with Ukrainian politicians 
and former senior government officials who made allegations of possible 
Russian government involvement in the murder. According to media 
freedom advocates, the program was pulled by order of Presidential 
Administration officials, who also demanded that NTV abstain from 
further reporting on Gongadze's case.
    Of the two second-tier national television networks that have 
exhibited independence of the Government, REN-TV was sold in 2005. REN-
TV ended up under the shared control of Severstal Group and 
Surgutneftegas Company, each with 35 percent of the shares and both 
under the control of government allies. The German media company RTL 
owned the remaining 30 percent of REN-TV. Following the sale REN-TV, 
observers alleged that the network's editorial line became more pro-
government. The network's November 2005 decision to cancel the news 
show ``24,'' anchored by one of the country's most outspoken 
journalists, Olga Romanova, was seen as evidence of this trend. 
Romanova was later dismissed after publicly protesting censorship at 
the network followed by a wave of resignations among the news staff who 
alleged the network had started to practice self-censorship aimed at 
pacifying the Government.
    In August TV Center began broadcasting on affiliate stations in St. 
Petersburg and the regions. TV Center's core strategy is based on 
becoming an additional source for news, documentaries, and other 
informational programming. Owned by the city of Moscow, TV Center is 
widely considered Moscow's ``local'' television station and received a 
considerably higher audience share in the capital than in the country 
as a whole.
    There were reports that the Government will continue funding 
Zvezda, a military-patriotic channel featuring programs and movies 
focusing on the armed forces that was launched in February 2005, and 
increase funding for Russia Today, the state-owned English-language 
news channel aimed at foreign audiences, to almost $90 million (2.43 
billion rubles).
    The Government also maintained ownership of the largest radio 
stations, Radio Mayak and Radio Rossiya, and the news agencies ITAR-
TASS and RIA-Novosti.
    Originally conceived as a nonpolitical television talk show, V 
Kruge Sveta (In the Spotlight) was cancelled in September by the 
Domashniy television channel after only four episodes. Reports 
indicated that the show incurred the ire of the authorities, when 
lawyer Genrikh Padva and political writer Marietta Chudakova were 
invited to discuss the success or failure of the jury trial system in 
the country. The guests also touched on the light sentences imposed on 
those convicted of hate crimes, the unrest in the Karelian town of 
Kondopoga, and the cases of military officers Eduard Ullmann and Yuri 
Budanov, who had been charged with crimes against Chechen civilians.
    The Government also issued legal orders that directly curtail 
freedom of the press or could be used by the authorities to pressure 
independent journalists. On July 28, President Putin signed the new 
version of the law ``On Countering Extremism,'' which stipulates that 
``public libel'' of government officials is tantamount to extremist 
activity. Media freedom advocates expressed concern that this broad 
interpretation of extremism could create a basis for government 
officials to stifle criticism and label independent reporters as 
extremists (see section 3).
    On July 25, RosOkhranKultura, the Federal Service for Media Law 
Enforcement and the Protection of Cultural Heritage (FSMLE) posted a 
letter from the director of the Federal Registration Service 
(RosRegistratsia) on its Web site regarding media mentions of the 
``liquidated'' National Bolshevik Party (NBP) or any person claiming to 
act in the name of the NBP. The letter informed the media that all 
references to the NBP could be considered as the dissemination of false 
information and that disregard of this notice could lead to the 
``application of restrictive, precautionary and preventative 
measures.''
    In October Vladimir Rakhmankov, the editor of the now defunct 
Internet magazine Kursiv, was charged under the criminal code and fined 
$750 (20,250 rubles) for a satirical critique of Putin's plans to boost 
birthrates in the country.
    In September an Altai Republic court found the former head of the 
republican government's Information Policy Committee guilty of abusing 
his official position to interfere with legal journalistic activity. 
This decision resulted from an April 2005 complaint by the editors of 
two Altai newspapers, Zvezda Altaya and Altaidyn Cholmony, who 
complained that the head of the Information Policy Committee pressured 
them to report only positive stories about the Republic's government. 
The offender was sentenced to 10-months of incarceration (suspended) 
and one year of probation. He was also banned from government 
employment for a period of one year.
    Government-controlled media exhibited considerable bias in favor of 
President Putin in its coverage of the 2004 Presidential campaign. 
President Putin did not actively campaign, but, as the OSCE election 
observation mission noted, he received coverage on the state-controlled 
television channels far beyond what was reasonably proportionate to his 
role as head of state. For example, the OSCE election observation 
mission reported that in the four weeks preceding the elections, First 
Channel provided in total more than four hours of its political and 
election news coverage to President Putin. The next most covered 
candidate received approximately 21 minutes of prime time coverage (see 
section 3).
    The federal Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to control media 
access to the area of the Chechen conflict. On September 10, police 
detained British reporters with the CMI independent news agency and 
Fatima Tlisova, editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency's North 
Caucasian branch in the city of Nalchik. The British journalists 
intended to interview Tlisova but were detained for the entire day and 
prevented from doing so. The reason given for the detention was that 
the reporters had strayed into an off-limits area.
    On November 24, reporters from Austria's ORF television channel 
were detained for more than six hours at a checkpoint in Chechnya by 
FSB officers. The authorities searched the journalists and confiscated 
video recordings, a satellite phone, and three special accreditation 
certificates allowing the journalists to work in a zone of 
antiterrorist operations.
    On December 14, Deutsche Welle journalist Kristof Wanner was 
detained by authorities when he entered a zone of antiterrorist 
operations in Chechnya to record video for a report on a German NGO. He 
did not have the proper accreditation certificate and the authorities 
ordered his expulsion from the Chechen Republic.
    In March Dagestani police and FSB officers detained freelance 
reporter Kelly McEvers in Khasavyurt. McEvers, who was doing research 
on Islamic extremism but lacked the proper accreditation, was 
questioned for 10 hours and released, only to be again detained for 
several hours upon arriving in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. McEvers 
had been warned by authorities previously not to travel in the area 
without proper accreditation but failed to heed the warning.
    On November 20, Moscow journalist Boris Stomakhin, editor of 
Radikalnaya Politka, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges 
of inciting ethnic hatred, according to news reports. He has filed an 
appeal with the Moscow City Court. Human rights activists asserted that 
the severity or the sentence was unprecedented.
    In February 2005 the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications 
issued a warning to the daily newspaper Kommersant for publishing an 
interview with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. The ministry 
claimed the interview ``justified extremist activities.'' Under 
legislation governing the media, multiple warnings might allow the 
ministry to suspend the newspaper's publication. In April 2005 the 
Moscow arbitration court rejected the newspaper's appeal of the 
warning. In June 2005 the Moscow arbitration court's ruling was upheld.
    In June 2005 police and FSB agents in Nazran, Ingushetia, detained 
Mariusz Pilis, Marcin Mamon, and Tomasz Glowacki, journalists of the 
Polish state television station TVP. The journalists, who were working 
on a documentary about Chechnya, had valid visas and accreditation. 
After 14 hours in detention, authorities confiscated the journalists' 
tapes, told them that their visas and accreditation cards were no 
longer valid, and ordered them to leave Ingushetia within 24 hours.
    At year's end the ABC television network was still unable to obtain 
accreditation necessary to reopen its bureau in Moscow. The Russian 
government withdrew the bureau's accreditation in July 2005 after ABC 
News broadcast an interview with Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev.
    Mistreatment of journalists by authorities was not limited to 
Caucasus-related coverage. The Glasnost Defense Fund (GDF) and other 
media freedom monitoring organizations reported numerous abuses of 
journalists by police and other security personnel elsewhere, including 
physical assault and vandalism of equipment. In most instances, 
however, the mistreatment appeared to have been at the initiative of 
local officials.
    On February 2, in Vladikavkaz, police officers beat Channel One 
reporter Olga Kiriy when she attempted to report on the victims of two 
explosions. When her television crew arrived at the hospital, three 
police officers barred their entry to the hospital, banned the use of 
cameras on the premises, and subsequently beat Kiriy on the head and 
stomach. Channel One reported the incident and the offending officer 
was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail.
    On February 3, reporters from the Equipage television show arrived 
at the village of Bolshoye Kozino to cover a story about an 
unauthorized search of a private house (i.e., without a warrant). When 
they arrived at the location where the search was taking place, a group 
of law enforcement officers attacked the cameraman, broke his camera, 
and confiscated the cassette.
    In April Yevgeny Khamaganov, a reporter for the Aulan-Ude newspaper 
InformPolis, was detained by the Organized Crime Division of the police 
for his alleged involvement in a murder case. The authorities 
subsequently questioned him about a February trip he made to Irkutsk 
and the Ust-Ordynsky District during which he collected material for an 
article critical of an upcoming unification referendum.
    In May in Nizhny Tagil, Natalya Gorchakova, a reporter for the 
newspaper Tagilsky Rabochiy, was reporting on detainee abuse at a local 
police station when the officer on duty tried to tear the camera away 
from her and beat her in the presence of numerous eyewitnesses.
    On June 7, Gennady Nikolayev, Yulia Yanbayeva, and Elena 
Volkovskaya from the Novy Region information agency were detained by 
FSB officers and regional prosecutors at the Volgograd municipal 
administration headquarters while gathering information about the 
recent arrest of Mayor Evgeny Ishchenko. The reporters were taken to 
the prosecutor's office and required to surrender their cell phones and 
computers.
    In May 2005 police in Moscow's Red Square beat Aydar Buribayev, a 
correspondent for the daily Gazeta, and Shagen Ogandzhanyan, a 
correspondent for the daily Novaya Gazeta, who were covering a rally by 
a radical youth group. Buribayev, Ogandzhanyan, and Novaya Gazeta 
correspondent Irina Gordiyenko were subsequently taken to a police 
station, interrogated, and released after several hours.
    According to the GDF, 69 journalists were physically attacked 
during the year and nine were killed. At least two of the deaths may 
have been related to their work in journalism. In most cases 
authorities and observers were unable to establish a direct link 
between an assault and the persons who reportedly had taken offense at 
the reporting in question. Independent media NGOs still characterized 
beatings of journalists by unknown assailants as ``routine,'' noting 
that those who pursued investigative stories on corruption and 
organized crime found themselves at greatest risk.
    In July in Saratov, Yevgeny Gerasimenko, an investigative reporter 
for the newspaper Saratovsky Rasklad, was found dead in his home with a 
plastic bag over his head, his hands bound behind his back with duct-
taped and numerous bruises covering his body. There was no sign of 
forced entry, and the only item missing was his computer. His 
colleagues noted that Gerasimenko was working on an investigative 
article just prior to his death.
    On October 7, an unknown person shot and killed prominent 
investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya as she entered the elevator 
in her Moscow apartment building. The contract-style killing was 
carried out during daylight hours. Politkovskaya was known for her 
articles in the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Her writing was highly 
critical of the war in Chechnya, the Chechen authorities, human rights 
abuses, and President Putin's administration. As a result of her 
writing, she received many death threats. Authorities continued to 
investigate the crime at year's end. Following Politkovskaya's killing, 
two other Novaya Gazeta staffers received death threats--one for his 
work on a series of publications highlighting problems in the North 
Caucasus and the other in connection with his efforts to investigate 
the Politkovskaya killing.
    On January 8 in Tula, Vaghif Kochetkov, a Trud staff correspondent 
and a political observer for the newspaper Molodoy Kommunar, died in 
the hospital after being attacked by unidentified persons. He was 
initially found alive three hours after the attack and was unwilling to 
talk about the assault or his attackers. Kochetkov's relatives 
suggested the attack was in some way connected with his work as a 
reporter.
    On July 21 in Cheboksary, the body of Vlad Kidanov, an independent 
journalist, was found dead on a park bench with numerous bruises. He 
was taken to the city morgue and his relatives were not called for a 
week. No criminal proceedings have been initiated.
    In May 2005 Pavel Makeyev, a reporter from the local Rostov-on-Don 
television company TNT-Plus, was found dead in a ditch with multiple 
bruises and fractures. His equipment and cell phone were missing. It 
appeared that Makeyev died shortly after beginning work on a story 
about illegal drag racing, and some of his colleagues stated that 
Makeyev's death was linked to his work. An investigation later 
determined that a driver participating in a drag race struck Makeyev 
with his car, but a conviction against this person was not pursued.
    In June 2005 unknown assailants in Makhachkala shot and killed 
Magomedzagid Varisov, director of the Center for Strategic Initiatives 
and Political Technologies and a columnist of the local weekly Novoye 
Delo. Varisov's colleagues said he received numerous threats in 
connection with his commentary on local politics. No progress in the 
investigation of Varisov's killing had been reported by year's end.
    In October 2005 Tamirlan Kazikhanov, the head of the press service 
of the Counterterrorist Center of the Ministry of Interior in the 
Southern Federal District was killed by rebels during an assault on the 
center's office in Nalchik. A sniper fatally shot Kazikhanov after he 
took a camera and started to film the attack on the building. A 
criminal case relating to the overall assault is currently underway, 
but no case was open on behalf of Kazikhanov's death.
    Other journalists who may have been attacked this year because of 
their work include: Sergey Davydov, crime news editor for the newspaper 
Togliattinskoye Obozreniye in the Samara Region; Andrei Yundin, ATV 
editor-in-chief in Stavropol; Malika Gortikova, reporter for newspaper 
Serdalo in Ingushetia; Yulia Vassilyeva, reporter for Rossiya TV in St. 
Petersburg; Valery Ustinov, reporter for ITAR-TASS-Ural in 
Yekaterinburg; Roman Kulguskin, St. Petersburg freelance reporter in 
Moscow; Yuri Padalko, reporter for Pravda.info in Moscow; Dmitry Borko, 
photo correspondent for Grani.ru in Moscow; Alexei Savelyev, photo 
correspondent for Stringer news agency in Moscow; Boris Kosarev, 
reporter for Regnum news agency in Moscow; Vladimir Voronov, a New 
Times correspondent in Moscow; Viktor Volkov, a freelance journalist in 
the Moscow Region; Rustam Fakhretdinov, newspaper Vechernyaya Tyumen in 
Tyumen; Marina Litvinovich, editor-in-chief of the Web site Pravda 
Beslana in Moscow; Boris Pashkov, cameraman for RTR's Vesti in St. 
Petersburg; Vladimir Pozharsky, reporter for Express Gazeta in Moscow; 
and Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the Internet newspaper Kursiv in 
Ivanovo.
    High-profile cases of journalists killed or kidnapped in earlier 
years remained unsolved. In 2005 the Government detained two of five 
Chechens suspected of being the shooters in the 2004 killing of Paul 
Klebnikov (the American citizen editor-in-chief of the Forbes Russia). 
Three other suspects remain at large. One of the suspects, former 
separatist Chechen figure Khoz-Akhmed Nukhayev, was charged with 
ordering the killing. Although the initial trial of the two suspects in 
custody, Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, resulted in an acquittal, 
that verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court and a new 
trial with a new judge was ordered in November.
    In March 2005 the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court rejected 
the general prosecutor's appeal of the 2004 Moscow circuit military 
court's acquittal of all the defendants accused of organizing the 1994 
killing of Dmitriy Kholodov, military affairs correspondent for the 
daily newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets (see section 1.a.).
    Authorities at all levels employed administrative measures to deter 
critical coverage by media and individual journalists. One method was 
to deny the media access to events and information, including filming 
opportunities and statistics theoretically available to the public. For 
example, under the media accreditation regulations adopted by the 
Karachayevo-Cherkesiya Republic government in March 2005, only media 
outlets providing ``objective'' reporting on the local government are 
allowed access to government media events.
    In January the Ivanovo Regional Legislative Assembly restricted 
journalist access to its session without explanation or prior 
announcement that the session would be closed to the press.
    In February President of Khakassia's Supreme Council Vladimir 
Shtygashev told a news conference that accreditation for Alexei 
Kirichenko, a reporter for the newspaper Chance, was being 
``temporarily withheld.'' The reason given was that ``the majority of 
Council members have spoken negatively about Mr. Kirichenko's 
writings'' and suggested that he be barred from covering official 
meetings.
    In March, Rostov's Regional Court denied 15 local and national 
journalists access to two ``open'' hearings.
    In April reporters in the Mariy-El Republic were told that 
continued access to Legislative Assembly sessions was dependent upon 
the number of stories published concerning the performance of 
parliamentarians.
    At times officials or unidentified individuals used force or took 
extreme measures to prevent the circulation of publications that were 
not favored by the Government.
    In January Oryol Deputy Governor Vitaly Kochuyev and Gubernatorial 
Trade Department Head Vladimir Agapov reportedly held meetings with 
companies leasing space to newspaper stalls and retail press 
distributors in order to pressure them to terminate retail sales 
agreements with the newspaper Orlovskiye Novosti.
    On February 21, in Nazran, six armed men stormed into the home of 
Murat Oziyev, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Angusht. 
They searched his home without a warrant and confiscated 300 copies of 
the newspaper. Oziyev stated that the order to search his house and 
confiscate the Angusht circulation was issued by the Ingush 
Presidential administration in retaliation for publishing an article 
critical of the Ingush President.
    In June the national press distribution service RosPechat refused 
to distribute the newspaper Ivanovo-Press. The newspaper contacted 
RosPechat and was told that the newly appointed local head of RosPechat 
had issued an order not to accept subscriptions for Ivanovo-Press and 
later barred all agreements with the newspaper.
    Legal actions against journalists and journalistic organizations 
were another tool employed by authorities at the federal and local 
levels, primarily in response to unfavorable coverage of government 
policy or operations. The GDF estimated that 48 criminal cases and 
almost 300 civil cases were brought against journalists during the 
year. The utility of this tool was partially diminished as a result of 
a decision by the Supreme Court in 2004 prohibiting courts from 
imposing sentences in libel and defamation cases that would bankrupt 
the media organization being sued. However, one NGO reported that the 
decision was not always implemented properly on the local level. The 
court's order stated that compensations ``should be commensurate with 
the damage and not infringe upon press freedom.'' The GDF noted that 
during the year the courts have upheld civil defamation claims against 
journalists in amounts equivalent to approximately $136.1 million 
(884.9 million rubles).
    In January the Yamalo-Nenets District's Territorial Electoral 
Commission initiated criminal proceedings against a reporter for 
Gazovik, Vyacheslav Kalinin, under penal code (``Interference with the 
exercise of electoral rights or the work of electoral commissions'').
    In April a defamation case was filed by the mayor of Lytkarino (in 
the Moscow Region) and a businessman against Artyom Danilov, editor-in-
chief of the newspaper Delovoy Press-Tsentr. The journalist had asked 
regional authorities about municipal actions favoring the businessman, 
but the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the 
journalist pay $3,775 (100,000 rubles) in ``moral damages.''
    In May the Sverdlovsky District Court in Belgorod held a closed 
door trial involving a claim filed by Governor Yevgeny Savchenko 
against journalist Olga Kitova, founder of the newspaper Moskovsky 
Komsomolets v Belgorode. The paper had published an article critical of 
the governor and he received approximately $37,750 (1,000,000 rubles) 
in ``moral damages.''
    Authorities at various levels took advantage of the financial 
dependence of most major media organizations on the Government or on 
major financial-industrial groups to undermine editorial independence 
and journalistic integrity in both the print and broadcast media. 
Government structures, banking interests, and the state-controlled 
energy giant Gazprom continued to dominate the Moscow media market and 
extend their influence into the regions. Most news organizations 
experienced continued financial difficulties during the year, which 
reinforced their dependence on private sponsors and, in many cases, on 
the federal and regional governments. As a result the autonomy of the 
media and its ability to act as a watchdog remained weak.
    Authorities also made use of the media's widespread dependence on 
governments for transmission facilities, access to property, and 
printing and distribution services to discourage critical reporting, 
according to the GDF and media NGOs. The GDF reported that 
approximately 90 percent of print media organizations relied on state-
controlled organizations for paper, printing, or distribution, and many 
television stations were forced to rely on the Government (in 
particular, regional committees for the management of state property) 
for access to the airwaves and office space. The GDF also reported that 
officials continued to manipulate various other ``instruments of 
leverage,'' including the price of printing at state-controlled 
publishing houses, to apply pressure on private media rivals. The GDF 
noted that this practice was more common outside the Moscow area than 
in the capital.
    Newspapers in Mariy-El could no longer afford to pay delivery costs 
after the Federal Antimonopoly Service canceled the benefits previously 
granted to the republic's print media outlets. Many district newspapers 
report they were unable to absorb the sharp rise in postal delivery 
costs, and had nearly doubled their subscription prices as a result, a 
move that has drastically reduced their circulation.
    In February the Communist Party's regional branch in Oryol was 
forced to print its newspaper Orlovskaya Iskra in a neighboring region 
after a Oryol-based printing company unilaterally terminated its 
service agreement at the peak of preparations for the March 12 
municipal elections in the region.
    According to the GDF and other media NGOs, there were numerous 
instances of authorities using taxation mechanisms to pressure media 
across the country.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not restrict access 
to the Internet; however, it continued to require Internet service 
providers to install, at their own expense, a device that routes all 
customer traffic to an FSB terminal called the ``system for operational 
investigative measures'' so that police could track private e-mail 
communications and monitor Internet activity. There appeared to be no 
mechanism to prevent FSB access to the traffic or private information 
without a warrant. The FSB was not required to give telecommunications 
companies and individuals documentation on targets of interest prior to 
accessing information.
    There have been at least three known attempts by authorities to 
shut down local Internet sites. In February the governor of Vladimir 
held the Web site Kovrov.ru legally liable for allowing participants to 
post critical comments on its ``Media and Politics'' forum. The forum 
was closed without benefit of due process.
    In May in Barnaul, the Altai Territory Regional Court heard a case 
brought by the FMLES against Internet news site BankFax under the 
criminal code (instigation or incitement of interethnic, racial or 
religious hatred or enmity). The site published a commentary on the 
scandal surrounding the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The court 
ruled in favor of BankFax.
    The ``Internet in Russia'' report, conducted by Public Opinion Fund 
during the year, concluded that the Internet audience in the country 
was roughly 26.3 million individuals (23 percent of the adult 
population). Almost 8.5 million individuals used the Internet daily, 
15.6 million weekly, and 20.6 million at least once a month. An 
estimated 12.4 percent of all Internet users reside in Moscow and the 
wider Moscow region. The next largest groups of Internet users resided 
in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area (9.8 percent), and the Tomsk 
region (6.8 percent).

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not 
restrict academic freedom; however, human rights and academic 
organizations questioned whether the convictions of Sutyagin, Danilov, 
and others inhibited academic freedom and contact with foreigners on 
subjects that the authorities might deem sensitive (see section 1.e.). 
This trend continued during the year as the renowned scientist Oleg 
Korobeinichev, an employee of the Institute for Chemical Kinetics and 
Combustion, was charged with disclosing state secrets to a foreign 
government. In December Novosibirsk investigators completed the probe 
into the case of Korobeinichev. The case brought against Korobeinichev 
has been passed to the court.
    In March 2005 authorities found the Sakharov Center director and a 
staff member guilty of inciting religious hatred in connection with a 
2003 exhibit of religious-themed art that many viewed as provocative 
(see section 2.c.).

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice; however, at times 
authorities restricted this right.
    Organizations are required to obtain permits to hold public 
meetings. They must apply for these permits between five and 10 days 
before the scheduled event, which were generally granted to both 
supporters and opponents of the Government. While police often granted 
demonstration permits, local elected and administrative officials at 
times denied some groups permission to assemble. Religious gatherings 
and assemblies do not require permits, but in several instances 
authorities denied religious groups access to venues where they could 
hold assemblies (see section 2.c.).
    During the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg in July, human rights 
activists claimed 577 alleged incidents of illegal action by law 
enforcement officials against protestors, including 94 cases of police 
taking person to police stations without explanation; 267 cases (three 
involving children) of temporary detention on trumped-up charges such 
as ``minor hooliganism,'' ``verbal abuse,'' and ``resistance to law 
enforcement officials''; and 216 cases of persons prevented from 
traveling by bus or train to St. Petersburg for a ``counter summit'' 
organized by Russian NGOs.
    According to Human Rights Watch, in the days before the Other 
Russia conference in Moscow in July, authorities tried to bar 
conference attendees from leaving their home cities. Tactics reportedly 
included summoning attendees to police departments, coercing from them 
written promises to stay at home, and threatening them with detention 
on administrative charges. In some cases police removed individuals 
from trains and airplanes as they were about to depart to Moscow. Some 
participants were reportedly attacked and beaten by unknown assailants 
just before the conference.
    On May 27, police intervened belatedly to protect participants in a 
lesbian and gay rights festival in Moscow from attack by antigay 
protesters (see section 5).
    After organizing a picket in Moscow on September 3 in commemoration 
of the victims of Beslan, Lev Ponomarev was arrested and detained for 
three days. Media reports indicate that Ponomarev, leader of the 
Russian organization ``For Human Rights,'' submitted the required 
notification prior to the event, but chose not to observe the 
subsequent recommendation that it take place elsewhere or on a 
different date. Human rights organizations assert that such responses 
from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not binding under the law, 
and that his detention was both arbitrary and illegal.
    On October 16, police in Ingushetia arrested rights activists and 
violently broke up a rally in memory of slain reporter Anna 
Politkovskaya who was killed October 7. Security forces cordoned off a 
site in the center of Ingushetia's main city of Nazran as approximately 
40 rights activists and others tried to gather. According to press 
reports, police tore photographs of Politkovskaya from demonstrators' 
hands and injured at least one person. Kavkazky Uzel reported on 
October 17 that three participants in the Nazran demonstration--Fatima 
Yandieva, Zoya Muradova, and Zarema Mukusheva, all of whom are Memorial 
staffers--were fined $18.50 (500 rubles) apiece for ``violating the 
established order for holding a picket,'' while local journalist Ruslan 
Maisigov was released after being briefly held by police. The 
organizers of the demonstration--Magomed Mytsolgov, chairman of 
``Marsh,'' a group made up of relatives of persons who have 
disappeared, and Albert Khantygov of Memorial--were set to appear in 
court on October 17 on charges of organizing an unsanctioned 
demonstration. Interfax quoted Ingush Interior Minister Beslan 
Khamkhoev as saying: ``There was an attempt to hold an unsanctioned 
meeting. For some reason, there was a disagreement between the members 
of the meeting, which turned into a fight. To preserve order and 
safety, policemen were forced to intervene.''
    Police detained hundreds of opposition activists ahead of the Other 
Russia demonstration on December 16, the ``March of the Discontented,'' 
in Moscow. Demonstrators were not allowed to march, but approximately 
2,500 convened at a Moscow rally surrounded by approximately 8,500 
police, special forces troops, and FSB officers. About 80 protesters 
were detained in Moscow throughout the day and about 320 other 
activists were detained or taken off trains and buses on their way to 
Moscow. Some were kept in detention cells, while others were released 
after the rally was over.
    On December 17, Moscow city authorities prohibited approximately 
300 members of the political party Yabloko and their supporters from 
marching in memory of killed journalists. Yabloko was allowed to meet, 
however, but was refused a permit to march.
    In May 2005 Moscow police, after breaking up a demonstration in 
front of city hall, detained 10 congregants and supporters of the 
Emmanuel Pentecostal Church. Members and supporters of the church 
continued to demonstrate, alleging discrimination by authorities who 
had refused the church permission to construct a church and renovate 
buildings in Moscow and another district. In June 2005 several of these 
demonstrators were arrested during a demonstration. City authorities 
contended that the demonstrations were illegal and that they had 
advised the demonstrators to hold their protests at an alternate site. 
Protestors said that the demonstration was legal and that they had 
never received such instructions from city authorities. Several 
protestors were charged with holding an illegal demonstration and 
sentenced to five-day jail terms. A Moscow district court ruled in 
November 2005, that local authorities had violated the legal procedure 
for regulating public events in its handling of the Church's repeated 
demonstrations. The same court ruled in October 2005 that 13 police 
officers had wrongfully detained Emmanuel members following a 
demonstration a week earlier. The church pastor confirmed that police 
interference ended following these court decisions.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association, and the Government generally respected this right; 
however, the Government increasingly harassed several organizations of 
whose policies it disapproved. Public organizations must register their 
bylaws and the names of their leaders with the Ministry of Justice. 
There was no clear evidence that these registration requirements were 
being used to discourage or prevent the formation of associations; 
however, they afford an opening for abuse on the part of the 
authorities. The law requires that political parties have 50,000 
members nationwide, at least 500 representatives in each of half of the 
country's regions, and no fewer than 250 members in each of the 
remaining regions in order to be registered (see section 3). In 
addition, the finances of registered organizations are subject to 
investigation by the tax authorities and foreign grants must be 
registered. The authorities subjected some NGOs to lengthy 
investigations of their finances or delayed the registration of their 
foreign financed programs. Some NGOs said that these actions were 
intended to restrict their activities (see section 4).
    President Putin signed into law on January 10 legislation providing 
strict measures to oversee NGOs through a registration body at the 
Ministry of Justice. The law, which entered into force on April 10, 
imposed more stringent registration requirements for NGOs, particularly 
the branch offices of foreign NGOs, strict monitoring of organizations, 
extensive reporting requirements on NGO programming and activities, and 
some limitations on the participation of foreign citizens in NGOs. The 
law also permits more intrusive means for government officials to 
scrutinize all forms of NGOs, including ``public associations.'' In 
addition it granted the Federal Registration Service discretion to deny 
registration or shut down an organization based on vague and subjective 
criteria (see section 4).
    On July 28, President Putin signed into law amendments to 
legislation ``On Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many 
that the law may restrict activities of political parties, the media 
and NGOs, and legitimate criticism of the Government. Critics say that 
it could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs, and opposition 
political parties during the 2007-2008 election cycle (see sections 3 
and 4).
    A number of senior officials made critical statements during the 
year that contributed to, and reflected, increased suspicion of NGO 
activity. For example, FSB Director Nikolay Patrushev in a December 
interview said that foreign intelligence agencies were increasingly 
using NGOs and press bureaus as cover, citing specifically the Danish 
Refugee Council. In a January 31 press conference in the wake of 
Russian accusations against four British diplomats of spying and 
providing money for NGOs, President Putin stated that society needs 
NGOs to monitor the activities of the state and power structures and 
pledged support for their activities, but added that their financing 
must be transparent and efforts to control them by ``foreign 
puppeteers'' would not be tolerated. On February 7 in a speech to the 
FSB, President Putin called on the FSB to ``protect society from any 
attempts by foreign states to use [NGOs] for interfering in Russia's 
internal affairs.''
    At a July 2005 meeting of the Presidential Council on Promoting the 
Development of Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, 
President Putin stated that he objected to foreign financing of 
``political activity'' in the country. In May 2005 FSB Director Nikolay 
Patrushev said that foreign NGOs were often used for espionage. In his 
May 2004 State of the Nation address, President Putin charged that some 
foreign-funded NGOs existed ``to serve dubious groups.''
    At the end of January, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a 
lawsuit to close the Russian Research Center on Human Rights, an 
umbrella organization of a dozen Russian human rights groups, including 
the Moscow Helsinki Group and the USC. The Ministry of Justice claimed 
that the group had failed to file reports of its activities for the 
past five years, a claim disputed by the group. Also in late January, a 
Moscow arbitration court ruled against the Russian PEN Center, an NGO 
that advocates freedom of expression, holding that it owed $75,500 (2 
million rubles) in property taxes. The authorities froze its account 
following the court ruling.
    In late July the Russian Federal Tax Service filed a tax claim 
against the Center for International Legal Defense (CILD), an NGO 
headed by one of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's lawyers, 
after it was audited by tax inspectors (see section 4).
    In October a Nizhniy Novgorod court ruled that the Russian-Chechen 
Friendship Society should be shut down after its Executive Director 
Stanislav Dmitriyevskiy was convicted of inciting racial hatred earlier 
in the year (see section 4).
    Authorities in a number of regions continued operations against 
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which had been banned by the Supreme Court in 2003 
as a terrorist organization, despite the organization's denials that it 
supported terrorism. For example, in Bashkortostan Republic, Tyumen, 
Chelyabinsk Oblasts, Moscow, and Nizhnevartovsk there have been arrests 
and trials of alleged HT members. In April a Moscow court convicted 
Sardorbek Siddikov and sentenced him to one year in jail for membership 
in HT. In September 2005 the city court of Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-
Masiisk autonomous okrug gave a four-year suspended prison term to 
Eduard Khusainov, who was believed to have headed the local HT group. 
Officials reportedly found extremist propaganda in his apartment. 
Khusainov was charged with organizing the activities of an extremist 
organization and with ``involving others in committing terrorist crimes 
or otherwise abetting such crimes.'' In October 2005 in Tyumen Oblast, 
a Tobolsk Court found nine members of the local HT branch guilty on all 
charges of extremism brought against them. Three of the accused-local 
leaders Marat Saybatalov, Dmitriy Petrichenko, and Rail Valitov-were 
sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 1/2 to six years. Other 
members were sentenced to various terms from 12 months to 5 1/2 years. 
According to the Sova Center, police broke up an HT group in 
Chelyabinsk in March 2005 and detained one of its members, Rinat 
Galiullin. The criminal case against Rinat Galiullin was initiated in 
March 2005. He was arrested and tried in September-November 2005. He 
was given a one-year suspended sentence. Also Galiullin won a suit 
against a local newspaper for spreading information alleging that he 
had plotted a riot, stockpiled weapons, and encouraged people to sign a 
contract with Al Qaeda. The HT group to which Galiullin allegedly 
belonged was not found. As of July the courts had convicted 46 persons, 
29 of whom were in prison, for membership in HT.
    In August 2005 eight HT defendants were sentenced in Ufa, 
Bashkortostan to prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 to 8 1/2 years on 
charges of terrorism, forming a criminal group, involving others in 
terrorist crimes, illegal possession of arms, and sabotage. A ninth 
defendant was given a suspended sentence. Having appealed the case to 
the Supreme Court, the sentences were upheld in November 2005.
    In August 2005 the Supreme Court overturned a decision by a lower 
court forcing the closure of the radical National Bolshevik Party. In 
October 2005 the Presidium of the Supreme Court canceled the August 
Supreme Court decision and sent the case back for new hearings. In 
November 2005 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the previous lower 
decision to ban the party. In April, a Moscow district court upheld a 
January 30 decision by the Ministry of Justice to deny registration to 
the party. In August, a faction of the National Bolshevik Party split 
off to form the National Bolshevik Front. Also in August the Federal 
Registration Service asked the federal media agency to stop the media 
from referring to the National Bolshevik Party by its name, arguing 
that the organization was never registered as a political party.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice; however, authorities imposed restrictions on certain groups. 
Although the constitution provides for the equality of all religions 
before the law and the separation of church and state, the Government 
did not always respect these provisions in practice.
    A 1997 law required all religious organizations registered under 
the previous 1990 law to reregister by the end of 2000. The law 
provides that a religious group that has existed for 15 years and has 
at least 10 citizen members may register as a ``local organization,'' 
giving it status as a juridical person and certain legal advantages. A 
group with three functioning local organizations in different regions 
may found a ``centralized organization'' with the right to establish 
affiliated local organizations without meeting the 15-year requirement. 
In practice the law placed a hardship on groups that were previously 
unregistered and less well established, including groups new to the 
country. The process, which involves simultaneous registration at the 
federal and local levels, required considerable time, effort, and legal 
expense.
    In January 2005 authorities amended the 1997 law to conform to a 
new law on state registration of other legal entities. The amended law 
requires all registered local religious organizations to inform the 
Federal Registration Service within three days of changes in its 
leadership or legal address. If a local organization fails to meet this 
requirement on two or more occasions, the Federal Registration Service 
can file suit to dissolve and deregister the organization. Some 
denominations with numerous local organizations feared that compliance 
with this change would be highly burdensome (see sections 2.b. and 4).
    The law accords no explicit privileges or advantages to the Russian 
Orthodox Church or the other groups formally designated as traditional 
religions-Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. However, many politicians and 
public figures supported closer cooperation with those religions, above 
all with the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate. Many 
government officials and citizens appeared to equate Russian Orthodoxy 
with the Russian national identity. The Russian Orthodox Church has a 
number of formal and informal agreements with government ministries on 
matters such as guidelines for public education, religious training for 
military personnel, and law enforcement and customs decisions. These 
agreements have given the Russian Orthodox Church far greater access 
than other religious groups to public institutions, such as schools, 
hospitals, prisons, the police, the FSB, and the army. Starting 
September 1, schools in four regions required the teaching of a 
controversial Foundations of Orthodox Culture course; in many other 
regions, the course is taught as an elective. Public statements by some 
government officials and anecdotal evidence from religious minorities 
suggest that the Russian Orthodox Church has increasingly enjoyed a 
status that approaches official.
    On January 10, President Putin signed the Law on Public 
Associations (NGO Law) and implementing regulations took effect on 
April 10. While the law governing religious organizations is largely 
unaffected by the NGO law, some provisions of the new law appear to 
apply to religious organizations as well. For example, the new law's 
inspection provisions appear to permit government inspections of 
religious organizations and attendance at some of their public events 
with advance notice. Other provisions that appear to apply include new 
reporting requirements; authority for the registration body (located in 
the Ministry of Justice) to request certain documents, send its 
representatives to participate in events, and annually review 
compliance of an organization's activities with its statutory goals; 
and a requirement that covered nonprofit organizations inform 
authorities of changes to certain data (such as addresses and 
leadership) within three days of the changes. It was not clear at 
year's end how authorities would implement the new law and the impact 
it would have on religious organizations.
    According to the human rights ombudsman's annual report, the 
Ministry of Justice had registered 22,513 religious organizations as of 
December 2005, approximately 500 more than January 2005. Local courts 
largely upheld the right of nontraditional groups to register or 
reregister. Nonetheless, some religious groups continued to contest 
denials of registration in the courts. While such cases were often 
successful, administrative authorities were at times unwilling to 
implement court decisions. In April, the Federal Registration Service 
restored the Salvation Army's registration documentation for the 
country-wide central religious organization, although the legal status 
of its Moscow branch remained unresolved. Although the Constitutional 
Court found earlier rulings by Moscow courts dissolving the Moscow 
branch to be unconstitutional, the Moscow Oblast Department of Justice 
had not reregistered the organization by year's end and two court 
judgments that legally dissolved the branch remained in force, despite 
the Constitutional Court ruling.
    A court ruling against the Salvation Army's registration in 
Moscow's Presnenskiy District referred to the Salvation Army as a 
``militarized organization.'' The Slavic Center for Law and Justice was 
working with the Moscow office of the Salvation Army to overturn the 
Presnenskiy Court ruling. On October 5, the ECHR unanimously ruled in 
favor of the Moscow branch of the Salvation Army. The Court ruled 
Russia violated the Salvation Army's right to freedom of association 
and their right to freedom of religion. As a result, Russia was ordered 
to pay the Salvation Army approximately $13,000 (344,500 rubles) in 
compensation, and the ruling has cleared the way for the Salvation Army 
to regain its legal status in Russia.
    Moscow authorities continued to deny reregistration to the Moscow 
branch of the Church of Scientology, threatening it with dissolution. 
In February 2005, after years of legal proceedings, a Moscow appeals 
court ordered Moscow Oblast officials to permit the church to apply for 
reregistration and to examine the application on its merits. The Church 
of Scientology filed a suit against the dissolution order with the 
ECHR, which admitted the suit in 2004. The case was pending in the ECHR 
at year's end. The church had filed for reregistration 11 times; the 
Moscow registration service rejected the tenth claim in June 2005.
    Local authorities have impeded the operation of Scientology centers 
in Dmitrograd, Izhevsk, St. Petersburg, and other localities. Since 
these centers had not been in existence for 15 years, they were unable 
to register and could not perform religious services, although they 
were allowed to hold meetings and seminars. The Churches of Scientology 
in Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk and Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan filed suits with 
the ECHR against the refusal of officials to register the churches, 
based on the 15-year rule. The ECHR found the suits admissible in June 
2005; the cases were awaiting a final decision.
    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has succeeded 
in registering 52 local religious organizations by year's end. During 
the year, authorities registered the LDS Church in Novocherkassk. In 
2005 authorities registered the LDS Church in Tver following a series 
of rejections of its registration application. The LDS Church has not 
been able to register a local religious organization in Kazan, 
Tatarstan, despite numerous attempts since 1998.
    The 1997 Law gives officials the authority to ban religious groups. 
Unlike dissolution, which involves only the loss of an organization's 
juridical status, a ban is a more serious legal step and prohibits all 
of the activities of a religious community. Authorities have not used 
the law to ban many groups to date. However, in a notable exception, 
the decision of a Moscow court judge in 2004 to uphold on appeal the 
ban on Jehovah's Witnesses garnered significant media coverage and 
prompted an upswing in restrictions on Jehovah's Witnesses. As of April 
authorities permitted registration of Jehovah's Witnesses groups in 404 
local communities in 72 regions, but problems with registration 
continued in some areas, notably Moscow, where the Moscow Golovinskiy 
Intermunicipal District Court and the Moscow City Court of Appeal have 
banned them. There was a pending ECHR case on the Moscow ban.
    The ban on the Islamic organization HT, which was declared by the 
Government to be a terrorist organization, remained in effect and a 
number of prosecutions were undertaken (see section 2.b.).
    Treatment of religious organizations, particularly minority groups, 
varied widely in the regions, depending on the decisions of local 
officials. In some areas local authorities prevented minority 
denominations from reregistering as local religious organizations and 
subjected them to legal harassment.
    Contradictions between federal and local law in some regions and 
varying interpretations of the law provided some regional officials 
with opportunities to restrict the activities of religious minorities. 
According to many observers, local governments were often susceptible 
to discriminatory attitudes and lobbying by majority religions, leading 
to discriminatory practices. However, instances in which local 
officials detained individuals engaged in public discussion of their 
religious views remained isolated and were usually resolved quickly.
    Some local and municipal governments prevented minority religious 
groups from obtaining venues for large gatherings and from acquiring 
property for religious uses. Regional and local authorities, as well as 
businessmen, on a number of occasions refused to lease facilities to 
local Jehovah's Witnesses communities. During the year Jehovah's 
Witnesses reported a problem similar to their 2004 attempt to find a 
suitably large venue in Sochi, when a landlord denied access to a 
meeting venue after FSB pressure but later reversed the denial. During 
the year 56 district conventions were scheduled between June and 
October. However, local authorities did not permit conventions to go 
ahead in Pervouralsk and Nizhniy Tagil (both in Sverdlovsk Region). In 
Ivanovo the city administration and the FSB forced the cancellation of 
the convention planned for July 28-30, but allowed it to be conducted 
at a later date. In some cities it was again impossible to find 
suitable premises for a single district convention, thus the program 
was held in shifts on the same weekend or repeated on consecutive 
weekends. In total 59 conventions were eventually held throughout the 
country. In Moscow Oblast, which is a separate jurisdiction from the 
city of Moscow, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported that a hotel 
conference center, a cinema, and a cultural center, each of which 
previously had been used by the church, cancelled their leases. During 
the year Jehovah's Witnesses religious assemblies were also disrupted 
or prevented in Yekaterinburg and Archangelsk. The Jehovah's Witnesses 
stated that Father Valeriy of the Arkhangelsk Orthodox Diocese exerted 
pressure on Archangelsk authorities to prevent the Jehovah's Witnesses 
from holding a district convention scheduled for August 2005.
    Jehovah's Witnesses reported continuing difficulties obtaining 
construction permits in Sosnovyy Bor, Leningrad Oblast and were using a 
privately owned building for their meetings. Local authorities refused 
to let a Jehovah's Witness community construct a prayer center on the 
basis of a 2004 referendum in which 90 percent of voters opposed the 
construction.
    On May 5, Mayskaya Gorka city circuit in the Arkhangelsk region 
held a public meeting to discuss a Jehovah's Witness application for a 
plot of land to build a place of worship. Reports indicated that the 
atmosphere was hostile, not giving the representatives of the Jehovah's 
Witnesses the opportunity to reply to all the questions, the majority 
of which were about religious beliefs rather than plans for the land. 
At the conclusion of the meeting, those present voted not to provide 
Jehovah's Witnesses with a plot of land.
    In Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Oblast, local authorities in June 2005 
withdrew a building permit issued to the Jehovah's Witnesses, and 
threatened to tear down a new prayer hall. In February the Chelyabinsk 
Oblast Arbitration Court dismissed the city administration's 
application for demolition at the expense of the Jehovah's Witnesses; 
the city did not appeal the decision. As of December 31, the hall was 
still not being used for worship, as residents refused to remove 
garages that illegally occupied part of the land on which the hall was 
built, and the city authorities have not granted permission for the use 
of the building.
    Various minority religious organizations encountered similar 
difficulties in obtaining or renovating property. The mayor's office in 
Krasnodar continued to deny the Muslim community's request to build a 
mosque in the city of Sochi, even though the organization's current 
rented premises barely accommodated the approximately 30 members who 
attended Friday prayers. The Muslim community in Kaliningrad has sought 
unsuccessfully since 1993 to obtain permission to construct a mosque.
    Human rights groups and religious minority groups criticized the 
federal prosecutor general for encouraging legal action against some 
minority religions and for giving an official imprimatur to materials 
that were biased against Jehovah's Witnesses, the Latter Day Saints 
Church, and others. The FSB, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and 
other agencies conducted campaigns of harassment against some 
individual Muslims and members of some Protestant groups and newer 
religious movements. Security services continued to treat the 
leadership of some minority religions--especially Muslims, Roman 
Catholics, some Protestant denominations, and other groups--as security 
threats. Some religious groups were investigated for alleged criminal 
activity and violations of tax laws, landlords were pressured to 
abrogate contracts, and in some cases the security services were 
thought to have influenced the Ministry of Justice to reject 
registration applications.
    The authorities permit Orthodox chapels and priests on army bases 
and also give Protestant groups limited access to military facilities. 
Authorities largely banned Islamic services in the military and 
generally did not give Muslim conscripts time for daily prayers or 
alternatives to pork-based meals. Some Muslim recruits serving in the 
army reported that their fellow servicemen insulted and abused them on 
the basis of their religion.
    There were occasional reports of short-term detentions on religious 
grounds, but such incidents were generally resolved quickly. Local 
police frequently detained missionaries for brief periods throughout 
the country or asked them to cease their activities, such as displaying 
signboards, regardless of whether they were actually in violation of 
local statutes on picketing. The Jehovah's Witnesses organization 
reported a number of incidents in which its members were assaulted by 
other citizens or briefly detained by authorities while conducting 
lawful preaching activities. As of November the Jehovah's Witnesses 
reported approximately 51 incidents, 28 of which took place in Moscow, 
in which authorities briefly detained their members or other citizens 
while conducting lawful preaching activities, and 35 incidents of 
assault on Jehovah's Witnesses, nine of which occurred in Moscow.
    In April 2005 masked paramilitary troops stormed the Work of Faith 
Church in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, during a worship service. They 
reportedly took the worshippers outside, searched them without a 
warrant, and threatened some of the women with rape. Police detained 46 
persons for several hours. Udmurtian officials claimed that there had 
been no time to get a warrant and that some police officials had been 
reprimanded for procedural irregularities. According to Udmurt 
authorities, the raid was part of a murder investigation involving two 
former parishioners of the Work of Faith Church.
    Human rights groups reported that following the 2004 hostage-taking 
in Beslan, police activity was stepped up in the Northern Caucasus. 
Increasing numbers of Muslims, both Russian citizens and citizens of 
the predominately Muslim states bordering the country, were charged 
with extremism. Some observers said that police harassment of Muslim 
clerics and alleged militants in the Kabardino-Balkariya Republic, 
including torture and the closure of all but one of Nalchik's mosques, 
were part of the Government's reaction to the October 2005 rebel attack 
on Nalchik (see section 1.g.). The Caucasian Knot Web site and other 
human rights organizations reported in March that law enforcement 
officials in Kabardino-Balkaria continued to monitor children in 
schools who observed Muslim customs, after the phrase ``Jihad is 
freedom'' appeared on the wall in a Nalchik school. The authorities 
reportedly kept lists of students who said Muslim prayers, had Muslim 
middle names, or who sent messages with Islamic themes via their mobile 
phones.
    Nine female Muslim students at the Kabardino-Balkariya State 
University were reportedly detained in June 2005 and interrogated 
because they were wearing hijab and practicing group study of the 
Koran, which are against University statutes. The students were 
subsequently released. In October 2005 in Maykop, Adygea Republic, 
police allegedly assaulted and apprehended a group of young Muslims, 
including the Maykop mosque's imam, as they were leaving a mosque. The 
imam told a journalist that masked police dragged the group to 
minibuses and took them to the interior ministry's antiorganized crime 
department, where they were beaten and questioned about why there were 
wearing beards and observing Islamic norms of hygiene. After a night in 
detention they were taken before a judge, who ordered their immediate 
release.
    Authorities either deported or denied entry to several religious 
workers with valid visas. On January 9, authorities deported the 
founder and legal/spiritual advisor of the Unification Church in 
Moscow, who may not reapply for a visa for five years, despite having 
lived in the country since 1990.
    Some religious personnel experienced visa difficulties while 
entering or leaving the country. In September 2005 border guards at a 
Moscow airport denied reentry to the rabbi of the Moscow Choral 
Synagogue, Pinchas Goldschmidt. He had lived in Moscow since 1989 and 
his family resides in Moscow. Authorities did not tell Goldschmidt why 
they had annulled his visa. In December 2005 Goldschmidt was issued a 
one-month religious worker's visa and returned to Moscow; he 
subsequently left the country briefly in January to receive a one-year 
multientry religious work visa and was granted one. He spent the rest 
of the year in Moscow without incident.
    The Dalai Lama was permitted to visit the Kalmykia Republic in 2004 
after many years of denials. Catholic authorities reported a decrease 
in visa problems for Catholic priests during the year, although there 
was a report of one foreign priest whose visa was not renewed.
    In March 2005 the Government denied entry to high-ranking British 
and Danish Salvation Army officials who sought to attend a church 
congress. In explaining its decision to deny entry, the Moscow city 
branch of the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs cited the provision 
of law under which foreigners may be denied entry ``in the interests of 
state security.''
    Laws in three regions, Belgorod, Kursk, and Smolensk, forbid 
foreign visitors from engaging in missionary activity or preaching 
unless specifically authorized by their visas. According to local 
religious officials the laws were not enforced.
    After nearly two years of criminal proceedings, in March 2005, 
authorities found the Sakharov Center director and a staff member 
guilty of inciting national, racial, and religious hatred and fined 
them approximately $3,750 (100,000 rubles) each. Officials acquitted a 
third defendant of all charges. Although the Moscow City Court 
dismissed their appeal, the center entered an appeal at the ECHR in 
December 2005. The charges stemmed from a 2003 exhibit of religious-
themed art, which many viewed as provocative, entitled ``Danger, 
Religion!'' Authorities never charged those who vandalized the exhibit 
with a crime, and according to activists the verdict could enable the 
state and the Russian Orthodox Church to define parameters for 
religious and artistic expression (see section 2.a.).
    Restitution of religious property seized by the Communist regime 
remained a problem. Many properties used for religious services, 
including churches, synagogues, and mosques, have been returned, and 
more restitution cases were ongoing. The Russian Orthodox Church 
appeared to have had greater success in gaining restitution of 
prerevolutionary property than other groups, although it continued to 
pursue property claims. The Jewish community was still seeking the 
return of a number of synagogues, religious scrolls, and cultural and 
religious artifacts, such as the Schneerson book collection, a revered 
collection of the Chabad Lubavitch. The Roman Catholic Church reported 
44 disputed properties, most of which they would use for religious 
services. Muslims in Beslan, North Ossetia, have appealed to the 
Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations to 
return a historic mosque to the Muslim community. The Cathedral Mosque, 
built in 1906 by decree of Tsar Nicholas II, was occupied by a vodka-
bottling plant and a bottle washing shop, and was soon to be modified 
to accommodate a car wash. The North Ossetian government alleged that 
there was nowhere to move the plant, but the republic's Muslim council 
stated that locating a factory in a mosque was illegal and that there 
were several facilities in the town to accommodate the factory.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While religious matters were 
not a source of societal hostility for most citizens, members of 
minority and ``nontraditional'' religions continued to encounter 
prejudice, societal discrimination, and in some cases physical attacks. 
Conservative activists claiming ties to the Russian Orthodox Church 
disseminated negative publications and staged demonstrations throughout 
the country against minority religions. Some church figures publicly 
expressed similar views. Authorities usually investigated incidents of 
religious vandalism and violence, but arrests of suspects were 
extremely infrequent and convictions were rare. Unlike previous years, 
relations between non-traditional religious organizations and 
traditional ones were sometimes tense, particularly at the leadership 
level.
    Tensions between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic 
Church continued. Russian Orthodox Church figures accused the Roman 
Catholic Church of deliberately proselytizing among Orthodox faithful 
but less often than in previous years. In a meeting in March with a 
Franciscan Order delegation, Patriarch Aleksey II reportedly said that 
he hoped the Roman Catholic Church would stop proselytizing Orthodox 
believers and those with Orthodox roots because the ``rivalry in 
winning souls makes their work more difficult at a time when the world 
needs the fruit of both churches in their Christian efforts.''
    Popular attitudes toward traditionally Muslim ethnic groups 
remained negative in many regions, and there were manifestations of 
anti-Semitism as well as societal hostility toward Roman Catholics and 
adherents of newer, non-Orthodox, religions. Racially or ethnically 
motivated attacks increased significantly in recent years, although it 
has often been difficult to determine whether xenophobia, religion, or 
ethnic prejudices were the primary motivation. Ethnic tensions ran high 
in the predominantly Muslim Northern Caucasus, and there were problems 
in some cities outside that region. Anti-Chechen and anti-``Wahhabist'' 
sentiment increased after each terrorist attack tied to Chechen rebels 
and spiked in some regions after the 2004 seizure of a school in 
Beslan, North Ossetia, in which hundreds of persons, including many 
children, died at the hands of terrorists (see section 1.g.). 
Government officials, journalists, and the public were quick to label 
Muslim organizations ``Wahhabi,'' a term that has become associated 
with extremism. Such sentiment led to a formal ban on Wahhabism in 
Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya.
    Muslim cemeteries and buildings were vandalized in Moscow and other 
regions. Two skinheads were given suspended sentences after being found 
guilty in a Yaroslavl court for inciting ethnic hatred, according to a 
December 25 report by the Regnum news agency. The Leninsky district 
court found the 17 and 18 year old college students guilty of throwing 
Molotov cocktails at a Yarolslavl mosque and a car parked nearby in 
September. The defendants also painted racist and neo-Nazi graffiti on 
the mosque. In April officials detained seven teenagers between the 
ages of 15 and 16 in the town of Dzerzhinsk in Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast 
for throwing stones and a Molotov. In December 2005 vandals set on fire 
a two-story wooden building housing the Muslim Board of Komi, which 
housed a mosque. The fire destroyed the roof and damaged 30 square 
meters of the premises; there were no injuries. The emergency 
situations' authorities said the fire was the result of arson. In 
January and February 2005, tombs in Muslim cemeteries in Moscow and 
Yoshkar-Oly, Mariy-El Republic were desecrated. Although several 
teenagers were detained in the January 2005 incident, the suspects were 
not charged due to their age. Vandals continued to attack the Tauba 
mosque in Nizhniy Novgorod. In January 2005 swastikas were painted on 
the mosque walls. The local prosecutor's office did not find grounds to 
initiate a criminal case. The local Muslim Spiritual Administration 
appealed to local authorities to guard the mosque. A mosque in Penza 
was reportedly vandalized in August 2005. Anti-Muslim slogans were 
painted on the wall and a brick was thrown through the window.
    The number of underground nationalist-extremist organizations (as 
distinguished from such quasi-public groups as Russian National Unity) 
appeared to be growing (see section 5). Their targets included Muslims, 
Jews, and adherents of minority faiths they considered to be foreign in 
origin.
    There was no progress in the investigation of the 2004 explosion 
and subsequent fire in a building belonging to a congregation of 
unregistered Baptists (known as Initsiativniki) in Tula Oblast. In 2004 
an Initsiativniki church in Lyubuchany, Moscow Oblast burned down. The 
official investigative report in late 2004 on the fire attributed it to 
arson, but no one was charged in the incident. In the summer preceding 
the fire, security agencies, including local police and FSB officers, 
intimidated several thousand participants at an open-air gathering 
sponsored by the church. Press reports claimed that eyewitnesses placed 
some of the same law enforcement personnel at the church site minutes 
before the fire broke out.
    Reports of the harassment of evangelicals and Pentecostals 
decreased during the year. In contrast to previous reports about the 
vandalizing and burning of prayer houses in Nekrasovskoye, Chelyabinsk, 
Bratsk, Izhevsk, Buryatiya, Oshkar Ola, Khalsk, and Poldolsk, where 
authorities made no arrests, few such instances appeared to have 
occurred since December 2005, when Bishop Sergey Ryakhovskiy joined the 
Public Chamber. Nevertheless, African-Russian and African ministers of 
non-Orthodox Christian churches experienced prejudicial treatment, 
based apparently on a combination of religious and racial bigotry.
    In April 2005 vandals set fire to an Adventist church in Taganrog 
in Rostov Oblast, after breaking windows earlier that week. The fire 
was termed arson by police. A group of Pentecostals holding a 
demonstration on August 2005 in Moscow reported being attacked by a 
group of youths who yelled ``burn the heretics,'' while assaulting them 
and destroying their posters. The Slavic Law Center reported that a 
Baptist Church in Chelyabinsk Oblast was firebombed in April 2005. The 
Jehovah's Witnesses organization reported two incidents in March 2005 
in which members were physically assaulted by residents in areas where 
they were preaching, leaving one member with a concussion.
    An estimated 600,000 to one million Jews (0.5 percent of the 
population) lived in the country, following large-scale emigration over 
the last two decades; the Federation of Jewish Communities estimated 
that up to 500,000 Jews lived in Moscow and 100,000 in St. Petersburg. 
These estimates significantly exceeded the results of the official 
government census. Between 5,000 and 7,000 Jews lived in the Jewish 
Autonomous Oblast (region), located in the Far East.
    Anti-Semitism remained a serious problem. Racially motivated 
violent attacks against Jews decreased during the year, despite an 
increase in racist violence targeting other ethnic groups. Vandalism 
targeting Jewish religious and cultural facilities is common, sometimes 
combined with threats to the life and health of the attending persons. 
Anti-Semitic graffiti and leaflets appear frequently in many regions. 
While less frequent than vandalism and graffiti, anti-Semitism in mass 
media also occurred. However, there was positive progress in countering 
anti-Semitic manifestations since previous years. Many in the Jewish 
community attribute this to the absence of official ``state-sponsored'' 
anti-Semitism and because the Jewish community has undergone a major 
institutional revival.
    On January 11, in Moscow, 20-year-old Aleksandr Koptsev attacked 
worshipers in the Chabad synagogue with a knife, wounding nine persons 
among them citizens of Russia, Israel, Tajikistan, and the United 
States. On March 27, the Moscow City Court sentenced Koptsev to 13 
years' imprisonment, ordering him to undergo mandatory psychiatric 
treatment. The court dropped the charges of provoking interethnic 
hatred but left the charge of attempted murder of two or more persons 
for reasons of ethnic enmity. The lawyers of the victims filed an 
appeal, protesting the decision to drop charges of inciting ethnic 
hatred; Koptsev's lawyers also filed an appeal due to his mental 
illness and the fact that none of the victims were killed or disabled. 
On June 20, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict on the grounds 
that the charges had not referred to the incitement of racial and 
religious hatred and ordered a new trial in a different court. The 
second trial, at which a different judge presided, concluded on 
September 15. Koptsev was convicted of attempted murder and incitement 
of racial hatred and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Koptsev's 
attorneys and relatives informed reporters that they consider the 
sentence too severe. However, a formal appeal has not yet been filed. 
Both President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov publicly condemned 
this attack.
    According to the Obschestvennoye Mnenie (Public Opinion) 
Foundation, after the January Moscow synagogue attack, the number of 
citizens who condemned anti-Semitism increased by almost 10 percent. A 
poll concerning the attack showed that the proportion of citizens who 
had a negative attitude towards anti-Semites increased from 34 to 42 
percent, while the proportion of those who claimed to be indifferent 
decreased from 47 to 38 percent. Distrust and dislike of Jews was 
expressed by 7 percent of the respondents, while 5 percent sympathized 
with those who expressed dislike. No subsequent polling data is known 
to back up this trend. Anti-Semitic events, however, continued.
    In late December a Jewish man in Moscow was stabbed to death on his 
way to pick up his son. Media reports speculate that anti-Semitism may 
have been a motive.
    There were a series of attacks around a Moscow synagogue in Maryina 
Roscha in the winter of 2004-05; in one incident, the attackers beat 
Rabbi Alexander Lakshin. Although police arrested and convicted two 
suspects of disorderly conduct and of inflicting bodily injuries, the 
judge found insufficient evidence to recognize racial hatred as an 
aggravating circumstance. After this incident, and at the request of 
Jewish leaders, Moscow authorities increased police presence in the 
vicinity of Marina Roscha Synagogue. There were three known explicit 
anti-Semitic violent attacks and four incidents of public insults and 
threats in 2005, which was down from 2004.
    Synagogues and Jewish community centers were frequently attacked 
during the year across the country. Police continue to not investigate 
such incidents as hate crimes, instead calling them acts of 
``hooliganism.'' On November 4, two petrol bombs were thrown at the 
Jewish cultural center in Surgut. The police classified the incident as 
``causing damage to property,'' not as an anti-Semitic attack. 
According to RIA Novosti, on the night of August 13, unidentified 
people threw a Molotov cocktail at the Khabarovsk synagogue, and a 
month later its windows and door were broken by attackers throwing 
rocks. The police classified the incidents as ``hooliganism.'' The 
synagogue in Vladivostok was defaced in October, with swastikas and the 
words ``Jews, go to Israel'' written on the walls.
    In June police arrested a man who entered a Jewish cultural center 
in the city of Yekaterinburg and stabbed the door of the synagogue 10 
times with a knife. According to local Jewish community leader Mikhail 
Oshtrakh, the man was mentally ill and was sent back to the psychiatric 
clinic. According to a report from the ``US--Advocates on behalf of 
Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia,'' a May 18 
article in the local newspaper Saratovskaya Oblastnaya Gazeta reported 
that the courts sentenced a 20-year-old man to a two-year suspended 
sentence for painting swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the Saratov 
Jewish Center. Unknown assailants have also thrown rocks at the center. 
Local police allegedly ignored the Jewish community's complaints until 
the swastika-painting incident. In April at the Orenburg synagogue, a 
group of young men threw stones, kicked the synagogue doors, shouted 
anti-Semitic slogans, and hit windows with a metal bar. Police detained 
a 15-year-old boy near the synagogue, while others escaped. Officials 
opened criminal proceedings on charges of hooliganism, not extremism. 
As a minor, the boy could not be prosecuted as a criminal. In March in 
Lipetsk, vandals painted a swastika on the fence in front of the main 
entrance of the Jewish community center and the region's first 
synagogue under construction.
    On December 26, unidentified persons plunged a swastika-engraved 
dagger through a note that threatened: ``We should kill the Jews or 
teach our children to kill them'' into a tree just outside the Chabad 
house in Ulyanovsk. Chabad representative, Rabbi Yossi Marozov 
discovered the note when he went to investigate after a bottle filled 
with gasoline was thrown through the synagogue's front window. Police 
responding to the crime recommended placement of surveillance cameras 
and armed guards. The prosecutor of the Lenin region of Ulyanovsk 
opened a criminal case according to the criminal code (instigation or 
incitement of interethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity). On 
December 28, the prosecutor opened another case for another attack on 
the building on December 27 in which two drunk 18- to 20-year-olds 
entered the premises and yelled ``Get out of here now! We will cut 
you!'' Then they broke a window and a mirror. In response to this 
attack, the head of the Ulyanovsk Ministry of Internal Affairs 
personally visited the scene to lead the investigation. One of the 
suspects was detained.
    In May 2005 a fire deemed by the authorities to be arson destroyed 
the historic synagogue of Malakhovka on the outskirts of Moscow. 
Authorities detained the main suspect, Andrey Terekhov, a few days 
after the incident after he broke into a Christian church in 
Malakhovka. At the trial, which began in December 2005, the court 
convicted Terekhov of setting the fire in order to eliminate evidence 
of his robbery and sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine.
    In December 2005, according to a press report, a suspect was 
sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the arson of the 
Jewish community center in the Moscow suburb of Saltykovka, which was 
hit by arson in January and again in February 2005. The suspect denied 
being an anti-Semite and said that he could not explain his motivation 
for the arson. The prosecutors found no criminal substance in his 
actions and closed the case.
    The synagogue in the Perovo district of Moscow was vandalized in 
January and again in February 2005. In July 2005 unknown persons 
attempted to start a fire at the Jewish center in Penza and the Jewish 
Center in Taganrog was vandalized. In March a brick was thrown through 
the window of the Jewish center in Penza.
    Many Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and were often prosecuted as 
hooliganism rather than as hate crimes. Desecration of Jewish 
cemeteries occurred in Volograd, with 30 gravestones destroyed on the 
65th anniversary of the Babi Yar mass-killing of Jews (September 27); 
in Nizhny Novgorod (May 6); and in Omsk (April 20). On October 16, 
2005, vandals toppled and broke at least fifty tombstones, and Vandals 
also desecrated graves in the settlement of Khokhryaki near Izhevsk 
(November 2005), Kostroma (October 2005), in Velikiye Luki (September 
2005), Tambov (August 29 and August 31, 2005). Most of these cases were 
classified as vandalism. Two cases, however, were classified as 
vandalism with ethnic and religious hate motivation: on October 6, 
2005, vandals desecrated approximately seventy Jewish graves in St. 
Petersburg and in August 2005 vandals also desecrated graves in Tver. 
Earlier in 2005, vandals desecrated Jewish cemeteries in Kazan, Moscow, 
Saratov, Petrozavodsk, Makhachkala, Irkutsk, and St. Petersburg. In 
late May 2005, vandals painted swastikas on 26 Jewish tombstones in the 
Jewish section of Kazan's Arskoye Cemetery. The Federation of Jewish 
Communities reported that the authorities were investigating the 
incident as a hate crime and the Kazan City Council issued a statement 
condemning the attack. In May 2005 vandals desecrated Jewish graves at 
the Vostryakovskoye Cemetery, near Moscow; the case was being treated 
as a hate crime rather than simple ``hooliganism.''
    In October a group of youths associated with the extremist group 
Russian National Unity were detained on suspicion of vandalizing Muslim 
and Jewish graves in the Tver region. They destroyed over 170 Jewish 
and Tatar graves and sprayed swastikas and offensive slogans about Jews 
and Muslims. A criminal investigation was opened under the criminal 
code article which deals with outrages upon the deceased and their 
burial places for reason of national, ethnic, racial, or religious 
hatred or enmity, which is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 
three years.
    In April 2005 Nazi posters reportedly appeared in Petrozavodsk, 
Karelia Republic, on the anniversary of Hitler's birth. Although two 
students were arrested five days later, no criminal case was initiated. 
Law enforcement officials reprimanded the students and released them. 
Such posters did not appear during the year in the region.
    In 2004, according to the Anti-Defamation League, two skinheads 
were arrested for the attack earlier in the month on Aleksey Kozlov, a 
human rights activist and anti-Semitism monitor, in Voronezh. The crime 
was treated as a misdemeanor, and the case was later closed with no 
further action taken by police.
    Some State Duma deputies and other prominent figures expressed 
anti-Semitic sentiments. In May two Duma members reportedly made anti-
Semitic comments while speaking at an April 29 gathering in St. 
Petersburg organized by the Union of Russian People. Addressing the 
group Duma Deputy Igor Rodionov reportedly claimed that ``today our 
country is ruled by a Jewish mafia.'' In January 2005 approximately 500 
persons, including 20 State Duma members, wrote to the Office of the 
Prosecutor General asking that he conduct an investigation of the 
country's Jewish organizations with the possibility of initiating 
proceedings to ban them. The letter charged that a Russian translation 
of a compilation of ancient Jewish law, the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, 
incited hatred against non-Jews; the letter also accused Jews of ritual 
murders. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the letter, as did 
President Putin in remarks delivered in Krakow in late January 2005. In 
February 2005 the State Duma passed a resolution condemning the letter. 
In March 2005 approximately 5,000 persons, reportedly including a 
number of Russian Orthodox clerics and some prominent cultural figures, 
signed a similar anti-Semitic letter sent to the Office of the 
Prosecutor General. A Moscow district prosecutor opened an 
investigation into the Jewish organization that published the 
translation, as well as into charges brought by Jewish and human rights 
organizations that the letters violated federal laws against ethnic 
incitement, but closed both investigations in early June 2005 without 
bringing charges. Later in June 2005, the Moscow city prosecutor 
ordered the district prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the 
Jewish organization. The prosecutor closed the investigation again in 
late June 2005. In January some of the deputies who had signed the 
letter said in an interview that the letter had been the ``right step.
    According to the Anti-Defamation League, human rights organizations 
made numerous attempts to prosecute the authors of the ``Letter of 
500.'' However, their attempts were unsuccessful.
    The human rights ombudsman for the Komi Republic was placed under 
investigation by the local prosecutor's office after making an anti-
Semitic comment in an interview with a local paper, according to a 
December 20 article in the Komi edition of the national daily Moskovsky 
Komsomolets. Prosecutors were considering hate speech charges against 
Leonid Vokuev after he used the phrase ``A kike is a kike, even in 
Africa'' in an interview with the newspaper Zyryanskaya Zhizhn. Vokuev 
responded to the investigation by publicly denying any intent to insult 
Jews and at the same time refusing to apologize: ``I don't think I did 
anything shameful and can say from the bottom of my heart that I have 
never insulted anyone.''
    According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were several 
cases against the editors of regional newspapers for publishing anti-
Semitic articles. On October 19, Vladimir Vostryagov from Vladimir was 
found guilty of fueling ethnic discord. Vostryagov received a 1 1/2 
year suspended sentence for publishing and distributing an unregistered 
Vest newspaper that called for the extermination of Jews. According to 
prosecutors, these articles were anti-Semitic. On November 27, Uriy 
Ekishev, a writer from Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, was sentenced to 1 1/2 
years of imprisonment for anti-Semitic articles published in 
Stenogramma newspaper and statements at a nationalistic rally. On 
December 13 in Novosibirsk, Boris Mironov--former head of the Russian 
Publishing Committee--was indicted for fueling ethnic discord. The 
criminal case of Mironov started two years ago in connection with 
newspaper articles that were published during the 2003 regional 
election campaign, in which Mironov was a candidate for the region's 
governor position. In Ulyanovsk in January 2005 preliminary hearings 
were held arising out of a criminal case initiated in 2002 against the 
editor of the local newspaper, Orthodox Simbirsk, who ran a number of 
articles demonizing Jews. The Federation of Jewish Communities, 
reported that the editor of the newspaper was fired, although the ADL 
noted that in March 2005, Ulyanovsk Governor Morozov promised to 
provide government financial support to keep the newspaper from going 
bankrupt. According to ADL, in February 2005 the St. Petersburg 
prosecutor's office reopened a case against ``Our Fatherland'' which 
has reportedly published anti-Semitic articles.
    Anti-Semitic statements have been legally prosecuted and the 
Government has publicly denounced nationalist ideology and expressed 
support for legal action against anti-Semitic acts; however, some 
lower-level officials remained reluctant to call such acts anything 
other than ``hooliganism.'' State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov stated 
that, ``Any expression of extremism is unacceptable. If existing 
legislative measures are not enough, then, possibly, they need to be 
strengthened.''
    The support of federal authorities, and in many cases regional and 
local authorities, facilitated the establishment of new Jewish 
institutions. On June 26, Arkadiy Gaydamak, President of the Congress 
of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia, and Chief 
Rabbi of Russia Adolph Shayevich signed an investment contract 
regarding the construction of a Moscow Jewish community center. Work 
began on the $100 million (2.7 billion rubles) complex on land donated 
by the Moscow city government to house Jewish community institutions, 
including a school, a hospital, and a major new museum devoted to the 
history of the country's Jews, the Holocaust, and tolerance.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights; 
however, the Government placed restrictions on freedom of movement 
within the country and on migration.
    All adults are issued internal passports, which they must carry 
while traveling internally, and they are expected to register with the 
local authorities within a specified time of their arrival at their new 
location. Authorities often refused to provide governmental services to 
individuals without internal passports or the proper registration. The 
official grace period for registration given to an individual arriving 
in a new location is 90 days; however, darker skinned persons from the 
Caucasus or Central Asia were often singled out for document checks. 
There were many credible reports that police arbitrarily imposed fines 
on unregistered persons in excess of legal requirements or demanded 
bribes from them.
    Although the law gives citizens the right to choose their place of 
residence freely, many regional governments continued to restrict this 
right through residential registration rules that closely resembled 
Soviet-era regulations. Citizens moving permanently must register to 
reside, work or obtain education for their children in a specific area 
within seven days of moving there; those who are temporarily residing 
in a new place can stay 90 days before they are required to register. 
Citizens changing residence within the country and migrants, as well as 
persons with a legal claim to citizenship who decide to move to the 
country from other former Soviet republics, often faced great 
difficulties or simply were not permitted to register in some cities. 
Corruption in the registration process in local police precincts 
remained a problem. There were frequent reports of police demanding 
bribes when processing registration applications and during spot checks 
for registration documentation. In 2004 Krasnodar Kray authorities 
enacted a law that extended the definition of ``illegal migrant'' to 
include Russian citizens as well as foreign citizens and stateless 
persons.
    Following the September arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia, 
a diplomatic feud erupted, which resulted in an anti-Georgian campaign 
against the approximately one million Georgians who live in the 
country. Officially, the Georgians were deported for violations of 
migration legislation. Law enforcement officials were reportedly 
instructed to step up actions against Georgians. Other anti-Georgian 
actions included raids on Georgian businesses, police orders for 
schools to produce lists of Georgian students, and severed 
transportation and postal links. The actions against Georgians were 
criticized as illegal by the state human rights body, civil society 
institutions, and the Human Rights Council. The council also called the 
actions a wave of ``selective persecution'' against Georgians. 
According to the Georgian parliamentary ad hoc Investigatory Commission 
Studying Actions Carried Out by the Russian Federation Against Georgian 
Citizens, as of October 31 the immigration service had issued decisions 
on deportation of 2,598 Georgian citizens, out of which about 1,140 
were actually deported. As of December 28, commission head Nika 
Gvaramia said that the number of deportees had increased to between 
3,800 and 4,000. The commission officially recorded the deaths of three 
people while in detention.
    Unlike previous years, Krasnodar Kray authorities did allow some 
Meskhetian Turks to obtain residence permits (propiskas) in Krasnodar 
Kray if they had obtained Russian passports in other regions. 
Meskhetian Turks without Russian passports were denied the right to 
register, however, which deprived them of all rights of citizenship to 
which they were entitled under the law. Krasnodar authorities continued 
to prohibit Meskhetian Turks who were not registered in Krasnodar from 
leasing land, obtaining employment or engaging in commercial activity. 
Because of the difficult conditions in Krasnodar, about 23,000 
Meskhetian Turks applied for emigration to a third country, and 
Krasnodar officials cooperated in facilitating their departure. As 
almost 11,000 Meskhetian Turks departed from Krasnodar since 2004 human 
rights groups and other observers reported a significant decline in 
arbitrary fines, public statements, and other forms of harsh treatment 
used previously by authorities against the community. Authorities 
continued to refuse to grant permanent residency to those wishing to 
remain in Krasnodar, depriving them of the rights of citizenship to 
which they were entitled under the law. They and some other ethnic 
minorities living in Krasnodar were permitted only temporary 
registration and were subjected to special restrictions, such as being 
required to reregister every 45 days. There have been reports, however, 
that police continued to arbitrarily fine those who were not 
emigrating. Human rights NGOs reported that police stopped and checked 
persons who looked like Meskhetian Turks, immediately releasing those 
who declared their intention to emigrate and penalizing others.
    The law provides for freedom to travel abroad and citizens 
generally did so without restriction; however, there were exceptions. 
If a citizen had been given access to classified material, police and 
FSB clearances were necessary to receive an external passport. Persons 
denied travel documents on secrecy grounds could appeal the decision to 
an Interagency Commission on Secrecy chaired by the first deputy 
minister of foreign affairs.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.
    The law provides all citizens with the right to emigrate and this 
right was generally respected. In some cases those trying to depart for 
countries that had granted them refugee status experienced logistical 
delays in gaining exit permission.
    As of June 30, 6,941 Russian citizens had sought asylum in foreign 
countries, a decrease from the 21,633 appeals filed during 2005. Many 
persons fleeing Chechnya applied for refugee status.
    The law exempts the estimated 1.5 million former Soviet citizens 
residing in the country without benefit of citizenship from having to 
meet most requirements for naturalization. In essence, this reaffirmed 
earlier provisions that granted citizenship to persons with Soviet 
citizenship who were legally in the country as of February 6, 1992. 
However, authorities have not always been willing to recognize the 
acquisition of citizenship on this basis. On January 5, President Putin 
signed an amendment extending the deadline for former Soviet citizens 
to obtain citizenship until January 1, 2008 and simplifying some 
earlier requirements. In addition the new law extended the right to 
seek citizenship to those who obtained a resident permit in the country 
after January 1, 2002, increasing the number of persons potentially 
eligible for citizenship.
    International agreements permit persons with outstanding warrants 
from other former Soviet states to be detained for periods of up to one 
month while the prosecutor general investigates the nature of those 
warrants. This system was reinforced by means of informal links among 
senior law enforcement and security officials in many of the republics 
of the former Soviet Union. Human rights groups continued to allege 
that this network was employed to detain opposition figures from the 
other former Soviet republics without legal grounds.
    In June 2005 authorities detained 12 Uzbek citizens, one Kyrgyz 
citizen, and one ethnic Uzbek with Russian citizenship on a request 
from Uzbek authorities. The arrests occurred following violence in the 
Uzbek city of Andijon; their relationship to events in Andijon was 
unclear. The Russian citizen was subsequently released and left Russia 
for a third country after Russian officials moved to revoke his 
citizenship. The remaining 13 requested asylum in Russia because they 
feared persecution if they were sent back to Uzbekistan, but the 
Federal Migration Service denied their requests and Russian courts 
upheld that decision. They also applied for refugee status, which was 
rejected on January 17 and in subsequent appeals. In August the Office 
of the Prosecutor General announced that the 13 would be deported to 
Uzbekistan. The deportations were not carried out, however, after the 
intervention of the ECHR. Although Russian law limited the period in 
which an individual could be held to 180 days, officials refused to 
release members of the group when this period expired in December.
    Two other Uzbek citizens were detained in Novosibirsk in November 
2005 under a similar request from Uzbek authorities.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--At year's end 20,070 IDPs 
from Chechnya were in temporary settlements or in the private sector in 
Ingushetiya; approximately 30,000 Chechen IDPs reportedly were 
elsewhere in the country, and an estimated 200,000 Chechens were living 
as IDPs within Chechnya itself. In addition to ethnic Chechen IDPs, 
almost the entire population of ethnic Russians, Armenians, and Jews 
left Chechnya during the strife of the past decade.
    During the year Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov reaffirmed 
that efforts should be made for IDPs to return home but noted they 
should do so on a voluntary basis. Chechen and Ingush migration service 
officials jointly conducted another re-registration of IDPs in 
Ingushetiya, deregistering IDPs and trying to convince others to return 
to Chechnya.
    Officials stated publicly that they would not pressure or compel 
IDPs to return to Chechnya. However, the UNHCR reported that government 
officials stated their intention to deregister those IDPs who had 
received compensation from federal assistance lists and indicated that 
52 families were deregistered in June 2005. Those who were deregistered 
faced the threat of eviction from their accommodations in temporary 
settlements, despite their willingness to pay for the accommodation. 
Although some of the inhabitants chose to remain in Ingushetiya, the 
UNHCR estimated that 70 to 75 percent chose to return to Chechnya 
despite the inadequacy of the temporary lodging. For example, in August 
the Government of Chechnya submitted to UNHCR a list of 169 IDP 
families, largely from Ingushetia, willing to return to Chechnya. The 
UNHCR along with the local NGO Vesta recorded 699 individual returns to 
Chechnya from Ingushetiya during the first six months of the year.
    The UNHCR reported that, despite passport checks and occasional 
security sweeps that continued in IDP settlements, IDPs were generally 
able to remain in Ingushetiya without any pressure to return (see 
section 1.g.). The UNHCR reported that those who returned during a 
spring and summer campaign by the Government did not return due to 
undue government influence. However, other international and domestic 
organizations expressed concerns during the year over the Government's 
treatment of Chechen IDPs in Ingushetiya. In 2005 the Norwegian Refugee 
Council noted that IDPs were frequently denied status as ``forced 
migrants'' under Russian law, which severely limited their access to 
social benefits and protection. Others living in regions outside 
Chechnya were often denied residential registration by local 
authorities, in what the council characterized as discriminatory 
practices against Chechens.
    The UNHCR also reported that progovernment Chechen authorities 
undertook an extensive campaign to return Chechen refugees from 
Georgia, with the first returnees arriving in Chechnya in May 2005. The 
UNHCR reported that the returns were voluntary.
    In April Chechen Prime Minister Kadyrov announced that all 
temporary accommodation centers in Chechnya should be closed because 
they fostered drug addiction, prostitution, and other criminal behavior 
and because many persons living there could return to their homes. 
According to the UNHCR, five temporary accommodation centers across 
Chechnya were closed during the year, with many of those residents 
moving to other centers (see section 5).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for granting of asylum or 
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to 
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has 
not established a system for providing protection to refugees. In 
practice, the Government generally provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; however, it rarely granted asylum. Individuals who sought 
entry into the country without proper documentation and who sought to 
claim asylum were often denied access to the Federal Migration Service 
by border guards and Aeroflot airlines and often returned them to their 
countries of origin, including in some cases to countries where they 
demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution. The UNHCR stated that 
many refugee seekers at times faced detention, deportation, fines by 
police, and racially motivated assaults, which sometimes even led to 
the loss of life.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM); both organizations assisted the 
Government in trying to develop a more humane migration management 
system. The UNHCR reported improved communication with the Federal 
Migration Service on regulatory provisions and practices that do not 
meet international standards. The UNHCR reported that the number of 
active, registered cases of asylum seekers and refugees continued to 
decline during year. At year's end it had 3,196 such cases. In 2005 it 
had 3,789 cases. The Government acted more expeditiously and with 
greater leniency in cases involving applicants who had been citizens of 
the former Soviet Union. Officials and would-be applicants continued to 
demonstrate widespread ignorance of refugee law.
    Russian authorities deported Uzbek citizen Rustam Muminov in 
October for administrative violations, after a local court in Lipetsk 
had refused to order his extradition and ordered him set free. In 2005, 
Uzbek authorities sought his extradition on charges of being a member 
of HT. Muminov was deported after being arrested in Moscow, despite 
seeking refugee status, and a Moscow court later ruled in October the 
deportation had been illegal. Migration officials later said the 
deportation had been a mistake.
    During the year four cases of deportation proceedings were reported 
to the UNHCR, including the case of Rustam Muminov.
    In another example in 2005, authorities in Tatarstan deported an 
Uzbek student, Marsel Isayev, to Uzbekistan, where he was held 
incommunicado for 10 days after he refused to cooperate with 
authorities, according to the migrants' rights NGO Civic Assistance. 
The student was reportedly pressured by Russian authorities to provide 
false evidence against classmates accused of being members of the 
banned HT. Isayev appealed his deportation unsuccessfully to the 
courts; intervention of Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin was also 
unsuccessful. Marsel Isayev, was deported based on a court decision for 
violating registration rules. His family remained in Tatarstan.
    According to NGO Civic Assistance, during the year Bakhrom 
Dadazhenov was accused of associating with an extremist group in a 
high-profile case in Arzamas, Nizhniy Novgorod. The court proceedings 
were reportedly based on fabricated evidence. NGO Civic Assistance's 
intervention helped prevent his family's deportation, and they were 
seeking asylum in a foreign country.
    In November two brothers from Uzbekistan were deported from the 
Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk for allegedly violating Russian 
immigration laws and were handed over to Uzbek authorities. The two, 
who had lived in Krasnoyarsk since the beginning of the year, were 
arrested in September on charges of participating in HT.
    An FSB spokesperson reported to the press that 19 Uzbek citizens 
had been extradited since January. The fate of many deportees is 
unknown to their families.
    In 2005 the approximately 1,500 Armenian refugees who were held in 
``temporary quarters'' for almost two decades were granted citizenship.
    The UNHCR continued to be concerned about the situation of asylum 
seekers and refugees in the country. The UNHCR reported that 
undocumented asylum seekers continued to face problems with law 
enforcement bodies over their status in the country. The Government 
does not issue documents to asylum seekers who are awaiting review of 
their requests for asylum; consequently, they remained vulnerable to 
fines and detention, as well as being denied access to government-
provided assistance. At Sheremytevo Airport, authorities systematically 
deported improperly documented passengers before they were able to file 
asylum claims with the Federal Migration Service, including persons who 
demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution in their countries of 
origin. Legally bound to provide food and emergency medical care for 
undocumented travelers, the airlines returned them to their point of 
departure as quickly as possible; airlines were fined if an 
undocumented passenger was admitted to the country but not if the 
passenger was returned to the country of origin. The treatment of 
asylum seekers in the transit zone reportedly was harsh.
    During the year the UNHCR reported two instances of would-be 
asylees being stranded at the Sheremytevo-2 Airport. Although 
authorities had been housing asylum seekers in a nearby hotel rather 
than requiring they remain in the transit zone, this arrangement ended 
when the hotel was sold. According to the UNHCR there was an Iranian 
family staying in the transit zone after seeking asylum upon arriving 
in the country after being turned back by German authorities. The 
family fled Iran after the mother had been imprisoned for dissident 
activities. None of these cases were recognized by either the Federal 
Migration Service or the UNHCR as a refugee. In the additional case, 
the would-be asylum seeker's claim was rejected by both Russian 
authorities and UNHCR.
    To the UNHCR's knowledge, no asylum seeker arriving at Sheremytevo-
2 Airport had been accepted since at least 1999. UNHCR received three 
applications at the Sheremetyevo-2 PIC during the year. Most cases 
involved labor migrants entering or leaving the country, but a few 
cases involved asylum seekers. During the year the UNHCR continued to 
examine each case and seek resettlement on an emergency basis for those 
deemed to be in need of international protection.
    While federal law provides for education for all children, regional 
authorities frequently denied access to schools to children of asylum 
seekers if they lacked residential registration. Authorities frequently 
deny migrants and Russian citizens the right to work if they do not 
have residential registration. Refugees also cannot work legally if 
they are not registered, and cannot obtain registration if they are not 
officially accepted as refugees by the Government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully; while citizens generally have exercised this right in 
practice, the March 2004 Presidential elections did not adequately 
reflect principles necessary for a healthy democratic election, 
particularly in equal access to the media by all candidates and secrecy 
of the ballot. A move away from the election of governors to their 
nomination by the President, subject to confirmation by regional 
legislatures, led some observers to complain about reduced 
accountability of regional leaders to those whom they govern. The fact 
that the President could dissolve a regional parliament that rejected 
Presidential nominations three times further increased this concern. 
Corruption also limited accountability. During the year further 
electoral amendments allowed the removal of candidates from the ballot 
for ``extremism'' and forbade negative campaigning. The Government also 
did away with a minimum voter turnout to validate an election.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Incumbent President 
Vladimir Putin, who was first elected President in 2000, was re-elected 
in March 2004 by a wide margin. The OSCE, which observed the elections, 
offered a positive evaluation of the technical conduct of the balloting 
but concluded that the overall election process, marred by widespread 
misuse of administrative resources, systematically biased campaign 
coverage, and inequitable treatment of political parties, failed to 
meet international standards. Although the legal requirements for 
televised political debates and free time for party candidates to 
present their views were observed, the Government used its influence 
over the media, particularly the electronic media, to promote President 
Putin, resulting in coverage that was heavily biased (see section 
2.a.).
    In the November 2005 parliamentary elections in Chechnya, human 
rights groups and members of a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 
Europe fact-finding mission who were present alleged that the official 
voter turnout numbers were artificially high. Human rights groups also 
concluded that poor security and continuing human rights violations did 
not allow for a free and fair election in Chechnya. Other reports 
suggested that the results of the election were predetermined in favor 
of candidates loyal to then acting Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan 
Kadyrov, although the Chechen Central Election Commission reported 
there were no complaints of election law violations filed by parties or 
candidates.
    Regional elections were held on October 8. Many political actors 
and analysts claimed that the proPresidential majority party, United 
Russia, had unfairly used administrative resources to sway results. 
There were no allegations, however, regarding misuse of the media. 
Additionally, parties in some regions alleged that votes had been 
mistallied. In the Tuva Republic, political party election monitors 
complained of nearly being prevented from reaching polling stations. 
Voter turnout was slightly lower than predicted. In particular, in 
Karelia turnout decreased significantly from almost 50 percent in 2002 
to just over 33 percent. This decrease, however, was not attributed to 
voters being prevented from voting.
    On October 19, unknown assailants killed mayoral candidate Dmitry 
Fotyanov in the town of Dalnegorsk. As he was killed days before a 
runoff election, many believe this was politically motivated; the 
prosecutor general's office stated it was looking into whether the 
murder was connected with the elections (see section 1.a.).
    Competitive elections for other regional and local offices were 
held throughout the year. Most observers viewed these elections as 
generally free and fair, although there were problems in some regions 
involving unequal access to the media and the use of administrative 
resources by incumbents to support their candidacies. The counting of 
the votes in most locations was professionally done.
    Laws enacted and implemented in 2005, particularly those 
eliminating direct gubernatorial elections, contributed to the 
consolidation of the Government's political power. For example, the law 
specifies that, for future national elections, the State Duma will be 
chosen strictly on the basis of party lists. Electoral blocs will be 
banned and the threshold for a party to be represented in the State 
Duma will be raised to 7 percent of the vote. According to some 
experts, the laws worked to the disadvantage of parties not currently 
represented in the State Duma. In addition the electoral law limits 
domestic observation of federal elections, a provision that may have 
already created difficulties for NGOs hoping to observe one regional 
election. The laws also provide that all regional legislative elections 
will be held on two dates a year and established a 7 percent threshold 
for parties to enter regional legislatures. Some commentators saw these 
laws as primarily benefiting the proPresidential United Russia party 
and limiting the independent observer's ability to monitor future 
elections; whereas others thought the single election date would reduce 
the potential for fraud.
    Another law provides that republic Presidents and regional 
governors be nominated by the President subject to confirmation by 
regional legislatures. If a regional legislature fails to confirm the 
President's nominee three times, the legislature may be dissolved. 
Regional leaders in power when the law entered into force in 2004 were 
given the option of either serving out their elected terms or resigning 
early and seeking a Presidential appointment to serve a new term. The 
President also acquired the power to remove the regional leaders in 
whom he had lost confidence, including those who were popularly 
elected. At the end of 2005, the new system of choosing regional heads 
had been used in almost half of the country's regions. By year's end no 
regional legislature has failed to confirm a President's nominee and 
the new system has spread throughout the country's regions. The law 
gives the President significant influence over the federal legislative 
branch, since regional leaders appoint half of the upper house of that 
legislature, the Federation Council. In December 2005 President Putin 
signed a new law that allows political parties that have won elections 
to regional parliaments to propose their own candidates for head of a 
region subject to approval by the President and that region's 
legislature.
    Election laws were further amended this year. In July the option 
``against all candidates'' was eliminated from ballots. In December 
further amendments abolished early voting and the requirement for a 
minimal voter turnout, expanded circumstances under which a candidate 
may be removed from the ballot (including for vaguely-defined 
``extremist'' behavior), and prohibited ``negative'' campaigning in 
television ad spots. There are concerns among commentators that 
candidates may be arbitrarily removed from ballots, thereby reducing 
voter choice.
    Political parties historically have been weak. Although the law 
includes a number of measures to enlarge the role of political parties, 
particularly of established political groupings, it also gives the 
executive branch and prosecutor general broad powers to regulate, 
investigate, and close parties. Other provisions limit campaign 
spending, set specific campaign periods, establish conditions under 
which candidates can be removed from the ballot, and provide for 
restrictions on campaign materials. To be registered as a political 
party, the law requires groups to have at least 50,000 members with at 
least 500 representatives in half of the country's regions and no fewer 
than 250 members in the remaining regions, making it difficult for 
smaller parties to register. Galina Fokina, acting head of the Federal 
Registration Service announced that, as of December 31, of the 35 
political parties that applied for reregistration in accordance with 
the amended and more demanding law, only 19 passed the inspection, 
although two decided to register as ``public associations.'' As a 
result, the 15 parties that did not pass the inspection must re-
register as public organizations, movements, or NGOs or be dissolved 
through court procedures.
    On July 28, President Putin signed into law amendments to 
legislation ``On Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many 
that the law may restrict activities of political parties, the media, 
and NGOs and legitimate criticism of the Government. Critics say that 
it could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs and opposition 
political parties during the 2007-08 election cycle (see sections 2.b. 
and 4).
    On December 12, government agents, both police and FSB, raided the 
offices of the political organization United Civil Front headed by 
Garry Kasparov. The officers had an order to search the premises due to 
suspicions of ``extremist activity.'' The agents seized books and 
material promoting the ``March of the Non-Agreers''--a demonstration 
planned for December 16 against President Putin's government. Although 
no charges were brought and the demonstration was held, albeit under 
the watchful eye of government security forces, some view this as an 
example of how the Government is using the new law on extremism against 
opposition.
    There were 44 women in the 450-member State Duma (there were 
currently 445 Duma deputies--some seats were unfilled), and 10 women in 
the Federation Council. A woman, Lyubov Sliska, served as First Deputy 
Speaker of the Duma. Svetlana Orlova was a Deputy Chair of the 
Federation Council, and Valentina Petrenko chaired the Federation 
Council's Social Policy Committee. One woman, Valentina Matviyenko, 
served as governor of a prominent region, St. Petersburg.
    National minorities took an active part in political life; however, 
ethnic Russians, who by some estimates constituted approximately 80 
percent of the population, dominated the political and administrative 
system, particularly at the federal level.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--The country is still to 
complete the transition from a former communist state to a modern 
democratic society based fully on the rule of law and a free market 
economy. Corruption was widespread throughout society, a conclusion 
supported by domestic opinion surveys, and was extensive in the 
executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the federal and 
regional levels of government. Manifestations included bribery of 
officials, misuse of budgetary resources, theft of government property, 
kickbacks in the procurement process, extortion, and official collusion 
in criminal acts. International organizations gave the country poor 
marks on corruption issues. In an October Transparency International 
report, the country received a score of 2.5 on the organization's 10 
point index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist 
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating a 
perception that the country has a serious corruption problem. Many 
public institutions remained weak. The media lacked a strong tradition 
of investigative journalism, although a number of journalists 
throughout the country reported on corruption cases, sometimes 
resulting in prosecution of the alleged offenders. In general, however, 
citizens lacked a broad range of outlets to voice their views 
concerning corruption or to lodge complaints about its existence. The 
principal exception is the work of some regional anticorruption 
committees who follow corruption at the city and state level. Business 
associations were also active watchdogs of corruption in some regions.
    President Putin and senior government officials frequently 
addressed the issue in public statements, and many jurisdictions 
throughout the country established local anticorruption committees. An 
anticorruption conference that brought together representatives from 
several regional coalitions was held October 26 in Moscow. Several 
regional anticorruption committees have organized successful projects 
including: week-long anticorruption festivals, television spots, 
corruption report cards for local officials, and committees to evaluate 
draft laws for corruption loopholes. These efforts were largely 
isolated to particular regions.
    Various initiatives were undertaken at the federal level, with 
indeterminate results. Most anticorruption campaigns tended to be 
limited in scope and focused on lower-level officials. Allegations of 
corruption were also used as a political tactic, which made it more 
difficult to determine the actual extent of corruption. Prosecutor 
General Yuri Chayka took office in June and made several statements 
about the problem of corruption. Although no new major corruption 
convictions occurred during the year, the prosecutor general's office 
claimed 9,000 bribery cases were uncovered through August. In August-
September, prosecutors identified 47,000 incidences of corruption and 
initiated approximately 600 criminal cases. There were several high-
profile dismissals of government officials following President Putin's 
annual State-of-the-Nation address May 10, including employees of the 
Federal Customs Service, the Federal Security Service, the Interior 
Ministry, and some regional governors and mayors. So far, none of them 
have been formally charged with corruption.
    However, there was a widely publicized allegation of major 
corruption in October 2005 involving the videotaped handover of $1 
million (26.5 million rubles) to a federal tax inspector by a 
commercial bank officer. Both the federal tax inspector and the Central 
Bank official with whom he was cooperating were charged and remained in 
detention, but the case had not yet reached court at year's end. The 
tax inspector and the Central Bank official were asking a commercial 
bank for a bribe in return for eliminating tax claims against the bank.
    In June a senior auditing official in the Ministry of Industry and 
Energy was arrested and indicted for allegedly accepting a bribe. In 
August the Moscow City Court sentenced the official to seven years in 
prison for bribe-taking.
    The law authorizes public access to all government information 
resources unless the information is designated confidential or 
classified as a state secret, and refusal to provide access to open 
information or the groundless classification of information as a state 
secret has been successfully contested in court. However, access to 
information is often difficult, and subject to prolonged bureaucratic 
procedures.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Although a number of domestic and international human rights groups 
operated in the country, investigating and publicly commenting on human 
rights problems, official harassment of NGOs increased. Authorities 
harassed some NGOs that focused on politically sensitive areas during 
the year, and other official actions and statements indicated a 
declining level of tolerance for unfettered NGO activity, particularly 
for those NGOs that received foreign funding. NGOs operating in the 
Northern Caucasus were at times hampered, although these organizations 
had wider access than in the past.
    An estimated 20-25 percent of the approximately 450,000 registered 
public associations and nongovernmental, noncommercial organizations 
were regularly active. The vast majority were engaged in social or 
charitable activities, although many were working to influence policy 
and were critical of the Government. There were several dozen large NGO 
umbrella organizations as well as thousands of small grassroots NGOs. 
There was often a large gap between these two categories of NGOs in 
terms of their organizational capacity. In the regions NGO coalitions 
continued to advocate on such issues as the rights of the disabled and 
of entrepreneurs, environmental degradation, violations by law 
enforcement authorities, and the war in Chechnya.
    On January 10, President Putin signed into law legislation 
providing strict measures to oversee NGOs and requiring their 
registration with the Federal Registration Service. After vocal 
criticism of the draft bill from the civil society sector and foreign 
governments, some controversial measures, such as the banning of 
subsidiaries of international NGOs and the required notification for 
informal groups, were dropped. The law, which entered into force on 
April 10, imposes more stringent registration requirements for NGOs, 
particularly the branch and representational offices of foreign NGOs, 
strict monitoring of organizations, extensive reporting requirements on 
NGO programming and activities, and some limitations on the 
participation of foreign citizens in NGOs. The law also permits more 
intrusive means for government officials to scrutinize NGOs, including 
``public associations,'' with very limited procedural protections and 
grants the Federal Registration Service discretion to deny registration 
or shut down an organization based on vague and subjective criteria 
(see section 2.b.). All foreign NGOs were expected to register with the 
Federal Registration Service by October 18. While several organizations 
submitting applications reported difficulties obtaining approval from 
the Federal Registration Service, it appeared that most of these 
problems were bureaucratic, rather than political, in nature even 
though the process entailed a time-consuming and burdensome process of 
multiple editorial revisions that most organizations did not anticipate 
. By year's end most foreign NGOs that applied had been registered (197 
total), with only a handful still awaiting final approval. All NGOs 
operating in the country will have to submit periodic reports to the 
Federal Registration Service in 2007 that disclose, particularly by 
foreign NGOs, potentially sensitive information, including sources of 
foreign funding and detailed information as to how funds are used. The 
reporting requirements will not begin to affect domestic NGOs until 
April 2007, therefore it was unclear how extensive the process will be 
and whether it could be used in a punitive fashion to limit the 
activities of selected organizations.
    On July 28, President Putin signed amendments to the law ``On 
Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many that they may 
restrict activities of political parties, the media, and NGOs as well 
as legitimate criticism of the Government. The revised law expands the 
definition of extremist activity to include public libel of a 
government official or his family, as well as public statements that 
could be construed as justifying or excusing terrorism. Critics noted 
that the law could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs and 
opposition political parties during the 2007-2008 election cycle (see 
section 2.b.).
    The Government continued to scrutinize organizations that it 
considered to have an opposition political agenda. Numerous human 
rights and opposition groups reported politically motivated hostility 
from the Government. During the year the Government damaged the public 
image of the NGO community with statements that NGOs are suspicious 
organizations funded by foreign governments. Government accusations 
that implied connections between foreign-funded NGOs and alleged 
espionage by resident diplomats increased public perceptions that NGOs 
serve foreign interests and fuel instability.
    The new ``Law on the General Principles of Organization of Local 
Self-Governance in the Russian Federation,'' which went into effect 
January 1, provides more opportunities for NGOs to participate in 
policy-making at the local level. The law creates participatory 
mechanisms such as referendums, municipal elections, public hearings, 
law-making initiatives, community forums, and citizen surveys. The law 
requires public participation in drafting the charters for municipal 
entities, planning local development and budgets, deciding land use 
issues, and other activities. The Vladivostok Public Chamber advocated 
for transparent decision-making on adoption of the city's charter, and 
negotiation of lower tariffs for communal services.
    While NGO advocacy efforts were sometimes hindered by a lack of 
unity and leadership, there were examples of successful advocacy 
campaigns. For example, efforts of the Primorye Coalition Against 
Corruption resulted in several new laws and amendments passed by the 
Primorskiy Kray and Vladivostok city governments, including a law 
regulating citizen access to public information, new provisions 
regulating conflicts of interests and gifts to public officials, and 
the establishment of a ``one-stop-shop'' for public services. Early in 
the year, the Free Choice Motorists' Movement headed a campaign to 
overturn the conviction of a driver charged in a fatal crash with an 
official vehicle in 2005 and persuade the Government to limit, for the 
safety of the driving public, the number of official vehicles that are 
allowed to use blue lights and sirens to by-pass traffic.
    On October 13, a Nizhniy Novgorod court ruled that the RCFS should 
be shut down after its executive director, Stanislav Dmitriyevskiy, was 
convicted of inciting racial hatred on February 3 (see section 2.b.). 
It was the first case in which courts shut down an NGO under new NGO 
legislation. Dmitriyevskiy was given a suspended two-year sentence and 
four years of probation for publishing statements by Chechen separatist 
leaders in RCFS's Pravozaschita newspaper; the Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast 
Court subsequently upheld the verdict. Under the NGO law, Dmitriyevsky 
lost his right to found or participate in any public association; 
however, Dmitriyevsky remained in his position while the RCFS pursued 
its appeals. Authorities dropped a tax evasion case against the RCFS in 
March, and the tax inspectorate discontinued pursuing claims for unpaid 
taxes on foreign grants.
    There were no developments during the year in the criminal case 
that was opened after threatening leaflets were distributed near the 
home of RCFS coeditor Oksana Chelysheva in September 2005. The leaflets 
were distributed on Dmitriyevskiy's apartment block against both 
Dmitriyevskiy and Chelysheva.
    During the year the Nizhniy Novgorod Human Rights Society resumed 
its activities, reportedly as a result of a campaign by international 
organizations. In June 2005 authorities ordered the closure of the 
society, a partner organization of the RCFS, on the grounds that it did 
not submit necessary documentation of its activities to the Ministry of 
Justice.
    Authorities pursued legal action against the human rights NGO 
Chechen Committee for National Salvation (CCNS) in 2005. In February 
2005 the Supreme Court of Ingushetiya ordered a retrial of the 
committee on charges that it had violated the law by issuing press 
releases accusing authorities of violating human rights. The 
organization had earlier been acquitted of the charges. Neither the 
committee's chairman, Ruslan Badalov, nor his lawyer was notified of 
the hearing. The retrial began in April 2005, with the court ordering a 
new expert analysis of CCNS's press releases to determine if they 
promoted extremism or hatred. The experts found no extremist content in 
the press releases, but the trial continued. In April the court resumed 
the case, but the judge refused to conduct the trial, and a new federal 
judge was appointed. On April 26, the prosecutor made a new request to 
carry out another assessment of the CCNS press releases and the request 
was granted. In July the Supreme Court returned the Badalov case for 
further consideration. The general prosecutor's office protested the 
decision, and an appeal was pending at year's end.
    In August 2005 State Duma Deputy Nikolay Kuryanovich, who was 
criticized in a report by the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBHR), 
sent a letter to the Government asking for the MBHR to be liquidated 
and accusing it of collaboration with foreign intelligence. In response 
to Kuryanovich's letter, several inspections were conducted by the 
Federal Tax Service and the prosecutor general's office. The prosecutor 
general's office did not find grounds to initiate a criminal case 
against the MHRB. As of November 17, the tax service continued its 
inspections of the MHRB, but had not made any claims.
    There were no further official actions during the year regarding 
Open Russia, an NGO founded and heavily funded by former Yukos head 
Mikhail Khodorkovskiy. Open Russia's Moscow office was raided in 
October 2005 by authorities, who seized documents reportedly related to 
an ongoing investigation of money laundering and investigation of 
possible embezzlement by Yukos employees. Authorities did not bring 
charges against Open Russia; however, after Yukos declared bankruptcy, 
funding to Open Russia was cut and it has since shut down.
    In late July the Federal Tax Service filed a tax claim against 
CILD, an NGO headed by one of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's 
lawyers, after it was audited by tax inspectors. On July 31, the Center 
appealed the claim to the Federal Tax Service. The center was founded 
in 1994 to assist victims of human rights violations though 
international legal mechanisms, including the ECHR, the UN Committee 
for Human Rights, the European Committee against Tortures, Inhuman or 
Humiliating Treatment and Punishment, and others. As of December 31, 
the ECHR had passed judgment on the merits of 17 cases presented by 
CILD lawyers and was considering 19 additional cases. Lawyers 
cooperating with the CILD accounted for approximately 8 percent of the 
300 cases under ECHR consideration involving the country. The total tax 
claims and fines against CILD were approximately $170,000 (4.6 million 
rubles), which if collected could potentially put the NGO out of 
business. The Federal Tax Service claimed that the CILD failed to pay 
taxes on $500,000 (approximately 13.5 million rubles) in foreign grants 
received between 2002 and 2004 (see section 2.b.).
    In the regions a few local officials harassed human rights 
monitors.
    Some government officials viewed the activities of some NGOs 
working on Chechnya with suspicion. For example, in June 2005, Lema 
Khasuyev, the then-Chechen Republic's human rights ombudsman, stated 
that he would not cooperate with the human rights NGO Memorial, 
claiming that it was working in the interests of foreign donors.
    A foreign NGO reported that central authorities continued to 
pressure it and its domestic partner, the VOICE Association for Voters' 
Rights, during the year. Prosecutors opened an investigation of the USC 
in 2004 following the committee's announcement that it intended to meet 
with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov or his emissary Akhmed 
Zakayev. State Duma deputies had called for an investigation of the 
group and its finances. Tax inspectors later conducted an 
investigation, but reportedly found no violations. The committee was 
permitted to register as an NGO, but was denied registration as a 
political party in conjunction with the Republican Party.
    At times the Government's attitude towards human rights NGOs 
appeared to depend on the perceived threat to national security or 
level of criticism that an NGO might offer. In the view of some 
observers, NGOs working in the Caucasus were particularly vulnerable to 
interference. For example, in April 2005 two expatriate staff members 
of the humanitarian aid NGO International Rescue Committee were denied 
entry into the country although they had valid passports, visas, and 
other necessary documents. Officials provided various explanations for 
the denial, and the two individuals were eventually told they could re-
enter the country.
    Officials, such as Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin and the 
chairman of the Presidential Council on Promoting the Development of 
Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, Ella Pamfilova, 
regularly interacted and cooperated with NGOs.
    Government and legislative officials recognized and consulted with 
some NGOs, and such groups participated, with varying degrees of 
success, in drafting legislation and decrees. For example, a network of 
NGOs concerned with disability issues worked successfully with local 
authorities in Moscow and elsewhere in the country to promote the 
mainstreaming of students with disabilities into the school system and 
engaged both the Ministry of Education and a State Duma working group 
drafting education legislation.
    Regional human rights groups generally received little 
international support or attention and often suffered from inadequate 
funding. They reported that at times local authorities obstructed their 
work. Some domestic NGOs involved in human rights advocacy reported 
receiving death threats from nationalist organizations. While these 
groups were generally free to criticize government and regional 
authorities, authorities in some areas were intolerant of criticism. 
Local human rights groups in the regions had some opportunities to 
interact with legislators to develop draft laws; however, local 
authorities excluded some organizations from the process entirely.
    In 2005 the Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Centers in Omsk and 
Irkutsk worked with local governments to develop social policies on 
education, health care, and communal reforms. In the Jewish Autonomous 
Republic, Amur Oblast, and selected regions in Primorskiy Kray, NGOs 
worked with local governments to encourage citizen participation in 
local self-governance on issues related to implementation of the new 
law on local governance.
    Some international NGOs maintained small branch offices staffed by 
local employees in Chechnya; however, all of them were based outside of 
Chechnya (see section 1.g.).
    By law every person in the country may bring cases to the ECHR for 
alleged human rights violations after May 1998, provided they have 
exhausted ``effective and ordinary'' appeals in the courts. This 
provision was usually satisfied by two appeals (first and cassation) in 
courts of ordinary jurisdiction or three (first, appeal, and cassation) 
in the commercial court system. The ECHR received 8,781 complaints in 
2005. Of those, 5,262 were declared inadmissible, 341 were communicated 
to the federal government, and 110 were declared admissible. Eighty-one 
cases resulted in findings of at least one violation by the Government, 
and two cases were found to have no violations. During the year the 
ECHR received 10,569 complaints. Of those, 4,856 were declared 
inadmissible, 380 were communicated to the federal government, 10,177 
were allocated to a decision body, and 151 declared admissible. One 
hundred and two cases resulted in findings of at least one government 
violation, 64 of which were based on the right to a fair trial. Ninety-
six of the judgments found at least one violation, five found no 
violation, and one judgment was found ``other'' (i.e., just 
satisfaction, revision judgments, preliminary objections and lack of 
jurisdiction).
    On October 26, the ECHR ruled in favor of four applicants from 
Vologda, finding the Government in violation of their ``right to 
respect for private and family life'' by refusing to assist them to 
move outside a zone contaminated by pollution from the Severstal steel 
plant in Cherepovets. The court ruled that the Government owed the 
plaintiffs compensation and that it must resolve their untenable living 
conditions, either by relocating or compensating them for new housing 
outside the zone or by forcing Severstal to reduce emissions. The 
Government paid the court-designated damages but had not relocated or 
otherwise remedied the plaintiffs' living situation. The court ruled in 
favor of the plaintiff in an identical case in June 2005.
    In February 2005 the ECHR ruled in favor of six Chechen applicants, 
finding the country in violation of several articles of the European 
Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In these cases the 
ECHR found the applicants had no effective remedy in domestic courts. 
The ECHR rejected a government appeal of the rulings in July 2005 (see 
section 1.g.). The Government generally paid financial judgments 
ordered by the ECHR in a timely fashion; however, it issued blanket 
refusals in response to ECHR requests for disclosure of the domestic 
case files relating to alleged gross violations in Chechnya. The ECHR 
criticized this failure of disclosure.
    Human rights institutions that were a part of the Government itself 
rarely challenged government activities, but sought to promote the 
concept of human rights and to deal with specific abuse complaints. 
Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin commented on a broad range of 
human rights problems, such as the treatment of children, the rights of 
prisoners, hazing in the military, and religious intolerance. During 
the year Lukin spoke out against intolerance, stating that the growing 
wave of ethnic, religious, sociopolitical, and ordinary human hatred 
within the country is a threat to national security.
    Lukin's office had approximately 200 employees and several 
specialized sections responsible for investigating complaints. During 
the year the office published reports on human rights issues, such as 
the rights of disabled children and human rights and the modernization 
of education. However, Lukin's role remained primarily consultative and 
investigatory, without powers of enforcement. In October the President 
signed into law amendments that considerably broadened the powers of 
the human rights ombudsman's office. The new law gives the ombudsman 
the right to propose parliamentary investigations into reported mass or 
flagrant human rights abuses, to participate in parliamentary meetings 
when the final results of investigations are presented, and to propose 
State Duma hearings into the violations of citizens' rights. At the end 
of November, 34 of the country's 88 regions had regional human rights 
ombudsmen with responsibilities similar to Lukin's. However, the 
effectiveness of the regional ombudsmen varied significantly.
    The Presidential Council on Promoting the Development of 
Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, headed by Ella 
Pamfilova, promoted NGO concerns and worked to advance human rights in 
the country. For example, from February through July, Pamfilova 
organized a series of civil society events within the framework of the 
G-8. The council was widely respected in the NGO community.
    In January the 126-member Public Chamber of the Russian Federation 
began operation. The Public Chamber was established by legislative 
mandate in 2005 as a mechanism to channel public and civil society 
input into legislative decision-making. Forty-two of its members (one-
third), distinguished by special services to the nation, were selected 
by President Putin. These members selected another 42 representatives 
nominated by national NGOs. The 84 members selected 42 representatives 
from regional and interregional associations. Some prominent human 
rights groups declined to participate in the chamber out of concern 
that the Government would use it to increase control over civil 
society. The Public Chamber's tasks are broad, relying on some 30 
committees on topics ranging from juvenile justice to anticorruption to 
philanthropy. Committees conduct public discussions on key issues, 
review draft laws, travel to the regions to promote the role of 
regional public chambers, conduct studies, and give nonbinding 
recommendations to the Government and legislature. During the year the 
chamber held a competition for federal grant subsidies for civil 
society organizations, totaling more that $189,000 (5 million rubles). 
Several hundred final awardees were approved by the Presidential 
Administration, including some independent NGOs. During the year the 
Public Chamber urged reversal of the conviction of the driver involved 
in the car crash that killed Altai Governor Mikhail Yevdokimov, the 
prevention of eviction of families from Southern Butovo in Moscow's 
outskirts, and prosecution of the hazing case of Private Andrei Sychov. 
The Public Chamber reviewed 18 bills during the year; however, the 
State Duma largely ignored its suggestions. The overall function and 
effectiveness of the Public Chamber as a check on the federal 
government was unclear as of year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, language, 
social status, or other circumstances; however, both governmental and 
societal discrimination persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, remained a 
major problem, and law enforcement authorities frequently failed to 
respond to incidents of domestic violence. There are no official 
statistics on domestic violence in the country. Nevertheless, an 
Amnesty International report estimated that approximately 36,000 women 
were beaten by a husband or partner every day. Official estimates 
indicated that, on average, more than 250,000 violent crimes were 
committed against women annually; however, because such crimes were 
usually not reported, the real figures were likely to be higher. 
According to official data, 9,000 women were killed as a result of 
family and domestic crimes in 2003. These crimes constituted 32 percent 
of the total murders in the country. A news report stated that each 
year 14,000 women are killed by their husbands.
    There is no legal definition of domestic violence. While the law 
prohibits battery, assault, threats, and murder, those of its 
provisions most commonly applied to cases of domestic violence (such as 
light injury) are not within the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's 
office. ViVictims of crimes resulting in light injury are required to 
prosecute such cases without state assistance, and their complaints 
must satisfy certain legal requirements, which victims without legal 
knowledge have difficulty meeting. As a result few cases were 
prosecuted and there were few convictions. According to a survey of 
discrimination against women conducted during the year, police 
frequently discouraged victims from submitting complaints. Even when 
victims submitted applications, the majority of domestic violence cases 
were not adjudicated by the courts due to dismissal based on technical 
errors in the application or the fact that justices of the peace focus 
on reconciliation of the couple and preservation of the family, rather 
than punishment of the perpetrator. There are minimal remedies for 
domestic violence in the civil law; the most common were administrative 
fines and divorce.
    In 2005 22 crisis centers for women operated as part of a broader 
structure of social protection institutions. Crisis services are not 
focused exclusively on violence against women, although some do offer 
services to domestic violence victims. NGOs operated centers for 
victims of domestic violence throughout most of the country; however, 
there are reportedly few domestic violence shelters. An informal 
informational network affiliated with the NGO National Center for 
Prevention of Violence ``Anna,'' received 85,000 complaints of domestic 
violence in 2004. In 2005 ``Anna'' reported that 22 of the 170 
organizations in its network closed, primarily due to lack of 
financing.
    Under the law rape is illegal, but in practice it is a problem. In 
2004 8,795 rapes were registered, and in the first half of the year, 
5,007 rapes were registered. From January to October, 7,567 rapes and 
attempted rapes were reported. However, according to NGOs, many victims 
never reported rape due to social stigma and lack of government 
support. Rape victims can act as full legal parties to criminal cases 
brought against alleged assailants and can seek legal compensation as 
part of the verdict without seeking a separate civil action. Although 
some crisis centers may provide support to rape victims, anecdotal 
information suggested that women were discouraged from reporting rape 
cases by crisis center psychologists, who considered the investigation 
and prosecution process traumatizing; such advice did not reflect 
official policy. Members of the medical profession, including at 
hospitals and elsewhere, assisted women who were assaulted. However, to 
avoid spending long periods in court, some doctors were reluctant to 
ascertain the details of a sexual assault or collect physical evidence.
    Spousal or acquaintance rape was not widely perceived as a problem 
by society or law enforcement; studies suggested that up to half of 
women and more men think that women cannot refuse sex in marriage. The 
criminal code makes no distinction based on the relationship between 
the rapist and victim. Women were unlikely to report cases of rape by 
persons they know. Law enforcement and prosecutors held many of the 
same notions and allegedly did not encourage reporting or prosecution 
of such cases.
    The organization and operation of a prostitution business is a 
crime, but selling sexual services is only an administrative offense. 
Prostitution remained widespread in the country and some observers 
expressed concern about sex tourism. In addition there were reports of 
prostitutes bribing police and of violence against prostitutes by 
police.
    Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation or forced labor was a 
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and women have limited 
legal recourse when sexually harassed. Sexual harassment remained a 
widespread but mostly unacknowledged problem. NGOs operating hotlines 
reported that women routinely sought advice on the problem. However, 
due to the lack of legal remedies and limited economic opportunities, 
many women tolerated harassment.
    Although the law states that men and women have equal rights and 
opportunities to pursue those rights, credible evidence suggested that 
women encountered discrimination in employment. Job advertisements 
sometimes specified sex and age groups, and some ads specified desired 
physical appearance as well as a preference for applicants open to 
intimate relations with the prospective supervisor. Employers often 
preferred to hire men, thereby saving on maternity and childcare costs 
and avoiding the perceived unreliability that accompanies the hiring of 
women with small children. UN Development Program's 2005 Human 
Development Report, women account for 49 percent of wage employment, 
but according to official government statistics, on average women 
earned only two-thirds as much as their male counterparts. Professions 
dominated by women were much more poorly paid than those dominated by 
men. For example, according to the UNDP, in education where women are 
80 percent of the workforce, women's average wages were 23 percent 
lower than those of men.

    Children.--The Government expressed its commitment to children's 
rights and welfare, but devoted only limited resources to the welfare 
of children.
    Children have the right to free education until grade 11 (or 
approximately age 17), and school is compulsory until approximately age 
15 or 16. Primary education is compulsory, free, and, by law, 
universal. According to UNICEF statistics, 93 percent of school-age 
children attended school. The highest level achieved by the majority of 
children was secondary education. Boys and girls were treated equally 
in the school system. While federal law provides for education for all 
children in the country, regional authorities frequently denied school 
access to the children of unregistered persons, including Roma, asylum 
seekers, and migrants.
    In Krasnodar in September producers of a documentary film about 
ethnic discrimination against children reportedly had difficulties in 
exporting the film footage from Russia-Krasnodar airport; airport 
security officials allegedly seized the film and later returned it 
damaged. Under the law health care for children is free; however, the 
quality varied and individuals often incurred significant out-of-pocket 
expenses. More than six years after the start of the second conflict in 
Chechnya, much of that republic's social and physical infrastructure 
remains destroyed or seriously damaged. As a result social services for 
children were inadequate, especially in the education, health and 
water, and sanitation sectors. These inadequacies, and the continued 
instability in the region, continued to threaten the health and well-
being of children.
    Although child abuse was a widespread problem, the majority of 
child abuse cases were not subject to legal action. The Moscow Human 
Rights Research Center estimated that approximately 50,000 children run 
away from home annually to avoid domestic violence. The Moscow Helsinki 
Group indicated that each year approximately two million children under 
14 years of age were victims of domestic violence.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.)
    There were reports that boys under 18 were detained as part of 
targeted raids and security sweeps conducted by Russian and pro-Moscow 
Chechen forces in Chechnya.
    Troops in Chechnya reportedly placed Chechen boys ages 13 and older 
in filtration camps where some reportedly were beaten and raped by 
guards, soldiers, or other inmates. The women's action group White 
Kerchief (Belyy Platok) reported that some federal forces kidnapped 
children in Chechnya for ransom. In September 2004 at least 338 
hostages, about half of them children, were killed after terrorists 
took an estimated 1,200 hostages at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia 
(see section 1.g.).
    Estimates of the number of homeless children ranged from two 
million to five million. During the year, according to the Russian 
Statistics Committee (Goskomstat), there were 800,000 abandoned 
children in the country. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 
approximately 109,000 vagrant minors were removed from the streets and 
public places in the first quarter of 2004 alone.
    According to the Moscow Department of Social Security, 12 percent 
of street children who ended up in shelters have run away from 
orphanages or boarding schools. Law enforcement officials reportedly 
often abused street children, pinned the blame for otherwise unsolved 
crimes on them, and committed acts including extortion, illegal 
detention, and psychological and sexual violence against them. 
According to the Public Verdict Foundation, in 2005, prosecutors 
refused to bring charges in 80 percent of cases of alleged police 
misconduct towards such minors; the situation improved slightly during 
the year. According to the Public Verdict Foundations, in some regions, 
like in Krasnodar Kray, the situation is better than in other regions, 
like in Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region.
    A case was pending in Basmanniy Court of Moscow, alleging that 
police abused and beat a 12-year-old boy who was detained. The case was 
brought by the boy's parents with the assistance of Public Verdict 
lawyers and has received some media coverage. Homeless children often 
engaged in criminal activities, received no education, and were 
vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse. Some young girls on the streets 
turned to, or were forced into, prostitution to survive. According to 
Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics, during the first six months of 
the year over 90,000 criminal offenses were committed by minors or with 
minors' participation.
    Local and international NGOs provided a variety of services for the 
homeless. Many Moscow charitable organizations established productive 
relations with the city government to address the needs of children 
with disabilities, as well as other vulnerable groups. In St. 
Petersburg local government and police ran various programs for 
homeless children and cooperated with local NGOs; however, resources 
were few and overall coordination remained poor. In St. Petersburg, 
NGOs ran seven drop-in centers. There are new Web sites 
www.usinovity.ru, a project of the Ministry of Education and Science, 
and www.siroty.ru which provide additional information about abandoned 
children. Also an increasing number of regions have children's rights 
ombudsmans.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking continued to be a substantial problem, although 
there is increasing awareness and sensitivity by authorities. 
Allegations continued that corrupt government officials facilitated 
trafficking, although it remained difficult to ascertain the scope of 
such corruption. The Government at all levels remained committed to 
combat trafficking, and investigations and prosecutions significantly 
increased, from 11 in 2004 to 53 in 2005, since the State Duma amended 
the criminal code in 2003 to specifically outlaw human trafficking and 
the use of forced labor. During the year investigations and 
prosecutions more than trebled; the police opened more than 80 human 
trafficking investigations. In 2004 the Government reported 26 human 
trafficking criminal cases of which eight related to forced labor, and 
18 related to sex trafficking. In 2005 the Government reported 80 human 
trafficking cases of which 20 related to forced labor and the remainder 
were sex trafficking cases. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs 
does not report criminal statistics until March 1 of each calendar 
year, ministry officials stated that investigations and prosecutions of 
human trafficking cases continue apace. Recent amendments to the law 
permit confiscation of property in criminal cases involving sex and 
labor trafficking.
    There were no reliable estimates of the scope of trafficking, but 
observers believe it remained widespread. The country continued to be a 
source, destination, and transit country for human trafficking; 
however, as a result of economic factors, there appears to be a 
decreasing number trafficked abroad. While women and children were 
trafficked for sexual purposes, men were also trafficked into the 
country on a significant scale from former Soviet Union countries to 
urban centers, particularly for the construction and agriculture 
industries. In the Russian Far East, there is trafficking in the 
fishing industry. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 
that one million illegal immigrants living in the country are victims 
of forced labor.
    According to the IOM, women have been trafficked to almost 50 
countries, including every West European country, the United States, 
Canada, former Soviet republics, and Middle Eastern and Asian 
countries. Women who were trafficked abroad and returned to Russia 
seldom reported their experiences to police, because they feared 
humiliation and retaliation by traffickers. Traffickers usually 
targeted unemployed females between the ages of 14 and 45, with females 
between the ages of 15 and 25 being the primary targets. Traffickers 
often lured women with promises of economic opportunities. Some 
trafficking victims knowingly agreed to work in sex industries. 
However, all the victims interviewed in the IOM study stated that they 
never suspected the severity of the conditions and abuse to which they 
would be subjected.
    Igor Khvan, an Uzbekistan citizen who resides in Primorye, was 
arrested in December 2004 for trafficking women from Uzbekistan. His 
two female assistants recruited young women in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 
for hostess positions in Ussuriysk, Primorskiy Krai. Upon their 
arrival, Khvan took away the women's passports and forced them to work 
in prostitution. Khvan took all revenue from their activities, leaving 
the women an allowance of only $1.80 to $3.60 (47.7 to 95.4 rubles) a 
day for food. On January 25, the Ussuriysk Court sentenced Khvan to 
seven years in prison. His two associates were sentenced to the same 
term in Uzbekistan.
    Reports indicated that internal trafficking, fueled by poverty and 
unemployment, remained a problem. Women were recruited and transported 
from rural areas to urban centers typically to work for commercial 
sexual exploitation.
    There were continued reports of child trafficking, primarily for 
sexual exploitation. The victims were usually homeless children or 
children in orphanages. There are no reliable estimates of how many 
children were trafficked. The country has become a major producer and 
distributor of Internet child pornography, leading to confirmed cases 
of child sex trafficking and child sex tourism.
    The lack of effective legislation precludes effective investigation 
and prosecution of pornography cases. The law lacks a definition of 
child pornography, does not criminalize the possession of child 
pornography (thereby legitimizing a market for child pornography,) and 
the pornography manufacture and distribution statute is poorly drafted 
and seldom used. Police and prosecutors complained that cases are often 
thrown out of court because there are no ascertainable standards of 
what constitutes the offense. Even where cases are prosecuted and a 
conviction obtained, courts often impose the minimum sentence possible, 
often probation. Police complained that it was difficult to investigate 
these offenses because the crimes are deemed ``grave'' offenses under 
law, and therefore, the investigative means available under law are 
limited. The consequence of these defects was that few child 
pornography cases were investigated and prosecuted, creating an 
environment where child pornography can flourish. There was wide 
agreement that reform is necessary but little interest in the issue 
from the administration.
    Information from foreign prosecutions, academic researchers, and 
law enforcement sources suggested that criminal groups carried out most 
trafficking with the assistance of front companies and established 
organized crime groups. Typically traffickers used a front company-
frequently an employment agency, travel agency, or modeling company-to 
recruit victims with promises of well paying work overseas. Many placed 
advertisements in newspapers or public places for overseas employment, 
some employed women to pose as returned workers to recruit victims, 
some placed Internet or other advertisements for mail order brides, and 
some victims were recruited by partners or friends. Once the victims 
reached the destination country, the traffickers typically confiscated 
their travel documents, kept them in a remote location, and forced them 
to work. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs placed detailed warnings about 
employment and travel abroad on its Web site. Newspapers and NGOs also 
reinforce these warnings.
    Reports indicated that employers or traffickers withheld workers' 
passports or other documentation. They threatened workers with 
deportation or prosecution if they demanded compensation. One 
trafficking researcher indicated that some local police cooperated with 
employers to ``shake down'' such workers to deprive them of their 
wages. Traffickers often used their ties to organized crime to threaten 
victims with harm to their families should they try to escape. They 
also relied on ties to organized crime in the destination countries to 
prevent the victims from leaving and to find employment for the victims 
in the local sex industry. Trafficking organizations typically paid 
domestic organized crime entities a percentage of their profits in 
return for ``protection'' and for assistance in identifying victims, 
procuring false documents, and corrupting law enforcement.
    Under the law if certain aggravating factors are established, 
trafficking and forced labor are punishable by a maximum of 15 years' 
imprisonment, recruitment into prostitution by a maximum of eight 
years, organization of a prostitution business by a maximum of 10 
years, and manufacture and distribution of child pornography by a 
maximum of eight years. In January 2005 new witness protection 
legislation went into effect that has been used as a mechanism to 
protect and shelter trafficking victims and their families against 
traffickers. Newly drafted asset forfeiture legislation pertains to 
trafficking offenses and permits the confiscation of criminal proceeds 
from traffickers. Four victims of trafficking benefited from the 
program in 2005.
    Law enforcement agencies increasingly investigated and prosecuted 
trafficking cases. Then-prosecutor general Ustinov announced in 
February that in 2005, the Government initiated 80 trafficking cases, 
of which 60 investigations were brought under the law against sex 
trafficking and 20 investigations were brought under the law against 
labor trafficking. The Ministry of Internal Affairs worked closely with 
foreign governments and continued to assist international trafficking 
prosecutions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs developed guidance for 
consular officers abroad on dealing with trafficking victims and 
expressed a commitment to assist with the repatriation of trafficking 
victims, although funding was not made available to assist with the 
repatriation. The Government cooperated with international trafficking 
investigations.
    Journalists, politicians, NGOs, and academic experts stated that 
corrupt elements in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law 
enforcement bodies facilitated and, in some cases, controlled 
trafficking. In addition, individual government officials reportedly 
took bribes from traffickers in return for false documents and 
facilitating visa fraud. Law enforcement sources agreed that document 
fraud was often committed in the process of obtaining external 
passports and visas, but they were uncertain to what extent this 
involved official corruption rather than individual or organized 
criminal activity. There were reports of prosecutions of officials 
involved in such corruption.
    During the year reports noted the country failed to meet minimal 
standards for the elimination of trafficking; in particular, inadequate 
protection and assistance are afforded human trafficking victims. 
Assistance provided to trafficking victims remained inconsistent and 
inadequate, with the Government relying in many instances on NGOs. 
There was a dearth of human trafficking shelters in the country and 
none funded by the Russian government which instead relies upon local 
shelters maintained by municipalities or upon assistance provided by 
NGOs to repatriate and shelter trafficking victims.
    Many of the more than 100 NGOs that conduct antitrafficking 
activities throughout the country disseminated information on 
trafficking, engaged in preventative efforts, and provided assistance 
to victims. NGOs have helped to reintegrate victims upon return to the 
country. Such NGOs received varying degrees of support from regional 
and local governments. Some were invited to brief local officials and 
law enforcement personnel, and some provided training to local crisis 
centers and hospital staff. The Primorskiy Krai administration worked 
closely with antitrafficking NGOs in the Russian Far East to organize a 
major international antitrafficking conference, the Stop Trafficking 
Now Conference.
    Shelters run by local NGOs provided assistance to trafficking 
victims. There were no government-run shelters for trafficking victims, 
and the Government intends to rely upon the provisions of the Witness 
Protection law to shelter and protect trafficking victims. A shelter 
run by the IOM, however, opened in Moscow with the assistance of city 
authorities and it receives referrals from the police and Federal 
Border Service.
    The Government had no official comprehensive trafficking prevention 
program but continued to sponsor several events designed to raise 
awareness among specific professionals of the problem. The State Duma, 
with the support of the Presidential Administration, sponsored seven 
regional conferences in 2005 and during the year to teach law 
enforcement officers, NGOs, and public officials about relevant laws 
and to encourage closer cooperation between police and NGOs. The 
Ministry of Internal Affairs sponsored three ``train the trainer'' 
conferences in 2005 for ministry training officers from regional 
academies throughout the country employing experts to develop well 
trained antitrafficking investigators. The Government also sponsored 
some events designed to raise general public awareness of the danger of 
trafficking. On March 7, the Khabarovsk branch of the United Russia 
party, a local youth NGO Moy Kray, and the Russian Orthodox Church 
organized a protest rally about trafficking in the Khabarovsk central 
square. Speakers warned young persons, particularly young women, not to 
pursue ``generous'' job offers abroad. They also listed measures that 
the authorities need to urgently implement to combat this problem. At 
the end of August, the Primorye regional government sponsored the first 
annual Asian-Pacific International Forum ``Stop Trafficking.'' Law 
enforcement officers, NGOs, public officials, speakers from the United 
States, China, Israel, and the OSCE Secretariat shared their experience 
in combating and in preventing trafficking in persons. The participants 
of the forum adopted a draft resolution with recommendations to develop 
a national comprehensive trafficking prevention program, to encourage 
closer cooperation between law enforcement agencies and NGOs, to 
increase public awareness.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Several laws prohibit discrimination 
against persons with disabilities or to establish conditions of equal 
rights for them; however, the Government generally did not enforce 
these laws. Citizens with disabilities continued to face discrimination 
and were denied equal opportunity to education, employment, and access 
to social life. Overall, the situation for persons with disabilities 
has reportedly worsened since the passage in 2004 of a law which 
replaced government subsidies for such items as transportation and 
medicine with cash payments. Some affluent regions, such as Moscow, 
preserved benefits for persons with disabilities at preexisting levels, 
most others regions provide a limited number of benefits such as free 
transportation.
    The Minister of Health and Social Protection Zurabov at a 
conference organized by the All-Russia Society of Disabled People noted 
that there are 15 million persons with disabilities. In December the 
human rights ombudsman said that, in the previous 10 years, over 
120,000 persons became invalids as a result of military actions and war 
injuries. Persons with disabilities were generally excluded from the 
social and political life of their communities and isolated from 
mainstream society.
    The residents of disabled adult institutions were mainly 
``graduates'' of the institutions for children. Institutions often did 
not attempt to develop the abilities of the interned persons. The 
residents were frequently confined to the institutions and sometimes 
movement within the institutions was restricted. The use of 
psychotropic drugs as punishment was allegedly widespread. Conditions 
in the institutions were often poor, with unqualified staff and 
overcrowding.
    Laws prescribe penalties for enterprises that fail to build ramps 
or other accessibility features but contain no enforcement mechanisms. 
Federal law on the protection of persons with disabilities requires 
that buildings be made accessible to the disabled, but authorities did 
not enforce the law and in practice most buildings were not accessible.
    Approximately 90 percent of persons with disabilities were 
unemployed. Laws providing employment quotas exist at the federal and 
local levels; however, some local authorities and private employers 
continued to discourage persons with disabilities from working, and 
there was no penalty for failure to honor quotas. Human rights NGOs 
made some progress in persuading foreign companies in larger cities, 
including Moscow, to consider persons with disabilities as potential 
employees, and the Moscow city government has reportedly encouraged 
employers to hire disabled persons. Overall, according to NGO All-
Russia Society of Disabled People, the number of persons with 
disabilities in the workforce declined from 72,500 in 2002 to 28,000 in 
during the year. The NGO attributed this to the 2002 elimination of tax 
benefits which encouraged employment of persons with disabilities.
    Authorities generally segregated children with disabilities from 
mainstream society through a complex and cumbersome system that 
institutionalized children until adulthood. Observers concluded that 
issues of children's welfare were lost within the bureaucracy, and 
little clear recourse existed in instances of abuse by the system. 
Human rights groups alleged that children in state institutions were 
poorly provided for and, in some cases, physically abused by staff 
members. ``Graduates'' of state institutions also often lacked the 
necessary social, educational, and vocational skills to function in 
society. According to a December 28 report by the prosecutor general's 
office, half of the more than 600,000 children with disabilities in 
state care lack medicines, hearing aids, and wheelchairs.
    An international NGO delegation that visited two psychiatric 
hospitals in 2004 noted that there was no judicial process for 
commitment that provided individuals subject to commitment with the 
right to appear before a court for a determination of the legality of 
their commitment.
    The assignment of categories of disability to mentally disabled 
children often followed them through their lives. The labels 
``imbecile'' and ``idiot,'' which are assigned by a commission that 
assesses children with developmental problems at the age of three, and 
which signified that a child was uneducable, almost always was 
irrevocable. Even the label of debil--lightly retarded--followed an 
individual on official documents, creating barriers to employment and 
housing after graduation from state institutions. This designation was 
increasingly challenged in the case of children with parents or 
caregivers, but no one advocated for the rights of institutionalized 
children.
    Youths with disabilities not in institutions faced significant 
barriers to education, including lack of access to schools. Education 
authorities often tried to keep youths with disabilities out of school 
due to lack of special programs. At the same time, the ``home program'' 
for children with disabilities was highly inferior to school classes. 
The majority of teachers and administrators in schools and universities 
had little or no understanding of disability issues. Often parents of 
children without disabilities were averse to their children studying 
with children with disabilities.
    NGOs cited some examples of courts ordering children with 
disabilities admitted to schools that initially refused to take them. 
For example, two children with disabilities in Petrozavodsk, Karelia, 
were denied permission to attend a preschool program because the 
preschool stated that it did not have the capacity to admit children 
with their disabilities. The Petrozavodsk court initially supported the 
preschool, but the children's parents prevailed in a rehearing in 
February, and the children were admitted to a different preschool, 
which was ordered to provide a satisfactory program. A final court 
decision on this case came on April 24, when the Petrozavodsk court 
ruled that the children's right to education had been violated. The 
court ordered a local special school (because by the time the court 
case was won, the children were already of school age) to provide a 
satisfactory special education program for the children.
    According to government reports, of approximately 450,000 school-
aged children with disabilities, approximately 200,000 did not receive 
any education. Of the approximately 250,000 who received an education, 
140,000 attended regular schools, 40,000 studied at home, and 70,000 
attended special schools. Because special schools comprised only 3 
percent of all schools, most children with disabilities could not study 
in the community where they lived, were isolated from other members of 
the community, and received an inadequate education.
    Persons with disabilities faced barriers to participation in 
political life, including inaccessible government buildings. The 
election laws contain no special polling-place accessibility 
provisions, and the majority of polling places were not accessible to 
persons with disabilities. While the use of mobile ballot boxes allowed 
them to vote at home, they sometimes lacked detailed access to 
information about candidates that was available at the polls.
    Government bodies charged with protecting human rights also protect 
the rights of persons with disabilities, including the human rights 
ombudsman and the regional ombudsmen, the Presidential Council on 
Promoting the Development of Institutions of Civil Society and Human 
Rights, and the prosecutor's office. These bodies have carried out a 
number of inspections in response to complaints from disability 
organizations and, in some cases, have subsequently appealed to the 
responsible agencies to remedy the situation. For example, the human 
rights ombudsman has conducted inspections of homes for children with 
mental disabilities that disclosed severe violations of children's 
rights and substandard conditions.
    In response to actions by disability rights NGOs and parents of 
disabled children, during the year the human rights ombudsman prepared 
a country report titled On the Observance of the Rights of Disabled 
Children, which called attention to the inequalities that children with 
disabilities face in view of the legislative changes, terming the 
legislation a violation of the constitution.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits 
discrimination based on nationality; however, Roma, persons from the 
Caucasus and Central Asia, dark skinned persons, and foreigners faced 
widespread governmental and societal discrimination, which was often 
reflected in official attitudes and actions (see section 1.c.). 
Skinhead groups and other extreme nationalist organizations fomented 
racially motivated violence.
    Muslims and Jews continued to encounter prejudice and societal 
discrimination, although it was often difficult to separate religious 
from ethnic motivations (see section 2.c.). Human rights observers 
noted that racist propaganda and racially motivated violence are 
punishable by law, but despite some improvement in law enforcement 
efforts, the law was employed infrequently. However, the authorities 
demonstrated an increased awareness of the problem through numerous 
public statements. For example, in his public address on May 9, Putin 
stated ``those who try to raise the rejected banners of Nazism, who 
spread racial hatred, extremism, and xenophobia are leading the world 
to a dead end, to senseless bloodshed and cruelty.''
    Federal and local law enforcement continued to be applied 
disproportionately to members of ethnic minorities. Police reportedly 
beat, harassed, and demanded bribes from persons with dark skin, or who 
appeared to be from the Caucasus region, Central Asia, or Africa.
    Following the September arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia, 
a diplomatic feud erupted that led to an anti-Georgian campaign against 
the approximately one million Georgians who live in the country. 
Officially the Georgians were deported for violations of migration 
legislation. Law enforcement officials were reportedly instructed to 
step up actions against Georgians. Other anti-Georgian actions included 
raids on Georgian businesses, police orders for schools to produce 
lists of Georgian students, and severed transportation and postal 
links. The actions against Georgians were criticized as illegal by the 
state human rights body, the Civil Society Institutions and Human 
Rights Council, which also called the actions a wave of ``selective 
persecution'' against Georgians. According to the Georgian 
parliamentary ad hoc Investigatory Commission Studying Actions Carried 
Out by the Russian Federation Against Georgian Citizens, as of October 
31, the immigration service had issued decisions on deportation of 
2,598 Georgian citizens, out of which about 1,140 were actually 
deported. As of December 28, commission head Nika Gvaramia said that 
the number of deportees had increased to between 3,800 and 4,000. The 
commission officially recorded the deaths of three people while in 
detention.
    Authorities in Moscow subjected dark-skinned persons to far more 
frequent document checks than others and frequently detained or fined 
them in amounts that exceeded legally permissible penalties. The Moscow 
Metro Monitoring Study, published in June by the Open Society Justice 
Initiative and other organizations, found that persons of non-Slavic 
appearance made up only 4.6 percent of the riders on the Metro system 
but 50.9 percent of persons stopped by police at Metro exits. At one 
station, those of non-Slavic appearance were 85 times more likely be 
stopped by police. According to a poll by the Public Opinion Fund, 52 
percent of Russians would approve if some ethnic groups were expelled. 
This is an increase from 44 percent in 2002.
    Police often failed to record infractions against minorities or to 
issue a written record to the alleged perpetrators. Law enforcement 
authorities also targeted such persons for deportation from urban 
centers. In April Chechen Prime Minister Kadyrov announced that all 
temporary IDP accommodation centers in Chechnya should be closed. 
According to the UNHCR, five temporary accommodation centers across 
Chechnya were closed during the year (see section 2.d.). In March 2005 
the Institute for War and Peace Reporting noted that police arrested 
illegal migrant workers from Central Asia, illegally took their money, 
then took them to the outskirts of Moscow instead of deporting them in 
order for police to pocket the cost of the deportation and leave the 
workers in Moscow for future arrests. This practice reportedly 
continued during the year.
    A May 2005 report by the European Roma Rights Center noted 
``alarming patterns'' of human rights abuse of Roma in the country. The 
report also asserted that the magnitude of the abuse was only 
comparable to that of the impunity of the perpetrators. The report 
stated that the media's frequent association of Roma with drug dealing 
provided the context for many of the human rights violations against 
them. It provided evidence of widespread police violence against Roma 
and noted that the abuse was rarely reported to higher authorities.
    On December 17, a neighbor of a Romani family, who also happened to 
be a militiaman, reportedly sprayed an unidentified gas either in the 
apartment or on the landing next to the their apartment in 
Petrozavodsk, Karelia. The gas severely sickened the family's six-year-
old child and an elderly relative, according to Olga Martynova, head of 
the Society of Gypsy Culture of Karelia. According to the family, they 
did not do anything to provoke the man and called militia. Shortly 
afterwards, policemen stormed into the house and started to beat 
everyone present, including elderly persons and women. The report 
offered no information about any criminal charges filed, but the family 
allegedly filed a complaint to the prosecutor's office and it was 
accepted.
    On September 12, in Belgorod, the far right wing group, Belgorod 
National Corps, was found guilty of the assault on a Romani family. In 
August 2005 an armed, masked youth gang of approximately 20 persons 
attacked the house of the Nikolaenko family shouting ``kill the 
gypsies.'' A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the kitchen window, 
followed by another incendiary device. The owner of the house, his 
wife, and son were then attacked as they fled into the yard. Eleven 
persons were detained, including two minors and also former students of 
the Judiciary Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. All the 
detained were charged with hooliganism, deliberate infliction of 
grievous bodily harm by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred, 
and organization of and participation in an extremist group. Three of 
the detained were also charged with the involvement of minors in 
criminal activity. The trial began on June 6; and on September 12, all 
the defendants were found guilty. The group leaders Maksim Sharov, 
Andrey Petrov, and Ilya Sutula were sentenced to five, four, and three 
years of imprisonment respectively. Another seven of them received 
prison terms of 18 months to 33 months in prison. One of them received 
a suspended sentence after cooperating with investigators.
    From May 29 to June 2, authorities bulldozed 37 houses belonging to 
more than 200 Roma, including over 100 children, in the village of 
Dorozhnoe, Kaliningrad Oblast, and set fire to the ruins. Over 100 of 
the displaced Roma were forced to live in tents and other temporary 
shelters and were threatened with physical expulsion from their land, 
while the others left of were expelled from the area. Regional 
authorities began their eviction campaign by initiating court 
proceedings to have the Romani families' ownership of their homes 
declared illegal. According to observers, the proceedings violated 
fundamental standards of due process; on May 3, the court issued 
decisions rejecting the families' claims. On November 3, the Open 
Society Institute's Justice Initiative filed a request for interim 
measures with the ECHR on behalf of 33 of the evicted.
    In July a Romani settlement in Arkhangelsk was demolished by local 
authorities. The mayor of Arkhangelsk offered about $110,000 (3 million 
rubles) to the local Romani community as compensation for resettlement 
to Volgograd Oblast. The community reportedly accepted the sum and 
left.
    On April 13, according the European Roma Rights Center, 
approximately 20 youths killed Grigoriy Marienkov, a Romani man, and a 
Russian woman whose first name was Galina. The attack and killings took 
place in the Volgograd region. The attackers also severely beat and 
injured approximately six members of Marienkov's family. According to 
press reports, police arrested six suspects, all of whom were between 
the ages of 17 and 20, and three of whom were girls. The regional 
prosecutor reportedly opened a criminal investigation under statutes 
related to racially or ethnically motivated murder.
    In February 2005 approximately 400 members of the Romani community 
left the village of Iskitim, Novosibirsk Oblast, after a group of armed 
men attacked and burned a number of Romani houses there. According to 
NGOs, similar attacks took place in January 2005 and in 2004. Members 
of the Romani community indicated that, after those incidents, law 
enforcement and municipal authorities had done nothing to prevent a 
recurrence. Police eventually arrested seven suspects, and the 
Novosibirsk regional prosecutor's office took over the investigation. 
The case reached court March 31, and there were reports that warrants 
were issued for nine other suspects. The case reached court on March 
31.
    There was also evidence of hostility on ethnic and racial grounds 
within the society at large. Despite appeals for tolerance during the 
year by senior officials, violence and societal prejudice against 
ethnic and national minorities, as well as against foreigners remained 
a problem. In a public opinion poll of Russians by the Public Opinion 
Fund conducted this year, 28 percent of respondents admitted personally 
disliking people of other nationalities. In the view of some experts 
and human rights leaders, this phenomenon worsened, but others insisted 
that it reflected better reporting and greater media attention.
    During the year numerous racially motivated attacks took place 
against members of minority groups and foreigners, particularly Asians 
and Africans. According to Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics, 
13,307 crimes were committed against foreign citizens and persons 
without citizenship in 2005, a 29 percent increase over 2004, although 
this figure covers all crimes against this sector of the population, 
not only hate crimes. The ministry's 2005 annual report reported 152 
crimes ``of an extremist nature'' although it does not specify its 
criteria or the specific crimes categorized under that general heading. 
The St. Petersburg city prosecutor claimed 1.8 percent of the crimes 
against foreigners in the city were ``extremist'' in nature. According 
to the prosecutor, there were 39 foreigners killed in St. Petersburg in 
2005 and only two of them qualified as hate crimes. St. Petersburg's 
African Union reported six deaths in the city as the result of 
xenophobia during the first 11 months of the year.
    According to the NGO SOVA Center, xenophobic attacks killed at 
least 54 persons and injured 466 during the year; in 2005, the figures 
were 31 and 413, respectively. SOVA Center found four guilty verdicts 
reported with a bias motive in 2003, eight in 2004, 16 in 2005, and 28 
during the year.
    Ethnic conflict flared in Kondopoga, Karelia in the first week of 
September. Following the alleged murder of two ethnic Russians by local 
Chechens, a mob burned dozens of businesses owned by persons from the 
Caucasus. Several Chechen families had to leave the town, as the 
authorities could not guarantee their safety. It was not until special 
police arrived in Kondopoga after nearly a week of unrest that the 
authorities finally stemmed the violence. The police dispersed the mobs 
and arrested more than 100 suspects. The country's television media 
provided minimal coverage of the event. A poll by the Public Opinion 
Fund reported half of the country's population had not heard about the 
event. Authorities in the region attempted to minimize the event as the 
result of a common quarrel. The Karelian prosecutor's office announced 
there was ``no ethnic basis for the conflict.'' President Putin was 
initially silent on the matter. At the end of October, he publicly 
criticized the regional governor for being on vacation during the 
crisis. As a result of the events, President Putin dismissed the head 
of the FSB for the region and the interior minister for the region. On 
November 14, the first trial began for one of the accused instigators 
of the fight. Authorities investigated four other criminal cases. On 
December 15, the Karelian prosecutor opened a criminal case accusing 
Alexander Potkin, as head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, 
of coming to Kondopoga and inciting the mob to violence (see section 
1.a.)
    The Moscow prosecutor's office charged Oleg Kostyryov and Ilya 
Tikhomirov with racially or ethnically motivated murder following the 
August bombing of Cherkizovsky market in Moscow. The bombing killed 13 
persons and injured 53. As with most markets in Moscow, many traders at 
the market were from the North Caucasus region and Central Asian 
countries, as well as China and Vietnam. The suspects were also charged 
with the murder of a 17-year-old Armenian student, who was stabbed to 
death the day after the bombing while waiting for the metro.
    On September 24, unknown assailants killed an Indian medical 
student in St. Petersburg. At the same location in April, another 
Indian student was attacked and wounded. The investigation was ongoing 
at year's end, but local human rights groups reported that the medical 
school's administration and the St. Petersburg city government had been 
unresponsive.
    There were additional reports of violence against Asians in the Far 
East region. For example, in November two North Korean workers died 
after being severely beaten in Vladivostok; a third worker remained in 
serious condition. Several teenagers were later arrested for these 
attacks--and some earlier ones--which police say they committed at 
random while intoxicated; however, there was speculation in Vladivostok 
media that the crimes were racially motivated. Four teenagers in 
Vladivostok confessed to beating two North Korean men to death and 
injuring a third in December, RIA-Novosti reported. The four teenagers, 
aged from 15 to 16, were arrested on suspicion of attacking the three 
North Koreans on December. The suspects have been charged with deadly 
assault but released from custody on the condition that they do not 
leave the city.
    On December 14, a district court in Yekaterinburg sentenced two 
skinheads who attacked and beat an African journalist in September 
2003. Oleg Orlov, 21, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment, while 
Vladimir Molokov, 23, received a three-year term. Orlov and Molokov 
were found guilty of ``inciting racial hatred'' under the criminal 
code.
    In November a Moscow court convicted three men of racially 
motivated assault in the case of Zaur Tutov, the culture minister of 
Kabardino-Balkaria, who was badly beaten by skinheads on April 1. Two 
of the men were sentenced to 18 months at a prison colony and the third 
received one year.
    On November 13, the St. Petersburg City Court sentenced three 
persons under 18 to prison sentences for racially motivated attacks on 
students from Ghana (three-year sentence), from China (2 1/2 years), as 
well as a Palestinian (2 1/2 years). However, a jury in the same court 
on October 17 acquitted 14 defendants--including five charged with 
murder--accused of participating in the 2004 killing of a Vietnamese 
student. The Vietnamese community in St. Petersburg picketed the court 
following the acquittals and the Republic of Vietnam sent a formal note 
to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
    In July 2005 approximately a dozen skinheads beat a Vietnamese man 
to death in a Moscow park (see section 1.a.). In September 2005 Roland 
Epassak, a Congolese student, was killed in St. Petersburg. In 2004 the 
same student was attacked and hospitalized, at which time he gave 
evidence that the attack was racially motivated. In May the trial of 
four men charged with Epassak's murder began. Lawyers demanded that 
court authorities take extra security measures to protect the 
defendants from possible attacks but the court declined this request. 
On July 25, the four were acquitted. St. Petersburg Governor Valentina 
Matviyenko publicly questioned the verdict and efficacy of jury trials 
in such cases. On November 2, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict 
and returned the case for a retrial. The new hearing will be with a new 
judge and a new jury.
    In October 2005 in Voronezh, a Peruvian student was killed and two 
other students, from Spain and Peru, were badly injured when a group of 
youths attacked them. There had been several previous attacks on 
foreigners in Voronezh. Later in October 2005, the authorities charged 
Igor Pavlyuk, a Russian student, with murder and another 12 youths with 
hooliganism and robbery; ethnic hatred was also taken into account by 
authorities as a motivation for those participating in the attack. On 
August 25, in Voronezh, a city southeast of Moscow, Pavlyuk was 
sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder. The court handed down 
prison terms from two to five years for five other defendants in the 
case, gave suspended sentences of up to three years to six more 
defendants, and acquitted a 13th defendant.
    Not all of the attacks against foreigners were fatal. During the 
year there were at least 75 nonfatal attacks likely motivated by 
racism.
    On March 25, assailants stabbed nine-year-old Liliana Sisoko, whose 
father is a native of Mali and whose mother is Russian, while she was 
returning home in the center of St. Petersburg. The girl was 
hospitalized. In February 2005 two Korean students were attacked and 
hospitalized in St. Petersburg. In March 2005 a Chinese student was 
attacked during daylight on a major city street in St. Petersburg. In 
these cases generally authorities initiated criminal investigations but 
arrested no suspects and made available no reports on the progress of 
the investigation. In March 2005 four skinheads attacked an African 
student of a pedagogical university in Lipetsk.
    According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 557 
crimes against foreigners registered in St. Petersburg during the first 
seven months of 2005. The ministry did not publicize such data this 
year. According to NGOs the city administration appeared to have begun 
to take hate crimes more seriously, but law enforcement agencies did 
not do enough to address the issue, in part because they lacked the 
necessary resources and, in some cases, because some working-level 
staff sympathized with the nationalistic causes.
    On August 29, Yuriy Belyayev was given a suspended sentence of 1 1/
2 years for publishing an article directly encouraging his readers to 
assault people from the Caucasus region. As head of the nationalist 
Party of Freedom, Belyayev had already been connected to incidents of 
vote-buying in the 2003 gubernatorial St. Petersburg election, as well 
as promotion of so-called ``white patrol'' units in St. Petersburg 
known for their violent actions against ethnic minorities. Human rights 
organizations lamented the light sentence, but were pleased that the 
case had at least resulted in a conviction.
    Private individuals or small groups that espoused racial hatred 
generally carried out such attacks. Law enforcement authorities knew 
the identity of some of the attackers based on their racial intolerance 
or criminal records. During the year members of ethnic or racial 
minorities were the victims of beatings, extortion, and harassment by 
skinheads and members of other racist and extremist groups. Police 
investigations of such cases were frequently ineffective and 
authorities were often reluctant to acknowledge the racial or 
nationalistic element in the crimes, often calling attacks 
``hooliganism.'' Many victims, particularly migrants and asylum seekers 
who lacked residence documents recognized by police, chose not to 
report such attacks or experienced indifference on the part of police.
    Skinhead activity continued to be a serious problem. Skinheads 
primarily targeted foreigners and individuals from the Northern 
Caucasus, although they also expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic 
sentiments and hostility toward adherents of ``foreign'' religions (see 
section 2.c.). According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 
neofascist movements have approximately 15,000 to 20,000 members, of 
which over 5,000 are estimated to live in Moscow. According to the 
Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, there were approximately 50,000 
skinheads in 85 cities. Skinhead groups were particularly numerous in 
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Voronezh. 
According to the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, 170 attacks motivated 
by ethnic hatred were registered between January and December. As the 
result of these attacks, 51 persons died and 310 were injured. 
Numerically, the most xenophobic city is Moscow, with 27 deaths and 
over 125 injuries registered. There were five deaths and 48 injuries in 
St. Petersburg.
    There were indications that the authorities were increasingly 
willing to acknowledge racial, ethnic, or religious motivations for 
such criminal acts; 109 persons were convicted for committing 
ethnically motivated crimes during the year. In most cases the 
attackers wore skinhead attire or proclaimed nationalist slogans. On 
June 30, three skinheads charged with organizing an extremist group 
were sentenced by a city court in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Oblast, 
to imprisonment terms ranging from 10 1/2 years to one year and nine 
months. Two of the skinheads were earlier sentenced on murder charges 
to life imprisonment and 23 years' imprisonment respectively for 
murdering three Armenians in Verkhnyaya Pyshma in May 2005. The group 
was also involved in the killing of a Kyrgyz national in January 2005.
    In March a Thai ship captain was attacked by Vladivostok skinheads 
and hospitalized with serious injuries. Police arrested four young men 
who appeared to be skinheads and found Nazi literature in their homes. 
On April 8, a group of 10 skinheads attacked a Chinese student when he 
was leaving a Vladivostok law school. According to two other Chinese 
students, the skinheads beat the victim with sticks. He suffered a 
broken nose and was taken by police to a hospital.
    On December 22, a homemade bomb exploded outside the apartment of 
one of the creators of www.antifa.ru Web site, Tigran Babadzhanian. He 
discovered it when he came out of his apartment and called the police 
who tried to defuse it, but it exploded, injuring the police officers. 
Previously his photograph had been posted on skinhead Web sites, he had 
received death threats, and swastikas and other offensive graffiti had 
been left in the stairwell of his apartment building. The district 
prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation for ``hooliganism 
committed in a socially dangerous way'' and identified three suspects 
from an extremist gang.
    In May a district court in Ufa, Bashkortostan, sentenced two young 
residents of the city to 5 and 1/2 years imprisonment for beating an 
Iraqi student of Ufa Oil University in December 2005. Their accomplice 
got a five-year suspended sentence. The Iraqi--who suffered a skull 
fracture along with other severe injuries--was rescued by passersby. A 
spokesman for the Bashkortostan Interior Ministry said the attack was 
an act of hooliganism and had no racist overtones.
    In July, for the first time, skinheads were tried for murder in the 
Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Two high school students were charged with 
the murder of three non-Russian homeless individuals. Witnesses gave 
testimony that there was a skinhead organization of more than 40 
persons that targeted Chinese and other Asians, as well as Caucasians, 
but was indifferent to Jews. In order to join the skinheads' 
organization, prospective members had to assault a Chinese or a 
Caucasian. The director of the regional militia, Andrey Parkhomenko, 
reported to Kommersant--in Dalniy Vostok--that there were no formally 
designated skinhead organizations in the region.
    On March 22, a St. Petersburg court convicted seven of eight 
defendants of ``hooliganism'' in a 2004 attack on a Tajik family, in 
which they killed a nine-year-old girl. Prosecutors dropped the 
original charges of racial hatred. The one defendant on trial for 
murder was acquitted of that charge, but found guilty of hooliganism. 
In August the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the local court.
    On February 13, a court sentenced the self-proclaimed leader 
Vladimir Popov of the group ``Russian Republic'' to one year in prison 
for inflaming racial hatred. Russian Republic had posted on its Web 
site a posthumous death sentence on Nikolay Girenko, a hate-crimes 
expert and senior researcher at the Museum of Anthropology and 
Ethnography at the Russian Academy of Sciences, who was killed in 2004 
in his St. Petersburg apartment. The court also found the ``Russian 
Republic'' leader guilty of posting an Internet death sentence on 
Governor Matvienko for opening St. Petersburg to Asian migrants.
    On December 30, the case of the murder of antifascist activist 
Aleksandr Riukhin was submitted to the courts for trial. On April 16, 
Riukhin was killed on the outskirts of Moscow. Three attackers (two 
were members of Slavic Union and one was a member of the Format 18 
gang, both ultraright extremist groups) were detained and Nazi 
paraphernalia and literature were found at their residences. They were 
being charged with premeditated group hooliganism, premeditated 
nongrievous bodily harm, and assault. The murder case was being treated 
separately, with three suspects still at large.

    Indigenous People.--The law provides for support of indigenous 
ethnic communities; it permits them to create self-governing bodies, 
and allows them to seek compensation if economic development threatens 
their lands. In some regions local communities organized to study and 
make recommendations regarding the preservation of indigenous cultures. 
Groups such as the Buryats in Siberia and ethnic groups of the North 
(including the Enver, Tafarli, Chukchi, and others) continued to work 
actively to preserve and defend their cultures as well as the economic 
resources of their regions. Most affirmed that they received the same 
treatment as ethnic Russians, although some groups believed they were 
not represented or were underrepresented in regional governments. The 
principal problems of indigenous people remained the distribution of 
necessary supplies and services, particularly in the winter for those 
who lived in the far north, and claims to profits from exploitation of 
natural resources.
    However, support for the self-government of indigenous ethnic 
communities was undermined in one region recently as the federal 
government made an attempt early in the year to remove the Republic of 
Adygea's autonomy. One of many such ethnic territories, the Republic of 
Adygea was created in 1991 as a homeland for the Adyghs, a group 
indigenous to the Northwest Caucasus. The move was thwarted, however, 
due to opposition within Adygea and among the region's other 
territories, given the prospect that even administrative changes could 
lead to widespread violence.
    There continued to be reports of pressure on members of the Finno-
Ugric Mari ethnic group. The Moscow Helsinki Group and International 
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights reported in September that two 
Mari national activists might have been prosecuted for exercising their 
freedom of speech. One activist, Vitaliy Tanakov, who earlier in the 
year published a brochure about the Mari people and their religious 
beliefs, was charged with incitement to ethnic, racial, or religious 
enmity under the law, a conviction is punishable with heavy fines and 
up to four years' imprisonment. On December 25, he was convicted and 
sentenced to 120 hours of mandatory work, which was viewed by many as a 
symbolic sentence. A second activist, Nina Maksimova, faced similar 
charges for helping to distribute the brochure. The International 
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and Moscow Helsinki Group believed 
that the two cases were politically motivated, targeting the activists 
for their involvement in the Mari national movement.
    Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of attacks on the 
Mari ethnic group.
    In May 2005 the European Parliament adopted a resolution 
criticizing Russia for violating the rights of the Mari. According to 
press reports, in June 2005 the Government blocked the release of a 
report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that was 
critical of human rights abuses in the Republic of Mariy-El.

    Other Societal Abuses or Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS 
often encountered discrimination. Federal AIDS law contains 
antidiscrimination provisions, but these were frequently not enforced. 
Human Rights Watch reported that HIV-positive mothers and their 
children faced discrimination in accessing healthcare, employment, and 
education. Persons with HIV/AIDS found themselves alienated from their 
families, employers, and medical service providers.
    While homosexuality is not illegal, the gay community continued to 
suffer societal stigma and discrimination. Medical practitioners 
reportedly continued to limit or refuse their access to health services 
due to intolerance and prejudice. According to recent studies, male 
homosexuals were often refused work due to their sexuality. Openly gay 
men were targets for skinhead aggression, which was often met with law 
enforcement indifference.
    In May gay rights activists hosted a small international conference 
in Moscow on combating homophobia; however, the mayor of Moscow and the 
courts denied their applications to hold a gay pride parade. According 
to Human Rights Watch, on May 27, several dozen Russian lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, and transgender protestors, accompanied by Russian and 
foreign supporters, including members of the European and German 
parliaments, sought to hold two successive protest rallies, one to lay 
flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall, and 
the second a vigil at city hall in support of the freedoms of assembly 
and expression. Organizers decided to hold these events after a court 
upheld Mayor Yuriy Luzkhov's ban on a march they planned for that day. 
At both events hundreds of antigay protesters, including skinheads and 
nationalists attacked the participants, beating and kicking many, while 
throwing projectiles and chanting homophobic slogans. Police intervened 
only belatedly, failing to protect demonstrators from violence; 
observers noted that police inaction aggravated the violence.
    In protest of a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender 
``open party'' held in Moscow on April 30, several hundred protestors 
gathered outside a night club, shouting threats and throwing bottles, 
rocks, and eggs at the attendees. The following night at least 100 
protestors gathered outside another gay club, conducting themselves in 
a similar manner. While human rights groups protested the organized 
nature of what appeared to be a campaign against the lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, and transgender community, public officials were notably 
reluctant to condemn the violence, with one Duma deputy accusing gays 
of provoking Orthodox believers.
    Gay rights organizations were few and often operated ``under the 
radar.'' Projects working with homosexuals and educating them about HIV 
and sexual health continued to be scarce. In April, the Moscow city 
Duma urged President Putin to restrict the activities of foreign NGOs 
that fight HIV/AIDS, saying they encouraged pedophilia, prostitution, 
and drug use among teenagers. The Moscow Duma also accused the Ministry 
of Education of aiding NGO activities. The State Duma, however, 
responded at the federal level with a clear statement supporting the 
urgent need to prevent HIV/AIDS.
    The Government has made a major effort to deal with AIDS, including 
stigma and discrimination with dramatic increases in the federal and 
regional budgets for AIDS. HIV/AIDS media and prevention messages are 
being piloted in school curricula, and a national ``stop AIDS'' 
campaign was launched. The Ministry of Justice has agreed to make AIDS 
treatment available to prisons. President Putin spoke out about the 
fight against HIV/AIDS and in April specifically mentioned the 
importance of NGO work in the field.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides workers 
with the right to form and join unions, in practice government policy 
and the dominant position of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions 
of Russia (FNPR) limited the exercise of this right. The FNPR reported 
that approximately 46 percent of estimated work force of 74 million 
workers was unionized, and approximately 95 percent of union members 
belonged to the FNPR (approximately 29 million members). Over the past 
five years, the federation's membership has decreased by 10 million.
    The FNPR and other trade union federations acted independently on 
the national political level, but in some cases FNPR unions were 
affiliated closely with local political structures, giving FNPR 
advantages over unions without such established political ties. FNPR 
unions frequently included management as part of the bargaining unit or 
elected management as delegates to its congresses.
    In April a new law on NGOs was implemented which restricts their 
creation and existence (see section 4). Despite a separate law 
specifically governing trade unions, the Federal Registration Service 
stated in June that the provisions of the NGO law also apply to unions. 
Specifically trade unions must receive permission to register and 
submit programmatic and financial reports to authorities. Failure to do 
so will trigger a legal process aimed at the abolishment of the union. 
The Government oversight agency has the right to attend union meetings 
and monitor all union activities. Migrant workers do not have the right 
to create or join unions.
    The law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination, but the 
FNPR reported that actions aimed at harassing union leaders and 
employees who wished to form or enter unions had increased since last 
year. Union leaders were at times followed by the security services, 
detained for questioning by police, and subjected to heavy fines, 
losses of bonuses, and demotions. Unregistered unions faced operational 
constraints, such as difficulty in opening bank accounts and collecting 
fees. There were also reports of employers using tax authorities or 
offices of the public prosecutor to put heavy pressure on unions using 
falsified investigations, often resulting in large decreases in union 
membership.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The rights of 
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the right 
to bargain collectively are recognized in law but other legal 
provisions give employers a strong role in dealing with labor 
relations. The law makes collective bargaining mandatory if either 
employer or employees request it; it obliges both sides to enter into 
such negotiations within seven days of receiving such a request; and it 
and sets a three-month time limit for concluding such agreements. 
Unresolved issues are to be included in a protocol of disagreement, 
which may be used to initiate a collective labor dispute. Despite these 
requirements, however, employers continued to ignore union requests to 
negotiate collective bargaining agreements. In July 2005 St. Petersburg 
dockworkers went on strike to protest management's refusal to sign a 
collective bargaining agreement and as a result, by that fall, all port 
companies signed an agreement favoring the workers; the dockworkers 
returned to work in March.
    Labor experts have criticized provisions in the law that favor the 
designation of a majority union as the exclusive bargaining agent, a 
provision that favors larger unions. They have also voiced concern 
about such provisions of the Labor Code as the stipulation that there 
be only one collective agreement per enterprise, covering all 
employees, which limits the ability of professional or ``craft'' unions 
(the majority of new unions in the country) to represent their members' 
interests. An employer has the right to refrain from negotiating with 
trade unions whose membership does not comprise of a majority of an 
enterprise. These smaller unions have the right to send a 
representative to negotiate, but any negotiation depends on the desire 
of the majority union and employer to participate. In May 2005, the ILO 
Committee on Freedom of Association renewed its request to the 
Government that it amend the Labor Code to allow collective bargaining 
at the occupational level; the Government had not taken any action on 
this request by year's end.
    According to the International Trade Union Confederation, a 2004 
law on commercial secrets specifies that information on wages in 
commercial companies is a commercial secret. Lack of access to this 
information disadvantaged unions engaged in collective bargaining.
    Although collective bargaining agreements had been officially 
registered only by an estimated 16 to 18 percent of enterprises, the 
FNPR claimed that approximately 85 percent of its enterprises had 
concluded such agreements. This apparent discrepancy appeared to be due 
in part to agreements that were concluded but not registered with the 
Ministry of Labor. The law states that collective agreements become 
effective upon signature, regardless of whether they are registered or 
not.
    The law provides for the right to strike; however, this right 
remained difficult to exercise. Most strikes were considered 
technically illegal because they violated one or more of the 
exceedingly complex procedures governing disputes. A strike may be 
called at an enterprise only after approval by a majority vote at a 
conference composed of at least two-thirds of all personnel, including 
management. Strikes were banned in certain sectors, including the 
railway and air traffic sectors and government agencies.
    The law specifies that a minimum level of essential services must 
be provided if a strike could affect the safety or health of citizens. 
Under this definition most public sector employees could not strike and 
other provisions were often manipulated to prevent many would-be 
strikers from walking off the job. Strike actions were further 
discouraged by the fact that civil courts have the right to order 
confiscation of union property to settle damages and losses to an 
employer if a strike is found to be illegal and not discontinued before 
the decision goes into effect. As a result labor actions were often 
organized by strike committees rather than by unions.
    Unlike in previous years there were no major national strikes 
during the year, many were carried out on the local level. Court 
rulings have established the principle that nonpayment of wages--
estimated to be the cause of 90 percent of labor disputes--is an 
individual matter and cannot be addressed collectively by unions. As a 
result a collective action based on nonpayment of wages was not 
recognized as a strike. The law does not protect individuals against 
being fired while on strike.
    The law prohibits strikes in the railway and air traffic sectors, 
at nuclear power stations, and by members of the military, militia, 
government agencies, and disaster assistance organizations. As a result 
workers in these professions at times resorted to other forms of 
protest, such as rallies, days of action, or hunger strikes. The law 
prohibits reprisals for strikes, but reprisals were common, and 
included threats of night shifts, denial of benefits, blacklisting, and 
firing.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such 
practices occurred. According to credible reports, significant numbers 
of illegally employed migrants from other countries of the former 
Soviet Union were forced to work without pay because the firms that 
brought them into the country held their passports (see section 5). 
According to an ILO study, employers of illegal migrants withheld 
passports in 20 percent of forced labor cases.
    It was reported that wages of some of the several thousand North 
Koreans reportedly employed in the Russian Far East were withheld until 
the laborers returned home, making them vulnerable to deception by 
North Korean authorities, who promised relatively high payments. 
Amnesty International has charged that a 1995 bilateral agreement with 
North Korea allowed the exchange of free labor for debt repayment, 
although the Government claimed that a 1999 intergovernmental agreement 
gave North Koreans working in the country the same legal protections as 
citizens.
    There were reported incidents throughout the year of military 
officers forcing soldiers under their charge to work for private 
citizens or organizations, often under abusive conditions.
    In 2004 the television station Rossiya reported that dozens of 
workers died at a slave labor camp in Western Siberia, where the owners 
of a logging company reportedly decided to increase their profits by 
using slave labor. The Kemerovo regional prosecutor's office was trying 
the case at the end of 2005 and no further information on the case was 
available.
    The law prohibits forced or bonded labor by children; however, such 
practices reportedly occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government did not effectively implement laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the work place. The law prohibits most 
employment of children under the age of 16 and regulates the working 
conditions of children under the age of 18, including banning dangerous 
nighttime and overtime work; however, the Federal Labor and Employment 
Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are responsible for 
child labor matters, did not enforce the laws effectively. Children are 
permitted, under certain conditions and with the approval of a parent 
or guardian, to work at the age of 14. Such work must not threaten the 
health or welfare of the children. The Federal Labor and Employment 
Service, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and Social 
Development, is responsible for routinely checking enterprises and 
organizations for violations of labor and occupational health standards 
for minors. In 2004 approximately 8,300 cases of child labor violations 
were reported. Most serious violations of child labor and occupational 
health standards were believed to occur in the informal sector. Local 
police investigations only occurred in response to complaints.
    Accepted social prohibitions against employment of children and the 
availability of adult workers at low wages generally prevented 
widespread abuse of child labor. Nonetheless, children working and 
living on the streets remained a problem. Parents often used their 
children to lend credence to their poverty when begging or had them 
beg. Homeless children were at heightened risk for exploitation in 
prostitution or criminal activities (see section 5). Trafficking of 
children was also a problem (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage, 
essentially an accounting reference for calculating transfer payments, 
increased to $40 (1,100 rubles) on May 1, up from $28 (800 rubles) in 
September 2005. The amounts were not sufficient to provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. Since 2004 monthly 
subsistence wages have been set at the regional, not federal, level, 
and ranged from slightly less than $112 (3,000 rubles) to approximately 
$187 (5,000 rubles) a month. Approximately 15 percent of the population 
had incomes below the official subsistence minimum.
    The law provides a standard workweek of 40 hours, with at least one 
24-hour rest period, and requires premium pay for overtime work or work 
on holidays; however, workers complained that employers required them 
to work in excess of the standard workweek, abrogated negotiated labor 
agreements, and of being transferred against their will.
    Although nonpayment of wages declined, especially in the public 
sector, it continued to be the most widespread abuse of labor 
legislation. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, wage 
arrears through July totaled $200 million (5.4 billion rubles), 49 
percent less than the same period in 2005.
    The law imposes penalties on employers who pay their employees late 
or make partial payments and requires them to pay two-thirds of a 
worker's salary if the worker remains idle by some fault of the 
employer. Proving that an employer was at fault, however, was 
difficult. Courts often were willing to rule in favor of employees 
seeking payment of back wages, but collection remained difficult. 
Courts often insisted that cases be filed individually, in 
contradiction to the Law on Trade Unions, thereby undercutting union 
attempts to include the entire membership in one case. Individually 
filed cases made for a lengthier process, one more difficult for the 
individual worker, and one that left them more exposed to possible 
retaliation (see section 6.b.).
    Although the law establishes minimum conditions for workplace 
safety and worker health, the Government did not allocate sufficient 
resources to enforce these standards effectively. According to the 
Center for Social and Labor Rights, approximately one-third of 
employees work under conditions that violate their labor rights. In 
many cases workers wore little protective equipment in factories, 
enterprises stored hazardous materials in open areas, emergency exits 
were locked, and smoking was permitted near containers of flammable 
substances. In June the Labor Code was revised to include a new 
requirement that businesses employing more than 50 workers must 
establish a work safety division and create a position of work safety 
specialist. Amendments were also added to improve the procedure for 
investigating industrial accidents.
    The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from 
hazardous or life-threatening work situations without jeopardy to their 
continued employment; however, the Government did not effectively 
enforce this right. The risk of industrial accidents or death for 
workers remained high. The Federal State Statistics Service reported 
3,091 deaths in 2005 and 1,891 deaths from January to June.
    The law entitles foreign workers working legally in the country to 
the same rights and protections as citizens and prohibits forced or 
compulsory labor; however, foreign workers reportedly were brought into 
the country to perform such labor (see section 6.c.). Foreign workers 
residing and working illegally in the country are subject to 
deportation but may seek recourse through the courts. Experts stated 
that millions of migrants, most of whom are citizens of other former 
Soviet Union countries, worked illegally in Moscow and other larger 
cities for lower wages than citizens and under generally poor 
conditions. The All-Russia Confederation of Labor stated that 45 
percent of jobs in Moscow were in the shadow economy.

                               __________

                               SAN MARINO

    The Republic of San Marino, with a population of approximately 
30,000, is a multiparty democracy. The popularly elected unicameral 
Great and General Council (parliament) selects two of its members to 
serve as Captains Regent (co-chiefs of state). They preside over 
meetings of the council and the cabinet (Congress of State), which has 
no more than ten other members (secretaries of state) who the council 
also selects. Parliamentary elections were held on June 4 and were 
considered free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no 
reports that government officials employed them.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards. The Government permitted visits 
by independent human rights observers, but there were none during the 
year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Interior controls the civil police, who are responsible for domestic 
security, traffic, and civil defense. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
controls the gendarmerie and the national guard, who are responsible 
for the protection of the national borders and the security of public 
buildings; they also coordinate with the civil police in the prevention 
of crime and the maintenance of public order.
    The security forces are adequately staffed and effective in 
maintaining law and order. There were no reports of corruption 
involving members of the security forces. Impunity was not a problem. 
Investigations of police abuse are usually assigned to one of the three 
police forces not involved in the case. There were no instances where 
police failed to prevent or to respond to societal violence during the 
year.

    Arrest and Detention.--Suspects were apprehended openly with 
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized 
official. The law provides a detainee with the right to a prompt 
judicial determination of the legality of his detention, and the 
authorities generally respected this right in practice. There is a 
well-functioning bail system. Detainees are allowed prompt access to 
family members and to a lawyer of their choice; the state provides 
legal assistance to indigent persons.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this 
provision in practice.
    The judiciary is composed of the commissioner of the law, the 
judging magistrate, the appellate judge, the juvenile court, and the 
judge of final appeal. The commissioner tries civil and penal cases 
with penalties not exceeding a three-year sentence. The judging 
magistrates, who are appointed by parliament for a three-year term and 
can be indefinitely reappointed, preside over all other cases. Most 
lower court judges were Italian citizens. A local conciliation judge 
handles minor cases. Under the law, the final court of review is the 
judge of final appeal. In civil matters, this court confirms or 
overrules either the lower court judgment or an appellate decision; in 
criminal matters, this court rules on the legitimacy of detention 
measures and on the enforcement of a judgment.
    The Constitutional Court has the following functions: verify that 
laws, acts, and traditions that are given the force of law conform to 
constitutional precepts; verify the admissibility of referenda; decide 
on conflicts between constitutional institutions; and control the 
activity of the Captains Regent.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are 
public and are presided over by a single judge. There are no provisions 
for a jury trial. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney even during preliminary investigations. 
Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them and present 
witnesses and evidence on their behalf. They have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. They enjoy a presumption of 
innocence and have the right to two levels of appeal.
    In case of legal actions against military personnel, a civil judge 
is temporarily given a military grade and assigned to an ad hoc 
military tribunal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Judges act independently 
and impartially on civil matters, and administrative remedies as well 
as judicial remedies exist for alleged wrongs. There were no reports of 
problems facing law enforcement agencies in enforcing domestic court 
orders.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom. An 
independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic 
political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Public institutions promote use of the Internet in schools, and the 
Government makes information of public interest available on the 
Internet.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for these rights and the Government generally respected them in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    The Catholic Church receives direct benefits from the Government 
through income tax revenues; taxpayers may request that 0.3 percent of 
their income tax payments be allocated to the Catholic Church or to 
``other'' charities, including three religions (the Waldesian Church, 
Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baha'i).
    The Government does not require official recognition, registration, 
or license for religious groups. However, it requires legal status for 
tax or other commercial purposes. While a concordat with the Holy See 
regulates relations with the Catholic Church, other religions, such as 
the Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses, are included in a registry of 
cultural associations.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were only a small number 
of Muslims and no known Jewish citizens in the country. During the year 
there were no reports of violence or discrimination against religious 
minorities or anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--While the law does not provide for the 
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
the Government has a system for providing protection to refugees. In 
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The 
Government may grant refugee status or asylum by an act of the cabinet. 
For humanitarian reasons, the Government indefinitely extended an 
Eritrean woman and her two children's permit of stay, which otherwise 
would have expired in April.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections 
held on June 4 were considered generally free and fair. However, local 
dailies reported allegations by leaders of small parties that unnamed 
supporters of the largest parties illegally funded travel of 
nonresident voters to the country. The Christian Democratic Party, the 
country's single largest party which had led the Government for over 20 
years, obtained 21 of the 60 parliamentary seats, but was unable to 
form a coalition government. The second largest party, the Party of 
Socialists and Democrats, obtained 20 seats and succeeded in forming a 
coalition government with the centrist Popular Alliance, the third 
largest party with seven seats, and the newly-formed United Left, with 
five seats.
    There were eight women in the 60-seat Great and General Council and 
two women in the 10-member Congress of State.
    There were no members of minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of 
corruption by public officials during the year.
    The law provides for public access to government activity and the 
Government provided access for citizens and noncitizens through the 
Great and General Council's Web site.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    There were no domestic human rights organizations, although the 
Government did not restrict their formation. The Government declared 
itself open to investigations by international nongovernmental 
organizations of alleged human rights abuses, but there were no known 
complaints or requests for investigations during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government effectively enforced it.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was rare. 
The law prohibits violence against women, and the Government 
effectively enforced it. During the year there were no reports of 
violence against women. The penalty for spousal abuse is two to six 
years' imprisonment. In the case of aggravating circumstances the 
penalty is four to 10 years' imprisonment.
    There were no reports of rape. Rape, including spousal rape, is a 
criminal offense, and the Government effectively prosecuted persons 
accused of such crimes. The penalty for rape is two to six years' 
imprisonment. In the case of aggravating circumstances the penalty is 
four to 10 years' imprisonment.
    Prostitution is illegal, and it was not common. No arrests were 
reported during the year.
    Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively 
enforced the law. There were no reports of sexual harassment during the 
year.
    Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. There was 
no economic discrimination against women in pay, employment, or working 
conditions. There is no special government office to ensure the legal 
rights of women.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare.
    Education is free until grade 13 (usually age 18) and compulsory 
until age 16. Most students continued in school until age 18. No 
differences were apparent in the treatment of girls and boys in 
education.
    Medical services were amply funded, and boys and girls had equal 
access to health care.
    Violence against or abuse of children was uncommon. There were no 
reported cases during the year. A case from 2003 was still pending, 
while a case heard in 2004 resulted in conviction and the defendant was 
sentenced in June.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in 
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked 
to, from, or within the country during the year.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, and in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. There were no reports 
of societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. The 
Ministry for Territory has not fully implemented a law that mandates 
easier access to public buildings by persons with disabilities, and 
many buildings were inaccessible.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--By law all workers (except the armed 
forces) are free to form and join unions, and workers exercised this 
right in practice. The law sets the conditions to establish labor 
unions. Union members constituted approximately 50 percent of the 
country's work force, which numbered approximately 15,000 citizens plus 
5,000 nonresident Italians. A ``conciliatory committee'' composed of 
representatives from labor, business, and government generally resolved 
complaints of antiunion discrimination amicably.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law gives collective 
bargaining agreements the force of law. Negotiations were conducted 
freely, often in the presence of government officials by invitation 
from both unions and employer associations. All workers are under 
collective bargaining agreements. The law allows all civilian workers, 
including the civil police, the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced the laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum age for 
employment and compulsory education is 16, and no exceptions were 
granted by the Ministry of Labor and Cooperation. The law does not 
limit children between the ages of 16 and 18 from any type of legal 
work activity. The Government devoted adequate resources and oversight 
to child labor policies, and the Ministry of Labor and Cooperation 
effectively enforced compliance with the law.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of 
approximately $8.25 (6.86 euros) per hour did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. However, wages generally 
were higher than the minimum provided by law.
    The law sets the workweek at 36 hours in the public sector and 37+ 
hours for industry and private businesses, with 24 consecutive hours of 
rest per week mandated for workers in both categories. The law requires 
a premium payment for overtime and allows a maximum of two hours of 
overtime per day. There was effective enforcement of laws and industry 
contracts that prohibit excessive compulsory overtime.
    The Government set safety and health standards, and the judicial 
system effectively enforced these standards. Most workplaces complied 
with the standards; however, there were some exceptions. The 
construction industry did not consistently abide by safety regulations, 
such as work hour limitations. However, on-the-job injuries declined 
due to stricter safety rules and more severe government-imposed 
penalties for violations, in addition to improved training for the 
workforce. There was just one serious (but not fatal) construction 
accident during the year. Workers have the right to remove themselves 
from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to 
their employment, and the authorities effectively enforced this right.
    Nearly one-quarter of the workforce is nonresident, commuting from 
nearby Italy. The law for legal foreign workers prohibits indefinite 
employment status, but allows the Government to grant work permits that 
have to be renewed every 12 months. The law also requires non-Italian 
foreign workers to obtain an Italian residence permit before they can 
apply for employment. In practice, these provisions limited 
unemployment benefits for foreigners to a period of less than 12 
months.

                               __________

                                 SERBIA

    The Republic of Serbia is a parliamentary democracy with 
approximately 7.5 million inhabitants.[1] Prime Minister Vojislav 
Kostunica has led Serbia's multiparty government since March 2004. 
Boris Tadic was elected President in June 2004 elections that observers 
deemed essentially in line with international standards. Following 
Montenegro's May 21 referendum in which 55.5 percent of voters 
supported independence, authorities began the work of dissolving the 
state union of Serbia and Montenegro and reassigning responsibilities 
to the republic level. In a referendum on October 29 and 30, voters in 
Serbia approved a new constitution. According to the election 
commission, turnout was nearly 55 percent, and 53 percent of voters 
supported the new constitution, although some human rights groups 
dispute the results. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces, and there were fewer reports 
of members of the security forces acting independently of government 
authority.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens 
and continued efforts to address human rights violations; however, 
numerous problems persisted. The following human rights problems were 
reported: widespread corruption in the police and the judiciary; 
impunity; inefficient and lengthy trials; government failure to 
cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in apprehending war crimes suspects; government 
failure to initiate new domestic investigations and prosecutions of war 
crimes from the 1990s; harassment of journalists, human rights workers 
and others critical of the Government; arbitrary arrest and selective 
enforcement of the law for political purposes; limitations on freedom 
of speech and religion, including a problematic new law on religion; 
societal intolerance and discrimination against ethnic and religious 
minorities; the presence of large numbers of internally displaced 
persons; violence against women and children; and trafficking in 
persons.
    The Government's increased efforts in addressing human rights 
violations brought notable improvements. The Belgrade District Court, 
through its specialized organ, continued to make progress in several 
war crimes and organized crimes cases despite some political pressure 
and threats from criminal groups. The Government also uncovered several 
international trafficking rings, protected victims of trafficking, and 
steadily prosecuted traffickers. The Government's reaction to the 
Montenegro referendum on independence, and the subsequent dissolution 
of the state union, was peaceful. National minorities reported fewer 
incidents of attacks than in recent years.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        from:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous 
years, there were no reports that the Government or its agents 
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
    The trial of Kikinda police officer Sasa Mijin was under way at the 
end of the year. Authorities charged Mijin with fatally beating a 
Kikinda resident in October 2005.
    The Belgrade special court for organized crime encountered several 
difficulties during the trial of three dozen suspects, including former 
secret police commander Milorad Ulemek and his deputy Zvezdan 
Jovanovic-Zveki, in the 2003 assassination of Prime Minister Zoran 
Djindjic. On June 3, key witness Zoran Vukojevic was murdered. 
Presiding Judge Marko Kljajevic submitted his resignation September 1, 
citing personal reasons. Media and human rights organizations 
speculated that political pressure may have sparked his departure. A 
new judge was appointed in September, and the trial continued at year's 
end.
    In June the Supreme Court upheld the Belgrade special court's 
ruling in the case of Ulemek and others indicted for the 2000 killing 
of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic. In July 2005 the Belgrade 
special court for organized crime sentenced Ulemek and three persons 
under his command to 40 years in prison, two others to 15 years in 
prison, and one person to four years in prison.
    The Government continued its investigation into the disappearance 
and subsequent killing of Yili, Mehmet, and Agron Bytyqi, three U.S. 
citizen brothers who were executed in 1999. The bodies of the three 
were discovered in 2001 in a mass grave in rural Petrovo Selo, near a 
Serbian police facility. The bodies were found with their hands bound 
and gunshot wounds to their heads. On August 23, the special war crimes 
court issued its first indictments in the case against Sreten Popovic 
and Milos Stojanovic, two former members of a special police unit. The 
indictments were based on charges of unlawful detention of the Bytyqi 
brothers. The trial for Popovic and Stojanovic began November 11. No 
murder charges were filed against any suspects, although the Government 
investigation remained ongoing.
    Domestic courts and the ICTY continued to try cases arising from 
crimes committed during the 1991-99 conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, and Kosovo (see sections 1.e. and 4).
    There was no further development in the deaths of several military 
conscripts in 2005. These conscripts died while on guard duty in remote 
areas and their families challenged the military's determination that 
the deaths were suicides. On October 5, human rights organizations and 
families of the conscripts marked the two-year anniversary of the 
deaths of Dragan Jakovljevic and Drazen Milovanovic in Topcider, 
Belgrade, noting that the case remained unresolved. The families 
initiated a civil suit against the Government, which was pending at 
year's end.
    On September 10, Ruzdija Djurovic, a city council candidate from 
the List for Sandzak party, was killed during elections in Novi Pazar. 
Police arrested Estan Gegic and Ismet Derdemet, and were searching for 
a third suspect, Sead Papic; the case remained in the investigative 
stage at year's end. While the suspects were members of the rival 
Sandzak Democratic Party, party leader Rasim Ljajic decried the 
incident and denied any involvement. Due to security concerns, he 
declared a boycott of the assembly election and withdrew his party from 
the assembly.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.
    The Government made modest progress in cooperating with neighboring 
countries, the International Commission on Missing Persons, and other 
international organizations to identify missing persons from the Kosovo 
conflict. On June 30, the Government repatriated to Kosovo 829 sets of 
remains found in mass graves in Serbia. Following this return, all 
bodies uncovered to date in Serbia had been returned to Kosovo. 
However, progress remained slow in locating additional gravesites and 
in sharing information with the public. In September, the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has chaired the Working Group 
on Missing Persons since 2004, halted further working group meetings, 
citing a lack of commitment from authorities in both Serbia and Kosovo. 
According to the ICRC, 2,284 missing persons cases remained unsolved.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
police at times beat detainees and harassed persons, usually during 
arrest or initial detention for petty crimes.
    On March 15, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia 
(HCS) reported that police beat 28-year-old Kikinda resident Mihalj 
Koloncaj. Koloncaj sustained critical injuries, which resulted in the 
removal of his spleen. Authorities suspended several policemen from the 
Kikinda police station on charges of misconduct and initiated criminal 
proceedings.
    The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) reported that, on 
several occasions between May and September, Subotica police inspector 
Tomislav Lendvai and three unknown associates beat, tortured, and 
sexually assaulted two citizens of Subotica, while also invoking ethnic 
slurs and threatening their families. The two victims, Erne Ceh and 
Marinko Varnjas, were of mixed ethnic descent. An investigation was 
underway year's end, and inspector Lendvai was suspended from his post.
    The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) reported that, on June 15, Mileta 
Novakovic, a member of the gendarmerie special unit, ordered his unit 
to use force on rowdy fans during a basketball game. According to the 
Ministry of Interior, 27 people, including 9 officers, were injured, 
and 30 people were arrested. The Ministry of Interior defended the 
action as lawful, but later admitted that some officers had exceeded 
their authority in injuring the fans. Novakovic was transferred to a 
post outside of Belgrade, but no other disciplinary action was taken.
    In the February 2005 case reported by HLC in which police allegedly 
abused a 17-year-old girl while in custody at a Belgrade police 
station, the victim gave her testimony to an investigative judge in 
October, and the investigation continued at year's end. The suspects in 
the case were Belgrade officers Jovica Pecaranin and Nebojsa 
Milenkovic.
    In the June 2005 case reported by HCS in which traffic police in a 
village near Nis allegedly harassed and beat a family in their home and 
subsequently at a police station, the family declined to press charges 
for fear of reprisals.
    Neither the victim nor the police pursued any charges in the case 
of Aleksandar Petrovic, a Belgrade man who was allegedly beaten by 
police in his apartment in July 2005. HLC issued a press release 
following the alleged attack but did not file a criminal complaint. The 
attackers in this case remained unknown.
    There was no information on whether further action was taken on the 
July 2005 case of a Leskovac police officer who allegedly beat a lawyer 
for the Leskovac Committee for Human Rights.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied 
greatly between facilities, and there were reports that some guards 
abused prisoners.
    In some prisons, inmates complained of dirty and inhumane 
conditions. Several times during the year, prisoners carried out hunger 
strikes to protest the poor conditions of the facilities. The quality 
of food varied from poor to minimally acceptable, and health care was 
often inadequate. Guards were inadequately trained in the proper 
handling of prisoners. Juveniles were supposed to be held separately 
from adults; however, this did not always occur in practice.
    The Government permitted the ICRC and local independent human 
rights monitors, including HCS, to visit prisons and to speak with 
prisoners without the presence of a warden.
    In January HCS released a report of its findings after visits to 
eight detention facilities in May 2005. The report found that 
facilities lacked appropriate procedures to deal with allegations of 
ill-treatment by prisoners against prison authorities. The report also 
cited other problems, including corruption, overcrowding, lack of 
natural light and fresh air, poor toilet facilities, and dirty food 
preparation areas in some of the prisons visited.
    In May the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of 
Torture (CPT) published a report on its September 2004 visit to Serbia 
and Montenegro. During the visit CPT received numerous allegations of 
physical ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees, and recommended that 
the Government increase professional training, more diligently 
investigate allegations of abuse, and severely sanction perpetrators of 
abuse against inmates. The CPT also found that violence among prisoners 
was a serious problem. The CPT complained of the use of chains and 
padlocks to restrain patients in the Belgrade prison hospital; in 
response, authorities reportedly discontinued this practice. The CPT 
further recommended that authorities increase medical staffing levels 
at the prison hospital.
    In November prison riots broke out over unfulfilled demands for the 
parliament to pass an amnesty law. In Pozarevac, approximately 30 
inmates climbed onto a roof and threatened to jump; in Nis, inmates 
barricaded themselves in their cells. Hundreds of riot police brought 
the protests under control, but 55 inmates were injured during the 
operation. Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic said the police action was 
necessary to restore order and to prevent the inmates from hurting 
themselves.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions, with some exceptions.
    Police in Nis detained and interrogated four human rights activists 
from YIHR for more than four hours on July 12 and for more than three 
hours on July 13. The police called this an ``information meeting,'' 
and accused them of drawing graffiti depicting ICTY indictee Ratko 
Mladic during a demonstration two days earlier. The police released the 
activists without charges.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The approximately 
43,000 police officers in Serbia are part of the Ministry of the 
Interior. The police are divided into 33 regional secretariats that 
report to the republic government. During the year the Serbian 
government took over control of the armed forces after the dissolution 
of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
    The effectiveness of the police was uneven and generally limited. 
While most officers were Serbs, the force included Bosniaks (Bosnian 
Muslims), ethnic Hungarians, a small number of ethnic Albanians, and 
other ethnic minorities. The multiethnic police force in southern 
Serbia was composed primarily of ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
    Corruption and impunity in the police force were problems, and 
there were only limited institutional means of overseeing and 
controlling police behavior. The interior ministry inspector general's 
office, created in 2003, had increasingly limited authority, and the 
office had no autonomy to investigate and redress abuses. While the 
office recommended numerous disciplinary proceedings against interior 
ministry employees since its establishment, it had no means of 
following up on proceedings, and some secretariats completely ignored 
its recommendations.
    Since 2005 the inspector general's office initiated disciplinary 
measures against 5,722 members of the police for transgressions, and 
charges were brought against 587 members of the police force.
    During the year the Government, together with the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other foreign 
governments, trained police, security, and border officials on 
combating terrorism, corruption, money laundering and trafficking.

    Arrest and Detention.--Arrests were generally based on warrants, 
although police were authorized to make arrests without a warrant in 
limited circumstances, including if there was a well-founded suspicion 
that a person had committed a capital crime. The law requires an 
investigating judge to approve any detention over 48 hours, and 
authorities respected this requirement in practice. Bail was allowed 
but rarely used; detainees facing charges that carried possible 
sentences of less than five years were often released on their own 
recognizance.
    The law provides that the police must inform arrested persons 
immediately of their rights. Unlike in previous years, no abuses of 
this provision were reported.
    The law provides access for detainees to counsel, at government 
expense if necessary, and this right was generally respected in 
practice. Family members were normally allowed to visit detainees. 
Suspects can be detained for up to six months without being charged.
    The law prohibits police use of force, threats, deception, and 
coercion to obtain evidence, as well as use in court of evidence 
acquired by such means; however, police sometimes used these means to 
obtain statements.
    Authorities were accused of using arbitrary arrest and selective 
enforcement of the law for political purposes. Some political analysts 
speculated that the arrest of commercial court President Goran 
Kljajevic was an example of selective prosecution, in order to put 
additional pressure on his brother, Marko Kljajevic, who resigned as 
presiding judge in the Djindjic trial soon after the arrest (see 
sections 1.a. and 3). Some analysts also argued that the timing of the 
Government's indictment for corruption and money laundering against 
tycoon Bogoljub Karic was also politically motivated (see section 3).
    The law limits the length of pretrial detention from indictment to 
the conclusion of a trial to two years for most cases, but allows 
detention for up to four years for crimes that carry up to the maximum 
penalty (40 years in prison). The law sets two years as the maximum 
detention permitted after an appellate court vacates the judgment of a 
trial court. Nonetheless, prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. 
The law prohibits excessive delays by authorities in filing formal 
charges against suspects and in opening investigations; however, such 
delays continued regularly. Due to the inefficiency of the courts, 
cases often took an excessively long time to come to trial, and once 
started, trials often took an excessively long time to complete (see 
section 1.e.).
    The law allows persons detained in connection with serious crimes 
to be held for up to six months before charges must be filed. 
Authorities frequently held such persons for the full six-month period 
before filing charges.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, the courts remained susceptible to 
corruption and political influence. The newly enacted constitution drew 
criticism for its provisions on the judiciary that make the appointment 
of judges and prosecutors subject to political screening. Corruption in 
the judiciary remained a problem. There were reports that government 
officials attempted to undermine politically sensitive prosecutions, 
including by applying pressure on prosecutors and judges.
    During the year former Supreme Court judge Slavoljub Vuckovic, 
arrested in September 2005, stood trial on charges of accepting a bribe 
in the Jotka organized crime case; on July 7, the court sentenced him 
to eight years in prison. Vuckovic appealed the verdict, and his appeal 
remained pending at year's end.
    During the year the trial of former deputy public prosecutor Milan 
Sarajlic resumed. Sarajlic had been charged with accepting payments 
from the Zemun organized crime clan in 2004; the trial was suspended in 
2004 due to Sarajlic's poor health. The trial remained ongoing at 
year's end.
    The private sector considered corruption in the commercial courts 
to be widespread. In addition land transfers often were extremely 
difficult, leading many in the private sector to allege administrative 
corruption.
    The courts were highly inefficient, and cases could take years to 
be resolved.
    The Serbian judicial system consists of municipal courts, district 
courts, a Supreme Court, and a Constitutional Court. In addition, the 
law provides for special courts for war crimes and organized crime; 
these were operational during the year within the Belgrade District 
Court. The Constitutional Court rules on the constitutionality of laws 
and regulations. While the law provides for an administrative appeals 
court and a second instance appeals court to reduce the Supreme Court's 
caseload, the National Assembly postponed the establishment of the 
courts until 2007.
    Since 2005, a special branch in each district court maintained 
responsibility for military cases.

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are generally public, but they are closed 
during testimony of a state-protected witness. There are no juries. The 
law provides that defendants are presumed innocent; have the right to 
have an attorney represent them at public expense, if needed; and to be 
present at their trials. Defendants have the right to access government 
evidence and question witnesses. Both the defense and the prosecution 
have the right to appeal a verdict. These rights were generally 
respected in practice.
    The special war crimes court continued trying war crimes cases. On 
May 18, the Supreme Court upheld the Belgrade district court's July 
2005 verdict in the Sjeverin war crimes case involving the torture and 
killing of 16 Muslims in 1992. The court confirmed the original 
conviction and sentencing of Dragutin Dragicevic, Oliver Krsmanovic, 
and ICTY indictee Milan Lukic to 20 years in prison, and Djordje Sevic 
to 15 years in prison.
    On July 5, the Belgrade special war crimes court began the main 
hearing in the case of five Scorpions members indicted for involvement 
in the 1995 execution of six Bosnian Muslim civilians from Srebrenica. 
The case was ongoing at year's end.
    On September 18, the special war crimes court convicted Anton Lekaj 
of war crimes and sentenced him to 13 years in prison for the 1999 
murder and torture of Roma in Kosovo during a wedding procession.
    The Supreme Court upheld the special war crimes court's March 2004 
conviction of Aleksandar Cvjetan, sentenced to 20 years in prison for 
the 1999 killing of 14 ethnic Albanians in Podujevo, Kosovo.
    The special war crimes court also continued the trial for the 
Zvornik case involving the 1992 eviction and killing of Bosnian 
Muslims.
    There were new developments in the Ovcara case (also known as the 
Vukovar massacre). On December 14, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial 
of 14 former members of Serb militias who had been convicted in 
December 2005 for murder, torture, and inhumane treatment of more than 
200 Croatian prisoners of war in 1991. Many in the international and 
NGO community criticized this decision as politically motivated, noting 
that every major war crimes conviction (e.g., Podujevo, Sjeverin, 
Ovcara) in a first-instance court had been overturned by the Supreme 
Court upon first review.
    In April the Belgrade district court dismissed the case of Dejan 
Demirovic after his extradition from Canada. Demirovic had been charged 
and tried in absentia for the Podujevo killings; however, the court 
found insufficient evidence to support his conviction.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has an 
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters where citizens can 
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights 
violation. The remedies generally involved monetary awards.

    Property Restitution.--During the year a government commission 
began preparing a register of claims for private property seized since 
1945, but it made no progress on enacting a private property 
restitution law or returning property. The Government enacted a law on 
restitution of communal property, but took no significant action to 
register claims or return communal property.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; 
however, the Government interfered with privacy and correspondence. 
While the law requires the interior ministry to obtain a court order 
before monitoring potential criminal activity and police to obtain a 
warrant before entering property except to save people or possessions, 
police occasionally did not respect these provisions in practice.
    Most observers believed that authorities selectively monitored 
communications, eavesdropped on conversations, read mail and e-mail, 
and tapped telephones. Human rights leaders frequently reported that 
their communications were being monitored.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, there were reports of government 
interference in these freedoms and carried out reprisals against 
persons who criticized the Government. In general, independent media 
organizations were active and expressed a wide range of views; however, 
some media organizations experienced threats or reprisals for 
publishing views critical of the Government. Many reporters lacked 
professionalism in citing sources and achieving accuracy.
    The media sector was mostly independent and privately owned. The 
oldest nationwide daily, Politika, was co-owned by a German company and 
the Government, but it was operated by several shareholding companies. 
During the year this daily took on an increasingly pro-government slant 
to its reporting and editorial policy. Other major newspapers include 
Blic, Glas Javnosti, Vecernje Novosti, Kurir, and Danas.
    Government-controlled Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) was a major 
presence, operating three television channels as well as a radio 
service. The Government had considerable influence, although not formal 
control, over other major television stations, including TV Politika 
and TV Novi Sad, as well as Radio Belgrade's three stations. In 
addition, many television stations relied on the state-owned news 
agency Tanjug for news information. While RTS's coverage was generally 
objective, there occasionally appeared to be a bias toward the 
Government.
    On October 11, controversial amendments to the broadcast law went 
into effect despite opposition from media groups and the OSCE. The law 
grants the Government the power to approve the budget of the 
independent broadcast council, gives this council broad authority to 
strip radio and television stations of their licenses without right of 
appeal, and sets higher fees for broadcasters.
    Media organizations, particularly the radio station B92, were 
victims of vandalism, bomb threats, and intimidation for coverage of 
views unpopular with the Government. The South East European Media 
Organization (SEEMO) reported a number of such incidents during the 
year. On July 25, Jahja Fehratovic, editor of the weekly Glas Sandjaka, 
received anonymous death threats over the phone. On August 13, Nikola 
Rumenic, correspondent for the weekly Svet, was physically assaulted 
and injured by two unidentified persons outside the Hotel Jugoslavija 
in Belgrade. On August 17, Dragan Zaric, journalist for Radio Stari 
Milanovac, was attacked by a knife-wielding masked man while moderating 
a radio program. On August 18, Slavica Jovanovic, a journalist from 
Macvanski Prnjavor, received a telephone death threat. Local police 
reportedly refused to allow Jovanovic to file an official complaint 
until the Journalists' Association of Serbia (US intervened on her 
behalf.
    On April 26, police shut down the republic's first private 
television station, BK Television, following a decision by the 
Government's broadcasting agency to temporarily suspend BK Television's 
license. The attorney for BK Television described the forceful entrance 
and shutdown of the station as illegal. The U.S. and the Association of 
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) described the move as arbitrary and 
constituting a threat to democracy and media freedom.
    On July 13, SEEMO reported that Jelena Antic, correspondent for the 
daily Dnevnik, was blocked by security officers from attending a press 
conference at the Ruma city hall, allegedly on the orders of 
municipality President Srdjan Nikolic.
    Libel is a criminal offense; those convicted of libel face 
imprisonment or fines of $552 to $13,800 (460 euros to 11,500 euros).
    On August 10, the municipal court in Prokuplje sentenced RTV 
Kursumlija senior editor Slavko Savic to four months' imprisonment for 
libel. The court found Savic guilty of broadcasting text messages 
written and sent in by viewers alleging that Slavko Ilic, a municipal 
official, had stolen a bottle of brandy from a store. ANEM and the 
Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the verdict as a violation 
of freedom of speech.
    Journalists sometimes practiced self-censorship due to possible 
libel suits and fear of offending public opinion, particularly on 
subjects relating to wars in the former Yugoslavia, on the Montenegrin 
referendum for independence, and on the UN-led negotiations on the 
future status of Kosovo. Human rights activists charged that they were 
subjects of smear campaigns in pro-government publications and tabloids 
for expressing critical views of the Government.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic email. 
However, there were reports that the Government selectively monitored 
Internet communications.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally 
respected academic freedom; although there were some reports of 
censorship of cultural events.
    In September police stopped an outdoor theater performance in Novi 
Sad when a Serbian Orthodox bishop complained that the actors were 
wearing priests' robes, and called the performance ``the work of the 
devil.'' A group of neo-Nazis from Zrenjanin disrupted the performance 
the next night.
    On November 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a request to 
organizers of a film festival that the film ``Summer Palace'' be 
``removed from the festival program bearing in mind our good bilateral 
relations [with China].'' The Chinese government had opposed the 
screening of this film, which featured footage of the 1989 events in 
Tiananmen Square. The festival organizers removed the film from the 
program. However, on December 1, Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic 
suspended Danica Bajic, the MFA employee who issued the request, saying 
that Bajic acted outside of her authority.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides 
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government usually 
respected it in practice. Unlike in previous years, there were no 
reports that authorities impeded public protests.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, 
the Serbian government adopted a discriminatory law on religion and 
maintained a discriminatory property tax.
    While there is no state religion, the majority Serbian Orthodox 
Church received some preferential treatment. For example, the military 
continued to offer only Serbian Orthodox services, although it allowed 
members of other faiths to attend religious services outside their 
posts. There were also complaints that the Serbian government continued 
to fund construction of a large Serbian Orthodox Church. The Serbian 
government subsidized salaries of Serbian Orthodox clergy in regions 
outside Serbia.
    In April the Government adopted a problematic law on religion.
    It recognizes seven ``traditional'' religious communities: the 
Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Slovak 
Evangelical Church, the Reformed Christian Church, the Evangelical 
Christian Church, the Islamic community, and the Jewish community. The 
law requires all other religious groups to reregister with the Ministry 
of Religion, which has the discretion to decide whether to grant 
approval. Many of these minority groups had been recognized officially 
as religions in Serbia for over 50 years, and were present in the 
republic for as long as 150 years.
    The registration requirements, deemed invasive by the Council of 
Europe and the OSCE, include submitting names, identity numbers, and 
signatures of members; showing proof that the group meets the threshold 
of 0.001 percent of adult citizens of Serbia (roughly 65 persons); 
providing a description of the group's religious texts and a summary of 
its religious teachings, ceremonies, religious goals, and basic 
activities; and information on its sources of funding.
    Serbian tax law exempts property owned by the seven recognized 
traditional religious groups, although a challenge to the law was 
pending in the Constitutional Court at the end of the reporting period. 
The complaint was filed on July 21 on behalf of the Union of 
Protestant-Evangelical Churches in Serbia.
    Non-Serbian Orthodox religious organizations continued to report 
difficulty obtaining permission from local authorities in Serbia to 
build new worship facilities. The Belgrade Islamic community reported 
continued difficulties in acquiring land and government approval for an 
Islamic cemetery in the city. In August Minister of Religion Milan 
Radulovic stated that the Montenegrin Orthodox Church could not build 
churches in Serbia.
    Serbian law requires students in primary and secondary schools 
either to attend classes of one of the seven traditional religious 
communities or, alternatively, to take a class in civic education. 
Leaders of religions groups excluded from the program continued to 
express their dissatisfaction at the Government's narrow definition of 
religion.
    The Government enacted a law on restitution of communal property in 
Serbia, including religious sites seized since 1945, but took no 
significant action to register claims or return church property.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religious communities 
reported continuing problems with vandalism of buildings, cemeteries, 
and other religious sites, although the number of such incidents 
declined from previous years. There were a few cases of verbal and 
physical attacks against religious minorities. The police response was 
often inadequate, and civil society groups criticized the lack of 
commitment by the Government to addressing problems of discrimination.
    Unknown attackers broke stained glass windows of Catholic churches 
in Smederevo, Kragujevac, and Bor several times during the year. The 
Seventh-day Adventists reported that vandalism and arson attacks on 
their churches were too frequent to count. Vandals damaged tombstones 
in the Slovak Evangelical-Lutheran graveyard in Dobanovci and in the 
Catholic graveyard in Temerin. In all of these cases, police were 
unable to identify the attackers.
    On February 15, a man in Mladenovac locked two members of Jehovah's 
Witnesses inside a building, destroyed their literature, and tried to 
drag them into a cellar. One of them escaped and called the police, who 
rescued the other and arrested the man. On February 20, in the Zemun 
district of Belgrade, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses was beaten on the 
head by a third party while sharing his beliefs with a family. Police 
arrested the attacker, and the family testified as witnesses in the 
court case.
    On June 17, a Hare Krishna devotee from Jagodina, Zivota Milanovic, 
was attacked in the doorway of his home. Jagodina hospital treated him 
for knife wounds and a cross carved on his head. Milanovic had been 
attacked previously in July 2005; authorities made no arrests for 
either attack.
    In October the Nis mosque was attacked and vandalized for the 
fourth time. Local police arrested four suspects, but refused a request 
to post a permanent police presence in front of the mosque to prevent 
future attacks.
    In March the district court in Sabac began hearing a case against 
four men who tried to blackmail a member of Jehovah's Witnesses in 
Loznica in 2004. On May 8, frustrated by officials' failure to take 
action after an arson attack in 1999, the Jehovah's Witnesses filed 
suit against the Government.
    On November 9, a Novi Sad court found members of the nationalist, 
far-right hate group National Front guilty of inciting ethnic, racial, 
and religious hatred and intolerance for disrupting an anti-Fascist 
seminar at Novi Sad University in 2004, harassing and slapping 
participants. The organization's leader, Goran Davidovic, was sentenced 
to one year in prison, and member Miodrag Stefanovic was sentenced to 
six months. Two other members were sentenced to three and four months 
in prison, while 11 others received suspended sentences of four months 
for the criminal act of endangering the safety of others.
    During the span of three days from December 16 to 19, unidentified 
attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the offices of the Evangelical 
church in Kraljevo, and threw stones at the Baptist church and the Holy 
Spirit Catholic church in Novi Sad. President Tadic publicly condemned 
the attacks and called on authorities to find the perpetrators; the 
investigations were ongoing at year's end.
    The Jewish community had between 2,000 and 3,000 persons. Jewish 
leaders in Serbia reported continued incidents of anti-Semitism, 
including anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalism, small circulation anti-
Semitic books, and Internet postings. HCS reported in November that 
anti-Semitism had grown in intensity in recent years. HCS noted that in 
recent years, Serbia's publishing sector published various anti-Semitic 
books, with titles such as Jewish Ritual Murder, The Jewish Conspiracy, 
and Why I Admire Adolf Hitler. According to Jewish community members, 
the release of such publications often led to an increase in hate mail 
and other expressions of anti-Semitism. Several nationalist, far-right 
organizations identified themselves with anti-Semitic rhetoric, 
displaying swastikas and using hate speech. The National Front was one 
of the most active of these groups during the past few years, mixing 
anti-Semitic rhetoric with anti-Western messages. HCS noted in November 
that the Government's response to such hate speech was often 
inadequate.
    On February 12, graffiti appeared on a monument in Nis saying 
``Holocaust--the Jewish lie that governs the world,'' along with 
nationalistic slogans such as ``Serbia for the Serbs.''
    In late August a group of skinheads reportedly wearing Nazi symbols 
beat two Israeli tourists. One victim reported that the group was 
chanting ``Auschwitz, Auschwitz.'' At year's end, no one had been 
charged in connection with this beating.
    In 2005 the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia reported 
receiving increased levels of hate mail saying that, ``Jews should 
leave Serbia.'' In addition, a list of prominent Serbian Jews was 
posted on the website of a neo-Nazi organization alongside messages 
posted by site visitors calling for them to be killed.
    Teaching of the Holocaust is incorporated into the Serbian school 
curriculum, and the role of the Serbian government during that period 
is also discussed. However, there was a tendency among some 
commentators to minimize and reinterpret the role of Serbian leaders 
during the Holocaust, casting them as victims of foreign occupiers when 
in fact many leaders of that time collaborated with the Nazis and began 
campaigns against the Jewish population even before the Nazis invaded 
Yugoslavia.
    While government leaders publicly condemned incidents of anti-
Semitism, there was no significant government effort in 2006 to prevent 
such intolerance and hate speech.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits 
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to official figures 
of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 
approximately 207,000 IDPs resided in Serbia, mainly Serbs, Roma, and 
Bosniaks who left Kosovo as a result of the events of 1999. 
Approximately 6,700 IDPs remained in collective centers. Although the 
Government closed several of the collective centers that were least 
habitable, many IDPs remained in minimally habitable facilities that 
were constructed as temporary accommodations, rather than for long-term 
occupancy.
    The Government continued to pay salaries to IDPs who were in the 
Kosovar government and state-owned enterprises before June 1999. By 
law, to obtain permanent resident status in Serbia, IDPs from Kosovo 
must deregister from their previous address in Kosovo. Without 
registering at a permanent address in Serbia, IDPs were unable to 
acquire local identification documents and are thus unable to obtain 
access to health insurance, social welfare, and public schools.
    During the year the Government signed and parliament ratified 15 
bilateral readmission agreements to accept the return of failed asylum 
seekers, unsuccessful migrants, and persons without legal residency 
(primarily, Roma). Estimates of the number of unsuccessful asylum 
seekers and illegal immigrants from Serbia residing in the countries 
covered under the agreements ranged from 30,000 to 200,000, with an 
additional 120,000 asylum seekers originally from Kosovo. The 
Government agreed to accept the forced returnees without stipulating a 
timetable for their return. The ICRC, piloting a project to assist 
repatriated returnees, opened an office in the Belgrade airport, but 
the office closed after about three months due to lack of funding.
    The UNHCR estimated that there were 40,000 to 45,000 displaced Roma 
living in Serbia proper; half of those were not registered due to lack 
of documents. Many Kosovar Roma were perceived to be Serb collaborators 
during the conflict in Kosovo and could not safely return there. Living 
conditions for Roma in Serbia were extremely poor. Local municipalities 
often were reluctant to accommodate them, hoping that, if they failed 
to provide shelter, the Roma would leave the community (see section 5). 
If Roma did settle, it was often in official collective centers with 
minimum amenities or, more often, in makeshift camps in or near major 
cities or towns.
    There were sporadic incidents of attacks and vandalism against 
IDPs, particularly members of Romani communities (see section 5).

    Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting 
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, despite the 
fact that Serbia is a signatory to both. The Government has not passed 
legislation or established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The law does not protect individuals from forcible return to 
a country where they have a credible fear of persecution, and there was 
no information available on whether authorities, in fact, turned such 
individuals away at borders.
    UNHCR maintained an office at the airport to receive third-country 
asylum seekers, including those who entered the country via other ports 
of entry. UNHCR conducted refugee status determinations in accordance 
with the UN Convention and the organization's mandate. By tacit 
agreement, the Government tolerated UNHCR status determinations, 
neither expelling individuals whom UNHCR determined to be refugees, nor 
according them any opportunity for integration. UNHCR opened 42 cases 
for third-country nationals over the course of the year. Of these, 25 
Iraqis received temporary UNHCR protection, without full refugee status 
determinations. The UNHCR rejected 12 applicants and closed five cases 
without completing the determination (in most instances because the 
applicants departed Serbia). Fifty-five individuals remained under 
UNHCR protection at year's end.
    UNHCR, with consent of the Government, completed construction of an 
asylum center for receiving and sheltering asylum seekers, but the 
facility was not in use at year's end.
    The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian 
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Under the 1992 
Decree on Refugees, the Government provided temporary protection to 
individuals from former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (SFRY) who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 
Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The Government and UNHCR estimated 
that 104,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina resided 
in Serbia.
    The Government, with UNHCR support, closed several collective 
centers, in a few cases transferring individuals in need of special 
care to other appropriate institutions. Approximately 3,600 refugees 
remained in 125 collective centers, either official or unrecognized, in 
the country at year's end.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
    In a May 21 referendum in Montenegro, 55.5 percent of voters 
supported independence from the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. 
International monitors deemed the referendum in line with OSCE and 
Council of Europe commitments and other international standards for 
democratic electoral process, and the Serbian government accepted the 
results. Following the referendum, Serbian authorities began working on 
the dissolution of the state union and reassigning state union 
responsibilities to the republic level.

    Elections and Political Participation.--At year's end, political 
parties were preparing for parliamentary elections to be held in 
January 2007.
    The country held a referendum on a constitution on October 28-29. 
Several human rights groups criticized the parliament for passing the 
draft without adequate public debate, and some called for a boycott of 
the referendum. Many also criticized the substance of the document in 
several areas: it claims Kosovo as a part of the country's territory, 
although Kosovo Albanians were excluded from voting in the referendum; 
it does not clarify or enhance Vojvodina's regional autonomy; and it 
leaves the appointment of judges and prosecutors subject to political 
screening.
    According to the election commission, turnout at the referendum was 
54.91 percent, and 53.04 percent of voters supported the new 
constitution. Turnout was particularly low in Vojvodina (45.9 percent), 
and the Center for Free Elections and Democracy estimated ethnic 
Hungarian turnout was only 14 percent. Several human rights groups 
charged that there were irregularities in the referendum results, 
including lax control of voting lists and inconsistent identification 
checks.
    Parliament approved the constitution and it entered into legal 
effect on November 13.
    An OSCE and Council of Europe election observation mission reported 
that the June 2004 Serbian republic Presidential elections were 
peaceful and conducted essentially in line with international 
standards. Problems noted by the mission included lack of a central 
voter register, lack of facilities for eligible voters living in 
Montenegro, and evidence of some degree of disenfranchisement in the 
Romani community. Voting took place in Kosovo, where 97,000 voters were 
registered; however, restrictions on movement hindered the ability of 
ethnic Serbs to vote, while the ethnic Albanian population, with very 
few exceptions, did not participate in the election, even in areas 
where some were on the voter lists.
    There were 24 women in the 250-seat parliament and a female deputy 
prime minister. There were no women in the 16-member cabinet. In 
September the Government amended the law on elections of members of 
parliament to require parties' election lists to include at least 30 
percent women.
    There were 11 members of minorities in the 250-seat parliament and 
no members of minorities in the 16-member cabinet.
    The constitution and law exempts ethnically based parties from the 
5 percent threshold required for a political party to enter parliament. 
Roma continued their historical pattern of low voter turnout. Local 
ethnic Albanian leaders in southern Serbia boycotted national elections 
notwithstanding their active involvement in local governance.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception of government corruption at all levels. Recent polls 
indicated that a majority of citizens believed that government 
corruption was a major problem.
    Government authorities were inconsistent in their approach to 
official corruption. Investigations often appeared to be politically 
motivated, and there were numerous examples of authorities failing to 
act in response to detailed reports of suspected corruption involving a 
wide range of officials. Media reporting of corruption was often 
sensationalist.
    On January 11, police arrested Dejan Simic, former vice governor of 
the National Bank of Serbia, and Vladimir Zagradjanin, director of the 
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and charged them with involvement in 
bribery. Simic allegedly accepted a suitcase containing the equivalent 
of $125,000 cash in his apartment in exchange for agreeing to register 
the Credit Export Bank.
    In February Serbian police issued a warrant for Bogoljub Karic, 
head of the Power of Serbia Movement party, after he failed to appear 
in court for questioning. Karic faced charges of tax evasion, 
mismanagement of millions of dollars, and money laundering while he was 
owner of the telecommunications company Mobtel. Some political 
commentators speculated that, while the charges against Karic appeared 
justified, the timing of this crackdown on Karic's business dealings 
may have been politically motivated. The warrant came shortly after 
Karic's party formed a new parliamentary caucus that many believed 
would shake the delicate balance of the governing coalition and spark a 
parliamentary crisis.
    On April 15, police arrested nine persons suspected of operating a 
lucrative scam in which the commercial court would declare enterprises 
bankrupt, and the Postal Savings Bank would then provide cheap loans to 
favored businessmen to buy the enterprise's assets at a below-market 
price. Several public officials were among the nine arrested, including 
Goran Kljajevic, President of the commercial court in Belgrade; the 
directors of the Postal Savings Bank and Kreditna Eksportna Banka; 
businessmen; and an official from the interior ministry. The suspects 
remained in pre-trial detention at year's end.
    On October 7, police arrested deputy public prosecutor Milorad 
Cvijovic under suspicion of unauthorized appropriation of a court 
document from the archives of the state prosecutor's office in 2005 in 
order to influence proceedings in a specific commercial case.
    The trial of former minister of defense Prvoslav Davinic, charged 
with facilitating apartment leases for his bodyguards, was under way at 
year's end.
    The Government's implementation of the November 2004 access to 
information law continued to be slow, and the Government generally did 
not provide access in practice. The law provides for public access to 
information of ``legitimate public importance'' (with many exceptions) 
and establishes an independent commissioner, selected by the Serbian 
parliament, to handle appeals when government agencies reject requests 
for information. According to a September 2005 report by Transparency 
International, about 60 percent of local institutions, and 
approximately one-third of national institutions, were failing to 
fulfill their obligations under the access to information law. NGOs 
reported that their requests for information from the Government 
frequently went unanswered.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of independent domestic and international human rights 
groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating 
and publishing their findings on human rights cases. However, these 
groups were often subjects of harassment, threats, and libel suits for 
expressing views critical of the Government. Prominent human rights 
groups included HCS, HLC, the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights 
(YUCOM), the Fund for an Open Society, YIHR, and the Belgrade Center 
for Human Rights.
    Some NGO workers were threatened and attacked, primarily through 
media campaigns demonizing them and publication of personal 
information, such as their ethnic backgrounds and addresses. On 
September 3, HLC Director Natasa Kandic was exiting TV B92's studio 
when witnesses heard several shots. Police determined that the sounds 
were caused by firecrackers, but human rights groups asserted they were 
meant to intimidate Kandic. Several publications, including Politika, 
NIN, and Kurir, attacked Kandic as well as YUCOM director Biljana 
Kovacevic-Vuco and HCS Director Sonja Biserko for their outspoken views 
on Kosovo and Serbian responsibility for war crimes of the 1990s.
    In March HCS issued a report on the targeting of human rights 
defenders in Serbia. While praising some positive legal developments, 
the report criticized the Government's failure to denounce more 
forcefully verbal and physical attacks against human rights defenders, 
as well as continued media campaigns aimed at discrediting local human 
rights advocates. This report followed a November 2005 report by 
Amnesty International, which found that NGOs had been subjected to 
repeated and apparently systematic intimidation. The report also found 
that prominent human rights advocates, including Natasa Kandic, Biljana 
Kovacevic-Vuco, Sonja Biserko, and Stasa Zajovic of the Women in Black 
antiwar organization, were targets of a media campaign aimed at 
discrediting human rights defenders.
    In 2005 the Government announced that it would establish a new 
ombudsman's office in Belgrade; however, it failed to do so by the 
legislated deadline of March 2006. The city of Kragujevac's ombudsman, 
Milan Petkovic, announced his resignation in May, citing political 
pressure and harassment from city assembly officials. Vojvodina 
Province had an ombudsman, who operated independently during the year.
    During the year the Government made little progress in cooperating 
with the ICTY to apprehend and bring to justice the six remaining 
fugitives indicted by ICTY. Two of ICTY's most wanted war crimes 
suspects with links to Serbia, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, 
remained at large. In July, the Government announced a six-point action 
plan for ICTY cooperation and appointed special war crimes prosecutor 
Vladimir Vukcevic and the head of Serbia's National Council for Co-
operation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, to oversee the plan's 
implementation. In October, following a visit to Belgrade, ICTY Chief 
Prosecutor Carla del Ponte stated publicly that government authorities 
had made little or no progress in implementing the action plan.
    While the constitution prohibits the extradition of any person with 
Serbian citizenship, and this prohibition was applied in practice, the 
law allows for an exception in cases of extradition of citizens to the 
ICTY. During the year there were no such extraditions conducted.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination 
against women and ethnic minorities as well as trafficking in persons 
and violence against women and children were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women was a problem, and high levels of 
domestic violence persisted. The Serbian Victimology Society reported 
in July that one-third of women have been victims of physical violence, 
and half of women have been victims of psychological violence.
    Domestic violence is a crime punishable by a prison sentence of six 
months to 10 years, depending on the seriousness of the offense, and a 
minimum of 10 years if death results. Such cases were difficult to 
prosecute due to lack of witnesses and evidence, as well as 
unwillingness of witnesses or victims to come forward. In a World 
Health Organization study of Serbian women released during the year, 
two-thirds of physically abused women reported that they did not seek 
help because they thought such abuse was normal or not serious. The few 
official agencies dedicated to coping with family violence had 
inadequate resources.
    In 2003 there were approximately 6,000 reported cases of domestic 
violence in Serbia. According to the Magistrates Association of Serbia 
(MAS), however, domestic violence was significantly underreported, and 
the problem was widespread and usually long-lasting. Violence 
frequently became a way of life in a country where contributing factors 
such as financial dependence, cramped living quarters (multi-family 
living arrangements were common), and the lack of support from extended 
family were prevalent. During the year, MAS participated in a series of 
seminars and training sessions for magistrates to adjudicate domestic 
violence cases.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is punishable by one year to the 
legal maximum sentence (40 years' imprisonment) for a simple case, a 
minimum of three years for an aggravated case, and a minimum of five 
years if death results or the victim is a minor. Only a small 
proportion of rapes were reported because victims feared that they 
would not be protected, that their attackers would take revenge, or 
that they would be humiliated in court. Few spousal rape victims filed 
complaints with authorities. Women's groups reported that sentences 
were often too lenient.
    The Center for Autonomous Women's Rights in Belgrade offered a rape 
and spousal abuse hotline, and sponsored a number of self-help groups. 
The center also offered assistance to refugee women (mostly Serb), many 
of whom experienced extreme abuse or rape during the conflicts in the 
former Yugoslavia. The Counseling Center Against Family Violence 
operated a domestic violence shelter partly funded by the Government.
    Prostitution is illegal, although being a client of a prostitute is 
not a criminal offense.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation 
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment was a common problem, but public awareness of it 
remained low and few complaints were filed during the year. The law 
provides that sexual harassment is a crime punishable by up to six 
months' imprisonment for a simple case and up to one year's 
imprisonment for abuse of a subordinate or dependent.
    Women have the same legal rights as men, including under family 
law, property law, and in the judicial system and these rights were 
generally enforced in practice. The Government has a council for gender 
equality, which worked during the year with NGOs in raising public 
awareness of gender equality issues. The Vojvodina government also has 
a secretariat for labor, employment, and gender equality. The OSCE 
mission to Serbia helped to establish bodies in charge of gender 
equality in more than 30 municipalities.
    Traditional views of gender roles, particularly in rural areas, 
resulted in discrimination against women. In remote rural areas, 
particularly among some minority communities, women could not 
effectively exercise their right to control property. In rural areas 
and some minority communities, it was common for husbands to direct the 
voting of wives.
    The social status of women was generally considered inferior to 
that of men, and women were not well represented in commerce. Women 
were legally entitled to equal pay for equal work; however, according 
to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, women's 
average wage was 11 percent lower than that of men.

    Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare 
of children. The educational system provided nine years of free, 
mandatory schooling. However, ethnic prejudice, cultural norms, and 
economic distress discouraged some children, particularly Roma, from 
attending school. One government survey found that approximately 99.8 
percent of children attended school; however, the Government 
acknowledged that the survey missed many transient Roma.
    Romani education remained a problem. Many Romani children did not 
attend primary school, either for family reasons, because they were 
judged by school administrators to be unqualified, or because of 
societal prejudice. Due to the lack of primary schooling, many Romani 
children did not learn to speak Serbian. Some Romani children were 
placed mistakenly in schools for children with emotional disabilities 
because the Romani language and cultural norms made it difficult for 
them to succeed on standardized tests in Serbian. The UNHCR, with 
government support, conducted health education programs for Roma and 
pre-school programs for Romani children.
    Free medical care was available in government clinics, including 
free medicines from a limited list of covered drugs. Boys and girls had 
equal access to medical care.
    Child abuse was a problem. While teachers were instructed to report 
suspected child abuse cases, they often did not do so. Police generally 
responded to complaints, and prosecutions of child abuse cases occurred 
during the year. Psychological and legal assistance was available for 
victims, and there was an incest trauma center.
    Child marriage was a problem in some communities, particularly 
among Roma and in rural areas of southern and eastern Serbia. In the 
Romani community, boys and girls generally married between the ages of 
14 and 18, with 16 as the average, and boys generally married a few 
years later than girls. Child marriage was most common among Muslim 
Roma, most of whom came from Kosovo and were living in other parts of 
the country as IDPs.
    Trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation 
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking). Some Romani children 
were trafficked within the Romani community and to Roma abroad for 
exploitation in begging and theft rings.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, trafficking in persons through and, to a lesser extent, to and 
from the country (excluding Kosovo) remained a problem.
    Serbia was a transit point, and to a lesser extent a point of 
origin and destination, for trafficking in women and minors for the 
purpose of sexual exploitation. Serbia was primarily a transit point 
for internationally trafficked women going to other Balkan countries 
and Western Europe. Eastern European countries were the primary source 
countries for persons trafficked to and through Serbia. NGOs reported 
an increase in minor victims and male victims.
    While Serbia was not traditionally a major source for trafficked 
women, the number of Serbian victims increased compared to foreign 
nationals. In March the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy 
and the NGO Children's Rights Center released results of a survey that 
showed Roma children, children from poor, rural communities and foster 
families were at the highest risk for child labor abuse, including 
begging, theft, prostitution, dealing narcotics and hard physical 
labor.
    Traffickers recruited victims through enticements including 
advertisements for escorts, marriage offers, and offers of employment. 
Some women went to work as prostitutes knowingly and only later became 
trafficking victims. In many cases international organized crime 
networks recruited, transported, sold, and controlled victims. 
Authorities reported increased use of the Internet as a method of 
recruiting victims.
    The new criminal code, which took effect January 1, differentiates 
between trafficking and smuggling. The penalty for trafficking in 
persons is two to 10 years in prison; for trafficking minors, the 
penalty is a minimum of three years; if the act of trafficking resulted 
in death, the penalty is a minimum of 10 years; if it involved serious 
physical injury, the penalty is three to 15 years; if there were 
multiple acts of trafficking or if perpetrated by an organized group, 
the penalty is a minimum of five years.
    Authorities uncovered several international trafficking rings, 
including those with connections to China, Turkey, Italy, Albania, and 
Bulgaria. The Government's prosecution of some trafficking cases became 
more effective, particularly in cases of organized crime. On March 2, 
the Supreme Court ruled on the high-profile ``Zarubica'' case, 
sentencing Stanko Savanovic to five years in prison, Milivoje Zarubica 
to four and a half years, Milovan Miletic to three years, Zvezdan 
Stankovic to two years, and three others to eight to ten months. The 
verdict reflected increased sentences from the 2004 ruling and ordered 
the defendants to cover the trial costs. While some major trafficking 
cases proceeded quickly, others languished in Serbian courts.
    During the year authorities filed 34 criminal charges against 77 
persons for trafficking. Antitrafficking groups worked with 56 
trafficking victims and received 1,775 telephone calls on an assistance 
hotline for victims.
    Government antitrafficking efforts were led by an antitrafficking 
coordinator who was the chief of the border police and incorporated 
government agencies, NGOs, and international organizations. The 
Government assisted in international investigations of human 
trafficking and participated in regional antitrafficking operations.
    The Government offered temporary resident visas and shelter to 
victims who agreed to testify against their traffickers, provided 
victim and witness protection, and did not prosecute victims.
    The Government's agency for coordination of protection to victims 
worked to ensure that trafficking victims were correctly identified and 
referred to assistance providers. Separate shelters for domestic and 
foreign trafficking victims operated during the year. The NGO Astra 
operated a hotline for trafficking victims. NGOs and volunteers 
provided legal, medical, psychological, and other assistance to 
victims. In August the NGO Atina launched a reintegration program for 
victims of sexual exploitation.
    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) managed 
repatriation of foreign victims and assisted in the reintegration of 
local victims. The IOM also ran a regional clearing center for 
information on trafficking victims. There were numerous training 
programs, including training for hotline volunteers, shelters, social 
welfare officers, and police.
    Government and NGO public awareness efforts to combat trafficking 
included conferences on trafficking, documentary films and public 
service announcements shown across Serbia, and school outreach 
programs. NGOs continued to organize and fund the majority of Serbia's 
public information campaigns.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state 
services, and the Government generally enforced the law. There were no 
reports of discrimination against persons with physical or mental 
disabilities; however, facilities for their education and care were 
nonexistent or inadequate, and the Government did not address the 
problem. A high unemployment rate and lack of accommodations made it 
difficult for persons with disabilities to obtain employment.
    The law mandates access for persons with disabilities to new public 
buildings, and the Government generally enforced this provision in 
practice.
    During the year, several government and municipal authorities took 
steps to increase access to public facilities for persons with 
disabilities. In July the Belgrade public transport system adopted a 
policy to allow guide dogs on all public transportation.
    Unemployment remained a serious problem for persons with 
disabilities. A study released by the Center for Development of 
Inclusion and the Center for Study of Alternatives found that 87 
percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed, while 70 percent 
lived in poverty. The study also found that a greater percentage of 
women with disabilities were dependent on public assistance compared to 
men with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities constituted 25 to 30 
percent of Serbia's population and included Hungarians, Bosniaks, Roma, 
Slovaks, Romanians, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Croats, Albanians, and others.
    Although not widespread, there continued to be incidents of 
vandalism and some physical attacks against minorities. The number of 
incidents against ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina decreased compared 
with 2004 and 2005, and minority leaders there reported that the 
situation was calm. Vojvodina and Serbian government officials 
continued implementation of a 10-point strategy, agreed upon in 2005, 
for improving ethnic relations in the province, including education 
programs, public awareness campaigns, and greater representation of 
minorities in the police and judiciary.
    Many voters in Vojvodina objected to the new constitution, and some 
Vojvodina leaders called for a boycott on the referendum. While the 
constitution ostensibly gives Vojvodina a larger portion of its tax 
revenue than the province previously received, it also further limits 
its autonomy. Only 48 percent of the Vojvodina electorate voted in the 
referendum on the constitution, and only 14 percent of ethnic 
Hungarians participated.
    Ethnic Albanian leaders of the southern municipalities of Presevo, 
Bujanovac, and Medvedja continued to complain about the under-
representation of ethnic Albanians in government structures, and 
lobbied for greater political autonomy for predominantly ethnic 
Albanian areas. In October leaders of the Party for Democratic Action, 
one of the largest ethnic Albanian political parties, called on members 
to boycott the constitutional referendum.
    In August the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Nedzat Beljuli, an 
ethnic Albanian who had alleged that the Ministry of Economy and 
Privatization had disqualified his 2004 bid on a public company on 
ethnic grounds.
    Roma continued to be targets of numerous incidents of police 
violence, verbal and physical harassment from ordinary citizens, and 
societal discrimination. The UN Development Program's social 
vulnerability report, released in July, found that the Romani 
population continued to live in conditions of extreme poverty with 
limited access to education and healthcare. The report noted that the 
situation of Roma in the country remained largely unchanged since aid 
efforts began.
    On February 24, a dozen men attacked the Romani settlement of 
Beograd Mahala in Nis, breaking windows, throwing stones, and shouting, 
``Gypsies, you are dead.'' Police arrested nine people but released 
them without charges since they were minors. The Minority Rights Center 
filed criminal charges against the perpetrators for inciting ethnic, 
racial and religious hatred and intolerance.
    In June the Minority Rights Center filed criminal charges against 
police officers Toncika Jeres, Goran Kukuska, and Mirko Kecman in the 
Municipal Court Novi Knezevac for abusing a Roma man, Mladen Mikluc on 
several occasions between May 15 and June 2. Mikluc said the officers 
refused to come to his aid when he tried to report that a man (Stevica 
Brzak) was beating him with a baseball bat; when Mikluc went to the 
police station, the officers and Brzak beat him again.
    On November 15, two underage suspects allegedly harassed an 18-
year-old Roma youth, pushed him off a public bus and then beat him. 
Police charged the two suspects with inciting ethnic, racial, and 
religious hatred and intolerance.
    The HLC reported that on August 31, Kosta Brzak, Slobodan Pantelic, 
and several unidentified persons physically and verbally assaulted 
three Romani men (Seljatim, Besim, and Ljumni Kolovati) at a Novi Sad 
flea market. At year's end misdemeanor criminal charges were pending 
against Brzak and Pantelic.
    On July 7, the Belgrade district court upheld a February 28 
municipal court judgment ordering the Government to pay approximately 
$8,100 (485,000 dinars) compensation to Masimo Marinkovic, a 30-year-
old Romani man who was shot by Vladimir Bonifacic, an off-duty employee 
of the Ministry of Interior in 1998. The municipal court held the 
Government responsible in the case because Bonifacic was a government 
employee who had used his service weapon while off duty.
    On March 8, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision regarding a 2000 incident in 
which a Romani man was denied entry to a Belgrade discotheque. CERD 
found that the Government failed to adequately investigate the 
petitioner's claim and recommended that the Government provide 
compensation to the petitioner and take measures to ensure that the 
police, public prosecutors, and courts properly investigate future 
complaints of racial discrimination.
    Many Roma, including IDPs from Kosovo, lived illegally in squatter 
settlements that lacked basic services such as schools, medical care, 
water, and sewage facilities. Some settlements were located on valuable 
industrial or commercial sites where private owners wanted to resume 
control; others were on the premises of state-owned enterprises due to 
be privatized. During the year Belgrade authorities continued to 
suspend demolition of one settlement on privatized land until they 
could locate alternative housing for Roma living there.
    During the year the City of Belgrade abandoned plans to construct 
an apartment complex for Roma in New Belgrade due to protests by 
residents near the prospective site. Residents of Block 45 in New 
Belgrade blocked traffic for several days and shouted slogans such as 
``we don't want the Gypsies.''
    Rivalries between Bosniak political parties in the predominantly 
Bosniak city of Novi Pazar led to at least one outbreak of low level 
violence during the year. On April 7, Minister for Local Administration 
Zoran Loncar dissolved Novi Pazar's democratically elected assembly, 
sparking fights and some reported assaults.
    To address concerns of minorities, the Government operated a 
hotline for minorities and others concerned about human rights 
problems. The Government also sponsored school programs to educate 
children about minority cultures and to promote tolerance.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Violence and 
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. Some NGOs reported 
that homosexuals were denied equal opportunities in education and 
employment. A survey by the Youth Initiatives for Human Rights 
indicated that lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons 
experienced widespread threats, hate speech, verbal assault, and 
physical violence.
    Although the broadcasting law prohibits discrimination on the 
grounds of sexual orientation, the media carried slurs against 
homosexuals. On February 26, a high ranking official of the SPS called 
homosexuality a ``social pathology'' and ``something especially 
decadent,'' and indicated that gays and lesbians should not be allowed 
in the diplomatic service.
    In a poll released during the year by lesbian rights organization 
Labris, 65 percent of homosexual respondents claimed they had 
experienced violence due to their sexual orientation. Only ten percent 
of respondents had reported this violence to the police.
    The new criminal code, which entered into force on January 1, 
included a provision equalizing the age of consent for all types of 
sexual contact. The previous law maintained a higher age of consent for 
homosexual sex (18) than for heterosexual sex (14). Under the new law, 
the age of consent for all types of sexual contact is 14. Activists had 
complained that the old law unfairly discriminated against the 
homosexual community.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law and constitution provide the 
right for workers, except military and police personnel, to join or 
form unions of their choosing, subject to restrictions, including 
approval by the Ministry of Labor and a statement from the employer 
that the union leader is a full-time employee, which reportedly was 
tantamount to an employer approval requirement. A state-affiliated 
trade union federation dominated organized labor, due to preference for 
unions belonging to it by the managements of the state-owned industries 
that dominated the economy. Smaller federations of independent trade 
unions competed with the government-affiliated federation, but were 
successful in doing so primarily in the relatively small proportion of 
the formal nonagricultural economy that is not state-owned. In the 
state-owned sector, 60 to 70 percent of workers belonged to unions. In 
the private sector, only four to six percent were unionized, and in 
agriculture approximately three percent.
    The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but it was not 
a significant problem during the year.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law and 
constitution allow unions to conduct their activities without 
interference, and the Government protected this right in practice. The 
law protects the right to organize and bargain collectively, and it was 
exercised freely in practice. The new labor law implemented in March 
2005 requires collective bargaining agreements for any company with 
more than 10 employees. However, in order to negotiate with an 
employer, a union must have 15 percent of company employees as members. 
In order to negotiate with the Government, a union must have 10 percent 
of all workforce employees as members. Wage arrears were reported to be 
substantial and widespread. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce 
was covered by collective bargaining agreements.
    The law and constitution provide for the right to strike except by 
persons providing essential services such as education, electric power, 
and postal service. These employees constitute approximately 50 percent 
of the workforce and must announce planned strikes at least 15 days in 
advance and ensure that a ``minimum level of work'' is provided. 
Workers exercised the right to strike.
    Serbia continued to lack a general collective agreement since the 
previous agreement expired in September 2005. Two representative trade 
unions (Independence and the Confederation of the Autonomous Trade 
Unions of Serbia) held over three months of negotiations over a new 
agreement with members of the Union of Employers. An agreement was 
reached but never enacted because the Union of Employers' managing 
board refused to sign it. In the absence of a general collective 
agreement, branch and local agreements can be signed based on 
provisions in the labor law. In the event that there is no union 
representation at a company, the employer is obligated to set minimum 
labor standards based on the labor law.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law and 
constitution prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by 
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see 
sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws protecting children from 
exploitation in the workforce. The minimum age for employment is 15, 
and written parental or guardian permission is needed for employees 
under 18 years of age. The Labor Law stipulates very specific 
conditions in which young workers can work and caps the number of work 
hours at 35 hours per week.
    In villages and farming communities, younger children commonly 
worked in family businesses. Children, particularly Roma, also worked 
in a variety of unofficial retail jobs, typically washing car windows 
or selling small items such as newspapers. Romani children were often 
forced by their families into manual labor, compelled to beg, or 
trafficked abroad to work in begging or theft rings.
    The Labor Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and 
Social Issues checked for child labor during its inspections; however, 
the ministry stated it found no violations during the year. The absence 
of such violations was most likely the result of limited monitoring 
capabilities by inspectors. No reliable data existed on the extent of 
child labor due to the lack of a mechanism to monitor the problem. The 
ministry also included prevention of child labor in its regular child 
and family protection programs.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for the period 
July-December was set by the Social Economic Council at approximately 
$150 (8,820 dinars) per month. The minimum wage did not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. In companies with a 
trade union presence, there was generally effective enforcement of the 
minimum wage. This was not the case in smaller private companies, and 
workers were often afraid of losing their jobs because many of them 
were not legally registered. The Labor Inspectorate is responsible for 
enforcing the minimum wage.
    According to figures released in September, the average salary was 
approximately $370 (22,259 dinars). The average worker in Serbia earned 
approximately $18 (1,060 dinars) per day or $2.20 (132.5 dinars) per 
hour. The average salary was not adequate for a worker and family to 
live comfortably.
    The standard workweek of 40 hours was generally followed in state-
owned enterprises but not in private companies. The law provides that 
an employee may not work overtime for more than four hours a day or for 
more than 240 hours in a calendar year. For an 8-hour workday, one 30-
minute break is required. At least 12 hours of break are required 
between shifts during a workweek, and at least 24 hours of break are 
required over a weekend.
    Collective agreements were the primarily means of providing premium 
pay for overtime. However, the labor law requires that the premium for 
overtime work should be at least 26 percent of the salary base, as 
defined by the relevant collective agreement. Trade unions within a 
company are the primary agents for enforcing overtime pay; however, the 
labor inspectorate also has enforcement responsibilities. The 
inspectorate had mixed results enforcing labor regulation due to a 
variety of factors, including politics and corruption.
    It is mandatory for companies to establish a safety and security 
unit to implement safety and security regulations; however, in practice 
these units often focused on rudimentary aspects of safety, such as 
purchasing soaps and detergents, rather than on providing safety 
equipment for workers. Workers did not have the right to remove 
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without 
jeopardy to their employment.

                                 KOSOVO

    Kosovo has a population of approximately 2.2 million and is 
administered by the UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) 
pursuant to UN Security Council (US) Resolution 1244 of 1999. UNMIK is 
led by a special representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo 
(SRSG). UNMIK promulgated regulations that addressed the civil and 
legal responsibilities of governmental entities and private individuals 
and ratified laws passed by the Kosovo Assembly. The UNMIK-promulgated 
Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-government in Kosovo 
defines the provisional institutions of self-government (PISG). 
Multiparty elections in October 2004 for seats in the Kosovo Assembly 
generally reflected the will of the voters. UNMIK international 
civilian authorities and a UN-authorized North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization (NATO) peacekeeping force for Kosovo (KFOR) generally 
maintained effective control over security forces; however, there were 
occasional reports that local elements of the security forces acted 
independently of their respective authority. During the year, 
negotiations aimed at settling Kosovo's future status were held under 
the auspices of the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo. No 
decision on Kosovo's status had been reached by year's end.
    UNMIK and the PISG generally respected the human rights of 
residents; however, there were problems in some areas, particularly 
relating to minority populations. The most serious of these were cases 
of politically and ethnically motivated killings; death and injuries 
from unexploded ordnance or landmines; lengthy pretrial detention and 
lack of judicial due process; corruption and government interference in 
the judiciary; societal antipathy against Serbs and the Serbian 
Orthodox Church; lack of progress in returning internally displaced 
persons to their homes; corruption in the PISG; violence and 
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons, particularly 
girls and women for sexual exploitation; societal violence, abuse, and 
discrimination against minority communities; societal discrimination 
against persons with disabilities; abuse and one killing of 
homosexuals; and child labor in the informal sector. Unexploded 
ordnance from the 1998-1999 conflict continued to be a concern and 
caused several deaths or injuries.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that international authorities UNMIK, the PISG, KFOR, or their 
agents committed unlawful or arbitrary killings; however, local 
security forces organized under the authority of the PISG committed at 
least one unlawful or arbitrary killing during the year.
    On January 2, Kosovo Protection Service (KPS) special forces 
officer Albert Markaj killed detainee Besnik Kastrati inside the Pec/
Peja police station. The killing was linked to a blood feud between the 
families of Markaj and Kastrati. In October Markaj was convicted of 
murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
    On December 2, Hetem Sadri Rexhaj was killed in police custody in 
Pec/Peja. No further details were available at year's end, although a 
KPS professional standards unit investigation was underway.
    During the year landmines or unexploded ordnance from the 1998-1999 
conflict killed one person and injured ten, compared with two 
fatalities and three injuries in 2005. Despite some progress on 
cleanup, unexploded ordnance remained a threat to civilians.
    During the year there were at least two killings that may have 
involved a political motive. On May 2, unknown persons killed Mark 
Oroshi, the man suspected of killing attorney and Istok/Istog 
Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) political activist Shaban Manaj in 
2001. Oroshi was released due to lack of evidence. According to police 
he had been a target for some time. Earlier in the year, Oroshi was 
injured in a failed assassination attempt. A KPS investigation 
continued at year's end.
    On June 20, a 68-year-old Kosovo Serb, Dragan Popovic, was shot and 
killed in his home in the ethnically mixed Klina/Kline municipality. 
Popovic left Kosovo during the 1998-1999 conflict and had returned to 
Klina/Kline in 2005. Despite some allegations that this killing 
involved an ethnic motive, no such evidence had emerged and no suspects 
were apprehended by year's end.
    Unlike in previous years, there were no apparently politically 
motivated killings of police officers.
    There were reports of attacks and threats against Kosovo Albanian 
political and institutional figures (see section 3).
    There were no developments in the investigation into the January 
2005 killing of UNMIK police officer Omar Ali, who died when a bomb was 
detonated under his official vehicle.
    On March 17, a court dismissed for lack of evidence the case 
against Tasim Osaj for the April 2005 killing of Enver Haradinaj, 
brother of former prime minister and Alliance for the Future of Kosovo 
(AAK) President Ramush Haradinaj. Osaj voluntarily surrendered in July 
2005.
    The investigation into the August 2005 apparently ethnically 
motivated killings of Kosovo Serbs Ivan Dejanovic and Aleksander 
Stankovic in Strpce, which also injured two passengers in their car, 
was closed on August 7 due to insufficient evidence.
    There were no developments in the possibly politically motivated 
killing of ethnic Turk and Turk Democratic Party of Kosovo member Ibish 
Cakalli in October 2005. Investigations remained ongoing at year's end.
    There were no developments in the following apparently politically 
motivated killings of Kosovo Albanians in 2005: the January 2005 
killing of Sadik Musaj, a witness at the ``Dukagjini group'' trial; the 
April 2005 killing of Muhamet Sallaj, a former Kosovo Liberation Army 
(KLA) member; the June 2005 drive-by shooting of journalist Bardhyl 
Ajeti of the Albanian language daily Bota Sot; the July 2005 drive-by 
killing of Muhamet Xhemajili, former commander of the Liberation Army 
of Presevo, Medvedje and Bujanovac, an armed Kosovo Albanian group 
previously active in Serbia's Presevo Valley; the September 2005 car 
bombing of Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) and former KLA member Naser 
Ramaj and his brother Jeton; the October 2005 killing of Hasan 
Rrustemi, a witness in the war crimes trial of former KLA (and former 
KPC) Commander Selim Krasniqi.
    There were no developments in Kosovo Albanian minor AK's appeal of 
his June 2005 aggravated murder conviction for the June 2004 killing of 
17-year-old Kosovo Serb Dimitrije Popovic and serious injury of another 
Kosovo Serb teenager in a drive-by shooting in Gracanica.
    On September 26, the murder trial of Shkumbin Mehmeti, Florim 
Ejupi, Xhavit Kosumi, and Faik Shaqiri began before international 
judges. The four were charged in April 2005 with the killing of a KPS 
officer and an UNMIK police officer in an ambush on the Podujevo/
Podujeve road after the March 2004 riots. Ejupi was also indicted 
earlier on charges that he and accomplices planned and executed the 
2001 Merdare bus bombing near Podujevo/Podujeve that killed 11 Kosovo 
Serbs and injured 40. A hearing in the latter case remained pending.
    There were no developments in the 2004 killing of Avni Elezaj, a 
former KLA fighter and bodyguard of former prime minister and AAK 
President Ramush Haradinaj.
    On October 18, a special KPS unit apprehended Faton Hajrizi, 
accused of killing a Russian KFOR soldier in Klina in 2002. Hajziri had 
escaped from the Pec/Peja investigative prison during trial in August 
2005. He remained in custody at year's end.
    On August 4, an international panel of the Prizren District Court 
found Sali Veseli guilty of criminal association and complicity in 
aggravated murder for the apparently politically motivated 2000 killing 
of the director of the Prizren Department of Environment, former KLA 
member Ekrem Rerxha, known as ``Commander Drini,'' and sentenced him to 
15 years' imprisonment. The Supreme Court rejected Veseli's appeal on 
September 1. The court acquitted codefendant Abit Haziraj of the actual 
assassination for lack of evidence; the gunman was never identified. 
Charges against codefendant Xhemali Beqiraj were dropped.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances; however, there were still thousands of persons missing 
from the 1999 conflict whose remains had not been identified or 
whereabouts determined.
    According to the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), 
2,139 persons remained unaccounted for at year's end, compared with 
2,464 at the beginning of the year. Of those still unaccounted for, the 
ICRC reported that approximately 70 percent were Kosovo Albanians and 
30 percent were Kosovo Serbs and other minorities.
    During the year the UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and Forensics 
(OMPF) continued to identify the remains of missing persons in Kosovo. 
Since its establishment in 2002, the office performed 505 field 
operations and exhumations, 59 of which took place during the year. The 
remains of over 3,800 missing persons had been recovered and OMPF 
focused on establishing the identities of the 1,440 sets of human 
remains discovered in Kosovo and approximately 900 received from Serbia 
since 2002.
    During the year OMPF continued to hold 582 unidentified bodies in 
the Pristina morgue, of which 414 were exhumed in Kosovo and 168 were 
transferred unidentified from Serbia. OMPF received 398 positive DNA 
reports during the year, representing 291 different individuals. OMPF 
also submitted 262 bone samples for DNA testing to the International 
Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), which returned 1,635 results. By 
year's end, OMPF had completed forensic inspections of all cases 
transferred from Serbia proper during the year (remains were 
transferred on March 31 and June 30) and had conducted 425 autopsies.
    At year's end OMPF also continued exhumations; it recovered and 
autopsied 51 bodies from 34 sites. On October 13, OMPF transferred to 
the Serbian government the remains of 28 Serbs and other ethnic 
minorities killed in 1998 and discovered in a mass grave in Volljak, 
Klina/Kline municipality, in 2005.
    On June 30, the Serbian government transferred the last sets of 
identified remains of Kosovo Albanian victims of the 1999 conflict 
found in mass graves in Serbia. These remains were returned to families 
for burial. Families of the missing continued to request that the 
Serbian government provide access to records that might indicate 
locations of additional mass graves or places where Kosovo Albanian 
bodies may have been incinerated.
    A working group of Kosovo and Serbian officials on missing persons, 
chaired by the ICRC, met twice during the year under the auspices of 
the SRSG. Although a special subgroup on forensics was formed in 
September 2005 and met several times in the first half of the year, it 
had not yet identified the hundreds of remains still stored in the 
Orahovac/Rahovec morgue.
    Of the 711 cases resolved in 2005, 174 human remains were 
identified and transferred to the families by August: 45 from Serbia to 
Kosovo, 112 within Kosovo, and 28 from Kosovo to Serbia. During the 
year 323 human remains were identified and returned to families: 102 
from Serbia to Kosovo, 60 from Kosovo to Serbia, and 161 within Kosovo. 
The bodies identified during the year included 253 Kosovo Albanians and 
70 members of other ethnic groups.
    In 2004 the Prizren prosecutor's office announced arrest warrants 
for two former Kosovo Serb policemen, Goran Janjusevic and Slavisa 
Milkovic, for committing war crimes against the civilian population in 
the Prizren region, including the kidnapping and killing of Ardian 
Zyrnagjiu during the 1999 conflict. Both suspects remained at large at 
year's end.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitutional framework and criminal procedure code 
prohibit such practices; however, there were reports that the PISG 
engaged in such practices. There were no reports that UNMIK, which is 
the sovereign authority, or KFOR, which has limited arrest and 
detention authority, engaged in such practices.
    According to media reports, the KPS used force to disperse 
demonstrations and beat demonstrators while making arrests on a least 
four occasions during the year. The Self-Determination Movement, a 
group that opposed the continued UN presence and practiced aggressive 
and confrontational tactics in advocating immediate and unconditional 
independence for Kosovo, organized protests during the year, several of 
which became violent. On May 5, the KPS arrested 22 movement members 
demonstrating against UNMIK, and the media reported that the KPS beat 
detainees. An unknown number of demonstrators refused medical treatment 
at the police station; nine KPS officers were injured in the incident, 
one seriously. An internal KPS investigation found that the KPS did not 
use excessive force, and none of demonstrators filed official 
complaints against the police. On June 9, police again reportedly beat 
protesters while arresting 91 movement members demonstrating against 
UNMIK; there was one report that a protestor required surgery to treat 
his injuries. Police violence was also reported on June 28, when police 
arrested 85 Self-Determination Movement activists at the Kosovo-Serbia 
administrative boundary line crossing at Merdare, and 31 movement 
members in Mitrovica, who were protesting the Serbian prime minister's 
visit to Kosovo. The Kosovo Assembly and the Government criticized the 
reported police abuse of Assembly member Emrush Xhemajli, who was 
arrested in Merdare. Similar KPS beatings of protesters were reported 
during the movement's August 23 demonstrations at the Kosovo Assembly 
and UNMIK headquarters. Eight of the 22 were detained for 72 hours.
    At a November 28 protest, demonstrators reportedly threw rocks and 
paint-filled bottles at buildings housing UNMIK and government offices. 
UNMIK police responded with tear gas but did not intervene further, 
instead videotaping the incident and later arresting eight people. All 
were subsequently released. No injuries were reported, and at year's 
end no serious charges had been brought against the activists.
    In an October 2005 letter to the SRSG concerning October 2005 Self-
Determination Movement arrests, the Ombudsperson cited eyewitness 
reports that ``many'' activists had experienced ``severe ill-
treatment'' during their arrest and statements by persons who had been 
arrested that the mistreatment continued after they had been taken into 
custody. The KPS Professional Standards Unit initiated three 
investigations, one of which was dismissed as unfounded. The other two 
investigations resulted in discipline against KPS officers involved, 
each of whom was suspended for 10 days without pay, given mandatory 
remedial training, and given letters of discipline in their personnel 
files.
    There were developments in the case of six Kosovo Albanian KPC 
officers arrested for alleged involvement in war crimes committed 
against Kosovo Albanian civilians in the Drenovac Detention Camp in 
Prizren between June and October 1998. On July 27, the international 
investigating judge dropped the charges against Isuf Gashi and Xhavit 
Elshani. On August 10, the Gjilan District Court acquitted Islam Gashi 
and convicted former KPC commander general Selim Krasniqi, colonel 
Bedri Zyberaj, and Agron Krasniqi of war crimes and sentenced each of 
them to seven years in prison. When Zyberaj and Selim Krasniqi were 
provisionally released pending their appeals, Kosovo Prime Minister 
Agim Ceku visited Selim Krasniqi, called the release ``a good thing for 
Kosovo,'' and declared, ``I never stopped believing in their 
innocence.'' Both the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center-Kosovo 
Branch (HLC) and the Kosovo-based Council for the Defense of Human 
Rights of Freedoms (CDHRF) criticized the Prime Minister's statement. 
Later in August, the prosecutor won a Supreme Court appeal of the 
provisional release, and an order was issued for the rearrest of the 
men soon thereafter. Zymberaj was apprehended on October 25. At year's 
end, Selim Krasniqi remained at large.
    During the year authorities brought a number of persons to court 
for crimes related to the March 2004 interethnic riots (see section 5).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons and detention 
centers reportedly met international standards, and UNMIK permitted 
ICRC visits and monitoring by the Ombudsperson; however, there were 
allegations of abuses, including sexual abuse, and mistreatment of 
prisoners during the year. The Government denied prison access to at 
least one local nongovernmental organization (NGO) during the year.
    The Dubrava prison and five detention centers operated during the 
year, and the construction of a new prison facility continued in 
Lipljan/Lipjan to alleviate crowding.
    UNMIK police corrections officers managed prisons and detention 
centers, but increasingly transferred responsibilities to the Kosovo 
Correctional Service (KCS), under the authority of the PISG.
    On February 1, the UNMIK Department of Justice Penal Management 
Division appointed a Kosovo Albanian as KCS commissioner. UNMIK 
transferred control of Lipljan/Lipjan Prison and all five detention 
centers to the KCS on February 17. The KCS managed daily operations at 
the Dubrava prison, with the exception of the 32-prisoner ``high risk'' 
section, which remained under international supervision. UNMIK retained 
authority to take full control of the prison system during emergencies.
    The CDHRF reported receiving complaints from prisoners and their 
families charging abuse and excessive solitary confinement in prison. 
Authorities did not conduct investigations into these allegations. On 
June 7, several prisoners went on strike at Dubrava prison, protesting 
the lack of supplies at the prison canteen. According to CDHRF, prison 
authorities violated many of the rights granted prisoners by the 
provisional criminal code, the antidiscrimination law, the juvenile 
justice code, the education law, and international law.
    While the law provides for women and juveniles to be held 
separately from men, the CDHRF reported that women and juveniles in the 
Lipljan/Lipjan prison were being held only yards away from men serving 
sentences for lesser crimes and were harassed by them.
    UNMIK reported bringing 60 disciplinary proceedings against members 
of the 1,650-strong KCS during the year, compared with 35 in 2005. The 
17 proceedings that were concluded by October resulted in six 
dismissals, nine written warnings, and one demotion. Behavior resulting 
in discipline included administrative violations such as repeated 
tardiness and fraud (see section 3).
    In July the CDHRF was provided full access to monitor KPS police 
stations. The ICRC visited Kosovo's prisons, although it did not issue 
any public findings on its visits. In a December policy reversal, the 
minister of justice decided to allow CDHRF access to the prisons for 
the first time since 2003, although no such visits took place by year's 
end. In December, journalists were also allowed to visit both Lipljan/
Lipjan and Dubrava prisons for the first time since the 1999 conflict. 
According to the journalists who visited Dubrava prison, the prisoners 
with whom they spoke praised prison conditions in the Justice 
Minister's presence but criticized them in his absence. Dubrava prision 
held 809 inmates at year's end, below its total capacity of 1,100.
    In October the HLC filed suit in Prizren District Court on behalf 
of Sasa Grkovic, who alleged severe mistreatment while in detention in 
2001-2002 before and during his trial on charges of mass murder and 
torture of civilians. He was acquitted and released after 457 days of 
imprisonment. There were no developments in the case by year's end.
    In January the Council of Europe (COE) noted that it was unclear 
whether a NATO/KFOR detention facility in Kosovo was open for 
inspection by its Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). In 
July the COE and NATO reached agreement to give the CPT full access to 
NATO/KFOR facilities. In December CPT visited KFOR headquarters to 
discuss future visits to detention facilities, but no such visits had 
taken place by year's end.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitutional framework and 
criminal procedure code prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and 
UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally observed these prohibitions in 
practice.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Local security forces 
included the KPC, a civilian emergency response organization, and the 
KPS, a local police force which functions under the authority of the 
SRSG and supervision of UNMIK police. A December 2005 UNMIK regulation 
established the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which under the 
constitutional framework is responsible for law enforcement. In March 
Fatmir Rexhepi was appointed minister and in April KPS became an 
executive agency under the ministry. UNMIK maintains executive 
authority over the police, but continued to transfer police authority 
and functions to the KPS.
    An international commissioner of police directed both UNMIK police 
and the KPS, although in August UNMIK appointed a Kosovo Albanian as 
deputy commissioner and four Kosovo Albanians as assistant 
commissioners. Members of ethnic minorities comprised approximately 16 
percent of the KPS's 7,200 officers at year's end; 10 percent of KPS 
officers were Kosovo Serbs. Thirteen percent of KPS officers were 
female.
    Executive authority over the KPS is a reserved power of the SRSG. 
Day-to-day police operations have been transferred to the KPS in five 
of the six regions of Kosovo. In those regions, the KPS is responsible 
for all police services and routine activity. Specialized units on war 
crimes and ethnically motivated crimes were still primarily staffed by 
international UN police officers and largely operated independently of 
the KPS due to the sensitivity of those functions. Units on criminal 
intelligence and organized crime, including trafficking, were jointly 
operated. Both the international police and the judiciary have broad 
discretion to intervene in any particular criminal matter. As a 
practical matter, most policing duties and responsibilities were in the 
hands of KPS.
    Susceptibility to corruption and government influence remained a 
problem in the security forces.
    On June 28, the PISG Ministry of Internal Affairs and the OSCE 
Mission in Kosovo inaugurated the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo, a body 
designed to promote police efficiency and effectiveness, hold police 
accountable for their actions, and investigate and punish misconduct. 
The first 20 inspectors reported for duty on July 4, and 24 additional 
positions were advertised in December. During the year, inspectors 
began the first phase of their mandate: the audit and inspection of KPS 
management performance. They focused on efficiency and effectiveness, 
inspecting six of the 14 functional areas at each regional police 
headquarters and the central headquarters in Pristina and presenting 
reports on each. A general report on the inspectorate's 2006 activities 
was not yet available at year's end.
    An UNMIK office of oversight investigated corruption in UNMIK and 
the criminal justice system. The judicial system generally held the 
security forces to the same level of accountability as it held the 
general population.
    During the year the KPS professional standards unit, run by UNMIK 
police, completed 98 disciplinary investigations of KPS officers for 
participating in or failing to prevent violence in the March 2004 
riots. The standards unit determined 53 allegations to be unfounded, 
suspended 35 officers without pay, referred seven to administrative 
discipline at the station level, demoted two officers, and fired one.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police generally made arrests openly using a 
warrant issued by a judge or prosecutor; however, in some cases, 
persons were arrested secretly by masked or undercover police officers. 
By law, arrests must be based on prosecutor orders and arrestees must 
be brought before a judge within 72 hours. Unlike in previous years, 
the majority of the year's arrests were carried out by the KPS rather 
than by UNMIK. According to the CDHRF, the KPS did not abuse the 72-
hour rule and generally charged arrestees within six hours or released 
them. Arrestees have the right to be informed of the reason for their 
arrest in a language they understand; to remain silent and not answer 
any questions except those concerning their identity; to obtain free 
assistance of an interpreter; to obtain defense counsel and to have 
defense counsel provided if they cannot afford to pay for legal 
assistance; to receive medical treatment including psychiatric 
treatment; and to notify a family member. UNMIK police and the KPS 
generally respected these rights in practice. The law permits bail, 
confiscation of travel documents, house arrest, and other measures as 
an alternative to detention on remand, but these were applied in only a 
handful of cases.
    Under extraordinary circumstances, KFOR can arrest and detain 
individuals without a warrant. The KFOR commander can extend the 
detention of individuals in 30-day increments without charging them 
with a crime before a court, provided they were not released by a 
court. There were no reports that KFOR arrested persons without a 
warrant during the year.
    UNMIK police and the KPS may hold individuals for up to 72 hours 
without a court order. The court may hold individuals in pretrial 
detention for 30 days from the day of arrest, but this can be extended 
by the courts up to a total of 18 months. The law allows for house 
arrest, an appeal for detention on remand, and expanded use of bail as 
alternatives to pretrial detention.
    Lengthy detentions, both before and during judicial proceedings, 
remained a problem. In October 820 persons were being detained on 
remand, compared to 432 detained serving sentences. The law provides 
that the judge may impose this extraordinary measure only when ordinary 
measures, such as house arrest, are insufficient to secure the 
defendant's presence during the criminal proceedings and enable proper 
administration of the criminal proceedings. In practice judges used 
detention on remand routinely, without showing any evidentiary 
justification.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitutional framework 
provides for an independent judiciary; however, the local judiciary was 
at times biased and subject to outside influence and did not always 
provide due process. There were credible reports of corruption in the 
local judiciary, and the court system was inefficient.
    On March 24, a Pec/Peja municipal court panel of three 
international judges found former judge Gani Kelmendi and a 
codefendant, Florim Zekaj, guilty of extortion. Florim Zekaj was also 
found guilty of attempted obstruction of justice. Both were sentenced 
to three years in prison. The court also prohibited Kelmendi from 
serving as a judge for five years after his sentence is completed. 
Kelmendi served as judge in the Municipal Court of Istok/Istog.
    Legal authority is held by UNMIK under U.S. Resolution 1244. UNMIK 
police and justice authorities held executive responsibility for the 
judicial system but worked with local judges and prosecutors; during 
the year UNMIK transferred some reserved competencies to the Ministry 
of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Kosovo Judicial 
Council that was established in December 2005. The Serbian government 
continued to operate an unsanctioned parallel judicial system in Kosovo 
Serb enclaves and in majority Serb municipalities.
    The court system includes a Supreme Court, five district courts 
including a commercial court, 25 municipal courts, 25 minor offense 
courts, and an appellate court for minor offenses. In October there 
were 14 UNMIK-appointed international judges and 11 international 
prosecutors. The PISG included a central public prosecutor's office, 
five district prosecutors, and seven municipal prosecutors.
    While the law provides that a panel of two professional and three 
lay judges try serious cases, an UNMIK regulation authorizes 
international prosecutors to try cases of a sensitive ethnic or 
political nature, including before a panel of three international 
judges. International prosecutors initiated 101 cases during the year, 
and international judges tried five of them, resulting in four 
convictions.
    UNMIK's Judicial Inspection Unit (JIU) monitored judicial 
performance and made recommendations on discipline and training. The 
unit has a mandate to audit and evaluate the Kosovo justice system, 
make recommendations to the Department of Justice for the resolution of 
systemic problems, conduct investigations into allegations of judicial 
and prosecutorial misconduct, and present cases of misconduct in 
disciplinary hearings before the Kosovo Judicial Council. The JIU had 
processed a total of 1,488 complaints since 2001, including 448 during 
the year. Of those 448, JIU rejected 221 cases and completed 100 of the 
227 investigations it opened. In the majority of investigations (89), 
JIU found no misconduct. The unit referred six cases to the Judicial 
Council, which heard three by year's end, dismissing one judge and 
recommending three for disciplinary action.
    A May 2006 Human Rights Watch report on the March 2004 riots cases 
criticized local and international authorities for failing to hold 
perpetrators accountable for their crimes. The report pointed to a lack 
of effective oversight by UNMIK over the judiciary and a failure to 
adequately develop and support the rule of law in Kosovo, calling 
impunity, particularly for crimes with a political or ethnic dimension, 
``rampant.''

    Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and the law provides for the 
right of defendants to be present at their trials, to confront 
witnesses, to see evidence, and to have legal representation, at public 
expense if necessary; however, these procedures were rarely used in 
practice. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and have 
the right of appeal. Trials are heard by panels consisting of 
professional and lay judges; there are no jury trials.
    The UNMIK-established judicial integration section continued to 
address judicial system problems that affected minorities. In addition, 
the Ministry of Justice operated 11 court liaison offices, two of which 
were created during the year, to assist minority communities in Kosovo 
Serb-majority areas by accompanying members of minorities to courts, 
filing documents with courts on their behalf, and providing information 
and legal assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons 
(IDPs). In response to past criticism by legal experts and human rights 
observers of a lack of fairness in criminal trials involving ethnic 
minorities, international judges and prosecutors, rather than Kosovo 
Albanians, tried and prosecuted cases involving Kosovo Serbs.
    The KPS established a special investigation team to handle cases 
related to the March 2004 riots. The team covered the territory of 
Kosovo and was responsible for preparing dossiers on investigations, 
which were conducted in cooperation with UNMIK police and international 
prosecutors. According to the Kosovo Judicial Council, by year's end 
the 326 charges filed by municipal and district prosecutors for 
criminal offenses in connection with the riots had resulted in 200 
indictments, 48 dismissals, 35 cases transferred from municipal to 
minor offenses court, and 43 cases suspended, terminated, or otherwise 
unsolved. Of the 200 indictments, municipal and district prosecutors 
won convictions in 134 cases, and courts acquitted eight and dismissed 
28; 30 cases were pending at year's end (see section 1.a.). 
International prosecutors and judges handled the most sensitive cases. 
Of the 31 cases handled by international prosecutors and judges, courts 
convicted 26 individuals and acquitted one, and four were awaiting 
trial at year's end.
    Kosovo's justice system and the International Criminal Tribunal for 
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) continued to identify and punish 
perpetrators of war crimes from the 1999 conflict; however, many cases 
remained unresolved. Supreme Court appeals continued in local courts to 
adjudicate cases of alleged war crimes and genocide arising from the 
1999 conflict. The war crimes case against former KLA (and former KPC) 
commander Selim Krasniqi concluded during the year (see section 1.c.).

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports that 
KFOR, UNMIK, the KPS, or the PISG held political prisoners or detainees 
during the year.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--According to an April OSCE 
report, interference by municipal authorities and the UNMIK Department 
of Justice hampered judicial independence in civil matters. The OSCE 
cited instances in which municipal authorities plainly obstructed court 
proceedings, pressured judges in cases to which authorities were party, 
and influenced third parties to prevent courts from exercising their 
authority. OSCE also reported that the justice department instructed 
judges not to process claims for compensation for property damages 
caused by KFOR, UNMIK, or the municipalities. The Department of Justice 
claimed that it did not pursue such compensation claims because the 
logistical challenges of such claims were insurmountable. It also 
claimed that an influx of property-related claims would hinder the 
courts' work, increase its already large backlog of cases, and require 
special planning and coordination, since it would be necessary to 
provide security escorts to a large number of Kosovo Serb claimants.
    There were no reports of difficulty in enforcing court orders 
resulting from civil litigation. However, according to one survey, only 
14 percent of the pending cases to affect a civil order resulted from 
civil litigation; 69 percent of such cases dealt with debt collection 
by utility companies.

    Property Restitution.--The Kosovo Property Agency was created in 
March under the PISG as the successor to the UNMIK Housing and Property 
Directorate. While the directorate only handled claims to residential 
properties, the new agency is responsible for the resolution of 
residential, commercial, and agricultural property claims from the 
Kosovo conflict. By year's end the Kosovo Property Agency had received 
7,891 claims: 6,991 for agricultural property, 486 for commercial 
property, and 506 for residential property. Kosovo Serbs in the 
northern part of Mitrovica continued to occupy Kosovo Albanian 
properties, while Kosovo Albanians in the southern part occupied and 
denied Kosovo Serbs access to their property. The Housing and Property 
Directorate reported that, by December 31, it had decided a total of 
29,159 claims, including all of the 1,250 property claims in northern 
Mitrovica, Leposaviq/Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan. In over half 
of these cases, the KPA resolved claims by allowing squatters to remain 
in place with owner permission and directorate administration of the 
property.
    The Kosovo Property Agency administered 5,340 properties, 3,497 of 
which were held with the permission of claimants whose rights were 
adjudicated by either the Kosovo Property Agency or the former Housing 
and Property Directorate. The Kosovo Property Agency administered the 
remaining 1,843 properties where ownership had not been established. In 
September the agency began the first phase of a rental program for the 
residential properties under its administration, providing a mechanism 
for displaced owners to receive some compensation.
    The backlog of property-related claims in municipal courts grew 
from 17,000 in 2005 to over 47,000 at year's end; these were almost 
exclusively monetary claims by Kosovo Serbs for war-related damage. A 
study commissioned by the European Agency for Reconstruction estimated 
that 11,000 additional claims involving agricultural and commercial 
property awaited adjudication at the end of 2005. There was no 
indication that this number decreased during the year.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework 
prohibit such actions, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally 
respected these prohibitions in practice. KFOR forces assisted UNMIK 
civilian police and the KPS in conducting searches for high-risk 
suspects and independently searched private property for weapons 
without court orders, based on U.S. Resolution 1244's peacekeeping 
authority.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--UNMIK regulations and the 
constitutional framework provide for freedom of speech and of the 
press, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally respected these rights 
in practice; however, there were allegations that the KPS interfered 
with freedom of speech and press, and the courts ordered the seizure 
and sale of the assets of a daily newspaper for not paying its fines, 
including those for ``unbalanced coverage'' of the 2004 elections. 
UNMIK regulations prohibit hate speech and speech that incites ethnic 
violence, as well as newspaper articles that might encourage criminal 
activity or violence.
    Individuals generally could criticize authorities publicly or 
privately without reprisal.
    During the year the number of daily newspapers reached 10, with 
nine publishing at year's end. On November 24, authorities closed the 
Pristina branch of Bota Sot and the newspaper's printing press for 
failing to pay taxes accumulated since 2000. Three newspapers published 
weekly and covered current events, and dozens of other periodicals that 
primarily covered entertainment published throughout the year regularly 
or irregularly.
    According to the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo, 
media outlets' financial difficulties left their editorial independence 
and journalistic professionalism vulnerable to outside influence and 
pressure. Some newspapers were financially self-sufficient or operated 
through aid donations and thus were able to develop editorial policies 
independent of business and political interests. However other 
newspapers relied on funding from businesses and political interest 
groups, who provided such money in exchange for positive coverage. 
During the year, there were no reports that the PISG or UNMIK pressured 
or influenced the independent print media.
    Print media were self-regulated by a press code of conduct adopted 
by the Press Council of Kosovo, an organization comprised of print 
editors and publishers. The council's complaint board may impose fines 
for breaches of the code of conduct, including penalties of up to 
$2,620 (2,000 euros) for serious violations such as hate speech and 
defamation. During the year the council adjudicated 10 of the 20 
complaints filed, but did not impose any fines.
    Kosovo had 115 licensed independent broadcast outlets (93 radio and 
22 television stations), which were active and expressed a wide variety 
of views.
    International media were allowed to operate freely.
    Journalists reported that pressure from powerful politicians 
resulted in indirect forms of censorship; they refrained from critical 
investigative reporting out of fear for their personal security. 
Journalists were occasionally offered financial benefits in exchange 
for positive reporting or for abandoning an investigation. According to 
editors, government agencies withdrew regular advertising from 
newspapers that had published critical coverage of them.
    On January 20, the Kosovo Assembly passed a law bringing Kosovo's 
popular public broadcasting company Radio Television Kosovo (RTK), 
formerly overseen by UNMIK, under the immediate authority of the 
assembly. While RTK previously received operating funds out of fees 
collected by the Kosovo Energy Corporation, the new law placed RTK's 
budget under the direct control of the Ministry of Finance, a change 
that observers believed could jeopardize its editorial independence. 
RTK reported being frequently pressured by the PISG. The new RTK law 
also provides for regulation of RTK program content and requires that 
at least 15 percent of RTK program time, including prime time, be 
dedicated to nonmajority communities in their respective languages on a 
proportionate basis.
    On August 29, the Independent Media Commission replaced UNMIK's 
temporary media commissioner. The commission is a permanent body 
overseen by a seven-member governing council that includes two 
international members. The commission implemented UNMIK regulations and 
enforced codes of conduct governing broadcast media.
    During the year there were several incidents of violence or 
harassment directed at the media.
    On July 18, a security guard at Bota Sot noticed a hand grenade on 
a sidewalk near the premises of the newspaper. Police responded and a 
KFOR demining unit performed a controlled explosion of the device.
    The RTK received bomb threats during the year, via both telephone 
and e-mail. Early in the year, the station received a number of threats 
from a person accusing it of being a mouthpiece for UNMIK and ``working 
for Serbs.'' On March 17, RTK received an e-mail from an organization 
calling itself the ``Meteoras,'' threatening to destroy RTK with a bomb 
at 3:00 p.m. the following day. The e-mail asked RTK to evacuate the 
building at that time. The threat proved to be false.
    On August 23, RTK received another e-mail threat from a group 
calling itself ``Islamic Jihad,'' related to RTK's publication of 
Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad several months earlier.
    On September 14, a KPS officer allegedly assaulted daily Lajm 
Ekskluzive journalist Enis Veliu in the Kosovo Assembly building. The 
subsequent case against the officer was dismissed as unfounded.
    On October 15, two men physically attacked daily Lajm Exclusiva 
reporter Bujar Desku over his reporting on the illegal construction of 
a Mobtel cellular telephone antenna in a village outside Pristina and 
subsequently made further telephone threats to him as well. In 
September Infopress reporter Burim Qela received death threats by 
telephone for reporting on the same issue.
    On January 13, the KPS and journalists held a public debate on 
violence against journalists. Fatos Bytyci, head of the Association of 
Professional Journalists of Kosovo said that although the violence, 
which had been increasing, did not seem to be a matter of policy, the 
police commissioner was not doing enough to prevent it. Since that 
debate, journalists had occasional altercations with the KPS, but as of 
October there had been only three such incidents reported to the 
association, compared to 16 during the same period in 2005.
    There were no developments in the investigation of the June 2005 
killing of Bota Sot editor Bardhyl Ajeti. A KPS investigation continued 
at year's end.
    In September an internal investigation by the KPS Professional 
Standards Unit cleared a KPS officer of alleged involvement in the 
March 2005 assault of RTK reporters Behxhet Begu and Bardh Bekteshi. 
The two had allegedly parked their car in a restricted hospital/
emergency no-parking zone on municipal property in Vucitrn/Vushtrri.
    According to election regulations, during political campaigns media 
must ensure fair and equitable news coverage and access to discussion 
and debate for all parties; campaign-related reporting must be fair and 
impartial; and debates must have politically diverse guests and 
audiences and impartial moderators. In April an international judge 
ordered daily Bota Sot's assets to be seized and sold to pay a $85,150 
(65,000 euros) fine imposed by court order in December 2005 for 
unbalanced coverage of the 2004 elections, and an $10,480 (8,000 euros) 
fine for a February 2005 failure to ensure accuracy in reporting. A 
Bota Sot bank account containing $68,120 (52,000 euros) was frozen 
pending payment of the fine.
    On November 24, the Kosovo tax administration closed Bota Sot for 
alleged nonpayment of $524,000 (400,000 euros) in taxes; the law allows 
the tax administration to seize and sell the papers assets after 60 
days. At year's end no assets had been seized but the paper was not 
operating.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no UNMIK, KFOR, or PISG restrictions 
on access to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-
mail or Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the 
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic 
mail.
    In a November poll, 19 percent of Kosovars reported that they used 
the Internet daily.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no UNMIK, KFOR, 
or PISG restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework provide 
for freedom of assembly, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally 
respected this right in practice. An UNMIK regulation required that 
demonstration organizers give 48 hours advance notice for police 
coordination.
    According to media reports, the KPS used force to disperse 
demonstrations and beat demonstrators while making arrests on at least 
four occasions during the year (see section 1.c.).

    Freedom of Association.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional 
framework provide for freedom of association, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the 
PISG generally respected this right in practice.
    The OSCE Mission in Kosovo routinely registered political parties 
under UNMIK auspices, and the Ministry of Public Services registered 
NGOs.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional 
framework provide for freedom of religion, and UNMIK and the PISG 
generally respected this right in practice.
    There are no specific licensing regulations for religious groups; 
however, religious organizations must register as NGOs with UNMIK and 
the Ministry of Public Services in order to purchase property or 
receive funding from UNMIK or other international organizations. 
Religious groups complained that NGO status did not adequately reflect 
their religious character, and the Protestant Evangelical Church 
refused to register as an NGO.
    In July the assembly passed the Law on Religious Freedom, which the 
SRSG promulgated in August. The law affirms the right to freedom of 
expression, conscience and religion to all residents of Kosovo 
regardless of their religious convictions. It provides for the 
separation of religious communities from public authorities and for 
equal rights and obligations to all religious communities, and 
stipulates that there is no official religion in Kosovo.
    Religious identity and ethnicity were closely related. Kosovo Serbs 
identified with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which influenced their 
cultural, historical, political, and religious views (see section 5). 
While significant parts of the Kosovo Albanian community continued to 
view the Serbian Orthodox Church as a symbol of Serbian nationalism, 
relations between leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community and the 
Serbian Orthodox Church improved during the year as PISG officials and 
political figures met on several occasions with church clergy. In May 
central and local government officials participated in a landmark 
interfaith conference held at the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate in Pec/
Peja.
    Pursuant to a 2002 law requiring public education institutions to 
refrain from religious instruction or other activities promoting any 
specific religion, the Ministry of Education prohibited the wearing of 
headscarves. The ministry continued to enforce this prohibition, 
particularly at schools with obligatory uniforms, despite a 2004 
opinion issued by the Ombudsperson that the rule should apply only to 
teachers and school officials, not students. Following mediation by the 
Ombudsperson, a primary school student dismissed from class in April 
2005 for wearing a veil completed her education through correspondence 
classes and received her diploma during the year.
    The Ombudsperson Institution reported that it had received no new 
complaints of violations of religious rights during the year. In 2005 a 
male student filed a complaint with the Ombudsperson alleging that he 
was expelled from school for having a beard; school officials told the 
Ombudsperson that the student was not expelled but only prevented from 
returning to class while he wore a beard.
    Protestant groups continued to report that they experienced 
discrimination in media access, particularly by public television 
station RTK. The Protestant Evangelical Church in Kosovo, Fellowship of 
the Lord's People, reported that the Decani/Decan municipality, citing 
negative reaction from local citizens, denied it permission to build a 
church facility on land the church purchased previously. The church 
reported that the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning upheld 
the decision in February, and at year's end the case remained pending 
before the Kosovo Supreme Court.
    The Islamic community continued to assert that UNMIK's denial of a 
radio frequency for an Islamic radio station and the national library's 
closure of its prayer room constituted violations of religious freedom.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were 
multiple reports of attacks against Serbian Orthodox clergy and 
parishioners and vandalism of Serbian Orthodox Churches and church 
property. During the year the Joint Reconstruction Implementation 
Commission, composed of the PISG, Serbian Orthodox Church, and 
international agencies, continued to make progress in restoring 
churches damaged or destroyed during the March 2004 riots.
    On May 6, unknown attackers shot at a car driven by Serbian 
Orthodox priest Srjdan Stankovic in the Zvecan municipality. UNMIK 
charged a Kosovo Serb KPS officer in connection with the incident. The 
case was turned over to an international prosecutor and remained 
pending at year's end.
    There were reported incidents of rock-throwing and other assaults 
against Serb buses and Serbian Orthodox clergy as they traveled outside 
of their monasteries, and monks and nuns at some monasteries reportedly 
did not use areas of the monasteries' properties out of concern for 
their safety.
    Security concerns continued to affect the Serb community and its 
freedom to worship, particularly after the March 2004 riots. Some 
Kosovo Serbs asserted that they were not able to travel freely to 
practice their faith. For example, the Decani monastery experienced a 
decline in attendance at religious services after KFOR stopped 
escorting nonclergy parishioners to religious sites in April 2005. 
Clergy transit vans were also reportedly pelted with stones when 
traveling through Kosovo.
    During the year there were numerous cases of vandalism directed 
against Serbian Orthodox Church property. For example, on March 15, six 
tombstones were damaged in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery and a church 
window was broken in Urosevac/Ferizaj municipality. Three Kosovo 
Albanian teenagers confessed to the crime. As minors, they faced 
criminal charges under the Juvenile Justice Code, which permits 
imprisonment of minors only for criminal acts that carry a penalty of 
five years or more under the Criminal Code. Because the crime with 
which they were charged--damaging graves--is punishable by up to one 
year of imprisonment, the prosecutor sought to impose educational 
measures on the defendants as permitted under the Juvenile Justice 
Code. Two of the defendants experienced 15 days of pretrial detention; 
the three awaited trial at year's end.
    On June 9, a landmine was discovered in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery 
in the predominantly Kosovo Serb village of Staro Gracko, Lipljan/
Lipjan municipality. On June 20, church officials reported the 
disappearances of four crosses from the roof of the Serbian Orthodox 
Church in Obilic/Obiliq. Three juveniles were arrested, and the crosses 
were recovered. On August 6, thieves broke into the Serbian Orthodox 
church in Babin Most, Obilic/Obiliq municipality, stealing several 
icons and damaging the interior of the church. No suspects were 
apprehended.
    In July 2005 a man attacked a pastor serving in Decani/Decan with 
the Assemblies of God Protestant Evangelical Church of Kosovo. The 
pastor underwent surgery for his injuries. The attacker was arrested, 
fined approximately $400 (300 euros), and released. Protestants 
reported the attack, which occurred with members of the KPS present, 
was possibly motivated by a controversy over church-owned land on which 
the Protestants have been prevented from building.
    Protestants reported harassment and discrimination, including 
verbal attacks, a lack of Protestant programming on RTK, and incidents 
of school officials calling in parents of pupils to deter their 
children from converting to Protestantism. They reported that in July 
2005, people in Malisevo/Malisheve municipality, incited by the Islamic 
community, reacted violently against the showing of the movie 
``Jesus,'' although the Protestants had received permission from the 
municipality, the KPS, and village leadership to screen the film. KPS 
arrested 20 protesters, some of whom were armed, and helped church 
members to safety.
    Approximately 40 individuals from two families in Prizren had some 
Jewish roots, but there were no synagogues or Jewish institutions in 
Kosovo other than a small cemetery in Pristina. There were no reports 
of anti-Semitic acts.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and 
Repatriation.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework 
provide for freedom of movement; however, interethnic tensions and real 
and perceived security concerns restricted freedom of movement. During 
the year UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally improved protection of 
these rights for minority communities.
    Sporadic incidents of violence and intimidation targeting 
minorities continued to limit freedom of movement for Kosovo Albanians 
in northern Kosovo. The PISG and UNMIK enhanced efforts to facilitate 
minority travel throughout Kosovo, but real and perceived risks 
deterred many minorities from traveling outside of their neighborhood.
    There were numerous attacks during the year on buses carrying Serbs 
and other ethnic minorities. For example, on January 3, a KPS-escorted 
biweekly bus transporting Serbs from Orahovac/Rahovec was stoned in 
Malishevo/Malisheve. On January 5, a bus traveling from Dragas/Dragash 
to Belgrade was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade. Buses carrying 
Serb returnees from Klina/Kline and Istok/Istog to Mitrovica were 
stoned by Kosovo Albanian youth in Runik, Srbica/Skenderaj 
municipality, on several occasions. On August 30, a bus driver reported 
that a group of Kosovo Albanians stoned his bus while transporting 
Kosovo Serb children through southern Mitrovica, breaking one window. 
The stoning of buses was also reported on October 26 in Runik/Rudnik 
and November 20 in Obilic. No injuries were reported in any of these 
incidents.
    To reduce the risk of attack by making Kosovo Serb and Kosovo 
Albanian vehicles indistinguishable, UNMIK continued to offer Kosovo 
license plates at no fee to Kosovo Serbs who had already registered 
their vehicles in Serbia. However, Kosovo Serbs were reluctant to use 
the UNMIK-issued plates because doing so limited their ability to 
travel to Serbia, which did not recognize the UNMIK plates.
    There were also incidents targeting infrastructure used by 
minorities. On June 2, explosives were found under a bridge connecting 
two Kosovo Serb returnee villages in Klina/Kline municipality. On 
December 8, an explosion on railroad tracks in Mihaliq village, 
Vucitrn/Vushtrri municipality temporarily halted rail service between 
Kosovo Serb communities in southern Kosovo and areas north of the Ibar 
River. No suspects were apprehended in either incident.
    On September 11, an explosion destroyed the recently reconstructed 
but yet uninhabited home of a Kosovo Serb returnee and damaged another 
nearby home in Klina/Kline municipality. The perpetrators were not 
apprehended.
    On August 31, UNMIK and the Ministry of Transportation and 
Communication signed a memorandum of understanding governing the 
transfer of competency to provide humanitarian train and bus services 
to minority communities in Kosovo; since that date the ministry 
operated the buses. The public transportation strategy developed as 
part of the transfer provided for the direct participation of an 
affected community in any decision to change humanitarian 
transportation services.
    UNMIK regulated movement in and out of Kosovo. UNMIK regulations 
provide that the central civil registry may issue travel documents to 
any person registered as a habitual resident of Kosovo, and the 
registry routinely issued such documents in practice. The PISG held 
managerial and operational responsibility for the registry, while UNMIK 
retained its overall authority, including for the issuance of UNMIK 
travel documents and the security of the central registration database.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and authorities did not use it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to the Office of 
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 207,000 persons 
from Kosovo remained displaced in Serbia and 16,500 in Montenegro as a 
consequence of the 1999 conflict. Of the 4,100 persons displaced by the 
March 2004 riots, some 1,300 remained displaced. There were 19,500 
persons displaced within Kosovo, almost half of whom were Kosovo 
Albanians. Few IDPs returned during the year due to uncertainty over 
Kosovo's future political status, lack of employment opportunities, 
security concerns, and property disputes. While some international 
agencies, NGOs, and the PISG continued to organize small-scale return 
projects, observers criticized the newly created PISG Ministry of 
Communities and Returns for internal irregularities and delay in the 
disbursement of PISG funding for return projects. Amidst these 
criticisms and investigations, returns minister Slavisa Petkovic 
resigned shortly before year's end. Aside from successes in Klina/Kline 
and Istok/Istog, municipalities hired staff and devised municipal 
return strategies with minimal results. On August 3, Pec/Peja 
municipality decided not to reconstruct any homes in its territory 
without a statement from the displaced homeowner indicating readiness 
and intention to return.
    On June 6, the Governments of Kosovo and Serbia signed a protocol 
for cooperation in returning displaced people to Kosovo, including to 
places other than their primary residence. Discussions on 
implementation of this agreement continued at year's end.
    At the end of December, UNHCR reported that 1,608 members of 
minority communities returned to Kosovo during the year, including 
Kosovo Albanians who returned to areas where they are a minority. 
Overall minority returns since 2000 stood at 16,117 at year's end. A 
slightly smaller number of Kosovo Serbs returned compared to 2005, when 
more Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians, and Goranis returned. Kosovo Serbs 
comprised approximately 31 percent of returnees during the year, 
compared with 35 percent in 2005. Roma (including Ashkali and 
Egyptians) continued to return in slightly greater numbers, comprising 
54 percent of the overall number of returns. In Mitrovica, Kosovo Serbs 
in the north of the city and Kosovo Albanians in the south continued to 
illegally occupy each others' properties, hindering potential returns.
    By year's end, the PISG had reconstructed over 97 percent of the 
homes damaged or destroyed in the March 2004 riots. On December 15, for 
example, repairs and reconstruction were completed in Svinjare. 
However, a number of the individuals displaced by the riots still did 
not return due to both a real and perceived lack of security, 
unemployment, and residents' complaints about the quality of 
reconstruction. The prospect for returns varied according to region and 
ethnic group.
    Camp Osterode, a relocation facility in northern Kosovo designed to 
eventually accommodate approximately 531 Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian 
IDPs, opened in March, and 114 households comprising 454 persons moved 
there from lead-polluted camps during the year. Forty-one households 
with 172 individuals remained at the polluted Cesmin Lug camp, refusing 
to move. All persons from Kablar Barracks and Zitkovac camps moved to 
Osterode, and all existing structures at those two camps were 
demolished to prevent movement back to lead-polluted areas. On August 
30, the World Health Organization (WHO) began treating relocated Roma, 
Ashkali, and Egyptian children for lead poisoning at the camp.
    In 2005 UNMIK also began a concurrent donor funding campaign to 
rebuild the original Romani settlement in southern Mitrovica, destroyed 
in 1999 by Kosovo Albanians. In February, the European Roma Rights 
Center filed a petition with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) 
in Strasbourg alleging UNMIK violations of Roma rights and requesting 
immediate action to remove the Roma from the lead-contaminated camps 
and provide medical treatment. The ECHR subsequently rejected the 
petition.
    Limited funding slowed the return project, but reconstruction of 
the neighborhood began in May. By year's end, two 12-unit apartment 
buildings were completed and construction had begun on two more. 
Another 36 houses (54 housing units) were also nearly complete. The 
committee for selecting future occupants of the 48 apartments received 
93 applications; 31 from Serbia, 27 from Camp Osterode, 18 from 
Leposaviq/Leposavic municipality, 13 from Montenegro, two from Camp 
Cesmin Lug, and two from private locations in Mitrovica. The committee 
selected the occupants. At year's end, the 48 chosen heads of household 
were waiting to sign a 99-year lease, which was in the process of 
revision and approval by the UNMIK legal adviser's office.

    Protection of Refugees.--Kosovo is not a signatory to the 1951 
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. 
However, Kosovo provides asylum and refugee status under an UNMIK 
regulation on the movement of persons into and out of Kosovo, whose 
provisions are compatible with the Convention and Protocol. During the 
year, UNMIK granted refugee status to two persons.
    In practice, UNMIK provided protection against refoulement, the 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. UNMIK 
cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework provide 
residents with the right to change their government peacefully, and 
they exercised this right in practice through periodic elections on the 
basis of universal suffrage.
    Kosovo continued to be administered under the civil authority of 
UNMIK. UNMIK and its chief administrator, the SRSG, established an 
international civil administration in 1999 following the NATO military 
campaign that forced the withdrawal of Serbian forces. In 2001 UNMIK 
promulgated the constitutional framework for the PISG. Under the 
constitutional framework, a 120-member Kosovo Assembly selects a 
President, a prime minister, and other ministers and PISG officials. 
Kosovo's leaders continued to criticize UNMIK for the slow pace of 
transfer of powers to the PISG, and UNMIK retained a number of 
competencies under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, including 
security and relations with foreign governments. In October 2005, a UN 
report noted that without clarity on future political status, the PISG 
was unable to take further steps to improve its effectiveness.

    Elections and Political Participation.--International and domestic 
observers determined that the October 2004 Kosovo Assembly elections 
generally reflected the will of the voters, although less than five 
percent of Kosovo Serbs participated, largely due to Serbian government 
pressure to boycott. On June 16, the SRSG postponed municipal elections 
due in November until either June 2007 or six months after the decision 
on Kosovo's final status, whichever is earlier.
    Kosovo has a multiparty system dominated by four Kosovo Albanian 
parties with several minority parties and coalitions.
    Under UNMIK regulations, individuals may nominate themselves as 
candidates to their parties, which must hold open and transparent 
internal elections to select candidate lists. Unlike at its 2004 
convention, the largest party and senior ruling coalition partner, the 
LDK, abided by this requirement when it elected a new President at its 
December 9 party convention. Party affiliation played an important role 
in access to government services and social and employment 
opportunities. Traditional social arrangements and clan loyalties also 
played an important, although unofficial, role in political 
organizations.
    There were numerous reports of politically motivated attacks and 
threats against Kosovo Albanian political and institutional figures 
during the year.
    In January an unknown person assaulted Ferizaj LDK branch 
presidency member Ismajl Nazifi, a key witness for Ferizaj Municipal 
Assembly President Faik Grainca in his lawsuit against former deputy 
prime minister Adem Salihaj. A KPS investigation continued at year's 
end.
    On July 24, a Kosovo daily newspaper published a threat against the 
Kosovo negotiating team by the self-proclaimed ``Karadaku fighter 
comrades,'' warning ``that the signing of the current plan on 
decentralization would be the most fatal signature they have ever given 
against themselves and the interests of their nation.'' A KPS 
investigation continued at year's end.
    On September 15, a bomb exploded near the Gnjilane/Gjilan apartment 
of Kosovo Interior Minister Fatmir Rexhepi, destroying his wife's car. 
An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    In the four months prior to the December LDK party internal 
elections, there were 10 explosions, most involving politically 
relevant targets. Property damage was reported, but no injuries. At the 
December 9 party convention, several people suffered minor injuries 
during a fight between those supporting President Sejdiu and those 
supporting Nexhat Daci.
    There were 36 women in the 120-seat Kosovo Assembly. Women must 
occupy every third spot on each political party's candidate list. There 
were no female members of the eight-member assembly presidency and only 
one female minister and one female deputy minister. Women represented 
28 percent of the elected municipal representatives. In September 2005, 
34 female Kosovo Assembly members established an informal women's 
caucus with an eight-person, multiethnic board.
    There were 22 ethnic minority members in the 120-seat Kosovo 
Assembly, including 10 Kosovo Serbs and 12 members of other groups, 
including ethnic Turks, Bosniaks, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians. 
There were two minority PISG ministers--one Kosovo Serb and one 
Bosniak--and three minority deputy ministers. The seat of one Serb 
minister was kept vacant, as the designated Serb party refused to take 
the position. One Bosniak and one Kosovo Turk held a rotating seat on 
the Kosovo Assembly presidency; the boycott by one of the Kosovo Serb 
parties left empty the eight seats set aside for Kosovo Serbs. At 
year's end, Kosovo Serbs in the largest Kosovo Serb political party had 
not claimed their set-aside cabinet posts and continued to boycott 
assembly votes, although they did participate in committees; members of 
Slavisa Petkovic's Serb Democratic Party of Kosovo and Metohija took up 
two of the set-aside seats and led the Ministry of Returns. The 
constitutional framework requires that the assembly reserve 10 seats 
for Kosovo Serbs and 10 for members of other ethnic groups, but ethnic 
minorities were underrepresented at the municipal level where no such 
provisions govern.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread 
public perception of corruption in both the PISG and UNMIK. A lack of 
effective judicial oversight and general weakness in the rule of law 
contributed to corruption in the PISG. As part of its mandate, UNMIK 
continued to adjudicate many sensitive cases related to corruption and 
interethnic crimes. During the year 24 people were arrested and one 
convicted on corruption charges.
    On February 28, unknown persons assaulted the independent 
international auditor general, leaving her with cuts and bruises two 
months after her arrival in Kosovo and only two days after the release 
of a critical audit on the Pristina municipality. A KPS investigation 
continued at year's end.
    After assuming office in March, Prime Minister Agim Ceku requested 
that an independent international auditor undertake an audit of every 
ministry and municipality. By year's end, the auditor general had 
issued reports on five municipalities and reports on asset management 
in six ministries, most of which were critical of government 
administration, fiscal management, and procurement practices. In 
October following allegations of corruption and pursuant to a search 
warrant issued by an international judge, the office of the Ministry of 
Communities and Returns was searched. In November Prime Minister Ceku 
dismissed Minister Slavisa Petkovic, a Kosovo Serb, and at year's end 
prosecutors were continuing to review the reports.
    On June 24, the KPS Financial and Corruption Crime Investigation 
Unit in Pristina arrested Ahmet Alishani, senior advisor to the former 
assembly speaker Nexhat Daci, on suspicion of fraud and bribery. 
Alishani was released, then re-arrested in November in connection with 
the audit of the Kosovo Assembly.
    During the year Kosovo Assembly President Kole Berisha ordered an 
audit on management of the assembly under his predecessor, Nexhat Daci. 
The audit, presented to assembly members on October 6, reported 
numerous wrongdoings and mismanagement by the assembly administration, 
misuse of public funds, and procurement irregularities during Daci's 
tenure as assembly President. In October Berisha suspended four staff 
members, and on November 3, the Assembly established an investigation 
committee on the matter. The committee's investigation was ongoing at 
year's end. By year's end, three suspects were arrested, including two 
Assembly officials, and the criminal investigation led by UNMIK's 
Department of Justice continued. No charges had been brought against 
Daci himself.
    On November 3, an international prosecutor indicted former Director 
of the Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo Leme Xhema, former 
divisional manager at Kosovo Trust Agency Roger Reynolds, former 
director of Norway Invest Mustafa Neziri, and former managing director 
and chairman of Norway Invest Ronnen Sorensen, in connection with the 
alleged misuse of $390,000 (300,000 euros).
    On November 29, two finance officers at Dubrava Prison were 
arrested on charges of abusing their official position and falsifying 
documents. The two were released on the condition that they not 
approach witnesses in the case or any employee of the Dubrava Prison 
finance office. An international staff member who had left the mission 
was also being investigated. The investigation was ongoing at year's 
end.
    No law provides for access to official UNMIK documents. In 2003 
UNMIK promulgated a law on the access to official PISG documents, but 
the law did not include penalties for failure to comply, and in 
practice PISG institutions rarely granted access during the year. 
Institutions failed even to respond to nearly 85 percent (690 of 820) 
of requests made during the year, according to a Youth Initiative for 
Human Rights study, and those who did respond most often responded by 
refusing to provide the requested documents. Furthermore, only six of 
318 requests made in the Serbian language were replied to in Serbian as 
required by law. Although most replies came within the required 15-day 
window, journalists complained that allowing 15 days effectively meant 
they could never obtain official documents in time to meet their own 
publishing deadlines.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. UNMIK, KFOR, and the 
PISG were occasionally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    Authorities did not provide NGOs access to public documents (see 
section 3) and prohibited one NGO, which formerly visited prisons to 
report on conditions, from conducting such visits until late December 
(see section 1.c.).
    NGOs complained about the lack of a tax exemption on some items 
imported into Kosovo; some religious NGOs reported discrimination based 
on their religious affiliation.
    An Ombudsperson Institution was responsible for investigating 
allegations of government abuses of international human rights laws. 
While the Ombudsperson office actively issued intervention letters, 
reports, and recommendations, its recommendations were not always 
followed by the PISG, local courts, or the KPS. Cases investigated by 
the office concerned property rights, abuse of official authority, 
administrative acts or omissions by public authorities, lack of proper 
investigations into criminal acts, issues involving the length of court 
proceedings and the execution of court decisions, employment-related 
disputes, and impunity. The former deputy Ombudsperson Hilmi Jashari 
served as acting head of the Ombudsperson Institution during the year, 
following the end of the international Ombudsperson's mandate in 
December 2005. In February the Ombudsperson's mandate was changed to 
exclude UNMIK from its purview; a new Human Rights Advisory Panel 
within UNMIK was established in April and charged with UNMIK oversight.
    UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally cooperated with the ICTY. In 
March 2005 the ICTY indicted then-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and 
codefendants Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj regarding war crimes 
committed between March and September 1998. In a pretrial conference on 
October 13, the prosecutor amended the indictment, dropping two counts 
and adding one. The prosecutor also applied to make further amendments, 
which the court allowed. At year's end, the final indictment had yet to 
be submitted or approved.
    Societal attitudes occasionally interfered with ICTY 
investigations. A visit on May 25 by an ICTY criminal defense team to a 
massacre site in Krusha e Vogel, Prizren municipality, sparked violence 
by villagers, who claimed they saw two former Serb residents in the 
convoy. The resulting melee resulted in the injury of over 30 people, 
including three police officers. The PISG and UNMIK officials 
criticized the villagers' failure to respect the rule of law, adding 
that any future visits would be better coordinated and announced in 
advance. Two activist groups, the Self-Determination Movement and the 
National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo, supported the 
villagers' actions and criticized UNMIK police.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    UNMIK and PISG regulations specifically prohibit discrimination on 
the basis of race, gender, ethnic origin, disability, or language; 
however, violence and discrimination against women, persons with 
disabilities, and ethnic minorities persisted.

    Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, 
remained a serious and persistent problem. UNMIK regulations prohibit 
domestic violence and convictions carry prison terms of six months to 
five years. When victims did press charges, KPS domestic violence units 
conducted investigations and transferred cases to prosecutors. 
According to UNMIK, family loyalties and close-knit communities and the 
backlog of cases in both civil and criminal courts added to a low rate 
of prosecution.
    The Center for Protection of Women and Children provided assistance 
to 81 victims of domestic and sexual violence from April through 
December, including legal services in 44 cases. The Ministry of Justice 
Victim Advocate and Assistance Unit was involved in 701 domestic 
violence cases. The judicial system processed 135 protection orders and 
opened 213 cases, 116 of which resulted in convictions. Sentences 
ranged from judicial reprimands to imprisonment. Traditional social 
attitudes towards women in the male-dominated society contributed to 
the high level of domestic abuse and low number of reported cases.
    There were no governmental agencies dedicated solely to dealing 
with family violence. Six shelters assisted victims of domestic 
violence and trafficking, including one run by an international NGO and 
designed for minors and two that admitted victims of both domestic 
violence and trafficking. The KPS reported that 66 victims of domestic 
violence received shelter during the year. Several domestic and 
international NGOs pursued activities to assist women; however, they 
were constrained by a tradition of silence concerning domestic 
violence, sexual abuse, and rape.
    During the year, a 24-hour anonymous hotline for reporting domestic 
abuse operated in Pristina, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Peje/Pec, Prizren, and 
Mitrovica. Since 2004 the hotline has assisted 2,573 cases. Victims of 
domestic violence accounted for 77 percent of the calls and 4 percent 
of calls were from trafficking victims. The hotline informed callers 
about their rights, available shelters, and related information.
    The KPS training school offered special courses on domestic 
violence and rape in its curriculum. There were no reports that KPS 
responded inappropriately to rape or domestic abuse allegations.
    UNMIK regulations criminalize rape; however, spousal rape is not 
specifically addressed. Under the Provisional Criminal Code, rape is 
punishable by one to 10 years in prison; statutory rape (sexual 
intercourse with a girl under 14) is punishable by one to five years in 
prison.
    Rape was significantly underreported due to the cultural stigma 
attached to victims and their families. According to the Ministry of 
Justice, victim advocates provided services to victims in approximately 
82 cases of rape during the year.
    The law prohibits prostitution, but prostitution remained 
prevalent. The UNMIK police trafficking and prostitution investigation 
unit investigated cases of prostitution and suspected trafficking in 
persons.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    There was no specific law against sexual harassment, which was a 
common problem. Social awareness of sexual harassment remained low, and 
few cases were reported.
    Women have the same legal rights as men but traditionally have a 
lower social status, which affected their treatment within the legal 
system. Despite a lack of legal impediments, relatively few women 
obtained upper-level management positions in commerce, the KPS, or 
government. While the number of women with jobs continued to increase, 
female unemployment remained high at around 70 percent, 10 to 20 
percent higher than the rate for men.
    Traditional social attitudes toward women resulted in 
discrimination. In some rural areas, women often had little ability to 
make decisions involving their children or to exercise control over 
property. While women and men have an equal legal right to inherit 
property, family property customarily passes only to men. Ethnic 
Albanian widows, particularly in rural areas, risked losing custody of 
their children due to a custom calling for children and property to 
pass to the deceased father's family, while the widow returns to her 
birth family.
    On May 5, the President of the Skenderaj Education Committee 
recommended that married women should not be allowed to attend 
secondary school, explaining that since ``they are wives,'' they should 
take care of their husbands. The municipal assembly unanimously 
approved the recommendation.
    In October KPS arrested four people, including the parents, for 
attempting to force a 13-year-old girl to marry an already-married, 
much older man with four children. The girl was removed to a shelter.
    To combat discrimination against women, in 2005 UNMIK integrated 
antidiscrimination, antitrafficking, and human rights coursework into 
the legal curriculum at the University of Pristina.

    Children.--UNMIK and the PISG were generally committed to the 
welfare and rights of children.
    According to a 2004 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, an 
estimated 40 percent of the population of Kosovo is under the age of 
18, and 33 percent of the population is under 15. Kosovo has a very low 
rate of preschool attendance, with less than 10 percent of children 
aged two to five attending. According to the NGO Save the Children, a 
preschool education law promulgated in March failed to make the 
preprimary year (for children ages five to six) compulsory or ensure 
budget allocations to preprimary education. UNMIK regulations require 
children between the ages of six and 15 to enroll in public school. 
Primary education is free. UNICEF estimated that 33 percent of the 
children who enroll in primary school drop out by grade eight and, of 
those who finish primary school, only 57 percent enroll in secondary 
education. Some children were forced to leave school early to enter the 
workforce (see section 6.d.).
    According to 2005 statistics, 97.5 percent of Kosovo Albanian and 
99 percent of Kosovo Serb children were enrolled in primary school, 
while only 77 percent of children between the ages of seven and 14 from 
non-Serb minority communities (Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Turkish, 
Bosniak, Gorani, and others) were in school. UNICEF reported that the 
lack of facilities for minority education in parts of Kosovo made it 
difficult for some IDPs to return to their homes.
    According to UNICEF, while 52 percent of all children who completed 
primary education continued to secondary school, only 43 percent of 
female students continued. The rate of secondary school completion was 
also lower for Kosovo Albanian girls than for Kosovo Albanian boys or 
Kosovo Serb girls.
    UNMIK regulations require equal conditions for school children and 
provide the right to native-language public education through secondary 
level for minority students. Schools teaching in Serbian, Bosnian, and 
Turkish operated during the year. Both Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian 
children attended schools with inadequate facilities that lacked basic 
equipment. A few schools housed both Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian 
pupils, who studied different curricula and rotated class schedules.
    Romani, Ashkali, and Egyptian children attended mixed schools with 
Kosovo Albanian children but reportedly faced intimidation in some 
majority Albanian areas. Romani children tended to be disadvantaged by 
poverty, leading many to start work both at home and in the streets at 
an early age to contribute to family income. Romani children were also 
disadvantaged by having to learn another language to attend school 
since many spoke Romani at home. Some Bosniak children in predominantly 
Bosniak areas were occasionally able to obtain primary education in 
their language, but those few outside such areas received instruction 
in the Albanian language.
    The Government provided medical care, and boys and girls had equal 
access to it. However, the medical care available was generally of a 
low standard.
    A study by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education on the prevalence 
of violence in schools found that violence against children was 
condoned. Corporal punishment was an accepted practice in homes and 
schools. Those who lived far from school reported that they were afraid 
to travel the distance because of the threat of peer violence. Children 
reported that persons close to them were perpetrators of violence; that 
boys were more at risk of physical violence; and girls were more at 
risk of verbal abuse. Of children ages six to 11, 75 percent perceived 
the street as the most violent place, 27 percent said the school was 
the scene of violent events, and 12 percent mentioned the home. Thirty-
seven percent of older children considered violence against children in 
schools to be a widespread phenomenon.
    High unemployment and family dislocation resulted in abandonment of 
newborns. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported that 1,200 
children were either orphaned or abandoned since the end of the 1999 
conflict, although the abandonment rate was decreasing, and only 56 
children were abandoned between January and October. The children were 
housed in various residential placements including extended family 
care, foster care, and community-based homes. However, because domestic 
adoptions and foster family programs did not keep pace with the rate of 
abandonment, authorities sometimes housed infants and children in group 
homes with few caregivers. Children with disabilities were often hidden 
away without proper care, particularly in rural areas.
    During the year the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare operated 
31 social welfare centers that assisted 1,188 orphans, 1,695 delinquent 
children, 66 abused children, 66 abandoned children, and 388 children 
with behavioral problems. The ministry also managed foster homes and 
coordinated with NGOs to place children in temporary shelters. 
According to the Center for Social Work, 19 abandoned disabled 
children, ranging from three to 18 years of age, were living in two 
government-funded community homes under 24-hour care.
    Child marriage was reported to occur, especially among the ethnic 
Romani, Ashkali, Egyptian, and Albanian communities, although UNMIK did 
not compile statistics on the problem.
    Children were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--UNMIK regulations criminalize trafficking 
in persons; however, trafficking of women and children remained a 
serious problem.
    Kosovo was a source, transit, and destination point for trafficked 
persons, and internal trafficking was a growing problem. Victims were 
women and children trafficked internally or from Eastern Europe, the 
Balkans, and the former Soviet Union into Kosovo, primarily for sexual 
exploitation but also for domestic servitude or forced labor in bars 
and restaurants. Victims were also trafficked through Kosovo to 
Macedonia, Albania, and countries in Western Europe. During the year, 
24 of the 64 persons who were identified as victims of trafficking were 
repatriated or returned to their community.
    According to the KPS and the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM), trafficking in persons was an increasing problem, and 
the majority of victims were trafficked from Moldova. IOM records 
indicate that Moldovan females accounted for 43 percent of trafficking 
victims, followed by females from Romania (17 percent), Kosovo (16 
percent), Ukraine (11 percent), Albania (6 percent), Bulgaria (5 
percent) and other countries (3 percent). The KPS reported similar 
statistics, but their records indicated that 31 percent of the victims 
were from Kosovo and trafficked internally, putting internally 
trafficked victims just behind Moldovan victims. The KPS also reported 
great difficulty in identifying trafficking victims due to their 
reluctance to come forward and report the crimes to the police. 
Cultural taboos and the threat of social discrimination caused most 
internally trafficked victims to remain silent about their experiences. 
Another difficulty was the inability of the KPS to recruit Kosovo Serb 
officers for the antitrafficking unit, preventing undercover operations 
from taking place in northern Kosovo and in Kosovo Serb enclaves.
    Trafficking victims worked primarily in the sex industry, mostly in 
brothels and nightclubs but increasingly in private residences. None 
reported that they were aware they would be working in the sex industry 
when they left their homes. Trafficking victims reported that they were 
regularly subjected to beatings and rape, denied access to health care, 
and had their travel and identity documents confiscated. Victims were 
often found in poor health and psychological condition.
    UNMIK reported that traffickers often worked as part of a 
coordinated effort between Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian organized 
crime elements, and some women were trafficked from or through Serbia 
into Kosovo. Bar and brothel owners purchased victims from organized 
crime rings.
    Methods of trafficking increased in sophistication. In reaction to 
an aggressive eradication campaign by local and international 
authorities, traffickers shifted the commercial sex trade out of public 
bars and clubs and into private homes, where operations were more 
difficult to detect. Traffickers increasingly used financial incentives 
to encourage victims to refuse assistance.
    The IOM reported that, of the 538 mainly international victims it 
has assisted since 1999, 73 percent fell prey to traffickers after 
accepting a bogus job offer abroad, 4.1 percent claimed to have been 
kidnapped, and 3.7 percent were promised marriage. In 83 percent of 
cases, recruiting was through personal common contacts; the recruiter 
was an acquaintance of the victim in 29 percent of the cases and a 
friend or family friend in approximately 15 percent. Recruiters were 
most often female.
    Under the Provisional Criminal Code, trafficking is punishable by 
two to 20 years' imprisonment. Engaging or attempting to engage in 
trafficking is punishable by two to 12 years' imprisonment, or up to 15 
years if the victim is a minor; organizing a group to engage in 
trafficking is punishable by five to 20 years' imprisonment; 
facilitating trafficking through negligence is punishable by six 
months' to five years' imprisonment. A client engaging in sex with a 
trafficking victim may be sentenced for up to five years, while sex 
with a trafficked minor carries penalties of up to 10 years' 
imprisonment. Voluntary prostitution is punished as a minor offense; 
prostitutes can be punished, but not clients, unless the police can 
prove that a client knowingly used the services of a trafficking 
victim. Prostitution constitutes grounds for deportation.
    UNMIK and the KPS Section for Investigations of Trafficking in 
Human Beings worked together on trafficking until May, when the 
trafficking competency was transferred to the KPS. During the year 
UNMIK and KPS conducted 157 surveillances and 90 operations, including 
38 undercover operations. They also checked 1,303 premises suspected of 
being used for trafficking in persons and prostitution and closed 22 
business establishments used for trafficking. During the year UNMIK and 
KPS arrested 36 people for trafficking, 21 for pimping, 12 for 
prostitution, and 28 on trafficking-related charges such as illegal 
weapons possession and counterfeiting. They also identified 64 
trafficking victims, 51 of whom received needed assistance, including 
safe accommodation, counseling, and professional training for return 
and social reintegration. At least one shelter provided medical care 
pursuant to its agreements with health care providers. The prosecutor's 
office filed 15 cases of trafficking in persons; 29 additional cases 
from previous years remained open. Fourteen of these 44 cases were 
completed, resulting in 12 convictions of 18 defendants.
    Factors that contributed to a low number of prosecutions included 
the increasing sophistication of organized crime efforts to avoid 
direct links between the victims and senior crime figures, the lack of 
a witness protection program (although means were employed to provide 
anonymity during trial testimony), reluctance of victims to cooperate 
with authorities, inadequate training for judicial personnel, and 
failure of police to adapt to new techniques employed by traffickers.
    UNMIK regulations provide a defense for trafficking victims against 
criminal charges of prostitution and illegal border crossing. In the 
past, local judges sometimes incorrectly sentenced trafficking victims 
to prison or wrongly issued deportation orders against women convicted 
of prostitution or lack of documents. Unlike in previous years, there 
were no reports of these practices occurring during the year.
    UNMIK, the KPS, the border police, the OSCE, the Office of Good 
Governance, prosecutors, judges, and the ministries of health, 
education, public services, and labor and social welfare shared 
responsibility for combating trafficking. NGOs and international 
organizations, particularly the IOM, handled protection and prevention-
related antitrafficking activities. The PISG, in cooperation with NGOs, 
international organizations, and foreign governments, continued to 
implement the Kosovo Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, 
which was launched in May 2005. Activities included a prevention 
campaign during part of the year, as well as the launch of an 
antitrafficking Web site and campaigns against trafficking in children 
and young girls. Authorities also initiated a network of young human 
rights and antitrafficking ``ambassadors.'' After receiving training, 
these ``ambassadors'' began touring Kosovo and hosting debates on human 
rights and trafficking issues.
    The IOM assisted 54 victims of trafficking during the year, 30 of 
whom were from Kosovo. More than half of the victims from Kosovo were 
minors (17 cases), and 29 were internally trafficked. The current 
reporting period was the first year in which IOM assisted more local 
than foreign trafficking victims. Of the victims from outside Kosovo 
that the IOM has assisted since 1999, over 50 percent were from 
Moldova, 20 percent from Romania, 13 percent from Ukraine, and the rest 
from Bulgaria, Albania, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, and 
Nigeria. The majority of these victims were between the ages of 18 and 
24 years. IOM figures indicated that 77 percent of Kosovo victims were 
internally trafficked, while approximately 10 percent were trafficked 
to Macedonia, and 5 percent each to Albania and Italy.
    The overall number of trafficking cases involving minors increased 
from 2005. While none of the foreign victims of trafficking IOM 
assisted during the year were minors, about 57 percent of the local 
victims IOM assisted were minors. Children and young girls from rural 
areas made up 54 percent of trafficking victims. Children and young 
girls from backgrounds with a high level of poverty, unemployment, and 
illiteracy were particularly at risk of being trafficked. The IOM 
reported that 11 percent of local victims were not enrolled in school; 
35 percent had only finished primary school (fifth grade); 47 percent 
had finished elementary school (ninth grade); 6 percent had completed 
secondary education (high school); and 1 percent had gone to 
university.
    There was anecdotal evidence during the year that a complex set of 
financial relationships and kinship ties existed between political 
leaders and organized crime networks that had financial interests in 
trafficking. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the 
same lawyer represented an accused trafficker as well as the victim.
    In May the antitrafficking competency was transferred from UNMIK 
Police to the KPS. The number of bar/restaurant checks increased 
dramatically following the KPS assumption of authority, and the number 
of premises closed increased slightly.
    There were a number of arrests and police actions against 
traffickers during the year. For example, in August Kosovo daily Koha 
Ditore reported the killing of a trafficking victim who had been 
arrested in a Gnjilane/Gjilan motel and deported to Albania on June 26. 
According to the KPS, the woman did not admit to being a trafficking 
victim and was deported because she had entered Kosovo illegally. The 
Albanian interior ministry reported that the victim's boyfriend, Urim 
Jahja, killed her in her apartment in the Albanian village of Shengjin 
on August 22 because of an alleged debt. The Albanian investigation 
revealed that the victim was deceived by another Albanian woman who 
found her a dishwashing job in Tirana and later moved her to a cafe in 
Kosovo. The woman kept the victim's wages, which she justified as 
repayment for finding her the job. She also refused to allow the victim 
to contact her mother for three to four months. Jahja later committed 
suicide.
    On October 5, KPS officers raided a nightclub in suburban Pristina 
and arrested five local men and two Moldovan women on suspicion of 
trafficking. Police recovered six other Moldovan women as possible 
trafficking victims. The following day, the KPS ordered the six women 
arrested for hiding the act of human trafficking and recruiting other 
females for prostitution in cooperation with the nightclub's owners and 
workers. According to the KPS, the prosecutors later dropped the 
charges and released the women, who have since gone back to work at the 
nightclub. One of the men was released a month later due to a lack of 
evidence. Of the four men awaiting trial on trafficking charges, two 
remained in pretrial detention at year's end.
    On October 9, KPS arrested two Kosovo Albanian males on the 
Pristina-Urosevac/Ferizaj road for trafficking two female Kosovo 
Albanian minors. KPS later arrested and detained four women in 
connection with the crime. A warrant was issued for the arrest of a 
third man, who was believed to be outside of Kosovo. Trials of those 
arrested were underway in the Pristina District Court at year's end.
    International and local NGOs were the main source of assistance to 
trafficking victims. Local NGOs, such as the Center for Protection of 
Victims and Prevention of Trafficking in Humans and the Center for 
Protection of Women and Children, operated shelters that provided 
medical care and psychological counseling services to trafficking 
victims in cooperation with UNMIK, the OSCE, and the IOM. The NGO Hope 
and Homes for Children operated a shelter for child victims of 
trafficking, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, in 
cooperation with UNMIK and the OSCE, ran a semi-independent group 
housing unit for minors who were victims of trafficking and domestic 
violence. Some domestic violence shelters, such as Liria in Gnjilane/
Gjilan, offered short-term shelter and referral services to low 
security risk victims. A Ministry of Justice-run interim facility also 
provided temporary shelter to victims while they considered whether to 
be repatriated or to testify against traffickers. Police often referred 
suspected trafficking victims to the IOM through OSCE regional 
officers.

    Persons With Disabilities.--Several UNMIK regulations prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state 
services; however, there was considerable discrimination in practice, 
and the rights of persons with disabilities were not a PISG priority.
    According to the local disability rights NGO HandiKos, the laws 
relating to persons with disabilities were not adequately implemented. 
As a result, children with disabilities were often excluded from 
educational opportunities, were not professionally evaluated, and 
lacked sufficient health and social services. There were no special 
legal protections for children with disabilities, as the Council on 
Economy and Finances claimed that it did not have sufficient funding to 
support such programs. There was no law defining the status of persons 
with disabilities, nor was there provision for their training or 
employment. There were no guardianship laws with appropriate due 
process protections, and the regulations did not recognize the 
placement of individuals with mental disabilities in institutions as a 
legal issue separate from the issue of involuntary treatment. The law 
mandates access to official buildings; however, it was not enforced in 
practice.
    According to the NGO Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), 
patients with mental disabilities continued to be detained in isolated 
conditions with no legal basis, since there is no law to regulate the 
process of committing persons to psychiatric or social care facilities 
or to protect rights within institutions. On occasion individuals in 
need of mental health treatment were convicted of fabricated or petty 
crimes and sent to prisons that lacked resources for adequate 
treatment.
    On April 26, the Prime Minister established the National Council on 
Disabled People (NCDP) as an advisory organization to government 
authorities and the Kosovo Assembly. The NCDP has two co-chairs: the 
Prime Minister and NGO HandiKos director Halit Ferizi. During the year 
they established an NCDP secretariat to draft legal instruments, but by 
year's end the NCDP had not yet become fully operational.
    By year's end, neither UNMIK nor the PISG had filed criminal 
charges or taken other legal action in response to a 2002 report by 
MDRI that found extensive evidence of physical abuse, sexual assault, 
neglect, and arbitrary detention by staff and patients in mental health 
care facilities at the Shtimje Institute, the Pristina Elderly Home, 
and the Pristina University Hospital.
    The ministries of education, health, social welfare, and public 
services were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with 
disabilities.
    According to the WHO, there were an estimated 14,000 persons with 
mental disabilities. In December 2004 MDRI reported that institutional 
care of persons with mental disabilities left them isolated, 
arbitrarily detained, and vulnerable to physical violence and sexual 
abuse (see section 1.c.). In 2005 the PISG expanded options for 
independent living by such persons and spent $157,000 to $262,000 
(120,000 to 200,000 euros) each on 14 integration homes endorsed by 
MDRI. According to a September draft WHO report, there were not enough 
facilities to provide care for persons with mental disabilities, and 
employment opportunities for persons with mental disabilities were 
limited. The CDHRF reported that prisoners with mental disabilities 
were often kept in prison facilities because of a lack of available 
mental health treatment.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Official and societal 
discrimination persisted against Kosovo's ethnic Serb, Roma, Ashkali, 
and Egyptian communities with respect to employment, social services, 
language use, freedom of movement, the right to return, and other basic 
rights, although reports of such discrimination declined compared to 
2005. Members of the Bosniak and Gorani communities also complained of 
discrimination. During the year violence and other crimes directed at 
minorities and their property lessened but remained a problem. Minority 
employment in the PISG continued to be low and was generally confined 
to lower levels of the Government; members of minorities occupied 11 
percent of government jobs despite a PISG target of more than 16 
percent.
    As of October, 61 cases of interethnic crime were reported; 51 
involved Serbs as victims or suspects. At year's end, 24 cases remained 
under investigation by police and 37 cases were referred to the courts. 
According to UNMIK, incidents targeting minorities were generally 
underreported due to distrust of the KPS and the legal system, much of 
which stemmed from the low rate of successful criminal investigations, 
prosecutions, and convictions.
    Violence against Kosovo Serbs was usually investigated by the 
international police unit, a unit composed of UN international police 
officers within the KPS that reports directly to the police 
commissioner, who is also an international staff member.
    There were multiple reports of violence against Kosovo Serbs during 
the year. For example, on March 28, two Kosovo Albanian youths stabbed 
a Kosovo Serb youth near the main bridge in northern Mitrovica. Two 
people were arrested, but charges were later dropped when the victim 
declined to press charges. The international police unit investigation 
continued at year's end.
    On June 8, unknown persons fired gunshots at the homes of Kosovo 
Serb returnees in Llug village in Istok/Istog. The Kosovo Albanian 
mayor condemned the incident and the Kosovo Albanian deputy mayor 
visited the families. The KPS arrested one person, and the case was in 
progress in at year's end.
    On August 26, 16-year-old Kosovo Albanian male ``AD'' reportedly 
threw an explosive device at the entrance of the Dolce Vita Cafe in 
northern Mitrovica, injuring nine people (including seven Kosovo Serbs, 
one Bosniak and one British national). AD was arrested, arraigned, and 
provisionally released due to a medical condition. The international 
prosecutor filed an indictment in the case on December 15, and AD 
remained under house arrest at year's end.
    On December 8, KPS and media reported an explosion on the Frenku 
Bridge in Mahiliq village, in Vucitrn/Vushtrri municipality. The 
explosion damaged railroad tracks, disrupting rail traffic on a line 
frequently used by Kosovo Serbs, who claimed that it was one of the 
safest ways for them to travel between Serb enclaves south of the Ibar 
and Serb majority areas in northern Kosovo. No injuries were reported.
    During the year there were no developments in the following cases: 
the February 2005 bombing of Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic's 
official vehicle; the July 2005 incident in which an unidentified 
person threw a hand grenade into the Zubin Potok offices of Slavisa 
Petkovic's Serbian Democratic Party for Kosovo and Metohija, the only 
Kosovo Serb party that participated in Kosovo institutions; and the 
September 2005 incident in which four Kosovo Serb youths were shot (and 
two subsequently died) while driving in Strpce/Shterpce. International 
police unit investigations continued at year's end.
    There were cases of Kosovo Albanians destroying private property 
belonging to Kosovo Serbs; some cases of violence against Serbs may 
have been attempts to force them to sell their property. An UNMIK 
regulation prevents the wholesale buy-out of many Kosovo Serb 
communities in an effort to prevent the intimidation of minority 
property owners in certain areas; however, it was rarely enforced. 
There were reports that Kosovo Serbs had difficulty accessing their 
property, which was sometimes occupied or used by Kosovo Albanians. In 
some cases, Kosovo Serb property was reportedly sold by persons falsely 
claiming to be their attorneys and presenting forged documents in 
court; in situations where the rightful owners did not live in Kosovo, 
such fraud went undiscovered for months.
    On June 6, in response to several unsolved crimes against Kosovo 
Serbs, Kosovo Serb National Council leader Marko Jaksic told media that 
the northern municipalities of Zvecan, Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, and 
Leposavic/Leposaviq had unanimously decided to suspend their relations 
with PISG. The crimes included the May 6 incident wherein Serbian 
Orthodox priest Srdjan Stankovic was shot at while driving in his car 
(he was not injured), for which UNMIK police suspect a 29-year-old Serb 
member of KPS; the May 11 wounding of Jovan Milosevic and Jablan Jevtic 
during an armed robbery gas station burglary in north Mitrovica; and 
the June 1 killing of Kosovo Serb Miljan Veskovic in Zvecan. Despite 
subsequent evidence, arrests, and clear statements by UNMIK and KPS 
officials that these crimes were not ethnically motivated, these three 
northern municipalities had not resumed relations with the PISG by 
year's end.
    UNMIK police analyzed 1,408 Kosovo Serb convoys escorted by the KPS 
from January to early May. There were six incidents of stone throwing 
at the convoys, and police made five arrests in those cases.
    There were new developments in the cases of several persons 
detained on suspicion of organizing or leading the March 2004 riots. In 
March 2005 the investigation of Vucitrn/Vushtrri KLA war veterans 
association chairman Salih Salihu was discontinued due to insufficient 
evidence. In March 2005 KPC reserve commander Naser Shatri was 
convicted of participation in a crowd that committed violence and given 
a six-month suspended sentence. In April 2005 Pec/Peja KLA war veterans 
association chairman Nexhmi Lajci was convicted of unauthorized 
ownership, control, and possession or use of weapons and fined $393 
(300 euros). The investigation of Gnjilane/Gjilan KLA war veterans 
association chairman Shaqir Shaqiri remained ongoing at year's end.
    In August the KPS arrested five Kosovo Albanians from the Kosovo 
Polje/Fushe Kosove and Obilic/Obiliq municipalities, charging them with 
organizing and participating in the March 2004 riots. On August 25, the 
court sentenced the men to 30 days' detention, and the investigation 
continued. The five were also accused of burning several buildings 
during the riots.
    On November 27, the trial began in the case of Esmin Hamza and 
``AK'' in connection with arsons in Prizren during the March 2004 
riots. The two Kosovo Albanian defendants were allegedly members of the 
mob and were charged with inciting inter-ethnic hatred and causing 
damage to property. The trial panel was composed of two international 
judges and one local judge. The defendants were not in custody, and the 
trial was ongoing at year's end.
    On December 14, police arrested Zlyhaje Avdullahu, a.k.a. ``Kiki,'' 
for crimes committed in Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosova during the March 2004 
riots. Avdullahu was allegedly part of a Kosovo Albanian mob that broke 
into, looted, and burned Kosovo Serb homes and attacked Kosovo Serbs in 
Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosova. On December 17, an international judge 
conducted a pretrial detention hearing against the defendant, 
authorizing her detention through the end of the year.
    As of October, the PISG had reconstructed more than 97 percent (871 
of 897) of the houses damaged or destroyed in March 2004, and church 
reconstruction was ongoing (see section 2.c.). According to the 
Ministry of Culture, of the 26 houses not yet reconstructed, 23 
remained unfinished due to security concerns in north Mitrovica, and 
the owners of the other three refused to have their homes 
reconstructed. On May 11, following complaints about the quality of the 
reconstruction, the Government established a five-member complaint 
review commission, but no decisions had been made as of October.
    There were reports of politically motivated violence against non-
Serb minorities during the year. On August 22, a small group of Kosovo 
Albanians assaulted former resident and Kosovo Montenegrin IDP Vuko 
Danilovic in front of several IDP children he had accompanied back to 
Kosovo so they could participate in a multiethnic summer camp at Decani 
Monastery. The KPS later arrested a Kosovo Albanian youth, but he was 
released when the victim could not identify him. The KPS investigation 
continued at year's end.
    On October 2, the home of a Gorani representative of Belgrade's 
Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija was seriously damaged by a 
bomb blast. KPS arrested one person and the investigation continued at 
year's end.
    Roma lived in dire poverty, and anti-Roma bias was a hallmark of 
Kosovo society. In 1999 Kosovo Albanians, viewing Roma as Serb 
collaborators, burned the Romani settlement in southern Mitrovica. As a 
result the settlement's approximately 8,000 former residents continued 
to live in camps for displaced persons in northern Mitrovica. During 
the year most of the Romani IDPs living in lead-contaminated camps were 
moved to alternative facilities and were being treated for lead 
poisoning (see section 2.d.).
    Roma were subject to pervasive social and economic discrimination; 
often lacked access to basic hygiene, medical care, and education; and 
were heavily dependent on humanitarian aid for survival. Although there 
were some successful efforts to resettle Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians 
in the homes they occupied prior to the 1999 conflict in Vucitrn/
Vushtrri, security concerns remained.
    Bosniak leaders complained that thousands of their community 
members had left Kosovo because of discrimination and the lack of 
economic opportunities.
    The PISG and UNMIK took some steps during the year to improve 
conditions for ethnic minorities. In September the Kosovo Assembly 
passed a language law, making Serbian the second official language in 
Kosovo and setting a 5 percent threshold for making a language spoken 
by an ethnic minority official in a municipality. The law provides that 
Turkish will continue to be the third official language in Prizren 
regardless of the percentage of the Turkish population in the 
municipality.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, the law was not 
applied during the year.
    Traditional societal attitudes about homosexuality intimidated most 
gays and lesbians into concealing their sexual orientation. Gays and 
lesbians generally felt insecure, with many reporting threats to their 
personal safety. The print media previously reinforced these attitudes 
by publishing without retraction negative articles about homosexuality 
that characterized gays and lesbians as mentally ill and prone to 
sexually assaulting children. Individual homosexuals also reported job 
discrimination. At least one political party, the Islamic-oriented 
Justice Party, included a condemnation of homosexuality in its 
political platform.
    In December 2005 local media reported that KPS officers and a 
treating physician verbally abused and mistreated two young gay men 
after an unknown assailant had attacked them with a knife near 
Pristina. The KPS briefly suspended two officers without pay pending 
investigation. The officers subsequently received minor reprimands and 
were reinstated. In January, police commissioner Kai Vittrup 
transferred KPS spokesperson Refki Morina out of the KPS press office 
following the December incident, after Morina stated, incorrectly, that 
homosexuality was punishable under the criminal code.
    On January 6, an unknown person attacked two members of the Center 
for Social Emancipation, an advocacy group for the gay community. Upon 
learning they were homosexual, the KPS reportedly treated the victims 
as criminals and failed to arrest the perpetrator. KPS took the victims 
to the Pristina University Hospital, where the treating doctor 
reportedly called them ``sick people.''
    On March 25, a group of seven men physically assaulted and verbally 
abused a 30-year-old man for being a homosexual. Although he reported 
the incident to the KPS, which in turn submitted it to the Serious 
Crimes Unit, the victim ultimately decided to drop the charges due to 
pressure from the main attacker's family. The district court prosecutor 
continued with the prosecution, and the court eventually convicted two 
perpetrators and sentenced them to six months in prison.
    On March 28 in Pristina, unknown persons severely beat two men whom 
they observed engaging in homosexual sex. One of the men later died at 
the hospital of his injuries. The Center for Social Emancipation, a 
local NGO promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, 
criticized police for treating the case as a robbery rather than as a 
hate crime. An investigation was continuing at year's end.
    On September 26, Ferid Agani, a psychiatrist and Kosovo Assembly 
member from the Justice Party, wrote an article in a local newspaper in 
which he referred to homosexuality as a ``serious psychiatric 
disorder'' that went against ``human nature.'' Two local human rights 
organizations, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Center for 
Social Emancipation, called on Agani and the newspaper to issue a 
public apology; neither did so.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. Right of Association.--UNMIK regulations allow workers to form 
and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice.
    The only significant union, the Association of Independent Trade 
Unions of Kosovo (BSPK), claimed over 120,000 members; only 50,000 of 
its members (approximately 10 percent of the workforce) were employed. 
UNMIK regulations prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, some 
union officials reported discrimination in practice. The BSPK reported 
that only a small number of companies respected the regulation 
preventing antiunion discrimination and claimed that worker rights were 
abused in every sector, including international organizations, where 
staff did not have security insurance or pensions.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--UNMIK 
regulations allow unions to conduct their activities without 
interference, and UNMIK protected this right in practice. UNMIK 
regulations also provide for the right to organize and bargain 
collectively without interference, and the Government did not restrict 
this right in practice; however, collective bargaining took place on 
only one occasion. UNMIK regulations do not recognize the right to 
strike; however, strikes were not prohibited in practice, and strikes 
occurred during the year.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--UNMIK regulations 
prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, 
there were reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 
6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
UNMIK regulations and policies prohibit exploitation of children in the 
workplace, including a prohibition of forced or compulsory labor; 
however, UNMIK and the PISG rarely challenged these practices when they 
occurred.
    UNMIK regulations set the minimum age for employment at age 16 and 
at age 18 for any work likely to jeopardize the health, safety, or 
morals of a young person, but they permit children to work at age 15, 
provided it is not harmful or prejudicial to school attendance.
    In villages and farming communities, younger children typically 
worked to assist their families. Urban children often worked in a 
variety of unofficial retail jobs, such as washing car windows or 
selling newspapers, cigarettes, and phone cards on the street; the 
numbers of such children grew relative to 2005, although statistics 
were not kept by either UNMIK or the PISG. According to the Ministry of 
Labor and Social Welfare, the PISG still lacked plans to tackle this 
common form of informal child labor. Some children were also engaged in 
physical labor, such as transporting goods. The CDHRF reported 
observing serious labor violations during the year, including child 
labor.
    Trafficking of children was also a serious problem, primarily for 
sexual exploitation (see section 5).
    The Ministry for Labor and Social Welfare, in cooperation with 
UNMIK, coordinated child protection policies, and the ministry's 
department of social welfare had responsibility for ensuring the 
protection of children; however, the ministry acted in an advisory 
rather than enforcement role, and conducted very few inspections during 
the year.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although UNMIK regulations 
provide for a minimum wage, one has not been adopted. While many 
international agencies and NGOs paid adequate wages, the average full-
time monthly public sector wage of $198 (151 euros) and the average 
private sector wage of $272 (208 euros) were inadequate to provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Public sector 
salaries remained subject to an IMF-ordered freeze and had not risen 
since 2003.
    UNMIK regulations provide for a standard 40-hour work week; require 
rest periods; limit the number of regular hours worked to 12 hours per 
day, overtime to 20 hours per week and 40 hours per month; require 
payment of a premium for overtime work; and prohibit excessive 
compulsory overtime. Employers often failed to implement these 
regulations due to the high underemployment and unemployment in Kosovo.
    The CDHRF reported observing serious labor violations during the 
year, including lack of a standard work week and compulsory and unpaid 
overtime; employees did not report such violations due to fear of 
reprisals. According to CDHRF, many private sector employees worked 
long hours as at-will employees without employment contracts, regular 
pay, or pension contributions paid on their behalf. Employees reported 
being fired without cause and in violation of existing laws and being 
denied holidays. CDHRF reported that sexual abuse occurred on the job 
but went unreported due to fear of expulsion and/or physical 
retaliation. According to CDHRF, workers in the public sector commonly 
faced similar mistreatment.
    A labor inspectorate within the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Welfare is responsible for enforcing labor standards. However, the 
inspectorate primarily advised employers, and although four fines were 
issued during the year for violation of the standards, they were not 
paid pending litigation.
    The labor inspectorate was responsible for enforcing health and 
safety standards but lacked trained staff and did not do so 
effectively. The law does not permit employees to remove themselves 
from dangerous workplaces without jeopardizing their continued 
employment.
    [1] The report on Serbia is divided into two sections; the first 
addresses the human rights situations in Serbia and the second 
addresses the situation in Kosovo. For purposes of this report, 
Kosovo's population of 2.2 million is not included as part of Serbia's 
population.

                               __________

                            SLOVAK REPUBLIC

    The Slovak Republic, with a population of approximately 5.4 
million, is a multiparty parliamentary democracy led by a prime 
minister and a 150-member Narodna Rada (National Council). The head of 
government, Prime Minister Robert Fico of the Smer (Direction-Social 
Democracy) Party, was elected for a four-year term in June. President 
Ivan Gasparovic serves as head of state and was elected for a five-year 
term in 2004. Both elections were free and fair. Six political parties, 
three of which comprise the governing coalition, sit in the National 
Council. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of 
the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Notable human 
rights problems included lengthy pretrial detention; restrictions on 
freedom of religion; corruption in the judiciary, local government, and 
the health sector; violence against women and children; trafficking in 
persons; and societal discrimination and violence against Roma. The 
overall human rights situation did not significantly change during the 
year; however, a report was released that noted mistreatment of 
persons, particularly Roma, by police that occurred in recent years.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    In the case of seven police officers charged with inhuman and 
degrading treatment in connection with the 2001 death of a Romani man 
in police custody, a new regional court judge reviewed the proceedings 
when the original judge in the case departed for another position in 
May 2005. The trial had not begun by year's end. The accused, who were 
dismissed from the police force, were not in detention.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and the law prohibit torture and other 
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, and the 
Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
    In February-March 2005, the European Committee for the Prevention 
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) 
visited the country, inspecting police stations, prisons, social 
services homes and, for the first time, psychiatric establishments. The 
CPT's report on the visit, which was publicly released on February 2, 
noted that the committee received a significant amount of information 
indicating mistreatment of detainees by law enforcement agencies. The 
types of mistreatment alleged consisted mainly of slaps, punches and 
kicks, or blows with hard objects such as batons. Some persons claimed 
they had been struck with pistol butts, flashlights, or plastic bottles 
filled with water. In a notable proportion of these cases the victims 
were Roma.
    In one example, a prisoner alleged that, at the time of his 
apprehension in 2004, police in Kosice punched him in the face and 
struck him on the back with a flashlight after he obeyed a police order 
to stand with his hands pressed against a wall. He also alleged he was 
beaten during his transport to the police station and thereafter. The 
prisoner's medical file at the Kosice Prison, recording his examination 
four days later, noted that he displayed ``a hematoma above the left 
scapula the size of the whole shoulder blade and hematoma under the 
lower right eyelid.''
    Published at the same time as the CPT's report, the Government 
response noted that an internal investigation into the complaint was 
dismissed as unsubstantiated and the detainee did not file an appeal 
upon notification of the dismissal. In its response to the report, the 
Government listed extensive internal control procedures as safeguards 
against mistreatment and in investigating such allegations. The 
response disagreed with CPT observations that, in practice, not all 
safeguards were implemented in all cases.
    Nongovernmental organization (NGO) sources and members of the 
Romani community cited a continuing, though lessening, trend of 
mistreatment of Romani suspects by police officers during arrest and 
while in police custody. The CPT report noted that a significant 
proportion of cases of alleged police mistreatment examined involved 
Roma. The Government refuted the committee's assertion with the 
explanation that, ``to prevent discrimination,'' authorities did not 
ascertain the ethnic origin of alleged victims of police abuse. While 
the law prevents the recording of an individual's ethnicity in official 
documents, observers with experience in Romani issues agreed that it 
was disingenuous of the Government to imply that police officers were 
unaware of the ethnicity of a suspect at the time of arrest or during 
subsequent detainment.
    During the year police implemented a pilot project to provide 
special training on Romani culture and language to 118 police officers 
who worked in districts covering Romani communities in the Kosice and 
Presov regions. Additionally, the Bratislava branch of post-secondary 
schooling for police offered an elective course in Romani language and 
culture.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards; however, overcrowding continued 
to be a problem. Six out of 10 prisoners worked in prisons; the average 
wage was $0.57 (16.97 korunas) per hour, based on a national standard 
set by the director general of the Prison and Justice Police Corps.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers.
    The February 2 CPT report indicated widespread overcrowding in 
prisons and pretrial detention (remand) centers, noting an overall 
occupancy rate of 102 percent with the larger burden falling on the 
pretrial detention centers. Since the time of the CPT visit, the 
Government enacted legislative changes to address prison conditions, in 
force since January. As a result, the overcrowding situation improved, 
although a prison official acknowledged that more time and funding will 
be required to implement all of the necessary modifications. During the 
year the number of prisoners and detainees totaled 8,249, a decrease 
from the 9,500 at the time of the CPT visit. The change in legislation 
mandated that institutional capacity be measured at four square meters 
of cell space per prisoner for women and juveniles, a CPT-recommended 
increase from the previous three-and-a-half square meters, although 
this lower area remained the standard for male prisoners. Overall usage 
of prison and pretrial detention center capacity was 79 percent during 
the year, although one of the 18 facilities continued to have a usage 
rate over 100 percent capacity.
    The CPT made a number of recommendations, to which the Government 
responded in a published report. According to the Government's 
published response, the Government implemented some CPT recommendations 
but deemed others unnecessary. Regarding allegations of police 
mistreatment, the Government acknowledged that ``isolated incidents of 
human failure'' have occurred, but denied any generalized trends of 
mistreatment and of all the specific cases cited by the CPT.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police has 
sole responsibility for internal and border security and reports to the 
Ministry of Interior. The head of the police force reports directly to 
the minister of interior, who has the authority to recall any member of 
the police. Human rights observers charged that police investigators 
were occasionally reluctant to take the testimony of witnesses, 
particularly Roma, women, and the homeless. They also contended that, 
on occasion, police failed to promptly and thoroughly investigate cases 
involving Roma.
    Instances of police corruption and misconduct were reported, 
primarily in the form of extorting bribes during traffic stops. Headed 
by a director who reports directly to the minister of interior, the 
Bureau for the Inspection Service of the Police Corps at police 
headquarters is responsible for investigating police abuses. Cases may 
be initiated by, among others, the inspection service, the Police 
Corps, the police antiorganized crime unit, and individual citizens. In 
November police arrested two active police officers, at least one of 
whom served in a commando unit, and a former police officer on charges 
of murder. The investigation was pending at year's end. In 2005 charges 
were brought against 195 police officers, fewer than the previous year. 
The most common charge was abuse of power. Other charges included 
battery, assault and battery, and illegal intrusion into private homes.
    There were some indications that impunity was a problem. In its 
February 2 report, the CPT reviewed official actions in two cases of 
alleged police abuse. The cases involved the 2004 death of Radoslav 
Puky, whose body was found in a Trebisov canal 10 days after he 
disappeared during a police operation in the area, and ``J.H.,'' a 17-
year-old male who alleged that police beat and injured him after he was 
taken into custody in Trebisov in 2004. In the Puky case, the report 
noted that investigators looking into police actions made no attempt to 
examine a five- to eight-day discrepancy between the first and second 
expert opinions on the probable date of Puky's death, took only 
perfunctory action to investigate the report that police beat Puky 
before he disappeared, and did not interview any of the officers that 
participated in the police operation. In its review of the allegations 
by J.H., the CPT identified inaction by police, prosecutors, and 
judicial authorities with regards to allegations and medical evidence 
that indicated possible police mistreatment or the failure of police 
officers to respect J.H.'s legal rights. The Government response to the 
CPT observations noted that several investigations into the Puky case 
resulted in the same conclusion of drowning without the involvement of 
another person and the final complaint filed on behalf of Puky's family 
members was dismissed in July 2005. The Government asserted that in its 
review of the J.H. case procedures were appropriately followed, 
including during the investigation of his allegation of mistreatment.
    During the year a local NGO concluded its program to train police 
officers in human rights. The program included a train-the-trainers 
component, giving police training facilities the capability to provide 
training in-house. An instructor at a police training facility verified 
that human rights training remained on the curriculum.

    Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and the law stipulate that 
a person can only be taken into custody for explicit reasons and must 
be immediately informed of the reasons for detainment. A written court 
warrant is required for arrest. The court must grant a hearing to a 
person accused of a crime within 48 hours (or a maximum of 72 hours for 
``serious cases,'' defined as violent crimes, treason, or other crimes 
in which the expected charges could bring a minimum sentence of at 
least eight years) and either release or remand the individual. 
Detainees have the right to consult with an attorney immediately and 
must be notified of this right. The Government provides free counsel to 
indigent detainees. If remanded by a court, the accused is entitled to 
an additional hearing within 48 hours, at which time the judge must 
either release the accused or issue a written order placing the accused 
in custody. The authorities respected these provisions in practice.
    Attorney visits were allowed as frequently as necessary. The law 
allows monthly family visits upon request. There was a bail system in 
place that functioned effectively.
    Effective January, a new law on criminal court procedures mandates 
that the total time of detention (pretrial plus trial) can not exceed 
12 months in the case of minor offenses, 24 months for regular crimes, 
36 months for severe crimes, and four years for crimes in which the 
expected sentence is more than 25 years and that pretrial detention can 
not account for more than one-half of that total. In cases with 
extenuating circumstances, the Supreme Court may extend pretrial 
detention to four years. According to 2005 statistics, the average 
length of pretrial detention was 127 days at the district court level 
and 227 days at the regional court level. These figures represent an 
increase in the average length of pretrial detention at the district 
court level and decrease in length at the regional level. Pretrial 
detainees accounted for approximately one-third of the total prison 
population.
    Delays in court procedures and investigations frequently led to 
lengthy pretrial detentions. During the year judges released four 
defendants involved in two criminal murder cases from detention because 
of maximum pretrial detention regulations, even as the cases continued 
in the courts.
    Implemented on January 1, a new criminal procedures law introduced 
the possibility of plea bargaining. Judges and the prosecutor's office 
noted that plea bargaining, which precludes the appeal process, started 
to reduce the backlog of court cases. The number of criminal cases that 
concluded with plea bargaining was low in the first six months, but 
increased rapidly in the second half of the year. Of the 27,470 cases 
submitted to court, 2,914 cases were completed with plea bargains.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary; however, problems with corruption and 
inefficiency in the judiciary continued, despite a series of reforms 
implemented in 2005 and 2006 by the Ministry of Justice to decrease 
corruption and improve efficiency within the court system.
    There are eight regional courts. The Supreme Court, consisting of 
70 active judges, is the highest court of appeals. The Constitutional 
Court, with 13 judges serving 12-year terms, is independent of the 
Ministry of Justice and rules on cases regarding the constitution and 
international treaties, considers cases in which constitutional 
provisions are in conflict, and hears complaints about violations of 
basic rights and freedoms. At year's end, three Constitutional Court 
seats remained vacant. The Judicial Council, a constitutionally 
recognized independent body of lawyers and judges, made decisions 
regarding disciplinary actions, administrative issues, and appointments 
of judges.
    In September 2005 a special court for corruption cases opened and 
within approximately one year issued 57 verdicts. In addition to cases 
of official corruption, the court hears cases related to high-ranking 
government and political figures and organized crime. The court's 
decisions may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
    Cases are generally first heard in the district courts; appeals are 
made to the eight regional courts. The Constitutional Court hears cases 
involving constitutional or human rights issues; the Supreme Court is 
the court of last resort in all legal cases.
    During the year the disciplinary court took action against 18 
judges, none of which were initiated by the Minister of Justice. In 
2005 the disciplinary court, on the initiation of the ministry, took 
action against five judges suspected of corruption and in 2004 
disciplined 25 judges, nine of whom were removed from the bench and two 
resigned. Other possible penalties included a reduction in salary and 
reassignment to lower courts. A computerized system for random case 
assignment functioned at almost every level of the courts to increase 
transparency. Transparency International reported in 2004 that 59 
percent of citizens viewed the courts as corrupt. In a similar study 
during the year, 47 percent of the public considered the courts 
corrupt.

    Trial Procedures.--Persons charged with criminal offenses are 
entitled to fair and open public trials and have the right to be 
informed of the charges against them. However, NGO observers stated 
that in practice corruption among judges infringed on a person's right 
to a fair trial. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have the 
right to refuse self-incrimination, and may appeal adverse judgments. 
They are also presumed innocent during the appeals process, meaning 
that a person found guilty by a court does not serve their imposed 
sentence nor pay any fine until the final decision on appeal is 
reached. The law does not provide for jury trials. A panel of three 
judges is obligatory in criminal cases and in civil cases at the 
regional court and Supreme Court levels. Defendants have the right to 
be present, consult in a timely manner with an attorney at government 
expense, have access to government-held evidence, confront witnesses 
against them, and present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf.
    Military courts hear cases concerning civilians suspected of war 
treason and provide the same rights as the regular court system.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens have unrestricted 
access to an independent judiciary to bring lawsuits in civil matters 
including human rights violations. Courts that hear civil cases are 
subject to the same delays as criminal courts and are also perceived as 
being corrupt. Administrative remedies are available in certain cases. 
The National Center for Human Rights has the authority to provide 
mediation for cases of discrimination and to act as legal 
representation for claimants in court.
    From January through September, the ombudsman's office determined 
that, of the thousands of complaints received, 117 delays in court 
proceedings constituted violations of the rights of the claimants. The 
majority of those violations involved delays of five or more years.
    In September the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) awarded a 
woman $7,470 (5,700 euros) for significant delays in her civil court 
case.

    Property Restitution.--The 2003 law on property restitution 
provides citizens a second opportunity to apply for the return of land 
confiscated by the state between 1948 and 1990. Under this law 48,173 
cases were filed. Through June 11,197 of these claims had been resolved 
and the lands returned; in 4,747 other cases, the land was unavailable 
or impossible to return, and financial reimbursement was made instead. 
These figures represent a doubling in the number of resolved claims 
over the course of a year. A lack of historical documentation prolonged 
the process and prevented many cases from being resolved.
    In August the Constitutional Court ruled that the law providing for 
the transfer to the state of land without an identifiable owner is 
against the right to own property as guaranteed in the constitution. 
This decision negates a deadline specified in the law, with the effect 
that there is no time limit for claimants to file for return of their 
property, for which ownership records were destroyed or obfuscated 
during the Communist era.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions, 
and the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
    Police must present a warrant before conducting a search or within 
24 hours afterwards. Unlike in previous years, there were no documented 
cases of police entering Romani homes without search warrants, although 
observers believed such practices continued to occur.
    In 2005 provisions of a law went into effect, requiring that 
sterilizations be performed only at the request of the patient and only 
after 30 days had passed since the initial request. The law was 
prompted by NGO charges in previous years that doctors performed 
coerced or forced sterilization on Romani women.
    No victims of sterilization without informed consent received 
financial redress for the sterilization itself, although the Government 
acknowledged in a 2003 report that the procedures had taken place. In 
September 2005 the general prosecutor's office announced that no 
criminal charges would be filed. The Government stated that any woman 
who believed she was a victim of forced sterilization had the right to 
sue. According to the Government, one court case against the hospital 
in Gelnica concluded in 2003 with a finding that unlawful sterilization 
did not occur. While exact numbers were not available, a handful of 
civil suits, filed with the help of a local NGO, were ongoing at year's 
end.
    On December 13, the Constitutional Court ruled that regional-level 
prosecutors had violated the constitution and European Convention on 
Human Rights by improperly closing the investigation of a claim by 
three Romani women that they had been sterilized without informed 
consent. While the Constitutional Court did not rule on whether 
sterilization without informed consent had occurred, it awarded the 
claimants $1,850 (50,000 korunas) each due to procedural violations 
committed by prosecutors during the case. The court instructed the 
prosecution to reopen its investigation into the alleged 
sterilizations, and further proceedings were pending at year's end.
    In 2004 with the help of NGOs, eight Romani women who suspected 
they had been sterilized without their knowledge filed a case with the 
ECHR when hospitals allegedly denied them access to their own medical 
records. Four of the women subsequently received access to their 
medical files and at least one discovered she had been sterilized 
during a caesarean section. The remaining four women continued to be 
denied access to their medical records despite a government decree 
ordering hospitals to give women access to these records; the case was 
ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law 
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.
    The law prohibits the defamation of nationalities, punishable by up 
to three years in prison, and denying the Holocaust, which carries a 
sentence of six months' to three years' imprisonment. During the year 
police investigated 163 cases under the four articles in the criminal 
code that cover propagating an ideology that suppresses the right of 
others, public display of emblems or other signs or slogans supporting 
movements which suppress the basic rights of others including denial of 
the Holocaust, defamation of an ethnicity or race, and agitation is 
support of ethnic or racial hatred. Additionally, police investigated 
25 cases of racially motivated violence or injury. Of these 188 
investigations, 107 were prosecuted. There was no information available 
n the number of persons convicted and imprisoned during the year under 
these provisions.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction. The Constitutional Court continued to 
examine the constitutional merits of the law governing the state-funded 
news agency, which was allegedly subject to political influence and 
noncompetitive practices; the case was ongoing at year's end
    In February the court ruled in favor of a former Supreme Court 
chairman in a civil libel case. The court ordered a daily newspaper to 
apologize and pay damages of $100,000 (three million korunas) to the 
former judge for news stories and cartoons concerning the salary 
bonuses for judges and lack of use of the random electronic system to 
assign court cases to judges. The newspaper indicated that it would 
appeal the decision. The Slovak Syndicate of Journalists stated that 
the decision set a dangerous precedent which could deter the 
independence of the media. In July the plaintiff in the case became the 
minister of justice. In 2004 the former prime minister filed libel 
suits against the daily newspaper Pravda for $166,000 (five million 
korunas) and a second suit against newspaper SME for libel. Both cases 
were ongoing at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mails; 
however, police monitored Internet sites hosting hate speech and 
attempted to arrest or fine the authors. The law defines hate speech as 
speech that publicly threatens an individual or group based on 
nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, or that publicly incites the 
restriction of rights and freedoms of such an individual or group. 
Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views 
via the Internet, including by electronic mail. Based on 2005 data from 
the International Telecommunications Union, 46 percent of the 
population uses the Internet. Internet access was generally available 
across the country.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The constitution and the law provide for freedom of 
assembly, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    In September police broke up a neo-Nazi rally in Turecka, 
temporarily detaining 17 persons and then later charging six with 
propagating an ideology that suppresses the rights of others and 
riotous conduct. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.

    Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law provide for 
freedom of association and the Government generally respected this 
right in practice. However, the law requires organizations to pay a 
nominal registration fee, and stipulates that those registering as 
foundations have ``substantial'' financial resources of approximately 
$6,000 (180,000 korunas) to operate. During the year no organization 
was denied registration or faced any other limitations on its 
operations.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and the law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice.
    Religious groups must have 20,000 permanent resident supporters in 
order to register with the Government. Registered groups received state 
subsidies for clergy and office expenses and the right to visit and 
proselytize in prisons and hospitals. Unregistered religious groups are 
prohibited from conducting legal marriage ceremonies. There were 16 
registered religious groups, with a 17th receiving registration 
approval in October. Catholicism was the dominant religion due to the 
number of adherents and so received larger subsidies; however, there is 
no official state religion.
    On September 22, during a petition drive to gather signatures, 
local police in Trnava told 12 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to stop collecting signatures and leave 
the city. The signature collectors departed peacefully and did not file 
an official complaint. Trnava city officials stated that the police 
instruction stemmed from citizens' complaints of harassment. Members of 
the LDS Church did not experience police or any other official 
intimidation in the approximately 30 other cities where they conducted 
their petition drive. There were isolated incidents of locals 
protesting against the signature collectors, which included shoving.
    On September 26, the LDS Church presented a petition with over 
20,000 supporting signatures to the Ministry of Culture in order to 
register as a religious group. On October 18, the Government officially 
recognized the LDS Church. Church leaders stated that they did not face 
any obstacles once the registration application was submitted.
    In previous years leaders of a number of minority religious 
communities--in particular Muslims, smaller Protestant churches, the 
Hare Krishna community, and the Church of Scientology--complained that 
the large membership requirement effectively barred them from obtaining 
official status, although these smaller religions experienced no 
restrictions on assembly and worship.
    The Government monitored but did not interfere with the peaceful 
practices of religious sects.
    A 2004 law requires public elementary school students to take 
either a religion or an ethics class. Critics of the law claimed 
students may be denied the choice in poorer rural schools or socially 
pressured to choose religious classes. The law also allows government-
funded religious schools to remove material inconsistent with church 
beliefs from the curricula.
    In 2005 a law permitted religious organizations to claim property 
taken between May 8, 1945 (November 2, 1938 for the Jewish community) 
and January 1, 1990, and established April 30, 2006 as the filing 
deadline. With the exception of the Reformed Christian Church, 
religious groups had few remaining claims for unreturned property. 
Several religious institutions noted that they could not provide 
precise data on the few claims outstanding since many of their branches 
operated more-or-less independently. The Reformed Christian Church had 
outstanding claims for approximately 70 church premises (church 
schools, teachers' facilities, etc.) that were owned by individual 
parishes and nationalized by the Communist government after 1948.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Jewish community leaders and 
2001 census data estimated that the Jewish community numbered 
approximately 3,000 persons. Anti-Semitism persisted among organized 
neo-Nazi groups, estimated to have 500 active members and from 3,000 to 
5,000 sympathizers.
    In April vandals desecrated a monument to Jewish Holocaust victims 
in Rimavska Sobota with posters showing Hitler's picture, a red eagle 
holding a swastika, and racist text. An investigation turned up no 
suspects as of year's end. In June police charged a 21-year-old man for 
disorderly conduct in connection with the vandalism of the monument. He 
was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison, plus two years' 
probation.
    In August unknown perpetrators overturned gravestones in a Jewish 
cemetery in Ruzomberok. That same month, vandals painted swastikas on 
graves at a Jewish cemetery in Rajec. In these cases, police opened 
investigations but did not find the culprits. As of year's end, both 
investigations were shelved.
    In January 2005 juveniles vandalized 19 tombstones in a Jewish 
cemetery in Ruzemberok. A court trial for the juvenile suspects was 
pending at year's end.
    The law prohibits the defamation of nationalities and denying the 
Holocaust. In 2005 a publication by the cultural organization Matica 
Slovenska questioned the scope and nature of the Holocaust, suggesting 
that the deportation of the country's Jewish population to 
concentration camps was simply part of a ``resettlement program.''
    The Ministry of Interior actively pursued violent extremist groups, 
and police monitored Internet web pages hosting hate speech and 
attempted to arrest or fine the authors.
    The Government continued implementing its action plan to fight 
discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. During the year 
the Government organized educational programs on minority and human 
rights issues. High school and university curricula promoted tolerance, 
and students could also compete in annual essay contests that focused 
on human rights issues. The Jewish community expressed concern that 
some media coverage in the country exhibited anti-Semitic undertones.
    On December 27, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of 
Bratislava-Trnava stated during a television interview that he 
respected Father Jozef Tiso, the World War II-era leader of the Slovak 
fascist state which deported tens of thousands of Slovak Jews, Roma, 
and others to their deaths in German concentration camps. He added that 
the country enjoyed a period of well-being during Tiso's leadership. 
Jewish and Romani groups strongly criticized the statements.
    On August 4, a memorial to Romani victims of the Holocaust 
(Porrajmos) was inaugurated in Dunajska Streda. Government officials, 
including the Prime Minister, and media were well represented at the 
inaugural ceremony.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and the law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government had an established system for providing some protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. However, the Government did not routinely grant refugee 
status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol. The law provides for temporary protection, classified as 
``tolerated residence,'' which is granted if asylum is denied and the 
individual is not eligible for deportation to his or her country of 
origin due to administrative problems or fear for the person's safety. 
In December the National Council passed a law that widens the 
categories for which an asylum seeker can claim protection. The amended 
law allows for asylum to be granted in cases where the individual would 
otherwise face the death penalty or cruel or humiliating treatment if 
denied asylum.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    During the year four refugees received citizenship. According to 
national migration office statistics, 2,871 new cases were opened, 
eight persons received asylum, 861 were denied refugee status, and 
1,940 cases were terminated. As in 2005 the number of persons seeking 
asylum in the country continued on a significant downward trend, 
according to the UNHCR.
    In March the UNHCR investigated alleged claims of mistreatment in 
asylum centers based on reports from an Austrian organization that aids 
refugees. The majority of the allegations were found to be untrue, with 
exceptions such as a dog bite suffered by an asylum seeker.
    On April 13, several dozen asylum seekers went on a brief hunger 
strike at the refugee center in Medvedov. The UNHCR monitored the 
situation. In June the Ministry of Interior launched a project to 
improve care for asylum seekers in the areas of social, legal, and 
psychological support and to increase leisure activities.
    In 2004 the director of one of the country's alien detention 
facilities in Adamov was arrested on suspicion of illegal migrant 
smuggling. He was released and transferred to a different assignment 
pending the completion of the investigation, which was ongoing at 
year's end. Interpol participated in the investigation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and the law provide citizens the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--On June 17, citizens voted 
six political parties into the National Council in free and fair 
elections. Three of the six parties then formed the governing coalition 
The party of the new Prime Minister Robert Fico received 29 percent of 
the national vote. A political party must receive at least five percent 
of the ballots cast to enter the National Council. In the June 
elections, voters had the option to mark a preferential vote for an 
individual candidate on a political party list, in addition to voting 
for a party.
    While election observers reported instances of vote buying in the 
eastern part of the country, they noted that it had no impact on the 
final election results for the National Council. Vote buying appeared 
to be organized at the local level and aimed at Romani voters.
    There were 29 women in the 150-seat National Council, 36 women on 
the 70-seat Supreme Court, and one woman in the 16-member cabinet.
    The law prohibits collecting information on ethnicity, and it was 
not possible to determine the number of members of minorities in 
government. No member of the cabinet claimed minority status. The party 
of the Hungarian coalition holds 20 seats in the National Council. Some 
ethnic Romani individuals and parties were successful at winning 
representation at the local level; however, Roma were consistently 
underrepresented in government service, and no Roma were in the 
National Council. There was no unified Romani minority party, and 
several Romani activists reported that this hampered political 
participation. NGOs provided political campaign training to several 
Romani candidates running in the December local elections.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the 
legislative and executive branches was reported and publicly perceived 
as a problem. The health care, judiciary, and education sectors were 
perceived to be the most corrupt. During the year the country received 
a score of 4.7 (on a scale of 10) on Transparency International's index 
of public perceptions of corruption, an improvement from 4.3 in 2005. 
The score indicated a perception that the country has a serious 
corruption problem. The Government and police cooperated on several 
related arrests during the year. Several NGOs and government officials 
noted that, in the first half of the year before the change of 
government administration, more corruption cases came to light because 
individuals were more willing to report bribery cases to the police.
    In December police released the results of the investigation of the 
fatal car crash in June in eastern Slovakia of the director of the 
Institute for National Memory, which had custody of and published the 
official records of the secret police from the country's wartime 
fascist and subsequent communist governments. Observers noted that the 
investigation, which concluded that the director was solely at fault, 
lacked completeness and transparency and did not fully explore the 
possibility that the crash was not accidental.
    During the year the Special Court issued numerous sentences against 
health care workers for taking bribes. Health care is socialized and 
primarily run by state institutions.
    In January the Special Court sentenced the mayor of Velky Meder to 
two years and eight months in prison and fined him $9,500 (300,000 
korunas); the equivalent of the bribe he received in April 2005. The 
mayor appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court. He remained free, and 
the law provides that he does not have to pay the fine until his final 
appeal is exhausted. On December 2, the town of Velky Meder re-elected 
him as mayor.
    In February a gynecologist was sentenced to 15 months in jail and a 
$950 (30,000 korunas) fine for attempting to bribe a family $160 (5,000 
korunas) to deliver a baby and $64 (2,000 korunas) for continuing care 
of the mother.
    In March the Special Court sentenced Ladislav Gal, the former 
director of a regional land office to seven years in prison and a 
$5,000 (150,000 korunas) fine for bribery, a case that was initiated in 
May 2005. In December the Supreme Court upheld the sentence, the 
highest imposed on a state official for bribery.
    In December 2005 the anticorruption unit of the national police 
charged three former officials of the national agency for the support 
of small and medium enterprise with fraud following their transfer of 
nearly $48 million (1.5 billion korunas) to a private company. The 
company returned the money to the Government after the media exposed 
the transfer. In June the police passed the file of one of the accused 
to the prosecutor's office in preparation for trial.
    In August 2005 the minister of economy stepped down because of 
allegations of misconduct based on a promissory note worth $3.3 million 
(100 million korunas) that he signed while in office. No charges were 
brought against him.
    The special court trial of the mayor of Bratislava-Raca for 
corruption was postponed because the accused was unable to appear in 
person; the trial was ongoing at year's end. Bribery charges were 
initially filed in 2004.
    A September trial date for the bribery case of the deputy mayor of 
Kosice was postponed because the accused was unable to appear in 
person. In December 2005 the special prosecutor for corruption 
submitted official charges against the deputy mayor, who was first 
charged in 2004. He was held for eight months in pretrial detention 
before being released, at which point he appealed his lengthy detention 
to the ECHR. He has since resumed the position of deputy mayor.
    In May 2005 a member of the National Council charged in 2003 with 
accepting bribes was found guilty of corruption and sentenced by a 
district court to one year in prison. He immediately appealed to the 
regional court. While he did not resign from his elected positions in 
the National Council and regional parliament, his political party did 
not place him on its candidate list for the national elections in June 
nor the regional elections in November 2005, thus removing him from 
office. His appeal process was ongoing at year's end.
    The law provides public access to government information; however, 
NGOs cited a need for greater public awareness of the responsibility of 
government to provide information. A few local government offices 
denied information requests without justification or left them 
unanswered. During the year the ombudsman's office reported two cases 
of violation of the freedom of information as guaranteed by the 
constitution.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    On June 9, the Slovak National Party (SNS), which was not in the 
National Council or government at the time, called for the banning of 
the NGO Civic Association for a ``Nicer Zilina.'' The SNS chairman was 
mayor of the town of Zilina for 16 years. On June 17, SNS was voted 
into the National Council and joined the governing coalition a few 
weeks later. Since becoming a part of the National Council and 
government, SNS has not repeated its public call to ban the NGO.
    In June a group of NGOs, including ones that are concerned with 
human rights issues, sent an open letter to several European Union 
commissioners asking them to rectify the problem of excessive 
administrative delays in receiving promised grants from the Government, 
including the distribution of EU funds. In some cases, the promised 
funds were more than a year overdue, causing financial difficulties for 
some NGOs. Since the new government took office in July, an NGO 
representative noted that small amounts of the backlogged funds had 
been distributed but remarked that the administrative delays remained 
for a significant portion of the funds. International NGOs generally 
continued to operate and interact positively with the Government on 
substantive issues.
    Domestic NGOs experienced generally positive interaction with the 
Government until September, when the Government announced a proposed 
change in the funding mechanism for NGOs. NGOs publicly criticized the 
change, which would no longer allow tax payers to designate up to 2 
percent of their annual taxes to the central government to be directed 
to nonprofit organizations. In December a compromise solution was 
reached and approved by the National Council to keep the current 
funding mechanism for another year, then to limit the types of NGOs 
that receive funds through the mechanism. Relations between domestic 
NGOs and the Government showed signs of returning to the status quo 
ante at year's end.
    Members of the NGO community noted improved communication during 
the year with the public defender of rights, commonly known as the 
ombudsman, as staffing increased in that office. The ombudsman has 
cooperation agreements with several NGOs. The ombudsman provides legal 
advice to citizens regarding their rights with respect to public 
administration bodies, but cannot represent citizens in their claims. 
The majority of verified violations of legal rights received by the 
ombudsman concerned delays in court or administrative proceedings. In 
February the National Council granted authority to the ombudsman to 
forward claims directly to the Constitutional Court.
    NGOs generally operated without harassment, although the 
organization People Against Racism continued to receive occasional 
threats from skinhead groups.
    Intergovernmental international organizations have expressed 
generally good cooperation with government entities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based upon 
race, gender, disability, language, or social status; the Government 
effectively enforced these prohibitions in practice. However, violence 
against women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination 
against minority groups were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women continued to be a problem. The law 
prohibits domestic violence; however, it was pervasive, and activists 
claimed that the Government did not enforce the law effectively. During 
the year there were 609 incidents of domestic violence reported 
involving a total of 453 female victims and 58 male victims, some of 
whom were involved in more than one incident. Of these cases 357 went 
to prosecution. The law provides stricter sentences for violence 
directed toward members of the same household, and allows for continued 
criminal prosecution even when a spouse drops charges. Domestic 
violence was punishable by two to 12 years of imprisonment, depending 
on the nature of the crime.
    Domestic violence was often underreported because of the social 
stigma associated with being a victim, and statistics did not 
adequately reflect the extent of the problem. Official statistics 
showed a decrease in the number of reported cases compared to the 
previous year, which had 694 cases.
    During the year police provided a training course to its officers 
on domestic violence within the framework of a community policing 
seminar. The training was complemented by printed reference material. 
Citing the lengthy court procedures and increasing caseloads that 
prevented cases from being prosecuted efficiently, victims' advocates 
demanded a better network of services for abused women, including 
government-funded treatment centers. In August 2005 the Government 
adopted an action plan to address some of these problems. The 
Government and NGOs had shelters and counseling available to victims of 
domestic abuse.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape. Although the 
Government enforced the law effectively, rape was a problem. The 
sentence for rape is two to eight years in prison and can be increased 
to five to 12 years, depending on the age of the victim and whether 
brutal force was used. The sentence may be further increased to 10 to 
15 years if the victim died as a result of the rape. During the year 
the police investigated 174 cases of rape, which specialists considered 
was underreported, and 103 cases were prosecuted. Rape victims also 
have access to the shelters and counseling offered by NGOs and 
government-funded programs.
    After incidents of coerced sterilization were reported in 2003, the 
Government implemented several reforms, including amending the laws to 
require that sterilizations be performed only at the request of a 
patient and only 30 days after such request is made. Alleged victims 
were able to pursue claims for damages in civil courts, and NGOs took 
several cases to the ECHR (see section 1.f.).
    Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits related 
activities such as operating brothels, knowingly spreading sexually 
transmitted diseases, or trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation. It was unclear to what extent prostitution occurred. 
There were reports that women were trafficked into the country for 
prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and there were no 
statistics available to measure the frequency or severity of its 
occurrence. The Government took no action during the year to combat 
sexual harassment.
    Women and men are equal under the law, including family law, 
property law, and in the judicial system; however, discrimination 
against women remained a problem in practice. The equal opportunity 
office in the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family worked in 
an advisory capacity to ensure the legal rights of women. Women, 
particularly those aged 35 to 39, typically earned 25-30 percent less 
than men. Experts believed that the wage difference was due to large 
numbers of women working in low-paid occupations, such as the education 
or social services sectors. NGOs continued to push for increased 
opportunities for the political participation of women.

    Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and 
welfare; the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family and the 
Minsitry of Education oversaw implementation of the Government's 
programs for children. Education was universal and free through the 
postsecondary level and was compulsory for 10 years, or until the age 
of 16. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the rate for 
primary and secondary school attendance was approximately 85 percent.
    Most ethnic Slovak and Hungarian children attended school on a 
regular basis, but Romani children exhibited a lower attendance rate. 
Although Romani children comprised nearly one-fourth of the total 
number of children under the age of 16, they were disproportionately 
enrolled in schools for the mentally handicapped, despite diagnostic 
scores that were often within the normal range of intellectual 
capacity. In certain remedial schools in the eastern part of the 
country, registered students were nearly 100 percent Roma. In general, 
the completion of education from a special school did not give Romani 
children the necessary knowledge nor the eligibility to continue on to 
university and other higher education institutions, which do not accept 
special school certificates as entry criteria.
    Since 2005, as part of an experimental project initiated by the 
League of Human Rights Activists, approximately 150 Romani children 
from special schools for children with mental disabilities received 
extra training to help the children prepare to enter regular classes. 
Over the course of the project 20 students were integrated into regular 
schools.
    Government-provided healthcare for children was adequate and equal 
for both girls and boys.
    Child abuse remained an underreported problem. One NGO expressed 
concern that the family law passed in March 2005 did not afford 
children the same rights and protections as it did their parents. The 
legislation provides for programs and training to reduce the instance 
of child abuse; the Government also implemented a publicity campaign to 
raise awareness of the issue.
    A number of children's foundations operated several programs for 
abused or disabled children. UNICEF continued to operate a hotline for 
children; during the first half of the year, it opened 4,519 cases 
based on the 20,542 calls it received. Three hundred of the calls were 
from abused children or children with disabilities.
    Child prostitution is prohibited. Community workers reported it was 
a problem in Romani settlements with the worst living conditions.
    There were approximately 7,000 children in institutional care, and 
Roma constituted the majority of this population. Most government 
orphanages were long-term care facilities rather than short-term 
residences. Activists claimed that orphans had difficulty integrating 
into society at age 18 and were at increased risk of falling victim to 
trafficking.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, within, 
and through the country.
    The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that 
between 100 and 200 persons are trafficked annually from or through the 
country, mainly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The IOM 
reported expanded usage of victims' assistance programs during the 
year, most likely due to increased awareness of these programs. Most of 
the victims trafficked through the country came from the former Soviet 
republics (particularly Moldova and Ukraine) and Balkan countries. 
Victims were typically trafficked through the Czech Republic or Austria 
to Western Europe and Japan. Victims were typically between the ages of 
18 and 25, from various social backgrounds, but particularly from areas 
with high unemployment. Some experts alleged that Romani women and 
persons raised in state institutions, because of their socioeconomic 
situation and less freedom of mobility, were more vulnerable to being 
trafficked by organized criminal gangs. Romani women were reportedly 
more at risk of being trafficked by known and trusted people from their 
communities. Another high-risk group included men and women looking, 
sometimes illegally, for seasonal work abroad and were ill-informed of 
the potential dangers.
    Traffickers lured women with offers of employment, often relying on 
personal connections with women. Activists who worked with the few 
victims forced to work while transiting the country reported that most 
were placed as prostitutes or as exotic dancers in nightclubs. Such 
activity was concentrated on the border with Austria and close to 
Ukraine and along trucking routes with a prevalence of nightclubs. 
Traffickers closely monitored victims, withheld their documents, and 
used violence to ensure their compliance. Some victims allegedly were 
threatened with violence or even death if they attempted to escape.
    Under the law, traffickers may be sentenced to three to 10 years in 
prison. The sentence may be increased to eight to 15 years if bodily 
harm resulted, if the trafficker gained extensive profit, or if the 
offense was committed as a member of a group operating in several 
countries. If the offender is a member of a crime syndicate, the 
sentence is increased to between 12 and 15 years. Victims may also file 
civil suits against traffickers.
    During the year police investigated 19 cases of trafficking, 
resulting in charges against six suspects. Courts convicted and 
sentenced 24 traffickers, eight of whom were involved in child 
trafficking. In 2005 courts convicted and sentenced four traffickers.
    In January a court in the town of Martin sentenced eight 
traffickers with prison terms from three to eight years for trafficking 
12 women to the Czech Republic, where they were forced into 
prostitution. The traffickers were arrested in 2003.
    In 2003 police arrested seven members of a trafficking gang who had 
sent at least 60 women to Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and France over 
an eight-year period, with the suspected involvement of a low-level 
government employee. The case was awaiting trial at year's end.
    In January the Government approved the country's first National 
Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The action plan consists 
of 19 initiatives, designates lead ministries, and assigns deadlines. 
The first national coordinator to combat trafficking in persons was 
appointed in October 2005 but left the post after the change in 
government. Momentum stalled for several months midyear while the seat 
for the national coordinator remained vacant. In October new State 
Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Jozef Bucek was appointed by the 
Government as the new national coordinator, raising the political 
profile of the issue. An existing interministerial working group to 
combat trafficking, formed in 2005, was redirected to focus solely on 
prevention issues. A new expert group, whose members carry more 
political weight than the working group, was formed to analyze and 
implement wider-ranging strategies. During the year the Government 
started cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on a project 
aimed at strengthening the legislative, investigative, prosecutorial, 
and technical capability to combat trafficking while providing 
protection and support to victims. The Government agencies responsible 
for combating trafficking include the national coordinator to combat 
trafficking in persons; the police antitrafficking unit; the ministries 
of interior, finance, justice, and education; the prosecutor's office; 
the border police; and the equal opportunity office at the Ministry of 
Labor, Social Affairs, and Family; and the plenipotentiary for Romani 
communities.
    The police participated in international investigations on a 
limited basis. There were no requests for the extradition of human 
traffickers during the year.
    Corruption among border officials, police, and asylum officials 
allegedly hampered efforts to combat trafficking.
    The Government did not detain, prosecute, fine, or deport persons 
identified as trafficking victims. Although no formal screening or 
referral process was in place for most of the year, the law required 
police to provide a list of victim's assistance programs to suspected 
victims. Toward the end of the year, the Ministry of Interior reached 
an agreement with an NGO, Dotyk, to provide secure, private lodgings 
and other services for trafficking victims on a case-by-case basis. The 
Government has cooperated with additional NGOs on victims' assistance. 
NGOs reported increased cooperation and communication with police 
investigators. The Ministry of Education continued to support 
discussion groups and distributed handbooks in schools about legally 
working abroad. There was no shelter dedicated exclusively to 
trafficking victims.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or the provision of other state services. In practice, 
however, experts reported that access to buildings and higher education 
remained a problem. There were reports that persons with severe 
physical handicaps received less than the minimum wage in some 
instances.
    NGOs reported that a better network of organizations was needed to 
improve psychiatric care of patients with mental disorders and to 
monitor human rights violations against them.
    Cage beds continued to be used in psychiatric institutions and 
hospitals, which fall under the purview of the Ministry of Health. The 
law prohibits both physical and nonphysical restraints in social care 
homes, which are managed by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and 
Family.
    According to NGOs, a lack of funds prevented full implementation of 
the law to provide assistance to handicapped students. Regulations 
ensuring access to premises and services for physically handicapped 
persons, for example, wheelchair access in buildings and Web sites 
enabled for use by the blind, were not fully implemented across the 
country, although the situation was improving.
    A working group, the Council for Citizens with Disabilities, served 
as a governmental advisory body regarding persons with disabilities. 
The minister of labor, social affairs, and family chaired the council. 
Several NGOs conducted public education campaigns on mental illness and 
worked cooperatively with the health ministry on the national health 
program. The Government sponsored a contest for the local government 
most accessible to persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities 
were able to vote and participate in civic affairs. However, they 
continued to experience problems with access to information and 
education caused by physical barriers limiting their ability to enter 
educational facilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Widespread discrimination 
against Roma continued in the areas of employment, education, housing, 
and health services. Roma constituted the second largest ethnic 
minority, reported by the 2001 census to number 90,000, although 
experts estimated the population to be between 350,000 and 400,000. The 
discrepancy was attributed to Roma identifying themselves as Hungarian 
or Slovak.
    During the year the CPT reported on police mistreatment of Roma 
(see section 1.c.).
    There were several reports that Roma suffered discrimination with 
respect to health care. In November 2005 the Ministry of Health began 
to train 40 health care assistants who speak Romani as part of a pilot 
program to improve Roma access to health services. This program 
continued during the year.
    In previous years the Government reported that usury, the illegal 
charging of high interest rates on small loans, was one of the main 
causes of the deepening poverty of Roma in settlements. While it is 
believed that usury continued, statistics fell markedly during the 
year. Police investigated four usury cases, two of which moved forward 
to prosecution.
    Skinhead violence against Roma continued to be a serious problem. 
The NGO People Against Racism reported that although police were 
increasingly responsive in their efforts to monitor and control the 
skinhead movement, the problem persisted. The organization also 
reported receiving e-mail and telephone threats from skinheads.
    Throughout the year police charged numerous individuals with 
attacks against Roma motivated by racial hatred. In April several 
youths attacked two Romani women and the brother of the women who 
attempted to stop the attack in Spisska Stara Ves. Police arrested six 
suspects, completed the investigation, and the case moved to 
prosecution.
    In September three masked attackers broke into the home of a Romani 
family in Sered and beat several family members. The police arrested 
the attackers and stated that racial and ethnic intolerance motivated 
the attack. The accused were released from pretrial detention, while 
the police continued the investigation to build the case. The 
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    In September neo-Nazis attacked several Roma at a train station in 
Humenne, seriously injuring two of the persons. After the attack, the 
perpetrators shouted ``sieg heil.'' Police arrested three suspects, 
aged 16 to 18, on charges of assault and riotous conduct but the 
prosecutor's office rejected an additional charge of propagation of an 
ideology that suppresses the rights of others. The case was still being 
investigated at year's end.
    During the summer of 2005 three attacks on Romani families in Sered 
occurred. The police initially charged one suspect with causing bodily 
harm. Prosecution was dropped during the year because, according to the 
police, key witnesses changed their testimony and the case was no 
longer prosecutable.
    The trial of three Zahorska Ves men arrested for allegedly breaking 
into and setting fire to Romani residences on three occasions in 2004 
was ongoing at year's end. Two of the men were also charged with 
assault. The Government punitively revoked the license of the private 
security firm that employed several of the alleged attackers.
    Activists frequently alleged that employers refused to hire Roma, 
whose unemployment rate exceeded 95 percent in many settlements.
    Many NGOs reported that segregation of Romani students in schools 
continued (see section 5, Children).
    NGOs alleged that Roma were more likely to encounter housing 
discrimination. On a few occasions during the year, local authorities 
and groups forced evictions of Romani inhabitants or blocked 
construction permits or the purchase of land. Many Romani settlements 
lacked formal infrastructure, access to clean water, and proper sewage 
systems.
    In March the mayor of Puchov attempted to force several Romani 
families to relocate to the nearby town of Nimnica by purchasing a 
house for them there. The plan was enacted without the consent the town 
of Nimnica. The Romani families faced eviction from their housing in 
Puchov for failure to pay rent. The relocation of the Romani families 
has not taken place, as the town of Nimnica caused delays in the 
preparation of the house.
    In August the mayor and town council of the village of Vysny 
Kazimir prohibited Roma from swimming in the local public pond. After 
the plenipotentiary for Romani communities and several NGOs voiced 
their concern, the town rescinded the prohibition and passed a 
resolution to fine anyone who caused damage to the pond.
    In August in the village of Letanovce, an unknown person left a 
death threat instructing the local mayor to stop construction at the 
site of a future housing complex for apartments to be occupied by Roma.
    In June 2005 the mayor of Presov announced the construction of a 
wall or fence to separate Roma from non-Romani citizens in the Stara 
Tehelna neighborhood; the plan received media criticism and sparked 
international concern before the city decided to reevaluate the plan. 
The plenipotentiary for Romani communities negotiated with community 
leaders, eventually reaching an agreement to focus on other projects.
    In a sign of greater political recognition of the problems faced by 
Roma, all six political parties that were elected to the National 
Council in June included plans in their party platforms to address 
issues faced by the Romani communities. This represented an improvement 
over the 2002 elections when several parties failed to mention Romani 
issues in their platforms. The new government's program plan, approved 
by the National Council in early August, addressed concerns of the 
Romani community. Romani activists issued a press release in August 
noting their positive discussions with the new deputy prime minister 
for human rights and minorities.
    In August the district court of Michalovce issued an ambiguous 
decision in one of the first civil court cases based on the new 
antidiscrimination law of 2004. The court ruled that three Roma who 
were refused service at a cafe in Michalovce in April 2005 had been 
discriminated against, but not because of their ethnicity. No damages 
were awarded. NGOs and the National Center for Human Rights cite only 
approximately three to five discrimination cases which have gone to 
trial. One NGO activist remarked that no court has yet ruled 
unambiguously in a discrimination case in favor of the claimants. The 
National Center for Human Rights has mediated several discrimination 
cases and provided official legal opinions in dozens more.
    A few mayors were reported to use hate speech against Roma during 
the year, although none were prosecuted. During the year a number of 
politicians at the national and regional level used disparaging 
language about the Roma during closed-door meetings.
    Tensions between ethnic Hungarians and ethnic Slovaks rose after 
the nationalist SNS became a member of government in July. Prior to and 
since being elected to a National Council seat in June, SNS Chairman 
Jan Slota made several public statements that were derogatory towards 
ethnic Hungarians. The SNS and the party of the Hungarian coalition 
accused each other of propagating hate or the disintegration of the 
country. All of the criminal investigations stemming from these 
accusations have concluded with a finding that no laws were broken.
    Public hate speech against ethnic Hungarians increased after the 
new government took office. There were allegations of attacks against 
ethnic Hungarians for speaking Hungarian. By year's end, ethnic 
tensions and allegations of attacks had lessened.
    On August 7, police were alerted to an Internet video clip which 
showed several masked people shouting statements in Slovak inciting 
violence against Hungarians while burning the Hungarian flag and 
holding up a Slovak flag. By August 8, the video had been removed from 
the foreign-based Internet site where it had been posted. No arrests 
had been made by year's end.
    On August 26, police arrested three men for waiving banners with 
the phrase ``death to Hungarians'' at a soccer match in Banska 
Bystrica. Police charged the men, who remained in custody as of year 
end, with agitation to ethnic or racial hatred. One of them received an 
additional charge of propagation of an ideology which suppresses the 
rights of others.
    A nationalist organization known as Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak 
Community) continued to hold events designed to intimidate minority 
groups. Dressed in uniforms similar to those of the Hlinka Guards (the 
country's fascist wartime civic guard responsible, among other things, 
for the country's concentration camps), the group's members held 
marches and rallies to commemorate the wartime fascist state and to 
spread messages of intolerance against ethnic and religious minorities. 
In March the Supreme Court stripped the group of its political party 
status on the basis that it promoted a nondemocratic form of government 
that suppressed the rights and freedoms of others. The group then 
registered as an NGO.
    In April police arrested two extremists with ties to two foreign 
groups, the World Church of the Creator and the National Alliance, for 
violent crimes.
    In May police charged seven neo-Nazis in Kosice with possession of 
illegal weapons and propagating an ideology that suppresses the rights 
of others. The case had been moved to the prosecutor's office but a 
trial had not yet started at year's end.
    On August 29, police detained more than 10 members of the Slovenska 
Pospolitost that tried to disrupt the commemoration of the Slovak 
National Uprising, an event the Prime Minister attended. In September 
the regional prosecutor's office determined that no crime had been 
committed and dismissed the case.
    The Government's plenipotentiary for Romani communities maintained 
five regional offices to supervise the implementation of governmental 
policy on Romani issues, support infrastructure development, and 
cooperate with municipalities and villages to improve interaction 
between Roma and non-Roma. The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and 
Family funded Roma Terrain Social Workers, which assigned specially-
trained social workers to Romani settlements to provide assistance such 
as helping Roma to fill out paperwork and building awareness of the 
importance of education and preventative healthcare.
    The Government continued to implement its action plan against 
xenophobia and intolerance. A special police unit monitored extremist 
activities, and a commission consisting of NGOs, police, and government 
officials advised the police on minority issues.
    The Slovak National Center for Human Rights reported that 217 
complaints of discrimination were filed during 2005. The most frequent 
claim (cited in 54 of the 217 cases) regarded discrimination in labor-
related issues, including access to work. One NGO criticized the length 
of time it took for the center to issue required legal opinions on 
claims of discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to 
form and join unions, except in the armed forces, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. Approximately 17 percent of the work force was 
unionized.
    In October and December 2005 the police labor union held two 
protests against low wages and benefits. There was widespread criticism 
when the minister of interior demoted the officer heading the labor 
union.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law 
provides for unions to conduct their activities without interference, 
and the Government generally protected this right in practice.
    The law provides for the right to organize and bargain 
collectively, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
    The law provides for the legal right to strike, except for civil 
servants in essential services and members of the military, in two 
instances: when collective bargaining fails to reach an agreement, or 
to support other striking employees' demands (solidarity strike). The 
unions generally exercised these rights in practice without 
restrictions. Strikes must be announced in advance. The law prohibits 
dismissing workers legally participating in strikes; however, strikers 
are not ensured protection if a strike is considered illegal or 
unofficial.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in the 
workplace, and the Government effectively implemented and enforced 
these policies.
    The minimum age for employment is 15, although children under 15 
may perform light work in cultural or artistic performances, sports 
events, or advertising activities if it does not affect their health, 
safety, or schooling. The National Labor Inspectorate and Public Health 
Office must approve, determine the maximum hours for, and set 
conditions for child labor under age 15. Children under age 16 may not 
work more than 30 hours per week, and children aged 16 to 17 are 
limited to 37.5 hours per week. Children under age 18 are not allowed 
to work underground, work overtime, or perform work that is 
inappropriate for their age or health.
    District inspection units received and investigated child labor 
complaints. If a unit determined that a child labor law or regulation 
had been broken, it turned the case over to the national inspection 
unit of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family.
    Child labor, primarily in the form of begging, was a problem in 
some communities; there were also isolated reports of forced 
prostitution (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As of October 1, the minimum 
wage increased to $253 (7,600 korunas) per month. The minimum wage 
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family in rural 
areas of the country but not in urban areas. The law mandates a maximum 
workweek of 48 hours (including overtime), with 30 minute breaks after 
six hours of work (after four hours for employees younger than 18), and 
rest periods of at least 12 hours between shifts. The trade unions; the 
Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family; and local employment 
offices monitored observance of these laws, and authorities effectively 
enforced them.
    The law establishes health and safety standards that the office of 
labor safety generally enforced. Workers have the right to refuse to 
work in situations that endanger their health and safety and may file 
complaints against employers in such situations; whether they did so in 
practice was not clear. Employees working under conditions endangering 
their health and safety for a certain period of time are entitled to be 
paid ``relaxation'' leave in addition to their standard leave.

                               __________

                                SLOVENIA

    Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional republic 
of approximately two million persons. Power is shared between a 
directly elected President (head of state), a prime minister (head of 
government), and a bicameral parliament, composed of the National 
Assembly (lower house) and the National Council (upper house). In 2004 
the country held free and fair multiparty elections for seats in the 
National Assembly. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Trial delays, 
indirect government influence on the media, cursory procedure for 
review of asylum applications, violence against women, trafficking in 
women and girls, discrimination and violence against Roma and 
homosexuals, and discrimination against former Yugoslav residents 
without legal status were problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; on rare 
occasion police used excessive force such as kicks, punches, and shoves 
during arrest. Societal violence against individuals based on their 
sexual orientation was reported (see section 5).
    On November 2, the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) ruled that 
the country failed to conduct an effective investigation into 
allegations that police mistreated an individual during an incident 
that took place in 1995.
    On November 25, three individuals participating in a protest 
against the return of a Roma family to their home in Ambrus were 
injured, though it is unclear how the injuries occurred. Police 
launched an investigation of the incident that is ongoing.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. A delegation of the 
Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman 
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment made its third periodic visit to 
the country from January 31 to February 8. A full report from the visit 
has not yet been publicly released.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are centrally 
organized under the supervision of the police and security bureau of 
the Ministry of Interior. The bureau oversees the drafting of basic 
guidelines, security policy, and regulations governing the work of the 
police and exercises special inspectorial authority in monitoring 
police performance, with an emphasis on the protection of human rights 
and fundamental freedoms. The general police administration, headed by 
the general director of the police, has overall responsibility for the 
execution of police duties and oversees activities at the national 
level. Regional police duties fall under the jurisdiction of police 
administration units, whose directors report to the general director. 
Local policing is provided by individual police stations, whose 
commanders report to the director of the relevant police 
administration. The police provided effective law enforcement.
    During the year the independent commission for the prevention of 
corruption referred five credible reports of police corruption and one 
credible report of prosecutor corruption to the police and the state 
prosecutor for further investigation.
    The law provides for a method to investigate police abuses. Initial 
complaints are reviewed by the commander of the local police unit, who 
provides information to the complainant about the established facts and 
the powers of the police. If the complainant disagrees, the complaint 
is assigned to a three-person, government committee to decide if it is 
founded. The committee includes one member from the Ministry of 
Interior and two members selected by civil society organizations. 
Initial complaints that allege a criminal offense bypass the first 
review and are immediately sent to the Ministry of Interior. The 
committee relies on an appointed investigator from the Ministry of the 
Interior or the police to conduct an investigation of the complaint. It 
is not empowered to conduct independent investigations and is not 
required to forward its findings to the prosecutor's office.

    Arrest and Detention.--Persons taken into police custody were 
generally apprehended openly with evidential warrants issued by either 
a prosecutor or judge. Persons can be detained for 48 hours before 
charges are brought. Authorities must also advise detainees in writing 
within 48 hours of the reasons for their arrest. Upon arrest, detainees 
have the right to contact legal counsel of their choice, and 
authorities generally respected this right in practice. The Government 
provides indigent detainees with free counsel, and detainees were 
generally allowed prompt access to family members. The law also 
provides safeguards against self-incrimination.
    In 2004 police officers in Koper arbitrarily arrested and detained 
an individual without informing her of her rights or the charges. The 
detainee claimed that police treated her inappropriately. A complaint 
was filed with the Koper police in 2005 and an investigation was 
completed.
    Once charges are brought, pretrial detention may last for up to 
four months, depending on the severity of the criminal act, and must be 
certified by an investigative judge. Once trial procedures have begun, 
the total period of detention may be extended for up to two years. 
Persons detained more than two years while awaiting trial or while 
their trial is ongoing must be released pending conclusion of their 
trial (see section 1.e.). Lengthy pretrial detention was not a 
widespread problem, and defendants generally were released on bail, 
except in the most serious criminal cases.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
judicial independence in practice. Court backlogs sometimes resulted in 
lengthy delays in trials. During the year the ECHR issued over 100 
judgments against the Government citing violations of the Convention 
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms due to 
excessive court delays and the denial of effective remedy. On November 
22, the parliament passed changes to the Judicial Services Act and the 
Courts Act intended to ease restrictions on judges and the cases they 
can hear. As part of its ongoing project to eliminate backlogs, the 
Ministry of Justice hired 70 additional judges and court clerks during 
the year. The number of backlogged cases dropped by 25,069 cases (or 
4.8 percent) from a total backlog of approximately 522,000 to a backlog 
of 497,000 cases in the first half of the year.
    The judicial system consists of district courts, regional courts, 
courts of appeals, an administrative court, and the Supreme Court. The 
local and district courts serve as courts of first instance, whose 
decisions may be appealed to the courts of appeal. The Supreme Court 
hears appeals of rulings by the courts of appeal. A labor court and an 
administrative court hear cases within their substantive areas of 
jurisdiction. A nine-member constitutional court rules on the 
constitutionality of legislation, treaties, and international 
agreements and is the highest level of appeal for administrative 
procedures. Judges, elected by the National Assembly upon the 
nomination of the judicial council, are constitutionally independent. 
The judicial council is composed of six sitting judges elected by their 
peers and five Presidential nominees elected by parliament.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right. Trials are generally public and are conducted by jury; however, 
judges may decide to close trials to the public when the defendant is a 
juvenile or details of the personal life of the accused may be 
disclosed. Defendants have the right to be present during the trial and 
to consult with their attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is 
provided at public expense only if the defendant faces serious criminal 
charges. Defendants may confront witnesses against them and present 
witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their 
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their 
cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of 
appeal.
    The judicial system was overburdened and lacked administrative 
support; as a result, the judicial process frequently was protracted. 
In many cases during the year, criminal trials lasted from two to five 
years.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law 
provide for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. As 
with criminal matters, court backlogs sometimes resulted in lengthy 
trials.

    Property Restitution.--The Government has brought the vast majority 
(93.5 percent) of property restitution cases to conclusion (37,027 
cases have been resolved of 39,606 filed) with approximately 2,000 more 
cases resolved this year. However, administrative and judicial 
processes continued to slow resolution of the 2,579 remaining cases, 
including cases brought by foreigners and cases involving Jewish 
communal and heirless properties. During the year the Ministry of 
Justice's department for restitution and national reconciliation issued 
and awarded a tender to compile an inventory of Jewish private 
properties nationalized or confiscated after World War II. The project 
was ongoing at year's end.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice; however, there were reports of 
indirect government influence on the media.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede 
criticism.
    The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views 
without significant restriction. The major print media were supported 
through private investment and advertising; however, the Government 
owned substantial stock in many companies that were shareholders in the 
major media houses. Public Broadcaster Radio Television Slovenia 
operated two national television channels and two regional channels 
funded from household subscriber fees and commercial revenue. There was 
one national commercial channel and four regional channels.
    On July 22, several journalists reported that police used undue 
force against them, including pushing and shoving, while covering a 
demonstration at the detention center for foreigners, including illegal 
immigrants and asylum seekers, near Postojna. The complaints had no 
apparent effect on the media's reporting on the demonstration.
    On August 7, the higher court of Maribor upheld the 2005 acquittal 
of five persons accused of participating in the 2001 attempted murder 
of investigative journalist Miro Petek.
    There were reports that indirect political and economic pressures 
and partial government ownership of media companies influenced 
journalists and the media. Managers reportedly protected their own 
interests and the interests of those in government with whom they were 
affiliated. There were reports that self-censorship was practiced in 
some media outlets.
    A 2005 law regarding national radio and television came into effect 
establishing a programming council of 29 members that directly oversees 
the public radio and television network. Parliament appointed 21 of the 
members after receiving nominations from political parties, civil 
society groups, and individuals. Three members were elected by the 
employees of national radio and television, two members were appointed 
by the President after being nominated by registered religious groups, 
one member each was appointed by both the Italian and Hungarian 
minority groups, and one member was appointed by the Slovenian Academy 
of Arts and Sciences. The parliament appointed five members, the 
Government appointed four members, and the employees of national radio 
and television elected two members to the 11 member supervisory board. 
In May the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Act on Media. 
New provisions included a media pluralization fund and an expanded 
right to corrections.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was widely available and nearly one-half of citizens 
used the Internet at least once per month.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights in practice. The law 
prohibits a group from registering if the group's activities ``promote 
the illegal destruction of the constitutional order; promote the 
execution of criminal acts; encourage national, racial, religious and 
other intolerance; spread national, racial, religious and other hatred 
and intolerance; or encourage violence and war.''

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    Religious communities must register with the Government's office 
for religious communities if they wish to be legal entities, and 
registration entitles such groups to value-added tax rebates. 
Approximately 42 religious communities registered with the Government, 
most of them Christian denominations. During the year the office 
registered applications from the Muslim community and the Church of New 
Life. No applications were outstanding at year's end.
    While there are no governmental restrictions on the Muslim 
community's freedom of worship, services were commonly held in private 
homes for lack of a larger venue. In September long stalled plans for 
building a mosque on city-owned land that was subject to a 
denationalization claim by the Catholic Church were dropped when the 
city council delayed a vote on a budgetary appropriation to provide 
compensation to the church and clear the land for sale to the Muslim 
community. Several city councilors received death threats before the 
September meeting when they publicly supported the project to build a 
mosque in Ljubljana. In December new city leadership introduced plans 
for another location for the mosque on city-owned land close to the 
city center; both city and Muslim community officials approved the 
site. The Ljubljana City Council was expected to discuss the issue in 
January 2007 and local officials said that after public discussion and 
zoning changes, the site could be ready for sale by June 2007.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish community in the 
country was very small. Jewish community representatives reported some 
prejudice, ignorance, and false stereotypes of Jews propagated within 
society. Reportedly, negative images of Jews were common in private 
commentary and citizens generally did not consider Jews to be a native 
population, despite their uninterrupted presence in the country for 
many centuries. There were no reports of anti-Semitic violence or overt 
discrimination.
    The Government promoted antibias and tolerance education in the 
primary and secondary school curricula and the Holocaust is a mandatory 
topic in the contemporary history curriculum. On September 3, for the 
first time, the country marked the European Day of Jewish Culture with 
programs and events organized by the Jewish community with the support 
of local government officials.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. 
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. During the year the Government received 579 requests for 
refugee status or asylum and granted refugee status or asylum in nine 
cases.
    During the year the Government did not provide temporary protection 
to persons who may not have qualified as refugees under the 1951 
Convention or the 1967 Protocol.
    The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations 
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    On February 6, the National Assembly passed a law amending the 
Government's asylum procedures. The law empowers border police to 
perform an initial screen of asylum seekers and to possibly find some 
applications ``manifestly unfounded.'' The expedited procedures could 
prevent the applications of some asylum seekers from receiving a 
thorough review. The new law restricts refugees' ability to work in the 
country for one year. On December 7, the Constitutional Court ruled 
that asylum seekers should be allowed to change their asylum 
application if there were considerable changes in their circumstances. 
The court gave parliament one month to correct the discrepancy in law.
    The law provides asylum seekers with the right to appeal decisions 
on their applications, but many asylum seekers were not informed of 
this right. The independent ombudsman for human rights and several 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that the Government put 
excessive restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement by requiring 
asylum seekers to sign a statement renouncing their claim to asylum if 
they left the premises of the asylum center.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 the country held 
free and fair elections for seats in the National Assembly.
    There were 14 women in the 90-seat National Assembly and three 
women in the 40-seat National Council. There were two women in the 17-
member cabinet.
    There were two members of minorities in the 90-seat National 
Assembly and none in the 40-seat National Council or in the cabinet. 
The constitution provides the ``autochthonous'' (indigenous) Italian 
and Hungarian minorities the right, as a community, to have at least 
one representative in the parliament. However, the law does not provide 
any other minority group, autochthonous or otherwise, the right to be 
represented as a community in parliament.
    In October the country held free and fair elections for mayoral 
offices and seats in municipal councils that were the first elections 
that included legally mandated gender participation quotas.
    Twenty distinct Romani communities, each designated autochthonous 
at the local level, are entitled to a seat on their local municipal 
councils. At year's end one municipality-Grosuplje-was not in 
compliance with this law. Although both the Government office of 
nationalities and the Romani community submitted proposals to freeze 
the municipality's budget until it complies with the law, at year's end 
no action had been taken to do so.
    A July 11 amendment to the general elections law created a quota 
program to promote more balanced participation of women and men in the 
political system. The law requires 20 percent of each political party's 
list to be women and for one of the top three candidates on each list 
to be of the opposite sex of the other two. The quota for women will 
rise to 30 percent for elections in 2010 and 40 percent in 2014; a 
similar quota system will be in place for the 2008 and 2012 national 
elections.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was perceived 
by the public to be a widespread problem. The independent commission 
for the prevention of corruption received 263 cases of suspected 
corruption and found 140 out of the 158 cases that were assessed during 
the year to be credible reports of possible corruption. The remaining 
cases have not yet been assessed.
    The commission played an active role in educating the public and 
civil servants about corruption; however, it claimed it had neither 
adequate staff nor funding to fulfill its mandate and assess all cases 
of suspected corruption that it received during the year. On February 
10 the National Assembly approved the law on incompatibility of 
official position and profitable activity, which terminated the 
independent commission for the prevention of corruption and replaced it 
with a parliamentary anticorruption commission. The law was set to 
enter into force in May, but the constitutional court stayed the 
provisions abolishing the commission on April 26. The law remains in 
review at the end of the year.
    The commission continued to perform its charter duties, including: 
implementing the resolution on the prevention of corruption; developing 
plans for ensuring integrity in the public and private sectors and 
ensuring their implementation; establishing basic rules relating to 
conflicts of interest for those holding public office; supervision of 
government rules regarding the receipt of gifts; supervision of the 
financial situation of officials and contracting authorities under the 
regulations on public procurement with business entities where an 
official or family member is involved; monitoring and analyzing 
statistical information related to corruption; and cooperating with 
public authorities to draft and coordinate regulations relating to the 
prevention of corruption.
    During the year the commission forwarded 64 suspected cases of 
corruption to police and the prosecutors, and 83 cases to other state 
institutions.
    The law provides for free public access to all government 
information, and the Government provided access for citizens and 
noncitizens alike, including foreign media. The Government may deny 
public access only to classified information, personal data protected 
by privacy laws, and other narrowly defined exceptions.
    The office of the Government information commissioner reported that 
while the overall number of complaints went down, the number of 
complaints related to non-responsiveness of state institutions 
increased. During the year the office received 385 complaints about 
non-responsiveness of state institutions, and 102 complaints under the 
Law on Access to Public Information, and publicly called on government 
ministries to cooperate more transparently.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, 
gender, disability, language, or social status, and the Government 
generally enforced these provisions in practice. However, violence 
against women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination 
against homosexuals and Roma were problems.

    Women.--Although no accurate statistics were available, violence 
against women, including spousal abuse, occurred and was generally 
underreported. Although domestic violence was not specifically 
prohibited under the law, it could be prosecuted under statutes 
criminalizing assault and providing for penalties of up to 10 year's 
imprisonment in the case of aggravated and grievous bodily harm. SOS 
Phone, an NGO that provided anonymous emergency counseling and services 
to domestic violence victims, received approximately 5,000 calls during 
the year. SOS Phone estimated that 25 percent of women had experienced 
domestic violence. In 2005 the United Nations Human Rights Committee 
announced its concern about the high rate of domestic violence and the 
lack of specific legal provisions and government programs to address 
the problem. The Government partially funded 11 shelters or safe houses 
for battered women, (nine run by NGOs and two run by government 
organizations), which offered 171 total beds. Some victims of domestic 
violence also sought assistance at maternity homes and social work 
centers, although staff at these locations were not always specifically 
trained to work with victims of violence. When police received reports 
of spousal abuse or violence, they generally intervened and prosecuted 
offenders. The NGOs SOS Phone and Kljuc provided hotlines. The police 
academy offered training on domestic violence. The Council of Europe 
2006 Report ``Combating Violence Against Women'' praised the country 
for training nursing staff in all hospitals to screen patients for 
domestic violence.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, it was a 
problem. Spousal rape, in particular, was rarely reported. Amnesty 
International (AI) and SOS Phone estimated that one in seven women was 
raped during her lifetime but that only 5percent sought assistance or 
counseling. Police actively investigated reports of rape and prosecuted 
offenders. The penalty for rape was one to 10 years in prison. During 
the year there were 46 criminal acts of rape, 51 criminal acts of 
sexual violence, 14 criminal acts of sexual abuse of the weak, and 157 
criminal acts of sexual attack on a minor (under the age of 15). Police 
conducted several public awareness campaigns to familiarize society 
with the problems of rape and domestic violence.
    Prostitution is illegal, but the Government did not actively 
enforce this prohibition. Antitrafficking authorities and NGOs 
informally estimated that as many as 80 bars and clubs across the 
country could be engaged in facilitating or promoting prostitution.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law explicitly prohibits sexual harassment in the civil 
service; however, it does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment for 
the overall workforce. Incidents could be prosecuted through a criminal 
code prohibiting violation of sexual integrity through abuse of office 
and there were 16 reported criminal acts during the year. Sexual 
harassment remained a widespread problem.
    The law provides for equal rights for women, and there was no 
official discrimination against women in family law, property law, or 
the judicial system. The office of equal opportunities protects the 
legal rights of women. Although both sexes had the same average period 
of unemployment, women frequently held lower paying jobs. On average, 
women's earnings were 90 percent of those of men.

    Children.--The Government was committed to protecting children's 
rights and welfare.
    The Government provides compulsory, free, and universal education 
for children through grade nine and up to four additional years of 
free, voluntary secondary school education. The Ministry of Education 
reported an attendance rate of nearly 100 percent of school-age 
children, with most children completing secondary school. The 
Government provided universal health care for all citizens, including 
children.
    A November 16 report from AI noted that Roma children are enrolled 
in 40 nursery schools throughout the country but that school attendance 
varies widely by region, (39 percent of Roma children attend school in 
the southeastern Dolenjska region and 70 percent attend school in the 
northeastern Prekmurje region). Poverty, discrimination, and language 
problems continue to be the main barriers to the participation of Roma 
children in education programs. AI reported that the Roma literacy rate 
is 10 percent. A number of Roma reported that their children attended 
segregated classes and were selected by authorities in disproportionate 
numbers to attend classes for students with special needs. In 2004 the 
Government provided funding for a regional program to desegregate and 
expand Romani education by training Romani educational facilitators and 
creating special enrichment programs in public kindergartens. Other 
school districts hired Romani facilitators at their own initiative and 
expense. A March 29 report from the Council of Europe commissioner for 
human rights reported that de facto segregation continued to exist in 
the Brsljin school district in Novo Mesto. An evaluation of Brsljin's 
program was currently underway by education authorities.
    The Government has not developed a bilingual curriculum for Roma on 
the grounds that there is not a standardized Romani language. However, 
the Government was currently funding research into codification of the 
language. Romani facilitators were working in some schools.
    Child abuse was a problem. During the year there were 301 criminal 
acts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 15. The law provides 
special protection for children from exploitation and mistreatment, and 
the Government generally enforced the law in practice. The law 
criminalizes the sale, purchase, and propagation of child pornography.
    Child marriage occurred within the Romani community; however, it 
was not a widespread problem.
    Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and 
through the country.
    The country was primarily a point of transit, and secondarily a 
source and destination country for women and teenage girls trafficked 
from Southeastern, Eastern, and Central Europe to Western Europe. 
Trafficking in persons through the country was a problem. Victims were 
trafficked primarily for purposes of sexual exploitation. Those at 
particular risk of being trafficked were teenage girls and young women 
who lived in impoverished areas with high unemployment.
    Organized criminal groups, nightclub owners, and local pimps were 
primarily responsible for trafficking. A 2003 study by the 
International Organization for Migration reported that traffickers 
lured victims from Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries through 
advertisements promising high wages, offers of marriage, offers of 
employment as entertainers and dancers, and offers of employment 
without indication that it would involve the sex industry. Harsh 
economic conditions in some women's home countries also made them 
vulnerable to enter prostitution; many of these women lacked awareness 
of what trafficking was and they were unaware of the risk that they 
might become trafficking victims or be subjected to severe working 
conditions.
    Penalties for trafficking range from one to 10 years imprisonment. 
Authorities can also prosecute persons for rape, pimping, procurement 
of sexual acts, inducement to prostitution, sexual assault, slavery, 
and other related offenses.
    The Government demonstrated significant progress in its efforts to 
apprehend, investigate, and prosecute traffickers using a 2004 law 
criminalizing trafficking. Police investigated three cases of human 
trafficking, 17 cases of forced prostitution, and found 20 victims of 
forced prostitution and nine victims of human trafficking. During the 
year there were three reported criminal acts of trafficking. There were 
five trafficking convictions this year from crimes committed in 
previous years. Regional police directorates had departments that 
investigated trafficking and organized crime.
    The Government actively cooperated with NGOs and Interpol in 
project ``Red Routes'' by sharing information about traffickers and 
patterns of illegal migration. Police training was conducted during the 
year to improve officers' awareness of trafficking laws. One prosecutor 
in each regional state prosecution office was dedicated to trafficking 
cases.
    In November 2005 parliament adopted a law on the protection of 
witnesses in order to prosecute trafficking cases more effectively. In 
general authorities did not treat trafficking victims as criminals; 
however, they usually were voluntarily returned to their home country 
either immediately upon presenting themselves to authorities or 
following their testimony in court. In 2005 the UNHCR reported that 
asylum caseworkers paid insufficient attention to identifying victims 
of human trafficking.
    The Government's national coordinator for trafficking in persons 
served as the head of the interagency working group on trafficking in 
persons, which is responsible for the Government's long-term national 
strategy to combat trafficking. The working group, which included 
representatives of ministries, NGOs, international organizations, and 
the media, established, among other things, standard operating 
procedures for first responders to ensure that victims receive 
information about the options and assistance available to them. The 
group met more than six times during the year and in June established 
an action plan against trafficking for 2007.
    In June the NGO Karitas won a one-year contract from the Ministry 
of Labor to provide secure shelter and assistance to trafficking 
victims. Karitas hired two new employees including a professional 
social worker, set up a safe house, and established three locations for 
short-term emergency housing. Karitas assisted three victims of 
trafficking this year with food, shelter, counseling, translation 
services, and transportation.
    Kljuc, previously the country's sole NGO providing support to 
trafficking victims, continued to work on trafficking issues including 
programs for prevention, education, detection, and prosecution, as well 
as on the long term reintegration of trafficking victims.
    The project against trafficking and sex- and gender-based violence 
continued to provide information and assistance to the asylum seekers 
at greatest risk of being trafficked, especially single women and 
children separated from their parents. Key elements of the project 
included information about where potential victims could access 
assistance, access to specialized assistance and protection for victims 
identified in the asylum procedures, and access to asylum procedures 
for identified trafficking victims. All at-risk asylum seekers receive 
a book containing trafficking information and assistance contacts 
throughout Europe. The project was jointly administered by the asylum 
section of the MOI, two local NGOs (Kljuc and Slovenksa Filantropija), 
and the UNHCR.
    The Government, in cooperation with an NGO, continued the programs 
``Vijolica'' and ``Caps,'' which provided trafficking awareness classes 
for elementary and secondary school students.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, or the provision of other government 
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in 
practice. The law mandates access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities, and modifications of public and private structures to 
ease access by these persons continued, although at a slow pace. 
However, most buildings were not accessible in practice. The Ministry 
for Labor, Family, and Social Affairs has primary responsibility for 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and in February the 
ministry established a working group to implement national guidelines 
for improving access to buildings, information, and communications for 
persons with disabilities. On July 11, the national assembly passed a 
law mandating that at least one polling station in every district must 
be accessible for the disabled. The change was observed during local 
elections in October.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2002 census, 
minorities made up approximately 17 percent of the population and 
included approximately 39,000 Serbs, 36,000 Croats, 22,000 Bosniaks 
(Bosnian Muslims), 10,000 Muslims, 6,000 Hungarians, 6,000 Albanians, 
4,000 Macedonians, 3,000 Montenegrins, 3,000 Roma, and 2,000 Italians. 
Observers noted that Roma frequently do not report their nationality 
accurately to census takers, and AI estimated that the true number of 
Roma was 7,000 to 12,000.
    The law provides special rights and protections to autochthonous 
Italian and Hungarian minorities, including the right to use their own 
national symbols and have bilingual education and the right for each to 
be represented as a community in parliament (see section 3). The Romani 
minority does not have comparable special rights and protections. On 
November 23, parliament passed a law on the protection of the Roma 
community that outlined how the Government will regulate the status of 
the Roma community and fulfills the requirements of the constitution. 
The law focuses on the integration of the Roma community, in particular 
in the areas of education and employment, as well as efforts to 
legalize Roma settlements. It also calls for the formation of a Roma 
Council, made up of representatives from different Roma communities, 
which will serve as the chief partner of the Government on Roma 
integration issues. Government officials reported progress on Roma 
integration since the adoption of a National Action Plan for the 
education of Roma in 2004 and an Action Program for employment of Roma 
2003-2006. The education plan's priorities include early inclusion and 
integration of Romani children into pre-school education; introduction 
of Roma assistants in kindergartens; Slovenian language lessons for 
Romani pupils; introduction of Romani language; teaching of Romani 
culture, history and identity; employment of Roma assistants; review of 
school placement procedures; and establishing a network of schools with 
Romani pupils for the exchange of experience and good practice. The 
employment plan's priorities include inclusion of young, unemployed 
Roma in primary and vocational schools; the inclusion of adult Roma in 
subsidized jobs programs; job creation through public works; and the 
employment of Roma advisers at employment service offices.
    In a 2003 report, the committee on the elimination of racial 
discrimination expressed concern that discriminatory attitudes and 
practices against the Roma persisted and that the distinction between 
``indigenous'' Roma and ``new'' Roma could give rise to new 
discrimination. Ethnic Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Kosovar Albanians, and 
Roma from Kosovo and Albania were considered ``new'' minorities; they 
were not protected by the special constitutional provisions for 
autochthonous minorities and faced some governmental and societal 
discrimination with respect to employment, housing, and education.
    A 2005 report by the UN Human Rights Committee and a November 
report from AI noted that the Roma continue to suffer prejudice and 
discrimination, in particular with access to health services, 
education, and employment.
    Many Roma lived in settlements apart from other communities that 
lacked basic utilities such as electricity, running water, sanitation, 
and access to transportation. A November 28 report from the European 
Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia noted the problem of Roma 
exclusion in the housing market in all countries with sizable Romani 
populations. A Council of Europe report stated that local authorities 
have addressed the situation of Roma settlements poorly. According to 
government officials, 70 percent of the approximately 100 Roma 
settlements are illegal. The Roma also reported discrimination in 
employment, which complicated their housing situation. A March 29 
report from the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights noted 
that the unemployment rate among Roma was 90 percent.
    On September 8, the Novo Mesto District Court sentenced two men to 
30 years in prison for the murder of two individuals at the Dobruska 
vas Roma community in June 2005. The two threw a bomb from their car 
that killed two women. A third individual was sentenced to 10 years and 
10 months in prison for acting as a driver in similar incident at the 
Brezje settlement in May 2005 that did not result in any deaths. Two 
other suspects were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
    On October 28, a Romani family living near the village of Ambrus 
left their homestead with assistance from government officials amidst 
intense pressure from the local community. Approximately 30 people were 
temporarily relocated to a former army barracks in Postojna, which the 
Government improved to meet basic living standards. The Government 
condemned the family's home in Ambrus because of illegal construction 
and demolished it on December 21. On December 24, the Romani family was 
relocated to a temporary location near Ljubljana. At year's end the 
Government was working with the family and local communities to find a 
suitable location to permanently relocate the family.
    In late October and November, local citizens in and around the 
village of Ambrus staged demonstrations in opposition to the return of 
the Romani family. On November 25, over 100 police were sent to handle 
protests and the media reported that three protesters were hurt during 
the demonstration. Protesters on several occasions blocked roads near 
the former Roma family homestead with people, vehicles, and trees in an 
attempt to keep the family from returning to their home. Members of the 
Romani family were threatened with violence numerous times. Similar 
demonstrations occurred in at least one other location in the country.
    Regularization of status for non-Slovenian former Yugoslav citizens 
remained an issue. Approximately 18,000 persons, mostly Yugoslav 
citizens residing in the country at the time of independence, did not 
apply for citizenship in 1991-92 and subsequently found their records 
were ``erased'' from the population register in February 1992. The 
deletion of these records has been characterized by some as an 
administrative decision and by others as an ethnically motivated act. 
In 2003 the constitutional court ruled unconstitutional portions of a 
law governing the legal status of former Yugoslav citizens because the 
law neither recognizes the full period in which these ``erased'' 
persons resided in the country nor provides them the opportunity to 
apply for permanent residency. On February 21, a group representing 
``erased'' citizens staged an act of civil disobedience in front of the 
National Assembly to protest the Government's failure to implement the 
constitutional court's 2003 ruling. On November 29, the same group 
visited the European parliament to protest the Government's lack of 
action. At year's end the Government had not completed legislation to 
resolve the court's concerns.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, such societal 
discrimination was widespread, and isolated cases of violence against 
homosexuals occurred. A 2004 poll conducted by the Peace Institute of 
members of the gay and lesbian community found that 53 percent of 
respondents had experienced verbal, sexual, or physical harassment 
because of their sexual orientation.
    On June 30, multiple assailants attacked activists of Lingsium, an 
advocacy group for homosexuals, who had set up a stand and were 
distributing leaflets in Maribor saying, ``Action for tolerance: gays 
and lesbians wish you a good day.'' Members of the Maribor city council 
published a statement condemning the attack.
    On July 1, the sixth annual gay pride parade in Ljubljana took 
place without incident with the support of local government officials. 
However, on the evening of July 1, multiple assailants attacked two 
individuals in the vicinity of the Ljubljana train station and were 
reported to have shouted anti-gay comments. The police investigation 
was ongoing at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and 
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive 
requirements, and they did so in practice. All workers, except police 
and military personnel, are eligible to form and join labor 
organizations. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
right to bargain collectively, and it was freely practiced; however, 
the law requires that 10 percent of the workers in an industry sector 
be union members before collective bargaining can be applied to the 
sector as a whole. All workers were covered by either a general 
collective bargaining agreement or a collective bargaining agreement 
that focused on a specific business segment.
    The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised 
this right in practice. The law prohibits retaliation against strikers, 
and the Government effectively enforced this provision in practice. The 
law restricts strikes by some public sector employees, primarily the 
police and members of the military services, and provides for 
arbitration to ensure due process and protect these workers' rights.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the country's sole export processing zone at Koper. The other two 
export processing zones in Maribor and Nova Gorica were eliminated in 
2005.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace and to set forth acceptable working conditions; the 
Government effectively implemented and enforced these laws and policies 
in practice.
    The minimum age for employment is 15; however, rural younger 
children often worked during the harvest season and on other farm 
chores. The law limits working hours and sets occupational health and 
safety standards for children; the Government effectively enforced 
these provisions in practice. Urban employers generally respected the 
age limits.
    Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation was a problem (see 
section 5).
    The Ministry of Labor, Family, and Social Affairs is responsible 
for monitoring labor practices and has inspection authority; police are 
responsible for investigating violations of the law. Enforcement 
practices were generally effective.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum 
wage of approximately $662 U.S. (125,052 tolars) provided a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. The law limits the workweek 
to 40 hours and provides for minimum annual leave of 20 days and a 
mandatory rest period of at least one day per week. Premium pay for 
overtime was regulated by collective agreements and was not 
standardized, and maximum overtime was limited to 8 hours per week, 20 
hours per month, and 180 hours per year. The Ministry of Labor, Family, 
and Social Affairs is responsible for monitoring labor practices and 
has inspection authority; police are responsible for investigating 
violations of the law. The laws were enforced effectively.
    Special commissions under the ministries of health and labor, 
family, and social affairs set and enforced standards for occupational 
health and safety. Workers had the right to remove themselves from 
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their continued 
employment; however, it was not clear to what extent they could do so 
in practice.

                               __________

                                 SPAIN

    The Kingdom of Spain, with a population of approximately 44.4 
million, is a parliamentary democracy headed by a constitutional 
monarch. The country has a bicameral parliament, and the head of the 
largest political party or coalition is usually named President. The 
2004 national election was free and fair. The Spanish Socialist Workers 
Party won the multiparty election, and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero 
became President. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of 
addressing individual instances of abuse. There was one report that 
security forces abused a suspect, and other reports indicated that some 
guards at migrant detention facilities mistreated detained migrants; 
Jewish groups reported isolated acts of vandalism; Muslim groups 
reported some societal discrimination; there were reports that 
authorities at times expelled illegal immigrants without adequate 
screening for potential asylees; domestic violence, trafficking in 
persons, prejudice--and at times violence--against minorities were 
societal problems. The Basque terrorist group Basque Fatherland and 
Liberty (ETA) declared a ``permanent ceasefire'' on March 22; however, 
an ETA bombing at the Madrid airport on December 30 killed at least two 
persons.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.
    There were legal developments related to some killings or alleged 
killings in previous years. In June the prosecutor asked for a 10-year 
prison sentence for civil guard commander Jose Manuel Rivas, and eight 
years in prison for each of seven other civil guards, accused of 
killing Juan Martinez Galdeano in July 2005. Galdeano died in civil 
guard custody in Roquetas (Almeria). The Ministry of Interior's 
investigation led to charges that the guards beat Galdeano to death, 
used banned weapons, obstructed the investigation, and provided false 
testimony. The trial had not begun by year's end.
    In April the prosecutor asked for a conviction on charges of 
negligent homicide and a two-year jail sentence for a regional 
Catalonian police officer who shot and killed a Moroccan national, 
Farid Ben Daoud, during an operation against drug traffickers in 2004. 
While an investigation concluded that the killing was unintentional, 
prosecutors concluded that the officer had been negligent in securing 
his sidearm. The trial began in October.
    The terrorist group ETA, whose declared goal is to establish an 
independent Basque state, continued its terrorist campaign of bombings 
during the first two and a half months of the year. ETA publicly 
claimed responsibility for these attacks. However, in March ETA 
declared a ``permanent ceasefire'' and sought negotiations with the 
Government on Basque independence and legalization for Batasuna, its 
political wing. The Government made both cessation of and renunciation 
of violence a precondition for negotiation. However, on December 30, 
ETA terrorists detonated a massive car bomb inside a parking garage at 
Madrid's international airport, destroying the five-level garage and 
causing the death of two persons and significant loss of property. The 
Government responded on December 31 by severing negotiations. Batasuna 
representatives declined to condemn the attacks and blamed the 
Government for failing to advance peace negotiations.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and laws prohibit such practices, and the 
Government generally respected this prohibition.
    In September the civil guard questioned 18 police officers about 
their alleged implication in the June 23 beating of a Guatemalan 
citizen in the police headquarters of Torrevieja (Alicante). A judge 
subsequently charged 13 of the officers, along with two local 
government officials, with the beating. Authorities produced mobile 
telephone recordings allegedly implicating both the police and members 
of the local government in an attempt to cover up the abuse. At year's 
end the case had not gone to trial.
    Following a wide-ranging 2005 visit, the commissioner for human 
rights of the Council of Europe (COE/CHR) reported that he and his team 
did not find evidence of any ill treatment of prisoners. Many other 
observers generally agreed that police abuses were infrequent. However, 
a report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance 
(ECRI) released on February 21, reported that nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) continued to receive reports from noncitizens, 
Roma, and citizens of immigrant origin asserting that they were victims 
of misconduct, including insulting and abusive speech, mistreatment, 
and violence by the various security forces. The report indicated that 
victims rarely filed complaints, and there appeared to be little 
investigation of the incidents.
    There were reports that a few members of the security forces abused 
and mistreated detained illegal immigrants. Media reported that some 
authorities in detention facilities traded food and other special 
favors for sex and money from migrant detainees. A government 
investigation was ongoing at year's end (see section 2.d.).
    The NGO SOS Racismo denounced abuses of immigrants by some Catalan 
police officials. There were complaints by immigrants of mistreatment 
by police who were checking them for identification. One example was 
that of an immigrant from the Maghreb region who, after being attacked 
by four unknown persons and being badly injured, sought police 
assistance. Instead of helping him, police handcuffed him and left him 
inside a police car for more than 30 minutes before getting him medical 
attention.
    On December 30, ETA terrorists broke a ceasefire by detonating a 
bomb at the Madrid airport, killing two persons and wounding many 
others. ETA kidnapped a French citizen whose vehicle they stole for use 
in the attack. Prior to the March 9 ``permanent ceasefire'' 
declaration, there were 12 terrorist acts, including attacks in the 
provinces of Cantabria, Alava, Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya, Zaragoza, Huesca, 
and Navarra. None of the injuries from these attacks was serious.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards; the Government permitted visits 
by independent human rights observers.
    Prisons were overcrowded. At year's end there were 64,066 inmates 
in the country's 77 prisons with an inmate per cell ratio of 
approximately 1.6. At the end of 2005, the Government approved 
construction of 11 new prison facilities to be completed by 2012; four 
were under construction by year's end.
    As of year's end, the delegation of the Council of Europe's 
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading 
Treatment or Punishment had not made public a formal report on its 2005 
visit to a number of the country's prisons. In their informal report, 
they reiterated earlier recommendations that authorities give detainees 
quicker access to lawyers, reduce the length of incommunicado 
detention, and provide detainees with access to their personal doctors 
rather than government doctors. The Government replied that 
incommunicado detention was only used under strict judicial supervision 
and that most detainees had prompt access to their lawyers.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces include 
the national police and civil guard, both under the authority of the 
central government, as well as municipal police and police forces under 
the authority of Catalonia and the Basque country regional governments. 
All police forces operated effectively with isolated reports of 
corruption. However, the ECRI reported a problem with police impunity 
in a report made public on February 21 (see section 1.c.). The 
constitution provides for an ombudsman who investigates claims of 
police abuse (see section 4). Police internal investigators have 15 
days to respond to inquiries from the ombudsman concerning police 
behavior, and the ombudsman's office issues findings on the results of 
investigations and may impose sanctions. The ombudsman may perform 
unannounced inspections of police facilities (see section 4). The 
national ombudsman's annual report for 2005, released in June, stated 
that it intervened after receiving complaints of delays in judicial 
procedures and instances of poor communication and coordination between 
police and judicial authorities. The national ombudsman filed 140 ex-
officio judicial complaints, including in the Roquetas case and in 
every instance of death during incarceration (see section 1.a.). During 
2005 the ombudsman network processed 3,999 complaints relating to 
matters of justice, defense and internal affairs. The national 
ombudsman also reported that the Ministry of Interior accepted its 
recommendation to suspend two national police officers pending a 
disciplinary investigation.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that Police may apprehend 
suspects with probable cause or with a warrant based on sufficient 
evidence as determined by a judge. With certain exceptions, police may 
not hold a suspect for more than 72 hours without a hearing. Police 
generally respected these procedures in practice. Detainees generally 
were promptly informed of the charges against them. The courts released 
defendants on bail unless they believed that the defendants might flee 
or be a threat to public safety. Police generally gave arrested persons 
prompt access to a lawyer of their choosing or, if they could not 
afford one, to a court-appointed attorney.
    In certain rare instances involving acts of terrorism or rebellion, 
the law allows authorities to detain persons for up to five days prior 
to arraignment on the authorization of a judge. In these cases a judge 
also may order incommunicado detention for the entire duration of 
police custody (five days). The law stipulates that suspects held 
incommunicado have the right to an attorney, but not necessarily to 
their attorney of choice. The Spanish Bar Association, not the 
Government, selects an attorney for the detainee. Additionally, after 
incommunicado police custody and arraignment, a court or judge may 
order additional incommunicado pretrial imprisonment of up to 13 days. 
Human rights observers indicated that this power carried the potential 
for abuse. Authorities asserted that this form of detention was rare.
    Lengthy pretrial detention occurred. At year's end the prison 
population was 64,066 of whom 15,154 were pretrial detainees. Under the 
law authorities may detain suspects for more than two years before 
putting them on trial unless a judge authorizes a further delay, which 
may extend to four years. In practice pretrial detention was usually 
less than one year.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    The judicial structure consists of local, provincial, regional, and 
national courts with the Supreme Court at its apex. A Constitutional 
Court has the authority to return a case to the court in which it was 
adjudicated if it determines that constitutional rights were violated 
during the course of the proceedings. The national courts hear cases 
involving terrorism and drug trafficking. The European Court of Human 
Rights is the final arbiter in cases concerning human rights.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right 
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this 
right.
    Trials are public and there is a nine-person jury system. 
Defendants have the right to be represented by an attorney (at 
government expense for the indigent), to confront witnesses, to present 
witnesses on their behalf, and to have access to government-held 
evidence. Defendants enjoy the presumption of innocence and the right 
to appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and 
impartial judiciary exists for civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for 
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally 
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective 
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to 
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
    Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately 
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede 
criticism.
    The law prohibits, subject to judicial oversight, the publishing of 
documents that the Government interprets as glorifying or supporting 
terrorism. There were no reports that persons were prosecuted for this 
offense during the year.
    The independent media were active and generally expressed a wide 
variety of views without restriction; however, there was one report of 
attempted restriction on broadcast media in Catalonia. In January 
several NGOs criticized a December 2005 law enacted by the regional 
Catalonian parliament that gave the Catalonian Audiovisual Council 
authority to fine Catalonian media as much as $393,000 (300,000 euros), 
or to shut them down, for transmitting ``untruthful'' information. 
There were no reports that this law was employed during the year.
    On April 11, Holocaust denier Pedro Varela was arrested in his 
bookstore Libreria Europa in Barcelona. Police seized hundreds of books 
denying or minimizing the Holocaust. Authorities charged Varela with 
defending genocide and incitement to racial hatred and released him 
pending trial. The charges against him carry a penalty of up to five 
years' imprisonment. The trial had not begun at year's end.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was readily available from a number of providers. The 
Government did not require Internet service providers to restrict 
public access to any Web sites.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no official 
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
    Languages or dialects other than Castilian Spanish are used in six 
of the country's 17 provinces. The constitution stipulates that 
citizens have the ``duty to know'' Castilian, which is the official 
language of the state; however, it provides that other languages may 
also be official under regional statutes and that ``different language 
variations of the country are a cultural heritage which shall be 
protected.''
    In the autonomous province of Catalonia, Catalan and Castilian are 
both official languages and both may be used in official institutions 
as well as in schools. However, during the year both Spanish and 
Catalan ombudsmen received isolated complaints of alleged 
discrimination against the use of either Castilian or Catalan (see 
section 5).

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of 
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.
    The constitution declares the country to be a secular state, and 
various laws provide that no religion should have the character of a 
state religion; however, Catholicism was the dominant religion and 
enjoyed the closest official relationship with the Government. The 
Catholic Church benefited from financing through the tax system in that 
taxpayers, regardless of denomination, could elect to dedicate a small 
percentage of their taxes to the Catholic Church. The Government also 
provided some direct funding to the Catholic Church, as well as funding 
for religion teachers in public schools, military and hospital 
chaplains, and other indirect assistance. The Jewish, Muslim and many 
Protestant communities had official status and received some tax 
benefits through agreements with the Government, but they enjoyed fewer 
privileges.
    To receive status as a religion, an organization must be officially 
recognized by the Ministry of Justice. Groups not officially recognized 
as religions, including the Church of Scientology, were treated as 
cultural associations. The Church of Scientology filed its most recent 
application for official recognition with the Ministry of Justice in 
2004. The ministry rejected the application in May 2005 on the grounds 
that the ministry did not have the authority to overturn a 1990 Supreme 
Court decision that denied the church registration.
    On separate occasions leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities 
complained about difficulties in securing permits and approvals to 
construct new places of worship. Specifically, efforts to construct a 
mosque in Seville were met with judicial hurdles that the Seville 
Mosque Foundation claimed were prompted by societal prejudice against 
Islam. Construction was on hold at year's end pending a judicial ruling 
on a complaint filed by Bermejales 2000, a neighborhood association 
that gathered 1500 signatures opposed to the construction of the 
mosque.
    Planners of a Sephardic Jewish center in Barcelona criticized local 
and national government officials for withholding support for the 
project. Authorities replied that they did not oppose the project but 
were waiting for a feasible plan.
    The law mandates public funding for teachers in Catholic, Islamic, 
Protestant, and Judaic studies in public schools when at least 10 
students request them. Islamic leaders complained that the demand for 
Islamic instruction far outstripped the Government's capacity to 
provide it. In October Muslim leaders and government officials 
celebrated printing of the first 15,000 copies of a standardized 
textbook on Islam to be used in public schools.
    In December the Islamic Junta of Spain appealed to Pope Benedict 
XVI to allow Muslim worshippers to pray at the Cordoba mezquita, a site 
of religious significance to both Catholics and Muslims, having been 
built as a mosque during the Muslim era and turned into a cathedral 
after Christian monarchs captured Cordoba in 1236. The Islamic Junta 
asked the Vatican to convert the mezquita into an ecumenical center 
where members of all faiths could worship. On December 28, the 
Archbishop of Cordoba declined this request.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Muslims continued to 
experience some societal prejudice. On April 18, the Spanish Federation 
of Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI) and the Union of Islamic 
Communities in Spain (UCIDE) criticized what they called an increase in 
Islamophobia; however, a large majority of Muslims said in public 
opinion polls that they felt ``well integrated'' or ``somewhat 
integrated.''
    The comments of FEERI and UCIDE were prompted by arson attacks on 
the Sibi Bel Abbas mosque, the second of two mosque bombings in the 
enclave city of Ceuta in North Africa. Authorities indicated that the 
burning of the Sibi Bel Abbas mosque may have been the work of radical 
Islamists in Ceuta who opposed the iconic nature of worship prevalent 
among Maghrebi Muslims; the two sanctuaries were both sacred burial 
sites of important Maghrebi leaders. Authorities had not charged anyone 
in connection with either attack by year's end, but their investigation 
was continuing.
    On November 19, unknown persons vandalized the Colon Park mosque in 
Corboba, defacing it with graffiti of swastikas and other xenophobic 
symbols.
    According to a report on the Muslim community produced by 
Metroscopia for the Ministry of Interior, 31 percent of Muslim 
respondents said they were completely adapted to Spanish life and 
customs, 49 percent were fairly well adapted, and 19 percent said they 
were not well adapted. Among respondents, 83 percent said they had not 
encountered any obstacles to the practice of their religion, while 13 
percent said they had. Among the respondents, 57 percent believed 
Spanish society was tolerant of the Muslim religion, while 37 percent 
thought there was some prejudice.
    According to another report on the Muslim community produced by 
Tais Comunicacion for the magazine 21RS, 38.7 percent of Muslims felt 
completely accepted, 50 percent felt somewhat accepted, 10.3 percent 
felt somewhat rejected, and 1 percent felt very rejected.
    However, in December the European Observatory for Racism released a 
report describing the results of a June survey by the Pew Global 
Attitudes Project which found that only 29 percent of respondents in 
the country held a good opinion of Muslims; in response to a separate 
question, 83 percent of respondents associated ``Muslim'' with 
``fanaticism.'' In the opinion of 58 percent of the respondents, being 
a devout Muslim was incompatible with modern society, and 41 percent 
believed that at least some of the country's Muslims supported Islamic 
extremism. In the view of more than 80 percent of respondents, Islam 
did not respect women.
    Jewish community leaders reported that while violence against 
persons in the 30,000 to 40,000 member Jewish community was rare, they 
were concerned about anti-Semitism expressed as vandalism against 
Jewish institutions. On July 25, the building housing the Jewish 
Information Center in Toledo was defaced with 12 swastikas. Synagogues 
in Barcelona were vandalized at various times during the year, 
especially during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the 
terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. Also, in March 2005 Jewish 
synagogues in Barcelona were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. No 
suspects were arrested.
    Jacobo Israel Garzon, President of the Federation of Jewish 
Communities in Spain, stated in a November 5 article in the 
International Herald Tribune that, despite increased interest in the 
country's Jewish heritage, ``a new anti-Semitism is developing in 
Spain. It uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as its source, but it 
passes very quickly from anti-Israelism to anti-Semitism.''
    The European Jewish Congress, in a report on alleged anti-Semitism 
during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the terrorist 
organization Hizballah in Lebanon, cited an article that appeared in El 
Mundo linking Nazi Germany and Israel, accusing Israel of using the 
same arguments made by the Nazi leaders to justify its ``aggression.'' 
The article continues, ``now the victims of this period (the 1930s) 
have become the executioners.''
    In November, at a soccer game between Deportivo La Coruna and 
Osasune, Osasune fans shouted anti-Semitic slurs at Dudu Awate, a 
Deportivo player from Israel (see section 5).
    The 2005 annual country report on anti-Semitism by the Stephen Roth 
Institute, released during the year, found that ``a relatively low 
level of anti-Semitic activity was recorded in Spain in 2005.''
    On April 11, Holocaust denier Pedro Varela was arrested in his 
bookstore, Libreria Europa, in Barcelona. Police seized hundreds of 
books denying or minimizing the Holocaust. Authorities charged Varela 
with defense of genocide and incitement to racial hatred and released 
him pending trial. The charges against him carried a penalty of up to 
five years' imprisonment. The trial had not begun at year's end.
    In March 2005 Barcelona police arrested a distributor of neo-Nazi 
music, Jordi R.P., for distributing music that promoted the Third 
Reich, anti-Semitism, and called for a racial war. He was awaiting 
trial at year's end.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. The Government generally provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    During the year, authorities received 5,297 asylum requests. They 
gave refugee status to 168 applicants during the same period and gave 
other forms of protection to 188 others.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 111 persons in 2005.
    The Government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations, 
including the Spanish Committee for Assistance to Refugees, in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The country experienced its largest recorded influx of undocumented 
immigrants during the year. Among them were approximately 31,000 West 
Africans who arrived on boats in the Canary Islands. The authorities 
transferred approximately 20,000 immigrants from the Canary Islands to 
the Iberian Peninsula, and 8,000 more resided in the islands' police 
stations and refugee centers.
    At year's end the Government had repatriated 97,715 irregular 
immigrants. A July report by Amnesty International (AI) expressed 
concern that the Government, faced with thousands of migrants that 
arrived in the Canary Islands, did not dedicate sufficient resources to 
identify bona fide refugees and expressed concern that screening was 
inadequate. While acknowledging that a majority of the migrants were 
economic, AI found that the Government had not always provided migrants 
with sufficient legal information or access to interpreters.
    In October several NGOs, including CEAR, called on the Government 
to close the Center for the Internment of Aliens in Malaga, saying it 
experienced a ``plague of irregularities,'' including alleged instances 
of guards trading food and other favors for sex. On July 22, a judge in 
Malaga ordered three police officers detained, pending the results of 
an investigation by the Ministry of Interior, for sexually abusing 
interned migrants. Authorities also charged an attorney in the case, 
which detailed the alleged organization of sex parties by guards at the 
center, and the investigation was ongoing at year's end (see section 
1.c.).
    Human rights observers criticized the Government's deportation of 
non-Moroccan migrants directly to Morocco, their country of last 
transit, and the Government abandoned this practice during the year. 
During the year the Government concluded repatriation agreements with 
several West African countries in order to repatriate migrants directly 
to their countries of origin. In a report released in October, ``The 
Southern Border 1995-2006: Ten years of human rights violations,'' the 
NGO SOS Racismo asserted that Moroccan authorities had abandoned at 
least 81 such migrants in the desert along the Algerian border in 2005. 
The report cited 379 deportations to Morocco that it claimed violated 
European law against deporting persons to a country where their lives 
may be in danger.
    The Government provided funding and material assistance to help 
Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities improve their border security and 
their treatment of migrant populations.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through regularly occurring, free, and fair elections held on the basis 
of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Jose Luis Rodriguez 
Zapatero of the Socialist Party became President in a free and fair 
national election. Governmental power was shared between the central 
government and 17 regional governments. Linguistic and cultural 
minorities had representation in, and participated in, both local and 
national political parties.
    There were 125 women in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies (lower 
house) and 61 women in the 259-seat Senate (upper house). There were 
eight women in the 16-member Council of Ministers.
    The Government did not keep statistics on the ethnic composition of 
the parliament, but linguistic and cultural minorities appeared to be 
well represented. The Catalan parliament included a member of Moroccan 
origin. There were Muslim political parties in the city enclaves of 
Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. Roma had little representation in 
government. During the year the Government appointed the first Roma to 
a high-level position, as an advisor in the Women's Institute.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were several reports 
of government corruption during the year, primarily in local 
government. Many of the cases dealt with bribery of local officials by 
construction companies seeking to win favorable rezoning and 
construction contracts. In March, in one particularly serious incident, 
the national anticorruption attorney's office investigated and charged 
the mayor and much of the local government of Marbella with corruption 
and financial crimes. As the year progressed, details continued to come 
out of alleged extensive corruption in the Marbella government, 
including real estate graft, bribery, and embezzlement, which left the 
Government several hundred million dollars in debt. By year's end 
authorities had arrested more than 60 individuals connected to the 
scandal and the investigation was ongoing. The former chief of police 
of Marbella was arrested in December and accused of illegally selling 
over 400 stolen vehicles at a police auction. The suspected ringleader 
of the corruption, Juan Antonio Roca, was arrested in March and 
remained in custody at year's end.
    The law mandates public access to government information, and the 
Government generally provided it.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The law provides for an ombudsman, called the ``people's 
defender,'' whose duties included investigating complaints of human 
rights abuses by authorities. The ombudsman operates independently of 
any party or government ministry, is elected every five years by a 
three-fifths majority of the Congress of Deputies, and is immune from 
prosecution. The ombudsman has complete access to government 
institutions and to all documents other than those classified for 
national security reasons. Although his recommendations to government 
agencies were advisory, the ombudsman could refer cases to the courts 
on his own authority. Government agencies were generally responsive to 
the ombudsman's recommendations. Several autonomous communities had 
their own ombudsmen, and there were ombudsmen dedicated to the rights 
of specific groups, such as women, children, and persons with 
disabilities. The ombudsmen made hundreds of official recommendations 
during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced it 
effectively; however, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and 
discrimination against ethnic minorities and immigrants were problems.

    Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, but domestic 
violence against women was widely acknowledged to be a societal 
problem. Despite the implementation of the 2005 Integral Law against 
Gender Violence, which toughened penalties on gender violence and 
increased the number of police officers and courts dedicated to gender 
violence, the Government reported that current or former husbands or 
partners killed 68 women during the year, an increase from 60 in 2005. 
According to a study released in December by the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Affairs, more than 600,000 women over the age of 18 (3.6 
percent) were victims of gender-based abuse during the year. Through 
November women filed 57,454 complaints of abuse against their husbands, 
male partners, or ex-partners, 4.2 percent more than during the same 
period in 2005.
    The law provides prison sentences of six months to a year for 
domestic violence, threats, or violations of restraining orders, with 
longer sentences in the event of serious injuries. During the year 
special gender courts received 148,448 complaints of domestic violence 
and issued 16,036 convictions. In the 12 months ending in June, gender 
courts tried 40,700 cases of gender violence with a conviction rate of 
71.9 percent. In their first year of existence, the special courts 
issued 27,366 restraining orders against men.
    Over 50 offices provided legal assistance to victims of domestic 
violence, and there were approximately 225 shelters for battered women. 
A 24-hour free national hotline advised battered women on where to find 
local assistance or shelter. In addition the security services 
strengthened their support for battered women. In December 2005 there 
were 1,102 specialized police officers who focused on protection of 
victims. At year's end that number had increased to 1,392.
    In March the Government created the State Observatory for Violence 
Against Women to gather information on the problem, issue annual 
reports evaluating the efficiency of existing measures, and propose new 
ones if necessary.
    A June AI report entitled More Rights, the Same Obstacles found 
that the implementation of the Government's domestic violence law was 
uneven--regions outside the capital generally provided fewer resources 
for battered women.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the Government 
effectively enforced it. The Government reported 6,382 cases of sexual 
assault, harassment, and aggression through November.
    In Catalonia the law requires that a doctor examine immigrants 
considered to be in danger of female genital mutilation (FGM) when they 
travel to and from their countries of origin. Parents whose children 
are determined to have been subjected to this practice risked losing 
custody of these children. In practice there were no medical 
examinations of immigrants, because there was no suspicion that FGM 
took place. Authorities and doctors warn immigrant parents of 
situations when they suspect something like this could occur.
    Prostitution is not illegal, but forcing others into prostitution 
and organizing prostitution rings are crimes, and it is illegal for 
anyone to profit from the prostitution of another. Prostitution was 
reported to be a problem. Local governments, notably those of Madrid 
and Barcelona, continued efforts to discourage prostitution. During the 
year the Madrid city government focused its efforts on reducing demand 
by targeting potential sex solicitors with posters claiming, ``because 
you pay, prostitution exists.'' The Madrid city government hosted a 
conference in November on ``Human Rights and Prostitution'' to build 
momentum to fight demand of the commercial sex trade. Other efforts to 
combat prostitution included advertising campaigns discouraging 
prostitution, restrictions on prostitution near schools, and police 
actions such as road closings to deter clients from seeking 
prostitutes. In April the joint Senate-Congress Commission for Women's 
Rights approved the creation of a study group to analyze voluntary 
prostitution and how to approach the problem. The commission had not 
delivered its findings at year's end.
    Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, such 
harassment was reported to be a problem. According to a study released 
in April by the Women's Institute, a division of the Ministry of Labor 
and Social Affairs, 14.9 percent of women experienced some kind of 
sexual harassment during 2005, although only 9.9 percent identified 
themselves as victims of such harassment. The study found that four 
percent of women had suffered a serious incident of harassment and 2.2 
percent had suffered a very serious incident. The institute reported 
390 complaints of sexual harassment from January through November.
    Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights 
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Women's 
Institute worked to ensure the legal rights of women, combat economic 
discrimination, and integrate women into the mainstream of society and 
the economy. Discriminatory wage differentials continued to exist, and 
women held fewer senior management positions than men.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare.
    Education is compulsory until age 16 and free until age 18. There 
were no apparent differences in the treatment of girls and boys in 
education. According to UN Economic and Social Organization statistics 
for 2002 and 2003, 100 percent of primary school-aged children and 96 
percent of secondary school-aged children were in school.
    Access to the national health care system was equal for girls and 
boys.
    The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs 
were responsible for the welfare of children. Several regional 
governments had an office of the children's defender, an ombudsman 
charged with defending children's rights.
    In June the Congress of Deputies approved a revision of the law to 
establish tougher penalties for youth aged 14 to 17. The new law also 
permits underage witnesses and victims of crimes to testify via 
videoconference without having a visual confrontation with the 
defendant.
    There were isolated reports of child abuse.
    Child prostitution occurred.
    Trafficking in teenage girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation 
was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through 
the country.
    The country was both a destination and transit point for persons 
trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation (most frequently 
involving forced prostitution and work in nude dancing clubs) and, to a 
lesser degree, forced labor (primarily in agriculture, construction, 
and domestic employment) (see section 6.d.). Trafficked women were 
usually 18 to 30 years of age, but some girls were as young as 16. 
Women were trafficked primarily from Latin America (Colombia and 
Ecuador), East European countries (Romania and Bulgaria), sub-Saharan 
Africa (Nigeria, Guinea, and Sierra Leone), and, to a lesser extent, 
North Africa. Asians, including Chinese, were trafficked to a much 
lesser degree and more often for labor rather than for sexual 
exploitation.
    The traffickers were generally organized criminals based in the 
source countries.
    Methods used by traffickers to maintain control of their victims 
included physical abuse, forced use of drugs, withholding of travel 
documents, and threats to the victim's family. NGOs reported an 
increase in instances when traffickers allowed their victims to keep a 
portion of the money they earned through prostitution in order to 
dampen the victims' desire to escape the trafficking network. In the 
case of women from Eastern Europe, severe violence and threats were the 
method most often employed by traffickers. Traffickers lured some 
victims from other regions with false promises of employment in service 
industries and agriculture but then forced them into prostitution upon 
their arrival. The media reported that criminal networks often lured 
their victims by using travel agencies and newspaper advertisements in 
their home countries that promised assured employment in Spain. In the 
case of Romanian organized networks, women were typically forced into 
prostitution and 90 percent of their earnings went to the criminal 
network. Men were often trafficked for employment in low-paying 
construction jobs. Clandestine clothing production and sales, and work 
in restaurants were typical employment for illegal Asian immigrants, 
who came to the country with false documents through trafficking 
networks.
    The law prohibits trafficking in persons for labor and sexual 
exploitation. Penalties ranged from five to 10 years' imprisonment. The 
law also prohibits the exploitation of prostitutes through coercion or 
fraud and the exploitation of workers in general, with penalties 
ranging from five to 10 years' imprisonment. During 2005, 1,686 persons 
were convicted of crimes related to trafficking in persons for labor 
and sexual exploitation. From January through May, police dismantled 
160 trafficking networks and arrested 889 persons for this activity, 
freeing 1,337 victims.
    In November the National Police and Civil Guard disrupted a 
trafficking operation that was exploiting foreigners for manual labor. 
On November 13, police intercepted a cargo van driven by a Romanian 
citizen with 18 illegal migrants crowded into the cargo area. The 
migrants were believed to be destined for a citrus orchard in Huelva. 
Authorities arrested the Romanian driver of the van, the Spanish owner 
of the farm, and a Bulgarian fixer. The workers were to receive 
approximately $26 (20 euros) a day with no labor contract.
    During the year there was a considerable increase of trafficking to 
Catalonia of women from Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and from such 
African countries as Senegal and Mauritania. There were reports that 
approximately 1,500 women arrived from Romania by bus with fake 
documents and tourist visas.
    The Ministry of Interior coordinates antitrafficking efforts and 
received support in its efforts from the Office of the President, the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Services, the Ministry of Justice, and the 
Ministry of Education. The national police has a special unit, the 
Immigration Networks and Falsified Documents Unit (UCRIF), which covers 
trafficking in persons. The UCRIF intelligence unit analyzed 
statistical data and trends, while coordinating efforts and sharing 
data with the civil guard and Interpol. Regional national police 
offices conducted quarterly reviews to set goals in combating 
trafficking and to assess success in meeting previous quarter goals. 
During the year 200 police and civil guard officers worked exclusively 
to combat trafficking of women and children.
    The law permits trafficking victims to remain in the country if 
they agree to testify against the perpetrators. After legal proceedings 
conclude, victims are given the option of remaining in the country or 
returning to their countries of origin. Victims were encouraged to help 
police investigate trafficking cases and to testify against 
traffickers. There was no fixed period of time for victims to recover 
and reflect, in a safe environment, before being required to decide 
whether to cooperate with police investigation and prosecution of their 
traffickers.
    The Government worked with, and funded, NGOs that provided 
assistance to trafficking victims. In addition regional and local 
governments provided assistance either directly or through NGOs. 
Representatives of the Government's violence education programs for 
female victims and an NGO partner on trafficking reported that 89 
percent of the victims they assisted pressed criminal charges.
    The Government contracted with Project Hope, an international order 
of nuns whose domestic branch focused solely on abused women, to 
provide protection, housing, and counseling to victims of trafficking 
or other abuse. Project Hope operated shelters in Madrid, provided 
assistance with medical and legal services, and acted as liaison with 
law enforcement for victims who chose to testify against traffickers. 
Project Hope received many referrals directly from police. The 
Catalonian regional and municipal government contracted with Caritas 
for the same services.
    Since March 2004 the Madrid city government has enforced its 
antiprostitution and antitrafficking campaigns by increasing the 
presence of police in targeted zones and by publicity designed to 
reduce the demand for commercial sex services (see section 5, Women).
    The Government established an antitrafficking working group during 
the year under the auspices of the vice President. The task force 
tasked the interior, justice, labor, and foreign affairs ministries 
with responsibilities leading to the production of a national action 
plan to combat trafficking in persons. The plan was not released by 
year's end.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, and in the provision of other state services, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions. A report by the 
Spanish Committee of Representatives of Handicapped Persons indicated 
that 64 percent of persons with disabilities felt discrimination 
against at some time in their lives.
    The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, 
and the Government generally enforced these provisions in practice; 
however, levels of assistance and accessibility differed among regions. 
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has the responsibility of 
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were instances of 
societal violence and discrimination against members of racial 
minorities, and the Government undertook efforts to combat them. A 
report issued on February 21 by the ECRI, while recognizing the 
Government's efforts to combat these problems, encouraged more frequent 
use of provisions in the law that treat racism as an aggravating factor 
(i.e. hate crime) to impose tougher sentences. SOS Racismo also 
encouraged this course of action.
    Neo-Nazis and skinheads harassed immigrants as well as racial and 
other minorities during the year. Although noting that the country did 
not have a far-right political party with electoral possibilities, the 
NGO SOS Racismo, in its annual report issued April 24, indicated that 
``violent actions of explicit racism'' by ultrarightists, continued to 
occur and that far-right groups were appealing to greater numbers of 
youth, making use of the Internet to spread their beliefs. SOS Racismo 
denounced alleged abuses against immigrants by some Catalan police 
officials (see section 1.c.).
    On September 3, in the Sabadell area of Catalonia, approximately 15 
persons allegedly assaulted a Gambian citizen, Bakari D., in the 
street, breaking his ribs and puncturing his lung. His girlfriend, who 
witnessed the attack, said the assailants were shouting racial insults 
at the man during the assault. Catalonian police were investigating the 
incident and had not pronounced it a hate crime at year's end.
    In 2005 police detained approximately 126 neo-Nazis throughout the 
country, principally in Catalonia, Madrid, and Aragon.
    Public opinion polls revealed that some citizens had negative 
stereotypes regarding minorities, including immigrants, who came 
primarily from Latin America, Morocco, and Eastern Europe and also from 
West Africa. On October 9, in a speech about immigration, Madrid city 
council member Pedro Calvo said that foreigners coming from South 
America acted violently ``because the value placed on life there is 
less.'' The human rights groups SOS Racismo and the Commission for the 
Protection of Refugees (CEAR) characterized the statement as 
xenophobic. The Socialist Party called for Calvo's resignation, but the 
conservative Popular Party declined to discipline Calvo.
    According to a July 12 report of the national NGO Fundacion 
Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Roma continued to face marginalization and 
discrimination in access to employment, housing, and education. The FSG 
cited 137 credible complaints of racial discrimination against Roma in 
2005, including racially threatening graffiti and discrimination in 
employment, social services, education, and the purchase of real 
estate. The FSG welcomed the April 2005 royal decree establishing the 
State Council of the Romani People and a July 2005 law that outlawed 
discrimination in classrooms; however, the report cited public opinion 
polls indicating that one in four of the country's inhabitants did not 
want their children to take classes with Romani children. It also 
indicated that more than 40 percent of inhabitants expressed discomfort 
at having Romani neighbors. The Romani community, whose size was 
estimated by NGOs at several hundred thousand, experienced 
substantially higher rates of poverty and illiteracy than the general 
population. Roma also had higher rates of unemployment and 
underemployment. The central and local governments provided assistance 
to several NGOs that were dedicated to improving the condition of Roma.
    On November 7, the FSG criticized a city councilman in Denia who 
attributed a recent crime wave in the town to the Roma population and 
called for their expulsion.
    In June 2005 the Ministry of Education and Culture and the FSG 
signed a cooperative agreement that focused on improving the school 
attendance of Romani children and education for adults. In September 
the FSG announced the results of a study indicating that up to 80 
percent of Romani children were not finishing their required secondary 
education.
    During the year the national ombudsman received approximately 50 
complaints related to alleged discrimination in Catalonia, where both 
Castilian and Catalan are official languages, against the teaching of 
the Castilian language. During the year the Catalan ombudsman received 
10 complaints related to discrimination against the teaching or use of 
the Castilian language and 33 complaints about the failure to use the 
Catalan language in Catalan official institutions (these complaints 
were from persons who wished to be served in Catalan but were served in 
Castilian), although the law requires that civil servants dealing with 
the public be able to speak both languages. Critics on one side 
asserted that limiting education in Castilian reduced opportunities for 
Catalans who wish to live or work outside Catalonia or who simply wish 
to speak Castilian, and circumscribed the opportunities of Castilian 
speakers in Catalonia. Others, however, insist on their right to be 
served in the Catalan language.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except those 
in the military services, judges, magistrates, and prosecutors, to form 
and to join unions of their choice without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers did so in practice. Approximately 
15 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law prohibits 
discrimination by employers against trade union members and organizers; 
however, unions contended that employers practiced discrimination in 
many cases by refusing to renew the temporary contracts of workers 
engaging in union organizing.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining, including for all workers in the public sector 
except military personnel, and it was freely practiced. Public sector 
collective bargaining includes salaries and employment levels, but the 
Government retained the right to set these if negotiations failed. 
Collective bargaining agreements were widespread in both the public and 
private sectors; in the latter they covered 85 to 90 percent of 
workers. The law provides for the right to strike and workers exercised 
this right by conducting legal strikes. A strike in nonessential 
services was legal if the union gave five days notice. Any striking 
union must respect minimum service requirements negotiated with the 
respective employer.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the three special economic zones in the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and 
Melilla.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in 
the workplace. Child labor was generally not a problem. The statutory 
minimum age for the employment of children is 16. The law also 
prohibits the employment of persons under the age of 18 at night, for 
overtime work, or in sectors considered hazardous. The primary 
responsibility for enforcement lies with the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Affairs, and the minimum age was enforced effectively in major 
industries and in the service sector. It was more difficult to enforce 
the law on small farms and in family-owned businesses, where some child 
labor persisted. Legislation prohibiting child labor was enforced 
effectively in the special economic zones.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was 
approximately $707 (540 euros) per month, which generally provided a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family; however, this was 
not the case in all areas of the country. The Ministry of Labor and 
Social Affairs effectively enforced the minimum wage.
    The law provides for a 40-hour workweek, with an unbroken rest 
period of 36 hours after each 40 hours worked. By law overtime is 
restricted to 80 hours per year unless collective bargaining 
established a different level. Premium pay is required for overtime, up 
to a maximum of 80 hours per year.
    The National Institute of Safety and Health in the Ministry of 
Labor and Social Affairs has technical responsibility for developing 
labor standards, but the inspectorate of labor had responsibility for 
enforcing the law through inspections and judicial action when 
infractions were found. Unions criticized the Government for devoting 
insufficient resources to inspection and enforcement. Workers have the 
right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health or 
safety without jeopardy to their employment, and authorities 
effectively enforced this right; however, employees with short-term 
labor contracts may not understand they have such protections.

                               __________

                                 SWEDEN

    The Kingdom of Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a 
multiparty, parliamentary form of government. Legislative authority is 
vested in the unicameral Riksdag (parliament). The population exceeds 
nine million. In national elections on September 17, voters elected a 
center-right coalition government led by the Moderate Party. The 
elections were free and fair. The King is the largely symbolic head of 
state. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government and exercises 
executive authority. Civilian authorities generally maintained 
effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse. Reported human rights problems 
included: isolated incidents of excessive police violence; prison 
overcrowding and lengthy pretrial detention; government surveillance 
and interference with the right to privacy; government interference 
with freedom of speech and the press; societal anti-Islamic and anti-
Semitic discrimination; violence against women and children; 
trafficking in women and children; and societal discrimination against 
foreign-born residents, Roma, and homosexuals.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were 
isolated reports that police used excessive force.
    During the year law enforcement authorities conducted 82 
investigations of police officers and charged and convicted nine for 
crimes, including unlawful threat, causing bodily injury, and 
procurement and sexual molestation. The investigation of a September 
2005 incident in which police were alleged to have used excessive force 
did not result in prosecutions due to lack of evidence.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, but problems of overcrowding and 
lengthy pretrial detention continued, particularly in the Stockholm 
region. Amnesty International released a report during the year citing 
overcrowding as a concern and noting reports of detainees sharing cells 
intended for single occupancy. The Council of Europe's Committee for 
the Prevention of Torture, in a 2004 report, stated that authorities 
should work to assure a proper balance between the needs of criminal 
investigations and the restrictions placed on pretrial detainees, such 
as limitations on visits, telephone calls, and association, and 
censorship of correspondence. According to the Sweden Helsinki 
Committee for Human Rights, excessive restrictions on detainees 
remained problems during the year.
    The Government permitted visits by independent human rights 
observers, although no such visits were reported during the year.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally 
observed these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There is a national-
level police force divided into 12 districts, each of which reports to 
a national police board under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of 
Justice. The Swedish Security Service (SAPO), an intelligence agency 
with police duties, is an independent part of the national police 
board. The SAPO's activities include counterespionage, 
counterterrorism, internal threats to national security, protective 
security for companies and government agencies, and dignitary 
protection. There were no reports of corruption or of problems related 
to impunity.

    Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants issued by duly 
authorized officials for arrests, and the Government generally 
respected this requirement in practice. Police must file charges within 
six hours against persons detained for disturbing the public order or 
considered dangerous, and within 12 hours against those detained on 
other grounds. Police may hold a person for questioning for six hours, 
although the period may be extended to 12 hours if necessary for the 
investigation. If the person is a suspect, police must decide whether 
to arrest or release the person. If the suspect is arrested, the 
prosecutor has 24 hours (or three days in exceptional circumstances) to 
request continued detention. An arrested suspect must be arraigned 
within 48 hours, and initial prosecution must begin within two weeks, 
unless extenuating circumstances exist; authorities generally respected 
these requirements. Detainees may request a lawyer of their choice; in 
criminal cases the Government is obligated to provide an attorney if 
the defendant cannot afford one. Detainees are afforded prompt access 
to lawyers and to family members. Although there is no system of bail, 
courts routinely release defendants pending trial unless they are 
considered dangerous.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected 
this provision in practice.
    The judicial system is composed of three levels: district courts, a 
court of appeals, and the Supreme Court. All cases are heard first in a 
district court regardless of the severity of the alleged crime. For 
some areas there are independent specialized courts, such as the labor 
court, that are usually the second and final instance for trial after 
the district court. Other specialized courts, for areas such as water 
and real estate, depend on the district courts; lawsuits in these 
courts may be appealed to the Supreme Court.

    Trial Procedures.--All trials are public. Juries are used only in 
cases involving freedom of the press or freedom of speech. In other 
cases judges or court-appointed civilian representatives make 
determinations of guilt or innocence. The court system distinguishes 
between civil and criminal cases. Defendants have the right to be 
present at their trial and to consult with an attorney in a timely 
manner. In criminal cases, the Government is obligated to provide a 
defense attorney if the defendant cannot afford one. A ``free 
evidence'' system allows parties to present in court any evidence, 
regardless of how it has been acquired. Defendants enjoy a presumption 
of innocence and have a right of appeal.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no specific court 
for human rights violations. Instead, cases are tried in the general 
court system. As members of the European Union, citizens can appeal to 
the European Court of Human Rights in matters related to the state. A 
law that entered into force during the year allows individuals and 
environmental organizations to appeal in civil cases against the 
Government.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and 
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. In 
June the European Court of Human Rights found the country guilty of 
violating the rights (set forth in the European Convention of Human 
Rights) of four individuals; it ordered the Government to pay damages. 
The case involved the Government's refusal of the individuals' requests 
to view 30-year-old files the SAPO had gathered on them.
    Human rights organizations, including the International Helsinki 
Federation for Human Rights, expressed concern over increased use of 
surveillance techniques by the police and insufficient protection of 
the individual's right to privacy. During the year courts issued 833, 
and denied 12, permits for wiretapping.
    An ombudsman in the prosecutor's office is responsible for 
protecting citizens' rights in court cases that involve use of invasive 
measures, such as camera surveillance or wiretapping. The ombudsman 
participates in the court review of all wiretapping and surveillance 
requests.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press. While the Government generally 
respected these rights, it prohibited certain types of expression it 
deemed hate speech (incitement of racial hatred). The law on hate 
speech prohibits threats or expressions of contempt for a national, 
ethnic, or other such group of persons with allusion to race, color, 
national or ethnic origin, religious belief, or sexual orientation.
    The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of 
views without restriction.
    In April the Gota Court of Appeal reversed the conviction and 
acquitted an individual who had been sentenced in November 2005 to a 
one-month jail sentence for violating the hate-speech law. He had been 
prosecuted as the legally responsible publisher of an article 
concerning homosexuality and another about immigration of Roma from 
Central Europe.
    In connection with anti-Israel demonstrations in July in the city 
of Malmo, a prosecutor decided that the use of swastikas in conjunction 
with the equal sign and the star of David on billboards was not 
illegal. However, also in July, the city's chief prosecutor, Sven-Erik 
Alhem, requested a preliminary investigation into whether such use of 
the swastika and the star of David violated the hate-speech law. The 
investigation was dropped by prosecutorial discretion.
    In February a police complaint was filed by Karlskrona municipality 
against the National Socialist Front for publishing a picture on their 
Web site where a banner displayed at a demonstration had a swastika on 
it. The police complaint did not result in a legal case. In a separate 
matter, in September the chancellor of justice requested that a 
residential search warrant be issued against one of the founding 
figures of the National Socialist Front because of his suspected 
involvement in the distribution of political campaign posters that were 
deemed to violate the hate-speech law. At the end of the year the 
chancellor of justice was still pursuing the matter.
    In March the National School Authority supported a school in 
Kungalv municipality that had decided to fail students who did not 
endorse democratic principles in social studies classes. The decision 
related to a number of students who expressed racist and neo-Nazi 
ideas. The municipality based its decision on the national social 
studies curriculum, which requires students in class nine (approximate 
age 15) to ``understand the common and fundamental democratic values 
that our society rests upon, and to demonstrate an ability to apply 
democratic working and decision methods.'' The National School 
Authority stated that knowledge and ability, rather than offensive 
views, should determine school grades. It supported the municipality, 
however, on the basis that the student behavior failed to meet the 
requirements of the democratic component of the curriculum.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet, including e-mail; however, the Government monitored 
the Internet and in one instance intervened to curb the peaceful 
exchange of views.
    In February domestic media gave prominent coverage to the shutting 
down of a right-wing political party Web site that published cartoons 
(from a Danish newspaper) lampooning the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The 
company owning the Internet server hosting the site closed it less than 
24 hours after being contacted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
the SAPO. The political party owning the site and numerous free-speech 
advocates from the media and academia held that the Government actions 
constituted a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to 
freedom of speech and of the press. The Government stated that, in 
light of violent Muslim reaction in other countries to the images, it 
simply cautioned the Internet server company that the cartoons could 
endanger the country's interests. The Government maintained that the 
company independently elected to shut down the site. Political analysts 
viewed this controversy as a contributing factor to the foreign 
minister's resignation in March.
    According to the Swedish National Post and the Swedish National 
Post and Telecom Agency, approximately 80 percent of the population 
between 16 and 74 had Internet access.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the 
Government generally respected these rights.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right.
    The Swedish Commission for State Grants to Religious Communities 
financed 40 religious groups during the year; a large majority were 
Christian churches, and the remainder included five Islamic 
organizations, the Jewish community, and the Buddhist Cooperation 
Council. During the year a Shia Muslim organization received state 
financing for the first time.
    In March the National Police Board incorporated in the police 
diversity guidelines the right of officers to wear religious headwear. 
The armed forces already had such guidelines.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The openly Nazi organization 
National Socialist Front Party (NSF) participated in the September 
elections on both the regional and national levels. The party gained 
1,417 votes nationally, representing approximately 0.03 percent of the 
electorate. During the year the media reported that individuals 
associated with the NSF perpetrated discriminatory acts. The reports 
included one case of serious assault and cases of hate speech (linked 
to posters and NSF Web site content), unauthorized demonstrations, 
illegal distribution of posters, illegal possession of weapons, 
disorderly conduct, and threats against the Swedish Federation for 
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights.
    Anti-Muslim incidents appeared to have increased during the past 
few years. In June the Swedish Integration Board released survey 
results that suggested significant distrust towards Muslims among the 
country's population. Six out of 10 respondents did not favor 
facilitating the practice of Islam in the country, and 36 percent of 
respondents wholly or partly opposed the construction of mosques. Less 
than a quarter of respondents favored permitting headscarves to be worn 
in public places, and only 12 percent supported permitting headscarves 
on identification card pictures. Sixty-one percent of respondents 
thought that Muslims viewed themselves first and foremost as Muslims, 
and only a very small proportion thought that Muslims considered 
themselves primarily Swedish.
    A survey released in June by the Swedish Integration Board revealed 
that a majority of Muslim women wearing headscarves reported incidents 
of discrimination at least once during the previous two years.
    In September and October 2005, unidentified individuals threw 
firebombs into the Islamic Center's mosque in the city of Malmo; an 
arson attack had extensively damaged the same mosque in 2003. There 
have been no arrests in these cases.
    The Jewish community numbered approximately 18,500 to 20,000 
persons. In 2005 the police registered 111 reports of anti-Semitic 
crimes, a 26 percent decrease from the previous year. Police classified 
33 percent of the reported crimes as ``crimes against persons'' 
(including assault, threat, and harassment), 11 percent as ``damage to 
property and graffiti,'' and 45 percent as ``incitements to racial 
hatred.''
    In March the National Council for Crime Prevention and the Living 
History Forum released a survey on anti-Semitism, in which 5 percent of 
all respondents and 39 percent of those identifying themselves as 
Muslims indicated strongly anti-Semitic views. In June the Swedish 
Integration Board issued a report based on interviews with Jewish 
youth; several respondents considered that they suffered 
discrimination, and many said they preferred to keep their religious 
orientation private out of fear of discrimination.
    The Living History Forum, a governmental body, conducts research on 
the country's role during the Holocaust and on its connections to Nazi 
Germany. The forum also plays a leading role in the country's 
delegation to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust 
Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF). During the year the forum 
sponsored educational projects, lectures, seminars, and exhibitions 
throughout the country. The forum also maintained Holocaust awareness 
projects in neighboring Estonia under the ITF umbrella.
    According to the antiracism nongovernmental organization (NGO) 
EXPO, anti-Semitic content increased on neo-Nazi Web sites in 
conjunction with the conflict involving Israel and Lebanon in July and 
August.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution and law prohibit forced exile; the Government did 
not employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol, and provided it to approximately 4,427 persons during the 
year. Authorities attributed this number, a significant increase from 
2005, to temporary legislation.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees. In a January visit, the UN's Special Rapporteur on 
the Right to Health expressed concern that undocumented persons and 
asylum seekers lacked adequate access to health care.
    Applications for asylum could remain under consideration for long 
periods of time with applicants in uncertain status. The appeals 
process in the courts may extend cases for several years.
    The Government returned asylum seekers from European Union (EU) 
countries or from countries with which it maintained reciprocal-return 
agreements. In most cases persons returned had passed through or had 
asylum determinations pending in other EU countries. In many cases 
authorities deported asylum seekers within 72 hours of arrival. Human 
rights organizations expressed concern that some asylum cases were 
adjudicated too quickly.
    In April the Government established a new appeals system for asylum 
cases. The system allows asylum seekers to appeal Migration Board 
rulings to two special migration appeals courts. The Government 
additionally changed certain provisions of the Aliens Act that pertain 
to children deemed to be in particularly distressing circumstances, 
lightening the criteria against which their applications are judged. 
Under the new system, the Government appoints a legal guardian 
immediately upon the arrival of unaccompanied children seeking asylum.
    The UN Committee Against Torture received 11 new cases against the 
Government during the year, most of which concerned denial of 
applications for political asylum and consequent repatriations to 
countries where victims allegedly faced a risk of torture. During the 
year the committee ruled on 12 cases and found that in one case the 
country had violated the rights of the petitioner, a Rwandan citizen 
who was denied political asylum.
    In May 2005 the Government stopped the repatriation of an Azeri 
family at the request of the Committee against Torture. The Migration 
Board then granted residence in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Elections to the 349-member 
unicameral parliament are held every four years. In elections held 
September 17, voters turned the Social Democratic Party (SDP) out of 
power, electing a center-right coalition government led by the Moderate 
Party. The SDP had dominated the political system for seven decades, 
and its members occupied a disproportionately large number of publicly 
appointed positions. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation continued to 
provide significant financial and organizational support to the SDP.
    There were 165 women in the 349-seat parliament and nine women in 
the 22-member cabinet.
    The law prohibits the Government from holding information about the 
racial or ethnic background of its citizens; therefore, no official 
statistics on minority participation in the parliament are available. 
Media reports stated that 17 members of parliament were born in other 
countries, and there was one ethnic minority in the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of corruption in government entities during the year. A bribery 
investigation against some suppliers and employees of the state-owned 
alcohol monopoly resulted in 15 convictions in June, with sentences 
that included fines and dismissal from employment. A court sentenced a 
midlevel official at the Ministry of Industry to 18 months in prison 
for fraud linked to a government project. Eight persons at the Aviation 
Authority received convictions and fines for bribery and fraud. A court 
convicted and fined six persons at the Swedish Car Testing Agency for 
bribery. The Swedish National Audit Office stated in a February report 
that there were substantial gaps in the control mechanisms against 
corruption within the state. The report called for corrective measures 
by the Government.
    The constitution and law provide for public access to government 
information, and the Government generally respected this provision in 
practice. The public has the right of access to government documents 
unless they are subject to secrecy laws, according to which information 
may be withheld if its release poses a threat to national security or 
to individual or corporate privacy.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    Domestic and international human rights groups generally operated 
without government restrictions, investigating and publishing their 
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally 
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability, 
language, or social status. Violence against women and children, 
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against resident foreigners, 
Roma, and homosexuals were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. In the first 
nine months of the year, the National Council for Crime Prevention 
(NCCP) reported 18,800 cases of assault against women. Approximately 50 
homicide deaths of women and girls were reported during the year, most 
of them committed by men closely related to the victim. Authorities 
apprehended and prosecuted abusers. The typical sentence for abuse, 
including felony, was a prison term (three to 15 months on average) or 
psychiatric treatment.
    The law provides victims with protection from contact with their 
abusers. When necessary, authorities helped women obtain new identities 
and homes. Both national and local governments helped fund volunteer 
groups that provided shelter and other assistance to abused women, and 
both private and public organizations ran shelters and operated hot 
lines.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The law stipulates higher 
sanctions for repeated crimes if the perpetrator had a close 
relationship to the victim. The NCCP reported 2,226 rapes of persons 
over age 14 as of September 30, compared with 1,912 for the same period 
in 2005.
    At year's end authorities estimated that approximately 2,000 women 
had been exposed to honor-related violence (patriarchal violence often 
linked to cultural and religious convictions about female chastity and 
marriage) from family members. Honor-related violence involved 
exclusively immigrants from Muslim countries. The Government allocated 
extra funding to combat honor-related violence against young women and 
men (including homosexuals). As part of an ongoing project, the 
Government established a national center to study male violence against 
females. The funding also would support the establishment of additional 
women's shelters. The Government provided protected housing for young 
women vulnerable to honor-related violence from family members.
    The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM), punishable by up 
to 10 years' imprisonment. There are nearly 30,000 women from countries 
where FGM is practiced. Authorities opened three investigations of FGM 
during the year. The first case, against the father of a 12-year-old 
girl, resulted in conviction and a four-year prison sentence. In a 
second case a woman was convicted and sentenced to three years' 
imprisonment for FGM on her daughter; she left the country before the 
sentence could be carried out. The other case was pending at year's 
end.
    Prostitution is legal; however, the purchase of sexual services is 
illegal. Prostitutes were not arrested but their clients were. Since 
1999 the Government has sought to curb prostitution by focusing on the 
demand rather than the supply side. In December an official from the 
National Board of Health and Welfare reported that street prostitution 
in Stockholm nearly disappeared immediately after the enactment of the 
1999 law. However, it had since returned to approximately 70 percent of 
its pre-1999 levels.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government generally 
enforced this law in practice. Employers who do not investigate and 
intervene against harassment at work may be obliged to pay damages to 
the victim.
    Women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under family 
law, property law, and in the judicial system, but some sectors of the 
labor market still showed significant gender disparities. During the 
year women's salaries averaged 85 percent of men's salaries, adjusting 
for age, education, and occupational differences.
    The equal opportunity ombudsman (EOO), a public official, 
investigates complaints of gender discrimination in the labor market. 
Complaints may also be filed with the courts or with the employer. 
Labor unions generally mediated in cases filed with the employer. 
During the year the EOO's office registered 134 cases. Women filed 
approximately 80 percent of the cases; 35 percent of those cases 
concerned salaries. The number of discrimination complaints related to 
pregnancy fell to 22, compared with 35 in 2005.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of public education and 
medical care. The Government provided compulsory, free, and universal 
education for children up to 16 years old. It provided free, but not 
compulsory, public school for children up to 18 years old. Nearly 100 
percent of school-age children attended school. The highest level 
achieved by most children was completion of high school.
    The Government also provided free medical care for all children up 
to the age of 16; boys and girls had equal access.
    Child abuse was a problem. As of the end of November, the NCCP 
reported 6,192 cases of abuse of children under the age of 15. As of 
the end of November, police reported 848 cases of child rape and 654 
cases of sexual abuse of children, compared with 537 reported cases of 
rape and 1,089 reported cases of child sexual abuse in 2005.
    The law prohibits parents or other caretakers from abusing children 
mentally or physically in any way. Parents, teachers, and other adults 
are subject to prosecution if they physically punish a child, including 
slapping or spanking. Children have the right to report such abuses to 
the police. The usual sentence for such an offense is a fine combined 
with counseling and monitoring by social workers. Authorities may 
remove children from their homes and place them in foster care.
    Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    The Government allocated funds to private organizations concerned 
with children's rights. The NGO Children's Rights in Society offered 
counseling to troubled youngsters. The Government continued to be 
active internationally in efforts to prevent child abuse.
    In an effort to improve its treatment of unaccompanied children 
seeking asylum, the Government shifted responsibility from the national 
to the municipal level, and increased funding to support municipalities 
for this purpose. Most social services are provided at the municipal 
and local levels.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through, 
and within the country.
    The country continued to be a transit point, and to a lesser extent 
a destination, for trafficked women and children. Law enforcement 
officials and analysts estimated the number of trafficked women at 500 
per year, cautioning, however, that it was not possible to obtain 
precise numbers. Victims came primarily from the Baltic region, Eastern 
Europe, and Russia. Those transiting the country came primarily from 
the Baltic region, heading towards suspected destination countries of 
Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. There were 
also occasional cases of trafficked women from South America and 
Thailand. Police reported that the youngest trafficking victims 
encountered were 16 years old. Most of these children were trafficked 
from Estonia, Russia, and Poland. None of the cases involved young 
boys.
    Traffickers typically recruited victims in their countries of 
origin to work as cleaners, babysitters, or in similar employment 
abroad. Once in the country, traffickers isolated and intimidated 
victims, and forced them to work as prostitutes in hotels, restaurants, 
massage parlors, or private apartments; some were locked up and their 
passports were confiscated by their captors.
    The law prohibits the trafficking of persons for sexual purposes, 
provides for sentences of two to 10 years' imprisonment for persons 
convicted of trafficking, and criminalizes attempting to traffic, 
conspiracy to traffic, and the failure to report such crimes. 
Authorities actively prosecuted trafficking cases. During the year 
police reported 28 cases of trafficking for sexual purposes, nine of 
which led to convictions under the trafficking law in the first half of 
the year.
    To prosecute traffickers, authorities continued to use primarily 
laws against procurement and an offense called ``placing in distress,'' 
which can apply in cases where traffickers lure women from other 
countries under false pretenses. The laws on procurement and 
trafficking complement each other; however, the antitrafficking law 
requires that prosecutors prove traffickers used ``improper means.'' 
Judges commonly ruled that improper means were absent in cases 
involving victims who consented to being trafficked. Although consent 
is irrelevant under the antitrafficking law, in practice judicial 
interpretation of the improper means criterion makes it difficult to 
obtain convictions. Prosecutors consequently continued to rely on the 
procurement laws for most convictions of traffickers. During the year 
there were 58 cases of procurement reported, many involving trafficking 
victims.
    In June authorities convicted, and sentenced to two years in 
prison, a Chinese immigrant couple in Stockholm for human smuggling in 
connection with the disappearance of not less than 120 Chinese children 
who had requested political asylum in Sweden since autumn 2004. 
Authorities reported that the children were smuggled out of the country 
to other European countries, but were unaware of their final 
destinations. After that conviction an additional five Chinese children 
disappeared during the year.
    The Government allocated funds to domestic and international NGOs 
to provide shelter to victims and aid in rehabilitation. Police and 
social services also provided funding. The law enables trafficking 
victims who cooperate with police investigations to receive temporary 
residence permits and thus to have access to the full range of social 
benefits. Victims who do not cooperate with police investigations are 
not eligible to receive temporary residence permits and are promptly 
deported.
    The country has actively participated in a Nordic-Baltic task force 
against trafficking in human beings since its creation in 2002. In 
October 2005 it contributed $1.25 million to a Nordic-Baltic task force 
project for the safe return and reintegration of victims of 
trafficking.
    In June the Government appointed a special ambassador to combat 
trafficking in human beings, tasked with strengthening international 
antitrafficking efforts. The country declared antitrafficking a 
priority area during its year-long presidency of the Council of Baltic 
Sea States that began in July.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits employers from 
discriminating against persons with disabilities in hiring decisions 
and prohibits universities from discriminating against students with 
disabilities in making admissions decisions. No other specific law 
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. There is an 
ombudsman for disability issues.
    There were 522 reports of governmental discrimination against 
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health 
care, or in the provision of other state services. Most of the cases 
involved lack of access to public buildings. Approximately 60 percent 
of the cases were filed in accordance with the reporting requirements 
under the Disability Act and were handled under mediation procedures 
rather than through formal court hearings. Four of these mediated cases 
remained pending at year's end.
    Regulations for new buildings require full accessibility, but there 
is no such requirement for existing public buildings, except for 
certain public entities that are obliged to make their facilities 
accessible. Many buildings and some means of public transportation 
remained inaccessible.
    In January a new national Authority for Coordination of Disability 
Policy began operation. The authority coordinates national policy on 
disability issues.
    On April 1, a new law on children with disabilities came into 
force. This law provides protections against harassment in schools for 
children with disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Approximately 12 percent of the 
population was foreign born, with the largest groups from Finland, the 
former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Iran. Over 20 percent of the population 
had at least one foreign-born parent. In 2005 police registered 2,272 
reports of xenophobic crimes, of which 11.3 percent were related to 
neo-Nazism/white power ideology. The Government investigated and 
prosecuted race-related crimes.
    Estimates placed the number of active neo-Nazis, or white 
supremacists, at approximately 3,000. The NGO EXPO estimated that fewer 
than 1,000 individuals attended the annual neo-Nazi/white supremacist 
march that took place in Salem in December, constituting approximately 
a 30 percent decrease in attendance from the 2005 march. Neo-Nazi 
groups operated legally, but courts have held that it is illegal to 
wear xenophobic symbols or racist paraphernalia or to display signs and 
banners with provocative symbols at rallies, since the law prohibits 
incitement of hatred against ethnic groups (see section 2.a.).
    The ombudsman for ethnic discrimination received reports of 876 
cases in 2005, up from 794 in 2004.
    A March report by the National Board of Health and Welfare 
indicated that increasing numbers of persons, particularly those who 
were foreign born, remained outside both the labor market and the 
social insurance systems. The board considered that ethnic segregation 
has increased, particularly in the large cities, since the 1990s.
    In April the Swedish Integration Board presented its 2005 
Integration Report, key findings of which noted significant differences 
in employment levels between native and foreign-born citizens. The 
report noted employment rates for foreign-born citizens averaged 17 
percent lower than those for ethnic Swedes; the employment rate for 
foreign-born, young, non-European males was worse. It found the 
resultant income differentials were contributing factors to housing 
segregation and to poor grades in school.
    Also in April the Government presented a 10-point program for 
improving integration. It budgeted approximately $281 million (two 
billion crowns) for this two-year program. Key program areas include 
education, employment, and antidiscrimination.
    In August the government-appointed investigator presented the final 
report of the inquiry on power, integration, and structural 
discrimination. The report criticized the Government's integration 
policy, and called for its replacement with one that promotes greater 
social cohesion. The report's author, Masoud Kamali, maintained that a 
system of privilege based on ethnicity now existed in the country. It 
called for a shift of government emphasis away from integrating 
immigrants and towards combating discrimination.
    The law recognizes Sami (formerly known as Lapps), Swedish Finns, 
Tornedal-Finns, Roma, and Jews as national minorities. The Government 
supported and protected minority languages. In January, in response to 
a 2003 Council of Europe report that criticized government efforts to 
protect minority languages, a parliamentary committee presented 
findings that included suggestions to improve support for the Sami and 
Meankili languages. In February the Government presented a series of 
proposals to strengthen the Sami language. The Government also proposed 
expansion of Sami-controlled administrative areas, construction of 
additional Sami language centers, and the establishment of a government 
coordination secretariat for Sami and national minority policies. It 
stated that all Sami children must be given the opportunity to learn 
Sami.
    In March the Government's national action plan for human rights 
included measures to improve the situation of the Romani population, 
which is estimated at 20,000 to 25,000. It directed the school 
authority to investigate the education situation of Romani children, 
many of whom drop out of school. In May, following reports by the 
antidiscrimination ombudsman of cases in which Romani children were 
taken into state custody on weak grounds, the Government instructed the 
Ministry of Justice to investigate the care of Romani children by the 
social authorities.
    In June 2005 the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights 
released a report, The Situation of Roma in Selected Western European 
Countries, which stated that Roma in the country suffered from 
discrimination and institutional racism. It found that Roma lived in 
segregated communities, had limited access to public and private 
housing markets, and authorities did not adapt public education to 
special needs of Romani children. The Living History Forum, a 
government authority, carried out a number of lectures and seminars on 
the situation of the Roma and highlighted their suffering in the 
Holocaust.

    Indigenous People.--There are 17,000 to 20,000 Sami in the country. 
Longstanding tensions between Sami and the Government over land and 
natural resources persisted, as did tensions between Sami and private 
landowners over reindeer grazing rights. Courts repeatedly ruled that 
Sami must compensate private landowners for use of their land for 
winter pastures.
    In May parliament enacted legislation that transferred numerous 
administrative authorities for reindeer herding issues from the 
Ministry of Agriculture and county governments to the Sami parliament, 
a 31-member, Sami-elected administrative authority with decision-making 
powers in matters related to Sami culture, language, and schools. The 
Sami parliament acted as an advisory body to the Government.
    In August the Government opened a permanent national Sami 
Information Center.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and 
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. In 2005 police 
received reports of 563 crimes with homophobic motive, an 8 percent 
decrease from 2004. The ombudsman against discrimination on grounds of 
sexual orientation registered 45 reported cases during the year, 
compared with 47 cases in 2005. Additionally, the ombudsman's office 
initiated 11 new discrimination investigations, a decrease from 15 in 
2005. In September the Government formed a working group to promote 
equal rights for homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. The group 
advises government offices on how to improve its handling of related 
matters.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers to form and 
join unions of their choice, without previous authorization or 
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Approximately 80 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law 
prohibits antiunion discrimination.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for 
collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in practice. 
Approximately 80 percent of the workforce was under collective 
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, as 
well as for employers to organize and to conduct lockouts; workers and 
employers exercised these rights in practice. Public-sector employees 
also enjoy the right to strike, subject to limitations protecting the 
public's immediate health and security.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no 
reports that such practices occurred.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law and policies (including those on acceptable working conditions) 
protect children from exploitation in the workplace, and the Government 
effectively implemented these laws and policies in practice. The law 
permits full-time employment at age 16 under the supervision of local 
authorities. Employees under age 18 may work only during the daytime 
and under supervision. Children as young as 13 may work part-time or in 
light work with parental permission. Union representatives, police, and 
public prosecutors effectively enforced these restrictions.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum 
wage law. Wages are set by annual collective bargaining contracts. 
Nonunion establishments generally observed these contracts as well. 
Substantial benefits (e.g., housing, childcare) provided by social 
welfare entitlement programs assured even the lowest-paid workers and 
their families a decent standard of living. Foreign companies employing 
workers from their country of origin at wage levels below minimums 
stipulated in domestic collective-bargaining contracts created 
frictions in the labor market. For example, a 2005 incident in which 
Swedish workers blocked Latvian workers from access to a work site in 
Vaxholm resulted in a court case that was pending in the European Court 
at year's end. The Swedish union contended that the construction 
workers did not have collective bargaining agreements with a Swedish 
union.
    The legal standard workweek is 40 hours or less. Both the law and 
collective bargaining agreements regulate overtime and rest periods. 
The maximum allowable overtime per year is 200 hours. The law requires 
a minimum period of 36 consecutive hours of rest, preferably on 
weekends, during a period of seven days. The law also provides 
employees with a minimum of five weeks' paid annual leave. The 
Government effectively enforced these standards.
    The Work Environment Authority, a government-appointed board, 
issued occupational health and safety regulations, and trained union 
stewards and safety ombudsmen. Government inspectors monitored them. 
Safety ombudsmen have the authority to stop unsafe activity immediately 
and to call in an inspector. These rules were effectively enforced. 
Work places were generally safe and healthy. In law and practice, 
workers could remove themselves from situations that endangered their 
health or safety without jeopardizing their future employment.

                               __________

                              SWITZERLAND

    The Swiss Confederation, with a population of 7.5 million, is a 
constitutional republic with a federal structure. Legislative authority 
is vested in the bicameral Federal Assembly, which was elected in free 
and fair elections in 2003. The Government is a coalition of the four 
major parties. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing 
with individual instances of abuse. There were reports from 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that police at times used 
excessive force, primarily against minorities and asylum seekers. 
Lengthy pretrial detention, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents, 
violence against women, trafficking in persons, and discrimination 
against minorities were also human rights problems.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no 
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or 
unlawful killings
    On February 7, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled 
that, while authorities in Ticino canton were not responsible for the 
death of a 28-year-old man in their custody in 1994, they had failed to 
investigate sufficiently the circumstances leading to the death.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, there 
were reports that police occasionally used excessive force.
    In its annual report published in May, Amnesty International (AI) 
alleged ill-treatment, use of excessive force, and racist abuse by 
police officers. The UN special rapporteur on racism and related 
intolerance, Doudou Diene, claimed that there were many acts of racist 
and xenophobic violence by police against certain groups, particularly 
Africans, and to a lesser extent, persons from the Balkans (see section 
5).
    At the end of August, the Vaud cantonal appeals court upheld a 
February 17 verdict by a district court acquitting two police officers 
of negligent bodily harm in handling a protester during a 2003 
demonstration near Lausanne against a Group of Eight meeting in nearby 
Evian, France.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards; however, prison overcrowding was 
a problem, particularly in the cantons of Geneva, Zurich, and Bern. A 
government report issued in February indicated that as of September 
2005, one-third of the country's detention centers were at or above 
their designated capacity, and nine were overcrowded by 20 percent or 
more. In June 2005 the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human 
Rights, in a report on a 2004 fact-finding mission, expressed concern 
about overcrowding and other shortcomings at detention facilities he 
had inspected; he called on local authorities to take appropriate 
action to resolve the problems. In early July a pretrial detainee in 
the Champ-Dollon prison in Geneva set fire to his cell, killing himself 
and another inmate. Champ-Dollon is overcrowded; at the time of the 
fatal incident the prison, designed for 270 detainees, held over 450. 
This event followed a protest by 120 detainees in May against 
conditions in the facility. In mid-November a 34-year-old Albanian 
inmate of the Poschwies prison near Zurich succumbed to the serious 
head injuries he had incurred in a brawl with his 27-year-old cellmate. 
The fellow countrymen had been sharing a cell since the beginning of 
the year, apparently without any difficulties. For economic reasons 
cells were converted to double occupancy in 2004.
    The Government permitted access by independent local and 
international human rights groups to prisons.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits 
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The cantons are 
responsible for handling most criminal matters, and their procedures 
vary. The federal police office has a coordinating role but relied on 
the cantons for actual law enforcement. The federal attorney general in 
Bern oversees intercantonal and international crimes involving 
organized crime, offenses which are under federal jurisdiction. 
Corruption and impunity were not problems. Judges and prosecutors are 
under the administrative oversight of the cantonal security departments 
and the Federal Department of Justice and Police but act independently. 
Police were generally effective. Both internal affairs bureaus and 
courts were effective in investigating allegations of police abuses. 
Police training is a cantonal responsibility, but some police training 
took place nationally in cooperation with NGOs.

    Arrest and Detention.--By law criminal suspects must be apprehended 
on the basis of warrants issued by a duly authorized official unless 
there is a specific and immediate danger to which the police must 
respond without waiting for a warrant. In most cases a suspect may not 
be held longer than 24 hours before being presented to a prosecutor or 
investigating magistrate, who must bring formal charges or order the 
detainee's release; however, asylum seekers and other foreigners 
without valid documents may be held up to 96 hours without an arrest 
warrant.
    There was a functioning bail system, and courts grant release on 
personal recognizance or bail unless the magistrate believes the person 
charged is dangerous or will not appear for trial. A suspect may be 
denied legal counsel at the time of detention but has the right to 
choose and contact an attorney before charges are brought. A 2004 court 
ruling established that suspects detained under federal law are not 
entitled to legal representation during their preliminary hearing with 
the federal police. Suspects may invoke entitlement to legal counsel at 
a later stage when they are first interviewed by the investigative 
magistrate. The state provides free legal assistance for indigents who 
are charged with crimes for which imprisonment would be a possible 
penalty. Access to family members may be restricted to prevent 
tampering with evidence, but law enforcement authorities are required 
to inform close relatives of the detention promptly.
    AI and NGOs working with refugees complained that detained asylum 
seekers were often effectively denied proper legal representation in 
deportation cases because they lacked the financial means to obtain an 
attorney. Free legal assistance was only provided in cases of serious 
criminal offenses--the decision to deport an asylum seeker is an 
administrative procedure.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Although investigations 
were generally prompt, investigative pretrial detention could exceed 
the length of sentence actually received. Any lengthy pretrial 
detention is subject to review by higher judicial authorities. The 
Federal Tribunal has ruled that pretrial detention must not exceed the 
length of the expected sentence for the crime a suspect is charged 
with. During the year approximately one-third of all prisoners were in 
pretrial detention, and the average length of such detention was 
approximately 50 days.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    Local or cantonal courts are generally the courts of first 
instance. For criminal offenses that fall under the jurisdiction of 
federal authorities, the Federal Penal Court in Bellinzona is the court 
of first instance. Citizens have the right to appeal, ultimately to the 
Federal Tribunal (supreme court). Lower and appellate courts are local 
or cantonal, and therefore both their administrative structures and 
procedures vary from canton to canton.

    Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a 
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. 
Trials were generally expeditious and public. Trials involving minor 
offenses are generally heard by a single judge, more serious or complex 
cases by a panel of judges, and the most serious cases (including 
murder) by a jury. Defendants have the right to be present and to 
consult with an attorney in a timely manner, and an attorney is 
provided at public expense if defendants face serious criminal charges. 
Defendants have the right to confront or question witnesses and to 
present witnesses or evidence. Defendants enjoy a presumption of 
innocence and have the right to appeal, ultimately to the Federal 
Tribunal. These rights were generally respected in practice.
    The military penal code (MPC) requires that war crimes or 
violations of the Geneva Convention be prosecuted only if the defendant 
has close ties with Switzerland. Normal civilian rules of evidence and 
procedure apply in military trials. The MPC allows the appeal of any 
case, ultimately to the military supreme court. In most cases the 
accused used defense attorneys assigned by the courts. Any licensed 
attorney may serve as a military defense counsel. Under military law 
the Government pays for defense costs. Civilians charged with revealing 
military secrets, such as classified military documents or classified 
military locations and installations, may be tried in military courts.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the 
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.
    The law penalizes public incitement to racial hatred or 
discrimination, spreading racist ideology, and denying crimes against 
humanity. The law does not explicitly mention anti-Semitism, Holocaust 
denial, or other specific events; however, there have been convictions 
under this legislation for anti-Semitism and denying the Holocaust. 
Judicial authorities in Vaud launched an investigation against Dogu 
Perincek, a Turkish politician, after he publicly denied, while in 
Switzerland, that genocide occurred against the Armenians in what is 
now Turkey. No trial date was set by year's end.
    At the end of April, the ECHR criticized the Government for 
violating freedom of expression in two separate 1997 cases involving 
journalists. In one case a domestic court fined a journalist for 
publishing excerpts from a confidential diplomatic document whose 
release resulted in the diplomat's resignation. In the other case, a 
journalist was fined for inducing a government official to release 
sensitive information. In July, in a precedent-setting move, 
authorities asked the Grand Chamber of the ECHR to review the ruling on 
the leaking of the diplomatic memo. The ECHR ruling rekindled the 
debate over a provision of the penal code that punishes with 
confinement or a fine any person who publishes confidential government 
documents or excerpts thereof without proper authorization.
    In May a district court in the canton of Aargau sentenced the 
founder and former President of the extreme right-wing Nationally 
Oriented Swiss Party (PNOS) to 14 days in prison and a fine for racial 
discrimination. The party is generally hostile toward immigrants, 
religious minorities, and leftists. The former PNOS leader was accused 
of having published on the Internet a party program that violated the 
antiracism law. PNOS subsequently removed the program from its Web 
site. Earlier, in 2005, the Aargau district court sentenced four PNOS 
board members to fines of $240 to $400 (300 to 500 francs) for similar 
offenses.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or 
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. 
Internet access was widely available and over two-thirds of the 
population used it regularly.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution 
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government 
generally respected these rights in practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    There is no official state church; however, most cantons provide 
financial support from tax revenues to at least one of three 
traditional denominations--Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, or Protestant. 
Each of the 26 cantons has its own regulations regarding the 
relationship between church and state. Foreign missionaries must obtain 
a religious worker visa to work in the country. Such permits were 
generally granted routinely.
    In 2004 the Federal Office of Migration (FOM) rejected the work 
permit applications for two Islamic clerics filed by the Islamic Center 
in Geneva, due to the extremist views of the center. In October 2005 
the Justice Ministry's appeals body upheld the FOM decision, thus 
setting a precedent for rejecting a work permit application for a 
Muslim imam on grounds of ideology.
    On May 10, the Federal Tribunal upheld the decision of authorities 
in the canton of Basel to reject the citizenship application of a 
Turkish national on the grounds that she lacked a desire to integrate 
into society. The woman, who worked as a voluntary religious teacher, 
had appealed the rejection, claiming that it was due to her profession 
of Islam and her corresponding living habits. The Federal Tribunal 
concluded that the negative decision of the Basel authorities was 
neither discriminatory nor a violation of religious freedom rights, but 
rather a manifestation of the legal precept that individuals who 
voluntarily isolate themselves from the population should be denied 
citizenship; cantonal authorities found that she restricted her 
contacts to Muslims. At the same time, it held that the appeal raised 
delicate questions and therefore decided to cover the legal costs of 
the indigent woman in spite of the negative ruling.
    Muslim organizations complained that it was nearly impossible to 
acquire zoning approval to build mosques or Muslim cemeteries, since 
authority for such approvals rested with individual counties and 
municipalities. In the canton of Solothurn a project to build a minaret 
stalled due to strong local opposition, and Muslim associations faced 
similar opposition to community building projects in Aargau and Bern. 
There were two minarets in the country, at the Geneva and Zurich 
mosques.
    Religious instruction was a part of the curriculum in most public 
cantonal schools except in Geneva and Neuchatel. Most schools offered 
classes in Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrine, but some schools 
covered other religious groups living in the country. A number of 
cantons complemented or entirely supplanted traditional classes in 
Christian doctrine with nonconfessional teachings about religion and 
culture.
    The law criminalizes racist or anti-Semitic expression, whether in 
public speech or in printed material.
    The Department of the Interior's Federal Service for the Combating 
of Racism sponsored a variety of educational and awareness-building 
projects to combat racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism (see section 
5).

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In the view of several 
observers, the climate for members of religious minorities and their 
institutions continued to deteriorate during the year. Physical 
violence was rare. Most manifestations of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim 
feeling appeared to be fueled by extensive media coverage of the 
Israeli-Arab conflict, the Holocaust assets issue, and terrorist acts 
by Muslim extremists in foreign countries.
    The Jewish population constitutes 0.24 percent of the country's 
population, or 17,900 persons. There were numerous anti-Semitic 
incidents during the year. During the night of March 31, unidentified 
vandals smashed several windows of the synagogue in Lausanne. The 
Geneva-based Intercommunity Center for Coordination against anti-
Semitism and Defamation (CICAD) denounced the attack and expressed 
concern over the series of anti-Semitic incidents occurring in the 
French-speaking part of the country. There were no reports indicating 
whether authorities apprehended suspects in these cases.
    On July 21, a demonstration in Bern of Lebanese and pro-Palestinian 
organizations against Israeli military action in the July-August 
conflict involving Israel and Lebanon featured at least one Israeli 
flag festooned with a swastika; at this demonstration, Daniel Vischer, 
a Green party member of the Federal parliament, called on the 
Government to end military procurement cooperation with Israel. On July 
31, a similar demonstration took place in Geneva; Israeli flags with 
swastikas were again abundant, according to CICAD. Also on July 31, 
according to information from the Stephen Roth Institute, not 
independently confirmed, unknown persons painted virulent anti-Semitic 
graffiti on walls in Zurich. Throughout the summer, CICAD tracked an 
increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric in the letters-to-the-editors pages 
of some big-circulation Francophone newspapers.
    In March 2005 there were two arson attacks in the city of Lugano in 
the southern canton of Ticino against the synagogue and a clothing 
store owned by a Jewish family. No one was hurt in either incident. In 
November 2005 a Ticino court gave a two-year prison sentence to a 58-
year-old resident Italian national with a mental condition, who 
confessed to the attacks.
    The law prohibits anti-Semitic incitement and historical 
revisionism, including Holocaust denial (see Section 2.a.).
    Schools across the country honored Holocaust Remembrance Day, 
January 27, for victims of the Holocaust. Education authorities stated 
that the aim was to remember the Holocaust and other forms of genocide 
committed in the past century and raise awareness of inhumane 
ideologies. The country is a member of the International Task Force on 
Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.
    Unease over the growing Muslim population, extremist views preached 
by a number of Muslim clerics, and the international controversy over 
the 2005 Danish newspaper cartoons of the prophet Mohammed intensified 
public debate over the role of Muslim believers in society.
    Some employers prohibited the wearing of headscarves in the 
workplace. For example, the second largest retailer announced that its 
dress code did not provide for any headgear and that it would not allow 
the wearing of the Islamic headscarf.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these 
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution, although some NGOs were critical of the procedures used to 
establish ``safe countries.''
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 
Protocol and provided it to approximately 25,244 persons during the 
year.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    Since 2004 asylum applicants have been required to present 
documentation verifying their identity, and since then authorities have 
been refusing to process the applications of asylum seekers who were 
unable to justify the lack of acceptable documents. Rejected asylum 
seekers generally were not removed from the country but instructed to 
leave voluntarily, except in cases where authorities incarcerated the 
rejected asylum seeker for a petty crime.
    On September 24, however, the electorate approved, by large 
majorities in a national referendum, a revision of the asylum law and a 
new law on foreigners that impose stricter identification requirements 
on asylum seekers and tighten treatment of rejected asylum seekers 
while providing increased benefits to persons with temporary protective 
status.
    The changes, mostly scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2007, 
provide that asylum seekers not presenting an official travel or 
identity document within 48 hours or credibly justifying their lack of 
documents or showing evidence of persecution are to be excluded from 
the asylum process. Authorities may detain uncooperative asylum 
seekers, subject to judicial review, for up to six months while 
adjudicating their applications. The new procedures provide that 
applicants whose requests have been rejected may also be detained, for 
up to three months, to ensure their departure, or up to 18 months if 
repatriation poses special obstacles. Minors between 15 and 18 years of 
age may be detained up to 12 months pending repatriation. The results 
of the referendum give applicants with temporary protection status 
easier access to the labor market and permit them to bring their 
families into the country, although there is a three-year waiting 
period.
    International organizations and NGOs raised concerns that the new 
provisions would make the country's asylum process too restrictive. 
These measures follow other restrictive steps taken in 2004 that had 
also been widely criticized by international organizations.
    The FOM relied upon a list of approximately 40 ``safe countries'' 
from which it would generally not accept refugee applications. On 
December 8, the Government decided to add another six countries to this 
list. NGOs criticized the extension of the list because they believe 
the human rights records and the political situations in some of the 
newly listed countries were not sufficiently stable to justify 
automatic rejection.
    NGOs alleged that police used excessive force against asylum 
seekers (see section 1.c.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their 
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice 
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of 
universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 citizens chose a 
new Federal Assembly in free and fair elections.
    There were 65 women in the 246-seat Federal Assembly and two women 
in the seven-seat Federal Council (cabinet). At the cantonal level, the 
proportion of female representatives in legislatures remained 24 
percent. Women held approximately one-fifth of the seats in cantonal 
executive bodies.
    There were no known ethnic minorities in the Government.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated 
reports of government corruption during the year.
    Government information was available freely to all persons living 
in the country, including foreign media. The constitution requires the 
Government to inform the public about its activities. On July 1, a new 
transparency law providing for public access to government documents 
came into force.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The constitution generally prohibits discrimination on the basis of 
race, gender, disability, language, or social status; however, some 
laws discriminate against women. The Government generally enforced 
these prohibitions effectively. Violence against women and children, 
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against minorities were 
problems.

    Women.--Violence against women was a problem. A 2003 international 
survey showed that almost 40 percent of women in the country had 
suffered some sort of physical or sexual assault in their lifetime, 
frequently at the hands of a former partner or an acquaintance; only 
one-third of the instances of physical violence and only 6 percent of 
sexual abuses were reported to the police. A government study released 
in October found that between 2000 and 2004, 74 percent of all 
homicides or attempted homicides against women qualified as acts of 
domestic violence; approximately 20 women are killed each year by their 
partners or former partners.
    Domestic violence is a statutory offence. In June parliament 
amended existing legislation to permit a court to order an abusive 
spouse to leave the family home as a temporary measure and to make 
stalking a punishable offence. Victims of domestic violence could 
obtain help, counseling, and legal assistance from specialized 
government and NGO agencies or from nearly a dozen hot lines sponsored 
privately or by local, cantonal, and national authorities. In 2005, 
1,435 women and 1,461 children spent a total of 62,336 nights in 17 
women's shelters across the country, but a study conducted in the same 
year found that approximately the same number were turned away due to a 
lack of space. The interior ministry's Federal Office for Equality 
Between Women and Men has a special unit focusing on domestic violence. 
Most cantonal police forces had specially trained domestic violence 
units. A majority of cantons also had special administrative units 
coordinating the activities of law enforcement, prosecutorial, and 
victim assistance groups.
    Rape, including spousal rape, is a statutory offense, and the 
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. 
According to a 2003 survey, more than 5 percent of women polled had 
been raped. In 2005 police recorded 646 instances of rape, and there 
were 353 prosecutions and 100 convictions.
    Forced marriage is illegal; however, NGOs believed the practice 
occurred, predominantly in underprivileged immigrant families, but did 
not know its extent. In May authorities in St. Gallen canton deported 
both the husband and father of a 21-year-old Turkish woman who had been 
forcibly married in Turkey. The woman reportedly received death threats 
when she refused to consummate the marriage after the husband followed 
her to Switzerland. Forced marriage may also be a reason to grant 
asylum. In October the Asylum Appeals Commission in a precedent case 
overturned a negative asylum decision against an Ethiopian woman who 
had fled to the country to escape from a forced marriage.
    Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal, but there were 
anecdotal reports that the practice occurred. The UN Children's Fund 
(UNICEF) estimated that there were nearly 7,000 circumcised women and 
girls in the country as a result of immigration from areas where FGM is 
practiced. UNICEF has repeatedly campaigned to raise awareness of FGM 
and, in cooperation with local gynecologists, has drafted guidelines on 
medical care of circumcised women.
    Prostitution is legal; however, street prostitution is illegal 
except in areas specifically for street prostitution that were 
designated by authorities in all major cities. Police figures from 
1999, the latest nationwide data available, indicated that there were 
approximately 14,000 persons in prostitution. Information on individual 
cantons suggests that the number has increased since then.
    Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Sexual harassment is illegal. The Equal Opportunity Law prohibits 
sexual harassment and facilitates access to legal remedies for those 
who claim discrimination or harassment in the workplace; however, 
special legal protection against the dismissal of a claimant is only 
temporary. Employers failing to take reasonable measures to prevent 
sexual harassment are liable for damages equal to as much as six 
months' salary.
    Under the constitution women enjoy the same rights as men, 
including in family law, property law, and in the judicial system; 
however, independent observers claimed that some laws, as interpreted 
by the courts, were discriminatory. For example, the Federal Tribunal 
ruled that the primary wage earner in a divorce must be left with 
sufficient income to remain above the poverty level. Since the primary 
wage earner in most marriages was the man, if the household income was 
too low to support both parties, the wife and children could be forced 
to resort to public assistance.
    The Federal Office for Equality between Women and Men and the 
Federal Commission on Women worked to eliminate both direct and 
indirect gender discrimination. Many cantons and some large cities have 
equality offices to handle gender issues. More than half of the cantons 
had an office in charge of promoting equality.
    Discrimination against women in the workplace is illegal, but women 
disproportionately held jobs with lower levels of responsibility, and 
women's level of seniority was lower than men's. Women were promoted 
less frequently than men, and were less likely to own or manage 
businesses.
    Under the constitution women and men are entitled to equal pay for 
equal work, but women's gross salaries were on average more than 20 
percent lower than men's. A government report issued in June estimated 
that 40 percent of the wage differential was due to gender 
discrimination. Women were also more likely to be unemployed than men. 
During the year the unemployment rate for women was 3.6 percent, 
compared to 3.1 percent for men.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare, and it amply funded a system of public education 
and need-based subsidies of health insurance.
    Education was compulsory, free, and universal for nine years, from 
ages six or seven through ages 15 or 16, depending on the canton. 
Virtually all children attended school. Almost 90 percent completed 
postsecondary education or professional vocational training, and 
approximately 45 percent continued to earn specialized or university 
degrees.
    Child abuse was a problem. A 2005 study by the University of 
Fribourg based on a 2004 survey estimated that, nationwide, 13,000 
children under the age of two and a half years are at times slapped in 
the face by their parents, and 1,700 are occasionally struck with 
objects. Statistics on the extent of sexual violence against children 
were unavailable, but experts estimated that 20 percent of girls and 10 
percent of boys under the age of 18 had been victims. Most abuse took 
place in the family or the immediate social environment.
    In 2005 the national cybercrime monitoring body, CYCOS, referred 
272 instances of suspected child pornography on the Internet to law 
enforcement authorities. In virtually every case, the cantonal 
prosecuting office opened a criminal investigation, and such 
investigations usually lead to the confiscation of illegal material. 
The production, possession, distribution, or downloading from the 
Internet of hardcore pornography involving children is illegal and 
carries heavy fines or a maximum sentence of a year in prison. In 
September 2005 the Government initiated a three-year information 
campaign against child pornography on the Internet.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits sexual exploitation and 
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were 
trafficked to, through, and within the country and forced into 
prostitution or domestic servitude. On December 1, an amendment to the 
Penal Code extending the definition of human trafficking to include 
forced labor and organ snatching came into force. Trafficking in 
persons is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 20 years, and 
coercing a person into prostitution by up to 10 years. In 2005 the 
highest sentence prescribed to a convicted trafficker was 16 months in 
prison; however, the majority of convicted traffickers received 
suspended sentences.
    Officials estimated the number of trafficking victims to be a few 
hundred a year. Federal police conjectured that between 1,500 and 3,000 
victims of human trafficking were residing in the country during the 
year. According to authorities, most victims came from Central Europe 
(Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), the former Soviet Union (Ukraine and 
Moldova), Lithuania, Latin America (Brazil and the Dominican Republic), 
Southeast Asia (Thailand and Cambodia), and, to a lesser extent, 
Africa. The country was primarily a country of destination, and 
secondarily of transit, for trafficked persons.
    The great majority of trafficking victims were women and were 
trafficked primarily for purposes of sexual exploitation, although 
trafficking for domestic servitude also occurred. Traffickers were 
mainly individuals and small groups related through ethnic, clan, or 
family ties, as well as, occasionally, organized criminals. Traffickers 
often forced victims into prostitution and in many cases subjected them 
to physical and sexual violence, threatened them or their families, 
encouraged drug addiction, withheld their documents, and incarcerated 
them. Many victims were forced to work in salons or clubs to pay for 
travel expenses and the production of fraudulent documents and found 
themselves dependent on the traffickers.
    In 2005 courts convicted 23 persons of trafficking in persons and 
forcing others into prostitution. The Coordination Unit against 
Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, which is linked to 
the Federal Office of Police, coordinates and monitors all 
antitrafficking efforts, including a federal interagency task force. 
Authorities were active in international law enforcement activities and 
took the lead in coordinating several international trafficking 
investigations.
    On September 24, citizens approved a new law on foreigners that 
formalizes the existing process of granting potential trafficking 
victims a stay of deportation proceedings to permit them to recover 
from their trauma and consider participation in judicial proceedings. 
The new law authorizes the Government to waive normal immigration 
requirements and grant residency permits to victims and witnesses who 
would be in danger if they returned home. It allows the federal 
government to assist victims logistically and financially in their 
voluntary return and their reintegration into the societies of their 
home countries.
    The law entitles trafficking victims to safe shelter as well as 
medical, psychological, social, and legal assistance regardless of 
their residency status. During 2004, 84 trafficking victims received 
assistance from publicly funded victim assistance centers. The 
Government continued partial funding of Zurich's leading 
antitrafficking NGO. Zurich, in 2004, formalized its victim referral 
mechanism in a letter of intent between the NGO and local law 
enforcement officials. As a result of this formalized cooperation, the 
number of victims who received professional counseling and were willing 
to testify against their traffickers increased considerably. Other 
cantons have emulated the Zurich model.
    The Government funded several antitrafficking information and 
education campaigns around the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
provided specialized training to its consular staff and distributed 
trafficking awareness information to visa applicants in local 
languages.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit 
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, 
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state 
services, and the prohibition was generally enforced. The law mandates 
access to public buildings and government services for persons with 
disabilities, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in 
practice. According to the NGO Egalite Handicap, most complaints of 
discrimination concerned labor issues, education, and access to public 
buildings.
    The Federal Equal Opportunity Office for Persons with Disabilities 
promoted awareness of the law and respect for the rights of the 
disabled through counseling and financial support for projects to 
facilitate their integration in society and the labor market. In 
January the Government began a three-year pilot project to empower 
persons with severe disabilities to live on their own away from 
institutions. Approximately 400 participants, including some children, 
received grants to pay for a helper but remained free to decide who 
should assist them and how much care they needed.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the federal 
police, in 2005 there were 111 public incidents involving right-wing 
skinheads, such as arson attacks, assaults, and hate concerts. Right-
wing extremists organized more and increasingly well attended concerts 
and distributed compact discs with right-wing extremist music in an 
effort to recruit more members. Police estimated that after a lull of a 
few years, the number of right-wing extremists grew by some 200 to 
approximately 1,200. Police noted that acts of violence were mostly 
committed by youths and caused considerable harm and damage. In May a 
Thurgau appeals court sentenced six skinheads to prison terms between 
five and six and a half years for attempted homicide. In 2003 the six 
had beaten two youths so violently that one was permanently disabled.
    There were a few reported cases during the year of violent 
confrontations between skinheads and young foreigners. According to 
statistics gathered by the Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism, 
there were 86 reported incidents directed against ethnic minorities 
during the year. These figures included verbal and written attacks, 
which were much more common than physical assaults. Investigations of 
such attacks were generally thorough and led, in most cases, to the 
prosecution of those responsible.
    The extreme right-wing PNOS continued to be the subject of judicial 
action. In August a district judge in the canton of Bern fined the 22-
year-old former President of the party's Bern chapter, $ 1,000(1,200 
francs) for racial ``discrimination.'' In May a district court in the 
canton of Aargau sentenced the PNOS founder and former President to 14 
days in prison and a fine for racial discrimination. He was accused of 
having published on the Internet a party program that violated the 
antiracism law. PNOS subsequently removed the program from its Web 
site. Earlier, in 2005, the Aargau district court sentenced four PNOS 
board members to fines of $240 to $400 (300 to 500 francs) for similar 
offenses. PNOS initially became a subject of serious public controversy 
in 2005, when two of its members were elected to serve in county-level 
political office in Bern and Solothurn cantons.
    According to a survey published in June by the University of 
Geneva, more than half of the population believed that foreigners 
abused the welfare state and over 40 percent believed that foreigners 
lowered educational levels in schools and were responsible for higher 
unemployment. However, nearly 70 percent acknowledged the contributions 
of foreigners to the country's wellbeing, 90 percent rejected right-
wing extremism, and 85 percent approved of the criminal prosecution of 
racist propaganda. A study by the University of Neuchatel indicated 
that young adults whose immigrant parents came from outside the 
European Union faced discrimination in the job market. Young second-
generation immigrants who were equally well qualified and with 
identical resumes as their peers, stood a significantly lower chance of 
finding employment. The UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of 
racism, Doudou Diene, who visited the country for five days in January, 
concluded that the country had no strategy to combat xenophobia and 
related intolerance. On the contrary, in Diene's view, there was a 
tendency to play down racism or to use it in political debates for 
partisan gain. Government bodies such as the Federal Commission Against 
Racism lacked resources and personnel and the victims had few legal 
remedies. Diene found that dark skinned persons suffered most from 
racism, followed by people from the Balkans.
    The Department of the Interior's Federal Service for the Combating 
of Racism sponsored a variety of educational and awareness-building 
projects to combat racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism (see section 
2.c.).
    In June the Government foundation, Future for Swiss Itinerants, 
reported that the habitat of the traveling Jenisch (a nomadic group of 
unknown origin and European ethnicity) was becoming scarce. Only one 
new permanent stopping place has been established since 2001, when the 
need for additional locations was pointed out, and the number of 
transit stopping places diminished from 51 to 44 over the same period. 
In an October report on the situation of traveling Jenisch, the 
Government acknowledged that the number of permanent and transit 
stopping places for travelers was insufficient.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law permits all workers, 
including foreigners, to form and join unions of their choice without 
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised 
these rights in practice. Approximately 25 percent of the workforce was 
unionized.
    Trade union leaders criticized the absence in the country's labor 
legislation of a provision entitling an employee who is found to be 
unjustly dismissed to reinstatement. Present law provides that a worker 
found to have been dismissed illegally is entitled to maximum 
compensation of up to six month's worth of wages. The Swiss Trade Union 
Council complained to the International Labor Organization (ILO) that 
this penalty was insufficient to deter abusive dismissals of union 
activists and thus violates the relevant ILO convention that the 
country ratified. On November 15, the ILO called on the Government to 
take specific measures to ensure that trade union activists are 
adequately protected against abusive dismissals and that affected 
workers are reinstated. The Swiss Employer's Association rejected the 
ILO recommendation as exaggerated and likely to open the gates for 
abusive behavior by trade union activists.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the 
freedom to bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right. 
Approximately 50 percent of the work force was covered by collective 
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, and 
workers exercised this right by conducting legal strikes. The 
Government may curtail the right of federal public servants to strike, 
but only for reasons of national security or safeguarding foreign 
policy interests. Public servants in some cantons and many 
municipalities are prohibited from going on strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children 
from exploitation in the workplace.
    The minimum age for the full-time employment is 15 years. Children 
13 and 14 years of age may be employed in light duties for not more 
than nine hours per week during the school year and 15 hours at other 
times. The employment of youths 15 and over is also restricted and 
cantonal inspectorates strictly regulated these provisions. Children 
are not permitted to work at night, on Sundays, or in hazardous or 
dangerous conditions. In June the Federal Assembly adopted an amendment 
to the labor law lowering the maximum age for the special protection of 
young workers from 20 to 18 years.
    The economics ministry (SECO) monitors the implementation of child 
labor laws and policies, but actual enforcement is the responsibility 
of the cantonal labor inspectorates; government officials inspected 
companies to determine whether there were violations of the child labor 
laws.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum 
wage, which resulted in low wage structures for unskilled workers and 
skilled employees in the clothing, hospitality, and retail industries; 
however, a majority of the voluntary collective labor agreements 
contained clauses on minimum compensation, ranging from $1,800 to 
$3,400 (2,200 to 4,200 francs) per month for unskilled workers and from 
$2,200 to $4,200 (2,800 to 5,300 francs) per month for skilled 
employees.
    The law sets a maximum 45-hour workweek for blue- and white-collar 
workers in industry, services, and retail trades, and a 50-hour 
workweek for all other workers. The law prescribes a rest period of 35 
consecutive hours plus an additional half-day per week. Premium pay for 
overtime must be at least 25 percent; overtime is generally restricted 
to two hours per day. Annual overtime is limited by law to 170 hours 
for those working 45 hours a week and to 140 hours for those working 50 
hours a week. The Government effectively enforced these regulations.
    The law contains extensive provisions to protect worker health and 
safety. SECO and cantonal labor inspectorates effectively enforced the 
law. Workers have the right to remove themselves from work situations 
that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their continued 
employment, and the authorities effectively enforced this right.

                               __________

                                 TURKEY

    Turkey, with a population of approximately 72.6 million, is a 
constitutional republic with a multiparty parliamentary system and a 
President with limited powers elected by the single-chamber parliament, 
the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In the 2002 parliamentary 
elections, considered generally free and fair, the Justice and 
Development Party (AKP) won the majority of seats and formed a one-
party government. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective 
control of the security forces.
    During the year the Government faced the major challenges of 
increasing the legal accountability of government security forces, 
reducing restrictions on free speech, and modernizing societal 
attitudes with respect to antiquated practices such as ``honor 
killings'' of women. Although an overhaul of the criminal code has 
helped reduce torture and improve due process for defendants, the 
Government struggled to achieve full implementation of new laws. The 
number of arrests and prosecutions of security forces who committed 
unlawful killings was low compared with the number of incidents, and 
convictions remained rare. Members of the security forces occasionally 
tortured, beat, and otherwise abused persons. Prison conditions 
remained poor, with problems of overcrowding and insufficient staff 
training. Law enforcement officials did not always provide detainees 
immediate access to attorneys as required by law. The executive branch 
at times undermined independence of the judiciary, and the overly close 
relationship of judges and prosecutors continued to hinder the right to 
a fair trial. Excessively long trials, lasting several years, were a 
problem. The Government limited freedom of expression through the use 
of constitutional restrictions and numerous laws, including articles of 
the Penal Code prohibiting insults to the Government, the state, 
``Turkish identity,'' or the institution and symbols of the republic. 
Non-Muslim religious groups continued to face restrictions on 
practicing their religion openly, owning property, and training 
leaders. Violence against women, including so-called honor killings and 
rape, continued to be a widespread problem. Child marriage was a 
problem. Police corruption at all levels contributed to trafficking in 
women and children to and within the country for the purpose of sexual 
exploitation.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
security forces killed a number of persons during the year.
    The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reported that, in late March and 
early April, the police and military killed 14 persons, including five 
children, when they fired into crowds of demonstrators during rioting 
in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir (see section 2.b.).
    According to the HRF, security forces caused three deaths when they 
raided houses during the first eight months of the year.
    According to the HRF, police and Jandarma killed 9 persons during 
the year when they did not obey warnings by security forces to stop 
their vehicles.
    In February 2005 demonstrators in Mersin Province claimed police 
shot and killed Umit Gonultas during a protest in support of Abdullah 
Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party 
(PKK); however, interior ministry inspectors determined that police did 
not shoot Gonultas, and no court case was opened against the police. 
Prosecutors opened a case against nine members of the now-dissolved 
pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) for their role in a 
statement protesting the shooting. The DEHAP officials were charged 
with being members of an illegal organization; their trial was ongoing 
at year's end.
    In July 2005 army private Murat Polat died from wounds he received 
when he was allegedly beaten by fellow soldiers at Adana military 
prison. Prosecutors indicted 29 soldiers for torture and severe torture 
in connection with this and several other cases, but concluded that 
jurisdiction lay in the military courts. When a military court 
concluded that it did not have jurisdiction, the case went to the 
military court of appeals, where it remained at year's end.
    In November 2005 assailants threw a bomb into a store in Semdinli, 
Hakkari Province, killing Mehmet Zahir Korkmaz. Over the following 
days, demonstrators clashed with police in a number of violent protests 
against the alleged Jandarma role in the bombing; five protesters were 
killed and dozens injured in the disturbances. Prosecutors opened two 
cases in connection with the incident. In the first, the Van prosecutor 
charged two Jandarma officials, Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildenizand, and an 
alleged informant, Veysel Ates. On June 19, the Van Heavy Penal Court 
Number 3 convicted the two noncommissioned officers and sentenced them 
to 39 years in prison. On November 10, the same court sentenced the 
informant to 39 years and 10 months in prison. The case was on appeal 
at year's end. In the second case, the Hakkari prosecutor charged 
another suspect, Army Sergeant Tanju Cavus. The trial was transferred 
for security reasons to the Malatya Heavy Penal Court, where it was 
ongoing at year's end.
    In a connected case, the Van prosecutor charged the bookstore 
owner, alleging that he was a PKK member and participated in the bomb 
plot. The case continued at year's end.
    In November 2005 the Diyarbakir prosecutor charged three suspects 
in connection with the July 2005 killing of Hikmet Fidan, a former 
DEHAP vice chairman. The indictment alleged that the defendants turned 
Fidan over to the PKK, whose leaders ordered Fidan's killing because he 
criticized the PKK. By midyear all lawyers representing the Fidan 
family withdrew from the case due to alleged pressure from the PKK. At 
year's end there were no new developments in the case.
    The Hakkari court's acquittal of 12 defendants in November 2005, 
including former members of the security forces, who had been charged 
with extrajudicial killings, bombings, extortion, and other crimes was 
under appeal at year's end.
    DNA analysis confirmed that the 11 corpses discovered near the town 
of Kulp, Diyarbakir Province, in late 2004, belonged to the villagers 
who disappeared after detention in 1993. The Kulp public prosecutor 
concluded that the military had jurisdiction and therefore transferred 
the case to a military prosecutor. The military began an investigation 
and asked relatives of the missing villagers to send their video 
footage of the mass grave. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
    The trial of four police officers charged with the 2004 unlawful 
killing of Ahmet Kaymaz and his son Ugur was ongoing at year's end. The 
brother of Ahmet Kaymaz publicly stated that the police carried out an 
extrajudicial execution. The HRF reported that the four defendants were 
reassigned and back on duty. Proceedings continued in the trial of 
three police officers charged in connection with the shooting of Siar 
Perincek in Adana in 2004.
    The October 2005 conviction of Jandarma official Murat Sener on 
charges on using excessive force in the 2004 killing of Fevzi Can was 
under appeal at year's end.
    According to the Government, one person died while in police 
custody. The death was recorded as a suicide.
    According to the HRF, landmines and unattended explosives killed 
eight civilians and injured 38, including 28 children, during the year. 
Both security forces and the PKK used landmines.
    According to the Government, 32 civilians, 93 members of the 
security forces, and 118 terrorists were killed in armed clashes 
through October. The Human Rights Association's (HRA) Diyarbakir office 
reported that 294 persons died in such clashes and 303 were injured 
during the year. Most of the clashes occurred in the southeast.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, 
members of the security forces continued to torture, beat, and 
otherwise abuse persons.
    Incidents of torture and abuse declined during the year but 
remained a problem. There was a decline in the severe ill-treatment 
that prisoners encountered in prior years, but incidents of ill-
treatment during police/gendarmerie custody continued, according to the 
Council of Europe's September 6 report on the European Committee for 
the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment (CPT). Courts rarely convicted security officials accused of 
torture and tended to issue light sentences when they did convict (see 
section 1.d.).
    According to the HRF, there were 338 cases of torture or abuse 
reported at its five national treatment centers during the year. Of 
these, 227 cases involved torture or abuse inflicted during the year; 
the rest involved incidents that occurred previously. HRF stated that 
there were 10,449 credible reports of torture or abuse from 1990 to 
2005. A number of human rights observers claimed that only a small 
percentage of detainees reported torture and abuse because they feared 
retaliation or believed that complaining was futile.
    The CPT and domestic human rights observers reported that, because 
detention periods have been reduced to 24 hours, with prosecutorial 
discretion to extend the period to 48 hours, security officials for the 
most part eliminated more severe methods of torture and abuse, such as 
electric shocks, high-pressure cold water hoses, rape, beatings on the 
soles of the feet and genitalia, hanging by the arms, and burns. 
Instead, security officials mainly used methods that did not leave 
physical signs, including repeated slapping, exposure to cold, 
stripping and blindfolding, food and sleep deprivation, threats to 
detainees or family members, dripping water on the head, isolation, and 
mock executions.
    Human rights activists, attorneys, and physicians who treated 
victims said that because of increased punishments for torture and 
abuse, police who engaged in these practices often did so outside of 
police detention centers to avoid detection.
    Human rights activists maintained that those arrested for ordinary 
crimes were as likely to suffer torture and ill-treatment in detention 
as those arrested for political offenses such as speaking out against 
the Government, although they were less likely to report abuse. 
Observers believed that security officials usually tortured political 
detainees to intimidate them and send a warning to others with similar 
political views. Authorities allegedly tortured ordinary suspects to 
obtain confessions.
    On December 28, the Justice Ministry initiated an investigation 
into allegations that wardens at the Sincan Children's and Youth Prison 
inmates beat four inmates between 19 and 21 years of age on the soles, 
a practice known as ``falaka.'' Nadir Cinar, Ozgur Karakaya, Ilker 
Sahin, and Cenan Altunc, who were in jail for demonstrating in support 
of an attorney who was on a hunger strike, told their attorney on 
December 22 that the wardens were beating their feet with sticks and 
pipes and cursing at them. The Ankara chief prosecutor confirmed the 
marks on the youths' bodies and ordered the boys to be taken to the 
Forensic Medicine Institute. At year's end prosecutors were 
investigating the matter.
    On October 24, Habip A and Mehmet K were detained by law 
enforcement officers in Konya for smuggling cigarettes. A group of 
masked police officers then beat Habip and extinguished cigarettes on 
his body, according to Habip's and Mehmet's original attorney. Habip 
filed an official complaint with the local prosecutor's office against 
the physician in charge at Konya Numune Hospital, who prepared a report 
that certified that Habip's wounds were due to an accident. The two 
complainants selected a new attorney, who had not yet filed a case at 
year's end. The complaint had not been ruled on at year's end. The 
Government did not initiate an investigation into the incident.
    A state hospital in Van province issued reports stating there were 
no signs of torture in the case of five men who had claimed they were 
tortured during detention in July 2005. The men's attorney then 
obtained a private health report that stated one of the men--Abdulakir 
Akgul--was tortured, but that there were no longer marks of torture on 
the four others. The attorney filed a criminal complaint against the 
state doctors and local Jandarma; the local prosecutor decided to not 
pursue the case. The lawyer appealed to the Van Regional Administrative 
Court, where the case remained at year's end. In February the Ordu 
public prosecutor's office issued a decision that it would not 
prosecute any police officers in connection with the allegation that 
Ordu police beat, squeezed the testicles of, and threatened three 
juveniles in October 2005.
    In October 2005 broadcast media outlets aired footage of employees 
abusing children at the Malatya State Orphanage. Images included 
employees beating children, who were naked and sitting in a bathtub. 
Several of the children told police their caretakers had forced them to 
eat excrement. Physicians subsequently examined the children and 
reported finding evidence that 21 of 46 had been subject to torture, 
including severe beatings and hot water burns. Authorities charged nine 
officials--the provincial director for social services, the orphanage 
director, two civil servants, and five orphanage employees--with 
torture. None of the defendants have been relieved of their duties; 
however, the orphanage employees were transferred to another facility. 
Forty of the children were taken to an Istanbul facility for four 
months, and then returned to the Malatya Orphanage. The trial and 
investigation continued at year's end.
    There was no updated information on the allegations that in 
December 2005 police tortured Orhan Kara, Velat Haci Ali, Idban Kaplan, 
Seref Inanc, and Nezir Ayan while in detention in Silopi, Sirnak 
Province.
    There were no developments in the reported 2004 cases of torture of 
Mehmet Nurettin Basci, Mehmet Gazi Aydin, Sezai Karakus, or several 
persons detained by police during a raid of the Yeniden Ozlem 
publishing house.
    Police harassed, beat, and abused demonstrators (see section 2.b.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally improved but facilities remained inadequate. Underfunding, 
overcrowding, and insufficient staff training were problems.
    According to the medical association, there were insufficient 
doctors, and psychologists were available only at some of the largest 
prisons. Several inmates claimed they were denied appropriate medical 
treatment for serious illness.
    Despite the existence of separate juvenile facilities, at times 
juveniles and adults were held in adjacent wards with mutual access. 
Observers reported that detainees and convicts occasionally were held 
together. Occasionally inmates convicted for nonviolent, speech-related 
offenses were held in high-security prisons.
    The Government permitted prison visits by representatives of some 
international organizations, such as the CPT; however, domestic 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) did not have access to prisons. 
Domestic human rights organizations and activists reported that Prison 
Monitoring Boards, composed of government officials and private 
individuals, were ineffective. The CPT visited in 2004 and conducted 
ongoing consultations with the Government.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention; however, the Government at times did not observe 
these prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Turkish National 
Police (TNP), under interior ministry control, is responsible for 
security in large urban areas. The Jandarma, paramilitary forces under 
joint interior ministry and military control, is responsible for 
policing rural areas. The Jandarma is also responsible for specific 
border sectors where smuggling is common; however, the military has 
overall responsibility for border control.
    In June 2005 the Government established judicial police, who were 
to take direction from prosecutors during investigations; however, 
human rights groups reported that in practice the judicial police 
continued to report to the Ministry of Interior.
    A civil defense force known as the village guards was less 
professional and disciplined than other security forces and was 
concentrated in the southeast. The village guards were accused 
repeatedly of drug trafficking, rape, corruption, theft, and other 
human rights abuses. Inadequate oversight and compensation contributed 
to this problem, and in many cases Jandarma allegedly protected village 
guards from prosecution. Although the security forces were generally 
considered effective, the village guards, Jandarma, and police special 
forces were viewed as those most responsible for abuses. Corruption and 
impunity from prosecution were serious problems.
    Courts investigated many allegations of abuse and torture by 
security forces during the year; however, they rarely convicted or 
punished offenders (see section 1.e.). When courts did convict 
offenders, punishment generally was minimal and sentences were often 
suspended. Authorities typically allowed officers accused of abuse to 
remain on duty and, in occasional cases, promoted them during their 
trials, which often took years.
    The TNP and Jandarma received specialized training in a number of 
areas, including human rights and counterterrorism. According to the 
Government, the armed forces emphasized human rights in training for 
officers and noncommissioned officers.
    During the first nine months of the year, 715 administrative or 
judicial cases were opened against security personnel and other public 
officials on torture, maltreatment, or excessive use of force charges. 
The decision of ``acquittal'' or ``no need to punish'' was reached in 
all 85 maltreatment or torture cases. Out of 630 ``excessive use of 
force'' cases, 10 resulted in prison sentences, one resulted in a 
temporary suspension, 598 resulted in acquittal or no need to punish, 
and 21 remained ongoing.

    Arrest and Detention.--Warrants issued by a prosecutor are required 
for arrests unless the suspect is caught in the commission of a crime. 
A suspect may be detained for 24 hours, with prosecutorial discretion 
to extend the period to 48 hours, excluding transportation time, before 
being arraigned by a judge. There is a functioning bail system. After 
arraignment, the judge may release the accused upon receipt of an 
appropriate assurance, such as bail, or order detention if the court 
determines that the accused is likely to flee the jurisdiction or 
destroy evidence. The law provides that detainees are entitled to 
immediate access to an attorney and to meet and confer with an attorney 
at any time. The law provides that indigent detainees be provided a 
public attorney at government expense.
    Private attorneys and human rights monitors reported irregular 
implementation of these regulations, particularly with respect to 
attorney access. According to a number of local bar associations, 
attorney access for detainees improved during the year, but varied 
widely across the country. Numerous bar association representatives and 
human rights organizations reported that in urban areas most detainees 
consulted with attorneys soon after being detained, while in rural 
areas, particularly the southeast, there was a higher number of cases 
where defendants did not have immediate access to an attorney. The HRA 
observed an increase in the percentage of detainees consulting with 
attorneys but maintained that the numerous detainees did not exercise 
this right.
    Human rights observers noted that in most cases where a defendant 
could not afford an attorney, one was provided; however, in terrorism-
related cases an attorney was frequently not provided until after the 
suspect had been detained and interrogated by security forces. 
Provincial bar associations reported that they faced increasing 
difficulties providing such attorneys because the Government was behind 
on compensation payments for such work. The Izmir Bar Association 
reported that the Government owed it between $5.6 and $9.2 million ($8-
13 million lira).
    HRA claimed police often intimidated detainees who asked for 
attorneys, for example by telling them a court would assume they were 
guilty if they consulted an attorney during detention. Detainees were 
generally allowed prompt access to family members; however, human 
rights organizations reported that since October, they have been 
hindered from helping families find out whether a relative has been 
detained because the Government began to refuse to release such 
information to the organizations.
    During the year police routinely detained demonstrators (see 
section 2.b.). Police detained several members of the former DEHAP on 
various occasions (see section 3). Police continued to detain and 
harass members of human rights organizations and monitors (see section 
4). Police continued to detain persons on suspicion of links to Turkish 
Hizballah.
    Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. The law provides 
detainees the right to request speedy arraignment and trial; however, 
judges have ordered that some suspects be detained indefinitely, at 
times for years. Approximately half of the prison inmates held during 
the year were convicts; the other half were either awaiting trial or 
held during trial proceedings.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was occasionally 
subject to outside influence. There were reports of judicial 
corruption.
    The law prohibits the Government from issuing orders or 
recommendations concerning the exercise of judicial power; however, the 
Government and several high-ranking military officers on several 
occasions issued announcements or directives about threats to the 
Government, which could be interpreted as general directions to the 
judiciary.
    The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors was widely criticized 
for undermining the independence of the judiciary. The minister of 
justice serves as chairman of the seven-member high council, and the 
Justice Ministry undersecretary also serves on the council. The high 
council selects judges and prosecutors for the higher courts and is 
responsible for oversight of the lower courts. The high council is 
located in the Ministry of Justice and does not have its own budget. 
While the constitution provides for job security through tenure, the 
high council controls the careers of judges and prosecutors through 
appointments, transfers, promotions, reprimands, and other mechanisms. 
During the year the high council, allegedly under pressure from the 
military, prohibited Van prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya from practicing law 
after he prepared an indictment in the Semdinli case (see section 
1.a.). After the high council denied Sarikaya's request for review of 
the decision, he filed a formal objection. On November 9, the high 
council rejected the objection, effectively finalizing Sarikaya's 
expulsion from the profession.
    The Ministry of Justice did not guarantee the independence of the 
judiciary in numerous freedom of expression cases, according to the 
Turkish Publishers' Association. Prosecutors and courts accepted 
certain classes of cases filed by ideologically motivated attorneys, 
such as those involving allegations of insulting Turkishness or 
Ataturk, but ignored complaints that regarded many categories of human 
rights (see section 2.a.).
    The close connection between public prosecutors and judges gave the 
appearance of impropriety and unfairness in criminal cases. Prosecutors 
and judges study together before being assigned by the high council. 
Once appointed, they are housed together, frequently share the same 
office space, and often work in the same courtroom for over five years.
    The judicial system is composed of general law courts; specialized 
heavy penal courts; military courts; the Constitutional Court, the 
nation's highest court; and three other high courts. The high court of 
appeals hears appeals for criminal cases, the council of state hears 
appeals of administrative cases or cases between government entities, 
and the audit court audits state institutions. Most cases were 
prosecuted in the general law courts, which include civil, 
administrative, and criminal courts. In 2004 parliament adopted 
legislation providing for the establishment of regional appeals courts 
to relieve the high court's caseload and allow the judiciary to operate 
more efficiently.
    The Constitutional Court examines the constitutionality of laws, 
decrees, and parliamentary procedural rules and hears cases involving 
the prohibition of political parties. If impeached, ministers and prime 
ministers can be tried in the Constitutional Court. However, the court 
cannot consider ``decrees with the force of law'' issued under a state 
of emergency, martial law, in time of war, or in other situations as 
authorized by parliament. Military courts, with their own appeals 
system, hear cases involving military law for members of the armed 
forces. Military courts can also hear cases involving crimes committed 
by both civilians and military personnel.
    Administrative and bureaucratic barriers impeded prosecutions and 
contributed to the low number of convictions of security force 
personnel for human rights abuses. Under the law, courts could not 
convict unless a defendant attended at least one trial session. Police 
defendants occasionally failed to attend hearings in order to avoid 
conviction; prosecuting attorneys claimed courts failed to make serious 
attempts to locate such defendants, even in cases where the defendants 
received salary or pension checks at their home address.
    During courtroom proceedings criminal defendants faced numerous 
violations of their right to a fair trial, according to an Amnesty 
International (AI) September 6 report. The report found that courts 
frequently refused to hear defense witnesses, despite a new law 
allowing the defense to call its own witnesses; courts and prosecutors 
often refused to consider new exculpatory evidence; pretrial and trial 
periods frequently lasted for many years due in part to a severe 
backlog of cases; often courts did not allow defendants to take part in 
pretrial hearings; and frequently courts failed to provide defendants 
with qualified interpreters.
    According to the September AI report, defendants in cases that were 
transferred from state security courts, abolished in June 2004, to 
heavy penal courts often faced the same judges and prosecutors who 
presided over their cases when they were before the state security 
courts. The report also found that these judges frequently failed to 
investigate or take into account allegations that confessions were 
brought about by torture, and allegations of long periods of 
``unofficial'' detention with no access to legal counsel. The report 
noted that defendants in these cases were being sentenced on the basis 
of evidence extracted under torture or other ill-treatment.

    Trial Procedures.--There is no jury system; a judge or a panel of 
judges decides all cases. Trials are public. The law requires bar 
associations to provide free counsel to indigents who request it from 
the court, and bar associations across the country did so in practice. 
Defendants have the right to be present at trial and to consult with an 
attorney in a timely manner. Defendants or their attorneys can question 
witnesses for the prosecution and present witnesses and evidence on 
their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption 
of innocence and the right to appeal.
    International human rights organizations and the European Union 
(EU) stated that the courtroom structure and rules of criminal 
procedure gave an unfair advantage to the prosecution. Prosecutors 
enter the courtroom through the same door as the judge; defense 
attorneys enter through a separate door. Prosecutors sit at an elevated 
desk that is at the same level as that of the judge; the defense sits 
at floor level. During the trial, the prosecutor may himself call any 
witness desired, whereas the defense must request that the judge call a 
witness. Judges decide whether to ask and how to phrase defense 
counsel's questions, but ask all of the prosecution's questions in the 
exact form presented.
    The law provides for the right to a speedy trial; however, at times 
trials lasted for years (see section 1.d.). Proceedings against 
security officials often were delayed because officers did not submit 
statements promptly or attend trials. In several cases, such delays 
extended beyond the statute of limitations, causing the trial to end 
without a verdict.
    The law prohibits the use of evidence obtained by torture in court; 
however, prosecutors in some instances failed to pursue torture 
allegations, and exclusion of evidence occurred only after a separate 
case on the legality of the evidence was resolved. In practice a trial 
based on a confession allegedly coerced under torture could proceed, 
and even conclude, before the court had examined the merits of the 
torture allegations.
    Despite the May 2005 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling 
that imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan did not receive a fair trial 
during the proceedings that led to his 1999 conviction, the Ankara 
Heavy Penal Court, on May 5, denied Ocalan's attorneys' retrial 
request. On appeal, the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court upheld the lower 
court's decision.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political detainees; however, the HRA estimated that there were several 
thousand political prisoners, including leftists, rightists, and 
Islamists. The Government claimed that alleged political prisoners were 
in fact charged with being members of, or assisting, terrorist 
organizations. According to the Government, 2,071 convicts were being 
held in prison on terrorism charges through October.
    International humanitarian organizations were allowed access to 
``political'' prisoners, provided they could obtain permission from the 
Ministry of Justice. While the CPT was generally granted such 
permission, other organizations were rarely granted such permission.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent 
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. The law provides that all 
citizens have the right to file a civil case for compensation for 
physical or psychological harm suffered.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these provisions in practice.
    Security forces caused three deaths when they raided several houses 
during the first eight months of the year, according to the HRF.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press; however, the Government continued to limit 
these freedoms in occasional cases. The Government intimidated 
journalists into practicing self-censorship.
    The Government, particularly the police and judiciary, limited 
freedom of expression through the use of constitutional restrictions 
and numerous laws, including articles of the Penal Code prohibiting 
insults to the Government, the state, ``Turkish identity,'' Ataturk, or 
the institutions and symbols of the republic. Other laws, such as the 
Antiterror Law and laws governing the press and elections, also 
restrict speech.
    Individuals could not criticize the state or government publicly 
without fear of reprisal, and the Government continued to restrict 
expression by individuals sympathetic to some religious, political, and 
Kurdish nationalist or cultural viewpoints. Active debates on human 
rights and government policies continued, particularly on issues 
relating to the country's EU membership process, the role of the 
military, Islam, political Islam, the question of Turks of Kurdish 
origin as ``minorities,'' and the history of the Turkish-Armenian 
conflict after World War I; however, persons who wrote or spoke out on 
such topics, particularly the Armenian issue, risked prosecution. The 
Turkish Publishers Association (TPA) reported that serious restrictions 
on freedom of expression continued despite legal reforms related to the 
country's EU candidacy.
    According to the Government, there were no journalists held on 
speech violations during the year; however, the Government reported 
that at year's end there were 26 arrestees or convicts who claimed to 
be journalists. The Government reported that some could not demonstrate 
they were journalists and some were in prison for crimes not related to 
their work as journalists.
    Democratic Society Party (DTP) Mayor of Batman Huseyin Kalkan faced 
up to 7 1/2 years under the Antiterror Law for his remarks in the Los 
Angeles Times on May 30. In the story, Kalkan stated, ``Unless the 
status quo changes, Kurds will further approach northern Iraq and want 
to split up and merge with them.'' He added, ``The PKK wants to lay 
down arms but it is [tried to be] portrayed as a bandit. Eighty percent 
of the population in my town think like those in the mountains. 
Abdullah Ocalan is a public leader.'' Upon reading the interview, two 
Turkish citizens filed an e-mail crime complaint with the Izmir Police. 
The Izmir prosecutor forwarded the case to Diyarbakir for prosecution. 
The case was pending at year's end.
    On February 22, a court acquitted Aynur Saydam of insulting Prime 
Minster Erdogan. Erdogan filed a lawsuit in October 2005 against Saydam 
for insulting him by holding up a banner during an appearance at 
Bahcesehir University. The banner featured a statement criticizing 
Erdogan's support for a conference on the fate of the Armenians in the 
final days of the Ottoman Empire.
    Trial proceedings in the case against six juveniles charged with 
attempting to burn the national flag during celebrations of Nevruz (the 
Kurdish New Year) in March 2005 continued at year's end.
    In December 2005 an Ankara court began the trial of 12 officials of 
the pro-Kurdish party Hak-Par for speaking Kurdish at a party 
convention and distributing Kurdish-language invitations to the 
convention. During the trial the prosecutor asked the judge to assist 
in opening a case to close down Hak-Par. The judge did not rule on that 
request by year's end.
    The appeal of the December 2005 conviction of DEHAP official Ahmet 
Dagtekin for illegal speech for using Kurdish language and symbolism 
during a 2004 campaign event was ongoing at year's end.
    Proceedings continued in the appeal of Genc Party leader Cem Uzan's 
2004 conviction for insulting Prime Minister Erdogan in a speech.
    In October 2005 a Sanliurfa court sentenced local DEHAP official 
Resit Yardimci to a six-month prison term and fined him $1,214 (1,640 
lira) for greeting the audience in Kurdish during a 2003 party 
convention. The court of appeals rejected the lower court's reasoning 
and remanded the case. The case continued in the lower court at year's 
end.
    The country has an active print media independent of state control. 
There are hundreds of private newspapers that span the political 
spectrum.
    The Government owned and operated the Turkish Radio and Television 
Corporation (TRT). According to the High Board of Radio and Television 
(RTUK), there were 229 local, 15 regional, and 16 national officially 
registered television stations and 1,062 local, 108 regional, and 30 
national radio stations. Other television and radio stations broadcast 
without an official license. The wide availability of satellite dishes 
and cable television allowed access to foreign broadcasts, including 
several Kurdish-language private channels. Most media were owned by 
large, private holding companies that had a wide range of outside 
business interests; the concentration of media ownership influenced the 
content of reporting and limited the scope of debate. Observers noted 
that media conglomerates increasingly used media as a tool to build 
pressure against government policies.
    Prosecutors harassed writers, journalists, and political figures by 
bringing dozens of cases to court each year under various laws that 
restrict media freedom; however, judges dismissed many of these 
charges. Authorities, in a few instances, closed newspapers 
temporarily, issued fines, or confiscated newspapers for violating 
speech codes. Despite government restrictions, the media criticized 
government leaders and policies daily and in many cases adopted an 
adversarial role with respect to the Government.
    Authorities continued to prosecute publishers and editors of 
newspapers for their discussion of sensitive subjects.
    In October 2005 an Istanbul court convicted Hrant Dink, publisher 
of the Armenian community newspaper Agos, of denigrating Turkish 
identity in an article on Turkish-Armenian relations. The court 
sentenced Dink to a six-month prison term but suspended the sentence. 
The court ruled for conviction although a panel of three legal experts 
the court appointed to review the article unanimously determined that 
it did not violate the law. On appeal, both the conviction and 
suspended sentence were upheld. In December 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor 
opened a separate case against Dink and three other Agos employees on 
the grounds that their criticism of the October 2005 court decision 
constituted an attempt to ``influence the judiciary.'' The case 
continued at year's end. In September an Istanbul prosecutor charged 
Dink again, following a statement he made to the Reuters news agency, 
in which he reportedly said that the killing of Armenians during the 
Ottoman Empire constituted genocide. The case was ongoing at year's 
end.
    In December 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor charged five newspaper 
columnists with insulting the judiciary and trying to influence the 
judicial process for their coverage of the court battle over the 
legality of holding an Istanbul conference on the 1915 massacre of 
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. In April an Istanbul court dismissed 
charges against four of the journalists on the procedural ground that 
the relevant statute of limitations had passed since their respective 
articles were originally published. The trial of the fifth columnist, 
Murat Belge, was ongoing at year's end.
    The December 2005 convictions of writer Zulkuf Kisanak for 
``denigrating the Republic of Turkey'' and journalist Aziz Ozer on 
similar charges were under appeal at year's end.
    The Government maintained significant restrictions on the use of 
Kurdish and other minority languages in radio and television 
broadcasts. RTUK regulations limited minority-language news broadcasts 
to 45 minutes per day; however, RTUK ended time restrictions for 
minority-language cultural shows or films. Previously such broadcasting 
was limited to 45 minutes per day and four hours per week for 
television broadcasting, and 60 minutes per day and five hours per week 
for radio. RTUK maintained that its regulations require non-Turkish 
radio programs be followed by the same program in Turkish and that non-
Turkish television programs have Turkish subtitles. Start-up Kurdish 
broadcasters reported that these were onerous financial obligations 
that prevented their entry into the market. The state-owned TRT 
broadcasting company provided limited national programming in Kurdish 
and three other minority languages.
    On April 19, the radio officials of Radyo Imaj were acquitted of 
making unauthorized broadcasts; the station resumed broadcasting in 
late November. Radyo Imaj officials claimed the station was closed for 
playing Kurdish music.
    Trial proceedings continued at year's end in Istanbul in the 2004 
case against journalist Mehmet Ali Birand and three attorneys for 
imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in connection with a CNN Turk 
broadcast, during which Birand interviewed the attorneys.
    The TPA reported a decrease in recent years in the number of court 
decisions banning books; however, books, writers, and publishers were 
still prosecuted on grounds of defamation, denigration, obscenity, 
separatism, subversion, fundamentalism, and blasphemy. Printing houses 
are required to submit books and periodicals to prosecutors at the time 
the materials are published. According to the TPA, prosecutors 
investigated and in several cases pressed charges against printing 
houses for late submission of materials deemed problematic. As a 
result, the TPA reported, publishers often avoided works with 
controversial content. According to the TPA's June report, from 2000 to 
2005, authorities opened court cases against 47 authors and 49 books 
and compilations involving 22 publishers. According to the Ministry of 
Interior, 290 books were banned and confiscated between 2000 and 2006. 
The TPA reported that the Government lifted the ban on 49 and kept it 
on 241.
    On June 26, an Istanbul prosecutor charged Fatih Tas, the owner of 
Aram Publishing House, and two translators in connection with Aram's 
publishing a translation of the Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman book, 
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media, for 
``insulting Turkishness'' and ``inciting enmity and animosity among 
people.'' The trial began on October 17 and was ongoing at year's end.
    The separate trial against Tas and two translators in 2005 for 
publishing a Turkish translation of the book, Spoils of War: The Human 
Cost of America's Arms Trade, which prosecutors alleged insulted the 
Turkish identity and Ataturk was ongoing at year's end.
    In July an Istanbul prosecutor indicted novelist Elif Shafak for 
insulting Turkish identity in her novel The Father and the Bastard. In 
her novel, characters discuss the Armenian ``genocide.'' At the 
September 21 trial, the court dismissed the case for lack of evidence. 
In its October 4 written verdict, the court concluded that comments by 
a character in a fictitious book were a form of free expression not 
subject to prosecution.
    In September 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor charged novelist Orhan 
Pamuk with ``insulting Turkish identity'' in statements he made during 
a 2004 interview with a foreign publication. Pamuk was quoted as saying 
that one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds had been killed in the 
country. After a domestic periodical published a translation of the 
interview, prosecutors charged Pamuk for violating New Turkish Penal 
Code Article 301, which went into effect in June 2005, three months 
prior to Pamuk's statements. The court determined that it had to apply 
the law in effect when the act was committed, not Article 301. The old 
law required that the minister of justice approve prosecution of the 
case. On January 22, the Justice Ministry refused to issue an approval, 
saying that it had no authority to open a case against Pamuk under the 
new Penal Code. The following day, the trial court ruled that it could 
not continue the case, and charges were dropped.
    An Istanbul prosecutor initiated two cases in May 2005 against 
Ragip Zarakolu, owner of Belge Publishing, for publishing translations 
of two books dealing with Turkish-Armenian relations. The indictment, 
brought pursuant to Penal Code Article 301, alleged that the 
publications were insulting to the state. Trials in both cases 
continued at year's end.
    Authorities occasionally censored media with pro-Kurdish or leftist 
content, particularly in the southeast, by confiscating materials or 
temporarily closing down the media source at issue. The TPA reported 
that the most serious problem during the year was a large increase in 
complaints filed by ideologically motivated attorneys, and then 
accepted by the courts, on grounds such as insulting Turkishness or the 
memory of Ataturk. During the year prosecutors initiated court 
proceeding against 77 journalists, 22 publishing houses, 41 writers, 
five translators, and 43 books. Twelve of these cases ended in 
acquittals, nine in convictions, four in ``nonsuit,'' and 18 were 
pending at year's end. Prosecutors charged 65 persons during the year 
under Penal Code Article 301, which criminalizes insulting 
``Turkishness.''
    According to TPA, the Governments, courts, and private litigants 
were together responsible for ``abusing the civil law system'' during 
the year through an increase in defamation cases. Courts sentenced 
defendants to pay financial compensation for defamation in cases filed 
by politicians, including Prime Minister Erdogan, journalists, and 
private businessmen.
    Prime Minister Erdogan, through his attorneys, filed 59 cases on 
the grounds of defamation, of which 28 were pending at year's end. 
Among the 31 cases decided, 21 rulings were in favor and 10 against 
Erdogan.
    On May 3, an Ankara court convicted Ismail Yildiz, President of the 
Political, Economic, Social Research and Strategy Center, and ordered 
him to pay $6,179 (8,860 lira) for insulting Prime Minister Erdogan, 
Finance Minister Unalitan, and Transportation Minister Yildirim. Yildiz 
published two articles critical of these officials on the Internet. 
Yildiz's appeal was pending at year's end.
    Erdogan sued political cartoonist Mehmet Cagcag for his cartoon in 
the July 7 edition of Leman magazine that depicted Erdogan as a tick 
and had the subtitle ``Tick Has Been Making Turkey Suffer.'' The case 
continued at year's end.
    The Government arrested and deported Michael Dickinson, a British 
cartoonist and lecturer, after he depicted Prime Minister Erdogan as a 
foreign President's dog in a political cartoon.
    Turkish courts ruled on a number of cases that Prime Minister 
Erdogan filed in 2005. In May 2005 an Ankara court convicted Musa Kart 
of the daily Cumhuriyet for a cartoon portraying Erdogan as a cat. The 
court ordered Kart to pay $3,800 (5,132 lira). On April 19, the court 
of appeals unanimously overturned the lower court decision. In October 
an Istanbul court fined Mehmet Fethi Dorduncu $6,300 (9,000 lira) for 
insulting Erdogan and for insulting the Government, because he put a 
note in a museum welcome book that called Erdogan and the Government 
``servants, nonbelievers, thieves, and treacherous.'' On December 8, an 
appellate court overturned a lower court decision that convicted 
Yenicag newspaper for allegedly insulting Erdogan by calling him ``a 
bully'' in a May 2005 article.
    The satirical magazine Penguen responded to the lawsuits by 
publishing a front page with a series of drawings by different 
cartoonists depicting Erdogan as various animals. In March 2005 Erdogan 
filed a lawsuit against Penguen seeking $28,000 (38,178 lira) in 
compensation; the court ruled in favor of the magazine. On April 3, the 
press reported that Erdogan appealed; the court of appeals has not 
acted on the case by year's end.
    During the summer the parliament placed further restrictions on the 
media by adopting amendments to the Antiterror Law. Under the 
amendments, editors at media organizations that disclose the identities 
of public personnel fighting terrorism may be fined, and a judge may 
order the closure for up to one month of a publication that ``makes 
propaganda for terrorist organizations.'' President Sezer challenged 
these amendments in the Constitutional Court, arguing that such 
restrictions violate the constitution. At year's end the challenged 
laws were stayed while the court case proceeded.
    During the year there was an increase in the number of cases 
against the press under the Antiterror Law. The TPA and human right's 
groups reported that the law contains an overly broad definition of 
offenses that allows ideologically and politically motivated 
prosecutions. For example, according to the TPA, prosecutors opened 530 
cases against pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur Gundem and its editors under the 
Antiterror Law. Of these, 104 resulted in convictions and 22 in 
acquittals. The owner of the newspaper was sentenced to a fine of 
$125,000 (192,755 lira) and the editor was sentenced to a 15-year 
prison term and fined $90,000 (134,000 lira). The Government closed the 
paper for two weeks during the year. During the year courts convicted 
editors and correspondents of the daily Cumhuriyet, including its 
owner, were convicted for a news article titled ``Acquittal of 
Torture.'' Prosecutors charged journalists of the daily Hurriyet under 
the Antiterror Law for attempting to interview Kurdish guerillas.

    Internet Freedom.--The Internet was widely available in the 
country. It is used in schools, libraries, private internet cafes and 
other public locations, and the Government encouraged its use. There 
were no government restrictions on Internet access; however, government 
authorities have on rare occasions accessed Internet user records to 
protect ``national security, public order, health, and decency'' or to 
prevent a crime. Police must obtain authorization from a judge or, in 
emergencies, the highest administrative authority before taking such 
action.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There generally were no 
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; 
however, university authorities suspended one academic who publicly 
supported views contrary to the official state ideology, and there was 
some self-censorship on sensitive topics.
    Gazi University professor of political philosophy and political 
economy Atilla Yayla was suspended for failing to support official 
state ideology. During a November 18 panel in Izmir organized by the 
local branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Yayla 
explained that his ``common civilization paradigm'' required a 
civilized country to have private property; limited, responsible, and 
accountable government; freedom of expression; religious freedom; 
political opposition; freedom of association; and the rule of law. He 
also stated that, despite widespread official propaganda, the single-
party era between 1925-1945, led mainly by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was 
not as progressive as it was claimed and was in some respects backward. 
Yayla also said that, with increasing EU exposure, Europeans would 
begin to ask, ``why are the same man's pictures and statues 
everywhere?'' Following these remarks, Gazi University suspended Yayla 
and launched an investigation into his remarks. The secretary general 
of the Turkish Youth Association, Osman Yilmaz, called on the Higher 
Education Board to dismiss Yayla from the academic profession, stating 
that Yayla had taken up ``the campaign of lies and slander of U.S. and 
EU authorities against Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey.'' Yayla 
reported that, since the panel discussion, he has been declared as a 
``traitor who swore at and insulted Ataturk.'' The Izmir prosecutor 
began an investigation into the matter.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the 
Government restricted this right in practice. Significant prior 
notification to authorities is required for a gathering, and 
authorities may restrict meetings to designated sites.
    Police killed demonstrators during the year. For example, 
government security forces killed a number of persons during violent 
riots in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, which emanated from large 
public funeral processions held for dead PKK members. The HRF reported 
that in late March and early April, during rioting, the police and 
military killed 14 persons, including five children.
    The trial of nine DEHAP officials for being members of an illegal 
organization continued at year's end. The nine officials were charged 
after they alleged that police shot and killed Umit Gonultas during a 
protest in support of Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the PKK. 
According to the HRA, there was no evidence that demonstrators used 
weapons during the altercation. No one has been prosecuted for the 
death of Gonultas.
    No investigation was initiated by law enforcement into the 2005 
death of Hasan Is, whose relatives and other witnesses claimed was shot 
and killed by police during an altercation at a funeral ceremony for 
PKK militants in Batman Province.
    No further information was available regarding allegations that in 
October 2005 Istanbul police shot and killed Atilla Gecmis during 
demonstrations in support of Abdullah Ocalan.
    Police beat, abused, detained, or harassed some demonstrators.
    On March 14, a local prosecutor opened a case against 54 police 
officers alleged to have used excessive force during a March 2005 
International Women's Day demonstration in Istanbul. The case was 
ongoing at year's end.
    On May 2 security forces arrested three Kurdish activists--Ibrahim 
Guclu, Zeynel Abidin Ozalp, and Ahmet Sedat Ogur--as they prepared to 
peacefully protest the recent killings of civilians by security forces 
in the southeast. The men were charged under the Antiterror Law for 
``making propaganda for the PKK.'' Their trial continued at year's end.
    Unlike the previous year, police did not interfere in Nevruz 
celebrations. There was no information regarding police detention of 
DEHAP officials and students in connection with 2005 Nevruz 
celebrations.
    The six juveniles charged for allegedly burning the Turkish flag 
during Nevruz celebrations in Mersin in 2005 remained free while their 
trial continued at year's end.
    During a September 2005 rally in support of PKK leader Abdullah 
Ocalan in Siirt province police detained 39 demonstrators; one of the 
demonstrators died. The public prosecutor dismissed the demonstrators' 
complaint that alleged the police beat and harassed them. Prosecutors 
later charged the demonstrators for chanting illegal slogans and 
performing an illegal march. The trial continued at year's end. 
Prosecutors charged Police Sergeant G.Y. in connection with the death 
of 35 year-old-demonstrator Abdullah Aydan. The court acquitted the 
sergeant in July.
    The October 2005 ruling that ordered 20 defendants to pay fines of 
$74 (100 lira) each for hanging placards with the letters found in 
Kurdish but not Turkish was under appeal at year's end.
    Proceedings continued at year's end in the appeal of the 2004 
conviction of HRF psychiatrist Alp Ayan and codefendants for holding an 
unauthorized demonstration.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association; however, there continued to be several restrictions on 
this right in practice.
    Under the new law adopted in July 2004, associations need not 
notify authorities before founding an association, but still must 
provide such notification before interacting with international 
organizations, and/or receiving financial support from abroad, and 
provide detailed documents on such activities. Representatives of 
associations said this placed an undue burden on their operations.
    Foreign associations wishing to conduct programs in the country are 
no longer required to receive separate permission from the interior 
ministry for each activity, but they are still required to submit 
detailed reports to the Government on each activity, despite the fact 
that local partners are required to report on the same projects.
    According to the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, an NGO advocacy 
organization, the criteria for NGOs to obtain public benefit status, 
entitling them to certain tax exemptions, are restrictive and 
complicated. Applications for public benefit status must be approved by 
the Council of Ministers. The law does not allow applicants to appeal 
if their petitions are rejected.
    Unlike the previous year no organizations were closed by the 
Government or courts.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provides for 
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right 
in practice; however, the Government imposed significant restrictions 
on Muslim and other religious groups.
    The law establishes the country as a secular state and provides for 
freedom of belief, freedom of worship, and the private dissemination of 
religious ideas; however, other constitutional provisions regarding the 
integrity and existence of the secular state restrict these rights.
    The Government oversees Muslim religious facilities and education 
through its Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which is under 
the authority of the Prime Ministry. The Diyanet regulates the 
operation of the country's 77,500 registered mosques and employing 
local and provincial imams, who are civil servants. A few groups, 
particularly Alevis, claimed that the Diyanet reflected mainstream 
Sunni Islamic beliefs to the exclusion of other beliefs; however, the 
Government asserted that the Diyanet treated equally all who request 
services.
    Academics estimated the Alevi population at 15 to 20 million, 
including ethnic Turks, Kurds, and Arabs. In general, Alevis follow a 
belief system that incorporates aspects of both Shi'a and Sunni Islam 
and draws on the traditions of other religions found in Anatolia as 
well. The Government considers Alevism a heterodox Muslim sect; 
however, some Alevis and absolutist Sunnis maintain that Alevis are not 
Muslims.
    Alevi ``cem houses'' (places of gathering) have no legal status as 
places of worship. Alevis in the Kartal district of Istanbul continued 
to pursue a court case against a decision by local authorities to deny 
them permission to build a cem house.
    In May authorities in the Sultanbeyli municipality of Istanbul 
reportedly banned the construction of a cem house on the grounds that 
the Pir Sultan Abdal Association, an Alevi group, had not acquired the 
necessary construction permits. Association officials said the local 
mayor and his staff had attended the groundbreaking ceremony and had 
promised not to interfere with the project; however, the municipality 
reportedly filed a case against the association after it proceeded with 
construction following the ban.
    Mystical Sufi and other religious-social orders (tarikats) and 
lodges (cemaats) are officially prohibited; however, tarikats and 
cemaats remained active and widespread. Many prominent political and 
social leaders continued to associate with these religious-social 
orders, lodges, and other Islamic societies.
    A separate government agency, the General Directorate for 
Foundations (GDF), regulates a few administratively critical activities 
of non-Muslim religious groups and their affiliated churches, 
monasteries, synagogues, and related religious property. There are 161 
``minority foundations'' recognized by the GDF, including Greek 
Orthodox foundations with approximately 70 sites, Armenian Orthodox 
foundations with approximately 50 sites, and Jewish foundations with 20 
sites, as well as Syrian Christian, Chaldean, Bulgarian Orthodox, 
Georgian, and Maronite foundations. The GDF also regulates Muslim 
charitable religious foundations, including schools, hospitals, and 
orphanages.
    Members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported continuing official 
harassment of their worship services because they are not members of an 
officially recognized religion. Police arrested 25-year-old member Feti 
Demirtas and sent him to prison on nine occasions for conscientiously 
objecting to military service, as his religion requires. According to 
Jehovah's Witness officials, such harassment which was not limited to 
Feti, included: arrests, court hearings, verbal abuse, kicks to the 
head and body, slaps in the face, choking, sleep deprivation, being 
handcuffed to doors and beds, being strip searched, and psychiatric 
evaluations.
    In mid-2005 the Witnesses appealed an administrative court decision 
that prohibited them from worshipping in their hall in Akcay in Bursa 
province. On December 12, after the court had taken no action on the 
case, the Witnesses filed a demand to expedite a hearing. There was no 
decision on that motion at year's end.
    Jehovah's Witnesses continued to engage in a legal battle over 
their efforts to form an association. On April 28, an Istanbul court 
rejected a lawsuit to cancel the Witnesses' newly formed association. 
Pending the prosecutor's subsequent appeal, the Witnesses may not 
conduct meetings as an association. On December 12, the Witnesses filed 
a request to expedite the case with the Court of Appeals. The request 
was pending at year's end.
    Religious affiliation is listed on national identity cards. A few 
religious groups, such as the Baha'i, are unable to state their 
religion on their cards because it is not included among the options; 
they have made their concerns known to the Government. In April 
parliament adopted legislation allowing persons to leave the religion 
section of their identity cards blank or change the religious 
designation by written application. However, the Government reportedly 
continued to restrict applicants' choice of religion; members of the 
Baha'i community said government officials had told them that, despite 
the new law, they would still not be able to list their religion on the 
cards.
    Secularists in the military, judiciary, and other branches of the 
bureaucracy continued to wage campaigns against what they labeled 
proponents of Islamic fundamentalism. These groups viewed religious 
fundamentalism as a threat to the secular state. The National Security 
Council categorized religious fundamentalism as a threat to public 
safety.
    According to the human rights NGO Mazlum-Der and other groups, a 
few government ministries have dismissed or barred from promotion civil 
servants suspected of antistate or Islamist activities. Reports by 
Mazlum-Der, the media, and others indicated that the military 
periodically dismissed religiously observant Muslims from military 
service. Such dismissals were based on behavior that military officials 
believed identified these individuals as Islamic fundamentalists, which 
they were concerned could indicate disloyalty to the secular state.
    According to Mazlum-Der, the military charged individuals with lack 
of discipline for activities that included performing Muslim prayers or 
being married to women who wore headscarves. According to the military, 
officers and NCOs were periodically dismissed for ignoring repeated 
warnings from superior officers and maintaining ties to what the 
military considered to be Islamic fundamentalist organizations. On 
November 30, the Government reported 37 military dismissals of which 
they claimed two were associated with religious extremism. An 
additional 17 were reportedly expelled in August for unspecified 
disciplinary reasons.
    The Government did not recognize the ecumenical status of the Greek 
Orthodox Patriarch, acknowledging him only as the head of the country's 
dwindling Greek Orthodox community. As a result the Government has long 
maintained that only citizens of the country could become patriarch, 
serve as members of the Greek Orthodox Holy Synod, and participate in 
patriarchal elections. Members of the Greek Orthodox community asserted 
that these restrictions threatened the survival of the patriarchate in 
Istanbul, because, with fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox persons 
remaining in the country, the community was becoming too small to 
maintain the institution.
    The law restricts religious services to designated places of 
worship. Municipal codes mandate that only the Government can designate 
a place of worship; if a religious group has no legal standing in the 
country, it may not be eligible for a designated site. Non-Muslim 
religious services, particularly for groups that did not own property 
recognized by the GDF, often took place on diplomatic property or in 
private apartments. Police occasionally prohibited Christians from 
holding services in private apartments, and prosecutors sometimes 
opened cases against Christians for holding unauthorized gatherings.
    In April Roman Catholic authorities reopened the Bebekli Church in 
Adana for Sunday services after municipal authorities discontinued the 
operating license of the wedding hall near by. Catholic leaders had 
closed the church in September 2005 because local authorities had 
failed to enforce zoning regulations requiring a 10-meter offset around 
the church building, and noise from an adjacent wedding hall had been 
interfering with church services.
    In August the Istanbul Protestant Church finalized the legal 
procedure for officially registering its building as a ``place of 
worship.'' This was the first time that the Government had not turned 
down a request for such status in the zoning plan.
    Many local officials continued to impose standards, such as minimum 
space requirements, on churches while failing to apply them to mosques.
    The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul continued to seek to reopen 
the Halki seminary on the island of Heybeli in the Sea of Marmara. The 
Government closed the seminary in 1971, when it nationalized all 
private institutions of higher learning. Under existing restrictions, 
religious communities other than Sunni Muslims cannot legally train new 
clergy in the country for eventual leadership. Coreligionists from 
outside the country have been permitted to assume leadership positions 
in a few cases, but in general all religious community leaders, 
including patriarchs and chief rabbis, must be citizens.
    No law explicitly prohibits proselytizing or religious conversions; 
however, many prosecutors and police regarded proselytizing and 
religious activism with suspicion. Police occasionally prevented 
Christians from handing out religious literature. The Government 
reported 157 conversions including 92 to Islam and 63 from Islam to a 
different religion. Christians performing missionary work were 
occasionally beaten and insulted. Police officers may report students 
who meet with Christian missionaries to their families or to university 
authorities.
    Several foreigners who are practicing Christians and have lived 
with their families in various cities for many years reported 
increasing governmental harassment during the year, including denial of 
residence and work permits that had been granted in previous years, 
monitoring by jandarma, and receiving threats to themselves and their 
families. These persons reported that they worshiped in their homes but 
did not proselytize by distributing bibles, going door-to-door, or 
undertaking similar activities.
    Unlike the previous year the Diyanet did not distribute 
antimissionary books; however, at least one municipality did distribute 
such material.
    Authorities continued to enforce a long-term ban on the wearing of 
headscarves at universities and by civil servants in public buildings. 
Women who wore headscarves and persons who actively showed support for 
those who defied the ban were disciplined or lost their jobs in the 
public sector as nurses and teachers. Students who wore head coverings 
were not permitted to register for classes, although some faculty 
members permitted students to wear head coverings in class.
    In November 2005 the ECHR Grand Chamber upheld a 2004 ECHR ruling 
that the ban on Islamic headscarves in the country's universities was 
lawful.
    In February the council of state ruled in favor of a decision by 
education authorities to revoke the promotion of an Ankara teacher to a 
nursery school principal position on the grounds that the teacher 
regularly wore an Islamic headscarf outside of school. Numerous 
journalists and religious rights advocates asserted that the court's 
decision effectively expanded the headscarf ban into the private 
sphere. The court, however, maintained that the teacher had violated 
the principle of secularism in education by wearing the headscarf while 
traveling to and from school.
    In May attorney Alparslan Arslan opened fire in the council of 
state court responsible for the February ruling, killing Judge Mustafa 
Yucel Ozbilgin and wounding four other judges. Arslan, who was 
apprehended at the scene, reportedly stated he was motivated by anger 
over the ruling. Thousands of protesters attending Ankara funeral 
ceremonies for Ozbilgin accused government leaders of inciting the 
attack by criticizing the headscarf ban and the council of state 
ruling. Protests in other cities were minor.
    The law establishes eight years of compulsory secular education for 
students. Subsequently students may pursue study at imam hatip (Islamic 
preacher) high schools. Imam hatip schools are classified as 
vocational, and graduates of vocational schools faced an automatic 
reduction in their university entrance exam grades if they applied for 
university programs outside their field of high school specialization. 
This reduction effectively barred imam hatip graduates from enrolling 
in university programs other than theology. Most families that enrolled 
their children in imam hatip schools did so to expose them to more 
extensive religious education, not to train them as imams.
    The constitution establishes compulsory religious and moral 
instruction in primary and secondary schools. Religious minorities are 
exempted. However, a few religious minorities--such as Protestants--
faced difficulty obtaining exemptions, particularly if their 
identification cards did not list a religion other than Islam. The 
Government claimed that the religion courses cover the range of world 
religions; however, religious minorities asserted the courses reflect 
Sunni Islamic doctrine, which they maintained explains why non-Muslims 
are exempt.
    Many Alevis alleged discrimination in the Government's failure to 
include any of their doctrines or beliefs in the religion courses. An 
Alevi parent in 2004 filed suit in the ECHR charging that the mandatory 
religion courses violate religious freedom; the case was ongoing at 
year's end.
    In April an Istanbul court ruled in favor of an Alevi father who 
requested that his son be exempt from the religion courses at school; 
in May, however, a higher court overturned the lower court's ruling.
    Officially recognized minorities may operate schools under the 
supervision of the Ministry of Education. Such schools are required to 
appoint a Muslim as deputy principal; reportedly these deputies had 
more authority than their nominal supervisors. The curriculum of these 
schools included Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Jewish 
instruction.
    Only the Diyanet is authorized to provide religion courses outside 
of school, although clandestine private courses existed. Students who 
complete five years of primary school may enroll in Diyanet Qur'an 
classes on weekends and during summer vacation. Many Qur'an courses 
function unofficially. Only children 12 and older may legally register 
for official Qur'an courses, and Mazlum-Der reported that law 
enforcement authorities often raided illegal courses for younger 
children. According to Diyanet figures, there are nearly 5,000 official 
Qur'an courses throughout the country.
    Numerous religious groups, particularly the Greek and Armenian 
Orthodox communities, have lost property to the Government and 
continued to fight ongoing efforts by the Government to expropriate 
properties. Many such properties were lost because the law allows the 
GDF to assume direct administration of properties that fall into disuse 
when the size of the local non-Muslim community drops significantly. 
The Government expropriated other properties that were held in the name 
of individual community members who emigrated or died without heirs. 
The GDF also took control of non-Muslim foundations after the size of 
the non-Muslim community in a particular district dropped below the 
level required to elect foundation board members.
    The law allows the 161 minority foundations recognized by the GDF 
to acquire property, and the GDF has approved 364 applications by non-
Muslim foundations to acquire legal ownership of properties. However, 
the law does not allow the foundations to reclaim hundreds of 
properties expropriated by the state over the years. Foundations have 
also been unable to acquire legal ownership of properties registered 
under names of third parties, including properties registered under the 
names of saints or archangels, during periods when foundations could 
not own property in their own name.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Attacks on those practicing 
Christian faiths continued.
    On January 8, five assailants severely beat Protestant church 
leader Kamil Kiroglu in Adana. One attacker wielded a knife and 
threatened to kill Kiroglu unless he renounced Christianity. The 
Government did not investigate the incident or make any arrests.
    On February 5, an assailant shot and killed Catholic priest Andrea 
Santaro in a church in Trabzon. A witness said the gunman shouted ``God 
is great'' as he shot Santaro from behind. A 16-year-old was charged in 
the case, and on October 10, the defendant was sentenced to 18 years, 
10 months in prison.
    On July 2, a Catholic priest in Samsun was attacked and suffered 
knife wounds. Authorities announced that, prior to the attack, the 
assailant had filed complaints against the priest for ``Christian 
propaganda.'' The assailant was arrested and the case was pending at 
year's end.
    Members of the Syriac community reported that Syriacs who were 
forced to leave their southeastern villages during PKK-related violence 
in the 1980s and 1990s faced fewer problems when attempting to return 
to their villages. Previously, local villagers, particularly village 
guards, often occupied the homes of Syriacs who fled and refused to 
leave when Syriacs attempted to return.
    In January 2005 a group of nationalists gathered outside the 
Dirilis Protestant Church in Istanbul and chanted slogans, vandalized 
the premises, and beat the landlord. The church has since shut down. 
There were no reports that a court case was opened against the 
perpetrators.
    There was no information that court cases were opened in the 
following 2005 cases: the April incident in which unknown assailants 
broke the windows of the International Protestant Church of Ankara and 
threw two Molotov cocktails into the building; the May incident during 
which individuals painted a red swastika on the apartment door of a 
Protestant pastor in Izmit and left a threatening letter; the May 
incident in which a Christian couple in Kayseri received two e-mails 
from an unknown party threatening to kill them because of their 
religious faith; or the November incident in which assailants attempted 
to set fire to the St. Paul Cultural Center.
    There were no reported threats against Tarsus Protestants during 
the year. The Government did not initiate any investigation or court 
case after the April 2005 incident during which Syriacs, who had 
recently returned from abroad to the southeastern village of Sari, 
discovered an explosive device in an orchard, or the June 2005 incident 
when a landmine exploded in the village of Harabele as a car carrying a 
Syriac bishop and two others passed by.
    On September 3, retired imam Bayram Ali Ozturk was stabbed to death 
following morning prayer in a mosque in Istanbul. Oztur's attacker, 
Mustafa Erdal, was killed by others in the mosque. Seven persons were 
arrested in connection with Erdal's killing but released by the court. 
According to press accounts on December 29, the prosecutor has appealed 
to the Istanbul heavy penal court, a higher court than the one that 
originally released the seven, to re-arrest three of those originally 
held. The appeal was pending. Ozturk was the primary candidate to 
succeed the head of the Nakshibendi tarikat (religious brotherhood).
    Many Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha'is faced societal 
suspicion and mistrust. Jews and Christians from most denominations 
freely practiced their religions and reported little discrimination in 
daily life. However, religious minorities asserted that they were 
effectively blocked from careers in state institutions, a claim 
supported in a 2004 report by a government human rights body.
    A variety of newspapers and television shows continued to feature 
anti-Christian and anti-Jewish messages, and anti-Semitic literature 
was common in bookstores.
    Trial proceedings were ongoing at year's end in the appeal of Kerim 
Akbas, who was convicted in 2004 for television broadcasts inciting 
violence against Christians.
    The Jewish community numbered approximately 23,000. Jewish 
community members reported a significant rise of anti-Semitic language 
in newspapers and websites, as well as increased societal antagonism 
and discrimination during the July-August conflict involving Israel and 
Lebanon.
    Huseyin Tanriverdi, an AKP deputy, chairman of the Turkey-
Palestinian Friendship group in the Parliament in his article in Vakit, 
identified ``the ruthless and inhuman Israeli attacks in the Middle 
East'' with Hitler's policies and said ``Israel hits not only the 
Muslims but the whole humanity.'' Numerous other articles appeared in 
papers criticizing Israel's actions in religious tones. Mustafa Celik 
wrote in Vakit on August 2, that ``Making friends with Zionist Jews and 
Israel is betraying the religion of God. Allah orders [that] the Jews 
and unfaithful are the . . . worst enemies of the faithful.''
    In the Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, a character 
portrays a Jewish doctor who cuts out the organs of Iraqis at the Abu 
Ghraib prison and sells them to wealthy clients in New York, London, 
and Tel Aviv. The film was a spinoff from the country's top-rated TV 
series of the same title.
    At year's end court proceedings continued in the Istanbul trial of 
73 suspects charged in connection with the November 2003 terrorist 
bombings of two synagogues, the British Consulate, and a bank.
    Trial proceedings continued in the case of the 2004 bombing of an 
Istanbul Masonic lodge. It was widely believed in the country that 
Masons have Zionist and anti-Islamic tendencies; evidence gathered in 
the investigation indicated that anti-Semitism was at least a partial 
factor in the attack, which killed two persons and wounded seven.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights; 
however, at times the Government limited them in practice. The law 
provides that a citizen's freedom to leave the country could be 
restricted only in the case of a national emergency, civic obligations 
(military service, for example), or criminal investigation or 
prosecution. The Government maintained a heavy security presence in the 
southeast, including numerous roadway checkpoints. Provincial 
authorities in the southeast, citing security concerns, denied some 
villagers access to their fields and high pastures for grazing.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Various NGOs estimated that 
there were from one to three million IDPs in the country remaining from 
PKK conflict, which began in 1984 and continued at a high level through 
the 1990s. The Government reported that 378,000 residents migrated from 
the southeast during the conflict, with many others departing before 
the fighting. On December 7, Hacettepe University released the results 
of a study that was commissioned by the Government, which concluded 
that an estimated 953,680 to 1,301,200 persons were displaced by 
conflict in the southeast between 1986-2005. The study found that the 
main reason for the large discrepancy between government and NGO 
figures was that the Government only included people evacuated by the 
security forces from settlements, and not those who were forced to flee 
due to generalized violence or for a combination of security and 
economic reasons. The study also noted that internal displacement in 
the country is part of a broader rural-to-urban migration, exacerbated 
by the violence in the southeast, and has been affected by large-scale 
development projects, such as the South-Eastern Anatolia Project and 
natural disasters.
    The law to compensate these IDP's allows persons who suffered 
material losses during the conflict with the PKK to apply for 
compensation; however, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in December 
that the law was being implemented in a way contrary to the 
Government's stated purpose and principles of fair and appropriate 
redress. According to HRW, rulings by provincial commissions charged 
with the law's implementation are woefully inadequate and actually 
hindered those IDPs who would like to return to their preconflict 
homes. Further, HRW found that IDPs have no realistic avenue of appeal. 
These findings mirror those of local NGOs and regional bar 
associations, who have maintained that the law includes unreasonable 
documentation requirements and awarded levels of compensation far below 
standards established by the ECHR. A representative from the interior 
ministry denied that the Government has implemented the law unfairly.
    The interior ministry reported that the review commissions had 
received a total of 255,339 applications for compensation under the law 
through December. The commissions have processed 48,723, approving 
25,628, rejecting 16,837, and ruling that compensation had already been 
provided in 6,258.
    According to the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation 
(TESEV), the law only compensates losses suffered after 1987, leaving 
out victims who suffered losses between 1984, when the clashes started, 
and 1987. TESEV reported that many victims who fled the region due to 
the deteriorating economic and security situation have been unable to 
receive compensation because they could not demonstrate a direct link 
between their losses and the actions of either the PKK or the security 
forces. HRW reached the same conclusion in its December reporting, in 
which it noted that the Government has unjustly refused to compensate 
those villagers in the southeast region displaced prior to 1987.
    Village guards occupied homes abandoned by IDPs and have attacked 
or intimidated IDPs attempting to return to their homes with official 
permission. Voluntary and assisted resettlements were ongoing. In a few 
cases, persons could return to their old homes; in other cases, 
centralized villages have been constructed. The Government reported 
that 5,869 persons returned to their villages from December 2005 
through December 2006.
    Foreign governments and national and international human rights 
organizations continued to criticize the Government's program for 
assisting the return of IDPs as secretive and inadequate.

    Protection of Refugees.--An administrative regulation provides for 
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; 
however, the Government exercised its option under the convention of 
accepting obligations only with respect to refugees from Europe. The 
Government has not established a formal system or legislation for 
providing protection to refugees.
    The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
reported that during the year the Government returned two recognized 
refugees to their country of origin. The Government also deported nine 
persons who contacted the UNHCR indicating their wish to apply for 
asylum, before the UNHCR had the opportunity to assess their refugee 
claims.
    The Government offered non-European refugees temporary residence 
while they were waiting to be resettled in another country. The UNHCR 
conducted refugee status determination for applicants from non-European 
countries and facilitated the resettlement of those recognized as 
refugees.
    Chechens, many of whom arrived in 2001, reported problems making 
asylum applications with the Government and renewing temporary 
residence permits.
    Illegal immigrants detained when found near the country's eastern 
border areas were more likely to be questioned about their asylum 
status and referred for processing than those caught while transiting 
or attempting to leave the country. However, access to the national 
procedure for temporary asylum was hindered by the lack of reception 
facilities for groups of interdicted migrants, potentially including 
asylum seekers, and a lack of interpreters to assist security 
officials.
    On January 27, the Government introduced amendments to the 1994 
Asylum Regulation that eliminate a time limit for asylum seekers, as 
well as the requirement to present a valid identity document. On June 
22, the Government issued an Implementation Directive that provided 
detailed guidance on the refugee status determination procedure and 
established a framework for the provision of assistance to asylum-
seekers and refugees.
    The UNHCR reported that it has been able to successfully intervene 
in most cases where asylum seekers arrived in the country after 
transiting through one or more other countries. In the past, the 
Government routinely rejected applications by such asylum seekers, 
claiming that they should have sought protection elsewhere.
    Access by the UNHCR to persons in detention who wish to apply for 
asylum, as well as to persons trying to seek asylum while they are at 
the international areas of the country's airports, remained 
problematic.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The constitution and law provides citizens with the right to change 
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal 
suffrage. However, the Government restricted the activities of a few 
political parties and leaders.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The 2002 parliamentary 
elections were held under election laws that the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found established a framework 
for democratic elections in line with international standards; however, 
the OSCE mission noted that several parties--notably the AKP, the 
winner of the elections--faced judicial action aimed at closing them 
down, and many candidates were also prohibited from running. The OSCE 
reported that, while there were a substantial number of cases of 
harassment reported by some political parties and by human rights 
groups, the elections were generally free and fair.
    Political parties and candidates could freely declare their 
candidacy and stand for election. The high court of appeals chief 
prosecutor could only seek to close political parties for 
unconstitutional activities by bringing a case before the 
Constitutional Court.
    DEHAP reconstituted itself as the DTP early in the year; 
nonetheless the Constitutional Court deliberations in the legal case 
seeking DEHAP's closure on charges of separatism were ongoing at year's 
end.
    Court proceedings continued in the retrial of Leyla Zana, Hatip 
Dicle, Orhan Dogan, and Selim Sadak, former members of parliament whose 
April 2004 conviction on charges of being members of, or supporting, 
the PKK was overturned in 2004 by the high court of appeals.
    During the year police raided dozens of DTP (formerly DEHAP) 
offices, particularly in the southeast, and detained hundreds of DTP 
officials and members. Jandarma and police regularly harassed DTP 
members through verbal threats, arbitrary detentions at rallies, and 
detention at checkpoints. Security forces also regularly harassed 
villagers they believed were sympathetic to DTP. Although security 
forces released most detainees within a short period, many faced 
trials, usually for supporting an illegal organization or inciting 
separatism.
    On June 10, Aydin Budak, the DTP mayor of Cizre, was sentenced to 
one year and three months in prison, for partaking in ``separatist 
propaganda.'' He stated in a speech that was aired on Roj TV that the 
isolation of Abdullah Ocalan was something ``provocative.'' Cizre's 
appeal of the verdict was pending at year's end.
    On July 27, the Erzurum Second Heavy Penal Court convicted and 
sentenced DTP Erzurum Provincial Chairman Bedri Firat to two years in 
prison for allegedly issuing propaganda supporting the PKK in a speech 
during Nevruz celebrations, by stating that Kurds were subject to 
genocide and for praising Abdullah Ocalan. Firat's appeal of the 
verdict was pending at year's end.
    Former DEHAP Chairman and current DTP Vice Chairman Tuncer 
Bakirhan, who had been the subject of over 60 investigations, had 25 
court cases concerning freedom of expression pending against him at 
year's end.
    The trial continued in the case of 12 officials from the pro-
Kurdish party Hak-Par for distributing Kurdish-language invitations to 
a March 2005 convention and speaking Kurdish during that convention. 
The defendants maintained that speaking in Kurdish is legal under the 
constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
    There were 24 women in the 550-seat parliament. There was one 
female minister in the 23-member cabinet.
    Although the number was unknown, some minority groups were active 
in political affairs. Many members of parliament and senior government 
officials were Kurds.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption 
remained a persistent problem.
    On June 23, the Supreme Court dismissed corruption charges against 
former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz and former state minister Gunes 
Taner, for procedural, not substantive, reasons. The Supreme Court's 
action had the same effect as formal acquittal.
    The ruling AKP established an ad hoc parliamentary committee to 
investigate corruption soon after coming to power in 2002. The 
corruption committee made a number of recommendations, including 
lifting parliamentary immunity and establishing a permanent 
parliamentary anticorruption committee, none of which have been 
adopted.
    On February 7, an Ankara military court convicted former naval 
forces commander Ilhami Erdil, on corruption charges involving military 
tenders and expenditures for his official residence. The court 
sentenced Erdil to three years in prison, a $35 dollar (50 lira) fine, 
and confiscated two of his Istanbul apartments. The court sentenced 
Deniz Halide Erdil and Sirin Melek Hekim to five months in prison for 
their alleged complicity in the matter, but later converted the 
sentence into a $418 (600 lira) fine for each. Similarly, the court 
sentenced General Erdil's assistant Kayatunc to two years and 15 days 
in prison, but converted the punishment to a $209 (300 lira) fine. The 
court acquitted General Erdil's wife Fusun Erdile.
    Opposition party members criticized the ruling AKP for refusing to 
lift the immunity of AKP parliamentarians suspected of corruption and 
other abuses.
    The law provides for public access to government information; 
however, the Government occasionally rejected applications on national 
security and other grounds, and there were no opportunities to appeal. 
HRF requests for information during the year were denied, and there was 
no opportunity to appeal. The Press Council reported that it received 
no complaints during the year from journalists regarding access to 
government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated 
in many regions but faced government obstruction and restrictive laws 
regarding their operations, particularly in the southeast. Government 
officials were generally not cooperative and responsive to their views.
    The HRA had 34 branches nationwide and claimed a membership of 
approximately 14,000. The HRF, established by the HRA, operated torture 
rehabilitation centers in Ankara, Izmir, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, and 
Adana and served as a clearinghouse for human rights information. Other 
domestic NGOs included the Istanbul-based Helsinki Citizens Assembly, 
the Ankara-based Turkish Democracy Foundation, the Turkish Medical 
Association, human rights centers at a number of universities, and 
Mazlum-Der.
    Human rights organizations and monitors, as well as lawyers and 
doctors involved in documenting human rights violations, continued to 
face detention, prosecution, intimidation, harassment, and formal 
closure orders for their legitimate activities. The HRA reported that 
prosecutors opened dozens of cases against HRA branches during the 
year. For example, on March 15, an Istanbul court sentenced HRA 
Istanbul branch chief Eren Keskin to 10 months in prison for insulting 
the military under Article 301 for comments he made during a 2002 
speech in Germany. The court later reduced the punishment to a fine. On 
November 23, a Bingol court sentenced HRA members Kiraz Bicici and 
Ridvan Kizgin to five months for allegedly insulting the military and 
police in a July 2003 press conference. The court later reduced the 
punishment to a fine.
    The Government generally cooperated with international governmental 
organizations such as the CPT, the UNHCR, and the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM); however, some international human 
rights workers reported that the Government purposefully harassed them 
or raised artificial bureaucratic obstacles to prevent their work.
    Unlike the previous year, police did not harass or intimidate human 
rights activists in the southeast after they met with foreign 
diplomats.
    On April 12, a HRW researcher conducting research in the southeast 
was detained by authorities and subsequently deported. The researcher, 
Jonathen Sugden, had been documenting abuses by police, jandarma, and 
the village guards. Authorities claimed that Sugden did not have valid 
authorization to be carrying out human rights work in the country; 
however, HRW stated that Sugden was present in the country on a three-
month visa, which authorities had confirmed provided a legitimate basis 
for him to carry out such research.
    There were government-sponsored human rights councils in all 81 
provinces and 850 subprovinces to serve as a forum for human rights 
consultations among NGOs, professional organizations, and the 
Government. The councils investigated complaints and, when deemed 
appropriate, referred them to the prosecutor's office. However, many 
councils failed to hold regular meetings or effectively fulfill their 
duties. Human rights NGOs generally refused to participate on the 
councils, maintaining that the councils lacked authority and were not 
independent, in part because unelected governors and subgovernors 
served as chairmen.
    A Human Rights Presidency (HRP) under the Prime Ministry monitored 
the implementation of legislation relating to human rights and 
coordinated the work of various government agencies in the field of 
human rights. The HRP did not have its own budget, and its resources 
were limited. The Human Rights Advisory Board, which falls under the 
HRP and was meant to serve as a link between government bodies and NGOs 
on human rights issues and provide advice to government institutions, 
did not meet during the year, despite a legal requirement that it 
convene at least three times per year. Human rights observers noted 
that the board became ineffective after its former chairman, Professor 
Ibrahim Kaboglu, and the former subcommission chairman, Professor 
Baskin Oran, were charged in May 2005 with ``inciting people to 
hatred'' and ``openly belittling judicial organs,'' due to passages in 
a 2004 report called ``Minorities and Cultural Rights.'' Kaboglu, Oran, 
and numerous board members resigned in protest.
    On May 10, the Ankara penal court acquitted Kaboglu and Oran, 
reasoning that there had been no crime under the Penal Code. The case 
was under appeal at year's end.
    Other government human rights bodies include the High Human Rights 
Board, an interministerial committee responsible for making 
appointments to human rights posts; and a Human Rights Consultation 
Board (HRCB), which serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas between 
the Government and NGOs. NGOs found these bodies to be of limited 
effectiveness.
    In March six NGOs--the Society of Forensic Medicine Specialists, 
the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association, the Turkish Medical 
Association, the Turkish Human Rights Institution Foundation, the Human 
Rights Foundation, and the Public Administration Institute for Turkey 
and the Middle East--announced that they were withdrawing from the HRCB 
because of government interference with the body.
    The parliamentary Human Rights Committee, which has a mandate to 
oversee compliance with the human rights provisions of domestic law and 
international agreements, investigated alleged abuses, prepared 
reports, and carried out detention center inspections. Human rights 
organizations considered the committee to be ineffective.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion, 
disability, language, or social status; however, problems with 
implementing these laws existed. The Government and NGOs focused on 
eliminating societal violence and discrimination against women and 
minorities, as well as trafficking, but problems continued to exist.

    Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a 
serious and widespread problem. The law prohibits violence against 
women, including spousal abuse. The Government did not effectively 
enforce the law; however, the interior ministry and Prime Ministry 
issued circulars during the year instructing relevant departments to 
better enforce these laws. Domestic human rights organizations reported 
that these measures were partially effective; more women called the 
police emergency hotline for domestic violence and went to police 
stations to file abuse reports.
    Women's NGOs reported that more than 150,000 women were victims of 
domestic violence between 2001-2005.
    The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape; however, the 
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Victims often waited 
days or weeks to report incidents, for fear of embarrassment or 
reprisals, which hindered the possibility of effective prosecution of 
assailants. Experts worked during the year to convince the Government 
to accept psychiatric victim reports as alternative forms of evidence. 
Cases of rape were underreported.
    The Government's Institution for Social Services and Orphanages 
operated 17 shelters for female victims of domestic violence and rape 
with a total capacity of 325. Municipalities and NGOs also operated 13 
shelters. Under legislation adopted in July 2005, municipalities with 
populations greater than 50,000 were required to establish shelters for 
women. Only the Duzce Municipality opened a new women's shelter during 
the year.
    The Government undertook a major campaign during the year to end 
the practice of honor killings--the killing by immediate family members 
of women suspected of being unchaste; however, the practice remained a 
problem. The Government reported that there were 1,806 honor killings 
between 2001 and 2006. During the same period, 5,375 women committed 
suicide. After the Government increased penalties for honor killings, 
family members increasingly pressured girls to kill themselves in order 
to preserve the family's honor, according to women's rights groups. 
Broaching the formerly taboo topic, Prime Minister Erdogan condemned 
the practice of honor killings at the Organization of the Islamic 
Conference in November. In July the Prime Ministry issued to all 
ministries and provincial governments a circular that reminded each 
government institution of its responsibility to prevent domestic 
violence, including honor killings. In December the interior ministry 
issued a circular to provincial governors instructing them to form 
special committees to prevent honor killings. Turkish imams joined pop 
music stars and soccer celebrities to produce television and billboard 
ads declaring honor killing a sin and condemning all forms of violence 
against women. The State Ministry for Women began a prevention of 
violence against women educational program for all soldiers doing their 
mandatory military service. Government officials worked with advocacy 
groups such as KA-MER, the leading women's organization in the 
southeast, to hold town hall meetings and set up rescue teams and 
hotlines for endangered women and girls. Under the Penal Code, honor 
killings require punishment of life imprisonment. Women's rights groups 
reported that there remained dozens of such killings every year, mainly 
in conservative Kurdish families in the southeast or among migrants 
from the southeast living in large cities. Because of sentence 
reductions for juvenile offenders, observers noted that young male 
relatives often were designated to perform the killing.
    On October 27, Turkish press reported that 15-year-old Naile Erdas 
from the southeastern city of Van was killed by her family when she 
gave birth to a child conceived during a rape. The girl, who hid her 
pregnancy, reportedly begged doctors at a state hospital where she gave 
birth not to return her to her family, fearing that she would be killed 
in accordance with the local tradition demanding her family's honor be 
cleansed. Doctors informed state authorities, but the prosecutor 
nevertheless handed the young woman over to her family, which, as Naile 
feared, killed her. At year's end, Naile's uncles and father were under 
arrest for making the decision to kill her, while her brother, the 
suspected killer, remained at large.
    On November 25, Dumlu Ozcelik was sentenced to life in prison by 
the Fourth Bursa High Criminal Court, for killing his daughter Huri 
Ozcelik in July. Huri left her husband and took her two children to 
Ankara, allegedly with another man. Dumlu tracked down his daughter 
Huri, brought her back to his home in Bursa, and shot her six times in 
front of her children. Dumlu's sons Ensar and Karen were acquitted by 
the same court for involvement in the murder.
    In mid-December the Bursa Gunyuzu Women's Solidarity Cooperative 
brought suit against the Bursa Greater Municipality and the Osmangazi 
district for failing to properly implement laws enacted to end the 
practice of honor killings. The suit was pending at year's end.
    In March 2005 a 15-year-old girl in Diyarbakir was allegedly raped 
by her father-in-law who, she claimed, demanded that she prostitute 
herself in order to earn money. When she refused, relatives allegedly 
attacked her and cut off her nose. Police arrested her father-in-law 
and three brothers-in-law; however, amid family pressure, the victim 
withdrew her complaint in September, and prosecutors dropped the case.
    In March a trial court convicted a 14-year-old of murdering his 
mother in May 2005, allegedly for disgracing the family when she 
discussed being beaten by her husband on a television show. The court 
sentenced him to 10 years in prison and acquitted the father and 
stepson of involvement in the crime. The verdict was being appealed at 
year's end.
    The appeal of the 2004 conviction by a Sanliurfa court of nine 
relatives of Emine Kizilkurt continued at year's end. The relatives 
were sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder of 
Kizilkurt, who was 14, after she was raped by a neighbor.
    In 2005 Dicle University in Diyarbakir conducted a survey on honor 
killings during the year. The university polled 430 persons in the 
southeast; 78 percent of those surveyed were men. The survey revealed 
that 37.4 percent of the respondents believed honor killings were 
justified if a wife committed adultery, and 21.6 percent believed 
infidelity justified punishments such as cutting off a wife's ear or 
nose.
    Prostitution is legal. Trafficking in women was a problem (see 
section 5, Trafficking).
    The law prohibits sexual harassment; however the Penal Code 
contains inconsistent provisions. Article 94, titled ``torture,'' 
requires 10-15 years imprisonment for sexual harassment, while Article 
105, titled ``sexual harassment,'' requires three months to two years, 
plus a fine, and requires the victim to initiate the complaint. Women's 
rights activists maintained that sexual harassment was common, and the 
law was rarely enforced.
    Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men; however, 
societal and official discrimination were widespread.
    The Directorate General on the Status and Problems of Women, under 
the State Ministry in Charge of Family Affairs, is responsible for 
promoting equal rights and raising awareness of discrimination against 
women.
    Women continued to face discrimination in employment to varying 
degrees and were generally underrepresented in managerial-level 
positions as well as in government. Women generally received equal pay 
for equal work in professional, business, and civil service positions, 
although a large percentage of women employed in agriculture and in the 
retail, restaurant, and hotel sectors worked as unpaid family labor.

    Children.--The Government was committed to furthering children's 
welfare and worked to expand opportunities in education and health.
    Government-provided education through age 14 or the eighth grade 
was free, universal, and compulsory. The World Bank reported that gross 
enrollment for grades one to eight was 96 percent, while net enrollment 
for those grades was 90 percent. The maximum age to which public 
schooling was provided was 18. Only 40 percent of children have a high-
school diploma, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development. One in 10 girls does not attend compulsory primary school.
    Child abuse was a problem. There were a significant number of honor 
killings of girls by immediate family members, sometimes by juvenile 
male relatives (see section 5, Women). In October 2005 police arrested 
five employees of the Malatya state orphanage in connection with an 
investigation into the alleged torture and abuse of children at the 
institution (see section 1.c.).
    Child marriage occurred, particularly in rural, poverty-stricken 
regions; however, women's rights activists claimed that underage 
marriage has become less common in the country in recent years.
    Children as young as 12 were at times married in unofficial 
religious ceremonies. Families in rare instances engaged in ``cradle 
arrangements,'' agreeing that their newborn children would marry at a 
later date, well before reaching the legal age.
    Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were reports of trafficking in women and children to and 
within the country for the purpose of sexual exploitation and 
occasionally labor. There were allegations that police corruption at 
all levels contributed to the trafficking problem.
    The country was a destination and source for trafficked persons. 
The Government identified 246 trafficking victims during the year. 
Young women seeking employment, particularly from Moldova, Ukraine, 
Belarus, and Russia, were at the greatest risk of being trafficked into 
the country. The most identified foreign victims were trafficked for 
sexual exploitation and were found in Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya, 
although victims were identified in cities all around the country. 
There were media reports of Turks being trafficked internally and, 
according to NGOs working in the field, the number of women trafficked 
internally for sexual exploitation was increasing.
    Most trafficking activity within the country occurred in Istanbul, 
Antalya, Ankara, Mersin, and Trabzon. For example, in December a 13-
year-old runaway girl was rescued by police after being held captive by 
traffickers in Trabzon and being forced into prostitution. Police 
arrested three suspects. The case was pending at year's end.
    The case of a 14-year-old girl who in September 2005 was held 
captive in Antalya and forced to have sexual relations with numerous 
men was pending at year's end.
    Foreign victims trafficked to the country were typically recruited 
by small networks of foreign nationals and Turkish citizens, who relied 
on referrals and recruitment from friends and family members in the 
source country. Some victims answered newspaper advertisements or 
enlisted the help of job agencies in the source country. The victims 
often did not know where they were going or which airlines they were 
using. Some victims reportedly arrived in the country knowing that they 
would work illegally in the sex industry; however, most arrived 
believing they would work as models, waitresses, dancers, domestic 
servants, or in other regular employment. Traffickers typically 
confiscated victims' documents, then confined, raped, beat, starved, 
and intimidated them by threatening their families and ultimately 
forced them into prostitution.
    Some trafficking cases involved children. For example, a 16-year-
old girl in Istanbul said she had been forced into prostitution since 
she was 8 years old, first by her family and then by a series of 
traffickers. A youth center in Istanbul allegedly neglected to help 
these girls despite awareness of the activity.
    A 20-year-old Moldovan woman recounted a common trafficking 
scenario. She was promised work as a restaurant waitress by a close 
friend. Upon arrival in the country, her friend abandoned her at a 
hotel. An Azerbaijani woman arrived and told her she had been sold for 
$3,000 and would have to pay back the money over five months of 
prostitution. She worked with four other girls at the same hotel. 
Clients beat her regularly. She was forced to service 15 clients per 
day, often without protection. She became pregnant. Police rescued the 
victim and six other women after she called the trafficking hotline 
from a client's mobile phone. All were identified as victims of 
trafficking and received shelter and assistance.
    The law punishes trafficking with prison terms ranging from eight 
to 12 years' imprisonment in addition to heavy fines. The 2005 Penal 
Code specifically addresses trafficking as a crime. However, 
prosecutors have mostly tended to use other articles that regulate 
prostitution, rather than the new law on trafficking, which has so far 
rendered the new law nearly ineffective. In December parliament passed 
two amendments to the Penal Code that addressed this problem by 
removing forced prostitution from the article regulating prostitution 
and adding it explicitly to the antitrafficking article. The amendments 
were signed into law by the President in December. The Government 
reported that prosecutors opened 26 new cases against alleged 
traffickers through June. Courts convicted 22 defendants and acquitted 
54 on trafficking charges during that period. Several cases were 
ongoing at year's end.
    An ambassador-level Ministry of Foreign Affairs official serves as 
national coordinator for the Government's Task Force on Human 
Trafficking, which is composed of representatives from the ministries 
of health, interior, justice, finance, and labor, among others. The 
Government actively participated in international antitrafficking 
investigations. During the year the Government implemented agreements 
with neighboring countries and regional groups providing for 
antitrafficking law enforcement cooperation.
    Source country officials reported that central government offices 
provided information on trafficking matters in a somewhat timely 
manner, but dealings with offices outside Ankara were slow and 
difficult.
    There were credible reports that the Government continued its 
practice of processing trafficking cases as voluntary prostitution and 
illegal migration. The IOM reported that it assisted 191 trafficking 
victims who departed voluntarily. The national police identified 246 
trafficking victims, all of whom departed voluntarily.
    Four police and 10 jandarma officials were arrested during the year 
for either ignoring or facilitating trafficking in persons.
    There were two shelters for trafficking victims, both operated by 
NGOs, in the country.
    The health and justice ministries provided free medical and legal 
services to foreign victims choosing to remain in the country.
    The IOM and national police reported that the Ministry of Interior 
issued 35 humanitarian visas since 2004. The Government did not have a 
repatriation program for victims.
    During the year the Government, in cooperation with the IOM, 
continued a multicountry trafficking in persons' prevention and public 
awareness campaign, begun in May 2005, that included operation of a 
toll-free hotline for victims; television commercials; posters and 
billboards in major airports and seaports; information at passport 
control booths for the targeted group of women; and a periodical 
distributed by consulates advertising the hotline in Turkish, Romanian, 
Russian, and English. The Jandarma published a guidebook on the fight 
against trafficking in persons to educate its officers on detecting 
human trafficking crimes. In June the directorate of Women's Status and 
Children's Affairs organized a meeting to coordinate regional efforts 
against trafficking that included government and nongovernmental 
representatives from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, 
Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services and the 
Government generally enforced the law effectively. The law does not 
mandate access to buildings and public transportation for persons with 
disabilities. The Presidency Administration for Disabled People, under 
the Prime Ministry, is responsible for protecting the rights of persons 
with disabilities.
    The NGO Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) announced 
that use of electroconvulsive or ``shock'' treatment without anesthesia 
was abolished but that there remains no legal ban on the practice. In 
September 2005 MDRI released a report stating that people with mental 
disabilities in the country were subject to treatment ``tantamount to 
torture.'' The international NGO, which conducted a two-year study in 
the country, claimed the country lacked community-based support for 
mental patients and offered no alternative to state institutions where 
the mentally disabled were held separately from society in ``prison-
like incarceration.'' Specific abuses listed in the report included: 
mental patients committed to psychiatric hospitals without judicial 
review; excessive use of electroconvulsive shock treatment without 
anesthesia; use of shock treatment on young children; malnutrition and 
dehydration of patients; lack of rehabilitation and physical therapy; 
and excessive use of physical restraints, including children tied to 
beds for extended periods.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides a single 
nationality designation for all citizens and does not recognize ethnic 
groups as national, racial, or ethnic minorities. Citizens of Kurdish 
origin constituted a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the 
country's citizens identified themselves as Kurds and spoke Kurdish. 
Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or 
publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked censure, 
harassment, or prosecution (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
    The Government maintained significant restrictions on the use of 
Kurdish and other ethnic minority languages in radio and television 
broadcasts and in publications (see section 2.a.).
    The Ministry of Education did not respond to the HRA's 2005 letter 
requesting that it remove the book On This Path from of its reading 
curriculum list. The HRA protested that the book had racist statements 
about Armenians, including, ``Are you human, you Armenian?'' At year's 
end the HRA was not able to confirm whether the ministry removed the 
book.
    A number of private Kurdish language courses closed during the 
year, citing a lack of students. Kurdish rights advocates said many 
Kurds could not afford to enroll in private classes. They also 
maintained that many potential applicants were intimidated because 
authorities required those enrolling in the courses to provide 
extensive documents, including police records that were not required 
for other courses. They maintained that the requirements intimidated 
prospective applicants, who feared police were keeping records on 
students taking the courses.
    The International Romani Studies Network (IRSN) reported that Roma 
faced significant discrimination, and the national media consistently 
portrayed them in ways that supported negative stereotypes. IRSN 
reported that Roma were more consistently undereducated and 
underemployed, suffered much higher levels of ill-health, higher 
incidences of discrimination based on ethnicity, and had poorer housing 
than any other group in the country. The Roma have organized 18 
associations and two federations in 12 provinces with the purpose of 
combating these problems, developing Romani culture, and improving the 
self-image of Romani youth.
    According to the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), a family of 
Roma in the central eastern city of Afyon faced mob violence on April 
29, after a court released two Romani youths who had been arrested for 
alleged abuse of female students. The ERRC reported that the school 
director confronted the two Roma in a bazaar, and along with vendors 
burned the Romanis' car. After the Romani youths fled to their home, a 
crowd gathered and began to beat the Roma present. When the Roma fled 
to another house, the crowd followed and burned the house and several 
other Romani houses. Police again took the two Romani youths into 
custody. No one had been arrested for the reported attacks at year's 
end.
    Urban development projects in several cities have adversely 
affected some Turkish citizens, including Roma. For example, according 
to the ERRC, on July 13 municipal authorities in the Fatih District of 
Istanbul signed an agreement with the Turkish Public Housing 
Administration to immediately demolish 529 apartments in a 
predominantly Romani neighborhood. Roma community members stated that 
they were never informed of the decision, which they learned of from 
television news reports. The families reportedly have not been offered 
compensation or assistance and cannot afford to buy new houses.
    The law states that ``nomadic Gypsies'' are among the four 
categories of people not admissible as immigrants.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While the law does not 
explicitly discriminate against homosexuals, representatives of the gay 
and lesbian rights organizations Lambda Istanbul and Kaos GL claimed 
that vague references in the law relating to ``the morals of society'' 
and ``unnatural sexual behavior'' were sometimes used to punish 
homosexuality. During the summer the Ankara governor ordered the 
confiscation of Kaos's quarterly magazine that included a one-page 
article that explored societal conceptions of ``intimacy'' and 
``pornography.'' On December 28, a prosecutor opened a case against 
Umut Gurel, the magazine's editor, alleging that the issue was 
``harmful to children.'' Gurel faces up to three years in prison. Gay 
and lesbian rights activists maintained that homosexuals risked losing 
their jobs if they disclosed their sexual orientation and said the law 
did not protect their rights in such circumstances.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides most but not all 
workers with the right to associate and form unions subject to diverse 
restrictions; most workers exercised this right in practice. The 
Government maintains a few restrictions on the right of association. 
Unions may be established by a minimum of seven persons without prior 
permission. There are no restrictions on membership or participation of 
individuals or unions in regional, national, or international labor 
organizations, but such participation must be reported to the 
Government. Labor law prohibits union leaders from becoming members of 
political parties, from working for or being involved in the operation 
of any profit-making enterprise, and from displaying any political 
party logos or symbols on any union or confederation publications. 
Unions are required to obtain official permission to hold meetings or 
rallies and to allow government representatives to attend their 
conventions and record the proceedings; these requirements were usually 
enforced. Approximately 20 percent of the wage and salary workers in 
the labor force were unionized.
    The appeal of the Government's closure of the teachers' union 
Egitim-Sen on grounds that the union's bylaw violated the constitution 
by advocating the right of individuals to receive education in their 
``mother tongue'' remained pending with ECHR at year's end; however, 
Egitim-Sen removed the controversial article from the bylaws, so the 
teachers' union was able to remain open.
    The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, such 
discrimination occurred occasionally in practice. If a court rules that 
a worker has been unfairly dismissed and should either be reinstated or 
be compensated, the employer will generally pay compensation to the 
employee along with a fine.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law and 
diverse government restrictions and interference limited the ability of 
unions to conduct their activities, including collective bargaining. 
Industrial workers and some public sector employees, excluding white-
collar civil servants and security personnel, have the right to bargain 
collectively, and approximately 1.3 million workers, or 5.4 percent of 
the workforce, were under collective bargaining agreements. The law 
requires that, in order to become a bargaining agent, a union must 
represent 50 percent plus one of the employees at a given work site and 
10 percent of all the workers in that particular industry. This 
requirement favored established unions. The International Trade Union 
Confederation claimed that the law resulted in workers in many sectors 
not being covered by collective agreements.
    The law provides for the right to strike; however, the law requires 
a union to take a series of steps, including negotiations and 
nonbinding mediation, before calling a strike. The law prohibits unions 
from engaging in secondary (solidarity), political, or general 
strikes--strikes involving multiple unions over a large geographical 
area--or in work slowdowns. In sectors in which strikes are prohibited, 
labor disputes were resolved through binding arbitration.
    The law prohibits strikes by civil servants, public workers engaged 
in the safeguarding of life and property, workers in the coal mining 
and petroleum industries, sanitation services, national defense, 
banking, and education; however, many workers in these sectors 
conducted strikes in violation of these restrictions with general 
impunity. The majority of strikes during the year were illegal 
according to law; while some illegal strikers were dismissed, in most 
cases employers did not retaliate.
    There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in 
the country's 21 free trade and export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
    Some parents forced their children to work on the streets and to 
beg (see section 6.d.).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace; 
however, the Government did not effectively implement these laws. The 
use of child labor was particularly notable in agriculture, carpentry, 
the shoemaking and leather goods industry, the auto repair industry, 
small-scale manufacturing, and street sales. The law prohibits the 
employment of children younger than 15 and prohibits children under 16 
from working more than eight hours a day. At age 15 children may engage 
in light work provided they remain in school. The law provides that no 
person shall be required to perform work unsuitable for their age, 
gender, or capabilities, and the Government prohibits children from 
working at night or in areas such as underground mining. The law 
prohibits children attending school from working more than two hours 
per day or 10 hours per week.
    The Ministry of Labor and Social Security effectively enforced 
these restrictions in workplaces that were covered by the labor law, 
which included medium and large-scale industrial and service sector 
enterprises. A number of sectors are not covered by the law, including 
small-scale agricultural enterprises employing 50 or fewer workers, 
maritime and air transportation, family handicraft businesses, and 
small shops employing up to three persons.
    Nonetheless, child labor was widespread. The State Statistical 
Institute reported that the number of child laborers between the ages 
of 12 and 17 dropped from 948,000 in 2003 to 764,000 in 2004; however, 
the institute stopped collecting specific data on child laborers 
thereafter and some observers continued to claim that there were no 
reliable statistics in this field and that the actual number of working 
children was rising.
    An informal system provided work for young boys at low wages, for 
example, in auto repair shops. Girls rarely were seen working in 
public, but many were kept out of school to work in handicrafts, 
particularly in rural areas. According to the labor and social security 
ministry, more than half of child labor occurred in the agricultural 
sector. However, observers maintained that the bulk of child labor had 
shifted to urban areas as rural families migrated to cities. Many 
children worked in areas not covered by labor laws, such as 
agricultural workplaces with fewer than 50 workers or the informal 
economy. To combat this ongoing problem, the Ministry of National 
Education conducted a program in cooperation with the UN Children's 
Fund called Let Us Send Girls To School, which was designed to provide 
primary education for at-risk girls. By year's end the program 
benefited nearly 250,000 school-age girls.
    Small enterprises preferred child labor because it was cheaper and 
provided practical training for the children, who subsequently had 
preference for future employment in the enterprise. If children 
employed in these businesses were registered with a Ministry of 
National Education training center, they were required to go to the 
center once a week for training, and the centers were obliged by law to 
inspect their workplaces. According to data provided by the ministry, 
there were 300 centers located in 81 cities; these centers provided 
apprenticeship training in 133 occupations. The Government identified 
the worst forms of child labor as children working in the streets, in 
industrial sectors where their health and safety were at risk, and as 
agricultural migrant workers.
    Children were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section 5).
    There were no reliable statistics for the number of children 
working on the streets nationwide. The Government's Social Services and 
Child Protection Institution operated 44 centers to assist such 
children.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of 
approximately $360 (531 lira) per month did not provide a decent 
standard of living for a worker and family. All workers covered by the 
labor law are also covered by the law establishing a national minimum 
wage. This law was effectively enforced by the Ministry of Labor 
Inspection Board.
    The law establishes a 45-hour workweek with a weekly rest day, and 
limits overtime to three hours per day for up to 90 days a year. 
Premium pay for overtime is mandated but the law allows for employers 
and employees to agree to a flextime schedule. The Labor Inspectorate 
of the Ministry of Labor effectively enforced wage and hour provisions 
in the unionized industrial, service, and government sectors, which 
covered approximately 12 percent of workers. Workers in other sectors 
had difficulty receiving overtime pay, although by law they were 
entitled to it.
    The law mandates occupational health and safety regulations; 
however, in practice the Government's Ministry of Labor Inspection 
Board did not carry out effective inspection and enforcement programs. 
Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that 
endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their employment, 
although reports of them doing so were rare. Authorities effectively 
enforced this right.

                               __________

                                UKRAINE

    Ukraine, which has a population of slightly less than 47 million, 
is a republic with a mixed Presidential and parliamentary system, 
governed by a directly elected President and a unicameral Verkhovna 
Rada (parliament) that selects a prime minister. Verkhovna Rada 
elections were held on March 26. According to international observers, 
fundamental civil and political rights were respected during the 
campaign, enabling voters to freely express their opinions. The 
opposition Party of Regions won a plurality of the vote, formed a 
ruling coalition, and established a government. Civilian authorities 
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
    Problems with the police and the penal system remained some of the 
most serious human rights concerns. Problems included torture in 
pretrial detention facilities; wrongful confinement in psychiatric 
hospitals; harsh conditions in prisons and pretrial detention 
facilities; and arbitrary and lengthy pretrial detention. There was 
also continued violent hazing of conscripts and government monitoring 
of private communications and movements of individuals without judicial 
oversight. Slow restitution of religious property continued. There was 
societal violence against Jews and anti-Semitic publications were a 
problem. There were serious incidents of refoulement--the forcible 
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. Refugees 
were abused at detention facilities. Serious corruption in all branches 
of government and the military services also continued. Trends of 
violence and discrimination against children and women, including 
sexual harassment in the workplace and trafficking in persons remained 
concerns. Frequent police and societal harassment of minorities, 
particularly Roma and dark-skinned persons, remained a problem. 
Violence against dark-skinned persons was a growing problem in the last 
half of the year. Inadequate labor legislation permitted both 
government and companies to limit the ability of workers to form and 
join unions of their choice and to bargain collectively.
    During the year the Government made several improvements in its 
human rights performance. The elections for the Verkhovna Rada in March 
were the freest in the country's 15 years of independence and the media 
continued to consolidate post-Orange Revolution gains in freedom of 
speech and expression.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous 
years, there were no reports that the Government or its agents 
committed politically motivated killings.
    During the year politicians, politically active businessmen, and 
journalists were the victims of sometimes fatal attacks that may have 
been politically motivated; however, business, government, and criminal 
activities were intertwined to such an extent that it was often 
difficult to determine the motives. For example, on August 20, the body 
of Roman Yerokhin, the former deputy head of the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs' organized crime directorate in Donetsk, was found in the Kyiv 
region almost a month after he disappeared. Minister of Internal 
Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko stated publicly that Yerokhin had been 
investigating economic crimes, in particular foreign currency exchange 
centers involved in money laundering, and that unnamed members of the 
Verkhovna Rada were involved in his disappearance. Head of the anti-
corruption fund and businessman Borys Penchuk alleged that Yerokhin had 
been engaged in criminal activity himself.
    There were no developments in the criminal case opened in July 2005 
against police officers in Zhytomyr, who beat to death an unidentified 
36-year-old man while he was detained on charges of petty hooliganism. 
The media reported that the Zhytomyr regional prosecutor called the 
incident ``deliberately inflicting injury on a person'' and ``exceeding 
authority.'' There were no arrests or other developments in a September 
2005 incident in which police in Kherson beat to death a suspected 
thief.
    There were no developments in the investigation into the death of 
21 year-old Armen Melkonyan, whom police beat to death in a Kharkiv 
pretrial detention center in December 2005.
    In December 2005 court proceedings began against twelve alleged 
members (seven of whom are in custody) of the ``werewolves,'' a gang of 
rogue officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had been 
involved in previous years in killings and kidnappings connected to 
organized crime. As reported in the Segodnia newspaper, the accused 
are: Vasyl Haidai, Volodymyr Lysenko, Serhiy Kiselevych, Oleh Sverdlov, 
Valeriy Melnykov, Pavlo Keppel, Vladyslav Dubovoi, Yuriy Nesterov, 
Anatoliy Mocharniy, Oleksandr Harkushin, and Ruslan Rozhniatynskiy. In 
June the Institute for Mass Information reported that one of the 
defendants in the case was involved in the 2001 killings of Oleksandr 
Skliar, a driver at the Verkhovna Rada, and Pavlo Poteriaiko, a senior 
officer at the State Security Agency. No verdict was reached by the end 
of the year.
    On July 7, the Luhansk court of Appeals sentenced five people--
Oleksandr Rybak, Dmytro Rybak, Oleksandr Onyshko, Ruslan Tursunov, and 
Serhiy Korytskiy--to between two and 15 years in prison for their 
involvement in the 2001 killing of Ihor Aleksandrov, the director of a 
television station in the Donetsk Region. Aleksandrov's family received 
financial compensation in the amount of $80,000 (400,000 hryvnia). The 
killing of Aleksandrov, who had aired a number of critical reports 
about Donetsk-based politicians and was a noted critic of corruption 
within local law enforcement organizations, was attributed to his 
professional activities.
    On January 9, the Kyiv court of Appeals started hearings in the 
unresolved 2000 killing of prominent journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, whose 
decapitated body was identified in November 2000 after his 
disappearance two months earlier. The court was expected to rule in the 
case of the three defendants, two of whom were senior police officers, 
in 2007. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) 
observer who attended the proceedings stated that PACE was not 
satisfied with the investigation of the journalist's killing, 
particularly, in determining who ordered the killing. In 2005 the 
prosecutor general's office issued an international arrest warrant for 
a fourth senior police official, former General Oleksiy Pukach, who had 
fled the country. In January First Deputy Interior Minister Oleksander 
Bondarenko stated that Pukach was still at large and probably hiding in 
Russia or Israel.
    On August 23, President Yushchenko ordered a new inquiry into the 
death of the famous nationalist and Ukrainian People's Movement leader 
Vyacheslav Chornovil, who died in a car crash in the Kyiv region in 
1999. A number of politicians claimed at the time that the accident was 
suspicious. However, the official investigation indicated that the 
crash was an accident. On September 7, Minister of Internal Affairs 
Lutsenko stated to the media that documents from the investigation 
proved that Chornovil's death was not accidental.
    Human rights groups asserted that soldiers continued to kill other 
soldiers during violent hazing events, and military officials 
acknowledged that there have been hazing deaths but provided 
conflicting information as to how many occurred in 2006. (see section 
1.c.).

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--While the Constitution and the law prohibit such 
practices, police frequently employed severe violence against persons 
in custody.
    According to Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch, and 
the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, law enforcement officials 
competing to solve criminal cases used force and ill-treatment 
routinely and with impunity to extract confessions and information from 
detainees. Police officers were often not adequately trained or 
equipped to gather evidence and were expected to meet ambitious quotas 
for solved cases, and therefore depended on confessions to solve 
crimes. In addition, an ineffective system for investigating 
allegations of abuse and detainees' lack of access to defense lawyers 
and doctors did little to check this practice.
    There were multiple and credible reports from human rights 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and diplomats that authorities 
regularly abused refugees during the year at refugee detention centers 
in Zakarpattya Region, which borders European Union (EU) member states 
Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary (see section 2.d.).
    During the year authorities continued efforts to prosecute police 
officers who abused persons in detention. The Ministry of Interior 
confirmed 385 cases of police officers violating the rights of 
detainees, including 23 torture cases, 152 cases of bodily injury and 
other types of violence, and 57 cases of unlawful detention during the 
first ten months of 2006. According to the Ministry of Interior, 359 
police officers were subject to disciplinary measures.
    In July a Kyiv court sentenced police sergeant Viktor Sych to four 
years in prison for wounding a political activist putting up campaign 
leaflets at night in March. The police officer mistook him for a car 
thief, which the court termed ``negligence while in service.''
    Also in July the Dnipropetrovsk prosecutor's office detained two 
police officers for reportedly torturing a 17-year-old detainee charged 
with theft and burglary.
    On August 23, the Poltava Region court of Appeal sentenced 
Volodymyr Shabliy, a former member of the region department on fighting 
organized crime, to eight years in prison for torturing people accused 
of crimes to obtain their confession. Four of his colleagues are wanted 
by the police and are still at large.
    At year's end, the investigation was continuing into the September 
2004 poisoning of then-opposition Presidential candidate Viktor 
Yushchenko. President Yushchenko told reporters on December 14 that 
there was enough information to arrest those involved, though some were 
not in the country; he also questioned whether the prosecutor general's 
office would move forward with the case.
    In June the Desnianskiy District court in Chernihiv gave police 
colonel Ivan Kochubei, former first deputy chief of the Chernihiv 
Region Police, a five-year suspended sentence for sanctioning the use 
of force against demonstrators who protested against electoral fraud in 
Chernihiv in November 2004.
    The Government did not respond to repeated calls by AI for a 
thorough independent investigation into an alleged case of torture of 
Ihor Tymchuk in a pretrial detention center in Ivano-Frankivsk, despite 
a number of letters sent to then prosecutor general Piskun and 
President Yushchenko in 2005. High-ranking police officers allegedly 
tortured and beat the detainee over the course of two months in 2002 to 
force him to confess to a murder he said he did not commit. He was 
sentenced to life in prison in 2004.
    The law prohibits the abuse of psychiatry for political and other 
non-medical reasons and provides safeguards against such abuse, but on 
a few occasions, according to human rights groups, persons involved in 
property, inheritance, or divorce disputes were diagnosed wrongfully 
with schizophrenia and were confined to psychiatric institutions. 
Persons diagnosed with mental illness risked being confined and treated 
by force, declared not responsible for their actions, and stripped of 
their civil rights and property without being present at the hearings 
or notified of the ruling. During the year, three NGOs supporting 
people with disabilities monitored the rights of the mentally ill in 
psychiatric hospitals. The NGOs found widespread violations including 
failure to inform persons who were voluntarily hospitalized of the 
overall duration of their stay; failure to inform patients of their 
diagnosis or what medications they were given; lack of knowledge 
concerning patients' rights in psychiatric hospitals; humiliation by 
the hospital staff; and violation of patients' rights to free medical 
assistance.
    According to the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association, the Ministry of 
Health did not always cooperate with human rights groups attempting to 
monitor abuse of psychiatry.
    Despite extensive laws to protect the rights of service members and 
the existence of regulations governing relationships among military 
personnel, reports continued during the year of violence against 
conscripts in the armed forces. Senior conscripts frequently beat 
recruits, forced them to give up money and gifts they received from 
home, and made junior conscripts work in their place, a practice known 
as ``didivshchyna.'' Senior military and government officials have 
given conflicting information regarding the number of military hazing 
cases in 2006. In November Colonel-General Serhiy Kyrychenko, Chief of 
Land Forces, stated that there were 148 criminal cases initiated in 
2006 for hazing and violence and 18 soldiers were victims of hazing. 
According to Minister of Defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko, by September 83 
``didivshchyna'' criminal cases had already been initiated, compared to 
a total of 98 in 2005. However, he also noted that not all incidents of 
soldier-on-soldier violence were recorded.
    On November 27, Oleksandr Rybka died following a beating by two 
fellow soldiers the day after he reported to a training base in 
Chernihiv Oblast. According to his relatives, Rybka called home on 
November 26 saying that two sergeants had demanded money. Prosecutor 
General Oleksandr Medvedko stated that military prosecutors had 
initiated a criminal case. For the first time in recent history, 
military officials immediately acknowledged the death of a military 
member as the result of hazing. Defense Minister Hrytsenko, who took 
the investigation under his personal control, stated that this was a 
hazing death and added that it was the first to occur in two years.
    The Association of Soldiers' Mothers (ASM) reported that violent 
hazing continued to be widespread. According to the military watchdog 
group Mothers of Killed Soldiers, most deaths are labeled suicide or 
accident without investigation. In 2005 there were nine suicides while 
in service, 10 suicides outside regular service, and two soldiers were 
killed by their fellow servicemen. According to the Kharkiv Human 
Rights Protection Group, seven criminal cases of soldier-on-soldier 
violence were initiated in the Kharkiv garrison in 2005.
    According to the ASM, garrison prosecutors often did not 
investigate complaints of hazing, accepted bribes not to press charges 
against the perpetrators of such violence, or delayed the start of 
trial proceedings until potential witnesses were discharged from the 
military. Garrison prosecutors wrongfully confined soldiers who 
complained about hazing to psychiatric hospitals, and punishment 
administered for committing or condoning hazing was insufficient to 
deter further abuses.
    Police abused Roma and harassed and abused dark-skinned persons. 
Representatives of these groups claimed that police officials routinely 
ignored, and sometimes abetted, vigilante violence against them, 
especially in Crimea (see section 5).
    A number of journalists were subjected to physical reprisals that 
may have been related to their professional work (see section 2.a.).

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Although prison conditions 
remained poor, they continued to improve slowly as a result of reforms 
in the penal system. Experts on prison medical conditions from the 
Council of Europe stated in October that overcrowding remained a major 
problem; however, prison officials reported that, due in part to the 
decriminalization of many offenses and the increasing use of 
alternative sentencing practices, there was a reduction in the number 
of inmates in prison, which eased overcrowding.
    In a release on the Kharkiv Human Rights Group website, the editor 
of TV-Vhoru newspaper in Pivden reported on the experiences of a man in 
Kherson who was sentenced to 15 days for ``minor hooliganism'' and who 
was forced to pay $30 (150 hryvnia) for his stay in ``special prison 
facilities.'' According to the prisoner, there were four people in his 
cell, a bucket for the only toilet, the lights were dim, filthy 
mattresses were not replaced for new prisoners, all print materials 
were banned, and he did not receive food in the first 24 hours in his 
cell.
    There were five group suicide attempts in prisons and detention 
centers. Human rights NGOs explained that these incidents resulted from 
harsh treatment of prisoners by facility administrators: prisoners were 
searched, beaten, and their food destroyed. In two instances, prisoners 
ended up in solitary confinement or received longer sentences for the 
suicide attempts.
    Tuberculosis in prisons continued to be a concern, but officials 
stated that mandatory screening of all new inmates for the disease had 
reduced infection rates. The State Penal Department (SPD) reported that 
the number of deaths caused by tuberculosis decreased by 27 percent 
during the year. AI, however, reported in May that tuberculosis 
remained widespread in the prison population. SPD officials stated that 
inmates with tuberculosis were isolated from the general population and 
treated at one main prison hospital complex in Kharkiv Region. Human 
rights groups noted that only convicted criminals, and not persons in 
pretrial detention, had access to specialized tuberculosis care. The 
Dnipropetrovsk Human Rights Society reported that, in the 10 prison and 
detention facilities they had monitored, TB patients were put in 
overcrowded prison hospital wards with 54-104 beds per 60 square 
meters, limited daylight, damp air, poor bathroom facilities, improper 
and often expired food, and insufficient medicine.
    Conditions in pretrial detention facilities were harsher than in 
low and medium security prisons. On August 10, the Ministry of Internal 
Affairs announced that over 200 of 500 the country's pretrial detention 
centers had been brought into compliance with international standards. 
Nevertheless, jails were sometimes overcrowded or lacked adequate 
sanitation and medical facilities. There were reports that inmates in 
pretrial facilities were sometimes held in investigative isolation for 
extended periods and subjected to intimidation and mistreatment by jail 
guards and other inmates. According to AI, 13 percent of pretrial 
detention facilities were not equipped with water and sewage 
installations and only one in four had enough natural light and beds.
    During the year the Lviv region prosecutor's office initiated 
criminal cases against the administrators of two pretrial detention 
centers for abuse of power. One case was started in May after 27 
prisoners cut themselves in protest against harsh prison conditions 
that included administrators demanding bribes from prisoners, refusing 
to feed them, and using excessive force.
    On June 3, detainees in the Lukianivska pretrial detention center 
in Kyiv threatened to cut themselves in protest of harsh conditions. 
According to former detainees in the Lukianivska facility, detainees 
are kept in inhuman conditions, forced to confess to crimes they had 
nothing to do with, and often leave with severe illnesses.
    The SPD and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in cooperation with 
the NGO community and foreign governments, implemented a number of 
professional development programs for prison and police officials, most 
notably in Chernihiv Region and at the Lukianivska pretrial detention 
facility in Kyiv. On August 3, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a new 
policy for improving the conditions of detainees and prisoners in the 
next four years, including the creation of a probation service.
    The Government allowed prison visits by human rights observers but 
observers reported difficulties in getting full access to prisons and 
pretrial detention facilities in some cases. The Ukrainian Red Cross 
Society said that it had no problems in all of its prison and pretrial 
detention center access requests. However, domestic human rights 
organizations, such as the Ukrainian-American Human Rights Bureau, 
reported that the penal system had become more closed since the Orange 
Revolution, lacked effective oversight, and access to prisons by 
journalists and human rights activists was more limited. Prisoners and 
detainees were permitted to file complaints with the ombudsman for 
human rights about the conditions of detention, but human rights groups 
reported that prisoners were sometimes punished for doing so.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution and the law 
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these remained 
problems.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of 
Internal Affairs is responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of 
internal order, by both overseeing the police and maintaining its own 
armed troops. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the internal 
intelligence organization, reports directly to the President. The State 
Tax Administration, which exercises law enforcement powers through the 
tax police, is accountable both to the President and the cabinet. The 
office of the prosecutor general prosecutes criminal cases and the 
prosecutor general is appointed by the President. The law provides for 
civilian control over the army and law enforcement agencies and 
authorizes members of the Verkhovna Rada to conduct investigations, 
including public hearings into national security and defense issues. 
The legislation also broadened the authority of the human rights 
ombudsman to initiate investigations into the activities of the armed 
forces.
    Police corruption remained a problem, although it received more 
publicity during the year. Many citizens continued to encounter 
corruption in their dealings with the traffic police, although the 
media reported that there was greater public satisfaction with the 
traffic police than in past years. A 2005 Presidential decree abolished 
the traffic police department and turned it into the State Service for 
Traffic Safety. However, the media reported that the traffic police 
continued to function as in the past.
    Authorities, including the minister of internal affairs, made 
greater efforts to expose police abuses, for example taking 
disciplinary action against a far greater number of law enforcement 
authorities than in previous years. According to the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs, as of September, 297 police officers had been 
dismissed for cause, 4,211 were subject to administrative disciplinary 
actions, and 495 were under investigation. On August 13, a police 
lieutenant in one of the local Kyiv departments was detained for 
demanding a bribe of $1000 (5,000 hryvnia) in exchange for not 
initiating a criminal investigation against a Kyiv resident accused of 
stealing. In May the Odesa regional prosecutor opened a criminal case 
against two investigators from the Odesa Regional Department of the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs who had been charged with bribery and 
extortion. However, impunity still remained a serious problem (see 
section 1.c.).

    Arrest and Detention.--By law the authorities may detain a suspect 
for three days without a warrant, after which an arrest order must be 
issued. The courts may extend detention without an arrest warrant for 
an additional 10 days. Suspects who believe that further investigation 
may lead to their immediate exoneration may petition the court for an 
additional 15-day detention. The law permits citizens to contest an 
arrest in court or appeal it to the prosecutor. The law requires that 
officials notify family members immediately concerning an arrest, 
although human rights NGOs noted that sometimes the police did not do 
so.
    The law stipulates that a defense attorney must be provided without 
charge to an indigent detainee from the moment of detention or the 
filing of charges, whichever comes first. However, in practice this 
often did not occur, which legal observers said provided police with 
time to coerce confessions. There were insufficient numbers of defense 
attorneys to protect suspects from unlawful and lengthy detention under 
extremely poor conditions. Moreover, attorneys often refused to defend 
indigents for the low payments the Government provided. Access to a 
defense attorney was essentially dependent on the social status and 
financial resources of the accused.
    The police arbitrarily detained persons, particularly dark-skinned 
persons, for extensive document checks and vehicle inspections (see 
sections 2.d. and 5).
    Although the law provides for bail, it was rarely used; many 
defendants could not pay the bail amounts imposed by law. Courts 
sometimes imposed restrictions on travel outside a given area as an 
alternative to pretrial confinement. However, they generally opted to 
place individuals in pretrial detention facilities, a practice that 
human rights observers criticized as costly and contributing to 
overcrowding.
    Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. While the law 
provides that pretrial detention may not last more than two months, in 
cases involving exceptionally grave offenses a judge of the Supreme 
Court may extend detention to eighteen months. While the law requires a 
trial to begin no later than three weeks after criminal charges have 
been formally filed with the court, the overburdened court system 
rarely met this requirement. Individuals remained in detention for 
months or years before being brought to trial, and the situation did 
not improve during the year (see section 1.e.) According to domestic 
human rights organizations, the investigation process took four to five 
months on average. In 2005, 1,250 of the 9,528 detainees released from 
pretrial detention facilities following court rulings had spent over a 
year in detention facilities waiting for trial. For example, 
authorities kept Oleh Kapshuk and Ihor Zubenko in the Starobelsk 
pretrial detention center for two years on robbery charges while the 
court returned their cases four times for additional investigation. 
After the detainees announced a hunger strike and their mothers sent 
letters to the President, the Ministry of Justice, and general 
prosecutor, their case went to trial in September.

    Amnesty.--As of October President Yushchenko had issued 12 amnesty 
decrees pardoning 1,018 people, including women, elderly men, persons 
with disabilities, and persons with several children.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution and law provide 
for an independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary remained 
subject to various forms of pressure from the executive and legislative 
branches. Pressure included political interference in the form of phone 
calls to judges by government officials. In May the President issued a 
decree for the improvement of the judiciary in order to ensure fair 
trials in line with European standards. The decree sets out goals over 
the next ten years to improve the impartiality, transparency, and 
independence of the judiciary and acknowledges shortcomings including 
incomplete procedural law, low salaries for judges, and ineffective 
implementation of court judgments.
    The judiciary also suffered from corruption and inefficiency.
    There were indications that suspects often bribed court officials 
to drop charges before cases went to trial or to lessen or commute 
sentences. In October 2005 President Yushchenko stated that every 
month, four to seven prosecutors and several judges were arraigned for 
engaging in such corrupt conduct. For example, the media reported that 
in April the head of a local court in Lviv region was detained while 
soliciting a bribe. Another judge from Kherson was sentenced on 
September 27 to three years in prison for falsifying documents and 
helping local residents commit tax evasion.
    Except for the Supreme Court, the courts were funded through the 
Ministry of Justice, which controlled the organizational support of the 
courts. The ministry's responsibilities included staffing courts, 
training judges, logistics and procurement, and statistical and 
information support. The judiciary lacked adequate staff and funds, 
which contributed to inefficiency and corruption, and increased its 
dependence on the executive branch. The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights 
Union (UHHRU) estimated that the state budget provided only 48% of the 
real needs of the judiciary, forcing the courts to either essentially 
shut down in some cases or seek funds from other authorities, thereby 
greatly undermining their independence. In September the European Court 
of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the country was failing to provide an 
effective way to secure defendants' rights to a fair trial in a 
reasonable length of time. The NGO Freedom House reported that, while 
improvements to the functioning of the judicial branch had been 
introduced after the Orange Revolution, there was no significant 
progress in continuing these reforms during the year.
    Failure to enforce court decisions in civil cases also undermined 
the authority and independence of the judicial system. The UHHRU noted 
that ECHR ruled in more than 80 cases in 2005 that the country had 
violated the right to a fair trial by failing to execute court 
decisions. The State Executive Service is responsible for enforcing 
most civil decisions, and the number of cases referred to it continued 
to grow. Existing provisions permitting criminal punishment for 
noncompliance with court decisions were rarely used. The chairs of the 
Supreme Court, the regional courts, and the Kyiv municipal court (or 
their deputies) have the authority to suspend court decisions, which 
provided additional opportunities for outside interference, 
manipulation, and corruption.
    The country has a civil law system relying on codes and separate 
acts. The court system has constitutional courts and courts of general 
jurisdiction. The general courts include courts designated by 
administrative level (district, region, and supreme) and by 
specialization. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the 
general courts system. The Constitutional Court interprets the 
Constitution and laws. Commercial courts were intended to operate as 
specialized courts within the single unified system of courts. The 
Supreme Court may review their judgments, including those rendered by 
the High Commercial Court. Military courts are specialized courts that 
hear only cases involving military personnel.
    The law provides for five levels of courts--local courts, courts of 
appeal, courts of cassation (another layer of appeals court), higher 
specialized courts, and the Supreme Court--as well as an independent 
judicial department, the State Judicial Administration. The State 
Judicial Administration manages the logistical, financial, 
informational and personnel maintenance of the court system--with the 
exception of the constitutional court, the Supreme Court, the supreme 
administrative court, and the supreme commercial court. The law does 
guarantee the independence of the judiciary, but it also in some cases 
increases the powers of the President over the judiciary. The 
constitutional court ruled the court of cassation to be 
unconstitutional since it is not mentioned in the Constitution, and it 
continues to exist only on paper. The administrative chamber of the 
court, which deals with cases against the state, was still being 
formalized, including the process of appointing judges.
    By law the President has the authority, with the agreement of the 
Ministry of Justice and the chair of the Supreme Court, or of a 
corresponding higher specialized court, to establish and abolish courts 
of general jurisdiction. The President is empowered to determine the 
number of judges within the courts, upon the recommendation of the 
State Judicial Administration and with the agreement of the chair of 
the Supreme Court. He is authorized to appoint and remove chairs and 
deputy chairs of courts, who serve five-year terms based on 
recommendations of the Judicial Council (the executive body of the 
Congress of Judges), and to establish appellate commercial and 
appellate administrative courts. The President, upon the recommendation 
of the Prime Minister and concurrence by the Judicial Council, appoints 
the head of the State Judicial Administration.
    Regional courts, including the Supreme Court of Crimea and the Kyiv 
and Sevastopol city courts, serve as courts of appeal. They may examine 
evidence independently in a case, call for additional witnesses or 
evidence, and overrule the judgment of a lower court.
    The constitutional court consists of 18 members appointed for nine-
year terms, six each by the President, the Verkhovna Rada, and the 
Congress of Judges. The constitutional court is the ultimate 
interpreter of legislation and the Constitution, and it determines the 
constitutionality of legislation, Presidential edicts, cabinet acts, 
and acts of the Crimean Autonomous Republic. The court did not meet for 
nearly eight months during the year due to the lack of a full 
complement of judges, because 14 nominations were held up by the 
Verkhovna Rada.
    The Supreme Court is the country's highest appellate body. Human 
rights groups, the media, and legal watchdog organizations noted that 
the court continued to show independence during the year.

    Trial Procedures.--The Constitution includes procedural provisions 
intended to ensure a fair trial, including the right of suspects or 
witnesses to refuse to testify against themselves or their relatives; 
however, these rights were limited by the absence of implementing 
legislation, which left a largely Soviet-era criminal justice system in 
place. The defendant is formally presumed innocent, but the high 
conviction rates of the Soviet era continued to prevail.
    On August 27, President Yushchenko announced he was ready to assign 
the Presidential Secretariat's Pardon Commission to carry out a new 
investigation of the highly publicized case of journalist Ruslan 
Antonyk in 2000. Antonyk's conviction for murdering Petro Tychynskiy, 
son-in-law of Anatoliy Halchynskiy (adviser to then-President Kuchma), 
was strongly disputed by human rights organizations. He was serving the 
sixth year of his 13 year sentence. On September 1, the General 
Prosecutor's Office submitted a petition to the Supreme Court asking 
for reconsideration of Antonyk's case.
    The law provides for broad use of juries, but a system of juries 
had not been implemented; as a result juries were not used during the 
year. Most cases were decided by judges who sit singly, although the 
law requires that two judges and three public assessors (lay judges or 
professional jurors with some legal training) must hear cases that 
involve the possibility of a life prison sentence, the maximum penalty 
in the country's criminal justice system.
    While the law specifies that a suspect or prisoner may speak with a 
lawyer in private, human rights groups reported that prison or 
investigative officials occasionally denied this client-attorney 
privilege. To protect defendants, investigative files must contain 
signed documents attesting that they have been informed of the charges 
against them, of their right to an attorney at public expense, and of 
their right not to give evidence against themselves or their relatives. 
However, officials sometimes verbally and physically abused defendants 
to obtain their signatures. An appeals court may dismiss a conviction 
or order a new trial if this document is missing. As defendants 
increasingly became aware of their rights, they insisted on observance 
of these procedures; however, many remained unaware of these 
safeguards.
    The law provides that the names and addresses of victims and 
witnesses may be kept confidential if they request protection due to 
fear for their lives. However, criminal groups routinely used 
intimidation to induce victims and witnesses to withdraw or change 
their testimony. The law requires that a special police unit protect 
judges, witnesses, defendants, and their relatives, but the unit had 
not begun operation by year's end and trial participants were 
vulnerable to pressure. Due to lack of funding, a witness protection 
law was also in abeyance.
    Citizens have the right to appeal criminal and civil verdicts to 
their local appellate courts. Appellate court decisions may also be 
appealed to the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court.
    On May 25, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced a single state 
register of all court rulings. According to the new procedure, all 
court judgments, except those qualified as state secrets, are to be 
sent to the register no later than 15 calendar days after the ruling is 
made. The State Judicial Administration maintains the register. Access 
to the register is free.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Pursuant to Article 55 of 
the Constitution, human and civil rights and freedoms are protected; 
citizens are guaranteed the right to challenge decisions, actions, or 
omissions of the national and local government and its officials in 
court.
    The Code for Administrative Court Proceedings entered into force in 
September 2005. The Code protects the rights, freedoms and interests of 
individuals against violations by the Government and public officials 
and allows for court hearings in cases involving illegal government 
activities or failure to enforce legal protections. The code contains a 
``potential victim'' concept allowing for collective lawsuits against 
legislation that may violate basic rights and freedoms. There is no 
requirement of being directly affected by a particular legal or 
normative act. Citizens may appeal to the Human Rights Commissioner of 
the Verkhovna Rada and, after exhausting all domestic legal remedies, 
may take their case to the appropriate international bodies of which 
the country is a member or participant.
    Domestic court orders are not consistently enforced, according to 
the Kharkiv Group for Human Rights Protection and other human rights 
advocates.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--Although the law prohibits such actions, in practice 
authorities infringed citizens' privacy rights. By law, the SBU may not 
conduct intrusive surveillance and searches without a court-issued 
warrant; however, there were reports that elements within the 
Government arbitrarily continued to monitor the private communications 
and movements of individuals.
    The office of the prosecutor general has the constitutional 
responsibility to ensure that law enforcement agencies, including the 
SBU, observe the law; however, the extent to which the prosecutor 
general used his authority to monitor SBU activities and to curb 
excesses by security officials was unknown. The Constitution gives 
citizens the right to examine any dossier concerning them in the 
possession of the SBU and to sue for physical and emotional damages 
incurred by an investigation. Authorities did not respect this right in 
practice, however, as the necessary implementing legislation had not 
been enacted.
    In February 2005 President Yushchenko ordered the SBU and all 
government organizations to end illegal surveillance of any kind. Then-
SBU Chief Oleksandr Turchynov told the press in July 2005 that the SBU 
no longer engaged in illegal surveillance operations and had created an 
office for combating illegal wiretapping. He also instructed other 
government organizations to turn in their wiretapping equipment. 
However, politicians, including Human Rights Ombudsman Nina Karpachova; 
the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Combating Organized Crime 
and Corruption, Volodymyr Stretovych; former Verkhovna Rada speaker 
Lytvyn; and former prosecutor general Svyatoslav Piskun complained to 
the media in 2005 that electronic eavesdropping continued. The Kharkiv 
Human Rights Protection Group claimed that special units at the 
Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and 
State Tax Administration obtained over 11,000 permits for telephone 
tapping in 2005.
    In March the newspaper Segodnya reported that the SBU kept one of 
its journalists, Oleksandr Korchinskiy, under surveillance after he 
published an article in June 2005 about the whereabouts of former 
Ministry of Internal Affairs General Pukach, who was wanted in 
connection with the Gongadze murder. The prosecutor general's office 
opened an investigation into the lawfulness of the SBU's surveillance 
of Korchinskiy. On October 11, the Pechersk Area Court of Kyiv ruled 
that the surveillance was unlawful.
    In September the prosecutor general's office completed an 
investigation requested by Verkhovna Rada member Volodymyr Sivkovych, 
who claimed that the SBU regularly tapped the telephone of parliament 
members. The office stated that it did not find any proof of such 
activity.
    According to a board member of the Internet Association of Ukraine, 
the SBU monitors up to 70 percent of Internet traffic. On August 17, 
the Ministry of Justice abolished the 2002 decree by the State 
Communications Committee on mandatory monitoring of Internet traffic in 
the networks of providers that service public institutions. This decree 
had allowed security services to legally monitor e-mail communications 
and Web site hits of individual Internet site users.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution and law provide 
for freedom of speech and of the press; the authorities generally 
respected these rights in practice. There were no reports that the 
central authorities attempted to direct media content; however, reports 
of intimidation of journalists, including by local officials, as well 
as continued media dependence on government resources, inhibited 
investigative and critical reporting and sometimes led to self-
censorship.
    Individuals could, and did, criticize the Government both publicly 
and privately without reprisal. The Government did not attempt to 
impede such criticism.
    In November the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill declaring the 1932-33 
Holodomor (Great Famine) as genocide. The original draft law would have 
imposed fines for public statements or dissemination of materials 
denying the Holodomor. However, the law as passed states: ``Public 
denial of 1932-33 Holodomor in Ukraine is recognized as desecration of 
memory of millions of victims of the Holodomor, humiliation of dignity 
of the Ukrainian people, and is unlawful'' but does not specify 
penalties.
    Media outlets are markedly freer and more diverse since the 2004 
Orange Revolution. The NGO Freedom House rates the country's media as 
fully ``free.''
    According to the Ukrainian Press Academy, at the end of 2005 there 
were 22,794 registered print publications. Of that number, 9,948 were 
national and regional and 12,846 were local. These media outlets 
reflected a wide variety of viewpoints. Many newspapers were financed 
by wealthy investors and reflected the political and economic interests 
of their owners. These publications frequently criticized the 
Government.
    Foreign newspapers and periodicals circulated freely.
    Broadcast media, the primary sources of news for most citizens, 
were either state-owned or owned by powerful business interests. There 
were 13 national television stations and multiple regional radio 
stations. Only four stations (three state-run and one private) 
broadcast information; the rest were purely music stations. Of the 
television stations, state-run television, UT-1, had the widest 
geographic coverage but relatively low viewership. Most local 
television stations were associated with political parties or powerful 
regional business interests.
    The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, 
comprised of four members appointed by the parliament and four 
appointed by the President, issued licenses and allocated broadcasting 
time. Persons associated with the previous government charged that the 
Yushchenko government used the council to punish its political 
opponents when it undertook to challenge court orders that had given 
frequencies to television stations affiliated with the previous 
government.
    Donetsk-based TRK Ukraina television, controlled by Party of 
Regions Member of Parliament Rinat Akhmetov, alleged that the council's 
strict enforcement of a licensing provision that requires national 
stations to broadcast 75 percent of their programs in Ukrainian was 
discriminatory, forcing the network to choose between having its 
license revoked and losing a large part of its predominantly Russian-
speaking audience to Russian television stations. Complaints from other 
national broadcasters from across the political spectrum demonstrated 
that the enforcement of this language requirement was not unique to TRK 
Ukraina. TRK Ukraina was able to circumvent this regulation by 
broadcasting Russian movies subtitled in Ukrainian, and claiming that 
it was broadcasting in Ukrainian. In January 2007 however, a new law 
will go into effect requiring that films be dubbed into Ukrainian.
    According to the national media watchdog NGO Institute for Mass 
Information (IMI), at least 14 journalists were subjected to physical 
attacks or intimidation during the year. According to IMI, the highest 
concentration of such incidents occurred at the time of the 
parliamentary elections in March. These cases, however, did not appear 
to be centrally organized or interconnected and were often attributed 
to local politicians or organized criminal groups.
    On March 1 in Simferopol, unknown arsonists set fire to the garage 
of Liliya Budzhurova, editor in chief of the First Crimean newspaper. 
The newspaper had recently published a complete listing of the 
candidates to the Crimean parliament who had previous ``conflicts with 
the law'' according to Interior Minister Lutsenko at a February 17 
press conference. President Yushchenko took personal interest in the 
case, and the Government encouraged an investigation.
    The Budzhurova case came up again in the first week of October, 
when Crimean parliament member Oleksandr Melnyk was briefly held on 
charges of alleged leadership of the ``Seilem'' organized crime group. 
Ukrainska Pravda reported on October 12 that Melnyk's driver testified 
during questioning that Melnyk ordered an unknown person to ``teach a 
lesson'' to Budzhurova in the spring, following the publication of her 
article. Melnyk was released after the General Prosecutor's Office 
declined to prosecute the case.
    On April 8, unknown attackers beat Vladimir Katsman, the editor-in-
chief of the newspaper Stolichniye Novosti outside his apartment 
building. Katsman attributed the attack to his criticisms of the anti-
Semitic publications of the Interregional Academy of Personnel 
Management (MAUP). At year's end, no one had been arrested or charged 
in the case.
    On June 3, unknown attackers set fire to the home of investigative 
journalist Serhiy Yanovsky on June 3 after Yanosky exposed corruption 
among local politicians and businessmen. On June 26, Serhiy Romanenko, 
the chief editor of the Reporter Internet site, was found 
unconsciousness in the center of Uzhhorod after receiving a blow to the 
back of his head. A few days before the attack, Romanenko had published 
articles critical of Uzhgorod mayor Serhiy Ratushnyak, the city 
committee of the Socialist Party, and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc party. 
No arrests were made in either of these cases.
    On August 14, two unknown assailants beat Igor Mosiichuk, the 
editor-in-chief of the weekly Vercherny Vasilkov following a series of 
articles he published on officials who benefited from local land deals.
    There was one report that a journalist disappeared. On February 20, 
Anatoly Kachurynets of the Striy Homin Voli (Sound of Freedom) 
newspaper left home and never returned. Police have no further 
information and found no evidence of foul play.
    The election law prohibits media commentary on electoral campaigns, 
prohibits media outlets campaigning for or against political parties 
without their express approval, and it gives courts authority to close 
media outlets that violate legal limits on political advertising and 
news coverage of political parties. Critics warned that the law was 
imperfectly written and open to potential abuse. In the March 
parliamentary elections, regional branches of political parties sought 
court rulings against television stations in two cases. Anatoliy 
Grytsenko, head of the Party of Regions Crimea branch, filed against 
Chornomorskaya TV. Chornomorskaya TV won an initial appeal and 
Grytsenko continued to pursue court action. Inna Bohoslovska, head of 
the Viche Party in Dnipropetrovsk, won her case against Channel 9 to 
suspend the local television station's license but did not insist that 
the court's decision be carried out. The station continued to 
broadcast.
    Both the independent and government-owned media continued to 
demonstrate a tendency toward self-censorship on matters that the 
Government deemed sensitive. Although private newspapers were free to 
function on a purely commercial basis, they often depended on political 
patrons who could facilitate financial support from the State Press 
Support Fund and received close scrutiny from government officials, 
particularly at the local level.
    Libel is considered a civil offense and the use or threat of civil 
libel suits continued to inhibit freedom of the press during the year. 
Courts may freeze the accounts of a publication pending appeal, a step 
that could ruin many publications. Government entities and public 
figures, in particular, continued to use civil suits based on alleged 
damage to a ``person's honor and integrity'' to influence or intimidate 
the press. For example, in Rivne Oblast, the oblast prosecutor, Leonid 
Orehovskyi, filed a libel case against the Rivne Vecherne newspaper 
claiming damage to his honor and integrity. The newspaper lost the case 
and was ordered to print a formal apology.
    While the law limits the amount of damages that may be claimed in 
libel lawsuits and allows the press to publish inoffensive, non-factual 
judgments, including criticism, without penalty, media watchdog groups 
continued to express concern over extremely high monetary damages that 
were demanded, and sometimes awarded, by courts for alleged libel.
    The media had broad access to court hearings and governmental 
meetings. Early in the year, the judiciary opened the criminal trial of 
the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. President Yushchenko had 
promised that the trial would be open to journalists and Kyiv City 
Appeals Court ruled that journalists should have access. However, when 
the court convened, the room could not physically accommodate 
journalists who wished to cover the event. The journalists insisted on 
access, and together with members of Verkhovna Rada, convinced law 
enforcement agencies to open a criminal case accusing the court of 
violating their rights to cover the case. The journalists did get 
seating, but conditions were crowded.
    On July 12, Party of Regions member of parliament Oleh Kalashnykov 
and his assistants physically assaulted a television crew from private 
television station STB in front of the Verkhovna Rada, beating the 
cameraman and removing a tape from his camera, which was never 
returned. At STB's demand, and supported by an open letter from 
Ukrainian journalists, the Party of Regions took temporary disciplinary 
action against Kalashnykov, but did not expel him from the faction or 
the parliament. The party's leader, Victor Yanukovych, criticized 
Kalashnykov's behavior and Kalashnykov publicly apologized. STB pursued 
legal action against Kalashnykov, but stated that it was satisfied with 
the Party of Regions' response to the incident.

    Internet Freedom.--The Government did not restrict access to the 
Internet, but there was monitoring by law enforcement bodies (see 
section 1.f.). Individuals could engage in the peaceful expression of 
views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Internet access, although 
expanding rapidly, was still limited to wealthier members of society 
and those with access at schools, libraries, and workplaces.
    Domestic and international human rights groups sharply criticized 
an April 2005 directive from the Ministry of Transportation and 
Communication (MOTC) requiring all Internet publications to register 
with the Government. The MOTC formally rescinded this order in 
September 2005. During the time the directive was in effect, however, 
Internet publications did not comply with it.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not 
restrict academic freedom, but academic freedom was an underdeveloped 
and poorly understood concept. Most major universities were state-
owned, but there were a growing number of privately-run institutions. 
While university rectors had a reasonable amount of autonomy, 
curriculum and degree standards were tightly controlled by the Ministry 
of Education. Corruption remained a major problem in both university 
admissions and academic work, although the Government began 
implementing a national examination system during the year to combat 
the phenomenon.
    Administrators of universities and academic and research institute 
directors could silence colleagues by denying them the ability to 
publish, withholding pay and housing benefits, and directly terminating 
them. The SBU maintained offices for the protection of state secrets in 
state scientific and research institutes, including those not 
conducting any classified research.
    There were no government restrictions on cultural events.

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but in a 
few instances regional governments infringed on these rights. Since 
there is no national law governing freedom of assembly, the Code of 
Administrative Justice and case law governed assemblies. Moreover, 
local authorities often looked to a resolution on freedom of assembly 
questions from the Soviet era that was more restrictive than the 
current Constitution.
    The Constitution requires that demonstrators inform authorities of 
a planned demonstration in advance. The Soviet-era resolution, which 
local governments sometimes used to define ``advance notice,'' 
stipulates that organizations must apply for permission at least 10 
days before a planned event or demonstration. Permits were routinely 
granted to those who requested them, although they sometimes stipulated 
that demonstrators had, for example, to stay on the sidewalks and not 
block traffic at key downtown Kyiv intersections. Demonstrators are 
prohibited from inciting violence or ethnic conflict and from calling 
for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. In practice 
unlicensed demonstrations were common and generally occurred without 
police interference, fines, or detention, although there were several 
exceptions.
    According to the Department of Civil Defense of the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs, in 2005 administrative charges were brought against 
40 organizers and active participants for infringements in organizing 
and holding public gatherings.
    In November 2005 the Kyiv city authorities decided to allow events 
only in downtown areas that had been approved either by a decree from 
the President or Cabinet of Ministers or by a decision of the Kyiv city 
council or city administration. The Kyiv city administration tried to 
impose restrictions on demonstrations on several occasions during the 
year, but the courts overruled the city government.
    In May the mayor of Kherson banned a rally by market vendors 
because they did not inform the city council 25 days in advance and 
they were not allowed to protest in front of the city council.
    On October 13, the Shevchenkivskyi neighborhood court in Kyiv 
prevented communists, nationalists, and Chornobyl organizations from 
holding protests in downtown Kyiv on the anniversary of the founding of 
the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The court argued that this decision was 
based on an assumption by the Kyiv city administration, police, and 
President's secretariat that such rallies would result in violence and 
bloodshed as had occurred in 2005.
    According to the Nasha Pravda NGO in Kryviy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, 
local police and the SBU gathered information about participants in 
anticorruption events as well as about human rights organizations and 
their activities, allegedly for the sake of security and safety. During 
the year, police and the SBU also declined to investigate several 
claims of violence against activists from the Nasha Pravda, Opora, and 
Zemlia i Volia NGOs during environmental protests.

    Freedom of Association.--The Constitution and the law provide for 
freedom of association; while the Government generally respected this 
right in practice, some restrictions remained. Registration 
requirements for organizations were extensive, but there were no 
reports that the Government used them during the year to disband 
existing legitimate organizations or prevent new ones from being 
formed.
    The law places restrictions on organizations that advocate violence 
or racial and religious hatred, or that threaten the public order or 
health. There were no reports during the year that the authorities used 
these criteria to restrict the activities of legitimate organizations 
that opposed the Government.
    There were a number of requirements for the formation of political 
parties (see section 3).
    Two major opposition political parties associated with the previous 
government, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) and Regions 
of Ukraine, complained that thousands of their supporters were 
dismissed from government jobs in 2005 because of their association 
with anti-Yushchenko political parties. However, widely respected human 
rights organizations rejected the characterization of the dismissals as 
discrimination, noting that only approximately 5 percent of the 
country's 450,000 civil servants had been dismissed and replaced by 
supporters of the Yushchenko administration.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution and the law provide for 
freedom of religion. The Government generally sought at all levels to 
protect this right, but some minority and nontraditional religions 
experienced difficulties in registration and in buying and leasing 
property.
    There is no formal state religion; however, the Ukrainian Orthodox 
Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic 
Church (UGCC) tended to dominate in the east and west of the country, 
respectively. Local authorities frequently sided with the religious 
majority in a particular region. UOC-MP representatives complained that 
for 14 years the local government in Lviv ignored their numerous 
requests to allocate a land plot for construction of a diocesan 
cathedral. By contrast, in many areas of the east and south, local 
leaders tended to side with the UOC-MP. The UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate (KP) 
claimed that new Kharkiv Mayor Mykhaylo Dobkin warned his staff that he 
would not even receive a local bishop of the UOC-KP.
    In contrast to previous years, the municipal authorities in Odesa 
improved their relations with Roman Catholics. On September 6, the 
Roman Catholic Bishop of Odesa met with Mayor Eduard Hurvits and 
discussed joint projects for homeless children and creation of a 
commission to address issues of the Roman Catholic community, including 
property restitution.
    On March 22, President Yushchenko called for the creation of a 
unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a move opposed by the UOC-MP and 
some Protestant denominations. The UOC-MP publicly cautioned the 
President against ``politicizing'' and ``artificially'' speeding up the 
unification process.
    The courts did not always interpret the law in a manner that 
protected religious freedom, and in some instances sided with the 
dominant local religious organization. In June in a case that received 
national and international media and NGO attention, a local court in 
Cherkasy Oblast exonerated a UOC-MP priest of assault and hate crime 
charges for beating six members of Jehovah's Witnesses with his walking 
stick after they allegedly pushed him while on his property. The priest 
admitted that he beat the persons and publicly boasted that he would 
``do it again'' but asserted that he did it in self defense.
    The law requires religious groups to register their ``articles and 
statutes'' either as a local or national organization and to have at 
least 10 adult members in order to obtain the status of a legal entity. 
Registration is necessary to conduct many day-to-day business 
activities including publishing, banking, and property transactions. By 
law the registration process should take no more than three months. 
Registration denials may be appealed in court.
    According to the law, registered religious organizations maintain a 
privileged status as the only organizations permitted to seek 
restitution of communal property confiscated by the Soviet regime. 
Communities must apply to regional authorities for property 
restitution. While Article 17 of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and 
Religious Organizations provides that consideration of a restitution 
claim should be completed within a month, it frequently took much 
longer.
    Intra-communal competition for particular properties complicated 
restitution claims for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. The 
slow pace of restitution was partly because the Government allocated 
limited funds to relocate occupants of seized religious property. Some 
groups asserted that there was progress in the restitution of property 
during the year, while others reported little or no progress. Many 
properties for which restitution was sought were occupied by state 
institutions or were historic landmarks. All major religious 
organizations called on the Government to establish a transparent legal 
process to address restitution claims.
    In February leaders of Odesa's Presbyterian community stated that 
the local actors' guild was ignoring the community's requests to vacate 
the first floor of the city's recently renovated historical 
Presbyterian church and relocate to other premises provided by the 
local government in 2000. The Presbyterian community claimed that the 
local court and city government were pressured by the actors' guild and 
local Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate to support the 
guild's court case to gain ownership of the church. There have been no 
new developments in the case.
    The All-Ukraine Baptist Union continued its legal struggle to 
prevent the Prosecutor General's Office from seizing its headquarters 
building in Kyiv. The union's chairman complained that despite multiple 
appeals to the President and Cabinet of Ministers, office of the 
prosecutor-general, and the interior ministry's Main Investigative 
Directorate, the union's ownership of its building remains unresolved.
    The registration process is administered by the Ministry of 
Justice's State Department for Religious Issues (SDRI), the successor 
organization to the Soviet-legacy State Committee for Religious 
Affairs, which was abolished in April. According to the Government, the 
SDRI was intended to bring Ukrainian law into conformity with European 
norms. However, there has been some criticism that the SDRI, which 
during the year was establishing its position in relation to regional 
departments of religious issues, lacked sufficient power over regional 
and municipal departments of religious issues to protect the interests 
of religious groups in the regions.
    The Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America asserted that 
the SDRI refused to register the organization, a charge the SDRI 
denied.
    The law restricts the activities of foreign-based religious 
organizations and narrowly defines the permissible activities of 
members of the clergy, preachers, teachers, and other non-citizen 
representatives of foreign-based religious organizations; however, 
there were no reports that the Government used the law to limit the 
activity of such religious organizations. Religious worker visas 
require invitations from registered religious organizations in the 
country and the approval of the Government. Foreign religious workers 
may preach, administer religious ordinances, or practice other 
canonical activities ``only in those religious organizations that 
invited them to Ukraine and with official approval of the Governmental 
body that registered the statutes and the articles of the pertinent 
religious organization.''
    Under the law, religion cannot be part of the public school 
curriculum. However, President Yushchenko, with the support of leaders 
of the UOC-MP, UOC-KP, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, 
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, All-Ukraine 
Evangelical Baptist Union, Brotherhood of Independent Churches and 
Missions of Evangelical Christians, instructed the Ministry of 
Education to introduce ``ethics of faith'' training courses into public 
school curricula beginning in September 2005. According to the SDRI, 
prominent religious leaders, and the media, implementation so far has 
been haphazard. On June 29, the Ministry of Science and Education 
approved the concept of teaching disciplines of spiritual and moral 
nature in secondary schools. While Jewish and Muslim leaders support 
the teaching of ethics and civics in school, they have insisted on a 
nonsectarian approach to the students' training. Schools run by 
religious communities may include religious education as an 
extracurricular activity.
    The Government promotes interfaith understanding by frequently 
consulting with the All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious 
Organizations, whose membership represents the faiths of over 90 
percent of the religiously active population. The council, which has a 
rotating chairmanship, meets once every two or three months, providing 
members and government representatives the opportunity to discuss 
interfaith concerns. The council also provided a forum for religious 
organizations to consult with the Government on draft legislation. 
Regional administrations and local religious leaders in most regions of 
the country have formed regional councils of churches and religious 
organizations.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The generally amicable 
relationship among religions in society contributed to religious 
freedom; however, conflicts between local representatives of contending 
religious organizations in some cases adversely affected broader ties 
among religions in society.
    Senior leaders of the UOC-MP alleged that supporters of the UOC-KP 
attacked UOC-MP clergy and seized a number of UOC-MP churches. The UOC-
KP rejected the allegations, noting that many UOC-MP communities 
exercised their legal right to change jurisdictions from the UOC-MP to 
the UOC-KP. The UOC-MP cited numerous such incidents, including in 
Rivne and Chernivtsi regions, claiming that UOC-KP was encouraged by 
the success of the 2004 Orange Revolution, the Yushchenko presidency, 
and indications that the Ecumenical Patriarch might recognize their 
church as the country's canonical Orthodox Church. On August 31, the 
high administrative court invalidated the 2005 resolution by the 
Ternopil Region State Administration that allowed parishioners of the 
UOC-KP to use the UOC-MP's Holy Trinity church in Rokhmaniv village, 
Ternopil Region, on a rotational basis. The court reaffirmed that the 
UOC-MP, which has been using the church since 1946, was a legitimate 
user.
    Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) 
complained that the UOC-MP demanded the surrender of ROCA church 
buildings in Malyn, Zhytomyr Region in 2005, and during the year 
pressured local authorities to prevent the opening of a ROCA monastery 
in Bolgrad, Odesa Oblast. ROCA representatives also complained that 
during the year the UOC-KP continued their attempts to seize the Holy 
Trinity Church in Odesa.
    On February 6, the Association of Christian Journalists, 
Publishers, and Broadcasters criticized the STB television network for 
airing a program that attacked evangelical churches. According to the 
association, the program misrepresented the beliefs of traditional 
Protestant churches (including Lutherans and Baptists), and referred to 
Evangelical Protestants as ``Satanists.''
    At an April 17 press conference, the President of the country's 
major Protestant Christian media group, Serhiy Belbovets, criticized 
what he called ``a series'' of television and newspaper reports that 
characterized evangelical Christians as ``fanatics'' and ``members of 
sects.'' He called on all churches in the country to stand together to 
defend Christian values.
    On December 19, a foreign Jehovah's Witnesses missionary was 
severely beaten near his home in Kremenchuk in Poltavska Oblast. He was 
hospitalized with serious brain injuries. There have been previous acts 
of harassment and vandalism directed against foreign missionaries and 
Jehovah's Witnesses in Kremenchuk. The Kremenchuk Police had not begun 
an investigation by year's end.
    Muslim leaders in Crimea, as well as members of the Crimean Tatar 
Mejlis, the major but unofficial organization representing Crimean 
Tatars, accused the UOC-MP of encouraging anti-Muslim and anti-Tatar 
violence in Crimea. UOC-MP priests in Crimea reportedly assured ethnic 
Russian vigilantes, who refer to themselves as Cossacks, that violence 
against Muslim Tatars was justified in order to protect Orthodoxy in 
Crimea. In September the Simferopol Diocese in Crimea publicly stated 
its desire to build good relations with all religious communities, in 
particular, with the Muslim community (see section 5).
    According to the State Committee of Statistics, the Jewish 
population during the 2001 census was estimated at 103,600, although 
some Jewish community leaders have stated the number may be as high as 
300,000. An estimated 20,000 Hasidic Jews from overseas participated in 
the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the town of Uman in September.
    There were a number of acts of anti-Semitism; several of them 
involved physical attacks.
    On February 3, a man ran into the Brodsky Synagogue in downtown 
Kyiv and demanded to see the rabbi. Security guards found a knife on 
the man, and police arrested him. On March 6, a yeshiva student used an 
air-pellet gun to fend off four men on a Kyiv subway train who kicked 
him to the ground while shouting anti-Semitic insults. The student 
managed to shoot one of the assailants in the face with the pellet gun, 
which he had purchased after being attacked with a fellow yeshiva 
student in August 2005. The assailants were arrested at the scene, but 
were then released on their own recognizance.
    On April 20, a group of skinheads beat and stabbed Israeli yeshiva 
student Haim Gorbov who came from Israel to Dnipropetrovsk to lead 
Passover seders. On May 5, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced 
that a criminal case of hooliganism would be brought against the 
assailants. The ministry also noted that prosecutors were continuing to 
examine the motives behind the attack, which could lead to additional 
``inter-ethnic hostility'' charges. There was no progress in the 
investigation.
    The Odesa police investigated the September 18 attack by a group of 
young men shouting anti-Semitic insults against Haim Weitzman, a 
Ukrainian citizen, who was injured with a concussion as a result of the 
incident. According to a spokesman of the Odesa Jewish community, no 
arrests have been made.
    No criminal charges were made against skinheads who assaulted 13 
students from a Chabad Jewish day school in Simferopol in January 2005. 
According to journalist Volodymyr Matveyev of JTA- Global Jewish News, 
there were no arrests of the unidentified assailants who assaulted him 
in December 2005.
    There were also several instances in which synagogues, cemeteries 
and Holocaust memorials were vandalized, particularly in Kirovohrad, 
where the Choral Synagogue was vandalized at least five times during 
the year. According to representatives of the local Jewish community, 
law enforcement authorities made no progress in the investigation. 
Police follow-up to cases of vandalism often appeared to be 
ineffectual. However, there was an effective official response in other 
cases. For example, on June 6 the SBU detained a suspect in the March 
23 desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Sevastopol. The case against 
the suspect went to trial, but there was no decision. In June police in 
Zhytomyr detained two teenagers who pleaded guilty to vandalizing 
several tombstones at an old Jewish cemetery in the town in May. No 
criminal charges were made and the investigation was ongoing at year's 
end.
    Despite continued mediation efforts by local Jewish and Greek 
Catholic leaders, a long-standing dispute between nationalists and the 
Jewish community over the erection of crosses in an old Jewish cemetery 
in Sambir, Lviv remained unresolved. On May 3, the supreme 
administrative court rejected an appeal by the Union of Councils of 
Soviet Jewry (US) to take ownership of the cemetery. The U.S. appealed 
to President Yushchenko for help. The President ordered the Lviv 
administration to address the problem, but no progress was made. On 
December 31, a Holocaust memorial plaque in Kharkiv was severely 
damaged. Police started an investigation but no arrests were made.
    Anti-Semitism was also evident in public life. In August 2005 the 
fringe Ukrainian Conservative Party, associated with the anti-Semitic 
MAUP, published an ``open letter'' to President Yushchenko calling for 
the criminal prosecution of Hasidic Rabbis in the country for the 
dissemination of ``Judeo-Nazi teachings.'' The Ukrainian Conservative 
Party received less than 1 percent of votes nationwide in the March 
parliamentary elections.
    Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and 
irregular newsletters, but such articles rarely appeared in the 
national press.
    MAUP, which receives significant funding from several Middle 
Eastern governments, remained the most persistent anti-Semitic presence 
in the country. It published a monthly journal Personnel and a weekly 
newspaper Personnel Plus, which was the subject of an ongoing criminal 
investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to Jewish 
organizations, MAUP accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic 
material published in the country during the year. In December 2005 
President Yushchenko issued an executive order barring civil servants 
from studying or teaching at MAUP branch affiliates. In March seven 
such affiliates, out of approximately 50 across the country, were 
closed due to unspecified licensing violations. Thirty more were closed 
before the September 27 commemoration of the Babyn Yar massacres, at 
which President Yushchenko criticized ethnic intolerance and religious 
hostility in the country. In November he announced a Presidential order 
to the SBU and Ministry of Science and Education to investigate 
manifestations of xenophobia at MAUP. Following MAUP's appeal to the 
Kyiv commercial court, the licenses of 26 of the regional branches 
rescinded by the Ministry of Education were renewed in December.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution and the law provide for 
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Although a system of registration exists, citizens have the right 
to live, work, and receive services anywhere in the country. There was 
no indication that individuals were denied access to services because 
they were not registered in the locality where they resided.
    Citizens who wished to travel abroad generally were able to do so 
freely. Exit visas were required for citizens who intended to take up 
permanent residence in another country, but there were no known cases 
of exit visas being denied to citizens during the year. The Government 
could deny passports to individuals in possession of state secrets; 
such individuals could appeal the denial of a passport.
    The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ 
it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The Constitution and the law provide for 
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government committed serious violations of 
the principle of non-refoulement, the return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution; it granted refugee or asylum status 
infrequently, providing only limited protection from refoulement.
    The Government provided temporary protection for up to one year to 
persons who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 
the 1967 Protocol.
    According to official statistics from the State Committee on 
Nationalities and Migration, at year's end there were 2,275 refugees in 
the country, including 740 women and 1,535 men. According to the 
Committee, as of December 1, 1,705 persons applied for asylum; 39 
persons were granted refugee status, while 450 were refused. The 
largest number of asylum applicants were from Asian countries. At the 
end of December, there were 627 refugees from countries of the 
Commonwealth of Independent States, including 128 Chechen refugees from 
Russia, down from 144 in April.
    In its October 17 report on asylum matters, Human Rights Watch 
noted that the country ``falls substantially short of its international 
obligations towards migrants and refugees.'' The report cited 
inadequate procedures for dealing with asylum seekers, substandard 
conditions and physical abuse in asylum centers, lack of basic 
procedural rights, inadequate food and sanitary conditions, and 
prolonged periods of detention.
    According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), the EU, and human rights groups, there have been instances in 
which border guards unlawfully returned unspecified numbers of Chechens 
to Russia who had applied for, or wanted to apply for, asylum. In 2005 
Chechens detained in Zakarpattya Region were frequently put on a train 
to Kharkiv and turned over to Russian border guards at the nearby 
border crossing point. Chechens were reportedly forcibly returned to 
Russia in keeping with an alleged secret government instruction issued 
after the September 2004 Beslan school massacre in Russia; it 
reportedly requires border guards to return all Chechens to Russia and 
to refuse them entry into the country. Human rights groups expressed 
concern that officials frequently refused to recognize a UNHCR-issued 
document attesting that the bearer has applied, or is in the process of 
applying, for asylum. In June 2005, for example, four Chechen men were 
returned to Russia, despite being registered with UNHCR Kyiv. The men 
were unable to register with the Kyiv City migration service, which had 
been closed for reorganization, leaving them without valid government-
issued asylum seeker certificates. The four were subsequently 
apprehended, fined for not having appropriate registration stamps, and 
deported to Russia.
    The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other 
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers, 
and operated refugee reception centers in Vinnytsya and Odesa. However, 
the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration at times showed 
little interest in refugee protection, poorly implemented agreements 
with the UNHCR, and often refused to share important information with 
the UNHCR. According to human rights organizations, corruption also 
impedes asylum-related issues. On July 13, the deputy head of the State 
Committee on Nationalities and Migration stated to the press that the 
prosecutor general's office was investigating allegations of abuse by 
the Committee's head, Serhiy Rudyk, and some of his colleagues. The 
deputy head also said that Rudyk fired Committee staff who protested 
against falsification and delays involved in reviewing refugee cases.
    On February 16, UNHCR and the international community strongly 
condemned the forcible deportation of 10 Uzbek asylum seekers. The SBU 
detained eleven men in Crimea based on extradition warrants issued by 
the Uzbekistani authorities on the grounds that they allegedly 
participated in the Andijan mass protests in Uzbekistan in May 2005. 
They were transferred to a Ministry of Interior detention facility in 
Simferopol. The UNHCR asked authorities for assurances that no asylum-
seekers would be forcibly returned unless they had been determined not 
to be refugees and had completed asylum procedures, including any 
appeal. The Migration Service in Crimea rejected the asylum 
applications on the basis that they were ``manifestly unfounded.'' On 
February 14, 10 of the men were forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. (The 
remaining man was reportedly allowed to stay because he had relatives 
in the country.) Twenty-one Ukrainian regional human rights 
organizations issued a statement protesting the incident. On May 3, the 
Ministry of Justice issued a legal opinion saying that deportation was 
illegal. The President's chief of staff stated that the deportation was 
a violation of procedure because the refugees were not granted ten days 
to appeal the deportation, but added that the extradition was 
acceptable as they ``belonged to a radical Islamic group.''
    In August 2005 Ukrainian authorities ordered the deportation of 18 
Uzbek asylum seekers, including 11 children, to Russia. The Uzbeks 
traveled to Ukraine after first trying to gain asylum in Russia, where 
they reported the authorities abused them. The Ukrainian border guard 
service took them off a train, kept them for 12 hours in cramped 
quarters, then forcibly put them on a train back to Moscow, despite 
requests for assistance by Tatar and Uzbek opposition leaders.
    The Donetsk-based NGO Memorial reported that there were 
approximately 2,000 Uzbek refugees in the country, of whom only 10 
percent applied for asylum in the UNHCR office in Kyiv. According to 
official statistics, during the first eight months of the year, 85 
Uzbek nationals applied for asylum, compared to 23 in 2005, and four in 
2004.
    According to human rights NGOs, a 2005 amendment to the law that 
improved the registration process somewhat was still being applied 
unevenly. Under the law authorities may quickly reject asylum claims 
from individuals without formal registration as asylum seekers, 
allowing the cases of registered asylum seekers to be considered more 
quickly, and requires the Government to conduct refugee status 
interviews within 15 days of the application. However, asylum seekers 
in detention centers were sometimes unable to apply for refugee status 
and had limited or no access to legal and other assistance. As a 
result, many asylum seekers remained undocumented and faced arrest, 
detention, and deportation. In addition, the law allows for the 
deprivation of refugee status for suspicion of involvement in 
activities that pose a threat to the national security, public order, 
or health of the population of the country.
    Police harassment of individuals with dark skin, and to a lesser 
degree, Asians, continued during the year. There were also multiple 
credible reports from human rights NGOs and diplomats that refugees, 
particularly those from Africa and Asia, were regularly abused at 
detention centers in Zakarpattya Region, which borders EU member states 
Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Detainees, in particular Chechen and 
Afghan nationals interviewed by HRW in March 2005, reported physical 
and psychological abuse at centers in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv, Chop and 
Rava Ruska.
    The State Border Service announced in June that it had opened a 
modern refugee center in Chop, which can accommodate 46 people. It is 
the first mixed gender detention center built to European standards in 
the country.
    According to human rights NGOs, conditions at the old Chop 
detention center were poor. Refugees were crammed into tiny cells, 
given polluted drinking water, and had to use outdoor toilets. The 
center was unheated in winter and many refugees lacked warm clothing; 
some had no shoes.
    There were reports that the makeshift Pavshyno detention center 
received no state funds during 2005. Border guards generated income, 
including their own salaries, by ``leasing'' migrants to a neighboring 
factory (see section 6.c.). Border guards also illegally released 
detained migrants whose families paid bribes, usually in the amount of 
$1,200 (6,000 hryvnia), transferred via wire. Border guards also stole 
food packages and phone cards provided to refugees by the EU. Border 
guards only accepted asylum applications prepared by lawyers whom the 
migrants had to pay for their services; the lawyers then split their 
fees with the guards. Applications prepared by NGO lawyers working pro 
bono were not accepted.
    Conditions at the Mukacheve detention center for migrant women and 
children were somewhat better than at Chop. According to human rights 
groups, the temporary accommodation and refugee processing center in 
Latoritsa, which opened in June, met all international standards.
    In October two modernized facilities were opened, one at the 
Chernihiv Frontier Detachment and the other in Lviv, which can 
accommodate 24 and 32 undocumented migrants, respectively.
    HRW reported that limited access to interpreters for refugees 
infringed on rights of due process and limited asylum seekers' ability 
to challenge detention. In April 2005 officials rejected the submission 
of an asylum seeker from Cote d'Ivoire who tried to send his 
correspondence with the migration department in French. The migration 
official reportedly stated that it was the applicant's problem that he 
did not speak Ukrainian, and that he should find an interpreter 
himself.
    In 2005 human rights organizations reported acts of violence 
against asylum seekers and refugees. For example, in December 2005 a 
group of young men dressed in military uniforms beat two Iranian asylum 
seekers near the Sviatoshin subway station in Kyiv.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The Constitution and the law provide citizens with the right to 
change their government peacefully through periodic elections, and 
citizens exercised this right in practice during the March 
parliamentary elections and in a small number of local elections. All 
elections were held on the basis of universal suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--Verkhovna Rada elections 
held on March 26 were the freest elections in the country's fifteen 
years of independence. They were the first conducted since the 
introduction of a number of changes to the electoral process, most 
significantly that all candidates ran on party lists and the threshold 
for a party to win seats in the parliamentary was lowered to three 
percent. There were pre-election concerns about voter lists and 
staffing polling station commissions, but independent monitors 
attributed these problems to disorganization rather than a government 
effort to exclude parties or voters from participation. The elections 
went smoothly and observers reported that they were free, fair, and 
transparent. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
(OSCE) assessed that the elections were in compliance with domestic 
law, met OSCE and Council of Europe commitments, and the overwhelming 
majority of voters were able to exercise their voting rights. Five of 
the 42 parties running received enough votes to win seats in the 
parliament. There were reports of isolated cases of pressure from local 
enterprise directors and employers to vote for a designated candidate.
    In contrast to the parliamentary elections, there were some 
problems in local elections also held in March for representation to 
regional and local councils and mayors. There were accusations that 
authorities manipulated the vote count in some elections. The mayoral 
election in Cherkasy was particularly controversial, as authorities 
prohibited a series of popular candidates from running based on 
corruption charges that observers said were politically motivated, and 
the election results were cancelled. The regional election commission 
there was unable to convene a new election. Courts, the prosecutor 
general's office, and the Verkhovna Rada investigated this election and 
a new vote was held on November 5, which international and domestic 
observers determined to be free of major fraud. November 26 mayoral 
elections in Chernihiv and Poltava, where the elected mayors chose to 
take Verkhovna Rada seats to which they were elected rather than remain 
local officials, occurred without evidence of major fraud; a third 
mayoral contest held on the same day in Kirovohrad was nullified after 
local election officials removed one candidate from the ballot hours 
before the polls opened, leaving the candidate no recourse to the 
courts. The election will be re-run in February 2007.
    Individuals and parties could, and did, freely declare their 
candidacy and stand for election.
    To be registered at the national level, political parties must 
maintain offices in at least half of the regions and may not receive 
financial support from the state or any foreign patron. The Supreme 
Court reserves the right to ban any political party upon the 
recommendation of the Ministry of Justice or the prosecutor general. No 
parties were banned during the year.
    There were 38 women in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada. The 18-member 
constitutional court had three female members.
    The exact number of minorities in the parliament was not available 
due to privacy laws. Among the members there were ethnic Russians, 
Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Hungarians, Georgians, and Jews. 
Yuriy Yekhanurov, who served as prime minister until August, is half 
ethnic Buryat. The current cabinet includes members who are ethnic 
Greek and ethnic Russian.
    Crimean Tatar leaders continued to call for changes in the 
electoral law that would allow them to achieve greater representation 
in the Crimean Parliament; current law does not allow the creation of 
political parties on the regional level, so Crimean Tatars must join 
national political parties.
    According to statistics from the Mejlis (the Tatar representative 
body), the Tatars, who make up 12 percent of the population of Crimea, 
occupied 8 percent of the seats in the Crimean Parliament. Four of the 
25 officials in the Crimean government were Tatars, including one 
deputy prime minister. Two of the 12 heads of raion (county-level) 
administrations in Crimea appointed by the President were also Tatars. 
Tatar representation in other Crimean ministries, including in law 
enforcement agencies, was 1 percent or less. There are also two Crimean 
Tatars in the Verkhovna Rada.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a 
serious problem in the executive and legislative branches of the 
Government, including the armed services. The SBU reported that it 
launched 167 criminal investigations of bribery and uncovered 1,795 
incidents of corruption, including 35 by high-ranking state officials, 
during the year. The SBU fired 76 employees and disciplined another 300 
persons for corruption-related offenses in the first ten months of the 
year.
    The judiciary suffered from corruption. In April the media reported 
that the head of a local court in the Lviv region was detained while 
soliciting a bribe and another judge from Kherson was sentenced on 
September 27 to three years in prison for falsifying documents. 
According to a January public opinion survey by the Institute for 
Regional Development Studies, 80.7 percent of respondents said that 
national level authorities are the ``most corrupt'' institution in the 
country.
    The Government reported that investigations did not find sufficient 
evidence of wrongdoing to pursue charges stemming from September 2005 
accusations from then head of the Presidential Secretariat, Oleksandr 
Zinchenko, that key officials close to President Yushchenko were guilty 
of corruption.
    Although weeding out corruption from government was a theme of the 
Orange Revolution, the Yushchenko government made little progress in 
prosecuting former officials suspected of corruption. Parliamentary 
immunity continued to shield members of parliament suspected of 
committing crimes. Party of Regions member Boris Kolesnikov avoided 
prosecution following his 2005 arrest on extortion charges and became a 
member of the parliament after the March elections. On April 4, 
parliament abolished immunity for locally elected officials, (which had 
been enacted in September 2005) resulting in 12 criminal cases against 
officials in one region alone, although many cases that had begun 
before the immunity decision were not subsequently pursued.
    In Sumy region prosecutors pursued cases against former high-level 
officials for embezzlement and bribery. Former Sumy mayor Volodymyr 
Omelchenko and former local council member Olha Krutushkina face prison 
sentences. Krutushkina was appealing a seven year sentence, while 
hearings began in the Omelchenko case in August. During the year two 
precinct committee chairs in Kirovohrad from the 2004 election were 
also convicted for fraudulent actions and sentenced to two and five 
year terms, respectively.
    In August the office of the prosecutor general initiated a criminal 
investigation of a senior Ministry of Defense official accused of 
accepting $580,000 (roughly three million hrynia) in bribes.
    In April the Cabinet of Ministers reviewed state-run oil and gas 
company NaftoHaz's financial plan and found that mismanagement of funds 
contributed to the company's difficulties. In August the Verkhovna Rada 
established two investigatory commissions to review NaftoHaz finances 
and corruption in the energy sector. A preliminary report from the 
commission found that certain irregular financial and business 
activities of NaftoHaz appeared to constitute criminal offenses. In one 
instance cited by the report, the company allegedly paid a gas supplier 
twice for the same gas, resulting in significant financial damage to 
the state.
    The Constitution and the law provide the right of access to 
information, with exceptions for national security. Government bodies 
are required to respond to requests within 10 days and provide the 
information within 30 days. Denials can be appealed to a higher level 
at the agency concerned and then to a court.
    Many human rights organizations and journalists said that access to 
official information remained difficult during the year. Government 
officials did not understand the rules concerning releasable 
information, and Soviet-style attitudes and traditions of secrecy were 
prevalent among officials. At a September 28 press conference, human 
rights organizations announced that the prosecutor general's office had 
the highest refusal rate for information requests among government 
agencies. Government information was usually available through web 
sites, but Internet access was still relatively limited both in terms 
of technology and overall number of users. Prominent government 
watchdogs, including former member of parliament Inna Bohoslovska, 
noted that the Government generally posted information on the Internet 
only after important decisions were made. Information on the process by 
which the Government made important decisions usually was not available 
to the public. The 2005 International Helsinki Federation Report for 
Human Rights noted that the Soviet-era practice of issuing secret 
Presidential decrees on matters that did not involve national security 
or personal privacy continued.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
met with domestic and international human rights NGOs and often were 
cooperative and responsive to their views. However, the NGO community 
complained that authorities remained generally unwilling to make policy 
changes in response to their recommendations. According to the 
Ukrainian Psychiatric Association, the Ministry of Health did not 
always cooperate with human rights groups attempting to monitor abuse 
of psychiatry (see section 1.d)
    During the year President Yushchenko held a roundtable discussion 
with key civic and NGO leaders and the Government set up several public 
advisory councils in order to reinforce public oversight and 
cooperation between government and civil society organizations. In May 
the Ministry of Justice set up a council, chaired by a civic leader, to 
monitor the human rights situation in prison facilities. In July the 
SBU formed another council consisting of reputable politicians, NGO 
activists, and independent experts to provide civilian oversight and to 
increase transparency of its activities. The chairman of the Kharkiv 
Human Rights Protection Group, Yevhen Zakharov, said that following the 
establishment of a similar council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 
law enforcement institutions demonstrated greater willingness to 
cooperate with NGOs.
    Major independent, non-partisan, national human rights NGOs 
included the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Human Rights 
Protection Group, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the 
Institute for Mass Information, the Independent Media Union, the Roma 
Congress of Ukraine, the Ukrainian-American Bureau for the Protection 
of Human Rights, La Strada, the Congress of National Communities of 
Ukraine, Donetsk-based Memorial, and the Dnipropetrovsk-based 
Association of Soldiers' Mothers.
    The Government generally cooperated with international governmental 
organizations, including the UN and the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
Council of Europe (PACE). Government officials met with the PACE 
President during his visit to Odesa in August to examine the progress 
of reform in the fields of human rights and the rule of law. PACE and 
ECHR observers made multiple visits to the country to discuss human 
rights issues. However, authorities often refused to share important 
information regarding refugees with the UNHCR (see section 2.d.).
    Persons have the right to appeal to the ECHR about alleged 
government human rights violations. The ECHR ruled on 120 cases 
involving Ukraine and found violations of ECHR rights in 119 cases 
during the year.
    On May 31, the Cabinet of Ministers issued a resolution putting the 
Ministry of Justice in charge of implementing ECHR judgments and 
representing the country in the ECHR. In August Justice Minster Roman 
Zvarych introduced a requirement that all draft legislation and legal 
acts be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.
    During the year three ECHR cases received national press attention:
    On March 28, the ECHR awarded Oleksandr Melnik $13,350 (10,500 
euros) for his detention in an overcrowded prison cell, without 
adequate medical care and in unsatisfactory sanitation conditions, and 
with no recourse to complain about the conditions of his detention.
    On April 4, the ECHR awarded Sergey Shevchenko $25,400 (20,000 
euros) for the failure of the authorities to conduct an effective and 
independent investigation into the death of his son at his army post.
    On August 10, the ECHR ruled that authorities violated the right of 
freedom of expression of journalist Oleh Lyashko, former editor of the 
independent Kyiv weekly Polityka, by sentencing him to two years 
imprisonment for writing articles criticizing public figures, and 
awarded Lyashko $3,800 (3,000 euros.)
    The Constitution mandates the position of human rights ombudsman, 
officially designated as the Parliamentary Commissioner on Human 
Rights. Nina Karpachova, who had served one and a half terms, was 
elected to the Verkhovna Rada in March and announced her resignation on 
November 16 to take her seat in parliament. Her replacement had not yet 
been nominated at year's end and must be confirmed by the Verkhovna 
Rada. In December 2005 a group of 18 major human rights organizations 
called for Karpachova's resignation on the grounds that her decision to 
run in the elections undermined the ``impartiality and independence'' 
of the ombudsman's office. She submitted a resignation letter in May, 
but continued to act as the ombudsman. Since citizens cannot address 
the constitutional court directly, all citizens and residents may 
address their concerns to the ombudsman and the ombudsman serves as 
intermediary between citizens and the court. The law provides the 
ombudsman with unrestricted and unannounced access to any public 
official, including the President, and to any government installation. 
The law also gives her the authority to oversee the implementation of 
human rights treaties and agreements to which the country is a party; 
however, it does not provide penalties for obstruction of the 
ombudsman's investigations or effective enforcement authority for the 
ombudsman.
    The ombudsman's office consisted of approximately 100 full and 
part-time workers, but according to the ombudsman, limited funding of 
the office continued to hamper its effectiveness. The ombudsman 
continued to make the combating of trafficking in persons and improving 
pretrial detention facility conditions major priorities during the 
year. Ombudsman Karpachova last issued an annual human rights report to 
parliament in July 2005.
    The Verkhovna Rada has a Committee on Human Rights, National 
Minorities, and Interethnic Relations which is chaired by Communist 
Party member Leonid Hrach, who took office on July 11. In January the 
Committee increased the number of subcommittees to nine. The 
subcommittees cover: human rights; interethnic relations; indigenous 
people; national minorities and ethnic groups; deported peoples and 
national minorities; victims of political repression; gender policy; 
refugees and migration; Ukrainians living abroad; international law; 
and ethical policy and prevention of domestic conflict. Credible human 
rights NGOs considered the committee's work to be of significant value.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The Constitution and the law prohibit discrimination on the basis 
of race, sex, and other grounds; however, the Government did not 
enforce these provisions effectively, in part due to the continuing 
absence of an effective judicial system. Violence against women and 
children, trafficking in persons, and harassment and discrimination 
against ethnic minorities and homosexuals were problems.

    Women.--Violence against women remained a serious problem. Spousal 
abuse is illegal but was common, and the authorities often pressured 
women not to press charges against their husbands. One major NGO 
estimated that at least 50 percent of all women have been subjected to 
physical violence or psychological abuse at home.
    According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, almost 15,000 women 
die annually after being beaten by their husbands, and almost 70 
percent of women suffer from various forms of humiliation and abuse in 
their families. According to the ministry, only 18 percent of citizens 
are aware of the law on preventing domestic violence. The NGO Legiteam, 
which educates judges on human rights issues, said that most judges 
were unaware of the law adopted in 2006 stipulating gender equality.
    According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the first 11 
months of the year, 70,888 domestic violence complaints were made to 
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. During that same period, courts 
issued rulings in 67,639 domestic violence cases. Warnings were issued 
to 5,412 people, 52,739 people were fined, 277 were sentenced to 
community service, and 8,973 were jailed.
    The Government increased the number of state-run hot lines, 
shelters, and other forms of practical support for victims of abuse. 
During 2005-2006, authorities opened six shelters for victims of 
domestic violence, 18 crisis centers that provided a wide range of 
services to women going through crises such as divorce, loss of a son 
while on military duty, or domestic violence, and 24 centers for 
psychological and medical assistance. The law requires authorities to 
operate a shelter in every major city, but in practice they did not do 
so. According to AI, private shelters were not always accessible. For 
example, one shelter in Kyiv refused to accommodate three women because 
they had neither Kyiv registration nor a medical certificate with HIV/
AIDS test results. Violence against women did not receive extensive 
media coverage despite the efforts of human rights groups to highlight 
the problem.
    The law prohibits rape but does not explicitly address spousal 
rape. A law against ``forced sex with a materially dependent person'' 
may allow prosecution for spousal rape. According to statistics from 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the first 11 months of the 
year, 868 incidents of rape or attempted rape were reported to the 
police.
    Prostitution is illegal but widespread and largely ignored by the 
Government. Sex tourism rose as the country attracted greater numbers 
of foreign tourists. On January 12, the parliament passed tougher 
criminal penalties for human trafficking and coerced prostitution. 
However, previous laws criminalizing organized prostitution have had 
little effect.
    Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a serious problem 
(see section 5, Trafficking).
    Women's groups reported that there was continuing widespread sexual 
harassment in the workplace, including coerced sex. While the law 
prohibits forced sex with a materially dependent person, which includes 
employees, legal experts regarded the safeguards against harassment as 
inadequate.
    The law mandates equal legal rights for men and women and 
establishes legal protections against gender discrimination. However, 
human rights observers and women's groups noted that discrimination 
against women continued to be a common problem in the workplace. The 
Government and private businesses regularly specified the gender of 
employees in their help wanted advertisements, and employers frequently 
demanded information about a woman's family situation and subsequently 
used it to deny employment to women who were likely to become pregnant. 
Physical appearance and age were often taken into account in employment 
decisions involving women.
    Labor laws establish the legal equality of men and women, including 
equal pay for equal work, a principle that generally was observed. 
However, industries that were dominated by female workers were also 
those with the lowest relative wages and the ones most likely to be 
affected by wage arrears.
    Few women held top managerial positions in the Government or in 
state-owned or private industry. However, the number of female members 
of the parliament increased from 25 to 38 after the March elections. 
Nadiya Deyeva in Dnipropetrovsk, Nina Harkava in Sumy, and Vira 
Ulyanchenko in the Kyiv region served as the first female governors in 
the country. The 18-member constitutional court had three female 
judges.

    Children.--The Government was publicly committed to the defense of 
children's rights, but budgetary considerations severely limited its 
ability to ensure these rights. The International Labor Organization's 
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO/IPEC), 
together with a number of local NGOs, funded projects dealing with 
child labor, child trafficking, street children and the commercial 
exploitation of children that actively promoted children's rights at 
both national and local levels. Faith-based organizations also 
continued their work with orphans and street children. First Lady 
Kateryna Yushchenko, in her capacity as head of the steering committee 
of the charitable foundation Ukraine 3000, worked with the Ministry of 
Health and private businesses to raise funds to improve health care for 
needy and disabled children.
    On May 11, the Government approved the State Program to Combat 
Child Homelessness and Neglect for 2006-2010. The document identifies 
child labor as a contributing factor for child homelessness. The 
program aims to identify and provide support to at-risk families, 
although it is unclear if there is funding for the program. On June 26, 
the Government approved the plan of action to implement the National 
Program on Youth Support for 2006-2008. The plan seeks to increase 
awareness among youth regarding education and vocational training 
opportunities, develop and support youth centers and recreational 
institutions, and improve rehabilitation centers for youth in crisis. 
The parliament ratified the EU Convention on the Exercise of Children's 
Rights (1996) on August 3.
    Education is free, universal, and compulsory until age 15; however, 
the public education system continued to suffer from chronic inadequate 
funding. Teachers were usually paid their salaries during the year, but 
other monetary benefits due them were not paid in some localities. 
Children from poor families continued to drop out of school during the 
year, and illiteracy, previously very rare, remained a problem. The 
All-Ukraine Committee for the Protection of Children reported that lack 
of schooling remained a significant problem among the rural population. 
The problem of growing violence and crime in and outside of schools 
persisted, particularly in the notoriously violent vocational schools, 
and discouraged some children from attending school. Roma rights 
organizations reported numerous incidents of discrimination against 
Romani children in schools (see section 5, national/racial/ethnic 
minorities).
    Health care was provided equally to girls and boys, but the overall 
quality of the health care system was poor.
    Children continued to be victims of violence and abuse. In 2006 the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs cited over 80,000 families for violence 
against children, issued approximately 1.5 million official warnings 
with regard to domestic violence, and initiated over 1,000 criminal 
cases concerning child abuse. There were also many complaints of abuse 
of children related to child prostitution, pornographic video sales, 
child molestation, and illegal child labor.
    According to NGOs, police often ignored legal requirements and did 
not investigate parents who allegedly abused their children. For 
example, a police inspector in Kirovohrad region refused to initiate a 
criminal case against a father who beat his child regularly and did not 
remove the child from the father. The local prosecutor initiated a 
criminal case against the police officer.
    Human rights organizations reported police violence against minors, 
including sexual violence. For example, in April the Zaporizhzhya 
regional prosecutor initiated a criminal case against police officers 
for the illegal detention and rape of a child. At year's end, the 
investigation was ongoing.
    There also were numerous cases of teachers abusing children. The 
prosecutor's office in Kherson started a criminal case against a 
teacher at a boarding school accused of slamming the head of a sixth-
grader against a desk and beating two other pupils outside of class 
hours. Human rights organizations reported similar incidents in 
Vinnytsya, Khmelnytsky and Chernivtsi.
    The legal marriage age is 18 for males and 17 for females, but the 
law stipulates that a person who has reached the age of 14 may apply to 
a court for permission to marry if ``it is established that marriage is 
in the person's best interest.'' Experts stated that under-age marriage 
was not a significant problem; however, media in Zakarpattya Region 
have characterized under-age marriage among Roma as a problem.
    Trafficking in children was a serious problem (see section 5, 
Trafficking).
    The commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a serious 
problem. According to domestic and foreign law enforcement officials, a 
significant portion of the child pornography available on the Internet 
continued to originate in the country. According to the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs, by the end of September, 150 criminal cases had been 
opened related to the manufacture and circulation of child pornography, 
and police had closed major child pornography studios in 
Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Lviv.
    Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
    The number of homeless children, usually children who left poorly 
maintained orphanages or poor domestic conditions, remained high. 
Estimates of the number of homeless children varied widely. The vice 
premier for humanitarian and social affairs stated in April 2005 that 
there were approximately 150,000 homeless children in the country, but 
the State Service for Minors reported in July 2005 that there were only 
30,000. In June the national newspaper Ukraina Moloda quoted experts as 
putting the number at 129,000.

    Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons; 
however, there were numerous reports that persons were trafficked to, 
from, and within the country.
    The country remained a point of origin for internationally 
trafficked men, women, and children. The main destinations were Russia, 
Turkey, Western and Central Europe, particularly Poland and Czech 
Republic, and the Middle East.
    The country also was a transit route for individuals from Central 
Asia, Russia, and Moldova. The International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) reported as of June 30 that at least 15 individuals from Moldova, 
Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan had been trafficked through Ukraine 
to Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
    The IOM did not identify any cases of Ukraine as a destination 
country for trafficked individuals, but did identify internal cases of 
trafficking. As of June 30, the IOM reported five cases of internal 
trafficking, but believed the actual number to be 100 times greater.
    Seventy-six percent of victims identified by IOM during the year 
were women who were forced into prostitution and used as housekeepers, 
seamstresses, dishwashers, and at various small and large manufacturing 
plants. There is still a lack of statistical information regarding male 
victims of trafficking; however, the number of men identified as 
victims of trafficking for labor exploitation, mainly as construction 
workers and miners, increased. One challenge with male victims was 
their reluctance to acknowledge they had been trafficked and the 
authorities' tendency to prosecute the cases on the basis of non-
trafficking related statutes. Children who were trafficked across the 
border or within the country were forced to provide sexual services, 
engage in unpaid work, or beg.
    According to an IOM study, the targeted groups for trafficking were 
women up to 30 years of age for sexual exploitation and older women for 
labor exploitation, men of all ages, and children under the age of 16. 
According to local NGOs, children who had to leave orphanages at 18 
were also at high risk since they had no family support structures in 
place, had difficulty finding work, and often had no place to live.
    Victims were usually trafficked into conditions of severe 
exploitation: beatings, limited and low-quality food, no medical 
assistance, and long hours of work. In one instance, the IOM reported 
that women trafficked to Turkey were forced to take antibiotics and 
contraceptive pills without regular medical supervision.
    Estimates regarding the number of trafficked citizens varied, but 
an IOM poll revealed that one out of every 10 persons knew someone in 
their community who had been trafficked.
    Employment, travel, marriage, and modeling agencies as well as 
individual recruiters were involved in recruitment. Most traffickers 
were members of organized crime groups, had foreign partners, and 
bribed corrupt officials to facilitate the movement abroad of victims. 
The number of men and women among recruiters was almost equal. 
Sometimes women served as success stories for potential victims, 
flaunting how much money they ostensibly earned abroad. The majority of 
recruiters were identified as citizens.
    Traffickers used the same methods to recruit victims as they did in 
previous years, including advertisements in newspapers and on 
television and radio stations that offered jobs abroad with high 
salaries or promises of modelling contracts, marriage proposals, and 
trips through travel agencies. Traffickers often presented themselves 
as friends of other friends and deceived the relatives of potential 
victims. The traffickers often paid for the processing of passports and 
travel documents for the victims, thus placing them into debt bondage. 
In some cases the traffickers kidnapped their victims.
    The law provides for penalties of three to eight years' 
imprisonment for trafficking in persons for various purposes, including 
sexual and labor exploitation, both internal and international. Under 
some circumstances--trafficking of minors aged 14 to 18, or of groups 
of victims--traffickers may be sentenced to prison terms from five to 
12 years, and traffickers of minors under the age of 14 or members of 
organized trafficking groups may be sentenced to terms from eight to 15 
years.
    In the first six months of the year, over half of the individuals 
convicted for trafficking received prison sentences rather than 
probation. Experts urged authorities to improve their prosecution 
record by establishing a specialized trafficking trial prosecutors unit 
and by extending the witness protection program to trafficking victims. 
In the spring the prosecutor general dismissed the proposal to create a 
specialized antitrafficking unit in his office. The Ministry of 
Internal Affairs maintained that the witness protection program, which 
focuses on providing physical security to witnesses during the period 
of the trial, had to be limited due to funding constraints, to 
witnesses who were believed to be in immediate danger. From 2001 to 
2006 only two of the 1,741 victims of trafficking who participated in 
court cases were judged to qualify under those conditions. Authorities 
conducted a number of closed court hearings in order to protect the 
identity of victims, but no statistical data is maintained on how many 
of these hearings were held each year.
    In the first half of the year, the number of investigations and 
prosecutions of suspected traffickers did not increase relative to the 
same period in 2005. This stagnation was attributed to the adoption of 
tougher antitrafficking legislation in February and the need for police 
officers and prosecutors to familiarize themselves with the new code as 
well as to restructure their cases. As of September, according to 
statistics supplied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 282 cases had 
been filed involving 296 victims, including 35 minors. The authorities 
broke up 21 organized criminal rings involved in human trafficking 
during the same period. In the first six months of the year, 50 court 
cases were completed, 37 of which resulted in the conviction of 40 
defendants. Of the 40 persons convicted, 19 received suspended 
sentences, five were given to up to three years in prison, eight 
received three to five year sentences, six received five to eight year 
sentences, one received an eight to 10 year sentence, and one was given 
a 10 to 15 year sentence. As of October, 49 criminal trafficking cases 
were pending in the courts. The percentage of persons sentenced to 
prison terms relative to probation increased from 41 percent in 2005 to 
51 percent in the first six months of the year. The trend may reflect 
the impact of a number of antitrafficking seminars and trainings 
conducted for judges in 2005-2006 by the IOM, OSCE, and foreign 
governments.
    During the year the Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to 
strengthen the professional capabilities of its department for 
combating trafficking by introducing specializations. The department 
has branches in each of the ministry's 27 regional directorates, with 
approximately 600 officers dedicated exclusively to combating 
trafficking. During the year the department actively expanded its 
cooperation with foreign embassies' consular sections in Kyiv.
    The Government reported that it regularly reviewed the licenses of 
domestic employment agencies. In a limited number of cases, the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy withdrew agency licenses because of 
involvement in trafficking. However, Ministry of Internal Affairs 
officers claimed that some labor officers involved in this process were 
either corrupt or would ``close their eyes'' to violations of the law 
committed by the employment agencies in sending persons abroad to work.
    The Government sought to cooperate with foreign governments to 
investigate and prosecute trafficking cases; however, efforts were 
hampered by a number of factors, including insufficient investigative 
resources, the reluctance of many victims to give evidence against 
traffickers, and a lack of timely cooperation from law enforcement 
officials in most destination countries.
    Corruption in the judiciary and police continued to impede the 
Government's ability to combat trafficking. NGOs asserted that local 
police and border guards received bribes in return for ignoring 
trafficking, as did judges for lighter sentences for traffickers. 
Authorities did not disclose official statistics on corruption related 
to trafficking. The low number of prosecutions of government officials 
for such activities raised questions about whether the Government was 
willing to take serious disciplinary action, especially against high-
level officials. Antitrafficking experts noted that prosecutors were 
often the weakest link in the fight against trafficking, as their 
negative stereotypes of victims, lack of aggressive prosecution, and 
the difficulties in obtaining evidence from abroad led to the low 
number of cases brought to court.
    Some victims testified against traffickers, but most were reluctant 
to seek legal redress. This reluctance was due largely to a lack of 
trust of the law enforcement agencies and the courts, negative public 
opinion toward trafficking victims, a lack of access to witness 
protection programs, and a lack of understanding on the part of 
investigators and judges that there may be real threats against the 
victims from traffickers or their accomplices. Skepticism that civil 
courts would award significant compensation deterred most victims from 
filing civil cases.
    The IOM operated a comprehensive medical center and shelter for 
victims of trafficking in Kyiv that provided medical and psychological 
services, including vocational counseling, and seven shelters located 
in major cities and funded by the European Commission with local 
administrations providing the premises at a nominal fee. In addition 27 
local NGOs provided reintegration assistance to trafficking victims. 
The IOM disbursed funds to more than 50 civil society and faith-based 
organizations to raise trafficking awareness among vulnerable segments 
of society. The NGO La Strada-Ukraine operated a national toll free hot 
line on trafficking prevention.
    Government cooperation with NGOs on antitrafficking programs was 
steady during the year. Local administrations continued to include NGOs 
as partner organizations in their regional action plans, but most 
funding of NGOs and shelter continued to be provided by the 
international donors and not the Government.
    During the year several television stations broadcast documentary 
films and informational programs highlighting the danger of human 
trafficking. NGOs conducted general awareness campaigns throughout the 
country, often in cooperation with government entities. International 
organizations conducted trafficking prevention information campaigns 
with entertainment celebrities as spokespersons. In September First 
Lady Kateryna Yushchenko appeared at a nationally televised event where 
she urged the public to be more supportive of trafficking victims.
    The Government worked to improve assistance provided by its 
diplomatic missions to victims in destination countries. In the first 
nine months of the year, the country's overseas consulates helped 
repatriate 271 citizens who were victims of trafficking. The Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs set up a center in Kyiv and five other major cities 
to provided free consultations to citizens regarding their rights in 
foreign countries.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or other state services. However, the Government did 
little to increase opportunities for persons with disabilities, and 
advocacy groups maintained that there was societal discrimination 
against persons with disabilities. The law mandates access to buildings 
and other public facilities for persons with disabilities, but it was 
poorly enforced. In June 2005 President Yushchenko issued a decree 
ordering the Government to ensure that persons with disabilities could 
physically access government and public buildings. There were some 
efforts made to comply with the decree, but most public buildings 
remained inaccessible.
    Only 13 percent of the country's 2.5 million persons with 
disabilities were employed, according to statistics from the Ministry 
of Labor and Social Policy, although the total number of employed 
disabled persons increased from 272,000 in 2005 to 344,000 during the 
year. Labor Minister Ivan Sakhan said that an employment program for 
400,000 persons with disabilities was 86 percent filled, although the 
program was not successful in Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-
Frankivsk, Mykolayiv, Rivne, and Kherson regions and in Kyiv city due 
to too few positions in these regions and there was lax regional 
budgetary oversight. According to the ministry's data, up to 45,000 of 
the country's 122,600 disabled children undergo specialized medical 
treatment in rehabilitation institutions. Altogether, up to 9,100 
people with disabilities studied in academic institutions and 1,850 
disabled students received a free university education at 26 regional 
branches of the ``Ukraina'' Open International University for Human 
Development with tuition paid for by local governments.
    On May 6, disability rights NGOs held demonstrations to protest 
discrimination against persons with disabilities. According to Ivan 
Marusevych, head of the Center for Rehabilitation of the Disabled in 
Wheelchairs, the Government did not pay sufficient attention to the 
disabled and did not provide ``adequate life conditions.''
    According to the Charitable Society to Support Persons with 
Disabilities and the Mentally Handicapped, the Government did not 
comply with the law on psychiatric assistance, which provides for a 
quota of jobs for mentally handicapped people. According to Semyon 
Gluzman of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association and the Ukrainian-
American Human Rights Bureau, ``psychiatric hospitals remain a risk 
zone for torture and cruel behavior; many psychiatric hospitals 
continue using archaic and very painful methods of treatment that were 
criticized by Western psychiatrists 20-30 years ago; the absence of 
public watchdog councils at psychiatric hospitals aids abuse by medical 
personnel; Ukrainian courts refuse to create precedents of prosecuting 
doctors and other medical personnel who abuse their posts and deprive 
patients of basic rights.''
    There were two members of the Verkhovna Rada with disabilities, one 
of whom served as deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on 
Pensioners, Veterans, and Persons with Disabilities.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Harassment of racial minorities 
was a continuing problem. The police routinely detained dark-skinned 
persons for arbitrary document checks, whereas document checks of 
light-skinned individuals were rare. Although authorities disciplined 
police who engaged in this harassment when incidents were brought to 
their attention, such behavior remained common. In December, the 
Kharkiv Group for Human Rights stated on its website that it received 
numerous complaints from foreign students about racially motivated 
harassment and violence. The group added that the biggest hindrance to 
investigation and prosecution of these cases is the victims' and 
witnesses' fear of reporting these incidents to the police. AI reported 
that incidents of racial hatred and xenophobia were increasing, 
influenced by skinheads and neo-Nazi groups in Russia, as well as 
locally-based neonationalist organizations National Patriotic Party, 
Brotherhood, and National Alliance youth NGO. According to the Ministry 
of Internal Affairs, police launched 175 criminal cases involving 
foreigners during the year, of which 26 were committed by citizens 
against foreign nationals. Only in one case, involving a Nigerian 
killed in Kyiv, did the police consider xenophobia as a possible 
factor. On October 25, a group of skinheads killed a Nigerian citizen, 
Godknows Kunou Mievi, who had resided in the country for 25 years. The 
Darnitsa Neighborhood Prosecutor initiated a criminal investigation and 
three suspects were detained. There were no criminal charges against 
the suspects at year's end. There were multiple reports of racially 
motivated violence against persons of African and Asian heritage by 
skinheads.
    On October 31, a group of unidentified young men beat a female 
Iranian student from one of Poltava's academic institutions. Several 
human rights organizations, including the Kharkiv Group for Human 
Rights Protection and AI, stated that this case was an example of the 
increase of ethnically motivated violence.
    On December 28, Gambian student Lamin Jarjjou died of multiple stab 
wounds in Kyiv in what the media and local Gambian community believe 
was a racially motivated attack. The police investigation was ongoing 
and there were no arrests.
    Representatives of minority groups claimed that police officials 
routinely ignored, and sometimes abetted, violence against them. In 
December 2005 a group of 15-20 young men dressed in military uniforms 
and white scarves beat two Iranians in Kyiv. The police investigation 
did not result in any arrests. As reported by the OSCE, the country 
lacked effective legal means to combat racism and xenophobia since 
existing laws require a very high level of proof of prior intent to 
stir up ethnic hostility. As a result, prosecutors preferred to deal 
with racist crimes as hooliganism or other simpler to prove offenses.
    An estimated 400,000 Roma are living throughout the country, mainly 
concentrated in the Zakarpattya, Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kyiv regions.
    During the year police continued to abuse Roma and use violence 
against them. On May 19, police in Zakarpattya arrested a Rom without 
informing him of the charge, used ethnic slurs against him, beat him 
severely, and robbed him of almost $3,000 (15,000 hryvnia.)
    Roma also faced considerable societal hostility. Opinion polls 
indicated that social intolerance is greater toward Roma than toward 
any other ethnic group. On June 19, the European Roma Rights Center 
(ERRC) submitted a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of 
Racial Discrimination about increased discrimination against the Romani 
community. In particular, the ERRC described instances of refusal to 
enroll Romani children in schools. For example, one local high school 
in the Odesa region segregated 19 Romani students from other students 
by placing all of them, irrespective of age, in a single classroom with 
one teacher in a building separate from the newer main school building. 
In many areas of the country, poverty often forced Romani families to 
withdraw their children from school so that they could work to 
supplement the family income. There were numerous reports of Roma being 
evicted from housing, removed from public transportation, denied public 
assistance, kicked out of stores, and denied proper medical treatment.
    In October the ERRC complained to the UN Human Rights Committee 
about violence against Roma in the country, racial targeting and 
profiling by police against Roma, discrimination in social programs and 
employment against Roma, and the widespread lack of necessary 
documentation for Roma to enjoy access to social services and 
protections. In addition, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union 
reported that letters of complaint about violence against Roma were 
often discarded by local authorities.
    The Constitution provides for the ``free development, use, and 
protection of the Russian language and other minority languages,'' but 
in the run-up to the March parliamentary elections and immediately 
afterwards, the status of Russian was an issue. A number of local and 
regional governments in areas where the population mainly speaks 
Russian decided to grant official status to the Russian language. Pro-
Russian organizations and political parties in the eastern and southern 
parts of the country and in Crimea complained about the increased use 
of Ukrainian in schools, the media, and the courts. These groups 
claimed that Russian-speaking children were disadvantaged when taking 
academic entrance examinations, since all applicants were required to 
take a Ukrainian language test. According to Ministry of Education 
statistics, 1,500 schools taught students in the Russian language while 
550 schools taught students in two languages, either Russian and 
Ukrainian or Russian and Crimean-Tatar. In addition, 27,000 
schoolchildren studied in Romanian, around 20,000 were taught in 
Hungarian, 6,000 in Crimean-Tatar, and 1,400 in Polish.
    On December 21, a Party of Regions representative on the Luhansk 
city council, Arsen Klinchayev, beat Serhiy Melnychuk after an argument 
during a live television talk show on a local network. According to 
Melnychuk, Klinchayev told him to leave Luhansk if he did not like to 
speak Russian. Melnychuk, a student at the Institute of Law and History 
at the East Ukrainian National University in Luhansk, won a court case 
in November against the university requiring it to provide instruction 
in Ukrainian.
    Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar minorities credibly complained of 
discrimination by the ethnic Russian majority in Crimea and called for 
the Ukrainian and Crimean-Tatar languages to be given a status equal to 
Russian. Crimean Tatar leaders also continued to call for changes in 
the electoral law that would allow them to achieve greater 
representation in the Crimean legislature (see section 3).
    Crimean Tatar leaders complained that their community, whose 
members have returned over recent decades after having been forcibly 
exiled from the Crimea during World War II, were not receiving adequate 
assistance in resettling. Returning Tatars were given land plots on the 
peninsula, but only inland, and not along Crimea's desirable southern 
coast from which Tatars claimed they were exiled. The onerous process 
of acquiring citizenship, eased somewhat with the removal of the five 
year residency requirement in 2001, prevented many of them from 
participating in elections and deprived them of a fair opportunity to 
participate in the privatization of land and state assets in the 1990s. 
The newly privatized land was subsequently priced beyond their means. 
There were almost 8,200 protests about the land issue this year, in 
contrast to 2,500 protests in 2005. Tatars asserted that discrimination 
by mainly ethnic Russian officials in Crimea deprived them of 
employment in local administrations and that propaganda campaigns, 
particularly by Russian Cossacks, promoted hostility against them among 
other inhabitants of Crimea.
    In an October 14 rally in downtown Kyiv, Progressive Socialist 
leader Natalya Vitrenko incited racial hatred of Crimean Tatars in 
public comments aimed at pitting ethnic Russians in Crimea against 
Tatars.
    Crimean Tatars reside in 300 settlements, some of which are not 
fully developed: only 90 percent of them have electricity, 70 percent 
water, and 25 percent paved roads. In May the Cabinet of Ministers 
approved a program to spend $130 million (675 million hrynia) over the 
next five years to help settle returning Crimean Tatars and members of 
other ethnic groups and provide assistance for integrating them into 
society, including building or purchasing housing. The resolution also 
allows measures for facilitating the return of cultural property of 
Crimean Tatars taken out of the country after the deportation and for 
developing media broadcasting in the ethnic languages.
    On May 22, President Yushchenko established a 28-member advisory 
council of government officials and NGO leaders on ethnic national 
policy.
    Rusyns (Ruthenians) continued to call for status as an official 
ethnic group in the country, noting that neighboring countries accept 
them as minorities. As of September, 26 Sunday schools for Rusyns were 
open in Zakarpattya with the support of the World Council of Rusyns to 
teach the language, literature, and history of Rusyns.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--International human 
rights organizations have criticized widespread discrimination against 
persons with HIV/AIDS and lack of access to treatment. Routine police 
abuse of drug users and sex workers also contributed to the problem. 
Although the country's national AIDS law is often held up as a model in 
the region for incorporating human rights protections for people living 
with HIV/AIDS, implementation has been weak. Persons with HIV/AIDS 
continued to face discrimination in the workplace, job loss without 
legal recourse, harassment by law enforcement, prosecutorial, and 
judicial authorities, and social isolation and stigmatization within 
their communities.
    On May 17, members of Nash Mir, the country's leading NGO that 
advocates for gays and lesbians, held an ``international day against 
homophobia'' demonstration in front of the Economics and Law College of 
the Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP) to protest 
the expulsion of a gay student from the college in March 2005.
    In September approximately 100 people in Kyiv participated in a 
march against homosexuality. They held signs declaring: ``HOMO 
dictatorship will not be allowed; politicians, protect our families!''

    Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Several government 
publications portrayed Roma as criminals. On March 24, Selskiy Chas, a 
Kyiv-based newspaper co-founded and managed by the Ministry of 
Agriculture, carried an article entitled, ``Beware of Drug 
Trafficking'' that explicitly linked Roma to drug dealing. The Romani 
Congress of Ukraine also noted Osnovy Zdorovya, a fourth grade health 
textbook recommended by the Ministry of Science and published in 2004, 
which teaches children what to do when strangers appear outside the 
door of their home. Pictures accompanying the text showed a white 
Ukrainian boy peering through the peephole in the door at a darker-
skinned young girl and a large, menacing woman dressed in stereotypical 
'Gypsy' clothing (headscarf, hoop earrings and flower-print dress) 
lurking in the shadows.
    Mejlis members and Crimea-based human rights groups criticized the 
Crimean government for permitting schools to use officially-sanctioned 
textbooks that contained inflammatory and historically inaccurate 
material about Tatar Muslims. Human rights activists specifically noted 
that a popular textbook for fifth graders, Viktor Misan's Stories on 
the History of Ukraine, contained more than 20 pejorative references to 
Muslims, including the assertion that Tatar children had frequently 
used ``elderly and disabled Ukrainian captives for archery and saber 
practice.'' Similarly, A.K. Shchvidko's eighth-grade textbook, History 
of Ukraine, 16-18th Centuries, depicted Muslims in a negative light, 
asserting, that ``there wasn't a year when Tatars didn't invade 
Ukraine, burn its villages and towns, slaughter its citizens, and take 
prisoners.'' One Crimea-based human rights group noted that such 
misinformation collectively created an impression among young persons 
that ``Tatars are bad for Ukraine and that to kill and rob them is a 
blessed deed.''
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers to join unions to defend professional, social, and economic 
interests, and this right was generally respected in practice. Large 
companies and some local government officials continued to resist the 
formation of unions.
    Under the law, all trade unions have equal status, and the 
establishment of a trade union does not require government permission. 
However, unions affiliated with the Federation of Trade Unions (FPU), 
which maintained strong ties with the Government and inherited assets 
from the official Soviet-era unions, enjoyed an advantage in organizing 
workers.
    In order to function as an organization for all practical purposes, 
a union must have proof of registration as a legal entity. Unions 
reported this registration process was extremely burdensome, entailing 
visiting up to 10 different offices, submitting extensive 
documentation, and paying a number of fees.
    In order to acquire national status, which allows a union to 
negotiate and sign agreements directly with government ministries and 
to communicate officially with the Cabinet of Ministers and President, 
a union must either have branches in more than half of the country's 
administrative regions or have branches in more than half of the 
administrative regions where the enterprises of this sector are 
located. The law stipulates noninterference by public authorities in 
the activities of unions, which have the right to establish and join 
federations on a voluntary basis. There were both ``official'' and 
``independent'' trade unions.
    All unions affiliated with the FPU, as well as several new, 
independent labor unions, were registered. Although often coordinating 
its activities with the Government, the FPU continued to work 
independently on some labor matters and advocated the right of workers 
to strike. While the FPU supported the protests of some professions 
over unpaid wages, most FPU affiliates worked closely with management. 
Enterprise managers were free to join the FPU. The FPU leadership had a 
political party, the All-Ukrainian Party of Workers.
    Independent unions provided an alternative to the official unions 
in many sectors of the economy. As of September 1, there were 111 trade 
unions registered with the Ministry of Justice, including 44 national 
level, industrial sector FPU unions and 67 non-FPU trade unions. The 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTU) reported as of 
September that it had only seven national level unions registered. The 
CFTU estimated its total membership at 242,000. While exact membership 
figures were unknown, there were estimated to be 2.3 million non-FPU 
members (down from 3 million in 2002) and 11.2 million members of FPU-
affiliated unions (down from 14.5 million in 2002). These estimates are 
likely exaggerated, however, and the FPU believed that only 75 percent 
of formally registered affiliates actually operate in practice.
    Independent unions continued to be denied a share of the former 
Soviet trade unions' huge property and financial holdings. These 
included the social insurance benefit funds, a Soviet-era legacy on 
whose boards FPU-affiliated unions held the majority of seats, giving 
them a benefit the independent unions could not offer. The FPU made no 
substantive progress during the year in negotiating an equitable 
sharing of these property and financial holdings. Leaders of non-FPU 
trade unions claimed that the FPU improperly sold off some Soviet-era 
assets in order to thwart their future distribution.
    Independent trade union leaders complained that government 
representatives sought to influence union votes and pressure members to 
report on union activities. They reported a noticeable increase in 
pressure applied to members of independent trade unions, who were often 
identified as political allies of the political opposition, following 
the formation of Yanukovych's government in the summer. As of September 
the CFTU reported 14 separate cases in which employers refused to 
recognize newly formed, independent trade unions or allow them to 
participate in collective bargaining. The CFTU complained that 
employers, in conjunction with leaders of local FPU affiliates, 
pressured independent unions in most of these cases to disband.
    Workers sometimes claimed that management forced them to carry out 
additional assignments without compensation because they were members 
of independent unions or threatened them with dismissal if they refused 
to leave their union. In two cases leaders of independent unions 
complained they were physically assaulted by representatives of 
management as part of a campaign of intimidation. In another case 
involving an independent union at Mariupol and Kherson ports, the 
Mariupol city district court declined to rule on the union's 
complaints, citing improper jurisdiction.
    Leaders of an independent union at the Linnik oil refinery in 
Luhansk complained of harassment by the SBU following a May 14 training 
seminar with a local representative of the American Center for 
International Labor Solidarity (affiliated with the AFL-CIO). The union 
leaders said that SBU officers interrogated them regarding their 
cooperation with the solidarity center and the CFTU, urged them to 
cease such activities, and subsequently broke into their offices. 
Leaders of independent unions at three coalmines in the city of 
Chervonohrad complained that on August 28, Ministry of Interior 
officials searched their offices and seized documents, including 
membership applications. They claimed that the Office of the Prosecutor 
General had issued search warrants in violation of the Constitution.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits 
trade unions to organize and participate in collective bargaining, but 
these rights were not always respected in practice. There are no export 
processing zones since they were abolished by the Government in March 
2005.
    According to the law joint worker-management commissions should 
resolve problems concerning wages, working conditions, and the rights 
and duties of management at the enterprise level. Although the law 
provides the right to collective bargaining, overlapping spheres of 
responsibility frequently impeded the collective bargaining process; 
the manner in which the collective bargaining law was applied 
prejudiced the bargaining process against independent unions and 
favored official unions (affiliates of the FPU). Collective bargaining 
agreements covered 90 percent of unionized employees in the formal 
sector according to a November 2005 World Bank study. Most workers were 
not informed that they were not obligated to join an official union. 
Renouncing membership in an official union and joining an independent 
union was bureaucratically onerous and typically discouraged by 
management. The law allows an independent union to be removed easily 
from the collective bargaining process at the enterprise level. Under 
the law if several unions at an enterprise fail to agree on joint 
representation, the largest union-that is the FPU-represents labor in 
the bargaining process.
    The law provides for the National Mediation and Reconciliation 
Service to mediate labor disputes. According to official statistics, 
the service addressed 214 labor disputes during first eight months of 
the year, resolving 71 of them.
    The law provides for the right to strike to defend one's economic 
and social interests, provided strikes do not jeopardize national 
security, public health, or the rights and liberties of others; the 
Government generally respected this right. It does not extend the right 
to strike to personnel of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the 
judiciary, armed forces, security services, law enforcement agencies, 
the transportation sector, or public servants. Workers who strike in 
prohibited sectors may receive prison terms of up to three years.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits 
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5 and section 6.d.).
    There were continued media reports of alternative service military 
conscripts being used as compulsory labor in the construction and 
refurbishing of private houses for military and government officials.
    At an August 24 protest at Polytsk correction facility number 76, 
the prisoners included among their complaints being forced to work at 
private companies without fair compensation.

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, but the 
Government did not always effectively enforce the law. The legal 
minimum age for employment in most areas of the economy is 16, but in 
certain non-hazardous industries, enterprises may negotiate with the 
Government to hire employees as young as 15 with the consent of one 
parent. Children aged 14 can legally work on a short-term basis for 
social services such as orphanages, hospitals, and elderly care and in 
the agricultural sector with the consent of one parent.
    The State Department for Monitoring Enforcement of Labor 
Legislation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible 
for enforcing child labor laws and was generally effective; however, 
some children under the minimum employment age worked in the informal 
sector. An amendment to the Law on Child Protection, adopted in 
February, prohibits trafficking in children and children working in 
hazardous conditions.
    Children worked in the agricultural sector, and trafficking of 
children for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation was a 
problem (see section 5). Begging by children existed, although it was 
limited. According to the International Labor Organization and 
Federation of Employers of Ukraine, over 456,000 Ukrainian children 
aged 9-14 are employed in the illegal economy. This includes street 
begging, the sex industry, and use of child labor in illegal coalmines. 
In the formal sector the State Department of Surveillance Over Labor 
Legislation Observance and the State Labor Inspectorate are responsible 
for enforcing child labor laws and policies. The Department of Juvenile 
Affairs and the police are responsible for identifying children in the 
informal sector that are involved in worst forms of child labor.
    Enforcement measures were often inadequate to deter violations. The 
ILO/IPEC had a regional anti-trafficking project aimed at eradicating 
the worst forms of child labor and child trafficking, including street 
children and other children at risk.

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government increased the 
monthly minimum wage at year's end to $80 (400 hryvnia). The minimum 
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and 
family. The State Labor Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing the 
minimum wage but was unable to thoroughly monitor all employers. Many 
workers, especially in the informal sector, received far below the 
minimum wage.
    Since the beginning of the year, wage arrears increased 
approximately 14 percent and, as of August 1, stood at $218 million 
(1.1 billion hryvnia), equal to about 8.4 percent of total wages. Most 
arrearages accumulated in state-run industry and agriculture. The 
biggest wage arrearages accumulated in Donetsk oblast $55 million (277 
million hryvnia), Luhansk oblast $23 million (113.2 million hryvnia), 
Dnipropetrovsk oblast $12 million (61.5 million hryvnia) and Crimea $10 
million (50.0 million hryvnia). The FPU estimated that 430,000 
employees, about half of whom worked in state-owned enterprises, did 
not receive wages on time. The FPU filed a formal complaint with the 
ILO in an effort to oblige the Government to pay outstanding wages.
    The law provides for a maximum 40-hour workweek, a 24-hour period 
of rest per week, and at least 24 days of paid vacation per year. 
Stagnation in some industries significantly reduced the workweek for 
some categories of workers. The law provides for double pay for 
overtime work and regulates the amount of overtime hours allowed. 
However, regulations covering rest periods, maximum hours, and overtime 
were not always effectively enforced.
    Although the law contains occupational safety and health standards, 
these frequently were ignored in practice. In particular, illegal 
coalmines connected to organized crime and corrupt leaders operated in 
unsafe conditions. Lax safety standards and aging equipment caused many 
injuries on the job. During the first six months of the year, there 
were 9050 injuries, including 437 job-related fatalities. The number of 
miners injured in the coal sector during the first half of the year was 
3,383, including 78 fatalities.
    In the coal mining sector experts estimated that there were 
approximately two deaths for every million tons of raw coal extracted 
in 2005, down from 2.57 in 2004. Increased enforcement of safety 
regulations was a major factor in this reduction, although the numbers 
remained quite high. In May 2005 the Government established a coal 
industry development program, as well as working groups to analyze the 
situation in the mining and metallurgical sector, but these efforts did 
not result in any substantial improvements in health and safety in the 
mines.
    On August 15, the Yanukovych government restored the State 
Committee of Industrial Safety, Occupational Health, and Mining 
Supervision, which had been abolished in April 2005, and its functions 
incorporated into the Ministry of Emergencies. The committee will 
resume duties as the primary watchdog for coalmine safety.
    The law gives workers the right to remove themselves from dangerous 
work situations without jeopardizing continued employment; however, 
independent trade unions reported that in practice, asserting this 
right would result in retaliation or perhaps dismissal by management.

                               __________

                             UNITED KINGDOM

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a 
population of 60.6 million, is a constitutional monarchy with a 
democratic, parliamentary government. Citizens periodically choose 
their representatives in free and fair multiparty elections; a national 
parliamentary election took place in May 2005. The Government is 
currently led by the Labour Party. Civilian authorities generally 
maintained effective control of the security forces.
    The Government generally respected the human rights of its 
citizens; the law and judiciary provide effective means of addressing 
individual instances of abuse. The following human rights problems were 
reported: increased police misconduct; occasional abuse of detainees 
and other persons by individual members of the police and military; 
overcrowded prison conditions and some inadequate prison 
infrastructure; increased limitations on freedom of religious 
expression; violence and discrimination against ethnic and religious 
minorities, including increased anti-Semitism, women, and children; and 
trafficking of persons into the country.
    In Northern Ireland improved communications between loyalist and 
republican political leaders, the October St. Andrews Agreement 
establishing timetables for the reestablishment of devolved government, 
and continuing ceasefires by paramilitary organizations created a more 
stable political environment, fewer deaths from political violence, and 
an improved human rights environment. A decreasing number of 
``punishment attacks'' continued in some areas under the influence of 
both republican and loyalist paramilitary groups.
                        respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom 
        From:

    a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or 
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, 
according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), 
police shot and killed five persons during the year in the performance 
of their duty. On June 2, the Metropolitan Police conducted a 
counterterrorism operation in east London, shooting and wounding 
suspect Muhammad Abdulkahar during the raid. An IPCC investigation 
determined that the shooting was an accident resulting from close 
contact between the officer and Abdulkahar in a very narrow space. The 
officer involved was not charged with a criminal or disciplinary 
offense.
    In July 2005 members of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) 
fatally shot Jean Charles de Menezes; the shooting occurred the day 
after failed bombing attempts in London and two weeks after terrorist 
attacks that killed 56 persons. The police subsequently stated that de 
Menezes was not a suspect in the terrorist attacks. On July 17, the 
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) determined that there was insufficient 
evidence to bring charges against any individual officer. However, the 
Metropolitan Police was expected to face charges for failing to provide 
for the health, safety, and welfare of the victim. Lawyers for the de 
Menezes family have appealed to the High Court to overturn CPS's 
decision not to prosecute the officers involved; a decision was pending 
at year's end.
    Hearings began in several cases involving allegations of government 
involvement, collusion, or culpability in three controversial killings 
that took place in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s. A special 
judicial tribunal held hearings during the year in the case of Billy 
Wright; however, a challenge remained pending to the decision in 2005 
to hold this inquiry under the Inquiries Act of 2005. The Robert Hamill 
inquiry slowed due to a dispute over the request for anonymity by 
retired police officers who provided evidence. In November a court 
ruled against the special tribunal's denial of anonymity to the 
officers, which the special tribunal appealed. A separate inquiry into 
the 1989 killing of prominent human rights attorney Pat Finucane 
remained pending. Due to concerns that the British Inquiries Act would 
lead to a biased investigation, the Finucane family and human rights 
groups favored an independent public judicial inquiry into Finucane's 
murder.
    During the year there was one high-profile killing by unknown 
persons. On November 23, former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr 
Litvinenko died in London as a result of radioactive poisoning by 
polonium-210 (a highly restricted substance) by unknown actors. At 
year's end, investigations into the death continued in both the country 
and Russia. There were no allegations that the Government was 
implicated or complicit in the killing.
    During the year there were some developments in killings for which 
paramilitary forces appeared to be responsible. On December 19, an 
inquest took place into the 2001 murder of journalist Martin O'Hagan 
who was investigating criminal activities by a loyalist paramilitary 
group. At the inquest, a police inspector stated that O'Hagan's murder 
was still under investigation but that he believed the police knew who 
was responsible.
    The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reported that loyalist 
paramilitary groups were thought to be responsible for two killings in 
Northern Ireland between September 2005 and August during the year. The 
IMC was unable to place blame in three other killings, including the 
April murder of Sinn Fein member Denis Donaldson, who admitted publicly 
in December 2005 to having been a British spy. The IMC, however, 
continued to monitor developments in the Donaldson and other cases.
    In October the IMC reported that the Provisional Irish Republican 
Army had committed itself to following ``a peaceful path.''
    In September authorities opened court-martial proceedings against 
seven soldiers, including a high ranking officer, on charges of 
mistreating Iraqi detainees and for the death of an Iraqi civilian, 
Baha Musa, in 2003. The hearings continued at year's end. In 2005 four 
soldiers were convicted and dismissed from the army in relation to 
abuse of Iraqis in their custody.

    b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated 
disappearances.

    c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were 
complaints that individual members of the police occasionally abused 
detainees.
    In December 2005 the House of Lords Judicial Committee reversed an 
appeals court decision and ruled that even in terrorism cases no court 
could consider evidence obtained through torture.
    In November Human Rights Watch published a briefing paper, 
Dangerous Ambivalence: UK Policy on Torture since 9/11, accusing the 
Government of actively undermining the global ban on torture. The 
report was critical of the Government's efforts to deport terrorism 
suspects to countries where the suspects might be at risk of torture or 
death. The Government has memoranda of understanding with Jordan and 
Libya to return terrorism suspects on the condition that returnees will 
not be tortured, verified by post transfer, independent monitoring 
conducted by local NGOs. The report also criticized the Government's 
appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to set aside judgments 
affirming the absolute ban on torture.
    During the year the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, an 
immigration court, denied the appeal of an Algerian man against 
deportation to Algeria; the man alleged that he would face torture if 
returned because he had been tortured there previously. Although there 
were reports of Algerian security forces using torture, the Government 
concluded, based on commitments in an exchange of letters with the 
Algerian government, that the Algerian authorities would not abuse 
Algerian citizens that the British government deported or who 
voluntarily returned to Algeria. The Government offered individuals 
returning to Algeria regular contact with its embassy to ensure they 
had means to communicate to the Government on their condition and 
treatment upon return to Algeria.
    During the year six Algerian terrorism suspects voluntarily left 
the country and returned to Algeria in accordance with the exchange of 
letters. The individuals who voluntarily left the country to return to 
Algeria were offered the assistance of the British government, 
including through regularly scheduled contact with embassy officials, 
either at the instigation of the individual or of the embassy, 
whichever the returnee preferred. None were reported to have 
experienced abuse by Algerian authorities at year's end.
    The IMC reported that there was a marked reduction in ``punishment 
attacks'' and intimidation in areas under the influence of both 
loyalist and republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, 
although the practice continued. The IMC recorded a 44 percent 
reduction in shootings and assaults with casualties attributed to 
paramilitary groups. For the period September 2005 to August, 109 
shootings and assaults attributed to paramilitary groups took place. 
Twenty-one of these were carried out by Republican groups and 88 by 
Loyalists. This compared to a total of 193 such incidents between 
September 2004 and August 2005, of which 52 were attributed to 
Republican groups and 41 to Loyalists.

    Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions 
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted 
visits by independent human rights observers. However, overcrowding and 
poor facilities were problems, and suicides occurred. In October the 
Prison Service reported there were 79,843 prisoners in England and 
Wales, an increase of 2,069 over a one-year period. Prison governors 
warned that jails were at a ``bursting point'' and that only 125 more 
spaces were available. Widespread press coverage prompted Home 
Secretary John Reid to announce corrective measures, including freeing 
up hundreds of local police cells for use, using women's prisons to 
house male inmates, and a controversial plan to pay prisoners from 
outside Europe a package of up to $5,000 (2,500 pounds) to leave the 
country. The lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, also called for courts 
to make more use of community service sentences; his proposal was 
subsequently endorsed by the Home Office.
    During the year the daily average of prisoners in Scotland was 
6,857, slightly less than in 2005. In previous years hundreds of 
prisoners in Scottish prisons sued the Scottish Executive over 
conditions that did not meet European Union standards, particularly the 
lack of plumbing in individual cells. In 2005 ``slopping out,'' which 
is used in lieu of toilets, was ended at Her Majesty's Prisons (HMP) 
Perth and Edinburgh; however, the practice continued at HMP Young 
Offenders Institute in Polmont and HMP Peterhead.
    According to its annual report covering April 2005 through March, 
the Prison and Parole Ombudsman for England and Wales investigated 368 
prisoner complaints, approximately half of which were upheld. According 
to the report, there were also 197 fatalities of individuals in police 
custody in England and Wales, of which 94 were due to natural causes 
and 83 self-inflicted. An additional 131 prisoners were resuscitated 
after serious self-harm incidents. A 2005 Prison Reform Trust report 
stated that the institutions with the highest number of suicides were 
generally the most overcrowded and that nearly two-thirds of those who 
committed suicide in prison had a history of drug abuse.
    In Scotland eight prisoners committed suicide between April 2005 
and March. There were a total of 24 deaths of persons in custody during 
this time frame due to a variety of causes, including poor health, 
accidents in the course of employment, and drug overdose.
    The Government permitted independent human rights observers and the 
media to visit prisons and immigration detention centers. During the 
year the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture 
and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published 
reports on its two visits to the country in 2005, along with the 
Government's responses. The reports contained a number of 
recommendations, including that the Government remind police to avoid 
unnecessary force during arrests, always bring a detainee physically 
before the judge responsible for deciding whether to extend that 
individual's detention, and amend the law to ensure that all persons 
arrested have the right of access to a lawyer from the beginning of 
their arrest. The CPT also made recommendations on the use of 
diplomatic assurances in memoranda of understanding prior to 
deportations to countries where there is a risk of torture.

    d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary 
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these 
prohibitions.

    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In Great Britain 
regional police forces (43 in England and Wales and 8 in Scotland) are 
responsible for maintaining law and order. In Northern Ireland the PSNI 
has that responsibility. On April 1, the Government created the Serious 
Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) by amalgamating several previous 
agencies. SOCA is tasked with fighting organized crime throughout 
England and Wales. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) 
is responsible for effectively dealing with complaints against the 
police, setting standards for how the police handle complaints, and 
assisting police forces with making improvements. The police Oobudsman 
for Northern Ireland has the same role. There currently is no 
independent police ombudsman in Scotland to investigate complaints 
against police forces. Complaints in Scotland are investigated by the 
police station where an incident occurs.
    According to the IPCC, from April 2005 until March there were a 
total of 26,268 public complaints lodged against police in England and 
Wales. This was an increase of 15 percent from the previous reporting 
period. Complaints ranged from improper behavior, inappropriate 
language, or lack of action by someone serving with the police. During 
the same period in Northern Ireland, the police ombudsman received 
3,192 complaints that involved 5,381 allegations of police misconduct, 
an increase of 23 percent from the previous year. A total of 169 of 
these complaints were ultimately referred to the public prosecution 
service, of which only five contained recommendations for prosecution. 
The police ombudsman and the police service of Northern Ireland 
credited this increase to enhanced expectations by the public in the 
police and increased police engagement in areas historically 
unreceptive to police service.

    Arrest and Detention.--Police officers generally may arrest persons 
only if they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that someone has 
committed or is about to commit one or more listed ``arrestable 
offenses.'' Even if the crime in question is not an arrestable offense, 
a police officer may arrest a person without a warrant, provided the 
officer believes the arrest is necessary to prevent damage to property 
or physical injury. The law provides for certain exceptions related to 
terrorism, particularly in Northern Ireland.
    The law limits the amount of time that a suspect can be detained 
without a formal charge for a criminal offense, generally to less than 
24 hours, but up to four days in cases of rape, murder, and complex 
fraud. The law also requires that an inspector review the detention at 
set intervals to ensure that it is necessary and lawful. The law 
provides for the Government to promptly inform suspects of the criminal 
offenses for which they are being investigated.
    On March 30, the Terrorism Act of 2006 was enacted, allowing the 
police to detain terrorism suspects for up to 28 days before formally 
charging them. The Government used this law to detain 17 suspects 
following the August terror plot to highjack commercial aircraft and 
blow them up over foreign cities.
    Defendants awaiting trial have a statutory right to bail except 
when there is a risk that they would flee, commit another offense, or 
in other limited circumstances. Detainees are allowed to make telephone 
calls and have legal representation, including state-provided counsel 
if indigent.
    The law permits extended detention of foreigners suspected of being 
terrorists, but who cannot be removed from the country immediately due 
to concerns that they will be subjected to torture or the death penalty 
in their country of origin. Such detainees have the right to appeal 
their certification by the Government as terror suspects. The 
Government concluded memoranda of understanding with some countries to 
permit the return of suspected terrorists to their countries of origin 
and was seeking similar agreements with others, despite NGO concerns 
with the human rights records of those countries (see section 1.c.).
    The Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 permits a judge (or the 
home secretary with a judge's permission) to impose ``control orders'' 
on individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism-related 
activities, regardless of nationality or perceived terrorist cause. The 
control orders include a range of restrictions up to house arrest. In 
April a high court judge declared that Section 3 of the act was 
incompatible with the right to a fair trial according to the European 
Convention on Human Rights.

    e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an 
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial 
independence in practice.
    There are several levels of courts. In England and Wales, most 
criminal cases are heard by magistrates' courts, which were managed by 
locally-based committees. Their decisions may be appealed to one of 90 
crown courts, which also hear criminal cases requiring a jury trial, or 
to the high courts. Crown court convictions may be appealed to the 
Court of Appeal, which may in turn refer cases involving points of law 
to the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the Law Lords), who constitute the 
country's final court of appeal. The Criminal Cases Review Commission 
is an additional appellate body in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland 
and considers cases after the judicial appeals process is exhausted, 
but where significant new evidence casts doubt on the conviction.
    In Scotland the High Court of Justiciary acts as a court of first 
instance for serious crimes, such as rape and murder, and also serves 
as an appellate body. There are 49 sheriff courts, which handle lesser 
crimes. District courts in each local authority handle crimes such as 
breach of peace, minor assaults, and petty theft. Civil matters can be 
handled in the first instance by either the Court of Session, which is 
the supreme civil court in Scotland, or by sheriff courts. Decisions by 
the Court of Session can be appealed to the Law Lords.

    Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial, 
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
    The law allows for jury trials, except in England and Wales when 
the jury has been intimidated, when ``compelling new evidence'' arises 
after a previous acquittal, or when evidence of a defendant's previous 
misconduct is to be introduced. In Northern Ireland trials for certain 
terrorism-related crimes also do not allow juries in what are known as 
``Diplock courts.'' In December Parliament passed legislation that 
would abolish these courts in July 2007, however judge-only trials 
would continue in exceptional cases where juries could be intimidated.
    Criminal proceedings must be held in public except those in 
juvenile court and those involving public decency or security. In a 
trial under the Official Secrets Act, the judge may order the court 
closed, but sentencing must be public.
    Defendants have the right to be present and consult with an 
attorney in a timely manner and to question witnesses against them. 
Defendants have access to government-held evidence relevant to their 
cases through a process of Common Law disclosure except in certain 
circumstances including the damaging of defense witness credibility, 
claims of public interest immunity, and material which falls under 
statutory exceptions such as national security.
    Defendants have the right to appeal to successively higher courts; 
they also enjoy a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. 
Indigent defendants have the right to free counsel of their choice, 
with some exceptions.

    Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of 
political prisoners or detainees.

    f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government 
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

    a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of 
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a 
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of 
speech and of the press.

    Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access 
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful 
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The 
law permits communications data surveillance, to include Internet 
usage, in the interests of national security, to prevent or detect a 
crime, and in the interests of public safety. The use of surveillance 
requires the approval of the secretary of state. Interception warrants 
are overseen by an independent interception of communications 
commissioner and public complaints of surveillance abuses are 
investigated by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
    The Internet was widely available throughout the country and was 
available at no cost in public libraries. Approximately 62 percent of 
the population used the Internet according to European Union 
statistics.

    Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government 
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
    Referring to boycotts of academics working in Israel called by two 
teachers' associations, a parliamentary report on anti-Semitism 
concluded that such efforts were ``an assault on academic freedom and 
intellectual exchange'' (see section 2.c.).

    b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of 
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government 
generally respected this right in practice.
    In Northern Ireland residents in some Catholic communities 
perceived certain parades by protestant loyalist groups to be 
threatening or provocative. The law grants responsibility for ruling on 
``contentious'' marches to a parades commission, which may not ban 
marches but may impose conditions such as route restrictions. Due to 
efforts within the communities and coordination with the police 
service, the July loyalist parade marching season was considered the 
most peaceful and trouble free in many years.

    Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of 
association and the Government generally respected this right in 
practice.

    c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion, 
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
    On February 16, the Government enacted the Racial and Religious 
Hatred Act and the Equality Act applicable throughout Great Britain. 
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act amended a previous law by creating 
new offenses for stirring up hatred against persons on religious 
grounds. The Equality Act made it illegal to discriminate on the 
grounds of ``religion or belief'' or the ``lack of religion or belief'' 
in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education, the use 
and disposal of property, and the exercise of public functions.
    In February Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was sentenced to seven 
years on six charges of soliciting others to murder Jews and non-
Muslims, 21 months on three charges of incitement to racial hatred, 
three years for possessing ``threatening, abusive or insulting 
recordings,'' and three and one-half years for having a document useful 
to terrorists. The sentences were to run concurrently.
    There are two established (or state) churches, the Church of 
England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The 
monarch is the ``supreme governor'' of the Church of England and always 
must be a member of the church and promise to uphold it. Two Anglican 
archbishops and 24 bishops receive automatic membership in the House of 
Lords but clergy from other faiths are not automatically granted this 
privilege. The archbishops of Canterbury and York on retirement are 
also offered life peerages. Clergy of other faiths are not 
automatically granted these privileges.
    The Government does not require religious groups to be recognized 
officially, registered, or licensed. However, the Government does not 
consider the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church as 
religions for the purpose of visas for ministers of religion or 
missionaries. In 2005 the Home Office lifted a long-standing ban on 
Unification Church leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon from entering the 
country. Reverend Moon was granted a visa limited to attendance at a 
one-day conference in November 2005. According to the department of 
communities and local government, the Government asserts the right to 
exclude individuals from the country on the grounds that their presence 
is not conducive to the public good, even where the public expression 
of religious or other beliefs by that individual is part of the reason 
for exclusion. The term ``public good'' is not defined in this context 
by the Government.
    The law requires religious education in publicly maintained schools 
throughout the country. The content of religious instruction is decided 
on a local basis and must be nondenominational and refrain from 
attempting to convert pupils. All parents have the right to withdraw a 
child from religious education, but the school must approve this 
request.
    Schools in England and Wales also must provide a daily act of 
collective worship, which may be waived if a school's administration 
deems it inappropriate for some or all of the students. Under some 
circumstances, non-Christian worship may be allowed.
    While most state-supported schools were Protestant or Roman 
Catholic, there were 36 Jewish, four Muslim, two Sikh, one Greek 
Orthodox, and one Seventh-day Adventist state-supported schools. Other 
Christian denominations accounted for 115 of the schools.

    Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to the Home Office, 
the police recorded 50,000 racially or religiously motivated hate 
crimes during 2005. The British Crime Survey (BCS), which is based on 
interviews with a wide sample of persons and includes crimes that are 
not reported to police, indicated that there were 260,000 such offences 
in 2005. The metropolitan police alone reported 11,799 incidents of 
racist and religious hate crime.
    In March the Law Lords, the court of last resort, ruled in favor of 
a high school in Luton that expelled a Muslim teenager, Shabina Begum, 
for contravening its dress code. In 2002 the school had expelled her 
for wearing a jilbab, a traditional dress that leaves only the face and 
hands exposed, which violated the school's dress code. The school, 
which was 79 percent Muslim and had a Muslim headmaster, created the 
policy after consultation with local Muslim organizations. Ms. Begum 
was considering appealing the case to the ECHR.
    A Muslim teaching assistant was fired in October for insisting on 
wearing a veil in a language class when adult males were present in the 
classroom. The incident was widely covered in the press, stimulating 
much public discussion in the wider community about Muslim integration 
and statements from government officials. Then Foreign Minister Jack 
Straw reported that he asked veiled women to remove their veils in his 
office when talking to him and Prime Minister Tony Blair indicated that 
although he considered the veiling of Muslim women in British society 
to be inappropriate (anti social), he would not support compelling veil 
removal by law.
    In October British Airways banned an employee for openly wearing a 
small Christian cross necklace. When she refused to remove or cover up 
the cross the airline sent her home on unpaid leave. The airline 
allowed Muslims and Sikhs to wear the veil and turbans but did not 
allow employees to wear any jewelry. Christians claimed the airline's 
policy was discriminatory on religious grounds and set a double 
standard.
    The Muslim community continued to criticize police use of ``stop 
and search'' powers, as well as the 28-day detention powers for 
terrorism suspects. On May 18, the Islamic Human Rights Commission 
published a survey of Muslims in the country. Respondents generally 
perceived the country's antiterror laws as unfair towards Muslims and 
society as lacking respect for Muslims. The report indicated, however, 
that the majority of respondents supported British laws.
    The Muslim community was subject to an increased number of anti-
Muslim incidents following the July 2005 bombings of London's transport 
system. The bombings, carried out by Muslims, created a backlash 
against Muslims in the form of verbal and physical assaults, vandalism, 
arson, anti-Muslim literature, and Internet postings. Hindus and Sikhs, 
misidentified as Muslims, were also targets. The Government publicly 
encouraged citizens to show restraint and established intercommunal 
forums to foster dialogue between communities.
    During the year government and NGO reports indicated that anti-
Semitism had been on the rise since 2000 and was not restricted to the 
margins of society. There were approximately 300,000 Jews living in the 
country, with two-thirds of the Jewish community living in London and 
10 percent living in Manchester.
    The Community Security Trust's (CST) Anti-Semitic Incidents Report 
2006 reported 594 anti-Semitic hate incidents throughout the country 
during the year. This was a 31 percent increase from the 455 incidents 
recorded in 2005, and was the highest total since records began in 
1984. The total included 112 violent assaults (up 37 percent from 
2005); 365 incidents of abusive behavior (up 34 percent from 2005); 27 
threats (up 8 percent from 2005); and 70 incidents of damage and 
desecration of Jewish communal property (up 46 percent from 2005). 
According to the CST, July and August had the highest number of 
incidents which were most likely triggered by the conflict involving 
Israel and Lebanon during those months.
    In August a 12-year-old Jewish school girl boarding a bus was 
assaulted by a group of her fellow male and female students; before 
being beaten into unconsciousness and robbed by them, she was asked 
whether she was ``English or Jewish.''
    In September the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism 
released a comprehensive report on the status of anti-Semitism in the 
country, identified deficiencies in the Government's approach to 
dealing with the problem, and offered recommendations to government. 
The report concluded that anti-Semitism was on the rise, with one 
leader of the community saying that ``there is probably a greater 
feeling of discomfort, greater concerns, greater fears now about anti-
Semitism than there have been for many decades.'' The report also noted 
that the Jewish community ``has had to provide security guards for 
synagogues, Jewish schools, buildings and events.costing the community 
millions of pounds annually.'' The report also noted that an extremely 
small number of police forces recorded anti-Semitic incidents as such 
and that the Government's annual Racist Incident Monitoring Report did 
not break down racist crime into smaller subcategories. The report also 
expressed concern that only one in ten incidents reported to the police 
resulted in any proceedings against the perpetrator.
    The All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry also noted concern over anti-
Semitism on university campuses. The Union of Jewish Students, in its 
testimony, noted that Jewish students ``have become increasingly 
alarmed by virulent and unbalanced attacks on the state of Israel and 
the failure of student bodies and organizations to clearly and 
forcefully condemn anti-Semitism when it occurs.'' A lecturer at a 
public London university told a Jewish student who sought to explain 
his absence on religious festivals that he should choose between his 
religion or his degree. Another Jewish student was told that since her 
university is a secular institution it does not need to take any 
account of a student's religion and that since she refused to take 
exams on the Jewish Sabbath, the university would think twice about 
enrolling anyone with a Jewish name in the future.
    In May the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher 
Education (NATFHE), the largest higher education union, passed a motion 
at its annual conference for all members to boycott all Israeli 
academics. In 2005 the Association of University Teachers passed a 
motion boycotting Israel's Haifa and Bar Ilan universities at its 
annual conference. These academic boycotts have not been suggested 
against other countries. A report by the All-Party Parliamentary 
Inquiry into Anti-Semitism released on September 7 concluded that such 
actions were ``an assault on academic freedom and intellectual 
exchange.'' Witnesses for the report also noted that the debate moved 
beyond criticism into anti-Semitic demonizing of Israel; contained Nazi 
analogies and suggestions that Israel was ``a fascist state,'' 
described a Jewish group as a Zionist operation, and asserted that 
``campus Jews'' who turned out to block the boycott were not ``proper 
trade unionists.''
    In October the High Court upheld an appeal by the mayor of London, 
Ken Livingston, to overturn a month-long suspension he received for 
bringing his office into disrepute when he likened a Jewish reporter to 
a Nazi concentration camp guard. The court's Justice Collins noted that 
the mayor should have apologized and realized his comments not only 
offended the journalist but was ``likely to be regarded as an entirely 
inappropriate observation by Jews in general.'' The Anti-Defamation 
League and other NGOs noted that the mayor had a history of making 
anti-Semitic remarks.
    In 2004 a public secondary school in Horsham banned a group of 
teenage Christians from wearing ``purity rings.'' The rings were 
inscribed with a biblical verse and worn as a symbol of their belief in 
chastity until marriage. Several students were punished with detentions 
and taught in isolation from other students for wearing the rings. The 
school claimed the rings violated its strict uniform code. Muslims and 
Sikh students, however, were allowed to wear headscarves or kara 
bracelets as a means of religious expression. Christians continued to 
complain that the policy is discriminatory and permitted a double 
standard, and they argued that the punishment of teaching in isolation 
had a detrimental effect on students' education. At year's end some 
parents and students were considering legal action.
    For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International 
Religious Freedom Report.

    d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and 
the Government generally respected them in practice.
    Although there is no law prohibiting exile, the Government did not 
employ it.

    Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of 
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the 
Government has established a system for providing protection to 
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; however, the Government limited this right for persons 
from ``safe countries of origin.'' The Government granted refugee 
status or asylum.
    The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals 
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 
Protocol. In 2005 approximately 3,085 persons were not recognized as 
refugees but were granted permission to remain in the country.
    The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in 
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
    The law authorizes the home secretary to institute a list of safe 
countries of origin (or safe regions of certain countries) for all 
residents or for particular classes of persons. The Government 
considered asylum claims from such individuals as unfounded.
    The law also casts doubt on the credibility of applicants who claim 
asylum in the country after having passed through a safe country of 
transit. Furthermore, the law permits asylum seekers to be removed to a 
third country deemed responsible for adjudicating an applicant's claim.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To 
        Change Their Government
    The law provides citizens with the right to change their government 
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through 
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal 
suffrage.

    Elections and Political Participation.--The Government is formed on 
the basis of a majority of seats in the House of Commons, which are 
contested in elections held at least every five years; elections for 
members of Parliament took place in May 2005. The Government appoints 
the other chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords. Participation in 
the political process is open to all persons and parties. Other elected 
bodies, such as the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, control 
matters of regional importance, such as education, health, and some 
economic matters.
    The overseas territories, with an aggregate population of 
approximately 212,000, have varying degrees of self-government based on 
the United Kingdom model, with appointed governors.
    There were 126 women in the 646-seat House of Commons and 142 in 
the 736-seat House of Lords. There were eight women in the 23-member 
cabinet, and 30 women held ministerial posts (23 from the House of 
Commons and seven from the House of Lords). There was one woman among 
the 12 Law Lords. There were 15 members of ethnic minorities in the 
House of Commons, 24 in the House of Lords, and one in the cabinet.

    Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year 
allegations surfaced that ``life peerages'' and other honors were 
offered to individuals in return for large donations or loans to some 
political parties in what the press termed the ``loans for peerage'' 
scandal. Life peerages grant all the privileges of hereditary peerage, 
including a seat in the House of Lords, except that it cannot be passed 
to the recipient's children. The existence of the loans emerged after 
the Lords Appointments Commission, an independent watchdog that reviews 
party nominations for new peers, raised concerns about some of the 
individuals nominated during their vetting process. Some nominees later 
withdrew their nominations following a public outcry. Police were 
conducting an ever-widening investigation at year's end, although 
detectives had not charged anyone with a crime.
    The law allows for public access to information held by public 
authorities. Anyone can request information, regardless of age, 
nationality, or location. There was a mechanism to appeal denials. 
However, in October the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, proposed 
limiting the number of freedom of information requests that opposition 
politicians, campaign groups, and journalists could submit to the 
Government. Under the proposals, requests for sensitive and 
controversial information would also be likely to be refused. Lord 
Falconer claimed that the proposals might lower the costs of 
researching each request and free up a government minister's time.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and 
        Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human 
        Rights
    A variety of domestic and international human rights groups 
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials 
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
    In December the Government arrested Vincent Bajinya, Charles 
Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, and Emmanuel Nteziryayo after they 
were accused by the Government of Rwanda in an extradition warrant of 
murdering, and aiding and abetting the killing of Tutsis in 1994. The 
Government also cancelled the refugee status of Ugirashebuja and 
Munyaneza.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
    The law prohibits discrimination based on race, nationality, 
gender, sexual orientation, or disability; however, some groups 
continued to experience societal discrimination.

    Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal 
abuse, and the Government strictly enforced the law with penalties 
ranging up to life imprisonment. Nonetheless, violence against women 
continued to be a problem. According to the British Crime Survey (BCS), 
there were 1,210 indecent assaults on females and 21,816 sexual 
assaults on females between 2005 and 2006. The law provides for 
injunctive relief, personal protection orders, and protective exclusion 
orders (similar to restraining orders) for women who are victims of 
violence.
    Between 2005 and 2006, police in Scotland recorded 45,796 incidents 
of domestic abuse. Incidents with a female victim and male perpetrator 
represented 87 percent of the cases. Of the incidents, 52 percent led 
to the filing of charges for at least one crime or offence.
    The law, which was enforced strictly, criminalizes rape, including 
spousal rape, and provides substantial penalties ranging up to life 
imprisonment. From April 2005 through March, BCS recorded 13,331 rapes 
of women. The Government provided shelters, counseling, and other 
assistance for victims of battery or rape and offered free legal aid to 
battered women who were economically reliant on their abusers.
    Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in England, Wales, 
Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The maximum penalty for aiding, 
abetting, counseling, procuring, or carrying out this practice is 14 
years' imprisonment. FGM was most often practiced by immigrant or 
refugee groups on girls ages seven to nine from Eritrea, Ethiopia, 
Somalia, and Yemen. The Department of Health estimated approximately 
74,000 women in the country had undergone FGM. In July the Metropolitan 
Police Service and a number of NGOs launched an awareness and 
prevention campaign focused on this issue.
    Police and NGOs estimated that approximately 12 ``honor killings'' 
occurred each year, although no formal statistics are kept. The 
International Campaign Against Honor Killings estimated that the number 
of women in the country seeking help from their organization quadrupled 
since 2005. NGOs raised concerns that police needed more training to 
identify and respond to potential cases when women seek police 
protection. In August a court sentenced Azhar Nazir and his cousin 
Imran Mohammed to life imprisonment for strangling Nazir's sister, 
Samaira Nazir, stabbing her 18 times, and cutting her throat in front 
of her two nieces. The ``honor killing'' occurred because the victim 
rejected a marriage her Pakistani family arranged and was in a 
relationship with an Afghan asylum seeker.
    While prostitution involving consenting adults is legal, the law 
prohibits offenses such as loitering for the purpose of prostitution 
and maintaining a brothel. Government and NGOs estimated that there 
were 100,000 prostitutes in the country. Organized international gangs 
continued to traffic women into the country for exploitation in the sex 
industry (see section 5, Trafficking). The law also prohibits child sex 
tourism and allows authorities to prosecute citizens or residents for 
offenses committed abroad.
    The law prohibits sexual harassment and provides penalties of up to 
five years' imprisonment for sexual harassment in public or in the 
workplace.
    Although women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under 
family and property law and in the judicial system, in practice women 
experienced some discrimination. According to a December 2005 Equal 
Opportunities Commission report, women's average hourly earnings for 
full-time, private sector employment were 22.5 percent lower than those 
of men; in full-time public sector jobs, women earned 13.3 percent less 
than men.
    There is a cabinet-level minister for women, a deputy minister for 
women and equality, and two independent bodies for women's issues: the 
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and Women's National Commission 
(WNC). The EOC supported women in discrimination cases before 
industrial tribunals and courts and produced guidelines for employers. 
The WNC is an umbrella organization representing women and women's 
organizations which seeks to ensure that the Government takes women's 
views into account and that women participate in public debate.

    Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's 
rights and welfare. The Government provided free, universal, and 
compulsory education until age 16 and further free education until age 
18. The most recent UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural 
Organization statistics from 2004 recorded 100 percent enrollment of 
children of primary school age and over 90 percent for those of 
secondary school age.
    The Government amply funded medical care for children.
    Child abuse remained a problem. Several NGOs and charities, the 
most prominent of which was the National Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children, campaigned against child abuse and neglect. 
According to the organization, 6 percent of children experience 
frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood, 18 percent 
of children experience some absence of care, more than 25 percent of 
all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 
age 16, and 31 percent of children experience bullying during 
childhood.
    The minister for children coordinated government policy concerning 
children and young persons in England and Wales. In Scotland the 
ministries for education, young people, and communities supervised 
similar programs designed to protect and provide assistance to minors. 
In 2005 the Government appointed a commissioner for children in 
Northern Ireland.
    During the year children were subjected to forced labor or 
trafficked in the country for sexual exploitation (see section 5, 
Trafficking). In October Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights 
issued a report on human trafficking calling child trafficking ``one of 
the most serious human rights issues in the modern world.'' The report 
also made recommendations for government to increase the level of 
protection to children being trafficked.
    The armed forces accept recruits from age 16, although they are not 
deployed on operations until age 18.

    Trafficking in Persons.--Although prohibited by law, trafficking in 
persons, particularly for sexual exploitation, remained a problem.
    The country was primarily a destination for trafficked persons and 
occasionally a transit point. There was no comprehensive official 
estimate of the number of victims of trafficking or the annual number 
of persons trafficked into the country.
    Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation from Central and 
Eastern Europe (primarily the Balkans and the former Soviet Union) and 
Asia, including China. While many or most trafficked women worked in 
the sex industry, women, men, and children were also trafficked for 
labor exploitation in domestic service, agricultural and rural labor, 
construction, and catering.
    Trafficking victims were most often subject to debt bondage, the 
withholding of travel documents, false information about law 
enforcement and immigration penalties, or threats of violence against 
them or their families. Traffickers less frequently employed physical 
and sexual violence.
    Organized international gangs allegedly were responsible for most 
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
    The law prohibits trafficking in persons for the purposes of 
prostitution, sexual exploitation, or forced labor. The law 
criminalizes trafficking offenses by citizens and residents, whether 
committed domestically or abroad, and carries a maximum sentence of 14 
years' imprisonment. The law also prohibits such related acts as 
keeping a brothel and causing, inciting, or controlling prostitution 
for gain. There were severe penalties for such offenses as causing, 
inciting, controlling, arranging, or facilitating the prostitution of a 
child. The law also criminalizes paying for sexual services of a child, 
as well as travel abroad for the purpose of obtaining sexual services 
from children.
    The ``Reflex'' task force, which brought together agencies that 
combat trafficking in persons, funded an MPS program targeting 
organized immigration crime in London. Operation Pentameter, which ran 
from February to May in every police jurisdiction in the country, 
initiated an effort to determine the scope of the off-street 
prostitution market. Despite the limited scope of the operation--it did 
not address street-level prostitution or trafficking for labor--it 
succeeded in raising awareness within both the general public and 
specific ethnic communities of the extent and effect of trafficking in 
persons for the sex industry. In the course of the operation, law 
enforcement officials recovered 84 victims, including 12 children. As a 
result of the operation, 134 persons were charged in relation to 
management of brothels, trafficking, and related offences.
    The Home Office, which includes the Immigration and Nationality 
Directorate, had the lead in efforts to combat trafficking. Other 
cabinet-level departments involved in antitrafficking efforts include 
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of Trade and 
Industry, the Department for Education and Skills, the Crown 
Prosecution Service, and the Department for International Finance and 
Development. In April the Government created the Serious and Organized 
Crime Agency, which handles investigations of organized immigration 
crime nationally, including trafficking.
    The Government assisted with international investigations of 
trafficking.
    Several NGOs criticized the Government for not ``opting in'' on the 
European Council directive on providing ``reflection periods'' by 
issuing short-term residence permits for victims of trafficking who 
cooperate with the authorities. However, the Government considered each 
instance on a case-by-case basis. Victims were able to make claims for 
asylum or humanitarian protection. In many cases the Government also 
granted ``exceptional leave to remain,'' thereby permitting victims to 
obtain government benefits, including housing, education, and health 
care. The Government did not prosecute victims of trafficking who were 
violating prostitution or immigration laws; however, they could face 
repatriation to their country of origin.
    Local social services authorities and various charities provided 
services to trafficking victims. A program run by the Poppy Project 
received government funding to initiate a national 24-hour outreach 
service. In addition to operating a shelter with capacity to support 25 
trafficking victims in the immediate stages after they have left 
prostitution, the program created 10 new step-down places, enabling 
women to gradually gain their independence; provided information and 
advice for victims and law enforcement personnel; and funded a 
specialist team of four outreach workers to work alongside law 
enforcement agencies and immigration to identify and assist trafficked 
women to escape prostitution. Children who may be victims of 
trafficking are the responsibility of local social service agencies and 
were generally placed in the foster care system. The Government and the 
NGO community maintained an active dialogue on victim protection 
services.
    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for 
International Development distributed antitrafficking material in 
countries of origin. Immigration intelligence assets were deployed 
across Europe on the main routes for illegal migration and trafficking 
under the Immigration Liaison Officer program. The National Criminal 
Intelligence Service engaged in exchange programs in which its officers 
aided in preventive antitrafficking efforts in Central and Eastern 
Europe. On October 3, the country launched the UK Human Trafficking 
Centre, which has a mandate to coordinate national activity against 
traffickers for sexual and nonsexual exploitation, both prevention and 
prosecution; train and inform police officers on trafficking and 
victim-related matters; act as a point of contact for NGOs and foreign 
law enforcement; and develop ``best practices'' in antitrafficking 
areas.

    Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination 
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to 
health care, or in the provision of other state services. The law also 
mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the 
Government effectively enforced these provisions in practice.
    The law mandates that all public service providers (except in the 
transportation sector) make ``reasonable adjustments'' to make their 
services available to persons with disabilities. The law also forbids 
employers to harass or discriminate against job applicants or employees 
with disabilities.
    The Disability Rights Commission, an independent organization 
funded by the Government, worked on behalf of persons with disabilities 
to stop discrimination and promote equality of opportunity. The 
commission provided a hot line for persons with disabilities and 
employers, legal advice and support for individuals, and policy advice 
to the Government. The commission may also conduct formal 
investigations, arrange conciliation, require persons to adopt action 
plans to ensure compliance with the law, and apply for injunctions to 
prevent acts of unlawful discrimination.

    National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Despite legal prohibitions 
against racial discrimination, persons of African and Afro-Caribbean, 
South Asian, or Middle Eastern origin and Travelers--itinerant 
populations consisting of Roma, Irish, and other ethnic groups 
estimated to number 300,000 persons--were occasionally the victims of 
societal violence and some discrimination. Of the country's estimated 
4.6 million persons belonging to a minority group, 2.3 million 
described themselves as Asian, 1.1 million as black Caribbean or black 
African, and 700,000 as mixed.
    Victim Support, a charity assisting persons affected by crime, 
received 29,995 referrals for assistance in cases of racially motivated 
crime between April 2005 and March, which was a 42 percent increase 
from 2004-05. However, they asserted that this increase was primarily 
due to a corresponding improvement in police referrals. The crown 
prosecution service, which covers England and Wales, prosecuted 7,430 
defendants for racially aggravated crimes between April 2005 and March, 
up from 4,660 during the previous year. The police service of Northern 
Ireland reported 936 racially motivated incidents during the same 
period, up by 15 percent from the preceding 12-month period and more 
than three times the number of incidents that were reported in 2003. 
The police service reported 746 racially motivated crimes, including 
341 violent crimes, during the same period. In Scotland between 2005 
and 2006, there were 3,791 racial complaints, a decrease of 160 
complaints from the previous year. Demographics from the most recently 
conducted census in 2001 showed that minorities made up approximately 2 
percent of the population or just over 100,000 persons in Scotland, 
with Pakistanis as the largest ethnic minority, followed by Chinese, 
Indians, and those of mixed ethnic backgrounds.
    During the year the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal 
Opportunities Commission led an investigation of the Gloucestershire 
police force for rejecting 108 white male job applicants on the grounds 
of unlawful race and sex discrimination. The Police Federation admitted 
that the force was trying to recruit more female officers and ethnic 
minorities to meet a government target. A tribunal awarded one of the 
unsuccessful applicants, Matt Powell, an award of $4,915 (2,500 pounds) 
for the police breach of the Race Relations Act.
    According to the Independent Police Complaints Commission's (IPCC) 
annual report, the IPCC worked closely with British Muslim groups to 
address concerns about the way Muslims were treated by police. National 
and regional forums were a key element of this effort. The IPCC 
publicized its services among Asian communities via advertisements, 
community meetings, and media articles.

    Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits 
discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation; however, 
sporadic incidents of homophobic violence were reported. The law 
encourages judges to impose a greater sentence in assault cases where 
the victim's sexual orientation is a motive for the hostility, and many 
local police forces demonstrated an increasing awareness of the problem 
and trained officers to identify and moderate these attacks.
    On October 1, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations went into 
effect in England, Wales, and Scotland. These regulations provide 
protection against age discrimination in employment, training, and 
adult education for persons of all ages.
Section 6. Worker Rights

    a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of 
workers, except those in the armed forces, public sector security 
services, and police forces, to form and join unions, and workers 
exercised this right in practice. Approximately 26 percent of the 
workforce was unionized. Coverage was most widespread in the public 
sector, where almost 60 percent of workers were unionized. In contrast, 
17 percent of private sector workers were unionized.

    b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows 
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the 
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is 
protected in law and was freely practiced. Unions and management 
typically negotiate so-called collective agreements, less formal than 
collective bargaining contracts. Collective agreements are considered 
as ``implied'' into individual work contracts and legally enforceable 
as such. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was covered by 
collective agreements. Under the law a strike must be confined to 
workers and their own employers; the dispute must be wholly or mainly 
about employment-related matters (for example, pay and conditions); 
workers must be properly and secretly balloted before striking (with 
notice to the employer); and mass picketing is prohibited. Workers 
freely exercised the right to strike.
    There are no export processing zones.

    c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the Government 
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were 
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).

    d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The 
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect 
children from exploitation in the workplace.
    The law prohibits employment in any capacity of children under age 
13. Those under age 16 are not permitted to work in an industrial 
enterprise, including transportation or street trading; their total 
work hours are strictly limited and may not interfere with school 
attendance. They may work as part of an educational course. Independent 
NGOs claimed that up to two million school-age children were involved 
in part-time employment. A child age 13 to 16 must apply for a work 
permit from a local authority, and the local authority's education and 
welfare services have primary responsibility for oversight and 
enforcement. Authorities effectively enforced these laws. The following 
central government ministries have additional regulatory 
responsibilities: the departments of health, trade and industry, and 
education and skills.
    There were reports that children were trafficked into the country 
and forced to work as domestic servants, beggars, pickpockets, drug 
couriers, or in sweatshops and restaurants (see section 5).

    e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage, which 
ranged from $6.47 to $10.49 (3.30 to 5.35 pounds) depending on the age 
of the employee, did not provide a decent standard of living for a 
worker and family; however, other government benefits filled the gap, 
including free universal access to the National Health Service. Tax 
authorities may issue compliance orders against employers not paying 
the minimum wage, but employment tribunals handle disputes. The 
Government aggressively monitored employer efforts to bring pay 
practices into compliance with minimum wage law. Unions and NGOs were 
also actively involved in ensuring employees' awareness of their 
rights.
    The law limits the workweek to 48 hours averaged over a 17- to 26-
week period; however, the regulations do not apply to senior managers 
and others who can exercise control over their own hours of work. The 
law provides for one day's rest per week, 11 hours' daily rest, and a 
20-minute rest break where the working day exceeds six hours. The law 
also mandates a minimum of four weeks' paid annual leave, including 
eight national bank holidays. However, the average worker nationwide 
receives five weeks of paid annual leave plus eight bank holidays as 
part of collective agreements. An individual employee may agree through 
a contract to work overtime for premium pay. The law does not prohibit 
compulsory overtime, but overtime is limited by the 48-hour week 
restriction.
    The law stipulates that the health and safety of employees not be 
placed at risk, and it was effectively enforced by the Health and 
Safety Executive (an arm of the Department of Work and Pensions), which 
could initiate criminal proceedings in appropriate cases. Workers' 
representatives also actively monitored enforcement of the law. Workers 
may legally remove themselves from dangerous work conditions without 
jeopardy to their continued employment.

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